Temple Worship Like Babylon God Didn't command the King, Kingdom, Temple, Animal Sacrifices, Burnt Offerings, Priests or Levites.
Genesis.49.Levi.Cursed.Wait.for.Shiloh
The Hebrews fell into Instrumental-Trinitarian-Perverted PLAY at Mount Sinai. They played instruments which brought on Sexual and Homosexual Play. This was a sin beyond redemption and God "turned them over to worship the Starry Host" which was Apollyon or Abaddon already practiced in Egypt.
The Tabernacle of WITNESS was to provide a place where men could make sacrifices allthough God had not Commanded it.
Jeremiah.7.Silence
This is a direct command to KEEP SILENCE when claiming to worship God.
When the non conforming East of Jordan people threatened to build their own altar, this would break the fellowship with others.
"Temple worship was a multimedia expression of praise to God, complete with animal sacrifices, trumpets blaring, and priests in their vestments."
Paul Woodhouse observes that:
"Early Christians were entirely Jewish and they gathered often in the precincts of the temple in Jerusalem for worship and witness (Acts 2:46; 3:1; 5:42; 21:26; 22:17).
"Temple worship was a multimedia expression of praise to God, complete with animal sacrifices, trumpets blaring, and priests in their vestments (Ps. 150; Ezra 3:10).
"Paul noted that these Jerusalem Christians praised God for Messiah where instrumental music was prominent.
We believe that trying to use the temple as a pattern for Christian worship and community is dangerous because it is a very forceful effort to restore Judaism or its Catholic second incarnation. This is an urge to make everyone ecumenical, confess errors, and join that great world-wide church of brotherly love. In that "community" no one will be permitted to voice any judgments. Why? Why, because the worship is performed by those who are "located" evangelists "by the sovereign grace of God."
However, what they do not know is that the Jews lost The Book of the Covenant through musical idolatry at Mount Sinai. The "promise made to Abraham" is Paul's "pattern" in Galatians where he "leapfrogs" the entire Monarchy period.
God changed the Tabernacle and appointed the Levites to stand guard between it and the people who were now know as "strangers."
The law was given "because of transgression" and not as a system of spiritual worship. This is called The Book of the Law.
In the Sacrificial System, common people were represented by "stationary men" or princes from each tribe. However, the temple rituals were more for "mustering the men" than for worship because the temple was headquarters for a nation which wanted to live and worship "like the nations."
The non-clergy people were put "outside the gates or camp" when the loud noise continued for the duration of animal sacrifice. The argument Paul Woodhouse makes as "proof-text" for instrumental music in "in spirit" worship would apply to animal sacrifices because without sacrifices the music (noise) had no rationale.
The common people met in the synagogue or "assembly" in their own communities to study the Word. There never was any praise service in the Synagogue. While not often translated as "synagogue" the Hebrew word is much like the Greek word transled erroneously as "church" rather than "assembly." The synagoge was school and not worship center.
When the Temple-System is restored it is not surprising that the pulpit becomes the "holy place" and the common people are only represented by highly talented, professional clergy persons and perhaps the deacons are the stationary men and choirs are admittedly "Levitical Singers serving as mediators."
The new Judaism needs a temple and many look more like temples than "houses" of assembly for Christians. The growing goal of buildings and rituals is to "move the worshipers into the presence of God." This is a denial of the finished work of Lord Jesus Christ who died so that each individual can come boldly before the throne of grace. As in the original Babylon and the end-time religious marriage of pagan religion and commerce, the Sister Singers were vital machinery to make the "god elevator" work to the top of the Tower of Babylon.
This was the same system Satan and the fallen angels used to get them down off God's Holy Mountain with mixed-sex choirs flaunting sexual authority which is "both erotic and murderous," instruments and the new wine image. Some collected notes amplifying the Book of Enoch and Jude.
The towers of Babylon consumed much of the energy of the community and were the beginning and end-time patterns for "churches" (Rev. 18).
"On the lowest of these platforms a heavy wall--first oval, later rectangular--enclosed storerooms, the temple kitchen, workshops, and other such rooms.
On the highest level, approached by a stairway, were the god's living quarters centred in the cella, a rectangular room with an entrance door in the long wall near one corner.
The god's place was on a podium in a niche at the short wall farthest from the entrance;
"The function of the temple, as in all of the other sacred places in ancient Mesopotamia,
........... was primarily to ensure the god's presence and
........... to provide a place where he could be approached.The providing of housing, food, and service for the god achieved the first of these purposes. His presence was also assured by a suitable embodiment--the cult statue, and, for certain rites, the body of the ruler.
To achieve the second purpose, greeting gifts, praise hymns as introduction to petitions, and other actions were used to induce the god to receive the petitioner and to listen to, and accept, his prayers.
Worship in Hebrew means "work." Everyone "worshiped really hard" to force the god into his temple and grant favors, but "demons bestow favors" when fed.
Jesus died so that Paul could say to us:
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Heb.4:16
When "praise hymns" and female teams are restored with the claim that "we are mediators between man and God" then you know that you have been defeated by the most ancient meaning of "religion" and "temple."
To grasp the value of what Jesus purchased when He fired the Jewish clergy now dedicated to paganism, we must grasp that in all temple-states
the common people were not involved in the temple "worship" rituals.
Therefore, the according to the meaning of cathedral, the pulpit is the "holy place" where liturgy is performed in "church houses" and dedicated priests and priestesses act as mediators in secular songs and "like the nation's sermons."
"Each of the important deities had, in one or more of the Babylonian cities, a large temple in which he or she was worshiped. Temple services were generally conducted in open courts containing fountains for ablution and altars for sacrifices.
Only the high priest and other privileged members of the clergy and court were permitted to enter the cella, or inner part of the temple,
which held the special statue of the deity.
The needs of the deity were provided for in accordance with impressive ceremonies carried out by a vast institutionalized clergy that included
priests, musicians, magicians, soothsayers, dream interpreters, astrologers, and hierodules (and prostitutes). Sacrifices of food, drink, or incense were offered daily. Numerous festivals were held, the most important of which was the celebration of the new year at the spring equinox. [Encarta Encyclopedia]
The public was able to ask the gods for favors and consult them, but there was no way they could reach the most sacred place in a temple and see the idol.
The only way they could see him was when he came out to them at least once a year where crowds of those who believed in him watched out for such an important chance. They received him with happiness playing flutes and drums and singing.
Women took part in priesthood where there were priestesses in some temples. The queen was considered the head priestess of "Amoun" and the wife of the god while the other priestesses were his concubines and their role in serving god was just music playing.
The Hebrew word for Solomon's musicians also means "concubines."
Now the idolatry of talent performers where Willow Creek claims the musical teams to be the living images of what God wants us to be).
"Ulrich Eggers, a leading German evangelical who served as press spokesman at the Hamburg sessions, stresses that Willow Creek's "central message has nothing to do with drama or music,
but rather with the living portrayal of dedicated Christians."
"Yet Eggers is worried that liberals may only accept the methodology and forms of this program. He says nothing can change "unless content is changed; the gospel must become a matter of the heart." Christianity Today
Because female authority was historically sexual authority, women were excluded from priestly roles. However, this did not prevent men like Solomon from setting up or permitting the female "centers" next door where they were male homosexual and female priestesses:
"Women and girls from the different ranks of society were proud to enter the service of the gods as singers and musicians. The understanding of this service was universal: these singers constituted the 'harem of the gods'." Johannes Quasten. In Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity pg. 40f
Josephus and others use authority as sexual authority. The authority Paul condemned included homosexual authority implicit in performing priesthoods where males pretended to be female and underwent their own masculine journey which eternally was sodomy:
"The adored wife of the fallen Hector, is taken as a concubine by the authentes, who can command her domestic and sexual services. The word also occurs in a homosexual sense in a speech by Theseus, king of Athens, where love of young boys was considered a virtue trather than a vice." (Trombley, Who Says Women Cannot Teach, p. 174)
The Old Testament word for musical instruments and concubines carries the same meaning of sexual authority:
I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. Eccl 2:8
I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, man's delight. Eccl 2:8RSV
Musical instruments meant concubines and the word is derived from:
Shadad (h7703) shaw-dad'; a prim. root; prop. to be burly, i. e. (fig.) powerful (pass. impregnable); by impl. to ravage: - dead, destroy (- er), oppress, robber, spoil (-er), * utterly, (lay) waste.
In the Female realm honoring Eve, Mary, Sophia Zoe. You must grasp that when the MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS made a great noise it was a signal for the gates to be shut and the people as "strangers" to this Babylon form of worship excluded. Therefore, the "musical" noise was a sign of QUARANTINE of the temple. The sacrificial "congregation" included only the king as the "god's" agent, the city officials and the clergy. The princes or STATIONARY MEN represented the entire tribe:
> "The rectangular central shrine of the temple, known as a 'cella,' had a brick altar or offering table in front of a statue of the temple's deity. The cella was lined on its long ends by many rooms for priests and priestesses. These mud-brick buildings were decorated with cone geometrical mosaics, and the occasional fresco with human and animal figures. These temple complexes eventually evolved into towering ziggurats.
"The temple was staffed by priests, priestesses, musicians, singers, castrates and hierodules (Temple Prostitutes). Various public rituals, food sacrifices, and libations took place there on a daily basis. There were monthly feasts and annual, New Year celebrations. During the later, the king would be married to Inanna as the resurrected fertility god Dumuzi..."
The Akitu was adopted by Solomon.
"there may have been large numbers of eunuchs, as well as temple slaves. Merlin Stone believes that "sacred women" celebrated their sexuality and fertility by making love in Eanna in Inanna's name. This seems to be supported as that H.R. Hays says that there were temple prostitutes associated with Inanna, which is not too out of line as that she is supposed to be the goddess of prostitutes." (Interpreter's Dict of the Bible, Music, p. 461).
> "The priest-king of each city played the role of a god, usually of Enlil (spirit or wind god), who was the second figure of the Sumerian pantheon, being the son of the sky god Anu, and represented various forms of natural power and energy. In the role the king performed ceremonies depicting the defeat of Tiamat (Tehowm), the demon of the ocean, and the other monsters who followed her leadership.
"In these festivals, which were state festivals, the human state contributed to the control of nature, to the upholding of the orderly cosmos... Enacting these divine roles in religious dramas, the king became closely associated with the gods and was sometimes regarded of divine descent...
This is why Israel's elder's demand for a human king was to worship like the nations is called their experiment with the Idolatry of Nationhood. Remember that the Judas Bag was "for carrying the mouthpieces of wind instruments." The Greek is made up of "speaking in tongues" and "of the COSMOS." In Devil worship in this area and even in recent Catholicism, the liturgy was performed by speaking in tongues or a dead, unknown language.
The restoration of Christimas (worship of the S.U.N. god to replace the S.O.N. God) was the worship of Saturn whose number is 666. Easter is the worship of Ishtar proven by free standing pillars as sexual symbols. The women lamented for Tammuz, her consort, in Jerusalem in Ezekiel 8. Music and ritual drama with dance makes the idolatry of end-time "worship" proven.
