THE KINGDOM OF THE CULTS

THE KINGDOM OF THE CULTS

 By:  Walter Martin

***”The first reminder is understanding and responding to cults to remember that the claims of Jesus Christ at their core are exclusive and exclude everything to the contrary.”*** [Ravi Zacharias]

“The central figures in cults take a partial truth-such as a verse used as a proof-text-and blend it with an untruth so that the mix has the appearance of interpretation but in reality is systemically false.  Hence we encounter cults that stray from the teachings of Christ by adding other requirements to the Gospel of grace…”

CHAPTER ONE

THE KINGDOM OF THE CULTS

In America we are considered “the great melting pot” because we have people from all over the world and with those people come their different religions.

Looking at today’s cults show that they deviate from true Christianity but at the same time want to be called Christians.  They are looking for fulfillment of deep and legitimate need of the human spirit and they sometimes don’t get that from today’s churches.  They look elsewhere for it.

Liberal scholars want to look at the way not so much the why of the doctrines of the cults.  We want to view in the light of what we know to be divine revelation, the Word of God, which itself weighs them “in the sensitive scale of final truth”.

Looking at what people say “all roads that lead to God are good” is a false statement but what Jesus said is the truth, “I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  Jesus Christ it the only way.

“The cults are the unpaid bills of the church.” [Dr. Jan Van Baalen]  This statement is true because the cults do challenge the church in affirming the principles and foundation of the Gospel of Christ.  Man is not at liberty to alter the essential message of the Scriptures.  Christ taught and warned us of false prophets and false christs who will come in His name  but you can recognize them by the fruit they produce.  Satan will present himself as an angel of light.

We are to abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good.  We are to have compassion and love for the false teachers because Jesus Christ died for their sins also.  We are to try to win them over without arguing with them.

Just as the American Banking Association had the tellers in training to touch only the real bills, we as Christians should become familiar with the great foundation of our faith so we can be able to detect the counterfeit elements in the cult system today.

Remember, the cults only give the partial truth and the rest is false.

CHAPTER TWO

SCALING THE LANGUAGE BARRIER

Communication is very important and when a culture’s vocabulary is changed you need to know the language or you’ll be lost.  This involves all areas of one’s culture including technology, psychology, medicine, religion, etc.

When you change the original terminology from the Bible it changes the way the writers of the Scripture intended it to say.  It has a completely different meaning.  This is exactly what modern theologians, Christian Scientists, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, etc. do.  They make it to their own liking.

We have to always keep in mind that the vocabulary of the cults is not the vocabulary of the Bible.

“Proper usage of definitions as  a practical tool will rob the cultist of at least two of his advantages:  surprise and confusion.

The non-Christian cult utilizes the terminology of Christianity and they take things out of context.  They use that knowledge to trap you into believing what they believe.  They will talk at length about Jesus Christ, love, tolerance, forgiveness, the Sermon on the Mount, etc. but they don’t want to talk about the essential problem of evil, the existence of personal sin, or the necessity of the substitutionary atonement of Christ as the sole means of salvation from sin, through the agency of divine grace and the exercise of faith because their real concept of God is a pantheistic abstraction (Life, Truth, and Love constitute the triune divine principles – Christine Science.)

The non-Christian cultist will also surprise the Christian with voluminous quotations from no less authority than the Bible and make them think they are agreeing with them causing the Christian to be frustrated because he knows there is an error in some of what the cultist is saying but he can’t put his finger on it right away.  The cultist will spiritualize and redefine the biblical text to make the Christian think he is in harmony with him.

“Words mean what they say.  Terms are what they are by definition.”

To a cultists words do not always mean what they have always meant by definition in specific context.

“The church of Jesus Christ will not tolerate the gross perversions and redefinitions of historical biblical terminology simply to accommodate a culture and a society that cannot tolerate an absolute standard or criterion of truth, even if It’s revealed by God in His Word and through the true witness of His Spirit.”

