THE MYSTERY OF

INIQUITY
The Mystery of Iniquity --- Part 1
What is the history of this "The Mystery of Iniquity" which Paul
warns against? How did this power that thinks to change God's
times and laws, foretold in Daniel, come about?
There is much in history to show the horrific struggle that went on
as the devil tries to overthrow God's commandments and set up
his own counterfeit religion --- all in the name of Christ!
The speed with which early Christianity tobogganed into apostasy
takes one's breath away! The devil lost no time at all in attacking
what Christ had set up. We often look to Constantine as the
"initiator" but, sad to say, many falsehoods had already crept into
the church — especially those situated in the more powerful
centers of Alexandra and Rome, long before Constantine came on
scene.
One thing we really need to be aware of — apostasy does not start
with a decree. Apostasy did not start with Constantine, it was not
initiated by Constantine -- it is the church that changed Saturday to
Sunday, not Constantine -- Constantine only provided the catalyst
and conducive climate that enabled the church to set up it's
counterfeit abominations. Constantine's decree marked the
beginning of legislative efforts to instal Sunday in the place of
God's Holy Day.
It is true that if Christianity had remained true to it's virgin
doctrines, Constantine's laws and councils and plans could not
have affected the church. They would have rather laid down their
lives than join Constantine's paganized idea of the union of beliefs.
Yet, the church in Rome joined Constantine quite willingly and
then turned to lead the rest of Christianity into conformity.
The same is happening today! The Mystery of Iniquity first seeks to
weaken true faith and cast doubts, using deceptive influences to
break the commitment of people to truth, before it can move in
more radical, legal measures to achieve it's ends. This is what we
witness upon this forum — the constant barrage of deceptions to
weaken the commitment of Adventists to the pure doctrines and
thus preparing them to accept, with little or no protest, when the
radical, legal measures start to move in. Remember, in the last
great scenes of Revelation the whole world is WORSHIPING. But
they are worshiping at the wrong altar. Only a few are worshiping
the God who created the heavens, and the earth, the rest are
worshiping the beast, his image, and the dragon!

WHEN DID THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY BEGIN

It began even before the apostles died!

Paul tells us in 2 Thess.2.7
"For the mystery of iniquity does already work:" Or the mystery of
lawlessness — the mystery that mere people think they can set
aside the law of God!
Jude warns: 1.3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write to you
of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write to you, and
exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which
was once delivered unto the saints. 1.4 For there are certain men
crept in unawares, who were long ago marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into
lasciviousness. 1.12 These are spots in your feasts of charity,
when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds
they are without water, carried about of winds; trees withered,
without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Peter warned of the same thing in 1 Peter 1:19-2.2 First telling
Christians to take heed to the things written in the Bible (remember
in his day the Old Testament was the SCRIPTURES) than warning
of damnable heresies that would be brought against these
scriptures. And they will speak evil of truth!

SABBATH TO SUNDAY

Rather than rehash the Biblical lack of proof for Sunday — let's
leap ahead to the problem of Gnosticism and it's role in bringing in
Sunday. Gnostic method of reasoning helps unlock the mystery of
lawlessness. It reveals to us by what subtle means lawlessness
gained foothold in the church of God and was able to darken the
plainest truths, and could set aside some of the most definite
requirements of the gospel, as well as of the law of God itself.
It was Gnosticism that helped bring in — not only Sunday, but
most of the other doctrines that now stand in opposition to Biblical
doctrines
(Remember we were told by our "Jesuits" on this forum that nearly
all Adventist doctrines are false --- actually when you go back into
those early years in history you will see it's the other way around!
Gnosticism greatly altered pure doctrines and now these Gnostic
doctrines, upgraded to be sure, yet still gnostic in their foundation,
are being pushed big time onto the Adventist church!)
One of the big things Gnostics attacked was the Old Testament.
The Catholic encyclopedia, Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexikon
admits that the so called Barnabas church Father (declared to not
to be the Barnabas of Paul's day but a later gnostic) "takes such a
hostile position toward the Old Testament as could scarcely be
conceived of by an apostle. He teaches that the Old Testament has
never been of any force." In Ante-Nicene Christianity," vol. 2 p. 673
"He (Barnabas) asserts, for example, that God never willed the
sacrifice and fasting, the Sabbath observance and temple worship
of the Jews, but a purely spiritual worship."
Gnostic interpretation claimed that Christians are really the only
people of the covenant, and that the Jewish people never stood in
covenant relationship with God. The thought was developed that
the Jewish use of the Old Testament was only a misuse of it,
inspired by the devil. The whole Gnostic belief twisted basic
scripture and allegorized it into mystical interpretations that left
one basically free to do with the flesh whatever the flesh desired,
for the flesh was evil and the sooner one got rid of it the better.
The spirit was all that mattered. As long as it was dedicated to God
the flesh could do whatever it wanted.
Basically Gnosticism was Hellenistic thought with a Christian
covering. It invaded deeply into Christianity and while the church
finally declared it a false heresy, it's influence continued to shape
and mold Christianity. Much like the SDA Church declared Des
Ford's concepts false, refuted them, but now seems to be
embracing them at the expense of Biblical truth.
Gnostics brought forth for the first time the concept of an eighth
day as a visionary type of future eternity. It was said to
commemorate both resurrection and ascension. There is no
mention whatsoever of an eighth day by Christ or his apostles. The
eighth day is the day after the seventh day, therefore, they say, it is
somehow greater than the seventh day. This concept finds it's
basis totally in Gnosticism, not in any Biblical truth, yet it became
a dominant feature in the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope's Dies
Domini Sunday letter refers to Sunday as the "eighth day".
His statement: "#26 "The eighth day" set within the sevenfold
succession of days in a unique and transcendent position which
evokes not only the beginning of time but also its end in the ‘age
to come'. Is a direct quote from gnostic early writings.
To really understand the issues one needs to go back and really
see how Gnosticism infiltrated and changed religious thought in
those centuries immediately after Christ. This was Greek
philosophy, coupled with mysticism and married to Christianity.
This is definitely not the full blaze of apostolic truth — this is the
mystery of iniquity hard at work to set up the abomination that
would rule the world for 1260 years.
For all the talk by these gnostics about light --- the dark ages were
known for their darkness.

Mystery of Iniquity Part 2

When did the Mystery of Iniquity begin and where did it come
from? Paul warned:
"Of your own selves shall men arise. . not sparing the flock. (Acts
20:30,29)
"The mystery of iniquity is already at work" Paul said in 1 Thess. 4
The greatest enemies of the church have always been those who
apostatize and then press their apostate doctrines on the church.
Thus it was when the Christian church was in it's infancy, thus it is
in the Adventist church today.
There were deviations many in the years following the death of the
apostles, but the worst of all was Gnosticism, which infiltrated the
church in a big way. No one knows how many thousands of early
Christians were drawn into it.
Gnostic teachers sprang up everywhere. Saturnius flourished in
Antioch. Bailides in Egypt, Cerinthus in Asia Minor. Valentinus and
Marcion in Rome. Each teacher had his own theories but all agreed
on this, the "Gnosis" (Greek for knowledge) is salvation and what
was the particular knowledge on which the Gnostic based their
hopes? The belief that the God of the Old Testament was evil!
Christian Gnosticism came from Greek thought — not Biblical, it
was mixed with mysticism and then coated with Christian
terminology. It accepted the notion that matter is evil, that this
earth and all the bodies that inhabit it are inherently bad, and that it
follows from this that the God who created matter and men must
Himself be bad. This is blasphemy, of course; but we will never
understand where the modern doctrines came from unless we
recognize how the early "fathers" thought.
Gnostic Christians did not worship the Old Testament God. How
could they? The Creator-God of the Old Testament they saw as
evil.
Yet they did not throw the Bible out completely. They still quoted it
to prove their points! As for the New Testament — it was not yet
canonized so everyone chose what he liked.
Marcion of Rome had no use at for the Old Testament since it was
the book of the Creator God, in particular of the law giving god.
Out with the law, cried Marcion, and in with grace alone. Out with
Matthew and James, and in with Paul and Luke. (Sound familiar?)
Marcion was very popular — Justin (the one often quoted for his
attack on the Sabbath) was highly influenced by him.
However not all Christianity appreciated this gnostic heresy.
Tertullian wrote of the city where Marcion was born as being a
fierce place : "Nothing, however, in Pontus is so barbarous and
sad as the fact that Marcion was born there."
Orthodox Christian were alarmed at the spread of Gnosticism and
rightly so. Gnostics denied the God of the Old Testament, Gnostics
denied the Ten Commandments and with them the New Testament
concepts of sin and grace and the atonements.
By calling all matter evil they degraded Christian marriage and sex
and either tried to enforce unnecessary chastity, or went to the
other extreme of total sexual licentiousness.
They denied the human nature of Christ, saying that Christ could
not possible have taken on a body since all flesh is evil.
As for the Sabbath, what gnostic would want to memorialize the
"evil" Creator-God"? Much better to celebrate the life giving light
of the "Son". On the first day light was made — the eighth day light
celebrates the resurrection of Christ, and etc.
Directly in opposition of the call in Rev. 14 that the gospel calls
people to worship the Creator God.
To argue with a gnostic was a ordeal in frustration, since they
always spiritualized the scriptures. If an orthodox Christian quoted
a scripture, the Gnostic would say either that it meant something
different or that it didn't belong in the Bible. Every error of
Gnosticism could, of course, be refuted through Bible study, but
this took time and patience. It was quicker and easier to cite some
church father.
Tertullian in the early third century, challenged the Gnostics: "Let
them produce the original records of their churches; let them
unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession
from the beginning. . . .By whose permission, Valentinus, are you
diverting the streams of my fountain? . . .We oppose to them this
step above all others, of not admitting them to any discussion of
the Scriptures"
Tertullian may have been sincere in his frustration, but he also
started the notion that it is easier to combat heresy with apostolic
succession than by patient exposition of God's Word.
We see that Satan was very busy breaking down the Christian
church and converting it into an organization whereby he could
divert worship away from the true Creator God.
Through these strange teachings many of the doctrines that are
now in opposition to the truths that were slowly uncovered since
the reformation and by Adventists, were established.
The Greek concept that the spirit inhabits the body but is not really
part of the body lead to the belief of the immortality of the soul.
The whole "all matter is evil" it is only the spirit that counts, idea,
added great fuel to the immortality doctrine --- it was to the point
where people considered it good to engage in bad habits to kill off
the body more quickly so the spirit could be freed.
This gnostic concept is in direct contradiction that the dead know
not anything (Eccl, 9:5,10, Ps. 6:5; 115:17) and that our bodies are
the temple of the Holy Spirit and are to be presented to God as
living sacrifice, holy and undefiled.
Of course, the church did refute the more outlandish ideas of
gnosticm yet the concept of spirit leaving the body at death stayed
with the church and by the 4th century almost universally the
Christians came to believe that the souls of the dead continue to
live. This of course lead to praying to saints etc.
