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Faith Seeking Understanding #1: Abraham: Rubel Shelly Abraham is the PATTERN of justification by Faithful Obedience. Rubel Shelly defines the faith of Abraham without understanding the Biblical and historical facts about him as a MODEL OF FAITH. Therefore, he ridicules those who still trust Paul and the epistles and ignores the fact that Paul connected baptism to the faith of Abraham and to the promise made to Abraham:
- Because that Abraham
- obeyed my voice, and
- kept my charge,
- my commandments,
- my statutes,
- and my laws. Gen 26:5
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God
must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. Heb 11:6Ekzeteo (g1567) ek-zay-teh'-o; from 1537 and 2212; to search out, i.e. (fig.) investigate, crave, demand, (by Hebr.) worship: - en- (re-) quire, seek after (carefully, diligently).
See Rubel Shelly Repudiating Baptism
The story of Abraham explicitly repudiates the NEW STYLE WORSHIP which is about as new as the towers of Babylonia. Babylonia and all paganism practiced a RELIGION. That meant that they engaged in rituals to appease, please or even threaten the gods. The primary weapon introduced by Satan was MUSICAL RITUALS. On the other hand, God established a DISCIPLINE. The synagogue even in the wilderness SHELTERED the people from the legal rituals: making music was outlawed.
The church named after the holy whore, Kirke, was in the Greek Old Testament and in the New Testament known as the EKKLESIA which was an assembly for listening and judging and NOT making music or DOING worship rituals. This leap- frogs over the Law and lands where Abraham walked by faith by OBEYING God and not performing the LEGALISTIC RITUALS demanded by self- seeking men.
For they, being ignorant of Gods righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Rom 10:3
Hupotasso (g5293) hoop-ot-as'-so; from 5259 and 5021; to subordinate; reflex. to obey: - be under obedience (obedient), put under, subdue unto, (be, make) subject (to, unto), be (put) in subjection (to, under), submit self unto.
Paul goes on to show how the Israelites followed the musical practice learned in Egyptian idolatry. This was the ASCENDING or DESCENDING rituals "sending across the seas" trying to find someone to TEACH them when they had God's presence with them. This is the musical idolatry of worshiping the Egyptian TRIAD under the image of the golden calf.
When Rubel Shelly etal prescribe the MUSICAL TEAM to "lead you into the presence of God" they are practicing this ancient idolatry.
"The triumphal hymn of Moses had unquestionably a religious character about it; but the employment of music in religious services, though idolatrous, is more distinctly marked in the festivities which attended the erection of the golden calf." (Smith's Bible Dictionary, Music, p. 589).
The Biblical and other literature makes it absolutely certain: the use of MUSIC and "the idolatry of talent" to REPLACE Jesus Christ as the One and Only Mediatory is the ISRAELITE repudiation of their type of BAPTISM which they REPUDIATED by returning to PAGANISM.
Modern worship- centered RELIGION is quite identical to that at the towers of Babel when God told Abraham: COME OUT OF HER. "Worship teams" were central and always know as "the harem of the gods" whether male or female.
None of the BY FAITH examples are approved until their BELIEF becomes an ACTIVE VERB. Faith, is in fact, putting one's trust in God without looking to self:
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance,
obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. Heb 11:8
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: Heb 11:9
For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. Heb.11:14
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. Heb.11:15
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. Heb.11:16
This is why MEGA-CHURCHES proves that people have RETURNED TO BABYLON or RETURNED TO EGYPT which are symbolized by later Jerusalem and Sodom.
Justifying faith IS NOT faith only but OBEYING God's will without having to explain all of the what ifs.
Abraham was justified by what he did: not by his failures. Therefore, Abraham is not a GRACE CENTERED example to excuse deliberate violation of the commands of God through His Word.
Abraham was not a clod but a successful man. However, God moved Abraham out of the environment of musical, sexual and charismatic worship of the "gods" BECAUSE Abraham was looking for a SPIRITUAL city:
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Heb 11:10
Rubel Shelly will denounce the usual interpretation of Paul connecting his faithfulness to a believer's baptism as fulfilling the ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. By proving to us that Abraham made some mistakes we are let off the hook to be saved while imperfect. But, nothing Abraham ever did can change Paul's use of Abrhama as a man who OBEYED by faith.
TRITHISM: A Divine COMMUNITY which is polytheism
Rubel Shelly will get in the usual ACTIVE PROMOTION of the Lucado- Shelly view of God as a family or community. This is Trithism invading churches of Christ, and Lanier defines it as POLYTHEISM. John Mark Hicks warns that the swarm of INCARNATIONAL books may deny the full humanity of Jesus Christ. This, of course, is defined by John as being anti- Christ in Whom dwelled FULL DEITY. Click to see a review of John Mark Hicks confession that the TRINITY is new to the Restoration Movement and is the product of Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly.
Rubel Shelly: "All things exist in response to a word from God. In the beginning -- when the divine community of
God the Father,
God the Word, and
God the Spirit --constituted the total POPULATION and content of all things, God formed a deliberate purpose to create. So he began to speak his authoritative words: "Let there be light . . . Let there be a heavenly dome . . . Let the water be gathered to a place . . . Let the land produce vegetation . . . Let the water teem with living creatures . . . Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds . . ." All the things he commanded came to pass. Faith Seeking Understanding #1: Abraham
A FAMILY OF GODS is the proof of returning to the Babylonian or Egyptian triads of gods.
Webster: Community: 2. A body of people having common rights, privileges, or interests, or living in the same place under the same laws and regulations; as, a community of monks. Hence a number of animals living in a common home or with some apparent association of interests. Creatures that in communities exist.
See more Rubel Shelly connected to the Family of gods Appeal is made to Bob Mumford the father of the modern Shepherding movement in Florida.
See the origin of the Babylon - Egyptian Trinity.
Paul Tillich notes:
"This God is never called a person. The word person was never applied to God in the Middle ages. The reason for this is that the three members of the Godhead were called personae (faces or countenances):
"The Father is persona, the Son is persona, and the Spirit is persona.
The most common understanding of TRINITY among trinitarians is that God is the FATHER or thought, He is the SON or spoken WORD and He is the Spirit or "breath" which projects His Word (as Spirit and Life) into our world.
Invisible Pure Spirit | Personae |
FATHER | |
GOD AS DEITY IS | SON |
HOLY SPIRIT |
here means a special characteristic of the divine ground, expressing itself in an independent hypostasis."Thus, we can say that it was the nineteenth century which made God into a person,
"with the result that the greatness of the classical idea of God was destroyed by this way of speaking...
"but to speak of God as a person would have been heretical for the Middle Ages; it would have been to them a Unitarian heresy, because it would have conflicted with the statement that God has three personae, three expressions of his being. (Tillich, Paul, A History of Christian Thought, p. 190)
The SO CALLED "baptismal formula" never seen nor used as such in the entire Bible or early church history is a statement of WHERE all authority is vested:
Lord Jesus Christ is th | Name OF and authority of: |
He is Jehovah- Saved | |
FATHER | |
All Authority of | SON |
Fullness of the Godhead | HOLY SPIRIT |
Peter baptized in the NAME of (singular) of Jesus Christ BECAUSE father, son and spirit ARE NOT names. The early church baptized in the SINGULAR name of Jesus Christ.
H. Leo Boles and the Gospel Advocate promoted this view in the early forties but John Mark Hicks gives the credit to Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly for popularizing a NEO trinitarism which gets close to denying that CHRIST CAME FULLY IN THE FLESH in their INCARNATIONAL VIEWS. Boles on the Holy Spirit notes that:
"Christ is the ONLY MEMBER of the Godhead that has been clothed in flesh. P. 20
"Their Standing (status or rank) is always first, second and third. P. 20.
Father Son Word Spirit The Divine Family... suggests the close relation that exists between the members of the Godhead,and also that they constitute a FAMILYit suggest that they are closely related, that they are AKIN.
"This term expresses an interest in each other and a cooperation (teamwork, collaboration, partnership) in activities. P. 21The Holy Spirit was present in the beginning... the plural means that there was a plurality (majority) of divine beings. P.22
You can read the rest of a review of Boles and the GA Sunday School material hereWhile Roy H. Lanier claims that only the WORD was incarnated, he repudiates the Boles, GA, Lucado, Shelly TRITHISM and calls it a new invention:
Roy H. Lanier: "A third attempt to solve the problem of the unity of God is called "Tritheism." According to this doctrine there are three SEPARATE Persons, three separate spirit essences, in the Godhead. They are as separate as father, mother, and child in the human family.
The only unity recognized by this doctrine is that of co-operation, or unity of thought and action. This doctrine originated in the 6th century and held that "the Father, Son, and Spirit were three coequal, distinct Beings, united by one common will and purpose."
I don't know where brother Lanier got this last date but I don't doubt it.
"This doctrine was revived in the 17th century by a Dr. Sherlock who held that there are three infinite distinct minds and substances in the Trinity, and that the three Persons in the Trinity are three distinct minds or spirits, and three individual substances.
This is a form of POLYTHEISM and involves a DENIAL of the statement of Jesus
when he said that he and the Father are ONE (John 10:30). (The Timeless Trinity, Roy H. Lanier, p. 47)As usual, most ERRORS pop up as extremists try to defeat their opponents. For instance, William Sherlock brought up TRITHISM while trying to refute Unitarianism:
Elsewhere, In the Church of England: 1690-1750 "The haughty Dr. William Sherlock, soon afterwards appointed Dean of St. Paul's, now came confidently forward as champion in A Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity (1690), in which be undertook to demolish the arguments of the Unitarian writers and, by explaining away the contradictions and absurdities they had complained of, to make the great mystery clear to the meanest understanding by an original explanation. He was well pleased with himself for having made the notion of a Trinity, as he thought, as simple as that of one God; for he held that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three persons as distinct as Peter, James, and John. Pamphlets in answer came thick and fast. The Unitarians were quick to attack this new explanation of the Trinity, and to open all eyes to the fact that it was no better than tritheism; so that in the face of this new and greater danger their opponents for a time ceased to attack them. Some of the orthodox defended Sherlock's view, while others tried their hand at a better explanation.
So when pseudo-scholars get their idea of the TRINITY from older scholars they have nothing older than the 18th century (19th according to Paul Tillich) to so Blaspheme the One God by making THEM into a family of gods. John Mark Hicks MARKS Lucado and Shelly as the modern agents of this NEO-TRINITARIANISM. All of the rest of the fallout in churches of Christ flows from the fact that probably at least half worship A POLYTHEISTIC GOD. When the LAMP STAND is removed then don't expect anymore LIGHT even from a 15 million dollar THEATER.
Rubel Shelly: Just as with the material cosmos and life within it, so too does faith exist in response to a word from God. No word; no faith. No word; no possibility for faith!
In the absence of a word from God, there will surely be speculations and desires
and system-building.
But there can be no faith until there has been a word from God.Even with a word, however, there is no guarantee of faith. For the word must be heard, deemed credible, and somehow acknowledged.
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Heb.11:6).
Problem: if YOU are hearing voices and I am hearing voices WHICH VOICE must we listen to? MY voice comes through the Word which is FIXED so that we BOTH can trust the power of Jesus Christ to guarantee A WORD ONCE SPOKEN as still audible only when we worship by GIVING ATTENDANCE TO THE READING OF THE WORD.
Henry Blackaby asks: "Does God really speak to His people in our day?
Will He reveal to you where He is working when He wants to use you?
Yes! God has not changed. He still speaks to His people.
If you have trouble hearing God speak,
you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience."The Holy Guest will supply everything you need. In your weakness, (seen as GEIST as in POLTEGEIST)
you will feel his strength.Not only through the exhortation of the Word of God
but in your daily routine,you will hear from
and experience the Lord Jesus Christ.It's time for you to begin hearing the voice of God speak to you in those moments to tell you,
"Ah, but look at what's inside you!"
And then perhaps these explicit words will come ringing in your ears:
Joe Beam, who, in his 1996 Jubilee speech in Nashville, gave "testimony" of alleged miracles occurring today and taught the same year in his lecture at the Tulsa Workshop that the
Holy Spirit came with miraculous power and made men burst out sobbing at a men's retreat where he was preaching, adding,
"The Holy Spirit is here, and... he will speak to you directly, he will tell you what to do..., he will come with power." This is from the Tulsa-Cross Roads Connection.
GIVING HEED to the once-delivered Word of Gos is Paul's almost- unique meaning of worship. You CANNOT worship God by preaching out of your own postmodern head or singing or playing music. Worship in every realm means to "pay attention to" or "to give heed to." There ARE NO paying attention RITUALS in non-legalistic Christianity as SYNAGOGUE or school of the Bible.
