AI gods & ChatGPT Religion Revisited: Evil On The March - We Are The Watchmen Weekly, October 7, 2023
A Sermon Led By ChatGPT In Austin "For Understanding" & A Review Of AI gods & ChatGPT Religion - Read, Share, & Subscribe - WeAreTheWatchmen.org
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When The Enemy Walks In The Door - The Weakness Of The Modern Church On Display
In the April 15, 2023 edition of We Are The Watchmen Weekly, we provided an update to our original piece on AI gods & Chat GPT religion by sharing a story about Neuralink, a company owned by Elon Musk that’s on a mission to put a computer chip on your brain.
While this sounds far-fetched, Musk has since received approval from the FDA to test his chip on humans.
As we shared in the April 15th edition:
People have mixed opinions on Elon Musk and the work that he does.
Regardless, he is looked upon by many as god-like, which is idolatry.
Musk, along with others, also have a strange desire to alter the creation of God, which mocks him:
As stated in Galatians 6:7:
7 Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
15 Therefore the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising early and sending: for he had compassion on his people, and on his habitation.
16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his Prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, and till there was no remedy.
And while that may feel like the end of the story, Satan isn’t done… instead of trying to sneak in with scary technology, he’s found ways to have it walk right through the front door of the church.
Meet Pastor Jay Cooper of Violet Crown City Church.
Click Here to read the full article.
Let’s walk through the article and provide some context with scripture:
“On September 17, 2023, the Violet Crown City Church, a Methodist church in North Austin, transformed the tradition of Sunday service into the new age with Artificial Intelligence.
Pastor Jay Cooper, of Violet Crown City Church, decided to debut an AI-generated worship service for his congregation.
Jay came across this idea of using AI to worship God through using Chat GPT himself for personal use such as writing humorous country music lyrics for fun, and thought it would be a great way to move his congregation into the 21st-century by introducing them to AI in a way that still lets them worship God.”
Hard Stop.
Pastor Cooper went from using ChatGPT “writing humorous country music lyrics for fun” to “thinking it would be a great way to move his congregation into the 21st-century by introducing them to AI in a way that still lets them worship God.”
This is why the Church body has abdicated leadership and the culture is in ruins.
We’re not commanded by God to “think or feel.”
This is misleading the flock, which God has an issue with.
As He teaches us in scripture:
1.“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.
2. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord.
And also in Zechariah 11:17:
“Woe to the worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!
May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!”
Pro Tip: God’s love language is obedience.
Let’s continue.
“Using AI, Jay recorded the service while letting the artificial intelligence generator conduct the service, with AI being able to create prayers, a sermon, and an original song based on the sermon itself.
Jay insisted he was able to use AI in a way that many would not have thought of and take the stereotype that Christianity meant being unaccepting and stuck in the past.
“The idea to create an AI-generated worship service came from my belief that the church should not only be aware of the most pressing issues of our world, but also to actively engage in them,” Jay said.
“AI is definitely one of those issues, so I wanted to incorporate it into our community life in such a way that it would make an impact.
“The initial reason we offered this, admittedly unorthodox, service was to inform our congregation about AI and to understand its potential and its limitations.
“The purpose is to invite us to consider the nature of truth and challenge our assumptions about what God can make sacred and inspired.”
Hard Stop.
Look at what’s being said here, and HOW it’s being said.
As the old saying goes, “the devil is in the details.”
And Satan will make the poison taste nice and sweet to get you to take it…
Don’t.
The Lord warns us about this, and the consequences:
In Colossians 2:8:
8 Beware lest there be any man that spoil you through philosophy, and vain deceit, through the traditions of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
And in 2 Peter 2:1:
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you: which privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that hath bought them, and bring upon themselves swift damnation.
Which leads us to the ultimate example of millions of lost souls, who, without intervention, will be condemned, as told in 2 Timothy 4:3:
For the time will come when they will not suffer wholesome doctrine: but having their ears itching, shall after their own lusts get them an heap of teachers.
Homework: Know Your Foe. The enemy doesn’t always look like evil… remember, Satan masquerades as an angel of light. These scriptures will help you to counter that.
Let’s wrap up.
“Although many were impressed by AI's ability to create prayers, a sermon, and an original song based on the sermon, along with being glad we have a much better understanding of AI now, many in our church expressed that the service felt shallow and generic and that it was missing the most important component of worship, which is heart and the human spirit of joy and authenticity.
“Never say never, I suppose, since it's possible AI may yet be of use for us in some way in the church, but for now we won't be using it again to generate any components of Sunday morning worship services.”
This is an interesting conclusion, but not all that unexpected for true believers and readers of We Are The Watchmen Weekly who will recall seeing similar feedback when a ChatGPT sermon was tried in Germany. From our June 17, 2023 edition:
The AI church service was one of hundreds of events at the convention of Protestants in the Bavarian towns of Nuremberg and the neighboring Fuerth, and it drew such immense interest that people formed a long queue outside the 19th-century, neo-Gothic building an hour before it began.
The entire service was “led” by four different avatars on the screen, two young women, and two young men.
Some people enthusiastically videotaped the event with their cell phones, while others looked on more critically and refused to speak along loudly during The Lord’s Prayer.
Heiderose Schmidt, a 54-year-old who works in IT, said she was excited and curious when the service started but found it increasingly off-putting as it went along.
“There was no heart and no soul,” she said. “The avatars showed no emotions at all, had no body language and were talking so fast and monotonously that it was very hard for me to concentrate on what they said.”
Commentary - Hard Stop: The quote from Heiderose Schmidt is a priceless treasure for the gospel.
“There was no heart and no soul in the service.”
Why?
For those who are saved, it’s obvious: God was not in it.
For those who are not, think about what’s happening in this situation before you talk with them:
Now you have man, believing he is God, expressing that belief with the creation of false idols that look, feel, and sound practical to those who are not in the word.
You’ll hear things like this, from those who will try to justify it to you:
“Come on, it’s the EXACT word you get in the bible…”
“It’s not like it’s TRYING to be God or anything. Stop being so crazy…”
“Don’t you feel better not being mislead?”
And that type of “justification” is the pride and idolatry that curses future generations. As we see in 2 Kings 17:17:
And they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and used witchcraft and enchantments, yea, sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to anger him.
We also the truth of what you get in building false idols, as we see in Psalm 115:4-5:
4 Their idols are silver and gold, even the work of men’s hands.
5 They have a mouth, and speak not: they have eyes, and see not.
Which is exactly how the Mindar robot in Japan is described:
“If you look closely, a camera lens stares out of its blank eyes as it recites the prayer and gazes out over the worshippers.”
Homework: No heart and no soul, friends.
And even non-believers are going to feel something is off with all of this, that they can’t express in words…
And that’s where you come in.
In conversations, helping non believers understand that the “gut feeling” they have about the situation is a gift that’s designed to help them discern the truth, and the answers that they’re looking for are going to make a lot more sense now that they understand the gift.
You’re taking steps to make a disciple… Amen!
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Additional Information & Recommended Reading
As Satan powers up his “AI god” engine, we need to be Salt & Light.
Here are links to our prior pieces on the topic:
Click Here to read.
AI Gods & ChatGPT Religion
Click Here to read.
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