This article first appeared in the Standard Bearer, for original source link click here
“And the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.” I Chronicles 12:32
The Lord having revealed to His church in His infallible Word the goal and purpose of Satan (the establishment of his antichristian world power, Rev. 17), it remains for the children of Issachar to stalk the false prophet as he enlists the services of the false and apostatizing churches to advance Satan’s devious cause.
Many world luminaries of our day (Tony Blair, the Clintons, John D. Rockefeller, etc.) are actively advancing this cause by promoting their Fabian, antichristian goal for the world (see May 1, 2013 issue of the Standard Bearer). They have discovered in the process that success will necessitate something more than coercion. Other world powers as represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s image have relied primarily on coercion and failed miserably. Success will require enlisting the services of the church to the task of “molding the thought of the world,”1 or, as expressed in the caption of the Fabian window: “REMOLD IT NEARER TOTHEHEART’S DESIRE.”
To accomplish this the false prophet is engaged in “remolding” the biblical themes of unity and justice by means of a belief system known as communitarianism.
The Gospel According to Communitarianism
Henry Lamb, chairman of an organization called Sovereignty International and author of the book The Rise of Global Governance, has written extensively about communitarianism. Lamb states in part:
This is a belief system that opposes both authoritarianism and individualism, and promotes instead a social organization that is governed by policies designed by civil society to limit individual freedom as required for the benefit of the community….
For more than 200 years, all these questions were addressed by elected representatives of the community. Individual members of the community have always been free to propose projects to meet unmet community needs. Elected officials who failed to respond to the wishes of the community could always be replaced at the next election.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the environmental movement, joined by “social justice” advocates, grew impatient with the rate of change under this traditional policymaking procedure. That’s why the President’s Council on Sustainable Development declared, “We need a new decision process….” This new decision process is constructed on a communitarian philosophy and employs the consensus process.
Typically, these councils have been initiated and funded by special interest groups or by the federal government—not by the local community. These councils inevitably create a plan that incorporates the recommendations set forth in Agenda 21, the U.N.’s bible on sustainable development. These plans limit individual freedom and impose individual responsibilities in order to create a community that the vision council has determined to be in the best interest of the whole…. [Readers may have noticed how frequently the term “sustainable development” is used in our day, even in advertising. c.k.]
Communitarianism has been called “communism-lite.” Others refer to it as “sophisticated socialism.” On the ground, it appears to be academic justification for transforming the policymaking process, taking authority away from elected officials and empowering non-elected representatives of special interest groups.2
The Deception of the Gospel According to Communitarianism
By this time it should be clear that communitarianism is little more than a long, friendly-sounding term used to promote socialism under the pretense of seeking the welfare of the community and the improvement of human society.
That the false and apostatizing churches should promote this deceptive program is not difficult to understand if one keeps in mind their commitment to preaching a “social gospel”: a gospel with religious overtones but which is at bottom the Fabian political idea of “social justice.” For them the primary task of the church is to alleviate human suffering. That being the case, the socialist idea of redistribution of wealth to serve the “common good” is a perfectly sensible idea. The Roman Catholic Church has long been a promoter of this program in its gospel of “liberation theology,” and today much of the Protestant church-world is not far behind. Carl Teichrib, chief editor of the publication Forcing Change, explains:
In today’s Christian world—and Western culture in general—there’s a myriad of changes taking place, and with it comes new language. “Social Justice” is certainly in the spotlight. Jim Wallis of Sojourners uses this term repeatedly. Brian McLaren’s book Everything Must Change seeks to reframe Christianity in a social justice context. The Christian Reformed Church has a social justice office, as does the Salvation Army; and the Mennonite Church USA, the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Canada, and an endless list of other denominations and church bodies speak of “social justice.” Christian universities and Bible colleges too have adopted this language.3
Sadly, many of these churches have reinterpreted Scripture to teach that economic inequality is, per se, a bad thing. While it is true that all Christians deplore unjust deeds, it isn’t necessarily unjust for some to have more than others. The Lord Himself made that clear when a certain man wanted Jesus to tell his brother to share an inheritance with him, to which Jesus answered, “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” (Luke 12:14).
To illustrate his point of the unbiblical nature of the social justice mantra, Mr. Teichrib uses the example of the Parable of the Good Samaritan:
(I)f the Samaritan were a supporter of the dominant theme in social justice, he would have acted with a different motive for different ends. The Samaritan would have used the occasion to lobby for social transformation. 1) The robbers were really victims of an unjust economic system, and had acted in response to the oppression of the ruling class. 2) In order to bring social justice to this oppressed class, and to steer them back to a caring community, equitable wealth redistribution should take place. The rich must be taxed to fund necessary social programs. A more equitable society is needed. 3) Who will pay the victim’s bills? The community or the rich. 4) This tragic event, the Samaritan would tell us, is a graphic reminder of the class struggle. We are all victims of an unjust economic order. Therefore, we must be the “voice of the voiceless” and advocate for radical social change.4
More sadly, by preaching this gospel according to communitarianism, the false and apostatizing churches are not only rejecting Christ’s purpose for His church, they are serving as agents (either wittingly, or maybe in some cases, unwittingly) to change the very purpose of the church. In so doing they are following in the footsteps of Dr. Walter Rauschenbusch.
