John 12:34-41 The
people answered Him (Jesus), “We have heard from the law that the Christ
remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be
lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” Then Jesus said to them, “A
little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the
light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know
where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that
you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed,
and was hidden from them. But although He had done so many signs
before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the
prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Therefore they
could not believe, because Isaiah said again: “He has blinded their
eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes,
lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I
should heal them.” These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and
spoke of Him.
Continuing in our church’s
Sunday sermon series through the gospel of John, Pastor Kyle stated that the
term “deepfake” refers to a technique
for human image synthesis based on artificial intelligence. It
is used to combine and superimpose existing images and videos onto
source images or videos using a machine learning technique known
as generative adversarial network. Because of these capabilities,
deepfakes have been used to create counterfeit videos, fake news and
malevolent hoaxes. It was a
different world during the Lord’s visitation on Earth, but would cameras in
Jesus’ day crate more and stronger faith and would malicious video manipulation
cause us to doubt biblical reality? In terms of the kingdom of Heaven, would
the outsiders (unbelieving illusionists with blind eyes and hardened hearts) be
in and the insiders (true believers) be out? Not a chance; God is in control.
Psalm 81:11-12 “But
My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me.
So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own
counsels.”
Everybody doubts; it’s part
of being a fallen finite human being with “flesh desires”. But it’s what we do
with our doubts that determine our path back to the Lord. We participate in the
hardening of our life by our doubt, but God also hardens hearts that reject His
holy Word and works, giving those over to their self. This is what happened to Pharaoh
in Exodus 11 and they do not go kicking and screaming. Pray for them. The
Jewish leaders doubted and rejected God’s Messiah as if a deepfake.
Romans 1:18-24 “For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what
may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has
shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they
are without excuse,
because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.”
because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.”
Pastor Kyle explained four different
forms of unbelief / doubt, the first being “straight out rejection”. These are
those who hear and understand, but say: “No, that’s not for me.” The field of
Science, though the branches were created by God-believing Creationist, has
been hijacked by God-rejecting Evolutionist that distort factual truths and
deceive the populace with confusing lies of time and random chance for the
origin of life and against their Creator, Almighty God and His Word as truth.
Pre-historic literally means the time prior to written history, which is just
7000 – 8000 years ago. What happened before then, nobody knows. The Theory of
Evolution is by faith, not fact. Atheists start with the premise that there is
no God, not because of reality, but because they ultimately reject their Maker’s
authority over them and do not want to be responsible for their egocentric
lustful sins. The word “science” literally means “knowledge”.
Let’s continue his message and
look at these 4 types in the next post.
In Christ, Brian