Read Chuck Baldwin's latest article here:
A Nation Of Truth-Rejecters
By Chuck Baldwin
January 6, 2011
Archived column:
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=2711
A bedrock principle of Natural Law (the Law upon which Western
Civilization rests) is the primacy of truth. Without a desire for, and
appreciation of, truth, society cannot sustain itself. Lies, deceit,
duplicity, etc., are more than moral evils; they are the bane of
freedom and liberty. Take away truth, and one is left without honor,
justice, or decency. Truth is the cement that holds the bricks and
stones of a sane and civilized society together. Remove the former and
the latter will crumble.
Truth also demands courage and honesty, because sometimes it can be
very painful to look at! It takes an honest man to desire truth, as
truth will often reveal the character flaws in his own soul. It also
takes courage to appreciate truth, as truth will often demand that one
change his own opinion or conduct. Unfortunately, it does appear that
the desire for truth has been replaced with a desire for deceit.
Years ago, a great, old preacher-warrior told my former church
congregation, “People today love being lied to.” How right he was!
For the most part, even professing Christian people today love being
lied to. It would seem that many people find deceit easier to digest
than truth. Maybe it’s because these people lack the aforementioned
virtues of honesty and courage.
Truth demands the virtue of honesty, because honesty requires that
information be objectively analyzed and studied; it requires that
personal prejudices and proclivities be set aside; it requires that
humility replace pride, which allows one’s opinions and conduct to
change in the face of truth.
Truth also demands courage, as courage is the active response to
honesty. To know what is right to do is great (many people do not even
know this much), but to act upon what one knows to be right is even
greater--and also harder! Courage gives men the fortitude and
conviction to suffer personal loss in order to be faithful to their
own honesty. Courage places more value on honesty and truth than on
personal prosperity or aggrandizement. Courage propelled Daniel into
the lion’s den; it drove Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the
burning fiery furnace; it placed a youthful David onto the battlefield
alone against a fierce and ferocious adversary; it gathered Pastor
Jonas Clark’s congregants (mostly farmers and merchants) onto
Lexington Green to face Britain’s highly trained, professional
soldiers.
So, where are the virtues of honesty and courage in the desire for
truth today? Threaten the average pastor and church leader with some
obscure IRS tax code and they will quickly turn their backs upon
virtually every principle of truth and honor that they once professed
to believe. The mere threat of potential financial loss sends men
(excuse me, males) scurrying for cover.
In this regard, when then-Senator Lyndon Johnson created the heinous
501(c)3 IRS tax-exempt status for churches, he very cleverly (with
assistance from Hades, I might add) planted the seeds that would grow
up to intimidate the vast majority of America’s pastors and church
leaders into becoming silent slaves of the state. In fact, if one has
an opportunity to ever bore deeply into the matter, he or she will
discover that most pastors and church leaders today do not even regard
the Church as the institution of the living God, bound only to the
laws and principles of God’s Holy Word; they perceive it as a
creature of the state, bound to the subjective machinations of IRS
bureaucrats and their toadies in the law profession. And should a
choice ever have to be made between the two, God, His Word, and His
Church will be thrown under the bus in preference to the state-owned
corporation. So much for truth--or honesty, or courage, for that
matter.
