While we were busy poking fun at the silliness of political correctness, it quietly grew into a Marxist monster called the “Woke” movement. We flirted with it for decades, rightfully eager to become more sensitive to people, movements, and minorities. But the more we fed it, the bigger it grew until it gathered a gang of political-corporate thugs and began terrorizing the playground. And even worse, the teachers and school principle have sided against the skinny kids.
“Woke-ness” divides. It’s a form of Marxism that focuses on race, gender, language and power. Energized by outrage, it separates neighbor from neighbor, blacks from whites, men from women, gays from straights, and natives from immigrants. It rewrites history, topples statues, bans books, cancels dissidence, redefines words, and crushes freedom. And it has been creeping into our churches for decades.
On Easter Sunday I rode past a church in East Texas which proudly declared “We are a Social Justice – Black Lives Matter Church”. It felt both ominous and odd. While most were celebrating the resurrection, our misguided brethren were declaring a political gospel and standing boldly against whiteness. To our well-intentioned friends, activism has replaced evangelism, conversion has given way to “woke-ness”, and the “Enemy” has become the person next door who refuses to play along with the game.
I’ve already experienced the rage of the mob, unfriended for my lack of outrage, condemned for my want of “nuance”, and shunned for refusing to denounce people based on their skin color, or the uniform they wear. Make no mistake, the woke movement is as far from the heart of Jesus as the Pharisees of old.
Please, my friends, hold fast to the beauty of the Gospel: Sin infects us all, the cure is in Christ, true power is expressed in humility, and hope is found in God’s Kingdom. “There is a way which seems right to a man, But it’s end is the way of death.” Proverbs 16:25
Dispatches from the Shadowlands 
Spot on although undoubtedly will be met with some challenge. The UMC is way down this path.
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Thanks, Tom! I’m bracing myself, and looking forward to reading Fault Lines. Our chat the other day gave me some motivation for getting this one up.
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I already have Live Not By Lies and am a couple of chapters into it. It is a nice complement to Fault Lines.
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Thank you, Don, for once again giving us a view of the disastrous road we’re on. We as Christians need to awaken from our 50 years or so of comfortable slumber in the pews, hearing what we wanted to hear, and start listening to the (all too few) preachers who are fearlessly preaching the gospel of Truth, as it relates to today’s society.
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Thanks, Sharon. I sometimes wrestle with speaking out, myself. But God is holding me accountable these days. The time for timidity is well past. Blessings!
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This is right on the nail. This is a ‘new’ gospel which has nothing to do with the Bible or Jesus. The sad thing is this: had the church aggressively addressed the sin of racism in past generations, this would not have had any ground to stand upon.
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Galatians 3:28 is the Destiny of our Nation, which is why we have repeatedly been attacked in this area more than any other. We are Destined to be a City set on a hill beaming this message to the rest of the world that they can find freedom, equality, peace, safety and security in Christ and ONLY in HIM! These things are not found in political or social movements but only in Christ! You are correct that these ways that seem right to man only lead to death. Therefore people need to be Awakened not “woke”.
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Thank you for speaking TRUTH so boldly and beautifully, Don! Yes, there is a cost for doing so, but we are here to serve our Father, not to bow to political correctness or people pleasing. Keep up the good work and know that many of us are standing with you in prayer and in deed, my friend!
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I so appreciate your excellent writing. Your first two paragraphs provide the best description I’ve read so far of the social justice movement’s influence on the Church. Keep writing, Don—your God-given perspective and voice empowers your fellow believers. Thank you!
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Don, this is so well said. It’s not just the society, but, as you say much of the “Church” is calling evil good and good evil. When you look at the heinous actions of the current administration in the Whitehouse not just promoting abortion, but agressively promoting it, when you see bills like like the (so-called) Equality Act which tramples on the rights of all people of all faiths in the name of “equality” (and a gross misunderstanding of that word), when the rights of parents to teach their children right and wrong are being threatened, we see just how quickly deception has crept into the halls of government and the entered doors of the church. We would despair were it not for the word of the Lord that revival is coming in massive ways, and is already breaking out. We must pray and take action (and thank God for the remnant who are like the Sons of Issachar, who “understood the times”). Come Lord Jesus!
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Thanks for your article. What “they” are doing, through politics (laws, regulations, and shows, and behavior modifications through private companies and elsewhere), Hollywood (including thousand channels televisions), Sports “leaders” (Which is why they don’t want Tebow in the NFL.), the internet, and local regulations is all designed to demoralize, dehumanize, and corrupt us. They know, if they corrupt us, and the youth (Which is why they spend so much money propagandizing them, but also creating laws that destroy the family, separating the youth from their parents, causing parents to become afraid to take the serious responsibility of properly raising their children.), their will be no one to stand up against them. I think, in part, this is why they want children on the computer, knowing some will surf the net and become corrupted by what they see. They must destroy the fabric of morality to do this, including the children, just like they did in the Soviet Union, but they have more methods today at their disposal. Yes, they are evil. They are willing to destroy everyone’s morality, and we see these attempts in confusing us about real relationships, real marriage (and the importance of marriage), and traditional (real) identities. They want to dehumanize us, dehumanize children, because they are evil. They want people feeling sorry for mentally ill people as if they were normal, rather than truly helping them, so we won’t correct the behaviors and stand in moral contrast to a growing evil. It’s so easy to see, if one understand principles, traditional life (Which is normal life.), and the history of communist nations. And that’s why there’s so much propaganda, because they can’t afford to give us a sane breathe. They’ve even infected many churches. This is why, people should pray on their own, with those they trust, and live one day at a time. Just be honest with yourselves, and where you struggle, pray for help and guidance. All the best.
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