Wicca is a neo-pagan religion that has been growing in popularity and acceptance in the United States and Europe. There are many websites and books claiming to teach “real” Wicca, but the truth is, there is no consensus among Wiccans as to what the religion is all about. The reason for this is that Wicca, as it is practiced now, is only about 50 years old. Wicca is a belief system that Briton Gerald Gardner cobbled together in the 1940s and 1950s from a variety of religious traditions and beliefs as well as Freemason rituals. Since Gardner published several books espousing his system of worship, many offshoots and variations of Wicca have sprung up. Some Wiccans are polytheistic, worshipping more than one deity, while others worship only the “God” or the “Goddess.” Still other Wiccans worship nature, and call it Gaea, after the Greek earth goddess. Some Wiccans pick and choose parts of Christian doctrine to embrace, while others totally reject Christianity. Most practitioners of Wicca believe in reincarnation.

Most Wiccans will vehemently deny that Satan is part of their pantheon, citing major doctrinal differences between themselves and Satanists. Wiccans generally promote moral relativity, disdaining labels like “good” and “evil” and “right” or “wrong.” Wicca has one law or rule, called the Rede: “Do what ye will, harm ye none.” At first blush, the Rede seems like complete, uninhibited personal license. You can do whatever you want, as long as no one gets hurt; however, Wiccans are quick to point out that the ripple effect of one’s actions can carry far-reaching consequences. They articulate this principle in the Three-fold Law, which says, “All good that a person does to another returns three-fold in this life; harm is also returned three-fold.”

One major factor that contributes to the abiding fascination with Wicca is the purported use of spells and magick (a deliberate misspelling intended to separate Wiccans from magicians and illusionists). Curiosity seekers, as well as spiritual neophytes, are most eager to delve into these mysteries. Not all Wiccans practice witchcraft, but those that do claim magick is to them what prayer is to a Christian. The difference between the two is that Wiccans claim magick is simply using their minds to control matter, or they are appealing to their favorite deity to do them a favor, while Christians call upon an omnipotent, omnipresent God to heal people and to intervene and work in their lives. Because the Rede disallows witches from hurting others and the Three-fold Law spells out the consequences for Rede-breakers, witches who practice magick prefer to call themselves “nature witches” or “white witches” to further distance themselves from Satanists.

Wicca is basically a religion that is about minding your own business and living peaceably with your neighbors and environment. Wiccans are eager to draw parallels between themselves and biblical Christianity for the sake of earning credibility, but what does the Bible have to say about this religion? You won’t find the word “wicca” in the Bible, so let’s evaluate the beliefs in light of what God says about them.

Wiccan spells are idolism—Romans 1:25 says, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things, rather than the Creator…” Who wants to settle for second best? In Isaiah 40, God paints a picture of how much greater the Creator is than His creation. If you are worshipping anything besides the Creator, you are not only spinning your wheels, you are guilty of idolatry.

Wiccan spells bring false hope. Hebrews 9:27 says, “…Man is destined to die once, after that, to face judgment.” God says we get one chance at life, and that is it. There are no do-overs. If we don’t accept God’s gift of Jesus in our lifetime, He judges us as unwilling to be in His presence, and we are sent to hell.

Wiccan spells bring disillusionment. Mark 7:8 says, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” God is God, and we are not. We have a decision to make. Are we going to take God at His word and adopt His worldview, or are we not? Knowing God takes a lot of discipline. Wicca is a religion that takes a pack of lies, ties it in a romantic ribbon, and searches out a well-intentioned, but lazy and gullible mark to sell its hollow doctrines.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says, “Let no one be found among you who… practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells…Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD…” Wicca witchcraft is a sin, and God hates it. Why? Because it is an attempt to cut off our dependence on God and get answers apart from Him.

Sin isn’t just a heinous, socially disagreeable action. Sin is our decision to disagree with God on any topic—to rebel against Him. Sin is saying, “God, I want to live my life my way.” Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…” This isn’t bodily death, this is spiritual death: eternal separation from God and all the blessings that His presence brings. This is the definition of hell: the absence of God’s presence. That is what our sin gains for us.

Thankfully, Romans 6:23 doesn’t end there. It goes on to say, “…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God knew that we would all rebel in one way or another, and He provided a way for us to avoid that separation—through faith in Jesus Christ. Wicca witchcraft is nothing more than another lie from Satan, the enemy of our souls, who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  God bless you!!!  :):)

The better question would be what god is he getting closer to?  There are many god’s out there but they are not the God.  If you do an internet search for “spirit guides,” you get a variety of responses, including statements like these:

“Spirit guides are incorporeal beings that are assigned to us before we are born that help nudge and guide us through life.”

“Some may be highly ascended masters (such as Jesus) and others might be your average spirit who just happens to be a master in a certain area.”

“An ancestral guide is one who can claim some sort of kinship with you, such as your dear Aunt Tillie who died when you were ten.”

“A typical spirit guide is archetypical, symbolic or representative of something else.”

“A true spirit guide is an evolved being who has agreed to support your spiritual evolution. Real spirit guides are wise, compassionate and often amusing.”

The general idea is that there exist benevolent spirits who desire to help people, or “guide” them through life. Belief in spirit guides is commonly associated with New Age, pagan, and spiritualistic belief systems. The term “spirit guide” is not always used, as they are also called “ascended masters” or “unseen helpers.” Automatic writing, dream states, hypnotism, and meditation are all practices related to spirit guides. Also terms such as “magic circles,” centering, iridology, crystals, self-actualization, and positive affirmation are often associated with spirit guides. The goal of contacting a spirit guide is usually to discover some secret wisdom and rise to a higher level of consciousness.

Despite the claims of New Age practitioners, spirit guides are anything but benevolent. They are not the spirits of dear, departed loved ones, nor are they ascended masters who have crossed over some mystical plane. They are what the Bible calls “familiar spirits” (Leviticus 20:27, NKJV). They don’t announce their evil nature but portray themselves as beneficial. Second Corinthians 11:14-15 says, “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” Satan’s lies are most effective when they look and sound like the truth, when they seem helpful. Spirit guides are actually demonic spirits who masquerade as helpers in order to trap and destroy people with false teachings and occult practices.

According to spirit guides, man’s purpose is to be transformed through spiritual awareness, realize his inner divinity, and connect with the cosmos. According to the Bible, man’s purpose is to glorify God and be conformed to His image. Spiritualism teaches that man is inherently good, with unlimited potential for power and advancement. The Bible says that man is inherently sinful, and no one is truly good. Spirit guides assert that truth is relative and there are many paths to God. The Bible declares that God is truth, and Jesus Christ is the only way to a right relationship with Him. Spirit guides represent a worldview that is diametrically opposed to what the Bible says.

