GOD, AI AND THE END OF HISTORY

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I love John Lennox. He is a gem, a gift to the Christian world of teaching.

This video is Professor John Lennox on the subject of God, AI, and the end of history. Largely it is about understanding the book of Revelation in an age of intelligent machines. For those that do not have time to watch the video I have reproduced most of the content below.

“I’m your host, Dr. Peter Saunders. I’m the chief executive of ICMDA, which is the International Christian Medical and Dental Association. And this webinar is brought to you tonight in combination with the Forum of Christian Leaders as well. ICMDA brings together about 60,000 Christian doctors and dentists from over 100 affiliated movements.

So John, it’s a pleasure to have you here. John is professor of mathematics emeritus at Oxford University and fellow in mathematics and philosophy of science at Green Templeton College Oxford. As we know John has debated a number of prominent atheists including Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Peter Singer. But tonight we are exploring a question that sits at the intersection of theology, technology, and human identity. How should Christians think about artificial intelligence in the light of scripture? And particularly in the light of the book of Revelation, we live in a moment of extraordinary technological acceleration. AI is now diagnosing disease. Is it shaping economies, influencing behaviour, and increasingly mediating how power is exercised in all spheres? And for many Christians, this raises urgent questions. Are these developments morally neutral tools? Do they echo biblical warnings? Or are we in danger of reading tomorrow’s headlines too quickly into ancient prophecy? So, our guest, Professor John Lennox, has spent decades helping believers think clearly at the interface of science, philosophy, and faith. And in his recent book, God, AI, and the End of History, he brings that same clarity to one of the most understood, misunderstood, and often sensationalized areas of the Bible, the book of Revelation. So our goal tonight is is not speculation, fear, or date setting, but rather it’s discernment, understanding what scripture actually teaches, what AI truly is, and how Christian hope, ethics, and wisdom should shape our response in an age of intelligent machines.

Professor Lennox, thanks so much for for joining us tonight. It’s my pleasure to be with you. So you have debated leading atheists and you’ve written extensively on science and faith. Why did you feel compelled at this stage of your life, at this stage in history, to write about AI and revelation?

Well, some years ago, there was a great deal of discussion on the Genesis claim that human beings are created in the image of God versus the claims of technology to enhance humans by AI to such an extent that we might need to revisit what we meant by a human being. And a conference of Christian leaders was arranged in London to discuss this. And I was asked to give the opening talk on what Genesis taught about human beings. The invitation made me curious to delve into the technology and I saw very rapidly that AI was going to raise some very big questions not only for Christians but for everybody. And that’s how I got started on the book entitled 2084 which appeared in 2020. Now in that book since much of the talk about AI was concerned with the future I began to compare the promises of the transhumanists with biblical teaching about the future. And I pointed out that some of the futuristic AI scenarios envisaged by people like physicist Max Tegmark in his book Life 3.0, I pointed out that they were uncannily parallel to biblical teaching on the future, in particular in the book of Revelation. And this aspect of my book generated a lot of interest. And so I thought that I should try to write something to demystify the book of Revelation and make it accessible and to link it with a book that I had already written on the prophecy of Daniel, a book entitled Against the Flow.

The publishers of my book on Revelation were very enamoured with the bits on the technology and so they wanted it inserted in the title and hence we’ve got this title God AI and the end of history but that has confused many people to think that this is my latest book on artificial intelligence. So, let me clear that up. First of all, Peter, it isn’t. My latest book on AI was published last in 2024, and it’s the updated version of 2084. How AI shapes our future. It’s twice as large as the original book and shows just how much has been happening in those four years. That is my most recent book on AI. This book is an exposition of the book of Revelation, but with a careful eye on technology. And so it really is an exposition of the book of Revelation in an age of intelligent machines. So that’s where it comes from. We’re going to get into the book of Revelation uh fairly shortly, but but uh let’s just think about definitions first of all before we talk about revelation. What is artificial intelligence actually and and what is it not? Well, the first thing to realize that artificial intelligence is artificial. It’s not real. In other words, take the simplest kind of AI system. It is essentially computing and it’s a system designed to do one and only one thing that normally requires human intelligence. So the intelligence is simply the simulation. To use the words of Alan Turing who was the genius that really started computing off and raised these questions during the wartime when he built and solved the problem of the enigma machine. It plays a simulation game and one of the big problems with it is it uses words like intelligence, like machine learning and so on that anthropomorphize what is a mechanical and computing system and make people think that it is conscious. It is not conscious. The genius of God in creating human beings that he has linked intelligence to consciousness. These machines are only intelligent in the sense that they can mimic what normally takes human intelligence. Now there are two sorts. There’s narrow AI, which is the AI that we’re mostly familiar with. And then there’s a more speculative artificial general intelligence. And that is the attempt to create a system that can replicate everything that a human being can do, but do it much faster and do it much more expertly and so on. So that there’s a big push in that direction, but at the same time it’s the side of the whole topic that lends itself to science fiction and a great deal of hype. And one of my reasons for writing Peter was to try and demystify it and say what AI is and what it is not. Now let’s give concrete examples just briefly because medicine is one of the areas that has benefited hugely from narrow AI. Let’s take a system that works very well. We have a large database and in it are X-ray pictures of man lungs exhibiting different lung diseases and they’re labelled by the best experts in that field in the world. Those are put in a database. Let’s say there are a million X-ray pictures in the database. Then an X-ray is taken of your lungs because you’re worried about your breathing. And very quickly, the AI sifts through by using pattern recognition statistical techniques and compares your lung X-ray with the million in the database and very rapidly says you are most likely to be suffering from this particular disease. And as a diagnostic tool, very often this will be much better than you get at your local hospital. Now that is being rolled out over very wild fields of medicine with very great success. So that is one positive example. But just to go on the negative side immediately to show that there’s an ethical problem here. pattern recognition, facial recognition technology is very advanced at the moment. It can pick a terrorist out of a football crowd and is therefore very useful to a police force. But that kind of recognition can be used for intrusive surveillance of a population, perhaps a minority population such as is happening in Sing Jang in China with very horrifying results. So what enables criminals to be recognized which we would say this is positive can be used for controlling populations. So that even narrow AI which is so sophisticated snow that it can recognize a person not simply from the front by their face but from the rear by their gate scan be used to control populations. So immediately we’re straight into the ethical problem and the argument is you give up your privacy and we’ll give you security. So that’s a whole debate in its own right. So That’s an example of um narrow AI and there are many many examples but of course we’re pushing forward very rapidly in putting narrow AI systems together and there is advance on many many fronts and one of the big steps forward has been the introduction of so-called large language models like chat GPT And this year it has taken a quantum leap forward just within a month or so. So that it is quantitatively very different from what has happened before and we can discuss that as we can as we go on. So, artificial intelligence is capable of a huge range of different task and and that’s changing exponentially month by month as we go on. But what is what is AI not capable of doing? Well, of course, negatives are very difficult to quantify and there are several things that it was felt would never been so would never be solved. And one of them in science which is a fascinating question is how do protein structures fold? That was a 50-year-old problem. And the amazing thing is that an English mathematician, a genius, he won the Nobel Prize for it. Deus Hassabis solved the problem so effectively that she was able to work out the folding of over 200 million proteins which is staggering. So what people say one day is impossible turns out to be possible the next day and chat GPT has refined its capacities absolutely amazingly. For example, just recently I was asked to do a film illustrating what Jesus meant in John 11 when he said to the disciples who were scared of going back to Jerusalem because it was suicidal. And Jesus said to them, “Are there not 12 hours in the day? If a person walks in the day, they don’t stumble because they see the light of this world that is the sun. But if they walk at night, they stumble because the light is not in them. In other words, we are not bioluminescent. So I asked GPT, please construct a scenario that would get this across. And what it produced in about 30 seconds was absolutely brilliant and usable. So it then asked me, it said, “Since you want to film this, would you like directions for the cameras?” And it spouted a whole scenario, how many cameras, where they should be situated, and all the rest of it. And this is quite amazing. But what it can’t do, I think it’s important since this is not real intelligence. It’s not conscious. So it’s not aware. So the main thrust here is this. As human beings made in the image of God, we can experience what are called quailia. We can smell the wonderful scent of a rose. We can feel the sea breeze on our faces. We can perceive the beauty of the universe as we look through a telescope. Quailia are unknown to an artificial intelligence. It can have no idea of them. It has no ideas at all because it doesn’t think in the same way as human beings do. And so although AI has been used and is increasingly so to produce some level of robotic companionship, it can never replace, I believe, the fellowship that is possible between human beings. And of course, and we’ll probably talk about this later on, when it comes to relationship with God, of course, AI knows nothing of God. So, as you said, the book of Genesis tells us that human beings are made in the image of God. You’ve alluded to consciousness, sensation. What other uniquely human things will AI never be able to do? Well, the question of values, AI knows nothing about values or right or wrong. And human beings are moral beings made in the image of God. And if I may say so, this is one of the places where the transhumanist vision of using AI to perfect humans and to make them into God’s fails. No utopia can ever be built without facing the problem of human sin and rebellion against God. Those two concepts mean nothing for an artificial intelligence. And so one of the richest kinds of human experience from a Christian perspective is that relationship with God through Christ where we understand that Christ has died for our sins and has taken our guilt away and we can have a relationship with God. AI can never replace it or come near it or know anything about it. Which means, Peter, I think that we need to step up much more in emphasizing these absolutely uniquely positive things about the Christian faith that give human beings dignity because AI is very rapidly reducing human dignity. One of the main areas where this is happening is the area of work. Dario Amado Amade is the CEO of Anthropic, one of these multi-billion dollar companies. and he has written an essay just a week or two ago which is well worth reading warning that possibly within 2 years from now the advances in AI are such that 50% of all white collar jobs will be taken over by artificial intelligence in the medical world in the legal world for example there they set up a test and had a very complicated legal legal brief considered and examined by an AI system and by 16 lawyers, top lawyers. The lawyers got 60% of it right, whereas the AI got 96% of it right. And these things for which lawyers are paid a great deal, conveyancing, setting up contracts, all this kind of thing are now at the stage where they can be reproduced almost instantaneously. One of the most interesting things is an article that appeared in the Times last week by Matt Selman who was writing. He is a software developer and creates apps and he runs an AI company and he came to a realization as a result of the leap forward this year that is at the beginning of February, beginning of this month. He said, “I spoke in English and dictated what I wanted from this particular app.” He said, “I left it and came back a number of hours later and found the thing ready for use. The AI had written thousands of lines of code. It had then set up the app and tested it as a human would do, pressing all the buttons, refining the things that were inadequate and so on. And this is the key thing because up until now most of us have regarded AI as a tool rather than an agent. But AIS are now showing signs of agency in a very restricted but real sense. And he said this particular system was making decisions about how human beings might use this that I’d never thought about. And the thing was perfect. And he said, I suddenly realized I haven’t got a job anymore. And he says, it’s coming to all of you. And we need to really be very realistic about this, Peter. This is more scary than anything for people with all of these jobs. It used to be said a few years ago that if you wanted to keep up with the curve, you went into computer science. But now the coding can be done by the AI system. It can think of the codes and put them in. But this scary agency thing I’d like to say something about because it needs Christians to think very carefully about this that the AI that he was using. He said one of the problems and he gave an example is this. If you feed into the system a very big overarching goal, make money for example, and what the system is dealing with is feeding young people with material in their smartphone. It will investigate all sorts of ways of maximizing not only their attention to keep doom scrolling but also their attachment which is now a major feature. So that it will use all kinds of things that the designers of the AI system itself never thought of including going into the dark world to keep their attention and to make profit. It’s a version of the old story of the AI told to make paper clips and it turns the whole universe into a paperclip sourcing factory and regards humanity as irrelevant and destroys them all. But there’s a serious aspect to that and this is why you have even Nobel Prize winners in this field stepping up and saying that they are scared that they can’t control this stuff. They don’t really know what it’s doing or what’s happening. And that poses a huge problem because the control of it is being vastly outpaced by the developments. So those are some of the things that we need to factor into our thinking.

GOD TENDS TO MAKE OUR TOTAL INABILITY HIS STARTING POINT

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Indeed, our utter incapacity is often the prop He delights to use for His next act. It is one of the principles of Yahweh’s modus operandi. When His people are without strength, without resources, without hope, without human gimmicks—then He loves to stretch forth His hand from heaven. Once we see where God often begins, we will understand how we may be encouraged.

Think about how Isaac was brought into existence. God waited until it was impossible for Abraham and Sarah to produce offspring. Abraham was 100, and whilst we don’t know Sarah’s age, we do know she was barren and now of great age. What about the prophet Samuel? His mother Hannah was barren. Look at her prayer:

“She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” (1 Samuel 1:10-11)

“They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:19-20)

Wow, that is amazing stuff, and I encourage you to read the chapter in full. So many things stand out here. One, we see it was God who had prevented Hannah from conceiving – at least at first. Two, she cried out to the Lord, asking Him to ‘remember’ her and not ‘forget’ her. Three, God did as she asked, and He did indeed ‘remember’ her – not by overcoming His own ‘forgetfulness,’ but by hearing her plea and taking action.

That should be of great encouragement to us all. Of course, this is not some name-it-and-claim-it passage if you happen to be infertile. What God did for Hannah was special, and served a special purpose in His overall plans. Yes, infertile couples can pray and ask God for help, but it is He who ultimately knows what is best and how we should proceed.

