Written by Bishop Demetrics and Pauline Roscoe

The Book of Revelations speaks about the stinging locusts that torment men. If the locusts will kill the very valuable Honey Bee that causes fruits and vegetables to grow then the world’s crops will be destroyed.

REVELATION’S LOCUSTS

Editor; Val Gunter

Let’s say that the Book of Revelations is Jesus Christ of Nazareth telling a story, little by little. The Daily News will preach the message of Christ on every channel all-day long. The Church groups are protected because of His name is pleaced on our forheads, but the unsaved we suffer torment.

The Murder Hornet or the “Halloween Hornet.”

Larger than normal, Hornets are flying across the Pacific Ocean, arriving in Washington state. What are these insects looking for? Creatures mentioned in the bible that are coming on the earth will resemble Locusts. If they are machines of war, that’s one thing, but if they are insects, what are these Hornets coming from Japan and Europe’s purpose?

Revelation 9:1-7

The Lord makes HIS dwelling among the upright nations and the righteous King will protect and prosper them. 

(New Living Translation (NLT) Study Bible Notes)
9:1-12: The fifth . . . trumpet, the first of the three terrors (8:13), brings the judgment of locusts from the bottomless pit (or the abyss, or the underworld; also in 9:11), a place of horror. Ancient cultures viewed the oceanic depths, or the “abyss,” as a dwelling place of demonic forces (see note on Gen 1:2).
9:1: cf: Isa 14:12; Luke 8:31; 10:18; Rev 17:8; 20:1
9:2: The smoke from the pit turned the sky dark, as in the plague on Egypt (Exod 10:21-29; see Matt 27:45).
9:2: cf: Gen 19:28; Exod 19:18; Joel 2:2, 10

9:3-4: The locusts . . . from the smoke with their power to sting like scorpions are fiercer than those of the Egyptian plague (see Exod 10:14-15). Rather than eating plants, these locusts are like stinging scorpions that viciously attack people. Only people without the seal of God (see 7:1-8) receive this painful judgment. While the stings cause painful torture, they are not life-threatening (9:5-6).
9:3: cf: Exod 10:12-15; Rev 9:5, 10
9:4: cf: Ezek 9:4, 6; Rev 7:3

9:6: cf: Job 3:21; Rev 6:16
9:7-10: While some see these locusts as symbolic of attack helicopters, missiles, or other modern armaments, they come from the “bottomless pit” rather than from human engineering. The description of these creatures, derived from the physical appearance of locusts, is intended to cause revulsion and terror. • Their gold crowns indicate that their torment dominates much of the earth.

How dangerous are they to humans?

Since they’re so large, they can deliver a significant dose of venom, making them a threat to humans as well. A few stings are excruciating; dozens can put you in the hospital. That said, they mainly sting us when they’re defending themselves or their families. They’re not trying to murder us.

The experts who study these guys don’t really like calling them “murder hornets.” Entomologist Gwen Pearson suggests calling them the “Halloween hornet” to describe their coloring.

They pack more venom than a typical bee or wasp, making their stings more painful and harmful than other stings you may have experienced. They can also sting through standard beekeeping suits.

In Japan, 30 to 50 people die each year from their stings. This study finds that people who died from stings had an average of 59 stings, so you probably shouldn’t panic if you get stung just once.

Giant Hornets are not a risk to the Born again Believer, according to the Bible. Hell is a thousand time worst than over grown demo processed insets.

Many great men and women of GOD are built from the ashes of failure to become mighty warriors for GOD. 

King David

As King, David commits adultery with Bathsheba, leading him to arrange the death of her husband Uriah, the Hittite.

David’s son Absalom schemes to overthrow David. David flees Jerusalem during Absalom’s rebellion, but after Absalom’s death, he returns to the city to rule Israel. Because David shed much blood, GOD denies David the opportunity to build the temple.

Dead Sea Scrolls

Consequently, in one lifetime, we, the people of GOD, make terrible decisions that affect innocent people. As with the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient, mostly Hebrew, manuscripts (of leather, papyrus, and copper) first found in 1947 on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is among the more important finds in the history of modern archaeology. Study of the scrolls has enabled scholars to push back the date of a stabilized Hebrew Bible to no later than 70 CE, to help reconstruct the history of Palestine from the 4th century BCE to 135 CE, and to cast new light on the emergence of Christianity and of rabbinic Judaism and on the relationship between early Christian and Jewish religious traditions.https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dead-Sea-Scrolls

Sadly, the reason for the Dead-Sea-Scrolls being buried there was because of the outrage Roman soldiers had with orders to put down the Jewish rebellion.

