One of the more heartbreaking markers of these last days is the onset of the great apostasy. While true Christians understand our times as prophecy foretold, some may not understand how deep and subtle false teaching in the church has become.
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1)
In this context “subtle” means crafty, clever, cunning and devious. The serpent in Genesis was a form for the Devil. While Eve didn’t recognize who she was dealing with, Jesus describes Satan for us in John 10:10 as a thief who comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy“. He is the Father of Lies who has many adopted children.
Yet many Christians, including pastors, act as if biblical warnings against false teachers are meant for others, not them. They have not been vigilant or sought God’s counsel through prayer, instead relying on their own understanding and that of likewise deceived friends and authority figures.
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3)
In recent years, minds have been corrupted by a subtle lie that’s gained traction in the body of Christ. It’s called “social justice”, and it’s not just for communists anymore.
Social justice is a facet of Cultural Marxism, which as the name implies, wages cultural war against the foundations of Western Civilization, including and specifically Christianity.
Oh Laodicean Church, where is the spiritual discernment? This is nothing more than leftist political ideology wrapped in Christian-sounding rhetoric targeted for church consumption.
“Social justice” distorts scripture to emphasize “good works” in an effort to change political society to pacify aggrieved factions, deemphasizing the greater need to reach out to lost souls in need of salvation.
Jesus didn’t come to change the political order, He came to save the world. When He comes again, that’s when the political order will be finally and perfectly changed to His ideal, not that of fallen man. That’s when the enemies of God will get their justice.
Christian compassion and charity (love is another word for charity) are important teachings and proper actions as the Holy Spirit leads us. Needed sermons can and have been preached on these fruits of our faith without mingling it with the lie of social justice.
Social justice isn’t the Gospel of Christ or even part of that gospel. The word “gospel” simply means “good news.” The bad news is we’re all sinners, wretched before a Holy God because of our rebellion. His perfect justice dictates that all of us deserve Hell. We’re incapable by and of our works to achieve anything but God’s judgment. The “Good News” is:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
The sinless Son of God, Jesus, came into the world to suffer and die in our place, having the wrath of God that we deserve instead placed on Him, that by His shed blood, His willing sacrifice for us, that we might be “saved” if we would but repent of our sins and believe on Him. He died, was resurrected on the third day, and is coming again for those obedient faithful who love Him.
To stray from this simple message is to adulterate the gospel, exchanging truth for what the apostle Paul calls “another gospel.”
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-8)
So repugnant is such a twisting of the Gospel of Christ, that Paul repeats himself in the next verse.
“As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:9)
Pastor, if you’re preaching “social justice” you’re reinforcing what congregants in your church hear from openly Marxist teachers, professors and other deceived influences. Satan is the author of confusion and that’s exactly what you’re contributing to.
Many such pastors are well-intentioned and sincere. I assure you, they’re sincerely wrong.
“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that those of us who teach will be judged by a stricter standard.” (James 3:1)
All who labor for the faith need to have solemn understanding here. Liberalism and Marxism are the same side of a satanically-minted coin. They are diametrically opposed to Christianity.
So what, exactly, is social justice? It’s an umbrella term for a variety of leftist political ideas, having at its core the forced redistribution of wealth. This foundational concept is culled from “The Communist Manifesto” written by Karl Marx with an assist from Friedrich Engels in 1848.
“My object in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism.” —Karl Marx
Thus, all Marxist theories are aggressively atheistic, and at least in the revolutionary phase, rely heavily on coveting what others have earned.
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” (Exodus 20:17)
As Thomas Sowell has stated, “Envy plus rhetoric equals “social justice.”
A point to remember; Communism, Socialism, Fascism, and Nazism (aka National Socialism) are all derivatives of Marxist theory. It’s not Communists on the left and Nazis on the right, it’s all left, which is completely godless, totalitarian government. If Marxist methodology sounds eerily like Islam, it’s because the two share the same architect; Lucifer.
When Black Lives Matter loots and riots, they’re pressing their concept of social justice. Antifa attacking whomever they disagree with? They’re fighting for social justice. It’s about the “oppressed” demanding their “rights”, as in their right to coerce others to concede to their demands.
To a Muslim, not being allowed to live under Sharia Law is oppression. Homosexual oppression can mean a society not fully and forcibly embracing their agenda.
Look for key words like: justice, privilege, vulnerable and oppression.
All Marxist revolutions are “sold” as being on behalf of the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden. As we know from the 20th century, when Marxism went from political theory to bloody application, it’s really about the acquisition of total power for the leaders of the revolution. The “oppressed” who are duped into fighting for the cause, once successful, are either slaughtered or enslaved.
For perspective, acclaimed communist organizer Saul Alinsky was a champion of social justice. Two of his more famous acolytes are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Yes, “social justice” has a purpose.
Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist philosopher who witnessed the fall of Czarist Russia to the communist forces of Vladimir Lenin. Gramsci surmised that Lenin’s tactics of stirring up the masses of poor into a communist revolution, successful in that predominately low tech, agrarian nation, would not work in an industrialized, prosperous, and predominately Christian country like the United States due to its opportunity and willingness to address actual injustices.
Therefore Gramsci postulated a more subtle route of conquest, one of infiltrating a nation’s culture and destroying it from within. Said Gramsci:
“The civilized world has been saturated with Christianity for 2000 years, and a regime grounded in Christian beliefs and values could not be overthrown until these roots were cut.”
A quote attributed to Joseph Stalin embodies this same thought:
“America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.”
Former FBI Agent, Cleon Skousen, in his seminal 1958 book, The Naked Communist outlines specific communist plans for the destruction and takeover of our society and nation. He lists 45 goals toward those ends. Here’s a handful for your perusal. I urge you to look up the rest.
Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
Other stated goals, over time, have been modified:
Use technical activist decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions and laws by claiming their activities existence violate civil rights and/or the Constitution.
Continue discrediting American culture, history and Christian heritage, by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and leftist special-interest groups (BLM, Antifa, Muslim organizations like CAIR,, anarchists, Marxists, and the LGBTQ crowd) should rise up and use “united force“ to solve economic, political or social problems.
And lastly:
Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”
Many Christian colleges and seminaries have been infiltrated with this same “social” religion, known in its current incarnation under the benign label of “social justice.”
We should know better, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices [tactics]” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
Satan has gotten an advantage because far too many are ignorant of his devices.
When a sermon on social justice was preached at my church several months back, it raised some concerns. Three of us took those concerns to the church elders.
“Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.” (1 Timothy 5:19)
We interpreted no sinister motives, surmising that the pastoral staff merely didn’t understand the history and true objectives of “social justice.” We wished to share our understanding and knowledge to help our elder team in an area, which by their admission, they were unfamiliar with.
To their credit, they took us seriously. To our dismay, they rejected our counsel, ultimately questioning our motives for “confronting” them. Pride is a destructive thing for anyone to harbor, especially those in a position of church authority. Couple this with a complete lack of discernment even after being presented with the truth.
I still love those guys but such revelations are very disconcerting.
Thereafter I listened to a wonderful sermon on calling out false teachers and teachings from Second Timothy. One of the best I’ve ever heard on the topic.
It certainly had the feeling of being aimed at all of us who questioned social justice.
It’s a difficult proposition to attempt to take Satan’s blinders off of the eyes of those whose admiration and loyalty are to “celebrity Christians”—big names who write self-aggrandizing books and speak at packed conferences to push their enlightened “modern” ideas on what Christianity means.
“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:8-9)
Our discussion degenerated into the elder team defending a “celebrity Christian” messenger of social justice who had enthralled some of the church leadership rather than focusing on social justice itself. It came down to the chief elder putting his faith in the opinions of those other elders whom he loves and trusts, those who follow the teachings of Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, which is the public-policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Moore is touted as an evangelical theologian. A theologian is one who studies and is an expert in theology. Not to disparage the reputation of godly theologians, but Satan is the world’s foremost theologian. The relevant issue here is what directs the theologian, biblical truth or satanic deceit?
A disclaimer here, I’ve been told that I hold a harsh view of Dr. Moore. In my defense it’s not just Russell Moore, but any subtle social justice serpent (or other false teacher) who does Satan’s bidding in the church. Tim Keller, Jim Wallis and John Piper also come to immediate mind.
As a dear Brother in Christ reminds me, even the best of men are still just men.
These aren’t the best of men.
Yes, they look and play the part of respected Christian teachers. Is that surprising?
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:11-13)
Allow me to make a distinction here. The deceived believe the lie, the deceiver believes in the lie. That is to say, those deceived fall for the lie, believing it to be true. The deceivers, like those mentioned by name above, know better. They understand what they’re doing.
When one runs into unbiblical teaching in their churches, one of three things needs to happen. Either the pastor needs a change of mind and heart, the church needs a new pastor or the attendee needs a new church. This is where we pray for the pastor and elders, the church, and what we as individuals should do. Be patient but be persistent. God’s will, not mine or yours, be done.
“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Romans 16:17-18)
My wife and I both got the same answer to our prayers independent of each other, about three hours apart.
Don’t concern yourself if there’s a better church option out there. God’s already considered this. Trust Him that He knows what He’s doing, especially when you don’t. Be obedient, not doubting. Pray earnestly.
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” (Ephesians 5:11)
It’s a hard thing to leave our church but that’s what God’s told us to do. Under these circumstances, it would be a harder thing to stay. We’re at peace.
“Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.” (1 Timothy 5:19-20)
Let these words serve as my public rebuke here, and to all who preach social justice.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
To take a stand against unsound doctrine is to invite criticism and even ostracism. Been there, done that. Steel your mind to this possibility. I may lose friends over what’s been written;
“…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)
Patrick