CULT                                        TERM                                      CULT DEFINITION                   CHRISTIAN DEFINITION

~Mormonism                          God                                         Many gods                              One God

Jehovah’s Witnesses              Jesus Christ                             Not god, created by                God the Son,

                                                                                                Jehovah                                   Creator of all

Christian Science                    Sin                                           Illusion, error, not                   Disobedience to

                                                                                                real                                          God

New Age                                 Salvation                                 Becoming one with                Reconciliation with God by means

                                                                                                the universe/God                   of Christ’s atonement~

“We ought never to forget for one moment that things are what they are by definition.”

“Atonement cannot become at-one-ment as the theology of the Gnostic cults (Christian Science, Unity, New Thought) explains it.”

Christianity is not about terminology but our relationship with God.  We have to remember that the cultists are experts at lifting texts out of their respective contexts without proper concern for the laws of language or the established principles of biblical interpretation. (Look at 2 Peter 3:16)

CHAPTER THREE

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF CULTISM

“Each cult has what might be called its own ‘belief system’ that follows a distinct pattern and, allowing for obvious differences of personality that exist in any group, can be analyzed and understood in relation to its particular theological structure.”

There are many cults in today’s world but here are three cults and what they believe in:  Jehovah’s Witnesses who believe in eschatology and prophecy; Mormons who believe in priestly authority, secret rituals, and symbols, last of this group, Christian Science who are Gnostic and they believe in metaphysical pantheism and physical healing.

The three levels in a belief of disbelief system:

·       The first or central region is that which encompasses the individual’s basic primitive outlook on the world in which he lives and asks such questions as, “Is the world a threatening place, or is it an accepting place?”

·       The second or intermediate region is the area of authority.  In other words, whose authority is a person willing to accept in matters pertaining to the functions of life?

·       Finally, there is the peripheral region, which penetrates into the details of structure of living.  The details may vary or change according to the specific content that the authority, once accepted, may invoke.

The belief of the cult systems are closed-mindness, they antagonize people on a personal level (one on one), they can be hostile, they manifest a type of institutional dogmatism and a pronounced intolerance for any position but their own.  The final point in the belief system of the cults is the factor of isolation.  There is compartmentalization or double think.  You also have the outright denial of contradiction.

If a Christian shows genuine concern for the cultist, this action throws them off.  It’s hard for them to fight against you.  You can then approach them with your views instead of them trying to get you angry.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believed that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were supposed to return to earth before the close of the 1920’s-they didn’t.  Also a prediction that the Battle of Armageddon would occur in 1975-We’re still here.  The Mormon’s Book in the beginning is quite different in 3,913 separate instances (over 25,000 including punctuation changes).  Christian Science’s Mary Baker Eddy who spoke vigorously against doctors and drugs as well as vigorously affirming the unreality of pain, suffering and disease was seen by a doctor and given morphine for her pain.  She also wore glasses and had her teeth removed because they were diseased.  She didn’t practice what she believed in, (2 Corinthians 4:4).  Man is isolated from God and this is why he can’t be blessed (Ephesians 6:10-12).  He is spiritually blinded.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught that the clergy of Christendom are the villains and object of “pure hatred.”

“Jehovah’s Witnesses hate everybody and try to make it mutual…Jehovah’s Witnesses make hate a religion.” [Stanley High-Reader’s Digest of June 1940]

The Jehovah’s Witnesses did not believe in the doctrines of hell and eternal punishment that stimulate fear of judgment and they did not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity.  They felt they were satanic in origin and not concepts of God’s character.  Their thoughts are on Armageddon, theocracy, the end of the age and “pure hatred.”

The Mormon’s theology in authority lies in the priesthood, rituals and symbols.  Wearing symbolic underclothing reminds him of his responsibility and duties as a Mormon.  They invoke the biblical principle of helping one another.  Mormonism is a family centered religion.

“Christian Science, unlike the two other cults we have considered, is neither interested in bestowing godhood on its adherents IMormonism) nor punishing the eschatological panic button of Armageddon (Jehovah’s Witnesses).  Christian Science emphasizes the healing of the body by the highly questionable practice of denying its objective material reality.  In Christian Science there is a complete separation between the objective world of physical reality (matter) and the spiritual world of supernatural existence (mind).  Mrs. Eddy taught that “man as God’s idea is already saved with an everlasting salvation.”

