Sunday, March 31,
2013, 8:23 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with this song:
Trust Him / An
Original Work / August 15, 2012
Based off Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be of courage;
Be strong and take heart today.
Do not fear when foes attack you.
Trust in God always.
He will rescue you in times
Of trouble and distress,
He’ll comfort you in all ways
As you trust Him with your life today.
Trust in Him always.
God is with you; He’ll not leave you.
You can always count on Him.
He will fulfill all He promised
Before you began.
His word teaches you
All that you need for this life.
Let Him lead you. Open your heart;
Let his truth envelope you today.
Listen and obey.
Love your Lord God; follow Jesus.
Repent of your sins today.
Make Him your Lord and your master;
Trust Him and obey.
Follow Him where’er He leads you
In His service; be His witness,
Telling others about Jesus’
Price that He did pay
For your sins always.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Jeremiah 44 (NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2044&version=NIV
In Egypt
God told Jeremiah the prophet to tell the people of Judah not
to flee to Egypt, because there they would die, because the king of Babylon
would invade Egypt and would kill them there, but they did not listen, and they
fled to Egypt. It appears they took Jeremiah with them.
While in Egypt the Lord spoke again to the people through
Jeremiah concerning the people’s idolatry. God had already judged Jerusalem and
all the towns of Judah for the evil they had done in burning incense to and
worshiping other gods. “Again and again” God sent his messengers the prophets
to the people telling them not to do the detestable things that God hated, but
they did not listen. They did not turn from their evil ways. They kept on
worshiping other gods. So, God’s anger was poured out upon them in judgment.
Now God was telling his people who had fled to Egypt that they should take special
note of what happened in Judah and in Jerusalem. Why should they bring this
disaster upon themselves by continuing to rebel against God by worshiping what
their hands had made, and by not humbling themselves and not showing reverence
to God, and by not obeying his commands?
Yet, the people’s response to these calls for repentance and
warnings of judgment, if they did not repent, was to tell God, through Jeremiah,
that they were not going to listen to the message Jeremiah spoke to them in the
name of the Lord. They would continue to burn incense to the “Queen of Heaven,”
and to pour out drink offerings to her just as their ancestors had done. Wow!
They blamed God for their hardships and decided things were better for them
when they bowed to the “Queen of Heaven.”
Jeremiah’s response to this was to tell the people that when
the Lord could no longer endure their wicked actions and the detestable things
they did, judgment would fall. Jeremiah told the people, since they were bent
on continuing to worship the “Queen of Heaven,” to go ahead and keep their vows
to continue doing what they knew was wrong, because they would soon realize
that doing so would not bring them prosperity, as they had suggested, but would
in fact bring much disaster and loss of life upon them. God assured them that
his threats of harm against them would surely stand.
The Queen of Heaven
So, what lesson can we learn from this today? Today, at
least here in America, is the traditional Easter celebration of the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, or is it?
When I read this passage in Jeremiah this morning, the term “Queen
of Heaven” really jumped out at me, and I felt it was particularly significant
that I would be reading this specific chapter on this day. I read up through
chapter 43 at 2:22 a.m. when the Lord got me up in the middle of the night, so
this was the next chapter. So, I looked up “Queen of Heaven” which led me to
Ishtar, the Babylonian “Queen of Heaven,” who has her counterpart (or cognate)
in the Aramean goddess Astarte, or the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Ishtar
supposedly had a “dying god” lover Tammuz. [See Ezekiel 8 concerning the
detestable things God showed Ezekiel that his people and their leaders were
doing inside his temple, one of which was weeping over Tammuz.] Tammuz, in
mythology, supposedly died and then came back to life again. [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar]
History of Tammuz: Nimrod, a great-grandson of Noah, was supposedly
the leader responsible for the building of the Tower of Babel and the rebellion
against God, though I can find no Biblical account of Nimrod’s involvement with
the Tower of Babel. Yet, in Genesis 10 it does say that the first centers of
his kingdom were Babylon (et al) in Shinar, which is where the Tower of Babel
was built, as is recorded in Genesis 11. Tradition has it, or Babylonian
history purportedly has it that Nimrod died, his wife elevated his name to Bel
or Baal, i.e. “sun god,” and stated that he, from heaven, impregnated her and
she gave birth to a son Tammuz. He became known as the son of the sun god (perhaps
a pre-figure of the antichrist). Nimrod’s subjects apparently wept over his
death and then began to worship his son Tammuz and then they began weeping for
Tammuz (thus the reference in Ez. 8). The people of God were adopting this
pagan practice, which was idolatry. [Source: http://www.wnd.com/2008/05/64924/]
So all this leads to the pagan roots of the celebration of
Easter. “Ishtar” is pronounced “Easter.” She was supposedly both the mother and
the lover of Tammuz. When Tammuz died, then Ishtar, as tradition has it, said
that he ascended to his father, Baal, and together they would be like father,
son and spirit. Ishtar then became worshiped as Queen of Heaven. The
celebration of the Queen of Heaven purportedly involved the tradition of Lent,
eggs, rabbits, et al, apparently all a part of this worship of celebration of
the “Queen of Heaven” in Babylon. [Source: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html]
Today
I am no expert on Greek, Roman or Egyptian gods and goddess
and their mythology. Yet, in my research, I did find a common historical
account of Ishtar. I have also read that our Statue of Liberty is fashioned
after the goddess Ishtar and she is also depicted as representative of the
Great Prostitute mentioned in the book of Revelation. Much of Washington D.C. –
its layout, structure, symbols, buildings, et al - is fashioned after Greek,
Roman and Egyptian gods and goddesses. Look at our money, the Great Seal, the
all-seeing eye of Horus (Satan), the unfinished pyramid (the old world order
waiting for the new world order to complete it), and many of the buildings and
statues in D.C., and you will see that our country was begun, not as a
Christian nation, but as the new Rome, the new Babylon, and is based off of
paganism, occultism, and Satanism with a mixture of Christianity within, I believe,
for the purpose of deception, though paganism is a mixture of religions by
nature.
This paganism has also infiltrated the church. We are taught
in the institutional church to worship (pledge allegiance, devotion and loyalty
to) the image of our government, which is of Satan. Humanism and worldliness
has so infiltrated the church so that it is barely distinguishable between the
church and the world. The church has adopted many pagan practices and celebrations
as its own, and has given them Christian connotations. Yet, even if we were to
take the historic and pagan roots of Easter (and Christmas), and completely
remove them from the mix, and we were to evaluate the celebrations of Easter
and Christmas just in their own merit, how would they stack up against the word
of God?
What have bunnies, painted eggs, buying new clothes, and the
rituals associated with the celebration of Easter have to do with Jesus Christ?
Nothing! What do you think most children think about when they think of Easter?
– Jesus’ death and resurrection, so we can be free of slavery to sin? Or,
Easter bunnies, eggs, chocolate, wearing new clothes, Easter egg hunts, et al?
Just like at Christmas, the focus is not on Jesus Christ. At Christmas the
focus is on the false god “Santa,” whose name is strangely much like “Satan.”
It is on commercialism, greed, buying, parties, gifts, and fake gods who bring
young children things that they like and enjoy. How can Jesus Christ as a baby
or as a crucified Savior compete with bunnies, eggs, candy, fun, presents,
decorated trees, and Santa in the minds of young children? He can’t, and that
is exactly the point of the deception: Teach the church that they should honor
Christ by celebrating his life and death and resurrection on pagan holidays
that include pagan rituals and practices, and that focus the attention,
especially for children, away from the Savior onto false gods, i.e. false
christs. What an effective evil plot, too!
So, what is the point of all this? I believe God sees our
celebrations of Easter and of Christmas as pagan, not so much because of the
pagan roots, but because they are a mixture of celebrating him along with
celebrating “other gods,” and he does not even get top billing, especially in
the minds of young children. Jesus said the way he wanted to be remembered was
through communion, not just the taking of the bread and the fruit of the vine,
but in us dying to sin and self each day, and through following him wherever he
leads us in obedience to his commands, and in surrender to his will for our
lives.
Also see: http://originalworks.info/pagan-revelry/
Fully
Surrendered /
Alfred C. Snead / George C. Stebbins
Fully
surrendered—Lord, I would be,
Fully
surrendered, dear Lord, to Thee.
All on the
altar laid,
Surrender fully
made,
Thou hast my
ransom paid;
I yield to
Thee.
Fully
surrendered—life, time, and all,
All Thou hast
given me held at Thy call.
Speak but the
word to me,
Gladly I'll
follow Thee,
Now and
eternally
Obey my Lord.
Fully
surrendered—silver and gold,
His, who hath
given me riches untold.
All, all belong
to Thee,
For Thou didst
purchase me,
Thine evermore
to be,
Jesus, my Lord.
Fully
surrendered—Lord, I am Thine;
Fully
surrendered, Savior divine!
Live Thou Thy
life in me;
All fullness
dwells in Thee;
Not I, but
Christ in me,
Christ all in
all.
No comments:
Post a Comment