Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of Churches has remained faithful to the legacy of its predecessor, the Communist front-group known as the Federal Council of Churches, which the NCC absorbed in 1950. At one time an unabashed apostle of the Communist cause, the NCC has today recast itself as a leading representative of the so-called religious Left. Adhering to what it has described as “liberation theology”—that is, Marxist ideology disguised as Christianity—the NCC lays claim to a membership of 36 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox Christian denominations, and some 50 million members in over 140,000 congregations.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the NCC has soft-pedaled its radical message, dressing up its demands for global collectivization and its rejection of democratic capitalism in the garb of religious teachings. Yet the organization’s history suggests that it was—and remains—a devout backer of a gallery of socialist governments. In the 1950s and 1960s, under cover of charity, the NCC provided financial support to the Communist regimes in Yugoslavia and Poland, funneling money to both through its relief agency, the Church World Service. In the 1970s, working with its Geneva-based parent organization, the World Council of Churches, the NCC supplied financial support for Soviet-sponsored incursions into Africa, aiding the terrorist rampages of Communist guerrillas in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, and Angola.
The NCC’s programmatic opposition to U.S. foreign policy is another manifestation of its deep-rooted leftist politics. Taking refuge in the counsel of the New Testament —“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9) — the NCC has repeatedly condemned U.S. military interventions.
Recently, some prominent religious figures have voiced concerns that the NCC is less a spiritual than a political organization, less concerned with ministering to the souls of its parishioners than with shaping a future that is in concordance with its leftist agenda. Mark Tooley, a director at the Institute on Religion and Democracy, has taken the NCC to task
for positioning itself as an impartial religious group. “We do not think the NCC is impartial. They have been openly sympathetic to the Cuban government for many years,” Tooley told the Washington Times in January 2000. The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a former Lutheran minister and now editor of the Catholic journal First Things, has observed that 50 years of rigid adherence to left wing orthodoxy has taken its toll on the NCC. “The NCC is a shadow of what it once was,” Neuhaus has said. “It has been sidelined. Its 50th anniversary was more of a requiem than a celebration. It has lost the confidence of its membership.”
The NCC was a signatory to a November 1, 2001 document characterizing the 9/11 attacks as a legal matter to be addressed by criminal-justice procedures rather than military means. Ascribing the hijackers’ motives to alleged social injustices against which they were protesting, this document explained that “security and justice are mutually reinforcing goals that ultimately depend upon the promotion of all human rights for all people,” and called on the United States “to promote fundamental rights around the world.”
The NCC has received funding from a handful of foundations, including: the Ford Foundation
, the Annie E. Casey Foundation
, the Beldon Fund, the Lilly Endowment, the Rasmussen Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
, and the Tides Foundation. It also gets funding from political advocacy groups like the Sierra Club and MoveOn.org. Those who are even mildly informed on politics today will recognize these as liberal, leftist groups and the Tides Foundation is tied directly to George Soros.
In February 2005,the NCC condemned Israel – a nation plagued in recent years by an epidemic of Palestinian suicide bombings aimed at civilians – for having “established hundreds upon hundreds of checkpoints, roadblocks, and gates across the Occupied Territories, making daily life and travel extremely difficult for ordinary Palestinians.” Proclaiming that “[s]tereotypes of all Palestinians as terrorists must be broken,” the Council explained that “[t]he crushing burden of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory contributes to deep anger and violent resistance, which contributes to fear throughout Israeli society.” The Council lamented that while “[a]t least half of the Palestinian people live in poverty, . . . too many Israelis have little or no knowledge of the human rights abuses experienced by Palestinians.”
In making the these statements, t
he National Council of Churches offered neither social nor historical context. For example, it did not mention that fully 70 % of Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza approve of the murder of Jews via suicide bombings; that there is no trace of an Arab peace movement urging the cessation of such terror attacks (a stark contrast to Israel, where the movement demanding concessions to Arabs in the name of peace is a formidable political force); that Palestinians in Israel enjoy more civil and human rights than their counterparts in any Arab nation on earth; that Israel came to occupy the West Bank and Gaza not as a result of expansionist impulses, but rather because of its victory in the 1967 war that was ignited when Israel was attacked by Egypt, Syria and Jordan; that in 1973, yet another coalition of Arab armies attacked Israel and were defeated; and that when Egypt (the spearhead of that 1973 assault) became the lone nation to agree to a formal peace with Israel, it was rewarded by Israel with the return of the entire captured Sinai with all its oil riches.
The foregoing facts notwithstanding, the National Council of Churches betrays no recognition of the fact that Israel has demonstrated a remarkable willingness to negotiate peace with, and relinquish land to, even defeated aggressors who have previously demonstrated a burning desire to destroy the Jewish state. “[I]t is clear,”maintains the Council, that “the overriding problem is Israel’s continuing occupation of Palestinian territory.”
