North Pole Going South?

Today has been predicted to be “The End of the World.” Yes. It is “an” end to “a” world. It’s the end of the world as we have known it. In my article “Kingdom Battle for Light” published on 12-12-12 (http://wp.me/p158HG-ej ), I discuss how the literal reign of God’s Kingdom has begun on our third rock from the sun, which has instituted a sovereign global shift in the earth’s administration. God’s Kingdom has always existed, but somehow it is now filling the whole earth in a way that we have never experienced before.  The King is in the land, and what the King of kings says will go, so let’s examine the Scriptural and historical evidence of a particular royal switch in polarity that I call the “North Pole Going South”. The earth as we have known it will rotate around worship differently (See Acts 14:8-18; 17:16-31), which will cause us to live and to move and have our being fully in Him (Acts 17:28) Come. Let’s see how in this Kingdom Day, we will worship God His way.

SUPERNATURAL ENCOUNTERS

Like an archeologist, I’ve been led to sift through the sands of time to discover various mysteries in relation to some divine message I’ve received during three “rare” and “unusual” epiphanous appearances. Dec 1998 – Dec 1999 was a season of divine appearances for me. When I say the word “appearances,” I am referring to apparitions. In Jim W. Goll’s book The Seer: The Prophetic Power of Visions, Dreams, and Open Heavens, he articulates on page 120-121:

“APPEARANCE (APPARATION): At this level of a supernatural vision, a person sees a being that literally appears to him or her seemingly ‘out of thin air.’ This appearance may be observed with the natural eyes either open or closed, and may even be a tangible experience. In some cases, it may be physically – the being’s presence may be felt – without being obviously seen. It is an appearing, a visiting, but not necessarily a sighting. An appearance or apparition is different from a pictorial vision in that it is an actual – perhaps tangible and audible – visitation occurring outside of the person. These appearances can be ‘interactive’ as well (Refer to Genesis 32:24-31; Joshua 5:13-15; Acts 1:3; Acts 10:1-6).”

My first experience with an apparation happened on December 21, 1998 – the day of the Winter Solstice. I recount the story in “My Last Christmas” http://wp.me/p158HG-4E  article. The main point being Jesus (i.e., Yeshua) came to me with tears in His eyes and said, “The mixture of Christmas grieves My heart.” He then paused to let that bombshell sink in and added: “Come out of Babylon and lay down Christmas, for I will have a pure and spotless Bride.”

The second epiphanous appearance I describe in Chapter 1 of my book SANTA-TIZING: What’s wrong with Christmas and how to clean it up. Jesus literally came to me and asked me to marry Him after my family and I came out of Babylon and laid down Christmas for approximately a year.

The third apparition happened on the first day of Chanukah – December 4, 1999, Jesus (the Word of the Lord) and the angel Gabriel came to me during a conference in Colorado Springs. Yeshua had several messages for me, but there was one that particularly pertains to Christmas. Gabriel downloaded the message, “Christmas will be the golden calf of America.” At the time, Yeshua asked me, “Will you tell them?” three times in regards to speaking to a church full of people. When Jesus asked me the first time, “Will you tell them?” I thought of the speaker two sessions ago, who was the pastor of the church where we were having the conference. He had just talked so eloquently about how the beauty of the Christmas tree spoke of eternal truths of Christ. I looked around at a room full of bridal hearts who celebrate Christmas. I fidgeted in my mind and half-heartedly, yet sincerely, told Jesus, “You know Lord… I will do anything for You.” Jesus asked me a second time, “Will you tell them?” “Yes, Lord. If you want me to, I will,” I said a little more confidently. The third time Yeshua asked me, “Will you tell them?” I told my Beloved, “Yes, I will tell them. But… I will not buck authority. You will have to have the speaker call me up to the pulpit sovereignly; and I will tell them what you have shared with me.” I breathed a sigh of relief when my Beloved dropped the subject. At the time, I thought that was the end of the subject; but even my quick little mind slowly comprehended that my Beloved did not tell me that Christmas will be the golden calf of America for no good purpose.

THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN CALF

Why would Jesus tell me (us): “Christmas will be the golden calf of America?” Please refer to “Where Christmas Comes From – Part 1” http://wp.me/p158HG-1t , “Where Christmas Comes From – Part 2” wp.me/p158HG-2m and “Bi-Polar Nature of Christmas” http://wp.me/p158HG-9p . This may seem obvious, but hang with me. I’d like to lay some groundwork so we can fully understand the Lord’s allusion to the Golden Calf. An excellent place to begin is to go back to the first occurrence of the phrase “golden calf” in scripture:

“When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ Aaron answered them, ‘Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me. So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt’” (Exodus 32:1-4 _NIV).

The incident of the Golden Calf in Exodus 32 shortly followed the glorious revelation at Sinai. The arrival at Mount Sinai was the climax of the Exodus. God had foretold Moses at the burning bush, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain” (Exodus 3:12_NASB). Creator God had chosen to identify Himself in time and history six full weeks after the Israelites left Egypt.[1] At Sinai, for the first and only time to date, God spoke to all His people at once. The nation of Israel foreknew that its moment of fulfillment would be at the mountain of God. Indeed, God’s people became a nation after they arrived there. Earlier encampments were tainted with grievances against Moses and God, but here at Sinai the people didn’t complain – a miracle in itself. The people knew that they had arrived at the place of their corporate destiny. God’s people had finally arrived at their place of promise. They had been filled with impatient anticipation for the day when they would finally reach Sinai.

But in their impatience God’s people tragically misinterpreted what was meant by “forty days” (Exodus 24:18; 34:28). When the people gathered around Aaron to pressure him to rise up and “make us gods that will go before us,” they used the excuse that we don’t know what became of Moses. They thought Moses had been delayed or something awful had happened to him. People have used any old excuse to justify our sinful activity – the excuse of God delaying being just one of them. Remember how Saul grew impatient waiting for Samuel, but even before that God’s nation were recklessly restless for Moses return.

The people had their eyes more on man than God, even after the mind-blowing encounter with the Lord only thirty-nine days earlier at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). Evidence is supplied by Israel’s own words: “this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt.” Moses was merely a servant of the Most High God; and he knew that it would have been impossible for him to even pry the Israelites out of Pharaoh’s hand, let alone bring His people out of Egypt. God’s people impatiently wanted to get to their destination – the Promise Land. Not understanding that the Giver of the Promise Land was the ultimate fulfillment of the Promise Land. The Lord Himself is the greatest promise of all, but His people wanted the benefits of the Giver, not necessarily the Giver Himself.

It was the thirty-ninth day of forty. All the people could still actually see the cloud of God’s Presence on the summit of Mount Sinai and they had seen Moses ascend up into it.  The cloud of His Presence had miraculously remained on Sinai the entire time, but it seems that this incredible atmospheric sign of the Lord’s manifest presence was not enough. The people wanted something more tangible, something familiar to their senses, something earthly that would feed their carnal nature.

PLACE WHERE SORCERY, SUN GOD WORSHIP & “LAND OF MERCHANTS” ORIGINATED

Yesterday we learned that when the Bible mentions “Chaldea” (i.e., Babylonia or Babylon), it’s precisely pointing out the primordial center of sorcery, sun god worship and its associated land of merchants’ status. Please refer to “The Land of the Merchants” http://wp.me/p158HG-jF .

The Golden Calf Aaron fashioned was borrowed from the ordinary way in which the favorite Egyptian divinity Osiris was mystically represented.[2] This sacrificial yearling calf, bull, or ox in Egypt was called the Apis.

