Joseph Herrin (02-19-2010)

The practice of syncretism, of mixing the abominable practices, symbols and doctrines of idolatrous religions with the teaching of Christ and His apostles is clearly observable to all who care to examine the matter. One need only look at any of a multitude of things in the Roman Catholic Church to see that there is no Biblical precedence for them. The Catholic church has monks who reside in monasteries, but the Scriptures nowhere testify of any such practice among Christ or His apostles, nor among the early disciples. Where then did such a concept arise?

Buddhist Monks at Prayer
(Note the nimbus – solar halo – around the heads of their idols, similar to the way Roman Catholics represent images of deity and the saints.)

Many of the people groups at the time of the early church practiced religions that included monks, monasteries, prayer beads, candle lighting, and other rites that are nowhere found in the Bible, but which have been adopted by the Roman Catholic Church.

The early church began to adopt the practices of the pagan religions around them, freely merging together the holy and the profane. The lighting of candles is a very common Catholic practice that is also observed among early pagan religions.

Buddhist Monks Lighting Candles

Buddhist Monk with Prayer Beads

There is no apostolic pattern for such practices as these. They were all borrowed from pagan religions as the church began to be leavened with false doctrine, and many false disciples (tares among the wheat) began to infiltrate the church. Very quickly, the thing that the apostle Paul feared greatly occurred.

Acts 20:28-30
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

II Corinthians 11:2-4
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Yahshua whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

Already, in his day, the apostle Paul was finding that various unclean spirits were entering into the church. This same church in Corinth to whom Paul was speaking had members who were going to the local pagan temples and engaging in ritualistic sex with temple prostitutes (I Corinthians 6:15-16). There was no distinguishing between the things of Satan and the things of Christ, and because of this Paul said that many in the church at Corinth had become sick, and some had died (I Corinthians 11:30).

There were many Baals worshiped throughout the world. Baal is a generic term given to the gods worshiped by various people groups. The Scriptures refer to these aggregated deities as “the Baals,” or “Baalim.”

Judges 2:11
Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of Yahweh, and served the Baals…

In order to prepare the way for the adoption of pagan gods into the worship of Yahweh, Satan found it to be extremely beneficial to hide the name of Yahweh. He led men through various deceits to remove the name of Yahweh from the Scriptures, and to replace it with titular substitutes that are very generic, such as Lord and God. The Holy Spirit inspired holy men of old to record the name Yahweh 6,828 times in the Old Testament, and the shortened version of His name, Yah, another 49 times.

The name Yahweh, sometimes rendered as Jehovah, is found recorded thousands of times in the Scriptures, and is referred to as the Tetragrammaton. Tetragrammaton literally means “a word having four letters.” The name Yahweh is recorded in the Old Testament with the writing of the four Hebrew letters Yodh He Waw He (Anglicized as YHWH). In the ancient Paleo-Hebrew, old Aramaic, and modern Hebrew, this would have looked similar to the following image:

Note that Hebrew is read right to left.

About ten years ago I wrote an article explaining the use of the Divine names in the writings of this author. I highly recommend that you take the time to read it, if you have not yet done so.

http://www.heart4god.ws/id210.htm

The article explains the various deceits that Satan has employed to have the name of Yahweh removed from the Scriptures today. I have found that a great many, probably a majority of professing Christians today, do not even know the name of the God they profess to follow. Many know Him only by generic titles such as God, Lord, and Father. I am not suggesting that it is inappropriate to use these generic titles, for they do have their proper usage, but Christians should know the memorial name of the God they profess to follow, for it was recorded nearly 7,000 times in the Old Testament, though it has now been completely removed in the most popular English translations.

What I want to point out is that the most common substitute for the name of Yahweh is the word “Lord.” The Hebrew word Baal literally means “Lord,” or “Master.” To the ancient Hebrews the word Baal was not a specific name, it was a generic title. They employed it the same way we use the word “Lord” today. There are many lords, as there were many Baals, and this title was often used in reference to pagan deities that were worshiped. To the ancient Israelite, saying “Let’s go worship Baal” would be the same as a modern English speaking Christian saying “Let’s go worship the Lord.” These pagan deities known as Baals were quite often solar deities, represented by the Sun.

What Satan has accomplished in this hour is to raise up a massive religion that began as the worship of Yahweh and His Son Yahshua, and he has transformed it into a caricature of the worship of Baal (“the Lord”). He has additionally brought into this worship a myriad of the symbols, rites and doctrines that belonged to the worship of the Baals.

