How the West Was Lost by a Selfie President
I’ve been thinking lately about the gasping Obama presidency–last week rocked by the Veterans Administration scandal, and this week by the Bowe Bergdahl affair where the Administration traded an army deserter for the Taliban Dream Team.
This latest debacle comes after:
- The NSA scandal–collecting the data of American citizens and tapping the lines of world leaders
- The IRS scandal–using the most hated government branch to silence conservative organizations
- The AP scandal–the Justice Department tapping reporters phone records
- The Ben Ghazi scandal–where Americans died, Susan Rice lied, and no rescue took place, and
- Fast Furious–where we supplied thousands of guns to crooks and a border agent was killed.
What in the world is going on?
Here’s an insightful article on how the West was lost by a selfie president.
Last week, my wife and and I watched a moving six-hour History Channel series on The Great Wars that featured portraits of the key leaders of the 20th century. The heroes from WWI and WWII—Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, George Patton and Douglas MacArthur–all learned from their mistakes during WWI and courageously led the Western powers to victory over Nazism and Imperial Japan.
The villains of the Great Wars, including Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and Hideki Tojo, were molded by the horrors of the first world war but applied their lessons toward destruction–not the blessings of liberty and peace.
Thankfully, the world was saved by wise, courageous Western leaders.
(It’s interesting to note that Roosevelt never lived to see the end of WWII, but that he, Mussolini and Hitler all died within one month of each other and Churchill was voted out of office two months later.)
Now we find ourselves in a possibly more dangerous world where Russia is flexing its muscles, Iran is nearing a nuclear bomb, and communist China is the rising power in the Pacific–while our current Western leaders are taking selfies.
The following article appeared after Nelson Mandela’s December 15, 2013 funeral in South Africa. You will remember the famous selfie picture of Barack Obama, David Cameron and the female Danish Prime Minister.
How times have changed since the era of Roosevelt and Churchill! And how desperately we need to pray for and elect courageous leaders who are not enamored by narcissism and corrupted by scandals.
How the West Was Lost By a Selfie President
Michael Goodwin – NY Post columnist
My bookshelves sag with encyclopedic volumes arguing that America and the West are in decline. But proving that a picture is worth a thousand books, the “selfie” seen ’round the world ends the argument.
It’s official — the government of the United States of Obama consists of boobs and bores and is led by a narcissist. It is no consolation that Great Britain joins us in racing to the bottom.
President Obama’s flirting with Denmark’s prime minister would be shameful on any occasion. That it happened at the memorial for Nelson Mandela only adds to the embarrassment.
But the “selfie” episode also symbolizes the greater global calamity of Western decline. With British prime minister David Cameron playing the role of Obama’s giggling wingman, the “look at me” moment confirms we have unserious leaders in a dangerously serious time.
Iran marches toward nuclear weapons and already there is talk in military circles that a nuclear-armed Iran could mean mushroom clouds in the Mideast within five years.
China is flexing its muscles throughout Asia, its ships brazenly confronting ours on the high seas. Russia is expanding its writ in the Arab lands and in Eastern Europe while making casual threats about bombing America. Syria’s Assad uses chemical weapons and Obama and Cameron rattle little sabers before meekly agreeing to become his partner.
The sign-language interpreter wasn’t the only fake at the Mandela funeral. Obama and Cameron were posing as world leaders.
They will never be confused with FDR and Churchill. The fratboys stand in stark contrast to the days when the “special relationship” meant two great leaders uniting two great countries in the fight for freedom. Those leaders understood the consequences if evil prevailed and were committed to victory.
Churchill coined the term “special relationship” during World War II and used it again in his “Iron Curtain Speech” in 1946 that marked the unofficial start of the Cold War. Fearful the West would disarm again, as it did after World War I, he wanted to combat communism by maintaining the “special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States.”
To him it meant our “kindred systems of society” must grow ever closer to provide mutual security and a framework for global peace. That special bond later cemented the Ronald Reagan-Margaret Thatcher partnership that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Try to imagine any of those four embarrassing their nations by acting like indulgent teenagers while civilization hung in the balance. You can’t because they wouldn’t.
