Two Museums. Two Gospels.

nly a few blocks apart in Washington, DC, stand two museums that could hardly present more different visions of reality.

The Smithsonian was founded to preserve and present the history of our nation. Increasingly, however, many of its exhibits and educational materials have reflected the prevailing ideologies of our age—recasting America’s story primarily through oppression, identity politics, and moral relativism. Recent congressional hearings have exposed examples that would have been unthinkable just a generation ago, including museum training materials that associated traits such as objectivity, hard work, individualism, and even politeness with “white supremacy culture.” Congressman Brandon Gill captured the absurdity of this inversion when he asked Smithsonian officials to explain why simple virtues like politeness could be characterized in such a way. They had no answer.

When truth is abandoned as objective and transcendent, even virtue can be redefined as vice.

Just across the mall, the Museum of the Bible begins with a very different foundation. Rather than treating Scripture as an obstacle to modern sensibilities, it presents the Bible as it is, the transcendent truth, the words of life, and the most influential book in human history. The Bible shaped Western law, inspired movements for liberty, transformed cultures, and continues to change lives today. The contrast could not be more striking. One institution increasingly reflects a culture determined to reinterpret history through the shifting philosophies of the present. The other points visitors back to God’s unchanging Word, reminding us that “the sum of Your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160).

As Christians, we should not be surprised by this conflict. Every generation must choose whether it will build its understanding of history upon the wisdom of man or upon the revelation of God. Join us in Washington, DC September 7-11 as Dr. Bill Potter helps us discern the difference—and equips us to recognize truth from deception in the nation’s capital.