Paganism is about what you Believe not what you do

I've spent much of my time as a believer listening to a lot of the Occult exposing Christians of the world.  I myself have in the past been guilty of some of the same thinking I'm going to criticize in this post.  I find listening to them a lot of fun, and I know most of them mean well.  But I've grown annoyed at how many oppose the occult in the context of believing what the occultists claim.

Paganism is in believing what the Pagans believe, not in doing things superficially similar to pagan customs.  Pagans are not bad people, God loves them just as much as anyone else, but those of us in a covenant relationship with God are instructed to believe and behave differently then Pagans.

So this is not me saying all the casual paganism in the secular and even much of the Christian world is fine.  Trying to talk to the dead is divination regardless of if you do it with an authentic Quigi board or one of the commercial knock offs sold in the board games section of Toys R Us.  Or something else entirely.

1 Corinthians 8:1-8

As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.  For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.  Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.  But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.

1 Corinthians 10:25-

Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.  If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.  But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof:

In both chapters Paul explains the context of when we shouldn't eat food offered to Idols as public contexts.

He clearly does not believe food offered to Idols is in any way inherently physically or spiritually corrupt or he would not have instructed us to not ask.

This is not me claiming Paul didn't believe in Demons or the Supernatural, he cast out demons.  But some superstitions are indeed based on nothing.

Now certain people trying to say we're still under The Law will try to make this issue about dietary laws.  They will say "food offered to Idols" is code for Pork because they allege it's well known that the ancient Pagans used pigs in pagan sacrifices more then any other animal because they "knew" that pigs were the ideal animals to house demons.

That is clearly entirely nonsense.  But putting aside how factually wrong it is, they are believing categorically the opposite of what Paul said by arguing that whatever food is being discussed here has something spiritually different about it from other food.

And again with the whole anti-Christmas movement that is growing every year we see the same thing.

When someone points out that Jeremiah is actually talking about carving the wood of a Tree into an Idol, not decorating it with the green still intact.  The anti-Christmas people will just respond "It's still clearly an Idol".

Yes I agree Idols are not always literal statues/pictures.  But Idolatry still requires belief that the object of worship is either a god, a vassal of a god, or some special thing that allows them a connection to the divine they wouldn't have without it.

The Catholic Church is guilty of idolatry, but that has less to do with the literal statues (how seriously they're taken depends on the individual catholic).  And more to do with believing that the Priest is closer to God then the average believer is.  And because they believe the communion cracker and wine literally become the Body and Blood of Jesus.

I accuse them of worshiping Mary and the Saints regardless of their denial that that word is accurate because they believe that praying to them matters.  Only Praying to God matters.

That is not what goes on with Christmas trees, they're just a fun decoration.  Now I will see people giving a seminar on the subject go into this whole "you bow down to put the gifts under it, and bow down again to pick it up.  That's WORSHIP!!!".  And I become genuinely embarrassed as a Christian that every Christians in that room just accepts that laughable argument.  No, that is not worship, and if you think that's enough to qualify as worship then I have to question if the Real God is receiving any real worship from you.

I agree with the Anti-Christmas people on at least one thing, we should not deceive our children into believing in Santa or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy or any other such modern folk deities.

But as long as no one believes anything incorrect all the customs are harmless.  Since I reject Augustinian sexual morality I'll say that even goes for kissing under the Mistletoe.  The Pagan custom that derives from is about a superstition that that plant can increase fertility.  So I would suggest that when two people of the same gender are kissing under the Mistletoe there is a 0% chance that that is a concern of theirs.

Now some people in this Anti-Christmas movement have made it clear even IF you removed all the superficially Pagan things, if all you did was sing the Jesus centric hymns and read The Bible, they still feel the assumption that the date is wrong makes it all wrong.

I've seen one even express unapologetically that hearing someone reading from The Nativity Gospel accounts of Matthew and Luke under the pretense of it being Christmas makes them uncomfortable.  Not one single verse of God's word is meant to be read only on the accurate anniversary of when it first happened, if so you'd have to be real careful reading Ezekiel which dates each revelation to a specific day.  And not all of the Nativity story was on the Birthday anyway, (every plausible theory I've seen makes the Kislev/Tevet time frame when some part of it happens).  If some spirit is ever making you feel like it's wrong to read God's Word, that Spirit is not the Holy Spirit.

