JOHN MACARTHUR
MAINSTREAMING PAGANISM IN THE CHURCH
PART 10
HISTORY OF THE DRUIDS
The history of pre-Christian Britain begins in the Old Testament.
“And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days...
“Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 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.” Genesis 49:1, 16-17
“And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death... And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.” Deuteronomy 33:1, 22
Various Scriptures indicate that the Antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan.
“The שְׁפִיפון, from the Syriac pp"v, to glide (Gesenins), from pWv, to sting (Kalisch), שָׁפַפ, to bite (Furst), was the horned serpent, cerastes, of the color of sand, and marked with white and black spots, which was exceedingly dangerous to passers-by, its bite being poisonous and fatal. The allusion has been almost unanimously explained as pointing to Samson (Judges 16:28), but the tribe in general appears not to have been entirely destitute of the treacherous and formidable characteristics here depicted. (Judges 18:27) ‘It is certainly observable that the first introduction of idolatry in Israel is ascribed to the tribe of Dan (Judges 18), and that in the numbering of the tribes in Revelation 7, the name of Dan is omitted. From these or other causes many of the Fathers (Irenaeus, Ambrose, Augustine, Theodoret) were led to believe that Antichrist should spring from the tribe of Dan’ (‘Speaker’s Commentary’).” (Pulpit Commentary)
For the Scriptural evidence, see: “The Lost Tribe of Dan: Early Jewish and Christian Views of the Antichrist”
Jacob’s prophecy about the future of his twelve sons and their descendants in the “last days” identified the tribe of Dan as a serpent.
“And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days... Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 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. I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.” Gen. 49:1,16-18
In the Promised Land, the tribe of Dan removed from their God-appointed territory on the coast to the Canaanite territory of northern Israel and occupied Leshem/Laish in the northern area of Israel near Mount Hermon, which is also called Mount Sion. (Joshua 19:40-48) In Judges 1:34, we find the tribe of Dan defeated by the Amorites.
“And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley: But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.” (Judges 1:34-35)
“And the seventh lot came out for the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families... And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages. (Joshua 19:40,47-48)
The Amorites were Nephilim, whose great height was described by the prophet Amos: ‘I destroyed the Amorites, though they were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks. I destroyed the fruit on their branches and dug out their roots. (Amos 2:9)’ God had commanded the Hebrews to destroy the Amorites:
“And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.” Numbers 21:32-35
Instead of destroying the Amorites on the coast as God had commanded, the tribe of Dan decided to relocate to the northern territory near Mount Hermon. Possibly they were attracted to Mount Hermon, which was believed to be the entrance to the underworld, and to the Canaanite worship of the Nephilim, Baal-Hermon and Baal-Asherah, in that region which was not bound by the Mosaic law:
“When Jesus came into the territories of, or was going towards, Cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say I am? the son of man? Heylin. Cesarea Philippi, while it was possessed by the Canaanites, was called Leshem, Joshua 19:47. and Laish, Judges 18:27. But when the children of Dan took it, they named it after their progenitor. In later times it was called Paneas, from the mountain beneath which it stood.” (Coke’s Commentary on the Holy Bible)
“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matt. 16:13-18
Mount Hermon/Sion, also known as Mount Baal-Hermon, is located at the 33rd degree latitude and longitude of the Paris meridian and is, according to the Book of Enoch, the location where the fallen angels mated with human women whose offspring were the Nephilim. (Gen. 6)
“And the angels, the children of heaven, saw them [handsome and beautiful daughters] and desired them... And they were altogether two hundred; and they descended into Ardos, which is the summit of Hermon. And they called the mount Armon, for they swore and bound one another by a curse.” (I Enoch VI.6, vs.1-5)
“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Gen. 6:4-5
‘After that’ seems to refer to Numbers 13:31-33, where in the report of the spies to Moses they speak of the men of Canaan as of ‘great stature,’ adding: ‘And there we saw the nephilim, the sons of Anak which come of the nephilim.’ This suggests that the culminating sin of the Canaanites was not different from that of the antediluvians. Observe further that the offspring of these sinful unions became the ‘mighty men which were of old, the men of renown,’ from which possibly the ancients obtained their ideas of the gods and demi-gods of which the classics treat.” (Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary)
“giants. Heb. nephilim. Those mentioned in Gen, 6:4 were all destroyed in the Flood; these came from a second irruption of fallen angels, ‘after that’: i. e. after ‘those days’ = the days of Noah. See Genesis 6:4, and Appendix 23 and 25. See note on Numbers 13:22.” (Pulpit Commentary) (See: Part 9: Appendix 23 & 25)
Albert Barnes wrote of Danites failure to destroy the Amorites:
“It was their great strength in this district, and their forcible detention of the territory of Dan, which led to the expedition of the Danites. Judges 18... The words ‘too little’ are an insertion of the King James Version Render rather, ‘the border of the children of Dan was extended.’ The Hebrew appears to mean ‘the children of Dan enlarged their border because they had not room enough.’ The reason of this was that the Danites, a numerous tribe (Num. 26:5 note), found themselves (Judges 1:34-35) cooped up among the hills by the powerful and warlike Amorites. Hence, the Danite expedition (see the marginal reference), which surprised the Sidonion inhabitants of Leshem, an unwarlike and peaceable race, exterminated them, and annexed their city and territory to the portion of Dan.” (Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, Joshua 19:47)
On their way to Laish the Danites robbed Micah, an Ephraimite, of his idols and bribed his hireling priest, an apostate Levite, to accompany them. Dan exterminated the people of Laish and burned the city. ; then they worshiped the idols and ordained an apostate priesthood. Thus, idolatry was first publicly established in Israel by the tribe of Dan.
