Gods that are not God (1)
By Fikayo Adeyemo
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In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 |
The innate sense of the eternal in each of us has compelled men through the ages to seek out God and/or take personal positions about Him. Indeed, no human being can have any peace of mind until he/she settles for himself/herself, the issue of God. Unfortunately, the “settled assurance” that many people now have has only given them the “peace” of the grave yard because the notion they settled for is a deathly concept that seduces them in the path of destruction.
What are these ways of death?
The Foolish Way
The people we call atheists are described by God as fools (Proverbs 14:1). These are people who deny the existence of God. The root cause of this is because a proud and fearful fallen man is trying to hide and escape from his Maker, against whom he has sinned. He is like the ostrich hiding its head in the sand or the drunk that presumes his alcoholism will remove the need to face the troublesome realities of his life. When he wakes up from his stupor, all the problems will still be there intact (or multiplied!)
The first atheist says “Oh, I know so much by my brain power and physical observations – and the knowledge has really helped me. Therefore, whatever my brain cannot comprehend does not exist. Whatever I cannot see by physical means cannot be!” What foolishness! What unwarranted pride!
His partner besides him is like him. He says, “Since I can neither prove by scientific rules, nor disprove the existence of God, the “best” conclusion for me is to declare that there is no God – else, I would appear foolish to those who challenge me for the physical proof of my belief.” But pray, since when did the scientific method become the standard means of establishing anything spiritual – not to talk of eternal? Yet, to those who by grace have believed, the existence of God is clearly proved with the proper methods
There is one more atheist. He does not even argue about whether there is God or not. There may be God, or, there may not be God. It does not concern him. He simply lives his life as if there is no God. He is the practical atheist (Psalm 10: 4) Glory be to God that atheists are extremely few indeed. Most men are not fools!
Human belief in God is typically premised on one of two grounds: Reason or Revelation.
God by Reason
Some people say they believe in God because they have thought out the matter and, by the power of their reasoning, have apprehended God. The trouble with this “belief” is that it is an impossible position since God, by definition cannot be reasoned out. The position is wrong, inappropriate and utterly inadequate as the basis for believing in God.
It is wrong because it is employed as the primary means of knowing God, contrary to God’s word and exalting human pride:
It is inappropriate because physical /natural tools cannot be used for spiritual reality. When we go against God’s word and brutishly try to work out God in the laboratory or in the faculties of our brain, we end up with a notion of God that is not God
It is inadequate because apart from being of the wrong nature, human natural faculties are too limited in themselves – and more so, in comparison to the infinite God to be of any use in such a matter. To worsen the situation, our weak brains are also pol¬luted by sin so that they cannot even see right the minuscule bit which they are capable of seeing. Therefore, such people end up conjuring for themselves a God of their imagination.
In the final analysis, the conclusion to draw from rationalization efforts can only be: “There must be God” instead of an emphatic “There is God!”
For clarification, it must be stated that Christians do not say that rational arguments for the existence of God are bad in themselves, but that they become bad when used as primary basis of faith, being the wrong tools for the endeavour. This is more so when the “primary” here also denotes a cerebral and/or philosophical quest that arises from the heart of the “seeker” (thus originating in man) as opposed to a fearful (not dreadful) meditation on God’s “signature in creation (thus originating in God). Even at that, it can only serve the purpose of directing the attention of the sincere penitent to God’s visible work – and hence, His being and invisible attributes, thereby effectively taking on the quality of revelation, albeit in a small measure. (Psalm 19: 1-2; Romans 1: 20)
Deism
One of the results of trying to reason out God is the concept of Deism. This is the imagination of God as a grand supernatural person who created the universe and then leaves it to run itself while he keeps a separatist aloofness from his work. Such a universe runs only by the dictates of the internal laws with which it was created and every human being is left to work out his/her destiny by his/her own inherent powers. We thus have a kind of reigning deity that does not rule at all. But the Bible makes it very clear that YHWH, the true God, is both "above" / beyond / separate from the universe (transcendence) as well as being fully present (and totally involved) in its goings on (immanence) (Daniel 2: 20-22; 1 Kings 8: 27; 1 Cor. 6: 19). He reigns and He rules! He is sovereign.
Knowing God by Revelation
The vast majority of those who profess God claim that their faith is based on revelation. This is to say that their religious belief and experience is not premised on the dictates of their senses primarily but on the instructions of what has been supernaturally revealed to them by the one who they worship (or his prophets/messengers). On the surface this appears good, but danger is not yet over because the fact of revelation does not mean that the source of revelation is right.
Source of Revelation
The first thing to bear in mind is that supernatural revelation comes from the spiritual realm. The second thing is that the spiritual realm is inhabited by milliards of beings, any of which can give revelation. Apart from God and men that have died, the minimum number of angelic beings in the spiritual realm is 150 billion out of which 50 billion are unrighteous, called demons. (computed from Revelation 5:11; 12:4).
Receiving False Revelation
Typically, the scenario of all who have received false revelations in human history is as follows: He would be a young man, often less than 40 years of age, who had heard about the true God one way or the other, but had rejected what he heard because it sounded like foolishness or was too contrary to what he had been brought up to believe, or he had been disappointed in the personal lives of the people through whom he heard the word of truth. Consequently, he did not accept teaching for a proper knowledge of God or of His power, but nonetheless, he yearned to worship and serve God. This is gravely unfortunate because the gospel that he rejected is actually the only means of coming to the true God (Romans 1:16). At any rate, such a man began to observe times of personal meditation in various places – caves, bushes, hills, or even in his house – all the while praying fervently for revelation to a god he did not know. During this time, the Holy Spirit continued to minister to his heart about the truth he had heard before, to no avail because it was that very truth he was running away from, his heart being blocked.
Thus the stage is now set for the perpetration of error. Pronto, one of the unrighteous angels appears to him, usually introducing himself with a respected angelic name (typically Michael, Gabriel, Uriel or even Mary) and claims to have been sent by God to commission him to start a new religion or other similar errands. Apart from the “revelation” given, the encounter is typically accompanied by manifestations of supernatural feats designed to impress the victim who may even discover certain new abilities in himself to perform wonders of speech or deeds. Regardless of the details, the result is always that a new religion (or a heretic sect of an existing one starts immediately). And who can say that such a religion is not one of revelation? But the BIG question is, “Who did the revealing?” Was it the true God or a wayward spirit? Their methods are always frightening, often injurious and/or divisive even when they disguise as angels of light (2 Corinth 11:14). Further, their revelations will always have core portions that are contrary to the revealed truth of YHWH.
Dear reader, does the above scenario describe how the god of your own religion or sect was revealed? You need to pray and yield yourself to the true God. I pray that He bestows His mercy on you.
We shall continue next issue in exposing the gods who did not create the heavens and the earth. God bless you.
| There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 16: 25 |
What are these ways of death?
The Foolish Way
The people we call atheists are described by God as fools (Proverbs 14:1). These are people who deny the existence of God. The root cause of this is because a proud and fearful fallen man is trying to hide and escape from his Maker, against whom he has sinned. He is like the ostrich hiding its head in the sand or the drunk that presumes his alcoholism will remove the need to face the troublesome realities of his life. When he wakes up from his stupor, all the problems will still be there intact (or multiplied!)
The first atheist says “Oh, I know so much by my brain power and physical observations – and the knowledge has really helped me. Therefore, whatever my brain cannot comprehend does not exist. Whatever I cannot see by physical means cannot be!” What foolishness! What unwarranted pride!
His partner besides him is like him. He says, “Since I can neither prove by scientific rules, nor disprove the existence of God, the “best” conclusion for me is to declare that there is no God – else, I would appear foolish to those who challenge me for the physical proof of my belief.” But pray, since when did the scientific method become the standard means of establishing anything spiritual – not to talk of eternal? Yet, to those who by grace have believed, the existence of God is clearly proved with the proper methods
There is one more atheist. He does not even argue about whether there is God or not. There may be God, or, there may not be God. It does not concern him. He simply lives his life as if there is no God. He is the practical atheist (Psalm 10: 4) Glory be to God that atheists are extremely few indeed. Most men are not fools!
Human belief in God is typically premised on one of two grounds: Reason or Revelation.
God by Reason
Some people say they believe in God because they have thought out the matter and, by the power of their reasoning, have apprehended God. The trouble with this “belief” is that it is an impossible position since God, by definition cannot be reasoned out. The position is wrong, inappropriate and utterly inadequate as the basis for believing in God.
It is wrong because it is employed as the primary means of knowing God, contrary to God’s word and exalting human pride:
| Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? Job 11: 7 |
It is inappropriate because physical /natural tools cannot be used for spiritual reality. When we go against God’s word and brutishly try to work out God in the laboratory or in the faculties of our brain, we end up with a notion of God that is not God
It is inadequate because apart from being of the wrong nature, human natural faculties are too limited in themselves – and more so, in comparison to the infinite God to be of any use in such a matter. To worsen the situation, our weak brains are also pol¬luted by sin so that they cannot even see right the minuscule bit which they are capable of seeing. Therefore, such people end up conjuring for themselves a God of their imagination.
In the final analysis, the conclusion to draw from rationalization efforts can only be: “There must be God” instead of an emphatic “There is God!”
For clarification, it must be stated that Christians do not say that rational arguments for the existence of God are bad in themselves, but that they become bad when used as primary basis of faith, being the wrong tools for the endeavour. This is more so when the “primary” here also denotes a cerebral and/or philosophical quest that arises from the heart of the “seeker” (thus originating in man) as opposed to a fearful (not dreadful) meditation on God’s “signature in creation (thus originating in God). Even at that, it can only serve the purpose of directing the attention of the sincere penitent to God’s visible work – and hence, His being and invisible attributes, thereby effectively taking on the quality of revelation, albeit in a small measure. (Psalm 19: 1-2; Romans 1: 20)
Deism
One of the results of trying to reason out God is the concept of Deism. This is the imagination of God as a grand supernatural person who created the universe and then leaves it to run itself while he keeps a separatist aloofness from his work. Such a universe runs only by the dictates of the internal laws with which it was created and every human being is left to work out his/her destiny by his/her own inherent powers. We thus have a kind of reigning deity that does not rule at all. But the Bible makes it very clear that YHWH, the true God, is both "above" / beyond / separate from the universe (transcendence) as well as being fully present (and totally involved) in its goings on (immanence) (Daniel 2: 20-22; 1 Kings 8: 27; 1 Cor. 6: 19). He reigns and He rules! He is sovereign.
Knowing God by Revelation
The vast majority of those who profess God claim that their faith is based on revelation. This is to say that their religious belief and experience is not premised on the dictates of their senses primarily but on the instructions of what has been supernaturally revealed to them by the one who they worship (or his prophets/messengers). On the surface this appears good, but danger is not yet over because the fact of revelation does not mean that the source of revelation is right.
Source of Revelation
The first thing to bear in mind is that supernatural revelation comes from the spiritual realm. The second thing is that the spiritual realm is inhabited by milliards of beings, any of which can give revelation. Apart from God and men that have died, the minimum number of angelic beings in the spiritual realm is 150 billion out of which 50 billion are unrighteous, called demons. (computed from Revelation 5:11; 12:4).
Receiving False Revelation
Typically, the scenario of all who have received false revelations in human history is as follows: He would be a young man, often less than 40 years of age, who had heard about the true God one way or the other, but had rejected what he heard because it sounded like foolishness or was too contrary to what he had been brought up to believe, or he had been disappointed in the personal lives of the people through whom he heard the word of truth. Consequently, he did not accept teaching for a proper knowledge of God or of His power, but nonetheless, he yearned to worship and serve God. This is gravely unfortunate because the gospel that he rejected is actually the only means of coming to the true God (Romans 1:16). At any rate, such a man began to observe times of personal meditation in various places – caves, bushes, hills, or even in his house – all the while praying fervently for revelation to a god he did not know. During this time, the Holy Spirit continued to minister to his heart about the truth he had heard before, to no avail because it was that very truth he was running away from, his heart being blocked.
Thus the stage is now set for the perpetration of error. Pronto, one of the unrighteous angels appears to him, usually introducing himself with a respected angelic name (typically Michael, Gabriel, Uriel or even Mary) and claims to have been sent by God to commission him to start a new religion or other similar errands. Apart from the “revelation” given, the encounter is typically accompanied by manifestations of supernatural feats designed to impress the victim who may even discover certain new abilities in himself to perform wonders of speech or deeds. Regardless of the details, the result is always that a new religion (or a heretic sect of an existing one starts immediately). And who can say that such a religion is not one of revelation? But the BIG question is, “Who did the revealing?” Was it the true God or a wayward spirit? Their methods are always frightening, often injurious and/or divisive even when they disguise as angels of light (2 Corinth 11:14). Further, their revelations will always have core portions that are contrary to the revealed truth of YHWH.
Dear reader, does the above scenario describe how the god of your own religion or sect was revealed? You need to pray and yield yourself to the true God. I pray that He bestows His mercy on you.
We shall continue next issue in exposing the gods who did not create the heavens and the earth. God bless you.
| Fikayo Adeyemo |
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| Hey! Jesus calls you, NOW! Have you ever accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour? We were all born with the sinful nature of Adam which God cannot fellowship with. The Good News is that God therefore gave Jesus to us to redeem the situation. It is only by receiving this provision of God that you can have spiritual salvation and enjoy eternity in heaven with God. I implore you to allow Jesus into your life now. Yield yourself to Him. Stop the struggle and religious debates. While he who is spiritually saved will enter into the Kingdom of God (which is commonly seen as the Christian faith), this is not a call to the Christian “religion”, but a call to the salvation of your soul. For no religion can save – not even Christianity as a religion. So, being born into a Christian family or going to church or mosque, or trying to live a devout life will not save you. Whatever your religion, whatever moral standing you have, you must repent of your sins and personally receive Jesus into your life. So, now, Jesus is calling you one more time. What shall your response be? |
