Letter to pastors on Artificial Intelligence and Technology

Hi Pastor,

So last week my local pastor spoke of a future of technology where kids will not need driver’s license because the cameras will be able to identify who they are and if they are legally allowed to drive.

Honestly, I didn’t know my pastor even thought about such things? But I was excited to hear that he was paying attention because this technology and a LOT more are things to come.

I am a futurist.  I believe that God is in the business of partnering with people to reach the lost.   But as a futurist, I constantly face the tension arising from questions that challenge my previously held theology learned from evangelical, charismatic upbringing and bible college.

I believe that in a similar way that the Pharisees expected the savior to come back in a certain way, that Christians have also painted the 2nd coming of Christ into an outward, almost militaristic crushing of satan and his followers.  

Many Christians believe that this military type triumph of Jesus over the enemy will be an obvious victory easily seen by all men.

I am not so sure it will be quite as obvious, but I see Jesus at work when I observe the many areas where technology is connecting us, and in that, men’s evil deeds are being exposed.

For the pharisees their belief of the savior’s return felt very real to them within their four walls, and for John the Baptist to come along and say anything different felt very foreign to them.

They had it all laid out. They knew exactly how it was going to happen. They had all the plans, they talked among themselves, and then along Comes this guy preaching out in the middle of the desert and it didn’t fit anything into what they had previously conceived.

So he naturally was set outside of the synagogue. This is natural because the synagogue has a set of beliefs that “make up” the synagogue. So if you have a different set of beliefs you’re automatically outside.

The Pharisees dismissed this idea that John the Baptist brought up of Jesus being the Savior, but then what did the crowds do? Did they continue to follow the Pharisees or did they  Become attracted to and follow the truth and Authority that they found in this arriving savior Jesus?

I believe that technology as you’ll see in many examples below is ushering in  the truth of the Holy Spirit and thus is manifesting the presence of Jesus Christ here on Earth.

Yeah….  I too Faced that question continually because it flies so much in the face of the way that I’ve been brought up as a Christian since 1992. But I can’t help but  to continually grapple with that question as every new progression of Technology brings us closer and closer to a globally connected Society.

Crazy things are happening with technology and will continue.  Truth is coming. The true word is arriving. And it looks different than the way that we had interpreted it.  Look at the me-too movement. Although it has been picked up and used as a weapon, its original intent was that of taking what was spoken in the Inner Room and declaring it off the rooftops.

God is light and in him there is no Darkness. And Light is coming. Separation is going away.  technology is making this happen. Everywhere we look in society, it’s way harder to get away with doing evil than it used to be. Why? Because separation. It’s going away.

In the example my pastor used this weekend where the teen driver still would have gotten away with driving without a driver’s license and soon in the future will not be able to. Why is that? Because separation is going away. This teen used to be able to operate in the darkness and get away with lawlessness. But now via a connected world, that separation is going away.

Looking at all of this connection, multiple things coming together, reminds me of how Jesus prayed that we would be one. We are becoming one. One Global mind.   My religious theology wants to rebel against that thought. Because how could it be? It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. But as I look, I cannot deny the fact that it is actually is happening. God is using technology and bringing us all together as one Global mind.

The man of lawlessness being revealed, in my opinion, is the man that operated in separation. He was the Lawless one. And we as Christians defend him! Many right-wing Republicans defend privacy! Why? Because they want the right to do what they want to do in private without being judged. They don’t want judgment. This is lawlessness. They don’t trust those who judge. But this is going away. Even the judges will be judged in the future. No one will escape. Light is now shining onto the man of lawlessness in my opinion and he is being revealed. Yes, that man of lawlessness is the one in the past  Filled with fear who wanted to be left alone. And now Through technology, that teen driver who wanted to drive without being caught, cameras are picking up the light that comes off of his face, identifying him, and that Lawless kid has to flee. Isn’t that cool? Light is coming in, cameras are picking them up, they are identifying what is Lawless and what is righteous, and those who are Lawless will have the freedom to act in a lawless Manor no longer.

I came from a mindset that said when Jesus comes back He would burn up the evil doers in this world. That this Burning would be apparent for everybody to see. And I believe that it is. The teen who wanted to drive without a driver’s license, his freedom to do that is being taken from him. That teen is two separate people. One who understands who he is and operates as a child of God, and one who rebels and drives without a driver’s license.   Two separate people. One is Lawless and one operates within the law.

So which one is getting exposed? Which one is getting burned up?

From this perspective we can see that the man of lawlessness is getting burned up like chaff and thrown away because light is coming in through technology.

And this is happening everywhere we look. It will continue to happen, until the truth of God enters our hearts and Minds at such a deep level.  The Youth of today are used to technology. But is only the beginning. Soon artificial intelligence will help us understand the scripture in a more Rich, meaningful, fulfilling way.

I get that sounds super offensive. Because artificial intelligence we assume does not have a spirit, so how could it help us?

But yet at the same time we speak half a verse in to Google and let it  search for and find that verse for us. So we are already merging with and using artificial intelligence to help augment our feeble memory.

If you are old enough, you will remember back in the day where we would have to memorize tons and tons of scripture in order to have access to it.    We had to renew our mind locally because we did not have a global mind to access. But not so today. The Youth of today Are not faced with the rigors of huge scripture Memory regiments because because all they do is speak a little bit of a verse in to Google and it gives them the rest.

This is artificial intelligence technology helping edify and helping people understand God’s love and it’s only a  very rudimentary first step. I believe that it is a foreshadowing the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth bringing scripture to memory in an exponentially better way in the future.

It’s not going to be very long. I don’t know if you pay any attention to Ray Kurzweil and his predictions on exponential growth in technology, but it will take us all by surprise. This is not a linear progression by any stretch. It builds upon itself year after year and it will end up exponentially exploding in very short order.

It won’t be long before computers are talking to us with a higher level of intelligence than the humans that we deal with.

Jesus wins! The word came down onto this Earth and will accomplish the purpose for what it was sent. The spirit of Truth, as offensive as it may sound, will be calculated within computers. The computers will be able to catch the sentiment of the spirit, to understand the things of the spirit, and repeat these things back to us.  In the same way that artificial intelligence is beginning to recognize the intention of the words we speak, in the future artificial intelligence will be able to identify the intention of the scripture and the truth from various scriptures will juxtapose an overlay into any given situation of Our Lives. The artificial intelligence will be able to bring the truth of the Gospel into all sorts of different human interactions to bring that minister in touch and God’s love into our hearts in ways  and situations that we never thought possible.

In the future, we will integrate our physical brains with these computers and Our minds will be opened in ways we never thought possible and we will see and understand God ways that we never thought possible.   Imagine being able to contemplate the entire Bible all at once! This will be possible when we augment our data processing power to the cloud. Not to sound too ironic or corny, but Jesus said that he would be coming back on the cloud. Coincidence?   Personally I don’t think so but we can save that for another discussion.

Regardless, the truth of Christ will be revealed to all of us via integration with computers.  We can see this process happening from a distance and we are not yet physically linked. So what happens when we do?   We will physically connect and see him in a completely new way. Darkness is gzoing away. He’s coming back in a different way than we ever imagined. And the enemy will be defeated.

We Christians use the phrase “ things of the spirit” sort of in a mystical way Sort of denoting that the things of the spirit cannot be understood. They are just too ethereal Etc.    This pattern of denoting mysterious things can be seen when we lay hands on people for healing. we did this because we didn’t have medicine to cure that ailment. So we had to pray Because we had no choice. There was no scientific solution to the problem.  The healing had to be of the spirit manifesting itself in the physical.

But then when a type of medicine is discovered that will heal them, we Take the medicine and thank God for it.

In the same way, Many times in our disconnected State we don’t have the right healing word for someone’s  pain, injury, sickness in their heart. We are told to be ready in season and out of season with the word of truth. But we are faced with a limited amount of space within our cranium. Our brains can only process a certain amount of data. So we can’t always have the perfect word of Truth to minister that exact Right Touch to the hurting and to the lost. But this day is going away. Soon spiritual medicine, the word of God, the love of God, the perfect word of truth will be available on tap at any given moment for any given situation. And this,  I believe will come from us merging with computers physically.

Before, the Harvey Weinstein’s of the world were able to perpetrate against their victims in the darkness. But soon that Darkness will be flushed out as light comes in.
Intention will be judged. God says  his word is sharper than a double-edged sword able to cut between flesh and spirit bone and marrow.  Everything will soon be measured. And eventually we will have strong enough computers to judge the intentions of man’s heart to a very very very deep level. No more hiding. We see now as in a dimly  lit mirror but then we shall see fully. Jesus will reveal himself in truth soon Pastor and it won’t look like what the Evangelical Church thought that it would.