Hitler’s greatest mistake was being born too soon. If he were on the march now, would there be will in Washington and London to stop him? Would there be an arsenal of democracy to save mankind from darkness?
In fact, while Obama and Cameron were yukking it up in South Africa, the White House was denouncing bipartisan efforts in Congress to pass more sanctions against Iran. Doing so, it said, would scuttle the feeble interim deal Obama and Cameron accepted. Incredibly, administration arguments echoed Iran’s position.
Try to imagine FDR and Churchill siding with Hitler against their national legislatures. You can’t because they were the antitheses of the appeasers of their times.
World War II proved that the international order collapses when there is no one to support and enforce it. Obama himself has said that, but apparently believes talk is sufficient.
Cameron also talks a good game, but hollowed out the British military to where it is no longer capable of sustained missions.
Words don’t matter to tyrants and genocidal maniacs. They push until they are convinced there will be consequences if they go further.
Our weakness invites their aggression and makes war more likely, not less. That is the perilous state of the world, as the clown kings of the West party on.
Using the Power of Words to Win the Culture War
We all recognize the power of words, either to lift up and encourage, or to deflate and destroy.
When a young person is told during childhood that they are “worthless” those words can have a profound effect on their future. On the other hand, when we tell our children often that we love them and believe in them, those positive words can motivate them toward a life of fruitfulness.
God created the universe with spoken words (Genesis 1:1)–an incomprehensible concept to our feeble minds. He solved the problem of sin by sending His Son to die in our place. John 1:1 calls Jesus the “Word” of God.
And civilizations have known for centuries that “the pen (writing words) is mightier than the sword (using force).
So how can we use words in the 21st century to win the culture war?
Before I make three suggestions, it might be helpful to point out that in the invisible world where demonic forces are present (Ephesians 6:12), there must be an infamous satanic agency that is responsible for most of the lies that we hear and pass around on earth.
Let’s call this Luciferian newsroom “The Department of Deception.”
I don’t know how it works, or how they communicate with each other, but the following scenario appears to be the primary way the devil holds great sway over the hearts and minds of people.
- Satan, and his legions desire to deceive and destroy human beings by separating them from their Creator and Savior (John 10:10).
- These evil beings deceive us (Revelation 20:3) by presenting false ideas to our minds that sound good, but are none-the-less untrue.
- The satanic propaganda is promoted on earth using words in articles, books, speeches, and visual forms to trap human beings into believing lies (Colossians 2:8).
- Human beings take these deceptive words and use them in campaigns and conflicts to manipulate and control other people.
Let’s illustrate this phenomenon with one example with which we will all agree.
Adolf Hitler and The Nazis
Adolf Hitler rejected God at an early age and entered into a very dark world of hatred and personal ambition–obviously inspired by the demonic realm. He wrote his rambling “Mein Kampf” (My Cause) while sitting in a Landsberg, Germany prison just a few miles from where I did my missionary training five decades later.
This is a close-to-home contrast for me of the power of deceitful words and liberating ones. In 1924, Hitler spent 264 days in the Landsberg prison putting satanic ideas on paper that would lead to the rise of the Third Reich. Exactly fifty years later, I would spend over 100 days in the small village of Hurlach, only a few kilometers from Landsberg, hearing the life-giving words of men and women of God that would launch me into missions.
Hitler’s words from hell brought death to millions and caused the world’s worst world war. God’s heavenly words changed my life for good and that of thousands of others who have advanced God’s Kingdom in many nations.
Words are the most powerful weapon we own–either for good or evil. How can we use them more wisely to preserve and transform our nations?
I will mention three areas of the culture war where we must change the words to win the debate for the hearts and minds of people.
Abortion
This is one of the most clever and diabolical deceptions that has ever been foisted on the human race. It is also the greatest holocaust of all time, probably causing the unjust death of over one-to-two billion people over the past one hundred years.
Yes, you read that right.
One to two billion.
Adolf Hitler and those who followed his words were responsible for unjustly taking the lives of some 6-8 million people from 1941-45. We rightly call this “The Holocaust”–and it should be remembered in infamy as such. Wrong ideas about Aryan superiority couched in innocuous phrases such as “The Final Solution” damaged the conscience of German soldiers who callously killed millions of people.
But modern-day abortion goes way beyond that atrocity. Pro-abortionists with false ideas and words, have deceived hundreds of millions of people who have killed billions of innocent children.
Satan’s “Department of Deception” has used one particular phrase to make abortion sound palatable and almost noble.
Pro-choice.
You’ve heard it thousands of times and seen it on countless posters. It’s a very clever play on words. “Pro: usually means you’re “for” something–and that’s a positive. “Choice” is usually a good thing where free beings are allowed a variety of options.
These two little words, straight from hell, have inoculated us to the absolute evil of the abortion holocaust. Even the arrest and conviction of Dr. Ernest Gosnell in Philadelphia and the exposure of his house of horrors did not awaken us from our stupor.
We’ve been duped by the words “pro-choice.” Who could be against that?
But here’s the reality test: What’s the choice? There are only two–life for a human being or death to a human being.
Cultural warriors of the world–we need to change the words to reflect the truth and alter the debate. It’s this simple: You are either pro-life or you are pro-death.
Period.
If the pro-abortionist insists on saying they are “pro-choice”, then simply ask them the question: What are the choices? They will have to admit that one brings life and the other brings death.
We must win the argument by changing the language. The tide is already in our favor as for the first time in decades a majority of Americans call themselves pro-life.
Let’s achieve the overturning of Roe. v. Wade in our lifetime by using words powerfully and truthfully.
Pro-life or pro-death.
Let’s have the guts to label abortion what it really is.
Marriage
This is the other pillar of society that the “Department of Deception” has been recently successful in framing to their advantage. Under such nice sounding terms as “it’s all about love,” or “gender doesn’t matter,” and especially the over-riding term of “gay marriage,” in a matter of a few years, Western society has opened itself to the destruction of an institution that has stood strong and blessed the world for five thousand years.
Here are my suggestions for helping others understand the truth. First of all, it’s probably best to stop using the word “gay” when describing sex acts between same sex partners. From God’s point of view, there’s nothing “gay” about it (see Romans 1:26,27). The Bible uses the terms homosexual and homosexuality–and so should we. Defaulting to biblical words is always wise to keep definitions clear.
Next, we made a huge mistake in allowing the “Department of Deception” to hijack the word marriage. Marriage doesn’t apply to homosexuals. The word itself means to “join together” as only a man and woman can to produce offspring. Thus, homosexual marriage is a misnomer and impossibility.
Homosexuals can’t “join together” for God’s purposes.
We must change the language to reflect reality. A homosexual marriage is a counterfeit marriage–it’s not the real thing. And many other “counterfeit marriages” are just around the corner that might include bigamy, group marriage, pedophilia and bestiality. They’re all counterfeits.
In fact, the reason we are in this sad demise of God’s family institution is the mess we heterosexuals have made of the real thing including fornication, adultery, easy divorce, and emotional and physical abuse. Marriages that include the above are also counterfeit marriages–even if the gender roles are right.
So we have no real authority to look down on the homosexual distortion. Still, we must repent before God and re-establish the real sanctity of a man and woman in holy matrimony.
And we must truthfully call everything else counterfeit marriage.
Political Correctness (PC)
Political correctness is another large cultural trend that has been in the news lately. Some recent examples of PC abuses:
- Condolezza Rice not being allowed to give the commencement address at Rutgers because of her involvement in the Iraq War.
- Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an outspoken critic of radical Islam’s treatment of women, being denied an honorary degree at Brandeis University.
- Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty being chastised by the A&E Channel for his biblical convictions on life and marriage.
- And most recently, the Benham brothers proposed reality show being dropped by HGTV because of their Christian faith.
Political correctness is a very deceptive term. The demonic spinmeisters were very clever on this one. “Political” relates to partisan politics as practiced by either the Democratic or Republican Party. It sounds like it should include both groups. “Correct” usually means “the right answer.”
