Did the Gods Return? (A Book Review of "The Return of the Gods" by Jonathan Cahn) - Episode 003

## Introduction - Welcome to Genesis Marks the Spot; today we’re going to talk about a new book that came out a couple of months ago, The Return of the Gods by Jonathan Cahn. Some of you might be familiar with the author. This isn’t his first book; he’s written some others that are on the same trajectory of end-times thinking that is often centered around what is going on politically and in our current society. Not uncommon to the subject, of course. - I’ll admit…this is not the type of book I tend to pick up. But it’s been a topic of interest in some of my circles because of the title and some of the things it has said said in its description, so I picked it up in order to be able to discuss it knowledgeably. To tip my hand and potentially give you reason not to listen to this episode (but I do hope you stick around as this material will connect to what we talk about in later episodes), I don’t recommend the book. This isn’t my first public review of it, so I’ve gotten some pushback on my position—and I will give credit to these other perspectives. - I can absolutely see why people are drawn to Cahn’s work and like his conclusions. When you hear him speak, he seems to be a very sincere and outspoken follower of Jesus Christ. And it seems like he’s coming at this topic from a real heart of worry about what is going on in our culture and a concern about how the church should intersect with this. - First—though I will freely admit that I have personal reservations about his motivations, I’m not attacking the author personally, I’m reviewing the content of the book as well as the way it is presented, because I’ll be honest, the way it is presented causes me some concern. I’ve been told that my concerns are misguided, but I don’t think they are and I’ll try to get into why. - Before you tell me that you really like Jonathan Cahn, that he’s a swell guy, or that he has helped you think through some things—I’m not saying that everything he writes is nonsense or that he makes it all up, okay. He’s basing his information on some truth here, actually some information that I really do think needs to be brought to the attention of Christians today. But the thing is, just having some truth doesn’t mean you don’t still have some nonsense (or at least speculation) and we want to unpack which part of what is going on in this book in case you’ve read it, want to read it, are curious about it, or talk to others who are excited about it. - In short, the question is how much of what he discusses can be put under the “biblical” umbrella and how much can we put under the “speculation” umbrella? There is nothing wrong with speculation, we all do it, and even in the realm of scholarship, speculation is what drives the boat sometimes. But speculation ought to be firmly grounded in evidence. And—I know this statement is going to be shocking, but—speculation is not the same as revelation. And revelation, for sure, is not speculation. And which one is Cahn suggesting he has? That’s right—he claims revelation; as far as I can see, he never comes close to suggesting that he is just putting two-and-two together and offering his conclusions as possibilities. Rather, he said he was led to these conclusions. - This book is not scholarly material—and we’ll talk about why that matters and what it means (what it doesn’t mean is that non-scholars can’t have good ideas). The goal isn’t to put scholars on a pedestal but we want to use the best tools we can in thinking. And my point in saying this isn’t peer-reviewed is not to put him or the book down, but to bring this point to attention, because it ought to affect the way that we evaluate what he is saying. If you read or have read the book, here is a question I suggest you ask…Is the information he is presenting accurate? And, frankly, the only way you can know that is to appeal to peer-reviewed material or at least to people who bring forth peer-reviewed material for the lay audience. It’s either that or we dig into the Bible to see where it all lines up—the trouble is, a lot of what he says about the other gods of the nations, and the direct evidence of who they were and what they did is not found in the Bible, but outside the Bible in related texts. Those are helpful, but you need—that’s right—peer-reviewed scholarship to know about them. So at the very least, his book needs to be compared to peer-reviewed scholarship. - Confession time. I have a very bad taste in my mouth from listening to Cahn describe the writing of this book on some of his interviews. And I want to be fair here. I’m not going to jump on the band wagon of those bringing out the pitchforks and claiming that he personally wants to be seen as Prophet with a capital P. I’m not an intimate follower of his work, but I have been told that he actually refuses that title. To put things in perspective, he apparently is a charismatic and I’m not going to speak against all charistmatics…I think it is perfectly feasible that God can offer up inspiration and revelation to people. In fact, I believe I receive it myself in my own life. But if you listen to the way he talks about his writing—he literally talks about having revelation and being led along these breadcrumb trails to reveal a hidden mystery. He even talks about finding typing on his computer that he didn’t put in. - So he’s receiving revelation…and then he writes a book that is supposed to be warning the church. What does that sound like to you? To me, it sounds an awful lot like acting like a prophet, whether or not he claims the title. So whether or not he wants to distance himself from the claim of being a prophet, I can’t see how what he is doing, from a functional perspective, is not prophecy. And that concerns me. I’ve been told that I’m just blowing this out of proportion and he’s “just being inspired” like you or I might be. Well maybe I was inspired to do this podcast, maybe God opened doors and led me along this path—in fact, I happen to think that’s the case—and maybe I have my own explosive content to share. But speaking about the Bible and preaching the gospel isn’t the same as saying that I was given a hidden message that I need to reveal to you all. I’m sorry, but that’s a different level of inspiration. Preaching the gospel of truth doesn’t equate to being led to uncover mysteries. I’m sure every good confessional scholar might like to say that what he is doing is uncovering things that God has revealed through the process of research—I certainly think God can and does work that way. But a good scholar is in conversation with other scholars, in a place to receive pushback. In a place of intellectual humility. That’s not the place that Cahn has put himself. If Cahn has received revelation that is applicable to the whole church, then the buck stops there; you can’t question revelation. - The thing is, though…this isn’t even the way the early church seems to have worked. Look at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15, for instance. When the question of circumcision came up, they actually had to talk together about it. There was a debate about it, someone decided that Paul and others were to go and talk it over with the apostles in Jerusalem. Let’s read, staring in verse 6: - Acts 15:6–9 (ESV) 6The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. - Take note here; they were debating the subject. That means there was disagreement. And how was the disagreement solved? Peter didn’t get some quiet voice of revelation…he saw that the Holy Spirit was given to the Gentiles—how exactly that worked, I don’t know, but there was some evidence that clearly the Gentiles were given the same thing that Jewish believers were given. - Peter goes on to appeal to Scripture and say that the Gentiles never had the yoke of circumcision, so what would make them have it now? They had been given no evidence that this was needed; in fact, the evidence that Peter saw himself made him say this is clearly not what God has revealed.