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A review by sarahetc
The Return of the Gods by Jonathan Cahn
3.0
Two stars for Cahn's concept and ideas; one star for execution/style; one star for Jesus. Except I don't want it to go higher than three stars because people need to know that no matter now much you are interested in the subject(s), the prophecy, the outcomes, the worldview, the style and technicalities of the writing will (or should) absolutely INFURIATE you.
Which is to say, this is typical Cahn. I wish I had better words to describe it, but I'm going to have to go with an overall tone of deeply earnest college sophomore who is just starting to make connections and develop a broader understanding of the whole "powers and principalities" concepts behind spiritual warfare and they just need to share the fireworks going off in their heads. Besides that, it's PROFOUNDLY REPETITIVE. I hate to use all caps, I guess, but I don't know how else to get across that you are going to read the same idea, with very tiny word choice tweaks, at least 200 times. Cahn had enough material to write a solid chapbook, but no respectable publisher is going to put that out, so they just repeated the same ideas over and over and over. And over. And then threw in some clickbait. AND THEN REPEATED THEM.
Let me see how simply I can write this out.
God is real. So is evil. Spiritual warfare is real and the Bible gives us only a few passages to let us know that, as humans, we are small potatoes in the larger warfare scope. Indeed, God is Lord of Lords, meaning there is one most-powerful, omni-everything Spirit, Creator of the Universe. And there are lesser lords-- spiritual entities who may be good or evil, who act on behalf of their side, to influence human behavior and events. The Christians for whom this book is written will know, intuitively, that no amount of fighting will change the ultimate outcome-- Christ has defeated Death and Satan only has the dominion that's been allowed to him until such time as Christ returns to judge both living and dead, and cast unbelievers and the rest of the "evil" side into eternal fire before the recreation of Heaven and Earth without sin. To that end, humans generally use words like "angels" and "demons" to refer to those agents. There are hierarchies within both sets, which is generally understood, but not many people pursue a true, technical understanding of the actions of the hierarchies and their influences on humans. We are content with the cartoon idea of an angel on one shoulder urging us to do the "right" thing and a demon on the other urging us to do the "wrong (but generally good feeling)" thing.
Cahn wants to educate, elucidate, and improve the overall functional imagination (which informs lived reality) of these choirs and agents, focusing almost exclusively on evil. His thesis is that the gods of old, or the various named agents, especially of Eastern Myth, are in fact, demons-- the powers of the air-- who have been influencing humans and their actions for millenia, in generally the same way and for the same reasons. The outcomes may be dynamic, but the motivation and goal is static: turn humanity away from God, toward Satan. Cahn uses this book to discuss three of the most powerful entities: Baal, Ishtar (often referred to in English as Inanna), and Moloch. Interestingly enough, he begins with an anecdote about the spirit of Python, even higher on the totem pole than the primary three of the text. He does not, however, make any explicit connections for readers-- simply uses it as a tantalizing set up to learn more. Given the overall tabloid style of most chapters, I fail to see why he couldn't add a few paragraphs on hierarchy and connect the ancient avatars of Python, especially the Oracle at Delphi, with the modern avatars of Python, especially the general fascination with mainstreamed occult practices such as tarot and yoga.
Which, I suppose, is as good as segue as I can make to the meat of the book: Baal, Ishtar, and Moloch. They are written in that order because he has more scripture, ancient writing, annecdata, coincidences, and sophomore mind blown markers for Baal than he does either of the other two. Next most numerous, and finally Moloch, who seems to be given short shrift compared to the other two. Baal is the mythological god of fertility, weather, harvest (all those things relating to continuation of life and fulfillment of material need) and to some extent, war. He is represented by a bull, and his legend is fairly consistent across ancient cultures, and is very frequently referenced across the Old Testament and in contemporaneous literature like the Epic of Gilgamesh. In fact, most of Cahn's actual references are OT and EoG. Since we know there is a vast quantity of other contemporaneous literature out there, I have to wonder why Cahn didn't use it or at least reference it (with or without citation). And I feel bad for wondering if it was because those works didn't thematically support his premise. Anyway! Baals and Asheras and eventually Zeus who is eventually Jupiter. I will give Cahn a point for driving home explicit connection between Baal and Zeus for the Christian or post-Christian understanding. It's the same spirit or the same demon or the same entity worshipped in the same ways for the same reasons across different geographic areas. What is now a few hours of plane trip for us or a phone call or email would have been months of travel, if not years of slow emigration; therefore the similarities in worship and ritual must have a higher order than simple cultural exchange. I'm not phrasing that as logically as possible but I hope you get what I mean. And, fourteen chapters that end with Stay tuned gotcha questions later and we understand that Baal is still alive and well. From a bronze bull statue on Wall Street, home of the world's largest economy (literally a golden calf, y'all; pretty funny when you think about it) to the recreation of the Arch of Palmyra in all its symbolic glory, Baal is/was/still will run the show.
