Kill the Beast!

As you read through this list in this table below with the comparison of the Work of the Devil and the Work of Christ you might rightfully conclude that our age and society is a free playground for the work of the Devil.

No matter how obvious the Devil’s work in our age and culture, a small light can overcome a lot of darkness, and the Love and the Truth of Christ will prevail!

“And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him (God’s Truth spoken) who was sitting on the horse.”

Revelations 19:20-21:

Remember: you kill the beast and all it’s lies by proclaiming the truth of God and by sharing the love of Christ!

The Work of the Devil
(the greek word for devil is “diabolos” = the one who seperates and throw things apart)
The Work of Christ
(the Redeemer, the Savior, the Restorer, who makes everything new and whole again)
The Devil’s hate motivates him to the do following:Christ’s love motivates him to do the following:
1.Denying and attacking the person and purposes of God.1.Serving and elevating the person and purposes of God.
2.Making people worship anything or anyone but God.2.Transforming people from idol-worshipers into the worshipers of the only God whose image they bear
3.Separating and dividing people into classes and groups.3.Uniting people by destorying the racial, ethnic, social, economic and gender walls that separates us (Gal 3:28)
4.Creating chaos and confusion in every area or life by promoting his lies through all the means of deceiption.4.By proclaiming the Word of Truth he destroys chaos and confusion, and creates order and confidence in all areas of life.
5.Murdering men and women – if possible even before they are born.5.He protects, rescues and saves human lives even at the cost of his own life, because every person is precious in his eyes.
6.Destroying every aspect of life, order and structure God created in the universe, in society and in the family.6.Redeeming and restoring what is broken in the world, in society, in relationships and in the family.
7.Fueling hate in people’s heart.7.Pouring his love in the hearts of people by giving his own Holy Spirit to us.
8.Accusing and making us hopeless by constantly reminding us of our failures.8.Forgiving and forgetting our sins and failures, and giving us hope and power to overcome them.
9.Enslaving us into addictions, fear, pleasures and empty pursuits.9.Making us free from all of our bondage and giving us new purpose and meaning in life.
10.Keeping men and women eternally seperated from God so we would share his destiny in hell.10Rescuing us from the eternal destiny we had and adopting us into God’s family to inherit His Kingdom.

Are You Stuck?

Too many people are stuck. They don’t change and/or they don’t grow. They don’t grow in their capacity, in their character, in their abilities, in the way they live in their relationships, in the way they think or in the way they behave. Too many people never experience who they were created to be and who they could become. Of course not everything needs to be changed, but most everything requires us to grow. If something is good in us, that needs to grow. If something is bad in us, that needs to be changed.

Just as it’s important for a seed to die to bring forth something beautiful and useful, we also need the pain and “death” of growth and change so the seed that’s planted in us could become what it was designed to become.

In this passage above (Isaiah 54:2-3) God promises growth. But before his promise of “you will spread abroad to the right and to the left”, he also gives some prerequisites of growth. These are things we need to do in order to experience growth.

It’s normal for us all that as kids we were growing (physically, intellectually, mentally, relationally, etc.) and adults around us made sure that we were supplied with everything that supported our growth (food, knowledge, friends, experiences, etc.). But becoming an adult does not mean that we stopped growing. What has changed is that our own growth now became our own responsibility. Our parents will not be there to make sure that we do the right things to enhance our growth.

How to grow as an adult?

In the passage above God gave three commands before he gives us the promise of growth. If we want to grow in our life the following three things we need to do and be intentional about:

  1. “Enlarge the place of your tent.” Enlarging our space talks about the needed environment of growth. Spaces are defined by people, activities and time. The common activities of people will create a space. Enlarging that space is a must for growth. Your growth will be determined by how you spend your time, with who you spend your time, where you spend your time and doing what you spend your time with. Growth requires us to find/create the right space around us. What we do with who and where will be detrimental for our growth.  If you are not growing, it’s possible that you are not surrounded by the right people, you are not doing the right thing or you are not spending your time well. You will not grow if you don’t change your space around you (time, people and activities). You might be stuck because you never change who you surround yourself with or how you spend your time. You are responsible for your own growth. Nobody else can change how you spend your time and with who you spend your time. The right people, the right environment and the right things you spend your time with will enhance your growth.
    • Does the environment you are in helping you to grow (spiritually, mentally, emotionally, in your skills, in maximizing your talents, etc.)? Are you challenged by that environment to grow, to learn new skills, to develop your character, to learn perseverance?
    • Are you surrounding yourself with the right people who encourages you to grow? Are they inspiring you to know more, to be more, to love more, to walk by faith more, to live healthier and to be more like Christ?  Remember: you will become who you surround yourself with!
  2. “Do not hold back.” Give the maximum wherever you are. Who you become during the process is more important than what your actual work that you do. The most important growth is the growth that happens in your character. Most character-growth happens through persevering difficult circumstances. (Read Lamentations 3:26-30.) With the right character you can then develop your skills. You need to be intentional. Passivity will never lead to growth. 
    • Where are you holding back? In what areas of life you are not giving all you could?
  3. “Strengthen your stakes.” Make intentional efforts to make your foundations in life (your values, your faith, your relationship with God) strong. Those solid foundations will keep you when storms will toss your tent of life and will provide stability for you as you are tackling your growing responsibilities.
    • Are you growing in the foundations of your life? Will those foundations hold strong when storms will come?
    • What do you need to change now so you could build a stronger foundation?

Yes, growth is painful. That’s why many are stuck. They don’t want to experience the pain and/or sometime “death” that comes with growth. There are things you need to change in you, there are routines that need to be unlearned, there are relationships that need to be changed – all represents pain and fear and a certain death.

Most people are stuck in their growth (relationally, spiritually, mentally, in their skills, etc.) because they don’t do one or all these three things:

  1. They don’t change their space. It’s convenient to have the same friends, the same routine, same places, same activities, etc.
  2. They don’t give their maximum efforts. They are lazy, they are fearful, they choose comfort over growth.
  3. They don’t focus on growing their relationship with God.

Marx & Satan

I wish to avenge myself against the One who rules above.

The idea of God is the keynote of a perverted civilization. It must be destroyed.

Nothing by revenge is left to me. I shall build my throne high overhead.

Karl Marx

Recently I’ve came across an old book written by a martyr who was tortured in communist prisons for 14 years in Romania. The founder of “The Voice of the Martyrs”, Richard Wurmbrand wrote a disturbing book titled “Marx and Satan.” Even I, as someone who has lived under communism and whose family and life had been deeply impacted by the cruelty of that regime; was surprised to learn the deep spiritual demonic practices of Marx and the communist leaders. I was disturbed to read in this book about the rituals and demonic writings, poems of Marx, Lenin, Hess and other socialist/communist leaders. Wurmbrand proves in his book that Marx became a “Satan worshipper who regularly participated in occult practices and habit. Marx’s own statements expose him as a hater of God, and therefore, a hater of God’s creatures.”

I’m surprised that I found myself reading this book and writing about this. I thought we left behind the evil of communism 30 years ago. I thought, after the unprecedented evil in history committed by communism was revealed, that no-one would even dare to mention or would have the audacity to promote marxists, socialist, communist ideologies.

I was wrong. I’m deeply concerned about the increasingly public and aggressive pursuit of this demonic ideology through the media, in the public education and through big corporations.

I’m most dumbfounded by how many Christians and church leaders are embracing communist ideologies thinking that such ideologies are compatible with the Bible. Nothing could be further from the truth! The 200 million deaths and the destroyed nations are serving as ample evidence of the kind of fruit communism produces. Its fruits should prove its creator’s intentions: murder God’s image and destroy God’s creation. Yet, probably out of ignorance, they are mislead by disguised words and deceitful concepts.

In this post I’ll give a brief summary of Wurmbrand’s study about Marx’s spiritual life and I’ll share some of the most disturbing quotes from the mouth of communist leaders proving the demonic origin and intentions of communism. It is originated in the pit of hell and it is operated by demonic powers. This evil, God-hating and anti-human murderous ideology has nothing common with the life-creating, self-sacrificing, human-loving God of the Bible.

Marx dreamt about ruining the world created by God.

Marx admits that his aim is not to improve the world or to reform or revolutionize it, but simply to ruin it and to enjoy its being ruined.

Through the ruins of the world…I will feel equal to the Creator.

His most loved motto was the words of Mephistopheles in Faust: “Everything in existence is worth being destroyed.” Marx described himself as “the most outstanding hater of the so-called positive.”

Marxism is not an ordinary sinful human ideology. It is Satanic in its manner of sinning, as it is Satanic in the teachings it purveys.

Richard Wurmbrand

Marx had the Devil’s view of the world and the Devil’s malignity.

Robert Payne, Marx’s biographer

His best friend and sponsor, Engels confirms this description as he wrote:

He [Marx] rages without ceasing, as if ten thousand devils had caught him by the hair. Marx is the monster possessed by ten thousand devils.

Marx called Christianity one of the most immoral religions.

Let us drive out the capitalist from earth and God from heaven…Communism preach absolutely no morals.

Karl Marx

It’s hypocritical to see how Marx hated capitalists, but he lived off of Engel’s money who was a capitalist and gave him 6 million frank which made it possible for Marx to live on so much money that only the top 1% of society had.

Marx felt no obligation to earn a living for his family. Two of his children committed suicide. He drank heavily. Marx lost much money at the stock exchange, where he, the great economist, knew only how to lose.

Marx’s life proved that communist has no morals. Marx had been a paid informer of the Austrian police, spying on revolutionaries! Received $25 for each bit of information he turned up. One of those against whom he informed was Ruge, who considered himself an intimate friend of Marx.

Marx’s hatred against God and Christians became a leading message for the communist. It led to the evil torture of Christians.

Marx set aside all contact with God and instead put Satan in front of marching proletarian columns.

Lunatrcharski, Minister of Education of the USSR

We do not fight against believers and not even against clergymen. We fight against God to snatch believers from Him.