—What God revealed from direct evidence visible in some way to Peter. No one—not even those who suggested that Gentiles ought to get circumcised—was claiming some new mystery that they had been told by the Spirit. - So I’m sorry, but when I’m told that someone was guided to some revelation that everyone needs to hear and there isn’t any external evidence that the person can point to—I’m going to question that. I’m going to suggest that that is a giant big red flag that should stop us in our tracks. Does that prove some nefarious motives on the part of Cahn—no, and I’ll even say that’s not necessarily the case even though he does have a book to sell. But I feel like it’s negligent not to point out these reservations. - Now, I’m going to give him some credit in his interviews that I’ve seen—he does give credit and glory to God and Jesus Christ. Whatever part of his message is about the triumph of Christ and the spreading of the gospel, I support wholeheartedly. But so much of what I saw and felt in his interviews wasn’t really what I read and felt in his book. Maybe that’s just me; but I’m going to bring it up as something to consider. - Alright, so we’re going to discuss some of the content of the book, then we’ll go into the solid information that he is gleaning from, where he seems to be going off on his own tangent, and hopefully we might use this to inform ourselves and make us better readers and discerners of truth. Not everyone is going to agree with me, but as I’ve stated in previous episodes, part of our point here is to consider alternate viewpoints. - If you’ve seen any of the marketing or some of the interviews of this book, it is claimed that there is an “explosive mystery” that is revealed in the book…an explosive mystery that somehow can’t be condensed into a single paragraph so sorry, folks, you just gotta buy the book and read the whole thing to reveal what the mystery is. He simply cannot articulate it in a brief summary of the book. - Keep in mind this is marketing and that, mysteriously, I didn’t find it difficult whatsoever to condense the “explosive mystery” into a summary. Keep listening and we’ll get there. ## The Content of the Book - Cahn begins the book with some information that is meant to take us into the context of the ANE. This was the time and place of the writing of the Old Testament, the growth and development of the Israelite nation. As most of us are probably familiar, different people groups worshipped different gods—often pantheons of gods. Cahn begins with the proposition that these gods were real, with real power. They had real power in large part because people worshipped them. - Over time, this worship stopped and the gods lost their power. They still existed, but they no longer had control and authority in the world. They were abandoned, as Cahn says, in favor of the enlightenment and science. (And here’s something that I noticed in the book…he makes these claims that sound good in one part of the book and then he’ll go and seemingly demolish his claim later…he makes the claim that the gods were abandoned in favor of the enlightenment and science, and then he also claims that it was the Christianity of Rome which did this, so he kind of jumps all over the place here. It’s like he wants to demonize the way western society is while also pumping up western society as the be-all, end-all; it’s just a little weird to me how he can jump back and forth between the ideas.) - You might think I’m mistaking him here…but this is his timeline…when Christianity took over Rome, it kicked out the gods, and then the enlightenment and science come along with the rise of the United States of America—a country as central to his theology as ancient Israel was—but then somehow science and technology become bad things, not good things, later on. It’s interesting to me that the enlightenment seems positive in the first part of the book and becomes negative in the later part of the book. Part of the suggestion for this seems to be that the gods have corrupted science and technology, but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. - Anyway, the gods don’t like losing their power and they are determined to come back and regain their power…they can’t rule in the same way, so they’re going to find different ways to get people to give them the type of power they had in the past. - So far, there’s actually some things in here that I completely agree with even though I feel like he’s really condensing and misrepresenting some history. - Cahn continues by looking at some Hebrew terms for spiritual beings. Just a guess—maybe this is just the nerd in me—but I bet this is where a lot of people reading the book start getting excited…and I don’t blame them. It’s like, wow, can we really start to understand some of what the Bible says, in ways that the original author and readers would have understood? We often don’t get this kind of depth of study in church, so yeah that’s pretty neat, I agree. He talks about the shedim, a Hebrew term, and the daimonia, a Greek term that is used in the New Testament as well as the Greek translation of the OT. - After establishing his credentials by talking about these specific terms which refer to spiritual entities, Cahn then goes into the revelation of the “explosive mystery” that he has promised on the dust jacket. You ready for it? Here it is. Cahn claims that the New Testament describes the demonic possession of civilization just as it describes individual demonic possession... and western civilization—America in particular—is now being “repossessed.” - See? That wasn’t so hard to sum up. It didn’t even take a whole paragraph. - Individuals can be possessed, but so can entire nations or societies. This is his revelation. - And how does he back this idea up? He uses a parable that is recorded in both Luke and Matthew but first he has to describe what possession looks like. I assume he does this in order to be able to recognize possession for what it is. - He describes convulsions, shakings, and frenzies, which he says are strangely reminiscent of many aspects of pagan rituals. He talks about how not only the high priest in a pagan nation would be taken over by a demon and evidence these phenomena, but so will the common person in homes and marketplaces. He mentions human sacrifice, and admits this has nothing to do with individual possession but seems to suggest that surely no civilization would dare to sacrifice humans so these acts must have been the responsibility of possession by a demon rather than done via human choice. (Yeahhhh, definitely not going to go with him there on that one, considering some of the things we have going on today.) - Cahn then discusses the good news of the gospel—the triumph of the Messiah, the good news of the Messiah reaching out into the pagan world, causing persecution and martyrdom of the people of God. He suggests that Diocletian’s persecution was not necessarily human choice but rather was rooted in the advice from an oracle—a pagan oracle. So the Roman persecution of Christians was at the behest of the pagan gods, in other words, not human choice. - Note that this is post-Christ’s resurrection that this was going on. The power of the gods was dying as the church grew. As Cahn says…the “spell of the gods was broken.” - Signs of possession decreased in the land. Pagan practices were banned. The lives of slaves, women, and children were improved. Individual exorcisms were no longer necessary because mass exorcism of the gods out of the nations had been performed. - I’ll make particular note of these signs of possession…if these are the signs of possession in a pagan nation, then either these are the signs we should still see today as we are “repossessed” or else we should be able to make some correlation to these signs in what we see today. If we can’t, there’s no way of comparing the two to say that the same exact thing is going on. - Again I want to note that I’m not disagreeing with everything he says—much of this is a reflection of what, indeed, happened. - After this dramatic retelling of history, Cahn explains his biblical basis for this idea of demonic possession of a society or nation. - Let’s read Luke 11:24-26: - “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” So we have a demon-possessed person who has had the demon cast out; the demon can’t find anywhere to go, so he goes back to the original person and finds him empty, so the demon goes and finds seven others and the poor demon-possessed person is in even worse shape than he started out. - Also found in Matt 12:43-45; this telling of the parable is more key to Cahn’s position: - 43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” - “So also will it be with this evil generation.” Cahn takes these words to suggest that the parable isn’t talking about an individual at all, but it is about communal possession. And not just one community, but generational possession. - Western civilization became free of the first stage of demonic possession; it is now empty and now even more demons than before are going to come in and possess us. This is Cahn’s suggestion in the book. The gods were evicted by the authority of Jesus and now that, according to Cahn, our society is turning away from Jesus, we are going to end up in an even worse state than pre-Christian civilization. - What’s the evidence? The modern world has unleashed even greater evils than ever before. - The second part of the book goes into some details from here, describing what he calls the “dark trinity” and how this dark trinity is affecting our world today. There is a lot in that second part of the book that could be addressed and if we’ve got time, we’ll go into some of that, but I think it’s really time to stop here and discuss what nuggets of truth Cahn has hit on. ## What He Gets Right (hints for further content) - Part of what I find admirable in this book is that Cahn takes the supernatural seriously. Big kudos to him for that. I expect this what draws many to his work—they are tired of going to church and finding a watered down idea of taking the spiritual realm seriously. There is a wide disconnect—we read in our Bibles about a world which easily discusses gods, demons, angels, events that we would describe as miraculous, warnings of darkness and judgment….and yet we go to church and hear mostly about forgiveness for our personal sins and the fact that God loves us. - Now, of course, don’t get me wrong…there’s no problem with talking about forgiveness and God’s love. These are the messages we ought to focus on primarily and which people need to hear on a regular basis. I’m not arguing against those types of messages. They’re good, they’re beautiful, they’re necessary and deep truth. - But after years in church, this disconnect seems to set in forcefully for some people…that the Bible isn’t always focused on the same things upon which we are focused. - For the record, I think he’s right that the gods of the nations are real. I think he’s right to take them seriously. I think he’s right that they were kicked out of power (though I’ll disagree on some essential points and his characterization of history) and I even think he’s right that the church has a major part to play with the gods getting kicked out. These are themes which are near and dear to my own heart. But I don’t think he is backing up his claims properly and I’m a stickler for that kind of thing because we ought to really take care of what we say the Bible is saying. - Another, related bit of praise for him…he writes popular-level books but doesn’t shy away from bringing real data to his text…he talks biblical languages and trusts that his readers will be able to follow along. More authors ought to do this, trust that popular-level material can contain deep-level information. In fact, I think more and more authors are and this is fabulous news. - For those who are interested in this type of material, I can suggest a few books that dig deep. If you’re interested in reading more about the biblical terminology for spiritual beings, there are two in particular that I highly recommend. Both are by the Semitic scholar Dr. Michael Heiser. The first is about the “good guys” of the spiritual realm. It is called Angels: What the Bible Really Says About the Heavenly Host. The second book is about the “bad guys” of the spiritual realm and it is called Demons: What the Bible Really Says About the Powers of Darkness. Both of these books by Dr. Heiser go into much more depth than Cahn does, and if you read them I think you’ll see that they give quite a bit more nuance without sensationalizing the material. ## What should our standards be or how do we filter what is right and what is cray-cray? - That’s right, I said, “sensationalizing.” While Jonathan Cahn definitely takes supernatural forces seriously, he does so in a way that sounds like he’s trying to turn it into a late-night infomercial. But, you might say…… Isn’t it right that we take it seriously enough to warn everyone we know about the reality?? If there really are dark spiritual forces at play, isn’t that worth some …dramatization? …… - Sure. - I admit, maybe it’s just my personality style to not care for the way Cahn does this…maybe I just don’t like the term “explosive mystery”…but here’s the thing. This is a reality that has been dealt with at the cross by Jesus Christ. It’s not something we need to run around proclaiming like we’re chickens with our heads cut off. It’s something to take seriously but which we can realize God has already taken it seriously on our behalf. Does it affect our world? Yes. Do I think we ought to know about it? Yes. Can we do something about it? Yes! And that thing…is to follow Christ. To proclaim the good news of the gospel through the great commission…this is the taking back of the territory from the gods. - And I’ll tell you what…he claims to have received revelation, a mystery to share—but what is essential in this mystery that doesn’t already exist in Scripture? We have the fullness of the gospel written down already; why do we need these dire words of warning from Jonathan Cahn? - I’m a very big proponent of getting more people to take the spiritual realm and spiritual warfare more seriously. And maybe you could say that’s what Cahn is doing here. But as much as I talk about this myself and suggest that this is definitely information worth sharing and knowing—I also land on the position that this isn’t necessary to understanding the gospel and—importantly—living it out. Christ’s work does combat these dark forces—but the fear is that we get focused on the wrong things. Are we more worried about the bad guys or are we secure in God? - Do you see the difference here? We could yell and scream and warn about the evil bad guys…or we could lovingly follow Christ, secure in the knowledge that, in fact, the bad guys have already lost. Do we focus on the scary evil…or do we focus on our sovereign God? What is our lens for reality, for looking at the world? - As Christians, our lens is Christ. A concern that we have, and which it seems Cahn shares, is that there are aspects of this world that might take our focus off of him, might draw us away to other concerns and other battles and fears. This isn’t a false concern—it’s a very real one; the story of the Bible shows us over and over that people often do not choose God. What Cahn is suggesting—and which I agree with—is that there is a danger that not only do people not choose God, but they choose malevolent powers instead. I’m not disagreeing with this at all. But Cahn is writing for a Christian audience. For the Christian, we need not be concerned with these malevolent powers having influence over our lives. For the non-Christian…well, let’s be honest, most will not take warnings about these powers seriously, anyway, so who is Cahn really trying to communicate to here? This is where I start leaning towards the suggestion that Cahn is fear mongering. He wants to install fear into his Christian readers—readers who trust Christ need not fear spiritual warfare, even as we are to engage within it. Go read Ephesians 6 if you need a reminder of this. We take it seriously because it is real…but we do not fear it. - But, you might argue, don’t Paul and Peter and the other epistle writers…don’t they talk about dark powers and false teachings leading people away so that we ought, in fact, be aware of these things and guard against them? - Yes. 100% yes. But note how quickly our New Testament authors turn to the gospel and to proclaiming the message of the Messiah and his triumph. Reading Cahn’s book, which can be presented as modern-day prophecy, whatever he says…there are comparatively few pages dedicated to the good news of the Messiah. Many, many more pages are dedicated to the doom-and-gloom message that he is offering up. A message that is strangely rooted in a very America-centric reality….another clue which might cause us to wonder about what he’s talking about. ## Where he goes off the rails - Feel free to disagree with me that he is fear mongering; that’s my personal opinion. We can agree that there are dark powers that we ought to take seriously. And I’ll even agree that they are territorial. But I do not think he is getting his ideas from the right place in Scripture, and this is not merely an opinion but is based on looking at the text. - We’re going to return to the basic idea of cultural or nationwide possession that Cahn posits in his book. Let’s look again at his proof text. - Matt 12:43-45 - 43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” - So let’s visit this idea of communal possession for a moment. This sounds a lot like another concept we’re going to explore in our podcast…the idea that God disinherited the nations at the Tower of Babel, gave them over to lesser, created spiritual beings while keeping the nation of Israel to himself. Let’s take a very brief look at this because it applies to the discussion here. - Deuteronomy 32:8–9 (ESV) which is not in Cahn’s book, by the way 8When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. 9But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. - Here God divides mankind and allows the sons of God—spiritual beings—to have authority over non-Israelite nations. As we shall explore, these beings were not faithful to God and chose to rebel and take this authority for themselves. This explains how the nations of the ANE ended up as they did, with various pantheons and deities in charge of various nations. - Cahn’s idea of “communal possession” is not really the same idea. According to Cahn, these spiritual beings sneak in through a door that is left ajar. They are not originally given dominion by YHWH God. - Back to that parable in Matthew about the spirits that come in to the empty house. - Here is a better interpretation of that passage, from Bible Knowledge Commentary, an interpretation that is actually grounded in the immediate context of what Jesus is saying: - 12:43–45 (Luke 11:24–26). This generation of sign-seekers [who, by the way, are the people to whom Christ is speaking] stood condemned in the final judgment. To show what their condition on earth would be if they persisted in unbelief, Jesus compared them to a man who had found deliverance from a demon (an evil spirit), perhaps through a Jewish exorcist (cf. Matt. 12:27). After the man was delivered, he tried by every natural means to clean up his life and set things in order. But mere “religion” is never effective so the man lacked a supernatural conversion. Consequently he was subject to possession again with more serious ramifications. Instead of one demon possessing him, he became possessed by seven other spirits. His latter condition was worse than his former. The Pharisees and other religious leaders were in danger of that happening to them for their attempts at reformation, without the power of God, were sterile. They clearly did not understand God’s power, for they had just confused the power of the Spirit with the power of Satan (vv. 24–28). Thus they were wide-open targets for Satan. *Louis A. Barbieri Jr., “Matthew,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 47–48.