Ekzeteo (g1567) ek-zay-teh'-o; from 1537 and 2212; to search out, i.e. (fig.) investigate, crave, demand, (by Hebr.) worship: - en- (re-) quire, seek after (carefully, diligently).
Zeteo (g2212) dzay-teh'-o; of uncert. affin.; to seek (lit. or fig.); spec. (by Heb.) to worship (God), or (in a bad sense) to plot (against life): - be (go) about, desire, endeavour, enquire (for), require, (* will) seek (after, for, means). Comp. 4441.
Abraham in the Fertile Crescent
Rubel Shelly: Liberal scholars like to point out that Abraham's name doesn't appear in the literature of the Egyptians or Mesopotamians. There are no archaeological proofs of his existence. As recently as a quarter century ago, in fact, they would make sweeping claims about the anachronisms of the biblical records about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 B.C.) was supposed to have been an impossible setting for the life, cultural customs, and laws of the patriarchs. Ur of the Chaldeans had not even been settled and occupied until the ninth or eighth centuries B.C. they said -- long after the time that Abraham was supposed to have lived there. All that has changed.
That sounds LIBERAL to me!
No, we still don't have any records of Abram or Abraham in the annals or Mesopotamia or Egypt. I might even put it this way:
Of course we don't have any record of him.
Those documents tell about mighty kings, powerful nations, and wars.They don't chronicle the comings and goings of obscure nomads. What we do know is that the story of Abraham fits very well with what we know now of the time and place in which the Bible places it.
All kinds of scholars recognize that Abraham must have been wealthy for that time and would have gained attention.
We submit some material which will help understand that scholars believe that ABRAHAM is involved in three separate events under the name of Abarama.
The first is ABRAHAM HIRED AN OX. The second is Abamrama leased a farm. The third is Abamrama Paid His Rent. The fourth speaks of travel between Babylon and Palestine (with pictures) Click for the history.
The last tablet we have linked is dated to the time of the migration of Abraham. Kittim is used in Jeremiah 2:10 and Ezekiel 27:6 of the coast lands of the Mediterranean. The contract protects the owner's wagon from being driven the long route along the coast. This was like a mileage limit on renting a U-Haul for a time period. For instance, it was tempting to make the long route by the sea but a time limit would eleminate the overuse.
There is no way to know whether this is our Abraham but the accounts lead credibility to the Bible. The records speak of COMMON people who were created as LABOR SAVING DEVICES for the CLERGY who claimed that they were the AGENTS OF THE GODS. Abraham was a man of faith because he had HEARD the message from living witnesses. God REMOVED ABRAHAM from the same neo-paganism RESTORED where you see dominant clergy, TEMPLES or mega churches, PROGRAMS to keep the "slaves" busy and MUSIC to lead the people up and down (ascending and descending) the towers to MEET THE GODS and pay the priest at the top.
- By direct revelation from God.
- Noah's life extended to the birth of Abraham.
- Methuselah overlapped Noah's life by 600 years.
- Adam overlapped Methuselah by 243 years.
- Abraham could have learned directly from Shem.
- Noah's account of the flood.
- Methuselah's account of Adam and Eden
Therefore, we suggest that FAITH COMES FROM HEARING the Word which defines the TRUE FAITH. The ancestors of Abraham understood that the religion of the area was an attempt to prevent God from ever destroying the world again by water. That is why fired bricks and tar were used to make the tower waterproof and tall enough to fool the fools that the PREACHERS at the top of the pyramid had contact with the gods and AUDIBLY heard their voices--for a price, always for a price;
> Both the trinity of BEINGS as well as the TITHE began in Babylon.
> The Babylon SABBATH had the common people working to FEED, CLOTHE, HOUSE AND HAVE SEX WITH THE AGENTS OF THE GODS. The clergy included SINGERS (prostitutes) and MUSICIANS (Sodomites) TO serve the AGENTS.
> The CLERGY RESTED on the Sabbath.
> Therefore, to PREVENT WORSHIP ON THE SABBATH, God ordained the Sabbath for REST. This prevented them from traveling to the pagan CHURCHES where the clergy rode on the backs of widows.
Rubel Shelly: Abraham would have lived in Ur -- the remains of which are located in present-day Iraq -- during its heyday. It was a prosperous center of religion and industry around 3000 B.C. Excavations of the royal cemetery -- dating from about 2900 to 2500 B.C. -- uncovered beautiful jewelry and other art treasures. Ur had libraries, schools, and temples to various deities -- principally to the moon god. Tablets found at Nuzi (in northern Iraq) even cite a variety of customs -- like having a child via a handmaid -- that were both legal and well-known at the time. So Abraham was hardly a figment of some late writer's imagination. He was what Bruce Feiler called "the perpetual stranger in a strange land" who found his comfort in Yahweh's word of promise.
REMOVING ABRAHAM FROM BABYLONIAN WORSHIP: A VISION OF THE END-TIMES
God permits paganism to exist to MARK people but He often removes His people. For instance, when Israel fell into musical idolatry at Mount Sinai God added the Law. One of the provisions changed was that the Levites should stand between the people's congregation and the Tabernacle and later the Temple during the musical noise when animals were sacrificed.
The people from the wilderness on assembled in the Qahal or synagogue from which God outlawed instruments or "making a joyful noise before the Lord" which was a warrior's chant. This triumph over was prophesied of Messiah in Psalm 41.
At the time of the flood the Ancient Near East people began to write their "bible" or source book about the creation, flood and their views of religion. Clement of Alexandria speaks for dozens of ancient documents which describe this period. For instance, right off the ark:
"But when all these things were done, men turned again to impiety; [There is a similar chapter in Homily IX. 7, but in a discourse: on the following day.-R.] and on this account a law was given by God to instruct them in the manner of living.
But in process of time, the worship of God and righteousness were corrupted by the unbelieving and the wicked, as we shall show more fully by and by.
Moreover, perverse and erratic religions were introduced, to which the greater part of men gave themselves up,
by occasion of holidays and solemnities, instituting drinkings and banquets,
following pipes, and flutes, and harps, and diverse kinds of musical instruments, and indulging themselves in all kinds of drunkenness and luxury.
Hence every kind of error took rise; hence they invented groves and altars, fillets and victims, and after drunkenness they were agitated as if with mad emotions.
By this means power was given to the demons to enter into minds of this sort, so that they seemed to lead insane dances and to rave like Bacchanalians; hence were invented the gnashing of teeth, and bellowing from the depth of their bowels; hence a terrible countenance and a fierce aspect in men, so that he whom drunkenness had subverted and a demon had instigated, was believed by the deceived and the erring to be filled with the Deity.