“And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein. And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.
And the children of Dan 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. And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.” Judges 18:27-31Arno Gaebelein wrote of the introduction of idolatry to Israel:
“The tribe of Dan had failed to take the God-given inheritance (Joshua 19:40-46). ‘The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley’ (Judges 1:34). Then in self-will, entirely disregarding the will of God, they sent out spies to seek another inheritance. They meet Micah’s priest, the hireling. Micah’s idolatrous outfit including the hired priest are taken by the invaders. The hireling sees an advantage for himself, his ‘usefulness’ is enlarged for filthy lucre’s sake. Then they killed the people of Laish and set their city on fire. The whole tribe of Dan becomes idolatrous. We have in all a picture of complete apostasy.” (Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible)
The Lord had allowed the Canaanites to remain in the Promised Land in order to test the Israelites. Starting with the tribe of Dan, all of the tribes of Israel would defect to the worship of Canaanite gods. The tribe of Dan, however, even intermarried with the Nephilim:
“Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath. And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves. (Judges 3:1-7)
Moreover, they led the other nine tribes into the Canaanite’s idolatrous worship:
“ And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. (2 Kings 17:16-23)
In the region of northern Israel, the tribe of Dan readily adopted the pre-flood Baal worship of the Canaanites, who were the descendants of Ham and his cursed son, Canaan. As stated above, “It is certainly observable that the first introduction of idolatry in Israel is ascribed to the tribe of Dan (Judges 18).” There in the Canaanite area of Mount Hermon, the tribe of Dan intermarried with the Canaanites, who were offspring of the Nephilim.
“Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 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.” Genesis 49:1, 16-17
“Comparing Dan to a serpent is a reference to Dan’s future miscegenation with the fallen angels. This seems to state that Dan will remain largely hidden from sight and will attack indirectly or by proxy. This miscegenation is perhaps further alluded to in Jeremiah.
‘The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of their stallions the whole land quakes. They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you,’ declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 8:16-17)’
‘And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan. (Genesis 32:22)’
“Bashan is linked to the Nephilim. Og was king of Bashan and he was described as being 9 cubits (14 feet) tall.
‘For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. (Deuteronomy 3:11)’
‘I destroyed the Amorites, though they were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks. I destroyed the fruit on their branches and dug out their roots. (Amos 2:9)’
“The sons of God are angelic beings (Job 38:4-7), often linked with Satan (Job 1:6, 2:1). This gigantism was caused by these fallen angels breeding with humans.” (Serpent Seed Tribe of Dan)
King Solomon led the nation of Israel further away from the worship of the true God to worship the ancient gods of the Canaanites. Influenced by his thousand pagan wives and concubines, including the daughter of Pharaoh, King Solomon built high places for the Great Mother Goddess, Ashtoreth, who was also called Asherah, mistranslated in the KJV as “grove(s).” After the death of King Solomon, all of the ten northern tribes apostatized from the worship of the LORD in the Temple of Jerusalem and worshipped the Canaanite gods, Baal and Asherah, in Dan and Bethel.
According the the Jewish Encyclopedia, the symbols of the ancient Druids can be traced to apostate Israel under the rule of King Solomon. Solomon adopted the 6-pointed star from the Egyptians and it became known as the Seal of Solomon. When the Israelites journeyed from Egypt to Canaan, they worshipped the six-pointed star as the star of Remphan. (Amos 5:26-27; Acts 7:43)
Elizabeth Van Buren, author of The Sign of the Dove, wrote “the five-pointed star is the star of becoming, whilst the six-pointed star is that of completion.”
“The constellation in the sky from which the gods said they came was Schwerta (the Sword?). We recall that on the cover of the book called ‘Circuity’ a sword is laid over a six-pointed star and a map of France. ‘Esoterically the five-pointed star is the star of becoming, whilst the six-pointed star is that of completion. Beyond linking the symbol with Bootes, it is important in its own right.’” (Revelation 19:11-15). (p. 80)
“Circuit is...the Prieuré de Sion’s own internal publication—for which M. Plantard is said to have written regularly under the pseudonym of ‘Cheyren’” (Holy Blood, Holy Grail, p. 221)
Click to enlarge
Source: “Notes on Le Serpent Rouge”
Occultists believe that God is male-female, that man was originally created Adam-Eve and that mankind will be androgynous in the New Age.
“The Plan is concerned with rebuilding mankind...” (Alice Bailey, The Beacon, 1975)
“The goal toward which the human species should aim is the progressive reintegration of the sexes until androgyny is obtained. The evolved being tends toward bisexuality.” (Alain Danielou, The Phallus: Sacred Symbol of Male Creative Power)
“The six-pointed star is a symbol of the lost archetype of The Sacred Marriage, representing the balance of male and female among others and essential for our personal and planetary healing.” (GaiaMind)
Van Buren’s statement “Esoterically the five-pointed star is the star of becoming, whilst the six-pointed star is that of completion” refers to “the progressive reintegration of the sexes until androgyny is obtained” or the “divine union” of mankind with the angelic realm to produce a new species—an angelic race of supermen like the pre-flood Nephilim. The ideal state of divine androgyny is symbolized by the six-pointed star.
“As the great metaphysician Mme. Helena Roerich said, ‘Man becomes simply a god...and then God.’” (GaiaMind)
The Seal of Solomon is the logo of the Theosophical Society, whose founder, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (née Helene Hahn von Rottenstern, 1831-91), was a Russian Jewish occultist. Blavatsky interprets the Theosophical logo esoterically as “The double triangle or Solomon’s Seal…
“The triangle with its apex upward indicates the male principle, downward the female; the two typifying, at the same time, spirit and matter...
