From the book "Babylon Mystery
Religion" by Woodrow
MARY WORSHIP
PERHAPS THE MOST outstanding proof that Mary worship
developed out of the old worship of the pagan mother goddess may
be seen from the fact that in pagan religion, the mother was
worshipped as much (or more) than her son! This provides an
outstanding clue to help us solve the mystery of Babylon today!
True Christianity teaches that the Lord Jesus - and HE alone - is
the way, the truth, and the life; that only HE can forgive sin;
that only HE, of all earth's creatures, has ever lived a life
that was never stained with sin; and HE is to be worshipped - not
ever his mother. But Roman Catholicism - showing the influence
that paganism has had in its development - in many ways exalts
the MOTHER also.
One can travel the world over, and whether in a massive
cathedral or in a village chapel, the statue of Mary will occupy
a prominent position. In reciting the Rosary, the "Hail Mary" is
repeated nine times as often as the "Lord's Prayer." Catholics
are taught that the reason for praying to Mary is that she can
take the petition to her son, Jesus; and since she is his mother,
he will answer the request for her sake. The inference is that
Mary is more compassionate, understanding, and merciful than her
son Jesus. Certainly this is contrary to the scriptures! Yet this
idea has often been repeated in Catholic writings.
One noted Roman Catholic writer, Alphonsus Liguori, wrote at
length telling how much more effectual prayers are that are
addressed to Mary rather than to Christ. Liguori, incidently, was
canonized as a "saint" by Pope Gregory XIV in 1839 and was
declared a "doctor" of the Catholic church by Pope Pius IX. In
one portion of his writings, he described an imaginary scene in
which a sinful man saw two ladders hanging from heaven. Mary was
at the top of one; Jesus at the top of the other. When the sinner
tried to climb the one ladder, he saw the angry face of Christ
and fell defeated. But when he climbed Mary's ladder, he ascended
easily and was openly welcomed by Mary who brought him into
heaven and presented him to Christ! Then all was well. The story
was supposed to show how much easier and more effective it is to
go to Christ through Mary (Boettner - "Roman Catholicism, p.147).
The same writer said that the sinner who ventures to come
directly to Christ may come with dread of his wrath. But if he
will pray to the Virgin, she will only have to "show" that "the
breasts that Will gave him suck" and his wrath will be
immediately appeased! (Hislop - "Two Babylons, p.158).
Such reasoning is in direct conflict with a scriptural
example. "Blessed is the womb that bare thee", a woman said to
Jesus,"and the paps that thou has sucked!" But Jesus answered,
"Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep
it" (Lk.11:27,28).
Such ideas about the breasts, on the other hand, were not
foreign to the worshippers of the pagan mother goddess. Images of
her have been unearthed which often show her breasts extremely
out of proportion to her body. In the case of Diana, to symbolize
her fertility, she is pictured with as many as one hundred
breasts!
Further attempts to exalt Mary to a glorified position
within Catholicism may be seen in the doctrine of the "immaculate
conception." This doctrine was pronounced and defined by Pius IX
in 1854 - that the Blessed Virgin Man "in the first instant of
her conception... was preserved exempt from all stain of original
sin" (Catholic Ency. vol.7,p.674 art, "Immaculate conception").
It would appear that this teaching is only a further effort
to make Mary more closely resemble the goddess of paganism, for
in the old myths, the goddess was also believed to have had a
supernatural conception! The stories varied, but all told of
supernatural happenings in connection with her entrance into the
world, that she was superior to ordinary mortals, that she was
divine. Little by little, so that the teachings about Mary
would not appear inferior to those of the mother goddess, it was
necessary to teach that Mary's entrance into this world involved
a supernatural element also!
Is the doctrine that Mary was born without the stain of
original sin scriptural? We will answer this in the words of The
Catholic Encyclopedia itself: "No direct or categorical and
stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from
Scripture" It is pointed out, rather, that these ideas were a
gradual development within the church (Ibid.,p.675).
Right here it should be explained that this is a basic,
perhaps the basic, difference between the Roman Catholic approach
to Christianity and the general Protestant view. The Roman
Catholic church, as it acknowledges, has long grown and developed
around a multitude of traditions and ideas handed down by church
fathers over the centuries, even beliefs brought over from
paganism if they could be "Christianized" and also the
scriptures. Concepts from all of these sources have been mixed
together and developed, finally to become dogmas at various
church councils. On the other hand, the view which the Protestant
Reformation sought to revive was a return to the actual
scriptures as a more sound basis for doctrine, with little or no
emphasis on the ideas that developed in later centuries.
Going right to the scriptures, not only is any proof for the
idea of the immaculate conception of Mary lacking, there is
evidence to the contrary. While she was a chosen vessel of the
Lord, was a godly and virtuous woman - a virgin - she was as much
a human as any other member of Adam's family. "All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God" (Rom.3:23), the only
exception being Jesus Christ himself. Like everyone else, Mary
needed a savior and plainly admitted this when she said: "And my
spirit hath rejoiced in God my SAVIOR" (Lk.1:47).
If Mary needed a savior, she was not a savior herself. If
she needed a savior, then she needed to be saved, forgiven, and
redeemed - even as others. The fact is, our Lord's divinity did
not depend on his mother being some type of exalted, divine
person. Instead, he was divine because he was the only begotten
son of God. His divinity came from his heavenly Father.
The idea that Mary was superior to other human beings was not the
teaching of Jesus. Once someone mentioned his mother and
brethren. Jesus asked, "Who is my mother? and who are my
brethren?" Then, stretching forth his hand toward his disciples,
said, "Behold my mother and my brethren! For WHOSOEVER shall do
the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother,
and sister, and MOTHER" (Matt.12:46-50). Plainly enough, anyone
who does the will of God is, in a definite sense, on the same
level with Mary.
Each day Catholics the world over recite the Hail Mary, the
Rosary, the Angelus, the Litanies of the Blessed Virgin, and
others. Multiplying the number of these prayers, times the number
of Catholics who recite them each day, someone has estimated that
Mary would have to listen to 46,296 petitions a second! Obviously
no one but God himself could do this. Nevertheless, Catholics
believe that Mary hears all of these prayers; and so, of
necessity, they have had to exalt her to the divine level -
scriptural or not!
Attempting to justify the way Mary has been exalted, some
have quoted the words of Gabriel to Mary, "Blessed art thou among
women" (Lk.1:28). But Mary being "blessed among women" cannot
make her a divine person, for many centuries before this, a
similar blessing was pronounced upon Jael, of whom it was said:
"Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be.
..."(Judges 5:24).
Before Pentecost, Mary gathered with the other disciples
waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit. We read that the
apostles "all continued with one accord in prayer and
supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and
his brethren" (Acts 1:14). Typical of Catholic ideas concern-
ing Mary, the illustration (as seen in the Official Baltimore
Catechisms) attempts to give to Mary a central position. But as
all students of the Bible know, the disciples were not looking to
Mary on that occasion. They were looking to their resurrected and
ascended CHRIST to outpour on them the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We notice also in the drawing that the Holy Spirit (as a dove) is
seen hovering over her! Yet, as far as the scriptural account is
concerned, the only one upon whom the Spirit as a dove descended
was Jesus himself - not his mother! On the other hand, the pagan
virgin goddess under the name of Juno was often represented with
a dove on her head, as was also Astarte, Cybele, and Isis! (Doane
- "Bible Myths, p.357).
Further attempts to glorify Mary may be seen in the Roman
Catholic doctrine of the perpetual virginity. This is the
teaching that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life. But as
The Encyclopedia Britannica explains, the doctrine of the
perpetual virginity of Mary was not taught until about three
hundred years after the ascension of Christ. It was not until the
Council of Chalcedon in 451 that this fabulous quality gained the
official recognition of Rome.