Vetchernaia Moskva, Communist newspaper

In communist prisons they crucified believers, forced them to eat their own excrements and drink their own urine as a symbol of “communion.” The purpose of their torture against Christians is well-described by this quote:

If we kill you Christians, you go to heaven. But we don’t want you to be crowned martyrs. You should curse God first and then go to hell.

communist leaders in Romania to Roman Braga orthodox priest

Mikhail Bakunin, a Russian communist anarchist leader wrote this:

The Evil One is the satanic revolt against divine authority. Socialists recognize each other by the words “In the name of the one to whom a great wrong has been done.” Satan is the eternal rebel, the first freethinker and the emancipator of worlds. He makes man ashamed of his bestial ignorance and obedience; he emancipates him, stamps upon his brow the seal of liberty and humanity, in urging him to disobey and eat of the fruit of knowledge…In this revolution we will have to awaken the Devil in the people. Our mission is to destroy, not to edify. The passion of destruction is a creative passion.

Another socialist thinker and a friend of Karl Marx, Proudhon was a member of Satanist sect. He wrote:

Come, Satan, slandered by the small and by kings. God is stupidity and cowardice; God is hypocrisy and falsehood; God is tyranny and poverty; God is evil…I swear, God, that you are nothing more than the executioner of my reason, the scepter of my conscience…God is essentially anti civilized, anti liberal, antihuman.

When the revolution broke out in Paris in 1871, the Communard Flourens declared that:

Our enemy is God. Hatred of God is the beginning of wisdom.

Marx was deeply racist against all people-group. He wrote the following:

  • Squash the Jewish capitalists, hang them from the lamp posts.”
  • “The stupid German people.”
  • “Germans, Chinese and Jews to be compared with peddlers and small merchants.”
  • “Russians cabbage-eaters. The Slavic peoples are ethnic trash. Retrograde races…nothing left for them by fate except the immediate task of perishing in the revolutionary world storm.”
  • “Black people are idiots.” And he constantly used the offensive “N…” term in all his private correspondence.

Race struggle is primary, class struggle is secondary.

Moses Hess

Marx championed slavery on North America:

Without slavery, North America, the most progressive of countries, would be transformed into a patriarchal country. Wipe North America from the map of the world and you will have anarchy-the complete decay of modern commerce and civilization. Abolish slavery and you will have wiped America off the map of nations.

Karl Marx

These quotes should serve as adequate proof that Christians can have no common ground with anything that origins from or promotes communist ideologies. Richard Wurmbrand five decades ago prophetically saw how communists will try to come back into power: “Where proletarians do not fight for Socialist ideals, Marxists will exploit racial differences or the so-called generation gap. The main thing is, religion must be destroyed.”

Lenin’s demonic prophecy reveals the intention of the communists:

First we shall take Eastern Europe, then the masses of Asia. After that, we shall surround and undermine the U.S.A., which will fall into our hands without a struggle — like an overripe fruit.

Seeing all the variety of communist ideologies taking ground in the West should alarm us. The blindness, ignorance and indifference of many Christians is the real danger.

There is no possibility of agreement between Christianity and Marxism, just as there can be no agreement between God and the Devil.

Richard Wurmbrand

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:11–13)

An Old Experiment’s Attempt to Destroy the New World

The Concerning Signs of the Rise of Totalitarianism in the Western World

“When we get ready to take the United States, we will not take it under the labels of communism; we will not take it under the label of socialism. These labels are unpleasant to the American people, and have been speared too much. We will take the United States under labels we have made very lovable; we will take it under liberalism, under progressivism, under democracy. But, take it, we will.”

Alexander Trachtenberg (1885-1966) at the National Convention of Communist Parties, Madison Square Garden, 1944

I have lived under a totalitarian regime and have witnessed the collapse of an empire from within when the Soviet communist bloc collapsed. Now I see the signs of a rising totalitarianism in the Western Hemisphere. Many in America are belittling and not recognizing the alarming signs of the rise of totalitarianism in the West. Many might laugh at my concerns saying that “this is America, the land of the free, what happened in other parts of the world could never happen in America.” I hope they are right and I am wrong in my statements, but for those of us who have lived under totalitarian regimes and have witnessed the collapse of our country (while our ancestors also thought it could never happen), the signs of the growing totalitarianism are very real.

As I was writing and rewriting this article multiple times, I’ve tried hard to be as objective as I can. Yet, there might be places in this writing where you might find my concerns unrealistic. If that’s the case, it is because I view things through my personal experience living under communism. I can’t emphasize enough that there is not another evil in human history that compares to communism/socialism. It only brought pain, death, slavery, poverty, persecution, lack of freedom, control, mediocracy, oppression to me, to my family, to my country along with hundreds of millions of people. I have never dreamed that after so many sacrifices, so many deaths this monster can resurrect and gain popularity in the country that fought so hard against it. May God have mercy on us!

In this lengthy article I’ll share about

  1. Deadly Experiments of Social Structures;
  2. The Signs of the Rising Totalitarianism in the U.S. and
  3. How Should We Then Live

Today we witness a war within Western societies. A war in the name of a more just, equal, free and fair society (just as Alexander Trachtenberg projected how communists will take over the U.S. in his quote cited above). A new “revolution” aiming to dismantle the fabric of society and undermine the concept of truth. New symbols, new slogans are embraced and promoted separating societies, pushing people into classes, and dividing us into oppressed and oppressor groups. The class-war is growing as newer and newer dividing lines are popping up separating us by race, economic power, gender, education, sexual orientation, etc..

I have a vested interest in this concern. I have lived under communism. Our family has been greatly impacted by both fascism and communism as we’ve lost family members, wealth, freedom and health in those two totalitarian regimes. We lost everything. (Reading my story can give you context for my growing concerns.) In my first 25 years I lived under communism in Hungary. The second 25 years I lived in post-communism. And then at age 50 we moved to the U.S. as missionaries and now I feel that I live under pre-communism (pre-totalitarian social construct) as I see some very alarming trends, ideologies, slogans, signs and changes in the U.S. that are way too familiar to me. All those are signs of a rising totalitarianism which now might only seem to be a soft totalitarianism (social media censorship, required sensitivity training, people are losing their jobs and businesses are shut down because of their political views, etc.), but soft totalitarianism always evolves into hard totalitarianism. I’m not sharing predictions of the future, just concerning signs.

“Prediction is a very difficult art, especially when it involves the future.”

Niels Bohr, physicist

There are many factors that can change the future, but we all know that a certain kind of sowing leads to a certain kind of harvest. And what I see the society sowing gives me great concerns about the kind of fruits we are going to harvest in the future.

Capitalism Has It’s Evil

Before I list the concerning signs of the rise of totalitarian communistic regime (communism is a socialist form of totalitarian regime) in the Western Hemisphere, I need to state that this writing is not a defense of uncontrolled capitalism either. Obviously capitalism has it’s evil. Big corporations are corrupting and controlling systems, sometimes abusing people and destroying nature. Uncontrolled greed is harmful in every form. Greed is a human heart problem that can only be cured by the salvation offered in Christ. But at least in capitalism we have the chance to offer this cure, while communism uproots religion. Of course the government needs to regulate and control the greed of overreaching corporations and needs to make sure that the profit harvested by capitalist adventure is reasonably taxed to benefit those who (with their work) helped create that wealth. This should be the job of wellintended and qualified political leaders. Often the faultiness of capitalism is pointing back to the lack of capable or sometimes corrupt political leaders who are creating unjust legislation and serving their own desire to stay in power.

Deadly Social Experiments

The social experiments of the 20th century gave us ample evidence that the two major attempts to create a better society (communism and fascism) in the name of “justice, human rights, equity” or “national pride and race” led to the deadliest century of human history. It became evident that philosophies that are ignoring the sacred origin of life and are rejecting God, were leading to genocide, totalitarianism and were creating hell on Earth. The basic premise of these totalitarian social constructs is atheism and materialism.

“When atheism begins, communism begins.”

Karl Marx

Seeing how the younger generation embraces ideas that destroyed my country and family gives me a great deal of grief and concern. Especially seeing how marxists, communist, socialist ideas are becoming more and more loved, celebrated – and even demanded.

The Oxford Dictionary defines socialism as:

“A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.”

Communism as the Oxford Dictionary defines is:

A political 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 their abilities and needs.”

In Marxist theory socialism is a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of Communism. Marx said:

“Socialism is the thin end of the communist wedge. Once they are socialist communism is inevitable.”

History proved that Marx was right: where socialism prevailed a totalitarian form of governance (communism) was unavoidable. While there are nuanced differences in definition of communism and socialism, they are closest relatives and one can’t exist without the other. (Because of that, and because of our personal experience living in a socialist/communist country, I won’t nuance the difference when I use the term communism/socialism in this document.)

George Bernard Shaw, the famous socialist gave a clear definition of socialism that became a sad reality in my country, too:

“Socialism means equality of income or nothing… under socialism you would not be allowed to be poor. You would be forcibly fed, clothed, lodged, taught, and employed whether you like it or not. If it were discovered that you had not character enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner; but whilst you were permitted to live you would have to live well.”

Sir Winston Churchill couldn’t describe socialism better when he said that:

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy; its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”

As we can see, by definition we are talking about similar ideologies: socialism leads to communism, both feed off of atheism and of the control of people. As we see from history, this experiment led to hundreds of millions of people’s violent death in the bloodiest century of history. The dark and brutal ‘middle ages’ are fairy tales compared to the evil horror committed by communist / socialist regimes around the world in a couple of decades. All this happened in the name of building a more just and equal society. But communism/socialism is always a totalitarian form of governance (soft or hard) and it is the closest relative of fascism. (If you examine these philosophies and forms of governments you’ll find that they all stand on the same secular, atheistic foundation and lead to the same murderous, evil results.) All these deadly forms of governances are dead ends.

1. Communism / socialism has the wrong goal.

Communism/socialism wants to create a society where everyone is equal and everything is owned by the public. Their goal is a utopian equity (equal outcome and results) which denies the colorfulness of creation, the differences in talents and suppresses individual creativity and drive. It is depriving people of their dignity, calling and community (first and foremost their family).

