The pagans drown in a sense of oppressive terror, although the devout ones would prefer to call it reverence. Their relationship to the gods is one of suspicion. There is no way to win. You can only try to appease them, probably with vows and deals, sufferings and sacrifices. You never know when they will bless you beyond measure, and you never know when they will take it all away.
This pagan god haunts Christian theology. He appears everywhere – in our sermons, our prayers, and our conversations. However, this is not the God of the Bible, and not the God of the Gospels that Jesus declared to the people. In fact, Christians often teach the opposite of what Jesus said about God. Now God is the one dumping snakes on his children, perhaps to teach them something, and Satan is the one giving them bread, and all kinds of wonderful treats. Now God is the one making people sick and poor, and Satan is the one healing them and prospering them.
This is not authentic Christian theology. It is masochistic heathenism. Some tribal religions have the people do strange things to deform their bodies. This is part of their worship and culture. Christians do the same thing, but they do it in their hearts. Their theology is grotesque, and they are as deformed in their spirits as the pagans are in their bodies. They call themselves Christians, but they are pagans at heart, because the pagan deity is the only kind of God they know.