According to the scriptures, the birth of Jesus was the
result of a supernatural conception (Matt.1:23), without an
earthly father. But after Jesus was born, Mary gave birth to
other children - the natural offspring of her union with Joseph,
her husband. Jesus was Mary's "firstborn" son (Matt.1:25); it
does not say he was her only child. Jesus being her firstborn
child could certainly infer that later she had a second-born
child, possibly a third-born child, etc. That such was the case
seems apparent, for the names of four brothers are mentioned:
James, Joses, Simon, and Judas (Matt.13:55). Sisters are also
mentioned. The people of Nazareth said: " . . . and his sisters,
are they not all with us?" (verse 56). The word "sisters" is
plural, of course, so we know that Jesus had at least two sisters
and probably more, for this verse speaks of "all" his sisters.
Usually if we are referring to only two people, we would say
"both" of them, not "all" of them. The implication is that at
least three sisters are referred to. If we figure three sisters
and four brothers, half-brothers and half-sisters of Jesus, this
would make Mary the mother of eight children.
The scriptures say: "Joseph ... knew her not till she had
brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS"
(Matt.1:25). Joseph "knew her not" until after Jesus was born,
but after that, Mary and Joseph did come together as husband and
wife and children were born to them. The idea that Joseph kept
Mary as a virgin all of her life is clearly unscriptural.
During the times of the falling away, as though to more
closely identify Mary with the mother goddess, some taught that
Mary's body never saw corruption, that she bodily ascended into
heaven, and is now the "queen of heaven." It was not until this
present century, however, that the doctrine of the "assumption"
of Mary was officially proclaimed as a doctrine of the Roman
Catholic church. It was in 1951 that Pope Pius XII proclaimed
that Mary's body saw no corruption, but was taken to
heaven.(Catholic Ency.vol.2,p.632, art, "Assumption, Feast of").
The words of St.Bernard sum up the Roman Catholic position:
"On the third day after Mary's death, when the apostles gathered
around her tomb, they found it empty. The sacred body had been
carried up to the Celestial Paradise... the grave had no power
over one who was immaculate... But it was not enough that Mary
should be received into heaven. She was to be no ordinary
citizen... she had a dignity beyond the reach even of the highest
of the archangels. Mary was to be crowned Queen of Heaven by the
eternal Father: she was to have a throne at her Son's right hand
... Now day by day, hour by hour, she is praying for us,
obtaining graces for us, preserving us from danger, shielding us
from temptation, showering down blessings upon us."
All of these ideas about Mary are linked with the belief
that she bodily ascended into heaven. But the Bible says
absolutely nothing about the assumption of Mary. To the contrary,
John 3:13 says: "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that
came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven" -
Jesus Christ himself. HE is the one that is at God's right hand,
HE is the one that is our mediator, HE is the one that showers
down blessings upon us - not his mother!
Closely connected with the idea of praying to Mary is an
instrument called the rosary. It consists of a chain with fifteen
sets of small beads, each set marked off by one large bead. The
ends of this chain are joined by a medal bearing the imprint of
Mary. From this hangs a short chain at the end of which is a
crucifix. The beads on the rosary are for counting prayers -
prayers that are repeated over and over. Though this instrument
is widely used within the Roman Catholic church, it is clearly
not of Christian origin. It has been known in many countries.
The Catholic Encyclopedia says, "In almost all countries, then,
we meet with something in the nature of prayer-counters or
rosary-beads." It goes on to cite a number of examples, including
a sculpture of ancient Nineveh, mentioned by Layard, of two
winged females praying before a sacred tree, each holding a
rosary. For centuries, among the Mohammedans, a bead-string
consisting of 33,66, or 99 beads has been used for counting the
names of Allah. Marco Polo, in the thirteenth century, was
surprised to find the King of Malabar using a rosary of precious
stones to count his prayers. St.Francis Xavier and his companions
were equally astonished to see that rosaries were universally
familiar to the Buddhists of Japan (Catholic Ency. vol.13, p.185,
art, "Rosary").
Among the Phoenicians a circle of beads resembling a rosary
was used in the worship of Astarte, the mother goddess, about 800
B.C. (Seymour - "The Cross in Tradition, History, and Art,
p.21). This rosary is seen on some early Phoenician coins. The
Brahmans have from early times used rosaries with tens and
hundreds of beads. The worshippers of Vishnu give their children
rosaries of 108 beads. A similar rosary is used by millions of
Buddhists in India and Tibet. The worshipper of Siva uses a
rosary upon which he repeats, if possible, all the 1,008 names of
his god (Ency.of Religions, vol. 3, pp, 203-205).
