Full-Blown Paganism in the Church
I remember a few years ago, I was sitting in a friend's living room. The sun was dipping low, casting long shadows across the floor, and the television was humming in the background. A commercial came on for a local megachurch. A man, who I knew to be a leader in that congregation, appeared on the screen. He wasn't wearing a suit or a robe. He had squeezed himself into a giant, fuzzy, white Easter Bunny costume. He was hopping around, waving a basket, grinning through a plastic mask, telling everyone to come down to the "sanctuary" for the big event.
The pain I felt in my spirit at that moment was visceral. It wasn't just that it looked ridiculous; it was the realization that this man, a shepherd of souls, had literally put on the image of a pagan deity on television to represent the resurrection of my Savior. He didn't put on the Lord Jesus Christ; he put on Ishtar. He was selling the holy by wrapping it in the profane.
This is the agitation many of you feel but can’t quite put into words. You walk into your church buildings and see the plastic grass, the dyed eggs, and the focus on "fertility symbols" of antiquity, and something deep inside your spirit—where the Holy Ghost dwells—starts to feel grieved. You wonder, "Does God really smile on this?" The solution isn't to just 'go along to get ahead' or to keep the peace for the sake of the family dinner. The solution is to lift your head, look at the Great Shepherd, and stop following the rear end of the lost sheep in front of you. It's time to dig deeper and go higher.
It is so glaringly obvious that it almost feels silly to have to say it, yet here we are. You just have to read your Bible. That’s it. That is the secret. If you read the Word, you see that God has a very specific, very jealous reaction to His people mixing His name with the names of idols. We are going full "willy-nilly" into paganism and bringing it right into the sanctuaries, the very places that are supposed to be set apart for His glory.
I see this marketing logic all the time. People tell me, "Conrad, we need to reach the pagans! We have to meet them where they are." So, we bring in the eggs, the bunnies, and the spring solstice trappings. I’ve observed these "Chreasters"—the folks who only show up on Christmas and Easter. The churches give away iPhones, they put on huge spectacles, and they scramble to make the gospel "palatable."
But let’s look at the result. Is it building a true church? Is it creating disciples who take up their cross? Usually, the week after these big pagan-flavored blowouts, the congregation is even smaller than it was two weeks prior. From a marketing standpoint, it’s the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
If we are willing to allow paganism into the church to reach the pagans, where does the logic stop? Why not have seances in the foyer? Why not set up tarot card readings or a Ouija board in the fellowship hall? If we really want to reach the "demographics of sinners," why not have a "Smoke a Little Weed" night or a sex party in the sanctuary? I know that sounds harsh, but I’m trying to show you the absurdity of the compromise. Why do we discriminate against other sins while embracing the sin of idolatry?
The truth is, the leaders know better. This is what frustrates me the most. These pastors have been to seminary; they know the history of these "holidays." They know that "Easter" is a linguistic evolution of "Ishtar." They do it anyway to keep the money coming in and to keep a happy congregation. They are afraid that if they tell the truth, the pews will empty and the coffers will dry up.
Look at the precedent in Scripture. Look at Aaron. He was the high priest, the man who was supposed to represent the holiness of God. When Moses was up on Mount Sinai, delayed in the presence of the Lord, the people got restless. They gathered around Aaron and said, "Up, make us gods!"
And what did Aaron do? He didn't rebuke them. He didn't tell them to wait on the Lord. Instead, he said:
And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. (Exodus 32:2)
He asked for their gold. Sound familiar? "Bring me your money, and I'll give you something to worship that makes you feel good." Aaron took that gold, fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a molten calf. Then—and this is the part that should make your hair stand up—he made a proclamation. He didn't say, "Here is a new god named Bob." He said:
...Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD. (Exodus 32:5)
He used the name of Jehovah to describe a golden calf. He tried to "baptize" an idol. He mixed the holy name of God with a man-made image to keep the people from rioting. They rose up early, offered sacrifices, sat down to eat and drink, and "rose up to play." They had a great time! It was a successful "event" by modern church standards. But God was ready to consume them.
Moses had to come down and deal with it. He took that calf, ground it to powder, strewed it upon the water, and made them drink it. I call that the very first "Goldschlager." This is the same God we serve today. We like to think the New Covenant means God suddenly stopped caring about holiness, but the Bible says He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Think about Jeroboam. He did the exact same thing for the exact same reason—politics and money. He was afraid that if the people went up to Jerusalem to worship, their hearts would turn back to the house of David and he would lose his kingdom. So he took counsel and made two calves of gold. He told the people:
...It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. (1 Kings 12:28)
He set one in Bethel and one in Dan. He made "high places" and ordained a feast that was "like unto" the feast in Judah. He created a counterfeit. He didn't tell them to stop worshipping the God of Israel; he just gave them a more convenient, pagan-infused way to do it. He polluted the worship to keep his grip on power. This thing became sin to the people.
We see this happening right now. A couple of years ago, I was involved with a movement called "Exalt Jesus Memphis." It was a beautiful thing. We had a day where we gathered just to exalt the name of Jesus. No pastor’s name was on the marquee. No church name was being promoted. We weren't there to build anyone's brand. It was on a Saturday before Easter.
I remember talking to a lady, trying to invite her to come intercede for the city and praise the Lord. She looked at me with total sincerity and said, "Oh, Conrad, I can't do that. I'm in charge of my church's Easter egg hunt."
