Ezekiel 2 – Ezekiel’s Commission & Astral Worship

Just Standing e15390127642451 Astrology EvilI used to read up on Astrology, it was fun and interesting, but I never believed in it.  Astrology is like World Wrestling on TV, the wrestling part is true, but the rest is pre-planned.

I never knew much about outer space, but wow!  The things You did on earth is awesome, but what You did in outer spaces is incredible.  No one can do the things You do so why would anyone want to worship a false god?  Let alone Satan, he’s such a loser.

I know that Satan is sneaky, he’s like an alcoholic or drug addict, he’ll do whatever to get his fix.  So after reading all of this stuff, I have to look into…

Ezekiel 2
Ezekiel’s Commission

00 Symbol of Babylonian sun god Shamash.
Symbol of Babylonian sun-god Shamash.

1 And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.

2 And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.

3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.

4 For they are impudent children and stiff hearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.

5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.

6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

“Briers and thorns…scorpions” – vivid images of those who would make life difficult for the prophet.

7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.

0 Neo Assyrian
Neo-Assyrian standing stone (stele/stela) dating from about 824-811 B.C., which depicts King Shamshi-Adad V. In particular, note the necklace the King is wearing. On it is what is called a Cross Pattée or Cross Formée. Twenty-eight hundred years ago that shape was symbolic of pagan sun worship.
The Pope wears a similar symbol around his neck, on the Pallium, which the Pope also confers on selected bishops as an ornamental token of his favor, and it is also worn by archbishops and patriarchs as a symbol of their authority as a metropolitan, derived from unity with the Pope. Note also, that beneath John Paul’s Pallium there is an “x” / diagonal cross, which mimics the diagonal bands below the Cross Pattée worn by the pagan king. The Pope also has a ring and staff of authority, remarkably similar to the depiction of the sun god Shamash on the Babylonian tablet shown previously.

8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.

9 And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;

10 And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

“Written within and without” – normally, ancient scrolls were written on one side only.  The implication here is that the scroll was thoroughly saturated with words of divine judgment.  See Zech 5:3 and Rev 5:1 for the same figure.

“Lamentations, and mourning, and woe” – although Ezekiel was alter commanded to preach hope, his initial commission (until the fall of Jerusalem) was to declare God’s displeasure and the certainty of His judgment on Jerusalem and all of Judah.

…the Tower of Babel of today.

Astral Worship

Astrology or any type of star worshipping is against God, its idolatry, and extremely dangerous!

IT’S THE WORK OF THE DEVIL!

God’s majesty on earth is amazing,
and the sky is awesome!

2 PILLARS OF CREATION
PILLARS OF CREATION
This image, entitled The Pillars of Creation is one of the most famous photographs taken by the Hubble Telescope, and shows vast interstellar clouds. The picture captures a portion of the Eagle Nebula, and what we are seeing is actually the creation of new stars in this young nebula.

“If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant.

And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the hosts of heaven (stars, planets, etc.), which I have not commanded;

And it be told thee and thou hast heard of it and enquired diligently and behold, it be true and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel:

Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman and shalt stone them with stones till they die” (Deut 17:2-5).

Astral worship is probably as old as prostitution, and the devil founded both destructive ideals, what a guy.   

I don’t think it’s fair to see Satan as just an evil being when he is so much more.  He’s very patient, spontaneous, and never quits trying to destroy souls.  Makes you think of our government.

In the Beginning

3 tablet from the early 9th century B.C.
At left is a tablet from the early 9th century B.C. which depicts the Babylonian sun-god Shamash seated on the right, holding emblems of his authority, a staff and ring, and the king with two attendants on the left. In the center, on an altar, is a large 4-point sun image, with additional small wavy rays between the points.

It is unknown for certain but the study of the stars probably began on around the time the Tower of Babel was being built, another one of the devil’s ideas. And that might even be the purpose of the Tower of Babel.

 What person on earth came up with that fabulous idea to go against God is unknown, but many believe it was Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, the son that Noah had cursed. 

Nimrod also ruled a kingdom, which consisted of Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh that was in the land of Shinar.  He also built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen.  Nineveh was one of the most evil cites on earth (Jonah hated the people there).

4 Nimrod
Nimrod, the grandson of Ham and the great grandson of Noah, was the real founder of the Babylonian system of worship and government that continues to thrive throughout the world.
Ancient writings speak of Nimrod as the one who started a great, organized world apostasy against God, which still dominates the world. It is said (it’s not in the Bible) that he was so wicked that he married his own mother, Semirami.

