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Primary methods used by Suppressors Use

Suppressors use a number of methods to suppress the truth.

After all, practically nothing of any consequence is accomplished without employing methods that become the means for people to reach their intended goals. The suppressors of God’s truth are no different. The following is only a brief description of the methods employed to deflect people away from the truth.

Suppressors attempt to discredit God

One of the methods used by suppressors to suppress the truth is to attempt to discredit God. This is no surprise. In courts of law or in arguments and debates, one of the primary goals employed is to discredit, or at least marginalize the source of authority or stated opinion. If the source of authority can be discredited, there is a greater possibility people will accept the argued point of view, whether true or not.

In fact, it is remarkable how easily people are willing to disparage God. Here is an example of such disparagement meant to discredit God.

Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money!--George Carlin

Of course the comedian makes his comments appear as though it is intended to be humorous. Yet beneathe the humor there is a clear communication of discredibility and disparagement of God.

Sometimes the stakes are much higher—as in science. In her book, Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey cites Francis Crick’s public acknowledgment for his choice for his scientific work on the discovery of DNA along side James Watson. Pearcey writes,

The famous duo who discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, Francis Crick and James Watson, freely admit that anti-religious motivations drove their scientific work. “I went into science because of these religious reasons, there’s no doubt about that,” Crick recently said in an interview. “I asked myself what were the two things that appear inexplicable and are used to support religious beliefs.” He decided the two things that support religion were “the difference between living and nonliving things, and the phenomenon of consciousness.” He then aimed his own research specifically at demonstrating a naturalistic view of both (Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth, p. 171).

Why bring this matter up? It is to show the extent to which people will attempt to discredit God. Of course, this is only one example, but many exist. And consider what is occurring in this example. A highly trained scientist working with arguably the most complex matter in all of biology and possible the universe, with the goal to disprove the God who created the complex human DNA. This far surpasses the analogy of a watch maker.

In his book, The Road Ahead, Bill Gates makes a statement we all might consider: “DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.” If Bill Gates is correct, and he certainly is, the possibility of disproving God exists by discovering the wonder of the building blocks of human life, puts on display the suppressive methods of discrediting an opposing view. If a computer programmer is required to write computer software, then someone is required to write DNA. Suppressors strongly disagree.

Suppressors work tirelessly in their attempts to discredit God.

Suppressors attempt to discredit the Bible

Another method suppressors employ is their attempts to discredit the Bible. This is an absolute necessity for suppressing the truth. After all, the Bible is the single most important source of information about God, God’s work in human history, his will for human beings, the explanation of the origin of all things, and the ultimate destiny of all things. The Bible is the source of authority for understanding the truth of God. It is therefore imperative, from the view of suppressors, that the Scriptures be attacked.

“Reading the Bible is the fastest track to atheism.”--Penn Jillette

And those attacks will certain not subside.

Suppressors insist there is no creator

The third method suppressors use to persuade people away from God is their belief that no creator exists. There is no greater irony than a human being, with all his cognitive reasoning powers, his senses and his ability to comprehend matters, standing on his feet and declaring that no intelligent mind designed and created him. Many people consider this of little consequence, but this is a serious misunderstanding. To understand truth: truth about life, truth about good and evil, and to begin to understand God, a person must first believe in the existence of a creator.

When a person’s belief in a creator is removed, there remains no further room within his thinking for God. Therefore, even a cursory examination of suppression methods to persuade people to disregard God always includes the lie that the world “exists without having been created.”

“There’s no evil, there’s no bad; there’s no good. These are human ideas. There’s no creator, there’s no creation, there’s no God, there’s no nirvana, there’s no perfection. These are just ideas.”--Fredrick Lenz

Suppressors insist that disbelief in God is the intellectual high road

Suppressors teach human reason is intellectually superior to faith in God. Of course, this is in direct opposition to the Bible’s repeated statements. The Bible declares that belief in and reverence for God is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). Suppressor’s take the opposite stance and consider faith and belief in God as foolishness. Listen to the following voices of suppression.

“Belief is the death of intelligence.”--Robert Anton Wilson

“When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion.”--Robert M. Pirsig

“Atheist Parenting Tip: Take note of the many non-believers in the world and bask in their intellect and reason.”

Suppressors train the mass population through television and mass media

The most prolific teacher across much of the globe is television. Most people give little thought to the manipulative effect the television and mass media have on people’s thinking, including what they believe about God and truth. To say that societies and cultures are manipulated and trained through television programming is simply an understatement of grand proportions. Although the subject is far-reaching, let it suffice here to quote Fred W. Friendly on the matter: “TV is bigger than any story it reports. It's the greatest teaching tool since the printing press.”--Fred W. Friendly

Friendly does not over reach when he makes such a statement. Many voices continue to warn society about the pernicious effects of television programming but to little avail. Practically all society is addicted to television and fails to recognize the extent to which it affects us. The television’s greatest threat to people is its harmful communication about God, the Bible, moral truth and behavior, and what is deemed as “normal.” Often what the television communicates is subtle and almost imperceptible. Yet, through repeated and accumulated information, people’s views on any matter are influenced and solidified.

Suppressors train the mass population through the nation’s education system

Remarkably, suppressors have been able to successfully employ the nation’s education system to teach evolutionary theory to practically all of American society. Since the 1960s the courts have generally ruled in favor of secular education’s explanation of the origins of life over that of the creationist and biblical view. The extent of this success cannot be overstated—it is remarkable in its influence and scope of persuasion over children. Here is an article that briefly explains the matter with a bias towards outlawing creationist views altogether.

As might be expected, since America began teaching its children naturalism as the explanation of the origins of the species, American society has decayed at a speed that leaves the population scratching its head wondering where it all went wrong. Huston Smith could not be more accurate with his assessment of evolutionary education among the children of America, and says,

“One reason education undoes belief [religious belief] is its teaching of evolution; Darwin’s own drift from orthodoxy to agnosticism was symptomatic. Martin Lings is probably right in saying that ‘more cases of loss of religious faith are to be traced to the theory of evolution…than to anything else.’”

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”--Henry Adams

Suppressors use intimidation tactics

Suppressors use intimidation and public humiliation to shame people into agreeing with their claims. This is not new. The world the apostle Paul lived in used the same methods and it caused him to write the well-known words, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

Paul understood the societal pressures of believing the gospel. Today, as then, suppressors use intimidation tactics as leverage to persuade other people from believing the truth of God as recorded in the Bible. Such ridicule occurs at all levels of society—from academia to government to social interactions—those who suppress the truth are quick to attempt to silence others through public humiliation. Take for example this quotation from Richard Dawkins from an interview he gave with the New York Times in 1989:

“It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that)."

Dawkins, as do other suppressors, use intimidation and public shame as a tool to publicly pressure people to disregard God. Of course, unknown to the suppressors, their words are a clear indication of their spiritual condition as described by the apostle:

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV).

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not say that suppressors often do not recognize they are suppressing the truth. There are several reasons for this. First, many suppressors believe that disseminating God’s truth as recorded in the Bible is harmful to people and often regard their attempts to direct people away from God as beneficial and even a public service. Secondly, suppressors fail to recognize that they themselves are deceived into believing the efforts of suppressors who came before them. Paul explains this matter by simply writing, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13 KJV). Simply put, suppressors are deceived and they in turn deceive others.

And what is the concise description of their misgivings? They are deceived into believing it is more beneficial for a person to disregard God and live a short few years of this life free from their perceived burden God brings.

I once saw a car bumper sticker that sums up the fundamental suppressor’s creed.

LIVE YOUR LIFE GOD FREE
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

Let’s continue our discussion on supressors by considering their end...what will it be?