Modern Western culture spent generations telling itself that the old gods were dead. Paganism belonged to mythology books, supernatural beings belonged to a prescientific past, and religion would supposedly fade as society became more modern. Yet people have not stopped searching for transcendence, ritual, spiritual experience, and powers beyond the material world.
For the background, hear our conversation on the return of ancient gods.
In this episode of Fresh Ground Theology, Nate Labadorf, David Ryan Lompe, and Wes Scott begin a new section of the Rivals of the Kingdom of Yahweh series by looking at the gods of the modern world. Rather than treating every religion as essentially the same, the conversation takes their differences seriously while asking another question: could some of the recurring patterns in human religion reflect real spiritual powers?
Drawing on the biblical language of principalities and powers, along with ideas explored by writers such as Michael Heiser, Derek Gilbert, and Gerald McDermott, the guys consider what happens when the biblical supernatural worldview is applied to the modern religious landscape. That takes the discussion from Abrahamic religions and movements that emerged from Christianity to the unexpected resurgence of pagan religion and the ancient traditions of Hinduism.
Abrahamic Religions and the Identity of Jesus
The conversation begins with religions that trace their history in some way back to Abraham. Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and several smaller traditions share historical connections, biblical figures, and pieces of a common religious vocabulary. However, those shared roots eventually lead to dramatically different understandings of revelation, God, salvation, and especially Jesus.
That difference becomes central to the discussion. Christianity does not merely treat Jesus as a prophet, teacher, angelic being, or one spiritual figure among many. Historic Christian faith confesses Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man, making Christology one of the clearest dividing lines between Christianity and competing religious claims.
The guys also discuss Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses, both of which use substantial amounts of Christian language while defining God and Christ differently from historic Nicene Christianity. This raises a larger issue that runs throughout the episode: similar vocabulary does not necessarily mean two religious systems are describing the same theological reality.
Principalities, Powers, and the Nations
From there, the episode returns to a theme that has appeared throughout Rivals of the Kingdom of Yahweh: the Bible’s supernatural understanding of the nations. Passages such as Psalm 82 and the biblical theology surrounding the division of the nations suggest a world in which human cultures and kingdoms cannot always be understood in purely political, sociological, or material terms.
Paul’s language about principalities and powers adds another dimension to that picture. If Scripture presents rebellious spiritual beings as active within the world, then Christians do not necessarily have to choose between saying that every non-Christian religion is completely imaginary or accepting those religions’ own explanations of their gods.
Instead, another possibility emerges. Human beings can create religious systems, misunderstand spiritual experiences, preserve fragments of truth, and encounter deceptive spiritual powers at the same time.
Why Is Paganism Coming Back?
One of the largest sections of the episode looks at the surprising return of pagan religion in the modern West. Wicca, Druidry, Heathenry, Ásatrú, Hellenism, Celtic reconstructionism, witchcraft, and other forms of neopaganism have become increasingly visible, even though many people once assumed that Christianity and later secularism had permanently displaced them.
Modern neopaganism is not simply an untouched ancient religion that survived underground for two thousand years. Much of it involves reconstructing older traditions from mythology, folklore, archaeology, historical texts, and surviving cultural practices. As a result, neopaganism contains enormous diversity and often lacks the centralized structures or doctrinal boundaries associated with religions such as Christianity or Islam.
The attraction is nevertheless understandable. People are looking for ritual, beauty, mystery, connection with nature, ancestral identity, community, and an experience of transcendence that secular materialism has struggled to provide. In many cases, modern seekers still want spirituality even after rejecting traditional religious institutions.
Odin, Thor, and the Return of the Norse Gods
Norse paganism provides one of the clearest examples. Odin, Thor, Freya, Tyr, Frigg, Loki, and other figures familiar to modern audiences through mythology and popular culture are also objects of genuine religious interest and devotion for some people today.
The discussion pays particular attention to Odin, whose image as a wanderer and seeker of hidden knowledge has obvious appeal in a culture fascinated by personal discovery, esoteric wisdom, and spiritual experience. The popularity of Norse mythology in movies, novels, games, and fantasy does not itself constitute pagan worship, but it has made these once-obscure figures familiar again.
This leads to one of the episode’s recurring questions: when someone begins offering genuine reverence or worship to an ancient god, should Christians assume that absolutely nothing exists on the receiving end? The biblical worldview leaves room for a more complicated answer.
Greek and Roman Gods in the Modern World
Norse religion is not alone. Modern practitioners have also attempted to revive the worship of Greek and Roman deities, including gods associated with magic, hidden knowledge, ecstatic experience, liberation, and other aspects of life.
For the hosts, this revival is especially interesting because Western culture often treats Zeus, Dionysus, Hecate, and the other classical gods as harmless characters from mythology. Yet there are people who approach these figures as genuine objects of devotion rather than literary symbols.
