Remphan

Therefore, I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts." This denunciation by Amos is forceful.

The Israelites not only abandoned God, but also created and worshipped pagan gods, represented by symbols like the star, symbols associated with deities such as Rephan, a foreign god whose worship is condemned in the scriptures.

The mention of star gods is particularly intriguing, as it reveals the ancient practice of attributing a sacred or divine nature to the star, something not uncommon in many ancient cultures.

In fact, many scholars believe that the reference to the Star of David may have far more complex and controversial origins tied to the symbolism of idolatry.

The use of a star to represent cosmic deities was therefore not a coincidence, but rather a reflection of widespread religious practices in that region of the ancient world, including the worship of astral gods.

This connection between stars and astronomical deities opens up an important discussion about the symbolism and evolution of religious icons over the centuries.

Thus, the Star of David, also known as the hexagram or even the Star of Rephan, emerges as a symbol whose roots appear to be deeply grounded in paganism.

From this perspective, the symbol would have no direct connection to King David or to the Seal of Solomon as often claimed.

Um, moving east into the Mesopotamian astronomy, things get even more interesting.

Uh, one ancient Akkadian name for Saturn was Kajamanu or Kayamanu.

Uh, the meaning is something like the steady one, which is perfect because Saturn moves slow and steady.

Now, uh, Mesopotamian traditions also associated Saturn with Ninurta, uh, which was an important deity and was associated at different times, not always, with agriculture, warfare, and heroic power.

So we've also got something buried in the Hebrew Bible that I find fascinating.

Um, in Amos chapter five verse twenty-six, it refers to a star deity whose Hebrew name is usually rendered as Keyan, uh, or Kaiwan or something similar depending on the translation.

And what's interesting is that there's a substantial line of scholarship that connects that name with the Akkadian Kajamanu, again, Saturn, uh, or at least the same slow-moving planetary body, water, aqua, you get it.

Um, so what's really important, uh, or interesting is, um, when the passage gets quoted later in Acts, the Greek form becomes Rephan or Remphan.

This is a wildly unpopular candidate and administration.

And now she's killing people who dare ask her to help against the cartel violence, which, by the way, again, El Chapo's girlfriend with her six-pointed star necklace, star of Remphan necklace.

We know who's running the cartel violence too.

So Mexicans, if you're gonna have freedom from the cartels, you're gonna have to do it yourselves.

Maybe that has something to do with it, especially in the occult, because the Twin Towers, as, uh, Gary Wayne would break down, they were, uh, translated by Hermes post the flood, and allegedly this is how the occult is practicing their Enochian magic or- As above, so below.

That star of Remphan behind you and people are trying to wonder what I'm talking about.

Mm-hmm.

That's conjoined, as above so below.

The antisemitic sort of accusation is they're just trying to kill the conversation, 'cause they don't actually have any basis for anything they ar- they wanna argue with.

They haven't got any substance to anything, and they don't know the history.

It's like you've said, the, the Star of Remphan, 'cause that's what it is.

That flag that you see Israel flying, and they talk about the Star of David, and n- it has no relation to David at all whatsoever.

It is not, my reverend Ambrosius, because we seek after many words, a thing which is forbidden, and in the indulgence of which it is impossible to avoid sin, that we now begin the fifth book of our reply to the treatise of Celsus.

but with the endeavour so far as may be within our power to leave none of his statements without examination and especially those in which it might appear to some that he had skilfully assailed us and the jews if it were possible indeed for me to enter along with my words into the conscience of every one without exception who peruses this work and to extract each dart which wounds him who is not completely protected with the whole armour of god and apply a rational medicine to cure the wound inflicted by celsus which prevents those who listen to his words from remaining sound in the faith i would do so but since it is the work of god alone in conformity with his own spirit and along with that of christ to take up his abode invisibly in those persons whom he judges worthy of being visited so on the other hand is our object to try by means of arguments and treatises to confirm men in their faith and to earn the name of workmen needing not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth and there is one thing above all which it appears to us we ought to do if we would discharge faithfully the task enjoined upon us by you and that is to overturn to the best of our ability the confident assertions of celsus let us then quote such assertions of his as follow those which we have already refuted the reader must decide whether we have done so successfully or not and let us reply to them and may god grant that we approach not our subject with our understanding and reason empty and devoid of divine inspiration that the faith of those whom we wish to aid may not depend upon human wisdom but that receiving the mind of christ from his father who alone can bestow it and being strengthened by participating in the word of god we may pull down every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of god and the imagination of celsus who exalts himself against us and against jesus and also against moses and the prophets in order that he who gave the word to those who published it with great power may supply us also and bestow upon us great power so that faith in the word and power of god may be implanted in the minds of all who will peruse our work we have now, then, to refute that statement of his which runs as follows, quote, End quote.

now as celsus here is guilty of repeating himself for in the preceding pages such assertions have been frequently advanced by him it is necessary to discuss the matter at greater length seeing what we have already said upon this point may suffice we shall mention however a few considerations out of a greater number such as we deem in harmony with our former arguments but which have not altogether the same bearing as they and by which we shall show that in asserting generally that no god or son of god ever descended among men he overturns not only the opinions entertained by the majority of mankind regarding the manifestation of deity but also what was formerly admitted by himself for if the general statement that no god or son of god has come down or will come down be truly maintained by celsus it is manifest that we have here overthrown the belief in the existence of gods upon the earth who have descended from heaven either to predict the future to mankind or to heal them by means of divine responses and neither the pythian apollo nor nor any other among those supposed to have done so would be a god descended from heaven he might indeed either be a god who had obtained as his lot the obligation to dwell on earth for ever and be thus a fugitive as it were from the abode of the gods or he might be one who had no power to share in the society of the gods in heaven or else apollo and asclepius and those others who are believed to perform acts on earth would not be gods but only certain demons much inferior to those wise men among mankind who on account of their virtue ascend to the vault of heaven but observe how in his desire to subvert our opinions he who never acknowledged himself throughout his whole treatise to be an epicurean is convicted of being a deserter to that sect and now is the time for you reader who peruse the works of celsus and give your assent to what has been advanced either to overturn the belief in a god who visits the human race and exercises a providence over each individual man or to grant this and prove the falsity of the assertions of celsus If you, then, wholly annihilate providence, you will falsify those assertions of his in which he grants the existence of, quote, God and a providence, end quote, in order that you may maintain the truth of your own position.

But if, on the other hand, you still admit the existence of providence because you do not assent to the dictum of Celsus that, quote, Neither has a God nor the Son of a God come down, nor is to come down to mankind." Why not rather carefully ascertain from the statements made regarding Jesus and the prophecies uttered concerning Him, who it is that we are to consider as having come down to the human race as God and the Son of God? whether that jesus who said and ministered so much or those who under pretence of oracles and divinations do not reform the morals of their worshippers but who have besides apostatized from the pure and holy worship and honour due to the maker of all things and who tear away the souls of those who give heed to them from the one only visible and true god under a pretence of paying honour to a multitude of deities but since he says in the next place as if the jews or christians had answered regarding those who come down to visit the human race that they were angels Quote, but if ye say that they are angels, what do you call them? He continues, are they gods or some other race of beings? End quote.

And then, again, introduces us as if answering, quote, some other race of beings and probably demons.

End quote.

let us proceed to notice these remarks for we indeed acknowledge that angels are ministering spirits and we say that they are sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation and that they ascend bearing the supplications of men to the purest of the heavenly places in the universe or even to the supercelestial regions pure still and that they come down from these conveying to each one according to his deserts something enjoined by god to be conferred by them upon those who are to be the recipients of his benefits having thus learned to call these beings angels from their employments we find that because they are divine they are sometimes termed god in the sacred scriptures but not so that we are commanded to honour and worship in place of god those who minister to us and bear to us his blessings for every prayer and supplication and intercession and thanksgiving is to be sent up to the supreme god through the high priest who is above all the angels the living word and god and to the word himself shall we also pray and make intercessions and offer thanksgivings and supplications to him if we have the capacity of distinguishing between the proper use and abuse of prayer for to invoke angels without having obtained a knowledge of their nature greater than is possessed by men would be contrary to reason but conformity to our hypothesis let this knowledge of them which is something wonderful and mysterious be obtained then this knowledge, making known to us their nature, and the offices to which they are severally appointed, will not permit us to pray with confidence to any other than to the supreme God, who is sufficient for all things, and that through our Savior, the Son of God, who is the Word, and Wisdom, and Truth, and everything else which the writings of God's prophets and the apostles of Jesus entitle Him." and it is enough to secure that the holy angels of god be propitious to us and that they do all things on our behalf that our disposition of mind towards god should imitate as far as it is within the power of human nature the example of these holy angels who again follow the example of their god and that the conceptions which we entertain of his son the word as far as attainable by us should not be opposed to the clearer conceptions of him which the holy angels possess but should daily approach these in clearness and distinctness but because celsus has not read our holy scriptures he gives himself an answer as if it came from us saying that we assert that the angels who come down from heaven to confer benefits on mankind are a different race from the gods and adds that in all probability they would be called demons by us." Not observing that the name demons is not a term of indifferent meaning, like that of men, among whom some are good and some bad, nor yet a term of excellence like that of the gods, which is applied not to wicked demons, or to statues, or to animals, but by those who know divine things.

to what is truly divine and blessed whereas the term demons is always applied to those wicked powers freed from the encumbrance of a grosser body who lead men astray and fill them with distractions and drag them down from god and supracelestial thoughts to things here below he next proceeds to make the following statement about the jews the first point relating to the jews which is fitted to excite wonder is that they should worship the heaven and the angels who dwell therein and yet pass by and neglect its most venerable and powerful parts as the sun and moon and the other heavenly bodies both fixed stars and planets as if it were possible that the whole could be god and yet its parts not divine or as if it were reasonable to treat with the greatest respect those who are said to appear to such as are in darkness somewhere blinded by some crooked sorcery or dreaming dreams through the influence of shattery spectres while those who prophesy so clearly and strikingly to all men by means of whom rain and heat and clouds and thunder to which they offer worship and lightnings and fruits and all kinds of productiveness are brought about by means of whom god is revealed to them the most prominent heralds among those beings that are above those that are truly heavenly angels are to be regarded as of no account End quote.

Here it was a reference to the assembly of people that gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai.

In verses 42 and 43, Stephen asserted that Israel's rejection of Moses had led to false worship and breaking of the law, so God gave them up to their worship of the host of heaven, the sun, the moon, and stars, and their gods Moloch, associated with child sacrifice, and Remphan, an Egyptian god.

The statement, as it is written in the book of the prophets, is a reference to Amos 5, 25 through 27.

In verses 44 through 50, Stephen pointed out that even though the Jews had the tabernacle in the wilderness and later the temple in Jerusalem, that had not kept them from rejecting God and his messengers.

But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven.

As it is written in the book of the prophets, Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship, and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.

Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen.

Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua, when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers.