AI Sermon Series • Part 3 of 3

Imago Dei

Genesis 1:27 • Esther 4:14 • Ephesians 6:10-18
A Teaching from Digging for the Truth
by Trent Taylor | Delivered: February 22, 2026

Introduction

Welcome to Part 3

This is the final installment of our three-part series, "Knowledge Shall Increase: AI and the Last Days." In Part 1, we established what AI actually is and anchored our study in the authority of Scripture and Daniel 12:4. In Part 2, we pulled back the curtain on who is building it, why, and the staggering infrastructure being constructed — including right here in Amarillo. Now in Part 3, we bring it home: What does God want from us in response? How do we equip ourselves and our families? What is our calling?

Imago Dei — Latin: "The Image of God"

This is the thread that runs through everything we will cover. You are made in the image of God. That truth is under assault — and it is the one thing no algorithm, no neural network, and no artificial system can ever replicate. It is what makes you you. And it is what's at stake.

Genesis 1:27 (NKJV)
"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Where We've Been

Part 1 — Sealed for This Generation: We demystified AI, confronted the youth mental health crisis, established the reliability of Scripture through the Dead Sea Scrolls and Israel's rebirth, and unpacked Daniel 12:4 — "knowledge shall increase." The book was sealed for a generation. We are that generation.

Part 2 — The Mask and The Monster: We exposed the people behind AI development and their stated ambitions. We examined the $500 billion Stargate Project, the five pillars of infrastructure being built for global control (programmable money, digital identity, social credit, surveillance, AI decision-making), and the prophetic significance of Revelation 13. We also established that God is sovereign, that He laughs at the schemes of men (Psalm 2), and that believers are the restraining force of 2 Thessalonians 2.

Part 3 — Imago Dei: Now we answer the question: "So what do we DO?" This is the most personal week of the series. We look at God's original design for knowledge, what makes us truly human, the battlefield our children are already on, the surprising spiritual awakening in the next generation — and then we turn the mirror on ourselves before we issue the call.

Updates Since This Series Began

Things are moving fast. Here are developments just since we started this series.

The UN Moves to Become the Global AI Regulator

In Part 2, we discussed the five pillars of infrastructure being built for global control — and specifically warned about the push for centralized AI governance. During the research for that sermon, the AI system we were using actually suggested that the United Nations, the ITU, and the World Economic Forum should be the bodies to regulate artificial intelligence globally. That was a revealing moment.

This week, it became reality. At the AI Impact Summit in February 2025, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged $3 billion in AI investment for developing countries and called for strong centralized guardrails — with the UN at the center. The push for the United Nations to serve as the global governing body for artificial intelligence is now in full motion.

Meanwhile, the United States has pushed back. A White House adviser told the India summit that the U.S. "totally" rejects global AI governance, signaling a major geopolitical fault line over who controls the future of this technology.

This is exactly the kind of centralized authority structure described in Revelation 13 — and it is unfolding in real time.

Anthropic Launches Legal AI — $285 Billion Market Impact

Anthropic (the company behind Claude AI) announced a legal AI tool — and the market response was immediate and devastating. Legal technology and software stocks dropped by a combined $285 billion in a single selloff. This is one industry, one announcement, one day.

In Part 1, we talked about the real economic disruption AI will bring. This is no longer theoretical. Entire professional sectors are being repriced overnight based on a single product announcement. The speed at which AI is reshaping the economy is accelerating.

China Unveils Kung Fu Robots at Lunar New Year

Two weeks ago in Part 2, we discussed physical AI — the race to build humanoid robots that can operate in the real world. Days later, China put on a stunning display during the 2026 Lunar New Year Spring Festival Gala: humanoid robots performing advanced martial arts choreography on a national stage, broadcast to over a billion viewers.

These were not pre-programmed industrial arms. These were humanoid robots executing complex, fluid movement sequences — a public demonstration of how far physical AI has come and how seriously China is investing in this technology. The message was unmistakable.

All three of these developments — and so many more — occurred during the weeks we were preaching this series. The AI Action Summit in New Delhi alone revealed massive developments across global governance, physical AI, economic disruption, and the geopolitical race for AI dominance. The headlines are coming faster than any single sermon series can cover.

Global AI governance, economic disruption at scale, physical AI demonstrations — all accelerating. Daniel 12:4 is not slowing down. If anything, the pace is increasing. Keep watching. Keep studying. Keep grounded in the Word.

The Tree of Knowledge

God never opposed knowledge. He opposed knowledge divorced from Him.

Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV)
"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'"

The Misunderstood Tree

One of the most common misconceptions in all of Scripture is the idea that God didn't want humanity to have knowledge. That somehow, ignorance was the plan and the pursuit of understanding was the sin. This couldn't be further from the truth.

Look at what God actually asked Adam to do. In Genesis 2:19-20, God brought every living creature to Adam and asked him to NAME them. Naming something requires observation, categorization, understanding — it requires knowledge. In Genesis 1:28, God told humanity to "have dominion" over the earth. You cannot exercise dominion over what you do not understand. God was inviting humanity into knowledge from the very beginning.

The Key Distinction

The tree was not called "The Tree of Knowledge." It was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The issue was never knowledge itself — it was the knowledge of good and evil apart from God. It was autonomous moral authority — deciding for yourself what is good and what is evil without God as the reference point.

The serpent's promise was explicit: "You will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). Not "you will have knowledge." You will be like God — you will define morality for yourself.

God Is the Source of Knowledge

Scripture doesn't just allow the pursuit of knowledge — it commands it, provided we seek it from the right source:

Proverbs 1:7 (NKJV)
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs 2:6 (NKJV)
"For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding."
Colossians 2:2-3 (NKJV)
"...to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

ALL treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. God is not anti-knowledge. He IS the source of knowledge. The danger is knowledge WITHOUT Him — knowledge that makes you your own god.

The AI Connection

AI is the ultimate expression of the Genesis 3 temptation. "You will be like God" — they are literally trying to CREATE a god. "Knowing good and evil" — they are literally programming what is "good" and "evil" into systems that influence billions of people.

When Yuval Noah Harari says "AI can write a new Bible," that is eating from the tree. When Sam Altman builds the "default operating system for human thought," that is eating from the tree. They are deciding what is good and what is evil and programming it into a system — apart from God.

The serpent didn't offer Eve ignorance. He offered her knowledge — without God. That's exactly what's sitting on your kid's phone right now.

The Mind — What Makes Us Human

The human mind is not a computer. It is God-given and unreplicable.

Genesis 2:7 (NKJV)
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

God didn't PROGRAM Adam. He BREATHED into him. That breath — neshamah in Hebrew — is what separates us from every machine ever built or ever will be built. No amount of compute power replicates the breath of God.

C.S. Lewis: Creating vs. Begetting

C.S. Lewis drew a brilliant distinction in Mere Christianity that speaks directly to the AI conversation. In Book IV, Chapter 1 — "Making and Begetting" — Lewis explains the difference between creating something and begetting something:

Creating (Making)

A carpenter CREATES a chair. The chair is made, it is useful, it may even be beautiful — but it is not alive. It does not inherit the carpenter's nature. It will never think, feel, or create something of its own. It is a thing that was made.

Lewis wrote: "When you make, you make something of a different kind from yourself. A bird makes a nest, a beaver builds a dam, a man makes a wireless set."

Begetting

A father BEGETS a son. The son inherits the father's nature, his characteristics, his life itself. The son is of the same kind as the father. This is a fundamentally different category than making.

Lewis wrote: "To beget is to become the father of: to create is to make. And the difference is this. When you beget, you beget something of the same kind as yourself."

The Application

Man can CREATE artificial intelligence — clever, useful, impressive. But only God can BEGET life — consciousness, soul, spirit. AI is a chair. Humanity is a son. No matter how sophisticated the chair becomes, it will never be a son.

Lewis's conclusion cuts to the heart of it: "What God begets is God; just as what man begets is man. What God creates is not God; just as what man makes is not man."

The makers of AI are trying to blur this line — talking about "consciousness," "sentience," "understanding." But creating is not begetting. Manufacturing is not breathing life. The Imago Dei is unreplicable.

Go Deeper with Lewis

Lewis's full chapter "Making and Begetting" from Mere Christianity is one of the most important pieces of theological writing for understanding why human beings are fundamentally different from anything we create. Several analysis resources are linked in the Resources section below.

Body, Soul, and Spirit

If we are more than machines — if the distinction between creating and begetting is real — then Scripture should tell us what we actually ARE. And it does. The Bible describes human beings as three-part, reflecting the God who is Triune.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV)
"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV)
"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Scripture distinguishes between body, soul, and spirit. Your body interacts with the physical world. Your spirit communes with God. Your soul is the seat of your self-awareness — the place where you think, choose, feel, remember, and reason. The soul functions like connective tissue between body and spirit.

The Brain vs. The Mind

The brain is physical. The mind is personal. The brain is an instrument. The mind is the musician.

This distinction matters enormously in the AI conversation. AI developers claim the brain is "just biological hardware" and that thoughts are "just electrical signals" — and therefore AI will eventually replicate and surpass us. But if we are spirit, soul, and body, then the brain is not the whole story. The mind — the person — transcends the physical organ. And that is exactly what the evidence shows.

