Religion: Blinding the Eyes
by
Richard “Dick” Hill
A Glimpses of Grace Publication
|
Religion is not of
God! In fact, it is the opinion
of this writer that religion is a smokescreen to blind the unsuspecting from the
truth of God. Through Jesus Christ, God has provided eternal life freely to
all who will trust Him by faith. But many will not believe in Christ because
they are being blinded by religion.
The one doing the blinding is called the god of this world. “And
even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in
whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so
that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who
is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:3-4). There are hundreds of
religions all over the world. Where did they begin? Let’s take a small
glimpse. Nimrod:
The Tower of Babel An entire religious
system began with a strange prophecy pronounced upon Ham, one of the sons of
Noah. The prophecy itself found its fulfillment in Ham’s Son,
Canaan. Much of Israel’s history
involves the interaction of Israel with the religious practices of the
Canaanites. (See “Noah’s Sin and Prophecy.”) Look carefully at Ham’s family tree. “The
sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah
and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. Cush became the father of
Nimrod he became a mighty one on the
earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, Like
Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD. The beginning of his kingdom
was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that
land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah,
and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city” (Gen. 10:6-12). Ham’s firstborn, Cush, had a son named Nimrod.
The name “Nimrod” is taken from the Hebrew verb, “let us revolt.” Nimrod settled
the land of modern Iraq. He was the founder of Babylon and Nineveh, both
sworn enemies of Israel. He was
called “a great hunter before the Lord.” The Hebrew words “before the Lord”
could actually be translated “in defiance of the Lord.” The Jewish Talmud called Nimrod “a hunter of
the souls of men.” He was evidently the architect of the first rebellion
against God and the one who began the first organized religious system. Religion Begins “Now the whole earth used
the same language and the same words” (Gen. 11:1). Following the flood, the
human race spoke one language.
Genesis 11 is a parenthetical section explaining how and why the
nations were divided into different language groups. “It came about as they
journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled
there” (Gen. 11:2). Shinar refers to the
place of the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom. “The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech
and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar” (Gen. 10:10). God had commanded Noah
and his family to “fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1). It was not God’s plan for the
people to come together. Nimrod disobeyed this command and sought to unite
the race in the Tigress-Euphrates Valley near modern day Baghdad, Iraq. The ‘whole earth’ settled together in
this one area united by their one language. “They said to one another,
‘Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.’ And they used
brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar” (Gen. 11:3). “Let us” places the
emphasis upon man. This surfaces man’s pride, public enemy number one with
God (Prov. 6:16). The Hebrew word for “tar”
is a word from which the word “bitumen” comes. Where there is bitumen, there
is oil! Brick “for” stone - the
word “for” means in the place of.
They used bricks in the place of stone, and they used tar in the place
of mortar. “They
said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will
reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we
will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (Gen. 11:4). A tower was
a pyramid called a ziggurat.
They are referred to in the Bible as “high places.” High places are
mentioned at least 73 times in the Old Testament from Leviticus 26:30 to
Habakkuk 3:19. “Heaven” is a word that
means universe. The tower was built in order to reach to the stars, including
the sun and the moon. This was
the very beginning of religion. Religion is a distortion of
God's design. His universe is designed to reveal to man His power and His
godhead. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes,
His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood
through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:18-20). The stars were to tell
the glory of God (Psa. 19:1). The consistent cycles of the sun and the moon
and stars pointed to the cycles of planting, growth, and harvest of crops and
were to be a witness of God’s faithfulness to man. “Nevertheless
He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain
from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness”
(Acts 14:17). The human race began to
worship God's creation rather than
the Creator (Rom. 1:21-25).
The worship of these terrestrial objects changed into the worship of
the life giving cycles of harvest or the worship of fertility. Romantic history records
that Nimrod created a God named Marduk. Marduk became the male god of the life
cycle that included the sun and moon.
He became the male god of fertility. Ancient history tells us that Nimrod had a wife named
Semiramis. The Semiramus Hotel
located in Egypt today is named after this woman. Semiramis was associated
with the goddess of fertility. History records that Nimrod and Semiramis had a
son whom Semiramis claimed was virgin-born and the fulfillment of Genesis
3:15. The name of the child was Tammuz, the sun god. From Semiramis
and Tammuz came the mother and child cult. The Babylonian religious system
was the worship of a mother and child, supposedly virgin-born. The picture of
the woman holding a child became the symbol of all of the fertility cults
throughout history. The woman-child pictured
together became the symbol of the worship within the Babylonian religious
system. It is interesting that Tammuz is mentioned in scripture. “Then
He said to me, ‘Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of
Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The
LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.’’ And He said to me,
‘Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.’ So
He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD’S house; and to my
dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz” (Eze. 8:12-14). Semiramus claimed that
Tammuz was gored by a wild boar and killed. After forty days of weeping and
prayer, the child was miraculously raised from the dead. This rumor spread
quickly and added sufficient fuel to propel the religious system throughout
the ancient world. This supposedly happened on the feast of the Astoreth or
feast to Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of fertility. Thus began the
celebration of “Ishtar,” or as we know it, Easter. Ever wonder what bunnies
and chickens and hiding “Ishtar” eggs have to do with the resurrection of
Jesus Christ? Babylon is mentioned in
the Bible over 300 times. It is the most mentioned city in the word of
God. In fact, an underlying
theme woven through the Bible is a tale of two cities: Jerusalem and Babylon.
Babylon's history begins with the Tower of Babel in Genesis chapter 11,
continues throughout history, and it culminates just prior to the
establishment of Jesus Christ’s kingdom upon the earth (Rev. 14). The Babylonian system of
worship is mentioned often in the Bible and is called the worship of the
“host of heaven.” “And
beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and
the stars, all the host of heaven, and
be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God
has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven” (Deut. 4:19). “They
forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves
molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah (female fertility
goddess) and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal (the son of the god of thunder and
lightening and rain and thus fertility)” (2 Kings 17:16). “And those who bow down on the
housetops to the host of heaven”
(Zephaniah 1:5). “But
God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as
it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not to Me that you offered
victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of
Israel? ‘You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god
Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond
Babylon’” (Acts 7: 42-43). The various goddesses of
fertility are called in the Bible “the queen of heaven.” “The
children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead
dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink
offerings to other gods in order to spite Me” (Jer. 7:18). “But
rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our
mouths, by burning sacrifices to the
queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we
ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of
Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and
were well off and saw no misfortune. But since we stopped burning sacrifices
to the queen of heaven and pouring
out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by
the sword and by famine.” ‘And,’ said the women, ‘when we were burning
sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring
out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her
sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?” (Jer.
44:17-19). High Places Soon replicas of the
tower of Babel sprang up all over the land. They were small symbols for the worship of the fertility
gods and goddesses (the host of heaven and the queen of heaven). The
Canaanites built several in the land of Canaan. The idol “Al” supposedly
had a son named “Baal,” (Hebrew, son of Al), the son of thunder and
lightening. And the female counterpart was the Asteroth, or the Asheroth, or
the Asherim (plural). These counterfeit gods became a continuous source of
conflict among the Jews. “For
they also built for themselves high
places and sacred pillars and Asherim
on every high hill and beneath every luxuriant tree. There were also male
cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of
the nations which the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel” (1 Kings 14:23-24). “The
sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the LORD
their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified
city. They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and
there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the
LORD had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things
provoking the LORD” (2 Kings 17:9-11). These high places –
