DeepFake 5 Reflect: The Beast or the Best

 

Welcome to Redemption Church in Plano Tx. My name is Chris Fluitt and I am ready to share the word of God.

 

DeepFake

We are in the 5th week of our series called Deepfake.

The people you saw in our intro video are not real. They are digital manipulations created through A.I. – artificial intelligence. You cannot always trust what you see.

 

Deepfakes are synthetic media that have been digitally manipulated to replace one person’s image convincingly with that of another.

We have talked a lot about the image of God. Jesus is the perfect image of God.

If you want to know what God looks like, look to Jesus. He is the image of God.
If you want to know what you are supposed to look like, look to Jesus. He is the image of what humanity is supposed to look like.

Jesus is that image we are supposed to reflect to the world.

 

We were each made in the image of God, and we should reflect that image.

Sin is like a deepfake that hijacks the image of God, and tries to manipulate creation.

 

Hijack the Image

Since the beginning the enemy has been trying to do more than altar the image. Let’s look back to the beginning of Genesis 3.

Verse 1 – The serpent is described as crafty. This is his image. He is crafty.

The serpent attacks the image of God by questioning the character of God.

Verse 3 – The serpent says that God is worried they will eat the fruit and become like God. They were already made in the image of God… the serpent knew it but Adam & Eve did not understand it

The serpent here is lying and also projecting. The serpent’s goal is to remake humanity in his image.

Adam & Eve eat the fruit and in verse 7 it says they realized they were naked. This is the image they see.

 

Crafty – ʿārûm  

 

Naked – ʿêrōm

These are two different words with the same pronunciation. This is word play in Hebrew language.

The image of the crafty serpent is A-ROME.
The image of the tricked humans is A-ROME.

Your enemy, the serpent, the devil, wants to do more than hijack the image. He wants you to reflect his image.

 

The image of the enemy

The enemy has throughout history displayed his image.

Nimrod was the first king to rule the world. (Genesis 10) He didn’t stop at being king. His kingdom rebelled against God and built the tower of Babel.

Pharoah was more than the ruler of Egypt. He displayed his image as the image of a god to be worshipped.

Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon with worldwide power. He exiled the people of Israel and set up a golden image. When the music played people worshipped that image.

Caesar was the worldwide ruler of Rome. Caesar put his image on everything and claimed he was a god.

 
Revelation tells of an anti-christ who will be king over the earth and worshipped as god. He will put his image everywhere. Like Nebechadnezzar he will have a golden image that he demands be worshipped.

 

The Mark of the Beast

In Revelation it tells us of a mark of the beast. The anti-christ will have some sort of mark or image.

Most people talk about what that image/mark might be and what it has to do with the number 666. I have nothing to say about that.

Revelation 13:16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,

From Genesis to Revelation, the enemy’s goal is to get humanity to take on his image.

 

Is there an area of your life where the enemy’s image shows up?

We were made in the image of the one true God, but is there an area of our life where we look more like the enemy?

Is our image, anti-christ?

• Unforgiveness is anti-christ.
• Racism and bigotry is ant-christ.
• Secret sin, un-repented sin is anti-christ.
• A lack of love for your neighbor is ant-christ.
• The love of money is ant-christ.

Do we realize that our sin is part of his image?
Are we light on our sin? Do we realize God does not show grace to sin… but he shows grace to sinners by washing them and giving them power to overcome.

The enemy wants to remove the image of God and replace it with his own image.

He also wants us to worship his image.

 

Worship of the Beast

Nimrod, Pharoah, Nebuchadnezzar, Caesar, and the anti-christ all sought the worship of their image.

They would play the music and people would bow before the image and worship.

We would like to think that we would never worship the devil… Do we understand how we might be worshiping the image of the beast?

• The culture plays the music and we bow and worship at the altar of materialism and greed.
• The culture plays the music and we dance at the altar of humanism and focus on the created instead of the creator.
• The music plays and we are tempted, we are enticed to worship a life of glutinous non-stop entertainment.
• The music plays and we worry more about what people think about our status, than what God thinks about us.

The enemy will not stop until he has the entire world worshipping him. He will make you any false promise to get your worship.

Matthew 4:8-11 (NIV) Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

He tried to play his tune for Jesus, but Jesus would not bow.

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

The choice is simple. You have to make a choice between the beast or the best.

 

The Beast or the Best

You will either take on the image of the beast, or the best – the Lord Jesus Christ.

You will either worship the beast, or the best.

You want your best life, stop following the beast, and follow the best.

We have access to the best. Let’s follow the best.

 

Taking on the image of the beast looks like…

• Adam and Eve separated from God and kicked out of the garden.
• Your marriage, falling apart.
• Depression and hopelessness.
• Chasing after more and never getting it.
• Self-medication of alcohol and drugs to numb the pain.
• You being the center of your world, and being more unhappy than ever.

The enemy, the beast, the devil wants you to wear his image, and worship his image. AND THIS is what is wrong with the world.

Are you taking on the image of the beast, or the best?

 

Jesus is the best

Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

Jesus is the perfect sinless lamb of God.

Jesus is God manifest in the flesh.

When people see Jesus… When they really see who He is, they worship Him.

 

Thomas looked at his hands and cried “My Lord and my God.”
When the disciples saw Jesus lift a sinking Peter out of the water, they worshipped Jesus.
The shepherds and wisemen worshipped Jesus.
The man born blind saw Jesus and worshipped Him.

This is an important difference between the beast and the best.

 

The enemy forces you to take his mark… For those who receive Jesus as Lord, are baptized into Christ and in His name, and clearly see Jesus for who He is… they bear His name.

Revelation 22:4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

Jesus does not force you to bear his name. We choose to bear His name!

 

The enemy tells people to worship him. He makes laws that you worship him or die. He makes bargains like worship me and I will give you the nations.

Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus command people to worship Him. His call is follow me, come learn of me… not worship me.

It is when people see who Jesus is that they respond in worship. When they see that perfect image of God… this is when they worship Jesus.

Philippians 2 tells us that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

This happens, not because Jesus commands us to worship, but because He is the only image worthy of worship.

At that moment even the beast will bow his knee and confess the worship of Jesus.

Are you drawn to worship Jesus? The more you see Him and learn about Him, are you drawn to worship and honor Him?

 

We will see the beast one day…

Isaiah 14:16 Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble,

When we see the beast we will wonder, “that guy? That’s the guy who shook the earth. How surprising… I thought he would be taller.”

We will see Jesus one day…

1 John 3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

When we see Jesus, not only will we be overcome by his glory. We will be changed by his image!

The more you see Jesus the more you change.

 

The Beast or the Best

The choice is simple, will you serve the beast or the best?

You will serve a false manipulated deepfake, or you will serve what Who is true.

 

What should we do with this information?

We should serve Jesus.
We should take on His name.
We should see His image and be transformed into His image.

 

There is a big difference in being transformed and trying to copy an image.

The enemy will settle for simply copying an image.

Isaiah 14:14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

The devil will settle for being like…

I want us to talk to God very soon, but I want to talk to you about not trying to copy the image but being transformed into the image.

Advanced A.I. is great at copying images and sound, but there are limits to what it can copy.

Beware the Uncanny Valley.

 

The Uncanny Valley is a term describing the feeling of negative reactions, such as fear, discomfort, or revulsion when exposed to a replication.

In the movie Polar Express, actors like Tom Hanks wore equipment that literally mapped their movements and facial reactions. It was amazingly high tech, and amazingly unsettling and creepy.

 

There is just something off and not quite right.

 

Redemption Church we must be careful not to try to copy the image, but be transformed into the image.

A lot of religion is stuck in an uncanny valley. We know something is off. It looks like a close replica, but it is not the true image.

There are a lot of things that can be copied.

• Attending a Church service
• Learning the lingo
• Looking the part
• Quoting a scripture

Here is something that A.I. currently has trouble replicating.

 

A.I has trouble replicating the hands. Something about this most human attribute confuses the A.I.

 

I asked A.I. to show me hands shaking hands. That is way beyond uncanny valley.

 

I asked A.I. show me “Christians using their hands.”

Hands are hard to copy. I would say that the hands of Jesus are impossible to copy.

 

Get the hands right

As we get ready to come and pray I want to invite you close your eyes.

 

I want you to imagine the hands of Jesus.

• Imagine the hands of a carpenter.
• The hands that took the bread, gave thanks, blessed it, and broke it and fed a multitude.
• The hands that healed.
• The hands that drew in the dirt and rescued the woman caught in adultery.
• The hands that held children.
• The hands that were nailed to a cross.

Imagine your hands being transformed into the hands of Jesus.

• From hands that hurt others to hands that help others.
• …cloth others.
• …feed others.
• …work for others.
• …pray for others.

If we are going to be transformed into the image of Jesus we need to get the hands right.