Deep Dive Into Babylon Mystery Religion & The Babylon Connection by Ralph Woodrow

 

This podcast episode discusses Ralph Woodrow's shift in perspective regarding the alleged pagan origins of Christian practices. Initially, Woodrow, influenced by Alexander Hislop's controversial book The Two Babylons, promoted these claims in his own book; Babylon Mystery Religion. However, he later refuted many of these claims in The Babylon Connection, citing weak evidence and flawed interpretations in Hislop's work. Woodrow's journey highlights the importance of critical thinking and intellectual honesty, emphasizing the need to examine evidence carefully and challenge one's own biases. The episode uses Woodrow's experience to encourage listeners to approach information with a discerning and thoughtful mindset.

Ai-COG

Armstrongism investigated:: takes a Deep Dive into the cultic murky world of the Worldwide Church of God and its offshoots. If you love investigating cults stick around and prepare to dive deep!

How Easily Armstrongism Fell For Errors (And Still Does)

 

Several decades ago Ralph Woodrow came out with a book that became the third Bible of Armsrongism. We had the Bible as interpreted by Herbert Armstrong, Alexander Hislops The Two Babylons, and Ralph Woodrow's Babylon Mystery Religion. In these three books, all doctrines and teachings of the church revolved. The idolatry of church members with Hislop and Woodrow's books was shocking. Their words were 100% true, immutable, and without error. Yet time has proven that these two books are filled with major historical errors, and yet people like Bob Thiel and Gerald Flurry slobber at their words as divine truth.

Ralph Woodrow had the sense to realize he had a lot of errors in his books and wrote the following book to refute those errors. Armstrongists and others went into fits when this book came out.

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.

"It puzzles me how some can be so fanatical against one set of errors—or what they perceive to be errors—only to develop greater errors: becoming judgmental, hateful, and dishonest."

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).

David C Pack: Dangler of the Eternal Carrot

 

Jesus returns the Day before Valentines:     "You won't really have to worry, I don't think, coming into February, whether it will happen this time" Elijah to Come David C Pack (Note: For my own view on "The Eternal Carrot" see https://armstrongismlibrary.blogspot.com/2011/05/time-is-short-eternal-carrot.html   Every scripture in the New Testament about the Second Coming of Jesus was spoken to the audience of that day.  The 'shortly', "soon" and "quickly" of the texts was for them and then. None of it was meant for the far future. It was sincere and it was mistaken. Using the scriptures as if they are talking to us or any other generation to come will always end in the same way.  The brilliance of the New Testament is its being the eternal carrot that keep people focused, not on the present, but on the future, just around the corner and just over the hill if they only believe.  PS 2 Peter 3:3-4 " Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” ...is not scoffing. It is a simple observation of those days and all days since over the past 2000 years. Yet the author blames the one who notices the reality and then says that they are "willingly ignornant" , which they are not.  It would be better if those so inclined just said, "You know what? you are right. This shortly, soon and quickly stuff is going long, late and slow. Maybe we should come up with a plan B", which most mainstream, non-literalists denominations have done to this day.    If there was ever a "Dangler of the Eternal Carrot" it is David C Pack

Dave Pack: Our Enemies Are Satanic People!

Someone in Wadsworth is NOT having a good day!

All Splinter Group Ministers Are Like Vultures

Imagine going through life placing your entire identity into a failed dead organization that no longer exists? An organization that has left a trail of damaged and bloodied people in its wake. A trail of untold misery for tens of thousands of people over the decades and yet there are the few that want to resurrect it.

Samuel Kitchen writes:

The identity we received, as the future bride of Jesus Christ, was the Worldwide Church of God. That identifies us SPIRITUALLY.

Now with our ministers going out, after the death of the apostle, and becoming NEW CHURCHES, they knew how to behave like a Church of God. They were taught VERY WELL by the apostle of Jesus Christ! But by creating a NEW and SEPARTE CHURCH, they found themselves without Jesus Christ!

The only tie to Jesus Christ, they have, is back through Herbert W Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God. As individual ministers and members REMEMBER what they were taught, they reconnect back to their ROOTS. But shortly afterwards, the connection is severed because of THIS SEPARATION. The idea of the necessity of a second or more church of God, is heresy. SO IT CHOKES THE WORD, and the Holy Spirit is constrained and quenched quickly depending on the individual.

The more the individual REMEMBERS what they were taught, the more they go back to it, and reconnect to God. Eventually, if this becomes priority, that individual becomes ONE with the identity of the Worldwide Church of God. Because everything unclean, unholy, and profane is being removed, through a repentant mind seeking obedience to God, they identify more and more with the membership of the Worldwide Church of God, and by listening and supporting Herbert W Armstrong they are becoming ORGANIZED with Jesus Christ IN THIS CHURCH!!!!

