Daily Devotional for Monday December 19, 2011

Well Know Writer and Atheist Christopher Hitchens Died from Esophageal Cancer

(Psalms 14:1)

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' " Psalms 14:1

Last Friday, well known writer and atheist Christopher Hitchens died from esophageal cancer. I interviewed Hitchens many years ago when he came out with one of his many books supporting his atheistic views. I used him over the years as a subject of many Devotionals. In one of his final interviews, he defiantly stated that he would never, even on his death bed, acknowledge "God" who he says is a myth. If that was true, sadly, Hitchens died last Friday and the moment he left this life, stood before the very God whose existence he denied and was cast into hell for all eternity.

I was always amazed at how the secular media loved Christopher Hitchens. They put him on every program to promote his last book, "God is not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything." The Devotional today is NOT a book review since the only book I review is the Bible. The Devotional today isn't even about Christopher Hitchens, the British-born author, journalist, and political commentator. It is about the secular media's love affair with anyone who will boldly state there is no God and lambaste people of faith. There is an insatiable appetite in the marketplace to eliminate God, dismiss the Bible as Truth, and thoroughly reject faith in Jesus.

Of course the first logical question is why? The answer is no more complicated than the fact that the masses who have made the choice to live in open rebellion to God do not want to be held accountable for their choices. Since they cannot see a person called God despite the overwhelming evidence of His existence and presence, they have gone through the tortured mental exercise of simply denying there even is a God. In their drive to live without being held accountable for their actions and choices, they have taken the position that there simply is no God.

Once a person makes that foolish choice, you can easily see how rejecting the Bible, rejecting Jesus Christ, embracing a theory like evolution, and supporting others who are involved in every type of sin imaginable follows. Obviously if you deny there even is a God, it makes it easy to dismiss the book God wrote, the Bible, as simply a book "written by men" or a million other idiotic responses you will get from people who have rejected the Absolute Truth of God's Word. As I share with you often, the number one reason people choose to reject the Bible is because it is the very Truth that judges them. Once again, those who choose to live in rebellion to God and His Truth do not want to be held accountable for their actions.

How does a ridiculous "theory" like evolution become accepted by the mainstream culture as the explanation for man's existence? Men can say they never have seen God, therefore there is no God. However, they are still left with the little problem of explaining how we came to be. So they have turned to this laughable notion that we evolved from a drop of pond scum, to a monkey, and voila, here we are! LOL! Of course they can never tell you where that drop of pond scum, or where that first cell came from, or the "big bang" that some claim started it all. In the end, those who embrace this "theory" are left flopping around like a fish out of water.

Sadly, when people choose to reject God they end up aligning themselves with others who have also rejected God. Again, this is how you end up with a society that supports the slaughtering of innocent babies. This is how you end up with a society legitimizing and accepting the unnatural and unhealthy sexual perversion of homosexuality. Jesus said you can't serve two masters. Those who reject God and His Truth, have chosen to serve sin and follow satan. The Bible proclaims in the Book of James that, "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."

THOSE WHO DENY THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, THOSE WHO REJECT THE TRUTH OF GOD'S WORD, THOSE WHO REFUSE TO GIVE THEIR LIFE TO JESUS BY FAITH, ARE AN ENEMY OF GOD!!!

Satan is the "prince of the power of the air" for a short season. He has dominion over the airwaves. Why do you think you see a steady diet of sin, of blasphemy, of the lies of the world, of anything that will lead people away from God, Biblical Truth and faith in Christ 24/7/365 on TV, the radio, the movies, the Internet, and every form of media there is? This is why when an avowed atheist like Hitchens writes a book declaring God is not great and tries to make a case that religion is the cause of all of man's and the world's problems, the media falls over itself to put him on.

The fact is, God IS GREAT! God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all that exists including OUR CREATOR! He is right that religion does poison everything, since Christianity is not a religion, it is a faith. The false religions and cults of the world are simply man's spiritual rebellion to the God of the Bible and His Truth. The poison is actually the sin that infests every aspect of our existence due to man's rejection of God and Biblical Truth. That is why the only hope for man now and for all eternity is faith in Jesus Christ. He and He alone is the only answer.

I love you and care about you so much. Sadly, Christopher Hitchens took his last breath last Friday and at that moment stood before the very God whose existence he denied. Sadly, at that moment he was judged for his sins and cast into the eternal fires of hell from which there will be no escape. That is the fate which awaits all of those who die rejecting Christ as their Savior. God loved His fallen creation so much that He made a way for man to have an eternal relationship with Him by sending Jesus to die on the cross as payment for man's sins. It is God's desire that none be lost, that all repent and be saved.

However, God gave Christopher Hitchens and all men the free will to make their own choices. They are free to love Him and live for Him, or reject Him and even believe He doesn't exist. Each person has to make this choice for themselves during their brief life, nobody can make it for them. I will pray today for those people in your life who like Hitchens, have chosen to deny the existence of God, reject the Bible as Truth, and have refused to surrender their lives to Christ. I pray that they will come to a place in their life where God will be real to them, where His Word will become the Truth they live by, and they will accept Jesus into their hearts and lives by faith.

That is why it is so critical to preach the Gospel without compromise and to reach out into the marketplace since that is where the lost live. That is also why we must find ways to bring the message of God's Truth and of Christ's love to the secular media since that is the communication tool the enemy uses to lead people away from God and to hell.

The fool says in his heart there is no God. Most of those fools do come to a place, maybe only once, when they are ripe to hear the Truth and the fact there is not only a God, but a God who loves them! It is at that moment when the hardened hearts of men soften, they fall to their knees, and cry out for Jesus to save them!

I see it happen every day here at Liveprayer. Why do you think the fire burns within my belly to wake up each day and do all I can to reach the lost and hurting? It is God's desire that NONE BE LOST, that ALL COME TO REPENTANCE! I possess the words of everlasting life, how can I sit back and watch people die and go to hell without doing all I can to let them know that Jesus loves them and wants to give them life, and life everlasting!!!

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller