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MYTHS, LEGENDS & IDOL WORSHIP

Enticing stories of powerful god-men performing superhuman feats are not new. This has been the stuff of myths and legends from ancient civilizations and has been at the very root of idol worship, false gods and false religion. Understandably, today, entertainment seekers are equally fascinated with the subject of god-like super- heroes. Movies, television programs and comic books draw millions to their spellbinding stories, and the number of these titles fl ooding the market have more than tripled in the past ten years.

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Read a related and more in depth article here:  Mythology and the Bible by Morton Edgar

10 comments to MYTHS, LEGENDS & IDOL WORSHIP

  • Cazenovi (Bible Student)

    Pagan God worship and adulation is modernized in the end times and is extremely prevalent. From consumer products (Nike, Starbucks) to entertainment (Marvel Comic Movies, Video Games of the like) is use of and participating to be avoided? Is ignorance a valid excuse to be a part of this Satanic Scene (subliminal satanic symbolism)? I say Jah knows that his servants can only do and be aware of so much in the time of the end, and that is one of the many reasons why the Millennium is such a beautiful arrangement of God.

    However just like having and maintaining a strong conscious is better than a minimal one; looking for ways to be knowledgeable and be fully acceptable NOW is important, vital in my opinion because that is what consecration also implies… This is OUR judgement day.

    Great article!

    Agape in Christ,
    Cazenovi

  • Bob

    Bro. Peter thanks for your reply and thanks to Bro. Jim Parkinson for the information. Just as an FYI, the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible, (Mormon) does refer Hebrews 7:3 to the priesthood and not to Melchizedek:
    Hebrews 7:3
    3For this Melchizedek was ordained a priest after the order of the Son of God, which order was without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life. And all those who are ordained unto this priesthood are made like unto the Son of God, abiding a priest continually. http://lds.org/scriptures/jst/jst-heb/7?lang=eng
    I don’t know if he was the first to have that interpretation.

  • Bob

    Thanks for your comments, Peter.
    I’ve heard the argument that Shem and Melchizedek lived at the same time, therefore Jewish legend has it that they were the same person. However, a more reasonable argument can be made in light of Hebrews 7:3. I believe that if Shem and Melchizedek was the same person the author of Hebrews would have brought that fact out. Instead he seems to say the opposite. As far as Shem being the head of the Hyksos, I find that to be a myth/legend and unscriptural.
    I look forward for more information to come.

    • Peter K. (admin)

      Bro. Bob – Yes, Heb 7:3 says, “3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy” and certainly Shem had no father, mother or genealogy in the priesthood. The priesthood is the topic of discussion in Hebrews 7. Also, I wonder who would have had the stature for Abraham to have paid tithes to, as someone greater (Heb 7:7), other than Shem? However, the matter of Shem and Melchizedek being the same person is speculation and you may be right that they are not. However, I don’t think that this issue would have much impact on the overall message of these articles on Mythology and the Bible. Joseph A. Seiss in “A Miracle in Stone” 1877 presented this thought that Shem is Melchhizekek. Piazzi Smyth and Petrie may have commented on this as well.

      Bro. Jim Parkinson is in agreement with you Bro. Bob. He says the following, “I can’t answer for the Edgars, especially as I think they are partly mistaken on this count. Melchizedek was king of Salem (Peace). Jerusalem means “Habitation of Peace.” Jerusalem is simply a later form of the name of the city. Whether Melchi-zedek (King of Righteousness) founded the city is questionable, as the city may have been active before Abraham and Melchizedek. Shem’s father was Noah, and he was apparently born when Noah was 602 years old, and he lived 600 years (and then died). Hebrews 7:3 says, “(…Without father, without mother, without genealogy, neither beginning of days nor end of life having [1]been recorded, but having been made like unto the Son of God), abideth a priest [2]continually.” So Melchizedek cannot be Noah, Shem, or any one else whose birth and/or death are recorded. Was Melchizedek a Canaanite? or an Elamite? I do not know, except that the name has a clear meaning in the Semitic and Canaanite languages.
      The Hyksos appear to have been a mixed Semitic and Hamitic peoples. They overthrew the 12th Dynasty of Egypt, under which Joseph flourished (under Ammenemes III). Thus, a new king arose in Egypt who knew not Joseph (i.e., was an enemy of the Israelites). Later Jannes and Jambres (whom I take to be Iannas [Seusenre Khayana to the Egyptians] and then Iambres Assis [Mayebre Sheshi to the Egyptians]) withstood Moses to the face. I know of nothing to suggest that the Hyksos were founded by Shem, nor that they had anything to do with the pyramids. JBP”

