The following excerpts have brought me a heightened awareness, motivation, challenge, and useful knowledge in navigating dangerous ideologies in our culture as well as building me up in my walk with Christ. I understand that some Christians choose to be indifferent to, or are simply unaware of the false teachings that are thriving amongst us, however, I encourage you to be informed, equipped, and intentional in overcoming evil with good (Romans 12:21). I am attempting to influence the broader culture as our Lord exhorted us to disciple, “nations, people groups,” (Matthew 19:20-21), as well as increase our faith in Him (2 Peter 1:5-9).
Periodically, I interject my thoughts. I have been intentional in communicating with people from all levels of spiritual interest regarding every subject I reference in this article. These conversations have proved to be reaffirming and instructive for me and others I talk with. In one such encounter this week I communicated the principles of corruption, explained the three questions that are answered in the treatment of worldviews, and even asked the person to explain her worldview by answering the three questions. (See below to #2). She expressed her gratefulness by saying “Thank you, Dale, for the insights and wisdom.”
#1 From Total Truth, by Nancy Pearcey,
I confess, outside of the Bible, Total Truth has been a major spiritual plumb line for me. From my perspective, this is the best book written on developing a Biblical Total Truth Worldview (BTTW).
When I did a teaching series titled The Truth about the World, we sold over 450 of these books! If you read three chapters, you will be ahead of approximately 80% of professing Christians regarding being equipped to face, understand, and critique the prolific false ideologies in our culture.
“A religion that ignores the intellectual tasks of explaining the Faith and retreats to the therapeutic realm of personal relationships and feeling will not survive in today’s spiritual battlefield. …. Every time a minister introduces a biblical teaching, he should also instruct the congregation in the way to defend it against the major objections they are likely to encounter regarding the Truth presented.” p. 127
I printed this quote out and placed it in the back of my everyday Bible. I probably reference this quote three to four times in each month as I carry out by daily routines.
“but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” – 1 Peter 3:15 ESV
#2 From Total Truth, by Nancy Pearcey
“The problem is not to win souls but to save minds. If you win the whole world and lose the mind of the world, you will soon discover you have not won the world.”
– Charles Malik p 63
“Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” – Matthew 22:37 NLT
“A worldview is like a lens in which one looks at the whole world. We must insist on presenting Christianity as a comprehensive, unified worldview that addresses all of life and reality. It is not just religious truth but total truth.” p. 111
Below are a few take-aways about worldviews. It has served as a templet in critiquing other worldviews and ideologies. I have added the Scripture to clarify a BTTW.
Every worldview or ideolog must answer the same three sets of questions:
CREATION: Where did it come from? Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” – Gen.1:1 KJV
FALL: What went wrong? Genesis 3:1-17
“At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness.”
– Genesis 3:7 NLT
REDEMPTION: How is it made right? 1 Corinthians 15:24-25
“After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. 25 For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet.” – 1 Corinthians 15:24-25 NLT
#3 From Exodus and Deuteronomy Commentaries, The Rational Bible by Dennis Prager.
Short statements about:
Corruption “Nothing explains the success or failure of countries more than does the presence of or absence of corruption.” p. 339, from the Exodus Commentary.
“But select from all the people some capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes. Appoint them as leaders over groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten.” – Exodus 18:21 NLT
Bribery is the single most common form of corruption.
These four qualities are what I look for when voting. No one will bat a thousand, but I vote for the candidate that is closest to demonstrating these qualities. I also measure the policies and platform of a particular party that is nearest to biblical principles. Please vote according to your biblical knowledge and conscience.
