Man Becoming His Own God - Transhumanism

Man Becoming His Own God Via Transhumanism

“We are going to become Gods, period […] but if you are going to interfere with me becoming a God, you’re going to have trouble. There’ll be warfare.” – Transhumanist Richard Seed

In the beginning God established that everything should reproduce according to its kind. We find the phrase according to its/their kind five times in Genesis chapter one. God founded the fundamental principle from the beginning of time that everything should reproduce after its own kind.

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creatureaccording to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind“; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattleaccording to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good, (Genesis 1:24-25)

While a German shepherd can mate with a Golden Retriever, for example, they are both from the same kind – that is the dog (technically wolf – canus lupus) species. Thus, mixing goats and let’s say – spiders – should never happen as it would violate God’s law. Yet, this sort of manipulation of the kinds is exactly what is happening today. Genetic scientists have actually mixed a goat and a spider together at the DNA level. Though the percentage of spider is only 1/70,000th, the resulting creature is still one that is not completely according to its own kind anymore.

Genetic scientists have incorporated selected spider DNA into goat embryos to engineer a hybrid spider goat.

Hybrid Spider Goats photo courtesy of www.scienceray.com

The result is a goat that looks like a goat, acts like a goat, BUT produces milk which contains proteins which, when treated, produce a very close imitation of the valuable spider silk. A single goat only produces small amounts of the desired material, so an extremely large herd is required to acquire useful quantities.[i]

While we can understand the desire to harvest spider silk for its great strength, mixing two different kinds violates God’s principle and will ultimately end poorly. This kind of technology raises the question of whether one day we will actually try to make a real-life Spider Man.

Green Eggs and Ham

Green glowing pigs, photo courtesy of BBC

Mixing spiders and goats is not all that is happening. Taiwan researchers have mingled the seed (genetic material) of pigs with jellyfish that glow in the dark to create real life green eggs and ham! “They claim that while other researchers have bred partly fluorescent pigs, theirs are the only pigs in the world which are green through and through. The pigs are transgenic, created by adding genetic material from jellyfish into a normal pig embryo.”[ii]

Whereas God commanded the land to bring forth the animals into existence He formed Adam from the dust of the ground with His own hands and then blew His Spirit into Adam, and thus made him in His own image. Therefore, to mix man with an animal must be infinitely more offensive to God since it would be a direct and deliberate violation of his law and an affront to His glorious image, “Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion,” (Leviticus 18:23).

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over allthe earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth,” (Genesis 1:26).

They Exchanged the Glory

In the book of Romans we see that man should have known about God but suppressed that knowledge and thereby became a fool, though he thought that he was most wise. Man’s foolishness would cause him to exchange the brilliance (and image) of the true God for images looking like animals and such.

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles,(Romans 1:22-23).

Evolutionary Tree of Life

Even though Paul’s primary thought is probably idols and the statues that accompany them, we could certainly see how evolution could also be included in that. Rather than teach that we are in God’s image, evolution teaches that we came from microbes and then other lesser creatures until finally and accidentally we evolved to become human. The teaching of evolution which began 150 years ago is now having its full impact. Man for the most part is generally committed to the belief that we humans evolved from animals and that God does not even exist. With God removed, we can understand how mixing two different kinds of animals in order to “evolve” to a new level raises very few flags for most people. After all, they say we came from animals. National Geographic News published an article in 2005 discussing how the lines between human and animal are becoming blurred by creating human-rabbits, pigs with human blood and mice with human brains.

Scientists have begun blurring the line between human and animal by producing chimeras—a hybrid creature that’s part human, part animal. Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Second Medical University in 2003 successfully fused human cells with rabbit eggs. The embryos were reportedly the first human-animal chimeras successfully created. They were allowed to develop for several days in a laboratory dish before the scientists destroyed the embryos to harvest their stem cells. In Minnesota […] researchers at the Mayo Clinic created pigs with human blood flowing through their bodies. And at Stanford University in California an experiment might be done later this year to create mice with human brains, [iii] (emphasis mine).

In 2008 Britain granted licenses to create human-pig embryos according to onenewsnow.com. Dr. Mark Mostert of Regent University, who was interviewed in the article notes that “British law requires that the human-animal embryos be killed after 14 days.”[iv] Yet he predicts that “some researchers will violate that statute and let them grow even further.” [v] He makes the important observation concerning what is really happening and where it will most likely end. He elaborates:

Species were created to procreate among those of like kind, and now this takes us a step closer to essentially saying, ‘well, whatever the Bible says or whatever a Christian perspective is doesn’t really matter.’ We have now completely divorced what we do in biology and in human engineering from acknowledging that we as human beings are creations of God and that other species are made by the creator. Now we’re saying we are taking that role.[vi]

Mostert argues that the creation of human-pig embryos will create beings that God never intended to be.

Forsaking the Image of God through Transhumanism

Man now believes that he can take his “evolution” into his own hands and direct it for his own good. This belief was stated boldly by Juan Enriquez, Chairman and CEO of Biotechonomy, who was featured in an article by Ken Fisher of artestechnica.com entitled, “We are becoming a new species, we are becoming Homo Evolutis.” He states:

Humanity is on the verge of becoming a new and utterly unique species, which he dubsHomo Evolutis. What makes this species so unique is that it “takes direct and deliberate control over the evolution of the species.” Calling it the “ultimate reboot,” he points to the conflux of DNA manipulation and therapy, tissue generation, and robotics as making this great leap possible […] The day may come when we are able to take the best biology of the known animal kingdom and make it part of our own. This isn’t just about being a bit stronger, or having perfect eyesight our whole lives. All of our organs and limbs have weaknesses that can be addressed, and there are also opportunities to go beyond basic fixes and perform more elaborate enhancements.”[vii]

This ultimate reboot, as Enriquez puts it, is in fact in direct conflict with what God has offered freely, which we considered in the first chapters of this book. Through the cross, Jesus has made a way that we can obtain the epitome of “ultimate reboots”. We can be born again – that is as good as it can get! Sadly, however, rather than submit to God’s plan to fix man genetically and spiritually, Man prefers to believe the lie that he can fix himself. In fact the theory of evolution has paved the way for man to shake off the philosophical inhibitions of seeking God. Man has come to the point that he believes that having evolved this far, he can take himself to the next level. The Scriptures are plain, “Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves,” (Ps 100:3 NASB). In spite of that man believes that he can become his own God.

Dr. Ray Kurzweil is the creator of numerous inventions including the electronic piano keyboard. He is at the forefront of the transhumanist movement and is a major visionary of where we are headed. Fully convinced of the supposed fact of evolution, he states in his publication The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology:

Evolution moves toward greater complexity, greater elegance, greater knowledge, greater intelligence, greater beauty, greater creativity, and greater levels of subtle attributes such as love. In every monotheistic tradition God is likewise described as all of these qualities, only without any limitation: infinite knowledge, […] and so on. […] So evolution moves inexorably toward this conception of God, although never quite reaching this ideal. We can regard, therefore, the freeing of our thinking from the severe limitations of its biological form to be an essentially spiritual undertaking.[viii] Ray Kurzweil (Author)

Time Magazine, in December of 1997, reported on Dr. Richard Seed, a physicist from Chicago who became well known for his announcement of plans to start human cloning. He declared:

God intended for man to become one with God. We are going to become one with God. We are going to have almost as much knowledge and almost as much power as God. Cloning and the reprogramming of DNA is the first serious step in becoming one with God, (National Public Radio, emphasis mine).[ix]

Seed’s words are not intended in any biblical sense but to declare that we too will become as God – that we can be our own gods. A week later Seed elaborated in an interview on CNN: “Man will develop the technology and the science and the capability to have an indefinite life span.”[x] Eleven years later he would make an even more radical statement; whereas the first was to become like God, his latter statement was for man to become a god.

We are going to become Gods, period. If you do not like it, get off. You do not have to contribute, you do not have to participate but if you are going to interfere with me becoming a God, you’re going to have trouble. There’ll be warfare (emphasis mine).[xi]

Seed’s words are not just isolated radical ideas but part of the much larger and well-funded movement known as transhumanism (or posthumanism). While probably most in it would not proclaim that they want to become “gods,” the goal is the same. They are playing with the human source code in ways that are extremely dangerous. Biblical and transhumanism researcher Dr. John P. McTernan puts it this way: “Evolution also detaches man from his Creator and being created in God’s image and likeness. Man is now a free agent to tamper with his DNA under the guise of advancing evolution.”[xii] Therefore, man sees himself as the captain of his own destiny. He is going to overcome death, disease and human “limitations”. Rather than live with the image of God that he has and receive the cure for his fallen state, man would rather pretend that God does not exist and attempt his own cure. Even the difference in the sexes is no longer considered to be God-given.

According to the publication Mail Online (dailymail.co.uk), scientists have succeeded in creating male eggs and female sperm. The article is titled boldly: “No men OR women needed: Scientists create sperm and eggs from stem cells.” It goes on to say:

Human eggs and sperm have been grown in the laboratory in research which could change the face of parenthood. […] But it raises a number of moral and ethical concerns. These include the possibility of children being born through entirely artificial means, and men and women being sidelined from the process of making babies. […] The science also raises the possibility of‘male eggs’ made from men’s skin and ‘female sperm’ from women’s skin. […] This would allow gay couples to have children genetically their own,” (emphasis mine).[xiii]

Mankind is racing towards changing the very image that we were created in to disconnect us from God forever. Dr. McTernan describes very well what is going on in the mind of the evolutionist and the path that they are on.

The natural progression is to enhance the human race by sharpening the senses. If the DNA is now understood and can be manipulated, why not increase the eyesight and hearing? With the addition of eagle DNA man could see like an eagle […] For strength the introduction of gorilla DNA could give super strength, and for speed how about ostrich DNA!

The evolutionists believe they are rapidly advancing evolution by manipulating the DNA. Many scientists believe they are enhancing evolution by improving man. Because, through evolution, man has no fear of God and thus no restraints on tampering with DNA, any attempts to stop this tampering will be met with cries from the scientists. [xiv]

He then states what he believes God’s response to man’s actions will be once man corrupts his image with that of animals which happened in Noah’s day.

The creation of a chimera is in direct violation of the Bible. The mixing of DNA from two different species violates this law [of reproducing according to its]. When God created man, He stated that man was made in His image and likeness. The human DNA is what physically carries this image and likeness. The addition of animal DNA means that man is no longer in God’s image. It is extremely serious to tamper with the integrity of man as transmitted through his DNA. This is, in part, what triggered the flood in Noah’s day. All of the hybrid humans were destroyed during the flood, and God then started over with Noah.[xv]

Dr. McTernan offers a very sobering perspective of where we have been and where we are going as a species. Apparently Satan’s ultimate plan will be to persuade and/or force man to change his genetic makeup so that he is no longer fully in the image of God. Once we give up the code we have been made with, we in fact will be forsaking the image of the One who created us.

Not only does this violate the “according to its kind” principle that we just discussed, but it also has the radical consequence of man changing himself from God’s image.

Thomas Horn, who owns his own news agency, has amassed a great deal of evidence that the research is already taking place. In the United States, similar studies led Irv Weissman, director of Stanford University’s Institute of Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine in California to create mice with partly human brains, causing some ethicists to raise the issue of “humanized animals” in the future that could become “self-aware” as a result of genetic modification.[xvi] Senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, Joseph Infranco writes:

The chimera in Greek mythology was a monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a dragon’s tail. It was universally viewed by the Greeks as a hideous creature, precisely because of its unnatural hybrid makeup; Prince Bellerophon, who was assigned the unhappy task of fighting the creature, became a hero when he slew it. If we fast-forward to today, the chimera, or combination of species, is a subject of serious discussion in certain scientific circles.

We are well beyond the science fiction of H.G. Wells’ tormented hybrids in The Island of Doctor Moreau; we are in a time where scientists are seriously contemplating the creation of human-animal hybrids. The hero is no longer Bellerophon who killed the creature; it is, rather, the scientist creating it.[xvii]

Horn also points out that in 2007 National Geographic Magazine stated that within 10 years the first transhumans would walk the earth. He continues by citing Vernor Verge who recently discussed the meaning of life and then stated for H+ (Transhumanism) Magazine: “Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly thereafter, the human era will be ended.”[xviii] Summing up the stark reality of transhumanism Nick Bostrom, Director of the Future of Humanity Institute and a Professor of Philosophy at Oxford University, in his online thesis Transhumanist Values, describes the “current human sensory modalities are not the only possible ones, and they are certainly not as highly developed as they could be.”[xix] He notes how man could be mixed with animals in order to acquire some of their abilities:

Some animals have sonar, magnetic orientation, or sensors for electricity and vibration; many have a much keener sense of smell, sharper eyesight, etc. The range of possible sensory modalities is not limited to those we find in the animal kingdom. There is no fundamental block to adding say a capacity to see infrared radiation or to perceive radio signals and perhaps to add some kind of telepathic sense by augmenting our brains,”[xx](emphasis mine).

In his book Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenges of Bioethics former chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics, Leon Kass cautioned:

Human nature itself lies on the operating table, ready for alteration, for eugenic and psychic ‘enhancement,’ for wholesale redesign. In leading laboratories, academic and industrial, new creators are confidently amassing their powers and quietly honing their skills,while on the street their evangelists are zealously prophesying a posthuman future. For anyone who cares about preserving our humanity, the time has come for paying attention, (emphasis mine).[xxi]

The “wholesale redesign” of humanity is what Satan has been planning for millennia. Leon Kass is correct that if anyone cares about preserving our humanity, the “time has come for paying attention.” What the rapidly growing transhumanist (and posthumanist) movement demonstrates to a large degree is how man feels about his Maker. It shows in general that:

1) Man has no fear of God which is only natural if people feel that God has been disproven through evolution and of course, if there is no God, then…

2) There is no need to submit to His Word. Having rejected the author of the Word, man is under no obligation to accept the statements in His book nor is he seeking the solution to man’s problems prescribed in the book

3) Believing that he has evolved this far and the complexity of the human body is due to evolution, man believes that he should carry on his own evolution.

4) Man desires to direct his own destiny and rewrite his source code by mixing it with creatures.

5) By rewriting his DNA according to his own wisdom man rejects the image of God which is coded in his DNA.

6) Should the right opportunity arise, man might be willing to go through the ultimate upgrade and thereby completely reject the image of God.

Satan’s Next Move

To understand Satan’s next move and to see how man will be persuaded to take such an improvement, we will need to review just a little. We have seen conclusively that Satan has tried many times throughout history to mingle his seed with men. He started in the days of Noah, which resulted in God destroying the demonic-human hybrids (Nephilim) in the flood (Genesis 6), then he polluted the land of Canaan with the demonic-human hybrids when the children of Israel first came to possess it (Numbers 13:33, Deuteronomy 3:11). We hear of the last of the Nephilim with the destruction of Goliath and his brothers (2 Samuel 21:18-22). Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream prophesied that one day ten kings would mingle themselves with the seed of men but would not adhere (Daniel 2:43). Finally, Jesus Himself warned that at the time of His coming conditions would be as they were in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37). Just as the demons mixed with humans in the days before the flood, so too they will mingle their seed with humanity in the days before the Second Coming. If the reason for destroying the world via the flood was the mingling of the demons and humans (which grieved God’s heart in that their thoughts and actions were continually wicked), then a major reason the Lord will again judge the world may be due to the demons once again mingling themselves with the seed of men.

Man now possesses the power, via transgenics and transhumanism to direct his own evolution. Tinkering with his code at the genetic level (DNA) is not only possible, but is currently being done. Strange animal hybrids are being made in the laboratory and even humans and animals are being experimented with; man is certainly open to improving himself in any way possible.

From all of the testimony that we have seen, we know that transhumanism is of course not the real goal. For the very concept of it is “trans” – that is, to be transhuman – to go beyond being human. The mixing of human seed with animals is merely a stepping stone to something far more sinister that Satan has been planning for a very long time, and in fact, has already attempted several times. Daniel 2:43 predicts that such a scenario is going to happen again and we saw that it has already begun. Thus, man mingling himself with animals is detestable, but not the deal breaker. Transhumanist activity is only the stepping stone to an even grander deception. We have noted that after the rapture, the Enemy will have a counter explanation and the “aliens” will take credit for it. The Bible tells us that a man with fierce countenance will arise and he will have all the power, authority and working signs of Satan to deceive the world and to cause them to take on his mark. Could the science of transhumanism and transgenics play a role in the rise of the Antichrist and the Mark of the Beast? Could technology allow Satan to create one from his own seed as Genesis 3:15 predicts? Satan’s end game has been in the making now for many decades and will very soon be put into play. We will explore how this will happen in the next post.