Why God Is Unknown Today a Concise History of Man's Rebellion Against God Through Philosophy and Humanist Religion
The age in which we live proves Solomon's adage that there is nothing new under the sun. Man says sadly that he cannot find God, although he has searched. Has he? Hasn't he simply rejected God's revelation just as his forefathers did? How long did it take Noah's descendants to forget God and turn to idolatry? How long did it take men to forget the miracles Christ and His apostles performed, and then to deny them? Being blind from his birth man prefers his own thoughts about God to God's thoughts. He turns to philosophy and human religion for light. Yet this is only blindness and darkness. Blindness is an inability to see the light an internal powerlessness; darkness is outside man, preventing him from seeing the world around him as it really is. Blindness and darkness had their origin in an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Consequently humanist religion adds man's thoughts to God's thoughts the principle of mixture, which God hates, and which culminates in the harlot church of Rev. 17:55And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (Revelation 17:5). Philosophy takes away God's thoughts, replacing them with man's thoughts.
Philosophy and Humanist Religion—a Smokescreen to Keep God at a Distance
Philosophy is human wisdom. Paul warned the Colossians about it because the Greeks idolized philosophical studies. In Col. 2:88Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8) he writes "see that there be no one who shall lead you away as a prey through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the teaching of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ." This is the great warning against philosophy in Scripture. Christian university students who for one reason or another may study philosophy, should look at it in the light of this warning. In other words while they must study the subject they should not allow it to take them prey, but rather hold it as a judged thing. In particular the so called Enlightenment of the period preceding and following the French Revolution, should be looked at as darkness by a Christian.
When we come to the question of religion, we find there are surprisingly few references to it in Scripture. James 1:26, 27,26If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. 27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:26‑27) gives us an insight into its practical and godly workings "if any one think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world." This tells us that defiled religion a major subject in this chapter is worldly in character humanist in the sense of man's thoughts having prevailed. We see its working in "the religion of the Jews." It was the religious leaders of the Jews who stirred up the people and influenced Pilate to crucify Christ. And so, although God gave the Jewish people their religion, He also set it aside by tearing the veil of the Temple in two when Christ died.
From these preliminary observations it can be seen that there is a relationship between philosophy and humanist religion a term which we shall shortly abbreviate to religion for the sake of conciseness. What is it? To find out we must go back to the conversation between Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
The Origin of Philosophy and Humanist— I.E. Worldly Religion—the First Tree in Eden's Garden
The serpent began his deception with great cunning "yea, hath God said?" i.e. are you sure you know what He really said. Eve apparently wasn't sure of God's exact words. She was vulnerable because she hadn't paid much attention to them and her memory of them wasn't sharp. So she added words God didn't say "neither shall you touch it." She became the mother of human religion which adds to the Word of God. Then the serpent took away from God's Word, saying "you shall not surely die" when God had said they would. The serpent persuaded Eve that there were good reasons for his denial. So the serpent became the father of philosophy which reasons and questions God's Word and eventually denies it. Religion and philosophy are simply opposite but complementary ways of undermining the authority of the Word of God.
Marx had a penetrating insight into the interrelationship between religion and philosophy. He said that Fuerbach's great achievement was "the proof that philosophy is nothing else but religion rendered into thought and expounded by thought."(1) Exactly. Their thoughts are man's thoughts, not God's. But "the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain" 1 Cor. 3:2020And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. (1 Corinthians 3:20). These blind leaders of the blind want a god for this earth, rejecting the gospel of the glory of the blessed God which calls men to heaven. In religion and philosophy we see what passes for a search for truth by those who have rejected the truth.
Just as the Bible opens with Eve and the serpent adding to and subtracting from the Word of God, so it closes with a warning of the eternal consequences of so doing "if any man shall add to these things, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book" Rev. 22:18,1918For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18‑19).
Get Rid of God—the Founding Principle of the World
Driven out of God's presence in Eden, man instinctively wanted to recognize Him preferably at a convenient distance. How to do it was the question. Cain and Abel had different approaches to the problem. Cain denied his fallen state Abel admitted it. Both brothers must have heard the story of the fall from their parents. Cain tried to repeat what his parents did. They covered themselves with fig leaves the fruit of the ground. That was not acceptable to God. Cain thought it should be, so he too offered it to God. That was absolute effrontery, because God had cursed the ground for man's sin. Abel on the other hand acknowledged his sinful state. He rejected the work of man's hands the fig leaves sewed together (2) ineffectual because Adam admitted to God that he was naked though wearing them. Abel believed in the work of God's hands. God Himself had clothed Adam and Eve with a divine covering based on death, of which the skins of animals were the evidence. So Abel offered to God "the firstlings of his flock and of its fat" Gen. 4:44And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: (Genesis 4:4).
Enraged that God had accepted Abel's offering but rejected his, Cain killed his brother. Then he went out from God's presence and built Enoch, the world's first city. That city was a prototype of the world itself, with all its activities, allurements, and wars.(3) In founding Enoch, Cain launched the world as a system of which John writes "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father (4) is not in him" 1 John 2:1515Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15). It is important to see that Cain could not launch the world system until he first murdered his brother. Abel was God's witness in the world. Cain wanted his testimony ended, so he could do as he liked without appeals to his conscience. Then he could acknowledge God in a formal way but on his terms, not God's. He wanted his own religion and philosophy, suited to a world away from God. This is known in Scripture as "the way of Cain.”
The Development of the World's Religious System
Once the world was launched as a system, Cain's descendants overflowed the earth. As they migrated they either took their own religion with them or founded another. People complain about the effects of their own actions, saying that there are so many religions in the world they don't know which is right or sometimes that all are, depending on their viewpoint. Actually they are all wrong. Their views are specious because the origin of all human religion is departure from God. Today it is even more pointed. Christianity is not a religion. It is Christ. To reject Christianity then is to reject Christ and the Father who sent Him. Historically though, man was unable to banish the thought of God from his mind. That troubled him, so he invented substitute gods more tolerant to his sins, and to his liking. In the ancient world idolatry took root wherever man went, until it overgrew the world. Man must have some object of worship as a surrogate for the True God. Human cultures are so diverse, however, that the best we can do to illustrate these conditions is to draw back the curtain concealing the ancient world. That will give us a glimpse of how "the way of Cain" humanist worldly religion dominated the times.
At an early date men navigated the Pacific in oversize canoes, and settled the Southern Hemisphere by stages. They grew crops and built cities just as Cain did. Their cities evidence the flowering of the human mind in mathematics, astronomy, architecture, and so on. Their most imposing buildings, however, were the temples of the gods. They worshipped the god of the dead, whose poisoned venom stung man in the Garden of Eden. One of their processional avenues was called "the way of the dead." On the altars of the gods they killed human beings in sacrifices a public testimony to the fall and depravity of man.
But surely Egypt the land of the pyramids, and the Graeco Roman world with its admired civilization, must have had nobler standards. Well, the Egyptians worshipped animals, and had a Book of the Dead. The Greeks and Romans deified the forces of nature as well as their own lusts and passions. From the East came the absurd doctrine of reincarnation. Other peoples garnished the tombs of the dead with food, weapons, and slaves for the afterlife. Many of these ancient religions and superstitions are perpetuated in the modern world or secretly admired. I have seen a photograph of Buddhist priests blessing computers in a modern Japanese shipyard. People make pilgrimages to Athens today to pay their respects to the temple of the goddess Athena, which is under costly renovation.
What about the modern world? Is it immune to religious influence? Hardly. The religion of Allah and his prophet is making great conquests once more. Why should this be unless Karl Marx was right when he remarked that religion was the opiate of the people. But Marx himself was the founder of Communism, the greatest of all modern religions. It doesn't matter that Communism denies God's existence, for after all the other world religions deny God's claims so in principle what is the difference? Communism has a Bible Das Capital the Gen. 1 of which is The Origin of Species. It has hymns such as The International or The East is Red— sung with religious fervor. It has conferences, missionaries who spread its gospel, martyrs who die for its cause. It has its teachers to explain things academically, and they can be found in the universities of the West. It has a hope for its own dupes a heaven in this life for the socialist proletariat a hell in this world for its enemies. Cain's world is a leopard whose spots never change, though they may be arranged differently to suit the occasion.
The Second Tree— at Calvary—the Culmination of Darkness
The cross gave man an opportunity to vent his hatred against God openly. But it also enabled God to deal with the question of sin on a righteous basis. Sin entered the world at a tree God put it away at another tree.(5) God cursed the ground because of man's sin; His own Son wore a crown of thorns, the symbol of the curse. Man was in darkness, and put out the Light of the world. The issue in the garden too was the inheritance, which belonged to Christ but which Satan coveted for himself. When Christ came to claim it man said "this is the Heir. Come let us kill Him and the inheritance will be ours" Mark 12:77But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. (Mark 12:7). The whole world system Cain founded shares in this guilt. The sign over the Lord's cross was in Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew the three main languages of the world when Christ visited it. The people who spoke those languages constituted the fountainheads of Western civilization.''' So God looks at the whole world as guilty of the death of His Son. The world will be judged for this crime. God will obtain redress in the judgments predicted in Revelation.
a. The Jew and the Roman: The Romans were the last divinely appointed form of Gentile government in the world. They had an admirable system of justice which however lay on a fault line compromise and the divide and conquer principle. They went to great lengths to avoid drawing the sword, but once they did there was no turning back. We see their judicial principles at work in the trial of Christ. Pilate was the representative of the emperor Tiberias. In him we see man judging God, of whom it is written "that Thou mightest be justified in Thy sayings" Rom. 3:44God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. (Romans 3:4). He enquires "what is truth?" but walks away from The Truth standing before him. This is the essence of philosophical enquiry about truth a cosmetic approach to the subject mere mental gymnastics. The Romans in general disdained philosophy, although men like Pilate had considerable exposure to it through Greek tutors. Pilate's words and actions tell us that the ultimate end of Western philosophy is not the pursuit of truth but the rejection of the truth. Yet this man who rejected the truth reluctantly confessed it in writing. While accepting the chief priests' claim that only Caesar was their king, he became the author of the sign over the Lord's cross "this is the King of the Jews." When petitioned to change it he was resolute not to do so, saying "what I have written I have written." This was a direct rebuttal of the claim that Caesar only was their king words which denied their relationship to God. So those who said that Caesar was their king were forced to read a sign written by Caesar's representative that Jesus was their king.
b. The Greek the man of philosophy and education: Scripture speaks sparingly about philosophy the expression of human wisdom. When it does, it is in scathing and judgmental tones. In each of his Corinthian letters Paul makes it clear that God is at war with man's wisdom. In 1 Cor. 1:19, 2019For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (1 Corinthians 1:19‑20) he writes "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the understanding ones I will set aside. Where the wise, where the scribe, where the philosopher of this age? Did not God make foolish the wisdom of this world?" He continues the theme of God's war on human reasoning in 2 Cor. 10:4, 54(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (2 Corinthians 10:4‑5) "for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but powerful through God to the overthrow of fortifications overthrowing reasonings and every high thing lifting itself up against the knowledge of God." One of these citadels of human wisdom was at Athens. It is instructive to see how Paul overthrew reasonings and high things there. He began in a humble way witnessing in the Agora the market place where traditionally philosophers aired their views. He was accosted by opposing schools of philosophers who unitedly agreed that he must give an account of his religious beliefs. They thought he was introducing foreign gods to Athens Jesus and His consort the Resurrection. This gives us an insight into how philosophy and religion unite against Christ.
Paul warned them that God "has appointed a day in which He will judge the habitable world in righteousness, by that Man whom He has appointed, giving the proof of it to all in having raised Him from among the dead" Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31). This union of religion and philosophy which was exposed at Athens is still the spirit which guides the world. The sign above the Lord's cross in Greek tells us of philosophical and religious enmity to Christianity as real as the opposition to Christ expressed by the other two languages Latin and Hebrew. So God's judgment is that the wisdom of this world is foolishness to Him. Man is equally scornful of God as Job 21:1414Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. (Job 21:14) tells us "depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways." But God has the final say, in the warning that none of those who were invited to His Great Supper, and turned down the invitation, should taste it at all. Instead their destiny will be the Supper of the Great God at Armageddon.
After the Cross— the Waning Influence of the Church Over the World Due to Giving up the Truth
Paul speaks of the Church as the pillar and foundation of the truth. A pillar frames and supports a building it is visible, rising heaven ward. A foundation secures and anchors a building, but it is unseen, buried in the earth. These figures anticipate the Church's destiny in heaven and earth in the coming day of rule. The sad fact is that the Church did not live up to this figure historically. Paul commended the Ephesian elders to God and the Word of His grace. Yet the failure of the Church began at Ephesus. In Rev. 2:4,4Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. (Revelation 2:4) Jesus Christ the Righteous has this to say of the Christian witness in that city "I have against you that you have left your first love.”
Because man resists God's revelation and Christ is the One who revealed the Father, His Person has been attacked from the earliest days of Christianity. Intellectual curiosity leading to speculation beyond the limits of revelation is the root of the evil. It is the philosophical attempt to peer into the Ark of the Covenant, intruding into areas which we are forbidden to investigate, rather than resting on the simplicity which is in Christ. Because men seldom agree on philosophical matters, numerous doctrines arose. However they have a common denominator separating the divinity and humanity of Christ, and making human judgments on both. The various labels by which these doctrines are known are not informative. They obscure their common intent a denial that Christ was the Father's Son in a past eternity, a relationship which did not change when He became incarnate.
So basically what we are looking at is how the non eternal Sonship of Christ doctrine spread over the ages in different guises. Those who subverted the truth were unconsciously tools of the devil, that master of subtlety. He knows that people generally have very little interest in such questions, and tend to defend these truths lightly if at all. In the light of this lethargy his strategy was first to undermine the Person of Christ, as a necessary step on the way to questioning the work of Christ. Once disbelief as to Christ's Person set in, the way would be opened to question the efficacy of His redemptive work. Historically this clever strategy worked. It led to the Church of the Middle Ages when truth was ossified and in chains.
a. From the Patristic Age to the Ninth Century(7): This sketch will begin with Simon Magus the magician, who was censured by Peter in Acts 8:20-23,20But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. 21Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. 22Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. 23For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. (Acts 8:20‑23) and by Paul in Acts 13:9-119Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, 10And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 11And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. (Acts 13:9‑11). He was probably the first Gnostic. He thought he was the most exalted of all Aeons. In Gnostic philosophy Aeons were divine spirit beings flowing out of two principles God who is good, who dwells in the abyss, and eternal matter, the origin of evil. They taught that the world and man were created out of matter by an Aeon called Demiurge.
In Rev. 2:1515So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. (Revelation 2:15) the Lord says "so hast thou also those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans." The Nicolaitans were one of the earliest Gnostic sects, founded by Nicolas, a deacon of the Church at Jerusalem. They were the forerunners of the Cerinthians, another sect founded by a Jew called Cerinthius. This man mixed their doctrines with Christianity. He taught that Christ was the most elevated Aeon sent by God, who descended on a Jew called Jesus in the form of a dove. Before the crucifixion the Aeon departed from Jesus, but at the resurrection will again be united to Him. This reunion will lay the foundation of the 1000 year kingdom. At the beginning of the second century Carpocrates founded the sect of the Ophites, who were the first to be called Gnostics. Carpocrates inverted the Biblical account of the fall, and pictured the serpent as wise and good. The later Gnostics divided into three schools, all of which died out by the fifth century. However the principles underlying their evil doctrines surface in later philosophical works.
Other aberrant teachings can be traced to Origen 185—254 A.D. Origen was the son of a martyr, and was both pious and fearless in the face of persecution. However he made the fatal error of mixing Christianity with philosophy. His views were avidly sought by intellectuals who saw him as an apologist for Christianity. His lectures were well attended by pagans, especially those of a philosophical bent. He was the father of fanciful interpretations of Scripture, whose influence went unchecked until the Reformation. He believed that God begat His Wisdom or Word eternally. In his view Wisdom was not God Himself but His image a second God, subordinate to the ultimate Father of all. He saw Jesus as a human being soul inhabiting body united as intelligence with the divine intelligence or Wisdom.
In approximately the same time frame, heretical views on the Person of Christ began to attract followers. Theodotus the elder left Smyrna about 190 and came to Rome. He taught that Christ was a man whom God adopted and divinely endowed at His baptism. He can be looked at as the father of the so called Monarchianism school.
A rival teaching evolved in the early centuries which was a variant of the Monarchianism heresy, and which eventually became known as Adoptianism. In brief it held that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, a man of perfect virtue, at His baptism, but that He was not deified until after His resurrection. Elipandus of Toledo became the leading exponent of these views. He attempted to separate the divinity and the humanity of Christ. He held that the Logos, conceded to be the Eternal Son of God, adopted the humanity of Christ, so that Jesus in His human nature became the adoptive Son of God. This teaching was resisted by the Church in Spain. The Spanish Asturian monks appealed it to Rome for a ruling. Adrian 1 Condemned it. However Elipandus found allies in other Spanish bishops. One of these was Felix of Urgel, who defended Adoptianism in 792 at the Council of Regensburg. He later recanted, and signed an orthodox confession at Rome. Then he repudiated it, but was eventually forced to concede defeat. He lost his bishopric, although he was received back into the Church, which had excommunicated him. Leo 3 condemned Adoptianism at a Roman council, which seemed to end the matter. However it simmered on in a diluted form in the works of theologians like Abelard and Peter Lombard.
b. The emergence of cults after the Reformation: Traditionally Rome claimed hegemony over both the world and the Church, and vigorously enforced her claims with the sword. The rise of Protestantism had an unsettling effect in both spheres. War broke out in the world which checked Rome's political power. As her influence diminished cults arose, exploiting the new found freedom. This does not justify Rome's position, but it does attest to the prevalence of evil doctrines, which she suppressed, at the same time adding her own.
These cults are the tares which the enemy sowed among the wheat. Satan did this while men slept i.e. were not vigilantly defending the truth. They have a common characteristic they "confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh" 2 John, v.7. The cults which have flourished in nominally Christian countries began by building on the public knowledge of Scripture. Lacing parts of their teachings to Scripture gave them a degree of acceptance and credibility, so that wheat and tares seemed the same in men’s eyes. Because professing Christians were only distantly familiar with the Word they could not distinguish between the wheat and the tares. Then these false teachers took away from the Word whatever opposed their evil teachings, and replaced this with error. In the parable of Matt. 13:24 30, the tares were allowed to grow undisturbed along with the wheat until harvest time. Then they were to be gathered together in bundles and burned. While it is not yet harvest time it is possible to identify some of the more prominent bundles even now.
Out of the proliferation of cults in the world today, some of the most prominent have been chosen for a cursory examination. This is all that is needed, since the common thread which binds their seemingly disparate doctrines together is what Scripture calls "contradicting and blaspheming" Acts 13:4545But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. (Acts 13:45)... Christian Science The doctrine of Christian Science was codified by Mary Baker Eddy in 1875, when she published Science and health with key to the Scriptures. She explicitly denies that Jesus Christ is God the Son in the following statement "The Christian who believes in the first commandment is a monotheist. Thus he virtually unites with the Jew's belief in one God, and recognizes that Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus Himself declared, but is the son of God. This declaration of Jesus, understood, conflicts not at all with another of his sayings "I and My Father are one" that is, one in quality, not in quantity, as a drop of water is one with the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God and man, Father and Son, are one in being." (8) As to the Lord's Manhood she says "wearing in part a human form that is, as it seemed to mortal view being conceived by a human mother, Jesus was the mediator between Spirit and the flesh, between truth and error."(9) She also taught that Jesus did not die "Jesus' students did not perform many wonderful works until they saw him after his crucifixion, and learned that he had not died."(10)
.. Jehovah's Witnesses: The doctrine of the Jehovah Witnesses on the Person of Christ has been broken down in three parts by Anthony Hoekema in The four major cults. He says "in order to understand Jehovah Witness teaching on the Person of Christ we shall have to distinguish between a pre human, a human, and a posthuman state."(11) In the prehuman state they teach that Jesus was the first creature of Jehovah. He was created an angel, given the name of Michael, but was not immortal. He was also known as the Word from the time of His creation until the incarnation. He was never equal to the Father. However they also claim that the Word was some kind of God, based on their translation of John 1:1,1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1) that "the Word was a god." Presumably by a god they mean a ruler, which would agree with their view that the Word was Jehovah's "Chief Executive Officer." As to His human state they aver it coming from God, taking the personality of His only begotten Son, His life pattern, and putting this personality "within the powers of the tiny bundle of live energy that He placed into the womb of Mary."(12) In other words it was an angel who was incarnated in the virgin's womb by Jehovah. This is a clear contradiction of Heb. 2:1616For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. (Hebrews 2:16) "for verily He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham." Then as to the post-human state they deny that the body of Jesus was raised from the dead. They do not know what became of His body either. Rutherford thought that perhaps God preserved it to exhibit it in the millennium. So they conclude that Jehovah God raised Christ from the dead as a spirit son. He became the first creature granted immortality. He resumed his angelic name Michael to link him with his pre-human state. So to them Christ is only a creature of Jehovah.
.. Mormonism: The Mormons believe that the world was created by God the Father and Jesus Christ with the help of Adam, who at that time was a spirit being named Michael. It is noteworthy that both the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses have developed their own theologies around Michael as a pre creation spirit being. Perhaps that is why both of them ring door bells to bring this joyous news to a gullible public. In any case it seems that Adam was eventually put on the earth with Eve, another spirit being, and both were given bodies.
Their doctrines concerning the Lord's body are blasphemous. His body is said to be the product of the physical union of God the Father and the virgin Mary. (13) Hoekema comments "according to Mormon doctrine Jesus Christ was no more essentially divine before His incarnation than any of us." They dishonor the Lord by implying that if He were not married during His earthly life, He could not rise higher than an angel in the next life.(14) One of their leaders suggested that Jesus was the bridegroom at the wedding of Cana of Galilee, and speculated on the names of His wives.(15)
.. Miscellaneous The Christadelphians, Swedenborgians, and Unitarians deserve comment also. The Christadelphians believe that Christ inherited moral perfection from the deity, our human nature from His mother. The Unitarians deny the Trinity. The Swedenborgians also known as the New Jerusalem Church believe "that Jesus Christ is God, in whom is a trinity, not of persons but essentials, answering to the soul, body, and the operation of these in a man." (16) They claim that His second coming and the last judgment were past spiritual events.
.. Cults of the Post Christian world: The cults we have been considering so far have discredited the Person of Christ. They have confused the masses with their conflicting doctrines, so that people today have little interest in the truth. But man cannot live by bread alone, and something must come in to fill the spiritual vacuum. So a glut of new cults has surfaced. Is this accident or design? Are we looking at what Scripture calls "doctrines of demons?" Is this a counter attack by the powers of darkness against the once mighty bastion of Western Christianity? Whatever the case the new cults are heavy on Eastern religions. I saw this first hand myself. I was talking to a waitress in a restaurant about a long line of saffron robed men and women on the street outside who were chanting a prayer to an Eastern god called Hare Krishna. The waitress remarked that she knew the girl at the end of the line a French speaking girl from Quebec. So I went outside and said to her in French "read the Holy Bible." She was infuriated at my message. When I returned to the restaurant the waitress enquired what I had said to her that upset her so greatly. She was amazed at the effect of these simple words, not understanding man's enmity with God.
The reader who is interested in more than this brief sketch is referred to Those Curious New Cults (17) for specifics. The author of that book has investigated and reviewed a number of the more prominent modern cults. Among those covered are Astrology, I Ching, Edgar Cayce and the A.R.E., Spiritualism, witchcraft, Satanism, Scientology, Black Muslims, Herbert Armstrong and his plain truth, the Children of God and the Jesus movement, Hare Krishna, Zen Buddhism, Transcendental meditation. Baba, Bahai, Gurdjieff. We might add that the worship of the ancient gods of Rome, Greece, and Egypt is coming back. Surely the time is at hand and the effect of every vision.
c. Controversy among believers— denial of the eternal Sonship of Christ: Over the centuries certain believers have challenged the well understood and accepted doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ. In some cases their motives appear to be sincere in others the working of the human mind and will are evident. Whatever the reason the dissension created has had an unsettling effect on the Church, a good indication that the teaching is not of God. W.J. Hocking points out that the Unitarians, Christadelphians, Christian Scientists, and Swedenborgians, all deny the eternal Sonship of Christ. (18) This is a warning of the slippery nature of this teaching.
Lucas says that "this age long controversy caused three divisions among Baptists in a century."(19) The dispute was raging in the 17th century and in 1839, in the second edition of his work on Luke, Dr. A. Clark, a Presbyterian minister wrote "Here I trust I may be permitted to say, with all due respect for those who differ from me, that the doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ is, in my opinion, anti Scriptural and highly dangerous." Later on he calls it absurd and the phrase eternal Son a positive self contradiction. He gives five reasons for his views, which in sum tell us that he does not understand the Scriptural usage of the term "only begotten Son."(20) In the 20th century the non eternal Sonship of Christ doctrine is still circulating in parts of the evangelical Church, which tolerate it rather than judging it. However those who hold it are in the minority.
F.E. Raven, an influential teachers(21) among a group of exclusive brethren bearing his name, was rumored to have privately denied the eternal sonship toward the close of his life. Rumors however, are not evidence.(22) Whoever was responsible for introducing the ancient heresy in this group, it is an historical fact that it was first taught publicly at Barnet, England, in 1929. By this time these people were known as Taylorites, after James Taylor Sr. and later James Taylor Jr. who took over the leadership of the sect after F.E. Raven's death in 1903. One of their writers, C.A. Coates, wrote a pamphlet against the eternal sonship under duress. Lucas says that at the end of his life he bitterly regretted his involvement in the controversy. He died in 1945.
The World and Its Unknown God
In principle the world has not changed since the cross of Christ. The Jew continues to reject his Messiah, and the Roman or Western man to administer his sphere of influence, emulating Pilate's principles. As for the Greek i.e. the intelligent and educated their thoughts influence the world's leaders. Then we have just seen how the Church, which should have been God's witness to this darkness, failed so signally. The salt of the earth the preservative factor amidst the corruption soon lost its savor. Its spiritual influence in the world waned as it gave up the Scripture of Truth for philosophy, and became worldly.
a. The turning away of the professing Church from Scripture to philosophy: It took some time for neglect of the Scriptures to cause biblical scholarship to fall into disarray. As the centuries rolled on an increasingly worldly church abrogated to itself an authority to teach which God never gave it. This self assumed authority was abused, a case in point being the interpretations placed on the creation and natural science in general. "The Church" did not turn to the Scriptures for light on these matters. No. Instead it accepted Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, as the approved authority in the field of natural science. Thus the spring of human religion once more becomes apparent adding man's word to God's Word. Then when man's word is proved wrong, the Scriptures are suspect by association with the Church in men’s minds.
From Galileo to Darwin "the Church" fought a rearguard action with science, losing every battle. After Darwin, the war was lost. These conflicts may be summarized by saying that neither side knew what they were talking about neither the scientists nor the theologians. Science is shifting sand. Much of the knowledge of antiquity has been lost. It is certain however, that the ancient Egyptians knew what Galileo thought was his original discovery. On the other hand when scientific knowledge is on the upswing, the science of one generation becomes the myth of the next. Religion is devious, and even more misleading. What the theologians needed was a well thought out generalization and exposition of Gen. 1. Instead they fell back on philosophical arguments, making their conclusions tenuous. When educated men assessed the arena they lost confidence in the theologians. Gradually their views filtered down to the masses. The churches now paid the price of abandoning the Word of God for philosophy. Church attendance dropped dramatically. The coming apostasy cast its shadow over the lands of the West.
The kind of God the philosophers want: Over the ages philosophers and scientists on the one hand and theologians on the other, tinkered with the concept of God. The philosophers in particular wanted a god who would meet their specifications. Their god must be primarily interested in the world and its problems in man's life here not in the hereafter. This ruled out the God of the Bible with His invitation to the Great Supper and the prospect of dwelling in the Holy City. Of course if a god could be found who was generally disinterested in man and content to let man run the world without interference why that kind of god would do too. In any event He must disavow the Bible for nobody wants a God of judgment. Besides the Bible is unreliable since it has been put together by so many unknown editors. It spins tall tales about miracles, which everybody knows are nonsense. If there are any miracles science will perform them.
An engineer who built many great bridges once said to my father "it takes a good man to build a bridge, but any fool can blow it up." Once you have demolished God's revelation of Himself, how do you know He even exists?
Philosophers think that even God's existence is questionable For some time philosophers thought they could solve the question of God's existence. Then along came Immanuel Kant, who demolished their elaborate proofs by demonstrating that you can neither prove that God exists or that He does not exist. Good. If man could prove that God exists the finite would have exalted itself to the Infinite. If the mind were the inlet to the knowledge of God, the scholar would have an advantage denied other people. Jesus drew attention to this in Matt. 11:2525At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. (Matthew 11:25) "I thank Thee Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and educated, and hast revealed them unto babes." The proof of God's existence can only come from God Himself. It is given to us in an unqualified statement by the God who cannot lie "I am" i.e. I exist. But this is revelation, which the philosophers have rejected.
This brings us to a watershed in the question of God's existence. In Matt. 12:3030He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. (Matthew 12:30) the Lord said "he who is not with Me is against Me." So neutrality is impossible, because ignoring the question is to vote against Christ. On the one hand there are those who accept God at His word "He who comes to God must believe that He is" on the other hand are ranged the intellectuals of this world to whom God is unknown.
When Nietzsche pronounced God dead modern man chose science as the new god to succeed Him. This new god had a short life. For most people the death of science took place when the Enola Gay dropped the first atom bomb. This takes us full circle back to the intellectuals. They have left the masses with nothing. What do they believe? There seems to be no consensus. Those who would like to believe in a god would like one immune to scientific attack so they relegate him to the period before the "big bang" where science is mute. As for scientists, everything for them is the product of blind chance. If this is the case, and everything can be traced to evolutionary matter, does it not follow that man is His own god? Of course, and the Book of Revelation tells us that this is the outcome of listening to philosophers rather than God. That book predicts that the world will end up worshipping a man and his image.
Still doubt the drift of modern philosophical teaching? It might help to quote Teilhard's Hymn to Matter:
"Blessed be you, perilous matter, violent sea, untamable passion. Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable time, boundless ether, you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards of measurement reveal to us the dimensions of God. I acclaim you as the divine milieu, charged with creative power, as the ocean stirred by the Spirit, as the clay molded and infused with life by the incarnate Word. You I acclaim as the inexhaustible potentiality for existence and transformation wherein the predestined substance germinates and grows. I acclaim you as the melodious fountain of water whence spring the souls of men, and as the limpid crystal whereof is fashioned the New Jerusalem. I bless you, matter, and you I acclaim; not as the pontiffs of science or the moralizing preachers depict you, debased, disfigured a mass of brute forces and base appetites but as you reveal yourself to me today, in your totality and true nature. Raise me up, then, matter, to those heights, until it becomes possible for me to embrace the universe.”(23)
Why Philosophy Is Inexcusable—the Positive Evidences of God's Existence
We have traced the thoughts of the unbelieving from their beginnings the Garden of Eden and Cain to the philosophy and religion of the modern world. Today Western man thinks God is dead or never was, or shrugs the whole question off as beyond the range of an answer. The truth is that the case for God's existence is quite strong. There is the evidence of an extant universe, and an earth teeming with life. Apart from a Creator why not nothing rather than all that? Then we have the Holy Scriptures to enlighten us about this Creator God. They also tell us what we need to know about ourselves the real history of the world and the destiny of man.
a. The evidence of creation as to God's existence: The creation from stars to atoms, life in its various forms including man, is evidence of God's hand. It is self regulating. The planets stay in their appointed places we tell time by the sun. Creatures have eyes to forage for food and avoid danger in other words to sustain their lives. But they must eventually die and we trace God's hand in replacing them "did not One fashion us in the womb?" Job 31:1515Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb? (Job 31:15). "The probability of life originating at random is so utterly minuscule as to make it absurd" said Fred Hoyle, an astronomer, and Chandra Wickramasingha, a mathematician, in their book Evolution from space, "it becomes sensible to think that life is deliberate."(24)
However, mental assent to God's existence through observation of nature is in itself of little value. James 2:1919Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. (James 2:19) remarks sarcastically "you believe that there is one God! Good for you! The devils also believe and tremble." Then there are those who believe in God but do not tremble, and so are worse than the devils. Eichmann, the mass murderer of the Jews, who shipped millions of them to the gas chambers, believed in God. He ended his life on the gallows with God the last spoken word on his lips "I have believed in God all my life, and I die believing in God." Before his execution he gave the reasons for his belief in God to the chaplain who was his spiritual adviser. The God in whom he believed was a god of his own invention the Darwinian god of struggle, of tooth and claw stained in blood. He arrived at this conclusion by the same mental processes which led him to believe in God's existence observation and deduction.(25) But God does not reveal Himself in creation, which only displays His wisdom and power. Look at exploding stars through a telescope, millions of light years from the earth, and ask yourself what this display can possibly mean. Suppose you are in India. As you are enjoying a colorful sunset, you are suddenly struck with terror as a tiger approaches you. The meaning of creation is not self evident. You need a manual to explain it, and to tell you about its first cause. God knew this, and gave us the Bible. Eichmann's reasoning mind led him to fallacious conclusions. The creation can no more tell us what God is like than an architect's buildings can tell us if he is a good man or a crook. Only God can tell us about Himself, and explain His works. In the Scriptures we learn that the suffering in creation which Eichmann assumed was God's order, is an aberration caused by the fall of man, whom God set over the creation. But Eichmann rejected the Christian revelation. In his own words "I have no sin" "I am not lost" "I will not accept Jesus Christ." Ominously he traced his rejection of Christianity to the time when he began to study philosophy and to think for himself when he became one of the educated class.
Ancient Athens too had an educated class, for the Greeks, as Paul remarked, seek after wisdom. Their philosophers had concluded that all things had their origin in God. Anaxagoras "made the epochmaking declaration that nature is intelligible only as the work of an ordering mind. Socrates carried this a step further he elevated Anaxagoras' ordering mind into a supreme God, to be worshipped in purity of heart."'(26)
b. The Scriptures reveal the nature of the God who exists: The evidence of creation leads the investigative mind to believe there is a God, but stops there. Philosophy can tell us nothing about this God. The testimony of the Scriptures, however, opens the heart to the knowledge of that God. The knowledge of God comes through the heart, not the mind. It was man's heart which was estranged from God in the first place, so that he lost the knowledge of God. So the Scriptures are not based on the human principles of reason and investigation, but on the divine principle of revelation. That is because God is sovereign and accountable to no one consequently He alone has the right to reveal or not to reveal Himself.
God's revelation in the Bible is progressive, going from one step to another, for it is the will of God that He should be fully known in His Son. In the beginning God spoke directly to man. He conversed with Adam and Cain, and warned Noah of the coming flood. He told Job of the wonders of His creation, Abraham of a universal blessing like the stars of the heavens and the sand of the sea shore.
Moses marked a transition point. With him God continued the pattern of oral revelation but began the written Word of God. This not only reduced to writing God's previous oral communications with man but gave us the Scripture of Truth in its varied forms. These written communications of God's mind continued until the canon of the Old Covenant was closed off. There is something unique in Moses, the bondman of God, and it shines out in His writings. To him was given the understanding of creation a quantum leap from the reasoning mind's understanding that all things are attributable to an ordering mind. Moses' ministry began at the burning bush. Here God revealed His Name to him "I am that I am." The burning bush was a type of Israel on fire i.e. persecuted by the Egyptians but surviving the trial. Before his death Moses concluded his ministry in a speech to the people. He told them what he had learned during his lifetime about this God whose Name was I am. In Deut. 33:2727The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. (Deuteronomy 33:27) he said "the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." No wonder we read in Deut. 34:1010And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, (Deuteronomy 34:10) "there arose not a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." The beginning and ending of his ministry foretold God's nature. How? Well in the beginning God revealed the eternal nature of His being I am so telling us that God is light. At the end he told the people that God would shelter them, so He is a God of love. In God's ways the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
So the Word was made flesh. He took on Him the form of a servant i.e. manhood, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself. In this way God re established the pattern He set in the beginning, of speaking directly to man. Paul tells us that in these last days God has spoken to us in His Son. Then God resumed His plan of committing His oral communications to writing. He gave us the four gospels, the Acts, a historical record of how the gospel was preached in the world, and the Revelation, the consequence of rejecting it. God raised up other writers, and Paul's pen completed the Word of God. Thus the canon of the New Covenant was closed off.
Almost 3500 years have come and gone from the time the earliest books of the Bible were written almost 1900 years since the Revelation itself was written. In spite of this immense time span, a variety of writers, and its composition in three languages, the Bible is a unity which cannot be broken. It has been translated from the original languages into almost all modern languages and dialects, in spite of every effort to suppress it and to kill and persecute its preachers. It confronts people in a motel room or an igloo. It makes man responsible to God. It enlightens us as to why the world is the jungle it is. It tells us of the presence of Satan in the world, and his opposition to God. It is the blueprint of world history and the revealer of the origin and destiny of man.
Another Reason Why Philosophy Is Inexcusable—the Negative Evidence of God's Existence in Satan's Existence
The presence of Satan and his baneful influence in the world is one of the strongest confirmations of the existence of God, his great adversary. It is a negative confirmation, complementing the positive confirmation the evidence of creation and the witness of the Bible. What is this world anyway but a battlefield for the opposing forces of good and evil? These forces are personified in God and Satan.
From the Garden in Eden to the end of time, the Bible tells us how the ancient serpent has conspired to subvert the rule of God in the earth. His presence in the world today is heralded by supernatural psychic powers. The historical evidence of how he enthralled and swayed the world with these powers is that every nation is littered with pyramids and temples to the gods. Erecting these imposing structures was man's way of thanking the gods for consultations and advice given at oracles, for healing him by occult medicine, and for condoning rather than condemning his sins. In the beauty of their architecture and sculptured stone man displayed the pride of life. The wealth of the people was poured into these buildings(27) which were surrounded by the humble homes of the impoverished masses. Men worshipped the innumerable pagan gods in these temples and sacrificed to them. Worldwide, sometimes directly, and sometimes in subtle ways, Satan contrived to have himself worshipped either as the serpent or the sun god.(28)
a. The opposing fellowships of God and the devil in the world: A table is a symbol of shared fellowship. God draws on this simple thought to give us a picture of the Lord's Table on one hand, and of the Table of demons and Jezebel's table on the other.
