tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88117594068169274212024-03-13T07:54:59.445-07:00politically unclassifiableI oppose abortion, perversion, sexism support govt. intervention w. limits I think outside the box. Eastern Orthodox but against Serbian cultic nationalism and imperialism.
THIS SITE MAY USE COOKIES AND I CAN'T MAKE ANYTHING WORK TO GIVE YOU A CHOICE USE AT YOUR OWN RISK I DON'T KNOW IF THERE ARE COOKIES OR NOT.Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.comBlogger624125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-30163798733827744462022-06-01T01:38:00.010-07:002022-07-08T09:59:02.739-07:00debunking slander against Jack Webb and the likely agenda<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcT3WJWVcwM&t=6s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcT3WJWVcwM&t=6s</a><br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RQcGPgHlSc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RQcGPgHlSc</a><br /></div>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-56141618718511399092022-03-04T01:21:00.003-08:002022-03-04T01:21:33.349-08:00The story of Russia and Ukraine and the cause of the military operation<p><a href="https://youtu.be/ymdIC5EJgQk">https://youtu.be/ymdIC5EJgQk</a> </p>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-84570176806395545562022-02-03T06:04:00.006-08:002022-02-03T06:38:33.323-08:00Excerpt from RFK Jr.'s book on Anthony Fauci<p> (Some have criticized RFK Jr.'s work because he is involved in some New Age group, but that has o bearing on whether the facts he digs up are true or not.)</p><p><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-size: 13px;">Lancetgate (from Chapter 1, The Real Anthony Fauci, by RFK, Jr.)</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-size: 13px;">It remains an enduring mystery just which powerful figure(s) caused the world's two most prestigious scientific journals, The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), to publish overtly fraudulent studies from a nonexistent database owned by a previously unknown company. Anthony Fauci and the vaccine cartel celebrated The Lancet and NEJM papers on May 22, 2020 as the final nail in hydroxychloroquine's coffin.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-size: 13px;">Both studies in these respected publications relied on data from the Surgisphere Corporation, an obscure Illinois-based "medical education" company that claimed to somehow control an extraordinary global database boasting access to medical information from 96,000 patients in more than 600 hospitals. Founded in 2008, this sketchy enterprise had eleven employees, including a middling science fiction writer and a porn star/events hostess. Surgisphere claimed to have analyzed data from six continents and hundreds of hospitals that had treated patients with HCQ or CQ in real time. Someone persuaded The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine to publish two Surgisphere studies in separate articles on May 1 and 22. Like the other Gates-supported studies, The Lancet article portrayed HCQ as ineffective and dangerous. The Lancet study said that the Surgisphere data proved that HCQ increased cardiac mortality in COVID-19 patients. Based on this study, the FDA withdrew its EUA recommendation on June 15, 2020, the WHO and UK suspended their hydroxychloroquine clinical trials on May 25. Each returned briefly, then stopped for good in June declaring HCQ unhelpful. Three European nations immediately banned use of HCQ, and others followed within weeks.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-size: 13px;">That would normally have been the end of it, if not for the 200 independent scientists who quickly exposed The Lancet and NEJM studies as shockingly clumsy con jobs. The Surgisphere datasets that formed the foundation of the studies were so ridiculously erroneous that they could only have been a rank invention. To cite only one of many discrepancies, the number of reported deaths among patients taking hydroxychloroquine in one Australian hospital exceeded the total number of deaths for the entire country. An international brouhaha quickly revealed that the Surgisphere dataset did not exist, and soon enough, Surgisphere itself vanished from the Internet. The University of Utah terminated the faculty appointment of one of the article's authors, Amit Patel. Surgisphere's founder, Sapan S. Desai, disappeared from his job at a Chicago hospital.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-size: 13px;">Even the New York Times reported that "More than 100 scientists and clinicians have questioned the authenticity" of the database, as well as the study's integrity. Despite the barrage of astonished criticism, The Lancet held firm for two weeks before relenting to the remonstrances. Finally, three of the four Lancet coauthors requested the paper be retracted. Both The Lancet and NEJM finally withdrew their studies in shame. Somebody at the very pinnacle of the medical cartel had twisted arms, kicked groins, stoved in kneecaps to force these periodicals to abandon their policies, shred their ethics and spend down their centuries of hard-won credibility in a desperate bid to torpedo HCQ. To date, neither the authors nor the journals have explained who induced them to coauthor and publish the most momentous fraud in the history of scientific publishing.</span><div><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">It is no longer controversial to acknowledge that drug makers rigorously control medical publishing and that The Lancet, NEJM, and JAMA are utterly corrupted instruments of Pharma. The Lancet editor, Richard Horton, confirms, "Journals have devolved into information laundering operations for the pharmaceutical industry." Dr. Marcia Angell, who served as NEJM editor for 20 years, says journals are "primarily a marketing machine." Pharma, she says, has co-opted "every institution that might stand in its way."</span></span></div>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-48521953669819287482021-09-23T15:51:00.002-07:002021-09-23T15:51:28.973-07:00This can save your life, treat covid 19 at home<p><a href="https://banned.video/watch?id=614ce746a394830c7132431b">This can save your life, treat covid 19 at home</a> </p>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-61407132545229343262021-08-24T14:51:00.006-07:002021-08-24T14:51:54.573-07:00DONOT GET THE COVID VACCINE!<p>The stuffis a slow kill system with eugenicists and Georgia Guide Stone backers back of it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Experts being censored warn it will target the spike proteins in your body causing miscarriages, death in a few years by brain and heart and other damage from its spike proteins it has the body produce microscopically clogging capillaries till serious blood clots form</p><p><br /></p><p>you might be able to beat this by using n-acetylcystine, and glutathione. and dandelion leaf.</p>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-19094566624209654692021-08-01T05:31:00.001-07:002021-08-01T05:31:13.259-07:00Aliens - they are not coming to save us, but to enslave or kill us.<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Rosin having a new age angle on her makes me figure she lied about von Braun's warning, though he might have lied to protect nazis in space from competition. and the Nazis might have had some help a little bit from a saucer crash in the 1930s in some forest.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the coverup - its not the mean old government doing it on their own. the aliens ordered it, they could go public any time they wanted to.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I don't have space to defend the following. Briefly, genesis 6 is about putative not literal children of fallen angels, since angels don't reproduce, they taught humans to fine tune the genetic enginering they were already working on there were giants in the earth in those days (before the angels came) AND AFTER when the sons of God etc. etc. the society was violent so supersoldiers would have been valued. space faring likely also. Those who were on MArs were hit with a lesser disaster perhaps God saw them as more sinned against than sinning and those who fled at least believing His warning, though not willing to make major changes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Standard population increase from Noah to now charts ignore dieoff, real problem is time from Flood to Abraham to get enough people for those civilizations, people coming back from Mars would solve the problem. most were regular or pass for pure human, some GMO human also. Ubaid has figurines of reptillian looking humansw incl. a female with boobs nursing an infant. pseudo reptiles like scaly armadillo and pangolin mammals. Mantid aliens have four appendages not six, so the insectoids are basically human plus mantid DNA.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">And they want their old homeland back. Several ways to do this, some involving world government, some rewilding to live where we leave, some just mass murder. Some hybridization breeding those with lesser telepathic power than they have but still able to influence everyone in a few blocks, pass as human control populations that way. Derrel Sims, Dr. David Jacobs of Temple University, Budd Hopkins are researchers in alien abduction. NEVER trust channeled or suchlike info, only what abductees have overheard or observed the aliens don't want us to know.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">There IS a demonic component, there is a physical component. One greyskin told a human "there is a devil and we are more afraid ofhim thanyou are." on different occasions, two greys, a reptoid and a nordic told humans their people originally came from earth. This supports my bible based theory.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So aliens claim they designed us? propaganda, have everyone know we designed them that would be a great arguing point against their lies. This fits them into a six day creationist framework where all intelligent life begins on earth.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">As for corrupting the gene line so the Messiah couldn't be born, no pure humans, NEVER is that even hinted at biblical or extrabiblical writing on this. Always the issue the motive was lust. always. And we are 98% same as chimp (100+ k genes make us human) they fudge the numbers probably 80% some viruses are always shifting genes from one species to another most get rejected. ALL creation is to be restored, so it wouldn't matter what was in Jesus' ancestry. I smell a holdover eugenics racial hygiene notion as origin to some of this talk. And nephilim doesn't mean fallen but giant a vowel difference andseptuagint chose giant as did most translations. That could be a mere 8 feet tall compared to 5.1.</span>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-64461403744143079642020-12-26T17:24:00.003-08:002020-12-26T17:26:23.062-08:00don't take the vaccine its got jellyfish dna in it what are they up to?<p> <div class="ifw-player" data-video-id="5fe7a6cc2929071495588954"></div><script src="https://infowarsmedia.com/js/player.js" async></script></p><p><br /></p><p>embed code doesn't work go to https://banned.video/watch?id=5fe7a6cc2929071495588954</p>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-77961493427930717012020-05-10T20:21:00.002-07:002020-05-10T20:21:57.771-07:00the abomination of desolation<a href="https://youtu.be/T4xT5naIEaM" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/T4xT5naIEaM</a>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-22466588810922609642020-04-11T13:50:00.003-07:002020-04-11T13:50:38.990-07:00vaccine manufacturers admit special dangers of vaccine making subsequent infections worse<a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Cdiv%20class=%22ifw-player%22%20data-video-id=%225e9215af242fb00080972bd3%22%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cscript%20src=%22https://infowarsmedia.com/js/player.js%22%20async%3E%3C/script%3E" target="_blank"><div class="ifw-player" data-video-id="5e9215af242fb00080972bd3">
</div>
<script async="" src="https://infowarsmedia.com/js/player.js"></script></a><br />Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-68514424216446330222020-04-09T07:33:00.000-07:002020-04-09T07:33:03.924-07:00Are Common Law Grand Juries Valid and related issues<br /><a href="https://libertyborn.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/are-common-law-grand-juries-valid/" target="_blank">https://libertyborn.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/are-common-law-grand-juries-valid/</a>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-29902979717660178402020-04-08T07:18:00.002-07:002020-04-08T07:18:38.264-07:00Hillary in bed with China<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Chinese Made Vaccines are “Pre-Approved” by the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">World Health Organization (WHO). They Completely </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Bypass Any US Agency Inspections…</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="https://bolenreport.com/hillary-clinton-personally-arranged-chinese-vaccine-manufacturers-avoid-us-government-scrutiny/" target="_blank">https://bolenreport.com/hillary-clinton-personally-arranged-chinese-vaccine-manufacturers-avoid-us-government-scrutiny/</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Graham: There Will Not Be Funding for W.H.O. in Next Appropriations Bill</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br />
<a href="https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/04/08/graham-there-will-not-be-funding-for-w-h-o-in-next-appropriations-bill/" target="_blank">https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/04/08/graham-there-will-not-be-funding-for-w-h-o-in-next-appropriations-bill/</a>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-71421375442874288312020-03-14T03:39:00.002-07:002020-03-14T03:39:22.526-07:00William Branham False Prophet<br /><a href="https://fightthenewage.blogspot.com/2020/03/william-branham-false-prophet.html" target="_blank">https://fightthenewage.blogspot.com/2020/03/william-branham-false-prophet.html</a>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-60044127412496101372020-03-07T18:53:00.000-08:002020-03-07T18:59:56.502-08:00Revelation Definitely Written AD 96 not earlier<span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 21.6px;">Jackson, Wayne. "When Was the Book of Revelation Written?" </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 21.6px;">ChristianCourier.com</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 21.6px;">. Access date: March 8, 2020. <a href="https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1552-when-was-the-book-of-revelation-written" target="_blank">https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1552-when-was-the-book-of-revelation-written</a></span><br />
<br />
An effort is made by preterists and scholars after 1831<br />
to date Revelation as early, and all in it come to pass<br />
already. External and internal evidence shows it was<br />
written late.<br />
<br />
The sections that cover John's time to near future and now<br />
are Rev. chapters 1-6, with part of the latter unfulfilled<br />
but the context for it is lining up.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;">The article shows that the attempt to interpret Nero</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;">as the antichrist "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif;">is possible only by pursuing the most irresponsible form of exegesis.</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 1.375rem; margin-bottom: 1.375rem;">
To come up with such an interpretation one must:</div>
<ol style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: roboto, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.375rem; padding: 0px;">add the title “Caesar” to Nero’s name;</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.375rem; padding: 0px;">compute the letter-number arrangement on the basis of Hebrew, whereas the book was written in Greek; and</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.375rem; padding: 0px;">alter the spelling of “Caesar” by dropping the yodh in the Hebrew.</li>
</ol>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 1.375rem; margin-bottom: 1.375rem;">
All of this reveals a truly desperate attempt to find a reference to Nero in the text.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 1.375rem; margin-bottom: 1.375rem;">
Additionally, Leon Morris has pointed out that Irenaeus discussed a number of possibilities for deciphering the 666, but he did not even include Nero in his list, let alone regard this as a likely conjecture (1980, 38). Noted critic Theodor Zahn observed that Nero was not even suggested as a possibility until the year 1831 (447)."</div>
Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-57721084825171594212020-02-12T04:41:00.002-08:002020-02-12T04:41:34.905-08:00What kind of govenment is biblical?<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Does Christianity support monarchism? There are those </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
especially in Eastern Orthodoxy and in Roman Catholicism </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
who are monarchists. Jay Dyer makes a case for this. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
But as one protestant on a radio show said decades ago, </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
contrary to those who argue for democracy as the only </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
way, that the Bible doesn't mandate any one form of </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
government.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Orthodox sometimes might answer that we should go </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
by tradition which was developed mostly in monarchial </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
contexts, including the Byzantine empire, and that the </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Bible is to be read allegorically aka spiritually. But the </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
ORthodox tradition on the latter is that spiritual applications </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
of Scripture do not replace or negate the historical literal </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
statements of Scripture.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
And in the days of the Mosaic Covenant, initially they had </div>
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no king, YHWH was king and the top ruler of the people </div>
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was in effect His prime minister. Initially this was Moses, </div>
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the prophet and lawgiver who led them, replaced by </div>
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Joshua who Moses appointed to take over after him, at </div>
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God's command. Thereafter they were ruled by "judges" </div>
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sopetim to judge, govern, rule, punish, to decide controversy </div>
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<a href="https://biblehub.com/parallel/judges/2-16.htm" target="_blank">https://biblehub.com/parallel/judges/2-16.htm</a> these were </div>
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raised up by God and were not hereditary rulers. When the </div>
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people eventually demanded to have a king, God said this </div>
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was a kind of rebellion against Him, but gave them a king, </div>
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first Saul then David and his lineage. Before this in </div>
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Deuteronomy anticipating such a move, God gave rules </div>
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for the king they would have when they had one.</div>
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So you see monarchs on earth were not God's initial </div>
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provision, but rulers who operated under God. They were </div>
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somewhat like dictators, but they were not hereditary. </div>
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God was the King. And when Jesus Christ comes back, </div>
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He will be King forever on earth. "of His Kingdom there </div>
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shall be no end" says the Creed.</div>
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<br /></div>
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it is a mistake however to view this sort of kingless state </div>
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as without government, tribal councils and leaders are a </div>
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form of government, the judges were a form of government </div>
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resembling a king in power over all the people and tribes, </div>
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but not hereditary, and eventually there were kings.</div>
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Judges starts and ends with the statement that there was </div>
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no king in Israel and every man did as was right in his own </div>
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eyes, and the result was repeated disaster of one sort or </div>
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another. Under the kings, however, if the king was corrupt </div>
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or apostate there was still trouble. no form of government </div>
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is a guarantee of godliness and right operation socially or </div>
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economically or politically. Some idiot right winger once </div>
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cited this as supporting his semi anarchistic extremely </div>
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limited ideal of government, but in context it doesn't do so </div>
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but negates the value of this.</div>
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<br /></div>
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As shown in the Bible, having monarchy does not solve </div>
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problems if the monarch is not righteous. and being </div>
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hereditary you can't get rid of a bad family. The present </div>
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claimants to old thrones are all or mostly eurotrash some </div>
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outright perverts and some into occultism. These have </div>
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all been alleged of the British royal family and definitely </div>
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indicated here and there among other defunct ruling </div>
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families whether royal or duchy. Even the last Tsar of </div>
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Russia was dabbling in dubious stuff, an occultist he was </div>
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persuaded by the Church to dump, followed by Rasputin </div>
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who was just as bad but more presentable initially. and </div>
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was interested in Tibetan buddhism probably because of </div>
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its fasting and apparent wonder working at times. Russians </div>
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in general, according to one priest of the time, had </div>
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succumbed to a kind of dreamy state and dual faith was </div>
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something present enough to have to be fought. Even the </div>
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placing of icons on the altar to bless them and take them </div>
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home became prohibited so occultists weren't using this </div>
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either to abuse them or perhaps keep a lid on what could </div>
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go wrong when messing with magic. Some of this influence </div>
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was local holdover pagan practices, some came into Russia </div>
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with the French influence and Tsar PEter the Great's efforts </div>
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at modernization.</div>
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Until Christ comes back, something largely ignored by </div>
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Orthodox but stated in the Creed, the best government would </div>
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be something that limits government power while allowing its </div>
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intervention to stop various evils God has denounced, </div>
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including economic ones, has transparency (which makes a </div>
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free press not infected with government agents essential), and </div>
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very few unaccountable unelected people of power </div>
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(deep state) such as the vipers that have made up the </div>
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American state department for generations. And whose top</div>
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rulers are replaceable by peaceable means and not hereditary.</div>
