How did Paganism get into the church?

[Hobie]

2 Thessalonians 2:3-9
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

We see that Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of AntiChrist power. He declared that before the return of Christ would, "come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who exalteth himself above all that is called God;" Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors in belief that would prepare the way for the false teachings to come in, and history confirmed how it happen.

Little by little, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of believers, paganism and idol worship came into the church. Almost imperceptibly the traditions and customs of Pagan Rome found their way into the Christian church from the former center of the Empire and spread. It had been held back by the persecutions by the Roman Emperors, but as persecution ceased, and Christianity was accepted, the true church began to lay aside its humble beginnings and truth of Christ, for the rites, sacraments and pomp of ancient Rome and the practices of pagan priests and ancient heathen worship with its Babylonian/Greek/Roman gods inscribed with Christians names.

It crept in, then really gained momentum with Emperor Constantine, who tried to politically not to leave out or alienate those who practiced paganism after he claim to convert to Christianity. He declared the Bishop of Rome as the enforcer of truth and forced the merger of paganism into the church, and the heathen religion now cloaked with a 'christianized' cover, walked into the church. Paganism, while outwardly looking to like it was overcome by the church, became the one that vanquished. Pagan doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ.

This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of "the man of sin" foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. In the early church, the bishop of Rome, along with Alexandria and Antioch, was regarded as a Patriarchate, or an autonomous diocese. To this group was added the patriachates of Constantinople and Jerusalem in the fifth century. This group of five was regarded as leading the church as a whole. However, gaining political influence and claiming "historical events" saying the tradition that Peter and Paul had been martyred in Rome, the Bishop of Rome made himself first among equals. To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth; the church was forced to yield allegiance to the the bishop of Rome.

Many of the ancient people worshiped the sun and other pagan gods as they thought that their sun gods and fertility goddesses died at the winter solstice and regained life again at the spring equinox. Note what it says in Judges..
Judges 2:13
And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

But history shows that Baal worship is sun worship, and Ashtoreth/Ishtar/Astarte is the queen of heaven. This is why there are so many sunburst images in Catholicism and why Mary is called the 'Queen of Heaven', the church at Rome incorporated them slowly in. It is the apostasy of idol worship of Baal and Ashtaroth that had started to come into the church.

History shows that long before Mary, pagans fashioned Madonna and child icons and placed them in sacred shrines. Many believe that with the rise of Christianity and papal power, the Goddess would slowly disappear from western culture and fade away. But they didnt, the names and the images of the Madonna and child have changed, and spread. For many pagan 'converts', the blending of their ancient goddesses with the Virgin Mary was a major part of what allowed them to keep their pagan gods but get in the church.

The Bible would have quickly shown they had turned away into false beliefs so its truths had to be concealed and suppressed. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited by the papacy. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and the Bible having been removed, the papacy moved quickly. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the Christian worship. To hide what they had done, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of God the second commandment in their writings, forbidding image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.

Then they went after the fourth commandment also, and essayed to set aside the Sabbath, and put in the festival day observed by the heathen as "the venerable day of the sun." With great subtlety the papacy worked to bring about this change. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed.

In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine as part his merging of paganism with the church had issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire. It was the emperor's policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity, and he was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who perceived that if the same day was observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church. Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible, corruptible men who claimed to lead the church, and the Pope who came to regard himself as supreme, with the elevation of false laws and corrupt traditions that always results from setting aside the law of God.

We must read the Bible and cleanse ourselves from any of the paganism and false worship especially the pagan festivals or "Holy Days" that have been spread into many churches beliefs. The Protestant churches that split from and began the Reformation because they saw the truth and fought so hard against the pagan Papal Roman church are now falling one by one to even worse beliefs in secularism and paganism. Slowly but surely they are giving up the true beliefs that were their foundation untlil they become nothing but secular social clubs with pagan traditions and festivals.

 

[Philip James]

Hello Hobie,

to answer the topic question:

It didn't! The Church conquered paganism...

'capture every thought for Christ'

Pax et Bonum

 

[Stumpmaster]

Hello Hobie,

to answer the topic question:

It didn't! The Church conquered paganism...

'capture every thought for Christ'

Pax et Bonum

When did that happen?

 

[Philip James]

When did that happen?

depends which pagan religion you're talking about I guess. But the Roman pagan religions died out more than 1000 years ago...

Pax et Bonum

 

[BlessedPeace]

2 Thessalonians 2:3-9
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

We see that Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of AntiChrist power. He declared that before the return of Christ would, "come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who exalteth himself above all that is called God;" Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors in belief that would prepare the way for the false teachings to come in, and history confirmed how it happen.

Little by little, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of believers, paganism and idol worship came into the church. Almost imperceptibly the traditions and customs of Pagan Rome found their way into the Christian church from the former center of the Empire and spread. It had been held back by the persecutions by the Roman Emperors, but as persecution ceased, and Christianity was accepted, the true church began to lay aside its humble beginnings and truth of Christ, for the rites, sacraments and pomp of ancient Rome and the practices of pagan priests and ancient heathen worship with its Babylonian/Greek/Roman gods inscribed with Christians names.

It crept in, then really gained momentum with Emperor Constantine, who tried to politically not to leave out or alienate those who practiced paganism after he claim to convert to Christianity. He declared the Bishop of Rome as the enforcer of truth and forced the merger of paganism into the church, and the heathen religion now cloaked with a 'christianized' cover, walked into the church. Paganism, while outwardly looking to like it was overcome by the church, became the one that vanquished. Pagan doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ.

This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of "the man of sin" foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. In the early church, the bishop of Rome, along with Alexandria and Antioch, was regarded as a Patriarchate, or an autonomous diocese. To this group was added the patriachates of Constantinople and Jerusalem in the fifth century. This group of five was regarded as leading the church as a whole. However, gaining political influence and claiming "historical events" saying the tradition that Peter and Paul had been martyred in Rome, the Bishop of Rome made himself first among equals. To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth; the church was forced to yield allegiance to the the bishop of Rome.

Many of the ancient people worshiped the sun and other pagan gods as they thought that their sun gods and fertility goddesses died at the winter solstice and regained life again at the spring equinox. Note what it says in Judges..
Judges 2:13
And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

But history shows that Baal worship is sun worship, and Ashtoreth/Ishtar/Astarte is the queen of heaven. This is why there are so many sunburst images in Catholicism and why Mary is called the 'Queen of Heaven', the church at Rome incorporated them slowly in. It is the apostasy of idol worship of Baal and Ashtaroth that had started to come into the church.

History shows that long before Mary, pagans fashioned Madonna and child icons and placed them in sacred shrines. Many believe that with the rise of Christianity and papal power, the Goddess would slowly disappear from western culture and fade away. But they didnt, the names and the images of the Madonna and child have changed, and spread. For many pagan 'converts', the blending of their ancient goddesses with the Virgin Mary was a major part of what allowed them to keep their pagan gods but get in the church.

