Shamash The Sun God

An e-mail to me: not an urban legend.

"My family and I just returned from Cosmic Christmas at a Baptist Church in Grandbury. I thank you for your insights on Christ being here before the world was.

"I went right to my bible when we returned home and read my daughter the book of John.
"I wanted her to be sure and know that was someones imagination not the real story.
"Max Lucado I hope is being aproached by christians who are telling him of the line he is walking.

"I don't know where to begin with what made the COSMIC CHRISTMAS disturbing. I was mostly concerned for the young eyes who may believe this to be true.

"I wished they weren't even there.

"It was like your article, Jesus was a light around Gods neck and the angel Gaberial had to get it past Satan to earth.

"I had heard about it through KVTT 91.7 radio. I listen to Tom Dooley in the morning. It's playing again at the Pantigo Bible Church of Arlington. You may have to call the radio station to find out for sure.

"My daughter was frightened of the demons. They surrounded a CART Mary was in on the way to Bethelem. I don't know what happened to her and Josephs' donkey. There was a BATTLE with the angles there, If I'd known what it was like before, if someone would have seen it first I wouldn't have gone.

"Max Lucado Is scary to me now. Sorry to take up so much time.
"You read the book of Job chapter 37&38.

"You are correct in saying in the show that part of God offering his hand to Satan, was by far the most scary part.

"It totally pulled your insides because you felt it questioning our Father. That was a part where my daughter had her head burried under my arm, and I should have known to leave then. They say what if there was a battle in heaven, I say who are we to question or change Gods word. I love the book of Job. Actually I love the words of the bible whole heartedly.

"I wonder why when you go to church, they don't read longer passages to let Gods word speak for itself. You may use anything I've told you but yes I'd like you to leave my name off Thank you."

Some of this is repeated as more specific Baptizing Santa and the S.U.N.

See Hislop and S.U.N. Worship

Review of Dr. Rubel Shelly: The Day Santa Claus Was Baptized

The Myth of the Magi and the Child of Wondrous Light Britannica Members Online

The legend of the Magi-Kings was embellished in apocryphal books and Christian folklore. The Protogospel of James and the Chronicle of Zuqnin describe the birth of the Saviour.

Like the god Mithra, the divine child is consubstantial with celestial light and was born in a mountain cave on December 25. Such imagery of the Nativity of Christ and the symbolism of the royal visitors may originally have descended from Iranian accounts of the birth of the Cosmic  saviour, for the accounts seem to owe a great deal to Iranian theologies of light.

But the themes have been recast in Christian terms. The Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum relates that 12 Magi-Kings lived near the Mountain of Victories, which they climbed every year in the hope of finding the messiah in a cave on the mountaintop. Each year they entered the cave and prayed for three days, waiting for the promised star to appear.

Adam had revealed this location and the secret promises to his son Seth. Seth transmitted the mysteries to his sons, who passed the information from generation to generation. Eventually the Magi, sons of kings, entered the cave to find a star of unspeakable brightness, glowing more than many suns together. The star and its bright light led to, or became, the Holy Child, the son of the Light, who redeems the world.

However, the Biblical Example proves that the stargazers and sun and planet worshipers bowed before Lord Jesus Christ. This is to prove that none of the addiction to worshiping super stars and "wandering planets" was true.

Click to see Quotations from "Max Lucado's Cosmic Christmas" Comments fitting with the Lucifer connection. Max also uses scripture to fit the need.

Chapter XXX.-Doctrines of the Ophites and Sethians.

1. Others, again, portentously declare that there exists, in the power of Bythus, a certain primary light, blessed, incorruptible, and infinite: this is the Father of all, and is styled the first man.

They also maintain that his Ennoea, going forth from him, produced a son, and that this is the son of man-the second man. Below these, again, is the Holy Spirit, and under this superior spirit the elements were separated from each other, viz., water, darkness, the abyss, chaos, above which they declare the Spirit was borne, calling him the first woman.

Afterwards, they maintain, the first man, with his son, delighting over the beauty of the Spirit-that is,

of the woman-and shedding light upon her,
begat by her an incorruptible light, the third male, whom they call Christ,-the son of the first and second man,
........ and of the Holy Spirit, the first woman.

2. The father and son thus both had intercourse with the woman (whom they also call the mother of the living). When, however, she could not bear nor receive into herself the greatness of the lights,

they declare that she was filled to repletion, and became ebullient on the left side;

and that thus their only son Christ, as belonging to the right side, and ever tending to what was higher, was immediately caught up with his mother to form an incorruptible Aeon. This constitutes the true and holy Church, which has become the appellation, the meeting together, and the union of the father of all, of the first man, of the son, of the second man, of Christ their son, and of the woman who has been mentioned.

3. They teach, however, that the power which proceeded from the woman by ebullition, being besprinkled with light, fell downward from the place occupied by its progenitors, yet possessing by its own will that besprinkling of light; and it they call Sinistra, Prunicus, and Sophia, as well as masculo-feminine.

Tertullian: Tertullian: Chapter XXIII.-Simeon's "Sign that Should Be Contradicted," Applied to the Heretical Gainsaying of the True Birth of Christ. One of the Heretics' Paradoxes Turned in Support of Catholic Truth.

We acknowledge, however, that the prophetic declaration of Simeon is fulfilled, which he spoke over the recently-born Saviour: "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken against." The sign (here meant) is that of the birth of Christ, according to Isaiah: "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son." We discover, then, what the sign is which is to be spoken against-the conception and the parturition of the Virgin Mary, concerning which these sophists say: "She a virgin and yet not a virgin bare, and yet did not bear; "just as if such language, if indeed it must be uttered, would not be more suitable even for ourselves to use!

