Truth Really Matters

buy Ivermectin canada “The Bible is authoritative on everything of which it speaks.  Moreover, it speaks of everything.” – Cornelius Van Til

Van Til was right about that, at least in the sense that the Bible addresses all in life that is important.  I love everything about Van Til except his Calvinism.  In the Evangelism section of this site you’ll find my 3-part essay on Van Til’s presuppositional apologetics.

The quote is from Owen Strachan’s informative (and compact / readable) book, Christianity and Wokeness:  How the Social Justice Movement is Hijacking the Gospel – and the Way to Stop It.  He opens by citing a 2016 ‘anti-racism’ training video, which went viral, featuring a speaker named Ashleigh Shackelford, who told a group of white women that “all white people are racists,” and had no hope of changing.  “No, you’re always going to be racist, actually.  Even when you’re on  a path to be a better human being.”

Strachan explains that this reflects a core element of the “wokeness” system, in which there is no grace, no love, “only grievance, resentment, and condemnation.”  Therefore, it is clear that wokeness is not merely a non-Christian system.  It is an anti-Christian system.  It reveals its true father – Satan – who hates God’s image-bearers and devises means to foster misery and, ultimately, damnation.  Shackelford revealed her own heart when she commented, “I believe all white people are born into not being human.”  Later, she said that white people grow up “to be demons.”

The wokeness movement took off in the 1990s in academia, which should be no surprise.  Its goal was to convince many who had no racial prejudice that they actually did, and that they could not transcend differences in skin color.  Its chief enemy is Christianity, working to infiltrate churches with the idea that Christianity fosters “white privilege” and “white supremacy.”

Strachan summarizes how wokeness attacks a Christian spiritually.

• Wokeness divides us – oppressors versus oppressed.
• Wokeness tempts us to despise others based on some category or label.
• Wokeness tempts us to pride in condemning others.
• Wokeness robs us of peace and joy.
• Wokeness directs our attention away from the Gospel.  We lose sight of the most vital need of every individual – salvation.
• Wokeness tempts to bitterness.
• Wokeness makes forgiveness difficult.
• Wokeness diminishes faith – we lose sight of God’s prophetic vision of history.
• Wokeness makes man big and God small.  Man’s concerns dominate us.

Sadly, tragically, and ridiculously, many current evangelical leaders claim that wokeness is the way forward for the church.  I can only conclude that those who think like this have never been born again.  What else could explain such a disgusting lack of discernment?

Van Til’s comment above is grounded in 2 Peter 1:3, which assures us that God’s word is sufficient for all things that pertain to life and godliness.  With regard to race, there is only one.  Paul, in Acts 17:26, noted that God made us all of “one blood,” affirming our parentage from Genesis, Adam and Eve, in Eden.  What matters a little more or less of melanin in the skin cells?

“Woke,” of course, is derived from “awake,” clued in to the true nature of the world when so many are clueless, asleep.  I’ve observed that the woke mindset / posture works against postmodernism, which denies definite answers and objective truths.  When postmodernism seemed to hit its peak in the 1990s, the gravest sin seemed to be judgmentalism.  But the woke crowd is intensely and viciously judgmental, preaching a definitive, yet anti-biblical morality.

Strachan summarizes Critical Race Theory (CRT), the academic veneer of wokism, as the doctrine that “all of societal life is structured along racial power dynamics.  Race is a ‘social construct’ . . . it’s not biologically based and exists only in our imagination.”  But now they’ve mixed some postmodernism back in and yet . . . how can Shackelford call those women white and racist merely by looking at them?  Shouldn’t she ask them how they identify?

CRT goes on to assert that America is infested with racism, using terms like “structural racism” and “systemic racism.”  This ignores the tremendous progress America has seen, especially since the 1950s.  But history is ignored or revised to fit the political narrative, and to feed the grievance industry.  Martin Luther King’s goal of “color-blindness” has been reversed; no longer do the ‘anti-racists’ desire a society where children are judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.  Rather, defeating “whiteness” is the goal.