Next up, Baal's wife or consort, Ishtar/Inanna/The Enchantress/The Seductress. As the Baal spirit controlled the economy and material provision, so Ishtar controls human and animal reproduction, sexuality, gender, taboos and intoxicants. What took Cahn quite a while to tee up for Baal gets right into it for Ishtar. She is the avatar and controlling spirit of the sexual revolution. Cahn makes this explicit by matching the tiniest of details of the Stonewall Riots (dates, addresses, architecture, name of people, names of drinks, songs sung) and its eventual outgrowth: Pride Month. This section is not as, or at least doesn't seem as, "don't touch that dial!" (I show my age) as some of the others. Perhaps because the matches from the OT and EoG to the general Age of Aquarius social movement through the sexual revolution and into the fact that it has not yet stopped, the ultimate goal being the destruction of even the concept of "man" or "woman" let alone any connection between them, are more obvious to most.
And finally there's Moloch/Molech, eater of children. He seems like almost an afterthought. It doesn't take a brain trust or a stint at seminary to look at American or Western culture in the late 20th (wow, the 19oos... I am old) and 21st centuries and notice birth rates decreasing. And then to make the connection that while it's true that Moloch requires a sacrifice of babies, he doesn't necessarily need for them to be born. Any aborted life will do, any murdered child. I was actually surprised that Cahn did not go harder on this, or what Charismatics generally refer to as the spirit of Jezebel (with or without Ahab) controlling the age. It brings to mind the laughable obliviousness of a post-Christian worldview, where there is no such thing as God, so everything could or would be god, it's only a matter of making up your mind and pointing your instinctive need to worship at it. Thus we have various paganisms running around demanding worship and winking at their cult status: environmentalism, feminism, consumerist luxury materialism, and the Unitarian Universalist homage that is all the shibboleths falling under the worthless heading "political correctness" on the "right" side of the Paradox of Tolerance.
So yeah, anyway: the new bad guys are the old bad guys, just with different fashions on. We have met the enemy and he is us. There is One who has all power. (He is Jesus the Christ.) May you find Him now. And just in case it wasn't clear, this is some hot Isiah 5:20, 2 Timothy 3 action.
It had such potential! Oof. I may try to noodle on this some more and see if I can use its general tenor of connection and symbolism to make something both fantastical and Christian. Here's hoping.
TL;DR: wow, this is almost as long as the actual book. Which is infuriatingly repetitive, clickbaity, and merely skims the surface of what are probably endlessly intricate parallels between the satanic paganisms of the old world and the new. Shoot. One extra star for Jesus.
Which is to say, this is typical Cahn. I wish I had better words to describe it, but I'm going to have to go with an overall tone of deeply earnest college sophomore who is just starting to make connections and develop a broader understanding of the whole "powers and principalities" concepts behind spiritual warfare and they just need to share the fireworks going off in their heads. Besides that, it's PROFOUNDLY REPETITIVE. I hate to use all caps, I guess, but I don't know how else to get across that you are going to read the same idea, with very tiny word choice tweaks, at least 200 times. Cahn had enough material to write a solid chapbook, but no respectable publisher is going to put that out, so they just repeated the same ideas over and over and over. And over. And then threw in some clickbait. AND THEN REPEATED THEM.
Let me see how simply I can write this out.
God is real. So is evil. Spiritual warfare is real and the Bible gives us only a few passages to let us know that, as humans, we are small potatoes in the larger warfare scope. Indeed, God is Lord of Lords, meaning there is one most-powerful, omni-everything Spirit, Creator of the Universe. And there are lesser lords-- spiritual entities who may be good or evil, who act on behalf of their side, to influence human behavior and events. The Christians for whom this book is written will know, intuitively, that no amount of fighting will change the ultimate outcome-- Christ has defeated Death and Satan only has the dominion that's been allowed to him until such time as Christ returns to judge both living and dead, and cast unbelievers and the rest of the "evil" side into eternal fire before the recreation of Heaven and Earth without sin. To that end, humans generally use words like "angels" and "demons" to refer to those agents. There are hierarchies within both sets, which is generally understood, but not many people pursue a true, technical understanding of the actions of the hierarchies and their influences on humans. We are content with the cartoon idea of an angel on one shoulder urging us to do the "right" thing and a demon on the other urging us to do the "wrong (but generally good feeling)" thing.
