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The apostle Paul warns, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Col. 2:8).  By “spoil” Paul means:  as when in war the spoils belong to the victor who takes what formerly belonged to his enemy.  In this passage, false ideas or doctrines can “take one captive” so that he/she is brought under the control of those false ideas.  Philosophy refers to the many various ideas that constitute the wisdom of this world.  Vain deceit is worthless lies.  The traditions of men are doctrines or concepts of men that have their origin in the minds of men as contrasted to the mind of God.  They become perilous to the soul whenever they contradict God’s Word or set at nought God’s Word.  The rudiments of the world refers to delusive speculations of Gentiles and Jewish theories or myths treated as elementary principles upon which a world view or philosophy of life may be based.  False ideologies are behind the social problems directly affecting marriage and the home today.  These false ideologies are creating conflict, social upheaval, social change, division, strife, agitation and destruction.  Let’s examine some of them.
The General Theory of Evolution
The General Theory of Evolution relates to biological evolution.  The theory of evolution involves: cosmic evolution, chemical evolution, and biological evolution.  The General Theory of Evolution is, “All living matter as we know it today had its origin from one primitive source.  From this spontaneously produced source, probably originating in the primeval ocean water from a combination of existing molecules and atoms, life began–and through eons of time, changes in this life form took place in a progressive manner.  From unicellular life came the more complicated invertebrate life, and from this, vertebrate life.  Finally, primitive man made his appearance and evolved into the human species of today.  (Bert Thompson, “Evolution as a Threat to the Christian Home”, in The Home As God Would Have It And Contemporary Attacks Against It, p. 276).  The General Theory of Evolution is a naturalistic explanation for the origins of human beings.  God is completely left out.  This would have profound effects on our own understanding of what it means to be human.  Human beings would be nothing but a higher form of animals.  They would not possess a soul (immortal aspect to their being) and would not be dualistic in their make-up (body and soul).  This would destroy the basis for morality.  Absolutely, anything would be permissible.  This would lead to a re-definition of marriage and the family (which is happening in our present culture).  The General Theory of Evolution and its cousin Theistic Evolution would destroy the very foundations of the home as God would have it.   Belief in God and His holy Word would be supplanted with secular humanism and the deification of man.
The Political/Social Theory of Communism
The General Theory of Evolution and Communism are both atheistic philosophies.  Karl Marx wrote, regarding Darwin’s Origin of the Species: “Darwin’s book is very important and serves me as a basis in natural history for a class struggle in history.  Not only is it a death blow here for the first time to teleology in the natural sciences, but their rational meaning is emphatically explained.” In fact, Marx wanted to dedicate his book, Das Kapital to Darwin, but Darwin declined the offer, fearing family objections.  Thus, Darwin gave considerable impetus to Communism, and today evolution is the official teaching of the Communist party in regard to origins” (Ibid, Thompson, p. 286). Communism is a political, social, and economic theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to his/her abilities and needs (Oxford Languages). Communism attacks religion and is a serious threat to religious freedom.  True religion is the basis of the Christian home.  Communists hold that man has no soul and no conscience.  Communism affirms materialism, totalitarianism, and socialism.   America is being infiltrated by communist philosophy through Cultural Marxism (see my book review of the Red Trojan Horse). One of the significant tenets of Cultural Marxism is relativity.  This false idea affirms that truth is not objective, but is subjective. The notion of relativity means that one can create his/her own reality while at the same time denying the objective truth of God’s word.   This has given rise to new definitions for marriage and the home.  Marriage is no longer defined as a monogamous, heterosexual relationship between a man and a woman.  The definition of marriage is much more fluid.  Also, the home is being redefined.  The concept of the nuclear family (Dad, Mom and the children) is being replaced with a much more fluid concept involving same sex relationships and transgendered relationships.
