sexuality is sacred and our survival is dependent on education and embracing of who we truly are as loving spiritual beings. Our life force is healing, creative, beneficial to health and happiness. Sex is a holy, sacred and divine healing force at the core our beings. Once we embrace this force instead of deny it, we become successful, happy and powerful manifestors.
It is important to distinguish between religious sex and common prostitution. To me, religious sex would not have been prostitution even if the act produced a monetary offering for a temple. Rather, it would have been an act of worship. “Prostitution did not carry the same moral inflections for ancient societies as it does today.” (Faraone, 11)
Although there is much debate over this topic in the academic world, it is a widely held notion that cult prostitution in connection with fertility rites was a common practice throughout the New Testament era. The only prostitutes condemned in the Bible are those who were priests and priestesses to other gods. Israel’s neighbors practiced a fertility religion in which prostitution allegedly was part of the worship. This led naturally to describing worship of other gods as prostitution (Ex. 34:15-16; Judg. 8:27, 33; Hos. 4:13).
The occult connection between the sun and Venus as found in the critical doctrines of the Mystery Religion of Babylon known as Ishtarism.
Ishtarism is religion that worships the Goddess, Ishtar of Babylon. Ishtar was the chief goddess of all of Babylonia. Hers was/is a "mystery religion" full of secret symbols, rituals, codes of conduct and so much more. In the Babylonian pantheon of deities, Ishtar was said to bear witness to her brother, the sun-god Utu (also known as Shamesh) who revealed occult enlightenment to devoted worshippers.
Ishtar held many titles, among them, the revered and holy title of "MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS". Ishtar worship involved the doctrine of forgiveness of sin by engaging in sexual relations with a temple priestess who during the act would become "possessed" by the goddess so that the worshipper would become "one with the goddess," and become purified and cleansed of his/her sins.
Afterwards, the worshipper would give an offering in the form of a gold coin (minted by the temple and sold/bartered in the market place.) that would be tossed into the temple's offering box. This is how the concept of
prostitution began. Ishtar invented the very concept of sex for money, for the purpose of spiritual salvation.
The 7 "hora" - continents of the world Ishtar assisted in spreading the occult enlightenment of Utu/Shamesh by the use of her crown of 7 spikes (or horns). Each horn or spike would reflect Utu's occult enlightenment upon one of the 7 "hora" of the world. The word "hora" is a Greek word used primarily to mean "large land mass." In the case of Ishtar, the term was used to describe the 7 continents of the world. This same word was also used as the root word for "whore" and Harlot" but the terms carried a holy and sinless connotation in the religion of Ishtar.
Utu/Shamesh was nothing but another manifestation of
Baal/Hubal/Marduk/Mars/Merodach who under these names was manifested as the war god from the Planet Mars. Later in the "mysteries doctrine" practiced by the Greeks, Baal/Mars also becomes associated with the sun and Ishtar's crown spreads Baal enlightenment to each of the 7 continents of the world.
Now, the relevance in this to prophecy is that passage of prophecy in Revelation 17:9. We find the Apostle John in verse 5 provide us with a direct reference to Ishtar when he quotes her by her title "MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS" and uses Greek capitol letters to underscore the connection. Greek
capital letters (called Uncials) were used to denote a special title. The fact that the title used for Ishtar, is also used by John in verse 5 should be a dead giveaway to scholars that the woman of chapter 17 is Ishtar and no
one else.
Then in verse 9, John mentions one of Ishtar's most substantial mystery doctrines, that which involves her crown of 7 spikes reflecting occult enlightenment to each of the 7 "hora" of Planet earth. The Greek word in verse 9 is "hora." Clearly that verse is referring to Ishtar and her influence over the 7 continents of planet Earth that reflects the occult enlightenment of Utu/Shamash/Hubal or Baal.
Now for another irony or maybe not so ironic, is that the U.S. Statue of Liberty is connected to Ishtar. The sculptor, Frederick Bartholdi was a freemason along with the chief money-raiser for the project, Edward La Boulaye also a French freemason. They conceived that the statue should be an artistic rendering of the Roman goddess Libertas whom Bartholdi privately wrote in his memoirs stating mystery doctrine regarding the purpose of her crown. Ishtar's purpose was to use her crown of 7 spikes to reflect the enlightenment of the sun-god Utu upon each of the 7 hora (continents) of the world. The Roman Goddess, Libertas was an early offshoot variant in about 600 b.c. of the Babylonian goddess Libertas. Only the early Romans only worshipped her aspects involving Liberty and Freedom, especially liberty from slavery. Later they worshipped her entire doctrinal gamut but split up much of the doctrines into various other entities such as the goddess Venus for the goddess of love. Still, the Goddess Libertas was indeed Ishtar who among her own many titles was also called the Goddess of Liberty or Goddess of Freedom.
