For explanation
Below an article [1] van de bekende Dr. H.A. Ironside over het ontstaan van de heidense religies. Hij schets de lijn die loopt van Babel tot aan de Roomse kerk in onze tijd. Als achtergrond bij het thema van deze site lijkt het me nuttig om kennis van te nemen.
Here and there I inserted headings (I suspect the original was a speech), added biblical texts and added footnotes.
Nimrod
If we go back to the beginning of history using Scripture, we see that the founder of Bab-el, or Babylon, was Nimrod, of whose unholy practices we read in the 10th chapter of Genesis. He was the arch apostate of the age of the patriarchs. He is characterized as a "mighty hunter for the Lord"; "a hunter of the souls of men," according to the rabbis. He left the presence of the Lord, wickedly trying to gather a crowd of people behind him. In defiance of God's express commandment to scatter over the surface of the earth, he persuaded his associates and followers to cooperate in "building a city and a tower that would reach to heaven" (Genesis 11:4).
Some of us were taught in our childhood that they built a tower to escape to heaven if another flood came. But actually this was a well-known and high tower that could be seen by all as a temple for those who did not walk in obedience to the word of the Lord. With the same insolence as of our modern apostates, they called their city and tower Bab-El, which is "the gate of God. But by divine judgment it was soon changed to Babel, which is "confusion. It bore the mark of imitation from the beginning, for we are told, "And the clay blocks served them for stone, and the asphalt served them for clay" (Genesis 11:3). Since then, through all the centuries, Babylon has been characterized by imitation of that which is real and true.
Nimrod, or Nimroud-bar-Cush, as he is called on the (archaeological) monuments, was a grandson of Cham, the unworthy son of Noah, whose character is shown when he discovers his father's shame (Genesis 9:21,22). We know that Noah had carried through the flood the revelation of the true God, for he was a preacher of righteousness, and on several occasions he shows that he had the prophetic gift. Cham, on the other hand, seems to have been too easily influenced by the apostasy brought by the flood, for he shows no signs of self-judgment, but just the opposite.
His name, as spelled on Egyptian monuments, is Khem, and this corresponds to the literal sound of the Hebrew word representing Cham in our Bibles. It means "dark," "darkened," or more literally, "burned by the sun." The name indicates the condition of the man's soul. For what is a sun-burnt person? One who is darkened by light from heaven. Cham had received special grace. He was saved from the flood because of his father's faith, but he abused his privileges and "turned the grace of God into licentiousness" (Jude 1:4). He was actually darkened by the burning rays of light that God was shining on his soul. Thus his conscience was cauterized as with a hot iron, and he became the founder of a race that was apostate from the living God and walked the path of idolatry. They worshipped the creature more than the Creator.
Hardening - the light that darkens
We know something of what this means. We speak today of people who, as we say, have hardened their hearts to the gospel. They too are darkened by the light, and are often the leaders in apostasy: "If the light that is in you is darkened, how great is the darkness" (Matthew 6:23b). There are many in the world who listen with tears in their eyes to the story of the matchless grace of God as revealed in the cross of Christ, but do not relate it personally to themselves. They have become hardened in their sins and their seared consciences no longer feel the breath of the Spirit. It is dangerous to mock light from heaven.
But to continue with our theme, Cham was darkened by light. We know his failure and sin. But when Noah recovered and knew what his son had done to him, he, by the spirit of prophecy, pronounced a curse on Canaan and not on Cham (Genesis 9:18,25-27). Do you marvel at that? I did too, until I saw that God had already pronounced a blessing on all three of Noah's sons - Shem, Cham and Japheth (Genesis 9:1). So Noah skips his unworthy son and pronounces a curse on Canaan, who we can well believe is, as we say, "an aart after his time." Cham fathered a son named Cush, "the black one," and he became the father of Nimrod, the apostate leader of his generation.
Semiramis - the woman and her seed
Ancient traditions now help us and tell us that the wife of Nimrod-bar-Cush was the infamous Semiramis, the First[2]. She is known as the founder of the Babylonian mysteries and the first high priestess of idolatry. Thus Babylon became the source of idolatry and the mother of all the Gentiles and every pagan system in the world. The mystery religion that arose there spread in various forms all over the earth, and as we shall see, it is with us today. It is identical with the "mystery of lawlessness" (2 Thessalonians 2:7) that worked so powerfully in Paul's day. It will be at its peak when the Holy Spirit is taken up from the earth and the Babylon of the Apocalypse holds sway.
Building on the original promise of the woman's seed to come, Semiramis bore a son who - she said - was miraculously conceived, and when she presented him to the people, he was hailed as the promised deliverer. This was Tammuz, against whose worship Ezekiel protested in the days of exile (Ezekiel 8:14). Thus was introduced the mystery of the mother and child, a form of idolatry older than any other. The rituals of this worship were secret. Only the initiated were allowed to know the mysteries. It was Satan's attempt to deceive mankind with an imitation of the truth of God, lest they (re)know the true seed of the woman when He came in the fullness of time. Of this, Justin the Martyr explains[3] a clear testimony.
