Christians are reeling from the stunning betrayal of Chick-fil-A last week, but I called it in 2014. Rather than rehash the “who, what and where” of the CFA mess here, I want to explain “why” the “tide of history” made it inevitable.
Ever stop to consider the implications of calling ourselves “conservative” and our opponents “progressive”? Or why our national conversation assumes that the “tide of history” is an actual phenomenon (that always seems to move leftward)? Or why our typical arguments for opposing leftist policies include the admission, “Society is not ready for that yet”?
Why don’t “conservatives” project and pursue our own vision for the future in which our value system has produced something better than the best aspects of the past? Can we even picture such a future society in our minds, or is that space filled only with nostalgic snapshots of the past?
On the political front, why isn’t every leftist policy proposal countered by one pushing to the right, but instead merely resisted by our side – even though we all know politicians operate in the realm of compromise between what is and what’s demanded, and thus actual policy changes almost always ratchet leftward?
In a society dominated by a trillion-dollar industry of year-round competitive sports, how can the conservative movement fail to teach its people that a team with no offense can never actually win a series, but at best only delay the other side from winning?
Why is it that we routinely call liberals “leftist” but hesitate to call our own positions “rightist,” implicitly bolstering the left’s false narrative that “right-wing” equals white supremacy and fascism? (Especially galling since both these ideologies are actually leftist!)
Could the answer to all these questions simply be that we’ve been duped by the progressives into playing a game of their invention we are absolutely guaranteed to lose?
That’s a very humbling notion, to say the least. But if its true, and we’re too proud to admit it, we’ll remain hopelessly ensnared in their trap. As the Scripture warns in Luke 16:8, “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.” If we could accept that reminder, and trust the Holy Spirit to guide our future actions in the political/cultural realm, we could slip the progressives’ noose and hang them like Haman on their own gallows (figuratively speaking).
That’s a big IF, however, because it means restoring the politically incorrect biblical worldview (which Americans held from the Pilgrims’ first landing through the Eisenhower administration), and relentless leftist bullying has made us afraid to do that. But if we fail to recognize that the key to their success has been convincing “conservatives” to let them drive the biblical worldview from the public realm with minimal resistance from us, we can never turn the tide.
The leftist rulebook for the real-life Game of Thrones we’ve been playing was specifically designed to dethrone the God of Creation and enthrone themselves – the gods of Human Self-Perfectibility. That is the agenda of Marxism, growing in the manure of Darwinian Evolutionism and achieving world-conquering religious expression in Secular Humanism.
Some will grumble “Why can’t you just keep it ‘secular,’ Lively?!” But that further proves my case. The notion that “secularism” is neutral ground for liberals and conservatives is a false Marxist premise! It was that very lie that made us acquiesce to humanism as the new national consensus in the 20th century.
To America’s founders, “secular” meant non-sectarian consensus on broad biblical presuppositions, epitomized in the Declaration of Independence’s acknowledgment of “self-evident” truths in and from “Nature and Nature’s God.” But in the Humanist version taught to America’s schoolchildren for generations, “secular” means non-religious: a Trojan Horse false concept that hides its religion within itself.
Theories of origin are unavoidably religious, and there are ultimately just two of them in the Western world, theism and atheism: Either this universe was created by God with plan and purpose, as the Bible claims, or it’s all an accident of random chance that somehow vests human beings with opportunity and power to make our own rules, as Humanism claims. “Secularism” – even the supposedly conservative form – clearly reflects Humanism in premise and practice.
The “Tide of History” is a phrase that flows from Marxism’s Darwinist premise that human society naturally and inexorably evolves toward socialist utopia. Marxist visionaries established the “progressive” movement as a vehicle to conquer and retask key systems and institutions of human society to speed “progress” toward their vision. As each new target is infiltrated, assimilated and repurposed to serve their ends, the collective grows more powerful and the unconquered remainder of society grows weaker.
Chick-fil-A is the latest case in point, proving there is no safe haven from Marxist aggression even in private Christian companies (or private associations like the Boy Scouts).
It is logically impossible to win a debate when you adopt the other side’s presuppositions, because premises dictate conclusions with mathematical certainty. When we unwittingly self-identify as “conservatives” and grant that our opponents are “progressives” we literally ensure their progress toward their goal by limiting our influence to the speed at which their “progress” occurs.
Worse, if to avoid bullying and prove we’re not “haters” we shrink from defending unpopular Bible truths (as Chick-fil-A has done), we dramatically speed the process of our conquest by undermining our own spiritual and intellectual foundations.
The LGBT issue might not be your priority, but it is the hottest microcosm of the larger culture war. My book “Redeeming the Rainbow” is a textbook/manual for fighting the Marxists on that battlefront and teaches arguments, strategies and tactics that are adaptable to all the issues of the culture war. I will send you a free copy in PDF by email request.
I called CFA’s play in 2014 because years of Holy-Spirit-guided, pro-family activism has taught me the rules of the game most Christians just don’t know. I dare say that if Dan Cathey had read “Redeeming the Rainbow,” he would likely never have led Chick-fil-A down the path of compromise.