Interestingly, Tertullian complained about marriage saying if a man
married once, he certainly had better not marry again if his first
wife died, for the good woman would still be alive in heaven.
When we hear that Catholic doctrines go back to the days of the
apostles, in a sense they are right. But it was not the apostles that
started these doctrines, it was the "mystery of lawlessness" that
was already at work before the apostles had even all died. False
teachers like wolves arose to tear down the church before it bearly
had a chance to start. Then these false teachers were quoted for
hundreds of years afterward as the authority, rather than searching
the scriptures.
In our day it's happening again. God lifted the dark cloud covering
truth. Through the reformers and then through the Adventist
Pioneers, the precious gems of truth were uncovered. The chaff of
gnostism was blown away. But now the modernized, Gnostic
based, doctrines are once again rising. The people of all the world
are finding their pews in the cathedral of apostasy, there to wonder
after the beast and worship him. The warnings of prophecy uttered
long before our day are being fulfilled before our eyes.
In such a time as this, modern Adventists must keep alert.
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Do those who oppose the fourth commandment know where they
are heading? They think any day is as good as the next -- but in
reality they are heading into plain old sun worship -- for the
religio/political powers will see to it that they observe the
venerable day of the sun! Many people are already doing so. It may
well shock the reader to realize how sun worship has infiltrated
Christianity, clothing itself in Christian garments to deceive, if
possible, the very elect.

SUN
WORSHIP
IS ALIVE
TODAY
Sun worship originated in Babylon
A Key Strategy for Getting People into False Worship
The false prophets would lead us straight into sun worship--
Page Two: Sun worship invades the Church
Page Three: Sunworship and the Queen of Heaven
"Sun worship? Really now," the sensible person will say,
"modern Christian people would never worship the sun!"
Satan knows this full well. He saw the power of the gospel as
it entered peoples hearts and changed their lives. Once the
love of Christ fully rooted itself in a person's life, neither
ridicule, torture or death could cause them to renounce the
truths of God. So he worked on plan "B". Mingling of lies with
the truth! Mix sun worship into Christianity, blend it with
Christian concepts and wind up with the perfect counterfeit
deception that people will buy, thinking they are obtaining
the genuine.
The saddest part comes when we see pages upon the
internet, by people who ARE NOT IGNORANT OF GOD'S
COMMANDMENT — people who know, yet have hardened
their hearts and fight against the true rest with Christ, the
rest of obedience which is the fruit of faith; they fight against
God's Holy Sabbath day. Not only that, but they are teaching
others to transgress the commandments of God and are
preparing the world to reject the three angel's message. They
are preparing a large number of people who see the true
Sabbath from scripture, to accept the counterfeit --- clothed
in Christian garments --- which is none other but SUN
WORSHIP.
SUN WORSHIP ORIGINATED IN BABYLON
Babylon = sun worship. Sun worship originated in Babylon.
Revelation 17 calls the last "harlot" church, Babylon.
Now let's look at some history and open our eyes and see
what is happening in our world today.
After Noah and his family left the ark, Satan wasted no time
in reestablishing the counterfeit — called Babylon. This
counterfeit was brought into prominence and promoted by
Nimrod, who was the founder of the empire known as
Babylon, and by his queen, Semiramis.
Nimrod, (grandson of Ham, and great grandson of Noah) was,
as the Bible tells us in Genesis 10:8-10, was a mighty hunter
before the Lord. Actually the Hebrew reading of this text
points out that Nimrod was a mighty hunter in the place of
the Lord. (The linguistic word "before" is more like in the
context of have no other gods before me.)
Also consider the meaning of the name Nimrod. It comes
from the Hebrew verb marad, meaning "rebel", or "we will
revolt." Some Biblical Historians think Nimrod could well be
the vile and powerful Gilgamesh in the ancient Gilgamesh
Epic. Gilgamesh sets out to hunt for, and kill the God who
sent the flood! In the Epic Gilgamesh claims to have killed
"Huwawa", the sender of the great flood. Gilgamesh seeks
the aid of Shamash, the sun god, who hates the terrible one
who sent the flood.
Nimrod established the first post-flood empire. Nimrod
allowed his followers to hail him as a god! At his death it was
proclaimed that their "god" Nimrod was exalted to his rightful
domain. He was now the sun god, who would ensure his
people with warmth, light and abundant crops. He would
send down his blessings upon them.
Semiranmis, queen of Babylon, after her husband's death,
was found to be with child. It was declared that this child was
the product of divine conception. Nimrod, the sun god was
the father via a special ray of the sun. Semiramis named her
son Damu which later Babylonian language became
Dammuzi. In the Bible it is rendered "Tammuz". Of course
any son with such a claim to his conception was deified.
Semiramis also deified herself as the mother of god (since
only a god can beget a god) and installed herself as "The
Queen of Heaven" pictured in the constellation Cassiopeia.
The story was invented that she was a virgin sprung from the
sea, and therefore a gift from the gods. Her name was later
hellenized to "Sammur-amat" or "gift of the sea." Most
goddess worship as well as sun worship can be traced right
back to Samiranmis.
This one woman had such a lasting impact upon world
history that the land from which civilization arose, (lower
Mesopotamia) was known as the "Land of Sammur" or when
translated into Hebrew becomes "the land of Shinar".
Genesis 10:9-10
"Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, in the land of
Shinar."
Later, Daniel tells us that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
came to Jerusalem, and besieged it and carried the people as
well as the vessels of the house of God: into the land of
Shinar to the house of his god. (Dan.1:2)
KEY TO GETTING PEOPLE AWAY FROM WORSHIPING THE
CREATOR
We see all through Biblical history that one of the key
elements in weaning a loyal people away from their loyalties
to the true God is by infiltration. Sun worship first infiltrated
Israel, it became mixed with their true worship, until finally
they were carried away into midst of Babylon itself.