So “political correctness” should really mean “what each party considers right” on a given issue.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Political correctness is nothing less than secular intolerance. It is one party or philosophy (the Democrats, liberals, Progressives etc.) shutting down all opposing views–especially anything Christian or traditional to Western culture. It is the secular worldview trying to destroy every vestige of the Christian faith and its principles that are still found in America and throughout the world.
What you ever heard of a politically correct position that was biblical?
Never.
Political correctness is one-party tyranny pure and simple. And its spirit of force or control tells you where it came from–the devil and his “Department of Deception.”
Never use the term political correctness or PC again. That’s helping to perpetrate a lie.
Let’s call it what it is–secular intolerance of all other ideas–especially biblical ones. And I have a suggestion as to how we can abbreviate it for short, just like PC. Here it is:
S In.
Sin.
That pretty much describes the control mentality, doesn’t it?
If we are to withstand the the forces of evil in our day, we must see through their verbal deceptions, and with much prayer and courage, rise up and use the power of words to change the hearts and minds of people.
Our words need to be authoritative, full of grace and truth, and clear.
Let’s speak God’s words of truth to our culture–and watch the demons tremble and scatter.
Are You Practicing Sexual Atheism?
Of the three primary idols of secular culture–sex, money and entertainment–sexual immorality is the more pernicious. Money is tempting and can harden our hearts toward others. Entertainment is often a waste of time and life.
But when you deny God’s wise prescription for healthy sexual activity–a man and a woman in the covenant of marriage–you not only harden your heart and waste your time, but you defile yourself in a way that is destructive to both body and soul.
Which brings us to a new phrase that I recently heard for the first time.
Sexual atheism.
It’s a great description of the essence of rebellion against God.
I’m indebted to long-time YWAM pioneer and spiritual father Peter Jordan for acquainting me with the phrase sexual atheism. If you have a YWAM background and don’t receive Peter and Donna’s eTouch monthly newsletter you can check it out and sign up for it here.
It’s loaded each month with wisdom that will benefit your life.
Peter is a pithy writer with many years of experience in life and love. The older I get, the more I treasure the “wisdom of the aged” who are not beholden to the whims and fads of twenty-somethings, but have learned what is true from real history and practical experience.
Peter’s recent article and deep burden for the problem of sexual atheism among young people today really spoke to me. I will include some of it here with accompanying commentary.
Peter Jordan’s recent article begins with these words:
“I’m probably considered to be a prude as well as a fool, certainly by unbelievers, and maybe even by some who identify themselves as followers of Jesus. Why is this? Am I deluded, or just simply not keeping up with the times? Is it just me that thinks that society’s morals are in a spiral dive?”
No, Peter, you’re not the only one who’s noticed. America’s moral airplane is definitely in a nosedive that could crash to the ground and burn.
He then goes on to discuss the concept of “critical mass” either for evil or for good. He states, on the positive side that “Jesus took 12 quite ordinary men (minus one dropout), a group of supportive women, and as many as 500 other full or part-time followers. 2000 years later, over one billion people identify themselves as Christians…Those early believers formed a critical mass—for good.”
Then he asks the question: “But what does a dark and demonic critical mass look like?”
He’s talking about the critical mass of sexual immorality that has exploded in in the Western world in his lifetime–what he calls “anti-Biblical habits and lifestyles.”
He laments, “What was the critical mass that got the ball rolling? Or has it always been this way? In one sense, of course it has—sin has been around a long time. But occasionally—as during the Puritanical and Victorian years—sin went largely underground. So, which is better for us and for our children? Underground, or ‘open pit’ sin?”
Good question with an easy answer. We used to believe that underground was better; that “closets” were good for hding clutter, dirt and grime and smelly shoes and clothing. Today, we celebrate bringing the crap out of the closet.
That’s quite a change in one lifetime.
In analyzing this trend, Jordan quotes Franklin Graham: “Like a frog in boiling water, our culture has been so desensitized to immorality and debauchery that we have lost even the semblance of a moral compass.”
You can read Franklin’s entire article here.
