Hope of Israel Ministries (Church of God)

Before we begin this study, let's go to the Scriptures and get the understanding of how Jahwah reveals wisdom and to whom. Jahwah reveals the wisdom of His Word so that it is "here a little and there a little." He does this in order to separate His people, His "little flock," from the rest of the pagan world. Isaiah 28:9 states exactly how we are to acquire His knowledge and doctrine -- how we have to get weaned from the breast and milk. We have to start eating meat. "To whom will He teach knowledge? And to whom will He make to understand doctrine? To them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts." Then He goes on to explain HOW He teaches this knowledge of meat and WHY He teaches knowledge in this way. Verse 10 -- "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; HERE A LITTLE, AND THERE A LITTLE." Verse 12 -- "....This is how ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing. Yet they WOULD NOT HEAR." Verse 13 states why Jahwah gives His doctrine in this way: "But the WORD of Jahwah was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; THAT THEY MIGHT GO, AND FALL BACKWARD, AND BE BROKEN, AND SNARED AND TAKEN."

The mysteries of Jahwah's kingdom are not revealed to everyone. Even when the Messiah walked the earth He continually spoke in parables and His disciples questioned Him about this in Matthew 13:10-15: "The disciples came to Him and asked, 'Why do you speak to the people in parables?' He replied, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, BUT NOT TO THEM. Whoever has will be given more (secrets), and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they see and yet cannot perceive; and they hear and yet do not listen, nor do they understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "You will indeed hear but never understand; you will indeed look but never see. For this people's heart has grown hard; they have stopped their ears and shut their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and be converted and I would heal them." But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.'" Paul relates in Colossians 2 that all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are stored up in the Messiah. This wisdom and knowledge are revealed to those IN THE MESSIAH but they are hidden to those outside.

Now that we understand how to obtain Jahwah's wisdom let's begin the study. In order to understand the Mysteries of Babylon, we must follow the leading of the Ruwach ha'qodesh [spirit of God] as related first in Scriptures and second in history as it fills in the blank spaces. History tells us astrology is the origin of all pagan religious systems since the time of the Tower of Babel. The seven planetary gods/heads/lords of ancient astrology were the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, which were inscribed on the top of the Tower of Babel. "Thus they said, 'Go, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top (is inscribed) with the heavens...'" (Genesis 11:4) This historical information will help us to understand how the planetary gods of Babel and the number 666 are tied together, i.e. how the Mystery Babylonian Religion can be traced from Babel in Genesis 11 to the woman that rides the scarlet coloured beast in Revelation 17.

II Kings 23:4 and 5 gives some insights on what the Babylonian Mystery Religion, i.e. Baal worship, was all about: "Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest....to bring out of the House/Temple of Jahwah all the vessels that were made for Baal, for Asherah/grove, and for all the host of heaven...He expelled the pagan priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah, and on those around Jerusalem -- those pagan priests who burned incense to Baal -- to the sun, to the moon, and to the planets (the seven heavenly lights that rule over the days of the pagan week) -- to all the host of heaven." Note: Asherah is (#842 in the Strong's Concordance) the name of a Phoenician goddess. A straight, perpendicular wooden pole represented this goddess in this ancient religion. It was a Sacred Pole used to keep time, i.e. to set the pagan feasts. It seems quite obvious that Paul is speaking of these same poles in Galatians 4:3, 8, 9, and 10:

So we also, when we were infants, we were enslaved under the ELEMENTS of the world; (In A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the Greek and English New Testament by Ethelbert Bullinger, Page 247, it states "elements" is from the Greek word "stoicheion," which means a small upright rod, especially the gnomon of the sundial or the shadows thrown by it.) Formerly, when you did not know Jahwah, you were slaves to gods, who are not gods at all. (i.e. the gods/lords of the seven heavenly lights of Babylonian Worship). But now, after you have come to know Jahwah, or rather to be known by Yah- wah, how can you turn back again to the weak/powerless and destitute ELEMENTS/ SA- CRED POLES. Why do you want to be in bondage to them all over again? (In bondage to these gods through using these Sacred Poles to set false festival times.) You are observing (setting times) special days, months, set times, and years (instead of Jahwah's sacred days, months, set times, and years.)

The most sacred numbers in Astrology were 1, 6, 12, 36, 111, and 666. According to Roy Anderson in Revelation of John, the pagan priests wore amulets called "Sigilla Solis" -- the "Sun Seal" which symbolized 36 constellations. The amulet was divided into thirty-six squares. (Note: The numbers 1+2+3 to 36, when added up, equal the number of the "mystery god" -- "the hidden one," 666.) In the squares, numbers 1-36 were arranged in such a way as to total 111 either horizontally or vertically. The two diagonals of the square also total 111.

The sum of the six columns computed either horizontally or vertically TOTAL 666.

Genesis 10:10 states that Babel was the beginning of Nimrod's Kingdom. "Saturn" was the name given to the pagan worship of the Babylonian ruler Nimrod, who was known as the GOD OF THE CHALDEAN MYSTERIES. The name Saturn in Chaldee is pronounced "Satur" but in Aramaic it is spelled "Stur" as shown in the book The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop. "Stur" has the numerical value of "666." "Saturn" means "The Hidden One," which relates that this whole pagan religion is HIDDEN -- secret. In Greek, Saturn was known as "Kronos," which means "TIME." (Saturn was given a day of TIME in the pagan week -- Satur-day.) In Egypt, Saturn was known as Apis -- the bull god of Memphis. The golden calf at Mt. Sinai was none other than the image of Apis, the bull of Memphis. After the Israelites made this golden calf, a false feast was declared to honor Jahwah:

Thus when Aaron saw it (the golden calf), he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, "TOMORROW IS A FEAST TO JAHWAH (Exodus 32:5-6).

(Note: This was not a true appointed-time feast for Jahwah; it was a FALSE FEAST. Could this have been the false weekly Sabbath dedicated to Saturn/Apis/Nimrod, i.e. Saturday/Saturn's day?)

To read the conclusion of this article please go to: http://hope-of-israel.org/Mystbab.htm