Yahweh’s testing is never to break what HE is Making, but to try it out to see if it stands for the purpose it was created to serve. ADONAI created covenant, such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Israel. And there were women such as Ruth, Rahab, and Mary.

When it came to upright nations, the LORD would set aside LAND FOR HIS KINGDOM TO RESIDE THERE. However, the ALMIGHTY works in conjunction with a human servant and will never take land without a plan working for the good of HIS people.

In the last days, reverant worship, maybe the only thing a child of GOD has to hold on to Yeshua. The world system is going to collapse and the antichrist will seek to destroy those who convert to Yeshua, Jesus of Nazareth, in the tribulations. Thanks to ADONAI, the main church of Christ is raptured into Heaven.

Revelation 1:1
(AMP)
​¹ [THIS IS] the revelation of Jesus Christ [His unveiling of the divine mysteries]. God gave it to Him to disclose and make known to His bond servants certain things which must shortly and speedily come to pass in their entirety. And He sent and communicated it through His angel (messenger) to His bond servant John,

Proverbs 16:6
(AMP)
⁶ By mercy and love, truth and fidelity [to God and man—not by sacrificial offerings], iniquity is purged out of the heart, and by the reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord men depart from and avoid evil.

 The Testing of Job

Philippians 3:10-14
(CWSB)
¹⁰ That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
¹¹ If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
“The High Calling of God”
¹² Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
¹³ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Job 1:1-8 (CWSB)

What do we say when it seems as though injustice within the Bible continues today? These are the questions that will get answered in Heaven if it’s any of our business. However, to understand the mysteries of GOD is beyond human intelligence.

 1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. 2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. 7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered — the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

In the end, Job was rewarded with sevens-time more than he lost. However, in Job’s mind, he missed his family and wouldn’t want his enemy to go through such a hard trial. Here I am asking the same question about fairness.

The Lord taught me this lesson about forty years ago. While I as speaking out of state, I received a phone call from my lovely wife Pauline, saying that someone we had helped to get on their feet from a homeless situation, broke into our home and attacked my wife Pauline and tried to kill her with a knife. Long story sort, I questioned God’s ability to protect my family, for leaving them alone.

Pauline asked me a question about righteous people in the Bible and if they went through any catastrophes. I had embraced the prosperity message in those days because it was very early in my ministry. It was only after I started doiing research on hardship in the scripture that saved my soul from a dangerous error.

I learned that it’s easy to trust a sovereign God when you trust and believe His greatest qualities are Love and Kindness. And when it seems as though He is nowhere around, Christ is working beyond human comprehension. It’s called trusting ADONAI when you can’t see HIM.

How can Jesus, our Lord, trust His Father, after His Father left Him nailed to the cross? It’s because Christ had the same love for us as His Father did.

In the last days, things are not going to be good for the church. The Lord will take us out of the earth before things get really bad. But he leaves us here just long enough to share our faith. And it’s the quality of our love and devotion for our Savior that the unsaved will see causing them to desire what we have in a time of complete terror.

Prayers for the President

Covid-19 is spreading very quickly. President Trump, along with his wife and other staff members have also contracted Covid-19.  Please pray for their healing but most importantly their salvation.

Everything is a mystery in the Book of Revelation, but our GOD shall reveal them in the proper time.

Have you made Christ your Lord today?

The AVINU Blog ends here.

Do you know Christ as your Savior? Pray and ask Him to change your heart today.

The following information is for pastors who need research on the demigod who lead Israel into serving the prince of Darkness. We did the research for you.

Infamous Idols in the Bible Olive tree

Idol worship

Because of the Winter Equinox or Halloween season, we have researched the different idol gods that Israel got in trouble for worshiping. This season includes the worship of other gods, the setting out of artifacts, participating in Pagan days, and worshiping nature.  Around this time of year, there is also a lot of kidnapping of children to be used for human sacrifices. These are the Spirits of darkness who lead Israel away from ADONAI.

