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In his book, The Return of the Gods, author Jonathan Cahn acknowledges the reality of the existence of unseen supernatural dark powers that in the past have been worshipped as gods. The three god’s Cahn focuses on might sound familiar if you have read the Old Testament of the Bible: Baal, Molech, and Ishtar. Cahn’s thesis is that once Jesus came and accomplished His initial work on this earth the first time He was here, that these gods and those like them, were forced to retreat and go into hiding. Then, as our world has come to reject the God of the Christians over the past few decades, it left open the door for these unholy powers of darkness to come back in and take control of the culture. Cahn attempts to illustrate how this has proven to be true in regard to our modern culture: how the same gods of the ancient world are now manifesting themselves again in our world today. Cahn bases much of his theory on a parable Jesus once used regarding demonic spirits found in Matthew 12:43-45: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation." Cahn understands this scripture passage to be documentation of some of the mechanics of how the spirit world works: That if a dark power is cast out of someone or something, and having nothing taken the dark power’s place, that which it was cast out of is left empty. That then leaves the vacated space, be it a person, place, or thing, open for the dark spirit to return. However, when it returns it will bring others with it, making it more difficult, if not next to impossible in the future for those dark spirits to be cast out of what they have established themselves in. Although I am not sure Jesus was relaying a historically factual account of what occurred to an actual demon possessed man or woman, I do know Jesus never based His illustrative stories on fantasies. Rather, he based His instructional stories on things people commonly believed to be true. Things that were consistent with reality. In this way I agree with Cahn that although it may not have been the primary purpose of why Jesus relayed this story, it did document a principle of how the forces of evil work. Having myself studied the Bible purposefully trying to understand the unseen realm according to the Bible, I am completely convinced that there are literal forces of darkness in play in this world. Further, that there are “princes” that are in charge of regions of planet earth, and that they all rule under their king, Satan, the Devil, the Great Deceiver. Satan is in fact the current prince or “god” of this world. So again, I have no disagreement with Cahn in this regard. I believe a unquestionable case is made in the Bible that these dark forces influenced entire cultures in history, and they do so today. I also completely agree that evidence of their influence is seen increasingly every day here in the West. I also completely agree with Cahn regarding the influence that the first advent of the Messiah had on our world. With the coming of Jesus, came the coming of light to a spiritually utterly dark world. This spiritual light did in fact have the effect of sending the dark powers scampering for cover. Wherever the good news of Jesus was taken, the spiritual powers of darkness were exposed. The Western world was transformed. But this is where I must take a moment and make the observation that it was not the power of the institutional Church that made this difference. Oh, yes the Church was used to spread the gospel, but it is not the Church that made the difference. It was the gospel itself as revealed by the Holy Spirit to individuals. The manmade institutional Church is made up of traditions, religious practices, cultures, and doctrines, that are often times off base. For every positive thing you may credit to it, there are two evil things that you will try to forget about or at least justify. No, it was not the will and efforts of man that sent the dark powers running, it was the will of God and the efforts of His Holy Spirit. So, is it the failure of the Church now that has allowed the evil forces of yesteryear to again become successful, or is it the will of God? Whereas I think Cahn implies that it is the first, I argue for the latter. God is either setting the ground work for allowing another great civilization in world history to collapse as has happened many times before, or He is raising the curtain on the final act of this age. Either way, the powers of darkness are always willing to step in and play their part. I also differ with Cahn regarding his definition of what constitutes a “god.” He says, “One’s god is that which is one’s ultimate reality.” And, “The very act of creating an idol or a god is to forge out of nothing a new absolute.” Cahn appears to overcome his own statements by making the case in the rest of the book for three different gods which exist whether or not they are believed in or even recognized. They are real beings. Independent agents which have their own agendas and can affect the physical world. One can choose to believe in one or all of them. One can have a favorite god and still worship and believe in many others. You can ask a favor of the gods, and they may bring about that favor independent of anyone else’s actions. This is different than a god that only exists in one’s imagination. And it is also different than what many modern pastors say constitutes a god; anything we seem to value more than the authentic God of the Bible. Like money, or our family, or a really nice car. I can pray to a stack of cash, and it will just sit there. It has no will or agenda or even the ability to multiply itself on its own. This is difficult to illustrate, but it is this point that causes me difficulty with what Cahn is saying. He is implying that our American culture has come to worship these gods without even really realizing it or recognizing them as gods. In ancient times, to borrow a term from the law, people “knowingly and intentionally” worshipped Baal, Molech, and Ishtar by name. Today, according to Cahn, our Western Culture is unknowingly worshipping Baal, Molech, and Ishtar through the actions we are taking. As though we have been deceived into worshipping what we don’t even realize exists. In other words, Cahn says that although people may not ever admit to worshipping an ancient god of Mesopotamia, they unknowingly will worship them by supporting abortion or marching in a pride parade. Maybe Cahn’s point isn’t so much that our society has knowingly and intentionally surrendered to the ancient gods and embraced them, as much as those gods are in control of what is going on in the world without most being aware of it. If that is what Cahn is saying, I again agree with Him. I will however add that it is God whose will is temporarily allowing the gods to be in control to tell the story of redemption He has written. Towards the end of the book Cahn makes a powerful case illustrating the possibility that the ancient god known as Ishtar has taken control of much of our American culture today. Cahn provides specific events and dates that come together to make a compelling case. However, you can use the type of case he puts together to prove almost anything, by cherry picking details from history and making connections between those details while ignoring others which don’t agree with the case you are trying to make. At the very least, Cahn’s narrative is interesting and causes one to think. In the end, I believe the specific points Cahn is trying to make are possible but unprovable short of Jesus returning and telling us Cahn was right: that Ishtar, Molech, and Baal are again actively at work in our world. However, what I believe is completely true is that despite not knowing their particular names, real, dark, unseen, spiritual forces are at work in our world today, perhaps more than ever in this generation. They are playing out their parts in God’s Divine Drama. Whereas Cahn associates particular societal behaviors in our culture with particular deities, I would attribute what we are seeing today to common themes of evil which can be observed across the world and throughout time. In other words, what ever spirits may be doing their damage in America today, they at least have a lot in common with Baal, Molech, and Ishtar. If reading The Return of the Gods does nothing more than raise one’s awareness as to the reality of the unseen spirit world and the affect it can have on the physical world, it is a worthy read.