In the Bible, God warned His people repeatedly about the dangers of dabbling in the spirit world. Leviticus 19:31 says, “Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them.” Deuteronomy 18:11-12 says that those who consult with familiar spirits are an abomination to God. In 1 Chronicles 10:13 we read that King Saul died because he “asked counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; and enquired not of the Lord.” We are told in 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

How do you escape these spiritual enemies? By resisting them through faith in God (James 4:7). God is greater than any spirit (1 John 4:4), and He alone is able to deliver from their power. Jesus exercised authority over unclean spirits, commanding them to come out of people (Matthew 17:18; Mark 5:8-9), and they had to obey. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:10-18 that we must put on God’s armor and use His strength to battle our spiritual enemies. This can only be done by someone who has received God’s salvation through Jesus Christ. Confession and repentance is the starting point. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  Jesus is the only answer to the world today that will result in eternal life.  God bless you!!! :):)

The practice of making New Year’s resolutions goes back over 3,000 years to the ancient Babylonians. There is just something about the start of a new year that gives us the feeling of a fresh start and a new beginning. In reality, there is no difference between December 31 and January 1. Nothing mystical occurs at midnight on December 31. The Bible does not speak for or against the concept of New Year’s resolutions. However, if a Christian determines to make a New Year’s resolution, what kind of resolution should he or she make?

Common New Year’s resolutions are commitments to quit smoking, to stop drinking, to manage money more wisely, and to spend more time with family. By far, the most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, in conjunction with exercising more and eating more healthily. These are all good goals to set. However, 1 Timothy 4:8 instructs us to keep exercise in perspective: “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” The vast majority of New Year’s resolutions, even among Christians, are in relation to physical things. This should not be.

Many Christians make New Year’s resolutions to pray more, to read the Bible every day, and to attend church more regularly. These are fantastic goals. However, these New Year’s resolutions fail just as often as the non-spiritual resolutions, because there is no power in a New Year’s resolution. Resolving to start or stop doing a certain activity has no value unless you have the proper motivation for stopping or starting that activity. For example, why do you want to read the Bible every day? Is it to honor God and grow spiritually, or is it because you have just heard that it is a good thing to do? Why do you want to lose weight? Is it to honor God with your body, or is it for vanity, to honor yourself?

Philippians 4:13 tells us, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” John 15:5 declares, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” If God is the center of your New Year’s resolution, it has chance for success, depending on your commitment to it. If it is God’s will for something to be fulfilled, He will enable you to fulfill it. If a resolution is not God honoring and/or is not in agreement in God’s Word, we will not receive God’s help in fulfilling the resolution.

So, what sort of New Year’s resolution should a Christian make? Here are some suggestions: (1) pray to the Lord for wisdom (James 1:5) in regards to what resolutions, if any, He would have you make; (2) pray for wisdom as to how to fulfill the goals God gives you; (3) rely on God’s strength to help you; (4) find an accountability partner who will help you and encourage you; (5) don’t become discouraged with occasional failures; instead, allow them to motivate you further; (6) don’t become proud or vain, but give God the glory. Psalm 37:5-6 says, “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

God bless you !!!  merry Christmas!!! :):)

There are a number of voices claiming that the accounts of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament are simply myths and were the result of the writers borrowing stories from pagan mythology, such as the stories of Osiris, Dionysus, Adonis, Attis, and Mithras. The claim is that these mythological figures are essentially the same story as what the New Testament ascribes to Jesus Christ of Nazareth. As Dan Brown claims in, The Da Vinci Code, “Nothing in Christianity is original.”

However, once the facts are examined, these claims are proven false. To discover the truth about these particular claims and others like them, it is important to: (1) unearth the history behind their assertions, (2) examine the actual historical portrayals of the false gods being compared to Christ, (3) expose the logical fallacies that the authors are making, and (4) look at why the New Testament Gospels can be trusted as accurately depicting the true and historical Jesus Christ. 

First, the claims of Jesus as a myth or an exaggeration originated in the writings of 19th century liberal German theologians. Their claim was essentially that Jesus was nothing more than a copy of the widespread worship of dying and rising fertility gods in various places—Tammuz in Mesopotamia, Adonis in Syria, Attis in Asia Minor, and Osiris in Egypt. None of these works ever advanced in the realm of academia and religious thought because their assertions were investigated by theologians and scholars and determined to be completely false and baseless. It has only been in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century that these assertions have been resurrected, primarily due to the rise of the internet and mass distribution of information that has no historical foundation or accountability.

This leads us to the next area of investigation—do the mythological gods of antiquity really mirror the person of Jesus Christ? As an example, the Zeitgeist movie makes these claims about the Egyptian god Horus:

• He was born on December 25th of a virgin - Isis Mary
• A star in the East proclaimed his arrival
• Three kings came to adore the new-born “savior”
• He became a child prodigy teacher at age 12
• At age 30 he was “baptized” and began a “ministry”
• Horus had twelve “disciples” 
• Horus was betrayed 
• He was crucified
• He was buried for three days
• He was resurrected after three days

However, when the actual writings about Horus are competently examined, this is what we find: 

• Horus was born to Isis; there is no mention in history of her being called “Mary.” Moreover, Mary is our anglicized form of her real name ‘Miryam’ or Miriam. “Mary” was not even used in the original texts of Scripture.
• Isis was not a virgin; she was the widow of Osiris and conceived Horus with Osiris.
• Horus was born during month of Khoiak (Oct/Nov), not December 25. Further, there is no mention in the Bible as to Christ’s actual birth date.
• There is no record of three kings visiting Horus at his birth. The Bible never states the actual number of magi that came to see Christ.
• Horus is not a “savior” in any shape or form; he did not die for anyone.
• There are no accounts of Horus being a teacher at the age of 12.
• Horus was not “baptized.” The only account of Horus that involves water is one story where Horus is torn to pieces, with Isis requesting the crocodile god to fish him out of the water he was placed into.
• Horus did not have a “ministry.”
• Horus did not have 12 disciples. According to the Horus accounts, Horus had four semi-gods that were followers and some indications of 16 human followers and an unknown number of blacksmiths that went into battle with him.
• There is no account of Horus being betrayed by a friend.
• Horus did not die by crucifixion. There are various accounts of Horus’ death, but none of them involve crucifixion. 
• There is no account of Horus being buried for three days.
• Horus was not resurrected. There is no account of Horus coming out of the grave with the body he went in with. Some accounts have Horus/Osiris being brought back to life by Isis and going to be the lord of the underworld.

So when compared side by side, Jesus and Horus bear little, if any, resemblance to one another. Another popular comparison done by those claiming that Jesus Christ is a myth is with Jesus and Mithras. All the above claims of Horus are applied to Mithras (e.g. born of a virgin, being crucified, rising in three days, etc.). But what does history say about Mithras?

• He was born out of a solid rock and not from any woman.
• He battled first with the sun and then a primeval bull, thought to be the first act of creation. Mithras killed the bull, which then became the ground of life for the human race.
• Mithras birth was celebrated on December 25, along with Winter solstice.
• There is no mention of him as being a great teacher.
• There is no mention of Mithras having 12 disciples. The idea that Mithras had 12 disciples may have come from a mural in which Mithras is surrounded by twelve signs of the Zodiac.
• Mithras had no bodily resurrection. The myth is told that Mithras completed his earthly mission then was taken to paradise in a chariot, alive and well. The early Christian writer Tertullian did write about Mithras believers re-enacting resurrection scenes, but he wrote about this occurring well after New Testament times, so if any copycatting was done, it was the cult of Mithras copying from Christianity.