The rejection of truth seems ubiquitous in America today. When did it
start? Maybe when Abraham Lincoln turned the Constitution on its head
and--at bayonet point--turned republicanism into nationalism; maybe
when Woodrow Wilson rejected thousands of years of human history and
turned America’s sound money system over to the corrupt and
illegitimate Federal Reserve; maybe when Wilson created the monstrous
Internal Revenue Service; maybe when the 17th Amendment was adopted;
maybe when the American media convinced people that Lee Harvey Oswald
acted alone in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; maybe
when the American people (including the vast majority of pastors and
Christians) turned their backs (and their hearts) to the Branch
Davidians, who were murdered by federal agents outside Waco, Texas;
maybe when so-called “conservative” Senate Republicans
deliberately chose to cover up President Bill Clinton’s criminal
conduct; maybe when the powers that be began demonizing anyone who
dared to question the “official” story regarding the events on
9/11/01; maybe when a vast majority of Christians and conservatives
blindly followed and actively supported the unconstitutional,
un-American policies of President George W. Bush. They supported Bush
when he threw off Western Civilization’s time-tested Just War
doctrine (and replaced it with an unconscionable Preemptive War
policy), and, again, when he officially began turning America into a
police state by creating the Department of Homeland Security,
implementing the Military Commissions Act, introducing the Patriot
Act, and dismantling Habeus Corpus and Posse Comitatus. Whenever it
started, the sad reality is, America has largely become a nation of
truth-rejecters.
There is a passage of Scripture that I simply must interject here:
“Because they received not the love of the truth . . . God shall
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” (II
Thess. 2:10,11 KJV)
This is one of God’s universal principles: when people deliberately
reject truth, God will allow them to believe lies, which always leads
to ultimate destruction. I submit that is exactly where America is
today. As a nation, we have rejected truth, and God is giving us over
to deceit and falsehood. And what is interesting to me is the way in
which many unbelievers seem to have a thirst for truth that far
surpasses that of many professing Christians. This leads to an amazing
paradox.
Think of it: when God is moving within a nation with His plan of
truth and justice (which He is always doing), then it stands to reason
that the evil one is, likewise, resisting and countering God’s plan
through deceit and falsehood. This means that those unbelievers who
seek truth are allying themselves with God (maybe even unwittingly),
while those professing Christians who have rejected truth are allying
themselves against God (again, maybe even unwittingly). Remember, God
called the heathen king, Cyrus, “my shepherd.” (Isa. 44:28) But
one thing is constant: truth is like a magnet: one is always being
pulled toward it or away from it, depending upon the polarity of
one’s heart and mind. People who embrace truth tend to embrace it
further, while people who reject truth tend to be continually hardened
against it.
Think of the conflicts of world and American history where brothers
fought against brothers. Many of these brethren died at the hands of
brethren fighting for truth, while other brethren died fighting
against truth. And though men may be unable to discern the difference,
God suffers from no such malady. He knows those who enable truth and
those who disable it. And many of those today that are resisting and
disabling truth call themselves Christians. There is another
appropriate Scripture: “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
(Matt. 7:20 KJV)
Again, the desire for truth is a bedrock principle of a free and
independent society. We must desire truth, first, in our own hearts.
We must be willing to objectively analyze our motives and actions
based upon this fundamental principle. How can so many people
(including professing Christians) behave so dishonestly? How can they
act so cowardly? How is it that truth is only precious when it
doesn’t cost us anything? How can people be so unconcerned about
truth and so spiteful toward those who seek it? How can those who
claim as their Savior the One is “the way, the truth, and the
life” be so calloused against truth? How can those who claim to read
the word of truth (the Bible) be so ignorant of truth?
Look around you: our society is breaking apart due to a lack of
appreciation for truth. Small businesses are being put out of business
due to a lack of truth. Families are being torn apart due to a lack of
truth. Churches are filled with bitterness, carnality, envy, deceit,
duplicity, false accusation, greed, and cowardice due to a lack of
truth. Our political institutions mock the principles of decency and
honor due to a lack of truth. The national media loves to distort
truth; the federal judiciary loves to twist truth; and there is no
such thing as truth to Big Business--only bottom line profits.
As we enter a new year in search of Heaven’s blessing and
protection, let us remind ourselves that God always judges people who
reject truth. Always! If we truly want Heaven’s blessing and
protection upon our land, we will start--each of us--by being willing
to seek and embrace truth, even if doing so costs us something;
because, in reality, people who reject truth lose a whole lot more
than whatever they had hoped to gain. Eventually, they lose, not only
their own lives, but also the life of their country.
