You Are A Pagan | Hour 2

You Are A Pagan

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand. You know,
I was thinking, as we were talking about paganism, there's
a game, the college game, many many years ago, six
degrees of separate separation, or six degrees of Kevin Bacon,
where you would you would sit there and you would

(00:21):
name a person, and you try and see how many
times you could get, you know, or name a person
if you could get within six tries or six movies
back to Kevin Bacon. So you'd name an actor and
you'd say Tom Cruise, Well, Tom Cruise was in this
with so and so, and that was and then so
and so was in this with so and so, and ultimately,
within six tries you'd get back mathematically to a movie

(00:45):
that Kevin Bacon was in. Well, it's almost six degrees
of paganism, because no matter where you go or what
direction you run in, you can be brought back to
paganism even in the things you're comfortable with. As we're
limited on time, we can only talk so much, you know,
during during phone calls and stuff like that. But as
we're talking and the mention of Christmas and goes, well,

(01:07):
that's Christmas, and they celebrated and the wise men. Unfortunately
we had to go to a break. But you think
about the concept of the wise men. The wise men
were the magi, they were pagan astrologers, and yet people
have those on cards and everything like that, and during

(01:30):
the holidays and even see shirts saying wise men still
follow him today with a picture of me on it,
you know, either on the cross or something like that,
and things like this. You'd be surprised how much it
is it has infiltrated, not on its own, but willingly
buy different groups or leaders like Constantine and the like

(01:55):
that had shaved off as much of it as they
could and then applied the others so that there was
comfort level in its growth. As a matter of fact,
Christianity can be argued by historians at least I might
have a different thought, but that a lot of that
is what propelled Christianity, you know, Rome, Constantine changing Rome

(02:19):
and their national religion and belief system. First it was
opening it up to all beliefs, and it was more
of a okay, listen, you're not going to be persecuted
for being Christian anymore. That's the first thing. And then
slowly he started opening that up, and then he started saying, well, no,

(02:40):
paganism's a problem, and we're going to start not just
allowing everything, but now putting paganism down. And through the
process of the years and so on, came to a
point where he says, now Christianity's mandatory in ways, and
then you've got people going okay, well then I'm just

(03:01):
gonna take this with me, or this with me, or
this with me. Does that always work? Absolutely not. Are
there systems that are polluted and perverted because they've brought
things into Christianity. Absolutely, But that's where discernment comes from.
And my purpose for bringing these things up and pointing
them out is even the word holy day has been

(03:24):
muted to holiday, and there are things like blessings and
the term holy itself that really date very far back,
pre dating Christianity. And if you start just throwing the
baby out with the bathwater, you have problems. The bath
water is dirty, the baby is clean, and you need

(03:45):
to look around and see how these things are interacting
in your life. If they are neutral or can be neutralized,
then that's fine. If they're infiltrating by way of someone
with an agenda or something or these types of things,
then yes, you are to defend yourself and your faith

(04:06):
against those kinds of interruptions. But many of these things
from thousands of years of filtering have become benign. You know,
the practices that these things once held have nothing to
do with it. A child is not running around in
a costume of their favorite superhero thinking that they are

(04:29):
warding off demons and spirits and ghosts as they dance
around a bonfire. It's simply them trying to get candy
and dressing up. When it says in scripture that you
are created in the image of God, some argue that
that is that you have intellect, will, and emotion. Others

(04:50):
would say that your very creativity, of the desire to
be creative or create and to build in any way,
shape or form, is antithetical to the devil himself, who
wishes to destroy. So when you find children having a
desire to create or be creative, it is something that
should be encouraged. Others will look at Halloween and the

(05:11):
concept of death in Mayhem and say, oh, well, it
deals with the death or death or skeletons. And I've
always appreciated the look of our brothers and sisters that
have cultures rooted in in Mexico and their understanding or

(05:31):
they're at peace with the concept of death, and they
celebrate the Day of the Dead, not as something that
worships the dead, but as something it's kind of like
All Saints Day, where it's a time to look back
on those from your family that have passed on and
to celebrate their life. But it's done with imageries, the

(05:54):
imagery of skulls, and you know, people get confused, what
is this about, and is it's It looks dark and sinister,
and really it's not. It's about life. Even the place
where I died, Golgatha, is the place of the skull.
Christians are taught not to fear he who can kill

(06:17):
the flesh, but he who can kill the spirit, or both,
and so the concept of combating the fear of death
is a scriptural one. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I show fear no evil,