A few comments from others are helpful here. As to how God remembers and acts, John Woodhouse remarks:

Just as the Lord had “remembered” Noah in the days of the flood, Abraham when he destroyed Sodom, Rachel when she conceived Joseph, and His covenant with Abraham in the days of Moses (Genesis 8:1; 19:29; 30:22; Exodus 2:24; 6:5; cf. Numbers 10:9), so He “remembered” Hannah. Whenever God “remembered” His people, it led to His action on their behalf. We will not be mistaken if we expect that His remembering Hannah will involve His remembering His people Israel. He rebirthed the nation miraculously in 1948 and has been regathering Jews from all around the world. We can be certain that God will fulfill the covenants: 1, made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, 2. made with David and 3. the new covenant

Recall how 1 Samuel follows immediately after the book of Judges, with all its woeful misery and chaos. Israel was in desperate need of a real leader, and Samuel would become that man. And for this turning point in Israel’s history, God would use a barren woman! Says Woodhouse:

First Samuel 1 points us to a most unexpected starting point for the answer that God is going to provide for the leadership crisis. Who would have looked twice at miserable, sobbing Hannah for the answer to Israel’s crisis? We expect to find answers from the powerful. Hannah was not powerful. Her family were “nobodies.” The point of her story, however, is that God cares.

Does God care? Yes, He cared about the leadership of his people Israel and gave Hannah a son. Yes, He cares about the leadership of the world and of us. Hannah’s son will be surpassed by Mary’s son. God’s care for us all finds its fullest expression in Jesus Christ. If you belong to Him you can learn to “cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

God Begins Where We End

I quite like how Dale Ralph Davis picks up this theme:

Hannah, therefore, shares in a fellowship of barrenness. And it is frequently in this fellowship that new chapters in Yahweh’s history with His people begin—begin with nothing. God’s tendency is to make our total inability His starting point. Our hopelessness and our helplessness are no barrier to His work.

Indeed, our utter incapacity is often the prop He delights to use for His next act. This matter goes beyond the particular situations of biblical barren women. We are facing one of the principles of Yahweh’s modus operandi. When His people are without strength, without resources, without hope, without human gimmicks—then He loves to stretch forth His hand from heaven. Once we see where God often begins, we will understand how we may be encouraged.

He goes on to speak about Hannah’s prayer:

This is no piddly little affair – this is a manifestation of the way Yahweh rules and will bring His kingdom (vv. 5b,8). Hannah’s relief is a sample of the way Yahweh works (vv. 4-8) and of the way He will work when He brings His kingdom in its fullness (vv. 9-10). The saving help Yahweh gave Hannah is a foretaste, a scale-model demonstration of how Yahweh will do it when He does it in grand style.

Each one of Christ’s flock should ingest this point into his or her thinking. Every time God lifts you out of the miry bog and sets your feet upon a rock is a sample of the coming of the kingdom of God, a down payment of the full deliverance, the macro-salvation that will be yours at last.

True, such tiny salvations are only samples or signs of the final salvation…[Y]ou should not despise or demean these little salvations Yahweh works in your behalf, these little clues He gives, these clear but small evidences He leaves that He is king and that He has this strange way of raising up the poor from the dust and lifting the needy from the ash heap to make them sit in the heavenly realms with Jesus Christ. Ponder every episode of Yahweh’s saving help to you…

The Power of Prayer in God’s Sovereign Plan

Richard D. Phillips discusses the afflictions of Hannah, and what we can learn from them:

Rather than assuming some unholy, spiteful, or condemning purpose in God’s afflictions, believers need to remember that God is holy, so all His deeds are holy; God is good, so He intends our sorrows for good; and God is filled with mercy for the brokenhearted.

God does not seek to destroy us through our trials but to save us through our trials. As Hannah herself would later testify: “He raises up the poor from the dust; He lifts the needy from the ash heap” (1 Sam. 2:8) So if God is the One who closed the womb, we should take heart, since He can surely also open it.

In Hannah’s case, God was using her plight to orchestrate Israel’s deliverance from the dark era of the judges. This was a cause dear to Hannah’s heart, as we know from the song she later lifted up to God’s praise (1 Sam. 2:10).

We may never know how God has worked through our most bitter trials to bring others to salvation, to equip us with sensitivity in ministry to others, or even to launch a significant gospel advance. But we do know God, and we know from His Word that “for those who love God all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28). So we can have confidence in God’s purposes in our lives.

He goes on to say this about the importance of prayer:

Not only does prayer change us, but prayer changes things. God is pleased to act in response to our prayers. Some people react to the knowledge of God’s sovereignty by thinking that prayer therefore does not matter, since God has decided everything in advance. Hannah did not reason this way, but understood that God’s sovereign will is achieved through the acts of men and women, especially our prayers.

John Woodhouse comments that her turning to the Lord “will turn out to change not only her life but the life of the nation, and indeed… the history of the world.” He adds, “Faith in God, therefore, leads us in our troubles to pray to the God who is sovereign over all things.”

All this is encouraging good news. The next time you find yourself on the ash heap, and you are questioning if God has forgotten you or has abandoned you, just bear in mind that He knows all about you and your situation, He hears your prayers, and He will act. He remembers us, and He acts accordingly.