Feminism 
The National Organization for Women (NOW) in the booklet: The Document: Declaration of Feminism states: “Heterosexual relationships are by their very nature oppressive to women in a male dominated society.  In Western society sexual roles are defined for the benefit of men.  The woman is treated as a sexual object, a thing which exists for the gratification of the man to ensure his physical comfort and his sexual pleasure.  In the eyes of men this is a woman’s place—for Eve was created of Adam’s rib—or so the story goes” (Nancy Lehman and Helen Sullinger, The Document: Declaration of Feminism, p. 8).  Betty Friedan sees the role of the modern housewife as a “sickness, a disease…And most women can no longer use their full strength, grow to their full human capacity, as housewives” (Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, p. 305).  This type of feminism attacks marriage (heterosexual relationships) and the home (women who love their children and their husbands) as God would have it (Matt. 19:1-9; Titus 2:1-5). Feminism has given us abortion, no-fault divorce, and destruction of male spiritual leadership in the home and the church (attack on patriarchy).  More recently, feminists have led in the separation of sex from gender which has produced gender fluidity and advanced both homosexuality and transgendered identities.  The idea that gender can be separated from one’s sex is the result of cultural relativism which advances the notion that gender is a social construct and not tied to one’s biological makeup.  Marriage has been redefined to include both homosexuals and the transgendered.
Hedonism
Hedonism is basically the love of pleasure.  The love of pleasure is condemned in God’s Word (II Tim. 3:1-5). Hedonism is behind the sexual revolution.  Hedonism involves the unrestricted indulgence of the lusts of the flesh.  Sexual relationships outside of the marriage relationship are forbidden by God and constitute fornication (Gal. 5:19-20).  Promiscuity in sexual relationships has produced “fatherless homes.”  The absence of the father in the home has significant consequences.  More women and children are living in poverty as a result. Government programs have expanded to help with shelter, food, medical assistance, counseling, and other needs.  With government assistance comes government control.  Promiscuity has produced an epidemic in sexually transmitted diseases.  Promiscuity has contributed to “unwanted pregnancies” where abortion is seen as a remedy and so abortions have taken the lives of more than 62 million unborn children since 1973 (FoxNews, Jan. 2021).  Promiscuity has contributed to a lack of respect for Christian values and so the secularization of America.  This was a primary goal of those who desired to uproot Christian moral values and replace them with hedonism as a way of undermining Western Culture and replace it with communism (a goal of Cultural Marxists: for example Herbert Marcuse.  Consider his work: Eros and Civilization written in 1955).  Pornography would have to be included in this study of the influence of hedonism on the home.  Pornography is a multi-billion dollar business in the world today.  Pornography is “the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writings) intended to cause sexual excitement.” Carl Trueman in the Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, writes, “Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties.  It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other.  It does great injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public) since each becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others.  It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world.  It is a grave offense. It is rightly called a deathwork, “an all-out assault upon something vital to the established culture”(Rieff).  A deathwork is an attack on established cultural art forms in a manner designed to undo the deeper moral structure of society.  Pornography is an attack on marriage and exploits the sacred intimacy reserved for marriage alone and objectifies it and merchandizes it” (Trueman, pp. 96-97).
Secular Humanism
Secular Humanism is the belief that man has within himself sufficient resources to solve his problems without help from a supernatural power or person.  It involves supplanting God with self and so the deification of self.  Secular Humanism was formalized in two documents:  Humanist Manifesto I and Humanist Manifesto II (both of which express communist ideology).  These documents deny the existence of  God and denigrate true religion. They deny the existence of the human soul affirming that science discredits the “ghost in the machine or the “separable soul.”   They affirm that science believes that the human species is an emergence from natural evolutionary forces (Pat McGee, “Humanism As A Threat To Christian Marriages”, in The Home as God Would Have It and Contemporary Attacks Against It, p. 324). McGee rightly states that humanism has infiltrated America’s educational system, religious institutions, mass media, homes, and even some churches of Christ.  As secular humanism increases, the home in America decreases and suffers from its destructive forces.  When you destroy the sacred order, you also destroy the social order.  The home is the basic element of the fabric of society.  To change the home means that society will change.  Who can deny that Americans are facing the strong currents of social engineering that threaten to destroy the home as God would have it and replace it with a humanist constructed entity not worthy of the descriptive term “home.”  The result is a chaotic, unstable society that cannot hold together.
