Haunted Cosmos - The Old gods are Dead (S7, E7)

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

In this episode of Haunted Cosmos, we’ll explore the downfall and desolation of pagan gods as Christ’s kingdom rises.From the fires of Moloch and the death of Pan to the silencing of Delphi, Julian the Apostate’s failed revival of paganism, and the conversion of Iceland. Throughout this episode, we trace the stories and legends that point to a single theme: the gods of the old world have been judged.(New shirts will be on the website soon!)Love Haunted Cosmos? Get access to our exclusive show, The Dusty Tome, early ad-free access to main episodes and monthly Livestreams, by becoming a patron of the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/HauntedCosmosThis episode is sponsored by: Indigo Sundries Soap Company - Go to http://indigosundriessoap.com and use code HAUNTEDCOSMOS for 10% off your whole order!Nutricel is making supplements featuring methylene blue that fuel your brain with all day energy. You can get 13% off using code NCP. Visit: nutricel.store/pages/ncpJake Muller Adventures is an immersive, mysterious, and engaging audio drama. Use code "HAUNTED" to claim 10% off all digital downloads. https://www.jakemulleradventures.com/haunted Talk to Josh at Volenté Creative to get help you with your branding and marketing: https://volentecreative.com/ncpRose Solutions provides custom website design, website hosting, and website security. Visit Cosmoswebsites.comGray Toad Tallow. Visit their website here and use COSMOS15 at checkout for 15% off your order. https://graytoadtallow.com/Stonecrop Wealth Advisors! Go to this link to check out their special offers to Haunted Cosmos listeners today. https://stonecropadvisors.com/hauntedcosmosBuy the Haunted Cosmos book: https://www.newchristendompress.com/cosmos PS: It's also available as an audiobook!Support the show

The history of the world is largely pagan. And we look back and think that those gods were never true, that the myths were just stories made up. And we think that because we don't see any of the old gods today. But what if that's not because they were made up? What if that's because they were killed by someone stronger? This episode is brought to you by Indigo Sundry Soap Company. Psalm 82 says this.

God has taken his place in the divine counsel. In the midst of the gods, he holds judgment. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless. Maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy. Deliver them from the hand of the wicked. They have neither knowledge nor understanding.

They walk about in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said you are gods, sons of the most high, all of you. Nevertheless, like men you shall die and fall like any prince. Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit. all the nations. Shadows dance on the slopes of the valley. The chanting, the horns, and the hysterics echo through the familiar pit outside the city walls. The people in the crowd, there must be a hundred men and women, turn their eyes to the stars. A young mother stands far in front of the

pack and marvels at the ugliness of it all. Where there had been a group of people and neighbors moments before, there was now nothing but a blob of faceless flesh, amorphous and groaning in the flickering firelight. And she knew this ugliness was nothing compared to the grotesque spirit behind it all. She turns to see the god, still and unchanging, gleaming bronze, seated above the fire, looking down upon her and the sun she clutches to her breast. His face is terrible. Molok. She knows his name well. And Gahanna is his home. The chanting rises again. It turns her attention away from the visage of cursed divinity. The people still stare up. into the night and she follows their gaze. There in the dim heavens where all is cold,

a fallen star twinkles and outshines the rest of the hosts. This, the people know, is in response to their praise. This, the people know, is a good sign. It will be a right sacrifice. This, the mother knows, is the end of her child, and it will be the end of herself. The priest, who stood beside the fire, steps down from his platform. His face is neither somber nor glad, painted upon him as pure solemnity, the sincere belief that what he is doing is what must be done. He stretches out his arms and gently waves his hands, prompting the woman to hand the baby over to him. She does so. What else could she do? She could rant and rave. She could be killed then and there, only to have her baby suffer the same fate to which it is now doomed. Or she could live the rest of her life wishing she would

die. She could spend the rest of her days hating herself for all of her sins. And this, this pit of hatred seems better to her because she doesn't know another way. The world erupts into a true cacophony. The sound of the people is inhuman. The base of the men unsettles the heart and the shrill laughter of the women is like arrows in the ear. The smell of smoke and burning feces, the smell of lust and the orgy, is an assault on the senses. The woman feels her stomach churn. The sand beneath her feet thins from the wind and she can feel the jagged imperfection of the rocks surrounding her. The woman hears something and sees her. The woman hears something and sees something. A voice from the fire? A star falling from the sky. She clutches her head and stomach

wincing with the pain. Tears issue from her eyes like a flood. Suddenly the priest's, having climbed back up the steps toward the fire and the god, stops. He turns to face the crowd and everything goes quiet. The mother's world settles back into focus. She looks up from the priest's shadow like a trapped animal and her eyes beg for mercy. But he does not so much as glance down at her. She is not his job, her child is. He holds the baby aloft for the mob. The silence that now permeates the air is its own kind of suffocation. The fire is struck by the high desert wind and a plume of sparks fly out from behind the priest and some mythic vision from hell. The God's hands, glowing red bronze perched over the flames, are open and waiting. The priest turns back. The mother quakes

and time stops for a moment. She wonders in this time where her husband is. And then she sees him in the crowd. He's proud of his firstborn son. The priest sets the baby into the arms of the God, and creation groans. And a mother's shriek rings in the ears of darkness. Man is not the only intelligent creature. There are also angels, devils, and demons. And just as man is active, so too are these other things.

They serve various functions, and we can be sure that we don't know all there is to know about them. But one thing we do know, as we read in Psalm 82, is that some of the them, the gods, judge over the peoples of the earth, and they do it wickedly. The pantheons are real. The myths remember something real. The gods really judge the peoples, and their vein is terrible. They unleash all their hatred. They make the world into a silent, barren, utterly dark, and despairing place. Or should I say they did? For God, the most high god, the god of gods, held judgment over them. He warned them, like men, you shall die. And what do we see now as we look out over the world? Do we see the overt and explicit power of paganism?

Do we see Zeus and Hera holding counsel with their children on Ida or Olympus? Do we see Odin riding his cavalry through the clouds? Do we see Jove, Saturn, ISIS, Ra, Baal, Moloch, or Ishtar anymore? What happened to these gods? Well, the true God made good on his warning. In Zechariah 1210, it says, And I will pour out on the house of David in the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a spirit of grace, and please for mercy.

so that when they look on me, on him who they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. Then a few verses later in chapter 13, it says, On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David in the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. And in Psalm 2 we read, I will tell of the decree, the Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage in the ends of the earth your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. And Psalm 110 says, The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Who is the one who Jerusalem pierced in Zechari 12? Who is the fountain opened to cleanse the people from sin in Zechariah 13? Who's the victor of Psalm 2? Who's the Lord of Psalm 110? It's Christ.

the son of God who went forth to war. Back in Zechariah 13, it says this, and on that day, declares the Lord of host, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land so that they shall be remembered no more. And as a call back to Psalm 82, the psalmist pleads, arise, O God, judge of the earth,

for you shall inherit all the nations. Christ walked out of his own tomb, and the idols were cut off. Christ walked out of his own tomb and asked the father for the nations, and the father said yes, and so he inherited them, and he judges them. He is the king now, the ruler. Thus, the pantheons are quiet because the pantheons are dead, and Christ killed them.

You don't have to take my word for it, though. You can hear it from the people who witnessed the beginning of this victory. The early church father Athanasius says, The Word of God shatters the dominion of demons and sets free the souls held captive by them. Augustine talks about the philosopher Porphyry, who, though opposed to Christianity, acknowledged its growing power in the inability of pagan rights to counter it.

Even Emperor Julian the Apostate's counselors told him about the defanged power of the fallen gods. Labanius wrote the following in a letter to the emperor. Everywhere, the temples are empty, the altars are neglected, the sacrifices have ceased. And I hope you see the force of these statements.

It's not just me. It's not just Christian writers claiming to have witnessed it. The pagans themselves, knew, and they still know now. Their gods are dead by Christ's hand. No scheme of the enemy was safe, no scheme of the enemy is safe. Even more than this, there were some among the pagans who may have seen this or something like it coming. In his famous fourth eclog, written around 40 BC, the Roman poet Virgil says, The last great age the Sibyl told has come. The new order of centuries is born. The Virgin now returns in the reign of Saturn. The new generation come down from

heaven. Look with favor upon this child. This child by whom the age of iron gives way to the golden age. Commencement of the glory, freedom from earth's bondage to its own perpetual fear. Our crimes are going to be erased at last. This child will share in the life of the gods and he will see and be seen in the company of heroes, and he will be the ruler of a world made peaceful by the merits of his father. Christians throughout church history have been convinced that these lines are an example of accidental prophecies on the part of the Gentile. Of course, Virgil thought that he was writing about Augustus Caesar. It's only in retrospect that we see the full providential import of his verse. And this raises an important question.

if Virgil did it by accident, did any of the pagan prophets ever talk about the coming of Christ on purpose? Long ago, before a man kept his own record of time, a being raced through the wilds of Arcadia on cloven hooves and the legs of a goat, despite having the trunk and face of a man. How he came to be is unknown, not even the other gods fully knew his theogony, but he was. As men came to know him, they came to love him. They loved his music. his eroticism, his liberty, and his zeal for life. They called him Pan, and he was a most ancient deity in the West. His was a vitality that men were certain could never come to an end. The prow of the ship pushed strongly through the Ionian's light chop with ease.

Birds called through the Colbott skies as they soared between pure white clouds. The ropes stretched like tendons on a runner hitting his stride. And the stompest of men echoed through the deckplanks, making the whole vessel feel alive. The aquamarine spray was cooling whenever the prow slapped a waves crest just so. The men closest to the bow closed to their eyes to feel that mist on the wind.

Even the captain himself, Thames, could not recall a finer day for seafaring. His mission was for Italy, a journey that must have seemed dull to the veteran captain. But he was a youth again that day, a youth once more enchanted by the call of the water. He stood at the helm,

barking orders to his men with a good-natured sternness of a father who cares deeply for what he's doing, and the men knew his curses were born of love and joviality. He was a sailor's sailor. They all acquiesced to his will with soft smiles, evident behind their labored breath, a perfect day. Every sense in Thamas was heightened with the flush of satisfaction. Then, crossing between Ithaca and Lefkata, he heard the first faint traces of some new sound riding on the wind. At first he thought it was the echo of men working on one side of the straight, but it was too subtle for that. It was a whisper if it was anything.

It was certainly no shout. He listened closely, straining to filter it through the merry cries of the men on his boat. Bammas. Bamas. It was discernible, a voice coming from nowhere and everywhere. It was on the waves and the wind. It was in the air around the ship. It was leaking out of the ship itself. It was within him and without. And the voice just kept saying his name. The captain, who'd been thinking himself crazy, was now under a kind of spell. He cared for nothing other than the voice to know its origin and purpose, so forfeiting the dignity he held with his men, he cried out, I'm here. What do you want? And with a tone of total serenity, the voice answered. To the captain's surprise and comfort, the crew heard this answer, ringing through the ether.

But any awe they or the captain may have enjoyed was quelled by the dread of the message. could they obey? Do they really do what was commanded of them? And on what authority? This voice's authority? But whose was it? They all cried out, asking for clearer direction, but the voice was done. They would have to figure this out on their own, and they said about doing just that. They couldn't ignore it. Of that everyone was agreed. It was decided, therefore, foremost by the captain, that should they catch sight of a certain aisle and find the water's calm, they would obey. They didn't have much further to go, and so they fell back into the rhythms they knew, but the trip was somber and uncertain now.

There was no more singing, ribbing, or laughing. The captain's good countenance was gone. The ship was now sailing through a storm. Not a storm of wind and rain and rogue waves, but just one of doubt. It was a storm of the mind and the heart. A storm like those endured by the old heroes and meshed in the affairs of the gods.

When they reached the patch of sea opposite the location given by the voice, the waters were not merely calm, almost frozen in place. There was no breath of wind nor a single ripple in the water. Everything was stuck, utterly still, like it was lulled into a deep sleep. The crew looked to the captain. He was resolute in his word and was willing to obey the voice. So he walked slowly to the rearmost decking of the stern, climbed onto the rail, and supporting himself on the rigging, cupped his mouth with his free hand and declared to the nothingness, the great pan is dead.

Before he'd finished speaking, sounds of weeping and lamentation erupted from all around. The visible scene did not change at all. The world still slept under the pink light of a setting sun, but the quiet was nowhere to be found anymore. Invisible voices shouted their sorrows like rushing wind everywhere. The great pan was dead, and his land grieved his loss. Eventually, this story, which was immortalized by the historian Plutarch, reached the ears of the emperor. For this took place during Rome's governance of the world. That emperor fell to studying everything he could about Pan and an attempt to understand the import of the event. He was deeply

unsettled by it, partly because this was not the first omen of great change that he'd heard. For you see, this emperor's name was Tiberius. He reigned from AD 14 to 37. And just a few years before he heard this story, he'd heard tell of a prophet and healer who was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem, after which hundreds of people said that he'd risen from the grave. Why is it that most soaps and cleaning products ironically don't contain clean ingredients? Indigo Sundry's soap company is helping families stay clean and healthy by starting with the most important step in cleanliness. Soap. Their cold-pressed soap bars, including clay bars and tallobars, are made from all natural ingredients that don't have any harmful chemicals. And

they smell great. Visit Indigosundrysoap.com and order today. And hey, subscribe for regular shipments and get 10% off every time. Does your outdated website give your visitors sleep paralysis? What? Is that a thing? Are you haunted by that logo your uncle's pet werewolf made? Brian, what are you talking about? If you're ready to level up your brand and website, you need to talk to Josh at Valenti Creative. What's up, guys?