Christian Science believes that man is already saved.  They believe in the nonexistence of the material world.  They affirm that the only true reality is spiritual or mental.

There is “selective perception” in the mind of the Christian Scientist.

CHAPTER 18

THE JESUS OF THE CULTS

“Satan is the prime mover and architect of the major cult system.”

Paul warns the people of “another Jesus”.  He also warns them of a counterfeit Holy Spirit, gospel, apostles and disciples.  Satan himself presents himself as “an angel of light”.  So when false ministers present themselves as ministers of righteousness we are not to be fooled (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).

It’s alright to disagree on certain peripheral issues but when it involves the person and work of Jesus, their unbelief would automatically invoke the apostolic judgment.

Being that Jesus and His work is the foundation of the Christian faith, nothing is to be changed, if so the message of the Gospel is changed and the meaning is made lower.  The “other Jesus” is of the false cults such as Gnosticism and Galatianism, or Legalism.

1.    The Jesus of Christian Science

The Jesus of Mrs. Eddy is a divine ideal or principle, inherent within every man, and Jesus was its supreme manifestation.  The “other” Jesus of Christian Science is a Gnostic Jesus, an idea, a principle-but not God incarnate, (John 1:14).

2.    The Jesus of Jehovah’s Witnesses

For Jehovah’s Witnesses, their Jesus is an angel who became a man; he is a god, but he is not God the Son, second person of the Holy Trinity.

3.    The Jesus of the Mormons

The teachings of the Mormon religion claim their god is one among many gods.

“Why should Christians oppose and criticize the beliefs of other whether they be cults or other world religions?”

Christians should oppose and criticize the beliefs of others whether they be cults or other world religions because of our love for Jesus Christ.  Think about it, “if our mothers, wives, children, or country were attacked and misrepresented, our love for them would compel us to defend them.  How much more, then should love for our Redeemer so motivate us in the defense of Him and His Gospel.

CHAPTER SEVEN

SPIRITISM – THE CULT OF ANTIQUITY

“By far the oldest form of religious cult extant today, and certainly one of the deadliest where the certainty of divine judgment is concerned is that of Spiritism, often erroneously referred to as “Spiritualism.”

Spiritism is finding new life.  Spiritism leads to God for those who believe.  This statement is false of cause.  Believing in Jesus Christ leads to God because Jesus is the only way to the Father.  You have Spiritist that say the Bible endorses Spiritism but this of cause is false.  Spiritist believe in life after death too but their belief is different from the Christian belief .  This is a religion that offers contact with and information from beings beyond the grave.

**Spiritism contradicts the Bible, God’s Word.  It constitutes biblical heresy.**

God deals with Spiritists in Exodus 22:18 and Leviticus 20:27.

Spiritism has made its strongest appeal to those who have suffered great loss. 

Much psychic activity is in reality fraud, deception, or simply misplaced sincerity.

“The history of Spiritism literally spans the ages, but throughout it all, two things remain constant.

·       The first is that Spiritism is to be found everywhere, posing as a universal, common denominator for all religious groups, not excepting Judaism and Christianity.  It teaches the continuity of life and the eternal progression of man toward perfection in the spirit realm.

·       Second, the Eternal God has condemned its practice in the sternest possible terms, maintain that the interpretation of the supernatural realms belongs solely to Him (Genesis 40:8), and that those who practice intrusion into these realms are worthy of death (Exodus 22:18).

We are repeatedly warned in the strongest terms not to seek after mediums and not to dabble in the realms of divine dominion (Leviticus 19:31).”

“The Father of Spirits, God Almighty, will be the eventual judge of him who is known as ‘the prince of the powers of the air’, Satan.”

***Spiritism can never qualify as Christianity.***

“It is a particularly virile form of cultism, opposed in almost every specific to the historic doctrines of the Christian faith, (Acts 13).

