Disillusioned and proud

By Craige McMillan

The term “disillusionment” today is most often associated with
unhappiness.
The disillusioned are described by pollsters as people who are
“disillusioned”
because of government, schools, churches, parents, children, or whatever
other “evil”
is in the crosshairs of the group funding the pollster’s efforts. Such
“disillusionment” is then cited as evidence that we need to arrange for
the government take more money away from ourselves and give the money to
this particular group to, well, er,
alleviate our disillusionment — so we can be happy again!

The government, of course, is all too happy to oblige. It takes our
money,
fritters it away, and poof: more disillusionment — leading to more
polls — resulting in
more taxes. I could be wrong, but I think it is primarily Americans who
suffer this
“disillusionment.”

Perhaps that is because we have so many illusions?

Disillusionment is a unique malady that can only be suffered by those
who
are “illusioned.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines disillusion
as “to free or deprive of illusion, the act of disenchanting.” It
further defines illusion as “an erroneous concept or belief, a
fantastic, impracticable plan or desire.”

In America, we have entire industries that have been created around
illusion:

Soap operas and romance novels give women the illusion of Love and
excitement, while their own tired, boring husbands struggle to pay the
bills

Adult films and strip bars give men the illusion of sex without
consequences

Media advertisements for cars we can’t afford, places we’ve never
vacationed, and things we don’t need promise us the illusion of
satisfied fulfillment — for
the momentary loan of that plastic card in our wallets

Hit films and Hollywood celebrities promise us ever more violent
escapism
with no lasting damage to our children, our society, or psyche

Sarah Brady promises us that when the guns are finally gone, 6,000
years of
recorded human history will finally be reversed, men will no longer seek
to
do their neighbors harm, and we will have no need of the tools of
self-defense

President Clinton promises us that as a nation we can sell our
latest
military secrets to a communist Chinese regime hostile to basic human
freedoms, take their money, and never face their army in a war

Oswald Chambers, a Christian minister writing in the 1930s, said it
well:

“Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions,
and
false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions —
the
disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see
people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and
bitter
criticisms. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury,
grief, or pain,
stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. And this is how that
suffering happens — if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand
total perfection and righteousness
from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and
vindictive; yet
we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot
possibly give.
There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth
of
the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.” (My Utmost
for His
Highest, edited and updated by James Reimann, 1992, Oswald Chambers
Publications Assn. Ltd.)

The “Dillusioned” believe that mankind will build a brave, new world,
where disillusionment will be banned. The “dis-illusioned” know the
Truth, for it is He who has set them free of their illusions.

Craige McMillan

Craige McMillan is a longtime commentator for WND. Read more of Craige McMillan's articles here.