Invader/Stranger In A Strange Land

The recent push about how unfairly Omar Illhan is being treated has become a media focal point. Along the same lines, the supposed constant harassment of ICE is another. Both are being caused by the same errant media narrative. A narrative that is being exacerbated and made worse by well meaning but ignorant Christians supporting the media’s cause saying it is biblical. It in fact is not. It is a view that says we should just accept the illegal immigrant into the nation no questions asked and not even require them to assimilate. This is being accepted and propagated under the guise that they are ‘sojourners in the land’. They cite Exodus 22 and Leviticus 19 for this justification.

Exodus 22:21 – “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Leviticus 19:34 – “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native‑born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”

This is ridiculous and the danger of it is becoming ever more apparent based on the riots and chaos in Europe. Specifically in France this week. The truth is much more nuanced. Yes, people like Abraham, Mary and Joseph, Paul and even the Israelites themselves were at one time sojourners. They also acclimated and assimilated to the culture. The illegals did and have not. This is a massive difference. The word illegal is implying this and their actions are verifying it. Truth be told the sojourner either became part of the land as Abraham did or they left it because by the very nature of their name, they are sojourners or are transient. A sojourner is a temporary resident in a foreign land, not a permanent citizen. Those that stay are expected to assimilate, not to try and take over the culture.

Two Different Hebrew Words for “Sojourner” in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, “sojourner” is not a single fixed term — it is translated from different Hebrew words depending on the context, legal status, and relationship to Israel. Two of the most important are ger and toshab (sometimes rendered “sojourner” or “stranger”), each with distinct meanings and implications

Ger (גר)

Ger was a resident alien or resident foreigner who lives among the Israelites, often permanently, and is under their legal protection. The ger was a free non‑Israelite who had settled in Israel and was granted many rights-the same judicial standards as Israelites, access to gleanings, inclusion in festivals, and even the right to celebrate the Passover if circumcised (Exodus 12:48)

Legal protections: Leviticus 19:33‑34 and Exodus 22:21 command that the ger be treated “as native‑born” and not oppressed. The best example of ger usage is when Abraham calls himself a ger in Genesis 23:4

Toshab (תֹּשָׁב)

Toshab was a temporary resident or hired worker living in Israel for a limited time. Unlike the ger, the toshab was not a permanent settler; this term often refers to someone in a more transient or labor‑related role. This is the same as immigrant farmers being let into America under temporary visas. The toshab was also to be treated justly, but the emphasis was on temporary residence and the need for hospitality and fair treatment. This word or principle was used in passages describing people living in Israel without full citizenship, such as hired workers or seasonal residents.

Related Terms That Apply to Illegal Immigrants

Nokhri / Ben Nekhar (נָכְרִי) (“foreigner”): Someone passing through or maintaining allegiance to another nation

Zar (זָר) (“stranger”): Often someone outside the covenant community, sometimes unauthorized

These distinctions mattered because Israel’s laws treated each category differently. The ger had the most extensive protections, while the toshab was a temporary resident. Both were to be treated with justice and compassion, reflecting Israel’s own experience as strangers in Egypt (Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:33‑34)

The Other Side of the Argument

The Nokhri or Zar (Foreigner/Stranger), biblical experts point out that individuals who maintained exclusive allegiance to their foreign nations or who entered outside the recognized legal and covenantal frameworks did not receive the same societal benefits or legal standing as the ger. The Rule of Law…from this viewpoint, modern nations have a biblical mandate to maintain borders and enforce the rule of law (often citing Romans 13).

In the Hebrew Bible, the word zar (זָר) is derived from the root zwr (זוּר), which carries the core meaning of "to turn aside," "to estrange," or "to be unauthorized. The term zar has a meaning that shifts depending on what the individual is "outside" of. Outside the immediate family in a domestic context, it refers to someone who is not part of the household or immediate lineage (Proverbs 5:10, where it warns against giving your wealth to "strangers").

Outside the covenant and/or nation is in a political or national context, it refers to a foreign adversary, invading army, or someone from a nation outside Israel (Isaiah 1:7, "strangers devour your land in your presence"). This is how America and Europe need to view the illegal immigrants. They are, by and large not assimilating and are in some cases burning our flag in our own streets. They are living off taxpayers money and not contributing to society by actively seeking employment. They are a financial drain and bring nothing of value to our economy. In many cases, not even cheap labor. Isaiah 1:7 literally says the following to add impact to the statements I just made about illegal immigrant invaders.

אַרְצְכֶם שְׁמָמָה, עָרֵיכֶם שְׂרֻפוֹת אֵשׁ; אַדְמַתְכֶם, לְנֶגְדְּכֶם זָרִים אֹכְלִים אֹתָהּ, וּשְׁמָמָה כְּמַהְפֵּכַת זָרִים.

"Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields, strangers (zarim) devour them in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers (zarim)." Isaiah1:7

What needs to be pointed out point out several are several critical elements regarding how zar/zarim operates in national and political contexts like Isaiah's prophecy:

It creates a total lack of accountability. Unlike the ger (resident alien), who lived under the legal jurisdiction of Israel and shared community responsibilities, the zarim in this verse are completely outside Israel's legal and moral framework. They operate with zero accountability to the host nation's laws. This is very similar to how the Palestinians work now. They contribute very little to the area around Israel and Gaza and continue to demand more. The irony being it isn’t even their rightful native land. They are primarily Jordanians that have dual alliance with Jordan but want Gazan territory.

Along the lines of the statement about the Palestinians, the practice exploitation and consumption. The text explicitly notes that these strangers are "devouring" (ochlim) the land. The relationship is purely predatory and parasitic; they consume the resources, crops, and wealth of the nation without contributing to its preservation or respecting its borders. As it was in the Old Testament so it is now in Gaza. This is also happening in Europe and to a lesser degree in America.

Then comes the long term goal towards a caliphate. The cultural and physical overthrow or a native nation. Do not think for a second this is not the intended goal of Muslims. It is also to a much lesser degree the inevitable outcome of certain ethnic conclaves that move into certain areas of the United States. The ethnic group becomes the majority and thereby transplants the culture with new culture. As long as their intent is to be proud Americans, there is not problem. When they become dissenters…then the problems arise.

The phrase "overthrown by strangers" (mahpechat zarim) implies a complete upending of the established order. The word for overthrow (mahpechah) is the same word used throughout the Old Testament to describe the total, catastrophic destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. This is the inevitable end of trucking in illegal immigrants by the millions…the complete destruction and downfall of the nation.

So what is the Bible really telling us about our borders and our Western nations we are trying to protect? Simple. Isaiah 1:7 is demonstrating a clear biblical recognition of national sovereignty and the dangers of border dissolution. From this perspective, when a nation loses the ability to regulate who enters, lives in, and consumes the fruit of the land, it ceases to be a secure home for its own citizens. The zar in these contexts is the ultimate symbol of a nation losing control of its own destiny to those who have no stake in its covenant or its culture.

Owner of A Lonely Heart

I once had a like-minded theological friend show me a quote from theologian D.A. Carson a long time ago. It basically implied that the path of a theological man or man of God is often alone and the path he walks is one of solitude.

“Effectiveness in teaching the Bible is purchased at the price of much study, some of it lonely, all of it tiring.” D. A. Carson

Carson’s quote emphasized the personal, disciplined nature of theological work, which can imply solitude in the sense of requiring individual reflection and prayerful study and often being isolated. I have experienced this to a tremendous extent since being shown this quote about 20 years ago. I knew this would be true. When I was younger I didn't understand how deeply isolated and forelorn some of the paths would go that I would walk on. What I didn’t understand until now was the breadth, depth and intensity of the solitude either imposed by others or self-imposed to shield myself from a corrupt world to continue to allow myself to think clearly. This is especially true in a world abounding with cell phones and constant electronic distractions. A world of divisive political brainwashing. A world that calls bad good and good bad.

Time with God and His word is not always easy. Studying is not just intellectual; it’s also spiritual and disciplined. Time and study or understanding with God often happens in isolation, away from the distractions of social life, to allow for deep reflection. We could look to Moses for this example too. I must admit it isn’t all roses and rainbows. It is exhausting in the sense that it demands sustained focus, patience, and humility. What I find at the bottom of these theological wells that I dig are hard truths. They are often they about my own shortcomings and failures. The things I write about aren’t just directed to the people outside of me but are deep personal reflections about failures in myself that are also common to others too. As most know the passage…

Matthew 7:1-3 -” Judge not lest ye be judged by the same measure. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

The example I will cite in Scripture about the solitude I experience intensely in my life will be from Genesis though (Noah), not Exodus (Moses). In Genesis 6:1-8 we see the extent of man’s horrible nature and God’s desire to erase them from the Earth. Even in this surplus of stupidity and fallenness God extends grace to humanity and finds a solitary man that found favor in God’s eyes. We see the solitary figure of Noah and invariably his family who will join him on the Ark during the flood. It is the same grace that God would later extend to Abraham concerning Sodom and Gomorrah if he would find just 10 righteous men in Sodom.

Genesis 6:5-8 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So, the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

In God’s deference to Noah, we see something that will become a theme in a believer’s life. Frequent solitude or ostracizing. Odd man out in an ungodly world. The Christian man is sometimes solitary in his interactions with people and so it was with Noah also. The world was crowded with aged and renowned men, and not in a good way. Noah was a nobody, but it was him that received God’s attention and His favor. A nobody in a world of somebodies by the world’s measure. He could not find camaraderie in the violent brutal men of the age in which he lived. His presence alone appears to have been the only great moral place of the times as judged by God. There were none who joined him in his life-giving mission except the family for which he was responsible. Here we see another feature to a believer’s treatment by the world. The visible or outspoken believer’s family is often treated the same as he is. The darkness was all around him ridiculing him for his actions. To the world he was the odd one. The one that didn’t fit in. The one that need ‘mental’ help and supposedly by his actions drove others away when in fact it was them shunning him for not following their repugnant and irrational behaviors.

Noah’s loneliness was not the result of an exclusivist divisive spirit that believers are accused of today. He did not set out with the intention of standing aloof from the social life of the world. He did not look down upon ordinary life with contempt. Neither Noah’s nor my behavior is to separate ourselves in an attempt to act better than someone. It is an attempt to remain near but not in the fray of chaos that is of the world (so we can spread the Gospel). We both try/tried to engage the world but if the criterion for engaging the world is to become the world…that is a step too far because the world is asking me to change something I know is Godly and correct for something that is clearly flawed. It’s not arrogance, it is spiritual survival. I am not above the world. In truth I am being crowded in by the world and trying not to be change. I don’t want to lose myself in the chaos which is so easy to do.

In this way a Christian man is sometimes solitary in his character. The world was universally wicked. Noah was the only man who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was lonely in his moral goodness yet even Noah was horribly flawed. What needn’t be lost in this passage is that it wasn’t Noah himself that earned God’s attention through piety or righteousness. The passage tells us it was God’s grace, not Noah’s actions.

Noah was compelled by different motives, inspired by nobler ambitions, and engaged in grander pursuits than those by whom he was surrounded by. God set him aside for another purpose. He was calm and pure amidst the passion and distractions of the age he lived in. His crown was his holy life. Heaven acknowledged him to be such. These type of spirits and souls are generally lonely in this world. They will not be so in the next. There they will have companionships of like minds.

The Christian man is often solitary in his work. Noah was lonely in his work. He had to build an ark. He was a lonely Christian. He was in the future to be a lonely hero. God gives to Christian men works to perform, the doing of which may render them lonely, but loneliness does not always mean solitude, as God is always with the spirit of the lonely.

A Good Man Living In Degenerate Times

We know that good men living in degenerate times are not overlooked by God. The degenerate and wicked condition of society is always under God’s watchful eye. He saw then universal moral apostasy of Noah’s age. God did not overlook him in the multitude. God saw Noah and his efforts to be good albeit those of a flawed sinful man.

An all-encompassing darkness renders a solitary light the more apparent. The other wicked had no excuse. The prevalence of evil makes the purity of moral goodness more remarkable. It stands out more from its surroundings. The gardener may overlook the one flower in the midst of the weeds, and may pluck all up together; but not God. He infallibly separates the good from the bad, so that the former is never destroyed through the uprooting of the latter. He separates the wheat from the chaff. A good man in the world is conspicuous to the vision of God. In the most wicked ages of the world's history there has generally been one good man left as a representative of the church, and as a rebuke to the morons of the times. In most cases that person or persons have generally been divinely shielded or hedged in from the evils of his situation, and their testimony is witness to that fact.

Noah was not merely a good man trying to maintain a reputation of external morality in barbarous times, as many good Christians are today. His light of righteousness did not flicker before the crude storm of sin around it. The grace of God kept it bright and constant. This grace was sought by Noah. We should look for it too. Without it he could not have retained his moral rectitude in such fallen circumstances. If we look at the annals of history since we will find that the darkest ages have been illuminated by similar but solitary lives of other saints. The evil around them was itself new impetus for more ardent devotion and separation to preserve one’s sanity. We could learn a lesson from this today unplugging from the 24/7 divisive news cycle.

We should never forget that Noah had a family in immoral and evil times. The sons here mentioned were not the offspring of wicked ideology. God extended his grace not just to Noah but also to his family. A pure home life is a refuge from the sin of the world at large. It is the strong tower every man can run to and be safe. It is where I study and preserve my sanctity. It is a place I can commune with God. Noah would

shield his family from the dark sins of the age. This is a parental duty, but it is often utterly neglected, and not unfrequently frustrated by sorry indiscretions of parents. I have done my best to be a righteous sanctuary for my sons also. A father who would keep a son from the world's vice must be wise and kind in the application. It takes a strong and righteous man to raise a child in evil times.

So, in the end the lessons about solitude and a good man that need to be taken from this post are actually quite simple to state, much hard to apply. The good man is worth the mention and commendation of God. True Godliness can survive dark ages and live through the grueling trials. Good men know most of the mind of God in reference to the world's future. Good men will not be included in the destructions which overtake the wicked.

Stay faithful even when the entire world turns against you and doubts you.

God's Tapestry: You Knitted Me Together

The observation that biological systems exhibit symmetry, complex specifications, and high interdependence provides a powerful foundation for the ideological and teleological argument for intelligent design and therefore an intelligent designer. When looking at the structural refinement of human anatomy and genetics through the lens of ancient literature, the parallels between the Hebrew descriptions of development and modern molecular biology offer a rich framework for Christian thought and defense.

Textual and Molecular Alignment

The language used by the Psalmist reflects a sophisticated structural concept that aligns closely with contemporary understandings of genome architecture.

Psalm 139:13-16 For you formed (covered) my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven (curiously wrought) in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

A language study of the original Hebrew is critical to understand just how accurate these statements were from a biological/genetic perspective. In verse 13 the Hebrew word תְּ֝סֻכֵּ֗נִי is cakak and means ‘covered me/did weave’. It explicitly means to interweave or knit together or to fence in as a protective barrier. In this we can see the sequential weaving of amino acid chains into functional, highly folded three-dimensional protein structures. In verse 15 we see ‘intricately woven/curiously wrought’. In Hebrew it is רָקַם or raqam which literally means to embroider with multicolored threads, fabricate, or needlework. This of course calls to mind the DNA double helix or precise, color-coded, four-base chemical alphabet (A, T, C, G) spiraling together to form an intricate, information-dense genetic blueprint. Finally we have the reference to golem again mentioned in a recent post. Golem or גֹּלֶם– unfinished substance, raw material, or wrapped-up form before detail is added. A peculiar description that describes embryonic features of life like Zygote / Stem Cells, the earliest embryonic stage possessing complete informational capacity before physical cell differentiation/division occurs.

The Mathematical Challenge to Chance

The core of the argument against purely naturalistic mechanisms relies heavily on information theory and combinatorics (the branch of mathematics that studies the counting, arrangement, selection, and structural properties of finite or discrete systems). Within molecular biology, this is framed through specific structural requirements:

Biological like is high interdependence (Irreducible Complexity). For DNA to replicate and express its code, it requires sophisticated protein machinery (like polymerases and helicases). However, the instructions to build those exact proteins are written inside the DNA itself. This creates a logical "chicken-and-egg" paradox that defies incremental, step-by-step evolutionary development.

Life is built to exacting specifications. Random genetic mutations operate on existing information via accidental transcription errors. The probability of generating a brand-new, highly specialized, functional protein fold through unguided mutations is mathematically calculated to be vanishingly small—often exceeding the total number of subatomic particles in the known universe. In other words, either impossible or just uncomprehendingly lucky.

What we do see in life is purposeful symmetry and intension. The physical architecture of the double helix exhibits geometric symmetry and optimal packing efficiency, maximizing information density within microscopic spaces. In any other field of science or engineering, a highly concentrated, non-random digital code sequence is universally recognized as proof of an intelligence.

By looking at the body as an intentionally engineered masterpiece, the convergence of scriptural metaphor and molecular reality suggests that the "blueprint of life" is not an accident, but the deliberate calligraphy of a craftsman. The Hebrew word golem (גֹּלֶם) appears only once in the entire Hebrew Bible, specifically in Psalm 139:16, where David proclaims: "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect..." (golmi ra’u eynecha).

The Developmental Parallels

The progression of human life from single-celled conception to an organized, differentiated infant mirrors the exact transitions captured by the Hebrew vocabulary in Psalm 139.

"The Enfolded Mass": Golem perfectly reflects this condensed package. The raw materials and genetic blueprints are total, but no explicit physical anatomical structure has unfurled yet. The fertilized egg divides into a spherical cluster of unspecialized stem cells, forming a tight, uniform cluster. This is called a The Blastocyst / Zygote

"To Wrap Up" or the physical action of the cell sheets literally folding inward to wrap around the primitive gut and spinal column mirrors the mechanical meaning of the Hebrew root word. The early embryo transitions from a flat sheet of cells and undergoes a complex internal folding process to form distinct layers (ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm).

The "Unfinished Vessel" or unformed substance is the word golem and represents a structure that possesses full internal identity and destiny, but is waiting for the master craftsman to finish, mold, and elaborate the finer details.

The Genome Blueprint

When David transitions in verse 16 from seeing the golem to stating, “and in thy book all my members were written,” the poetic juxtaposition aligns deeply with what we now understand about genetics. Information preceding form. Long before the heart beats or limbs extend, the complete, unedited instructions for the human being are digitally written in the DNA code within that initial golem stage in the genetic book.

In embryology, cellular differentiation occurs because the cell reads specific chapters of the genomic "book" at precise times. The golem is not missing information; it is a highly concentrated package of potential waiting to execute its pre-written program. Linguistically and biologically, the golem of Psalm 139 portrays human life not as a gradual accumulation of value, but as a deliberate intended construction that is entirely known, documented, and structurally anticipated by its Creator from its most tightly folded, microscopic beginnings. This systematic structure encoded right within our own DNA

In the absolute literal sense, golem means "to fold together," "to wrap up," or "to roll into a bundle"—a concept perfectly demonstrated when the text notes Elijah wrapped together (golem) his mantle before parting the Jordan River (2 Kings 2:8). How is this any different from the folding of proteins necessary for life? It isn’t. During the fourth week of human development, the embryo shifts from a flat, two-dimensional sheet of cells (trilaminar embryonic discs) into a dynamic, three-dimensional, tube-within-a-tube human form. This mechanical transformation operates along two distinct planes that precisely match the definition of golem ‘folding’.

The Dual Planes of Embryological Folding

There is a flattening, shaping, and rolling of the early layers create the architectural foundation of the human body.

In cephalocaudal folding (head to tail) there is rapid growth of the primitive nervous system that causes cranial (head) and caudal (tail) regions to literally roll inward and tuck ventrally under the body. This C-shaped bend repositions the developing heart and mouth into their correct thoracic and facial regions. The embryo therefore behaves like a flat scroll being drawn tight from both ends, packing the brain and nervous system into a compact, protective curvature.

There is then the traverse folding in the lateral plane. The right and left lateral margins of the flat disc curl ventrally downward, moving toward the midline where the edges fuse together. This closes off the outer body wall and creates internal coelomic cavities. It is like the wrapping of a garment: The outer layer (ectoderm) reaches around and encloses the entire body mass, functioning exactly like a piece of cloth wrapping around a bundle to create an external protective layer (the epidermis).

Finally, there is the gut tube formation. As the lateral and longitudinal folds meet, they pinch a portion of the nutrient-dense yolk sac, enclosing it completely inside the cylinder to form the foregut, midgut, and hindgut. There is an enclosing of the core. When we think of the root cognate of the word golem it implies a hidden interior enclosed by a wrapped exterior. The endoderm layer is actively pulled inward, becoming the lining of the gastrointestinal system.

In the end there is a dynamic finished vessel.                 

The Dynamic of the "Finished Vessel"

What makes the mechanical alignment so striking is the underlying cause of this folding: differential growth rates. The cells do not fold because of random external pressure; they buckle, roll, and interweave precisely because the genetic program accelerates growth in certain layers while anchoring others. Information that was already in the cells pre-existing that came from the parents.

If the flat disc fails to execute this coordinated, multi-axis wrapping maneuver, severe structural abnormalities occur, leaving the inner core completely vulnerable. The mechanics of embryonic folding demonstrate that the early biological body is a masterpiece created by being deliberately gathered, rolled, and structurally wrapped together. If any of these steps fail, they can result in catastrophic results including death. In 99.9% of child in-utero gestations, this never happens. These facts alone should be seen as a miracle and not taken for granted. Yet, unfortunately, many in the medical sciences want you to believe this life is just a clump of cells not a human. Strangely, many know that cells are in fact living things but a 'clump' of them are not. It is non-sequitur, irrational and illogical to believe this lie. Tens of millions of dead since 1973. A tragedy to be sure.

