Conspiracies -- Part 3: Transforming the World by Subverting the Church

REAL CONSPIRACIES -- Part 3: TRANSFORMING THE WORLD BY SUBVERTING THE CHURCH
Berit Kjos - October 2006

"...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 he centuries, [Rauschenbusch] 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 into which men and women had to be born as individuals through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior, but as a collectivist society which would be brought about by... eradication of poverty, redistribution of wealth... and 'economic justice.'"[1] Edgar Bundy, Collectivism in the Churches.

"Rockefeller promoted universal ecumenism by stating in December 1917... 'I see all denominational emphasis set aside....I see the church molding the thought of the world... I see it literally establishing the Kingdom of God on earth."[2] Dr. James W. Wardner, Unholy Alliances.

The Social Gospel of the early 20th century shifted the focus of many church leaders from God's unchanging Truth to the world's pliable ideals. Socialist seminary professors, pragmatic pastors, and deluded idealists validated their visions with hand-picked Bible verses that "fit" their social message. "Offensive" words like sin and redemption were redefined, contextualized or ignored. No need for the cross, since all people were considered essentially good.

Naturally, as socialist ideals tore away at the old Biblical barriers to spiritual pluralism, the change process accelerated. Even "conservative" pastors -- like their purpose-driven guides -- began to view Christianity primarily as good "deeds, not creeds."[3]

TRANSFORMATIONAL TACTICS

In Part 2, we documented these early strategies, patterned after the Kremlin's plan for the Soviet "church."

Infiltrate church institutions.
Adapt the Communist campaign to America's unique beliefs, wants, and values.
Concentrate on seminaries where each new convert learns to influence thousands.
Divert the heart and purposes of the Church from the spiritual to the material.
Demonstrate tolerance toward beliefs and values that clash with God's Words.

"It’s not just tolerance, it’s to go beyond tolerance, to principle pluralism," said Richard Cizik, who represented the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) at the prestigious 2006 Clinton Global Initiative conference. "I would say one step even further, which is to say partnership.... The fundamentalists have a pessimistic view of the future and they have this perception, unlike evangelicals and liberal Christians, that there’s an unbridgeable divide between the believer and the unbeliever.... We don’t believe that."[4]

Of course they don't. God's Word clashes with the world's vision of pluralism! That's why Jesus said, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." John 15:19

The world readily accepts Christian love, charity, and willingness to serve the needy. It just can't accept the source of that love. It wants the fruit of God's Spirit but transplants its roots into the soil of humanism. To succeed in this assault, it fine-tunes the following strategies:

1. INFILTRATION, THEN MASS CONVERSION TO A COUNTERFEIT SYSTEM. In Part 2, we looked at some revealing testimonies given by former Communist leader Manning Johnson before the Committee on Un-American Activities of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1953. Here are a few more:

"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....

"This policy was successful beyond even Communist expectations. The combination of Communist clergymen, clergymen with a pro-Communist ideology, plus thousands of clergymen who were sold the principle of considering Communist causes as progressive... furnished the Soviet apparatus with a machine which was used as a religious cover for the overall Communist operation."[5]

Of course, they wouldn't call it Communism. Words like compassion and world service felt far better.

2. COMMUNITARIAN PARTNERSHIPS

Today, more than a decade after the supposed "death of Communism," a more pleasing version is rising like the mythical phoenix out of its own ashes. It's new label? Communitarianism! Like the old system, this upgraded version would control the masses through universal surveillance, personal data files, and a hierarchy of groups or councils (originally called soviets). It's already being marketed to the public as decentralized leadership, sustainable development, supportive networks, and voluntary service.

Does it sound confusing? Here is a simple formula: Communitarian systems are based on "partnerships" between the public sector (government), private sector (business) and social sector (civil society, including churches). In other words, social sector "volunteers" would serve the government (ultimately the UN agenda) providing most of the "social services" needed for the global welfare state.

The catch? The private and the social sectors must conform to the standards (personal, performance, development, etc.) determined by the public sector (the government). Instead of owning everything, it would just control everything. Its standards already include "mental health," which involve pluralistic guidelines for religion and values." Within this "compassionate" socialist system, Christians would no longer be free to serve God as He leads. And this is just the beginning!

As mass movements such as Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven PEACE Plan enter into partnerships with the United Nations, the White House, CFR and other governmental and policy making institutions, they are pressed into an ever-changing consensus pattern.[6] To continue their determined march toward "success" (based on unconditional relationships and measurable results) these "faith-based" organizations bind themselves to the evolving regulation of the global management system.

Purpose-Driven and Church Growth movements -- as well as the secular transformational networks driven by Peter Senge and Peter Drucker -- emphasize relational vitality and collective thinking. As Manning Johnson testified, group thinking and interdependent relationships are powerful weapons against individual resisters and a Bible-trained conscience:

"The Communists have an advantage in religious organizations due to the fact that their forces within religious groups are well organized as a totalitarian group. This gives this destructive element a great tactical advantage over all others in the religious organizations who deal with religion as individuals, operating ethics on the basis of an individual conscience before God...."

"Communist strategists counted the effectiveness of their forces not so much on numbers alone, but on the importance of individuals loyal to communism in key spots where a small group can influence large numbers.... Thus, one professor of divinity, lecturing to future clergymen, who in turn will preach to thousands of churchgoers, is, in the long run, more dangerous than 20 Red preachers, singing the praises of communism from the pulpit....

"...if an infiltrated body has 1 per cent Communist Party members and 9 per cent Communist Party sympathizers, with well-rehearsed plans of action, they can effectively control the remaining 90 per cent who act and think on an individual basis. In the large sections of the religious field, due to the ideological poison which has been filtered in by Communists and pro-Communists through seminaries, the backlog of sympathizers and mental prisoners of Socialistic ideology is greater than the 10 percent necessary for effective control."[7]

4. SMALL GROUPS AND THE DIALECTIC PROCESS

To "control the remaining 90 per cent" who act and think on an individual basis, former Communist leaders assigned all their subjects -- workers, managers, prisoners and students -- to local "soviets" (groups or councils) where they were trained in Georg Hegel's dialectic process. They had to

"Share" their thoughts
"Confess" contrary attitudes
Write "self-assessments" and make these statements available for group criticism
"Celebrate" Communist ideals and heroes
"Commit" themselves to follow the group consensus
Practice what the group (and its facilitator) decides (PRAXIS).

This dialectic process is now the centerpiece of the world's management systems. Designed to conform all minds to a common vision and mission (purpose), it calls for ground rules that ban divisive truths but demand tolerance for the world's corrupt values. [8]

This process was described in our article "Small Groups and the Dialectic Process," which summarizes the strategies taught in Leading Congregational Change (LCC). "This is a book you ought to read before you change anything," wrote Rick Warren in his hearty endorsement on the back cover.[9]

The LCC shows us that the dialectic group doesn't operate in a vacuum. It's part of a system that controls the planned transformation with vision-casting, team-building, top-down standards, force field analysis, capacity building, and service learning. To persuade church members to go along with the transformation, leaders must continually create tension through crisis, thus arouse dissatisfaction. Forget God's call to "be content" in Him. That doesn't fit the plan for continual change through unceasing agitation.

This unbiblical program follows the same Total Quality Management model embraced by governments, corporations, education systems, the United Nations and other organizations around the world. Do you wonder where the Holy Spirit fits into this scheme?

Written by James H. Furr, Mike Bonem, and Jim Herrington, the LCC was published by Jossey-Bass, which works closely with the Peter Drucker Foundation (renamed Leader to Leader). "We thank Rick Warren," it tells us, "for the opportunity to reach and refine our understanding of congregational transformation as part of Saddleback Valley Church's Purpose-Driven Church Conference. ... We also saw many applications in Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline...."[10]

When assigned to a group, members are encouraged to eat together, play together, serve the community together, and do short-terms mission trips together. There's nothing wrong with Christian togetherness. But in this context -- created by trained facilitator/leaders -- every event becomes a practice (praxis) session in group dialogue and "Repressive Tolerance." The latter refers to "intolerance against movements from the right, and toleration of movements from the left." [See "Cultural Marxism" and "Three kinds of group relationships."][11]

RESISTING DECEPTION

Well aware of the struggles and temptations His people would face, God gave us Scriptures that equip us for our times. Here are three worth memorizing:

"Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." Colossians 2:6-9

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.... Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" Isaiah 5:20-21

But "thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable...." 1 Corinthians 15:56