Joseph Herrin (02-12-2010) It is only possible to accept that the picture above is an image of what Christ intended His church to be if one has become divorced from the truth. To be divorced from the truth is the definition of the word apostasy. II Thessalonians 2:1-3 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Yahshua Christ, and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first... The apostles testified that the church would become divorced from the truth BEFORE the coming of our Lord Yahshua the Messiah, and our gather together to Him. How did a group of humble Jewish fishermen, and the early church that first gathered in Jerusalem, become so transformed as to no longer be recognized as humble men and women despised and rejected of men? How did the church come to adorn themselves with all the rich and proud trappings of pagan religion? The answer is found in the practice of syncretism. If one studies the Bible with the greatest diligence, they will find no mention of the apostles or disciples of The Way ever putting on rich garments. They will find no mention of the church building cathedrals, proud monuments of opulence and ease. They will not find any mention of monks, nuns, or a clergy/laity separation. You will not find in the Scriptures any connection between the church of Christ and miters, prayer beads, monasteries, rich necklaces and jewels, purple and scarlet robes, or chalices. However, you will find these very things mentioned in the apostle John’s description of an apostate church that is figured as a Great Harlot riding upon a Scarlet Beast. Revelation 17:1-6 And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I shall show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality." And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered greatly. Pope Benedict and Cardinals “Adorned in Scarlet and Purple” “Having in Her Hand a Gold Cup of Abominations...” I have written elsewhere of the origin of many Catholic and “Christian” practices. I will include a passage here from the writing Deconstructing Babylon. The Catholic Church practiced syncretism. This is the practice of seeking to merge, or reconcile, various conflicting beliefs. When Constantine declared Rome to be a Christian Empire, there was a huge number of pagan practitioners throughout the empire. Constantine was himself a Sun worshiper, and the highest holy days of Sun worship were at the end of December when the Sun had passed through the shortest day of the year and was beginning to assert its ascendancy once more. This was where Christmas originated. Rome merged the worship of Deus Sol Invictus (unconquered Sun god) with Christianity, and it became a perverse mixture of pagan and Christian teachings. It was through the merger of Sun worship and Christianity that the day of worship was moved to Sun-day. Every day of the week in our Roman calendar is devoted to a different pagan deity: Sun-day: the Sun Mon-day: the Moon Tues-day: Tiews (The Nordic equivalent of Mars) Wednes-day: Woden (equivalent to Mercury) Thurs-day: Thor (Equivalent to Jupiter) Fri-day: Freya (Equivalent to Venus and Aphrodite) Satur-day: Saturn Because Constantine was a Sun worshiper, he moved all worship to Sunday, forbidding Christians and Jews to worship on the Sabbath. Today the church has been so indoctrinated into this practice that they refer to Sunday as the Sabbath day. This is but one more example of the corruptions of Babylon. The corruptions of Christianity due to its merger with Sun worship are many, and few realize the extent of them. Many Christians speak of “Sun-day worship” and “Sun-day school,” not realizing the origin and meaning of what it is they are saying. Even depictions of the Christ bear the marks of Sun worship. This picture is easily mistaken as a painting of Christ. It is actually a painting of Apollo. The “solar halo,” also called a nimbus, was very common in depictions of deities that were related to the Sun and Sun worship. Due to Catholicism’s deep ties to Sun worship, symbols of the Sun are found in profusion. This is a picture of the Pope carrying what is very obviously an image of the Sun. The sacrament of the Mass observed by Catholics is rife with Sun images. Even the wafer that is supposed to represent the body of Christ is in the shape of a solar disk. It is this which is held in the center of the image above. These solar wafers were used in the observance of pagan rites. In contrast, at the Passover supper the Lord took unleavened bread and BROKE if. He did not carve it into neat little circles that resemble the Sun and pass it out to His disciples and say “This is My body broken for you. Eat this in remembrance of Me.” Nor did they mark this observance on Sun-day. (I am not advocating that Christians should return to a legal observance of the Sabbath which begins at sundown on Friday and runs until sundown on Saturday. The book of Acts reveals that the believers were meeting every day of the week. I share this to point out the influence upon pagan Sun worship in both the Catholic and Protestant churches today.) The tonsure haircut worn by monks is also related to Sun worship. The haircut marks the circuit of the Sun in the heavens. Did you ever read about monks in the Scriptures? Monks and monasteries were also borrowed from pagan religion. It is not hard to understand that numerous other corruptions were arrived at through the practice of syncretism. The fish symbol had long been employed in pagan religions. It was a symbol of Venus as well as Bacchus. In The Two Babylons, Alexander Hyslop writes, "Icthus, or the Fish, was