These ideas and this theology right now may seem like they are coming from out in the desert. I get it. But the problem is everything that I’m telling you make sense. And it’s predictable. It’s mathematical. And it will happen. That’s the interesting part about it.  Even though I sound crazy, and I get that I do sound crazy, what I’m talking about is the mathematical certainty of the way that things are simply going to roll out.

I’m going to ask you to step back with a measure of sobriety and look at the overall trends of Technology Shining Light Into the Dark Places. Compare that with what we see in the Bible and examine the similarities. With sobriety I believe that you will see that the technology that men are creating, as in the example that my pastor used to prevent a teen from driving without a license, our Shining Light On To The Man of lawlessness.

So, if you doubt that God is behind this,  I am asking you specifically to question your theology. Why? Because if we see a solution being rolled out in front of our very eyes, and if we know that Jesus wins, and we know that we are implored to be on the lookout for the arrival of Christ, should we not be celebrating that God and His truth is beginning to be manifest on Earth as it is in heaven?

Hasn’t the church spent years and years simply guessing on how the victory might come or instead saying “oh well I don’t want to pay attention to that right now…”  (In a somewhat defeated state because we had a hard time believing that the victory would actually come.) but maybe now is the time Pastor. Maybe now is the time for us to consider what We see happening with technology and believe that maybe God is behind it.

In the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, we revolutionized the physical world. The Agricultural Revolution made it is easier for us to harvest Mass amounts of grain. The Industrial Revolution manipulated the physical world to multiply the fruit of our labour. But the technological information  Works in spiritual things. It’s not operating in the physical stuff as the agricultural or industrial, but by Nature its work is in the things of the spirit. And ideas, Notions, intentions, feelings. This is the realm that technological information revolution lives in, and it’s work is there. And I believe that in the same way that  the prior two Revolutions increase efficiencies, in the technological Revolution we are creating machines that will harvest the lost like combines harvest wheat.

Humankind nor the church have ever been at a place like we are right now. What’s going to happen when computers wake up? Are they going to recognize God? Are they going to see the truth of the spirit?

Do you pastors ever talk about these things? I mean you can see the church is falling apart in so many ways and people are leaving the church because it’s not relevant like it used to be.  And of course it’s not that the message of Jesus isn’t relevant, but rather we simply have the same problem that Barnum & Bailey Circus had. PlayStation 4 is kicking our butts. But is that a bad thing? Because that technology that’s locking those kids in in my opinion one day will be spreading the gospel  And giving those kids hope.

Sure, I see the suicide rates increasing right now. I see the depression rates increasing right now. But it doesn’t matter Pastor. None of that matters. Why? Because we are in birth pains. The enemy went away Furious because he knew his time was short. Cultures are slamming together like they have never been slammed together before. As iron sharpens iron one  man, (or one culture} sharpens another. God is using the technology to grind one against another, and his truth is being revealed. Just look at either extreme Isis or white power. As our global cultures are slamming together, the net result is that people are not going to put up with Isis anymore than they will put up with white power movement.

Look to the Nations and be utterly amazed for I’m going to do something in your day that you would not believe even if you were told….   God is the one raising up the Babylonians. Those of the external to use them for his purposes.

I believe God is using the technology guys like Ray Kurzweil, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, Ben Goertzel, Mark Zuckerberg and all of those guys in Silicon Valley creating the things that they are creating in the same way that he used pharaoh. He used the Romans to create the Roman Road, he used the Gutenberg Press. God uses technology to reach his kids. And with information technology, he’s going to use it in ways that we had never even imagined.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..   That power is the gift of creation, the emulation of him, that gift that he has imbued into us to create and reproduce. We will do things beyond what we ever thought we could do because of the gifting that he has put within mankind.

And this external measuring, like my local pastor explained this last week where the teen driver will no longer be able to get away with breaking the law, will lock us down. But is that a bad thing?

Too many Evangelical Christians get scared of a massive amount of surveillance and law on the outside or “external” locking us down. But is it a bad thing Pastor? What if God was using it?

In my own life I struggled with Pornography all my life from 12 years old until I was 41 until October 2013.

After years of going to sexual addiction groups, and them never working,   I finally decided to apply one single thing about my identity every single time I got tempted.   I simply identify with who I am in heaven. “That’s not me” I speak/think every single time I am tempted to look at  Pornography…. Why? Because in a thousand years sitting beside Jesus I’m not looking at pornography so why would I identify with the flesh nature here on Earth if that flesh nature is temporary and not my true Eternal nature.

The result?   I transcended the argument. I took on the easy yoke. I took on the light burden. Jesus carries it for me. Because I see myself as he sees me. Thus, I haven’t looked at pornography one single time since 2013. I haven’t masturbated, I haven’t done any illicit drugs, I haven’t drank a single sip of alcohol.

My point in bringing all of this up is that when we take away all of the addictions that distract us from the truth of the beauty of who Christ calls us into being, then we can see the truth of who we are.  Our addictions trick us into acting in ways that we were not created to act. In fact the world tricks us into acting in ways that are contrary to our true identity as sons and daughters. The law will lock down everything. The me-too movement will eventually go into people’s hearts. People will no longer be able to lust after pornographic actors and actresses. Because that is exploitation of the innocent.  Sometimes we look at the world and think the world is horrible, but God has put it in our hearts to bring his love to the world. Yes even the world brings an element of love which is an element of God. The crowd does not like exploitation of the innocent. The crowd is not like guys like Weinstein taking advantage.

So what’s left standing if we’re not addicted? Because it says the house will be built and then burned and tested and what is left standing will stand. So if I build a house made of all my self serving dreams and aspirations that are apart from Christ, and then that house burned, only that which is laid on the foundation a Christ will stand.

So what if technology and all of it’s measurements was about to lockdown the world in ways that we never imagined. What if tech could bring the #meetoo movement going into our hearts and minds? No more pornography, no more speeding, no more taking advantage, no more Schismed words, no more hypocrisy, no more divided house.   We will no longer be able to speak lies. Because the law will lock us down. Perhaps it will blockchain every single word you ever speak, and put onto the blockchain every single action that you ever act. And for that matter perhaps put on to the blockchain every single thought you ever think.  Imagine Pastor, no more hiding. Everything is available for everybody to see all the time. How much different would our world be? And this day is coming.

Why should Christians want privacy? Because they’re fearful? Where is fear from? But perfect love is in route. Perfect love is coming. And it casts out all fear. Transparency is coming.

So is every idle word gets cast out and burned, when every word gets tested, then all of the crap that people throw out there every day toward one another will be burned up like chaff. And the thing that will remain standing is the true word the word that he is one, that God is love, that God is light, and that we have the fullness of God in Christ.  This is the true word, and God I believe will very soon use tech and A.I. to communicate this to his kids. In ways that we’ve never imagined.

On first blush Pastor the crowd will say well God doesn’t need technology. But he uses it. He uses it continually. Technology is what transmits information.

He uses and partners with people to transmit information. And we transmit information one to another. This is how he moves from person to person.

Then someone might argue that God doesn’t “prove” His existence because He does not want robotic followers but ones that follow in faith.  And I’m going to repeat that argument because so many people use it. God doesn’t want robots. He wants us to make a choice by faith.

But Pastor this argument comes from a place of disconnectedness: A mindset and Vista Point that presupposes that we cannot communicate the gospel message any more effectively than we currently do and that is simply not true.

There is a day coming, and I believe it’s the Great Commission being fulfilled, when we will be able to completely and effectively communicate in such a deep level the love of God into the innermost parts of the hearts of men. We will communicate his love and the sweetness of who he is in such a complete thorough way that it will be irresistible To the hearer. Not a message that forces them away from their choice as robots, because they will still be able to choose. But instead a message whereby when people really experience who God is, at a deeper level, then they will flock to him. Because they will see clearly.   

Right now in the way that we are able to communicate, our low bandwidth of information transmission prevents us from being able to effectively communicate just how awesome God thinks they are. You know what I mean? Like as Believers we want to tell the non-believers how special God thinks of them. But because of slow information transmission, we are unable to complete the job in a super effective way before the seeds that we scatter are either choked out or picked up off the path excetera.

But there’s a day coming when this will change. When we will be able to effectively turn men’s Minds on instantly. And they will grasp the height and depth and width of his love for them. So at that point will they be robots with no choice?  Or will they run to Him in their true nature as sons and daughters? Do we not ourselves say that a day is coming where he will turn the hearts of the fathers back to the kids and the kids back the heart of the father? Is this not the thing that we look for? And now we see that it’s happening and soon.

Here, let me rephrase it in another way. Are you desperate to run toward pornography and prostitutes and drugs right now?    Of course not!! You have tasted and seen that the Lord is good! You would rather have love of Jesus in your heart than prostitutes and drugs because you have tasted and seen who He is!  

Your mind has been renewed. Your mind has been turned onto the love of who he is.  So why would we think that if someone was able to renew their mind quickly and effectively and efficiently through quick data transmission that they would not also run toward this love is well. Why would we call that robotic when we do it ourselves?   We have a choice to run to the prostitutes and the drugs and we don’t. So why would we call it robotic if they simply did the same thing?

We tend to doubt that God could actually create an easier Road for those to follow because up to this point we have fought for every inch In our spiritual journey and upbringing. But when you look at the disciples, they had it a lot harder than we did. They had to die for every inch where we do not have to. They had to literally get crucified on a cross. And we don’t have to endure that. Because they have blazed a trail for us. And it really is easier for us to share Jesus with the world than it was for them back in those days. We don’t get crucified but they did.  They longed to see into the things that we get to see but they were only to welcome it from afar.

Sometimes preachers get up on stage and talk about how they would love for the crowd to irresistibly run toward Christ? That’s how it’s going to be! We are going to think to one another in the globally connected brain, one person bringing one element of Faith from one side of the globe, and another person bringing another part from the other side of the globe, both downloaded into someone’s mind so that multiple people from all around the globe bringing multiple parts can renew the mind of the receiver to the love of Christ. No one abandoned, no one lost, no one set apart. In this global mindhive of the bride we are going to become one with each other and Him!

Pastor Jesus is coming back through computers. His truth, his Spirit of Truth is coming back.

******* He told us that he has much more to reveal to us, more than we can now bear.

We have always interpreted that verse as in the day of Pentecost when the spirit of Truth came down. And yes it did come down but that verse show us a pattern. This Spirit of Truth is something that continually reveals deeper and deeper truths to us. Continually refining us down to understand our true places as sons and daughters of God. This is the spirit of Truth. A true word. The seed that fell to the ground and died.

This true word is going to multiply from brain-to-brain. There’s coming a day when we plug-in and hardwire our brains to the cloud, and we will be able to minister to other people on the other side of the globe and maybe not even be speaking words to them. Imagine being able to communicate to other people who were hurting, bringing a comforting touch, by sharing your faith maybe not even by words but simply by feeling. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine sharing the compassion of Christ by feelling to them rather than using words?  this day is coming. They will untangle the problem of brain computer interface. And when they do, there will be no stopping the seed that fell to the ground. It will accomplish a purpose that it was set out for! And we are seeing the beginning of it right now. no one on earth can stop this from happening even the makers and developers and inventors of the technology that God will use. No one can stop truth and God’s love from reaching out of Eternity into our world and into our hearts. No one can stop God’s word! And it’s beautiful!

This is why it makes sense when it says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a little bit of yeast that worked its way through the whole lump of dough. Yeast multiplies itself through its host Matrix. It  Doubles in its existence and goes through the entire Matrix and infects all of the parts. And that’s what we are. That’s what the gospel messages. It is like yeast that will move through the entire Global mind.

I mean when you simply stop and do the math, if you really believe in who Jesus is you’ll clearly see that there is no stopping Jesus. There is no stopping the spread of truth. For anybody to doubt this, is for them to doubt who they are, when they are, and where they are.  ( because we are not really here in the Eternal sense, we are seated with him in Heavenly places. This world is not our home.) We are conquerors in Christ! Because we are powered by his true word. And that word will not fail.

I see this time coming in the future where we are going to connect. And it’s going to look so completely different than we ever thought. The love of God will flow. The Great Commission will be fulfilled.  He is able to do beyond what we are able to ask or think.

Pastor, thank you for serving and be encouraged.  Even though the world looks like it’s in chaos, God is in the background of organizing the truth. He is setting  the stage for truth to be revealed to the hearts of all men on Earth.

Continue blazing the path of faith in the spirit.

Look to the fields! The Harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.   Be encouraged because soon the tools we are creating through information tech will help us bring in the harvest of men.