The Christian Heritage of the West
The Bible is a historically accurate collection of writings that contains accounts of individuals and societies that have responded positively to God’s message and have been blessed as a result. These blessings encompassed every aspect of their lives and families – their health, finances and peace of mind. This enabled them to live in societies that were ordered yet free along with the governance of fair justice. This order happened at the level of the family unit but also in wider society when leaders allowed God’s message to be implemented throughout their realm of governance. In the European West, it’s reasonable to state our relative success has been because we have built our thinking and laws on Biblical foundations. For example, we have enjoyed:
Rejection of Sound Truth and Reason
However, the Bible also contains accounts of individuals and societies that decided to pull away or rebel from God. Pertinent to the times we live in now, numerous historical narratives and philosophical discourses accurately detail the mechanism of how people rebel from God. A classic text on the matter is contained in the first chapter of the New Testament book of Romans (Romans 1:18:31). Here, the author (the Apostle Paul), details how it all starts with people rejecting God, or the concept of God from which the downward spiral begins. This rejection of God then snowballs into a rejection of truth and sound reason. Given that God has given people free will and has no plan to revoke that, the state of rebellion gets to such a point that He no longer lovingly restrains us (which would be for our own good) and allows us to go our own way. This is a turning point, at a specific time decided by God, that no society wants to get to. The result is an unrestrained descent into futility and insanity. Stated in the passage as key characteristics is the embracing of all kinds of sexual deviation and the worship (giving honour and worth to) of things created by the Creator, not the Creator himself. Even with just a casual observation of society today, we can see the comparison all too well and conclude we are at an advanced state of rebellion from God.
How does a society spiral down – how does this process actually work?
Two things are required. Firstly, it starts with a rejection of God as He has revealed Himself to us. Although, people may initially continue to believe in a divine universal creator or an impersonal cosmic architect, or some other idea of God of their own making, they do not seek relationship and obedience to God and instead choose to live life according to what is right in their own eyes. This is in effect justifying their own actions according to “their truth”.
Secondly, untruths, or lies, need to be believed and acted upon. The Fall of Mankind started in the Garden of Eden with Eve choosing to believe a blatant lie. This lie stated that God had somehow withheld something good from Adam and Eve and that contrary to what God had specifically advised against, it would be better to disobey and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The promise was that Eve would become, “like God”. Eve chose to believe the lie, ate from the tree and instead of becoming like God, became separated from God. At this point, the world became cut off from God (to a point). Sickness, death, futility, poverty and strife then entered the world. Despite Eve already being like God (Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, or to be like God) she became less like God, lost her closeness to God and became destined to live in a very different world order with immediate effect. The serpent achieved what he wanted, which was a usurping of the God-given authority and power to rule the world, given to Adam and Eve. Since then, mankind has been under the sway or influence of the Evil One (1 John 5:19). The Evil One is a ruler of this world who has access via the channel of fallen mankind. It all started with a lie, and this usurped authority continues to propagate as humans continue to believe and act upon these lies.
Understanding How the Spiritual Realm Overlaps with the Natural (Earthly) Realm
There exists a spiritual realm. We won’t go into detail here. In this spiritual realm there are two opposing forces. The Bible refers to these as the Kingdom of Jesus or of Light, and the Kingdom of Satan or Darkness. Jesus defined the mission statement for each of these spiritual Kingdoms:
Kingdom of Light Mission Statement
I [Jesus speaking] have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John 10:10
and
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me [Jesus speaking],
Luke 4:18-19
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
This means the head of the Kingdom of Light (Jesus) wants us to live blessed, fulfilled lives. He wants to bring us relief from the trials we are subjected to, to bring healing and reconciliation, peace and purpose. And most of all, He wants us to live life to the full which is relationship with Him. In fact, Jesus said eternal life is knowing Him and the Father (John 17:3).
All are invited to opt into this Kingdom. God does this by drawing us with love, kindness and grace. We are not put under compulsion or coerced. The invitation is very much open handed; it’s a “you choose” approach.
