The origin of animal worship is hidden in obscurity, but reverence for the bulls and cows is found widespread among the most ancient historic CULTS. Even in the prehistoric age the influence of the bull symbol was so powerful that it gave its name to one of the most important signs of the Zodiac, and from early historic times the horns of the bull were the familiar emblem of the rays of the sun, and solar gods were very commonly represented as bull-gods.
From very ancient Egyptian rock carvings in the Eastern desert, we can surmise that from the earliest of times, cattle were viewed as important indicator of personal status, to the extent that they become part of the iconography of the emerging elite of Egypt.
Early records from Memphis, in Egypt, reveal that the Egyptians worshiped a live bull known as Apis. The animal was thought to be a manifestation of the city’s patron deity, Ptah, creator of the universe. Apis became identified with Osiris, legendary god of the sun and of immortality. The Egyptian Sky Goddess Nut was, sometimes, depicted as a cow having four stars on her belly that represented the four cosmic quarters of the earth and the respective energy from which each direction’s energy flows.
Egyptian god Yah a golden calf (Apis)
In Mesopotamia, bulls were long venerated as symbols of majestic strength and potency. Savage wild bulls, called aurochs, once roamed the region, and colossal stone images of these beasts were set up to guard the entrances to the temples and palaces of Babylonia. In later years, the Assyrians adopted the bull-god as their guardian icon, often adding wings and a human face. In the ancient Babylonian legend of Gilgamesh, the god Anu sent a bull from heaven to demolish the land with earthquakes. But the hero Gilgamesh was able to kill the bull.
Similarly, the Greek hero Theseus slew the Minotaur, a fabled monster of Crete – half bull, half man – who fed on human sacrifices. In an ancient Cretan ritual, acrobatic young men and women would leap over the horns of a charging bull. The ancient Greeks believed that Zeus, King of the Gods and God of the Sky and represented by the constellation of Taurus, transformed himself into a shining white bull so he could get the attention of Europa, the beautiful daughter of the Phoenician King of Tyre, Agenor. Classic art depicts Europa riding Zeus in the form of a white bull which symbolizes virility, passion, strength, transformation and fulfillment.
In Middle Eastern mythology, there are many stories of celestial bulls bringing gales and deluges. Hadad, the storm god of the Syrians and the Hittites, rode across the sky on a bull, wielding his three-pronged lightning bolt. When the Israelites reached the Promised Land in the 13th century BC, the bull cult was already ancient there. Canaanite temples were sometimes built with images of bronze bulls in their foundations. It was perhaps for this reason that the Israelites in moments of doubt were tempted by bull cults. Young bulls were favored sacrificial animals, and bovine images appeared in shrines. Before the entrance to Solomon’s Temple, “twelve bronze bulls” (Jeremiah 52:20) supported a huge basin called the “molten sea.” Many scholars also think that the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant were in the form of winged bulls. Later, Israel’s King Jeroboam erected golden bulls in two sanctuaries. Many believe that he intended these images as pedestals on which Yahweh stood invisibly – as perhaps had Aaron in making the golden calf.
Just as idol worship became a stumbling block to Israel after they left Egypt, so it is advancing in all societies today. Those who have no use for the true Creator of the universe – the God of the Holy Bible – have their own gods (idols) which they of course worship with all tenacity. Idolatry isn’t a “Made in Hollywood” idea. Idol worship exists all over the world, and we see it taking place throughout the Bible.
Apparently the idea came from neo-Pentecostal leader Cindy Jacobs. Did you know that some Christian dingbat has dubbed today the “Day of Prayer for the World’s Economies?” Well here they are, at the Wall Street bull statue thing, praying to Jesus for money. The dingbat has explained, “We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the ‘Lion’s Market,’ or God’s control over the economic systems.” Don’t they know that God taking over the economic systems would be SOCIALISM from SPACE? Also: God will be very mad that they are worshiping a bronze idol here, since his second commandment PROHIBITS THAT, duh?
Some Christian fanatics are concerned, quite reasonably, about the economy, and have chosen, quite absurdly, to try and correct the problem with prayer. So far, so typical, but then … well, they picked a peculiarly oblivious way to do it. They prayed before a statue of a golden bull on Wall Street in 2008. Just a clue: there’s this book called “the BIBLE” that these people claim to follow, but I suspect they’ve never actually read it, or they might have seen Exodus 32.
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ Aaron said to them, ‘Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mould, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.’ They rose early the next day, and offered burnt-offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel. (Exodus 32:1-6)
At the heart of the global economy sits a symbol of man’s own self indulgence.
Apparently, some Christians are on Wall Street, putting their hands on and praying over a large brass bull in the hopes that God will save the world’s economy and transform the United States from a bull and bear economy to a lion (of God) economy. Do these people actually read the book they’re supposed to be following?