- 35. What in one's heart is contemptible, to one's god is good!
- Who can understand the thoughts of the gods in heaven?
- The counsel of god is full of destruction; who can understand?
- Where may human beings learn the ways of God?
- He who lives at evening is dead in the morning;
- 40. Quickly he is troubled; all at once he is oppressed;
- At one moment he sings and plays;
- In the twinkling of an eye
- he howls like a funeral-mourner.
- Like sunshine and clouds their thoughts change;
- They are hungry and like a corpse;
- 45. They are filled and rival their god!
- In prosperity they speak of climbing to Heaven
- Trouble overtakes them and they speak of going down to Sheol.
"Here the parallelism with the book of Job ends. The two works belong to widely different religious worlds. Job gains relief by a vision of God--an experience which made him able to believe that, though he could not understand the reason for the pain of life or its contradictions and tragedy, God could, and Job now knew God (Job 42:4-6). Tabu-utul-Bel, on the other hand, is said to have gained his relief through a magician." George A. Barton, Archaeology and The Bible,
Job wrote about the oldest, perhaps Chaldean, worship known to mankind. He expressess the UNIVERSAL Biblical connection between CHARISMATIC RELIGIONS (music) and telling God to get lost or worse: it also treats God and Ezekiel like the musical sodomites which plagued the temple area:
Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Job 21:7
Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Job 21: 8
Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Job 21: 9
Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. Job 21: 10They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. Job 21: 11
They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. Job 21: 12
They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Job 21: 13Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Job 21: 14
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? Job 21: 15
Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me. Job 21: 16
See how Babylon worship is restored today.
The thesis has always been THERE IS NO INFORMATION therefore we are BOUND to become as much like the world as possible to win the world. However, here is a good time to inform people that God removed ABRAHAM from a pagan musical temple complex to make SPIRITUAL WORSHIP possible.
While Jesus insisted that worship is ONLY in the human Spirit as it seeks God in TRUTH, and Paul insisted that he WORSHIPED GOD IN THE SPIRIT or mind, neo-Babylonianism builds temples (idols) and tries to AID God to keep Him from failing by PRAISE SINGING as one of the world's oldest superstitions.
Here is part of what God was removing Abraham to build a new nation to SERVE the nations rather than destroy the nations:
"According to the system which Nimrod was the grand instrument in introducing, men were led to believe
that a real spiritual change of heart was unnecessary, and that so far as change was needful,
they could be regenerated by mere external means."Looking at the subject in the light of the Bacchanalian orgies (Read Ephesus and Corinth), which, as the reader has seen, commemorated the history of Nimrod, it is evident that
he led mankind to seek their chief good in sensual enjoyment,
and showed them how they might enjoy the pleasures of sin, without any fear of the wrath of a holy God. (Voodoo, Rock, Leaping, Hopping, Boogie Woogie becomes Contemporary Christian Music)
"In his various expeditions he was always accompanied by troops of women; and by music and song, and games (ritual drama) and revelries, and everything that could please the natural hearts,
he commended himself to the good graces of mankind." (Hislop, Alexander, The Two Babylons, p. 55, Loizeaux Brothers)
The Hittites drank wine from a vessel in the form of a bull's head. No doubt, the container was the actual idol engraved with gold or silver. Others drank from the flute or drum as if drinking from or with their god. Therefore, a literal trip into a Babylonian grave with the spade shows that the harp was the actual idol in some cases. The "disposed of" king-god literally took his harps into Sheol with him as essential to his resurrection ritual--
"Both the animals and the human beings had been buried in the monstrous grave alive: the court ladies lying peacefully in rows, in court regalia, wearing hair ribbons of silver and gold, red cloaks with beaded cuffs, great lunate earings, and multiple necklaces of lapis-lazuli and gold.
The king of Tyre is identified as the "harp playing prostitute." SHE was in the garden of Eden along with her STRING, WIND and PERCUSSION instruments. The serpent in that atmosphere was not a snake but a Musical Enchanter. She built Solomon's temple and supplied some of its clergy as Kenites or Canaanites or Cainites.
The king/queen of Babylon was also a type of Lucifer and of the end-time Babylon Harlot.
Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. Isa 14:9
All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Isa 14:10
Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms (maggots) cover thee. Isa 14:11
In the end time it will happen again perhaps in your church:
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; Matt 18:22
Apollo, Abaddon, Apollyon as Satan (Lucifer, Zoe) turns the Locusts loose. These are the musical locusts or grasshoppers which the people of John's world would grasp as a SIGN of destructive religion even as the Greek Logos was the false god of music and perversion. The MUSES used by Apollo at his ORACLE OF DELPHI were in the myths turned into the locust, grasshoppers or MUSICAL PERFORMERS.
Of the king in Ur:
"The girl harpists' skeleton hands were still resting on the harp strings--or where the harp strings once had been. And the instruments themselves suggested in form the body of a bull, with its beautiful golden bull's head bearing a rich lapis-lazuli beard.
For this was a mythological bull: the divine lunar bull whose song of destiny had summoned these two willing companies--first of the buried king, then of his lady--to rebirth through death. And we know the name of the god of whom this bull was the animal vehicle (mount). It was the great Near Eastern legendary, god-king and universal savior Tammuz, the dates of whose annual death-and-resurrection festival are now assigned in our own mythic and ritual calendar, by the Synagogue to Passover, and by the Church to Good Friday and Easter." (Campbell, Joseph, Myths, p. 62-63)
The picture below is of the burial scene where the VIOLS of the King went with him into Sheol. These were living victims of the death of the king. They stood where they were and were burried alive to give the king comfort including instrumental music in sheol. Notice the bull image harp in the middle.
The Royal Graves of Ur
Topheth (hell) in Jerusalem is named after the Tabret or Tambourine. This was once the KING'S MUSIC GROVE but became dedicated to Molech worship pronounced as a sentence because of the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai. This became TERMINAL when the elders fired God and demanded a king like the nations (Babyon- influenced) so they could worship like the nations. This then became the rubbish heap where either fire or the magots consumed dead bodies. This repeated the Babylon fall from grace:
"Close to temple buildings at the centre of the city of Ur, a rubbish dump built up over centuries. Unable to use the area for building, the people of Ur started to bury their dead there. The cemetery was used between about 2600-2000 BC and hundreds of burials were made in pits. Many of these contained very rich materials.