  • Bob

    I read with interest the article, Mythology and the Bible by Morton Edgar. I would be interested to know where he gets his information regarding Shem. The Bible doesn’t say much about Shem, other than he was Noah’s son and the father of Arphaxad. After that we read that he lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters (Gen 11:10-11). He was blessed by Noah and was an ancestor of Abraham and of Jesus. Other than that, the Bible doesn’t say much about Shem. Can you please tell me where the author Morton Edgar gets his information regarding Shem being the leader or head of the Hyksos?
    I would also be interested to know how he comes by the information that Shem and Melchizedek is the same person and that he founded Jerusalem. The book of Hebrews goes into some detail regarding Melchizedek, but the author of Hebrews never states that Shem and Melchizedek are the same. On the contrary, Hebrews chapter seven compares his priesthood with that of Jesus’ and in verse three says that Melchizedek had no ancestry that we know of, nor do we know when he was born or when he died. We do however know all of these things about Shem.

    • Peter K. (admin)

      Bob – This article is taken from a book called Faith’s Foundations, published by the Portland Bible Students. I believe there are references in that book. Morton Edgar got a lot of information from a book called “The Two Babylon’s.” The subtitle is “The Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and his Wife.” It was written by Reverend Alexander Hislop in 1857. There are many copies of this book on the Internet. You can read a copy by clicking here:. Regarding Shem, I am waiting for a reply from another brother more knowledgeable than I on this. I can tell you that if you do that math, Shem would have been alive at the time Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. At this early time period, based on what we can extract from history, it would be difficult to come up with a known candidate more righteous and more respected than Shem. Applying the mythology as Hislop does places Shem in a very respected and powerful position. However, I am not sure that some of these matters can be resolved with certainty. More later.

  • Vanderhoven7

    It seems to me that many futurists expect a person (the Antichrist) to appear on the scene shortly who will identify himself as God and occupy a rebuilt version of the temple. This idea is partially drawn from II Thess. 2:1-13 as follows

    1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
    2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
    3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
    4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
    5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
    6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
    7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
    8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
    9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
    10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
    11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
    12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
    13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

    How do Bible Students view this passage?

    Vander

    • Peter K. (admin)

      Vander – We agree with John Wycliffe, John Huss, Marten Luther, John Knox, Sir Isaac Newton, John Wesley, Joseph Priestly, all the reformers and most protestants untl the 20th Century (see here) that the Anti-Christ is the papacy. You can find more information here:. Jesuit scholarship rallied to the Roman cause by providing alternatives to the historical interpretation of the Protestants. The most successful tack was taken by Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) of Salamanca, Spain. He was the founder of the Futurist system of prophetic interpretation. Ribera argued that Antichrist would appear in the distant future. About 1590 Ribera published a 500-page commentary on the apocalypse denying the Protestant application of Antichrist to the Church of Rome. The following is a synopsis:

      While the first few chapters in the Revelation were assigned to ancient Rome in the time of John, the greater part of the prophecies of the Revelation were assigned to the distant future—to events immediately preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ.

      Antichrist would be a single evil person who would be received by the Jews and would rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

      Antichrist would rule the world from this temple in Jerusalem for a literal three and a half years.

      This view promoted by the Catholic Church was gradually accepted by protestant denominations in the 20th Century as we have observed the protest going out of Protestantism.

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