Welcome to Crown of Thorns

“If you continue in my word... you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

Unless your eyes have been closed over the last few years, then you too have witnessed the pervasive ideological possession that has gripped America. Marxist-inspired ideology has permeated every major institution, while its most fervent opponents flirt with fascist-inspired ideas. Those of us who are disgusted by both no longer have a home. We risk conceding ground to one of two extremes: we either allow ourselves to be possessed by toxic ideology, and thereby become complicit in the atrocities that follow (that is, if history is a valid indicator of what’s to come), or we risk becoming a casualties to the nascent cultural revolution. I contend that there is a third option. Suppose we could anchor identities to something perfect and absolute, thereby guarding ourselves against ideological possession, and in so doing, we save our souls rather than sell them. And suppose that this anchor were strong enough quell the emerging chaos. Would it not be something worth considering? To understand the solution, we must first understand the problem.

The problem, as it stands, is that we all live by lies. It often starts when the diligent student espouses the “correct” answers in school to avoid compromising his grades, not realizing that he is only conditioning himself to lie further (such is the true nature of “college and career readiness”). Lies have become so pervasive among every major institution, that by pure osmosis we now unwittingly absorb moral relativism and deceit into our worldviews, which only perpetuates the cycle of lies. It isn’t getting better. One doesn’t need to look far to see the fruits of a culture built on lies: skyrocketing suicides, drug overdoses, the breakdown of the family, and sexuality elevated to the highest moral value, to name a few (the same fruits we saw in pre-Soviet Russia and in the late Weimar Republic). If asked in private, one would be hard-pressed to find someone that disagrees with this general assessment, but the fact that we live by lies—and know we live by lies—seems to have no bearing on the rapid proliferation of lies.

How did we get here? Anyone with a fledgling knowledge of the twentieth century atrocities should know the answer because for each revolution and totalitarian system, the answer is always the same. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nobel prize winner and author of the Gulag Archipelago, warned us many times over, but most precisely in his 1983 Templeton Prize address: “And if I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire twentieth century, here too, I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: ‘Men have forgotten God.’ The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century.”¹

More than enough wise men sounded the alarm. Quoting again from Solzhenitsyn’s address: “Dostoevsky warned that ‘great events could come upon us and catch us intellectually unprepared’. That is precisely what has happened. And he predicted that ‘the world will be saved only after it has been possessed by the demon of evil.’” Marx warned us in his own writings when he advocated the abolition of religion, which he viewed as a tool of oppression. The Bolsheviks warned us through their actions when they rampaged through towns crucifying priests and clergy. It’s no coincidence that the Marxists’ first task is always to attack the church. Evil has always recognized God for what he is: the principal threat to a system based on lies.

Stalin once made an off-hand remark, responding to whether Catholicism (in Soviet-occupied Poland) should be tolerated to appease the pope: “The Pope! How many divisions does the pope have?” In case you are unaware, the answer is precisely zero. And yet, Poland prevailed. Stalin lost. Perhaps there is a lesson we can glean from this country, which was, not coincidentally 95% Christian/Catholic, that can help us defeat the lies.

At it’s core, the lesson is this: when we orient ourselves towards God, who is perfect in every dimension and unwavering, and when we follow His law, we become grounded in an absolute moral law that supersedes any individual, ideology, political preference, and it supersedes the state. God’s law is rather simple. Here are a couple key tenants: truth is objective; all humans are made in the image of God, meaning that every individual has equal and infinite worth, and no one is disposable. For those who find God too abstract and instead prefer to focus on something more tangible, such as human flourishing and well-being (i.e., humanism), understand that a humanist worldview without God inevitably devolves into anti-human practice. Utopian ideas are humanist ones (let us not forget, Marx was both a materialist and a humanist). The ancient Jews understood perfectly well the utopian folly, and told us as much in the story of Babel. When we fall into group-think (the more literal translation of “one language” (Gen 11:1 and 11:6)) and strive for heaven without God, everything we build will inevitably crumble. Without God, civilization collapses. But, when a critical mass of the population voluntarily submits to God and lives in Truth, civilization flourishes.

The solution is to voluntarily submit ourselves to God and live in Truth. It’s no stretch to say that Truth is the antidote to our ills—it’s the best weapon we have. When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, Pilate says (paraphrasing): “There are no grounds for charges against him. I will release him to you.” Instead the crowd requests the release of Barabbas, a murderer, thief, and notorious criminal.² When Pilate asks what should be done to Jesus, the crowd shouts, “Crucify him!” To crucify Jesus and release the criminal is an attack on truth, virtue, and goodness. It’s pure insanity, and we don’t have to look far to see modern parallels. And yet, Truth has a nasty habit of prevailing, but only when it’s reflected in the way we live our lives. The gospel continued to spread in part, and precisely because Jesus is Truth and his disciples lived in Truth.

In a similar manner to which darkness is not a presence in and of itself, but rather a convenient description for the absence of light, lies cannot exist in a vacuum. Namely, lies reflect the absence of Truth. Quoting Orthodox Priest Seraphim Rose’s 1963 essay: “Nihilism has failed as long as true Christian faith remains in a single person; for that person will be a living example of Truth that will prove vain all the impressive worldly accomplishments to which Nihilism is capable and will refute in his person all the arguments against God and the Kingdom of Heaven.”³ So long as courageous men and women are willing to live by Truth—which may entail suffering and dying for Truth—no earthly authority will have the power to dictate reality.

To live in Truth is no trivial task. It’s difficult enough when we’re surrounded by saints, monumental when most of us have forgotten God, and nearly impossible in a culture that has murdered Him. Simply “knowing” some bible stories and “believing” in God, while necessary, is not sufficient. And reforming institutions—as rotten as they are and well-intending as we may be—is a dead-end so long as our spiritual paucity remains. We must aim higher. As C.S. Lewis stated, “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.” Exercising our intellects is a necessary first step when it comes to recognizing and understanding Truth, and replenishing our spiritual deficit. With that said, you’ll need a bible because we’ll be diving deep into Holy Scripture. As far as drawing connections between God’s word, recent and ancient history, and how it applies to our modern Nihilistic world, this Substack is here to help. The goal of this Substack is to make it easier for the average Christian to discern and live in Truth, and to give a proper nudge to those on the margin; that is, those displeased with the West’s trajectory towards cultural and spiritual suicide, but are still uncomfortable with idea of submitting oneself to God. It’s one small step in the quest to grow in Holiness, and if we’re lucky, we might even quell some of the emerging chaos (or in the very least, be more prepared to withstand it).

Refer a friend to help spread Truth and quell the chaos!

1. https://www.templetonprize.org/laureate-sub/solzhenitsyn-acceptance-speech/

2. Barabbas (or “bar-abba”) means “son of the father”. More precisely, “abba”, though usually translated as “father”, connotes a sense of completeness and worthiness. Contrast with Jesus, the sinless and perfect human being, completely innocent of the crime, and true Son of the Father.

3. Nihilism, as defined by Nietzsche and used by Fr. Rose in Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age, is the belief that all values are baseless. If all values are baseless, then might makes right.