Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 145th episode. In this episode I want to talk about the cost of lying. This topic has been important for all of human history but it’s particularly critical at this point in the timeline. Scripture calls Jesus the truth and calls Satan the father of lies. In the Garden of Eden Satan lied to Eve and this deception ushered in the Fall of humanity. Even a paradise perfectly ordered by God was not safe from the corrosive effects of deception. What makes you think your own life is safe from it? What makes you think your own nation is safe from it? When Cain and Abel made their sacrifices Cain’s was rejected. Cain pretended to offer his best to God when secretly he knew he lacked the faith to do so. God gave Cain the opportunity to repent of this deception and face the truth. God told him that if he sacrificed properly his offering would be accepted. But instead of looking within and trying to fix himself he killed Abel. Why? Because Abel was living proof that God was telling the truth and Cain was lying. Abel did what God asked and Abel was successful because of his faith. Abel’s success was proof that Cain’s failure was not caused by the system. Cain was married to his own lies and unwillingness to sacrifice so instead of imitating Abel he killed him.
It is for this same reason that the Marxist will eventually seek and destroy all who are successful in a given system. This is happening right now in America. There is an active effort to rebrand competence as white supremacy. They’re calling it systemic racism. There’s something very important to understand about systemic racism. First is that systemic racism no longer exists, but the negative feedback loops caused by systemic racism do exist. Many black communities struggle with negative feedback loops which were instantiated by systemic racism dating back to the Jim Crow era. A good example of a negative feedback loop in black communities is property values which are lower than in white communities because of redlining. Redlining is when banks, insurance agencies, and others refuse to serve certain communities. Redlining is systemic racism but redlining was made illegal in the 1970s. Even though redlining was made illegal the property values today are still lower which means the schools in these communities often get less funding. This is a negative feedback loop. Calling it systemic racism is not the same thing and is frankly quite dangerous. It’s dangerous because systemic racism means there is something in the current legislation which is racist. And the truth is there’s not. The reason the Marxists are calling these issues systemic racism is because they have a vested interested in tearing down the system whether it’s racist or not. And it isn’t. If you call these negative feedback loops systemic racism then you take aim at the wrong domain when it comes to fixing the problem. You can’t fix the negative feedback loop by modifying the system because the negative feedback loop is not part of the system. What you can do you by messing with the system is ruin it. Ruining a prosperous system because you misidentified negative feedback loops as systemic racism will come at a staggering cost for all Americans – both black and white.
The people who are publishing these lies believe the American system is fundamentally a racist patriarchal tyranny of heterosexual white males. If you are successful within such a system then you must be a racist. It sounds insane and that’s because it is insane. But listen to what the Smithsonian, a federally funded institution, has published concerning what they call “Whiteness in the United States.”
White dominant culture, or whiteness, refers to the ways white people and their traditions, attitudes and ways of life have been normalized over time and are now considered standard practices in the United States. And since white people still hold most of the institutional power in America, we have all internalized some aspects of white culture – including people of color. These include rugged individualism or the belief that the individual is the primary unit. White values include self-reliance, independence, autonomy, and the belief that you are in control of your environment therefore you get what you deserve.
The family structure which characterizes whiteness is the nuclear family where children have both a mother and a father. The husband is the primary breadwinner and the head of the household. The wife is a homemaker and is subordinate to the husband. Children are given their own rooms and encouraged to be independent. Whiteness places emphasis on the scientific method and values objective, rational, linear thinking. White culture believes in cause and effect relationships and quantitative analysis. Whiteness values hard work as the key to success. Whiteness requires delayed gratification and teaches people to work before playing. Whiteness suggests that if you fail to meet your goals it’s because you didn’t work hard enough.
And they include a panel explaining how they believe this so-called whiteness was imported from northern Europe and depends on the primacy of Western and Judeo-Christian tradition. They also say monotheism is a distinct characteristic of whiteness. The chart claims wealth, status, and authority are white concepts. Respecting authority and owning property are values characteristic of whiteness. Then they come right out and say that sacrifice and planning for your future are tenets of white culture. They make claims about aesthetic value and suggest that male and female beauty are social constructs independent of biological influence.
The chart says American holidays are part of whiteness because they are predicated on Christianity and white history. The justice system is part of white culture because it’s based on English common law and considers your intent when committing crimes. They claim competition itself is a foundation of white culture and that taking action to solve problems is part of whiteness. Winning is part of whiteness. Democracy is part of whiteness. Charismatic extroversion is part of whiteness. And the ability to make decisions is part of whiteness.
