Live Not By Lies

In 1974 Solzhenitsyn wrote an essay bearing this title. Solzhenitsyn, a Russian novelist, philosopher, and historian, was also an outspoken critic of the Soviet Union and Communism.  He helped raise global awareness of the Soviet Gulag forced-labor camp system. He, himself, had spent time in the gulag for writing a single letter that was critical of Josef Stalin.

The same day the essay began to circulate among Moscow’s intellectuals, the Russian secret police broke into his apartment and arrested him. Rather than return him back to a labor camp, he was exiled to West Germany.

So why would this be important to you? Solzhenitsyn’s essay was a call to moral courage and the necessity to value and speak the truth. Last week, I finished reading an advance copy of a book with the same title. This book, written by Rod Dreher, is a call to Christians to renew the same enthusiasm for character and truth. It’s a message we and mature children need to hear in what may be a transitional period in our country’s history.

Below is the review I did at the publisher’s request:

Live Not By Lies will disturb you. At the same time, it will also be a source of hope and encouragement. This book is a wake-up call, a speed bump, a check engine light of sorts to those of us in the West who have been sleep walking through life. Sure, we’re aware of the hardships and persecution Christians have faced under totalitarian regimes. We’ve empathized and been respectful, maybe even made a donation to a relief cause. And then we’ve gone back to sleep telling ourselves, “That could never happen here, and even if it began to, Jesus would come to rescue us before things got really bad.” Church history doesn’t support this view of the Christian life. But we don’t know church history, at least not like we should. We find ourselves caving into the clarion call to embrace a lifestyle of personal peace and affluence as Francis Shaffer called it back in the 80’s. Or, a lifestyle of Hot Tub Religion, as Packer tagged it in the 90’s. Our response to pursuing our best life now has been gradual and incremental. We’ve drifted slowly to a place where many will willingly give up and trade their freedom for personal safety. Live Not By Lies will shake you out of your slumber and complacency. It did me. 

In part one of this timely book, author Rod Deher makes the case that a form of totalitarianism, soft as opposed to hard, is surfacing and gathering momentum here in the west. The camel’s nose is already in our tent through social media, our on-line purchasing habits, and all the smart devices that make life so much easier. We willingly expose our private lives on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We’ve become dependent on the affirmation these platforms provide. “Cookies,” i.e. surveillance capitalism through Google, continuously assist us with our purchasing decisions. They anticipate what we are likely to buy, ad after ad after ad. Alexa and Siri, our digital assistants, are listening, always ready to “help.” Our continuous use of these tools is having a conditioning affect, leading us to surrender privacy and political liberties in exchange for the comfort we desire. We’re willingly turning over the control of our lives to the “experts” who know better than we do what we need and what we should want. Our long-held opinions and ethical standards have been weakened by on-line social justice warriors as they continuously chisel away.   

There is hope. Part two of Live Not By Lies provides us with a resistance strategy. It’s also very personal. We’re not given trite Scripture verses that fit nicely on a coffee mug. Instead, we’re presented with stories of courageous, humble Christian dissidents of several faith traditions who have lived under oppressive conditions. They’ve  walked the path it appears were just embarking on. Coming from mainly from Eastern European countries, they have lived the faith they confess.

What struck me about their stories is how continuously they looked beyond themselves to living a costly, self-sacrificial lifestyle. For them, it was a daily picking up of their crosses and following Jesus.  Reading their stories made me aware of how little suffering we in the West have gone through, how insulated we have been.

They stressed a lifestyle of:

• Confessing and following Christ as opposed to simply admiring him
• Speaking and living the truth
• Cultivating a godly character
• Gathering in small groups for encouragement and communicating resistance tactics
• Passing on family and cultural memories
• Being willing to suffer

The conclusion of Deher’s book leads us to ask ourselves a question reminiscent of the title of Francis Shaffer’s 1976 book, How Should we Then Live? How should we live? The title answers the question- Live Not By Lies! We can’t afford to live in denial of what’s happening. Our children need us to face the truth, speak the truth, and prepare them for the coming on-slough of manipulation and control.

This book will provide the reader with the inspiration and strategies required to do just that.

I highly recommend it.

~ Curt Bumcrot, MRE