God’s
Attitude toward the “Supreme Beings” of the Nations
by Sandy Simpson, 5/20/15
It is quite clear from
Scripture that YHWH does NOT consider the “supreme beings” of the nations to be
Himself, the One True God. This is in opposition to the teachings of Don
Richardson, Daniel Kikawa, Richard Twiss and many others promoting the World Christian
Gathering of Indigenous People movement, Emergent Church and Liberal
theologies. I have proven this time and
time again in my articles on the subject but I am going to consolidate the
information from the Bible in this article by studying the false gods named in
the Bible. I am sure I will not be able
to cover every instance of supreme beings mentioned in the Bible but I (1) want
to deal with some of the major ones (2) show you where they are found in the
Word, and (3) prove that they were the “supreme beings” of those nations named
by the patriarchs, prophets and Apostles and that they were not monotheistic
gods but polytheistic in the tradition of Babel where the false religion of
polytheism first took root through the worship of Nimrod and Semiramis.
A list of gods mentioned in the Bible
Amon (Amen), the chief god of Egypt
Jeremiah 46:25 The
LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
"I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of
Thebes, on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings, and on those who
rely on Pharaoh.
The God of Israel, thus
the God of Joseph, said He would bring punishment on the false “supreme being”
of the Egyptians and the leaders who worshipped it. The "supreme beings" of Egypt, a
polytheistic couple as in all cultures post-Babel, were Amen and Mut (http://socsci.colorado.edu/LAB/GODS/)
Asherah, a Canaanite goddess (Ex 34:13-14)
Asherah was the consort of El, the chief Canaanite god, not Elohim but the false god El. Wooden poles, perhaps carved
in her image, were often set up in her honor and placed near other pagan
objects of worship (See also Dt 7:5; Jdg 6:25-30). Gideon
destroyed an Asherah pole (1Ki 14:15,23; 1Ki 15:13; 1Ki 16:33; 1Ki 18:19). King Josiah’s reforms included destruction
of altars and images dedicated to Asherah (2Ki
23:4-7,13-16, Isa 27:9; Jer
17:2; Mic 5:14).
Deuteronomy 16:21 “You shall not plant
for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree
beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you
shall make for yourself.
The supreme beings of Nineveh and Canaan were El and Asherah
or Athirat. (http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa102197.htm)
Ashtoreth, a goddess of war and
fertility (Jdg 2:12-13)
Ashtoreth, the
consort of Baal, was associated with the evening star and was worshipped as
Ishtar in Babylon and as Athtart in Aram. To the
Greeks she was Astarte or Aphrodite and to the Romans, Venus (See also Jdg 10:6; 1Sa
7:3-4; 1Sa 12:10; 1Sa 31:10; 1Ki 11:5, 33).
The "supreme
beings" of Canaan were the Baals and Ashtoreth
(http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/canaanite-faq.html)
Baal, a Canaanite and Phoenician
god of fertility and rain (Jdg 2:10-13)
Baal, meaning
“lord” or “husband”, was pictured standing on a bull, a popular symbol of
fertility and strength. Baal was associated with Asherah
and Ashtoreth, goddesses of fertility.
Judges 2:8-13 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the
LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.
And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country
of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. After that whole generation had been
gathered to their fathers, another generation
grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. The
Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals
and forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of
Egypt. They followed and worshipped
various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger
because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
During the time of Joshua
the people of Israel worshipped the true God, by in large. But a generation after Joshua died they
turned away from YHWH to the worship of Baal & Ashtoreth. The "supreme beings" of Canaan were
the Baals and Asherah
(http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/canaanite-faq.html)
Elijah challenged the
priests of Baal and Asherah at Mt. Carmel.
1 Kings 18:21 Elijah went before the
people and said, "How long will you
waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God,
follow him." But the people said nothing.
This is a
very clear example of God contrasting Himself with the false supreme beings
Israel had chosen to follow. Jeremiah
also challenged the people to follow the true God instead of Baal.
Jeremiah 7:9 Will you steal, murder,
and commit adultery and swear falsely,
and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk
after other gods that you have
not known,
These conflicts were
between the false god Baal and the true God, YHWH. The modern Inclusivists
would have never had the Mt. Carmel showdown.
But that event proves that Inclusivism is
garbage. Again, the "supreme beings" of Canaan were Baal and Asherah (http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/canaanite-faq.html)
Baal-Zebub,
a popular deity of the Philistines (Mt 12:24, Mk 3:22, Lk 11:15)
Matt. 12:24, where the Pharisees charged that
Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, constitutes a major
example of “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit”, thus this supreme being was a demon
or Satan himself since Luke 11:15 states that he was the ruler of demons.
Beelzebub is the
Greek form of the Hebrew name “Baal-Zebub”, meaning
“lord of the flies” (See also 2Ki 1:1-6,16-17)
Beelzebub is a derivative of Baal whose
consort was Astarte (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philistines).
Bel, the chief deity of Babylon (Isa 46:1)
Is. 46:1 Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; their images are consigned
to the beasts and the cattle …
In the NASB the caption
above this chapter division reads “Babylon’s Idols and the True God”. Isaiah was contrasting the supreme beings of
Babylon with the God of Israel, YHWH. Bel was another
name for the sun god, Marduk. Nebo, the god of
learning and writing was the son of Marduk (See also Jer 50:2; Jer 51:44)
Marduk’s consort was Astarte (continued
worship of Nimrod & Semaramis, http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/assyrbabyl-faq.html)
Chemosh, the chief god of Moab (1Ki 11:7 See also Nu 21:29; 1Ki
11:33; 2Ki 23:13; Jer 48:7,13,46)
1 Kings 11:7 Then Solomon built a high
place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the
mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
Chemosh
was the supreme being of Moab, whose consort was the Semitic mother-goddess Ashtar
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemosh)
Dagon, worshipped in Babylonia
and Philistia (Jdg 16:23 See also 1Sa 5:2-7; 1Ch 10:10)
1 Samuel 5:7 When
the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his
hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god."
You will remember that the
statue of Dagon fell twice in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant and the
men of Ashdod admitted that their god was different than the God of Israel. The
"supreme beings" of the Philistines were Dagon and Derceto
(http://voices.yahoo.com/biblical-overview-history-philistines-1952417.html). Inclusivists of
today would say that since Dagon was a “supreme being” that he was the true
God, and they would get Bible translation societies to include his name in the
Ashdod Bible.
Molech, the chief deity of Ammon (1Ki 11:4-5 See also Lev 18:21)
The practice of sacrificing children to Molech was common in Phoenicia and the region (Lev 20:2-5;
1Ki 11:7,33; 2Ki 23:10). Josiah destroyed the area
where the altars for child sacrifice were located (2Ki 23:13; Isa 57:9; Jer 32:35; Jer 49:1,3; Zep 1:5; Ac 7:43)
Leviticus 20:2-5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “You shall also say to the
sons of Israel: ‘Any man from the sons
of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel who gives any of his
offspring to Molech,
shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with
stones. I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his
people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, so as to defile My
sanctuary and to profane My holy name. ...
This is yet
another proof that you cannot make the names of supreme beings the same as
YHWH, who revealed Himself exclusively to Israel and finally through His Son,
Jesus Christ and the Apostles, to the Gentiles.
Any use of the names of supreme beings for the One True God “profanes
His holy name”!
1 Kings 11:7 Then Solomon built a
high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab,
on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech
the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
Molech
was detestable to God. Molech’s consort was Ashtoreth also
(http://www.gotquestions.org/who-Molech.html).
Tammuz, a Babylonian fertility
god (Eze
8:14)
Ezekiel 8:14 Then He
brought me to the entrance of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping
for Tammuz.
Those women sat at the gate to the Lord’s house
and shed idolatrous tears for this “supreme being”. What foolishness.
In Babylonia, the month Tammuz was
established in honor of the eponymous god Tammuz, who originated as a Sumerian
shepherd-god, Dumuzid or Dumuzi,
the consort of Inanna
and, in his Akkadian form, the parallel consort of
Ishtar. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammuz_%28deity%29)
Zeus and Hermes (Ac 14:12)
Zeus was the
patron god of the city of Lystra and his temple was
there. Paul was misidentified by the people of Lycaonia
as the god Hermes (the Roman Mercury), Zeus’ attendant and spokesman.
Acts 14:11-18 When the crowd saw what Paul had done,
they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The
gods have come down to us in human form!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he
was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the
city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd
wanted to offer sacrifices to them. But
when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and
rushed out into the crowd, shouting: "Men, why are you doing this? We too
are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to
turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and
earth and sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their
own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness
by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with
plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." Even with these words,
they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
So Zeus and Hermes are
contrasted against YHWH. This situation is entirely consistent with Paul
teaching over and over again that the Gentiles “do not know God”. Paul was there to bring them the Gospel, not
to syncretise their own god with the God of the
Bible. This is exactly what he also did
in Aereopogus when he explained to them Who the “Unknown God” was, and most of them did not even
want to hear the truth. This reference
to the “Unknown God” is not a proof that the Greeks were worshipping the true
God but consistent with the general counsel of God’s word on this subject.
Gal. 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to
those who by nature are not gods.
1 Cor. 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God,
it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those
who believe.
1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has
lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we
are! The reason the world does not know
us is that it did not know him.
Rom. 1:28 Furthermore, since they
did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge
of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be
done.
