Author: Erwin W. Lutzer
Publishers: Harvest House Publishers
Place of publication: Eugene, Oregon
Year of publication: 2022
Reviewed by: J.N. Manokaran
Erwin W. Lutzer is pastor emeritus of The Moody Church and author of many books. This book is a clarion call for evangelicals in the Western World. The three young men refused to stoop before the statue created by Nebuchadnezzar. Hence: “Don’t stoop at Standing time.” The challenge is to live with heroic faith in a faithless generation. The objective of the book is to reclaim the church and its rightful authority to stand for righteousness amid our collapsing culture.
It is like being cornered by the sea, you either surrender, or jump to sink in the sea or swim. The cultural winds are strong. Tolerance now means joining the revolution, getting on board with the ‘right side of history.’ Ideology trumps over science and facts of history. “Pressure is coming at us from a variety of sources – legal, cultural, educational, and political-and we have a choice we must make.” (Page 17) Morality in politics is possible only with Christian influence. God has distributed good gifts to all humanity. Hence, Christians can work together in the matters of common grace with others.
The author quotes Gary Hamrick regarding three kinds of churches: 1) Complicit: Participating in the culture without opposing it. 2) Complacent: Disagreeing with the culture but not actively opposing it. 3) Courageous: Saying what needs to be said, doing what needs to be done and accepting the consequences without self-pity and anger.
“We can be cancelled by men, but through faith in Christ we have the assurance that we will never be cancelled by God.” (page 25) Evil never retreats on its own – only retreats when a greater force is applied against it. The Church has surrendered to wokeism – originally the term meant as awareness of injustice, specifically racial injustice. Now it is an ideology that is hypersensitive to perceived injustices.
“There are two things evil leaders crave power and worship even grudging worship on the part of the populace is better than no worship at all.” (Page 33) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn writes: Stalin when he ruled Russia, was adored with frenzied clapping. One businessman stopped clapping and sat down. Soon he was arrested and put in prison. The officer said: “Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding.” Solzhenitsyn writes about the incident: How does freedom die: By thunderous applause. Right response: 1) We must have courage to stop clapping. 2) Be willing to be vilified even when you speak. 3) You and I have no idea what God will do with our witness. If conformity to woke is not there a person’s livelihood, reputation and future will be targeted and destroyed. Their philosophy is: If we can’t control you, we will destroy you.
In the West, “Freedom of religion is expected to surrender the whole guidelines of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), a cultural and racial philosophy.” (Page 40) The Press amplifies the voices of DEI, and silences those who disagree. The new reality is biological sex is not real, same-sex marriage is normal, patriotism is racist, and white supremacy is the greatest threat facing America. Those who disagree, will be punished as dissenters, even the friends of dissenters would be punished. That is termed as Collective demonization. Division, hatred, and betrayal dominate present-day culture. What is cancelled today will be criminalized tomorrow. Believers should be willing to be an ‘outcast’ for Christ. Christians will be described as domestic terrorists for raising their children with Christian conviction about sexuality, race, and other issues.
“I am a man trapped in a woman’s body,” if anyone does not agree that he is not affirming the person, hence a bigot. Truth is individual perception, feelings should be embraced and desire should be for godhead. Marx did not disbelieve in God; rather, he hated God. For Marx, the greatest oppressor is Christianity because of the nuclear family. God was the ultimate oppressor. “Once private property is abolished in the communist utopian state, the need for laws will wither away, and everyone will be content.” (Page 63) He envisaged everything within the state, nothing outside and nothing against the state. Antonio Gramsci and Italian pondered how Marxism could be advanced in a peaceful way, without the bloody revolutions seen in Russia. “He taught that Marxism could gain power by capturing the institutions of education, law, media, economics, entertainment, and the like. Thus, Marxism could be advanced incrementally.” (Page 65) To achieve that goal, attack and deconstruct traditional culture-especially Christian culture. Sexual deviancy should be normalized for that reconstruct and destroy the nuclear family. Sexual desire, sexual pleasure, and sexual fulfilment without any restraint is the key to human existence according to Sigmund Freud. Children’s rights supersede the rights of parents. “Marx taught that the ruling-class must be overthrown; Freud taught that all sexual norms must be overthrown.” (Page 68) Dominance is the goal, so all opponents should be vilified and nullified. Benjamin Wiker comments: Progressivism is the steady removal of Christianity from the center of culture. Reject Christianity itself, but also destroy anything that could lead to it. Salvationis self-generated and self-driven. “The God of the Bible is an oppressor who must be dethroned and replaced by a new theology of the self.” (Page 73) A generation of deluded narcissists on psychological drugs is emerging. There is also an epidemic of depression. “Power will replace freedom, and sexual pleasure will replace chastity and traditional marriage.” (Page 76) Christians are called to preach: Sovereignty of God over sovereignty of individuals.
In Systematic Racism, victimhood should be maintained as it is the path to power and privileges. Rod Dreher: “Equity means treating people unequally, regardless of their skills and achievements, to achieve an ideologically correct result.” Mediocrity is rewarded. Those who believe in individualism, capitalism, democracy, consumerism, and meritocracy (honouring competence and achievement), are ridiculed as racist. White should accept it; White should become less white and less ignorant. As supremacists do not know truth as they are blinded by desire for power, truth is found in the experiences of the oppressed. Victimology perpetuates hate; only forgiveness can bring healing, leading to reconciliation.” (Page 97) Unfortunately, a victim thinks he is better than the oppressor. Truth is found within, interpreted from one’s personal standpoint. In universities, common sense has been jettisoned to make way for sensitivity to woke culture.