Look at the story of Balaam:
The devil knows that as long as God's people are in harmony
with God he cannot touch them.
So just like in the days of Israel, when they stood on the
banks of the Jordan when Balaam came to try and curse
them, he could but bless them, for he was powerless to do
evil unto them while they were in God's protection.
Balaam knew why he couldn't curse them:
Numbers 23.21
"God has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither has he seen
perverseness in Israel: the LORD God is with them... there is
no enchantment that will work against them."
However, a plan was then devised. If the Israelites could be
induced to rebel against God's laws, they would lose God's
protection and would be destroyed. Crafty false prophet
Balaam who once was a true prophet initiated the plan.
(Numbers 31:16) Sending heathen women to infiltrate the
camp. Friendly, non threatening, they infiltrated, bringing
with them their sensual arts and luring them away into
idolatry.
Numbers 25:2,3 "They called the people unto the sacrifices of
their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their
gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger
of the LORD was kindled against Israel."
Thousands died, and had not Israel repented they would not
have entered Canaan at all. The craft of the false prophet -- is
to get people to disregard God's laws!
The craft of the false teachers is to get people to believe that
God's law is no longer important so that they cannot discern
sin. Then they will be easy to catch in the net of disobedience
and bond with the chains of sin as they push aside the voice
of the Holy Spirit calling them to repentance. For they think
they need no repentance. Thus they are lead into the pit of
rejecting the Holy spirit -- a bit from which there is no escape.
The craft of the false teachers is to go out to deceive the
whole world and gather them together to fight against God's
government. They can't reach God so they fight against
those who walk in harmony with God's laws. Ridiculing and
belittling, mocking and intimidating. . For Revelation already
tells us that all who will not bow to the false religion will be
slated for death.
These are the false teachers and the false prophets.
Note well where disregard to God's commandments leads. It
leads to the worship of other gods. Revelation 13:3,4 I saw
one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly
wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the
beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power
unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who
is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
THE FALSE PROPHETS WOULD LEAD US STRAIGHT INTO
SUN WORSHIP--
The third angel's message cries with a loud voice to return to
the worship of the Creator God, who made the heaven's and
the earth and the sea. Why would the last warning message
focus on this aspect of God? Why the emphasis on His
Creative power? Could it be because sun worship, has
invaded Christianity in a clever disguise and usurped the true
worship of God the Creator.
For in six days God created the heavens and the earth and
rested upon the seventh day and blessed and sanctified it.
Remember the Sabbath day!
Sun day - is the venerable day of the sun.
The edict of Constantine, in A.D. 321, was NOT the first time
the week of seven day week with it's recurring day of the Sun
recognized. Two hundred years earlier we already see a
Christian teacher trying to impress a Roman emperor by
telling him Christians worship on the "day of the sun".
Justin Martyr writes a letter pleading for justice for the
Christian during a time when the Jews had just suffered a
second terrible overthrow. (approx. 130 A.D.)
To the Emperor Titus Ælius Adrianus Antoninus Pius
Augustus Caesar, and to his son Verissimus the
Philosopher, and to Lucius the Philosopher, the natural
son of Caesar, and the adopted son of Pius, a lover of
learning, and to the sacred Senate...
Now notice how he changes scripture when speaking of
Christ to the Emperor:

Psalms 19:1,5-6 Justin's paraphase

The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament showeth his
handiwork. Their line is gone out
through all the earth, and their words to
the end of the world. In them hath he
set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is
as a bridegroom coming out of his
concerning those who published His
doctrine and proclaimed His
appearance
Their voice has gone out into all the
earth, and their words to the ends of the
world. In the sun hath He set His
tabernacle, and he as a bridegroom
 chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man going out of his chamber shall rejoice
to run a race. as a giant to run his course."
Justin's version would ring a corresponding note in the
emperor's understanding.
Then he continues in section LXVII of his Apology:
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in
the country gather together to one place, and the
memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets
are read,
What Justin Martyr is saying here is that the Christians were
coming together upon the day of the sun. A very significant
fact! Why didn't Justin call it the "1st day"? How could Justin
be writing to the Roman emperor about a day called THE DAY
OF THE SUN, if there was no such thing.
Indeed, there was a DAY OF THE SUN!
The Pagan Mithra Cult rose in the Roman Empire at the same
time as Christianity moved forth. This cult was in many ways
a counterfeit of Christianity!
There were many Mithraic temples in the Roman empire,
probably a couple thousand. The greatest concentrations
have been found, interestingly enough, in the city of Rome
itself, the home of the emperors! They were also located from
England all the way to Palestine.
What does this religion have to do with our study on
sunworship in the church?
Could it be that Satan raised a counterfeit to confound
Christianity? A pagan counterfeit, focused on the ages long
revered sun god, yet revampt in many ways that resembled
Christianity. This counterfeit (along with many other
practices and cultural beliefs) became intermingled with
Christianity.
According to the recent scholars the tauroctony (the main
symbol of the Mithraic religion where Mithra is slaying the
bull) is an astronomical star map! The zodiac-- which shows
that this counterfit is an astrology based religion. (Just like
Babylon)
The understanding of Greco-Roman astronomy at the time of
the Mithraic mysteries swept through the empire, was based
on a so-called "geocentric" cosmology. They understood the
earth to be fixed and immovable at the center of the universe
and everything went around it. As the cosmos rotated around
the earth it was believed to carry the sun along with it,
resulting in the apparent movement of the sun around the
earth once a day.