For "she bare," because she produced offspring of her own flesh and "yet she did not bear," since she produced Him not from a husband's seed; she was "a virgin," so far as (abstinence) from a husband went, and "yet not a virgin," as regards her bearing a child.

There is not, however, that parity of reasoning which the heretics affect: in other words it does not follow that for the reason "she did not bear," she who was "not a virgin" was "yet a virgin," even because she became a mother without any fruit of her own womb.

But with us there is no equivocation, nothing twisted into a double sense. Light is light; and darkness, darkness; yea is yea; and nay, nay; "whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."

In His Appendix:Valentinus the heretic, moreover, introduced many fables

Afterwards, again, followed Saturninus: he, too, affirming that the innascible Virtue, that is God, abides in the highest regions, and that those regions are infinite, and in the regions immediately above us; but that angels far removed from Him made the lower world;

and that, because light from above had flashed refulgently in the lower regions, the angels had carefully tried to form man after the similitude of that light;

that man lay crawling on the surface of the earth; that this light and this higher virtue was, thanks to mercy, the salvable spark in man, while all the rest of him perishes;

that Christ had not existed in a bodily substance,

and had endured a quasi-passion in a phantasmal shape merely; that a resurrection of the flesh there will by no means be.

Afterwards broke out the heretic Basilides. He affirms that there is a supreme Deity, by name Abraxas, by whom was created Mind, which in Greek he calls Nous; that thence sprang the Word; that of Him issued Providence, Virtue, and Wisdom;

that out of these subsequently were made Principalities, powers, and Angels; that there ensued infinite issues and processions of angels; that by these angels heavens were formed, and the world, in honour of Abraxas, whose name, if computed, has in itself this number.

Now, among the last of the angels, those who made this world,
........ he places the God of the Jews latest, that is, the God of the Law and of the Prophets,
........ whom he denies to be a God, but affirms to be an angel.

To him, he says, was allotted the seed of Abraham, and accordingly he it was who transferred the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt into the land of Canaan; affirming him to be turbulent above the other angels, and accordingly given to the frequent arousing of seditions and wars, yes, and the shedding of human blood.

Christ, moreover, he affirms to have been sent, not by this maker of the world, but by the above-named Abraxas;

and to have come in a phantasm, and been destitute of the substance of flesh:

that it was not He who suffered among the Jews, but that Simon was crucified in His stead: whence, again, there must be no believing on him who was crucified, lest one confess to having believed on Simon.

Christ, moreover, was sent by that First-Father who is Bythus.

He, moreover, was not in the substance of our flesh;

but, bringing down from heaven some spiritual body or other,
passed through the Virgin Mary as water through a pipe, neither receiving nor borrowing aught thence.

The resurrection of our present flesh he denies, but (maintains that) of some sister-flesh.

Of the Law and the prophets some parts he approves, some he disapproves; that is, he disapproves all in reprobating some.

A Gospel of his own he likewise has, beside these of ours.

Of LUGAN, CERDO etc showing the SOURCE of the CORE GOSPEL:

To this is added one Cerdo. He introduces two first causes, that is, two Gods--one good, the other cruel: the good being the superior; the latter, the cruel one, being the creator of the world.

He repudiates the prophecies and the Law; renounces God the Creator; maintains that Christ who came was the Son of the superior God;

affirms that He was not in the substance of flesh; states Him to have been only in a phantasmal shape, to have not really suffered, but undergone a quasipassion, and not to have been born of a virgin, nay, really not to have been born at all.

A resurrection of the soul merely does he approve, denying that of the body. The Gospel of Luke alone, and that not entire, does he receive.

Of the Apostle Paul he takes neither all the epistles, nor in their integrity. The Acts of the Apostles and the Apocalypse he rejects as false.

Alexander Hislop defended by the Catholic Encyclopedia said:

Why, thus: Long before the fourth century, and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at that precise time of the year, in honour of the birth of the son of the Babylonian queen of heaven; and it may fairly be presumed that,

in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the nominal adherents of Christianity, the same festival was adopted by the Roman Church, giving it only the name of Christ.

"This tendency on the part of Christians to meet Paganism half-way was very early developed; and we find Tertullian, even in his day, about the year 230, bitterly lamenting the inconsistency of the disciples of Christ in this respect,
........ and contrasting it with the strict fidelity of the Pagans to their own superstition.

"By us," says he, "who are strangers to Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia, and Matronalia, are now frequented; gifts are carried to and fro, new year's day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar;

oh, how much more faithful are the heathen to their religion, who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians."

Rubel Shelly wants to baptize Santa (Saturn 666):

The Name and Mark Of The Beast Hippolytus

Lucifer, Nimrod, Saturn, Molech, Sophia (serpent) and ZOE (beast) are all names which identify pagan religions. Saturn is the Son of the S.U.N. Apollo is the S.U.N. God and we have a description of him "navigating the winds" and using music to collect his "ministers" for his Seeker Center at Delphi. Apollo is Apollyon or Abbadon: the destroyer.

The serpents, however, of the magicians-(that is,) the gods of destruction-withstood the power of Moses in Egypt, but the rod of Moses reduced them all to subjection and slew them.

This universal serpent is, he says, the wise discourse of Eve.