McGee states, “The first home was established by God and is, therefore a divine institution.  It is the basic social unit in all the world and in every society.  To lose the home is to eventually lose the country” (Ibid. 313).  While we are living in threatening times, Christians know the God in whom they believe is a rock, resource, strength, shelter and force that cannot be overthrown.  God’s Word is truth.  With God and His truth, we ourselves can triumph over the forces of evil that will consume others who do not believe in God nor trust in His Word.  Christians must stand strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might!

The Red Trojan Horse by Alasdair Elder gives a concise account of the history of the development of Critical Theory which is behind the Critical Race Theory being taught in many educational systems in America.  He explains the background to Cultural Marxism and how it is impacting both Western culture in general and politics in America.  The book is divided into two parts.  Part one gives the history of Cultural Marxism.  Part two is a contemporary look at Cultural Marxism.  The basic thesis of the book is to examine how Cultural Marxism is undermining Western cultures by attacking the values upon which Western civilization has been built.  The attack on freedom and truth has resulted in culture wars that threaten the very existence of Western culture as we know it and experience it in America.  The church of Christ has a vested interest in the false philosophical system that forms the underpinning of Cultural Marxism because it pits Communism against Christianity.  New Testament Christians support the concepts of marriage and the family as defined by God.  The atheistic attack against the home must not be allowed to prevail.  Christians must “fight the good fight of the faith” and resist any and every Satanic attack against the God ordained institutions that form the basis of our society and our nation.  I have uploaded a copy of my review of Elder’s work.  You will find it under the Book Reviews page.  The review is a thirteen page synopsis of the book.

James Bales published, Communism, Its Faith and Fallacies in 1962.  Chapter nine of this book is titled, “The Communist Attitude toward Religion.”  In this chapter, Bales gives nine reasons why Communism is opposed to religion.  While Communist propaganda insists that there can be peaceful coexistence between communism and religion, that notion is false.  The basic tenets of communism makes it an enemy to true religion. The following content is largely taken from Bales work on communism.
Reason Number One:  Communism is militant atheism.  Therefore, by its very nature it is antagonistic to theism.  The goal of communism is to change the world.  That change involves the total acceptance of communistic ideology. Khrushchev said to the 20th Congress in 1956 that “Revolutionary theory is not a collection of petrified dogma and formulae, but a militant guide to act in in transforming the world, in building communism.  Marxism-Lenninism teaches us that a theory isolated from practice is dead, and practice with is not illumined by revolutionary theory is blind” (163).  Communist fight for the full victory of atheism.
Reason Number Two:  Communism is a totalitarian system which demands the complete loyalty of its subjects.  It demands control of the inner and the outer life of man.  Thus, by its nature, it must oppose religion which says that there is a higher will and law than that of the state or Party.  Communism is a world-view that is in direct conflict with the Christian worldview.
Reason Number Three:  Communism is antagonistic to religion because it claims to be the scientific world view which must oppose religion because religion represents an unscientific and prescientific world view which is opposed to scientific progress.  Stalin said, “The Party cannot be neutral towards religion, and it does conduct anti-religious propaganda against all and every religious prejudice because it stands for science, while religious prejudices run counter to science, because all religion is something opposite to science” (164).
Reason Number Four:  Communism maintains that religion is a tool of the ruling class for the perpetuation of its power and the control of the masses.  Lenin looked upon religion as a tool in the hands of the “oppressing classes.” He said, “All oppressing classes need two social functions to safeguard their rule:  the function of the hangman and the function of the priest.  The hangman is required to quell the protests and the indignation of the oppressed; the priest is required to console the oppressed, to paint for them the prospects of mitigation of their sufferings and sacrifices (this is particularly easy to do without guaranteeing that these prospects will be “achieved”), while preserving class rule, and thereby to reconcile them to class rule, wean them from revolutionary action, undermine their revolutionary spirit and destroy their revolutionary determination” (164-165).  Religion stands in the way of success in pursuing revolution and overthrowing the ruling classes.  In  order to overthrow capitalism and establish socialism, religion must be opposed.
Reason Number Five:  Communism is anti-religious because, as a corollary to the above, it claims that religion is the opiate of the masses which leads them to be submissive to their masters and more or less content with their lot.  Karl Marx said that ‘Religion is the opium of the people’ (165).  Marx believed that religion is an instrument of the bourgeois reaction whose aim is to defend exploitation by stupefying the working class (165).  To the Communist, religion functions to deaden the conscience of the oppressed masses and so must be removed.
Reason Number Six:  Communism is anti-religious because it regards religion as a symbol of mans’ alienation from himself.  Religion, as man’s reaction to mystery and misery, leads man to look outside of himself for help, and thus keeps him from bringing about his own emancipation.  Communism is basically humanistic.  Consequently, it must oppose religion which focuses upon God.  Communists view religion as standing in the way of man’s own self-actualization.
Reason Number Seven:  Communism is against any religion which teaches the reality of moral law.   Bales devotes chapter ten to the Doctrine of Communist Morality.  The communist repudiates the moral values of Christianity and of Judaism.  He repudiates the so-called values of the bourgeois society.  Morality cannot be the expression of the will of God because the communist does not believe in God.  Morality to a communist is but a means of achieving class interests.  Marx wrote, “Law, morality, religion, are to him so many bourgeois prejudices, behind which lurk in ambush just so many bourgeois interests” (195).  Bales illustrates the communist view of morality by considering the command “Thou shalt not steal.”  The communist maintains that this is the law of a property-holding class whereby they protect their property. It is thus subordinated to class interest.  If theft be wrong, the institution of private property must be right although it may be abused.  The communist maintains that the institution of private property is wrong, therefore the law, “Thou Shalt not steal” is but a way the property-holding class maintains its hold on its ill-gotten gain.  Since the communist represents a class with interest which oppose that of the property-holding class , he believes that it is right to steal if stealing will help the Party (198).
Reason Number Eight: Communism is against any religion which teaches love, since class hatred is the way of progress. Communist must be “hard as steel.”  They must not know what pity, mercy, and compassion are.  Revolution is advanced through class hatred and struggle.  In a revolution, one cannot be soft.
Reason Number Nine:  Since communism may be aptly described as the Communist Crime Syndicate, an international organization of criminals directed by cunning and ruthless thugs in the Kremlin, it must be antagonistic to any religion which stands for any measure of truth, holiness and justice. Earl Browder wrote in What is Communism, “Communists do not distinguish between good and bad religions, because we think they are all bad for the masses” (167).
Bales concludes:  “These elements of the communist world view justify the conclusion that communism is basically anti-religious” (167).

In 1962, James D. Bales wrote a book titled, Communism Its Faith and Fallacies.  Bales relates the following aspects of communism.  “As a philosophy of life, communism endeavors to explain the universe, life, history, and the future.  Its embraces atheism, dialectical materialism and class struggle as integral parts of its explanation.  Its concern is not only with theory but also with action.  Thus Marx (Karl Marx-DS) emphasized that he was not interested simply in understanding the world, but in changing it.  As a philosophy of life communism endeavors to dominate and to control the outer and the inner life of its devotees who “accept its discipline in every part of their private and professional lives.” Thus it has been called a religion or a religion-substitute by some.  In fact, Bertrand Russell labels communism, as it has developed in Russia, as “a political religion analogous to Islam” (Lester E. Denonn, Editor, Bertrand Russells’ Dictionary of Mind, Matter and Morals, p. 30 quoted by Bales in Communism: Its Faith and Fallacies, p. 18).  Bales gives some of the details of a House Report made in 1939 (see page 19-20 of Bales’ book) which contains the following description of communism.  “Communism is a world-wide political organization advocating: (1) the abolition of all forms of religion; (2) the destruction of private property and the abolition of inheritance; (3) absolute social and racial equality; (4) revolution under the leadership of the Communist International; (5) engaging in activities in foreign countries in order to cause strikes, riots, sabotage, bloodshed, and civil war; (6) destruction of all forms of representative or democratic government, including civil liberties such as freedom of speech, of the press, and of assemblage; (7) the ultimate objective of world revolution to establish the dictatorship of the so-called proletariat into a universal union of soviet socialist republics with its capital at Moscow; (8) the achievement of the ends through extreme appeals to hatred” (Investigation of Un-American Activities and Propaganda, House Resolution 282, Union Calendar No. 2, House Report, No. 2, 1939, p. 12).  Bales then proceeds to give his own definition of communism:  “Communism today is a Marx inspired, Moscow directed, international criminal conspiracy against civilization, based on a God-denying philosophy of life, sustained by faith in the dialectic, backed by the devotion of its fanatical believers and to an uncertain extent by the armed might of the Red Armies” (Bales, p. 20).  The philosophy of communism is expressed in the writings of Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, V. I. Lenin, Joseph Stalin and some other writers.  These men continue to be influential through their writings as has been noted in the Black Lives Matter organization which is led by two women who are highly trained in Marxism (see previous blog: An Exposé of the Black Lives Matter Organization).  On September 20, 2020, I discovered that the statement of beliefs originally posted on the blacklivesmatter.com website has been removed.  This is significant because it appears that this organization is attempting to hide its true beliefs and purposes which involved anti-Christian values and concepts.
