Victory Over Death

"And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and of Hades." Revelation 1:17-18

{keys κλείς kleis} {of death θάνατος thanatos} {and of Hades ᾅδης hadēs}

What are the keys of Death and Hades? How would the people of the Greco-Roman world understood what this verse said? I believe they would have taken this very literally and assumed that Jesus did in fact descend to the underworld as they knew it. I believe they would have had understanding of what this meant from a spiritual warfare point of view. I believe they would have assumed this verse meant that Jesus actually fought and won the keys in the underworld. The Greco-Roman world had an acute understanding of "who" held power in the underworld. I want to share with you a few of the principle characters, namely Thanatos, Hecate, Hades and Persephone.

I believe the people of that time would have been keenly aware of what Jesus had accomplished by stating that he had "the keys of Death and Hades". What a wonderful testimony of the power of the cross, resurrection and life everlasting. What hope for people to know then and now that Jesus holds their lives in the justice of the cross and no longer in the curse and injustice of these gods{the Devil}. That no man will enter the realm of Hades without going through Jesus first. He now decides in grace and perfect justice.

Thanatos is the Greek word for death. But in Greek mythology Thanatos was an actual god that was the personification of death. He was usually depicted with wings and a sacrificial sword{see picture above} and was the priest of Hades. Looks a little familiar doesn't he? The angel of Death, that is the Devil. The picture is from a relief that was in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

Greek Myth of Pandora

Before we move on I wanted to be sure to share one last Greek myth with you. You will see as we move into the time of the early church how this attitude towards woman was adopted by many a "church father". It was this attitude that fueled the fire while women were burned at the stake! If only these "fathers" had remembered the words of Paul to the Ephesians instead of seemingly ascribing to the paganist thought they were suppose to be rooting out! Again, you can not slay the dragon by killing the woman.

"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." Ephesians 5:12

The Greek Myth of the Mortal Pandora

"The gods keep hidden from men the means of life . . . Zeus in the anger of his heart hid it, because Prometheus the crafty deceived him; therefore he planned sorrow and mischief against men. He hid fire; but that the noble son of Iapetus stole again for men from Zeus the counsellor in a hollow fennel-stalk, so that Zeus who delights in thunder did not see it. But afterwards Zeus who gathers the clouds said to him in anger : `Son of Iapetos, surpassing all in cunning, you are glad that you have outwitted me and stolen fire--a great plague to you yourself and to men that shall be. But I will give men as the price for fire an evil thing in which they may all be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction.'

Slay the Dragon Not the Woman

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28

I was going to try to avoid the verses in the new testament that have caused so much division in the church between men and woman. These verses have been re-hashed so many times you almost don't want to hear of them again! But because of what we have been discussing I find it necessary to visit a few of them. Many women have been deeply hurt by the way these verses have been taught. Which is a big indicator to me that they are not being taught correctly because God is not in the business of hurting people. I am hoping that you maybe see them in a different light putting them in context as to what type of women Paul was speaking to.

The words of Paul to women seem very harsh at times. But we have to remember that many of the people he was writing had never heard the gospel. The most common explanation is that the majority of the female coverts of the new testament church were prostitutes. It is true that prostitution was rampant throughout the Roman empire; both street and temple. They were always scantily clad, loaded with make-up, jewelry and spoke brazenly. Like most sexuality during that time there was an attitude of "anything goes". Sexuality was not an intimate male/female thing it was a ritualistic/hedonistic thing{as we have discussed in the other posts}. Infidelity, adultery, drugs and alcohol fueled the fire!

Power of the Goddess

So we have been discussing the word of the goddess through the old and new testament. I find it so interesting that in the way of "fertility goddesses" we went from Inanna and Ishtar whose temple practices involved copious amounts of sexual activity, a generous blurring of the lines between genders, and the consecration of any virginity or loss there of to the goddess herself.

As we moved into the new testament we have the goddess Cybele who still requires copious amounts of sexual activity for her worship but it is done in such a way that there in no fertility. Meaning that the sexual activity was between same sexes making it impossible to produce a child. Then we found Artemis to really be the antithesis of fertility in that she required anyone who worshipped her to never marry. This wasn't for virtuous reasons, this was because of the refusal to be attached to any man. Not only that but if one did marry and have a child it was quite possible you would suffer her wrath. Remember any woman who died in childbirth was attributed to Artemis. Their tunics would be taken to her as sacrifice. {according to the picture above maybe it was their bodies too!?!}We also discovered the eerie connection between a known abortion causing herb of the ancient world wormwood and the goddess. The herbs Latin name was Artemisia Vulgaris.

Artemis Peter Pan?

OK, so I know this is a little random and a bit of a detour...my brain does that from time to time...LOL. If you have been reading along for the last few posts we have been discussing goddesses of the ancient world. The last goddess we just discussed was Artemis of Ephesus fame.

So my kids {ages 6 and 3} have been watching Disney's "Peter Pan" off and on for the last couple of days. One of my favorites, although I have never read the original book by J.M Barrie. Remember how in the last post I said that Artemis was a female Peter Pan of sorts? Well I got to thinking...{remember my brain is a bit strange} that they do have quite a bit in common...at least with the Disney movie. Let me explain....

Blueprint of a Goddess...Artemis

So now we have come to the best known new testament goddess, that is Artemis. Artemis is a many faceted goddess whom I have not totally figured out. Some say she was a fertility goddess other say she was goddess of the hunt. Most seem to say that she was the goddess of both. So in that respect she will fit in quite nicely with the other goddess we have been discussing. Her most famous temple was in Ephesus on the west coast of Asia Minor but she also had temples in Sparta and Brauron.

In the Roman world she was assimilated with the goddess Diana. However when you look at the sculptures of Diana and Artemis side by side you see two very different looking goddesses. Where Diana looks very refined; Artemis has a more bohemian feel. {see pics} One theory is that the Artemis of Ephesus was an incarnation of the goddess Cybele because of the close geographically proximity and the similar look. For the sake of this post we will discuss the general consensus that Artemis and Diana are one in the same.

Artemis was known as a virgin goddess much like the others we have discussed. However with Artemis the term 'virgin' didn't mean 'single and having sex' as it did with the others. From what I can tell she was truly chaste. In fact I haven't found any evidence of ritual sex associated with Artemis or her temple. Which was a big surprise to me too! It is for this reason that Artemis became the patron goddess of young unmarried woman.

Blueprint of a Goddess...Cybele

So we have discussed some of the goddesses during the old testament times; mainly Inanna and Ishtar. Now we will jump ahead to the new testament times.

I have chosen to discuss the goddess Cybele because of her androgynous beginnings and her very interesting temple rites. When we think of the Greco-Roman world during the times of the new testament the more commonly known gods and goddesses come to mind...Aprodite/Venus, Dionysus/Bacchus, Eros/Cupid etc. While these gods and goddesses were no strangers to orgastic temple rites with sexuality of all kinds it is the myths of Cybele that have intrigued me.

Cybele was known as 'The Great Mother' or 'Great Virgin', guardian of the dead, goddess of fertility and wild life. Her myths actually date back to about 1500BC in Asia Minor{modern day Turkey}; specifically the region of Phrygia{yellow region on map}. In the older original myths Cybele is called Agadistis who possessed both male and female attributes. It was said that this gave rise to such wild and uncontrolled nature that the other gods began to fear her/him. So the gods gave Agadistis a potion to put her/him to sleep. While asleep Dionysus{god of intoxication} put a rope around her/his phallus so that when she/he awoke to get up her/his phallus was riped off. This blood dripped into the ground and a almond tree sprouted.

Blueprint of a Goddess...Pictures & References.

