Is the Date of Easter of Pagan Origin?

You may have heard the claim that Christians should not celebrate Easter because of its origins. Many believe that what we call Easter today was developed as Roman Catholicism co-opted pagan festivals celebrated in different regions in honor of various false gods and goddesses. The claims are laced with names of scholars who have made connections between the names of the festivals and goddesses, the timing of the celebration, and the symbols used.

To take these scholars at their word seems charitable, but I question the wisdom of such wholesale abandonment of a celebration that is at the very heart of the Christian community and faith. Three separate issues need to be identified and evaluated: the date of the celebration, the name of the celebration, and the symbols employed in the celebration. My goal is to examine each of these ideas separately so we might understand the issue more fully, repenting of what is erroneous and embracing what is true.    Continue at Roger Patterson

The Noah Movie Is Disgusting and Evil—Paganism!

Friends, last night I watched the Hollywood (Paramount) movie Noah. It is much, much worse than I thought it would be—much worse. The director of the movie, Darren Aronofsky, has been quoted in the media as saying that Noah is “the least biblical biblical film ever made,” and I agree wholeheartedly with him.

I am disgusted. I am going to come right out and say it: this movie is disgusting and evil—paganism! Do you really want your family to see a pagan movie that portrays Noah as a psychopath who says that if his daughter-in-law’s baby is a girl then he will kill her as soon as she’s born? And when two girls are born, bloodstained Noah (the man the Bible calls “righteous” in Genesis 7:1) brings a knife down to the head of one of the babies to kill her—and at the last minute doesn’t do it. And then a bit later, Noah says he failed because he didn’t kill the babies. How can we recommend this movie and then speak against abortion? Psychopathic Noah sees humans as a blight on the planet and wants to rid the world of people.

I feel dirty—as if I have to somehow wash the evil off myself. I cannot believe there are Christian leaders who have recommended that people see this movie.   Continue at Ken Ham

Revising Christmas, Again

It’s that time of year when culture warriors take up arms to keep worldly and pagan ideas from encroaching on the spiritual and biblical reason for the season. So Sarah Palin fired a salvo against the “war on Christmas” by “revisionists” who’re turning it into a “winter solstice” celebration. (This is to prepare us for her new book, Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas, ostensibly on the same theme). 

But what if the pagans aren’t the “revisionists” and the late December celebrations are indeed rooted in the winter solstice? That would explain some of the odd accoutrements to celebrations of Jesus’ birth. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been able to make out what evergreen trees, lights, and egg-nog have to do with the little town of Bethlehem. Without being too much of a Grinch, it might be worth asking whether the real “revisionist” is actually Mrs. Palin. Though to her credit, she stands in a long, long line of revising this holiday.   Continue at Steve Meister

The New Spirituality - Dismantling and Reconstructing Reality

The New Spirituality is "neither an organized religion nor a systematized philosophy but a group of ideas and a network of communication." (1) Such an innocuous description is still somewhat typical-the New Spirituality is just one more option in modern day pluralism, about which we should probably be somewhat informed.  

I must disagree. 

While it is not an "organized religion," this spirituality is the reappearance of the massive system of ancient world paganism and, as such, represents the greatest threat to the church since the Greco-Roman pagan empire. The situation is urgent. 

The incredibly beautiful "Temple of Humankind"-secretly under construction since 1978, 100 feet below ground, inside a mountain near the northern Italian city of Vidracco-provides the right terminology. Its builders say the temple is not a place of prayer, but "a place for contemplation of the divine within the self." Their work, they say, is not for a religion but for "a new civilization." (2) 

Our culture is reaching a tipping point of momentous implications where the "New Spirituality" may well represent the next phase of the faith and practice of modern autonomous humanity, whose goal is nothing less than the construction of a new Sodom and Babel.

Few were expecting this. Most merely saw a cloud the size of a man's hand appearing on the Western horizon. That marginal "hippy" revolution of spiritual and sexual experimentation would quickly dissipate. The real threat was secular humanism. The fact is this New Age "cloud of unknowing" has morphed into a perfect storm of latter rain that intends to irrigate the entire planet with the Aquarian "living water" of integrative monistic oneness.

Perhaps we are beginning to "get it," especially when it affects our children. In 2007, California governor Schwarzenegger signed SB 777 into law, making it illegal for teachers and children to use terms like "mom" and "dad" and "husband" and "wife" in public schools. Already in England using such terms is now officially called "bullying." (3) Montgomery County, Maryland, allows people to use public restrooms based on who they think they are sexually; and in San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors will now issue municipal identification cards showing name, birth date, and photo, but no gender. 

The cloud has become a tsunami; the Sixties' sexual liberation was not a mere dream of hippies who had opted out of public life. In fact, in a long march through the institutions, the "Flower Power" children cleaned themselves up and became the "establishment" them-selves. They have demonized the patriarchal society of Western and biblical civilization as the greatest expression of human evil, and replaced it with a radical egalitarianism that knows no gender roles and believes that the murder of unborn babies is not only settled law but vital to the emancipation of women. (4) In one generation, this sexual liberation has become public policy. The ideas behind these social changes are deeply and spiritually pagan-as even a cursory examination of Romans 1:18-28 will show.  Continue at Peter R. Jones

Since When Did Bunnies Have Eggs?

How in the world did the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, the most sacred and central event in Christianity, come to be represented by a fluffy bunny who mysteriously has colored eggs and gives out cheap candy to kids? Keep Reading...

See Also: Easter Eggs or Spring Spheres?

Have a Merry (sanitized materialistic) Christmas

Confronting Paganism

Can Mysticism lead to God?

Mysticism is an attempt to gain ultimate knowledge of God by a direct experience that bypasses the mind. The strong influence of Catholic mysticism has helped immensely to transform the New Age Movement from being merely a counter-culture sub-culture to becoming a new source of spiritual vision for the world. Catholic mysticism has very effectively and subtly invaded many facets of life without being recognized or critically examined.
This has been actively promoted through self-help medical, educational and psychological programs employing methods such as meditation, philosophical programming, and self-hypnotic contemplation.
In melding Eastern subjective spirituality with Western self-assurance, Catholic mysticism has done much to effectively hijack public and private religious life and to invert core beliefs and values of the West. Mystical God consciousness is an attempt to replace Christ's redemption and salvation. Continue reading>>>

The New Paganism

Christian and Pagan Paths