‘Tis the Season - Baptised Paganism
‘Tis the Season
Many superstitions and pagan philosophies have been baptised into the church and occupy a prominent place in modern theology; pagan traditions, practices, and symbols that can all be traced back to idolatrous Babylon, have crept into the church and have been concealed by new names. But let’s go back even farther than ancient Babylon in tracing this apostasy.
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.” Revelation 12:7,8.
Here we are told of Satan’s rebellion in heaven and his consequent defeat He was defeated and cast to this earth and through the centuries has succeeded in deceiving the whole world. Satan’s name used to be Lucifer, which means day star (Isaiah 14:12, margin). How many stars can you see in the daytime? There is just one. It is that great luminous body called the sun. It is the day star of this earth. Since Satan does not appear in person, he has turned men’s attention to the worship of the sun, the greatest, the most powerful, luminous body in the visible universe. Therefore, sun worship forms a part of most heathen religions. The devil has worked through the great isms of our world to deceive millions. One of those isms is heathenism. In fact, Satan holds more captives in heathenism than in any other ism to day. An inherent desire to worship God was instilled in man at creation. But Satan has perverted this desire and has led man to worship the sun instead of the God who created it. Well-Meaning Christians
No doubt there are many well-meaning Christian people, who have been taught, and therefore believe, that Easter, Christmas, and Sunday are biblical institutions, established by Christ, and kept by the apostles, and hence are very sacred. It is not our intention in this article to unsettle any of God’s children on what is truth or bring undue unhappiness to such who are enjoying their religious belief; but as true happiness only comes to “the man whom God correcteth,” and who does not “weary of his correction”; therefore, let us ever be ready to receive correction, “for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth.” Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:11,12.
Nimrod
Heathen philosophy claims that when Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, died, he was immortalized and his spirit took possession of the sun, where he is dwelling as the sun god. The initial” t” for Tammuz was always considered the symbol of sun worship.
Semiramis
Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod, became a great queen; and in order that the people would love her, she told them that she would take possession of the moon after she died, just as her husband Nimrod had taken possession of the sun Semiramis never remarried after the death of Nimrod, but a few years later, she gave birth to a son, Tammuz, on the 25th day of December. This great queen claimed that this son was miraculously conceived by the spirit of her dead husband Nimrod. After the death of Semiramis she was revered by the pagans as the Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven. Her son “Tammuz” was called the Son of God, and worshipped in different lands under various names. He was commonly called Zoroaster, meaning the seed of the woman. You can see how the devil was counterfeiting the Trinity, and counterfeiting the birth of Christ, counterfeiting the miraculous conception of Jesus by producing a false god and a false mother and son combination.
Tammuz
Tammuz was considered the “son of the sun. The first letter of his name T was ever afterwards considered the symbol of sun worship. Sun worshippers offered to their sun god human sacrifice, which was upon a wooden cross-the initial T of the name Tammuz.
Sun Worship
The origin and character of sun worship was, and always will be, pagan. By whatever name or whatever form the son was worshipped, there was always a female divinity associated with it. As the sun was the great god, the supreme lord, and as he exerted his mortal glorious powers of production, it was held to be the most acceptable worship for his devotees to employ themselves and their power.
When God established His worship with the children of Israel in the very midst of the sun-worshipping nations surrounding them, He required His people to make the door of the tabernacle (or temple) always toward the east, in order that all who worship the Lord would in so doing turn their backs upon the rising sun and its worship; and that whosoever joined in the worship of the sun had first to turn his back upon the Lord. But even though the Lord was so careful in His dealing with His children, yet Israel did apostatise from Him, turned their backs towards the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east and worshipped the sun toward the east (Ezekiel 8:16). Sunday came from this sun worship and was dedicated to the sun god. It was on this day that the worst sun-worship features were practiced. The origin and character of Sunday, like sun worship, was, is, and always will be pagan. No matter how this child of paganism is dressed up so as to make it look like a Christian festival, it is pagan in both origin and character. Sunday is the wild, solar holiday of all pagan times. But on contrary, the Lord has given His children a rest day He furnished the earth with the fullness thereof, and made the Sabbath rest for His children. Which will we observe? The child of paganism or God’s seventh day Sabbath?
