I have always said ‘there is no such thing as an ‘atheist’. Being the literalist, I must modify my stance, and turn a new phrase. Because ‘atheist’ simply means “without God.” Where “a” in Greek is ‘without’, and ‘Theo’ is “God”.
The Psalmist wrote: אָמַר נָבָל בְּלִבּוֹ אֵין אֱלֹהִים
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God’.”
In early medieval times a fool was employed to distract the court of the king, with all manner of ‘foolish’ behavior, including, at times, ‘blowing wind’, which won a particular ‘fool’ a plot of land.
“Atheists” today are a distraction as well. And their army is growing, denying the creation, denying the Scriptures in regard to the simplicity of the observable universe and nature’s own explanation of the obviousness of God. [Psalm 19]
I once traveled to the Middle East. I was wearing my Magen David [Shield of David, the ‘star’ of Israel] around my neck [illegal to wear]. I was traveling with a colleague, a brilliant man. We highly respected each other.
One night, early in the trip, we were sitting in a major Muslim country, in the 5-star restaurant of a ‘royal’ hotel, and there were about five or six Muslim, Saudi “sheiks” sitting in the corner of the restaurant. [We were not in Saudi Arabia] My friend and I were seated in the middle of the restaurant, having a pleasant meal, and discussing various topics at an intellectual level. I already understood his brilliance, and that night it was revealed how much of a ‘student’ of life he really was.
But, that night, at some point in the conversation I uttered the word “God” in an obvious context of belief and trust in Him, the Creator. I did not do so in a ‘preachy’ way, nor was I trying to convert him at all, as I had no idea his status in God’s kingdom. He lived a ‘clean’ life from what I had observed. He was not overly arrogant, he spoke ‘clean’ language, and exhibited no behavior that betrayed extreme unrighteousness. He was a ‘good guy’. But, when I said something about “God”, casually, in passing, his next statement was “I’m an atheist.”
As I said, my mantra has always been that there is no such thing. And immediately, I said, rather loudly, such that all the Muslims in the restaurant could have/should have heard me, “No you are not! Because God says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God'”, and you are not a fool!”
The risk of my getting arrested did not escape me, but, at that point, I simply did not care. We discussed all the issues that night: the creation, though he was an evolutionist, the age of the earth, though he was an ‘old earth’ theorist [goes along with evolution], the question of evil happening in the world and why a ‘loving God’ would do nothing about it, all the standard atheist arguments. Apparently, I gave him non-standard answers; answers he’d never heard before.
But, I think the biggest thing that ‘hit’ him was that I told him he just did not want God in his life, because, for some reason that even he may not be aware of, he was rebelling against him, due to some anger, some offense of a human being perhaps, or some unanswered prayer.
We discussed ‘religion’. I told him that I agreed with him, that most religions and most religious people are offensive, and their theology nonsensical.
We left it at that.
Almost two weeks later, after working in the desert together, we were flying back from the desert on a royal air plane. Before we boarded, we dropped our bags at the airport luggage handling, and the official told me that I would have to unlock my suitcase “when the police get here.” I sat down next to my companion. I leaned over and whispered to him, ‘There’s a Hebrew Siddur sitting on the very top of all my stuff in my suitcase.” He didn’t know what a Siddur was. “There’s a Jewish Prayer Book, in Hebrew, sitting in the top of my suitcase.”
He freaked out. Honestly, he was distraught. I don’t know all the nuances of ‘why’ he was distraught; maybe he just didn’t want the trouble of having to leave me there. But, nonetheless, he was very concerned for my well-being.
I was not concerned at all after that. At first, when I told him, I was a little concerned. But, his ‘fear’ was contrasted against my ‘faith’, and it actually increased my faith!
I knew God was about to ‘show off’. No big deal to an outsider not in the situation, but I suddenly understood a greater purpose of this whole trip. [There were other spiritual events as well].
About ten minutes later the official summoned me, and the royal police asked me to open my suitcase. My siddur was indeed right on top. But, the Hebrew writing on the cover was faded a little, and it must have been just enough to make it unrecognizable.
The policeman did not open the book to see plainly it was a Jewish book, but pushed it aside two or three times as he rifled through my stuff to make sure I wasn’t a terrorist.
This country was hostile to Israel [still is]. They may or may not have arrested me; but the chance was there, a strong chance, and my friend knew it. He breathed a huge sigh of relief when I sat down beside him again.
I did not see him again for almost two years after that, as he lived in Michigan. He was a technical consultant my company often used.
When speaking to a coworker at another of our locations one day, he said that our mutual friend was working for our company now, and guess what, “He’s a believer.”
I do not know how much our little encounter meant to get him back to God. But, I do know that I often prayed for him, especially after any time I told the story of us in a hostile land. Anything that reminded me of him prompted me to pray for him.
So, my new turn of phrase is waiting for me. There are such things as ‘atheists’, people who are without God. That is anyone who does not walk with Him, and not just the person who says they no longer believe in Him.
The scriptures say that the ‘religious’ can be ‘without God’. And, they usually turn back ‘in distress’. There is a reason that soldiers coined the phrase, ‘there are no atheists in foxholes.”
The prophet said to Israel and her king, God’s chosen representative to the earth that He exists,
“Hear me, Asa, and all Yehudah and Binyamin: יהוה is with you, while you are with Him; and if you seek Him, He will be found of you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 3Now for long seasons Yisra’el was without the God of Truth, and without a teaching priest, and without Torah; 4but when in their distress they turned unto יהוה The God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them.”
Logic will not bring a person back to God; but the confrontation of lies will.
Evolution is a lie. Blaming God for the world’s evil is a lie. People are the cause of evil. God is not slow in justice; we just don’t understand how very quickly He is moving toward justice, and that justice is indeed coming. And probably sooner than most think.
There is another group of people, however, who believe in God, but are against Him. If anyone hates Yeshua, the Son of God, or denies that Yeshua is the Son of God and His Messiah, they are αντίχριστος , “against Messiah”, and thus, they are against God Himself. Most people are familiar with the term. It is ‘anti-christ’ in most minds. But, that form of the word has been turned into a joke or a byword.
מִתְנַגֵּד הַמָּשִׁיחַ [mitnaged haMashi’akh] is the Hebrew form of this phrase, “he who opposes the Messiah.”
“For many deceivers have appeared in the world, who do not acknowledge that Yeshua The Messiah is coming in the flesh. Such a person is a deceiver and an opposer of The Messiah.” 2 John 1:7
Atheists are part of that crowd. They oppose Messiah, because they deny that He is going to return to earth in a human body. In fact, most of the religious world does too. So, these are the bigger fools, because they do not realize that the creator they are without is embodied in the human flesh of Yeshua, a Jewish man who lived on earth for 33 years, 2,000 years ago.
It is a dangerous, dangerous thing to follow world trends of ‘belief’ today. It has gotten so many people killed, including many who said they trusted in Yeshua.
All of mankind is led by liars.
I am a failed human being. No one knows that more than me. But, what I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that Yeshua is the Son of God, and He is alive and well, and is coming back soon to judge the earth, and to punish he wicked. I have spent the majority of my adult life trying to convince people to serve Him in humility. I have been attacked by the spirit of the false Messiah that runs rampant in religious circles. But what breaks my heart the most is that there might be some who ‘say’ they do not believe in Him, when the truth is, they’re just mad at Him for not doing as they say. They don’t want God to be their ‘boss’. They want to manage God, and tell Him how to run His world.
“Humble yourself.” Stop being a fool. You know He exists. You just don’t want to submit to Him.
The proofs of God are manifold.