Cahn wants to educate, elucidate, and improve the overall functional imagination (which informs lived reality) of these choirs and agents, focusing almost exclusively on evil. His thesis is that the gods of old, or the various named agents, especially of Eastern Myth, are in fact, demons-- the powers of the air-- who have been influencing humans and their actions for millenia, in generally the same way and for the same reasons. The outcomes may be dynamic, but the motivation and goal is static: turn humanity away from God, toward Satan. Cahn uses this book to discuss three of the most powerful entities: Baal, Ishtar (often referred to in English as Inanna), and Moloch. Interestingly enough, he begins with an anecdote about the spirit of Python, even higher on the totem pole than the primary three of the text. He does not, however, make any explicit connections for readers-- simply uses it as a tantalizing set up to learn more. Given the overall tabloid style of most chapters, I fail to see why he couldn't add a few paragraphs on hierarchy and connect the ancient avatars of Python, especially the Oracle at Delphi, with the modern avatars of Python, especially the general fascination with mainstreamed occult practices such as tarot and yoga.
Which, I suppose, is as good as segue as I can make to the meat of the book: Baal, Ishtar, and Moloch. They are written in that order because he has more scripture, ancient writing, annecdata, coincidences, and sophomore mind blown markers for Baal than he does either of the other two. Next most numerous, and finally Moloch, who seems to be given short shrift compared to the other two. Baal is the mythological god of fertility, weather, harvest (all those things relating to continuation of life and fulfillment of material need) and to some extent, war. He is represented by a bull, and his legend is fairly consistent across ancient cultures, and is very frequently referenced across the Old Testament and in contemporaneous literature like the Epic of Gilgamesh. In fact, most of Cahn's actual references are OT and EoG. Since we know there is a vast quantity of other contemporaneous literature out there, I have to wonder why Cahn didn't use it or at least reference it (with or without citation). And I feel bad for wondering if it was because those works didn't thematically support his premise. Anyway! Baals and Asheras and eventually Zeus who is eventually Jupiter. I will give Cahn a point for driving home explicit connection between Baal and Zeus for the Christian or post-Christian understanding. It's the same spirit or the same demon or the same entity worshipped in the same ways for the same reasons across different geographic areas. What is now a few hours of plane trip for us or a phone call or email would have been months of travel, if not years of slow emigration; therefore the similarities in worship and ritual must have a higher order than simple cultural exchange. I'm not phrasing that as logically as possible but I hope you get what I mean. And, fourteen chapters that end with Stay tuned gotcha questions later and we understand that Baal is still alive and well. From a bronze bull statue on Wall Street, home of the world's largest economy (literally a golden calf, y'all; pretty funny when you think about it) to the recreation of the Arch of Palmyra in all its symbolic glory, Baal is/was/still will run the show.
Next up, Baal's wife or consort, Ishtar/Inanna/The Enchantress/The Seductress. As the Baal spirit controlled the economy and material provision, so Ishtar controls human and animal reproduction, sexuality, gender, taboos and intoxicants. What took Cahn quite a while to tee up for Baal gets right into it for Ishtar. She is the avatar and controlling spirit of the sexual revolution. Cahn makes this explicit by matching the tiniest of details of the Stonewall Riots (dates, addresses, architecture, name of people, names of drinks, songs sung) and its eventual outgrowth: Pride Month. This section is not as, or at least doesn't seem as, "don't touch that dial!" (I show my age) as some of the others. Perhaps because the matches from the OT and EoG to the general Age of Aquarius social movement through the sexual revolution and into the fact that it has not yet stopped, the ultimate goal being the destruction of even the concept of "man" or "woman" let alone any connection between them, are more obvious to most.
And finally there's Moloch/Molech, eater of children. He seems like almost an afterthought. It doesn't take a brain trust or a stint at seminary to look at American or Western culture in the late 20th (wow, the 19oos... I am old) and 21st centuries and notice birth rates decreasing. And then to make the connection that while it's true that Moloch requires a sacrifice of babies, he doesn't necessarily need for them to be born. Any aborted life will do, any murdered child. I was actually surprised that Cahn did not go harder on this, or what Charismatics generally refer to as the spirit of Jezebel (with or without Ahab) controlling the age. It brings to mind the laughable obliviousness of a post-Christian worldview, where there is no such thing as God, so everything could or would be god, it's only a matter of making up your mind and pointing your instinctive need to worship at it. Thus we have various paganisms running around demanding worship and winking at their cult status: environmentalism, feminism, consumerist luxury materialism, and the Unitarian Universalist homage that is all the shibboleths falling under the worthless heading "political correctness" on the "right" side of the Paradox of Tolerance.
So yeah, anyway: the new bad guys are the old bad guys, just with different fashions on. We have met the enemy and he is us. There is One who has all power. (He is Jesus the Christ.) May you find Him now. And just in case it wasn't clear, this is some hot Isiah 5:20, 2 Timothy 3 action.
It had such potential! Oof. I may try to noodle on this some more and see if I can use its general tenor of connection and symbolism to make something both fantastical and Christian. Here's hoping.
TL;DR: wow, this is almost as long as the actual book. Which is infuriatingly repetitive, clickbaity, and merely skims the surface of what are probably endlessly intricate parallels between the satanic paganisms of the old world and the new. Shoot. One extra star for Jesus.