Second
Maccabees
By removing worship from the Place of Jerusalem or Gerezim to the human SPIRIT or MIND, Jesus repudiated the worship of Zeus and Dionysus or Bacchus which focused on music.
This document is important because modern teachers cannot find any New Testament commentary about removing the "exorcising" music or noise when animal sacrifices ceased. When people wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas as Hermes and Zeus Paul understood that this was what happened as the Abomination of Desolation when Zeus worship took over the Jerusalem Temple. This continued among the not-Israelite sectarians when they tried to get Jesus and others to sing and dance when they piped.
Acts
14 Paul gets violent with those practicing the Abomination of
Desolation.
These
false teachers missed the Abomination of Desolation which makes the
universal association between religious music and perverted
males or
prostitutes. Reading Acts 7 should have warned them
about musical
idolatry at Mount Sinai and Amos and reading Acts 14 might help.
Zeus and Dionysus were worshipped as "the Abomination of Desolation" in the Jerusalem temple. It is a historical fact that the Jews anticipated that the Messiah would be Bacchus of Dionysus--the perverted new wineskin god.When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" Acts 14:11
Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes (Mercury) because he was the chief speaker. Acts 14:12
The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. Acts 14:13
First Maccabees
Third Maccabees
See Fourth Maccabees for a vivid description of torture alluded to in Hebrews 11
See how the WEALTHY bribed to introduce the Gymnasium to facilitate Greek Worship
How the perverted Jews would try to Triumph Over Jesus
2 Maccabees 1
1 - The Jewish brethren in Jerusalem and those in the land of Judea, To their Jewish brethren in Egypt, Greeting, and good peace.
2 - May God do good to you, and may he remember his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, his faithful servants.
3 - May he give you all a heart to worship him and to do his will with a strong heart and a willing spirit.
4 - May he open your heart to his law and his commandments, and may he bring peace.
5 - May he hear your prayers and be reconciled to you, and may he not forsake you in time of evil.
6 - We are now praying for you here.
7 - In the reign of Demetrius, in the one hundred and sixty-ninth year, we Jews wrote to you, in the critical distress which came upon us in those years
after Jason and his company revolted from the holy land and the kingdom
8 - and burned the gate and shed innocent blood. We besought the Lord and we were heard, and we offered sacrifice and cereal offering, and we lighted the lamps and we set out the loaves.
9 - And now see that you keep the feast of booths in the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and eighty-eighth year.
10 - Those in Jerusalem and those in Judea and the senate and Judas,
To Aristobulus, who is of the family of the anointed priests, teacher of Ptolemy the king, and to the Jews in Egypt,
Greeting, and good health.
11 - Having been saved by God out of grave dangers we thank him greatly for taking our side against the king.
12 - For he drove out those who fought against the holy city.
13 - For when the leader reached Persia with a force that seemed irresistible, they were cut to pieces in the temple of Nanea by a deception employed by the priests of Nanea.
14 - For under pretext of intending to marry her, Antiochus came to the place together with his friends, to secure most of its treasures as a dowry.
15 - When the priests of the temple of Nanea had set out the treasures and Antiochus had come with a few men inside the wall of the sacred precinct, they closed the temple as soon as he entered it.
16 - Opening the secret door in the ceiling, they threw stones and struck down the leader and his men, and dismembered them and cut off their heads and threw them to the people outside.
17 - Blessed in every way be our God, who has brought judgment upon those who have behaved impiously.
18 - Since on the twenty-fifth day of Chislev we shall celebrate the purification of the temple, we thought it necessary to notify you, in order that you also may celebrate the feast of booths
and the feast of the fire given when Nehemiah, who built the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.
19 - For when our fathers were being led captive to Persia, the pious priests of that time took some of the fire of the altar and secretly hid it in the hollow of a dry cistern, where they took such precautions that the place was unknown to any one.
20 - But after many years had passed, when it pleased God, Nehemiah, having been commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to get it. And when they reported to us that they had not found fire but thick liquid, he ordered them to dip it out and bring it.
21 - And when the materials for the sacrifices were presented, Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle the liquid on the wood and what was laid upon it.
22 - When this was done and some time had passed and the sun, which had been clouded over, shone out, a great fire blazed up, so that all marveled.
23 - And while the sacrifice was being consumed, the priests offered prayer -- the priests and every one. Jonathan led, and the rest responded, as did Nehemiah.
24 - The prayer was to this effect:
"O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, who art awe-inspiring and strong and just and merciful, who alone art King and art kind,
25 - who alone art bountiful, who alone art just and almighty and eternal, who dost rescue Israel from every evil, who didst choose the fathers and consecrate them,
26 - accept this sacrifice on behalf of all thy people Israel and preserve thy portion and make it holy.
27 - Gather together our scattered people, set free those who are slaves among the Gentiles, look upon those who are rejected and despised, and let the Gentiles know that thou art our God.
28 - Afflict those who oppress and are insolent with pride.
29 - Plant thy people in thy holy place, as Moses said."
30 - Then the priests sang the hymns.
31 - And when the materials of the sacrifice were consumed, Nehemiah ordered that the liquid that was left should be poured upon large stones.
32 - When this was done, a flame blazed up; but when the light from the altar shone back, it went out.
33 - When this matter became known, and it was reported to the king of the Persians that, in the place where the exiled priests had hidden the fire, the liquid had appeared with which Nehemiah and his associates had burned the materials of the sacrifice,
34 - the king investigated the matter, and enclosed the place and made it sacred.
35 - And with those persons whom the king favored he exchanged many excellent gifts.
36 - Nehemiah and his associates called this "nephthar," which means purification, but by most people it is called naphtha.
2 Maccabees 2
1 - One finds in the records that Jeremiah the prophet ordered those who were being deported to take some of the fire, as has been told,
2 - and that the prophet after giving them the law instructed those who were being deported not to forget the commandments of the Lord, nor to be led astray in their thoughts upon seeing the gold and silver statues and their adornment.
3 - And with other similar words he exhorted them that the law should not depart from their hearts.
4 - It was also in the writing that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him, and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God.