[Eve, or ZOE, the Mediatrix, was honored because the serpent taught her feminine knowledge]

This, he says, is the mystery of Edem, this the river of Edem;
........ this the mark that was set upon Cain,

The Name Of The Beast Hislop

The Mark of the Beast is the Name of a Man. This is the FALLEN man who is the image of worship:

The name of Adam in the Hebrew of Genesis almost always occurs with the article before it, implying "The Adam," or "The man." There is this difference, however--"The Adam" refers to man unfallen, E-anush, "The man," to "fallen man." E-anush, then, as "Principium decorum," "The fountain and father of the gods," is "FALLEN Adam." *

* Anesh properly signifies only the weakness or frailty of fallen humanity; but any one who consults OVID, Fashti, as to the character of Janus, will see that when E-anush was deified, it was not simply as Fallen man with his weakness, but Fallen man with his corruption.

The principle of Pagan idolatry went directly

to exalt fallen humanity, to consecrate its lusts,

to give men license to live after the flesh,

and yet, after such a life, to make them sure of eternal felicity.

E-anus, the "fallen man," was set up as the human Head of this system of corruption--this "Mystery of Iniquity." Now, from this we come to see the real meaning of the name, applied to the divinity commonly worshipped in Phrygia along with Cybele in the very same character as this same Janus, who was at once the Father of the gods, and the Mediatorial divinity. That name was Atys, or Attis, or Attes, * and the meaning will evidently appear from the meaning of the well-known Greek word Ate, which signifies "error of sin," and is obviously derived from the Chaldean Hata, "to sin."

* SMITH'S Classical Dictionary, "Atys." The identification of Attes with Bacchus or Adonis, who was at once the Father of the gods, and the Mediator, is proved from divers considerations.

1. While it is certain that the favourite god of the Phrygian Cybele was Attes, whence he was called "Cybelius Attes," from Strabo, we learn that the divinity worshipped along with Cybele in Phrygia, was called by the very name of Dionusos or Bacchus.

2. Attes was represented in the very same way as Bacchus. In Bryant there is an inscription to him along with the Idaean goddess, that is Cybele, under the name of "Attis the Minotaur" (Mythol.). Bacchus was bull-horned; it is well known that the Minotaur, in like manner, was half-man, half-bull.

3. He was represented in the exoteric story, as perishing in the same way as Adonis by a wild boar (PAUSAN). 4. In the rites of Magna Mater or Cybele, the priests invoked him as the "Deus propitius, Deus sanctus," "the merciful God, the holy God" (ARNOBIUS in Maxima Biblioth. Patrum), the very character which Bacchus or Adonis sustained as the mediatorial god.

Atys or Attes, formed from the same verb, and in a similar way, signifies "The Sinner." The reader will remember that Rhea or Cybele was worshipped in Phrygia under the name of Idaia Mater, "The mother of knowledge," and that she bore in her hand, as her symbol, the pomegranate, which we have seen reason to conclude to have been in Pagan estimation the fruit of the "forbidden tree."

THE WORLD OF IBLIS (SHAYTAAN)

HADHRAT Abdullah Ibn Abbaas (Radiallaahu Anhu) narrates the following Hadith of Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi was sallam): "Iblis, the accursed one petitioned Allah Ta'ala "O my Rabb! You have sent down Aadam (Alayhi salaam) onto the earth and You know that for him will be sent Revelations and Messengers. What will be his Books and how will be his Messengers?"

Allah Ta'ala replied: "I will send Angels to them (progeny of Adam) and from them (mankind) will raise Messengers. Their revelations will be the Tauraah, Injeel, Zabur and the Quraan.

Iblis said: "What will be my book?"

The Divine Answer came:

"Your writing will be to tattoo;

your reciting will be poetry;

your messengers will be the fortune-tellers and astrologists;

your food will be that food on which Bismillaah was not recited;

your drink will be alcohol;

your truth will be falsehood;

you home will be the toilets;

your net (to ensnare) will be women;

your muezzin will be the musical instruments,

and your musjid will be the market-place."

Bismillaah. In the name of Allah. All actions of a Muslim should begin with Bismillaah to ensure good and meritorious conduct.

Muezzin calls out the daily prayer.

Resources on the Egyptian and Babylonian connection note that:

"The feast of Christmas is, in allegorical form, the pagan celebration of the Serpent's eventual triumph over the very God who cut down the tower of Babel (symbolized by a tree). By reviving and restoring the mystery religions as they were practiced in ancient cultures, Horus became the Egyptian savior and virtual counterpart of Jesus Christ. In her Theosophical Glossary, H.P. Blavatsky thus describes Horus:

"Horus (Eg.). The last in the line of divine Sovereigns in Egypt, said to be the son of Osiris and Isis. He is the great god 'loved of Heaven,' the ''beloved of the Sun, the offspring of the gods, the subjugator of the world.'

At the time of the Winter Solstice (our Christmas), his image in the form of a small newly-born infant, was brought out from the sanctuary for the adoration of the worshipping crowds..." Resource

Jesus said that truth had been hidden from the foundation of the world in parables (Mt. 13) and refused to speak to the multitudes (big crowds) except in parables. Therefore, Dr. Shelly's quotation has a context:

FOR, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Mal 4:1

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. Mal 4: 2

Notice that Malachi said "the sun of righteousness" which is in contrast to the "day" of burning. Christ is called the true daystar in contrast to Lucifer who is the pretender daystar or morning star. He/She is Sophia-Zoe. The way righteousness is brought is to burn up the chaff and let the "winds blow it away."

His..."prayer is not offered in the name of Jesus Christ, but is addressed to the "Father of Lights." It is noteworthy that David Spangler identifies Lucifer as the "Morning Star" and redefines his name of Light Bearer to mean the source of Enlightenment or Gnosis:

"The light that reveals to us the presence of the Christ...comes from Lucifer. He is the light-giver, he is aptly named the Morning Star because it is his light that heralds for man the dawn of a great consciousness... He stands...as the Great Initiator, the one who hands the soul over to the Christ." 46.

