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Sermon Notes

False Doctrines Poisoning The Church
Part 4
“Wokeism”

“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”–Col 2:8

“Don’t let others spoil your faith and joy with their philosophies, their wrong and shallow answers built on men’s thoughts and ideas, instead of on what Christ has said.”–LB
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The Apostle Paul is warning Christians of the danger of being snagged into and trapped by an unbiblical belief system or worldview.

There are all kinds of philosophies out there that will shape the way you view people, God, life, and yourself. Only one is worth embracing, and it is the worldview that comes from the teachings of Christ!

The word “capture” in our text is from a word meaning “to be carried off as another’s slave. To lose your freedom. Or, to be cheated like the victim of a scam.

The idea is that there are belief systems, philosophies, worldviews, and false teachings that will enslave you while at the same time stealing what God has given you.

The verse said there are philosophies that spring from human thinking and the dark spiritual forces in this world, and do NOT come from Christ.

This time we’re going to see that WOKEISM is one of those world views. It will capture and enslave your mind, and reconfigure the way you view people, life, God, and yourself. And it will rob you of God’s peace, joy, and ultimately from walking in His will.

So what is WOKE?

In a nutshell, WOKE is the belief that society is systemically evil or unfair on the basis of race, gender, and sexuality.

At first glance it appears as a noble thing because it’s claim is to care about the disadvantaged, marginalized, and needy of the world. But what it requires one to embrace ideologically cannot be reconciled with God’s word.

One WOKE advocate defines it as, “It is being awake to cultural injustices.”

So, to be WOKE is to be one that has awakened to these purported truth claims.

Wokeism further teaches that society is divided into two factions–the oppressed and their oppressors.

The OPPRESSED are ethnic minorities, LGBTQ people, and anyone else perceived to be otherwise a victim of discrimination.

The OPPRESSORS are:

#1 the rich,
#2 authority figures, and lately,
#3 older white men who are lumped in with the broader category of white supremacists.

According to WOKEISM, the oppressors are responsible for shutting the doors of opportunity on the oppressed, and of unfairly harassing and marginalizing them.

To be WOKE is to be aware of this unfair and unjust disparity, and commit to fighting it either through:

–social justice programs,
–legislation,
–or by simply adopting the personal mission of righting the wrongs whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself.
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WOKEISM has infiltrated and grown to dominate many if not most of our major institutions.

–College universities,
–major corporations,
–politics (particularly one of the two major parties),
–and the entire educational system where children’s textbooks are filled with woke ideology.

Wokeism has also been legislated into law, as with the same-sex marriage ruling, where homosexuals were considered to be amongst the oppressed and wrongly discriminated against.
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While wokeism may have begun with legitimate care and compassion toward the disadvantaged and marginalized (which I would be all for), it has adopted a set of tenets or beliefs one must adhere to in order to be officially WOKE, much like a religion. A few of those tenets are:

• Feelings trump truth

If you feel something, it is true…YOUR truth. Under wokeism, truth is relativized. Objective truth is rejected for relative truth based on ones emotions and feelings.

For example, in wokeism’s attempt to stand with the LGBTQ community, feelings have been allowed to thoroughly replace objective, scientific truth.

For instance, though born male I am only male if I feel I am. If instead I feel like I’m female, or even some particular animal as with the current ‘furry’ trend…

Or if I feel that I am one of a possible 72-130 genders, then what I feel is unassailably true. And further, my feelings are to be accepted and respected, even celebrated.

This is nothing less than the exaltation of self. It is placing MY feelings, MY emotions, MY wishes above all else, even God’s word.

Under wokeism, feelings or wishful thinking are king, while science, reason, and rationality are discarded.

And according to Scripture, this leads to madness. We read of King Nebuchadnezzar, who exalted himself above God, refusing to give Him the glory for all that God had given him. Madness was the result.

Dan 4:32 “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” 31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, 32 and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox…until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”

His exaltation of self resulted in madness!