My aim in this section is to produce a good case for Nimrod being the original sun god; and his deification being given the recognizable form of a sacred bull so the spiritual force he represented did not seem so abstract to the masses. This same idea of a sacred bull was associated with the Roman and late Hellenistic solar cult of Mithras. Mithra’s Winter Festival is the most immediate predecessor of our modern Christmas Day celebration. (Please refer to “Where Christmas Comes From – Part 1” http://wp.me/p158HG-1t and “Where Christmas Comes From – Part 2”  http://wp.me/p158HG-2m ) We will also investigate the history of the sacred bull (specifically the Apis) to lay some groundwork for it being the forerunner of the Golden Calf.

The worship of the sun and the sacred bull were the most widespread cults throughout the ancient world. A revered animal in Egypt was considered to be incarnation of that particular god; therefore, the sun god and the sacred bull were synonymous. I believe that it makes the most sense that their origins began with Nimrod before the dispersion at the Tower of Babel. There is constant confusion between pagan gods and their associated sacred animals. Confusion and mixture is Babylon’s modus operandi. Confusion comes from being concentrated in Babylon.

In Chapter 3 of my book SANTA-TIZING: What’s wrong with Christmas and how to clean it up, we learn that Nimrod was the first earthly king, who opened the door to the colossal spread of chaos throughout the then-known world. Additionally, it pointed out that the deific name of Nimrod was Marduk (i.e. Biblical Merodach). The ruins of the ancient city of Babylon speak of fifty-five chapels dedicated to its patron deity.[3] Consider that Marduk assumed fifty names.[4] Talk about confusing! Earthly, sensual gods were given different names and different forms to represent their different facets. For instant, in Egypt, the sun god was spoken of as a beetle; and the sun was described as his (the sun god’s) eye. In one sentence in immediate sequence the sun god is spoken of as Re, Khepre, Horus, etc.[5]

The oldest civilization that our Bible primarily discusses beyond Babylon is Egypt. Egypt is actually a Biblical metaphor for the world or slavery. Its land is named after the patriarch of Nimrod’s clan – Ham. Let us take a deeper look into the land of Ham to decode the mystery of the sun god and the sacred bull. To the Egyptian there was no god of higher standing than the sun god. Under the name of Ptah, the sun god was regarded as the apostate sole creator and ruler of the world. The sun god was often addressed as a bull.[6] The oldest and most popular object of worship in Egypt was probably the sacred bull called the Apis.[7] Mankind has not been able to trace why Apis attained such an honor.[8]

Assuming Nimrod is the original sun god seems to explain what is otherwise confusing and inexplicable. “The ancients believed that the powerful bull represented the personality of the king”[9] – the first earthly king was Nimrod. It is recorded that Nimrod wore bull’s horns, which is the predecessor of our modern crowns. Also, note that the first idolatrous “Bel” or “Baal,”[10] which means owner or lord, was originally identified as the sun.[11]

Marduk was given the epithet Bel (i.e. Baal). He created a new world order. He also informed the assembly of gods that the center of the cosmos universe was Babylon.[12] The 1911 Encyclopedia identifies Marduk as the patron deity of Babylon with the original character of a solar deity.[13] Some sources define Marduk’s name to mean either the “bull calf of the sun”[14] or “the “solar calf.”

It has been often held that the Golden Calf worshipped by the Israelites was an imitation of the worship of the Apis bull of Memphis, Egypt. I believe this is a correct assumption. The Encyclopedia Biblica states that only living bulls were worshipped, but that statement appears to be incorrect. A sacred Apis bull was identified by distinct markings: The black calf had a white diamond-shaped on its forehead, an image of an eagle on its back, double the number of hairs on its tail, and a scarab mark under its tongue.[15] Once a bull was proclaimed to be a god incarnate, it was taken to the temple compound where it was purified, fed the best foods, and then given a herd of extremely fine cows.[16] In Egypt, the first Apis bull was considered to be an incarnation of the sun god Ptah, symbolizing the creator of the universe and a master of destiny. Thus, it was believed that in Apis dwelt the soul of Ptah. Later the Apis became widely known as the incarnation of the sun god Osiris.[17]

