An Atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in the existence of God at all. Of course, he doesn’t know God Almighty created everything in the world, including the Atheists. Such persons are in pitiable conditions; as they don’t know the purpose of their existence. Even the devils and their worshipers are aware there is God; and they tremble.
God said, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. But let him that should glory, glory in this, that he understands and knows me; that I am the LORD which exercise loving kindness in the earth. For in these things I delight.”
“Evolution of Universe” is False.
Evolution in this context, is the erroneous belief the world and things inside it, including humans, came into existence, by passing through developmental stages. For instance, some persons believe man came into being through gradual transformation, from ape (animal), to a full-blown human being. They say all sorts of things about how the universe emerged. Some say it happened by chance; or after a big explosion called “the big bang”.
The summary of it all is, they don’t believe there is God; who created the whole universe, including themselves. They are all atheists and ungodly people, who have no regard for their creator. The orderliness of the whole world speaks volume of His greatness and power. Some people’s unbelief cannot change the fact our God is ever living.
Renowned scientists all over the world, kick against so-called evolution. They believe in a supreme God who is responsible for the orderliness and creation of the universe. On the other hand, short-sighted and half-baked ‘philosophers’, talk about evolution from animal to human being; or from one inanimate thing to other. Their assumptions and so-called theory, can never be substantiated. They are all calculated to draw away people’s attention, from worshiping and reverencing the only true God.
If evolution were true, why is it that apes are no longer evolving into human beings? Where is the evidence of cats, dogs, horses, etc, gradually turning into something else? Those ungodly people, who talk about evolution, can never support their claims with any concrete evidence. Their disregard for Ancient of Days, Almighty God is to their own peril, unless they repent.
They are in worse condition than the devils. Even the devils know quite well there is God and tremble. They are very much aware He created the whole universe, including themselves who revolted against their creator. The devils have already been sentenced to everlasting punishment for their rebellion; together with Satan their leader. If those atheists refuse to repent to serve the living God, they shall have their part in that lake, that burns with fire and brimstone.
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do his commandment. His praise endures forever. But fools despise wisdom and instruction- Psalms 111:10 & Proverbs 1:7.
A lot of people misconstrue what seems like God’s absence in physical interference in the world, to mean He is not existing at all. The LORD is very much involved in world affairs. He reveals Himself to those who come closer to Him. He shows Himself strong to those whose hearts are perfect toward Him.
For now, God rarely manifest His wrath or power in the world, in a dramatic manner. He doesn’t want to force people to worship Him. As well, He doesn’t want to frighten people, into having acute fear of Him. After the revolt of devils and the fall of man, God is using the preaching of the gospel to reconcile people to Himself. It isn’t His will that anyone should perish; but that all should come to repentance.
The truth is that God Almighty is not actually contending for winning of human souls, with Satan and his other fallen angels (devils). The LORD created them all; and has the power to send them to hell directly. He has however allowed them to continue, with their subversive activities against Him, in this world for the meantime. Their subversions include deceiving people, and trying to turn their hearts away from worshiping God. Jehovah wants those who will, genuinely and willingly come to Him; despite the distractions of devils, and things of the world.
God appeared to the people of Israel in Mount Sinai. It was in the form of thick cloud. His appearance was heralded by thunder and lightening; with exceedingly voice of loud trumpet. The whole mount was on smoke as God descended upon it in fire. The smoke ascended as smoke from furnace. God read out the ten commandments to them, for the first time.
The people trembled and were very much afraid. “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightening, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceedingly loud, so that all the people that were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the lower part of the mount.
“And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice” – Exodus 19:16-19.
The people appealed to Moses to be relaying God’s messages to them. Let God not speak directly to them. They feared they might die as a result. After that encounter, God honoured their request; and stopped talking directly to the people in that fearful form.
The LORD doesn’t force Himself on people. He appeals to their conscience: to choose between good and evil; life and death; eternal life and eternal damnation. However, time is coming when God will begin to manifest Himself fully before the inhabitants of the earth. The unusual signs in the sky, and God’s spectacular intervention in human affairs here and there, should be an eye opener to all.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory”—Matthew 24:29-30.
CONVERSION OF ATHEIST
Do you find it difficult to believe in God or accept the claims of Christianity? I did when I was an atheist, but I changed my mind, and my reasons for doing so may be of interest to you, in your own personal journey, and attempts to make sense of life.