Peter Jordan next reveals both the statistics behind and the origin of the phrase sexual atheism.
“Kenny Luck, a pastor at Saddleback Church in California, shocks us by giving results of a recent study by ChristianMingle, an online dating ministry that asked Christian singles between the ages of 18 and 59, “Would you have sex before marriage?”
“The response? 63% of the single Christian respondents indicated yes. Luck concludes: “It is honest to say that over 6 out of 10 self-proclaimed single Christians are, in practice, sexual atheists…that’s to say, “God can speak into some things, but not sex.”
That insight is both profound and deeply disturbing. Here’s why.
The essence of being reconciled to God–becoming a follower of Jesus–is dying to our own opinions and ways and making Jesus Christ the Lord (authority) of our lives. The humbled, repentant heart says “You are wiser than I am. I will put my trust in You.”
In all things–nothing less.
When someone is your boss or authority, you don’t pick and choose the areas you want to obey. If you do, you will probably be fired due to your selective obedience. Obedience to authority–unless they ask you to go against God’s commands–is always intentionally 100%. We may occasionally make mistakes or sin, but the intention is to follow all the orders of those over us.
In the case of making Jesus the Lord of your life, there must be absolute trust that He is wiser than you in every category of life. Thus, you humbly obey Him and seek to know His will in all things.
But back to Peter Jordan who shares a Scripture from The Message by Eugene Peterson:
“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on” (Galatians 5:19-21).
That powerful paraphrase strikes home. Being our own authority leads to disaster in morals, relationships, and many arenas of life. Nothing could be truer than Father knows best. We really do need a wise and forgiving Lord and Savior to guide our daily choices.
Peter goes on to describe the landslide of immorality that’s the result of sexual or other forms of selected atheism. “Immorality of all kinds has become acceptable by more and more who bear the name, ‘Christian.’ You may think me harsh, judgmental, out of touch and more. We’re all fallen people. Donna and I and just about every family or extended family we know, has been touched by those who flaunt or ignore their sin, or else they don’t see that there’s any need to change.”
“Today, cheating in universities is a big problem, but big deal! It’s pretty well overlooked. The drug culture of the 60s, legalized abortion in the 70s, lasciviousness (Ephesians 4:19) in the name of art is now widely available; men are marrying men, women marrying women. Our children are susceptible to gender-confusion. What’s next? The mind boggles. Polygamy? Polyandry? Worse?”
Yes, Peter, it’s far worse. Being a sexual atheist can easily lead to pedophilia and bestiality (sex with animals). That was the case of the Roman Empire when it fell and other kingdoms who refused to obey God’s commands.
Peter ends his article with the following action points:
- Go see the movie God is Not Dead. He says it will remind us that atheism is really a very dangerous philosophy.
- Put on your spiritual armor and trust that God is wiser than you when it comes to every area of life–especially important things such as human sexuality.
- All is not doom and gloom: Don Finto writes, “I don’t look forward to living at a time when world wickedness has reached its zenith, but I must remember that this will also be the finest hour for the people of God.”
- God is here with us and truly wants to walk alongside us, day by day, temptation by temptation; He is an ever-present help in times of trouble.
- Get religion! (in the biblical sense). “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).
The worst from of pollution is not carbon-based. It is sin-based. And remember, the essence of sin is saying that I am smarter than God and will not live by his principles.
I like the term sexual atheism because it communicates rightly that all human beings have the capacity to say that we believe in God and then selectively deny that reality in various areas of life. Those areas include human sexuality, our speech and actions, our obedience to His will, and many other categories.
The Bible calls such dualism hypocrisy (e.g. Matthew 23:13-34).
Are you practicing sexual atheism or any other form of God-denial? Are you addicted to pornography? Are you sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend outside of a covenant marriage? Have you committed adultery and never made it right with all involved?
If so, the remedy is to repent of your rebellion and reassert Christ’s Lordship over all that you are. He is wiser than you. He loves you very much. His commands are for your good.
Put the sin back in the closet. Don’t be a sexual atheist or deny God’s reality in any area of your life.
Live for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).