The Return of the Gods: Review

Connecting the Ancient World to the Modern: Our Pagan World

Jonathan Cahn’s The Return of the Gods shows how mythological deities still vie for control of our lives. Their historical period of exile is over, now they’re back.  

Ancient civilizations have always had pagan practices and deities with strange backstories. They translate from culture to culture. Canaanites worshiped a female deity names Ishtar, a sorcerer and possessor of human souls. The Greeks called her Aphrodite and the Romans, Venus. Baal likewise, went through transformations of culture (Zeus to the Greeks) while retaining the essence of an all powerful god. We tend to think of these incarnations of gods as myths that societies passed from generation to generation as a means of interpreting their world. They were certainly that, but what if they were more?

Cahn believes these are demonic entities controlling human behavior. The book’s thesis hangs on this verse from Mathew 12:45 “So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” In other words, when Jesus tells his disciples that after an evil spirit is cast out of a man it goes into dry places. But it eventually returns and brings with it additional spirits. The man with the returned evil spirits is worse than he was originally. The verse is a parable about nations or cultures instead of a man. When nations follow a moral course of action they ‘exorcise’ the evil from their civilization.

According to Cahn, Christianity pushed out the ‘gods’ of old and reclaimed most of the Western world for Christ. The Middle Ages saw the influence of the Church after the disciples, and Paul, spread the gospel as far as Asia Minor. Many people were in bondage to evil spirits through their pagan rituals and rites. Christianity ended the practice of child sacrifice especially, but it also put to death the idea that people could have other gods. There was one true God, and His son Jesus represented the Divine reaching out to the sinful and the lost.

The gods could only come back “if there had been a falling away from the Christian faith and a biblical worldview”. (p.33) There isn’t one incident he points to but a series of milestones, all post World War II in America signifying a spiritual shift in the Christian landscape.

He understands the importance of symbolism in the spirit realm. The Bible uses dates and events that parallel each other. This way, the Christian believer can see connections in the story. Jesus restored man back to the Father in the same way that Adam lost it. He was hung on a tree made of wood. It’s a picture of Noah, saving humanity on an ark made from trees. Abraham tried to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God, a picture of God offering His only Son. Incidentally, Calvary is the same place where Abraham took Isaac as a sacrifice.

The symbolic nature of evil works the same way. Pagans celebrate ancient festivals and rites through the ages. Ishtar, the Mesopotamian female goddess, holds the month of June as sacred. June’s connection to Tammuz, Ishtar’s lover, centers on ‘sexual freedom’ where men took on feminine roles and women masculine roles. It’s also the month where the Stonewall (gay rebellion 1969) uprising took place in New York. The Supreme Court legalized homosexuality, threw out the Defense of Marriage Act and legalized gay marriage (Obergefell v Hodges) All of this near the end of June in different years.

He probably draws out the symbolism a bit too much in spots. The problem of ancient deities (spirits) expressed in various cultures is the grab bag of characteristics assigned to them. Ishtar is known as: the goddess of war and destruction, transgressor of standards, goddess of prostitution, and a seducer. She is fiery, impetuous, impulsive, greedy, emotional, demanding, stormy, fierce, prideful, vindictive and countless others.  When each god is known through literature as having over 100 attributes, it goes without saying that it will be easy to connect some dots.

It’s part history lesson and part warning. The ancient spirits that try to turn mankind from the one true God are more active than ever. We’ve brought them back because we’ve pushed God out. We don’t get to decide not to have a god. That place in our hearts that desires worship will not hold a vacuum. We can push out the Creator but we’ll quickly fill it with something that doesn’t honor Him. Fortunately, the Bible gives us a record of people who thought exactly as we do. They turned from their true love and invited foreign gods, ideas and lifestyles in. It took prophets to help them correct course. Jeremiah saw his people taken captive because of their rejection of Yahweh.

But God sent His son to us in this age, to redeem us for all time. I was thrilled that Cahn wrapped up the message with an invitation. A sad story needs hope after all. We have that in Christ.

Jonathan Cahn’s relentless pursuit of connection makes The Return of the Gods an enjoyable learning experience.