The enemy is the ordinary man or woman who leads a quiet, normal American life.  Ibram X. Kendi, a widely published professor at Boston U., says that such people are the “most threatening racist movement” today.  Author Robin DeAngelo said that the “regular American” is worse than the cross-burning Klan member.

Apparently, the mom who posts photos of her kids on Instagram, bakes muffins, helps her neighbors, and volunteers at the homeless shelter is a “white supremacist” who must be defeated because her very existence oppresses others.  In CRT, Strachan notes, life is a zero-sum game.  Some win; most lose.

In the woke worldview, intersectionality is the principle that the victimhood of many groups overlaps, including blacks, the poor, the disabled, anyone not heterosexual, etc.  Also, for each of the oppressed, there must be an oppressor.  The rich oppress the poor, the “cisgender” oppress sexual minorities, and men oppress women because of “toxic masculinity.”  Such lists can be extended indefinitely.

Although wokists reject “binary” thinking in terms of the sexes, they are quintessentially binary in that you are either an oppressor or you are oppressed.  What a miserable way to look at the world and to avoid personal responsibility.  The mindset also avoids the humility required to own your own sins and repent.  Therefore, wokeness opposes the mind and heart conditions required to trust Christ for salvation.  It seems far more satisfying be righteously indignant and blame others; in fact, if you can find ways to cancel or punish the oppressors, that really feels good!

Where does CRT and its ilk come from?  Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels – for example, in The Communist Manifesto:  “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.  Freeman and slave . . . lord and serf, guildmaster and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed.”

Marx hated everything about God and sought to expunge Christian teaching from the face of the Earth.  In What Every Christian Needs to Know about Social Justice, Jeffrey Johnson notes that the institutions and historic principles of individualism, family, church, and state derive their authority from God; accordingly, Marxists must deconstruct them to eliminate God from society.  Furthermore, “for Marx, deliverance from the evils of capitalism cannot occur until all traces of God are removed from the world.”

Critical theorists go far beyond arguing that society is corrupted – they insist that reason is corrupted.  Thus, they ignore evidence and logic.  Only the woke can see the relevant structures of reality.  Voddie Baucham argues that this is simply gnosticism.  You can trust only the anointed woke priests and priestesses for enlightenment.

I resonate with Strachan’s take:  “The ultimate source of this ideology does not sound like the voice of God, but like the slithery hiss of a serpent.”

Strachan cites John McWhorter’s critique of what he calls the “Third Wave Antiracism,” particularly the type of traps the woke set for the rest of us.  For example, “You must strive eternally to understand the experiences of black people.  But you can never understand what it is to be black, and if you think you do you’re a racist.”  Another:  “Support black people in creating their own spaces and stay out of them.  But seek to have black friends.  If you don’t have any, you’re a racist.  And if you claim any, they’d better be good friends.  Just know that you still aren’t allowed in their private spaces.”  What do you think?  Will this approach increase or decrease racism?

Apparently, the most influential book to promote wokeness in evangelicalism is Divided by Faith, by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith, 2000.  They argue that whites, as the creators of our present society, “must repent of their personal, historical, and social sins.”  Otherwise, they are passed on to future generations.  This idea of generational sins is foreign to the New Testament, of course.  Such heresies only divide; they do not unite.  The Christian viewpoint is that the individual is responsible for his own sins, but can be restored through faith in Christ.  Thus, woke heresies distract from the need for 1-2-1 evangelism and the individual’s requirements for salvation.

In 2017 InterVarsity Press published White Awake, by Daniel Hill, a Chicago-area pastor.  He writes that all white people are racist, even if subconsciously.  (Whatever that actually means.)  Also, that racism is the chief sin of the Church today.  “The primary enemy of God’s kingdom in this realm is white supremacy.”

