You Are A Pagan | Hour 2

You Are A Pagan

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
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
name a person, and you try and see how many
times you could get, you know, or name a person

(00:28):
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
that Kevin Bacon was in. Well, it's almost six degrees

(00:49):
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,
that's Christmas, and they celebrated and the wise men. Unfortunately

(01:12):
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
the holidays, and even see shirts saying Wiseman still follow

(01:34):
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 that had

(01:57):
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 and their

(02:20):
national religion and belief system. At 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,
paganism's a problem, and we're going to start not just

(02:44):
allowing everything, but now putting paganism down. And through the
process of the years and so on, came to a
point where he says, no, Christianity's mandatory in ways, and
then you've got people going okay, well then I'm just
gonna take this with me, or this with me, or
this with me. Does that always work? Absolutely not. Are

(03:06):
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
muted to holiday, and there are things like blessings and

(03:28):
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
to look around and see how these things are interacting

(03:50):
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
against those kinds of interruptions. But many of these things
from thousands of years of filtering have become benign. You know,

(04:19):
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
warding off demons and spirits and ghosts as they dance
around a bonfire. It's simply them trying to get candy

(04:40):
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
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

(05:04):
desire to create or be creative, it is something that
should be encouraged. Others will look at Halloween and the
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 1 (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 2 (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

(09:37):
about the importance and the 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,

(09:58):
it's not about that. 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

(10:21):
you exist on it, 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

(10:43):
says you 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

(11:04):
of the pollution that comes from greed and people wanting
to make something cheaper and faster and all this stuff.
It'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,

(11:27):
if 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

(11:51):
steer away 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.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yes, Hi, James.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
I'm well, sir, quickly, we only have it a moment
a moment or so here, okay, help, Yes, I was.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Just wondering, why should we, you know, promote those evil
holidays and give it a bad example to the kids.

Speaker 2 (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 is more mutation of All Saints Day and
All Hallows Eve, which came from the Christians. So what

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

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Well, that same night and everybody studies who whoa, whoa,
whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Why would why would be in the night? Why would
something be in the night be evil?

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Because that's when evil people celebrate, you know, So if you.

Speaker 2 (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 necessarily okay, So anything you do at
night is.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
Evil, not necessarily.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Okay, So why is it evil in this case?

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Because of all this evil masks and the.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
Okay, so what would be an evil mask?

Speaker 3 (13:32):
Well, they got you.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
Could go out there and see yourself all these evil
masks they're worrying, you know.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
Okay, are there not some non evil masks?

Speaker 3 (13:40):
Very few?

Speaker 2 (13:41):
Okay, but there are some few. 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 1 (13:52):
No, but the whole point is that pretty much we're following,
you know, taking holidays.

Speaker 2 (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 just listening to them 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 witches and stuff.

Speaker 4 (15:19):
Like that anyway.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
Well, no, he worship them and put them before God.
It's just a holiday for the kids.

Speaker 2 (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 a child, And
I said, 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 oversensitive on things that

(16:36):
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 from me, or kind of
like my second family. And it's a married couple with
two move this beautiful young girls eight and ten, and

(17:52):
the wife laughed. I guess about six or seven weeks ago,
and I've kind of been his third year 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,
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

(18:38):
I mean, they're they just destroyed something that they loved.
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 these people and bring

(18:58):
love back into their heart.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Well, I'll tell you won't do it causing more destruction.

Speaker 4 (19:05):
Will not.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
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 five says
anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but an
encouraging word makes it glad. And that doesn't mean going

(19:29):
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 express themselves, time
to feel their pain, and somebody who cares. And you

(19:51):
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 let them speak.

(20:11):
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.

Speaker 6 (20:32):
Glory to God in the like everyday simple things in life,
like go into a movie with friends or mowing the
grass or everything like that.

Speaker 2 (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 5 (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 6 (22:50):
Like if I were to go see like a scary.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Movie, 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

(23:13):
pair of wings. 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

(23:36):
articulate and legitimate way, 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

(23:58):
to be afraid and get scared when that's why they
go on roller coasters. 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

(24:21):
you're not a part of it. But if something is
describing something bad, then 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

(24:42):
by the concept of special effects or the storyline, or
they like the 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 Stephen king novel's okay, but a Freddy
Krueger movie is not, or you know, and go back

(25:03):
and forth in these concepts. Having said that, Charlie, there
are some things that really focus and are done by
people 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

(25:25):
where that line is for you, because like many things,
there are specific commandments and admonitions by God that are
for everyone. Don't murder, don't steal, these types of things,
and then there are ones that are specifically for you.

(25:47):
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 certain films because you like the genre,
whereas for someone else it could be a problem because

(26:09):
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 5 (26:25):
Buff I am? I?

Speaker 6 (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 true or not.

Speaker 2 (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.

(27:47):
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 in the macabre, then you 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

(28:32):
my 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

(28:55):
that 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

(29:20):
pet peeves, 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 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 just

(31:31):
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.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
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