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IT  ALL  BEGAN  IN  BABYLON

ALL  FALSE  RELIGION STARTED  IN  ANCIENT  BABYLON "In ancient days Satan seemed to make Babylon the capital of his evil operation.  From this headquarters was started false religion." -(Revelation Illustrated and Made Plain p. 224).   "the Tower of Babel was actually the worship of Satan in the form of fire, the sun and the serpent.  However, Satan worship could not be done openly because of the many who still believed in the true God of Noah.  So a mystery religion began at Babel where Satan could be worshipped in secret." - Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, 2nd American ed.  (Neptune, New Jersey: Loizeaux Brothers, 1959) 5, 24.) "The researches of modern writers..... uniformly regard Babylon... as the cradle of the ancient Paganism." --The Worship of the Dead (London; 1904),    Colonel J. Garnier,  pg. 8 "There in ancient Babylon were born the false beliefs that have wormed their way into almost every religion. Even today millions and millions of people who may want to live according to the right ways are not aware that their manner of worship follows very closely that of ancient idol worship and pagan rites begun at Babel. People today, calling themselves Christians, keep the Babylonian festivals of the Solstice at Christmas and of Easter, which is the festival of Ishtar (the ancient fertility goddess of Babylon). - Nimrod and False Religion;   Adapted from Chapters 5 of The Bible Story    Volume 1 by Basil Wolverton   Published by Ambassador College Press. "Babylon was, at that time, the center of the civilized world; and thus Paganism...had opportunities of sending forth its debased counterfeit of the truth to all the ends of the earth." - Hislop, A., The Two Babylons,  Loiseaux Brothers, Neptune, N.J. pg 99. SOME  FALSE  TEACHINGS THAT  BEGAN  IN  ANCIENT  BABYLON : THE  TRINITY - Unlike early Christianity, which worshipped the Jewish God, Jehovah - The apostate Church adopted the Trinity god of Ancient Babylon. "The trinity got its start in Ancient Babylon with Nimrod - Tammuz - and Semiramis. Semiramis demanded worship for both her husband and her son as well as herself.  She claimed that her son, was both the father and the son. Yes, he was "god the father" and "god the son" - The first divine incomprehensible trinity."  --The Two Babylons ; Alexander Hislop; p.51 "There were triads of gods..." -(Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, Norman, Okla.; 1963, S. H. Hooke, pp. 14-40) "The doctrine that Jesus Christ the Son of God was God the son was decreed by worldly and ecclesiastical powers. Men were forced to accept it at the point of the sword or else, Thus, the error of the trinity was propounded to the end that ultimately people believed it to be the truth. Thus Christianity became in essence  like  'Babylonian'  heathenism, with only a veneer of Christian names." --- Forgers of the Word -1983 Victor Paul Wierwille "Long ago - right after the Flood, a man named Nimrod emerged on the scene of history. His name means "let us rebel". He led the founding of the first great civilization – Babylon...He led them to rebel against God. He had tremendous power, so much that he became a god in the eyes of the people. When he died, his wife, Semiramis, recognized that without him she might loose power herself, so she devised a clever plan. Semiramis was pregnant. She told everyone that the child in her womb was none other than Nimrod being reborn. This was the beginning of the greatest perversion... the concept of father/son deity, the very first incomprehensible divine trinity (the unexplainable mystery)..." - Resurrection Sunday and the Babylonian Connection; By Errol Hale CHRISTMAS : Unlike Christians who condemned birthday celebrations as a form of idolatry,  the apostate Church adopted the pagan Babylonian Birthday celebration of Nimrod. "The real origin of Christmas, is in ancient Babylon, history recording the sacredness with which the winter solstice (December 25) was celebrated in the cradle of demon worship." -HEATHEN CUSTOMS In the Christian Church; By Murl Vance "Christmas and Easter - These spurious, counterfeit holydays represent a compromise with paganism, an attempt on the part of the church to convert the heathen by meeting them halfway.  