We should not hesitate to resist left-wing lies. But we should also be wary of spiritual deception that creeps into conservative communities, dressed up with friendly right-wing clothing. Satan is fine leading someone to hell as a Republican.

Almost every week, I have someone in my group of friends who laments the way in which young people, particularly young men, are tempted toward some really perverse ideas from the Internet. I’m talking about the descent from genuinely good and conservative truths to conspiracy theories and wicked ideologies such as anti-semitism, racism, and hatred of women. I think the most acute of these is anti-semitism. I’m troubled by how mainstream it has become. I am not as pessimistic about all of this as some, such as Rod Dreher, are, but I am concerned. Ask your teenage kids and I, I’ll bet they know someone who knows someone who is into figures like Nick Fuentes or Candace Owens. They believe some of this stuff. It’s not merely happening out there somewhere. It’s spreading among kids who grow up in Christian homes.

Many thoughtful people have pointed out the factors that have led to this moment and suggested solutions. I do think the combination of smartphones, social media, and increasingly dysfunctional and split families is a major factor. I think widespread (and in many cases, earned) distrust of institutions is another factor. Lastly, I think perennial teen rebellion against what is perceived as the confining norms of their parents.

But I wonder if we are missing something in all of this analysis. It struck me as I was reading Romans 12:2 while our pastor was preaching through a series on worship. I‘ll just post it here and then offer some reflections:

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2).

Do not be conformed to this age. This is the Christian Standard Bible, one of my favorite translations. Other, older translations render “of this age” to “to this world.” Both are appropriate.

“The world,” as Scripture conceives it, is the world system, the ideologies and forces that are aligned against God. The Bible says that God “loves the world” (John 3:16) and that we’ve been sent “into the world (John 17). The world God loves to whom we’ve been sent as ambassadors is the people of the world, whom we should love as image-bearers (Genesis 1:26), who need to hear of God’s saving love in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14-21). The world we are to resist is the devilish ideas of the age that raise themselves against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). “Love not the world,” we are told, “neither the things in the world (1 John 2:15-17). Friendship with the world, James writes, is “hostility toward God.”

Let’s go back to Romans 12:2. Paul, after eleven chapters outlining the good news of the gospel, of God’s rescuing, saving, matchless grace toward us in Christ, says that the response to this is worship. Romans 12:1 calls it our “reasonable service (KJV)” or “true worship.” You give your whole selves over to the one who has given himself for you. You pledge your life to the one who rose from the dead and will raise you from the dead at the end of the age.

What does this look like? “Do not be conformed to this age (or to the perverse thinking of this age) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

There is a choice offered to Christians. We can allow ourselves to be shaped and molded by the untruths of the age, we can be tossed about with “every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14), or we can experience true spiritual transformation.

Do you understand the difference here? It’s not just about a competing set of belief systems. It is. But it’s also two competing ways to live. The world—the false ideas and false idols—demands utter conformity and tribal allegiance. Values are measured not by an unshakeable standard of truth but by whatever the tribe thinks.

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