various sized pyramids, along with the picture of Semiramus holding her child
Tammuz – were the means of marking religious cults all over the world. This was all inspired, designed, established, and
perpetuated by Satan. The system is called in the Bible “mystery Babylon”
(Rev. 17:5). God
Intervenes “The LORD came down to
see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built” (Gen. 11:5). There never was a time
when God did not know what the people were doing. The picture of Him coming down and seeing is written
for man's benefit. “The LORD said,
‘Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this
is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be
impossible for them’” (Gen. 11:6). That which they proposed
to do would be to raise the standard of evil to the highest power. Their unity would provide a fertile
field for the growth and expansion of their evil desires. It would be
extended beyond its limits. That would lead to the extermination of the
entire race. There remains in man a
political idealism that if we could just live together in harmony with
perfect laws and perfect environment, there would be peace on earth. But the
problem is human depravity, not the government or the environment. Man, apart from God, will
never be able to create a world having perfect peace. Notice how God responds
to the building of the tower. “Come, let Us go down
and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one
another’s speech” (Gen. 11:7). This was an ingenious act
on the part of God. If people cannot understand each other, they will scatter
into smaller communities of similar language. This would eventually lead to
physical boundaries and governments and armies that would provide a balance
of power and protection for its citizens. This would give the human race the
necessary time and security necessary to consider the grace of God (Acts 17:24-28). This would give man the freedom to
consider the gospel of Jesus Christ. “So the LORD scattered
them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped
building the city” (Gen.11:8). Internationalism will not
lead to peace but to ultimate destruction. Man will be truly united only when
Jesus Christ is sitting upon His throne. Therefore its name was
called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole
earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the
whole earth” (Gen. 11: 9). “Babel”
comes from two Hebrew words, Ba-el, the gate of God. It is related to the ancient Aramaic
word “balbel,” which means confusion. Religion Expands When this “Babylonian
religious system” spread throughout the earth, its name changed, but the
worship remained basically the same. The system grew in Babylon (modern day
Iraq) as the worship of Marduk and Ishtar. It went into Canaan as the worship
of Baal and the Asteroth. It then went into Syria as the worship of Baal and
Astarte. It found its way into
Egypt as the worship of Horace (Ocirus, the sun God), and Ises (the
corresponding female deity). It eventually went into
Greece as the worship of Aris (Ocirus became Aris) and Aphrodite (Ises became
Aphrodite; the goddess of love). Ultimately this religion went into Rome as
the worship of Cupid and Venus, the god and goddess of love. Names changed, but the
worship practices stayed pretty much the same. Religion continued to surround
itself with fertility cults. The
ziggurats, the pyramids in the midst of the city, and the mother-child
picture all stayed pretty much the same. All pointed to the worship of the host of heaven. Religion Blends with Christianity During the Roman Empire, the emperors
slaughtered thousands in the name of religion. One of the most famous of the early Christians,
Tertullian, put it this way: “If the Tiber floods the city, or the Nile
refuses to rise, or the sky withholds its rains, if there is an earthquake, famine,
or pestilence, at once the cry is raised: ‘Christians to the lions!’” (Logos Library System) Christians suffered greatly for centuries under
the emperors of Rome. “Nero had light blue eyes, thick neck, protruding stomach, and
spindly legs, was a crazed and cruel emperor, a pleasure-driven man who ruled
the world by whim and fear. He killed hundreds of Christians. “Domitian likewise slaughtered Christians. He was a mentally demented man. He
enjoyed catching flies and stabbing them with a pen. He liked to watch
gladiatorial fights between women and dwarfs. “Then there was Diocletian. The first of Diocletian’s edicts
prohibited all Christian worship and commanded that churches and Christian
books be destroyed. Two further edicts, required in the eastern provinces,
ordered clergy to be arrested unless they sacrificed to pagan deities. By 304
this edict was extended to all Christians and was particularly vicious in
Africa.” (The Logos Library System) A crucial turning point was
when the worship of the queen of
heaven blended into the church of Jesus Christ around 300 A.D. As mentioned, the Babylonian
religious system - the worship of Cupid and Venus, the god and goddess of
love - had become the state religion of Rome. Around 300 A.D., Constantine 1
became Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. He was the first Roman Emperor to
support Christianity. In the spring of 312, Constantine began a final
bid for supremacy in the West. Campaigning against his rival, Maxentius,
through north and central Italy, he reached within five miles of Rome on
October 27. That night he had a vision or dream that convinced him that his
own destiny lay with Christianity.
The next day he defeated Maxentius’s superior forces and entered Rome
in triumph. Constantine 1 then became
engaged in a civil war with his brother Licinius who was the emperor of the
Eastern Roman empire (capitol city of Constantinople, modern day Istanbul).
Constantine supposedly had a dream of a cross and saw the Latin words “hoc
signo vines,” “by this sign you will conquer.” He promised to free the Christians to worship as they
pleased if they would help him defeat his brother. In February 313,
Constantine met Licinius and soundly defeated him. Christians had aligned themselves with Constantine and they won. The Edict of Milan The Edict of Milan finally signaled the end to
all persecution. Everyone was to be free to follow his own conscience. In
fact, the Edict proved to be the death nail of the immortal gods. The church
had triumphed! Or had they? “Our purpose is to grant both to the Christians and to all others full authority to follow whatever worship each person has desired, whereby whatsoever Divinity dwells in heaven may be benevolent and propitious to us, and to all who are placed under our authority. Therefore we thought it salutary and most proper to establish our purpose that no person whatever should be refused complete toleration, who has given up his mind either to the cult of the Christians or to the religion which he personally feels best suited to himself. It is our pleasure to abolish all conditions whatever which were embodied in former orders directed to your office about the Christians, that every one of those who have a common wish to follow the religion of the Christians may from this moment freely and unconditionally proceed to observe the same without any annoyance or disquiet.”
The script goes out of its
way to ensure evenhanded treatment for all: “no diminution must be made from
the honor of any religion. But the strongly pro-Christian flavor is tasted in
the instructions to restore to Christians all property that had been
appropriated during the persecution. This applied to property belonging to
individual Christians as well as to churches—and without regard for the
present owners, who could apply to the state for compensation. “In implementing these
rulings, the governor was to give the Christians his ‘most effective
intervention,’ making sure the terms were published to all. These actions, Constantine and
Licinius concluded, would ensure that ‘the Divine favor toward us, which we
have already experienced in so many affairs, shall continue for all time to
give us prosperity and success, together with happiness for the state.’” (Quote from the Logos Library System;
Persecution of the Early Church; The Edict of Milan) The result was a union of
the queen of heaven and Christianity. This ultimately produced what came to
be called “the Universal Church.” We know it as the Holy Roman Catholic
Church. This system ultimately
became corrupt and helped plunge man into the dark ages of cults and
superstition. The church of Rome
twisted and distorted the truth of the gospel of grace. God graciously
resurfaced the gospel through the Reformation in Europe during the sixteen
century. Many of the traditions of
the “queen of heaven” still touch our lives today. The wedding ring, the
veil, the cake, the music, and the prayers that were originally said to Zues
and Aphrodite have come down to us.
The bunnies and rabbits in the celebration of Easter (Ishtar) are
residue from this sytstem. Many
of the “Saint’s Days” that are celebrated today found their beginning in this
system. Christmas trees and many of the wonderful “Christian traditions” that
we hold today also find their origin in this religious system. Satan’s Babylonian
religious system is alive and well today! It has morphed into many different
forms but it is still here. That is why it is called “mystery Babylon.” I know that we are quick
to think, “I do not worship idols, and especially the god’s of the Babylonian
pantheon.” It is interesting
that popular sports figures of the ancient world were made into gods and worshipped. In fact, idolatry is the worship of
anything that is placed above God. This is why John said, “Little children,
guard yourselves from idols” (1 Jn. 5:21). The “hosts of heaven” and
the “queen” are still here. They will continue to be used by the evil one to
blind the minds of those who are perishing. This Babylonian religious system
will remain until Jesus Christ returns to destroy it (Rev.17:1-3). New American Standard
Bible Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost Logos Christian History
Interactive Encyclopedia Britannica Bible Knowledge
Commentary Old Testament |
Where did religion begin and
where is it now? |