Strachan notes that actual white supremacy is truly hideous and includes segregation, lynchings, abused women slaves, and a societal order that dehumanizes people based on skin color.  Nothing like that exists in America today.  He observes that evangelicals today are demonstrably multi-ethnic.  Where there is a proper Christian unity, it comes from God’s grace, not skin color.  In fact, it is the CRT crowd that yearns to divide everyone by race, arbitrary though that may be.  Wokeness in the churches attacks unity, fostering distrust and resentment.  Of course it does, considering the source.

In short, wokeness is not a helpful paradigm to discover truths within the Christian framework.  Rather, wokeness is a different Gospel; indeed, it is anti-Gospel.  It is an evil, intentionally ‘racist’ doctrine.

In magnifying human diversity, wokeness creates attitudes that prevent any chance at unity.  Unity is only possible in Christ and, unfortunately, will not be universally realized until the Millennium.

In promoting  the CRT narrative, Marxists eagerly ignore or rewrite history.  For example, it wasn’t just ‘whites’ who sinned.  Black African traders facilitated the transatlantic slave trade in the 17^th century.  Black leaders supported 19^th century colonization.  America had numerous black slaveholders.  In the 20^th century black leaders have supported the disproportionately high abortion rate in the black community, and young black men are regularly victims of murder by young black men.

In Art Carden’s 2020 essay, “Slavery Did Not Enrich Americans,” he refutes the woke accusation that America and its prosperity was built on slavery.  Cotton crops would have been profitable without the expense of slavery; in fact, they would likely have been far more profitable.  People are more productive when paid wages that they can then use in freedom to lead their own lives.  Furthermore, cotton was not essential to industrialization.  Thus, slavery hampered the American economy.  This position is consistent with many descriptions of antebellum life, which featured (overall) a poor work ethic, a decadent culture, and immorality – all derived from the conscience-blighting effects of slavery throughout the culture.

Woke Marxists hate free markets.  Economist Walter Williams argues that free markets are naturally color-blind.  “Markets have a notorious lack of respect for privilege, race, and class structures.”  Strachan concludes that if the woke really wanted “fairness” and “equity,” they would be enthusiastic supporters of free markets, not their enemies.  He notes that Robin DeAngelo typically charges $15,000 per speaking event and has earned over $2M from her book White Fragility, all the while deriding capitalism as a racist system.

It is well known that so-called ‘racial’ differences (skin color, eye shape, etc.) account for only 0.012 percent of human biological variation.  Skin color derives from the presence of more or less melanin.  Ken Ham:  “No one really has red, or yellow, or black skin.  We all have the same basic color, just different shades of it.”  Such differences are trivial, but the woke want to deconstruct the entire world over nonsense.

In Ibram X. Kendi’s best-seller, How to Be an Antiracist, he offers a solution to racial prejudice:  “The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination.”  How will that work out for future generations?  Perhaps the real motivation is to provoke race wars and destroy the West.  Strachan suggests that the Satanic goal is not a new order, but an anti-order, opposing everything that God ordained for His image-bearers to find peace with Him and with each other.

Under wokeness the law is divorced from retributive justice – rendering to each what they deserve – and becomes a tool of distributive justice – apportioning privilege to those without it.  Equality of opportunity is supposedly racist.  Equality of outcome is the new principle.  Romans chapter 13 makes clear the heresy.  God designed government to be a terror to evildoers and to reward good conduct, to execute justice with the power of the sword, if necessary, and that the people should be subject to the authorities.

The state promotes civil law and maintains order against evildoers.  The Church preaches the Gospel and disciples believers under the authority of the Bible, and the family raises children to know God, to love others, and to grow up productive members of the community.  The boundaries and responsibilities for these institutions are made clear within Scripture.  There is nothing complicated here.

The goals of Marxist ideology include the destruction of the family and the Church, and the perversion of the role of the State.  Society becomes a contest for power.  Individuals, cut off from family and church bonds, are easily controlled and intimidated by the overreaching State.  Diversity is achieved without unity.  Deconstruction of God’s institutions generates estrangement, fear, and hostility.  The world will be ripe for a powerful charismatic leader.  The antichrist will arrive just in time.