That does not mean every story told about an ancient god should be accepted literally. However, the return of actual religious devotion to these figures raises theological questions that are difficult to ask if the supernatural is dismissed before the conversation even begins.
Spirituality Without Doctrine
Why would people living in a technologically advanced society return to ancient religious forms? Part of the answer may be that modern people have not become as nonreligious as secularism predicted.
Instead, many want spiritual experience without a binding institution, mystical encounters without fixed doctrine, gods without commandments, and community without the demands traditionally associated with organized religion. Modern individualism makes customized spirituality especially attractive because authority can move from an external revelation to the experience and preferences of the individual.
Christianity makes a very different claim. Truth does not ultimately originate in our preferences or experiences but in the God who reveals himself and calls human beings to worship him.
Hinduism, Brahman, Karma, and the Gods
The episode then turns to Hinduism, a massive and ancient family of religious traditions that does not fit neatly into the categories discussed earlier. The guys introduce concepts including Brahman, Atman, karma, samsara, moksha, and devotion to deities such as Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna, Kali, and Lakshmi.
One important contrast with Christianity concerns the relationship between the Creator and creation. Christian theology maintains a fundamental distinction between God and the world he created, while some Hindu philosophical traditions understand ultimate reality and the self in dramatically different ways.
Hindu devotional religion also raises the episode’s larger supernatural question again. From a Christian perspective, could devotion directed toward various gods sometimes involve real spiritual beings presenting themselves as worthy of worship? The hosts do not attempt to identify every god with a specific spiritual entity, but they argue that the biblical worldview gives Christians reason to take the spiritual dimension seriously.
The Gods Never Really Went Away
The central argument of Gods of the Modern World is not that every religion is secretly identical. The episode argues almost the opposite: the differences matter because truth matters, and Christianity makes particular claims about God, Jesus Christ, creation, salvation, and worship that cannot simply be blended into every other religious system.
At the same time, Christians do not need to adopt the modern assumption that every god, spirit, ritual, or supernatural encounter outside Christianity must be imaginary. Scripture describes a populated spiritual world, rebellious powers, deceptive spirits, and nations entangled with spiritual rebellion.
That reality should produce discernment rather than fear. Whatever spiritual powers may exist behind the religions of the world, Christianity confesses Jesus Christ as Lord over every power, authority, ruler, dominion, and name.
Episode Timestamps
- 00:00:58 — Welcome to Fresh Ground Theology
- 00:03:21 — Coffee, Ethiopian beans, Folgers, and biblical coffee hypotheticals
- 00:13:09 — Gods of the Modern World, Part 1 begins
- 00:13:09 — Judaism, Islam, and the Abrahamic religious family
- 00:20:53 — Mormonism and historic Christian theology
- 00:24:43 — Jehovah’s Witnesses and the deity of Christ
- 00:32:12 — Principalities, powers, and the biblical supernatural worldview
- 00:35:57 — The modern revival of paganism
- 00:38:42 — Wicca, Druidry, Heathenry, Ásatrú, and reconstructionist religion
- 00:42:02 — Norse paganism: Odin, Thor, Freya, Loki, and the old gods
- 00:49:47 — The revival of Greek and Roman religion
- 00:53:48 — Experience, doctrine, and customized spirituality
- 00:55:24 — Why modern people are attracted to pagan religion
- 00:57:20 — What spiritual realities might stand behind pagan worship?
- 01:01:06 — Hinduism
- 01:02:20 — Brahman, Atman, karma, samsara, and moksha
- 01:03:00 — Hindu gods and devotional worship
- 01:06:36 — Are the gods real spiritual beings?
- 01:08:08 — Why Christians do not need to fear spiritual powers
- 01:10:06 — Previewing Part 2: New Age spirituality, Santería, and more
- 01:12:53 — The Lord’s Prayer and closing blessing
Mentioned in This Episode
Michael Heiser and the biblical supernatural worldview are important influences on this conversation, particularly the framework developed in The Unseen Realm. The episode also draws from ideas discussed by Derek Gilbert and Gerald McDermott concerning pagan religion, spiritual powers, and the relationship between Christianity and the religions of the nations.
Biblical passages and themes discussed include Psalm 82, the division of the nations, principalities and powers, the deity of Christ, the warning against another gospel delivered even by an angel, and Christ’s supremacy over spiritual powers. These themes connect this episode directly with earlier installments of the Rivals of the Kingdom of Yahweh series.
Coming Next
This is only Part 1 of Gods of the Modern World. The next episode continues the investigation with New Age spirituality, Santería, and other modern religious and spiritual movements as the guys continue asking what Christians should make of the gods, spirits, and powers people still encounter and worship today.
Subscribe to Fresh Ground Theology on your favorite podcast platform so you do not miss Part 2. You can also explore previous episodes in the Rivals of the Kingdom of Yahweh series for more on Psalm 82, the nations, the Divine Council, principalities and powers, and the supernatural worldview of Scripture.
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