They also believed that the sun moved on a second journey,
beyond its daily rotation with the cosmic sphere: and made a
yearly journey around the circle of the "zodiac." They also
believed in a cosmic or celestial equator emanating out from
the earth‘s equator. From this they even got a symbol of the
cross representing the intersection of the two celestial
circles of the zodiac and the celestial equator. This cross-
shaped symbol is found often in that cult.
In Mithraic iconography Mithras and the sun god are pictured
as separate beings, however in Mithraic writings Mithras is
often identified with the sun by being called "sol invictus,"
the "unconquered sun." Thus it seems that the Mithraists
somehow believed in the existence of two suns: one
represented by the figure of the sun god, and the other by
Mithras himself as the "unconquered sun."
Thus Mithria was the "hypercosmic sun," god.
Where does this concept of hyper cosmic sun god come
from? The Chaldaean Oracles
Chaldaean Oracles were a grand mixture of Platonic thought,
from Platonizing thinkers ranging from Philo to Numenius.
Probably the Chaldaean concept of a hypercosmic sun
comes from the solar allegories of Plato's Republic, in which
the sun is used as a symbol for the highest of Plato's Ideal
Forms, that of the Good. In Book VI of the Republic (508Aff.)
Plato compares the sun to the Good, saying that as the sun
is the source of all illumination and understanding in the
visible world (the horatos topos), the Good is the supreme
source of being and understanding in the world of the forms
(the noetos topos or "intelligible world").
So basically--
which "christ" is being worshipped today?
The cosmic christ-- (who is very much part of the new age)
Or the REAL CHRIST, JESUS.
The similarities of Mithras and Christianity are astounding.
One of which was this religion held Sunday as their special
day.
The meetings took place in caves, and crypts built to
resemble caves, decorated with pictures of Mithra
slaying the bull. The weekly holy day, naturally, was
Sunday and, equally naturally, the Equinoxes were
regarded as a sacred season, and the date of Mithra's
birth, placed at the winter solstice -- December 25. A
History of the Church by Philip Hughes
A fire was kept perpetually burning in the sanctuary.
Three times a day prayer was offered the sun toward
the east, south, or west according to the hour. Sunday
was kept holy in honour of Mithra, and the sixteenth of
each month was sacred to him as mediator. The 25
December was observed as his birthday, the natalis
invicti, the rebirth of the winter-sun, unconquered by
the rigours of the season. Catholic Encyclopedia
Like the Christians, they purified themselves by
baptism; received, by a species of confirmation, the
power necessary to combat the spirits of evil; and
expected from a Lord's Supper salvation of body and
soul. Like the latter, they also held Sunday sacred, and
celebrated the birth of the Sun on the 25th of
December, the same day on which Christmas has been
celebrated, since the fourth century at least. Sacred
Texts
"The Hebrew Sabbath having been abolished by
Christians, the church made sacred the Sunday, partly
because it was the day of the resurrection. But when we
observe a little further we find that Sunday as a solar
festival was the sacred day of Mithra. It is also
interesting to notice that since Mithra is address as
Lord, Sunday must have been the Lord's day long
before the Christian use. It is also to be noticed that our
Christmas, December 25, was the birthdate of Mithra,
and was only taken over in the fourth century as the
date, actually unknown of the birth of Christ. (Stanford
Studies) Stanford Studies pdf file
The struggle between the two rival religions was the
more stubborn as their characters were the more alike.
The adepts of both formed secret conventicles, closely
united, the members of which gave themselves the
name of "Brothers." 6 The rites which they practised
offered numerous analogies. The sectaries of the
Persian god, like the Christians, purified themselves by
 baptism; received, by a species of confirmation, the
power necessary to combat the spirits of evil; and
expected from a Lord's Supper salvation of body and
soul. Like the latter, they also held Sunday sacred, and
celebrated the birth of the Sun on the 25th of
December, the same day on which Christmas has been
celebrated.. Historian Franz Cumont
The pagan religion which began to sweep through the Roman
world at the same time as Christianity and was at it's height
in Rome during Constantine's time did indeed hold Sunday
as special DAY to honor the Sun.
However, the question is still--
did this influence the Christians in Rome
Just read Constantine's Sunday law.
"Let all judges and townspeople and occupations of all
trades rest on the VENERABLE DAY OF THE SUN. . .March
7,321
Constantine was not really a Christian. At this very same time
he was embellishing the Temple of the Sun in Rome. He was
a sun-worshiper. The very next day after giving the Sunday
law of March 7,321, quoted from above, Constantine enacted
another law giving pagan soothsayers acceptance.
Of course he also enacted the Edict of Milan, by which
Christianity was given legal rights.
We are told that the bishop of Rome counseled with
Constantine and advised him of the best course to take in
order to win everyone into a single imperial church.
Remember that Mithraism was strong in Rome at this time--
Mithraism is the worship of the sun. The Romans gave him a
new name -- Sol Invictus, which means "the Invincible Sun".
Mithraism imitated the worship of Christ in several ways: It
had a dying, rising savior god, whose birth and resurrection
was celebrated every year. Where do you think Christmas
came from, it's the rebirth of the sun -- as the days begin to
get longer about Dec. 25. They had special religious suppers,
or communion services, when the believers partook of their
god. They even had to be baptize -- albeit they stood under a
slaughtered bull and were baptized by blood. And it had one
day in the week for celebration -- Sunday -- the Day of the
Sun.
 Hmmm -- where did this concept of celebration instead of
worshiping come from?
