Biblical Audio Commentary – A Fool Mocks God

Biblical Audio Commentary – A Fool Mocks God

Transcript:

It’s quite helpful when someone else essentially writes my Commentary for me.  That happened in my prior offering that I titled A Hard Heart.  Today, we have an addendum to that based on another email this particular author sent to his subscriber list.

As you’ll see, I’m getting quite the publicity – or notoriety, as the case may be – from this person I refer to with the initial J.  Based on how the world gobbles up anything that makes fun of God or those who serve Him, it’s doubtful I’ll get any new readers from the exposure, but who knows?  If by some odd chance you order my books based on this exchange of Christ-follower versus God-mocker, I’d love to know that.  Of course, reviews are another thing, so if I see negative comments on Amazon, I’ll have a pretty good idea why they showed up.

I’ve titled this Commentary A Fool Mocks God, and you’ll see there’s a good reason for that.  The Bible is clear about those who disdain Him and walk their own path independently of His holy ways.  They know better in their own mind how God should act.  Anything contrary to their imaginings, and He’s someone they have no desire to know.  Neither do they have any fear of Him.  That’s fine, but reality is a difficult thing to escape.  I can believe no trains ever run down these tracks, so I can sleep on them with full assurance nothing untoward will happen to me.  I can remain in that delusion until the early morning 4:05 comes rolling my way and I’m sound asleep.  Sadly, I’ll stay that way from the world’s perspective but wake up in a very unsavory place.  Such is life and death to those who make God in their own image and scoff about the real One who created the heavens, the earth, and all that is in them.

Unprovoked by me, J decided to take another crack at God and my faith, so I thought I’d share once more his foolish thinking.  I noted in the last Commentary that after my last email to him I knocked the dust off my feet such that I wouldn’t directly connect with him any longer.  However, J needed the final word in two subsequent emails and another public final word to his subscriber list as you’ll note today.  I guess if nothing else, my meager efforts on behalf of God disturbed him enough that he feels he must continue justifying himself.

What we really have here is a morality tale that provides a clear picture of how far the world and its adherents have fallen away from any kind of understanding of who God is, along with no desire whatsoever to humbly seek Him.  Do you want to know why the world is on a collision course with God and His wrath that will culminate in the Tribulation?  What I present today should leave you absolutely convinced that God is just and that His justice is long overdue.

As before, I’ll preface J’s comments with his initial to identify his comments, and I’ll insert my own as appropriate by indicating this with my initials of GWR.

On February 25 J took up the crusade once more with this missive to his email subscribers:

J: Two weeks ago, I sent out a post questioning whether the god depicted in the Old Testament was really God. My doubts arise from the psychopathic and tyrannical behaviour of Yahweh as depicted in the opening books of the Bible — executing or orchestrating acts of torture, child sacrifice and mass murder (along with lesser crimes of looting, pillaging and enslaving “unchosen” people).

As Father Seán Ólaoire says in his book, Setting God Free, Genesis through Deuteronomy “sounds like a horror story co-written by Edgar Alan Poe and Stephen King.”

On the subject of horror authors, my daring to question such Biblical megalomania resulted in this email from Gary Ritter, a minister and a Christian horror novelist:

[GWR] “None of this is about me. It’s about God, His Word, and your reaction to it. I’m not judging you; this is an observation: you have a very hard heart. For proof, we only have to consider the case of Pharaoh in the time of the Exodus. His heart was already hard against God, and God allowed it to harden even more.”

GWR: What J is doing here is to reiterate what I conveyed to him previously.  If my statement sounds familiar, it’s because I had said this to him and reported on in in my last Commentary.

J: Actually, in the Bible, does Yahweh not say, “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart…” (Exodus 7:3)? It was like Yahweh wanted to have an excuse to release all those locusts and kill the firstborns.

Ritter continues: [GWR] “In so doing, great calamity came upon him and all of Egypt. You are treading on very dangerous ground and I’m trying to warn you.”

J: So Yahweh will hurt me if I question why he hurt and murdered so many people? I think I would need a hard heart not to question such a god.

GWR: Let’s stop right there for a moment.  Is it not astounding to you who are children of God how disdainful J is?  Note his absolute lack of any fear and reverence of the One who gave him life.  I’m not sure where he thinks he came from, but he certainly doesn’t attribute any credit to God in that regard, nor does he see his life as a blessing in the idea of imago Dei, i.e. created in the image of God.  He obviously has no idea, and didn’t want to hear it from me, how even now he is balancing on the cutting edge of life and death.

J: More gloom and doom from Ritter: [GWR] “With that said, sometime in the not-too-distant-future[,] some very strange things will happen here in this world. Remember my warning. You will have, hopefully, a final opportunity to turn your life over to God through His Son Jesus Christ.”

[GWR]: Look at that!  J has appropriated my self-title of Mr. Doom and Gloom.  And yes, absolutely, I wear that designation with humble pride.  Doom and gloom are definitely in the earth’s near future whereby all inhabitants of this world will suffer.  Frankly, what’s coming is the most pessimistic outlook ever conceived.  Yet, we who are in Christ should have the ultimate optimism because soon we won’t have to deal with this alien, lost, and lawless, Christ-rejecting place any longer since we’ll be with the Lord.  Come, Lord Jesus!

J: Apparently, Ritter is not only a prophet but a psychic — he knows whether I’ve turned my life over to God or not.

[GWR]: What J doesn’t understand is that we who follow Christ and place our trust and faith in Him have the Holy Spirt indwelling us.  As such, we have God-given discernment.  We can fairly easily see someone’s spiritual condition because of the fruit they bear.  A tree bearing bad fruit is so evident that it shouts: “Look at me!  I have nothing to do with the God of the Bible and His Son Jesus Christ.”  So no, I’m neither a prophet nor a psychic.  I’m one who can observe and see that J has no Godly attributes indicative of salvation.  He is not born-again.  Thus, his fate is sealed to spend eternity apart from God.

J: Ritter adds: [GWR] “If you don’t [turn your life over to God], you will doubtless end up taking the Mark of the Beast, which ironically for you could be related to a vaccine. When you take that Mark, it will indicate your allegiance to the Antichrist who will say that he is god.”

J: Kind of like the brutal deity in the Old Testament who says that he is god?

GWR: J’s book, as I previously noted, dealt with a rebellious group of people in Canada who defied the government’s various COVID mandates.  J believes in medical freedom and that an individual should have the choice of following what the government says or his own conscience.  That’s why it’s brutally ironic that if he doesn’t change his heart and trust Christ for his salvation, he will inevitably take the Mark of the Beast against all of his prior instincts.

J: More Ritter prophecies: [GWR] “Even you will submit to [the Antichrist] unless you have chosen Jesus as Savior and Lord. Mock this all you will, but heed my words. If you choose Antichrist, you will choose eternity in the Lake of Fire. God doesn’t want that for you because of His great love for you, but if you continue down this current road, that’s where you’ll end up.”

J: Well, thanks for the warning… But I think I’ll continue down the road of asking questions and not assuming that the long-held consensus around the Bible is true.

GWR: We all know what Proverbs 9:10 says:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

What does this tell us about J?  He has no fear of the Lord.  Thus, he has no wisdom.  As a result, he is a fool.  The Bible makes no bones about this.  One who operates apart from the Lord is a person walking in darkness.  He thinks that all of his intellectualism will hold him in good stead once he dies.  Good luck with that.

J: This type of “you’ll be drowning in the Lake of Fire if you don’t believe every word in the Bible” threat seems to stem from the belief that the Bible and God are one and the same — which comes from the idea that the Bible is the “Word of God.”

GWR: Well yes.  That’s exactly the case.  Jesus is the Word.  Thus, as the Word of God, He is God, and He is the embodiment of all Scripture.  God literally is His Word.

J: Ever since I was little, I questioned this premise.

Call me simple, but the Bible contains 783,137 words (plural!)— how can so many words be the one true “Word of God”?

GWR: He doesn’t get it that Jesus is the Word.  He completely misses the import of John 1:1:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

J: On top of that, the words in the Bible contradict each other. In one Gospel story, Jesus remains silent when questioned by Pontius Pilate (Matthew 27:11), while in another book Jesus and the Roman governor have a philosophical discussion about the nature of truth (John 18:38).

The Bible, quite clearly, appears to be the words of men.

GWR: J is like all the atheists who have come before him.  There’s nothing new under the sun about their arguments contesting against God’s Word.  Context is very important in the Bible.  God does not contradict Himself.  Each of the Biblical authors was writing from his unique perspective and to a different audience.  As a result, one emphasized one thing, while another emphasized something else.  Yes, the Bible is the words of men, but those words are divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit and inerrant.  The Word of God is infallible.  J can huff and puff all he wishes, but in the end, he’s simply blowing smoke.

J: When I turned sixteen, I started reading other “holy books” from different cultures. The texts of ancient India presented an interesting alternative to what the “Word of God” really meant which made a whole lot more sense to me.

GWR: What J doesn’t realize in his spiritually darkened state is that every other so-called religious book is inspired by Satan.  In believing what they say, he is embracing the lie.  Worse, he’s cozying up to the one who wants nothing less than his soul.  Since Satan is God’s adversary and simply a created being, what the devil ultimately desires will be foiled.  In fact, it already has been because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Sadly, however, Satan will bring with him to his tormented destiny all those who thought they knew better than God Himself.

J: The Hindu concept suggests that the “Word of God” is an actual word or sound. And there are plenty of verses in the Bible to back up this radical departure from the current consensus.

I’m not saying I know for sure. I’ll leave such all-knowing proclamations to people like Gary Ritter who resort to threats of eternal damnation if you don’t see things his way. Personally, I think God is far more reasonable and that Truth is open to discussion.

GWR:  No, J, God is not more reasonable in this matter.  Ultimate Truth is not open for discussion.  God is the great I AM.  He is who He is, and His Word is what it is.  It is life to those who heed and obey it; it is death to those who rebel and disobey.

There’s plenty of room in God’s Word for discussion and application, but when the Lord makes a declaration, there’s no gray area for the kind of challenges that J makes.  There’s no leeway in worshiping false gods and their idols.  There’s no flexibility when it comes to sexual immorality.  If we wish to be blessed by God, we acknowledge Him as sovereign and supreme above every other so-called god.  If we stray from that, God lovingly gives us many opportunities to repent and return to Him.  But if we willingly disregard His mercy and grace, we grieve the Holy Spirit.  And at some point, there are no further prospects for someone to enter the kingdom of God.

I have no idea where J falls on this spectrum, but I do know that he isn’t doing himself any favors.  Pretty soon, it’ll be too late.  Death comes when we least expect.  In the same manner, the Rapture will happen in the twinkling of an eye.  From then on, it’s all downhill for the inhabitants of the earth unless they grab the final lifeline that the Lord sends so as to become a martyred saint of God.

J has received his warning.  Unless God in His mercy sends someone else after me into his life, his final outlook isn’t promising.

For the rest of us who do know Jesus, He can’t come too soon.