(06:42):
and that kind of attitude can be healthy and productive. Now,
as an adult, you need to have discernment in all
things and apply it to your life and the life
of your children absolutely and find where that line is
for you and how you would want to practice something

(07:02):
like this, But I will tell you that when you
when you kind of sequester a child from something that's
going on in the world and it's not explained properly,
or it's just well that has demonic roots, a kid
doesn't even know what a pagan is or any of
those things, then you end up cutting off much more

(07:23):
than you think you are because environmentalism. Yes, on one side,
you can say I'm being a good steward with the
world that God has given. But on the other side,
early pagans were worshiping and taking care of the world.
So is it about taking care of the world that's
good or bad? Or is it about why you're taking

(07:45):
care of the world and to who that glory goes?
These are the things that I think are lost in
these battles of well, it's just bad or it's just good.
God is just good. And there are a lot of
Christian liberties and a lot of battling that went on
in the Church of Corinth, And oh, should I eat
this if it was given to idols or sacrifice to idols?

(08:09):
Should I do this? And in many cases it's like,
eat what you want. If it glorifies God, you're fine.
And then on some cases, if there's somebody who's going
to stumble by the very fact that you're doing that.
You don't want to cause the lesser minded, as Scripture says,
or those that know less, to fall, but you also
want to educate them. In educating them, then they won't

(08:31):
stumble on the smaller stones. They'll see the bigger picture.
And that's my only hope here. It's not to champion
a particular holiday or to tear another holiday down. It's
to be reasonable, partially because if when you're reasonable, others
will see you're reasonable, and they'll believe what you say
about your faith and about God if they're non believers,

(08:54):
if you're unreasonable, they will reject what you say and
what you do and your belief in God. Rebecca, Welcome
to the Jesus Christ Show.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Hi, I was wondering if you're tell me what your
thoughts are on the way man seems to be destroying
the earth and the skies and the oceans.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
Well, make no mistake about it. I know it gets
politicized and it seems wrongly so that to become a
political issue. And I know that there's different pundits from
different sides going, oh, well, you know such and such
wants this, or so and so wants that. But Scripture
is very clear. Scripture talks about the importance and the

(09:39):
beauty of creation and how humans have stewartship over it.
And the term stewartship is very specific in the sense
that you're there to take care of it. And so
does that mean that you should cease doing anything that
deals with production or anything. No, it's not about that.

(10:01):
But taking care of the earth is part of the
commission of God throughout the entirety of Scripture, and the
balance there you have to understand as to how to
do that in a way to leave the smallest print
and damage on the earth as you exist on it,

(10:22):
so that others can exist on it as well. And
both sides politicize it in a way that I think
is vulgar and upsetting. One group plays the heart strings
and manipulate science to get their point and the other
does the same thing in the other direction. So if
you scrape all the politics off it, God says you

(10:44):
should take care of the animals. That doesn't mean that
you can't eat them. Strangely enough, so likewise, God says
to be a good steward or take care of the planet.
It doesn't mean that you can't use its resources, but
you have to be reasonable in doing those things. And
I think the Bible is very clear in that, Rebecca,
And there's a balance there. A lot of the pollution

(11:05):
that comes from greed and people wanting to make something
cheaper and faster and all this stuff. That's a problem.
That's a problem, But in a capitalistic society, the United
States is governed by the Constitution, not by the Bible.
So I think the individual Christian should be governed governed
by a scripture. And know that as an individual, if

(11:27):
they own companies or if they go out and use products,
that they should be aware of how these products are,
the things they're doing affect the world around them, and
if it may lay harm to someone else, and these
types of things. You've got to keep it all in balance.
And unfortunately politics doesn't bring much balance. So steer away

(11:51):
from the political talk about it and just know that
you've got to be sensible. You're not going to throw
trash or garbage on the ground, don't put it into
the air, don't put it in the water. James, Welcome
to the Jesus Christ Show. Yes, Hi, James, I'm well, sir, quickly,

(12:11):
we only have it a moment a moment or so here, okay, help, Yes.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
I was just wondering, why should we, you know, promote
those evil holidays and give a a bad example to
the kids.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Okay, well, I think that's a legitimate question. What would
you say about the Halloween holiday, which really is a
derivative of a Christian holiday, All Saints Day, and not
necessarily sow in this the Celtic festival which preceded them,
But it's more mutation of All Saints Day and All
Hallows Eve, which came from the Christians. So what part

(12:49):
of Halloween do you find to be evil?

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Well, that's in the night, and everybody's studies, who wha, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa whoa.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
Why would why would be in the night? Why would
something be in the night be evil?

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Because that's when evil people celebrate, you know, So if you.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Not necessarily there were many pagan rituals that were in
the morning. So if you go to church at night,
that's evil, no necessarity, okay, So anything you do at night.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
Is evil, not necessarily.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Okay, So why is it evil in this case?

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Because of all this evil masks and the.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
Okay, so what would be an evil mask?

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Well, they got you could go out there and see yourself.
All these evil masks they're worrying you know.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
Okay, are there not some non evil masks?

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Very few?

Speaker 1 (13:41):
Okay, but there are some.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Few.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Okay. So you're saying if they wear an evil mask
and maybe go out at dusk before it gets too dark,
it's okay.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
No, but the whole point is that pretty much we're following,
you know, taking a holidays.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
No, actually it's not any That's the true point is
that it's not anymore. And if anything, if you could
imagine an old, decayed building that was used as a
as a you know, selling crack or something James, that
has been repainted and refixed up to be something that
is more productive and better, then that should be honored.

(14:19):
It's not about what it used to be, it's about
what it can become. And that that really is on
the shoulders of the Christian parent to direct their children
in a proper way. But really saying because that night
is silly or because they're evil masks, you can change
the evil mask things, and certainly not everything at night
is evil. Dennis welcome to Jesus Christ show. Hi Dennis,

(14:46):
how can I help you?

Speaker 3 (14:49):
I'll just listen to the other two callers there about
Halloween there, Yes, sir, I wouldn't think that anybody would
really think of it as being evil unless they worship
it as evil. I look at it as fictional and
fictional characters just like anything else, and fun for the kids.
I mean, unless you worship them and them evil, if

(15:11):
they think they're evil, the mask and whatever that would
like say, ghost in goblins. I don't believe in ghosts
and goblins and whiches and stuff like that anyway, Well, no,
he worship them and put them before God. It's just
a holiday for the kids.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
I think that is well said. I think there's a
lot of people that see it for something that it's not,
or that it was once, But it doesn't involve those things.
And truly it lands on the parents to make the
decision in the life of their child. But be careful.
There are things we say on the program often that
there are wounds you bandage and wounds you amputate so

(15:51):
it doesn't pervert the rest of the body. And there
are some things you want to cut from your life
possibly and say well, we don't want this, we don't
want that. There's also things that you can rebrand or
structure in a way that are fun and healthy and
it can have a good time. And I speak to
many many Christians and inevitably you ask them and they say, well,

(16:13):
I just don't want to do them as a child, And
I say, well, were you brought up in a Christian household? Yes,
but my parents let us celebrate it. And how long
have you been worshiping the devil? Now, it's not necessarily
the way the path goes. And you want to protect
your children to the best of your ability, but also
keep in mind that if you're over sensitive on things

(16:35):
that are benign or neutral, or that you can you
can put an understanding of Christianity on it, then sometimes
it confuses and causes great rebellion. And that's not to
say to be lukewarm and wishy washy without bringing because
you don't want the kids to rebel. It's not my point.

(16:57):
The point is that make sure that the things that
you trying to cut from their life, that you make
a good case for it, and that it's understood across
the board. Otherwise, truly, as they get older and start
doing their own research search and seeing that there's all
kinds of things in your home that have pagan origin
and customs and things like that. Then and then I'll

(17:20):
start turning it back on you, and of course that'll
be a problem. Paul, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
Hello. I live in rural West Virginia. And my neighbors
down the down the road for me, or kind of
like my second family. And it's a married couple with
two dis beautiful young girls eight and ten. And the

(17:52):
wife laughed, I guess about six or seven weeks ago,
and I've kind of been his third ear and you know,
his support. And I'm spending a lot of time down
there now. And the other day there there are two
dogs killed one of their cats, and and and and

(18:16):
my friend and his girls are just just getting devastated.
I'm like, I mean, I said, man, evil is just
coming in and ripping his family apart. And and I
offered to give me your gun, and I'll put the
two dogs down. Now, I mean, I wouldn't do it
in front of his girls, but you know I would
put the dogs down because I mean, they're they just

(18:39):
destroyed something that they love and on top of that,
they lost their mom. And I was wondering if you
give me any words of encouragement that I could share
with the people and bring love back into their their heart.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Well, I'll tell you won't do it causing more destruction.
Will not. And I know that when you see people
in pain, that the desire Paul is to is to
defend them in that sense. And this is not the
type of pain that you can defend. This is the
type of pain that you work through. Proverbs twelve twenty