The Bible would have quickly shown they had turned away into false beliefs so its truths had to be concealed and suppressed. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited by the papacy. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and the Bible having been removed, the papacy moved quickly. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the Christian worship. To hide what they had done, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of God the second commandment in their writings, forbidding image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.

Then they went after the fourth commandment also, and essayed to set aside the Sabbath, and put in the festival day observed by the heathen as "the venerable day of the sun." With great subtlety the papacy worked to bring about this change. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed.

In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine as part his merging of paganism with the church had issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire. It was the emperor's policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity, and he was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who perceived that if the same day was observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church. Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible, corruptible men who claimed to lead the church, and the Pope who came to regard himself as supreme, with the elevation of false laws and corrupt traditions that always results from setting aside the law of God.

We must read the Bible and cleanse ourselves from any of the paganism and false worship especially the pagan festivals or "Holy Days" that have been spread into many churches beliefs. The Protestant churches that split from and began the Reformation because they saw the truth and fought so hard against the pagan Papal Roman church are now falling one by one to even worse beliefs in secularism and paganism. Slowly but surely they are giving up the true beliefs that were their foundation untlil they become nothing but secular social clubs with pagan traditions and festivals.

Constantine.

 

[Hobie]

Hello Hobie,

to answer the topic question:

It didn't! The Church conquered paganism...

'capture every thought for Christ'

Pax et Bonum

I think you may need to rethink that and there are many sources that point out the origins of the pagan corruption that was let in and the results....

...the "temples, incense, oil lamps, votive offerings, holy water, Holidays, and seasons of devotion, processions, blessings of the fields, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure (of priests, munks and nuns), images, and statues... are all of PAGAN ORIGIN." -The Development of the Christian Religion Cardinal Newman p.359

The penetration of the religion of Babylon became so general and well known that Rome was called the "New Babylon." -Faith of our fathers 1917 ed. Cardinal Gibbons, p. 106

"Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil, and to transmute the instruments and appendages of demon worship to an evangelical use... the rulers of the church from early times were prepared should occasion arise, to adopt, or imitate, or sanction the existing rites and customs of the populace." -Development of Christian Doctrine, Cardinal Newman. p. 372

Cardinal Newman lists many examples of things of "pagan origin" which the papacy brought into the church "in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen: "in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen:" "The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; holy water; asylums [hermitages, monasteries and convents]; [pagan] holy-days, processions, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images, . . . and the Kyrie Eleison."--Cardinal J. H. Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, 1920 edition, p.373 [Roman Catholic].

"The [Catholic] Church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan Roman Pantheon, temple of all the gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday. She took the pagan Easter and made it the feast we celebrate during this season . . . The Sun was a foremost god with heathendom . . . The sun has worshipers at this hour in Persia and other lands . . . Hence the Church would seem to say, 'Keep that old pagan name [Sunday]. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.' And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus"--William L. Gildea, "Paschale Gaudium," in The Catholic World, 58, March, 1894, p. 809 [A Roman Catholic weekly].
"in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen:" "The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; holy water; asylums [hermitages, monasteries and convents]; [pagan] holy-days, processions, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images, . . . and the Kyrie Eleison."--J. H. Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, 1920 edition, p.373 [Roman Catholic].

"The mighty Catholic Church was little more then the Roman Empire baptized."-- A. C, Flick, The Rise of the Mediaeval Church, 1909 edition, p. 148. From ancient Babylon came the cult of the virgin mother-goddess, who was worshiped as the highest of gods--see S. H. Langdon, Semitic Mythology, 1931 edition. This worship was taken over as Mary-worship by Rome. Heathen sun-worship on Sunday was likewise adopted by the Roman apostasy.

"In order to attach to Christianity great attraction in the eyes of the nobility, the priests adopted the outer garments and adornments which were used in pagan cults." -Life of Constantine, Eusabius, cited in Altai-Nimalaya, p. 94

"The Church did everything it couldto stamp out such 'pagan' rites, but had to capitualet and allow the rites to continue with only the name of the local diety changed to some Christian saint's name." -Religious Tradition and Myth. Dr. Edwin Goodenough, Professor of Religion, Harvard University. p. 56, 57

"From the foregoing, which treats merely of the more important solar festivals, it is clear that these products of paganism are as much in force at present ... as they ever were, and that Christianity countenances, and in many cases has actually adopted and practiced, pagan rites whose heathen significance is merely lost sight of because attention is not called tot the source whence these rites have sprung. So heavy was this infiltration that Sir Samuel Dill exclaims: "Christianity is only a sect of the Mithraists." -Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius, p. VII

"We know that Mithraism was a state religion of Rome at the time that the Christian church was established there. Evidently tenants of Mithraism such as Sunday worship and eating the wafer in the mass were adopted into Christianity at that time" -Jim Arrabito "666 & the Mark"

In Stanley's History, page 40: "The popes filled the place of the vacant emperors at Rome, inheriting
their power, their prestige, and their titles from PAGANISM."

"In short, sun worship, symbolically speaking, lies at the very heart of the great festivals which the Christian Church celebrates today, and these relics of heathen religion have, through the medium of their sacred rites, curiously enough blended with practices and beliefs utterly antagonistic to the spirit which prompted them." -Sun Lore of All Ages, Olcott, p. 248

"Yet the cross itself is the oldest of phallic emblems, and the lozenge-shaped windows of cathedrals are proof that the yonic symbols have survived the destructions of the pagan Mysteries. The very structure of the church itself is permeated with (sexual symbolism) phallicism. Remove from the Christian Church all emblems of Priapic origin and nothing is left..." -The secret teaching of all ages by Manley P. Hall

"When the zealots of the primitave Christian Church sought to Christianize paganism, the pagan initiates retorted with a powerful effort to paganize Christianity. The Christians failed but the pagans succeeded. With the decline of paganism the initiated pagan hierophants transferred their base of operations to the new vehicle of primitive Christianity, adopting the symbols of the new cult to conceal those eternal verities which are ever the priceless possession of the wise." -The secret teachings of all ages, Manley P. Hall p. CLXXXV

"...The world, cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Now the work of corruption rapidly progressed. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror. Her spirit controlled the church. Her doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ." -The Great Controversy, p. 50

"The belief in miracle-working objects, talismans, amulets, and formulas was dear to Christianity, and they were received from pagan antiquity . . . The vestments of the clergy and the papal title of 'pontifex maximus' were legacies from pagan Rome. The [Catholic] Church found that rural converts still revered certain springs, wells, trees, and stones; she thought it wiser to bless these to Christian use then to break too sharply the customs of sentiment . . . Pagan festivals dear to the people, reappeared as Christian feasts, and pagan rites were transformed into Christian liturgy . . . The Christian calendar of saints replaced the Roman 'fasti' [gods]; ancient divinities dear to the people were allowed to revive under the names of 'Christian saints' . . . Gradually the tenderest features of Astarte, Cybele, Artemis, Diana, and Isis were gathered together in the worship of Mary"--Wil Durant, The Age of Faith, 1950, pp. 745-746.

 

[Hobie]

'Langdon tells us that Mary worship came from ancient Babylon where the virgin mother-goddess was worshiped under the name "Ishtar." Elsewhere in the Near East, the mother-goddess was called "Astarte, Ashtoreth, Persephone, Artemis, [Diana] of Ephesus, Venus, and Isis." This goddess, considered to be greater than any god, was called by these heathen the "virgin mother, merciful mother, Queen of Heaven, and my lady" [which is what "Madonna" means in Italian]. Langdon says she was often sculptured in mother-and-infant images, or as a "mater dolorom" [sorrowful mother] interceding for men with a wrathful god. And thus ancient paganism was brought into the churches and lives of Christians.--see S.H. Langdon, Semitic Mythology, 1931 edition, pp. 12-34, 108-111, 341-344. Laing mentions several other corruptions by which the mother-goddess was worshiped by heathens, that Rome adopted into Christianity: holy water, votive offerings, elevation of sacred objects [lifting of the host], the priest's bells, the decking of images, processions, festivals, prayers for the dead, the worship of relics and the statues of saints.'--see Gordon J. Laing, Survivals of Roman Religion, 1931 edition, pp. 92-95, 123-131,238-241.

'Stephen Benko specializes in early Christianity in its pagan environment. In The Virgin Goddess: Studies in the Pagan and Christian Roots of Mariology, he traces the development of the cult of Mary from Greek and Roman mythology through to recent times. Benko avoids anti-Catholic polemics and is sympathetic to the place of the “queen of heaven” in Christianity. That said, he unerringly traces Mary’s roots to the pagan, pre-Christian heavenly queens of Greece, Rome and the wider Mediterranean—those mutable goddesses whose ranks include Artemis, Astarte, Celeste, Ceres, Cybele, Demeter, Diana, Ishtar, Isis and Selene.... “Christianity,” he notes, “did not add a new element to religion when it introduced into its theology such concepts as ‘virgin’ and ‘mother’; rather, it sharpened and refined images that already existed in numerous forms in pagan mythology.”' The Rise and Rise of the Queen of Heaven

Two dominant elements brought into Christianity from paganism by Rome were Sun worship symbols and the religious practices of ancient Babylon] "The solar theology of the Chaldaeans [Babylonians], had decisive effect . . . [upon the] final form reached by the religion of the pagan Semites, and following them, by that of the Romans when [the Roman emperor] Aurelian, the conqueror of Palmyra, had raised 'Sol Invictus' [the invincible sun-god] to the rank of supreme divinity in the Empire"--The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 11, pp. 643, 646-647. From Palmyra he transferred to the new sanctuary the images of Helios [the sun-god] and Bel, the malaise patron god of Babylon--see Cumont, The Oriental Religions In Roman Paganism, 1911 edition, pp. 114-115, 124.

"The [Catholic] Church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan Roman Pantheon, temple of all the gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday. She took the pagan Easter and made it the feast we celebrate during this season . . . The Sun was a foremost god with heathendom . . . The sun has worshipers at this hour in Persia and other lands . . . Hence the Church would seem to say, 'Keep that old pagan name [Sunday]. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.' And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus"--William L. Gildea, "Paschale Gaudium," in The Catholic World, 58, March, 1894, p. 809 [A Roman Catholic weekly]....

'The Virgin Mary you worship is not the historical Virgin Mary.
The Catholic Church are worshipping the Queen of Heaven, a pagan goddess.

431 A.D. - The Catholic Church introduces the worship of Mary. 104
431 A.D. - Council at Ephesus affirmed that Mary was the bearer of Jesus as “man and God”. 104
1854 - Roman Catholic Church introduce the “Immaculate conception of Mary”. 104
1904 - Roman Catholic Church “crowned” Mary. 105
1950 - Roman Catholic Church introduces the Assumption of Mary. 104'.. The Queen of Heaven..

 

[Hobie]

Here are a few of the pagan gods and how they were renamed to let their worship continue:

"Demeter is a goddess of many festivals but most important, the Thesmophoria, which fell in late October. She became St. Demetrios, a masculine warrior saint, whose fd. is 10/26.

Aphrodite became St. Aphrodite, of which there are several, all with saints' tales that tell how she became a "repentant harlot."

Nike was picked up as Saint Nicholas, who was extremely popular wherever shipping was important. He is the patron saint of Russian, Holland and Germany, all on the north sea coast.

The Roman god Mars was originally a god who guarded wheat fields. He became St. Martin (esp. St. Martin-in-the-fields). Although March is the month associated with Mars (it was the beginning of the military campaigning season in Roman times), the major festival for him in Christian times now usually falls in February, called Mardi Gras "Great Mars."

The Roman god Quirinus became St. Cyrinus, of which there are various "equestrian warrior saints" such as St. Cyr in France, and St. Quirina, mother of St. Lawrence. The element quir- means (or was understood to mean) `horse.' These saints were very popular and widely worshiped in the Middle-Ages, in France, Holland and also eastern Christian countries.

The Roman gods known as the Lares became St. Lawrence, esp. St. Lawrence beyond-the-wall. The Lares were field gods who protected the grain growing in the fields. In Italian, he became St. Lorenzo beyond the Walls, meaning outside of the walls of the city, for which there is still a church in Rome, with many "daughter" churches which developed from it.

The Roman goddess Venus became St. Venera (with a feminized ending to her name since -us looks like a masculine ending in Latin). She had a major church in Rome in early Christian times, but that didn't last long.

The Roman gods known as the Gemini, who were protectors of sailors in Roman pagan times, became the Sanctos Geminos, with a number of forms in the various Christian religions. Santiago de Compostela, (St. James in English) became the protector of pilgrims during the Middle Ages. Forms of St. James all seem to be christianized from various forms of the Proto-Indo-European god *Yama. This god was repeatedly christianized in most of the Indo-European language groups.

The ancient Romans worshiped gods and goddesses involved with every aspect of life. Jupiter, the chief of the gods, was the god of rain and storms, while his wife, Juno, was the goddess of womanhood. Minerva was the goddess of handicrafts and wisdom; Venus, of sexual love and birth; Vesta, of the hearth and sacred fires; Ceres, of farming and harvests.

