Throughout the centuries, we
have seen a clear theme: Apostasy begins with the division of one generation
from another. Breaking the fifth
commandment is always at the root of a cultural or social revolution, and it is
often the key ingredient for bloody political revolutions as well. God says honor your parents; idealistic
humanism says rebel and follow your heart.
God says the education of and jurisdiction over children belongs to the
parents; humanism claims that the education of children should be by the state
for the benefit of society. God gives an
order, and man contradicts it.
Without the centralization of
power, it would have been impossible to incorporate this man-centered view of
life and reality into the mainstream of a Christian civilization. The instinct to centralize power may be traced
all the way back to the Tower of Babel, when natural man determined to “build a
tower and make a name for themselves” (Genesis 11:4). During the last century, the focus has been
on building highly centralized control mechanisms for the political state, the
educational systems, and mass media.
Television and media networks have enabled an astounding degree of power
centralization in the communications realm; while there are a few alternative
sources and small Christian networks, the major networks needed only to control
the widespread distribution of ideas by film and television in order to create
uniformity of thought among the populace.
Mr. Swanson accurately points
out that “media replaced the church and the family as the means by which
society transfers information, inculcates worldviews, and forms the culture.”
(Swanson, p. 271) Today, 80% of youth
turn from their parents’ faith within a single generation. He continues with some striking comparisons:
“Laura Ingalls and her sisters would
never have rushed into Times Square in New York City to fall at the feet of
teen-star Frank Sinatra. Would President
John Adams' daughters have screamed for hours through an Elvis Presley concert,
as the star gyrated about the stage creating sexual tension in the crowd? These people lived in a different social
context. … Sometime during the last century, the most influential and popular
cultural icons moved from the church to Hollywood and Nashville. The most popular song in the nation in the
1800s was My Grandfather’s Clock, a song which honored the memory of a
grandfather. Today, Eminem refers to his
mother as a “female dog,” and Katy Perry promotes lesbianism in her popular
songs. For those who missed it, that is
total cultural and social revolution in a nutshell.” (Swanson, p. 272)
The Cultural Giants
As I’m sure your astute
observational capabilities have already told you, this segment is dedicated to
the social and cultural leaders of the modern era, primarily in music. Swanson gives an overview of five of America’s
most popular music artists over the last sixty years; they were also the most
influential – the most effective at severing America from her Christian
heritage.
The Beatles/John Lennon (1960s) ~ The band members were all raised in Protestant
homes, but professed Agnosticism, Atheism, Humanism, or Hinduism. John Lennon, possibly the most influential
songwriter of modern times, followed Bentham, Marx, Nietzsche, and the others
and sought victory over Jesus Christ. In
his lyrics, Lennon abstracts a world without Heaven or hell, or private
property ownership – remarkably reminiscent of the atheism and egalitarianism
of Karl Marx. The Beatles, Swanson says,
shaped the spirit of the age; they led the cultural and sexual revolutions of
the modern West.
Michael Jackson (1980s) ~ As a lapsed Jehovah’s Witness adherent who dabbles
in Islam, Swanson uses him as a supreme example of American apostasy at its
worst. His music presented the lure of
evil in positive terms. He followed the
Nietzschean tradition and took the world beyond good and evil into ethical
ambiguity and confusion.
Madonna (2000s)
~ Though brought up in a Roman Catholic home, she promoted premarital sex,
homosexuality, and female sexual domination throughout her career.
Elton John (1990s) ~ A professed homosexual since he “came out of the closet” in 1975, he
opened the door for many other musicians to accept and promote homosexuality.
Led Zeppelin (1970s) ~ The heavy metal genre seemed to attract the more epistemologically
self-conscious demon-worshippers, and this band led the charge. Part of the demonic nature is confusion and
contradictions: they glorified Satan while calling into question the very
existence of the supernatural. Swanson
points out that Led Zeppelin were akin to the pre-flood giants mentioned in
Genesis 6 and Numbers 13: the God-hating, murderous Nephilm. Eventually, the band’s infatuation with
Satanism caught up with them, and what they perceived to be demonic attacks
contributed to the dissolution of the band in the 1980s.
The celebrities are leading
today’s apostasy. Through music,
the worldviews of Bentham, Marx, Nietzsche, Satre, and Emerson are pumped into
the brains of billions of people. Elvis
Presley, Katy Perry, Eminem, Miley Cyrus, and several others make the list; but
they simply present more of the same: sexual immorality, teenage rebellion, and
ethical inconsistency. Through the 1990s
and 2000s, popular music became increasingly disjointed and purposeless. Postmodern man is coming to a
self-consciousness of his meaningless and committing epistemological
suicide. Music and movies are being
largely supplanted by computer and video games.
Because of social media web sites and mobile devices, short text
messages and fabricated photos are replacing genuine, face-to-face relationships. We can’t stay on the present course of
decadence and self-immolation much longer.
Where do we go next? What can we
do to reverse course?
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