Josh, my guy! What the heck? How did you just appear? Head to valentecreative.com slash NCP to talk with Josh about your. your brand and website. Oh, oh, this is an ad that we're doing right now? Wait, wait, how did he teleport into this room? Ben, I wish I could tell you, but this is an ad. You have to go to valentecuretive.com slash NCP and reach out today. Ben, have you heard of the Jake Muller Adventures? What's that? A Christian audio drama. Zombies, vampires, global conspiracies, and faith at the center. I was up all

night on the edge of my seat. Is it fully immersive, sound effects, and cast and everything? Yes, full cast, cinematic sound, it's like you can hear the danger coming. Ooh, so kind of similar to Hanna Cosmos, but no, your mom jokes and more drama? No mom jokes yet. But yeah, tons of drama. So it's kind of like your mom then? Not quite. Check it out at jakemulleradventures.com slash haunted for 10% off. How many demons, ghosts, or vampires are lurking in your investment portfolio? If you're invested in the S&P 500, it's probably more than you think. Since it's full of companies that actively oppose your faith,

StoneCrop Wealth Advisors is here to help. Their faith-based portfolios redirect your hard-earned dollars away from destructive agendas and into companies making a positive impact on society. Get the demons out of your portfolio and invest in God's kingdom while you grow your wealth. Contact StoneCrop Wealth Advisors today by visiting Stonecropadvisors.com

slash Haunted Cosmos. Investment advisory services offered through StoneCrop Wealth Advisors, LEC, are registered investment advice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Well, welcome back to this episode of Haunted Cosmos, and we have a message for all of the demons, false gods, and hysterical women out there. Hide.

Hide. Had to bring them in, huh? Welcome back, dude. How you doing? Dude, I'm doing so good. I am... Are you outpped up or whatever that you're on? I just took an out.

Oh, dude, he's outed up. I'm taking out some sleeping in the car. At the table. No, man, I'm taking care of business. Yeah, you are. Every day. Dude, you are wearing that shirt so well, so well that you've worn in the last three episodes. I was telling Brian this morning that I have not done this on purpose, but like every time we record now, I wear this shirt.

Well, when you look like a snack and a shirt. And you do. It's a good shirt. And I got to keep going. Speaking of shirts and looking really good. Evan Brand. And I needed it too. I needed it.

No, guys, we've got. we've got some announcements. And the first one is that we have a message for drop shipping everywhere. Also high. You're on notice. Because we have brought all of our t-shirt and apparel stuff local and in our warehouse. And we touch every single one. Ben personally rubs each shirt we sell on his face.

Okay, that's not true. But we are, we're upping our merch game. We're up in our apparel game. We're up in our t-shirt game. And this is one of our first designs. I'm wearing it. And the way that we're doing that is by taking all of the current designs away and giving you just one. And if you're wearing one, be embarrassed and get a better one.

Which is now available at the honocosmos.com. Yeah. So this is the front little hono cosmos, subtle. Like I'm really smart, handsome, attractive. That's what the front says. The back says, the world is not just stuff. Move my mic. Move my mic.

Show the people. Oh, yeah. Oh, oh. Oh yeah. Right there. It's a sick design. Why didn't I just go the other way? What's that?

Oh, I hear a stampede approach. Get your shirt before our stock gone. How many do we haven't stopped? That was not even hinted. How many do we haven't stopped? It's a limited number. Yeah, so it's a limited number because we just, as you hear this, the NCP annual conference is done.

Like, it's over. Is it bad to say how many? We don't actually know because it's going to depend on how many are left. That's true. But it's limited. It may actually, we may have none available. It's embarrassing is that. No, we will have some.

some. We'll make sure we have some for you guys. Go check it out. And we're going to be dropping merch like this. Probably like there's another color way of this shirt. I'm not going to lie. It's not here yet. But you're going to want the full collection. I think it's better. I think it's even as cool, which is hard to do. When you see this on me right now, you're like, how could that be possible? Do you look so cool? Like Steve McQueen, standing next to his car, smoking a cigarette, and then you. Where's my cigarettes? Marlon Brando and a streetcar named Desire smoking a cigarette and then you. Not Marlon Brando's character.

I've never seen the movie, but I've read the Wikipedia article. Kids who are listening to this right now, you need to know two things. Don't smoke cigarettes, but you do look cooler when you do. And let's just admit it. No, look. Let's just say there are some things you shouldn't do that would look cool to do. Don't smoke cigarettes as a kid. Or probably an adult regularly at least.

But when you're 18, don't. All bets are off. Also don't. Hey, guys, welcome back to this episode of Honest Cosmos. Did we, did we, Jamie, did we, is that everything I was supposed to talk about? You know what else? I want to talk about Patreon. Is awesome.

I want to talk about Patreon. And the thing that I want to talk about Patreon is what I'm about to say about Patreon. And that is what I'm about to say, which is, colon, we have a Patreon page. Just cut out as a clip, which is colon, and then just end it. I want that on Instagram by day's end. Go ahead. Yeah. All right.

colon is in like the punctuation. And it just cuts to it, a picture of Colin Powell and then a colon. A colon. Okay. Go ahead. The thing that I want to say is what I'm about to say. So we have a lot of great offerings on our Patreon. Ah, yeah.

We start off. We do. We start off banging. Dusty Tom. Okay. We do that. It's so good. Every week, except for one week each month, we do a live stream for the patrons.

Which is even better because I'm involved. And both of those things are available for all tiers. Yeah. Then you get up into the top two tiers, all right? And stuff really starts to cook. Oh, it starts popping off. First off, main show, ad free early access. Boom.

Boom. Epic. Bam. Secondly. Okay. What we're going to do is a little bit of this, a little bit of that. A new show that Brian and I are working on cooking up right now. Oh, yeah.

It's going to be amazing. Oh, we're cooking it. We're calling it. We're calling it Campfire Story Swap. Something like that. And it's going to be epic. Only available to patrons. Hey, upper tiers when they get this, this is going to be them.

Oh, yeah. Zoom in on my bicep. They're going to be flexing on the lower tiers. Only available to upper tier patronage too. I forgot about that. It's super exclusive. It's going to be awesome. I'm excited to share it with you guys.

And we're not going to be putting that on YouTube or any. It's just going to be there. It's only ever going to be there. We are also going to do some special work with our graveyard shifts in between seasons. Oh, yeah. Well, we're actually going to reserve. What is it? Two of those graveyards episodes.

Just for patrons. Yeah. So patrons are going to be the only ones that ever see. see those things. Because we're sick of patrons not being able to feel as superior to all other people as they deserve to feel. I'll tell you what I'm sick of. Yeah, what are you sick of? People not being patrons of the show. You know what really grinds my gears, Ben? At the end of the day. Like when you really think about it, freeloaders. Like when you really think about it, though, no, it breaks my heart. Yeah. There are people out there that don't believe in us.

Speedy, they don't believe in us. Nah, that breaks my heart, dude. Guys, hey, welcome back. Welcome to this episode about how awesome Christ is. It is true, actually. That is true. We should hold off our good segment about the review until after the first story. You think? Because I think we've bantered a lot right now.

That's a good point. I feel like we're about to hit some fatigue. You know what I'm saying? Let's get into some content. Yeah. Oh, your joke was for the review. Oh, it's going to be related. Well, I'll feel the right opportunity.

Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Okay, so today. I've got a racial joke to keep the listeners honest at some point in this episode. It's going to jump out and bite you. You're not going to be ready for it. It's going to be like. Yeah, exactly like that. Okay, so this episode, this is the season finale. Yeah. Of season seven of Hanna Cosmos, which means it's episode seven of season seven. Seven, seven. And so what better opportunity to talk about Christus Victor, just the overwhelming triumph of Christ over all of the gods over the seen and unseen world. The world belongs to him.

He judges it with a rod of iron. Boom. Won't he do it? Christ is just constantly frame-mogging all of the demons. He is absolutely frame-mogging them. And it's amazing. All right. It's right there in the Bible.