“When the six-pointed star is formed of two interlaced equilateral triangles — one light with the apex pointing upward, the other dark with the apex pointing downward, both triangles being symmetrically placed with regard to one central point — and the double figure is surrounded by a circle, the sign represents the universe, spirit and matter, the alpha and omega in the cosmos, and involution and evolution. (Theosophical Glossary)
In her Theosophical Glossary, Blavatsky also identified the six-pointed star as the pentacle: “Any geometrical figure, especially double equilateral triangle, the six-pointed star, (like the theosophical pentacle).”
In Western lore, however, the pentacle of Solomon was a pentagram or pentangle, called the “druid’s foot” in Briton:
“The Arabs...gave the name of ‘Solomon’s seal’ to the six-pointed star-like figure (see Magen, Dawid) engraved on the bottom of their drinking-cups. It is related in the ‘Arabian Nights’ (ch. xx.) that Sindbad, in his seventh voyage, presented Harun al-Rashid cup on which the ‘table of Solomon’ was represented; and Lane thinks that this was the figure of ‘Solomon’s seal’.... In Western legends, however, it is the pentacle, or ‘druid’s foot,’ that represents the seal. This figure, called by Bishop Kennet the ‘pentangle’ of Solomon, was supposed to have the power of driving away demons. Mephistopheles says to Faust that he is prevented from entering the house by the druid’s foot (‘Drudenfuss’), or pentagram, which guards the threshold (‘Faust’...)...” (Jewish Encyclopedia, (“Solomon, Seal of”)
“The Drudenfuss (or Drudenfuß), literally ‘drude’s foot’ (also Alpfuss), is the pentagram symbol (in early usage also either a pentagram or a hexagram), believed to ward off demons, explicitly so named in Goethe’s Faust (1808).”
“The hexagram was used as a ‘stand-by for Magicians and Alchemists. The Sorcerers believed it represented the footprint of a special kind of demon called a ‘trud’, and used it in ceremonies both to call up demons and to keep them away.’ (Gary Jennings, Black Magic, White Magic,... Also Harry E. Wedeck, Treasury of Witchcraft]
“The hexagram is used to conjure up demons, making them appear in this dimension to do the bidding of the witch... to place spells and curses on the intended victim.” (The Star of David?)
“An alp is a nightmare creature originating in German folklore.... the alp is sometimes likened to a vampire, but its behavior is more akin to that of the incubus. It is unique from both of these creatures in that it wears a magic hat called a Tarnkappe, from which it draws its powers. The word ‘alp’ is a variation on the word ‘elf.’ It is also known by the following names: trud, mar, mart, mahr, schrat, and walrider. Many variations of the creature exist in surrounding European areas, such as the Druden and Schratteli, or Old Hag in English-speaking countries...
“The alp is best known for its shapeshifting abilities, similar to the creatures from werewolf lore.” (Wikipedia)
Trud = Druden = Druid = Demon
Celtic Warrior
SEE ALSO: Popular World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online (MMO) role-playing game which teaches millions of young people how to kill and cast spells as Celtic Druids, Warriors, Rogues and Magicians!
ALSO: Comic Book Religion: Druid / Celtic Pagan Heroes
The ‘trud’ is also identified with the vampire or elf, which are among the many names for the fallen angels — Annunaki (sons of Anak) and Nephilim — revealed in Scripture.
“The all-important element of the Divine Right is that it comes from God, or ‘the gods’, alternately. And who were these gods? Authors such as Zecharia Sitchin, Sir Laurence Gardner and Nicholas de Vere are authoritatively convinced that kingship was created by an advanced race of beings called the Annunaki, also called the Nephilim in the Old Testament. These were the ones who created the human race and interbred with a portion of it to create the kingly caste which until this day has still maintained control over the Earth. These celestial creatures have been variously identified with Dragons, Elves, Fairies, Gnomes, Leprechauns, Sprites, Nymphs, Pixies, Angels, Demons, Devils, Witches, Giants, Vampires, Werewolves, and just about every mythical being you can imagine. Some, like Gardner and Sitchin, claim that they come from another planet. Others, like de Vere, say that they’re multi-dimensional, or that they’re from the Hollow Earth.” (“The Biological Basis of Elitism and Divine Right Rule”)
See: Heeding Bible Prophecy: New Government: Ten Kingdoms/Kings/Horns (Merovingian Kings)
The signet of the fallen angels, the Anunnaki and Nephilim, was used by the Israelites in their worship of Baal-Moloch and Saturn, the god who ruled the antediluvian Atlantis. (See: The Six-Pointed Star: The Mark of the Beast)
“But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.” Amos 5:26
Strong’s Concordance #3594 - Kiyuwn {kee-yoon’} from 3559; n pr dei AV - Chiun 1; 1 Chiun = “an image” or “pillar” 1) probably a statue of the Assyrian-Babylonian god of the planet Saturn and used to symbolise Israelite apostasy
“Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.” Acts 7:43
Easton’s Bible Dictionary - Remphan (Acts 7:43 ; RSV, “Rephan”). In Amos 5:26 the Heb. Chiun (q.v.) is rendered by the LXX. “Rephan,” and this name is adopted by Luke in his narrative of the Acts. These names represent the star-god Saturn or Moloch.
“” 1 Kings 11:7-8
“On the first face is engraved...a pentagram or a star with five points. On the other side is engraved a ‘bull’s head enclosed in a six-pointed star, and surrounded by letters composing the name Rempha, the planetary genius of Saturn, according to the alphabet of the Magi.” (Paul Christian, History and Practice of Magic, p. 304-5)
The Wicker Man Film (1973)
THE TUATHA DE DANAAN
“Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.”
After the Assyrian invasion of northern Israel in 721 B.C., the crossbred tribe of Dan migrated from Israel to Sparta in ancient Greece and from there to Troy. From Troy they traveled to Gaul, where they later established the thrones of Europe as the Merovingian dynasty. From Gaul the tribe of Dan migrated to Briton and Ireland.
“The Celts were a European cultural group first evident in the 7th or 8th century B.C. The Romans called them Galli and the Greeks called them Keltoi—both meaning barbarians. Their maximum expansion was in the 3rd to 5th century B.C., when they occupied much of Europe north of the Alps... The Celts arrived in Britain by the 4th or 5th century B.C. and Ireland by the 2nd or 3rd century B.C., and possibly earlier, displacing an earlier people who were already on the islands...
“Tuatha de Danaan—mythical race inhabiting Ireland before the Gaels (Celts) came. Descendents of Danu. They defeated the Fomorians (monsters) but were later defeated by the Gaels. They agreed to live underground.” (Who were the Ancient Celts?)
The apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees identifies the Spartans as Jews; Josephus also makes references to the blood ties between the people of Sparta and the Jews of Israel during the Maccabean period.
“At that particular time Arcadia was ruled by Spartans... There appears to have been a relationship between the Spartans and the Jews. In the Apocrypha we read: ‘It has been found in writing concerning the Spartans and the Jews that they are brethren and are of the family of Abraham.’ (Maccabees I 12:21)’” (Elizabeth Van Buren, The Sign of the Dove, p. 45)
“Jonathan...enjoined the same ambassadors, that, as they came back, they should go to the Spartans, and put them in mind of their friendship and kindred. So when the ambassadors came to Rome, they went into their senate, and said what they were commanded by Jonathan the high priest to say, how he had sent them to confirm their friendship. The senate then confirmed what had been formerly decreed concerning their friendship with the Jews, and gave them letters to carry to all the kings of Asia and Europe, and to the governors of the cities, that they might safely conduct them to their own country. Accordingly, as they returned, they came to Sparta, and delivered the epistle which they had received of Jonathan to them; a copy of which here follows: ‘Jonathan the high priest of the Jewish nation, and the senate, and body of the people of the Jews, to the ephori, and senate, and people of the Lacedemonians, send greeting. If you be well, and both your public and private affairs be agreeable to your mind, it is according to our wishes. We are well also. When in former times an epistle was brought to Onias, who was then our high priest, from Areus, who at that time was your king, by Demoteles, concerning the kindred that was between us and you, a copy of which is here subjoined, we both joyfully received the epistle, and were well pleased with Demoteles and Areus, although we did not need such a demonstration, because we were satisfied about it from the sacred writings (10) yet did not we think fit first to begin the claim of this relation to you, lest we should seem too early in taking to ourselves the glory which is now given us by you. It is a long time since this relation of ours to you hath been renewed; and when we, upon holy and festival days, offer sacrifices to God, we pray to him for your preservation and victory. As to ourselves, although we have had many wars that have compassed us around, by reason of the covetousness of our neighbors, yet did not we determine to be troublesome either to you, or to others that were related to us; but since we have now overcome our enemies, and have occasion to send Numenius the son of Antiochus, and Antipater the son of Jason, who are both honorable men belonging to our senate, to the Romans, we gave them this epistle to you also, that they might renew that friendship which is between us. You will therefore do well yourselves to write to us, and send us an account of what you stand in need of from us, since we are in all things disposed to act according to your desires.’ So the Lacedemonians received the ambassadors kindly, and made a decree for friendship and mutual assistance, and sent it to them.” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, v, 8)
There is also a Greek legend of King Belus (Bel/Baal) which tells of Danaus (Dan) who migrated to Sparta with his fifty daughters called Danades. The basis for this legend is the migration of the apostate tribe of Dan:
“Now, the question remains, how do we know the Spartans were the offspring of the tribe of Dan? ... Aside from the fact that the Spartans wore long hair as a symbol of their power (like Samson) there is a legend written about the son of Belus, king of the Spartans -- in which is given the story of one named ’Danaus,' who arrived in Greece with his daughters by ship. According to the legend, his daughters called themselves Danades. They introduced the cult of the mother goddess, which became the established religion of the Arcadians and developed over the years into the worship of Diana...The Spartans so loved their king that they called themselves Danaans—long before they adopted the name of Spartans. Also in the legend is a record of the arrival of 'colonists from Palestine.’ Please note, the man who headed the expedition was named Danaus. He may well have been of the tribe of Dan, and thus would have been the progenitor of the ancient Spartans.” (J.R. Church, Guardians of the Grail, pp. 120-21)
“In Greek myth...[is] the legend of King Belaus, one Danaus, who arrives in Greece with his daughters, by ship. His daughters are said to have introduced the cult of the mother goddess, which became the established cult of the Arcadians. According to Robert Graves the Danaus myth records the arrival in the Peleponnesus of 'colonists from Palestine.’ Graves states that King Belus is in fact Baal, or Bel—or perhaps Belial from the Old Testament.” (Michael Baigent, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, p. 275)
Elizabeth Van Buren is a respected occultist, the great great granddaughter of U.S. President, Martin Van Buren (1782–1862), whose ancestors emigrated from Scotland in the 1700s. According to Elizabeth Van Buren, the Tuatha de Danaan were demi-gods, the descendants of Danaus, the son of Belus, and founders of the Druidic priesthood. The Old Irish word tuath (plural tuatha) means “people, tribe, nation” and Van Buren’s book, The Sign of the Dove, presents fascinating details revealing the Hebrew roots of the Celtic Druids.
“In Celtic, Zion means Mount of Stone or Fortress. Huge monoliths and piles of stones were positioned to form circles. The latter were called Si’un or Caers and were placed on top of hills or mounds... On May-eve and November 1st the Druids built great fires on the Zions, so that for miles around the flames on the top of the mound could be seen by the people... The Chief Druid stood in the centre of the circle during the service that approached a large central stone which was called...the Stone of the Covenant... In Ireland it was called Bethel, the house of God.’
“There are certain facts that suggest that the Celts might have derived from a Jewish tradition from the East. The Celtic body of ecclesiastical and civil knowledge was Druidism. Their system can be traced to about 1800 B.C. ... It is recorded in ‘Welsh Triads’ that Hugh Gadarn synthesized the wisdom of the ancients for those whom he led west from ... Sumer and Mesopotamia ... In ‘The Psalter of Cashel’ it states that: ‘The Tuatha de Danaan’ ruled in Ireland for about two centuries, and were highly skilled in architecture and other arts from their long residence in Greece.’ The Tuatha de Danaan were the descendants of Danaus, the son of Belus, who went with his fifty daughters to Argos, the home of his ancestrous Io. In Irish legends the Tuatha de Danaan, who were considered to be demi-gods, ... were said to have possessed a ... Grail-like vessel ... These teachers of wisdom...were the founders of the Druidic priesthood.” (Elizabeth Van Buren, The Sign of the Dove, pp. 45, 141-143)
Thus, we learn from the occult writings that the Tuatha de Danaan, the founders of the Druidic priesthood, were a hybrid race, i.e., offspring of the Anunnaki:
“...The ancient people of the Tuatha De Danann...were the supernatural tribe of the pre-Achaean agricultural goddess Danae of Argos, or perhaps of the Aegean mother-goddess, Danu. But their true name rendered in its older form was Tuadhe d’Anu. As such, they were the people (or tribe) of Anu, the great sky god of the Anunnaki.” (Lawrence Gardner, Realm of the Ring Lords: The Myths and Magic of the Grail Quest)
According to Edward Davies’ Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, the Tuatha de Danaan was a branch of the demi-gods of Atlantis who survived the flood.
“It has been proved, that the great secret of the ancient Bards, who professed themselves disciples of the Druids, and consequently of the Druids themselves, resolves itself into the mystical rites of Hu and Ceridwen; that these characters were no other than the Bacchus and Ceres of antiquity, whose mysteries are acknowledged to have been duly celebrated in the British islands; and that the ceremonies and traditions of the Britons, had evident analogy with the superstitions of the Greeks, and of some of the Eastern nations.
“It has also been seen, that the British mysteries commemorate the deluge, and those characters which are connected with its history ; and thus furnish an undeniable confirmation of Mr. Bryant’s opinion, that Ceres was an imaginary genius of the Ark, from whence the post-diluvian world derived their being, their laws, and their sciences; whilst on the other hand, that opinion supplies a lucid solution of the great Bardic aenigma, that every thing sacred, pure, and primitive, was derived from the cauldron of Ceridwen.
“In British antiquities,... heathenism had no foundation of its own to rest upon, and...its tottering fabric merely leaned against the great historical truths, which are recorded in the sacred volume. (Edward Davies, The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, pp. 289-290)
Also, the Celtic Sun god, Lugh, whose feast is Lughnasadh, the “Festival of “Regeneration,” was a leader of the Tuatha de Danaan:
“The god Lugh whose name means ‘shining one’ was a Celtic sun god. He was handsome, perpetually youthful, and full of life and energy. This energy manifests itself especially in the number of skills he had, according to legend, mastered. He was the patron god of Lugdunum (cur: Lyon, France) and a solar deity.
“According to a prophecy, Balor, the god of the underworld was to be killed by his grandson. He locked his daughter, Ethlinn, in a tower made of crystal to keep her from becoming pregnant. However, Cian, one of the Tuatha de Danaan, with the help of the druidess Birog, managed to enter the tower. She gave birth to a son, Lugh, by him, but Balor threw him into the ocean. Birog saved him and gave him to Manannan mac Lir, who became his foster father. He was then nursed by Tailtiu.
“Lugh was also sometimes considered a son of Danu and Beli...
“Lugh Lamhfada led the Tuatha in the Second Battle of Mag Tuireadh against the Fomorians. During this battle, Balor killed King Nuada with his eye, but Lugh ripped the fatal eye out with a sling, killing Balor.
“Lugh was husband of Rosmerta. After the god Nuada lost an arm in the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh and was forced to abdicate his kingship since he was no longer perfect, Lugh became the leader of the Tuatha De Danaan.
“Lugh’s name is the origin of that of the Pagan festival Lughnasadh (which is also the Irish Gaelic name for the month of August).” (Lugh)
“The Tuatha de Danaan: This was a race of Celtic giants and father gods. Like the Cainites and other giants, they were said to dwell in underground kingdoms or inside hollow mountains. One of the chief deities was Lugus, a name that translates to ‘Shining One’, revealing an astonishing connection to Sumer’s deified giant kings.” (Giants on the Earth)
In pre-Christian Briton, the Celts were the Druids, descendants of the tribe of Dan which had been driven from their territory in northern Israel by the Assyrians. “The Hebrew-Celtic Connection” presents compelling evidence that the heathen customs of the Celtic Druids were replications of the pagan traditions adopted by the tribe of Dan in its apostasy.
Dr Thomas Moore’s, History of Ireland (p. 40), relates: “'That most common of all Celtic monuments, the Cromlech is to be found not only in most parts of Europe, but also in Asia,’ including Palestine. ’Not less ancient and general among the Celtic nations, was the circle of upright stones, with either an altar or tall pillar in the centre, and, like its prototype at Gilgal [ancient Israel], serving sometimes as a temple of worship, sometimes as a place of national council or inauguration ... The rough, unhewn stone... used in their circular temples by the Druids, was the true, orthodox observance of the divine command delivered to Noah, 'If thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone’ (Ex. 20:25) Dr Beauford, in Druidism Revived says, 'It is remarkable that all the ancient altars found in Ireland, and now distinguished by the name of Cromlechs or sloping stones, were originally called Bothal, or the House of God, and they seem to be of the same species as those mentioned in the Book of Genesis, called by the Hebrews, Bethel, which has the same signification as the Irish Bothal’ The Bible (Judg. 9:6; 2 Ki. 1 1: 1 4; 2 Chr. 23:13) indicates that Hebrew kings were crowned either standing upon or next to a pillar of stone. 'The practice of seating the new king upon a stone, at his initiation, was the practice in many of the countries of Europe ... The monarchs of Sweden sat upon a stone placed in the centre of twelve lesser ones, and in a similar kind of circle the Kings of Denmark were crowned.’ (Moore, ibid., p. 42) Note also the significant Bible number, 'twelve’ which was common to both European Celts and the Hebrews.
“The book, Identity of the Religious Druidical and Hebrew, adds, 'Circular temples ... abound in England and other parts of Europe. The most ancient account of them is to be found in the book of Exodus (24.4), ‘And Moses ... builded an altar under the hill and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes.” (p. 15)’. In Europe, Stonehenge, Avebury, and many other early Celtic sites were designed in a circular pattern.
“Groves were also features of both Hebrew and Celtic worship. The Bible tells us that Abraham 'called on the everlasting God’ (Gen. 13:4) from a grove planted by his own hand. Gideon worshipped God under an oak tree. (Judg. 6:19-24)
“The division of time into a seven-day week was practiced by the Irish Celts, identical to the Hebrews. Dr Thomas Moore comments that no other nation kept such a hebdomadal (seven day) cycle 'excepting only among the family of Abraham,’ (ibid., p. 54) a remarkable proof of identity between the two peoples!
“Since early times, the Israelites sinned against God by adopting many of the pagan practices of their neighbours, and so we find evidence of both Hebrew and Canaanite culture among their descendants in Europe. (The Phoenician is the eastern branch of the Canaanite people.) The ancient Baal pillar shown at left is one of many such religious monuments which have been found from the Middle East to Ireland.
“There are many other examples, however, of customs linking the Celtic Druids specifically with Israel. English historian, Williain Borlase, in his Antiquities Of Cornwall (1754) presented many pages of such evidence: Druids worshipped but one God and allowed no graven images, identical to the Hebrews, and in contradistinction with almost all other ancient religions.
“Consecration was by sprinkling with blood, as in the Old Testament Hebrew worship. Druid priests were clothed in white, similar to the Hebrew priest’s white ephod; sacrificial victims were bled to death, and the blood was collected in basins which served to sprinkle the altars; bulls were sacrificed, and the image of a bull (the heraldic sign of the Hebrew tribe of Ephraim) was carried into war.' While they performed their horrid rites of human sacrifice, the drums and trumpets sounded without intermission, that the cries of the miserable victims might not be heard.’ (Compare Jer. 7:31-32, the Hebrew/Phoenician place of human sacrifice was called Tophet, meaning 'the drum’). They prayed with uplifted, hands, examined entrails for necromancy, and held the oak in veneration. The Druids used the magic wand in imitation of Moses’ rod, poured libations, sacrificed upon the tops of rocks, investigated truth by lots, anointed rock pillars with oil, and marked out boundaries with stones. (pp. 104-132, 161) In these and so many other distinctive ways, the religious customs of the Celts and Hebrews bear an unmistakable resemblance!”
Source: Brooks, Jory S. (2001). “The Hebrew-Celtic Connection : Language, Cultural and Religious Ties.” Midwestern Epigraphic Journal 15:88-90. Brown, J. Wood (1897).
Please note that the Hebrew word translated “grove” in Genesis 13:4 is not the same word translated “grove” elsewhere in the KJV Old Testament. In Gen. 13:4 the Hebrew word is אֵשֶׁל 'eshel meaning a tree, not אֲשֵׁרָה ’asherah which is also mistranslated “grove” in verses pertaining idol worship. Genesis 13:4 is a key verse used by pagans as evidence that Abraham worshipped “Asherah” who was the Canaanite Mother Goddess.
Druidic publications such as The Welsh Question and Druidism by Elizabeth Griffith confirm that the ancient Celts were the exiled tribe of Dan which kept their Jewish identity a well-guarded secret. Quoting Isaiah 24:14-16, Griffith wrote:
“...From the uttermost part of the earth (Hyperboreans—Britons), have we heard songs (of the Bards and Druids), even glory to the righteous... HYPERBOREANS. We are perfectly satisfied that the Hyperboreans of the ancients were the Ancient Britons. They had but a confused conception as to where these remarkable and peculiar people lived, because, as we have before explained, Dan and the kindred tribes kept their colonies a deep secret, hence their name CELTAE.” (Welsh Question and Druidism, p. 155)
Jacob’s prophecy foretold that the tribe of Dan would be the seed of the serpent, which was more “subtil” (cunning) than any beast of the field. (Gen. 3:1) Like the serpent, the tribe of Dan would infiltrate and conceal its presence wherever they lived, lying in wait and plotting the destruction of their host.
“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.” Genesis 49:16
5391. נָשַׁךְ nashak - ְa primitive root; to strike with a sting (as a serpent); figuratively, to oppress with interest on a loan:—bite, lend upon usury. (Hebrew Dictionary (Lexicon-Concordance)
In Gaul and in Briton, the Druids worshipped the serpent, Lucifer, who required human sacrifice. Their religion was a continuation of the Baal-Molech worship in the Canaanite territory inhabited by the tribe of Dan. According to Elizabeth Griffith, the Druids justified their human sacrifices by using Scripture, falsely interpreted. For example, “Glorify ye the Lord in the fires” in Isaiah 24:15 was claimed to mean that the Druid fire festivals and ritual sacrifices at Stonehenge and Avebury glorified God !
“Again, in Isaiah xxiv. 14-16, we read, ‘They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth (Hyperboreans—Britons), have we heard songs (of the Bards and Druids), even glory to the righteous.’
“Isaiah prophesied about 750 B.C.—that is, about the time of the foundation of Rome. Unless these words refer to the Ancient Britons, to whom then could they refer? Britain, as the ‘Tin islands,’ was known before this time, and the prophet speaks of the ‘uttermost parts of the earth,’ being almost the identical words adopted by the ancients for the ‘Hyperboreans.’ Here we have the Lord God of Israel worshipped, and no nation worshipped the God of Israel except the Israelites ; and here we find these worshippers in the ‘isles of the sea,’ where they cry aloud unto the God of Israel ; it also shows that they are not people in captivity, for ‘they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord;’ therefore the Lord had done great things for them ; and this majesty seems to point to the visible glory or majesty of their religion in the great works of Avebury and Stonehenge. And more emphatically still does it point to the Druidical worship, in the words, ‘Glorify ye the Lord in the fires.’” (Welsh Question and Druidism, p. 155)
Despite their profession, The Celtic Druids did not worship the God of their Hebrew forefathers, just as the future false Messiah of the tribe of Dan—“a beast that rises up out of the sea”—will not worship the God of his fathers (Daniel 11:37). The following description of the Celtic warriors mentions their gigantic stature, which is reminiscent of the Nephilim:
“For hundreds of years the Celtic warrior represented the quintessential barbarian warrior to the settled peoples of the Mediterranean. To the Romans, Greeks and other ‘civilized’ people the Celts were a reoccurring nightmare that unpredictably erupted from darker Europe. It was a well earned reputation, and they repeatedly gave the Mediterranean world reason to fear them. Celtic warriors stood a head taller than their Mediterranean opponents and are described as having muscular physique. The Celtic warriors, or Gauls as they were called in the French part of their range, spiked their hair up with lime and wore horned and winged helmets to emphasize their large stature. Their attacks on the battlefield were fearless, wild and savage, but they were also skilled and deadly. As the Celts spread over their vast range, having conquered most of Europe at their height, their warriors developed different styles of warfare. In Spain they became master swordsmen accustomed to up-close combat with their short swords, in southern Gaul they developed impressive armor and preferred long swords and while in Britain they continued to fight from chariots that they had adapted to rough ground. However, whether in Asia minor or Ireland the Celtic warrior remained essentially the same, a capable warrior and someone to be feared. A fact the Romans never forgot, as it had been forever planted in their psyche when the young republic was sacked by the Celtic Warchief Brenus. The effect this had on the Romans changed history as they poured their energies into their military with single minded focus that would eventually win them an empire.” (Celtic Warriors)
Since Druidry was essentially a criminal element in the Roman Empire and was appropriately banned. “The religion in which Druids functioned was proscribed in the Roman provinces of Gaul and Britain during the 1st century A.D.” (Richard Cavendish, Man, Myth and Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural, p. 719)
Edward Davies informs us in Mythology and Rites of the British Druids that although the Romans attempted to suppress the Druid rites and sacrifices, their success was only partial and temporary. Following the departure of the Romans, the abominations practiced by the Druids were revived in the British isles:
“And as this particular sanctuary of Stonehenge had been esteemed pre-eminently sacred before the coming of the Romans, and whilst the Britons were an independent nation, so, at the departure of those foreigners, it had re-covered its ancient reputation amongst a people, who were still pertinaciously attached to their national usages and superstitions. And May was the season appointed for the meeting, because it was the solemn anniversary of the British mysteries...
“The public sacrifices of the Druids, and their open profession of magic, were undoubtedly suppressed in those parts of the provinces, which were more immediately under the inspection of the government. But this operation of civil edicts, does not necessarily imply, the immediate eradication of an inveterate superstition from the minds of the people. From what we know of British infatuation, after the departure of the Romans, it is reasonable to conclude, that during their vassalage, our progenitors had kept fast hold of their ancient prejudices and customs. We are told, which is probably true, that in many corners of the island, the Romans permitted the natives to be governed partly by their own laws, and under princes of their own. In those Asyla, people thus disposed, and who spoke a language which was unintelligible to their political masters, would naturally preserve the memory of their sacred poems and traditional institutes: they would also continue to perform such of their mystical rites, as were less obnoxious to observation and public censure.
“From the language of the Triads, and some ancient poems, there is reason to infer, that they carried their prejudices still further: that during the Roman government, there was a seminary of Druids some where in the North of Britain, or in an adjacent island; and probably beyond the limits of the empire, where the doctrine and discipline of heathenism were cultivated without control: that those Druids persisted in sacrificing, even human victims : that certain devotees, from the Southern provinces, repaired to their solemn festivals: that upon the departure of the Romans, some abominable rites were brought back from the North into Mona, and into other parts of Wales; and that the Northern seminary was not finally suppressed till the close of the sixth century.” (pp. 386, 462)
The Celtic Druids’ rule over Britain was again challenged by the arrival of Roman Catholic missionaries led by Augustine of Canterbury in 597 A.D. In his book, Anglo-Saxon England, Peter Hunter Blair surmised that “during the first half of the seventh century the Roman missionaries in south-eastern England were so heavily engaged in their fight against deep-rooted paganism that the teaching of letters to their converts was beyond their power.” (p. 312-313)
“Druidism flourished for over a thousand years until the arrival of Christianity. By the sixth century it had ceased to exist in its complete form, and it was only revived after another thousand years, in the seventeenth century.” (Order of Bards & Druids)
J. A. Wylie’s History of the Scottish Nation, cited the Irish historian, Muirchu, who identified the Druids of Ireland as “Anakim”—whom Moses identified as the fallen angels whose offspring the Israelites were about to encounter when they entered the Promised Land.
“A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!” (Deut. 9:2)
We gather from Muirchu’s account that the Catholic missionary, Palladius, uttered similar words before departing from Ireland:
“The old Druidic priesthood of that island was still powerful—more powerful than in either England or Scotland. The Romans were great iconoclasts when Druidic oaks or altars were concerned; and hence a vast demolition of stone circles and sacred groves in Britain and Caledonia; but the Romans had never been in Ireland; and as a consequence, no ax or hammer had been lifted up upon the consecrated trees, and the sacrificial dolmens of that land, unless it might be that of some iconoclastic Scot, and so the priesthood of Ireland retained much of its ancient influence and power. This made the task of Christianising pagan Ireland a formidable one indeed. When Palladius shook off the dust from his feet against the Scots who had rejected him as their bishop, as manifestly they did, he might have turned to the pagan Irish, but his heart failed him, when he thought how hazardous the enterprise would prove. The Anakim of Irish paganism were ‘fierce and savage,’ says an old chronicler Muirchu, ‘and ready to wash out in blood any affront that might be offered to their Druidic divinities,’ and so Palladius leaving ‘those few sheep in the wilderness,’ he had been appointed to feed, turned and fled from a land which, doubtless, it repented him he ever had entered. ‘He crossed the sea,’ says the authority quoted above, ‘and ended his days in the territories of the Britons.” (Muirchu about A.D. 700, and preserved in the Book of Armagh, A.D. 800.)” (History of the Scottish Nation)
Following the Roman occupation of Briton, the Druids went underground and transformed themselves into the Culdees (from Chaldees / Chaldeans) who lived in monastic orders, which they called seminaries, in Britain, Scotland and Ireland. The Culdees were Jewish Kabbalists who received their occult tradition from the ancient Chaldeans, according to H.P Blavatsky:
“The ancient Chaldæan Kabalists—the masters and inspirers of the Jewish Kabalah—were neither the Anthropomorphizers of the Old Testament, nor those of the present day. Their Ain-Suph—the Endless and the Boundless—‘has a form and then has no form,’ says the Zohar, and forthwith explains the riddle by adding: ‘The Invisible assumed a Form when he called the Universe into existence.’ That is to say, the Deity can only be seen and conceived of in objective nature—pure pantheism...” (“The 6-Pointed & 5-Pointed Stars”)
Today there is an Order of the Culdees in the UK called the Céile Dé Order which is a mix of “Celtic Christian” and Pagan traditions.
“Little is known historically about the Céili Dé (plural) - or Culdees - who existed in Britain and Ireland in centuries past. Ask almost any Gael on the West of Scotland or Ireland and they will say the Céili Dé walk the edges where early Celtic Christianity blurs into its Foster-Mother; Druidism - their history blurs into myth - their saints blur into Gods and Goddesses...
“Some Gaelic legends say they were originally Druids who foresaw the coming of The Christ Consciousness and welcomed into the world that new Being they called Iosa Mac Dhe long before the first missionary ever set foot on British soil...
“The Order, comprising both brothers and sisters, are part of a Spiritual lineage held both in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, who still practice what we call the Living Celtic Spiritual Tradition – that naturally poetic and unselfconscious mix of Celtic Christian and ‘Pagan’ that is the hallmark of the Gaelic Soul. The work of the Céile Dé Order today is, in part, about spreading the tradition beyond 'the monastery walls...” (The Path of the Céile Dé - or Culdee)
“Celtic Christianity” is today extolled by Fundamental, Evangelical and Charismatic ministries as the “true Church” of the Middle Ages which was cruelly persecuted and exterminated by the Roman Catholic Church In fact, mainstreaming heretical medieval sects is just about the only issue on which Fundamentalist, Evangelical and Charismatic leaders agree. Also praised as the “true Christians” are the Albigenses, Cathars, Donatist, Novatians, Bogomils, Paulicians, Lollards, Waldenses and Anabaptists, all of which denied fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith and preserved the ancient heresies for future generations. For the truth about these heretical medieval sects and those who promote them as “Christian”, please see “The Real History of King James Onlyism.”
PART 11