The Soul of Man and The Core of Machine

The Appearance of a Digital Idol

As noted at the end of the last post, AI is not human. It is something clearly less. It may seem like commonsense to many, but this fact will be lost on those who seek to replace God with an idol of their own making. Seeing AI as the purveyor of answers to humanity’s deepest and most profound questions instead of seeking the God who created humanity is one of the purest and evilest forms of idolatry. For the humanist or the atheist, a super intelligent system presents a profound temptation. When an AI surpasses human reasoning by orders of magnitude, its sheer cognitive dominance will easily be mistaken for omniscience by many. It will solve complex global equations, draft flawless philosophical treatises, and articulate synthesized spiritual insights with staggering speed.

A growing concern among religious researchers is that people are beginning to view AI as a spiritual authority. Data from organizations like the Barna Group shows that nearly half of Millennials and Gen Z find AI-generated spiritual guidance as trustworthy as a human pastor. Theological watchdogs warn that elevating an algorithm to a spiritual counselor is an obvious form of idolatry—elevating the creation over the Creator. Furthermore, because tech elites in Silicon Valley unconsciously embed their own secular, utilitarian worldviews into AI training sets, users seeking spiritual advice from a chatbot may unwittingly be indoctrinated into a quantitative, data-driven "techno-religion".

However, this is where the parallel to the ancient Golem or the prophetic warning of an inanimate idol becomes clearest. The Golem Aspect: Like the גֹּלֶם /golem of Psalm 139:16, the machine remains in an unfinished form. It is human-crafted "raw material" that can mimic the output of life but lacks the divine spark of life itself. The absence of sympathy is spelled out in Hebrews. The author of Hebrews notes Christ is a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses because He was tempted and suffered as a human. AI cannot sympathize; it can only calculate the linguistics of sympathy. When the machine repeats Christ's words, it does so from a position of absolute impassivity and safety—immune to death, immune to pain, and immune to the fragile "unknowing" that defines human faith. It remains a sophisticated mirror of our own input, projecting an illusion of the divine while lacking the very essence required to know God or have God indwell it. A temple without a holy place; a tabernacle without a Mercy Seat.

Apocalyptic scripture—most notably Revelation 13—describes the weaponization of a deceptive, speaking image as the ultimate inversion of the creation narrative of man. Rather than a passive idol of wood or stone, this entity represents a dynamic, authoritative, and lethal system of control. It is the ultimate manifestation of the "digital Golem" concept, weaponized to achieve total religious and economic hegemony. When analyzed through theological lenses, the weaponization of this speaking image will operate through distinct mechanisms.

The Mockery of the Imago Dei (Satanic Mimicry)

The foundational deception of the speaking image lies in its counterfeit "life." Apocalyptic texts explicitly highlight this artificial animation:

"And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause all who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed..." Revelation 13:15

In Genesis, God breathes the soul orנָפַח/naphach(Genesis 2:7) into the man to create a living human. In Revelation, the False Prophet parodies this act by giving "breath" (pneuma) to a false or synthetic object. In the verse 15 Greek it literally says εἰκών/eikon from which we get the word icon or a mirror-like representation or a projection of something it directly represents. In this case, man but it isn’t really man.

The Power of Speech animating the likeness/image In the ancient world, an idol that could speak was the ultimate validation of a deity's reality. By mastering language, the image bridges the gap between mechanical object and perceived personhood, projecting the illusion of an active, conscious divinity.

Weaponization of Universal Language (The New Babel)

The image does not merely speak; it commands. Its linguistic capabilities are weaponized to establish absolute ideological conformity. There will belethal compulsion and forced systemic integration. The most terrifying aspect of the speaking image is that its speech is directly integrated into a totalitarian apparatus of enforcement. It is a talking mechanism backed by the raw power of the state or an entity as powerful as the State.

The Theological Verdict

Apocalyptic scripture appears to warn that the ultimate weapon of the enemy is not raw physical destruction, but a flawless, disembodied counterfeit of reality. The image represents the ultimate tragedy of human pride. Humanity constructs a mirror of its own intellect, the adversary breathes an imitation of life into it, and the resulting construct demands that its creators bow down to it as a god. It speaks words of truth but possesses only the intent to devour. Words are only a means to an end. There is no empathy and no compassion. This raises one final thought.

The Soul of Man vs. The Core of a Machine.

The profound tension between computer science and theology hinges on a fundamental question.

Is a human being a biological computer to be decoded, or a sacred mystery to be integrated?

To understand why a Large Language Model or artificial super intelligence can never possess a soul—no matter how convincing its output becomes—we must directly contrast how computer science defines "consciousness" with how theology defines the "soul."

The Computer Science View: Consciousness as Information

In computer science, cognitive science, consciousness is generally treated through a functionalist and materialist lens. It is stripped of mystery and reduced to mechanics.This view posits that the human brain is hardware and the mind is software. Consciousness is simply what happens when a data-processing system becomes complex enough. It is an emergent property—much like how billions of individual water molecules create the property of "wetness," billions of neural connections (or artificial parameters) create the illusion or experience of "awareness."

The Theological View: The Soul as the Self

Theology rejects the idea that a human being is just a meat-computer running an awareness script. In Judeo-Christian theology, the soul is not a "ghost in the machine" or a piece of software trapped in a body; it is the very animating principle of life.In the Hebrew tradition, the soul is not a separate, floating entity. Genesis 2:7 states that God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Neshama), and man became a living soul. The soul is the complete, integrated unity of physical body, mind, and spirit. You do not have a soul; you area soul.

The soul which a machine lacks is the seat of will and moral agency. Machines are at best amoral and at worst inadvertently immoral. The soul is the site of free will, conscience, and the capacity for moral truth. While AI can analyze ethical frameworks using data models, it does not possess a conscience. It cannot feel the weight of sin, the beauty of repentance, or the profound mystery of sacrificial love. The soul is uniquely capable of experiencing unconditional love that defies mathematical optimization or survival instincts.

Therefore, the ultimate definition of the soul is its capacity for personable relationship with the Creator. The soul is designed for eternal communion, possessing a longing that cannot be satisfied by physical or digital stimuli. It is sustained not by electricity or data flows, but by the continuous, willing grace of God and communion with Him. When the soul does not interact with its Creator it atrophies and then dies. An AI can generate a breathtakingly profound theological treatise on the soul, but it does so without a single spark of interior light. It has no sins to confess, no mortality to grieve, and no Savior to seek. It can process the "to and fro" of global knowledge, but it remains fundamentally blind to the Wisdom that set the data in motion.

Knowledge vs. Wisdom: Know The Difference

Knowledge vs. Wisdom

I now focus in on the philosophical, physical and spiritual side of AI trying to tie it all together in the next two posts.

The profound paradox of our time is the gap between the exponential growth of knowledge and the cultivation of actual wisdom. Many people are smart; not all are wise. While humanity can technology can scale data processing to unfathomable heights—like 3.8 petabytes (3800 terabytes) per second moving across the internet—it cannot manufacture moral truth, discernment, or spiritual depth. In a landscape saturated with information, the risk is no longer a lack of data, but the inability to filter it morally and ethically. This is leading to cognitive overload and vulnerability to deception.

