The Great Lies of Our Culture
Our nation, western culture, and even our world as a whole seem to be in a great moment of ideological war. There can be no doubt that what lies at the heart of this war is the fight “against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 4:12).” In this war there are many battlefronts, but one of the most heated is the opposition between human sexuality as defined by the progressive left and the Scripture. Dr. Voddie Baucham’s newest book, It’s Not Like Being Black is focused on exposing the works of darkness which drive the lies surrounding human sexuality prevalent in our society and especially the LGBTQ+ movement. He hits at the central lie that has allowed the LGBTQ+ movement to gain the traction in our culture it currently has at the moment:
“So allow me to state one thing here that we’ll spend the rest of this book unpacking:
Whether you identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, trigender, multigender, two-spirit, furry, queer, demiflux, otherkin, or as a mermaid, a British Columbian wolf, or an avian-human hybrid: Not one of those things is like being black.”1
The LGBTQ+ movement was able to pickup steam by latching onto the idea that to disagree with homosexuality, transgenderism, and their entire propaganda machine is the same as the racism of the past against black individuals. Therefore, according to their view, saying that homosexual marriage is an illusion and being against interracial marriage are equivalent. Dr. Baucham exposes this lie by showing the powerful truth that ethnicity and our culture’s ideas of “sexual identity” are not the same thing. Yet, through this lie the idolatrous belief system that is the LGBTQ+ movement has been able to enter the mainstream and sweep into the culture in ways which could not have been imagined even fifty years ago. Dr. Baucham’s profound theological and cultural analysis grounded in Scripture shines the bright light of Christ on this issue in very powerful and needed ways during this moment. Let’s unpack some of the key points together!
Historical Background
One of the issues with evangelical responses to our current cultural moment is a frequent loss as to how we got where we are today. Many are confused as to how we went from a nation built on biblical principles all the way to having drag queen story hours. Dr. Baucham’s deep historical examination shows this was not an accident, it was an intentional movement on the part of many to bring this transformation to fruition. If you have never heard the name Alfred Kinsey, you need to know that he is one of the most important players in the history of forming modern views on sexuality. As Dr. Baucham says, his research is considered to be the “gold standard for understanding human sexuality” by the self-professed modern experts on the topic.2 That fact truly does show how warped, twisted, and frankly wicked beliefs about sexuality are in our culture today. Dr. Baucham quotes Judith Reisman who says:
“Reisman told us, “Kinsey solicited and encouraged pedophiles, at home and abroad, to sexually violate from 317 to 2,035 infants and children for his alleged data on normal ‘child sexuality.’”3
The “gold standard for understanding human sexuality as defined by the progressive left is quite literally the research of a man soliciting pedophiles and who was debased in terms of morality himself. Kinsey’s research was fraudulent as seen simply by the reality that his team trashed ¾ of their data and that they tried to base their claims on “normal male sexuality” on the aberrant male population consisting of 200 sexual psychopaths, 1,400 sex offenders, and hundreds of prisoners, prostitutes, and homosexuals practicing promiscuity.4 To say that this is horrifyingly evil is a gross understatement. Yet, Alfred Kinsey’s research is the foundation of the modern sexuality movement. Another key researcher named John Money was also supportive of pedophillia and utilized grossly immoral methods in his research as Dr. Baucham demonstrates.5 The critical question is with such evil methods and fraudulent research why did the beliefs of Kinsey and Money take root? To that, we examine the marketing . . . I mean the propaganda campaign of the LGBTQ+ movement.
Lies Driven By The Darkness
Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen were both professors at Harvard University who taught marketing and psychology. During the rampage of AIDS in the late twentieth century they wrote to unpack the method as to how the homosexual revolution would advance into the culture. They openly said that they would use propaganda communication in order to push and drive the movement. Here is their strategy:
“1 Relies on emotional manipulation,
2 Uses lies, and
3 Is subjective and one-sided.
[I]t makes no difference that the ads are lies; not to us, because we’re using them to ethically good effect . . . [to t]ell our side of the story as movingly as possible. In the battle for hearts and minds, effective propaganda knows enough to put its best foot forward . . . this is what our own media campaign must do.”6
They would use lying to try to promote their own belief system in order to drive the deviant sexual agenda forward into the culture. They were focused on beginning to “desensitize” the culture to homosexuality, hence why in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century the characters of many television shows who provided wisdom on morality were gay. Secondly, they would engage in “jamming” which is where they would come against religious individuals and accuse them of bigotry and homophobia. Their intended result here was that those who hold to biblically faithful views of sexuality would wind up feeling ashamed. Then, thirdly, they would move to the conversion phase whereby they would change the moral landscape of America to make them like the gay population and change the worldview foundation. How did the fraudulent research and debased worldview of Kinsey and Money make it into the mainstream? In short, through lies, propaganda, coercion, deception, and empty rhetoric. It was an assault on the truth by the demonic lies of an unbelieving worldview steeped in the darkness of sin.
