Assyrian Relief from Nineveh, 645-635 B.C.
by COGwriter
Germany was the major force behind both World War I and World War II. For decades since WWII, it was seemingly content to mainly align with the international views of the USA and France. Yet, in the past few years, its increasing wealth has seemingly emboldened it to start to take more divergent views, as well as to extend its diplomatic and economic reach.
This article is the first of two. These articles will attempt to identify the identity of Germany in the Bible, some highly limited German history, and Germany's prophesied role.
Readers of the German language may find the following booklet of interest:
WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE?
Where do the Germanic peoples come from? The male ancestors of all those currently on planet earth are listed in Genesis chapter 10.
In that portion of the Bible we see that one of the sons of Shem and grandson of Noah was named Assur/Ashur/Asshur:
1 Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood...21 And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder. 22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. (Genesis 10:1,21-22, NKJV).
Throughout the Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament) there are various mentions of a people called the Assyrians (e.g. 2 Kings 19:35; Isaiah 37:36). The old area of Assyria is first listed in scripture in Genesis 2:14 and apparently was near where Eden was:
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. (Genesis 2:10-14)
The first century Jewish historian Josephus tied this son Asshur/Ashur in with Assyria as did the late fourth/early fifth century Roman Catholic doctor and saint Augustine:
Shem, the third son of Noah, had five sons, who inhabited the land that began at the Euphrates, and reached to the Indian Ocean. Elam left behind him the Elamites, the ancestors of the Persians. Ashur lived in Ninevah; and named his descendants Assyrians, who became the most fortunate nation, beyond others. (Josephus. Josephus Complete Works. Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, Chapter VI, Verse 4. Translated by William Whiston in 1867. Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids (MI), 1960, p. 31)
Assur, father of the Assyrian...Of these nations the names have partly survived, so that at this day we can see from whom they have sprung, as the Assyrians from Assur...(Augustine. The City of God (Book XVI). Translated by Marcus Dods. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 2. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120116.htm>)
So, the term Assyria has long been considered to be a derivative term for descendant of Assur/Ashur/Asshur, grandson of Noah. Some Assyrian kings were named a version of Ashur (Rines GE. The Encyclopedia Americana: a library of universal knowledge, Volume 2. Encyclopedia Americana Corp., 1918 Original from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Digitized Nov 9, 2007, pp. 428-439).
There is a relatively new report that concluded that certain modern ancestors of the Germans came from the Near East:
A study of remains from Central Europe suggests the foundations of the modern gene pool were laid down between 4,000 and 2,000 BC - in Neolithic times...a wave of migration by Near Eastern farmers some 6,000 years ago. (in the early Neolithic)
But the extent to which present-day people are descended from the indigenous hunters versus the newcomers that arrived in the Neolithic has been a matter of some debate...
Haplogroup H dominates mtDNA variation in Europe. Today, more than 40% of Europeans belong to this genetic "clan", with frequencies much higher in the west of the continent than in the east.
The team selected 39 human remains from the Mitelelbe Saale region of Germany, all of whom belonged to the "H" clan...The remains investigated here span 3,500 years of European prehistory, from the Early Neolithic to the Bronze Age...
And only about 19% of the Early Neolithic remains from Central Europe belonged to this genetic clan.
But, from the Middle Neolithic onwards, DNA patterns more closely resembled those of people living in the area today, pointing to a major - and previously unrecognised - population upheaval around 4,000 BC...
"We have established that the genetic foundations for modern Europe were only established in the Mid-Neolithic, after this major genetic transition around 4000 years ago," said co-author Dr Wolfgang Haak. (Ricon P. Making of Europe unlocked by DNA. BBC, April 23, 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22252099)
People coming from the Near East is consistent with Assyrian migrations from that area. And there are also various facts and legends.
Probably one of the more famous early Assyrian kings was Sargon. Interestingly, a later eighth century B.C. Assyrian king named named Sargon II ascribed his success to a god named Asshur:
Sargon and his successors continued the worship of Merodach. Sargon constantly ascribed his power to the united favor of Asshur and Merodach, and Esar-haddon sculptured the emblems of these two gods over the images of foreign gods. (Clare IS. Ancient oriental nations, Volume 1 of The Unrivaled History of the World: Containing a Full and Complete Record of the Human Race from the Earliest Historical Period to the Present Time, Embracing a General Survey of the Progress of Mankind in National and Social Life, Civil Government, Religion, Literature, Science and Art. Unrivaled Publishing Co., 1889. Original from Indiana University, Digitized Feb 3, 2010,, p. 225)
Various records of history show that the Assyrians claimed ties to Asshur, apparently originated from the one in Genesis 10. Sargon II's son was Sennacherib, who invaded and took the fortified cities of Judah as discussed in Isaiah 36:1-2:
1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller's Field. (Isaiah 36:1-2)
Smith's Bible Dictionary states:
Assyria, Asshur...The civilization of the Assyrians was derived originally from the Babylonians. They were a Shemetic race, originally resident in Babylonia (which at that time was Cushite) and thus acquainted with Babylonian inventions and discoveries...But they were still in the most important points barbarians. Their government was rude and artificial, their religion coarse and sensual, and their conduct in war cruel. (Assyria. Smith's Bible Dictionary. Hendrickson Publishers, pp. 61-62)
Also notice:
Ishtar was a favorite goddess of the Assyrian kings, who styled her as "their lady," and sometimes coupled her with Asshur, "the Great Lord," in their invocations. Ishtar had a very old temple at Asshur, the primitive Assyrian capital, and this temple, Tiglath-Pileser I, repaired and beautified. (Clare, p. 225).
Ishtar, also known as Easter/Oster/Ostern (the Germanic goddess of Springtime), long influenced the Assyrians and as well the modern Germans. Ishtar was the goddess of fertility and war. Ishtar also has ties to the ancient Babylonian mystery religion and Nimrod. She was also called Beltis. Belits was the wife of Bel-Nimrod. She was called "the Queen of Fertility" and also known as "the Great Mother" (similar to how some revere Mary, the mother of Jesus today) and essentially was also Ishtar in the Assyrian triad (Clare, pp. 222-223).
Bel, or Bel-Nimrod, according to the testimony of the Assyrian monuments, was worshiped as extensively in Assyria as in Chaldaea, and Babylonia. (Clare, p. 222)
Notice some of what the Bible teaches about Nimrod:
8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord." 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city). (Genesis 10:8-12).
Nimrod, probably around 2300 B.C. (cf. Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? and Genesis 10), built Nineveh in the land of the Assyrians (Genesis 10:11) and, as may have been expected, had religious and military influence on the people of that land. Nimrod "after his death was deified as Bel-Nimrod" (Clare, p. 125). (More on Nimrod can be found in the article Mystery of Civilization.)
Calah and Nineveh were both later capitals of the Assyrian empire.
Around the 8th century B.C., God sent Jonah to the people of Nineveh. At that time, Nineveh was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and was one of the major cities in the world. While there, Jonah preached repentance (Jonah 3:1-4). And the people of that great city did repent then (Jonah 3:5-10). At least one 21st century discovery provides some evidence of the biblical Jonah (see James Tabor Seems to Have Found Old Jonah-Related Tomb).
It has been claimed:
In 700 B.C.E. Germany was practically uninhabited. (Davidy Y. The Tribes. Rabbinical approbation: Rabbi Abraham Feld of the Maccabee Institute Jerusalem, July 4, 1993. Russell-Davis Publishers, Hebron (Israel), p. 110)
The Assyrians themselve sometimes moved and were in different areas. Around 530 B.C.:
Scylax of Caryanda names the coast of the Black Sea, from the Chalybians to Armene, westward of the promontory of Syrias, Assyria. Strabo states that these Syrians, who extended from the Taurus northwards as far as the Pontus; were named Leuko-Syrians, i.e. white Syrians. (Dunker M. The history of antiquity, Volume 1. Evelyn Abbott Publisher R. Bentley & son, 1877. Original from the University of Michigan, Digitized Sep 12, 2007, p. 540)
Places like Pontus were in Asia Minor, typically referred to as the East by Latins/Romans. (In Finnish, Germany is called Saksa.)
