CHASING THE DRAGON: Musk & Trump vs Lewis & Tolkien
The Fatal Flaw of Fighting AGAINST Evil Without Fighting FOR The Good
In America, liberty, common sense, and human dignity have been under attack for many years by radical socialist cadres and elites. In 2024, a counter-movement of politicians and elites has risen to oppose this undeniably corrupt and anti-human power structure.
Elon Musk has vowed to “crush the woke mind virus.” 1
Donald Trump has, likewise, been vocal about rooting out woke ideology.
“Trump To Set up an Anti-Woke Task Force in US Military to Monitor Generals.”2
And ending corporate and government Diversity Equity and Inclusion mandates.
“Trump’s Plan to Dismantle Dei on Day One Is a ‘Colorblind’ Path to Jim Crow 2.0.”3
Like many, I am very happy that Donald Trump won the 2024 election and I am hopeful for, at the very least, a slowdown of the Great Leap to Wokeistan. But, hang on a second. Before we organize a New Orleans-style Jazz funeral for Wokeism and pin the Medal of Honor upon the breast of General MAGA and Lieutenant Musk, what exactly do they, and Trump’s confusing troupe of appointees, intend to build in place of Rainbow Marxism? If we are to be loyal to them, to whom, then, are they loyal; by what standard do they operate?
While this movement appears to be an effective resistance against evil, it is fundamentally flawed (see above). Its foundational ideologies are a patchwork of secular philosophies, devoid of ultimate truth and objective moral grounding. This lack of grounding is not a minor defect but a fatal flaw, for one cannot merely fight against evil; one must fight for The Good.
All drug addicts are familiar with the pursuit of an elusive and increasingly unattainable high—chasing the dragon. The idea of electing leaders who will restore America to an idealized version of past greatness is much like an addict’s groping to replicate the initial euphoria of his first high. Liberty is impossible without righteousness and righteousness cannot be defined by human whim. Liberty depends on righteousness defined by an objective and eternal standard. Human standards are subjective and cannot define true righteousness. Therefore, liberty cannot be achieved through human standards, and secular movements are a futile pursuit, like chasing the dragon.
As Jesus declared in Matthew 12:30,
“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”
Here, we are given a universal truth: neutrality is impossible in the moral and spiritual battle for the soul of humanity. Any attempt to construct a social, scientific, or political movement apart from God will inevitably succumb to the very evil it seeks to oppose.
The Illusion of Secular Goodness
Secular humanism posits that humanity can be its own savior, that reason and science can guide society to a utopia free from the constraints of divine authority. Yet, this philosophy is inherently self-contradictory. Without God as the transcendent source of moral law, there is no objective basis for defining "good." As Dostoevsky famously wrote, “If God does not exist, everything is permitted.” The inevitable result of such a worldview is the substitution of God's eternal moral law with transient human preferences, often cloaked in the language of progress or compassion.
Consider the example of transhumanism, a movement that seeks to transcend human limitations through technology. On the surface, it promises to cure diseases, enhance intelligence, and extend life. Yet, at its core, transhumanism is a rebellion against the created order and an assertion of humanity's right to play God.
“Tech CEO Amjad Masad on the cults of Silicon Valley and a most interesting explanation of Transhumanism.”(Jump to 29:15)4
By attempting to rewrite the boundaries of life and death, it ignores the Creator’s wisdom and leads to unintended consequences, such as ethical dilemmas around identity, personhood, and human dignity.
“This is an incredibly important moment, and we must have the moral clarity and courage to speak up for preborn lives unable to speak up for themselves.”
- Pastor Dusty Deevers, Oklahoma State Senator, District 325
Why is IVF immoral? Because the entire process disregards and dishonors the image of God in man. Our laws and customs should glorify God and honor the kingship of Jesus Christ, especially in protecting the most vulnerable.
- @BenZeisloft Follow CHOICE42 | @ChoiceForTwo for more.
Similarly, the practice of in-vitro fertilization (IVF), while offering hope to childless couples, raises profound moral questions about the fate of frozen embryos, many of which are discarded or subjected to experimentation. In vitro fertilization is a process to address infertility that involves the joining of a sperm and egg together outside of a woman’s body, most likely in a “test tube.” If the egg “takes” or is fertilized, the zygote is placed into a woman’s body in an attempt to create a pregnancy. The Bible says,
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb…You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb" (Psalm 139:13, 15).
Any fertilized egg is a living human, therefore all embryos are considered image bearers of God. In addition to the high risk of miscarriage, the practice is highly controversial. For example, homosexual (incompatible) couples use the process to have children. Likewise, when any couple decides to harvest more eggs than they plan to use, some of the embryos end up being destroyed, or frozen for later use. This is obviously the destruction or arresting of human life on the same level as abortion. In plain language, according to God’s law, this is murder.
As @DustyDeevers outlines here, Christians must show compassion for those who struggle with infertility while we oppose IVF as an affront to the image of God in man, by which millions of our embryonic neighbors have been frozen indefinitely or selectively aborted. - @BenZeisloft
There is also a problem rarely addressed. What about the image bearers of God whose lives are willfully arrested and incarcerated in liquid nitrogen prisons? Entropy does not cease when something is frozen. Just like a banana will continue to degrade and spoil over time in your freezer, frozen embryos present the problem of degradation and increased probability of birth defects which lead to more abortions and human suffering.
These examples illustrate the dangers of unrestrained science when it is not accountable to ultimate truth. Secular leaders may sincerely pursue what they believe to be good, but without submission to God’s moral law, their efforts risk perpetuating evil under the guise of progress.
Tolkien, Lewis and The Necessity of a Supreme Metanarrative
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the Ring of Power symbolizes the corrupting influence of absolute power. Forged by Sauron, the Dark Lord, the Ring grants its bearer immense power to dominate others but at the cost of moral decay and eventual enslavement to the Ring’s will. It embodies the seductive allure of unrestrained power—a force that consumes even the noblest individuals who seek to use it for good.
Boromir and even Gandalf are tempted by the promise of using the Ring to achieve righteous ends—defeating evil, bringing peace, or restoring order. However, those who try to harness the Ring’s power for good ultimately become agents of the very evil they once so vehemently sought to resist, because the Ring’s nature is inherently tied to domination and tyranny.
This echoes the biblical principle that the human heart is “deceitful above all things and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). In other words, self-righteousness, rebellion, corruption, and tyranny rule every human heart. Just as the Ring can only be destroyed by submitting it to the fires of Mount Doom, man’s flawed systems can only be redeemed by submitting them to the authority of the Creator. 6
Evil is not confined to systems or ideologies but resides within every individual, making personal responsibility and moral courage essential in resisting oppression and tyranny. Acknowledging this universal truth is both humbling and empowering.
Whether it be Trump, Musk, or any “conservative patriot” citizen in your neighborhood or social media feed, those who discount the absolute standard of justice found only in Christ, will inevitably succumb to the temptation of power and authority. No man or woman is immune. Therefore, even those who stand shoulder to shoulder with us in battles against certain evils are prone to tyranny and must be reminded and held to the ultimate unchanging standard of truth, beauty, and goodness. Likewise, we do err fatally, if we fail to remind ourselves of this divine dictum.
The destruction of the One Ring symbolizes the rejection of domination and the necessity of limiting power to preserve freedom and virtue. True justice and peace must be pursued through humility, sacrifice, and adherence to moral truth.
That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis’s final novel in his Space Trilogy, serves as yet another chilling exploration of modernity’s fixation on tyranny in the name of progress. The story centers on the National Institute for Coordinated Experiments (NICE), a technocratic organization seeking to perfect humanity through social and scientific engineering. Behind the facade of rationalism and scientific advancement lies a sinister agenda driven by demonic forces working to dehumanize and dominate.
With near-prophetic clarity, Lewis describes tyranny in the modern Western form as the institutional pursuit of “progress” via epistemic autocracy, or scientific dictatorship. In the name of some “greater good,” NICE achieves its technocratic agenda through the manipulation of nature, the destruction of traditional institutions like marriage and family, and the reduction of human beings to mere tools.
Scientism and the rejection of God’s natural order is a key theme in much of Lewis’ work. In That Hideous Strength Lewis deploys NICE as a brilliant literary device exemplifying the consequences of severing humanity from its Creator: the embrace of utilitarian ethics, the commodification of life, and the perversion of truth into propaganda.
Within the underlying spiritual battle, evil, in the modern sense, has so often cloaked itself in the guise of progress and enlightenment. Like so many twenty-first century Western institutions, NICE alleges to be liberating humanity through progress and rationality. Human pride and ambition are easily co-opted by evil and will never lead to liberation but rather tyranny—always. Lewis’s work underscores the necessity of aligning all human endeavors—scientific, political, and cultural—with the unchanging moral law revealed by the Creator.
Tolkien and Lewis serve humanity well underscoring the necessity of a supreme metanarrative—a singular truth that governs all aspects of life. Without this anchor, political and scientific movements inevitably drift toward corruption. As Lewis warned,
“When men are forbidden to honor a king, they honor millionaires, athletes, or film stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.” 7
American Gnosticism
“If human history is the story of a creature who molts from ape to angel—or, as Nietzsche claimed, from beast to Superman—then somewhere along the way it seems that we must become machines.” 8
As civilization progressed and humanity drifted further away from the unpredictable threats and sustaining abundance of grounding in nature, men began to dream of transcending God himself. To immanentize the eschaton and build a technological heaven on a mastered earth. This is the spirit of modernity.
Of the various ways man could express his dominance over nature and depose God from His throne, philosophy and technology became the Western way. Eve’s pact with the devil for knowledge evolved into the West’s pact with machines. The problem is that philosophy has no heart, and machines have no vital spirit, and mankind through embracing his own evolution has cut himself off from the metaphysical order of things.
Today, we are even attempting to technologize nature. With “the science” in the position God once held in society, we have lost our most fundamental truths. Religion is for the children. Grown men will think for themselves.
A modern style of Gnosticism has proliferated in America as the people have come to believe religiously
“that authenticity arises from independence, an independence that is at once natural, sovereign, and solitary. When Thomas Jefferson wrote that he had "sworn on the altar of God Almighty eternal hostility against all forms of tyranny over the minds of men," he was articulating the structure of feeling and belief that informs the American self.” 9
While the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights are certainly secular and political, their prescriptions are certainly solely derived from Enlightenment ideals about the inalienable rights of man. Rugged American individualism was also not purely secular, after all the foundation of the nation was rooted in the quest for religious freedom and a biblical urge to hold leaders accountable. However, America has drifted far from her foundation as today’s government and established institutions are in substance antithetical to the religion of those pioneers and pilgrims who dared to risk life and limb to worship the living God unrestricted.
“We should take seriously Harold Bloom's willfully heretical argument that the "American Religion" is not Christian, at least in the way that Europe was Christian, but is, rather, Gnostic. …Bloom describes the core of the American religion as the unshakable conviction that there is something in the self that precedes creation, and that, for all our Whitmanesque desire to merge with groups, we can never fully trust external social institutions to care for the aboriginal freedom of this solitary spark, with its ‘personal relationship’ to nature or a gnostic Jesus.” …The American religion does not believe or trust, it knows, though it wants always to know yet more.” 10
Contemporary Americans have drifted far away from that desire for mere political freedom that honors the worship of God. Americans today seek “freedom from everything, including responsibility, including their own bodies and genders, and most horrifying, freedom from God, and freedom from the moral law of good design.” 11
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World further illustrates this descent into corruption. In his dystopian vision, humanity is pacified not by pain, as Orwell imagined, but by pleasure, distraction, and engineered social conformity. Huxley predicted that a society detached from objective truth would abandon virtue in favor of shallow contentment, using sexual freedom, the dissolution of the family, and engineered pleasure to stifle both creative and destructive tensions. His warnings are increasingly realized in today’s world, where technological and social manipulation replaces spiritual grounding, and the pursuit of fleeting gratification undermines the pursuit of eternal truth. 12
These cultural and literary analyses reveal the dangerous trajectory of a society that seeks freedom without acknowledging its Creator. There is a strong discussion today in the secular public square about resisting tyranny. It is the duty of well grounded Christians who not only read but understand their Bible to remind and warn our countrymen and leaders that a society who places its full faith in men loses its capacity to resist tyranny because it has already surrendered its soul to technological idols, sensual distractions, and gnostic delusions of self-sovereignty.
False Hope In False Leaders
Evil cannot defeat evil. It should be self-evident that only the power of the Creator can do so. In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus exposed the flawed logic of a divided nation, which by application highlights the folly of holding contradictory positions and denying the supreme authority of God over all governments and institutions.
“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand…Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:25,30)
It makes no sense for Satan to cast out Satan.
“Satan may be wicked, He says in effect, but he is not a fool.”
— Alexander Bruce13“Whatever fault the devils have, they are not at strife with each other; that fault is reserved for the servants of a better Master.” — Charles Spurgeon 14
Today, many leaders who claim to fight for liberty and common sense are unwittingly perpetuating the same flawed logic. They oppose the tyranny of one ideology only to replace it with another that is equally godless.
In Matthew chapter 23, Jesus pronounces a series of “woes,” condemning the hypocrisy and misplaced priorities of leaders.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” (Matthew 23:23-24)
External righteousness masks deep corruption as the leaders sought to maintain their authority and status rather than submit to the justice, mercy, and faithfulness to God required. Fighting against evil today is no different. Leaders may outwardly oppose tyranny and injustice, yet neglect the “weightier matters” of aligning themselves with ultimate truth, therefore aligning themselves with evil. There is no neutrality; no “third way.”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27–28)
The imagery of outward beauty concealing internal decay parallels the critique of secular movements whose efforts may appear righteous or progressive but are ultimately hollow and self-serving. Jesus warns that true righteousness must flow from a transformed heart that places God’s law above external appearances, and human reason and philosophy alone.
For instance, secular libertarianism may champion individual freedom, but WILL eventually devolve into moral anarchy apart from the divine standard. Likewise, populist movements, like the massive MAGA charge, openly reject the excesses of elitism, but WILL become vehicles for demagoguery and mob rule if they are not grounded in a biblical worldview.
This can also plainly be seen today in America where many who claim to be Christians have clearly seared their consciences, or numbed their senses, to the evil in which they gladly participate daily.
“[F]or the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:33-37)
Bad fruit—any actions or deeds done in opposition or denial of Christ as King—exposes the bad root growing in the heart. Jesus condemned an entire generation of leaders as “sons of Satan” because they willingly choose to align themselves with their own evil nature. It is not difficult to discern good from evil in the world, but the question must be “by what standard?” A righteous leader will be evident in his alignment with God on all matters. Idle words are words that do nothing, offer no substance of truth, only empty comfort and false hope. Because words reflect the heart, one can be rightly judged by their words.
In his letter to the Christians in Rome, the apostle Paul wrote,
“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
Jesus’s ministry in Matthew 12 culminated in a choice: accept Him as the King of Kings or reject Him and remain enslaved to sin. This choice remains the same today. Movements that acknowledge God with their lips but deny Him in their actions are ultimately scattering rather than gathering. They fail to recognize that true liberty, justice, and progress can only be achieved through submission to Christ, who has “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).
The Only True Solution
True freedom, as opposed to counterfeit autonomy, can only be found in submission to the moral law of the supreme law giver. God never offered us a clean break from evil in this world, but definitely has provided all the means necessary for the immediate flourishing of human life in harmony with divine design.
The only solution that will bear the lasting fruit of freedom is spiritual renewal.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
Only by aligning our minds and hearts with God’s truth can we hope to fight not just against evil but for The Good.
The current uprising against corruption is a necessary but incomplete response to the crisis of our age. While it effectively identifies and opposes certain manifestations of evil, it lacks the moral and spiritual foundation to bring about true and lasting change. Secular humanism, no matter how well-intentioned, is incapable of providing the objective standards needed to define and pursue The Good. Without submission to the Creator, even the most noble efforts will ultimately scatter rather than gather.
As Tolkien, Lewis, and oddly, Huxley, remind us, power and knowledge apart from the ultimate standard prescribed by God always lead to destruction. The only path to genuine renewal is through Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). If we are to make America great again, we must first make her good again. Which means we must choose whom we will serve, for neutrality is not an option. In the words of Joshua,
“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).15
Only by standing with Christ can we hope to overcome the darkness and bring true light to the world.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Written by Brad Ward
Links and Resources:
Elon Musk vows to “crush the woke mind virus”
a. https://x.com/astro_greek/status/1842218124495466967?t=IVe3SU8rVebst309TJD7pg&s=19
b. https://x.com/MythinformedMKE/status/1722760454785696058?t=NuREeoZlJyUuZHavmCUWHg&s=19
c. https://x.com/Red_Pill_US/status/1858042399915991406?t=Fp9CZKkEWj91lzlox1Uo_A&s=19
Marcus, Josh. “Trump Says He’ll Set up an Anti-Woke Task Force in US Military to Monitor Generals.” The Independent, October 5, 2024. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-woke-dei-military-taskforce-b2624235.html.
Dunn, Shari. “Trump’s Plan to Dismantle Dei on Day One Is a ‘Colorblind’ Path to Jim Crow 2.0.” Yahoo! News, November 24, 2024. https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-plan-dismantle-dei-day-103005425.html.
https://x.com/tuckercarlson/status/1819055754164191357 (jump to 29:15)
https://x.com/DustyDeevers/status/1762960995419586655
J.R.R. 1954. The Lord of the Rings. London, England: Allen & Unwin.
Lewis, C.S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963. That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups. London: HarperCollins, 1945.
Davis, Erik. TechGnosis: Myth, magic, & mysticism in the age of information. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2015.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Bruce, Alexander Balmain The Synoptic Gospels: The Expositor's Greek Testament. Volume 1, Section 1 (Matthew-Luke). London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1897
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "Commentary on Matthew: The Gospel of the Kingdom" (London: Passmore and Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings, 1893)
All Scripture Quotations (unless otherwise specified) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Crossway, 2001.
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The Philosophy of Liberty.
https://youtu.be/EUS1m5MSt9k?si=JJilt7S8snoMklCP
The Philosophy of Liberty.
https://youtu.be/muHg86Mys7I?si=fQ7FG7rifePJcjgz