Ho, ho, ho. It’s getting a little harder to be jolly this Christmas season. First it was the release last week of Ridley Scott’s extraordinarily offensive and unbiblical film “Exodus: Gods and Kings.” Now, just as you are getting ready to sing “Away in a Manger” comes a new book, Atheist Heart, Humanist Mind. Written by an executive at the home/apartment booking site AirBnB, Lex Bayer, in collaboration with a humanist chaplain at Stanford University (Didn’t know they had such a thing, did you? Why not?), John Figdor. Having no divine source to ask, Bayer and Figdor surveyed fellow non-believers for their ideas of what non-Pentateuch edicts would best convey their values. As might be expected, no “shalt nots” turned up in the survey. No commands to avoid stealing and adultery. Just bromide platitudes, including:
- Be open minded.
- Strive to understand what is most likely to be true.
- God is not necessary to be a good person.
- Leave the world a better place.
- Treat others as you want them to treat you. (Hmmm. Sounds familiar.)
I’m not sure such syrupy sentiments would have had much of an effect on Hitler or Stalin. And I’m certain that if read by pedophiles and drug dealers today these “suggestions” would not strike much fear into their hearts to change their ways. But ideas like this go down well in our compromised culture. Bayer, Figdor and their accomplices, didn’t invent these ideas. Demons did. They are “doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Demons inspired such noble ideas? Other than the borrowed concept of treating others the way you wish them to treat you (Matthew 5:44), the drivel of the atheists’ “ten commandments” are an excuse for feeling good while being blasphemous. As an exorcist, I’ve never met a demon who doubted the Bible, disbelieved the deity of Christ, or denied the existence of the Pit. I invite Bayer and Figdor on a weekend with me to observe the casting out of demons. They might come away with 10 better ideas about how to get to heaven and avoid hell.
An encouraging word: BORN OF A VIRGIN
A VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE (Isaiah 7:14). I capitalized the words because they are so astounding. Such a thing was impossible and had never happened. A woman would give birth without a human father. Why would Isaiah write this hundreds of years before Christ? Moreover, the Lord who inspired the prophet to pen these words added to the mystery. The child born of this astounding event would be named in advance: Immanuel, “God with us.” We take this for granted. We often sing “O Holy Night” and recite the Christmas story without a thought regarding its amazing circumstances. Never forget the miracle that is the birth of Christ. Billions have been born since then, but never has God come in human flesh as a baby BORN OF A VIRGIN since that night in Bethlehem.
Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.