 Adrammelech and Anammelech

 The double idols of the Sepharvites

 In Samaria, the Sepharvites continued to worship their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech by burning their children as sacrifices. “Adrammelech” refers to Adar, a Babylonian sun god, while “Anammelech” is another name for Anu, the King of the Babylonian pantheon of gods. The writer of 2 Kings describes an attempt by the foreigners to respect the local god of Israel by formally requesting that the King would send to them an Israelite priest of Bethel. However, the narrative makes clear that not only was the worship of Adrammelech and Anammelech outrageous idolatry, but even the presence of a priest of Israel was corrupt, as this was a priest of Bethel. The apostate king Jeroboam I of Israel had instituted worship of golden calves at Bethel and Dan centuries earlier as centers of worship in place of the temple in Jerusalem.

 Artemis

 A Greek goddess, called Diana by the Romans

 In the New Testament, Artemis only shows up in Acts 19, as Luke described the third missionary journey of Paul. The apostle traveled to Ephesus, which served as the capital of the Roman province of Asia, or western Turkey. Since hundreds of years before, the citizens of Ephesus had traditionally worshipped the mother goddess Artemis and had built a large temple in her honor.

  Although Artemis was a Greek goddess, this “Artemis of the Ephesians” was an Asiatic or Phrygian goddess similar to Ashtoreth, or Ishtar, of the ancient Near East. There was also a representative Artemis anywhere the Greeks colonized and adopted the old goddesses, putting Greek names on non-Greek idols. She was also called Diana by the Romans. Supposedly, an image fell out of the sky near Ephesus and was fashioned into the first idol of Artemis that sat in the temple. It is unclear if this was simply a large block of wood or if it was actually a meteorite.

 Artemis was often depicted with rows of multiple breasts on her chest to suggest the life-giving power of the nature goddess. Temple worship in Ephesus included both ritual prostitution and sacrifices. Many miniature shrines of Artemis were sold on the streets of Ephesus. While these shrines were made of wood, clay, or silver, the latter provided income to the guild of silversmiths. Pilgrims to Ephesus would buy these little idols to take back home with them.

 Demetrius, convened a meeting of the smiths to organize a combined labor riot and religious rally in favor of Artemis (Acts 19:24-27). This so stirred up the crowds that Paul was prevented from staying in Ephesus. He encouraged the disciples one last time and left for Macedonia, in order to cause less trouble for the local Christian population (Acts 20:1).

 Asherah

 A fertility goddess of the ancient Near East

 Asherah was the prominent fertility goddess of the Canaanites and a companion to the god Baal. Wherever Baal was worshipped, so was his female counterpart. One of the practices of their worshippers was to use ritual prostitution, seeking a blessing of fertility for their families and the land.

 Most scholars agree that the worship of the goddesses Asherah and Ashtoreth began as devotion to a single deity in Assyria called Astarte. This goddess was also known by the name Ishtar and worshipped by the Babylonians. The cult of Astarte grew from ancient Assyria to the eastern Mediterranean lands now known as the Levant region. As it did so, the cult diverged into the worship of Ashtoreth and Asherah.

 A common symbol of Asherah was the Asherah pole, a tree trunk without branches. This may allude to the pagan association of sacred tree groves with the goddess. The plural of Asherah is Asheroth or Asherim in reference to her poles.

 In the religious life of ancient Israel and Judah, the people of God were often led astray by Canaanite religion. Asherah worship became so common that godly leaders such as Gideon, Asa, Hezekiah, and Josiah made efforts to destroy the practice by cutting down Asherah poles in public places (Judg. 6:25-27; 1 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 18:4; 23:14; 2 Chron. 15:16). Prophets had warned against the worship of Asherah since the time of Moses all the way down to Micah (Deut. 16:21; Mic. 5:14).

 Ashtoreth

 A moon goddess of the Phoenicians and Canaanites

 Ashtoreth was a major goddess worshipped in the ancient Near East and was a threat to the spiritual purity and peace of the Israelites. Most scholars trace the worship of Ashtoreth to the goddess Astarte of Assyria, whose worship diverged into two goddesses as the cult spread throughout Mesopotamia. This goddess was also known by the name Ishtar in Babylon. She divided into Asherah, the wife of Baal and goddess of fertility, and Ashtoreth, a moon goddess. Ashtoreth was the opposite of Baal in that he was the god of the sun, whereas feminine Asherah contrasted against Baal’s masculine traits.

 An Ashtoreth idol was sometimes depicted with the crescent moon on her head, its “horns” pointing up from her. Baal and Ashtoreth images also would take the forms of a bull and cow, with cow horns symbolizing the goddess. Ashtaroth is plural for the figurines or idols of the goddess.

 Baal

 The title of a sun god of the Fertile Crescent

 In the ancient Near East, from Phoenicia on the Mediterranean coast to Babylon toward the sunrise, the names Ba’al, Bel, or Belu were used as the generic title for the local sun-deities. Since earliest times, as people forgot or rejected the God of the Bible, they worshipped the life-giving power of the sun. The sun’s light and heat caused both drought and harvest. It is easy to see how this became the dominant form of idolatry in the ancient Near East.

  Baal literally means “lord” in related Semitic languages. Baal-Merodach in Babylon referred to the sun god “Lord Marduk” of the Babylonians. The Canaanite god Baal-Shamaim was “Lord of heaven.” Baal-zebub, the Lord of flies, was the god of Ekron in Philistine territory. Baal was certainly the main god worshipped by all the Canaanite tribes, tailored to their own idol-worship. The worship of Baal involved priests, fertility rites, and statues called Baalim, which were set up in high places throughout Canaan. Often the phrase “the Baals” was invoked in the Old Testament to describe all the idols of the land. At its core, Baal represented submission to any spiritual lord or master aside from the Lord of Lords who was the God of Israel. This “one size fits all” sense of a god made it very easy to practice syncretism, or the mixing of incompatible Biblical and pagan beliefs.

 As the Hebrews entered the Promised Land, they were warned to reject the Baals and worship Yahweh alone (Deut 4:3, 23).The false worship of Baal was the main rival for the religious affections of the Israelites throughout their national history. This led to the dramatic confrontation between the prophet Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal supported by Queen Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab and the daughter of Ethbaal, the priest-king in Sidon (1 Kings 16:31-32).

 Chemosh

 God of the Moabites

 The word Chemosh means “the destroyer” or “the subduer.” The god of the ancient Moabites so completely captured their imaginations that they were often known in the Bible simply by the nickname, “the people of Chemosh.” Chemosh was in every way the national god of Moab and had become their stern taskmaster, so that only human sacrifice would please him if they thought he was angry. The King of Moab sacrificed his only son on the walls to appease Chemosh when besieged by the Israelite and Judahite armies, and those armies were turned away by the desperate rage of the Moabite soldiers.

 The costly worship of Chemosh shows us the true nature of all idols; they are disguised to deceive and dominate those who bow down to false gods. In contrast, the God of the Israelites was both holy and forgiving, willing to show mercy to the repentant, and faithful to keep all his promises. There are many instances in the Old Testament of some Israelites turning away from the Lord to the worship of Chemosh. King Solomon was the first prominent example (1 Kings 11:7). Later, King Josiah exterminated all Chemosh worship from the land, aggressively destroying every idol and high place he could find (2 Kings 23:13). By the time the Jews returned from exile, Chemosh is no longer mentioned in the Bible.

 Dagon

 God of the Philistines

 Dagon was the famous fish-god of the Philistines and was worshipped especially at his temples in Gaza and Ashdod. He had the body of a fish but the head and hands of a man. This was originally a deity worshipped by the Assyrians and Babylonians, but the idea later became exported to Philistia.

 One temple of Dagon is mentioned in Judges 16:23 when the captured and blinded Samson was ridiculed in front of Dagon as a sign of Philistine superiority. Samson prayed for strength and not only brought down the idol but the entire temple roof, killing more enemies in his death than he had during his life.

 Golden Calf

 The original pattern for idol worship

 Scripture describes at least three golden calves; the Hebrews made a golden calf at the base of Mt. Sinai after the exodus from Egypt (Ex. 32:4), and King Jeroboam of the northern kingdom later erected two golden calves for the Israelites as an alternative to the temple worship in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:28).

