Pagans in the ancient world tried to appease their deceased ancestors, including through ritual “meals” to feed them in the afterlife.

Those “ancestors” were actually demons, which Jews, the apostles, and the early church (and even the pagan Greeks and Romans) believed were the spirits of the demigods destroyed in a long-ago flood—in other words, the Nephilim who died in the Flood of Noah.

Thanks to archaeologists in Israel, we can see megalithic monuments erected by ancient cults of the dead. And thanks to the Bible, we can see how Jesus reversed the ancient ritual of feeding the ancestors at the Last Supper, which we remember every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

This also gives new meaning to the 23rd Psalm, where David describes our Good Shepherd preparing a table for us in the presence of our enemies! He wasn’t talking about physical adversaries—remember, we don’t wrestle human opponents, but against principalities, powers, and cosmic rulers over this present darkness.