Freedom
The Road to Hell…
You know the corollary: “is paved with good intentions.”
It is–but not always. This week saw another whopper of fake news when the New York Times published and later corrected an embarrassingly uncorroborated hit piece on Justice Brett Kavanaugh. That story was diabolical from the beginning.
It started with bad intentions.
But much evil is slyly perpetrated under the guise of compassion, the good of the people, the “arc of history” or simply good intentions.
We must understand this clever tactic on the road to hell–and avoid and expose it.
Overcoming the Lies
When I began writing River of God: Where Religion Began and Why Grace and Love Will Triumph in 2012, I had no idea the world would soon be awash in lies.
Today, the popular name is “Fake News”–but that’s just a cute way of saying that much of what you hear in the mainstream media is fabricated and can’t be trusted.
Those falsehoods are getting more blaring as we near the 2020 presidential cycle.
Here are some lies we face and how we can overcome them.
Overcoming the Lies
Lying is a part of the Fall and all people do it in varying degrees.
It began with the serpent (the Devil) lying to our first parents about God and the tree of knowledge (Genesis 3:1-5). Adam and Eve believed the falsehood, disobeyed, and plunged the entire human race into moral depravity.
We have never recovered. Only God’s Providence and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ have reduced the ocean of lies sweeping the globe.
Jesus reaffirmed the origin of falsehood:
“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Lying is satanic–and when we tell one, we participate in the darkness.
When I wrote River of God, I sensed some divine help in the structuring of the book. Without prior thought, I began Section One with a chapter on “Lies,” discussed “Religion” as our deep longing for reality, then “Truth” and how we know it, and finished with the “Sources” of knowledge available to us.
In the opening chapter (“Lies”), I shared how my own life was altered by a lie and gave numerous examples of deceit in our world.
On this anniversary of 9-11–when some folks are trying to lie about it again–I want to share five destructive lies (there are many more) being foisted upon us in 2019 and what we need to do about them.
Lie #1 – Fossil fuels harm the planet.
The climate change alarm being spouted by progressive politicians and all 21 Democratic presidential nominees creates fear among children and anxiety among the poorly informed.
Truth be told, the efficient and innovative use of fracking, natural gas, and oil discovery has elevated hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in the past twenty years while much of the scientific community has lied to us about the world getting warmer.
It hasn’t for fifteen years.
Some honest scientists are sharing the truth. Gary Randall reports:
“Rex Fleming, a mathematician with a Ph.D. from Michigan, has over 50 years of experience as a scientist in climate research and has published peer-reviewed papers from 1971 to 2018. He now says that censoring evidence, fiddling with data and silencing skeptics were a part of his life at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Fleming is now admitting that while he worked at NOAA, he attributed global warming to carbon dioxide despite having doubts.”
“He says: ‘Eventually I just read enough to realize it’s a totally wrong direction,’ and now disavows the argument that ‘carbon dioxide from emissions is causing so-called catastrophic climate change on a global scale.'”
In fact, he says climate scientists have literally turned the facts upside down—making their troubled theory little more than science fiction. He says, and other silenced scientists agree, that ‘carbon dioxide levels historically have risen due to warm temperatures rather than the other way around. Past climates have been warm and cold and warm and cold with no changes in carbon dioxide. How can that be a cause when there is no correlation?”
Let’s reject the Green New Deal.
Lie #2 -Socialism is a good form of government.
Two of the major presidential candidates (Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren) espouse socialism as does Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others. They want America to go socialist—quickly.
But socialism always destroys nations (e.g. Cuba and Venezuela) and amounts to a totalitarian power grab that produces death. One hundred million people died at the hands of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao in the 20th century. They were ALL socialists (communism is socialism with a gun).
The devil wants more carnage in the 21st century so he’s peddling the snake-oil of socialism.
Reject it at the ballot box.
Lie #3 – America is a racist nation.
The New York Times’ “1619 Project” is designed re-write American history that America was built on the back of slaves.
Nonsense.
Slavery was the world norm for thousands of years–and made its way into the New World as it had in every other place. Most of our founders saw its evil and gave the world a document which stated for the first time (outside the Bible) that “all men are created equal.” Some didn’t practice what they preached due to historical biases.
