The People Bowed and Prayed to the Neon god They'd Made

Likely, you recognize this lyric penned by Paul Simon in 1964 as the closing stanza of what would become the hit song, "The Sounds of Silence." That phrase has always struck me as a particularly chilling foreshadow of something that I felt deep in my spirit was coming. The author of those words said he felt it too, in an interview many years later. Answering a question about the meaning of the song, Simon said he wrote it as a warning about a coming age when people will no longer be able to connect with one another in any meaningful way because they will have lost the human ability to communicate.

"And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never share No one dared Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools" said I, "You do not know Silence like a cancer grows Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you" But my words like silent raindrops fell And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming

And the sign said, "The words of the prophets Are written on the subway walls And tenement halls And whispered in the sounds of silence"

Source: LyricFind, writer: Paul Simon The Sound of Silence lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

The song is filled with multiple paradoxes and intentional oxymorons like its title, "The Sounds of Silence." It is a song of profound loss - and what is being lost are the things that make us uniquely human, the things that make us uniquely, among all creation, image-bearers of our Creator.

Last week, secular novelist Joyne Maynard, made a post on her Facebook page decrying the use of A.I. (artificial intelligence) and sounding an alarm about what she saw as its destructive impact on human creativity, art and beauty and the diminishing of our very humanity. Read it here: (https://www.facebook.com/joyce.maynard.14/posts/pfbid022VPz5Wjeq28njEa9hymu536WwqhPzmxFaRhoHu92yCZvdeKSWGd2N2YCzTKByNjtl )

Her final pargraph leaves no doubt as to the author's views:

"There will be those who offer up all kinds of reasons why A.I. can be a good thing for us all. Have at it. In the world of art and music and literature, it can mean only one thing: The eradication of what is uniquely human in each of us. The death of what is most precious and beautiful, the soul and spirit with which we were born. That is irreplaceable."

Many other, less eloquent and more analytical thinkers are pointing out the dangers of A.I. as well. But what about the spiritual danger? What is really behind the rise of this technological trojan horse? Perhaps its origins are from old. Perhaps it is but the latest iteration of a long-standing pattern and only one piece of a larger strategy that includes a plethora of deadly weapons deployed to the same end, in Maynards words: "The eradication of what is uniquely human in each of us. The death of what is most precious and beautiful, the soul and spirit with which we were born." As you read that mission statement, it's not hard to see behind the curtain far enough to recognize the spirit at work here, the one who has "come not but to kill, steal and destroy."

In the early 1500's, a classic legend emerged in Germany, it was a tale based on the historical figure Johann Georg Faust, a doctor, chemist, philosopher and theologian. In the story, the erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. (Yes, this tale is the basis for Charlie Daniels' famous song about a bargain made for a fiddle of gold, the legend of how Robert Johnson sold his soul in the 1930's to a demon at a crossroads near Rosedale Mississippi in exchange for mastery of the guitar and the fabled creation of rock 'n roll, and over the centuries, the story has given rise to an untold host of serious novels, short stories... even Looney Tunes cartoons!) In the original, Dr. Faust is unsatisfied with his life as a scholar and becomes depressed. After an attempt to take his own life, he deals with the Devil in order to obtain superior knowledge and power with which to gain all worldly understanding and indulge in all the of the world's pleasures. In response, the Devil's representative, Mephistopheles, appears. He makes a bargain with Faust: Mephistopheles will serve Faust with his magic powers for a set number of years, but at the end of the term, the Devil will claim Faust's soul, and Faust will be eternally enslaved. In the end, Faust is irrevocably corrupted. When the terms of the contract end, the Devil appears and carries him off to Hell. From this ancient story, the modern-day adjective "Faustian" appears in our vernacular, usually paired with the noun "bargain," as in: "He made a "Faustian bargain" - trading moral virtue and eternal values for short-term pleasure and earthly gain." While the legend of Faust and all its spin-offs are fictionalized morality tales, behind the fiction is an actual reality. A.I. is the latest version of Faustian bait being offered to mankind as the unlimited fount of knowledge and power that will lead to ultimate enlightenment and earthly utopia, when in truth, it will, like all attempts to live in rebellion against God, lead to utter destruction. "For it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." (Heb. 9:27)

Three and half centuries after Faust, another German philosopher named Fredrick Nietzsche came on the scene, whose most famous contribution is probably the pithy line: "God is dead." Nietzsche hated Christianity and the biblical morality of the church which he saw as nothing more than man-made bondage used to impose the will of the elite upon the working class. In his writings, he proposed that man would ultimately evolve into something greater- something he called the "uber-mensch", literally the super-man. Hitler's Nazis would adopt and adapt some of Nietzsche's writing and mold them into the concept of the "master race" - a ruling class that would be superior in every aspect. Naziism and communism both find their foundations here as does the new trans-humanist movement that is hitching its wagon to A.I. But if you dig a little deeper you will find a foundation much older than Faust or Nietzsche.

Why do I bring up all this obscure history? Only to remind us of the words of Solomon, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." (Ecc. 1:9) The intent behind A.I. is the same as the intent of the builders all earthly kingdoms who seek to elevate themselves to the level of gods - humans gods, "uber-men" who have obtain "superior" knowledge and therefore who have no need of God the Creator, the actual source of and personification of all knowledge, wisdom and truth. A.I. is the tower of Babel on a global level. Its end will be the same, but not before the wreaking of much havoc on the earth. But it's premise predates even that ancient prideful tower. Think back to the Garden and the words of the serpent, "Did God really say?....you won't die..... God lied to you! God is withholding something good from you... rebel against Him... then you can be God! You can make your own moral decisions... you can live your own truth....

And even farther back yet, before the foundation of the world, the prideful assertion of Lucifer, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High!"

There is nothing new under the sun. What's happened before will happen again.

The gathering together of all human knowledge into a system that has the ability to make moral judgements based on the woke-morality of the day apart from God's never-changing standards of right and wrong and the employment of those cold algorithms to censor all facts and regulate all information is terrifying! (We see it happening already!) But then add the possibility that this artificial intelligence could eventually acquire the power to impose its will on humanity and you have a pretty good recipe for the unfolding of all the horrifying events of the tribulation described in the apocalypse. Will the Anti-Christ be a trans-human hybrid of some type? I don't think so. He will be a man fully given over to Satan and filled with demonic power. But he may very well employ some forms of A.I. to bring about his empire and enforce his mark-of-the-beast economy, and certainly the "image that speaks" that he sets up in the temple sure looks like A.I. from this vantage point. Time will tell.

There is a biblical city that is synonymous with humiliating defeat. It was the locale of Israel's first and only defeat in the military campaign to take the promised land. God had promised them complete victory over all enemies, He had given them all the land, yet after the first great victory over Jericho something went wrong. Pride. Pride that led a man named Achan to think he could secretly rebel against God's plainly stated prohibitions, pride that lured him into thinking he knew better than God. Pride on the part of Israel's leaders that led them to not seek God for his battle plan but rather to rely on their own strength and "superior" knowledge. But "pride goeth before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction." They moved out in haughty pride, and they were quickly destroyed. And the name of that little town north of Jericho? Ironically enough.... Ai.

I opened this post with the chilling lyrics of a song from 1964 that foreshadowed the days we are now in. I'll close with another lyric that has always sent chills down my spine because I feel the wind and I see the mist. I don't believe these words were written as a warning, but nevertheless they pierce my heart as one. They are the opening words from a children's book written in 1934 by Miss P.L. Travers, and spoken by an everyman chimney sweep named Bert:

"Wind's in the east, mist comin' in, like somethin's a-brewing, about to begin. Can't put my finger on just what's in store, but I feel what's to happen..... has all happened before."

Ladies and gentlemen, the devil wants to destroy humanity. He hates us because we are made in God's image and God loves us. If he could destroy God he would, but he can't so he sets his sights on the apple of God's eye, humans whom God loves so much that he was willing to give his only Son on a cruel cross to save! You can look across the pages of history and see this conflict played out over and over. Satan deceived Adam and Eve and their sin brought a curse upon all mankind that condemns us all to death. Since then, throughout all ages, fallen humans living in this fallen world have acted out of selfish pride, rebelling against God, setting up kingdoms and killing each other. Right now, with much human co-operation, Satan is deploying manifold forces to destroy mankind: dividing, isolating, pouring out fear and hatred, fomenting violence and stirring up rebellion against God, successfully confusing humanity about things that are self-evident, causing people to question the very foundations of what it even means to be a human, and all the while, he slyly promises knowledge and power, telling the same lies that he has since the beginning. But the devil will not win. Jesus became one of us. He took the curse on himself and endured the full measure of God's wrath poured out on him at calvary for the punishment of our rebellion. Having died in our place, He was raised to life again! Through his death and resurrection, Christ defeated the devil - disarming him, taking away any accusation of sin he could use against us and triumphing over him in the cross! The world system is under the devil's control, rushing headlong in rebellion against God towards destruction. But if you are in Christ you need not fear. Yes there is shaking ahead, but we have come to the One who will save us!

"You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Heb. 12:22-29)