CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH
In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call. Here’s this week’s question: Dear Dave and Tom, I’ve been listening to you talk about what you call the new militant atheism. You’ve stated that it is an aggressive form of materialism, and it certainly seems that way. It makes me wonder though, since it claims to be anti-religion, how do you see it fitting in with what the Antichrist will bring about? How can an anti-religion prosper in a time that the Bible indicates in Matthew 24, will be dominated by religious deception?
Tom:
Dave, we certainly have seen an aggressive militant atheism to the point where they are just going after religion, but doesn’t anybody recognize atheism is a religion itself?
Also, what about Atheistic Humanism? (Claudia)
Dave:
Yeah, Tom, how is it going to fit in? Well, the Antichrist will pretend to be Christ, I believe. And we’ve documented that, I mean just going back very quickly, anti is a Greek prefix, it has two meanings: opposed to, or in the place of. And Constantinewas the first one who came up with it, but he called it, Vicarius Christi, because he was speaking Latin, so he called himself Vicarius Christi. Vicarius is the Latin equivalent of anti in the Greek. Vicarius Christi means in the place of Christ. So this is who—
But What if he doesn't pretend to be Christ? What if he offers some greater lifestyle, that is more attractive than Christianity? (Claudia)
Tom:
The Vicar of Christ, as he is referred to.
Dave:
Right. This is who the Antichrist will be. Now, look, atheism is out. These guys are not going to take over the world. A false Christianity will take over the world. Hinduism is not going to take over the world, Buddhism. Or Islam, and I have some ex-Muslim friends who try to persuade me that the Antichrist, he’s going to be an imam, he’s going to—this is going to be Islam. I don’t think so. Why would he be called Antichrist?
Isn't Antichrist a phrase that is in the Bible? But what if this Humanistic ruler doesn't use that term?(Claudia)
Be called some thing, anti something else. Tom, it will—it’s a religious trip. And religion is growing. They can’t get away from it, and you just said it: atheism is a religion.
Tom:
Yeah.
Dave.
No question about it.
Tom:
But let’s throw another term in there, Dave. They like to refer themselves as humanists. Now that’s—when you take a look a humanism, now the Antichrist, to me, fits right in, because he sets himself up as God to be worshipped as God, but God is man, He’s the man/God. And he says, not only will he have signs and wonders—and there’s another side to that. Dave, you remember C. S. Lewis, we don’t promote everything that he says but he did have some incredible insights.
Dave:
Yeah.
Tom:
And one, in The Screwtape Letters he talked about this materialist. The materialist magician. One who doesn’t believe in miracles, but basically believes in psychic phenomenon and all these other kinds of things that come out of the human psyche. So, I think, these atheists, who are humanists, they just fit right into the religion of the Antichrist, as far as I’m concerned.
Dave:
Yeah, well it’s—but they will become believers in the false Christ, the whole world will.
Tom:
The man, okay, the man of lawlessness, as the scriptures describe him.
Dave:
Right. The whole world will be deceived. And there will be only those who open their hearts to Christ, who believe in Him, believe in the gospel. I believe the gospel will be preached during the great tribulation, because we read of a great company in heaven. They have come out of great tribulation, they have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. They overcame the Antichrist. Well, in Revelation 12, where it says the whole world will be deceived by the devil. It calls him, that old serpent the devil, the dragon who deceives the whole world. But not quite everyone because it talks about those who overcame him with the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, they loved not their lives unto death. And so out of this great tribulation there will be some believers, and apparently a huge multitude. But the rest will be deceived, including the atheists and the Dalai Lama, and whoever it is, and they will all be united. We’re heading for a one world religion, we know that, and a one world government. And it will be under the Antichrist who will be not only the world emperor, but he’ll be the Pope. I’m not saying he’s the Pope, he’s not the Catholic Pope. The Pope, I believe, will be his right hand man as the pope was of Constantine. So you want to learn a little bit about the Antichrist you could study Constantine. He was the emperor of course, who supposedly became a Christian, but did not, and he was still a pagan to his death. Now that’s what it’s going to be.
Tom:
Mmhmm. And Dave, again, the idea that atheism is anti-religion—only on the surface. But you have many of these atheists, militant atheists who they believe in psychic phenomenon, they believe in the kinds of things that they thing they can explain from a materialist world view. But just like the Buddhist who says, oh I don’t believe in God—just below that there are all kinds of gods and goddesses and demi-gods that they believe in, and they go through all of these religious rituals to appease these gods. So I think it’s the same thing.
Dave:
The hard core atheist though, the Dawkins’ and Harris’ and Dennetts’ and so forth, they probably don’t believe in psychic phenomenon, but they believe in something as miraculous. Tom, they know the law of biogenesis: life only comes from life. And they tell you, Oh no, although this universe, big bang, was sterilized a trillion times over, what do you know, out of this dead matter came life! So, they are mystics, in another sense, although they would deny it.
Gary:
If you have a question for Dave and Tom to address in a future Contending for the Faith, stay tuned, we’ll provide our contact information at the end of the program. You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call.
| printer friendly version
No comments:
Post a Comment