That Hideous Strength
To govern means to rule or preside over a nation, state, or town. Some do so with the greatest of care to empower a free people to exercise their will. The underlying premise of such governance is that the human will has been created and granted by God. People therefore thrive when their governor leads with the knowledge that humans are best left alone to govern themselves through an inner strength of character. In C.S. Lewis’ fictional Space Trilogy, the third volume is named That Hideous Strength. It is a work of social criticism. It challenges the totalitarian impulse of societies and leaders to socially engineer human nature. In that sense, it is similar in theme to more popular works such as Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Lewis clearly said in his work that such an impulse and exercise of power is hideous.
The present pandemic will in the next few months become endemic. COVID19 will become commonplace. It will be ever present like the flu and the usual viral suspects that will break through the herd immunity and the vaccinated on occasion. Putting aside the extremes that we must wear masks until every last case is snuffed out, or that there are no pandemic advocates, no masks, let live and let die, hooray for herd immunity crowd. Human behavior will adapt. Airlines and public transportation will undoubtedly require certain behaviors and restrictions that were before considered unacceptable or even unconstitutional. What I think promises to become even more hideous will be the lust of some governors for power to spill over into a soft totalitarianism. Totalitarianism means to govern the total realm of citizens everyday life, issuing edicts based on their own ideology.
Many leaders deserve a lock down dunce cap and must be the original signers of the Hypocritical Oath, saying one thing and doing another. To the hard working scientists we say thank you for the work and the studies. To the federally employed epidemiologists, who read the data and interpreted the data wrongly and who unnecessarily mischaracterize the entire problem, your science card, your logic card, and most importantly, your courage card has been hereby revoked by the American public. New York and California prove lock downs don’t work. Washing your hands, social distancing, and wearing a mask do work. Dining outdoors works. Going to work works. Keeping kids in school works. Allowing people to make their own decisions works. And leaving anyone under 30 alone works.
I recall laughing the first time a good friend told me that Siri was listening to our conversation over lunch. I told him that, of course, she is programmed to respond to the sound of my voice, but that doesn’t mean anything. Then one day Siri started interrupting my conversations and asking me questions. I then realized that some algorithm was listening and recording my words. Subsequently, reputable news sources have reported that China is already practicing what Orwell wrote about in 1984. All citizens are assigned a social score. If you don’t think and say the right things you may lose your ability to travel, or you could lose your job. This already is being practiced in less intentional ways in the United States through Big Tech’s benign surveillance. They are interested in monetizing the information, but they are tracking our movements and building files of our conduct and interests. It is primarily used to make shopping easier for me. Everything from my clothes and films to travel interests and reading habits. Technology in the wrong hands is a hideous strength that can manipulate thoughts and decisions.
Tyrants want control in order to create their dystopian paradises where they flourish and the populace obeys. Companies desire to make our lives easier with their products and make our behavior more predictable. Big Tech has already proven they have a monolithic political viewpoint that they favor and will, without apology or guilt, coach the society toward. The question that naturally comes up here is who has an interest in moving the culture away from a more biblical worldview? Who is the prime mover who keeps the glacier moving forward with slow and steady progress? To focus on politics is to miss the point, for politicians only reflect the culture and then give back to it what they think it wants so they can stay in power.
The culture which is composed of major institutions such as universities, public education, media, technology giants, the arts, movies, music, and sports have historically been used to build a great country and culture. That is, until they were hijacked by forces that have used them for more sinister purposes. I have often wondered why all the movement in society attempts to destroy the Ten Commandments, wants to rewrite laws, and wants to deconstruct the Bible. These are the things that have made us great. Who could be so hideous that they want all of these things destroyed and to build a fool’s paradise? The hideous strength is a fiery and fallen angel, Lucifer. What can be done about all this can only be done by going to the source of evil. Now here is the hard part, we will lose before we will win. Actually, a biblically astute person already knows that much misery is before us before the promised return of Christ in triumph. And he won’t and can’t win without the spilling of blood. That is how difficult it is to eliminate evil, it doesn’t go down easily.
American evangelicals, especially at the retail level still love the rapture theory. This means that just before persecution, plagues, et al come upon the earth, Jesus will return and snatch away his church. The church will reside in heaven with God and wait while God reclaims the earth, and turns his fury upon the population whereby 56% of the global population will perish under a barrage of horror when seals are opened, trumpets are blown, and bowls of God’s wrath are poured out upon the earth. Then, the church returns to earth with the triumphant Savior who will slay the armies arrayed against him in the valley of Meddigo. The blood will fill the 200 mile long valley with blood as high as a horse's bridle. How appealing for us, and how convenient because we escape the time of great tribulation.
I can’t say this teaching doesn’t have exegetical merit, but it has waned, even faltered, in recent years among the best evangelical scholarship. If your strategy is to hold on until Christ pulls you out of the mess we are in, then you have my best wishes. There is, however, a more prescriptive plan given to us by Jesus and it should occupy our time and require our best effort. The two biggest mistakes we can make if it seems we are losing moral and political ground is fatalism - waiting for the rapture. And the second is appeasement - trying to make peace with the spirit of the age. Appeasement primarily, in all its guises, is trying to overcome evil with nice. You can’t be nice enough to get skeptics to believe and you can’t find enough common ground with people who fundamentally disagree with your biblical worldview so that you can start a conversation that will lead to their conversion. There is however a promise, one among many in scripture that can assure you that your work and life as a Christian has meaning. After the Apostle Paul’s historic dissertation on the resurrection of Christ including the basic explanation of the gospel itself, the implications of having a non-resurrected Christ, and the hope of having a resurrected Christ, his advice is simple.
“So my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”
1 Corinthians 15:58 NLT
Focus on what makes you enthusiastic for God. More than likely that is your calling. If you are an evangelist, preach! If you are one who shows mercy, show it. If you are a scholar, study. If a writer, write. Are you a good worker? Then show it! If you can make money, make it and then give it to what you care about. You get the idea. Behind all this, of course, is the way you can fight Lucifer. The most effective battle plan is to do God’s will - that is what disarms the fiery angel who seeks to destroy us all. He is the one pushing all the lies that would dismember all that Christians have built over the centuries. Get busy being a disciple of Christ. Jesus will return and he will do all the things we want done and sometimes think we can do but can’t, like changing minds and eliminating evil.
“When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison. He will go out to deceive the nations—called Gog and Magog—in every corner of the earth. He will gather them together for battle—a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashore. And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them. Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Revelation 20:7-10 NLT
