Dennis Peacocke comments

Dennis Peacocke

"For as he (a man) thinks within himself, so he is..."
Proverbs 23:7

Ideas have consequences. By their very nature, they will always try to express themselves in action, just like submerged corks that want to bob up to the surface.

Every idea has its roots in one of two ultimate sources in the universe:

1) The exaltation of self, the created being, or
2) The exaltation of the purpose of the Creator.

These two streams are competing for the hearts, minds, and hands of all men. Both God and Satan express their competing visions of reality through common human flesh. What a marvel it is that a cosmic drama of this proportion should be played out through the likes of us! Like walking radio transmitters, men receive, process, and broadcast the idea source into which their hearts are tuned. And those thoughts are broadcast in words, words which are designed to set wills and bodies in motion.

Death Or Life In Words

Whoever controls the language controls the culture. Words have incredible power because they set the agendas of whole nations. The words we use to describe a situation or problem frame the way we approach it. They actually trigger a series of emotional and conceptual releases within us that capture our minds and inhibit our ability to view reality from another perspective. It's not bullets that ultimately win wars, it's words. A bullet won't make you die for someone, but the right word lodged within you will make you fearless. Could it be that words are one of the most powerful forces on the Earth? God created the material universe through a word, (1) and the scriptures further tell us, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." (2)

Making words mean what you want them to mean is the first step in controlling men's minds and, from there, their actions. The propagandist has incredible power. Even the Church is fueled by this force (prophets) as the builders (apostles) give structure to their words. (3) The words can build up, or the words can tear down; they can be used both honestly and dishonestly. They promote the agenda of the Creator or the rebellion of the created. The real warriors on either side of the issues wage war with words. They lob them back and forth across the lines, hoping to mobilize the apathetic masses and move them off centre.

Language: Rebellion Or Unity

The unified rebellion against God was broken as He took from men their common words. (4) If you can divide a people's language, you can divide their will. On the other hand, unify their language, and you have unified their power. It is words, not the gross national product, that provides the true barometer of a nation's strength.

So what are the practical implications of all this? How does it help us understand or shape our world? Simple. Here's a list of words. Next time you hear one of them, remember that there are two powers (God and Satan) behind them battling for men's minds as to what they really mean or how to achieve them: "peace," "freedom," "God," "human rights," "just government," "private property," "exploitation," "caring for the poor," "separation of church and state," "the people." These words are today's hydrogen bombs-whoever convinces the largest number of activist people as to their meaning and outworking will rule the world. They are the keys to either rebellion against God or unity with Him. They compose the moral fuel of a nation, that set of religious impulses without which, in the long run, no society can endure.

The Cry For Social Justice

The opponents of Christianity use very simple strategy in public debate and in the media to keep the Christian off-balance and looking foolish. We need to recognize these ploys and learn how to deal with them effectively, biblically, and convincingly. Let's look at some of this strategy that is so often played out in front of us. It doesn't take much to imagine the following appearing in an anti-Christian "Word Warfare Handbook"!

• Strategy One: Get the Christian on the defensive by establishing a debate in non-biblical terms. Make sure that you define the issues and the terms so that the Christian will always be speaking to your issue and your agenda. When he tries to frame the issues or the agenda, accuse him of being stupid or cowardly or so pitifully uninformed that he cannot stick to the issues at hand. Say so in a nice way, which shows your "tolerance" for his fumbling ineptitude. Always try and frighten the masses with the accusation, "Christians want to take us back into the Dark Ages and impose their personal morality on you."
• Strategy Two: Show the Christian to be an extremist by calling him names like "the Radical Right" or "fascist" or both, depending on who your audience is. Name calling is always the best way to establish that the Christian is so far out to lunch that only an idiot would pay attention to his small- thinking statements. Make sure that you are seen as the moderate, and that you oppose extremist views of any sort. Remind people of the Church's dirty laundry, and that religion is an important but private matter and does not belong in politics or public life.
• Strategy Three: Capture the media by convincing the people with money that the Christian is so extreme in his views that, if he gains political power, he would hurt the economy and destroy people's ability to make money. Remind them that this is still the greatest country in the world, and it got that way by making sure we had an atmosphere of religious toleration. Christians must be exposed for what they are: bigots with tiny spigots for minds. Their limited views are just plain bad for business.

Conclusions

If this all sounds rather familiar, someone's obviously doing their homework. So what about us-what are we to do? We must do our homework too and learn to recognize the power of both a true word or a distorted word. And we must learn to measure our own words by putting the content of our lives into them. We are involved in a war of ideas-the war of words-and our planet is at stake. May we learn to use our words as did Jesus:

"...the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life" (John 6:63).

1. Genesis 1:3; Hebrews 11:3
2. Proverbs 18:21
3. Ephesians 2:20
4. Genesis 11:1-9

Reprinted by permission. This article is excerpted from Dennis Peacocke's book "The Emperor Has No Clothes" available at www.gostrategic.org