The dictionary defines insanity as, “extreme foolishness or irrationality; the inability to think and behave in ways considered to be normal and rational. Detachment from reality (delusions), as in “I’m a cat” or, “born a male, I’m now a female that can become pregnant or menstruate.”

Because of its exaltation of self, wokeism very often leads to a type of insanity. When reason and logic are sacrificed on the altar of feelings, you are subject to great delusion.

This is how you can have legislators sitting in our senate chambers that cannot define what a woman is.

Or who, when pressed, refuse to agree with the reality of two genders, even though science and God’s word clearly state there are only two. You either have xx chromosomes for female, or xy for male. There are no other combinations!

Tragically, our culture has so spiraled into WOKEISM that if you dare to express, particularly in the public square, that this kind of thinking is madness, you are immediately labeled a hater, a bigot, a homophobe, transphobe, or some other kind of phobe.

You also, according to the WOKE community, have no right to function in society. Serious attempts are often made to cancel you by boycotting your business, doxing your address online so others can find and harass you, or by somehow ruining your reputation.

So in WOKEISM, feelings trump truth.

–Why is this impossible for true Christians to embrace?

Because the Bible says,

“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”–Ephesians 4:15

“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”–Proverbs 12:22

“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.”–Colossians 3:9
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A second tenet of WOKEISM is:

• Authority equals oppressor

If you are an authority figure you are an oppressor and are at the end of the day, evil. Authority figures include law enforcement, teachers, politicians (particularly those you don’t agree with), parents, business owners, and the list goes on.

In WOKEISM, authority figures are suspect. They don’t have your best interests in mind and will likely sooner or later wrong you.

In Marxism, the ruling class (Bourgeoisie), oppresses and cheats the common workers (proletariat). Marxism calls for an uprising against the ruling class by the workers, which would then pave the way for socialism to take over.

As Marxism demonizes the ruling class, Wokeism demonizes authority figures, calling for their overthrow.

WOKEISM is the culprit that pushed for defunding the police and hatred for law enforcement of all kinds.

But Scripture teaches, “For the policeman does not frighten people who are doing right; but those doing evil will always fear him. So if you don’t want to be afraid, keep the laws and you will get along well. 4 The policeman is sent by God to help you. But if you are doing something wrong, of course you should be afraid, for he will have you punished. He is sent by God for that very purpose. 5 Obey the laws, then, for two reasons: first, to keep from being punished, and second, just because you know you should.”–Ro 13: 3-5

Hebrews throws a whole different light on authority figures, “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.”–Heb 13:17

So authority figures that function in their God-given purpose are for your protection, not your harm!
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A third tenet of WOKEISM is:

• Society is systemically, unfairly stacked against you.

If you are an ethnic minority, LGBTQ, or any other perceived minority, you have 3 strikes against you.

Put simply, WOKEISM creates victims, not winners.

WOKEISM fills your head with the notion that you don’t have a chance, so why try. When WOKEISM is embraced it breeds defeatism, resentment, and rage. It is a DIVISIVE worldview.

As Paul warned in our opening text about being ‘taken captive,’ under WOKEISM one soon becomes enslaved to victimhood, anger, resentment, and hopelessness. The false message of WOKEISM literally captures and robs you!

The Bible in turn teaches that:

We are all one in Christ, not divided!

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”–Gal 3:26; 28-29

While WOKEISM divides according to race and gender, Christianity unites us all at the foot of the Cross, no matter the race or gender!

Christianity doesn’t create victims, it creates winners, overcomers, victors, conquerors!
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Summary:

WOKEISM is ideological poison disguised as care and compassion for the disadvantaged.

–Both WOKEISM and Marxism create an “us against them” divide wherever they are embraced.
–Both rot society from within,
–and both have nothing in common with our Savior or our Christian faith!

Rather than WOKE, the Bible tells Christians to be AWAKE!

“God says in the Scriptures, “Awake, O sleeper, and rise up from the dead; and Christ shall give you light.”–Eph 5:14