#557

Global Deception: The Rise of False Faith

Staying On Course

As we head into the end of the end times and the last of the last says there are some things that we should do more, not less of and yet the information age is doing something with the faith of believers that I for one, didn’t see coming. What is that you ask? Well with so much information available I am seeing a lot of Christians getting obsessed with books that were never part of the Bible and beginning to change their views about just about all of the doctrines that I thought were not up for debate. And there are quite a few “teachers” online giving us 5 – 10 minute explanations of how wrong we’ve been about every story in Scripture and telling us that it’s all wrong. Now, it’s not like the Bible hasn’t been scrutinized before and it’s not like heretics haven’t risen up to challenge it, but we live in a day and age where the drips of previous criticisms have become almost tsunamis of destructive disbelief literally wearing away the normally solid foundations of our faith. This onslaught of attacks is really making a difference int the belief systems of people I thought were planted with deep roots in Christianity. And it made me read about the conditions of the time just before Jesus returned and see if I could find out why this is happening.

Will He Find Faith On Earth?

I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8, NKJV)

But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”(Luke 18:8, MSG)

This passage of the Bible in context is all about Christians who have a dogged determination to follow Jesus, much like the widow who constantly kept coming to the unjust judge. Overall, it also points to the prevailing attitude of doing all we can to be as close to Jesus as we can be seen in the world at the time when He comes back the second time. There are several ways that can manifest itself and one is holding firmly to what the Bible teaches. This persistent faith in the Word of God can be attacked by making us doubt that what we’ve held on to for such a long time might not be right. There is a delusion being fostered that all the things we learned in the past may not be right after all. And it goes to all the great stories in the Bible going all the way back to the creation in Genesis 1:1. Trust me when I tell you that a whole wave of doubters are coming for your faith, so much so that Jesus wondered if any of the people who accept Him will still be following Him at the end of time. By the way, even that prophetic statement is up for grabs by these professional Scripture detractors. Such a tactic sounds vaguely familiar.

Are You Sure?

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Gen 3:1, NKJV)

This questioning of all things in the Bible was the opening salvo in the fall of man. The serpent led with asking Eve are you sure God really told you not to eat from that tree? He wanted to make Eve doubt that she heard the one command God gave to Adam. And once he got her doubting he knew he could get her to continue to doubt until she began to think that God was holding out her and Adam all along. This devious strategy is being used right now and it is more effective now than in previous ages if only because it is more prevalent and so easy to find. You don’t have to go to the library to find a book to challenge your faith. And you don’t have to read it in a publication or newspaper. If a person is speaking about it, only those in attendance will receive the challenge. Such was the time before the Internet and then social media and of course, the cell phone. People can get support for their belief systems in short doses by a myriad of serpents all attacking the Bible we hold dear to us. Satan perfected that logic when he got a third of the angels to leave Heaven with him and he is using it right now. He salivates daily when he sees how many willing mouthpieces he has at his disposal. Unfortunately some of us veteran believers are somehow falling prey to these deceptions, although maybe not as much as others. A sliver of doubt was all it took to plunge mankind into a world fallen and filled with sin and now it's full of whole boulders of unbelief being hurled at us. Trust me when I tell you, the accuser of the brethren isn’t going to stop using this ploy since it works so well.

More Is Better

Another thing I see that is troubling me is the current obsession of believers in adding to the Bible with writings that were discredited many moons ago. The reasons for them not being part of the Bible we read now haven’t changed, but the standards for keeping them out are being lowered every day it seems. The rationale for reading extra biblical books like the book of Enoch is that it fills in so many gaps where the Bible is seemingly silent. And even mature believers are adding them to their reading lists and then wondering what the big problem is with these writings. Some Christians even believe that their faith is strong enough to be challenged so what harm can come from reading and researching these books. I’m not against a casual perusal of these books, but I’m seeing more and more people actually think they shouldn’t have been left out or removed in the first place. I could provide us with so many reasons that reading the book of Enoch is hardly a good way to spend our time or why using the Gospel of Barnabus to expand our knowledge of Jesus being crucified isn’t a good thing. Early church leaders were able to sort through the discrepancies and so should we. It is somewhat ironic that we have access digitally to vast amounts of information and yet we are falling prey to even the most rudimentary doctrinal fallacies. In this case, more is not better. 

