Surveying the Culture War Battlefields

The past three weeks I’ve focused on the threat of organized evil in the United States and other nations in the 21st century. We appear ripe for such a revolution due to our deficit of character and decline of faith.

This clash of civilizations is a culture war because it pits the Judeo-Christian view of life with its emphasis on God, faith, family and freedom against secular priorities of Big Government, skepticism, family breakdown/re-definition and economic socialism.

Most weeks I try to focus on one issue. Today, let’s climb the heights and view the Bigger Picture where the culture war is being waged. I want you to think biblically when looking at all of life.

Here’s a sample survey of the culture war battlefields.

You can’t pick up a progressive newspaper these days without being inundated with the culture war–with an obvious slant. The Seattle Times is such a publication that dominates the Northwest corner of the “Left Coast.”

I’ll use some sample headlines and their content to illustrate some of the skirmishes taking place.

History Battlefield

Page one contains this history-contesting headline: “Columbus Day: Has That Ship Sailed?” It pushes the argument that Christopher Columbus was a evil man, we should celebrate the “indigenous people” that he helped destroy, (and while we’re at it), deface and tear down a bunch of historical monuments of our Christian heritage.

This is a huge battlefield in the culture war. Warping and destroying a nation’s history is re-writing its corporate memory–what it believes, is built on, values and worships. When a nation’s past recedes, it is a sitting duck for “re-programming”–to love and worship anything or nothing.

The destruction of Civil War statutes, getting rid of the names of Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson from public schools and the general re-write of our history books are major prongs in the war.

They’re also brazen lies. Columbus paved the way for the most virtuous and generous civilization in history (compared to those that came before). Many of the indigenous peoples were savages who practiced human sacrifice and gross immorality. The Civil War was fought to correct an injustice. Most of our Founding Fathers were people of faith, character, and vital accomplishments–despite their human failings and sins.

The battle in this arena pits God-in-our-history versus men becoming gods.

Pat Buchanan shares an example of President Trump fighting the history re-write:

“In the culture wars, Trump has rejected compromise or capitulation and decided to defend the ground on which his most loyal folks stand.”

“Example: While The Washington Post was reporting Monday that Austin, Seattle, San Francisco and Denver had now joined Los Angeles in replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day, Trump issued a Columbus Day proclamation of bristling defiance.”

“‘Five hundred and twenty-five years ago, Christopher Columbus completed an ambitious and daring voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. … a remarkable and then-unparalleled feat that helped launch the age of exploration and discovery. The permanent arrival of Europeans to the Americas was a transformative event that … changed the course of human history and set the stage for the development of our great Nation.'”

“Columbus, said Trump, was a ‘skilled navigator and man of faith, whose courageous feat brought together continents and has inspired countless others to pursue their dreams and convictions — even in the face of extreme doubt and tremendous adversity.'”

“The Admiral of the Ocean Sea ‘was a native of the City of Genoa, in present day Italy, and represents the rich history of important Italian American contributions to our great Nation. … Italy is a strong ally and a valued partner,’ said Trump.”

“His proclamation failed to mention indigenous peoples.”

The secularists want to obliterate our godly, but imperfect history. Along with our president, we need to cherish, renew,and make it even greater than the past.

Morals Battlefield

On page 2, the Times shares a story about the abrupt fall of Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood mogul and large donor to Democrat and progressive causes (2.3 million since 2000). It’s good that Weinstein was exposed as a sexual predator and deviant, but the New York Times buried this story for thirteen years so as to not discredit Democrats during the Obama Administration.

Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton remain silent on Weinstein’s sins–along with ALL the late-night comics. Yet, if his lewd behavior had turned up in a major Republican donor, you can be sure that every liberal news outfit and comedian would be doing 24-hour diatribes on the discretions.

So, why the double standard and hypocrisy? Because statists don’t really believe in morality except refusal to back their causes. Hence the re-definition of marriage, killing 55 million babies via abortion, and condoning most-or-all sexual sins.

There is no such thing as sin in the secular precincts because there’s no God to reveal and judge it.

Constitutional Battlefield

Page three of the Seattle Times reports: “Gun Ownership, Country Music Entwined: Artists Put on the Spot.”  You can imagine the slant here. Country music artists and fans, who are gun-toting 2nd Amendment folks, are really the ones at fault for the Las Vegas Massacre. If we only possessed stricter guns laws, these shootings wouldn’t take place.

But, here are the facts: Americans value gun ownership because 1) Self-defense is a God-given right, 2) People needed to protect themselves from danger during the settling of the West (our history), 3) Strict guns laws don’t lower murder rates (e.g. Chicago with one of the strictest guns laws in the nation), and 4) the primary purpose for the 2nd Amendment is to protect citizens from government tyranny.

I settled my view of gun ownership years ago when passing through the state of Oklahoma and seeing this bumper sticker: “When guns are out-lawed, only outlaws will have guns.”

There are many other items in the news about free speech on college campuses, the Supreme Court deciding whether bakers have the right to refuse to make a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage, and other issues.

Secularists want to scrap the Constitution because it restrains their various desires. They know better than the “deplorable” peasants and “white supremacist” founders.

Medical Battlefield

Page eleven contains stories on Obamacare. One reports that Bob Ferguson, Washington State attorney general, is suing the Feds over the contraceptive mandate being eliminated by executive order. Ferguson, a politically ambitious progressive, is portrayed as a hero for abortion rights. President Trump is the villain. (Ninety percent of stories about President Trump slant negative in the main stream press.)

But why should tax-payers pay to kill babies? Ferguson is horribly wrong on this issue.

The other story rips the POTUS for not propping up the dying Obamacre law. The writers plead, “Basic services that we expect the federal government to provide are suffering.” Sounds compassionate. Maybe some are. But, it really demands that the Feds keep pumping money into a dying program that secularists want to make worse through a single payer system.

The tragedy of Obamacare–perpetuated by Senate Democrats and a handful of renegade Republicans–is hurting millions of people and bringing the best medical system in the world into disrepute.

Page 11 contains a third story about President Trump’s executive order to allow associations of people to pool their resources for medical care–even across state lines. That’s a great idea.

The Seattle Times belittles it.

Entertainment (Sports) Battlefield

Today’s sports pages carry stories on the racial protests in the National Football League which is making professional football the least-liked sport in America. Viewership is down, sponsors are starting to flee, and team owners (like the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones) told his athletes they won’t play if they don’t stand and respect the American flag.

Progressives love this particular cultural battle because 1) They don’t like “manly” sports as they encourage strength, discipline, patriotism, and are linked to the US military, and 2) It fosters racial hatred and division–which helps their cause of dividing and conquering. So the protests are encouraged.

I could mention others areas of this 21st century culture war. Family issues, politics, business, taxes, fiscal policy, energy, crime, poverty and even Christian missions are battlefields.

Last night, on “Hannity” (Fox News Network), Sean Hannity interviewed Steve Bannon, former White House aide to President Trump and president of Breitbart News. Bannon declared during the interview that he would “wage war” against all Congressional leaders unwilling to fight for America and the values that have blessed our nation.

He said this war would take five years, ten years, maybe even twenty years to see principled leaders elected and the American nation revived. That could be true. It took King Josiah eighteen years to renew the kingdom of Judah in Old Testament times (story can be found in 2 Chronicles 34). Bannon’s no Josiah, but his worldview instincts are right.

As we survey the culture war landscape, we see an entire civilization at risk. The task of renewal will neither be easy nor quick.

But totally worthy of our passionate pursuit.