Twelve Lies That Hold America Captive

THE AMERICAN DREAM IS POPULARLY DEFINED as the “ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” At least that’s what came up when I put it into Google. I absorbed this idea at an early age. I realized that if I worked hard, I would be praised, accepted and even coveted as a partner, friend, and mate. Conversely, if I was lazy, I would be criticized, ridiculed, and abandoned. Thus, I avoided being perceived as lazy, lacking initiative, or not striving to fulfill my potential because of the fear of being cast away. This is not just a personal fear of mine; it was reinforced in my family and environment. Being successful and prosperous was how I earned a place to belong. They were not just ideals to strive for but a sort of initiation rite into the club of productive members of society.

I didn’t learn this just from It’s a Wonderful Life, The Brady Bunch, or even watching Family Matters Friday nights on ABC. I learned it from my family through passing comments, disapproving glances, and arguments I overheard when I wasn’t supposed to be listening. Home planted the seeds, and society made sure they grew through my fear of being seen as lazy and unproductive, a stereotype rooted in the African American experience. It is a terrible sin in white American folk religion for any ethnic group to be lazy, but it is unforgivable to be a “lazy black man” in the United States. After being called a n——– and prejudged as angry and dangerous, the assumption that I am lazy, unwilling, or unable to work is the next most crippling label for men who look like me. I doubt there is any message so ingrained in my mind than to “work hard.” No doubt, every American ethnic group has faced the command to work and contribute in order to earn their place, but it is different for the descendants of slaves, whose very worth was based on their usefulness to a slave master, quantified in terms of dollars and cents.

Still, the American dream can feel slippery and hard to define. To capture its ethos is like trying to quantify the impact and importance of the air Americans breathe. There are several gases in the air, but there is one chief element and result. The element is oxygen and the result is life itself. The air in most of the United States is 78 percent nitrogen and 20 percent oxygen. Hard work is the oxygen and sustaining force behind the American dream, yet when we actually examine the lives of those who are “successful,” the majority of their experiences and triumphs have little to do with their hard work. Other elements are in the air.

In the early days of the United States, these other elements explicitly dominated the environment. WAFR was and still is the nitrogen. Bias, whether unconscious or not, looms much larger than one’s own efforts, but in the narrative of the American dream, hard work, like oxygen, is the focus and deemed the most important and beneficial element of success.

We see this in oft-repeated phrases like “He is a self-made man” and “She pulled herself up by her own bootstraps.” Those who “make it” are celebrated, praised, and affirmed for their individual efforts. In the context of America’s history of genocide, enslavement, and entrenched racial and gender bias, both of these statements are absurd. But they are attractive and enticing. Job, pay, and loan discrimination, along with barriers to education and access to housing, made it nearly impossible for the protected to fail and those in the margins to succeed. Therefore, the American dream, a logical outworking of WAFR, is the widest and most deeply held belief by those who live out of this un-Christian faith.

A DREAM BUILT ON PRIDE AND IDOLATRY

The American dream is troublesome for the previously mentioned reasons and, most importantly, because it points to the cardinal sins of pride and idolatry. The doctrine of America calls for the self to be exalted and one’s name to be made famous. Additionally, we should be made in the likenesses of WAFR’s most successful people. This collection of individuals is nothing more than an updated version of Babel. At the ancient city of Babel, they said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name” (Genesis 11:4).

Followers of WAFR, like those who had Babel built for them, are not interested in worshiping Yahweh but instead themselves. To maintain dominance, WAFR has co-opted genuine Christianity. It relies on holding grace through Christ in one hand and working for one’s identity and prosperity as truth in the other. This twisted hypocrisy is ultimately destructive.

Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24). Yet in America, god is money, so there seems to be no problem with acquiring it. WAFR has no issue with walking in hypocrisy. In short, WAFR calls this wholehearted dedication to personal pleasure and comfort at all costs “following Jesus,” because all we have to do is thank him when we get the Grammy, MVP award, or bonus check—and we are good. Just give 10 percent to the church and show up on time to Sunday gatherings twice a month. These supposed overtures to god are not what Christ requires but are certainly necessary for the façade of WAFR and the veneer of this “Christian” nation.

