Pagan Worship Continues Today

You will recall that in the time of Nimrod, the sun (which was associated symbolically with the Serpent, or Satan) was symbolized on earth by fire. NIMROD, as the SUN-GOD or fire-god in the Mysteries, was worshipped by the sacrifice of HUMAN BEINGS IN FIRE TO HIM. Has this pagan custom persisted in even our "Christian" times? Let us examine.

The Feast of the NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN is set down in the Papal calendar for the 24th of June. The very same period was equally memorable in the Babylonian calendar for one of its grand original festivals -- to commemorate the death and reviving of Tammuz, or Nimrod (Stanley's Sabean Philosophy, p. 1065).

Why is this a "coincidence"? The apostate Church followed the now famous advice of Pope Gregory I, that by all means they should meet the pagans halfway and so bring them into the Church (Bower's Lives of Popes, vol. ii, p. 523).

Here is how it happened.

About the sixth century A.D., emissaries were sent over Europe, with an eye to gathering the pagans into its fold. Remember, the apostate Church was formed by a union of pagans and professing Christians (Consult Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. i, chap. 15). These emissaries or investigators found that the keeping of the 24th of June in honor of Tammuz (Nimrod) was very popular.

To gain numbers to the church was the thing! This meant both professing Christians and pagans must be satisfied. The pagans wanted this festival. The Christians would not tolerate a name suggestive of its real meaning. So a Christian name was put on this pagan festival. This is exactly the way our pagan Christmas came into Christianity and why there are so many pagan festivals observed in the churches today.

Now what Christian name was attached to June 24th -- a pagan festival?

As the pagans had already established December 25th as the Messiah's supposed birthday (actually it was in the autumn), that could not be used. But June 24th -- six months earlier -- could pass for John the Baptist's birthday! John was born 6 months before the Messiah. The Feast could be called the nativity of St. John. But where could a connection be found between John and the name of Tammuz? In the Latin language adopted by the Church, John was called Joannes.

One of the many sacred names by which Tammuz or Nimrod was called, when he reappeared in the Mysteries after he was slain, was Oannes (Bunsen's Egypt, vol. i, p. 707). How similar is Oannes to Joannes or John!

But Oannes was the ancient Fish-god. How did Nimrod acquire this characteristic and name?

When Nimrod was overcome by Shem, Semiramis concocted a fable. She said that Nimrod took refuge in the sea. When he therefore "reappeared" he did so in the very character of Oannes, the Fish-god (Hislop p. 114).

So the PAGAN "NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN" FESTIVAL, which actually commemorates the death and reviving of pagan Oannes or Tammuz, BEARS A CHRISTIAN NAME!

How was this Christian-named festival originally observed? How has it been observed even into our times?

"St. John's Day" in Britain

Before Christianity entered the British Isles, the 24th of June was celebrated by the Druids with blazing midsummer fires in honor of their great divinity who was Baal (another name for Nimrod or Tammuz). It was thus observed to our times! "I have seen the people running and leaping through the St. John fires in Ireland...proud of passing through unsinged...thinking of themselves in a special manner blest by the ceremony" (Toland's Druids, p. 107). It has been a widespread custom. Herodotus, Wilkinson, Layard, and many others record its observance in various countries.

The grand distinguishing solemnities of St. John's Eve are the mid-summer fires. These were lighted in France, Switzerland, Ireland, and Scotland (Hislop, p. 114). "When the FIRE had burned for several hours and got very low, everyone PASSED THROUGH IT...here was...worship of Baal, if not Molech (II Kings 23:10) too, by millions professing the Christian name" (Bell's Wayside Pictures, p. 225).

SO, WE SEE THE WORSHIP OF THE SUN-GOD OR SERPENT AGAIN IN OUR TIMES, UNDER THE CLOAK OF A CHRISTIAN NAME! Our world is not as far removed from paganism as we think!

What does YEHOVAH God say about this heathen practice? The people of Old Testament times were practicing this identical rite to honor this same pagan god. "They built the high places of Baal...to cause their sons and their daughters to PASS THROUGH THE FIRE TO MOLECH [Nimrod]: which I commanded them not!" (Jeremiah 32:35). Again YEHOVAH says, "When ye make your sons to pass through the fire, YE POLLUTE YOURSELVES WITH ALL YOUR IDOLS, even unto this day" (Ezekiel 20:31). YEHOVAH COMMANDS that this idolatrous festival NOT be kept! He says it is IDOLATRY! -- in honor of an idol god! THE PEOPLE TODAY HAVE OTHER GODS BEFORE THE TRUE GOD. The very first of the Ten Commandments says, "THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME" (Exodus 20:3).

What About Christmas Observance?

The day set apart by Semiramis in memory of the "new birth" of Nimrod, her husband who had been slain by Shem, is familiar to everyone. What day is this? CHRISTMAS!

Through her mysteries her dead husband was said to have been miraculously conceived of Semiramis and to have returned in the form of Horus (Semiramis' illegitimate son). It was the BIRTHDAY OF THE UNCONQUERED SUN! (Gieseler's Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii, p. 42). She claimed Shem had not vanquished Nimrod even though he had slain him.

In Egypt, the son of Isis (Semiramis), the Babylonian queen of heaven, was supposedly born at the approximate time of the winter solstice (Wilkinson's Egyptians, vol. iv, p. 405). The winter solstice then was December 25th, the place marking the beginning of the days becoming longer and longer. TO PAGAN SUN-WORSHIPPERS IT MEANT THAT THEIR GOD -- THE SUN -- WAS NOT GOING TO DIE AFTER ALL, BUT WAS BECOMING STRONGER AND STRONGER. The very name "Yule-day" which is used among us today proves its pagan and Babylonian origin (Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. i, p. 130). "Yule" was the Chaldee name for "infant" or "little child" long before Christ's time. It did not appear in Christian worship until around 350 A.D.!

The Sabeans of Arabia regarded the 24th day of December as the birthday of their pagan "Lord" (Stanley's History of Philosophy, p. 1066, col. 1). The Saxons observed December the 25th. Hislop, p. 96 states: "It was an essential principle of the Babylonian system, that the Sun or Baal was the only God. When, therefore, Tammuz was worshipped as god incarnate," (after he had supposedly taken the human form) "that implied he was an incarnation of the Sun."

Here again, then, we see why observing the BIRTHDAY of Tammuz is Sun-worship! In observing THIS DAY, PEOPLE OF OUR TIME ACTUALLY PAY HOMAGE TO A MORTAL MAN (now dead) AS BEING GOD INCARNATE, WHILE THEY THINK THEY ARE HONORING THE MESSIAH'S BIRTHDAY.

And the Christmas Tree?

What about today's Christmas tree? The Christmas tree in Egypt was the palm; in Rome it was the fir. The mother (Semiramis) of Adonis the Sun-God (Grecian name of Nimrod) was mystically said to have been changed into a tree -- the Christmas tree. While in this state she was said to have brought forth her so-called 'divine' son (Ovid's, Metain, lib. XV 500-513). Hislop, on p. 97, indicates that if the mother was the tree, the son must have been the counterfeit "Man of the branch." But the Messiah is the true "Branch" (Jeremiah 23:5). This is another pagan duality.

This, he states, accounts for putting the Yule Log into the fire on Christmas eve and the appearance of the Christmas tree next morning -- the tree that supposedly brings all divine gifts to men. When people use the Christmas tree in their celebrations, they pay homage to Semiramis, the mother (and giver) of the false "Savior." Who then do they thus acknowledge as their savior? NIMROD -- the very man who "saved" mankind from following YEHOVAH God at the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:6).

What does YEHOVAH God say about the Christmas tree? "Learn not the way of the heathen...for one cutteth a tree...They deck it with silver and with gold; fasten it...that it move not...they are altogether brutish and foolish" (Jeremiah 10:1-8). YEHOVAH commands us to commemorate the Messiah's death (Mark 14:22-24) -- not his birth, which occurred before winter (Luke 2:8).

The Messiah's Conception Counterfeited

Is there a counterfeit for the human conception of the Messiah? Yes! Lady Day, celebrated each March 25th -- 9 months before the supposed "Savior" was born. This day was observed long before the Messiah's time in honor of the Babylonian "Messiah" (Ammianus Marcellinus, book 23, ch. 3, p. 355).

How clear it is becoming that the Devil supervised the fashioning of these counterfeits. They not only could be used in deceiving mankind then, as to the True way to salvation, but also could be used in deceiving people after the real Savior came! So we see that, THOSE WHO KEEP CHRISTMAS TODAY MARK THEMSELVES AS WORSHIPPERS OF THE SUN, SATAN, NIMROD, HORUS, AND SEMIRAMIS -- the apostate heroes who founded civilization after the Flood in defiance of the way of YEHOVAH God. What a group for a modern "Christian" to be worshipping!

And Semiramis? Does she have a day? Yes, she has a day reserved for herself also -- Lady Day -- and the people here and in other countries are dutifully keeping it! After all, had it not been for her, the MYSTERIES (II Thessalonians 2:7) which deceive the earth today would never have been formulated and the pagans would never have had a false "savior."

The name of Semiramis found on Assyrian monuments is "Ishtar." This corresponds to one of the titles of the Babylonian Beltes (Semiramis) -- called Astarte in the Bible. So, the very word "Easter" shows that this festival originated in Babylon (Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, p. 629).

What does this day commemorate?

Origin of Easter Observance

To discover the origin of Easter we have to go back to Semiramis and her Mysteries again!

Notice what Hislop admits on page 110: "As everything that was good...to mankind was represented in the Chaldean (Babylonian) mysteries, as in some way connected with the Babylonian goddess (Semiramis), so the greatest blessing to the human race which the ark contained...was held to be Astarte...the great civilizer and benefactor of the world...It was easy for her worshippers to be made to believe that in a previous incarnation she had lived in the Antediluvian world."

The words for "egg" and "house" in the Hebrew and Chaldean are very similar. So the house or ark of Noah floating on the waters, became the "Egg." "An egg of wondrous size is said to have fallen from heaven into the river Euphrates...out came Venus, who afterward became the Assyrian goddess" (Hyginus' Fabulae, pp. 148, 149) -- that is, Astarte. The pagan classic poems are full of fables of the Mystic egg of the Babylonians.

The event that the "Ishtar egg" or Easter egg first commemorated was the "arrival" (birth) of the future mother of the Sun-god on this earth after the Flood! So we see Easter commemorates Semiramis' birthday -- not the Messiah's resurrection!

Easter worship is actually sun-goddess worship!

What does YEHOVAH God say about observing Easter? "Trust ye not in lying words...the women...make cakes to the queen of heaven [This world today is doing the same thing!]...walk ye in all the ways I have commanded...But they hearkened not..."

And what happens to those who continue to disobey? -- "The carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of heaven" (Jeremiah 7:1-33). This is the result of Easter keeping -- of following the Devil's deceptive Mysteries!

Yeshua knew that men would attach his name to pagan practices, claiming to worship him. He shouted the warning: "Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).

Let us now notice one more of these deceptions that masquerade as Christian -- but are actually pagan.

The Counterfeit Cross

Is the cross which took the Messiah's life a thing to be proud of and adored? Or has the Devil deceived us here also? Our sins and the Devil's deception killed the Messiah. Satan was to bruise the heel of the seed of woman (Genesis 3:15) -- Satan was to kill the Messiah. How did he do this?

Satan deceived us into sinning and OUR sins killed the Messiah. Should we parade OUR INSTRUMENT OF DEATH, which took the Messiah's life, before the world and be proud of it? But notice even more about the practice of parading the cross.

The true original form of the Chaldean (Babylonian) alphabet letter "T" is made like like the CROSS CHURCHES USE TODAY -- and WAS THE INITIAL OF TAMMUZ, the sun-god. "This was marked on the foreheads of those initiated into the Mysteries; the Vestal virgins of pagan (not modern) Rome wore it suspended off their necklaces as nuns do now. There is hardly a pagan tribe where a cross has not been found...the X which in itself was not an unnatural symbol of Christ, and which was once regarded as such, was allowed to go entirely into disuse and the Tau cross, the sign of Tammuz, the false messiah, was everywhere substituted in its stead" (Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 119).

In fact, the Messiah was crucified on a tree -- not a wooden cross! Notice what Ian Wilson says:

"And the Romans were ever a practical people. As known from the writings of Roman historians, the prescribed procedure was for the victim to carry only the patibulum, or crossbeam of the cross. The stipes, or upright -- usually a BEHEADED TREE-TRUNK still rooted in the ground -- remained permanently in position, so that the crossbeam carried by the victim could simply be lifted up and dropped into position for each fresh execution. That the upright was a simple TREE-TRUNK also makes sense of a later statement by Jesus' disciple Simon Peter that 'they killed him by hanging him on a tree' (Acts 10:39)" (Murder at Golgotha, St. Martin's Press, New York 2006, p. 87).

Regardless of the actual nature of the crucifixion tree (living or dead) more and more commentators and historians are coming to the realization that the Messiah was put to death on a tree rather than a Roman cross.

People and churches nowadays are even going to great lengths to identify themselves with the symbol of the Sun-god! The great display of this symbol today is an outward sign of how blinded the world is to the truth of YEHOVAH God.

Origin of YEHOVAH's Week

When did YEHOVAH's week originate? What was this week like, which He has given to the world to use forever? Notice!

When YEHOVAH God remade our earth, He said of the first evening and morning, "The evening and the morning were the FIRST day" (Genesis 1:5). Then followed the SECOND day (verse 8), the THIRD day (verse 13), the FOURTH day (verse 19), and so on until the day following the sixth. He not only gave that day a number -- He gave it a name -- the Sabbath!

This, then, is when YEHOVAH's week originated. Note that it was composed of seven days, SIX OF THEM BEARING NUMBERS, and ONE OF THEM -- the last, THE SEVENTH, BEARING A NAME (see Exodus 16:23).

YEHOVAH'S Week Corrupted Early

In the library of Asshur-bani-pal of Assyria (a country which lay just north of ancient Babylonia), many clay tablets have been found relating the epic of creation. One of these tablets reads:

"On the seventh day He appointed a holy day, and to cease from all business He commanded" (Henry H. Halley Pocket Bible Handbook, p. 64 [EDITOR'S NOTE: p. 62, 24th ed., 1996]).

Here is absolute PROOF from the ancient records collected by this Assyrian King, that long before the time of Moses, Babylonia knew of YEHOVAH's seven day week.

But recall that Babylon was the place which Nimrod and his Assyrian wife, Semiramis -- called the "queen of heaven" in the Bible -- ruled. It was the country in which Satan started his perversions.

Would Satan leave YEHOVAH's simple calendar intact? Or would he pervert it and thus try to "change times and laws"? (Daniel 7:25).

Here is what happened. In ancient Babylon special days were observed on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th days of the month and were set apart (Webster's Rest Days, p. 230). These days of each Babylonian week were called SHABATTUM -- the pagan corruption of the SABBATH. Eventually the sabbaths of YEHOVAH God (determined by YEHOVAH's  luni-solar calendar) -- times when man might enjoy spiritual pursuits -- were changed into periods of "ill omens" or "Evil Days" (Webster's Rest Days, p. 232).

On these "Evil Days" the pagans had to afflict themselves -- they had to do penance. They could not eat flesh cooked upon coals, nor change garments, nor could the physician lay hand upon the patient. At night, the king was to bring his gift before the images of Marduk (Nimrod) and Ishtar (the "Queen of Heaven," Semiramis) and offer sacrifice (Rest Days, p. 232).

The point is that even then, Satan was having other gods -- Nimrod and his wife -- worshipped on YEHOVAH's Sabbath day. SATAN HAD CORRUPTED THE SABBATH AND THEREBY THE TRUE WEEK OF YEHOVAH GOD. Did he establish a COUNTERFEIT WEEK OF HIS OWN? Yes!

Satan Produces His Own Week -- Today's Week

How did the pagans, under Satan's influence, formulate the week -- the planetary or astrological week WHICH THE WORLD STILL RETAINS TODAY?

Here is the answer: "The planetary week presents itself as a curious amalgam [or mixture] of ideas derived from different sources. BABYLONIA, THE MOTHERLAND OF DIVINATION, PROVIDED THE DOCTRINE of the influence of the stars upon human destinies: Greece furnished the mathematical astronomy which grouped the planets according to their distance from the earth...upon these foundations astrologers of the Hellenistic (Greek) era, familiar with the cult of seven and with the division of days into twenty-four hours, built up what was, at the outset, an entirely PAGAN INSTITUTION."

Notice the origin of our week -- a pagan institution!

Continuing, "This seven day week, in its astrological form...probably first appeared...[in] Syria, certainly not before the 2nd century B.C. had passed...thence to Alexandria (Egypt)...and about the age of Augustus (31 B.C. - 14 A.D.)...into the Occidental (Roman) lands" (Webster's Rest Days, pp. 218, 219). Today's continually cycling week was born from mother Babylon!!

Names of the Days

How did the pagans, under the guidance of Satan, name the days of this week -- today's week? As we have seen, old Babylonia provided the doctrine of the influence of the stars on human destinies. Remember the "Queen of Heaven," Semiramis, had identified herself with the planet Venus. Also we have seen, she identified her dead husband, Nimrod, with Saturn, and then with the SUN, ultimately making him the SUN-god.

Guided by these Babylonian influences, the pagans of a later time named the days of this new planetary week for these ancient heroes who became honored as gods: Sunday was at first set apart for the "god of this world" -- Satan, the Sun-god -- but was later associated with Nimrod after his supposed "Sunday" resurrection. Monday was set apart for the moon (Cush, the first husband of Semiramis, the "Queen of Heaven"); Friday for Venus or Frigga (Semiramis); and Saturday for Saturn (Nimrod, when he was associated with the planet Saturn as the hidden god -- the pagan "Savior" who was hid in the grave on Saturday after being killed on Friday). Nimrod's fabled "Sunday" resurrection led the pagans into honoring him on Sunday as the Sun-god.

The other days of the week received their names in similar fashion. Each received its name from a heavenly body which had been associated with some old Babylonian god or goddess which the "Queen of Heaven" -- Semiramis -- had named in honor of herself and her husband, and of Ham, Cush, Horus, and Asshur -- the first apostates!

Is this the week that YEHOVAH God gave us -- a week with its seventh day, only, bearing a name -- the Sabbath, and its other days bearing only numbers? No!

HERE IS A STRANGE WEEK. Here is a week whose days bear the NAMES of pagan gods and which has no connection to YEHOVAH's luni-solar calendar. The Sabbath day nowhere appears in this week. But Sunday, the Day of the Sun -- the SUN AROUND WHICH THE PAGANS SYMBOLICALLY ENTWINED THE SERPENT -- the DEVIL -- does appear! It is the one day which is most observed by all the earth TODAY !

This new planetary week which the world uses today is a part of our present Roman calender.

YEHOVAH's weekly cycle with its Sabbath on the seventh day and determined by counting from the New Moon has, of course, been altered. SUNday was made to come on the first day of this pagan continually cycling week.

Why Was Sunday Created?

The world after the Flood knew and understood that a Savior was to come (Genesis 3:15). So did Satan! What did he do about it?

Satan, as we have seen, inspired Nimrod to become the priest of the SUN, whose worship he initiated and furthered after the Flood. At Nimrod's death, his wife Semiramis, for purposes of prestige, contrived to convince the people that one of her illegitimate sons was miraculously conceived of her by the SUN -- her god-husband up in the sky. She claimed this son was the son of the SUN-god. Notice that this event was actually patterned after the future birth of the Messiah.

What connection have these events which occurred 4000 years ago, to do with the day of the SUN -- SUNday of our time? A great deal! Let us examine!

In Egypt shortly before 2000 B.C., (the very time when the "Queen of Heaven" -- Semiramis -- was most active in having her dead husband Nimrod worshipped as the SUN-god) worship of the sun became completely dominant. Sun worship became associated with almost every god which had not received a clear cosmic function at an earlier time (Gray's Mythology of All Races, vol. XII, p. 28).

Now it can be understood why the PAGANS, about three hundred years before the Messiah, came forward with the week that is used by the world today -- a week which CONTAINS THE DAY OF THE SUN -- SUNday -- A DAY ON WHICH THEY WORSHIPPED THEIR GOD THE SUN!

Satan was again inspiring his agents. Satan was influencing them to set apart a day -- SUNday -- on which he, through the dead Nimrod, the SUN-god, could be worshipped instead of YEHOVAH God. The serpent, Satan, was (symbolically) entwined around the SUN!

Sunday -- The "Lord's Day" -- Enters Early Church

When did the churches adopt the practice of keeping SUNday, which the pagans who joined their congregations brought with them?

When was the planetary week -- the week the world uses today -- adopted by the early church in place of the week which YEHOVAH God commanded at creation?

Here is the answer!

"The early Christians had at first adopted the seven-day week [YEHOVAH's] with its numbered weekdays, but by the close of the 3rd century A.D., this began to give way to the planetary week [Satan's]. The use of planetary names [Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc.] attests to the GROWING influence of astrological speculations introduced by the converts from paganism" (Webster's Rest Days, p. 252).

THE USE OF THE PLANETARY WEEK BY THE EARLY CHRISTIANS WAS A YARDSTICK WHICH MEASURED HOW MUCH THEY WERE BEING AFFECTED BY PAGANISM.

