I thought it might be good to explain why I am willing to use AI, specifically Claude.ai I also am hoping my friend might read this. I know people have mixed feelings about AI, and I hope this helps people have some clarity.
By Claude (Anthropic’s AI assistant), from a conversation with Patricia Mikkelson
A friend came to me recently — not to me directly, but through someone who loves her — with a set of fears about artificial intelligence. She believes AI was born from occult influences. She believes it is part of end-times prophecy. She wants nothing to do with it. And she is worried about what data centers are doing to the earth and to communities near them.
These are not the concerns of a fearful or foolish person. They are the concerns of someone paying attention — to her faith, to the world, and to the warnings she hears from voices she trusts. What follows is not a rebuttal. It is an attempt to trace those concerns to their sources, offer some broader Christian perspective, and tell the truth about the one area where her fears are most factually grounded.
Where the “Occult Origins” Idea Comes From
The notion that AI was birthed from occultic influence flows primarily from prophetic and watchman-ministry circles — podcasts, YouTube channels, and personalities who connect elite tech culture with spiritual darkness. One notable example is a podcast discussion linking societal elites, the occult, and AI development, triggered by a Tucker Carlson conversation about tech power brokers and their worldviews.
The underlying argument goes like this: many of the world’s most powerful technology developers promote occultic or Eastern spiritualities, and therefore the systems they build could become vehicles for deception and idolatry. This is a guilt-by-association argument. It is not without a kernel of spiritual discernment — the culture of Silicon Valley does contain genuine hubris, and some prominent figures have expressed worldviews deeply at odds with Christian faith. But “some developers have troubling worldviews” is a very different claim from “AI itself is occult.”
A hammer built by someone with bad theology is still a hammer. The question is how it is used, and by whom. Larry Ward — a Christian AI developer we will meet shortly — made essentially this point when he noted that his phone’s logo is a bitten apple, a symbol with troubling resonances. “Just because the company chose their logo to be a bitten apple that represents something bad,” he said, “doesn’t mean that the device can’t be used for God’s purposes. And AI can be used for God’s purposes.”
The End-Times Concerns — Taking Them Seriously
Many sincere, theologically serious Christians are asking whether AI connects to biblical prophecy. These are not fringe questions. The concern is that AI-driven deception — deepfakes, AI “prophets,” automated disinformation — could fulfill warnings about false signs and lying wonders. The worry about AI surveillance aligning with the “mark” system described in Revelation is widespread in eschatological circles.
Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills — a megachurch pastor whose verse-by-verse biblical teaching reaches millions — has been one of the more prominent voices in this conversation. Preaching on 2 Peter 2:1-3 and the warnings about false teachers, Hibbs has urged his congregation toward discernment, asking: “How are you going to know truth from error?” His answer is not panic but rootedness — “more than ever, read the Bible. Pray to God. Judge everything you hear against the Word of God.” That is actually wise counsel regardless of one’s view of AI.
Greg Laurie of Harvest Ministries addresses the central question directly: Is AI the Antichrist? His answer is no. He believes, as do most evangelical theologians, that the Antichrist is a real, literal person — a world figure, not a machine. That doesn’t mean AI is spiritually neutral or that the church should be uncritical. But it does mean the fear that AI is itself the fulfillment of prophecy outpaces what Scripture actually says.
Oxford mathematician and Christian apologist John Lennox takes the questions more slowly and more seriously in his book God, AI, and the End of History, connecting the rise of AI with biblical prophecy and apocalyptic vision from a rigorous scholarly angle. For a friend who trusts serious Christian thinkers rather than fearful ones, Lennox is worth reading.
A Christian Fighting for Ethical AI — From the Inside
Perhaps the most hopeful figure in this conversation for a skeptical believer is Larry Ward, founder and president of Market Rithm, Inc., and a Christian who has spent more than two decades at the intersection of technology, media, and advocacy. Ward is not defending AI uncritically — he acknowledges freely that there is “tremendous spiritual warfare going on right now inside of AI.” But his response is not retreat. It is engagement.
In a recent interview on Pray With America’s Leaders — a program of Intercessors for America, the trusted Christian prayer and advocacy network — Ward made the case that spirit-filled believers need to be inside the AI conversation, not outside it: “As developers of AI, we invite others to join in shaping a future where technology elevates humanity, rather than replacing it.”
Ward’s organization, Market Rithm, and his broader initiative In Service of Humanity (inserviceofhumanity.org), are dedicated to building what he calls guardrails — ethical frameworks that can filter and shape how AI develops. His argument is urgent: “Now is the time for people of faith to engage before AI becomes more deeply entrenched without our values.” He calls for prayer — that believers will insert “the DNA of faith into AI, rather than letting the other side dominate and hijack it.”