It is not for certain where the land of Shinar was, where the Tower of Babel was built.  Some historians/archaeologists believe it was in Syria, but most believe it was in Babylon.  And that’s a real good possibility because some historians believe that the Tower of Babel was a ziggurat and that our word for “Babylon” came from the word “Babel.”

There were many ziggurats in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. The city of Nineveh had one and Ur of the Chaldees (where Abraham lived at first) had one. What were ziggurats like?

Each one was made of brick and solidly constructed. Each one was also a religious symbol and on top of it stood a small temple that contained an altar where people did their idol worship, sacrificing children, and worship of the sun, moon, and stars.

After God stopped the work on the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:8-9) He had Abraham move from Ur (Gen 12:1) and sometime later He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19).

Worship of the Sun, Moon and Stars

The heavens are God’s “handiwork” (Ps 8:3; 19:1).

He has all the stars numbered and named (Ps 147:4).

5 Remains of the Ziggurat of Eanna
Remains of the Ziggurat of Eanna
A TOWER THAT REACHES UNTO THE HEAVENS (cf. constellation worship in the early ANE)
That the ziggurat symbolized the connecting link between heaven and earth is quite clear from cuneiform descriptions and reliefs. The biblical language describing “a tower that reaches to the heavens” is quite typical in comparison to the language used to describe the ziggurats (e.g. “Temple of the Stairway to Pure Heaven” (Sippar); “House binding Heaven and Earth” (Nippur); “Temple Linking Heaven and Earth” (Larsa); “Temple of the Foundation Platform of Heaven and Earth” (Babylon, also used of the Dilbat ziggurat); and so on). Mesopotamian ziggurats were typically given names demonstrating that they were intended to serve as “staircases” or “binding” locations between earth and heaven.

God also arranged the stars into recognizable groups that we call constellations. The Bible mentions three of these: Orion, the Bear (Ursa Major), and “the crooked serpent” (most likely Draco) in Job 9:9, 26:13, 38:31-32 and Amos 5:8.  

God is the one who does all this and more” (Job 38-41).

God created the sun, moon, stars, the constellations, and planets to show us His power and majesty.  He wants us to know that He can and will protect us if we trust Him.  He didn’t do that for us to study them and live by them.

God clearly tells us not to study the stars:

“And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them which the LORD God hat divided unto all nations under the whole heaven” (Deut 4:19.

It is the devil that got people studying the cosmos and created the Zodiac for the sole purpose of taking us away from God. 

God’s Glory and Magnificence
Shown in the Stars

6 EarthThe Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System’s four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referr0ed to as the world or the Blue Planet.

If you drove once around the Earth you would have gone 25,000 miles. That would mean 40 to 50 days of driving to just go around once. What is the distance from the Earth to the Sun? 
The Sun is 93 million miles away. A 747 jet flies at about 600 miles in one hour. If we could take a 747 jet to the Sun, it would take 17 years to fly from the Earth to the Sun.

Radius: 3,959 miles (6,371 km)

Age: 4.54 billion years

Mass: 5.972 E 24 kg

Surface area: 196.9 million sq. miles (510.1 million km²)

Population: 7.046 billion (2012)

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen 1:1-2).

7 solar systemEarth is positioned perfectly in our solar system to allow just the right amount of heat from the sun to sustain life.  Closer to the sun and it would be too hot or further away and it would be too cold.   

The center of our galaxy is about 27,000 light years from us. Our sister galaxy, called M31, is two million light years away! It is part of the ‘local group’ of galaxies. The Magellenic Clouds, which are seen only from the Southern Hemisphere, are the closest galaxies of the local group.

Although we think our planet is very large, when we compare it to other objects in our solar system, it is really quite small. We could fit 1000 Earths inside Jupiter. And we could fit 1000 Jupiters inside the Sun. It would take one million Earths to fill the Sun, and our Sun is only about a medium-sized star.

When we look up at stars at night, we are seeing light that left the star a long time ago. The light from Proxima Centauri, the nearest star, takes 4 years to get here. When we look at the fuzzy circle of a distant galaxy, we are seeing light that left that galaxy at least 2 million years ago.

“And God said let there be light and there was light.

And God said,  Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night;  and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years” (Gen 1:3, 6).