The communist goal for equity is the wrong goal. There is an important difference between equality and equity. Let’s turn to a definition given by higher education: “Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.” The goal of equity is equal results and outcome. That outcome and result is determined independent from the individual’s talents, desires, drives, discipline and work. (See G.B. Shaw’s quote above.) Equity means equal outcome for everyone regardless of their individual talents, desires, goals and merit. On the other hand, equality means equal rights and as much possible equal opportunities to everybody. Of course we need to pursue equality making sure that everybody has equal rights in any society (equal before the law and not discriminated against based on race, gender, age, sexual orientation, economic power or religion). Every society has to aim at treating people equally. (Interestingly, the societies that are not treating people equally before the law and never even tried to distribute resources evenly are the communist and socialist societies.) Equality never creates equity; it creates diversity, because it honors the individual’s desires and characteristics. Equity always creates inequality, it leads to injustice, because the only way to create equity is by treating people unequally. In order to create equity, we need to take away rights, opportunities, resources or even properties from those who are more driven, more talented, more disciplined and we need to give it to those who are less driven, less talented and less disciplined. Equity can only be created if we create an even more unjust, unequal society. Equity leads to poverty, to poor education; it leads to the lack of innovation, creativity and progress; and will feed into the rise of corruption and mediocracy. I have personally witnessed that in every level of our societies behind the Iron Curtain.

While Jesus clearly speaks that we are all equal before God (equally sinful and equally loved), yet he also clearly states that we are very different and we will not have equity (equal outcome or results) even in Heaven (which is the ultimate utopian society). Equal outcome and results would be unjust. In the Parable of the Talents Jesus talks about how we all have received different talents. (Matthew 25:14-30.) With the different talents comes equal responsibility: each servant has to invest, maximize, and multiply what they have received. Each of them will face accountability. The amount of talent doesn’t make any of the servants less valuable. Each servant in the parable had the same position and value: they were servants. The parable clearly teaches that the servants had an unequal outcome. But the servant who has received two talents, didn’t have to produce another five. But the one who has received the five talents had to produce another five. The person who received only one talent didn’t get any help to steward his talent, just as the one who received the five talents didn’t get any help either. They have the same task: invest what they have. Their merit, their hard work, their risk-taking, their willingness to own this responsibility led to a seriously different outcome and to a significantly different reward. Matter of fact, Jesus makes the outcome even more uneven when he orders that the worst producer’s one talent should be added to the best producer’s ten talents. In we would apply the demand of equity to the teaching of Jesus, it would mean that the servant who risked his five talents and produced another five should have given his outcome to the person who had one talent and was not willing to take risk and work hard to invest it. Demanding equal outcome is unjust, unbiblical, ungodly, inhumane and leads to misery.

2. Communism / socialism falsely defines the problem.

Communism/socialism views the problem in the system: there is an oppressor class who oppresses everybody in the society. The problem – as they see it – is the system that the oppressors created to support themselves and their perpetual oppression. 

Of course, every society has systemic problems. Oppression is real in many places. (Ironically, the most oppressive societies are the communist ones.) But the real problem is not in the class and is not in the system. The real problem is in the heart of man. The real problem is our depraved, sinful, evil heart. Individuals create oppressions and bad systems. By putting people into classes we separate them from their individual dignity, from their own story and from their character. People become nothing more than an avatar, a representative of their class. In communism they will be treated how their class is treated and not how they deserve based on their merit. 

3. Communism / socialism offers the wrong solution.

Communism’s solution is to overthrow the system, create an ongoing class-war, make a revolution, murder of the oppressors (all in the oppressor class regardless of their individual character and performance), confiscate private property, nationalize every business, building, property and force labor on every people (modern form of government regulated and controlled slavery – you forced to work to build someone else’s wealth while you never profit from it). By doing that they’ll create equity—everyone will be equal in everything: they will own nothing and will work for the same minimum pay.

The communist solution everywhere in history led to a one-man dictatorship, to brutal and violent prison camps, starvation, poverty, forced labor and lack of freedom. 

4. Communism / socialism dismantles the fabric of society.

According to marixst critical theory, the main reasons why the proletariat was not able to rebel against the oppressive bourgeoisie is because they were held back by three forces: family, religion and culture. That’s why socialism/communism uproots family, religion and culture. They are against all these blocks that build the fabric of society. 

Communism/socialism is a materialistic worldview. It denies the existence of God and they view man as an evolutionary product. Human life has no value and dignity. Human life only serves the common good and can be sacrificed on the altar of the public interest.

The Signs and Methods of a Rising Totalitarianism in the U.S.

“Why are we here today?” she asked.
“To make revolution,” they answered.
“What kind of revolution?” she replied. 
“The Cultural Revolution,” they chanted.
“And how do we make Cultural Revolution?” she demanded. 
“By destroying the American family!” they answered.
“How do we destroy the family?” she came back. 
“By destroying the American Patriarch,” they cried exuberantly.
“And how do we destroy the American Patriarch?” she replied.
“By taking away his power!”
“How do we do that?” 
“By destroying monogamy!” they shouted.
“How can we destroy monogamy?”
Their answer left me dumbstruck, breathless, disbelieving my ears. Was I on planet earth? Who were these people? 
By promoting promiscuity, eroticism, prostitution and homosexuality!” they resounded.

Mallory Millett: Marxist Feminism’s Ruined Lives. (Mallory is the sister of Kate Millett, who is called the “Karl Marx of the Women’s Movement.)

Living through two totalitarian regimes (fascism and communism) our family have observed many signs of how these totalitarian regimes came into power and what kind of tactics, narrative, methods they’ve used to gain and maintain their power. It is very alarming to see a lot of similarities in the nation that fought so hard against both fascism and communism. 

Here are some of the disturbing trends and signs we witness that clearly proves why the U.S. is heading toward a pre-communistic soft totalitarianism.

1. Identity politics and class-war.

The first thing communists do (written in their manual by Marx) is that they identify classes in the society and create a division between those classes. Creating and maintaining an ongoing class war is essential for the existence of communism. In their view, every society needs to be divided into oppressors and oppressed. The more classes they identify and the more divided a society can become, the better this will serve their purposes. Marx’s first dividing line in society was economic power: the oppressors are the wealthy, the bourgeoisie; the oppressed are the poor, the proletariat. Today, the society in the U.S. is divided into many classes by an ongoing narrative that feeds division into race, gender, sexual orientation, age, economic opportunities, religion, etc..

Communism strips people from their individual identity, performance and character, and places them into a class. That class’s characteristics will be borrowed to describe the individual. A relevant example of this is Critical Race Theory which would identify me as a white, middle-aged, straight, cisgender male. Based on that identifier I would be placed in the oppressor class. My personal story, my character, what I have done, what I have survived, what I have suffered, what I believe in would not matter anymore. I would only be a representative of this class. The philosophy and narrative of Critical Theory were used by the communist to deport my family, to enslave some family members (forced labor in the Gulag), to kill some of them and to confiscate our wealth. (In order to further understand why Critical Theory and Critical Race Theory is dangerous, unbiblical and historically proven wrong, see my sermon here.)

This kind of narrative ignites artificial war between the classes. We see this war unfolding before our very eyes right now in the U.S. Identity politics has colonized every segment of the society: sports, entertainment, education, business, religious institutions and private life.

2. In the name of peace and love waging a revolutionary war.

Identifying and maintaining a common enemy is critical for the communist agenda. Every war requires a common enemy, and war is essential to mobilize and control people. Even the communist songs we sang said: “we have one slogan that is peace, in that name our young army breaks through…” (Ironic that in the name of creating peace, we go ahead and kill people.) Communists will do everything possible to maintain an ongoing class war. The targeted enemy can change from time to time. They make sure that they personalize their enemy. They select a representative of the enemy class (for example, a white middle-aged straight male) and they specifically target that person and portray him as the representative of all the white middle-aged straight males. That person’s characteristics will be the characteristics of all represented in that class. As they maintain this common enemy picture, they ignite fear and hate in people. Nothing unites people more than hate and fear. They control the masses by controlling their fear and hate against this common enemy. We see ample examples of that in the U.S.

Today we see that in the name of “love is love” and “equity” they promote war against people or classes they identify as enemies. Today’s activists are no different than the old communists: they say they want to achieve love, peace, equality but they want to achieve that through waging a brutal, unjust, cruel war against anybody they identify as an enemy. And their enemy is everybody who even slightly disagrees with them or dares to raise any questions about their beliefs or agenda.

3. Required idols, symbolism and slogans.

Every authoritarian regime has idols, symbols and slogans. They demand the unquestionable worship of their idols, they require you to wear their symbols and force you to repeat their slogans. Slogans become critically important because words create ideologies and ideologies create war. Communism forced on our society their idols, slogans and symbols (like the hammer and sickle, the raised fist, red flag, red five pointed star, etc.). The symbols, the slogans, the idols and the narrative of a minority was forced on the majority. Under communism we had the communist symbols on display everywhere: every classroom, workplace, public space was stacked up with them. Everyone knew the communist slogans, those were in songs, in poems, in fairy tales, in cartoons, in arts, in tv, etc.. Their symbolism, slogans and idols were forced on people from their childhood. If someone didn’t wear their symbols or didn’t recite their slogans they faced dire consequences.

Today, a prominent example of this required symbolism is the rainbow flag. (There are many other required symbolism, too.) If a company, a politician or even a country wants to survive they need to embrace and promote that symbol and recite their slogans. If they don’t promote “Pride month,” or they don’t put a rainbow on their product or in their film, they will be canceled or bullied. This forced agenda has all the characteristics of a new religion with its symbolism, rituals, sacred books, celebrations, festivals, etc..

These required symbols and slogans are forcefully colonizing the world and demanding the worship of this new religion. This is the greatest colonization the West has achieved as it forces it’s message on the world. You either abide by it or will be destroyed by it. The communist agenda doesn’t tolerate another alternative.

4. A centralized narrative is forced on the silent majority.

Similar to the previous point, in totalitarian regimes the narrative of certain groups are forced on the silent majority. In communism the whole society is viewed through the lenses of power. The majority of the society is judged and viewed only through the lenses of groups who are considered being oppressed by the majority. The narrative of those groups will be forced on the majority.