In one area of the cemetery a group of sixteen graves was dated to the mid-third millennium. These large, shaft graves were distinct from the surrounding burials and consisted of a tomb, made of stone, rubble and bricks, built at the bottom of a pit. The layout of the tombs varied, some occupied the entire floor of the pit and had multiple chambers. The most complete tomb discovered belonged to a lady identified as Pu-abi from the name carved on a cylinder seal found with the burial.
The majority of graves had been robbed in antiquity but where evidence survived the main burial was surrounded by many human bodies. One grave had up to seventy-four such sacrificial victims. It is evident that elaborate ceremonies took place as the pits were filled in that included more human burials and offerings of food and objects. The excavator, Leonard Woolley thought the graves belonged to kings and queens. Another suggestion is that they belonged to the high priestesses of Ur.
You will see ISHTAR at your next EASTER SERVICE:
These are the homosexual BULLS and DOGS which surrounded Jesus trying to pervert Him into the Dionysus worship which was part of the Abomination of Desolation in the temple.
See how the women in the Jerusalem did the Tammuz music while the men bowed to the SUN images (4 free standing pillars) in the East.
About 65 people were buried alive in this grave and it is likely that the girl played her idol-harp until she suffocated. She rested there for thousands of years still trying to play the harp perhaps to resurrect the king and his court.The "god-king" had given them wine in the same way the bull harp gave them the magical sounds to summon them from the underworld. Lockyear also notes the connection between the "settings" and "engravings" of the harp showing it to be the actual idol as the image of a ram--
"Egyptian and Assyro-Bablonian monuments depict the sounding board of a harp decorated with mosaic or inlaid ivory work and a ram's-head ornament at the end, with a figure in front engaged in beating time with his hands." (Lockyear, Trades, p. 147).
"In the cultic practices, humans fulfilled their destiny: to take care of the gods' material needs. They therefore provided the gods with houses (the temples) that were richly supplied with lands, which people cultivated for them. [This was the origin of the TITHE]
In the temple the god was present in--but not bounded by--a statue made of precious wood overlaid with gold. For this statue the temple kitchen staff prepared daily meals from victuals grown or raised on the temple's fields, in its orchards, in its sheepfolds, cattle pens, and game preserves, brought in by its fishermen, or delivered by farmers owing it as a temple tax. The statue was also clad in costly raiment, bathed, and escorted to bed in the bedchamber of the god, often on top of the temple tower, or ziggurat.
"To see to all of this the god had priests trained as cooks, bakers, waiters, and bathers, or as encomiasts (singers of praise) and musicians to make the god's meals festive, or as elegists to soothe him in times of stress and grief.
"Diversions from the daily routine were the great monthly festivals and also a number of special occasions.
Such special occasions might be a sudden need to go through the elaborate ritual for purifying the king when he was threatened by the evils implied in an eclipse of the Moon, or in extreme cases there might be a call for the ritual installation of a substitute king to take upon himself the dangers threatening, and various other nonperiodic rituals. Mesopotamia Cult, Britannica Online
"In the Babylonian cult, for instance, hymns of praise had an important place. Every New Year, when the cycle of the seasons returned to its beginning, the worshipers reexperienced and reactualized the victory of the powers of life over the powers of death. The creation myth of Enuma elish depicted the victory of the god Marduk over the dragon of Chaos, Tiamet. Not only was the myth recited, but the battle was reenacted during the festival. At the climax of the celebration worshipers joined in the acclamation, 'Marduk has become king!' This is interpreted to mean that he had reascended his throne for another year." (Anderson, p. 522).
Musical worship teams repeating the Marduk / Nimrod pattern of female temple staff rapidly deteriorates to a Sabbaterian restoration of the Babylonian Shabatum. It comes as no surprise that the RESTORATION of music in the church goes along with the restoration of a musical, SABBATH mass to attract the seekers. God OUTLAWED worship on the Sabbath by insisting on REST.
This reconstruction of the "Silver Lyre" found at Ur (ca. 2800 B.C.) illustrates the kind of lyre played in the royal courts of the city from whence Abraham and his family came. Originally it was covered with silver plating and had inlays of gems and ivory. Its eleven long strings and large soundbox gave it a deep tone, apparently in imitation of a bull's voice.Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms (maggots) cover thee. Isa 14:1
From Ur, southern Iraq, about 2600-2400 BC Music for the afterlife
Leonard Woolley discovered several lyres in the graves in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. This was one of two that he found in the grave of 'Queen' Pu-abi. Along with the lyre, which stood against the pit wall, were the bodies of ten women with fine jewellery, presumed to be sacrificial victims, and numerous stone and metal vessels. One woman lay right against the lyre and, according to Woolley, the bones of her hands were placed where the strings would have been.
The wooden parts of the lyre had decayed in the soil, but Woolley poured plaster of Paris into the depression left by the vanished wood and so preserved the decoration in place. The front panels are made of lapis lazuli, shell and red limestone originally set in bitumen. The gold mask of the bull decorating the front of the sounding box had been crushed and had to be restored. While the horns are modern, the beard, hair and eyes are original and made of lapis lazuli.
This musical instrument was originally reconstructed as part of a unique 'harp-lyre', together with a harp from the burial, now also in The British Museum. Later research showed that this was a mistake. A new reconstruction, based on excavation photographs, was made in 1971-72.
See how Sophia and Zoe are involved as the "enlightener" or "female instructing principle" and who is identified as the "Beast."Another find in the grave was a seal. It depicts two pillars always PHALLIC along with the goat, scorpion and serpent. It is interesting that in the end time Apollo's MUSES were turned into locusts with scorpion like tails and sent into the pit. Apollo (Abaddon, Apollyon) as the "god of the Seeker Center" at Delphi will resurrect the insects. The Locusts or grasshoppers were known as MUSICAL PERFORMERS.
The symbol of Babylon was the serpent in many forms:
"The symbol of Marduk is the pixax (Akkadian, marru), and his emblematic animal is a composite serpent-dragon (with a name derived from the Sumerian mush-hush, "fire-red dragon"). Finegan, Jack, Myth and Mystery, p. 29, BakerPromoting the S.U.N. god to think of the S.O.N. God is a restoration of the worship of Astrial deities with music at Mount Sinai. For this "transgression" God gave the law to govern a lawless people as they were led back to Babylonian and Assyrian captivity. Ephraim Syrus On Our Lord notes that Sinai was a test.