Beads for the counting of prayers were known in Asiatic
Greece. Such was the purpose, according to Hislop, for the
necklace seen on the statue of Diana. He also points out that in
Rome, certain necklaces worn by women were for counting or
remembering prayers, the "monile," meaning "remembrancer."
(Hislop - "Two Babylons" pp.187-188).
The most often repeated prayer and the main prayer of the
rosary is the "Hail Mary" which is as follows: "Hail Mary, full
of grace, the Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of
God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of death, Amen."
The Catholic Encyclopedia says, "There is little or no trace of
the Hail Mary as an accepted devotional formula before about
1050" (Catholic Ency. vol.7, p.111, art "Hail Mary"). The
complete rosary involves repeating the Hail Mary 53 times, the
Lord's prayer 6 times, 5 Mysteries, 5 Meditations on the
Mysteries, 5 Glory Be's, and the Apostles' Creed.
Notice that the prayer to Mary, the Hail Mary, is repeated
almost NINE times as often as the Lord's prayer! Is a prayer
composed by men and directed to Mary nine times as important or
effective as the prayer taught by Jesus and directed to God?
Those who worshipped the goddess Diana repeated a religious
phrase over and over - "...all with one voice about the space of
two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians" (Acts
19:34). Jesus spoke of repetitious prayer as being a practice of
the heathen. "When ye pray," he said, "use not vain repetitions,
as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for
their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your
Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him"
(Matt.6:7-13). In this passage, Jesus plainly told his followers
NOT to pray a little prayer over and over. It is significant to
notice that it was right after giving this warning, in the very
next verse, that he said: "After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven..." and gave the disciples what we
refer to as "The Lord's Prayer." Jesus gave this prayer as an
opposite to the heathen type of prayer. Yet Roman Catholics are
taught to pray this prayer over and over. If this prayer was not
to be repeated over and over, how much less a little man-made
prayer to Mary! It seems to us that memorizing prayers, then
repeating them over and over while counting rosary beads, could
easily become more of a "memory test" than a spontaneous
expression of prayer from the heart.
CHAPTER FOUR
SAINTS, SAINTS' DAYS, and SYMBOLS
IN ADDITION TO the prayers and devotions that are directed
to Mary, Roman Catholics also honor and pray to various "saints."
These saints, according to the Catholic position, are martyrs or
other notable people of the church who have died and whom the
Popes have pronounced saints.
In many minds, the word "saint" refers only to a person who
has attained some special degree of holiness, only a very unique
follower of Christ. But according to the Bible, ALL true
Christians are saints - even those who may sadly lack spiritual
maturity or knowledge. Thus, the writings of Paul to Christians
at Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth, or Rome, were addressed "to the
saints" (Eph.1:1, etc.). Saints, it should be noticed, were
living people, not those who had died.
If we want a "saint" to pray for us, it must be a living
person. But if we try to commune with people that have died, what
else is this but a form of spiritism? Repeatedly the Bible
condemns all attempts to commune with the dead (see Isaiah 8:19,
20). Yet many recite the "Apostles' Creed" which says: "We
believe ... in the communion of saints." supposing that such
includes the idea of prayers for and to the dead. Concerning this
very point, The Catholic Encyclopedia says: "Catholic teaching
regarding prayers for the dead is bound up inseparably with the
doctrine ... of the c o m m u n i o n of saints which is an
article of the Apostles' Creed." Prayers "to the saints and
martyrs collectively, or to some one of them in particular" are
recommended (Catholic Ency." vol.4,p.653.655, art "Prayers for
the dead" ). The actual wording of the Council of Trent is that
"the saints who reign together with Christ offer up their own
prayers to God for men. It is good and useful suppliantly to
invoke them, and to have recourse to their prayers, aid, and help
for obtaining benefits from God" (Ibid., vol 8, p.70, art
"Intercession").