5 - And Jeremiah came and found a cave, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense, and he sealed up the entrance.
6 - Some of those who followed him came up to mark the way, but could not find it.
7 - When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: "The place shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy.
8 - And then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon asked that the place should be specially consecrated."
9 - It was also made clear that being possessed of wisdom Solomon offered sacrifice for the dedication and completion of the temple.
10 - Just as Moses prayed to the Lord, and fire came down from heaven and devoured the sacrifices, so also Solomon prayed, and the fire came down and consumed the whole burnt offerings.
11 - And Moses said, "They were consumed because the sin offering had not been eaten."
12 - Likewise Solomon also kept the eight days.
13 - The same things are reported in the records and in the memoirs of Nehemiah, and also that he founded a library and collected the books about the kings and prophets, and the writings of David, and letters of kings about votive offerings.
14 - In the same way Judas also collected all the books that had been lost on account of the war which had come upon us, and they are in our possession.
15 - So if you have need of them, send people to get them for you.
16 - Since, therefore, we are about to celebrate the purification, we write to you. Will you therefore please keep the days?
17 - It is God who has saved all his people, and has returned the inheritance to all, and the kingship and priesthood and consecration,
18 - as he promised through the law. For we have hope in God that he will soon have mercy upon us and will gather us from everywhere under heaven into his holy place, for he has rescued us from great evils and has purified the place.
19 - The story of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, and the purification of the great temple, and the dedication of the altar,
20 - and further the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Eupator,
21 - and the appearances which came from heaven to those who strove zealously on behalf of Judaism, so that though few in number they seized the whole land and pursued the barbarian hordes,
22 - and recovered the temple famous throughout the world and freed the city and restored the laws that were about to be abolished, while the Lord with great kindness became gracious to them --
23 - all this, which has been set forth by Jason of Cyrene in five volumes, we shall attempt to condense into a single book.
24 - For considering the flood of numbers involved and the difficulty there is for those who wish to enter upon the narratives of history because of the mass of material,
25 - we have aimed to please those who wish to read, to make it easy for those who are inclined to memorize, and to profit all readers.
26 - For us who have undertaken the toil of abbreviating, it is no light matter but calls for sweat and loss of sleep,
27 - just as it is not easy for one who prepares a banquet and seeks the benefit of others. However, to secure the gratitude of many we will gladly endure the uncomfortable toil,
28 - leaving the responsibility for exact details to the compiler, while devoting our effort to arriving at the outlines of the condensation.
29 - For as the master builder of a new house must be concerned with the whole construction, while the one who undertakes its painting and decoration has to consider only what is suitable for its adornment, such in my judgment is the case with us.
30 - It is the duty of the original historian to occupy the ground and to discuss matters from every side and to take trouble with details,
31 - but the one who recasts the narrative should be allowed to strive for brevity of expression and to forego exhaustive treatment.
32 - At this point therefore let us begin our narrative, adding only so much to what has already been said; for it is foolish to lengthen the preface while cutting short the history itself.
2 Maccabees 3
1 - While the holy city was inhabited in unbroken peace and the laws were very well observed because of the piety of the high priest Onias and his hatred of wickedness,
2 - it came about that the kings themselves honored the place and glorified the temple with the finest presents,
3 - so that even Seleucus, the king of Asia, defrayed from his own revenues all the expenses connected with the service of the sacrifices.
4 - But a man named Simon, of the tribe of Benjamin, who had been made captain of the temple, had a disagreement with the high priest about the administration of the city market;
5 - and when he could not prevail over Onias he went to Apollonius of Tarsus, who at that time was governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia.
6 - He reported to him that the treasury in Jerusalem was full of untold sums of money,
so that the amount of the funds could not be reckoned, and that they did not belong to the account of the sacrifices,
but that it was possible for them to fall under the control of the king.
7 - When Apollonius met the king, he told him of the money about which he had been informed. The king chose Heliodorus, who was in charge of his affairs, and sent him with commands to effect the removal of the aforesaid money.
8 - Heliodorus at once set out on his journey, ostensibly to make a tour of inspection of the cities of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, but in fact to carry out the king's purpose.
9 - When he had arrived at Jerusalem and had been kindly welcomed by the high priest of the city, he told about the disclosure that had been made and stated why he had come, and he inquired whether this really was the situation.
10 - The high priest explained that there were some deposits belonging to widows and orphans,
11 - and also some money of Hyrcanus, son of Tobias, a man of very prominent position, and that it totaled in all four hundred talents of silver and two hundred of gold. To such an extent the impious Simon had misrepresented the facts.
12 - And he said that it was utterly impossible that wrong should be done to those people who had trusted in the holiness of the place and in the sanctity and inviolability of the temple which is honored throughout the whole world.
13 - But Heliodorus, because of the king's commands which he had, said that this money must in any case be confiscated for the king's treasury.
14 - So he set a day and went in to direct the inspection of these funds. There was no little distress throughout the whole city.
15 - The priests prostrated themselves before the altar in their priestly garments and called toward heaven upon him who had given the law about deposits, that he should keep them safe for those who had deposited them.
16 - To see the appearance of the high priest was to be wounded at heart, for his face and the change in his color disclosed the anguish of his soul.
17 - For terror and bodily trembling had come over the man, which plainly showed to those who looked at him the pain lodged in his heart.
18 - People also hurried out of their houses in crowds to make a general supplication because the holy place was about to be brought into contempt.
19 - Women, girded with sackcloth under their breasts, thronged the streets. Some of the maidens who were kept indoors ran together to the gates, and some to the walls, while others peered out of the windows.
20 - And holding up their hands to heaven, they all made entreaty.
21 - There was something pitiable in the prostration of the whole populace and the anxiety of the high priest in his great anguish.
22 - While they were calling upon the Almighty Lord that he would keep what had been entrusted safe and secure for those who had entrusted it,
23 - Heliodorus went on with what had been decided.
24 - But when he arrived at the treasury with his bodyguard, then and there the Sovereign of spirits and of all authority caused so great a manifestation that all who had been so bold as to accompany him were astounded by the power of God, and became faint with terror.