The title "Morning Star," which rightfully belongs to Jesus Christ, appears to be much coveted by Lucifer whose evil character has been transformed in occult lore. A thoroughly metamorphosed Lucifer is found in H.P. Blavatsky's Theosophical Glossary:

"Lucifer (Lat.). The planet Venus, as the bright 'Morning Star.' Before Milton, Lucifer had never been the name of the Devil. Quite the reverse, since the Christian Saviour is made to say of himself in Revelations (xvi.22) 'I am. . .the bright morning star' or Lucifer." 47.

One New Age book, Walking Between The Worlds, by Gregg Braden, likewise praises the selfless virtue of Lucifer as the force of darkness who elected to leave heaven and --

"Éin perhaps one of the greatest acts of compassion ever witnessed in our ancient memory, willingly gave and continues to give of himself as our personal mirror of darkness because he loves us that much..." Resource.

However, the NIV gives aid and comfort to Lucifer worshipers:

"The removal of Lucifer's name from Isaiah 14:12 in modern versions also destroys the cross reference to Luke 10:18, in which verse Jesus identifies Satan as the former Lucifer: "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." With Lucifer divorced from the person of Satan, heretics are at liberty to remodel Lucifer as a benevolent deity. II Peter 1:19 in modern translations completes the repackaging of Lucifer and encourages readers to wait for him "...until the day dawn and the morning star arise in your hearts."

However, the S.U.N replacing the S.O.N does not make the "light" any less dangerous.

And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. Mal 4: 3

Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Mal 4: 4

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: Mal 4: 5

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Mal 4:6

When people spend their waking hours trying to turn the hearts of the children from the fathers you can bet that the s.u.n god has his agents sowing discord. And Lucifer's most important "weapon" was music and Molech was worshiped with music. But Isaiah said:

Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. Isa 33:11

And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. Isa 33:12

And the fourth angel poured out his vial (wide cup) upon the s.u.n.; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. Rev 16:8

Kaumatizo (g2739) kow-mat-id'-zo; from 2738; to burn: - scorch.

Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: Mt 13:5

And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Mt.13:6

Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. Isa 33:13

The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?

who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? Isa 33:14
He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; Isa 33:15

One of the missed points in the view of the Exodus as patternism for Christian worship and community, was that when God wanted to speak His Words to them they were unable to endure the great light. Therefore, they did not listen to Moses, fell into musical idolatry and none recovered until they later turned to Christ. God turned them over to worship the starry host which included Shamash.html worship. Astrology is one of the primary methods of obtaining a message from the dead.

"Manesseh also cultivated star and planetary worship (II Kings 21:3, 5) and the cult of Moloch, an Ammonite deity, whose worship was closely connected with astral divination (Amos 5:25, 26 Acts 7:41-43) and whose ritual was characterized by parents sacrificing their children by compelling them to pass through or into a furnace of fire." (Unger, Merrill, Archaeology and the Old Testament, Zondervan, P. 279) 

Compared to the Light of God the light of the S.U.N. seems tame. However, God's fire wil burn up all of the chaff which comes out of the minds and lips of men who discount His Word through Narrative Theology.

The sun of righteousness is the lighting of righteousness as the "spirit of understanding" is the mental disposition of understanding. The "sun" is not the name of God as s-u-n is the name of the heavenly body and its personification in dozens of "gods." However, paganism "baptized" certain idols or men to be the second incarnation of the literal sun.

If we can understand that we are not literal stubble we can understand that Christ is not the literal sun. Rather, Jesus is the lighter of righteousness.

The phrase "true light comming" proves that Jesus is the "beam" of enlightenment and is not the sun.

Phos (g5457) foce; (to shine or make manifest, espec. by rays; comp. 5316, 5346); luminousness (in the widest application, nat. or artificial, abstr. or concr., lit. or fig.): - fire, light

Carnal man needs idols or images or living, breathing pagan festivals to be able to "see" God and attract people. However, the true "light" or sun is invisible to the human eyes. Without spiritual sight "get pregnant on straw and give birth to stubble."

I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire (lightening), that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. Rev 3:18

And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the s.u.n.;

for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. Rev 22:5

We are to walk in the commands of Messiah which is the light in our world.

And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Mi.4:2

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Jn.8:12

He did not say that He was the S-U-N but the light!

He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. 1 John 2:6

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 1 John 2:7

Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. 1 John 2:8

The pagan - Christian ecumenical movement did not worship Jesus as the sun. The worship of the sun did not cease. People baptized Santa to baptize pagan gods and goddesses. The women in the Temple in Jerusalem musically lamented for Tammuz and celebrated his arrival to play the flute and smell the incense while the men worshiped the s-u-n in the east. (Eze. 8). Ishtar or Astarte or Easter is regularly worshiped in modern churches.

This was NOT worshiping the s-o-n under the image of the s-u-n; it was unabashed worship of the s-u-n as the god along with the moon. When the pagan feasts were "christianized" then the "Beast" had won. Santa is the magical "giver of free gifts" consistent with the Babylonian "god" rather than Jehovah.

See The Great Red Dragon: Lucifer and Music as S.U.N. or Serpent Worship
See Alexander Hislop and the Sign of The Cross (from the sun)
Lamps Candles and Fire Worship With Music

Of Candles the Catholic Encyclopedia notes:

"The word candle (candela, from candeo, to burn) was introduced into the English language as an ecclesiastical term, probably as early as the eighth century. It was known in classical times and dennoted any kind of taper in which a wick, not uncommonly made of a strip of papyrus, was encased in wax or animal fat.