Only one bull was considered to be to be a sacred Apis at a time. If one of these bulls died, the Egyptians believers held that sun god transferred himself to another bull, and therefore, the Apis lives anew.[18] Any new Apis was transported to Memphis on a boat housed in a specially built golden cabin.[19] While alive, the kings of Egypt worshiped the Apis by providing for them in every way with great sumptuousness and cost.[20]

The grandiose extended to the Apis in death. When an Apis bull died, his body was embalmed and entombed with great ceremony that usually would be afforded to royalty.[21] Reverence for these Apis bull tombs were carried so far that the dead oxen had even funerary figures to work for them in the next world.[22] At Apis’ death, the pious wore mourning garments, and ate nothing but vegetables and water for sixty days till his burial was accomplished.[23]

When the Apis bull was embalmed, it had artificial eyes inserted. In addition, its horns and face were significantly gilded or covered with a gold leaf mask. It was then covered with a shroud.[24] In death, the Apis mummy was given all the formalities due a deity. Alive an Apis bull was conveyed to its sanctuary in a golden cabin, in death his head was coated with gold. Hum… I wonder where those Israelites, who came out of Egypt, got their idolatrous idea for a Golden Calf.

THE CHRISTMAS CONNECTION

As the Exodus story goes, Aaron fashioned a Golden Calf – a favorite Egyptian image that symbolized divinity in Egypt – and thus, God’s people invented their own representation of God presuming that they were pleasing Him (Exodus 32:4). After all, didn’t their leader Aaron build an altar to God as the Lord had instructed in Exodus 20:24? And didn’t their leader proclaim: “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord” (Exodus 32:5)? Maybe Aaron thought if He used God’s name and parts of his instructions it somehow justified any wrong he might do. But no matter how much they tried to please the Lord by their own inventions and imaginations, as evidenced in the Golden Calf, God’s people could not get around the fact that they had all heard the second commandment directly from God’s own awe-inspiring voice.

What did these people hear exactly? The Hebrew Sages say that Moses taught the people 611 of the 613 commandments. The first two commandments, God’s people heard directly and clearly from the Lord. The Jewish Sages Rashi and Ramban explain that the nation heard all Ten Commandments simultaneously from God; but since the words were all uttered in a single instant, the people could not comprehend them. Then God began to repeat the Ten Commandments one by one, word for word, so His people could understand each facet of His simultaneous utterances.[25]

Christian disconnectedness from the Hebrews has had many ramifications. I feel that one of our most valuable missing links is Hebrew history. Our Bibles tell us that God’s presence on Mount Sinai was heralded by an awesome display of thunder, lightning, smoke, trumpet (i.e. shofar) blasts, and fire (Exodus 19:16-25). The Stone Edition of The Chumash is one of the most incredible books I have ever studied. It elaborates about the day of revelation when God came down to visit His people. Exodus 20:15 says: “The entire people saw the thunder and the flames…” Saw the thunder? Isn’t thunder an invisible sound? The Chumash shares that Hebrew Sage Rashi remarks that the nation was able to see the thunder, because at the Revelation millions of people transcended normal limitations of the body. God’s people rose to a level where they had superhuman comprehension; and therefore, they could see what is normally heard.[26] God spoke to Moses from the midst of a thick cloud, so the entire nation could hear the Divine voice (Exodus 19:9). As God’s voice thundered, the Hebrew letters of the words He uttered were formed out of the smoke and flames. The people could literally see His words… see the thunder… as it manifested and traveled over His nation. The thunder became etched in the wind like some sort of smoky-flaming tickertape (without the paper). Can you image? Talk about earth shattering! “You shall not recognize the gods of others in My presence” (Exodus 20:3). Okay God! Ahaaaaaaaaaaaaa! As you fall prostrate.

