The religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia…date to the mid 4th millennium BC and involved…an expansive cast of divinities with particular functions.
This archeological dating validates the biblical human timeline beginning ~4,000 BC with Adam, and the fallen angels arriving 500 years later in the days of Jared. After this time, all societies reported that the gods no longer walked the earth, consistent with the Biblical the reports that the gods did walk the earth before the flood.
~ 3200 BC: Sumer is…one of the first civilizations in the world, along with ancient Egypt, Elam, the Caral-Supe civilization, the Indus Valley civilization, the Minoan civilization, and ancient China…Proto-writing dates back before 3000 BC. The earliest texts come from the cities of [Cain], Uruk and Jemdet Nasr, and date to between c. 3500 and c. 3000 BC.
The term “Sumer”…is the name given to the language spoken by the “Sumerians”, the ancient non-Semitic-speaking inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia, by their successors the East Semitic-speaking Akkadians. The Sumerians themselves referred to their land as Kengir, the ‘Country of the noble lords’…
the Sumerian king Shulgi described himself as “the king of the four quarters.”
This was clearly a rival claim to Adam’s appointed rule, providing a significant clue.
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a set of recently deciphered ancient clay tablets revealed that Babylonian astronomers…used geometric calculations to predict the motion of Jupiter / Saturn / Cronus / Enki / Lucifer. Scholars had assumed it wasn’t until almost A.D. 1400 that these techniques were first employed…
cuneiform writing was created by…mak[ing] wedge-shaped indentations in clay tablets…[and] stone objects. Different combinations of these marks represented syllables, which could…be put together to form words. The script—[like the alphabet] not itself a language—was used by scribes of multiple cultures over that time to write a number of languages other than Sumerian, most notably Akkadian, a Semitic language that was the lingua franca of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires…
the most famous cuneiform text in the world…of thousands excavated decades earlier at Nineveh, in present-day Iraq…told a story [how] the gods resolve to destroy the world and all life with a great flood, but one of the chief gods warns one man in time to prevent the extinction of all living things: “Demolish the house, build a boat!” the god urges… “Put on board the boat the seed of all living creatures!”
The man, his family, and assorted animals wait out the flood in the boat while all other living things perish…
more than a dozen cuneiform tablets containing some portion of the flood myth have been identified.
- ~ 2600 – ~ 2181 BCE: The Old Kingdom spans the Flood of 2350 BC
The Pyramid Texts...are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterranean walls and sarcophagi of pyramids at Saqqara from the end of the Fifth Dynasty…into the Eighth Dynasty of the First Intermediate Period.
The oldest of the texts have been dated to c. 2400–2300 BC.
We can understand the development of Old Egyptian script as, not a distinct language but like Sumerian cuneiform a code used to guard the gods’ secrets,
After the Flood, due to the loss of ability to directly engage with mankind, spirits had to rely on human partnership to express themselves. This is reflected in an adapted religious system.
The last stages of Mesopotamian polytheism, which developed in the 2nd and 1st millenniums BCE, introduced greater emphasis on personal religion and structured the gods into a monarchical hierarchy with the national god being the head of the pantheon.
Each Mesopotamian city was home to a deity, [expressed by the human ruler] and…all known temples were located in cities, [which by definition are walled, not only for defense but to corral human herds to service him]…The temple itself was…in the form of a ziggurat, which rose to the sky in a series of stairstep stages… most regard the tower as a kind of staircase or ladder for the god to descend from and ascend to the heavens, [like Jacob’s ladder]…an image of the cosmic mountain where a dying and rising god “lay buried.” Some temples, such as the temple of Enki in Eridu [chief of the five Sumerian cities re-established on their pre-flood foundations] contained a holy tree (kiskanu) in a holy grove, which was the central point of various rites performed by the king, who functioned as a “master gardener.”
The cosmic mountain idea begins in Eden. Yes, Eden is a garden, but it’s also referred to as a mountain in Ezekiel 28…This is why, for instance, the Tabernacle and the Temple are decorated in ways that reminded people (and us) of Eden…Have you ever wondered why there are so many spiritual encounters at trees in the Old Testament? Why tree locations are sacred space?…it was a gateway to the afterlife presence of God.
The esoteric function of these artificial mountain-structures seems to offer humanity a passageway to the Center of the three-fold axis of heaven, earth, and hell beneath. Can they create a spiritual “stargate” where human beings can enter a fourth or multidimensional experience?…the point of communication within the three- fold axis of heaven, earth, and hell creates a center where “a break-through can occur, a passing from one cosmic zone to another…
The God the Father-Son of God dynasty is portrayed in horticultural imagery. The great Davidic dynasty will sprout up from a “tender sprig” planted on Mount Zion.