"In Babylon, for example, his status was symbolized in an annual ceremonial in which he was stripped of his royal insignia, smitten in the face by a priest, and made to prostrate himself before the image of the city god Marduk and confess his devotion; then reclothed as a king, he was brought out weeping to show himself to his subjects." (Parkes, Henry Bamford, Gods and Men The Origins of Western Culture, p. 56, Knopf)
The prophecy of Psalm 41 and other passages show that the Jewish clergy was more Babylonian than godly and would attempt to triumph over Jesus where "triumph over" is a musical ritual. The chief agent would be Judas whose "Judas Bag" carried the mouthpieces of wind instruments. The bag is composed of two words meaning:
- Speaking in Tongues: see 1 Cor 14 for the tongues and instrument connection" and
- Of the world or Cosmos.
Of course, in all of the "Komo" scenes in Greek art the Judas Bag is attached to a flute case and the Judas figures are often naked. The clergy invitation was to force Jesus into the Dionysus song and dance while they piped.
Because the Jews at the time of Christ had continued their "like the nation's worship" which they demanded as they "fired God," when Jesus claimed to be king and actually God the clergy repeated this ritual. This was prophesied as a way to humiliate or "triumph over" the gods. Unless you gained control the evil gods would do damage to you. Therefore, the musical mocking of Jesus is a fulfillment that the "like the nation's" worship had been superseded by worship "in spirit" as the place for worship. Click for more.
"Asherah: She is the Queen of Heaven, in other languages and ages identified as Ashtoreth, Athirat, Astarte, and Ishtar. Yahweh, the Hebrew God elevated to become the sole deity, was Her consort.
Her "male" priestesses were known as kelabim, the faithful "dogs" of the Goddess, who practiced divinatory arts, danced in processions, and served as hierodules (priestsesses), qedeshim (prostitutes or concubines), in the company of other priestesses.
Elements of the goddess worship were largely erased in a cultural purge c. 630 BCE by King Josiah, at the behest of Yahweh's priests, who required supremacy."
The eternal "Mother Goddess" or mother of the gods was believed to be Eve, Zoe or Mary. She was "mother of the gods" and therefore superior. She produced males like Adam who didn't have a brain in his head. Therefore, the male offspring such as little "jehovah" and "logos" or Jesus were perverted and made into musical worship teams. Because female teams actually claim to be "mediators between man and God" this takes the role of Mary who is claimed as the Catholic version of female mediatrix to soothe the savagery of the patriarchal "god."
Because we "give attention to" or worship that which places itself in the "holy place" or "core liturgy place," we are actually involved in Mother Goddess worship because she and her male consorts often threaten to take their trade elsewhere unless they are given "stage center." This was what helped destroy Israel as the women "lamented for Tammuz" right there in the Jerusalem temple where all of the other "gods and goddesses" were worshiped.
In ancient pagan temple states, the musical worship team was part of the religious-commercial complex. In Babylonia, they were part of a state worship team made up of priests, soothsayers, prostitutes and musicians. The common people were excluded:
"The rectangular central shrine of the temple, known as a 'cella,' had a brick altar or offering table in front of a statue of the temple's deity. The cella was lined on its long ends by many rooms for priests and priestesses. These mud-brick buildings were decorated with cone geometrical mosaics, and the occasional fresco with human and animal figures. These temple complexes eventually evolved into towering ziggurats. (Towers of Babel).
"When it came to more private matters, a Sumerian remained devout. Although the gods preferred justice and mercy, they had also created evil and misfortune. A Sumerian had little that he could do about it.
"Judging from Lamentation records, the best one could do in times of duress would be to "plead, lament and wail, tearfully confessing his sins and failings." Their family god or city god might intervene on their behalf, but that would not necessarily happen.
"After all, man was created as a broken, labor saving, tool for the use of the gods and at the end of everyone's life, lay the underworld, a generally dreary place. (Wolkstein & Kramer 1983: pp.123-124)
You will remember that there was a Musical Worship Team at the scene of the "dead" gir. They could "pipe" to make you dance at weddings or were trained in sad "churchy songs" to make you weep. Jesus "cast them out 'more or less violentl.'"
Chapter XIII.-Origin of Idolatry. Recognitions of Clement
It is a mistake to understand the flood as destroying all evil influences. The descendants of Cain somehow threaded their way or else evil would have been wiped out not only for their age but for all ages.
We know that the Babylonian religion began again right off the Ark. In the native records the gods had to be threatened or appeased. Of course, the priests and prostitutes passed the "collection plates" and owned the people body, spirit and soul.
Clement understood the Bible as well as the other historical accounts still available for us to read:
"But when all these things were done, men turned again to impiety; [There is a similar chapter in Homily IX. 7, but in a discourse: on the following day.-R.]
and on this account a law was given by God to instruct them in the manner of living.
[In The Book of Jubilees, God gave these laws. The division of days (7) were records given like day-journals to warn people] See Jubilees, First Chapter
But in process of time, the worship of God and righteousness were corrupted by the unbelieving and the wicked, as we shall show more fully by and by.
Moreover, perverse and erratic religions were introduced, to which the greater part of men gave themselves up,
by occasion of holidays and solemnities, instituting drinkings and banquets,
following pipes, and flutes, and harps, and diverse kinds of musical instruments, and indulging themselves in all kinds of drunkenness and luxury.