After God completed the first two commandments, we can understand why the nation could not tolerate God’s intense holiness disbursed through His direct communication, so they pleaded with Moses to teach them the rest (Deuteronomy 5:22-24). Thus, God’s holy nation heard all Ten Commandments from God, but was taught eight of them by Moses. Deuteronomy 4:12 states, the people only heard “the sound of words,” however Moses heard, understood and then taught them to Israel.[27] Comparably, Paul had a Damascus Road experience where he heard God’s voice and experience the blinding light of His Presence while his companions only heard some sounds (Acts 9:7).

Aaron and the Israelites had been pre-programmed by their life experience in Egypt just as the converted Roman believers in the fourth century A.D. had come out of celebrating the Saturnalia. Stephen tells us in Acts 7:38-40 that when the Jewish people said to Aaron, “Make us gods,” they had turned their hearts back into Egypt (i.e. the world). Ezekiel 20:8 re-iterates: “They did not forsake the idols of Egypt.”Israel fell back into the form of idolatry most familiar to them – the ox worship of the Egyptians.

At the time of the Exodus, we know that living bulls were worshipped in Memphis, Egypt. Reverend Hislop reveals that Apis is simply another name for Saturn, because that calf represented the divinity in the character of Saturn.[28] Ah ha! Apis was the image Aaron had in mind when he tried to epitomize God’s divinity when “Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded and tooled it into the shape of a calf”(Exodus 32:4_NLT). And this same Apis was just another name for Saturn of Saturnalia fame. Recall that the Saturnalia is one of the founts of Christmas.

This is our connection for Christmas being the golden calf of America! When Aaron fashioned the golden calf after the likeness of the Apis, there was an older and automatic connection to the great Chaldean/Babylonian god Saturn too; therefore, when Jesus declared, “Christmas will be the golden calf of America,” the Lord is espousing that Christmas has a direct and ancient connection to the original Golden Calf made by Aaron.

OUR MODERN-DAY CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION IS LITERALLY MADE IN THE SAME IMAGE AS THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN CALF FABRICATED AT SINAI.

The Bible declares: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.’ Then the Lord smote the people, because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made” (Exodus 32:33-35_{NASB Emphasis mine}). How much more should God’s people, bought by grace through faith via the blood of the Lamb, take notice, especially since a voice from heaven proclaims to end time believers: “Come out of her [Babylon], my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive her plagues” (Revelation 18:4 _{NASB Comment mine}). “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29_NASB).When God tells us “Christmas will be the golden calf of America,” he means every word of it. When the Lord says it will be the golden calf of America, He is additionally saying that Christmas currently is a golden calf for His Church in America.

~ Robin Main

www.sapphirethroneministries.com
www.santa-tizing.com
www.mysticmentoring.com

Copyright Dec. 21, 2012 – Author: Robin Main.

The information in this article and more details can be found in Chapter 3 “Babylon and Beyond” and Chapter 6 “The Golden Calf” in my book: SANTA-TIZING: What’s wrong with Christmas and how to clean it up (available on amazon http://www.amazon.com/SANTA-TIZING-Whats-wrong-Christmas-clean/dp/1607911159/)

*****
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• SANTA-TIZING: What’s wrong with Christmas and how to clean it up book => https://www.amazon.com/SANTA-TIZING-Whats-wrong-Christmas-clean/dp/1607911159/ was written to fulfill a vow made to Yeshua’s face to tell the Christian Church that “Christmas will be the Golden Calf of America.” It took 10 years of full-time research, a golden scribe angel and the Spirit’s leading to unearthing His Truth in the sands of time. It covers every argument that you have ever heard about Christmas.

*****

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[1] Jewish Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Teleshkin, Mount Sinai And The Giving Of The Torah, p. 53

[2] The Two Babylons by Reverend Alexander Hislop, Chapter II, Section II, Sub-Section II, The Child In Egypt

[3] Israel Today Magazine, June 2007, No. 101, Alas, Babylon, p. 19

[4] A Dictionary of World Mythology by Arthur Cotterell, Marduk, www.themythica.org/mythical-folk/articles/marduk.html

[5] A Handbook of Egyptian Religion by Adolf Erman, Chapter I, p.8-9

[6] Ibid.

[7] Memphis I: BristishSchool of Archaeology in Egypt and Egyptian Research Account, by W. M. Flinders Petrie, 1908

[8] A Handbook of Egyptian Religion by Adolf Erman, Chapter I, p.22

[9] Divine Cults of the Sacred Bulls by Anita Stratos, www.touregypt.net/featurestories/bull.htm

[10] Theological Word Book of the Old Testament by Laird R. Harris, Robert Laird Harris, Gleason Leonard Archer, Bruce K. Waltke, בָּעַל (bā˓al) possess, own, rule over, many. (ASV and RSV usually similar. though RSV prefers “rule” to ASV “have dominion” [e.g. Isa 26:13]). Derivatives 262a בַּעַל (ba˓al) owner, husband, Baal. 262b בַּעֲלָה (ba˓ălâ) female owner. 262c בֵּל (bēl) Bel. [With a focus on] Owner, possessor, husband, Baal. Ugaritic also has the double use of master and the name of a deity. The root in most Semitic languages means either “lord” or, when followed by a genitive, “owner.” In addition to ba˓al as owner of things, the noun in the plural is used for citizens (ba˓alı̂m) of a city (Josh 24:11). In Jud 9 where the noun occurs sixteen times, ASV consistently translates “men,” but RSV in addition to “men” employs “citizens” (Jud 9:2) and “people” (Jud 9:46). ba˓al can refer to partner or ally (Gen 14:13). Idiomatically ba˓al as master of something characterizes the person (e.g. ba˓al of wrath, Prov 22:24; of appetite, Prov 23:2; of dreams, Gen 37:19) or identifies occupation (e.g. officer, ba˓al of the guard, Jer 37:13). In addition to its appearance in compound names of people and places (e.g. Jerubbaal, Jud 9:16; Baalzephon, Ex 14:2), bacal is the name of a great active god in the Canaanite pantheon and has other religious connotations. The god Baal met in the ot is the West Semitic storm god, b˓l (sing..) and b˓lm (pl.), encountered in Egyptian texts (from fourteenth century b.c. on), … Both within the Bible and outside it the name appears either absolutely or in construct with place names; e.g. Baal-peor (Num 25:3, 5), Baal-berith (Jud 9:40), Baal-zebub (II Kgs 1:2). (Baal-zebub, “lord of flies,” is a parody on his name found elsewhere, b˓l zbl, “Prince Baal.”) These names do not denote various gods with the epithet “lord,” but local venerations of the same West Semitic storm and fertility deity called simply Baal, “Lord.” …Since the biblical writers did not intend to teach the Canaanite religion, we know more about Baal’s roles, consorts, and cult from the extra-biblical literature than from the ot; but the picture of Baal presented in the OT comports well with the extra-biblical sources. He was also called Haddu (Hadad). He is above all the storm god who gives the sweet rain that revives vegetation. Dry years were attributed to his temporary captivity or even death. But at his revivification fields, flocks, and families became productive. In addition, he is a war god and fertility deity who consorts with Anat (is later equated with Astarte). Both by reciting the myth of his role in reviving life at the autumn new year festival and by magical ritual of sacred marriage represented in the cult by the king, the queen and a priestess, the West Semites hoped to ensure the earth’s fertility. [This ritual is witnessed to in Babylon but not clearly in Canaan (cf. H. Frankfort Kingship and the Gods, also Kitchen, K. A., Ancient Orient and the O. T., Inter-Varsity, 1966, p. 104). It should be noted that the identification of Baal as an annually dying and rising god with the Babylonian Tammuz has lately suffered. New Sumerian tablets published by S. Kramer show that Tammuz died once for all and C. H. Gordon has argued that Baal too had no annual death and resurrection. See the whole discussion with refs. in E. M. Yamauchi, “Tammuz and the Bible” JBL 84:283–90. r.l.h.] Archaeological cultic objects with exaggerated sexual features, as well as the myths themselves, support the ot notices about the degraded moral features associated with the cult. Throughout the period of the judges, Israel succumbed to this infectious cult (Jud 2:11ff.; 6:25) and had to be rescued from its tragic consequences by Yahweh’s judges. During the period of the Omrides, Baal worship became the official state religion of the northern kingdom (I Kgs 16:31). Leah Bronner has presented convincing argument that Israel’s miracles by Elijah and Elisha served as a polemic for God against the very powers attributed to this pagan nature deity, namely, fire (I Kgs 18:17ff.; II Kgs 1:9–16), rain (I Kgs 17:1; 18:41–46), food (I Kgs 17:1–6, 8–16; II Kgs 4:1ff.); children (II Kgs 4:14–17); revivification (I Kgs 17:17–23; II Kgs 4:18–37; 13:20–22, The Stories of Elijah and Elisha as Polemics Against Baal Worship, Leiden, 1968.) But their miracles did not rid the land of this degraded cult and it brought about the captivity of the northern kingdom (Hosea). It also infiltrated the southern kingdom (II Kgs 11:18; 21:2ff.), and in spite of Josiah’s reform (II Kgs 23:4ff.), brought the nation into exile (Ezk 16; 23, etc.). The Hosea discourse describes how Israel, who received gifts of grain and oil from YHWH, used these for the worship of Baal (Hos 2:8 [H 10]). The chapter fairly turns on the term ba˓al, not only in the mention of the Canaanite god(s) (e.g. Hos 2:8 [H 10]; 2:13 [H 15]); and 2:17 [H 19]), but in the imagery throughout of God as Israel’s husband. Israel will call the Lord her husband (˒ı̂š, Hos 2:16 [H 18]; cf. 2:2 [H 4]; 2:7 [H 9]) and no longer call him, apparently along with the list of other gods, my Baal (ba˓al). God’s supremacy over Baal is constantly affirmed. However man’s preoccupation from then and until this day is rather with sex and technology, than with devotion to the Almighty God of history, who is also the covenant God.