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<br /></div>
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a king's role includes correction of evils that develop, and </div>
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therefore it is a proper role of government. The Law of Moses </div>
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included non negotiable commands to engage in charity, incl. </div>
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effectively the confiscation for the levites and the poor in </div>
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general of the third year's tithe, and prohibition on harvesting </div>
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the edges of your land, or going over your land in harvest to </div>
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get what you missed, these were for the poor to take. </div>
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(gleaning, a modern equivalent is dumpster diving).</div>
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<br /></div>
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So in general, the best analysis of any government type or </div>
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action is not does it fit libertarian, communist, fascist, oligarchic </div>
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or whatever ideal or ideology you are judging by, but in each </div>
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matter does it fit with the Bible or not?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Some things conservatives are upset about are indeed ungodly. </div>
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Other things are not, and in fact more constitutionally consistant </div>
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than not.</div>
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Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-37290761605869196142020-02-01T04:43:00.002-08:002020-02-01T04:43:49.319-08:00Disney occultism<a href="https://fightthenewage.blogspot.com/2020/02/disney-occultism.html" target="_blank">https://fightthenewage.blogspot.com/2020/02/disney-occultism.html</a>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-53304059116517213172020-01-08T04:16:00.003-08:002020-01-08T07:01:13.262-08:00yet ANOTHER problem with the Nimrod and Tower of Babel story"Hislop deduces that Ninus, aka Nimrod, ruled around 2000 BC, from 2039 BC to 1987 BC.73 While early, this<br />
dating still presents serious problems. Ten generations separate Noah’s sons from Abraham (Gen. 11:10-26).<br />
Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, belongs to the 3rd generation. Peleg was the 5th generation; he was so named,<br />
because “in his days the earth was divided” (Gen. 10:25)."<br />
<br />
BINGO! you got at least 2100 years to Peleg, or by more regular begats calculation around 600 years, while Nimrod was most likely dead at 1500 or so years after the Flood. Or by more regular calculation, 400 or 500 years. So now, especially since Nimrod isn't mentioned in connection with the tower, is it possible he had nothing to do with it?<br />
<br />
And while you're dividing the population by language, why not go a step farther and divide their locations physically? I think the separation of landmasses into the continents we have now happened suddenly in Peleg's time, also the Tower of Babel. If one miracle, why not another?<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-90329940154674550502020-01-06T23:10:00.004-08:002020-01-06T23:10:58.486-08:00long story short on nimrod anot being ninus and semiramis not knowing wither of them<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"Ninus is not attested in any of the extensive king lists compiled by the Mesopotamians themselves,...An Assyrian queen Shammuramat...for five years from 811 BC ruled the Neo-Assyrian Empire as regent for her son Adad-nirari III, and had been the wife of Shamshi-Adad V. ....Ninus was first identified in the Recognitions (part of Clementine literature) with the biblical Nimrod,..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninus numbers are source notes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">.” “...[Ctesias of Cnidus's] history... gossip, fairy tales and legend.” Dr. R. Bichler says,84</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">“...Prof. Jan Stronk states that Ctesias’85 “reliability as a historian has been seriously questioned….by [current] historians….by authors in antiquity.....Aristotle thought very little of the reliability of Ctesias...." Prof. Bigwood says88 “Few historians enjoyed in antiquity a lower reputation than…Ctesias of Cnidus....Dr. D. L. Gera</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">reports,91 “Ctesias seems to have been the first to ...link these two figures [Nimrod and Ninus].” Prof. L. Grabbe concurs, saying,92 “Ctesias seems to be the origin of a number of stories about oriental heroes and heroines, such as Ninus and Semiramis.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="http://localchurchdiscussions.com/vBulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=52" target="_blank">http://localchurchdiscussions.com/vBulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=52</a>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-13975259889779820502020-01-06T07:28:00.001-08:002020-01-06T07:28:42.231-08:00where Hislop went wrongI donlt now who published this it turned up in a search and I figured I should have a copy here in case it disappears.<br />
<a href="http://localchurchdiscussions.com/vBulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=52" target="_blank">http://localchurchdiscussions.com/vBulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=52</a><br />
<br />
<br />
AN LSM MYTH DEBUNKED—NIMROD, MADONNA & THE TWO BABYLONS<br />
“Don’t give heed to myths & genealogies…which promote speculations rather than God's economy” (1 Tim. 1:4)<br />
Paul’s charge (above) is often sounded in the Local Churches affiliated with Living Stream Ministry (LSM). The<br />
warning, “Don’t teach myths and genealogies. Teach God’s economy,” frequently issues from LSM’s podium.<br />
Yet ironically Living Stream Ministry perpetuates certain myths. LSM’s mythology is exemplified by their<br />
teaching regarding Nimrod, the Madonna & Child and the Roman Catholic Church. Witness Lee asserts that<br />
the Roman Catholic icon of the Madonna and Child, while allegedly representing the Virgin Mary and the<br />
infant Jesus, actually symbolizes the first Anti-Christ,1 Nimrod, and his promiscuous mother/wife. He claims<br />
Nimrod invented the Madonna and Child icon in primeval Babel. From ancient Babylon this image, allegedly,2<br />
“spread throughout the earth—to Egypt, India, Greece, pagan Rome, Tibet, China, and Japan,” finding<br />
expression in numerous pagan religions, before it “pervaded Roman Catholicism.” This argument constitutes a<br />
major plank in LSM’s condemnation of “demonic and apostate Catholicism.”3 On the Internet LSM justifies<br />
this anti-Catholic rhetoric by citing the5 “scholarly work entitled The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop.”<br />
Alexander Hislop’s 1857 book, The Two Babylons identifies the biblical Nimrod & his spouse with Ninus &<br />
Semiramis, characters of ancient lore who appear in the writings of Chaucer, Dante, and Shakespeare.6 W. Lee<br />
cites Hislop’s Two Babylons repeatedly as a major authoritative source.7 However research over the last 150<br />
years has categorically refuted Hislop’s central tenets. Credible scholars reject the main thesis of The Two<br />
Babylons as fanciful speculation based on rabbinical and Hellenist myths and pseudo-etymology; they dismiss<br />
it as8 “naïve history” fatally flawed by relying on the writings of a9 “lying historian.” LSM calls10 Hislop’s Two<br />
Babylons, “a scholarly work.” However, reputable scholars11 repudiate it as nineteenth-century pseudo-science<br />
and anti-Catholic rhetoric. Nevertheless LSM still propounds the fables promoted by Alexander Hislop’s Two<br />
Babylons. Hence LSM perpetuates myths. The rest of this paper substantiates these statements.<br />
Nimrod—an Enigma<br />
Nimrod is an enigma in the Old Testament record of antiquity. He appears fleetingly in the genealogies of<br />
Noah’s three sons. Genesis records “the sons of Ham: Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan…And Cush begot<br />
Nimrod: He began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before Jehovah; therefore it is said,<br />
Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Jehovah. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and<br />
Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-<br />
Ir and Calah and Resen between Nineveh and Calah, that is, the great city.” (Genesis 10:6–12, RcV.) Scripture<br />
calls Nimrod “a mighty hunter before Jehovah.” His kingdom began with Babel (plus other cities) in Shinar<br />
(Mesopotamia). From Babylonia Nimrod’s influence extended into Assyria where he built Nineveh and other<br />
centers. Nimrod is a notable figure; his hunting exploits were renowned, he enlarged his kingdom from Babel<br />
and established cities in Assyria, like Nineveh.12 Nimrod is linked with Babylon (Babel) and Assyria, both<br />
destined to become Israel’s enemies. Beyond this, Scripture says little about Nimrod; neither his wife and<br />
children, nor his influence on the government, religion and culture of later generations are enumerated in the<br />
Bible. Scripture’s tantalizing silence encouraged later Jewish writers (e.g., Josephus AD 37– circa AD 100) to<br />
embellish Nimrod’s biography. Hellenistic and European writers (like Alexander Hislop) also added to it.<br />
Nimrod “invented…the Madonna with her child…[it] spread throughout the earth”—W. Lee<br />
The genealogies in Genesis are a “happy hunting ground” for extra-biblical elaborations. For example, Witness<br />
Lee taught that Noah’s curse on Ham was fulfilled by Black slavery.13 Nimrod is also an attractive candidate for<br />
elaboration. Despite sparse biblical information, LSM publications contain dogmatic assertions about Nimrod’s<br />
influence. As an illustration, take LSM’s Truth Lessons (paraphrasing Witness Lee’s Life-study) which state,14<br />
“History tells us that at Babel, Nimrod brought in many idolatrous things. In that idolatrous worship<br />
he [Nimrod] invented a most evil emblem, the Madonna with her child. According to the book, The<br />
Two Babylons, the Madonna was the mother of Nimrod and was also his wife. This emblem,<br />
invented by the Babylonian worship, spread throughout the earth—to Egypt, India, Greece, pagan<br />
Rome, Tibet, China, and Japan. It even has pervaded Roman Catholicism. The emblem of a mother<br />
2<br />
embracing her child is found in Roman Catholic cathedrals and in Buddhist idol temples. It has been<br />
utilized by Satan to deceive fallen people and rob them of their worship to God.”<br />
The phrase “History tells us…” suggests scholars arrived at a definite conclusion. What is this consensus? LSM<br />
alleges historians have concluded that Nimrod assimilated idolatry and invented the Madonna and child icon.<br />
Society regards this as a Christian symbol, depicting the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. LSM asserts that its<br />
origins are much more sinister, dating back to 2200 BC.15 LSM teaches that the original Madonna and child<br />
depicted Nimrod’s mother/wife. Thus LSM’s Truth Lessons says,16 “the evil emblem that Nimrod invented was<br />
brought into the Catholic Church and appears as a picture of Mary and Jesus.” They allege that Catholicism’s<br />
Madonna is the modern manifestation of Nimrod’s wife, the pagan object of Babylonian worship dating back<br />
4,000 years. Moreover, LSM asserts Nimrod was the starting point of human government and world culture.17<br />
LSM claims Nimrod’s Babylon was the fountainhead of paganism. They assert that Nimrod’s innovation of<br />
“Babylonian worship spread throughout the earth” influencing pagan religions before it reached and “pervaded<br />
Roman Catholicism.” Allegedly the Madonna and child appear in heathen religions, e.g., Buddhism. As<br />
confirmation Witness Lee states that18 “in some things, Catholicism and Buddhism are of the same source. The<br />
same emblem of a mother embracing her child is found in the Catholic cathedrals and in the Buddhist idol<br />
temples. This exposes the source of some of the things in today's Catholicism,” i.e., Nimrod’s Babylon. W. Lee<br />
declares,19 “although everything in Catholicism has a Christian appearance, its source is Babylonianism.” This<br />
theory is called,20 “pan-Babylonianism.” In addition to Babylon, W. Lee adds Buddhism as an extra influence<br />
on Catholicism, stating21 “Babylonianism entered into Buddhism, and Buddhism, a further development of<br />
Babylonianism, was assimilated into Catholicism.” We ask--Has Witness Lee’s version of pan-Babylonianism<br />
been verified or refuted by scholars? LSM also claims Nimrod’s Madonna reappeared at strategic points in the<br />
Old and New Testaments during the interval between ancient Babel and modern Catholicism.<br />
Who Was Nimrod’s Wife?<br />
Scripture never mentions Nimrod’s wife or his mother. Nevertheless LSM asserts that these two figures are<br />
identical22—“the Madonna was the mother of Nimrod and was also his wife.” This implies the Madonna (whom<br />
Catholics revere as the perpetual Virgin Mary) is, in fact, a depiction of Nimrod’s promiscuous wife! But who<br />
was this depraved woman? LSM identifies her by name as Semiramis [e.g., Jer. 7:18 fn. 1, RcV.]. Semiramis<br />
appears in legends dating from ancient Assyria and classical Greece down to Victorian England. This beautiful,<br />
yet immoral warrior-queen is the subject of operas, novels, and plays by Chaucer, Shakespeare and Dante.<br />
LSM identifies Nimrod’s wife, Semiramis as the “Queen of heaven” in Jeremiah 7:18. While rebuking Israel,<br />
Jehovah says, “The children gather wood, and the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough, to<br />
make cakes for the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.” [Jer.<br />
7:18, RcV.] Expounding on this idolatry, Witness Lee says,23 “Here the queen of heaven is Nimrod's wife<br />
Semiramis…It is hard to believe that God's elect…could degrade to such an extent that they would make cakes<br />
for the wife of Nimrod. This was a matter of both fornication and idolatry.” W. Lee asserts Nimrod’s wife, the<br />
“queen of heaven,” is Semiramis.24 LSM ascribes an extensive history to her, alleging that, during Jeremiah’s<br />
era (600 BC), she was worshipped as the Queen of Heaven by idolatrous Israel (Jer. 7:18). She reappears six<br />
centuries later in the New Testament era. Witness Lee declares “Nimrod's wife [was] Semiramis; later she was<br />
known as Artemis in Ephesus (Acts 19:27).” Hence the goddess Artemis, whom the apostle Paul encountered in<br />
Ephesus, (allegedly) also represents Nimrod's wife Semiramis. After AD 500 the same symbol of Semiramis<br />
was revered by Roman Catholics worldwide as the Madonna with her child; in LSM’s view it continues today.<br />
This view traces the pagan icon of Nimrod's wife, Semiramis (the original Madonna) in one unbroken thread<br />
beginning with Nimrod at Babel (2200 BC) down to Catholicism’s veneration of the Virgin Mary today.25, 26<br />
LSM’s Authority—The Two Babylons<br />
LSM’s linkage of Catholicism’s Madonna to pagan worship at Nimrod’s Babel, relies on a single archaic source<br />
—Alexander Hislop’s 1857 book, The Two Babylons. This work is cited at least ten times in LSM-publications;<br />
it is the sole basis for LSM’s claims. W. Lee appeals to A. Hislop’s Two Babylons numerous times in his Life3<br />
studies of Genesis, Matthew and Revelation. This source is also cited in The Satanic Chaos and The God-Men.27<br />
It is also referenced in LSM’s Truth Lessons. Given Witness Lee’s reluctance to cite other writers, the frequency<br />
with which he cites Hislop’s Two Babylons is striking. The importance of Hislop’s work is exemplified by<br />
Witness Lee’s statement,28 “Over the centuries some books have been written, including The Two Babylons by<br />
Alexander Hislop, to expose the heresies of Roman Catholicism. What I have told you is the truth concerning<br />
the Roman Catholic Church.” Witness Lee appeals explicitly to Hislop’s Two Babylons to support the veracity<br />
of his own denunciations of the Catholic Church. He equates “the truth concerning the Roman Catholic<br />
Church” with the book, “The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop.” LSM’s Internet defense of their critique of<br />
Catholicism also appeals to the29 “scholarly work entitled The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop.” But is this<br />
archaic source reliable? Has research over the last 150 years confirmed Hislop’s sensational claims?<br />
Hislop’s Conspiracy Theory—“The Catholic Religion…a Millennia-old Conspiracy, dating from…Nimrod”<br />
The Two Babylons was initially published as a pamphlet in 1853, then revised and expanded as a book in<br />
1857/8. Since then it has been reprinted and imitated many times. Dr. F. F. Bruce writes,30 “Rev. Alexander<br />
Hislop, Free Church Minister at Arbroath, [Scotland] whose book, The Two Babylons, appeared in 1857, and<br />
speedily ran into several editions. This monument of study and erudition aimed at proving that the Papal<br />
system was identical with the worship of Nimrod (or Ninus) and his wife Semiramis.” Hence the full title reads:<br />
The Two Babylons: Or the Papal Worship Revealed to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife.<br />
Dr. Haynes summarizes Hislop’s thesis, saying31 “Hislop’s goal…was to demonstrate the ‘Babylonian character<br />
of the papal Church’ by uncovering the ‘common mysteries’ uniting them. In Hislop’s view, the Roman church<br />
had borrowed extensively from the ‘ancient Babylonian mysteries,’ and in their chief objects of worship—the<br />
Madonna and child—the two religions were virtually identical. On what basis does Hislop make this bizarre<br />
claim? First he identifies Nimrod’s father Cush with Bel the founder of Babylon and Nimrod himself with…<br />
Ninus.” Prof. L. Grabbe points out32 “Hislop equated Nimrod with the Ninus of legend. This allowed him to<br />
introduce Semiramis…and make her ‘mother of all harlots’.” Hislop links Nimrod with Babylon and the Tower<br />
of Babel. 33Having “gained the loyalty of his subjects…Nimrod…led them in abandoning the primeval faith…In<br />
the midst of a ‘prosperous career of false religion and apostasy’ [Hislop, p. 56] Nimrod died a violent death…<br />
slain by Noah’s son Shem. With ‘resolution and unbounded ambition’ Nimrod’s wife Semiramis elevated him to<br />
a place in the Babylonian pantheon, and when his mystery cult was forced underground he was worshipped<br />
alternatively as Osiris, Tammuz, or Adonis. [Thus] ‘men were gradually led back to all the idolatry…’ When<br />
Nimrod’s mystery religion of idolatry, prostitution and human sacrifice emerged in the light of day centuries<br />
later, it took the form of Roman Catholicism.” Hence, Hislop alleges that “the Catholic religion was the result of<br />
a millennia-old conspiracy, dating from the time of Nimrod,” to quote Professor L. Grabbe.34<br />
Where does Madonna appear? Hislop contends that Nimrod’s wife, Semiramis, gave birth to a son, after her<br />
husband’s death. He asserts35 “In Scripture [this son] is referred to (Ezek. 8:14) under the name of Tammuz.”<br />
Through propaganda the belief was established that36 “Ninus (Nimrod) had reappeared in the person of a<br />
posthumous son [Tammuz]…super-naturally borne by his widowed wife.” Hence Nimrod is identified both as<br />
the husband and child of Semiramis. Worship of Nimrod declined because he was black and "on account of his<br />
ugliness."37However “in Babylon itself, the posthumous child…came to be the favorite type of the Madonna's<br />
divine son…worshipped in his mother's arms,” producing the prototypic Madonna and child. Hislop maintains<br />
that all mythical pairs, e.g., Isis/Osiris, Aphrodite/Cupid, and Asherah/Orion, reproduce the tale of Semiramis<br />
and Tammuz. Ultimately this same pair appears in Roman Catholicism as the Virgin Mary and child Jesus.<br />
Prof. Haynes states that,38 “Hislop’s biography of Nimrod is distinctive in…[that he] pays considerable<br />
attention to Nimrod’s consort Semiramis (associated with Diana [Artemis] among others) who he claims was<br />
deified in the Babylonian mysteries.” The deified Semiramis is the first Madonna. Hislop’s Two Babylons has<br />
enjoyed longevity and influence, being reprinted and imitated many times. Even today it is frequently cited as<br />
an authoritative source.39, 40 But have 150 years of research only confirmed Alexander Hislop’s startling claims?<br />
4<br />
Where Did Hislop Get His Ideas about Nimrod?<br />
Hislop tapped into a rich folklore concerning Nimrod. Jewish rabbis, elaborating on Genesis, portrayed<br />
Nimrod as a giant whose name meant “let us rebel,” a role he fulfilled building the Tower of Babel.41 Rabbis<br />
called the tower "the house of Nimrod."42 They viewed Nimrod as the first imperial ruler43 and the instigator of<br />
idolatry.44 These ideas were adopted by early Christian writers. The “Pseudo-Clementine” writings, called the<br />
“Recognitions of Clement” (AD 140-160) refer to45 “Nimrod…whom the Greeks also called Ninus and from<br />
whom the city of Nineveh took its name.” This statement is important; it indicates Hislop was not the first to<br />
identify Nimrod with the Assyrian king Ninus. This equation goes back at least to the second century AD.46-50<br />
Where Did Hislop Get His Ideas about Nimrod’s Wife?<br />
Once Nimrod was designated as the Assyrian monarch called “King Ninus,” attention turned to his (alleged)<br />
spouse and successor, Queen Semiramis. Scripture says nothing about her; Greek legends say a lot. Eusebius<br />
summarized Greek versions of Assyrian history, saying51 "Belus was the king of the Assyrians…[he] died and<br />
was regarded as a god. After him Ninus ruled the Assyrians…for 52 years. He married Semiramis. After<br />
[Ninus], Semiramis was the monarch for 42 years…” Eusebius alleges52 “Semiramis…was killed by her son<br />
Ninyas, after a reign of 42 years. Then Ninyas assumed power.” Here queen Semiramis emerges. In folklore she<br />
is beautiful, yet immoral and ruthless. She appears in novels, plays, operas, and in film. In Hislop’s era the<br />
Semiramis saga was retold for children in, True Stories from Ancient History (1821).53 As indicated Hislop was<br />
not the first to identify Nimrod with King Ninus, Nineveh’s legendary founder. This equation introduced the<br />
warrior-queen Semiramis as Nimrod’s wife. Nimrod’s bad reputation was enhanced by rabbinical myths. The<br />
fictional marriage of Nimrod with promiscuous Semiramis of Greek mythology was a fitting “match made in<br />
Hell.” Together they form the hook upon which Hislop hung his own elaborations in The Two Babylons.<br />
Hislop’s Methods—“Etymological Inventiveness”<br />
In writing The Two Babylons, Hislop drew on rabbinical myths linking Nimrod with pagan idolatry and Greek<br />
legends associating Nimrod with king Ninus and queen Semiramis. Weaving these threads together with his<br />
own extrapolations Hislop supported his central thesis that Catholicism’s veneration of the Madonna and child<br />
was in reality the pagan worship of Nimrod and his wife, Semiramis, dating back to primeval Babel. Dr. F. F.<br />
Bruce pointed out Hislop’s methods, saying54 “In defense of his thesis Hislop ranged the whole world from<br />
ancient days down, to his own [days], finding everywhere marks of the Babylonian origin of all pagan and Papal<br />
worship. To his wide reading he added an etymological inventiveness which traced words all over the globe to<br />
‘Chaldee’ roots.” Bruce cites examples of Hislop’s etymological inventiveness, “For [Hislop] ‘cannibal’ (actually<br />
a variation from ‘Carib’) was Aramaic kahnā Ba‘al, ‘priest of Baal’.”55 “Hence, the priests of Nimrod or Baal<br />
were necessarily required to eat of the human sacrifices.” Hislop infers they were cannibals.56 Yet this<br />
conclusion is based on naïve phonetics—the English word, ‘cannibal’ sounds like the Aramaic kahnā Ba‘al. 57-58<br />
Other examples could be added; Hislop claims59 the English word “Easter” derives from “Ishtar,” an Assyrian<br />
goddess, because they sound similar. F. F. Bruce notes,60 “This kind of argument, of course, has been invalid<br />
for something like three-quarters of a century. The science of philology no longer depends on fortuitous<br />
similarities. The laws of development and change in language have been observed and recorded, and<br />
etymologies must conform to these.” Professor Haynes also points out Hislop’s use of61 “putative [speculative]<br />
linguistic affinities” to establish associations. R. Woodrow highlights Hislop’s “poor research methodology;” he<br />
says62 “When I checked his…references, in numerous cases I discovered they do not support his claims.”<br />
Developments in Assyriology since Hislop<br />
When Hislop wrote The Two Babylons, the study of Assyria and Babylonia was in its infancy. In the 1840s and<br />
1850s, Sir Austen H. Layard (1817–1894) retrieved cuneiform tablets from the ruins of Nineveh. Sir Henry<br />
Rawlinson (1810–95), the “Father of Assyriology,” began deciphering these inscriptions. The study of ancient<br />
Mesopotamia was just beginning. “Great tracts of Babylonian life and history that were unknown in Hislop’s<br />
day have since been brought to light,” Professor Bruce writes.63 “We now know that the original language of<br />
Babylonian religion, far from being what Hislop and his contemporaries called ‘Chaldee’ (which was really<br />
Aramaic), was not a Semitic language at all, not even the Semitic tongue now called Akkadian…but Sumerian, a<br />
5<br />
language with no certain affinity to any other known language.” Sumerian, not Chaldee, was the language of<br />
primeval Babylon. Hence Hislop’s “etymological inventiveness which traced words…to ‘Chaldee’ roots,” is<br />
