The Bedrock Of Western Culture by Robert Socha

The bedrock of Western culture, second only to the Holy Writ, is the freedom of speech and the press. The men who penned the Constitution knew that without this liberty to speak one’s mind, especially concerning government fraud, waste, and abuse, the Republic would not long endure. But, unfortunately, the press has taken this opportunity and morphed into a propaganda arm of the Left. With freedom comes responsibility, and this left-leaning indoctrination has abandoned theirs.

There has been a decades-long concerted effort to challenge this ideal. We have been fighting a battle to maintain the ability to speak one’s mind without the threat of incarceration since the late 1980s. As a result, the ideals and positions that must be taken by those who choose to submit to the authority of Scripture are increasingly taboo and even becoming illegal. For example, a friend of mine who pastors a church in central Europe heard a sermon I preached four or five years ago and told me I could not deliver that sermon in his church because the church would be sued for defamation or some idiotic reason because my speech would have offended the hearer’s hedonistic lifestyle and the laws in the EU defend debauchery to the detriment of Christian ethics. Apparently, in this case, he believed his church would lose and be shut down with the legal and financial burden left on his shoulders. It is a fight he was unwilling to engage in and a dangerous and cowardly position for the propagation of the fullness of the Word of God.

I can make such bold statements because the First Amendment still affords me protections and immunities from being prosecuted for speaking my mind, especially when defending scriptural positions on cultural ideals. Still, most other nations do not grant their populations the same assurances. That’s not to say people shouldn’t verbally defend their positions in these restricted nations, but I can understand the hesitancy to do so, especially where governments enforce blasphemy laws. Tacitly supporting the Gospel truth may be the best option in those cases.

There was a case of language choices in a sermon my wife and I heard while attending a church service a couple of years ago. This sermon occurred around the time when Bruce Jenner’s mental confusion manifested and became a hot topic of pop culture. The man delivering the sermon said from the pulpit, “he, she, whatever.” This lack of moral fortitude immediately took aback my wife and me. We looked at each other and said, “she?” This part of defending Truth in the language is a definitive line in a necessary conversation. We cannot give in to these delusions and fantasies and must oppose them at every level. It is not a “whatever” when speaking about a man indulging his sexual fantasies and mangling his body to satisfy an insatiable lust and be in the spotlight. It is not compassionate nor honorable to give men putting on woman face a public forum and notoriety. Instead, a strong rebuke with a spirit of gentleness should hopefully walk them back from the precipice of delusion and mutilation.

We must continually fill our minds with reading and hearing the Bible, for it is the source of Truth and the anchor of Hope in this hostile world. It will help strengthen our resolve to be counterculturally effective in opening the eyes of the spiritually blind and opposing evil. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8