Posted on February 26, 2014
by Al Benson Jr.
Communists in all areas of the world have long recognized the potential for spreading their lies and their agenda in churches and, through deception and propaganda, they often manage to manipulate those who should be their strongest opponents—Christians.
That’s right, Christians should be the major opponents of communism and socialism, if they understood Scripture. However, since many of them don’t, they wind up being the unwitting accomplices, the “useful idiots” as it were, in the spread of socialism and communism (cultural Marxism) both in this country and in the world.
There was a saying several decades ago that: “While not many ministers become Communists, a lot of Communists become ministers.” Unfortunately, that has been the truth, both in this country, in much of Latin America, Europe, and in parts of Africa.
Years ago, back in the early 1970s, I think, the John Birch Society published an informative little booklet entitled Apostasy and the National Council of Churches. It dealt with some well-known churchmen in the National Council of Churches who were actually Communist Party members as well as others who, although not actual party members, were more than willing to work toward the Communist agenda in this country.
Back awhile ago now, someone also sent me a six-page booklet called the Air Reserve Center Training Manual. It was published in February, 1960 and contained several important items that you will hardly find in your denominational journals. On page 3 it stated: “The National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. officially sponsored the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Of the 95 persons who served on this project, 30 have been affiliated with pro-Communist fronts, projects, and publications.” That’s basically one third of them! The quote continued: “In its own brochure, the National Council of Churches listed the names of the Revision Committee and the Advisory Board. Among these were Walter Russell Bowie of Grace Church, New York; Henry J. Cadbury of Harvard University; George Dahl of Yale University; Frederick C. Grant of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary; and Leroy Waterman of the University of Michigan. All of these men were affiliated, for example, with the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. (NFCL). The House Committee on Un-American Activities said of the NCFL: ‘There can be no reasonable doubt about the fact that the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties…is one of the viciously subversive organizations of the Communist Party…Not only were these men affiliated with the NCFL, but many similar Communist fronts and enterprises—Walter Russell Bowie with a total of 29; Henry J. Cadbury and George Dahl, 13; Frederick C. Grant 8; and Leroy Waterman 25.”
On page 4 it was stated: “Dr. Harry F. Ward, a long-recognized leader in the National Council of Churches, was a professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City for some 25 years, during which time he influenced thousands of theological students. Dr. Ward was identified by Louis Francis Budenz (an ex-Communist) before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee as a member of the Communist Party…Ex-Communist Manning Johnson referred to Dr. Ward as the ‘Red Dean of the Communist Party in the religious field.’” If anyone would like to send me a dollar for mailing costs I will reproduce this six-page booklet and send it to you. Send your request to P O Box 55, Sterlington, Louisiana 71280.
There’s lots of other material out there about all this. A book could be written on this if someone was willing to undertake such a project. This information gives you just a small sample of what went on in churches in this country—and who knows what still goes on? Does anyone honestly believe that because the Berlin Wall came down years ago that Communists just automatically stopped their infiltration of American churches on the following day? Come on, folks, get real. If anything, the infiltration has expanded. Now we see evangelical churches that have obviously bought into the Marxist line and don’t realize it. I’ve recently written about some of this.
There’s lots of other material out there about all this. A book could be written on this if someone was willing to undertake such a project. This information gives you just a small sample of what went on in churches in this country—and who knows what still goes on? Does anyone honestly believe that because the Berlin Wall came down years ago that Communists just automatically stopped their infiltration of American churches on the following day? Come on, folks, get real. If anything, the infiltration has expanded. Now we see evangelical churches that have obviously bought into the Marxist line and don’t realize it. I’ve recently written about some of this.
Back in the early 1970s my wife and I went with a group from the church we attended at the time to join a group led by Dr. Carl McIntire in picketing a group of Russian Orthodox “clergymen” in Chicago. Quite a few showed up to picket and I estimate there may have been around 50 of us altogether. There were enough of us in front of the building the Russian clergymen were to hold their meeting in that they snuck in the back door to avoid us. There were several Russian expatriates in our group and I never forgot one of them, who told us all, “Is no priests, is KGB.” I don’t doubt for a minute the accuracy of his comment, in light of what I have just read in Oleg Kalugin’s book, published in 1994, called The First Directorate. Kalugin was in the KGB for over thirty years and heavily involved in espionage and intelligence work against the West, who, in some cases it seems, were barely fighting back. Kalugin’s book is still available on Amazon.com and I would recommend it for anyone who wants an in-depth view of the Marxist mindset in Russia.
One thing Kalugin dealt with, which should concern Americans, was the KGB penetration of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). On page 197 Kalugin noted: “Our long arm overseas even extended into the inner confines of the Russian Orthodox Church. Indeed, the KGB’s near-total control of the Russian Orthodox Church, both at home and abroad, is one of the most sordid and little known chapters in the history of our organization. I had only a passing knowledge of our church operations…though I later learned in depressing detail just how—through threats, bullying, and blackmail—the KGB had co-opted the church in the Soviet Union…The KGB’s notorious Fifth Directorate, in charge of ideology and dissidents, had a stranglehold over the church inside the Soviet Union, and also had recruited scores of priests in Russian eimgre communities throughout the world.The Russian Orthodox Church in America was split, but the faction that remained loyal to Moscow was riddled with KGB agents…When I ran for a seat in the Soviet parliament in 1990, I once again ran smack into the church and its KGB-controlled leadership. During campaigning in my district, in the Southern Russian region of Krasnodar, the local bishop spoke publicly and denounced me as a traitor. I couldn’t sit silently, particularly because I knew that the Krasnodar bishop, Isidor, had cooperated closely with the KGB for years and was one of the church’s more despicable informers.” And so, at one point, when the bishop attacked Kalugin, he responded, in front of a crowd, “You in the church hierarchy are all KGB stooges and you have the insolence to brand me a traitor? I know, Bishop Isidor, that you are a longtime KGB agent and I know who your case officer is.”
Kalugin observed that a priest simply didn’t rise in the church’s hierarchy unless he collaborated with the KGB.
And so the Orthodox Church in Russia was totally compromised and ended up doing the bidding of the Russian secret police. There are a lot of independent church groups in Russia and the Ukraine today and this is a situation they have got to learn to watch out for.
Vladimir Putin is an ex-KGB man. According to some sources I have seen he would like to construct a new Russia somewhat along the lines of the old Soviet model. If he is able to pull this off, then what will that mean for the Christian churches in Russia? That’s something they need to think about. And if Russia’s “disbanded” (actually decentralized) state security, the FSB, gains more power that it supposedly now has, what will that mean for churches in Russia and other places?
What will it mean for churches in this country if the Cultural Marxism that has become so prevalent in many of them is not exposed for what it really is—Marxism? I realize most Christians today just don’t want to deal with any of this. They are waiting for the “rapture” to remove them so they don’t have to mess with it and they can just let this old world go to hell while they escape.
Folks, suppose it doesn’t quite happen that way? Suppose the Lord wants us all to stay around for awhile and learn to deal with some of this stuff. Suppose He wants us to hang around and contend for the culture we see around us—to actually contend for it with a redemptive purpose? Suppose He wants us to get our noses out of those Scofield “Bible” Notes and deal with the real world? Are we willing to do that? What we leave our children and grandchildren in the next couple generations may well depend on how we answer that question.
SOURCE revised history