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches (Ezek.17:22-23)…[Note the pagan duplication of this imagery].
For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord, there in the land the entire house of Israel will serve me, and there I will accept them… And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezekiel.36:24-27).
Yahweh’s high and lofty cosmic mountain is not only a secure home, it is also a life-changing meeting place where decrees are issued and spiritual empowerment is provided.
Back to Wikipedia’s article:
Mesopotamian temples were originally built to serve as dwelling places for the god… [The Bible supports the reality of this construct.] The god’s presence in the image seems to have been thought of in a very concrete sense as instruments for the presence of the deity.”
This is evident from the poem How Erra Wrecked the World, in which Erra deceived the god Marduk into leaving g his cult statue. Once constructed, idols were concerted through special nocturnal rituals where they were given “life”, and their mouth “was opened” (pet pi) and washed (mis pi) so they could see and eat. If the deity approved, it would accept the image and agree to “inhabit” it. These images were also entertained…the temple was equipped…with a courtyard with a basin and water for cleansing visitors…
Generally, the god’s well-being was maintained through service, or work (dullu). The image was dressed and served banquets twice a day. It is not known how the god was thought to consume the food, but a curtain was drawn before the table while he or she “ate”, just as the king himself was not allowed to be seen by the masses while he ate. Occasionally, the king shared in these meals, and the priests may have had some share in the offerings as well.Incense was also burned before the image, because it was thought that the gods enjoyed the smell. Sacrificial meals were also set out regularly, with a sacrificial animal seen as a replacement (pūhu) or substitute (dinānu) for a man, and it was considered that the anger of the gods or demons was then directed towards the sacrificial animal. Additionally,certain days required extra sacrificesand ceremonies for certain gods, and every day was sacred to a particular god.
The king was thought, in theory, to be the religious leader (enu or šangū)
and exercised a large number of duties within the temple, with a large number of specialists whose task was to mediate between men and gods.
Note the contrast monotheism’s “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man YHVH’s Anointed Savior / Christ Jesus; Who gave himself” (I Timothy 2:5-6)
- supervising or “watchman” priest (šešgallu),
- priests for individual purification against demons and magicians (āšipu),
- priests for the purification of the temple (mašmašu),
- priests to appease the wrath of the gods with song and music (kalū), as well as
- female singers (nāru),
- male singers (zammeru),
- craftsmen (mārē ummāni),
- swordbearers (nāš paṭri),
- masters of divination (bārû),
- penitents (šā’ilu), and others
…individuals also paid homage to a personal deity…In the mid-third millennium BC, [corresponding to preflood open involvement of gods interacting with humanity] some rulers regarded a particular god as being their personal protector. In the second millennium BC, [corresponding to post-flood need by disincorporated spirits to inhabit a foster body for interaction with humans] gods began to function more on behalf of the common man, with whom he had a close, personal relationship, maintained through prayer and maintenance of his god’s statue. A number of written prayers have survived from ancient Mesopotamia...they showed a people who were scared of their gods …one’s place and success in society was thought to depend on his personal deity, including the development of his [the god’s] certain talents and even his [the god’s] personality…everything he experienced was considered a reflection of what was happening to his personal god. [Emphasis added.] When a man neglected his god, it was assumed that the demons were free to inflict him…
There was a strong belief in demons in Mesopotamia…They were thought to be countless in number, and were thought to even attack the gods as well. Besides demons, there were also spirits of the dead, (etimmu) who could also cause mischief…
Divination was employed by private individuals, with the assumption that the gods have already determined the destinies of men and these destinies could be ascertained through observing omens and through rituals…such as observing oil dropped into a cup of water (lecanomancy), observing the entrails of sacrificial animals (extispicy), observation of the behavior of birds (augury) and observing celestial and meteorological phenomena (astrology), as well as through interpretation of dreams. Often interpretation of these phenomena required the need for two classes of priests: askers (sa’ilu) and observer (baru), and also sometimes a lower class of ecstatic seer (mahhu) that was also associated with witchcraft...
ancient paganism tended to focus more on duty and ritual than morality…the gods were believed to be the source of life, and held power over sickness and health, as well as the destinies of men…Man was believed to have been created to serve the gods, or perhaps wait on them: the god is lord (belu) and man is servant or slave (ardu)…
Sin, on the other hand, was expressed by…the idea of rebellion, sometimes with the idea that sin is man’s wishing to “live on his own terms“…
The ancient Mesopotamians believed in an afterlife that was a land below our world…known alternately as Arallû, Ganzer or Irkallu, the latter of which meant “Great Below”… everyone went to after death, irrespective of social status or the actions performed during life…Mesopotamians considered the underworld neither a punishment nor a reward…merely weak and powerless ghosts…The myth of Ishtar’s descent into the underworld relates that “dust is their food and clay their nourishment, they see no light, where they dwell in darkness.” Stories such as the Adapa myth resignedly relate that, due to a blunder, all men must die and that true everlasting life is the sole property of the gods.