By Chuck Baldwin
January 6, 2011
Archived column:
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/
A bedrock principle of Natural Law (the Law upon which Western
Civilization rests) is the primacy of truth. Without a desire for, and
appreciation of, truth, society cannot sustain itself. Lies, deceit,
duplicity, etc., are more than moral evils; they are the bane of
freedom and liberty. Take away truth, and one is left without honor,
justice, or decency. Truth is the cement that holds the bricks and
stones of a sane and civilized society together. Remove the former and
the latter will crumble.
Truth also demands courage and honesty, because sometimes it can be
very painful to look at! It takes an honest man to desire truth, as
truth will often reveal the character flaws in his own soul. It also
takes courage to appreciate truth, as truth will often demand that one
change his own opinion or conduct. Unfortunately, it does appear that
the desire for truth has been replaced with a desire for deceit.
Years ago, a great, old preacher-warrior told my former church
congregation, “People today love being lied to.” How right he was!
For the most part, even professing Christian people today love being
lied to. It would seem that many people find deceit easier to digest
than truth. Maybe it’s because these people lack the aforementioned
virtues of honesty and courage.
Truth demands the virtue of honesty, because honesty requires that
information be objectively analyzed and studied; it requires that
personal prejudices and proclivities be set aside; it requires that
humility replace pride, which allows one’s opinions and conduct to
change in the face of truth.
Truth also demands courage, as courage is the active response to
honesty. To know what is right to do is great (many people do not even
know this much), but to act upon what one knows to be right is even
greater--and also harder! Courage gives men the fortitude and
conviction to suffer personal loss in order to be faithful to their
own honesty. Courage places more value on honesty and truth than on
personal prosperity or aggrandizement. Courage propelled Daniel into
the lion’s den; it drove Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the
burning fiery furnace; it placed a youthful David onto the battlefield
alone against a fierce and ferocious adversary; it gathered Pastor
Jonas Clark’s congregants (mostly farmers and merchants) onto
Lexington Green to face Britain’s highly trained, professional
soldiers.
So, where are the virtues of honesty and courage in the desire for
truth today? Threaten the average pastor and church leader with some
obscure IRS tax code and they will quickly turn their backs upon
virtually every principle of truth and honor that they once professed
to believe. The mere threat of potential financial loss sends men
(excuse me, males) scurrying for cover.
In this regard, when then-Senator Lyndon Johnson created the heinous
501(c)3 IRS tax-exempt status for churches, he very cleverly (with
assistance from Hades, I might add) planted the seeds that would grow
up to intimidate the vast majority of America’s pastors and church
leaders into becoming silent slaves of the state. In fact, if one has
an opportunity to ever bore deeply into the matter, he or she will
discover that most pastors and church leaders today do not even regard
the Church as the institution of the living God, bound only to the
laws and principles of God’s Holy Word; they perceive it as a
creature of the state, bound to the subjective machinations of IRS
bureaucrats and their toadies in the law profession. And should a
choice ever have to be made between the two, God, His Word, and His
Church will be thrown under the bus in preference to the state-owned
corporation. So much for truth--or honesty, or courage, for that
matter.