That is literally all this episode is about. That's it. Now, there's a lot of stories that we could have done. There's only a limited amount of space in one episode. So this episode will be a good opportunity for a little emergency story mode if it comes up. But before we do that, I actually want. to touch on maybe a point of semantics. Okay. Yeah.

And I thought, you know, who better to ask this question than Brian's semantics Sovay, right? Wow. Yeah. And that question is the, and that question that I'm about to ask is this question that I'm about to ask. I'm heard happily. And this is my question.

I love how a lot of your bits are actually just characters from Parks and Rec. Yeah. Historically speaking. Like my whole, my whole life bit is Tom Averford and Andy Dwyer. It's Andy Dwyer. together. But it's like a suave mixture of the two. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Best parts of both. Anyway. You're Indian. Oh. Oh. Oh. You'll give me a butter chicken. Okay, keep going.

All right. Yeah. Christ. Triumphing over the gods. Now, one of the things that we commonly say is like, oh, Christ killed the gods. Yeah. What I want to ask you is, what do we mean by that? Do we mean that they are literally dead or do we mean some something else?

That's a great question. And the answer is that. it depends what you mean. Because when a person dies, their body dies. I'm asking you what I think. And their spirit goes to be with the Lord. So they go to a place, which is a waiting place before the eternal state,

post resurrection where the body's raised, glorified change, see 1st Corinthians 15, in my published work preaching through 1st Corinthians 15. And there is something somewhat similar that happens, I believe, with the spiritual beings who have historically ruled over, the pagan nations and led them in deceptions and demanded worship and all sorts of other evil

sorts of things they've been up to. And that is that many of them have been bound and cast down into the pit. Yes. Right? We see this in Jude. I fell into the pit. You fell into the pit. You fell in the pit. And you're 10,000 candles in the wind. Take a run and leap and learn to fly. Learn to fly. Anyway. No, I see, so there's definitely a category of that where they are, and in that it's a similar, I say similar because it's a waiting place of the eternal state. Yeah.

When the grave will be cast and when shield will be cast into hell into the lake of fire forever. Yeah, you see that in Revelation 20. You also see it alluded to in the sixth verse of Jude, where the author of Jude is talking about how the angels who weren't content with their proper dwelling, they abandoned that dwelling, and now they're held in chains. Eternal chains of gloomy darkness. Eternal chains of gloomy darkness

until the great judgment of the last day, where they presumably will also be cast into the final hell. Now I hope, and hopefully that makes sense. Like, Christ killed the gods. What I mean when I say that is like Christ judged the gods, just like he said he was going to do. In Psalm 82. And the way that that judgment works out

is that we believe as post-millennial Christians, which is just an eschatological view of when Christ returns versus when his reign is over the earth. And so we believe that he's raining over the earth actively right now that the world is we should expect it to become more and more Christian. We should expect the gospel to be successful. And part of why we should expect that is because he has judged the false gods. And so the nations are no longer deceived

because those gods are held in eternal chains of gloomy darkness in the pit. Have we talked about the verse, the binding of the strong man? I don't want to pull a nun. No, no, no. I almost brought it in, but I didn't. So I actually was wanting to bring it up at some point in the episode. So let's bring it up now. Yeah, we cite it in one of the sections.

I can't remember if it's the cold open or the second story. So I thought about bringing it into the episode, and then I did. And then I did that. Let me just work through that little bit. Because there's a connection between something that the Lord Jesus says in the Gospels and then something that we see in the book of Revelation. And it has to do with the binding of the strong man. The Lord uses this metaphor of basically going in and plundering a house. It's in Matthew 12.

And it's also in John, I believe. Yeah. Well, no. It's in Luke. And John is related, but he says, now is the ruler of this world judged. Now is he cast out. And in that context, this is in the last 24 hours prior to the crucifixion, the Lord is referring not to some, you know, way, future event when Satan will be judged and cast out, but the cross. Yeah. Which when we connect that with Colossians, chapter two, we see that it is through the work of the cross that God the father puts all uses the son to put Satan and his minions to open shame.

triumphing over them in him in Christ. And this relates to my view, and I think our shared view, that on the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ does several things through his death, burial, and resurrection. He crushes the head of the serpent, deals him an ultimately mortal blow. He binds him, and he casts him out. And he binds him specifically, as Revelation teaches us, with respect to his ability to deceive the nations,

to hold them under his sway any longer. So how can Satan be judged and also wandering the earth like a roaring lions, seeking to devour, how can he be dealt a mortal blow but still active in the world and needing to be resisted? All those things are true. And it's because we're speaking about some specific work that the Lord is doing that begins at his crucifixion and then unfolds progressively through history until his final defeat at the great coming of the Lord,

which is that he has. bound him. He is plundering his household, which is the world seated to him through the work of Adam. Because Psalm 2, he inherited the nations. Psalm 2 and Psalm 82. He inherited the nations. And so all the world belongs to him. So I think you were touching on this. You may be wondering if you're listening or watching, okay, you're saying Christ bound the strong man, but we still see demonic activity. We talk our whole show is that, right? Looking at the unseen world and forces of darkness. So how do we reconcile the two? Well, in the same way that Christ ultimately defeated death. He felt death the death blow on the cross, but we still die. It is a working out of the

victory. And so the strong man was bound. The nations will no longer be deceived, but we also are seeing through history the progressive outworking of that like ultimate victory that Christ won. So in the same way that Christ accomplished our salvation, on the cross? The salvation of all the saints was accomplished on the cross. But the Holy Spirit works out and applies that salvation in time in history with individual souls. Christ accomplished his great victory over Satan on the cross. But throughout the rest of history, we see that

victory applied. He took away his power of being Satan, which means accuser. He took away his power of accusation by defeating sin. Psalm 2 actually, particularly Psalm 2, as it is explained and commented upon by the divinely inspired, inerrant commentary of the New Testament teaches us all of this. Yeah. Because we see in that Psalm, you know, basically, as for, you know, today I have begun you.

What is that about? It's actually not about the incarnation of Christ, but we learn in the book of Acts, book of Hebrews, at several places in the New Testament, that that beginning is actually Christ's resurrection from the Jesus. dead. The first fruits of the resurrection. Right after that in the Psalm, what happens? Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage or an inheritance. And you will judge them with a rod of iron. And we see in Peter's sermon in Pentecost referencing Psalm 2, but especially Psalm 110, where it says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

And Peter says, and now that's happening. Yeah. And then first screen is 15. Right. Christ is now there. seated at the right hand of the father. The world is his, and he is making his enemies his footstool. This also doesn't ignore, just sorry, as a technical point. This also doesn't ignore the truth that we read in Revelation 20, where it seems to pretty clearly imply that there will be a time before the very end where Satan has given leave once again to deceive the nations. And that does come right before Christ ultimately judges on the final day.

but let's not ignore the fact, though, that that comes at the end of the gospel being very successful and it's outworking in history in the world. And before Christ defeats all of his enemies, I'm sorry, let me put it a different way. In 1st Corinthians 15, Paul says this. He's citing again from Psalm 110.1, and he makes it clear that the last enemy to be defeated is death.

