A new movement is afoot in theological circles.
Its intent is to do away with GOD Himself.
You would be amazed to know why modern theologians preach that "God is dead!"
"WE MUST recognize that the death of God is a historical event: God has DIED in our time, in our history, in our existence." Those are the dumbfounding words of Thomas J.J. Altizer, associate professor of religion at Emory University in Atlanta.
Shocking?
Of course!
A new brand of "Christian" thinking is being hotly debated in modern seminaries. Radical young thinkers and theologians are assaulting the foundation of Christianity! A full-fledged BATTLE OF THE BIBLE IS rocking modern "Christianity"! Many radical young theologians want to abandon the Word "God" altogether.
"God is dead," the young theologians thunder.
And yet, they call themselves "Christian"!
Why the Modern Trend
Let the theologians themselves tell us their reasoning.
Bishop John A.T. Robinson has written a book entitled Honest to God. In it he asserts we must take a new view of the Bible. "And the first thing we must be ready to let go," the learned theologian insists, "is our image of God himself." God, according to this minister, did not necessarily die — He simply never was!
Another clergyman declares: "The God that was a cosmic person who created the heavens and the earth and blew into man the breath of life. This concept can be too easily seen as a stereotype of the bewhiskered old man in the sky."
"What I am trying to say," this minister adds, "is that the use of the IDEA OF GOD is a kind of religious poetry."
Astounding?
Modern trends in religious circles are fast approaching a new kind of atheism! Long ago most ministers rejected the Bible as God's inspired Word for mankind. Now they are assaulting the very idea of the existence of God Himself! Not out-and-out Atheists, mind you — but theologians and ministers who claim to be "Christian"!
Christianity, they declare, will have to SURVIVE in this modern age without God!
Altizer, the leading exponent of the new theology, has written a book entitled The Gospel of Christian Atheism. In it he discusses and analyzes the death of God. He welcomes the materialistic trends of the modern world. Altizer, and his companions in the new theology, claim it is no longer possible to think of a God who is a Being who acts in history.
Never before have theologians been so brazen and forthright in attempting to do away with God. In the past they at least gave Him lip service. Now they proclaim His DEATH!
Strange? Not at all, when you REALLY understand what is behind the new religious movement, and WHY they want to deny God! Not when you understand that it was all foretold long, long ago!
Why do theologians declare God is dead?
The DEATH of God?
The basic answer is simple. Modern man, and modern theologians, do not want to admit the AUTHORITY of God over their lives. They refuse to accept the Bible as God's authoritative revelation to mankind!
With a convenient theology where GOD no longer exists, obviously there would be no need to OBEY any God. Each man can do what is right in his own eyes. Each man can establish his OWN moral principles — set up his own "set of rules" to live by.
Each man becomes an authority unto himself! God is totally left out of the picture!
Such a concept inevitably leads to confusion, anarchy, and ultimate CHAOS!
If truly God is dead, then MAN can do whatever he pleases. He will never be accountable. He will never be judged! Man, then, is left on his own to work out his OWN system of ethics — or lack of ethics, whichever pleases the individual the most.
But man has gone too far. Although the theologians seem to be grossly ignorant of the fact, there REALLY IS A GOD! All Creation stands as a witness to the existence of a great, supreme CREATOR! That Creator is GOD! Write for our free booklets, Seven Proofs of God and Does God Exist? They will astound you, and open your eyes!
That God INSPIRED the writing of the Bible — His Instruction Book for mankind. Write for our other free booklet, Proof of the Bible. There is no reason for YOU to remain in ignorance!
That Supreme God tells plainly, in the pages of the Bible, what is going to happen to those theologians who defy Him, ignore Him, and preach His death. That God they so smugly deny will soon, very soon, bring them to account!
What is going to happen? Where is "Christian Atheism" headed?
It is time you knew what is really behind the movement to do away with God! It is time you knew what is really going to happen!
It was all foretold, long, long ago.
Jesus' Own Prophecy
Notice the very words of Jesus Christ more than 1900 years ago. Christ told His disciples, who asked Him what signs in world affairs would indicate His imminent return to earth, "For many shall come in my name" — that is, professing to be Christian — "saying I am Christ" — that is, giving lip service to Jesus as the Christ — and shall deceive many" (Matt. 24:5).
Notice! Jesus Himself foretold that many ministers would come along, who would call themselves "Christian," and yet they would deceive many.
It has happened, exactly as Jesus foretold! Countless ministers have arisen who apply the name of "Christ" to their teachings, but who do not teach the same things Jesus Himself taught! Remarkable! But it is true!