Hence every kind of error took rise; hence they invented groves (Asherah poles) and altars, fillets and victims, and after drunkenness they were agitated as if with mad emotions.
By this means power was given to the demons to enter into minds of this sort, so that they seemed to lead insane dances and to rave like Bacchanalians; hence were invented the gnashing of teeth, and bellowing from the depth of their bowels; hence a terrible countenance and a fierce aspect in men,
so that he whom drunkenness had subverted and a demon had instigated, was believed by the deceived and the erring to be filled with the Deity.
This "faith and practice" continued throughout the Old Testament and dominated the ancient world. Some of the oldest accounts center the musical worship in India the home of demon or serpent worship. Like the "Tallest trees in Eden" these serpents were known to be adepts or skilled mind manipulators with music, sex and ritual.
When Israel committed musical idolatry through the bull cult of Egypt they were going through a test quite identical to the one we are enduring today:
Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. Ex.16:4
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. De.8:2
The answer was, no. So the older people died there in the wilderness. Contrary to the new Mosaic legalism, this is not a picture of God's grace but of His destruction of the same people who became musical idolatrers at Mount Sinai because they didn't want to hear the Word of God.
Miriam had introduced the Egyptian dance and instrument just after God's rescue at the Red Sea. She later claimed to be a true prophetess and was cursed with leprosy. At Mount Sinai, Israel rose up to play and proved that they were not cured of their musical idolatry as defined by Amos.
John Chrysostom agrees to prove that God was not demonstrating His grace under the Law but was allowing them to play out their musical idolatry begun in Egypt and used at Mount Sinai to spit in the face of God:
"Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the Prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Kemphan (Saturn 666), figures which ye made to worship them:
"The cause of sacrifices! "And I will carry you away beyond Babylon." (v. 43.) Even the captivity, an impeachment of their wickedness! "But a Tabernacle," say you, "there was (the Tabernacle) `of Witness.'" (v. 44.) (Yes,) this is why it was: that they should have God for Witness: this was all. "According to the fashion," it says, "that was shown thee on the mount:"
Yet, because of their sin, the Tabernacle became like the nation's temple. The Levites would kill you if you tried to approach God.
Later,
You say, "We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone." But what you have in mind will never happen. Eze.20:32
Robert Jamieson notes that the "people" were excluded from the Tabernacle as they were later from the temple:
Numbers 2:47-54. But the Levites . . .were not numbered among them--They were obliged to keep a register of their own. They were consecrated to the priestly office,
which in all countries has been exempted customarily, and in Israel by the express authority of God, from military service.
The custody of the things devoted to the divine service was assigned to them so exclusively, that"no stranger"--that is, no person, not even an Israelite of any other tribe, was allowed, under penalty of death, to approach these [Nu 16:40].
Hence they encamped round the tabernacle in order that there should be no manifestation of the divine displeasure among the people.
Thus the numbering of the people was subservient to the separation of the Levites from those Israelites who were fit for military service,
> and to the practical introduction of the law respecting the first-born,
> for whom the tribe of Levi became a substitute [Ex 13:2 Nu 3:12].Numbers 3:5-10. Bring the tribe of Levi near--The Hebrew word "bring near" is a sacrificial term, denoting the presentation of an offering to God; and the use of the word, therefore,
in connection with the Levites, signifies that they were devoted as an offering to the sanctuary, no longer to be employed in any common offices.
They were subordinate to the priests, who alone enjoyed the privilege of entering the holy place;
[this means that they cannot accompany us into the Holy Place as we offer the sacrifice of our lips]
but they were employed in discharging many of the humbler duties which belonged to the sanctuary, as well as in various offices of great utility and importance to the religion and morals of the people. Commentary by ROBERT JAMIESON
Everyone not of the tribe of Levi (priests or Levites and others) was a stranger and no longer members of God's Covenant family:
To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the Lord; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the Lord said to him by the hand of Moses. Numbers 16:40
This verse narrows those who might "come boldly before the throne" of God down to the mature, male descendants of Aaron. This means that when the later Levites went beyond servants and took on virtual priestly duties in the musical (really loud sound) service, they violated the unalterable Law of Moses. For this Ezekiel's "Idealized Temple" accuses them of leading Israel astray and demotes them back to servants.
In none of the Like the Nation's temples did the common people worship with or without instruments.
Cella: Greek NAOS, in Classical architecture, the body of a temple (as distinct from the portico)
in which the image of the deity is housed.
In early Greek and Roman architecture it was a simple room, usually rectangular, with the entrance at one end and with the side walls often being extended to form a porch. In larger temples, where the cella is open to the sky, a small temple was sometimes placed within.
In the Byzantine architectural tradition the naos was preserved as the area of a centrally planned church,
including the core and the sanctuary, where the liturgy is performed. (Alternative Brittanica Members link)
Where ever animal sacrifices were offered it was not in the presence of God or throne room where believers now go to offer the sacrifice of the lips:
And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomons porch. John 10:23
Cella is the Greek Naos, in Classical architecture, the body of a temple (as distinct from the portico)
And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomons, greatly wondering. Acts 3:11
And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomons porch. Acts 5:12
Josepheus also notes that this usurpation of authority by the Levites helped bring Israel to destruction. Furthermore, he warned that the Levites attempt to do it again by promising "honor" to the civil authorities would destroy Israel and Jerusalem again. The sin was that the Levites wanted to restore themselves as clergy musicians from which they were fired in the "Idealized Temple" of Ezekiel. Josephus also comments on Agrippa's "Seeker Center" constructed by the people's money for his own benefit.
