DON’T BE SNOOKERED
MIKE CUNNINGHAM
FEBRUARY 24, 2008
I was a tall skinny kid in high school when I
first heard about the Theory of Evolution. Back then I couldn’t help wondering that
if people evolved from lesser forms of life over a very long period of time,
then what about Adam and Eve? Was it possible the nuns and my mother who taught
me all about God creating our first parents, and The Garden of Eden which had a
serpent in it and a tree with forbidden fruit hanging from its branches; could
they have been mistaken? I reasoned that if this “theory” about everything
coming from nothing were ever proven to be true, then there is no God. I found
the thought that He might not exist to be very disturbing.
I must have mentioned my concern to someone
because I somehow got my hands on a book I think was called: The Catholic
Answer Book. It contained the answers to many questions kids might have
wondered about such as sin, confession, the Mass, Holy Communion etc. Sure
enough, that book gave the kind of answer which my immature inquisitive mind wanted
to hear. In fact, the explanation was much more than I had hoped for. It went something
like this. God did the creating. Don’t worry about the Theory of Evolution even
if some day it’s proven to be true. Now imagine God is a Divine Pool Player. He
racks the balls up on the pool table. God chooses one ball and calls the pocket
He will sink it in. He breaks, and sure enough that particular ball goes right
into the pocket He said it would. Then He goes on to do the same thing with
each ball individually with the exact same results. The book explained that’s kind
of like what the Catholic Church teaches about God creating Adam and Eve and
everyone else. But, suppose evolution is proven to be true? Once again imagine God
as being The Divine Pool Player. God racks the balls up. This time however,
instead of calling just one ball and pocket, God calls each of them by number and
the pocket He intends to sink each of them in. God slowly draws back the cue stick
takes careful aim and then bang: with one shot every one of those balls are
sunk in the exact pocket God had called. This meant God was even greater than I
had imagined. That answer satisfied me. I didn’t give evolution any more
thought. Instead, I dreamed about more important things such as one day becoming
a center fielder for the
I haven’t really given much thought to
Darwinism since high school. If some folks wanted to believe in what I would eventually
describe as being my masterpiece in idiocy, a satirical translation of the
Bible in which I have the first verse in Genesis saying: “In the beginning was nothing,
and all of a sudden; nothing exploded and lo and behold, in the course of time,
nothing became everything,” Genesis 1:1 (DAV). In my opinion, people
who choose to believe such silliness ain’t right. As long as they don’t try to
ram their belief down my throat just as I don’t try ramming my beliefs down
theirs, we can respect each other and agree to disagree.
Recently however, as a father, grandfather and
pastor, I became convinced I ought to revisit the issue. I wanted to see what
the “theory” had evolved into in the last sixty years. Although I have barely
scratched the surface, I have been appalled and saddened by some of what I
discovered. For instance, I was not all that knowledgeable about what is known
as evolutionary psychology or that some fellow Christians have embraced
evolution. In my opinion, both groups had been deceived greatly. I addressed
each of these concerns in my last few sermons and I hope to return to them before
I end this message. But first I would like to jog you memory about some
historical Biblical folks who were also deceived big time. Being snookered
isn’t anything new. It’s been going on since Creation where we are introduced
to Satan, the Master of Deception.
Genesis 3:1 (ESV) 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that
the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You
shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"
Genesis 3:4-5 (ESV) 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that
when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil."
John 8:44 (ESV) 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's
desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the
truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own
character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Then we have the account of how old Isaac was
greatly deceived.
Genesis 27:1-10 (ESV) 1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he
called Esau his older son and said to him, "My son"; and he answered,
"Here I am." 2
He said, "Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my
death. 3 Now
then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and
hunt game for me, 4 and
prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may
eat, that my soul may bless you before I die." 5 Now Rebekah was
listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to
hunt for game and bring it, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father
speak to your brother Esau, 7 'Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I
may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.' 8 Now therefore, my
son, obey my voice as I command you. 9 Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that
I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. 10 And you shall
bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies."
And then in verse 19 we read about how Jacob
deceived his dying father and succeed in robbing his brother Esau of a
tremendous blessing.
Genesis 27:19 (ESV) 19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done
as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless
me."
Later we learn what goes around comes around.
Genesis 31:7 (ESV) 7 yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God
did not permit him to harm me.
And how can we forget the despicable deed the
brothers of a seventeen year old kid named Joseph did when they sold him into
slavery, and deceived their father into believing his youngest son was dead?
Genesis 37:31-35 (ESV) 31 Then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe
in the blood. 32 And
they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said,
"This we have found; please identify whether it is your son's robe or
not." 33 And
he identified it and said, "It is my son's robe. A fierce animal has
devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces." 34 Then Jacob tore
his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and
all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and
said, "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." Thus his
father wept for him.
Throughout history people have often devised
very clever ways to deceive one another. King David was real good at it. The
former King, a man named Saul was hell bent on killing David.
1 Samuel 21:10-15 (NIV) 10 That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of
There are many other accounts of people
deceiving one another throughout the Bible. We shouldn’t be surprised by any of
their antics. For instance, God tells us through His Prophet Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV) 9 The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Read along with me as
Jesus amplifies that fact.
Mark 7:20-23 (ESV) 20 And he said, "What comes out of a
person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil
thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting,
wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil
things come from within, and they defile a person."
With some exceptions
as we have seen with King David deceiving the other king to save his life, God
hates deceit.
Psalms 5:6 (ESV) 6 You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and
deceitful man.
God does not want us
to be scheming deceitful people looking for someone to snooker. And He warns us
to watch out for those smooth talkers who pretend to be nice to us.
Proverbs 26:24-28 (AMP) 24 He who hates pretends with his lips,
but stores up deceit within himself. 25 When he speaks
kindly, do not trust him, for seven abominations are in his heart. 26 Though his hatred
covers itself with guile, his wickedness shall be shown openly before the
assembly. 27 Whoever
digs a pit [for another man’s feet] shall fall into it himself, and he who
rolls a stone [up a height to do mischief], it will return upon him. 28 A lying tongue
hates those it wounds and crushes, and a flattering mouth works ruin.
Once again God is
reminding us that what goes around comes around, and it behooves us to knock
this kind of sinful activity off.
1 Peter 3:10 (ESV) 10 For "Whoever desires to
love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips
from speaking deceit;
Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV) 9 The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Deception is part of our fallen
sinful nature.
It is one of the sins Christ died to save us from. We should be ashamed of
ourselves if we deliberately try to snooker another person into believing
something that is not true. And we should not allow ourselves to be intimidated
into believing Jesus doesn’t want us to lovingly confront someone who is caught
up in such a serious sin. For instance, have
you ever heard these words of Jesus used as a diversionary tactic?
Matthew 7:1-5 (ESV) 1 "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce
you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the
speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your
own eye? 4 Or
how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when
there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and
then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
Some people will try
to con you into believing that according to Jesus, judging is to be reserved to
those who are without sin. Since we aren’t perfect, we should not judge.
However, nothing could be further from the truth. Listen to what Jesus also
told His listeners elsewhere.
John 7:24 (ESV) 24 “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."
Does anyone really believe Jesus
doesn’t want parents to judge their children’s sinful behavior, and in love
discipline them; or our legislators passing laws prohibiting behavior which
they judge to be harmful to society such as abduction, torture, rape and
murder? Always search the Scriptures for
yourselves to see if what is being taught really is of God. One of the most
awful things I recently became aware of was pictures of twenty six teenagers
that were on the front cover of a 1994 edition of a magazine. Every one of them
had died because they and their parents had been deceived into believing that
the Bible forbids blood transfusions. “The photographs carried the headline,
‘Youths who put Christ first.”[i]
There’s a lot of
deception going on in our society and it affects us profoundly, especially
unsuspecting naïve school children. “For example,
biologist William Provine of Cornell travels the lecture circuit telling
university students that the Darwinian revolution is still incomplete, because
we have not yet embraced all its moral and religious implications. What are
those implications? Provine lists them: ‘there is no ultimate foundation for
ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will.’ Thus evolutionary psychologists
are simply completing the Darwinian revolution by drawing out its full
implications. They are connecting the dots, by showing what consistent
Darwinism means for morality.”
The results can be quite abhorrent. A few
years ago, conservative commentators around the country gave a collective gasp when
an article appeared by a
“A culture is driven by a kind of logic: It
will eventually begin to express the logical consequences of the dominant worldview.
If evolution is true-if
there really is an unbroken continuity between humans and animals-then Singer
is absolutely right about what he calls “sex across the species barrier.” Once
again, all the dots connect back to your view of origins.”[iii]
“Given that evolutionary psychology often
leads to morally outrageous conclusions, as we have seen, why is it gaining
such a rapid acceptance? The reason is that, for many people, it promises to
provide a morality based on the solid ground of science instead of the myths of
religion.”[iv]
With Singer, “Reason is
presented as a mysterious capacity capable of creating something de novo,
something that has never existed before-one might even say ex nihilo. This
godlike power will enable us to rise above our evolutionary origins.
Here reason is treated as far more than a utilitarian instrument; It is nothing
less than the means of achieving freedom-metaphysical and moral freedom. ‘In a
more distant future that we can still barely glimpse,’ Singer writes,
scientific knowledge ‘may turn out to be a prerequisite for a new kind of
freedom.”[v]
In closing I must echo the words of the Lord’s
brother James who wrote:
James 1:16 (ESV) 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.
In other words,
DON’T BE SNOOKERED!
Lord willing, in a couple of weeks….
1.TOTAL TRUTH:
Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity, ©2004 by Nancy R.
Pearcey, Published by Crossway Books, a
division of Good News Publishers, 1300 Crescent Street, Wheaton, Illinois
60187, page 214. (This is an outstand book which I highly recommend).
5. Does God Believe
in Atheists? By John Blanchard, page 416.
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