"We need not shrink from admitting that candles, like incense and lustral water, were commonly employed in pagan worship and in the rites paid to the dead.

"But the Church from a very early period took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things indifferent in themselves, which seemed proper to enhance the splendour of religious ceremonial.

"We must not forget that most of these adjuncts to worship, like music, lights, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, etc.

were not identified with any idolatrous cult in particular; they were common to almost all cults. They are, in fact, part of the natural language of mystical expression, and such things belong quite as much to secular ceremonial as they do to religion.

Modern candle, fire or sun worship is as ancient as the Catholic urge to adopt pagan practices to attract pagans. However, calling a thing "Christian" does not make it so as Dr. Rubel Shelly suggests:

This is an old woodcut showing the men bowing to the phallic symbols with the starry host "mounted" on top as fertility symbols. When you errect non-funcitonal pillars which are intrinsically insulting to god He turns you over to the symbols you allow to stand.

Dr. Rubel Shelly's proof-text can never be translated to "do whatever you wish as long as you do it in the name of the Lord." Can we praise the S.U.N. or Shamash as long as we do it in the name of the Lord?

The musical idolatry at Mount Sinai caused God to break the covenant of grace and give Israel the Law of Moses to govern a lawless people. God "turned them over to worship the STARRY HOST" which was Molech, Remphan, Chiun or other idols of SATURN or Star worship.

However, Rubel Shelly sees this as our pattern. Connect this to the conversion of the S.O.N. into the S.U.N. imagry and you have restored the worship which was Israel's curse.

The Israelites indulged in what goes back to Sun or Star worship when they rose up to play around the golden calf. They did it in the name of the Lord. However, you cannot be an idolatry and get away with it by saying: "Oh, we are doing it in the name of the Lord." Silly. Dr. Shelly sees the Exodus event as a "pattern for Christian worship and community." Either he had never read Exodus or he truly means and intends to promote the 'worship of the starry hosts' whose dead give away is the forced introduction of music. No one else except those exposed to Narrative Theology giving them the right to write their own Scripture.

In his book, Too Long In The Sun, Richard Rives draws an appropriate parallel to the circumstances in Exodus 32, a Biblical precedent which provoked God nearly to the point of destroying the nation of Israel for their sin of blending (baptizing) pagan worship with His own:

"Éthe golden calf was built and the celebration declared a 'feast to the Lord.'...The people had declared a celebration to honor God that he did not recognize as being in his honor."

The Star Of 2000 commends and quotes liberally the New Age wisdom of Robert Muller, Hans Kung, Isaac Asimov, Brian Swimme, Thomas Berry and St Francis of Assisi who praised "sister Moon," "brother Wind" and "sister Earth" in The Canticle of the Sun. Addressing a 1994 Adopt-A-People Consultation, Gary also highly recommended the New Age books of David Spangler and Tom Sine, calling these Luciferians "the best." And what is the gospel according to David Spangler?

"Lucifer works within each of us to bring us to wholeness, and as we move into a New Age...each of us in some way is brought to that point which I term the Luciferic Initiation, the particular doorway though which the individual must pass if he is to come fully into the presence of his light and wholeness. Lucifer prepares man in all his ways for the experience of Christhood...

Not only are we permitted to worship the SUN under the name of ZOE the Lucifer "beast" creature, we actually dishonor God if we don't Lament for Tammuz or Adonis who was often confused with Christ. People even set out trees at the tomb of Jesus under the name of Adonis. Can we color Adonis the color "christian" and get away with it? Would we actually dishonor God if we didn't honor Tammuz or Adonis another figure of the S.U.N?

God called it an abomination when the women were honoring the SUN under as they lamented for Tammuz while the men were even worse for bowing to the SUN in the east. Click for the story.

If this is the standard then nothing can be excluded. Didn't Paul really say: "Whatever you do in word and deed, do all by the authority of the Lord Jesus?" Paul had just demanded, as clear as a sunny day:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Col 3:16

Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs are the Word of God. Why fill up with "the word of Christ" and then overflow in songs with "the word of Twila Paris?"

Putting a tag or MARK upon various forms of music and theatrical performance can never be, by our power, washed and painted up to replace the clear revealed word of God.

Dr. Shelly has opened up a whole new paradigm:

If any activity can be baptized in or colored with a Christian connotation,

We dishonor God if we do not "immerse" or "paint" with a Christian connotation.

Example: Contemporary Christian music in the "praise book" has a "Christian connotation." That is, we can "tag" it as Christian.
Rock and Rap (Voodoo) can have "Christian overtones.'
Conclusion: We not only must use Rock and Rap but we dishonor God if we do not "baptize" it and paint it as "Christian."

This "paradigm" has been worked out to define those who do not fellowship instrumental churches as fratricidal -- brother murderers.

And we cheat ourselves if we do not "wash" or "paint" the world's activity to make them part of our lives.

The Catholic church baptized most of the pagan beliefs and practices but they "did not have their sins remitted." The baptismal service for Christmas festivals was always recognized as a "hook" to bring in the pagans.

"Lucifer and the powers of the air hovering around it... try in vain to tear down the cross and to silence the importunate clangour of the bells. In the Golden Legend Longfellow wrote:

--- Lucifer Lower! lower!
Hover downward!
Seize the loud vociferous bells, and

Clasing, clanging, to the pavement
Hurl them from their window tower,

---Voices. All they thunders
Here are harmless!
Fore these bells have been anointed,
And baptized with holy water!
They defy our utmost power."

