Truth Matters Weekend 011522: Babylon and the Pagan Religion and More

Welcome to the weekend edition of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis.

Heard daily on this station at 820 AM and 520 PM. Truth Matters is a ministry of the Truth Project whose mission is to empower men and women in the Christian faith to teach Biblical truth in the culture and marketplace of ideas using the Bible as a sacred trust of truth in sharing the message of Jesus. Learn more about the ministry of the Truth Project at www.projecttruthmatters.com. Coming up, Babylon and the pagan religion and more.

Let's join this week's extended edition of Truth Matters. In the first Babylon, the historical city of Babylon which was the center of the Babylonian Empire. The people who destroyed Jerusalem and carried the southern tribes of Israel into captivity in 586 BC. And we read about this city in the book of Daniel as Daniel was one of those prisoners that was taken over and then turned into a eunuch as he became an advisor for King Nebuchadnezzar. That is the first Babylon that we know.

The second Babylon is really probably the far most important is that it is a system of religious thinking that was characterized by the Babylon of old but which also touches our lives today. As we know, Babylon dates back to Genesis chapter 10 and the building of the Tower of Babel which was associated with a man named Nimrod. We learn about Nimrod in Genesis chapter 10 verse 8. In the first records of Babylon, Nimrod's wife was Semiramis. But in Assyria, she was called Ashtart.

And you've heard these before in studies of the Bible as I'm sure these names will sound similar. So in Assyria, Nimrod's wife was called Ashtart. In Egypt, she was called Isis. In Greece, she was called Aphrodite. And in Rome, she was called Venus. A man who originated in Babylon was the first high priestess of idolatry in the world.

And the names that I read out earlier were very common. But a lot of this is according to legend, but this is really the history of pagan religion in the world. Semiramis, who was Nimrod's wife, conceived a son miraculously by a sunbeam and she offered him up as the promised deliverer of the earth. His name was Tammuz.

When he reached manhood, he was killed by a wild boar but raised from the dead after 40 days of his mother's weeping. But as a result of this, a mother-child cult was developed and spread throughout the ancient world. In Assyria, the name was Ishtar and Tammuz. In Phoenicia, it was Ashtart and Bel. And I'd like to note here that Jezebel, who originally married King Ahab in historic Israel, came from Phoenicia and she and her father was a priest of Ashtart and Bel. In Egypt, it's known as Isis and Osiris. In Greek, it was Aphrodite and Eros.

And in Rome, it was Venus and Cupid. But this religious cult developed its own liturgy. They worshipped by the offering of wafers to Semiramis as the queen of heaven. They observed 40 days of abstinence, known as Lent, that memorializes the 40 days of her weeping. There was a feast following the abstinence to celebrate Tammuz's resurrection. Part of that celebration was the exchange of Ishtar eggs, symbolizing new life, which is where our word Easter comes from the word Ishtar. The sign of the cross, which is used in many liturgies, was the pointing of the letter T, which stood for Tammuz.

Do any of these sound familiar is what I want to ask you? I know that Lent is very familiar, Easter eggs is very familiar, Ashtart and Bel cross. Some aspects of modern Christianity, these festivals that we observe, have history in pagan religions like Easter eggs, for example. When we find reference of this pagan religion in the Old Testament, Jeremiah sharply condemns the nation of Israel for her worship of the queen of heaven. And we're talking about Nimrod's wife, Semiramis, who is the queen of heaven. So let's go to Jeremiah chapter 44, verses 15 through 18. Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by a great multitude, and all the people who dwell in the land of Egypt and Patharos, answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you, but we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done. We and our fathers are kings and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for then we had plenty of food, were well off, and saw no trouble.

But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine. This speaks a lot about the condition of the hearts of the Israelites and the Stiphnic people that Jeremiah preached to, that they were drunk with the world and they looked at the world as their security. So we go to Ezekiel chapter 8 verse 13 through 14. And he said to me, Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.

So he brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord's house, and to my dismay women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. So again, we see idolatry that is pervasive among the Israelites and the prophets that are called for repentance. They were involved in the 40 days of weeping and abstinence for Tammuz, which were part of the cult liturgy. Another child cult which started in Babylon ended up in Rome, where it is incorporated into the pagan religious practices under the Pontifex Maximus, who was the highest priest of Rome at the time.

When Constantine made Christianity the official religion of Rome in the 4th century AD, many pagan temples and practices were adopted for Christian worship. As I've said a number of times, the antichrist, the beast, will be the leading political arm of government, and the false prophet will be leading the religious arm. This revived Roman Babylonian church will be ruling the religious world. But chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation tell us that the Roman Babylonian religious system is going to be destroyed, along with the ancient city of Babylon itself. So that is just an introduction and a history of the spiritual Babylon and the actual origin of pagan religion.

So, let's get into chapter 17. Let's read verses 1-6. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away into the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arraigned in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. The pagan system, which is both religious and political in the end times, described as a woman, arraigned in purple and scarlet. She is described as a great harlot who sits on many waters.

The image appears this way in thinking about why this is. The religious system practices spiritual adultery by joining herself not to God but to the antichrist. The woman is sitting on the beast and who is there for her support. She, like an adulteress, has left God and joined herself to the beast.

Let's talk about the universal power of the woman. John, in the last verse of the chapter, identifies the scarlet woman, the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. Rome is the only city that would fit that description in John's day. Rome had a vast political and religious system in Rome, who is clearly who John sees when he sees the scarlet woman. Verse 9, the woman is seated upon seven mountains, which are seven hills upon which Rome is built.

Seven hills east of the river Tiber is the geographical heart of Rome, which is within the walls of the city. The woman who sits on many waters in verse 1, which are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues, which we know in verse 15. She sits above all other peoples on the earth, which was true of Rome in John's day.

While Rome's power today is not as great as it was, the Roman church is the only religious body in the world that is recognized as its own independent country. What other religion has that kind of political power? Let's look at the unique position of the woman. The woman's posture in the world is her alliance with the beast. They have a political-religious partnership, which is unique in the world. The seven heads and the ten horns of the beast suggest political positions that he has established during the tribulation. Positions with which the woman is tied through partnership with the beast. We also see the unlimited prosperity of the woman.

Verse 4 details the wealth of the religious system in the tribulation, and that is indicated by. She is clothed with purple and scarlet. She is adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls. She has a golden cup in her hand.

The woman is portrayed as very wealthy. Next, let's look at the unholy passions of the woman. The cup the woman holds in her hand is filled with abominations and the filthiness of her fornication, which is a reference to spiritual adultery. Her name is Mystery, Babylon the Great, which calls to mind the ancient and pagan roots of her idolatrous religious practices, which we discussed before, which has its origins in Nimrod and his wife, Semiranias. John identifies the woman as Rome and connects the ancient Babylonian mystery religion with the church in Rome. We also know that when Constantine made Christianity the religion of Rome in the 4th century AD, many of the Babylonian practices were transferred right into the church. Some of these were the queen of heaven, Mary, purgatory, holy water, priestly absolution, which is confession and forgiveness that is imparted by the priests, bells and candles, celibacy of the priesthood and dedicated versions. All of these were pagan practices of the Babylonian religion that were infused into the church at the time in the 4th century AD. Let's look at the unequaled persecution of the woman in verse 6.

The woman was drunk with the blood of the saints. He saw Rome kill true believers during the tribulation. All of this really is symbols and imagery of events that we have studied before in previous chapters, which are being shown in different symbols to John in verses 1 through 6. But now let's get into the monster of Babylon as that is verses 7 through 15.

But the angel said to me, Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. Those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was and is not and yet is.

Here is the mine which has wisdom, the seven heads of seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come.

When he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was and is not is himself also the eighth and is of the seventh and is going to perdition. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which are received no kingdom as of yet. They receive authority for one hour as kings for the beast. They are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war with the Lamb, and the war will overcome them.

For he is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful. Then he said to me, The waters which you saw, which the harlot sits, are people, multitudes, nations, and tongues. We are leaving the religious system, which John focuses on, the beast going to the monster of Babylon. And it almost reads like a riddle when these verses say the beast that was is not but shall be. We first met the beast in Revelation in chapter 13. He came out of the sea, the mass of world humanity. Now in verse 8, we see him arising from the bottomless pit. The reason for this change has to do with him being killed and coming back to life in greater satanic power and influence than before.

After his resurrection, he arises from the abyss with satanic power to deceive the world. Then we talked about seven heads, seven mountains, and seven kings. Seven mountains refer to the seven hills of Rome. Seven kings, the five emperors who reigned prior to John's writing.

Domitian, who was reigning as John wrote. The seventh, who is the antichrist, who is not yet come. We hear ten horns, ten kings, the war with a woman.

The ten kings are ten heads of state, which the antichrist and the false prophet will use to administer their influence and power. We've seen those of the statue of Daniel. We've seen that in Daniel's visions of the monster that had ten horns.

And then we saw the little horn coming out. These are the same as the ten toes on the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2.42. They represent the future government of Rome, which we have yet to see. But one day there will be a coalescing of ten nations which will bind together in some sort of unified block of nations under the leadership of the antichrist. Then let's get into the end of the Babylonian system in verses 16 through 18. And then the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it in their hearts to fulfill his purpose, to be of one mind, to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman who you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. We see in verse 3 that the harlot is riding upon the beast. It's the religious system which gets support from the antichrist. But at the end of the vision we see the beast turn upon the woman and ravage her. It seems apparent that the antichrist is using the religious system for his own purposes.

But when he no longer needs her, he destroys her. But in verse 14, verse 8, Babylon is fallen, that great city is fallen. Then in verse 19 we see that the woman you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. You've been listening to the weekend edition of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Truth Matters is a ministry of The Truth Project, a North Carolina-based ministry dedicated to teaching biblical truth and sound theology to those inside and outside of the church. If you'd like to listen to these messages on demand, go to ProjectTruthMatters.com and click on the podcast link. Dr. Davis is also available to speak to your ministry group or church function. She can be reached by email at CherylDavis at ProjectTruthMatters.com. Or if you'd like to send a letter, the address is Project Truth Matters, Post Office Box 159, St. Paul's, North Carolina 28384. You can hear Truth Matters devotionals on weekdays at 8.20 a.m. and 5.20 p.m. Until next time, let's all work together to teach a biblical truth to assist, equip, edify, and encourage one another and bring the gospel to the world, because truth matters. .