What are the objections to these beliefs? We will let "The
Catholic Encyclopedia" answer for itself. "The chief objections
raised against the intercession and invocation of the saints are
that these doctrines are opposed to the faith and trust which we
should have in God alone ... and that they cannot be proved from
Scriptures..." (Ibid). With this statement we agree. Nowhere do
the scriptures indicate that the living can be blessed or
benefited by prayers to or through those who have already died.
Instead, in many ways, the Catholic doctrines regarding "saints"
are very similar to the old pagan ideas that were held regarding
the "gods."
Looking back again to the "mother" of false religion -
Babylon - we find that the people prayed to and honored a
plurality of gods. In fact, the Babylonian system developed until
it had some 5,000 gods and goddesses (Hays - "In the Beginning"
vol.2,p.65). In much the same way as Catholics believe
concerning their "saints", the Babylonians believed that their
"gods" had at one time been living here on earth, but were now
on a higher plane ("Ency. of Religion" vol.2,p.78). "Every month
and every day of the month was under the protection of a
particular divinity" (Williams - "The Historians' History of the
World" vol.1,p.518). There was a god for this problem, a god for
each of the different occupations, a god for this and a god for
that.
From Babylon-like the worship of the great mother - such
concepts about the "gods" spread to the nations. Even the
Buddhists in China had their "worship of various deities, as the
goddess of sailors, the god of war, the gods of special
neighborhoods or occupations" (Dobbins - "Story of the World's
Worship" p.621). The Syrians believed the powers of certain gods
were limited to certain areas, as an incident in the Bible
records: "Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were
stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and
surely we shall be stronger than they" (1 Kings 20:23).
When Rome conquered the world, these same ideas were very
much in evidence as the following sketch will show. "Brighit" was
goddess of smiths and poetry. "Juno Regina" was the goddess of
womanhood and marriage. "Minerva" was the goddess of wisdom,
handicrafts, and musicians. "Venus" was the goddess of sexual
love and birth. "Vesta" was the goddess of bakers and sacred
fires. "Ops" was the goddess of wealth. "Ceres" was the goddess
of corn, wheat, and growing vegetation. (Our word "cereal"
fittingly, comes from her name.) "Hercules" was the god of joy
and wine. "Mercury" was the god of orators and, in the old
fables, quite an orator himself, which explains why the people of
Lystra thought of Paul as the god Mercury (Acts 14:11,12). The
gods "Castor" and "Pollux" were the protectors of Rome and of
travellers at sea (cf. Acts 28:11). "Cronus" was the guardian of
oaths. "Janus" was the god of doors and gates. "There were gods
who presided over every moment of a man's life, gods of house and
garden, of food and drink, of health and sickness" (Durant - "The
Story of Civilization: Caesar and Christ, pp.61-63).
With the idea of gods and goddesses associated with various
events in life now established in pagan Rome, it was but another
step for these same concepts to finally be merged into the church
of Rome. Since converts from paganism were reluctant to part with
their "gods" - unless they could find some satisfactory
counterpart in Christianity - the gods and goddesses were renamed
and called "saints." The old idea of gods associated with certain
occupations and days has continued in the Roman Catholic belief
in saints and saints'days, as the following table shows.