More examples can be given of Krishna, Attis, Dionysus and other mythological gods, but the result is the same. In the end, the historical Jesus as portrayed in the Bible is thoroughly unique. The claimed similarities are greatly exaggerated. Further, while belief in Horus, Mithras, and others pre-dated Christianity, there is very little historical record of the pre-Christian beliefs of those religions. The vast majority of the earliest writings about these religions is dated to the third and fourth centuries A.D. It is illogical and unhistorical to claim the pre-Christian beliefs in these religions (of which there is no record) were identical to the post-Christian beliefs in these groups (of which there is record). It is more historically valid to attribute any similarities between these religions and Christianity to the religions copying Christian beliefs about Jesus and placing those attributes on their own gods/saviors/founders in an attempt to stop the rapid growth of Christianity.

This leads us to the next area to examine: the logical fallacies committed by those claiming that Christianity borrowed from pagan mystery religions. Two fallacies in particular are obvious— the fallacy of the false cause and the terminological fallacy. If one thing precedes another, it does not mean that the first caused the second. This is the fallacy of the false cause. Even if pre-Christian accounts of mythological gods closely resembled Christ (and they do not), it does not mean they caused the gospel writers to invent a false Jesus. Claiming such a thing would be like saying the TV series Star Trek caused the NASA Space Shuttle program. 

The terminological fallacy occurs when terms are redefined to prove a point, when in fact such terms do not mean the same thing when compared to their source. So for example, the Zeitgeist movie says that Horus “began his ministry,” but Horus had no actual ministry – nothing like that of Christ’s ministry. Those claiming Mithras and Jesus are the same talk about the “baptism” that initiated prospects into the Mithras cult, but what was it actually? The Mithras priests (using a ritual also performed by followers of Attis) would suspend a bull over a pit, place those wanting to join the cult into the pit, slit the bull’s stomach, which then covered the initiates in blood. Such a thing has no resemblance whatsoever to Christian baptism—a person going under water (symbolizing the death of Christ) and then coming back out of the water (symbolizing Christ’s resurrection). But advocates of the mythological Jesus position deceptively use the same term to describe both in hopes of linking the two together.

The last issue to examine on this subject is the truthfulness of the New Testament itself. While much has been written on this topic, no work from antiquity has more evidence with respect to historical veracity than the New Testament. The New Testament has more writers (nine), better writers, and earlier writers than any other document from that era. Further, history testifies to the fact that these writers went to their deaths for claiming that Jesus had risen from the dead. While some may die for a lie they think is true, no person dies for a lie they know to be false. Think about it—if someone was about to crucify you upside down, as happened to the Apostle Peter, and all you had to do to save your life was renounce a lie you had knowingly been living, what would you do?

In addition, history has shown that it takes at least two generations to pass before myth can enter into a historical account. Why? Because eyewitnesses can refute error put in print. Those living at the time could refute the errors of the author and expose the work as being false. All the Gospels of the New Testament were written during the lifetime of the eyewitnesses, with some of Paul’s epistles being written as early as 50 A.D. That early dating acts as a key protective mechanism against any falsehoods being accepted and circulated. 

Finally, the New Testament attests to the fact that the portrayal of Jesus was not mistaken for that of any other god. When faced with Paul’s teaching, the elite thinkers of Athens said this: “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean” (Acts 17:18-20). Clearly, if the accounts of Jesus were simply rehashing stories of other gods, the Athenians would not have referred to them at “new” teaching. If dying and rising gods were plentiful in the first century why, when the apostle Paul preached Jesus rising from the dead in Acts 17, did the Epicureans and Stoics not remark, “Ah, just like Horus and Mithras”?

In conclusion, the claims that Jesus is nothing more than a myth, a copy of mythological gods, originated from authors whose works have been discounted by academia, commit logical fallacies that undermine their veracity, and cannot compare to the New Testament Gospels which have withstood nearly 2,000 years of intense scrutiny. The alleged parallels disappear when they are compared with the original historical texts. Similarities between Jesus and the various mythological gods can only be argued for by employing selective and misleading descriptions.

Jesus Christ stands unique in history, with His voice rising above all false gods and continuing to ask the question that ultimately determines a person’s eternal destiny: “Who do you say that I am?”(Matthew 16:15)  God bless you! :):)

You couldn’t be more deceived.  We are not Gods. That is a  New Age belief and it couldn’t be more wrong.  The New Age thinking has its roots, then, in Eastern mysticism which bypasses the mind. There is a new organ of perception—the third eye—which gives spiritual light. One needs to get to the “psychic self” by training one’s self to ignore the messages from the mind. Really, it is throwing the mind in neutral.

The Western mind, of course, is trained differently. We are people who use our reason, hopefully. The New Age thinkers came along and said that the mind is not bypassed, but it is actually the mind that is achieving “cosmic consciousness.” They tell us that the mind can create reality. 

Neil Anderson in his timely book Walking Through the Darkness writes this about the New Age movement: “The New Age movement is not seen as a religion but a new way to think and understand reality. It’s very attractive to the natural man who has become disillusioned with organized religion and Western rationalism. He desires spiritual reality but doesn’t want to give up materialism, deal with his moral problems, or come under authority” (page 22). Then Anderson summarizes the New Age thinking (pages 22-24) as follows:

(1) It is monism, the belief that all is one and one is all. History is not the story of humanity’s fall into sin and its restoration by God’s saving grace. Rather, it is humanity’s fall into ignorance and the gradual ascent into enlightenment.

(2) All is God. If one is one, including God, then one must conclude that all is God. It is pantheism—trees, snails, books, and people are all of one divine essence. A personal God who has revealed Himself in the Bible and in Jesus Christ is completely rejected. Since God is impersonal, He doesn’t have to be served. He is an “it,” not a “He.”

(3) There is a change in consciousness. If we are God, we need to know we are God. We must become cosmically conscious, a state called “at-one-ment” (a counterfeit of atonement), self-realization, god-realization, enlightenment or “attune-ment” (being “tuned in” to the cosmic consciousness). Some who reach this enlightened status will claim to be “born again.” This is counterfeit biblical conversion. The real essential is not whether we believe or meditate, but whom we believe in and what we meditate on. Christ is true personal objective reality, as He said that He is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

(4) A cosmic evolutionary optimism is taught. There is a New Age coming. There will be a new world order, a new world government. The New Age thinkers believe that there will eventually be a progressive unification of world consciousness. This, according to the Bible, is a counterfeit kingdom led by Satan himself. Christ has the true kingdom, and He will one day rule on earth with peace for all who accept Him as Savior and King (Revelation 5:13).

(5) New Agers create their own reality. They believe that they can create reality by what they believe, so by changing what they believe, they can change reality. All moral boundaries have been erased by the metaphysical influence of Taoism’s yin and yang, the ebb and flow of competing and complementary forces. There are no absolutes because there is no distinction between good and evil. Nothing has reality until one says that it is reality or says that it is truth. If finite man can create truth, we are in desperate trouble in our society. Unless there are eternal absolutes from the eternal God, man will eventually become his own destruction.

(6) New Agers make contact with the kingdom of darkness. Calling a medium a “channeler” and a demon a “spirit guide” has not changed the reality of what they are. This is the kingdom of darkness of which Satan is the head, who asked Eve, “Has God said?” Those involved in this kind of activity are in contact with a world that is totally opposed to the biblical God revealed to us in Jesus Christ who defeated Satan in His life (Matthew 4:1-11) and then through His death and bodily resurrection (Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14-18).

The New Age movement is a counterfeit that appeals to the minds of individuals leading them to think that that they are God and can enhance their lives through their own person. If this is thought through, it becomes quickly apparent that this is impossible. We are born, grow up, live a while on Planet Earth and die. Humans are finite. We can never be God. We need someone greater than us yet like us who can provide us forgiveness and life eternal. Only One has filled this description, the God-man, Jesus Christ. Through His death and bodily resurrection, He has won for us what we desperately need—forgiveness before God and the guarantee of purpose and meaning in this life with life beyond the grave. Don’t miss out on who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for you. Read John 3 in the Bible. Ask Christ to be your Savior. Your life will be transformed, and you will know who you are, why you are here, and where you are going.  Yes you are right that Jesus loved everyone, but He hated our sin every single bit of it.  I will pray for you.  God bless you!!! :):)

The “Zeitgeist movie,” which is available for viewing on the Web –http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com, is essentially a baseless conspiracy theory focused on attacking the Christian faith and the government of the United States. What is interesting, though, is that while nearly all the assertions put forth in the movie are completely wrong, the end fear promoted by the movie is correct and backed by Scripture (depending on one’s view of biblical eschatology). 

The purpose of this article is to address the first conspiracy theory (out of four) put forth in the movie—that Jesus is a mythological amalgamation of various pagan gods and deities invented by the Egyptians and other cultures. Time will not be spent addressing the two major claims that follow in the movie—that the U.S. government architected and planned the attacks that occurred on 9/11 (with assertions being made that a pattern of such domestic attacks exists in history) and that there is a major banking conspiracy attempting to control the finances of all U.S. citizens and ultimately, the world. In the end, a comment will be made concerning the last theory—that a one-world government is coming.

The allegations concerning Jesus in the Zeitgeist movie can be summarized as follows: the Jesus proclaimed in the Bible is not a historical person, and in fact He never existed. Instead, Jesus is an invention of the biblical authors who painstakingly copied attributes of ancient pagan deities and created a new god to be worshiped. Jesus mirrors various pagan deities in the manner of His birth, life, death, and resurrection.

Further, the movie asserts that astrology is the foundation behind much of the writing in Scripture. The end conclusion is that Christianity is a myth—just as all the pagan religions that came before it—and is therefore untrue. To address these assertions, it is helpful to break them down into three groups: 

• The subject of astrology and the Bible. 
• The supposed similarities between Jesus and mythological heroes. 
• The evidence for the truthfulness of the gospel accounts. 

The Zeitgeist movie (from the German meaning “spirit of the age” or literally “time” [Zeit] “spirit” [Geist]) claims that the Bible is based on astrology and the stars. Perhaps one of the most telling statements in all the Bible regarding the importance God places on the stars is found in Genesis 1:16b: “He made the stars also.” This simple statement reveals the extent of the importance of the stars’ creation. Some biblical commentators have said this brevity of description is deliberate as God wants to in no way give the stars significance. In truth, rather than giving the stars, sun, and moon any value beyond what they were created for, there are a number of places in Scripture that denounce their worship. Deuteronomy 4:19 says, “And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.” In fact,Deuteronomy 17:2-5 prescribes a death sentence for anyone found worshiping the creation rather than the Creator.

In Isaiah 47:13 God mockingly asks if the stargazers can actually protect those who follow them from the real Power of the universe: “All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.” So the Zeitgeist movie’s claim that the Bible is based on astrology goes against what is written in the Book itself.

In addition to the faulty concept of astrology and the Bible being joined at the hip, the specific statements made in the film about this supposed link disregard historical facts. For example, the movie states that the number 12 in the Bible refers to the 12 zodiacal signs. So the 12 patriarchs, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 disciples of Jesus are supposed to match the number of the astrological signs. This is out of the realm of possibility, as Genesis was written around 1000 B.C. with the actual events having occurred much earlier. History shows that the division of the stars/constellations into the 12 zodiacal signs did not occur until the Babylonians made the divisions around the fifth century B.C. 

The meatier part of the first section of the movie is devoted to allegations of Jesus being nothing but a combination of pagan deities whose attributes the gospel writers borrowed to create their own new god. The main authority used in this portion of the movie, and the first major mythological figure presented as a forerunner of Jesus, is the Egyptian god Horus. If we see that the research on their primary character is flawed, it follows that the same faulty investigation methods/materials will be present in everything else. 

The Zeitgeist movie makes these claims about the Egyptian god Horus: 
• He was born on December 25 of a virgin (Isis Mary) 
• A star in the East proclaimed his arrival 
• Three kings came to adore the new-born “savior” 
• He became a prodigious teacher at age 12 
• At age 30 he was “baptized” and began a “ministry” 
• Horus had twelve “disciples” 
• Horus was betrayed 
• He was crucified 
• He was buried for three days 
• He was resurrected after three days 

If true, this would certainly be unsettling to followers of Christ. However, examining each point in detail is quite revealing. First, it is true that Egyptian legend has Horus being born to Isis. But where did the trailing name of “Mary” that used in the movie come from? No mention in any Egyptian literature links the name Isis to the name Mary. Isis was also not a virgin. No account of Horus’ birth makes this statement. Isis was not a virgin, but the widow of Osiris, another Egyptian god who conceived Horus with Isis. Finally, Horus was supposedly born during the month of Khoiak (Oct/Nov), and not on December 25, a fact which does not help their claim of marrying the stories of Horus and Jesus, anyway, because the Bible never assigns a birth date to Christ.

Next, the film states that a star in the East announced Horus’ birth and that three kings came to bring gifts to the “savior.” However, when stories detailing the birth of Horus are examined, there is no star or three kings who come to visit him. Trying to link this to Christianity fails in any event, as the account of Christ’s birth in Matthew has magi (wise men, not kings) coming to Jesus with their actual number not being stated. Clearly, the movie is using the traditions of December 25 and three wise men, not the Bible, to link Jesus and Horus. Finally, the movie calls Horus a “savior.” There are no descriptions of Horus being a savior to anyone or serving in that capacity. 

This is an important point: the movie takes extreme liberty in the quick and subtle uses of Christian words and phrases that in no way accurately describe the actual pagan god or his attributes. This is seen again in the statements of Horus being “baptized” and starting a “ministry.” The only accounts remotely related to Horus and water are the stories told of Osiris (his father who is sometimes combined in ancient accounts with Horus to form one individual) whose body was cut up into 14 pieces by his enemy, Set, and scattered throughout the earth. Isis supposedly found each part of the body and after having Osiris float in the Nile, he came back to life or became the lord of the underworld, depending on which account is read. In any event, stating that Horus was “baptized” is simply playing fast and loose with Christian terminology and is another obvious attempt to link mythology and the Bible. 