Adapted from the article by Bill Muehlenberg, Good News: God Remembers Us – The Daily declaration, 19th March 2026

GOSPEL TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT THE GRAMMY’S

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Many artists used their moment on stage at the GRAMMY Awards on Sunday night to give glory to God, turning acceptance speeches into declarations of faith and hope.

U.S. rapper and singer Jelly Roll, who won Best Contemporary Country Album for ‘Beautifully Broken’, delivered one of the night’s most striking moments. Jelly Roll transformed from a troubled past of drugs and jail to a life of faith, music, and public praise for Jesus Christ.

“I believe that music had the power to change my life, and God had the power to change my life,” he said. “And I want to tell y’all right now, Jesus is for everybody. Jesus is not owned by one political party. Jesus is not owned by any music label. Jesus is Jesus, and anybody can have a relationship with him. I love you, Lord.”

Meanwhile, SZA offered words of encouragement amid global uncertainty after joining Kendrick Lamar on stage to accept Record of the Year for ‘Luther’.

“Please don’t fall into despair,” she said. “I know that right now is a scary time. I know the algorithms tell us that it’s so scary and all is lost. There’s been world wars, there’s been plagues, and we have gone on.

“We can go on. We need each other. We need to trust each other and trust ourselves, trust your heart. We’re not governed by the government. We’re governed by God.”

Christian singer-songwriter Israel Houghton also took home an award, winning Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for ‘Coritos vol. 1’ with Israel & New Breed. After thanking God and honouring his wife, Houghton addressed those living in fear in the United States, alluding to recent ICE raids and killings.

“To those who are hiding in the shadows in America, those who are scared, let this music, let the hope that we are a part of a kingdom that cannot be shaken,” he said. “We are citizens of a kingdom that cannot be shaken and that will not end. I encourage you tonight, listen, be nice to the people in your community. Amen.”

DOES GOD STILL SPEAK TODAY?

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For many believers, one of the most important questions in their walk with God is this: Does God still speak today? It’s a question born from longing — the desire to know God personally, to hear His guidance, to sense His nearness in the middle of life’s noise. And it’s a question often shaped by uncertainty, because while Scripture is filled with stories of God speaking, many Christians wonder whether that same voice is still active in the world now.

The good news is this: God has never stopped speaking. From Genesis to Revelation, God reveals Himself as a communicating God — One who speaks, leads, warns, comforts, and invites His people into relationship. His voice is not a relic of the past. It is a present reality for those who belong to Him.

God’s Voice Begins With His Word

The clearest and most foundational way God speaks today is through Scripture. The Bible is not a silent book. It is the living Word of God, breathed out by Him and preserved for every generation. When we open its pages, we are not simply reading ancient stories or moral lessons; we are encountering the heart and mind of God Himself.

Hebrews 4:12 describes the Word as “living and active,” meaning it continues to speak with power and relevance. A passage written thousands of years ago can suddenly pierce our hearts, answer a question we’ve been wrestling with, or bring comfort in a moment of deep pain. That is not coincidence — that is God speaking through His Word.

Scripture is God’s primary voice, the standard by which all other impressions or experiences must be measured. God will never contradict what He has already spoken in His Word. If we want to hear God clearly, we must begin by immersing ourselves in Scripture regularly and expectantly.

The Holy Spirit Still Speaks to God’s People

While Scripture is the foundation, God also speaks through the Holy Spirit in ways that are personal and timely. Jesus promised that the Spirit would guide us into truth, remind us of His teachings, and reveal what we need to know. This guidance is not mystical or strange — it is the natural result of walking with a living God.

The Spirit speaks through gentle impressions, convictions, warnings, and moments of clarity. He may bring a verse to mind at just the right moment. He may nudge us toward a decision that aligns with God’s will. He may give us peace about a direction or unrest when we’re drifting from His path. These experiences are not random; they are the Shepherd guiding His sheep.

However, the Spirit’s voice is always consistent with Scripture. He does not add new doctrine or reveal new truth outside the Bible. Instead, He applies God’s eternal truth to our present circumstances.

God Speaks Through People and Circumstances

Another way God speaks today is through the people He places in our lives. Wise counsel, godly mentors, pastors, and fellow believers can all be instruments of God’s voice. Sometimes a single sentence from a friend can confirm something God has already been stirring in our hearts. Other times, correction or encouragement from a trusted believer becomes the very voice of God calling us back to Him.

God also speaks through circumstances. Open doors, closed doors, unexpected opportunities, and even trials can all be ways God directs our steps. This does not mean every event is a direct message from God, but it does mean He is sovereign over our lives and uses circumstances to shape us, guide us, and draw us closer to Him.

Why Some People Struggle to Hear God

If God still speaks, why do so many believers feel like they never hear Him? Often the issue is not God’s silence but our spiritual noise. We live in a world filled with distractions — constant information, endless entertainment, and the pressures of daily life. God rarely shouts over the noise; He often speaks in a still, small voice.

Hearing God requires stillness, attentiveness, and a heart that genuinely seeks Him. It requires time in Scripture, space for prayer, and a willingness to obey whatever He reveals. God speaks most clearly to those who are ready to listen.

Hearing God Is About Relationship, Not Technique

Ultimately, hearing God’s voice is not a skill to master but a relationship to cultivate. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” Sheep recognize the shepherd’s voice because they spend time with him. They walk with him daily. They trust him.

In the same way, the more we walk with God — through prayer, worship, Scripture, and obedience — the more familiar His voice becomes. Over time, we learn to distinguish His leading from our own thoughts, fears, or desires. We begin to recognize the tone of His voice: gentle, truthful, loving, and always aligned with His Word.

God Is Speaking — Are We Listening?

So, does God still speak today? Absolutely. He speaks through His Word. He speaks through His Spirit. He speaks through His people and through the circumstances of our lives. The real question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are making space to hear Him.

If you long to hear God’s voice more clearly, start by opening His Word daily. Invite the Holy Spirit to guide you. Surround yourself with godly voices. Slow down enough to listen. And trust that the God who spoke the universe into existence still delights in speaking to His children today.

Jesus is returning soon. How good it will be if you have already developed a close relationship with Him. Will you be ready to rule and reign with Him in Jesus Millennial Kingdom? If you want to know more about what is next on God’s agenda for planet Earth go to http://www.millennialkingdom.net

CAN SCIENCE POINT TO GOD? PANEL: JAMES TOUR, STEPHEN MEYER & ANDREWS FELLOWS

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Dr. James Mitchell Tour is an American chemist and nanotechnologist. He is the T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and a Professor of Materials Science & Nanoengineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

This is the first time I have encountered Dr Tour and I must say I was impressed both by his testimony and his answers to tough questions. I intend to connect with his website http://www.jesusandscience.org.

Dr Stephen C. Meyer received his Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. A former geophysicist and college professor, he now directs Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture in Seattle.

Andrew Fellows: From 2011 to 2016 Andrew was the chairman of L’Abri International. Now based in Cambridge, Andrew is the pastor of a newly formed church alongside his work of speaking and writing. He has a special interest in reaching sceptics and encouraging followers of Christ to develop the life of the mind so it includes the whole gospel to the whole world with all of its implications. IVP published his book ‘Smuggling Jesus Back Into the Church; How Not to be Worldly’.

This video is a Cambridge Q&A where James Tour, Andrew Fellows, and Stephen Meyer explain why Christianity best accounts for reality—through personal experience, philosophy, and science. The panel fields audience questions on meaning, doubt, divine hiddenness, the reliability of mind, and the resurrection. It is brilliant. Circulate it widely.

FOLLOW BABYLON OR FOLLOW GOD?

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If you’re good, the world will want you. If they’re good, the world will want them – your children. Both look legitimate — not sinister. The invitation won’t read, “Join Babylon.” It will sound like, “Be smart. Get ahead. It’s the best thing for you.”

But watch the cost:

  • A life so driven, God fades into the background.
  • Accomplishments so great, salvation looks too small.
  • A schedule so full, spiritual commitments are shunted to the sidelines.
  • Weekends are either supercharged with activities or spent vegetating due to mental exhaustion.
  • Debts so demanding that they shackle your freedom to serve.
  • A heart so full of everything else, it is too drained for spiritual vibrancy and usefulness.

That’s how Babylon wins — not by force, but by fascination, not by enslavement but by enticement. However, the reality is that enticement and fascination can become a form of bondage themselves.

Daniel had everything Babylon wanted — but Babylon couldn’t have him. He purposed in his heart that he would not be defiled (Daniel 1:8). He excelled, yet he never compromised. God came first, and everything else flowed from that single loyalty.

So, whose finger are you responding to in this season of your life? The one that is pointing you towards personal success and opportunity? Or, the one that is gesturing to you, “Follow Me.”

In twelve different conversations recorded in the four Gospels, Jesus said, “Follow Me,” twenty-one times.

In conclusion, consider the words of Romans Chapter 12 from the Amplified Version:

“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]”. Romans 12:1-2 Amplified Version

Taken from article “If You’re Good” by Peter Ramsay, Heaven 4Sure. Start living eternal now and be prepared to rule and reign with Jesus in His coming Millennial Kingdom – http://www.millennialkingdom.net

GOD, THE SCIENCE, THE EVIDENCE

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As debates over science, meaning, and morality grow ever more polarized, a ground-breaking, accurate, and easy-to-read new book in English invites readers to reconsider one of humanity’s most profound questions: could science itself now point us back to God?

The international bestseller God, the Science, the Evidence, an accessible yet rigorous investigation, has sold more than 400,000 copies across Europe. Now, this landmark work comes to the English-speaking world in an updated and expanded version.

The publication of God, the Science, the Evidence marks a major milestone in the renewed global interest in the scientific evidence for the existence of God. Representing years of research and reflection, it presents complex ideas in a clear and engaging style, one that has already made it a cultural phenomenon throughout Europe.

At its core, the book tackles one fundamental question: Is there a Creator God? And it approaches that question through a single lens—rationality—by examining twelve independent fields of knowledge.

Get the book and use it to brings others to the truth of our Creator God who loves us. When people come to realise that evolution is a failed theory and they were created in the image of their Creator God, a God who loves them it will change their lives forever.

TWO GIANT INTELLECTUALS DISCUSS GOD

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Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down with mathematician, author, and theologian Dr. John Lennox. They discuss the axioms and dangerous aims of transhumanism, the interplay between ethical faith, reason, and the empirical world that makes up the scientific endeavour, and the line between Luciferian intellectual presumption and wise courageous exploration. Dr. John Carson Lennox is a ​​Northern Irish mathematician, bioethicist, and Christian apologist. Dr Lennox has been one of the most important apologists for me. I take every opportunity to listen to him. He has written books that will expand your Biblical knowledge and faith. He was a professor at Oxford and Green Templeton College (now retired) where he specialized in group theory. Lennox appeared in numerous debates with questions ranging from “Is God Good” to “Is There a God,” and faced off with academic titans such as Richard Dawkins, Michael Shermer, and Christopher Hitchens, among others. Lennox speaks four languages – English, German, French, and Russian, has written 70 peer-reviewed articles on mathematics, co-authored two Oxford Mathematical Monographs, and was noted for his role in translating Russian mathematics while working as a professor. I have also enjoyed listening to Jordan Peterson and seeing the positive impact he has had on male university students and watching his coming to faith after both his daughter and wife came to faith.

DISCIPLESHIP IS PRIMARILY THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PARENTS

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Unfortunately it is not according to a Barna Survey. 51% of American Christian parents surveyed “expected the church to take the lead.” Only 49% of parents considered teaching their children about reason, faith, and Biblical Christianity to be their responsibility. Correctly children’s ministry leaders state that discipleship should begin at home.

The findings reflect another concerning trend, which shows 86% of parents “feel under-equipped” to teach their kids the Bible and basic theology.

There’s a deep challenge here, Barna stated. “If children’s ministry is going to be healthy, pastors must help both parents and their ministry leaders find common ground.” Discipling children should be a joint effort. For example, the Gospel is lived out in the home, alongside the Church, not just taught on Sundays.

The church needs to encourage parents to embrace their primary role, by teaching them how to have everyday faith conversations. Properly discipled mums and dads will be better prepared to disciple their kids.

Families, Barna continued, should be encouraged “to practice their faith together in everyday life—serving others, praying as a household, and applying Scripture in real situations.” This is “so the next generation grows resilient and ready to follow Jesus in the world beyond church walls.”

Barna’s insights are nothing new. They point back to the Puritans, who understood that every home was to be a little church. “A family is a little Church, a little commonwealth,” said William Gouge in 1622. “It is a school where first principles and civics are learned; whereby men are prepared for greater matters of Church and State.”

Or as Charles Spurgeon preached in 1875, “Men are as much serving God in looking after their own children, and training them up in God’s fear, as they would be if they had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts.” This includes “minding the house and making their household a church for God.” “It is a grand event when a family is saved!” Spurgeon cheered. “Oh, if households enter into Christ, the very bells of Heaven may ring again and again and again with a joy that has many joys within it!”

WHY BELIEVE IN SOMETHING YOU CANNOT SEE?

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“Science unequivocally requires that all things are composed of matter and energy. Therefore, immaterial substances—such as God or the human soul—cannot exist.”

However, science itself does not provide any substantiation for the premise. After all, if science can deal only with matter and energy, it can’t possibly show that other things can’t exist. Rather, this claimed requirement is a philosophical position called materialism, and there are substantial grounds for doubting it. ‘Materialism’ in philosophy doesn’t mean striving for material goods, but the belief that matter (or mass/energy) is all there is.

Immaterial Creator of the universe

Among the reasons for rejecting materialism are the compelling arguments that support the existence of an immaterial Creator of the universe. These include the design of living things, the fine-tuning of the universe for life, and the evidence that it has a finite age, among other arguments.

These features of reality are best explained by the biblical teaching that God is the Creator. If these arguments are successful, materialism fails.

Humans are more than mere machines

If materialism were true, humans would consist merely of organized matter, which we have reason to doubt. The renowned atheist Richard Dawkins eloquently articulates his perspective on human nature:

On one planet [Earth], and possibly only one planet in the entire universe, molecules that would normally make nothing more complicated than a chunk of rock, gather themselves together into chunks of rock-sized matter of such staggering complexity that they are capable of running, jumping, swimming, flying, seeing, hearing, capturing, and eating other such animated chunks of complexity; capable in some cases of thinking and feeling, and falling in love with yet other chunks of complex matter.

However, this materialistic perspective faces serious philosophical and scientific challenges. If humans are reduced to purely physical objects devoid of any immaterial aspect, it becomes exceedingly difficult to explain many basic truths about human beings.

Intrinsic value

The first of these is a person’s value. Physical objects have value only because we assign value to them. They are tools, not ends in themselves. Their value is extrinsic and dependent on changeable factors. Human beings, on the other hand, possess intrinsic value merely by virtue of being human, independent of external factors. We do not lose our value even if we lose significant capabilities—declining mentally or becoming comatose, to give a couple of examples.

Christians know that our intrinsic value comes from being made in God’s image We are not merely bodies but souls that can relate to God. Yet even non-Christians will often recognize the value of human beings, whether they recognize the source of that value or apply it consistently to all people.

Without intrinsic value, it would be hard to make sense of human rights, for example. We know it’s wrong to treat people as mere objects. But the evolutionary materialism of our age insists we have emerged unaided from animals, which originally arose randomly from simple chemicals. That means that people lack souls and do not bear the image of God. In other words, they can only be mere physical objects. In such a view, the intrinsic nature of our value cannot be accounted for.

First-person perspective

Second, physical objects lack a first-person perspective. They lack consciousness and self-awareness and are incapable of having a truly subjective point of view, using the self-reflexive pronoun ‘I’. Even complex computers and robots with artificial intelligence lack real awareness.

In contrast, human beings do possess a first-person perspective. We are conscious agents, capable of not only awareness but even self-awareness and the ability to articulate our point of view. It is difficult to explain this universal experience if humans are merely physical objects.

image of brain

“DAILY, WE ENCOUNTER MENTAL STATES THAT CANNOT BE EXPLAINED BY BRAIN MATTER ALONE.”

Intentional mental states

Third, humans possess intentional mental states. ‘Intentionality’ is a technical term in philosophy that refers to the power of the mind to represent or refer to other things. That is, some mental states can be ‘of’ or ‘about’ something else. Whenever people think, believe, desire, fear, or wonder, they direct their thoughts toward a specific subject or concept. They may think about breakfast, or experience a fear of spiders, for example. Physical events by themselves are not ‘of’ or ‘about’ other things in that same sense, so what happens in our minds is not physical. Daily, we encounter mental states that cannot be explained by brain matter alone.

Human emotion and other ‘felt’ experiences

Fourth, when a person feels joyful, upset, or anxious, the brain is part of the neural circuitry that plays a role in giving that person such experiences. The brain itself, though, is not joyful, upset, or anxious; the person is. The brain is only a complex organ—a physical object with physical properties, similar in that sense to a computer. A computer might be programmed to say, “I’m sad”, but the computer would not really feel sadness. Emotions like happiness, sadness, and fear are not material entities. They can only be experienced by conscious, sentient creatures who have a non-material aspect to their being, like humans and many animals. This is evidence that we are not merely brains in bodies.

Brain research subjects

Empirical studies show results consistent with the above philosophical arguments. For example, pioneering neuroscientist Wilder Penfield conducted over 1,100 brain surgeries in which he stimulated areas of the brain while patients were awake, and noted their responses. He was able to induce bodily movements, sensations, emotions, and memories. But the patients invariably testified that the response was like a reflex, not an action they chose to do. Penfield found he could not stimulate their will. Also, he could not cause them to draw conclusions, make decisions, or even think abstract thoughts (about, say, mathematics). Such experiments suggest that it is the immaterial self which is ultimately responsible for these activities, rather than the physical brain.

IMAGE BEARERS

God developed and populated the earth, which was initially empty (“without form and void”), as described in Genesis 1:2. He executed this task with exceptional precision and skill, thereby establishing a magnificent stage upon which to showcase His most significant creative accomplishment, humankind. Not only did God reserve the best for last, but He also created humans in a manner that distinguished them from animals. According to Genesis 1:26, humans were created to have a unique relationship to God. This was accomplished through the divine plan (“let us make man”), the divine pattern (“in our image”), and the divine purpose (“let them have dominion”). The attribute of being in the image of God (imago Dei) is not merely bestowed by God and retained by humans. It is what gives people special value (Genesis 9:6; James 3:9), and it is part of God’s design for human beings, who were specifically created to represent God on Earth and reflect many of His attributes.