25 - For there appeared to them a magnificently caparisoned horse, with a rider of frightening mien, and it rushed furiously at Heliodorus and struck at him with its front hoofs. Its rider was seen to have armor and weapons of gold.
26 - Two young men also appeared to him, remarkably strong, gloriously beautiful and splendidly dressed, who stood on each side of him and scourged him continuously, inflicting many blows on him.
27 - When he suddenly fell to the ground and deep darkness came over him, his men took him up and put him on a stretcher
28 - and carried him away, this man who had just entered the aforesaid treasury with a great retinue and all his bodyguard but was now unable to help himself; and they recognized clearly the sovereign power of God.
29 - While he lay prostrate, speechless because of the divine intervention and deprived of any hope of recovery,
30 - they praised the Lord who had acted marvelously for his own place. And the temple, which a little while before was full of fear and disturbance, was filled with joy and gladness, now that the Almighty Lord had appeared.
31 - Quickly some of Heliodorus' friends asked Onias to call upon the Most High and to grant life to one who was lying quite at his last breath.
32 - And the high priest, fearing that the king might get the notion that some foul play had been perpetrated by the Jews with regard to Heliodorus, offered sacrifice for the man's recovery.
33 - While the high priest was making the offering of atonement, the same young men appeared again to Heliodorus dressed in the same clothing, and they stood and said, "Be very grateful to Onias the high priest, since for his sake the Lord has granted you your life.
34 - And see that you, who have been scourged by heaven, report to all men the majestic power of God." Having said this they vanished.
35 - Then Heliodorus offered sacrifice to the Lord and made very great vows to the Savior of his life, and having bidden Onias farewell, he marched off with his forces to the king.
36 - And he bore testimony to all men of the deeds of the supreme God, which he had seen with his own eyes.
37 - When the king asked Heliodorus what sort of person would be suitable to send on another mission to Jerusalem, he replied,
38 - "If you have any enemy or plotter against your government, send him there, for you will get him back thoroughly scourged, if he escapes at all, for there certainly is about the place some power of God.
39 - For he who has his dwelling in heaven watches over that place himself and brings it aid, and he strikes and destroys those who come to do it injury."
40 - This was the outcome of the episode of Heliodorus and the protection of the treasury.
2 Maccabees 4
1 - The previously mentioned Simon, who had informed about the money against his own country, slandered Onias, saying that it was he who had incited Heliodorus and had been the real cause of the misfortune.
2 - He dared to designate as a plotter against the government the man who was the benefactor of the city, the protector of his fellow countrymen, and a zealot for the laws.
3 - When his hatred progressed to such a degree that even murders were committed by
one of Simon's approved agents,
4 - Onias recognized that the rivalry was serious and that Apollonius, the son of Menestheus and governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, was intensifying the malice of Simon.
5 - So he betook himself to the king, not accusing his fellow citizens but having in view the welfare, both public and private, of all the people.
6 - For he saw that without the king's attention public affairs could not again reach a peaceful settlement, and that Simon would not stop his folly.
7 - When Seleucus died and Antiochus who was called Epiphanes succeeded to the kingdom,
Jason the brother of Onias obtained the high priesthood by corruption,
8 - promising the king at an interview three hundred and sixty talents of silver and, from another source of revenue, eighty talents.
9 - In addition to this he promised to pay one hundred and fifty more if permission were given to
establish by his authority a gymnasium and a body of youth for it, and to enrol the men of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch.
10 - When the king assented and Jason came to office,
he at once shifted his countrymen over to the Greek way of life.
11 - He set aside the existing royal concessions to the Jews, secured through John the father of Eupolemus, who went on the mission to establish friendship and alliance with the Romans;
and he destroyed the lawful ways of living and introduced new customs contrary to the law.
12 - For with alacrity he founded a gymnasium right under the citadel, and
he induced the noblest of the young men to wear the Greek hat.
See how Hermes is related to sexual religions in First Maccabees Introduction.
In ancient times, just prior to 186 BCE, the land of Yisrael was ruled by a Greek Seleucid, Antiochus Epiphanes IV. He was extremely cruel, and outlawed the Hebrew religion, forcing his Greek customs on them. In the record of 2 Maccabees, an apostate high priest (named “Jason” in translation, but really named Y'shua) helped this Greek ruler impose the Greek ways of living:“And abrogating the lawful way of living, he introduced new customs contrary to the Torah; for he willingly established a gymnasium right under the citadel (the Temple), and he made the finest of the young men wear the Greek hat.” (Recall that Hermes, the Greek deity of the mind, was associated with skills in commerce, fortune, gymnastics, cunning, and shrewdness. Reading the previous quote carefully, it is obvious that the "gymnasium" and the "finest of the young men" are linked to the special "hat" they were made to wear. This strongly implies that Hermes was involved, and the prowess and skill of the young men was rewarded. The hat must have been an icon or badge of honor to the Greeks for skill in gymnastics, leaving no doubt that Hermes would be the deity related to the hat.)
Paul writes at 1Cor. 11:7 that a man is not to have his head covered in the assembly, but a woman is required to, to keep from dishonoring one another’s headship. Yahushua is the man’s ‘head’, while a woman’s ‘head’ is her husband. We are to follow the Torah, and not add to it in any way: “Do not add to nor take away from it”. Dt. 12:32.Dt. 12:32.