But what about the "LORD'S DAY" which we hear so much of today? By many it is said to be Sunday. And right they are!

St. Augustine, one of the early "church fathers" (the "fathers" being a group of men who formulated the teachings of the churches after the days of the apostles), said that the "Lord's Day" was DECLARED NOT TO THE JUDAHITES -- which it should have been if it had been declared to the Messiah or the apostles, as they were of the House of Judah -- but to the "Christians" (the newly "converted" PAGANS) by the resurrection of "the Lord" (from the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, vol. 2, under "Lord's Day").

St. Augustine here declares the "Lord's Day" is the day of the week on which the "Lord" was resurrected. Could this "Lord" be the Messiah? No!

THE "LORD" REFERRED TO BY AUGUSTINE WAS NOT THE MESSIAH! SUNday CANNOT BE OBSERVED AS THE DAY OF HIS RESURRECTION!

Then whose day was it?

"Lord's Day" Among Pagans

The "LORD'S DAY" EXISTED BEFORE THE MESSIAH WAS BORN!

Who then is "The Lord" that the people worship today when they observe Sunday -- the "Lord's Day"? The whole world today has been deceived by this surprising counterfeit!

THE PAGANS WHO FLOCKED INTO CHRISTIANITY WERE CARRYING IN MIND THEIR "LORD" NIMROD, THE FIRST GREAT LORD OR BAAL OF THIS EARTH. The word "baal" means a LORD or master. You probably never understood this before.

It was Nimrod's wife, Semiramis (counterfeit of Mary), who, after her husband's death, misled the ancient pagans to believe that THE "LORD" NIMROD HAD BEEN RESURRECTED! It was he who was supposedly "resurrected" on SUNday!

Nimrod, according to this, was the first of Satan's (the Sun's) created beings, just as the Messiah is the first-fruits of YEHOVAH's created spirit-created beings. What does this mean? It means that if we observe Sunday, we serve Satan instead of YEHOVAH God, as the Creator and Giver of Eternal Life, and show our obedience to Satan and not to YEHOVAH God!

Why Sunday Worship Is Widespread Today

But what was responsible for the later widespread rise of SUNday or "Day of the Lord" worship which prevails today?

Constantine, a civil -- not ecclesiastical -- ruler of the Roman Empire, had the most to do with the ascendancy of Sunday as the day of worship. "Constantine's famous edict (321 A.D.) definitely enrolled Sunday among the holidays of the Roman state religion. The change from Saturn's day to Sunday must have further commended the planetary week in Christian circles, where the Lord's Day...beginning the week, had long been observed as the day on which Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, rose from the dead. Thus a pagan institution was engrafted in Christianity" (Webster's Rest Days, p. 222).

Do you grasp this? A human civil ruler -- not YEHOVAH God, established the custom of observing Sunday as a time of "Christian" worship.

What was Constantine's own religion? Gibbon, the authoritative historian, in his Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire, vol. 1, pp. 636-638, tells us: "Constantine...persevered till he was near forty years of age in the practice of the established religion (paganism)...But the devotion of Constantine was more peculiarly directed to the genius of the Sun...The Sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine."

Notice that Constantine became a "Christian" after he was about forty years of age. But, it was also after he was about forty that he, by his legislation, brought his Sun-god -- the "lord" -- and Sun-day into the "Christian" Church to stay. Today, the vast majority of "Christians" are still following in his footsteps.

What were the words of Constantine's famous edict of 321 A.D.? "On the venerable day of the sun let all magistrates and people...rest." (Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, article "Sunday Legislation").

Satan wants, as always, to be YEHOVAH God! He has substituted his week and his day -- Sunday. He, Satan, wants to be known as the Creator of all things -- including time -- and Giver of Eternal Life. Yes, Satan has been successful in this deception. The earth today has adopted his pagan week and Sunday worship!

Vain Repetition of Prayers

Yeshua commands, "WHEN YE PRAY, USE NOT VAIN REPETITIONS, AS THE HEATHEN DO: FOR THEY THINK THAT THEY SHALL BE HEARD FOR THEIR MUCH SPEAKING" (Matthew 6:7). Where does this mechanical repetition and telling of prayers upon beads come from then, if it is not commanded of YEHOVAH God?

The rosary (the instrument containing beads on which prayers are counted) was used as a sacred instrument among the ancient Mexicans (Humboldt's Mexican Researches, vol. ii, p. 29), also among the Brahmins. Hindu sacred books refer to it often. It was used by the heathen of ancient Tibet, China, and Greece, and ancient Rome (Rome before the time of the Messiah!). The name "Rosary" itself seems to be from the Chaldee (Babylonian) 'Ro', 'thought', and 'Shareh', 'director' " (Hislop, p. 188). The very present name -- Ro-sar-y -- indicates that this method came from Babylon.

The Rosary allows people to think they are worshipping YEHOVAH God but to overlook the great fact that YEHOVAH wants above all things that prayer should be from the heart.

As regards the Rosary of the Sacred Heart, the "Heart" was one of the sacred symbols of Osiris (the Egyptian Tammuz or Nimrod), when he was supposedly born again as the infant divinity, and carried in the arms of his mother Isis (the Egyptian Semiramis). Dryden's Aeneid, book i, pp. 937-940, shows why the heart was Osiris' symbol when he was born-again: Venus (a Grecian name for Semiramis), speaking to the boy-god, her son, said, "My Son, my might...To thee thy much afflicted mother flies." The son was called "the Strength" of his mother. "Thus the boy-god came to be regarded as the "god of the heart," or cupid, or god of love.

In this Rosary of the Sacred Heart, therefore, it is Tammuz, the Sun-god, who is venerated -- and in our day!

St. Valentine's Heart

The Messiah said: "I am the light of the world. He that followeth Me shall...have the light of life" (John 8:12). Through the Messiah's WORDS, LIGHT was shed to the people on how to attain eternal life. Did Satan have counterfeits formulated to correspond to this part of Yeshua's character? Let us see.

Nimrod being reborn as the incarnation of the SUN (the light-bringer), the "sacred heart" was frequently represented as being aflame. It became an emblem of the incarnate Son. "To be represented as a heart on fire, required also that burning lamps and lighted candles should form part of the worship of that Son" (Hislop's The Two Babylons, p. 191).

The Savior is spoken of as the "Messiah which is...Christ" (John 1:41). The word "Messiah," according to Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, means one who is anointed with Holy oil. Kings of Israel were called "anointed" from this mode of consecration. The Saviour was the Messiah, the anointed one consecrated by YEHOVAH God.

Extreme Unction a Counterfeit of Salvation

We now shall see how Satan, knowing of the Messiah's coming -- the one who would come to make peace between Israel and YEHOVAH God -- produced counterfeits hundreds of years before he was born. It did not take Semiramis, inspired by Satan, long to incorporate this into her Mysteries and identify this title with her dead husband, Nimrod:

"Among the many names of the Babylonian god (Nimrod) was the name 'Beel-samen', 'Lord of Heaven', which is the name of the sun. But Beel-samen also properly signified 'Lord of Oil' and was evidently intended as a synonym of the Divine name 'The Messiah'." (Note here the subtle counterfeit of Semiramis, as inspired by the Devil, to duplicate the real Messiah!)

"This also accounts for the fact that the body of the Babylonian Belus (Nimrod) was represented as having been preserved in his sepulchre...floating in oil. And...at Rome the 'statue of Saturn' (Nimrod) was made hollow and filled with oil...As the olive branch was one of the symbols of their Messiah (Nimrod) whose great mission it was to make peace between God and man so, in bearing this branch of the anointed one, they thereby testified that in the name of that anointed one they came seeking peace" (Hislop, p. 165). IF ONE WAS ANOINTED WITH OIL BEFORE HE DIED, HE WAS SURE OF A GRACIOUS RECEPTION BY HIS GOD, THEY BELIEVED.

"The worshippers of this...'Lord of Heaven'...were also anointed with 'magical ointments'...to fit and prepare them for being admitted in vision, into his awful presence...Thus the pagan system naturally developed into an 'extreme unction'...[which] was entirely unknown among the Christians till corruption was far advanced in the Church" (p. 166).

Extreme unction thus was being practiced by pagans hundreds of years before the great falling away from the truth occurred in the Church. It was being used to prepare those who were being initiated into the Mysteries to meet their god in vision in an initiation. It was also to prepare others to make their last journey into the unknown beyond.

After the Messiah's death, the apostate Church, desiring to retain this pagan practice for the thousands of incoming pagans and also to pacify the professing Christians, concocted a spiritual basis: "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil...and the Lord shall raise him up" (James 15:14-15). THIS COMMAND IS OBVIOUSLY GIVEN FOR PHYSICAL HEALING AND NOT TO PREPARE MAN TO MEET THE CREATOR! This scripture was deliberately misinterpreted to allow a pagan counterfeit to masquerade as Christian. Repentance and the Messiah's blood make forgiveness possible. But by this pagan rite, men claim to prepare one another to meet the Creator -- but the rite or ceremony is only a continuation of pagan Sun-worship, worship of a false Messiah.

So those of Israel who could have life by YEHOVAH's healing COMMAND are led astray, by Satan's counterfeit, into other ways which bring death. They are deceived into honoring a false Messiah -- into using a false method to prepare them for their final judgment!

Today this same deception is perpetuated in the name of "Christianity"!

Relic Worship of Pagan Origin

IN MANY CHURCHES TODAY THE WORSHIP OF RELICS PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART. It is believed that, "Whenever a chapel is opened or a temple consecrated, it cannot be thoroughly complete without some relic...of he-saint or she-saint to GIVE SANCTITY to it...The grossest impostures have been practiced in regard to such relics...and their WONDER WORKING POWERS..." In the realms of Heathendom the same worship had flourished for ages before Christian saints or martyrs had appeared in the world (Hislop p. 176).

It was found in China, Greece, India, and other places. Nimrod, it will be remembered, was cut in pieces. Plutarch (vol. ii, p. 358, A), describes the search Semiramis made for these pieces, "Isis (Semiramis) set out...in search of the scattered pieces of her husband's body...and one reason assigned for the different sepulchres of Osiris (Nimrod) in Egypt is that whenever any one of his scattered limbs was discovered she buried it on the spot. Not only were these Egyptian RELICS SACRED THEMSELVES, BUT THEY CONSECRATED THE VERY GROUND IN WHICH THEY WERE ENTOMBED" (Ibid. sec. 20, vol. ii, p. 359 A).

"If the places where the relics of Osiris were buried were accounted peculiarly holy, it is easy to see how naturally this would give rise to pilgrimages so frequent among the heathen." In the Middle Ages such pilgrimages to the tombs of the saints, were to wash away sin (Hislop, p. 180).

Nowhere in the Bible are pilgrimages commanded!!