The Council’s critical stance on Israel is mirrored by its history of consistently opposing U.S. policies as well. These two nations are singled out for rebuke by the Council with greater frequency than any others. We are reminded of God’s admonishment of those who take a stand against Israel.
Those who curse Israel shall be cursed (Genesis 12:3). No weapon that is formed against Israel shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17). These Scriptures are of vital importance on this subject. Genesis 12:1-3 constitutes the cornerstone, the monument, of all prophecy. No one can mistreat the Jew and get away with it.
Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)
Psalm 83 contains a prophecy that I believe is being unfolded before our eyes. It has not yet come to pass, but is in the process of being fulfilled. The first two verses refer to the time of the Tribulation. All scholars of whom I have any knowledge, both of the rationalistic type and of the conservative group, say that there is nothing in all the history of Israel that can be said to be the fulfillment of this prediction. It simply has not been fulfilled. Since it has not, and since God spoke it, we may be certain that it will be fulfilled exactly as foretold. Notice verse 1: “O God keep not thou silence: Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.” Why? The reason is found in verse 2: “For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult; And they that hate thee have lifted up the head.”
Israel will utter that prayer, and God will answer it literally. I am inclined to believe that these first two verses refer to a partial fulfillment of such a passage as Psalm 2:1-3, the forthcoming international atheistic, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, politico-religious convention that will try to count God and His Christ out of His universe.
But the part of the prophecy in Psalm 83 which is now being fulfilled is found in verses 3-8: “They take crafty counsel against thy people. And consult together against thy hidden ones.” Certain ones are going to take crafty counsel against the Jewish people and against God’s hidden ones, those of the Jewish people of Palestine that have honest hearts and that will accept the truth when it is presented to them. These hidden ones are like the people mentioned in Acts 18:9,10: “And the Lord said unto Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee: for I have much people in this city.”
Verse 4 of Psalm 83 reveals the purpose of the enemies: “They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; That the name of Israel may be no more is remembrance. In other words, the complete annihilation of Israel, even to the blotting out of the name from remembrance, is the purpose here proposed. Such plots have been made before, and they have been carried out in part. Pharaoh attempted to destroy Israel. So did Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus Epiphanes, and Titus, Various other tyrants and nations have made similar attempts. Of these, Nazi Germany, under the leadership of the madman Hitler, was most guilty of this heinous crime. But Israel will never be annihilated. During the Tribulation, two out of every three Jews will be destroyed, but a faithful remnant will remain. Through them God will fulfill the promise to Abraham, that in Him all the families of the earth will be blessed.
So, it appears that most organized religious organizations in the United States of America are included in the “group” that stands against the Nation of Israel. Therefore, these curses (or promises, depending upon how one views them) are directly applicable to them, as well. Well, that is IF one believes the Bible is “real.” It seems many professing Christians today don’t regard it as “literal” or authoritative. My, how things are changing!
Jesus never taught “socialism” and the governmental system set up by God is the only perfect system in the world for government. Until the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, there will not be a “just” government, there will not be justice nor will poverty be properly addressed. The churches should stick to performing those tasks assigned them by Jesus Christ Himself instead of pushing anti-Christian theology. As far as environmentalism goes, if these activists don’t like what’s happening with the earth now, just wait until they see what God does with it. We worship the Creator, not the creation. It is reprehensible that these churches are actively promoting socialism and/or communism, indeed a one-world religion! This is great apostasy!
This brings us to the question, is socialism/communism “compatible” with Christianity? No, absolutely not! Let us become “fruit inspectors” in order to understand this concept. What is socialism? Socialism is defined by the following:
·A political theory advocating state ownership of industry and capital
·Any of various political philosophies that support social and economic equality, collective decision-making, and public control of productive capital and natural resources, as advocated by socialists.
·The socialist political philosophies as a group, including Marxism, libertarian socialism, democratic socialism, and social democracy. (Leninism)
·• This is a strategy whereby the State has control of all key resource-producing industries and manages most aspects of the market, in contrast to laissez faire capitalism.
·Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
·A system of society or group living in which there is no private property
·A system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
·A stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.
Today we have witnessed a re-invigoration of radical socialist ideology in government, including radical activists in the various congresses, the judiciary, labor unions, teachers’ unions, universities, and numerous posts in the government itself, including the Presidency. The arguments of socialism—welfare, socialized universal health care, regulation and taxation of business, attacks on “the rich,” etc. is resounding throughout America and Europe like never before.
