The commies are coming, and they’re targeting — among many other things — our language. 

The prophet Isaiah prayed this when he saw God in a vision: … “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips! … ” (Isaiah 6:5). Because of his repentance, this is what happened next: 

View Comments (14)

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:6–7).

With all of the corruption marking our society today, why am I taking time to focus on our language? It was important enough that James devoted the central chapter — 20% — of his letter to it. He wrote: 

… How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell (James 3:5–6).

Communists have long known the power of the tongue, and they’ve been trying to corrupt ours for decades! 

In 1958, Cleon Skousen published The Naked Communist, which summarized his work analyzing the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). In this book, he identified 45 of the goals of CPUSA, which were read into Congressional record in 1963. Number 11 calls for a “one-world government.” Two of their goals on their long march to global control promote obscenity: 

#24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press. 

#25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

Why would communists want us to cuss? When Sam Brownback spoke at the IFA Policy & Prayer event last October, he said: 

“Religion is the only entity with enough loyalty to it — and enough people’s hearts pull toward it — to stand up to a government. It’s the only entity. Business can’t do that; civic societies can’t do that. But people by faith will move, and they’ll move against a government if they are so moved.”

My theory is that Marxists believe the more obscenity we hear, the weaker we will believe the Church to be in society. 

In 1951, J. Edwin Orr, an expert on revival, made this observation: “Their profanity showed a lack of education, breeding, and character. It lowered self-respect, cheapened the better things, and defiled the whole personality. It shocked people of good taste, provoked contempt, fouled the atmosphere, set a bad example, and disqualified men for decent society.” 

But over time — as people have been promoting communist goals and running from God — we’ve glossed over this. In the early 1990s, one of my English professors at my Christian alma mater said the rise of vulgarity was deteriorating the English language. The more we hear it, the more likely we are to use it, or at least to think it.

What’s the problem? Orr finished his observation with this: “Worst of all, it offended God.”

Our consciences are seared. In Rich Christiano’s excellent film Time Changer, Bible professor Russell Carlisle (D. David Morin) travels from 1890 to our time. He runs out of a movie theater demanding that the show be stopped because a character took the Lord’s name in vain. May our hearts be broken afresh when we hear our Savior’s name abused.

I was asked to audition for a prime-time show that was our favorite at the time. I agreed to, before my feet hit the floor. Then I read the sides (sections of the script used for auditioning). That’s most definitely the wrong order, and I knew better! The character I was asked to audition for used vulgarity — in Romanian. I didn’t want to swear, even if most of the viewers wouldn’t understand the words until they read the subtitles! I prayed with a spiritual mentor, and we sensed that I was to make good on my agreement, but not curse. So I called a friend who speaks Romanian, and we settled on language that was strong but not vulgar. I’ve been going out on auditions since 1991, and that was the first and only time I was paired with another actor. I explained to my scene partner the changes I’d be making, and before I knew it I had another scene partner, and then another! The third actor was fluent in Romanian, so he had no problem with my changes. When we got in the room the casting director asked which of us wouldn’t cuss. I raised my hand, and he asked me which words I didn’t want to use! He didn’t even recognize them as vulgar! The words happened to be “damn” and “hell” — words I don’t mind using when in their proper context, but using them as expletives undermines their true meanings.

So what can we do?

We can start by limiting the amount of vulgarity we choose to hear. We live in New York City, so we can’t leave our apartment and expect to get a block before hearing something that offends our Lord. But we are selective about who we let into our living room through that portal larger than our front door: our TV. Last month I wrote about the power of media to change culture. Certainly, the more we hear certain words or phrases, the more likely the mirror neurons in our systems will prompt us to use those same words and phrases. 

We use VidAngel to filter it all out, but even then there was a series we chose to stop watching because the vulgarity patterns were so consistent that I found myself filling in the blanks! 

I’ll always be glad my grandmother washed my mouth out with soap when I used foul language as a boy. She used a particularly hearty soap, popular among the farmers I grew up with because it was effective on the many elements that could soil your hands working with dirt and machinery. That soap was also effective on getting those words out of my mouth that could damage my soul! 

External disciplines can go but so far, and we must ask Holy Spirit to do the work we can’t do. C.S. Lewis put it well in Mere Christianity:

Christ says ‘”Give Me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked— the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: My own will shall become yours.”

This is the solution and the reason: … Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). When we allow the Lord to live in and through us in full measure, He will clean up our language! 

I met in the hospital with the mother of one of our pastors. She had attended church all her life, but her language was often peppered with profanity. I asked her if she’d like to rededicate her life to the Lord, which she agreed to do. I led her in a simple prayer of repentance, asking Jesus to be Lord of our lives. Not long after, our pastor reported: “She was on her knees looking for a pair of shoes she wanted to put on. She found one and couldn’t find the other. Then she said to me, ‘I was just about to curse, but the Lord said to me He doesn’t want me using that language anymore.’ ”

One more passage from Mere Christianity: 

“Make no mistake,” He says, “if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand I am going to see this job through.”

Let us not get in the way of the work the Lord wants to do in us, fitting us for spiritual battle! Shout your — pure and holy — battle cry as we claim our nation for Christ! 

Lord, may we cut out cussing and instead pepper our speech with praise, so that those around us will know that the kingdom of God is expanding!

Post your prayers for the Lord to clean up our language so that His will might be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Rich Swingle has taught and performed in 39 nations across six continents, mostly in his own one-man plays, five of which were performed Off-Broadway. He has performed in more than 45 film projects. He and his bride, Joyce Swingle, another contributing writer for IFA, now have 41 “screen children.” The Swingles live in New York City. Visit www.RichDrama.com for more information. Photo credit: KrakenImages.com, Canva Pro.