We have learned that this deception came into the Christian church by way of the open demon worship of the ancient Babylonians." -HEATHEN CUSTOMS In the Christian Church; By Murl Vance "People today, calling themselves Christians, keep the Babylonian festivals of the Solstice at Christmas and of Easter, which is the festival of Ishtar - the ancient fertility goddess of Babylon." - Nimrod and False Religion;   Adapted from Chapters 5 of The Bible Story    Volume 1 by Basil Wolverton   Published by Ambassador College Press. "Christmas began in Mesopotamia (Ancient Babylon)  over 4000 years ago" - (4000 years of Christmas; by Earl W. Count) Christmas - "Long before the fourth century, and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at that precise time of the year, in honour of the birth of the son of the Babylonian queen of heaven; and it may fairly be presumed that, in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the normal adherents of Christianity, the same festival was adopted by the Roman Church, giving it only the name of Christ." - The Two Babylons; Alexander Hislop (p. 93). "Christmas and Babylon - Even back in ancient Babylon the birth of Tammuz was celebrated in our December. The heathen sun worshipers throughout the northern hemisphere all celebrated the rebirth of the sun at the time of its turning back toward the North, that is about December 25." - What is Christmas? ; By: E. G. Cook IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL Unlike early Christianity, where hope for the dead was in a resurrection - Ancient Babylonian religion taught a belief in an immortal soul that lived on - after death. "After death the souls of men were supposed to continue in existence....." - (Beliefs of Ancient Babylon). --The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia    (Grand Rapids, Mich.; 1960), Vol. I, pg.373 "...immortality, we have seen, engaged the serious attention of the Babylonian theologians. . . .  Death was a passage to another kind of life." - [The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898),  M. Jastrow, Jr., page 556] "the vast majority of people have come to believe Satan's lie that no matter what they do, they "shall not die" (Gen 3:4) - but become like gods by living for ever." - Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D. Retired Professor of Theology, Andrews University "This doctrine of natural immortality can be traced through the muddy channels of a corrupted Christianity, a perverted Judaism, and pagan philosophy, and a superstitious idolatry, to the great instigator of mischief in the garden of Eden. The Protestants borrowed it from the Catholics, the Catholics from the Pharisees, the Pharisees from the pagans, and the pagans from the old serpent who first preached the doctrine amid the lowly bowels of Paradise to an audience all too willing to hear and heed the new and fascinating theology: "ye shall not surely die."" -Methodist-Congregationalist clergyman,   Amos Phelps (1805-1874) "The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is nowhere taught in the Holy Scriptures...The belief in the immortality of the soul came chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, in which Babylonian and Egyptian views were strangely blended." -Jewish Encyclopedia, "Immortality of the Soul," 1925. "Nowhere in the Bible is the immortality of the soul taught.  Nowhere is the soul distinct from the body, taught: A notion which has erroneously been derived from heathen philosophers." -JAMIESON, FAUSSET AND BROWN "...Our soul is immortal, and has judges, and pays the utmost penalties whenever a man is rid of the body." [Plato (pagan philosopher), 7th letter, 335a] "If you have fallen in with some who are called Christians, who say there is no resurrection of the dead - but rather that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not imagine that they are Christians." -Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 80, in "Ante Nicene Fathers," Vol. 1. p. 294. the  FIRST  LIE  --  Genesis 3:14, "Ye shall not surely die."  -  is Satan's masterpiece of deception which has caused most to believe that we possess immortal souls -- HELLFIRE  TORMENT Unlike Early Christianity; which believed in eternal life on a paradise earth, as the supreme reward (Mat.5:5) and everalsting destruction as the final punishment(Mat.7:13,14) - Ancient Babylon's religion espoused a place  of eternal torment. "In ancient Babylon - the nether world...is pictured as a place full of horrors, and is presided over by gods and demons of great strength and fierceness." --The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria; Boston, 1898    Morris Jastrow Jr., p.581 EASTER Unlike Christianity which observed the "Memorial" of Jesus' death on Passover - Nisan 14 - the apostate Church adopted the pagan Springtime Resurrection fashioned after the Babylonian Fertility goddess, "Easter". "Ishtar...an Assyrian names for Semiramus of Ancient Babylon.  Does the name Ishtar sound like Easter ?  Well it should. It is the same. The death and "resurrection" of these false gods was celebrated annually in the spring. The celebration included coloring eggs, an ancient symbol of fertility. The ancients even hid eggs for children to find. Rabbits, known for their prolific reproduction, also became part of the pagan celebration." -- Resurrection Sunday and the Babylonian Connection; By Errol Hale Easter takes its name from Ishtar, the Babylonian and Assyrian goddess of love and fertility. Ashtoreth, also called Ishtar, or "Easter," was the goddess of sex, sensual love, maternity and fertility. (I Kings 11:5; II Kings 23:13).  "a great many pagan customs celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter ... The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility." - Catholic Encyclopedia Easter - "She was the goddess of love, fertility, and maternity.... Her name was Ishtar in Babylonia..." -World Book, Vol. 1, 782. "It is interesting that the holiest day of the liturgical Christian year, Easter Sunday, bears the name of the Babylonian pagan sex goddess Eastre and the pagan sun god Solis (Sun-rise and Sun-day worship)". -Panati, Charles. Sacred Origins of Profound Things.  New York:  Penguin Books USA Inc., 1996. pg. 205 "As at Christmas, so also at Easter, popular customs reflect many ancient pagan survivals also in this instance, connected with spring fertility rites, such as the symbols of the Easter egg and the Easter hare or rabbit" - The Encyclopaedia Britannica  (15th edition, Macropaedia, Vol. IV,       p. 605, "Church Year"). Easter - "Ashtoreth; The name is cognate with Babylonian Ishtar, the goddess of sensual love, maternity and fertility. Licentious (sexual) worship was conducted in honor of her." -  Unger's Bible Dictionary ; pages 412-413 "The term 'Easter' is not of Christian origin. It is another form of Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean (Babylonian) goddess....the pagan festival of 'Easter' ... was introduced into the apostate Western religion, as part of the attempt to adapt pagan festivals to Christianity" - Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary     of Old and New Testament Words           (1985, p. 192, "Easter"). Easter - "In Babylonia Ishtar was the goddess of erotic love and fertility. Her chief seat of worship was Uruk (Babylon), where prostitution was practiced in her name and she was served with immoral rites by bands of men and women." - The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1979,          Volume 1, pages 319-320 THE  VENERATION OF  THE  CROSS Unlike the early Christians who shunned all images and visual aids, as a form of idolatry, the apostate Church adopted the pagan veneration of the Cross of Ancient Babylon. "The practice of making the Sign of the Cross originated in Babylon as people paid homage to their Messiah, Tammuz..." -The Two Babylons; Alexander Hislop "It was not until Christianity began to be PAGANIZED that the cross came to be thought of as a Christian symbol." - Babylon Mystery Religion; Ralph Woodrow (pg 50) "The magic virtues attributed to the so-called sign of the cross, the worship bestowed on it... was used in the Babylonian Mysteries, was applied by Paganism to the same magic purposes." -The Two Babylons; Alexander Hislop "The symbol of the cross did not originate at the time of Christ. It has been a symbol used by sun worshippers since the time of ancient Babylon." -Too Long In the Sun, by Richard Rives. "...the cross was a pagan symbol of life borrowed by the Christians and interpreted in the pagan manner." -the Encyclopedia Britannica,  11th edition,  vol. 14, p. 273 "The cross that is so adored...dates back to ancient pagan worship --the "mystery religions" stemming out of ancient BABYLON!" -Was Jesus Christ Crucified on a "Cross"?  