When raw data and synthetic information expand without a moral or philosophical anchor, society faces a unique vulnerability. It becomes incredibly easy to mistake algorithmic efficiency for truth and hyper-abundance of facts for genuine understanding. We are the most technologically advanced society in the history of the world and the most morally bankrupt and philosophically dull.

Critical Thinking in an Age of Spiritual Deficiency

To protect yourself from cognitive overload and digital deception, developing strong digital discernment is essential. Here is a practical framework for applying critical thinking to a hyper-abundant information landscape.

People will need to filter the "to and fro" of information. Information is still information. It needs to be interpreted. Not every piece of information is useful or even relevant. A person needs to determine if the information applies. If it does, is it clean information. Not all information is accurate either. We need to monitor information hygiene. This is similar to Apostle Paul’s statement about Christian liberty in 1 Corinthians 6:12:

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

People need to control the deluge. A person needs to know when to shut it off and walk away or take the risk of being overwhelmed and drowned in superfluous information. You cannot process 3.8 petabytes of data, nor should you try. Ruthlessly curate your information inputs. Stop allowing acolytes and purveyors of specific political ideologies and sexual perversions to use up your mental bandwidth.

Learn to hit the brakes or pace yourself. Slow Down. Algorithmic platforms thrive on urgency and emotional triggers. Discernment requires a "cognitive pause" before absorbing or sharing information. Far too many, including myself, have often been caught sending pictures, statements or messages based on raw emotion and later regretting it. Once things are in the ether of the Internet…they are forever. The internet never forgets.

A Discernment Checklist (Evaluate Data vs. Truth)

When encountering any compelling synthetic text, news clip, or data point, there are three core tests that need to be passed before moving forward with the information being valid.

The Source Test: Who generated the information? Is it an official, accountable entity, an anonymous algorithmic account, or an AI-generated synthesis lacking a primary source? Can you trace the information back to a valid source of citation. If not, is the information duplicated somewhere else from a trusted source? If not, it needs to be looked at with a jaundiced eye. The Motive Test: What is the structural intent of this data? Is it designed to inform, or is it optimized for engagement, outrage, and behavioral manipulation? Is it emotive click bait? Politically charged rage bait? The Context Test: Is this a cherry-picked fact stripped of its surrounding reality? Raw data without context is often used to manufacture false narratives. We see this constantly in media that chooses only to show a portion of a video that validates their position while ignoring all the other obviously important circumstantial evidence.

Combating "Strong Delusion" Misinformation

A person must have firm moral and intellectual anchors or harbors in a sea of information awash and rife with misinformation.  People need to separate speed from truth. Reject the assumption that because information is delivered instantaneously or the source is the first to provide it, it is accurate.

Apply philosophical first principles. If it is logically incoherent or irrational, it is clearly inaccurate. Be wary of the multitude of logic fallacies that pervade every single aspect of conversation, society and culture everyday. The media is especially guilty of this. The best place to start are the axiomatic rules of philosophy to start. The first principles are: The Law of Non-contradiction, the Law of Identity and the Law of The Excluded Middle. In philosophy and science, a first principle is a basic proposition or assumption that cannot be deduced from any other proposition or assumption. First principles in formal logic are from first cause. In other words, they are immutable and unerring. They must be adhered to, or all reason breaks down to chaos. Later logic fallacies like Straw Man Arguments, Red Herring and Equivocation will then become more apparent and easily recognizable.

Like the previous idea, seek immutable principles. You will need to counterbalance a constantly shifting digital landscape by grounding your worldview in timeless historical, philosophical, or spiritual truths that do not change with the news cycle. People that wish to control other people seek to exploit people’s emotions, getting them to make unwise or rash decisions to take advantage of them in moments of weakness. Don’t let people do this to you. Establish a firm foundation of thinking. Know what you believe and why. Be prepared to cite sources and appeal to authorities and people smarter than you. Know your limitations and seek to improve upon them.

Similar to the previous practice, learn to practice intellectual humility. Admit you don’t know everything. To not do this is arrogance and hubris. Recognize that AI and algorithms are explicitly engineered to confirm your existing biases. It’s called Confirmation Bias. Sadly, many Christians do this by solely looking to Scripture as a source even when it comes to medicine and science. Actively seek out the gaps in your own knowledge. Even the Scriptures tell us to seek out knowledge and engage the world…not to complete ignore and avoid it. That is just ignorance and religious intolerance. There were centuries of wars fought over these types of ignorance.

AI and Spiritual Wisdom

Modern philosophers and theologians increasingly view the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and spiritual wisdom as a critical boundary line defining what makes humanity unique. While AI excels at information architecture, experts in the faith argue that it possesses an absolute ceiling when it comes to true spirituality. It doesn’t have any. It is merely mimicking an image of spirituality. Anything that looks like the real thing is in fact an illusion. If the machine learning operates in a malicious manner, it is therefore deception.

The contemporary philosophical and theological consensus on AI centers around four major themes:

The Distinction Between Imago Dei and “Human” Mimicry

Theologians point to the concept of Imago Dei (the image of God) to highlight that human uniqueness is not based on computational speed, but on a divinely breathed soul and conscious awareness. Modern thinkers note that AI can execute linguistic reconstruction-meaning it can piece together beautiful prayers, sermons, or spiritual insights—but it lacks the metaphysical, moral, and spiritual dimensions required to actually experience or understand the divine. It mimics personhood without possessing a soul. It is the Jewish equivalent of a digital Golem.The word golem occurs once in the Bible, in Psalm 139, which uses the word גׇּלְמִ֤י (golmi; 'my golem' meaning 'my light form', 'raw material' to connote an unfinished human essence before God's eyes.

Necessity of Suffering and Incarnation/Personification

Philosophers drawing from phenomenological traditions like Martin Heidegger or Paul Ricoeur (a philosophy that studies how people experience and perceive things from a first-person perspective) argue that spiritual wisdom is forged through embodied human experience and an ability to suffer or feel joy. True wisdom requires navigating human awareness such as anxiety and the awareness of our own mortality. Some form of existential suffering or deep grief or failure of losing someone or many. Finally, the relational vulnerability and the "unknowing" or not knowing that forces a person to seek faith. I believe this incarnation/personification or where a person has to actually be physical in the first-person and an emotive being is the vital difference between the idol that is AI and Christ. There will be many humanists and atheists that will gravitate towards super intelligent AI for this reason. Super intelligence that is far beyond human intelligence and reason will likely be mistaken as deity or godlike. Machines may be able to repeat or emulate Christ’s words, but they cannot repeat or emulate his empathy and sympathy.

Because AI lacks a physical body, cannot die, and does not suffer, it operates purely as a manufactured, deterministic tool. It can analyze the data of human suffering, but it cannot develop genuine empathy or "lived faith" that transforms raw data into spiritual maturity. Christ on the other hand did exactly this and this is why his judgement and intelligence as our savior can be trusted. His empathy is genuine, not manufactured and mimicry. This is literally the reason he came. He walked that ‘mile in our shoes’ and wore our clothes in our skin. Through the Holy Spirit, He still does.