There is no demonic force that can withstand the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

“In the spirit of Christian love, we are committed to bear witness to Spiritists, refute their teachings and confront them with the Christ of Calvary, who alone can take ‘away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29).

CHAPTER 15

THE NEW AGE CULT

The hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15)

“Only the church militant can become the church triumphant.”  I find this statement to be true.  We have to fight for what we believe in or else we will be the ones who are conquered.

Occult means “hidden/secret” things.  The practices of these new cults are forbidden to man and cursed by God (Leviticus 20:6; Deuteronomy 18:9-11; Acts 19:19).

If you look at Hinduism, they absorb all religious systems while Christianity excludes all others, holding on to the supremacy of the claims of Jesus Christ.

The New Age movement ancient roots are in the occult.  They are a substitute faith that practice occultic rituals, especially astrology (Isaiah 47) and people who are “sorcerers” and “magicians” found in the Book of Daniel and God is against all that.

“The New Age Cult is a revival of this ancient occultism.  It holds historical ties to Sumerian, Indian, Egyptian, Chaldean, Babylonian, and Persian religious practices.”

The New Age Cult can be equated with the transplantation of Hindu philosophy which has a distinct antagonism toward biblical Christianity.  Jesus is relegated to the role of a demi-god and most surely is not the only way, truth and life as the Christians believe that Jesus is the only way, truth and life (John 14:6).

The New Age movement deals with enlightenment and peace.  They emphasize a mystic experience (including Transcendental Meditation).

“Members of the New Age movement share a common belief that ‘all is one’ that is, everything that exists together composes one essential reality or substance.  This ultimate reality is identified as God, usually seen as an impersonal consciousness and power.”

The New Age movement believes that man is separated from God only in his consciousness. (Page 410)

They also believe in reincarnation and Karma as the Hindu’s believe. (Page 410)

***The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.***

In New Age thinks, truth is perceived individually.  It embraces what has been termed “monistic pantheism,” all is one and all is God.  The movement believes man is divine.

KEY DOCTRINES OF THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT (Pages 412-418)

God, The trinity, Jesus Christ, The Atonement, Salvation, Heaven and Hell and the Last Judgment, Demonic Powers, The Second Coming of Christ, Reincarnation

Biblical Answers to New Age Teachings (Pages 419-420)

The Personal, Triune God – “Father-Mother-Child” (New Age belief)

The God of the Bible is a personal Being, that He designates himself as Creator of the universe.  His character and attributes are seen in the Old and New Testament.  The greatest authorities on the nature and identity of God are His Son and His Word.  The personal living God proclaims, “I am the First, and I am the Last; and beside me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6).  The God of the Bible is the judge of the universe (Ezekiel 34:20; Acts 17:31).  The New Age movement can’t function without some foundational reference to the eternal God.

CHAPTER 15

THE NEW AGE CULT

Jesus Christ (Pages 420-421)

Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Creator of all ages (Hebrews 1:1-3, and He remains the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father but by Him (John 14:6).

The Fallenness of Mankind (Pages 423-424)

The New Age teaching states man is born into this world both good and divine in his nature.  The Bible states that man is a sinner because he transgressed the law of God.  The New Age movement substitutes reincarnation as the means of atonement, evading the significance of the cross. 

Salvation for the New Age movement depends upon one looking inward at one’s spiritual nature and recognizing that he is a god.

Judgment, Heaven, and Hell (Page 423)

The Bible states that the believer will enter the Kingdom of God with heaven as their home the others will go to a prepared place for the devil and his angels.  The New Age movement believes the reward for righteousness is reincarnation.

The Problem of Evil (Pages 422-424)

The New Age movement states “Man is his own Satan just as man is his own salvation.”  The Bible states that Satan is the God of this age, the “force”, (2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV) or in the words of Jesus, “the prince of this world” (John 12:31).  Satan fell from a place of great glory and power.

The Second Coming of Christ (Pages 424-426)

The doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is both the cornerstone and capstone of the Christian faith.  The New Age worldview ignores the historic person of Jesus Christ and the fact that He personally promised, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3).  The New Testament repeats how Christ prophesied His bodily resurrection from the dead, not His reincarnation! (Matthew 20:19; Mark 8:3; 9:31; 10:34).  Jesus spoke of his body to be raise not the material temple as the Jews thought (John 2:19-21).  The New Agers believe the resurrection to be spiritual not bodily.  In Luke 24 Christ stated that a spirit does not have flesh and bone as He had so the New Age redefinition is no good.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the seal of the church’s redemption and of Satan’s own judgment.

“The Christian will learn almost immediately that after he witnesses to the truthfulness of the gospel message, he will have to introduce Christian apologetics, a reasoned defense of the validity of Christian truth.”

Before we approach a person we want to evangelize, we are to pray to God and while we are speaking to him we are to continue to pray to God asking Him to open the heart and mind of that person so he will accept God’s gospel.  We are to love that person whom we are talking to.  He will sense it if our love is genuine.  Try to relate your witnessing to him with something that concerns him.  He might be going through something and you can share the gospel in that areas.  “Whatever helps establish an amicable relationship facilities communication, particularly if it is in the realm of spiritual values.”

When you are defining words use a dictionary definition to get the meaning of the word.  Hear what the New Ager has to say about certain words.  Don’t offend him trying to prove that you are smarter to him.  That’s a turn off.

“God has not called us to convert the world; God has called us to plant the seeds of the gospel and water them with prayer.  It is the task of the Spirit to bring those seeds of life, and He has promised that if we are faithful.  He will.”

It is good to ask question and not try to put yourself above the person you are trying to evangelize.  Be on his level as Jesus did and when he is unable to answer a question you ask then teach him in a loving way not a way that states “I’m better than you.”

When you evangelize make sure you allow that person to read the Bible on the subject/text you are talking about.  It will stay with him longer than you just reading it to him.  Visualization!  “The Spirit is the master teacher and the greatest of all surgeons; let Him do the work.  You must simply prepare the patient for surgery.”  Remember not to criticize because he will be closed to what you have to say.

Give the New Ager some positive feed in what he is seeking but make sure you let him know his method is incorrect in the goal he is trying to reach.  Sin is blinding him.  Remind him only when he follows Jesus will he inherit all things as a gift from God, Jesus only.

It is very important to study the New Ager’s practices so you can know how to approach him and what Scriptures are needed to guide/teach/direct him on the right path.  And if he is saying something to you not known, let him know you don’t know but you’ll check it out and get back to him.

The Jesus of the New Testamwnt is the only true historical Jesus.  He is “the Lord of the ages, the way to God, the embodiment of truth, and the incarnation of life itself.”

“Monistic pantheism teaches that all is one and all is divine.  It makes no division between God and His Creation.”

God has implanted in us three things:  He is the Creator and this is seen through creation, we are aware of good and evil and we know this world is not perfect and we are going to be judged by someone (Romans 1).

“Thou has made us, O Lord, and we are thine, and our souls are restless until they rest in Thee.”  [St. Augustine]

“In dealing with the New Age Cult, we are in reality dealing with spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness, and we are told by God to put on the whole armor of heaven so that we will be able to withstand the forces of Satan (Ephesians 6:11).”

Our blessed hope is the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Shariah and Western Democracy

To be an Islamic nation requires Shariah Law, and Shariah Law requires penalties for criticizing Islam. This fact has once again come to light, this time in conjunction of the sentencing to death of a Pakistani Christian woman for the crime of “blaspheme.” However, this sentenced had been opposed by at least one Pakistani:

·            In an editorial today entitled “Under Siege,” the New York Times laments the recent violence committed by radical Islamists against Christians in Egypt and Iraq. Yesterday, the Times ran an editorial entitled “A Brave Man Killed,” in which it lamented the assassination of Salman Taseer, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province who had called for the repeal of Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy law. This law, popular with Pakistan’s Muslim majority, imposes a mandatory death sentence on anyone convicted of insulting Islam.