19. But when Moses came down, he saw their heathenism reveling in the wide plain with drums and cymbals.
Speedily, he put their madness to shame by means of the Levites and drawn swords.So likewise here, our Lord concealed His knowledge for a little when the sinful woman approached Him, that the Pharisee might form into shape his thought, as his fathers had shaped the pernicious calf.
This common story appears in many ancient writings. Marduk is the sun god of Babylon but other nations had their own distorted versions. For instance,
the serpent steals the Word of God or
he threatens the Sun as the life giver of Egypt.
"In Egypt the serpent opposed the sun god during the night, trying to prevent him from rising.In Canaan, it was a sexual symbol in certain cults. According to the Gilgamesh epic, it was the serpent which stole the herb of life."... The essential concern of the text is to show that sin does not come from within man, that it is not part of his nature: it comes from outside." (Charpentier, Etienne, How to Read the Old Testament, p. 40).
Because of the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai we know that they were PRAYING to return to the worship of the SUN under various "gods." God answered their prayer and "turned them over to worship the starry host." (Acts 7)
THIS IS WHAT GOD REMOVED ABRAHAM FROM. EVEN TODAY WE SEE THE INFILTRATION AND DIVERSION OF THE SAME KIND OF "RELIGION." CONSISTENT WITH THE PATTERNISM, GOD DRIVES AWAY THE FAITHFUL PEOPLE AS THE LOCUSTS (musical performers) STING AND CONTINUE TO PUNISH THOSE WHO REMAIN IN NEO- BABYLONIA.
REPUDIATING BAPTISM BY TELLING THE WRONG STORY:
Rubel Shelly: Let me suggest what that macrostructure is: Abraham, the man of faith, was tested in all the ways we are -- and frequently failed, just as we do.
That such a real and fallible person could have a relationship with God and be deemed a man of faith opens those same possibilities for us.
Dr. Shelly may be making Abraham into an evil person based on false readings of the Bible.
Abraham is never commended for his failures either. Rather, Abraham was justified or approved by God EACH TIME God commanded him to do something and he OBEYED BY FAITH.
Therefore, Abraham's failures CANNOT be boot-strapped into a denial of baptism just because we are not perfect or righteous. We submit to THE FAITH OF THE OPERATION OF GOD without depending on our own merit. However, a faith which does NOT SUBMIT "rejects the counsel of God" as in John's baptism and therefore rejects God.
If a person is WICKED that does not become BIBLICAL AUTHORITY for repudiating Christ Who connected entrance into DISCIPLESHIP with Him to the obedience of faith in Baptism.
Abraham was a MAN OF FAITH only because HE WAS A MAN OF OBEDIENCE.
Rubel Shelly: When we read, speak, and teach about Abraham from the perspective of Hebrews 11, I fear we often miss the point. Starting from Hebrews, we are reading the end of the story back onto the beginning.
That is a fact: all ANTITYPES are reading the BEGINNING TYPES. Peter said that these prophecies and prophetic types are not subject to PRIVATE INTERPRETATION. That means that they are NOT subject to FURTHER EXPOUNDING in sermons because the ANTITYPES do the expounding.
When we speak of Abraham's rescue from the first Babylon Whore religion we might read the end time worship back. This implicates the MUSES or musicians along with the musical instruments Lucifer brought with him into the garden of Eden.
Paul's letter is a virtual commentary on the prophets: if you claim that Paul wrote based on his own personal agenda then you REPUDIATE the Old Testament message inspired by the SPIRIT OF CHRIST.
Christians read that Abraham heard, believed, and obeyed. Case closed.
That is a fact. Failure to comprenend is based on seeing "those divided epistles written by divided Apostles as filtered through philosophy and the Bible writer's PERSONAL AGENDA."
Voila! An example for us to follow. But we can be guilty of transporting the final evaluation on Abraham's life onto its beginning events, as if he had been a model for us at every step along the way.
That is exactly what the Apostle Paul Did and connected Christian Faith to Baptism!
That's the way it works in liberalism but in the "unsifted" BIBLE the BIBLE WRITERS "further expound" or "privately interpret" the prophecies so that THEY as INSPIRED APOSTLES see thee END reality based on the BEGINNING TYPE.
For, instance, Baptism is defined by FURTHER EXPOUNDING the Flood and the Red Sea. We cannot PRIVATELY INTERPRET that to mean that the inspired writers were just confused and wrangling among themselves.
We will see that Paul (for those who still believe Paul) TRANSPORTED FAITH AND BAPTISM back to the PROMISE made by Christ the Spirit to Abraham.
So, Voila! WE don't have to FURTHER EXPOUND the Bible which the Spirit put into READABLE form and not as FODDER for sermonizing.
The story looks very different if it is read from beginning to end rather than from end to beginning.
We don't have to read either way: Paul wrote the inspired conclusion and EXACTLY connected Abraham's OBEDIENCE BY FAITH to our OBEDIENCE THROUGH BAPTISM.
Voila! We have GOD further expound ABRAHAM'S faith.
God restated the Abrahamic Covenant to Isaac just to DISPROVE the salvation by FAITH ONLY as preached from the first part of Galatians;
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Ga.3:6
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that
we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:14
However, God's view was not FAITH ONLY necessary because Abraham made some mistakes:
> And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed (singular) shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Gen 26:4
> > Because that Abraham
- obeyed my voice, and
- kept my charge,
- my commandments,
- my statutes,
- and my laws. Gen 26:5
If God had issued a direct command: "Don't try to save yourself and your wife" then Abraham would have obeyed that direct command or he would not have ACTED BY FAITH and God would not have APPROVED him for violating His command JUST BECAUSE Abraham was a faithful TYPE.
Voila! This is what Paul concluded also:
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Ga.5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Ga.6:15
We get a new, holy spirit ONLY at Baptism.
> Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing
> > but the keeping of the commandments of God. 1Co.7:19
Voila! And this was Zacharias prophecy:
And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Luke 1: 67
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, Luke 1: 68And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; Luke 1: 69As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: Luke 1: 70That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; Luke 1: 71How? Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1 Pet 1:11
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy convenant; Luke 1: 72
The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, Luke 1: 73> To give knowledge of salvation unto his people> > by the remission of their sins, Lu.1:77
While we know the basics prior to baptism, Zacharias prophesied that KNOWLEDGE of salvation can only be co-perceived when we let Jesus Christ wash us and give us A holy spirit or a clear conscience or consciousness.
