Did Hitchens call upon Christ with his dying breath?

Did Hitchens call upon Christ with his dying breath?

By Mitiku Adisu

You probably have never heard of Christopher Hitchens. Take heart; you are not alone. Hitchens is known only to a tiny band of atheists unlike atheists of the previous generation. The older folk were content to admit [when asked] that they are atheists and that they did not even mind you teaching your kids some religious morals. Not so with their successors who did not mince words about wanting to convert you to un-belief in God. If you have been complaining about Ethiopian atheists of the 1970s you have not seen the half of the New Atheists. The Ethiopian atheist will blast you in public on account of religion but never misses to attend Bahta Mariam or the annual feast of Qulubbi Gabriel.

Well, Hitchens was a brilliant Anglo-American essayist/journalist who gained notoriety for wanting to rid the world of faith in God! He spent his life talking about God and why God is bad for you and me. In fact, he wrote a book titled, God Is Not Great [Hachette Book, 2007]. It is sad that he passed away at a relatively young age of sixty-two on 16 December after suffering from smoke-related esophageal cancer compounded by hard drinking.

Hitchens might as well have turned to God considering how much of his talent was consumed by the subject. The fellow simply never missed a chance to talk about God. I believe God, in His Infinite Wisdom, used Hitchens to remind people, otherwise unreachable, of the eternal consequences of rejecting or receiving His offer of love in and through Jesus Christ. I know Hitchens would not have agreed with this assessment but that is beside the point.

“As Hitchens' health failed,” reported NPR, “he made a pre-emptive strike against those who might claim he had a deathbed conversion. He reportedly confided to his friends that, in case his faculties failed him, to ‘defend my reputation as an atheist …If, God forbid, I say something about believing in God, say: This is the medication, this is dementia, this is not the Hitchens that we know.' "[Italics added]

Is it possible Hitchens did utter words he was afraid would pop out with his dying breath? Is it not telling that the name "Christopher" is the Greek for “bearer of Christ” and that he chose to 'preach' Christ by denying him? Another interesting fact is that Hitchens had for a physician the geneticist Dr. Francis Collins and author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief [Free Press, 2006]. Collins had prayed for Hitchens and encouraged hundreds to do the same. Do we know enough of the mysteries of prayer to conclude that prayers offered on Hitchens’ behalf were wasted? Another matter is Hitchens’ use above of the expression “God forbid.” Now, don’t quote me but I suspect he might have uttered those same words he was wishing to see suppressed and his atheist friends are unwilling to share because a lot is at stake for theirs and Hitchens’ reputation.

God Is Great!