Yeah. So Psalm 110, the most commonly cited passage from the Old Testament in the New Testament, does say that the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make the nations your footstool for your feet, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. And then Paul says, and the last enemy to be defeated is death. So what is the story of history from the coming of Christ onward, and especially the resurrection of Christ? It's the story of God putting all of the enemies of Christ under the feet of Christ until the very last enemy, which will be defeated, which is death, at the resurrection, at the final judgment day and resurrection.

So we should not be surprised, and this is the thesis of a whole episode, if we were to look at history following the resurrection of Christ, if what we just said is true, and if it's true that before the coming of Christ, the nations were under the sway of demonic fallen spiritual beings and under the deception of them, ultimately Satan, but especially his underlings and demonic and spiritual beings,

what we think you could call the gods, the way that scripture does in Psalm 82 and elsewhere, if before Christ's coming, the nations were under this way of Christ, and then if it's true that the history is the outworking after the resurrection of his victory, expanding across the world, then we should see the power,

the influence of those gods, waning. Waning. Yeah. Being broken and waning. And we should see them. I don't know. Maybe we could say being put to open shame. Yeah.

And one of the points in support of that thesis is that not only do we have a hermeneutic that we can look at and see this in scripture, I believe clearly taught. But you also see not only Christians, but even pagan writers, maybe not diagnosing why this is happening. but noticing nonetheless that this is happening. I think maybe that's a good segue into the first story. Yeah, dude, let's do it. Let's go. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub,

by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. But if it is by the spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Matthew 12, 17 to 30. In primordial time, it is said that Zeus desired to find the center of the earth. He summoned two of the world's swiftest eagles and sent them flying in opposite directions around all the lands and back to him. The eagles, flying at the same pace, crossed paths in the clear skies above Mount Parnassus. That mountain Zeus determined was the navel of the world, the wellspring of Gaya's womb. And so he called the place womb, which in ancient Greek was Delphi. As a monument by which mankind might remember the holiness of that mountain slope, he placed there the stone that his mother, Rea, gave to Kronos in order to save the life of her son.

Thus myth remembers Delphi as a powerful and thin place, a place cherished by the gods where their voices might be heard by. the ears of men. Eventually, as the mouthpiece of the gods, Apollo took up residence in spirit within the heart of the mountain. His chosen priestess, the Pythia, uttered his prophecies for any faithful supplicant, willing to make the pilgrimage into his halls. The temple wrought in his name became famous the world over for its power and divine wisdom. Kings, generals, philosophers, and heroes all shifted the tectonics of history based on the words that. they received from the Oracle of Delphi.

By the time he received the mysteries of Apollo, Plutarch was already saddened by the steady decline of Hellenistic glory. When he received his position as one of the sanctuary priests at Delphi in AD 95, that sadness only deepened. For nearly 100 years, the roads leading to the Oracle had grown less and less traveled. Emperors and other nobles still came, but not as often as before. and they left less satisfied with the Pythian prophecy, if they received a prophecy at all. As a Platonist, he was dedicated to the revival of proper worship for the Pantheon,

but his discouragement with the state of affairs on Parnassus, Olympus, and Helicon was known and shared by all. Looking out over the Gulf of Corinth, he wondered how far the pagan world had fallen from glory. He wondered how much farther it might yet fall. But then again, the air on the mountain's shoulder possessed the same freshness it always had. The mountain itself, an image of immutability, still stood. It had neither changed nor moved. It simply kept looking down on the temple and the rites and the sacrifices. He wondered whether it was happy with where things were going or whether it too was sad.

As he thought on these things, he looked toward the winding path leading up to the shrine from the valley below. and spotted a retinue in the distance. The glistening of armor in the sun, the clanking of iron echoing up through the corridors, the knocking of hooves on the stone steps, the colorful plumes atop bronze helmets. Someone important was coming to them. The oracles were not yet dead, after all.

Now, after some time, the unknown nobleman entered the temple court and removed his helmet. High above, the sky was a homogenous gray, ensuring the mountain remained wet from the morning showers. The dampness made the marble appear rich and feel smooth and cold to the touch. Plutarch studied the man as he rubbed the letters engraved in the portico. Three phrases carved perhaps by Apollo himself, Know thyself, nothing to excess, and surety brings ruin.

The great ruler seemed to linger on the final axiom longer than the others. With a contemplative sigh, he requested an audience, before the priestess. It was granted, and the priests began the cleansing ritual for themselves and the pithia. Veiled in purple, Plutarch and his colleague led the pithia down a stone walkway to the sacred Castalian spring. There, he chanted the cleansing verse over the woman before she bathed in the fountain's waters. Afterward, she emerged from the bath and drank from the pure water of a stream flowing nearer to the temple. She removed the veil and robe, and now dressed in plain white, asked the nobleman for his sacrificial offering.

An attendant brought forth the goat. The pithia held the animal before the temple and sprinkled it with water, which it promptly shook off, a good omen. Plutarch and the other priest therefore hoisted the goat onto the altar. In a single fluid motion, the pithia drew the dagger from her bosom and plunged it through the goat's screaming throat.

Then Plutarch tore the beast's chest open so that the priestess could examine the entrails. There was a problem. The liver was diseased, a bad omen, and yet Delphi needed the goodwill of the wealthy. The Pythia, much to Plutarch's astonishment, chose to continue with the oracular rites despite the gods telling her no. She burned the sacrifice, and the smoke rose and blended into the clouds above. Then the temple doors were opened. She ascended to her station and took hold of her fresh laurel leaves. bending forward upon her stool, she gazed into the bowl of Cosodas water, wherein she could discern the message of her god.

Lutarch watched, he waited. Something felt different about this right. A hint of unsettled nerves made his heart beat fast enough for him to notice. The woman began to shake. Her face contorted, and spittle fell from her mouth as though she were in pain. She tried to tear her head away from the water. Her hair flew across her face, but she could not look anywhere else.

Her eyes widened. Her mouth opened in a primal scream of fear. Finally, she was released. She flew from the stool and landed at the feet of the priests, completely exhausted. She could hardly breathe. They sat her upright and gave her water, but she still couldn't speak until evening.

When evening finally came, the oracle was given to the patiently waiting supplicant. He was to give to the forgotten temples, including Delphi, and see to it that the old gods received the worship they were due. The man departed, obeyed, and was content with what he had received. Plutarch, however, was filled with even greater uncertainty. Why had it happened that way? Why had the Pythia continued with the right she knew was not favored? Why had she returned with that message?

Those questions pressed upon him all the more when three days later the Pithia was found dead in her chamber. Plutarch never forgot this uncanny event, nor did others who followed after him. The world seemed to have left Delphi behind. The years waxed into greater and greater quiet on the mountain. The world below teamed with life and more abundance, suffering the cycles of time with grace. But Parnassus and the columns in the springs at Delphi were only more weathered and more neglected. For two centuries, the doubt of Plutarch was made more manifest in the temple. Then in 80-360, the new emperor Julian climbed the worn steps up to Delphi.

He wished to refill its emptiness, to retread those overgrown paths. He wished to undo the influence of the Christians and to revive the paganism that to him had made Rome truly wonderful and favored. Thus he inquired of the Pythia, and for the last time she gave the words of Apollo. Tell the king, the fair-wrought hall has fallen. Paolo has no dwelling now, no prophetic laurel, no speaking spring. The water that once spoke is silent. Hey Ben, I just read that our great-grandparents probably experimented with butter on their dry skin as a moisturizer.

