The enemy within
The world is changing faster than many of us realise, Steve Maltz examines one of the key drivers of this change and urges Christians to wake up to it!
There is an aspect of our western culture that has been creeping relentlessly into the ‘big picture’. It has been the butt of many jokes in past years and considered a harmless oddity,but not any more.It now rules the roost and it has very sinister intentions. It goes by the name of Political Correctness.
It didn’t just pop out of nowhere, as a whim of an over-zealous civil servant, it is the outcome of a ‘long march’ through recent history and is nothing less than a strategy to undermine and destroy the bedrocks of Western civilisation, the Judeo-Christian framework, with particular emphasis on the traditional family unit.
But this beast has a bite that is fatal. Consider Tim Farron, the political leader who was driven out of his job through his views on the LGBT agenda, or Walt Tutka, a substitute teacher in the USA who was fired for handing a Bible to a student. Political Correctness acquired this bite by worming its agenda into government legislation and if you are wondering how this could happen then now is the time for a history lesson.
Finding another way … but not a good one
The First World War was a great disappointment for communists, those who followed the teachings of Karl Marx, as they fully expected the working classes to break the shackles of nationalism and refuse to fight for their country. Russia was the only major country to succumb to this ideology, which came to power as a result of the 1917 Russian Revolution.
After the war, a group of Marxist theoreticians in Germany decided to act and, by bringing in techniques from other disciplines, such as the psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud, they re-invented Marxism, the driving force behind communism, taking it from the realms of economics (the battle of the classes) and into the very fabric of Western society. This was the Frankfurt School and, with the rise of Nazi Germany, they relocated to New York, centred on Columbia University and thus was born the new discipline of Cultural Marxism. It had very specific aims including the following; the undermining of schools’ and teachers’ authority, promotion of mass immigration to destroy identity, an unreliable and biased legal system, the control and dumbing down of media and encouraging the breakdown of the traditional family. How on earth were they going to be able to do this? Being centred at a pliable University campus, their initial strategy was through academia. To pull in the intellectuals they formulated Critical theory, a simple system disguised as a complex one in order to hide its true intentions. Even its Wikipedia page admits that the article may be too technical for most readers to understand. In a nutshell it states that “ideology is the principal obstacle to human liberation”. In other words it is saying that our Judeo-Christian heritage and foundations are stopping us from being free! This all sounds very ‘hippyish’ and it may come as no surprise that the alternative culture of the 1960s was birthed in the minds of the Frankfurt School, one of them, Herbert Marcuse, even coining the phrase ‘make love not war’.
Critical theory is all about tearing down institutions that form the bedrock of our culture, with a particular strategy of redefining the family. It is purely destructive and is very much tied in with the Marxist ideology of control of the collective and the squashing of the individual. It is ‘1984 personified’, interesting as George Orwell was a socialist writing at a time when the Frankfurt Group were beginning to make their sinister inroads. It is interesting that the 1960s saw what was called the start of the counter-cultureand we can now begin to grasp that this was not initiated by a bunch of idealistic hippies – there were other forces at play here.
The plot thickens…
The central thrust of Cultural Marxism is the promotion of a ‘victim culture’, of building a narrative whereby all of the world’s ills are the fault of the prevailing culture, specifically white men working from within a Christian context. Critical theory began to roll out a series of ‘causes’, centring on those deemed to be ‘victims’, such as black people, women, homosexuals, native Americans etc. There seems to be a worthiness in this until one realises that these causes were just part of a grand design to disrupt our society. Anyone who dared criticise this process would be condemned as homophobic, misogynists, Islamophobic, racist, sexist and so on. This is a manufactured narrative and it is noteworthy that Marxist ideology fails to furnish narratives for anti-Semitism (witness the reluctance of Jeremy Corbyn to implement measures within his own party) and Christianophobia (if there is such a word)! This is because the narrative only works if Jews and Christians are seen as the aggressors and the cause of all the problems in the world. After all, our culture is founded on the bedrock of Judeo-Christian certainties. Particularly poignant for Jews who have always been society’s scapegoats and even more interesting in that Cultural Marxism was formed from the ideas of Jews and that the Frankfurt School were predominantly Jewish!
Out of this comes Political Correctness and the rise of the ‘nanny state’ with increasing restrictions on the grounds of ‘health & safety’ to whittle away at our freedoms. Students at Glasgow University were recently warned before a lecture on Jesus that “it contains graphic scenes of the crucifixion”. An East Anglian Tex-mex restaurant was banned from handing out free sombreros out of fear of offending Mexicans!
This is what the hard left are all about these days and, with a particular hold on the media and the intellectual elements of society, Cultural Marxism is beginning to succeed in its goal of a controlled, collectivist society. A telling quote comes from the well-known atheist, Voltaire: “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize”
It is time now to move from problems to solutions
We hear increasingly of Christians thwarted in their witness by the application of legislation moulded by Cultural Marxism. Refusing to bake cakes promoting homosexuality, or witnessing to work colleagues, or even displaying Bible verses in the workplace is now punishable through a legal system that was originally founded from Biblical principles.
So how do we fulfil the Great Commission in a society that is creating and increasing the number of legal barriers to stop us? Simple really… the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4) The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.(Psalm 103:19)
The world does not belong to the Cultural Marxists and the ‘PC police’. God, in His mysterious way, has simply granted a time for them to have a measure of influence. This is not going to stop Him in any way from building His Kingdom, however defeated we ourselves may feel at the present time. We just need to adjust to changing times. It is focus that we need.
The focus we need is on God Himself. When we are confronted with a witnessing situation we must pray for Godly wisdom but we must also learn to see others as God sees them. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you,not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.(2 Peter 3:9)
This includes the black-clad Muslim lady, or the gender-confused, or Richard Dawkins himself. We see an impossible situation, where we may not have the right words or the courage to engage, but God sees a lost soul desperate for reconciliation with their Maker, whether they realise it or not.
God will finish what He has started with anyone He may put in your path. It is your job to discern what your role may be in this process. Remember, He has not left us alone in this enterprise: But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:26)
The Great Commission hasn’t changed. God hasn’t changed, neither has His message. But the World is forever changing and we need to acknowledge this in our response to the obstacles put in our way and always be reassured by the following, a familiar passage but within a context that should speak clearly into the challenges we are faced with today: Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (1 Peter 3: 13-17)
This is an abridged extract from Steve’s new book,Kingdom, available early 2018