Two stories come to mind from the 1989 revolution in Romania that led to the swift fall of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. A pastor named Lazlo Tokes was protected by a crowd of about 10,000 people surrounding his church from the security forces who planned to take he and his family away. He led the crowd in repeatedly praying the Lord’s Prayer. Understand, this is in an environment where even a shred of religion was violently suppressed. “Deliver us from evil,” they collectively prayed, over and over. The second story is about a public speech delivered by Ceausescu to about 250,000 people assembled in a massive square. Ceausescu bragged about one accomplishment after another to help the Romanian people. An old woman yelled out “Liar!” Then ten more yelled “Liar!” and then it became hundreds and thousands.
Tyranny and dictatorships only work through fear. Even a crack in that fear becomes a tear that destroys them from within. George Kennan understood this about the Soviet Union, calling on the Western democracies to contain the Soviets externally knowing that eventually it would collapse from within. (Churchill, Eisenhour, Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, and Reagan knew this, too.)
What can individuals do? Pray. Call out lies. To those secularists who scoff at the idea of “spiritual weapons” I say, remember Hamlet. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” There is more science, more wonder, more history, more divine than we can fully grasp, but it’s all there.
