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A Choice of Culture
Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your tabernacle.
There are many reasons we have gotten off track as a society. To understand the cause we must come to grips with moral truths. Proper moral threads are based on God’s Word. Here are some of the moral threads I believe are the most important. I have summarized these in 7 “truths”.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Morality is not a popular subject in American culture these days because it is about right and wrong. The political machine used by the author of evil has manipulated our speech by establishing a wrong premise - namely that there is no right and wrong. In other words, you simply decide for yourself what is proper and acceptable. But this issue goes back to our roots, our very beginnings as human beings. If we cannot even agree on where we came from, how can we possibly agree on what is appropriate thought and behavior? To find our way forward, we must discover truth in order to properly define right and wrong.
But what is true? In Webster’s Dictionary true is defined as: “to be fixed. Conformable to fact, not false or erroneous, free from falsehood, truthful, genuine, not counterfeit, false or pretended, firm or steady in adhering to promises, to friends, or the like, faithful, loyal, honest, exact, correct, right, conformable to law and justice, legitimate, rightful.”
Can you see the difficulty of properly understanding truth in our American melting pot? Whether from an ethnic, spiritual or judicial perspective, we simply cannot establish consensus among ourselves because we have so many differing opinions based on our personal beliefs. Truth then becomes a moving target because those in power come from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives on these subjects. What some people genuinely believe to be true is diametrically opposed to what others accept as valid. Yet according to Webster’s dictionary, truth is fixed! How can this be? Who decides what is fixed?
In this current American culture (way of life), politics rules the day. Both good and evil forces are at work to influence how we are governed. The explosive increase of communication has made this war of opposing cultural values more complicated. It is not being fought with guns and bombs, but with marketing, polished images and communication skills. Whoever can influence the masses with their version of the truth wins. Even the news media tries to influence peoples’ votes to a particular party or set of ideas. The manipulation of nations by people with ungodly goals has been going on since God’s perfect creation was invaded by evil spiritual forces.
So how have we turned truth upside down (especially on the governmental level)? Here is an example: Theft is a moral and spiritual issue. Yet the integrity of those running for political office is considered secondary to their communication skills and their education. But just think about it. Would you hire someone who you knew was a thief to manage your affairs?
Clearly upright moral character matters. But the forces that oppose truth want to obscure their agenda by keeping church and state separate. In other words, oppose anyone running for office who speaks openly of their Christian faith. What really matters is their ideas on how government should be run. Personal character is irrelevant. Of course, this approach is a perfect recipe for unscrupulous leaders to take advantage of various groups of people in our nation. How many people like Bernie Madoff or the executives at Enron, or corrupt government officials i.e., those who have taken bribes and kickbacks from lobbyists, do we have to endure before we realize that many national leaders are not qualified to lead?
In our elections, we assume the American people will do a good job of getting to know the candidates well enough to make an informed decision about their full qualifications. But in this day and age where television establishes image, we don’t really know the candidates at all. What we do know is what the spin doctors, image makers and the television commentators want us to know. Campaigns spend millions of dollars to persuade us that their candidate is good and decent.
It used to be that the media functioned as societal watchdogs. They were the impartial eyes and ears of the American people to root out injustice regardless of political party or affiliation. Now the media takes political sides and are taken not to be the watchdog for the American people, but to be the mouthpiece of special interests and ideology.
To many, economic and political ideology takes precedence over having a personal moral foundation that could set parameters on conduct and guide economic decisions. Ratings (The more people you please, the more money you make) rule over right and wrong. Large companies, like GE, once owned media outlets that can influence the American people in a political direction favorable to their bottom line. In days gone by, that would be called a conflict of interest; today it is called smart business.
I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself--after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison.
(Rom. 7:14, The Message)
Whoever knows what you are thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God--except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions. We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.
The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, cannot receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit--God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.