My heart sank. Behold thy gods, O Israel! We have become so addicted to the "egg hunt"—the tradition, the fluff, the pagan symbols—that we won't even set them aside for one afternoon to exalt the Name that is above every name. We are choosing the "molten calf" of tradition over the presence of the Living God.
Personal Reflections
I’ll be the first to admit, it took me a while to come out of this. I didn't wake up one day with all this figured out. I grew up with the same traditions everyone else did. I remember the pressure of "fitting in." There is such a massive grip of paganism and idolatry in the church, and the devil has a real stronghold there.
It was through a process of "opening my eyes"—something I wrote extensively about in my book, OPEN YOUR EYES—that I began to see the spiritual reality behind these things. When you start to realize that these aren't just "innocent customs" but are actually linked to ancient deities that God hates, you can't un-see it.
Jesus corrected me. He showed me that I was looking for loopholes. I was trying to use scriptures like "an idol is nothing" to make my flesh happy. I wanted to keep the social connections and the warm fuzzy feelings of the holidays while still claiming to follow Him. But the Holy Spirit kept bringing me back to the concept of spiritual adultery.
Adultery sounds a lot like idolatry, doesn't it? Imagine if I told my wife, "Honey, two or three days a year, I'm going to go visit my old girlfriend. I'm going to do all the acts with my body, I'm going to buy her flowers and spend the night, but don't worry—my heart isn't in it. You've still got my heart." How would she feel about that? She would be devastated! She would call it what it is: betrayal. Do we think the Almighty is less sensitive than a human spouse? When we participate in the rites of Ishtar and then say, "But Jesus, it’s for You," we are committing spiritual adultery.
I had to repent. I had to decide that "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." It wasn't easy. It made people uncomfortable. But the peace that comes from a clean conscience and a sanctified walk is worth more than any "happy congregation" or social acceptance.
Biblical References
The Bible is not silent on this issue. We are commanded to be a separate people. The Word says:
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. (2 Corinthians 6:17)
We are told not to learn the ways of the heathen. In Jeremiah, the Lord is very clear:
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. (Jeremiah 10:2)
We see the judgment that falls when we refuse to discern the Lord's body. I was looking at the mortality rates recently, and did you know that the death rate is higher on Christmas Day than any other day of the year? People want to mock God and say it’s just a coincidence, but God will not be mocked.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)
We see in the book of Ezekiel that the leaders were secretly worshipping the sun. They were in the inner court of the Lord's house, between the porch and the altar, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, worshipping the sun toward the east (Ezekiel 8:16). This happened right in the middle of their "religious" activities.
God’s response was clear. He called it an abomination. In the New Testament, we see the same severity. Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Ghost and were struck dead (Acts 5). Herod gave a great speech, took the glory for himself, and was eaten with worms (Acts 12:23). In the book of Revelation, Jesus says of the false prophetess Jezebel:
And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:23)
The call for us today is the same as it was for the believers in the first century:
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. (Revelation 18:4)
Key Takeaways
- God Desires Purity: Mixing the name of Jesus with pagan deities is defined as idolatry and spiritual adultery.
- Leadership Responsibility: Many leaders know the pagan origins of these holidays but continue them to maintain financial stability and keep the "happy" crowd.
- The Marketing Trap: Using paganism to "reach" the lost is unscriptural and ineffective at building true disciples.
- Consequences of Ignorance: We are accountable for the knowledge we have. Once you see the truth in the Word, you are responsible to act on it.
- A Jealous God: The Lord is the same in the New Covenant as He was in the Old; He still demands holiness and separation from the world's systems.
Conclusion and Call to Action
The world is watching us. They see the church being hypocritical, claiming to follow a holy God while dressing up like bunnies and celebrating the same days, in the same ways, as the witches and the pagans. The name of the Lord is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of us!
It’s time for the church to rise up. It’s time for you to decide: are you going to follow the Great Shepherd, or are you going to keep following the traditions of men? If you've been following my podcast or reading my posts at ConradRocks.net, you know that I don't sugarcoat this. We are living in a time where we must be grounded in the Word and led by the Spirit.
If you are struggling with night terrors or spiritual oppression, perhaps it’s time to look at what "unclean things" might be in your house. I talk about this in my book Overcoming Night Terror—the legal ground we give the enemy through compromise is real.
Don't apologize for seeking holiness. Pray about it. Ask God to show you if you are perpetuating paganism in your home. Let's stop the madness and return to the biblical Jesus.
If this message has touched you, please share it with your friends and family—if you dare. We need to spread the truth.
Action Items
- Audit Your Traditions: Sit down with your Bible and research the origins of your holiday customs. If they are rooted in pagan worship (like Ishtar/Easter), ask God for the strength to remove them from your life.
- Repent of Compromise: If you have been "going along to get ahead" while knowing the truth, confess it to the Lord and ask for His forgiveness and the courage to stand for Him.
- Educate Your Family: Teach your children or grandchildren the difference between the biblical account of the Resurrection and the pagan traditions of man. Focus on the Lamb, not the bunny.
- Seek the Biblical Jesus: Commit to reading the Gospels and the Epistles without the lens of church tradition. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the real Jesus to you.
- Support Truth-Tellers: Find and support ministries and fellowships that prioritize the Word over "seeker-friendly" spectacles.
Until we meet again, dig deeper and go higher. God bless you.
If you want to dive deeper into these "Rocks of Revelation," visit me at ConradRocks.net and subscribe to the podcast.
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