 The worship of the calf at Sinai and the two cities of Israel were almost certainly advertised as worship of Yahweh with a visible image. Several commentators think this best fits the evidence, such as Jehu’s total destruction of every vestige of Baal-worship in the northern kingdom yet not the golden calves. They were finally removed when the Assyrian army looted Samaria and the temples for idol worship. However, it was not until the later reign of King Josiah in Judah that the altars to the calves were destroyed so they could not be used again.

 Hermes

 A lesser god of the Greek culture, called Mercury by the Romans

 Hermes only appears in Acts 14, during the first missionary journey of Paul. He and his fellow apostle Barnabas traveled to Lycaonia, a region with its own language and customs. These people had worshipped other idols but renamed them to fit the Greek pantheon in accordance with the influence of Greek ideas. They also had a legend that Zeus and Hermes had visited their region in human form long ago, but the gods punished the people for not recognizing them.

 When Paul and Barnabas arrived at the city of Lystra, Paul began to preach the gospel at the city gates. After Paul healed a crippled man, the inhabitants believed that Paul was Hermes and Barnabas was Zeus, and so the people tried to offer sacrifices to them. The locals thought the two men were a return appearance of their gods in disguise.

 Justice

 Also called Dike, the Greek goddess of justice

 At this, the natives of Malta proclaimed their faith in the goddess Justice, saying that despite the miraculous rescue of everyone off the ship, clearly this man was marked for judgment (Acts 28:4). However, Paul shook the snake off into the fire and did not die as they expected. So the Maltese changed their minds and said that Paul must be a god.

 the goddess Justitia. In mythology, Dike was portrayed carrying scales that weighed the offender’s good and evil acts, whereas the Roman goddess Justitia was depicted as blindfolded and carrying a sword.

 Mammon

 The personified name for the idol of money

 Idols in the New Testament refer not only to false gods but to a host of objects that can serve for idolatrous worship. One example is “mammon,” a word meaning possessions, money, or unrighteous wealth.     Mammon appears in Luke 16:13 and Matthew 6:24, where Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and be enslaved to money.”

 These objects are not evil in themselves, but rather “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils” (1 Tim. 6:10).

 Called “the abomination of the Ammonites,” Molech or Milcom was worshipped by the pagan neighbors of Israel. The Ammonites had their capital at Rabbah, where presumably there was a temple to Molech at one time. The Bible’s chief condemnation of Molech worship was that the Ammonites made their children pass through fire (Lev. 18:21).

 Nebo

 A god of Assyria and Babylonia

 Nebo was a Babylonian god whose name is also found as Nabu. He was considered the god of wisdom, and his name means “speaker.” Large temples were dedicated to this idol in Babylon. Later on, he was associated with the planet Mercury.

 Isaiah the Israelite prophet predicted judgment on the Babylonians for their future destruction of Judah, speaking of a time when the idols of Bel and Nebo, chief gods of Babylon, would in their turn be ransacked and carried away by beasts of burden (Isa. 46:1).

(Infamous Idols)

 Nergal

 An idol of the Cuthites symbolized by a lion

(Infamous Idols)

 According to 2 Kings 17, the Cuthites and other foreigners feared that they were ignoring the god of their new land, so they tried to worship both the God of the Israelites and Nergal. The remaining Israelites and foreign pagans intermarried as well as embraced syncretism, or blending of two different religions, marking these Samaritans as outsiders despised by the Jews.

(Infamous Idols)

 Rimmon

 A god of Syria

(Infamous Idols)

 Rimmon, also known by the name Hadad, was the main god of the ancient Syrians and had a temple in Damascus. He is similar to the Semitic god Baal and has been identified with Rammanu, an Assyrian god of thunder, wind, and rain. He is mentioned only once in the Bible as an idol (2 Kings 5:18).

(Infamous Idols)

 Tammuz

 A god of Babylonia

(Infamous Idols)

 The Babylonians worshipped a whole pantheon of deities, from Bel and Ishtar to the minor god Tammuz.

(Infamous Idols)

 His name is only mentioned once in the Bible, by the prophet Ezekiel who sees a vision of Israelite women mourning the death of Tammuz at the very gate of the temple itself (Ezek. 8:14-15).

(Infamous Idols)

 Nehushtan

 The bronze snake made by Moses

(Infamous Idols)

 This strange idol began as a symbol of God’s grace and mercy. In Numbers 21:4-9, the children of Israel complained and grumbled against God’s plan, and the Lord sent serpents to bite them. When the people started dying from the venomous snakes, God told Moses to fashion a bronze snake and put it on a pole.