As we continue in this study and see how sun worship
invaded the church and thought to change God's laws to
adapt Christianity to the pagan mindset, we need to
remember what Revelation tells us about the last days.
The issue in the last days will be over true and false worship:
Rev. 13:4 So they WORSHIPED the dragon (Satan) who gave
authority to the beast, and they WORSHIPED the beast...
Rev. 13:8 And All who dwell on the earth will WORSHIP him,
whose names are not written in the Book of Life...
Rev. 13:12 He causes the earth and those who dwell in it to
WORSHIP the first beast,. . .
Rev. 13:15 As many as would not WORSHIP the image of the
beast should be killed. . .
The angel cries with a loud voice:
Rev. 14:7 WORSHIP Him who made heaven and earth. . .
Rev. 14:9 If anyone WORSHIPS the beast and his image. . .he
shall drink of the wrath of God. .
Go to Sunworship Page Two
Page Three: Sunworship and the Queen of Heaven
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The Story of Patrick

and the Celtic Church
The history of God's faithful people during the ages of Rome's
supremacy are written in heaven, but they have little place in
human history books. Rome endeavors to write history to show
herself in the best light. But the stories can still be found.
Here is the story of St. Patrick and the Christianity he and his
converts established in Northern Briton.
The Irish "Celtic" people trace their conversion to Christianity to
Patrick, who came to them early in the fifth century:
It all began when the great empire of Roman declined and it's
legions were withdrawn from the defense of the British Continent.
From the north the Irish, then called Scots, began swooping down
on the English coast, sailing up the rivers, raiding the settlements,
and carrying off plunder and slaves. Among those captured was a
young man named Patrick. So Ireland's patron saint was not Irish!
Patrick had been reared in a Christian home. His father was a
deacon. Yet Patrick did not take religion serious until he was
captured and sat as a swineherd in a foreign country. Here he
began to pray for his freedom. His conversion dates from this
captivity. "The Lord opened to me the sense of my unbelief," he
says. After six years he managed to escape and found his way to
the coast where he boarded a ship carrying a cargo of hounds.
He would have gladly remained in England had he not had a dream
one night in which the babies of Ireland pleaded with him to come
back to their country and tell them about Christ. Patrick decided to
return, but first he had to learn more about Christianity. Ordained a
priest, at length he was sent out, to be a missionary to the people
among whom he had once been a slave. He was appointed,
sometime after 431A.D., as successor to St. Palladius, first bishop
of Ireland.
From this point we have only legends. We know, however, that a
century later the entire structure of the church in Ireland was
monastic. Presumably, the monastic community, maintaining itself
on the land, fitted the agricultural communities of the Celts better
than the parish-church system which was more common
elsewhere.
We also know that Ireland became the base for the evangelization
of Britain.
In fact one historian (Thomas Bokenkotter, A Concise History Of
The Catholic Church, p. 94), says that "these Irish monks were the
leading missionaries of the age, and they carried their monastic
ideal across the length and breadth of Europe in the sixth and
seventh centuries."
Then in the 6th century the Roman pope sent Augustine (of
Canterbury) to evangelize the Anglo Saxons. So the missionaries
from Rome were working up from the south, while the missionaries
from Ireland and Scotland were working from the north. As they
worked, the papal missionaries and their converts met the
primitive Christians from the north. There was a striking
contrasted between them. The northern Christians were simple,
humble, while the papal representatives manifested the pomp and
arrogance of popery. The later demanded that these Chrisitan
churches acknowledge the supremacy of the sovereign pontiff.
The Britons meekly replied that they desired to love all men, but
that the pope was not entitled to supremacy in the church, and
they could render to him only that submission which was due to
every follower of Christ. They acknowledged no other master than
Christ.
According to Merle D'Aubigne, in History of the Reformation of the
Sixteenth Century, b.17,ch.2, the Roman missionaries said, "If you
will not unite with us in showing the Saxons the way of life, you
shall receive from them the stroke of death."
Did you know that Patrick may very well have been a Seventh-day
Sabbath keeper.
According to one historian:
"We find traces in the early monastic church of Ireland that they
held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their
labors." (W.T. Skene, Adamnan Life of St. Columba, p. 96)
Also Professor Moffet says: "It seems to have been customary in
the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to
keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor.
They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh
day." (The Church in Scotland, p. 140)
This seems to have been the case until about 1066 when the
Norman invasions of England took place. William II, duke of
Normandy (area in France bordering the English Channel) invaded
England and established himself there as William I, king of
England. The reigning pontiff favored William in his invasion,
blessed his armies and consecrated his banners and took the
opportunity to also establish his own spiritual authority. William
permitted him to do so in order to more effectually humble the
Saxon clergy and aggrandize his Norman prelates.
At this time the papacy was undergoing massive endeavors to gain
control of all religious activities. Christian society, they
maintained, must be organized under the pope, and guarded
against all possibility of error by the presence of Peter perpetually
present in his successors, the bishops of Rome. (Shelley, Church
History in Plain Language, p. 182)
Pope Gregory VII (1073) successfully asserted the absolute papal
power over the Church. It was he who declared that "the pope can
be judged by no one, the Roman church has never erred and never
will err till the end of time; the Roman church was founded by
Christ alone; the pope alone can depose and restore bishops; he
alone can make new laws, set up new bishoprics....he alone can
revise his judgments; his legates...(A Concise History of the
Catholic Church, p. 112)
The movement was to "free" the entire church from secular control
and make everything subject to the pope. Gregory insisted that the
church was above the state. It was Gregory who humiliated the
German emperor Henry VI making him stand barefoot in the snow
for three days begging for forgiveness.
