great: ‘He was made manifest in flesh, was declared righteous in spirit, appeared to angels, was preached about among nations, was believed upon in the world, was received up in glory.”’ (1 Tim. 3:16) Adam, the perfect man, had not set the perfect example of godly devotion. None of his children, born imperfect, could do so. Who would be able to do this? The coming of God’s Son to earth and his integrity-keeping course gave the answer, revealing the solution to the sacred secret.

Jesus Christ was the one man to manifest godly devotion perfectly, in every sense, proving that man in the flesh can maintain such devotion. Jesus was, at the end of his earthly course under severe trials, “loyal, guileless, undefiled, separated from the sinners.” (Heb. 7:26) No flaw could be found in his integrity, to accuse him before God. He said, before his death: “I have conquered the world,” also, “The ruler of the world is coming. And he has no hold on me.” (John 16:33; 14:30) No unrighteousness could be found in him. He could rightly say to his enemies: “Who of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46) The solution to “the sacred secret of this godly devotion” is so great and means so much to mankind that it is to be proclaimed world wide. It is the basis upon which Christian godly devotion and conduct in the congregation is patterned.

TRAINING, WITH CONTENTMENT, ESSENTIAL

Strenuous training is necessary on the part of the Christian in order to achieve full godly devotion. It entails the enduring of opposition and persecution. (2 Tim. 3:12) One’s aim or objective in training himself is not to achieve selfish materialistic gain. But there is gain to the one who is content with his lot, who continues in godly devotion along with self-sufficiency. “It holds promise of the life now,” namely, spiritual health, satisfaction, happiness and a purpose in living. It also holds promise of the life that “is to come.”—1 Tim. 4:7, 8; 6:6-8; compare Proverbs 3:7, 8; 4:20-22.

Though persecution and hardship may come upon the one having godly devotion, he need not fear, for “Jehovah knows how to deliver people of godly devotion out of trial.” (2 Pet. 2:9) The apostle Peter counsels Christians to add to their endurance godly devotion. (2 Pet. 1:5, 6) He admonishes them to be persons of “holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion” in order to survive the judgment of Jehovah’s day.—2 Pet. 3:7, 10, 11; 1 Pet. 4:18.

THE POWER OF GODLY DEVOTION

One professing godly devotion must recognize its power to change his personality and must be true and genuine in following godliness. (1 Tim. 6:11; Eph. 4:20-24) He must recognize that God’s Word is His expression of the way of godly devotion and so he must conform to its precepts. (Titus 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:3) Since godly devotion is toward God personally, his Word and spirit will bring one to know Jehovah personally, intimately, and to become more like Him—to be an imitator or copier of him. (Eph. 5:1) Such one will reflect more and more the fine qualities of Jehovah God.—2 Cor. 3:18.

If one fails to guard carefully his godly devotion he will become mentally diseased. (1 Tim. 6:3, 4) The apostle Paul warned his younger fellow-minister Timothy about ungodly ones who professed devotion to God. He cautioned Timothy to handle the Word of the truth aright, shunning empty speeches that violate what is holy, that Timothy might not be turned from the way of godly devotion. He then pointed out that there would be those who would practice all sorts of wickedness, hypocritically having a form of godly devotion, but proving false to its power. (2 Tim. 2:15, 16; 3:1-5) Jude likewise shows that such ones would have no genuine reverence for or devotion to God, no respect or appreciation for his undeserved kindness. They would be persons using godliness for materialistic or sensual gain. Their hypocrisy is revealed in their practice of loose conduct.—Jude 4.

THE ‘MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS’

Herein lies another mystery, diametrically opposed to Jehovah’s “sacred secret.” This is “the mystery of this lawlessness.” It was a mystery because its wickedness would be practiced under the guise and in the name of godly devotion. In fact, it would be an apostasy from true godly devotion and would turn against God. Paul said that the “man of lawlessness” was in operation in his day and would soon be exposed. Finally, this one would be done away with by Jesus Christ at the manifestation of his presence. This apostate, Satan-operated “man” would lift himself up “over everyone who is called ‘god’ or an object of reverence” (Gr., seʹba·sma). Thus this great opposer of God as a Satanic instrument would be extremely deceptive and would bring destruction to those following its practices. The effectiveness of the “man of lawlessness” would lie in the fact that his wickedness would be cloaked in a hypocritical godly devotion.—2 Thess. 2:3-12; compare Matthew 7:15, 21-23.

GOD OF GOOD LUCK; GOD OF DESTINY

In Isaiah’s time the worship of these deities evidently involved setting a table of food and drink before them. (Isa. 65:11) Arabic tradition identifies the planet Jupiter with the “greater [good] luck” and the planet Venus with the “lesser [good] luck.” Hence, it has been suggested that the god of Good Luck (Gad) may be identified with Jupiter, and the god of Destiny (Meni) with Venus.

GODS AND GODDESSES

The deities that have been and still are worshiped by the nations are human creations, the products of imperfect, “empty headed” men, who “turned the glory of the incorruptible God into something like the image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed creatures and creeping things.” (Rom. 1:21-23) It is, therefore, not surprising to note that these deities mirror the very characteristics and weaknesses of their imperfect worshipers.

The striking similarity readily observable when comparing the gods and goddesses of ancient peoples can hardly be attributed to chance. Concerning this, Colonel J. Gamier, in his book The Worship of the Dead, writes: “Not merely Egyptians, Chaldeans, Phœnicians, Greeks and Romans, but also the Hindus, the Buddhists of China and of Thibet, the Goths, Anglo-Saxons, Druids, Mexicans and Peruvians, the Aborigines of Australia, and even the savages of the South Sea Islands, must have all derived their religious ideas from a common source and a common centre. Everywhere we find the most startling coincidences in rites, ceremonies, customs, traditions, and in the names and relations of their respective gods and goddesses.”

The evidence of Scripture points to the land of Shinar as the post-Flood birthplace of false religious concepts. Undoubtedly under the direction of Nimrod, “a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah,” the building of the city of Babel and its tower, likely a ziggurat to be used for false worship, began. This building project was undertaken, not to bring honor to Jehovah God, but for the self-glorification of the builders, who desired to make a “celebrated name” for themselves. Also, it was in direct opposition to God’s purpose for mankind to spread about in the earth. The Almighty frustrated the plans of these builders by confusing their language. No longer being able to understand one another, they gradually left off building the city, and were scattered. (Gen. 10:8-10; 11:2-9) However, Nimrod apparently remained at Babel and expanded his dominion, founding the first Babylonian Empire.—Gen. 10:11, 12.

As for the scattered people, wherever they went they carried their false religion with them, to be practiced under new terms and in their new language and new locations. Since Noah lived 350 years after the flood, this scattering logically occurred while Noah and his son Shem were still alive. (Gen. 9:28; 11:10, 11) Therefore, the dispersal took place at a time when the facts about earlier events, such as the Flood, were known. This knowledge undoubtedly lingered in some form in the memory of the dispersed people. Indicative of this is the fact that the mythologies of the ancients echo various parts of the Biblical record, but in a distorted, polytheistic form. The legends depict certain gods as serpent slayers; also, the religions of many ancient peoples included the worship of a god placed in the role of a benefactor who dies a violent death on earth and then is restored to life. This suggests that such a god was actually a deified human wrongly viewed as being the ‘promised seed.’ (Compare Genesis 3:15.) The myths tell of the love affairs had by gods and earthly women, and the heroic deeds of their hybrid offspring. (Compare Genesis 6:1, 2, 4; Jude 6.) There is hardly a nation on the earth that does not have a legend concerning a global flood, and traces of the tower-building account are likewise to be found in the legends of mankind.

BABYLONIAN DEITIES

After the death of Nimrod, the Babylonians reasonably would have been inclined to hold him in high regard as the founder and builder and first king of their city and as the organizer of the original Babylonian Empire. Tradition has it that Nimrod died a violent death. While there is no record that Nimrod was worshiped under his own name, some scholars believe that his death was commemorated by the annual ‘weeping for Tammuz.’ (Ezek. 8:14) Also, since the god Marduk was regarded as the founder of Babylon, this would suggest that Marduk represents none other than the deified Nimrod. Thus The International Standard Bible Encyclopœdia (Vol. IV, p. 2147) says of Nimrod’s identification: “The most admissible correspondence is with Marduk, chief god of Babylon, probably its historic founder, just as Asshur, the god of Assyria, appears in [Genesis 10:11] as the founder of the Assyr[ian] empire.”—See MERODACH; TAMMUZ, I.

If Nimrod was indeed the first man to be deified after the Flood, then he would have come to be regarded as the “father of the gods” in Babylonish religion. His mother would thus have become the “mother of god” or the “mother of the gods.” Nimrod’s father Cush, although probably not given a position of great prominence, may well have become the third member of a triad composed of Cush and his wife and their son Nimrod, though worshiped under different names. With the father undoubtedly kept in the background, this would have given rise to the worship of mother and son. That this actually happened is suggested by the widespread trinity concept, the worship of a mother goddess and her son, and the lesser role accorded the father god in ancient myths.

With the passage of time, the gods of the first Babylonian Empire began to multiply. The pantheon came to have a number of triads of gods or deities. One such triad was composed of Anu the god of the sky, Enlil the god of the earth, air and storm, and Ea the god presiding over the waters. Another triad was that of the moon-god Sin, the sun-god Shamash and the fertility goddess Ishtar, the lover or consort of Tammuz. The Babylonians even had triads of devils, such as the triad of Labartu, Labasu and Akhkhazu. The worship of heavenly bodies became prominent (Isa. 47:13), and various planets came to be associated with certain deities. The planet Jupiter was identified with the chief god of Babylon, Marduk; Venus with Ishtar, a goddess of love and fertility; Saturn with Ninurta, a god of war and hunting and patron of agriculture; Mercury with Nebo, a god of wisdom and agriculture; Mars with Nergal, a god of war and pestilence and lord of the underworld.

The cities of ancient Babylonia came to have their own special guardian deities, somewhat like “patron saints.” In Ur it was Sin; in Eridu, Ea; in Nippur, Enlil; in Cutha, Nergal; in Borsippa, Nebo, and in the city of Babylon, Marduk (Merodach). At the time Hammurabi made Babylon the capital of Babylonia, the importance of the city’s favorite god Marduk was, of course, enhanced. Finally Marduk was given the attribute of earlier gods and displaced them in the Babylonian myths. In later periods his proper name “Marduk” was supplanted by the title “Belu” (“Lord”), so that finally he was commonly spoken of as Bell. His wife was called Belit (“Lady,” par excellence).—See BEL; NEBO No. 4.

The picture portrayed of the gods and goddesses in ancient Babylonian texts is but a reflection of sinful mortal man. These accounts say that the deities were born, loved, had families, fought and even died, as did Tammuz. Terrified by the Deluge, they are said to have ‘crouched like dogs.’ The deities were also portrayed as being greedy, frequently eating to the point of gluttony and drinking to the point of intoxication. They had furious tempers and were vindictive and suspicious of one another. Bitter hatreds existed among them. To illustrate: Tiamat, bent on destroying the other gods, was overcome by Marduk, who split her into two halves, forming the sky with one half and using the other half in connection with the establishment of the earth. Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, instructed Namtaru, the god of pestilence, to imprison her sister Ishtar and afflict her with sixty miseries.—See NERGAL.