We Will Not Be Silenced Interview Part 2

Rain forests looking to Jesus, founder and perfecter, the American ideal of free speech is in tatters. Now only three if you agree with the mainstream media freedom is in mortal danger, even when we worship as police knock on church doors like they did in Nazi Germany. Today, reasons why we will not be silence discussion with Erwin Blitzer about his crucial new book.

Stay with us from the Moody Church in Chicago.

This is running to win with Dr. Erwin Blitzer was clear. Teaching helps us make it across the finish line.

Now along with Pastor Larry McCarthy. Here is Pastor Luther well once again welcome to running to win. We have a very special program for you today. I've written a new book and discussing it with me is Larry McCarthy, Larry McCarthy is on the pastoral staff here at the Moody church responsible for compassion ministries, local outreach rapture acquainted with Larry because he's been our program before and we welcome you again today. Larry pastor I'm delighted to be here as we discussed this new book. We will not be silenced responding courageously to our culture's assault on Christianity and today I'm really curious to see what you gonna say about this issue of freedom of each Larry freedom of speech is always been a great hallmark of America. It's enshrined in the Constitution and Rebecca and I lived in Skokie, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago in 1977. Some neo-Nazis were going to come to that suburb because there were so many Jewish people had gone through the Holocaust were still living and they wanted to incite some kind of violence in the city of Skokie said don't come, but that AECL you said no matter how offensive it was, they should be allowed to be there and they were now today is a different day were living in a day when freedom of speech is being censored. The last time we talked about cultural Marxism and that the idea of freedom of speech being censored is really based on Marxism is what happened.

Larry got a philosopher by the name of Mark Cousy. I remember him in the 60s. I mean, I didn't know much about them haven't even read too much about them but he was a very committed Marxist and he said this he said as long as we are freedom of speech.

The capitalists can win the argument they are using their position of power to win the argument. He says we will never have a Marxist state, as long as we are freedom of speech, so he said that only oppressed people should have the right to speak and if you go on and read his writings and you say no, wait a moment of who are these people who have a right to speak. He said that it was the mature people he was looking at himself in a number of others who were Marxists we have the right to speak.

The others do not. Because we have to win this debate. While this has seeped into academia today. So what you have is professors who are saying that it's very important that only the oppressed have the opportunity to speak.

If you're a capitalist. If you're somebody who is an old press sewer which oftentimes is a white person, then you should necessarily be allowed to speak and in fact I quoted contemporary writer who says, in effect, clearly we need a double standard so that if we are going to bring about the kind of cultural revolution that Marxism would insist upon. We cannot allow unfettered freedom of speech so you you present this is a philosophical perspective as opposed to political, I think.

So what's this philosophical basis for the turn. Larry, that's an excellent question. People think to themselves that philosophers are people in an ivory tower somewhere spinning out all these theories that nobody reads and dealing just with metaphysical issues that do not touch life. What they don't understand is philosophers sometimes shift the attention of an entire society in a different direction.

I mean, you think, for example, Karl Marx. Think of the implications of him and were still not finished with them in these interviews because later on were going to talk about Marxism and socialism and so forth.

So what you have is you have university professors, you have teachers who have never and students certainly never heard of Mark Cousy but it has seeped into the academic framework of many of our universities and it is being taught. So it is a philosophical issue and then of course it becomes a political issue, and all the other things racial and whatever, but it actually is resting upon a Marxist foundation that there should not be such a thing as unfettered freedom of speech is so important. Will the reason that this is so important is because you think of what's happening in our universities were often times you have a conservative speaker who is not allowed to give their point of view. As a matter fact, they are sometimes disinvited if they were invited at all. Or there's even been violence against people who hold a point of view that is not accepted by the norm of the University. The cultural stream, an issue that we are going to have to talk about as a result of this people are intimidated and often times they don't want to even express their point of view they self censor themselves so that they aren't speaking their mind because they are fearful of what is going to happen and it is amazing to me Larry that the University which always prided itself in liberalism liberalism taught that we should hear all different points of view is now often times that he the institution that is so concerned about issues that they will not allow an alternate point of view and if students hear something that they disagree with. They need to find a safe place, not because they have have fears of themselves physically, but they need a place where they can nurse all of their wounds because of their unappreciated oppression and so that's the kind of people, often times that I have very important responsibilities at our universities and in your book you have an interesting defense of free speech for it from a Muslim writer, Larry. I absolutely love this.

