Pastor Derek Buikema of Orland Park Christian Reformed Church recently interviewed Rod Dreher about his latest book, Live Not By Lies. Even though sales of this book have been excellent, Pastor Buikema notes that little attention has been given to the book by the mainstream press.
The heart of this excellent interview is a phenomenon we are seeing but don’t always want to acknowledge: we are living in a time of soft totalitarianism. Those who have been blessed to live in the USA all their lives are often not as quick to recognize this as those who have come from communist nations.
Dreher is not overexaggerating what we are facing but rather highlights the confluence of force displayed in media, education, government, and many businesses in our nation. In the Soviet Union, you dared not speak out against the government. In the USA today, businesses monitor employees to see if they are straying from the party line. College students who post flyers for conservative groups are called before Diversity Deans and asked to sign pre-written apologies. Is this the equivalent of the Gulag Archipelago? Of course not, but let’s not minimize or ignore what is taking place just because we don’t feel the pressure as acutely.
The great challenge is to not live by lies. We are called to faithfulness, truth, and love. Many Christians think this is simply niceness. But neither the prophets nor Jesus was nice, but rather loving in the true, biblical sense, speaking the truth even when it wasn’t popular. We must live according to objective truth. It is essential to do this in both words and actions.
We do best to consider the lives of those who have gone before us. Rev. 12:11 declares, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
Many are willing to exchange liberty for comfort. Will we be guilty of doing the same or will we live with courage and hope despite what we may face?
Please watch this 35 minute video and please consider sharing it on your social media platforms:
Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed are those of Rod Dreher
and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Illinois Family Institute.
