In meditating on what is happening in this country, I am impressed with the simple thought “truth matters”. We as humans are built to seek out knowledge, understanding, and certainty. Without them we are unable to navigate through life. There is a popular quote often attributed to George Orwell, (though is is doubtful that he originated it) “Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act”. The statement is true, and there is a concerted effort in our day to make truth inaccessible, or even unlawful. But why would people have such a problem with the truth? As it turns out, a population that knows its history, its foundation for knowing right from wrong, and its destiny does not need a massive government to direct it. Such people can take care of themselves. However, we live in a time when governments all over the world have grown so massive and overreaching that they put pressure on every aspect of our lives. There are so many federal and state regulations on the books that it is safe to say that the average citizen commits three felonies per day in going about minding his own business (reference to Harvey Silvergate’s book THREE FELONIES A DAY). The push to confuse gender, race, sexual boundaries, science, logic, and the attack against absolute truth is related to the effort to reduce us to cattle. Cattle have no history, no future, nor do they care for anything but the moment. But they can be killed at will by the rancher.
A good measure of the level of trust that a society has for its government and media is the presence or absence of conspiracy theories. It is shallow and foolish to believe that powerful people do not ever conspire, but when there are multitudes of people trying to connect dots that do not seem to connect, the observer might conclude that the official narratives do not add up. I remember decades ago learning about the network called “Radio Free Europe”. It was a news service that was broadcast into Eastern European countries that were under the control of the Soviet Union. There was an intense hunger for these broadcasts, such that many citizens took extreme risks just to listen to them. At the time, the Soviet news agency was called Pravda (meaning truth), but it was merely a propaganda outlet. The point is that everyone knew that the government was lying to them. The news said that there was plenty of food, but the shelves were empty. The news said this or that, but people’s own experience was contrary. We are quickly becoming what we mocked when I was a child. Media and government punish business for being the controlling bad guy, but government is always good. Consider that no business (except for a government protected monopoly) can force anyone to pay them anything. But governments can collect taxes and regulate people into poverty at will. Who is the good guy here? Along those lines, when I saw “The Lego Movie”, I noticed that the bad guy was called Mr. Business. He should have been called Mr. Government. That would have made more sense.
Censorship has come out of the closet to where it is in your face now. They used to be ashamed of what they were doing when it came into public eye. No more! Our treasured first amendment to the Constitution of the United States was not adopted so that people could be nasty to each other. It was adopted so that it would always be legal to tell the truth. We still have the same need today. Our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but it is against the devils that control the people who govern in this country and in countries all over the world. But the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God to pull down strongholds by casting down imaginations and self exalted ideologies. We are not only to tell the truth, but we are to demonstrate it. The truth is that Jesus is Lord over all. He is the way, the truth, and the life. We need God more than we need anything else. Social media has become more of a time wasting distraction to us than a means of preaching and teaching. We may all be de-platformed, but that would put us in a most splendid situation. Rather than feeling sorry for ourselves, we should be seeking God for the guidance and instruction that Jesus promised to his disciples. He told us “My sheep know my voice, and none other will they follow.” He told us that the Spirit of Truth would lead us into all truth. We need to recover the ancient art of hearing from God and doing what he says. This works well even in the worst of societies. Reports have come from believers in communist China that the Holy Spirit himself tells individual believers where and when to meet and when it is time to break up a meeting. By the time the authorities find out about a meeting it is over and the crowd is dispersed. There is no central command and control, thus there is no one to co opt. Conditions are similar in the Middle East. Jesus ministers to hungry hearts and there are no missionaries or pastors for the Moslem authorities to kill. We will never reach this level of manifestation of the supernatural if we are satisfied with political victory and control. God is after much more. He wants his country back, and he will have it.
Many baby boomers are tempted to despair of the times we are living in, but it is people who remember Stalin and Khrushchev who know spiritually what we are facing and how to pray effectively against it. Pray! that is why you are still here! No weapon formed against us shall prosper and every tongue that rises against us in judgement we shall condemn. Our heritage is victory. Stay in faith, and if we have to suffer, we should at least be punished for doing the right thing in the Lord’s eyes.
Grace, Dr. Bob King, Jr