Blaspheme laws are not the product of Islamic extremists. They find their basis within the Koran itself:

·            [33:57-58] Those who insult [aa-dh-aa] God and His Messenger will be rejected by God in this world and the next—He has prepared a humiliating punishment for them—  and those who undeservedly insult [aa-dh-aa] believing men and women will bear the guilt of slander and obvious sin.

Although the Koran doesn’t specify the here-and-now penalties against the blasphemer, all Islamic nations impose penalties. In the “moderate” nation of Malaysia, Christians had even been prohibited from using their traditional name for God – “Allah.” However, legal petition was made, and this right was granted to the churches. Immediately, 10 churches were burned to the ground. The case was then appealed to the higher court, where the privilege to use the name “Allah” was retracted.

All of this suggests that if there is such a thing as “moderate” Islam, it lacks any meaningful voice in the Islamic world. Not only was the reformer Taseer murdered, but a great number of clerics applauded it:

·            As reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute, on January 4, 2011, just a few hours after the assassination of Salman Taseer, more than 500 Pakistani religious scholars and clerics issued a statement lauding the assassin, who was Taseer’s bodyguard. They praised the assassin for keeping alive a “tradition of 1,400 years in Islam” which requires the killing of anyone committing an act of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad. (Quoted from an article by Joseph Klein: http://www.newsrealblog.com/2011/01/06/the-global-radical-islamic-threat-to-freedom-ignore-or-excuse-at-our-peril/)

Daniel Pipes, founder of the Middle East Forum in 1994, laments that Western resolve to stand against Shariah is crumbling, even in the USA. When the Ayatollah Khomenei issued a death edict against the writer Salman Rushdie,

·            The U.S. Senate voted unanimously for a resolution asserting the right to write whatever you want. Well, 21 years later, people are being threatened and the Senate is not responding. Before 1989 anyone could write or draw whatever they wanted about Islam. Now if you do this, you are taking your life in your hands. If those of us who critique Islam and Muhammad are not allowed to speak or are intimidated from speaking, Islamists prevail…The real issue here is: Are we allowed to defend our civilization or not?” (From an interview, WORLD, Jan. 15, 2011, 28)

Pipes claims that polygamy is already here, but no one is saying anything. How can they, if they are promoting same-sex marriage! Where “choice” has become the highest “truth,” any moral rationale to resist Shariah is diminished.

Another God-Substitute

In “The Belief Instinct,” evolutionary psychologist and lifelong atheist, Jesse Bering, admits to still having an “instinctual fear of being punished by God” (4). However, unlike the atheist Richard Dawkins who claims that this troublesome instinct is merely a negative by-product of an adaptive trait, Bering regards it as a positive, which has promoted socialization and survival, at least until now.

In support of his contention that the God-instinct is important for promoting moral behavior, he cites many social psychological experiments. In this regard, he quotes psychologists Norenzagan and Shariff:

·            [Experimental] Activation of God concepts [among experimental subjects]…triggers this hyperactive tendency to infer the presence of an intentional watcher. This sense of being watched then activates reputational concerns, undermines the anonymity of the situation, and, as a result, curbs self behavior (193).

Although Bering readily acknowledges the advantages of our God-wiring, he also believes that it is delusional and that we humans can now set it aside like a worn-out overcoat:

·            We are the first generation, in the history of our species, to be confronted directly by the full scientific weight of an argument that renders a personal God both unnecessary and highly unlikely (202).

Is God “highly unlikely?” In contrast to Bering’s position, many scientists take the opposite point of view, based on scientific findings of the fine-tuning of the universe, the immensity and improbability of the DNA informational system, and the complexities of the cell.

However, why would God now be “unnecessary” in light of the many benefits of this kind of faith that Bering has cited? He claims that we can now,

·            Distance ourselves from an adaptive system that was designed, ultimately, to keep us hobbled in fear (201).

How can we “distance ourselves” from our built-in belief system? For one thing, we can recognize that wiring is all that it is. However, the Bible readily admits that we have this wiring (Romans 2:14-15), but this is not to say that our moral response is just a matter of wiring. It might be more accurate to regard this wiring as a built-in, God-given alarm system to alert us to a very real external reality with eternal consequences.