Actors - St. Genesius - August 25; Architects - St. Thomas -
ecember 21; Astonomers - St. Cominic - August 4; Athletes -
St. Sebastain - January 20; Bakers - St. Elizabeth -
November 19; Bankers - St. Matthew - September 21; Beggars -
St. Alexius - July 17; Book Sellers- St. John of God - March 8;
Bricklayers - St. Steven - December 26; Builders - St. Vincent -
April 5; Butchers - St. Hadrian - September 28; Cab drivers -
St. Fiarce - August 30; Candle-makers - St. Bernard -
August 20; Comedians - St. Vitus - June 15; Cooks - St. Martha
- July 29; Dentists - St. Appollonia - February 9; Doctors -
St. Luke - October 18; Editors - St. John Bosco - January 31;
Fishermen - St. Andrew - November 30; Florists - St. Dorothy
- February 6; Hat makers - St. James - May 11; Housekeepers -
St. Anne - July 26; Hunters - St. Hubert - November 3; Laborers
- St. James the Greater - July 25; Lawyers - St. Ives -May 19;
Librarians - St. Jerome - September 30; Merchants - St. Francis
of Assisi - October 4; Miners - St. Barbara - December 4;
Musicians - St. Cecilia - November 22; Notaries - St. Mark the
Evangelist - April 25; Nurses - St. Cathrine - April 30; Painter
- St. Luke - October 18; Pharmacists - St. Gemma Galgani - April
11; Plasterers - St. Bartholomew - August 24; Printers -
St. John of God - March 8; Sailors - St. Brendan - May 16;
Scientists - St. Albert - November 15; Singers - St. Gregory
- March 12; Steel workers - St. Eliguis - December 1; Students
- St. Thomas Aquinas - March 7; Surgeons - S.S. Cosmas & Damian
- September 27; Tailors - St. Boniface of Credtion - June 5;
Tax Collectors - St. Matthew - September 21;
The Roman Catholic Church also has saints for the following
Barren women - St. Anthony; Old maids - St. Andrew;
Beer drinkers - St. Nicholas; Poor - St. Lawrence;
Children - St. Dominic; Pregnant women - St. Gerard;
Domestic animals - St. Anthony; Television - St. Clare;
Emigrants - St. Francis; Temptation - St. Syriacus;
Family troubles - St. Eustachius; To apprehend thieves - St.
Gervase; Fire - St. Lawrence; To have children - St. Felicitas;
Floods - St. Columban; To obtain a husband - St. Joseph;
lightning storms - St. Barbara; To obtain a wife - St. Anne;
Lovers - St. Raphael; To find lost articles - St. Anthony;
Catholics are taught to pray to certain "saints" for help with
the following afflictions:
Arthritis - St. James; Epilepsy, nerves - St. Vitus;
Bite of dogs - St. Hubert; Fever - St. George;
Bite of snakes - St. Hilary; Foot diseases - St. Victor;
Blindness - St. Raphael; Gall stones - St. Liberius;
Cancer - St. Peregrine; Gout - St. Andrew; Cramps - St.Murice;
Headaches - St. Denis; Deafness - St. Cadoc; Heart trouble - St.
John of God; Disease of breast - St. Agatha; Insanity - St.
Dympna; Disease of eyes - St. Lucy; Skin disease - St. Roch;
Disease of throat - St. Blase; Sterility - St. Giles;
St.Hubert was born about 656 and appeared on our list as
the patron saint of hunters and healer of hydrophobia. Before his
conversion, almost all of his time was spent hunting. On a Good
Friday morning, according to legend, he pursued a large stag
which suddenly turned and he saw a crucifix between its antlers
and heard a voice tell him to turn to God.
But why pray to saints when Christians have access to God?
Catholics are taught that through praying to saints, they may be
able to obtain help that God otherwise might not give! They are
told to worship God and then to "pray, first to Saint Mary, and
the holy apostles, and the holy martyrs, and all God's saints
.... to consider them as friends and protectors, and to implore
their aid in the hour of distress, with the hope that God would
grant to the patron what he might otherwise refuse to the
supplicant" (Catholic Ency. vol.4,p.173, art "Communion of
Saints").
Everything considered, it seems evident that the Roman
Catholic system of patron saints developed out of the earlier
beliefs in gods devoted to days, occupations, and the various
needs of human life.
Many of the old legends that had been associated with the
pagan gods were transferred over to the saints. The Catholic
Encyclopedia even says these "legends repeat the conceptions
found in the pre-Christian religious tales ... The legend is not
Christian, only Christianized ... In many cases it has obviously
the same origin as the myth ... Antiquity traced back sources,
whose natural elements it did not understand, to the heroes; such
was also the case with many legends of the saints ... It became
easy to transfer to the Christian martyrs the conceptions which
the ancients held concerning their heroes. This transference was
promoted by the numerous cases in which Christian saints became
the successors of local deities, and Christian worship supplanted
the ancient local worship. This explains the great number of
similarities between gods and saints" (Ibid.,vol,9,pp.130,131,art
Legends").
As paganism and Christianity were mixed together, sometimes
a saint was given a similar sounding name as that of the pagan
god or goddess it replaced. The goddess "Victoria" of the
Basses-Alpes was renamed as St.Victoire, "Cheron" as St.Ceranos,
"Artemis" as St.Artemidos, "Dionysus" as St.Dionysus, etc. The
goddess "Brighit" (regarded as the daughter of the sungod and who
was represented with a child in her arms) was smoothly renamed as
"Saint Bridget." In pagan days, her chief temple at Kildare was
served by Vestal Virgins who tended the sacred fires. Later her
temple became a convent and her vestals, nuns. They continued to
tend the ritual fire, only it was now called "St.Bridget's fire"
(Urin - "Festivals, Holy Days, and Saints' Day" p.26).
The best preserved ancient temple now remaining in Rome is
the Pantheon which in olden times was dedicated (according to the
inscription over the portico) to "Jove and all the gods." This
was reconsecrated by Pope Boniface IV to "The Virgin Mary and all
the saints." Such practices were not uncommon. "Churches or ruins
of churches have been frequently found on the sites where pagan
shrines or temples originally stood ... It is also to some extent
true that sometimes the saint whose aid was to be invoked at the
Christian shrine bore some outward analogy to the deity
previously hallowed in that place. Thus in Athens the shrine of
the healer Asklepios ... when it became a church, was made sacred
to the two saints whom the Christian Athenians invoked as
miraculous healers, Kosmas and Damian" (Catholic Ency.
vol.2,p.44, art "Athens").
A cave shown in Bethlehem as the place in which Jesus was
born, was, according to Jerome, actually a rock shrine in which
the Babylonian god Tammuz had been worshipped. The scriptures
never state that Jesus was born in a cave. Throughout the Roman
Empire, paganism died in one form, only to live again within the
Roman Catholic church. Not only did the devotion to the old gods
continue (in a new form), but the use of statues of these gods as
well. In some cases, it is said, the very same statues that had
been worshipped as pagan gods were renamed as Christian saints.
Through the centuries, more and more statues were made, until
today there are churches in Europe which contain as many as two,
three, and four thousand statues (Hasting's Ency.of Religion and
Ethics, art "Omage and Idols"). In large impressive cathedrals,
in small chapels, at wayside shrines, on the dashboards of
automobiles - in all these places the idols of Catholicism may be
found in abundance.
The use of such idols within the Roman Catholic Church
provides another clue in solving the mystery of modern Babylon;
for, as Herodotus mentioned, Babylon was the source from which
all systems of idolatry flowed to the nations. To link the word
"idols" with statues of Mary and the saints may sound quite harsh
to some. But can this be totally incorrect? It is admitted in
Catholic writings that at numerous times and among various
people, images of the saints have been worshipped in
superstitious ways. Such abuses, however, are generally placed
in the past. It is explained that in this enlightened age, no
educated person actually worships the object itself, but rather
what the object represents. Generally this is true. But is this
not also true of heathen tribes that use idols (unmistakably
idols) in the worship of demon-gods? Most of these do not believe
the idol itself is a god, but only representative of the
demon-god they worship.
Several articles within "The Catholic Encyclopedia" seek to
explain that the use of images is proper on the basis of them
being representative of Christ or the saints. "The honor which is
given to them is referred to the objects which they represent, so
that through the images which we kiss, and before which we
uncover our heads and kneel, we adore Christ and venerate the
saints whose likenesses they are" (Catholic Ency.vol.7,p.636, art
"Idolatry").
Not all Christians are convinced, however, that this
"explanation" is strong enough reason to bypass verses such as
Exodus 20:4,5: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,
or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is
in the earth beneath, or that is underneath the earth: Thou shalt
not bow down thyself to them."
In the Old Testament, when the Israelites conquered a
heathen city or country, they were not to adopt the idols of
these people into their religion. Such were to be destroyed, even
though they might be covered with silver and gold! "The graven
images of their gods shall ye burn with fire; thou shalt not
desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it
unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination
to the Lord" (Deut.7:25). They were to "destroy all their
pictures" of pagan gods also (Numbers 33:52).