Strachan argues that wokeness is a new religion, a new worldview, which includes the following pillars:

• Neo-paganism – no Creator; we are our own gods
• Sexual libertinism – anything goes
• Marxist statism
• Postmodern Darwinism – evolution got us here and there is no absolute truth
• Mystic selfism – follow your heart
• Utopian eschatology – Earth-centric; make the Earth right via social justice

The author spends some time describing the Bible’s teaching on the nature of human beings.  Genesis chapter 1, for example:  We see one human race, with male and female, one couple, the foundation of marriage.  Period.

The Bible presents us as made in the image of God, conscious, sentient, knowing good and evil, exercising free will.  Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of what man (and woman) should be at its summit, without sin, loving, in perfect fellowship with God.  In our present state we are all guilty and condemned by our own willful sins, but obtain forgiveness and a new birth into God’s family by repentance and faith in Christ.

In contrast, under wokeness some are good and beautiful just as they are, and others are definitely not – those who are born into or exercise “whiteness.”  Strachan notes that when you miss that sin is always personal, you cannot see the problem.  “It is not that society is flawed and we are innocent.  It is that we are sinful, and so our world is polluted with our sin.”  Christ did not die for society.  We are not victims; we ourselves, individually, are criminals in God’s court, lawbreakers in desperate need of salvation.  The woke need to be saved, too, but they have embraced a philosophy and attitudes that work hard against it.

When we solve our vertical problem with God, we can line up with Him and His word and thereby line up with each other.  “Jesus is the only true hope of those who desire unity of any kind in the world.”  Of course, this will not happen on any significant scale until the 2^nd coming of Christ, when He rules the world from His throne in Jerusalem.  There is no other plan.  In this present age, the mission is the Great Commission – individual souls are at stake.  Ephesians chapter 2 gives a hopeful illustration of what unity can be achieved now (and in Paul’s day) in that the blood of Christ unifies Jew and Gentile, which at that time was quite a startling concept.

The cross is not God’s “best shot” at unification, so that we can improve the odds later with Marxism or psychotherapy or political compromise.  Jesus is the only way, because He is the source of life, He is the source of truth, and reality is wired for no other options.

Wokeness, Strachan observes, has no concept of God as Creator with us as image-bearers.  Rather, it starts with the dull, antagonistic stereotypes of Marxist collectivism and identity fictions.  There is no hope in any secular (Satanic) worldview, no afterlife, no Final Judgment, and . . . what should be incredibly frustrating to the Marxist woke . . . no justice.  Not to mention, no resolutions, no peace, and no happiness.  Have you noticed that the woke crowd is perpetually angry and miserable?

Yet with Jesus and the grace of forgiveness and salvation, people in allegedly antagonistic groups find themselves in the same spiritual family.  The most important things in life, they share in common.  In a group of truly born again Christians, who care about each others’ souls and the souls of the lost around them, there is neither Jew nor Greek, rich nor poor, white nor black nor brown.  A healthy church, even in this age, can show this kind of love if it wants to.

When God’s causes dominate our desires, the trials of this life seem small, petty.  And when life gets tough, Christian brothers and sisters are there to help.  At least, it can be that way if your church is organized around New Testament principles, instead of today’s seeker-sensitive megachurch mindlessness.

If wokeness is creeping into your church, say something.  Do something.  If you get thrown out, thank God and try to find some other Christians who haven’t gone mad.  The truly saved Christians won’t get fooled so easily.  As you share the Gospel with clearly lost woke individuals, recognize that they cannot consistently live their wacky worldview.  Share the distinctives of the Gospel message, that sin and lostness are individual, that humility and repentance are required to seek God, that Jesus paid the ultimate price, and that forgiveness, peace, joy, and the ability to love others who don’t look like you is a gift from God to those image-bearers who want it.

• drdave@truthreallymatters.com