This is not just the story of America; it stretches around the world. WAFR is embedded in the American psyche and exported to every corner of the planet through media, merchandise, and the military. The message heard around the world, and the ideal goal of many countries, is to be a place where it’s true that no matter where you come from, with hard work anyone can improve their life. All you need is a chance to try. And America provides the most equal footing and the most opportunities to strive for all the pleasure and possessions our efforts can afford.

It is these well-exported ideas that drove my good friend Shandra to trust a human trafficker in her home country of Indonesia posing as a recruiter for US hotels. Shandra was educated, intelligent, and longed for more opportunity. Her family was not poor, but seeing her limited opportunities, she gave money to this agent of exploitation for a ticket to America.

In her own words, she wanted McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and the life she saw in the movies. That’s what was sold to her, and she bought it.

Upon arrival in the United States, she was supposed to change flights and head to Chicago. But instead Shandra was told there was a misunderstanding and she would need to spend a night at the Sheraton Hotel in Flushing, Queens. Once there, she was transferred at gunpoint and threats of violence from one man to another and then sold for sex in casinos, hotels, and brothels fronting as massage parlors in Connecticut, the five NYC boroughs, and New Jersey. The American dream quickly became a nightmare that only Christ and community could free her from. She learned that the American dream isn’t just false, but its promises are never fulfilled. It is most often in dire circumstances that we see the true hand of exploitative capitalism and spiritual poverty at work. The original sins of this nation still occur but are hidden so that America won’t be blamed, shamed, or held responsible.

It is difficult to detect the impact of these twisted values in our everyday lives. Just as high levels of carbon dioxide will be found if we have the right equipment when we look up from our toil, we see the tragic effect of a nation pursuing gain at any cost.

A DREAM BUILT ON LABOR AND SEXUAL EXPLOITATION

Human traffickers are much like the slave traders, colonists, and explorers who long ago landed on the shores of what we now call Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Caribbean. These men and women were not there to give life, dignity, and respect to those they encountered. Their sole purpose was to make money and acquire as much wealth and comfort for themselves as possible. It is painfully false to think that the British, French, and other colonizing nations sent their ships for anything other than the expansion of their own wealth, influence, and security.

It is even more offensive to the oppressed and marginalized to rebrand their abuse, exploitation, and violence as heroic and inspiring. This happened when Christopher Columbus became a hero. A US national holiday honors his supposed bravery while dismissing the atrocities he committed in the name of money and power. This also happens when certain Christians dismiss Jonathan Edwards’s support of slavery or harsh racism of the Puritans. And this happens most subtly every day when we celebrate CEOs and business owners who knowingly exploit those in their supply chains in every corner of the world. Yet their faces appear on magazine covers, their voices are heard on podcasts, and their names are honored by business schools.

Two of the most powerful companies in the United States today are Walmart and Apple. Both of their founders, Sam Walton and Steve Jobs respectively, are touted as emblematic of the American dream. Walton created the largest retail store in the world, starting in the small town of Bentonville, Arkansas; Jobs, adopted as an infant child of Syrian lineage, founded the most valuable company in American history (by worldly standards).1

What these men did for us is deemed most valuable. And we need to know how they did it so we can do it too. WAFR and those under its influence dehumanize human beings and reduce people made in the image of God to their individual efforts and usefulness. This is why, when a TV host like Bill O’Reilly, an entertainer like Bill Cosby, or a coach like Joe Paterno participates in or covers up sexual violence, our first inclination is to protect them and their institutions—not those they have violated. These men actually become their work, their efforts and their contributions to society. They model the success on the surface that epitomizes the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness at all costs. As Donald Trump put it so clearly about his inability to resist sexually harassing women: “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. . . . And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything . . . grab them by the p—. You can do anything.”2

And then Americans elected him president.