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Does your brain feel foggy all the time? It's been foggier than an elevation worship service. Mine too. Maybe it's the Faye. Maybe we got abducted by aliens. Or maybe we just need some methylene blue. Well, that's an easy fix. NutriCel makes the best methylene blue supplement around, giving us long-lasting energy that will aid us in all of our conspiratorial research. That is exactly what we need.

And if you're listening, you can get your methylene blue at NutriCel.com slash NCP and get 13% off using code. NCP. So basically Plutarch said it best. Plutarch's like, I don't know what to tell you, man. Oracle at Delphi is lagging. Delphi, more like

Del bye. Because I'm about to bust a cap in those gods. Yeah, dude. That was unscripted. I want you to know that. Hey, before we get into... That was off the dome. Before we get in... Let's hear the review. Before we get into some more very helpful, I think,

just really important. Doctrine. Right. Let's talk about the best reviews that we have recently received. Because there was such a good one this time around. There's two. In a new bit that we're doing here on Hanna Cosmos, best review. Don't try to get in it by leaving us one star reviews.

We'll know. Yeah. Also, you're on notice. It is one of the best ways wherein we could personally sabotage our own show. True. If we make it a new joke that people that love us give us one star reviews. Don't do it.

I can't emphasize enough. It actually would harm us deeply if you did that. Okay. So don't do that. But here's a one star review. Yeah. This is someone, and it says, Ben Garrett is everything wrong with the current state of religion in the U.S.

He's a bigot. I feel like you're not saying it the way that they would. He's a bigot. And it encourages people to hate marginalized groups, including migrants, LGBT. I don't know why I emphasize that. LGBTQ plus individuals, women and minorities, claiming Jesus is the least honest thing he possibly could do.

I don't actually hate any of those people. No, I want good for them. I mean, I really hate sin. Yeah. And the thing is like, okay, women, I don't know why women got thrown in there. Yeah, come on. We never said a crossword about women. Never once in this whole, in this whole past five minutes.

Yeah, and migrants just migrate back home and we're all cool. It's cool. They made themselves a marginalized group by breaking the law. And migraine to a place where they're a smaller. I'm assuming. I'm assuming they're illegal. I'm assuming they're illegal. That's true.

LGBTQ plus also made themselves a marginalized group by breaking the law of God. Look, yeah, that's. true. In honor of them all needing to go back, can I tell a joke just to keep the listeners honest? Yeah, I don't know what that means, but yeah. Yeah, just to keep them honest. I've been on the edge of my seat. Keep them honest. So a Japanese boy turned and said, dad, I should probably do it, justice. Oh, dad, they say that all Asian look the same. Is this true? And the man And turned to him and said, I'm your neighbor. What?

Come on. That was so good. I saw it. Come on, Evan. What am I missing? He turned him and said, dad, do all Asians look the same? Is that true? And the guy said, I'm your neighbor.

I don't get it. I'm not your dad. Oh, because he's in Asia. Because he looks, they all look. He can't even tell him apart. That's really good. That's so good. That was so good.

Edit that. That was hilarious. Add uproarious laughter after the punch. because Ben really has never let me down more than he just. I'm so sorry. So I even promise you that I would laugh no matter what earlier. And I forgot about that. I thought that was gold. Okay. Dang. Hey. Okay. We got another review. Do we really? This is the dumbest type of review. If I remember. Three stars. If you're out there listening like, do be better. Please improve. This is actually, it made me laugh, though. It's so funny. I bet you I can guess. A baby boomer's hands. I was going to say,

I can guess the age range of the person that wrote this review. Okay, title, it's three stars. Title, fun show, but downloading issues. That pretty much tells you all we need to know. The show is fun to listen to and learn from. Only issue I run into is an ability to download with the VPN running. Works fine if I turn it off. I live in the U.S. and set VPN to stateside locations.

This is the only podcast I have this problem with. And you think we are in control of this? I can't help you. Of your technical issues? I can't help you, Guy. First of all, only guys use VPNs. So, Guy, I can't help you. And if you're a woman out there and you're like, I use the VPN.

Stop. Hey, hey, it's like all, like average woman's five foot three. And if you say, I'm a woman, I'm five foot six. It's the Naxalt fallacy, not all extra like that. You just congratulations you played yourself. Yeah, anyway. So that was the review segment of the show. Now, I would actually like to get into some more.

Talk about something meaningful. Yeah, kind of like emergency story mode stuff. Oh, let's hear it. Okay, so I have one, and then I'm going to pass it over to you for like the most Kings Hall, low-hanging fruit, New Christenum Press story that we have. Okay. But the one that I have is I can't remember the guy's name, okay, because I just thought of the story right now. But he was one of, I think it was St. Francis, actually. I'm pretty sure this was St. Francis.

And where he was a missionary at first, it was like somewhere in France or Germany. And he would, there was a temple on top of this mess. mountain and the people would all go up and they would worship this false god there. And it was still happening when he was like at his heyday of mission work. And he was like, well, I'm going to go throw down that God. Yeah. And so he goes up into the temple during their worship and he basically pulls in Elijah. If I'm remembering right, he basically pulls in Elijah.

He's like, I challenge your God to a duel more or less. Let's go. And he is asking the people, what is the thing that I just, if I did this, I would be struck down. And the people tell him. And then he's like, okay, so if I do it and I don't get struck down, will you repent? And the people are kind of like, well, sure, I guess. I mean, I guess.

So he does it. And then guess what happens? Lightning falls from heaven, strikes down the idol, and the idol flies down the mountain. Let's go. Doesn't that go so hard. That goes so hard. Now, I'm getting a lot of the details wrong because I'm thinking about this right off the dome. It doesn't matter, though.

Because it was emergency story mode. But at the end of the day. Dude, yeah. Like when you really think about it? I knew it. If he says at the end of the day, it's going to be followed by when you really think about it, though. All right. So can you tell the people about St. Boniface?

I know. I knew it was coming. Yeah. It was coming. St. Boniface, as many of you know, he was a missionary to the Germanic pagans. And he went there with a cadre of his fellow missionaries and priests. and they went to evangelize the Germanic peoples who worshipped all sorts of pagan gods.

One of them being Donner or in a different language, Thor, but it was Donner. And this people, they had a sacred grove, which is a very ancient and common pagan practice where they would have a grove of trees or like a tree that was dedicated to the God and the place where they would meet with the God and offer sacrifices to the God.

It's why in the Old Testament side note. The prophets often say Israel went to their high places in green groves. This is the same thing. They worship the demon gods at these green groves. So Boniface shows up and he's trying to convert the pagans. And he basically says, well, I'm going to cut down your oak tree. And they're like, if you do that, Thor will kill you.

Donner will, it'll be on site for you. And Boniface says, hold my wimple. actually that's what women wore. He says, hold my cassock. What's a wimple? It's like something that the virgins would wear, I believe. Or no, a married woman would wear a wimple. Okay.

But not an unmarried woman. Okay. Anyway, I meant cassock. And he took an axe and he cut down Donner's Oak. And not only did he not die, but they all converted it. And then he built a church out of the wood, which is so metal. There are multiple accounts. Some of them say that a wind came,

started to chop it down. And then God basically was like, don't worry. I don't want you breaking a sweat, Boniface. I've got you. And knocked it over some wind. But they all converted. Very, very, very famous story. And also, if I remember, they like used the wood from the tree to build a church. You're so true. And I didn't say that already. Oh, did you? And I want you to know that I hadn't, I have your back. This is, they're going to edit it out so that that's the first time they're. I'm so sorry. I was typing in a chat GPT actually. I knew you were, you were, you were doing some, you were looking for something. And the reason I was typing in a church. Chat ChbT is because I'm ready to admit that basically everything I said about St. Francis of Sissy is wrong.

It's wrong. Okay. There was a St. Francis. Yeah. St. Francis Xavier. Oh, okay. Who had some similar stuff happen in his missionary work in India. There is a story, though, from Martin of Tours.

Okay. That I think is fascinating. It's the pine tree incident. Yeah. So Martin arrived at a village. I'm reading from Chad GBT. Cut me some slack. He arrived at a village where the locals worshipped a sacred pine.

He persuaded them to allow him to cut it down. And the villagers were furious because the tree was associated with the gods. According to Sulpicius, they eventually agreed to a test. They would cut the tree themselves, but Martin had to stand directly in the path of its fall. Oh, let's go. Dude, this is an incredible, this is like, you know how it says in the Bible, don't put the Lord your God to the test? I'm just saying.

It was their idea, though. But it was also his. What was he going to do? Okay. So the crowd expected me. Martin to be crushed. They cut the tree down and he's not moving. And at the last moment, he made the sign of the cross. And according to the story, the tree suddenly changed direction and fell completely away from him, narrowly missing the crowd of people that just cut it down, which that would be

poetic justice. And many of the pagans converted immediately and asked to be baptized on the spot. Smart. Smart of them. That is smart actually. Very smart of them. Good for them. So like, should the listeners go and challenge the fake Mormon god to a duel? Like what are we thinking? Lawful, bad idea. I mean, look, here's the thing. Is it putting the Lord you're out of the test unless he like tells you to? Here's what I would say.

All right. Just war theory. Let it be an offensive war in terms of your evangelism. Okay. And polemic. Yeah. But let it be a just defensive war. if they start blaspheming God, pushing back, challenging you, whatever,

and basically just ask the Lord to deliver you from the false demon god of the Mormons. It'd be more like, Lord, would you do something to vindicate your name? Vindicate your name. Vindicate yourself and vindicate yourself. But maybe not us going around saying like, hey, I bet you, I could jump off your temple and live. Yeah, like that kind of thing. I wouldn't recommend it. Don't say Honest cosmos saying.

Yeah, please don't. Please don't do that. Mostly because it's cringe because we didn't. We didn't say it. Yeah. Anyway, so one of the characters that you heard about at the end of that last kind of story section was Julian, Emperor Julian the Apostate. Very, very important, actually important figure in early Christian history. Yeah.

He came on the heels relatively soon after Constantine the Great, who, he didn't officially make Christianity the religion of the empire. Yeah. But it was pretty implied. Edict of Milan. Yeah. Edict of Milan. stuff like that. Counciled Nicaa.

I believe it was 312. And then Julian comes on. He apostatizes from the faith. And you'll hear in this hot close, he wants to bring back all the paganism. And we're going to end the show by telling you how that went for Julian. And then how it went for the rest of the world as well.

Any last words? Any last words? I just look so stupid there looking. No, I love this. story and it has long been one of my favorite stories from church history. So, because it's one of those stories that like the, the MythBuster Redditors of history, I was like, clearly this is an example of embellishment. Yeah. I would just like to say, it happened. You're going to hear this story. And just like we talked about in the cold open, it wasn't only Christian historians that were

saying that this happened. No. There were multiple, even counselors that were very close with. with Julie and the apostate and like totally in agreement with him. We're like, hey, man, this happened. This happened. What do you want us to do about? This is the recorded history of the event. You can say it's fake or not, but it is the recorded history. You can go to the Wikipedia page.

It's on a Wikipedia. And you'll find this story there. And they're like, yeah. Wikipedia.com forward slash Julian the apostate forward slash, can you donate just $3 to keep Wikipedia free? Information should be free. No, it shouldn't, first of all, for some. Anyway, Christ is Lord.

So true. Repent and believe. Be saved if you aren't already. And if you are, go forth in victory. The Lord has already given you the world. And it is ours to go and take dominion and fill it with fruitfulness and righteousness and light and laughter and love and earth. So do that. Share the gospel with your friends and see what the Lord does.

And we will see you in the next season of Haunted Cosmos. Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple but he answered them, you see all these, do you not? Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

Matthew 24, 1 through 2. In 331, Flavius Claudius Giulianus, or simply Julian, was born the nephew of Constantine the Great. His youth was spent primarily in the company of his half-brother Gallus and his personal tutors. He received a pseudo-Christian education under the tutelage of an Aryan priest named Eusebius in order to prepare him for a life of nobility and

rule in the ever more Christianized empire. But after the death of Eusebius in the early 340s, Julian's upbringing passed under the guidance of the Gothic philosopher Mardonius. Though Mardonius did not actively militate against the Christianity of the royal house, for that would have been suicide, He was likely not a believer himself and was therefore free to expose the young Julian to every corner of the pagan tradition he thought the boy might find interesting. Thus, by the time Julian was 20 years old, he was a self-professed apostate who actively practiced the paganism of bygone years. Thanks to the nearly constant political upheaval brought on by Constantine's direct progeny, Julian was appointed Caesar in the West by the Emperor Constantius in 355. His aim was to promote stability in that region, and by all accounts, he performed this task well.

Despite being loathed to trade his life of learning and philosophy for war in politics, he accepted the necessity and quickly proved himself a competent military leader, with enough statesmanship to support his civil campaigns also. Today, he's remembered as one of the most effective administrators to ever live. His was a leadership of efficiency and efficacy that had little trouble winning the hearts of the people. Perhaps this helps explain how Julian became the sole emperor of the Christian Empire, despite being an outspoken blasphemer. Perhaps it also helps explain why he behaved so boldly once his power was secured.

For you see, in the year 360, after multiple successful campaigns to expand Roman territory in Gaul, Emperor Constantius ordered most of Julian's best legions to join him in Persia. The problem wasn't Julian's unwillingness to help the emperor. The problem was how much Julian's men loved him. If he wasn't going, and he could not, then neither would they. This crack in Constancius' claim to power eventually widened until Julian's men proclaimed him the sole ruler of Rome. Despite Julian's efforts to quiet his men, and despite his refusal to accept their promotion,

the damage was already done. Constanius could not tolerate the insubordination, nor could he ignore the very real threat Julian presented, even if Julian had no desire to usurpen. The people, after all, can make the rightful ruler irrelevant if they really want to. Constanius therefore made preparations for war against his kinsmen. Julian was drawn in and accepted the challenge. All of Rome then readied itself for yet another season of civil unrest, but the war never came. By some odd stroke of divine providence, Constantius died before either side drew a sword, and Julian rode triumphant into Constantinople as the uncontested so ruler of the empire.

Then his apostasy began to take its final form. Weeks after his coronation, the pagan neoplatonist Julian began his religious reforms with the stated aim of restoring Rome to her former glory. To Julian, that glory was possible only under the rule of the pagan gods. To him, Christianity was politically weak and intellectually naive, and so he promoted the restoration of Hellenistic polytheism

as the official state-sanctioned religion of the empire. Still, at least he didn't persecute the Christians as the pagans before him had done. But then again, if Christ is not Lord of all, then he is not Lord at all. As Julian opened the temples of Apollo and Venus and Jove, as he brushed away the cobwebs from the altars and incense burners, Christians understood him to be doing something far worse than attacking their bodies. He was launching an assault upon their souls. At the height of this religious scoffing, the pride-finding,

the prideful young emperor issued an edict of religious freedom, but religious freedom is anything but. The saints rallied against their ruler. They closed the pagan temples every time they were opened. They launched polemic after polemic against the demoniac priest, tempting fallen souls through the doors of hell over which they presided. Julian, the uncontested ruler of Rome, was splintering the empire from within. He needed to silence the Christians. He needed to prove them wrong. needed to humiliate them, and he knew exactly how to do it. He would rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Julian was raised Christian. He knew the scriptures. He knew the significance of the temple's destruction in AD 70. He knew that if the temple somehow returned, it would undercut and undermine

Christ. It would introduce doubt. The Christians needed the Jewish temple to remain destroyed. After all, it had become a synagogue of Satan, and so Julian needed to resurrect it. And in 363, he issued a decree allowing the Jews to rebuild their place of worship. Thus, the die was cast. Olympius looked from the temple mount and watched the sun rise in the east. His belly stirred with equal parts excitement and nerves. This great work was his to accomplish, and he would begin it in earnest that day. He recounted the crews, the expenses, the animals,

and the stores of food and water that would transform this wrecked patch of ancient significance into a facsimile of its former self. He turned from the sunrise and traced the long lines of his own shadow to the feet of the provincial governor standing some distance away. He walked to the governor, and the pair made their way through the early morning heat towards the horde of Jewish workers who had come to rebuild their golden age dream. The early hour did nothing to damp in the spirits. They were filled with zeal and anticipation for the work.

By mid-morning, the first wave of men took their hammers to the temple foundations to break them apart and reform them. Olympias watched on with confidence and cool demeanor meant to communicate that confidence. In his focus, he watched the course of just one worker, a younger Jewish man from a small village on the coast of the Dead Sea. He'd answer one of his questions earlier in the day and took an immediate liking to him, so he watched the hammer rise and fall. Even from a distance he could see the slight shimmer of sweat forming on the forearms and calves, but the man didn't slow in the least. Olympias kept watching for near to an hour while other business happened around him. He changed from active manager of the affair to passive onlooker

enjoying the fruits of his delegation. In this, he failed to notice the slight changes coming over the rest of the world. The sky, though clear, was a little bit darker. A wind blew from the north that covered the work site, and wave after wave of heat. With the wind came sand and soot. Finally, Olympias snapped out of his trance and took note of these unpleasantries.

It was just in time for the fullness of them to come. With an echoing crack of stone, the foundations of the temple were rent open. Olympias turned back to the man and witnessed a wall of billowing flame, rise out of the earth, and fly towards him. He wasn't fast enough. The fireball grabbed hold of his clothes,

and the sweat didn't matter at that point. The man ran wildly in circles engulfed in the fire before falling to the ground to continue his writhing, and after a few seconds, he stopped, still and dead. Before Olympius could process what he'd seen, the whole force of labor was suffering much the same fate. Fissures opened in the earth all around the foundation. There was more fire, more screaming, and more silencing of the screams as dozens of workers succumbed to the scorch. Entire balls of thick flame flew from the ground and landed with a crash far away. Earth shook. Some later claimed that the sky was fully darkened to a deep red and that black crosses checkered the bloody heavens, flashing briefly before blowing away in the wind. Everyone passed from

shock to abject terror and fled for their lives. The temple, it was clear, was not going to be rebuilt. For days thereafter, Olympius tried in vain to restart the work, but whenever he found laborers willing to make the attempt, more fire burst from the ruined foundations to burn and bury them. Eventually, everybody just gave up. Olympius reported the failure to the emperor, and Julian resigned himself to the news. For some, this was mere coincidence. For others, even some among the pagans, it was divine intervention. But for us, is there a difference? Whether by ordinary providence or miracle, Julian was raised up in his pride and then humbled by the God of heaven. The apostate emperor

died later that year. Still, the divine work was not done. for Rome was not the last bastion of the ancient gods, and Christ does not settle for half measures. The push of the lion into the farthest corners of the world would have to continue. As the years turned to decades and centuries, the domination of Christ over the world became less and less possible to ignore. It was no longer a question of whether the other gods would suffer his judgment. It was only a question of how they would fare therein. And we believe one final story illustrates this point most effectively. It's the story of Iceland's conversion to the true and living God.

Torgear lay beneath his cloak in the verdant fields of his homeland. It was already the 18th hour of his sojourn into the wild, into deep thought. What was it thinking? Or was it listening? The civil peace he had grown up loving stood on the brink of total destruction. On one side stood the old guard, the pagans of the Nordic tradition. On the other side stood the newfound faith of the Christians, the ones who acted with a justice and courage that threatened the entire religious life of Iceland. In the middle stood only him, the law speaker, the man tasked with making the decision

that would preserve the peace of the whole country. He held all the power. Everyone would submit to his ruling. It had been decided. And he was a pagan. He worshipped Odin. He adored Thor. He sought the favor of Freya. But where were they now? The day before, the Assembly of Chieftains had given him the job of deciding. Would it be Christ or would it be Odin? Who would Iceland follow? Thus, he lay beneath his cloak, thinking or praying or, again, listening for some answer. He needed to make peace, but he had reason enough to know that lasting peace could only come from truth. So what was true? Under his cloak and upon the grass, he felt the changing weather he loved about his home. The shifting winds, now soft and then hard and bitter. He felt the warmth of the sun and then the chill

of cloud and darkness. He felt and smelled the rain, so pure as it fell. And he could hear the rolling water of the tireless river smoothing the rocks that sat forever beneath the torrent. His country, like himself, was a living thing, and his country like himself, was being torn in two. Finally, he emerged from his solitude and made the trek back to the assembly. He faced the crowd of Christians and pagans. Both group contained his neighbors and friends. The Christians, not confident that Torregear would rule in their favor had spent the night fasting and praying. The pagans, confident in the faith of their brother, waited for what they believed was inevitable. But if Torgear had been listening for his gods, he had not heard them.

He stood at the center and loudly proclaimed Iceland's future. We will repent and be baptized and worship Christ. The room did not erupt into great noise. It just remained silent. Quiet acceptance of what nothing in the world was. what nothing in the world had any power to stop. Christ had silenced her gods. He won, just like he said he would. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head

are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He's clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. In the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Revelation 19, 11 to 16. country. Mothman in the skies,

Wolfman in disguise, giant angel cries, we hear all the lies. Moon night children here to steal your soul. Big foot, skin walkers are from mind control. Want more haunted Cosmos?

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