Mother and child - the queen of heaven
From Babylon, this mystery religion spread to all the surrounding nations as the years went on and the world was populated by Noah's descendants. Everywhere the symbols were the same, and everywhere the cult of the mother and child became the popular system. Their worship was celebrated with the most disgusting and immoral practices. The image of the queen of heaven with the baby in her arms was seen everywhere, although the names could differ according to the languages.
It became the mystery religion of Phoenicia and was spread by the Phoenicians to the ends of the earth. Ashtoreth and Tammuz, the mother and child of these strong adventurers, became Isis and Horus in Egypt, Aphrodite and Eros in Greece, Venus and Cupid in Italy, and in more distant places they bore yet other names. Within 1,000 years, the religion of Babel had become the religion of the world, which had rejected divine revelation.
Tammuz
Linked to the central mystery were countless smaller mysteries whose hidden meaning was known only to the initiated, but whose external forms were practiced by all people. These included the doctrine of purgative purification after death, salvation through numerous sacraments (such as priestly absolution), sprinkling with holy water, offering round cakes to the queen of heaven (as mentioned in the book of Jeremiah - 7:18; 44:17-25), dedication of virgins to the gods (which was literally sanctified prostitution), bewailing Tammuz (see also Ezekiel 8:14) during a period of 40 days preceding the great feast of Istar[4] (who was said to have conceived her son from the dead). It was learned that Tammuz was killed by a wild boar and then brought back to life. An evergreen tree became the symbol of his birth and erected at the time of the winter solstice. Furthermore, the egg was sacred to him because it depicted the mystery of his resurrection.
Het teken van het kruis was heilig voor Tammuz, als symbool van het leven gevende principe en als eerste letter van zijn naam. Het is aangebracht op enorme aantallen van de oudste altaren en tempels, en is niet, zoals velen veronderstellen, ontstaan ten tijde van het christendom. Uit deze mysteriegodsdienst werd de aartsvader Abraham afgescheiden door goddelijke roeping. Met deze zelfde boze eredienst had het volk dat uit hem voortkwam voortdurend ruzie, totdat het onder Izebel, een Fenicische prinses, ten tijde van Achab werd geënt op wat er nog over was van de godsdienst van Israël in het noordelijke koninkrijk. Uiteindelijk was het de oorzaak van hun ballingschap. Juda was erdoor bezoedeld, want Baäl-aanbidding was slechts de Kanaänitische vorm van Babylonische mysteriën, en alleen door in ballingschap naar Babylon zelf te worden gestuurd, werd Juda genezen van haar voorliefde voor afgoderij. Baäl was de Zonnegod, de Levengevende, identiek met Tammuz.
The mystery of lawlessness
When Christ came into this world, the "mystery of lawlessness" was dominant everywhere except where the truth of God as revealed in the Old Testament was known. So when the early Christians began the great task of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, they were confronted with this system everywhere, in one form or another. For though Babylon as a city had long been but a mystery, her mysteries had not died with her. When the city and the temples were destroyed, the high priest fled with a company of initiates and their sacred objects and images to Pergamos[5][6], where the symbol of the serpent was established as the emblem of the hidden wisdom. From there they crossed the sea and emigrated to Italy, where they settled on the Etruscan plain.
To Rome
There the ancient cult was propagated under the name of Etruscan Mysteries, and Rome eventually became the headquarters of Babylonian life. The chief priests wore fish-headed miters in honor of Dagon, the fish god, the Lord of life. It is another form of the Tammuz mystery as developed among Israel's ancient enemies, the Philistines. The high priest, when he settled in Rome, was given the title Pontifex Maximus, and this title was depicted on his mitre. When Julius Caesar (who was an initiate like all young Romans from good families) had become the head of the empire, he was elected Pontifex Maximus. This title was henceforth held by all Roman emperors down to Constantine the Great, who was both head of the church and high priest to the pagans at the same time.[7], for whom he, like his idolatrous predecessors, wears the fisherman's ring[8].
During the early centuries of the Church's history, “the mystery of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:7) had astonishing effects. Babylonian practices and teachings were so absorbed by what called themselves "Church of Christ" that the truth of the Scriptures was completely obscured on many points, while idolatrous practices were forced upon the people as Christian sacraments and pagan philosophies took the place of gospel teaching. Thus was born that amazing system that dominated Europe for a thousand years and made commodities of “bodies and souls of men” (Revelation 18:13), bringing a measure of liberation until the great Reformation of the 16th century.
Hetzelfde verhaal vind je tegenwoordig (augustus 2020) ook op de site van de Evangelische Bijbelvertaling: From Nimrod via Tammuz to the woman Babylon
Below is the same story again briefly by John Barnett of DTBM for those who understand English (the English text is there to read).
[1] Translation of the article on http://www.biblelineministries.org/articles/basearch.php3?action=full&mainkey=BABYLONIAN+RELIGION+%28By+Harry+A.+Ironside%29
[2] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiramis_(koningin);
[3] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinus_de_Martelaar
[4] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isjtar_(godin)
[5] The Istar gate from Pergamus was recreated in the last century in the Pergamus museum in Berlin. See https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamonmuseum.
[6] See also Revelation 2:12-17, where it is said that in Pergamos is the 'throne of Satan' and that Satan dwells there.
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