Can we see that logical conclusion of someone with this belief system is “So might as well eat, drink and be merry in this life!”?
Apply what we’ve discovered about ancient pagan beliefs and practices to the following biblical account, where a great many recent converts to the God YHVH abandon faith in him as soon as they feel abandoned by him as just another one of a million capricious gods they know are all unpredictable, untrustworthy and self-serving.
“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us…And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he…made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt…And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have שָׁחַת corrupted themselves [invited evil spirit possession]:” (Exodus 32)
The word צְחַק delicately translated “play” here has a much more baudy meaning than children having fun. There is an unquestionably sexual meaning when Abimelech caught Isaac צְחַק “sporting” with Rebekah, and Potiphar’s wife was certainly accusing Joseph of sexual assault when she reported that he had come in to צְחַק “mock” her.
The Israelites were not passing time playing games. This should not come as a news flash. It was standard practice in ancient times to include sexual debauchery and drunkenness in pagan practices.
Oh, wait. This is still a common occurrence whenever people get together to party with intoxicants.
“For the time past of our life [when we were younger, without adult responsibilities, in college] may suffice us to have…walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable [mix of human and evil spirit] idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: (I Peter 4:3-4)
It’s not just ancient culture.
Dionysia – the Original Greek Carnival –
It’s All About Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll
The Greek Orthodox Church rather try to play down the shenanigans of Greek Carnival, all this bawdiness is not seemly, so, just where did Greek Carnival originate?
As with many Christian celebrations, Saint Valentine’s Day is just one example, Greek Carnival was an ancient pagan celebration. The heathens may have allowed themselves to become Christians, but no way were they about to give up their festivities.
The priests of the day, unable to persuade the newly-converted to forego their jollies, simply changed the name, and dedicated the celebration, to some other Christian occasion…
Also known as Bacchanal, crazy parties with drunken revelry, sexual experimentation, and wild music dedicated to Bacchus, the Roman name for the Greek god of wine Dionysus, were also celebrated in southern Italy…via the Greek colonies…
Back in the day, Dionysus, with the looks any Greek god would have been proud of [are you recognizing the androgeny?], had his cult of followers, who eagerly awaited this yearly blow out, which is exactly what it was.
The females, “Maenads” (the word comes from the Greek maenades, meaning mad or demented) wild, drunk women, dressed as Ariadne, wife of Dionysus, with animal skins draped over their shoulders, carrying a “Thyrus”, a rod topped with a pine cone, and his male devotes, satyrs, men with goat-like features, in a permanent state of arousal, gathered together in the woods, for what can only be dubbed as a rave party!
The copious amounts of wine knocked back, trance-inducing music, strange herbs ingested and wild singing and dancing; all produced a state of complete abandon, a total lack of inhibition.
Baby this was the original sex, drugs and rock and roll!
…a huge wooden statue of Dionysus was borne aloft, through the inebriated crowds…escorted by men dressed at satyrs, disguised by masks, the women following, wildly dancing, heads thrown back in ecstasy…
I can certainly understand why early Christian priests were not enamored with these pagan shenanigans, and replaced it with Greek carnival, which, it seems to me, is just a reenactment of wild parties, thrown all those years ago, under another name: Apokreas!
…the description of the Dionysia reminds me of the less reputable holiday resorts of the Greek islands, where, according to foreign tourists, anything goes!
Including sexual assault if anyone resists.
The percentage of women in the [American] military who were sexually assaulted in 2021 spiked to the highest level since the Defense Department started tracking the statistic more than a decade ago, according to new data released Thursday…”The adjustment in how the data is gathered appears to confirm what survivors and advocates have been saying for years: The reality is far more grim than the report numbers have suggested,”
So do false gods capture their victims through sexual promiscuity or drive their victims to engage in sexual promiscuity?
Both.
“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…
- Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves…
- 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: 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 recompence of their error which was meet.” (Romans 1:18-32)
“they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness…While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” (2 Peter 1-2)
The worship of Inanna/Ishtar, which was prevalent in Mesopotamia could involve wild, frenzied dancing and bloody ritual celebrations of social and physical abnormality. It was believed that “nothing is prohibited to Inanna”, and that by depicting transgressions of normal human social and physical limitations, including traditional gender definition, one could cross over from the “conscious everyday world into the trance world of spiritual ecstasy / engagement with spirit beings.” [Emphasis added.]
Kingdom Come 