So, can a hardened atheist believe? That's a hard question.
Look. Many atheists are iron-willed when it comes to this subject. They're like iron unwilling to break or bend.
Or you might be an agnostic saying "Look, we can't really know if God exists" and listen, I get it.
I used to be skeptical of religion.
See, I reasoned that if there really was a true God, a true religion, then why were there so many religions in the first place?
Right, in fact, I believed that people were what they were, not because of conviction,
but because they were either brought up that way or
became whatever the dominant religion of that society was.
So if you were born in a Muslim country, you'd probably be Muslim. If you were born in a Christian country, you'd probably be Christian.
Another argument that didn't really sit well with me was the moral argument.
When people said to me "Listen, I
became what I became because it made me a better person",
I'd ask "Well, what about all the other religions that have made other people better people?" I know
totally secular people who became better people without religion and I know some secular people
who are more moral than religious people.
So the moral argument didn't sit well with me...didn't carry much weight with me and
if I was gonna believe that there really was a true God,
a true religion, I'd need to have evidence that was incontrovertible. Now let me ask you a question:
Let's say that you and I just met and I asked you to trust me with your future.
I wanted you to trust every word I said to you.
You probably say "This guy is crazy. Why would I do that?" But I proceeded to tell you that I'm going to foretell
20 things that were going to happen to you in the next 24 hours
Starting tomorrow morning, on your way to work,
you're gonna barely miss hitting a dog as you're driving to work. When you get to work,
you're gonna see four doves at your front door.
When you see those four doves, it will immediately begin to rain
but only for three minutes. When the rain stops, you're gonna see a rainbow.
I continue to list up these 20 things that are gonna happen and now you're thinking "This guy is crazy.
"He's really crazy." You go on your way
and you forget this whole encounter. The next morning, you get up and on your way to work, you almost hit a dog.
When you get to work, what do you see at your front door? Four doves.
As soon as you see those four doves, it begins to rain.
But it rains only for three minutes. Why do you know that? Because you have your watch on and you're looking because you're in disbelief.
As soon as it stops raining, you see the rainbow.
Now, let me ask you a question. Are you beginning to think...
...that everything I said to you...
...and everything else that I said was going to happen was going to be accurate...
Are you beginning the thing that maybe you should trust me with your future?
If I could accurately foretell the future, it would be silly of you not to listen to me, right? Okay. I can't foretell the future.
But let me ask you another question.
If I could show you that the Bible accurately foretold not 24 hours, but thousands of years of history in advance...
History that could be verified...History down to our very day, would you, an iron-willed atheist, belief?
Let me have just a few more moments of that iron will.
So the book of daniel was written in the sixth century, B.C.
Some skeptics placed the book closer to the second century BC
but whether you believe the book was written in the 6th century or the 2nd century
doesn't really matter because either way the book predicted over
2,000 years of history
accurately. Let me explain.
See, in the second chapter of Daniel, the king of Babylon has a dream. In it,
he sees an image of a man whose head is of gold, his chest and arms of silver,
his belly and his thighs are made of brass, his legs of iron and the toes of iron and clay.
He then sees a stone coming from heaven which hits the image on the
feet of iron and clay. The King has no idea what the dream means,
but the prophet Daniel explains to him that
these symbols represent kingdoms. The head of gold, Daniel tells him, is a symbol of the kingdom of Babylon--
--his kingdom.
Daniel proceeds to tell him that his kingdom would fall to another
kingdom of silver and that one would eventually fall to a third kingdom
represented by the brass and
then a fourth kingdom would finally rule made of iron.
History tells us
that the kingdom that overthrew Babylon was the Medo-Persian empire.
Medo-Persia fell to Greece and Greece fell to Rome.
Remember, Daniel is writing in the sixth century BCE. That's almost
1000 years of history. This is why skeptics seek to places the Book of Daniel in the 2nd century
BC because how else would Daniel have accurately been able to predict the rise and fall of these four nations
unless he was writing after it already happened?
But let's grant for a moment that the book was written in the time of the early Roman Empire.
What comes next is absolutely amazing. You see,
Daniel didn't say that Rome would be overthrown by a fifth kingdom. Instead,
He said this fourth kingdom would be broken down into smaller kingdoms
and this is exactly what happened to Rome. By
476 A.D. Rome had fallen and in its place smaller kingdoms had risen: France, Germany, England, Spain. In other words,
modern-day Europe.
This prophecy
then covers Europe as we know it today.
Guys, that's between
2000 to 2600 years of history
depending on what date you choose to accept the Book of Daniel was written. But that's not where the story ends.
The toes of iron and clay have special significance
Daniel the Prophet explained that the iron and clay would not mix together.
They would be at odds, if you will. Listen carefully. Iron in the Bible is a symbol of
stubbornness -- a refusal to hear the word of God.
For example, Jeremiah 6:28 says this: "They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders:
they are brass and iron, they are all corrupters.
And Isaiah 48:4 says this: "Because I knew that thou art
obstinate and thy neck is an iron sinew and thy brow brass;" In other words, these verses show that iron and brass
symbolized rebellion against God.
Listen. Each one of these kingdoms, starting with Babylon, grew harder and more obstinate against God with time.
That's why the medals go from gold to silver to brass to iron.
The iron kingdom of Rome is the kingdom that crucified Christ and
persecuted the early Christian church. Of all these four ancient kingdoms, ancient Rome was the most obstinate against God.
The European nations that came out of Rome were also represented by iron.
But remember that there was another element--another kingdom--among these secular nations. That was the clay kingdom.
Clay in the Bible is used as a symbol of religious people.
Isaiah 64:8 says "But now, O Lord, thou art our Father;
we are the clay and thou the potter; and we are the work of thine hand." So a clay kingdom would symbolize a kingdom
opposite of iron--a kingdom that claims to believe in the Heavenly Father.
And true the history,
during the Middle Ages,
there was a power struggle between the kings of Europe and the Church of Europe.
For a long time, the church ruled over the states. Clay ruled over iron, but with an iron fist.
The hypocrisy of the clay--of the church-- would eventually lead to a revolt that
would burst open during the French Revolution.
And it is there where atheism
responded with a vengeance--a reign of terror--in response to over a thousand years of abuse from the church.
Since then, the battle between iron and clay--between church and state--
can vividly be seen in our society just
as the Bible predicted.
Now listen.
The last thing to happen in this dream was a stone coming from heaven to destroy the iron and the clay.
The stone, Daniel tells us, was a symbol of the second coming of Jesus.
So wait a minute. Jesus destroys the clay with the iron?
Yes. You see, in this vision,
the clay is no better than the iron. Why? Because the clay was to represent the character of Jesus.
But instead, through their actions during the Dark Ages, and yes even today,
they are turning more and more people into iron.
While claiming to be clay,
they act more like iron. By the hypocritical acts and attitudes of men who profess to be followers of Christ,
many people are turned away from Christ. In this sense,
hypocritical clay helped to produce the iron we see today.
And the Bible foretold this.
No other holy book, no other religion has prophecy of this calibre.
Look, if I told you 20 things were going to happen and 19 of them came to pass as I say,
what would be the odds that the 20th thing would most certainly happen?
The Bible tells us that the stone coming from heaven represents the coming of Christ
If everything the Bible said would happen before this has accurately come to pass,
then what are the odds that Jesus will return?
If you're iron, it's not too late for you to believe and if you're a hypocritical clay,
it's not too late for you to be changed.
Listen. Can an iron world atheist believe?
