Truth won't be silenced

Cancelled.

Banned.

Censored.

Deleted.

Silenced.

It's something I never imagined I would see in the United States, but it seems to have happened in an instant. Instead of promoting discussion and civil discourse, our government is working to silence anyone who dares speak against the accepted narrative.No matter your stance on anything else facing our nation, the fact that opposing views are being completely suppressed should infuriate you.

Lies don't have to be silenced. The truth is much stronger than the lies, and even if truth is whispered while lies are shouted from the rooftops the truth will always win out in the end. I can't remember a time in history when those in power tried to silence lies. Instead, corrupt governments work hard to suppress the inconvenient truth that calls out their hypocrisy, their ineptitude, or their evil intentions.

 “Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”
― George Orwell, 1984

While the situation in which we find ourselves seems so unthinkable, it isn't without precedent. In fact, you could probably point to it somewhere in the world at in time in history that you chose. Any time the power of man is put above the power of God you see exactly what is happening now. Our Founding Fathers saw it--and it led to the founding of a nation built on reliance on Divine Providence and submission to God's power, God's will, and God's judgment.

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
~Declaration of Independence

Though I hope I'm wrong, I'm afraid the United States has moved squarely into the center of God's judgment. In the midst of judgment, though, God has always promised His protection for His people. That protection seldom looks like we want it to look. All too often (for our tastes, anyway), that protection looks like peace and joy in the face of persecution. Look to our Christian brothers and sisters in Afghanistan right now, who are praising God as the Taliban goes door to door executing them. We need to follow their example and be willing to stand. We need to look to the instructions given to the church in Ephesus:

^"10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." (Ephesians 6:10-18)

And though God has never promised a life of ease, a life free of trials (the opposite, in fact), He has always promised comfort for His people in the midst of trouble.

Isaiah 40
'“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
²     “With gentle words, tender and kind,
Assure Jerusalem, this chosen city from long ago,
    that her battles are over.
    The terror, the bloodshed, the horror of My punishing work is done.
This place has paid for its guilt; iniquity is pardoned;
    its term of incarceration is complete.
It has endured double the punishment it was due.”

³ A voice is wailing, “In the wilderness, get it ready! Prepare the way;
    make it a straight shot. The Eternal would have it so.
Straighten the way in the wandering desert
    to make the crooked road wide and straight for our God.
⁴ Where there are steep valleys, treacherous descents,
    raise the highway; lift it up;
    bring down the dizzying heights.
Fill in the potholes and gullies, the rough places.
    Iron out the shoulders flat and wide.
⁵ The Lord will be, really be, among us.
    The radiant glory of the Lord will be revealed.
All flesh together will take it in. Believe it.
    None other than God, the Eternal, has spoken.”

⁶ A voice says, “Declare!”
    But what shall I declare?
    All life is like the grass.
All of its grace and beauty fades like the wild flowers in a field.

⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades
    as the breath of the Eternal One blows away.
People are no different from grass.
⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades;
    nothing lasts except the word of our God.
It will stand forever.

⁹ Ascend a high mountain,
    you herald of good tidings, O Zion;
With a clear, strong voice make known to everyone
    the joy that belongs to God’s chosen place,
O, Jerusalem, You herald of good tidings!
    Make the news ring out! Don’t be afraid!
Say to these cities, this Judah: “Behold your God!”
¹⁰ The Lord, the Eternal, comes with power, with unstoppable might;
    He will take control without question or delay.
He will see to it that wages are paid,
    repairs are made, and all is set right again.
¹¹ He will feed His fold like a shepherd;
    He will gather together His lambs—the weak and the wobbly ones—into His arms.
He will carry them close to His bosom,
    and tenderly lead like a shepherd the mother of her lambs.

¹² Who has taken count and measured out all earth’s waters in a single, cupped palm
    and determined heaven’s expanse with an outstretched hand?
Who has counted out exactly how many grains of dirt are here on earth,
    and weighed the mountains and hills on scales?

¹³ Who has directed the Spirit of the Eternal One?
    Can anyone claim to be His advisor?
¹⁴ To whom did God turn for advice or instruction?
    Whom did He consult about right and wrong?
Who directed Him down the path of justice or imparted to Him knowledge
    or taught Him the way of understanding?

¹⁵ Face it; the nations are nothing but a drop in the bucket,
    only a smidgen on the scales by the reckoning of God.
He can pick up entire islands as if they are grains of dirt.
¹⁶ Even if we had all the resources of Lebanon—
    all of its trees to burn for fuel, all of its animals for burnt offerings—
How could we think that we’ve got enough to give to God?
¹⁷ All the countries of the world don’t add up to anything. In the eyes of God
    they are less than nothing;
    they are empty wastelands.

¹⁸ So would you try to find someone to compare to Him?
    Can you think of anything that has a likeness to God?
¹⁹ An idol? Hardly. They are made by human hands.
    Even if they are overlaid with gold, decorated with silver,
And shaped by the world’s best artisans,
    they are subject to tarnish, tearing, and breaking.
²⁰ Those who cannot afford such an extravagant offering
    select a choice hardwood that will not rot,
And seek a skilled artisan to fashion an image
    that will not totter and fall.

²¹ Don’t you know, haven’t you heard or even been told
    from your earliest memories how the earth came to be?
²² Who else could have done it except God, enthroned high above the earth?
    From such a vantage people seem like grasshoppers to Him.
Who else but God could stretch out the skies as if they were a curtain,
    draw them tight, suspend them over our heads like the roof of a tent?
²³ God reduces the rulers and judges,
    the rich and powerful of the earth, to nothing;

²⁴ They scarcely are planted, take root and start growing,
    before God blows a withering breath,
And storm winds carry them away like chaff.

²⁵ The Holy One asks, “Do you really think you can find
    someone or something to compare to Me? My equal?”
²⁶ Look at the myriad of stars and constellations above you.
    Who set them to burning, each in its place?
    Who knows those countless lights each by name?
They obediently shine, each in its place,
    because God has the great strength and strong power to make it so.

²⁷ Why, then, do you, Jacob, inheritors of God’s promise,
    you, Israel, chosen of God—
Why do you say, “My troubled path is hidden from the Eternal;
    God has lost all interest in My cause”?
²⁸ Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard?
    The Eternal, the Everlasting God,
The Creator of the whole world, never gets tired or weary.
    His wisdom is beyond understanding.
²⁹ God strengthens the weary
    and gives vitality to those worn down by age and care.
³⁰ Young people will get tired;
    strapping young men will stumble and fall.
³¹ But those who trust in the Eternal One will regain their strength.
    They will soar on wings as eagles.
They will run—never winded, never weary.
    They will walk—never tired, never faint.'