Salvation gives us the SEVEN SPIRITS of God which are not little men but spirits or mental dispositions to KNOW what salvation means:
AND there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: Isa 11:1
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; Isa 11: 2
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: Isa 11: 3
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:
and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. Isa 11: 4The Spirit of Christ made the promise and Christ fulfilled it by remitting sins;
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Ga.3:14
The Bible (mine) clearly connects baptism and remission of sins.
And this is how Paul connected the promise made by the Spirit of Christ to baptism for the REMISSION OF SINS:
> For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:26
> > For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Gal 3:27Voila! Voila! Voila! Haven't heard of PUTTING ON CHRIST by raw faith only.
Zecharias connected GIVE KNOWLEDGE OF SALVATION by the REMISSION OF SINS, Remission of Sins at Baptism:
In Acts 2:38 Peter promised the gift of A holy spirit.
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:38This same Peter said that baptism is where we REQUEST from God a clear conscience:
And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 3:21NAS
Corresponding to What? Was Peter "reaching"? Yes, and ONLY the apostles get a chance to "REACH and FURTHER EXPOUND."
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 1 Peter 3:20 [Saved from PHYSICAL death]
Is the cursed Peter guilty of reading BACKWARD?
Well, that is the way the BIBLE as the SOLE source must be read----
Or HEAR SOMETHING DIFFERENT DIRECTLY, AUDIBLY FROM GOD!
If you live NOW then to explain any revelation Peter had to reach BACK THEN to prove that the PROPHETIC TYPES had a purpose: Inspiration is VALIDATED by a prophecy which is fulfilled. If we had lived THEN and been ABRAHAM we would have obeyed God without having to rationalize away any EXTERNAL means used by a Spirit God.
We REQUEST A holy spirit or a clear consciousness from God:
Suneidesis (g4893) soon-i'-day-sis; from a prol. form of 4894; co- perception, i.e. moral consciousness; - conscience.
Suneido (g4894) soon-i'-do; from 4862 and 1492; to see completely; used (like its prim.) only in two past tenses, respectively mean. to understand or become aware, and to be conscious or (clandestinely) informed of: - consider, know, be privy, be ware of.
Therefore, baptism is the time and place where we have our bodies washed with water as we REQUEST A holy spirit or a clear conscience or consciousness from God.
This is the promise made by the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1:11) to men like Abraham.
While we can call up Abraham's failures perhaps to justify our imperfections, it is a fact that Abraham was JUSTIFIED BY FAITH each and every time God commanded him to do something. Paul leapfrogs the entire period of the Law of Moses (added because of the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai) and attributes NOTHING of value to the Law of Moses and the musical rituals to which neo-Bablonians appeal as A NEW STYLE OF WORSHIP which is as new as the Towers of Babylon.
DIGGING UP BABYLONIAN RELIGION SATAN BRINGS TO THE END TIMES.
In the "burn down the old" and relight the fires in the Aztec pattern, or getting a new wineskin to contain the new, fermenting religion of exhilaration, or the Post-Modern or Post-Denominational patterns, the urge of the lost unable to find their way is to, in the words of Plato, change the laws by changing the music. Cain who was OF THE WICKED ONE represents the MUSICAL FERTILITY RITUALS of paganism while Abel represented the herdsmen who never fell for the charismatic efforts to force God into action.
Shelly and Harris in Second Incarnation speak of the PRESENT as "decadent and deleterious." To the rest of us that means ROTTEN and DESTRUCTIVE. That is the ONLY WAY one who hears directly form God can JUSTIFY his new and improved version from Babylon:
"Conquering tribes of herdsmen established themselves as ruling aristocracies and then decayed,
each of them in turn bringing new languages and new religious beliefs;urban merchants and money-lenders
devised methods of exploiting the food-producers
and tried to impose their own rationalistic modes of thinking.""Prior to the spread of the commercial and industrial revolutions there was no essential change in agricultural techniques; and although the original
neolithic fertility rituals, cleansed of their more barbaric elements and adapted to the worship of new gods, gradually faded into popular festivals and folk tales and finally into children's games, the beliefs associated with them retained much of their vitality." (Parkes, Henry Bamford, Gods and Men The Origins of Western Culture, p. 49, Knopf)
Too deep for now but that is the MEANING of Cain and Abel's conflict seen further in JUBAL'S (rimes with Rubel) effort to be the CHANGE AGENT of Satan who taught the youth how to STEAL the Word of God through the use of MUSIC and TEAMS.
When God rescued the Israelites from Egypt and they demanded a king LIKE THE NATIONS it was so that they could WORSHIP LIKE THE NATIONS. God turned them over to king and temple to lead them into captivity and death and NOT to become a "Pattern for Christian community and worship." In Ecclesiasticus 48:
5. You who raised a corpse from death and from Hades, by the word of the Most High;
6. who brought kings down to destruction, and famous men from their beds;
7. who heard rebuke at Sinai and judgments of vengeance at Horeb;
8. who anointed kings to inflict retribution,and prophets to succeed you.
O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. Hosea 13:9
I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? Hosea 13:10
I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. Hosea 13:11
However, it is noteworthy that not in Babylon, Jerusalem nor the most VILE pagan temple did either SINGERS or MUSICIANS ever enter into the Holy Place which was a carnal type of the body of Christ or the church of Christ.
HERE IS ALSO WHAT GOD RESCUED ABRAHAM FROM. It was all restored when Israel's ELDERS demanded a human king (dominant pastor) who would, God knew, carry out the DEATH SENTENCE imposed because of the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai. God turned them over to WORSHIP THE STARRY HOST including Rubel Shelly's S.U.N. god to think about the S.O.N. God in Baptizing Santa.
Make no mistake: the building of mega temples and USING musical worship teams has always proven that the URBAN MERCHANTS exploiting the food-producers INTENDS that the TEAM worship themselves and GOD'S AGENT parceling out the law:
"Each of the important deities had, in one or more of the Babylonian cities, a large temple in which he or she was worshiped. Temple services were generally conducted in open courts containing fountains for ablution and altars for sacrifices.
Only the high priest and other privileged members of the clergy and court were permitted to enter the cella, or inner part of the temple, which held the special statue of the deity
Therefore, there is little or no history of the vilest pagan temples which permitted singers or musicians into the presence of the gods. Modern Christianity is the end time fulfillment of the worst form of Babylonian religion.
The EXCEPTION we are aware of is of the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION when Zeus or Dionysus worship went DIRECTLY INTO THE HOLY PLACES. See Second Maccabees.
The OTHER EXCEPTION is the Babylon Whore worship at the end times (Rev. 18).
The needs of the deity were provided for in accordance with impressive ceremonies carried out by a vast institutionalized clergy that included
priests, musicians, magicians, soothsayers, dream interpreters, astrologers, and hierodules (temple slaves or prostitutes). Sacrifices of food, drink, or incense were offered daily. Numerous festivals were held, the most important of which was the celebration of the new year at the spring equinox. Encarta Encyclopedia
"Asherah (symbolized by errect poles with fertility symbols pouring out the top): She is the Queen of Heaven, in other languages and ages identified as Ashtoreth, Athirat, Astarte, and Ishtar. Yahweh, the Hebrew God elevated to become the sole deity, was Her consort in Baalism.
Her "male" priestesses were known as kelabim, the faithful "dogs" of the Goddess,
- who practiced divinatory arts,
- danced in processions,
- and served as hierodules, qedeshim (prostitutes)
- in the company of other priestesses.
Elements of the goddess worship were largely erased in a cultural purge c. 630 BCE by King Yosiah, at the behest of Yahweh's priests, who required supremacy.
But they will RISE AGAIN:
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Re.22:15
These people were read with the Israelites at Mount Sinai and we can be almost sure that Miriam (meaning bitter, rebel) was a prophetess of Hathor as a part of the Royal court:
"Hathor maintained a special presence in Sinai on the high places such as Serabit, where the nomadic mining tribes worshipped her. (Maspero 354, Petrie 85). In Egyptian inscriptions, "Qadesh beloved of Ptah" appears as the Syrian and Canaanite fertility goddess known from terra cotta figurines from many sites in Palestine. Hathor is also known as The Lady of Byblos and is thus Ashtarte or Athirat
Rubel truly seems to believe that we hear an audible call from God just as did Abraham:
Rubel Shelly: What about you, my friend? What did you do when you heard God call your name? Did you respond in faith? Are you a pilgrim-exile in this world? Or have you made peace with its barren, hopeless trifles and settled in as a citizen-compatriot? Is your lifestyle an altar to the Lord that testifies to faith?
Or have you learned how to blend in with a pagan culture?
The CALL prophesied by Joel was FULFILLED when Peter preached the gospel and commanded REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM.
The people, in TURN, HAD FAITH before they could possible Call in response: We call on the name of the Lord only at Baptism where we ask for A holy spirit or clear consiousness.
Or have you learned how to blend in with a pagan culture?
Yes, all churches which have destroyed themselves as SYNAGOGUES or schools of the Bible into THEATERS FOR HOLY ENTERTAINMENT in performance preaching or performance MUSIC have--based on all of the evidence--BLENDED IN WITH A PAGAN CULTURE just as Rubel Shelly insists that we must BECOME AS MUCH LIKE THE WORLD AS POSSIBLE TO WIN THE WORLD.
Rubel Shelly: "First, Paul wanted people to
know Christ so badly that he took the initiative to
know and be like others as much as possible.A knowledge of all ancient paganism proves that destroying the Synagogue of Christ and turning it into a WORSHIP CENTER to attract the world by "building a venue for Rock and Roll" is more pagan than Christian. ALL ancient music was connected with paganism.
However, the singers and noise makers in Jerusalem were IN THE COURT or world. Because their temple system was LIKE THE NATIONS because the elders PRAYED for it and God granted their wish, the sacrifice of animals included MOCKING MUSIC which was to appease the evil spirits and call down the good gods to enjoy the feast and entertainment.
Therefore, to invite SINGERS and MUSICIANS into the Holy Place or church would get you killed or God has REMOVED YOUR CANDLESTICK. Worship is in the HUMAN SPIRIT where we give heed to Christ through His word.
Nothing done in an external sense is WORSHIP and to invite SINGERS or MUSICIANS into the holy place is to intrude between God and each worshiper quite alone and in silence.
Modern RELIGION which has usurped the ASSEMBLY or Synagogue with SINGERS and MUSICIANS is more vile than any known historical temple.
This is God carrying out His sentence as HE returned the Hebrews back to Babylon and Assyria as a repository for lost souls.
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. Rev 18:21
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; Rev 18:22
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. Rev 18:23
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. Rev 18:24
AND after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: Rev 19:1
For true and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. Rev 19:2
CONCLUSION:
Take your pick:
Rubel Shelly. Christians read that Abraham heard, believed, and obeyed. Case closed.
Rubel Shelly is correct: that is what CHRISTIANS hear:
> And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed (singular) shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Gen 26:4
- > > Because that Abraham
- obeyed my voice, and
- kept my charge,
- my commandments,
- my statutes,
- and my laws. Gen 26:5
Paul, guided into all truth by the Spirit Who called Himself "Jesus of Nazareth:
For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Gal 3:18
FAITH IS THE FAITH OF CHRISTIANITY: But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Gal 3:22
WHICH IS NOT OPPOSED TO UNBELIEF BUT THE LAW OF MOSES: But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Gal 3:23
> For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:26
> > For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Gal 3:27
So, it is NOT THE TRUTH that churches of Christ read THEIR doctrine of baptism back into THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM. Paul and Peter did that for us: perhaps that is why the EPISTLES ARE "NO LONGER USEFUL FOR FAITH AND PRACTICE" in Rubel Shelly's CORE GOSPEL pattern.
Men like Zwingli repudiating BAPTISMAL REGENERATION of infants observed:
Major premise: Infants cannot have faith
Minor premise: Baptism without faith cannot save
Conclusion: Therefore, Baptism does not save.
However, Zwingli did not direct this to adults who can believe.
It is marginally ignorant to repudiate Jesus Christ and deny that FAITH which leads to BAPTISM does not save. Or deny Peter that FAITH which leads to REPENTANCE and BAPTISM does not SAVE or remit sins.
Misunderstanding Zwingli and others SPECIFICIALLY repudiating infant baptism has led to a modern neo- Pagan form of baptism.
AS FOR ME I STICK WITH OLD CONFUSED PAUL. AND CONCLUDE THAT IF ABRAHAM HAD LIVED AFTER PENTECOST THEN TO HAVE THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM HE WOULD HAVE HEARD THE GOSPEL, BELIEVED IT AND OF ABSOLUTE NECESSITY BEEN BAPTIZED BEFORE GOD WOULD CALL HIM JUSTIFIED BY FAITH.
No human failings would INVALIDATE that fact.
Musical Worship Index with more Babylon Parallel
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