Notice the following:
According to National Geographic’s project, one study provided evidence that “the people who lived in Central Europe 7,000 years ago had different DNA lineages than those that lived there 5,000 years ago, and again different to those that lived 3,500 years ago.”
It showed definitively that from 5500 B.C. to 1500 B.C. the region that is today Germany saw at least four stages of significant migration and settlement. The stages were highlighted by marked shifts in the genetic composition of the popula- tions in the region. Researchers focus on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). This type of DNA is passed down, almost unchanged, from a mother to her children, thereby allowing geneticists to probe the maternal histories of populations. (Killingley R. Are we the lost tribes? Check our DNA to find out. The Journal: News of the Churches of God, September-October 2013, p. 5)
Tacitus was a late first/early second century historian who apparently knew that the Germans at least claimed to have come from Asia Minor at one time:
When Tacitus informs us that the first act of a German on rising was ablution {washing}, it will be conceded, this habit was not acquired in the cold climate of Germany but must have been of eastern origin; as were the loose flowing robe, the long and braided hair, tied in a knot on the top of the head...Tacitus...knew their {German} claim to Asiatic origin, when he asks, "who would leave the softer abodes of Asia for Germany where nature yields nothing but deformity?" (Tod J. The annals and antiquities of Rajastʾhan: or the central and western Rajpoot states of India, Volume 1. Indian Publication Society, 1899. Original from Princeton University, Digitized Jan 15, 2010, p. 70)
Craig White reported that the above hairstyle "seems similar to the Assyrian hairstyle" (White, C. The Great German Nation: Origins and Destiny. AuthorHouse, 2007, p. 96)
Apparently, Assyrians were considered to be of similar ethnicity to the Germans by some Arabs:
Medieval Arab authors say that the Assyrians are from the same source as the Germans...Barhebraeus, a Syria Bishop living during the twelfth century wrote that 'The Germanikah are a people in Mosel (Nineveh) who came from Persia'...Arab tradition have the Germanikah as Assyrians. (Gemol M. Israelites und Hyksos. Leipzig, 1913, pp.88-90, as shown translated in White, p. 92)
History does show that the Assyrians conquered Persia (Malcom J. The history of Persia, from the most early period to the present time: containing an account of the religion, government, usages, and character of the inhabitants of that kingdom, Volume 1. J. Murray, 1829. Original from Oxford University, Digitized Jan 30, 2009, p. 509), hence Barhebraeus' comments seem consistent with the old Arab beliefs.
Some Assyrians were described as having black or dark hair, while Sir William Smith reported of the Northern Germans:
The Germans were a branch of the great Indo-Germanic race, who, along with the Celts, migrated into Europe from the Caucasus, and the countries around the Black and Caspian seas, at a period long anterior to historical records. They are described as a people of high stature and of great bodily strength, with fair complexions, blue eyes, and yellow or red hair. (Smith W. A smaller classical dictionary of biography, mythology, and geography. Harper, 1877. Original from Harvard University, Digitized Jan 24, 2008, p. 175)
The above consistent with historical Church of God teachings (e.g. McNair R. America and Britain in Prophecy. Global Church of God, San Diego, 1996; Winnail D. Modern Nations and God’s Ancient Plan. Tomorrow's World Magazine, Volume 8, Issue 4. July-August, 2006).
It may be of interest to realize that Germany is called Alemanya in Catalan, Duitsland in Dutch, Allemagne in French, Německo in Czech, Saksamaa in Estonian, Németország in Hungarian, Germania in Italian, Vācija in Lativian, Vokietija in Lithuanian, Tyskland in Norwegian, Niemcy in Polish, Alemanha in Portuguese, Немачка in Serbian, Nemecko in Slovak, Alemania in Spanish, Almanya in Turkish, Німеччина in Ukranian, and yr Almaen in Welsh. The fact that there are words that are so different to describe the German nation in various languages, supports the view that the Germans had been called various names throughout history.
It also appears that a group that the Bible calls Hittites (e.g. Genesis 15:20) were also in the area of central Europe and northern Germany. Because of certain language and DNA connections, there is evidence that they too could have contributed to the ancestry of modern Germans (Kaiser DP. Origin & Ancestors Families Karle & Kaiser of the German-Russian Volga Colonies. Darrel P. Kaiser, 2006, p. 39). Many were considered as "White Nordic types," one of their provinces was named Assura, and the Assyrians, under Sargon II, apparently absorbed many into the Assyrian empire (White C. The Great German Nation: Origins and Destiny. AuthorHouse, 2007, pp. 101, 107,109).
Assyrian Relief from Nineveh, 645-635 B.C.
On September 16, 2012, World News Daily reported the following:
…Babylonian artifacts. Ancient tablets describe “Alla” as a deity of “violence and revolution.”… The…find…links the name to the Epic of Atrahasis, chiseled on tablets sometime around 1700 B.C. in Babylon…“The beginning of the Epic of Atrahasis describes Allah as how all of the gods labored endlessly in grueling work, under the rule of the patron deity Enlil or Elil. But soon revolt of the gods had erupted, and one deity of ‘violence and revolution’ [was] named Allah (spelled by the experts as Alla),” he wrote….“The question remains as to why no expert on Assyriology or Sumerology had even suspected that ‘Alla’ had a connection with the Arabian ‘Allah,’” he wrote. http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/1700-b-c-alla-god-of-violence-and-revolution/
While the above article attempts to connect that to modern Islam, various scholars likely have their doubts. But there is no doubt that names Alla and Allah certainly seem similar.
But could there be any Germanic ties?
Well clearly this research shows a connection between the ancient Assyrians and a warring deity.
Other sources have demonstrated that the ancient Assyrians used the term Alla for some of their deities:
Al-sarru, if Al had been an Assyrian god. We may set down Alman as a possible reading, or even Alnis, but there seems no meaning to either. Now we have a similar name Alla-MAN, this can hardly be phonetic. I venture therefore to read Alla-sarru and Al-sarru, ‘Alla is king.’ As MAN means king…Mannu-ki-Alla shows the same divine name. (Johns CHW. An Assyrian doomsday book, or, Liber censualis of the district round Harran in the seventh century B.C.: copied from the cuneiform tablets in the British Museum, Volume 17 of Assyriologische Bibliothek. J. C. Hinrichs, 1901. Original from Princeton University, Digitized May 28, 2009, p. 15)
They also had other warring deities.
Here are two other references:
ON THE ORIGINAL ASSYRIA. WE proceed to consider the character of another country, noticed as marking… by the Hebrews and Chaldeans, was either Syr, Shur, or Tyr ; so that the compound word might be Ai-syria, or Ai-shyria…which is here rendered Assyria. (Clamet A, Taylor Calmet’s dictionary of the Holy Bible: with the Biblical fragments, Volume 4, 5th edition. Holdsworth and Ball, 1830. Original from the New York Public Library, Digitized Oct 20, 2010, p. 60)
Men prayed to Tyr…In some places he was called Tiwaz and was associated with the Roman God, Mars, the Celtic God, Nadu, as well as the Indian God, Mitra…Tyr was the original God of war, and the precursor of Odin…The name Tiwaz is also related to the Roman God Jupiter, and the Greek God, Zeus. All three names are descended from Dyaus Piter or Father Dyaus, and are all descended from the name Dieus…
A helmet was found in Negau in Austria which bears an inscription…translated as Teiwa, which is an archaic form of Tyr’s name…Tyr was worshipped…in Bavaria (Blumetti R. The Book of Balder Rising. iUniverse, 2004, pp. 142, 143).
Tyr, Mars, etc. were gods of war. And Tyr was worshiped in Bavaria (essentially southern Germany).
Also notice:
Ishtar was a favorite goddess of the Assyrian kings, who styled her as “their lady,” and sometimes coupled her with Asshur, “the Great Lord,” in their invocations. Ishtar had a very old temple at Asshur, the primitive Assyrian capital, and this temple, Tiglath-Pileser I, repaired and beautified. (Clare IS. Ancient oriental nations, Volume 1 of The Unrivaled History of the World: Containing a Full and Complete Record of the Human Race from the Earliest Historical Period to the Present Time, Embracing a General Survey of the Progress of Mankind in National and Social Life, Civil Government, Religion, Literature, Science and Art. Unrivaled Publishing Co., 1889. Original from Indiana University, Digitized Feb 3, 2010p. 225).
Ishtar, also known as Easter/Oster/Ostern (the Germanic goddess of Springtime), long influenced the Assyrians and as well the modern Germans. Ishtar was the goddess of fertility and war. Ishtar also has ties to the ancient Babylonian mystery religion and Nimrod. She was also called Beltis. Belits was the wife of Bel-Nimrod. She was called “the Queen of Fertility” and also known as “the Great Mother” (similar to how some revere Mary, the mother of Jesus today) and essentially was also Ishtar in the Assyrian triad (Clare, pp. 222-223).
Bel, or Bel-Nimrod, according to the testimony of the Assyrian monuments, was worshiped as extensively in Assyria as in Chaldaea, and Babylonia. (Clare, p. 222)
What is the possible relevance of any of this?
The tying together of violent deities from Babylon to Assyria in the past suggests a possible connection in the future.
Why?
Notice the following from the Bible:
23 The Babylonians,
All the Chaldeans,
Pekod, Shoa, Koa,
All the Assyrians with them,
All of them desirable young men,
Governors and rulers,
Captains and men of renown,
All of them riding on horses.
24 And they shall come against you
With chariots, wagons, and war-horses,
With a horde of people.
They shall array against you
Buckler, shield, and helmet all around. (Ezekiel 23:23-24)
So, we see a confederation of Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians--this is consistent with prophecies like Revelation 17:12-13 (see also Must the Ten Kings of Revelation 17:12 Rule over Ten Currently Existing Nations?).
The Bible tells of a time where a leader with Assyrian ties (Isaiah 10:5-7) will rise up and destroy not a few nations. This leader is also the one called the King of the North. This final such leader will, according to the Bible, honor a violent god and he also will destroy many:
38 But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. 39 Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain. 40 “At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. 41 He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown…(Daniel 11:38-41)
What’s the Alla, Tyr, and Ishtar connection?
Precisely the distinguishing in Daniel 11:38 between the “god of fortresses” and “a god his fathers did not know.” The implication, to me at least, is that the “god of fortresses” is related to a “god” of violence that his fathers did know, like Alla, Tyr, and Ishtar.
And while there will also be a new “god” that the King of the North will honor, there will be some difference between his empire (Daniel 2:41-43 and the Babylonian one (Daniel 2:24, 36-37). It may be important to realize that the empire of this final King of the North is also called the “daughter Babylon” in scripture (Jeremiah 50:41-43), thus it must be somehow different, but with some Babylonian connections.
So, this information about the Babylonian warring connection of ancient deities tied in with biblical prophecy shows an additional apparent connection between ancient Babylon and the coming King of the North power.
It should be understood that although the coming King of the North will likely claim to be some type of Christian, the reality is that the historical record shows that the early professors of Christ would not participate in carnal warfare. It is only those whose faiths have stronger ties to warring deities than the true Christian God that do that.
While English-speaking people call the nation Germany, the Germans themselves refer to it as Deutschland. While many claim that the term German come from the Medieval Latin term Germanus and essentially means "brother," another explanation is that it is made up of the Latin words Guerra manus, which basically means "war gang" (some have said "war man" or "war men").
Notice also the following:
Ancient Assyria was the greatest war-making power in all history. Its soldiers were drilled to be hard-fighting WARMEN. When the Assyrians invaded Europe, the Romans called them "Germans" — a name meaning "men of war." And that is how the Assyrians came to be known as Germans. But that is not the only reason the modern Assyrians are called Germans today. ...
The event is recorded in Genesis 14. It is the story of an invasion, by four kings of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, of the land of Palestine. Josephus, the famous Jewish historian, describes this event in these words: "At that time, when the Assyrians had the dominion over Asia... the Assyrians made war upon them" — the Canaanites — "and dividing their army into four parts, fought against them. Now every part of the army had its own commander... then the army of the Assyrians came upon them, under their commanders, Amrephel, Arioch, Chodorlaomer, and Tidal." ("Antiquities of the Jews", I, ix, § 1.)
These men were ASSYRIAN generals, commanding an ASSYRIAN army divided into four parts. Notice that the Assyrians are making war, conquering and plundering other people. But did you notice the NAMES of these Assyrians? Not a single name is Hebrew. All are of foreign derivation.
The name of one of these four Assyrian commanders was Tidal. It is an INDO-GERMANIC name. It is not Semitic. Here we have evidence that even before the days of Abraham the Assyrians were speaking more than one language — and one of the languages was an INDO-GERMANIC tongue! More on this later. But now, back to King Tidal.
The name Tidal was a common throne name among the ancient Hatti or Chatti kings of Anatolia, or Asia Minor. Since Tidal was ALSO an Assyrian king or commander, that would make the Hatti or Chatti AN ASSYRIAN TRIBE! The Chatti were the ruling tribe in Anatolia (Asia Minor). They forded it over several other nations. Notice that in Genesis 14:1 Tidal, the Hattian king, is called "king of nations."
The Hatti Were Hessian Germans!
Now what does the word "Hatti" or "Chatti" mean in the Hebrew language? Its closest derivation is the root "chathath" (Strongs - 2865). It means "to terrorize, or break down, as in war, hence a warrior or MAN OF WAR." The Chatti were therefore Men of War or Germans. The name Chatti is but the Hebrew form of the word GERMAN, THE VERY WORD which the Romans applied to the Assyrians.
That means that the ancient Chatti were Assyrian — or German — migrants who early settled in Asia Minor. Did these Chatti or Hatti later also migrate into Western Europe, where the Germans are today?
Indeed! The Chatti were the chief people who settled in modern Germany. Their descendants are the HESSIANS today! In fact, the Old High German spelling of Hesse was Hatti!
The land of Hatti was the WESTERN part of the Assyrian Empire. The ancient Assyrian Empire was divided just as the modern Germans are divided between East and West Germany and Austria. THE ANCIENT KINGS OF ASSYRIA called themselves Khatti-sars — meaning the "Kaisers of Hatti," or "Kings of Hatti." The chief people of Hatti regarded themselves AS ASSYRIANS.
The Assyrian kings wrote of the tribes of Hatti — the ancestors of the Hessians: "AS ASSYRIANS I [ac]counted them" (D. D. Luckenbill, "Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia", Vol. II, § 29). The ancient capital of the land of Hatti was popularly known among the Romans as "Ninus Vetus — the old Nineveh" ("History of Art in Sardinia, Judaea, Syria and Asia Minor", by G. Perrot and C. Chipiez, Vol. II, page 272). (Hoeh H. GERMANY in Prophecy! - Part 2. Plain Truth, January 1963)
Among the most important German tribes were the "Hatti" (the ancestors of the modern Hessians), the "Alemani" and "Suabi," the "Quadi," the "Casuari" and others. The Romans called them collectively Germani, meaning "War-men" (from the Encyclopedia Britannica, article, "Germany").
The ancestor of the Germans was glorified as their God of war. The ancient Germans called him Thor or Thur from which our word "Thursday" comes. Thursday means the "day of Thur or Thor," the thunderer.
But from where did all these Germanic people come? — for Europe was not their original homeland!
Here is the answer of history: "There can be no doubt that they... migrated into Europe from the Caucasus and the countries around the Black and Caspian seas," states Smith's Classical Dictionary, article "Germania," p. 361.
The Germans, then, can be traced in historical records to the regions surrounding the Black and Caspian seas, which border on the ancient Biblical land of Mesopotamia. This is the region where civilization commenced and from where the Bible patriarchs came!