WAFR is not concerned with personal and social integrity but is fundamentally protective of its institutions. Therefore, when a trespass is discovered, only those arguments and narratives that protect the status quo will rise to the surface. Calls for change are pushed to the edges and drowned out by those in power. Or, in the case of Harvey Weinstein at Miramax and Roger Ailes at Fox News, they are pushed out to protect the institution and those who benefit from it.3

Similarly, to the vast majority of the world, Jobs and Walton are not individuals made in God’s image. They are solely identified by their work. Sam Walton is Walmart and Steve Jobs is Apple. Our identities become our greatest accomplishments, and conversely our mistakes become our greatest liabilities. Fortunately, there are glaring differences between this way of life and the kingdom of the risen Jesus. Peter’s encounters with Jesus show that the money we make, the occupations we hold, and the social status those things provide do not determine our identity, worth, and value.

LEAVE THE DREAM BEHIND

In Luke 5:1-11, we see Peter’s encounter with Jesus. This is Peter’s moment of profound obedience, courage, and faith. First, in response to Jesus’ entering his fishing boat, Peter pushes out from shore and allows Jesus to teach the crowd. Second, Peter is willing to push farther from shore even after he had fished all night with no success. Peter was likely exhausted and discouraged. If there were no fish, he would have no food and no income. And now here was Jesus, a carpenter’s son, telling Peter, a fisherman who knows his trade, to go into deeper water and drop his now clean nets in the middle of the day where no fish would be anyway. Peter knows this isn’t the best time or place to fish, but he obeys.

And because of his obedience, Peter witnesses a miracle. At a time and in a place where it made no human sense for him to catch fish, there are more fish than he can carry to shore, and he has to ask for help.

In WAFR under the banner of the American dream, Peter would try to hire Jesus and compliment him on his natural talents and abilities for catching fish. Or perhaps he would interview Jesus or try to get his three-step process for what to do when he can’t catch fish. At a minimum, in the American dream, Peter would have taken the fish to market and cashed in on this great catch. But instead Peter takes a step of courage. He leaves his business, training, income, and all that comes with that to be with and learn the ways of God from Jesus. By faith, he puts down his nets and accepts the invitation to become a fisher of humans and one of Jesus’ disciples.

Steps like this profoundly confuse those fully invested in the American dream. Upon graduating from Columbia, I told billionaire entrepreneur John Kluge that I would be coming on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship to direct the New York City Urban Project. Bear in mind that between 2006 and 2008, John had purchased more than six hundred copies of my books of poetry to share with his family, friends, and colleagues. He and his wife had sponsored spoken-word workshops and performances with schools, prisons, and churches. He shared honestly that he thought this job wasn’t a good idea and offered to connect me with publishers to continue to grow my career and platform in writing.

I considered his advice and wrestled with what it would mean to raise financial support and live dependent on God and other people for my provision. I struggled with saying no to becoming famous and the idea of exchanging performing in front of fans with sitting in front of fidgety college students. Ultimately though, no matter how I sloshed it around in my brain, the choice was between doing what I was good at and utilizing my gifts for my own comfort and benefit, or being who God called me to be and walking in obedience to Christ. I believe this invitation from God in 2008 set the stage for him to speak clearly to me in 2011 to commit twenty years to his work through me in InterVarsity. I said yes, but not because I believed it was the best idea and would maximize my personal growth and impact. I responded like Peter in Luke 5:5, “I will do as You say.”

Now, if this was the American dream at work, I would give three action steps to be faithful, obedient, and courageous in your own life. But the beginning, middle, and end of this story are about Jesus and what he is doing in the world. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a road map to “my best life now.” It is Christ crucified, buried, and raised from the dead that we might have an eternal place in an eternal family.

Peter’s story continues with not only faithfulness and courage, but also disobedience to and rejection of Jesus. We see these difficult moments in Luke 22:54-62. Here the Gospel writer recounts Peter’s denials of his relationship with, allegiance to, and knowledge of Christ.

Earlier in Luke 22, Jesus said he prayed that Peter’s faith would be strengthened to withstand Satan’s challenges. Peter asserted that he would follow Jesus to prison and even death. Peter’s assertion is met with a predictive rebuke, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me” (Luke 22:34).

The next day Jesus was in a vulnerable position, surrounded by enemies, betrayed by a friend, and certainly about to be put to death. And Peter, the rock on which the church is to be built, denies its Cornerstone, Jesus Christ himself—not just once but three times, just as Jesus had said he would.

Similarly, after I received the invitation from Jesus to join InterVarsity and commit to twenty years of service, I regularly succumbed to fear and addiction. For years my stress was managed not by prayer but by pornography. If I felt disappointed, lonely, and out of control, I went to PornTube, not Bible Gateway. After pornography, my next vice was food. When I couldn’t solve problems or figure out conflict, late-night meals were my escape. But because of my body-image issues, the guilt about stress eating often led to diets that I called “fasts” along with lofty workout goals such as 5Ks and marathons, which left my feet and ankles injured and in need of surgery. I was gifted and broken, talented and tainted, following a perfect Jesus so imperfectly but striving nonetheless.

If Peter were in America and WAFR was in control, this would have been the end of his career (and mine as well). We would no doubt be let go and likely have never been hired if our trespasses were somehow known beforehand. This type of brand damage would not be written about and sent to every member of our churches or the shareholders of our companies. The scandal would be hidden, and an email or press release would be sent about the pending “transition” that was effective immediately. But because the kingdom of God comes close to us in the person of Jesus, Christ exercises the power that he has to confer an identity on us that is rooted in a place that is unshakeable. Our actions don’t determine our place at his table; his act of sacrificing himself confirms our seat.

THE LIFE YOU GAIN

Timothy and Sarah Buxton laid down their nets as well. Priscilla and I went to a sale at their Washington Heights apartment and bought Corningware, a globe, and a mirror that hangs in our dining room. The small amount of funds from that sale helped send their family to Iraq. In the years to come, they would raise their three children in the shadow of ISIS and create refuge for thousands of people fleeing war and violence—all because they said yes to Jesus.

Maria and Sean Blackburn put down their nets too. They left Long Island to work with Nomi Network in Phnom Penh, taking the work they had done to serve youth on this side of the world to the other so that the scourge of sex-trafficking and labor slavery doesn’t have the last say in the lives of a growing number of young women and men in Cambodia. Ricky and Courtney Bolander left their jobs in New York City and followed Jesus to Romania to love and support vulnerable girls in the orphanages and impoverished communities through their NGO, Radiant Hope. Jimmy Lee left the world of finance so he could lead Restore NYC in order to more deeply love neighbors who were vulnerable to exploitation; and Ben and Heather remain in finance, leveraging their resources to reflect the kingdom of God in boardrooms and business meetings throughout the world.

Leaving your nets might look like changing your career or moving around the corner or around the world. It might look like staying exactly where you are, but it requires reorienting your heart and wrapping your life around the will of God because of his love and by his grace.

Jesus invited his disciples into a totally different value system, and that invitation is extended to us today. As long as we worship productivity, live out of the fear of disappointing others, and pursue personal glory and gain, we cannot seek his kingdom first. Jesus said, “whoever loses their life will preserve it” (Luke 17:33 NIV); that is not the message we are told in the United States. The lie that we are our work is powerfully attractive and profoundly untrue. We must put down our nets and follow Jesus the way Peter did in order to become his children and truly live.

QUESTIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION AND SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

What were your dominant feelings as you read this chapter: curiosity, hope, surprise, confusion, numbness, familiarity, distance, or something else?
When were those feelings most present?
What phrases, stories, or historical events resonated with you?
What events or narratives were you unaware of? What did you learn?
Where do you disagree or have concerns?
What questions are you carrying?

WHAT IS YOUR NET AND WHAT IS
JESUS ASKING YOU TO DO?