Of course, the true evil power is delighted when we baptize the S.U.N. and substitute it for the S.O.N. But names do not protect the guilty.

In this respect the prologue of Longfellow's "Golden Legend" leaves a generally correct impression, despite the inaccurate statement:

For those bells have been anointed
And baptized with holy water.

In making the unctions, and not, be it noticed, in washing the bell, a form is used introducing the patron saint: "May this bell be + hallowed, O Lord, and + consecrated in the name of the + Father, and of the + Son and of the + Holy Ghost. In honour of St. N. Peace be to thee." Finally, the thurible with incense (thymiama) and myrrh are placed under the bell so that the smoke arising may fill its cavity. Then another prayer is said of similar purport to the last, and the ceremony ends with the reading of the passage in the Gospel concerning Martha and Mary. (Catholic Encyclopedia)

If we are going to baptize the s-u-n and Santa (closely related) then we might want to call in a priest.

Sound as Exorciser

The sounds of "music" has always been the home of the gods or might be used to "baptize" or "paint" an activity to make it "Christian" and therefore holy.

It is not surprising therefore that sound instruments were exorcized of demons who likely lived within them in order to make them suitable for a money-making religion:

"The bells (spirit or story-exorcising) were solemnly consecrated and popularly supposed to be baptized by the priests; certainly they had received names and were washed, blessed, and sprinkled with holy oil

'to drive away and repel evil spirits.'..
Thus blessed, it was endowed with great powers; allayed all storms; diverted the thunderbolt; drove away evil spirits."

"On the ceremony they all laid hold of the rope; bestowed a name on the bell; and the priest, sprinkling it with holy water, baptized it in the name of the Father, etc.; he then clothed it with a fine garment.

After this the gossips have a grand feast,

and made great presents,

which the priests received in behalf of the bell.

Thus blessed, it was endowed with great powers; allayed (on being rung) all storms; diverted the thunderbolt; drove away evil spirits. These consecrated bells were always inscribed." (Sir James George Frazer, Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, Macmillian, p. 425-6, 1923)

A writer of the time denied that "a church bell lost all of its miraculous virtue when it was named--he will not allow us to say baptized--

by the priest's concubine.
Bacon condescended to mention the belief that "great ringing of bells in populous cities hath chased away thunder, and also dissipated pestilent air."

Why not, as at Mount Sinai, rise up to play with sacred, baptized sex, dancing, singing, mocking and playing musical instruments. We could show them the common form of fun condemned by Amos.

Oh. Just joking.

Jack Hayford may be the authority to say that NOT baptizing Santa may be dishonoring God and damaging to those who don't believe in him:

"I've picked up the pieces of too many mangled souls to believe the "anti-Santa, anti-celebration" program works. I can't begin to number the people who have told me about turning from the Lord because of the way their church or parents attacked the joys of Christmas celebration. Nor can I number the souls who have received Jesus in the midst of our congregation's high, festive, rejoicing times* some of them admitting they had no idea that God's love and Christmas' fun could be married in holy union. Jack Hayford. Click here to donate or buy. Of course they are interdominational and part of Four Square (charismatic)

Painting Images To Make them Holy We repeat Dr. Shelly

Images of the virgin came from the same place as the candles and music.

The Emperor Michael II (820-9), in his letter to Louis the Pious, describes the excesses of the imageworshippers:

They have removed the holy cross from the churches and replaced it by images before which they burn incense.... They sing psalms before these images, prostrate themselves before them, implore their help. Many dress up images in linen garments and choose them as godparents for their children. Others who become monks, forsaking the old tradition -- according to which the hair that is cut off is received by some distinguished person -- let it fall into the hands of some image.

Some priests scrape the paint off images, mix it with the consecrated bread and wine and give it to the faithful. Others place the body of the Lord in the hands of images from which it is taken by the communicants. Others again, despising the churches, celebrate Divine Service in private houses, using an image as an altar (Mansi, XIV, 417-22).

So are Catholics

[The holy Synod commands] that images of Christ, the Virgin Mother of God, and other saints are to be held and kept especially in churches, that due honour and reverence (debitum honorem et venerationem) are to be paid to them,

not that any divinity or power is thought to be in them for the sake of which they may be worshipped, or that anything can be asked of them, or that any trust may be put in images, as was done by the heathen who put their trust in their idols [Ps. cxxxiv, 15 sqq.],

but because the honour shown to them is referred to the prototypes which they represent, so that by kissing, uncovering to, kneeling before images we adore Christ and honour the saints whose likeness they bear (Denzinger, no. 986).

That is what the Isralites said when they rose up to engage in the worship of the Golden Calf by calling it their Lord.

The cathedrals were built because they tyrants thought that they could "lead the peasants into the presence of God" with lavish, expensive architecture, colomns (asherah poles), relics and images.

Music was stolen from the same Pagans because it was "Seeker-Friendly" or could attract the masses to the theatrical performance. Music was therefore "baptized" in order to make money. Santa is baptized in order to attract people to the "passion plays." The images were "painted" or "colored" to make them look alive enough that the paint could be sold by the priests.

The word "god" in the New Testament is a generic word. If you worship a stone then that is your god. However, all authority and full Deity is vested in Jesus Christ (Joshua or Jehovah-Saves). When we take the name of Christ off our signs and call ourselves The Family of God we are falling back to an "unknown god" or a god with no name.

Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. Acts 17:22

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. Acts 17:23

Paul did not give approval to their worship because ignorant worship is vain worship. Jesus said that God is worshiped "in spirit" or in the mind and in truth which is His Word. People can worship without it being true worship. In order to worship you have to "know" whom you are worshiping. You might believe that there is One True God but you cannot worship Him without knowing Who He is. Paul was simply going to tell them about Jesus so they would not be in the dark any more. Paul did not give permission for the people to keep on speaking of Jesus as "unknown" or "hey you.!"

Pausanias Description of Greece

[5.14.8] An account of the great altar I gave a little way back; it is called the altar of

Olympian Zeus. By it is an altar of Unknown Gods, and after this an altar of Zeus Purifier, one of Victory, and another of Zeus--this time surnamed Underground. There are also altars of all gods, and of Hera surnamed Olympian, this too being made of ashes

[1.1.4] The Athenians have also another harbor, at Munychia, with a temple of Artemis of Munychia, and yet another at Phalerum, as I have already stated, and near it is a sanctuary of Demeter. Here there is also a temple of Athena Sciras, and one of Zeus some distance away, and altars of the gods named Unknown

Paul is not going to "baptize" their pagan views in order to win friends and influence people.

The Saxons, as is well known, regarded the Sun as a female divinity, and the Moon as a male. The Sun god is therefore the sun goddess as the gifts of Santa in church rituals are provided by the female component and "Santa" is given the credit. This is quite similar to the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai where Israel gave the bull "image" credit rather than God.

Paul would tell the people who baptize bells or Santa Clause or worship fire that their worship is totally pagan, ignorant and they must stop it:

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Acts 17:24

Neither is worshipped with mens hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; Acts 17:25

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; Acts 17:26

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: Acts 17:27

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Acts 17:28

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and mans device. Acts 17:29

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Acts 17:30

Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Acts 17:31

Therefore, it seems that Paul does not give authority to worship the sun or any material things as long as we call the "graven stone" Jesus.

See More on the worship of the Unknown

This was wrong, ignorant, sinful and they must repent.

Why? Because God lives within the human heart and you don't have to "drum up" the gods (plural.)

Anunnki - Anu, Enlil, Shamash, Ea - The Creation of Man
Shamash (Sun god), Hymn To
The Worm and the Toothache
Prayer of Ashurbanipal to Shamash (the sun god)

Sophia Androgyne -- wisdom; who, in her turn -- fecundated with the Divine Light -- produces This Trinity produces also a duad -- Lord Ledhoio, and Fetahil, the genius (the former, a perfect emanation, the latter, imperfect). Christos and Sophia-Achamoth (one perfect, the other imperfect), as an emanation.

Stephen was murdered in part for denying that God lived in houses or was worshiped with the works of men's hands:

And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Acts 7:41

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? Acts 7:42

"Then God turned away from them and gave them up, and let them serve the sun, moon, and stars as their gods! In the book of Amos' prophecies the Lord God asks, 'Was it to me you were sacrificing during those forty years in the desert, Israel? Acts 7:42LIV

Ken

Had a look through your Web page at http://www.piney.com/BabIndex.html

I was wondering whether you may know the source and traditional description of the attached image. I would guess that the figure on the left is Hammurabi, but the one on the right completely baffles me.

Any help you can provide would be appreciated.

Regards, Ian, UK

---

In another e-mail

Regarding the fourth picture down (Shamash, Utu with the fish making the sun circuit), do you have any more information, such as the "official" description, and/or origin of the image? I just discovered it on the British Museum's Compass site at http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ (searching for Utu), apparently it is the Greenstone seal of Adda.

Regards,

Ian Tresman

Society for Interdisciplinary Studies

http://www.knowledge.co.uk/sis/

---

Ian's Response from the British Museum:

Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2001 12:07:37 +0000

From: Dominique Collon <DCollon@british-museum.ac.uk>

To: ian@knowledge.co.uk

Subject: Re: Gorgons

Dear Mr Tresman,

The image you sent us is a terracotta plaque about 11.5 cm high excavated at the site of Khafajeh in the Diyala region north-east of Baghdad during the excavations of the Oriental Institute of Chicago in the 1930s. It is now in the Oriental Institute Museum in Chicago. it probably dates to the 19th or 18th century BC.

It shows a male deity, identifiable by his horned headdress. It cannot be Hammurabi, as you suggest, since he never claimed divine status, but we cannot be sure which of the many warrior gods is depicted. The other figure is a real puzzle and no one has come up with a satisfactory explanation. I deal a lot with iconography and it baffles me too! It has been linked with the sun, for obvious reasons and, because of its single eye, with Cyclops figures which do often appear in early Near Eastern art. However there is no evidence for any link with the Greek Cyclops. I have never heard of a suggestion linking it with a Gorgon. I'm sorry I cant be more helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Dominique Collon

Assistant Keeper

Department of the Ancient Near East

British Museum

London WC1B 3DG

---

From Ken Sublett:

Ian, here is a picture of Hammurabi who was a real life person:

Hammurabi, limestone relief; in the British Museum By courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum; photograph, J.R. Freeman & Co. Ltd.

Text At Britannica Online

Here is your your image of a what appears to be a mythological scene. The image on the right seems to be a sun image with the all seing eye in the forehead. However, the fellow on the left looks more like Shamash (the sun god) who instructed Hammurabi about his laws. I wouldn't want to worship either one. This fellow is MAKING MELODY (psallo) with a carnal weapon.

 

These might be "fish??" and here is Shamash (Utu) Center with the fish making the sun circuit from Enki/Ea. (I believe).

A true color version is here Another View Makes Shamash Clearer

I have added the following from Ian's resources with my blue notes:

"Greenstone seal of Adda Akkadian, about 2300-2200 BC From Mesopotamia Four of the principal Mesopotamian deities

This is one of the many high quality greenstone seals that were made when much of Mesopotamia was united under the military control of the kings of the city of Agade (Akkad). The cuneiform inscription identifies the owner of the seal as Adda, who is described as dubsar, or 'scribe'.