The False god of Reason “When the average German citizen remained silent while his Jewish neighbors were deported, he was acting entirely according to reason. Reason suggested not endangering one’s life by aiding a Jew. Is reason the best guide to good behavior? It may be argued that the only people in Nazi Germany who acted morally acted against reason.” – p. 235-236 From the Exodus Commentary
“Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.” – 1 Corinthians 8:1 NKJV
“You shall have no other gods besides me.” – Exodus 20:3
Secular Education “The moral failure of German Christians is almost universally acknowledged. But the moral failure of German secular education and intellectuals is almost universally ignored.” p. 230 From the Exodus Commentary
“So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. – 1 Corinthians 1:20 NLT
The Function of Judges “The role of a judge is not to undo society’s ills, but to render justice in the particular case that has come before the court.” p. 335 based on Exodus 23:2
“Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.” – Leviticus 19:15 NLT
Following The Majority “One of the saddest facts of the human condition is that most people follow the herd.” p. 334, From the Exodus Commentary
“You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert [justice;]” – Exodus 23:2 NASB95
Courage
Courage is the rarest of all the good traits. There are far more kind and honest people than there are courageous people.” p. 14 From the Exodus Commentary
“Courage does not operate with the absence of fear, it is staying obedient amidst our fears.” – Dale Ebel
“This is my command–be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9 NLT
Fearing God
“Those who feared God saved the Hebrew babies. Those who feared Pharaoh helped drown Hebrew babies.” p. 12 From the Exodus Commentary
“The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.” Exodus 1:17
“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.” – Proverbs 29:25 ESV
Gratitude:
Only when people remember the good others have done for them will they have gratitude. Unfortunately, however, most people remember the bad people have done to them far longer than the good. Or to put it another way, gratitude takes effort; resentment is effortless.” p.111 from the Exodus Commentary
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,” – Hebrews 12:28 ESV
Memory “Memory perpetuates gratitude—no memory, no gratitude. It perpetuates faith, no memory, no faith. And it perpetuates the nation—no national memory, no nation.” p. 152 From the Exodus Commentary,
“Remember the days of long ago; think about the generations past. Ask your father, and he will inform you. Inquire of your elders, and they will tell you.” – Deuteronomy 32:7 NLT
“Remember to obey the Law of Moses, my servant–all the decrees and regulations that I gave him on Mount Sinai for all Israel.” – Malachi 4:4 NLT
Kidnappers should be put to death.
“The kidnapping of any human being, regardless of religion, race, or nationality, is a capital offense.” p. 293 Based on Exodus 21:16
“Kidnappers must be put to death, whether they are caught in possession of their victims or have already sold them as slaves.” – Exodus 21:16 NLT
Donald Trump is being Biblically accurate when he says if he is President, all sex traffickers, if caught, will be put to death. Once again, the magnificent Torah written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is applicable today!
STAGGERING ISN’T IT? THIS APPLIES TO PRESENT DAY SEX TRAFFICKING!
Fictitiously I say: “so much for the old restrictive, legalist judicial law from the Hebrew Bible that has nothing to say to our modern culture.” Really?
The Encroachment of The State
“When people do not control themselves, they will end up having others control them. Those others will be foreign tyrants or indigenous tyrants.” p. 266 from Deuteronomy Commentary
“Most people do not yearn to be free; they yearn to be taken care of. Liberty is therefore a value more than it is a human yearning.” p. 71, from Deuteronomy Commentary
“But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” – 1 Samuel 8:19-20 NIV
I have discovered in countries, including America, people in positions of authority, (government officials, rulers-religious or secular, school boards, school administrators, academic elites, woke companies, etc.), encroach upon the freedom of individuals desiring to align their allegiances to the state or state mandated policies. This is a form of fascism which moves away from individualism toward a collectivist society with the state as the instrument of determining what is best for the common good. This is why intrusive government through dictated policies, and stifling regulations, is so destructive to a free society.
We err to only identify fascism as an extreme authoritarian rule like Nazism in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, or Franco in Spain. If you goggle fascism, it is sobering because it is labeled as a “right wing” form of Government. This incomplete understanding has even led Christians to be labeled as “right wing.” This is called inversion, which is accusing a particular person or group of doing the very thing that the accusers are doing.
Regarding the family and the state please read the comments from Nancy Pearcey below:
“The state always finds itself having to force (this is tyranny) people to fulfill its utopian schemes. The destruction of the family is often simply one tool for increasing government power over individuals by eliminating competing loyalties, in an attempt to create total allegiance to the state. To defend the family against statist agendas, we need to make the case that only the biblical drama of Creation, Fall, and Redemption gives a realistic yet humane account of human nature and of the structure and purpose of the family in society.” p. 131, Total Truth.