In Corinth the flesh of animals sacrificed to the gods was sold in the meat market. Paul told the Corinthians that they could buy this meat without asking questions about it. They could also eat it freely if invited out to dinner. However if someone at table remarked that the meat being served was the flesh of an animal sacrificed to an idol, they were not to eat it. The principle is stated in 1 Cor. 10:2121Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. (1 Corinthians 10:21) "you cannot be partaker of the Lord's Table and of the table of demons." Satan has another table, as we find out from 1 Kings 18-19, where Elijah says to Ahab "now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to Mt Carmel, and 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400 prophets of the groves, who eat at Jezebel's table." In addressing the Church at Thyatira Rev. 2:2020Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. (Revelation 2:20) the Lord calls Jezebel a prophetess who taught His servants among other things to break Paul's prohibition against eating offerings to idols. This links Satan's two tables. The demons have made a table a prominent feature at séances, where it often floats in the air. In such a setting it is a fitting symbol of Satan's kingdom, for he is the prince of the power of the air.
The table of demons is the invisible source of the doctrines of demons which corrupt the world. It is Satan's fellowship in a general sense, emanating from evil spiritual powers. This can be seen from Eph. 6:11, 12,11Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:11‑12) where we are exhorted to "put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Jezebel's table, on the other hand, is in the world, not in high places. It is visible and carnal. Jezebel fed the false prophets there. Satan's agents in the religious world can be seen at Jezebel's table. There will be found the wealth and worldly luxuries in which the harlot of Rev. 17 reveled. She too was dressed as we might expect Jezebel to be. Jezebel's table, then, is the fellowship of corrupt worldly religion flaunting its riches and seducing the lost. In her was found the souls of men.
b. The power and the glory of a world ruled by Satan: In the temptation the devil took the Lord to a high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Then, in Luke 4:5, 75And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. (Luke 4:5)
7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. (Luke 4:7) he said to Him "all this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them... if Thou therefore will worship me, all shall be Thine." In Scripture the glory of the world is Egypt, the power Rome.(29) So the workings of Satan in Egypt and Rome are the keys to understanding how he rules the world.
.. The world's glory the counterfeit magic of Egypt's psychics: In the light of Scripture it is clear that the great principle underlying the occult is the use of Satan's power to counterfeit God's power. Now God's power in the form of miracles is generally exerted when He is opposing the devil's power over man. This is what Satan wants to neutralize so he can retain man in his grip. A good illustration of this rivalry is the contention between Moses and Pharaoh over the liberation of the children of Israel from their slavery.
Moses and Aaron stood before Pharaoh as God's representatives. Aaron threw down his rod before Pharaoh and his court, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh assembled his court psychics to see if they could duplicate the miracle. Ex. 7:11, 1211Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 12For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. (Exodus 7:11‑12) tells us of their efforts "now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." So although Satan has supernatural powers which convince and awe men, God's power is greater than his. Another lesson which can be learned from this incident is how greatly Satan's house is divided. The psychics at Pharaoh's court are engaged in different forms of deception some are called wise men, others sorcerers and magicians. This pattern persists throughout the Bible as the list of deceivers expands sorcerers, magicians, diviners, false prophets, fortune tellers, mediums, wizards, people with familiar spirits, witches, and so on. Even the meaning of some of these terms is obscure. Modern language Bibles are no more successful in translating these terms uniformly than are dictionaries in defining them. This disagreement in itself may be an intimation that it is enough to know that they represent dark influences to be avoided. Then too we see that Satan's kingdom is a divided one, for its ruling principle is sin, which is lawlessness, or discord. It is only united against God.
.. The world's power the dream of "the first beast": Rev. 13 tells us about "the first beast (30) who will become the head of the revived Roman Empire. His destiny is revealed in Rev. 19:2020And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Revelation 19:20) to be seized at Armageddon and taken alive to hell. However we learn from Dan. 4:28-3728All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. 29At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. 30The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? 31While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. 32And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 33The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. 34And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 35And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? 36At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. 37Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. (Daniel 4:28‑37) that the first man to become a beast was really Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon. This king had a dream but could not recall it. So he ordered the psychics at his court to tell him what it was and also explain its meaning. They could do neither. Daniel did both.
In the dream Nebuchadnezzar saw an image, which Daniel described in detail. It had a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, feet of iron and clay. A stone cut out without hands hit the image on its feet, breaking them to pieces, and crushing the entire image into powder, which was blown away by the wind. The stone however became a great mountain, which filled the whole earth.
Daniel explained to Nebuchadnezzar that the head of gold was his kingdom Babylon. It would pass away and be succeeded by another the kingdom whose breast and arms were of silver. Daniel lived to see this part of the dream happen. A Babylonian king whose name was Belshazzar held a feast and drank wine from the gold vessels plundered from God's temple at Jerusalem. Then the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote the words mene mene tekel upharsin on the plaster wall facing the golden lampstand. Terrified, the king summoned all his psychics and ordered them to explain the handwriting on the wall. When they failed, Daniel was called in. He interpreted the writing that the kingdom was to be divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Daniel saw his own prediction fulfilled when Darius the Mede took over the kingdom. So we have a positive identification of two of the four kingdoms in the image. As for the other two, it is a historical fact that they were the Greeks under Alexander the Great, followed by the Roman Empire. Historians have marveled at the way these kingdoms have succeeded one another.
But where is the Roman Empire in the world today, one may ask? It is in nascent form Europe with its confederacy of states, called today the European Economic Community, and the continents colonized by Europe. In short the West, the term in use today. The West needs a leader to energize it and unleash its dormant longing for world power. It will find this leader in the first beast. To strengthen his credibility Satan will support him with a false prophet, who will make fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of men. This will be a most significant deception. In Scripture Moses represents the law, and Elijah the prophets. In the beginning Satan tried to discredit Moses in Egypt by counterfeiting the miracle of Aaron's rod becoming a serpent. In the revived Roman Empire he will counterfeit Elijah's miracle of bringing fire down from heaven. So Satan uses his power to mock the law and the prophets.
c. Satan's power in conflict with Israel and the Gentile nations: We have seen how Satan has used his power to oppose God in the world. Now we will see how he has used his power to oppose God's people who are passing through this world he rules, and even those who profess to be God's people a profession which only God can weigh, for the Lord knows those who are His.
