PAGAN SUN WORSHIP AND CATHOLICISM
THE PAGAN SUN WHEEL, THE OBELISK AND BAAL
| Above is a Roman coin from the 3rd century A.D. (Probus, A.D.
276-282) which on the reverse depicts the pagan sun god driving a
chariot drawn by four horses (Sol in Quadriga). The inscription reads
SOLI INVICTO - The Invincible Sun.]
At right is a similar mosaic found in the Vatican grottoes under St.
Peter's Basilica, on the vaulted ceiling of the tomb of the Julii
(also known as "Mausoleum
M"). It
depicts Christ as the sun-god Helios / Sol riding in his chariot, and is
dated to the 3rd century A.D. The two left horses were destroyed when
the hole was made to enter the tomb. Other mosaics in this Christian
tomb depicted Jonah and the whale, the good shepherd carrying a lamb,
and fishermen. This blending of paganism with Christianity is
syncretism, and apostasy. |
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When Israel apostatized, they made chariots dedicated to the sun god, who
it was thought, traveled across the sky in a great chariot. Hence the origin
of the sun wheel.
The Symbols of Baal, Ishtar and Shamash
Below is an artifact unearthed in the holy of holies of the pagan temple in
the Canaanite city of Hatzor / Hazor, in northern Israel. It is described as
follows:
... The Akkadian Ishtar is also, to a greater extent, an astral deity,
associated with the planet Venus: with Shamash, sun god, and Sin, moon god,
she forms a secondary astral triad. In this manifestation her symbol is a
star with 6, 8, or 16 rays within a circle. ...
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica Online, article on Ishtar.
The Star of Ishtar
Because some astronomical objects move through the sky in repeated and
known intervals of time, the behavior of the celestial gods associated with
them can be symbolized numerically. Ishtar, as the planet Venus, perhaps was
handled this way in the eight-pointed star that usually stands for her on
Babylonian boundary stones.
References to Venus as early as 3000 BC are known from evidence at Uruk,
an important early Sumerian city in southern Iraq. One clay tablet found at
the site says "star Inanna," and another contains symbols for the words
"star, setting sun, Inanna." Inanna is Venus, known later as Ishtar, and the
Uruk tablets specify her celestial identity with the symbol for "star": an
eight-pointed star.
Source: 
Echoes of the Ancient Skies: the Astronomy of Lost Civilizations, by Dr. Edwin C. Krupp, pg.
303.
So can the star within a circle, or sun wheel, be found in the Vatican in
Rome? Indeed it can!
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Here is a photo of the papal palace with the pope at the
window of his apartment. Note the many eight-pointed stars of Ishtar in
the decorative work above the windows. Some are within a darker circle. |
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Detail from a photo by
Adam J.
Polczyk-Przybyla
DHD Photo Gallery |
|
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Here you see a view of the piazza or plaza at the Vatican,
also known as St. Peter's square. The papal palace is on the right edge of
the photo. The large eight-rayed sun wheel design, symbolic of Ishtar, is
immediately noticeable. Look closely in the center of the wheel. What you
see there is an obelisk, a genuine Egyptian obelisk shipped from
Heliopolis to Rome by the Roman emperor Caligula. The obelisk is, of
course, a phallic symbol,* but it also was used in sun worship. Click on
the image to view a larger version of the same image.
* It is claimed that the word 'obelisk' literally means
'Baal's shaft' or 'Baal's organ of reproduction'. Source:
Masonic
and Occult Symbols Illustrated, by Dr. Cathy Burns, pg. 341. |
|
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Here is an old photo of the center of St. Peter's
square, and note that around the obelisk, at the center of the huge
eight-point sun wheel, is a smaller four-pointed sun wheel, the same
symbol as found on the altar stone in the temple of Baal in Hatzor!
In Ezekiel chapter 10, the sapphire throne of God is seen, and four
wheels within a wheel. St. Peter's square appears to imitate this with
pagan symbology. |
| Here you see the reverse side of a coin celebrating the pontificate
of John Paul II, and on it is the obelisk and sun wheel of St. Peter's
piazza, and a very distinct sunburst emanating from the Basilica itself.
The correlation of the symbology is striking. |
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Pope John Paul II, at World Youth Day 2000, was wearing
a crimson and gold
stole, which bears the symbols of Baal / Shamash within an
eight-pointed star of Ishtar. An enlargement is shown below. |
Pope Pius XII wearing the
same stole. |
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The Obelisk
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The Egyptian obelisk that stands in the
square of St. John Lateran (shown at left) is the largest in existence.
Originally carved during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmoses III, it stood in
the Temple of Amon in Thebes (Karnak), but was removed to Rome by emperor
Constantius (A.D. 317-361), and placed in the Circus Maximus. In 1587 Pope
Sixtus V unearthed the fallen, broken and long forgotten obelisk and had
it repaired and placed in the Piazza S. Giovanni in Laterano.
Interestingly enough, it is possible that Moses saw this very obelisk when
he was in Egypt. Now this obelisk, meant to honor the sun god, stands
beside what Catholics call the supreme
"Mother of all Churches", the official cathedra of the bishop of Rome,
the Pope, which brings to mind Revelation 17: 5 and the apostate Mother
Church, Mystery Babylon, the mother of harlots, who stands accused of
fornication, a mixing of the sacred with the profane, truth with error.
Mysteries of the Nile (NOVA)
Egypt - Amazing Discoveries |
OBELISK.
Of the several functions of the PILLAR among early peoples,
the Egyptian obelisk was worshipped as the dwelling place of the sun-god.
Source: Illustrated Dictionary of Symbols in Eastern and Western Art by
James Hall, published by HarperCollins, 1994, page 75.
The pagan association of the obelisk was something well understood by the
church. The Jesuit scholar, Athanasius Kircher in his book Obeliscus
Pamphilius, published in 1650, gives an account of the ancient views of
the obelisk as the digitus solis, or "finger of the sun".
Pope Sixtus V (1585 - 1590) had the Egyptian obelisks erected all over
Rome, as Counter-Reformation monuments.
The word matstsebah in Hebrew means standing images or obelisk and it can
be found in many places of the Bible. Here is Strong's definition of the
Hebrew word matstsebah-
H4676. matstsebah, mats-tsay-baw'; fem. (causat.) part. of H5324;
something stationed, i.e. a column or (memorial stone); by anal. an
idol:--garrison, (standing) image, pillar.
In the following verses matstsebah has been translated as image(s)-
Exo 23:24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do
after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break
down their images.
Exo 34:13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut
down their groves:
Lev 26:1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up
a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land,
to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.
Deu 7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars,
and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their
graven images with fire.
Deu 12:3 And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars,
and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of
their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.
1 Ki 14:23 For they also built them high places, and images, and groves,
on every high hill, and under every green tree.
2 Ki 3:2 And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his
father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his
father had made.
2 Ki 10:26 And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal,
and burned them.
2 Ki 10:27 And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the
house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.
2 Chr 14:3 For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high
places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves:
2 Chr 31:1 Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present
went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut
down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all
Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly
destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to
his possession, into their own cities.
Jer 43:13 He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the
land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn
with fire.
Micah 5:13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images
out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine
hands.
Another Hebrew word is also used for "sun images" or obelisks, the word
chamman. Again, here is the Strong's definition-
H2553. chamman, kham-mawn'; from H2535; a sun-pillar:--idol,
image.
Chamman is also translated as simply image(s) in the King James:
Isa 17:8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands,
neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves,
or the images.
Isa 27:9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and
this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of
the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images
shall not stand up.
2 Chr 34:4 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and
the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and
the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust
of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto
them.
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So in St. Peter's square, the symbol of Baal is within the
symbol of Ishtar, and at the center is an Egyptian obelisk, all
representing pagan sun worship. |
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Pope Celebrates Palm
Sunday at Pagan Sun Pillar
Above are pictures of John Paul II, dressed in scarlet,
celebrating Palm Sunday in St. Peter's square on April 16th, 2000, with a
"grove" of potted palms and hundred-year-old olive trees placed around the
standing solar pillar (matstsebah) or obelisk, in the center of the Vatican's
large pagan solar wheel symbolizing Baal and Ishtar.
Deu 16:21 Thou shalt not plant thee a grove (asherah) of any
trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.
Deu 16:22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image (matstsebah / pillar);
which the LORD thy God hateth.
Now below are two photos of a statue in St. Peter's
Cathedral in Rome.
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| ©
SCALA Florence |
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It is supposedly a statue of Peter enthroned. Notice the sun
wheel above his head? This statue is thought by some to actually be a pagan
statue of Jupiter, removed from the Pantheon in Rome (a pagan temple), moved
into St. Peter's and renamed Peter. The extended right foot has been nearly
worn away from the many pilgrims who kiss it in homage. Note also that the
pattern on the wall behind the statue utilizes the symbol of Baal / Shamash!
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia online article
Portraits of
the Apostles:
The famous bronze statue of St. Peter in the basilica of this
Apostle in Rome is by some regarded as a work of the fifth or sixth century,
by others as pertaining to the thirteenth. The latter date is adopted by Kraus
and Kaufmann among others; Lowrie, however, maintains that "no statue of the Renaissance can be
compared with this for genuine understanding of the classic dress", and,
therefore, this writer holds for the more ancient date. The marble statue of
St. Peter taken from the old basilica, now in the crypt of the Vatican, was
originally, in all probability, an ancient consular statue which was
transformed into a representation of the Prince of Apostles.
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Here you see a photo looking up into the dome of St.
Peter's. Notice the very obvious 16 ray sun wheel. Indeed the light from
the sun streams into the center hub of the dome making a genuine sun-lit
sunburst image at the center of the wheel.
As you can see from the Bible verses quoted above, these
symbols were associated with sun worship, which is strongly condemned in
scripture. So why are they so prevalent in the Roman Catholic Church, if
they are associated with paganism and apostasy? |
From the book Art Treasures of the
Vatican
© 1974 by Smeets Offset B.V.
Prentice-Hall, Inc. |
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Ezek 8:16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house,
and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and
the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the
temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the
sun toward the east.
Ezek 8:17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a
light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which
they commit here?
A
Catholic rebuttal by Mario Derksen
Note: Mario Derksen's website at www.cathinsight.com is now defunct. The page formerly at this link, http://cathinsight.com/apologetics/adventism/sunbursts.htm, and all other pages at that domain, are not in the archives of Archive.org.
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