Christmas
Christmas, or Christ-Mass, has become one of the leading holy days in the world today. But the 25th of December is not the birthday of Jesus – it is the birthday of Tammuz The Bible says that the shepherds were with their flocks; and shepherds were never with their sheep on the hills in the winter Jesus must have been born at a warmer season Nobody really knows when he>us was born. The Bible does not reveal the date of His birth. Rather, it was the birthday of the pagan sun god; hut the Church of Rome started calling it the birthday of Christ, the Son of the true God People have been taught to trample on God’s holy day, the Seventh-day Sabbath, but at the same time to reverence a day that is totally pagan in origin.
We have now traced the origin of heathen customs that have crept into Christianity (such as the worship on Sunday, in reverence to the Sun-god, and also Christmas, worship of the birthday of Tammuz who was the sup-posed reincarnation of Nimrod-the Sun-god). In the early centuries, Christianity tried to win the pagans over to their religion. But, instead of revealing to them the power of the Gospel as the Apostles did, they just baptised the pagans together with their false worship and incorporated their festivals into Christianity. Let us now take a brief look at Lent and Faster.
Lent and Easter
Tammuz, the supposed son of Nimrod, was also a great hunter. But while yet quite a young man, he was killed by a wild boar, in the spring of the year. This caused much weeping throughout the whole kingdom. The forty days before the time of the celebration for the moon were set apart as the days for weeping. Especially did the women take a lead in this weeping for Tammuz. We would be amazed if we knew of all the traditions that have been handed down from paganism and have been baptised into the Christian Church. Lent, which was a season of weeping forty days for Tammuz, is one of those traditions that have been handed down to Christianity today.
Dr. Hislop says: “The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of a Babylonian goddess. Such a lent of forty days, in the spring of the year, is still observed by Yezidis or Pagan Devil-worshippers of Koordistan. Such a lent of forty days was held in spring by the Pagan Mexicans. Such a lent of forty days was ob-served in Egypt.”-The Two BabyIons, pp.104,105. In Christian churches to-day, solemn services are conducted during this forty-day period, climaxing on Easter Sunday.
Semiramis was also worshipped under the names of Ashtaroth, Ishtar, Astarte and was also associated with the worship of Dianna of the Ephesians. It is from the names Ishtar or Astarte that our modern name of Faster is derived. How was the date of the feast of Astarte, or Semiramis, determined? Counting back nine months from the 25th of December, or the birthday of Tammuz, brings us to the month of March. In order to make this feast always occur on a Sunday, or the sun’s day, it was decided that Tammuz (the in-carnation credited to Nimrod the sun-god) was conceived the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of Spring. And friends, that is exactly how the date for Easter Sunday is still determined today. It has nothing to do with the actual crucifixion date of Jesus. Originally, this was the day that was set apart in honour of Semiramis, as Astarte; and it became a festival of great licentiousness, the most acceptable offering being virginity. Yes, this is the origin of our Easter Sunday. Many do not realise that the Bible mentions these pagan customs. Ezekiel tells of Israel, the people of God, weeping for Tammuz.
“Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in. the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth. He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, 0 son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, 0 son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations, which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have re-turned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.” 8:12-18
“The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.” Jeremiah 7:18
Here they are making cakes or buns to the Queen of Heaven. This practice continues down to our day, for at Easter time, all the world makes and eats buns commonly called Hot Cross Buns.
The Third Angel’s Message
The warning of the third angel is against the worship of the beast and his image. All such as give homage or reverence unto the mandates of this beast or his image shall drink of the wrath of God, which we find to be the seven last plagues. To give homage or reverence unto the mandates of the beast is the very worship against which we are warned in this message. No man can claim he is worshipping God while he himself is still hanging in the balance concerning the mandates of the beast and his image. No church can claim to be giving the third angel’s message while the leaders and laity are trying to bolster up any of the mandates of the beast and his image.
Amen.
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