President Obama spoke recently at the National Prayer Breakfast and caused a big dust up by some remarks he made about Christianity’s role in the crusades and then went on to make some comments about how the US embraces an ideology of separation between church and state.

“Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history.  And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.”

“… And the second thing we need is to uphold the distinction between our faith and our governments.  Between church and between state.  The United States is one of the most religious countries in the world — far more religious than most Western developed countries.  And one of the reasons is that our founders wisely embraced the separation of church and state.  Our government does not sponsor a religion, nor does it pressure anyone to practice a particular faith, or any faith at all.”( Source)

I personally find his remarks about separation of church and state more inaccurate than his remarks about the crusades. Religion has run this country and greatly influenced its leaders from its inception and continues to this day to dictate the direction in which this nation is headed. Unfortunately, the religion is not Christianity, the religion most often attributed to America’s founding fathers.

Many Christians believe and passionately argue that America was founded on Christian principles, but the opposite is much closer to the truth. America is a pagan nation and was founded as such. We are a nation of Ba’al worshipers from the church steeples to the Washington memorial. The US is peppered with pagan symbols. The evidence is around every corner if we have the spiritual eyes to identify it.

The land of Canaan also known as the promised land to the Hebrews in scripture was also a Ba’al worshiping nation.

Canaan was, during the late 2nd millennium BC, a region in the Ancient Near East, which as described in the Bible roughly corresponds to the Levant, i.e. modern-day Lebanon, Israel, Palestinian Territories, the western part of Jordan and southwestern Syria. (Source)

As a historical note, Canaanite Ba’al worship can be traced back to the Babylonian mystery religion where Nimrod (Marduk) was worshiped as the sun god and Semiramis (Ishtar\Astarte\Asherteroth) (these pagan deities go by many other aliases as well) was worshiped as the moon goddess. It is interesting the parallels that can observed between Canaan and modern day USA and western culture. Scripture describes the pagan atmosphere and worship practices of Canaan as such:

Blood sacrifice:

Jeremiah 32:35 (NLT)

They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly!

 

Ritual sex worship:

1 Kings 14:23-24

 For they also built for themselves pagan shrines and set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. There were even male and female shrine prostitutes throughout the land. The people imitated the detestable practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.

Asherah was worshiped in various ways, including through ritual sex. Although she was believed to be Baal’s mother, she was also his mistress. Pagans practiced “sympathetic magic”, that is, they believed they could influence the gods’ actions by performing the behavior they wished the gods to demonstrate.

Believing the sexual union of Baal and Asherah produced fertility, their worshipers engaged in immoral sex to cause the gods to join together, ensuring good harvests. This practice became the basis for religious prostitution (1 Kings 14:23-24). The priest or a male member of the community represented Baal.

The priestess or a female members of the community represented Asherah. In this way, God’s incredible gift of sexuality was perverted to the most obscene public prostitution. No wonder God’s anger burned against his people and their leaders. (Source)

Witchcraft:

2 Chronicles 33:6 

And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

Deuteronomy 18:9-12 (NLT)

 “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there.  For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. 

And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft,  or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. 

12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you.

In western culture blood sacrifice is a daily occurrence. Our children are also “passed through the fire” to Molech, the difference being that we call it abortion and Molech (the Ammonite version of Ba’al) has taken on a new alias, Planned Parenthood. Blood sacrifice occurs at an alarming rate of at least 4,400 per day in the US.

Unbeknownst to many, abortion is just as prevalent, if not mores so, among church goers than it is among unbelievers. 

Prevalence of abortion among Christians

In 2011, the Guttmacher Institute reported that two out of three women having abortions in the U.S. identified as Christian.^[82] The same report said that of all U.S. abortions, 37% were undertaken by women who identified as Protestant, and 28% were Catholic.^[82] The number of abortions performed on U.S. Catholic women is about the same per capita as the average in the general U.S. population; in the 2000s, Catholic women were 29% more likely to have an abortion than Protestant women.^[49] A 1996 study found that one out of five U.S. abortions was performed on a woman who was born-again or evangelical Christian.^[83]  (Source)

Ritual sex worship is also present is several different forms. It has become a way of life and is common and acceptable.

Pornography tops this list:

Followed by a general consensus that there are no boundaries where sex is concerned, everything is OK. Pretty much any prefix that can be added to the root –sexuality is fair game, anything goes. In fact elicit sex is nearly, if not already, a common expectation. Sex worship in a temple made of brick and mortar in ancient times has been exchanged for sex worship in the temple of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT)

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

“Eighty percent of young evangelicals have engaged in premarital sex, according to a new video from the National Association of Evangelicals. and almost a third of evangelicals’ unplanned pregnancies end in abortion.” (Source)

Data from the 2002 survey indicate that by age 20, 77% of respondents had had sex, 75% had had premarital sex, and 12% had married; by age 44, 95% of respondents (94% of women, 96% of men, and 97% of those who had ever had sex) had had premarital sex. Even among those who abstained until at least age 20, 81% had had premarital sex by age 44. Among cohorts of women turning 15 between 1964 and 1993, at least 91% had had premarital sex by age 30. Among those turning 15 between 1954 and 1963, 82% had had premarital sex by age 30, and 88% had done so by age 44. (Source)

Again not much difference between “the church” and non believers.

Then there is the matter of witchcraft. Things get a little hazy here because we have been programmed to believe that matters of a spiritual nature are superstitious or belong to ancient times that have been forgotten when humanity was less enlightened. We are a pragmatic people driven by empiricism; we have evolved beyond spirituality and superstition.  

Pragmatism-the doctrine that the content of a concept consists only in its practical applicability

Spirituality-relating to the spirit or soul and not to physical nature or matter; intangible

Eliminating the spiritual aspect of life also eliminates causal reality. Essentially, if a situation or thing can’t be explained by the five senses then it is coincidence or we can affix any meaning to it that suits our fancy. We must understand, everything that happens is set in motion first in the spirit dimension, thereby eliminating coincidence.

“Historically many Rabbis have taught that “Coincidence” is not a kosher word.”

 This pragmatic point of view also turns a black and white moral code to gray, cancelling absolute rights and wrongs, giving legs to  the Aleister Crowley philosophy “do what thou wilt.”

1 Corinthians 2:14 (NLT)

 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.

Sadly, this empirical philosophical viewpoint also negates faith. Scripture tells us it impossible to please God without faith.

Faith-strong or unshakeable belief in something, esp without (empirical) proof or evidence 

Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

This pragmatic philosophy is dangerous territory. The enemy has engineered this intentionally to give rise to an underground emergence of witchcraft in the form of the occult in its various incarnations: Free Masonry, Wicca, spirit channeling (necromancy), white\black magic, etc. These are all different sides of the same dice. Witchcraft has proliferated unabated in western culture over the last 200 years or so and is making its way to the mainstream platform of pop culture, just check out recent entertainment award ceremonies and the Superbowl half time shows.

Sadly it seems that pragmatism is also creeping into Christendom. I recently had an email conversation with the minister of a church concerning some art inside the church depicting many inverted and upright triangles (attempting to show movement) which are usually associated with occult secret societies, witchcraft, and ancient pagan deities. A portion of his response to my inquiry is below.

 “I believe…images as related to the occult and the worship of pagan deities is directly related to “intent…”

But the truth is a lot of images even in today’s “Christian” world at one time had pagan origins that are not related today to paganism at all. One example would be the church ‘steeple’ that sits on top many Christian churches even today as it has for centuries. If you go back far enough into Church history you discover the church steeple actually is rooted in the “high places’ of the ancient pagans…specifically the Ashtoreth poles. In 325 A.D. when Constantine declared Christianity the State religion paganism began creeping into Christianity over the next century. Many pagan temples (with steeples) became Christian “churches’. That architecture influenced the building of future ‘churches’ and the steeples remain to this day. But I don’t believe those churches with steeples are automatically worshipping Ashtoreth.

A similar example would be Christmas trees which of course is rooted in pagan tradition, December 25^th originally being a pagan holiday. But today nobody remembers the pagan belief system when they see a Christmas tree or celebrate Christmas. They remember the birth of Christ. The point I’m making is that I believe ‘intent’ must be associated with the “image’ to make it “idolatry…”

His response made me do an about face. I don’t believe that associating pagan symbols and celebrations with Christianity or putting them in or on a Christian church automatically sanctifies them? Indeed it does not. On the contrary, I believe it “paganizes” the church, hence the Most High instituting commandments for his people to stay away from pagan anything. 

This viewpoint could be likened to the symbol of the rainbow that the Most High established as a sign that he would never destroy the earth with a flood again.

Genesis 9:13-17 (NLT)

I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”

The rainbow has been hijacked and associated with homosexuality, does this therefore mean that it no longer symbolizes the covenant the Most High made with the inhabitants of the earth. Certainly not, I believe it reminds us of a more ominous prophecy on its way to fulfillment.

Luke 17:26 (NLT)

 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.

2 Peter 3:4-7 (NLT)

^“They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water.  Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood.  And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.

That being said I don’t believe our intentions have any bearing on the meaning or power of long established symbols, festivals, etc. The fact is that the Most High knows what these celebrations and symbols mean and so does the enemy. Our ignorance and/or good intentions do not change that.

In closing, it appears Ba’al worship and paganism are still very much alive and well in the present time. The land is peppered with signs and symbols of Ba’al worship. The US government is run by it, “the church” is infected with it, sports and entertainment is riddled with it…it is everywhere. The United States is under a spell whereby we have been spiritually bewitched and put to sleep.

The western culture and way of life is ancient Canaanite\Babylonian mystery religions repackaged for new day. Paganism and Ba’al worship have not gone anywhere, even though it is generally not seen for what it really is. It is essential that we awaken and open our spiritual eyes to the awareness of what is going on around us lest we be deceived by it.

Romans 8:6-8 (ESV)

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.