In this very region we find in ancient times cities bearing such names as Germanopolis, meaning "the city of the Germans," and Germanicia! (See Lempriere's Classical Dictionary, p. 282.)Germans Spread Out from Bible Lands
Most of the ancient Germans moved westward from the Bible lands into Europe. But one small tribe moved eastward and settled among the Persians. Historians called them the Germanii (Herodotus' History, bk. 1, § 125). The region where they settled is today called Kharmania or Carmania. The oriental Kerman rugs, recognized the world over for their fine quality, are made by this region. Last year, Dr. Meredith and I had the opportunity to visit Persia, where this one small branch of the Germanic people anciently settled.
But the bulk of the warring Germanic people moved westward into Europe from Mesopotamia (the present-day Iraq, where the Nazi Underground is working). Mesopotamia was the central home land from which the Aryans of history sprang. Notice that under Hitler the Germans were thoroughly indoctrinated in the concept that they were the true "Aryans" or "the Master Race"! (Hoeh H. Germany in Prophecy, 1958)
Many moderns will note that the Germans under Adolf Hitler claimed to be Aryans, which, to me at least, is interesting as it sounds a bit like Assyrians. While most of the NAZI history of the Aryans was false, the Assyrians did exist and also claimed to be the master race.
The following claim, which I have NOT been able to independently verify, suggests that there were Aryans that became Assyrians:
The Sumerians, SHUMERIANS - ASSYRIANS ( WHITE ARYANS) are definately {sic} recorded on their tablet writing records tell of coming down from Eastern Central Europe! You will find that the early writing there is the same as even shown on the Bulgarian ancient history native writing as well thread.
An ARYAN racial physical type are seen in their early stone facial portraits and seals from the earliest Sumerian times. They are seen prerdonderatingly of longish-headed, broad browed and large brained 'NORDIC' type! They were fair in complextion and attested by their blue eyes of white shell inlaid with lapis lazuli stone and of fair hair.
The officals {sic} and other 'Seafaring Sumerians' wore the horned helmet and thus called the Hatti, Catti , Katti or Kaddi of the ancient Goths ... https://www.stormfront.org/forum/t427832-2/ accessed 04/10/18
(Now, perhaps it should be mentioned that I have been able to verify with another source that there seems to have been some type of Sumerian-Assyrian-Aryan link. Yet, while it did not discuss 'White Aryans,' it did mention 'Aryan Europe.' Here is the paper: Cooper JS. Sumerian and Aryan : Racial Theory, Academic Politics and Parisian Assyriology. Revue de l'histoire des religions Année 1993 210-2: 169-205.)
The term Deutschland is an interesting one and a bit difficult to nail down where it came from. Some tie it in with Zeus and/or the name Tiw:
Zeus Pater of the former and the Dyaus-pitar of the latter represent the Jupiter of the Latins, and the Tuisco, Zio, Tyr and Tiw of the German nations. The etymological changes of the word are indeed almost numberless. (Cox GW. The mythology of the Aryan nations. Longmans, Green, and co., 1870 Original from Princeton University, Digitized Dec 8, 2009, Volume 1. p. 354)
Tyr, the German sun god is made the same as Zeus and Jove by Grimm (Cambell J. The Primitive History of the Ionians. The Canadian Journal of Science, Literature, and History, No. LXXXVI, August 1874, p. 561).
One old German story held that Tiw* was the father of Man, and that Man's three sons were Ing, Isk, and Er, the fathers of the chief Deutsch tribes. ...* The same word as the Greek Zeus and Latin Deus. (Yonge CM. Aunt Charlotte's stories of German history for the little ones. Marcus Ward & co., Chandos street, Strand and Royal Ulster works, 1878 Original from Harvard University Digitized Mar 20, 2008, p. 22)
So in the above we see a possible connection between Dyaus-pitar with Tiw/Tyr and Tiw/Zeus with Deutsch. Others have suggested that the term Tuisco became the term Deutsch and even with the term Assyria (it should be noted that not all sources agree completely with each other on this issue):
It is usual to identify Tiw or Tyr with the god Tuisco...Tuisco (i.e. Thiudiaks or Deutsch) (Braddon ME. Belgravia: Volume 41. 1880 via Google Books, p 429).
The ancient Teutons venerated the earth-god Tuisco and his son Mannus, as found in old songs and history -books; from the former, the nation derived its ultimate name, tuisco, Deutsch in German. He was considered the founder of the nation. (P.F. The Ancient Teutons. In: Tingley KAW. The Theosophical path: illustrated monthly ..., Volume 23, New Century Corporation., July-December 1922. Original from the University of Michigan. Digitized Feb 23, 2009, p. 575)
Assyria is s:Athur (Awde N, Lamassu M, Al-Jeloo N. Aramaic (Assyrian/Syriac) dictionary and phrasebook. Hippocrene Books, 2007, p. 4)
Tyr and Bauga were two subordinate gods of war (Mallett PH. e Northern antiquities: or, A description of the manners, customs, religion and laws of the ancient Danes ... With a translation of the Edda ... Tr. from "L'introduction à l'histoire de Dannemarc, &c., par Mons. Mallet." With additional notes by the English translator, and Goranson's Latin version. Translated by Johan Göransson and Thomas Percy. Printed by C. Stewart, 1809. Original from Oxford University, Digitized Jan 31, 2007, p. 328).
The supreme god of the Assyrians was Asshur who later became known in Europe as Tyr or Tir, derived from Atir or Athur, which is the Indo-Germanic form of the Hebrew Asshur...Another deity of Germany was Thuisto, Tusito or Tuisco...Deutsch and Deutchsland is directly derived from Tuisto or Tuisch. (White, pp. 68,98)
The great god of Assyria was Asshur...Germanic Peoples...Their hero is Askr, or the ash, and he is also Tuisco, whose wife Nertha is Naarah. Irmin and Hermoder, connecting with him, must give us Harum, who, as Naram Sin, is made a son of the Assyrian Shagarak- tiyach. (Campbell J. The Shepherd Kings of Egypt. The Canadian Journal of Science, Literature, and History, No. LXXXVI, August 1874, pp. 225, 266)
In Swedish, Germany is called Tyskland, and that may be related to why Deutschland is used (as it might indicate land of Tyr). The Danish word for German is Tysk, and for Germany is also Tyskland.
On the other hand, Wikipedia does not tie Tiw in with the term Deutsch in its article on Tuesday, but it indicates some Germanic connection:
The name Tuesday derives from the Old English "Tiwesdæg" and literally means "Tiw's Day." Tiw is the Old English form of the Proto-Germanic god *Tîwaz, or Týr in Norse, a god of war and law.
Here is some information related to the Roman historian Tacitus (died 117 A.D.):
Tacitus says the name Germani was of late use, and...were at one time called Tungri...
...Tacitus writes that the Germans had poems (sagas?), which celebrated Tuisto, Tiw, born of the earth, and his son Mannus, man; though Tiw elsewhere is seen to be the son of Woden and Fraga...(Barnes W. Early England and the Saxon-English: with some notes on the father-stock of the Saxon-English, the Frisians. Smith, 1869. Original from the University of Michigan, Digitized Oct 3, 2007, pp. 142, 144).
Notice what was reported about 50 years ago:
Why Germans Call Themselves "Deutsch"
Perhaps you have never thought of it -- but the Germans do not call themselves "German." They refer to themselves as Deutsh, and to their country as Deutshland. Why?
Let's turn back the pages of history for the answer.
The Assyrians anciently called their land Athur -- the Indo-Germanic form of the Semitic word Asshur (Encyclopedia Britannica, article, "Mesopotamia").
Sometimes the name Athur was shortened simply to Tyr in the Indo-European tongue. Asshur or Tyr was worshipped as the god of war by all the ancient world. His name was placed on the third day of the week -- called "Tuesday" in the English-speaking world. Tuesday is Asshur's day.
Tuesday is from an old Saxon word meaning "Tiw's day." Tiw was the god of war of the Germanic people of Europe. Tiw, or Tiwe, was also known by the name Tyr -- that is, Asshur. Tiw is another name of Asshur! The Assyrians knew Asshur or Tyr was their ancestor. We should expect, therefore, that when they migrated to Europe they would still be known as the sons of Tyr or Tiw, that is, Asshur. And what do we find?
When the Germans appeared in Europe, they claimed Tyr or Tiw as their ancestor! But what has the name "Deutsch" to do with Tiw?
The modern German word "Deutsch" -- as educated Germans know -- is derived from the old Anglo-Saxon word Tiw. (See any thorough book on etymology and word derivations.) Whenever a German calls himself Deutsch, he is saying he is Tiw's or Asshur's son -- an Assyrian. And when he terms his country Deutschland, he is saying Tiw's or Asshur's land -- Assyria!
Even ancient Hindu literature uses both the word Asgras and Daityas to refer to the Assyrians. Daityas is but a Sanskrit word for "Deutsch" -- a name applied to the Assyrians over 1500 years before the birth of Christ! (Hoeh H. Germany in Prophecy. Plain Truth, January 1963, pp. 17,27)
Early in 1605 an important publication appeared in England entitled Restitution of Decayed Intelligence: in Antiquities. The author, R. Verstegan, had this to say about the origin of the name of the German people:
"Tuysco, the most ancient and peculiar god of all the Germans ... Of this Tuisco, the first and chiefest man of many among the Germans, AND AFTER WHOM THEY DO CALL THEMSELVES Tuytshen, that is, duytshes or duytsh people, I have already spoken."
Tuysco-often spelled for short as Tiw---or Tyr were the German names of Asshur, ancestor of the Assyrians. And the only modern nation to bear his name, to call themselves and their land after him, are the German people. By their own admission they are Assyrians! ( The Bible Answers Short Questions from our Readers. Plain Truth, February 1963, p. 45)
In general, modern secular scholars do not agree with the above from Dr. Hoeh (and Dr. Hoeh, himself, was not accurate in every detail) nor a clear Assyrian ancestoral connection to Germany.
Note: the terms Germanus, German, Germany, and Deutschland are not found in the Bible. Yet that is not particularly unusual as most nations are not mentioned by their modern names in scripture. However, since the Bible is clear that all humans descended from Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:20) and many of their descendants through Noah are mentioned by name in scripture (Genesis 10), various ones have attempted to identify which group the Germanic peoples could have descended from that are listed in the Bible. By combining biblical with historical information assists us to understand who the Germans are and what they will ultimately do in the near future.
Various Church of God researchers believe that the Assyrian peoples migrated into central Europe in ancient times. Notice what the following two Church of God researchers have written:
After the fall of the Assyrian Empire, the Roman historian Pliny mentioned a tribe of the "Assyriani" among the Scythian peoples in the Crimea north of the Black Sea (Natural History, Bk IV. XII. 81)...Researcher Leon Poliakov notes the ancient Bavarian account that the people of Bavaria came into central Europe from the region of Armenia by the Black Sea (The Aryan Myth, p. 76). Considering this information, it is not surprising to find medieval Arab writers describing the Germans as "Assyrians" (Israelites und Hyksos, Germol, pp. 89–90). The links between Germany and Assyria can be found, and are neither far-fetched nor imagined. (Winnail D. Resurgent Germany: A Fourth Reich? Tomorrow's World Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 5, Sep-Oct 2007, pp. 16-20, 29)
Asia Minor first appears in Biblical history in the days of Abram. In Genesis 14:1 "Tidal king of Goiim" is named as ruler of Asia Minor. "Goiim" is the Hebrew word for "Nations." The history of ancient Asia Minor is the story of continuous attempts to unite the warring nations of the region into a loose confederacy. In earliest days Tidal ruled this confederacy.
But the nations of Asia Minor were themselves part of a greater empire composed of kings of Shinar, Elam and Assyria. The Jewish historian Josephus describes this vast empire in "Antiquities", I, ix. "At this time, when the Assyrians had the dominion over Asia, the people of Sodom were in a flourishing condition .... the Assyrians made war upon them; and, dividing their army into four parts, fought against them. Now every part of the army had its own commander; and when the battle was joined, the Assyrians were conquerors; and imposed tribute on the kings of the Sodomites, who submitted to this slavery twelve years ... but on the thirteenth year they rebelled, and then the army of the Assyrians came upon them, under their commanders Amraphel, Arioch, Chodorlaomer, and Tidal. These kings had laid waste all Syria, and overthrown the offspring of the giants ...."
Tidal was therefore an Assyrian king and general ruling over several different nations and peoples. So famous was Tidal that many later kings took the same name in Asia Minor. Historians, transliterating late cuneiform inscriptions, spell the name Tudhaliya(s) — as, in similar fashion, they spell Tiglathpileser Tukulti-apil-Esarra. In the three succeeding centuries after the battle of Genesis 14, little is known of Asia Minor. The curtain lifts during the reign of Sargon "the Great" of Akkad. Assyrians from Mesopotamia continually migrated into Asia Minor, where they set up numerous trading posts. The Akkadian kings claim to have conquered the region. A vast collection of cuneiform tablets from this and later periods have been recovered by archaeologists. They exhibit an unusual affiliation between native rulers and Assyrian traders. An affiliation inexplicable apart from Josephus' statement that Assyrians settled and ruled Anatolia in Abram's day. So prominent were the Assyrians in Asia Minor that Sylax, the author of "Periplus" (he lived about 550), wrote of this region: "The coast of the Black Sea ... is called Assyria" (p. 261 of Perrot and Chipiez' "History of Art in Sardinia, Judaea, Syria and Asia Minor", vol. II).
Assyrian kings and traders were only one of the early people to inhabit Asia Minor. ... After the fall of Troy in 677 the Assyrians commenced migration out of Anatolia northwest up the Danube into Europe. Roman annals within a few centuries were filled with the name Chatti, or Hatti, which later became changed to Hesse. (See "Encyclopaedia Britannica" article "Germany".) (Hoeh HL. Compendium of World History - Volume 1. 1962).
The ancient city of Germanicopolis was located in Cilicia, in southeastern Asia Minor according to Ammianus Marellinus, book 1, § 27. It belonged of old to the Hatti. Cilicia is mentioned several places in the Bible. Paul was born in Cilicia (Acts 21:39 and 22:3). Now look at a map of Europe. We find that one of the eastern provinces of pre-World War II Germany is called SILESIA! -- spelled slightly different, but pronounced the same! The name of Cilicia in Asia Minor was simply transplanted to Eastern Germany by the Hatti who migrated from Cilicia to Silesia, then to the Rhine. Silesia is only a modern spelling! (Hoeh H. Germany in Prophecy. Plain Truth, January 1963, p. 17)
The Roman Catholic saint Jerome (late fourth/early fifth century) seems to have indicated that the descendants of the biblical Asshur (Genesis 10:22) which seems to be Assyria (Radmacher Concordance in. Nelson Study Bible, p. 11), ended up in parts of Europe, like Germany:
He that lets is taken out of the way, and yet we do not realize that Antichrist is near. Yes, Antichrist is near...The whole country between the Alps and the Pyrenees, between the Rhine and the Ocean, has been laid waste by hordes of Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Herules, Saxons, Burgundians, Allemanni and— alas! For the commonweal!— even Pannonians. For Assur also is joined with them. The once noble city of Moguntiacum has been captured and destroyed. In its church many thousands have been massacred. The people of Vangium after standing a long siege have been extirpated. The powerful city of Rheims, the Ambiani, the Altrebatæ, the Belgians on the skirts of the world, Tournay, Spires, and Strasburg have fallen to Germany: while the provinces of Aquitaine and of the Nine Nations, of Lyons and of Narbonne are with the exception of a few cities one universal scene of desolation. (Jerome. Letter CXXIII to Ageruchia, Chapter 16. Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001123.htm>).