irrelevant in establishing linguistic links to Nimrod’s Babylon and Assyria. They are pseudo-science not<br />
science. “Hislop’s argument stands in need of radical revision,” Dr. Bruce concludes.64 It comes as no surprise<br />
then that modern Assyriology does not cite Hislop’s Two Babylons; it is a discredited source.<br />
The Search for Nimrod<br />
Hislop identifies Nimrod & his wife with Ninus & Semiramis. These latter figures appear nowhere in Scripture;<br />
they emerge as monarchs of Assyria in Greek versions of Assyrian history. Hislop says65 "Ninus, the most<br />
ancient of the Assyrian kings…was the first who carried on war against his neighbors.” Hislop deduces that<br />
“this Ninus…is so described as very clearly to identify him with Nimrod.”66 But is this resemblance enough?<br />
Hislop relied on early Greek historians, summarized by Eusebius (circa. AD 263–339). However the Greek<br />
historical record only becomes clear after the 1st Olympic Games, around 776 BC. The Trojan Wars (circa. 1183<br />
--2 BC) formed a watershed. Prior eras belonged to myth, lacking definite chronology. As Dr. William Adler<br />
observes,67 “By Eusebius’ time the inadequacies of Greek chronology were so familiar that chronographers<br />
generally preferred to commit large portions of the past to the domain of the prehistoric,” the undefined past.<br />
In terms of the biblical timeline that includes the entire period of Moses’ Pentateuch, especially Genesis.<br />
If the Greeks were unclear about their own history, their knowledge of Assyrian and Babylonian history was<br />
sparse indeed.68 “In Greek universal histories…of the 1st century BC, the Assyrian queen, Semiramis, Ninus’<br />
consort and successor, was regarded as the most ancient sovereign in Asia.” Since,69 Semiranis was said to<br />
predate the Trojan wars, historians generally assigned her to the 12th or 13th century BC. This places her (and<br />
Ninus) in the era of the Old Testament Judges. Clearly this disqualifies Ninus and Semiramis from matching<br />
Nimrod and his wife, who lived 1,000 years earlier! How did Hislop resolve this problem? He seized on the<br />
maverick dating of Eusebius. “I have discovered,” Eusebius wrote,70 “that…Abraham…was a contemporary of<br />
Semiramis.” Eusebius dated Abraham’s birth in the 43rd year of the Assyrian King Ninus.71 Following Eusebius,<br />
Hislop states “The age of Ninus…synchronized with that of Abraham, who was born BC 1996.”72<br />
Hislop deduces that Ninus, aka Nimrod, ruled around 2000 BC, from 2039 BC to 1987 BC.73 While early, this<br />
dating still presents serious problems. Ten generations separate Noah’s sons from Abraham (Gen. 11:10-26).<br />
Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, belongs to the 3rd generation. Peleg was the 5th generation; he was so named,<br />
because “in his days the earth was divided” (Gen. 10:25). Expositors link this “division” with the Tower of<br />
Babel. According to Ussher, Peleg was born in 2247 BC, around the time Babel’s tower was built. This implies<br />
three related events—Peleg’s birth, Babel’s Tower and the kingdom of Nimrod—occurred 200 years before<br />
Ninus reigned in Assyria (circa 2000 BC). Hislop adopted Eusebius’ claim that Ninus and Semiramis were<br />
Abraham’s contemporaries. Taken at face value this places them in the same millennium as Nimrod. Even so,<br />
Hislop’s numbers don’t add up; a marked discrepancy of 200 years still separates king Ninus and Nimrod.<br />
This vitiates against Hislop’s claim the biblical Nimrod is Ninus, the Assyrian king of Greek literature.74-80<br />
When Hislop wrote The Two Babylons the prevailing view located Ninus & Semiramis long after Abraham. In<br />
asserting that Semiramis was Nimrod’s wife, Hislop contradicted scholars of his day. This is clear from Hislop’s<br />
own words:81 “Sir H. Rawlinson having found evidence at Nineveh of the existence of a Semiramis about six or<br />
seven centuries before the Christian era, seems inclined to regard her as the only Semiramis that ever existed.<br />
But this is subversive of all history. The fact that there was a Semiramis in the primeval ages of the world is<br />
beyond all doubt…” Here Hislop contradicts Sir Henry Rawlinson, (1810–1895) the “Father of Assyriology,” by<br />
dogmatically asserting, “the fact that there was a Semiramis in the primeval ages of the world, is beyond all<br />
doubt.” It seems Hislop’s sole basis for this assertion was Eusebius’ allegation that Semiramis was Abraham’s<br />
contemporary. Yet, during the 1500 years from Eusebius to Hislop, no hard evidence has been produced to<br />
substantiate this claim; neither has any since. In fact, all the available evidence negates this assertion. To<br />
evaluate this evidence we must probe beyond Eusebius to the Greek historians whose works he summarized.<br />
6<br />
Hislop’s Source—Ctesias of Cnidus, “one of the lying historians,” J. R. Morgan (Univ. of Wales)<br />
Eusebius summarized earlier Greek versions of Assyrian and Babylonian history. Yet Prof. Grabbe says82 “The<br />
Greeks were infamous for their distortion of the culture and history of Near Eastern peoples.” The most<br />
influential writer on Mesopotamia was Ctesias of Cnidus (5th century BC). However, in terms of reliability, Prof.<br />
Grabbe tells us that,83 “one of the most notorious writers among the Greeks was Ctesias of Cnidus…his history<br />
appears to have been mainly a collection of [Persian] court gossip, fairy tales and legend.” Dr. R. Bichler says,84<br />
“Ctesias’ name is widely associated with fantasy, invention, even lies.” Prof. Jan Stronk states that Ctesias’85<br />
“reliability as a historian has been seriously questioned…not only by [current] historians…but also by authors<br />
in antiquity….We should no longer regard Ctesias primarily as a historian, but as a forerunner of a new literary<br />
genre (…the classical novel) mixing historical fact with fictitious elements.” Among the “authors in antiquity,”<br />
“Aristotle thought very little of the reliability of Ctesias.”86 Judith M. Richards reports there is87 “a daunting<br />
collection of later authorities who had a low opinion of Ctesias’ veracity," and there is “good reason for seeing<br />
Ctesias' account of Semiramis as ‘extravagant romance’." Prof. Bigwood says88 “Few historians enjoyed in<br />
antiquity a lower reputation than…Ctesias of Cnidus. On the whole in modern time his 23-book history of<br />
Persia meets with only scorn.” Prof. J. R. Morgan declares,89 “Ctesias is one of the lying historians fingered by<br />
Lucian’s True Histories.” Dr. R. Rollinger concurs, writing that,90 “the current treatment of Ctesias…regards<br />
him as a ‘liar’" He concludes “maybe we should consider more seriously that Ctesias was not a historian at all.”<br />
Yet it was Ctesias, the “lying historian,” who linked the Assyrian King Ninus with Semiramis. Dr. D. L. Gera<br />
reports,91 “Ctesias seems to have been the first to have the Assyrian king Ninus marry Semiramis, the builder of<br />
Babylon, and link these two figures.” Prof. L. Grabbe concurs, saying,92 “Ctesias seems to be the origin of a<br />
number of stories about oriental heroes and heroines, such as Ninus and Semiramis.” Ctesias also portrayed<br />
Ninus as a hunter, creating a likeness of biblical Nimrod. R. E. Gmirkin writes,93 “Ctesias was the only classical<br />
source to describe Ninus as a hunter (alongside Semiramis)….All the available evidence is consistent with the<br />
description of Semiramis and Ninus as hunters having originated with Ctesias in the Persian period.”<br />
These damning statements undermine the credibility of Ctesias, the source of the Ninus & Semiramis account,<br />
appropriated by Eusebius, on which Hislop’s entire thesis is built.94 Moreover, challenges to the role claimed<br />
for Ninus and Semiramis are not just a modern phenomenon. The Babylonian historian, Berossus, writing in<br />
the third-century BC, complained that Greek historians were “getting it all wrong,” when recording his own<br />
country’s history. He95 “censures the Greek historians for their deluded belief that Babylon was founded by the<br />
Assyrian Semiramis and their erroneous statement that its marvelous buildings were her creation.”<br />
King Ninus of Nineveh—Fact or Fiction?<br />
Hislop identifies biblical Nimrod with king Ninus, Nineveh’s founder in Greek histories. Nimrod is a historical<br />
figure in Scripture. But is King Ninus of Nineveh a historical figure or merely a fictitious? Dr. R. E. Gmirkin<br />
concludes that96 “all the evidence points to Ninus as a Classical era invention.” M. Vlaardingerbroek concurs,<br />
saying,97 “Greek historians needed a founder for the city [Nineveh] and therefore they created a king after<br />
whom the city allegedly had been named. The story of Ninus is mainly a Greek invention based on the idea that<br />
a city needs a [founding hero].” These scholars conclude that Ninus was a classical Greek invention in the form<br />
of a “foundation myth.” As Dr. Deborah L. Gera explains,98 “The Assyrian king Ninus was at first simply a name<br />
…[a] hero invented by the Greeks to account for the founding of the city of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire.<br />
Ninus has no independent life and adventures other than being the…founder of Nineveh…He does not appear<br />
outside of Greek sources; there is no trace of him in Assyrian king lists.” No “concrete evidence”—inscriptions,<br />
monuments, etc.—has substantiated the notion that King Ninus ever existed. Hence Ninus of Nineveh remains<br />
on par with Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. Both are strictly the stuff of legend; they are fictitious.<br />
The realization that Ninus was purely a legendary figure is not merely a modern conclusion. As early as 1869,<br />
The Student's Manual of Oriental History declared99 “Such personages as Ninus…belong in no way to real<br />
history; they never existed in fact. Ninus, as the name indicates, is only a personification of the city of Nineveh<br />
and all its power…” Skepticism about Ninus dates back to the 3rd century BC when Berossus, the Babylonian<br />
7<br />
historian wrote his History of Babylonia.100 The scholarly consensus that King Ninus is a fictitious character of<br />
Greek legend deals a mortal blow to Hislop’s thesis equating Ninus with the biblical Nimrod. All the deductions<br />
The Two Babylons draws from this equation are invalid; they belong on the trash heap of Greek mythology.<br />
Nimrod’s Wife Was Semiramis—Fact or Fiction?<br />
What about Queen Semiramis, whom Hislop claims as the prototypical Madonna? In Greek sagas Queen<br />
Semiramis ruled Assyria for 42 years after King Ninus’ death, her military campaigns rivaled Alexander the<br />
Great, she founded Babylon, and she built the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon.” Modern scholars conclude that<br />
in the case101 “of Semiramis…we have an example of myth ousting history.” Dr. J. M. Richards says there is102<br />
“good reason for seeing Ctesias' account of Semiramis as ‘extravagant romance’." G. Edward Foryan concludes<br />
that Greek historians’103 “narratives of Semiramis are…based on historical legends colored with elaborations of<br />
thought and disguised fantasies, and therefore cannot be recognized as existential tangible truth or fact.”<br />
Within a few decades of Hislop’s Two Babylons, scholars disputed its claims regarding Ninus and Semiramis.<br />
The 1869 Student's Manual of Oriental History declares104 “The Greek writers introduce into history the<br />
fabulous names of Ninus and Semiramis. [However,] the direct study of the Assyrian monuments and<br />
inscriptions, enable us now to assert positively that neither Semiramis, nor her husband [Ninus] ever existed,<br />
that their history is entirely mythical—a fable with no real foundation.”105 Mythical Semiramis is anchored in<br />
historical fact only via her name.106 “The name of Semiramis has been borrowed from a really historical queen.”<br />
A Kernel of Truth in the Legend of Semiramis<br />
A kernel of truth underlies the legend of Semiramis. Prof. S. Dalley argues that107 “a background of genuine<br />
historical events lies behind legends of the Assyrian queen Semiramis…Semiramis was the name used for any<br />
powerful queen who represented the archetype,” the ideal female monarch. The Greek historian107“Herodotus<br />
[c. 484-425 BC] recognized two great queens of Assyria [corresponding to Semiramis] the earlier…was…long<br />
recognized as Sammuramat, the wife of Shamshi-Adad V.” This queen, the first candidate for ‘Semiramis,’ was<br />
born circa 850 BC and died c. 790 BC or 785 BC. The second candidate, “The later queen [was] Sennacherib’s<br />
second wife Naqi’a, who lived some five generations later.” Among modern scholars,108“C. F. Lehmann-Haupt<br />
[1950] was one of the first to recognize that at the basis of the Semiramis legend was a historical Assyrian<br />
queen, Sammuramat the wife of Shamshi-Adad V (823-811 BC). Sammuramat seems to have been an unusual<br />
person. It was once thought that she was co-regent with her son [King] Adad-Nirari III (810-783 BC), but this<br />
now seems not to have been the case…She was not a run-of-the-mill Assyrian queen.” Dr. D. L. Gera says109<br />
“the historical Assyrian queen Sammuramat was an influential figure, but she certainly was less independent<br />
and powerful than Semiramis of [Ctesias].” Nevertheless she was a warrior queen who engaged in military<br />
campaigns alongside her son. The later queen, “Naqi’a, lived some five generations later.”107 She undertook<br />
building projects in Babylon. Semiramis’ legend evidently conflated both characters into one mythical figure.<br />
Contemporary scholars conclude that110 “In contrast to Ninus, Semiramis may have existed. She is generally<br />
identified with Sammuramat, the consort of [king] Samshi-Adad V and the mother of [king] Adad-Nirari III.<br />
However, in reality there is little common ground between Semiramis and Sammuramat. The story of Ninus<br />
and Semiramis is mainly a Greek invention.” If Sammuramat provides the “kernel of truth” behind Semiramis’<br />
saga, her husband fails to fit the Ninus legend. Prof. L. Grabbe concludes that111 “no clear historical figure lies<br />
behind [Ninus]. Shamshi-Adad V, the husband of Sammuramat, was not a particularly distinguished ruler,<br />
with only a short rule, and little that one can see of his person in Ninus.” Moreover both these historical figures<br />
violate The Two Babylons’ timeline. The chronology simply does not jive; there is a yawning time gap. The<br />
leading candidate for Semiramis, the Assyrian queen Sammuramat was the wife of King Shamshi-Adad V who<br />
ruled Assyria from 823 BC to 811 BC. This makes her contemporary with the divided kingdoms of Israel and<br />
Judah, the era of Jeroboam II, king of Israel, Azariah/Uzziah, king of Judah and the prophets, Amos, Joel and<br />
Hosea (2 Kings 14:25-28; 15:1-7, 13). These dates are 1,400 years after the biblical Nimrod. A millennium plus<br />
400 years separate biblical Nimrod from the historical figure underlying the legendary queen Semiramis. This<br />
“Semiramis,” who lived circa 800 BC, couldn’t possibly be the wife of Nimrod who lived around 2200 BC!<br />
8<br />
The second candidate for “Semiramis” fares even worse. King Sennacherib’s wife Naqi’a lived some five<br />
generations112 (about a century) later than Queen Sammuramat. Sennacherib was contemporary with Hezekiah,<br />
king of Judah (2 Chron. 32; 2 Kings 17-18]. This Assyrian queen Naqi’a lived around 700 BC.; Nimrod lived<br />
approx. 2200 BC. Hence Queen Naqi’a is not qualified to be Nimrod’s wife; they are separated by 1500 years.<br />
Scholars agree these two historical figures could provide a factual basis for Semiramis’ legend. They lived<br />
around 800 BC and 700 BC, respectively. In the 150 years since Hislop’s Two Babylons appeared, not one<br />
shred of evidence has substantiated an earlier Semiramis, contemporary with the biblical Nimrod. Alexander<br />
Hislop alleges,113 “The fact that there was a Semiramis in the primeval ages of the world is beyond all doubt…”<br />
But Hislop’s assertion is based entirely on Greek fables; it has no basis in historical fact. The central figures in<br />
Hislop’s saga—Ninus and Semiramis—are fictional fabrications; The Two Babylons’ thesis collapses once they<br />
are removed. Today Hislop work is dismissed by all reputable scholars of Assyriology and Old Testament<br />
history. Prof. Grabbe calls it “naïve history.” He writes,114 “Naïve history is history which takes the sources at<br />
face value…including ideological writings which take the sources at face value because they can be exploited in<br />
support of their ideology. A good example is the 19th-century anti-Catholic work of Alexander Hislop, The Two<br />
Babylons. Hislop attempted to demonstrate that the Catholic religion was the result of a millennia-old<br />
conspiracy, dating from the time of Nimrod. Hislop equated Nimrod with the Ninus of legend. This allowed<br />
him to introduce Semiramis, although no women are associated with Nimrod in the biblical text, and make her<br />
‘mother of all harlots’—a role he also assigns to the Roman Catholic Church. Despite the fact that Assyriology<br />
has long since shown this picture to be absurd, Hislop’s book is still being reprinted and widely circulated.”115-121<br />
Has Recent Research Found Nimrod?<br />
Over the last 150-years archaeologists and Assyriologists have scoured Iraq for remnants of its rich history.<br />
Have they found Nimrod? Van der Toorn and van der Horst indicate the plausibility, saying122 “Since Nimrod is<br />
a Mesopotamian figure whose fame exceeded the bounds of his homeland, one expects to find him mentioned<br />
in the cuneiform records. Ever since the archaeological discoveries of the last century and the decipherment of<br />
the cuneiform script, scholars have attempted to spot the Mesopotamian prototype of the biblical Nimrod. The<br />
identifications they advance depend in part on…does Genesis 10 describe Nimrod as a god, a demigod, or as a<br />
sundry mortal?” Dr. E. A. Speiser reports that123 “Among the diverse suggestions which have been offered, we<br />
find gods (Marduk, Ninurta), demigods (Gilgamesh, Lugalbanda), as well as sundry mortals (Amenophis III/<br />
Nimmuria, Ben-Hadad/Bir-adda).” The Bible Background Commentary suggests Bible-believers narrow their<br />
search to human heroes, saying124 “Interpreters over the years have attempted to identify Nimrod…with<br />
Mesopotamian deities such as Ninurta, a warrior god…In Genesis, however, Nimrod is clearly a human hero<br />
rather than divine or even semi-divine.” C. Uehlinger concurs, saying125 “the biblical texts…show no awareness<br />
of [Nimrod’s] ultimately divine identity…wherever the texts retain the name Nimrod, they have in mind a<br />
human hero of (post-diluvian) primeval times.” Dr. Speiser nominated the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I<br />
(1243-1207 BC) as the secular equivalent of biblical Nimrod. However, this king reigned in the 13th century BC,<br />
during the era of the Old Testament judges; hence he is disqualified by those accepting biblical chronology.126<br />
Other scholars nominate the earlier king, Sargon the great of Akkad and/or his grandson Naram-Sin.127<br />
Based on past experience, contemporary scholars are pessimistic about positively identifying Nimrod with any<br />
historical figure. Dr. C. Uehlinger concludes128 “It is not possible…to identify Nimrod with one single monarch<br />
of Mesopotamian history.” Similarly Israel’s Dr. Yigal Levin notes129 “There is no ‘secular evidence’…about<br />
Nimrod at all, one way or another. He is not mentioned by name (or by any other name that we can readily<br />
identify) in any contemporary or near-contemporary source that we know about.” Perhaps the most prudent<br />
conclusion is that of S. Abramsky, who says,130 “It is not possible or desirable to identify Nimrod with a specific<br />
king.” Given historians’ failure to positively identify Nimrod in secular history, the only reliable data regarding<br />
Nimrod is God’s infallible Word (Genesis 10). To go “beyond what has been written” (1 Cor. 4:6) is to leave the<br />
rock of God’s Word and venture onto the sinking sands of myths and fables. Contrary to LSM’s claims,131<br />
history does not tell us “at Babel, Nimrod brought in many idolatrous things.” Neither does history tell us that<br />
Nimrod “invented a most evil emblem, the Madonna with her child.” The Bible says nothing about Nimrod’s<br />
9<br />
wife. Again, contrary to LSM’s claims, neither the Bible, nor history, tells us that132 “Nimrod’s wife [was]<br />
Semiramis,” or that the first133 “Madonna was the mother of Nimrod.” All these assertions are fables.<br />
Roman Catholics’ Veneration of Mary<br />
Today scholars reject The Two Babylons’ central thesis; it has been totally discredited. Credible scholars find<br />
no “hard data” supporting the notion that the Madonna & child icon was invented in Nimrod’s Babel. What<br />
then is the origin of the Madonna and child? M. F. G. Parmentier states that134 “Parallels between Mary and<br />
pre-Christian goddesses impose [i.e., suggest] themselves but cannot be traced historically.” Dana Kramer-<br />
Rolls acknowledges that135 “it has long been assumed that the goddess veneration generated by the mystery<br />
cults of Late Antiquity were subsumed into the cult of the Virgin Mary.” However, assumption is not proof;<br />
Kramer-Rolls notes it was only “with the establishment of Mary as the Theotokos, or God Bearer, at [the<br />
Council of] Ephesus in 431 CE, she was lifted in importance in both the mind of the church and the people.”<br />
Scholars conclude that136 “embellishments to [Mary’s] legend seem to have taken form in the fifth century in<br />
Syria…The Council of Ephesus in 431 sanctioned the cult of the Virgin as Mother of God; the dissemination of<br />
images of the Virgin and Child, which came to embody church doctrine, soon followed.” Hence veneration of<br />
the Virgin Mary gained momentum only in the fifth century AD, well into the Christian era.137<br />
Imitation Is not Adoption<br />
Catholic elevation of the Virgin Mary does not prove an unbroken thread from pagan worship at Babel down to<br />
contemporary Catholicism. That is pan-Babylonianism138—the notion Babel/Babylon was the fountainhead of<br />
paganism. In contrast to that concept, Watchman Nee suggests Christians’ desire to be “like the nations” led<br />
them to transform the Virgin Mary into a goddess. He says,139 “Some think that at least Mary is of Christianity.<br />
But the fact is that Greece has a goddess, India has a goddess, Egypt has a goddess, and China has a goddess.<br />
Every religion in the world has a goddess, except Christianity. Since there must be a goddess, they bring forth<br />
Mary. Actually there is no goddess in Christianity—the origin of the concept of a goddess is the Gentiles.” W.<br />
Nee suggests Christians imitated “the surrounding nations” in seeking a goddess. However, this doesn’t mean<br />
they adopted pagan goddesses. Imitation is not adoption. Hislop alleges Catholics adopted a pagan goddess.<br />
Alexander Hislop points to similarities between Catholicism’s Madonna & child and various pagan idols as<br />
proof that Christianity adopted images from pagan religion. W. Lee states that,140 “in some things, Catholicism<br />
and Buddhism are of the same source. The same emblem of a mother embracing her child is found in the<br />
Catholic cathedrals and in the Buddhist idol temples. This exposes the source of some of the things in today's<br />
Catholicism.” But “correlation does not prove causation.” M. F. G. Parmentier states,141 “Iconographic parallels<br />
between the picture of Isis and Horus with that of Mary and the child Jesus have also been suggested, but these<br />
parallels are more phenomenological than historically verifiable.” Alexander Hislop also equates the Egyptian<br />
goddess, Isis with the Madonna.142 However, Stephen Benko points out that the goddess Isis is typically<br />
represented as a nursing mother. But images of Mary as a nursing mother don’t appear for many centuries into<br />
the Christian era. Benko writes,143 “Representations of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus…indeed resemble<br />
closely those of Isis nursing her son…[Yet there is a] large chronological gap between statues of Isis and Mary.<br />
In the West the first representations of Mary nursing her son date from the 12th century.” Differences in time<br />
and place suggest the apparent resemblance between Isis/Horus and Mary/ infant Jesus is merely coincidental.<br />
Again correlation does not prove causation. Witness Lee follows Hislop in equating Nimrod’s wife, Semiramis<br />
with the goddess Artemis of Ephesus.144 However, the goddess Artemis is commonly depicted as anatomically<br />
deviant--she is “polymastic” (i.e., many-breasted).145 In contrast, the Virgin Mary is always portrayed as an<br />
anatomically-normal woman. It is only by overlooking such differences and focusing on superficial similarities<br />
that the equation can be made. Drs. van der Toorn and van der Horst146 critique studies where “a number of<br />
deities who shared certain characteristics were uncritically thought to be ‘aspects’…of the same deity. Already<br />
in 1909 [scholars] warned against this lack of methodological stringency.”<br />
10<br />
Conclusion<br />
Over 150 years have elapsed since Alexander Hislop’s Two Babylons first appeared in print. This book’s most<br />
sensational allegation is reflected in its subtitle—“Papal Worship Revealed to be the Worship of Nimrod and<br />
His Wife.” Hislop equated the biblical Nimrod with Ninus, the legendary founder of Nineveh. He alleged that<br />
the Roman Catholic icon of the Madonna and child originated 4,000 years ago in primeval Babel as an image of<br />
Nimrod/Ninus and Semiramis. He claimed this aspect of “the Catholic religion was the result of a millennia-old<br />
conspiracy, dating from the time of Nimrod,”147 Witness Lee adopted Hislop’s thesis and cited The Two<br />
Babylons repeatedly as an authoritative source in his scathing critique of Catholicism. On the Internet LSM<br />