(Infamous Idols)

 This story shows that not only can pagan gods become idols to lead away from the Lord, but even the symbols of faith, if divorced from the true worship of Christ, can become idols as well.

(Infamous Idols)

 This strange idol began as a symbol of God’s grace and mercy. In Numbers 21:4-9, the children of Israel complained and grumbled against God’s plan, and the Lord sent serpents to bite them. When the people started dying from the venomous snakes, God told Moses to fashion a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who looked at the bronze symbol in repentance and faith would be healed and not die.

(Infamous Idols)

 Succoth-Benoth

 A god of resettled Mesopotamians in northern Israel

(Infamous Idols)

 According to 2 Kings 17, God punished the Israelites by allowing the Assyrian army to lay waste to the capital city of the northern Israelites. The Assyrians enslaved the ten tribes of Israel and forcibly relocated them to other territories of the empire.

(Infamous Idols)

 Twin Gods

 Castor and Pollux, also called the Gemini

(Infamous Idols)

 During the early days of the Roman Empire, sailing ships often carried the figurehead of the Dioscuri, the twin gods Castor and Pollux, whose two stars served as a navigational aid to sailors in the Mediterranean Sea and as the main part of the constellation Gemini. It was on a ship like this that the apostle Paul set sail from Malta to Rome, while being escorted by Roman soldiers to have his trial heard by the Emperor Nero in about AD 62 (Acts 28:11).

 Unknown God

 A mysterious god whose altar stood in the city of Athens

(Infamous Idols)

 In Acts 17, the apostle Paul arrived in the ancient Greek city of Athens, where he waited for his companions to arrive from the city of Berea in which Paul’s preaching had been opposed. Alone in the great city-state, Paul walked around the city and noted the artifacts of Athenian culture. He witnessed the high number of altars to various Greek gods, yet in this encyclopedic entourage, there was one altar without a name: the altar to an unknown god.

(Infamous Idols)

 Zeus

 The main god of the ancient Greek culture, called Jupiter by the Romans

 In the New Testament, Zeus is mentioned only in Acts 14, as Luke described the first missionary journey of Paul. He and his fellow apostle Barnabas traveled to the region of the Lycaonians, a people with their own language and customs. These people had adopted the names of Greek deities for older idols they had worshipped.

 However, hostile Jews from Iconium had followed the Christians and persuaded the Lycaonians to turn against Paul and Barnabas, stoning Paul almost to death. He amazingly recovered, and the next day the two apostles traveled on to the city Derbe (Acts 14:20).

As the Apostles continued to give first-hand accounts of the Messiah’s ministry style, a second impression is, these men came face to face with the Son of GOD. Ancient Europe worshiped the Pagan deities and Aesthesis Noun 1. esthesis – an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation; “a sensation of touch”

aesthesis, sensation, sense datum, sense experience, sense impression

perception – the process of perceiving [1].

Hebraic teaching was a new and unfamiliar concept Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon | Definition, History, Language, Literature …

Anglo-Saxon, term used historically to describe any member of the Germanic peoples who, from the 5th century CE to the time of the Norman Conquest (1066), inhabited and ruled territories that are now in England and Wales. 

Few in early Europe may have shown interest in the Jews’ religious worship, for the Europeans were Pagans. They worshipped every form of life, such as trees, herbs, animals, and mystical Forest Heroes, with a single God, especially when their religion involves the worship of every category of each lifeform that gives off its particular energy from each life. For all the lives of the Anglo-Saxons, they worshipped Nature and forest deities. 

Apostles of Christ met on hard times because of their new religion which was a driving force in their culture. 

They had already chosen the faith of their ancestry’s divination religions, Mystical properties of herbs, crystals, and oils—Forest herbs, Creatures of the Woodlands, and goddess and forest Lords.  

(Infamous Idols)

 A fertility goddess of the ancient Near East

 Asherah was the prominent fertility goddess of the Canaanites and a companion to the god Baal. Wherever Baal was worshipped, so was his female counterpart. One of the practices of their worshippers was to use ritual prostitution, seeking a blessing of fertility for their families and the land.

 Most scholars agree that the worship of the goddesses Asherah and Ashtoreth began as devotion to a single deity in Assyria called Astarte. This goddess was also known by the name Ishtar and worshipped by the Babylonians. The cult of Astarte grew from ancient Assyria to the eastern Mediterranean lands now known as the Levant region. As it did so, the cult diverged into the worship of Ashtoreth and Asherah.

 A common symbol of Asherah was the Asherah pole, a tree trunk without branches. This may allude to the pagan association of sacred tree groves with the goddess. The plural of Asherah is Asheroth or Asherim in reference to her poles.

 In the religious life of ancient Israel and Judah, the people of God were often led astray by Canaanite religion. Asherah worship became so common that godly leaders such as Gideon, Asa, Hezekiah, and Josiah made efforts to destroy the practice by cutting down Asherah poles in public places (Judg. 6:25-27; 1 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 18:4; 23:14; 2 Chron. 15:16). Prophets had warned against the worship of Asherah since the time of Moses all the way down to Micah (Deut. 16:21; Mic. 5:14).

  The idol-worship of Asherah contributed to God finally allowing the Assyrians to conquer, enslave, and deport the northern kingdom of Israel. The northern kingdom worshipped Asherah partly due to the influence of Jezebel, the queen of Ahab and a princess of Sidon who instituted an aggressive national policy of Baal and Asherah worship. One of the oldest temples of Baal and Asherah was at the Phoenician city of Sidon, which was finally destroyed by an earthquake in AD 555.

The Ishtar Gate (Arabic: بوابة عشتار‎) was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon (in the area of present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq). It was constructed in about 575 BCE by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city.

 As the Hebrews entered the Promised Land, they were warned to reject the Baals and worship Yahweh alone (Deut 4:3, 23).The false worship of Baal was the main rival for the religious affections of the Israelites throughout their national history. This led to the dramatic confrontation between the prophet Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal supported by Queen Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab and the daughter of Ethbaal, the priest-king in Sidon (1 Kings 16:31-32). Jezebel’s attempts to promote the cult of Baal and his goddess Asherah were halted by the bold ministries of Elijah and Elisha and through the destruction of Ahab’s family by the military commander Jehu (2 Kings 9:7-10).

Early witches were people who practiced witchcraft, using magic spells and calling upon spirits for help or to bring about change. Most witches were thought to be pagans doing the Devil’s work. Many, however, were simply natural healers or so-called “wise women” whose choice of profession was misunderstood. It’s unclear exactly when witches came on the historical scene, but one of the earliest records of a witch is in the Bible in the book of 1 Samuel, thought to be written between 931 B.C. and 721 B.C. It tells the story of when King Saul sought the Witch of Endor to summon the dead prophet Samuel’s spirit to help him defeat the Philistine army. The witch roused Samuel, who then prophesied the death of Saul and his sons. The next day, according to the Bible, Saul’s sons died in battle, and Saul committed suicide.https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/history-of-witches

gington

Patti Wigington

Paganism Expert

• B.A., History, Ohio University

Patti Wigington is a pagan author, educator, and licensed clergy. She is the author of Daily Spellbook for the Good Witch, Wicca Practical Magic and The Daily Spell Journal.

Updated September 25, 2019

Isis (called “Aset” by the Egyptians), a daughter of Nut and Geb, is known in Ancient Egyptian mythology as a goddess of magic. Wife and sister of Osiris, Isis was originally considered a funerary goddess. After her resurrection via magic of Osiris, who had been killed by his brother Set, Isis was considered “more powerful than a thousand soldiers” and “the clever-tongued one whose speech never fails.” She is sometimes invoked as an assistant in magical rituals in some traditions of contemporary Paganism. Her worship is also a focus of some Kemetic reconstructionist groups.

(Infamous Idols)

 Artemis

 A Greek goddess, called Diana by the Romans

 In the New Testament, Artemis only shows up in Acts 19, as Luke described the third missionary journey of Paul. The apostle traveled to Ephesus, which served as the capital of the Roman province of Asia, or    western Turkey. Since hundreds of years before, the citizens of Ephesus had traditionally worshipped the mother goddess Artemis and had built a large temple in her honor.  Although Artemis was a Greek goddess, this “Artemis of the Ephesians” was an Asiatic or Phrygian goddess similar to Ashtoreth, or Ishtar, of the ancient Near East. There was also a representative for Artemis anywhere the Greeks colonized and adopted the old goddesses, putting Greek names on non-Greek idols. She was also called Diana by the Romans. Supposedly, an image fell out of the sky near Ephesus and was fashioned into the first idol of Artemis that sat in the temple. It is unclear if this was simply a large block of wood or if it was actually a meteorite.