Not only did the priestly class perform the rituals for the common people but one who stumbled into the Tabernacle, temple or presumed to perform this "task of burden" would be put to death.
Christ suffered the penalty of death to enter into the heavenly sanctuary for us so that we can come boldly before the throne of grace without suffering death. Anyone after Christ who presumes to perform this mediation work by entering into the "liturgical sections of the church" as the holy place is worthy of death.
Numbers 18: 2-7. thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi--The departments of the sacred office, to be filled respectively by the priests and Levites, are here assigned to each.
To the priests was committed the charge of the sanctuary and the altar,
while the Levites were to take care of everything else about the tabernacle. The Levites were to attend the priests as servants--
........... bestowed on them as "gifts" to aid in the service of the tabernacle--
........... while the high and dignified office of the priesthood was a "service of gift.""A stranger," that is, one, neither a priest nor a Levite, who should intrude into any departments of the sacred office, should incur the penalty of death. ROBERT JAMIESON
This means that anyone restoring musical worship are restoring sacrificial worship and, in fact, restoring the worship of Osiris or any of the "gods" which came out of Babylon and will end in the end-time spiritual Babylonian form of worship (Rev. 18).
Along with the restoration of Jewish or Catholic religion goes the restoration of the Sabbath Eucharist as the literal body of Christ. The Cursillo Movement and The Walk To Emmaus are tools of evangelism to convert people to the Catholic-Anglican religion and the Mass.
Chrysostom Tells the Truth about Sinai:
Stephen was accused of speaking against "the customs,"-sacrifices, temple, feasts, etc.
Therefore he significantly points to that critical conjuncture. from which these "customs" date their introduction:namely, the Provocation at Horeb.
Prior to that, he tells of "living oracles," life-giving precepts:
after it, and as its consequence, sacrifices, etc.,those statutes which were not good, and ordinances by which a man shall not live, as God says by Ezekiel.
Not a word of sacrifice till then: and the first mention is, of the sacrifices offered to the calf.
In like manner, "they rejoiced," "the people ate and drank, and rose up to play:" and in consequence of this, the feasts were prescribed: kai eufrainonto, fhsin: dia touto kai eortai.-'Epishmainetai might be rendered, "he marks," "puts a mark upon it"
(so the innovator, who substitutes, touto kai Dauid epishmainomenoj legei): we take it passively, "there is a mark set over it-it is emphatically denoted."
Therefore, the common people's "congregation" did not participate in the temple rituals. Therefore, they never "sang congregationally with instrumental accompaniment." Those introducing music have almost reproducted Jewish (Catholic) worship on a wholesale level.
Musical worship teams and other theatrical performers now "stand in the holy place" to represent the "little people." However, Jesus knew that we turn truth upside down:
And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts:
- for that which is highly esteemed among men
- is abomination in the sight of God. Lu.16:15
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Matthew 24:14
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Matthew 24:15
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Matthew 24:16
After Agrippa, who founded a huge Seeker-Center died, Josephus notes that prior to destruction the musical Levites wanted to be restored to their earlier esteem. Furthermore, the king and the whole Temple and kingdom would be more esteemed:
6. Now as many of the Levites, (26) which is a tribe of ours, as were singers of hymns, persuaded the king to assemble a sanhedrim, and to give them leave to wear linen garments, as well as the priests
for they said that this would be a work worthy the times of his government, that he might have a memorial of such a novelty, as being his doing.
Nor did they fail of obtaining their desire; for the king, with the suffrages of those that came into the sanhedrim, granted the singers of hymns this privilege, that they might lay aside their former garments,
and wear such a linen one as they desired; and as a part of this tribe ministered in the temple,
he also permitted them to learn those hymns as they had besought him for.
Now all this was contrary to the laws of our country, which, whenever they have been transgressed, we have never been able to avoid the punishment of such transgressions.
So like Ezekiel before him, Josephus sees the servant Levites elevated into musical clergy ministering along with the priests as the cause of the final destruction of the temple.
The apparent enemy was the Roman soldiers who "accidentially" burned the temple, but the cause according to Josephus was the ultimate abomination where the Hebrew word for pollute also means "to take your inheritance, to prostitute, to destroy."
When Israel arrived in Canaan they were quite ready to save the Canaanites, not finish the conquest and begin to worship as they had in Egypt in the wilderness and would continue to do. The Britannica Members Online notes that:
"The religion of the Canaanites was an agricultural religion, with pronounced fertility motifs. Their main gods were called the Baalim (Lords), and their consorts the Baalot (Ladies), or Asherah (singular), usually known by the personal plural name Ashtoret. "biblical literature" Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
"The god of the city of Shechem, which city the Israelites had absorbed peacefully under Joshua, was called Baal-berith (Lord of the Covenant) or El-berith (God of the Covenant). Shechem became the first cultic centre of the religious tribal confederacy (called an amphictyony by the Greeks) of the Israelites during the period of the judges.
When Shechem was excavated in the early 1960s, the temple of Baal-berith was partially reconstructed;
> the sacred pillar (generally a phallic symbol or, often, a representation of the asherah,
> the female fertility symbol) was placed in its original position before the entrance of the temple.""The Baalim and the Baalot, gods and goddesses of the Earth, were believed to be the revitalizers of the forces of nature upon which agriculture depended. The revitalization process involved a sacred marriage (hieros gamos),
replete with sexual symbolic and actual activities between men, representing the Baalim,
and the sacred temple prostitutes (qedeshot), representing the Baalot.Cultic ceremonies involving sexual acts between male members of the agricultural communities and sacred prostitutes dedicated to the Baalim were focused on the Canaanite concept of sympathetic magic.
