Heavy, Deep & Real ministries

Hey everyone!

So, I’ve been trying to write this blog for several weeks and just couldn’t come up with the right tone. First drafts were ranting. Second drafts were preachy. Third drafts were whiny. Fourth drafts were dull. Perhaps this will be the one that works!

I’m going to talk about equivocation.

That’s a great five-dollar word that means avoiding an issue. Great synonyms are: cavil, dodge, elude, escape, eschew, evade, falsify, fence, fib, flip-flop, fudge, hedge, jive, lie, palter, parry, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, shuck, shuffle, sidestep, stonewall, tergiversate, and waffle.

You see equivocation used all the time in a variety of means but the purpose is always the same – to avoid taking responsibility and accountability for the truth.

If I were to dumb down the word I would say, “Yeah but…” instead. Let me give you some examples from our current world events.

In the UK Pakistani Grooming Gangs have been terrorizing little white British girls, drugging and raping them for years. As many as 200,000 girls have been victims, according to some reports. Politicians have known about this for a decade. Police have been ordered NOT to file reports against the groomers. Victims and their parents instead are told to basically shut up about it.

How have the UK authorities responded?

Prime Minister Keir Starmer claimed those complaining about it were “Far Right” agitators. Little British girls are being raped by Pakistani Grooming Gangs! “Yeah, but you’re just a far right agitator!” Starmer also said this was all just Islamophobia. Apparently, if you don’t want your daughter raped by a Pakistani Grooming Gang you’re the problem. “Yeah, but you’re an Islamophobe who is creating disunity in our communities!”

Using these “Yeah, but…” tactics Starmer has hoped to divert attention away from the fact that there are Pakistani Grooming Gangs raping little British girls. Luckily it’s not working; social media is a powerful tool – especially X – and the Brits can’t hide the truth. Perhaps this is why Starmer and his party are calling for not just the censoring of X but even some calling for the arrest of Elon Musk who outed everyone involved in this horrible crime.

How about the recent presidential pardons?

After saying nobody is above the law and that he would not pardon is son, Hunter, former-President Joe Biden did just that. Not only did he pardon Hunter, but he pre-emptively pardoned his entire family, Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, and the entire January 6^th House Committee! Honestly, who doesn’t believe that you need a pre-emptive pardon because you did something illegal and may get caught? Come on, man!

What was Biden’s answer to all this? Equivocation!

The reason he gave for his blanket pardons was Trump may go after these people and that is bad. “Yeah, but Trump….” How many times have we heard that.

One of the most used equivocation tactics is diverting attention from yourself by blaming the other guy. Admit it; you’ve done that in your life as well! You get in trouble as a kid and say, “Yeah, but Jimmy did that!” shift attention from yourself to your brother! Or in marriage, “Yeah, but you did this!” not taking responsibility for what is being leveled against you but switching it back to the person instead.

We see the same thing happening in the war in Gaza. Hamas brutally attacked civilians in Israel on October 7, 2023, raping, torturing, and killing in a bloody frenzy. Israel responds by declaring war. The world then says, “Yeah, you were attacked on Oct. 7, but you are committing genocide against Hamas!” Absolutely a ridiculous equivocation as if burning people alive and taking babies hostage is in any way, shape or form the same as declaring war against a terrorist organization! But that is equivocation. Ignore reality and replace it with your own narrative.

The problem with equivocation from my perspective is it denies God’s absolute truths.

• There is right and there is wrong
• There is good and there is evil
• There is holy and there is unholy
• There is obedience and there is disobedience
• There is righteousness and there is sin

The problem we have in our world – and I always think it has been this way – is people hate to be called out on their crap! I’ll give you an example from my Facebook page from the past couple days.

A bunch of my liberal friends have been apoplectic that Elon Musk did a Nazi salute at the end of a speech during the inauguration. The fact that he actually did not do that won’t stand in the way of their outrage!

I rarely call people out on this stuff because it’s pearls before swine to be honest. But this one got under my skin a bit. I loathe the politically vouge use of calling your political opponents Hitler and a Nazi. Perhaps it’s because I’m Jewish, had family die in the Holocaust, and had a Jewish uncle badly abused by the Nazis while a prisoner of war at Luft Stalag 17B. I’m a little sensitive to such an abuse of comparison – no American politician even remotely resembles Hiter.

So, I put up the actual clip of Elon Musk’s speech where he bangs his chest and throws his hand out twice – once to the crowd in front of him and once to the crowd behind him! Then he says, “From my heart to yours!” Clearly, this dude is just exuberant and not some Waffen SS Oberst-Gruppenfuhrer. In fact, a critic of his even said to understand the Musk is autistic and that his gesture were not in any way Nazism.

I also posted the Musk has been a huge supporter of Israel, even going there to support the hostages. One liberal friend condescendingly said that his “expectations” were lowered because of my apparent bad argument. Nice try, bub, but personal attacks are just another way to equivocate the truth!

That is what happens when you call people out – they attack you.

And it’s not just on social media. Ever try to apply church discipline to a wayward sheep in the congregation?! O, that’s fun! Or even correct your spouse?!

People just won’t stand for being challenged on what is now known as “their truth” as if they have their own truth aside from God’s truth.

It really amazes me, which is probably why I’ve had such a hard time penning this post. Are people really that far gone?

I’ve been doing a study and sermon series on the book of Revelation. As God pours out his wrath on an unrepentant human race these people shake their fist at God (knowing full well it’s Him doing it) and absolutely REFUSE to submit themselves. That part of the revelation always has stuck with me. People actually know there is a God – no more atheists – yet the consider Him the enemy and themselves their own gods. Amazing.

But isn’t that what we are seeing today? Aren’t people using their truth, moral relativism, and equivocation to rebel against a God that has clearly delineated right from wrong?

Scripture addresses this in John 3:19 – “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

There you go. Just after John 3:16 where were are told God loves us so much He sent His only Son for our salvation, we get this: Men loved darkness more than Jesus.  

Here is the full citation which makes it even worse!  ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. ²¹ But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed ^[f]as having been performed in God.”

People don’t want the truth exposed! Wow.

I guess it’s time to make my point: As Christians we must hold to the truth, destroy false arguments and equivocation, not go along to get along with the culture, and reject narratives that people use to escape responsibility and accountability.

There is A LOT wrong in this world right now and if you’ve ever read the book of Revelation you know that it’s going to get worse not better. Yet, God expects us to exhibit Jesus to a world that will reject Him. That means we love the unlovable by telling the truth with grace even in the face of rejection, derision, personal attack, and even personal cost!

Is it fun? Not really. I struggle mightily with friends who are so blinded by their own politics, theology, and “truth” that they not just ignore by reject God’s truth. I hurt for them because I know the final outcome if they don’t come to their senses.

I also struggle watching our world call black white, up down, and wrong right. Every morning when I read the news I actually sit at my desk in utter disbelief of how completely Satan has blinded this generation.

Yet here we are.

Keep the faith, friends. Do good by serving others. Preach the Gospel by telling your story of what Jesus has done in your lives. Absolutely DO NOT equivocate or compromise God’s truths! Shout them from the rooftops because as scripture tell us, the time is near.