Man-made customs, including all the camouflaged Paganism found in Christendom, are traditions that are forbidden in the worship of YHWH. They represent more than a “strange fire”, but are like the golden calf. It is forbidden to worship Him after the customs of the Pagans. “The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” ~ 1 Yoch. 2:6. Walk in Light ~ the Torah. (END OF EXCERPT)
The Homosexual Roots of the Nazi Party:
At the heart of the 'sodomy delusion' lies the Judaic rejection of Hellenism and paiderasteia, one of the distinctive features of the culture brought by the Greek conquerers of Asia Minor. It is a fundamental, ineluctable clash of values within what was destined to become Western civilization. Only in the Maccabean era did the opposition to Hellenization and everything Hellenic lead to the intense, virtually paranoid hatred and condemnation of male homosexuality, a hatred that Judaism bequeathed to the nascent Christian church (ibid.:36).In his article 'Homosexuality and the Maccabean Revolt,' Catholic scholar Patrick G. D. Riley also identifies homosexuality as the focal point of conflict between the Jews and the Greeks. The Greek King, Antiochus, had ordered that all the nations of his empire be 'welded... into a single people' (Riley:14). This created a crisis for the Jews, forcing them to choose between faithfulness to Biblical commandments (at the risk of martyrdom) and participation in a range of desecrations from'the sacrificing of pigs and the worshipping of idols, to 'leaving their sons uncircumsized, and prostituting themselves to all kinds of impurity and abomination' (1 Macc. 1:49-51)' (ibid.:14). The Greeks also built one of their gymnasia (these were notorious throughout the ancient world for their association with homosexual practices) in Jerusalem, which 'attracted the noblest young men of Israel...subduing them under the petaso' (emphasis ours -- 2 Macc. 4:12). In the traditional Latin translation the above phrase is rendered'to put in brothels' (Riley:15).
The tensions which led to the Jewish revolt were exacerbated when the Jewish high priest, a Hellenist himself, offered a sacrifice to Heracles (Hercules) who was a Greek symbol of homosexuality. Riley adds,'The Jewish temple itself became the scene of pagan sacrificial meals and sexual orgies [including homosexuality].' The final insult (for which Antiochus is identified in the Bible as the archtype of the antichrist)'was the installation in the temple of a pagan symbol, possibly a representation of Zeus [Baal], called by a sardonic pun 'the abomination of desolation'' (ibid.:16).
In the ensuing religious revolt, the Maccabes'preserved what would become the moral charter of Christendom, just as in defending marriage they saved what would be the very material of its construction, namely, the family' (ibid.:17). Yet, though they preserved the Judeo-Christian sexual ethic, the Maccabees did not vanquish Greek philosophy as a rival social force. Of the two irreconcilable belief systems the Judeo-Christian one would prevail, allowing the development of what we know today as Western culture, yet Hellenism survived.
Clement Contra Heresies.
It is not, then, without reason that the poets call him a cruel wretch and a nefarious scoundrel. It were tedious to recount his adulteries of all sorts,
Hercules, the son of Zeus-a true son of Zeus-was the offspring of that long night, who with hard toil accomplished the twelve labours in a long time, but in one night deflowered the fifty daughters of Thestius, and thus was at once the debaucher and the bridegroom of so many virgins.
and debauching of boys. For your gods did not even abstain from boys, homosexuals
one having loved Hylas, another Hyacinthus, another Pelops, another Chrysippus, and another Ganymede.Let such gods as these be worshipped by your wives, and let them pray that their husbands be such as these-so temperate; that, emulating them in the same practices, they may be like the gods.
Such gods let your boys be trained to worship, that they may grow up to be men with the accursed likeness of fornication on them received from the gods. But it is only the male deities, perhaps, that are impetuous in sexual indulgence.
13 - There was such an extreme of Hellenization and increase in the adoption of foreign ways because of the surpassing wickedness of Jason, who was ungodly and no high priest,
14 - that the priests were no longer intent upon their service at the altar.
Despising the sanctuary and neglecting the sacrifices,
they hastened to take part in the unlawful proceedings
in the wrestling arena after the call to the discus,
15 - disdaining the honors prized by their fathers and putting the highest value upon Greek forms of prestige.
16 - For this reason heavy disaster overtook them, and
those whose ways of living they admired and wished to imitate
completely became their enemies and punished them.
17 - For it is no light thing to show irreverence to the divine laws -- a fact which later events will make clear.
18 - When the quadrennial games were being held at Tyre and the king was present,
19 - the vile Jason sent envoys, chosen as being Antiochian citizens from Jerusalem, to carry three hundred silver drachmas for the sacrifice to Hercules.
Those who carried the money, however, thought best not to use it for sacrifice, because that was inappropriate, but to expend it for another purpose.
20 - So this money was intended by the sender for the sacrifice to Hercules,
but by the decision of its carriers it was applied to the construction of triremes.
21 - When Apollonius the son of Menestheus was sent to Egypt for the coronation of Philometor as king, Antiochus learned that Philometor had become hostile to his government, and he took measures for his own security. Therefore upon arriving at Joppa he proceeded to Jerusalem.
22 - He was welcomed magnificently by Jason and the city, and ushered in with a blaze of torches and with shouts. Then he marched into Phoenicia.
23 - After a period of three years Jason sent Menelaus, the brother of the previously mentioned Simon, to carry the money to the king and to complete the records of essential business.
24 - But he, when presented to the king, extolled him with an air of authority, and secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver.
25 - After receiving the king's orders he returned, possessing no qualification for the high priesthood, but having the hot temper of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a savage wild beast.
26 - So Jason, who after supplanting his own brother was supplanted by another man, was driven as a fugitive into the land of Ammon.
27 - And Menelaus held the office, but he did not pay regularly any of the money promised to the king.
28 - When Sostratus the captain of the citadel kept requesting payment, for the collection of the revenue was his responsibility, the two of them were summoned by the king on account of this issue.
29 - Menelaus left his own brother Lysimachus as deputy in the high priesthood, while Sostratus left Crates, the commander of the Cyprian troops.
30 - While such was the state of affairs, it happened that the people of Tarsus and of Mallus revolted because their cities had been given as a present to Antiochis, the king's concubine.
31 - So the king went hastily to settle the trouble, leaving Andronicus, a man of high rank, to act as his deputy.
32 - But Menelaus, thinking he had obtained a suitable opportunity,
stole some of the gold vessels of the temple and gave them to Andronicus; other vessels,
as it happened, he had sold to Tyre and the neighboring cities.
33 - When Onias became fully aware of these acts he publicly exposed them, having first withdrawn to a place of sanctuary at Daphne near Antioch.