The rejection of truth seems ubiquitous in America today. When did it
start? Maybe when Abraham Lincoln turned the Constitution on its head
and--at bayonet point--turned republicanism into nationalism; maybe
when Woodrow Wilson rejected thousands of years of human history and
turned America’s sound money system over to the corrupt and
illegitimate Federal Reserve; maybe when Wilson created the monstrous
Internal Revenue Service; maybe when the 17th Amendment was adopted;
maybe when the American media convinced people that Lee Harvey Oswald
acted alone in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; maybe
when the American people (including the vast majority of pastors and
Christians) turned their backs (and their hearts) to the Branch
Davidians, who were murdered by federal agents outside Waco, Texas;
maybe when so-called “conservative” Senate Republicans
deliberately chose to cover up President Bill Clinton’s criminal
conduct; maybe when the powers that be began demonizing anyone who
dared to question the “official” story regarding the events on
9/11/01; maybe when a vast majority of Christians and conservatives
blindly followed and actively supported the unconstitutional,
un-American policies of President George W. Bush. They supported Bush
when he threw off Western Civilization’s time-tested Just War
doctrine (and replaced it with an unconscionable Preemptive War
policy), and, again, when he officially began turning America into a
police state by creating the Department of Homeland Security,
implementing the Military Commissions Act, introducing the Patriot
Act, and dismantling Habeus Corpus and Posse Comitatus. Whenever it
started, the sad reality is, America has largely become a nation of
truth-rejecters.
There is a passage of Scripture that I simply must interject here:
“Because they received not the love of the truth . . . God shall
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” (II
Thess. 2:10,11 KJV)
This is one of God’s universal principles: when people deliberately
reject truth, God will allow them to believe lies, which always leads
to ultimate destruction. I submit that is exactly where America is
today. As a nation, we have rejected truth, and God is giving us over
to deceit and falsehood. And what is interesting to me is the way in
which many unbelievers seem to have a thirst for truth that far
surpasses that of many professing Christians. This leads to an amazing
paradox.
Think of it: when God is moving within a nation with His plan of
truth and justice (which He is always doing), then it stands to reason
that the evil one is, likewise, resisting and countering God’s plan
through deceit and falsehood. This means that those unbelievers who
seek truth are allying themselves with God (maybe even unwittingly),
while those professing Christians who have rejected truth are allying
themselves against God (again, maybe even unwittingly). Remember, God
called the heathen king, Cyrus, “my shepherd.” (Isa. 44:28) But
one thing is constant: truth is like a magnet: one is always being
pulled toward it or away from it, depending upon the polarity of
one’s heart and mind. People who embrace truth tend to embrace it
further, while people who reject truth tend to be continually hardened
against it.
Think of the conflicts of world and American history where brothers
fought against brothers. Many of these brethren died at the hands of
brethren fighting for truth, while other brethren died fighting
against truth. And though men may be unable to discern the difference,
God suffers from no such malady. He knows those who enable truth and
those who disable it. And many of those today that are resisting and
disabling truth call themselves Christians. There is another
appropriate Scripture: “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
(Matt. 7:20 KJV)
Again, the desire for truth is a bedrock principle of a free and
independent society. We must desire truth, first, in our own hearts.
We must be willing to objectively analyze our motives and actions
based upon this fundamental principle. How can so many people
(including professing Christians) behave so dishonestly? How can they
act so cowardly? How is it that truth is only precious when it
doesn’t cost us anything? How can people be so unconcerned about
truth and so spiteful toward those who seek it? How can those who
claim as their Savior the One is “the way, the truth, and the
life” be so calloused against truth? How can those who claim to read
the word of truth (the Bible) be so ignorant of truth?
Look around you: our society is breaking apart due to a lack of
appreciation for truth. Small businesses are being put out of business
due to a lack of truth. Families are being torn apart due to a lack of
truth. Churches are filled with bitterness, carnality, envy, deceit,
duplicity, false accusation, greed, and cowardice due to a lack of
truth. Our political institutions mock the principles of decency and
honor due to a lack of truth. The national media loves to distort
truth; the federal judiciary loves to twist truth; and there is no
such thing as truth to Big Business--only bottom line profits.
As we enter a new year in search of Heaven’s blessing and
protection, let us remind ourselves that God always judges people who
reject truth. Always! If we truly want Heaven’s blessing and
protection upon our land, we will start--each of us--by being willing
to seek and embrace truth, even if doing so costs us something;
because, in reality, people who reject truth lose a whole lot more
than whatever they had hoped to gain. Eventually, they lose, not only
their own lives, but also the life of their country.
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