The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"But Men"
God created a race of beings given the freedom and capacity to deny His very existence.
"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God" (Psalm 14:1).
It requires consciousness to believe that God does not exist. By definition, the "fool" who denies God believes that an unconscious universe brought into existence beings who possess consciousness (a notion that takes much faith, albeit not the right kind!). By any measure, the human capacity for thought, awareness, and contemplation must be viewed in the most exalted terms, and something of much greater magnitude than merely the things, forces, and laws that comprise the physical universe. To think involves something far more advanced than the existence of even the most vast and complex - but mindless - galaxy. Thus, the fool, small and seemingly insignificant as he is in the vastness of the universe, actually makes himself something greater than the universe. In Biblical terms, he makes himself a god. Where might this strange notion have originated?
"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:3-4).
The atheist and the agnostic perhaps most illustrate the devil's infusion into the human psyche the notion of being as a god. The unbeliever uses his consciousness to contend the universe that evolved him is unconscious. Again, as a conscious being, this can only lead to the conclusion that he is greater than the universe he perceives to have made him. In Satan's terms, he must be a god.
Of the countless fabrications foisted upon humanity by the devil, this is the most deadly and deceptive, because it directly proceeds from the devil's own personal deception. "I will be like the Most High" boasted Lucifer at the time of his fall (Isaiah 14:14). The Psalmist spoke to the matter, and to how we may prayerfully combat such delusion:
"Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men" (Psalm 9:20).
The atheist and agnostic may not consciously think in the terms we suggest. The delusion nevertheless exists within them as a most devilish and pervasive master that rules everything in their wayward existence. Whether directly or tacitly, they believe themselves to be gods, something greater than the creation in which they live. Asking our Lord to directly involve Himself by leading them to fear Him and humble themselves may well go far in their coming to understand they are "but men."
"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."
(Psalm 10:4)
Weekly Memory Verse
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
(I Timothy 1:14)
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