THE BABYLON CONNECTION?
128 pages | 60 illustrations | 400 footnotes | Price: $8
THE BABYLON CONNECTION? shows that claims about Babylonian origins often lack connection, takes a closer look at the oft-quoted THE TWO BABYLONS by Alexander Hislop, and provides some much needed clarification on this subject. In a scholarly and understandable style, this book explains why Woodrow removed his very popular book BABYLON MYSTERY RELIGION from publication.
According to the teaching made popular by Alexander Hislop, if we went back to the days of ancient Babylon, we would find people attending mass, partaking of a little round wafer, worshipping a cross, going to confession, being baptized with water for the remission of sins, burning wax candles, and bowing before a divine Mother and Child. We would notice that places of worship featured a tower. Priests, wearing a circular tonsure, dressed in black garments, would give those who died the last rites. With monks and nuns in abundance, the Babylonians would be practicing essentially all the rites that are known today in the Roman Catholic Church!
According to Hislop, it all started with Nimrod and his wife Semiramis, thus the subtitle of THE TWO BABYLONS: “The Papal Worship Proved to Be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife.” But, any historical information about Nimrod and Semiramis is sketchy, at best. One can check the articles on “Nimrod” and “Semiramis” in recognized reference works. Not one says anything about Nimrod and Semiramis being husband and wife! They did not even live in the same century!
THE BABYLON CONNECTION? shows that claims about Babylonian origins often lack connection. Was Nimrod a deformed, ugly black man, and Semiramis a beautiful white woman with blue eyes and blond hair? Was She the originator of soprano singing and priestly celibacy? Was she the mother of Tammuz? Is the cross a symbol of Tammuz, the initial letter of his name? Are round communion wafers sun-symbols? Are candles, black clergy garments, the letters I.H.S., the fish symbol, halos, and church steeples of pagan origin? Does the Pope wear a crown with 666 on it? Was the papal mitre copied from the fish head of Dagon?
Message from Ralph Woodrow regarding the former book, BABYLON MYSTERY RELIGION.
Here is a list of the some of the unsubstantiated claims that are made about the religion of ancient Babylon: (Notice how many of these are the exact same lies Bob Thiel currently is spreading)
• The Babylonians went to a confessional and confessed sins to priests who wore black clergy garments.
• Their king, Nimrod, was born on December 25. Round decorations on Christmas trees and round communion wafers honored him as the Sun-god.
• Sun-worshippers went to their temples weekly, on Sunday, to worship the Sun-god.
• Nimrod’s wife was Semiramis, who claimed to be the Virgin Queen of Heaven, and was the mother of Tammuz.
• Tammuz was killed by a wild boar when he was age 40; so 40 days of Lent were set aside to honor his death.
• The Babylonians wept for him on “Good Friday.” They worshipped a cross-the initial letter of his name.
It is amazing how unsubstantiated teachings like these circulate—and are believed. One can go to any library, check any history book about ancient Babylon, none of these things will be found. They are not historically accurate, but are based on an arbitrary piecing together of bits and pieces of mythology.
Hislop, for example, taught that mythological persons like Adonis, Apollo, Bacchus, Cupid, Dagon, Hercules, Janus, Mars, Mithra, Moloch, Orion, Osiris, Pluto, Saturn, Vulcan, Zoraster, and many more, were all Nimrod! He then formed his own “history” of Nimrod! He did the same thing with Nimrod’s wife. So, according to his theory, Nimrod was a big, ugly, deformed black man. His wife, Semiramis—also known as Easter, he says—was a most beautiful white woman with blond hair and blue eyes, a backslider, inventor of soprano singing, the originator of priestly celibacy, the first to whom the unbloody mass was offered! This is not factual history—it is more in the category of tabloid sensationalism.
Some claim that round objects, such as round communion wafers, are symbols of the Sun-god. But they fail to mention that the very manna given by God was round! (Exod. 16:14). Some are ready to condemn all pillars and historical monuments as pagan. But they fail to take into account that the Lord himself appeared as a pillar of fire; and, in front of his temple, there were two large pillars (Exod. 13:21,22; 2 Chron. 3:17).
Because Babylon had a tower (Gen. 11:4), some suppose this must be why there are church buildings with towers or steeples: they are copying Babylon! A newspaper reporter in Columbus, Ohio, wrote to me about this. In that city, and numerous other places, this claim has been made. Let me say it quite clearly: No church ever included a steeple or tower on their house of worship to copy the tower of Babel! Why discredit thousands of born-again Christians by promoting ideas that have no connection? If a tower in itself is pagan, God would be pagan, for David described him as “my high tower” (2 Sam. 22:3; cf. Prov. 18:10).
No Christian who puts a bumper sticker with a fish symbol on the back of his car has ever done so to honor the fish-god Dagon. No congregation has ever put a cross on a church building for the purpose of honoring Tammuz. No Christian has ever gone to an Easter sunrise service to worship Baal. No Christian has ever worshipped a Christmas tree as an idol. Claims that imply “all these things started in Babylon,” are not only divisive and fruitless, they are untrue.
