“The Return of the Gods” A Polytheistic Perspective

Since the beginning of COVID-19, various Monotheists have worried about the world becoming post-Christian. They describe how society is unraveling, making them fearful. From this increasing “dark” chaos, many have concluded that the hegemony of Monotheism is ending. Troubled, some have ascertained that evil entities are to blame. Notably Jonathan Cahn and Naomi Wolf (Note 1) have written about the “Ancient Gods” returning to wreak havoc. (Note 2)

In a series of books, Jonathan Cahn decries how the United States has turned from God. Claiming to be a prophet, he receives special insight from the mysteries unveiled in the Old Testament. Cahn says that the future is dire unless the U.S. repents its ways. (Note 3)

In his latest book, “The Return of the Gods,” Cahn details the plot of the Gods of Mesopotamia to take back control from God (Yahweh). He writes “could these gods, or beings, actually be the unseen movers and catalysts of modern culture?” In the introduction, Cahn continues “And so the gods returned. And having returned they began working their dark magic…And as the seeds of their planting come to fruition and their spirits infused more and more of the modern world, they grew still more powerful.”

The thesis, which Cahn has presented in his earlier books is that the “Word of God, the Spirit of God, the Gospel” came to the Roman Empire. This Spirit of God cast out the “Pagan” Gods and cleansed the West of their evil. According to Cahn, blessed by God, Western Civilization became hegemonic in the world. However, beginning in the 1960s with the ending of prayers in public schools, the United States cast out God. Because nothing has replaced God, the “old” Gods came back in force to dominate.

Cahn focuses on what he calls the “Dark Trinity.” (Note 4) He accuses Ba’al, Molech, and Ishtar with destroying society. Ba’al, a rival of Yahweh in the Old Testament, is the Possessor, who has taken possession of the children in the modern age. Ishtar, who is a stand-in for Astarte (Note 5), is the Enchantress and the Transformer. (Note 6) The Destroyer, Molech is the God that Christians often use to defame Polytheists by accusing them of child sacrifice.

Since these three Gods are often named in the Old Testament, They are usually considered the “Gods of Apostasy.” It is little wonder that Cahn has fixated on Them. He stresses that the Trio is active in the spiritual realm and now work to “re-paganize” the West. In other words, “evil” is winning. He writes “we are largely unaware of how the other realms affecting our world and lives.” (Note 7) He continues “Modern culture …. is now marked by the same signs that once marked the ancient pagan world: purposeless, emptiness, and hopelessness.” Meanwhile, Naomi Wolf has been more emphatic saying “This may, indeed, be what Hell itself looks like.” (Note 8)

Edward Butler’s “The Way of the Gods,” puts Cahn in perspective. According to Butler, Polytheism is the record of human relations with the Divine. Therefore, having multiple Gods is a natural part of being human. Polytheists have a rich body of relationships with various and many Gods. It was the default religion of the world until Christianity and later Islam sought to eradicate it.

Cahn has employed reductionism to make his points. Butler notes “…this to be a common circumstance with respect to every (Polytheist) tradition…these reductionism dismantle the meaning of traditions in order to build their own edifice whether it is a univocal narrative of world history of a totalizing psychological narrative, just as a temple is disassembled and its stones incorporated into a different building.”

In “Gods in the Desert,” Glenn Holland notes, “A monotheistic religious culture also offers worship and devotion to only one god, but his or her worshippers believe their god is the one and only god that truly exists. The devotees of the god maintain that all other beings called ‘gods’ and worshipped by other people are not really gods at all.” Holland observes, “The god is also the absolute moral arbiter of right and wrong, and as such is absolutely righteous.”

In other words, these “dark Gods” are of Cahn’s owns fears. They stem from the very real efforts of the Bible writers to erase Polytheism in order to have the “one true God.” Therefore, Ba’al and the other Gods have become the generators of chaos with Yahweh the restorer of order. For Yahweh to reign supreme, the others must be demonized by claiming that they have nefarious ends.

What Cahn writes are the usual things that Monotheists say of any Polytheistic culture. He puts Monotheistic fears onto “straw man” Gods. What Cahn and others do not understand is that the Pax Deorum (Peace of the Gods) is beneficial. The Pax Deorum is the right relationship between the world of humans and the Divine Powers. As as long as Divine laws remain unbroken, grace, beauty and harmony will be the norm. The world of the Gods is a far different one than what Cahn is imaging.

Notes:
Note 1. Cahn is a Messianic Jewish minister. Wolf, who is Jewish, was inspired by Cahn’s latest book, “The Return of the Gods,” to ponder this evil in her essay on Substack. “Have the Ancient Gods Returned?”. https://naomiwolf.substack.com/p/have-the-ancient-gods-returned

Note 2. At the same time, various Neo-Pagans have written about the “Great War” between those who would do humans harm and those who would prevent that. They cite the climate change crisis and the rise of Donald Trump as evidence. Most Neo-Pagans are Progressive, while Cahn and others are Conservative.

Note 3. Cahn had said that the Clintons were the modern Ahab and Jezebel, while Trump was Jehu, sent by God to “drain the swamp.”

Note 4: Three Gods are mentioned more often in the Old Testament by the various Prophets – Ba’al, Asherah, and Moloch. In his book, Cahn claims that Asherah, Astarte, and Ishtar are the same Goddess. Ba’al is the Canaanite God of Storms and Fertility. Ishtar is the Mesopotamian Goddess of Sex and War. She is often conflated with Astarte, who is the Canaanite Goddess of Fertility and sometimes Consort of Ba’al. Moloch (Molech) is only found in the Old Testament. Scholars believe that the term means “sacrifice,” and is meant as an insult to Polytheists.

Note 5: Asherah and Astarte are often confused. Asherah is the Sister of El and the Mother of Gods, while Astarte is the Daughter of Asherah.

Note 6: Cahn spends half of his book focused on Ishtar’s sexual proclivities. According to him, She is the reason for the destruction of humanity through gender confusion, homosexuality, and women’s liberation. He uses reductionism to conflate her with other Gods of Love, notably Venus.

Note 7: Various Neo-Pagans mirror this observation by writing how the spiritual realm is leaking into this world.

Note 8: Many Neo-Pagans believe that Hell is the imposition of Christian values on modern life, which has Progressive values.

Further Reading:
Edward Butler, “The Way of the Gods.”
Glenn Holland, “Gods in the Desert.”
Johnathan Kirch, “God Against the Gods.”
Lynn Prickett and Clive Prince, “When God Had a Wife.”