The Truth & Free Speech

SCRIPTURE:  If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:31-32 ESV

QUOTE: “So I was in the head-spinning position of realizing that these two men, [Tucker] Carlson and [Steve] Bannon, both unwavering conservatives, both of whom I had been told represented Evil Incarnate, were the possessors of the only major platforms interested in the hard and fast evidence of the greatest crime in history and of the direct threat to our Republic, of which I was warning; and that every other news outlet, all on the liberal side, indeed around the world, was rushing headlong into the sea of lies, and gladly sailing upon it under a wind of falsehood and prevarication. So only they, along with a smattering of other smaller independent media, were able to bring their audiences a true picture of the appalling threats faced by their viewers and our Republic.”

– Liberal Feminist Dr. Naomi Wolf commentary, “The Crime of Talking to Tucker Carlson,” May 1, 2023. Author, The Bodies of Others: The New Authoritarians, COVID-19 and the War Against the Human

THOUGHT: Without freedom of speech, we really aren’t any different from any other government in the world. Now that’s a big statement, but if you think critically about it, you might begin to see how it’s the fulcrum on which every other freedom hinges. There’s a good reason that it’s the first right in the First Amendment. Jesus says that it’s the truth that sets us free, and if we’re not free to mention truthful things, or question untruthful or even uncertain things, we simply aren’t free.

Discerning between truth and lies is getting exponentially harder. The number of people in power who believe and re-speak and further advance fear and untruth and propaganda is overwhelming – to the point that a liberal feminist (Dr. Naomi Wolf) is deplatformed by her own “tribe” for just talking to Tucker Carlson about her research on the danger to women and babies from a vaccine that has not been researched according to protocols.

Yes, we’re really there, people. Dissenting voices suppressed by a collusion between the FBI and social media. Truth-speakers fired or even arrested. Businesses who won’t support the narrative sued and de-monetized. Doctors stripped of credentials. Concerned parents accused of domestic terrorism. You feel the heat if you’re watching or listening, and likely don’t need me to enumerate.

What to do? Jesus had this solution: the truth will set you free.

We start by loving the truth that we are all created in God’s image and endowed with inalienable rights. We love the truth that life is a gift, and sacred. We love the truth that righteousness exalts a nation, and that moral fiber matters. We speak about it out loud, every chance we get. We don’t care if we get de-platformed, or de-monetized, or arrested for speaking. We abide in the truth that sets us free – study it, memorize it, steep ourselves in it so we know a lie when we hear it. We trust our constitution and quote it to those who would shut our voices down. We hold our government accountable for how they are wasting our money, and the money of our children and their children. We vote. We support into office those who also believe the truths our country was founded upon. We refuse to be demoralized or lazy or fearful or selfish enough to care about ourselves at the expense of our families and children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We don’t just wag our heads and point our fingers, we move into the chaos and speak order.

And that is a very Godlike character trait if you think about it for a hot second.

PRAYER: Oh God, you brought order out of chaos from the opening lines of Scripture. Then you created us in your image and asked us to do the same. “Fill the earth and subdue it,” you said. You made us rulers, if only we will rule righteously like you – ourselves, our families, our companies, our spheres of influence, our churches, our nation, our world. Oh God, help us fulfill what you have made us for.