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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. It depicts Christ as the sun-god Helios / Sol riding in his chariot, and is dated to the
3rd century A.D. |
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At left is a pagan sun wheel in the temple at Kararak India, which is associated with occultism
and astrology. It resembles a chariot wheel doesn't it?
Note the following verse-
2 Ki 23:11 And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at
the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned
the chariots of the sun with fire. |
From the book
"The New Illustrated Great Controversy"
Copyright © LLT Productions
Used by Permission |
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:  The Star of Ishtar, Iraq Resource Information Site.
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! |
| 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!
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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?
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