The Greeks considered Mercury, whom they called Hermes, to be the messenger of the gods, but the Romans worshiped him as the god of trade, with businesspeople celebrating his feast day to increase profits. And there were other popular deities: Mars, god of war; Castor and Pollux, gods of sea travelers; Cronos, the guardian of time; and of course Cupid, god of love, whose magic arrows caused both human beings and immortals to fall in love.

While the Romans would call generically on "the gods," each major deity still had its own cult, and worshippers would pray and conduct religious ceremonies to a specific god or goddess to implore help."... St. Valentine, Cupid and Jesus Christ

 

[Hobie]

"Now idol worship flooded into the church under the cover of being renamed for 'saints' and if you check you will find that Roman Catholicism says that these 10,000 (and counting) designated saints are "special friends of God." They can be asked to intercede for those still on earth. In Roman Catholic teaching, a 'saint' can be designated as the patron saint of a particular activity or profession. A 'saint' can be prayed to in order to prevent disasters or heal illnesses. But if you look you will find that ancient pagan Greek and Roman held belief in a pantheon of many gods who had special powers in specific areas of life. Each one was to be prayed to, and devotion shown to him (or her) through various acts of veneration, in order to gain each god's favor as needed.

While the Church claims it never gave the 'Saints' to the people to worship or pray to, the pagan masses they drew in made no such fine distinctions, and they came to regard the idols of the Saints themselves as present helps in trouble and addressed their prayers directly to them. They were more interested in the power of the dead of pagan beliefs now set up as 'Saints' in the church, to help them in their troubles as they had done before as pagans. A good example of the closeness of the resemblance of the specialization of function of different Saints to that of pagan spirits is found in the published lists of Saints used by some Christians.

Here are some of the examples: San Serapio was used to appealed to in case of stomach-ache; Santa Polonia for tooth-ache; San Jose, San Juan Bautista and Santa Catalina for headache; San Bernardo and San Cirilo for indigestion; San Luis for cholera; San Francisco for colic; San Ignacio and Santa Lutgarda for childbirth; Santa Balsania for scrofula; San Felix for ulcers; Santa Agueda for nursing mothers; San Babilas for burns; San Gorge for an infected cut; Santa Quiteria for dog's bite; San Ciriaco for diseases of the ear; Santa Lucia for the eyes; San Pedro for fever; and Santa Rita for the impossible and on and on. Now many of the early Christians themselves protested against the cult of the Saints: for example, Vigilantius and Faustus in the fifth century. But on the other side were such great apologists as Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, Chrysostom, and Basil, who though claiming that God alone was worshipped, expressed full belief in the efficacy of the intercession of the Saints.

Now looking at the festivals, there are some specific festivals that go back directly to pagan customs connected with the dead. All Saints' Day, was observed on the the Roman festival of the dead, the Lemuria. In the modern festival the faithful visit the tombs of the Saints, venerate their relics, and pray for their blessing. The next day also, the second of November, All Souls' Day, unquestionably reproduces some of the features of the Parentalia. The Parentalia or dies parentales ("ancestral days") was a nine-day festival held to honor the dead ancestors with visits to tombs and sacred offerings. It got into the church, and Christians went to the cemeteries and decked the graves of the members of their family with flowers and candles, and there were ceremonies which took the place of the ancient sacrifice, directed to the repose of the souls of the departed."... SURVIVALS OF ROMAN RELIGION, by GORDON J. LAING

 

[Hobie]

Now here is even more connection to the worship of Mithra..The Pope now pretends to have authority or so claims to believers and be the successor of Peter, to whom they say that Christ exclusively committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven. But here is the important fact that, till the Pope was invested with the title, no such claim to pre-eminence, or anything approaching to it, was ever publicly made on his part, on the ground of his being the possessor of the keys bestowed on Peter. But there was in ancient pagan religion a connection, which for a thousand years had had attached to a belief the power of the keys of Janus and Cybele.

We see in the second century before the Christian era that the worship of Cybele, was introduced into Rome; but the same goddess, under the name of Cardea, with the "power of the key," was worshipped in Rome, along with Janus, ages before in ancient times.Janus bore a key, and Cybele bore a key; and these are the two keys that the Pope emblazons on his arms as the ensigna of his spiritual authority.

In 274 AD, Emperor Aurelian established December 25th, the winter solstice (the shortest solar day of the year under the Julian calendar), as the day the goddess Cybele, the Queen of Heaven, gave birth to the sun, Mithras. Cybele (also known as Semiramis), the Phrygian goddess, known to her followers as "the mother of god", was closely related to the worship of Mithra (also known as Nimrod). Just as Mithraism was a man's religion, the worship of Cybele was practiced by women. The priests of Mithra were known as "Fathers" and the Priestesses of Cybele as "Mothers". But many of Cybele's priestesses were also "transgendered females" known as galli, who participated in self-mutilation (including self-castration).

Cybele was the goddess of nature, fertility, and of fortifications, who was worshipped in Rome as the Great Mother of the Gods. She bore a key like Janus, which opened the gates of the invisible world. ( supposedly the world prior to the flood). It was only in the second century before the Christian era that the worship of Cybele under that name, was introduced to Rome; but the same goddess, under the name of Cardea, with the "power of the key," was worshipped in Rome, along with Janus, ages before.

Cybele originated as an earth goddess worshipped in Asia Minor, primarily at Çatal Hüyük. She was known as Kubaba which suggests Humbaba, who was the guardian of the forest in the Epic of Gilgamesh and was earliest depicted as an earth mother -- in plump and heavy forms. The name may be derivative of the local word for cube and may refer to a black meteorite that was associated with her that resided either at Pessinus, Pergamum, or Mt. Ida.

Rome was considered to be a "New Troy" by many, and thought that its fate might be dependent upon the Phrygian Goddess. The Sibylline books declared that "whenever a foreign enemy has invaded Italy, he can only be driven away and vanquished, if the Mother of Mount Ida is transferred from Pessinus to Rome". So Cybele had to be brought to Rome to help bring about a victory against Hannibal the Carthaginian in what we now call the Second Punic War.

A delegation was sent to Delphi to consult the Oracle and then to Pergamun where the ruling King (then allied with Rome against Philip V of Macedon) gave them the statue and the black meteorite that personified Cybele. This was carried on a ship to Ostia (chief port of Rome). It was called the Black Stone of the Magna Mater.

When Cybele worship moved to Rome the black meteorite was adapted as the head of the cult statue. Cybele, like Artemis of Ephesus, was a "black virgin".

Caesar Augustus acknowledged Cybele as chief divinity of the Roman Empire - the Magna Mater and she was housed in the Temple of Victoria until a Metro was built in 191 BCE. The early Christians were determined to destroy the cult and St Augustine condemned her as a "demon" and a "monster". In the 4th Century her worship was banned. Elements of the cult were transferred into Christianity .