Kingdom of Darkness Mission Statement
10 The thief [the Devil] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.
John 10:10
and
44 He [the Devil] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
John 8:44
All people naturally default into this Kingdom. Further entanglement propagates by fear, hate, domination, social pressure. The invitation is by force; a, “you will comply” approach. The communication of lies and half lies is essential to ensure recruitment isn’t reversed. Also essential is the appeal to protect or magnify the human self (the will) by appealing to human reasoning. Jesus said of the Devil, “you have in mind things of man”, implying, the Devil pushes you further into darkness by appealing to the existing wants and desires of a person’s fallen (separated from God) nature. It is easier to push a person in a particular direction they have weakness for or are traveling in a direction they are already heading.
To Summarise
Kingdom of Light: Humans must desire re-unification with God, embrace truth and live out the truth. The separation of the fall is reversed at the even Jesus referred to as being, “born again”.
Kingdom of Darkness: Humans must remain in a separated state from God, embrace non-truths and live them out.
Now that we have explained the basic tenants of how the two Kingdoms operate, we will now specifically uncover the mode of operation for the Kingdom of Darkness today.
Aggrieved Eve & Collective Aggrievement
Eve was told, “God does not have your best interests at heart and you’re missing out”. She became aggrieved. Furthermore, she was told, “if you disregard what God says, and you go your own way, you’ll be set free, and your life will be better”. This aggrievement that was acted on and darkness entered their lives and the world in general.
On the level of the individual, all of us can admit to being aggrieved. This may be because wrong has been done to us. But the sense of aggrievement that we need to guard against is that which causes us to make a moral choice against what God has advised is best for us.
Key Point
At the state-wide or national level, collective aggrievement is essential for Marxist thought to propagate. Those aggrieved (often minority groups) are then pitted against the so-called, non-aggrieved groups so that division works through society as per leaven working though a batch of bread dough. Left unchecked, people are not set free and whole societies suffer internal conflict. Marxism has an excellent track record of producing oppression and devastation. It is a seasoned, “kill, steal and destroy” tool.
Wisdom of Man vs Wisdom of God
Above, we touched on how the downward spiral starts with a rejection of a relational good God, which then added to that is a desire to replace of the wisdom of God and to embrace the wisdom of mankind. This embracing is progressive and itself follows a downward spiral. What starts out as a, “I know better” attitude, progresses into increasing foolishness whereby some of the final stops on the journey can be, “I identify as a woman” or as the moon or a cat, or “2+2=4 is a form of white colonial oppression”. Previous generations would be astounded at the foolishness of the modern thinking of some.
What does God think about Man’s Wisdom? He doesn’t mince his words. God refers to it as foolishness. He’s not in the least sympathetic to it. This isn’t to say His love is removed from us or that he no longer wants the best for us, it’s just that he despises that which isn’t truth.
How does Science fit into all this?
Science is often cited as some kind of voice of reason that has the power to defy God. Good, rational science based on observation, theorising and experimental confirmation of theory is rightly to be embraced. It can be argued that the remit given to Adam and Eve to work the garden in an enterprising way and to expand and subdue the earth supports the value of scientific exploration. Note also in the Genesis narrative that the Bible refers to the quality of mineral deposits that were in the region. Would this providence have been mentioned if there was not an expectation to mine the resources of the earth?
So, we need to make the distinction between mankind’s wisdom that is railing against God (“I know better”) and the wisdom or understanding that is rooted in good science that honours truth and rational thought. Many scientific breakthroughs have come through God-fearing people. One of the more impactful discoveries came through Sir Isaac Newton (laws of motion). It can be argued this along other discoveries in classical mechanics, helped form the industrial revolution which in turn advanced civil society.
Physical Laws are Truth-based
Our physical universe is governed by a set of natural laws that are repeatable and mathematically accurate. They are not subjective; they are truth based, independent of political or cultural bias and do not change over time. Our spiritual or moral existence is also governed by laws from the same Creator. These laws are also consistent and do not change over time. The wisdom of mankind seeks to re-interpret moral laws to be more permissive and to set new, lower benchmarks, according to its own standard. This is considered foolish by God as both rule books governing the physical and spiritual universe are unchangeable. In the same way it would be considered foolish to jump off a high building and not expect the usual consequences, perhaps because of a new, enlightened “my truth”? Likewise, it would be foolish to ignore spiritual laws.