Most Christians are unaware that the arguments of socialism and the welfare State are nothing less than the ancient pagan view of the State forged by the fires of Moloch worship, ending in human sacrifice and slavery to the ruler’s desires. Worse yet, many Christian leaders call for socialism under the guise of Christian virtues like helping the poor and needy. Some leaders have worked hard to find biblical support for the State robbing from some and giving to others. Christians must learn to discern the devious rhetoric, and expose the wolves in sheep’s clothing that deceive Christians into Statism using Christian language and Bible passages.
Christians are both to confront the wolves and to respond to socialism with biblical answers. The answers to socialism are: “The King is not God,” and, “Thou Shalt Not Steal.” If Christians do not actively refute these principles of government, law, and economics, then we will move closer to the socialists’ vision of society. We will have more of Marx than Moses, more of Trotsky than Christ. This is just one reason why the National Council of Churches is such a threat as well as is the World Council of Churches.
A biblical critique of socialism extends the lessons learned in the Garden of Eden. Satan asks, “Hath God said?” (Gen 3:1)). Eve pondered Satan’s question, pondered the merits of his point of view versus God’s command. In doing so, she had already lost the debate. She placed herself in judgment over God’s word, and thus over God. By just questioning God’s word on the matter, the Devil planted the seeds of the humanistic ruin of mankind. By joining him in this regard, Eve secured that ruin.
The only avenue to repairing this ruin is through obedience to Jesus Christ. This path requires us to return to God’s word, and rebuild our lives, our families, churches, states and social order based upon God’s revealed way of life. The choice between God and socialism is the same as the choice between God and Satan. One leads to paradise, the other to delusion and hell. It is God versus Socialism, be sure of that. It is interesting to note that two of the most evil men in the past century which are considered as of the extreme right of the political spectrum, were in fact socialists:
Adolf Hitler was a member of the German Workers’ Party but the name was later changed by Hitler to include the term National Socialist. Thus the full name was the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) called for short, Nazi. Its notorious flag symbol, the swastika was deliberately turned 45 degrees to the horizontal and always oriented in the S-direction (the overlapping S standing for Socialism). The NSDAP called themselves ‘Socialist’ and not ‘Nazi’, and that infamously brutal force, the SS, using the same initials for socialism.”
Benito Mussolini was a socialist. He was the leader of the Socialist Party of Italy. Like many modern politicians Mussolini was a socialist and a journalist. During WWI, Mussolini was a well-known socialist leader and writer. Mussolini profusely borrowed much of his symbolism from American Socialists. He founded the “Fasci di Combattimento” (Revolutionary Fascists) party, eventually becoming the National Fascist Party, ergo the term “Fascism”. Interesting to note that Mussolini considered himself all his life as a Socialist.
The basic difference between socialism and Christianity is that socialism is optimistic about human nature. It holds that unless corrupted by exploitative capitalism, people are inherently good. In their uncorrupted state they will cooperate and willingly function collectively to achieve the common good. Instead Christianity cannot concur with the fundamental assertion that fallen human nature is basically good nor with the belief that it is virtually perfectible by social engineering. Christians do not locate the source of evil in economic exploitation but in human rejection of God . They insist that fallen human nature causes economic exploitation, not that economic exploitation causes evil in human nature. Nor do Christians accept as correct the notion that the proper and central study of human nature should focus on economics.
Many Christians believe that socialists fundamentally misread human nature. In its fallen state the nature of humans is not necessarily oriented towards others nor it is concerned about the common good of the community. (Gen 6:5) Christians also reject any implication that the working class is morally better than other groups. Many Christians also assert that the socialist prescription for societal improvement stifles individual initiative and is therefore doomed to fail.
Christianity is God centered, while socialism is man centered and the two cannot be reconciled. Indeed a Christian Socialist is a misnomer It cannot exist coherently. The greatest difference between typical socialist assertions and Christian teaching is the widespread socialist rejection of the concept of soul, of the supernatural realm and of the need for human salvation rooted in God. Socialists assume and declare that all reality is material.
This concept of denial of God and the soul is an impasse for a believer and for this reason a Christian cannot be a true Socialist under any circumstance.
The socialist has also the concept of Democracy (govern by the people alone) coupled with egalitarianism which are not godly principles, for God is out of the picture. Instead, the Christian reality is that in the Kingdom all are totally submitted to God and do His Holy will which all perform most willingly and everyone, great and small, are as God has created them. (Rev 19:5)
Christianity and socialism explain evil differently, postulate different solutions to human depravity and, in the main, have different priorities and ideals. In short they are diametrically opposed and irreconcilable. Socialism has the tendency to support people that do not want to work, and that is not a Kingdom principle either, as certified by Scripture:“For even when we were with you, we commanded this to you:If anyone does not desire to work, neither let him eat.” (II Thess 3:10)
Socialism cannot be compatible with Christianity. It is, in fact, at odds with Christianity’s teaching. Socialism is determined to provide equality and welfare by government intervention. The idea is that the government must take care of every aspect of life, from fair wages to health care to care for the poor . Christianity, as Jesus taught, teaches that it is up to the people, as individuals, to care for one another (1Tim 5:8). This is why they are incompatible. Socialism preaches government responsibility by compulsion and Christianity preaches individual responsibility from love.