To what extent these instructions were to be carried out
under the New Testament has been often debated over the
centuries. The Catholic Encyclopedia gives a historical sketch of
this, showing how people fought and even died over this very
issue, especially in the eighth century. Though upholding the use
of statues and pictures, it says "there seems to have been a
dislike of holy pictures, a suspicion that their use was, or
might become, idolatrous, among certain Christians for many
centuries," and mentions several Catholic bishops who were of
this same opinion (Ibid.,p.620, art, "Iconoclasm").
For people to fight and kill each other over this issue -
regardless of which side they were on - was unmistakably contrary
to the teachings of Christ.
The pagans placed a circle or aureole around the heads of
those who were "gods" in their pictures. This practice continued
right on in the art of the Romish church ... St. Augustine is
shown in Catholic books - with a circular disk around his head.
All Catholic saints are pictured this same way. But to see that
this practice was borrowed from heathenism, we need only to
notice the drawing of Buddha which also features the circular
symbol around his head! The artists and sculptors of ancient
Babylon used the disk or aureola around any being they wished to
represent as a god or goddess (Inman - Ancient Pagan and Modern
Christian Symbolism" p.35). The Romans depicted "Circe," the
pagan goddess of the sun, with a circle surrounding her head.
From its use in pagan Rome, the same symbolism passed into papal
Rome and has continued to this day, as evidenced in thousands of
paintings of Mary and the saints.
Pictures, supposedly of Christ, were painted with "golden
beams" surrounding his head. This was exactly the way the sungod
of the pagans had been represented for centuries.
The church of the first four centuries used no pictures of
Christ. The scriptures do not give us any description of the
physical features of Jesus whereby an accurate painting could be
made of him. It seems evident, then, that the pictures of Christ,
like those of Mary and the saints, have come from the
imaginations of artists. We only have to make a short study of
religious art to find that in different centuries and among
different nationalities, many pictures of Christ - some very
different - may be found. Obviously all of these cannot be what
he looked like. Besides, having now ascended into heaven, we no
longer know him "after the flesh" (2 Cor.5:16), having been
"glorified" (John 7:39), and with a "glorious body" (Phil. 3:21),
not even the best artist in the world could portray the King in
his beauty. Any picture, even at its best, could never show how
wonderful he really is!
...............
TO BE CONTINUED
With what we have learnt above about Saints and Saints' Days, we
can now come to see what Paul was instructing and correcting the
people of Galatia about, in Galatians 4:8-11.
Verse eight, Paul talks to those who "knew NOT God, yet did
service unto them which by nature are no gods." Paul is NOT
addressing the Jews (who did know God, having a form of
knowledge, but without proper understanding) - he is talking now
to those who DID NOT know the true God, but who had served false
gods, that were not gods in any form or shape.
Verse nine, Paul says they HAD COME TO KNOW God, or God was
knowing them, as now being called of God to His light and
service, and true way to live and practice.
Then he says, "how TURN you AGAIN to the weak and beggarly
rudiments where you desire to be in bondage." They were TURNING
BACK, and the Greek here is "back to" "again at first" "again
anew" - it is indeed meaning "back again to" as doing something
that they once did and were now returning to it once again.
None of God's commandments of any kind, can be considered "weak
and beggarly" - if they are from God, they are from HIM, and so
have a purpose. God does not do anything that is "weak and
beggarly."
The Galatians (many of them) had returned to their former ways.
The ones who at one time "knew not God" but had "served gods that
were not gods" had again gone back to serving the weak and
beggarly rudiments of the gods of this world, the false customs
and practices and traditions, that belonged to the worship and
service of false gods. In that service of bondage was the
observance of "days, and months, and times, and years."
Woodrow has brought out in some detail what many of those
observance days etc. were.
This section of Galatians HAS NOTHING TO DO with God's holy days,
calendar, new month days, and the Festival observance that is
ordained of God, BUT it has everything to do with people who have
come out of false observances of false gods, that they once
observed, coming to KNOW the true Eternal God and all His true
ways, and then turning from them and turning back AGAIN to the
bondage of the false customs and traditions and observances of
the world of gods that are no gods - Keith Hunt
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