Today’s Landscape of State Overreach. What the Bible says about it
We use the term, “state overreach” here to describe national governments that have moved away from providing a healthy, sufficient level of governance and services, allowing personal freedoms and free enterprise, to governments that want to overly control the lives of individuals. Left unchecked, state overreach seeks to command and control every aspect of an individual’s life, even down to the minutia of their thoughts and speech. George Orwell’s, “1984” novel is based on this concept.
The Goal of State Overreach
We argue that at its root, state overreach is a progression of the wisdom of mankind, moving from individual thought to collective thought pushed onto a society. Given that the wisdom of mankind is itself rooted in a denial of God, state overreach is about replacing God as the ultimate provider and authority with the state. The state desires to take the place of God as provider and instead establish itself as your guardian.
Is there a Biblical Narrative of a State Overreach?
Yes. The great ruler Nimrod (c2000BC) created the Tower of Babel in Babylon (modern day Iraq) and sought to create a name for himself and the society he was creating (Gen 11:4). This can be considered as the first Biblically recorded socialist state. It was set up in defiance of God, and in rebellion to God. In fact, the name, “Nimrod” means “rebellion” or “the valiant”. It exalted man over God. Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian writing in the 1st century wrote,
He [Nimrod] persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it was through his means that they were happy; but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny; seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his own power.
The Antiquities of the Jews, 1.113–1.114
Notice that the state Nimrod desired to create substituted God’s wisdom for the wisdom of man. The state was to replace God as the ultimate guardian. Strikingly similar to today, this transformation happened over a prolonged period – a slowly, slowly approach was adopted.
Moral Decay as a precursor to the fall of nations
The rise and fall of societies are prominent topics for secular historians. They argue a common cause for the fall of a society is its descent into moral decay. This decay in itself leads to a chain of other events that ultimately nullifies the healthy authority structures and economic prosperity of a nation. But, it starts with immorality.
The Biblical narrative strongly supports this analysis. A classic case in point is the advice or commands given by God as the nation of Israel was first being established around 1400BC. God went to great detailed lengths to explain what would happen if the new nation followed God’s morality (blessing, prosperity, peace, mental wellness, health…) and what would happen if they rejected God’s morality and replaced it with their own wisdom (curses, lack of provision, oppressed by enemies, futility of purpose, disease, mental health issues, lack of peace…). Several of the books of the Bible over thousands of years track the outcome of an individual’s and a nation’s moral decisions. We are not short of experimental evidence.
Pride Comes Before a Fall
Pride and a sense of self-sufficiency are foundational to moral decay. In the Bible account of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19) God brings about judgement due to the sexual immorality of the inhabitants. However, further insight is provided in Ezekial 16:49 of the root moral issues of these societies– fullness of bread (i.e. prosperity), carelessness and not strengthening the hand of the poor and needy. These principals are mirrored today where we are more likely to see moral decay in cities or regions that are comfortably well-off. Note that being in a state of prosperity is itself not a bad thing, but the independent arrogance that can accompany prosperity is the sin issue. You may have heard it said, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”.
Given the Same Repeated Outcomes of Moral Decay, Why are Lessons not Learnt from History?
Referring to the earlier example of Eve’s temptation in the Garden, we know that once Eve had made a conscious decision to listen to the lie, and to believe it, just prior to taking that action was the human voice of reason. Her position was likely that her conscience was nudging her not to proceed. But, given that desire had set in, she needed to counter her conscience and so she did this by adding her own reason:
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
Genesis 3:6
Instead of being led by her conscience, she was led by her on-the-spur-of-the-moment-reasoning. This is a pattern of which it is unlikely that there is not a person on the Earth who has not emulated this behaviour. As we are made in the image of God, we still have a deep-seated drive to want to do the right thing. For us to move forward to pursue our desires that are against God’s, we therefore have to justify our actions and by employing corrupted and self-centred thinking, we have the justification we seek. Albeit, a corrupted judgement. If this corrupted judgement includes an arrogance, that this time it will be different, we know better, we will escape the consequences…then history is able to repeat itself yet again and add further data to an experiment that is already concluded.
But, the good news is that societies can turn from their folly. This involves a U-turn in thinking that re-aligns our values and beliefs in-line with the Creator God. Instigating a U-turn is the main purpose for the existence of WWGO.