An example of this would be, again, the way the LGBTQ++ community is represented today. While they represent a small minority of the society, their dominance in today’s narrative is out of proportion. Consider the increase of LGBTQ++ characters in TV-shows. In 2011 there were 87 LGBTQ++ characters shown in nation-wide TV-series, but in 2019 that number grew to 488. That is a 460% growth (source: https://www.glaad.org/whereweareontv19). Of course this narrative contributes to the significant growth of young people identifying with the LGBTQ++ lifestyle. (While in 2020 only 3.8% of the Gen-X identifies with that lifestyle, a staggering 15.9% of the Gen-Z identifies with it. Messaging is powerful!)

The methodology the communist used is that they always shifted the agenda. They always start with a valid slogan of fighting for justice and equality for all. But later, that agenda will change and their fight will not be about equal rights for all anymore, but about gradually gaining control in every segment of society. The sheer volume of the messaging becomes overwhelming. It’s enough just look at this website where we find that the LGBTQ++ community has 23 internationally recognized celebration days/week/month and on top of that they have 9 domestically recognized special celebration times. No other heros, causes, events, historic moments ever had so many moments when they are celebrated, remembered, appreciated, lifted up and placed on the forefront of society.

As I quoted Mallory Millet at the beginning of this article, the way communist want to do a revolution is by destroying the family “by promoting promiscuity, eroticism, prostitution and homosexuality!” And now, these groups have the power of the government, the media, the tech companies and all the money they want for their causes. Any person, any company, any country is standing up against that overwhelming narrative, they will face all the wrath and bullying of the whole western world.

This is just one example of the many voices that are forced on our society today to oppress normalcy and the way the majority chooses to live their lives.

That’s exactly what the communist did in Hungary. They never had the majority. However, they terrorized individuals in the majority group (got them fired from their workplace, threatened them, etc.). Finally, the silent and peaceful majority were backed to the corner by a violent minority. The majority first just gave rights to the communist minority (to form a communist party, run for MP, etc.), but the communist’s goal was never to win an election, or to convince people. Their goal was always to get into power at all costs and annul their enemies.

For the communist agenda it is never enough that a minority gets equal rights, they want to invade every space in the society and forcefully change everyone.

5. Rewriting history.

Communists always and constantly rewrote history. In Hungary they took one or two phases of our history that were bloody, violent and they painted the whole canvas of our history with those few moments. Their goal was trying to prove that Hungarians are evil, violent people and they need to be punished. Their goal was to break our national identity, because national pride and patriotism is the enemy of communism. Culture and natural identity is viewed as something that hinders the progress of international communism (or international globalism). 

Every nation has terrible and glorious things in their history. The attempt to rewrite history and paint a picture only using one segment of history is something the communists always did. Their goal with this is to create shame, guilt and opportunity for punishment. Culture, nation, patriotism is the enemy of communism, so they will be eager to destroy those elements. One plausible example is making people feel ashamed of their history and nation.

6. Destroying the family unit.

One of the target of communism is the family. The most important element of the society that stands between the individual and the government is the family. They always want to destroy the family as it  keeps people in their traditional systems and does not allow the government to control people. That’s why they institutionalized child-raising and forced mothers into work. They tried to break the family unit, separate parents from each other and children from their parents as much as possible. They promoted the benefits of being a single mother. Their slogan was: “having children is mandatory for the married woman and it is the glory of the single girl.” Their goal was to put everybody into controlled institutions as much as possible and as long as possible.

Today we are witnessing an attack on the nuclear family from every front. Redefining family, redefining male and female roles, promoting “alternative” types of families—these are all on the agenda today. Once the family is successfully dismantled or weakened, it will be much easier to control future generations.

7. Occupying the education system and forcing re-education.

One of the first moves for the communists was to influence the intellectuals. They occupied universities, the higher education spaces and through that dominated the education system and promoted their false ideologies. Along those lines they occupied the whole lower education system and through the educators introduced their new history teaching and new ideologies/values.

They also moved into the workplaces and hosted (later required and forced) collective re-education programs where they were promoting their ideologies. 

Finally, collective re-education was forced on every level of the society—from kindergarten to senior age. Every elementary and middle school child had to become “pioneers.” We were forced to wear a special uniform with color-coded scarfs, belts, flags; learn and sing several songs that all praised the glory of international communism. Summer camps were another space where they could promote the values of communism all day long for children. Labor camp for high schoolers was mandatory every year. Everybody had to go through ideological training. Those who were not willing, or raised questions were put in re-education camps where through forced labor they learned the “truth of communism.”

Under communism, every company had to hire “commissars” or communist party representatives who were responsible to make sure that every person in the company went through the needed ideological training. Every educational institution had a “commisar”, a special teacher being responsible for re-educating everyone.

In the U.S. we see an outstanding attack on the whole education system at every level—from kindergarten to adult education. Books, training, cartoons, programs are created to force class war ideologies. Forceful sexual, gender and racial re-education takes place everywhere. Required sensitivity, diversity and unconscious bias training are pushed in workplaces. Ideology experts (commissars in communist terms) are hired by companies . People are losing their jobs if they are not willing to go through those training sessions.

Dr. Bill Bright wrote this in 1969 (52 years ago!) in his book, Revolution Now:

“This Hydra-headed monster bares its deadly fangs in universities and communities around the world. The silent majorities of our great universities are muzzled by fear… the diabolical manipulations of international communism are bringing us ever closer to universal tyranny. All values are unsettled; all norms are broken. Mental, moral, aesthetic and social anarchy reigns.”

8. Cancel cultures, self-censorship, control of free speech.

The worst kind of censorship is self-censorship. Self-censorship is when you fearfully consider what you can say to who, because you don’t know who will report you, what impact it will have on you, or on your livelihood. Everyone under communism was in fear of what they were saying, even to their own children. Their words were used against them to cancel them—meaning, taking them to prison or killing them. (In soft totalitarianism cancelling someone means they lose their platform or their job or their business. In hard totalitarianism cancelling someone means imprisonment or killing the person.)

The communists never allowed freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of ideas, freedom of dialogue. Orwell described it well in his book, titled “1984” when he talked about  the “Thought Police”, that is chasing even your thoughts and wanting to search if you have “sinned” (meaning: had a heretic thought about communism) in your thoughts.

Today we see an unparalleled attack on freedom of speech. A wrong sentence can get you canceled. You can lose your job, your contract, your home, your business, your livelihood over a post on social media. This violent control and attack aims to control you and intimidate you. It becomes risky and costly to stand up for the truth, for your convictions. Your opinion and conviction could lead to your own destruction. This is a powerful weapon the communists were and are using even today.

But they will never stop. It is never enough for them that you lose your job, or your social media account is blocked, or your business is jeopardized. Once they have total power, they make sure that their effort to cancel their enemies is completed. They are not done until their enemies are dead. Those Hungarians who said anything bad about communism were all murdered or imprisoned after the communist got into power. Once they have the majority power, they will not stop by canceling your social media account or firing you from your work—they will hunt you down.

If you doubt that the real agenda is not about getting equal rights and voice, but to completely destroy you, then you’ll just need to study the case of Dr Päivi Räsänen, a Christian Democrat member of the Finnish Parliament and former Interior Minister who faces two years in prison for quoting the Bible. Anything that is a different opinion is now considered “hate speech”. Under that umbrella they justify destroying anybody.

9. Dismantling boundaries and borders.

Communism hated traditional borders and boundaries. They hated the borders of nations—so they created a communist bloc, they redefined national borders. They dismantled boundaries between genders—so they forced women to do men’s jobs. They dismantled boundaries between adults and kids—so they placed both in institutions. They dismantled boundaries between past and present—so they viewed historic figures as they were present today, they destroyed statues and erected new ones, they demanded from past historic figures today’s values and narrative, otherwise they cancelled them also. They read literature through their communist lenses and based on that cancelled books that were written hundreds of years before if they didn’t promote the values of the present age. They destroy national identity because only international communism exists (global society). They destroy national culture, because only one culture exists: the communist culture with their new songs, new poems, new history, new forms of art, etc. While they destroy past boundaries, they create new ones, their new “safe places” where they are protected from the bad influence and the ideology of imperialism.

Sounds familiar? Do you see this happening in the U.S.? I do. Here are a few examples: patriotism and national identity belittled or destroyed, gender boundaries are under attack, new boundaries created with all the “safe place” talks, dialogue and a debate culture lacking, bordering and controlling free speech and exchange of ideas, and the list could go on and on.

10. Controlled propaganda through the controlled media.

Communists effectively controlled the media. Effectively silenced any other media outlets and voices. We had very limited and super controlled media with one message, one agenda brainwashing the whole nation.

“To tell the truth is a petty bourgeois habit.”

Vladimir Lenin

The communist / socialist agenda always aims to lie because they believe that a noble end justifies corrupt means. They will manipulate and lie at all costs because in their view this leads them to their goals.

Today we have a much more dangerous power in the hands of the communist, totalitarian forces—the social media tech companies. They control the whole world’s messaging. Messaging is power. Messaging feeds the mind and action of the people.

11. Destroying and persecuting religion.

Marx’s view on religion was that religion is used by the oppressors to make people feel better about the distress they experience due to being poor and exploited. Communism’s atheist foundation doesn’t allow a distant, neutral view of religion. They always uprooted religion and persecuted religious people.

Richard Wurmbrand, the founder of The Voice of the Martyrs, who spent 14 years in communist prison in Romania, called communism “the principal enemy”.

“Today the principal enemy is Communism. Capitalism might have its evils, but it gives to the church the liberty to work at the salvation of souls. Communism … uproots religion.”

Richard Wurmbrand

It is clear and obvious how religion and Chistianity is declining in the U.S. and in the West. We see a mass exodus from churches. We see a vicious attack against anything, any value, any idea, any opinion Christianity represents. It’s clearly a sign of growing totalitarianism. Christians are blacklisted in Argentina and in Europe. There are political desires to the same in the U.S. In the name of fighting against “religious extremists” a new EU declaration says that abortion is a “basic human right” and blacklists 50+ Christian organizations as extremist who are against abortion and transgender propaganda. Among those organizations listed are the Billy Graham Evangelistic organization and many others who are doing very important work to protect women and children in poor countries. The Nazis and the communists used this method in the past as they also created such blacklists. Later they bullied those who were on the list and finally they murdered them and all of those who aligned themselves with them. In the name of freedom and equality they persecute Christians with the power of the government. This is just the first step of the organized attack against Christians.

This list of the signs of a rising totalitarianism is not complete. The alarming signs are growing daily. These times are calling us, Christians to a different kind of way we do life.

How Should We Then Live

“Will Christians after our generation be thankful that we spoke out and acted against the issue of race and non-compassionate use of wealth, yet simultaneously and equally balance this in speaking out and acting out against also the special sickness and threat of our age—the rise of authoritarian government. That is, will we resist the authoritarian government in all its forms regardless of the label it carries and regardless of its origin? The danger in regard to the rise of authoritarian government is that Christians will be still as long as their own religious activities, evangelism and lifestyles are not disturbed…If we as Christians do not speak out as authoritarian government grows…we and our children will be the enemy of our society and state. No authoritarian government can tolerate those who have a real absolute by which to judge its arbitrary absolutes to speak out and act upon that absolute. To make no decision in regard to the growth of an authoritarian government is already a decision for it!

Francis Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live?

Communism/socialism is born out of the pit of hell, it is a satanic logic. At its core it denies the existence of God, denies the dignity of man, destroys the family unit, deconstructs everything God created and sanctified: life, marriage, sex, family, culture, reproduction, work, truth, morals and virtue. It is against everything that supports life. Countries where this experiment was introduced turned into hell on earth.

If you doubt that communism is turning to demonic models, read what Saul Alinsky, a communist leader, activist and ideologist wrote in his book, Rules for Radicals:

Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.”

The communists’ prime model is Lucifer, the first who rebelled against the establishment, God. 

So, how should we then live? Here are a few recommendations for your consideration.

#1 – Be sober-minded and watchful.

Apostle Peter warns us to “be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1Peter 5:8.) What does it mean to be sober-minded and watchful?

  1. Know that we have an enemy, Satan, whose nature and goal is lying, destroying, deceiving and killing (John 8:44-45, John 10:10). His agenda is not to promote life and pursue happiness. We need to be brutally realistic about the ultimate motive and agenda of our enemy. There is an enemy in this world who is after you, who wants to devour you. His goal is to hunt you down. His method is deception.
  2. Know that Satan will do everything possible to deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9). In that endeavour he is and will be successful, deceiving, if possible, even many Christians. (Matthew 24:24.)
  3. Know that this world is Satan’s playground to spread and promote his lies and deception. Many of the values the masses follow are born out of Satan’s playbook. Many of the news we read are manipulated lies. Be very careful what you buy into and what you believe. Ask these questions when you come across something:
    • Does this cause or issue promote and support life, respect and reflect the whole spectrum of truth, leading to the flourishing of mankind?
    • Does the offered solution reflect biblical values? 
    • What are the fruits of what they promote? Does it inspire faith, hope and love? Or does it promote selfishness, greed, promiscuity, etc.? 

Know what to expect in the last days. Be ready for the reality of the coming ages. There are ample warnings in the Bible about the reality we will be surrounded by.

“Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

2 Timothy 3:1-5.

# 2. Love the truth, study the truth, know the truth and stand up for it.

This world is a battlefield. There is a battle for you, for your mind, for your heart, for your life. One side wants to destroy you. The other wants to save you. The easiest way to be deceived (and destroyed) is just believing everything we read, hear or watch in the news and follow the crowd. Jesus made it clear that most people will go on the wide paththat is easy, that is popular, that is celebrated. But that wide path leads to destruction. (Matthew 7:13.) Just following the crowd, going with the flow, believing what everyone else believes in, doing what everybody is doingthat’s the path that will lead us into a delusion and eventually to death.

The most effective way to recognize deception is by knowing the truth. If you want to know the truth, you need to love the truth. Most people hate the truth, because they hate the freedom truth offers. Truth always sets us free. Most people rather want to stay in the prison of their self-worship, of their desires, of their sensual appetite, of their greed or of their pride. It would require too much pain to face the truth. And “because they refused to love the truth and so be saved…God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10.)

God offers his guidance for everyone who wants to know the truth. Although knowing the truth would demand change in our own lives. Knowing the truth would require us to embrace the responsibility of freedom—freedom from the captivity of self-worship. Freedom only comes to those who embrace the truth. The only way to withstand the flood of lies and walk on the narrow path is if we hold fast to the truth revealed to us in Christ and in the Bible. God’s desire is to teach the truth that will always lead to complete freedom and a profitable life. (Isaiah 48:17.)

“Danger here is all in the not-fighting. The safest place is on the battlefield, for it is there that Christ is active, riding the white horse.”

Eugene Peterson

We have to stand up for the truth and tell it. Truth proclamation leads to life. “In a Time of Universal Deceit — Telling the Truth Is a Revolutionary Act” (probably from George Orwell). If we stay silent we will be silenced.

Don’t believe the lie that communism and socialism is about helping the poor and the oppressed. No, it is always and only about power. It is always about control. It is always about destroying life. It is always about the original life of Satan: “you can become gods.” (Genesis 3:5) Communists want to be gods. They want to be the ruler of life and the ruler of law and the ruler of money. Everything in communism is viewed through the lense of power. They want to be all-mighty gods. They have no intention of helping the outcast and the poor and lifting up the oppressed.

Mass destruction, the inevitable outcome of all socialist/communist experiments, leaves behind its signature trail of wreckage… If you believe that you can create heaven on earth through social justice, what lies will you not tell?”

Mallory Millet

The Problem with Today’s Evangelism

There are lot of discussions about the decline of the church, of the irrelevancy of the Christian message and how the Church needs to engage in today’s cultural narrative in order to communicate the gospel.

The biggest problem with today’s evangelism is that it mostly absent. Many churches and influential Christian leaders stopped sharing the gospel. They have exchanged the gospel message with a cultural narrative.

Today, we witness a confused church with confused and conflicting messages. Many churches and Christian leaders are stuck in the gluey cultural narrative. They desperately want to be viewed as loving, inclusive, accepting and culturally competent. This desire drove them into narratives contrary to the gospel message. In the Western world the church fights to remain visible. But being visible and being powerful is not the same. The salt is most powerful when it’s not visible. We are supposed to be the salt of the world.

Now, I know that this is an ugly generalization, but if we compare the message of the Church today with the message of the Church in the past, we see a significant difference. In the evangelical church we see a strong tradition of gifted evangelists and a bold emphasis on the proclamation of the gospel along with a movement of mobilizing and training lay people to share their faith. This bold, clear, gracious voice is definitely fading away.

In a big proportion we’ve exchanged the message of the “eternal gospel” to cultural and political messages. [The “eternal gospel” (Rev 14:6-11) is God’s invitation which is proclaimed from God’s throne room to join the multitudes of worshipers; and it’s God’s warning about his coming judgement while offering a rescue through Jesus Christ.]

The author of Ecclesiastes offers a relevant warning to the church today to stay faithful to the task we’ve been commissioned to do: proclaiming the gospel (Mk 16:15) and making disciples (Mt 28:18-20).

He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Ec 11:4-6 (ESV)

Here are three warnings for today’s church from the ancient past:

Don’t let the ‘wind’ scare you. Don’t focus on what you can’t control.

“He who observes the wind will not sow…” says the Preacher (Solomon, the son of David). The wind is part of the environment of the sower. It does impact where the seed will fall, but it will not impact the power the seed caries. If we focus on the wind, we will never sow.

Today, we are obsessed with “the wind”, with the environment that surrounds the church. We are obsessed with the culture. The church talks more about the cultural, political, social issues than about the gospel. We’ve exchanged the gospel-proclamation to talking about all other issues: gender, race, culture, economics, etc. We made everything a gospel-issue while we have stopped proclaiming the gospel itself.

The cultural environment (the ‘wind’) that impacts the sowing scared us so much, that we’ve stopped sowing. We are so occupied with the “what ifs” (“What if the culture reacts a certain way?” “What if what we say is not relevant anymore?”) that we forgot that we are not wind-observers, but gospel-sowers. We forgot that our job is not to “change the wind”, but to “sow the seed.” We are overly concerned about “how will our message be received?”, “how will it land in the hearts of people?”, “how can we change or influence the culture?”.

We had not been commissioned to change the culture, we had been commissioned to deliver and model a message. The culture will never be changed by us embracing the cultural dialogue – it will only be changed by sowing the seed of the gospel. We forgot that the change (provision, food, health) will come through the seed, not through the wind. The seed bearing fruit will bring healing and provision to the land.

Sadly, so many influential leaders in the Church exchanged what we can control (sowing the seed, proclaiming the gospel), to something that we can’t control, nor change (our cultural environment). The Roman Empire just became more and more hostile and culturally evil, unjust and immoral while the church focused on sowing the seed.

Many churches and leaders had been paralyzed by the cultural ‘wind’. We need to stop listening to it.

Life-creating power is built into the seed. God will work beyond our understanding and without our consent.

Solomon continues his reasonings: “As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.” (Ec 11:5).

Life-creating power is built into the seed. It needs to be sown.

We don’t know anything about how God creates life, yet we readily restrict Him by our limited observations and understanding as we withhold the gospel proclamation as something not relevant in today’s cultural dialogue. We are so sure of the accuracy of our interpretation of the current reality that we think that the simple message of the gospel is too simple for the complex problems we’ve created. In our arrogance we belittle the power of the gospel and the way God works and we think we can overwrite the way He creates eternal life in a person’s soul: by gospel proclamation (Romans 10:17).

Solomon warns us: don’t assume you know how God is working through your sowing. Don’t underestimate the power God has built into the seed of the gospel. Just as the seed has the power of life to create a huge tree, the gospel also has the power to bear much fruit.

If the sower withholds the seed because he/she is afraid of the “wind”, or afraid of the “waste”, or afraid of the opposition, or of the reaction, then he/she withholds the potential of eternal life. God didn’t give us the knowledge or the understanding to even comprehend the future impact of what He can and will do through one gospel conversation. We just don’t know how God is working.

When the church detours from the message she needs to proclaim and starts proclaiming “other gospels” (cultural solutions to spiritual problems), she becomes unfaithful to her calling and denies the power of God. The Church needs to recognize that today’s problems are not cultural, not racial, not generational, not social – but spiritual. The solution is not to become the prophet of the gluey cultural narrative, but to sow the seed of the gospel that is God’s power for salvation. (Romans 1:16.) Each time the church backs down from sharing the gospel, she confesses that she doesn’t believe in the gospel.

God created the seed (the gospel). He also created the soil (the human heart). He knows the soil needs the seed and the seed needs the soil to bring fruit. It is not the sower’s job to decide which soil deserves the seed and which doesn’t. The sower was commissioned to sow.

Focus on what you had been commissioned to do and on what you have power to control.

Be a diligent sower. The job is to sow the seed not to observe and analyze the wind. Sowing is what you can control. Sow abundantly because we don’t know which seed will bring fruit. Sow in the morning and sow at the evening. Sow knowing that we can’t control the results. Abundant reaping only comes after abundant sowing.

In the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-8) Jesus told us that at minimum 75% of the sowing will be wasted. The effectiveness of gospel-sowing is very low. That’s why sowing needs to happen broadly.

The church in the Western World is at a turning point. She needs to decide if she still believes in the gospel or not. If not, she will stop being the Church and will be transformed into a powerless social institution.

Gain Christ

Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…

Philippians 3:7-8

Gain is something you earned, you worked for, you acquired or you inherited. Something that was given as a reward for your investment or hard work; or something that was given to you by birth (by the country or the family you were born into).

What kind of gains we have in life? Here are a few that are important to us all:

  • money we earned
  • position or place in our society we worked for
  • carrier we have struggled for
  • relationships we have invested in
  • family we have made so much sacrifices for
  • hard-earned recognition and reputation
  • cultural, national, racial identity
  • all we have acquired through our relationships, position and possession

In order to gain Christ and to know God – as Paul instructs us – all we have gained will need to be considered rubbish (waste, trash, useless). Think about that for a moment. Look through that list again. To gain the knowledge of Christ we need to be willing to give up any or all that’s on that list. Costly. And yet, too many Christians think that they can gain the knowledge of God without giving up anything. Too many believers want to know God without willing to suffer the pain of losses.

Personalizing Paul’s statement will make it even harder: “Whatever I have achieved in my carrier, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ…”, or “Regardless of what impacts it will have on my family, kids, parents, reputation, position, possessions, I will count all that as loss for the sake of Christ…”

The true knowledge of God is always costly, it won’t be ours without painful losses. We cannot know Christ without giving up and loosing things that are dear to us. 

What we invest our life, time, resources into will tell what we want to gain.

In our so many goals in life, we loose the ultimate goal: to gain Christ. The ultimate goal in life is not gaining more “stuff” but to gain more of Christ!

Something needs to go. What we give up will tell what we value. Either we are willing to loose all we have gained (the list and + above) or we have to give up the surpassing, excellent knowledge of Christ. Of course it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy all those things in the list above, but there are times when some or all on that list need to be given up so that we could gain Christ.

“He waits to be wanted.” “How tragic that we in this dark day had our seeking done for us by our teachers.” A.W. Tozer. That’s why Christians live in religious complexity and we don’t experience the simplicity found in Christ.

What are your losses that you gave up to gain Christ? If you don’t have a list yet, it worth starting it now. The gain of knowing Him is incomparably more valuable than all what you could acquire in life.

If we, as believers are pursuing gaining the same things this world is pursuing, then why do we expect the world to accept our truth? We are no different than the world when we pursue the same gains and are not willing to exchange those to gain the knowledge of Christ. Our willingness to lose the gains will prove the gospel.

If Christians would truly start knowing Him, this world would start changing.

Humanities Most Dangerous Ideas

How influential ideologies’ distorted view of man led to the death of millions and threatens to destroy our future.

“To celebrate God aright, one must fully understand and celebrate humanity itself.”
– D. Bonhoeffer

“Those who hold the material-energy, chance concept of reality… not only do not know the truth of the final reality, God, they do not know who Man is. Their concept of the final reality is what final reality is not. Since their concept of Man is mistaken, their concept of society and of law is mistaken, and they have no sufficient base for either society or law.”
Christian Manifesto, Francis Shaeffer

Ideas have consequences. 

Influential ideas of the 18th and 19th centuries shaped the story of the 20th century and continue to shape our world today. Some of these ideas already proved to be deadly, leading to countless wars, horrific tyrannies, unimaginable poverty and famine; and to the violent death of hundreds of millions. Yet once again, at the dawn of the 21st century, these ideas are evolving and merging into each other and becoming more and more popular, saturating not only the educational arena, but our whole world–even misleading many believers. Anyone who knows a bit of history can see that the trajectory of today’s narrative unavoidably will lead us to repeat the horror of the past century as we, once again embrace those ideologies that gave birth to such demonic evil. 

The core of these ideas is the axiom that “God is dead”. Once God is out of the equation we face some major challenges of which the most important is that we also need to redefine “who man is”. Since “God is dead” we will need to find a definition, an origin, a purpose, a structure and a destiny for mankind. If God does not define man’s existence then we need to recreate meaning and purpose if we don’t want to face an existential crisis. These seemingly harmless, first isolated ideas led to the deadliest story in human history causing unimaginable sufferings and injustices impacting our lives even today. Leaders, thinkers and activists of our age want to use these same ideas to cure the problems caused by these ideas. The question remains–how many times can we survive these deadly experiments? 

We should have learned by now that when we disregard God and turn away from the Biblical definition of man, from the sacred value of life and the guidance laid for us in the Bible; the results are always death, destruction, poverty, broken relationships, suffering and growing injustices. But since we “refused to love the truth and so be saved, God sends us a strong delusion, so that we may believe what is false” (2 Thess 2:10-11)

Below I will summarize the 5 most influential ideologies that led to the disastrous consequences that are shaping our culture today. I will give a brief summary of each ideology, their view of mankind and replace it with the Biblical view of man.

1. Utilitarianism 

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), Robert Owen (1771-1858 – father of utopian socialism). 

Main idea: utilitarianism teaches that the ultimate goal of life is to avoid pain and pursue happiness. The highest value is to pursue the common good and happiness of most men. The individual’s happiness and well-being can be sacrificed for the happiness of the community. What brings the most utility for the society will become the driving force and highest value even if it means we need to cause pain or harm for the individual. Harming the individual can be justified if through that we pursue a greater common good.

Main problem: Who is going to decide what is best for the whole community? Who selects who needs to be harmed for the well-being of the common good and how far can we go to cause harm to the individual in order to serve the common good? For example: Can we sacrifice the life of the individual for saving other lives? Who decides when this can be done? That’s what people did in the ancient times when they sacrificed man-children to the gods to claim protection and well-being for the community. This kind of thinking sees the individual only as a tool (utility) to serve the good of the society. The society, the community becomes the most important entity. But then this raises another question: which community/society/nation/ethnicity’s happiness should be served if there is a conflict between them? If the individual is stripped away from his/her god-given dignity and becomes nothing but a means to serve the common good, then the leaders and power players in the society can decide his/her value and place in society. 

Utilitarian view of man: man exists to serve the common good. 

Biblical view of man: God created man for his image, he didn’t create societies to be his image-bearer. Christ died for the individual, not for the community or nation. Man is eternal, societies, communities and nations are not. That’s why God forbade the sacrifice of man as it was a custom to save the community, get a favor from the gods in the ancient world. He hated that practice, because he saw the value of the individual over the community.

2. Perspectivism and nihilism

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). 

Main idea of perspectivism: Nietzsche claimed that the death of God would eventually lead to the loss of any universal perspective on things and any coherent sense of objective truth. Nietzsche rejected the idea of objective reality, arguing that knowledge is relative to various fluid perspectives or interests. This leads to constant reassessment of rules (i.e., those of philosophy, the scientific method, etc.) according to the circumstances of individual perspectives. There are no objective facts, truth is separated from any particular vantage point, and so there are no ethical absolutes. 

Main idea of nihilism: When we find out that the world does not possess objective value, meaning or purpose (since God is dead) we find ourselves in a crisis. Nihilism is emptying the world and humanity from its inherent meaning, purpose, truth and essential value. Life has no purpose, no meaning, no origin and no destiny. Therefore, everything that makes you happy is permissible. 

Main problem:  if there are no objective values by which we need to govern our lives and if there is no origin and purpose of mankind then nothing holds us back to pursue maximum power and well-being for ourselves since this short moment (called life on earth) is the only moment we can possess anything. This idea justifies and leads to totalitarianism, when a group of people grab power over others. Also, if there is no meaning, purpose and value-systems that govern us, then we have every right to do and live as we wish since everything leads to nothing (nihilism) and what remains is mere momentary pleasure. Denying the origin, the purpose and the meaning of life leads to self-destruction (i.e. addiction, broken relationships, depression, suicide, etc.). The emptiness caused by this nihilistic self-destruction should prove to us that we have detoured from life’s original purpose and meaning. 

Perspectivism’ and nihilism’ view of man: man is purposeless without any inherent value, living in an empty world where everything is relative and he/she is the creator of his/her own values and reality. Man’s only purpose is to pursue momentary joy.

Biblical view of man: God created man with a purpose, we have an origin and a destiny; we have inherent value and God gave us objective truth to guide our life.

3. Darwinism 

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) 

Main idea: Darwinian theory is a theory of biological evolution stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual’s ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. It is the survival of the fittest. 

Main problem: Darwinian theory denies the biological uniqueness of mankind and asserted that human beings were but one of many species of animals. This view of mankind reduces us to nothing more than the production of an unintelligent, random, purposeless, cruel process and makes us no more than a biological being without moral character, purpose, origin, designer or destiny. We come from nothing, are going to nothing, yet we randomly find ourselves in the middle of these two “nothings”. This view of life justifies and necessitates the survival of the stronger and the murder of the weaker. When humans are viewed as nothing else but a complex biological mass, then the more powerful have every right to do anything with the weaker since the only way the evolutionary process can continue is if the stronger one survives. The weaker have no right for life as their life undermines the evolutionary process–which is supposed to serve the survival of life. So the very existence of the weak is an attack on the future. It is the mandate of the stronger one to eliminate the weaker one; not doing so will not serve the survival of life. This evil idea led to eugenics (arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of inheritable characteristics regarded as desirable) and to death camps.

Darwinian view of man: Mankind is simply a biological being produced by a random, unintelligent material process and as such exists without inherent value and moral law; is mandated to survive even at the cost of violating his/her own conscience.

Biblical view of man: Man was created as God’s image-bearer; does not only have a body, but a soul (mind) and a spirit as well. Man is more than just a sum of cells. God gave mankind moral laws to guide them (put it in their heart, revealed it in nature and in the Bible).

4. Marxism

Karl Marx (1818-1883); Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). 

Main idea: marxism is a materialist interpretation of human history. (Materialism means denying God’s existence and putting the highest importance on material possessions. It equals our value with our material possession/power.) Marxism views human history as a war between classes, between those who have and those who do not have material possessions and/or power. The ultimate value of man in marxism is power and material possession. Everything in human history is centered around the fight for material possession. Those who possess material goods, possess power. Societies are structured based on material/economical power and possessions. Those who have material possessions and power are the oppressors and those who do not have, are the oppressed–the latter are simply considered the victims of the oppressing systems. Everything in marxism is simplified to a zero-sum conflict between oppressors and oppressed. Oppression is only understood systematically–that’s why  ‘victimized’ individuals can’t do anything to change their lives until the system is changed. All problems in society are caused by those who possess material resources and power, therefore the solution to the problem is to violently take away these material possessions and power from those who have them. All means are justified in this war: rioting, looting, killing. In the marxist view, societies are organized by classes. Each member of the society is part of a class based on their economic power / possession or based on any artificial categories viewed as power-holders or oppressor (for example: religion, race, family status, gender, sexual orientation, etc.). If you are born into a certain class, you can’t do anything about changing your status: you are either a member of a class that has intolerable privileges or a member of a class that suffers incredible oppression. In this ideology, man is merely an ‘avatar’ of the class he/she belongs to; the individuals’ personal performance, character, behavior, action does not matter. Humanity’s problems in marxism are always outside of the individual–the broken, unjust system or someone else is responsible for the individual’s problems, actions and behavior. The individual can’t do anything about changing his/her problems, actions or behavior. The individual is only a victim of circumstances or oppressive systems, all his/her faulty behavior (crime, immorality, etc.) is only viewed as a result of the oppressive system. Because of that the only solution for changing the individual’s life is changing the system.

Main problem: the value of man does not originate from his/her material possessions or power. Marxism justifies all means for acquiring material goods and power. This philosophy forces people into classes and degrades them into being only a representative of their class. The individual doesn’t carry any inherent value, as this person is nothing more than a prototype of his/her class. A social class is identified by its power. Marxism denies the individual’s responsibility and power over his/her life; views sin as a reality in the system, not in the individual. Because the individual is not sinful, his/her action needs to be evaluated by the class that he/she belongs to. Any sin committed by the individual can be redeemed and justified if the class approves it (i.e. murder of someone who is in another class, theft from the “oppressors”, etc.). If an individual is a member of the “oppressor” class, he/she is automatically viewed as immoral and sinful and needs to pay for his/her sins. If an individual is a member of an “oppressed” class, he/she is viewed as a victim, so his/her misbehavior or even criminal action can be justified and that individual cannot be held accountable for it. Marxism views that the problem of the individual is not within himself, but in the system. Therefore the individual cannot do anything to make his/her life better. The only option to bring change to the individual’s life is to destroy the system (built by the “oppressors”) by all means. Those who are in the “oppressed” class are always good and their every action can be justified (even murder, concentration camp, etc.). Those who are in the “oppressor” class are always bad and every action against them is justifiable. The marxists solution to the problem is to take away from  those who have and give it to those who don’t have. They redefine equality. Equality for them is the equality of the outcome: equal possession and power. But the only way to create such equality is if we treat people unequally. Marxism denies the individual’s performance, talent and hard work as they take away from those who achieve anything more than those who are less talented and less dedicated. Marxism always keeps people in poverty as they will not be motivated, skilled and allowed to better themselves or to create a better life for themselves. Mankind already experimented with this philosophy for 100 years and it led to nothing but poverty, dictatorship, stripping people away from their freedom, censorship and to the violent death of approximately 150 million people. (Marxism killed more people in one day than the Crusades in 100 years – said Alexander Solzhenitsyn.)

Marxist view of man: Humans are no more than producers and consumers of material goods. All that matters is the possession and power you have, as that gives you your identity in society. Humans have no moral obligation when pursuing power to meet his/her material needs; man does not have individual responsibility for his/her life.

Biblical view of man:  Man is more than economic power; each person is responsible to better his/her life and others; every man is sinful regardless of the class they belong to; man is not a representative of a class, but an individual who reflects God’s image.

5. Freudianism

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). 

Main idea: Freud redefined human nature and consciousness. Sex drives everything, sex makes the world go around. Any sexual need not satisfied will ultimately manifest itself in some deep psychological eccentricity, neurosis or emotional disorder, even psychosis. Freud saw self-control as a mental illness, and he viewed all human nature as explainable strictly in terms of sexuality and emotions. He called religion the universal obsessional neurosis and a mass delusion; he saw free will as yet another delusion, and he viewed the family as a negative, authoritarian institution. Freud thought that every negative attribute of any person was due to some repressed memory of something horrible, usually of a sexual nature, that had happened to that person. He discovered that people could easily be made to remember things that had never even occurred.

Main problem: Freudianism says that guilt and shame are destructive, the very idea of sin is destructive; all desires must be fully and completely satisfied. There is nothing wrong with satiating lust, even gluttonous lust needs full satisfaction. The truth is that we are more than the sum of and the slave of our sexual desires. Living out our desires without any restraint leads to more problems than it solves (broken relationships, health problems, addiction, etc.). There are moral, relational and social consequences for our personal desires. Desires need to be controlled and guided. Some desires are destructive. A society where people live out their desires becomes an unsafe place. People who live out desires without an outside objective guidance will cause harm to themselves and others. The outside objective guidelines (what the Bible gives us about how to live out our desires) are critical for our future happiness, for our physical, relational and mental health.

Freudian view of man: mankind is nothing more than the sum of their sexual and other kinds of desires, and all their desires should be lived out without any control.

Biblical view of man: as God’s image-bearer mankind is more than the sum of their desires; power and responsibility is given to mankind to guide their desires to serve their best interest and future.

God’s View of Man

Opposite to these ideologies, the Bible gives a clear definition of man: Fallen Image.

“In the beginning, God…” (Genesis 1:1). God’s definition of mankind starts here: “in the beginning, God”. The definition of humanity starts with God. We can’t understand man outside of the realm of God. It says that man had a beginning, a Creator. Humanity’s story didn’t start with nothing–it came from somewhere, from Someone. 

Man is an image-bearer. There is nothing else in the universe that carries God’s image. Man is not equal with God, just as an image is not equal with the one the image is made of. The image makes the original recognizable. If we look at mankind we should recognize God. 

When we don’t respect God’s image, we don’t respect God himself.

Man is an IMAGE

Being created in God’s image means we can be in a RELATIONSHIP and we have a RESPONSIBILITY. We have the ability to be in a relationship with our Creator and we have a responsibility to carry out a task to reflect our Creator. God gave us special skills to live as image bearers.

  1. Ability to think. We know that animals are thinking, too. But the huge difference is that we are able to ask questions about what we think about. Our ability to intelligently ask questions and process our thoughts is a way to reflect God. We have a mind that is unique to our image-bearer identity. What we do with it is crucial in reflecting who God created us to be.
  2. Ability to talk. God created the world with his words. Words have power. God gave the power of words to mankind. Through our words we have the power to reflect God.
  3. Ability to create. God is a creator. He is creative. He loves beauty. Nature proves both. We have the skills and the means to create beauty. Our work, our discoveries, our creations prove that we are God’s image-bearers.
  4. Ability to make decisions. As God’s image-bearers we have the ability, the freedom and the responsibility to make decisions. We are not bound by our instinct. We are moral creatures. Our morality and freedom to choose the right thing reflects God. It’s amazing how much freedom God gave us, but freedom comes with huge responsibilities. 

Any system, ideology, society, regime that does not respect man as God’s image-bearer will manifest itself in controlling man’s ability to think (freedom of opinion), to talk (freedom of speech), to create (freedom of enterprise) and to make decisions. 

Man is FALLEN

The other reality we learn about man is that he has fallen. The image is broken. Sin is a very personal reality for every single individual. Sin separates each and every individual from God and makes each of us responsible for our actions. No one else can be blamed for our faults and misbehavior other than ourselves. Systems are not causing our personal sinful behaviors. Our sinful nature causes us to create broken systems. Because of that, the ultimate solution is not reparation of systems, but the recreation of the condition of the human heart. That’s what Jesus came to do. 

The revolution that needs to happen is the revolution of the heart.

Conclusion:

When we discredit how God defines mankind in the Bible the consequences are dire. People will think that they set the rules of life–they assume that they can conquer something they have not created. They think they can decide who can be born, who can live and how long they should live. Such a messed-up, false way of thinking leads to ideas and ethical distortedness that manifests itself today in many ways. These twisted, evil ideologies created a society where–as Albert Camus writes “crime puts on the apparel of innocence, through a curious reversal peculiar to our age, it is innocence that is called on to justify itself”. Mankind has an undeniable and unalienable value originated in God’s creation. God’s goal in history is to pursue the eternal well-being of mankind. When we need to defend human life, dignity, property, freedom, free speech and freedom of assembly then certainly we have arrived at an age that the Bible calls the last days: “in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” 2Tim 3:1-5.

Three messages from God’s throne-room to our divided, broken world.

Read: Revelation 14:6-13

From the heavenly scene (God’s throne room) God sends three heavenly messengers (angels) to proclaim His three heavenly messages to Earth. His act proves that:

  • God has a message to the broken world and He is not indifferent about earthly matters. He has something to say about what is happening today and how to fix it.
  • Heaven sets the standards for our life on earth. Earthly standards originate from heavenly authority and can’t be ignored without consequences.
  • Heaven has the final words on what happens on Earth. Our life, our history, our values and our future are not independent from our origin (creation).
  • We are known, observed and judged by Heaven.
  • Our temporary life on Earth has eternal consequences.

Here are God’s three messages:

  1. From God’s throne-room comes God’s invitation. The first angel’s message is a heavenly invitation: the Eternal Gospel. God’s first message from His throne to mankind on Earth is His eternal good news; its His invitation into a fellowship with Him. The essence of the gospel summarized by the angel is this:
    • Fear God” – honor Him with your faith, live according to His law;
    • worship him” – place Him on the throne of your heart just as He is on the throne of Heaven, reject the idols of this world;
    • He made heaven and earth” – acknowledge Him as the creator of everything, including you; honor him as the source of all you see, breath, eat, touch, observe, enjoy, sense and love.
    • “The hour of his judgment has come” – accept that He rules, He sets standards and holds all of us accountable.
  2. From God’s throne-room comes God’s worldview. The second angel’s message is exposing our current reality: sin destroyed our world. The heavenly message continues with revealing the reality of our world: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.” Sin destroyed our world. Moral decline always leads to the destruction of societies. God’s second message exposes the world we live in: it is corrupt, broken, fallen (past) and as is it can’t be redeemed. He warns us not to put our hope in the world we live in, not to live by its rules, values and standards, because those rules, values and standards led to it’s falling. He warns us not to buy into its narrative or follow its leaders. But the ‘eternal gospel’ is still proclaimed to us who live in this fallen reality, because although our culture, country, nation, world might be fallen, but we can be rescued and redeemed from it, if we obey to the first angelic message and accept the invitation of the Eternal Gospel to join the multitude of worshipers in God’s throne-room. Jesus died to rescue us, not to rescue our societies or nations or cultures. Corruption of nations, cultures and societies happened because of the corruption of man. The only hope for any social change if mankind is rescued from their own corruption by accepting God’s eternal gospel to reunite with him in his throne-room as his worshipers and return to the original purpose of our creation. If we do not obey God’s first invitation then any attempt to reform societies will remain futile. Mankind were created by God to be His image-bearers. Social structures were constructed by man. The soul of man is eternal. Countries and nations are not. He died to redeem the first, not the latter. God can repair and redeem man through his eternal gospel and once we are redeemed then we can start working on fixing of what we’ve created and messed up: our relationships, societies, nations and cultures. It wont work the other way around. That’s why proclaiming the eternal gospel is preeminent and is the first message from Heaven. It precedes anything else, because by it everything else can be fixed and without it everything remains broken and fallen. We can be rescued from our fallen world, but can’t be rescued by it – so don’t put your hope in your culture, nation, country or politician to fix what only God can fix and need to fix first and foremost: mankind’s corrupt nature.
  3. From God’s throne-room comes God’s warning. The third angel’s message is revealing our future reality: our choice will have eternal consequences. Ignoring God’s invitation will have eternal consequences. God’s judgement is as real as God’s invitation. Eternal punishment is a brutal reality. God’s warning is not a threat-tactic, its a loving message. Anyone we love the most we want to warn them of the consequences of their wrong choices. Anyone we don’t care about or we don’t like, we just let them suffer from the consequences of their bad decisions. Warning comes with conflict and its viewed as being judgmental. The 3rd angel’s message is that hell is real and brutal, ignoring God’s invitation will lead you there. Don’t believe the lie that it does not matter what you believe in, who you worship and how you live. Your choices have eternal consequences. The devil (who hates us) wants to hide, belittle or ridicule the reality of hell. He wants to keep us in the delusion and deception that we can just live our life as we want and there will be no consequences.

All three messages from Heaven are loving messages: an invitation, a revealing of reality and a warning. Anyone who shows us the reality and gives us a way of rescue from our destructive present and painful future can only be a loving person.

This heavenly message from God’s throne ends with two confirmations to believers from the voice of the Spirit:

  • keep the faith and persevere because difficulties and persecutions are coming; be prepared because life will become harder for those who follow Jesus;
  • reward awaiting for Christ-followers in heaven: ‘blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, their deeds follow them’. Our eternal future is much different than what’s described in the 3rd angel’s message. Our deeds follow us to Heaven. They do not lead us to heaven. They don’t open the door for us – Christ did that in Revelation 4:1.

There are two eternal realities. Our choices have eternal significances. God’s loving message to our fallen world is to accept his invitation to His throne-room!

A miraculous event 35 years ago impacts lives today

God’s silence doesn’t mean he is not listening, he is indifferent or passive. Many of His great stories are found out decades or sometime centuries later. Think about Ruth and Naomi. They went through famine, grief and losses while God remained silent. Matter fact, God is silent throughout their whole story. Ruth has not witnessed the complete unfolding of her story. She only saw the first fruit of it. She had no idea that she became the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor of our Lord Jesus.

Sometimes the Lord allows us to find out decades later how He has worked through mysterious moments. But most of his work is revealed throughout generations. And one day, He will unfold to us all his marvelous works.

On August 15th, 1985 we’ve witnessed something unforgettable. It was an evidence of God’s love and power and it forever confirmed to our soul that He listens to prayer. Remember this was during communism and we’ve lived behind the Iron Curtain.

At that moment there were about 15 of us involved in the ministry of Cru in Hungary. We were together in a camp where we’ve studied the Bible. On the final night, we came together to pray for the entire night. We’ve prayed for God to tear down the ‘Spiritual Iron Curtain’ around people’s heart. We’ve spent the whole night in prayer.

We were praying through Acts 4:23-31. It seemed appropriate for us to pray what the first century believers prayed when Peter and John were persecuted as we had been intimidated by the communist police when they’ve arrested me for sharing my faith and searched our home for Christian literature. We were praying through Acts 4:31:

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

Immediately, around 5:00 a.m., just as we were praying this passage, the whole town shook. It felt like a giant train ran just beneath our feet. It was one of the largest earthquake in the history of Hungary, registering 5.2 on the Richter scale. No one was hurt.

We don’t think the timing of the earthquake was coincidental – hitting just as we finished praying through the Acts 4 passage. When the earthquake occurred, we could not have imagined what would happen next. We had absolutely no idea of the political and spiritual earthquakes that God was preparing to bring: the fall of communism and the birth of Youth at the Threshold of Life through which so many students have heard the gospel in 62 countries. (More details can be found in the book we co-authored, titled: “The Outrageous Promise”.)

Exactly 35 years later this month we got an email telling us this earthquake story from a personal viewpoint. A now middle-aged man described what has happened to him on that morning: “As a teenager I lived a terrible life. I didn’t care about this whole ‘Jesus tale’. I just wanted to party all night. I’ve lived in an apartment complex. I woke up at early dawn because the whole ground shook beneath my bed. The next moment a vase fell on my head. Everyone was running to the street, but I was laying on my bed and my head badly hurt. At that moment I felt that I had been prayed for, matter fact, I felt that I had been prayed for a long time. But this moment was necessary for me to wake up from my deadly dream of pursuing my sinful life. After that earthquake I gave my life to Jesus. God has blessed me with a beautiful family and I’m elder in our church. I want thank now to those young people who prayed for me 35 years ago.”

His silence in our sufferings should not make us hopeless. We can’t comprehend what is coming and how he is working.

Sometime He unfolds the edge of the curtain so we could peek in to and see a small part of his beautiful work. This should fill us with praise.

Faith in a prayer-hearing God should lead to bold proclamation of the Word of God (see Acts 4:31).

The Church is in Debt – Owes the world!

We are puzzled as we observe the world stumble. In a short few months we’ve witnessed a global pandemic, major economic difficulties, political wars, murder of George Flyod and the riots that follow, violence, racism and the list could go on. These crisis revealed the underlying, fundamental erosion of values and trust that holds societies together. It also revealed and accelerated the sobering reality of a shrinking, less and less impactful, often irrelevant and inwardly focused church whose narrative and focus is mixed and confusing.

The Church owes the world.

Paul writes in Romans 1:14-16 “I am under obligation (in debt) both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel… I am not ashamed of the gospel.”

Paul is under obligation – meaning in the original language: he is in debt. He owes the world with something that was given to him from God to pass on: the gospel. Paul is under legal demand to pass on something that is not his to keep. The gospel is not ours to keep. This obligation made Paul eager and not ashamed.

The Church is also under legal obligation, under a forceful demand from God. We have something that was not given to us to keep, but to pass on. We possess something that is not ours. God intended to give the gospel to the world. This obligation should make us eager and not ashamed to proclaim the simple message of eternal hope and eternal justice through Christ.

‘Paying our debt to the world’, meaning eagerly and without shame proclaiming the gospel of Christ (Romans 1:15-16) in a gracious, clear, wise (Col 4:5-6) and bold (Eph 6:19) way is not the central focus and message of the Church anymore. The Church is occupied with and focusing on so many other things. Evangelism is hardly mentioned these days. There are major mission conferences, initiatives and strategies without mentioning of or equipping for gospel-proclamation. No wonder the Church is confused, shrinking, irrelevant, scattered and many of her members are not envisioned nor equipped for sharing the gospel.

The Church is not obligated to solve all the problems of the world. Jesus, the Apostles, Paul and the early church did not solve most of the political, social and economical problems of their age. Of course, we need to heal and help as representatives of Christ as much as we possible. But the Church’s core obligation, the reason we are left on this earth, the one thing we won’t be able to do in Heaven: is to proclaim the message of eternal hope and justice – the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps, if we, as the Church, would focus on envisioning and equipping believers on our core obligation to pass on the gospel to those God intended to give it, we would be less confused, less disturbed, less disoriented and more fruitful, satisfied, effective and joyful.