one of the names of Bacchus." Bacchus was another name for Tammuz, the Sun-deity. The worship of the fish deity is found in Scripture as we read of Dagon, the fish god of the Philistines. The priests of Dagon wore fish shaped hats. It is from this that the Catholics obtained the Mitre. Note that this priest of Dagon is sprinkling water, just like the Catholics do in their rituals. Pope Benedict XVI with fish god Mitre on his head. Bust of John Paul II Did you ever stop to question where the Catholic Church gets all of its costumes and symbols? The Catholics say they trace the lineage of the popes back to Peter. Did you ever read of Peter dressing up in such garb? I tell you the answer is NO! Peter would not have dressed in the clothes of a pagan priest in order to declare the gospel of Christ. These things are abominations. God clearly told His people to not form images to represent Him. Deuteronomy 4:15-18 So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. Regarding the appearance of the Ichthus symbol in Christianity, Alexander Hyslop writes: About the very time that the Bishop of Rome was invested with the pagan title of Pontifex, the Savior began to be called Ichthys, or “the Fish,” thereby identifying Him with Dagon, or the fish-god; and that, ever since, advancing step by step, as circumstances would permit, what has gone under the name of the worship of Christ, has just been the worship of that same Babylonian divinity, with all its rites and pomp and ceremonies, precisely as in ancient Babylon. [Source: The Two Babylons, page 370] Is it not remarkable that the Catholic church eats fish every Friday? Where did this custom come from? It is not hard to discover. The Romans worshiped Aphrodite Salacia. As we observed already, Freya was the Scandinavian equivalent of Aphrodite. Aphrodite Salacia was a fertility goddess. The worshipers of Aphrodite ate fish on Fridays and engaged in orgies. Fish is considered an “aphrodisiac.” Also from the name of Aphrodite Salacia we get the word “salacious,” which is defined as “intended to arouse people sexually.” The Catholics, with their practice of syncretism, have simply absorbed all of the practices of pagan religions. They often seek to give the pagan practices some “Christian” justification, but God is appalled at the mixing of the holy and the profane together. His Spirit cries out, “Come out of her My people, lest you participate in her sins and partake of her plagues.” [End Excerpt] Recently, as I had the blessing of spending some time with some Christian brothers in jail, one of these men told me of his conversion from Islam. This man related that while he was a Muslim that material was frequently handed around by the Muslims that pointed to Christianity’s pagan roots. The Muslims clearly recognized that many symbols, rites and doctrines from numerous pagan religions (all traceable back to Babylon) had been incorporated into Christianity. This information was used by the Muslims to denigrate Christianity, depicting it as merely an amalgamation of many pagan practices. Tragically, what the Muslims have testified is true as one looks at what is purported to be Christianity today. This Christian brother had been raised as a Christian, but had converted to Islam while in prison because of the protection it afforded him. He mentioned how it disturbed him to hear the Muslims speak of the origin of such things as Christmas and Easter, of Sunday worship, and the multitude of things that have been merged into that original faith practiced by Christ and His apostles. I mentioned that the SuperBowl 44 served as a testimony of the Sun Worshipers who are depicted as Saints achieving a victory over God’s people. The SuperBowl was held in SUN Life Stadium in the SUNshine State and was held on a SUNday. The New Orleans Saints come from one of the most densely Catholic areas of the country, and Catholicism has embraced a myriad of images and practices that go back to Babylonian Sun worship. Catholic Sacrament in India Sacramental Wafer (Solar Disk of Tammuz) With Crown and Tau Symbol at Top Representing Tammuz, King of Heaven The photo above was taken by me at the oldest Roman Catholic church in Macon, Georgia, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. This shrine outside the church contains the Pyramid and All Seeing Eye of Freemasonry (note the sunburst behind the cross.) It includes the cross, which is a symbol of Tammuz, who is Nimrod reborn, the god of the Sun. This is signified also by the solar burst behind the Tau-cross. It has an image of Mary, who is modeled after Semiramis, the Queen of Heaven, the mother of Tammuz and wife of Nimrod. Macon is the French word for Mason. Both Freemasonry and Roman Catholicism trace their roots back to Babylon. The city of Macon was laid out by its Masonic founders after the street design of ancient Babylon, a fact attested on the local Chamber of Commerce website. When one has their eyes opened to see the incredible influence of Babylon, brought into the church through the cunning of the great deceiver Satan, it is found everywhere. It is for this reason that the Spirit is calling out to the people of God today to come out of Babylon. Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues... Note: For a further exploration of Freemasonry and its Babylonian roots, I recommend the presentation found at the following link: http://www.heart4god.ws/id546.htm Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws Parables Blog: http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com Mailing Address: Joseph Herrin P.O. Box 804 Montezuma, GA 31063