The concern about not wanting anything pagan in our lives can be likened to a ship crossing a vast ocean. This concern has taken us in the right direction, but as we come to a better understanding as to what is actually pagan and what is not, a correction of the course is necessary in our journey. This is not a going back, but a correction of the course as we follow “the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day” (Prov. 4:18).
25 comments:
Great post and very interesting, thank you for this.
Now here’s a curb ball everyone…..Hanukkah Sameach.
Chag Sameach and Chag Urim Sameach, Happy Festival of Lights to everyone this Xmas,lol. Enjoy your eight days of latke pancakes, sufganiyot jelly donuts and playing dreidels. See we have options………..
Is the Christian religion in America collapsing? If so, from whom will the Armstrongists draw new members? Nearly all their members were former traditional Christians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGPEXYHJUBM
The accusation has been made that Woodrow renounced his book Babylon mystery religion because he figured that a counterfeit Christianity is better than atheism.
And the reason we fell for this is that it's what happens when you search for evidence to support your conclusions, rather than meticulously following an evidentiary trail which leads you to conclusions.
Again, somebody's Mommies should have read "Epaminondas" (childrens' book about appropriateness) to them instead of doing blanket training!
The type of research HWA taught as "proving all things" was the type of research which is appropriate to preparing for a debate, in which opposing sides of an issue such as "Should capital punishment be abolished?" collect supporting facts for their side. Whomever presents the most convincing case wins the debate. It is not scientific at all, and proves absolutely nothing except that charismatic people have the ability to be very convincing, some to the point of actually controlling your life!
And, then, of course if a COG member ever did proper research which took him or her away from the approved conclusions, you'd hear things said like "Oh, isn't it a shame? X knew the truth, but Satan got to him, and he has fallen away!"
BB
Another post attacking the Armstrongs for traits common to all men? I know, I know, that's what we do here!
How easy "human beings" fall for errors? That's our nature. We trust authority figures. We trust politicians, doctors, ministers, the media, and so called "science". Remember the covid debacle?
When I was in the construction business I discovered that many building codes were not based on scientific data at all but were merely the opinion of a person in authority who thought it was a good idea. Recently even Dr. Fauci has admitted that the 6 foot rule was bogus, but everyone had to follow it.
The ultimate example of humans falling for error in predicted in Revelation 13:3:
" And the WHOLE WORLD wondered after the Beast"!!
No one celebrates christmas, goes to mass, wears a cross, etc., to thumb their nose at God. They simply don't know any better.
Part of the beauty of God's plan is that one day they will know, and they will have the opportunity to do things God's way.
A lot of COG leaders will point to Hislops footnotes as evidence that his work is "well-researched". Yet, as I'd discover in school, the sources he referenced often didnt say what he claimed they said. I dont know if the man was deluded, a liar, or just determined to make things fit his preconceived notions.
There is a lot of truth in the books that this article condemns, and anybody can verify that by searching many reliable sources.
Since paganism is religion, if we get rid of all religion in our lives we will get rid of all paganism.
What the fake history of Babylon does is detract us away from seeing the real Babylon. Babylon the Great is the global system of materialism and commerce that holds sway over the Gentile nations. It is spiritual in the sense that materialism is worshipped. The United States, Britain and other western European nations were the principal leaders in this system. HWA spoke of the great material wealth of these nations without ever realizing how it fit in with the Great Babylon. Now we have also many Asian nations and Brazil in the picture. It has almost nothing to do with religion. Religion is a bit player. Most of the people in the Great Babylon worship materialism and commerce. The allegorical woman John of Patmos used as a literary device to portray Babylon had a name written on her forehead. The same name is on the foreheads of all of the participants in this great commercial system. It is all about the power of money to do evil. Materialism is the life-blood that energizes the kings of the earth.
Herman Hoeh threw some concocted racial history at this problem. He connected the Chaldeans of Babylon with modern Europe. He stated, “Whenever you see the Chaldeans mentioned in prophecy, it is referring to these people in Southwest Europe!” It is the same kind of fable as British-Israelism. The story connects people who are not really connected. But Hoeh uses it to equate Rome with Babylon via racial connection. He states, for instance, concerning the Chaldeans who lived in the near east, “When we next find them, they dwell on the shores of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe!” Only he never explains or documents how he arrived at this extraordinary insight. It is only one sentence, easily overlooked. (All references from Hoeh’s “Origin of the Nations!”). But it all fits nicely with Woodrow/Hislop. Like Byker observed, Hoeh deftly made the facts fit the pre-determined beliefs. (To his credit, Hoeh renounced all of this.)
The fact is, if the genealogy of Genesis 10 is correct, the Chaldeans are descendants of Noah and like Noah are haplogroup J. The people of Southwest Europe (Hoeh’s focus was on Italy, France and Spain) are haplogroups R1b, G, and I with a little E and J through contact with Mediterranean nations. The idea that they came out of the Middle East is facetious. They came from West Eurasia like other Europeans and are not Chaldeans.
Scout
Merry Xmas and a happy new year to all Banned readers.
