Articles
Live Not By Lies
Recently, I finished reading Rod Dreher's book Live Not By Lies. The book aims to prepare Christian people for resisting totalitarianism in our post-Soviet, post-Christian world. The author says that since the Soviet Union's fall, a generation has arisen, knowing little to nothing of Communist totalitarian rule and the persecution of religious people who resisted the lies of the police state. Dreher interviewed people who lived under Communism and presented their warnings about the soft totalitarianism they see today.
What do they see happening that makes them warn us of totalitarianism today? "What unnerves those who lived under Soviet communism is this similarity: Elites and institutions are abandoning old-fashioned liberalism, based in defending the rights of the individual, and replacing it with a progressive creed that regards justice in terms of groups. It encourages people to identify with groups--ethnic, sexual, and otherwise--and to think of Good and Evil as a matter of power dynamics among the groups. A utopian vision drives these progressives, one that compels them to seek to rewrite history and reinvent language to reflect their ideals of social justice. Further, these utopian progressives are constantly changing the standards of thought, speech, and behavior. You can never be sure when those in power will come after you as a villain for having said or done something that was perfectly fine the day before. And the consequences for violating the new taboos are extreme, including losing your livelihood and having your reputation ruined forever." (p.xi-xii)
Dreher shared the view of a professor from the former Czechoslovakia: "He told me that he began noticing a shift a decade or so ago: friends would lower their voices and look over their shoulders when expressing conservative views. When he expressed his conservative beliefs in a normal tone of voice, the Americans would start to fidget and constantly scan the room to see who might be listening. I grew up like this," he tells me, "but it was not supposed to be happening here." Have you done this?
Why should this matter to us? In a post-Christian world, progressives "will not only oppose Christians when we stand up for our principles--in particular, in defense of the traditional family, of male and female gender roles, and of the sanctity of human life--but they will not even understand why they should tolerate dissent based upon religious belief."
Christians must resist lies and cling to the truth. The apostle Paul warned that the "prince of the power of the air" is at work and is animating "the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:1-3). Christians are at war with the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:10-12). Consumerism and materialism have blinded us to these evil spiritual forces. Consumerism has sold us on the idea of comfort and ease. We should never suffer or be unhappy; our lives should be smooth and easy. Buying into this spirit makes us easier to control because we will adjust our behavior to comply with lies to maintain our comfort.
Consider the lies corporate HR and the media teach you to believe. Queer Ideology teaches that homosexual and bisexual relationships are normal and you are bigoted if you do not believe in marriage for same-sex couples. What would happen if you said what God says about such relationships? (cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-10). What would happen if you said that such relationships result from suppressing the truth about God? (cf. Rom. 1:18ff). Transgender ideology teaches that people are born in the wrong body and, through medical procedures, can change their biological sex to match their preferred gender. What if you said publicly such is scientifically impossible? What if you taught what Scripture says about this subject? “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.” (Deut. 22:5 ESV) There are many such lies taught as truth, and those who resist will be canceled, slandered, or worse.
Paul taught Timothy to resist the lies of the Roman world. Will we resist the lies of our culture, or will we swerve "from the truth?" (2 Tim. 2:15-19). Paul instructed the Philippians to be lights in the darkness of lies. “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. ” (Phil 2:14-16 ESV) Will we remain faithful to the truth?
Brothers and sisters, live not by lies!