(1 Cor. 2:11-16, The Message)
Spirituality forms the basis of our ethnicity and judicial governance. Religion is the caretaker of spirituality. Religion actually means “to care for, to respect. In the Greek language, it is the word “elego,” to heed. It is the feeling of reverence which men entertain toward a Supreme Being; the recognition of God as an object of worship, love and obedience; piety; it is any system of faith and worship.”
Humanity has many religions because we are all basically spiritual beings. We are born with an innate knowledge that something greater than ourselves had to create the universe. Some scientists would dispute this. They say that if something can’t be proven, it must not be real. But the men and women who believe this are really small in number; they are a vocal minority. The reality is that many scientists agree that the more the creation is studied, the more it leads to the conclusion that there is a Supreme Being. There is intelligent design to our universe, our planet and the life that is on it. The problem is, we have so many religions because we have so many opinions about who the Supreme Being really is.
There is another religion out there that most people don’t talk about and that is the religion of self, also known as Humanism. As humans, we became enamored with our God-given wealth and quickly forgot the one who gave it to us. One part of this treasure is our mental ability to study science and produce our technology. In fact, many now believe that we have become so smart, we are god. Now, humanity does not have to identify with a Supreme Being simply because we have convinced ourselves that we do not have to believe in one. While some would call these people Secular Humanists, it is still a religion as much as any other, because it has established a supreme being - man. In other words, to some we have become god. In spite of such a silly philosophy, look at what its adherents have accomplished.
Through deceit, they have influenced many Americans to believe that Church and State must be kept separate.[26]
While they say they want to separate religion and government, the cause they advance is in fact religious! In other words, what they want is to separate our faith from influencing American government, while they promote theirs.
They have been able to do this because they are adept at deceiving others. Deceit is defined as the art of misleading someone intentionally; causing him/her to believe what is false. Here are a couple of examples.
Humanity is causing “global warming because of the pollution we put into the air.” With this statement, humanists are now communicating two ideas as fact. First, the earth is getting warmer, and second, we are causing it by polluting the earth. The truth is that the polar ice caps are indeed melting. But scientists don’t agree on why it is occurring. When someone tries to challenge their conclusions, their strategy is to respond by saying that all scientists now agree with them. Yet they are being deceitful because what they are saying is simply not true.
My second example concerns the theory of evolution. Here we see deception because this theory is being taught as if it were fact. Of course, the reason it is being taught as fact is the only alternative is to accept Intelligent Design which implies a creator (God). Of course, humanists do not want schoolteachers to discuss or allow discussion concerning the existence of God. They do not like the competition.
If Truth #1 is true and Truth #2 follows that principle, then spirituality lies at the root of the cultural conflict in this country. Do not let the humanists and those who want to separate church and state fool you. The truth is church and state can never be separated. They are just trying to establish theirs as the state church which takes precedence over any others. The corporate expression of those wielding political power on the earth, is their supreme being. But they don’t realize who they are actually supporting.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
(Eph. 6:12, NKJV)
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
(Prov. 15:3, NKJV)
Let’s define our terms:
“Good” - conducive in general, to any useful end or purpose, serviceable, advantageous, beneficial, wholesome, suitable, useful, fit, proper, right, possessing desirable or valuable physical or moral qualities, virtuous, righteous, dutiful, pious, or religious, benevolent.
“Evil” - having bad qualities of a natural kind, having qualities which tend to injury, or to produce mischief, injurious, pernicious, mischievous, having bad qualities of a moral kind, wicked, corrupt, perverse, wrong, vile, vicious, unfortunate, anything that caused injury, pain or suffering.
We simply have to accept the simple fact that good and evil exist. From a spiritual point of view, good is diametrically opposed to evil and vice versa. Truth exists and that which is opposed to truth exists. One works; the other doesn’t. The battle we are in is to discern which is which.
Since we are both spiritual and physical beings, the battle ground of the cultural war occurs in the mind. There, in our faculties of reason, we need to understand and see the bigger picture. Many in our country fail to do so because our culture has us so focused on the economic thread over the spiritual thread. The economic thread concerns the management of the here and now, what our bodies need for survival. The spiritual thread sees the bigger picture, an eternal one. The eternal paradigm sees beyond the physical needs of the body and sees that we must care for the soul and spirit as well.
