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Though it certainly doesn’t make for pleasant reading, approved transcripts of certain exorcisms are a riveting window into the reality of the absolute spiritual warfare all around us. No reasonable individual, upon some serious research, can escape the overwhelming evidence of the reality of Satan.
Certainly, the intellectual elite must, of necessity, deny his existence. To debate the concept of God draws the thoughtful atheist into a logical trap from which he cannot escape. Namely, it is impossible to factually prove that God doesn’t exist. It is even more impossible to convince a man of faith that he must abandon his spirit in order to fully use his intellect. Trying to capture Divinity with the human mind is like trying to catch a stallion in a spiderweb; the tools are simply insufficient for the job.
The rational thinker need only experience the sunset over an ocean, contemplate the stars or study the anatomy of anything, from an ant to the human eye, to acknowledge that there is something out there bigger than himself. The atheist, however, must quench his ego driven curiosity with the only tool he has at hand, his intellect. Consequently, he satisfies his need to fill the hole in his soul, i.e., the longing for his Maker, with a set of limiting catch phrases taught him by others of his ilk. All men, by our very nature, must and will stand in awe of something. The atheist simply worships the collective intellect and education of mankind in place of its Creator (1 Corinthians 2:14). He sees his mind and science as the ultimate end and purpose of his species and he has designed his own utopia fueled by technology and enlightened human reason. He, who scoffs at religion, has even given his own religion a name. He calls himself a Secular Humanist.
Now if, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, a man can actually convince himself that the order of the universe is completely random, how could he possibly believe that some evil demon, who makes little girls throw up pea soup, is in some way corrupting his logic? By definition, belief in Satan is impossible for the intellectual atheists and secular humanists who dominate our universities and sources of news and entertainment. Yet, what is far more insidious is the fact that even the Judeo Christian ethos that underpins western civilization has gradually seen itself quietly refuse to acknowledge the existence of the very real antigod who is singularly and directly responsible for all of the misery that has ever befallen mankind.
So, I ask that you take some time to consider the enemy. You already know that he is real in a spiritual, religious and historical sense, yet you may not fully realize that he also specializes in politics, education, marriage and entertainment. It is he who makes you want to throw the remote control at the TV at night. It is he who makes you so afraid for your children. It is he who inspires man’s inhuman hatred and violence, yet it is also he who would, above all, convince us that he does not exist.
If you want to end a serious geo-political discussion, you need only mention his name to very quickly empty the room. Though we will generally acknowledge the existence of good and evil in the world, we have grown much too sophisticated to speak of Satan. It is in this, the collective “whatever” attitude of man that he gains his greatest foothold. His preternatural intellect is vastly greater than ours and his rage against God and man is insatiable, yet he knows that man, aligned with God, is completely beyond his grasp. Consequently his greatest weapon is stealth, but, once you examine the overall picture closely, it becomes like a Highlights magazine hidden picture puzzle. You will find many clear items hidden within the large picture. Remember how much fun it was, once you got focused, to find the tooth brush or hammer hidden in the forest scene? Remember how much easier it got once you understood the game? After all, there are only so many ways you can hide a bicycle or a wishing well in an oak tree. Well this is no different. Once you know where and how to look, the geopolitical landscape is both simple and easily predictable.
The war has never ended. Homicide, infanticide, suicide, and genocide have all been with us since the beginning of time. The antagonist has always been the same, although in his strategy these more obvious crimes against God and humanity have given way to the more sophisticated, yet ultimate crime that humanity can commit — Deicide. The first time we killed Our Lord with scourges and nails. This time we are being tempted to do so with the bubble gum wrapper philosophy that we call intellectual atheism.
And I’ll make a wager with you. I’ll bet that if ever you pose the question, “I wonder if it’s possible that the devil is behind some of the problems of our nation and our world?” you will be met with instant dismissal. For intellectuals will think you uneducated, conservatives will think you obsessive, even religious people (though they may well agree with you) will think you contentious. While these perennially disparate groups will politely acknowledge that there is evil in the world, they will all agree that to reduce the problems of mankind to some unilaterally diabolical intellect, some one individual, some Satan, bent upon the wholesale spiritual destruction of mankind, is patently ridiculous.
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This is an excerpt from Val Bianco’s newest book It’s the Devil, Stupid, expected to be available in 2013.
© Val Bianco. All Rights Reserved.
9 thoughts on “A Wager About Satan”
Val, by pointing the finger at Satan, you distract the responsibility from God. He, in His wisdom allowed a supernatural bully to committ these attrocities and then points the finger at US for eating the proverbial apple. Doesn’t say much for God to let this maniacal evil loose amongst helpless humans. But He did. This is why you can’t
convince an atheist that the devil exists, never mind his creator.
Medieval rants;
Mathematics postulates the existence of many things. Bring me a bucket of dark matter and we’ll talk. Of all the things I’ve experienced in my lifetime, higher math is dead last in its likelihood to explain ultimate reality.
Nice try Brian.
So, could you please name me one scientist for whom it is a “key tenet” that “if people are incapable of discovering the nature of something utilizing the scientific method, then the “something” cannot exist.”? In science things are often mathematically surmised to exist but no evidence, apart from the math, has been yet found. And then, the item turns up! The Higgs-Boson particle is one such thing. In other cases, science undergoes constant revision in the face of further evidence, admitting new ideas, discarding others. Unlike religion which holds hard to its theories in the total absence of good evidence, putting its hands over its ears and going “lalalalala”.
And a “hypothesis” is not a leap of faith. It is the starting point of a scientific investigation. The scientist says “I’m going to guess that X will happen when I do this”. But remains totally open to the possibility that Y will happen instead. The experiment will prove or disprove the hypothesis. And the scientist, who was not personally invested in X or Y or Z being the outcome, does good science in reporting the actual outcome. Unlike religion in which only one outcome is acceptable.
Hi Phil. I understand your position regarding the existence of God.
That said, I believe many people who share similar viewpoints as yours suffer from the same intellectual plague…academic hubris. There are a large number of people in the world who, unfortunately, fall prey to the notion that the only reality in existence is our own; the one we can see, touch, taste, smell and hear. One of the key tenets of many scientists…but certainly not all…is that if people are incapable of discovering the nature of something utilizing the scientific method, then the “something” cannot exist. People who dogmatically follow this scientific principle are obliged to castoff belief in alternative realities, and label such beliefs as myth, folklore, and superstition.
However, I would like to point out a few acceptably valid scientific hypotheses that require those who “believe” in them to make an intellectual “leap of faith.” Dark matter, string theory, interstellar wormholes, alternate planes of existence, and many other unproven theories and theorems, are generally regarded as acceptably valid “hypotheses.”
How are these considered acceptable hypotheses? I submit they are deemed to be acceptable hypotheses because what else could possibly explain certain phenomena in our universe…even though we are incapable of discovering the true nature of these hypotheses utilizing the scientific method.
Science allows itself to make “leaps of faith” by calling these leaps “hypothesis.” However, when the common person makes similar hypotheses regarding human existence, their hypotheses are labeled myth, folklore, and superstition. I submit a double-standard is being applied regarding science’s judgment of those with faith.
Science denies God’s existence because science cannot measure, touch, smell, taste, see or hear God…therefore God cannot and does not exist, and anyone who believes in God is irrational.
Personally, I do believe in God…Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Furthermore, I believe God is completely real, knowable, sensible and merciful.
Approximately 85% of the world’s 7+billion believe there is a higher power, while the remainder of earth’s people are either agnostic or atheistic. Do you really believe that many people are irrationally wrong?
Either way…I and billions of others believe in God because we received the “gift of faith.” I will pray and ask God to mercifully give you the same gift, not only as faith pertains to the matter of science, but as faith pertains to everything else in your life.
I’m very tired now, so I will sign off. The purpose of my note was not to ridicule or attack you Phil. Rather, my purpose was to strike up a dialogue with you in the hope that one day, you too may experience God’s love and mercy to the point you will recognize His presence in the world, and in your life.
God bless!
Phil, you lost me at Stephen Hawking.
Do you remember when the scientists used to say that we were on the verge of the “theory of everything?” One couldn’t turn on PBS without a NOVA special about how close we are to finding the theory that would finally make physics stand on its own.
Steven Hawking is a fascinating case study. He too believed the theory of everything (TOE) was imminent. Once this was found, we would know why there was a universe and where it came from. Physics would be self-sustaining.
Did you know that he changed his mind after considering Godel’s theorem? The theorem states that a system of math and logic can never explain itself from within its own framework. It requires a higher level framework to explain it.
From Hawking’s recent speech: Godel and the End of Physics:
“Some people will be very disappointed if there is not an ultimate theory, that can be formulated as a finite number of principles.I used to belong to that camp, but I have changed my mind. I’m now glad that our search for understanding will never come to an end, and that we will always have the challenge of new discovery. Without it, we would stagnate. Godel’s theorem ensured there would always be a job for mathematicians.”
Translation: science cannot explain itself. It never will.
I notice the media tends to be very silent about Godel and his pesky little theorem. I can’t say I blame them. For those in the know — like Hawking — Godel’s theorem was a game-changer.
“We shouldn’t be surprised that conditions in the universe are suitable for life, but this is not evidence that the universe was designed to allow for life. We could call order by the name of God, but it would be an impersonal God. There’s not much personal about the laws of physics.” (Quoted in “Leaping the Abyss” [April 2002] by Gregory Benford, in Reason Magazine) Steven Hawking
Also: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/may/15/stephen-hawking-interview-there-is-no-heaven
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Well, friend, I find anyone who lists Dawkins and Hitchens in the same grouping as Darwin and Hawkings to have entirely different standards in the quest for truth than I. The science of Atheists is, in my opinion, woefully inadequate to the objective mind. On the bright side…at least you didn’t do the Galieo dance.
I am not an atheist, rather a pantheist. I am somewhat overwhelmed by the convoluted logic of your post. First and foremost, I stand in awe of all that is visible both at the macro and micro level. I am in awe at the insane complexity of we primates. I am in awe of sunrises and sunsets. I, however, do not believe that one needs a god to explain this wonderment. Evolution over 500,000 or 200,000 years (depending on the expert), selective genetic enhancement, survival of the fittest…the works of Darwin, Hawkings, Dawkins, Hitchens provide for me a scientific basis to preclude the existence of a super power to explain my world…reason and intellect provide the basis for ability to stand in awe. I would not want to either engage in proving or disproving a god…it’s a concept not necessary to explain our contracting universe.
As for Satan? Well, some people believe in this fictional character as is their right. I believe that evil exists and that love exists. I do not believe that entity takes us over to be evil or to be good. Good cannot exist without without evil, otherwise there would a void of definition. Happy could not exist without sad, joy without depression…we simply live in a relatively binary world. I cannot explain the existence of evil, but would not ascribe definition to an entity. Delusion, psychosis, mental illness may be a mask for evil hallucination, but a dude named Satan…I think not.
Faith is believe in that which cannot be proven, reason and intellect search for explanations. I have no need to prove a god exist…extraordinary claims, like those you have presented require extraordinary proofs.