A Nugget from New Life Network
(by Chris Musgrove of Future Now)
Scripture for the Day (September 3, 2018)
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. (Isaiah 40:28)
A few years ago my son Christian and I visited friends in North Carolina. It is just outside of Maggie Valley and is surrounded by beautiful mountains. When we were there the brilliant colors of fall were starting to break out. The scenery there reminded me of these scriptures in Isaiah and that all creation recognizes our creator, the Lord God Almighty.
Isaiah 49:13 says, “Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted.”
Isaiah 55:12 says, “For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
As I began to think how anyone could deny that this world was created by God I was reminded of an article I read recently about Antony Flew. He was an English philosopher and outspoken atheist who stunned and dismayed the unbelieving faithful when he announced in 2004 that God probably did exist. Flew, the son of a Methodist minister, was born in London, England and is said to have concluded by the age of 15 that there was no God. He based his argument on the fact of all the evil in the world. He thought, “How could a God who was all powerful and all good, allow evil in the world?” So he concluded there could be no God. What is interesting to me is that Antony Flew was partly right. Not in that there is no God, but that God doesn’t allow evil in the world. Man allowed it when God put man in dominion and man disobeyed and handed everything over to the devil in Genesis 3. That’s why Jesus had to come.
I John 3:8 says, “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning (Genesis). For this purpose the Son of God was manifested (came to earth), that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
Flew couldn’t see that this all-loving God sent His son Jesus to redeem the world back to the Father. Flew was a strong advocate of atheism, arguing that one should presuppose atheism until evidence of a God surfaces. He also criticized the idea of life after death, the free will defense to the problem of evil, and the meaningfulness of the concept of God. In 2003 he was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto and wrote over 40 works on atheism. However, in December 2004, Flew — then 81-years old—renounced atheism. After spending time studying DNA, Flew stated, that “The most impressive arguments for God’s existence are those that are supported by recent scientific discoveries” and “the argument to Intelligent Design is enormously stronger than it was when I first met it.”
However, Antony Flew did not believe in the existence of a good God who is involved in the lives of human beings, because of the problem of evil. He ascribes very much to the God who created the universe and then removed himself. Strangely enough he was partly right again. God created the world, then created man, put man in control and man gave over control to the devil. But thank God, He found a man that would covenant with him on the earth by the name of Abraham. Through Abraham’s obedience (Genesis 22) Jesus came to the earth as a man to get that control back (I John 3:8) and then give it back to us.
Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
That is why the earth and all creation breaks out in singing! Glory to God! We are blessed!!!