It really is amazing to see these fertility goddesses side by side. They all have the same symbolism; just from different times and different places. Most all have a serpent of some kind. We all know what that represents.  Here is an interesting take from a secular point of view---

"The serpent first appears as a serpent mother goddess in the Neolitic era, and is also drawn coiling around the womb and the phallus as principle of regeneration.  In the Sumerian cities of Ur and Uruk, in the lowest level of excavation, were found two very old images of the Mother Goddess and her child, both having the heads of snakes.  As the male aspect of the goddess was differentiated, the serpent became the fertilizing phallus, image of the god who was her son and consort, born from her, married with her and dying back into her for rebirth in unending cycle.   As we have seen, in images of the goddess in every culture the serpent is never far away, standing behind her, eating from her hand, entwined in her tree...Genesis is no expection to this, unless it be that, formally, there is no goddess, only a woman..."
The Myth of the Goddess, Anne Baring and Jules Cashford

Might I add that Genesis is no different!  The serpent hoped to make Eve the first goddess, but instead found a woman of God!  Also notice many of them also have wings, which makes it clear to me that they were a favorite manifestation of the Devil. Almost all of them have a lion in one way or another. It is my understanding that in mythology a lion represents the sun and earthly dominion. Therefore is usually in reference to the principle male deity. Remember, the fertility goddess is a moon goddess. So I am assuming that the symbolism is to show her power over the earth and the male deity.  In alchemy the lion is the symbol of sexual passion where as the serpent/dragon represents the circular nature of things or constant re-invention.  In alchemy this symbol is called 'ouroboros'.

In this post I will also include some of the biblical references where they apply.

Inanna/Ishtar{Sumerian/Babylonian}

'Queen of Heaven' Jer. 7:18, Jer. 44:17-19,25

'Morning Star' Isaiah 14:12

'Lilitu'{screech owl} Isaiah 34:14

Blueprint of a Goddess...Ishtar

In the last post we discussed the Sumerian fertility goddess Inanna. In this post we will see the next incarnation that was the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. Ishtar and Inanna are nearly the same goddess. Both are moon goddesses, both are related to Venus. Both call themselves the Morning and Evening Star. Ishtar is often depicted with lions, serpents or dragons. Both descend to the underworld. The parallels go on and on. Ishtar was just the latest incarnation of the goddess.

Now the in the last post we read of Inanna descended to the underworld, passing through the gates, then presenting herself naked before her sister, the queen of the underworld. Then she is killed by her sister and left hanging on a post. In the meantime her faithful friend goes to her father Enki{god of wisdom} to tell him she has not returned. So Enki creates two beings {neither male or female} to take her the water and food of life. Inanna comes back to life but the queen of the underworld tells her someone must die in her place. So Inanna goes to look for someone. When she comes upon her husband, Dumuzi{the shepherd god} she discovers that her was not mourning her death. In her anger she chooses her husband to take her place in the underworld. Therefore Tammuz is sacrificed for the sake of fertility.

Blueprint of a Goddess...Inanna

Continuing from our last post. We are discussing the very first fertility goddess; Inanna. She was the sex, fertility and goddess of war to the Sumerians in Mesopotamia. We discussed in the last post the Sumerian creation myth that there were six people created in the beginning. Four of whom were androgynous and the other two a barren female and a castrated male eunuch. So we can see the death wish that the devil had for both Adam and Eve. He was furious that Adam and Eve had the capability to produce life.

We also discussed the myth of Inanna and the Huluppu Tree. This was a tree that the god of wisdom had planted and that Inanna took and planted in her own sacred garden. She makes a throne in her tree, to rule. She makes a bed in her tree to reproduce. Later the serpent, the Anzu bird and the Lilitu all make a nest in her tree. We see later that these three beings were all aspects of Inanna's personality.

So this gives great insight as to the enemies side of the story. As I have discussed in other posts, I do not believe that God put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil {or function and dysfunction, in the Hebrew} in the garden. It was God's Tree of Life that was in the midst of the garden, the other tree was a tree that the devil had made his nest in. To make his throne and his bed as the myth points out. The Devil wanted to be ruler of the earth and he also wanted rule over the seed of the woman. So he tempts the bearer of the seed; Eve. More on this in a bit. First lets discuss 'Inanna and the Mes'.

According to the Sumerian myth, once Inanna made her throne out of the Huluppu Tree she decided she would need more power than what Enki{the god of wisdom} had given her. Enki was the keeper of the Mes or Me. The Me was the wisdom of civilization. It was the code of how the spirit world and the physical world interacted. So one day Inanna goes to Enki and asks for a larger allocation of the Me; since it was handed out among all the other gods each with their own sphere of influence. Enki denies his daughter Inanna her request and Inanna is not happy. So she gets him drunk. Then in his drunkenness he hands over ALL the Me to Inanna. Inanna flees quickly in her boat up the Euphrates.

