"The Atheist Delusion" Critical Review

Well, I decided to watch Ray Comfort’s latest film, “The Atheist Delusion” to find out if it did what it claims to do — convert atheists to theism in a few minutes. What I found instead is an unbiblical and temporary change in these atheists to unsaved theists, the use of Satanic material, and the preaching of a false gospel.

Fools And Science

In this film, Ray attempts to give atheists scientific proof of God. He does this by going to the magnificent testimony of creation. He provides in the film certain statistics which make it impossible for a creator not to exist. But there’s a problem with this. The Bible teaches that atheists are fools, “(To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) 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.” (Psalm 14:1). The Bible says of the fool, that he hates knowledge and wisdom, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7). “How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1:22).

Atheists do not want scientific evidence for God (contrary to what they might claim). They are fools who don’t want to know the science for God. They are not atheists because they reasoned their way into atheism, but because they gave up reason altogether. Therefore, giving an atheist scientific evidence for God is not going to be effective because atheists don’t want evidence for God. Ray was flat out wrong for trying to convince atheists with science.

The Foolishness of God

But what else are we supposed to do? Preach the Lord Jesus Christ to these atheists? Won’t they find that as foolishness, since they don’t believe in God? What use would it do? The Bible gives a startling answer, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18). No matter how much scientific evidence you can throw at someone, a man being God in the flesh who rose from the dead will always seem foolish to unbelievers. But God wants us to do that anyways, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Corinthians 1:21). Even if our gospel message seems foolish to an atheist, we should still preach it. Why? Because it has power in itself to convict a lost man to put His faith in Christ, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16). Instead of trying to convince a fool of wisdom, we should preach the gospel, which has power.

Temporary Theism

In the film, Ray uses a set of “stump questions”. These are questions posed against the impossibility of the big bang and atheism. They usually stump the average atheist, since he is not equipped with an excuse to dismiss these questions. As a result, in the film, some atheists “become” theists. But remember, atheists are fools according to scripture. Thus, the evidence didn’t really convince them, it merely stumped them. They will remain stumped until they go home to quickly Google up a good excuse to dismiss the stump question. In fact, when Ray interviewed a professional atheist (Lawrence Krauss), instead of being stumped, he came up with ridiculous answers. Why? Because he isn’t interested in facts, but in remaining in his foolishness. And it is those same excuses the average atheist will hold dearly to when he learns them after being stumped by a good question. The atheists in this film who changed their minds about atheism will certainly revert back to atheism, “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” (Proverbs 26:11).

Not Made In God’s Image

In the film, Ray Comfort told atheists that they were made in God’s image. That is simply a lie. Man was originally made in God’s own image, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:27). But after man sinned, all of mankind since then have been born in the image of sinful Adam, “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:” (Genesis 5:3). The sinful image of Adam is the image of God marred from sin. Atheists are not made in the image of God.

Satanic NKJV

In the film, Ray quoted from the Satanic New King James Version (1984). The New King James Version is a harborer of heresy, as seen in its translation of Jeremiah 8:8, “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.” The subject of this verse is the copying of the scriptures by the scribes. The NKJV plainly teaches that the scribes worked “falsehood” by falsely copying the scriptures (“the law of the LORD”). In other words, the Bible was changed and is no longer the word of God, but the word of man. This is heresy. Why Ray would choose to preach from this Satanic Heretical Bible is anyone’s guess.

Lordship Salvation

Ray Comfort then promoted his Satanic Lordship Salvation. This is the false message that in order for someone to be saved, they must first turn from all their sins (stop sinning) to be saved. This is distinctive in all his films and videos. Instead of salvation coming from stopping sin, it comes by faith alone in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Conclusion

“The Atheist Delusion” is Ray’s delusion of convincing atheists of the truth with science, and the preaching of Satanic Bibles and a false gospel. Don’t share it or like it.

Calvinism's Strange Connections To Roman Catholicism | Part 4: Paul Washer

Paul Washer is a strong Calvinist who gives talks at various conferences. One of those conferences was in a Roman Catholic Monastery. Here’s the story:

Paul Washer came to speak at a Coram Deo Conference in 2013, with the topic, “The Gospel To The Center”. He apparently thought, “Holy Cross Monastery”, a Catholic pagan building was a good spot to discuss what he considers the true gospel. And he wasn’t there because he secretly infiltrated the conference to preach to lost Catholics. He was there as an invited guest speaker, showing that Coram Deo was okay to have him there. And the Holy Cross Monastery was apparently okay to have Coram Deo there. There can only be one conclusion to this: the Roman Catholics at that Monastery was just fine having Paul Washer as a speaker there. Strange, isn’t it?

But it gets weirder. Through this conference, Paul Washer helped to join Coram Deo with Heart Cry Ministries. Which means Heart Cry is working together with a group that is approved by Catholics to speak in their monasteries.

Calvinism's Strange Connections To Roman Catholicism | Part 3: State of Grace

The image below is a quote from one of Calvin’s sermons on Ephesians.

It was Calvin’s attempt to give an answer to, “how do we know if we are of the elect?” Of course, the Biblical answer that was the response here by Calvin is, “if we believe in Christ, we are the elect”. That is because we first come to Christ for salvation, and then we are placed into Christ as the elect.