by William F. Dankenbring "The cross is an ancient pagan phallic symbol of the male penis, a symbol of pagan sex worship and the abominable rites of Baalism and the pagan Babylonian temple prostitution carried out in worship of Astarte ("Easter")." -Was Jesus Christ Crucified on a "Cross"?  by William F. Dankenbring "The archaeologist Layard found the Maltese CROSS as a sacred symbol in ancient Nineveh of the Assyrians, close kin to the Babylonians (see Gen.l0:8-12). Layard identified the cross symbol he found with the sun, thus showing it was a sign of SUN WORSHIP!" -Was Jesus Christ Crucified on a "Cross"?  by William F. Dankenbring "The CROSS thus widely worshiped, or regarded as a sacred emblem, was the unequivocal SYMBOL OF BACCHUS, THE BABYLONIAN MESSIAH, for he was represented with a head-band COVERED WITH CROSSES." -The Two Babylons; Alexander Hislop; pg. 199 "The pagan CROSS was worn suspended from the necklaces of the Vestal virgins of Pagan Rome, even as Roman Catholic nuns wear it now, seemingly in imitation of their predecessors. Borrowed from the Babylonian Mystery Religion, even in Egypt, the pagan cross is found on necklaces, or on the collar of their dress." -The Two Babylons; Alexander Hislop -Wilkinson's Egyptians, vol. L, p.376 "The cross - This symbol of the Babylonian god is reverenced at this day...and the way in which it is represented among them forms a striking commentary on the same language applied by Rome to the Cross." -Alexander Hislop(The Two Babylons, p.199). "Clearly, the "cross"...of the mainstream Christian churches is PAGAN through and through! It is the veritable SIGN OF BABYLON!" -Was Jesus Christ Crucified on a "Cross"?  by William F. Dankenbring "Tradition ascribes the invention of the adoration of the cross to a WOMAN, THE QUEEN of Babylon - SEMIRAMIS." -The Cross in Tradition, History and Art(p.64). "The so-called "Christian cross," then, is PAGAN TO THE CORE." -Was Jesus Christ Crucified on a "Cross"?  by William F. Dankenbring CLERGY / LAITY  DISTINCTION Christ commanded all of his followers to preach. (Matthew 24:14) (Matthew 28:19) - but the apostate church chose to adopt the clergy /laity distinction of the Ancient Babylonians. "The distinction between priest and layman is characteristic of this Babylonian religion.” -Encyclopeadia Britannica (1948), Vol. 2, p. 861.  "every scholar knows that when the worship of Cybele, the Babylonian goddess, was introduced into Pagan Rome, it was introduced in its primitive form, with its celibate clergy." -Hislop, 'The Two Babylons,' p.220.  INFANT  BAPTISM Jesus baptized only adults.  The apostles also, baptized only adults.  But the apostate church decided to adopt the practice of  infant baptism from the pagans of Ancient Babylonian origin. "The children of the ancient pagans had been ever, by appropriate forms, soon after their birth, solemnly presented to the gods. Infant dedication was therefore continued, and its form of course was now baptism. Policy demanded that Christianity should be as much as possible, and particularly in its ceremonials, conformed to paganism, in order that the masses might be the more readily transferred from one religion to the other." - THE EVILS OF INFANT BAPTISM By Robert Boyt C. Howell; CHAPTER 12 "We find it indelibly recorded on the pages of history, that the practice of baptizing infants did not spread extensively till after Christianity became the state religion of the pagan Roman empire." - Hinton’s History of Baptism, p. 368. "There is a going through of certain ceremonies NOT found in Scripture with the application of water on the infant's head... It comes directly from Pagan BABYLON." -Baptismal Regeneration; CHAPTER IV V.L. Petersen © 1947 PRINTED BY WILSON PRESS MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA CONFESSION TO A  PRIEST "Babel, or Babylon was built by Nimrod. Gen.10 v.8-10. It was the seat of the first great apostasy. Here the “Babylonian Cult” was invented, a system claiming to possess the highest wisdom and to reveal the divinest secrets. Before a member could be initiated he had to “confess” to the Priest." - Dr. Clarence Larkin, in his book Dispensational Truth LITURGICAL VESTMENTS INFALLIBILITY AND ICHTHYS FISH SYMBOL "The two-horned mitre, which the Pope wears, when he sits on the high altar at Rome and receives the adoration of the Cardinals, is the very mitre worn by Dagon, the fish-god of the Philistines and Babylonians." - The Two Babylons ; Alexander Hislop;  p. 215 "The most prominent form of worship in Babylon was dedicated to Dagon, later known as Ichthys, or the fish.  