When Enki comes to and realizes that he has been tricked, he is furious. So he sends out demonic creatures of all kinds to retrieve the Me. But Inanna's trusty female companion Ninshubur fights off all the demons. So what do you think was the prize of all the Me to Inanna? Choice!

"Of all the Me Inanna received, the one she valued most, as did Enki, was the power of making decisions. Knowing the other gifts would be worthless without this power -- which involves will, initiative, and independence." from Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth by Eloise Hart

So a background picture should be forming in your mind as to what was behind the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Isn't interesting to see how the Devil made myths to show himself the good guy in all this? Or actually good gal! LOL. Seriously though. The devil knew he could tempt Eve because he knew she had the freedom of choice. That is why he set up shop in the garden. He wanted Adam and Eve to worship him in place of God. He wanted Adam and Eve to think that he was the one that would make them 'fruitful and multiply'. He wanted Adam and Eve to think he was the one with all the wisdom. But as we know it was a lie. Adam and Eve gained no good knowledge from the tree, they only gained the death of the devil. There is another eerie parallel and that is Inanna's decent to the underworld.

It is still unclear to me as to why Inanna decides to go to the underworld. However her sister Eriskegal is the goddess of the underworld and the dead. As Inanna descends she passes through seven different gates guarded by demons. At each gate she is required to remove a piece of clothing or earthly attribute including her priestly office, her sexual power and her royal power. By the time she gets to the underworld she is naked before her sister the goddess of the dead.

"Naked and bowed low, Inanna entered the throne room.
Ereshkigal rose from her throne.
Inanna started toward the throne.
The Annuna, the judges of the underworld, surrounded her.
They passed judgment against her.
Then Ereshkigal fastened on Inanna the eye of death.
She spoke against her the word of wrath.
She uttered against her the cry of guilt.
She struck her.
Inanna was turned into a corpse,
A piece of rotting meat,
And was hung from a hook on the wall...."www.inanna.virtualave.net/tammuz.html

So here we really have the culmination of what took place in the garden. The Devil as Inanna has built his throne in the garden. He thinks he has outwitted God by using his choice to make his throne in the garden. The devil thinks that he can 'get' Adam and Eve by offering 'his' wisdom. But what he really wants is the seed of man, that is born of the woman. So the temptation of Eve was that she would 'be like God' or in this case be a goddess. This temptation goes against what God had already put in place by His truth.

Man and woman were created male and female, separate but equal. They were to take dominion over the earth together. They were to be fruitful and multiply together. They were to be in intimate relationship with God and in an intimate marital relationship together. But the Devil doesn't like that idea. So he seeks to destroy. But the trick offered to Eve was that she didn't need Adam as an intimate husband to co-rule with. The way of the goddess is to rule over man and use him only as a fertilizer. So Eve fell for it and Adam stood there like a future male fertility prostitute; succumbed to the way of the goddess and ate the lie as well. Then the lie was revealed.

They stood there naked and laid bare just like Inanna before the queen of the underworld. And part of the death was to their sexuality. Remember the Sumerian creation story? A barren woman and a male eunuch. That was how Adam and Eve stood. The Devil had made that which was male and female, married, intimate and able to produce life---androgynous, unequal, ritual and dead. Women are reminded of the death every month! That is what menstruation is; death of a potential life. This was part of the consequence for Eve's choice. Pain in conception and childbirth because of the 'death' caused by the Devil. This wasn't Gods plan. Sin is the punishment. Sin is causing the will of the Devil to take place. Moreover what the Devil accomplished is the unequal state between a man and a woman. Again not God, remember he has given them equal dominion, they were to be co-rulers. So God's response to this now unequal relationship is...Eve desire your husband{not the schemes of the enemy} and Adam take care of your wife! In other words look out for one another and be aware of the destructive plans of the enemy.

So in a way we can look at what happened in the garden as a victory. Or at the very least God working a seemingly hopeless situation for good. Adam and Eve repented. Adam and Eve were covered by God in skins of atonement. The next we hear of the couple it is that Adam knew his wife in the intimate, marital, sexual union. Eve conceives life by her husband and gives birth to life in her son Cain. Eve exclaims "With the help of the Lord I have brought forth the life of a man." {Gen 4:1} Proclaiming the life of God's truth and at the same time discounting the lie that the enemy had told.

So the Devil creates his own story. He dreams up the goddess Inanna as the one he wished Eve had become so that he would have held the power to use her to his evil purpose. In a weird way it almost seems that the Devil himself takes on the personae of the goddess. It's like the fireman who is an arsonist by night. He lights the fires of destruction in the shadows then by day shows up as the hero who saves everyone. That is the narcissistic character of the enemy. You will see as we follow the other fertility goddesses through ancient times that the are the ones who claim fertility but always have a dark side of war and death. It was the devil that gave birth to misogyny, but he covered his evil intentions in a the form of a goddess so that he might cause the most damage against her.

Next we will look at the transformation of the Sumerian Inanna into the Babylonian Ishtar. We will also be discussing where the female aspect fits into a patriarchal God.

Blueprint of a Goddess

So as discussed in the last post we are going to take a dive into the world of ancient mythology. This is in no way to glorify the devil or discount the Bible. This is to instead expose the schemes of the enemy and see things from "his" perspective. You will see very quickly how the devil created his own history in which he is the giver of life, sex and fertility. So for this post I will presents some of the myths of Inanna--Sumerian goddess of sex, fertility and war. She is considered the first fertility goddess. Then in the next post we will compare it with our story of Adam and Eve and how the devil assaulted sexuality.

I have never been more grateful for God as the true God and his Word. He is straightforward, simple and to the point. The polytheistic pantheons of the ancient world attest to the panic of the devil, that somehow "quantity" would make up for the "quality" that is "I AM". The myths are very complex and confusing. I have only been studying them for a few weeks, so it is hard to keep them straight. But it is obvious that the enemy used these gods and goddesses to destroy the truth and principles God had created. All the while he takes on the role that he was the one screwed over by God. Moreover that Adam and Eve had been screwed over by God as well.

Sex, Drugs & Rock n Roll

So I thought it would be fun to put together all the terms in the bible that refer to sexuality, drugs and drinking, with a little bit of rock n roll thrown in. This is by no means an exhaustive list. It is just information that I have gathered from Wikipedia and Greek/Hebrew lexicons.

I love history and learning the origins of particular things. I also think it is interesting to see that the devil has really not come up with any new ideas on how to bind people over the last 5000 years. Not that sex, certain drugs and rock n roll are evil in all circumstances. But this list is to show the seedy side of things. There is nothing that is happening in 2010 in the way of sin that was not happening back in the day. So if anything that should give us hope that God was able to change people back then and He is able to change people today!

Liberation is Not Deliverance

When I did my "Sex, Drugs & Rock n Roll" post I spent a lot of time reading about the Greek gods during the time of the new testament. Most specifically the gods Eros{Cupid} and Dionysis{Bacchus}. Eros being the god of erotic love and Dionysis the god of wine and ecstasy. Both were given the title Eleutherios meaning 'the liberator'. The same Greek word is used several time in the new testament; most often translated as 'freedom'.

So often I found both of these gods described as the ones that could free a person from their natural self. They were the ones that would help you 'let loose' or 'let it all hang out'. Release your inhibitions and be who you have always wanted to be. A no holds bar approach to sexuality and intoxication. Isn't this what people still fall into today? The thought that pushing beyond moral constraint will bring freedom. Trying to find their true self. In that desperate search they push beyond all bounds and truth.

So let's take a look at Eros the Greek god of sexual love. There are four ancient Greek words for love and eros is one of them. Interesting that the word eros is found no where in the new testament. I think I can show you why. According to mythology Eros was born of an extra marital affair between Ares, god of blood lust and Aphrodite, goddess of beauty, sex and fertility. Being that his mother was the goddess of sex in general, Eros became more specifically associated with the erotic side of sex. Meaning infidelity, lust, and excess. He was also the patron of male lust. It seems in reading that I found Eros to never be satisfied. That lust drove him in a perpetual search that was never fulfilled. So in that same spirit he would inflict mortals with insatiable appetite.