COG had several of its own , HOMEGROWN myths. Here are but a few... * British Israelism * Unbroken line of "laying on of hands" and "leaders" going back to Jesus *Doctors and Medicine are evil * Makeup comes from Jezebel *Football is forbidden to watch *Jesus will return on 12.16.24 *The ministry is the equivalent of the Levitical Priesthood and thus should be tithed to. AND MANY MORE!
No there is not.
About the only benefit of the doubt I can give him is that at best, he was working from translated sources that dated from way too far after the events he was trying to link to the modern holiday, while primary sources from Mesopotamia itself were not yet translated and published for Hislop's use.
Thank you Scout. The US, Britain and Europe are very much at the forefront of this great system that holds sway over much of humanity. The BBC and many other news outlets in the past week have had much on the celebrations for the winter solstice. Held at Stonehenge and throughout the UK and Scandinavia, commentators remarked that a great search for meaning and a desire to connect to their ancient heathen roots by said peoples was growing each year. Certainly far removed from their ‘Semitic origins’ that Armstrongism would have us believe. A brutal bloody history denotes these peoples. That said early Israelite history was not a pleasant place in many ways. Now as Israel is brought back to their ancient homeland, anti Israelite sentiment is growing within the western world, fueled by the ongoing tragedies in Gaza Lebanon etc.
We read that all nations will be gathered against Jerusalem in due course. And so it will be. Enjoy your sufganiyot jelly donuts this festive season lol.
British Israelism was not homegrown.
Those who REALLY want the truth (i.e. the VERY few) will search it out and see that I was right. They will persist. They will work. They will strive. They will keep going. They will find those sources. They will then know that there was a lot of truth in those books.
Herbie raped his own daughter and scammed hundreds of thousands of people. But that does not mean everything he said was a lie or that he was the only scam artist in religion. The rest of the churches are full of crap too. Defending them is pathetic. Truly pathetic. They are pagan. Highly pagan.
The reason we attack the Armstrongs, BP8, is that they, and their cadre of ministers claimed to be much more than "all men", and you know this. HWA was held up to us as being a quasi-Biblical character whom they called "God's Apostle". Many times, he and other ministers thundered from the podium that we members were to take every word spoken by "God's ministers" as if they had been spoken to us by Jesus Christ Himself. It was grossly disappointing to realize that they were just a bunch of pompous assholes who made things up and lorded it over us!
You're not helping to make our former teachers look better by stating that they do as all men! Also, Dr. Fauci didn't claim any Biblical titles for himself. The people who hated and resented him were mostly those who believed that Covid was fake news deliberately created to dump Trump, whereas Fauci took the disease seriously, thus earning the label "enemy".
BB
Do share, 7:14! Write an article about these truths. As your peers, we'll be glad to review it for you!
Byker Bob 346
My complaint with the post is not the content but the self righteous overtones contained in the title. Where's the accountability? It takes 2 to pull off a deception. You could have just as easily titled the post, "How easily we fell for Armstrongism" and the content would still make sense.
You are right. Armstrong was a deceiver and he made a lot of phony claims, but WE bought into it and that gave him his power. Big mistake! It is also a mistake to believe anyone about anything merely on the strength of their say so. "Trust the science (Fauci)" the Media said. What science? Like Armstrong, they made it up as they went and have admitted it!
This world system is one big con. Don't fall for it. Learn from your WCG experience. There is no room for self righteousness here. That's my point.
PB8 Your "but WE bought into it..." smells of blame the victim. Many of us were young when we stumbled upon HWA. We lacked the knowledge and life experiences to see through his lies. It's the same story on the dissident sites of other denominations. It's typically in middle age that members begin to see through the fog of lies, and discern what's behind the curtain.
"It takes two to pull off a deception" while technically true, does not make both parties equal. One is the perpetrator, the other is the victim! Common law since the beginning of recorded history recognizes that fact!
Obviously, many of us have armed ourselves with effective defenses in our years following our Armstrong experience. I was only 9 years old when my parents fell for the scam. Something always seemed horribly wrong about it, compared to the way life had been in the years leading up to that, but as a child, I was a codependent of my parents, and could not really do anything about what was happening in our lives. For the past 50 years, my guard has been up, big time, so Armstrongism actually ended up immunizing me against further victimization.
As have most of us, I've had to do a lot of sorting it all out. I've been mindful of the fact that it is actually possible to make a child hate ice cream! It's all in the presentation. Armstrongism was no bowl of ice cream! It is not possible to find still good kernals of corn remaining in feces!
BB
Put Babylon Aside for a minute.
Bible establishes Sabbath, Passover, and the Holy Days.
Catholic church admits they Chose Sunday over Sabbath. That's out there for easy verification. Many keep Easter not Passover, not even to mention Halloween.
If you want Sunday and Easter and Halloween just say it. Debating whether it came from Babylon is wasting time.
The Jews' harvest festivals preceded them in Babylon. The Christians' Easter festival preceded them in Babylon. Praising one as Godly while condemning the other as pagan is nothing but ignorant.
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