I am a freelance writer and lecturer. Since graduating from Oxford in 1973, with a degree in politics and philosophy, I have spent most of my professional life in politics and journalism, loving, as I do, the world of books, ideas and debate. Growing up in a non-Christian family with intellectually gifted but unbelieving parents, I used to think that belief in God and the supernatural, had been discredited by the advance of science, and was incompatible with liberty.
Religious faith seemed to me to involve the blind worship of a cosmic dictator, and the abandonment of reason in favour of ‘revelation’. Why, in any case, should I take religion seriously, I thought, when the existence of evil and suffering, clearly discredited the Christian claim, that our world owed its existence to a benevolent Creator? My skepticism and hostility towards Christianity, which developed in my teens under the influence of thinkers like Ayn Rand and Bertrand Russell, grew even stronger while I was at Oxford.
Then, at the age of 24, I met my future wife, who turned out to be a Christian. Shocked by the discovery that this highly intelligent, and beautiful woman was ‘one of them’, I determined to find out whether there was any good evidence, for the existence of God and the truthfulness of Christianity. I made it quite clear from the onset, however, that I was not prepared to become a believer, just to cement our relationship!
Since my own father had died when I was only 17, I found what Lewis had to say about the problem of evil particularly pertinent. As he rightly points out, we cannot complain about the existence of evil and suffering, and use that as an argument against the existence and goodness of God. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning. Just as if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.
Only by acknowledging that there is a God, he concludes, can we hope to make sense of human existence, the world we inhabit, and paradoxically, the problem of evil. But if God is goodness personified and therefore, as our Creator, the divine source of all that is good, true and beautiful, why is there so much evil and suffering? What has gone wrong? The Christian answer to that question, Lewis argues, is that our world has been damaged by rebellion against God. An originally good creation has been spoiled.
If you find this hard to believe, consider the evidence. Look at all the many examples there are of benevolent and intricate design in nature: the nest-building instincts of birds, the incredibly complex structure of the human brain, the navigational systems of bats and whales, the biological software of DNA in every cell of our bodies, sexual reproduction, etc. All these exist side by side with harmful viruses, disease and death.
When God created the first human beings, He gave them the gift of free will. He did so in order that they and all their descendants might share His life, His love, His joy and His beauty, with Him and with each other. As part of this gift of free will, God also gave human beings creativity and intelligence, in order that they might be good stewards of the world, in which he had placed them, sharing its joys and adding to its wonders and beauty.
But the problem with free will is that it can be corrupted and misused. Our inner freedom to relate to God and other people in harmony and love, can be turned on. We can choose, instead, to reject our Creator and live only for ourselves. And that, sadly, is what has happened to the human race. It is what lies behind the famous biblical story of the ‘Fall of Man’ in the Garden of Eden: our ancestors disobeyed God, with deadly consequences for themselves and posterity. A creature rebelling against its Creator, Lewis argues, is like a plant refusing to grow towards the sunlight.
For the reasons I have already mentioned, I have no doubt that the ‘Fall of Man’ was a real historical event, but what gives the whole story its ‘ring of truth,’ is its totally convincing picture of the disastrous consequences of turning away from God. A creature rebelling against its Creator, Lewis argues, is like a plant refusing to grow towards the sunlight.
It results in a broken relationship which separates that creature from the eternal source of all life, love, truth and well-being, including its own. It was therefore inevitable, that when the human race separated itself from God, through that original act of disobedience long ago, hatred, disease and death, came into the world.
Some creationist scientists and theologians, believe that the ‘Fall of Man’ damaged the whole of God’s originally perfect creation (as described in the book of Genesis), introducing death and disorder into the animal kingdom, and the natural world. Others argue that even before the ‘Fall of Man,’ the natural environment had already been damaged, by rebellion against God in the angelic realm. But, whatever you may think about all this, one thing seems crystal clear and made perfect sense to me: separation from our Creator is inevitably self-destructive.
Apart from God, we lack the inner strength to resist the downward pull of our fallen natures. Without His help, we cannot overcome all the temptations we face, to give in to our lowest impulses, and pursue our own interests at the expense of others. And if, in addition, this diminution of our inner freedom is accompanied, as in so many lives, by positive disbelief in God, a new danger arises.
