Hi Friend,

Choosing leaders without a commitment to God has always led to corruption. That’s why the Psalmist also It’s true that the pen is mightier than the sword—and sometimes more cruel.  Books have changed the course of mankind in dramatic ways for both good and evil. Recently an article crossed my desk regarding the 10 worst books ever written which piqued my interest.

How does one determine that a book is bad?  A panel of scholars was asked to submit a list of books written within the 19th and 20th Centuries that have caused the most suffering.  Seems a reasonable assessment for evaluation.  Jesus said “Judge them by their fruits,” which is still the gold standard of judgment.

Adolph Hitler was one of the most destructive men of the 20th Century and the three books that influenced him were “Das Kapital” by Karl Marx, “The Prince” by Machiavelli and Charles Darwin’s “Origin of the Species.”  That these books inspired the evil Hitler should be enough to cause people to avoid them, and yet they are embraced by many leading educators today. He was so influenced by Darwin’s concept of “survival of the fittest” that he murdered millions of humans he considered inferior. American history essentially ignores that American doctors and other scientists were involved with and supported Nazi experimentation.  Why not?  They all drank the Darwinian wine which still flows liberally through our educational system.

Another author admired by the Nazis was Friedrich Nietzsche, whose book “Beyond Good and Evil” started the “God is Dead” craze—a trend which still has its fingerprint on modern theological institutions.  When he died graffiti was often seen saying, “God is dead—Nietzsche” followed by “Nietzsche is dead—God.”

The educational system has been deeply influenced by Darwin and another author of one of the “10 worst” books—“Democracy and Education” by John Dewey.  Both Darwin and Dewey rejected God and changed the course of academics.

Not to be outdone, John Maynard Keynes joined the list of destructive authors with his tome entitled, “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.”  He advocated ever expanding government and deficit spending which lengthened the Great Depression under Roosevelt and created long gas lines under Richard Nixon, both of whom believed in Keynesian economics.

In contrast to the books that have caused so much human suffering, one book has done more to improve the world than any other ever written.  America’s Founding Fathers used the Holy Bible as their principal guide for founding a virtuous nation.  For example, the two books George Washington kept on his bedstead were the Bible and Addison’s “The Life of Cato.”  The great characteristic of Washington was his refusal to establish unilateral control of the country, a principle he learned from studying the Bible.  That principle is not found in either “The Prince” or “Das Kapital.”

One might ask, “What if the United States had been founded by Napoleon instead of Washington?  Would our nation have survived?  Some Americans called for Washington to be king, but he refused, saying he had not defeated George the Third only to become George the First.

America had its equivalents of France’s Napoleon. Why were such men rejected while Washington was embraced?  The fundamental reason is that a generation of people were schooled and grounded in THE book that influenced citizens to support leaders of character.  Men like Hitler and Napoleon could not come to power in American because people schooled in the Bible rejected their ideas.

The old truth yet prevails.  People deserve the kind of leaders they get.  Choose a man who believes Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Marx, Darwin or Mohammad and you get a Hitler or Stalin.  Choose a man who believes the Bible and you get a Washington or Lincoln.

An interesting common denominator among authors of the “worst books” is the rejection of God. They wrote books that changed the world, leaving it worse than before. The words written by the Psalmist 3,000 years ago still ring true, “The fool has said in his heart,’ There is no God.’” (Psalm 14:1) wrote, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.” (Psalm 33:12)

Until next time,

Jim O’Brien