* - What Jesus is talking about is judgment to those to whom he is speaking, and severe judgment at that (you can see this use of “sevenfold” in other places in Scripture, such as Gen 4:15 and Lev 26:18). - Gen 4:15: Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. - Lev 26:18: And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins - You see how Jesus is talking to a particular group who are under condemnation; “this generation” does not refer to all of Israel or the nation as a whole and suggesting another nation, on the opposite side of the world, is going to receive the severe punishment of the people Jesus is talking to right now, it simply makes no sense. - We haven’t talked about how Cahn connects this parable to our modern day, particularly western civilization or modern-day America specifically. Cahn suggests something that many patriotic Americans agree with—that the founding of America was the founding of a new Christian nation. Now, my job here isn’t to discuss how Christian or non-Christian the founding of America was; I happen to agree that it was a particularly incredible moment of history and I would never dare to suggest that God didn’t have his hand in it. But Cahn suggests that the United States is somehow the direct inheritor of the history of Israel—like, to the point that what can be said of Israel can be said of the United States, full stop. He actually suggests that the US was founded just as Israel was. - And I’m sorry, but as fabulous and even potentially miraculous as the founding of America may have been…Israel was divinely and supernaturally formed through Abraham’s seed. Further, Israel had a particular purpose in the coming of the Messiah as well as the preservation of God’s word in Scripture. Now, I may have forgotten some things from my high school U.S. history class, but I don’t remember George Washington’s miraculous birth and I certainly don’t remember the Angel of the Lord visiting any of the founding fathers or telling them that the seed of the promised one is going to come through their lineage or that their written documents were inspired, telling the story of God’s special people and treasured possession….call me crazy…. - Am I being unfair? Does Cahn really take America to be the inheritor of Israel? Some suggest that he doesn’t. - But this idea is crucial to Cahn’s supposition because the gods of the past left the world due to the fact that no one was worshipping them anymore because western civilization won; western civilization became Christianized. (Huzzah for Rome! Praise God for western civilization!…hang on a second, wasn’t there something about a Jewish Messiah that was supposed to figure in to all of this…hmm……) The important thing for Cahn now is that when America the Country rejects God, America’s re-possession by the gods is going to be worse, even, than what happened to Israel. In other words, in the parable that Jesus spoke, Israel was the man who had the one demon exorcized, and now America is the one who is going to be repossessed by seven more demons. - This idea suggests very directly that Cahn isn’t merely equating America and Israel in some loose way, but in a very hard and fast one. He is suggesting that the parable Jesus spoke is functioning as prophecy. - The evidence given by Cahn of America’s apostasy are things like the removal of prayer from schools, the removal of the 10 commandments from hanging in public buildings, the fact that newspapers do not publish Sunday sermons, immoral movies, descriptions of Wall Street having a “bull” market as well as the introduction of metal bulls put on display in NYC, political correctness, technology replacing wooden idols (the computer and AI in particular), and so on. - Now, let’s go back a second. Remember his evidence for spiritual possession of pagan nations before…convulsions, shakings, and frenzies. None of the things I mentioned will cause that, with the possible exception of some people using computer screens—but Cahn doesn’t suggest that anyone with photosensitive epilepsy is possessed by a demon. - I won’t disagree that spiritual possession might take a different form here today. But what is the point of bringing up the evidence of spiritual possession in the past if there is no correspondence to the spiritual possession of today? How do we determine that the removal of these things has more to do with demonic influence than it is to do with the people abandoning allegiance to God? Those two things can be related, but they aren’t necessarily related. - Does it matter, you ask? ….Why shouldn’t it matter? I personally feel like telling someone they’re possessed by a spirit is a little different than telling them that they aren’t loyal to God. - I’m not saying that the dark forces aren’t at play in our society—I think they are. But I will strongly suggest that there is a difference between people making their own choices and people being possessed, a difference between people making choices that aren’t in line with God, and people making choices that are legitimately worshipping another deity. I feel like I’m harping on this point, but you see I think there’s a risk of poor thinking here, of just accepting something because it’s “close enough.” My concern is that our emotions get inflamed when reason ought to abound. And besides this, “close enough”—that’s not revelation. - Cahn goes on to mix this evidence—these things like the removal of prayer and the ten commandments—with three particular ANE gods. Here is another place which is bound to captivate the reader who is drawn to learning more specifics than is often given out from the pulpit or in weekly Sunday school. And I don’t blame the reader; it’s quite fascinating to learn about the beliefs of the nations which surrounded Israel. The Bible speaks against these quite adamantly and so knowing a bit about them is quite helpful in our Bible study. - Cahn calls these gods the “dark trinity” (a term which makes me cringe because the lesser gods of the ANE are not the same ontology as our Triune creator—I realize this is just marketing, but still). The first god Cahn references is Baal. The term Baal can refer to a specific god, but it was also the name or perhaps title that many used for their territorial deity, which means we ought to take care not to lump all references in the ANE to Baal as referring to the same being). - But this is the problem…Cahn does lump everything together…and he does it repeatedly. Over and over and over, ad nauseum. With every deity that he brings up, he feels comfortable to put everything in history onto these three gods because he sees similarities in the ways that pagan deities have been worshiped in different places and throughout time. - It is, frankly, difficult to listen to when he keeps making these blithe claims—oh this goddess here is the same being as that one over there, just a “different manifestation” of her. - This isn’t even close to being the only problem Cahn has with data, though. Playing fast and loose with connecting different pagan gods together as if they are the same entity is one thing—but then he goes on to suggest, again over and over and over again, that every bit of pagan writing about these deities is somehow true. In fact, he treats pagan writings as prophecy themselves. Like we’re supposed to believe that the pagans wrote down things about the spiritual realm that we are supposed to take as true reality. - And this is where I could bring in his own writing—this clearly shows what his level of “revelation” is, and it’s not remotely how I define it—and how I limit it. If he thinks that we can take anything as revealed truth simply because we look at it and think, that makes sense, then in my opinion, that deals a pretty severe blow on how we might see Scripture and revere it. Suddenly, if