I told you I would so I did.

Throughout the short time I've been here on the Pink Cross I've gone on about the sex industry and 'idolatry', I hope to bring some light to those statements.

The basis of my beliefs rises from, Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

I give to you Ishtar aka Ashtoreth aka Venus , the goddess of sex and violence.

Babel was the first major city after the flood of Noah. Nimrod was the 1st ruler of that city/nation. Nimrod was the great grandson of Noah. In the Hebrew (messianics help me out here if need be) Nimrod meant 'the valiant one or the rebellious'. Gen 10:8-9, 1Chronicles 1:10, and Micha 5:6 . Nimrod founded the city of Babel which we know attempted to build a tower to heaven Gen10:10 and Gen11:9.

Chaldea/Babel was the kingdom which eventually became Babylon. Out of Babylon many of the re-foundings of Idolatery began after the flood through Nimrods rule. Babylon is the homeland of Idolatry. Throughout the study of deities one can trace back all of the gods of Egypt, Assyria, Greece and Rome. Read Hislops "The two Babylons to gain more on this matter" .

As nations gained power and rule they conquested and overtook other nations and their people. It was a common practice for those conquesting nations to accept or absorb the religions of their victim nations into their own pantheon. From Athena to Mars one may directly link back to ancient Babylon. This practice of 'adopting' these gods was thought to maintain peace with the nations conquered and give more power to their own belief systems.

After the Exodus of Genesis, God forwarned the Egypt leaving Hebrews to have no other gods before him. Egypt was all about idolatery. If one were to study the plagues on Pharoah they would see that each one of the plagues was directly pointed at the Egyptian gods and their powers.

Exd 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before [fn] me.

Exd 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
Exd 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

In other words...GOD was telling the Hebrews NOT to fall into the trap of idolatery again, as he was a 'Jealous God'.

The Hebrews having spent all those years in captivity were all too familiar with the gods of Pharoah and Egypt. And the Lord warned them not to maintain nor practice any of that evil before him as his children.

But they did, and one of their primary gods' was Ashtoreth.

1Kings 11:33 I will do this because they have* forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws as David, Solomon's father, did.

In as much as the Israelis were sent into exile because of her worship and un-repentance.

So, what was so aluring of this ancient Chaldean goddess? What was so drawing that the Israelis who had chronicled their exile from the terrible taskmaster Egypt, entered the land of milk and honey as promised to their forefather Abraham. Plain and simple...sex and violence.

Astarte/Ashtoreth means 'Star'. In ancient beliefs, she is considered 'The Queen of Heaven'. In other words, THE GOD.

Here you will find her many names and supposed powers.
http://www.topical-bible-studies.org/37-0012.htm

One of her names is: Kilili
The goddess Ishtar as symbol of the promiscuous and independent woman - the ancient idea of the virgin - whose wanton behavior inspires both excitement and a tremendous anxiety in many of those who desire her.

In ancient Rome she was worshipped as Venus and or Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Notice the name change? This goes back to the adopting practices of the ancient nations and their religions. Again, Hislops book (written in 1912(?) ) "The two Babylons" is a good resource to this information.

Read this: On the study of sex in ancient Mesopotamia and how it relates to Ishtar/Ashtoreth/Venus:

http://www.bigeye.com/sexeducation/mesopotamia.html

"Some of the first references to sexually transmitted diseases are found in Ancient Babylonia, mainly gonnorhea and syphillis. These diseases were said to be caused by the gods and their mismatches which were shown in the sky by the crab and the scorpion. The chancre sore from syphillis was said to literally be a crab bite. In King Hammurabi's Codes, there is a sexual warning to those who oppose him, that "...an evil disease, a dangerous sore which cannot be cured, which the physicians cannot diagnose, which he cannot allay with bandages, and which like the bit of death cannot be removed; and that he, until he brings his life to an end, may lament the loss of his vigor...curse him, his seed, his land, his army, his people and his troops with an evil curse."

Thus, it is also very possible that since Ishtar was regarded as a goddess of love and war, that she was also believed to cast sexually transmitted diseases to the enemies of those that worshipped her. Such a statement from a powerful king may have effected how the enemies of Ancient Babylonia regarded the great state and its sexuality. In opposing Hammurabi, those peoples also had to oppose the goddess Ishtar and the Babylonian ideas of sexual openness. "

There you have it.

I'll be out back drinking coffee.

Love you all.

In Christ,

Son of Adam