In Chaldean times, the head of the church was the representative of Dagon, he was considered to be infallible, and was addressed as 'Your Holiness'. Nations subdued by Babylon had to kiss the ring and slipper of the Babylonian god-king. The same powers and the same titles are claimed to this day by the Dalai Lama of Buddhism, and the Pope. Moreover, the vestments of paganism, the fish mitre and robes of the priests of Dagon are worn by the Catholic bishops, cardinals and popes." -The Wine of Babylon; Pg 9 "As to the ritual of his worship... we only know from ancient writers that, for religious reasons, most of the Syrian peoples abstained from eating fish, a practice that one is naturally inclined to connect with the worship of a fish-god." - The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913,     Encyclopedia Press, Inc PURGATORY AND  MASS  CARDS "The doctrine of purgatorial purification after death was seen first in pagan Babylonianism. It involved the same extortion and theft of the poor to get the dead cleansed and into a higher state. Prayers and supplications were offered by the priest but only after great fees were collected." -Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, Loizeaux Brothers, Second Edition 1959, p. 167f. BABYLON  THE  GREAT IDENTIFIED : "Babylon the Great is the secret name. It is telling us that Babylon the Great refers to a religious system." -Studies in Revelation By: J. Hampton Keathley, III , Th.M. The Description of Religious Babylon (17:1-6a) "Babylon’s description as “the great harlot” refers to the spiritual prostitution and fornication that categorizes the apostate church." -Studies in Revelation By: J. Hampton Keathley, III , Th.M. The Description of Religious Babylon (17:1-6a) "The word “apostasy” means to fall away.  Paul is telling us that, just before the Lord’s return, most people will fall away from the true faith of the Bible." -End Time; The Other Woman; Herbert L.Peters "The Babylonian pagan worship of Nimrod, Semiramis, and the god-incarnate son extended throughout the entire world and eventually assumed the name of Trinitarian Christianity." - The Two Babylons, pp. 240-252. Babylon is the source of false religion, Revelation 17:1-6.  When John wrote the book of Revelation, Babylon, as a city, had already been destroyed and left in ruins, as Old Testament prophets had foretold that it would.  (Isaiah 13:19-22)(Jeremiah 51-52.) "Though the city of Babylon was destroyed, its religious concepts and customs had spread around the world.  Today’s myriad of false religions have their origin in ancient Babylon." -All Roads Lead to Babylon "Ralph Woodrow, in his book, Babylon Mystery Religion (first published in 1966, now out of print), clearly traces the practices and teachings of ancient Babylon, and their modern counterparts in the Roman Catholic Church and her Protestant daughters.  Babylonian ideas are by no means isolated to professing Christianity." -All Roads Lead to Babylon "Mankind in general, has followed variations of one kind or another, of the religion of Babylon, to this day." -Ralph Woodrow;  Babylon Mystery Religion; 1966 "Rome...assimilated religions from her many conquered territories.  All these religions had commonalities, for they all came from Babylon.  These practices infiltrated and overcame the professing Christian Church, which later came to be dominated by Rome itself." -Ralph Woodrow;  Babylon Mystery Religion; 1966 "This is the cup which the Babylonish system has made all the world to drink. It is not limited to the Roman Catholic Church of Rome, but she certainly plays a major role in today’s religious deception." -Ralph Woodrow;  Babylon Mystery Religion; 1966 "The Romish system is based upon a mixture. The word "Catholic" means Universal...the true Christian goal is not religion based on mixture, but a return to the original, simple, powerful, and spiritual faith that was once delivered to the saints." -Ralph Woodrow; pg. 161  Babylon Mystery Religion; 1966 "When the early church departed from God and imbibed pagan errors, she became Babylon." - the International Sabbath School Quarterly,      Feb. 29, 1896 "It was by departure from the LORD, and alliance with the heathen that the...church became a harlot." -The Great Controversy, Pg 382