A fundamental shift
As mentioned in the previous article the right understanding of the history of Western Civilization is under serious threat in Australian universities, school, media and the arts. The vital big picture developments and crucial events in history are downplayed and replaced by trendy politically correct subjects; this corrupts the understanding of the past, reducing the complexity of Western history into the basic idea of race, gender and sexuality. Through this approach the past is viewed as a contest between the oppressors and the oppressed.
Part of a bigger picture
It is part of a larger revolution(1) that is seriously damaging Western society. The norms of Scripture, once a major part of Western civilization are being dynamited, one by one. Traditions dear to our hearts are torn out, leaving gaping holes in society. Sinful ideas are promoted as the way to go. The holy institution of marriage, already maligned, is targeted for destruction, no matter what people say. Gross adultery, dressed up as “alternative relationships” is promoted and practiced. The sanctity of life is dead on the altar of choice and convenience; countless abortions and the euthanasia debate are irrefutable evidence. Our language is changing and freedom of speech is curtailed to ensure poor little snowflakes don’t get offended. Classic books and other writings are being reinterpreted to “show” the past is a contest between the oppressors and the oppressed.
On the surface it seems our nation is being pulled in all directions. It seems hopelessly broken like Humpty Dumpty.
However, society is not being pulled in all directions; it’s not broken into many fragments. It’s just divided into two basis pieces. On one side Satan frantically promotes his domain, keeping many people under his cruel sway. On the other Jesus Christ gathers, defends and preserves His church. Although this antithesis nothing new, it is important to understand the nature and historical roots of this spiritual war as it is playing out in our time.
Thinkers of the 19th century were already trying to destroying Western society which at that time still had a Biblical foundation. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche took a radical position by declaring that God is dead, meaning that religion, especially the Christian faith, was once useful to superstitious folks, but for enlightened people had outgrown its purpose. Man is now to be the judge between right and wrong. Man must create a new and liberated morality without the Bible. Charles Darwin suggested an alternative genesis of the world by his theory of evolution. Although this left man without a creator and a purpose in life, it gave credibility to Nietzsche’s God-is-dead theory.
Jeremy Rifkin describes consequence of belief in evolution: “We no longer feel ourselves to be guests in someone else’s home [God’s] and therefore [do not] feel obliged to make our behaviour conform with a set of pre-existing cosmic rules. It is our creation now. We make the rules. We establish the parameters of reality. … We no longer have to justify our behaviour, for we are now architects of the universe. We are responsible to nothing outside ourselves, for we are the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever.” (2)
Freud and Jung, standing on Nietzsche and Darwin’s shoulders, offered a new psychology of man based on his evolutionary animal instincts. This denied sin as an act of disobedience to God. From it developed a God-less morality portrayed as new found freedom from the “shackles” of the Christian religion. Science and the scientific method (using only man’s five senses, experiment and reason to determine what is true) soon spread to the “soft” sciences like sociology and psychology. Man was ready to construct a new world without God and the Bible. This approach is also known as Modernism.
By 1900 AD some of the thinkers of Europe promoted the inevitable: the foundations of western society must be completely destroyed to bring a new culture. This revolutionary thinking was first limited to academic circles, but soon in the early 1900s wormed its way into literature, the visual arts and music. In his art Pablo Picasso deliberately destroyed art standards to demonstrate his disdain not only for Western art, but for Western culture. Ditto by Arnold Schoenberg for traditional music. They rejected traditional Western art and music because it is based on Biblical principles. Christianity must be burned and buried (see Richard Wagner’s “Twilight of the Gods” and Richard Strauss’s “Salome”).
Abraham Kuyper (Netherlands Prime Minister 1901 to 1905) wrote in 1898
“Two life systems are wrestling with one another in mortal combat. Modernism is bound to build a world of its own from data of the natural man, and to construct man himself from the data of nature; while on the other hand all those who reverently bow the knee to Christ and worship Him as the Son of the living God, and God Himself, are bent upon saving the “Christian Heritage”. This is the struggle in Europe, and the struggle in America.”
Rock music and the Counter Culture
After another 50 years of gestation the revolution exploded onto the world stage and into society through rock music and the Counter Culture. Popular rock stars became the revolution’s prophets, raucously shouting and promoting the new anti-Christian faith and immorality. They twisted words like freedom, peace and love by using them to promote sin. The following quotes show that rock music wants to dynamite all Christian norms:
Rock music “is anti-religious, anti-nationalistic and anti-morality. But now I understand what you have to do. You have to put the message across with a little honey on it” (John Lennon, spoken not long before his death in 1980 (3)). Lennon also boasted that the whole Beatles idea was to do what you want.
“Rock ‘n roll doesn’t glorify God. You can’t drink out of God’s cup and the devil’s cup at the same time. I was one of the pioneers of that music, one of the builders. I know what the blocks are made of because I built them” (Little Richard)(4) .
Rock music’s messages, carried by the loud and pulsating music, penetrated hearts and minds around the globe; national borders and language barriers were no obstacles. The anti-Christian themes were then woven into the other arts (literature, paintings, pulp fiction, movies) and the media. But the basic messages are those of Nietzsche, Charles Darwin, Freud and Jung. There is no God, we are driven by animal instincts, give the beast its full desires; life without boundaries.
It triggered the sexual revolution and drug scene, with devastating consequences. Sexual promiscuity, abortion, divorce, wrecked families, redefinition of marriage, sexual diseases, and the enormous cost and wasted human resources. Centuries before heathen Europe, under the slavery of sin and Satan, was spiritually set free by the Gospel. The revolution brought slavery back.
Today the sexual revolution is a tsunami smashing everything away – exposing society to sins against all God’s commandments. Now the focus is to legitimise sin; therefore the battle ground now includes parliaments, courts, company boardrooms, classrooms and, even so called Christian churches. many students and pew sitters are no longer safe. Everyone is expected to commit idolatry by worshiping sin. The second beast described in Revelation 13 is very industrious. He indeed “causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast”.
We are seeing in our society what happened in Israel long ago, namely the devastating verdict by the LORD that “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).
Challenge
The challenge is to recognise the weapons used this spiritual battle. One is popular culture, particularly rock music, movies, TV and many “respectable” websites. Can you see how for example, the Australian ABC and West Australian newspaper promote the godless revolution? Can you see that at bottom you and your family are the targets of Satan’s fury? Do you recognize too that the message is delivered “with a little honey on it”?
The apostle John gives this warning, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-17). We might be tempted to think we can absorb a bit of worldliness with impunity; it won’t to hurt us. Does God not protect us? In considering John’s message we also do well to remember the words of Jesus Christ: “You shall not tempt the LORD your God” (Luke 4:12).