34 - Therefore Menelaus, taking Andronicus aside, urged him to kill Onias. Andronicus came to Onias, and resorting to treachery offered him sworn pledges and gave him his right hand, and in spite of his suspicion persuaded Onias to come out from the place of sanctuary; then, with no regard for justice, he immediately put him out of the way.
35 - For this reason not only Jews, but many also of other nations, were grieved and displeased at the unjust murder of the man.
36 - When the king returned from the region of Cilicia, the Jews in the city appealed to him with regard to the unreasonable murder of Onias, and the Greeks shared their hatred of the crime.
37 - Therefore Antiochus was grieved at heart and filled with pity, and wept because of the moderation and good conduct of the deceased;
38 - and inflamed with anger, he immediately stripped off the purple robe from Andronicus, tore off his garments, and led him about the whole city to that very place where he had committed the outrage against Onias, and there he dispatched the bloodthirsty fellow. The Lord thus repaid him with the punishment he deserved.
39 - When many acts of sacrilege had been committed in the city by Lysimachus with the connivance of Menelaus, and when report of them had spread abroad, the populace gathered against Lysimachus, because many of the gold vessels had already been stolen.
40 - And since the crowds were becoming aroused and filled with anger, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men and launched an unjust attack, under the leadership of a certain Auranus, a man advanced in years and no less advanced in folly.
41 - But when the Jews became aware of Lysimachus' attack, some picked up stones, some blocks of wood, and others took handfuls of the ashes that were lying about, and threw them in wild confusion at Lysimachus and his men.
42 - As a result, they wounded many of them, and killed some, and put them all to flight; and the temple robber himself they killed close by the treasury.
43 - Charges were brought against Menelaus about this incident.
44 - When the king came to Tyre, three men sent by the senate presented the case before him.
45 - But Menelaus, already as good as beaten, promised a substantial bribe to Ptolemy son of Dorymenes to win over the king.
46 - Therefore Ptolemy, taking the king aside into a colonnade as if for refreshment, induced the king to change his mind.
47 - Menelaus, the cause of all the evil, he acquitted of the charges against him, while he sentenced to death those unfortunate men, who would have been freed uncondemned if they had pleaded even before Scythians.
48 - And so those who had spoken for the city and the villages and the holy vessels quickly suffered the unjust penalty.
49 - Therefore even the Tyrians, showing their hatred of the crime, provided magnificently for their funeral.
50 - But Menelaus, because of the cupidity of those in power, remained in office, growing in wickedness, having become the chief plotter against his fellow citizens.
2 Maccabees 5
1 - About this time Antiochus made his second invasion of Egypt.
2 - And it happened that over all the city, for almost forty days, there appeared golden-clad horsemen charging through the air, in companies fully armed with lances and drawn swords --
3 - troops of horsemen drawn up, attacks and counterattacks made on this side and on that, brandishing of shields, massing of spears, hurling of missiles, the flash of golden trappings, and armor of all sorts.
4 - Therefore all men prayed that the apparition might prove to have been a good omen.
5 - When a false rumor arose that Antiochus was dead, Jason took no less than a thousand men and suddenly made an assault upon the city. When the troops upon the wall had been forced back and at last the city was being taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel.
6 - But Jason kept relentlessly slaughtering his fellow citizens, not realizing that success at the cost of one's kindred is the greatest misfortune, but imagining that he was setting up trophies of victory over enemies and not over fellow countrymen.
7 - He did not gain control of the government, however; and in the end got only disgrace from his conspiracy, and fled again into the country of the Ammonites.
8 - Finally he met a miserable end. Accused before Aretas the ruler of the Arabs, fleeing from city to city, pursued by all men, hated as a rebel against the laws, and abhorred as the executioner of his country and his fellow citizens, he was cast ashore in Egypt;
9 - and he who had driven many from their own country into exile died in exile, having embarked to go to the Lacedaemonians in hope of finding protection because of their kinship.
10 - He who had cast out many to lie unburied had no one to mourn for him; he had no funeral of any sort and no place in the tomb of his fathers.
11 - When news of what had happened reached the king, he took it to mean that Judea was in revolt. So, raging inwardly, he left Egypt and took the city by storm.
12 - And he commanded his soldiers to cut down relentlessly every one they met and to slay those who went into the houses.
13 - Then there was killing of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaughter of virgins and infants.
14 - Within the total of three days eighty thousand were destroyed, forty thousand in hand-to-hand fighting; and as many were sold into slavery as were slain.
15 - Not content with this, Antiochus dared to enter the most holy temple in all the world, guided by Menelaus, who had become a traitor both to the laws and to his country.
16 - He took the holy vessels with his polluted hands, and swept away with profane hands the votive offerings which other kings had made to enhance the glory and honor of the place.
17 - Antiochus was elated in spirit, and did not perceive that the Lord was angered for a little while because of the sins of those who dwelt in the city, and that therefore he was disregarding the holy place.
18 - But if it had not happened that they were involved in many sins, this man would have been scourged and turned back from his rash act as soon as he came forward, just as Heliodorus was, whom Seleucus the king sent to inspect the treasury.
19 - But the Lord did not choose the nation for the sake of the holy place, but the place for the sake of the nation.
20 - Therefore the place itself shared in the misfortunes that befell the nation and afterward participated in its benefits; and what was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was restored again in all its glory when the great Lord became reconciled.
21 - So Antiochus carried off eighteen hundred talents from the temple, and hurried away to Antioch, thinking in his arrogance that he could sail on the land and walk on the sea, because his mind was elated.
22 - And he left governors to afflict the people: at Jerusalem, Philip, by birth a Phrygian and in character more barbarous than the man who appointed him;
23 - and at Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these Menelaus, who lorded it over his fellow citizens worse than the others did. In his malice toward the Jewish citizens,
24 - Antiochus sent Apollonius, the captain of the Mysians, with an army of twenty-two thousand, and
commanded him to slay all the grown men and to sell the women and boys as slaves.
25 - When this man arrived in Jerusalem, he pretended to be peaceably disposed and waited until the holy sabbath day; then, finding the Jews not at work, he ordered his men to parade under arms.