Cybele retained prominence in the heart of the Empire until the fifth century BCE - when the stone was then lost. Her cult prospered throughout the Empire and it is said that every town or village remained true to the worship of Cybele.

The basilica of Saint Peter's now stands upon the former site of Cybele's main temple in Rome. She wore a key like Janus which gave her the same authority as Janus (key to heaven and earth and the mysteries of the world prior to the flood).

Here are a few studies that give ever more insight on this...

1320: Section 12: Roman Cults and Worship

At the Edge archive: Black stone - Omphalos of the goddess

"The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity"

kinginstitute.stanford.edu

 

[BlessedPeace]

When did that happen?

If the church states it,practicing Catholics must believe it.

It doesn't make what is affirmed by the church true. They
did not conquer paganism. They absorbed it in the name of Christ.

That act is what Jesus warned us about before it occurred. In both testaments.

 

[Hobie]

depends which pagan religion you're talking about I guess. But the Roman pagan religions died out more than 1000 years ago...

Pax et Bonum

Well, it lives in the Roman entity that is alive today after more than 1000 years. Here is another good explanation on this issue..

'The Catholic Church, highly organized, moved forward to plant churches and propagate her doctrines in many lands. Relentlessly she moved forward from victory to victory. What was the secret of her rapid growth? The answer is simple. She conquered by consuming the religions about her.

In a college textbook, An Introduction to Medieval Europe by Thompson and Johnson, page 33, the writers explain the survival of Paganism.
Paganism as a distinct and separate religion may perhaps be said to have died, although, driven out of the cities, it found refuge in the countryside, where it lingered long, and whence, indeed, its very name is derived.
In a very real sense, however, it never died at all. It was only transformed and absorbed into Christianity. It is this transformation, and the absorption of classical culture in its various manifestations into the very substance of Christianity which, perhaps more than anything else, explains why after its toleration Christianity swept on with such relentless force to become the undisputed- heir of the whole complex of Mediterranean civilization.

Commenting further on the absorbing qualities of the Church these same writers say:
The competing oriental mystery cults Christianity overcame by becoming itself an oriental mystery cult.
In like manner Christianity overcame Graeco-Roman polytheism by itself becoming in some degree polytheistic. Its polytheism consisted in devotion to its martyrs and its ascetic heroes as saints . . . Local Christian saints became endowed with the powers of local pagan gods. The aches and pains, the fears and hopes, that had formerly been cured or assuaged or satisfied by pagan gods were now taken care of by their Christian substitutes, whose special days of worship in some cases can be clearly shown to have been the days dedicated to their pagan predecessors. In some instances the Christian saints inherited the very temples of their predecessors.


An Example
In the year 597 Gregory the Great sent Austin as a missionary to Britain to convert the Saxons to Catholicism. Austin was instructed not to make any radical changes hi the worship of the people. He was to offer them very liberal terms if they would but submit to baptism. History of Baptists, Vol. 1, page 1179, by John T. Christian (Baptist Sunday School Committee, Texarkana, Ark.-Texas) has this to say about this mission venture:
He was not to destroy the heathen temples; only to remove the images of their gods, to wash the walls with holy water, to erect altars and deposit relics in them, and so to convert them into Christian churches; not merely to save the expense of new ones, but that the people might easily be prevailed upon to frequent those places of worship to which they had been accustomed. Gregory directed him further to accommodate the services of the Christian worship, as much as possible, to those of the heathen, that the people might not be startled at the change; and particular, he advised him to allow the Christian converts, on certain festivals, to kill and eat a great number of oxen to the glory of God, as they had formerly done to the glory of the devil.

Secular history in a startling statement sums up much of which has already been said:
The most striking feature of medieval Europe was that there was but one religious explanation available, from which no serious deviation was tolerated. That religion we call Christianity, but we must never forget how obstinately classical and barbarian paganism survived, and how many of its elements were incorporated into the new cult. If by Christianity we mean the teachings of Christ and nothing else, we are almost bound to call the new religion paganized Christianity—if it was not, as some have claimed, rather Christianized paganism.

(An Introduction to Medieval Europe by Thompson and Johnson, p. 674)
Pagan Doctrines and Practices
It is very evident that many of the doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church are Pagan in their origin.
Mariolatry was established as a doctrine of the Catholic Church at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Under the influence of Paganism it was felt that another mediator was needed. The Bible says there is but one mediator and he is specifically named. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. 2:5) Not only was Mary added as the chief mediator but there followed a multitude of other mediators in the form of Patron saints.

Pilgrimages and the veneration of relics was borrowed from Paganism. In the fourth century Saint Helena, mother of Constantine and empress of the Roman Empire, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where she is supposed to have found fragments of the true cross on which Christ was crucified. By the sixth century the belief in relics and their power to work miracles was widespread. Today relics form a vital part of the Catholic religion. The silence of the Scriptures and the testimony of historians make it evident that the veneration of relics came from Paganism and not from God.

The Rosary which is so dear to Catholics in their prayers is of very ancient origin. It is almost universal among all the pagan nations. Reference is made to it in Hindu sacred books. The Brahmins of Hindustan have long employed the rosary. It is a common thing among the adherents of the Buddhist faith. It is pagan in its origin and use. The Bible does not in the least way infer the need of a rosary to aid us in our prayer to God.

The doctrine of Purgatory is pagan in its origin. The Roman poet Virgil (70 B. C. - 19 B. C.) wrote of purgatory showing the pagans believed in it long before the Catholic Church taught it. If purgatory were Christian it could be found in the Bible.

Transubstantiation, which did not become a doctrine of the Catholic Church until the 13th century, is pagan. This Romish doctrine means that the bread and wine when blessed by the priest becomes the actual flesh and blood of Christ. The writer has witnessed a midnight mass (Mass is the center of Catholic worship) and the whole service was reeking with Paganism and Judaism. Many may say it is a beautiful service but to others it is a reminder of the pagan sacrifices and of the pagan mystery cults. If the doctrine of transubstantiation were Christian why did not the churches teach it in the first centuries?

The sign of the cross so frequently made by devout Catholics does not come from Christianity but from the Pagans. Actually the same sign now used by the adherents of Rome was used in the Babylonian Mysteries before Christ was ever crucified!
The infallibility of the pope which was not declared until 1870 could not be a Christian doctrine. Many historians believe that the idea for the powers of the pope with the College of Cardinals came from the Pagan College of Pontiff s with its Sovereign Pontiff which had no doubt been in Rome from the earliest times and must have been framed on the order of the original Council of Pontiff s at Babylon. The infallibility of the pope really sounds pagan when one observes that at one tune there were three popes, Urban VI, Clement VII, and Alexander V!

The way of salvation as taught by the Catholic Church is pagan. It is a way of salvation by works. There is not another church in the world so dedicated to teaching salvation by good works as the church of Rome. It is pagan. Salvation is by grace through faith. Eph. 2:8, 9 (Catholic translation)
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not from yourselves, for it is the gift of God; not as the outcome of works lest anyone may boast....'
http://www.pbministries.org/History/Goodwin_&_Frazier/churches_01.htm

 

[Philip James]

"Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil, and to transmute the instruments and appendages of demon worship to an evangelical use... the rulers of the church from early times were prepared should occasion arise, to adopt, or imitate, or sanction the existing rites and customs of the populace." -Development of Christian Doctrine, Cardinal Newman. p. 372

Hello Hobie,

You quote Cardinal Newman, but miss the point entirely. The point that goes hand in hand with the scripture I quoted 'capture every thought for Christ'.

It is not the act of worship or celebration or festival that makes it pagan but the object of that worship and the intention of the heart.

A simple demonstration..

2 neighbors get up every morning, face the rising sun, prostrate themselves and offer praise and thanksgiving. One is a pagan and one is a Christian..

you can't tell which is which unless maybe you overhear their prayers or know their hearts..

For one is worshiping the creation (the sun) while the other is worshiping the creator of the sun, the True God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit..

Everywhere the Gospel has come, local customs, culture, celebrations etc... have been reordered to the proper object of worship and thus are no longer pagan!


Pax et Bonum

 

[Cassandra]

Well, it lives in the Roman entity that is alive today after more than 1000 years. Here is another good explanation on this issue..

'The Catholic Church, highly organized, moved forward to plant churches and propagate her doctrines in many lands. Relentlessly she moved forward from victory to victory. What was the secret of her rapid growth? The answer is simple. She conquered by consuming the religions about her.

In a college textbook, An Introduction to Medieval Europe by Thompson and Johnson, page 33, the writers explain the survival of Paganism.
Paganism as a distinct and separate religion may perhaps be said to have died, although, driven out of the cities, it found refuge in the countryside, where it lingered long, and whence, indeed, its very name is derived.
In a very real sense, however, it never died at all. It was only transformed and absorbed into Christianity. It is this transformation, and the absorption of classical culture in its various manifestations into the very substance of Christianity which, perhaps more than anything else, explains why after its toleration Christianity swept on with such relentless force to become the undisputed- heir of the whole complex of Mediterranean civilization.

Commenting further on the absorbing qualities of the Church these same writers say:
The competing oriental mystery cults Christianity overcame by becoming itself an oriental mystery cult.
In like manner Christianity overcame Graeco-Roman polytheism by itself becoming in some degree polytheistic. Its polytheism consisted in devotion to its martyrs and its ascetic heroes as saints . . . Local Christian saints became endowed with the powers of local pagan gods. The aches and pains, the fears and hopes, that had formerly been cured or assuaged or satisfied by pagan gods were now taken care of by their Christian substitutes, whose special days of worship in some cases can be clearly shown to have been the days dedicated to their pagan predecessors. In some instances the Christian saints inherited the very temples of their predecessors.


An Example
In the year 597 Gregory the Great sent Austin as a missionary to Britain to convert the Saxons to Catholicism. Austin was instructed not to make any radical changes hi the worship of the people. He was to offer them very liberal terms if they would but submit to baptism. History of Baptists, Vol. 1, page 1179, by John T. Christian (Baptist Sunday School Committee, Texarkana, Ark.-Texas) has this to say about this mission venture:
He was not to destroy the heathen temples; only to remove the images of their gods, to wash the walls with holy water, to erect altars and deposit relics in them, and so to convert them into Christian churches; not merely to save the expense of new ones, but that the people might easily be prevailed upon to frequent those places of worship to which they had been accustomed. Gregory directed him further to accommodate the services of the Christian worship, as much as possible, to those of the heathen, that the people might not be startled at the change; and particular, he advised him to allow the Christian converts, on certain festivals, to kill and eat a great number of oxen to the glory of God, as they had formerly done to the glory of the devil.

Secular history in a startling statement sums up much of which has already been said:
The most striking feature of medieval Europe was that there was but one religious explanation available, from which no serious deviation was tolerated. That religion we call Christianity, but we must never forget how obstinately classical and barbarian paganism survived, and how many of its elements were incorporated into the new cult. If by Christianity we mean the teachings of Christ and nothing else, we are almost bound to call the new religion paganized Christianity—if it was not, as some have claimed, rather Christianized paganism.

(An Introduction to Medieval Europe by Thompson and Johnson, p. 674)
Pagan Doctrines and Practices
It is very evident that many of the doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church are Pagan in their origin.
Mariolatry was established as a doctrine of the Catholic Church at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Under the influence of Paganism it was felt that another mediator was needed. The Bible says there is but one mediator and he is specifically named. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. 2:5) Not only was Mary added as the chief mediator but there followed a multitude of other mediators in the form of Patron saints.

Pilgrimages and the veneration of relics was borrowed from Paganism. In the fourth century Saint Helena, mother of Constantine and empress of the Roman Empire, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where she is supposed to have found fragments of the true cross on which Christ was crucified. By the sixth century the belief in relics and their power to work miracles was widespread. Today relics form a vital part of the Catholic religion. The silence of the Scriptures and the testimony of historians make it evident that the veneration of relics came from Paganism and not from God.

The Rosary which is so dear to Catholics in their prayers is of very ancient origin. It is almost universal among all the pagan nations. Reference is made to it in Hindu sacred books. The Brahmins of Hindustan have long employed the rosary. It is a common thing among the adherents of the Buddhist faith. It is pagan in its origin and use. The Bible does not in the least way infer the need of a rosary to aid us in our prayer to God.

The doctrine of Purgatory is pagan in its origin. The Roman poet Virgil (70 B. C. - 19 B. C.) wrote of purgatory showing the pagans believed in it long before the Catholic Church taught it. If purgatory were Christian it could be found in the Bible.

Transubstantiation, which did not become a doctrine of the Catholic Church until the 13th century, is pagan. This Romish doctrine means that the bread and wine when blessed by the priest becomes the actual flesh and blood of Christ. The writer has witnessed a midnight mass (Mass is the center of Catholic worship) and the whole service was reeking with Paganism and Judaism. Many may say it is a beautiful service but to others it is a reminder of the pagan sacrifices and of the pagan mystery cults. If the doctrine of transubstantiation were Christian why did not the churches teach it in the first centuries?