While Bering is clever enough to acknowledge the possibility of this reality, he regards it as unlikely. He also argues unconvincingly that we no longer need to be “hobbled by fear.” Although he cites Voltaire approvingly – “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him” – he argues that times have changed. How? Bering cites our advanced means of social control:

·            Hidden cameras, caller ID, fingerprints, voice recognition software, “lie-detectors”…DNA and handwriting analysis (202).

However, isn’t this simply a substitution of one “fear” for another? Will Big Brother now fill God’s shoes?

·            Who needs Voltaire’s “eye in the sky” when today we’ve got millions of virtual superhuman eyes trained on us from every possible angle (202).

I’ll take God’s benevolent eye any day of the week! However, Bering blandly adds, “We can live for each other” (205), perhaps sensing our distaste for his Big Brother. But it’s not merely a question of “distaste.” It’s also a matter of adequacy! Is Big Brother adequate to provide the type of world we all want to inhabit? We can answer this question by examining our modern-day totalitarian regimes, where we find its subjects desperately trying to escape. Who ever tried to climb the Berlin Wall to enter Communist East Berlin?

We have always been very creative in devising God-substitutes, but I think that we are running out of new possibilities. Perhaps there are sound reasons for opting for the original!

The Fruits of “Christian” Evolution

If we start with the wrong presuppositions (beliefs), we’ll end up with the wrong conclusions. Similarly, when we start to button our shirt with the wrong button, all subsequent buttons will be out of place. If the basis of our thinking is wrong, then our cognitive edifice will also be out-of-joint.

This is precisely what happens when we start with Darwin. Many Christian evolutionists claim that while the Bible isn’t a science or history textbook – we can’t trust what it says about the physical world – we can trust its teachings about the spiritual world. Karl Giberson, a science professor at a Christian school, claims that “science does indeed trump religious truth about the natural world.”

Sounds harmless enough! After all, the Bible isn’t concerned with amino acids and meteors, is it? The Bible is instead focused upon Christ and His salvation. Well, there are several problems with placing this button in this button hole. As creationist Bruce Malone has stated, “If we can’t trust what the Bible teaches about the physical world [something we can examine and test], how can we trust it about the spiritual!”

Another problem is this: The Bible doesn’t make such a distinction between the physical and the spiritual. Instead, they are inseparable. The spiritual/theological teaching of the Crucifixion depends on the physical/historical event of the Crucifixion. It’s this way with so many of our doctrines. What God has physically/historically accomplished becomes spiritual doctrine. Jesus argued that divorce isn’t an option because of the physical/historical reality of God’s work. He took the two (Adam and Eve) and made them one (Matthew 19:4-6; Genesis 2:24).

Worst of all, when we concede that science knows better than the Bible in certain areas, we automatically relinquish the idea that it is without error and is trustworthy (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Matthew 4:4; 5:16-19). It then follows that if the Bible isn’t supremely authoritative, then something else is. For the Christian evolutionist, the present scientific and cultural consensus has become the highest authority.

As a consequence of this, when we allow evolution to remake our understanding of the physical world, we also allow it to reformat our understanding of the spiritual. Giberson started buttoning his shirt at the wrong hole by believing that evolution was right in physical matters. However, by doing this, he has allowed evolution to also dictate spiritual matters. He now concedes:

·            “In The God Delusion [evolutionist and New Atheist Richard] Dawkins eloquently skewers the tyrannical anthropomorphic deity of the Old Testament—the God that supposedly commanded the Jews to go on genocidal rampages and who occasionally went on his own rampages, flooding the planet or raining fire and brimstone on wicked cities. But who believes in this deity any more, besides those same fundamentalists who think the earth is 10,000 years old? Modern theology has moved past this view of God.” http://biologos.org/blog/exposing-the-straw-men-of-new-atheism-part-five/

The God of the Bible is no longer Giberson’s god. However, this was the man who wrote the book, Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution. Clearly, Giberson can no longer tell us much about being a Christian. Nevertheless, I told him that I appreciate his forthrightness. He has clearly demonstrated what happens when we start with the wrong button.