.. The occult in Israel: In the mind of God the children of Israel were to be a holy people, separate from the nations of the world. "The people shall dwell alone" Num. 23:99For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. (Numbers 23:9) states "and shall not be reckoned among the nations." God wanted to preserve them, not only from the idolatry of the surrounding nations, but also from their horrible practices such as burning their children alive as sacrifices to Moloch. He also wanted to keep them from communicating with evil spirits, for He had given them His Word, and He resented them listening to Satan's words instead. But the Philistines were near, and Isa. 2:66Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. (Isaiah 2:6) tells us they were sorcerers. The Moabites had a king called Balak, who hired the false prophet Balaam unavailingly to curse Israel. Rev. 2:1414But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. (Revelation 2:14) informs us that he taught Balak how to get the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. Seeing the danger to His people, God warned them repeatedly not to consult mediums, etc. for they would defile them. To do so would be rebellion against God which "is as the sin of fortune telling" 1 Sam. 15:2323For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:23). Idolatry and magic arts are the deeds of the flesh Gal. 5:2020Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, (Galatians 5:20).
To reinforce His prohibitions God decreed in Lev. 20:2727A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them. (Leviticus 20:27) that "as for a man or a woman if there is a medium or a spiritualist among them then they shall surely be put to death." So Josh. 13:2222Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them. (Joshua 13:22) tells us that the children of Israel killed Balaam. Saul killed all the witches in the land. However even the death penalty did not stop the people's evil practices. From 2 Chron. 33:66And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. (2 Chronicles 33:6) we learn that Manasseh practiced witchcraft, divination, and sorcery. He also consulted mediums and spiritualists. Saul built again the things which he destroyed when he consulted the witch of Endor to bring up Samuel's spirit from the dead. She alone had escaped when he had, in better days, removed the devil's agents from the land. Samuel's spirit appeared and rebuked Saul for seeking his counsel when the Lord would not speak to him. This incident makes it clear that God alone has power over the spirits of the dead. In so called séances an evil spirit imitates the voice of the deceased, and plays upon the gullibility of the client through supernatural knowledge of the dead person's past life.
.. The occult in the Gentile nations: Paul preached the gospel in the Roman Empire and assaulted the citadels of idolatry. Satan made a stand at Ephesus. His counter attack began with the man who was possessed by an evil spirit. The evil spirit was ignited to fury because seven men who did not acknowledge Jesus as Lord were calling on His Name to expel the spirit from the man's body. So the man, supernaturally strengthened by the evil spirit which possessed him, attacked and overpowered these seven men. This exposed their deceit, and the reality and the power of the Lord's Name, so that "fear fell on them all." People burned their occult books publicly books which cost 50,000 day's income. Then the devil precipitated a public riot to protest the preaching of the gospel at Ephesus, which was "the guardian of the temple of the great goddess Artemis, and of her image which fell down from Zeus.”
In the providence of God Christianity spread westward. The West replaced Israel as the sphere of profession, eventually becoming known as Christendom Christ's kingdom a misnomer of course. Israel's position in the world temporarily forfeited for rejecting Christ was markedly different, for it was a divinely appointed one. This does not make Christianity a Western religion, for the Lord commissioned the Apostles to go into all the world and preach the gospel. It is quite likely that the historical prevalence of Christianity in the West is simply an act of grace by God in answer to the Lord's prayer on the cross "Father forgive them." So God forgave His enemies the Western powers who crucified His Son. By the same token the Book of Revelation is primarily a book of God's judgment on the West for despising His grace. Both in Israel and in the Western nations, profession and reality co existed, enabling Satan to exert his power and extend his influence over those who only gave lip service to the profession of Christianity. Just as Satan had "wise men" at the courts of Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, so today he has those who represent him in the halls of power in the Western world.
American presidents have not been immune to the influence of psychics, and have sometimes avidly sought their advice. Ruth Montgomery gives us an insight into how Abraham Lincoln was influenced by the occult in her book A Gift of Prophecy.(31) She remarks "Franklin Delano Roosevelt was not the first wartime president to summon a psychic to the White House at a time of national peril. Eighty two years before petite Jeane Dixon took her crystal ball to the presidential office by invitation, Abraham Lincoln had heeded the urgings of his wife, and sent for a gently reared young medium named Nettie Colburn." However it is doubtful that Lincoln needed any urging, for communicating with the dead, omens, and portends of disasters seemed to be part of the Lincoln family tradition.(32) In any event Nettie held the first of a number of séances for Lincoln in the Red Room of the White House in Dec 1862. These are well documented. They are recorded in several books in the Library of Congress which are accessible to the public. In the first séance Nettie went into a trance and a strong masculine voice sounding like Daniel Webster's came out of her. This spirit voice traced the history of the American republic and made an impassioned plea for Lincoln to overcome the pressure against him and sign the Emancipation Proclamation. This he did on Jan 1, 1863. The next month President Lincoln attended another of Nettie's séances. This one was at the Laurie residence, where Mrs. Lincoln had previously heard Nettie speaking in another voice. Here a Mrs. Belle Miller played the piano as Nettie went into a trance. An unseen force lifted the piano off the floor. Lincoln, two other men, and an army officer, sat on the piano to try to hold it down. But the piano continued to rise and fall to the beat of the music. This time Nettie informed Lincoln of a breakdown of morale in the army, close to mutiny. Lincoln was told he could quell it only by a personal visit to the troops, unaccompanied by prominent politicians or army brass. He complied and the army rallied. Nettie was summoned several more times to the White House. On one such occasion Mrs. Lincoln was with her in the family rooms when Lincoln walked in. Nettie was in a trance, and he listened to her describe one of the Civil War battles in detail. In one of the later séances she traced battle plans on a map of the Southern states. The last time Lincoln saw her she predicted his death. It was not news to him, since he had been told about it already from other psychic sources.
If the king listens to the serpent's voice, can we expect less of the people? George Steiner, Professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Geneva said "there are three times as many registered astrologers in Europe and the United States as there are chemists and physicists."(33) As the sun sets in the West so does the witness of Christianity. The Western world is about to be plunged into darkness, because it hated the light. In the midst of the growing apostasy, 1 John 4:11Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1) is the beacon helping us to distinguish between truth and error "beloved believe not every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." The test is Christ "every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God and every spirit which confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God." Once we have made this basic identification we become aware of many things which confirm it. False spirits prophesy about the things of the world not the things of God. Their predictions are mostly about disasters, deaths, wars, assassinations, and violence. That is because Satan is the god of the dead, and according to Gen. 3:1414And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: (Genesis 3:14) will rule over the man of dust until his time runs out. While psychic predictions are sometimes true, they are often also false, whereas what God predicts always happens. The great protection of the child of God in passing through a world ruled by Satan is to ignore the serpent's voice and listen to and obey the Shepherd's voice. In John 10:4, 54And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. (John 10:4‑5) the Lord tells us that His sheep follow Him "for they know His voice, and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers."