PAGAN SUN WORSHIP AND CATHOLICISM
THE MONSTRANCE and the WAFER GOD


Exo 20:4 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:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: ...

Acts 19:26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:

Note that the commandment of God forbids making and bowing down to images. Among pagans, perhaps the most common form of idolatry is sun worship, and the above prohibition would clearly exclude bowing down before images of the sun or moon (things in the heaven above). But then God gets even more explicit:

Deu 17:2 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,
Deu 17:3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
Deu 17:4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
Deu 17:5 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.

Jer 8:1 At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
Jer 8:2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
Jer 8:3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.

With that in mind, lets look at solar and lunar images directly associated with the Catholic Mass.

Here is Pope John Paul II holding what is called a Monstrance or Ostensorium. It is used to display a round wafer of bread, called the host, which is used in what is called the Mass, Lord's Supper, Communion or Eucharistic meal. The Catholic believes this wafer of bread turns into the actual body of Christ when consecrated during the Mass. 
From the "Be Not Afraid" series of videos, Copyright © 1992,
Apostolate for Family Consecration 

The Roman Catholic Church even admits the Monstrance to be a sunburst:

"During the baroque period, it took on a rayed form of a sun-monstrance with a circular window surrounded by a silver or gold frame with rays."

Source:  The Dictionary of the Liturgy by Rev. Jovian P. Lang, OFM., published and copyrighted © 1989 by Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, ISBN 0-89942-273-X, page 436.

Photo of a Monstrance in the Vatican Museum
From the book "The New Illustrated Great Controversy"
Copyright © LLT Productions - Used by Permission

In fact, according to the  1913 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia-

The most appropriate form (for the monstrance) is that of the sun emitting its rays to all sides (Instructio Clement., 5). [See Altar Vessels: Ostensorium]


Notice the letters SFS in the small sunburst blaze on the large close up of a Monstrance above? Each of the letters is a universal symbol for the number 6 in the pagan mysteries, so to the pagan it reads 666! The number 666 is also associated with what is called the "magic square of the sun". The practice of equating names and letters with numbers is called gematria.

The letter F:

The Hebrew letter Vau (V) has a value of 6. The English letter F is a descendant of Vau and retains the same value. The letter F is also the 6th letter of the English alphabet. In pagan numerology the letters F, O, and X have the value of 6.

The Greek symbol Digamma also looks like the letter F and has a value of 6.

The letter S:

The Greek equivalent of Vau is the letter Stau, which looks like an S, and it also has the value of 6.

Sources: The Modern Numerology by John King, published by Blandford, Copyright © 1996, ISBN 0-7137-2560-5, page 121 / Behind Numerology, by Shirley Blackwell Lawrence, published by Newcastle Publishing Co., Inc., Copyright © 1989, ISBN 0-87877-145-X, page 93 / Jesus Christ Sun of God, by David Fideler, Copyright © 1993, published by Quest Books of Wheaton Illinois and Madras India, ISBN 0-8356-0696-1, page 27.

And the flaming Sacred Heart located just below the SFS is actually symbolic of Baal / Tammuz!
(See  Consecration to Flaming Sacred Hearts)

The priest (here the Pope) sometimes holds up the sunburst monstrance with the host encased for the congregation to adore and venerate. Virtually any time the monstrance, a pagan sun symbol, is viewed by the congregation, they kneel in submission. A Catholic cannot walk past this sun symbol without acknowledging it by kneeling and or making the sign of the cross with their hands.

From the "Be Not Afraid" series of videos,
Copyright © 1992,

Apostolate for Family Consecration

monstrance2.jpg (14750 bytes)

Remember God's commandment forbidding bowing down to images? How can the Catholic justify bowing down before a sun image in veneration? They will tell you that they are paying homage to the host, bread they believe has actually turned into the actual body and blood of Jesus after being consecrated by a priest. Since the wafer, they believe, has been transformed into God Himself, it is the round wafer god inside the sunburst monstrance that they bow down to in worship, not the sunburst monstrance. However, the round wafer of bread itself is also a sun symbol, which is sometimes made quite obvious in Catholic representations of the host in various forms of artwork.

Above is the huge processional monstrance of the Cathedral of Toledo, Spain, made of gilded solid silver and solid gold, being paraded through the streets for public display on the festival of Corpus Christi. It is said to contain 18 kg (40 pounds) of gold, and 183 kg (400 pounds) of silver, for a total weight nearing 1/4 ton of precious metals.

The great monstrance of the cathedral of Toledo, which is more than twelve feet high, and the construction of which occupied in all more than 100 years, is adorned with 260 statuettes, one of the largest of which is said to be made of the gold brought by Columbus from the New World.

Source: Catholic Encyclopedia Online, Ostensorium (Monstrance).

This is how the eucharistic adoration for World Youth Day 2011 was described: "The visual focal point when the pope leads the adoration and Benediction will be a monstrance set into a towering 16th-century gothic structure of silver and gold usually housed in the Toledo cathedral." (NEWS BRIEFS Jul-22-2011) At this event, Benedict XVI led the gathered pilgrims in kneeling down before the exposed round wafer to adore it as God.

Another very large monstrance has recently been made for St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Chicago that stands 9 feet tall. It depicts the Ark of the Covenant, 2 Cherubim on either side with wings overspread, and Mary in place on the Ark's mercy seat! On her chest is the sunburst symbol that contains a one foot wide wafer host. This is blasphemy and idolatry, depicting Mary on the throne of God in the Holy of Holies of the Sanctuary!
The Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy.

At right is the general sunburst pattern used to symbolize the host, the supposed "true body" of Christ. This design has also been adopted by the Jesuits as their symbol. The IHS is thought by some to represent the first letters of each word in the Latin phrase Iesus Hominum Salvator (Jesus Saviour of Men), although according to the Catholics themselves they actually represent the first three letters of the name "Jesus" in Greek (spelled in Greek iota-eta-sigma-omicron-upsilon-sigma). The pagan though, would quickly see the same sun disk symbol associated with many pagan deities of Egypt, among them Isis, Horus, and Seb. In Egyptian mythology Seb (Geb) was the father of the goddess Isis (Aset), the mother and protectress of her divine son Horus (Harpocrates). Horus (the younger) is frequently depicted on Egyptian temples as a winged sun disk, representing the rays of the rising sun.

 

At left is a statuette of the Egyptian goddess Isis. Her headdress shows the sun disk within the horns of an Apis bull, symbology which is virtually identical to that of the sunburst monstrance. Also of note, in Isis lap is her infant son, Horus. In this one image you have the symbology of  the Catholic monstrance and Mother / child worship which is so prominent in Catholicism.

The Egyptian pharaoh also claimed to be the embodiment of Horus on earth, much like the pope claims to be the infallible Vicar of Christ on earth.

The British Museum.


The Apis bull, as depicted in this Egyptian statuette, is likely to be the pattern used for the golden calf the Israelites made at Mount Sinai (Exo. 32), since they were undoubtedly quite familiar with it as a result of their long captivity in Egypt. Note that in front of the sun disk and horns, which looks virtually identical to some Catholic monstrances, there is the serpent poised to strike. In Scripture the serpent is symbolic of Satan. (Gen 3, Rev. 12:9)

The British Museum.

At left is the reverse side of a medal commemorating the Catholic Eucharistic Congress held in Chicago in 1926 (On the front there is a bust of Pope Pius XI). Note that the round wafer host above the golden cup is portrayed as a radiant sunburst.

UBI PETRUS - IBI ECCLESIA
Where Peter is, there is the Church


The Worship of Baal is Sun Worship

Below is an artifact unearthed in the holy of holies of the pagan temple in the Canaanite city of Hatzor / Hazor, in northern Israel. It is described as follows:

"Of special interest is a square basalt altar for burning incense. On one of its sides, a circle with a cross in the center – the divine symbol of the Canaanite storm god – is carved in low relief."

"... a basalt offering table, pillar-shaped, with a carved symbol of the storm god Baal on its side. That symbol was a circle with a cross in the center"

Sources:
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hatzor: "The Head of all those Kingdoms"
University of Illinois, Religious Studies, Hazor (archived page)

2 Ki 23:3 And the king [Josiah] stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
2 Ki 23:4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
2 Ki 23:5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
2 Ki 23:6 And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.


