THE BIG LIE - In the Church

It has been more than a week since I promised this post, but sometimes it takes a bit longer than one plans. I had written about the big lie in terms of Iraq - it seems every day I hear the same lies repeated by people who simply do not know better, who have limited their knowledge to predigested viewpoints from suspect sources. As stated on our prior post, the keys to the big lie being successful are endless repetition and a squelching of other opinions. We see these Nazi techniques practised by many who probably have no idea that they are doing it.

There are a lot of big lies, actually. Perhaps the biggest one is that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe it. Nothing could be further from the truth. What you believe is CRITICAL. The Scribes and Pharisees sincerely believed they were following Abraham and Moses. Jesus showed them they weren't. They stuck to what they believed and only a handful found eternal life. Another big lie is evolution - this damnable theory often presented as fact infects all modern thinking. It has accelerated racial polarization, it has condoned low morals, and the constant retelling of the lie has brainwashed many people, even Christians, to the extent they no longer have confidence in the inerrant word of God. The world laughs as Christians try to accommodate humanistic thinking into their faith. The world does NOT in the slightest accommodate Christ or the Bible into their thinking.

I wish I could say that the world, the flesh and the devil are the sole incubating environments for lies. Unfortunately, that is not true. Many church people accept lies as a matter of course. In addition to the lies above, here are some more...

1) You have to be real sensitive to the world to win the world.
FACT - you don't offend needlessly, but you need to tell the truth. If the truth offends, so be it. Jesus offended people regularly. Those who were convicted by the truth accepted him. Those who persisted in evil did not. So many Christians pussyfoot around so much that the world has NO IDEA what we really believe. The Bible is an authority on religion, science, history, literature, love, and economics. Christians should have intensive Bible knowledge. Unfortunately, over half of Christians don't even READ the Bible regularly, let alone STUDY it. YOU HAVE TO BE REAL SENSITIVE TO GOD TO WIN THE WORLD. The only way to be sensitive to him is to KNOW him.
2) Politics is bad for Christians to get involved in. FACT - most Christians are involved in politics, but it is either limited to voting, and often uninformed voting at that, or often naive politics or as shills for demagogues. I hear Christians spout the same positions as some in the world - sometimes using the same words and the same rage. In fact I heard Tony Campolo on Michael Medved's program talking about Iraq and he repeated the same misconceptions and lies and when confronted was grossly ignorant of somerather basic facts. I hear Christians often talk about the Supreme Court taking God out of the schools when in fact many states had already dispensed with daily devotions in the schools. It is crtiical to know the whole truth. Yet Christians on both the left and the right tend to repeat sound bites and do not do the slightest amount of research themselves. Isn't the SPIRIT OF TRUTH different from the spirit of this world - the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience? If all born again Christians refused to support those who justify abortion, homosexuality, perverted "marriages", restrictions on the rights of Christians, and all the other issues which are seemingly non-controversial to any blood-washed Christian, a whole lot of evil leaders would not be in power. A whole lot of laws being proposed AS I WRITE THIS are being written because Christians often vote in a way to cancel each other out just as husbands and wives vote to cancel each other out. It is our Christian duty to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, not our pet political issues. How can Christians blame the world for our problems when Christians are ill-informed, misinformed, or simply parrot what they hear in their media of choice? Christians must not compromise for political power. They ust hold their candidates and officials accountable and READ THEIR VOTES, not acept sound bites tailored to the specific target audience. If Christian candidates and officials stand blameless before God, like Joseph and Daniel, God will give them favor even in the eyes of sinners and they will be a blessing in this world to bring God's purposes to bear. The Word of God does not change. Being a sophisticated political maneuverer is not God's pattern for leadership.
3) No One Can Be Perfect. FACT - No one is walking around saying they are perfect, but God has commanded us to be perfect, and he has little tolerance for people justifying sin in their lives. God does not accept any EXCUSES for sin. We need to demand this from our political leaders as well - we cannot keep accepting deeply flawed persons who throw us few bones. Christians should have an unapologetic leader who is able to put the Christian worldview in the marketplace. The wisdom of an unapologetic Christian should dwarf those in the world who do not have the light of Christ. The world saturates us with what they believe - we try to be oh-so-subtle. In the battle of ideas, we cannot be shy. We also must hold each other to high standards. If church folks had been less eager to get Jimmy Swaggart and others restored to their pulpits and more eager to deal with their sin, we would not be such a laughingstock today. We have to hold ourselves and our leaders to impecable standards - God is satisfied with nothing less.

Be bold! Be strong! For the Lord your God is with you!

IRAQ - TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES

Paul Joseph Goebbels served under Adolph Hitler and was the master of THE BIG LIE. It was not only the case that if repeated often enough and strongly enough, people could be made to believe almost anything, but it was also the case that truth HAD to be suppressed and there could not be any viable option to the party line. This modus operandus of mass propaganda resulted in the horrors of Nazi Germany and people shaking their heads today wondering how "Good Germans" could have been so passive and so wrong when the truth seemed so obvious.

I was speaking with a wonderful German Christian lady who lived through the Third Reich. I asked her how it was being a Christian, which she and numerous people she knew were throughout the Third Reich. She said if you didn't oppose Hitler, he left you alone. In other words, if you went along to get along, you were not a problem to him. The economic hardships were there, but they were there for many besides Christians. Unlabelled food cans were almost surely containing parts of dogs or other creatures not normally eaten in Germany.

What does that have to do with the War in Iraq, you might say? A whole lot I believe, as our nation has been under the power of the BIG LIE is many areas as we have been the passive victims of mass propaganda. We have been indoctrinated that evolution is a proven fact, despite the fact that many scientifically trained individuals know it is full of holes. Part 2 of Goebbels method, suppressing the truth, has resulted in silence from many faced with marginalization by their colleagues and disappearing research grants. It is sought to deny credentials to anyone who has the intellectual integrity to stand against this failed theory. The same has been the case with abortion, feminism, the sexual revolution, the non-supremacy of any religion, and homoesexuality - the mantras of acceptance and the marginalization of all opponents is the common thread. Despite Supreme Court decisions, educators still routinely deprive Christian students of their rights and marginalize the most moral of their students.

We now face the BIG LIE of man-made global warming, with all who dissent and who logically argue that it is a cosmic issue are marginalized and suppressed through threats of loss of standing, grants, etc. The agenda of their belief that there cannot be any God who is supreme and in control prevents them from accepting anything that is not man-centered, or humanistic. There is warming on Mars as well. Personally, I believe GOD is giving some warning signs that the heavens AND the earth will be destroyed by Fire. Instead of repenting, men want to blame those who do not submit to hypocritical and sometimes laughable proscriptions. It is all about power, the BIG LIE, and suppression of the truth.

The evil of the war in Iraq is another BIG LIE. No war is pleasant, and my belief is that Christians should not be involved in any war. However, it is legitimate for nations to do so, and if you don't believe in the BIG LIE, try defending the war to anyone. I have talked to two Iraqis and listened to the arguments. There is no doubt in my mind or in the minds of many independent thinkers that withdrawing from the war would be a massive setback for freedom and human rights. The mainstream media are full-time partners of the surrender-oriented politicians now in power. They play a drumbeat every single day of the death and destruction and not one piece ever of the progress on many fronts and the good news from that country.

We witnessed this past week a very thinly veiled move to surrender in the congress. By some estimates it took over $20 billion in pork-barrel legislation attached to it to obtain the votes to pass the bill. Money is no impediment when political power is at stake. These folks utterly despise the taxpayers. That $20+billion could have been used to hasten the end of the war.

When the issue of WMD's came up, when Joe Wilson made his claims, it was established that many WMD's ended up in Syria, with major evidence presented by Gen. Georges Sada, a former Assyrian general under Sadam who is a Christian. I heard him in person present the compelling case for the WMD's and many other issues. It was also confirmed that Iraq was trying to buy Yellow-Cake in Africa. Techical problems with some of the documentations no more make that claim false than an error by a lawyer makes a murderer less guilty. There is no free exchange of information in most of the old media, simply promoting a party line. My sister in New York City had a friend who was a journalist with the New York Times. He finally left, disgusted with the fact he was told repeatedly what spin to put on the news. Many continue to spin, not wanting to lose their jobs. Part two of the BIG LIE in action.

Al Quaeda is now the purveyor of most of the violence in Iraq. They are sworn to destroy us. Yet the BIG LIE that Al Quaeda has no connection to Iraq is the mantra of the day. Al Quaeda and George Bush have determined that Iraq is the battlefield, and if we lose, as the treasonous and dangerous Harry Reid alleges we already have, it is not the end of the war, it is simply a transfer - to HERE. It is also undeniable that there will be far worse bloodshed after the Americans leave - both in Iraq and in the west.

In the days of Vietnam, I was disgusted by the many people who turned against the war because they did not think the Vietnamese were worth dying for. It was racism so deep, Imus looks like a civil rights leader in comparison. Now the same racists are saying the Iraqis are not worthy of our sacrifice. They are not worthy of Americans dying. They are too unstable, too Muslim, too intractible. Every human being is worthy of our love and care and our defense. Christ loves his enemies and died for them. There would be no salvation if Christ applied the litmus test that the anti-war crowd repeats ad nauseum.

I urge you to consider carefully when you are being played by politicians and the media. Check things out and think critically. Question authority. Do the honorable thing. And don't play along to get along - in science, in history, in politics, or religion. If you do, years from now people will debate how you could have been so blind to the obvious truth of what was going on. The BIG LIE is also the order of the day in the church. There is so much deception and no much repeating of what everyone else says and so little critical thinking based in the word of God that we are in exceedingly dangerous waters. Dissent from the party line in churches is not well received, and the prophets are still stoned. Look for my article on this next week. DEFEATING THE BIG LIE... IN CHURCHES.

In the meantime, be strong, be bold! The Lord your God is with you!