We lose our sense of accountability and belief in moral absolutes, because we no longer believe that there is a Divine Judge, to whom we are ultimately responsible. That is one of the reasons why militantly atheistic socialist regimes, have produced the bloodiest tyrannies in history, slaughtering 100 million people in internal repression during the 20th century. It also helps to explain the growth of crime, delinquency, and sexual immorality, in post-Christian secularized Western societies.
GOD HASN’T ABANDONED US.
If the human race has cut itself off from God through sin, what has been God’s response? Has he abandoned us, and all His creation, to corruption and death? This is on the contrary. The whole of the rest of the Bible after the third chapter of Genesis,describes God’s rescue plan.
And at the heart of that rescue plan, is the greatest and most extraordinary event in history: the incredible but true story of God coming down into our world, to live and walk among us as a human being – as a first century Jewish carpenter from Nazareth, called Jesus. You could only believe such stories, I thought, if you were scientifically illiterate.
I dismissed this whole idea as an absurd fable. Even if Jesus had really existed, how could one believe that he had performed all those miracles recorded of him, in the New Testament? Hadn’t the advance of science, revealed that our universe is a beautifully ordered cosmos, governed by physical laws which cannot be broken, but which can be described in the precise language of mathematics? Didn’t the laws of physics and chemistry rule out the possibility of a man walking on water or rising from the dead, as Jesus was said to have done?
And how could one believe, that Jesus had once turned several jars of water, into wine at a wedding feast, or fed five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish? You could only believe such stories, I thought, if you were scientifically illiterate, as everyone clearly was in ancient times. Furthermore, I asked myself, how on earth could Jesus’ death on a Roman cross ‘save’ us from our sins and reconcile us to God? No-one had ever explained this mystery to me!
Once again, however, Lewis’s writings forced me to re-examine my objections to Christianity, and the historical claims about Jesus on which it is based. As he points out in his brilliant book, Miracles, you cannot rule out the supernatural on scientific grounds, without first begging the question of God’s existence. Atheism denies the supernatural by definition, but if atheism is false and God exists, who is to say that God is not able to intervene in His creation?
If a human author can change the ending of one of her plays or novels, at the stroke of a keyboard, then surely the Creator in whose image we are made, can alter the natural environment, reverse the progression of a disease, or conquer death in ways we consider ‘miraculous’. If atheism is false and God exists, who is to say that God is not able to intervene in His creation? The whole idea that is somehow unscientific to believe in God. Therefore in the possibility of miracles, is both historically and philosophically mistaken. Modern science owes its very origin to monotheistic religion.
Most of the great founding fathers of modern science, believed in God and were Christians who took the bible seriously. To mention just a few of them and the scientific disciplines they helped to establish, they include: Galileo and Kepler (astronomy), Pascal (hydrostatics), Boyle (chemistry), Newton (calculus), and Linnaeus (systematic biology).
Others are: Faraday (electromagnetic), Cuvier (comparative anatomy), Kelvin (thermodynamics), Lister (antiseptic surgery), and Mendel (genetics). All these men believed in an ordered universe, and in the possibility of discovering how it functioned, because they were convinced that the evidence of intelligent design in nature, indicated the existence of an Intelligent Creator. As Kepler put it, writing in the 17th century:
The chief aim of all investigations of the external world, should be to discover the rational order which has been imposed on it by God, and which he revealed to us in the language of mathematics. Jesus’ contemporaries in first century Palestine, may have lacked the knowledge of modern physicists, but they were perfectly well aware, that his virgin birth or his instantaneous healing of lepers, were events which went against the normal course of nature, otherwise they would never have regarded them as miracles.
Rather than fairy tales, we are confronted with something much more rational and believable. As Lewis explains in his most readable book, Mere Christianity, God is Love personified since, as our Creator, He is the divine source and origin of all human (and animal) love.
The difficulty we face as fallen human beings, whether we realize it or not, is that we are alienated from our Creator because the moral imperfection we have inherited from our rebellious ancestors – our wrong thoughts and motives, as well as our bad behaviour – inevitably separates us from God. This may seem unjust, extreme, and hard to believe, since we are accustomed to being a mixture of good and bad (‘nobody’s perfect!’ we say), and cannot, in our fallen state, altogether help being imperfect.