 Artemis was often depicted with rows of multiple breasts on her chest to suggest the life-giving power of the nature goddess. Temple worship in Ephesus included both ritual prostitution and sacrifices. Many miniature shrines of Artemis were sold on the streets of Ephesus. While these shrines were made of wood, clay, or silver, the latter provided income to the guild of silversmiths. Pilgrims to Ephesus would buy these little idols to take back home with them.

 While in the city of Ephesus, the apostle Paul proclaimed the gospel of Christ to all who would listen, remaining there for about two years with his helpers in order to plant the first Christian church. After he sent Timothy and Erastus on next to Macedonia, Paul continued preaching to the Ephesians and attracted the anger of the silversmiths whose profit depended on the sale of shrines at the temple. Sales had sharply dropped due to the conversions of Artemis-worshippers to the Way of Christ. A notable metalworker, Demetrius, convened a meeting of the smiths to organize a combined labor riot and religious rally in favor of Artemis (Acts 19:24-27). This so stirred up the crowds that Paul was prevented from staying in Ephesus. He encouraged the disciples one last time and left for Macedonia, in order to cause less trouble for the local Christian population (Acts 20:1). The word of God continued to bear fruit in Ephesus as a beachhead for missions among the Gentiles, eroding faith in the false goddess Artemis.

Did You Know?

• Isis is the divine mother of every pharaoh of Egypt, and ultimately of Egypt itself. 
• A number of contemporary Pagan traditions have adopted Isis as their patron Goddess and she is often found at the heart of a number of female-centered covens. 
• The realms of life and death are often associated with both Isis and her sister Nephthys, who are depicted together on coffins and funerary texts. https://www.learnreligions.com/who-was-the-egyptian-goddess-isis-2561966

 Although Zeus, as an idol, does not surface much in the text of the New Testament, it is important to note that, next to the typical worship of fertility goddesses, Zeus was incredibly common across the whole Mediterranean world, including the ancient Near East. This was due to the spread of Hellenistic culture in the wake of Alexander the Great’s military conquests in the 4th century BC. By the time of the New Testament, Greek thought and religion had influenced the area even to the point that Greek, not Latin, was first used as a common language for speaking and writing when the Roman Empire ruled that part of the world.  Adopted as one of the Roman gods, Zeus was also called Jupiter or Jove and had a planet named after him. Greek astronomers chose to name the planet in honor of their supreme god Zeus, borrowing the idea from ancient Babylonian astronomers who first named the same planet after their god Marduk.

(Infamous Idols)

 God of the Ammonites

 Called “the abomination of the Ammonites,” Molech or Milcom was worshipped by the pagan neighbors of Israel. The Ammonites had their capital at Rabbah, where presumably there was a temple to Molech at one time. The Bible’s chief condemnation of Molech worship was that the Ammonites made their children pass through fire (Lev. 18:21).

 Other Canaanites had adopted Molech worship as well, and God warned his people to stay clear from the influence of local pagans. All too soon, out of love for his foreign wives, King Solomon legitimized toleration for Molech worship by establishing a place for offerings in the Valley of Ben Hinnom outside Jerusalem. By the time of King Ahaz, it was called Topheth, a place for burning their sons and daughters in order to atone for sin or supplicate Molech.

 Ancient Roman writers such as Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch described this kind of child sacrifice when it was practiced at the Phoenician colony of Carthage in North Africa. A small child was laid on the arms of a large Molech statue, which tilted down so the child would roll into a fiery pit. The sound of drums and flutes drowned out the cries of its victims.

 The worship of Molech was considered so completely contrary to the ways of God that prophets repeatedly told the Israelites that God’s judgment would fall on those who put helpless victims to death. The prophet Jeremiah made this link clear when he foretold in Jeremiah 7:30-34 that Judah would be full of slain people and the land would be emptied because of their idolatry. This destruction occurred in 586 BC.

[2] https://www.thefreedictionary.com/esthesis

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