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Fertility Cults of Canaan
Fertility Cults of CanaanOnly recently have scholars begun to unravel the complex religious rituals of Israel's Canaanite neighbors. Much of our knowledge of the origins and character of these fertility cults remains tentative and widely debated. ...
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Clever Counterfeits
The False Claims of the CultsEach of the cults in Pergamum was a counterfeit, a clever copy of the things that God alone provides. Each god took credit or honor away from God, thus giving it to something human or of human invention. False Gods ...
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Confronting Evil
The CityAncient Beth Shemesh guarded the Sorek Valley of Israel's Shephelah; a place where the pagans and the Israelites often interacted.Beth Shemesh stands in Israel's Shephelah;foothills lying between the coastal plain and Judea Mountains. Seve...
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Cultural Images in Jesus Teaching
Jesus used various word pictures and ideas that were familiar to the people of his time in order to communicate effectively with both religious Jews and pagans.The Bridegroom ImageFor example, Jesus described his deep love for his followers in ter...
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Decapolis Area
Decapolis means "10 cities." Though the number of cities changed from time to time, the Decapolis was a group of independent city-states that were thoroughly pagan and Hellenistic. Veterans of Alexander the Great's army founded several o...
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Dionysus Temple and Cult Center
Originally built in the third century before Christ, this small, beautiful temple was remodeled by the Romans. It was approached by a twenty-five-step stairway at the end of a 770-foot terrace. Here, people worshiped Dionysus, the fertility god of...
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Emperor Worship
The Demands of Emperor WorshipThe demands of Emporer WorshipEvery person in Ephesus and other cities that worshiped the emperor was expected to:- Participate in festivals honoring the emperor(s). This included offering incense on altars carried by...
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Ephesus
The port city of Ephesus, located on what is now the western coast of Turkey, was the crown jewel of Asia Minor. It had the population of nearly 250,000 people and was home to more than twenty pagan temples. Artistic beauty, cultural learning, ero...
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Five Candidates for Satan's Throne
There are many opinions as to exactly what John referred to when he wrote these phrases in Revelation 2:13: "where Satan has his throne" and "where Satan lives." No one knows whether he had in mind a specific temple or pagan pr...
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Caesarea Philippi Definition
Large Hellenistic city rebuilt and renamed by Philip the Tetrarch. Located on Mount Hermon in the upper Jordan Valley near the spring of Panias, one of the three headwaters of the Jordan River, and the site of a great pagan temple dedicated to Pan...
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Decapolis Definition
Ten Hellenistic cities established at the time of Alexander the Great east of the Sea of Galilee and north of Perea. Later, the Roman emperor Pompey organized the cities into a league named the Decapolis, largely populated by Roman army troops. In...
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Elijah Definition
One of the first prophets; name literally means "Yahweh is God." On Mount Carmel, Elijah confronted the pagan prophets and challenged the Israelites to stop wavering between faith in Yahweh and Baal.
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