8 the Milky WayThis is our galaxy, the Milky Way.  You cannot even see our solar system in this picture because it is too small to see.  To get an idea of how small we really are, you can take a quarter and place it on the ground and then zoom out till you see the entire North American continent. 

That is the size of our solar system compared to the Milky Way Galaxy.  The Milky Way Galaxy is only 100,000 light-years in diameter.  Even though we are so small, God is so loving he sent his only Son to die for us. 

The Milky Way Galaxy is just one of hundreds of billions of galaxies that populate our universe. Our galaxy’s name – the Milky Way – is a translation from the Latin “Via Lactea” which is derived from the Greek word “Kiklios Galaxios” which means milky circle. If you go to a dark sky location, the plane of the Milky Way appears as a swath of light across the night sky.

Age: estimations range from 800 million to 13.5 billion years old.

Size: estimations vary due to a degree of uncertainty in the observations used to make these determinations.

Diameter: range from from 100,000 light years up to 120,000 light years.

As to the size of the galactic bulge that makes up the core of the galaxy, its diameter is estimated at around 30,000 light years in the north-south direction. The diameter in the equatorial plane is estimated to be 40,000 light years.

Out in the disk of the galaxy, which is where our solar system is located, the thickness of the disk is estimated to be 1,000 light years.

Number of Stars; it’s assumed to be 100 billion stars in the galaxy.

Of course somewhere between 2.5 and 3 million of the solar masses are locked up in a super massive black hole named Sagittarius A that’s at the center of the galaxy. Other more thorough estimates yield numbers of stars that range up to a high of 400 billion.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen 2:27).

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn 3:16).

The graceful, winding arms of the majestic Whirlpool galaxy appear like a grand spiral staircase sweeping through space. They are actually long lanes of stars and gas laced with dust.  Located 31 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs).

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy-work” (Ps 19:1).

9 The HelixThe Helix is a planetary nebula, the glowing gaseous envelope expelled by a dying, sun-like star.  Kind of looks like God may be watching?  

“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things” (I Jn 3:20).

This is a panoramic view of a colorful assortment of 100,000 stars residing in the crowded core of a giant star cluster.  The cluster lies about 16,000 light-years from Earth.  There are too many stars in the universe to be able to even put a number to.  A star is born every second and God knows everyone by name!  

“He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names” (Ps 147:4).

10 SombreroThe Sombrero Galaxy lies at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies and is one of the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion suns. The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is located 28 million light-years from Earth.  Is God not all powerful?  

“Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things that bringeth out their host by number:  He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth” (Is 40:26).

 

11 Pleiades or Seven SistersThe brilliant stars seen in this image are members of the popular open star cluster known as the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters. The distance to Pleiades is about 440 light-years.  Even naked eye observers can see the Pleiades open star cluster in neighboring Taurus on a clear night.  

“Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades…” (Amos 5:8).

“He who made the Pleiades and Orion” (Job 38:31).

 

 

12 Orions beltsOrion’s belts is located approximately 800-1300 light years away from earth depending on which star you are referencing from.  The belt consists of 3 stars.     

“Seek him that maketh the Seven Stars (Pleiades) and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name” (Amos 5:8).

“Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south” (Job 9:9).

This celestial object locate

d within our Milky Way galaxy roughly 3,800 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius looks like a delicate butterfly. But it is far from serene.  What resemble dainty butterfly wings are actually roiling cauldrons of gas heated to nearly 20,000 degrees Celsius.

The gas is tearing across space at more than 950,000 kilometers per hour — fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in 24 minutes!  The star’s surface temperature is estimated to be over 220,000 degrees Celsius, making it one of the hottest known stars in our galaxy.  God’s majesty displayed in the heavens!  

“Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands” (Ps 102:25).

13 Eagle NebulaThis object is actually a billowing tower of cold gas and dust rising from a stellar nursery called the Eagle Nebula. The soaring tower is 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion kilometers high, about twice the distance from our Sun to the next nearest star.  Stars in the Eagle Nebula are born in clouds of cold hydrogen gas that reside in chaotic neighborhoods.  The tower may be a giant incubator for those newborn stars.  

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him?  And the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor” (Ps 8:3).

Huge waves are sculpted in this two-lobed nebula some 3000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. This warm planetary nebula harbors one of the hottest stars known and its powerful stellar winds generate waves 100 billion kilometers high. The waves are caused by supersonic shocks, formed when the local gas is compressed and heated in front of the rapidly expanding lobes. The atoms caught in the shock emit the spectacular radiation seen in this image.  

“And I shall show wonders in the heaven above…” (Acts 2:19). 

 

 

 

 

14 Carina NebulaThe NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured this billowing cloud of cold interstellar gas and dust rising from a tempestuous stellar nursery located in the Carina Nebula, 7500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina. This pillar of dust and gas serves as an incubator for new stars and is teeming with new star-forming activity.  

“By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens…” (Job 26:13).

“For all the gods of the people are idols:  but the Lord made the heavens” (I Chr 16:26). 

This view of nearly 10,000 galaxies is the deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, this galaxy-studded view represents a “deep” core sample of the universe, cutting across billions of light-years.  

“He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion” (Jer 10:12).  

15 The Pinwheel GalaxyThe Pinwheel Galaxy resides 100 million light-years (30 Mega parsecs) from Earth. It is one of about 200 galaxies that make up the Eridanus group of galaxies.  Speed of light is approximately 650 million miles/hour.  

It would take about 97,800,000 years for light from the Pinwheel Galaxy to reach Earth.  Remember that the Milky Way Galaxy is only 100,000 light-years in diameter.  Hundreds of galaxies can be seen in this picture.  Makes you realize just how small we are and how grand God is!  

“Is not God in the height of heaven?  And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!” ( Job 22:12).

16 A collision of two galaxies

A collision of two galaxies has left a merged star system with an unusual appearance as well as bizarre internal motions. Messier 64 (M64) has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy’s bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the “Black Eye” galaxy.  

As in the majority of galaxies, all of the stars in M64 are rotating in the same direction, clockwise as seen in the Hubble image.

However, detailed studies in the 1990s led to the remarkable discovery that the interstellar gas in the outer regions of M64 rotates in the opposite direction from the gas and stars in the inner regions.  Located in the northern constellation Coma Berenices, M64 resides roughly 17 million light-years from Earth.  

“Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the majesty:  for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all” (1 Chr 29:11).

 

17 UGC 1813The larger of the spiral galaxies, known as UGC 1810, has a disk that is tidally distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational tidal pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813. A swath of blue jewels across the top is the combined light from clusters of intensely bright and hot young blue stars.

These massive stars glow fiercely in ultraviolet light.  Arp 273 lies in the constellation Andromeda and is roughly 300 million light-years away from Earth. The image shows a tenuous tidal bridge of material between the two galaxies that are separated by tens of thousands of light-years from each other.  

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Rom 15:13).

 

18 Hoags ObjectA nearly perfect ring of hot, blue stars pinwheels about the yellow nucleus of an unusual galaxy known as Hoag’s Object.  The entire galaxy is about 120,000 light-years wide, which is slightly larger than our Milky Way Galaxy. The blue ring, which is dominated by clusters of young, massive stars, contrasts sharply with the yellow nucleus of mostly older stars.

What appears to be a “gap” separating the two stellar populations may actually contain some star clusters that are almost too faint to see. Curiously, an object that bears an uncanny resemblance to Hoag’s Object can be seen in the gap at the one o’clock position. The object is probably a background ring galaxy.  

“And they that be wise shall shine as the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever” (Dan 12: 3).

19 ring of dust which fuels a massive black holeFirst direct view of an immense ring of dust which fuels a massive black hole at the heart of the Pinwheel galaxy. Surprisingly, they found that the ring is standing almost perpendicularly to the relatively flat spiral galaxy, like a top spinning on its side with respect to the floor. Even more surprising is the discovery of a secondary ring or dust lane which is contrary to all expectations.  Looks like God is telling us something?  

“And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Col 1:20).

 

Conclusion

If God wanted us to study the stars He would have told us to do so.

The stars should awaken wonder at God’s power, wisdom, and infinitude. We should use the stars to keep track of time and place and to remind us of God’s faithful, covenant-keeping nature.

All the while, we acknowledge the Creator of the heavens. Our wisdom comes from God, not the stars (Jas 1:5)

Astral Worshipping, Astrology, and the like will place you in hell.

Another one of Satan’s traits that I left out above is that he’s a loser, and he pouts when he doesn’t get is way.

The devil would love to have us worship him, but if not that’s okay as long as we don’t worship God.  He’s like some couples when they break-up, “If they can’t have you neither can anyone else.” 

The devil is not your friend, he has no friends, as the song “American Pie” says, and “Fire is his only friend”.

The only way to get to heaven is:

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me” (Jn 14:6).

 

20 Come to me

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