Since the beginning of man’s history, Satan has tried to discredit God. In seeking to evade his responsibility toward God, man has been his willing student. Eve chose to believe Satan instead of what God had said, and subsequently her eldest son Cain “went out from the presence of the Lord” (Gen. 4:1616And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. (Genesis 4:16)). He then tried to surround himself with all that could make him comfortable and happy while leaving God out. The world system of today is simply the extension of the world that Cain set up, and it is essentially the same in its moral character.
Eternity and the Heart
However, man was made for eternity, not merely for time. Ecclesiastes 3:1111He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) tells us that “He hath set the world in their heart,” and the expression “the world” in this verse can also be translated “the infinite” or “the eternal.” Because he is made in God’s image with a never-dying soul, man’s heart cannot be satisfied with all that is in this world. More than this, man is a moral being and he cannot escape this fact, despite his desperate efforts to do so. His conscience tells him that there is a God to whom he is responsible. If he gives up the knowledge of the true God, he is left with a vacuum.
Over the centuries man has endeavored to fill that void. The result is that he has invented false religions, no doubt under Satan’s tutorship. Satan thus became man’s master, using his vile lusts and passions to rule him. False religions made gods that were the product of man’s own imagination and conformed to human, not divine, standards. These false systems also gave man license to practice his sinful lusts under the guise of religion, thus salving his conscience when he was doing that which a pure conscience would tell him was a sin against God. In Romans we read, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful . . . and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. . . . For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections” (Rom. 1:21,23,2621Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Romans 1:21)
23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. (Romans 1:23)
26For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: (Romans 1:26)). We also read, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (Rom. 1:2828And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; (Romans 1:28)). The history of false religions for thousands of years exemplifies these statements.
The Religion of Modern Man
Where does all this leave us in the twenty-first century? Modern man scoffs at the idea of worshiping a literal idol and makes fun of spiritism, voodoo or anything concerning the spirit world. In seeking to deny anything that is beyond his own reason and understanding, he denies Satan’s existence, preferring not to believe in anything that cannot be “scientifically” proven. However, he must have faith in something, and Satan has arranged to fill this vacuum too. The religion of modern man is secular humanism. This religion rejects a supernatural God and holds to one’s own individual dignity, worth and capacity for self-realization through reason. Sad to say, it is most prevalent in areas that once enjoyed a strong Christian testimony and a firm grounding in the Bible. Secular humanism is not really so different from false religions that worship literal idols, for ultimately every false system focuses man back on himself, and makes man, not God, the center of his thoughts.
The results of this type of thinking have permeated the thought processes of the modern world. Although many would admit the existence of God, most would think in terms of a god that was small enough for man to encompass. A medical colleague of mine said to me some years ago, “I believe in a god, but I doubt that he concerns himself with whether or not I cheat on my income tax.” The humanistic liberal of the modern world has formed a religion for himself, whether or not he is willing to admit it. He would perhaps deny that it is a religion, but it has all the tenets of religion and is Satan’s answer to the void that God alone can fill.
This thinking spawns serious problems. In seeking to deny morality and ultimately deny God, man must deny what he is in his essential being. Some years ago a man named J. Budziszewski was hired as a professor by the University of Texas to develop a system of government that did not require morality. In the process he almost committed suicide and finally gave up, because it cannot be done. As a result of the experience he wrote a book entitled What We Can’t Not Know. He was forced to realize that man is a moral being and as such cannot operate in a moral world apart from some standard of morality. But modern man is trying to do just that. Where will it end?
A Disguised Religion
The secular humanism of the modern world has all the trappings of religion, although it is practically godless. In seeking to be non-religious, man has arranged a system of beliefs that, in the words of another, “has its own cosmology, its own miracles, its own beliefs in the supernatural, its own churches, its own high priests, its own saints, its own total worldview, and its own explanation of the existence of the universe.” More than this, the system that embraces this line of things is seeking to force it upon others with as much vigor as the well-known religions of this world. References to God have been taken out of schools and other spheres of public life, while children are often subjected to vulgar courses on sex education that are required in some public schools. When teaching children about the origin of the universe, God cannot be mentioned, but the theory of evolution is propagated as if it were a fact. We are bombarded with this amoral thinking in much of the news media, and any attempt to speak against it is considered an attack on liberty. Last year in Canada, when same-sex marriage was in the process of being legalized, Dr. John Patrick, a respected medical doctor and university professor, was invited to speak to the Senate for an hour on the subject. Because his views did not coincide with the thinking of those in the Senate, he was repeatedly interrupted, forced to shorten his speech, and eventually called to an immediate halt. Some senators were so enraged that they could hardly speak.
Where It Will End
The Word tells the believer where all this will end. This movement, which is gaining more and more momentum, is conditioning many people to believe lies. It has been shown repeatedly that the proponents of the theory of evolution have no compunction about lying to further their ideas. The liberal press distorts news to create the desired false impressions, and when reports are given of Christians and Christianity lies are not uncommon. Anything supportive of God or His claims upon man is often badly twisted to give the wrong slant on it. On a more individual level, lying has become commonplace in our society, and is now condoned by many. Satan is the author of all this, for “he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:4444Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)). However, God “that cannot lie” (Titus 1:22In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; (Titus 1:2)) will have the last word in it all.
Strong Delusion
After the Lord comes, no doubt the greatest lies ever heard in this world will be circulated, and men who have rejected the gospel will believe them. We read in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12: “For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Those who will believe this awful delusion will primarily be those who have lived under and heard the Word of God but have rejected it. It will be “because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thess. 2:10). Man’s inner need for faith in something outside himself will culminate in his believing what God calls “strong delusion.”
May we who know the Lord carefully avoid having any part in this thinking. While living and moving in a world that is increasingly characterized by humanism and a focus on sinful man, it is easy for our own moral values to become distorted. Our only resource is the Word of God, which gives us the truth and wisdom for every situation we may meet. On the other hand, may our hearts go out to those who, caught in the web of Satan’s making, are going on to their terrible doom. May we use every opportunity to bring Christ before them and to point them to the only One who is worthy of our faith.
W. J. Prost