All of us know the name of Rushdie. He wrote the book entitled the Satanic verses and before that he received the fatwa that means that he was destined to be killed if somebody found him.

Now that apparently has been lifted, but he still lives in an undisclosed location, but he gave one of the best defenses of free speech that I've ever read.

I have it here in my hands a fundamental decision needs to be made doing want to live in a free society or not. Democracy is not a tea party where people sit around making polite conversation in democracies. People get extremely upset with each other.

They argue vehemently against each other's positions have to keep reading. People have the fundamental right to take an argument to the point where somebody is offended by what they say it's no trick to support the free speech of somebody you agree with or those to whose opinion you are in different the defense of free speech begins at the point where people say something that you can't stand. If you can't defend their right to say it, then you don't believe in free speech.

You only believe in free speech as long as it doesn't get your nose is negative). I wish that every university would read that.

Here's what happens when students turn against a professor because they have said something that is too conservative or deemed racist. The University always publishes something that says you know we want to commend our students for eliciting a conversation that is needed about this that or the other thing and that we believe in free speech and then it goes on to talk about why they really don't believe in free speech. So this is so critical.

Larry Oregon have to transition to another chapter that other chapter is on the topic of propaganda, but first of all of us say this, I want to respond biblically to the free speech issue you think. For example in the book of acts chapter 4 were Peter and the apostles were told no longer preach in the name of Jesus and they were threatened, we know that they were beaten and all the rest and what did they say they said we cannot help but speak what we have seen and heard.

Yes, what they were saying is you can give us all the threats that you want, but we are going to speak and the title of my book.

By the way is we will not be silenced. They said we will continue to speak.

No matter what is and what an example. They are to us and we think for example of Martin Luther you know that he happens to be one of my heroes. But here he is at the diet of forms and he's asked to recant. He's been told that if he doesn't recant. He knows he's to be put to death.

Okay and he stands up and says these words, which I quoted many times but I want to get them in right here.

I will not and I cannot recant to go against conscience is neither right nor safe here I stand I can do no other. So help me God. Amen. Now the thing is he was standing against a thousand years of church history of thousand years of tradition and yet there he stood, and I just cried out to the church of Jesus Christ today. Let us not be intimidated. Let us stand. Stand firmly but stand we will and then we take the consequences. And I might add this you look at 200 years of church history, centuries after centuries church did not have freedom of speech, like we do in America and they kept speaking you know you take the consequences that that's the way we need to respond or what are called action confront or compromise you know so you you layout this case that freedom of speech is been curved in that were not really pursuing truth that there is only don't talk about the things in advance of a particular cause it brings up his word propaganda. That's what this sounds like, but am I using that correctly. What is propaganda propaganda. All right, I'll summarize it in a single sentence or two propaganda is to so change people's perception of reality that even when confronted with a mountain of evidence they will not change their minds and so what you have to do is to create what I call, I don't know anyone else who uses this phrase but I do what you need to do is to create a cultural stream and that stream has to be powerful and it has to be a stream that people buy into and a stream that people accept and once it is accepted. This is the result that you think, for example of American I'm I'm taking this now by memory, but I know that it's in my book you have.

For example, the Philadelphia Inquirer during the riots that were taking place in the United States and you have no looters and so forth.

The editor allowed an article to be published entitled buildings matter to me. And the point of the article was larger more important than buildings, but buildings matter to look at the desecration that's happening. Eventually that editor had to resign because the very idea that may be. The riots were illegitimate because they were destroying buildings went against a cultural stream that has been created in this culture and woe to the person who has the nerve to stand against it. You will be canceled. And so, our present society says this will show you can exercise your first amendment right to freedom of speech but if you say the wrong thing. We will cancel you and throughout all of this time we have a number of different examples of the counseling culture that is taking place because you have this cultural stream now. I do want to get into Hitler and the reason is he is a great example of how propaganda works okay and not only that, but to the homosexual movement back in the 1980s said that they were following Hitler, in some of their propaganda because Hitler said that with the right use of propaganda, you can make hell appear like heaven and heaven appear like hell and he pulled it off.

Let's just take a deep breath and ask ourselves how did this happen. First of all what you need to do is to target an enemy okay and in his case it was the Jews so lies were told about the Jewish people hell that they are the ones that are to be blamed for World War I and the Germanys loss in World War I what you have to do is much as possible to stimulate hate against people. You need to then target those people and not only that, it is very important for you to also instill fear in people feared that if you are standing against the regime, you will pay the consequences. So what you have is a powerful cultural stream and also I discuss how language is manipulated. Yes.

For example, you can have phrases that mask a great deal of evil when Hitler starved children.

He called it putting them on a low-calorie diet, you know she never talked about killing Jews.

He talked about the idea of cleansing the land and the places where people were put to death were health specialty centers and you think for example of how that works today.

By the way we think of abortion. Nobody ever talks about abortion is the killing of a pre-born infant right it is a woman's right to choose. It is reproductive justice. It is a health issue so language is brought to bear to create these cultural ideas that all of us from time to time. Might be subjected to human tumult like the misunderstanding of the word love is that what you have in mind here when you talk about propaganda Larry this is so critical.

Now you're talking about evangelicals.

What happens is this people justify same-sex marriage. For example, I mean after all, shouldn't we have more love rather than less, and I heard a very famous pastor say that were ever there is love and he was talking about.

Same-sex relationships were ever there is love, there is God will. This is a time for us to just back off, take a deep breath and ask ourselves this is this biblical what we must recognize is that when Adam and Eve sinned, they did not stop loving. They continue to love.

They became lovers of themselves, lovers of money, yes or lovers of pleasure yes and that's what happened and so just because somebody loves it doesn't justify it, and there are many people this again is where I try to help the church think through some of these issues we seem to be caught between we do want to be known as being judgmental. We want to be known as loving and so love sometimes is used to interpret issues in a very un-biblical way, but we want to be loving but I want to remind people of the words of Jesus Christ who said very clearly, if you love me, keep my commandments. So in the Bible.

Love is not some sentimentality that is cut off from content and so forth. We have to be lovers of God, but the simple fact is that ideas like this are used today and they are used in a way that is very wrong here, heightening our sensitivity to this issue. Propaganda how words are used, what isn't being said. But I got ask you.

So where does that leave us as the church were where do we go from here will clearly this time in history in America.

This is not for the fainthearted. Is it and I'm afraid that we are so intimidated by the culture we are so afraid of being called on loving that oftentimes we can make compromises in the name of love.

And I think it's very important for us to recognize that sometimes speaking of propaganda and by the way, in the book I talk about how words are used today to continue to talk about even crime.

You know, in San Francisco you want to call anybody a criminal. The idea is its Marxist if we're nice to people. People will be nice to us because any crimes that they commit are all external to them. It's because they are oppressed, but we have to hurry on to your question about the role of the church in the midst of this, as I thought about propaganda had to ask myself the question, Larry.

Are we as a church, even advertising correctly or are we deceptive in our advertising. We say that this is a church where the gospel of Jesus Christ is going to be proclaimed with balance where we are going to balance truth and love. And where we are going to be instructing people on how to live in this culture and people. Sometimes, they see a very well-timed worship service. They seem very enthusiastic music or whatever and then they have a talk from the preacher, but what they don't hear is this is the word of God all got quiet out there pastor. The name of the book is we will not be silenced responding courageously to our culture's assault on Christianity in all of these chapters were just doing a flyover were hitting the top of the issues such as freedom of speech issues that have to do with propaganda but my desire is that people might understand what is happening and to give some kind of instruction to the church on how to respond to what is happening in our culture from my heart to yours today. Thank you to all those who have listened were so grateful for all those who support the ministry of running to win and always remember our intention is to help people to make it across the finish line. What I want to do is to leave behind a legacy that says I was a lover of the gospel and hopefully I devoted my life to helping all of us think through what that means.

In a culture that very clearly has lost its way.

But I'm excited about the fact that God is given us this culture to witness to free speech is fading and propaganda is rising, but it gets worse. Next time I run into when how the powers that be want to sexualize your children and compel their allegiance to the transgender and gay agendas.

The cell phone in your teenagers and does more to shape his or her view of culture and sexuality than an hour of Sunday school, and an hour of church and men in the comprehensive sex education curriculum is really designed to create sexual confusion. It is totally antithetical to all biblical values.

It touches children very deeply at the depth of their being and is really in many respects, destroying them, so parents out there, let me say this again. Don't throw your children to wolf statement. Why would socialism be attractive in a place like America. Yeah, capitalism is the disease socialism is that you are that's what we are being told today. Don't miss this high impact pastor Luther's new book, we will not be silenced will be sent as our gift to you as you support running to win at this crucial time in your gift of any amount. Just call us at 188-218-9337 that's 1-888-218-9337 or write to us at wanting to win 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago, IL 60614 online just RTW offer.com that's RTW offer.com when you sponsor the church