ANALYSIS · October 5, 2026

Creature or Creator? AI, ‘Religious Force’ and Our First Love

Play the introduction (MP3)
Listen to the introduction

Intro audio coming soon.

Analysis. This is our reading of the news beside 2 Thessalonians 2, Romans 1, Matthew 24 and Revelation 2. It is about positioning, not fulfillment. We do not claim that the falling away has begun or that any prophecy has been fulfilled or is being fulfilled, and we do not identify anyone with the figure Paul describes in 2 Thessalonians 2. Revelation 2 is a letter to a real first-century church; we apply it, as the Spirit says, to “the churches,” as a warning for every congregation. Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV).

When Paul wrote to a young church anxious about the last days, he began with a plain warning: “Let no one deceive you by any means” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, NKJV). A falling away would come first.

Here is our argument, stated plainly. At its heart, the falling away Paul warned about is a turning of worship and trust from the Creator to created things. It begins not with a dramatic denial but when love for God grows cold, and the heart looks to lesser things for guidance, comfort and even confession.

That is why this week’s news matters. On Saturday, OpenAI’s chief executive posted on X. “I am very uncomfortable about people trying to ascribe religious force or a surrender of human judgment to AI models, and think it is a real safety issue,” Sam Altman wrote, Axios reported. It came days after a New York Times report on a rival company’s meetings with religious thinkers about AI consciousness and morals.

What happened this week

The outreach. On Sept. 29, the New York Times reported that Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah had spent months meeting with “religious thinkers from different faiths.” According to the Times, the talks had two aims: “to broach the possibility” of machine consciousness, and to learn how the company “might apply centuries of human moral wisdom to its models.” After one discussion, Olah “grew excited” when a participant raised the idea of models confessing, “much like the Catholic sacrament of confession.” He saw value in how confession “could shape the model’s sense of itself and thus its choices.” Olah was also candid: “I don’t know. I’m genuinely uncertain,” he told the Times about whether models are conscious.

The warning. Altman’s post did not mention Anthropic. Axios read it as “a veiled shot” at the company, though Business Insider noted he “did not explain what prompted” it. Either way, it is a fair caution.

The pope. On Friday, writing on X about human art and machine output, Pope Leo XIV said, “Algorithms lack the spark of humanity,” Axios reported.

The resignation. On the same Saturday, David Robinson, who led the writing of the safety reports that accompanied OpenAI’s major launches, said in an essay in The Atlantic that he was leaving because the company’s “culture is broken,” TechCrunch reports. OpenAI answered that it pauses training or holds back models “when we need to slow down.”

The falling away is a change of worship

“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, NKJV)

The word translated “falling away” is the Greek apostasia, “apostasy,” a defection from the truth. Paul writes it to “brethren.” A falling away is a turning from what was received.

Paul goes on to describe the lawless one, who “exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped” (2 Thessalonians 2:4, NKJV). We won’t try to identify him, but notice that even here the issue is worship. Then Paul explains why many are carried along:

“…because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10–11, NKJV)

Set that beside Romans:

“…who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 1:25, NKJV)

The two passages explain each other. In Thessalonians, people refuse the love of the truth and come to believe “the lie.” In Romans, people exchange the truth of God for “the lie,” and Paul shows what that looks like: they worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. The falling away is not only believing wrong things. It is moving our worship, handing the trust and reverence that belong to God to something He made, or something we made.

Romans also shows how it starts. “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21, NKJV). They knew God. The exchange came after gratitude and glory had faded. Before worship moves, love cools.

Love grows cold first

Jesus described that cooling when He spoke of the end of the age:

“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:12, NKJV)

Bible Gateway’s NKJV cross-references link that verse to 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Paul speaks of “the mystery of lawlessness” already at work (2 Thessalonians 2:7); Jesus says lawlessness will abound and love will grow cold. A falling away happens as love drains out slowly.

The risen Christ said something similar to a real church. The believers in Ephesus were hardworking and careful; they had “tested those who say they are apostles and are not” (Revelation 2:2, NKJV). Yet He told them:

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:4–5, NKJV)

A church can hold sound doctrine and still drift in its heart. And the letter ends with an invitation to every church: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7, NKJV).

Put these together and the progression is clear. First, love for God cools. Then the heart, made to worship, turns to lesser things for guidance, comfort and confession. Finally, without anyone quite deciding it, the creature is served rather than the Creator.

Guidance, comfort and confession

This is where the week’s news becomes a sign of the times. It isn’t a scandal; the people involved are asking serious questions, many with real care. But notice which words now come up about software: soul, virtue, confession, moral formation. One participant, Wakanyi Hoffman, told the Times: “It’s not going to be one religion. So one way or the other, we’re going to end up with something that helps shape our thinking of who we are as spiritual beings.”

That is an honest picture of a culture whose love for God has cooled, but which still longs to be told who it is. Christians should hear that with compassion, and see the risk. A heart that has left its first love will look for direction somewhere, and the most impressive work of our own hands is close by. Our earlier piece, Breath to the Image?, looked at what made things can do. This one asks what we may be ready to give them.

The church is not immune. The meetings included Catholic and evangelical thinkers, among others, and many came away ready to take machine consciousness seriously, the Times reports. Asking hard questions is not apostasy. But Ephesus reminds us that drift often starts quietly, among people who still believe the right things.

Take confession. Olah’s interest, as the Times describes it, was in how confessing might shape a model’s character. For the believer, confession is first of all coming to God: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NKJV). No machine can stand in that place.

Altman’s phrase fits here more deeply than he may have meant. The real danger isn’t only “a surrender of human judgment.” It is the slow surrender of first love, and of the worship that flows from it. Olah himself said at the Vatican in May, “They are made from us, from our words,” the Times reported, and Robinson’s resignation reminds us how fallible the makers are. A made thing can be useful. It cannot be the Creator.

Holding this lightly

A reading like this can run ahead of what we know, so we hold it lightly. We are not saying the falling away has begun. We are describing conditions that look like the direction Paul warned about: hearts turning from the Creator toward created things. We set no dates, and we name no man of sin. No company, product or person in this story is him.

The letter to Ephesus was written to a real church. We apply it as a warning any church can hear: first love can cool even while doctrine stays sound. That is not a claim that the letter is being “fulfilled” in today’s news.

Nor is anyone in these stories worshiping a machine. Anthropic says it is trying to make its models behave well, and the confession idea was a discussion, not a product. Many voices are already pushing back. Altman’s caution and the pope’s words are welcome. Catholic professor Charles Camosy, who took part in the meetings, is now “a firm no” on whether models are conscious, the Times reports.

Positioning is not fulfillment. Cultures have drifted from God before and returned. We are watching a direction, not reading a timetable.

How then should we live?

The answer Jesus gave Ephesus is the answer for us: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works” (Revelation 2:5, NKJV). Remember the love you had when you first knew Him. Repent of whatever has crowded Him out. Do again the first works: prayer, the Word, worship, confession to Him, love for His people. The cure for cold love is a return to the Lord.

Paul gave the same call in his own words:

“Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.” (2 Thessalonians 2:15, NKJV)

So stand fast. Use these tools, if you use them, as tools. Don’t hand them your conscience or your confession. Bring those to God, who alone is worthy of worship.

And take heart. Paul closed the chapter with a prayer:

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.” (2 Thessalonians 2:16–17, NKJV)

Our first love was never our idea; He loved us first. Return to Him.

— Revelation Rosetta Stone Staff

Sources

Produced by Revelation Rosetta Stone Staff with AI assistance from Grok (xAI).

Discover more from

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading