If you look at the world today, and examine human history, you will see that evil often runs rampant, and at times, seems unbridled.
In the years following World War II, hundreds of veterans surrendered to the ministry and returned to the fields in which they fought in order to deliver the Gospel. Whether it was the concentration camps of Germany, or the cruelty of the Japanese empire, these men saw what a dark place the world becomes when denied the light of the Gospel.
Rewind the clock a few centuries, and you will see the cruelty of the Inquisition, the Crusades, the Dark Ages (appropriately named), and the Romans had cruelty down to a science.
Today, the world remains a cruel place, with genocide being common in the third world, and human abuses and degradation common in the first world.
When one looks at the evil in the world, and comes to the realization that all this came into the world when man sinned in the garden at Satan’s temptation, one rightfully concludes that Satan is the source of the evil in the world.
Furthermore, one wonders just how much worse things can get? How much farther down this rabbit hole can society go?
We will learn that when the Great Tribulation comes. In the meantime, as we take all this in, it is interesting to note that there is one sin in which Satan has never been guilty. Atheism.
This notion hit me this morning when a quote from Charles Spurgeon popped up on my social media feed. Concerning atheism, Spurgeon said, “Atheism is a strange thing, even the devils never fell into that vice, for even the devils fear and tremble.”
Of all the lies, evil and sin that Satan has perpetrated onto the world through his willing accomplices, atheism is not one of them. Mainly because Satan knows as well as anyone the existence and power of God.
Which makes atheism even stranger. Because, despite the universal belief in God in the spiritual realm, and the centuries of wisdom guided by a belief in God (even among non-Christians), the modern atheist sees himself as wiser than everyone else. But, he’s a fool.
Psalm 14:1 says “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.”
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
Romans 1:21-22 tells us that, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
The modern atheist has rejected God, has convinced himself there is no God, and in doing so, has become vain (empty) in his thoughts and dreams, and darkness has filled his heart.
Even though he thinks himself wiser than those around him, he is a fool.
Both Psalm 14 and Romans 1 go on to show us the darkness and sin that follow once someone convinces himself that there is no God. But, there’s another side to this story as well.
Often, the fool that says in his heart, “There is no God,” is not an avowed atheist. In fact, he may even be a professing Christian. However, he is living as if God didn’t exist.
You see, to engage in sinful behavior, you have to at least temporarily convince yourself that either God does not exist, or that He is not watching, or that He doesn’t care. Because if you did believe in that moment that God was present, watching and that He cared, you wouldn’t do the sin you are about to do.
This is not something a Christian does consciously, but rather a state of mind one unknowingly enters into when they are in the process of backsliding. It works like this.
The Christian becomes lax in his Spiritual discipline. He is not praying as he should, is not spending time in God’s word, and is not gathering with his church. As he drifts, so does his consciousness about God.
As that consciousness about God drifts, so does the Christian’s moral compass. He begins to lose sight of his God-given responsibilities, of God’s authority and expectation, and finds himself justifying the things that please his flesh in the moment.
As he does this, he backslides. Until God intervenes and disciplines him. Then, he repents.
The backslide is foolish to the point that even the Christian thinks to himself, “What was I thinking?” Often, there’s no answer to that question. But we know what he wasn’t thinking… and that is that God is present, active, and watching. So, even though he didn’t say “There is no God,” he acted as if that were true, and thus acted foolishly.
When Satan sins against God, he does so in cognizant opposition to God with the misguided thought of either overthrowing God, or hindering His will. When man sins against God, it’s often with the misguided thought that God either doesn’t exist, or doesn’t care.
Don’t fall into that pitfall. We will sin. We will miss the mark. But let’s not backslide by neglecting our Spiritual lives, and let’s not fail to preach the Gospel to ourselves daily and remind ourselves of God’s truth.
Leland Acker 