But the problem is that our Creator God is not only Love, but goodness and justice personified, and therefore infinitely ‘holy’ – to use the language of the bible. This means that He cannot overlook our moral failings, and be united to us in love, since His perfect character is repelled by our sinfulness. His justice demands that the human race, should bear the full destructive consequences, of turning away from Him and flouting His will.
We personally may not have rebelled against God at the dawn of history, but like all human beings since that time, we have been morally and spiritually damaged, by the severance of that spiritual umbilical cord between God and Man, which used to exist in the Garden of Eden. God’s love and goodness and joy can no longer flow unimpeded through us, because our human nature has been corrupted, and we have become broken vessels that cannot retain the water of divine life. That is to look at our situation from God’s point of view.
If we examine it from our own human perspective, the problem doesn’t get any easier. In order to be reconciled to God, the debt owed to Him by our wrong-doing must be paid, but we are morally and spiritually bankrupt.
Reconciliation with God also requires perfect repentance, but it takes a good person to repent, since repentance involves not only eating humble pie and saying sorry to God, but also surrendering our lives to Him. If we want to reconnect with our Creator, we must abandon our self-centredness, but the problem is that the worse we are, and the prouder we are, the harder it is for us to do this.
DIVINE RECONCILIATION.
Given this dilemma, what did God have to do to resolve it? How could He reconcile His justice with His mercy? How could He save the human beings He had created in love from the consequences they had brought upon themselves by the misuse of their free will? How, in other words, could God save us from death and separation from Him in eternity? And let’s be clear what this involves, however upsetting it may be. To be separated from God in eternity, means to be consciously and forever separated from the source of all life, all love, all joy, all truth, and all beauty. That is an indescribably terrible fate, about which Jesus spoke with real horror in the gospels. But it is what we all risk, if we refuse to accept God’s rescue plan for ourselves. So what, then, is God’s rescue plan? How can we be reconnected with our Creator? Ability,
If we choose, to be reunited with God, was also won for us by Jesus because, as Man, and therefore our representative, His death on the cross paid the debt owed to God’s justice by human sin. Like a judge who imposes a fine on his guilty son and then takes off his judge’s robe and pays that fine himself.
I then examined the evidence for the historical truthfulness, of the Gospel records in the New Testament. And once again closer scrutiny of the facts, forced me to abandon my old prejudices against Christianity. Finally, the last nail was hammered into the coffin of my former atheism, by the realization that there was very good external evidence, for the authenticity and truthfulness of the Gospels.
There are first of all significant corroborating references, to Jesus’ existence and execution in the writings of Roman historians, like Tacitus and Suetonius, as well as in those of the first century historian, Thallus. There is similarly corroborating evidence, about some of the details of Jesus’ life and death, in other non-Christian sources like the Jewish Talmud. To quote one of these, the first century Jewish historian, Josephus, writing in about AD 93:
“At this time [the time of Pilate], there was a wise man who was called Jesus. His conduct was good, and (he) was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews, and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who had become his disciples, did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders”.
So, confronted by all these facts and arguments – philosophical, scientific, and historical – I surrendered my sword of unbelief to God, and asked Jesus to forgive my sins and come into my life during the hot, dry summer of 1976. In the years that have followed. I have never regretted that decision, despite many ups and downs and trials of my faith. Through prayer, worship, and the company of other Christians,
I feel I have begun to know Jesus personally, and to understand something of the breadth, and height and depth of His love for me, and for all His creation. If, therefore, my journey from atheism to faith, has helped in any way to persuade you of the truth of Christianity, I can only hope and pray, that you too will experience the joy of reconnecting with your Creator, by asking Jesus to forgive your sins, and come into your own life. He longs for you, and is only waiting for you to make the first move.
I was an atheist at one time. And like many atheists, the issue of people believing in God bothered me greatly. What is it about atheists that we would spend so much time, attention, and energy refuting something that we don’t believe even exists? What causes us to do that? When I was an atheist, I attributed my intentions as caring for those poor, delusional people; to help them realize their hope was completely ill-founded. To be honest, I also had another motive.
As I challenged those who believed in God, I was deeply curious to see if they could convince me otherwise. Part of my quest was to become free from the question of God. If I could conclusively prove to believers that they were wrong, then the issue is off the table, and I would be free to go about my life.
I didn’t realize that the reason the topic of God weighed so heavily on my mind, was because God was pressing the issue. I have come to find out that God wants to be known. He created us with the intention that we would know Him. He has surrounded us with evidence of himself, and He keeps the question of His existence squarely before us.
It was as if I couldn’t escape thinking about the possibility of God. In fact, the day I chose to acknowledge God’s existence, my prayer began with, “Ok, you win…” It might be that the underlying reason atheists are bothered by people believing in God, is because God is actively pursuing them.
I am not the only one who has experienced this. Malcolm Muggeridge, socialist and philosophical author, wrote, “I had a notion that somehow, besides questing, I was being pursued.” C.S. Lewis said he remembered, “…night after night, feeling whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England.”
God does not force us to believe in Him, though He could. Instead, He has provided sufficient proof of His existence for us to willingly respond to him. The earth’s perfect distance from the sun, the unique chemical properties of water, the human brain, DNA, the number of people who attest to knowing God, the gnawing in our hearts and minds to determine if God is there, the willingness for God to be known through Jesus Christ. If you need to know more about Jesus and reasons to believe in him,
This is your decision, no coercion here. But if you want to be forgiven by God and come into a relationship with him, you can do so right now by asking him to forgive you and come into your life. Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door [of your heart] and knock. He who hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him [or her].”19 If you want to do this, but aren’t sure how to put it into words, this may help: “Jesus, thank you for dying for my sins.
You know my life and that I need to be forgiven. I ask you to forgive me right now and come into my life. I want to know you in a real way. Come into my life now. Thank you that you wanted a relationship with me. Amen.”
God views your relationship with him as permanent. Referring to all those who believe in him, Jesus Christ said of us, “I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.”
Consequences of Arrogance Against God.
God Almighty hates arrogant comments about Him, and proud look. He is quick to respond to such arrogance and pride. The scriptures said, you shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain—Exodus 20:7.
Sometime ago, John Lennon a singer said during his interview with an American Magazine,‘Christianity will end, it will disappear. I do not have to argue about that; I am certain. Jesus was ok, but his subjects were too simple, today we are more famous than Him.’ Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, he was shot six times.
Former President of Brazil, Tancredo Neves, said during the Presidential campaign, that if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from Presidency. Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, then he died.
Cazuza (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet), during A show in Canecio (Rio de Janeiro), while smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said, ‘God, that’s for you.’ He died at the age of 32 of “lung cancer” in a horrible manner.
The man who built the Titanic, after the construction, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be. With an ironic tone he said: ‘Not even God can sink it,’ The result, I think you all know what happened to the Titanic. The LORD Almighty prepared and iceberg that shattered the so-called Titanic and it sank.
Marilyn Monroe (Actress), was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. He said, the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said, ‘I don’t need your Jesus’. A week later, she was found dead in her apartment
Bon Scott (Singer), The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs he sang, ‘Don’t stop me; I’m going down all the way, down the highway to hell.” On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been choked by his own vomit.
In Campinas, Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend. The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter holding her hand, who was already seated in the car; ‘My Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You.’ She responded, ‘Only If He (God) travels In the trunk, because inside here… It’s already full.
‘Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident, everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was intact. The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact. To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none was broken.
Christine Hewitt (Jamaican Journalist and entertainer) said, the Bible (Word of God) was the worst book ever written. In June 2006 she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle.
Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other name that was given so much authority as the name of Jesus. Many have died, but only Jesus died and rose again, and he is still alive.
TAKE A DECISION: The LORD has granted you the free will to choose; whether to reverence Him or not. However, it shouldn’t be misconstrued to mean, you won’t give account of your life to Him one day. There is overwhelming evidence around you, to prove all powerful God exists. It shall not profit any man anything if he gains the whole world and lose his soul.
As you decide to repent, and accept Christ as your savour, let Almighty God show Himself strong in your life: to lift you up, protect, prosper, and empower you. Amen.
This update is an excerpt from my new book, “Evidence of God’s Existence”. To get a copy call: Evangelist Joseph U. Afurobi, +2348033275045; emails, juafurobi@yahoo.com, and powertrumpeter@gmail.com. Remain blessed. Amen.
