In his appearance at Yankee Stadium Sunday, Pope Benedict, according to the New York Times, laid out in simple terms for American Catholics “their obligations to a church that represents what he has called the ‘one church’ established on earth by God.”

Of course, Bible students know Roman Catholicism represents the “false church” and that Christians, as members of ‘the church the Body of Christ,’ are not bound by any man-made institution. There is no political location.

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At Saturday mass inside a jam-packed St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the pope commented, “The spires of St. Patrick’s Cathedral are dwarfed by the skyscrapers of the Manhattan skyline, yet they are a vivid reminder of the constant yearning of the human spirit to rise to God.”

Now, if that doesn’t hearken back to Tower of Babel philosophy, I don’t know what does! Church steeples, spires, etc., are actually carryovers from Babel and ancient Baal worship.

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To continue with my history of Baal worship within Israel, it was the Tribe of Dan who put Micah’s counterfeit religion on the map starting in Judges 18 by offering a promotion to the Levite priest called ‘father.’

Jordan explains, “The Tribe of Dan approaches this priest of Micah’s and says, in essence, ‘Is it better to be the priest in one house or to a whole tribe?’ The guy says, ‘Whoo-hoo, bigger parish here I come! Mega-church!’

“The come-on was, ‘Have a tribe; don’t be a little-bitty house over there. Let’s go get the big things going!’ So, supposing gain to be godliness, the Levite becomes a priest over the tribe of Dan and Dan, up in the northernmost region of Palestine, becomes the location where Baal worship is first established in the land of Israel.”

From then on, all the way through the earthly ministry of Christ and out into the reign of the Antichrist, the territory of Dan becomes a stronghold for satanic activity in the nation.

Interestingly, Genesis 49:17 reveals that the Tribe of Dan is likened to a serpent: “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.”

In the classic 1958 book All the Men of the Bible, Bible scholar Dr. Herbert Lockyer affirms, “The history of the tribe of Dan is darker than the history of any other of the twelve tribes of Israel. When we come to the sealing of the twelve tribes of Israel (in Revelation 7) Dan’s name is left out.”

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While God’s Word made clear priests of Israel were to come only from the Tribe of Levi, “the children of Dan,” as Judges 18:30 reports, “set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.”

Barlow explains, “In (Dan’s) search for distinction, and some sort of dignity, they asked advice of a Levite priest (which God had ordained) and liked the idea of having one for themselves so they went and established their own priesthood which God had not ordained . . .

“Since rebellion always develops into deeper rebellion, it is not surprising that these priests of the tribe of Dan set up graven images to ‘aid’ in the false worship. This practice existed and still does in our day in spite of the fact that God had strictly forbidden the creation and usage of ‘graven images’ in the first commandment.”

Exodus 20, in God’s giving of the Ten Commandments, plainly states, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

Barlow reasons, “It is interesting to note the divine descriptions of those who hate and love the God of Israel. Those who love him will not make or worship graven images. Those who hate him will do just that.

“It would have been interesting to hear one of those Danite priests explain and rationalize their priesthood and ‘graven images’ in spite of the clear declaration of God’s prohibition of such practices. I suppose it would be no less interesting as those ‘priests’ today who participate in a priesthood and all the related activities while the New Testament is so emphatic that a earthly priesthood is contrary to the Word of God.

“. . . But according to those wedded to ‘tradition’ it matters not what the Bible, or the Lord Jesus says. The only important thing that most religious people consider is ‘If my church says it’s OK, it’s OK.”

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It’s in I Kings 16 under the kingship of Ahab that Baal worship becomes the official religion of Israel, completely consuming the nation. .

As I Kings 16:30-33 reports, “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him.
[31] And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
[32] And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
[33] And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.”

Interestingly, Ahab married his infamous wife, Jezebel, in a place just north of Dan called Baal-Gad. Her father, Ethbaal (a name that means “living for Baal”), was priest-king of Tyre, located just southwest of Baal-Gad on the Mediterranean Coast line.

Holman’s Bible dictionary says of Jezebel: “She was a devotee of the Tyrian god Melqart and gave open endorsement to the worship of Baal in Israel by supporting 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the goddess Asherah (I Kings 18:19).”

Barlow writes, “Following Ahab’s death, the notorious Jezebel continued to be a significant force in Israel for ten years as queen mother until at last she went to the dogs (literally—the dogs ate her; except her hands). As the Danites settled near Jezebel, so has the professing Body of Christ.

“. . . Even so the divine prophetic record shows that there will arrive on the prophetic scene, a great (in size, not character) woman, a spiritual whore (actually apostate Christendom which will be left behind after the Rapture) who will deeply trouble the saints of the Tribulation.

“Would it surprise any reader to discover the name of that woman? It is given in Revelation 2:20: ‘Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.’

“This great whore in the Old Testament was called ‘The Queen of Heaven’ . . . ‘Exactly what does this prove?’ one may ask. Simply that the old tricks of his majesty the devil, our great adversary, worked so well, he has never bothered to change them.”