Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: ... Acts 19:26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:

Note that the commandment of God forbids making and bowing down to images. Among pagans, perhaps the most common form of idolatry is sun worship, and the above prohibition would clearly exclude bowing down before images of the sun or moon (things in the heaven above). But then God gets even more explicit:

Deu 17:2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

Deu 17:3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

Deu 17:4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:

Deu 17:5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. Jer 8:1 At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:

Jer 8:2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.

Jer 8:3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.

With that in mind, lets look at solar and lunar images directly associated with the Catholic Mass.

Here is Pope John Paul II holding what is called a Monstrance or Ostensorium. It is used to display a round wafer of bread, called the host, which is used in what is called the Mass, Lord's Supper, Communion or Eucharistic meal. The Catholic believes this wafer of bread turns into the actual body of Christ when consecrated during the Mass. From the "Be Not Afraid" series of videos, Copyright © 1992,

Apostolate for Family Consecration

The Roman Catholic Church even admits the Monstrance to be a sunburst:

"During the baroque period, it took on a rayed form of a sun-monstrance with a circular window surrounded by a silver or gold frame with rays."

Source: The Dictionary of the Liturgy by Rev. Jovian P. Lang, OFM., published and copyrighted © 1989 by Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, ISBN 0-89942-273-X, page 436.

Photo of a Monstrance in the Vatican Museum

From the book "The New Illustrated Great Controversy"

Copyright © LLT Productions - Used by Permission

In fact, according to the 1913 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia-

The most appropriate form (for the monstrance) is that of the sun emitting its rays to all sides (Instructio Clement., 5). [See Altar Vessels: Ostensorium]

Notice the letters SFS in the small sunburst blaze on the large close up of a Monstrance above? Each of the letters is a universal symbol for the number 6 in the pagan mysteries, so to the pagan it reads 666! The number 666 is also associated with what is called the "magic square of the sun". The practice of equating names and letters with numbers is called gematria.

The letter F: The Hebrew letter Vau (V) has a value of 6. The English letter F is a descendant of Vau and retains the same value. The letter F is also the 6th letter of the English alphabet. In pagan numerology the letters F, O, and X have the value of 6. The Greek symbol Digamma also looks like the letter F and has a value of 6. The letter S: The Greek equivalent of Vau is the letter Stau, which looks like an S, and it also has the value of 6. Sources: The Modern Numerology by John King, published by Blandford, Copyright © 1996, ISBN 0-7137-2560-5, page 121 / Behind Numerology, by Shirley Blackwell Lawrence, published by Newcastle Publishing Co., Inc., Copyright © 1989, ISBN 0-87877-145-X, page 93 / Jesus Christ Sun of God, by David Fideler, Copyright © 1993, published by Quest Books of Wheaton Illinois and Madras India, ISBN 0-8356-0696-1, page 27.

And the flaming Sacred Heart located just below the SFS is actually symbolic of Baal / Tammuz!

(See Consecration to Flaming Sacred Hearts)