During this time we see a Queen in Scotland named Margaret, wife
of King Malcolm III Canmore (1057-1093). Raised in the Hungarian
court, she promoted, in conformity with the Gregorian reform, the
interests of the church. She was later granted Saint hood by Pope
Innocent IV in 1250 for her great benefactions to the church.
In the book (Turgot, Life of Saint Margaret, p. 49) we read:
"It was another custom of theirs (people of Scotland) to neglect the
reverence due to the Lord's day, by devoting themselves to every
kind of worldly business upon it, just as they did upon other days.
That this was contrary to the law, she (Queen Margaret) proved to
them as well by reason as by authority. ‘Let us venerate the Lord's
day,' said she, ‘because of the resurrection of our Lord, which
happened upon that day, let us no longer do servile works upon
it.....Her next point was that they did not duly reverence the Lord's
day, but in this latter instance they seemed to have followed a
custom of which we find traces in the early Church of Ireland, by
which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested
from all their labours."
(See also Skene, Celtic Scotland, Vol. 2, p. 349)
(Barnett, Margaret of Scotland: Queen and Saint, p, 97) writes: "In
this matter the Scots had perhaps kept up the traditional usage of
the ancient Irish Church which observed Saturday instead of
Sunday as the day of rest." (Lewis, Seventh Day Baptists in Europe
and America, Vol. 1 p. 29) says "There is much evidence that the
Sabbath prevailed in Wales universally until A.D. 1115, when the
first Roman bishop was seated at St. Davis's. The old Welsh
Sabbath keeping churches did not even then altogether bow the
knee to Rome, but fled to their hiding places."
But the worst was still to come for Ireland. The total ruin of
Patrick's church.
In 1156 Pope Adrian issued to King Henry II of England a bull
authorizing him to invade Ireland. It was Dermot of Leinster, a man
from Ireland itself, that carried out the dreadful order. Because of
his cruelty as a chief, the people of Leinster had driven him out of
Ireland. Blinded with revenge he aligned himself with the Norman
King of England, Henry II and the Pope of Rome who had already
resolved upon the destruction of Ireland.
Why would Rome want the invasion of Ireland?
We will refer frequently throughout the remainder of this webpage
to (Lawrence, Historical Studies pp. 360-392 written in 1876,) in
which we find the full story.
"The chief boast of Ireland was its independence...Christianity, in
its purer form, came to Ireland about the middle of the fifth
century....In the year 432 there were no images, nor crucifixes, no
pompous ritual, no spiritual despotism, no moral corruption
emanating from Rome....Patrick, therefore, the humble slave and
missionary, brought to Ireland the simple elements of an apostolic
faith..not the Romish practices..Ireland became a Christian country
renowned for its intelligence, its pious genius, and its missionary
zeal....Avarice and priestly pride were unknown to the successors
of Patrick. Their doctrines were from the study of the Scriptures..."
"The Irish bishops firmly maintained their independence against
the constant menaces of popes or councils; would consent to hold
no intercourse with the Court of Rome; denied its claim to the right
of ordination and consecrated each other by a simple laying on of
hands; rejected the worship of images, the adoration of Mary, the
infallibility of the pope, and in all their schools and colleges
persisted in a free study of the Scriptures. They inculcated and
exercised a general liberty of conscience founded upon the wide
education of the people. The honesty, simplicity, and pious zeal of
the Irish teachers were recognized by their opponents.
"But bitter was the hostility with which the Roman Popes and the
Italian conclaves viewed the people of Ireland, where their
maledictions were treated with neglect, where there was a general
refusal to bow to mandates of Rome.
"Its apostolic usages, its Scriptural doctrines and its ever-open
Bible were arguments so strong against the fabric of Romish
superstition that the Popes felt that they could never be secure
until they had swept from their path, in fire and blood, the schools,
the churches, and the native bishops of Ireland. To accomplish
this inhuman ain. Pope Adrian IV., in 1156, sold Ireland to the
Normans."
"The sale of Ireland to its foes is the guiltiest of all the evil deeds of
the Italian priesthood. It produced a succession of St.
Bartholomew massacres; worse then what happened to the
Huguenots; it has proved more fatal to the Irish race than the
Inquisition to Spain."
Dermot Macmorrough, with the permission of Henry II, enlisted
Richard Strongbow, and Robert Fitz-Stephen to join his enterprise.
But impatient at their slowness Dermot, with a small group of men
attacked his country. The Irish drove him back and had they
pursued him they might have saved the country a lot of trouble.
But Dermot swore fealty to Ireland and they accepted his
treacheous submission.
In May, 1169, Robert Ritz-Stephen with his army landed in Ireland,
and Dermot joined him with a group of warriors of his own. City
after city was destroyed. Ireland roused into action and resolved
that the whole force of the nation be gathered to wage war against
the traitor Dermot. They rallied a great host, led by the Roderic
King of Ireland, and Dermot and the Normans, dismayed and
disheartened fled and hid themselves in the marshes and forests.
Roderic surrounded the Normans in their secret hiding place, and
by his immense superiority might have forced them to surrender.
But Roderic, perhaps misled by priests or bishops, perhaps fearful
at the thought of being assailed by England and exposed to the
anathemas of the Roman Church, for some reason unknown failed
to press the battle and accepted another oath of allegiance from
the traitor Dermot.
But the traitor continued his plans and set about building a larger
army. Three years of skirmishes which caused much suffering for
the Irish people and in which Dermot himself was killed, finally
resulted in the English king sending an armada of four hundred
ships filled with knights, soldiers and supplies to Ireland. The war
ravaged bleeding land was a helpless victim and yielded to the
authority of Henry II.