Baal Worship in Canaan    Baal worship revolved around two themes that represented the conception of Baal his worshipers held. Baal was both the sun-god and storm-god. He was worshiped as sun-god when the people wished to express thanks and gratitude for light and warmth and fertility.

Source: Holman Bible Dictionary, Computer version, entry on Baal by James Newell.


BAAL AS A DEITY

... in many Chanaanite, Phoenician, or Palmyrene shrines, the sun was the Baal worshipped, ...

Source: The Catholic Encyclopedia Online, entry on Baal, Baalim.



Catholic Sunburst Eucharist Host 
Here the Eucharistic host, as Catholics call it, has actually been made as a sunburst (note the flames around the edge). This sun symbol, after consecration, is called the true body of God, to be adored and bowed down to and worshipped by the laity, especially when displayed inside a sunburst monstrance.

Note the similarity to the symbol of Baal from Hatzor: a cross within a circle.


From the video "This is my Body, This is my Blood,
Miracles of the Holy Eucharist" by
Bob and Penny Lord
Copyright © 1988.

At left is a pagan Canaanite cultic pillar or "matstsebah", also found in excavations of the city of  Hatzor, showing hands raised in praise to the sun disk, portrayed within the crescent moon.

Deu 16:22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image (matstsebah); which the LORD thy God hateth.

On the cover of  the Jan/Feb 2000 edition of
Envoy Magazine, a Catholic publication, an elevated consecrated host of the Eucharist is unmistakably depicted as a bright yellow sun disk against the background of a cloudy blue sky!

Above photo by Richard Lannoy


At left is pope John Paul II celebrating Mass, elevating a large host for adoration. Note the similarity with the pagan Canaanite pillar!

Image from the "Be Not Afraid" series of videos, Copyright © 1993,
Apostolate for Family Consecration,
P.O. Box 151, Bloomingdale Ohio, 43910.


Do you think this is what Jesus had in mind at the Last Supper? No, when He "broke bread" He handed His disciples a torn fragment of unleavened bread, that symbolized His sinless broken body on the cross, but this is NOT what is conveyed with a pressed, round, intact and unbroken wafer that has been so commonly used.

Now, a Catholic might respond: the manna that fell from heaven was ROUND:

Exo 16:14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.

Voila! The round disk-like wafer host of the Mass is a copy of God's manna!

No. Not, so fast. Note that scripture give us a description of manna in size, shape, color and taste:

Exo 16:14 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. [NKJV]

Exo 16:31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed [in size and shape], white [color]; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. [KJV]

Num 11:7 And the manna was as coriander seed [in size and shape], and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium [white].
Num 11:8 And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. [KJV]

Psa 78:24 he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven. [NIV]
Psa 78:24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. [KJV]

The size and shape of manna

Exodus 16:14 tells us manna was small, small like the frost on the ground. We are also told in Exodus and Numbers that manna was like Coriander seed. Coriander is common today, and is used in brewing beer. It is round like a ball, and quite small. Eight to ten Coriander seeds might fit in the space of a pea. A picture of one ounce (hundreds) of Coriander Seeds. So Coriander is a miniscule round seed.

In Psalm 78 manna is further described as the grain or corn of heaven. In Strong's the word in Psalm 78 is:

H1715. dagan, daw-gawn'; from H1711; prop. increase, i.e. grain:--corn ([floor]), wheat.

Manna, therefore, was small and round like a ball, similar to a small seed grain.

The color of manna

The meaning of bdellium is somewhat uncertain, however, similar words in other languages favor identification with a resinous gum. In droplet form, the gum may have the appearance of a pearl, white. Exodus 16:31 confirms that manna was white in color by plainly stating it.

The taste of manna

Exo 16:31 ... the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

Num 11:8 ... the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.

As described in the Bible, manna resembled Coriander in size and shape: it was like a grain, like a small white round ball-like seed which was collected, ground up, and baked to make cakes, like wheat is ground to make bread. So, no, the Catholic wafer host does not imitate manna in either size or shape.


Here is Catholic Web page advocating that churches begin a program of perpetual 24 hour adoration (worship), of the wafer host:

Apostolate for Perpetual Adoration.