The figures can be identified as gods by their pointed hats with multiple horns. The figure with streams of water and fish flowing from his shoulders is Ea, god of subterranean waters and of wisdom, called Enki by the Sumerians.

Behind Ea stands Usimu, his two-faced vizier (chief minister).

Ishtar, the goddess of fertility (indicated by the cluster of dates) and war (the weapons rising from her shoulders) stands winged for victory.

The sun-god Shamash (in the center known to the Akkadians as Utu), who has rays rising from his shoulder, is busy cutting his way through the mountains in order to rise at dawn.

The god armed with a bow and quiver has not been identified with certainty, but may represent a hunting god like Nusku. His father was Sin (Sumerian: Nanna), the moongod. He figures much in incantations and rituals as the fire. He repels demons of the night. Height: 3.9 cm Diameter: 2.55 cm.

Other myths about Ninurta are An-gim dím-ma and a myth of his contest with Enki. The first of these tells how Ninurta, on returning from battle to Nippur, was met by Enlil's page Nusku, who ordered him to cease his warlike clamour and not scare Enlil and the other gods. After long speeches of self-praise by Ninurta, further addresses to him calmed him and made him enter his temple gently. The second tale relates how he conquered the Thunderbird Ansud with Enki's help but missed the powers it had stolen from him, and how, resentful at this, he plotted against Enki but was outsmarted and trapped. Another Sumerian myth, the "Eridu Genesis," tells of the creation of man and animals, of the building of the first cities, and of the flood.

Shamash, seated in his temple and facing his emblem (the solar disk), and worshipers, bas-relief from Sippar, about 870 BC; in the British Museum By courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum
 

Pink chalcedony cylinder seal: From MesopotamiaKassite dynasty, about 1400-1300 BCShamash seated before a sun disc

This cylinder seal is typical of the period when the dynasty of Kassite kings(probably originally from eastern Mesopotamia) ruled Babylonia (about1550-1155 BC).

The seated figure is the sun-god Shamash, sitting in front of a sun disc, and below a cross, both his symbols. The seven-line cuneiform inscription, a prayer to Shamash, can be translated: 'Shamash, king of heaven and earth whose me's are brilliant, who advances with horns, who - through his (servant) who reveres him - has brought salvation: Sha-ilimma-damqa, son of Lugal-mansi.' Shamash represents the brilliant light of the sun, which returns every day to illuminate the life of mankind, as well as giving beneficial warmth, which causes plants to grow. In Akkadian tradition he was sometimes the son of the god of heaven Anu or of the supreme god Enlil. His principal temple was called E-babbar ('White House') at Sippar. Presumably because the sun, in its path across the skies, see everything, Shamash came to be regarded as the god of truth, justice and right. As a protector and destroyer of evil, he also acted as a warrior.

Prayer of Ashurbanipal to Shamash

The me's referred to in the quotation are properties of the gods which enable many activities, central to civilized human life, to take place: such as religion, kingship, ritual music. This is a very fundamental concept in Sumerianreligion. Length: 4.4 cm Diameter: 1.9 cm

The story of how Inanna (Ishtar) got Ea, the patron god of music, drunk and stole the gifts or Me's is told in a poem located here. This article will direct you to Enoch and other documents to show the nature of these "gifts from the gods" to take away his powers.

Shamash from Britannica Online:

(Akkadian), Sumerian Utu, in Mesopotamian religion, the god of the sun, who, with the moon god, Sin (Sumerian: Nanna), and Ishtar (Sumerian: Inanna), the goddess of Venus, was part of an astral triad of divinities. Shamash was the son of Sin.

Shamash, as the solar deity, exercised the power of light over darkness and evil. In this capacity he became known as the god of justice and equity and was the judge of both gods and men. (According to legend, the Babylonian king Hammurabi received his code of laws from Shamash.) At night, Shamash became judge of the underworld.

Shamash was not only the god of justice but also governor of the whole universe; in this aspect he was pictured seated on a throne, holding in his hand the symbols of justice and righteousness, a staff and a ring. Also associated with Shamash is the notched dagger. The god is often pictured with a disk that symbolized the Sun.

As the god of the sun, Shamash was the heroic conqueror of night and death who swept across the heavens on horseback or, in some representations, in a boat or chariot. He bestowed light and life. Because he was of a heroic and wholly ethical character, he only rarely figured in mythology, where the gods behaved all too often like mortals. The chief centres of his cult were at Larsa in Sumer and at Sippar in Akkad. Shamash's consort was Aya, who was later absorbed by Ishtar.

Shamash-shum-ukin: fl. 7, th century BC crown prince of Babylon, son of Esarhaddon and brother of Ashurbanipal, the last of the great kings of Assyria. He led a coalition of Arabic tribes against Ashurbanipal, but, after being starved out by his brother's siege of Babylon (684 BC), he capitulated. According to tradition, Shamash-shum-ukin committed suicide by making a pyre of his palace, treasury, and concubines.

Beth-Shemesh in the Bible

Beyt Shemesh (h1053) bayth sheh'-mesh; from 1004 and 8121; house of (the) sun; Beth-Shemesh, a place in Pal.: - Beth-shemesh.

So, looks connected to Shemesh or Shamash.

---

Ken Sublett

My Babylonia Glossary The Bible is filled with references to these stories and it is important to understand what "lamenting for Tammuz" and the sun worship at Jerusalem meant.

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