#4 From Cynical Theories, How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender and Identity and why this harms Everybody. By Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay.
This was a seminal book for me that proved to be instrumental in my understanding of the many gradations of the Social Justice Movement. I have used the information from this book to gain knowledge of Critical Race Theory and recommended it to participates at a seminar I led on CRT. This book is not for the faint of heart or those who are intellectually complacent, but I soon discovered while reading this book that the opposition is anything but complacent. They are intelligent, articulate, intellectually astute, rigorously determined and are aggressively expanding their destructive credos. At minimum, we ought to be equally equipped with Truths that support our biblical premises to equip and protect our kids and, hopefully, to aid the average church attender to be able to defend their Faith. If you desire, I wrote in 2020 and 2021 articles about the multifaceted off shoots of Critical Race Theory.
On Masculinity
I have chosen to address masculinity, which is only one of many subjects from the book:
“Men’s and masculinities studies often rely heavily on the concept of ‘hegemonic masculinities,’…” Hegemonic masculinity refers to the dominate form of masculinity, which are understood to maintain men’s superiority over women and perpetuate aggressive and competitive expressions of maleness, which are socially enforced. Hegemonic masculinity is connected to the concept of ‘toxic masculinity’ and defines a man as one who exercises domination, the devaluation of women, is homophobia, and practices wanton violence. This controversial concept has proven instrumental in applying Postmodern Theory (society is structured in unjust systems of power) to the supposedly urgent question of why American society was willing to elect the boorish Donald Trump and why traditional masculinity would be treated as a psychological illness by the American Psychological Association, as suggested in 2018 Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Men and Boys.” p. 154-155
I recently interacted with a gentleman who parroted the postmodern rendition of masculinity. It was quite easy for him to codify and dismiss Trump as a “boorish” (rough and course) individual. He also was able, from a distance of course, to assess Trump’s psychological profile as a sociopath who was senile.
I went online and read from Psychology Today’s website to discover the predominate theme of masculinity as controlling, domineering, rude, manipulative, aggressive, with a sense of superiority. This image has infiltrated the feminized American evangelical church. Most evangelical social justice churches desire their pastor to be nice and gentle rather than strong and courageous. I am naïve enough to believe that these traits are not mutually exclusive.
The godly men I know and interact with are strong, wise, devoted to their families, courageous, industrious, love the Lord Jesus Christ, consistent, intelligent, articulate, loyal, competent, good, tough, and kind. Please look to two articles I wrote on my blog: www.daleebel, Masculine Traits Needed to Influence the Church, April 14, 2021, and Social Justice and Manhood, March 19, 2021.
#5 From King Me What every Son Wants and Needs from His Father, by Steve Farrar.
With the massive tenderization of the Lord Jesus Christ in the modern Evangelical Church, Farrar is a breath of fresh air regarding the nature and character of our King—the Lord Jesus Christ!
“I get tired of songs that speak over and over of the “beauty” of Christ. The apostles never said he was beautiful so why should we? The impression of his “beauty” that is given today is feminine. But Christ was male, not female. One doesn’t compliment a man by saying that he is beautiful…. Let’s stop describing Jesus Christ in womanly terms. He is awesome, majestic, holy, and righteous. He is the Son the Living God. He is the God/man. Let’s show Him the proper respect and use masculine, biblical terms to describe his greatness. And in the process, we won’t be sending a wrong message about his person and character.” P. 127
“The warrior motif has pretty much vanished in modern Christendom, but it has not vanished from God’s nature and His Word” – Dale Ebel
“The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name.” – Exodus 15:3 NASB
“But the LORD stands beside me like a great warrior (terrible one KJV, dread champion NASB).”
– Jeremiah 20:11 NLT
“Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” – 2 Timothy 2:3 NLT
Conclusion
- Consider talking with another person about something that impacted you in this article.
- What books are you reading that will spawn discussion in your daily routines?
- Please remember to ask open ended questions to others. Their answers are like windows revealing what is in their inner souls.