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).
Do You Want Electronic Life or Eternal Life?
I have a new cell phone–an Android Galaxy Note 3 which is an amazing machine. I’m about to upgrade my laptop to a Hewlett Packard Spectre that can do one thousand times what my original computer did for one third of the price.
I’m going to send this blog all over the world via the Internet which didn’t exist when I was in high school. It only takes a few keystrokes and VOILA! My writings circle the globe in less than ten seconds.
These new contraptions are incredible tools, but as Bill O’Reilly has pointed out recently, they can be extremely addicting, distracting, and destructive to our spiritual health.
We may want to ask ourselves the question: Do I want electronic life or eternal life? (Or both.)
Even the secular media is getting the idea that people are getting addicted to the machines, especially impacting kids and parents. Here’s an April 22, 2014 article by Kate Raddatz of CBS Minneapolis:
“It’s not just our kids getting too much screen time these days. Parents are also guilty of spending too much time on their electronic devices.”
“Researchers at the Boston Medical Center observed 55 different groups of parents and young children eating at fast food restaurants. The study found the majority pulled out their mobile devices right away, and, in turn, their kids tended to act up more.”
“’It’s just normal childhood behavior,’ said parenting coach Toni Schutta. ‘If I can’t get your attention in a positive way, I’m going seek it in a negative way.’”
“Suzanne Ferguson, of Minneapolis, said she and her husband used to be smartphone addicts, checking their emails around their kids.”
“‘We were the couple that would go out to eat at dinner and both be on our own phones before we had kids,’ she said. ‘We’re very much attached to our phones.’”
“Schutta says parents spend, on average, 11 hours a day using electronic devices. All that time takes away from face to face communication which helps kids learn behavior.”
“’Kids in preschool and kindergarten are no longer as able to read social cues from other human beings,’ Schutta said. ‘That’s in part because of their own media use and it’s in part because of their parents’ media use, they’re just not getting that training.’”
“Too much time on technology can also leave an emotional impact on your child, if you’re missing life moments for email.”
“’We get such a limited amount of time with our kids in the day, we need meaningful conversations,’ Schutta said.” Ferguson said once her daughter starting talking, it was the kick she needed to kick her phone habit.”
“’Dinner is a good time to have family time, so trying to keep the phone as much as possible away,’ she said.”
Of course, the machine craze goes way beyond family life. Driving while texting is probably the biggest new problem on the freeways, and electronic addiction to endless video games (let alone pornography) are driving down our productivity.
Interestingly, the Bible said this explosion of knowledge (via the machines) would come one day.
Daniel 12:4 sounds like 2014: “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Doesn’t that remind you of our fast-paced society and the reams of information we must now process each day?
Yes, we are living in a day of abundant travel (running to and fro) and increased knowledge (the Information Age). But have we stopped to ponder what it might do to ourselves, our families, and our souls? What is the godly response to the dawn of an age aggressively molded by information and technology?
First of all, let’s look at the positive. The Bible says that “knowledge is power” (Proverbs 24:5). Thus the use of fiber optics, high speed airplanes, the Internet. etc. can all be used to empower the Christ’s Good News to spread throughout the earth. This is certainly God intention: To use this age to increase the knowledge of His Son in all the nations of the world.
And it is happening. I can e-mail or SKYPE missionary friends all over the world and plan evangelistic initiatives in a matter of minutes. That used to take two weeks of postal delivery–or three-to twelve months to deliver by boat–or it wasn’t possible at all.
Technology has changed all that.
What about travel? In the 1990s alone, Our King’s Kids missionaries flew over six million miles and preached Jesus to hundreds of thousands of people. Why? Technology.
When you look at the great missions advance of the past fifty years (hundreds of millions of people coming to Christ on every continent of the world), there is no question in anyone’s mind that technological advances have played a great part in the harvest.
And the best and greatest still lies ahead. I chronicle that in my book The Fourth Wave.
But there is a negative side also. Much of today’s media is in the hands of ungodly people or institutions that are discipling the planet with it, and only a small perecentage is being consciously used to advance God’s kingdom.
A recent article almost glowingly looks at the most unifying part of that techno advance–The Internet–with these sobering words:
“We’re at the beginning of a new way of working, shopping, playing and communicating. We’re calling this phenomenon e-life, and it’s just in time. Because the day is approaching when no one will describe the digital, Net-based, computer-connected gestalt with such a transitory term. We’ll just call it life.”
E-life. Interesting term. Of course they mean electronic life, but there’s another phrase that comes to my mind: eternal life. In the article’s paradigm, electronic life is the very future itself–life. Are we preparing the world to accept the Information Age as the true heaven–a worldly substitute for relationship with God (which Jesus said was eternal life)?
I fear so, and I don’t want a part of it. This planet, wired to the hilt without God, is already hell. Can you imagine what the evil use of technology could create on earth in the coming decades?
Technology is only a tool, but used improperly it can easily become a master (think atomic bombs). Or an idol. Or a substitute for God. I believe that one of Satan’s quiet strategies is to lull us into believing that technology can be a meaningful God replacement.
Ponder this E-life substitute for friendship with the Living God:
1. Movies can be a substitute for God’s omnipotence. Instead of marveling at God’s REAL voice speaking from heaven during Moses’ time, you go into a movie theater and see actors whose heads are fifteen feet high, whose voices boom in Dolby stereo, and appear to have the power to do anything (the story line allows).
2. Television and radio can be a substitute for God’s omnipresence. They’re everywhere–always babbling away. They’re on in many homes 18-24 hours a day. Every airport you travel trough has TV monitors at each gate and in most restaurants. When you need comfort, companionship, or stimulation, or just to pass the time–where do you turn? The TV knob. It even makes a great babysitter for the kids.
3. The Internet can be a substitute for God’s omniscience. It’s the place to go for all knowledge. Right now there are over 2 billion world-wide users. There are hundred of thousands of pornographic sites and they get more hits than Netflix–corrupting the human heart at the click of a button. 160 million Americans use e-mail. On our favorite machines–the cell phone–you can chat, buy food, pay bills, watch movies, or whatever you like, and spend hours a day looking at an impersonal screen. Hours of prayer have given way to hours of texting and surfing.
A wired, fast-as-a-bullet world has captured our hearts, time, attention, family life, and pocket books (ever count up the money you spent on technology in the past few years?). In some ways, it is becoming our god (what you give your time and supreme attention to).
While using technology for the noble purposes of advancing God’s Kingdom, how can we keep ourselves unstained by the god-substituting lust of the e-world? Which do you enjoy more: The wonders of e-life, or the hope of eternal life? Or can you have both?
Here are my encouragements during this Daniel 12:4 time period:
- Use all machines to learn, grow, and love those God has put in your life.
- Spend more time in prayer, Bible-reading, book reading, and worship than you do fingering keyboards and touchscreens.
- Keep the machines out of sight when you’re with family and friends–especially during meals.
- Never use the machines for evil. Stay away from all the bad stuff.
- Use your electronic life to advance God’s kingdom and fulfill the Great Commission.
- Shut off the machines more and listen to God. Take walks. Meditate in the silence. Long for His voice more than the chatter of a multitude of human voices.
And more than anything, never enjoy your e-life more than you long for eternal life.
You can have both–but one is a grain of sand and the other is an unending ocean of relational delights.