Is the Black Lives Matter organization using the race issue as a means of creating dissension within the country and spark a revolution?  Bales, under the heading of Inciting Racial Minorities (p. 98) wrote in 1962, “Open and hidden communists are endeavoring to use racial problems as a means of dividing our country and making and using for their own purposes those who are blind enough to form temporary alliances with them.  They are not interested in solving these problems but in weakening the country so that it will be easier for them to take over.  The communists search out “contradictions” between racial groups not in order to solve them but to intensify them so as to hasten the day of revolution” (Bales, p. 99).    The blacklivesmatter.com website did not hesitate to use the word revolution to describe their movement.  They openly asked people to join in the revolution currently under way in America (2020).
Christianity is opposed to communism.  Communism is atheistic and anti-religion.  It is a threat to freedom everywhere.  Since the Black Lives Matter organization is being led by highly trained Marxists, it is no surprise to see them using communist tactics to threaten, intimidate, and destroy for the purpose of bringing about social change.  They stoke racial tensions and use class struggle to bring about the first part of the dialectic between capitalism and socialism.  In Marx’s philosophy, the thesis is capitalism.  The anti-thesis is socialism.  The synthesis is communism. All Christians must be aware of the forces that are at work in our nation today.

The following analysis of communism by Leroy Brownlow is an appropriate summary of the communist form of government.  The communist government is at its core atheistic and materialistic.  Brownlow summarizes it thus:
“We unhesitatingly say the Free World today faces a false way of life which poses a far greater menace in scope, cruelty, and servitude, than any the world has ever known. Communism is a system of both internal and external slavery.  It would reduce man to the brute level by teaching him he has no spirit within and no right to own property without.  The Communistic Party is to Communists the only kingdom ever to exist.”
“A study of Communism reveals that it is a spectacle of vice and depravity, seething in the mire of materialism, and literally crawling like a snake in the dust of agitation, ever ready to strike and release its venom.  It is an atheistic philosophy, villainous in nature, corrupt in principle, and immoral in practice.  It is the very essence of hypocrisy and falls under the condemning words of Jesus: “They say, and do not.”  It is a contradictory philosophy which glories in zigzags, inconsistencies, and broken promises; a degraded system which has elevated vagrant politicians to despotic lords who have bombarded the world with their infidel attacks upon God, the Bible, and a free society which respects the dignity of man; an assemblage of bombastic and conceited claptraps which exploits man; a system of wayward vanity and selfish ambition which foments struggles and squabbles, revolutions and wars, from the lowest level to the highest plane in every organized democratic society; a system that feeds on human carion and then vomits the mass of corruption upon a helpless people that survives; an ideology which has raised up madmen, selfish, brutal, and horrendous, in their quest for world enslavement, which they gleefully and blasphemously seek by defying God and defiling man.  At no other time in the history of man has an ideology so notoriously prostituted the talents, the labors, and the freedoms of so many people.  The culminating point in their infamy is to throw the nonsense of all their ill-spent lives into the creation of a one-world government, controlled by the Party dictators.  If this seems hard, remember there are no soft words that will describe a hard system.”  (Bible vs. Communism, pp. 8-9, c. 1961).