26 - He put to the sword all those who came out to see them, then rushed into the city with his armed men and killed great numbers of people.
27 - But Judas Maccabeus, with about nine others, got away to the wilderness, and kept himself and his companions alive in the mountains as wild animals do; they continued to live on what grew wild, so that they might not share in the defilement.
The Abomination of Desolation standing in the Holy Place involved the GREEK GYMNASIUM and INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC in the Holy Sanctuaries. Eating the flesh of swine was the usual test of whether you agreed to be INITIATED or MURDERED by stretching your HIDE on a drum frame and bataoning you to death. See First Maccabees
2 Maccabees 6
1 - Not long after this, the king sent an Athenian senator to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their fathers and cease to live by the laws of God,
2 - and also to pollute the temple
> in Jerusalem and call it the temple of Olympian Zeus,
> and to call the one in Gerizim the temple of Zeus the Friend of Strangers, as did the people who dwelt in that place.GANYMEDE stands for anybody who, like his Two-Spirit native brother, the coupan of the sub-Arctic Konyagas, stands "drinking in the light of the moon, the stars, absorbing all its brilliance and splendors to become a man of god."
"Upon hearing that Ganymede was to be cup bearer as well as Zeus' lover, the infinitely jealous Hera was outraged. Therefor Zeus set Ganymede's image among the stars as the constellation Aquarius, the water carrier. Aquarius was originally the Egyptian god over the Nile. The Egyptian god poured water not wine from a flagon.
"All of Zeus' scandalous liaisons have allegorical meanings. Zeus' torrid affair with Ganymede was a religious justification for homosexuality within the Greek culture.
Before the popularity of the Zeus and Ganymede myth spread,
the only toleration for sodomy was an external form of goddess worship.Cybele's male devotees tried to achieve unity with her by castrating themselves and dressing like women. .
"While Platonic love needed women for regeneration purposes (grow the attendance)
the philosopher used this myth to justify his sexual feelings towards his all male pupils.> "During the fourth century the Jews came under the influence of Greek Rationalism. In 332 BC Alexander of Macedonia defeated Darius III of Persia and the Greeks began to colonize Asia and Africa. The founded city-states in Tyre, Sidon, Gaza, Philadelphis (Amman) and Tripolis and even in Shechem.
The Jews of Palestine and the diaspora were surrounded by a Hellenic culture which some found disturbing,
but others were excited by Greek theater, philosophy, sport and poetry. They learned Greek, exercised at the gymnasium and took Greek names. Some fought as mercinaries in the Greek armies.
"Thus some Greeks came to know the God of Israel and decided to worship Yahweh (Iao) alongside Zeus and Dionysus.
Some were attracted to the synagogue... There they read scriptures, prayed and listened to sermons (explanations).
The synagogue was unlike anything else in the rest of the ancient religous world.
Since there was no ritual or sacrifice, it must have seemed more like a school of philosophy, and many flocked in the synagogue if a well-known Jewish preacher came to town..."By the second century BC this hostility was entrenched: in Palestine there had even been a revolt when Antiochus Epiphanes, the Selucid governor,
had attempted to Hellenize Jerusalem and introduce the cult of Zeus into the temple...."In the second century BC Jesus Ben Sirach...
made Wisdom (Sophia)
stand up in the Divine Council
and sing her praises:she had come forth from the mouth of the Most High as the Divine Word by which God had created the world...
Wisdom leaving God to wander through the world in search of humanity, it is hard not to be reminded of the pagan goddesses such as Ishtar, Anat and Isis, who had also descended from the divine world in a redemptive.
"When monotheists fell in love with Greek philosophy, they inevitably wanted to try to adapt its God to their own." (Armstrong, Karen, A History of God, p. 67f)
> "In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo (also Phoebus) was the god of the sun, music, poetry, prophecy, agriculture, and pastoral life, and leader of the Muses. He was the twin child of Zeus and Leto. Ancient statues show Apollo as the embodiment of the Greek ideal of male beauty. Apollo epitomized the transition between adolescence and manhood in Greek male society.
LETO: In Greek mythology Leto was the daughter of the Titan Coeus and Phoebe and the mother of Apollo and Artemis. She was an early lover of Zeus and Hera was jealous of her. The Romans called her Latona.
"Thamyris was the first "man to love another man" for Hyacinthus was a beautiful young boy. In what was to become the Greek way, Apollo vied for the same love. Thamyris, however, made the mistake of challenging the Nine Muses to a contest of their skills. Thamyris proposed a wager, if he should win, he would have sex with each of the Muses.
"The Muses agreed, but put the condition that if he lost he would be made blind and lose his memory of harp playing. Thamyris lost and Apollo was left to enjoy the fruits of divine homosexuality, until Zephyr, the West Wind, also took a liking to Hyacinthus.
"One day while Apollo and Hyacinthus were hurling a discus, Zephyr caught the discus and in a jealous rage hurled it against Hyacinthus's skull. Apollo's cradled his dying lover in his arms and from the boy's death's blood which fell to the ground, sprang the hyacinth flower.
This is somewhere between legend and myth, as it has little to do with the cosmos, but rather it is used as historical justification for homosexuality among the Greeks.
There is no question that homosexuality (or rather male bi-sexuality) was very much a part of the early religious practices.
But this was sacred homosexual ritual. By making the sex of Hyacinthus and Apollo, "love" between a mortal and a god, Greek men were justified in emulating their god. Resource
> But when it is known that "Zeus the Saviour" was only a title of Dionysus, the "sin-bearing Bacchus," his character, as "The Saviour," appears in quite a different light. In Egypt, the Chaldean god was held up as the great object of love and adoration, as the god through whom "goodness and truth were revealed to mankind." He was regarded as the predestined heir of all things; and, on the day of his birth, it was believed that a voice was heard to proclaim, "The Lord of all the earth is born." In this character he was styled "King of kings, and Lord of lords," it being as a professed representative of this hero-god that the celebrated Sesostris caused this very title to be added to his name on the monuments which he erected to perpetuate the fame of his victories. Hislop shows how this fits seeing the S.U.N. god to think of the S.O.N. God as Rubel Shelly recommends. And as seen in Cosmic Christmas which is the worship of Shamash.
