What was pagan temple worship really like in New Testament times?
New Testament-era pagan temple worship was marked by gross immorality. Almost every pagan temple, such as the temple to the goddess Diana mentioned in Acts, was a glorified house of prostitution in the name of their religion. Pagan priests conscripted young women from the countryside and forced them into prostitution in the name of religion.
Les explains that idolatry, though it operates in the dark side of the spiritual realm, still deals with man's innate desire to worship something. He notes that when studying pagan worship, especially at the time of Paul and the New Testament, gross immorality was part and parcel of their worship. Almost every pagan temple, like the temple to the goddess Diana in Acts, was nothing more than a glorified house of prostitution in the name of their religion. Pagan priests conscripted young ladies from across the countryside and forced them into prostitution in the name of religion. He also connects this religious system to the woman John saw, drunken with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus, showing that religion has been the persecutor of true believers.