There is a quote attributed to George Orwell. Many say there is no evidence that he said these exact words, but the ideas expressed in them are found in his famous book, 1984. The quote says, “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it hates those who speak it.” 

1984 describes the power of government, which Orwell calls “Big Brother.” Big Brother could make the people believe whatever it wanted them to believe. 

To the degree that Orwell agreed with the quote, he would apply it to the power of government and the media it uses. If those in power repeat a lie, society will reject the truth and come to hate it. Anybody who speaks the truth that has been rejected will be despised. 

Anybody over thirty years old has seen this in action. We remember how, not too long ago, our society rejected the idea of homosexual marriage. Such marriages were seen as harmful to society. It was in the government’s best interest to promote heterosexual unions. 

But elected officials and a compliant media began to promote marriages between homosexuals. Homosexuals were pictured in movies and popular TV shows as loving, kind, and wise. Their marriages are now seen as healthy for society.  

The result? Today, anybody who is against homosexual marriages is seen as a hateful Neanderthal. They are hateful bigots. A politician could never be elected if he held that position. People know they could be fired from their jobs if they express such views. Those who speak what used to be considered true are now pariahs. They are not considered a part of polite society. 

The same is true in the theological world. All the apostles taught the security of the believer. That anybody who has eternal life cannot lose it is a Biblical truth. 

But soon, leaders in Christendom began to teach that a Christian cannot know that he has eternal life. For centuries, there were “big brothers” who told the people they could lose their salvation. Others told them they could never know whether they had eternal life. Such things were repeated over and over again. 

We see the result of this repetition in theological circles today. Very few have the assurance of eternal life. This is the case, even though the Lord told the woman at the well that once she had eternal life, she could never thirst for it again (John 4:1-14). He told Martha that once a person believes in Him for eternal life, he will never die (John 11:25-26). John said that believers can know they have everlasting life (1 John 5:13)    

Those who proclaim the assurance of salvation are often ridiculed by the many who deny it. They are seen as ignorant rubes, and even sometimes as heretics. Those who teach eternal security are usually seen as dangerous, giving false assurance to people who are headed to a “sinner’s hell.” They are told that the weight of church history cannot be wrong. In most theological circles, the assurance of salvation is a hated doctrine.

Some of us wonder what happened in our culture when it comes to homosexual marriages. I am sure that if Paul, John, Matthew, Peter, Luke, and Mark were alive today, they would wonder what happened to the truth of the assurance of salvation. That which is true was repeatedly denied until the truth became despised. 

We need to be aware of drifting from the truth. We could modify the quote above. The more a group of people drifts from Biblical truth, the more it hates those who speak it.