But 600,000 men died to vanquish it in the Civil War. It took another century to right slavery’s wrongs, but today, the USA is the most racially diverse and free nation on earth. We exist as “One Nation Under God”–not a racist haven.
Beware trusting the New York Times (and similar propaganda organs).
Lie # 4 – Marriage can be anything you want.
No. Both nature and history tell us that marriage is between a man and a woman for expressing love and the procreation of children. All other forms including “Throuples” (three people) –the latest fad–are perversions and hurt both adults and especially children.
The truth couldn’t be clearer: “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one” (Genesis 2:24).
We must reject the marriage lie and help rebuild the family unit.
Lie #5 – There are more than two genders.
Only in a depraved mind. Biology, common sense and human history tells us that “God made them male and female” (Genesis 5:2).
Yes, men can share some feminine traits and women masculine ones. That’s just a beautiful part of human variety–meant for the glory of God.
The only “fluidity” in the gender debate is of brain cells (deception). If the gender hoax is being forced upon you at school, you may need to leave it (or stand up for the truth).
Lie #6 – Open borders are compassionate and good.
They aren’t. The goal of this lie is to destroy the United States as a free and sovereign nation which our borders secure. Here’s the applicable analogy. Open borders are no better for our nation than having no windows or doors in our homes (with no police) would be in our neighborhoods.
Comprende?
Lies have always existed in the world due to the devil and fallen human beings. The difference today is size, i.e. more people (7.7 billion) and global technology which magnifies the lying voices.
What must we do about the growing crescendo of falsehood?
First, let’s pray for global revival–that God’s truth would touch billions of lives. Second, be careful not to vote for any politician who espouses the lies. Third, choose your news sources carefully while avoiding the mainstream media. Fourth, commit to a small group or mentoring relationship where God’s truth can be applied in your life. Finally, and most importantly, spend time in personal prayer each day and saturate your life with God’s Word–our perfect compass for living.
The biggest lie of all is that God doesn’t exist (more on that next week).
He does.
Hallelujah!
And no matter how dark the world may seem to be, His truth is marching on.
E Unum Pluribus and the Politics of Destruction
I wonder how many people will note the Latin phrase in the title is backwards.
Some won’t see it because we don’t speak Latin anymore and others because we rarely use this American motto on our Great Seal any longer.
The mass shootings this week in El Paso and Dayton were horrific crimes by two individuals bent on evil. But the response to them was so divisive that it led me to ponder our inverted motto.
The politics of destruction are reaching a zenith in America.
A house divided cannot stand.
E Unum Pluribus and the Politics of Destruction
This summer I’m reading a 143-year old book called A Centennial Edition of the History of the United States: From the Discovery of America to the End of the First Hundred Years of American Independence by Benson Lossing.
It gives an uplifting and different perspective (from our current social justice bias) on our American heritage as seen through the prism of 1876.
Its view is true history–from those who experienced it.
The book describes the native tribes (Aboriginals) on the American continent prior to colonization–the majority of whom treated their woman like slaves while the men spent time hunting and warring against each other. Some tribes acted more peaceful than others. But overall, “noble savages” didn’t exist.
Just savages.
The most recent Indian tribes had inherited their land from very advanced races of earlier civilizations who died off probably due to disease and human sacrifice.
The Old World in America was not a pretty world.
When global navigation brought Europeans to these shores, they comprised a mixed bag of gold/wealth seekers (primarily the Spanish and French) and peaceful religious settlers like the Dutch (New York) Pilgrims (new England) and the Quakers (Pennsylvania)–most of whom got along with the Indians.
It was the “bad” (greedy) settlers that made life difficult in early America–on both their European cousins and the Indians.
Over time, people of faith ascended to prominence–from Massachusetts to Georgia–(including converted natives), and forged a new American identity based on faith, hard work, and biblical ideas of civil polity. Their national character was strengthened through spiritual awakenings, provided the spark for the Revolutionary War, and gave birth in 1776 to the most godly, moral, and free nation in history.
These early Americans created a oneness of heart and mind rarely found in sociological history. Fifteen hundred years earlier the Romans had achieved the same homogeneity through force and control. Ditto the Assyrians and Babylonians.
