MYSTERY RELIGIONS.

Mystery Religions refer to a pattern of religious expression. They consists in initiation rituals in which the initiate has an extraordinary experience about which participants are forbidden to speak afterwards.
Elements of these rituals include: things spoken, recitations, or enactments of ritual words or the things shown, cult objects often hidden in a basket and things performed through ritual actions or dramatic enactments of them.
The word "Mystery," from the Greek "Myein," meaning "to close," indicates the initiate's closed eyes, later opened to see what was revealed in the ritual, as well as the initiate's closed mouth keeping secrecy since beyond the common factors of the initiation rituals the mystery religions varied in origin and organization since the ancient times.
The various themes figured in the initiations are: life and death, suffering, sexuality, fertility, and well being.
We can find about these mystery religions from very ancient times. The Scripture mentions cases in which spirits possessed the mind of human beings and used it as a means of communication between the two worlds, the world of the spirits and the world of the living.
In the Book of Acts, chapter 16, the Scripture mention a place known as a 'prayer place,' in which a female slave dominated by an elemental spirit, predicted the future.
The Assyrian city, Nineveh, founded by Nim-Rod, "a mighty hunter in opposition to God," together with Reho-Both-Ir, Calah and Resen, constituted a good example of how these mystery religions worked as the central power of its greatness, and based on the mystery of its rituals, it reached the control of the collective mind of all his subjects. The place was known as "a city of bloodshed,"for the Assyrians waged many wars of conquest and employed brutal methods in order to kill the warriors entrusted with mighty powers and absorbed it in order to make them the mightiest ones in the whole world. The archaeological findings include thousands of cuneiform tablets from Ash-Ur-Banipal's library and the ruins of the palaces of both Senna-Cherib and Ash-Ur-Banipal.
Their palaces were made of impressive structures, and hold a magnificent and imposing materialistic spirit. Its halls were calculated to make upon the stranger who visited it for the first time, the abode of the Assyrian kings.
The entrance had a portal in which the visitor was ushered through it. It was guarded by colossal lions, or bulls, of white alabaster, the symbolic representation of their power.  In the first hall, the visitor found himself surrounded by the sculptured records of the empire whereabouts: Battles, sieges, triumphs, the exploits of the chase, the ceremonies of their religion, all of them portrayed on the walls, sculptured in alabaster, and painted in gorgeous colors. Under each picture were engraved, in characters filled up with bright copper, inscriptions describing the scenes presented.
Above the sculptures were painted other events, such as, the king attended by his eunuchs and warriors, receiving prisoners, entering in alliances with other monarchs, or performing some sacred duty. These representations were inclosed in colored borders of elaborated and elegant design. The emblematic Tree, winged Bulls, and monstrous Animals, were amongst the ornaments.
At the upper end of the hall was the colossal figure of the king in adoration before the supreme deity, or receiving from the eunuch the holy cup. He was attended by warriors bearing his arms, and by the priests or presiding divinities. His robes, and those of his followers, were adorned with groups of figures, animals, and flowers, all painted with brilliant colors.
The visitor trod upon alabaster slabs, each bearing an inscription, recording the titles, genealogy, and achievements of the great king. Several doorways forming gigantic winged lions or bulls, or the figures of guardian deities, led into other apartments, which again opened into more distant halls. In each were new sculptures. On the walls of some were processions of colossal figures, armed men and eunuchs following the king, warriors laden with spoils, leading prisoners, or bearing presents and offerings to the gods. On the walls of others were portrayed the divinities of the sky: winged priests, or presiding divinities, standing before the sacred trees.
The ceilings were divided into square compartments, painted with flowers, or with the figures of animals. Some were inlaid with ivory, each compartment being surrounded by elegant borders and mouldings. The beams, as well as the sides of the chambers, were gilded, or plated, with gold and silver; and the rarest woods were used for the woodwork. Square openings in the ceilings of the chambers admitted the light of day.
God's prophet Jonah, declared impending doom for Nineveh because of the spiritual wickedness of its inhabitants. However, since the people, including the king, repented, God spared the city. The Biblical description of Nineveh indicated that the city had a circunference of about 13 km/8mi.
Just as today, that part of London which lies within its ancient boundary is very different from what is called 'greater London', a term which includes the suburbs and denotes a much larger area, so the people who lived far away from Assyria understood by the word "Nineveh" what is now known as "the Assyrian triangle", which stretches from Khorsabad in the North to Nimrod in the South, and with an almost unbroken string of settlements, cover a distance of more or less 26 miles.
A stele of Ash-Ur-Banipal discovered quite recently in the archaeological excavations at Nimrod, recorded that he invited to a banquet the fabulous number of 69,574 guests. Nineveh was twice the are of Nimrod. These findings prove the amount of religious power the Assyrians displayed and the pride invested in them as a result of it.
Although they repented at the preaching of Jonah, the Ninevites relapsed and again took their wicked ways. It was some years after Senna-Cherib had been murdered at Nineveh in the house of his god Nisroch and God's prophet Nahum foretold the total destruction of the city because of its evil power.
With these descriptions of their symbolic way of practicing their mystery religions it is suggested that the same steps still exist in the World of today and the free will that every individual have in choosing the path of its own destiny, determine the future of its eternal soul. To whom you serve is the question that every one has to ask inside your own heart, and the consequences of what happens when we serve the passions of the flesh, we have Nineveh and its destruction.