> Zeus
When Zeus had an affair with Mnemosyne, he coupled with her for nine consecutive nights, which produced nine daughters, who became known as the Muses.
They entertained their father and the other gods as a celestial choir on Mount Olympus.
They became deities of intellectual pursuits. Also the three Charites or Graces were born from Zeus and Eurynome. From all his children Zeus gave man all he needed to live life in an ordered and moral way.
Sing, clear-voiced Muse, of Castor and Polydeuces, the Tyndaridae, who sprang from Olympian Zeus. Beneath the heights fo Taygetus stately Leda bare them, when the dark-clouded Son of Cronos had privily bent her to his will.
Very easily he softened the son of all-glorious Leto as he would, stern though the Far-shooter was.
He took the lyre upon his left arm and tried each string in turn with the key, so that it sounded awesomely at his touch.
And Phoebus Apollo laughed for joy; for the sweet throb of the marvellous music went to his heart,
and a soft longing took hold on his soul as he listened.Then the son of Maia, harping sweetly upon his lyre, took courage and stood at the left hand of Phoebus Apollo; and soon,
while he played shrilly on his lyre,
he lifted up his voice and sang, and lovely was the sound of his voice that followed.He sang the story of the deathless gods and of the dark earth, how at the first they came to be, and how each one received his portion. First among the gods he honoured Mnemosyne, mother of the Muses, in his song; for the son of Maia was of her following.
And next the goodly son of Zeus hymned the rest of the immortals according to their order in age, and told how each was born, mentioning all in order as he struck the lyre upon his arm.
But Apollo was seized with a longing not to be allayed, and he opened his mouth and spoke winged words to Hermes (Mercury, Greek Logos):
(ll. 436-462) `Slayer of oxen, trickster, busy one, comrade of the feast, this song of yours is worth fifty cows, and I believe that presently we shall settle our quarrel peacefully.
But come now, tell me this, resourceful son of Maia: has this marvellous thing been with you from your birth, or did some god or mortal man give it you -- a noble gift -- and teach you heavenly song?
For wonderful is this new-uttered sound I hear, the like of which I vow that no man nor god dwelling on Olympus ever yet has known but you, O thievish son of Maia.
What skill is this? What song for desperate cares? What way of song? For verily here are three things to hand all at once from which to choose, -- mirth, and love, and sweet sleep. And though I am a follower of the Olympian Muses who love dances and the bright path of song -- the full-toned chant and ravishing thrill of flutes --
yet I never cared for any of those feats of skill at young men's revels, as I do now for this:
I am filled with wonder, O son of Zeus, at your sweet playing. But now, since you, though little, have such glorious skill, sit down, dear boy, and respect the words of your elders.
For now you shall have renown among the deathless gods, you and your mother also. This I will declare to you exactly: by this shaft of cornel wood I will surely make you a leader renowned among the deathless gods, and fortunate, and will give you glorious gifts and will not deceive you from first to last.'
> Of Hermes, Mercury or the Greek logos:
Hermes, the herald of the Olympian gods, is son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, daughter of Atlas and one of the Pleiades.
Hermes is also the god of shepherds, land travel, merchants, weights and measures, oratory, literature, athletics and thieves,
and known for his cunning and shrewdness.
He was also a minor patron of poetry.
He was worshiped throughout Greece especially in Arcadia. Festivals in honor of Hermes were called Hermoea.Originally Hermes was a phallic god, being attached to fertility and good fortune, and also a patron of roads and boundaries. His name coming from herma, the plural being hermaiherm was a square or rectangular pillar in either stone or bronze, with the head of Hermes (usually with a beard), which adorned the top of the pillar, and male genitals near to the base of the pillar.
The offspring of Hermes are believed to be Pan, Abderus and Hermaphroditus. Hermes as with the other gods had numerous affairs with goddesses, nymphs and mortals. In some legends even sheep and goats. Pan, the half man half goat, is believed to be the son of Hermes and Dryope,
It would be natural that the people who had adopted the worship of the Greek gods and the gymnasium would anticipate their "messiah" as the same kind of perverted agent of Dionysus (Bacchus). They piped and tried to seduce Jesus into the perverted song and dance. When that failed they used the triumph-over music of the warrior Levites to mock Him to death.
Remember that the Musical Levites were Warrior noise makers. They made a loud, crashing sound during the offering and burning of animal sacrifices. This was their PROPHETIC ROLE to be fulfilled as Jesus was sacrificed with mocking music.
No Levitical musician was ever permitted to enter into the Holy Place as a type of the church of Christ in heaven and the church as "synagogue" on earth. To do so would have caused them to be executed.
27 - He proposed to inflict public disgrace upon the Jewish community, and he set up a stone on the tower in the courtyard with this inscription:
28 - "None of those who do not sacrifice shall enter their sanctuaries, and all Jews shall be subjected to a registration involving poll tax and to the status of slaves.
Those who object to this are to be taken by force and put to death;29 - those who are registered are also to be
branded on their bodies by fire with the ivy-leaf
symbol of Dionysus, and they shall also be reduced to their former limited status."The ivy leaf is phallic, depicting the male trinity
Ivy was also sacred to :-
Osiris - Egyptian God of magic.
Dionysus - Greek God of vegetation and wine.
Bacchus - the Roman equivalent of Dionysus.
Triquetra: MARK of the trinity of persons = 666
30 - In order that he might not appear to be an enemy to all, he inscribed below:"But if any of them prefer to join those who have been initiated into the mysteries, they shall have equal citizenship with the Alexandrians."
3 - Harsh and utterly grievous was the onslaught of evil.
4 - For the temple
was filled with debauchery
and reveling by the
Gentiles,
who
dallied
with harlots and
had intercourse
with women within the
sacred precincts,
and
besides brought in
things for sacrifice that were unfit.
