Many live with a dangerous delusion. It’s a lie which creeps throughout world history in various ways. Pastor Lutzer evaluates Marx’s and Freud’s thought to see their influence on our culture and politics today. In our day of critical theories, deconstruction, and relativized truth, the Christian worldview is built on a more durable, sure foundation.
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Transcript: Welcome to “5 Minutes with Pastor Lutzer.” I’m so glad that you joined us again today as we discuss my new book, entitled, “No Reason to Hide: Standing for Christ in a Collapsing Culture” and at the end of this session, I’ll be giving you information as to how this book can be yours. Chapter three of this book is entitled “How the Greatest Lie Has Become America’s Most Cherished Delusion.”
What is the greatest lie? Well, the greatest lie actually takes us back to the Garden of Eden where Satan, in effect, said to Adam and Eve that you can trade places with God. You shall be as God—”Elohim”—knowing good and evil. “Be your own God.” Now this lie has slithered throughout the history of the world in various ways.
In my book I discuss how Karl Marx believed indeed that there was no God, or I should be more accurate and say Marx actually hated God and substituted man in the place of God, and came up with the idea that men and women are not sinners. They only commit crimes because of oppression. There’s no sin in them. Sin is something that happens outside of them and it’s because of that oppression that they commit sin. Well, all of these ideas came to America of course and it came to us in the form of cultural Marxism, which says we can bring about a Marxist society by attacking and destroying the culture. Of course it’s tied in with all kinds of ideas regarding socialism and finances and the economy. But that’s beyond our ability to discuss in this very short program.
Now here’s the remarkable thing. Freud has teamed up, in effect, with Marx. Let’s take this slowly. What has happened is, just like Marxism says we must overcome the culture by a revolution, Freud says that sexuality is the heart of what is important in life—sexual enjoyment. So sex has been politicized. Everyone wants to announce to the whole world what they are and they want the affirmation of the world. And so what we have today is critical theory, queer theory, gender theory, all of these things, which in effect are deconstructing—tearing down the Christian worldview with the hope that culture can be built on an entirely different foundation. But you and I know that that is quite impossible.
You know what we have today is expressive individualism, and as a result of that everyone can be their own God. Now, next time I’m going to give you some of the implications of what this is all about. But I want us to recognize that because we are sinners we even think as Christians at times that we can be our own god. We substitute ourselves for the Almighty and that’s a very bad thing to do. Think of it this way. You’re in a city and you’re lost. If you have a compass it points north then you know where north is; you know where south is and east and west. But let’s suppose that in your backpack you have a magnet. And that compass always points to you. You have no idea whether you’re going in circles. You have no idea whether or not you’re making progress. You have no idea as to whether or not you’re back where you started from. Because you have become your own God, your own compass. Let’s not go there.
I want to leave you with a challenge today. And by the way, the book that I’m discussing “No Reason to Hide” is available to you if you go to the description and you click on the link. But here’s my challenge:
The dearest idols I have known
what ere those idols be
help me to rip them from the throne
and worship only Thee.
Even we can be overtaken by the Lie of Eden. Thanks for joining us and next time I’m going to give you some of the implications of what I’ve shared today. But as for today you just go with God.