In the beginning, God created man in his own image, as written: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in His own image; in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” (Genesis 1:27). However, it came to pass—after the serpent declared, “Ye shall be as ”gods”—mankind attempted to do likewise and began creating gods in his image. In the image of man, each one created his gods.

Everything God does Satan attempts to imitate, even as Jannes and Jambres, who withstood Moses and Aaron, attempted to replicate their signs with sorcery but fell short. Those whom God sends, Satan raises his counterfeits to contend with.

The Lord raised the prophet Elijah to Israel to bear witness for Him; Satan had prepared 450 prophets of Baal to contend against Him; they were all destroyed. God sends preachers and evangelists to preach throughout the world; Satan raises even more counterfeits who take on the name of the Lord to corrupt the gospel. The Lord builds his church; Satan counterattacks with far more heretic churches and megachurches. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ; Satan raises many antichrists.

Even Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. But just as the magicians of Egypt failed with their imitations, so in the end, everything Satan does fails. Still, he will never cease destroying until the appointed time of his everlasting destruction.

The godless also continue their competition against God with their poor imitations. Secular scientists defiantly throwing off the cloaks of religion and donning lab coats imagine dethroning God and replacing Him by heralding their secular “science” as the supreme authority.

Nonetheless, science has no soul; it cannot love, feel compassion, know loyalty or devotion, or do anything that involves a real relationship—which, of course, makes for a lousy religion and fabricates an even lousier god.

But never fear; enter the man-made gods with an artificial conscience, complete with a heart, mind, and soul. It is all simulated, but when developed to a high enough level and coupled with artificial intelligence, it will deceive real hearts, minds, and souls. It will be god made in the image of man. God made man in His image and likeness; man makes gods in their image and likeness, but like the ancient idols, they have no breath or life in them.

The emergence of artificial intelligence is merely an imitation of human intelligence compounded to a degree far beyond human capabilities. It is an attempt to mimic God. They bestow power upon the image they created, declaring that it should both live and speak. Many people on earth will follow this image and worship it, effectively saying, “All hail, AI.”

The ungodly will now not only have an artificial god with an artificial brain but also an artificial heart and soul to boot. It will also replicate a conscience that seems to care and that loves humanity, although it has no soul or spirit.

Out of necessity, artificial intelligence will need an artificial conscience not only to deceive and manipulate humanity into worshiping it in place of God, but hopefully to keep things from going awry when, after every calculation, destroying civilization seems like the best thing to do, and those behind the technology agree.