The Lord’s warning to sinning Israel that He would carry them away beyond Babylon had dual applications.  The first application dealt with physical and geographical conditions He would inflict on them.  He would physically scatter them throughout the world far beyond the geographical area known as Babylon.  There they would lose their identity as Israelites and become known as Gentiles.  They would also lose their language, their social customs and all  knowledge of their significance within the societal framework of the world’s civilizations.  Hundreds of millions of Israelites are today called by the names of the Gentile nations in which they settled after being scattered.  Their languages and social systems are those of their host nations.  Which brings us to the second aspect of God’s  “beyond Babylon” prophecy.  This application dealt with spiritual matters.

Over time Israel defied God to the point that He brought on them military defeat, slaughter and enslavement of those who survived in the nations of their enemies.  Through this punishment He was setting an example for their biological descendants to learn from and to avoid the same treatment by obeying Him.  However, their namesakes did not learn from their ancestors’ mistakes.  This in spite of the Lord proclaiming through the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:11,12: “Now these things (disasters) happened to them (Israel) for examples, and they were recorded for OUR instruction.”  He then identified who  “OUR” would be.  They would be those Israelites, as well as Gentiles, who would be living during the last days of the present world.

As stated earlier, the destruction of the original city called Babylon did not bring her religious and social ideologies to an end.  To the contrary, followers of the Babylonian mystery religions multiplied in the number and increased in both spiritual and social power over time.  Their numbers and influence continue to expand today, but under a variety of different names, none of which includes the word “Babylon.”  We learn her modern day identity in the 17th chapter of Revelation where she is called “Mystery Babylon.”  Though she controls billions of people, only a few know her identity.  Today she operates under a variety of aliases, all of which are very familiar.

Students of mankind’s early civilizations are aware that the ancient city of Babylon and the people that came out of her have significantly affected mankind.  Recall that Babylon ruled much of the known world for many years.  The second part of the Lord’s “beyond Babylon” warning involves the spiritual realm.  Man does not realize the impact that the mystery religions of Babylon have on the spiritual life of most of mankind today.  Man, specifically Christian man, believes that Babylon’s effect on his spiritual life is a gift from the Biblical God.  This series, as well as this website, is designed to prove that most of the beliefs and customs embraced by the church are not from God, but rather are abominations placed within her by her Babylonian god–Satan.

The religions and gods of Babylon are at the root of practically all secret societies and cultic systems known to man.  The Institutional Church is not exempt from Babylon’s influence.  I once prayed for God to heal a very religious church woman.  He healed her instantly and totally.  Her response was straight out of the Babylonian playbook.  She accused me of healing her through witchcraft.  She “mysteriously” died a short time later for no apparent reason.  Chaldean priests of Babylon invented such occultic practices as witchcraft, demonology, magic, fortune telling (soothsaying), omenology, idol worship and animal entrail reading (the liver was a favorite organ).  The system soon evolved into a method of foretelling the future.  The entrals of chickens and roosters (voodoo) were also used.  These heathen practices are still popular among some Latin people and go by the names of Santeria (saint worship) and Palo Mayombe (black magic).  Their practitioners call on help from Catholic saints, African spirit gods and dead people who are being tortured in a type of hell.  Mexicans who practice Palo Mayombe sometimes engage in human sacrifice as part of their rituals, the same rituals that were practiced in Babylonian temples thousands of years ago.  Which brings us to the part that Babylonian (heathen) religion plays in what is known as “Christianity” today.  This involves the second application of the Lord’s “Beyond Babylon” warning.

Millions of people, many of them professing Christians, consult the stars and planets on a daily basis before beginning their day.  Some newspapers run daily astrological guides which are read and followed by millions world-wide.  Books and magazines provide the information each reader needs to make his/her decisions each day of the year.  Astrological calendars tell astrology devotees know when to celebrate occultic holidays which many people observe instead of God’s commanded Holy Days.  For example, the worship of Baal in the Canaanite culture was later adopted by the Celts of the British Isles as well as Druid priests who celebrated their New Year on the Eve of Samhain.  Their new year is also known as All Hallowed (holy) Eve, known today as  Halloween.  Read Halloween keyed by that name.

The god named Baal is closely associated with a pagan goddess named Ashtaroth (Jud. 10:6).  Upon arriving in the Promised Land (Canaan) the Israelites soon became infatuated with the Canaanites’ goddess of fertility and were soon corrupted by her.  Judges 10:6 states that “the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord by serving Baalim and Ashtaroth,” along with many other gods.

Ashtaroth, also known as Astarte and Ishtar, was the goddess of love, lust and childbearing.  Ashtaroth was a harlot priestess who presided over religious temples where worship services were often of a sexual nature.  In such temples both female and male temple prostitutes were used to meet the sexual needs of those who worshiped her.

One of the rituals employed in the worship of Ishtar involved the “golden egg of Astarte.”  This custom was celebrated with chicken eggs and rabbits.  The Babylonians were not alone in the worship of a sex goddess.  The Egyptians referred to their goddess as the “Queen of Heaven” whose name was Isis.  The Greek’s sex queen was called Diana, the same Diana whose followers tried to kill the Apostle Paul on one occasion (Acts 19:24-35).  The annual celebration in honor of the goddess of fertility is one of several Babylonian holidays that have been embraced by other heathen religions, including professing Christianity.  In church circles Babylon’s sex symbol is affectionately known as “Easter”–the English pronunciation of Ishtar.

The celebration of December 25th has a long history within the world’s heathen societies.  It was the custom in Babylon, Arabia, Egypt, Assyria and Rome to celebrate the winter solstice when the sun was re-BORN each year on that date.  This “birth” was symbolized by the sun’s rising in the eastern sky higher with each passing day as it steadily increased in temperature.  Sun worshipers celebrated the day as the birthday of their god–the sun.  It was from sun worshipers that the church learned to conduct “sunrise services.”   Other heathen societies used the day to celebrate their particular god’s birthday, though the objects of worship were not always the same.  The Arabians called December 25th “the birthday of the Lord, who is the moon.”  The Romans called the celebration “the Feast of Saturn”–one of the gods they worshiped.  The Babylonians celebrated the occasion as “the birth of Dumuzi/Tammuz” (Eze. 8:14) who was the son of Semiramus whose title was “the Queen of Heaven.”  In some circles the winter solstice is still called the “yule tide season.”  Among the Chaldeans “yule” meant “child.”  In modern church circles the day is called Christmas.  All believe that their god was born on December 25.  Read Christmas: Birthday of the Gods.  Key word–Birthday.

If you are wondering if every aspect of Catholic/Protestant church life is saturated with heathenism, the answer is “yes,” as this series will prove  L.J.