But, elsewhere, John Calvin gave a surprisingly different answer — one that lines up with Roman Catholicism. Calvin states in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 2, Chapter 5, Section 3, “...Therefore, while WE ALL LABOUR naturally under the same disease, THOSE ONLY RECOVER HEALTH to whom THE LORD IS PLEASED to put forth his healing hand. THE OTHERS whom, in just JUDGMENT, he passes over, pine and rot away TILL THEY ARE CONSUMED. And this is the only reason WHY SOME PERSEVERE TO THE END, and OTHERS, AFTER BEGINNING THEIR COURSE, FALL AWAY. Perseverance is the gift of God, which he does not lavish promiscuously on all, but imparts to whom he pleases. If it is asked how the difference arises—WHY SOME STEADILY PERSEVERE, and OTHERS PROVE DEFICIENT in steadfastness, we can give NO OTHER REASON than that THE LORD, by his mighty power, STRENGTHENS AND SUSTAINS THE FORMER, so that they perish not, WHILE HE DOES NOT FURNISH the same assistance to THE LATTER, but LEAVES THEM to be monuments of instability.”

This is summed up by Calvinist R.C. Sproul as, “So the old axiom in Reformed theology about the perseverance of the saints is this: If you have it—that is, if you have genuine faith and are in a state of saving grace—you will never lose it. If you lose it, you never had it.”

This means that the only consistent way to know if you are of the elect in Calvinism is not if you currently believe in Jesus Christ (since you can fall away, and thus prove yourself to have never been saved). The only consistent assurance of salvation in Calvinism is if you persevere in your faith in Christ till your death. If you persevere for 50 years, and then fall away in the last year of your life, Calvinism considers you lost and have never been saved. Thus, you must die with faith, before you can know you are saved.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches a very similar doctrine. The Catechism of the Catholic Church Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 3, Article 12, Number 1023 states, “Those who DIE IN GOD’S GRACE and friendship and are perfectly purified LIVE FOR EVER WITH CHRIST. They are like God for ever, for they “see him as he is,” face to face...” The Catholic Church teaches that you must die in a state of grace to receive salvation. This is very similar with the Calvinist doctrine that you must die in a state of grace to KNOW you have already received salvation. Thus, assurance is impossible for the consistent and living Calvinist.

What does scripture give of assurance? The moment we trust in Jesus Christ, we have absolute assurance of salvation. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM should not perish, but HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.” If we believe on Christ, we know we are saved. Of course, God grants us out of His mercy extra signs and proofs we can look to for assurance of salvation (e.g. fruit, 2 Cor. 5:17), but we don’t have to die in a state of grace to know we are saved.

Rome Rules Calvary Chapel Churches

The first Calvary Chapel Church established was Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. The lead pastor was the late Chuck Smith. Chuck Smith was openly ecumenical, and stated, “Catholics are basically Christians too”.

Chuck Smith put an image of a down-left facing dove in his church building.

Source: http://www.calvarychapelcostamesa.com/visit/

It is this very image that Ex-Jesuit Alberto Rivera testified that is a Jesuit Catholic symbol (The Force, page 24).

This means that the ecumenical Chuck Smith was under the control of the Jesuit order. He was a mere puppet of the papacy in promoting ecumenical unity.

But here’s the interesting part: no church can just call themselves Calvary Chapel. The name “Calvary Chapel” is a trademarked name, owned by Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Just go here, and do a basic search for "Calvary Chapel" (without quotes). Click on the "LIVE" one (not the "DEAD" one).

This means that in order for a church to be called “Calvary Chapel”, it must have the permission of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. This means that if Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa wants a certain Calvary Chapel church to change its doctrines, either that church will change it’s doctrines to keep the name “Calvary Chapel”, or they will abandon the system altogether and be forced to adopt a different name. This means thus, that all churches that currently have the name “Calvary Chapel” are controlled by Chuck Smith’s church. In other words, all Calvary Chapel Churches are under the control of a church founded by a Jesuit puppet who promoted ecumenicism.

But what about the current pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa? Did he change the ecumenical focus? Here’s a video of the current Senior Pastor Brian Brodersen, teaching the exact same ecumenical unity Chuck Smith taught.

Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa was founded by a Jesuit puppet who promoted ecumenicism, is continued to be controlled by an ecumenical pastor, and controls all Calvary Chapel churches. This means all Calvary Chapel churches belong to Rome. If you are in such a church, please confront the pastor about it. If he refuses to give up ecumenicism and break thus with the Calvary Chapel denomination, then leave.

Calvinism's Strange Connections To Roman Catholicism | Part 2: Modern Bible Versions And "Sovereign"

In the last post on Calvinism, I showed proof that all modern "Protestant" versions (i.e. those based on the Nestle-Aland Greek text) are basically Catholic Bibles without the Apocrypha (except the ESV -- it has an edition that includes it from Oxford Press). With that in mind, it's very interesting to note how the big Calvinist buzzword, "sovereign" is not found anywhere in the King James Bible. But it is found HUNDREDS of times in the modern Vatican Versions.

Question for my Calvinist friends: Will you side with the KJB, or with the Vatican promoted modern versions?

Btw, the above word search includes wildcards.