How to see Hinduism, Islam, etc...

[An email...]

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Look at the verse above. Muslims don't worship Jehovah, they worship Satan who stands behind their god 'Allah.'

All the panoply (a wide-ranging and impressive array or display) of gods and goddesses in Hinduism is a display of the particular rulers of the darkness of this world that are over that part of the world.

Dan 10:13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia [angel over the kingdom of Persia] withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael [the archangel Michael], one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

Satan and his army of demons and fallen angels set up regimes over these historic land masses. Remember I commented that this was why when the coalition forces of the west went into Iraq there was such lunatic protesting from the streets of America and Europe and elsewhere? (Hands OFF Hussein!!!) And this was because they were the more hollow souls among us channeling Satan's anger at his lands - *his lands* - being violated, like it was against some set of pre-set rules? (And any time you get that up is down, down is up, good is evil, evil is good, black is white, white is black, i.e. America is EVIL!!!, yet one of the bloodiest, most repressive police states to ever exist - Saddam's Iraq - is 'good', you are seeing the spirit of Satan manifest.)

Remember the foundational Creator/creature divide. The Bible itself says there are 'gods', but they are created beings, in their case they are fallen angels and demons. It's a light show designed to dazzle and fascinate and capture people's desires and fears and allegiance. - C.

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[Another email, pt. 2 of the above...]

One of the reasons things like Hinduism interest us is because they are glimpses into the supernatural realm.

Actual physical worship of such things is involved with material idols and all that comes with rank idol worship, superstition, sacrifice, seeking expiation or favors from the idol, etc. But the imaginative products associated with these things, i.e. the various Hindu holy books, various (and not least powerful) illustrations made throughout history, or just all the general iconography involved in the religions, these things inspire an interest that doesn't need to be coupled with actual physical worship but can deceive none-the-less, and I suppose it must lead to worship in one form or another eventually if a person stays with it.

There is also not the small matter of their being some wheat amidst all the chaff of such things. Some truth amidst all the falsity. The Devil doesn't just present 100% false shows. At least not until he gets total power, I suppose.

Mainstream Christians are quick to lump Greek mythology in with such Satanic side shows, and they are right, to some extent, but not regarding the Homeric epics. John Calvin even separated out - sanctified, if you will - the Homeric epics from the general category of Satanic influences. There is powerful language that is true within the Homeric epics, and it's why the ancient Greeks were so close to Christian understanding, and were so able to convert as a culture and civilization upon being presented with the truth. But you have to see that Greek 'religion', idols, statues, etc. is very different from the Homeric epics which really aren't even Greek in that sense. They emerged from the mists of pre-history (from even the ancient Greek perspective, see Thucydides). They are works of supreme imaginative literature. Can one get similar worthwhile content from Hindu holy books? Possibly, to some degree (actually not much, but one can get something of the truth nevertheless). But not equal to Homer.

Remember, the reformers were classical humanists, Renaissance men, very familiar with influences such as the Homeric epics (and very favorable to them, see Zwingli for an extreme case).

Anytime you can get a glimpse into the supernatural realm it is potentially good, if you are a true soldier of Christ. If you are still in the nursery living in the fear of man yet calling yourself Christian then you aren't ready for much of anything. - C.