Laura's
fourth-grade teacher was reading a new book called The
Giver. The story seemed sort of spooky, but most of her classmates
at Adams
Elementary
School
in Davenport
, Iowa
, liked it. After all,
it had won the 1994 Newbery Medal--and was
dedicated to "all the children to whom we entrust our future."[1]
Therefore it had to be good--didn't it.
The
book told about a special community where every child felt safe, ate
plenty of food and took pills to control pain and population growth.
Newborns were placed in Nurturing Centers where older children helped
care for them during their volunteer hours. To free the productive
population from stress, handicapped babies and the elderly were "released"
to go to a mystical "Elsewhere.
Each
group of children learned to follow age-appropriate rules, succeed
in their education plan, serve their community and share their feelings
with their designated family. No one could escape the watchful eye
of the collective. Peace had replaced privacy.
Laura
didn't know that the scary fantasy reflects a growing reality. Around
the world, people are being squeezed into a new social mold. With
promptings from teachers, peers,
Hollywood
and the media, a new generation has
embraced politically correct attitudes that exclude Biblical truth.
And vast governmental networks have been designed to hold both
individuals and communities accountable to international standards for
social equality, consumption, "mental
health" (global understanding, multicultural values,
adaptability, compliance...) and communal oneness.
During
the 1996 UN Conference on Human Settlements in
Istanbul
, I attended a day-long
"Dialogue" on Solidarity. The panelists included some of the
world's most influential political and spiritual leaders.
Federico Mayor, then Director General of UNESCO, summarized their
vision:
"Citizenship
for the next century is learning to live together. The 21st Century
city will be a city of social solidarity.... We have to redefine the
words... [and write a new] social contract."
"Cities
are the vectors of social change and transformation," added Dr. Ismail
Serageldin, Vice President of The World
Bank. "Let's just make sure that social change and transformation
are going in the right direction."
Their
new "social contract" demands new sets of words and meanings.
Carried by global information networks to people everywhere, transformational
terms are taking root in the public consciousness and changing our
thinking. You may know them already -- words such as stakeholder,
partnerships, facilitator, assessments,
win-win, empathy, synergy, consensus,
continual or managed change.... They permeate government
agencies, schools and churches as well as corporations. Sounding harmless
(though a bit confusing), their growing familiarity weakens resistance
to the new social structures designed to monitor every family in the
global community. [2]
Management guru, Peter E. Drucker
helps lead the way. "All institutions, including governments,
churches, universities, and so on, will become more interdependent,
more market- and customer-driven," he writes. Looking at this
revolution from a corporate -- not a Christian -- perspective, he
describes today's "fast-growing pastoral churches" as the
"most significant social development in this country.
" [4]
Uncompromising
Christians won't fit these systems. Their quest for vocational
success will be blocked by various gatekeepers such as guidance
counselors, universities, workforce
boards and literacy centers. These guardians of the new solidarity
will assess attitudes, measure and monitor compliance, then shut the
doors of opportunity to dissenters who hamper the new consensus.
Unless
Christians awaken to this relentless transformation, our children will
be trapped in its controlling web. Some of the oppressive government
regulations that Laura was forced to imagine are already coloring her
real world. To resist this transformation, we must be alert to
its three inseparable parts:
1.
A mind-changing group PROCESS
that bans Biblical
absolutes and conforms participants to an
ever-changing consensus.
2.
An international web of NETWORKS and SYSTEMS
(or organizations) that
manage the global transformation. (The faith-based
partnerships that tie churches and charities to evolving
government regulations fit the global structure well.)
3.
A set of international STANDARDS
that holds everyone accountable to the aims and regulations
established by the new managers.
To
fight this erosion of American freedom, we need to remember that the
forces arrayed against us are far greater than our human efforts. Only
God can bring victory. Let us turn to Him, listen to His instructions,
and follow His plan. The Old Testament king, Jehoshophat,
said it well:
"O
our God, will You not judge them? For we
have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us;
nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You." (2
Chronicles 20:12)
Together,
the people prayed, followed God's instructions, and won the war in a
mighty demonstration of God's power and faithfulness.
Next
week: Reinventing
the World, Part 3:
"Molding
Minds through Group Consensus"
