“Where Did the Pagan Gods Come From – And Who Are They Really?”

Steve Corley

Given as sermon in Knoxville 12-19-2020

Given as sermon in Kingsport 2-13-2021

Given as sermon in Roanoke 9-3-2022

Given as sermon in London/Corbin 9-10-2022

Slides referenced in this transcript are shown in the PowerPoint attachment "Origin of Pagan Gods."

Many so-called gods have been worshiped throughout history.  Virtually every nation and ethnic group in ancient times had its pantheon of deities.  People began as worshipers of the True God – in the time of Adam and again in the time of Noah – but soon pagan religion had started and was beginning to do its dirty work.  How did this happen?   In this sermon I would like to show some ways that the pagan gods, and their worship, developed and what the pagan gods really represent.  If you want to give this sermon a title you can title it “Where Did the Pagan Gods Come From – And Who Are They Really?”

People did not understand the nature of the heavenly bodies and their presence could constantly be seen, so there was always the temptation to worship them as gods.  We know that the ancients celebrated festivals at the time of the winter solstice – celebrating the impending “return” of the sun and lengthening of the day, or else trying to “encourage” the sun to come back.  Many ancient civilizations worshiped the sun as a god (Egyptian Ra, Roman Sol Invictus – compare Ezekiel 8:16 and 2 Kings 23:5 and 11 – the latter passage illustrates that other heavenly bodies were worshiped also.  We still see a descendant of this type of worship in the modern practice of astrology.)  The solstice festivals developed through the Babylonians and ended up in the Roman Saturnalia and the Nordic Jul (or Yule) festival, the ancestors of the modern “Christmas.” 

Animals were similarly constantly present with humans and the more powerful of the animals could sometimes come to be deified – many of the ancient Egyptian gods had the heads of animals.  The Egyptians worshiped the Apis bulls and the remaining influence of this practice among the Israelites when they left Egypt could have been the primary reason that the people demanded that Aaron fashion the calf idol while Moses was on Mount Sinai.  [It also could have been the reason that Jeroboam – who had spent time in Egypt (1 Kings 11:40) – chose calf images as the idols which he set up when he established pagan religion in the northern kingdom (1 Kings 12:25-33).]  Regarding pagan gods invented by deification of certain animals – let us remember also that Satan was originally a cherub (known as Heylel or Lucifer) and cherubim can appear with the faces of different animals as shown in Ezekiel 10 (note especially verse 14).  (Show slide on Światowid in attachment.)

Another major source of pagan worship was the deification of kings, noted ancestors or other prominent people after their death.  Many East Asian religions were noted for forms of ancestor worship.  If a Roman emperor had been considered a particularly good ruler, the Roman Senate would sometimes pass a law after his death allowing him to be worshiped as a god.  (Some tyrannical emperors wanted to be worshiped while they were still alive – and a future ruler will come who will want to be worshiped in this way as shown in 2 Thess. 2:3-4.)  But I would like to show a couple of Biblical examples.  (Show slides on Tubal-Cain.)  (Show slides on Seba and Raamah.)  In neither of these cases can we actually prove that the names are linked but the evidence is strong.

Also, some pagan gods have shared the name of the True God – and I will here likewise show a couple of examples.  Perhaps the nations involved started out worshiping the True God in ancient times but the worship became corrupted.  False attributes gradually came to be attached to the name until the people eventually were no longer worshiping the True God.  (Show slides on Jupiter.)  (Show slide on El.)  (Show slide on Adonis.)  (Show slide on Baal.) 

We have seen some examples of the likely origin of the names of pagan gods.  But regardless of how the myth, or the name, of a particular god originated – whether from the idea that the heavenly bodies were gods, from deification of animals, kings or ancestors, from misappropriating the name of the True God, or something else – the Bible tells us something which is common to all pagan gods.  They are not gods but they do, in fact, exist.  Let’s turn to 1 Cor. 10:19-20.  Pagan gods are identified here as demons – angels who followed Satan in his rebellion against God.  Rev. 12:4 suggests that possibly one-third of the angels may have followed Satan in his rebellion, and therefore became demons.  Lev. 17:7 and Deut. 32:16-18 show that the Israelites in Egypt had been sacrificing to pagan gods who are likewise identified as demons.   Psalm 106:34-39 shows that this practice continued and became worse after the Israelites entered Canaan – they were following the customs of the nations around them by sacrificing even their sons and daughters to pagan gods [such as Molech/Moloch/Milcom], similarly identified as demons. 

If people are willing to create a pagan god by deifying an ancestor, or by any other way, there is always a demon who will be glad to assume the identity of that pagan god!  Satan has an intense desire to be worshiped (remember the second temptation of Christ in Matt. 4:8-10) and it is reasonable to assume that other demons also have a strong desire to be worshiped.  One of the easiest ways for a demon to be worshiped is to appropriate the identity of a pagan god whom humans have created.  Note that the Philistine god Baal-Zebub or Beelzebub – the “master of flies” (2 Kings 1:2) is clearly identified with Satan by Christ Himself in Matt. 12:24-27 and Luke 11:15-18.  [As an aside – many students read the William Golding novel Lord of the Flies every year and have no idea of the real significance of the title.  The action of the novel shows Satan’s continual influence on a group of teenagers marooned on an island.]  (As for a demon being glad to pretend to be a dead person, remember the demon who impersonated Samuel when King Saul went to the medium at En Dor in 1 Samuel 28.  We know that the medium was not actually able to bring up Samuel because the dead know nothing (Eccl. 9:5).  As an angel (though a disloyal one), the demon retained a certain ability to predict the future – and told Saul exactly what was going to happen the following day.)  A demon would be just as glad to impersonate a deified dead king or ancestor in order to be worshiped.

The Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (often considered one of the most talented mathematicians of the early 20th century – note “Rama” again in the last name) was said to have claimed that many of his theorems were revealed to him in visions by the goddess Namagiri.  Did this indeed happen?  I do not know, but demons in the form of pagan gods – being (fallen) angels – do have a limited ability to perform miracles. Remember that the Egyptian magicians were able to duplicate the first two plagues (Ex. 7:22, 8:7).  [We are not told whether they were actually performing limited miracles, or whether on the other hand they were simply deceiving the Pharaoh by creating purely physical illusions by techniques similar to those used by the stage magicians of today.]  Deut. 13:1-3 warns us not to listen to a prophet who tells us to go after “other gods” – even if a prediction that prophet makes comes true.  Jesus warned us in Matt. 24:24 that false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and be able to do great signs and wonders, with the intention of deceiving even the very elect if possible.  More specifically, we are told that the second beast of Rev. 13 will be able to call down fire from heaven (verse 13).  So we should not be surprised when we hear claims that pagan gods have performed miracles.  Such claims may be true, since these pagan gods, as we have seen, are actually demons who retain some angelic powers.  Their power to perform miracles, of course, is limited to whatever God permits – remember that He did not allow the demon impersonating Baal to answer with fire when the prophets of Baal called upon Baal to consume their sacrifice in the showdown with Elijah (1 Kings 18:25-29).  [The particular Baal in question was the Phoenician Baal, Melkart – there were many “Baals.”]  Also, the Egyptian magicians were unable to duplicate the third plague of lice (Ex. 8:18-19) and identified it as “the finger of God.”

The first chapter of Romans can tell us a lot about the development of paganism and how conditions in society today may be setting the stage for the final resurgence of pagan ideas and practices.  The key religious trend we see steadily growing in our society today is the increase in the percentage of the “nones” – persons with no religious affiliation.  These include the atheists, the agnostics, and those simply with no particular interest in religion.  And atheism or agnosticism can be the first step in the development of paganism – people did not like to retain God in their knowledge (Romans 1:28 and verses 19-21).  Most atheists are extremely proud of their atheism – they consider themselves the wisest and brightest people in the world (verse 22) but are actually fools (Psalm 14:1 and 53:1).  [By the way – atheists are often fine with what they call “solstice festivals.”  I remember once reading a letter in the newspaper from a self-professing atheist who said he thought a “solstice festival” was a great idea and that he was therefore tired of hearing Christmas referred to as a “pagan holiday.”]  But with the spread of irreligion, God disappears from people’s thoughts (Psalm 10:4).  So does Biblical knowledge – why should someone study what he thinks is a piece of ancient literature which has little or no relevance to life today?

And when Biblical knowledge disappears from the population (as we see gradually happening) the people become very vulnerable to paganism.  When they have accepted without serious question, have always been schooled in, the idea that this material universe is all that there is – that the supernatural does not exist at all, then they become very vulnerable to anyone who publicly performs a clear miracle – anyone who shows incontrovertible evidence that the paranormal, the supernatural, does indeed exist.  When they become convinced that the miracle is indeed real they will have a tendency to “fall at the feet” of the apparent miracle worker – to accept anything he says.  Without Biblical knowledge they will not realize that a miracle can be real without being good – and a false prophet can be a miracle worker (Matt. 24:24).  They will have no understanding that what any apparent “prophet” says must be filtered through what we know that God commands us (Deut. 13:1-3).  By this process, atheism and agnosticism can act as precursors to paganism (cf. Romans 1:23, 25).  Only a small percentage of people are permanently satisfied with atheism or agnosticism.  People will start to feel spiritual hunger – and will often then seek to satisfy it in the wrong places (through the occult, for example).  Present-day occultists sometimes go so far as what virtually amounts to open worship of Satan – treating “Lucifer” as a positive being and the “Luciferic initiation” as a wonderful thing which opens the human mind (reminiscent of Gen. 3:5 and 7!).

Loss of Biblical knowledge among the people may be setting the stage for the rise of the beast and false prophet – note that Biblical illiteracy of the general population is actually a prerequisite for many of the events described in Revelation to occur!  Much of Revelation describes happenings in such detail that it is almost inconceivable that a person familiar with Revelation would not recognize these events (and therefore repent) once he sees them start to occur.  We are told in Rev. 9:20-21 that those not killed by the devastating trumpet plagues will not repent of their sinful lifestyles and will continue to worship demons (in the form of idols, or pagan gods).  People with any reasonable degree of Biblical knowledge, who have at some time read the Book of Revelation, would recognize the plagues as a likely fulfillment of the prophecies in Revelation and would be inclined to repent and cry out to God.  The fact that we are told that such will not occur shows that Biblical illiteracy at that time will be massive – and that is the direction in which we see Western society heading today.  [Those few who actually will remember what they read earlier in Scripture, who will therefore realize what is going on, and who will come to repent at that time, may constitute the great crowd from many nations as described in Rev. 7:9-17.]

In summary – pagan gods have arisen in various cultures by many means, especially via the deification of heavenly bodies, animals, kings or prominent ancestors and also by corruption of the worship of the True God (while keeping a name similar to that of the True God).  But, wherever the concept of a particular pagan god has come from, the Bible shows us that a demon has assumed the identity of that god and those who worship that pagan god are worshiping a demon.  And we as God’s people look forward to the day when Satan and his demons will no longer rule over the earth and mankind will be freed from all aspects of their rule – including worship of the demons in the form of pagan gods.  May God speed that day!