Is it possible that behind what’s taking place in our culture today lies a mystery that goes back to the gods of the ancient world, and now they’ve returned?
Jonathan Cahn believes so. He was born and raised in a Jewish home, but as a child in Hebrew school, he became an atheist because he didn’t see God’s presence in the synagogue. Eventually he felt there must be more, and he began to seek truth.
One day he picked up a book about biblical prophecy and started believing, but he didn’t serve God. Cahn had said, “God, give me a long life, and I’ll accept you when I’m on my deathbed.” And then he almost got killed when he was hit by a train.
Because of that, he came to the Lord on his 20th birthday. He was then called into ministry and now leads a Messianic congregation and writes books focused on end-times prophecy.
Jonathan’s book “The Return of the Gods” investigates strange things happening in our culture. “What if what the Bible says is actually the reason behind what’s occurring? And what if those things we know as gods are not just mythology, but have something spiritual behind them?”
The book of Deuteronomy says when Israel worshipped those gods, they were worshipping the Shadim, which doesn’t mean stories—it means entities, spirits with will and volition. Psalm 106 mentions children being offered to the Shadim (spirits/beings). When Shadim was translated into the Greek in the New Testament, it became the word daimonian, which is where we get the word “demon.” The Bible is saying that all over the ancient world, people were worshipping gods, or demons. The pagan culture was a possessed culture.
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Jesus came with the power to cast out demons, the gospel went throughout the Roman world and the gods were driven out. That’s why Christians were fed to the lions—not because of culture but because of spiritual warfare.
Ultimately, the gospel triumphed, and people abandoned the shrines of the gods. When the gospel came in, it was the greatest exorcism in Western civilization history. Jesus gave us a parable (Matt. 12:22-32) about when a spirit goes out of a man he looks for a place to go, and eventually he goes back to his old “house,” the man, which has been swept empty and clean. The demon brings seven other spirits, more evil and they repossess the “house.” Jesus said, and so it will be with this generation. Entire civilizations can get possessed, be delivered and repossessed.
Cahn’s warning to America, the world and modern culture is that any nation that has been delivered by the name of Jesus and the power of the gospel, then turns away from God (empties its house of God) is ripe for the spirits that were cast out to come back.
In the last half-century, America and much of the world has been repossessed by demons and become pagan. The gods of the ancient world are demonic spiritual entities. Mankind has two choices: God or demons. You cannot take God out of the culture and not have these spirits come in. We are now witnessing a repossession of culture.
In “The Return of the Gods,” Cahn discusses the dark trinity, three gods that were active when Israel turned away from God that are back today: Baal, the possessor; Ashtaroth, the enchantress (also known as Aphrodite) the wife of Baal; and Moloch the destroyer.
The sign of Baal was a molten bronze bull. Today in New York City, you’ll see a similar bronze bull. This is a biblical sign of a nation that wants a new god that has given itself to the possessor.
Aphrodite is a spirit of sexual immorality who sexualizes culture. The revolution in the realm of sexuality happened and is still happening. Sex has been taken out of marriage and has been put into the culture. This goddess is the inventor of pornography and is the goddess of the occult and witchcraft. Today in America we have more witches than Presbyterians.
Moloch is the god who influenced parents to offer up their children as sacrifices. In the pagan world, human sacrifice and abusing children was common. When you start turning away from God, children will start being abused throughout the culture.
Cahn lays out the chronology. “In the early ’60s you have Baal and a turning away. Then you have Ashtaroth and the sexual revolution in the mid-’60s, and then at the end of the ’60s you have children offered up by their parents in abortions.” When Israel turned away from God, this is what happened to their culture.
Christians need to take care of anything that is an idol in their lives to become the person God wants them to be.
“Don’t let demons remove you from your purpose and God’s calling on your life. There’s no God like our God. He will cleanse and forgive when we renounce those activities,” says Cahn. “God is a God of life, and He will give us the power to overcome.”
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Find Jonathan Cahn’s bestselling book “The Return of the Gods” at this link.
Marilyn Hickey founded Marilyn Hickey Ministries more than 45 years ago with God’s vision to cover the earth with the Word. Marilyn co-hosts a daily television program, “Today with Marilyn & Sarah,” reaching a potential viewing audience of over 2 billion households worldwide. Marilyn communicates deep biblical truths in a way that is understandable and practical for everyday life.
Sarah Bowling is on a mission to connect everyone with the heart of God while loving those who are overlooked, excluded and ignored. Led by Holy Spirit and anchored in the Word, Sarah seeks to inspire all to know the unconditional and transformational love of God in our daily lives. A Bible teacher, author, international speaker and global humanitarian, Sarah also co-hosts a daily television program, “Today with Marilyn & Sarah.”
Abby Trivett 
James Lasher