justifies this anti-Catholic rhetoric by citing the “scholarly work entitled The Two Babylons by Alexander<br />
Hislop.” However a century-and-a-half of research has convincingly refuted Hislop’s thesis. The Bible’s Nimrod<br />
is an historical figure; in contrast, Hislop’s King Ninus existed only in legend. Ninus is not Nimrod. The Bible<br />
says nothing about Nimrod’s wife; Ctesias, the “lying historian,” invented the myth that the wife of Ninus, aka.<br />
Nimrod was Semiramis. The small kernel of truth behind Semiramis’ myth points to two Assyrian queens who<br />
reigned over a millennium after Nimrod. The historical Semiramis was not Nimrod’s wife. Scholars reject<br />
Hislop’s thesis that one unbroken thread links pagan goddesses from Nimrod’s wife (Semiramis) in primeval<br />
Babel through the “Queen of Heaven” (Jer. 7:18, 600 BC), Artemis of the Ephesians (Acts 19:27, AD 50) to<br />
Catholics’ veneration of the Virgin Mary today. Although Hislop’s notions have been decisively refuted, W. Lee<br />
taught them as historical facts; they appear in LSM’s publications—W. Lee’s Life-studies, Truth Lessons and<br />
other books.148 They are incorporated into LSM’s Recovery Version, 149 and LSM’s “High Peak” publications.150<br />
W. Lee asserts,151 “Nimrod…invented…the Madonna with her child” and152 “although everything in Catholicism<br />
has a Christian appearance, its source is Babylonianism.” Thus LSM perpetuates Hislop’s myths about Nimrod,<br />
Madonna and The Two Babylons. Roman Catholics are aware that such allegations have been discredited and<br />
refuted; they state correctly that153 “Hislop’s wild ideas cannot be substantiated historically,” and his “idea that<br />
all world religions spring from a common source (especially one in Babylon) has been completely disproven.”<br />
Some may respond that the veracity of Hislop’s Two Babylons is irrelevant since the Roman Catholic Church is<br />
indeed apostate “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots”; others may assert that LSM’s condemnation of<br />
Catholicism is justified, even if Hislop’s main points are proved wrong. But such responses are unbecoming of<br />
Christians. It is equivalent to convicting someone based on fabricated evidence. The Lord Jesus charged the<br />
Jews to “judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). It is unrighteous to charge Roman Catholics with paganism<br />
dating back to Nimrod’s Babel when the only “evidence” consists of Jewish myths, Greek fables, and Hislop’s<br />
pseudo-science. In making such charges LSM has borne false witness. The Roman Catholic Church has many<br />
faults, but this sensational charge—that Catholics’ veneration of the Virgin Mary is actually the pagan worship<br />
of Nimrod and his wife, dating back to Babel—is not one of them. On this issue shouldn’t LSM admit their past<br />
errors, apologize for their false accusations, repudiate A. Hislop’s Two Babylons and set the record straight?<br />
Nigel Tomes,<br />
Toronto, CANADA<br />
January, 2011.<br />
NOTES:<br />
Thanks are again extended to those who commented on earlier drafts of this piece. As usual the author alone is responsible<br />
for the contents of this piece. The views expressed here are solely the author’s and should not be attributed to any<br />
believers, elders, co-workers or churches with whom/which he is associated. I apologize for inflicting 150+ footnotes upon<br />
the reader. By way of explanation [1] I have tried to “get to the bottom” of the LSM/Hislop myth concerning Nimrod, the<br />
Madonna & The Two Babylons. This proved to be no easy task, as the 50 references cited at the end of this paper testify.<br />
[2] This is a shorter version of a longer piece—substantial material was moved from the main text to the footnotes, and [3]<br />
I have been charged (with reference to previous papers) with taking quotes out of context. The notes & references allow<br />
the objective reader to evaluate this issue for him/herself.<br />
11<br />
1. W. Lee says, “The first type of Antichrist was Nimrod in Genesis; the second was Antiochus Epiphanes in Daniel; and the<br />
third was Titus, the prince of Rome who destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Daniel, Message 4,<br />
section 3, emphasis added]<br />
2. W. Lee writes, “Nimrod was the first king of Babel who, according to history, brought in many idolatrous things (Gen.<br />
10:10). That idolatrous worship invented a most demonic emblem, the Madonna with her child. According to the book,<br />
The Two Babylons, the Madonna was the mother of Nimrod and also his wife. This emblem, invented by the Babylonian<br />
worship, spread throughout the earth—to Egypt, India, Greece, pagan Rome, Tibet, China, and Japan. It even has<br />
pervaded Roman Catholicism.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Genesis, message 34, section 6, pp. 464-5, emphasis indicates<br />
quotation in the main text (above)] This quote is discussed in more detail below.<br />
3. W. Lee declares, “Judaism is satanic, Catholicism is demonic, and Protestantism is without Christ.” [W. Lee, The Stream<br />
Magazine, vol. 14, no. 4 (Nov. 1976) p. 12. Emphasis added.] W. Lee also talked about “the three deformed religions—<br />
Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism.”[W. Lee, The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for<br />
the New Creation, chap. 4 (Messages given by W. Lee in Irving, Texas, May 23-25, 1992)] “In the eyes of the Lord,” he<br />
asserted, “these three ‘isms’ are more evil than sin, than the world, and than our self.” LSM’s Bible denounces,4 “the<br />
apostate Roman Catholic Church.” The latter quote in context reads, “The Lord is not building His church in<br />
Christendom…composed of the apostate Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations.” [W. Lee, The New<br />
Testament Recovery Version, Matthew 16:18, note 4, (Living Stream Ministry), p. 99, emphasis indicates quote in the<br />
main text.] We note also that, when he came to Revelation 17, W. Lee gave an emphatic interpretation of the great harlot,<br />
saying, “The prostitute is the apostate Roman Catholic Church. History reveals that only one figure, one character,<br />
matches the description of the female in this chapter, and that figure is the Roman Catholic Church…According to the<br />
Scriptures, the great prostitute…is the Roman Catholic Church. If the female in Revelation 17 is not the Roman Catholic<br />
Church, then who is she? Surely, according to history, only the Roman Catholic Church fits the description of the woman<br />
given here.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Revelation, message 51, p. 584, emphasis added] He also asserted that, “the prostitute<br />
denotes the religious Babylon, signifying the Roman Church.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Revelation, message 51, p. 598.] Here<br />
are categorical statements unequivocally identifying the great prostitute as the Roman Catholic Church.<br />
4. [Blank]<br />
5. Quote from the DCP website “contendingforthefaith.com.” LSM “handles litigation through its affiliate the Defense and<br />
Confirmation Project [DCP].” The DCP website contendingforthefaith.com refers to A. Hislop’s The Two Babylons in a<br />
section entitled, “Concerning Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism,” saying: “The Bible Answer Man continually<br />
quotes Witness Lee's statement that "Judaism is satanic, Catholicism is demonic, and Protestantism is Christless." In their<br />
response, the only authority (apart from scripture) cited by DCP-LSM’s “contendingforthefaith.com” is Hislop’s book, The<br />
Two Babylons. This website, “contendingforthefaith.com” says, “The identity of Roman Catholicism and the woman in<br />
Revelation 17 is the subject of a scholarly work entitled The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop.” It then proceeds to quote<br />
Hislop’s work.<br />
6. The quote from G. Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales reads, “She is Semiramis, of whom one reads, who succeeded Ninus,<br />
and was his wife: She ruled the land over which the Sultan rules.”[J. Parr, Chaucer's Semiramis, The Chaucer Review,<br />
1970] The tomb of Semiramis's husband, Ninus, is mentioned in W. Shakespeare's A Mid-summer Night's Dream<br />
(5.1.138). In The Divine Comedy, Dante sees Semiramis in the Second Circle of Hell. The character, Semiramis also<br />
appears in the films, Queen of Babylon (1954) & I am Semiramis (1963)<br />
7. W. Lee refers to Alexander Hislop’s book, The Two Babylons, at least ten times. See, for example, Life-study of Genesis,<br />
message 34, p. 464; Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 53, p. 56; The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the<br />
Divine Economy for the New Creation , p. 97, The God-Men, p. 42; Life-study of Revelation, Message 51, pp. 585-6; Lifestudy<br />
of Revelation, Message 13, pp. 157-8; Life-study of Matthew, pp. 467-8. Several of these references contain multiple<br />
citations of Hislop’s Two Babylons.<br />
8. “Naïve history is history which takes the sources at face value. There are all sorts of naïve history, including ideological<br />
writings which take the sources at face value because they can be exploited in support of their ideology. A good example is<br />
the nineteenth-century anti-Catholic work of Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons.” [Lester L. Grabbe, Can a 'history of<br />
Israel' be written? p. 28] Lester L. Grabbe is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism at the University of Hull, UK<br />
9. We refer to the Greek historian, Ctesias of Cnidus (discussed in more detail below). Concerning his writings, J. R. Morgan<br />
says, “…fiction in the guise of historiography. A prime example is Ctesias of Cnidus….Ctesias was more interested in love<br />
and intrigue than in historical fact, and actually foreshadowed much of the thematic repertoire of the Greek novel itself.<br />
Ctesias is one of the lying historians fingered by Lucian’s True Histories.” [J. R. Morgan, “Fiction and History:<br />
Historiography and the Novel” in A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography, edited by John Marincola, p. 560]<br />
J. R. Morgan is Professor of Classics at Swansea University, Wales, UK.<br />
10. Quote from the website of LSM-affiliate, DCP, “contendingforthefaith.com.”<br />
12<br />
11. Hislop’s work has been repeatedly reprinted and republished over the last 150 years. Its arguments have also been reworked,<br />
re-written and re-published by a number of authors (in print and on the Internet), in most cases without adequate<br />
evaluation. Numerous articles can be found on the Internet supporting or reproducing Hislop’s theories. This paper seeks<br />
to quote “reputable scholars” associated with universities and/or articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals<br />
and/or books published by reputable publishers (e.g. a university press). Where possible we indicate the author’s<br />
academic affiliation.<br />
12. “Old Testament (OT) scholars indicate a problem with the identity of the founder of Nineveh. The Hebrew OT text is<br />
ambiguous (Gen. 10:11). It is usually translated "from that land [Nimrod] went into Assyria,” but "from that land Assur<br />
went forth" is also possible. Consequently, it is not clear in the Hebrew who founded Nineveh, Nimrod or Assur. The<br />
Greek Septuagint [LXX] is not ambiguous. Here Assur is the founder of the Assyrian cities.” Menko Vlaardingerbroek,<br />
“The Founding of Nineveh and Babylon in Greek Historiography”, in Collon, D., George, A., Hg., Nineveh: Papers of the<br />
XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, London 7—11 July 2003, London, 2005, p. 236. Sir Walter Raleigh<br />
devoted several pages in his History of the World (circa. 1616) to reviewing past scholarship on the question of whether it<br />
was Nimrod or Assur who built the cities in Assyria. We also note that “Nimrod” is mentioned in Micah chap. 5 which<br />
says, “When Assyria comes into our land; and when he treads in our palaces, we will raise up against him seven shepherds<br />
And eight princes of men. And they will waste the land of Assyria with the sword; and the land of Nimrod at its entrances.<br />
And He will save us from Assyria. When he comes into our land; and when he treads in our border.” [Micah 5:5-6, RcV.]<br />
Here Assyria is referred to as “the land of Nimrod.”<br />
13. For more on this see my “BLACK SLAVERY AS ‘THE CURSE OF HAM’—Bible Truth, Jewish Myth or Racist Apologetic?”<br />
(October, 2007) on www.concernedbrothers.com”<br />
14. W. Lee, Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 53. LSM’s Truth Lessons are edited versions of W. Lee’s teaching. In<br />
this instance it is a slightly edited version of W. Lee’s Life-study, which states: “Nimrod was the first king of Babel who,<br />
according to history, brought in many idolatrous things (10:10). That idolatrous worship invented a most demonic<br />
emblem, the Madonna with her child. According to the book, The Two Babylons, the Madonna was the mother of Nimrod<br />
and also his wife. This emblem, invented by the Babylonian worship, spread throughout the earth—to Egypt, India,<br />
Greece, pagan Rome, Tibet, China, and Japan. It even has pervaded Roman Catholicism. When the Roman Catholic<br />
Church sent missionaries to China a few hundred years ago, those missionaries found the same emblem in the Buddhist<br />
idol temples and sent a report about this back to the Vatican. This is documented in The Two Babylons. Before I was<br />
saved, I went, as a child, to a Catholic cathedral in China and saw this emblem [the Madonna with her child]. In the same<br />
period of time, I visited a Chinese Buddhist temple and saw the same picture there. After I was saved, I told people in my<br />
preaching that, in some things, Catholicism and Buddhism are of the same source. The same emblem of a mother<br />
embracing her child is found in the Catholic cathedrals and in the Buddhist idol temples. This exposes the source of some<br />
of the things in today's Catholicism.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Genesis, message 34, section 6, pp. 464-5] The first half of this<br />
paragraph forms the basis of LSM’s Truth Lessons quoted in the main text. Note the two references to Hislop’s Two<br />
Babylons.<br />
15. The figure 2200 BC is based upon Bishop Ussher’s famous chronology. To be precise, Ussher dates Nimrod at 2234 BC<br />
saying, “From these writings it appears that the Babylonians devoted themselves to the study of astronomy, even from the<br />
very days of Nimrod, from whom all that region took the name of the land of Nimrod. Micah 5:6 Nimrod built Babylon<br />
and was the instigator of the building of the tower of Babel according to Josephus (l. 1. Antiq. c. 4.)” [Ussher, Annals of the<br />
World”] LSM adopts Ussher’s chronology. For more on this see my, “DATING ADAM—A CRITIQUE OF LSM’s<br />
CHRONOLOGY: LSM adopts Ussher’s Outdated Chronology dating Mankind’s Origin at 4004 BC” on<br />
www.concernedbrothers.com” & “www,LocalChurchDiscussions.com”<br />
16. W. Lee, Truth Lessons Level 2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 56<br />
17. These latter claims are made by W. Lee in his Life-study of Daniel. He says, “Human government began with Nimrod in<br />
Genesis 10. Prior to Genesis 10 there were no human nations; instead, there was only mankind as a whole without<br />
established nations. Nations began to be established by Nimrod, who built Babel, a prefigure of Babylon (Gen. 10:8-10).<br />
Human government will conclude with the coming Antichrist, who will be the last Caesar of the Roman Empire. All<br />
human government from Nimrod to Antichrist has been and will continue to be under the ruling of the heavens by the<br />
God of the heavens….Daniel also covers human government from Nimrod to Antichrist.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Daniel,<br />
Message 1, section 4, emphasis added.] LSM’s Recovery Version says, “The beginning of human government was at Babel<br />
(Babylon), which was built by Nimrod (Gen. 10:8-10), and the ending of human government will be the revived Roman<br />
Empire under Antichrist…Thus the aggregate of human empires that began with Nimrod will consummate with<br />
Antichrist and his ten kings.” [RcV. Dan. 2:32, note 1, para. 2, emphasis added] Again W. Lee’s Life-study says, “The<br />
aggregate of human empires that began with Nimrod at Babel will consummate with the last Caesar of the Roman<br />
Empire with his ten kings. Thus, according to the Bible, we are still in the Roman Empire today. The culture of the world<br />
is an accumulation of culture from the time of Nimrod until the present. What began with Nimrod will conclude with<br />
Antichrist.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Daniel, Message 3, section 3, emphasis added]<br />
18. W. Lee, Life-study of Genesis, message 34, section 6, pp. 464-5.<br />
19. W. Lee, Life-study of Revelation, p. 484<br />
13<br />
20. It is the proposition that prehistoric Babylon is the source of global paganism. Pan-Babylonianism was championed by H.<br />
Winckler who “argued that all the world myths are reflections of Babylonian astral religion which had developed about<br />
3000 BCE.” [Mark W. Chavalas, Mesopotamia and the Bible, p. 34] The pan-Babylonianism concept in Hislop’s book is<br />
addressed in the following quote: “Some of the ideas of panbabylonism appear in 19th century Protestant polemic against<br />
the Roman Catholic Church, notably in The Two Babylons, a pamphlet produced by Scottish theologian Alexander Hislop.<br />
Its central theme is its allegation that the Roman Catholic Church is a veiled continuation of the pagan religion of Babylon,<br />
the veiled paganism being the product of a millennia old conspiracy.” [“Panbabylonianism,” in Wikipedia] Hislop’s pan-<br />
Babylonianism is illustrated by his statement: “Babylon was the primal source from which all these systems of idolatry<br />
flowed” [A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 17]<br />
21. W. Lee, Life-study of Revelation, Message 51, pp. 584-5 Elsewhere, W. Lee says, “Alexander Hislop in his book The Two<br />
Babylons exposes the origin of the evil, demonic, pagan things that were brought into the apostate church.” [W. Lee, The<br />
Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation - p. 97] W. Lee also links Catholicism,<br />
Babylonianism, and Buddhism when he says, “To care for our happiness is a Babylonian concept. This is also the concept<br />
of Catholicism derived from Babylonianism, and resembling Buddhism.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Revelation, p. 449]<br />
22. W. Lee, Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 53. W. Lee also says, “According to the book, The Two Babylons, the<br />
Madonna was the mother of Nimrod and also his wife.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Genesis, message 34, section 6, pp. 464-5]<br />
23. W. Lee, Life-study of Jeremiah, Message 10, section 3, p. 69. Alexander Hislop identifies Semiramis as the “queen of<br />
heaven,” as indicated in the following quote: “Semiramis, then, as Astarte, worshipped as the dove, was regarded as the<br />
incarnation of the Spirit of God. As Baal, Lord of Heaven, had his visible emblem, the sun, so she [i.e. Semiramis], as<br />
Beltis, Queen of Heaven, must have hers also--the moon, which in another sense was Asht-tart-e,” [A. Hislop, The Two<br />
Babylons, p. 100, emphasis added]<br />
24. Both W. Lee’s Life-study and LSM’s Recovery Version identify Nimrod’s wife, the “queen of heaven,” as Semiramis. LSM’s<br />
Recovery Version of the Bible, Jeremiah 7:18 RcV. footnote 1 says “Nimrod’s wife Semiramis, later known as Artemis of<br />
Ephesus (Acts 19:27). Israel’s making cakes to the wife of Nimrod was a matter of both spiritual fornication and idolatry.”<br />
It also appears in W. Lee’s Life-study of Jeremiah message 10, p. 69, [W. Lee’s Life-study of Jeremiah was conducted in<br />
the Winter of 1991 and constitutes part of the “High Peak of the Divine Revelation.”] This assertion—that Nimrod’s wife<br />
Semiramis, [was] later known as Artemis of Ephesus (Acts 19:27)--is made by Alexander Hislop in his book The Two<br />
Babylons pp. 32, 69. Note that neither W. Lee’s Life-study of Jeremiah [message 10, p. 69] nor LSM’s Recovery Version<br />
gives any citation of Hislop’s Two Babylons in their writings regarding this point.<br />
25. LSM traces the pagan icon of Nimrod's wife, Semiramis (the original Madonna) in one unbroken thread beginning with<br />
Nimrod at Babel (2200 BC) down through apostate Israel’s worship at the Babylonian captivity (Jer. 7:18, 600 BC), the<br />
pagan worship of Artemis at Ephesus (Acts 19:27, 50 AD) to Catholicism’s veneration of the Virgin Mary today. Moreover<br />
allegedly this same icon appears worldwide in pagan religions. In their view the Madonna-like icons in various pagan<br />
religions are not independent incidents. Instead LSM asserts that the recurring Madonna & child icons are successive<br />
manifestations of Nimrod’s idolatrous invention. LSM’s teaching “connects the dots,” producing one unbroken thread of<br />
paganism across the centuries from Nimrod’s Babel in 2200 BC to modern Roman Catholicism. This concurs with A.<br />
Hislop, who says, “The Madonna of Rome, then, is just the Madonna of Babylon.” A. Hislop, The Two Babylons p. 75. The<br />
quote in context reads, “The Madonna of Rome, then, is just the Madonna of Babylon. The ‘Queen of Heaven’ in the one<br />
system is the same as the ‘Queen of Heaven’ in the other.” [Hislop, p. 75, emphasis added]<br />
26. LSM’s Truth Lessons allege “at Babel, Nimrod…invented a most evil emblem, the Madonna with her child…[It was]<br />
invented by the Babylonian worship…[then] spread throughout the earth—to Egypt, India, Greece, pagan Rome, Tibet,<br />
China, and Japan. It even has pervaded Roman Catholicism.”[W. Lee, Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 53.] W.<br />
Lee’s Life-study, says essentially the same thing when it states: “Nimrod was the first king of Babel who, according to<br />
history, brought in many idolatrous things (10:10). That idolatrous worship invented a most demonic emblem, the<br />
Madonna with her child. …This emblem, invented by the Babylonian worship, spread throughout the earth—to Egypt,<br />
India, Greece, pagan Rome, Tibet, China, and Japan. It even has pervaded Roman Catholicism.” [W. Lee, Life-study of<br />
Genesis, message 34, section 6, pp. 464-5] Note that this is based upon Hislop’s Two Babylons, which says, "In those<br />
countries of Europe where the Papal system is most completely developed...the Mother and Child are the grand objects of<br />
worship. Exactly so, in this latter respect, also was it in ancient Babylon. The Babylonians, in their popular religion,<br />
supremely worshipped a Goddess Mother and a Son, who was represented in pictures and images as an infant or child in<br />
his mother's arms. From Babylon, this worship of the Mother and the Child spread to the ends of the earth. In Egypt, the<br />
Mother and the Child were worshipped under the names Isis and Osiris [called most frequently Horus]...in Pagan<br />
Rome, as Fortuna and Jupiter...the boy; in Greece, as Ceres the Great Mother, with the babe at her breast...and even in<br />
Thibet [Tibet], China, and Japan, the Jesuit missionaries were astonished to find the counterpart of Madonna and her<br />
child as devoutly worshipped as in Papal Rome itself.” [A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, pp. 14, 20, 21]. Emphasis added to<br />
identify the countries mentioned in LSM’s Truth Lessons and W. Lee’s Life-study. LSM asserts that “history tells us” all<br />
these things. But what is the basis for these bold assertions? Have LSM’s dogmatic statements with their damning critique<br />
of Catholicism been verified, confirmed beyond reasonable doubt, by historical research? Does history really tell us so?<br />
27. W. Lee refers to Alexander Hislop’s book, The Two Babylons, at least ten times. See, for example, Life-study of Genesis,<br />
message 34, pp. 464-5; Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 53, “The book, The Two Babylons points out that the<br />
14<br />
evil emblem that Nimrod invented was brought into the Catholic Church and appears as a picture of Mary and Jesus [W.<br />
Lee, Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 56]; “Alexander Hislop in his book The Two Babylons exposes the origin<br />
of the evil, demonic, pagan things that were brought into the apostate church.” [W. Lee, The Satanic Chaos in the Old<br />
Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation , p. 97], “Over the centuries some books have been written,<br />
including The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop, to expose the heresies of Roman Catholicism. What I have told you is<br />
the truth concerning the Roman Catholic Church.” [W. Lee, The God-Men p. 42; Life-study of Revelation, Message 51, pp.<br />
585-6; “The book, The Two Babylons, exposes the origin of the evil, demonic, pagan things that were brought into the<br />
apostate church.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Revelation, Message 13, pp. 157-8; “After the papal system had been established,<br />
the many pagan practices which had been brought in were confirmed by that system. This is documented in Alexander<br />
Hislop’s book, The Two Babylons.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Matthew, pp. 467-8] Several of these references contain<br />
multiple citations of Hislop’s Two Babylons. G. H. Pember’s The Great Prophecies, is the only other work cited on this<br />
subject. However, the latter is minor; the major reference is The Two Babylons.<br />
28. W. Lee, The God-Men, p. 42. The quote, in context, reads: “Christ is true; Christmas is false. Christ is the truth; Christmas<br />
is a heresy and a mixture. Over the centuries some books have been written, including The Two Babylons by Alexander<br />
Hislop, to expose the heresies of Roman Catholicism. What I have told you is the truth concerning the Roman Catholic<br />
Church.”<br />
29. The website of LSM-affiliate, DCP “contendingforthefaith.com,” says, “The identity of Roman Catholicism and the woman<br />
