Chapter 6

The Roman Influence

For the first 300 years after the death and resurrection of Christ, His followers
were severely persecuted. Unspeakable atrocities were committed against them,
primarily from the Roman Empire. Also known as Pagan Rome, it was filled with
a multitude of gods and goddesses. Each one had a festival and temple of their
own, and a vast number of people devoted to them. One of the deities was
Apollo, the roman name for the Babylonian sun god.

ìApollo was also known as Apollo Belenus, and in this we

find a likely connection to the Celtic [and Chaldean] god Bel

(confusion), sometimes associated with the sun, his name

meaning ëbright.íî 1

Like the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Caesar was considered to be a god-man,
and was to be worshipped as such.

ìIn the early Christian era, Roman emperors were routinely

identifying themselves with the sun god...î 2

But the disciples of the One called Jesus Christ would not do homage to
Caesar, nor bow down to his idols or to the gods of Rome. They were
considered rebels and blamed for plagues, famines, droughts and a whole host
of other calamities. The common population ostracized them, but they still would
not yield to the Roman dictators. So the hierarchy of Rome determined that
these Christians had to be punished for their defiance. Under the penalty of
death, they would be forced to cease their rebellion, declare their allegiance to
Rome and Caesar, and renounce their beliefs in the Christian God. Those that
would not heed the warning of Caesar would be offered to the gods of Rome as
sacrifice.

As horrifying as this sounds, sacrificing ones enemies to the gods did not
originate in the Roman Senate.

Approximately 1000 years earlier, the great city of Babylon was conquered by
the Elamites. The Elamites were a nation who lived in the mountains of Persia
overlooking the Euphrates Valley that would routinely attack the peoples that
lived in the lowlands. They carried off the idol of Bel-Marduk and the other chief
gods of Babylon and set them up in their own capital as tokens of triumph.

But in the 7th Century BC Nebuchadnezzar l, the king of Babylon, led a great
army against the Elamites, and captured both Elam and the idol of Bel-Marduk.