The late scholar and evangelist Dr. Herman Hoeh wrote the following:
Ninus (his Bible name was Nimrod), according to Genesis 10, led the ancient Assyrians from Babylon and supervised their building of Nineveh, the capital of ancient Assyria. (In 1957 Dr. C. Paul Meredith and I viewed in Iraq, the ancient Mesopotamia, the very cities originally settled with the Assyrians by Nimrod.) From there the Assyrians began their conquest of the ancient world. They, too, called themselves "the Master Race." But why do the German records speak of the son of an ASSYRIAN King as the builder of their first city? What connection have the German tribes WITH THE ASSYRIANS of history?
Jerome, who lived at the time when the Indo-Germanic tribes were invading Europe, gives the answer: "For 'Assur (the Assyrian) also is joined with them'"! (Letter 123, § 16, quoted from Psalm 83:8; from "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers".)
Did the Assyrians Invade Europe?
Yes! Jerome said so! But how did he know?
He saw them! He was an EYEWITNESS to their migrations from Mesopotamia and the shores of the Black and Caspian seas!
Only 300 years before Jerome, the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder declared the "Assyriani" — the Assyrians — were dwelling north of the Black Sea ("Natural History", IV, § 12, page 183). But the Assyrians did not remain there! They are not there today! Of course not — they migrated into Central Europe — where the Germans live today! (Hoeh H. Germany in Prophecy! - Part 1. Plain Truth, December 1962)
Various other scholars have noted similarities between ancient Assyria and modern Germany:
Assyria is interesting on account of the close parallel between her methods and morals and those of modern Germany. In politics, Germany has been an imitator of Assyria. (Vestal SC. The maintenance of peace, or, The foundations of domestic and international peace as deduced from a study of the history of nations. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1920 Original from Harvard University Digitized Dec 15, 2008, p. 118)
Similarities between Assyria and Germany have been noted by several (Oswalt JN, Oswalt J. The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1-39 New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1986, p. 226)
Some others, like George Spiteri, also call modern Assyria as Germany (Spiteri G. Return of the Living Jesus Christ. Xulon Press, 2007, p. xxvii), but without going into much detail as to why.
A recent work that goes into the most detail about the similarities on this was published by Craig White and is titled The Great German Nation: Origins and Destiny. Without going into all the details, his book looks at ancient records and practices of the Assyrians, including certain archaeological records, to demonstrate his reasoning why Germans are, in the main, basically descended from ancient Assyrians.
In the first century AD, Pliny reportedly claimed that the Assyrians were north of the Black Sea (Winnail D. Resurgent Germany: A Fourth Reich? Tomorrow's World Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 5, Sep-Oct 2007). Here is Pliny's account in Latin and a google-computer translation into English:
Sed a Carcinite Taurica incipit, quondam mari circumfusa et ipsa qua nunc campi iacent; dein vastis attollitur iugis. triginta sunt eorum populi, ex iis mediterranei XXIII; VI oppida Orgocini, Characeni, Assyrani, Stactari, Acisalitae, Caliordi. iugum ipsum Scythotauri tenent; cluduntur ab occidente Cherroneso Nea, ab ortu Scythis Satarcis. in ora a Carcine oppida Taphrae in ipsis angustiis paeninsulae, mox Heraclea Cherronesus, libertate a Romanis donatum; Megarice vocabatur antea, praecipui nitoris, in toto eo tractu custoditis Graeciae moribus, Vpassuum ambiente muro. (Pliny the Elder. Natural History, Book 4, Chapter 85 (in Latin). http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/4*.html viewed 10/06/11)
A Carcinite Taurica begins, once the sea he was surrounded and the field itself which I am now lie then raised huge hills. and thirty of them are the people, of the Midland 23; Orgocini 6 towns, Characeni, Assyrani, Stactari, Acisalitae, Caliordi. the yoke itself Scythotauri hold the Nea CHERSONESE conclude from the west, from the rising of the Scythians, Satarcis. CRAB Taphrae from the towns on the coast in the midst of the narrow peninsula, just CHERSONESE Heraclea, freedom given by the Romans; Megarice was called before, the principal of brightness, of Greece was kept tract of all his character, encompassing Vpassuum the wall. (Computer-generated translation).
So, Pliny's account seems to support the idea of ending up in Middle Europe. Simlarly, one of the oldest traditions of the Bavarians claim that they came to Central Europe by way of the Black Sea (White, p. 100).
There is also a very old legend that claims that the city of Trier in Germany was founded by an Assyrian leader:
For legend, going history better by more than 2000 years, ascribes the founding' of Trier to Assyrian Prince Trebeta, who gave it his name, in 2053 BC. (Fodor E. Germany 1962. D. McKay, 1962 Original from the University of Michigan Digitized Oct 12, 2006, p. 175; see also Treverorum A. British Quarterly Review, July 1875, pp. 1-3)
Hence, the idea that at least some of the Germans have Assyrian heritage has long been held and is not a new idea.
Secular scholars have tended to minimized connections between the Assyrians and Germans, such as the old city of Trier, the writing of 1605 that Dr. Hoeh referred to, and other information.
It is not that many of the relevant scholars do not know about Trier and certain aspects of the Assyrian-German connection, it is basically that they consider these records of history as questionable myths/legends which do not tend to fit their preferred views on the origins of the Germanic peoples. Yet most other "scholarly" theories that I have seen of Germanic ancestry have no real proof of where the German peoples originate from much prior to the time of Christ and the Roman Empire. Basically the mainstream scholars tend to simply believe that somehow people from Asia (including those just north of the Black Sea) ended up in northern and central Europe through migration, but without being clear as to from whom they originally descended from, given that they do not have a biblical basis for their theories. Since pretty much everyone has to have descended from someone listed in Genesis chapter 10 of the Bible, the connections of the Germanic peoples to having Asshur as at least one of their progenitors has more historical support than any other theory for that time period than I have come across.
It probably should be mentioned that although there was often conflict between God's people and Assyria in the Old Testament times, it was not always completely negative. Notice, for a biblical example, the following:
19 And the descendants of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 20 For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves; all of them were ritually clean. And they slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the descendants of the captivity, for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. 21 Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the filth of the nations of the land in order to seek the Lord God of Israel. 22 And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the Lord made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. (Ezra 6:19-22)
Additionally, it should also be mentioned that there have been faithful Christians in the Germanic region of Europe for centuries. When they first came is not highly clear, but they probably came as the result of missionary activities that originated from Asia Minor.
Notice what Dr. T.V. Moore reported:
The type of Christianity which first was favored, then raised to leadership by Constantine was that of the Roman Papacy. But this was not the type of Christianity that first penetrated Syria, northern Italy, southern France, and Great Britain. The ancient records of the first believers in Christ in those parts, disclose a Christianity which is not Roman but apostolic. These lands were first penetrated by missionaries, not from Rome, but from Palestine and Asia Minor. The Greek New Testament, the Received Text, they brought with them, or its translation, was of the type from which the Protestant Bibles, as the King James in the English, and the Lutheran in German, were translated. (Moore T.V. The Culdee Church, chapters 3 and 4, and Wilkinson, Our Authorized Bible Vindicated, pp. 25, 26 (As cited in Dugger A, A History of True Religion, pp. 90-91)
A. Dugger and C. Dodd reported that there were faithful ones in the Germanic areas that resisted the Church of Rome:
It was between 500 and 600 A.D. that the Church of God was sorely oppressed by the state religion clothed with civil power, and completely overpowered, and scattered to the valleys of the mountains in all parts of the world. We shall now insert a few facts from reliable historians to show how the true followers of Jesus were indeed driven into the wilderness, where they took refuge in the rocks, and dens, and caves of the earth, yet they rejoiced in persecution, and lived in humble obedience to the will of God, being fed by Him from His word.