The soul consists of our intellect and emotions while the spirit connects us with either the Author of Good or the author of evil. (The Author of Good is the One who designed and created us; the author of evil seeks to corrupt and destroy us.) Both are spirit.
Just like our flesh, the soul and spirit must be fed. Depending on what we feed them, they will either be healthy or unhealthy. We know that if we smoke, or drink too much, or eat unhealthy foods, our bodies can get sick and we can even die prematurely. By the same token, when we feed the soul (i.e. the mind) evil philosophies, pornographic material, etc., they can have a disastrous effect on us at the core and lead to an inability to handle our emotions as well as thought processes that justify our lack of self-control. The greatest tragedy though would be the resulting loss of connection to the Author of Good.
Imagine the negative effect on our bodies if our diet consisted solely of donuts. Similarly, if our minds have a regular diet of pornography, our thoughts would become increasingly perverted and our spiritual lives would be connected to the author of evil.
The whole man (i.e. both soul and body) must be fed and currently we, as a nation, have health problems. We see these problems developing not only in our bodies, but more importantly in our souls and spirits. Look at the symptoms. Physically, these symptoms are obvious: overweight, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, etc. Without exercise and proper nutrition our bodies weaken and we either die prematurely or we need an increasing number of medications because of our poor food choices.
We have unhealthy symptoms in our souls and spirits as well: the most common being unhealthy relationships. Look at our divorce rate! Broken families are becoming the norm instead of the exception. Men, and especially fathers, are confused about their roles to be the head of the home as God designed it. Most men simply don’t know how to love their wives and their kids as they should. The decline of effective fatherhood is a major symptom revealing the decline of health in the soul and spirit of American men.
Many have abandoned churches because some church leaders have been blind guides i.e., the ones who don’t speak the truth to their congregations because they themselves don’t see the way forward. Divorce rates in churched families are just as high as in those families who are un-churched. Broken relationships between fathers and children have devastated our nation.
Millions of Americans have emotional problems that stymie healthy relationships. But most emotional problems are not healed like setting a broken leg. They take time, patience and love, etc. In fact, a proper relationship with our Designer is an essential ingredient. Emotional problems not only undermine family relationships but also those developed at our place of work and other places of social interaction. To make matters worse, television shows often glorify bad relationships. Other symptoms of poor emotional and spiritual health include such common American experiences as depression, fatigue and the inability to sleep. And then even more symptoms emerge in the world of business and politics as our nation experiences an increasing level of corruption there.
A great movement is afoot to get our bodies healthy, but isn’t our emotional and spiritual health even more important? We are so focused on what we feed our bodies, but what are we feeding our minds? The Author of Good knows what good spiritual nutrition consists of.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.
(Phil. 4:8, NKJV)
Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure.
(John 3:20, The Message)
Evil hates it when people discover the truth because then it is exposed. Evil will do everything it can to keep people from finding the truth. It will make accusations against you, lie to you and even attempt to re-write history. It is important to diligently refute lies with the truth. Jesus knew how to deal with evil. When He was being tempted in the desert, He spoke the Word of God to it. That is why it is so important for us to know the Word of God. When we do we know the truth. Knowing the truth is like turning on a light switch in a dark room. Darkness has no choice but to flee.
As righteousness leads to life, so he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death.
(Prov. 11:19, NKJV)
Spiritual forces are real. They exist. Both good and evil spiritual forces are waging war and we are the prize. This war is being fought in our minds and powerful forces are at work to influence how we think and steer us in a certain direction.
The intensity of battle has been stepped up in the last 50 years as the use of television, radio, motion pictures, and the internet (the mass media) have increased dramatically. These forms of technology are all tools by these forces to influence how you think and what you believe, either for good or for evil.
You get to choose your diet everyday as your soul and spirit are being fed as with a spoon through the use of these communication technologies. Don’t think for a second that what is aired is simply a reflection of the culture. What is being aired is being used to influence the culture toward a set of values and principles. Just like companies that spend millions of dollars advertising their products in order to get you to buy what they are selling, so do evil forces.
The author of evil has infiltrated 7 major doors of our culture: Religion, Government, Education, Arts & Entertainment, Family, Business and Media. Here are the places where his spiritual bill of goods are being sold. We must be keenly aware of how he is using these doors into our culture. We will only be enabled to keep our minds pure by knowing the truth. We will stay grounded in the truth by spending time reading God’s word daily. Then as we pray and exercise our spiritual gifts in our calling to walk with Him, we will stay spiritually healthy and vibrant in God. But if we don’t exercise in the Spirit, we will succumb to deception through ignorance and the lack of use of our God-given tools. We will literally become spiritual couch potatoes. Eventually, if we do not repent, we will buy into the lies and hatred of the enemy and we will die.
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
Love …Doesn’t force itself on others…(See also: Josh. 24:15 and Zech. 4:6)
One of the common ploys that evil uses in its deception is to say that good always forces its beliefs on you. It accuses good of doing exactly what it itself does. That’s how deception works. The reason evil makes this accusation is because it wants its own way. You see, evil is like an immature child that wants its way no matter what. It will put up a tantrum, kick you in the shins, and call you names; whatever it takes to get its way. Yes evil has a personality behind it. But let us be clear: good never forces itself on anyone.
Good consists of principles that are designed to bring order and peace. A society has to decide what is best for its citizens and then establish its laws and customs around what it believes to be good or evil. A Christian perspective teaches that God created Adam and Eve in order to walk and talk with Him (Author of Good) every day. They were told they could eat from any tree in the garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they disobeyed, there would be a consequence; they would lose their connection to the Author of Good. God’s order was that they could consult Him to determine what was good and evil; but they were not to try and make this determination apart from Him. The minute they began to do so they would set themselves up in the place of God as the author.
Why do you suppose the Creator wanted them to come only to Him for questions of good and evil? Just think about it. Would you let your children determine what was right and wrong on their own or would you want to teach them? Would you want some drug dealer or porn star teaching your kids right from wrong? Would you want your kids to make up their own rules for living with the limited understanding they have?
Now here is what I want you to notice: How did the Creator respond to Adam and Eve? Did He force them to do His will? No, He had compassion on them. Of course, His divine justice required that there be consequences for the choices they had made. He knew the damage and chaos that would come from those choices. He knew the damage that would come not only to their bodies through disease and aging, but also to their emotional state. The consequences of sin (disobedience to God) would have devastating effects to their souls. Not only that, the act of going their own way would bring about spiritual death which was a separation from God in their spirits.
Ultimately, He came to earth as His own personal representative to demonstrate what goodness is and show us how-to live-in harmony with Him. The Author of Good is full of compassion and mercy. While He wants us to have an abundant life, He never forces us to choose His way. He would rather have us see how much better His ways are than the ways of evil. When we live life His way, we experience His fullness and abundance. When we walk in intimacy with the Author of Good, we see ourselves and others in a new way. We learn how to be unselfish. We learn how not to be driven by the economic thread, but to be in alignment with the moral one.
This spiritual connection with the Author of Good will make us healthy emotionally. We will be able to have great relationships with others because we are not being driven by what we want. Likewise, we will have great relationships with others who are connected to the Author of Good because we will see life from the same perspective. Such relationships will be filled with what the Bible calls fellowship. But, if people choose to be connected to the author of evil where selfishness rules, the Author of Good has such wisdom and grace, that He won’t stop them from going their own way.
Unfortunately, the consequence of being connected to the author of evil is that one gets to live with him for eternity. Also, being connected to the author of evil is like smoking. It is so addictive that the smoker becomes a slave to those habits, and they don’t really have a choice anymore. But when we get connected to the Author of Good, we get addicted to Him and those life choices that please Him. The only real question is which addiction will we choose?