In addition, Horus had no “ministry.” Horus becoming a teacher at age 12 (mimicking the account of Jesus at the temple as a youth) is nowhere to be found in accounts of Horus; neither are there any statements to the effect that he had 12 “disciples.” According to the Horus accounts, Horus had four semi-gods that were followers and some indications of 16 human followers and an unknown number of blacksmiths that went into battle with him. No accounts of Horus being betrayed are found in his portrayals and he certainly did not die by crucifixion in any account. There is an incident described in one story of Horus being torn to pieces, with Iris requesting that the crocodile god pull him out of the water, but the movie does not mention this, as it does not fit their agenda. Further, the movie puts the account of Horus as originating in 3000 B.C., which predates the invention and practice of crucifixion, so there is another historical problem that must be overcome.

The claims of Horus being buried for three days and resurrected are not to be found in any ancient Egyptian texts, either. Some accounts have Osiris being brought back to life by Isis and going to be the lord of the underworld. But there is no mention of a burial for three days and no mention of his physically coming out of a grave in the same physical body he went in with and never dying again. And there is certainly no account of Horus dying for others as Jesus did. 

In the end, the attempt to prove Horus was a picture/forerunner of Jesus simply fails from lack of any historical evidence. The movie continues in this same vein with all the other mythological pagan deities that pre-dated Jesus (Attis, Krishna, etc.) As just another simple example, the Zeitgeist movie says that Hindu’s Krishna was also crucified and resurrected. However, Hindu teachings clearly state that Krishna was killed by an arrow shot from a hunter who accidentally hit him in his heel, and after he died, he ascended to be with Brahman. None of the pagan deities, when accurately examined, mirror the Son of God recorded in the New Testament Gospels.

Of course, neither does the movie note the following facts: 
• The many archaeological details confirming New Testament accounts. 
• The historically confirmed references to the details of the life of Christ. 
• The early dating of the Gospel accounts during the lifetime of the eyewitnesses. 
• The deep moral convictions of the authors and their commitment to truth. 
• The accounts of the apostles going to their deaths for what they believed. 
• The typology of Joseph and Jesus (used by the film to supposedly debunk the actual existence of Christ) is very well known and accepted by conservative Christian scholars as a foreshadowing of the first coming of Jesus. 
• All the good produced by Christianity (see How Christianity Changed the World by Dr. Alvin Schmidt), which is brushed aside with only the crusades and other like events being highlighted.

It is interesting to note that Christianity is the only faith attacked in the movie—Islam, Hinduism, and others don’t warrant a mention. Though the faith of the producers is not exposed, there is a blurb at the end speaking to the effect that “all is one,” with a clip of noted evolutionist/materialist Carl Sagan saying that the earth is a single organism and that a “new consciousness is developing” that shows all is one. This is paganism, pure and simple.

At the end of the movie, religion is called a distraction engineered by a secret group of people who are using it (along with the media and other mechanisms) to dumb down the population so they will accept with open arms a coming one-world government. This is the one proposition put forth by the movie that is plausible insofar as it is backed by prophetic statements made in both the Old and New Testaments. The books of Daniel, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, and Revelation speak to the ambition of a world ruler who is to come.

It is interesting also that the movie quotes Jesus—someone they say never existed—from John 8:32: “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free,” although they misquote it and say, “You must seek the truth and the truth will set you free.” The producers of the Zeitgeist movie, unfortunately, do not do this and instead choose to align themselves with very questionable and outright fabricated sources to malign Christianity and label it and all religions as pawns used by a secret organization they claim is currently working to take over the world. One thing is for certain, reaching such a conclusion using faulty materials certainly requires a lot of faith. Much more faith, in fact, than it takes to accept the truth and historical validity of Christianity.

Christians should not be surprised that such unfounded claims are invented in the imaginations of unbelievers and passed along by others as fact; in reality, such inventions are to be expected. Peter writes in his second epistle, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves” (2 Peter 2:1).  God bless you! :):)

In Catholic tradition, there are many reported occurrences of Mary, angels, and/or saints appearing and delivering a message from God. It is likely that at least in some of these cases, the people were genuinely seeing something supernatural. While some of what is seen in various places is perhaps the work of charlatans, other apparitions were apparently authentic. However, with that said, an apparition being authentic does not mean it is a message from God or a genuine appearance of Mary, an angel, or a saint. Scripture declares that Satan and his demons masquerade as angels of light (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). Satanic deception is just as possible an explanation for the apparitions.

The only way to determine whether an apparition is a “lying wonder” or a genuine message from God is to compare the apparition with Scripture. If the teachings that are attached to these apparitions are contrary to the Word of God, the apparitions themselves are then satanic in nature. A study of the teachings of Our Lady Fatima with its “Miracle of the Sun” is a good example.

It would indeed seem that something spectacular happened on October 13, 1917; the “something” did in fact appear and deliver a message. The fact that its timing coincided with what had been told to the shepherd children three months earlier would seem to tie this event with the apparitions they had been seeing over the previous months, first of the angel and later of the “Lady of Fatima.”

When one compares the message of Fatima to what the Bible teaches, it is evident that the message of Fatima combines some biblical truth with several unbiblical practices and teachings. The following paragraphs are quoted directly from a website dedicated to the “Lady of Fatima,” www.fatima.org. Specific words or sentences are underlined to indicate them to be unbiblical (not taught by the Bible), or anti-biblical (contradictory to the Bible). Following the lengthy quotations, more information will be given with specific reasons for classifying these apparitions as “lying wonders.” Here then is a quoted summary of the overall message given by the Lady of Fatima:

The Message in General

“The general Message of Fatima is not complicated. Its requests are for prayer, reparation, repentance, and sacrifice, and the abandonment of sin. Before Our Lady appeared to the three shepherd children, Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta, the Angel of Peace visited them. The Angel prepared the children to receive the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his instructions are an important aspect of the Message that is often overlooked.

“The Angel demonstrated to the children the fervent, attentive, and composed manner in which we should all pray, and the reverence we should show toward God in prayer. He also explained to them the great importance of praying and making sacrifices in reparation for the offenses committed against God. He told them: ‘Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication, for the conversion of sinners.’ In his third and final apparition to the children, the Angel gave them Holy Communion, and demonstrated the proper way to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist: all three children knelt to receive Communion; Lucy was given the Sacred Host on the tongue and the Angel shared the Blood of the Chalice between Francisco and Jacinta.

“Our Lady stressed the importance of praying the Rosary in each of Her apparitions, asking the children to pray the Rosary every day for peace. Another principal part of the Message of Fatima is devotion to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart, which is terribly outraged and offended by the sins of humanity, and we are lovingly urged to console Her by making reparation. She showed Her Heart, surrounded by piercing thorns (which represented the sins against Her Immaculate Heart), to the children, who understood that their sacrifices could help to console Her.

“The children also saw that God is terribly offended by the sins of humanity, and that He desires each of us and all mankind to abandon sin and make reparation for their crimes through prayer and sacrifice. Our Lady sadly pleaded: ‘Do not offend the Lord our God any more, for He is already too much offended!’

“The children were also told to pray and sacrifice themselves for sinners, in order to save them from hell. The children were briefly shown a vision of hell, after which Our Lady told them: ‘You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.’

“Our Lady indicated to us the specific root of all the troubles in the world, the one that causes world wars and such terrible suffering: sin. She then gave a solution, first to individual people, then to the Church’s leaders. God asks each one of us to stop offending Him. We must pray, especially the Rosary. By this frequent prayer of the Rosary, we will get the graces we need to overcome sin. God wants us to have devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to work to spread this devotion throughout the world. Our Lady said, ‘My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.’ If we wish to go to God, we have a sure way to Him through true devotion to the Immaculate Heart of His Mother.

“In order to move ever closer to Her, and therefore to Her Son, Our Lady stressed the importance of praying at least five decades of the Rosary daily. She asked us to wear the Brown Scapular. And we must make sacrifices, especially the sacrifice of doing our daily duty, in reparation for the sins committed against Our Lord and Our Lady. She also stressed the necessity of prayers and sacrifices to save poor sinners from hell. The Message of Fatima, to individual souls, is summarized in these things.”

On the same website, there is recorded an interview between Sister Lucy (the 10 year-old shepherd girl who was among the three children who saw the apparitions in 1917) and a Father Fuentes. The interview took place in 1957. In this interview focusing on Fatima and its message, Sister Lucy says the following:

“Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin, and the devil knows what it is that most offends God, and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God,because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily to seize them.

“Father, the Most Holy Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world, but She made me understand this for three reasons. The first reason is because She told me that the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Virgin. And a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat. Hence from now on we must choose sides. Either we are for God or we are for the devil; there is no other possibility.

“The second reason is because She said to my cousins as well as to myself, that God is giving two last remedies to the world. They are the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.These are the last two remedies which signify that there will be no others.

“The third reason is because in the plans of Divine Providence, God always, before He is about to chastise the world, exhausts all other remedies. Now, when He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever then, as we say in our imperfect manner of speaking, He offers us with a certain trepidation the last means of salvation, His Most Holy Mother. It is with a certain trepidation because if you despise and reject this ultimate means, we will not have any more forgiveness from Heaven, because we will have committed a sin which the Gospel calls the sin against the Holy Ghost. This sin consists of openly rejecting, with full knowledge and consent, the salvation which He offers. Let us remember that Jesus Christ is a very good Son and that He does not permit that we offend and despise His Most Holy Mother. We have recorded through many centuries of Church history the obvious testimony which demonstrates by the terrible chastisements which have befallen those who have attacked the honor of His Most Holy Mother, how Our Lord Jesus Christ has always defended the honor of His Mother.

“The two means for saving the world are prayer and sacrifice. [Regarding the Holy Rosary, Sister Lucy said:] Look, Father, the Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will sanctify ourselves. We will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls. “Finally, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Most Holy Mother, consists in considering Her as the seat of mercy, of goodness and of pardon, and as the sure door of entering Heaven.”

In the above paragraphs concerning the message that Sister Lucy felt that the apparition wished to communicate to the world, there are so many things that are not only not found in Scripture but are contrary to Scripture.

1) Mary is referred to as the “Most Holy Mother” and having an “Immaculate Heart.” By this they are not meaning that she is given the righteousness and holiness given to saints through the imputed righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-21) but rather that she was saved from sin in every form through having been conceived in her mother’s womb without the stain of original sin. Never does the Bible refer to Mary as being sinless. Never does it refer to her having an immaculate heart. Rather, she refers to God as her Savior (Luke 1:47). This places her with the rest of humanity, as a sinner needing a Savior, but the Catholic Church holds that Mary was saved from sin through the merits of Christ by being conceived without sin and then living a sinless life. Again, never is this taught in Scripture. Rather, what Scripture teaches is that there is only one exception to the truth that we are all sinners (Romans 3:10, 3:23, etc.). That single exception is Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5).

2) Sister Lucy speaks of devotion to the “Immaculate Heart” of Mary and saying the rosary as the “last two remedies to the world.” She also states that there is no problem that cannot be solved by saying the Rosary. It is the teaching of Fatima that saying the Rosary will lead to the salvation of many souls. Again, never is such a teaching found in Scripture. The Rosary’s main prayer is the “Hail, Mary” which is repeated fifty times. The first half of it is a quote from Scripture of the greeting of the angel to Mary, “Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb…” but the second half says, “…Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” Besides giving Mary a title which Scripture does not, it then asks Mary to pray for us. Indeed, Catholics not only see Mary as the one through whom ALL of God’s grace flows, and the one who intercedes to her Son on our behalf, but Catholics also direct prayers to her to deliver people from sin, from war, etc. Pope Paul II’s prayer from the early 1980’s to Mary is an example of such. In this prayer he repeatedly pleads to Mary to “deliver us” from nuclear war, famine, self destruction, from injustice, etc.

Again, never do you find a godly person in Scripture praying to anyone but God or asking for intercession by anyone but those still living on this earth. Prayer to Mary or to saints is not found in the Bible. Rather, Scripture directs us to pray to God (Luke 11:1-2; Matthew 6:6-9; Philippians 4:6;Acts 8:22; Luke 10:2, etc.)! He entreats us to come boldly unto the throne of grace (His throne) that we may find grace and help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16). God promised us that the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us according to the will of God with groanings that cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26). Why do we need to go through a saint, angel or Mary, especially considering the fact that neither the example of doing so nor the command of doing so is ever given in Scripture? There is only the repeated example of two things in Scripture:

a) Prayer is made to God alone (1 Corinthians 11:5; Romans 10:1, 15:30; Acts 12:5; Acts 10:2;Acts 8:24; Acts 1:24; Zechariah. 8:21-22; Jonah 2:7; 4:2, etc.)

b) Requests for prayer are made only to the living (1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 3:1;Hebrews 13:18, etc.)

In addition, nowhere is it taught that Mary is all-seeing, all-hearing, and omniscient (or nearly so) as she would have to be to hear and respond to the multitude of prayers that are directed toward her from the many Catholics who pray to her simultaneously around the world. Instead Scripture teaches that both angels and the spirits of the dead are finite beings, able to only be in one place at a time (Daniel 9:20-23; Luke 16:19f).

3) One of the repeated messages of Fatima is the call for personal “reparation” or “penance.” This Catholic concept teaches that we must make amends to God and to Mary for the sins we have committed against them. Repeating one of the phrases from “The Message in General,” the angel told the children to “Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended…” Reparation is defined as “an expiation … something done or paid as amends; compensation.” This ties in with the Roman Catholic teaching of temporal punishment which a person can take care of through penance now or through time spent inpurgatory later. The Bible NEVER speaks of the need to make “reparation” for our sins or doing “penance” to pay for our sins. Rather, what it teaches is that we are to offer our lives as living sacrifices to God in response and in gratitude for all of the mercies He has shown us in salvation (Romans 12:1-2). When a person becomes a Christian, His sins are forgiven and paid for in full by Christ. There remains no further payment that can be made for them, no further expiation required.

4) A key aspect of the Lady of Fatima is the bowing down before and venerating the images associated with the apparition. Throughout the entire Bible, you will find that any time someone bows down before one of the “saints” or angels, they are told to get up and to stop. Only when done to “the Angel of the Lord” (a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ) or before Jesus or God the Father is such veneration accepted. Catholics make a distinction between “worshiping” God and “venerating” Mary and the saints, but when John the Apostle prostrates himself before an angel, the angel does not ask, “Are you worshiping me or venerating me?” The angel simply tells him to stop and to “worship God” (Revelation 19:10). Likewise, when Peter was being “venerated” (prokuneo - the Greek word that the Catholic Church uses for “veneration” as opposed to “adoration” which only God deserves) by Cornelius in Acts 10:25, Peter tells Cornelius, “Stand up, I myself am also a man.” It should be noted that this same word is used in the Revelation passage as well. Thus, the repeated example that we have of an angel or “saint” being “honored” is accompanied by a command to stop doing so!

Thus, praying to Mary is contrary to the scriptural admonition to pray to God and the scriptural example to do so. It is also illogical to substitute praying to an all-loving, omniscient, omnipotent God (Psalm 139; Hebrews 4:14-16), to pray to some saint or Mary, when there is no scriptural evidence that they can even hear prayers. To pray to saints and to Mary on a worldwide basis is to ascribe to them the attributes of omnipresence and omniscience which God alone possesses…this truly is idolatry!

5) Lastly, concerning the “Miracle of the Sun,” there are repeated cases in which “lying wonders” are spoken of in Scripture (Exodus 7:22; 8:7; 8:18; Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22; Revelation 13:13-14). God even tells us in Deuteronomy 13:1f that when someone makes a prediction that comes true or gives a seemingly miraculous “sign,” but he is teaching the worship of strange gods, not to give heed to him but rather to treat him as a false prophet.

For a Christian, the “content of faith” ought to be the Bible and what it teaches (Isaiah 8:20; 2 Timothy 3:16). And while Catholics may argue that the “Lady of Fatima” is not calling on us to worship “strange gods” but to worship the true God, the idea of venerating Mary to such an extent that her “Immaculate Heart” is put on the same level of devotion as Jesus’ “Sacred Heart” is undeniably the exaltation of a woman to a position never given to her in Scripture—equality with God. To honor her as one would honor Christ is to exalt her. Likewise, to focus on Mary to such an extent that we spend more time praying to her than to God is also idolatrous, especially in light of the direct commands of Scripture to pray to God and the complete silence in Scripture concerning any exaltation of, or prayer to, Mary.

Was the “Miracle of the Sun” a lying wonder? Based on biblical teaching, it would certainly seem so. Satan has no problem mixing enough truth to make a teaching seem right with just enough error to damn souls to hell. Where is the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ—the message repeated throughout the whole of the New Testament—ever mentioned throughout the whole message of Fatima? Where is it ever mentioned that salvation is only through faith in Christ’s finished work on Calvary and that our works have no merit apart from Him (Ephesians 2:8-9)? Penance and making offerings for reparation of our sins are antithetical to Christ’s finished work on Calvary and of our need for salvation by grace alone through faith in Him alone. The calling upon Mary and her “Immaculate Heart” and the saying of the rosary as the ultimate and final means of saving souls flies in the face of such biblical truths as Acts 4:12 and 1 Timothy 2:5. “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).  God bless you! <3

From a Christian viewpoint, pagans are generally characterized as those who are caught up in any religious ceremony, act, or practice that is not distinctly Christian. Correspondingly, Jews and Muslims also use the term “pagans” to describe those outside their religion. Others define the term “paganism” as any religion outside of Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity; whereas some argue that it is anyone with no religion at all.

Paganism comes from the Latin word paganus, which means “country dweller” and can refer to polytheism or the worship of more than one god, such as in ancient Rome. A pagan is also considered to be one who, for the most part, has no religion and indulges in worldly delights and material possessions; someone who reveres in sensual pleasures; a hedonistic or self-indulgent individual. Another more modern term is “neo-paganism” which refers to some of the contemporary forms of paganism such as Wicca, Druidry, and Gwyddons. 

These modern “pagan” practices are actually similar to their ancient counterparts in that they rely heavily on hedonism—sensual gratification and self-indulgence and the pursuit of happiness and pleasure to the exclusion of everything else. In ancient times, sexual ceremonies were a major part of pagan religions. The Old Testament references these perverted religions in such passages asDeuteronomy 23:17, Amos 2:7-8, and Isaiah 57:7-8. 

Though they are numerous and varied in their practices and beliefs, pagans do hold to some similar beliefs. For example:

• The physical world is a good place, one to be taken pleasure in by everyone.
• Everyone is considered to be part of this Mother Earth.
• Divinity reveals itself in every facet of the world.
• Every being, man and animal, is a derivative of the Divine. As such all are gods and goddess.
• Most pagan religions do not have gurus or messiahs.
• Doctrine is superseded by one’s own responsibility.
• Solar and lunar cycles are significant in pagan worship.

Any form of paganism is false doctrine. Paul addressed this perversion of the truth in his letter to the believers in Rome (Romans 1:22-27). These people were worldly and materialistic, worshipping created things rather than the Creator. They worshipped trees, animals, and rocks, going so far as to abuse their bodies in deviant sexual practices to revel in their passions. Paul then goes on to tell us why they did this and the end result:

“Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:28).

In spite of common assumptions, most pagan worshippers claim they don’t believe in Satan. However, there’s no question that Satan is their chief source of influence and control. Though they will deny it, they deify him in their worldly and sensual practices. Paul tells us plainly how Satan works in the lives of people without God, through his power, his signs, his deceit, his lies: 

“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). 

That Satan is alive and well is powerfully evidenced in these pagan practices. This was not only clear in the times of the 1st century church, but also in today’s post-modern world. To the faithful believers who know the Lord, pagan worship is what it appears to be—the power and deceit of the prince of this world, Satan (1 John 5:19) who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). As such, it should be avoided.  God bless you! <3

The Bible tells us that “like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest” (Proverbs 26:2b). This means that foolish curses have no effect. God does not allow His children to be cursed. God is sovereign. No one has the power to curse one whom God has decided to bless. God is the only One able to pronounce judgment.

“Spells” in the Bible are always described negatively. Deuteronomy 18:10-11 numbers those who cast spells with those who commit other acts “detestable to the LORD” such as child sacrifice, witchcraft, sorcery, divination, or necromancy (consulting with the dead). Micah 5:12 says that God will destroy witchcraft and those who cast spells. Revelation 18 describes spells as part of the deception that will be used by the antichrist and his “great city of Babylon” (v. 21-24). Though the end-times deception will be so great that even the elect would be deceived if God did not protect us (Matthew 24:24), God will utterly destroy Satan, the antichrist, and all who follow them (Revelation chapters 19-20). 

The Christian has been born again as a new person in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and we are in the constant presence of the Holy Spirit who lives within us and under whose protection we exist (Romans 8:11). We do not need to worry about anyone casting any sort of pagan spell on us. Voodoo, witchcraft, hexes, and curses have no power over us because they come from Satan, and we know that “the one who is in you [Christ] is greater than the one [Satan] who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). God has overcome him, and we have been freed to worship God without fear (John 8:36). “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? ” (Psalm 27:1).  God bless you! <3

A catechism is best defined as a summary of instructions through a series of questions and answers, prepared in book form, containing instruction on the religious doctrine of a Christian church. It wasn’t until the 16th century, since the time of the early church fathers, that the word “catechism” was applied to these religious handbooks. The intent of these instructions is that they be used in a class environment or other means of formal instruction. The catechism of the Westminster Confession, every part of which is scripturally proven, is one such set of instructions. 

However, the catechism of the Catholic Church is not written in a question and answer format. Instead, it is a summary of the official teachings of Catholic beliefs including creeds, sacraments, commandments, and prayers divided into four parts: 

• Profession of Faith (the Apostles Creed) 
• Celebration of the Christian Mystery (the Sacred Liturgy, especially the sacraments)
• Life in Christ (including The Ten Commandments in Roman Catholic theology)
• Christian Prayer (including The Lord’s Prayer) 

Also, the Catholic catechism is replete with footnotes referencing not only the Scriptures, but also the Church fathers, their ecumenical councils, and other authoritative statements, especially those delivered by the Popes. And therein lies the greatest difference between Catholicism and Protestantism. Whereas the Protestant churches cite the Bible as their sole source of authority for church doctrine, the Roman Catholic Church equates Catholic traditions with the Bible as authority for their beliefs and teachings. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 82, reads:

“… the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the Holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”

As such, the Catholic Church relies on the authority of church tradition for their source of doctrines and teachings which are not found anywhere in the Bible. These doctrines include such controversial issues as:

• the mass 
• penance 
• veneration of Mary 
• purgatory 
• indulgences 
• the priesthood 
• the confessional 
• the rosary 
• venial and mortal sins 

Protestants assert that the Bible alone is intended by God to be the sole source of doctrinal truth (2 Timothy 3:16; Revelation 22:18-19). But Roman Catholics have said: “Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God …” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 97).

The Catholic’s reasoning is as follows:

• “The apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them ‘their own position of teaching authority.’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 77). 
• “This living transmission, accomplished through the Holy Spirit, is called tradition …” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 78). 
• “Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 82). 

A classic example of this kind of thinking lies with the number of doctrines concerning Mary, the mother of Jesus. Throughout the centuries, since the close of the apostolic era (70-100 AD), Catholics have “revealed” new doctrines concerning Mary nowhere found in the Holy Scriptures, including:

• Mary is called the Mother of God - 431 A.D.
• Prayers offered to Mary - 600 A.D.
• Immaculate Conception, i.e., her sinlessness - 1854 A.D.
• Assumption of Mary - 1950 A.D.
• Mary proclaimed the Mother of the Church - 1965 A.D.

Another example is the doctrine of purgatory:

“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation, but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1030). Nowhere is this doctrine or teaching found in the Bible.

Additionally, though the Catholic Pope is revered as the head of the church on earth by nearly 60 million Roman Catholics, the Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth; He is the exclusive Head of the church (Matthew 28:18; Colossians 1:81).

From the above teaching, we can only conclude that Catholic catechism is not biblical and, in fact, contradicts the Scriptures in many aspects. Once the teachings of man are elevated to the same level as the Word of God, error naturally follows. No man, whether priest or pope, is divine. Only the Holy Scriptures, from the mouth of the Holy Spirit, are divinely inspired (1 Corinthians 2:12-13; 2 Peter 1:21). No manmade teaching, including the Catholic catechism, is on the same level with the Bible.  God bless you! :)

Chi-Rho (labarum, Constantine’s cross, Christogram, Monogram of Christ)

The Chi-Rho emblem can be viewed as the first Christian Cross.

As a pre-Christian symbol, the Chi-rho signified good fortune.The Chi ro became an important Christian symbol when adopted by the Roman Emperor Constantine, representing the first two letters in the name of Christ- the Chi, or ‘ch,’ and Rho, or ‘r.’ According to Church Father Eusebius, on the eve of the Battle of the Milvan Bridge, the Emperor saw the emblem in a dream, with the inscription, “By this sign, you shall conquer.” According to the story, the battle was won. In return for the victory, Constantine legalized the religion and erected Christian churches.

There is some speculation that the ‘sign’ witnessed by Constantine was an occurrence of the sun dogs phenomena.

Unfortunately, this story is very unlikely, as Constantine’s conversion occured on his deathbed, if at all. In any case, the symbol was the standard of the Emperor’s army, prominently displayed on the Emperor’s labarum, or battle standard.

Before it became the monogram of Christ, the chi rho was the monogram of Chronos (whose name also begins with a Chi-rho), the god of time, and an emblem of several solar deities.

The Chi-ro is also the origin of the tradition of abbreviating “Christ” in “christian” or “Christmas” to “X.”  The small letters in the image are the alpha and omega.

In Hebrew, Chi-Rho equates to Tav-Resh. The chi rho was used in hermetic alchemical texts to denote time.

I hope this helps.  God bless you! :)

The origins of Easter are rooted in European traditions. The name Easter comes from a pagan figure called Eastre (or Eostre) who was celebrated as the goddess of spring by the Saxons of Northern Europe. A festival called Eastre was held during the spring equinox by these people to honor her. The goddess Eastre’s earthly symbol was the rabbit, which was also known as a symbol of fertility. Originally, there were some very pagan (and sometimes utterly evil) practices that went along with the celebration. Today, Easter is almost a completely commercialized holiday, with all the focus on Easter eggs and the Easter bunny being remnants of the goddess worship.

In the Christian faith, Easter has come to mean the celebration of the resurrection of Christ three days after His crucifixion. It is the oldest Christian holiday and the most important day of the church year because of the significance of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the events upon which Christianity is based. Easter Sunday is preceded by the season of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and repentance culminating in Holy Week and followed by a 50-day Easter season that stretches from Easter to Pentecost.

Because of the commercialization and pagan origins of Easter, many churches prefer to refer to it as “Resurrection Sunday.” The rationale is the more we focus on Christ and the less we focus on the pagan holiday, the better. As previously mentioned, the resurrection of Christ is the central theme of Christianity. Paul says that without this, our faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15:17). What more wonderful reason could we have to celebrate! What is important is the true reason behind our celebration, which is that Christ was resurrected from the dead, making it possible for us to have eternal life (Romans 6:4)!

Should we celebrate Easter or allow our children to go on Easter eggs hunts? This is a question both parents and church leaders struggle with. There is nothing essentially evil about painting and hiding eggs and having children search for them. What is important is our focus. If our focus is on Christ and not the eggs, our children will understand that the eggs are just a game. Children can participate in an Easter egg hunt as long as the true meaning of the day is explained and emphasized, but ultimately this must be left up to the discretion of parents.  how I did Easter with my children is I let them color their eggs and we read the scriptures about the morning Jesus arose from the dead.  I asked them how the eggs were like Jesus?  Then I explained that the eggs represented new life.  The new life Jesus gives us all by His rising from the dead.  I make everything about Jesus and new life.  I hope this helps.  God bless you! <3