As the Baalim (through the actions of selected men) both symbolically and actually impregnated the sacred prostitutes in order to reproduce in kind, so also, it was believed, the Baalim (as gods of the weather and the Earth) would send the rains (often identified with semen) to the Earth
........... so that it might yield abundant harvests of grains and fruits.Canaanite myths incorporating such fertility myths are represented in the mythological texts of the ancient city of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra) in northern Syria; though the high god El and his consort are important as the first pair of the pantheon,
Baal and his sexually passionate sister-consort are significant in the creation of the world and the renewal of nature.
The religion of the Canaanite agriculturalists proved to be a strong attraction to the less sophisticated and nomadic-oriented Israelite tribes. Many Israelites succumbed to the allurements of the fertility-laden rituals and practices of the Canaanite religion,
> possibly, because of a tendency of a rigorous faith and ethic to weaken under the influence of sexual attractions.
As the Canaanites and the Israelites began to live in closer contact with each other,
- the faith of Israel tended to absorb some of the concepts and practices of the Canaanite religion. Some Israelites began to name their children after the Baalim; even one of the judges, Gideon, was also known by the name Jerubbaal ("Let Baal Contend").
The musical worship guilds had Canaanite names.
As the syncretistic tendencies became further entrenched in the Israelite faith,
> the people began to lose the concept of their exclusiveness
> and their mission to be a witness to the nations, thus becoming weakened in resolve internally
........... and liable to the oppression of other peoples.Hathor, the female companion of Apis the Bull, was often pictured as a naked lady with the ears of a calf. The practice of Miriam and the later "rising up to play" was imitating Egyptian worship to which Israel always lusted to return. Hathor is seen mounted above and thus dominating the Lion as the symbol of the king.God promised another prophet "like Moses" to whom the people would listen.
Therefore, the goddess cults have always been an attempt to force Satan to triumph over the Messiah who would be known as "The Lion of The Tribe of Judah."
Qudsh was a prostitute and all fertility rituals were called "spiritual adultery" by God.
"It was only natural that fertility rites should include sexual myths that were acted out dramatically. The Ugaritic text just alluded to describes El, the head of the pantheon, copulating with two human women. This has echoes in Hosea and Ezekiel where God, as in the Canaanite literary tradition, is referred to as having a love affair with two women, symbolizing Judah and Israel.
The Hebrews, however, eventually eliminated sex from their official theology as well as from their religious practices.
Up to the time of King Josiah's reform (621 BC) there was a women's cult of Asherah (under qedeshim auspices [consecrated for fertility practices], according to 2 Kings 23:7) in the Jerusalem Temple, alongside the male cult of Yahweh.
And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. 2 Kings 23:6
And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove. 2 Kings 23:7
Thus, the "holy whores" were both male and females who were theatrical performers who could seduce you into "an act of worship."
Qadesh (h6945) kaw-dashe'; from 6942; a (quasi) sacred person, i. e. (techn.) a (male) devotee (by prostitution) to licentious idolatry: - sodomite, unclean.
"Asherah's devotees considered her the chief wife of Yahweh, even as she was the wife of El, head of the Canaanite pantheon, for in the Bible El is identified with Yahweh. But Josiah eliminated the cult of Asherah, and official Judaism has since then left no place for other gods,
which meant the elimination of every goddess.
"The ancient Middle East made a place for homosexuality and bestiality in its myths and rites. In the Asherah (Easter) cult
the qedeshim priests had a reputation for homosexual practices, even as the qedeshot priestesses for prostitution. Israel eventually banned both the qedeshim and qedeshot, while in Ugarit the qedeshim and kohanim were priestly guilds in equally good standing. Britannica Members Online
Arnobius identifies another "mark" of the beast:
"Catamitus is carried off to be a favourite and cup-bearer; and Fabius, that he may be called Jove's darling, is branded on the soft parts, and marked in the hinder.
Greek GANYMEDES, Latin GANYMEDES, OR CATAMITUS, in Greek legend, the son of Tros (or Laomedon), king of Troy. Because of his unusual beauty, he was carried off either by the gods or by Zeus, disguised as an eagle, or, according to a Cretan account, by Minos, to serve as cupbearer. In compensation, Zeus gave Ganymede's father a stud of immortal horses (or a golden vine).
From early times it was believed that Ganymede's kidnapper had a homosexual passion for him, hence the term catamite, derived from the popular Latin form of his name. He was later identified with the constellation Aquarius.
This is the age of Aquarius.
In time the rules of Yahweh became too burdensome and the elders decided to "fire God and set a king over us." God warned them that they were bringing destruction on the nation. God sent two primary signs: the musical band of prophesiers from the Philistine high place to "turn Saul into another man" which was to pervert him, and the destruction of the wheat crop. God warned that the king would take the property and people for his own use.
The elder's goal was to allow them to rule like the nations and their people to worship like the nations. They already knew how and it is no surprise that the musical guilds for the "like the nation's" temple carried Canaanite names which implied that their music was to make a boasting praise in order to rule over the people.
When the temple was established it was for a kingdom "like the nations" and was headquarters for "a like the nation's worship" which was performed by the king and clergy and was not a system of worship for the common people who were always accepted by faith and never by ritual.
When the musicians played, the temple filled with darkness so that the priest could not serve. However, the people prayed from "outside the camp" and God "heard from heaven."
The synagogue, not always translated that way, always existed for the education of the people out in their villages. It had no praise service even up to the time of Christ.