anything that makes a bit of sense to us can be revelation, then how do we determine what is orthodox? How are we to root out false teachers? - I could really go on at length about this problem, but for the moment I want to talk a bit about the deities that Cahn brings up. I wish I could say that this was going to be an exhaustive treatment, but I’ll just touch on a few points and suggest a few references. - In the Bible, the word “Baal” shows up in singular and plural form, indicating that it is not merely one being who is being referenced. - The word “Baal” also shows up in names and titles, and “Baal” is translated in these titles as the English term “Lord.” So you have names like “Baal-bereith”— which means Lord of the covenant—and “Baal-zebub”—Lord of the flies. (No, I didn’t make that up.) - “Baal” shows up in names; one way we track worship of deities is through onomastics—the study of names. Many names were theophoric—meaning they contained the name of a deity that was being worshipped. Look at the name Daniel, for instance—do you hear that “el” at the end? That’s a referent to God. Combined with the first part of the name, Daniel means “God is my judge” or something along those lines. - For the designation of Baal, we have the given names of “Eshbaal,” “Merib-baal” and “Jerubbaal.” But, there’s a problem with using onomastics to determine if people were literally worshiping Baal. If “baal” can also mean the generic term “lord,” then that throws a wrench into the theory…or at least being able to say conclusively that the people of that time were worshiping Baal. (At the same time, it probably is true that the Israelites did worship him at times—after all, the apostacy of worshiping other gods was what landed the nation in exile.) - I’m going to quote from the book The Gods of the Nations by Daniel Block. In this quote, he is referencing the use of “baal” as a theophoric name. The notion of syncretism he mentions is the idea of combining religious ideas…like taking a deity from another people group and making it your own. I’ll talk about how that fits into Cahn’s ideas in a moment. Here’s the quote from Block: - The presence of this element need not by itself indicate syncretistic notions. In some of these names Baʿal probably functions as an epithet for Yahweh, synonymous with ʾAdon, “lord,” with no pagan connotations whatsoever. Included in this category would certainly be names like běʿalyâ, “Yahweh is my lord,” and perhaps also běʿelyādāʿ, “The lord [i.e., Yahweh] knows.” *Daniel I. Block, The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology, Second Edition. (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1988), 66.* - Block does go on to suggest that Jerubbaal probably doesn’t fit into this category of using the term “baal” to refer to YHWH because of the context in Judges 6. - Another thing that happens in the Hebrew Bible is that the writers will deliberately change a name if it alludes to Baal. Block gives the example of the name “Ishbaal,” which means, “man of Baal.” In the book of Kings, this name is changed to “Ishboshet,” or “man of shame.” Likewise the name “Meribaal” is changed to “Mephibosheth.” - I find it quite interesting that Cahn turns to post-Christian references to Baal rather than pre-Christian references. There’s a reason he does that. - He references an ancient temple in Palmyra, which is essential to what he wants to talk about because of the reproduction of the arch of Palmyra that was shown in various places, including NYC, NYC, the city which is now—according to Cahn—the gateway of the pagan gods. The original standing ancient arch was destroyed by ISIS in 2015; it was recreated by archaeologists. Let’s forget for a moment that this arch also went to other cities in the world which aren’t important to Cahn’s thesis; Cahn doesn’t bring up the fact that ….no one is worshiping at the arch. Supposedly its mere presence is enough to open the gateway to Ishtar—whom we will discuss next—and never mind the fact that it’s—again according to Cahn—Baal’s arch. - This claim makes a massive mess of the data we have about the pagan gods of the past. In Cahn’s narrative, the details don’t matter—until they do. If he can find detail to string together to fit his narrative, then details absolutely matter. If they don’t forward his story, then they can just be lumped into one massive block. - Now, that’s not to say that there weren’t direct connections between deities in the ANE. Sometimes it’s like the Greek pantheon and the Roman pantheon….well, they incorporated the deities and they renamed them. That does happen. But taking that parallel and running with it willy nilly is …well, silly. And paralleling it with what Cahn is saying, we’d end up claiming that they’re doing it because Zeus was behind the transition—that’s another level of discussion right there. Who’s gonna trust Zeus, for crying out loud?? - Let’s talk about Palmyra for a moment, since Cahn brings it up. I’m going to be referencing Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary and quoting a bit from it. - The chief god of Palmyra was Bel, [that’s spelled b e l] which reflects the Babylonian name of the archaic Bōl [spelled b o l] (apparently a dialectical rendering of common Semitic baʿal) [baal is b a a l] *M. Gawlikowski, “Palmyra,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 137.* - So you see how these words seem like the same word and they are likely linguistically related. - But Bel or Bol or Baal wasn’t the only deity worshiped in this temple that we’re talking about in Palmyra. There were a whole slew of them. And it all becomes very confusing so I get why Cahn wants to simplify it all and put it all together, but it’s disingenuous to do so. - Continuing on with reading from Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary: - While Baʿal-šamı̄n, “Lord of Heaven,” is known in the 10th century B.C., he arrived in Palmyra as the supreme deity of a tribe, parallel to, but distinct from Bel [b-e-l]. *M. Gawlikowski, “Palmyra,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 137.* - You see…there’s this Baal-shamin who is parallel but distinct from Bel (B E L). Continuing on with my quote: - A crowd of lesser gods, often undistinguishable from each other, were imported by their nomadic worshipers from the desert. Characteristically, they are always armed, either in the bedouin way or wearing an armor as Roman soldiers did. *M. Gawlikowski, “Palmyra,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 137.