Imitation Gods II

Isaiah 52:7:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

Isn’t that marvelous?  It is Jesus Christ who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, and publishes salvation.  It is Jesus Christ who declares, “Thy God reigneth!”

This world is cursed with turmoil of all types.  It is filled with confusion, corruption, violence, frustration, envy, strife, sexual sins of all kinds, and more.  But in the midst of the connivances of evil, there is a peace that passes understanding which we can enter into, inside the veil, in the presence of God where nothing will in any wise harm us, where all things work to our good, where the double positive reigns.  This place is called the Kingdom of God.  This place is a reality and it can only be entered into through the miraculous born-again experience.  Have you been born a second time?  Are you ready to experience a transforming miracle?  Click onto “Further With Jesus” now for instant entry to this beautiful place.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

Is there a God, and did He author the Scriptures?  Do similarities of the false gods of ancient history prove that the God of the Holy Bible is simply a compilation of archaic hand-me-down gods?  Is Christianity rooted in paganism?  The answer was posted in GodSaidManSaid’s previous feature article titled “Imitation Gods.”  (For a full resolution to this subject, click onto “Imitation Gods.”)  That feature was the first in a two-part series dealing with several questions raised by two GodSaidManSaid visitors.  This is Part Two, which will answer several other questions raised by the first visitor. 

GOD SAID, Romans 1:21-28:

21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

MAN SAID: Man created God as a superstitious crutch to navigate through some of life’s hard spots.  Now that we are enlightened scholastically, we no longer need this God.

Now THE RECORD.  The first e-mail posted in “Imitation Gods” reads:

The claim was made that Christianity is just a story taken from many different stories from earlier cultures, religions, and practices. Also, it was claimed that Christianity is based largely on the zodiac.  [End of quote]

What is God’s position on the zodiac?  Zodiac is defined according to the Oxford Dictionary as follows:

The zodiac is an imaginary band around the celestial sphere, which is divided into 12 parts known as the constellations of the zodiac.  The band contains the ecliptic (the line representing the Sun’s apparent path across the sky over the course of the year); and the Sun, Moon, and planets are always to be found within its limits.  Each constellation of the zodiac contains a pattern of stars that represents an animal or a character from Greek mythology.  The zodiac originated as a device for measuring time, but by the 5^th century BC it had been incorporated into attempts to determine character and predict the future.  Although there is no scientific proof of its validity, astrologers still use the zodiac for assessing trends in people’s emotional and physical lives.  [End of quote]

The zodiac and astrology are basically synonymous.  Astronomy, according to Oxford, is “the scientific study of celestial bodies and other matter beyond Earth’s atmosphere.”  Astrology and astronomy are not the same.

Genesis 1:14-19:

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

The celestial entities were created by God to give light to the earth, to divide day from night, for signs and seasons, and for days and years.  One of the most famous of all signs is the star of Bethlehem that led the wise men to the place where the infant Christ abode.  But this is not to be confused with astrology.  As is his pattern, Satan distorts the truth of God’s design, and the disobedient follow his pernicious ways.  Many are bound up in astrology and horoscopes and have subjected themselves to the direction purportedly given by stars and planets instead of taking their leadership from the Creator of these celestial spheres.

God’s abhorrence of the stargazers is found in the following verses, which are just a sampling:

Jeremiah 10:1-2:

1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

II Kings 23:5:

And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

Deuteronomy 17:2-5:

2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:

5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.

Deuteronomy 4:15-19:

15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:

19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

Isaiah 47:13-14:

13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

Acts 7:42-43:

42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

Satan’s planned similarities do not equate to God’s truth.  Christianity is not based on the zodiac.

Another challenge by the skeptics was that Egyptian history does not include Moses and others claim that there is no record of Jewish slaves in Egypt.  The following subjects on this website settle this debate:

Joseph

Miraculous Plagues

Moses Challenged

Pharaoh Kills Babies

The information establishing the sojourning of Israel in Egypt, from Joseph the king-maker, to the Moses of the Exodus, is substantial.

The information concerning Moses, of Pharaoh’s acts of infanticide, of Moses and the great plagues of Egypt, of the Israelites’ spoiling of the Egyptians’ precious things, and God’s high hand leading of the Jews out of Egypt’s cruel bondage are there, recorded in time for all who wish to see.

