Scripture reading: Ezekiel 8:16
Let us look once again at the worship in the ancient Babylon and see what God is saying to us at this time.
There was yet another great day of worship in Babylon when they commemorated the death of Nimrod who was slain by an arrow sent by the sons of God, quite likely Shem. Shem was Nimrod’s great-grand uncle who prayed against the wickedness that was being perpetrated by him. ISHTAR was a time of revelry, a time when they would have shooting matches and similar activities. It was an ancient mass that they instituted after Nimrod was killed by an arrow. This mass was a set form of worship with flowers, wearing beautiful bonnets, and forty days of fasting before it began. They ate no meat, because meat was a symbol of eating the flesh of Nimrod. Therefore, they did not eat meat until Ishtar day. Then they danced in the streets.
Part of this mass was the sacramental fornication. The young women would give their bodies and in this great rejoicing there was much drinking and revelry. This is how they commemorated the day ISHTAR. They also would have painted eggs (eggs were a symbol of life). Semiramis, or Ishtar, claimed that she came down from heaven in an egg and that on the morning of Ishtar (Easter) they found the egg on the banks of the river. Crack, crack, crack…out of this egg came forth this goddess. She was to be worshipped as one who was immaculately conceived and was brought down from heaven, directly to earth. She said that she was not of human parents and that she would again ascend into heaven from the earth. She was called the madonna. I am writing of the ancient practice, not of our modern practice. Hallelujah! The egg was a commemoration of this day.
Another part of the celebration was that early in the morning, at sunrise, they would go to the highest hill and turn “their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun” as it rose up out from the shadow of the earth. This is mentioned in Ezekiel 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.” Sun worship was definitely practiced in ancient Babylon. This special morning worship was generally done on the birthday of Ishtar.
Notice, these men turned their backs to the altar of God, the altar of Israel, and they turned toward something else. There were twenty-five men. Twenty-four priests make up the order of God’s tabernacle. Twenty-five is another order. They were following the god Chemosh, or some other god, but not the God of Israel. At Easter-time, they would bake cakes, hot cross buns, and these sweet cakes were all part of the worship of the Ishtar goddess, Semiramis. This is all part of the worship of Baal.
Ezekiel 9 shows judgment by the sword because this worship had definitely come up to heaven before God. God sent a man with an inkhorn in their midst to mark His people on their forehead. The people of God, under all these circumstances, will be protected.
Brethren, if any of you are involved in the modern Easter practices, I urge you by the Spirit of God, turn away from them unto the living God so that you may be protected when His judgment comes.
(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 2, pages 179-180)
Thought for today: Let us be those that receive the mark of God in our foreheads with our sighing and crying for the abominations that are done in Jerusalem.