A Faithful Response
Dr. Baucham’s historical research will be mind-blowing to many, shocking to others, and outrageous to those who are a part of the LGBTQ+ movement. Plainly speaking the truth tends to end with divided responses (see Christ’s interaction with the Pharisees in the Gospel of John). However, it is vital reading for understanding our cultural moment. One of Martin Luther King’s leading strategists and mentors was a homosexual, communist activist trying to link homosexual activism to the civil rights activism of the twentieth century.7 The idea that believing homosexuality is immoral is equivalent to discrimination against black people is objectively false on its head. But, the pressing question, in a culture with so many lies and propaganda how should Christians respond? Far too many have responded with fear and an erosion of their doctrine by falling into the same sinkhole of cultural lies. Dr. Baucham illustrates:
“What if I told I went to a church and the pastor stood behind the pulpit and started his sermon like this:
‘My topic today is adultery. But before I begin, let me state clearly that I love adulterers. Jesus loves adulterers. I have several friends who are actively engaged in adultery. I think it is important that we make it clear that, even though the Bible speaks against adultery, it does not speak against adulterers. Many adulterers have been hurt by the Church’s harsh rhetoric about adultery. Many adulterers don’t want to have anything to do with the Church because of our rhetoric, and that is terrible witness.’
Have you ever heard anything like that before? If you’ve heard a sermon on homosexuality in the last few years, you’ve probably heard something exactly like that. Sermons on homosexuality these days die the death of a thousand qualifications, not because the Bible gives special status to the sin of homosexuality, but because we have been jammed!”8
Fearing to simply speak the truth is not the way forward brothers and sisters. Allowing the culture to dictate the amount of courage and boldness with which we proclaim biblical truth is a horrible pitfall. No, we must fight and live distinctly from the authority of Scripture. Dr. Baucham writes:
“For too long, Christians have swallowed the poison pill of trying to make secular arguments for our theological convictions. All arguments about ultimate truth are, in effect, religious arguments. The devout secularist is not free of theological presuppositions. He is as dogmatic as I am. The difference is that he does not acknowledge his presuppositions. Instead, he pretends to be a dispassionate seeker of truth. That, dear reader, is a lie! We are all making religious arguments, and I refuse to set mine aside. To do so would be intellectual suicide. Moreover, as I will demonstrate below, the secular progressives are more than happy to apply biblical arguments when it suits them, and have made heroes of others who do so. Unfortunately, some of the hardest people to convince of the rightness of arguing from biblical authority are Christians.”9
We must have a sincere devotion to the Law of God as that which is primary. It must be the standard we hold to unwaveringly to the glory and the praise of Christ Jesus our Lord. Our founding fathers in America noted the supremacy of God’s authority and the law of God as our righteous standard even in our founding documents like the Declaration of Independence.10 Believers in Christ need to stand unapologetically on the authority of Christ by holding to His sufficient Word. It is imperative for us to fight the ideologies of this age and the forces of sin with the Sword of Scripture empowered by the Spirit of God. And yet, we must also do something else, we must build beautiful, Christ-exalting marriages as testimonies of His grace. Love of God and love of neighbor demands that we hold to the biblical definition of marriage and practice it faithfully:
“My insistence on rooting my understanding of marriage and the family in the Scriptures is born of two concurrent desires known as the Great Commandments. First, I desire to honor God and love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:37). Therefore, I cannot trade God’s design for anything less. Second, I desire to love my neighbor as myself (Matthew 22:39). Doing marriage man’s way is dangerous, degrading, and painful. I want better for my fellow man. Following God’s design is a sure way to achieve that.”11
We must have a passion to both fight for the truth and do marriage and family the way that God has designed. The Church must fight the perverted lies of the culture while beautifully living the truth of the Creator. This is true of our life as a whole. We are to fight sin and the lies of this world knowing we have a real enemy, and yet, we are to build lives which reflect the beauty of God in every way. Francis Schaeffer writes:
“No work of art is more important than the Christian’s own life, and every Christian is called upon to be an artist in this sense. He may have no gift of writing, no gift of composing or singing, but each man has the gift of creativity in terms of the way he lives his life. In this sense, the Christian’s life is to be an art work. The Christian’s life is to be a thing of truth and also a thing of beauty in the midst of a lost and despairing world.”12
Dr. Baucham shows the ugliness of sin and the unbelieving worldview while also showing the beauty of Christianity. It is Christ and His Word which brings true love and beauty into the world He has made. I am grateful for Dr. Baucham’s work in exposing the deeds of darkness and encouraging Christians to hold to the truth. The subject he addresses in this book is heavy and even so he addresses it with the robustness of a fully formed biblical worldview. May we as Christians heed his admonition to hold to the truth and do so for the glory of Christ. Let us seek to speak the truth and live it out so that sinners might be saved and the saints might be encouraged to know more of Christ our Lord!
Sources
1 Dr. Voddie Baucham, It’s Not Like Being Black, pp. 7-8.
2 Dr. Voddie Baucham, It’s Not Like Being Black, p. 35.
3 Dr. Voddie Baucham, It’s Not Like Being Black, p. 40.
4 Dr. Voddie Baucham, It’s Not Like Being Black, p. 41.
5 Dr. Voddie Baucham, It’s Not Like Being Black, p. 42-45.
6 Dr. Voddie Baucham, It’s Not Like Being Black, p. 47.
7 Dr. Voddie Baucham, It’s Not Like Being Black, pp. 83-84.
8 Dr. Voddie Baucham, It’s Not Like Being Black, p. 87.
9 Dr. Voddie Baucham, It’s Not Like Being Black, pp. 115-116.
10 Dr. Voddie Baucham, It’s Not Like Being Black, p. 121.
11 Dr. Voddie Baucham, It’s Not Like Being Black, p. 146.
12 Francis Schaeffer, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: Art and The Bible, p. 413.
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