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The ‘Woke-Christian’We hear a lot about the ‘woke’ movement. Everywhere you come you’ll meet people who refer to themselves as being ‘woke.’ In the supermarkets, on our universities, in the big companies, and even within some churches. What is this idea of being ‘woke’ anyway, and why do some Christians embrace this idea?
Definition of the Term
The term simply means that one is awake. A lot of it started with the critical race theory which teaches that all life within society is structured along racial power dynamics. This means that race is not based on biology or offspring but more on the idea of a social construct. This theory is an outgrowth of the European Marxist school of critical theory. Critical race theorists argue that, for example the American social life, political structures, and economic systems are founded upon race, which in their view is a social construct. In other words, the whole society as we know it, should change completely… And in that we recognise the Marxistic tendency of overthrowing existing structures.
Christians Have Always Been Awake
To be honest, it has always puzzled me what I need to call someone with a white skin or black skin. In the past it was already tricky to label someone as black, but now I would just avoid it all together. I agree that we are talking about only one human race or human-kind. That is also what the Bible teaches us right?
Acts 17:24, 26
God that made the world and all things therein…
and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth…
So, can I talk about different breeds? Like we do when we see a Rottweiler and Danish dog? Both the same race or same kind, namely the dog-kind. But different breeds. Actually, I really don’t care whether someone is black, white, or purple. I see humans! And when I talk about someone, I just describe the person after his or her attributes. “You know! That tall black man, who has married that Swiss lady, and now they have 5 kids.”
According to Genesis all living creatures were created after their own kind. Short, long, black, white, red hair, blond hair… It doesn’t really matter. Initially we were created out of one blood and after our kind, humankind. And what is more, we have been created in God’s image and in Christ we are one.
Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
If we talk about being awake, we could say that in a sense the church has been ‘woke’ since its origin… I mean, the church wanted to see slavery being abolished. The early Christian tried to stop the gruel punishments for prisoners in the Roman Empire, and so on and so forth. The real church of Christ looks further than skin colour or offspring. The church of Christ should know that there is no difference between black and white brothers and sisters. But this is not the same ‘wokeness’ we see today.
Alternative Religion
For many, being ‘woke’ seems to be a religion in itself. This religion has many different core values which makes it easy for people to join. There is always a value to which one can relate. Members of this religion are calling for replacing existing social constructs. But they also say they are antiracism and totally climate aware.
But, because not everybody cares equally about the climate, the woke movement incorporates more values one can choose from. They fight against social injustice and gender inequality, or even against the idea that one is being born with a fixed gender. Most of their outburst go together with a lot of emotions and less factual arguments.
It is very surprising, or maybe I should say, concerning, that the things they propagate today would have sounded absurd for most people if they heard it just 20 years ago. We would have deemed someone to be ready for the asylum. Only recently we have started to take their conjurations about race, gender and even pseudo-science as serious ideas.
They have lobbied their case so well, that now we actually think it is normal to put you children, who feel that they are not a boy or girl, on hormone blockers. In the Netherlands parents can’t say much against it because the child can always ask for a second opinion. If the doctor deems it okay, the parents will be simply put out of play. In the UK it is even worse. You can get arrested for speaking out against transgenderism. Even offering prayer and counselling can be punishable.
This ‘woke’ religion has seeped through all layers of the western societies. As said, it is all extremely emotional based and many dare not to confront the idea with facts. You don’t want to be considered insensitive, do you? But now we also see this, mostly liberal leftish, rhetoric appearing in politics, schools, universities and companies, and as said, even in churches preached from the pulpits. Because, you don’t want to be considered insensitive!
Not the Facts but Your Emotions are Decisive
How much I love to cover the whole idea of the wokeness movement, I just can’t do that in one video. So, I will concentrate on just a few ideas.
First, the method by which people are silenced. You see, many of our kids are being literally indoctrinated in our schools with these self-destructing ideas. They are no longer being taught that we are created in the image of god, but instead they are being infused with the idea that they are just one in a huge group called society. They learn that a white person carries an inherent guilt of being racist and privileged. The way our children deal with their attitudes towards their guilt (if they are white) determines whether they are being praised or not.
The other way around goes as well. A black child is being taught that he and his family has always been suppressed. The idea that his father worked in a factory which was owned by a white man establishes that idea.