* - I think Cahn’s in some good company here with the pagans who just decided that they could appropriate anybody’s deities and say what they want about their gods…but I’m sorry, I’m not taking pagans on their word here that they actually knew what was going on behind the scenes in the spiritual realm. It boggles my mind—truly—that a confessional follower of Christ thinks that this is an okay thing to do. If these gods exist—which I believe they do—they’re in rebellion to the true God. What makes us trust what their followers are saying?? That’s crazy! Why would these beings care about being known truthfully? If they’re so sneaky and want to put themselves into the world to be worshiped covertly, and if Cahn is correct, then they’re coming about it in a pretty stupid way. - There are different ways to look at it than assuming that all of these pagans are revealing mysteries behind the scenes. Here’s a couple of options. Rather than assuming that the pagan gods are revealing themselves in truth to their people, it could very well be that people are making up the truth themselves (possibly based on a deeper truth that they remember from their own past) and the pagan gods merely attach themselves to these practices. Or, a second option, the people are appropriating ideas to “correct” them in a polemic way or just because that’s how they do things in their society—take stories they like and fit them in to what they already had. Or a third option is that the pagan gods are, in fact, revealing themselves—but they are not doing so in a truthful way, or at best they are only presenting a modicum of truth. - The only option that doesn’t make sense to me at all as a Christian is that these rebellious pagan gods care about truth. - Returning back to Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, quote, - The forms of cult are known very imperfectly. In addition to the traditional holocausts, [by that they mean burnt offerings] there were simple frankincense offerings on altars of which several hundreds survive. Ritual meals, organized by particulars or by associations (with that of the priests of Bel paramount), consisted in solemnly sharing food and wine in the presence of a god. *M. Gawlikowski, “Palmyra,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 137.* - Let me repeat that first part…”the forms of cult are known very imperfectly.” And yet Cahn wants us to think he’s got it all buttoned down and figured out. He presents his whole book as if he’s really delved deeply into all of this and yet wants us to think it’s simple, known, and straight forward when nothing could be further from the truth. - I’m tempted to go into the OT context of Baal as a unique deity from the Ugaritic texts known as the Baal Cycle. I think I’ll save that for another episode since we’re pretty well into this one. Besides, this doesn’t seem to be where Cahn’s research lay. - Before we go into the second god of Chan’s dark trinity, I’ll mention one other thing that Cahn says regarding Baal. - Cahn makes direct links between Baal and our use of computers, calling computers a new form of idol, and he suggests nefarious technology such as AI is there at the behest of Baal. - He’s either right in that this was revealed to him—or he’s just connecting these dots himself and this isn’t revelation. Either way, he really doesn’t do anything to connect Baal worship in the past to computers and AI beyond suggesting that it must be the case because he thinks they match up in some way. - I’m not really sure why it seems like it’s not good enough for him to write a book where these ideas might just be ideas he’s come up with himself. Cahn doesn’t go so far as to suggest anywhere in the book that we shouldn’t use computers—this is just as well for him because I bet he used a computer to write his book (he did, after all, talk about coming back to his screen to find mysterious typing there) and many people are going to access computers in order to read his book. But it’s like he brings this idea up…and then he just leaves it hanging as if it had anything to do with anything at all, which as far as I could tell, it doesn’t. So much of the book was like this for me—he makes connections, makes connections, makes connections…and then he just leaves it. The reader for sure is going to fill in those blanks—and often not to good ends, if you ask me. - So far I’ve only hit on the first part of the book. I’m not going to bother to go into detail with much more of the book because frankly it’s more of this same kind of thing that Cahn does at first—lumping together a bunch of material that he found concerning various goddesses and claiming that all of this information applies to one spiritual being. What he does sounds super convincing because he puts it all together in such a cohesive way. He inundates the reader with data—and it might not be wrong data but it’s cherry picked data, data that is designed and manipulated. - And again, I’m not necessarily suggesting malicious motives. Maybe it’s like that phenomenon where you’re thinking about something deeply, and suddenly everything around you reminds you of that thing. When Cahn goes on his investigative journeys, by his own admission he will hear a word that triggers his next “revealed clue.” - I’ve been at risk of doing this myself too often before. It’s a very real danger when researching or just living life that you start making connections that might not be there at all, simply for the sake of the fact that your brain is currently enmeshed in a particular line of thought. Our brains are made to create narratives and see cohesive logic. When you want to find a way to connect two things or find an explanation, you can. (Believe me, I know, I used to be good at that as a teenager watching Star Trek…what do you mean there are gaps in the plot! I can explain those!) - This doesn’t mean that all connections are made up. It doesn’t mean God can’t guide you in this way. But you need to take care and bring yourself some checks and balances. This is one reason why you need to have a community behind you in research. This is one reason why peer-review matters. If you’re relying on yourself and what you’ve come up with—there are going to be issues with that, naturally. It’s just part of the game. And when I see so much of Cahn’s information is just totally ignoring the other voices I see who speak about this same material—yeah, I’m going to say that he’s going out on a limb rather than “uncovering mysteries.” - But…even though Cahn may -possibly- have the best of intentions and motivations, let’s face it…it’s not uncommon to see people go down the conspiracy theory hole and end up in some pretty strange places. As I was compiling this episode, I saw a meme about a conspiracy theory that I thought really took the cake. It showed a baseball diamond and said that baseball is an occult Masonic ritual. And apparently this has everything to do with Baal. Baseball—-base “baal”, get it? It’s nonsense to equate the English word ball with the ancient Semitic word “baal,” but this isn’t far from what Cahn is doing in his book. Come find me on facebook and I’ll have a poll up to see what we think is most pagan—base-baal, foot-baal, or basket-baal. - sigh moving on… - I’m not going to go into much more depth, but neither will I leave you totally hanging about the rest of the content of the book. The second person of Cahn’s “dark trinity” is the goddess Ishtar, goddess of sex and war. I’m sure you can imagine what roads Cahn goes down discussing her, who is, according to him, a goddess who also features the male quality of aggression. I’d say that she is the primary feature of the book at large, in fact. Though Cahn goes into Baal’s supposed impact in our society, Ishtar is the center of much of the content of the book—content that frankly I’m not even going to bother to refute here except to say that he uses parallel imagery