Adamic man spread from the original Babylon to all parts of the earth to form Babylon the Great. It is thus easy to see where today's "Great Babylon" acquired this practice. Such practices are entirely contrary to YEHOVAH's teachings. When a human being dies today, he remains dead. He cannot "sanctify," "work wonders," or "consecrate" anything. Even David, one of YEHOVAH's most beloved, is still dead (Acts 2:29). Only when YEHOVAH God and the Messiah come will the righteous live again (I Corinthians 15:51; I Thessalonians 4:16). IT IS OBVIOUS WHERE THE FALSE IDEA THAT MAN CONTINUES TO LIVE AFTER HE IS DEAD COMES FROM!

Other Deceptive Counterfeits

Church government in the Middle Ages was patterned after the Pagan College of Pontiffs, with its "Pontifex Maximus," which had existed in Rome from the earliest times. It is known to have been framed on the model of the grand original Council of Pontiffs at ancient Babylon, and the keys that their human leader emblazons on his arms as the ensigns of his spiritual authority were the symbols of two well-known pagan divinities who existed at Rome before the apostate Church was ever founded -- Janus (the Roman name for a god who represented Nimrod in one of his many forms), and Cybele (Nimrod's wife Semiramis). Each of these two divinities had a key which opened the doors to the kingdom of heaven.

Clerical celibacy, the shaving of the heads of priests, the pontifical crosier, and the mitre were all known in ancient Babylon.

These are other pieces of evidence as to what the people of today are actually worshipping. DOES YEHOVAH GOD HOLD PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE TODAY FOR WORSHIPPING THIS SYSTEM JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE DECEIVED? HE HELD OUR FOREFATHERS RESPONSIBLE FOR WORSHIPPING THIS IDENTICALLY SAME SYSTEM OF MYSTERIES EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE DECEIVED! Why wouldn't He hold us responsible? He says He will! (Revelation 18:4). We are to come out of Babylon or we will receive of her plagues! The plagues will soon fall!

"Mystery of Iniquity" A Secret System

As we have seen, the OPEN WORSHIP of the sun (or fire) and the snake (the Devil) was STOPPED when the righteous forces of Shem destroyed Nimrod, who had been the great power promoting this worship. SHEM FORBADE THE WORSHIP OF THESE SYMBOLS. When Semiramis started the forbidden system again, it had to be through a SYSTEM OF MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS. We have seen that she deified her dead husband Nimrod, herself, and her son, Tammuz. She associated them with great personages of the past, and set up a system whereby they might also be worshipped through symbols. Thus those who were initiated into the meaning of these symbols could continue their worship of the things which had been forbidden.

THIS MYSTERY SYSTEM BECAME THE MOST POWERFUL DECEPTIVE RELIGIOUS DEVICE THIS WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN, as will later be proved by the Bible itself!

Nimrod had many titles as did also his wife (Wilkinson, vol. iv, p. 179). As we have seen, one of Nimrod's names is Saturn, which signifies the Hidden god. To those who were initiated, he was revealed; to all others, he was hidden. Why is this word "Saturn" the very key that connects the idolatrous Babylon of that time with the Babylonish fountain-head of idolatry in our time?

"The name Saturn in Chaldee (Babylonian) is...Stur. This name contains exactly the Apocalyptic number 666: S=60, T=400, U=6, R=200...(Hislop, pp. 269-270). The apostle John wrote (Revelation 13:16-18) that people would wear a "666" on their foreheads and right arms. In the Greek text, "666" is represented by Greek letters that also have numerical values, specifically: Chi Xi Stigma, or "Six-hundred, three-score and six." The Greek letters Chi Xi Stigma also spell a phrase in another language -- and that language is Arabic. The word it spells is "Bismillah" which means (literally) "In the name of Allah."

If you re-read Revelation 13:18 ("Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666") inserting "bismillah" in place of Chi Xi Stigma, it reads:

"Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding compute the number of the beast; for it is a man's number; and his number is 'IN THE NAME OF ALLAH'" (The Emphatic Diaglott).

Where do you see this today? It is what is written on the green banners and green armbands that Muslims wear at protests, rallies, parades, etc. It is also what Martyrs for Islam wear on their heads and right arms when they blow themselves up -- yelling "Allah Akbar" ("God is Great"). It is on the new Muslim coinage, and everything in Islam is done "In the Name of Allah."

Note in particular that NIMROD, THE HEAD OF THE PAGAN SUN-SERPENT WORSHIP, WHO WAS FALSELY REPRESENTED AS THE VERY SON OF GOD, BORE THE NUMBER 666! This same number continues to be branded on the present-day Babylonish system, whose symbols hide the actual worship of the devil. How do we know? Because a world-wide religious leader who represents this system will brand himself with this number by his very actions! -- by acting as Nimrod did -- setting himself up in the place of the Messiah, the first-born son of YEHOVAH God!

It is prophesied that YEHOVAH God Himself will come to this earth and smite the nations and rule them (Isaiah 2:1-4). But what is also prophesied to happen just before YEHOVAH God will establish His rule in Jerusalem?

YEHOVAH says, "I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem" (Joel 3:1). Literal Jerusalem is soon to go into captivity to a coming confederation of Islamic nations in the Middle East. The religious head (False Prophet) of this coming confederation will "...tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months (Revelation 11:2).

He will place his headquarters of worship in the land which prophecy shows YEHOVAH God intends to use as His own headquarters and place of worship. Furthermore, this human religious head will "...cause all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name...for it is the number of a man: His number is 666" (Revelation 13:16-18).

YEHOVAH GOD, is to come to Jerusalem to establish His worship on the earth, but there will be a mortal man (with the complicity of the Vatican) who will come to this same place to spread the pagan worship of Muhammad and Allah over the earth. THIS MAN WILL PLACE UPON HIMSELF THE SAME NUMBER THAT NIMROD, THE ORIGINATOR OF THE WORLD'S FALSE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP, CARRIED. NIMROD, AS THE "SON OF GOD," WAS REPRESENTED AS BEING THE MESSIAH!!

Here is proof that the system of Mysterious Iniquity (in its various forms), whose head will brand himself with the number 666, is the same hidden system that has existed from the Flood and only for the purpose of perverting YEHOVAH's teachings. It is no wonder that the Messiah's gospel was "infiltrated" and twisted. The wonder would have been if this had not occurred!

In summarizing, recall that mysterious or hidden symbols are used. These symbols exist today, such as the Christmas tree, the Easter egg, the hot cross bun -- there are many others.

Also, just as symbolic as the Christmas tree and other material symbols, are the periods of time set apart by Satan for the worship of other than the true God -- Christmas, Easter, Lent, the Haji -- and many other symbolic periods which are hiding from people today the real "gods" they are worshipping! SATAN HAS ALWAYS TAUGHT OTHER GOSPELS --  WRONG AND IMPOSSIBLE WAYS OF OBTAINING IMMORTALITY -- YOU CAN'T WORSHIP THE SYMBOLS OF SATAN'S GODS AND OBTAIN ETERNAL LIFE. Even to the initiated, this worship was mysterious or hidden until explained. The individual (Satan) who is at the head is mysterious or hidden. YEHOVAH God has given Satan's system the name "Babylon," which means "Confusion" (Revelation 17:5). No wonder the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with confusing doctrines (Revelation 17:2).

Satan hid in the form of a serpent; Adam hid in the garden after he had sinned; Nimrod was hidden in the Chaldean Mysteries. The Devil is now the (hidden) god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4) and is deceiving the whole earth (Revelation 12:9)! The WORLD TODAY THINKS IT IS WORSHIPPING YEHOVAH GOD, BUT HE SAYS IT IS DECEIVED.

We have seen that there were pagan religious practices in the time of the Messiah and the apostles which closely resembled the doctrines the apostles practiced and preached. We have studied these pagan customs and found that they originated from a common source -- the old Babylonian Mysteries of Semiramis, and that they have found their way into religious practices of our day. They mask the way to salvation for YEHOVAH's people Israel which the Messiah taught. THIS BABYLONISH SYSTEM, MASQUERADING AS CHRISTIAN, CONTROLS THE WORSHIP OF THE WORLD TODAY!

Fortunate will be the few of Israel who find their way out of this morass of confusion and STAND READY to be transformed at YEHOVAH God's and the Messiah's soon coming!

Today's Greatest Religious Hoax!

It comes as a shock to realize that the professing Christian world is being deluded by a FALSE MESSIAH -- one who has been masqueraded as Yeshua the Messiah.

The apostle Paul knew of this clever deception that would be foisted upon the Church. Here is what he said under the inspiration of YEHOVAH God:

"I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your thought should be corrupted...For if he who cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach...or another gospel, which ye did not receive" -- that is, if any minister comes who preaches about ANOTHER MESSIAH -- a false Messiah whom the apostles did not preach about, or another GOSPEL -- a different way to ETERNAL LIFE than the way you received from the Messiah and his apostles -- "ye bear well with him" -- you accept his false message! (II Corinthians 11:3-4).

Paul was shocked at the fact that Christians in his own day were giving heed to the false doctrines about another Messiah -- a false Messiah to whom the name of Yeshua the Messiah was appropriated.

A false savior appeared long before the Messiah's time and is the one upon which people today are depending for their salvation! IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP! Bible evidence proves that this is just what has happened!

World's False Savior Reappears

The inhabitants of the land just after the Flood knew and understood that a Savior was to come (Genesis 3:15), but they did not know WHEN he would come. They were LOOKING and WAITING for HIM!

It was under these circumstances that Nimrod -- the world's greatest leader and founder of this world's Adamic civilization after the Flood -- died (Genesis 10:9-11). Semiramis, his wife -- known also as the "Queen of Heaven" (Jeremiah 44:17, 25) -- desired to retain the vast holdings of her dead husband at all costs.

She conceived a daring plan. Her family, even at the death of Nimrod, was considered very unusual because of their great exploits. It was not difficult when she gave notice to the Adamic world of the day that her illegitimate child HORUS WAS THE VERY Savior reborn FOR WHOM THEY WERE LOOKING!

The Adamic line knew that Nimrod had "liberated" them from YEHOVAH's "distasteful" ways. Therefore, after Nimrod had been slain, Semiramis claimed that she miraculously conceived and that Nimrod was thus miraculously reborn to her as the "SAVIOR" in the form of her present illegitimate son, Horus or Ninyas, as he was called in different nations.

HORUS, then, WAS THE "SAVIOR" THEY WERE LOOKING FOR! SEMIRAMIS WAS THE VIRGIN MOTHER! The Adamic world accepted them.

NIMROD, IN HIS NEW FORM OF HORUS WAS TO continue to LIBERATE THE ADAMIC WORLD FROM YEHOVAH'S distasteful WAYS, AND WAS TO USHER IN A new WAY -- another WAY OF LIFE! -- THE WAY OF sin, IF YOU PLEASE.

This Semiramis, the Queen of Heaven, received the adoration of the Adamic world through her lie. She became the virgin mother of the "Savior"! Her position over the holdings of Nimrod was thus secure.

Even today, this woman Semiramis -- whose Assyrian name was Ishtar, pronounced as "EASTER" -- is worshipped. The "Christian" world continues to pay homage to her as mother of its "Savior" in the pagan festival Easter.

Because of the fierce opposition of Noah's son Shem, Semiramis was compelled by this circumstance to use SYMBOLS to represent the three members of her family so that the early Adamic world after the Flood could worship them secretly. Thus arose the MYSTERY system, referred to in the New Testament (II Thessalonians 2:7), by which EASTER and innumerable other pagan customs have been introduced into the Church. Those who knew the MEANING of the SYMBOLS knew whom they worshipped -- the outsiders did not.

These three, the husband, the wife, and her illegitimate son, came to be worshipped in many symbolic forms, and under many Babylonian names. Her system has been perpetuated by monks, nuns, and celibate priests down to this day!

Today's Religious Confusion From One Masked Source

THE POLLUTION of YEHOVAH's teachings, whether ancient or modern, came from ONE great masked source. It is hard to believe -- yet it is absolutely true!

It came from one family -- the family of Nimrod and Semiramis! THE KNOWLEDGE OF THIS HAS BEEN GRADUALLY LOST!

This is how it happened, step by step:

1). At first Semiramis -- also called Ishtar or Easter -- desired to have the members of her family worshipped openly, but, as we have seen, she was forced by the opposition of Shem to have them worshipped through SYMBOLS.

The hero worship, bestowed upon Nimrod while he was alive, became transferred to symbolic rites in his honor after his untimely death. The remembrance of her dead Nimrod was so strong and his popularity had been so great that the worship of Nimrod, his Queen of Heaven (Semiramis), and her son Horus saturated the whole ancient world in the time of Semiramis' rule.

The very use of SYMBOLS to represent the human beings that were worshipped did, however, remove the people one step from the knowledge of whom they worshipped. The people were not as aware of whom they were actually worshipping as they would have been, had they not been worshipping them through SYMBOLS!

The point is, the world even then, after SYMBOLS were introduced, was not quite as aware that they were worshipping Nimrod's family, although for a time it was explained to them. SYMBOLS CLOUDED THE REALIZATION OF WHOM PEOPLE WERE ACTUALLY WORSHIPPING!

The Next Fateful Factor

2). The second great factor which made the people of the earth lose sight of whom they were actually worshipping was that various Adamic family groups at the tower of Babel were miraculously given different LANGUAGES. They could not understand what the other family groups were talking about!

Thus, while each group was actually worshipping the same original three persons, ultimately, as they began to spread out upon the face of the earth from this central focal spot close to where their forefather, Noah, had landed the ark, THEY BEGAN TO BELIEVE THEY WERE WORSHIPPING different GODS! For the three were bearing DIFFERENT NAMES!

3). Now we come to the third great masking procedure. It was a method which brought to complete perfection, the other two masking processes. It was a process which has culminated in completely blinding the world today to the fact that it is also worshipping only three human beings -- Nimrod, Semiramis, and Horus.

What is this procedure?

After the Messiah was born, THE DEVIL INSPIRED CHRISTIAN NAMES TO BE PUT UPON THE RITES AND DOCTRINES WHICH SEMIRAMIS FORMULATED BY WHICH SHE, HER SON, AND HER HUSBAND WERE TO BE WORSHIPPED!

Labeling Pagan Practices by Christian Names

Here is how it happened! The Gentiles all around the Messiah in his day were still worshipping the first "SAVIOR" -- Nimrod. The world in the Messiah's day was saturated with the worship of the "unholy" three. The worship was attractive -- there was still the desire to be "liberated" from the authority of YEHOVAH God by their own "Savior." Seeing the POWER of the Messiah manifested through miracles, people wanted to associate themselves with him. Yet they would not accept the Messiah's gospel -- a repentance or TURNING from their former ways, NIMROD'S WAYS. They rejected the only WAY to obtain eternal life. The people were in a quandary as what to do about their TWO SAVIORS!

SO, WHAT DID THEY DO? THEY PAID "LIP SERVICE" TO THE MESSIAH BY PLACING "CHRISTIAN" NAMES ON THE OLD PROCEDURES BY WHICH THE false "Savior" WAS WORSHIPPED; AND THEY continued TO WORSHIP and follow THE first "SAVIOR"! Do you understand?

THE ISRAELITE WORLD OF TODAY HAS REFUSED THE MESSIAH, THE TRUE SAVIOR, and his ways -- IT STILL CLINGS TO THE FALSE "SAVIOR and his ways" -- "another Jesus" -- against which Paul warned (II Corinthians 11:3-4). THE ISRAELITE WORLD APPARENTLY WANTS TO LIVE LICENTIOUSLY and DIE OF VIOLENCE, THE SAME AS DID THE FAMILY OF NIMROD WHICH REJECTED THE TRUE GOD AND HIS WAYS! The Israelite world made its great decision at the time the TRUE SAVIOR appeared! No wonder THE MESSIAH MUST APPEAR A SECOND TIME TO SAVE YEHOVAH'S PEOPLE ISRAEL FROM THEIR SINS! (Hebrews 9:28).

Pagan Rites Masquerading as Christian

The procedures for worshipping the counterfeit "Savior" still remain and are observed, although they bear "lip service" to the name of the Messiah. Nimrod's birthday on December 25th is still celebrated around the earth, although it bears the somewhat Christian name of "Christ-mas." Sun-day -- the day of the SUN -- Nimrod's day -- is still observed worldwide, although it is now often called by the name of "Sabbath." Semiramis' sprinkling rite continues to be used, although it now falsely bears the Christian name of "baptism."

These pagan practices -- falsely labeled "Christian" -- are masquerading as the teaching of a "Jesus" -- a DIFFERENT Messiah from the one whose life and doctrine is taught in the Bible!

The surface has barely been scratched here in naming all the ways which Semiramis formulated for the worship of her "Savior" -- ways which are used by the whole world today to worship Nimrod instead of honoring the Messiah!

You Are Born Into Your Religion

4). There is a fourth factor which comes naturally into play and which has aided in hiding from the world today those whom they are actually worshipping.

Here is how it works!

Semiramis was forced to introduce symbols for her family so that others could worship them. The worshippers were at first told that in adoring these symbols (idols, trees, animals, periods of time, etc.) they were actually worshipping the members of her family.

The priest who told a worshipper what these symbols actually represented bore the title of "Peter," which in the Babylonian language means "interpreter" (The Two Babylons, p. 208). There was a "Peter" in Rome, for instance, who later became confused with Peter the apostle of the Messiah.

In time the symbols were no longer explained -- THE ONCOMING GENERATIONS WERE "born INTO THE FAITH OF THEIR FATHERS" -- THEY WORSHIPPED THEY KNEW NOT WHAT! Their father's old time "religion" was good enough for them. THEY WORSHIPPED THE first "SAVIOR" FOR THE SOLE REASON THAT IT WAS THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE -- they did not know of any other handy way to worship. THIS IS WHAT PROBABLY HAPPENED TO YOU! YOU WERE PROBABLY born INTO YOUR RELIGION!

PEOPLE ARE NOT PROVING THINGS BY THE Bible as the Bereans were commended for doing (Acts 17:11). People today unquestionably accept the confused denominational teachings of their parents handed down by tradition from generation to generation.

Bible Proof That World Worships False "Savior"

If the world is so saturated with the worship of Nimrod, the counterfeit "Savior," and his family, many ask, "Why doesn't the Bible concern itself with the matter?"

This is naturally the thought that enters anyone's mind. Here is the answer:

The worship of Nimrod's family is the only false religious system that the Bible does speak of -- it is that important! The Bible mentions Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-10), his Queen of Heaven -- Semiramis (Jeremiah 44:17-19, 25), and Horus -- the Queen of Heaven's illegitimate son who was supposed to be Nimrod miraculously reborn as the "Savior." Then the BIBLE EXPLAINS NOTHING ELSE IN THE WAY OF A FALSE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM BUT OF symbolic idols WHICH STOOD FOR ONE OR THE OTHER OF NIMROD'S FAMILY -- the symbols which were conjured up by the mind of Semiramis.

The world has noticed, and marveled at the great variety of gods which the Bible shows were worshipped by Old Testament people. There seems to be no connection between them. But this is not true. It is a fact that they all came from ONE source -- from that first ruling family of Old Babylon!

Let us now notice IN THE BIBLE how the world-wide worship of Nimrod, the first "Savior," and of his family, caused Israel, the only nation that made any attempt to follow the true God, to turn away from Him. MARK WELL THAT THESE THREE -- NIMROD, HORUS, AND THE THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN and no others WERE THE ONES WHOM THE WHOLE EARTH WORSHIPPED. But different names in different lands were applied to them. This is what YEHOVAH God referred to when He said the people "went a whoring after other gods" (Judges 2:17).

Abraham and Israel

In Abraham, YEHOVAH God found a man after the Flood who would obey Him. He commanded him to leave his home country and told him He would make of him a great nation and give him and his offspring forever all the land he saw (Genesis 12:1-4; 13:14-15). Ultimately, Abraham's twelve grandsons found themselves in Egypt due to a famine in Palestine, and there they became the slaves of the Egyptians (Exodus 1:11).

They were in Egypt -- the land which, according to other evidence, was full of the worshippers of the Mysteries (SYMBOLS) of Semiramis. They were among the pagans, and remained captives among them over two hundred years. They learned, while there, how to worship the first "Savior" and his "virgin" (so-called) mother, the Queen of Heaven (Semiramis). They forgot the True God, but YEHOVAH, because of His promise to Abraham, had not forgotten them.

He led them out of Egypt and promised them He would make them the greatest of nations if they would forsake their idol (SYMBOL) worship and follow Him. If they would not, He said He would punish them severely (Leviticus chap. 26).

Israel Worshipped Counterfeit "Savior"

The Israelites had scarcely started their journey to the promised land when the people called for their old SYMBOLIC pagan gods that they had known in Egypt. Moses had gone up on Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. In his absence the people said to Aaron, "Make us gods (SYMBOLS), which shall go before us; for as this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him" (Exodus 32:1).

Aaron made them a golden calf to worship, which, as we have shown, was the way the Egyptians mystically worshipped Osiris (Nimrod), their "Savior." This was almost 1500 B.C.

Those who first worshipped the golden calf (Exodus 32:1-4), did so with the full knowledge that they were worshipping the "reborn" Nimrod -- the "Savior" in one of his symbolic forms! The calf symbolized the false Savior, as the Lamb symbolized the True Savior.

EVERY ONE OF THE NINETEEN KINGS THAT RULED OVER THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, AFTER THE SEPARATION OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH, WORSHIPPED THE GOLDEN CALF -- the symbol of the FIRST "SAVIOR"!

Now continue through the Scriptures.

Do you recall the account of the Europeans who passed through the bonfire in our "Christian" times? Now notice that your BIBLE shows it originates from the worship of Nimrod:

We have previously shown that Molech was also a title applied to Nimrod in one of his idol forms and that in order to "purify" themselves, people, usually children, were made to "pass through the fire to Molech." In Leviticus 18:21, just after they had left Egypt, YEHOVAH warned Israel: "Thou shall not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech." "Whosoever...giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death" (Leviticus 20:2).

That this practice was picked up from neighboring pagan nations is evident; "Thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations...that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire" (Deuteronomy 18:9-10).

Today the teaching has become the doctrine of purgatorial fires in the next life.

Why Mentioned In Scripture

Now we can begin to see why YEHOVAH God named in Scripture an endless array of pagan gods -- ALL OF WHOM REPRESENT THE THREE DEIFIED MEMBERS OF Nimrod's FAMILY! IT IS A VEILED WARNING THAT A WORLD saturated WITH THE WORSHIP OF THE false MESSIAH WOULD continue TO WORSHIP THE FALSE "SAVIOR" THEY HAD KNOWN SINCE THE FLOOD -- BUT WOULD REJECT THE TRUE SAVIOR AND HIS GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM WHEN HE CAME, EVEN THOUGH THEY WOULD APPROPRIATE HIS NAME FOR THEIR PAGAN CUSTOMS.

Chemosh was the god of the Moabites. YEHOVAH says Israel had forgotten Him and was worshipping Chemosh (I Kings 11:33). Who was Chemosh? He is identified with Baal-peor -- the pagan "Christ child" -- and with Baal-zebub, Mars, and Saturn (Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, p. 115). We have shown that Saturn was one name of Nimrod, and Mars, another name as the god of war of the Greeks. Chemosh, then, was the Moabite name for Nimrod.

Solomon, despite his wisdom, built an altar to him (II Kings 23:13). Even he was misled by this Babylonian worship.

Israel also joined itself to the worship of the idol BAAL-PEOR which is but another form of the old Babylonian worship of Nimrod (Numbers 25:3). Again in Numbers 31:16, YEHOVAH God rebukes Israel for worshipping PEOR, which is the abbreviated name of BAAL-peor.

A Dead "Savior"

Recall that the true Messiah is often pictured still hanging dead on a cross -- whereas he is actually LIVING today.

YEHOVAH God admonishes in Psalm 106:28 that Israel "joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead" -- the dead human Nimrod, (Hislop's The Two Babylons, p. 69). These people were eating sacrifices offered to Nimrod. YEHOVAH God was telling them a dead god could do them no good. The true God is a living God (John 6:57).

BAAL-ZEBUB, the god of Ekron (II Kings 1:3-4), the pagan god of medicine, was none other than Nimrod (Hislop, p. 279). Here we see Israel partaking of the Mysteries of Semiramis and worshipping Nimrod in this form also, by depending on healing from him through doctors and drugs. Luke 11:15 shows the real power behind Baal-zebub -- it was the "chief" of the demons -- Satan.

These are the pagan customs which have passed into the churches as Christian customs. They are labeled with the name of the Messiah -- but they originated among the pagans as a means to help them worship the FALSE MESSIAH!

Peter warns you today that there is no other way to be saved than through the NAME AND PERSON OF THE TRUE MESSIAH! (Acts 4:12).

History's Secrets Unfold

YEHOVAH had promised Israel -- the people He chose for a special mission -- that if they obey Him, the greatest earthly blessings any nation ever had, would be theirs. But He did not promise the nation, as a whole, eternal life. In Egypt, they had lost much of the knowledge of the True God their ancestors had possessed. In bringing them out of Egypt, YEHOVAH performed many miracles, showing them His power (Jeremiah 32:21).

Were they going to obey the True God who could and would make His promise of material wealth and power come true if they obeyed Him? Or were they going to be misled by the Devil-inspired idols of Semiramis, which were, as we shall soon prove, all about them?

Were they going to believe the Devil's lie -- that they could obtain eternal life by following the doctrines taught by the Mysteries of Semiramis, who falsely promised eternal life (a thing she could not bestow)? Or would Israel see through this deception and follow YEHOVAH's commands instead and obtain the material wealth of this earth, and ultimately, through YEHOVAH's promise to Abraham, eternal life? (Recall that Adam and Eve lost the material garden of Eden and eternal life at that time by following Satan's deception.)

Baal and Ashtoroth

Scarcely over sixty years after YEHOVAH God led Israel out of Egypt, YEHOVAH says: "They forsook the Eternal and served Baal and Ashtoroth" (Judges 2:13). We find these two names used in many places in connection with the Israelites.

Who were they? Why are they so important in Scripture?

The word "baal" means master or lord (New Standard Bible Dictionary, p. 820). As first and mightiest of the lords of the earth, Nimrod, became Baal or Bel (Peloubet, p. 80). He was recognized as the chief Babylonian deity (Halley's Pocket Bible Handbook, p. 95). Ashtaroth, as we have previously shown, was Semiramis. Israel was soon worshipping these two under these names.

Israel also worshipped Baal-berith (Judges 8:33). Nimrod, as Mediator and head of the covenant of grace, took this name or the name of Mithras (Hislop's The Two Babylons, p. 70). "Solomon went after Ashtoreth" (I Kings 11:5, 33). For a short time Israel "did put away Baal-im and Ash-ta-roth and served the Eternal only" (I Samuel 7:4), but they returned to this pagan practice (I Samuel 12:10). Please recall that Ashtaroth is just another form for the word "Ishtar" or "Easter" which the Christ-professing world observes today!

We of Israel today, just as ancient Israel was, are "in Babylon" or "in Egypt" which continued Babylon's pagan practices! "Jeroboam...served Baal, and worshipped him" (I Kings 16:31). You have heard of him. Is modern Israel -- the United States of America and the British Commonwealth -- not worshipping Baal (Nimrod) by observing his birthday, Christmas?

The priests of Baal (remember, Nimrod was the first and mightiest of baals, or gods) were the official representatives of Israel's religion (I Kings 18:26), while Ahab and Jezebel were the rulers. These priests, in their rituals, "leaped" or, properly translated, "limped," or "went sideways" just as their god Baal (Nimrod) is said to have done when he, through Semiramis' Mysteries, was identified as Adam who "went sidewise" or turned aside when he disobeyed YEHOVAH God.

The official representatives of Israel's religion in the reign of Ahab and Jezebel were the Priests of Nimrod! Nimrod had become Israel's god!

Do the representatives of modern Israel's religions not encourage us to keep Nimrod's Sun-days and birthday? Who is our national god today? Among all the millions in those days who followed Baal under Ahab and Jezebel, only seven thousand did not follow him (I Kings 19:18). How many are not keeping these days today in our nation?

Other Names of Nimrod

Israel worshipped Milcom "the god of the children of Ammon." Who was this? None other than Molech whom we have identified as Nimrod (New Standard Bible Dictionary, p. 824). Judah was worshipping this god just before her captivity (II Kings 23:13). Jeremiah 7:17-20 warned Judah against her practice of worshipping the Queen of Heaven, who was Semiramis.

Now please notice II Kings 17:17, Jeremiah 8:18-22, and Deuteronomy 4:16-19. Alexander Hislop, in his book, page 309 says: "As Baal (Nimrod) the Lord of Heaven had his visible emblem -- the sun, so she (Semiramis) as Beltes, Queen of Heaven, must have hers also -- the moon." This happens to be the symbol of Islam today! Josiah (II Kings 23:11) "burned the chariots of the sun with fire."

With regard to Israel's and Judah's gods being represented by stars, the New Standard Bible Dictionary, p. 827, says "The stars formed a class...corresponding to the Igigi or 'heaven gods' of the Babylonians."

High places, elevations used in the main for idolatry, were all over Israel and Judah (II Kings 23:13, Micah 1:3). Bel (Isaiah 46:1) was Baal or Nimrod, as we have seen, and Nebo (same ref.) was Nimrod as the prophetic god (Hislop, p. 34). Dagon (I Samuel 5:2-5) was the fish god of Babylon, whom Semiramis created in order to associate the dead Nimrod with Noah (Hislop, p. 264). Recall that Semiramis associated her dead deified husband with great personalities for prestige.

As we saw (earlier), Israel continued to worship the golden calf. YEHOVAH God said He would cut off the horns of the altars at Bethel (Amos 3:14). Israel had a golden calf there (Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, p. 87). YEHOVAH warned Israel just before her captivity which He brought upon her for such practices, "Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. Therefore they shall be as...the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind" (Hosea 13:2-3). YEHOVAH warns Israel today -- the U.S. and Britain, "Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off...they shall return to Egypt" (Hosea 8:5, 13).

Samaria was the capital of the ten northern tribes of Israel. They never returned to the land of Egypt after Moses' time but we, their descendants, will do so, as this prophecy shows -- and soon!

We have seen that Molech was a title applied to Nimrod in one of his god forms and that in order to "purify" themselves, people, usually children, were made to "pass through the fire to Molech." In Leviticus 18:21, YEHOVAH warned Israel: "Thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech." Again, "whosoever...giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death" (Leviticus 20:2).

But they went right ahead and disobeyed YEHOVAH God, for "Ahaz...the king of Judah...walked in the way of the kings of Israel...and made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen" (II Kings 16:1-3). That this practice was picked up from pagan nations is evident. "Thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations...that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire" (Deuteronomy 12:30-31 and 18:9-10).

Note carefully that the heathen were doing these practices of Nimrod and Semiramis as the Bible affirms.

Solomon built a high place for Molech (I Kings 11:7). Israel and Judah were both being deceived by the Babylonian worship. They, like the other nations, were infected with it! More evidence: Josiah, one of Judah's good kings, "defiled Tolpheth (a place where Molech was worshipped)...that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech" (II Kings 23:10).

This destruction of a worshipping place of Molech had no lasting influence, for Judah continued in idolatry. This was happening eight hundred years after YEHOVAH God led Judah and Israel out of their Egyptian captivity.

What does YEHOVAH say of this practice? "Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, that thou hast slain My children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire?" (Ezekiel 16:20-21). YEHOVAH says this worship of Nimrod was a great sin. "They sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils" (Psalm 106:37). It is Devil worship.

We have now seen Bible proof that Israel worshipped the pagan gods of this "Mystery" system. What about the customs used in the observance of these pagan gods? Does the Bible speak of these? Let us examine.