"When any Irish chief ventured to ask by what authority Henry had
taken possession of Ireland, he was told that the Pope, as vicar
and head of the Church, had given it to the king; and that he who
resisted the generous donation of St. Peter to his favorite son was
a heretic, condemned to everlasting reprobation." "It was ever the
aim of the Roman Church in those ages--nor does the policy seem
yet to have been abandoned— to set nation against nation, and
from the horrid discord and general woe to add to its own growing
strength. Henry, conscious of the claims of his Italian masters,
hastened to lay Ireland at their feet. A council was summoned at
Cashel professing to represent the Church of St. Patrick. The
Norman king ordered the bishops of Ireland to assemble. A motley
group of Norman priests, of martial monks, of the papal
archbishops, and a few trembling presbyters, natives of the South,
gathered at his command; but it was noticed that none of the
bishops of Ulster or Connaught assisted at the destruction of their
national faith. They still adhered to the usages of Patrick, and of
Columba, that the Irish Church, amidst bogs and forests, still
defied the ambition of cruel Rome."
"Every trace of independence was abandoned by the Council of
Cashel. The Romish ritual was enjoined on every priest; the
worship of Mary, of images, and of saints was to extend
throughout the Island; the priest was forbidden to marry; his hair
was to be cut after the exact fashion at Rome; the clergy who failed
to observe the new customs were condemned with indignant
solemnity; tithes were to be paid by the laity; and Ireland for the
first time was made tributary to the Romish Pope."
The conquered lands were divided among the victors while the
freedom loving Irish were reduced to the condition of slaves and
paupers; driven to live in caves, huts, and forests; outcasts and
beggars amidst the lands that once belonged to them.
But even this is not the end. Henry returned to England and for a
few years took care of duties assailing him there. In Ireland the old
church may have been formally replaced by the Roman approved
bishops. But Irish presbyters rejected the authority of the
unpatriotic synod.
“At length Henry, when his affairs were somewhat settled in
England, resolved to..launch the thunders of the Romish popes
against the Irish patriots. He had procured from Alexander III a
confirmation of the bull of Adrian excommunicating all who
opposed his authority over Ireland, and he now prepared to
publish the two solemn decrees, in their full enormity, to all its
schismatical Church.”
“1175 the two bulls were read by John of Salisbury, who had come
from Rome bearing the final decree of Alexander, recited the doom
of Ireland. ...Under a florid profession of Christian zeal it contained
a bitter denunciation of the Irish Church...and promised Henry the
favor of Heaven and an illustrious renown should he succeed in
planting true religion in the home of Patrick and Columba.
Alexander’s bull was still more effective, for it excommunicated all
who resisted Henry’s authority or that of his heirs...every Irish
patriot was converted into a child of Satan; every aspiration of
freedom was an impious defiance of the Roman Church.”
“Now began that perpetual conflict of races, the saddest in the
history of Europe, ...a mournful wail has never ceased to ascend to
heaven and blight the charms of Ireland....when the papal decrees
were proclaimed they still retained a sentiment of
independence...in defying the authority of the Italian priests.
..Centuries of fatal discord followed, during which the Normans
strove in vain to extirpate the accursed race who refused to obey
the decrees of the Popes or submit to a foreign lord. Papal legates
launched new excommunications against the Irish, and Romish
priests urged on that work of extermination which alone could
secure the supremacy of the Romish See. The papal monks
declared that it was no crime, no sin, to kill a Celt....
Things didn’t get better with the reformation. The chief leaders in
the English reformation were Henry the VIII and his daughter
Elizabeth I. The English had become protestant but they showed
no disposition to abandon control of Ireland which they had
received from the Papacy of Rome. Elizabeth I continued the
conquest to reduce the Irish to a passive subjection to her power.
“The cause of this fresh assault upon the liberties of Ireland was
the restless intrigues of the Jesuits. Elizabeth was waging war
against the Pope and the Jesuits, the most active and most
dangerous of her foes were ever the disciples of Loyola. To ruin
and break down every Protestant government, to cover with
discord and slaughter every Protestant land, and from the wreck of
nations to build up a spiritual empire tyrannical and severe was the
secret or open aim of every Jesuit. To wound or destroy Elizabath
the society began its disastrous labors in Ireland. The Jesuits, in
various disguises, penetrated to the courts of the native chiefs.
They roused the fires of national antipathy; they scoffed at the
British as heretics; they allured the Irish to abandon forever the
usages of St. Patrick and to ally themselves with the Roman
Church; they promised the natives the protection of St. Peter, the
shield of Mary, the blessing of the Pope, and the military aid of all
Catholic Europe, if they would rise once more in a crusade against
the English.”
“The Irish accepted the offers of Rome, threw themselves at the
Pontiff’s feet, and became, for the first time, the willing
instruments of the Jesuits and the Popes. They may be excused, if
not forgiven. Their schools had long been swept away; their
people had sunk into ignorance; they had endured centuries of
ceaseless turmoil and war. Rome stretched forth its cunning hand
to get control of the Irish Church, and after four centuries of
violence, succeeded at last by fraud..
The Irish rallied against the British, but were hopelessly defeated
by Elizabeth’s armies. The Pope gave little aid, the Spanish were
too far off and the English Raleigh cut down the Irish and Grey
massacred the rebels. When Elizabeth died, Ireland was almost
wholly conquered by England.
St. Patrick’s day?
The church of St. Patrick is gone.
Rome has claimed his name and largely blotted out the history of
the defeat and takeover of the church he established, and the fact
that most of Ireland’s present miseries are still ripples of the dark
history.
But that is the story if one simply looks in the old history books.
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