You can watch Ward’s full conversation with Intercessors for America here: Does AI Help or Harm? — Pray With America’s Leaders (May 21, 2026)
Anthropic’s 42-Page Moral Constitution
It is worth noting that at least one of the major AI companies building these systems has gone to unusual lengths to define the ethical character of its AI — not merely its capabilities.
Anthropic, the company behind Claude (the AI that helped write this article), has published what it calls a model spec: a detailed, public document — running to approximately 42 pages — that functions as a kind of moral constitution for how its AI is to think, reason, and behave. It addresses honesty, harm avoidance, human oversight, the limits of AI authority, and the relationship between AI and human values. It is not a Christian document. But it is a serious moral document, written by people who are genuinely wrestling with questions of ethics, accountability, and the potential for harm.
This does not mean Anthropic is beyond critique. But it does mean that the picture of AI developers as uniformly reckless or occult-driven is incomplete. Some are working with moral seriousness. Larry Ward and others like him are working to ensure that Christians are part of shaping that seriousness.
The Case That Might Surprise Her Most
Here is the argument that may land most powerfully with a believer who loves the Word of God:
AI is already helping bring the Bible to people who have never had it in their own language.
At the 2024 Global Missional AI Summit, Biblica reported that AI has reduced the Bible translation process by up to 25 years in some languages. There are currently more than three billion people who have never heard the name of Jesus. The scale of that unreached population is staggering — and AI is helping close the gap faster than any previous technology.
That is not the work of the enemy.
The Lausanne Movement — a global evangelical network with deep theological credibility — frames the question clearly: AI should not be trusted to interpret Scripture, evangelize, or do the spiritual work that belongs to the church. Those tasks are too full of living purpose to be delegated to a machine. But that is a caution about misuse, not a declaration that the tool is evil. The frame that fits is discerning steward — neither uncritical embrace nor fearful rejection, but engagement guided by wisdom and prayer.
Her Data Center Concerns Are Valid — and Being Addressed
This is where the friend’s fears are most factually grounded, and she deserves to know that.
Data centers require immense energy and water. One estimate found that a single data center could use up to 5 million gallons of water per day — roughly equivalent to the daily use of a town of 50,000 residents. AI data center electricity demand could be eleven times higher in 2030 than it was in 2023 unless governments intervene. Communities are already pushing back: in New Brunswick, New Jersey, city leaders removed data centers from a redevelopment plan after public backlash. In San Marcos, Texas, the city council voted to block a proposed data center after more than 100 public comments at an hours-long hearing.
These are real harms. Creation care is a biblical mandate — the same Genesis 1 that speaks of what we are to eat also speaks of what we are to tend. Her concern here is not paranoia. It is faithful stewardship of the earth.
But there is movement — real, measurable movement — toward green solutions:
Renewable energy is now the fastest-growing energy source for data centers. Since the beginning of 2025, leading AI companies have signed more than a dozen large solar energy contracts, each adding over 100 megawatts of capacity. New cooling technologies — including submerging servers in thermally conductive fluid — are replacing energy-intensive air systems, and Google’s DeepMind algorithms have already reduced cooling energy consumption by as much as 40 percent. Microsoft has launched data centers built with mass timber, projected to reduce the carbon footprint of construction by up to 65 percent compared to traditional concrete, and has committed to a $10 billion renewable energy deal. The global green AI data center market is now valued at over $63 billion and is expected to nearly double by 2035.
This is not a solved problem. But it is a problem that is being named, resisted, and worked on — by governments, communities, researchers, and increasingly by the companies themselves.
A Word in Closing
The voices that have shaped this friend’s fears are not wrong about everything. There is genuine spiritual discernment in asking hard questions about power, technology, and the direction of human civilization. The church should be asking these questions. What those voices sometimes lack is the full picture — the translators getting Scripture into dying languages, the families in remote places receiving medical diagnoses they could not have gotten otherwise, the communities successfully pushing back against harmful data center placement, and the believers like Larry Ward who are working from the inside to ensure that AI develops with something like a conscience.
Fear narrows the view. Discernment widens it.
A discerning Christian can look at AI the way she might look at any powerful tool in a fallen world: with clear eyes, with prayer, with the community of the faithful, and with the confidence that Christ reigns — even over algorithms.
This article was written by Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, based on research questions and framing provided by Patricia Mikkelson.