If Christians do not name the Lord (Hebrew Baal) they claim to worship, having forgotten His name, having removed it from their Scriptures; and if they embrace the symbols, rites and doctrines of the solar deities that were called Baalim, then how does one know who is truly being worshiped? Consider the following:

Churchgoers, both Catholic and Protestant, celebrate the resurrection of the Son of God on Easter, the day Tammuz the son of Ishtar (the Babylonian Semiramis) was said to be resurrected after he had been slain by a wild boar.

Image of Tammuz – Greek Adonis – Dying
(Note gash on leg from tusk of wild boar.)

These worshipers eat the traditional Easter ham (a symbol of the boar who slew Tammuz). They spend forty days of mourning leading up to the date of Tammuz’s rebirth on Ishtar SUNday. This mourning for Tammuz was present even in the days of the prophet Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 8:14-15
Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. And He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.”

This mourning among Christians begins on Ash Wednesday, when ashes were applied to the foreheads of Sun worshipers to mark the beginning of their mourning for Tammuz.

Minister applying ashes to forehead of a young (Christian?) worshiper on Ash Wednesday

These ashes are applied in the form of the Tau symbol, which from antiquity was used to represent Tammuz. This Tau (cross) symbol on the form of a solar wafer, is what the Roman Catholic Church requires to be served to its millions of followers during the Eucharistic service.

Solar Disk – Communion Wafer

It is from the symbol of Tammuz, the Tau, that we also get “hot crossed buns.”

Hot Crossed Tammuz Buns

The pagan traditions of the mystery religions have even been passed down to our children as they sing the little song that speaks of hot cross buns.

Hot cross buns
Hot cross buns
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot cross buns

If you have no daughters
Give them to your sons
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot cross buns

What does this mean “if you have no daughters, give them to your sons?” Remember, this was the celebration of the goddess of fertility and her son. By offering oblations of liquid and foods to Semiramis and Tammuz the people were asking for the gift of fertility. This fertility was petitioned from the goddess by offering drinks and cakes in order that their crops, livestock, and their own families might be blessed with abundance. Many a tradition that seems innocent today has found its origin in practices that are detestable to Yahweh.

Many of these same Easter celebrants arise early to attend a SUNrise service, which was also derived from pagan rituals as the idolatrous Sun worshipers awaited the appearing of the Sun to mark the re-birth of Tammuz. Easter NEVER falls on the same date as Passover, which was the date upon which Yahshua, the Son of Yawheh, was crucified. Indeed, the Christian leaders assembled by Constantine in 325 A.D. mandated that if the dates should ever coincide that the date of Easter must be moved. Constantine was a Sun worshiper. (We wouldn’t want to accidentally commemorate the death, burial and resurrection of Yahshua on the actual date of its occurrence. Some might mistake Christians for worshipers of Yahweh, rather than worshipers of the Sun.)

Seeing all of these things, what god would an impartial, yet knowledgeable, observer conclude that these worshipers were serving? Since the very day they are observing is named Easter, after the goddess of fertility, and it is marked by images and rites derived from the worship of the queen of heaven and her son, would it not be fair to conclude that these are pagan Sun worshipers?

What then, if the worshipers protest that they are celebrating the resurrection of the Christ of the Bible? Should we not at the very least conclude that these worshipers of Yahweh and His Son have been grossly led astray into adopting the rites, symbols and doctrines of pagan Sun worship? It should come as no surprise that the Spirit is calling His people to come out of Babylon, for His people have clearly taken up residence in the very heart of Mystery Babylon, the Mother of Harlots.

Revelation 18:4
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of [Babylon], my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues…”

Perhaps you are beginning to see how pervasive this Babylonian Sun worship is among what passes for Christianity today. From the steeples atop the churches, to the holy days she celebrates, the church of Christ has been thoroughly leavened with pagan symbols, rites and doctrines. (And I have not even begun to address the doctrines yet!)

Satan is truly “the great deceiver who deceives the whole world.” If possible, He will deceive even the elect of God. What Satan has done is to replace the worship of Yahweh with the worship of the Baalim. Satan has done a thorough work, even as He did in removing the name of Yahweh from the Scriptures. This has set up the entire Christian world to receive the lies that are being poured out in these last days; namely, that all religions lead to God, and all faiths are equally honorable.

How can Christians stand against such powerful deception when they have already embraced the religious practices of Mystery Babylon? Where is the discerning man, or woman? Where is the one who will separate the holy from the vile?

II Corinthians 6:17-18
“Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says Yahweh. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says Yahweh Almighty.

Can it be said that you are not touching that which is unclean if you are embracing these practices derived from Sun worship? Have you truly come out from the midst of the unclean practices of idolatry and separated yourself unto Yahweh? The Spirit is calling to the people of God in this hour, urging them to come out of Babylon, for the plagues of Yahweh will shortly be released in great fury upon her.

To be continued…

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws  

 

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com  

 

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063