This is why some have attempted to control the flow of information. They want to control the collections and libraries of the Worldwide Church of God online, in order to direct the individuals to “other churches”. They continue to propagate the heresy that “another church of God” is acceptable, and that the Worldwide Church of God is no more and dead.

They are like vultures, carrying away part of a carcass, feeding it TO THEIR YOUNG, pieces they've carved out.

A Christmas Polemic: The Armstrongist view on Christmas is really about self-righteousness.

 Christmastide (Fair Use)

 

A Christmas Polemic

By Scout

 

The Armstrongist view on Christmas is really about self-righteousness.  It is not about whether there is a pagan taint to some popular observation.  Armstrongists, for instance, have never examined Thanksgiving.  One could make a superficially plausible argument that Thanksgiving is contaminated by paganism.  The Native Americans who met with the pilgrims were throughgoing pagans.  By Armstrongist standards, so were the pilgrims.  The pilgrims believed in the Trinity.  In addition, Thanksgiving is rooted in sin.  Armstrongists used to believe, and maybe still do, that Native Americans were Canaanites.  And Israel was not supposed to make treaties with Canaanites but was supposed to exterminate them.  So, the first Thanksgiving celebration was a sinful rebellion against God.  So, we have two rebellious, pagan peoples inaugurating an observance in early America that Armstrongists everywhere now cheerfully celebrate.  

Armstrongists do not have a methodology that is applied even-handedly to ferreting out contaminated observances or Thanksgiving, along with Christmas, would not stand.  Hence, the decision against Christmas is not the result of a carefully considered measure that is then applied without bias. One gets the impression that while Armstrongists are serious about the paganism of holidays, they are also selective, for some reason, about which holidays they evaluate. This supports the idea that not observing Christmas is ulterior and just a convenient badge of self-righteousness for Armstrongists. And leveraging Christmas does have value for Armstrongists. Taking a contrarian stand on Christmas also produces a sense of bonding and separateness from the great unwashed masses.   In addition, HWA used to rail about co-workers spending money on Christmas gifts instead of sending the money to the WCG. This was a simply a means of capitalizing on the generosity of the season.  And, of course, there are the pre- and post-Christmas sales.

The fallacy in the Armstrongist reasoning concerning Christmas has a name – it’s a thing. It is called in the discipline of logic the Genetic Fallacy.  This is what Wikipedia says about it:

“The genetic fallacy (also known as the fallacy of origins or fallacy of virtue) is a fallacy of irrelevance in which arguments or information are dismissed or validated based solely on their source of origin rather than their content. In other words, a claim is ignored or given credibility based on its source rather than the claim itself.”

While one can debate such issues as how much paganism is too much and what condemning pagan historical connections can be found, we lose sight of the fact that the rejection of Christmas is simply an idiosyncratic assertion of self-righteousness in the odd denomination.

And let me state further. Garrison Keillor once said that in Minnesota even the atheists are Lutheran – it’s the Lutheran God they don’t believe in.  Armstrongists have been known to celebrate on December 25th. I recall that we in this region used to go to the WCG District Family Weekend on Christmas Day. It was on a distant college campus. We would eat in restaurants, stay in hotels, have sports tournaments, sometimes a talent show, listen to a special sermonette and sermon, socialize bigly – a kind of custom liturgy all on December 25th. In this celebration of self-righteousness, it was the pervasive influence of mainstream Christianity that we were acknowledging. It wasn’t that we WCG members weren’t attending the Christmas party. Rather, we were the bad kids at the Christmas party.

 

Scout

 

 

Crackpot Prophet: King of Absurdities

 

The fantasy world that the Great Bwama Bob Mzungu Thiel lives in knows no boundaries in absurdities. These are the nutty things he believes he is doing:

There is a remnant of the Philadelphian church left now because:

• The short-work of Romans 9:28 needs to be done.
• Matthew 24:14 still needs to be fulfilled.
• God promised to pour out His Spirit and give dreams and prophecies in the end before Jesus returned (cf. Acts 2:17-18).
• An end time Zerubbabel would be part of the Philadelphia remnant to rebuild the second spiritual temple–which would NOT look anywhere near as impressive as the previous temple physically (Haggai 2:3-4,9).
• All things needed to be restored (Matthew 17:11), and the mantle held. And important truths, such as why God created anything and why He made humans have been restored in the 21st century.
• The full number of Gentiles must come in (Romans 11:25).
• The end time Ezekiel watchman warning must go out (cf. Ezekiel chapters 3, 5, and 6)–and no group has ever done more than what has happened in the CCOG.
• The Philadelphian remnant is targeted by the Beast power before (Daniel 7:25a, 11:29-35; Revelation 12:13-16) before he goes to persecute the rest of the Christians (Revelation 12:17, 13:5-10, 14:12-13).
• Philadelphians are the only one that Jesus promises protection from the coming hour of trial (Revelation 3:10) and that has not happened yet.

Would you give up everything to follow this dude?