You might call this the perpetual worshipping of "God in (of ?) the Sunburst Monstrance".

Here are additional pictures of monstrances online-

Museum of Monte Cassino, Italy.
The Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano.

The last item is quite extraordinary. In the 8th century, it is alleged that the host and wine turned into actual living flesh and blood during a Mass, which it is said, remain well preserved in a monstrance in Italy to this day.

 

On the right is a photo of a stele from Ur of the Chaldees, with the symbol of the Babylonian sun god Shamash within the crescent of the moon goddess Nanna.


Stele of Ur-Nammu, detail
 
At right is a close-up of a monstrance, and inside the glass enclosure is a crescent, upon which the round wafer god host is placed, a virtual duplication of the symbology of the Canaanite and Chaldean stele shown above. Many monstrances use this crescent, which is officially called a "lunette" or "luna" (moon), to hold the round wafer host. The sun disk in the crescent moon is a quite common symbol for pagan religions, to include Babylon, Syria, and India.


From the video "666 and the Mark" by James Arrabito,
Copyright © LLT Productions - Used by Permission

Worshipping the Eucharist as God

Images from the video "666 and the Mark" by James Arrabito,
Copyright © LLT Productions - Used by Permission

Above on the left you see the pagan sunburst wafer god, inscribed with IHS and the cross, is portrayed above the cup of wine. This is the door to a place where the wine and wafers are stored. Above on the right, you see a similar carving depicting angels kneeling in idolatrous adoration or worship of the wafer god and wine.

In case you think the word "worship" is an exaggeration on my part, please note this paragraph from the new Vatican Catechism of the Catholic Church: (Italics present in the original text)

1378 Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. "The Catholic church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated host with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession."

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, published by Ligouri Publications, English translation © 1994 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc.--Libreria Editrice Vaticana, bearing the Imprimi Potest of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, page 347.


And note this decree concerning the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist from the thirteenth session of the Council of Trent, October 11th, 1551:

Chapter V
 THE WORSHIP AND VENERATION TO BE SHOWN TO
THIS MOST HOLY SACRAMENT

There is, therefore, no room for doubt that all the faithful of Christ may, in accordance with a custom always received in the Catholic Church, give to this most holy sacrament in veneration the worship of latria, which is due to the true God.

Source: The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, Translated and introduced by Rev. H. J. Schroeder, O.P., Published by  Tan Books and Publishers, INC., Rockford Illinois, 61105, © 1978, ISBN: 0-89555-074-1, page 76.

Here is the  Thirteenth Session of Trent online. See Chapter V.


Dominicae Cenae — On the Mystery and Worship of the Eucharist, promulgated by John Paul II On February 24, 1980 To All the Bishops of the Church.


Conclusion

So the Catholic Church describes itself in its documents as engaged in the act of worshipping the Eucharist, which is also called adoration or veneration. Isn't it amazing how the Catholic Church justifies bowing down before images of the sun, as depicted by the monstrance and a round wafer, by claiming the bread has actually become God! God's commandment is cleverly made of no effect by the Traditions of men, by mixing error and truth.

Note these 100 Lire coins issued by the Vatican for nearly 10 years. (Click on a coin for a closer look.)


Pope Pius the 12th - 1958 

Pope John the 23rd - 1959 
CITTÁ DEL VATICANO — CITY OF PROPHECY

Pope Paul the 6th - 1963 

Incredibly enough, the woman representing faith (the Catholic Church) on the reverse side of the coins holds up a cup in her right hand, in which you see pagan sunburst wafer god, which recalls these verses in Revelation:

Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

The cup of wine of the apostate woman (church) represents spiritual and doctrinal fornication, a mixing of truth and error, Christianity and paganism, which she has taught to the world (made the nations drink).

Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

There is only one self-proclaimed "Mother" church, The Universal (Catholic) Church.

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.


See also:

star.gif (4793 bytes) The Sun Wheel, the Obelisk and Baal.
star.gif (4793 bytes) The Sunburst Image, the Queen of Heaven and Baal.
star.gif (4793 bytes) The Catholic Mass.



http://www.biblelightinfo.com