Here's the words of the prophet
Jeremiah 10, 1 through 7. Hear ye the word which the Lord
speaks unto you, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord, learn not
the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of
the heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them. Look at that
again, two parts of that verse. Learn not the way of the heathen,
and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven. For the customs of
the people are vain. For one cutteth a tree out of
the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with an axe, They
deck it with silver, with gold. They fasten it with nail and
with hammers that it move not. They are upright as the palm
tree, but speak not. When their gods are made, here
they are. They must needs be born, carried
around, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they
cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. For
as much as there is none like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great,
and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King
of Nation? For to thee doth it appertain. For as much as among all the
wives of the nation, and in all the kingdoms, there is none like
unto thee. I'd like to repeat part of verse
2 again. Learn not the way of the heathen. That'll be our focus of the morning. Now, we have purpose today that
we might specifically consider the matter of paganism as it
is in the scripture, as it is in the world. Now, for all practical
purposes, this is a subject that is banned from discussion today
upon the strength mostly of political correctness, which I refer to
as cultural communism, not because it has disappeared from the face
of the earth, not because all of the world has become Christianized,
but because of the attitude of people today The more gods, the
better. Every god is welcome and all
kind of religion has its good point. Now the question is, what
are we to understand by the word or the thing of pagan? What is paganism as we think
of it and weigh it scripturally? What's the essence of paganism
when we find it? What do pagans do? And what is
it that we might fault them for that they are not true and real? Now the dictionary, given the
meaning of all of our English word, defined paganism as a person
or people who are not Jewish or Christian. That's one of the
definitions. As to religion, it is people
who worship other than in one of those two ways. In the Old
Testament, Judaism. In the New Testament, Christianity. In other words, who are heathen? Such people as the ancient Romans
and the ancient Greeks and the nation surrounding Israel and
that were dwellers in the land of Canaan when God drove them
out. So pagans are polytheists in
that they have many gods. They have all kinds of god and
their religions are many and their gods are multiple and is
outside of the pale and the worship and the confession and the knowledge
of Jehovah. Synonyms of pagan would be gentile
and the nation and the heathen, as they are called in the scripture. Synonyms, you remember, are words
that are alike or are nearly of the same meaning. Several
forms of the word and the thing pagan we might find in our culture
and in our language. For example, pagan is one who
worships a false or a made-up god, not the real god of the
scripture. Paganism. A pagan view and practice
of religion is paganism. And then there is pagandom. and
that is the pagan world, paganism collectively as it exists in
and around the world, and then to paganize, mean to impose paganism
or to proselytize one over under paganism of some sort. Now, for a more profitable understanding
of the subject today, we will make the distinction between
one the old paganism as it is written up in the scripture and
existed from early time and early ages, and number two neo-paganism
or modern paganism as we might call it as it exists today. The new and the modern paganism
in its present form as it lives and as it thrives among us today,
even becoming mainline more and more in our culture and society,
so that most or many might not recognize it wearing its new
set of clothes in our generation and our time, and therefore They
don't recognize the danger that it poses unto them and to Christianity,
or the evil or the perversion that it is of worship, or its
antagonism toward Christianity, which has always been a factor
of it. Now basically, I think, there
are two things by which we might define the old paganism. I sometimes call it raw paganism. When I read Romans 1, I call
it the raw paganism of that day and ancient time. But there are
two leading tenets, and most of it can be summed up under
these two headings, our core, our belief, our practices, such
as we meet with in the Old Testament and then with that passage from
the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1 that we will look at later
in our study. Now here are the two faces of
it, or the two facets of it. Number one, they are polytheists,
of course. They do not worship Jehovah God. Some even worship the devil himself. And so they worship strange gods,
plural gods, as we read in the scripture. God's many and lords
many." 1 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 5. All over the world
are there different gods and lords that men worship. Scripture calls them dumb idols. Hebrews 2, Habakkuk chapter 2,
and verse 18, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2. Dumb idols is
how they are referred to by the people of God and by God himself. Now the second facet of paganism
and the dictionary defines paganism in addition to their polytheism
this way. quote, such delight in sensual
pleasure and material goods, unquote. And one leading feature
of paganism is what is called hedonism, that is, self-gratification. for it is all about self. It is the chief end of men and
women to self-gratify and to be happy and enjoy themselves
and enjoy everything that they can. Whatever makes you happy,
do it. That came into our society a
time back. And then one very strong feature
of paganism is always excessive sexual immorality with no restraint. All kind of perversions of that. Fornication without shame. Every form of sensual deviancy
that might be imagined is practiced and approved of by and in paganism. Now, let's consider the first