in Revelation 17 is the subject of a scholarly work entitled The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop.” It then proceeds to<br />
quote Hislop’s work. (emphasis added)<br />
30. F. F. Bruce, “Babylon and Rome,” The Evangelical Quarterly 13 (October 15, 1941): p. 243. Dr. F. F. Bruce (1910-90), a<br />
well-known evangelical scholar, was Professor of Biblical Exegesis at the University of Manchester.<br />
31. Stephen R. Haynes, Noah’s Curse: the biblical justification of American Slavery, (2002) chap. 3, p. 58. Dr. Stephen R.<br />
Haynes is Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College. The quote in context reads: “The strangest chapter in<br />
Nimrod’s unauthorized biography is also the longest and most intricate. Its author is Alexander Hislop (1807-1865), a<br />
Scottish divine who in 1858 published The Two Babylons...Hislop’s goal in this exceedingly convoluted anti-catholic tract<br />
was to demonstrate the ‘Babylonian character of the papal Church’ by uncovering the ‘common mysteries’ uniting them. In<br />
Hislop’s view, the Roman church had borrowed extensively from the ‘ancient Babylonian mysteries,’ and in their chief<br />
objects of worship—the Madonna and child—the two religions were virtually identical. On what basis does Hislop make<br />
this bizarre claim? First he identifies Nimrod’s father Cush with Bel the founder of Babylon and Nimrod himself with the<br />
Babyonian divine child Ninus.” [Stephen R. Haynes, Noah’s Curse: the biblical justification of American Slavery, (2002)<br />
chap. 3, p. 58.]<br />
32. Lester L. Grabbe, Can a 'history of Israel' be written? p. 28. Professor Lester L. Grabbe of Hull University, UK<br />
33. Stephen R. Haynes, Noah’s Curse: the biblical justification of American Slavery, (2002) chap. 3, p. 59. We give Dr.<br />
Haynes’ summary of Hislop’s thought. The interior quotations within Haynes’ paragraph are quotes from Hislop. The<br />
quote in context reads: Hislop “contends that Nimrod led a band of ‘mighty ones’…and links him with Babylon and the<br />
Tower of Babel. Nimrod gained the loyalty of his subjects by taming and ordering the post-[Flood] world. ‘Not content<br />
with delivering men from the fear of wild beasts he [Nimrod] set to work to emancipate them from the fear of the<br />
Lord…’(Hislop). Nimrod was an ‘Apostate’ who led them in abandoning the primeval faith. Hislop reports that in the<br />
midst of a ‘prosperous career of false religion and apostasy’ Nimrod died a violent death. He was…slain by Noah’s son<br />
Shem. With ‘resolution and unbounded ambition’ Nimrod’s wife Semiramis elevated him to a place in the Babylonian<br />
pantheon, and when his mystery cult was forced underground he was worshipped alternatively as Osiris, Tammuz, or<br />
Adonis. [Thus] ‘men were gradually led back to all the idolatry…’ When Nimrod’s mystery religion of idolatry, prostitution<br />
and human sacrifice emerged in the light of day centuries later, it took the form of Roman Catholicism.”<br />
34. The quote, in context, reads, “Hislop attempted to demonstrate that the Catholic religion was the result of a millenniaold<br />
conspiracy, dating from the time of Nimrod. Hislop equated Nimrod with the Ninus of legend. This allowed him to<br />
introduce Semiramis, although no women are associated with Nimrod in the biblical text, and make her ‘mother of all<br />
harlots’-a role he also assigns to the Roman Catholic Church. Despite the fact that Assyriology has long since shown this<br />
picture to be absurd, Hislop’s book is still being reprinted and widely circulated among fundamentalist Protestant<br />
Christians.” [Lester L. Grabbe, Can a 'history of Israel' be written? p. 28, emphasis added] Lester L. Grabbe, Professor of<br />
Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism at the University of Hull, UK. The term “conspiracy” is also used in relation to Hislop’s<br />
book in the following quote regarding “pan-Babylonianism” “Some of the ideas of panbabylonism appear in 19th century<br />
Protestant polemic against the Roman Catholic Church, notably in The Two Babylons, a pamphlet produced by Scottish<br />
theologian Alexander Hislop. Its central theme is its allegation that the Roman Catholic Church is a veiled continuation<br />
of the pagan religion of Babylon, the veiled paganism being the product of a millennia old conspiracy.” [Wikipedia,<br />
emphasis added]<br />
35. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 26 Ezekiel 8:14-14 (RcV) reads: “Then He brought me [Ezekiel] to the entrance<br />
of the gate of the house of Jehovah that was toward the north; and women weeping for Tammuz were sitting there. And<br />
He said to me, Do you see, son of man? You will yet again see greater abominations than these.” The RcV. footnote on<br />
“Tammuz” says, “A Mesopotamian deity”<br />
36. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 62<br />
15<br />
37. Concerning Nimrod’s race (just mentioned) van der Toorn & van der Horst write, “Because Nimrod is a son of Cush, Philo<br />
calls him an Ethiopian, a black man. This characterization helped to blacken Nimrod in the development of the tradition,<br />
whereas the biblical text itself does not do anything of the sort.” [K. van der Toorn & P. W. van der Horst, "Nimrod before<br />
and after the Bible" The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 83, No. 1. (Jan., 1990), p. 18] The quote in the text is from<br />
Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 62<br />
38. Stephen R. Haynes, Noah’s Curse: the biblical justification of American Slavery, (2002) chap. 3, p. 59. The quote in<br />
context reads: “Hislop’s biography of Nimrod is distinctive in several respects…Hislop links Nimrod with the giants [who]<br />
rebelled against heaven…Hislop’s drama is also notable for its casting of members of Nimrod’s family… Nimrod’s father,<br />
Cush…is identified with Bel [Belus] the traditional founder of Babylon and is assigned responsibility for fabricating the<br />
Tower of Babel. Cush is characterized as ‘a ringleader in the great apostasy’…leading mankind away from the worship of<br />
God.’ Finally Hislop pays considerable attention to Nimrod’s consort Semiramis (associated with Diana [Artemis] among<br />
others) who he claims was deified in the Babylonian mysteries.”<br />
39. The following list of books cite Hislop’s Two Babylons as an authority: [1] Nimrod-Darkness in the Cradle of Civilization<br />
By Steven Merrill [2] The Watchmen's Cry By Obadiah Frank [3] Shadow Forces By Robert E. Herndon Sr. [4] While<br />
Men Slept. A Biblical and Historical Account of the New Universal… By Kerby F. Fannin [5] Secrets of the Spiritual<br />
Matrix, By M. D. Harrell [6] Moneta's Veil By Sarkar [7] Studies in Revelation By Hampton J. Keathley, III [8] Babylon<br />
Religion By David Daniels [9] Jesus: God, Man Or Myth By Herbert Cutner [10] Disperse By Nelo Dadd [11] Santa-<br />
Tizing By Robin Main [12] She Who Restores the Roman Empire: The Biblical Prophecy of the Whore of Babylon By<br />
David Criswell [13] The Lifting of the Veil: By Avram Yehoshua [14] Revelation Unveiled, by Tim F. LaHaye [15]<br />
Recommendation 666: The Rise of the Beast from the Sea, By Herbert Peters [17] His Story in the Stars, By C. Gary<br />
Hullquist [18] What The World Is Coming To? A Commentary on the Book of Revelation by Chuck Smith<br />
40. The best-selling Christian author, Tim F. LaHaye [author of the Left Behind series] says “The greatest book ever written”<br />
on Babylon “is the masterpiece The Two Babylons…This book, containing quotations from 275 authors and to my<br />
knowledge never refuted, best describes the origin of religion in Babylon.” [Tim F. LaHaye, Revelation Unveiled, p. 266]<br />
41. “Various factors were at work in this process [of rabbinical elaboration]. Most probably the earliest factor was the<br />
circumstance that the [Greek] biblical text called Nimrod a gibborl gigas, using the same word as in Gen. 6:4 for the<br />
offspring of the rebelling sons of God. In addition was the fact that Nimrod's kingdom was in Babel in the land of Shinar<br />
according to Genesis 10, where also the tower was built according to Genesis 11, which seemed to leave no other possibility<br />
than that Nimrod built the tower.…Finally, Nimrod's bad character was made clear by his own name, which indicated<br />
beyond any doubt that he was a rebel (mrd) against the Lord,…and for Greek-speaking Jews also by the expression "a<br />
hunter before=enantion [Greek LXX]=against the Lord." So we see that in the post-biblical exposition of these few<br />
biblical verses a wide range of haggadic potential is brought to fruition.” [K. van der Toorn & P. W. van der Horst, "Nimrod<br />
before and after the Bible" The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 83, No. 1. (Jan., 1990), p. 29]<br />
42. “Nimrod” in The Jewish Encyclopedia, reference: 'Ab. Zarah 53b’.<br />
43. Allegedly Nimrod was “the first who introduced the eating of meat by man. He was also the first to make war on other<br />
peoples.” (“Nimrod” in The Jewish Encyclopedia, reference: Midr. Agadah to Gen. x. 9)<br />
44. “He [Nimrod] rose by cunning and force to be the sole ruler of the whole world. The first mortal to hold universal<br />
sway…His [Nimrod’s] impiousness kept pace with his growing power. Since the flood there had been no such sinner as<br />
Nimrod. He fashioned idols of wood and stone, and paid worship to them. But not satisfied to lead a godless life himself,<br />
he did all he could to tempt his subjects into evil ways.” (Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Volume I, Bible Times<br />
and Characters from the Creation to Jacob, Philologos Religious Online Books Philologos.org, pp. 177-8] Ginzberg cites as<br />
original sources: Sanhedrin 98b, top. 8 * Yashar Noah, 18a and 23a.)<br />
45. Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Pseudo-Clementine Literature/ The Recognitions of Clement/Book IV/Chapter 29. “In<br />
the Recognitions (R 4.29), Nimrod is equated with the legendary Assyrian king Ninus, who first appears in the Greek<br />
historian Ctesias as the founder of Nineveh.“ M. Vlaardingerbroek says, “Why Nimrod, according to later Jewish tradition<br />
the founder of Babylon, was identified with Ninus, according to Greek tradition the founder of Nineveh, is not clear at first<br />
sight. It is likely that the similarity of the names Nimrod and Ninus and the fact that both were seen as the first great ruler<br />
(or tyrant) on earth played an important role in this identification.” (Menko Vlaardingerbroek, “The Founding of Nineveh<br />
and Babylon in Greek Historiography”, in Collon, D., George, A., Hg., Nineveh: Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre<br />
Assyriologique Internationale, London 7—11 July 2003, London, 2005, p. 237)<br />
46. The early Christian “Pseudo-Clementines” also equate Nimrod with Zoroaster, founder of Persian religion of<br />
Zoroastrianism, thereby linking Nimrod with paganism. Modern scholars explain this link, saying,47 “there can be little<br />
doubt that the identification of Nimrod and Zoroaster had a Jewish origin…[It] must have seemed to the Jews of the<br />
Babylonian lowlands that [Zoroaster] was the creator of the pagan religion…Zoroaster also became for them a<br />
Babylonian…the leader of the Chaldeans. From there it was only a step to the identification Zoroaster-Nimrod. The figure<br />
of Nimrod, so familiar to Jewish legend, and [Zoroaster] the founder of the Persian religion…henceforth flow together.”<br />
Some ancient scholars were aware that identifying Nimrod with Zoroaster posed serious chronological problems. The 4thcentury<br />
writer, Epiphanius, stated48 “The Greeks say that he [Nimrod] is Zoroaster… Every transgression in the world was<br />
disseminated at this time, for Nimrod was an originator of wrong teaching, astrology and magic…But in actual fact…the<br />
two, Nimrod and Zoroaster, are far apart in time.” Ussher dates Nimrod around 2200 BC; Zoroaster lived around 1100 to<br />
1000 BC—a 1,000 year gap. Yet Hislop asserts49 “The voice of antiquity is clear…to the effect that the first…Zoroaster was<br />
16<br />
an Assyrian or Chaldean, and that he was the founder of the idolatrous system of Babylon, and therefore Nimrod.” He<br />
dogmatically declares50 “Ninus and Nimrod and Zoroaster were one.”<br />
47. The “Pseudo-Clementine Homilies say, “Of that [Ham-Cush] family there was born in due time somebody who took up<br />
with magical practices, called Nebrod, [Nimrod] who chose, giant-like, to devise things in opposition to God. Him the<br />
Greeks have called Zoroaster…Therefore the magician Nebrod [Nimrod]…had his name changed to Zoroaster.” (Quote<br />
from a paper by Jan N. Bremner entitled “Apion and Anoubion in the Pseudo-Clementines”) Ginzberg also reports that “In<br />
[Pseudo-]Clementine Homilies, 9. 4-6, Nimrod is identified with Zoroaster, and is designated as the one ‘who chose,<br />
giant-like, to devise things in opposition to God, and who, after his death by fire, was worshipped by the ignorant<br />
populace. This was the beginning of the worship of idols’.” Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Volume I, Bible<br />
Times and Characters from the Creation to Jacob, Philologos Religious Online Books Philologos.org, pp. 177-8] For more<br />
on the close association of Nimrod with Zoroaster see P.W. van der Horst, Essays on the Jewish World of Early<br />
Christianity (Fribourg and Göttingen, 1990) pp. 220-232<br />
48. K. van der Toorn & P. W. van der Horst, "Nimrod before and after the Bible" The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 83,<br />
No. 1. (Jan., 1990), p. 27 These authors are affiliated with Utrecht University.<br />
49. The quote, in context, reads: “Nimrod, the son of Cush…ruled as a king…The Greeks say that he [Nimrod] is Zoroaster…<br />
Every transgression in the world was disseminated at this time, for Nimrod was an originator of wrong teaching, astrology<br />
and magic…But in actual fact…the two, Nimrod and Zoroaster, are far apart in time.” Epiphanius, Panarion 1.3, 2-3, F.<br />
Williams, trans., The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Book 1 [Leiden: Brill, 1987] pp. 16-17. [K. van der Toorn & P. W.<br />
van der Horst, "Nimrod before and after the Bible" The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 83, No. 1. (Jan., 1990), p. 27,<br />
footnote]<br />
50. The quote, in context, says, “The voice of antiquity is clear and distinct to the effect that the first and great Zoroaster was<br />
an Assyrian or Chaldean, and that he was the founder of the idolatrous system of Babylon, and therefore Nimrod.” [A.<br />
Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 54]. Concerning the dating of Zoroaster “It is generally thought that Zoroaster lived about<br />
the 11th or 10th century BC…[this] date is now widely accepted among Iranists.” [Wikipedia]<br />
51. A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 192 The quote in context reads: “The lines of evidence all converge, so as to demonstrate<br />
that Ninus and Nimrod and Zoroaster were one.” [A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 192 emphasis added] Thus Hislop<br />
adopted the folklore linking Nimrod with pagan religion, Zoroastrianism.<br />
52. Eusebius describes “how Semiramis mustered troops [and went] against India, her defeat and flight; how she killed her<br />
own sons and then was killed by her son Ninyas, after a reign of 42 years. Then Ninyas assumed power.” This quote is<br />
from Eusebius' Chronicle, The Assyrian Chronicle, Eusebius' Summary of Castor concerning the kingdom of the Assyrians.<br />
In mythology she was the daughter of the fish-goddess and a mortal man. Abandoned at birth, she was fed by doves until<br />
found by a shepherd. King Ninus, Nineveh’s founder, was struck by her bravery in battle and married her. When King<br />
Ninus was killed, queen Semiramis took over, finishing the military campaign. After Ninus’ death, she retained the throne,<br />
ruling effectively, restoring Babylon and undertaking building projects. Eventually, Semiramis’ son Ninyas killed her and<br />
reigned.<br />
53. Here Eusebius cites the historian Cephalion describing Semiramis’ activities. Eusebius' Chronicle, The Assyrian Chronicle,<br />
Eusebius' Summary of Cephalion concerning the kingdom of the Assyrians.<br />
54. Maria Elizabeth Budden, True stories from Ancient History, by the author of 'Always Happy', 1821, pp. 3-4. It says<br />
“Nimrod had a son named Ninus who married Semiramis. She became Ninus’ queen. When Ninus died he left all his<br />
counties to her…” Although it differs slightly from the standard narrative in equating Ninus with Nimrod’s son, this<br />
quotation establishes that a link existed between Nimrod, Ninus and Semiramis even within the realm of early 19th century<br />
children’s literature.<br />
55. F. F. Bruce, “Babylon and Rome,” The Evangelical Quarterly 13 (October 15, 1941): p. 244 Dr. F. F. Bruce was University<br />
of Manchester Professor of Biblical Exegesis.<br />
56. F. F. Bruce, “Babylon and Rome,” The Evangelical Quarterly 13 (October 15, 1941): p. 244 see Hislop, p. 243<br />
57. Bruce gives a further example, “The old North European deity Zernebogus, whose name is pure Slavonic and means ‘black<br />
god’…was Zer-nebo-Gus, which bears some likeness to the Aramaic equivalent of “Seed of the prophet Cush” (in other<br />
words, Nimrod, the son of Cush).” [A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 183] Again based on naïve phonetics, Hislop deduced<br />
that the European deity Zernebogus was yet another incarnation of Nimrod.<br />
58. F. F. Bruce, “Babylon and Rome,” The Evangelical Quarterly 13 (October 15, 1941) p. 244 see Hislop, p. 254 In fact,<br />
(contrary to Hislop) linguists trace Easter to Germanic roots, not Chaldean.<br />
59. A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 34<br />
60. Hislop equates ‘Easter’ and ‘Ishtar’ based on the following logic: “Then look at Easter. What means the term Easter itself?<br />
It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the<br />
titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people Nineveh, was evidently identical with that<br />
now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar.” [Hislop, p.<br />
93, emphasis added] Concerning the origin of the term “Easter” “The modern English term Easter developed from the Old<br />
English word Ēastre or Ēostre which itself developed prior to 899. The name refers to Eostur-monath, a month of the<br />
Germanic calendar attested by Bede, who writes that the month is named after the goddess Ēostre of Anglo-Saxon<br />
paganism. Bede notes that Ēostur-monath was the equivalent to the month of April…Using comparative linguistic<br />
17<br />
evidence from continental Germanic sources, the 19th century scholar Jacob Grimm proposed the existence of a cognate<br />
form of Ēostre among the pre-Christian beliefs of the continental Germanic peoples, whose name he reconstructed as<br />
Ostara. Linguists have identified the goddess as a Germanic form of the…goddess of the dawn, Hausos” Note that the<br />
term “Easter” is traced to Germanic roots, not Chaldean (to which Hislop appeals). Easter is related to Ēostre or Hausos,<br />
the goddess of the dawn, not Astarte or Ishtar, the ‘queen of heaven,” as Hislop alleges.<br />
61. F. F. Bruce, “Babylon and Rome,” The Evangelical Quarterly 13 (October 15th, 1941): p. 244<br />
62. Stephen R. Haynes, Noah’s Curse: the biblical justification of American Slavery, (2002) chap. 3, p. 58 Haynes says,<br />
Hislop “identifies Nimrod’s father Cush with Bel the founder of Babylon and Nimrod himself with the Babylonian divine<br />
child Ninus. These associations are established on putative [speculative] linguistic affinities, as well as the penchant for<br />
conquest shared by Nimrod and Ninus.” [Stephen R. Haynes, Noah’s Curse chap. 3, p. 58]<br />
63. Ralph Woodrow reports having “made considerable effort to…check Hislop’s references; books such as Layard’s Nineveh<br />
and Its Remains, Kitto’s Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians, as well as old editions of<br />
Pausanias, Pliny, Tacitus, Herodotus and many more.” What were his findings? Woodrow says, “When I checked<br />
[Hislop’s] footnote references, in numerous cases I discovered they do not support his claims.” Ralph Woodrow, The Two<br />
Babylons: A Case Study in Poor Research Methodology, Christian Research Journal, Vol. 22, Issue 2, 2000, Book<br />
Reviews pp. 54-56. Woodrow is not a “hostile witness” viz-a-vi Hislop’s Two Babylons. He wrote an earlier book based on<br />
Hislop’s, entitled Babylon Mystery Religion (Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Assn., 1966). However, after investigating<br />
Hislop’s work more closely, Woodrow says, “I pulled my own book, Babylon Mystery Religion, out of print despite its<br />
popularity. This was not done because I was being threatened in any way or persecuted. This decision was made because<br />
of conviction, not compromise. While my original book did contain some valid information, I could not in good conscience<br />
continue to publish a book against pagan mixture knowing that it contained a mixture itself of misinformation about<br />
Babylonian origins.”<br />
64. F. F. Bruce, “Babylon and Rome,” The Evangelical Quarterly 13 (Oct. 15, 1941): p. 244<br />
65. F. F. Bruce, “Babylon and Rome,” The Evangelical Quarterly 13 (October 15, 1941): p. 244<br />
66. A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 27 The quote in context reads: "Ninus, the most ancient of the Assyrian kings mentioned<br />
in history, [who] performed great actions. Being naturally of a warlike disposition…he armed a considerable number of<br />
young men….”<br />
67. A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 27<br />
68. William Adler, “Eusebius' Chronicle and Its Legacy,” in Eusebíus, Christianity, and Judaism, eds. Harold W. Attridge,<br />
Gōhei Hata, p. 475 Dr. William Adler is Professor of Religious Studies at North Carolina State University.<br />
69. William Adler, “Eusebius' Chronicle and Its Legacy,” in Eusebíus, Christianity, and Judaism, Harold W. Attridge, Gōhei<br />
Hata, (eds.) p. 471<br />
70. James Ussher Annals of the World, #364<br />
71. William Adler, “Eusebius' Chronicle and Its Legacy,” in Eusebíus, Christianity, and Judaism, Harold W. Attridge, Gōhei<br />
Hata, p. 471<br />
72. William Adler & Paul Tuffin, The Chronology of George Synkellos, p. 8, Table p. 47<br />
73. A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 10. The latter date for Abraham is derived from Ussher’s chronology.<br />
74. In 1650 Bishop James Ussher produced his famous chronology of biblical and secular events. It begins with Adam’s<br />
creation (4004 BC) through Noah’s Flood (2348 BC), Abraham’s call (1921 BC), and Moses’ Exodus (1492 BC), until<br />
Christ’s incarnation (4 BC). Exactly 4,000 years separate Adam’s creation from Christ’s birth. LSM adopts Ussher’s<br />
chronology.74 When Hislop wrote his Two Babylons, Ussher’s timeline was the “gold standard” for biblical chronology. S.<br />
W. Holloway says,75 “Prior to 1847, scholars interested in establishing a history of Assyria were entirely dependent on the<br />
Old Testament and classical authors. Pre-19th century accounts of Assyria and Babylonia, routinely relying on Archbishop<br />
Ussher’s chronology, ‘found’ Assyria around 2783 Anno Mundi [i.e. 1221 BC] by Ninus and Semiramis.” Ussher says<br />
Assyria was founded 2783 years after Adam’s creation, i.e. in 1221 BC, placing Ninus and Semiramis during 13th century<br />
BC, the period of the Old Testament judges, long after Nimrod. He dates the monarchs like Ninus and Semiramis, as<br />
follows:<br />
· 1322 BC Belus the Assyrian reigned over the Assyrians in Babylon, for 55 years (1322-1267 BC).<br />
· 1267 BC Ninus, the son of Belus, founded the Assyrian Empire. He reigned 52 years to 1215 BC.<br />
· 1215 BC Semiramis, wife of Ninus, reigned for 42 years over all Asia except India and lived 62 years.<br />
· 1173 BC Semiramis' son, Ninus or Ninyus killed her. Ninyus (Ninus) reigned from 1173 BC.<br />
75. Hislop accepted Ussher’s chronology for bible characters, like Noah, Nimrod and Abraham, but he rejected Ussher’s dates<br />
for Assyrian monarchs like Ninus and Semiramis. Ussher and Hislop both assign the same durations to their monarchies.<br />
The crucial difference is the era. Ussher dates their monarchies 800 years later than Hislop. As we have seen Hislop<br />
claimed Ninus and Semiramis were contemporaries of Abraham. In contrast, Ussher assigns their reigns to the period of<br />
Israel’s judges. Ussher noted this disqualifies them as founders of Babylon; he asserts categorically,76 “Babylon was built<br />
1002 years before Semiramis was born.” [James Ussher, Annals of the World, point #364. Ussher supports his assigned<br />
date for Semiramis, saying “Eusebius spoke of Sancuniathon…Eusebius states further, that this Sancuniathon, lived in the<br />
days of Semiranis, Queen of the Assyrians who is said to have been before the Trojan wars at that time. This agrees with<br />
my account allowing her to have lived after the war of Troy by eleven years.” Ussher states that in “1184 BC Troy was<br />
destroyed by the Greeks 408 years before the first Olympiad [dated in 776 BC].”[If Ussher separates Semiramis from the<br />
18<br />
founding of Babylon by 1,000 years, the Jewish philosopher, Philo (20 BC – 50 AD) is more extreme. He “separates Belus<br />
and the founding of Babylon from Semiramis by two thousand years.” [B. Garstad, “Belus in the ’Sacred History’ of<br />
Euhemerus,” Classical Philology, 2004]<br />
76. Clearly if Semiramis lived in the era of Israel’s judges, or later, she could not be Nimrod’s wife; neither could her husband,<br />
Ninus be the biblical Nimrod. Ussher is not alone in dating Semiramis much later than Abraham. Hislop’s nearcontemporaries,<br />
historians, J. Gilmore and W. R. Smith,78 writing in 1887, assign the date 800 BC to the Mesopotamian<br />
queen behind the Semiramis legend. Modern scholars concur; Dr. S. Dalley argues that79 “a background of genuine<br />
historical events lies behind legends of the Assyrian queen Semiramis.” She says, “Semiramis was the name used for any<br />
powerful queen who represented the archetype,” the ideal female monarch of Mesopotamia. Dr. Dalley says the Greek<br />
