Looking for Jesus according to Matthew

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8)


Key aspects of Sumerian religion:

Polytheism:
Sumerians believed in and worshiped many gods.

Pantheon:
The Sumerian pantheon included deities like An (sky), Enlil (air, storms), Enki (wisdom), and Inanna (love, war).


Gods associated with city-states:
Each city-state had its own patron deities, often with unique roles and stories.


Rituals and Temples:
Sumerians practiced various rituals and ceremonies, including offering gifts and sacrifices to the gods. These rituals often took place in ziggurats, the temples that were the heart of Sumerian cities.


Belief in an afterlife:
Sumerians had beliefs about the afterlife, although it was not a particularly positive or hopeful one.


Cosmology:
Sumerian mythology included stories about the creation of the world, often involving deities who separated the sky from the earth.


Influence on later religions:
Sumerian religious beliefs and mythology influenced the development of Mesopotamian religions that followed, including Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian traditions.

 

[JLG]

9)


- In fact, when we read such information, it shows that the flood didn’t clean anything!


- In fact, it only slowed down man!


- Well, the demons had to leave the earth and their sons died with the rest of mankind!


- All the post-flood beliefs kept alive after the flood!


- There were only two ways to keep them alive!


- First, through Noah’s family!


- Second, through the devil and the demons!


- They have always been working hard till today!


- They are experts!


- That’s why a lot of cleaning is necessary to get rid of corruption which is everywhere in human society!


- We breathe and eat and drink corruption!


- Thus for the majority, it is normal!


- It is incredible to think that, through human history, faithful servants of Yah.weh have been faithfully serving Yah.weh!


- But they have always been a minority!

 

[JLG]

- According to Revelation 12: 17, the woman has other children and the devil went to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus!


- Thus we see a fight between the devil and the woman and the devil and the rest of her children!


- it is a continuity of Genesis 3:15 where Yah.weh says:


“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.”


- Now let’s go back to Revelation 12:10-12!


- First, the devil is in heaven with his angels!


- Second, there is a war in heaven between Michael and his angels and the devil and his angels!


- Third, the devil is hurled to the earth with his angels!

 

[JLG]

1)


- We must keep in mind that before the flood, some angels went down the earth and became demons by rebelling against Yah.weh!


- Of course, they were powerful!


- They married as many women as they wanted!


- They had sons who were giants and powerful too!


- They took control of men!


- They did everything according to their will!


- They organized everything according to their will!


- In fact, men became their slaves!


La Biblia menciona varios imperios a lo largo de su historia, incluyendo Egipto, Asiria, Babilonia, Persia, Grecia y Roma. Estos imperios jugaron un papel importante en la vida de los israelitas y se menciona su influencia en la historia del Antiguo y Nuevo Testamento.


- After the flood, one of Ham’s son was Cush and one of Cush’s son was Nimrod who was a mighty warrior or tyrant on the earth!


- He was also a mighty hunter before Yah.weh!


- The first centers of his kingdoms were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar!


- Then he went to Assyria where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah!

 

[JLG]

2)

Babylonian Mythology & Religion: The Empire​

The Assyro-Babylonian religion​

Beliefs and rituals in Mesopotamia​

In spite of the name which one agreed to give to it, the Babylonian mythology religion goes back, in its origins and in its constitution, to a time well anterior to the blooming of the Babylonian and Assyrian cities.

From the beginning of the third millennium B.C., there existed in the lower basins of the Tigris and the Euphrates a flourishing civilization, due to the interpenetration of two neighboring and rival peoples: the Akkadians and the Sumerians.

The country of Sumer, situated on the edge and at the bottom of the Persian Gulf, which then advanced much further inland, had as its capital Lagash; the cities of Eridu, to the south, and Nippur, to the north, marked its extreme limits; as other cities, we must mention Uruk (or Erech), Larsa, Ur.

The Sumerians had probably come from south or central Asia. The country of Akkad, located immediately north of the country of Sumer, was populated by Semites, probably originating from Arabia or northern Syria. Its capital was Agadeh (or Akkad), and its main cities were Borsippa, Babylon, Kish, Kutha and Sippar, moving from south to north.

The part attributable to each of these peoples in the development of civilization is complex. In the religious order, which alone occupies us here, it seems that the religion of Sumer-Akkad is first of all that of the Sumerians, who in any case have provided a rich mythological base.

The Babylonian religion would thus result from the Semitization of a primitive Sumerian base. However that may be, there can be no doubt that there was reciprocal penetration between the religions of Sumer and Akkad. Without doubt, each city venerated its own deities, but it also welcomed those of neighboring cities.

 

[JLG]

- Thus each city venerated its own deities, but it also welcomed those of neighboring cities!

- Of course, it comes from what happened before the flood!

- Thus we can imagine that the demons would take control of cities, divide the land into different territories!

- They were the first “gods” of the land!

- They told the inhabitants how to worship them!

- They would control every aspect of their lives!

- Apparently, they had some connections between each other because the different cities could mix their own deities and also those of neighboring cities!

- They would probably fight between each other as human beings have kept doing it!

 

[JLG]

3)

Moreover, the conquerors, when they subjected a region, implanted their gods there. These then ended up identifying themselves with the local gods; from there assimilations or, failing that, filiations, relatives.

It is from this mixture of Akkadian and Sumerian pantheons, completed by the contributions of later periods, that Babylonian mythology were formed.

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- We see a big difference with the Bible!

- Everything is clear!

- It should be impossible to mix!

- On the contrary, the devil and the demons have kept mixing everything!

- Fakes are thus nothing new!

- It was normal for demons to mix everything!

- I always say human tradition but I should say demon’s tradition!

- Thus men breathe, eat and drink demon’s tradition!

- Thus mankind keeps worshiping demons as usual!

- The Hebrews did it!

- Mankind keeps repeating the same tradition!

 

[JLG]

4)

The representation of the gods mixes zoomorphism and anthropomorphism in three different ways, according to the part that takes their animal or human character:

• The divinities could have been conceived simply in the form of animals, good or bad, useful or fearsome to humans: the bull, the lion, the large caprids. But these animals are represented in human attitudes: a relief shows a bull rowing in a boat or leaning on two small lions that he maintains by his front legs.
• One could also envisage deities in the form of half-animal half-human entities. Some characters of the Babylonian glyptics, for example, are represented with a man’s bust ending in a long snake’s tail, or having shoulders from which snakes are born. However, this tendency was, in Mesopotamia, much less represented than in Egypt.
• Finally, the gods appear as human beings. But they are then flanked by an animal attribute. Adad, the god of lightning and storms, is accompanied by his bull; Ishtar, goddess of fertility and also of war, by her lion and in some countries by the dove, etc.

The animal/human duality of the gods is also superimposed on the male/female duality. The male and female principles of fecundity thus appear linked in the primitive god of Sumer: Enlil and his parèdre Ninlil, who later became Ishtar with all her attributes.

But while these divine male and female principles, objects of a cult in the whole of former Asia, were adored under this aspect in Asia Minor for example, Mesopotamia granted rather to the male god the character of divinity of the elements whose action ensures the reproduction and the fecundity.

Ishtar, on the other hand, kept her aspect of goddess of fertility and preserved her place during the development of the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon.

When the cities of old Mesopotamia were founded, each city had its own god; whatever his name was, his attributes remained more or less the same; sometimes it was his character of god of storms and beneficent rain that dominated, sometimes that of luminous god, vivifying the universe by his warmth, sometimes his qualities of wisdom and knowledge of all things.

This god, to be the god-patron of the city, was not an exclusive god, he admitted at his sides the worship of other divinities.

Sometimes, the fame of the god of another city was such as the city raised a temple to him in addition to that of its local god; sometimes, when a city, following a happy campaign, acquired the hegemony on the neighboring cities, it annexed, in a way, the gods of its new subjects; It is thus that in a short time each city had several official cults without counting the particular cults that the inhabitants come from abroad could bring with them; nascent Assyria honors a god since a long time famous: Anu, but it makes room in the same sanctuary for an important deity from the West: Adad.

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- Demons like to mix everything: men, women, animals, many deities!

- So different from Yah.weh!

- On the one hand, One God, on the other hand, a multitude of gods!

- Now look at religions today!

- Find the mistake!

- Yah.weh’s word or demons’ tradition!

 

[JLG]

5)

The Babylonian Mythology Pantheon​

Thanks to the figurative representations we can conceive the time when the gods were represented by what remained their attribute: the god of the mountain, by the mountain; that or that of the vegetation by the grain or a shrub; those of war and destruction by terrible monsters or weapons; moreover the texts, by the epithets which they give to the gods, recall these primitive conceptions.

- Primitive conceptions?

- Or demons’ tradition?

- Remember demons participated in the creation!

- Everything was natural and in relation to natural elements!

 

[JLG]

6)

Here is the list of the principal divinities of the cities of ancient Mesopotamia, with for each god his predominant character. As dense as this pantheon was, one must take care that certain divinities have several names: the Sumerian name and the Semitic name, and that many gods can be brought back to a prototype of which they are only varieties.

- Different peoples, different languages!

- Complete integration!

- Many demons, many gods!

- They were distinguished according to natural elements!

 

[JLG]

7)​

Anu​

Anu is the ruler of the sky; he lives in the empyrean where he receives the gods when they need to hold a council; all power on earth comes from him and the insignia of earthly royalty are considered to be held by him. He is honored at Dêr, at Uruk, at Girsu, that is to say at Lagash, of which Girsu is the holy quarter.

 

[JLG]

King of the gods​

As polytheistic systems evolve, there is a tendency for one deity to achieve preeminence as king of the gods, for example by being their (sky) father. This tendency can parallel the growth of hierarchical systems of political power in which a monarch eventually comes to assume ultimate authority for human affairs. Other gods come to serve in a Divine Council or pantheon; such subsidiary courtier-deities are usually linked by family ties from the union of a single husband or wife, or else from an androgynous divinity who is responsible for the creation.

Historically, subsequent social events, such as invasions or shifts in power structures, can cause the previous king of the gods to be displaced by a new divinity, who assumes the displaced god's attributes and functions. Frequently the king of the gods has at least one wife who is the queen of the gods.

According to feminist theories of the replacement of original matriarchies by patriarchies, male sky gods tend to supplant female (motherly) earth goddesses and achieve omnipotence.

There is also a tendency for kings of the gods to assume more and more importance, syncretistically assuming the attributes and functions of lesser divinities, who come to be seen as aspects of the single supreme deity.

 

[JLG]

King of the gods in different cultures​

Examples of kings of the gods in different cultures include:

• In the Mesopotamian Anunnaki, Enlil displaces Anu and is in turn replaced by Marduk.
• In the Ancient Egyptian religion, Amun was the official god of the Pharaoh and the people of Egypt.
• In the Canaanite pantheon, Baal (Hadad) displaces El.
• In the Hurrian/Hittite pantheon, Teshub or Tarḫunz or Arinna displaces Kumarbi.
• In the Armenian Ar, later – Aramazd.
• In Hinduism, the King of the Gods is Indra, The God of Thunder and lightning and the ruler of heaven.]
• In the Ancient Greek system of Olympian Gods, Cronus displaces Uranus, and Zeus in turn displaces Cronus.
• In Norse mythology, Odin assumes the role as the Allfather or King of the Gods, but Norse mythology has multiple tribes of Gods such as the Æsir and Vanir, and Odin starts off as only the leader of the former.
• Ancient Iranian Ahura Mazda of the Zoroastrians.
• Dravidian religions: the Supreme Being in Dravidian religion was usually Sivaperuman and had supreme gods and goddesses based on lands including Murugan, Kadalon, Vendhan, Korravai, Thirumal.

 

[JLG]

List of rulers of pantheons​

The leaders of the various pantheons include:

Berber pantheon: old: Amun; new: Poseidon

Algonquin pantheon: Gitche Manitou

Arabian pantheon: Allah

Ashanti pantheon: Nyame

Australian Aboriginal pantheon: Baiame

Aztec pantheon: Huitzilopochtli, Ometeotl, Quetzalcoatl or Tezcatlipoca

Basque pantheon: Sugaar or Mari

Batak pantheon: (primordial) Debata Ompung Mulajadi na Bolon; (celestial) Batara Guru

Canaanite pantheon: El, later Baʿal (now usually identified with Hadad)

Carthaginian pantheon: Baʿal Hammon

Celtic pantheon: Dagda (Gaels); possibly Lugus (Brythonic/Gallaeci/Gaulish)

Chinese pantheon: Yuanshi Tianzun, Jade Emperor, Shangdi, Tian

Circassian pantheon: Theshxwe / Tha

Dahomey pantheon: Nana Buluku

Dravidian pantheon: Sivan, Murugan, Kadalon, Vendhan and Kottravai, and Thirumaal

Egyptian pantheon: Old Kingdom: Ra. New Kingdom: Amun

Finnic pantheon: Ukko, possibly Ilmarinen

Germanic pantheon: Odin

Georgian pantheon: Armazi, Ghmerti

Gondi pantheon: Kupar Lingo

Greek pantheon: Zeus

Guarani pantheon: Tupa

Haida pantheon: Raven

Hawaiian pantheon: Kāne

Hindu pantheon: Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, Indra or Brahman

Hittite pantheon: Arinna or Teshub

Hopi pantheon: Angwusnasomtaka

Inca pantheon: Viracocha
Inuit pantheon: Anguta or Anigut but only among the Greenlandic Inuit
Japanese pantheon: Amenominakanushi, Izanagi-no-Mikoto, then Amaterasu-Ōmikami
Korean pantheon: Haneullim
Lakota pantheon: Wakan Tanka or Inyan
Lithuanian pantheon: Perkūnas
Lusitanian pantheon: Endovelicus
Mari pantheon: Kugu Jumo
Māori pantheon: Tāne
Mayan pantheon: Hunab Ku, Itzamna, Huracan, Kukulkan, Camazotz and Cabrakan.
Mbuti pantheon: Khonvoum
Meitei pantheon: Sidaba Mapu or Pakhangba
Mesopotamian pantheon: Sumerian: An, later Enlil; Babylonian: Marduk
Miwok pantheon: Coyote
Muisca pantheon: Chiminigagua
Nabatean pantheon: Dushara
Ossetian pantheon: Xucau
Persian pantheon: Ahura Mazda
Philippine pantheon: Bathala (Tagalog), Kan-Laon (Visayan)
Roman pantheon: Jupiter
Sami pantheon: Beaivi
Slavic pantheon: Perun or Rod or Svarog
Turco-Mongol pantheon: Tengri, Tngri, Qormusta Tengri
Vietnamese pantheon: Ông Trời; Lạc Long Quân
Vodou pantheon: Bondyé
Yahwist pantheon: El, later Yahweh (via syncretism)
Yoruba pantheon: Olorun
Zulu pantheon: Unkulunkulu, Umvelinqangi

 

[JLG]

Characteristics​

The following are the characteristics shared by virtually all Kings of the gods:

• Creation: Most of these gods derive their power from the fact that they created the world, formulated its laws and/or created life forms, notably humans. Examples: Ra, Odin.
• Dominion over the sky: Many such deities hold control over all aspects of the sky, such as weather, rain, thunderstorms, air, winds and celestial objects like stars. They also control some aspects of Earth like harvest, fertility, plants or mountains. Examples: Zeus, Hadad, Jupiter.
• Lightning bolts as personal weapons: Commonly seen with sky gods.
• Divine Wisdom: Some Kings of Gods possess superior wisdom and clairvoyance, compared to most beings. Examples: Ra, Odin.
• God of the Sun, Daylight or Celestial Fire: Some kings of gods are associated with the Sun, as it is life giving and is a powerful symbol of order. They are said to be in charge of celestial fire, which is purifying by nature. Daylight is also an important phenomenon, as most events take place under its presence. Examples: Ra, Dyaus Pitr.
• Conquest, Law, Justice, Order, Time and Fate: Most kings of gods have the ability to control the events of battle and grant victory to those who deserve it. They are seen as paragons of law and promote order. They are seen as powerful manifestations of their respective civilizations. Some gods either possess great skill in war or tremendous physical strength. Some of them have some control over time and regulate it with seasons. Others have limited control over the fate of a human. Examples: Zeus, Odin, Ra, Jupiter.
• Divine authority over other gods: This may be because the concerned head of the pantheon is the father or creator of many gods and goddesses who swear allegiance to him. As a result, the king of the gods makes sure that all deities function properly, punish them for misdeeds, grant or take away immortality from lesser gods etc. Examples: Zeus, Odin, Enlil.
• Divine rival: In some cases, there may be another god, who is equal in supernatural power and thinks he can do a better job than the current king. This often results in conflict, and in extreme cases, war. Examples: Ra and Apophis; Osiris, Set and Horus; Apollo vs Python ; Mitra and the Daeva; Zeus and Poseidon; Cronos and Uranus; Typhon and Zeus; etc.

 

[JLG]

Enlil​

Enlil is an elemental god, commanding the hurricane and armed with the flood; Enlil is none other than Bel, which means “lord”, but the first of these names is Sumerian, the second Semitic; this god commands humans and fixes the destinies of the world; he was worshipped especially at Nippur.

The Sumer texts refer to two brothers Enki and Enlil as being rulers over earth. The brothers father was Anu, who was God Almighty. According to Sumer texts it was Enlil who created Eden, while his brother Enki created Adam. Yet Enlil wanted to enslave man and make man dependant upon the "Gods". Enki, being the creator of man, felt compassion and helped man acquire the knowledge and power to be self sufficient. Enlil eventually banished man from Eden, and according to Sumer text it was Enki who helped man obtain clothing.

- Does it remind you of something?

 

[JLG]

Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore melam, an ambiguous substance which “covered them in terrifying splendor” and which could also be worn by heroes, kings, giants, and even demons. The effect that seeing a deity’s melam has on a human is described as ni, a word for the “physical creeping of the flesh”. Both the Sumerian and Akkadian languages contain many words to express the sensation of ni, including the word puluhtu, meaning “fear”. Deities were almost always depicted wearing horned caps, consisting of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox-horns. They were also sometimes depicted wearing clothes with elaborate decorative gold and silver ornaments sewn into them.

- Genesis chapter 6 is a good summary!

- The more we look at ancient mythologies and religions the more similarities we can see in modern religions (beliefs and practices)!

- Maybe we can understand why everything is so precise because “these gods or demons” used to come and live on the earth!

- I mean the details we are given about them!

Now we can explain the variations according to the process of transformation of languages with the same roots!

- And of course because of the influence of the invaders or conquerors!

- We can also understand how the same happened to the biblical beliefs and practices!

- By saying they wouldn’t die and the fact they would become like gods, the devil was the first to initiate the process by accusing Yah.weh of lying when he told Adam he would die if he ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and bad!

- In fact, this first devil’s lie has become the main belief of all religions!

- In ancient religions, it was usual for men to become gods!

- We can also see that in modern religions!

 

[JLG]

The effect that seeing a deity’s melam has on a human is described as ni, a word for the “physical creeping of the flesh. Both the Sumerian and Akkadian languages contain many words to express the sensation of ni, including the word puluhtu, meaning “fear”. Deities were almost always depicted wearing horned caps, consisting of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox-horns. They were also sometimes depicted wearing clothes with elaborate decorative gold and silver ornaments sewn into them.

- Does it remind you of something?

In the Bible, the number 7 is very significant, appearing more than 700 times and symbolizing perfection, completion, or wholeness. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, establishing a pattern of rest and celebration. The number 7 is also associated with the fulfillment of promises and liberation, as in the case of Sabbath years and the freeing of slaves.

- Apparently, demons like to copy Yah.weh!

- Or they like confusing men!

- Thus on the one hand, Yah.weh, Jesus, the angels and the faithful servants of Yah.weh!

- And on the other hand, the devil, the demons and religion!

 

[JLG]

English

The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven but that a god’s statue was a physical embodiment of the god himself. As such, cult statues were given constant care and attention and a set of priests were assigned to tend to them. These priests would clothe the statues and place feasts before them so they could “eat”. A deity’s temple was believed to be that deity’s literal place of residence. The gods had boats, full-sized barges which were normally stored inside their temples and were used to transport their cult statues along waterways during various religious festivals. The gods also had chariots, which were used for transporting their cult statues by land. Sometimes a deity’s cult statue would be transported to the location of a battle so that the deity could watch the battle unfold. The major deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon were believed to participate in the “assembly of the gods”, through which the gods made all their decisions. This assembly was seen as a divine counterpart to the semi-democratic legislative system that existed during the third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 BC - c. 2004 BC).

- Cult statues: does it remind you of something?

- The “assembly of the gods”: does it remind you of something?

- Except that in the Bible we are told about “the sons of God came to present themselves before Yah.weh (Job 1:6)!

- The demons modified the facts at their advantage!

- They were the sons of God, not gods!

 

[JLG]

The Mesopotamian pantheon evolved greatly over the course of its history. In general, the history of Mesopotamian religion can be divided into four phases. During the first phase, starting in the four millennium BC, deities’ domains mainly focused on basic needs for human survival. During the second phase, which occurred in the third millennium BC, the divine hierarchy became more structured and deified kings began to enter the pantheon. During the third phase, in the second millennium BC, the gods worshipped by an individual person and gods associated with the commoners became more prevalent. During the fourth and final phase, in the first millennium BC, the gods became closely associated with specific human empires and rulers. The names of over 3,000 mesopotamian deities have been recovered from cuneiform texts. Many of these are from lengthy lists of deities compiled by ancient Mesopotamian scribes. The longest of these lists is a text entitled An=Anum, a Babylonian scholarly work listing the names of over 2,000 deities. While sometimes mistakenly regarded simply as a list of Sumerian gods with their Akkadian equivalents, it was meant to provide information about the relations between individual gods, as well as short explanations of functions fulfilled by them. In addition to spouses and children of gods, it also listed their servants.


- Deified kings: definitely to develop the devil’s propaganda: no, you won’t die but you will become like gods!


- We can see how they used all the means to develop such propaganda also through the divine hierarchy!


- We can see more and more structure!


- We can also see how religion, political and business powers will be combined to serve demons’ interests to promote their propaganda!


- Thus on the one hand, Yah.weh, Jesus, the angels and the faithful servants of Yah.weh promote Yah.weh’s word!


- On the other hand, the devil, the demons, religion, political and business powers promote the devil’s propaganda (in fact, the whole human society as we can read it in the book of Revelation chapter 13)!