The 3 Great Lies of the Last Century
…and the Truths That Will Set You Free!
The Problem
Last Sunday, I pressed the “Start” button on my computer a little too hard, …and it disappeared into the black hole of my desktop. I call it the black hole because I work in construction and I build big things with “blood and sweat”; but electronics is not my bag. I almost “teared-up” when I thought of having to deal with this problem which threatened to put a complete stop to my life as I know it. The next day was Monday, and I would be needing my computer to pay bills, communicate with customers, draw up 2 sets of house plans, etc., etc., etc. You know what I mean.
I could hardly sleep that night not knowing how to fix this paralyzing problem!
Like all of us, problems come into our lives every day and from all different directions; and the worst part of a problem is not knowing how to fix it. When we finally turn our focus upon looking into the problem, the first question we want to answer is “why?” – What is the cause of the problem? Until we isolate the cause, we don’t know how to handle it and our stress level remains sky-high as our minds run through a thousand scenarios predicting the catastrophic consequences to follow. In my case:
- I might need to buy another computer! Oh No!!
- I’ll have to transfer all my files! That’s even worse…because…
- I don’t know how to get the files out. After all, I can’t even turn the darn thing on!
You get my point.
The Solution
My worries ended within 30 minutes of my investigation into the problem the next day. After removing just six small screws from the side of the desktop, I located the renegade switch, restored it into its proper place, and re-installed the side panel. Voila! Problem solved.
What had I learned from this experience?
- I learned what caused the problem, and
- How to avoid that problem again -just be nice to the button. And, as a bonus, I felt good about myself because I overcame The Machine!
- All that worry could have been avoided if I had known a bit more about the black box I call my desktop.
In the simplest terms, I learned the truth of the problem which led to my ability to deal with it.
The Application
Unlike my pesky computer incident, we are faced with a myriad of problems in our society today that are tunneling deep into all our lives, destroying our foundations. They threaten our marital and personal relationships, our economic future, our children’s future, our health care, even our fundamental freedoms and our very way of life. How can we overcome the fears that accompany all these concerns? The answer is the same as in the above anecdote: Find out what the root cause of the problems is. Is there a common denominator to all these issues? Until we discover the truth, we’ll never have peace. But once we locate the source, we will be able to devise a plan to deal with it. As the saying goes: You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.
The Answer
Here’s another phrase: My people perish from lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6 – God speaking)
This does not refer to the knowledge of how to perform quadratic equations or bake a cake. Knowledge in this sense is what we learn (reading, writing, arithmetic, etc., and the practical applications thereof) combined with the proper moral application of what we learn. Germany’s scientists stretched the limits of knowledge in many areas in the ‘40’s, but their moral applications of that knowledge were unmistakably devastating to the world.
Let’s look at the one issue that all of us are most concerned with today: How can we protect our children from the onslaught of radical ideas that are destroying our culture, our churches, and our nation?
The Battle of Ideas
First, let us all acknowledge the fact that most of us are overwhelmed at the radical moral left-turn our society has taken in the last 50 years. Think about abortion. The rise in divorce rates. The drop in marriage rates. The rise in crime. The relentless march of the Gay agenda. The murders on the streets, in the workplace, and on school campuses, …just to name a few. We think “how did these insane changes come about SO fast?” Here’s our first clue: In truth… they didn’t come about fast. These issues are the result of a slow boil of ideas over a span of more than a century that have gradually spilled onto and taken command over the battleground of Ideas in our nation.
Bad ideas are bad because they violate God’s moral law, and inevitably lead to unpleasant, damaging, and even deadly results. Here are three lies that have been masquerading as “good” ideas, but are the very heart of our moral, cultural, and societal collapse. They gained prominence because we weren’t paying attention. Now that our homes have been invaded, it’s time to deal with them.
Lie #1: There is no God
Man evolved. “Imagine there’s no heaven – it’s easy if you try.”
Right. And that’s the bridge you want me to buy?
It takes a concerted effort to ignore the obvious all around us and to suppress the truth manifested in us (see Romans 1:18-19 and Ecclesiastes 3:11). Until Darwin, no society ever embraced the idea that the universe surrounding us, the planet we dwell on, and the bodies we live in are the result of some cosmic accident.
My eldest son has two Master’s Degrees in science, one of them in Molecular Cell Biology. When a self-professing atheist tries to debate him, he has one simple response:
Before we argue over the age of the earth, or whether the fossil records justify your dogma, or if a man can be swallowed by a whale and live to tell about it, you need to answer one critical question: Where did life come from? If you say life came from non-life (and that’s what your theory boils down to) then show me your evidence. After all, that’s what science is supposed to do. But you have zero evidence for your foundational axiom. Whereas my axiom – that all life comes from life (the eternal mind of a living God) – has 100% verifiability in reality. All life comes from life. End of discussion.
The consequences of this lie, though, are catastrophic. Worse than spitting in the wind into the face of God, it makes us fools of the highest degree. If we teach children that they are not made in the image of God, but rather, are made in the image of an animal, why are we surprised when they become adults who then live like animals? Moreover, it makes us easy targets for believing the next lie.
Lie #2: There is No Absolute Truth
Those who make this statement are certain this is absolutely true! (LOL!) Eliminating truth eliminates any distinction between right and wrong. Truth and morality, then, are for each of us to make up as we go (until someone else bigger or more powerful than us disagrees, in which case his ideas always win).
The truth: Once we erase right and wrong, lawlessness prevails. After all, laws are present to protect righteous people from being harmed by wrong behavior. The consequences of lawlessness, again, are horrific. Anyone can decide who lives and who dies. There is no justice, which means love has lost its meaning. Love and hate become equivalent. One is no better than the other because there are no absolute moral standards. This is what is taught in public schools today, leading us to the next lie.
Lie #3: Every child Must Be Educated by the State
They say this is for their own good because parents aren’t professionals. Question: So I should give complete control over the mind of my child into the “professional” hands of multiple strangers who will never know my child like I do, and who often only serve the agenda of a God-hating state? And I should be content to let my child learn proper behavior by interfacing 7 hours a day for 12 years with ONLY immature children of his or her own age? Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and render unto God what is God’s. My child bears the image of God, not the image of “professional” propagandists of evil.
The truth: Every child is made in the image of God. Every child has innate giftings special to their person. Every child has greatness in them. They are not social robots to be placed on a production line. They have been uniquely entrusted into our care to help them learn the fundamentals necessary to thrive in this world as image-bearers of a holy God.
Yes. Teach them the alphabet, phonetics, and the beauty of language so that they fall in love with reading (a benefit most of us never were taught). Teach them to express themselves clearly with their words. Teach them to be competent with math. Show them the world and help them discover what they are gifted to do and encourage them to do it with excellence. But above all, teach them the fear of God, for this is the beginning of all knowledge and wisdom. The fear of God is the answer – the truth – that dispels all lies.
Conclusion
This is a faithful proverb: Train up a child in the way he should go [to live according to the moral law of God], and when he is old he will not depart from it. Our children are God’s creation – not our own. Faithfully teach and model to them His principles, His morals, His ethics. And then trust God to be true to His word – that when our children depart from our homes they will not promptly exchange the good ideas they’ve been taught for the bad ideas of this world.