historian “Herodotus [c. 484-425 BC] recognized two great queens of Assyria [corresponding to Semiramis] ‘the<br />
earlier…was… long recognized as Sammu-ramat, the wife of Shamshi-Adad V.” This queen, the first ‘Semiramis,’ was born<br />
c. 850 BC and died c. 790 BC or 785 BC. The second ‘Semiramis’ lived five generations later.80 The leading candidate for<br />
Semiramis, is dated around 800 BC. This places her in the era of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Modern<br />
scholars reject Hislop’s claim that Semiramis was Nimrod’s wife. They place her 1500 years after Nimrod. Hislop’s main<br />
thesis—that Nimrod’s spouse was the first Madonna—is predicated on Nimrod’s wife being the legendary Semiramis. The<br />
Two Babylons’ main thesis falls like a house of cards, once this crucial plank is negated. A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, p.<br />
10 The quote reads, ““the reign of Ninus must have terminated, according to the usual chronology, about BC 1987.” The<br />
“usual chronology” should refer to Ussher’s dating which Hislop employs for biblical figures. For more on this see my,<br />
“DATING ADAM—A CRITIQUE OF LSM’s CHRONOLOGY: LSM adopts Ussher’s Outdated Chronology dating<br />
Mankind’s Origin at 4004 BC” on www.concernedbrothers.com” & “www,LocalChurchDiscussions.com”<br />
77. Steven W. Holloway, “The Quest for Sargon, Pul, and Tiglath-Pileser in the Nineteenth Century,” in Mesopotamia and the<br />
Bible by Mark W. Chavalas, p. 68. S. W. Holloway is affiliated with the American Theological Library Association.<br />
78. J. Gilmore, The Origin of the Semiramis Legend, English Historical Review, 1887; W. R. Smith, Ctesias and the<br />
Semiramis Legend, English Historical Review, 1887<br />
79. Stephanie Dalley, “Samiramis in History & in Legend” by Stephanie Dalley, in a book: Cultural borrowings and ethnic<br />
appropriations in antiquity By Erich S. Gruen, p. 11. Dr. Stephanie Dalley was Senior Research Fellow in Assyriology,<br />
University of Oxford, UK.<br />
80. “The later queen [was] Sennacherib’s second wife Naq’ia, who lived some five generations later.” Stephanie Dalley,<br />
“Samiramis in History & in Legend” by Stephanie Dalley, in a book: Cultural borrowings and ethnic appropriations in<br />
antiquity By Erich S. Gruen. Stephanie Dalley is Senior Research Fellow in Assyriology, University of Oxford, UK.<br />
81. A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 26<br />
82. Lester L. Grabbe, (ed.) ’Like a bird in a cage’: the Invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE, p. 120<br />
83. Lester L. Grabbe, (ed.) ’Like a bird in a cage’: the Invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE, p. 122. Ctesias’ unreliability is<br />
illustrated by the fact that he located the city of Nineveh on the Euphrates River, when in fact it is situated on the Tigris<br />
river.<br />
84. Reinhold Bichler, “Some Observations on the Image of the Assyrian and Babylonian Kingdoms within the Greek<br />
Tradition,” Melammu Symposia V. Commerce and Monetary Systems in the Ancient World: Means of Transmission and<br />
Cultural Interaction, R. Rollinger/Ch. Ulf (Hg.), Stuttgart, 2004, p. 9 Dr. Reinhold Bichler is affiliated with the University<br />
of Innsbruck.<br />
85. Jan P. Stronk, “Ctesias of Cnidus, a Reappraisal” Mnemosyne, Volume 60, Number 1, 2007, p. 25 Prof. Jan P. Stronk is<br />
affiliated with the University of Amsterdam.<br />
86. Andrew Nichols, The Complete Fragments of Ctesias of Cnidus: Translation and Commentary with an Introduction, Univ.<br />
of Florida PhD dissertation 2008, p. 152<br />
87. Judith M. Richards, "‘To Promote a Woman to Beare Rule’: Talking of Queens in Mid-Tudor England,” The Sixteenth<br />
Century Journal, 1997 Judith M. Richards is affiliated with La Trobe University, Australia.<br />
88. J. M. Bigwood, “Ctesias' Account of the Revolt of Inarus” The Phoenix, 1976, p.1 Dr. J. M. Bigwood has a Ph.D. from<br />
Harvard University<br />
89. J. R. Morgan, “Fiction and History: Historiography and the Novel” in A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography,<br />
edited by John Marincola, p. 560. The Lucian referred to is Lucian of Samosata (circa. AD 125 – after AD 180), who wrote<br />
in ancient Greek. Prof. J. R. Morgan is affiliated with the University of Wales, UK.<br />
90. Robert Rollinger of Universität Innsbruck, in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2007.02.46<br />
91. Deborah Levine Gera, Warrior women: the anonymous Tractatus de mulieribus (1997) p. 74. Dr. Deborah L. Gera is<br />
Professor& Chairperson, specializing in Greek Literature, Ancient Greek Thought and Attitudes in the Classics<br />
Department at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem<br />
92. Lester L. Grabbe, (ed.) ’Like a bird in a cage’: the invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE, p. 122<br />
93. Russell E. Gmirkin, Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic histories and the date… Note 182, p. 115<br />
94. A source contemporary with A. Hislop, The student's manual of oriental history, by Charles François Lenormant & E.<br />
Chevallier (1869) refers to Ctesias twelve times in the course of 7 pages recounting the legend of Ninus & Semiramis (pp.<br />
364-70). The sources summarized by Eusebius in his Chronicles are secondary sources based mainly upon Ctesias<br />
[sometimes rendered as “Ktesias”]. For example Professor Grabbe states that “Diodorus’ source is generally thought to be<br />
Ctesias of Cnidus.” (Lester L. Grabbe, (ed.) ’Like a bird in a cage’: the invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE, pp. 121-22)<br />
19<br />
95. The quote is from Josephus, the Jewish historian in his, Ag. Apion 1.20 $142-4 quoted by Grabbe, ’Like a bird in a cage’:<br />
the invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE, p. 121<br />
96. Russell E. Gmirkin, Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic histories and the date of the Pentateuch, p.<br />
114, Footnote 180 [Note: The name Ctesias is sometimes rendered as “Ktesias of Knidus.” In this article all occurrences are<br />
rationalized as “Ctesias of Cnidus.”]<br />
97. “Greek historians needed a founder for the city [Nineveh] they called Ninus and therefore they created a king after whom<br />
the city allegedly had been named. The story of Ninus is mainly a Greek invention based on the idea that a city needs a<br />
[founding hero].” [Menko Vlaardingerbroek, “The Founding of Nineveh and Babylon in Greek Historiography”, in Collon,<br />
D., George, A., Hg., Nineveh: Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, London 7—11 July 2003,<br />
London, 2005, p. 234. Note that Hislop’s “Ninus” is sometimes rendered “Ninos” by other scholars. For simplicity and<br />
consistency we render both as “Ninus.”] Dr. M. Vlaardingerbroek is affiliated with the Department of Archaeology,<br />
Classics and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, University of Amsterdam.<br />
98. Deborah Levine Gera, Warrior women: the anonymous Tractatus de mulieribus (1997) p. 73 Professor Lester L. Grabbe<br />
concurs, saying, “Ninus is…the name of the capital of Assyria, and it has often been assumed that Ninus is only an<br />
eponymous founder of that city…his deeds look stereotyped.”[Lester L. Grabbe, (ed.) ’Like a bird in a cage’: the invasion<br />
of Sennacherib in 701 BCE, p. 124]<br />
99. Charles François Lenormant, E. Chevallier, The student's manual of oriental history. A manual of the ancient history of<br />
the East to the commencement of the Median Wars (1869) p. 367<br />
100. Dr. R. Bichler, writes, “Berossus certainly knew about…Ninus from his Greek sources and he was probably aware<br />
of the dubious character of this person who appeared as an eponymous hero corresponding to Greek ideas of mythological<br />
city-founders…In Berossus’ dates for the Mesopotamian kings there was evidently no room for king Ninus.” [Reinhold<br />
Bichler, “Some Observations on the Image of the Assyrian and Babylonian Kingdoms within the Greek Tradition,”<br />
Melammu Symposia V. Commerce and Monetary Systems in the Ancient World: Means of Transmission and Cultural<br />
Interaction, R. Rollinger/Ch. Ulf (Hg.), Stuttgart, 2004, pp. 13-14]<br />
101.Richard Fowler, “Most Fortunate Roots…” in Imaginary Kings: royal images in the ancient Near East, Greece and Rome,<br />
edited by Olivier Hekster, Richard Fowler, et. al.<br />
102. Judith M Richards, "‘To Promote a Woman to Beare Rule’: Talking of Queens in Mid-Tudor England” - The<br />
Sixteenth Century Journal, 1997<br />
103. G. Edward Foryan, Semiramis: Legendary Mysterious Great Queen of Assyria: A commentary<br />
104. Charles François Lenormant, E. Chevallier, The student's manual of oriental history. A manual of the ancient<br />
history of the East to the commencement of the Median Wars (1869) p. 364<br />
105. It further explains, “Just as the whole military exploits of the Assyrians have been grouped round the name<br />
Ninus…So all the useful and gigantic works executed by various Asiatic sovereigns have contributed to the glory of…<br />
Semiramis. To her have been attributed all the buildings of Babylon, from the Tower of Babel…to those in the age of<br />
Nebuchadnezzar and his successors…” [Charles François Lenormant, E. Chevallier, The student's manual of oriental<br />
history. A manual of the ancient history of the East to the commencement of the Median Wars (1869) pp. 367-8]<br />
106. “The name of Semiramis has been borrowed from a really historical queen who lived five centuries after the period<br />
when the legend places the fabulous Semiramis…In point of fact, with all modern scholars, we must recognize in the<br />
famous Semiramis, one of the mythical personages…of the Euphrates Valley.” [Charles François Lenormant, E. Chevallier,<br />
The student's manual of oriental history. A manual of the ancient history of the East to the commencement of the Median<br />
Wars (1869) p. 368]<br />
107. Stephanie Dalley, “Samiramis in History & in Legend” by Stephanie Dalley, in Cultural borrowings and ethnic<br />
appropriations in antiquity By Erich S. Gruen. Prof. Stephanie Dalley is Senior Research Fellow in Assyriology at<br />
University of Oxford, UK. Dr. Hildegard Lewy refers to the same two monarchs when she says, “In contrast to other<br />
pertinent Greek writers, in particular Ctesias and Diodorus Siculus, Herodotus relates (i. 184) that twice in its long history<br />
Babylonia was ruled by a woman. The elder of the two queens was Semiramis [i.e., Sammuramat], while the younger is<br />
referred to as Nitocris/Nitokris. [Hildegard Lewy, “Nitokris-Naqî’a,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1952]<br />
108. Lester L. Grabbe, (ed.) ’Like a bird in a cage’: the invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE, p. 124<br />
109. “There is no evidence that queens in Assyria ever ruled on their own or served as regents for their children and<br />
Sammuramat does not appear in Assyrian king lists. In other words, the historical Assyrian queen Sammuramat was an<br />
influential figure, but she certainly was less independent and powerful than Semiramis of [Ctesias].” Deborah Levine Gera,<br />
Warrior women: the anonymous Tractatus de mulieribus (1997) p. 69<br />
110.Menko Vlaardingerbroek, “The Founding of Nineveh and Babylon in Greek Historiography”, in Collon, D., George, A., Hg.,<br />
Nineveh: Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, London 7—11 July 2003, London, 2005, p. 235<br />
111. Lester L. Grabbe, (ed.) ’Like a bird in a cage’: the invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE, p. 124 The quote, in context, reads,<br />
“The situation is different with Ninus…because no clear historical figure lies behind him. Shamshi-adad V, the husband of<br />
Sammuramat, was not a particularly distinguished ruler, with only a short rule, and little that one can see of his person in<br />
Ninus. Ninus is…the name of the capital of Assyria, and it has often been assumed that Ninus is only an eponymous<br />
founder of that city…his deeds look stereotyped.” (p. 124) Nevertheless, it has been argued that an actual figure lies behind<br />
Ninus…none other than Sennacherib.” [ref. Hildegard-Lewy, Lester L. Grabbe, (ed.) ’Like a bird in a cage’: the invasion of<br />
Sennacherib in 701 BCE, p. 125] But notice that Hildegard Lewy’s claim that Sennacherib corresponds to Ninus is an<br />
20<br />
argument from association—since queen Naqî’a/Nitokris-is Semiramis, then her husband (Sennacherib) ought to be<br />
Ninus. Moreover chronology makes this irrelevant for Hislop’s thesis, since Sennacherib & Naqî’a/Nitokris are dated<br />
around 700 BC they cannot be the fulfillment of Nimrod & his wife. (See the following paragraphs in the main text.)<br />
112.One can arrive at five generations of Assyrian monarchs by counting as follows: (1) Shamsi-Adad V married to<br />
Shammurammat [Semiramis] (2) Adad-Nirari III (3) Shalmaneser IV/Assur-dan III/Ashur-nirari V/Tiglath-pileser III (4)<br />
Shalmaneser V/Sargon II (5) Sennacherib married to Naqi'a [Nitocris]. Ussher dates the reign of Sennacherib from 717 BC<br />
to 710 BC; modern scholars assign a later date—705 to 681 BC.<br />
113. “Sir H. Rawlinson having found evidence at Nineveh, of the existence of a Semiramis about six or seven centuries before<br />
the Christian era, seems inclined to regard her as the only Semiramis that ever existed. But this is subversive of all history.<br />
The fact that there was a Semiramis in the primeval ages of the world is beyond all doubt…” [Alexander Hislop, The Two<br />
Babylons, p. 26]<br />
114.Lester L. Grabbe, Can a 'history of Israel' be written? p. 28<br />
115.LSM follows Hislop in asserting that the “Queen of Heaven” worshipped by apostate Israel (Jer. 7:17-18; 44:15-20) was<br />
Semiramis, Nimrod’s wife. LSM’s Recovery Version of the Bible, Jeremiah 7:18 RcV. footnote 1 says “Nimrod’s wife<br />
Semiramis, later known as Artemis of Ephesus (Acts 19:27). Israel’s making cakes to the wife of Nimrod was a matter of<br />
both spiritual fornication and idolatry.” This assertion—that Nimrod’s wife Semiramis, [was] later known as Artemis of<br />
Ephesus (Acts 19:27)--is made by Alexander Hislop in his book The Two Babylons pp. 32, 69. Hislop identifies Semiramis,<br />
the “Queen of Heaven” with a number of goddesses revered by various nations. This can be seen from the following<br />
quotes: “Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people Nineveh, was<br />
evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian<br />
monuments, is Ishtar.” [Hislop, p. 93] “That Semiramis, under the name of Astarte, was worshipped not only as an<br />
incarnation of the Spirit of God, but as the mother of mankind, we have very clear and satisfactory evidence.” [p. 98] “the<br />
Greek Diana, who at Ephesus bore a turreted crown on her head, and was identified with Semiramis,” [p. 99]<br />
“Semiramis, then, as Astarte, worshipped as the dove, was regarded as the incarnation of the Spirit of God. As Baal, Lord<br />
of Heaven, had his visible emblem, the sun, so she, as Beltis, Queen of Heaven, must have hers also--the moon, which in<br />
another sense was Asht-tart-e,” [p. 100] “Isis, [is] the Egyptian title for the queen of heaven.”[Hislop, p. 87] “The<br />
moon…was also the symbol of the goddess Isis, the queen of heaven.” [Hislop, p. 92] Hence, Hislop identifies the “Queen<br />
of Heaven” as Semiramis, Astarte, Ishtar, Isis, Diana, Ishtar, plus others! Modern scholars reject this notion as folklore.<br />
Who was this goddess addressed as the “Queen of Heaven”? Dr. J. H. Stuckey responds,116“Who was this “Queen of<br />
Heaven”? Perhaps she was Anat, Astarte, Asherah, or a new goddess who incorporated two or all three of them.”<br />
Reviewing the evidence, C. Houtman says,117 “As for the identity of the Queen of Heaven [in Jeremiah], it is difficult to<br />
make a choice between Anat…Asherah and… Astarte.” “Semiramis” doesn’t even make the list of candidates. John Day<br />
rejects Asherah, concluding118 “the best case can be made for the Queen of Heaven being Astarte,” a local Canaanite deity.<br />
Others suggest the Jewish refugees in Egypt whom Jeremiah addressed (Jer. 44) worshipped the goddess Anat.119 Scholars<br />
have studied documents from Jeremiah’s era written by Jews at Elephantine, Upper Egypt. Van der Toorn reports120 “the<br />
evidence is unequivocal: the Jews of Elephantine worshipped Anat as the consort of Yahu (Yahweh),” i.e., Jehovah’s<br />
supposed spouse.121 The “queen of heaven” in Jeremiah was not Semiramis<br />
116.Johanna H. Stuckey, The Great Goddesses of the Levant, JSSEA, vol. 30 (2003) p. 140. Johanna H. Stuckey is Professor<br />
Emerita at York University, Toronto, Canada<br />
117. Cornelius Houtman, “Anat” in the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible DDD (2nd extensively rev. ed.) Κ. van der<br />
Toorn, B. Becking, & P. W. van der Horst, (1999), Leiden; Boston; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brill; Eerdmans, pp. 678-9.<br />
Cornelius Houtman is affiliated with the University of Kampen. Along the same line, Othmar Keel & Christoph Uehlinger<br />
say, “Identifying the ‘Queen of Heaven’ is especially problematic, since on the one hand, the epithet is very general…On<br />
the other hand, not a single inscription from 7th- or 6th-century [BC] Judah has been found on which the goddess is<br />
mentioned by name.” [Othmar Keel, Christoph Uehlinger, Gods, goddesses, and images of God in ancient Israel, p. 338]<br />
118.John Day rejects the identification of Asherah as 'Queen of Heaven'; he says, "there is nothing in first-millennium BC texts<br />
that singles out Asherah as 'Queen of Heaven' or associates her particularly with the heavens at all." [John Day, Yahweh<br />
and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan, p. 146] In his view “the best case can be made for the Queen of Heaven being<br />
Astarte,” Reviewing John Day’s monograph, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan, David Elton Gay University<br />
remarks on the identity of Jeremiah’s Queen of Heaven. “John Day favors the Canaanite goddess Astarte because ‘she has<br />
the advantage of being a native Canaanite deity, such as the deep-seated, folk nature of the cult depicted in Jeremiah<br />
[chap.] 44 suggests’ (Day, p. 150).” David Elton Gay, Review of Bible Literature, 02/2003 David Elton Gay of the School<br />
of Continuing Studies, Indiana University<br />
119.Referring to “Anat, the Queen of Heaven,” the Jewish scholar, Herbert Cohn says, “her name occurs in documents found<br />
at Elephantine, an island called ‘the Southern Gate,’ situated north of the first [river] Nile rapids, opposite Aswan. In the<br />
fifth century BCE, Jewish mercenaries were stationed at Elephantine. They brought with them the venerable religion of<br />
their ancestors, paid dues to the Temple in Jerusalem, and built in Elephantine a spacious temple that had seven porches<br />
and a roof of cedar wood. Documents dated to around 400 BCE, unearthed in excavations at Elephantine, reveal that three<br />
deities were worshipped in the temple there: Yahoo, ‘the Master of Heaven,’ and the goddesses Ashima and Anat Bet-El,<br />
"the Queens of Heaven." [Herbert Cohn, Is the ‘Queen of Heaven’ in Jeremiah the Goddess Anat? In the Jewish Bible<br />
Quarterly. Note: Herbert Cohn, Ph.D., is the translator into Hebrew of the classical book Die Lehren des Judentums nach<br />
den Quellen (The Teachings of Judaism according to the Sources)]<br />
21<br />
120. Karel van der Toorn, Goddesses in the Early Israelite Religion, p. 85<br />
121.Based upon historical data, van der Toorn concludes that the goddess “Anat-Yahu is none other than the Queen of Heaven<br />
whose cult was denounced by Jeremiah (Jer. 7:17-18). The cult of this goddess…flourished in the Jewish diaspora in Upper<br />
Egypt.” K. van der Toorn, Recent Trends in the Study of Israelite Religion, in Modern Societies & the Science of Religions:<br />
studies in honour of Lammert ... Edited by Lammert Leertouwer, Gerard Albert Wiegers, Jan Platvoet, p. 231]<br />
122. Κ. van der Toorn and P. W. van der Horst, "Nimrod before and after the Bible" The Harvard Theological Review,<br />
Vol. 83, No. 1. (Jan., 1990), p. 7. The quote in full, reads: “Since Nimrod is a Mesopotamian figure whose fame exceeded<br />
the bounds of his homeland, one expects to find him mentioned in the cuneiform records. Ever since the archaeological<br />
discoveries of the last century and the decipherment of the cuneiform script, scholars have attempted to spot the<br />
Mesopotamian prototype of the biblical Nimrod. The identifications they advance depend in part on their appreciation of<br />
the biblical data. Does Genesis 10 describe Nimrod as a god, a demigod, or as a sundry mortal?”<br />
123. E. A. Speiser, “In Search of Nimrod,” (1958) reprinted in I studied inscriptions from before the flood: ancient<br />
Near Eastern ..., Volume 4, edited by Richard S. Hess, David Toshio Tsumura, p. 270, Ephraim Avigdor Speiser (Jan. 24,<br />
1902 – June 15, 1965) was a Polish-born American Assyriologist. He was Chairman of the Department of Oriental Studies<br />
at the University of Pennsylvania 1947 to 1965. He was also appointed Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages<br />
and Literatures at the University of Pennsylvania in 1954. The list of scholars cited by Speiser (augmented by later<br />
suggestions) and their suggestions for identifying Nimrod is: [A] under gods: (identified as “Nimrod”) [1] Marduk<br />
(biblical Merodach or Bel, Belus). The (8th century) Armenian Christian scholar Moses of Khorene, Josef Grivel (1871), J.<br />
Wellhausen (1878), T. G. Pinches (1909), [2] Ninurta (main deity of the capital city Kalah). P. Jensen & A Ungnad), van<br />
der Toorn, & P. W. van der Horst [B] demigods (identified as “Nimrod”) [1] Gilgamesh G. Smith, P. Haupt, [2]<br />
Lugalbanda [A. Deimel, E. G. Kaeling]), [C] Mortal Men: (identified as “Nimrod”) [1] Sargon the Great of Akkad; Sargon<br />
reigned from 2270 to 2215 BC (short chronology) [Yigal Levin, "Nimrod the Mighty, King of Kish, King of Sumer and<br />
Akkad." Vetus Testementum 52 (2002), Joseph Poplicha, "The Biblical Nimrod and the Kingdom of Eanna", Journal of the<br />
American Oriental Society, Vol. 49, (1929), pp. 303-317]. [2] Nazimaruttaš (a Kassite king of ca. 1300 BC), [3] Tukulti-<br />
Ninurta I (Assyrian king reigned ca. 1246 BC to 1206 BC) [E. A. Speiser(1958)] [4] Amenophis III/ Nimmuria [Kurt Sethe,<br />
G. von Rad], [5] Ben-Hadad/Bir-adda [T. K. Cheyne]) E. A. Speiser proposes the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I<br />
124. John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Genesis to Deuteronomy, p. 32<br />
125.C. Uehlinger, NIMROD נמרוד from the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible DDD (2nd extensively rev. ed.) Κ. van<br />
der Toorn, B. Becking, & P. W. van der Horst, (1999). Leiden; Boston; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brill; Eerdmans. pp. 627-630.<br />
Christoph Uehlinger is affiliated with the University of Fribourg<br />
126. Moreover, “the historical range of the dominion ascribed to Nimrod does not fit this ruler.” [Κ. van der Toorn and<br />
P. W. van der Horst, "Nimrod before and after the Bible" The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 83, No. 1. (Jan., 1990), p.<br />
7]<br />
127.Dr. Yigal Levin suggests “the Nimrod of Genesis was a compound literary recollection of the deeds of the great Sargon of<br />
Akkad and of his grandson Naram-Sin.” He writes, “In an article that I published some years ago (Yigal Levin "Nimrod the<br />
Mighty, King of Kish, King of Sumer and Akkad", Vetus Testementum 52 (2002), 350-366), I suggested that the Nimrod<br />
of Genesis was a compound literary recollection of the deeds of the great Sargon of Akkad and of his grandson Naram-Sin,<br />
with the name ‘Nimrod’ being a shortened form of the latter.” [Dr. Yigal Levin, PhD., Bar-Ilan University, Israel, Email:<br />
Mon., March 24, 2008 11:43 PM] This monarch belongs to the right era; Sargon the Great of Akkad reigned from 2310 to<br />
2278 BC [Joan Goodnick Westenholz, Legends of the kings of Akkade: the texts, dates the dynasty of Akkad from ca.<br />
2310 BC to 2160 BC. She writes, “The feats and deeds of the entire dynasty were telescoped and assigned to the two most<br />
prominent of its five members—Sargon the founder of the empire (ca. 2310 BC to 2278 BC) and his grandson and third<br />
successor, Naram-Sin (ca. 2246 BC to 2190 BC)” (Joan Goodnick Westenholz, Legends of the kings of Akkade: the texts, p.<br />
1)] [Yigal Levin, "Nimrod the Mighty, King of Kish, King of Sumer and Akkad." Vetus Testementum 52 (2002), Joseph<br />
Poplicha, "The Biblical Nimrod and the Kingdom of Eanna", Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 49, (1929), pp.<br />
303-317]. Ussher dates Peleg’s birth in 2247 BC, around the time Babel’s Tower was built in the land of Nimrod. In view<br />
of this] The Bible Background Commentary says, “The extension of [Nimrod’s] kingdom from southern Mesopotamia to<br />
northern Mesopotamia corresponds to the growth of the first known empire in history, the dynasty of Agade [Akkad] ruled<br />
by Sargon and Naram-Sin (about 2300 BC) among the greatest of the heroic kings of old.” [John H. Walton, Victor H.<br />
Matthews, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Genesis to Deuteronomy, p. 32.] Data from monuments and<br />
inscriptions indicate that Sargon and Naram-Sin undertook military campaigns to expand the Akkad empire hence both<br />
appear to represent real historical figures. [Allan Millard, “History and Legend in Early Babylonia” in Windows into Old<br />
Testament history: evidence, argument, and the crisis of...edited by V. Philips Long, Gordon J. Wenham, David Weston<br />
Baker, et. al. pp. 103-110). However they also appear in epic poems in which supernatural creatures and events are<br />
described. Once again unwary readers are tempted to leave the solid foundation of God’s Word and to venture out upon<br />
the sinking sands of human myths and fables.<br />
128. C. Uehlinger, NIMROD נמרוד from the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible DDD (2nd extensively rev.<br />
ed.) Κ. van der Toorn, B. Becking, & P. W. van der Horst, (1999). Leiden; Boston; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brill; Eerdmans.<br />
pp. 627-630.<br />
129. Dr. Yigal Levin, PhD., Bar-Ilan University, Israel, Email: Tue., Mar. 25 17:35:45 EDT 2008 Dr. Levin continues by<br />
saying “The fact that Josephus, the various rabbinic sources and the much later Arabic traditions record stories about him<br />
[Nimrod] is neither here nor there, since as far as anyone can prove, they all go back, directly or indirectly, to the same few<br />
22<br />
verses in Genesis.” That is, Josephus’ and rabbinical references to Nimrod are merely elaborations, myths based upon the<br />
biblical text.<br />
130. Samuel Abramsky, (1980) "Nimrod and the Land of Nimrod,” Beth Mikra 25 (82) pp. 237–255. Israel.<br />
131.LSM’s Truth Lessons assert that “History tells us that at Babel, Nimrod brought in many idolatrous things. In that<br />
idolatrous worship he [Nimrod] invented a most evil emblem, the Madonna with her child.” [W. Lee, Truth Lessons, Level<br />
2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 53.] LSM’s Truth Lessons are edited versions of W. Lee’s teaching. W. Lee’s Life-study, states:<br />
“Nimrod was the first king of Babel who, according to history, brought in many idolatrous things (10:10). That idolatrous<br />
worship invented a most demonic emblem, the Madonna with her child.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Genesis, message 34,<br />
section 6, pp. 464-5] LSM’s Recovery Version of the Bible says, “According to history, Nimrod brought in many idolatrous<br />
things…” [Gen. 10:8 (note 1) RcV. p. 35] Neither does historical or archaeological research support LSM’s notion that<br />
“according to historical records and archeological evidence, the city and tower of Babel were full of the names of<br />
idols.”[Gen. 11:4 (note 2) RcV. p. 37] Very little remains of the earliest settlements at Babel/Babylon for a number of<br />
reasons. Archaeologist Andre Parrot explains “It is, then, at Babylon that we must expect to find the Tower of Babel. The<br />
site of the tower was indeed there,…but the discovery was disappointing in the extreme…Xerxes had at one time set about<br />
demolishing it (475 BC). Alexander the Great…had ordered the site cleared of debris. The Arabs had found it an<br />
exceptionally useful source of building material… The place was nothing more than a quarry.” [Andre Parrot, The Tower<br />
of Babel, Studies in Biblical Archaeology #2, 1955, pp. 45-6] Perhaps W. Lee was misled by reports like the following:<br />
Karsten “Niebuhr (1733-1815) also equated Bâbil [Babel] with Babylon about 1765…In 1761, Niebuhr had been sent out by<br />
the King of Denmark, Frederick V, on a scientific mission to gather as much information as possible on various subjects,<br />
including archaeology (Niebuhr was a mathematician by profession). When Niebuhr found numerous inscribed bricks<br />
lying around the great mounds at Hillah on the Euphrates, he deduced that the site was probably Babylon itself. Klengel-<br />
Brandt notes, however, that Niebuhr mistakenly believed the ruins in Borsippa were those of the Babylonian tower<br />
(Evelyn Klengel-Brandt, "Babylon," OEANE vol. 1, p. 251).” [J. Paul Tanner, Ancient Babylon: From Gradual Demise To<br />
Archaeological Rediscovery, p. 6] The close proximity of Babel/Babylon to the River Euphrates poses serious problems<br />
for archaeology. Dr. J. Paul Tanner, says, “Because of the near proximity to the river [Euphrates], excavators encountered<br />
serious limitations to their diggings. Campdor notes that at forty feet down lay ruins dating to the time of Hammurabi and<br />
the First Dynasty of Babylon. Because of the rise in the water level, however, it was impossible to investigate below these.”<br />
[J. Paul Tanner, Ancient Babylon: From Gradual Demise To Archaeological Rediscovery p. 11] John H. Walton concurs,<br />
saying, “It is difficult to bring archaeological or historical information to bear on the question of whether the city Babylon<br />
was actually the site of [the Tower of Babel]…Excavation at Babylon cannot inform us of its history prior to the second<br />
millennium, because the shifting water table of the Euphrates has obliterated the strata. (H. W. F. Saggs, "Babylon,"<br />
Archaeology and Old Testament Study (ed. D. Winton Thomas; Oxford: Clarendon, 1967, pp. 41-42).” [John H. Walton,<br />
“The Mesopotamian Background of the Tower of Babel Account and Its Implications,” Bulletin for Biblical Research, vol.<br />
5 (1995) pp. 173-4]<br />
132. Both W. Lee’s Life-study [Life-study of Jeremiah, Message , section 3, p. 69] and LSM’s Recovery Version identify<br />
Nimrod’s wife as Semiramis. LSM’s Recovery Version of the Bible, Jeremiah 7:18 RcV. (note 1) says “Nimrod’s wife<br />
Semiramis, later known as Artemis of Ephesus (Acts 19:27). Israel’s making cakes to the wife of Nimrod was a matter of<br />
both spiritual fornication and idolatry.”<br />
133. LSM’s Truth Lessons follow Hislop in asserting that the first “Madonna was the mother of Nimrod and was also<br />
his wife.” [W. Lee, Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 53.] W. Lee also does this, saying, “According to the book,<br />
The Two Babylons, the Madonna was the mother of Nimrod and also his wife.” [W. Lee, Life-study of Genesis, message<br />
34, section 6, pp. 464-5]<br />
134. M. F. G. Parmentier, “Mary,” in Dictionary of Deities & Demons in the Bible, (2nd extensively rev. ed.) Κ. van der<br />
Toorn, B. Becking, & P. W. van der Horst, (1999). Leiden; Boston; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brill; Eerdmans. p. 552 emphasis<br />
added. M. F. G. Parmentier is affiliated with the University of Utrecht.<br />
135.Dana Kramer-Rolls, The Emergence of the Goddess Mary: from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Pomegranate: The<br />
International Journal of Pagan Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (2004), emphasis added<br />
136. Source: The Cult of the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan<br />
Museum of Art<br />
137.Dana Kramer-Rolls traces the evolution of a myth about Venus into an English fable starring the Virgin Mary. She traces<br />
“the evolution of…[the Virgin] ‘Mary and the Bridegroom’ from its origins as a legend concerning Venus to its Medieval<br />
form,” into a late 14th-century fable about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Thus a myth concerning the Roman god,<br />
Venus evolved into an English fable starring the Virgin Mary. [Dana Kramer-Rolls, The Emergence of the Goddess Mary:<br />
from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (2004)]<br />
Note, however, that this case-study relates to the late-Middle ages up to the 1300s, when the Roman Catholic Church was<br />
well-established. It also tells us more about English literature—especially the late 14th-century fable, Sir Gawain and the<br />
Green Knight—than about the Roman Catholic Church.<br />
23<br />
138. Pan-Babylonianism is implied by the statement in LSM’s Truth Lessons (paraphrasing W. Lee’s Life-study) which<br />
says Nimrod “invented a most evil emblem, the Madonna with her child. According to the Book, The Two Babylons, the<br />
Madonna was the mother of Nimrod and was also his wife. This emblem, invented by the Babylonian worship, spread<br />
throughout the earth—to Egypt, India, Greece, pagan Rome, Tibet, China, and Japan. It even has pervaded Roman<br />
Catholicism.” [W. Lee, Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 53.] The fact that Hislop’s Two Babylons taught pan-<br />
Babylonianism is well-illustrated by the following quote from the book, For His Name by Esther Lee Ackley, which says,<br />
“Please read The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop. This book is said to be the definitive work on pagan religions. All<br />
religions of the world, every single one of them, can be traced back to Nimrod and the tower of Babel. Only the truth can<br />
be traced back to Yahweh.” [Esther Lee Ackley, For His Name p. 133, emphasis added]<br />
139. Watchman Nee, The Orthodoxy of the Church, p. 46<br />
140. W. Lee, Life-study of Genesis, message 34, section 6, pp. 464-5<br />
141. M. F. G. Parmentier “Mary,” in Dictionary of Deities & Demons in the Bible, (2nd extensively rev. ed.) Κ. van der<br />
Toorn, B. Becking, & P. W. van der Horst, (1999). Leiden; Boston; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brill; Eerdmans. p. 552<br />
142. Hislop says, “From Babylon, this worship of the Mother and the Child spread to the ends of the earth. In Egypt,<br />
the Mother and the Child were worshipped under the names of Isis and Osiris. In India, even to this day, as Isi and<br />
Iswara; in Asia, as Cybele and Deoius; in Pagan Rome, as Fortuna and Jupiter-puer, or Jupiter, the boy; in Greece, as<br />
Ceres, the Great Mother, with the babe at her breast, or as Irene, the goddess of Peace, with the boy Plutus in her arms;<br />
and even in Thibet [Tibet], in China, and Japan, the Jesuit missionaries were astonished to find the counterpart of<br />
Madonna.” [A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, Chap. 2, Section 2, p. 22, emphasis added]<br />
143. “Representations of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus… indeed resemble closely those of Isis nursing her<br />
son…[Yet there is a] large chronological gap between statues of Isis and Mary. In the West the first representations of<br />
Mary nursing her son date from the 12th century. [Moreover] the roots of Mariology were very probably in Asia Minor<br />
rather than North Africa [home of the Isis cult].” [Stephen Benko, The Virgin Goddess: Studies in the Pagan and<br />
Christian Roots of Mariology, p. 52]<br />
144. LSM’s Recovery Version of the Bible, Jeremiah 7:18 RcV. (note 1) says “Nimrod’s wife Semiramis, later known as<br />
Artemis of Ephesus (Acts 19:27). Israel’s making cakes to the wife of Nimrod was a matter of both spiritual fornication and<br />
idolatry.” This assertion—that Nimrod’s wife Semiramis, [was] later known as Artemis of Ephesus (Acts 19:27)--is made<br />
by Alexander Hislop in his book, The Two Babylons pp. 32, 69.<br />
145.For a discussion of this phenomenon see Andrew E. Hill, “Ancient Art and Artemis: Toward Explaining the Polymastic<br />
Nature of the Figurine,” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society, 1992<br />
146. “In the studies mentioned above [Langdon (1914), Witzel (1935) etc.] a number of deities who shared certain<br />
characteristics were uncritically thought to be ‘aspects’…of the same deity. Already in 1909 Zimmern has warned against<br />
this lack of methodological stringency.” [ “Tammuz,” in Dictionary of Deities & Demons in the Bible (1990), K van der<br />
Toorn, B. Beckling, & P. W. van der Horst (eds.), p. 829] Note that the earlier study of F. F. Bruce (1941 cited above) relied<br />
extensively upon Langdon (1914) in an attempt to salvage some of Hislop’s thesis. In 1941 F. F. Bruce wrote, “Hislop’s<br />
argument stands in need of radical revision in order to be brought up to date…It may well be asked how far Hislop’s<br />
conclusions would stand the test of such a revision. It is the object of this paper to select, out of the mass of available<br />
evidence, a few points which, when joined, seem to form a line connecting Babylonian religion with the ritual carried out<br />
to-day throughout great sections of Christendom. These and related facts must be taken into consideration by any writer<br />
who would do for readers of the twentieth century what Hislop did for those of the nineteenth.” [F. F. Bruce, “Babylon and<br />
Rome,” The Evangelical Quarterly 13 (October 15th, 1941): p. 244] The present author suggests that F. F. Bruce would<br />
have abandoned his attempt to salvage some remnants of Hislop’s notion in the light of 70-years of subsequent research<br />
available today. York University Prof. Johanna H. Stuckey also criticizes the assumption “that [various] goddesses are all<br />
aspects of a single great goddess, ‘the Many in the One, the One in the Many’.” She writes: “Another assumption is that<br />
goddesses are all aspects of a single great goddess, ‘the Many in the One, the One in the Many’. This position seems to be<br />
the result of their examining…polytheistic traditions through monotheistic lenses and overlooking the…diversity that<br />
polytheism offers. Ancient goddesses were all very different one from the other, while still, occasionally, overlapping in<br />
functions and powers and even blending into one another.” [Johanna H. Stuckey, The Great Goddesses of the Levant,<br />
JSSEA, vol. 30 (2003) pp. 128-9, emphasis added]<br />
147. Lester L. Grabbe, Can a 'history of Israel' be written? p. 28<br />
148. W. Lee refers to Alexander Hislop’s book, The Two Babylons, at least ten times. See, for example, Life-study of<br />
Genesis, message 34, pp. 464-5; Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 53, p. 56; The Satanic Chaos in the Old<br />
Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation , p. 97, The God-Men, p. 42; Life-study of Revelation, Message<br />
51, pp. 585-6; Life-study of Revelation, Message 13, pp. 157-8; Life-study of Matthew, pp. 467-8. Several of these<br />
references contain multiple citations of Hislop’s Two Babylons.<br />
149. LSM’s Recovery Version of the Bible, Jeremiah 7:18 RcV. footnote 1 says “Nimrod’s wife Semiramis, later known<br />
as Artemis of Ephesus (Acts 19:27). Israel’s making cakes to the wife of Nimrod was a matter of both spiritual fornication<br />
and idolatry.” This assertion—that Nimrod’s wife Semiramis, [was] later known as Artemis of Ephesus (Acts 19:27)--is<br />
24<br />
made by Alexander Hislop in his book The Two Babylons pp. 32, 69. Note that neither W. Lee’s Life-study of Jeremiah<br />
[message 10, p. 69] nor LSM’s Recovery Version [Jeremiah 7:18 RcV. footnote 1] gives any citation of Hislop’s Two<br />
Babylons in their writings regarding this point.<br />
150. According to LSM, their “High Peak Books” include W. Lee’s publications “Beginning from the 1991 Winter<br />
Training on the Life-study of Jeremiah, Brother Lee's remaining years of ministry focused on what he called the high peak<br />
of the divine revelation: that God became man in order that man might become God in life and nature but not in the<br />
Godhead.” [Living Stream Ministry Online Publications website] The “High Peak” Books include W. Lee’s Life-study of<br />
Jeremiah, which declares, “In [Jeremiah 7] verse 18 Jehovah says, ‘The children gather wood, and the fathers light the<br />
fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to other gods<br />
to provoke Me to anger.’ Here the queen of heaven is Nimrod's wife Semiramis; later she was known as Artemis in<br />
Ephesus (Acts 19:27). It is hard to believe that God's elect, His chosen people, could degrade to such an extent that they<br />
would make cakes for the wife of Nimrod. This was a matter of both fornication and idolatry.” [W. Lee, Life-study of<br />
Jeremiah, Message 10, section 3, p. 69, emphasis added] LSM’s “High Peak Books” also include W. Lee’s The Satanic<br />
Chaos…” which says, “Alexander Hislop in his book The Two Babylons exposes the origin of the evil, demonic, pagan<br />
things that were brought into the apostate church.” [W. Lee, The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine<br />
Economy for the New Creation , p. 97]<br />
151.LSM’s Truth Lessons (paraphrasing Witness Lee’s Life-study) say, “History tells us that at Babel, Nimrod brought in many<br />
idolatrous things. In that idolatrous worship he [Nimrod] invented a most evil emblem, the Madonna with her child.” [W.<br />
Lee, Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 2, Lesson 18, p. 53; emphasis indicates quote in main text] The corresponding Life-study<br />
says, “Nimrod was the first king of Babel who, according to history, brought in many idolatrous things (10:10). That<br />
idolatrous worship invented a most demonic emblem, the Madonna with her child. According to the book, The Two<br />
Babylons, the Madonna was the mother of Nimrod and also his wife. This emblem, invented by the Babylonian<br />
worship…”[W. Lee, Life-study of Genesis, message 34]<br />
152.W. Lee, Life-study of Revelation, p. 484<br />
153.These quotes are taken from the Roman Catholic Internet website www.catholicanswers.com under the title: Catholic<br />
Answers: Special Report on Chick Tracts www.catholic.com/library/sr_chick_tracts. This portion refutes allegations<br />
made in various “Chick Tracts” which are based on Hislop’s Two Babylons. The site says: “The source [Jack] Chick<br />
depends on for his mythological ideas is The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop, an eccentric nineteenth-century<br />
Anglican clergyman. Chick essentially recycles Hislop’s central thesis of Catholicism being a revival of Babylonian<br />
paganism. This allows him to identify the Catholic Church with the Whore of Babylon.”<br />
REFERENCES:<br />
· Samuel Abramsky, (1980) "Nimrod and the Land of Nimrod” Beth Mikra 25 (82) pp. 237–255.<br />
· William Adler, “Eusebius' Chronicle and Its Legacy,” in Eusebíus, Christianity, and Judaism, Harold W.<br />
Attridge, Gōhei Hata, (eds.)<br />
· William Adler & Paul Tuffin, “The Chronology of George Synkellos”<br />
· Stephen Benko, The Virgin Goddess: Studies in the Pagan and Christian Roots of Mariology<br />
· Reinhold Bichler, “Some Observations on the Image of the Assyrian and Babylonian Kingdoms within the<br />
Greek Tradition,” Melammu Symposia V. Commerce and Monetary Systems in the Ancient World: Means of<br />
Transmission and Cultural Interaction, R. Rollinger/Ch. Ulf (Hg.), Stuttgart, 2004.<br />
· J. M. Bigwood, “Ctesias' Account of the Revolt of Inarus” The Phoenix, 1976<br />
· Jan N. Bremner, “Apion and Anoubion in the Pseudo-Clementines”<br />
· F. F. Bruce, “Babylon and Rome,” The Evangelical Quarterly 13 (October 15, 1941)<br />
· Herbert Cohn, Is the ‘Queen of Heaven’ in Jeremiah the Goddess Anat? Jewish Bible Quarterly.<br />
· Mark W. Chavalas, Mesopotamia and the Bible,<br />
· Stephanie Dalley, “Samiramis in History and in Legend” in Cultural borrowings and Ethnic Appropriations in<br />
Antiquity by Erich S. Gruen (ed.)<br />
· John Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan,<br />
· Edward Foryan, Semiramis: Legendary Mysterious Great Queen of Assyria: A commentary<br />
· Richard Fowler, “Most Fortunate Roots…” in Imaginary Kings: royal images in the ancient Near East, Greece<br />
and Rome, edited by Olivier Hekster, Richard Fowler, et. al.<br />
· B. Garstad, “Belus in the ’Sacred History’ of Euhemerus,” Classical Philology, 2004<br />
· Deborah Levine Gera, Warrior women: the anonymous Tractatus de mulieribus (1997)<br />
· J. Gilmore, The Origin of the Semiramis Legend, English Historical Review, 1887<br />
· Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Volume I, Bible Times and Characters from the Creation to Jacob,<br />
Philologos Religious Online Books Philologos.org,<br />
25<br />
· Russell E. Gmirkin, Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic histories and the date…<br />
· Lester L. Grabbe, Can a 'history of Israel' be written?<br />
· Lester L. Grabbe, (ed.) ’Like a bird in a cage’: the Invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE<br />
· Stephen R. Haynes, Noah’s Curse: the biblical justification of American Slavery, (2002)<br />
· Andrew E. Hill, “Ancient Art and Artemis: Toward Explaining the Polymastic Nature of the Figurine,”<br />
Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society, 1992<br />
· Steven W. Holloway, “The Quest for Sargon, Pul, and Tiglath-Pileser in the Nineteenth Century,” in<br />
Mesopotamia and the Bible by Mark W. Chavalas<br />
· P.W. van der Horst, Essays on the Jewish World of Early Christianity (Fribourg and Göttingen, 1990)<br />
· Cornelius Houtman, “Anat” in the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible DDD (2nd extensively rev. ed.)<br />
Κ. van der Toorn, B. Becking, & P. W. van der Horst, (1999), Leiden; Boston; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brill;<br />
Eerdmans, pp. 678-9.<br />
· Othmar Keel, Christoph Uehlinger, Gods, goddesses, and images of God in ancient Israel,<br />
· Dana Kramer-Rolls, The Emergence of the Goddess Mary: from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages,<br />
Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (2004)<br />
· Charles François Lenormant & E. Chevallier, The student's manual of oriental history (1869)<br />
· Yigal Levin, "Nimrod the Mighty, King of Kish, King of Sumer and Akkad." Vetus Testementum, vol. 52<br />
(2002),<br />
· Hildegard Lewy, “Nitokris-Naqî’a,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1952<br />
· Allan Millard, “History and Legend in Early Babylonia” in Windows into Old Testament History: evidence,<br />
argument, and...edited by V. Philips Long, Gordon J. Wenham, David Weston Baker, et. al. pp. 103-110<br />
· J. R. Morgan, “Fiction and History: Historiography and the Novel” in A Companion to Greek and Roman<br />
Historiography, edited by John Marincola,<br />
· Andrew Nichols, The Complete Fragments of Ctesias of Cnidus: Translation and Commentary with an<br />
Introduction, Univ. of Florida PhD dissertation, 2008<br />
· M. F. G. Parmentier, “Mary,” in the Dictionary of Deities & Demons in the Bible, (2nd extensively rev. ed.) Κ.<br />
van der Toorn, B. Becking, & P. W. van der Horst, (1999). Leiden; Boston; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brill;<br />
Eerdmans<br />
· J. Parr, Chaucer's Semiramis, The Chaucer Review, 1970<br />
· Joseph Poplicha, "The Biblical Nimrod and the Kingdom of Eanna", Journal of the American Oriental Society,<br />
Vol. 49, (1929), pp. 303-317<br />
· Judith M. Richards, "‘To Promote a Woman to Beare Rule’: Talking of Queens in Mid-Tudor England,” The<br />
Sixteenth Century Journal, 1997<br />
· W. R. Smith, Ctesias and the Semiramis Legend, English Historical Review, 1887<br />
· E. A. Speiser, “In Search of Nimrod,” (1958) reprinted in I Studied Inscriptions from before the Flood: Ancient<br />
Near Eastern ..., Volume 4, edited by Richard S. Hess, David Toshio Tsumura<br />
· Jan P. Stronk, “Ctesias of Cnidus, a Reappraisal,” Mnemosyne, Volume 60, Number 1, 2007<br />
· Johanna H. Stuckey, The Great Goddesses of the Levant, JSSEA, vol. 30 (2003)<br />
· Karel van der Toorn, Goddesses in the Early Israelite Religion<br />
· K. van der Toorn, Recent Trends in the Study of Israelite Religion, in Modern Societies & the Science of<br />
Religions: studies in honor of Lammert ... Edited by Lammert Leertouwer, Gerard Albert Wiegers, Jan Platvoet<br />
· K. van der Toorn & P. W. van der Horst, "Nimrod before and after the Bible," The Harvard Theological Review,<br />
Vol. 83, No. 1. (Jan., 1990)<br />
· C. Uehlinger, “Nimrod” in the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible DDD (2nd extensively rev. ed.) Κ.<br />
van der Toorn, B. Becking, & P. W. van der Horst, (1999). Leiden; Boston; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brill;<br />
Eerdmans. pp. 627-630.<br />
· Menko Vlaardingerbroek, “The Founding of Nineveh and Babylon in Greek Historiography”, in Collon, D.,<br />
George, A., Hg., Nineveh: Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, London 7—11 July<br />
2003, London, 2005<br />
· John H. Walton, “The Mesopotamian Background of the Tower of Babel Account and Its Implications,”<br />
Bulletin for Biblical Research, vol. 5 (1995) pp. 173-4<br />
· John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Genesis to Deuteronomy,<br />
· Joan Goodnick Westenholz, Legends of the kings of Akkade: the texts,<br />
· Ralph Woodrow, The Two Babylons: A Case Study in Poor Research Methodology, Christian Research<br />
Journal, Vol. 22, Issue 2, 2000, Book Reviews pp. 54-56.Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-3445927783057426692019-12-18T00:32:00.003-08:002019-12-18T00:32:38.928-08:00cover the sinner's nakedness or not?<br />
A notion has developed in the church that like<br />
Noah's sons who covered his nakedness, we<br />
should keep quiet about serious evils. I mentioned<br />
the issue of a bishop known in the homosexual<br />
community as an active member of it, and the<br />
response was we should cover our father's nakedness<br />
and not expose him (he was already exposed online<br />
anyway) but this is bullshit.<br />
<br />
<i>Did Noah condemn his sons when they did not cover</i><br />
<i>their brother's nakedness but told on him to Noah? </i><br />
<i>No. Noah blessed them and cursed Ham's son Canaan</i><br />
<i>who had something to do with this. (God having already </i><br />
<i>blessed all three of Noah's sons earlier Noah couldn't</i><br />
<i>curse any of them directly, some figure.) </i><br />
<i><br /></i>every kind of evil, the abusers, rapists, murderers,<br />
seducers, corrupters, etc. etc and bullies and thieves<br />
at school and perverts and abusive families all demand<br />
and enforce SILENCE. it is the tool of evil which likes<br />
to hide Ephesians 5 addressed to all says to expose evil<br />
rebuke it publicly and Paul tells Titus the same. This<br />
is not limited to official pronouncement, and that would<br />
require someone saying something about it anyway.<br />
<br />
<br />Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-27834365578451961892019-12-17T19:36:00.000-08:002019-12-17T19:36:07.336-08:00Interesting info on vaccine contents<div style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-top: 1em;">
"I gathered all vaccine ingredients into a list and contacted Poison Control. After intros and such, and asking to speak with someone tenured and knowledgeable,<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"> this is the gist of that conversation.</span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline;">
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
Me: My question to you is how are these ingredients categorized? As benign or poison? (I ran a few ingredients, formaldehyde, Tween 80, mercury, aluminum, phenoxyethanol, potassium phosphate, sodium phosphate, sorbitol, etc.)</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
He: Well, that's quite a list... But I'd have to easily say that they're all toxic to humans... Used in fertilizers... Pesticides... To stop the heart... To preserve a dead body... They're registered with us in different categories, but pretty much poisons. Why?</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