The sign of the cross so frequently made by devout Catholics does not come from Christianity but from the Pagans. Actually the same sign now used by the adherents of Rome was used in the Babylonian Mysteries before Christ was ever crucified!
The infallibility of the pope which was not declared until 1870 could not be a Christian doctrine. Many historians believe that the idea for the powers of the pope with the College of Cardinals came from the Pagan College of Pontiff s with its Sovereign Pontiff which had no doubt been in Rome from the earliest times and must have been framed on the order of the original Council of Pontiff s at Babylon. The infallibility of the pope really sounds pagan when one observes that at one tune there were three popes, Urban VI, Clement VII, and Alexander V!

The way of salvation as taught by the Catholic Church is pagan. It is a way of salvation by works. There is not another church in the world so dedicated to teaching salvation by good works as the church of Rome. It is pagan. Salvation is by grace through faith. Eph. 2:8, 9 (Catholic translation)
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not from yourselves, for it is the gift of God; not as the outcome of works lest anyone may boast....'
http://www.pbministries.org/History/Goodwin_&_Frazier/churches_01.htm

That link is broken

 

[Hobie]

Hello Hobie,

You quote Cardinal Newman, but miss the point entirely. The point that goes hand in hand with the scripture I quoted 'capture every thought for Christ'.

It is not the act of worship or celebration or festival that makes it pagan but the object of that worship and the intention of the heart.

A simple demonstration..

2 neighbors get up every morning, face the rising sun, prostrate themselves and offer praise and thanksgiving. One is a pagan and one is a Christian..

you can't tell which is which unless maybe you overhear their prayers or know their hearts..

For one is worshiping the creation (the sun) while the other is worshiping the creator of the sun, the True God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit..

Everywhere the Gospel has come, local customs, culture, celebrations etc... have been reordered to the proper object of worship and thus are no longer pagan!


Pax et Bonum

I think the Bible is very clear on this....

Ezekiel 8:15-17​

15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
16 And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.

Many can try to shade what is being done or excuse it, but its clear what it is...

 

[Hobie]

That link is broken

Seems like many sites that have these issues laid out are getting taken out, but the history of it cant be wiped out no matter how hard they try. You can find it across the board and from many places...
"Many ancient cultures marked this date as significant, and the concept of sun worship is one nearly as old as mankind itself. In societies that were primarily agricultural, and depended on the sun for life and sustenance, it is no surprise that the sun became deified. While many people today might take the day to grill out, go to the beach, or work on their tans, for our ancestors the summer solstice was a time of great spiritual import.


William Tyler Olcott wrote in Sun Lore of All Ages, published in 1914, that worship of the sun was considered idolatrous–and thus something to be forbidden–once Christianity gained a religious foothold. He says,

"Nothing proves so much the antiquity of solar idolatry as the care Moses took to prohibit it. "Take care," said he to the Israelites, "lest when you lift up your eyes to Heaven and see the sun, the moon, and all the stars, you be seduced and drawn away to pay worship and adoration to the creatures which the Lord your God has made for the service of all the nations under Heaven." Then we have the mention of Josiah taking away the horses that the king of Judah had given to the sun, and burning the chariot of the sun with fire. These references agree perfectly with the recognition in Palmyra of the Lord Sun, Baal Shemesh, and with the identification of the Assyrian Bel, and the Tyrian Baal with the sun."

Egypt and Greece​

The Egyptian peoples honored Ra, the sun god. For people in ancient Egypt, the sun was a source of life. It was power and energy, light and warmth. It was what made the crops grow each season, so it is no surprise that the cult of Ra had immense power and was widespread. Ra was the ruler of the heavens. He was the god of the sun, the bringer of light, and patron to the pharaohs. According to legend, the sun travels the skies as Ra drives his chariot through the heavens. Although he originally was associated only with the midday sun, as time went by, Ra became connected to the sun's presence all day long.


The Greeks honored Helios, who was similar to Ra in his many aspects. Homer describes Helios as "giving light both to gods and men." The cult of Helios celebrated each year with an impressive ritual that involved a giant chariot pulled by horses off the end of a cliff and into the sea.

Native America Traditions​

In many Native American cultures, such as the Iroquois and Plains peoples, the sun was recognized as a life-giving force. Many of the Plains tribes still perform a Sun Dance each year, which is seen as a renewal of the bond man has with life, earth, and the growing season. In MesoAmerican cultures, the sun was associated with kingship, and many rulers claimed divine rights by way of their direct descendancy from the sun.

Persia, the Middle East, and Asia​

As part of the cult of Mithra, early Persian societies celebrated the rising of the sun each day. The legend of Mithra may well have given birth to the Christian resurrection story. Honoring the sun was an integral part of ritual and ceremony in Mithraism, at least as far as scholars have been able to determine. One of the highest ranks one could achieve in a Mithraic temple was that of heliodromus, or sun-carrier.


Sun worship has also been found in Babylonian texts and in a number of Asian religious cults. Today, many Pagans honor the sun at Midsummer, and it continues to shine its fiery energy upon us, bringing light and warmth to the earth."....

Why Do People Worship the Sun?

For many cultures, the celebration of the sun is pretty important. Let's look at sun worship around the world.

www.learnreligions.com

 

[Philip James]

I think the Bible is very clear on this....

Ezekiel 8:15-17​

15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
16 And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.

Many can try to shade what is being done or excuse it, but its clear what it is...

Dear Hobie,

Christians don't worship the sun. That was my point. You asserting that they do is just false accusations.. you should beware of that..

Pax et Bonum

 

[The Learner]

2 Thessalonians 2:3-9
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

We see that Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of AntiChrist power. He declared that before the return of Christ would, "come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who exalteth himself above all that is called God;" Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors in belief that would prepare the way for the false teachings to come in, and history confirmed how it happen.

Little by little, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of believers, paganism and idol worship came into the church. Almost imperceptibly the traditions and customs of Pagan Rome found their way into the Christian church from the former center of the Empire and spread. It had been held back by the persecutions by the Roman Emperors, but as persecution ceased, and Christianity was accepted, the true church began to lay aside its humble beginnings and truth of Christ, for the rites, sacraments and pomp of ancient Rome and the practices of pagan priests and ancient heathen worship with its Babylonian/Greek/Roman gods inscribed with Christians names.

It crept in, then really gained momentum with Emperor Constantine, who tried to politically not to leave out or alienate those who practiced paganism after he claim to convert to Christianity. He declared the Bishop of Rome as the enforcer of truth and forced the merger of paganism into the church, and the heathen religion now cloaked with a 'christianized' cover, walked into the church. Paganism, while outwardly looking to like it was overcome by the church, became the one that vanquished. Pagan doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ.

This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of "the man of sin" foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. In the early church, the bishop of Rome, along with Alexandria and Antioch, was regarded as a Patriarchate, or an autonomous diocese. To this group was added the patriachates of Constantinople and Jerusalem in the fifth century. This group of five was regarded as leading the church as a whole. However, gaining political influence and claiming "historical events" saying the tradition that Peter and Paul had been martyred in Rome, the Bishop of Rome made himself first among equals. To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth; the church was forced to yield allegiance to the the bishop of Rome.

