Solzhenitsyn on the Problem with the 20th Century

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

Truth is absolutely critical to any functioning society. Once lies become the public and political norm, then society becomes a game of thrones. It is power bloc vs. power bloc. Cynicism rules. Truth is DOA.

So, what’s the answer? Well, the answer cannot be more political power—merely more human laws, or, God help us, more power to Washington. If truth is dead, that only feeds the beast.

So, what is the soil in which Truth is able to flourish? What keeps the weeds of corrupt power plays from entangling and overtaking the seedlings of truth?

It is the fear of Almighty God. We were made for accountability to our Creator. One day, we will all stand and give an account to Him for our every word, our every thought, our every deed. Every motive of our heart will be revealed.

When we deny this fundamental truth, we poison the soil and truth cannot grow. When we manipulate God and His Word to our selfish or tribal ends, we uproot the seedlings of truth. When we no longer fear God, then we no longer fear harming and manipulating those made in His image (Luke 18:2).

The celebrated Russian author and Soviet dissident, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) knew the effects of a society in which truth was completely DOA. He had spent many years in a Soviet gulag simply for telling the truth. At the end of his life, reflecting on why atheistic communism had destroyed so many millions of innocent lives in His beloved Russia (and beyond), he simply said: “Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.”

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

~ John 18:1-8 (ESV)