“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
They are corrupt, they have done abominable works,
there is none that doeth good.”
Psalm 14:1.
Only a fool would say “There
is no God”. That’s like saying there is no sun, there
is no moon; the stars in the sky are only a figment of
our imagination. Such words would be a blatant
disregard for truth. The word for
“fool”
in the Hebrew is
“nabal”,
which essentially means brainless.
“The way of
a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man
listens to advice.”
Proverbs
12:15.
The folks who claim to
be atheist are those who foolishly say “There
is no God.” They are illogical and completely
deceived, but they do have a conscience. The Holy
Spirit works on every human being and is always
pointing to Jesus Christ. “For
we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living
in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another,”
Titus
3:3. Just like the rest of us who were once
blind to the truth, but who now see, the atheist is
being convicted by the Holy Spirit of God that he
might recognize the truth.
Everyone has been
deceived at some point in their lives. Although some
come to know and believe the truth, many never will.
They will remain in some form of deception right up
until the end. In the not so distant past, I myself
was in that category of being deceived. Although I
never said there is no God, the way I lived my life
was a declaration that God was irrelevant. Thankfully
the Holy Spirit sent a wonderful woman into my life
who had been a follower of Jesus Christ for many
years. We were married and soon afterward my life
began to change. The change was subtle at first,
almost imperceptible. But my wife could see the signs
of change. Then one day it became obvious to me that I
had been a fool, and for way too long. I then came to
the realization that I needed Jesus Christ in my life.
What began as an imperceptible change was soon
replaced with a profound desire for action. I wanted
more than anything else to please God.
We can go about our
lives pretending God doesn’t exist. Although God
Himself has revealed His truth to us the atheist
ignores the truth. Unbelief is a cancer that has
spread to millions of people throughout the world.
Many of the world’s inhabitants simply dismiss God as
a myth.
As they are growing
up, many children aren’t taught about God by their
parents. In our not so distant past, children were
taught in schools that God
is
and that He’s given mankind His commandments to live
by. Of course, in our secular humanistic public
schools that particular teaching is gone, replaced by
the teaching of sex education, how to use a condom,
and that homosexuality is a normal and fully
acceptable lifestyle. Forget about the teaching of
reading, writing, and arithmetic, the dumbing down of
all of mankind, especially in regards to the One true
God, is the agenda of the enemy.
As each new generation
comes along there is less and less taught about the
One true God. It’s not just in our public schools that
God is conspicuous by His absence, but also in many
homes across America, there is no mention of the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now days any mention of
Jesus Christ – our Creator God, the propitiation for
our sins, our coming King – in public brings swift and
sometimes extreme condemnation from not only atheists
but all those in the PC crowd.
We who believe in
Christ have no doubt as to who is behind all this
rebellion. Satan is intent on keeping the truth from
all of mankind; he is in direct opposition to the
Creator of the Universe, and he has had great success.
The truth is Satan hasn’t changed his tactics since
his lie to Eve in the Garden. In the same way he
deceived Eve his deceptions continue today.
“Did God
really say…,” and
“You shall
not surely die” and here’s the one that so many
have come to believe just in the past few decades
“…and you
will be like God”. Isn’t it interesting that
the obviousness of Satan’s lies has stared mankind in
the face for many millennia, and yet a huge majority
still listens to the father of all lies?
Mankind supposedly has
so much knowledge and wisdom that many people now
prefer to follow the advice of a man instead of
following Almighty God. Just take evolution for
example. This terrible insidious lie has been
instrumental in placing doubt in people’s minds. From
its inception this lie has been responsible for many
people turning away from God and condemning themselves
to Hell. In this writer’s opinion, evolution is the
lie which runs just behind the two lies Satan told
Eve. Of course we all know that the teaching of
evolution as fact is still going strong in most
nations’ public school systems, even though it has
been proven to be nothing more than a deception by the
enemy and the fanciful thoughts of mankind. Even the
scientists, for the most part, don’t believe in
evolution. Yet they promote it because the alternative
is too unbearable for them to consider. Only the
foolish believe in evolution; sadly that includes a
majority of humanity.
Why does Jesus tell us
to
“Enter ye in
at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there
be which go in thereat:”
Matthew 7:13?
Because He knows all too well that only
a few will enter in through the strait gate which
leads to Heaven, even so, He doesn’t wish that any
should perish. Sadly, instead of changing their minds
regarding God, many will listen to the enemy and
follow the broad way which, Jesus plainly states, is
Hell bound.
There are untold
millions being led to believe in anything and
everything that opposes God, and opposition to God
ultimately leads to destruction. God tells us there is
an alternative – we aren’t predisposed to choose the
wrong way. People end up on the “broad way” because
they’ve chosen it over the narrow.
Satan always opposes
God while applying lucrative, even sensual, pleasures
to tantalize and lure the masses away from the truth.
But everyone knows there is a God since He has made
Himself known through His creation.
“For the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that
they are without excuse:”
Romans 1:20.
Never underestimate God’s adversary. Many are Hell
bound for this one simple reason, they’ve allowed
Satan to infiltrate and corrupt their lives with this
one lie: “There is no God.”