Me: If I were deliberately to feed or inject my child with these ingredients often, as a schedule, obviously I'd put my daughter in harm's way... But what would legally happen to me?</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
He: Odd question... But you'd likely be charged with criminal negligence... perhaps with intent to kill... and of course child abuse... Your child would be taken away from you... Do you know of someone's who's doing this to their child? This is criminal...</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
Me: An industry... These are the ingredients used in vaccines... With binding agents to make sure the body won't flush these out... To keep the antibody levels up indefinitely...</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
He: WHAT?!</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
Your conclusion?</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
The man was beside himself. He asked if I would email him all this information. He wanted to share it with his adult kids who are parents. He was horrified and felt awful he didn't know... his kids are vaccinated and they have health issues..."</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
~ By Iris Figueroa <span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t2d/2/16/2665.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">♥️</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tb4/2/16/2705.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">✅</span></span> Detox & Cleanse * Educate *Support—-><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/group.php?id=1435942350040771&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1435942350040771/?fref=mentions" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.facebook.com/groups/1435942350040771/</a></div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tb4/2/16/2705.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">✅</span></span>INGREDIENTS TO VACCINES - You CANNOT make an educated decision without being educated.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
Here are just SOME vaccine ingredients.<br />These are being INJECTED into your kids;</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>Formaldehyde/Formalin - Highly toxic systematic poison and carcinogen.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>Betapropiolactone - Toxic chemical and carcinogen. May cause death/permanant injury after very short exposure to small quantities. Corrosive chemical.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>Hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide - May cause damage to the liver, cardiovascular system, and central nervous system. May cause reproductive effects and birth defects.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>Aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, and aluminum salts - Neurotoxin. Carries risk for long term brain inflammation/swelling, neurological disorders, autoimmune disease, Alzheimer's, dementia, and autism. It penetrates the brain where it persists indefinitely.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>Thimerosal (mercury) - Neurotoxin. Induces cellular damage, reduces oxidation-reduction activity, cellular degeneration, and cell death. Linked to neurological disorders, Alzheimer's, dementia, and autism.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>Polysorbate 80 & 20 - Trespasses the Blood-Brain Barrier and carries with it aluminum, thimerosal, and viruses; allowing it to enter the brain.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>Glutaraldehyde - Toxic chemical used as a disinfectant for heat sensitive medical equipment.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>Fetal Bovine Serum - Harvested from bovine (cow) fetuses taken from pregnant cows before slaughter.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>Human Diploid Fibroblast Cells - aborted fetal cells. Foreign DNA has the ability to interact with our own.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>African Green Monkey Kidney Cells - Can carry the SV-40 cancer-causing virus that has already tainted about 30 million Americans.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>Acetone - Can cause kidney, liver, and nerve damage.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>E.Coli - Yes, you read that right.</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>DNA from porcine (pig) Circovirus type-1</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/2/16/25fe.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">◾</span></span>Human embryonic lung cell cultures (from aborted fetuses)</div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t8f/2/16/2733.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">✳</span></span>You can view all of these ingredients on the CDCs website. I encourage everyone to do their own research. Look up the MSDS on these chemicals. Read the thousands of peer reviewed studies that have evaluated the biological consequences these chemicals can have on the body, especially when being INJECTED.</div>
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<span class="_5mfr" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1px;"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t8f/2/16/2733.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 16px;">✳</span></span>Fact check vaccine ingredients here: </div>
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<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/b/excipient-table-2.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/b/excipient-table-2.pdf</a></div>
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<a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/educatebeforeyouvaccinate?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #365899; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">educatebeforeyouvaccinate</span></span></a> <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/injectionisdifferentthaningestion?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #365899; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">injectionisdifferentthaningestion</span></span></a> <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/learntherisks?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #365899; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">learntherisks</span></span></a> <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/informedconsent?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #365899; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">informedconsent</span></span></a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/drryanberlin/posts/10160167051315215" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.facebook.com/drryanberlin/posts/10160167051315215</a></div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
Animal blood in vaccines<br /><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1620411/pdf/amjphnation00376-0090.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1620411/pdf/amjphnation00376-0090.pdf</a></div>
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Food in vaccines, like peanut oil etc shows it causes food allergies<br /><a href="https://vaccinesafetycommission.org/pdfs/08-2015-Journal-Food-Allergies.pdf" target="_blank">https://vaccinesafetycommission.org/pdfs/08-2015-Journal-Food-Allergies.pdf</a></div>
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Vaccine Guide<br /><a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fvaccine.guide%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0BrM-1mHzDWDW2Li9iM2UbhGK9RehV_u7zf0_DhlLeUwK3eNJKMm8ZNBI&h=AT2LqaLF3_yPqdXMFqprvvU_0WQvWALMpLEWkhsZYYMBzvcHOU2_9Vqyub6Yt3j2GZUxhHr4zWLI1vWpLu4OmYbvMWIRnfUTUnnZIOQ9PTf1t5U3D0b7AWZitFbDL9_5Meay6_gu502ERFpYTLzldgkE3fM5_qc" rel="noopener nofollow" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://vaccine.guide</a></div>
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Legislative informal hearing on mandatory vaccination.<br /><a class="profileLink" href="https://www.facebook.com/100010598107344/videos/1007370642959530/?fref=mentions" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.facebook.com/100010598107344/videos/1007370642959530?d=n&sfns=mo</a></div>
</div>
Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-20522588701248584942019-12-17T17:44:00.002-08:002019-12-17T17:44:38.328-08:00Are Ashkenazic Jews Khazars and not Jews? or a legitimate category of Jews?<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">a particular group in a particular ancient city, Smyrna modern Izmir, Turkey, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Jesus referred to in Revelation 2:9 </span><span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">are the mysterious ones at issue. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">(maybe from Harran?) as the for the Khazar issue, purity of blood was never </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">an issue only Egyptians and Moabites were an issue, 3 generations removed </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">from the Egyptian outcross before they could be in the rolls of Israel, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Deut. 22:4-9 and 10 generations from the Moabite or ammonite outcross </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">before they could be in the rolls of Israel. This is why Naomi does the strange</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">action of having Ruth's infant suckle her dry breast Ruth 4:13-17 an adoption </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">ritual action, which alone made it possible for David to be counted as of Israel, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">which was necessary for him to be a ruler. Deut. 17:14-20 No Moabite or </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Ammonite or Egyptian blood is involved in the Khazar Jews, and if so it is way </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">far too back to matter. The conversion and effective adoption into the tribe of</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the converter a normal routine (a large book called The Lost Tribes or </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">something like that details history of proselytizing argues most reports of </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">lost tribes of Israel by travellers are in fact convert descendants) Ex. 12:48 </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">says a circumcised convert shall be as one of you. So Khazar descended </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">ashkenazic Jews ARE Jews.</span>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-25645438046259071162019-12-17T16:22:00.001-08:002019-12-17T16:24:05.560-08:00Globalist elites are narcisisstic sociopths<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">from an anonymous post on <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?postID=2333102702334167274&blogID=11772087&isPopup=false&page=3" target="_blank">https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?postID=2333102702334167274&blogID=11772087&isPopup=false&page=3</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">a section of a reposted article </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">11 December 2019</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">By Brandon Smith </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Alt-Market.com</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Globalists come from an ideological background which worships eugenics – </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the belief that genetics must be controlled and regulated, and those people</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">they deem to be undesirables must be sterilized or exterminated.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The modern eugenics movement was launched by the Rockefeller Foundation </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">in the early 1900's in America, and was treated a a legitimate scientific </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">endeavor for decades. Eugenics was taught in schools and even celebrated </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">at the World's Fair. States like California that adopted eugenics legislation </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">forcefully sterilized tens of thousands of people and denied thousands of </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">marriage certificates based on genetics. The system was transferred to </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Germany in the 1930's were it gained world renown for its inherent brutality.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">This ideology holds that 4% or less of the population is genetically worthy </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">of leadership, and the elites conveniently assert that they represent part of </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">that genetic purity.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">After WWII the public developed a distaste for the idea of eugenics and </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">population control, but under the guise of environmentalism the agenda is </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">making a comeback, as population reduction in the name of “saving the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Earth” is in the mainstream media once again. The Question then arises - </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Who gets to decide who lives and who dies? Who gets to decide who is </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">never born? And, how will they come to their decisions? No doubt a </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">modern form of eugenics will be presented as the "science" used to </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"fairly" determine the content of the population if the elites get their way.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Narcissistic Sociopathy</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It is interesting that the globalists used to present the 4% leadership </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">argument in their eugenics publications, because 4% of the population </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">is also consistent with the number of people who have inherent </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">sociopathy or narcissistic sociopathy, either in latent or full-blown form, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">with 1% of people identified as full blown psychopaths and the rest as </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">latent. Coincidence?</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The behavior of the globalists is consistent with the common diagnosis </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">of full-blown narcopaths, a condition which is believed to be inborn and </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">incurable. Narcopaths (pyschopaths) are devoid of empathy and are </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">often self obsessed. They suffer from delusions of grandeur and see </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">themselves as “gods” among men. They believe other lowly people </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">are tools to be used for their pleasure or to further their ascendance </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">to godhood. They lie incessantly as a survival mechanism and are </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">good at determining what people want to hear. Narcopaths feel no </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">compassion towards those they harm or murder, yet crave attention </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">and adoration from the same people they see as inferior. More than </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">anything, they seek the power to micro-manage the lives of everyone </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">around them and to feed off those people like a parasite feeds off a </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">host victim.</span>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-27898913816516049852019-12-14T12:24:00.002-08:002019-12-14T12:24:37.735-08:00Atonement in the Early Church<a href="http://myagpeya.com/blog/soteriology/?fbclid=IwAR3iIqJ05rGSwBGzBpeX8Gs4X3wbgpEHEfGpFAdDAnsRs9Ee9DpeZk-Mp1s" target="_blank">http://myagpeya.com/blog/soteriology/?fbclid=IwAR3iIqJ05rGSwBGzBpeX8Gs4X3wbgpEHEfGpFAdDAnsRs9Ee9DpeZk-Mp1s</a>Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-29641931532651551732019-12-14T07:28:00.000-08:002019-12-14T07:33:53.596-08:00The United States is not a "corporation" owned by foreign interests, liars been lying again<a href="http://factmyth.com/factoids/the-united-states-is-a-corporation/?unapproved=65746&moderation-hash=8638aa693c7b1e06fea8c3287516a7cc#comment-65746" target="_blank">http://factmyth.com/factoids/the-united-states-is-a-corporation/?unapproved=65746&moderation-hash=8638aa693c7b1e06fea8c3287516a7cc#comment-65746</a><br />
<br />
some argue that the Constitution for the united States was restated as "of" the United States. wrong.<br />
<br />
"<em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Merriweather, serif;">do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America" </em><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Merriweather, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Merriweather, serif;">yeah, and once this thing ordained and established for the United States has been in fact signed, accepted by all the proposed states, and so forth it has become the constitution of the United States.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Merriweather, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Merriweather, serif;">If I ordain something to be for a certain person, once that person </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Merriweather, serif;">has accepted it, then it is something of that person. for is a proposal, of is accomplished. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Merriweather, serif;"><br /></span>
people who stand up and give you such lectures with an<br />
authoritative tone and tell you legal mumbo jumbo sounding<br />
stuff and you can't tell the difference between legitimate legal<br />
mumbo jumbo and fake legal mumbo jumbo and they tell you<br />
all kinds of crazy unhistorical shit are just manipulating you.<br />
they may believe it themselves, don't know who started this<br />
crap. But its all lies. like the fake "filings" and fake liens and what not of some patriot rip off militia groups with posturing<br />
nonsense that use fancy sounding words like "de jure" and so<br />
forth. forget them.<br />
<br />Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811759406816927421.post-86527738048838877692019-11-14T06:30:00.001-08:002019-11-14T06:30:52.409-08:00Date of Daniel"scholars" and critics work from the bias that of course the<br />
supernatural is nonexistent, prophecy can't happen for real,<br />
ergo, Daniel was written after the events he so precisely<br />
foretold.<br />
<br />
Some who favor psychism and suchlike (and idiots among<br />
Christians who follow Nostradamus the all incoherent) might<br />
try to view Daniel as looking into some other timeline or being<br />
precognitive, but ignore the theological implications of his<br />
visions (if they are New Age, and two very good blogs on this<br />
New Age nonsense are <a href="http://cumbey.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://cumbey.blogspot.com</a> and<br />
<a href="http://fightthenewage.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://fightthenewage.blogspot.com</a> ).<br />
<br />
Daniel did not engage in any rituals or devices like crystal<br />
balls or whatever. And he was totally loyal to YHWH to the<br />
point of going vegan rather than eat meat that was unclean<br />
or might have been sacrificed to idols in Nebuchadnezzar's<br />
court. Hopefully once he gained status he was able to arrange<br />
more healthy meat diets for himself and his friends, that was<br />
kosher, but miraculously God made them prosper on veggies.<br />
<br />
Daniel lived at a critical point in the history of Israel, Judea<br />
especially, and therefore in a critical point in the history of<br />
the world, though he and others probably didn't realize the<br />
latter. And he asked God for knowledge, and to fulfill the<br />
promise of restoration after 70 years, and sometimes received<br />
information unrequested.<br />
<br />
Daniel was able to decipher Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and<br />
received dreams and visions himself, and visitation from angels.<br />
<br />
"There is an excellent article [about Daniel in the Dead sea Scrolls]<br />
<a href="http://www.christian-thinktank.com/qwhendan3a.html" target="_blank">http://www.christian-thinktank.com/qwhendan3a.html </a> ...Date <br />of Daniel Let me give you a synopsis. The answer is that we have <div>
both Daniel manuscripts and quotes of Qumran authors from </div>
<div>
Daniel, labeling it as scripture, from the second half of the second century BCE in the Dead Sea Scrolls. There are a total of eight </div>
<div>
known manuscript fragments from Daniel so far in the Dead Sea </div>
<div>
Scrolls, including fragments from every chapter except Daniel 12.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Besides, a passage from Daniel 12 is quoted by an author in one of </div>
<div>
the Dead Sea Scrolls. From this information we can say that the </div>
<div>
book of Daniel was definitely accepted as inspired and </div>
<div>
canonical by about 150 BCE or so, making the claim that it was </div>
<div>
written by a fake Daniel around 160 BCE seem impossible to </div>
<div>
support by credible argument. The likelihood that a </div>
<div>
pseudepigraphical (ie an autobiography by a fake author) Daniel </div>
<div>
would have been circulated and accepted by the Jews </div>
<div>
as a whole as scripture within ten or so years is essentially zero. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In fact, the Dead Sea MSS evidence argues for a date of writing at least before 250 BCE, and most likely one hundred years before that date...."</div>
<div>
<a href="https://evidenceforchristianity.org/what-is-the-earliest-proven-evidence-for-the-date-daniel-was-written-are-the-dead-sea-scrolls-relevantr/" target="_blank">https://evidenceforchristianity.org/what-is-the-earliest-proven-evidence-for-the-date-daniel-was-written-are-the-dead-sea-scrolls-relevantr/</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Daniel tells details on Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the prototype for </div>
<div>
the antichrist, that were almost all fulfilled as reported by the</div>
<div>
Book of Macabbees (never mind if it was inspired it was </div>
<div>
eyewitness historical material) and Josephus would have dealt with </div>
<div>
this also.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
not all were fulfilled, so the early church fathers despite </div>
<div>
knowing about Antiochus and about Nero still expected the </div>
<div>
antichrist to arise in future. There are lesser antichrists and THE antichrist. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When that happens, what Antiochus IV Epiphanes did will be</div>
<div>
redone in spades and what he didn't do will get done.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Daniel's four beast dream was considered by at least one early</div>
<div>
church writer and by almost all bible interpreters till recently,</div>
<div>
to be a rehash of the statue dream of Nebuchadnezzar.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But two things rule this out.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Daniel said that the fourth beast would crush and trample the</div>
<div>
prior three, <b><i>which would still exist however and be given some</i></b></div>
<div>
<b><i>continuation of their lives after what looks it can only be the</i></b></div>
<div>
<b><i>Second Coming of Christ and the destruction of the fourth </i></b></div>
<div>
<b><i>beast. </i></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So the other three aren't sequential ancestors the fourth inherits</div>
<div>
from, and those who still try to fit them into antiquity, treat them</div>
<div>
as a continuation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The second issue is that <i><b>the angel tells Daniel that these are </b></i></div>
<div>
<i><b>four kings, or kingdoms, that will come after him. </b></i>This revelation</div>
<div>
was in the Persian time, so Daniel was living in the time of the </div>
<div>
second beast if it is just a rehash so why was he not told it was</div>
<div>
TWO not four kings to come after him? This is why some try</div>
<div>
to treat them as not a rehash but a continuation and still in </div>
<div>
antiquity.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Chris White on youtube telling how to spot the antichrist but</div>
<div>
not trying to identify the four beasts cued me to this issue. When</div>
<div>
I went digging, it looked like the winged lion is USA-Britain-NATO, the bear is Russia, the four headed four winged leopard</div>
<div>
is China (or maybe India but unlikely) and the fourth and</div>
<div>
indescribable beast is something that will arise out of Africa and</div>
<div>
conquer all of the foregoing, and the foundation for this may </div>
<div>
be coming into existence already. <a href="https://politicallyunclassifiable.blogspot.com/2019/04/is-this-ancestor-to-fourth-beast-of.html" target="_blank">https://politicallyunclassifiable.blogspot.com/2019/04/is-this-ancestor-to-fourth-beast-of.html</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://seventhchapterofdaniel.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://seventhchapterofdaniel.blogspot.com</a> discusses all this, start with earliest posts. </div>
Christine Erikson (aka Justina)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11594093718714798117noreply@blogger.com0