(19:22):
five says anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down,
but an encouraging word makes it glad. And that doesn't
mean going out and killing things or destroying you know,
God's creatures is going to bring beauty just because there
was pain that was brought by them and the dogs
didn't know they were bringing pain on anyone. And in
this particular case, what these people need is time to

(19:47):
express themselves, time to feel their pain, and somebody who cares.
And you seem to be that person. You seem to
be someone who genuinely loves I can hear it in
your voice and cares for them. And right now they
need that, They need somebody just to love them and
be with them. Bring beauty not destruction. Make a meal,
share a meal, spend time. Listen above all, listen and

(20:11):
let them speak. Because people run from people who've gone
through tragedy. Don't run. Charlie, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Hi, Hi, Charlie.
How can I help you?

Speaker 5 (20:25):
I I just had a question about, like, how do
I give glory to God in the like everyday simple
things in life, like going to a movie with friends
or mowing the grass or everything like that.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
You know, well, there's it really comes down to. If
you hear a child talk about their parents and you
ask that child what you know, would you give your
life for your parent? They'd say yes. But you asked
that same child if they'll the lawn or do the dishes,
and they'll go, ah, I don't want to. And Christians

(21:05):
do this sometimes too. It's like you would lay down
your life for your God if necessary, but you won't
live your life for God. And that means every little
boring thing. Your parents don't want to be you to
be at their foot every ten seconds going Gosh, you're
the greatest parents in the whole white world. I love you.
They want you expressing that in the things that you do,

(21:26):
showing them that the life they've given you will be
a life that's productive and righteous and filled with purpose.
And God wants the same thing. Yes, God wants you
to worship him. God wants you in church. God wants
you to pray. God wants you to do all those
things that have become religious in nature. But truly, God

(21:51):
wants you to live a life that is filled every
single day with creativity, with exploration, with curiosity. And for instance,
it says in Scripture to pray without ceasing, and truly
it's It doesn't mean NonStop like a mantra. It means

(22:14):
kind of like an incessant cough. It means always be
in that state of knowing that God is there and
that you're thinking about God. And that's kind of what
you do with everything. And if you partake in something
Charlie where you feel like how can I bring God
into this and it doesn't quite work, then maybe that's
something that you want to not do in your life.

Speaker 6 (22:35):
Yeah, yes, I had a question about like what about
like going to see like scary movies, Like to me,
it doesn't affect me, like I don't think it's bad,
but like, is it not giving glory to God?

Speaker 5 (22:50):
Like if I were to go see like a scary movie.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
Well, it's what the purpose is. There are many scary
parts to scripture, and I know that movies depict you know,
angels and demons as particular types of creatures, but if
you saw a good angel, it would creep you out
at first. The concept it's not the single pair of wings.

(23:13):
Some angels have multiple pairs of wings on their feet,
on their shoulders, on their backs, and there are things
that would be quite frightening. As a matter of fact,
there are times in scripture where people were frightened of
good angels or godly experiences. If you put scripture on
camera and on film in a very articulate and legitimate way,

(23:40):
there would be horrible sex scenes, there would be horrible
scenes of violence, there would be scary things, there would
be exciting things. So really it's not about those things.
In general, there's a whole psychology that surrounds the concept
of fear and why people like to be afraid and
get scared when that's why they go on roller coasters.

(24:03):
A scary movie, within reason, is no different than going
on a roller coaster or experiencing something else that would
give you a thrill, But it's the context of what's
being done. And the divider really is if something's prescribing
you to do something bad, then you're not a part
of it. But if something is describing something bad, then

(24:27):
that's just a description of things that are taking place,
or something that is causing you to think about the
way the world works, or things like that. So different
people go see them for different reasons. Some people see
them because they're movie buffs and they're fascinated by the concept
of special effects or the storyline, or they like the

(24:48):
thrill of not knowing what's coming next. But you could
say that about a lot of things that, you know,
some people would think are benign. You know, some people
think of Stephen king novel's okay, but a Freddy Krueger
movie is not, or you know, and go back and
forth in these concepts. Having said that, Charlie, there are
some things that really focus and are done by people

(25:12):
with dark intent and really focus on evil things. And
in that case, I would use great discernment as to
whether you were bringing those images or those thoughts or
those concepts into your life. You have to decide where
that line is for you, because, like many things, there
are specific commandments and admonitions by God that are for everyone.

