Pastor Ron Martin
Every truth in the universe belongs to God because all truth belongs to Him.
Every scientific law, mathematical formula, and every relationship theory belongs to God and can trace its roots to the character and nature of God.
Human knowledge is a discovery of the Truth that already exists because it was created by God.
Today’s society frequently accepts things long believed evil, then defends them as good. When one speaks out against evil, but supports things that are good, those things and/or the person speaking, are labeled oppressive, extremist, a hater, a _____phobe, subject to “cancelation”, and so on. Free-speech questions aside, how did we get to this point?
Isaiah 5:20-21 stresses that those who call evil good and good evil are navigating perilous waters. Isaiah might have written this passage just for today; we are witness to the phenomena happening both around the world and right in our own back yard. But then again, the Word of God is as immutable as God Himself, making the words of Isaiah just as timeless as He who inspired the great prophet. The common philosophy of modern society is sometimes called “radical subjectivism,” or “post-modern cultural relativism,” “standpoint epistemology,” and similar euphemistic names. Post-modernism is a philosophy that views truth and reality, and good and evil, strictly as personal interpretations as opposed to what they really are: universal constants. Claims of ‘truth’ are often ensconced in technical jargon designed to confuse, packaged to sound intellectual, and to resound well in academic echo chambers. These ideologies are usually rooted in narcissism, or in a general feeling of personal superiority by one person or a group of people. Regardless, the up and coming culture of “wokism” has taken this to a whole new level – one that’s based solely on self-interest and everyone “doing what is right in their own eyes” (Deuteronomy 12:8; Judges 17:5-6; Proverbs 3:7, 12:15).
The post-modernist refuses to accept the existence of a single Truth – God’s Truth – so they choose to deny its existence. Once one denies the existence of Truth, it becomes easy to reject the morality and ethics based therein. They make Truth out to be whatever each individual wants it to be “in their own eyes,” regardless of any actual foundation in reality. “Goodness” then naturally becomes relative to each person’s opinion. In the antiques trade, the phrase “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure” is often heard. Modernists apply this concept to their definition of “truth;” They generally view morals and truth as purely cultural and/or self-oriented.
Close scrutiny often reveals these notions or claims to be mere opinion and/or emotionally-charged assertions declared as “fact.” Were we to discuss the Holocaust, such relativists would – applying their own logic – have no grounds for saying the Nazi Party was evil. To Nazis, it was their culture at that time and their sincerely-held belief that Jews were worthless; It was their truth. Any intelligent person should see the absurdity in that line of reasoning. At the same time though, relativists will still not hesitate to declare the Nazis “evil.” When they do, they would be forced to admit that absolute morals do exist as a self-evident Truth. And yet, they will persist in similarly faulty logic regarding other issues. Biology clearly demonstrates the reality of two genders throughout nature. Still, post-modern cultural relativists argue that gender is fluid, since they view gender as purely a feeling, a social construct, or personal choice. In so doing, they deny the very science they claim to believe in. In this example, we clearly see how objective truth (biological fact) is ignored in favor of subjective ideology (individual preference).
“Truth” is defined as: “the true or actual state of a matter; conformity with fact or reality; verity; a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle; the state or character of being true; actuality or actual existence; an obvious fact.[1]” The definition makes no allowance for individual preference. Paraphrasing: Any claim of truth regarding nature, ideas, or beliefs must be predicated on fact and reality. Truth cannot be claimed based on feelings or emotion, desired or preferred reality, or an invented belief system. Reality is not a premise of desires, whims, or ideologies. All truth is God’s Truth, absolute and unalterable. Truth cannot conform to one’s own feelings, desires, ideologies, etc. because, at that point, it ceases to be Truth.
The “woke” worldview is visibly self-defeating: If the truth were truly relative, then the woke claim that “truth is relative” would itself be a relative claim. Therefore, those who live with respect for the Truth are free to refute, debate, and ignore the modernist/secular humanist claims, since those claims have no absolute state and are, therefore, essentially meaningless (review Ecclesiastes). Conversely, those who live a life dedicated to lies, actively – often vociferously or violently – work to silence all dissenting views, thus effectively calling good “evil.”
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil...” By using the Hebrew word for “woe,” Isaiah states that those who get caught doing any of these things will be held accountable. It’s a lot more than just “enlightened” attitudes and narcissistic ideology. There is something much deeper in the hearts of people that causes them to engage in self-destructive thoughts, behaviours, and activities. For Judeo-Christians, it’s called ‘The Fall from Grace.”