These ideologists want to distribute wealth. Hence, only when a person loots more than 1000 dollars should be termed as criminal. This is called: Distributive justice. “The result is ‘turnstile justice’ with a revolving door for criminals who know there is very little cost for breaking the law.” (Page 106) There is an inadequate understanding of sin, hence woke theology has inadequate doctrine of salvation. Critical Race Theory denies sin in the human heart but sees in the systems. In their understanding, one group is intractably guilty and another is Irreversibly innocent. The guilt of certain groups and moral superiority of other groups is fixed and perpetual as the consequence: forgiveness and reconciliation are ruled out. It is not skin problem, but sin problem.
Michael P. Farris, CEO Alliance Defending Freedom “We are now told that America was born as an illegitimate state.” (Page 117) The United States did not invent slavery, but thankfully, ended it. Woke philosophies can only tear down; they cannot build something better. Marxist dream always turns out to be a nightmare of gigantic proportions.
Children are fed with a guilty conscience. They are induced to hate nations and hate ancestors. Cultural Marxism: generates self-hatred among white Americans, stifling their ingenuity, and destroying America’s religious history. Generally, nations are established by wars, conflicts, and hostile takeovers. Toynbee, a historian writes; “Blessed is the nation that has no history, for history is a record of wars.” (Page 126) In Germany, a collective guilt has demoralized the younger population, which did not participate in the atrocities that took place. Collective guilt leads to atrocities, injustices, hatred, and demoralization. In contrast, America was built upon the idea of individual responsibility. Historical sins should not be whitewashed, it should not be allowed to define history of today.
The radical left is not interested in debate, wants to cancel debate. They want to use words to limit and control thoughts. “The long-term goal is always power – power to control, power to manipulate and indoctrinate the masses.” (Page 140) Propaganda should be crude, clear, and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not to the intellect. Propaganda makes lies credible. The mind receives what is approved by heart. Words are not needed for feelings. But it is needed for thoughts. Create slogans that are memorable, not easy to speak against. Propagandists say one thing but really mean another. When Hitler starved children, he called it ‘putting them on a low-calorie diet.’ Killing the Jews was cleansing the land,’ and euthanasia was ‘a compassionate use of medical therapy.” (Page 146) Orwell wrote: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is Strength. Marxists can wipe the past, invent the past that did not happen and describe the future by their imaginations. Tolerance extends only to the echo of my own voices. Groupthink is approved by ideology. Those who disagree are emotionally underdeveloped or mentally ill and are shamed into silence. Ideology controls the facts instead of facts controlling the ideology. It should be remembered: Cs that shaped America: Christianity, Constitutionalism and Capitalism.
In today’s world: young people are not looking for ideas, ideas are looking for them. Diligence, discernment, and a biblical worldview give us guidance. Treasure lies beneath, digging to find them. Biblical Truth undiluted, unfiltered, and unopposed.
“In every age, the church has always been involved in a fight for the truth. Every generation has to be challenged to defend the gospel.” (Page 167) Satan’s strategy is Progress, that allures people from the old anchorages. Trojan horse has been constructed with a hype of superior morality, elevated knowledge, superior ‘love’ and holy language that calls into question anyone who disagrees with the Left’s proposed moral stances.
“Insisting on biblical social justice is indeed a fruit of the gospel, but social justice itself is not the gospel. (Page 175) In ungodly culture, the feelings have become more authoritative than God’s Word. It is easy to fall in love with evil. God’s word must not be used to wound others, but God could wound and heal. For the current generation, calling sinners to repent is a form of bullying. “Secularism has come into some churches under the guise of social justice, the redistribution of wealth, and the promotion of equality.” (Page 185) Desire- driven theology has become the norm. Have-it-your-way spirituality is spreading.
They want to create a fictional world of a gender-neutral society. For example, Mother’s Day should be Birthing people’s day. Revolutionaries when cannot amass power, they will create chaos. Language is at war with biology, science, history and common sense. There are Male chromosomes and female chromosomes, there is no sex spectrum. Christian should declare the truth with Compassionate clarity. “We expect our politicians to fix what we as Christians are not willing to speak about.” (Page 202) The reason is unwillingness to pay the price, unable to commit to a life of holiness.
The radical left wants our children, when they are young, to divide them from their parents, use social media to confuse them. “The more godless our government becomes, the more insistent our educators will be that children belong to them, not the parents.” (Page 215) They will steal the heart of a child, leave the body to be raised by parents. Education today is not how to think, but how to feel. Schools are operating as ‘parent replacement centers.’ Self-deception has triumphed. This generation would be destroyed not by the power of enemies, but by the ignorance of teachers and parents. Classrooms are cesspools of hopelessness, guilt, and blame. The relationship between children and their biological parents is intimate, permanent, and identity-constituting. “All knowledge is based on a worldview, either that of man or of God, knowledge is never neutral.” (Page 228)
Great Reset: control of goods and services must be transferred from individual countries to the global community in accordance with socialistic principles. National sovereignty must give way to global sovereignty. State control of all transactions is enough, no need to control all businesses and industries.
“When words fail, only suffering can communicate the gospel.” (Page 261) Persecution could be a means of evangelism. Early Christians offered the world a gospel and a community worth dying for. “Salvation and suffering are both gifts that God gives to his church.” (Page 267)
Don’t look around. Look only at me (God) and keep climbing. Glance at the culture, but gaze on Jesus.
Many people wonder about the crisis if not chaos in the Western world. Why was what was right, good, upright that was a common knowledge and understanding have become a grey area. Why are cultural values confused? Ungodly and evil today? This book provides reasons, insight into current popular culture and calls Christians to be courageous witnesses amid a collapsing culture. A contemporary book that needs to be read, reflect and act live, radiating biblical values.
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