In this day and age, new words are being used, words that, ten or more years ago, one would probably not have used. However, now these words are on tv, in print media, and online. In this Langstaff Letter, I want to help people understand these new words and phrases. Remember, words are important, not just in what they mean, but in how we use them. I realize for many, this Langstaff Letter will be confusing, but hang in there and I will bring it all together at the end and show what this means from both a political and spiritual perspective.

WOKENESS

What is wokeness? Well, wokeness can be difficult to define because it is often used in different ways. Usually, it involves social justice. People are asked to ‘stay aware,’ i.e., stay awake and be watchful. Unfortunately, this ends up as a push towards a radical agenda, which in turn meets opposition, as with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who proclaimed, “Florida is where woke goes to die” (christianpost.com). Wokeness is usually indicating something is unacceptable and needs to be eliminated or changed.

“Out of this, we get ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ (DEI) programs on college campuses and corporate H.R. offices that practice reverse racism. We get ‘Environmental, Social, and Governance’ (ESG) investments that seek to destroy fossil fuels and prop up unprofitable climate change schemes. We get Critical Race Theory (CRT) that teaches minority students to hate America and teaches white people to view themselves as guilt-laden oppressors. The list goes on and on. But at the end of the day, wokeness is simply this: Cultural Marxism applied to every area of life by the media, massive corporations, politicians, and bureaucrats” (christianpost.com).

CRITICAL THEORY/CRITICAL RACE THEORY (CRT)

“Critical Theory is all about finding, revealing, critiquing, and ultimately dismantling hidden “power structures” across all of society. Just what might these oppressive power structures be?

Primarily God, religion, the family, traditional values, sexual morality, free market economics, and even — as we see today in the transgender movement — the biological reality of the sex binary” (christianpost.com).

This is often coupled with white supremacy and the concept of racial identity.

CANCEL CULTURE

“Cancel culture is a phrase contemporary to the late 2010s and early 2020s used to refer to a culture in which those who are deemed to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner are ostracized, boycotted, or shunned” (wikipedia.com). Similar to being woke.

This term is generally used by people on the ‘left,’ but can also occur with people on the ‘right.’ Examples of this include Bud Light Beer losing its place as the #1 Beer in America and consequently losing billions in stock value, and similarly, Target with the ‘Pride’ displays in their stores.

EQUITY, EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION

There is a major difference between equity and equality. Equity is the goal of obtaining equal results, whereas equality is the goal of giving individuals equal opportunity.

You can see this happening in many areas of society, such as education in colleges and universities. For example, ceasing to use SAT scores as a factor in enrolling students in colleges and universities.

Diversity is the attempt to include people of different races in a group organization in society as a whole and thus promote diversity and inclusion. However, one has to remember that diversity without unity actually produces chaos.

THE GREAT RESET

An article in Charisma Magazine describes a ‘Great Reset’ that is being promoted, “By now, you’ve no doubt heard of the Great Reset, the World Economic Forum’s plans for a one-world government. But Charlie Kirk of Turning Point Ministries USA, along with Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, California, warn that if you see this as a far-off prediction rather than a present reality, you may want to think again.

Kirk says the WEF, founded and led by Klaus Schwab, is on a hell-bent mission to destroy Western values-biblical values-and to drive the Ten Commandments out of our culture” (charismamag.com).

I recently learned President Joe Biden has been involved with the World Economic Forum going back to long before he first became Vice President. It helps explain many of the policies he has pursued and the decisions he has made.

The Great Reset, if successful, would have “the effect of canceling our American Way of Life” (hillsdale.edu). In turn, it involves a cashless society. The word ‘globalism’ is used to contrast the Great Reset with Nationalism.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

“The notion of political correctness came into use among Communists in the 1930s as a semi-humorous reminder that the Party’s interest is to be treated as a reality that ranks above reality itself,” writes Codevilla, Professor Emeritus of International Relations at Boston University (intellectualtakeout.org). As such, it requires people to stay within the parties’ or governments’ official position even if it does not line up with reality.

FAKE NEWS

Fake news involves false and incorrect reporting, often of a sensational nature. These narratives are created with the aim of having them wildly shared or distributed in order to generate revenue, support, or discredit a public figure, political movement, company, etc.

An example of this was the fake news of Trump’s involvement with Russia. This was linked to Hillary Clinton, but for whatever reason, she was not held accountable for it.

DEEP STATE

Deep state is an unnamed secret group of unauthorized people or group of officials within the U.S. Government who use their leverage in the federal bureaucracy, and they often resist change.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

These are some of the words being thrown around today. What does it all mean?

On the political level, it is an attempt to completely destroy our present national way of life and completely reset it into a form of global socialism or communism. As a consequence, people are rising up to combat it.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a long-shot Republican candidate for the 2024 Presidential election, emailed his response to all this:

“God is real.
There are two genders.
Human flourishing requires fossil fuels.
Reverse racism is racism.
An open border is no border.
Parents determine the education of their children.
The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind.
Capitalism lifts people up from poverty.
There are three branches of the U.S. government, not four.
The U.S. Constitution is the strongest guarantor of freedoms in history.”

All of these values are being challenged today. Politically, people are seeking to completely change America. If you want to get a glimpse of where things are headed, take a look at Canada. I saw a quote recently attributed to Justin Trudeau, “Christians are the worst part of Canadian society”(capforcanada.com).

On a spiritual level, it is more than anything a spiritual war. There is a battle going on to destroy Biblical Christianity and all the values that it contains. We need to understand that behind it all is the enemy Jesus called Satan. He will not succeed, but in the meantime, until Christ returns, we are in for some challenging times-Times of changes, times of persecution, times of suffering, and times of warfare.

We need to remember “we win” because Christ has already won the victory and will one day soon return for His church and then, with His church, establish His kingdom here on earth. If there is a Great Reset, it is the Reset that will come when He returns.

RESOURCES

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/what-is-wokeness.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancel_culture

https://freedomlibrary.hillsdale.edu/programs/cca-ii-the-great-reset/what-is-the-great-reset

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