1 Thess. 4:5 ...not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God...
Ephesians 2:12-13 ...remember that at that time you were separate from Christ,
excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the
promise, without hope and without God in
the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been
brought near through the blood of Christ.
2 Thess. 1:8 He will punish those who do
not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
The
"supreme beings" of the Greeks were Zeus & Hera, though Zeus had
a number of other consorts spawning a pantheon of gods
(http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/zeusgirl.html). Jupiter and Juno were the
"supreme beings" of Rome, again spawning a pantheon of other gods
(http://www.gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/roman/). Artemis was a virgin goddess, never
married, who allegedly loved Orion, but was the daughter of Zeus & Leto (http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Artemis.html)
Artemis Ac 19:24-28
Artemis was the
Greek name for the Roman goddess, Diana.
Paul was persecuted because his preaching of the Gospel was seen as a
detriment to the worship and crafting of Diana idols.
Acts 19:24 For
a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who
made silver shrines of Artemis,
was bringing no little business to the craftsmen;
There were a number of
suitors for Artemis in Greek legend but Orion is probably chief
among them. Various conflicting accounts
are given in Classical Greek mythology of the birth of Artemis and her twin
brother, Apollo. All accounts agree, however, that she was the daughter of Zeus
and Leto and that she was the twin sister of Apollo.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis)
So she is part of the pantheon of Greek gods none of whom, though
supreme beings, have anything in common with YHWH.
Castor and Pollux (See
also Ac 28:11)
The twin “sons of Zeus”, regarded as the
guardian deities of sailors. Again they
are part of the pantheon of Greek gods who have nothing to do with YHWH.
“Castor and Pollux aspired
to marry the Leucippides ("daughters of the
white horse"), Phoebe and Hilaeira, whose father
was a brother of Leucippus ("white horse").[a] Both women were
already betrothed to cousins of the Dioscuri, the
twin brothers Lynceus and Idas
of Thebes, sons of Tyndareus's brother Aphareus. Castor and Pollux
carried the women off to Sparta wherein each had a son; Phoebe bore Mnesileos to Pollux and Hilaeira bore Anogon to Castor.
This began a family feud among the four sons of the brothers Tyndareus and Aphareus.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_and_Pollux)
Wow what nice “gods”. Not God.
Conclusion
The worship of false gods
was a snare to God’s people. Their worship included disgusting rites (1Ki 14:23-24; 1Ki 19:18; Jer 7:31; Hos 13:2). Numerous
attempts were made to stop the worship of Baal and other false gods
(Jdg 6:28-32; 1Ki
18:17-40, see also 2Ki 10:18-28; 2Ki 11:18; 2Ki 23:4-5, 13). Attempts
to stop false worship often proved unsuccessful (2Ki 21:3). The word “Baal” was not originally a proper
name but came to be used as such, in other words it was a word originally
meaning “lord” or “husband” but came to signify the false god of Canaan Baal
whose consort was Asherah (See also 2Ch
28:1-4; Hos 13:1-2). The Bible is replete with
warnings against and condemnation of the worship of false gods (Ps 40:4; Da 3:29). Nebuchadnezzar came to realize
the foolishness of worshipping false gods (see also Ps 4:2; Jer 13:25; Jer 16:19; Am 2:4; Zep 1:4). The
first Christians were confronted with the worship of the false Greek and Roman
deities.
God warns us to have no
other gods but Him alone.
Joshua 23:7 Do
not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not
serve them or bow down to them.
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods
before Me.
Deuteronomy 6:14 You shall not follow other
gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you,
Deuteronomy 8:19 It shall come about if
you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other
gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that
you will surely perish.
More generally God tells
us ALL the gods of the nations are false gods, idols.
Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Micah 4:5 All the nations may walk in
the name of their gods, but we (Israel) will walk in the name of the Lord
our God for ever and ever.
God will ultimately
destroy all the “gods of the earth”.
Those demons will end up in hell.
Zephaniah 2:11 The Lord will be awesome to them when he destroys all the gods of the
earth. Distant nations will bow down to him, all of them in their own
lands.
There is only one Name
(Jesus Christ) under heaven by which men may be saved.
Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
On the day of the return
of Jesus Christ there will be “one LORD, and his name the only name”.
Zechariah 14:9 NIV The
LORD will be king over the whole earth. On
that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.
And yet the new false
teachers of “Inclusivism” claim a person can be saved
by "general revelation" of "God" without the revelation of
Jesus Christ.
Inclusivism: Whereas
Exclusivists regard general revelation as informative only and special
revelation as both informative and salvific, Inclusivists, by contrast, regard general revelation as
both informative and salvific and special
revelation as even mere deeply informative and even more effectively and widely
salvific! (Don Richardson, Heaven Wins)
There is only one
salvation and that is through Jesus Christ.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.
(Additional material
source:
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/dictionary-of-bible-themes/8747-false-gods)