Communism: Satan's Counterfeit of the Gospel Plan
By Steven MontgomeryFreedom can sometimes be best understood by understanding its opposite. Well, you might ask, what is the opposite of freedom? A little over 25 years ago, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson and Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, made a remarkable statement regarding freedoms opposite. Here are his remarks: Whenever the God of Heaven reveals His gospel to mankind, Satan, the archenemy to Christ, introduces a counterfeit. . . Communism introduced into the world a substitute for true religion, It is a counterfeit of the gospel plan . . . Today, we are in the battle for the bodies and souls of man. It is a battle between two opposing systems: freedom and slavery, Christ and AntiChrist. . . (Ezra Taft Benson, “A Witness and a Warning,” Ensign, Nov. 1979, 31) Then, Marion G. Romney,in the 1st Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the September 1979 Church Magazine Ensign, wrote: Communism is Satan’s counterfeit for the gospel plan, and . . . it is an avowed enemy of the God of the land. (Marion G. Romney as quoted by Ezra Taft Benson, CR, Oct. 1979; Ensign, Nov 1979, pgs. 43-47) Why did Ezra Taft Benson and Marion G. Romney consider Communism as a “substitute for true religion” and the “counterfeit of the gospel plan?” What prophetic insight did they havewhich would move them to make such striking statements? Hints at Communism’s true character, not as merely being atheistic but as an actual Anti-Christ power can be glimpsed by looking into the writings of its founder–Karl Marx. In several poems he wrote about his allegiance to Satan. In a poem entitled, “The Pale Maiden,” Marx wrote: Thus heaven I’ve forfeited, I know it full well. My soul, once true to God, Is chosen for hell. In a poem entitled, “The Player,” Marx wrote: The hellish vapors rise and fill the brain, Till I go mad and my heart is utterly changed. See this sword? The prince of darkness sold it to me. For me he beats the time and gives the signs. Ever more boldly I play the dance of death. In another poem, he titled, “Invocation of One in Despair,” Marx declares a war of personal revenge on God: So a god has snatched from me my all In the curse and rack of destiny. All his worlds are gone beyond recall Nothing but revenge is left for me. I shall build my throne high overhead, Cold, tremendous shall its summit be. For its bulwark, superstitious dreads. For its marshal, blackest agony….Then I will be able to walk triumphantly, like a god,through the ruins of their kingdom. Every word of mine is fire and action. My breast is equal to that of the creator. Finally, in the same poem Marx wrote: I wish to avenge myself against the One who rules above. What a hellish beginning to a philosophy, a false religion, a perfect counterfeit to the “gospel plan” which some estimates indicate have killed upwards of three hundred million people (See for instance, The Black Book Of Communism or Harvest of Sorrow, by Robert Conquest). But what, you may ask, gives Communism its character as a counterfeit religion? A philosophy that would be appealing enough so as to replace God in the minds of its Apocalyptic vision Communism’s philosophy of dialectical and historical materialism gives its believers an Historical materialism has a very important role. In the early years of Christianity, the Christians lived with the feeling that at any moment Christ might return and the world may end. This apocalyptic feeling gave fervor to early Christianity. Communism also shares that kind of apocalyptic vision. Historical materialism teaches people that we are now in the last days of history; we are the the great turning point. The entire history up to this point is just pre-history, and we are going to begin history when we begin communism. Furthermore it argues that communism is a historical inevitability. You can try to stop it, you can destroy yourself trying to stop it, but you cannot stop communism. (Causa Institute, Introduction to the CAUSA Worldview, pg. 71) This primer then explained why communism gives its believers such a feeling of “religious” fervor and commitment: Why was it that the war [Vietnam] was lost? Mao Tse Tung once said, ‘Weapons are important, but they are not the decisive factor. Man is the decisive factor.’ During the war in Vietnam, the men of our nation lacked a purpose to fight. The lyrics of a popular song went, ‘And it’s one, two, three. What are we fighting for? Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn. Next stop is Vietnam.’ In his final letter to his parents before his death, Che Guevarra communicated that same kind of ideal: My Marxism has taken root within me and been purified. I believe in armed struggle as the only solution to those who wish to liberate themselves, and I am faithful to my beliefs. (Che Guevarra Speaks, p. 142.) Marxism and its promises have been able to ignite people throughout the world with the conviction that ultimately a good and ethical world will emerge if they are willing to fight and sacrifice today. In a world which is devoid of God and His Gospel is it any wonder why Communism attracts and holds so many followers? Is it any wonder, then, that Ezra Taft Benson called Communism a "counterfeit of the gospel plan" and a "substitute for true religion?". Alienation But this is barely the beginning. There is a lot more to the story. In the Gospel view, because of the fall of Adam, Man is cutoff and separated from Marx, on the other hand, has it inverted. He claims that man is cutoff not from God but “reality.” Man, according to Marx, invents God and religion as a substitute for relations with the real world (Causa, p. 53.). To Marx, religion was “the fantastic realization of the human being inasmuch as the human being possesses no true reality” (Causa, p. 54.). Furthermore, Marx claims that man, in this condition, “has lost himself; been alienated. . . [and] is not a real species being” ( Marx, “On The Jewish Question”, Marx Engels Collected Works, Vol 3, p. 159). Furthermore, according to Marx, Labor takes the place of God. Frederich Engels, an associate of Marx, wrote that man is a highly developed animal which has evolved as a consequence of interaction with his material environment. This interaction has taken the form of labor. Through labor, man has developed the ability to communicate and the capacity to reason. The ape became man through labor, and it is labor which distinguishes man from ape. In Marxian theory then, labor replaces God as the creator of humankind, Engels writing that: Labor . . . is the prime basic condition for all human existence, and this is to such an extent that, in a sense, we have to say that labor created man himself. (Marx and Engels, “The Holy Family”, Marx Engels Collected Works, Vol 4, p. 36) Getting back to the idea of alienation, Marx develops this theory even further. In his work, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, he described four types of alienation: 1. Alienation of the laborer from the product of his labor. Whatever a man produces under the capitalist system is taken from him and becomes the property of the capitalist who hired him. The products of labor are taken then and become “an alien object from which the worker is estranged” (Causa p. 61). The solution to alienation, according to Marx, was to change the human condition by Additionally, Marx held that is was economic alienation, in the form of private property, which gives rise to the notion of God and religious alienation. In order to truly “liberate” man, according to Marx, you must begin by cutting yourself off from your [to him] invented God which is preventing your from contact with reality and to accomplish this your must begin with the destruction of private property, since the ultimate basis of alienation was the underlying and unjust economic structure. [as a side note regarding the concept of “liberation” it is worthy of note to point out the many Marxist-Leninist “liberation” movements in the world, such as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Afghanistan Liberation Organization, and many others too numerous to mention. A good forty-three year old primer on this subject can be had by reading chapters 1-3 of the book, It's Very Simple: The True Story of Civil Rights, by Alan Stang] By overthrowing God in this manner man is alienated not from God but from a vague “reality” that man has been harmed because the “products of labor” have been denied him. All of which harbors resentment and feelings of hatred. Labor means everything to a communist. Labor replaces God in realizing the “ideal man” while it is the Gospel view that it is a belief in God and that man can progress towards becoming like God that matters. Righteousness The Communists believe in demanding and developing characters of “righteousness,” that is, Marxist-Leninist righteousness. In the book, How To Be A Good Communist, Liu Shao-chi, past President of Communist China and brilliant Marxist theoretical writer says: But if sacrifice has to made for the Party, for class and national liberation, that is, for the emancipation of mankind, for social evolution and for the interests of the greatest majority of mankind embracing countless millions of people, countless Communist Party members will face death with equanimity and make any sacrifice without the slightest hesitation. To the majority of Communist Party members, it will be accepted as a matter of course ‘to lay down ones life for a noble cause’ or ‘to die for righteousness’ if necessary. (Liu Shao-chi, How To Be A Good Communist, Peking: Foreign Language Press, pp. 55-56.) But what is this righteousness for which they are ready to die? The type of conduct that will advance Communist world conquest. There are other comparisons and contrasts to be made between Communism and Christianity. Such as: Prometheus and the Humanist View Marx viewed himself as the embodiment of Prometheus (in Greek mythology Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man). Many early Communist posters characterized Marx chained to a rock, as was Prometheus. By deifying humanity man became the measure of all things rather than God. Law Karl Marx is credited with “discovering” the dialectical laws governing class struggle and the war with capitalism. On the other hand according to the Christian Gospel there are two forms of law: discovered law (the so-called laws of nature) and revealed law (the word of God as revealed to his Prophets). Morality Communists believe in dialectical materialism, which at its root simply means there is struggle, conflict, and destruction until the perfect Communist Society is established and any action which helps to propel society towards that eventuality is moral. As the Marxist Afanasayev noted: From the point of view of Communist morality, that which promotes the movement of society towards communism is moral (V. G. Afanasayev, Marxist Philosophy, USSR, Progress Publishers). This Marxist idea of morality is certainly not the Christian morality–that of obedience to God and his laws. Additionally, the Marxist founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, wrote in her book, The Pivot of Civilization, that the drama of history was played out as a struggle to free bodies and minds from self-imposed constraints of morality, or the “cruel morality of self-denial and sin.” Sexual liberation was touted by her as the way to find “inner peace and security and beauty” and the way to conquer societies faults was to “remove the constraints and prohibitions which no hinder the release of inner energies [sexual energy, according to Sanger],” for then “most of the larger evils of society will perish.” Marxism’s vendetta then, is to portray sexual liberation, in the words of Nancy Pearcy, a Christian and Marxist critic, as a “moral crusade, in which Christian morality is the enemy, and opposition to it is a heroic moral stance.” Struggle As previously stated, to a Marxist there is a war going on. A struggle and conflict, and if necessary wars of liberation. In the Christian concept the struggle is between good and Creator Physical matter, according to Marx is the great creator. Or, as Lenin put it: We maybe regard the material and cosmic world as the supreme being, the cause of all causes, the creator of heaven and earth Quite a contrast to the Christian view of creation, God the Father, “who created all things by Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:9). Savior or Messiah Under Marx’s view of the world the Savior is the proletariat. Lenin modified this by making the dictatorship of the proletariat the savior of mankind. Of course, the gospel view is that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world–”I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior” (Isaiah 43:11). Peace Peace will only be established, according to the Marxist worldview, when capitalism is overthrown and abolished, and the “paradisaical state,” envisioned by Marx–the primitive communal society–is finally established and the world enjoys a classless society. The Gospel view of peace, on the other hand, is only obtained by becoming a peaceable follower of Christ, so that we may one day enter into the “rest of the Lord.” Both Communism and the Gospel of Jesus Christ share a view of a Paradisical state: 1. Marx’s primitive communal society, or when communism if finally established and the world enjoys a classless society. Both share a view of “reality”: 1. Marx: Matter is real. Both share a view of “evil”: 1. Marx: Evil consists of the bourgeoisie and capitalist system. Both share a view of missionary work: 1. Marx: The Communist Party is the vanguard of salvation, and has a worldwide mission and vision. Both use “sacred” writings: 1. Marx: The works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc., is where the true doctrine of Marxism is contained. Both share “Prophetic” heros or types: 1. Marx: Marx is equal to Moses, Lenin to Christ. Lenin’s corpse is equivalent to Catholic saint worship. Both share a view of “Class”: 1. Marx: With the division of mankind into classes ensures that there will be a class struggle. The class struggle will eventually lead to everyone becoming equal. Both share a view of Historical Inevitability: 1. Marx: Historical Materialism. History is inexorably working its way towards communism and nothing will stand in its way. Both share a view of Paradise on Earth: 1. Marx: Worker’s paradise. Both share a view of the “perfected” man: 1. Marx: The Marxist ideal or perfect man. |