THE "DAYS" OF GALATIANS 4
FIRST READ THIS ABOUT DAYS.........
Babylon Mysteries
Mary and Saint Days
From the book "Babylon Mystery Religion" by Woodrow CHAPTER THREE 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. 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 - December 21; Astronomers - 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............. .................................... 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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