We resume our exposé of the Endtime Pagan Man. He has evolved to sophisticated heights. We review the remaining characteristics #3 to #5.

3. Concern About Tomorrow

Societies that do not put their faith in God, by definition, must worry about the uncertainties of tomorrow. The Bible says that it should be otherwise: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:33-34). Those verses are connected to the two verses before, which speak of pagan practices.

In this context, we understand that worrying about tomorrow is a “pagan” preoccupation of the “ethnos.” These worries about the uncertainties of tomorrow have driven a monumental amount of economic and financial evolution over past decades and centuries, and have clearly added to the intensity of the commercialization of human life.

The introduction of insurance services is one such example. No doubt, the vast array of insurance products available does provide useful services. In recent decades, there has been a boom in sophisticated financial instruments, which in turn has underpinned an unprecedented rise in global financial wealth. Many of these instruments are based on mathematical theorems that seek to overcome the uncertainties and unknowns of tomorrow.

Few people are expert in or even aware of these trends in the wild jungles of advanced economic and financial innovation. Meanwhile, back on Main Street, life is clearly different as a result of these many services that cater to the “uncertainties of tomorrow.” Today, no one would think of not having life, home, or auto insurance. Most would agree that it is unwise to not have an IRA or a pension plan to protect against the uncertainties of retirement. Just taking the few services mentioned leads to at least five different purchased services on a monthly installment plan.

Chronic worry about the future, leading to increased commercialization and idolatry, is clearly pagan. This intensification of “worries over tomorrow” is therefore an identifier of Modern Pagan Man.

4. Self-Indulgence and Debauchery

The Bible clearly refers to those people who live a life of dissipation and indulgence as being pagan in character. Paul identified the Hebrews as having acted like pagans when they had parties and revelries while Moses was up on the mountain (Exodus 32). “Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry’” (1 Corinthians 10:7).

Apostle Peter takes the same view. “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you” (1 Peter 4:3-4).

Reveling, debauchery, bacchanalian feasts, and wild sensuality were part of the worship exercises of the pagans. (The Amplified Bible also mentions frivolousness and hilarity.) These aspects of paganism are highly promoted today. Why? It’s good for business … good for economic growth. Morality is not the relevant issue.

Revelry and frivolousness add to economic growth, whatever forms they may take. And those businesses that are on the leading edge in this regard are often the most successful. Television programs and movies that cater to this trend are an example. Many more could be listed.

It’s part of a sophisticated economic culture. Increasingly, these pagan “lifestyle” activities may now include mindless entertainment, drugs, pornography … and much, much more. The Modern Pagan Man guiltlessly consumes and indulges.

5. Ultra-Competitiveness

The Bible pictures pagans as being competitive. They are seen vying for the fulfillment of their personal wants. As already reviewed, they “run after” the things that they want (Matthew 6:31).

Jesus indirectly points to another competitive behavior of the pagan: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28). Apparently, He said this while in Jericho—the rebuilt city from the ruins of ancient Jericho.

In contrast, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors” (Luke 22:25). By inference, pagan society is marked by “one-upmanship”—the desire to be the “top-dog,” as society would define it—and to rule over others. Achieving these goals requires competitive behavior.

We recognize that competition is one of the most venerated principles on earth today … for better or worse. Of course, there is nothing wrong in striving for improvement if the motivations are healthy and balanced. However, the type of competitive behavior identified here is the jungle rule of “survival of the fittest.” It is a type of competition that is devoid of charity or love for others. This form of competitiveness is deeply imbedded in pagan society—our society.

Even something as simple as buying a security on a stock exchange for the sake of gain embodies the notion that one person’s success can only come at the price of another person’s misfortune. Be that as it may, that’s the accepted way of the Modern Pagan Man.

Having reviewed five of the pagan characteristics of ancient mankind, we indeed see proof of evolution. Yes, all the basic characteristics of mankind remain the same. Yet, we do see that there has evolved a modern, sophisticated pagan. Anyone who truly understands the workings of the great global commercialization that reigns today must face the true extent of the paganization of our society’s world. Brief as our description has been in this 2-part article, the world of the Modern Pagan Man sets a stark contrast to the primitive heathen of ancient times.

In our society today, are we already witnessing the endtime Modern Pagan Man that the Bible depicts? And if so, what does the future hold for the modern pagan?

The Endtime Pagan

The Bible prophecies many things that will happen to the Modern Pagan Man and his endtime world.

“[Ethnos] will rise up against [ethnos]” (Mark 13:8; Luke 21:10), the word “ethnos” here being commonly translated as “nation.” In other words, there will be much unrest, warring, and competition, as pagans will rise up against pagans. The “ethnos” will be holding Israel in bondage during the latter days and will be judged (Acts 7:7), this being the same period referred to by Jesus as the “times of the Gentiles” (the times of the “ethnos”: Luke 21:24). The pagans will set up vain systems that conspire against God. “Why do the nations (ethnos) conspire and the peoples plot in vain?” (Psalm 2:1; cf. Acts 4:25).

The “ethnos” will be angry when God unleashes His wrath upon them and rewards the saints. Revelation 11:18 clearly says that it is the “ethnos” that are destroying the earth. What form of destruction might be referred to here is not clear.

It could be related to both physical and sociological destruction. Could this include such phenomena as pollution, environmental damage, and other results of overconsumption? It is the pagans that are in alignment with the endtime commercial and political regime portrayed as Babylon the Great, found in Revelation 17 and 18.

It is the “ethnos” that “drink of the wine of the wrath” of Babylon the Great’s fornication (Revelation 14:8, KJV). All pagans are deceived by the sorceries of this global regime, of which the “merchants were the great men” (Revelation 18:23).

Thoughts to Ponder

The descriptions of the “ethnos” in the last days surely already align with what we see unfolding in the world today. It is clearly a civilization that is marked by extreme consumption, endless wants, materialistic idolatry, and a fixation with wealth.

The evolution of this “pagan” is truly advanced.

How many of us might find similarities with the modern pagan way of life? It is an important and timely question.

After all, “every knee shall bow,” says the Bible (Isaiah 45:23). All the “ethnos” will sing a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10).

***

Wilfred J. Hahn is a global economist/strategist. Formerly a top-ranked global analyst, research director for a major Wall Street investment bank, and head of Canada’s largest global investment operation, his writings focus on the endtime roles of money, economics and globalization. He has been quoted around the world and his writings reproduced in numerous other publications and languages. His 2002 book The Endtime Money Snare: How to live free accurately anticipated and prepared its readers for the Global Financial Crisis. A following book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving true riches in an age of deception and trouble, looks further into the prophetic future.

Do you have questions or other perspectives? You can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com.

 

Paleontologists speak of Neanderthal Man, Australopithecus, and many other pre-human forms that were supposedly forbearers to we modern-day Homo sapiens. All of this allegedly happened many millions of years ago.

Of course, removed from literal Biblical interpretation, we know that this whole field of study remains highly imaginative and speculative. There is now already a long legacy of the Bible having trumped scientific skepticism on many issues, whether historical, scientific, or otherwise.

All of the Bible has proven to be true, except what remains unfulfilled … or remains to be scientifically discovered or proven. As all that has already been fulfilled or discovered has proven to be 100% accurate, it takes only a small leap of faith to acknowledge that the rest of the Bible that science still argues with will also prove to be correct. That truism applies to science, thus also to the theory of evolution.

With respect to physical evolution, the Bible doesn’t mention any different species of humans, sub-humans, or any developmental, biological stages of mankind. As it happens, there simply isn’t any proof for the theory of evolution. It remains a religion. Nor is there any difference between ancient humanity and that of today. Man’s basic characteristics, both physical and temperamental, have not changed one iota.

With respect to humans, the Bible only makes one major racial distinction—that between Jew and Gentile. Even more importantly, the Bible makes one other distinction between humans—between the pagan and the righteous. It’s here that we see the real evidence for evolution, although a spiritual version—paganism.

That’s the launch point for our study. Virtually all anthropologists agree that today, the earth’s sphere is populated by the so-called modern man and woman. In contrast, Bible prophecy speaks of the Modern Pagan Man of the Endtimes. Today, he is the fittest creature found inhabiting and dominating the earth’s new economic sphere.

Finding Ancient Pagan Man

To discover the Modern Pagan Man, let’s first examine the character and behaviors of the ancient pagan. The Bible offers a detailed description. However, to get a balanced and accurate picture, we need to do a brief word study.

There is no specific word in the Bible for pagan. In fact, you will not even be able to find the word “pagan” in some Bible translations (for example, the KJV, ISV, ASV, and others). Why? Because it is a word meaning understood today that originated only later in New Testament times.

Today, we commonly take the word “pagan” to mean a heathen person who worships other gods or idols and is outside the Christian or Jewish faith. In Biblical times, a heathen was also a Gentile (though there were believers in God who were not Hebrew). Before Christ died for the sins of all and extended salvation to the Gentile, the Gentile and heathen were essentially one and the same. At the beginning of the New Testament era, most Jews still considered their newfound salvation through the Messiah as a progressive fulfillment of the existing Jewish faith (the religious world had not yet definably split into Jews and so-called Christians).

It took a little while before it was broadly recognized that there were Christian Gentiles who were neither heathen nor Jewish. Therefore, at the start of the Church Age, only one Greek word was still used to describe both Gentile and heathen: “ethnos.”

This Greek word “ethnos” appears 167 times in the New Testament. The point of this is that in our study of the “evolutionary” pagan, we will look only to those verses of the New Testament where the word “ethnos” is clearly in the context of the newer sense of the word—a heathen.

A study of the Bible reveals many common characteristics of the “pagan.” We will only review five of these. All of them are directly linked to the evolution of our materialistic Modern Pagan Man.

1. Self-Interest

“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (Matthew 5:46-47). In these verses, Jesus makes the point that the “pagan” person operates purely out of self-interest. Their actions are motivated by their own wants and pleasures: the personal pursuit of happiness and comfort. They only love those that love them, and revile those that likewise repudiate them.

Today, some 2,000 years later, this pagan characteristic of self-interest has greatly evolved and is now held up as the very force that is leading the world to betterment, continued progress and prosperity.

In fact, supposedly advanced economic theories hold this impulse of “self-interest” in high esteem, representing a rapid transition having taken place in basically less than a few hundred years. It is a foundational tenant of market-based capitalism, the term used for today’s type of commerce (which, by the way, actually has little to do with capitalism in its original sense).

The main result is that the entire world has become deeply commercialized. Increasingly today, the prime reason for existence is commerce itself.

What does the Bible say about the “self-interests” of the Modern Pagan Man? It provides a clear message for societies that choose to define their existence in purely pagan terms … in other words, societies that have given themselves over to the rule of economics and Mammon.

The examples of Tyre and Babylon are fitting ones. Neo-Babylon (in the era of Nebuchadnezzar) was all about business. According to studies, Babylonia was essentially a commercial civilization. Virtually all of the documents that have survived from this culture are business documents. Another prime example is the history of Tyre, the extreme commercialization of which the Bible itself provides clear documentation of.

The city of Jericho may be another and even earlier example. Probably the most ancient habitation in the world and one of the most prosperous, it was the city selected by God to be the first to be conquered by the Hebrews as they entered Canaan. In fact, this city was the only one that was miraculously destroyed and the only Canaan conquest that was completely annihilated—women, children, livestock and all. God wanted it completely expunged. Why?

Could it have reeked of generations of idolatrous commercialism? God didn’t want any of Jericho’s culture to rub off on Israel. Joshua even prophesied that whoever would attempt to resurrect this city of Jericho would suffer the loss of his first and second born (Joshua 6:26). Exactly as prophesied, this occurred six hundred years later during the reign of Omri, when Hiel of Bethel did so (1 Kings 16:34).

2. Worry About Material Things

Pagans are totally consumed with material things, according to Scripture. “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Matthew 6:31-32; cf. Luke 12:29-30). By this definition, then, it would be pagan to only preoccupy oneself with the pursuit of possessions and lifestyle.

Scripture refers here to only two items—food and clothing. In the society of that day, both things defined lifestyle as well as the necessities of life. This verse is therefore not just referring to mere subsistence. Clothing and food both have a necessary function. To attribute any other value to them is idolatrous and pagan.

Of course, in the modern age, lifestyle is defined by many more things than just food and clothes. To be sure, there are premium brands in clothing, top designer names, the latest accoutrements. The same is still true for some foods. The finest wines are sought; the food brands that are the most effectively advertised are the ones that people may strive to buy.

Mostly today, lifestyles are defined by other baubles such as expensive Swiss watches, luxury cars, the latest gadgets, spacious, palatial homes, and much else. To have them all is the epitome of the successful life, the trappings of elite existence. That’s the implicit goal and value of a society of pagans. “Running after these things” is today part of a highly sophisticated culture of branding, consumer surveys, advertising, and psychological research.

In this sense, there has been much change over the centuries and millennia. Here again, we see the evolution of the Modern Pagan Man. Viewing the massively endemic commercialization of America and other nations, it is hard to imagine how much more materialism could yet lie ahead.

In the next part, we review the remaining three characteristics of the Endtime Pagan Man.

***

Wilfred J. Hahn is a global economist/strategist. Formerly a top-ranked global analyst, research director for a major Wall Street investment bank, and head of Canada’s largest global investment operation, his writings focus on the endtime roles of money, economics and globalization. He has been quoted around the world and his writings reproduced in numerous other publications and languages. His 2002 book The Endtime Money Snare: How to live free accurately anticipated and prepared its readers for the Global Financial Crisis. A following book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving true riches in an age of deception and trouble, looks further into the prophetic future.

Do you have questions or other perspectives? You can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com.