and English translations of pagan material to suggest that Ishtar was literally incarnated in NYC in 1969…so very many logical fallacies to his “proof” of this. - Look, I disagree with a lot that is going on in modern culture, too. I firmly think we’ve got some serious problems, and I understand the draw of his explanation for where it all stems from. I just don’t see how promoting any of this is useful. …….The third person of the dark trinity is Molech and I’m sure many of you have heard of his connection to child sacrifice and have heard of him being the god of Planned Parenthood and the like. I have sympathy to these ideas in some sense, but Cahn seems to suggest that it’s essential we make these real connections (else, why reveal this explosive mystery) and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. I mean, really…why does it matter? I’ve never seen anyone change their thinking, actions, or choices just because someone tells them that they worship Molech. Why do we need to have a specific god to name here? Is that the only way we can call out evil for evil? Is that the only way we can understand that wicked things are going on? What is the point? - If it was the case that we had a whole slew of people who were literally using the names of these gods or reviving their ancient worship in a direct way, then this would speak into that. But suggesting that the gods are sneaking in and no one’s the wiser—well, maybe they are. I could see it. But again…I’m not sure why it matters. We don’t need to know their names in order to defeat them. ……What ought to be our actions as Christians? We proclaim the truth, proclaim Christ. Whose name matters? The name of Jesus Christ. Not Baal’s. Not Ishtar’s. Not Molech’s. We proclaim Christ’s name. - Cahn maligns a lot of things in the book without going so far as to say we need to avoid them—but I feel that’s the natural end point. Computers? Evil. AI art? Evil. Alcohol and particularly beer? Used in the service of Ishtar. Music—especially rock and roll? Ishtar again. I’m almost surprised he didn’t suggest that listening to rock backwards will reveal the mystery of a subliminal message embedded within all music played with an electric guitar. - Like I said, I’m not sure what the end goal of this book even is. He suggests that if we aren’t worshiping the right God, then we must be worshiping a false one. But I ask myself, what does it matter? Do you want to know what I think the end goal of his book is? It’s fear towards other people. You’re not reading this to get closer to God, you might come away from reading this to malign other people and suggest that if they aren’t in service of our Trinue Creator, then they are in service to these other dark powers, specifically. - That goes really far, if you ask me. To a point, yes, if you’re not loyal to God, then you might be in a position to promote evil of which you are not aware—but Cahn’s suggestion is a pretty bold claim that I personally fear will lead some to demonize their neighbors as participants with evil rather than reach out to them as the lost. - If you want to get to the good content of his book—maybe you bought it and the return window is already passed—skip to the last chapter. Honestly, I couldn’t help but feel that the last chapter was from an entirely different book. Cahn urges his readers to open themselves up to God, that only through Christ can we be united with God. And to that— I will add my own voice of praise that God is good and that he alone has provided this way, and this is what we are to cling to and this is what we are to proclaim. ## How to think better (using what he gets right in order to go deeper) - So let’s do a brief summary. I personally agree with the sentiment that there are evil forces directly at play in many aspects of our society, but after reviewing his work as a whole I can’t help but say that Cahn is pulling his connections out of thin air by broad-brushing history without displaying any nuance. He wants to make specific connections that I believe go beyond what the Bible claims…and I think he ought to be called out on that. And I think it ought to be seriously considered by his readers that he is treating pagan literature as if it can be given authority in revelation. And no matter how much he says he doesn’t want to be called a Prophet, people are going to read this book like that’s what he is….they’re going to read this book as if it truly is revelation. And you can’t tell me that there’s not something wrong with that. - There are better ways to look at all this and to see how it is revealed in Scripture. Stay tuned and we’ll get to all of that in later episodes. - I like this quote by Dr. Judd Burton ….this is from his fb account from, Nov 7, 2021: > The church seriously needs a Moneyball solution to the challenges presented in this age. The supernatural war is no longer cold, but heated, and getting hotter. Frequent prayer, disciplined and intense study of scripture, vigorous application, sincere worship, and the Christlike execution of it all are key. > - I completely agree with Dr. Burton. - The gods have never actually left humanity alone only to return sneakily in the last 70 years; their true defeat was at the cross, resurrection, and ascension of Christ (not at the Christianization of Rome nor at the founding of America), and the way to be a part of their continuing defeat is not to vote the right way and make sure we have the 10 Commandments hanging in our state capitols but to engage in the great commission given by Jesus himself, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” ## Resources and next steps…how can we ourselves become more informed? - Okay, so I hope you’ve found this interesting and maybe some of you find it useful. I wish no ill will on Jonathan Cahn, but I gotta call it like I see it. I feel like I need to say this, though it seems like it ought to be obvious—suggesting that Cahn is wrong is not suggesting that there aren’t dark powers doing things. I think it’s pretty clear that he’s NOT working off of revelation and I think that it’s important to call him out on that. - If you want to delve more into the topic of the supernatural, I do suggest those specific books by Dr. Hesier, Angels and Demons, but I also highly suggest his other book, The Unseen Realm, which talks a great deal about this topic. The Unseen Realm isn’t revelation describing a great mystery (though he does describe uncovering his own personal mystery—but not in the sense of some grand revelation; the mystery he talks about is actually not “new,” it just happens to be the case that many haven’t seen it or heard about it). If you want to get into more particulars about the gods of the ANE, I suggest Daniel Block’s book, Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology. ## Outro - Thanks for listening to this episode. Subscribe, like, review, do all the things if you’ve found this helpful. I’ve got some links in the description, at my website genesismarksthespot.com, and in my fb group of the same name if you want to come and chat. Don’t forget to come vote on that poll I mentioned. I want to know if it was okay that I went to watch those football games back in high school.