We are living in times of dangerous upheaval; times which demand more from us than we have been used to giving. These are days for standing boldly for truth, and not giving in to intimidation, cultural pressure, and the ubiquitous deceit thrown at us by politicians and news anchors.
I’ve recently been reading some of the works of the Soviet Dissident, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, who spent eight years imprisoned in the Russian Gulags for criticizing Josef Stalin in a private letter. The day he was arrested in 1974 he released “Live Not by Lies” to the Soviet people. The short essay seems especially appropriate for Christians in the 21st century. Below are a few teaser quotes from the piece, with a link to the entire article for further reading.
“Violence has nothing to cover itself with but lies, and lies can only persist through violence… And therein we find… the simplest and most accessible key to our liberation: a personal non-participation in lies. Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule… let their rule hold not through me… For when people renounce lies, lies simply cease to exist. Like parasites, they can only exist when attached to a person.”
“We are not called to step out into the square and shout out our truth; to say out loud what we think – this is scary, and we are not ready. But let us at least say what we do not think… Our way must be: Never support lies.”
“The more of us set out together, the thicker our ranks, the easier and shorter this path will be for all. If we become thousands, they will not cope, they will be unable to touch us. If we grow to tens of thousands – we will not recognize our country.”
Read more at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064220408537357