[11] Encyclopedia Biblica Edited by The Rev. T.L. Cheyne & J. Sutherland Black, Idolatry & Primitive Religions p.2154

[12] A Dictionary of World Mythology by Arthur Cotterell, Marduk, www.themythica.org/mythical-folk/articles/marduk.html

[13] 1911 Encyclopedia, Marduk, www.1911encyclopedia.org/Marduk

[14] A Dictionary of World Mythology by Arthur Cotterell, Marduk, www.themythica.org/mythical-folk/articles/marduk.html

[15] Divine Cults of the Sacred Bulls by Anita Stratos, www.touregypt.net/featurestories/bull.htm

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ibid.

[18] A Handbook of Egyptian Religion by Adolf Erman, Chapter I, p.23-24

[19] Divine Cults of the Sacred Bulls by Anita Stratos, www.touregypt.net/featurestories/bull.htm

[20] A Handbook of Egyptian Religion by Adolf Erman, Chapter X, p.207

[21] Divine Cults of the Sacred Bulls by Anita Stratos, www.touregypt.net/featurestories/bull.htm

[22] A Handbook of Egyptian Religion by Adolf Erman, Chapter III, p. 79

[23] Ibid, Chapter VII, p. 170

[24] Divine Cults of the Sacred Bulls by Anita Stratos, www.touregypt.net/featurestories/bull.htm

[25] The Chumash: The Stone Edition, by Rabbi Nosson Scherman, 20. The Ten Commandments, p. 407

[26] Ibid., 15. Saw the thunder, p. 413

[27] Ibid., 20. The Ten Commandments, p. 407

[28] The Two Babylons by Reverend Alexander Hislop, Chapter II, Section II, Sub-Section II, The Child In Egypt

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