Admittedly biting off more than I can chew, let me start by saying, I’m painting with a broad brush. There will be areas that should be more fully developed but the answer to these issues stem from a common point—although they’ll be worked out in different ways.
When dealing with germ warfare, cyber-warfare, warfare with traditional weaponry, and the like, it’s easy to know how to defend oneself or one’s nation against these things. In the ideological arena it’s a little more difficult. It’s a battle for the mind and soul. Our defense depends upon knowing what we believe, why we believe it, and we must be sure that the foundations of our belief are sure, stable, and right. Lately, the attacks which we are bombarded with are both from within our nation and without, but they have one thing in common; they are ideological attacks. To combat these attacks one must use one’s mind and stand firmly upon one’s First Amendment rights of free speech. And like using a firearm, if one is going to hit the target, one must be thinking, prepared, and practiced in the art of keeping focused upon said target. To be drawn off will inevitably make a poor shot and also leave one wide open for further attacks. When dealing with ideologies, it’s a battle of words—words express ideas, and people are definitely emotionally tied to their words.
Ideological warfare is taking place all around us with its words and thoughts aimed at our nation’s loftiest and foundational ideals, highest levels, and at its youngest citizens. Communism, socialism, and Islamism have been and are ideologically creeping into our government, circumnavigating our Constitution. The LGBT alphabet soup is being fed to our children through the educational system, entertainment, and one-time prestigious institutions like the Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts too. Even the courts are getting involved—overstepping their bounds—illegally legislating from the bench, forcing these un-American, ungodly ideas upon this nation’s “free” citizenry.
The masses are manipulated by the mêlée of the media, obfuscating the facts with an agenda aimed at political warfare, to bring down not only the elected president, but America itself. Black Lives Matter (BLM), religious and entertainment figures, spouting the hatred of racism and driving cultural anarchy, only further drives our nation to the precipice of destruction.
Social media is used as a vehicle to continue voicing feelings instead of facts, promoting agendas rather than looking for what is true and good and right. Young and old alike are allowed to say whatever they want without thought or repercussion. They are allowed to say hurtful and damaging things without witnessing the direct affects of their words, although we see these effects all too well in our society. The back and forth bantering and baiting behind a screen keeps us a safe distance from direct harm but no one escapes the dangers these words and ideologies bring to each and every neighborhood.
Conservatives and Christians have lazily, foolishly, and apathetically refused to put any skin in the game. Instead of being informed and standing boldly for the good of our nation and our progeny, we have both trusted the government to look out for our own good and—lacking diligence and discernment—have entertained ourselves into the situation we now find ourselves in. Trading the truth for tolerance and conscience for comfort, we have given up ground to Satan’s lies and our heritage to our enemies.
Reminiscent of Reagan’s evaluation of the fight against communism, we have watched socialism, Islamism, and the LGBT ideologies chart the same course: “Carefully, with great calculation, the communists gauge their aggression slicing each new gain just thin enough so they won't say, ‘That isn't worth fighting for.’ They predict that when we reach the final slice our surrender will be voluntary because we will have been weakened from within morally, spiritually, and economically.” These slices were cut before our very eyes as we took no care as to what we or our children watched and didn’t pay attention to what they were learning in school.
These slices have been cut thicker with the ever-expanding use of social media where ideas are spoken without any care for factual basis or the feelings of others. Man, instead of God, is glorified; sin, instead of Christ, is magnified; and where respect, love, and patriotism once held a place in our nation, a vacuum is now present and presently being filled with evil and its various ideologies.
There is only one answer to darkness—LIGHT! There is only one answer to falsehood—TRUTH!Our only weapon in this battle of ideologies is the Light of Truth. Unfortunately, many have laid their weapon down. They fight with the carnal weapons of feeling and worldly philosophy instead of Truth and Love. When the church is more entangled with television and social media than it is steeped in the Word, we’re in big trouble. When more of the church can tell you the plot of some television show and try to justify their watching it than what last Sunday’s sermon was about or what the Bible has to say on some topic, we’re in trouble. When prayer is at best described as one’s knees kissing the ground instead of being righteous, fervent, persistent, and effectual, we’re in trouble! Folks, we ARE in trouble!
The church and its institutions of higher learning are supposed to be arming our minds with the pure, unadulterated, bold truth of Scripture so that we might know how to stand in the evil day. As John MacArthur said, “Be an expert on the word of God, and you will always know what to say to the culture.”
Unfortunately, many churches and Christian colleges/seminaries today are mixing the truth with a lie through guest “generals,” from the other side, like Eboo Patel, encouraging the interfaith dialogue movement, and putting the exclusivity of Christ on the back burner as though it was not of utmost importance. They would put our consciences to sleep and encourage us to ease. But the blame cannot and must not be laid solely at the feet of the church and its institutions; you and I are responsible to know the truth. Make devotions a priority, make prayer your very breath, and strive to boldly magnify Christ in your body whether by life or by death (Phil. 1:20).
We are in the midst of ideological warfare and make no mistake IT IS A SPIRITUAL WAR! It’s a battle for our mind and soul, the mind and soul of our children and grandchildren, and it’s a battle for the soul of our nation. It’s real, it’s in our midst, and it rages within each of us. Study, learn, and grow! Awake from apathetic slumber; arise, and enter the battle. Teach the truth at home, stand boldly on truth in the community, and reprove and rebuke untruth within the church.
Recognizing this battle of ideologies and words, stand firm on your First Amendment right and remember the words of Winston Churchill from The Gathering Storm. “If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed: if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves.”
We have made tentative plans for Kamal Saleem to come back into the greater Grand Rapids area to speak (along with another speaker who we are looking forward to announcing in the days ahead).
Tentative dates and locations are:
Friday, October 13 – Fremont, MI – 7:00 PM – American Decency headquarters
Saturday, October 14 – Grand Rapids, MI – 9:00 AM – location to be determined
We look forward to updating you as things are finalized.
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