Americans accomplished it with faith and character.
Lossing celebrates the “miracle” of “E Pluribus Unum” (“Out of Many, One”) that made the USA a special nation. E Pluribus Unum remains the national motto on our Great Seal –and one we’ve been proud to champion for over 200 years.
It’s quite an achievement.
Yet, in the 21st century, that miracle is being turned on its head into “E Unum Pluribus” (Out of One, Many). A movement to divide America has been building for some time, but it reared its ugly head this week in the aftermath of the mass shootings. We saw “identity politics” at its worst.
That spirit will destroy us if we don’t deal with it.
Jesus Christ, who possesses all authority in heaven and on earth, stated plainly:
“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand” (Matthew 12:25).
Right now (I’m going to be blunt and precise) various social organizations are determined to divide and conquer the United States. This list is not exhaustive but highlights some of the main actors.
Demons
Most news accounts these days come from a secular standpoint which leave out the invisible spiritual world. In Lossing’s history (written from a biblical point of view), God’s sovereignty and Providence were reported along with evil during America’s formative years.
This week demonic voices inspired the mass shootings–but no one stated so. Why? You can’t understand politics or history without “looking behind the curtain.” Satan’s demons motivate human beings to hate, kill, and destroy each other (Ephesians 6:12). That’s the simple truth and most logical explanation of evil. Demons don’t function as causes of sin, but they act as invisible influences in disturbed people’s minds.
Progressives or Leftists
The battle for America consists of a worldview confrontation between biblical faith (our heritage and source of unity) and secular-atheist ideology which wants to destroy that history and change our future. Numerous politicians use the propaganda of identity politics–gender, color, race, community, grievance, issue, etc. to divide people and rip America away from its biblical moorings.
The Democratic Party’s primary strategy is to divide America into various grievance groups designed to create chaos in the nation. You heard different politicians this week shouting “racism,” and “white supremacy,” while carving the nation up from “One Nation under God” into multiple mobs that are mad as hell.
Presidential Candidates
If you’ve watched the two debates, it’s increasingly obvious that all twenty-plus candidates vying to run against President Trump in 2020 stand for the politics of division. They never talk about or to Americans as a whole. They’re always championing races, sexual preferences, minority rights, progressive issues, illegals, criminals, and even other nations. Charges of “racism” now mean that we are wrong, they are right, and we will be forced to comply with their political directives.
Few of them mention faith–because that’s the one thing the mob factions want to destroy. “Divide and conquer” should be the official slogan of our current crop of presidential aspirants.
Mainstream Media
Other than the demonic world, the biggest megaphones for disunity come from the secular media (print, TV, and Internet). Many of them no longer seek truth, report the news, or give equal time. Rather, they pride themselves being cheerleaders of our nation’s demise by siding with the grievance groups against faith-based America.
A case in point. This week the New York Times initially gave an honest and unifying headline to President Trump’s speech after the mass shootings, “Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism.” Hours later they buckled to progressive protests and changed the headline to read “Assailing Hate But Not Guns”–dividing America once again over the 2nd Amendment.
Professors & Universities
The first universities in the world (Paris and London) and in the United States (Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton) lived up to the university concept of promoting “wholeness” or unity among academic disciplines. Today, many universities do the exact opposite by championing diversity, gender confusion, safe spaces, little free speech and anti-American everything.
Business Moguls
Much of the division in America is strategically funded by progressive billionaires like George Soros and Tom Steyer–with every donation designed to empower various groups to bring down America’s “house” and replace it with a socialist tyranny. Big money fuels the chaos aimed at destroying us.
To sum up, our national motto–Out of Many, One–is being turned on its head in the 21st century. The forces mentioned are intent on making it Out of One, Many for the purpose of national suicide.
Pray passionately against this demonically-inspired conspiracy. If you are a citizen, reject the divisive hyphenated labels of where you or your family came from. Tell your political representatives to jettison identity politics. Minimize petty issues and maximize sharing your faith with great clarity and persuasion–through the power of the Holy Spirit.
May God use us to rebirth “One Nation under God”–our other national motto.
After all, we are Americans.
Period.