TODAY WE discuss the fall of Babylon. It wasn't just divine punishment for the hubris of King Belshazzar; this was a smackdown in the spirit realm.

Interestingly, the target of God's wrath wasn't Marduk, city-god of Babylon and head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, it was the moon-god, Sîn. Belshazzar's father, Nabonidus, was the king of Babylon in 539 B.C., but he'd been living at Teima, an oasis in Arabia that was a center of the moon-god cult. Nabonidus was from Harran, another major center of moon-god worship, and his mother was a priestess in the temple of Sîn there.

Nabonidus had been pushing to replace Marduk in the top spot in the pantheon at Babylon with Sîn, and there is good historical and archaeological evidence to believe that Belshazzar's drunken feast -- with the sacred utensils that had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple in Jerusalem in 587 or 586 B.C. -- was the fall /akitu/ festival, held every year in honor of the moon-god.

It also coincided with Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, arguably the most important annual festival establish by God at Sinai -- the mountain named for the moon-god.

In short, the writing on the wall was God's judgment on Babylon, of course, but more importantly it was a clear message to the fallen entity who was worshiped as the moon-god. The night of Belshazzar's feast was the last night of freedom for Babylon, a kingdom founded and ruled by worshipers of the moon-god.

Here is the link to the paper Derek mentioned during the study, "Belshazzar's Feast and the Cult of the Moon God Sîn" by Al Wolters: http://bit.ly/2Djl68A
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Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.

The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
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Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.

'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.

Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.

For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.