Now, most Bible Prophecy scholars have completely missed the meaning and under-standing of verse 9 because they misunderstand the word "hora." The KJV and the NASV translates the word as "mountain" which was a secondary
usage for the word along with "desert." So that a "hora" could be a large land mass, (aka a continent) or a mountain or a desert. Unfortunately, more modern, liberal translations have guessed that a better word to use would be "hill" as in the 7 hills of Rome.
So that many have taken the verse to be a reference to Rome and the Roman Catholic Church and the woman to be the Virgin Mary a.k.a. Ishtar, Mother of Harlots. We heartily
disagree. The passage has nothing to do with Rome, the Roman Catholic Church or the Virgin Mary concept.
Only when a Bible Prophecy scholar really begins to study Ishtar and Ishtar worship does the researcher begin to realize just how erroneous was noted researcher Alexander Hislop was in his misunderstandings of Ishtar worship in the days of ancient Babylon and even at the time of the Apostle John.
Yet, today, American Christians would not realize that the development of America would be of a Babylonian Mystery Religion nature.
Libertas was the name of an ancient Roman goddess adopted by the Romans perhaps as early as the 5th century BC and certainly by the 4th Century BC. She was referred to as the goddess of personal freedom and liberty. In fact Libertas meant freedom. So liberty means freedom. The 2 names describe the one concept we call freedom. Liberty = Freedom and Freedom = Liberty. This goddess was the goddess of freedom because she promoted the ideals for the personal freedom to do anything that felt good. She was called the matron goddess of prostitution because she promoted sexual freedom. Indeed, she had invented the concept. Slaves considered her their goddess in the hopes of winning their freedom. Many women who gained freedom later turned to prostitution to survive and thereby retained Libertas as their goddess, especially if they became priestesses in the Libertas cult. Libertas was also a goddess of war in order to fight for freedom. She was also referred at times as the goddess of victory because freedom must have victory in order to survive. This goddess was also the goddess of immigrants. The whole idea of immigration connoted the idea of freedom. Her popularity was also unique because of her unique doctrine of hearing personal prayers. This unique doctrine was something that most of the pagan deity doctrines were not disposed towards.
Ishtar was introduced to the Greeks as Astarte through the Phoenicians. We can see that the lineage of the Greek and Roman goddess of the planet Venus goes all the way back to ancient Babylon of around 3,000 BC. Apparently the Greeks (and later the Romans) chose to initially honor only one portion of Ishtar's character and doctrines that appealed to them in those very early years before they established empires. Ishtar's doctrine of personal freedom was what really impressed both the Greeks and the Romans. They therefore chose to worship just that aspect of her character. As time passed, the succeeding generations of Greeks found the other Ishtar doctrines to be appealing and incorporated her into their pantheon of deities as Astarte or Aphrodite. Later still, the Romans did the same and referred to her as Venus.
It seems that the allure of Ishtar was her doctrine of holy sex or salvation by holy sexual relations with a temple priestess or priest as a means of purification and holiness. Of course, this entailed paying the priestess or priest and thus it was officially sanctioned and therefore "holy" prostitution. Ishtar introduced that whole concept to the human race. This is why she was referred to as the Mother of Harlots. Harlots had been deemed to be social outcasts so she was also referred to as the Mother of exiles. This was later equated with the idea of immigration. Naturally then Ishtar (a.k.a.-- Libertas) was known as the Mother of Harlots, the Mother of Exiles and the Mother of immigrants throughout not only Babylon and Babylonia but also later Assyria, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
What was Ishtar's legacy in Babylon? She was the chief goddess of Babylon and all of Babylonia. There was no other goddess more honored than she. She was equated to have nearly the same power as the chief god of Babylon, the sun god Utu, also known as Shamesh. In later years, the chief male deities would flip-flop in popularity. The most famous and prominent during the times of Israel's nationhood was "Baal." [Baal was also called Marduk/Mardok/Merodach/Bel] Baal was identified with the planet Mars and was called the god of War. His name meant "Lord of the air" for his superior powers and the supremacy of the air. It was claimed that he as well as Ishtar and all the
other deities "flew" among and from the "stars in heaven."
Ishtar was a multi-faceted deity. She was first and foremost endeared to the hearts and minds of Babylonians because of her primary dedication to Freedom and Liberty. She was also considered the Mother of Prostitution or Harlotry…and it was considered "holy." Why? Ishtar introduced the concept of removal of sins by the practice of the sinner engaging in a "holy" rite of sexual relations with a priestess or priest. This action would involve the payment of money to the priestess or priest as part of the cleansing process. It was an offering of thanksgiving for the purification. This is the very first instance of Prostitution in human history.
Ishtar was also known as the goddess of war because she fights for freedom and liberty. She was also known as the goddess of victory because there is no freedom without victory. She was also known as the goddess of love because of her sexuality and her promotion of all types of sexual perversion in the name of freedom. Her motto was "if it feels good, do it." Didn't we hear that same idea as a theme song during the 1960s? She was also the goddess of the planet Venus. She was a goddess who "flew among the stars" and so therefore was called the Queen of Heaven or Lady of Heaven.
