Rod Dreher Sounds the Alarm on Totalitarianism Today

I learned from the Christians who experienced hard totalitarianism - Only those who were willing to suffer for their faith & Christ stood up
Photo by Elekes Andor, Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

COLORADO SPRINGS — Ken Harrison is joined by three-time New York Times bestselling author Rod Dreher on the latest episode of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison.” Together they discuss how the Soviets gained control over Russia and the Eastern Bloc, the Communist exploitation of people who lost their identity and were overcome with loneliness, and the parallels in America today.

Highlights of Dreher’s interview in the podcast include (edited for clarity):

The parallels in today’s America:

Photo by Elekes Andor, Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

“Much of communism started only among the intellectuals at first and many ordinary people thought it would never amount to anything. Then, one day they woke up and crazy theories were ruling their society. It happened so quickly because many of them weren’t paying attention. We think if we elect the right people to office or get the right judges on the bench things will take care of themselves, but this isn’t necessarily true because here America stands, losing its culture.

“For example, if future legislation passes, we’re going to see the persecution of Christian businesses and Christian institutions. The reason I tell people this is not to scare them. I do want to alarm them in a positive sense, but not in the sense of go hide under your bed and hope it all goes away because it’s not going to all go away. I want to make people realize that what’s happening in America and our culture is not normal. A version of this happened a century ago and we in the church need to get ready right now to fight back. If God is, for whatever reason, allowing this stuff to rule our society for any number of years, we have to be prepared to resist it, to be resilient in our faith, and not let it crush us.”

Recognizing and learning from the past:

“I learned from talking to the Christians who experienced hard totalitarianism that, they told me, ‘You shouldn’t think that most Christians were willing to stand up because most Christians wanted to keep their head down and avoid trouble. Only the ones who were willing to suffer for their faith and to suffer for Christ stood up.’ This is something that we have to cultivate among ourselves, among Christians today, and especially among our men.

We have to root ourselves deeply in Scripture and we have to relate what we know from the Bible to what’s going on in the world around us. It can’t just be an abstract thing. We have to do like what Father Jakovčić and his groups did, which is coming together in small groups not only to pray, but to study what’s happening around us in light of scripture and then deciding what exactly what we are going to do.”

“On the Edge with Ken Harrison” is a weekly podcast featuring fearless, no-holds-barred conversations from a biblical worldview with the leaders, influencers and changemakers behind today’s news. Harrison shines the light of God’s Word on the toughest, timeliest issues relating to current events, faith, family and fatherhood.

The podcast, available in both audio and video form, can be found on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Podcast listeners can also receive an encouraging weekly devotional that will inspire them to put their faith into action.


KEN HARRISON is the host of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison,” a podcast building godly people for a better tomorrow. The podcast, available in both audio and video form, can be found on YouTube and your favorite podcast platform, including Apple and Spotify. The podcast also offers listeners the opportunity to receive a challenging weekly devotional that will inspire them to put their faith into action.

Harrison serves as CEO of WaterStone, a Christian Community Foundation whose clients donate over $2 million per week on average to build God’s Kingdom. For nearly 40 years, Waterstone has assisted givers in supporting their favorite charities by crafting customized, innovative giving solutions that empower donors to prioritize income, minimize taxes and optimize giving.

Ken started his career as an LAPD street cop in South Central and then spent nearly two decades in commercial real estate nationally and internationally. After successfully building and growing his company, he sold the majority interest to the second-largest commercial real estate company in the world while continuing as CEO of U.S. valuation and chair of international valuation.

Ken volunteers his time as the chairman of Promise Keepers. His mission is to provide executive leadership and strategic direction to the ministry while inspiring men to be bold, humble and ambitious about their faith.

ROD DREHER is a senior editor at The American Conservative. A veteran of three decades of magazine and newspaper journalism, he has also written three New York Times bestsellers—Live Not By Lies, The Benedict Option, and The Little Way of Ruthie Leming—as well as Crunchy Cons and How Dante Can Save Your Life. Dreher lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.


MEDIA NOTE: Please email Press@theKcompany.co to schedule an interview with WaterStone CEO Ken Harrison.

Read more news on Christian Persecution on Missions Box.


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