SINCERITY counts for nothing: mixing SEXUALITY and 'WORSHIP' is manifest in ALL pagan religions and many modern churches:
First: "Women and girls from the different ranks of society were proud to enter the service of the gods as singers and musicians. The understanding of this service was universal: these singers constituted the 'harem of the gods'." (Johannes Quasten. In Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity, beginning on page 41)
Second: Preside over roles of women are known beforehand to create LUST and therefore attract the SEEKERS. It is not possible for women to put themselves on public display without COMMERCIALIZING the lust which is AUTOMATIC:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Mt.5:28
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Matt 5:29
Third: Of Dionysus or Bacchus worship which was REVELING Smith's Bible Dictionary notes that&emdash;
"It was used in very early times by the Syrians of Padan-aram at their merry-making (Gen. 31:27). It was played principally by women (Ex. 15:20); Judg. 11:34; 1 Sam. 18:6; Psa lxvii:25 as an accompaniment to the song and dance, and appears to have been worn by them as an ornament (Jer. 31:4)... It is beat with the fingers, and is the Trye tympanum of the ancients, as appears from its figure in several relieves, representing the orgies of Bacchus and rites of Cybele." (Smiths Bible Dictionary, Timbrel)
Tumpanon , to, also in the form tupanon (q.v.): ( [tuptô] ):--kettledrum, such as was used esp. in the worship of the Mother Goddess and Dionysus, Hdt.4.76, E.HF892; tumpanôn alalagmoi, aragmata, Id.Cyc.65 (lyr.), 205; tumpana, Rheas te mêtros ema th' heurêmata, says Dionysus, Id.Ba.59, cf. 156 (lyr.), IG42(1).131.9, 10 (Epid.); in Corybantic rites, Ar.V.119; t. arassein, rhêssein, AP6.217 (Simon.), 7.485 (Diosc.); kataulêsei chrêtai kai tumpanois Sor.2.29 .
2. metaph., tumpanon phusan, of inflated eloquence, AP13.21 (Theodorid.).
II. name of some instrument of torture of execution, Ar. Pl.476 (xula eph' hois [en hois Suid. ] etumpanizon: echrônto gar tautêi têi timôriai: ê bakla, para to tuptein Sch.); tinôn men eis desmôtêrion, tinôn de epi tumpanon apagomenôn S.E.M.2.30 ; tous ek tumpanou kai tous aneskolopismenous Luc.Cat.6 ; epi to t. prosêge LXX 2 Ma.6.19 , cf.28; cf. tupanon.
2. = tumix, sirimpio (dub. sens.), Gloss.
3. cudgel, tas pollas epi tou nôtou dia tôn t. plêgas Dam.Isid.185 ; so perh. in LXX ll. cc.
III. in a machine, drum, Hero Bel.86, cf. Orib. 49.4.43; in Verg.G.2.444, tympana are wagon-wheels made of a solid piece of wood, rollers; similarly perh. in PLond.1821.204, possibly of the wheel of an irrigating machine: cf. tumpanion.
IV. Archit., the sunken triangular space enclosed by the cornice of the pediment, Lat. tympanum fastigii, Vitr.4.7.5; the square panel of a door, Id.4.6.4.
Fourth: Of dallying with women in the Sacred Precincts, Paul warned the women in areas where Bacchus worship was so powerful as he outlawed non-sedentary, teaching roles of women:
"I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without. wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array: but (which becometh women professing godliness with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety (2:8-15).
1261. dialogismos, dee-al-og-is-mos´; from 1260; discussion, i.e. (internal) consideration (by implication, purpose), or (external) debate: dispute, doubtful(-ing), imagination, reasoning, thought.
Paul outlawed such doubtful disputations in the "synagogue" (Rom 15) which was confined to the Marketplace (where Jesus cast the musical minstrels, pipers, singers and dancers). That was REINFORCED by demanding that we SPEAK that which is written to OURSELVES without ANY private imaginations in songs and sermons. The word SPEAK is the opposite of POETRY or MUSIC which is "doubtful disputings."
The word for authority is authentia and is translated as to "rule over" or "Thrust self forward. However, Authentes means SEXUAL AUTHORITY which is both EROTIC and MURDEROUS.
"In fury the legitimate wife castigates Andromache with sexually abusive terms as
"having the effrontery to sleep with the son of the father who destroyed your husband, in order to bear the child of an authentes."IT is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his fathers wife. I Cor 5:1
"The literal crime of the authentas parents appears to be the procreation of souls doomed to everlasting damnation-although most English translations render the phrase "parents murdering innocent souls." See Wisdom of Solomon
A true history of Corinth: [2.7.5] On the modern citadel is a sanctuary of Fortune of the Height, and after it one of the Dioscuri. Their images and that of Fortune are of wood.
On the stage of the theater built under the citadel is a statue of a man with a shield, who they say is Aratus, the son of Cleinias. After the theater is a temple of Dionysus. The god is of gold and ivory, and by his side are Bacchanals of white marble. These women they say are sacred to Dionysus and maddened by his inspiration.The Sicyonians have also some images which are kept secret. These one night in each year they carry to the temple of Dionysus from what they call the Cosmeterium (Tiring-room)
The modern "church growth cult" knows that women exercise AUTHENTIA and that is how you get the crowd out. However, there can be no doubt that they are committing deliberate sin and the CHILDREN they engender throug mocking Lord Jesus will be SACRIFICED.
Those who trust in him will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with him in love, because grace and mercy are upon his elect, and he watches over his holy ones. Wisdom 3:9
But the ungodly will be punished as their reasoning deserves, who disregarded the righteous man and rebelled against the Lord; Wisdom 3: 10
for whoever despises wisdom and instruction is miserable. Their hope is vain, their labors are unprofitable, and their works are useless. Wisdom 3: 11
Their wives are foolish, and their children evil; Wisdom 3: 12
their offspring are accursed. For blessed is the barren woman who is undefiled, who has not entered into a sinful union; she will have fruit when God examines souls. Wisdom 3:13
But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. You first have to make Paul into a liar as well as the Holy Spirit into a liar as He universally condemned Satan's Music because it REPUDIATED the Words of God.
