This is the title of a new book by Noelle Mering.  She wrote a condensed article about the woke movement for Ralph Martin’s monthly newsletter.  She contends there are victims of the movement, who need healing.  There are those who, “have been given some poison of ideology that has harmed and wounded them.” Others have simply been deceived.  Then there are others who are “the source of the poison and need to be stopped.” This all causes confusion.  “Some people need to be befriended and listened to.  Other people need to be woken up.  And the people doing immediate harm need to be stopped.” 

The woke movement started in the Garden, where Adam and Eve were tempted to be as god.  “It is a self-deification movement,” writes Mering, “that corrodes the human person as well as friendships, families, and relationships.”  Following Marx, woke sees “every person either as an oppressor or the oppressed.” Marx believed, “the biggest obstacles to a revolution as faith, family, and the father.”  Why?  “All three give us a particular identity and help us to feel named and known.  They root us and give us purpose.” 

The poison of the movement is “a redefining of what a human is.”  According to Mering, woke has three dogmas.  “The first dogma emphasizes the group and sublimates the person.  It redefines humanity according to society’s hatred and demands uniformity of thought.  Identity is found in fighting oppression.  It creates a society looking for a perpetrator and seeking victimhood.”  Instead of being children of a loving God, “the movement defines us by society’s hatred.” 

The second dogma, “emphasizes will at the expense of reason.  It attempts to re-engineer society by claiming that society and humanity have no fundamental nature….our feelings and desires define us and that we should pursue transgressive identities…..moral law is oppressive and innocence is a form of dominance that must be destroyed.”  We are oppressed by our own internal repression, which is based on a moral law that is really a social construct and not actually real. 

The third dogma, “emphasizes power over authority.  It harms the whole family by targeting and weakening the father.  This harms our understanding of God as well.”  Targeting fathers implodes the human family.  But warms Mering, “the real target is our Lord.” 

But Mering is hopeful.  “Social re-engineers think,” observes Mering, “human nature is putty, but the human person longs for and is made to know, love, and serve God.”  The woke movement understands, “everything is systemically wrong around me.”  As believers we say, “What is wrong with me?  Mea culpa.”  Each of us is self-accused; We don’t accuse others.  “From there,” she declares, “we can bravely call out the lies that are harming people.”  “The thin veneer of ideology will not satisfy the human soul.  We all need to know they are named and known by God.”  

In my opinion, the poison of Woke has already done much harm to families and especially the young. Men, we need to be alert to the intention of this poison in our society.  We are no longer seen as beloved children of God, but victims of society’s hate.  The moral law and reason are  devalued, while personal choice is promoted.  Men need to know Woke has them in their crosshairs, with its emphasis on power over authority.  Mering points out that faith, family and faith are the biggest roadblocks in the movement, since any authority is seen as oppressive.

Men, don’t be deceived by this poison.  Don’t allow those in your family to be wounded.  We must wake up. “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Eph 5:14).   

I am preparing a meditation on Matthew 12:18-21.  Matthew is quoting a prophecy of Isaiah regarding Jesus.  He records these words just after the political and religious leaders of Jesus’ day wanting to kill him.  Mark’s gospel tells us, “Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.”  The religious and secular leaders, who did not care for each other, were united in their hatred of Jesus.  Imagine – they wanted to kill Jesus.

The influencers in our nation- the ones who shape the dominant narrative, want to get rid of the memory of King Jesus.  They are in the process of removing the memory and relevance of Jesus. But the true narrative sees things differently.  Pilate ask Jesus if he was a king.  Jesus replied, “Yes, it is as you say” (Luke 23:3)  Then Jesus let Pilate know, he is not in charge.  “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above” (John 19:11). Jesus was secure in his Lordship over all things, knowing, “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands” (John 3:35).

Matthew 12 has a certain relevance in our day, when King Jesus is getting such bad press.  With all the confusion and uncertainty about who is really in charge of our nation, I gladly submit to King Jesus, He reign in all the earth and His final victory over evil is assured.  He taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt. 6:10).

By this time in Jesus’ ministry, public opinion had already began to question his credibility.  He had to withdraw from the public, while still healing the sick.  But he warned them, “not to tell who he was” (Matt. 12:16).  Similar to our day, there are mixed opinions regarding Jesus.  

“Look at my servant, whom I have chosen.  He is my beloved, who pleases me” (v. 18).  Matthew challenge us to consider the lordship of Jesus.  Not only is he the beloved of the Father, but also the Father’s  chosen servant, coming into our world on a  rescue mission.  The Father loves him and is pleased in what he is doing.  

Then Isaiah notes, “I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations” (v. 18).  What an encouragement to each of us.  The very Spirit of God is upon Jesus.  Through his sojourn among us, He will straighten out all right and wrong.  He will be the final judge and jury in world affairs.  This is God’s promise to us.

In the meantime, “He will not fight or shout or raise his voice in public” (v. 19)  Wow, what a relief to hear these words.  King Jesus, who is working out justice on the earth will have no need to protest, demonstrate and shout for justice.  He simply will go about getting things in order, in a quiet and decisive manner

He will not use force or coercion to win over brutality and force.  Rather, “He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle” (v. 20).  Imagine the hope and comfort in these words for the downtrodden and outcast in world affairs.  Remember his mother’s words, “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble” (Luke 1:52).

Isaiah closes with these words, “Finally he will cause justice to be victorious.  And his name will be the hope of all the world” (v.  21-22). In Jesus we are truly “on the right side of history.”  Men, I pray today that your hope for a better future is in Jesus.