aspect of paganism that we mentioned. And that would be they're strange
gods that they worship in the world. And I'd like to read it
against the background of Exodus chapter 20 and verse 3 through
5 as God gave the moral law. He appended this to it first. Exodus 23 through 5, Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image or any likeness that is in heaven above or that
is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." Now there
is God's great declaration. Notice, a jealous God, not sinful
jealousy like dwells in us. For even his name is jealous. In Exodus 34, and 14. He is a consuming fire. Deuteronomy 4 and verse 24. He is a holy, jealous God. Joshua 24 and verse 19. And His glory He will not share
with any other. He will not be co-God are co-equal
with any other. He only is God, and beside him
there is no other, either before or after. Now, as for Israel
in the Old Testament covenant, they were constantly warned They
were constantly threatened about going after the gods of the heathen
that were around about them. And yet, they repeatedly went
a-whoring after other gods, as we read it in the Old Testament. after the gods of the strangers
of the land where they go to be among them." Deuteronomy 31
and verse 16. First there were the gods of
the Egyptians in Exodus 21 and verse 12. Numbers 33 and verse
4. Isaiah chapter 19 and verse 1. Their gods and their images of
gold and of silver, the temples in Egypt, the altars there to
their false gods, among whom the Israelite had dwelt for years
in Egypt and had seen and been exposed to that idolatrous worship
in the lands of Egypt to paganism and a false god. And listen,
these scriptures speak of God visiting judgment upon the pagan
deities of the land of Egypt. I wonder if you ever realized
in that night of the Passover that God did a work that sometimes
we do not consider or think about or bring into the conversation. The Egyptians in the Exodus and
what God did to their deity. John Gill said, as a sign to
the Egyptian and the Israelite that he was Jehovah alone. Unquote. To both people. To the
Jew leaving and to the Egyptian under the judgment of God. Now
usually, when we think of the Passover and the Passover night,
we usually think of three things. Number one, we think of the death
of all of the firstborn in the land of Egypt. From the king's
palace to the dungeon. The death of the firstborn. Number
two, we think of those ten plagues upon the land of Egypt that night
that finally forced Pharaoh to let them go. And thirdly, we
think and remember of the destruction of Pharaoh and his armies in
the Red Sea as he drowned them and destroyed them. But God also
that night bare witness against the paganism of Egypt, giving
it a very heavy blow in that night, in that same night. Exodus
chapter 12 and verse 2 and the last part said this, Against
all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment, I am the Lord. Now some people think of the
gods of Egypt only as the king, the leaders, the princes, and
such like. We read also that the god Dagon
in 1 Samuel chapter 3 was put into a room with the Ark of the
Covenant and when they came to check on Dagon, The next day,
he had fallen over and broken in pieces, and nothing left there
but a stump, a testimony to Jehovah that he is God and God only. It seems that Paul gives us the
origin and the development of paganism, old-time paganism,
in Romans chapter 1, if you care to turn there. God revealed his
power in divinity, in creation. And then men who saw that essentially
in the Gentile portion of humanity apostasized away from that revelation
of God into paganism. And we see the connecting phrases
there in Romans chapter 1, verse 18 and following. They have the
word for, the word because, wherefore, for this cause, as Paul runs
it down and connects it together. And in verse 23, they change
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to
corruptible man and to birds, four-footed beasts, and creeping
things. That's not all, for in verse
23, they also changed, literally exchanged, they exchanged the
truth of God for a r-v lie, and they worshipped and they served
the creation or creature rather than God. Wherefore, verse 24,
God gave them up to the lust of their heart. He lay the reign,
as it were, upon their neck, that they might run in their
wildness and in their ignorance. And for some time, As we read
in Acts 14 and verse 16, he suffered, he allowed, he permitted all
nation to walk in their own way. He left them to themselves. He
left them without a revelation and a saving knowledge of himself. He winked at their time of ignorance
in Acts chapter 17 and verse 30. And in Ephesians chapter
2, verse 11 and 12, we learn the sad state of the Gentile
of old, without hope, without God, without covenant, and without
promise in the world. So now let's consider a second
aspect of paganism, and that is the gross immorality spawned
out of it and by it. For, hear me say this, it is
impossible to separate one's belief and morals from the God
that they believe in and they worship. It is impossible to
make that separation. Listen to what Micah wrote, chapter
4 and verse 5. For all people, he said, will
walk everyone in the name of their God. Everyone will walk,
serve, live in the name of their God. In 2 Kings, chapter 17 and
verse 29, Howbeit, every nation made gods
of their own and put them in the high places. Matthew Henry
put it this way, whatever man makes a god of, they will make
use of it to take his name along with them in all of their affairs
and their actions, unquote. We read in Jonah chapter 1 and
verse 5, in the great storm, on account of Jonah, remember
when the ship was tossed to and fro, they began to throw things
overboard trying to save themselves. their life and the ship. We read
there in that verse, Jonah 1 and 5, every man cried to his God. The different gods they believed
in, they began to cry out, to pray out for help and for God
to deliver them, their God. Now the psalmist makes the connection
even clearer between idols and the ones who make them and the
ones who serve them. It's in Psalm 115 and the 8th
verse. He discussed their idols. They're
dumb. They can't talk. They can't see.
They can't speak. They can't help. And the psalmist
concluded this. They that make them are like
unto them, and so is everyone that trusts in them, unquote. Wrote the Puritan. Thomas Manton,
quote, every man's temper is as his God is, unquote. E. W. Hinckstenberg wrote this,
everyone is just what his God is, unquote. And since all idols
and all others are false and corrupt. They therefore, who
serve them, believe in them, and worship them, are also false
and corrupt in their religion. So let's focus a bit now on that
second aspect of paganism that we mentioned earlier, on the
sexual immorality that is always found in paganism, practiced
in the old paganism. And here, coming to Romans chapter
1 and verse 26 and verse 27 in a bit, if you'd like to run ahead. But Maybe you'd like to take
a look at Leviticus chapter 18. Now, if you want to know the
extent of depravity, particularly in this realm, Leviticus chapter
18 is the place to look at it. Some things that the Jews were
warned against when God led them into Canaan. He said, when you
come into Canaan, when I brought you into Canaan, do not imitate
the way of the people. For example, in verse 24 of Leviticus
18, for all these the nations are defiled with which I cast
out before you. Also Leviticus 20, verse 23,
Deuteronomy 18 and verse 9, the same warning. The things which
God abominates. Leviticus 18, 27. Abominable customs they are called
in Leviticus 18 and verse 30. And what are they? We'll look
at them very quickly. What are the sensuous sins of
the pagan? Well, if you're in Leviticus
18, verse 3 through 16 is a warning against all manner of incest. That is kinfolk with aunt or
cousin or mother-in-law or such like. What low life would that
be? But these were sins that were
done by the pagan. Secondly, every form of adultery,
verse 20, another man's wife. Don't commit adultery with another
man's wife. Thirdly, sacrificing seed to
the god Molech in verse 21 of Leviticus chapter 18. And in
verse 22, homosexuality, lying with mankind as with womankind,
using a man as a woman. And finally, bestiality, in verse
23, to connect carnally with beast and animal. Now remember,
these were things that were practiced by the people that dwelt in the
land of Canaan. These were common and traceable
unto their ignorance of the one true and living God." Not only
were these things things that might or might possibly result
from human depravity, but were certain circumstances to arise
in their life, but these were things that were already done
and being practiced by the heathen. Not things waiting to be done,
not things in danger of being done, but being done. And to
be sure, the cause of their great plunge into these abomination
is identified by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1. Here it is again. They exchanged
the glory of the incorruptible God for the image resembling
men and certain creatures that dwell upon the face of the earth. And also the exchange of truth
for a lie, for which God did abandon them unto their vile
affection, so that they did that which was unnatural or contrary
to nature. Another sorry exchange that they
made in carnal copulation, they exchanged the natural for the
unnatural. Hear what Paul says, of both
genders, leaving the natural for that which is, as he calls
it, against nature. Consider the words in Romans
1.25, there are few, The truth of God. When they knew God, they
exchanged the truth of God. Now, what is this truth of God
in the context here, in this place, in the Scripture? Well,
it's not the Holy Scripture as such, though they are true, and
it's not the Gospel, and it's not the truth as it is in Christ
Jesus, and expressed by Paul in 1 Timothy 2 and verse 7. but the truth of God's power
and divinity, an attribute revealed in the creation of the world,
visible to all in the world, wherever in that world they might
live. The truth that God had made known,
and the heathen the people of the world could see it. And the
people of the world, even the pagans, had two very powerful
witnesses to the existence of God. I want you to get that.
They had two powerful witnesses to the existence of God. What
were they? Number one, Creation in Psalm
chapter 19. Day under day they preached wherever
men were. The creation preached to them.
The sun ran a race each day and witnessed unto them of these
great things. Creation from without was a witness
to them. of the presence and the being
of God. Secondly, a witness within and
that is the conscience as Paul described it in Romans chapter
2 verse 14 and 15. So that they had two preachers
or heralds to cry out to them constantly in God's name and
to the existence of God. So that in Romans chapter 1 And
verse 20, they are without excuse. They were without excuse. It was not a saving revelation. I'm not saying that. I'm not
saying they could look at the star, the moon, like Billy Graham
once said, and find in that the salvation of God. No. It was
not a saving revelation, but it was a revelation. that left
them excuseless for worshiping things that were even inferior
to themselves. How stupid to worship something
no better than you or even lower than you. So they were saving
revelation only came by Christ, but there was revelation in those
things. But now let's make the transition
to another aspect of paganism. And what shall we call it? I
call it modern paganism. Call it the new paganism if you
prefer. Contemporary paganism would be
a title as well. Present day paganism. Still paganism. Now, which will
lead us to ask, is there still paganism in the world today? Has the gospel driven it out,
or is there paganism yet in the world today? Has the gospel banished
it from the face of the earth? Have we any paganism? in our
beloved America that we've heard called Christian America almost
all of our life? What about, we say, the nations
that have been blessed with gospel truth? that have had the glorious
gospel of the Lord preached and declared among them. Are they
free from paganism up until this day? Now remember something.
That is, we distinguish between the old paganism and the new. But not so much by essence, but
by appearance. For paganism, wearing new clothes,
is now given an aura of respectability and even embraced by many of
the apostate churches in our day. That's a good thing. Diversity,
you know. The more the better. Diversity.
That's their cry in our particular day. Now, granted, Modern pagans
are not running around wearing a g-string and a bone in their
hair like the early Indians or Native Americans as we call them. Many are college educated today
and yet are pagan. They have or they are studying
for all kinds of degrees in many fields. They dress in the latest
fashion. and form and have all the modern
conveniences and the latest technology. They live comfortably, they drive
good vehicles, and so maybe we wouldn't identify them as being
paganistic in their view. But it is their belief and their
practices that define them as pagans, mark them as pagans. It's their view of God. It's
what they think about God and the existence, or should we say,
the shunning of the biblical God to espouse some other which
they might call God. And I would suggest to you that
as Israel Learn the way of the heathen in defiance of God and
committed spiritual whoredom with pagan idols again and again
and again. So have those that have called
themselves Christian but apostate churches. Learn the way of the
heathen in our day and embrace them while condemning true biblical
Christianity. They accept paganism. while throwing
away biblical Christianity. Now, Jeremiah chapter 10 and
verse 2 says to Israel, learn not the way of the heathen, literally
of the pagan, of the nation, of the Gentile. What was the
way of the heathen? Gil said this, and I quote, their
religious ways, their ways of worship, their superstitions
and idolatry that they were prone to, unquote. Learn not those
ways. such as guiding their life by
the horoscope. Notice the last half of verse
2 again. That is indeed amazing. They are dismayed at the signs
of heaven, so don't you be dismayed. Now, other ways of the heathen,
and I'd like to look at some of them individually. That's
all we have time for today. And here's three or four or five
that we might consider very quickly in the end of our study today. Number one in paganism was found
the practice of homosexuality. There it sprung up, there it
was at its worst. Number two, the worship of nature,
the worship of the earth, the worship of created things. Number three, we'll lump under
fornication. All manner of uncleanliness was
practiced among them, as we saw in Leviticus chapter 18. And
a fourth thing we found there was the sacrifice of their children
unto the fire god Molech, causing their children to pass through
the fire. Now some of the chief deities
of the heathen that Israel had contact with are, as we find
them, Molech, chief deity of the Ammonites. Leviticus 18,
21. 2 Kings 16, 3. Psalms 106 and verse 37. Deuteronomy 12. and 31, burning their sons and
daughters to their gods. It was something else that they
did, trying to win the favor of their god. Now using these
four examples, let's compare the neo-paganism to the old. Some of the old pagan gods were
Molech, Baal, Dagon. The god, Egyptian god, Osiris
was another that they worshipped. We also read of the god of the
Ammonites, of the Hittites, and such like, where each had their
gods. Well, let's start with the big
issue of the day, homosexuality, which in the scripture is a pagan
practice and was common among them. And everywhere condemned
as an abomination in the scripture, a sign of reprobation, unnatural. It's called going after strange
flesh. In the book of Jude, verse 7,
Scripture denies them to be Christian and the churches of old stood
against it as an evil to be avoided. It was against the law in many
states in Texas. until it was carried up by two
homosexuals to the Supreme Court. A black man and a white man in
a homosexual union here carried all the way to the Supreme Court.
And they threw out the sodomy law in Texas by the Supreme Court. Now the new alter name is gay. And now in many states, gay marriage
is legal. It's legal in some states for
them to consider themselves to be married. And spousal benefits
are available, and the privilege of adoption of children is allowed
unto them. And the liberal media and the
politicians are telling us today that it shows an acceptance of
homosexuality, a change of attitude by the country for the better. The fact is, Here's how it came
about. Many states voted for traditional
marriage on the ballot and against homosexual marriage. They voted
for traditional marriage. To have a judge, one person,
throw out the verdict, the vote of the people, and declare it
constitutional. And that's how it got to be legal,
by most people approving it. But a union of a man and a man,
or a woman and a woman, is not marriage in the biblical sense
of the word. A second aspect of old paganism
was the worship of things that were created. the earth, the
things that live in it, including the creatures that live here,
that fly, that walk, and that creep, and such like. Even the
sun, the moon, and the stars have become objects of worship. They have been called religious
perversity and a religious monstrosity. To worship that which is created
is blind insanity Indeed. And yet we find strange elements
of the old paganism in the modern paganism. An undue reverence,
for example, for the creation rather than the creator. In the modern environmental movement,
as some have called it, the Green Movement, has a strong element
of Mother Earth. as they like to refer, that the
earth is our mother. And I'm willing to bet you that
the majority of the people that hold that view hold to the doctrine
or teaching of evolution and not creation. I'm willing to
bet on that. They believe that the earth and
the planet and the solar system and even humanity evolved over
millions and millions of years. And people who believe these
things tend to live in fear and calamity of something destroying
the earth. Remember what Jeremiah 10 and
2 said? They are dismayed at the signs
of the heaven. They predicted, you know, the
first Earth Day in 74. The message was ice age. I know
the ice age is coming. We're going to freeze to death.
We're going to freeze. Now from that time to this, it's turned
into global warming. And this has found its way into
the apostate churches in our day as well. Consider, if you
will, fornication and paganism, which are part and part are shown
in their statues, practiced freely and openly by the pagans who
considered lust as natural as thirst or hunger. They said it's
as natural to desire as it is to get hungry or thirsty and
therefore eat and satisfy. And the more secular and pagan
America become, the more lewd and promiscuous it will come
and is becoming, especially in the area of sensuality. Led by the Hollywood crowd, the
tide has turned enough that now, and I heard it just the other
day on the TV, you wouldn't believe it, the chaste young lady was
mocked and ridiculed while the promiscuous one was cheered as
a leader and a free spirit. the traditional marriages looked
down upon, but the monogamous union today is sneered upon by
many in this society of ours. We have society turning with
a vengeance against Christian teaching. Multitudes now are
unfaithful, affairs are multitudinous, adultery, pornography are rampant
in our society, and will get worse as the wave of paganism
sweeping through this country and through the world increases.
Now another effect very quickly of paganism that I see is abortion. The abortion of millions and
millions of babies for no reason at all but inconvenience. The pagans pass their children
through the fire, an offering and an appeasement to a pagan
god. And abortion, in many cases,
is a sacrifice to the gods of the Mother Earthers in our day.
Don't overpopulate. The world's going to fall away
and be destroyed by overpopulation. But you talk about paganism,
abortion answers that. To murder the unborn and to call
it pro-choice. to murder the unborn, to quote,
protect the productive rights of women and her right to choose
as we hear it in our day. You talk about paganism, you
talk about murderous hardness, there it is. Well, the sad thing
about it. Many churches will embrace pagan
principles and practices with open arm. And they'll dress it
up like Christianity and call them brother, just like they've
done Islam and so many other things in our particular day. Israel did that. Israel mixed
up together with them and played the harlequin with those around
about them. Do we realize the inroads that
paganism has made into the culture and into the churches in our
very own beloved homeland? And soul paganism to their members. as something not bad, but something
to be accepted and espoused. God help us in this day. There
is a new and modern paganism among us. And I could have named
some more, but our time is gone. So thank you for your listening
today. Hard sayings, but consider them
and see what you think and come to realize.