Truth Rising amidst Rushing Waters
- Timothy Kernc
- Mar 31
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 6
Culture (aka: the ways of men) seems to me to be like a river whose rushing waters we enter into without fully grasping the risk of spiritual peril it involves. If we don't stand firm, we can easily be swept away.
We live in a fallen, sinful world where “doing the right thing” in the eyes of God seems to be increasingly at odds with “doing the right thing” in the eyes of our culture. Every week seems to bring some new media story that thirty years ago would have been deemed unthinkable and, in some cases, ridiculous. Yet here we are.
Cancel culture seems to be here to stay. Legislation passed to prevent medical professionals from delivering “gender-affirming care” to kids under the age of eighteen is decried by the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges). Dropping bombs on people in a foreign land who, we’re told, posed a threat to our national security, is deemed the smart thing to do, even when most Americans disagree with the action. Better to be proactive than reactive, our leaders tell us. Killing civilians is just collateral damage.
We look the other way or fail to seriously debate the ubiquity of moral decline caused by addiction to social media & video games, greed, anxiety, pornography, online gambling, and "me first" attitudes in favor of debating the political topics of the moment incessantly covered by the media's talking heads: immigration, crime, elections, vaccinations, taxes, the economy.
"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" is a popular slogan that seems to imply it's okay to sin as long as it's in Las Vegas.
Satire is no longer tolerated when it offends a specific people group. (Babylon Bee article)
The Truth hurts, the expression goes, no matter what age we live in. The bold and charismatic pastor Voddie Baucham used to say, "If you can't say Amen, you better say Ouch!"
Jesus never failed to speak the Truth, even when it offended the people hearing it. He called the religious leaders of his day hypocrites, a truth that cut the Pharisees so deeply they called for Pontius Pilot to crucify him. He unleashed his righteous anger on the money-changers and people buying and selling in the Temple, saying "My house will be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." He wept for the people of Jerusalem even as he entered triumphantly riding on a donkey to their welcoming adoration and waving palm branches.
I am saddened almost to the point of weeping that so many Americans equate their values with the policies of the political party they identify with. Having aligned with Republican “conservatism” or Democratic “liberalism,” they dig their heels in to justify the social policies and agendas of their party, rather than considering the higher moral question: “What Would Jesus Want?” Every topic—from mask-wearing during a pandemic to men competing as women in athletics to pregnancy terminations being considered healthcare to whether or not we should aid small democracies attacked by Communist dictators—seems to divide us along political lines, instigated continuously by media outlets whose ideological agendas are as obvious as their logos. Clear-thinking about sensitive social topics devolves into loud shouting across the aisle from what each party believes is the moral high ground. We become our worst selves. Truth gets lost, washed away by the fast-moving river of our culture.
In the new documentary, TRUTH RISING, produced by Coldwater Media and presented by Focus on the Family and the Colson Center, John Stonestreet calls this cultural cross-roads a “civilizational moment.” I believe he's right. We’re all frogs in a pot of water who don’t realize the temperature is being turned up. What is one to do?
Guided by author and social critic, Oz Guinness, "Truth Rising" seeks to clarify the issues causing our present moral crisis and present how “ordinary people can respond with courage, clarity and Christ-centered vision.” It is both an insightful documentary and a “call to action for a critical time in our culture.” The film educates its viewer about the rise of Western values that consider every person a highly valued soul, then goes on to highlight the stories of several public figures who have chosen to stand up for what they know is right and refused to give in to the battering currents of the culture.
What does it mean to be a “courageous Christian” and resist the fast-moving waters of our culture? How can you become a “beacon” of light & truth in this present darkness?
Watch "Truth Rising" to find out. Then share it with family and friends. Or better yet, host an event at your church, in your community, or in your home. The materials provided on the web-site will deepen your understanding of what’s at stake and, hopefully, inspire you to stand firm, “grounded in God’s truth,” even when it's unpopular or dangerous.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said: "Truth crushed to earth will rise again." The time is now for Christians to be bold in proclaiming the Truth of God's Word, to resist the culture's insistence that truth is whatever we want it to be, and to act in ways that glorify Him.
The documentary film, "Truth Rising," is available to watch for free on YouTube.
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."
-Isaiah 5:20
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