There Will Be A False Religion

Lest we forget, the Antichrist will have his own religious system and a false prophet to lead it. That is until he decides that everyone will follow him as god. Many theologians have pondered just what this one world religion will be because it will have to appeal to all people living at that time. Trust me that while I don’t know exactly what will be included, I know one religion that won’t be and that is Christianity. When Jesus made it clear that no one enters Heaven except through Him it was also meant to guide those who would be living in a day and age when a new religion can spring up in the morning and have hundreds if not thousands adherents by the next morning. Adding to this muddled mess of false prophets is artificial intelligence that can put together a bible that fits your exact beliefs. China is thought to be writing a bible of their own as we read in an article from persecution.org:

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government is rewriting portions of the Bible in an effort to increase its control over religion in country, according to U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI).  In a meeting of the House Select Committee on the CCP, Rep. Gallagher stated that Chairman Xi Jinping is on a “quest to make the faithful serve the party rather than God.”

Rep. Gallagher referenced a statement from Chairman Xi during the 19th Party Congress in 2017 that declares the intent to pursue “the Sinicization of Chinese religions and provide active guidance for religion and socialism to coexist.” 

Gallagher went on to give examples of what China is doing:

Rep. Gallagher cited two cases of the CCP rewriting portions of the Bible. The first from the account in the Gospel of John of Jesus telling the woman caught in adultery to “go, and from now on sin no more,” after telling the scribes and Pharisees, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her (John 8:3-11, ESV).” A textbook from a Chinese university appeared in 2020 with the account from the Gospel of John rewritten to end with “Jesus himself stoning the adulterous woman to death,” according to Rep. Gallagher.

China also wants to rewrite the Ten Commandments:

The second is a report that CCP authorities in Henan province “forced Protestant churches to replace the Ten Commandments with Xi Jinping quotes,” changing the first commandment from, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,” (Exodus 20:3, KJV) to, “Resolutely guard against the infiltration of Western ideology.”

Some believe that AI is helping them do it. Should we be concerned?

Yes And No

According to an article from answersingenesis.org there is a credible reason to be concerned:

Do humans need a new Bible written by artificial intelligence (AI)? Biblically, the resounding answer is no. But Professor Yuval Harari, contributing author and conference speaker for the World Economic Forum (WEF), recently claimed otherwise. In a videoed interview, Harari remarked that AI could not only write a new “Bible,” but also a correct one—implying that God’s Word is incorrect.

The article explains why Harari believes this:

For context, Harari had been explaining how AI is different from all other previous technological breakthroughs because it’s the first technology that can make decisions—including decisions about humans—and generate ideas.1 To illustrate, Harari noted that the world-changing breakthrough of the Gutenberg printing press could generate copies of the Bible. But the printing press could not create new content to include in the Bible, nor could it interpret or evaluate the Bible.

He contends that not only do we need a new bible, but it will happen:

However, Harari continued, “AI can create new ideas, can even write a new Bible. . . . Throughout history religions dreamed about having a book written by a superhuman intelligence, by a non-human entity.” He then stated (although not entirely accurately) that every religion claims its holy book originated from “superhuman intelligence” while other religions rely on manmade texts. Harari continued, “In a few years, there might be religions that are actually correct, that—just think about a religion whose holy book is written by an AI. That could be a reality in a few years.”

Forget about the book of Enoch, now we can just create a new bible that actually fits a current worldview. Maybe that is where the one world religion will come from.

No Need To Be Afraid

The article lets us know that the true Christian need not be afraid:

AI would make for an especially compelling spiritual leader figure for this type of society, as AI’s superhuman-like powers might easily distract people from the reality that its answers are not neutral but the result of programming by fallible, fallen, biased humans. AI is not God, cannot function as humanity’s authority for truth, and must not be treated as a spiritual leader.

What does all this mean for Christians? First, although the scope and scale of these realities are certainly daunting, Christians must rest assured that God is sovereign over his creation, none of this surprises him, and he will not allow human schemes to unfold apart from his purposes. As the tower of Babel reminds us, human ambitions to apply technology in hopes of collectively ascending to God’s level are nothing new—and God can easily thwart them if he so chooses.

Christians can also respond by continuing to faithfully study and stand on the actual Word of God, remembering to apply biblical critical thinking in recognition of AI’s fallibility. Along the way, we’re also wise to keep our research, writing, and communication skills sharp rather than dull our God-given mental capacities by increasingly outsourcing such tasks to AI. Pastors, especially, must not fall into the trap of letting AI take over their biblical responsibilities. Finally, Christians can approach these times as opportunities to share the gospel, pointing others to the true hope for humanity that digital “gods” can never offer.

So the best thing you can do with your time is dig in deeper to what we already know to be the inspired word of God. Other texts can be interesting, but the closer we get to the second coming of Jesus, the more we need to really, really know His word.