When the devil tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, he first tried to cause her to doubt the truth of what God had told her (Genesis 3:1-23). After planting the doubt, he replaced Truth with a lie – perhaps the very first brainwashing. Take note also of the cowardice displayed by the devil: he attacked Eve, the weaker vessel, instead of a direct attack on Adam. Adam and Eve were God’s “young children” then, with Eve the youngest[2]. So Eve went to Adam and planted the same seed of doubt, extending the lie to Adam. Adam didn’t fall for it, but still made a bad choice to follow his wife’s lead. Adam was the head, and had the responsibility to protect his house. He followed Eve instead of God, and is therefore responsible for ignoring Truth and suborning falsehood, thus allowing sin to enter the world. According to Genesis 3:17-19, it was Adam’s duty to keep Yahweh’s commandments. Thus, every human has an inborn inclination to reject the Truth, favoring feelings and perceptions instead. We choose what feels good, what we prefer for reality, thus losing the capacity to ask “What’s right?” in favour of “What’s right for me?” Nevertheless, God gave us wisdom and tools to decide what IS right and good – if we choose to employ them.
Liberalism, which embodies progressivism, which purports ‘wokism’ as an individualism irrespective of others, actually rejects the sanctity of the individual. Does this seem in direct opposition to the earlier argument? In a way it does, exemplifying the illogic of the whole self-defeating ideology. A highly-regarded radio and TV personality recently referred to ‘wokism’ as a cult – an accurate description. It is a cult that worships the god of self, and which allows no other gods, or God, before it. The word “cult” is generally associated with negative connotations, and this is no exception. Therefore, it would be safe to look upon the world’s systems that are based upon lies, as cults. Progressivism and ‘wokeism’ seeks to remove any mention of God, His Son, and the Truth from public life. Why? It’s not out of fear of Yeshua, Yahweh, or organized faith groups thereof, but because it sees the mind of man as sacrosanct, and views his government as an omnipotent collection of such minds. A God-sized hole cannot be filled by a government-sized peg: a cult premised on lies, demanding that everyone conform to one world system – a.k.a. communism – as opposed to the freedom of individual choice and personal liberty, is a guaranteed failure. Does the United States Constitution grant freedoms? No. It does, however, name and recognize the source of freedom!
· “Progressivism lives in a vacuum of virtue, and liberty without virtue is anarchy. This results in selective moral outrage over what the proletariat deems acceptable this week.”
– Mark Levin, “The Mark Levin Show”, 9 December 2017.
· “Some use philosophy to seduce by disguising error with long words and subtle arguments and honorable-sounding names. See that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophies which depend upon human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” – Augustine
· “Truth is certainty. It binds reality to the wearer and grants the proper perspective. It is the arch-enemy of falsehood, lies & half-truths [which are the same thing], deception, gossip, and counterfeit ‘fake truth.’ Truth is not open to re-evaluation or redefinition. Truth is a clearly defined entity, the ultimate reality, which resides in the God of the universe.”
– Dr. David Jeremiah, “Overcomer” series, 2018.
· “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently oppressed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident.” – Arthur Schopenhaver, German philosopher, 1788-1860.
So why is it that people are ready, willing, and able to believe and embrace lies at the drop of a hat, but question the Truth nine ways from Sunday? Why is an accuser believed and a person convicted and imprisoned without a shred of proof? The U.S. Constitution forbids that, yet the American society has embraced just the opposite – it has taken a good and turned it to evil and made something evil out to be good. What if the accuser is lying and the accused is truthful? The father of all lies is the devil (John 8:44), while the Father of Truth is Yahweh. He loves us intensely, such that He prepared a way for us to bridge that gap between Himself and us so that we can see the effects of the Fall reversed. He sent His Only Begotten Son, Yeshua, to be the Messiah, the Savior of all humanity (John 3:16-17).
Does this mean that only a Christian can readily discern the truth and be transformed into it? People of the world, who conform to its ways, ipso-facto conform to its lies. It seems as though people of good conscience – which is the Spirit of God – should have the ability to discern, but doesn’t Scripture also say that even a devil knows right from wrong? Yes, and it also tells that those devils “tremble” (James 2:19). Even a professional thief knows when he’s being double-crossed, though he chooses not to live rightly himself. Although he is not a Christian and choosing to live a sinful lifestyle, he can still discern. He chooses to call his evil “good;” it’s his preference and his ideology. Here again though, his ideology is self-defeating because he calls the double-crosser “evil.” This is the very definition of hypocrisy.
Through the acceptance of the objective truths of the Gospel, and our personal commitment to serving the Lord in faith, we are able to have a loving relationship with God again; a relationship based on Truth. A basic requirement is that we choose to call good “good” and evil “evil.”
We might ask then, “What makes a ‘good’ person good?” When a good person sins, makes a mistake, or otherwise does something ‘bad,’ he owns up to it, takes responsibility, and moves on.
From the Psalms, we learn that David didn’t much care about the thoughts or ways of men. He was far more interested in discerning the thoughts and ways of God. Ask yourselves: If I watched others follow my example by doing what I do, speaking as I do, thinking what I think, looking at what I watch, would I see the building of and honour for the Kingdom work, or furthering the deceptions of the world? How amazing that these self-evident truths are inextricably linked together by God! Romans 12:1-2 implores non-conformity with the world, and later the dire warning that Paul wrote to the Philippians for failure to do so: “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.” (3:17-19). Spoons don’t make you fat, guns don’t kill people, pencils don't misspell words, and cars don’t cause drunk driving.
