Tucker Carlson Claims Demons Invented the Atomic Bomb. Here’s Why It’s Plausible.
Last week, we brought to you the news that firebrand conservative, Tucker Carlson, was being ridiculed in evangelical circles for claiming that a demon had attacked him in his sleep. As we explained then, almost all evangelicals believe in the existence of demons (because they believe the Bible), but many are ashamed of the Bible’s claims of the supernatural. In theological terms, we call them Socinians, which you can read more about that from Pulpit & Pen here.
Another other term, easier to remember, is stuck-up intellectual hoity-toities who don’t want to appear weird.
Also as we explained at the time, nothing in Tucker’s description of the experience was in any way unbiblical. Although personal experiences must be subjected to the testimony of Scripture, it is certain that Satan exists, demons are real, on certain occasions (in Scripture) they’ve been granted the capacity to inflict physical harm.
Well, Tucker has now bemused the evangelical ruling class once again, and now claims that demons invented atomic technology and nuclear war. And you can hear the snickering from the back pew from here.
Tucker made the claim while appearing on War Room, the podcast of recently freed political prisoner, Steve Bannon.
“Nuclear weapons are demonic,” Tucker asserted. “There’s no upside to them at all, and anyone who claims otherwise is either ignorant or doing the bidding of the forces that created nuclear technology in the first place, which were not human forces obviously.”
He continued, “I’ve never met a person who can isolate the moment where nuclear technology became known to man. German scientists in the 1930s? Really? Name the date? It’s very clear to me that these [nuclear weapons] are demonic.”
Last week, regarding Tucker’s alleged demonic attack, we quoted ‘Insight to Incite,’ writing the following:
Demons, the demonic, and the devil are largely perceived as being real by modern Americans, and perhaps in greater numbers than those who believe in God (and certainly at higher levels than those who believe Jesus is God).
This mirrors Tucker’s opinion, which he was recently asked by John Heers of the First Things Foundation, “Is the presence of evil is kickstarting people to wonder about the good”. Tucker responded, “That’s what happened to me. I had a direct experience with it.”
So what is the theological possibility that demons, that is, actual evil spirits, created atomic technology? Much to the horror of the aforementioned hoity-toity intellectual evangelicals ashamed of the supernatural, it’s definitely possible. But before we get to the Scriptures, be forewarned that actually the inventors of quite a few technologies very explicitly credit demons with their inventions.
But can demons invent things?
Demons are sentient and intelligent creatures, capable of speech, reason, and persuasion to humans (Matthew 8:29-31).
Demons have specific knowledge, often on specific subjects (Acts 19:13-16).
Demons both deceive with lies and on occasion, teach with a perverted version of the truth (1 Timothy 4:1-2).
But what about the atomic bomb?
The man most credited with the development of the Atomic Bomb was J. Robert Oppenheimer. An interesting caveat about Oppenheimer belonged to an undergraduate group of highly elite students of science at Harvard, whose motto was, “O Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère!”
The line was taken from l’Arbre de Science (Tree of Knowledge) by Bouldaire, a blasphemous poem written to Satan. The poem credits Satan with technological achievement, scientific advancements, and hidden knowledge. And it was this book that Oppenheimer told The Christian Century was the most influential book he’d ever read.
Just a crazy coincidence, right? Well guess what, Tucker wasn’t the first to wonder if a technology that could easily lead to the death of humanity might possibly have come from the devil. Links between Oppenheimer and the demonic been drawn for a very, very long time.
Most suspicious of all is Oppenheimer’s most famous quote, after he witnessed the first atomic explosion.
He said, “I am death, the destroyer of worlds.”
His quote is a paraphrase of a line from the Bhagavad Gita (as he recalled in a 1965 NBC documentary), a Hindu prayer which quotes the false god, Vishnu, in trying to persuade a human to to do his bidding.
That certainly seems like a strange text to recall at such a moment. And yet, the Scripture says that false gods are demons (1 Corinthians 10:19-20). It certainly seems as though a demon is speaking directly through Oppenheimer. Born a Jew, Oppenheimer denounced Judaism and never adopted another religion publicly, but he absolutely had a fondness for the Satanic.
It doesn’t really seem that Tucker’s claims are all that outlandish, no matter the snickering he may receive from modern day Socinians.
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Depending on how you feel about the Book of Enoch these are interesting writings on what the fallen angels taught mankind:
1 Enoch 7:1 ..and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants.
1 Enoch 8:1-2 And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals (of the earth) and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. 2. … Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl,
(taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Ezêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, 〈Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun, and Sariêl the course of the moon.
The whole “supernatural realm” is a topic that level-headed Christians have distanced themselves from because some of goofy stuff that other Christians/”christians” have said. Because of this, the de-facto response to demon-related allegations is to dismiss them as the manifestations of superstitious people.
With that being said, the early nuclear scientists in the U.S. literally had a plutonium sphere called “the demon core”.
Heck, even David Lynch the filmmaker in his Twin Peaks series associated the arrival of nuclear bombs with the birth of demonic entities. This knowledge and massive power–the ability to split an atom–is so far beyond what man was created for that it makes you wonder what role the supernatural had. This precedes the invention of nuclear technology as well. Thomas Edison the famous inventor was fascinated by the occult.