Most people don’t think about either one of the authors. All they know is what they have been taught and before they know it, they are addicted. But how blessed are those who had godly parents who taught them about the Author of Good and trained them in good habits early in life. They learned about true repentance which was more than simply saying “I’m sorry”. They learned that it involved real change in thought and behavior. Unfortunately, many children are raised never being taught about the Author of Good. Their parents never really understood in the ultimate sense the beauty of what is good and the eternal devastation that comes from evil.
Then there were those who had godly parents who taught them about the Author of Good but got involved with those taught by the author of evil. Soon, the evil habits of those around became an attraction to them when they saw that those activities were pleasurable for the body. After some experimentation, and before they realized what was happening, they became addicted to the evil ways of the author of evil.
Likewise, a society has the right to determine its moral values, laws and rules. The Author of Good allows societies to do that. We just need to know that He has warned us that if we live contrary to His good ways, there are consequences for that society. We are seeing nationally some of those consequences in the deterioration in our quality of life and in the quality of our relationships. What has changed? Our kids can’t pray in schools, we have taken the Ten Commandments off the walls and replaced God with another god – the exaltation of self. We have substituted the author of evil for the Author of Good. A new religion is now being proclaimed in our schools and it is evil. It promotes life choices contrary to the Author of Good. Abortion, promiscuity, greed, disrespect for authority, etc., are all tenets of the new religion. It should not surprise us why our country is in such decline. The Author of Good warned us about the effects of moral decline. The reality is, we haven’t separated church from state; we have replaced a good church with an evil one.
Recently California began sending out IOU’s because they had no money to pay their state employees. Prior to this, the citizens of California decided that gay marriage should not be legalized. A majority of citizens set that as a parameter for right and wrong in their state. Yet a minority of people, including some powerful judges, is trying to overturn the citizens’ vote. Now let me ask you -who is forcing its beliefs on whom?
Here are some more examples of evil’s assault.
The theory of evolution is being taught as fact and forced on our children in schools without alternatives.
Abortion on demand is without parental notification in some states.
Studies promoting the gay and lesbian lifestyle are mandatory in many schools.
Part of the problem in America is that the mass media has gained control of what is permissible subject matter in our national dialogue. I believe there is an evil spirit operating subtly in our mass media that has mesmerized the citizenry. The effect of that spirit is called political correctness and it is a means of controlling speech. It projects such a permeating influence that many Americans can’t even see it for what it is. I believe this is the “prince of the power of the air”, the spirit promoting disobedience against God throughout the whole world (Eph. 2:2). We have strayed so much from God’s moral priority toward an economic one, that we have lost sight of what is really important. We are literally sacrificing our children for our earthly treasures. Men in particular have lost the fortitude to fight for their families.
The foundation for our moral standards has been undermined by evil forces and it is imperative for the health of our eternal souls that it be restored. National rebuilding begins with people discussing what is going on in this country and encouraging good people to stand up to evil. Good people have been quiet long enough. It is time to rock the boat. We must recognize that the real war taking place is between good and evil. We need to call it what it is, the same way that Ronald Reagan defined the Soviet Union as the evil empire in the Cold War. It is time to put our lives on the line for our children and grandchildren to leave our nation in better condition than when we came along. If I were to leave this earth now, I know I couldn’t say that America is a better place now than when my parents brought me up.
Notice Paul’s description of this evil entity.
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
(Eph. 2:1-3, NKJV)
The “prince of the power of the air” is an evil spirit enticing humanity to live apart from God. It has forced its way into government, education, arts and entertainment, business, the media, religion and family. It has permeated every aspect of our culture and its goal is to overthrow the government of God and establish as normal its own way of life. It desires to replace God’s truths with its own fabrications.
These truths are important to know in the war between good and evil. The enemy is very good at misdirection and we must know the truth. Now let’s look at the truth about economic threads.
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