The Mystery Religions are special type of religion which many people do not know much about. The Greek word for “mystery” is mus-t?-ri-on. A good place to start might be the definition given in A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, by Arndt and Gingrich, University of Chicago, 1957.

“secret, secret rite, secret teaching, mystery, a religious technical term, applied mostly to the mysteries with their secret teachings, religious and political in nature, concealed with many strange customs and ceremonies …

“A secret or mystery, too profound for human ingenuity …” pgs 531-532 (bold emphasis added. Abbreviations were eliminated in the above quote)

So “mystery” referred to a special class of religions which claimed to have special truths (mysteries) revealed to them by some “god” or “gods.” This revelation was supposedly made to some ancient and worthy person: Plato, or Pythagoras, or whoever. When some Jews and Christians became involved in such things, the claim was often made that the secret revelation was first made to Solomon, or Moses, or Abraham, or Enoch, or sometimes even to Adam himself.

These revelations were often communicated to the novice in powerful religious dramas in which the new person participated, knowing only his or her own part, and when to say their lines.

Then comes the next part: this revelation of truth was so high and holy, and so far above any public revelations of the “gods,” that it could never be revealed to just anyone. It had to be kept totally secret, and only revealed to certain specially selected “worthy” persons, who were just a little better than everyone else, and who could be trusted to keep these things a secret.

These “secrets,” these “mysteries,” were never to be revealed to the common man, and were never to be written down. They were memorized, and passed on verbally from generation to generation. The novice in such groups had to take terrible oaths of secrecy before being admitted, and even then were not given any true secrets at the beginning level. Some people just cannot a secret, no matter what they swear to.

Mystery religions were started for various reasons. Some for religious reasons, some merely to form social clubs, and some obviously for “religious and political” reasons. Despite that, if these groups grew and were viable, they almost always ended up being used for political purposes, whether good or bad. I was just too easy. Here were ready-made groups which were already trained in keeping secrets. Awesome power to rig the political process was also here, with few being the wiser.

There is more about the mystery religions in Prophecy Principles in the section on “Some Age Long Mysteries,” and in Revealing the Christian Age in the section “Excursus, What Might look This Look Like in History.”

Lastly, mystery religions were also a natural for concealing criminal activities or organizations, and as such often provoked the ire of governing authorities. Scripture mentions a “mystery of lawlessness” which is already at work, 2Thes 2:7. Also it mentions one Mystery Babylon the Great, a religio-commercial entity which seems to both facilitate and dominate world trade (Revelation 18), which rules over the kings of the earth (Rev 17:18), and which is drunk with the blood of the saints (Rev 17:6).