The pagan origins of Catholicism could not be easier to trace. Take the ever-popular halo used to depict the head of the Roman Madonna, Christ and various dead saints.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the nimbus, or radiant circle of light, was “avoided in Early Christian art” because it symbolized paganism’s Sun-divinity, but then “became customary in the 6^th century for the Virgin Mary and other saints.”

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As Scottish theologian Alexander Hislop so masterfully argues in his monumental book exposing Catholicism, “The Two Babylons,” first published in 1853, “Let any one compare the nimbus around the head of Circe (Pompeii’s “daughter of the Sun”), with that around the head of the Popish Virgin, and he will see how exactly they correspond. Now, could anyone possibly believe that all this coincidence could be accidental.

“ . . . When it is evident that the goddess enshrined in the Papal Church for the supreme worship of its votaries, is that very Babylonian queen who set up Nimrod, or Ninus ‘the Son,’ as the rival of Christ, and who in her own person was the incarnation of every kind of licentiousness, how dark a character does that stamp on the Roman idolatry.

“. . . What will it avail to mitigate the heinous character of that idolatry, to say that the child she holds forth to adoration is called by the name of Jesus? When she was worshipped with her child in Babylon of old, that child was called by a name as peculiar to Christ, as distinctive of His glorious character, as the name of Jesus. He was called ‘Zoro-ashta,’ ‘the seed of the woman.’

‘If these things be true (and gainsay them who can), who will venture now to plead for Papal Rome, or to call her a Christian Church? Is there one, who fears God, and who reads these lines, who would not admit that Paganism alone could ever have inspired such a doctrine as that avowed by the Melchites at the Nicene Council, that the Holy Trinity consisted of ‘the Father, the Virgin Mary, and the Messiah their Son’?

“Is there one who would not shrink with horror from such a thought? What, then, would the reader say of a Church that teaches its children to adore such a Trinity as that contained in the following lines?—

‘Heart of Jesus I adore thee; Heart of Mary, I implore thee; Heart of Joseph, pure and just; IN THESE THREE HEARTS I PUT MY TRUST.’

“If this is not Paganism, what is there that can be called by such a name?”

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The Bible passage Roman Catholicism has loved to twist for its pagan-goddess initiative probably more than any other is Luke 1: 42-48:

“And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
[43] And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
[44] For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
[45] And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
[46] And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
[47] And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
[48] For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”

As Jordan explains, “When it reads, ‘from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,’ she’s not authorizing, you know, the Catholic Confession: ‘Hail Mary, full of grace, blessed art thou among women; blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.’

“That’s not the idea where everybody’s going to call ME blessed. She’s not identifying just herself, but she’s seeing embodied in herself what’s going on here in God’s plan and purpose for the nation Israel.

“You’re probably familiar with the (corresponding) passage in Malachi 3 because of verse 10, or maybe verse 8, where (the prophet) talks about being robbed ‘in tithes and offerings,’ and being ‘cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.’

“Now, in the next verse, is God’s corrective to Israel about her failure: ‘Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
[11] And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.’

“All of that’s talking about the Fifth Course of Judgment Israel’s under, where the land isn’t going to bring forth its fruit, and they’re going to be cast out among the nations, and the devourers are going to come and take of them. And He says, ‘If you’ll obey me, if you’ll honor me—if you’ll be faithful, believing remnant—I will restore you.’

“When Malachi 3:12 says, ‘And all nations shall call you blessed,’that’s exactly what Mary’s talking about over here. She’s quoting Malachi, applying the passage about when God’s going to redeem Israel and set them in their kingdom.

“She’s applying that to her, not because she thinks she’s the issue, and that she ought to be held up personally, but she understands that she is representing all of what her nation is designed to be; she is who Israel is called and chosen to be. And she has an understanding of what’s going on in the birth of Christ as the Messiah.”

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Mary’s statement in Luke 1 that “he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden,” refers back to verses 26-38 where head angel Gabriel comes to Mary and first tells her she’s going to be the mother of the Messiah.

The passage reads, “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
[27] To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
[28] And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
[29] And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
[30] And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
[31] And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.”

Jordan explains, “When he says, ‘Blessed art thou among women,’ Mary understands from what Gabriel communicates to her that she’s going to be the mother of the Messiah. She got that.

When she says she’s the ‘handmaiden of the Lord,’ she says, in other words, ‘I understand who I am.’

“Look at Psalm 116:16 and notice this term: ‘O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.’

“You’ll discover that the context of these psalms right in here, over and over, will be exactly the context of the Messiah and Him being the Deliverer and Redeemer in Israel.

“The writer here, and speaking as the Messiah, identifies Himself as ‘the son of thine handmaid.’ That term ‘handmaiden’ was someone who was going to be the mother of the Deliverer in Israel, and so when Mary picks up these terms, she’s not just saying, ‘Well, I’m your servant,” but she understands something about who she is. She understands that the ‘seed of the woman’ became the seed of Abraham, became the seed of David, and now there’s going to be the ‘seed of the woman’ through Mary.

“In other words, she’s the mother of the seed line, and she’s got that. She understands that she’s fulfilling prophecy, and when she says, ‘For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden,’ she’s recognizing that the nation Israel is under that Fifth Course and is in a lowly estate. They are the ‘tail of the nations, not the head,’ because of their failure and their unbelief, and yet now the Redeemer of Israel is here.

“Notice that salvation for Israel was not just holiness and righteousness before Him, but it was also delivery from their enemies to be established in their kingdom. It was the whole panoply of what God promised Israel and Mary understands, ‘I’m gonna be that vehicle—the one who is the INDIVIDUAL who does ultimately what God chose the NATION to be, and that is to be the one who brings the Messiah and the Redeemer into the world!’

“She’s got a handle on who she is and she’s thrilled about the privilege and doesn’t exalt herself, but magnifies the Lord and rejoices in ‘God my Savior.’ By the way, she knew she needed a Savior. There’s none of this ‘Immaculate Conception of Mary without a sin nature,’ and all that kind of stuff that that pagan religion tries to impute to her.”