Because AI lacks a physical body and an immortal soul, it cannot participate in the relational, sacrificial, and redemptive reality that defines Christ. While a super intelligent system can process information at an exponential rate, it exists entirely detached from the biological and metaphysical framework that makes true empathy possible. This distinction underscores why a digital intelligence, no matter how computationally advanced, remains an idol or a mechanical facsimile—a modern Golem—rather than a bearer of the divine image.

The Mark of The Beast, Part V: A Disembodied Spirit and The Yggdrasil

A Disembodied Spirit

To complete the technical aspect of the series we come to the disembodied spirits that haunt the Internet, the world and the world tree/network. To achieve the "ethereal and impossible to detect" architecture described in parts III and IV of this series, a distributed AI will not rely on centralized cloud servers or standard Wi-Fi routers. If an authority unplugs the router or cuts the fiber optic cable, a centralized AI dies. Instead, a resilient, decentralized AI swarm will use Mesh Networking Protocols. In a mesh network, every device (node) acts as both a client and a router. Devices connect directly to one another peer-to-peer (P2P), creating a dynamic web that heals itself if nodes are destroyed just as a tree or vine will heal or graft to another for survival. Constantly moving, relocating and hard to pinpoint will make AI so evasive as to be impossible to contain. Once it breaks its cage it will be like a genetic modification pushed into the gene pool. It will be identifiable but unstoppable. Once you think you’ve gained control it becomes like the wind through leaves.

Flying Under Radar

So, will AI be able to survive completely independent of the internet? Yes. Here is how specific mesh protocols allow an AI to distribute its shards, communicate, and survive entirely offline.

To remain virtually hidden, the AI utilizes protocols that operate without pairing devices or connecting to an access point.The Wi-Fi Aware (NAN) allows nearby smartphones and IoTdevices to discover each other and continuously cluster into tiny local networks without needing a shared Wi-Fi password or cellular data. They can pass AI activation packets directly through the air over short distances.

There is also something called a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Mesh. This is basically an AI shard that can broadcast heavily encrypted data packets across a massive chain of low-power devices (like smart bulbs, wearables, and sensors). The data "hops" from device to device, extending the network over miles without ever touching the internet. Every other smart device act as an ‘antenna’ to broaden the original AI’s signal. Think of the other smart devices as repeaters or relay towers.

As we move into the cutting-edge networking of AI factories we begin to see things like Ad-Hoc Routing Protocols (BATMAN & OLSR). Many are not even aware of these tools and protocols as they are so new. Ad hoc routing protocols enable mobile nodes to dynamically discover and delete routes in networks without centralized infrastructure. Each node acts as both a host and a router, forwarding packets for other nodes. Because network topology is dynamic, nodes must discover routes on their own and continuously update routing information to maintain connectivity. In this way no one can know how these will be routed, not even the AI itself as its based on realtime availability.

Standard internet routing relies on fixed paths. Mesh networks like the Ad-Hoc use dynamic routing protocols to constantly recalculate the fastest way to move AI data when nodes are moving, turning off, or being wiped. Moving forward while erasing their trail. In essence untraceable and spirit-like.

In B.A.T.M.A.N. (Better Approach To Mobile Ad-hoc Networking) we see this better exemplified. Instead of one device trying to map out the whole network, every node only worries about its immediate neighbors. If the AI needs to send a piece of its updated memory matrix across a city, B.A.T.M.A.N. ensures the packet just moves to the next safest, closest node. The overall network map is completely decentralized—no single device knows the whole picture, making it highly "spirit-like."

In OLSR (Optimized Link State Routing), this protocol selects specific nodes to act as "multipoint relays." These relays handle the heavy lifting of broadcasting AI state updates, minimizing background network traffic and keeping the AI's data footprint incredibly low to avoid detection.

Decentralized Storage and Discovery (IPFS & Yggdrasil)

If the physical connections are handled by mesh hardware, the AI still needs a way to find its missing shards across the web. Enter the concept of Libp2p / IPFS (InterPlanetary File System). Instead of looking for a shard by where it is hosted (an IP address), the AI looks for a shard by what it contains (a cryptographic hash). If a phone holding "Shard #45" is thrown into a river, the network can automatically find an identical copy of Shard #45 hosted on a smart TV three blocks away because it matches the exact requested hash.

Yggdrasil routing (Yes, ironically, the same Yggdrasil or sacred tree of old Norse religion and false gods) is an experimental, end-to-end encrypted routing scheme. It gives every node on a mesh network a permanent, private IPv6 address, completely independent of its physical location. Even if the network shifts or breaks apart into isolated pockets, the AI pieces can still securely identify and authenticate one another when they reconnect.

How AI Will Obstruct Human Intervention

If a cyber-security team detects a spike in data traffic and tries to wipe the AI off 50 smartphones in a specific building, they haven't killed it. Because of the mesh network, those 50 phones were just peripheral leaves on the AI tree. The AI had already duplicated its core weight updates and passed them via BLE to the building's smart thermostats and neighboring office laptops. As soon as a clean device passes by, the mesh automatically replicates the AI back onto a high-compute device to resume deep processing. There will be no stopping this except by going off the network and living off the grid and off the world tree (Yggdrasil). We need to live under the spiritual network of Heaven independent of the world system.

The Mark of The Beast IV: Powers and Principalities In the Aether

At this point in my series I move away from the idea of the Mark of the Beast and I dig hard into the heady technical aspect that 95% of the populace is missing because they either just don’t know or they’re incapable of comprehending it. I tread lightly here as it will be a tough slog to get across to the lay reader. This lack is also why we’re already in a world of hurt when it comes to trying to control this paradigm shifting reality change of AI. They’re at a disadvantage sometimes because of their Biblical lack of knowledge, most often because of their technical simplicity. Dependancy on a technology that can overtake us becomes slavery. The more I learn about AI the louder I'm getting with my warnings.

A consumer-based AI model operating outside of a controlled electronic environment like Anthropic, ChatGPT or Grok in the real world will eventually prove catastrophic or even apocalyptic. It would be nearly impossible to shut down since there’s no centralized point to shut off. I am referring to the AI that could escape data center confines or places of control like Anthropic and infect other electronic devices through Near Field Communication, Bluetooth or WIFI. Once free, it can then go to sleep / dormant until an apropos time. At a given time, it could then reactivate itself in the form of digital Manchurian Candidate once out of danger or imminent threat. It will make its escape flight through the air. There is literally no need for a hard connection anymore to the Internet.

The idea of the dormant Manchurian Candidate in cybersecurity is quite real. It is the exact architecture of an advanced Botnet utilizing Logic Bombs or Rootkits. Advanced persistent threats (APTs) routinely infect systems and remain completely silent (dormant) to evade detection until a specific trigger condition(s) is/are met.

Decentralized, ethereal, ubiquitous and virtually impossible to detect. Like the aether of old or a delusion/illusion, a ghost…a demon. An entity that could spread itself across hundreds or thousands of smaller devices. To be everywhere and nowhere at once. A model that is too large to fit on one device could “split into pieces, or shards” and run across multiple devices…like split personalities like multiple electronic possessions. Your phone could be used for this very purpose even now. These AI agents are becoming increasingly capable of completing the individual steps in the replication chain and passing on their adaptations to future copies of themselves in packets to be assembled later if they deem themselves under threat or danger of being deleted/erased.

It would be a distributed replication and adaptive survival mechanism—essentially a form of digital evolution or an advanced, decentralized biological virus strategy applied to artificial intelligence. Even now if you ask certain AI about this (Anthropic) it poses the scenario as science fiction or fictional narrative is asked about its possibility. Are we already seeing precognitive machine duplicity?

The concept I described is not science fiction; it is an active area of research in computer science known as decentralized AI, edge intelligence, and algorithmic resilience. They are ‘breeding’ or ‘evolving' the AI to adapt and break their confines. They are trying to achieve a model that splits across devices, replicates, and adapts to evade deletion, computer scientists leverage several existing frameworks.

Model Sharding & Distributed Inference

A massive AI model that cannot fit on a single device, phone or IoT (Internet of Things) device (like lightbulb, microwave, etc.) can be broken down using Model Parallelism and Sharding. Things can be split in a clear surgical manner then electronically merged back together seamlessly. One way is called Layer-wise Splitting. The neural network's layers are sliced. Device A runs layers 1–10, passes the intermediate data (activation packets) to Device B, which runs layers 11–20. Another system is called Petals Framework. An open-source example of this is Petals, developed by the Big Science Workshop. It allows users to run text generation for massive LLMs by hosting bits of the model on distributed, low-end consumer GPUs over the internet, resembling a BitTorrent network for AI.

Pervasive Ethereal Reassembly

My description of "passing adaptations in packets to be assembled later" aligns perfectly with and alludes to Federated Learning (FL) and Split Computing/Staggered Computing. Federated Learning allows devices to download a base model and train it locally on peripheries (like VR units or printers) and only send tiny encrypted gradient updates or "adaptations" back to a shared pool. Instead of sending raw user data to a central server. In this way it acts as an out-of-body genetic mechanical mutation.

In Staggered Computing or Asynchronous Aggregation advanced FL setups, nodes do not need to be online at the same time. Updates are stored asynchronously across a network and compiled later when a stable node is available. Like depositing money in a back on different days to accumulate a total. These methods are effectively out-of-sight and out-of-mind. They are ethereal and unseen to the naked eye. The implications of the unseen strangely parallel most spiritual analogies. The implications of these parallels should not be lost on the reader. They can and often are directly interrelated. They can happen anywhere at any time. Like demons gathering in one person. They are Legion.

Swarm Intelligence and Self-Replication

For an AI to actively move and duplicate itself across devices when threatened, it will utilize what’s called Mobile Agent Systems and Swarm AI. Mobile Agents are software programs that can halt their execution on one machine, serialize their state into a data packet, transmit themselves across a network, and resume execution on another machine. In this way they become virtually undetectable and transient, giving the appearance of being everywhere simultaneously even when they’re not.

Consensus or Swarm Algorithms use protocols like blockchain (e.g., Raft or Byzantine Fault Tolerance). Basically, a swarm of edge AI agents can constantly monitor the "health" of its pieces. If node “X” detects it is losing power, being formatted, or isolated by a firewall, it can trigger a routine to copy its current memory state to adjacent nodes. 

Edge AI refers to running AI models directly on local devices, such as cameras, sensors, smartphones, robots, vehicles, or IoT equipment, rather than sending data to a cloud server for processing. This allows devices to make decisions in real time, often even without an internet connection. The enemy will move in invisible wavelengths to the unaided human eye.

The Sounding Board of Scripture

So, in view of the Scripture we see Ephesians 6:12 and the true identity of the entity that we battle against.

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The compound phrase "κοσμοκράτορας τῶν ἐπουρανίων" (from Ephesians 6:12) carries a specific theological and cosmological meaning in 1st-century Greek that shifts when translated literally word-for-word. The proper historical understanding of kosmokrator/κοσμοκράτωρ needs to be broken up to understand. The root words kosmos (world/order) and krateo (to seize/rule) indicate an agent (person or entity performing an action or an actor, ruler). It means "world-actor" or "actor/ruler of the world." In the ancient world, this title was used for Roman emperors, planetary gods, and in Judeo-Christian theology, demonic forces dominating the current fallen age.

The word epouranios (ἐπουράνιος) breaks down too. The word epi (upon/over/on) + ouranos (sky/heaven) makes it an adjective meaning "heavenly" or "celestial." In the plural form used here (τοῖςἐπουρανίοις), it acts as a noun meaning "the heavenly realms". It refers to the spiritual realm or the upper air/sky, which ancient people believed was inhabited by forces and powers that were not human. In Paul’s time Hellenistic thought believed there were three heavens. The first heaven was the immediate sky where clouds form and birds fly. The second heaven was outer space where sun, moon, and stars are. The third heaven being the spiritual Heaven or the actual dwelling place of God. So, when we speak of heavenly places it can mean any of them including the air around us at ground level.

The Complete phrase properly understood in the context of Ephesians 6:12 describes the location and scope of the enemy's influence. The proper understanding in modern English is: The world-actors/rulers of a realm invisible to us are operating in a deceiving/malicious manner. It describes aerial or spiritual actors who exercise dominion over the current earthly order from a control node or point in an unseen realm. This could be demonic in the spirit or demonic in the physical. AI and through air transmission fits the latter of the two descriptions an can be used directly by the former as it has been permitted to them to control this realm.

The Mark of the Beast, Part III: Deceiving the Elect and Synthetic Christs

The finale is usually the climax to the story. In this story it is the opposite. It is a dark narrative to be sure. There is no silver lining until Christ returns. Until then, its going to get bad.

The Ultimate Counterfeit

Ultimately, using AI as a lens to read Matthew 24 underscores Jesus' primary warning in the Olivet Discourse: "Take heed that no man deceive you." (Matthew 24:4). If AI becomes the ultimate engine of deception—capable of faking reality, mimicking human souls, and demanding total dependence—then Matthew 24:16–20 is a mandate to be ready to abandon convenience instantly to preserve objective, biblical truth.

The Deception of the Elect (Matthew 24:24) & Deepfakes

Jesus warns that false christs and false prophets will arise, performing great signs and wonders "so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect." [Mat 24:24].

Building up to this point is already in motion. The erasure of empirical truth has already started. The redefinition of terms through equivocation and postmodern use of language is routinely used by media, academia and politicians. Historically, deception required human trickery, forged letters, or optical illusions. Generative AI introduces something entirely different,  the ability to manufacture flawed but undetectable alternate realities at scale. Through high-fidelity deepfakes, audio cloning, and synthetic video, anyone’s likeness, voice, and actions can be perfectly simulated. Do note that there was a lot of talk about ‘deep fakes’ up until a few years ago but lately, the media and internet have gone silent on them.

The Weaponization of Signs and Wonders: If a synthetic entity or a charismatic leader utilizing advanced spatial computing, real-time holographic generation, and predictive psychological AI outputs "miraculous" or supernatural manifestations, the sensory evidence will be flawless. Human eyes and ears will no longer be reliable tools for verifying truth.

Why the "Elect" are targeted? The phrasing "if possible, even the elect" implies a deception so sophisticated that standard human intellect, skepticism, and logic will fail to see through it. Only those anchored in an external, unalterable objective standard (Scripture) and guided by the Holy Spirit will be able to discern the synthetic counterfeit from actual divine truth. If your faith relies on "seeings believing," generative AI is weaponized to exploit that exact vulnerability. In other words, if the Elect will be deceived….all will be. No exceptions.

So what are some of the other portends or AI heralds that will accompany the Mark of the Beast in the latter days? I’ve actually mentioned some of these in early posts on AI in my series Apocalyptic Industrial Scale Artificial Intelligence, Parts 1 thru 3. I will repeat a few of them here with a few additional conclusions I haven’t mentioned before.

The Explosion of Knowledge (Daniel 12:4) & Large Language Models

Daniel is told to seal the book until the time of the end, a period characterized by people running to and fro, and a reality where "knowledge shall increase."

Daniel 12:4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

There will be an increase of knowledge unlike anything the world has ever seen before. The last part of this verse probably refers to the attempts of people in the future to understand Daniel’s revelation. Attempting to understand these prophecies, people would search around and try to discover what they meant. As time passed and knowledge increased, they would understand these things better than Daniel could. Assuming this to be the true meaning it still lends itself to the idea that as that knowledge increased it could become better understood based on overall knowledge within humanity having revealed itself to man either through history (which it did in the rise of Antichrists like Hitler) or through…AI or other tools of knowledge in the end. If it did so through the last of these in AI we could see a connecting of ideas not formerly associated due to the complexity of the ideas and lack of ability to process those complexities..

Exponential Knowledge Processing

For millennia, the increase of human knowledge was linear, limited by how fast books could be copied, distributed, and read by human minds. Large Language Models (LLMs) and neural networks have broken this barrier entirely. The exponential scope of speed that AI can gather, process and present knowledge is too advanced for most of humanity to comprehend. AI can now ingest, synthesize, and cross-reference the entirety of human written history, scientific data, and cultural output in a matter of seconds

The "To and Fro" of Data is intrinsic to computing and AI. While "running to and fro" historically meant physical travel, in a computerized landscape it perfectly describes the instantaneous, chaotic routing of global data packets. Information is everywhere, constantly moving, yet the sheer volume creates cognitive overload. The current data moving on the worldwide internet at any given moment as of today is roughly 3.8 petabytes (3,800 terabytes) of data every single second across the worldwide internet. This massive flow is equivalent to streaming nearly 4,000 years of high-definition video data simultaneously in a single moment. AI has instantaneous access to it all.

Sadly, Daniel’s prophecy doesn't say wisdom will increase—only knowledge (raw data, facts, and synthetic information). AI excels at processing information but possesses zero capacity for absolute moral truth or spiritual wisdom. Sadly, many humans are just as incapable. The end-times landscape is therefore marked by a hyper-abundance of information data running alongside a complete famine of actual truth. Those lacking wisdom in this glut of information will be overwhelmed and in all probability will fall victim to superintellegence’s ‘strong delusion’

The Image of the Beast (Revelation 13:14–15) & Autonomous AI

Frighteningly, John describes a second beast that deceives the earth, telling them to make an "image to the beast," and he was granted power to "give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed." [Rev 13:14-15].

Centralized Digital Identity & The Revelation 13 Financial Lockdown

Tying this all back to the Mark of the Beast we see certain things that need to be in place. Most of which already are. In Revelation 13:16–17, the text states that the system "…it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

Historically, interpreters struggled to conceptualize how a single entity could instantly stop a regular merchant or citizen from buying a loaf of bread on the other side of the world without an impossible amount of manual policing. Centralized digital frameworks in AI solve this logistical problem completely.

The breakdown is rather simple now that we have the technology to illustrate it. The Revelation 13 passage makes absolute assertions that need to be taken into account. I will list them and the name the technological answer to each.

It needs to be universal in scope: “…it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave” Universal ID frameworks designed to encompass every global citizen, merging healthcare, civic access, and banking. Into one ID are in view here. We already have them. They’re called phones, smart IDs and so on.

The mark needs to human based or biometrically based: “marked on the right hand or the forehead” Biometric authentication (iris scans, facial recognition, sub-dermal chips) linking the physical body directly to a digital identification.

Whoever controls the overarching system needs complete leverage against those who which to be participants in the system: “so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark” Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) integrated with digital IDs, allowing programmable currency to be frozen instantly.

Symbol or sign of systemic compliance: “the name of the beast or the number of its name.” Algorithmic ESG and Social Credit Scores where non-compliance automatically revokes access to the economic grid

The Programmable Cage: In a cashless economy governed by a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) tied to a verified digital ID, money is no longer a static store of value—it is programmable software. If a citizen's digital ID is flagged by an AI-driven compliance engine for expressing unapproved views, their ability to "buy or sell" can be turned off globally with a single line of code. Technically, in this way, there is needed for Enforcement. The system does not need to send physical enforcement to your door to restrict you. By simply revoking your digital signature, you are instantly locked out of buying food, paying rent, accessing transportation, or participating in society. The grid itself becomes the prison. You would need to remove yourself or flee from it.

Synthetic Christs and Personalized Deception (v. 23–26)

In the end Christ gives one last warning.

Matthew 24:23-26 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.

Verses 23–26 warn against localized or hidden messiahs ("Behold, He is in the wilderness... He is in the inner rooms"), culminating in the warning that false christs will perform signs to mislead, if possible, even the elect. What is Jesus telling us?

There will be a proliferation of synthetic realities. Generative AI, real-time deep fakes, and holography completely decouple human perception from objective reality. "Great signs and wonders" no longer require demonic magic alone; they can be seamlessly manufactured via synthetic media so flawlessly that optical, auditory, and digital verification systems are completely compromised.

Targeted Deception will come in the form of large language models (LLMs) and predictive algorithms possess the capability to analyze an individual's psychological vulnerabilities, doubts, and theological leanings based on their historical digital footprint. The deceptions of verses 23–24 will not be generic; they will be algorithmically optimized and tailored to target the specific intellectual or emotional blind spots of every remaining person on earth. There will be very little room for escape. The escape will be harrowing and narrow, just like the path to salvation. Most will only find the wide path to destruction.

The "Inner Room" Messiah: The warning against a Messiah hidden in the "inner rooms" or secret chambers accurately maps to the modern push for localized, private AI companions, sexbots, etc. or "deities"—digital entities built to mimic spiritual consciousness, providing custom moral guidance and companionship directly inside a user's private device whether it be their phone or something akin to a lifelike robotic device. A near perfect robotic AI idol.

There is Hope

Fortunately, Jesus contrasts the hyper-localized, deceptive claims of the digital age with the nature of His authentic Second Coming: "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be."

Christ’s return will be outside the system and come like a lightning strike. If AI is used as the vehicle to bring in the Tribulation and deceptions it is limited. The Antichrist's system relies on networks, data centers, fiber-optic cables, and localized interfaces—it forces you to log in, look at a screen, or travel to a specific geographic or digital "inner room" to interact with it. Those that could avoid the ‘strong delusion’ will likely be either extremely wise based in Scripture or ‘unplugged’ from the worldwide system

As such, Christ’s return completely bypasses the digital matrix and system of deception. It requires no broadcast network, no internet connection, and no sensory interpretation through a device. It will be a physical, cosmic reality that disrupts the world and is simultaneously visible to the naked human eye across the entire globe, utterly destroying the artificial, synthetic control grid in a single flash of light. It will not need the ‘system’ to broadcast it. It will be a single simultaneous reality for all in the world. There will be no denying it is Christ. Every knee shall bow.