“The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good” (Psalm 53:1,NIV)
The common trait of sinners is that they make themselves the masters of their own hearts, living in pursuit of self. They act according to the desires of their flesh and mind in order to make themselves kings, rebelling against the true King, God, yet in reality becoming slaves of Satan. All human ideologies and philosophies have opposed God with the folly of declaring, “There is no God,” and have thus fallen into corruption, committing detestable evil. Today, even in some seminaries and churches, God and the truth of the gospel are reduced to mere knowledge or philosophy, and Scripture is misinterpreted as if it were no different from other religions.
The ontologies, cosmologies, and epistemologies of different religions and worldviews vary: Christianity and Islam begin with “In the beginning, God was there.” Humanism, communism, and postmodernism insist, “In the beginning, there was no God.” Meanwhile, New Age philosophy claims, “Everything is god.”
According to the World Mission Statistics (2022) published by the Korea Research Institute for Mission (KRIM), out of the world’s population of 7.9 billion, 2.8 billion identify as Christians (including 600 million Protestants, 400 million in independent churches, and 400 million evangelicals). The non-religious population is estimated at around 900 million (750 million agnostics and 150 million atheists). By country, the largest numbers of non-religious people are in China (about 720 million), Japan (74.7 million), the United States (62.3 million), Vietnam (28.76 million), and Korea (23.25 million), placing Korea fifth in the world.
The 2021 report “Public Opinion within Public Opinion: Religious Population and Religious Activity” found that in Korea, 20% of the population identify as Protestant, 17% as Buddhist, 11% as Catholic, and 2% as other religions, while 50% identify as non-religious.
A 2020 study by the Pew Research Center (PRC) reported that in the United States, 70% of people identify as Christian, 23% as non-religious, and 5% as belonging to non-Christian religions. The non-religious have continued to rise, reaching a peak of 26% in 2018 before slightly decreasing to 23% in 2020, with the highest proportion found among young people.
Atheism is the theory that denies the existence of a divine being and rejects faith. It especially denies the existence of a personal God, asserting that the world exists by itself. Naturalism, materialism, and existentialism are rooted in such thought, and pantheism is sometimes regarded as a form of atheism as well. Today, support for Christian atheism is also growing worldwide. Those who hold this view recognize Christian moral standards and the teachings of Jesus Christ but do not believe in the existence of God or in His involvement and presence in our lives. This phenomenon is likewise visible in Korea. Through atheistic school education, children are being indoctrinated and drawn toward Christian atheism. Rather than directly attacking God, this worldview promotes doubt about the supernatural by elevating science, thereby influencing many with its atheistic framework.
》Prayer Point
1. Sinners who live as slaves of Satan with a broken self say in their hearts, “There is no God,” rebelling without even realizing their guilt. Even more troubling, some within Christianity treat God and the truth of the gospel as nothing more than ethics or morality, or live as Christian atheists. Let us pray that those who deny God’s existence, or know Him yet live as if He does not matter, may repent and return to the Lord.
》Scripture Prayer
2 Corinthians 10:3–8, 12–14 (NIV)
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7 You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do.
8 So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it.
12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.
13 We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you.
14 We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ.
》Pray that the Word may become the Conclusion.
1. God alone is the One who tears down every proud thought that sets itself against the knowledge of Him and brings every thought into obedience to Christ. Let us pray that before the light of truth, we may examine our hearts, repent of every thought and deed raised up against God, and see them utterly broken down, so that truth may reign as the final authority in our lives.
2. The battle of the saints is not of the flesh but a war of truth against the rulers of darkness. Let us pray that the church, standing on the battlefield of the spirit, may rise as soldiers clothed in the armor of righteousness and armed with the Word and prayer, becoming instruments to guide deceived souls into the way of salvation.
3. Many build their own towers of Babel with human intellect and theories, having lost the knowledge of life that belongs to God. Let us pray that they may be shown that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge, and that the Spirit of wisdom and revelation be poured out on them to convict them of sin, righteousness, and judgment, leading them back to Jesus Christ, the source of forgiveness and life.
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