In the early days of Christianity, communal living was evident. Scripture teaches that all lived in harmony and had all things in common, where those who had used their excess to care for those in need, as they had need. That does not mean that all were equal, or that those who had means had to split those means equally with those who did not have means (as Socialism preaches), but rather they provided for the necessities of those who could not do so for themselves. But this in no way meant that they simply gave to the poor without requirement that they attempted to care for themselves, rather that they were expected to attempt to work and provide what they could for themselves, (II Thess 3:10).
Socialism is the antithesis of Christianity. It expects that all will take what they have and distribute it to those who have less, regardless of their need or attempt to care for themselves encouraging laziness and promoting those who do not want to work. Moreover this forced redistribution goes against the very teachings of Christ who preached sharing in love and harmony.
Our Western society has lost its Christian soul and so we are like a ship without its rudder and thus we are lured by the socialists who advertise that the greatest form of good in the world is ubiquitous control by democratic government. Thus they negate God and therefore violate the very foundation of Christian teaching. Reiterating again, Socialism and Christianity are irreconcilable. One is based on the atheistic philosophy found in the Communist Manifesto; the other is based on the deity of Jesus Christ and His Word.
Those who do not believe that Socialism is included in the Communist Manifest only have to pay attention to that famous communist Frederick Engels who declared that the Communist Manifesto”is undoubtedly the most widespread, the most international production of all Socialist literature, the common platform acknowledged by millions of working men from Siberia to California.”This manifesto was co-authored by Marx and Engels.
It is impossible for a true Christian to be a socialist or for a true socialist to be a Christian. Nevertheless, socialists have cleverly twisted the scriptures in order to make their materialistic philosophy appear Christian. As Marx explained (misinterpreting) in the Communist Manifesto:”Nothing is easier than to give Christian asceticism a Socialist tinge. Has not Christianity declaimed against private property, against marriage, against the State? Has it not preached, in the place of these, charity and poverty, celibacy and mortification of the flesh, monastic life and Mother Church.”.”Of course Marx here was referring to the Catholic Church that has made a symbiosis between Pagan and Christian religions, for example in marriage (1Tim 4:1-3) and therefore not true Biblical Christianity.
Socialism means economic control of the people by government. In a socialist country, the state is all-powerful. Such an all-powerful state views itself and not God (who is negated) as the ultimate authority. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Communist Manifesto calls for abolishing family, marriage, countries, and religion as well as private property. Under the socialist system the state determines what is right and wrong without any competing loyalties to God, family, or country. This we have seen happening in our countries in the last 50 years, and continuing.
The social rule of the Kingdom is: “… You have freely received, freely give” (Matt 10:8). Not by coercion. The fact of life is that absolutely nothing belongs to us but all the good things are granted by God as He wills and to whom He wants to and we are to be good stewards of what He gives to us whilst on this earth, without boasting of our puny achievements: “For who makes you to differ from another? and what have you that you did not receive? now if you did receive it, why do you glory, as if you had not received it?” (I Col 4:7)
Member church organizations listed AT THE NCC WEBSITE are: African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Moravian Church in American Northern Prvince and Southern Province, Alliance of Baptists, National Baptist Convention of America, American Baptist Churches in the USA, Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, Orthodox Church in America, Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA, Mar Thoma Church, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Methodist Episcopal Church,Church of the Brethren,Community of Christ,The Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Friends United Meeting, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Hungarian Reformed Church in America, International Council of Community Churches, African Methodist Episcopal Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, The United Methodist Church Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ, Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Polish National Catholic Church of America, Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., Reformed Church in America, Serbian Orthodox Church in USA and Canada, The Swedenborgian Church, Syriac Orthodox Church Antioch.
Comments to: sylvester.lea@gmail.com
Sources:
NCCUSA.org
-Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan and UN Goals – Part 2 and Part 3
-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),
-The Congressional Record on Investigation of Communist Activities in the New York City Area (Parts 6-8). Hearing Before The Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, 83rd Congress, First Session, July 7 and 8, and July 13 and 14, 1953.Documented by Edgar Bundy in Collectivism in the Churches, Chapter 2: “Collaborators with Communism.”
The Communist Manifesto