That is a chart published by the Smithsonian Museum which is blatantly attempting to rebrand productivity and competence as whiteness. They believe if you go to work on time, use the scientific method, and make sacrifices to raise your children then you are a racist who is participating in a corrupt hierarchy of white supremacy. Of all the lies infecting our discourse there is perhaps none more dangerous than that which attempts to brand success, commitment, and Christian values as evil. And that’s exactly what they’re doing. This same process resulted in the rape and murder of the Kulak farmers during the Russian Revolution. Russian intellectuals used propaganda to convince alcoholic peasants the reason their lives were a disaster was because the Kulaks cheated their way up the hierarchy. The Russian intellectuals re-branded Kulak competence as corrupt oppression. The peasants formed a mob and murdered the Kulaks because the existence of the Kulaks proved the peasants’ failures were a direct result of their own uselessness. Stalin leveraged their bitter resentment to fuel is plan for collectivization and seized what little crops were left. With no food and with the productive members of society either dead or in gulags, six million people starved to death. There are images of starving peasants eating and selling the human body parts of their dead neighbors for food. I can’t show you these images for fear of this episode being removed but you can look them up. Imagine a world so desperate where not only would you resort to cannibalism – but you would actually pay to purchase body parts to eat. It was a man-made famine which was the direct result of Marxist, collectivist socioeconomic policy. And it was all made possible by lies.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who wrote The Gulag Archipelago, exposed the Soviet Union and their human atrocities. But he started out as a Soviet soldier himself. Solzhenitsyn spent time on the battlefront so when he came home Stalin pulled him from the ranks and sent him to the gulag. Stalin was paranoid that Solzhenitsyn’s exposure on the battlefront may infected him with the truth which ran so counter to Marxist ideology. That’s how fast this kind of thing can happen. In one man’s life Solzhenitsyn went from being a Soviet soldier to being in the gulag to publishing the work which would blow out the foundation of the Soviet’s claim to moral justification. If you don’t think a Marxist revolution can happen in your lifetime you are making a terrible misjudgment. We are absolutely committing the sin of Hezekiah if we believe a Marxist revolution won’t come to our own front doors. When I say the sin of Hezekiah I’m referencing how Judah’s king Hezekiah knew the Babylonians would come to sack Jerusalem – but he was okay with that because he also knew it wouldn’t happen during his own lifetime. It’s a mistake for us to think our society is advanced enough or powerful enough to survive the corrosive nature of collective deception. But what can you personally do about it? Solzhenitsyn said the Soviet Union would have corrected itself had every individual made a commitment to tell the truth. He’s quoted as saying:
The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world. You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.
I have a challenge for you that will help you practice in this. Go have a conversation with someone who disagrees with you on a deeply held belief. Observe the feelings that arise within you. Stress, anger, and most perniciously fear. This is your combative reaction. Taken to its extremity this becomes your fight-or-flight response. If pushed beyond its capacity, this reaction can cause neuroanatomical damage often consistent with those who suffer PTSD. Understand that these emotions do not comprise a valid argument. These emotions will distort your view of reality, taking you by the hand and leading you into a place where you will miss out on all that you could be. Unless you practice resisting this reaction, your life will never be what it could have been.
Instead of heeding the temptation of these emotions, pay very close attention to what the other person is saying to you. Listen to their words and try your best to understand what their words mean – not what you need them to mean. You’ll notice the conversation is composed of their argument and your argument. But here’s the secret: if you’ve sufficiently diminished your combative response and heightened your awareness of what’s being said between the both of you – you’ll notice yet a third argument present in the conversation. It’s likely this argument disagrees with both of you to some degree. It is a thread so subtle that you will not see it if you aren’t looking for it.
This third interlocutor is the Spirit of Truth. Following this thread will require you to sacrifice the parts of your beliefs which you know are lies. Contemplating these sacrifices will inspire fear, because you know you constructed the lies to gain a better grip on control. It is at this moment you must decide on faith that the truth will lead you to the best outcome – even if it drags you through the wilderness to get you there. If you observe the Spirit of Truth closely enough you’ll understand that it lives on with or without you – forever unchanging and unimpeachable.
Entire societies fall to the ground when foundations of deception crumble, but the Spirit of Truth remains untouched above the rubble – waiting patiently for you to seek it out again. If you commit your life to walking where this third Person in the conversation leads you, you’ll discover your obedience has redeemed who you are and made you a beacon of light for those around you. Obediently serving the truth will transform you into who you were always meant to be.
If you want to make the world a better place go have a conversation with someone who disagrees with you. When the truth reveals itself between the both of you, have the faith to be the first to follow it wherever it goes. You might be surprised when your opponent comes up alongside you to join you on the journey.
This idea of trusting the truth is not unique to Solzhenitsyn or what happened in the Soviet Union. It was also observed by the neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl while he spent time as a prisoner in Auschwitz. I want you to picture him walking through Auschwitz as you listen to these quotes from his book called Man’s Search for Meaning:
For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.
Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true.
It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.
These were reflections Frankl had while he was a prisoner in Auschwitz. Even in the midst of what might have been the most deplorable conditions ever documented in the 20th century Frankl took responsibility for himself and chose to suffer honorably. Frankl’s idea that loving a person means rooting for the best part of them to self-actualize is fully incompatible with the Marxist lie which is plaguing our society at this moment. To believe the Marxist means to believe that you have no real potential. It doesn’t matter how hard you work or how much you learn, you will never be able to succeed because the system is rigged against you. It would be bad enough to tell this to a person in Auschwitz and crush whatever hope they had of surviving. But how insane do you have to be to tell this to a generation of kids who are growing up in the most prosperous, safest, least oppressive society that has ever existed? You have to be the kind of person who is arrogant enough to destroy paradise because you’ve been deceived into thinking you can make it better.
If the results of collective deception are so horrible then why do we do it? I think it comes from our human desire to shape our own reality. God spoke creation into existence and He said that it was good. The truthful speech of God ushered in a reality which was good. We are made in the image of God which means our speech has the power to unfold reality before us. That might sound crazy but it really is true. What kind of reality would unfold if you insulted your boss and told him you wanted to quit? What kind of reality would unfold if you told your spouse you were having an affair? Your speech has the power to shape your world and you know it. The reason you lie is because you think the lie will produce a better reality than the truth. You trust yourself more than you trust the truth when it comes to shaping your world. This is why people on each side of the political aisle will almost never utter anything which serves to benefit the other side – even if these utterances are true. If you take this process to its extreme then you end up with people who believe all differences between men and women are socially constructed and biological sex is irrelevant.
The reason our public discourse is breaking down is because so many people no longer believe in such a thing as truth which exists outside of their own subjective experience. If everything is subjective then anything you want to be true must be accepted as a valid objective truth. If you point how one person’s belief about himself or herself is false then you are accused of bigotry. But this is obviously insane because wishing something were true doesn’t make it really true. No matter how much you believe the gender roles of men and women are socially constructed, men still can’t get pregnant. These deceptions seem a little silly because of how obvious they are to spot. But what about lies which are more cleverly hidden? Are you equally willing to point out deception when the deception serves your own advantage? Imagine that you’re unsatisfied with your life. You can either accept the truth that you did things you shouldn’t have done and failed to do things you should have done, or you can listen to the deceiver who’s telling you that none of this is your fault and the system is rigged against you. The deceiver wants you to believe that taking responsibility for your own struggles and whether or not you suffer with integrity won’t help you. The only thing which can help you is destroying the perceived oppressor who you believe is holding you down.
It’s a lot easier to believe the lie in that situation than to pick up your own cross and follow Jesus. In fact, I would say it’s impossible to reconcile yourself with the truth about yourself without the forgiveness of Christ. All have fallen short of the glory of God so all need forgiveness. To observe yourself in all your flaws and mistakes would crush you if you didn’t have forgiveness. Only when you trust in the forgiveness of Christ are you able to look at the full truth and only when you look at the full truth are you able to allow it to usher in the proper reality for you.
The postmodern neo-Marxist practices what is called deconstructionist philosophy. Deconstructionist philosophy claims there is no objective truth and all things are socially constructed to serve the power dynamics between groups of people. What’s interesting about these people is that the only thing to which they attribute absolute reality is power. They give power the privilege of being real while all else is a construction designed to serve power. I believe they do this because power is their own superordinate principle. Power is their god. Power is their god because nothing is more important to them than power. Power is more important than telling the truth. Power is more important than loving your neighbor. And what is a lie? A lie is you empowering yourself to declare your own truth as having primacy over what is objectively true. If truth and love are not the most important values to you then all that’s left is power. We have philosophical conversations and political debates in an effort to get closer to the truth. But if truth is an illusion then the only reason we have for speaking to each other is jockeying in our quest for power. If you say something which works against the power-interests of a protected class, even if it’s true, then you are accused for hate speech and are censored from the public conversation. If a person lives to serve their own power-interests then they are going to assume that’s what everyone else is doing also. It’s a form of projection. So even if you tell these people the truth they believe you’re just saying whatever you need to in order to serve your own power-interests or the power-interests of your group.
The reason you should trust the truth when it comes to unfolding reality is because you are not omniscient. If you insist on lying in order to create a reality which you determine best serves your interests, you won’t be able to help screwing things up for yourself. A classic example is the vulnerable person who covers his or her vulnerability with feigned aggression. You’ve all met someone – usually a man – who is rude and aggressive toward everyone around him. Often this is the case because he fears the truth of everyone seeing him as vulnerable. But his deception doesn’t make his life any easier. Conversely it purges the kindhearted people out of his social circles. The only ones who remain in contact with him are other people who are also aggressive. So the deceptive front of the vulnerable man ends up causing him to be surrounded by people who will most likely exploit his vulnerabilities. All because he thought learning the truth about himself would not create the optimal reality for him.
The bottom line is that if you want to live your best life you should trust in the truth when it comes to your actions and your speech. Lies will not serve you in the end even if you think they are beneficial for the time being. If you don’t know the truth then I encourage you to read the Scriptures. God has revealed Himself to us through His word and through the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus called Himself the way, the truth, and the life. He also said if we continue in His word then we will be His disciples, and we will know the truth and the truth will set us free.
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