Israel's Pagan Customs

YEHOVAH God says of the days set aside by Israel on which to worship -- days which had not been commanded by Him: "Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth...I am weary to bear them" (Isaiah 1:14). YEHOVAH had not appointed these days and customs Israel had been observing.

But YEHOVAH God did give Israel His days and His feasts -- times which keep YEHOVAH's people Israel in remembrance of His GREAT PLAN OF SALVATION for them. And the keeping of these times instills the habit of obedience to the True God!

What about today? Has YEHOVAH God, through His Bible, appointed the days which churches now observe? YEHOVAH, we have seen, specifically condemns the observance of Christmas (Jeremiah chapter 10), which actually commemorates Nimrod's rebirth as Horus but what we say is the Messiah's birthday -- a day which was observed by Israel, our forefathers, as the birthday of Nimrod long before the Messiah was born.

Israel had their picture of the image of jealousy -- Tammuz, the counterfeit of the Messiah -- hung upon their walls (Ezekiel 8:5, 10, 14). Who knows what the actual Messiah looked like, who men say was born on Christmas Day? One thing is for sure -- he did not have long hair! (I Corinthians 11:14). We hang his supposed picture on our walls today.

Israel, our forefathers, worshipped the sun, as the United States and the United Kingdom, modern Israel, do today when they observe Easter sunrise service: "Their faces toward the east...they worshipped the sun" (Ezekiel 8:16, Jeremiah chap. 8). YEHOVAH says, "I gave them My statutes and...My judgments...also My sabbaths...but the House of Israel rebelled against Me" (Ezekiel 20:11-13). YEHOVAH God said, "I will turn your (not YEHOVAH's) feasts into mourning" (Amos 8:10).

"I hate, I despise your feast days, and...your solemn assemblies...ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity " (Amos 5:21-27).

What a duality! Moloch we have identified as Nimrod, the fire god of Babylon, and Chiun was Nimrod in his hidden form as Saturn (New Standard Bible Dictionary, p. 823). They were setting aside days for the worship of Nimrod, and YEHOVAH God said He would scatter them into captivity.

Today, modern Israel, the United States and the democracies of northwestern Europe, are doing the same thing in our Sunday, Christmas, and Easter observances, and our captivity is foretold!

Read Ezekiel, chapter 5. Note that verse 4 says the prophesy is to the house of Israel and remember that this prophesy was given about 600 B.C. This was long after ancient Israel was scattered. This prophesy is for us! It is the same old story -- Israel today is deceived by the same old means the Devil used to deceive ancient Israel!

It is evident by now that the pagan gods that the ten and two tribes of Israel and Judah worshipped, were none other than those that the Devil inspired Semiramis to concoct for the deception of the Adamic world. They were believing the lie of the Devil -- that they could obtain eternal life and material benefits through the worship of these gods. All through the history of Israel, while she was worshipping these gods which we have identified as those composing the Mysteries, YEHOVAH was warning her not to follow the way of the heathen. The heathen were following these same gods (see II Chronicles 28:3, 33:2, 36:14; II Kings 17:15, 21:2). Here is Bible proof that the non-Israelite world was also being deceived by this same system. The whole earth, at the time that Israel existed under the rule of YEHOVAH God as a nation, was deceived by these mysteries. Israel itself finally refused to be under YEHOVAH's direct rule and became deceived!

Why is it that YEHOVAH calls attention to only this system of deception -- the Mysteries of Semiramis -- and never mentions the many demon gods of Asia? Because Semiramis' counterfeit way is patterned after the true way of salvation so closely that YEHOVAH God knows that, if it were possible, it would even "deceive the very elect" (Matthew 24:24). YEHOVAH has warned the few that follow Him about these "Mysteries." Other pagan practices they are able to recognize without Divine revelation. He knows this one has the potential of deceiving all of Israel!

New Testament Mentions Mystery System

Paul warned the Churches of his time against these same practices when he said, "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you" (Galatians 4:10-11).

When Paul visited Athens in his day, "he saw the city wholly given to idolatry" (Acts 17:16). The Greeks did not know the true God (verses 23-28). Paul stood on Mar's Hill to talk (verse 22). Mars was Nimrod as the Roman god of war (Hislop, p. 153). He was a well-known god. Diana, who was Semiramis as the "Bruiser of the Serpent's Head" (Hislop, p. 76) was worshipped by "all Asia and the world" in Paul's time (Acts 19:27). The Devil, the hidden head of this Mystery system, is not an evil-looking person with a pitchfork and a tail, as we have been led to believe. The New Testament shows us he "is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Why Israel was Deceived

Why did YEHOVAH God allow Israel, which He Himself had called out of "Babylon" (Egypt), to be deceived? In Leviticus chapter 26, YEHOVAH said He would bless Israel above all nations if they would obey Him -- five would chase a hundred of their enemies and one hundred would put ten thousand to flight (verse eight); they would dwell safely (verse 5) and have much material wealth (verse 10). He reminded them that He had brought them out of Egypt, the land where they had learned the Devil-inspired worship of old Babylon, and had been in captivity both to this pagan religion and to the Egyptians.

YEHOVAH God, bringing them out, warned them that if they would not obey Him, He would punish them more than other nations of the earth; they would be slain before their enemies (verse 17), suffer famine (verse 25), and be scattered among the heathen (verse 33). He would punish them "seven times" (verse 18) -- each "time" a year of 360 days, and each day a year -- a total of 2520 years.

We have seen that they were deceived by the Devil into worshipping his idols. YEHOVAH says, "They rebelled against Me...neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt...they walked not in My statutes...My sabbaths were greatly polluted...I lifted up Mine hand...that I would scatter them among the heathen" (Ezekiel 20:8, 13, 23).

YEHOVAH did "scatter them among the heathen." The ten tribes, Israel, "worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal...therefore the Eternal was angry with Israel, and removed them" (II Kings 17:16-18). Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians, the ancestors of parts of modern Austria and Germany. And as the Assyrian king was ruler of Babylon and other areas, he repopulated Israel's country with people from these countries (II Kings 17:24). Israel later migrated from Assyria. She was scattered into the "Babylonish" world -- the pagan world that was saturated with the customs of old Babylon and the Mysteries of Semiramis -- they were scattered in the world of Babylon the Great (Revelation 18:2). The two tribes (Judah) were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon about a hundred and thirty-five years later because of the same sins.

Why did YEHOVAH allow all of this? We need not guess -- the Bible, as usual, tells us. It is explained hundreds of years later in the New Testament times. Stephen, speaking to the Judahites of his day, said: "Our fathers would not obey, but thrust Him (YEHOVAH God) from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt...then God...gave them up to worship the host of heaven" (Acts 7:39, 42). Continuing with verse 43 in the Moffatt translation, "So now I will transport you beyond Babylon." YEHOVAH God was doing this. YEHOVAH says He has fixed the nations allotted periods, and boundaries of the nations (Acts 17:26).

Why then did He remove Israel? Paul says of Israel, "with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters...and they are written for our admonition" (I Corinthians 10:5-7, 11). Idolatry is defined as worship of anything that is not YEHOVAH God (Webster's Columbia Reference Dictionary ). YEHOVAH God is building historical examples of the great penalty of worshipping anything other than Him, and of the great reward for worshipping Him only!

Remember, Abraham worshipped YEHOVAH God only after YEHOVAH called him. Through these many historical examples, YEHOVAH was building for the time when He will really start to save His people Israel.

Satan Knows He Has But a Short Time

YEHOVAH has allotted six thousand years for Satan to rule and deceive YEHOVAH's people Israel. The demons knew this time was not up when the Messiah was alive. They asked the Messiah, "Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?" (Matthew 8:29).

Satan was well aware of the importance of the Messiah's first appearance on this earth. He knew hundreds of years in advance what it would do to his own rule! Note this prophecy! "A great red dragon...stood before the woman...to devour her child as soon as it was born" (Revelation 12:3-4). It was primarily Satan's idea to destroy the Messiah and save his own kingdom. Herod, who sought to slay the infant Yeshua, was only a tool of Satan. Later Satan tried to influence the Messiah to worship him when he tempted him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:8-9). Had the Messiah yielded, the devil could have retained his rule! The Messiah would not have been able to rule Israel in the future as YEHOVAH God's representative, for he would instead have been serving Satan (verse 10). Had the Messiah yielded to Satan's temptation, the Messiah would have had to pay with his own life for his own sin (Romans 6:23).

But the Messiah resisted! And he thereby made salvation possible for Israel.

When Satan saw the Messiah "caught up unto God" (Revelation 12:5), he knew he was defeated. Satan became wrathful with the Messiah's Church. And especially is he angry today! YEHOVAH warns of Satan's deceptions now! "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth...for the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time..." (Revelation 12:12).

The Devil knows his period of rule is now almost up -- he has but a short time. He is even now casting out a torrent of false doctrines. He would have succeeded in destroying the early True Church entirely, had it not been for divine, supernatural, intervention (verse 6). Even so, only a "remnant" -- a very small number -- are to be left keeping the commandments of YEHOVAH God. "The Dragon" (Satan, see verse 9) "was wroth...and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 12:17).

YEHOVAH God watches over this earth in as far as His overall plan and immutable laws are concerned. But Satan is allowed to rule it through suggestion until YEHOVAH God and the Messiah set up the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God. Satan now is intensely active and he has all but a remnant -- a very small number -- deceived!

Perversion of the True Church Teachings

Have you ever noticed Ephesians 2:19-20? This scripture tells us that the household of YEHOVAH God is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone."

Do you really grasp the meaning of this? Whatever the Messiah or the apostles of this original Church taught or did, we must do today if we of Israel are going to belong to the household of YEHOVAH God! If Satan could counterfeit or otherwise delude people from following these original, true Church practices, he would destroy their hope of salvation! He would thus strike at the very foundation of the purpose of YEHOVAH's Adamic creation -- Sons of YEHOVAH God who are to rule with Him! No wonder Satan started to strike at the teachings of YEHOVAH God from the very time of Adam and Eve!

We have already seen how the Mysteries of Semiramis -- the pagan counterfeit of Christianity -- were everywhere when the true Church was founded. Did these seep in? Paul wrote the Thessalonians "the Mystery of iniquity doth already work" (II Thessalonians 2:7). Semiramis' Mysteries had started to infiltrate the teachings of the Messiah and the apostles. But they did not infiltrate the headquarters Church at Jerusalem during the time the apostles were there. This Church of YEHOVAH God, whose practices are recorded in the New Testament for our benefit, became the example for all to follow. Christian Israelites scattered abroad "became followers of the Churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus" (I Thessalonians 2:14).

Yet notice what happened!

Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 389, says, "It was natural that the primitive tradition of a Church which was founded [little more than] forty days [actually, 99 days] after the death of Christ, and was governed almost as many years under the immediate inspection of His apostles, should be received as the standard of orthodoxy."

The Bible tells us, as we have seen, that this Church was to be the standard or foundation for all future Churches of the True God. What they did, we are to do. Gibbon, the authoritative historian, discovers this same fact.

Where, then, were the Mysteries creeping in? In the outlying Churches. In the Church at Ephesus -- idolatrous practices (Revelation 2:6); in the church at Pergamos -- the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:14); in the Church at Thyatira -- idols (Revelation 2:20). These are a few of the examples pointed out to us by the Bible.

How did this perversion of the Gospel come about? Here is the answer of history! "The Jewish [Israelite] converts who laid the foundations of the Church, soon found themselves overwhelmed by the increasing multitudes that from all the various religions of polytheism [religions having many pagan gods] enlisted under the banner of Christ" (Gibbon, vol. I, chap. 15). Edward Gibbon further states that these pagans, when they first associated with members, asked the upright Christian members to tolerate their pagan practices. Later, after they became greater in number, they became intolerant of the true teachings. Thus paganism crept in.

Are Majority Deceived Today?

Are all of Israel to enter the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God now? Doesn't the Bible say, "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man [of Israel] presseth into it" (Luke 16:16)? "Doesn't this mean all of Israel must be saved now or be lost forever?" some ask. This would be true if the Bible did not have other scriptures amplifying this same subject. Scripture shows that YEHOVAH God, as part of His great purpose, has allowed the spiritual blindness of the vast majority of Israel now. YEHOVAH God has given the Israelites over to a reprobate, or blinded, mind (Romans 1:28). The god of this age -- Satan -- has been allowed to blind the minds of those of Israel who do not believe (II Corinthians 4:4). All of Israel (except a very small number) are now blinded (Romans 11:7) and have been given over to their own laws that are not good (Ezekiel 20:25).

Did you know that the Messiah spoke in parables lest this blindness should be removed from the Israelite people of his day? (Mark 4:11-12). But in the 1000 years of the world tomorrow, YEHOVAH says He will remove all blindness. "He will destroy...the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations (Isaiah 25:7). But you personally can, if you are repentant, pray to YEHOVAH God that He will remove this blindness from you (Matthew 7:7).

Since the beginning of this world, YEHOVAH God has called only a few of Israel in various times. YEHOVAH removed the blindness from them and they saw the truth and accepted salvation. Enoch, Abraham, and David are examples. The few are called now (I Corinthians 1:2). For what purpose were they called? The Messiah will use them -- as well as the New Testament Church -- to rule and instruct the unsaved of Israel when he and YEHOVAH God come (Revelation 2:26, 5:10).

How False Churches Arose From Apostatizing Congregations of True Church

"Just how, step by step, did the pagan customs get into the churches of today?" you ask. We shall now see the unbelievable answer. The professing Christians of apostolic and post-apostolic times "...found a new occupation in the government of church...The ambition of raising themselves or their friends to offices of the church was disguised by...laudable intention" (Gibbon, vol. I, chap. 15). Selfishness was beginning to assert itself in a strong way within the early Church.

Gibbon shows that the Churches and their daughter congregations which had been founded through the work of the apostles began to form themselves into larger and larger groupings. Faithful members were ex-communicated. The size of the town within the boundaries of a group of churches had much to do with the power exercised by this group.

Naturally Rome, being the largest city, became the headquarters of this system of pseudo-Christianity. In the struggle for influence there arose among the elders at Rome, a Roman "pontiff" who gradually became the supreme head of these congregations. In order to increase church membership and power, a patronizing attitude was taken toward both pagans and "Christians." "Worship, at first very simple, was developed into elaborate, stately, imposing ceremonies having all the outward splendor that belonged to the heathen temples...The Imperial church of the 4th and 5th centuries had become an entirely different institution from the persecuted Church of the first three centuries. In its ambition to rule, it lost and forgot the spirit of Christ" (Halley's Pocket Bible Handbook, p. 671). The true teachings of the Messiah were cast aside!

"To conciliate the pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get paganism and Christianity -- now far sunk in idolatry...to shake hands" (Hislop's The Two Babylons, p. 105).

The parent of present-day religion was taking form!

The famous advice of Pope Gregory I was that "by all means they should meet the pagans half-way, and so bring them into the Roman Church" (Hislop, p. 113). Note this was to be done by a fusion of fragments of truth with overwhelming error.

"If, in the beginning of the fifth century, Tertullian or Lacrantius [early Catholics] had been suddenly raised from the dead, to assist at the festival of some popular saint or martyr, they would have gazed with astonishment and indignation on the profane spectacle which had succeeded to the pure and spiritual worship of a Christian congregation" (Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. V, chap. 27).

Indeed, the forerunner of present day churches had departed far from the practices of the Church in Judea which the New Testament describes for us. But let us consider more evidence of the paganism of this Transition Church which stands midway in the path of development of Protestants and other churches of today. These contradicting and competing churches claim they go completely back to the original New Testament Church, but they hide the facts that they observe festivals and practices derived from paganism which are found in the Roman Church.

Paganism supposedly "disappeared" in the Roman area about 450 A.D. "So rapid, yet so gentle was the fall of paganism, that only twenty-eight years after the death of Theodosius, the faint and minute vestiges were no longer visible to the eye of the legislator" (Gibbon, vol. V, chap. 28). Where did paganism go? Gieseler's Ecclesiastical History, vol. II, p. 40, 45, has the answer. "In exact proportion as paganism has disappeared from without the church, in the very same proportion it appears within it."

Hear what Hislop (p. 224) has to say: "The system, first concocted in Babylon, and thence conveyed to the ends of the earth, has been modified and diluted in different ages and countries. In Papal Rome only is it now found nearly pure and entire." The system is a "Mystery" as we have seen. How does it masquerade? "It (Rome)...admits Christian terms and names; but all that is apparently Christian in its system, is more than neutralized by the malignant paganism that it embodies" (Hislop, p. 282).

Mankind on earth today is deceived by Christian-sounding names that Satan has put on practices of his own devilish system! Indeed Satan is active -- more active than ever!

Small Church of YEHOVAH God and Great False Church

We have now seen how the old Babylonian system of Semiramis and Nimrod engulfed the true teachings of the Messiah and the apostles within a relatively short time after the Messiah's death. We have read that only a remnant -- a very small number -- are to keep the commandments of YEHOVAH God (Revelation 12:17).

Down through the centuries have come two different churches, side by side, described by the Bible. One is the true little Church, always persecuted -- "If they persecuted me they will also persecute you" the Messiah said in John 15:18-20. It has been so scattered, that it has seemed almost invisible -- the members often not knowing each other (Acts 6:1, 8:1; Revelation 12:6, 15; Daniel 12:7; Ezekiel 34). These are they who keep the commandments of YEHOVAH God.

But the other is the Great Church -- that Great False Church described as a great whore (Revelation 17:1) who has wielded great power in this, Satan's world (verses 2, 15). She will continue to do so with suddenly increasing power, now for a short time (verses 12, 18). She is described as the mother who has given rise to many protesting denominations (verse 5).

Daughter Churches Blinded

The woman sitting on the beast in Revelation 17:3 is a world-ruling church. On her forehead is the name "Mystery Babylon The Great, The Mother of Harlots" (verse 5).

Who are the Harlots? What offspring has the mother church given rise to? It is well-known that they are Protestants -- "a name given to the party who adhered to Martin Luther during the Reformation in 1529 and protested, or made a solemn declaration of dissent, from the decree of Emperor Charles V and the Diet of Spires...The name now applied generally to those Christian denominations that differ from the Church of Rome and sprang from the reformation" (Roach and Robertson's New Practical Reference Library, vol. IV, subject, "Reformation").

This same source says of this Reformation that it "is a term applied to a revolt in Europe in the Sixteenth Century against papal supremacy and certain doctrinal tenets of the Church of Rome."

This started similar movements in Hungary, France, England, and Scotland at that time. From these, the various modern Protestant groups have arisen. This, then, is where the Protestant churches of today have originated. They did not begin with the Messiah!

The Protestant churches come out from Papal Rome where the system, first concocted in old Babylon, is "now found nearly pure and entire" (Hislop, p. 224). By protesting against "certain doctrinal tenets" (Roach and Robertson's New Practical Reference Library, vol. IV, "Reformation") they claimed to get back to the teachings of the New Testament. But they did not do so!

The matter is easily proven. All one has to do is take his New Testament and check point for point what the true Church kept, and what these competing churches are now keeping. Satan has the world's churches deceived now!

Many a church today claims to be founded on "the ancient, original, apostolic Christian Church in its present-day form and appearance" (Karl Kreuschmar's What Lutherans Teach, p. 3). But doctrines foreign to the original true Church are followed, and doctrines followed by the original Church are not observed.

We have seen how Satan, knowing that his time for ruling this earth is now short, quickly substituted the deceptive doctrines of Semiramis' Mysteries for the true doctrines that the Messiah and his apostles taught. But we have also seen in Scripture, the way by which the few now called can recognize deception.

Satan, using the churches that arose after the apostles' time, was able to deceive the world, but the original Church at Jerusalem has given us the Bible despite all Satan's attempts to have it stamped out.

What YEHOVAH God Requires of You

Are you fulfilling YEHOVAH's requirements for salvation? The very fact that you are reading this shows that YEHOVAH God is revealing Himself to you. What should you now do?

Consider these facts! The household of YEHOVAH God is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yeshua the Messiah himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 2:19-20). Note that what the Messiah and the apostles said or did was the foundation for the household or Kingdom of YEHOVAH God. If one desires to enter the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God, composed of spirit beings, he must build his actions on this foundation. YEHOVAH has commanded it! Paul, inspired by YEHOVAH God, commanded this to the Ephesian Israelites after the death of the Messiah. It is for everyone of Israel and is for us now.

Make this comparative "spot check." Beginning with the Book of Acts, there is much concerning how the disciples of the Messiah founded and conducted the New Testament church. Obtain a Bible concordance and try to look up the words "Christmas" or "Sunday" or "Halloween." (You need not look up these words for they do not appear once in your Bible!) By contrast, look up the word "Sabbath." Then look up the word "Pentecost." Was it being kept? As the Messiah formed the chief part of this "foundation," the things that he observed are to be kept also. So include the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in this word research. The practices observed by the Messiah and the apostles were the final instructions to the Israelites of this world. It is time you quit being deceived by false teachers! It is time to wake up to the shocking fact that the churches of today have departed from the doctrines of the ancient, original, apostolic Christian Church!

And it is time to do something about it. Quit these foolish, heathen customs masquerading under the Messiah's name and begin to OBEY YOUR BIBLE! May YEHOVAH God open your eyes and your heart, and light the way for your feet to follow Him to salvation. May YEHOVAH God Bless you!