Imagine, if you can, the utter absurdity of ministers arising, today, who preach a gospel of "Christian Atheism"! If they preach Atheism, then it cannot be Christian! If they are truly "Christian," then they could never preach a gospel of Atheism!
The very name is a flat contradiction in terms!
But such ministers have arisen, nonetheless!
Truly, as Jesus foretold, FALSE ministers have arisen. But false ministers are nothing NEW. Not at all! Even in his day, the apostle Paul warned the church, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking PERVERSE THINGS, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:28-30).
Even in the days of Paul wild heresies were being promulgated. False ministers were creeping into the Church to destroy it and to take the name of "Christian" for themselves. The situation was becoming so serious, that Paul had to rebuke the Church at Corinth for listening to such false ministers. Paul admonished them, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be CORRUPTED from the simplicity that is in Christ" (II Cor. 11:3).
He added, "For if he that cometh preacheth ANOTHER JESUS, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, Or ANOTHER GOSPEL, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him" (vs. 4). False gospels — new "gospels" — heretical beliefs — were coming to the forefront even in the days of the apostle Paul!
Speaking of those "Christian-professing" ministers who brought their own ideas into the Church, Paul warned the people, "For such are false apostles, deceitful worker, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ." God did not call them to the ministry! They put themselves into the ministry — they usurped authority not given them by God!
"And no marvel," Paul continues, "for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works" (II Cor. 11:13-15).
Did you notice?
Such ministers, promulgating their own ideas and their own theologies, and not teaching the plain truth of the Bible, are — in reality — even though they themselves may not realize it — ministers of Satan the devil!
The PERVERTED Gospel
It is time we realized the GREAT CONSPIRACY afoot to blind the people and HIDE their eyes from the TRUTH of the Bible! Today, as surely as in the days of the apostle Paul, perverse doctrines and heresies are being taught in the name of Jesus Christ — under the guise of "Christianity"!
But notice further. Paul cautioned the Christians at Galatia, "I MARVEL" — Paul was amazed — "that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto ANOTHER GOSPEL: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would PERVERT the gospel of Christ" (Gal. 1:6-7).
Paul told the Galatians, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach ANY OTHER GOSPEL unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said, before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, LET HIM BE ACCURSED" (Gal. 1:8-9).
PLAIN words — those!
Paul meant what he said! Those who, today, preach NEW gospels and who attempt to no AWAY with God are under a divine cum! God will hold false ministers accountable for their modern heresies and vainglorious ideas — their intellectual concoctions and erudite rubbish!
It Is Prophesied!
We need to realize that just because certain ideas seem to be "new" or "modern" is NO proof that they are correct! We live in an AGE OF SKEPTICISM — an age of doubt and disbelief.
Few, today, seem to put any credence in the Bible or any faith in the Scriptures. The vast, overwhelming majority seem to swallow any new idea that comes along! If an idea is new, or "modern," people assume that there must be something to it!
These days of disbelief were foretold in the pages of your Bible.
The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, and warned, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come" (II Tim. 3:1). In our age, as in no other since mankind was on the earth, we live amidst gigantic perils on every side, not the least of which is the peril of World War III and the threat of nuclear Cosmocide!
Paul explained that in these "last days" men would be ". . . lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection (homosexuals and "queers"), trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" (vs. 2-4).
Sounds like our day, doesn't it? It is! Paul was speaking about this generation!
Paul declared that in these tremulous days mankind would be "having a form of godliness" — that is, a form or facade of religion — "but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" (verse 5).
This prophecy has come to pass. Ministers in countless denominations scoff at the truth of the Bible. The Bible is ignored in many a pulpit. And, even in pulpits where the Bible is referred to, it is usually slighted, barely mentioned, and often totally twisted, perverted, maligned or ridiculed!
Paul foresaw these very days. He declared that ministers of today's seminaries would be "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (verse 7). Instead, they would be teaching their own pet ideas, daydreams, and pipe dreams. They would be promulgating their "new" theologies!
Speaking of such men, Paul asserted they "resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be MANIFEST unto all men, as theirs also was" (vs. 8-9).
"But evil men and seducers shall wax WORSE AND WORSE, deceiving, and being deceived," Paul concluded (verse 13).
The Word of the Living GOD condemns the teachings of those who claim God is a "myth" and Christ Jesus a "fable." God's Word thunders: "WOE unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it! Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" (Isa. 5:18-21)
Skeptics, atheists, scoffers alike — they all stand under this severe indictment of the Word of God!
God declares of our generation, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."
Those who believe in a no-God theology are "without excuse," God says, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Rom. 1:20). Speaking of those theologians who reject the knowledge of God, the Almighty thunders, "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (verse 22).
God's indictment continues, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient" (verse 28). Notice how God looks upon such men (verses 29-32).