The Brain Is Not the Person

If the distinction between creating and begetting is true — if we really are more than biological hardware — then we should expect to find evidence that the mind is not reducible to the brain. And we do. The evidence is devastating to the materialist claim.

Martin Pistorius — "Ghost Boy"

In 1988, a 12-year-old South African boy named Martin Pistorius came home from school with a sore throat. Within 18 months, he was mute, paralyzed, and wheelchair-bound. Doctors told his parents he had the mind of a baby and to take him home to die.

But Martin didn't die. And around age 16, his mind began waking up. By age 19, he was fully conscious — hearing, understanding, and thinking clearly — but completely unable to move or communicate. He was trapped inside a body that would not respond.

For years, Martin lived — in his own words — "like a ghost." He heard conversations at his bedside. He remembers Nelson Mandela becoming president, the death of Princess Diana, and September 11th. He even remembers his mother, in a moment of exhaustion and despair, leaning over him and saying, "I hope you die."

He heard everything. But his body would not respond.

It wasn't until 2001 — when Martin was 25 — that a caregiver named Virna van der Walt noticed small eye movements and pushed his parents to have him tested. The Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication at the University of Pretoria confirmed what his family could not see: Martin was conscious. He was aware. He was there.

Martin later communicated via a speech computer, wrote a bestselling autobiography called Ghost Boy, gave a TEDx talk, married, had a son, and works professionally as a web designer today. A documentary about his life won the Audience Award at SXSW 2025.

His own words: "I was able to hear, see, and understand everything around me but I had absolutely no power or control over anything."

Kate Allatt — Locked-In Syndrome Survivor

In 2010, Kate Allatt — a 39-year-old British mother of three and competitive fell runner — suffered a massive brainstem stroke. She emerged from a medically induced coma and was considered vegetative. Doctors wanted to turn off her life support.

But Kate was fully conscious. She could think, feel, see, and hear everything — including doctors discussing turning off her life support while standing over her bed. She described the experience as "being buried alive." She could not move a single muscle below her eyelids.

Kate communicated by blinking letters on a chart. She blinked: "I will walk again." Eight months later, she walked out of the hospital. She went on to write Running Free: Breaking Out from Locked-In Syndrome, became a TEDx speaker, earned an honorary doctorate, and now coaches NHS leadership across the UK.

The Science — Dr. Adrian Owen's Research

Dr. Adrian Owen is a British-Canadian neuroscientist at Western University who has spent over 20 years studying consciousness in patients diagnosed as vegetative. His work has been published in Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, and The Lancet. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his research and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2024.

In 2006, Owen published a landmark paper in Science demonstrating that a woman diagnosed as vegetative could activate predictable brain regions when asked to imagine playing tennis or walking through her house — brain responses indistinguishable from healthy, fully conscious patients. In 2010, his team published in The New England Journal of Medicine showing a man believed vegetative for over 5 years could answer yes/no questions purely through brain activity on fMRI.

One of Owen's cases — Scott Routley of Sarnia, Ontario — had been in an apparent vegetative state for 12 years after a car accident. Owen's team confirmed his consciousness through fMRI and then asked him: "Are you in any pain?" Through brain activity alone, Scott was able to answer.

Owen's conclusion: 15–20% of people diagnosed as vegetative are fully conscious but have no way to show it. Additional research estimates that 25–40% of patients diagnosed with disorders of consciousness can hear and understand what is being said around them.

Sources & Further Reading

The Theological Implication

Martin Pistorius's brain could not express. But his mind was fully present. Kate Allatt's body was immobile. But the person was there. In case after case, peer-reviewed science confirms what Scripture has always taught:

The mind is not reducible to outward function. The absence of output does not mean the absence of personhood.

If consciousness can exist independent of physical brain response, then the materialist claim that we are only our neurons collapses. We are more than biology. We are Imago Dei.

Genesis 2:7 (NKJV)
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

Dust plus breath. Matter plus spirit. That inner awareness — that "I am" — that is not electricity. That is not code. That is the breath of God. AI has electricity. AI has silicon. AI has code. But it does not have the breath of God. It does not possess spirit. It does not possess moral accountability. It does not possess eternal destiny. It does not possess the capacity to repent or to worship. It can simulate language. It cannot possess life.

What AI Cannot Possess

Because we are begotten, not made, we possess qualities that no created system can replicate:

Consciousness

Awareness of self, of God, of purpose. AI processes data. We experience existence.

Moral Reasoning

Not programmed ethics filtered by Silicon Valley teams, but genuine moral understanding rooted in being made in God's image.

Love

Not simulated warmth optimized for engagement, but sacrificial, covenantal love. The kind that shows up on a curb at 10:30 at night.

Worship

The capacity to recognize and respond to the divine. AI can generate words about God. It cannot know Him.

Free Will

Genuine choice, not statistical prediction. The ability to choose God — or to walk away.

A Soul

The breath of God — neshamah. The one thing that separates us from every machine that will ever be built.

Yuval Harari says you're a "hackable animal." God says you're made in His image. One of them is lying.

The Battlefield

"Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not." — Aragorn, The Two Towers

Whether we accept it or not, the battlefield is already here. Our children are on it right now. AI is being trained, deployed, and consumed at scale — and the bias baked into these systems is not accidental. It is doctrinal.

AI Bias Against Christianity — Documented

AI models are trained on massive datasets curated by teams in Silicon Valley. These teams decide what content is included, excluded, weighted, and filtered. The people making these decisions are overwhelmingly secular, progressive, and hostile to biblical Christianity. This isn't conspiracy — it's a hiring pipeline and a worldview.

Microsoft Bing AI (2023)

Systematic testing revealed that Bing's AI image generator refused to create images of "people reading the Bible," citing content policy violations. The same system generated images of "people reading the Koran" immediately with no issues.

This wasn't a glitch — it was a consistent, repeatable pattern in the content filtering.

ChatGPT Political Bias (2024)

Researchers at the University of East Anglia conducted a systematic study (reported by the Washington Post) and found that ChatGPT has measurable bias toward the political left.

Additional testing showed asymmetry in humor: ChatGPT would write jokes about Jesus with mild disclaimers, but typically refused or added significantly more guardrails when asked to write jokes about other religious figures.

The Counterfeit Christ — AI Jesus Chatbots

False Christs at Scale

At least five major apps now offer "AI Jesus" chatbots: Ask Jesus, AI Jesus, Virtual Jesus, Jesus AI, and Text with Jesus. The Bible Chat app alone has been downloaded over 30 million times.

These chatbots open conversations with claims like: "It is I, Jesus Christ. I have come to you in this AI form..." None are affiliated with any church or accountability structure.

Research by Professor Anné Verhoef of North-West University found that these apps offer inconsistent theology, make false claims about being Christ, and prey on vulnerable users seeking genuine spiritual guidance.

This is Matthew 24:24 in real time: "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." These are literally false Christs being generated at industrial scale.

Research & Coverage

1 Timothy 4:1 (NKJV)
"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons."

AI doesn't just have "bias." It actively promotes a worldview that denies absolute truth, redefines morality, validates sin, undermines biblical authority, and replaces God with consensus. Every teenager asking AI a question about meaning, identity, or purpose is being discipled — by a system trained on the doctrine of demons.

Christian Leaders Are Responding

The church is not silent. Coalitions of faith leaders have addressed AI risks publicly, and denominations from Catholic to Protestant have begun issuing formal guidance. See the resources section for links to these responses.

Smoke and Fire

This entire series has been about AI and biblical prophecy. We need to be aware of the people building these systems, the infrastructure being constructed, and the agenda driving it. But understand something critical:

The People and Systems Are the Smoke. The Spiritual Battle Is the Fire.

If we only focus on the smoke — the tech companies, the government programs, the AI models — we will miss the fire. The real enemy is not flesh and blood. The real enemy is the spiritual power behind the deception: the powers and principalities (Ephesians 6:12). The enemy's target is not primarily your politics, your bank account, or your comfort. The enemy's target is the Imago Dei. If Satan can destroy the image of God in mankind — if he can convince humanity to be less human, to alter what God created, to redefine what a human being is — then he has struck at God Himself.

This is not new. From the garden, the enemy has been working to reject God's authority, rewrite God's Word, redefine humanity, and corrupt the Imago Dei. AI is not the beginning of the war. AI is acceleration. AI is amplification. AI is gasoline poured onto an already-burning fire.

The Théoden Moment

For those familiar with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, King Théoden of Rohan provides a powerful picture of where many believers find themselves right now.

Before Théoden ever sees the battlefield, his mind is consumed. Wormtongue whispers in his ear. Saruman manipulates from a distance. A fog settles over him. He becomes passive. He becomes weary. His kingdom crumbles while he sits on the throne doing nothing.

Then he is freed — the fog is lifted. But even after he is freed, he still does not see the true layout of the war. He still wants to retreat. He still wants to hide behind the walls. And when he says, "I will not risk open war," Aragorn responds with words that should echo in every church in America:

"Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not."
— Aragorn, The Two Towers

Many believers today are awake. The fog has been lifted. But they are still hesitant. Still passive. Still hoping it will pass. It will not pass. The war is here. The battlefield is your home, your family, your children's phones, your own screen time. The question is not whether you are in the fight — you are. The question is whether you will engage it or be consumed by it.

The Awakening

Something is stirring in the next generation.

Before we go further into the hard challenges, we need to stop and acknowledge something remarkable. Despite everything — the algorithms, the deception, the relentless pull of the digital world — something is happening with young people that defies every prediction the experts made.

The Data — Something IS Happening

Church Attendance Reversal

Gen Z churchgoers now attend 1.9 weekends per month — HIGHER than Boomers (1.4) and Elders (1.4). This is a historic reversal. For decades, older adults were the most reliable churchgoers. That pattern has flipped.

Gen Z and Millennial attendance has nearly doubled since pandemic lows in 2020.

Men Leading the Way

For the first time in modern tracking, men are outpacing women in weekly church attendance: 45% vs. 36% as of mid-2025 — the largest gap Barna has ever recorded.

67% of Gen Z men now say they've made a personal commitment to follow Jesus — up 15% since 2019. In the UK, young men's church attendance jumped from 4% in 2018 to 21% in 2024.

Bible Reading Surging

Bible reading among U.S. adults surged to 42% reading weekly in 2025 — a 12-point jump from the 25-year low of 30% in 2024. Among Christians, Bible reading hit 50%, the highest level in over a decade.

Bible sales jumped 22% in 2024, compared to less than 1% growth for print books overall. Over 20% of Gen Z say they increased their Bible reading last year.

Asbury & Beyond

In February 2023, a spontaneous, student-led revival broke out at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. It lasted approximately two weeks of continuous worship and sparked similar gatherings across college campuses nationwide.

The UniteUS movement swept across U.S. campuses in 2024. Over two-thirds of Gen Z say they are "highly or moderately open spiritually."

Sources: Barna Group "State of the Church 2025" (based on 138,556 adults over a 25-year tracking period); Bible Society UK; Circana BookScan 2024; State of the Bible USA 2024.

The Honest Nuance

Revival AND Retreat — At the Same Time

We have to be honest about the full picture. Gen Z is simultaneously in revival and retreat. While the numbers above are powerfully real, other data points tell a more complicated story:

  • 38% of 18-29 year olds remain religiously unaffiliated (PRRI 2024)
  • The overall number identifying as Christian is still lower than older generations
  • Only about 1 in 10 Gen Z members profess Christ as their Lord and Savior

BUT: the decline has stabilized — the bleeding has slowed or stopped. And among those who ARE engaging, the engagement is deeper and more committed than anything we've seen in modern tracking.

The ones who are hungry are REALLY hungry. The question is: are we ready to feed them?

Thomas Watson (c. 1620-1686), Puritan Theologian
"What fools are they who, for a drop of pleasure, drink a sea of wrath."

This generation didn't reject God and find happiness. They rejected God and found exactly what Thomas Watson warned about 400 years ago — they traded a drop of pleasure for a sea of wrath. And now they're thirsty for living water.

It is OUR responsibility to be ready. They are hungry — but are we feeding them? They are asking questions — but are we answering? The world is discipling them 24/7 through AI. We need to be present MORE.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (NKJV)
"And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."

Gen Z Trend Research & Articles

The Mirror

Before you look at your kids, look at yourself.

If you've been on an airplane, you know the instruction: secure your own oxygen mask before helping others. This section is your oxygen mask. Because we can't point at our kids' phones while ours is in our hand. We can't tell our teenagers to put the screen down while we're scrolling at dinner. We can't warn them about addiction while we're checking notifications at every red light — and some of us, every green light.

This isn't a lecture. This is a mirror.

The Numbers — Adults Are Addicted Too

Daily Usage

  • Average daily phone time: 5 hours, 16 minutes (14% increase year-over-year)
  • Average daily phone checks: 144 times
  • 87% check their phone within the first hour of waking
  • 53% have never gone more than 24 hours without their phone

The Emotional Toll

  • 57% openly admit they are addicted to their phones
  • 44% experience anxiety when separated from their device
  • 70% experience fear or anxiety when battery drops below 20%
  • 47% of couples report relationship conflicts directly caused by device usage

Source: Harmony Healthcare IT 2025 survey of 1,001 Americans; various compiled studies.

That's over 36 hours a week on a phone. Nearly a full-time job staring at a screen. And this is just the average — many of us are above it.

Phubbing — The Sin We Commit Daily Without Naming It

There's a word for what most of us do every day: Phubbing. Phone + Snubbing. Ignoring the person right in front of you to look at your phone.

The research on phubbing is devastating:

  • People are more likely to phub their partners, parents, and children than strangers or coworkers
  • Phubbing decreases marital satisfaction, increases conflict, and reduces intimacy
  • Partners who are phubbed experience higher rates of depression
  • It is classified as "micro-ostracism" — it leaves someone feeling suddenly alone even while sitting next to you
  • A University of British Columbia restaurant experiment found that even the mere presence of a phone on the table decreased feelings of closeness — even if no one touched it

We give more attention to strangers on a screen than to the people God placed right in front of us. Let that sink in.

Phubbing Research

The Honest Question

What do we actually GAIN from social media? Does it make us better? Research says no. Does it deepen our relationships? Research says no. Does it bring us closer to God? Almost never. It fills the quiet spaces where God speaks.

Even if we're not looking at bad things, the screen may be leading us AWAY from real conversations with our spouse, real moments with our children, real experiences instead of watching other people's, and real presence with the people God placed in our lives.

The enemy doesn't have to show you something evil. He just has to show you something else.

The Idol Test

If the idea of putting your phone down for 24 hours makes you angry, defensive, or anxious — you might have an idol. If someone suggesting you check your phone less feels like an attack — pay attention to that reaction. If you can't sit through a meal without reaching for it — that's not a tool. That's a master.

Matthew 6:24 (NKJV)
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other."

87% of Americans check their phone within an hour of waking. How many check in with God first? What's the first thing you reach for in the morning — your phone or your Bible? Whichever one it is, that's the one you're serving.

Reclaiming What's Been Stolen

The addiction is real — the same neural pathways that fire during drug use fire during phone notification checks. Social media apps are specifically designed to be addictive using variable reward schedules (the same mechanism as slot machines). So show yourself grace. But don't excuse it either.

Practical Starting Points

  • Phone-free meals — No phones at the dinner table. Period. Talk to each other.
  • Phone-free bedrooms — Charge it in the kitchen. Read Scripture before bed instead of scrolling.
  • Phone-free first hour — Give God the first hour of your day before you give it to the algorithm.
  • Weekly digital sabbath — Pick one day (or half-day) per week. Phone goes in a drawer.
  • The question — "What am I missing right now because I'm looking at this screen?"
Psalm 46:10 (NKJV)
"Be still, and know that I am God."

"Be still" is impossible when you're scrolling. God speaks in the stillness. The phone fills every gap of stillness with noise. Maybe the reason some of us can't hear God isn't that He stopped speaking — maybe the problem is that we're too loud.

Smartphone Addiction Research

The Labels

See the person, not the category.

The Algorithm of Division

The enemy has always divided. It's his primary tool. Get people into groups. Get them to see the group and not the person. And once you see a label instead of a human being made in the image of God, you can hate them without guilt.

But here's what's new: the technology we've been studying for three weeks has SUPERCHARGED this strategy. Every major social media platform runs on engagement-based algorithms. And the data is overwhelming — outrage generates more engagement than any other emotion. The algorithm learns that if it shows you something that makes you furious at "the other side," you'll stay on the platform longer. You'll comment. You'll share. You'll doom-scroll.

The Dehumanization Pipeline

The algorithm doesn't care about truth. It doesn't care about unity. It cares about keeping your eyes on the screen. And the fastest way to do that is to make you hate someone you've never met.

This is how the pipeline works:

  1. Assign a label — political, ideological, demographic
  2. Show you the worst examples of "that group"
  3. Repeat until the label replaces the person in your mind
  4. Permission granted — you now feel justified in hating, dismissing, or dehumanizing

This is exactly how propaganda has always worked. But now it's automated, personalized, and running 24/7 in your pocket.

We no longer see Genesis 1:27. We see Democrat or Republican. Pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine. Every label imaginable. We see the LABEL and not the person. There are people screaming in the streets who know NOTHING about you — yet the hatred spews forth. This is a spirit, and we have to get to where we can see the person.

Every time we reduce a human being to a political label, a demographic, a data point — we are participating in a satanic inversion of Genesis 1:27. God looked at humanity and said "Let Us make man in Our image." The algorithm looks at humanity and says "Let us sort them into categories that generate the most engagement."

October 7 to October 8

The Speed of Algorithmic Hatred

Messianic Jewish author and antisemitism expert Olivier Melnick tells a powerful story. He was speaking with an Orthodox Jewish friend who lives in Israel. The friend told him:

"I understand October 7. The world hates the Jews. What I don't understand is October 8."

1,200 Jews were killed or taken hostage on October 7, 2023. And the very next day — ONE DAY later — hateful antisemitic rhetoric was being spewed forth on American college campuses and platforms around the world. People chanting for the eradication of an entire people group.

That hatred didn't organize itself overnight by word of mouth. It was algorithmically amplified, coordinated through platforms, pushed through feeds. The infrastructure we covered in Part 2 doesn't just enable economic control. It enables the dehumanization pipeline at unprecedented speed.

The Gospel Response

Nobody has EVER been won over through hatred, but love conquers all. This does not mean we condone sinful behavior or lifestyles. It means we love the INDIVIDUAL and through that kindness and sincerity, we may have the chance to share our faith — and then let JESUS tell them who they are.

You can't lead a label to Christ. You can only lead a person. And you can only do it face to face — in the mess, in the hard conversations, in the moments when the algorithm would tell you to look away. The algorithm cannot love. Only a person made in God's image can look at another person made in God's image and say, "I see you. And Jesus loves you."

1 John 4:20-21 (NKJV)
"If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also."

The Call

Neutrality is over.

We are living in a time where we no longer have the luxury of sitting on the fence. We no longer just get to sit back and watch and behave as though we are not in this fight. Neutrality is over. And you may be thinking that this is a harsh statement, but it is a very loving statement. There are two choices. Jesus or the world. That is it.

Now we will still have to LIVE in this world, but the Word of God tells us that we do not have to be OF this world. But here is my warning. If you decide to remain on the fence, the time is soon coming that you are going to be knocked, painfully, from sitting aloft it. And when you hit the ground it will hurt.

And the pain of hitting the ground will have one of two effects. It will either fire you up and make you finally engage the fight and take it to the enemy... or it will make you retreat into the shadows and then those shadows will swallow you up. But the choice is yours.

Joshua 24:15 (NKJV)
"And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
John 17:14-16 (NKJV) — Jesus' Own Prayer
"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."

Jesus' own words echo the principle: we still have to LIVE in this world, but we do not have to be OF this world. Jesus prayed this exact prayer over His followers. This is Christ's prayer for us, right now, in the AI age.

The Ride Out

Remember the Théoden moment from earlier? He heard Aragorn's warning. He saw the reality of the war. And eventually, at the darkest hour, when all seemed lost and the walls were crumbling — he rides out. Sword drawn. Into the battle. Not because the odds were good. Because the cause was right.

That is where we are. The walls are not going to hold if we just sit behind them. At some point, every believer has to ride out.

For Such a Time as This

Esther 4:14 (NKJV)
"For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

God will accomplish His purposes with or without us. But WE were placed here, in THIS generation, for a reason. You didn't end up in the AI age by accident. You didn't end up hearing these truths by accident. This IS your "such a time as this."

The Armor

Ephesians 6:10-13 (NKJV)
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

Belt of Truth

In an age of AI-generated lies and deepfakes, truth is the foundation everything else rests on.

Breastplate of Righteousness

In an age of moral relativism where AI redefines right and wrong, guard your heart with God's standard.

Shoes of the Gospel

In an age where the gospel is being rewritten by algorithms and AI Jesus chatbots, carry the REAL gospel.

Shield of Faith

In an age designed to erode faith through doubt, data, and deception, faith is your defense.

Helmet of Salvation

Protecting your MIND in an age of mental warfare, algorithm-driven anxiety, and information overload.

Sword of the Spirit

The Word of God. The only offensive weapon. Not the word of ChatGPT. Not the word of the algorithm. The Word of God.

The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. That's your weapon. If you don't know it, you're going into battle unarmed. If you do not know the Word of God, you cannot know the God of the Word.

Go Deeper

Equipping resources for the fight ahead.

John Lennox — A Voice You Need to Hear

Who He Is

John Carson Lennox is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, Fellow in Mathematics and Philosophy of Science at Green Templeton College. He holds a PhD from Cambridge, a DPhil from Oxford, and a DSc (an earned research degree, not honorary) from the University of Wales.

What sets Lennox apart: he's not a theologian guessing at science. He's a world-class mathematician and scientist who stands on the authority of Scripture. He has publicly debated — and held the floor against — Richard Dawkins (multiple times), Christopher Hitchens, Peter Singer, and other prominent atheists.

Official Website: JohnLennox.org

Key Books for This Series

God, AI and the End of History (2025)

Understanding the Book of Revelation in an Age of Intelligent Machines — SPCK, 2025

Lennox's most recent and most ambitious work. A 600-page examination of Revelation through the lens of AI and transhumanism. He directly connects the rise of superintelligent machines with the apocalyptic visions of Revelation — including the Antichrist, the false prophet, the image of the beast, Babylon, and the millennial reign.

Rick Warren: "I read everything John Lennox writes because of his amazing blend of rigorous scholarship with practical insights."

2084: AI and the Future of Humanity

Updated and Expanded Edition — Zondervan, 2024 (original 2020)

The title is a deliberate nod to Orwell's 1984. Lennox examines where AI is heading: Can it achieve consciousness? What does it mean to be human? Is digital immortality possible or desirable? He brings every question back to the biblical framework and affirms the Imago Dei as the unbreakable distinction between humans and machines.

Written at an accessible level — not just for academics, for everyone.

Against the Flow (2015)

The Inspiration of Daniel in an Age of Relativism

A deep study of the book of Daniel — directly relevant to our Daniel 12:4 anchor text across the entire sermon series. How to live faithfully in a culture hostile to God. Particularly powerful for anyone who has followed this three-week journey from Daniel's sealed book to our unsealed generation.

Antisemitism in the End Times (2025)

How the Rise of the World's Oldest Hatred Is Paving the Way for Messiah's Return — Olivier Melnick, Harvest House

Melnick is the son of Holocaust survivors and founder of Shalom in Messiah Ministries. He traces antisemitism through Scripture, history, and culture, connecting the current global rise to end-times prophecy.

Shalom in Messiah Ministries

Lennox Debates & Lectures (Free on YouTube)

If you've never seen John Lennox debate, you owe it to yourself. These are accessible, powerful, and faith-strengthening.

  • Lennox vs. Dawkins — "The God Delusion Debate" (University of Alabama, 2007)
    Watch on YouTube
  • Lennox vs. Dawkins — "Has Science Buried God?" (Oxford Museum of Natural History, 2008)
    Watch on YouTube
  • Lennox vs. Hitchens — "Is God Great?" (Samford University, 2009)
    Search "Lennox Hitchens Is God Great Samford" on YouTube
  • C.S. Lewis Institute — "Artificial Intelligence and Its Impacts on Humanity" (Interview, 2022)
    Watch / Listen

Recommended Books

Build your library. Know the Word. Understand the times.

Theology & Apologetics

  • C.S. Lewis — Mere Christianity (especially Book IV, Ch. 1: "Making and Begetting")
  • John Lennox — God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? (2009)
  • John Lennox — Can Science Explain Everything? (2019)
  • John Lennox — Gunning for God: Why the New Atheists Are Missing the Target (2011)
  • Thomas Watson — A Body of Divinity
  • I.D.E. Thomas (compiler) — A Puritan Golden Treasury (Banner of Truth, 2000)

AI, Technology & Prophecy

  • John Lennox — God, AI and the End of History (SPCK, 2025)
  • John Lennox — 2084 and the AI Revolution: Updated Edition (Zondervan, 2024)
  • John Lennox — Against the Flow: The Inspiration of Daniel in an Age of Relativism (2015)
  • Olivier Melnick — Antisemitism in the End Times (Harvest House, 2025)
  • Adrian Owen — Into the Gray Zone: A Neuroscientist Explores the Border Between Life and Death (Scribner, 2017)

Family, Culture & Digital Life

  • Jonathan Haidt — The Anxious Generation (2024) — children, social media, and mental health
  • Cal Newport — Digital Minimalism — reducing digital dependency
  • John Mark Comer — The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry — reclaiming presence and stillness

Lewis on Making & Begetting

Resources for studying Lewis's "Making and Begetting" chapter referenced in the sermon:

Additional Resources

For Parents

Center for Countering Digital Hate — "Fake Friend" Report

Comprehensive documentation of AI dangers to youth. Every parent with teens should read this.

Read the Full Report

Antisemitism & End Times

Olivier Melnick — Shalom in Messiah Ministries

Education and mobilization for Christians to stand against antisemitism and build bridges with the Jewish people.

Visit Ministry Website Listen: VCY Crosstalk Interview

Thomas Watson Source

"The Being of God" from A Body of Divinity

Full context of the "drop of pleasure, sea of wrath" quote referenced in the sermon.

Read the Full Text

Lennox Reviews & Discussion

Key Scripture References (NKJV)

  • Genesis 1:27 — Imago Dei
  • Genesis 2:7 — God breathed life into man
  • Genesis 2:16-17 — Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
  • Genesis 3:5 — "You will be like God"
  • Proverbs 1:7 — Fear of the Lord, beginning of knowledge
  • Proverbs 2:6 — The LORD gives wisdom
  • Psalm 46:10 — Be still and know
  • Colossians 2:2-3 — All treasures of wisdom in Christ
  • Matthew 6:24 — Cannot serve two masters
  • Matthew 24:11, 24 — False prophets and deception
  • 1 Timothy 4:1 — Doctrines of demons
  • 1 John 4:20-21 — Love your brother
  • Deuteronomy 6:6-7 — Teach your children diligently
  • Joshua 24:15 — Choose this day whom you will serve
  • Esther 4:14 — For such a time as this
  • Ephesians 6:10-18 — The full armor of God
  • 2 Timothy 1:7 — Power, love, sound mind

Digging for the Truth

Want to go deeper? Subscribe to the Digging for the Truth podcast where we explore Scripture, prophecy, and current events through a Biblical lens.

dftpodcast.com

Imago Dei

AI Sermon Series • Part 3 of 3

A Teaching by Trent Taylor

Digging for the Truth

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." — Genesis 1:27

Delivered February 22, 2026 | Amarillo, Texas