The Bible does not clearly state when Jesus was born, I feel it can be deduced and have indeed come to the conclusion against what I used to think that Jesus was born around December 25th of 2 BC.  But regardless the fact that it's not clearly stated means God doesn't care if we commemorate that at all, much less do it on the wrong date.

Whether it's Christmas or any other holiday, I reject the notion that any day is owned by any pagan god.  God created everything.  And I think days we know the Pagans are doing things are days we should be engaging in Spiritual Warfare.

I see these people when complaining about behavior in The Church they don't like saying "the Pagans know this stuff, the occultists know it, the Freemasons know it".  And I'm just thinking regardless of if I agree with their overall point "The Pagans and Ocultists are wrong according to The Bible, try reading it."  So what they think they know we should immediately suspect to be wrong.

And the Golden Calf is one of their favorite stories.  Somehow that is comparable to celebrating a birthday on the wrong day or whatever their focus is in the current rant.  The issue with the Golden Calf was that they declared that Calf to be Yahuah and worshiped it as Yahuah.  Nothing in the Golden Calf narrative suggests Yahuah's anger would be the same over decorating a pine tree.

Isaiah 60:13 says the Messianic Temple well be decorated with Pine Trees.  Now I've seen this objected to by saying this is about the wood of Pine trees being used in construction.  No it clearly says they will "beautify His Sanctuary".  I believe this is the New Heaven and New Earth where there will be no more destruction of plant life other then maybe for food, not the Millennium.  Verse 14 clearly alludes to New Jerusalem.  This is describing a recreation of the Garden of Eden.  It will be more like the original Tabernacle which may not have been shaped how we assume it was.  Isaiah 41:19 foretells that these Trees will one day grow in the now barren wilderness.  Ezekiel 41:18-26 makes clear there will be standing Palm Trees in Ezekiel's Temple.

Romans 14 is clear, you shouldn't do anything if you feel it'd be wrong to do it.  But don't go around judging others.

There is something I do consider an Idol that a lot of Evangelical Christians are guilty of worshiping.  The American Flag, and other symbols of Patriotism.  Why is it more legitimate to view The Flag as an Idol then a Christmas Tree?  Precisely because far more people are offended by that suggestion.  Because a significant portion of the population acts like you've offended the Divine when you disrespect the Flag or refuse to take part in it's worship ceremonies like the Pledge of Allegiance.  People who treat the Christmas Tree that way are very rare, my family stopped doing it simply out of economic necessity, but they'll never stop worshiping The Flag.

And among fellow Conspiracy Theorists it only gets worse.  I mean think about it, how many are selling their seminar or YouTube video or book on the premise that they're going to reveal the secret of freemasonry, (with the secret being different each time).  The idea that these mystery schools guard some deep esoteric secret that it would empower us to learn is the entire gist of what Gnosticism is.

And setting that aside, they have this tendency to just accept the Masonic version of History as true besides the required tweaks to make it fit a Literal interpretation of The Bible.  And that includes all the comparative mythology stuff Zeitgeist promotes, but just instead of saying Jesus ripped off all these gods, they say all these gods are based on Nimrod.  But new ager David Icke then puts those two narratives together saying all pagan mythologies were based on Nimrod and Semiramis and Tammuz and then Jesus was based on all of them.  Why Jesus alone gets to be both Nimrod and Tammuz at the same time isn't really explained.  And some Anti-Christian Jewish authors do the same.

Instead what I recommend you do is watch Chris White's videos on YouTube debunking all of this "all mythologies are the same" nonsense.  He has videos on Zeitgeist, David Icke and Jordan Maxwell to get started.  His one mistake is conceding December 25th as a birthday when he shouldn't have.

A lot of us seem to base our moral and political positions on what we perceive the "Illuminati" to be promoting or opposing, not on The Bible.