Colossians 3:2 – “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” The things of the earth are not of heaven (evil is not good), and the things of heaven cannot lead to evil. When a person claims to understand what the Bible teaches, yet when it contradicts the ways of man, by what logic would one question the Bible instead of questioning man (Acts 5:29)? To paraphrase Isaiah, woe to those who do that!
“But God is not science, and belief in God is not rational,” some cry. That cry is a philosophy, an opinion, not a fact. Challenging popular interpretations is not a defiance of science – actually, it’s quite the opposite. Challenging, questioning, and experimenting are the driving forces behind scientific investigation. Just because a particular position is the popular paradigm today does not mean that it is the final word on the matter. Science has proven God’s existence in innumerable ways, often through archaeology. Wage these battles from the neck up, not from the neck down.
God originally created government, and it was He who first appointed judges, and later, kings. The purpose therein was to enforce good and justice; Christians must remain vigilant to make sure government does not veer from that purpose. Government was appointed to serve the people, not to take over their lives or invade God-given rights, including parents’ sovereign duty to raise their children according to God’s truth. The American Declaration of Independence formalized basic Truth into man’s law, and established that government is instituted to protect those rights, not find ways around them to make a “more just society” in their own eyes. Civil rights were designed by God (Deuteronomy 1:13-18).
In the Christian faith, we recognize the objective nature of His commandments, including His moral and ethical law, even when we might prefer something else… that professional thief is free to choose repentance and the path of righteousness instead – he can choose to call the evil the evil that it is, and not ‘good’.
All ‘truth’ is not God’s Truth. Truth is discerned by an individual based upon whence the person receives their spiritual authority. Therefore, psychology must be based on empirical and provable data, observable, and repeatable; every person’s personal psychology is different, as every person is a unique individual. This is why government-imposed broad-brush policies are both unconstitutional and doomed to fail – almost always causing greater harm – to the people they pretend to serve. People select interpretations that best fit their worldview, causing those views to be rooted in presupposition (opinion). If one has Creationism as a core belief, their worldview is based there. The same is true for one whose core belief is random-chance evolution. But… if the world happened purely by chance, how can there possibly be any claim “scientific constancy?” The Second Law of Thermodynamics – a scientific constant – alone defeats the concept of ‘evolution into a system of random betterment.’ Woe to those who call falsehood a truth! Metaphysics and philosophy are usually rooted in a faithless worldview and in opinions thereof (presuppositions). Therefore, one could easily argue that any of the man-made philosophies discussed in this paper fall outside of the disciplines of science. Christianity does not “progress” with the times. If it did, it would be a false religion. There cannot be a ‘progressive’ form of Christianity because Truth never changes – Truth is a constant.
Conscience does not set one’s standards, it applies the standards one has chosen. This goes to the explanation of why some call evil good or good evil – why lies are the ‘truth’ to some. The philosophy begins where and from whom one draws their life standards or spiritual authority. The dirtier a window gets, the less light it allows through. The same is true for the conscience – how clean are our standards?
The “seared conscience” is a whole other issue not addressed here. One with a seared conscience can be so twisted, warped, and turned around that doing what is right can actually seem wrong to them, and vice-versa. Seared consciences are what has wrought the massive national crime wave taking place at the time of this writing. Those who loot, steal, burn, and otherwise destroy lives and livelihoods see no evil in what they do, John 10:10a. Pathological liars, many of whom presume to serve as “leaders” here and around the world, often see no wrong in their evil, as long as they achieve their version of ‘good.’ Nevertheless, this is one answer to the outset question of this study. What does God say about it? See Proverbs 12:22 for one example answer.
The Christian does not excuse or tolerate sin. The Christian accepts the sinner, but rejects the sin. The Christian teaches the Truth in matters of sin so that the soul may find forgiveness and peace. The Christian is, above all else, firmly established in reality, because Christians are firmly established in God’s Truth, which reveals the way things really are in our world, both the good and the evil. We must never seek to conflate the two.
“What was once condemned is now celebrated. What was once celebrated is now condemned, and those who will not celebrate it are condemned. This represents the moral inversion of society, and the claim that Christians are bigoted.” — Dr. Robert Jeffress
[1] Miriam-Webster Dictionary of American English, 1937 edition; later editions have also redefined ‘truth’
[2] In a similar way, the ‘woke’ culture of today attacks the weakest vessels among us – our children, attempting to brainwash/indoctrinate them in to a system of false or missing morality. While driving through town recently, I saw the school zone lights flashing. We erect fancy lights and signs, speed bumps, reduced speed limits, etc. in order to protect children’s physical safety. How does one comport that with the lies and filth being pumped into their heads and spirits inside the school? How does one comport the attitude of “protecting children” at the same time we have a state (Maryland, at time of this writing) that is trying to legalize the murder of a child up to 28 days of age? How is teaching 3rd graders to masturbate several times a day as a “stress relief option” good? Why do 3rd graders need stress relief in the first place? The garbage they’re being taught, maybe? Not learning morality at home or in church? In what way can this evil perversity be called good? Woe to those who do!
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