Atheists and
agnostics, both are equally deceived. One says there
is no God, while the other says you can’t prove God
exists. Either way, God, through His word, has said
they’re both foolish and condemned.
“…but he
that believeth not is condemned already, because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son
of God.”
John 3:18.
That’s the rub folks; to God, all who reject His Son,
Jesus Christ, as Savior and Lord have already
condemned themselves to Hell.
You see, God isn’t
interested in our excuses for denying Him; He’s
interested in our faithfulness and relationship with
Him. He will never
force
anyone to believe in Him. He’s given mankind all the
proof we need to come to an understanding of who He
is, and that He has laid out His plan of salvation as
well as the consequences for unbelief. God doesn’t
want a bunch of robots either. He wants genuine loving
children who have made a choice to believe in Him and
to follow Him and His precepts. God wants our love and
He wants it more than anything else. For those
millions who have given themselves to His adversary
(Satan), He is still waiting for them to change their
minds and make their choice one of belief instead of
rejecting their only hope for eternal life. But time
will soon run out for the Christ rejecters.
Many of God’s children
have stopped witnessing to the lost of this world.
Why? Where’s the fear of our family and friends ending
up in Hell? Where’s the burdened hearts? Where’s the
love for our fellow man? If we don’t get the message
of the cross to the lost, who will? Here’s a question
every born again believer in Christ should be asking
themselves: Will God forgive my apathy?
There are many reasons
for unbelief in a person’s life, but they all boil
down to excuses. Atheists have no desire to be
accountable to God, so they invent sometimes elaborate
excuses. Even though God is the Creator of the
universe, the giver of life, and the Savior of man,
atheists still reject His truth. The enemy’s lies are
powerful stumbling blocks; the children of the Most
High God must never give in to Satan’s treachery or
give up witnessing for Christ.
Adam and Eve’s
rebellion resulted in all of humanity being under a
curse. That curse is the sin nature we all inherited
from the first man on earth. That same sin nature is
in rebellion to God even today. We are, in all
actuality, spirit. That spirit is in direct conflict
with our sin nature. When people die after a life of
standing in rebellion to God, they have condemned
themselves to an eternity without God. We understand
that God is ever present in the lives of those that
belong to Him through faith in Jesus Christ, but God
is also just as present and active in the life of
every atheist. The atheists don’t realize it but God’s
blessings are upon them just as they are upon His
children
“…for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the
good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Matthew 5:45.
The burden of Hell is
upon every atheist. At the point of the atheist’s
death, God’s continual presence in their lives will be
no more. Since they ignored and rejected Him while
they were alive, God will give them what they desire,
an eternity without Him. Everyone in Hell is there
because of the decision they made regarding God’s Son
while they were alive. You might say, “I’ve never made
a conscience decision to go to Hell.” Perhaps not, but
did you ever make a conscience decision to accept
Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? If your answer
is no then by not making the correct conscience
decision you have automatically chosen the
alternative. Making a decision to follow Christ means
you’ve allowed the Holy Spirit to do the work in your
life that led to that decision. But a lifetime of
calling the Holy Spirit a liar results in being Hell
bound for eternity.
Atheists need only
change their minds about God by believing in Him. This
means they have turned away from God’s adversary and
joined the rest of God’s children who have placed
their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It’s not
difficult, only humbling.
I’ve often asked
myself “What keeps people from accepting the truth of
the Gospel of Christ?” Then I remember my previous
life before Jesus Christ took me out of that bondage.
Did God send me some great revelation so I could make
the ultimate decision that would change my life? No,
no great revelation, no special angel, no pastor came
to my door, none of that. The simple fact is He sent
me one of His children, a believer in Christ, who at
one time was just like me, lost.
Jesus Christ paid the
highest price that anyone could pay for another. He
went to the cross with one goal in mind. He came into
this world to die for mankind so that mankind could be
reconciled to their Creator. It was our punishment
that He received. He was and is perfect, He never
sinned and yet He took the punishment for all our sin.
The only thing He asks of us in return is that we
believe in Him, believe in what He accomplished for
us; believe in His death, burial, and resurrection.
That’s it. Once we cross that threshold He’ll take
care of the rest.
There’s something so
amazing about God’s grace. His grace is poured out on
the wretched just as it is on the righteous. But time
is quickly slipping away for the atheist, the
agnostic, and the “I don’t care” crowd. Hell Bound for
eternity – what a horrible end.
God bless you all,
Ron Graham
twotug@embarqmail.com
www.straitandnarrowministry.com
ron@straitandnarrowministry.com
All original scripture is “theopneustos” God breathed
God is doing great things in my life. I am once again
able to walk short distances and do minimal chores
around our home. The diabetes meant a changed diet,
the MG is on a diminishing course, and I now have more
strength and less fatigue. The prostate cancer is in
remission. God is good, and has heard the prayers of
the faithful. Please continue your prayers for my
health.
I’m very grateful to those of you who have been led by
God to send gifts of support. God is the giver of all
good gifts; He is great and greatly to be praised. If
God is leading you to send a gift, please send it to
Ron Graham – 96 County Road 5480, Salem, MO, 65560.
For those of you who have suggested it, I have set up
a PayPal account using my email address
twotug@embarqmail.com
as my account access number. Thank you my brethren,
God bless you all.
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