The historian Jones gives an account of the flight of the persecuted saints from the oppression of the harlot church seated upon the Roman beast. His account follows:
"Multitudes however, fled like innocent and defenseless sheep from these devouring wolves. They crossed the Alps, and traveled in every direction, as Providence and the prospect of safety conducted them, into Germany, England, France, Italy, and other countries. There they trimmed their lamps, and shone with new luster. Their worth everywhere drew attention, and their doctrine formed increasing circles around them. The storm which threatened their destruction only scattered them as the precious seeds of the glorious reformation of the Christian Church." -- Jones' Church History, p. 208, ed. 1837.
...In Hugh Smith's history of the seventh century, we find the statement on page 191, as follows: "Missionaries from Britain, Scotland, and Ireland traveled into Germany with the design of propagating or preserving Christianity."...
Dr. Allix says, "We have found a body of men in Italy before the year 1026, who believed contrary to the opinions of the church of Rome, and who highly condemned their errors." -- Idem, p. 218.
"That the Waldensian faith and worship existed many centuries before Protestantism arose is undeniable; the proofs and monuments of this fact lie scattered over all Europe; but the antiquity of the Waldenses is the antiquity of Protestantism. The Church of the Reformation was in the loins of the Waldensian church ages before the birth of Luther; her first cradle was placed amid these terrors and sublimities, those ice-clad peaks and great bulwarks of rock. In their dispersions over so many lands over France, the Low Countries, Germany, Poland, Bohemia, Moravia, England, Calabria, Naples, -- the Waldenses sowed the seeds of the great spiritual revival which, beginning with the days of Wycliffe, and advancing in the times of Luther and Calvin, awaits its full consummation in the ages to come." -- Wylie, History of the Waldenses, pp. 24, 25.
Between the years of 700 and 800 A.D., Hugh Smith says, in his history of the church, page 232, "Many British missionaries crossed the ocean (the English Channel), and penetrated into the gloomy recesses of the German forests for the instruction of the fierce and uncivilized people."...
Charlemagne, emperor of Rome, called a council of 300 bishops, 794 A.D., to consider the subject of images in the churches, and some other matters. The first teaching of transubstantiation appeared during this century in the teaching of the Roman church, says Hugh Smith, page 222...
How Rome sought to extirpate the true faith by the sword of the legions of Charlemagne, is told in the following extract from the history of Orchard:
"In 789, Charles the Great resolved to subdue the Saxons or destroy them, unless they accepted of life on the condition of professing the Christian religion agreeably to the Roman ritual. On pain of death the Saxons, with their infant offspring, were to receive baptism. Germany in time was subdued, and religious liberty destroyed. The king took an oath of fidelity of them and received pledges for the fulfillment of his stipulations. In this way the religious privileges of these and other nations were infringed on, and by these and similar means Christianity, under state patronage, made rapid progress for ages, as detailed in the works of hierarchists. To make the conversion of these people accord with the gospel record, apostles were sent to them, but the Germans were exceedingly jealous of such commissioned ministers of religion.
"These apostles of Rome preached trine-immersion, but said nothing of infants. Success attended the imperial commands; other kingdoms were visited in virtue of the same authority, and converted from fear of the carnal weapon. The evidence of their complete conversion was made apparent by their baptism. Wooden tubs and other uten-sils were placed in the open air, and the new converts with their children were immersed naked into the profession of Christianity. This indelicacy in the mode originated with the advocates of minor baptism as already shown: it has never been practiced in Baptist communities. This mandate of Charles is the first legal authority for infant baptism, and we ask if the mental character must not have been exceedingly low, to enforce such terms of denudation on the female portion of candidates. We repudiate the charge, and leave the blot on those who were guilty of the practice.
"The wilds and forests of Germany would prove asylums to dissenters through the rise and assumption of the man of sin. That Germany was inhabited by persons of this description is evident, and that such persons must have been very active in disseminating the truth becomes plain, since it is recorded that the Baptist itinerant preachers, could in their travels, pass, during the ninth century through the whole German empire, and lodge every night at the house of one of their friends. It is very probable these traveling ministers were Paulicians or Paterines from Bulgaria or Italy. They were termed by Catholics anabaptist preachers. Their sentiments of religion are learned, and their views of the ordinances proved, from their confession of faith, which asserts, `In the beginning of Christianity there was no baptizing of children; and their forefathers practiced no such thing'; and, `We do from our hearts acknowledge that baptism is a washing, which is performed with water, and doth hold out the washing of the soul from sin.'" -- Orchard's Baptist History, pp. 322, 323.
"There was no kingdom of Southern and Central Europe to which these missionaries did not find their way, and where they did not leave traces of their visit by the disciples whom they made. On the west they penetrated into Spain. In Southern France they found congenial fellow laborers in the Albigenses, by whom the seeds of truth were plentifull scattered over Dauphine and Languedoc. On the east, descending the Rhine and the Danube, they leavened Germany, Bohemia, and Poland with their doctrines, their track being marked with the edifices for worship and the stakes of martyrdom that arose around their steps. Even the Seven-hilled City they feared not to enter, scattering the seed on ungenial soil, if perchance some of it might take root and grow. Their naked feet and coarse woolen garments made them somewhat marked figures in the streets of a city that clothed itself in purple and fine linen; and when their errand was discovered, as sometimes chanced, the rulers of Christendom took care to further, in their own way, the springing of the seed, by watering it with the blood of the men who had sowed it.
"Thus did the Bible in those ages, veiling its majesty and its mission, travel silently through Christendom, entering homes and hearts, and there making its abode.
"From her lofty seat Rome looked down with contempt upon the Book and its humble bearers. She aimed at bowing the necks of kings, thinking if they were obedient, meaner men would not dare to revolt; and so she took little heed of a power which, weak as it seemed, was destined at a future day to break in pieces the fabric of her dominion.
"By and by she began to be uneasy, and to have a boding of calamity. The penetrating eye of Innocent III detected the quarter whence danger was to arise. He saw in the labors of these humble men the beginning of a movement which, if permitted to go on and gather strength, would one day sweep away all that it had taken the toils and intrigues of centuries to achieve. He straightway commenced those terrible crusades which wasted the sowers, but watered the seed, and helped to bring on, at its appointed hour, the catastrophe which he sought to avert." -- Wylie, History of the Waldenses, pp. 22, 23
(Dugger AN, Dodd CO. A History of True Religion, 3rd ed. Jerusalem, 1972 (Church of God, 7th Day). Chapters 9, 10, 11,13)
Notice what the Catholic Cardinal Newman wrote:
One of the first questions which it is natural to ask on entering upon the subject is, whereas the Pope is said to be Antichrist, sometimes from the fourth, sometimes from the seventh century, when was he first detected and denounced, and by whom?
On this point, Todd supplies us with much information. It appears that the belief that the Pope was Antichrist was the conclusion gradually formed and matured out of the belief that the Church of Rome was Babylon, by three heretical bodies, between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries, in consequence of their being submitted to persecution for their opinions.
"In the middle of the eleventh century, numerous emigrants from Thrace and the East had established themselves in the north of Italy, and especially in the neighbourhood of Milan; and some, despising a fixed habitation, or unable to obtain one, itinerated throughout various parts of France and Germany. The doctrines of these sects exhibit various shades of extravagance and error, and appear to have had a close affinity with the Oriental Manichees or Paulicians, from whom they are historically descended…”
These were the Albigenses, the first of the three independent families of heresy above mentioned.
The second protesting sect which those times produced was, according to Dr. Todd, of a much purer and more respectable character. It originated at the end of the twelfth century, The Waldenses…(Newman JH. The Protestant Idea of Antichrist. [British Critic, Oct. 1840]. Newman Reader — Works of John Henry Newman. Copyright © 2004 by The National Institute for Newman Studies. http://www.newmanreader.org/works/essays/volume2/antichrist1.htmlpp. 117-118)
Perhaps it should be noted that The Catholic Encyclopedia apparently overlooked the fact that during the Pergamos era that certain Paulicians had came up with the papal/antichrist teaching (Mass A.J. Antichrist. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume I. Copyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York)--but it Cardinal Newman recognized that it had dissenters in the Germanic areas.