Edersheim points out that the "stationary men" represented the 'congregation" but that the people were shut out of the sacrificial offering:
First: As the last great gate slowly moved on its hinges, the priests, on a signal given, blew three blasts on their silver trumpets,
summoning the Levites
- and the 'representatives' of the people (the 'stationary men') to their duties, and announcing to the city that the morning sacrifice was about to be offered.
Second: As the president gave the word of command, which marked that 'the time of incense had come,' '
- the whole multitude of the people without' withdrew from the inner court, and fell down before the Lord, spreading their hands * in silent prayer.
Third, The temple Music was blown and songs sung. This excluded all people not of the tribe of Levi. It also excluded all women.
Fourth: This closed the morning service. [Note: only representatives of the people were present. The common Jews did not participate in this temple service]
- It was immediately followed by the sacrifices and offerings which private Israelites might have to bring, and which would occasionally continue till near the time for the evening service
Conclusion: the sacrificial worship was for the secular Temple-State and not for the congregation of Israel.
The people were excluded from the animal sacrifices to which music made a loud, crashing sound. The common people worshiped out in their communities by keeping the law and practicing social justice. When the elders fired God and demanded a king like the nations so that they could worship like the nations. If non-military age males or women were incidentally at the temple, when the "music" sounded the gates were closed and they were put "outside the camp."
The Tabernacle
The word "tabernacle" simply means an appointed time or place. The Israelites therefore always held synagogue.
The temple versus the tabernacle was again the eternal battle between effeminate priests and the teachers in the synagogues.
The temple was built around an elaborate ceremony with music to accompany the animal sacrifice. This was not really music but was a loud, nerve-frazzling sound. This was the burden Jesus came to remove: "spiritual anxiety from religious ritual."
On the other hand, the synagogues began with no ceremony but grew more elaborate. However, never did they sink back into the "like the nation's" musical instrument and superstitious "praise service." There Was No Praise Service in The Synagogue.
The Example of the Jewish Temple
Jesus did not teach in the Temple so that the Christians could hitch hike on the back of the Levitical Instrumental music.
Paul Woodhouse makes such a claim:
Early Christians were entirely Jewish and they gathered often in the precincts of the temple in Jerusalem for worship and witness (Acts 2:46; 3:1; 5:42; 21:26; 22:17).
"Temple worship was a multimedia expression of praise to God, complete with animal sacrifices, trumpets blaring, and priests in their vestments (Ps. 150; Ezra 3:10).
"Paul noted that these Jerusalem Christians praised God for Messiah where instrumental music was prominent.
This is, of course, not true. If the Temple continued to be the "example" or "necessary inference" for instruments in the church then Jesus could have just stopped animal sacrifices. But without killing thousands of animals there was never any rationale for instruments. Thus, when the temple cease, sacrifices ceased and instruments stopped until 1815 A.D. by a rabbi "sowing discord."
The substance is, that we are freed from the rigour of the law in order that we may adhere to Christ, and that
- the office of the law is to convince us of our depravity,
- and make us confess our impotence and wretchedness.
Musical worship teams derived from "the office of the law" are used to demonstrate the holiness of the "team" to such an extent that they claim to be mediators between God and man.
This is a rebuke to the "one another" members of the congregation and to convince them of their depravity and inability to "stand in the holy place" to, in effect, make them feel inferior and impotent as priests of God.
The temple was a den of thieves or a house of merchandise. One of the grandest merchandising weapons of all ancient and modern paganism has been music. Jesus and the disciples did not go to participate:
And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. Mark 11:17
If the Jews had provided the instrumental music for their "singing" they would be happy to continue to seduce them all the way back into Judaism. however, the Christian System and the "like the nations" temple are antithetical:
And he taught daily in the temple (court), But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, Luke 19:47
Jesus was making the outer precincts into a synagogue and not merging Christianity back with Judaism. When He died for the church it was to become a synagogue or school or place for prayer and study and not for "acts of worship."
Jamison-Fausett-Brown notes that:
The half-hour silence is the brief pause GIVEN TO JOHN between the preceding vision and the following one, implying, on the one hand,
the solemn introduction to the eternal sabbatism which is to follow the seventh seal; and, on the other,
the silence which continued during the incense-accompanied prayers which usher in the first of the seven trumpets (Re 8:3-5).
In the Jewish temple, musical instruments and singing resounded during the whole time of the offering of the sacrifices, which formed the first part of the service.
But at the offering of incense, solemn silence was kept ("My soul waiteth upon God," Ps 62:1; "is silent," Margin; Ps 65:1, Margin),
Duwmiyyah (h1747) doo-me-yaw'; from 1819; stillness; adv. silently; abstr. quiet, trust: - silence, silent, waiteth.
the people praying secretly all the time. The half-hour stillness implies, too, the earnest adoring expectation with which the blessed spirits and the angels await the succeeding unfolding of God's judgments. A short space is implied; for even an hour is so used (Re 17:12 18:10,19).
Consistent with all pagan temples and the Jewish System under the Monarchy with its human king and "like the nation's" temple, music was played or a great noise was made during the offering of the sacrifices. They began in Jerusalem with the beginning of the horrible slaughter and ended when the sacrifices ended. The common people had not part in this but this was to warn those "outside the camp" that they had better fall on their face on the penalty of Death.
> To restore the music is to absolutely denounce the value of the "once for all times" sacrifice of Christ.
> It denounces the "audience" by insisting that they must be silent and worshipful while the musicians are again standing as mediators between God and the "audience." An applause is the appropriate end of the worship where "hand clapping" is to mock the looser. The loser in this chase is Jesus. Thus, the Jewish clergy mocked Jesus with music played and the often-deviant clergy were applauded.
The Judas Bag for this prophesied attempt to triumph over Jesus was "for carrying the mouthpieces of wind instruments." See how it was done in the Dead Sea Scroll translation of Psalm 41.
> It totally removes the focus off Christ who is worshiped silently or "in spirit" by the people without a liturgical team.
It has been noted that the Lord's Table has been removed to leave moving room for the wired up octet in one church.
> And, all the time, the team claims to be "mediator between man or God" or can "lead the audience into the presence of God."
The Second Incarnation of Temple Worship
If every Jews was faithful to the Law of Moses it would still have no effect on the spirit of man. Therefore, it is strange when men begin to toy with the Old Testament for faith and practice. For instance, the Catholic Encyclopedia notes that "for whatever the Jubilee meant, it's primary purpose was for the atonement." All of the Catholics were scrambling for an authorized place of redemption for Jubilee 2000.
Furthermore, the imagery of the new Vineyard-like movements are distinctly pagan. For instance, Dr. Rubel Shelly speaks of the SON God as the SUN God.
And we have noted that the ZOE principle supported by a few churches consciously or unconsciously adapts an ancient feminist dominant "goddess" who controlled the "minor Jehovahs" and made them form musical worship teams. Zoe was the Lucifer (bisexual) figure who is the "harp playing prostitute" as the king of Tyre and the king of Babylon whose harp would rot with him in hell on a bed of maggots. The king/queen of the end-time Babylonian whore religion will focus on music and commerce.
I believe that it is a fact that the Zoe Group donated a building for a Nashville church. That church preserved the four columns which were the phallic symbol of some old superior gentlemen and they are now free standing. This makes the power of the phallus come alive.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the New Wineskin people actively promote an Old Testament pattern for the church's worship and community. See at the end of this article below.
These woodcut shows the Israelites worshiping a four-fold image two of which are crowned with the sun.
We are told in Ezekiel 8 that this happend at the temple in Jerusalem while the women team was lamenting for Tammuz.Of course, Inanna is the Zoe-like character but she was not born superior to the "god of music." However, she got Ea, her brother, drunk and stole the ME which were powers of seduction and control over people. Among these powers were the power of the "eldership, musical worship and deviant sexual practices." Her brother is also the Tammuz worshiped by the Jewish women while the men bowed to the phallic symbols which implied feminine sexuality.
It is astounding that with the revival of "temple worship" with Levitical Musical Worship Teams ("Paul freed women to be Levitical musicians and did not tell them to be silent according to the new Judaism"), the revival of the non-functional pillars is revived. These, of course, were always phallic symbols and when Israel rejected. Amazingly, they were often the symbols of female power where Paul's use of "authority" meant "sexual authority."
"But the Holy Father speaks here (as in the beginning) of the choir of levites, among whom laymen may be included, and declares soon after these quoted words that it is becoming for them to wear the ecclesiastical habit and surplice. But our ordinary lay choir represents not only the congregation, but also the official choir, without wishing to play the role of "levites";for this reason it is not stationed in the sanctuary, and no one would think of proposing that its members, like acolytes, should wear the ecclesiastical habit.
The lay choir is simply a substitute for the absent chorus cantorum, in the liturgical sense, as is the nun for the absent acolyte when she supplies from a distance the responses to the celebrant during the celebration of Mass. Click to see Josephus comments
In Cathedrals, the pulpit replaces the Holy Place and only designated and qualified priests or priestesses are permitted to perform without getting a serious, jarring rebuke. The Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges that the a cappella choirs are Levitical singers and of course the preachers are priests. In its conception a cappella was not "congregational singing" but musical teams with the females replaced by castrated males to sing the lead and high tenor. Of course, then and now, they were dressed like females to be admired by male and female alike. When the agents try to get you to nod your head at the word a cappella remember that they are restoring "teams" or choirs with a highly-charged sexual stimulus to "get 'em back, dead or alive." They are not called Sister Singers.
However, both the temple and synagogue principle are violated by exposing the "people's congregation" to come close to this new sacrificial system. There was no "praise service" in the Bible except in connection with the civil, like the nation's temples, and the synagogue and church were teaching institutions. They ate the Lord's Supper but there was no "liturgy" which required priests and priestesses (male or female) to be in attendance.
Musical Instruments were almost always idols and the "home of the gods."
Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. Habakkuk 2:19
But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. Habakkuk 2:20
The new "temple" of God is the human mind or heart or spirit. Jesus said that worship was "in spirit" and "in truth" and not at "your temple" or "my temple." John was "in the spirit on the Lord's Day" and that is the only Way God will hear your prayers or speak to you "in the voice of a whispered silence." This is why Jesus said to enter your "prayer closet" or pantry because you cannot pray in a multi-million dollar cathedral with holy place manned by priest and music team.
When Jesus returns, the worship will be that of the Babylon Whore (Revelation 18). The music, sex and commerce will make it easy for The avenging angels who will come when "God comes with ten thousand of His saints to judge the world," which, according to the books of Enoch quoted by Jude will be primarily those Satan used to introduce mixed-sex choirs, instrumental music, wine (or wine images), where the team will be gender-bent. Along with that, the key crime for which God will come is that of the Abortionist.
See the Exodus as the Pattern for Christian Worship and Community by Dr. Rubel Shelly
Counter added 2.13.05 9:21p 2626. 2.22.20.
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