Skeptics feel comfortable challenging the Word of God while hiding behind the wall of time, but this just doesn’t work. Not only was the account of the Exodus not effectively challenged for thousands of years, but the greatest minds of all time fully endorsed the veracity of the Moses record. Besides being unquestionably believed by the multitude of Jews and their historic leader, Joshua, it is certified by the great prophet Samuel, King David, Solomon, Asa, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Malachi, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, Jude, Jesus Christ, the King of Glory and savior of our souls, and of course, his holy father, God. For some, this list may not be sufficient. Time and space prohibit listing all the great men and women who fully embraced the record of God’s Word concerning the servant of God named Moses. But one man in particular sums it up well. He said:

We reject with scorn all those learned and labored myths that Moses was but a legendary figure upon whom the priesthood and the people hung their essential social, moral, and religious ordinances. We believe that the most scientific view, the most up‑to‑date and rational conception, will find its fullest satisfaction in taking the Bible story literally. We may be sure that all these things happened just as they are set out according to Holy Writ. We may believe that they happened to people not so very different from ourselves, and that the impressions those people received were faithfully recorded, and have been transmitted across the centuries with far more accuracy than many of the telegraphed accounts we read of goings on of today. In the words of a forgotten work of Mr. Gladstone, we rest with assurance upon “The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture.” Let all men of science and learning expand their knowledge, and probe with their researches, every detail of the records which have been preserved to us from those dim ages. All they will do is to fortify the grand simplicity and essential accuracy of these recorded truths which have so far lighted the pilgrimage of man.

That man was Winston Churchill. 

Other than Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, there is arguably no greater nor more venerated name than the name of Moses.

A few additional notes concerning Moses and Egypt come from author David Rohl, who quotes second century Jewish historian Artapanus.  The excerpt reads:

But as the king still persisted in his folly, Moses caused hail and earthquakes by night, so that those who fled from the earthquakes were killed by the hail, and those who sought shelter from the hail were destroyed by the earthquakes.  And at that time all the houses fell in and most of the temples.  [End of quote]

Famed historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote just a few decades after Christ, informs us that prior to Moses fleeing from Egypt, he served in the Egyptian army as a general, leading the troops in a hugely successful counterattack against the invading Ethiopians.

Finally, excerpts from Answers in Genesis cite information quoted by field archaeologist David Down.  Mr. Down regularly conducts archaeological digs in Israel under the auspices of the Israeli Antiquities Authority.  He publishes a monthly newsletter called Diggings and a magazine titled Archaeological Diggings.  The excerpt follows:

In the Leiden Museum in Holland is a papyrus written in a later period, but most scholars recognize it as being a copy of a papyrus from an earlier dynasty. It could have been from the 13th dynasty describing the conditions that prevailed after the plagues had struck. It reads:

‘Nay, but the heart is violent. Plague stalks through the land and blood is everywhere... Nay, but the river is blood. Does a man drink from it? As a human he rejects it. He thirsts for water... Nay, but gates, columns and walls are consumed with fire.... Nay but men are few. He that lays his brother in the ground is everywhere... Nay but the son of the high‑born man is no longer to be recognized... The stranger people from outside are come into Egypt... Nay, but corn has perished everywhere. People are stripped of clothing, perfume and oil. Everyone says "there is no more". The storehouse is bare... It has come to this. The king has been taken away by poor men.’  [End of quote]

The following and last challenge, which was brought by a fellow brother, is as follows:

Furthermore, it was claimed that an Egyptian pharaoh began monotheism with “Amen-Ra,” and that from this name, we get our present-day Christian terms, “sun,” “the Son,” and “amen.”  [End of quote]

Amen-Ra, more commonly known as Amun-Re, also Amon-Re and Atum-Re, is a pagan deity known as the sun god.  “Re” means sun god, and “Amun,” it is suggested, was the patron deity of Thebes.  Keep in mind the truths established in Part One:

1. Adam passed down partial, but firsthand, knowledge of God to his offspring.

2. Satan, in his desire to be like God, distorted and fogged the true record to accommodate his desires.

3. God gave Moses the unabridged firsthand knowledge of the nature of God and cleared the smoke, declaring Himself to be the Great I AM—the one and only true creator God.  He established this in the first five books of the Bible.

Amun-Re, this Satanic look-alike, hails back to the time of Genesis and Nimrod, Babel, and Baal worship, which is the worship of the sun god.  God’s judgment will fall upon all those who participate in this evil.  Allow me to repeat several passages listed above:

Deuteronomy 4:15-19:

15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:

19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

Deuteronomy 17:2-5:

2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:

5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.