In 1968, the old Worldwide Church of God claimed:
Thyatira Era...The Waldenses recognized that they were the true successors of the apostolic church. They kept the SABBATH, also the yearly PASSOVER. And each September or October (in God's seventh month -- see Lev. 23), they held at the headquarters church a great "conference." As many as 700 persons attended from afar. New students were chosen, ministerial assignments were made, AND CROWDS GATHERED DAILY TO LISTEN TO SERMONS. What could this gathering have been but the Feast of Tabernacles! Under the name of Passagini, we have the clearest sort of statement that these people, about 1200, observed the whole Old Testament law, including the Sabbath and FESTIVALS! People called Cathars at Cologne, Germany, kept a fall festival, called "Malilosa", even before Waldo began to preach. (LESSON 51 (1968) AMBASSADOR COLLEGE BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE "And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place ..." Rev. 12:6)
There was a group of Germans who came to the Americas in the 1600/1700s that kept the Sabbath:
...while the Order of the Woman of the Wilderness, as they were popularly known, or The Contented of the God-loving Soul, as they styled themselves, were not actual Seventh Day Baptists, we do know that they observed the Seventh Day as the Sabbath... (Randolph CF. THE GERMAN SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS. In Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America: A Series of Historical Papers Written in Commemoration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Organization of the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference, Celebrated at Ashaway, Rhode Island, August 20-25, 1902, Seventh Day Baptist General Conference. Seventh Day Baptist General Conference by the American Sabbath Tract Society, 1910. Original from the University of Michigan. Digitized, Sep 25, 2007, p. 936)
It is possible that the above group was a compromised (they may have also held certain Lutheran as well as monastic doctrines) descendant of certain faithful Albigensian groups. The group emphasized the millennium and tried to figure out who the “ten lost tribes of Israel” were (they wondered if the American Indians were the descendants) (Ibid, pp. 949-950). Many, if not nearly all, of the German Sabbath-keepers in the 1600-1700s were also pacifists and considered to be separatists, even in Germany (Ibid, pp. 938-939).
In 1584 a treatise by Englishman John Stockwood, titled A Verie Profitable and Necessarie Discourse Concerning the observation and keeping of the Sabboth Day, extracted from an earlier work by the German theologian Urisinus, was produced. (Ball B. Seventh Day Men: Sabbatarians and Sabbatarianism in England and Wales, 1600-1800, 2nd edition. James Clark & Co., 2009, pp. 35,36)
Here is some of what The Catholic Encyclopedia said about the First Vatican Council:
On 6 December, 1864, two days before the publication of the Syllabus, Pius IX announced, at a session of the Congregation of Rites, his intention to call a general council…Although the Bull convoking the council was received with joy by the bulk of the Catholic masses, it aroused much discontent in many places, especially in Germany, France, and England. (Kirch, Joseph. "Vatican Council." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 11 Jul. 2008 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15303a.htm>)
The following may describe the first Sabbatarians in Canada, who apparently came from Germany:
The first Sabbath-observers in Canada...were brought to Quebec against their will. The German Sabbatarians were pacifist fur traders in the Shenandoah Valley. In March 1757 a French priest led a party of Indians to attack the German Sabbatarians...Most of the German Seventh-Day Baptists were killed and scalped...Only three Germans were taken as prisoners...They eventually were taken to France...they died. (Neumann B. A History of the Seventh-Day Sabbath Among Christians in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Bible Sabbath Association, Gillette (WY), 2004, p. 28)
In the 20th century, the old Worldwide Church of God had several congregations in German-speaking regions in Europe. In the 21st century, various COG groups have congregations in German-speaking regions in Europe. Later, God will call nearly all of the German people (for details, please see Germany in Biblical and Catholic Prophecy).
As far as origins go, it should be noted that many of the Germans that came to North America, ethnically, seem to be more descendants of Israel (see Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel) than Asshur.
On the other hand, many non-faithful who professed Christ have also been in Germany.
The Catholic writer C.M. Mangan reported:
In 312, the Roman Emperor Constantine I the Great was in Trier, Germany where he had an unexpected vision of a cross that appeared in the sky with the haunting words, “In hoc signum vinces” (“In this sign you conquer”). The Emperor was buoyed by the apparition and encouraged his 20,000 troops for the upcoming bloody battle against Maxentius and his 100,000 men. Constantine’s soldiers, the majority of whom were pagans, placed the sacred image of the cross on their shields. (Mangan C.M. In This Sign You Conquer, 0/15/03 Copyright © 2004 Catholic Online)
From ancient times, a type of cross was a sign that the ancient Assyrians promoted:
Another signatio...was that of putting the neck...a cross or necklace with a cross. This custom is very old, and we find it in old images, e.g. that of Shamshi - Adar V, king of Assyria...(Bagatti, Bellarmino. Translated by Eugene Hoade. The Church from the Circumcision. Nihil obstat: Marcus Adinolfi. Imprimi potest: Herminius Roncari. Imprimatur: +Albertus Gori, die 26 Junii 1970. Franciscan Printing Press, Jerusalem, p.140).
The use of the cross has been a very old symbol of the Assyrians, and other ancient peoples.
It also is one of the symbols of the "Holy Roman Empire," which essentially was led by people of German/Austrian heritage. The Bible tells of a future 'King of Assyria' rising up again (see Germany in Biblical Prophecy) and a cross may well be a symbol (see Mark of the Beast and What is the Origin of the Cross as a 'Christian' Symbol?).
The "Holy Roman Empire" (Latin: Imperium Romanum Sacrum; German: Heiliges Römisches Reich; Italian: Sacro Romano Impero) is also commonly known as the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation." Here are a few brief statements about it:
The empire's territory was centred on the Kingdom of Germany, and included neighbouring territories, which at its peak included the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Burgundy. For much of its history, the Empire consisted of hundreds of smaller sub-units, principalities, duchies, counties, Free Imperial Cities and other domains. The Holy Roman Empire explicitly proclaimed itself to be the successor of the Western Roman Empire under the doctrine of translatio imperii. In 962 Otto I was crowned Holy Roman Emperor (German: Römisch-Deutscher Kaiser), although the Roman imperial title was first restored to Charlemagne by the Pope in 800. Otto was the first emperor of the realm who was not a member of the earlier Carolingian dynasty. The last Holy Roman Emperor was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. (Holy Roman Empire. Wikipedia, viewed 07/24/12)
Throughout its history, the "Holy Roman Empire" has caused problems for those in the genuine Church of God. And sadly, when it is fully formed and functional again in the future, it will as well (cf. Revelation 13).
All peoples on earth descended from Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:20). And then through Noah (Genesis 10:1). Those of German heritage seem to mainly have descended through Noah's grandson Asshur (Genesis 10:22).
And those who are willing to try to "connect-the-dots" should be able to see that this is a reasonable, though sometimes debatable, conclusion.
There were Assyrians who were willing to heed some of God's warnings from Jonah (Jonah 3:1-10). There have been some Germans throughout history who have also heeded the message of Christ that His church, the true Church of God, has proclaimed. Additional others will heed the call in the future, while many will sadly support the final revival of the "Holy Roman Empire" of Revelation 13.
Knowledge of who the modern Germanic peoples gives insight into their role in end time events that are prophesied in the Bible (see Germany in Biblical and Catholic Prophecy).
Thiel B. Germany's Assyrian Roots Throughout History. http://www.cogwriter.com/germany-in-the-bible.htm (c) 2012/2013/2014/2015/2016/2017/2018/ 2020 1127
Information on the Bible, doctrinal, and prophetic matters in the German language is available at the Continuing Church of God: Deutsche page.
Some English language articles of possibly related interest may include:
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about "the Beast"? Is an emerging European power "the daughter of Babylon"? What is ahead for Europe?
Might German Baron Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg become the King of the North? Is the German Defense Minister one to watch? What do Catholic, Byzantine, and biblical prophecies suggest?
Germany in Prophecy What is Germany's role in end time prophecy? What will happen to most of the German people?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States?