Many of the ancient people worshiped the sun and other pagan gods as they thought that their sun gods and fertility goddesses died at the winter solstice and regained life again at the spring equinox. Note what it says in Judges..
Judges 2:13
And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

But history shows that Baal worship is sun worship, and Ashtoreth/Ishtar/Astarte is the queen of heaven. This is why there are so many sunburst images in Catholicism and why Mary is called the 'Queen of Heaven', the church at Rome incorporated them slowly in. It is the apostasy of idol worship of Baal and Ashtaroth that had started to come into the church.

History shows that long before Mary, pagans fashioned Madonna and child icons and placed them in sacred shrines. Many believe that with the rise of Christianity and papal power, the Goddess would slowly disappear from western culture and fade away. But they didnt, the names and the images of the Madonna and child have changed, and spread. For many pagan 'converts', the blending of their ancient goddesses with the Virgin Mary was a major part of what allowed them to keep their pagan gods but get in the church.

The Bible would have quickly shown they had turned away into false beliefs so its truths had to be concealed and suppressed. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited by the papacy. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and the Bible having been removed, the papacy moved quickly. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the Christian worship. To hide what they had done, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of God the second commandment in their writings, forbidding image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.

Then they went after the fourth commandment also, and essayed to set aside the Sabbath, and put in the festival day observed by the heathen as "the venerable day of the sun." With great subtlety the papacy worked to bring about this change. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed.

In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine as part his merging of paganism with the church had issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire. It was the emperor's policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity, and he was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who perceived that if the same day was observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church. Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible, corruptible men who claimed to lead the church, and the Pope who came to regard himself as supreme, with the elevation of false laws and corrupt traditions that always results from setting aside the law of God.

We must read the Bible and cleanse ourselves from any of the paganism and false worship especially the pagan festivals or "Holy Days" that have been spread into many churches beliefs. The Protestant churches that split from and began the Reformation because they saw the truth and fought so hard against the pagan Papal Roman church are now falling one by one to even worse beliefs in secularism and paganism. Slowly but surely they are giving up the true beliefs that were their foundation untlil they become nothing but secular social clubs with pagan traditions and festivals.

hobie your post is nonsense. The great apostasy is still fulture, just before the AntiChrist.

 

[BlessedPeace]

2 Thessalonians 2:3-9
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

We see that Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of AntiChrist power. He declared that before the return of Christ would, "come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who exalteth himself above all that is called God;" Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors in belief that would prepare the way for the false teachings to come in, and history confirmed how it happen.

Little by little, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of believers, paganism and idol worship came into the church. Almost imperceptibly the traditions and customs of Pagan Rome found their way into the Christian church from the former center of the Empire and spread. It had been held back by the persecutions by the Roman Emperors, but as persecution ceased, and Christianity was accepted, the true church began to lay aside its humble beginnings and truth of Christ, for the rites, sacraments and pomp of ancient Rome and the practices of pagan priests and ancient heathen worship with its Babylonian/Greek/Roman gods inscribed with Christians names.

It crept in, then really gained momentum with Emperor Constantine, who tried to politically not to leave out or alienate those who practiced paganism after he claim to convert to Christianity. He declared the Bishop of Rome as the enforcer of truth and forced the merger of paganism into the church, and the heathen religion now cloaked with a 'christianized' cover, walked into the church. Paganism, while outwardly looking to like it was overcome by the church, became the one that vanquished. Pagan doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ.

This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of "the man of sin" foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. In the early church, the bishop of Rome, along with Alexandria and Antioch, was regarded as a Patriarchate, or an autonomous diocese. To this group was added the patriachates of Constantinople and Jerusalem in the fifth century. This group of five was regarded as leading the church as a whole. However, gaining political influence and claiming "historical events" saying the tradition that Peter and Paul had been martyred in Rome, the Bishop of Rome made himself first among equals. To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth; the church was forced to yield allegiance to the the bishop of Rome.

Many of the ancient people worshiped the sun and other pagan gods as they thought that their sun gods and fertility goddesses died at the winter solstice and regained life again at the spring equinox. Note what it says in Judges..
Judges 2:13
And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

But history shows that Baal worship is sun worship, and Ashtoreth/Ishtar/Astarte is the queen of heaven. This is why there are so many sunburst images in Catholicism and why Mary is called the 'Queen of Heaven', the church at Rome incorporated them slowly in. It is the apostasy of idol worship of Baal and Ashtaroth that had started to come into the church.

History shows that long before Mary, pagans fashioned Madonna and child icons and placed them in sacred shrines. Many believe that with the rise of Christianity and papal power, the Goddess would slowly disappear from western culture and fade away. But they didnt, the names and the images of the Madonna and child have changed, and spread. For many pagan 'converts', the blending of their ancient goddesses with the Virgin Mary was a major part of what allowed them to keep their pagan gods but get in the church.

The Bible would have quickly shown they had turned away into false beliefs so its truths had to be concealed and suppressed. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited by the papacy. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and the Bible having been removed, the papacy moved quickly. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the Christian worship. To hide what they had done, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of God the second commandment in their writings, forbidding image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.

Then they went after the fourth commandment also, and essayed to set aside the Sabbath, and put in the festival day observed by the heathen as "the venerable day of the sun." With great subtlety the papacy worked to bring about this change. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed.

In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine as part his merging of paganism with the church had issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire. It was the emperor's policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity, and he was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who perceived that if the same day was observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church. Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible, corruptible men who claimed to lead the church, and the Pope who came to regard himself as supreme, with the elevation of false laws and corrupt traditions that always results from setting aside the law of God.

We must read the Bible and cleanse ourselves from any of the paganism and false worship especially the pagan festivals or "Holy Days" that have been spread into many churches beliefs. The Protestant churches that split from and began the Reformation because they saw the truth and fought so hard against the pagan Papal Roman church are now falling one by one to even worse beliefs in secularism and paganism. Slowly but surely they are giving up the true beliefs that were their foundation untlil they become nothing but secular social clubs with pagan traditions and festivals.

The Pope wearing the fisherman's hat. The RCC thinking only Catholics go to Heaven.

The priest at Mass and his place as acting on Jesus behalf or as his emmisary.

I agree the warning is against the Apostasy that is the Roman Rite church. Idols,veneration of the dead,necromancy, paganism, teachings Jesus never gave.

 

[Philip James]

The RCC thinking only Catholics go to Heaven.

Hello BlessedPeace,

who told you that? Not a Catholic, I'm sure..

Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation

Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText

Pax et Bonum