The Tracks of Dr. Walter Rauschenbusch
Dr. Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) is sometimes called the father of the social gospel. He was a Baptist minister, member of the Fabian Socialist Society, and professor of church history at the Rochester Theological Seminary. His goal was to indoctrinate his students in the finer points of Fabian socialism, global governance, and the social gospel, and then to send them off into the churches to preach a Jesus who had a “social passion” for society. With the ideological backing and financial support of the Rockefellers, Rauschenbusch proved quite successful in this endeavor.5
To advance this cause further, Walter teamed up with the Fabian Dr. Harry F. Ward (1873-1966) and started the Federal Council of Churches (later to become the National Council of Churches). According to a publication of this organization, they sought to produce “a changed attitude on the part of many church members concerning the purpose and function of the Church and Christianity.”6 Apparently they were intent on moving the church away from preaching the gospel to using the church’s message as a means to bring about global governance and social justice. In his book Collectivism in the Churches, Edgar Bundy explains:
…we have seen how Dr. Walter Rauschenbusch…and the leaders of the social-action movements in the churches decided to do away with Christian individualism and turn to outright collectivism, using the church as their instrument…. Religion was only a means toward achieving socialism. And, like all other false prophets who have infiltrated religion through the centuries, used a “front” or disguise. This disguise, as we have seen, was “The Kingdom of God.” The Kingdom was not pictured as a spiritual society…, but as a collectivist society which would be brought about by…eradication of poverty, redistribution of wealth…and “economic justice.”7
The Tracks of Joseph Stalin
Interestingly, while these false ideas of Rauschenbush and Ward (also known as the “Red Dean” for his communist beliefs) would continue to influence the mainline churches of the United States after the death of Rauschenbusch, these same ideas would be promoted by agents of the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.).
This takes us back to the time period in the late 40s and early 50s called “the Red Scare.” Shortly after World War II it became evident that our government, particularly the State Department, had been infiltrated by Communist agents of Joseph Stalin’s government. The House of Representatives set up the Committee on Un-American Activities to determine who these agents were, the means they were using, and the degree of influence they had gained in the United States. Testimony before that committee in July of 1953 included the following revealing exchange between Robert Kunzig, chief council for the committee, and Manning Johnson, a former member of the Communist Party:
Kunzig: …the name Harry Ward has appeared in so many of these various organizations and groups. It seems as if there is almost an interlacing tie-up…through various sects and denominations. Have you any comment to make on this situation?
Johnson: Yes, I have. Dr. Harry F. Ward, for many years, has been the chief architect for Communist infiltration and subversion in the religious field.
Kunzig: …could you give us a summary of the overall manner in which the Communists have attempted to infiltrate and poison the religious organizations of America wherever possible?
Johnson: Once the tactic of infiltrating religious organizations was set by the Kremlin, the actual mechanics of implementing the “new line” was a question of following the…church movement in Russia, where the Communists discovered that the destruction of religion could proceed much faster through infiltration of the church by Communist agents operating within the church itself…. In the earliest stages it was determined that with only small forces available it would be necessary to concentrate Communist agents in the seminaries and divinity schools. The practical conclusion drawn by the Red leaders was that these institutions would make it possible for a small Communist minority to influence the ideology of future clergymen…the idea was to divert the emphasis of clerical thinking from the spiritual to the material [emphasis, ck]…. Instead of emphasis toward the spiritual and matters of the soul, the new and heavy emphasis was to deal with those matters which, in the main, led toward the Communist program of “immediate demands.”
…The plan was to make the seminaries the neck of a funnel through which thousands of potential clergymen would issue forth, carrying with them, in varying degrees, an ideology and slant which would aid in neutralizing the anti-Communist character of the church and also to use the clergy to spearhead important Communist projects.…8
This antichristian corruption of the gospel and purpose of the church continues to this day. Though Rauschenbusch and Ward are long dead and buried, their ideas continue to rule in the false and apostatizing churches. Legion is their wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing offspring that continue to infect the church. Issachar will do well to track down this rabid wolf pack.
... to be continued.
1 John D. Rockefeller, quoted in James W. Wardner, “Unholy Alliances: The Secret Plan and the Secret People Who Are Working to Destroy America,” 1996 (privately published).
2 Henry Lamb, “An Unseen Enemy of Freedom,” Worldnetdaily.com, September 13, 2008.
3 Carl Teichrib, “The Fallacy of Social Justice: All for One and theft to All.”http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=6585.
4 Teichrib. Op. cit.
5 Brannon Howse, Religious Trojan Horse (Collierville, TN: Worldview Weekend Publishing, 2012), 99.
6 A Yearbook of the Church and Social Service in the U.S., Federal Council of Churches, 1916, 23.
7 Edgar C. Bundy, Collectivism in the Churches: A documented Account of the Political Activities of the Federal, National, and World Councils of Churches (Wheaton, Illinois: Church League of America, 1957), 101.
8 Committee on Un-American Activities of the United States House of Representatives, 83rd Congress, in July, 1953, page 2278, as cited by Bert Kjos, “Treason in the Church: Trading Truth for a ‘Social Gospel,’” September, 2006.http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/conspiracy2.
