Much of the next generation has become enamored with the promises and perks offered to them by a political ideology that is propagated and promoted by mass media, big tech companies, and incessant ads. This soft totalitarianism has traces of socialism, marxism, and communism in it which is mixed together into a woke capitalism that catapults itself off of a materialistic and consumerist culture like ours. It’s harder to identify than communist regimes of the past because it masquerades and disguises itself in a form that the normal American is not used to seeing.
We eat, live, and breathe in a world like this 24/7, but up until this point, I have not understood why America’s next generation has bought into this semi-foreign ideology hook, line, and sinker. That is, until I read Rob Dreyer’s book Live Not By Lies: A Manuel for Christian Dissidents. In chapter two of his book, Dreyer lists some interesting quotes:
“Totalitarian movements are mass organization of atomized, isolated individuals.”
Due to the next gen’s growing isolation and anxiety in a highly “connected” world, “it is no coincidence that millenials and members of Generation Z register much higher rates of loneliness than older Americans, as well as significantly greater support for socialism. It’s as if they aspire to a politics that can replace the community they wish they had.”
“A polity filled with alienated individuals who share little sense of community and purpose are prime targets for totalitarian ideologies and leaders who promise solidarity and meaning.”
“Why are people so willing to believe demonstrable lies? The desperation alienated people have for a story that helps them make sense of their lives and tells them what to do explains it. For a man desperate to believe, totalitarian ideology is more precious than life itself.”
Did you catch the “why?” It’s really not that hard. The next gen has been swept into a narrative that promises them a utopian future for a better world and though they may not live to see everything they dream of and about this future world, they have a significant part to play.
The next gen is willing to acquiesce to socialism and surrender their hopes, their energy, and even their finances to Big Brother and Big Business because of the utopian worldview that it offers. Those who believe in this ideology will stop at no costs and even no means to— violently, if need be—set the wheels in motion for this belief system to take off in America.
This explains much of what we have seen in 2020 with Antifa, Black Lives Matter Global Network, and even police defunding all becoming prominent issues. History nor the constitution matter to these ideologues. Dreyer writes, “In 2019, The New York Times . . . launched the ‘1619 project,’ a massive attempt to ‘reframe’ American history by displacing the 1776 Declaration of Independence as the traditional founding of the United States, replacing it with the year the first African slaves arrived in North America . . . It’s goal is to revise America’s national identity by making race hatred central to the nation’s foundational myth.” Is there any need for me to mention all of our national monuments that were pulled down?
Ok, you already knew all of that . . . so, what’s the point of this post? The point is The Bible offers both you and the next generation a better story. The Bible is a book of 66 books written over thousands of years by many different authors in many different genres which has stood the test of time. Your story, my story, everyone’s story can be found in the Good Book! But, you and I must take time to read it, to share it, to teach it, and ultimately, to live it. Unlike the multitude of instantaneous satisfactions offered to us by the world, the God of the Bible is someone to be experienced and someone you can never exhaust. God, unlike man, does not even get exhausted, though he may get exhausted of his creation constantly bypassing him for ideologies that pale in comparison to his far-weightier glory.
I challenge you and I challenge the next generation to shut off all social media outlets, all of the news coverage, and all of the high-tech advertising and marketing ploys long enough to read His Story. Reading the Bible cannot and will not happen in a day. But, what you will find as you dig into it over time is a history that is proven and a man named Jesus that stands in the beginning, middle, and end of it all. This man offers a better way because He is The Way!