Also, these children, who are already struggling with all the emotions of having to grow up, are being taught that they can be whoever they want to be… That is what we have been taught in the past, but then it was talking about our profession. Now, they are also being told that, besides choosing a profession, they also need to think whether they are rather a male or female or maybe genderless.
Totally confused they leave school and enter our society. However, society no longer tells them that they are confused. No, instead our societies tell them that this feeling is normal and even good. The media continues to reinforce this idiotic ‘woke’ ideology. Nobody seems to be brave enough to tell these kids that they have been misguided.
The Privileged
As said, if you are white, you are automatically suspicious! Are you white and you have a big company? Well, then you simply belong to the bad guys. This is because you just must be privileged beyond any fairness.
When you are in that state, you have no say in anything. However, if you are one of the underprivileged you can just force your needs upon the other. If you are underprivileged and black as well? Wow! You can say whatever you want, whenever you want, and in what way you want. You don’t have to come with facts or any good arguments because you have the goodwill of the ‘woke’ society behind you. They will back you up, whatever you say.
In this way it doesn’t really matter what arguments we will bring in against this ideology. The ideas of the ‘woke’ are supreme and I, as a middled aged white guy, will automatically lose the argument. No, we are not allowed to falsify the ideas. We just have to put up with it.
You will Never do it Right in Their View
Whatever you do or say, as long as you don’t cohere to their ideas, you will be wrong. When I go to the carpenter here on Madagascar and ask them to make me a nice cupboard, which I did, I can do that because I am privileged with money. If the Malagasy carpenter accepts the job and tells me that it will be finished in the last week of November, I shouldn’t question his estimation. If I do (which I did), I am a bigot. When I don’t receive a phone-call and I go there late December, I should be friendly and not pushing the poor Malagasy carpenter. If I do push the carpenter, I behave like a colonist. If I decide to go to a different carpenter next time, preferable one who knows how we, Europeans, think one should do business… Wow! Then I am the biggest racist that ever walked on the surface of this earth!
By the way, it is early January now, and I still haven’t received a phone-call. But that is okay because I have to learn how it is to be ‘underprivileged.’
Totalitarian System
We need to realise that the ‘woke’ ideology, in its core, is anti-Christianity. As long as we Christians keep quite about the core values of the Bible, we will not receive much attention of this group. But, as soon as we speak out concerning marriage or gender for example, we need to be prepared to be punished.
Rod Dreher said in his book that:i
The old, hard totalitarianism [by which he meant Nazi Germany and Communistic Russia] had a vision for the world that required the eradication of Christianity. The new, soft totalitarianism does too, and we [Christians] are not equipped to resist its sneakier attack.
The soft totalitarianism, Dreher is referring too, is not a government that will actively arrest you and put you in prison or worse. No, the government doesn’t have to do much. Many companies and internet parties are already permeated with this poisonous ideology. As soon as people do not cohere they simply get cancelled. They might be ridiculed in public or on the internet, and their accounts are being removed. Basically, their social network gets destroyed, and they are openly stigmatised, demonised as racists, sexists, homophobes, transphobes.
The ‘woke’ ideology goes against all Biblical ideas. When we say that we are living in a fallen world, they right away counter that idea with examples of supreme ‘woke’ people who try to do something about climate change or about the racial injustice. These so-called ‘supreme’ are mostly nothing more than a few activists who scream from the top of their lungs, and spread all sorts of aggressive ideas. It is Marxism in its core! They want nothing more than overthrowing existing systems. But, they are by no means sinful! Oh, no they can’t be, because they are rioting for a good cause.
The ‘woke’ ideology actually thinks that salvation can’t come through a Jewish, probably white skinned, Rabbi. That is an invention of bigots, to keep to masses under control. The salvation needs to come through activism. Once, they manage to make the world a better place, humankind will be saved. How this better place looks like is very diverse. Nobody can actually give a good definition, but we will surely not be ruled by a 2000-year-old white Rabbi, that’s for sure!
What Makes Christians Different?
Did you notice how sneaky this ideology is? A lot of it seems to have some good things in it. They want equal changes for everyone; they want to take care of nature; they want peace; they want people to feel happy; they want justice and so on, and so forth.
At the surface you might say that it sound like many things we, Christians, find important as well. However, we should realise that when we teach that we should care for our forests, we shouldn’t teach that this is our primary goal. In my ministry I try to teach people to treat their animals well and to be careful with the surrounding nature. But, that is because by doing so, we honour the Lord God who gave us dominion in the first place. Christians have to put their allegiance into biblical principles and not in wild uncontrolled human invented rules.
This makes, or at least should make, Christians different. We should hold tide to that what the Bible teaches us. Yes, that means we cannot condone transgenderism for example. I see pastors walking around with the rainbow flag. Proud as could be, they propagate their liberal stance on this destroying ideology. If you are one of them, I will not bother you with the things the Bible actually says about that what you are promoting. I doubt whether you want to hear it, and if you hear it, you’ll probably explain it away.
We have seen this before, didn’t we? Not long ago the debate on evolution and creation was a hot topic in many churches. How many pastors tried to incorporate these false teachings in their sermons? Because, just like now, you don’t want to be insensitive right? And on top of that, not many pastors dare to say aloud that evolutionary biology is anti-scientific. Much too afraid to be called a science-denier.
The Cancer within the Churches
Christian heresy can be seen, sadly enough, everywhere. We have seen Catholic bishops kneeling to the Black Lives Matter movement. Then, there was the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s election of their first transgender bishop. We have seen Jesuit priests who openly questioned the biblical dis-approval of homosexual practises. And like the rotten cherry on top of the icing we have heard Baptist pastors advocating for abortion. The cancerous idea that God’s word should submit to the ruling culture has spread from politics, academia, primary schools, and the corporate media, and it is also penetrating our Christian institutions.
Many Christians think that all this should be seen as progress. They believe it was about time that we started to explain God’s word into the 21st century. Rod Dreher describes this as the myth of progress.ii This urge to see progress is mostly tolerant towards those who ascribe to words as solidarity, equality, and freedom. But those who are in the way, or those who question these ideas are labelled as old fashioned, dumb, and even bigoted. We see this on the internet as well. So-called Christians who fiercely shoot at the conservative brothers and sisters, in doing so, they exclaim that they are the real Christianity. And you know what? To be one of them is extremely cool! Because they know what Jesus would have done. Yes, Jesus would have walked along with the activists and holding the rainbow flag as high as possible!
The Challenge Christians have to Face
You might have noticed that I am not using as many Bible verses like I normally do. Honestly, I have no idea were to start. The problem with ‘woke-ism’ is that it doesn’t matter what text you use, they just quickly twist that same text to suit their own ideas. Many Christian, yes also pastors, manipulate biblical truths like ‘sanctity of life’ and ‘love of neighbour’ to advertise an whole range of highly noxious ideologies.
Many in the church of Christ are obsessed with the idea of being progressive and tolerant. This obsession is worsened by, at least a misunderstanding, or at worst a deliberate distortion of Christian theology and morality. This makes many other Christians susceptible to a false gospel in which they are still being that they can embrace Jesus, but in which they are totally not challenged to serve Him as Lord. With the gospel, as preached by these ‘woke’ preachers, they will not be familiar with bringing sacrifices for their faith. They have lost the true vision.
Luke 14:34-35
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
We are facing the challenge of having to train our youth into the proper theology! But how do we think we are going about that? I mean, many adults hardly understand the Biblical truths. In this I start to understand Paul’s frustration when he wrote to the Corinthians
1 Corinthians 3:1-2
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
Should a Christian be ‘Woke’?
If we take the word ‘woke’ literally we can say ‘yes,’ as Christians, we should be awake! We should be awake concerning the love we ought to have for one another.
1 John 2:11
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
Also, we should be awake toward God’s light. We have to train ourselves to recognise it, because we do not want to be as the unbelievers.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Yes, we also need to be awake when it comes to temptation
Matthew 26:41
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Only God’s word, the Bible, can give real answer to the problems of racism, injustice, and any other evil things we find in our societies. We can only bring about real changes when we truly operate through and with His word in our hands. Jesus is our answer to this fallen world.
Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Tell me What you Think
So, tell me what you think about this topic. I am looking forward to hearing from you, but please keep it brotherly.
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God bless you, thank you for watching, and Lord willing we’ll see each other in my next video!
Endnotes:
i Dreher, R., Live not by Lies, A Manuel for Christian Dissidents, New York City : Sentinel, 2020, p. 3.
ii Dreher, R., Live not by Lies, A Manuel for Christian Dissidents, New York City : Sentinel, 2020, pp. 46, 48, 49-50, 51, 54.