(25:40):
Don't murder, don't steal, these types of things, and then
there are ones that are specifically for you. For the alcoholic,
they can't drink period. That becomes a new commandment in
their life, because any drinking becomes a sin, whereas someone
who's having wine with dinner or something, it's not necessarily
a sin. So with you, you may have a tolerance for

(26:03):
certain films because you like the genre, whereas for someone
else it could be a problem because of tendencies in
their life or things that excite them in a way
that shouldn't or things like that. And you have to
just be honest with yourself as to why why you
explore those things or why you're curious about them. Are
you a horror fan?

Speaker 6 (26:25):
Buff I am? I?

Speaker 5 (26:29):
I just I like to watch them with my friends
and we like to laugh at some of the scenes,
and it's just it's just kind of amusing, and it's
not I don't ever really get scared by them, But
I have a friend who thinks that it's it's glorifying Satan,
and I just don't know if that's.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
True or not.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
Well, some may be, and that's that's a decision you're
gonna have to make as you look at them. There
have been some. Now I don't think they're going to
throw you into the arms of the devil if you're
a Christian and that is that is your faith, and
on the contrary, it may make you run closer to God.
But these things are our judgment calls on your own.

(27:06):
To say all things that deal with violence or ugliness
or different spirituality are bad would really put you know,
everything aside. Think about the Christian police officer who is
in crime scene investigations that ask to come on actual

(27:27):
scenes of these things every day or see even ritualistic
killings or things like that. Does that mean that they
would cut that out of their job and say I
can't go on those. It depends what the purpose of
these things are and as to where they are and
if you're using them for good and how you're applying them.

(27:48):
If you think that it's something that's become to you know,
it's kind of a rite of passage. Passage for men.
A lot of them see these things and kind of
a lot of gallows humor and laugh at the things
that are they're nuts, and it's to build a thick
skin and to establish yourself into manhood and things like
that kind of the part of the warrior process. And

(28:10):
that can be fine. If it becomes an infatuation or something,
you know that you're the that you're getting just totally
caught up into macabre, then you've got to check yourself
a little bit. Fair enough, Yeah, you're very welcome. It
doesn't mean that every single thing that deals with the
macab or oh my gosh, I'm throwing out all my

(28:32):
Tim Burton stuff, or any of these things. It's just
it's not fair to the concept of of different types
of literature and art and filmmaking. There is many types
of art, paintings or otherwise that could be considered macob
that are quite brilliant and wonderful and insightful. And that

(28:55):
goes for movies as well. But you have to use
the discernment. If it starts to become a thing, then
maybe you should check it, check yourself every once in
a while and be introspective about it, pray on it
and think that way. Ah, discernment, Isn't it just easier
to just say no to everything. One of my pet peeves,

(29:21):
if you will, is the concept of zero tolerance. You
see this a lot in schools, so that a child
that brings an aspirin to school is considered as big
of a problem as someone who brings illicit drugs marijuana, whatever,
it might be, cocaine, but they're all drugs. Even though

(29:44):
it's aspirin, everyone gets expelled. So that kind of concept
of all or nothing that it really points to laziness
then it does anything else. And if you're going to
be lazy in your faith and not use discernment, then
why did God put you here and give you the

(30:06):
tools like scripture and prayer and say things like there
is wisdom in a multitude of council so the people
around you to get insight if you're just supposed to go, okay,
not doing this ever? Are there not doing this ever
type things? Sure there are. But even the ten commandments

(30:27):
you talk about thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not kill,
because if you're in law enforcement or military or things
like that, that could become an issue. And you know,
not bear false witness. However, if you are a Christian
in nineteen forties Germany and the Naziss comes to your

(30:48):
door and asks if there's Jews in your floorboard being hidden?
You say no. So the context is very important and
the purpose in which you do things, and that has
to be part of your decision making. If you just
throw out all your skills of decision making, that just

(31:10):
becomes spiritually lazy. You're just looking for a reason not
to have to practice your faith, not to have to
apply your your understanding and scripture. Well, you know what
if I don't just cut it out now, I have
to read scripture and really understand things and know whether
this is right or wrong in this context, and it

(31:31):
just takes too much effort. I'm just going to say no.
And that kind of spiritual laziness is permeating the church
in a way that the concept of being a sheep
becomes the negative or the pejorative of being a sheep
and just stupid and doing whatever. Whoever in front of

(31:52):
you says, that's not the purpose. The concept of sheeps
in scripture is to show the purity and the kindness
and the simplicity of following your Master, but doesn't mean
you do that in everything you do at church and
all of those things, and I want you to be

(32:13):
able to think through things and use that brain in
the top of your body. KFI I am six forty
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