KARL MARX – continuation

Proverbs 14:12  “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”

The theory of Karl Marx can be summed up in one sentence: “Abolition of private property.”

It is important to look at the ten planks of Marx’s theory that have so captivated the world. Here in the States as well as in Western Europe we see how these planks have been incorporated into the government. But it is imperative that we put these planks up against the Word of God. Kevin Swanson in his book APOSTATE lays out these ten planks that will be covered in this chapter and the next.

Plank #1: Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

I can pay the mortgage of my house off, but there will still be a yearly state tax that needs to be paid. I might think that I own my home, but if I miss several years of not paying my property tax, then I can see the government put my house up for sale for the taxes to get paid.  We have seen property taxation incorporated here in all fifty states.

The question is what does the Bible have to say about the confiscation of private property? Proverbs 23:10 “Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless.”

In 1 Kings chapter 21 we have the story of Ahab wanting the vineyard of Naboth and since Naboth did not want to sell the land to Ahab, through deceit Ahab stole the land.

The eighth commandment says that we should not steal; which brings in the idea of a person having private ownership.

Plank #2: A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

Since 1913 a graduated income tax was brought in the United States and since then it has only increased. Actually this is one way of spreading the wealth around that ‘progressives’ talk about. But again, is this what the Bible teaches?

Exodus 30:15 “The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives.”  Leviticus 19:15 “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.”

Here we see that God did not allow a graduated tax for construction of the 

temple or other public works and when it comes to the matter of the civil magistrate God said: “Do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.” Exodus 23:3

It would seem that taxation by the government in order to bring about equality does not pass the Biblical test.

Plank #3: Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

It would also seem that the Bible prohibits inheritance taxation just like it prohibits property taxation. “If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love.” Deuteronomy 21:15-17

Here the state is not even mentioned as a beneficiary.

Inheritance taxation has also been incorporated (as of 2012) at the federal level and in 23 states.

Plank #4: Confiscation of all the property of all emigrants and rebels.

God was concerned about the aliens (immigrants) since for over 400 years Israel was an alien in Egypt. “Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years.” Exodus 12:49

Plank #5: Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.

Some of our past leaders (Hamilton, Burr, Andrew Jackson) fought against establishment of a central bank, but in 1913 the United States created the Federal Reserve Bank.

A very informative book called THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND tells about the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank. It is interesting because even though it is called “Federal” it has nothing to do with the Federal government, but is controlled by just a handful of powerful banks.

The book mentions five goals in the formation of the Federal Reserve Bank:

(1) Stop the growing company vision for the nation’s newer banks.

(2) Obtain a franchise to create money out of nothing for the purpose of lending.

(3) Seize control of the reserves of all things so that the more reckless ones would not be exposed to currency drains and bank runs.

(4) Get the taxpayers to pick up the cartel’s inevitable losses.

(5) Convince Congress that the purpose was to protect the public.

We will look at the remaining five “planks” later, but we can see how our governments have incorporated so much of the philosophy of Karl Marx. The Iron Curtain may have come down, but the communist philosophy is still very active.

 KARL MARX – continued…

Genesis 2:24 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

Not only do we see that education is key in the battle for worldviews, but also the family and the church.

At the beginning of the industrial revolution Marx saw the capitalist corporations disintegrating the family by men, women and children leaving the “home economy” and he came to the conclusion that the statist system would be more effective; that families exist for the state. Marx saw that the nuclear family and its commitment to education and the raising of children would be an impediment to the ‘state.’ For Marx the abolishment of the family would eventually strengthen the state to take a more dominant role. Isn’t this what we are seeing today?

I thought it was interesting when Ron Paul, an American congressman, said in his farewell speech: “Expect the rapidly expanding homeschooling movement to play a significant role in the revolutionary reforms needed to build a free society with Constitutional protections. We cannot expect a Federal government controlled school system to provide the intellectual ammunition to combat the dangerous growth of government that threatens our liberties.”

In the Communist Manifesto, Marx argues for what he called an “openly legalized community of women.” Kevin Swanson said: “After 150 years of steady progress, this Marxist vision is finally being realized the world over. The majority of households in America are now led by single women. Over 50% of the children born to women under 30 years of age are illegitimate (this percentage is an increase from scarcely 5% in 1960) and women have killed millions of their own children through abortion, the abortifacient birth control pill, and emergency contraception. They do so to maintain their independence in the “community of women.”

We see radical feminism’s assault on Western culture today since the sixties in trying to restructure society, morality and even human nature. Radical feminism attacks not only man but the institution of the family, and is hostile to traditional religion. A radical magazine using the acronym for the National Organization for Women (NOW), declared on its cover: “NOW is the time to take back control of our lives. NOW is the time to make reproductive freedom for women of all classes, cultures, ages and sexual orientation a reality. NOW is not the time to assimilate to bureaucratic puppeteers who want to control, degrade, torture, kill and rape our bodies. NOW is the time to drop a boot heel on the groin of patriarchy. NOW is the time to fight back. NO GOD, NO MASTER, NO LAW.”

What a difference from the biblical woman of Proverbs 31. My sister-in-law, Carol, has done an excellent study on the Proverb 31 woman that is in book form and you can order it by going to the website www.authorhouse.com.

God has given us three institutions to hold in check ‘the fallen nature’ of man: family, church and government (rule of law). If we look at our Western society today we see how all three are under attack. The family, instead of being restored, is being redefined. The church, that should be the conscience of the nation, is being marginalized; we are to keep what we believe as a private matter and it is not to invade the public sector. The rule of law is slowly being eroded and man is beginning to do what he thinks is right in his own mind.

Francis Schaeffer said: “Soft days for evangelical Christians are past, and only a strong view of Scripture is sufficient.  Here is the great evangelical disaster – the failure of the evangelical world to stand for truth as truth. There is only one word for this – namely ACCOMMODATION. The evangelical church has accommodated to the world spirit of the age. First, there has been accommodation on Scripture, so that many who call themselves evangelicals hold a weakened view of the Bible and no longer affirm the truth of all the Bible teaches….This accommodation has been costly, first in destroying the power of the Scriptures to confront the spirit of our age; second, in allowing the further slide of our culture.  Obedience to God’s Word is the watershed. And the failure of the evangelical world to take a biblical stand on the crucial issues of the day can only be seen as a failure to live life under the full authority of God’s Word.”

KARL MARX AD 1818-1883

Matthew 7:16-20 “By their fruit you will recognize them.”

Robert L. Heilbroner writes: “We turn to Marx, therefore, not because he is infallible, but because he is inescapable.”

It was A.W. Tozer who coined the phrase “truth and error walk the same highway.” When we read about some of these philosophers there are some elements of truth that one can get a hold of, but what happens is that the bad becomes more prominent and others come along and push their erroneous ideas even further. We see this with those who followed Thomas Aquinas where they took that one flaw in his reasoning, when he suggested that apart from the Scripture there could be a second method of thought built on human reasoning, one step further.

In a letter to his father on March 2, 1837 Heilbroner’s father expressed concern that a demon may have infiltrated Marx’s heart. Perhaps the father was responding to a poem that Marx sent to his father on his 55^th birthday where he said: “My soul, true to God, is chosen for hell. I am great like God. I clothe myself in darkness like him.”

It is said that without Descartes and Locke there would have been no Kant and without Kant and Hegel there would have been no Marx. Satan tries to imitate God and in the spread of these erroneous ideas we see this being carried out through his disciples. For example, if we look at the moving of the Holy Spirit we see how He works.

We can trace Moravianism to Zinzendorf to Franke, but still we need to go further. We would have to go back to the Bohemian martyrs of the 15^th century and they would be traced back to John Huss who yielded up his life in the burning flames.

We see how this movement effected the 19th century. What we see is that there is a true apostolic succession through which the Holy Spirit is communicated from generation to generation. Moravianism was born out of Pietism, so Methodism was born out of Moravianism.

We go back and we see John Wesley sitting at the feet of Christian David, the Moravian carpenter and preacher at Herrnhut. Also God used another Moravian preacher by the name of Peter Bohler to show John Wesley his spiritual barrenness.

So the great influences in Marx’s life included Immanuel Kant, Hegel and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Charles Darwin. Kant believed that truth is derived from man as the ultimate source not God.

The Communist Manifesto is a good summary of Marx’s ideology and work. Regarding Marx’s Manifesto, Kevin Swanson concludes that Christianity is irrelevant. It would seem that he recognizes that ancient religions were overcome by Christianity, but in his warped thinking Christian ideas will give way to rationalist ideas. He states: “Communism abolishes eternal truths; it abolishes all religion and morality.”

It would seem that Marx’s explanation of history is class warfare and struggle for freedom and equality. For him, economic inequality is an injustice and must be rectified by revolution and forced redistribution. I think it is interesting to hear the ‘progressives’ here in the United States talking about economic inequality. When he was running for president, Barak Obama said to Joe (the plumber), “We must spread the wealth around.”

Is this the Scriptural task laid down by God for the government; that to take from those who have and give to those who do not have? This is not what God had in mind for prospering at our work. We are to give of our own free will.

Class conflict and envy goes against the tenth commandment of God: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:17) It is interesting that Marx considers class conflict and envy wrong or evil when he rejects God and His absolutes. Trying to eliminate class conflicts and envy through egalitarian measure (equal outcome) does not solve the problem of sin or the covetousness that resides in the heart of man. Only Christ can do that.

Marx opposed all forms of economic inequality. However, the Bible does not condemn pay scales, even for people doing the same work. Look at the parable of Matthew 20:1-15 where Jesus insists that a landowner could pay his workers whatever he would like to pay them, as long as the workers agree on the pay at the start of their work. There are other Scripture passages that would seem to indicate God forbidding the redistribution of wealth. (Exodus 23:3, 6, 7, 30:15) “The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives.”

Kevin Swanson says: “Humanist solutions to the problem of sin and slavery in this sin-cursed world will always turn out to be counter-productive.  Karl Marx’s solution has failed, and it will always fail. Petty tyrannies of the old world were replaced by a far more aggressive and extensive, highly centralized, bureaucratic tyranny.”

In closing, Marx understood perfectly that the battle of worldviews must be fought in the area of education, especially ‘government controlled’ education. I cannot go into it now because of lack of time and space, but we see the battle being fought here in my own country with the new syllabus coming out called “Common Core,” being forced on our children in the public schools.

It is not that we take our older children out of the public arena, but that we as parents and grandparents (guardians) of our children – give our children the ‘tools’ they need to fight these erroneous ideas and to be able to counteract them through Scripture, faith and prayer.  We are to protect our children from false teaching by raising them up in the truth of God’s Word, and with faith in God. Without this strong foundation, they will not know what to think, but will conform to the environment of the education they are put in from early childhood.  

Education was once considered the responsibility of parents and grandparents, along with biblical churches; the Holy Bible as the most important book of all. In our first American schools the Bible was taught and children were to know it from beginning to end, but this is not the case today in our schools and universities.  

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” Proverbs 1:7

The Bible and prayer have been thrown out of our public schools. We see the consequence of this as we watch all the grievous news reports.

We must understand the strongholds we are up against and to tear them down, and like Scripture says; to bring every thought into obedience to Christ.

KARL MARX AD 1818-1883

Matthew 7:16-20 “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

When we look at the philosophy and ideas of these men it would be good to keep in mind the axiom that the Lord laid down in the above verse. Can a bad tree bring forth good fruit? Or, to put it in another way: Can bad character produce good results or good fruit?

According to Paul Johnson (a historian of the modern age), Karl Marx (born in 1818 in Germany), had more impact upon the minds of men and women than perhaps anyone else in modern history. His writings inspired men like Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot and Fidel Castro – just to name a few. It is said that the Roman Empire killed between 8-10 million people over a period of four hundred years, but these men (inspired by the writing of Karl Marx) killed far more than that in the 20^th century alone. What will the 21^st century hold?

Here is a man that did not deny the existence of God, but denied the supremacy of God, and thought of himself as god. Kevin Swanson brings out that when reading a record of his writings and personal thoughts one is struck with the language, words and actions of Satan himself. (Isaiah14:12-15; Matthew 4:10; Cain in Genesis 4:1-8 as well as Judas in Matthew 26:49) Looking back one wonders if this man was possessed by the devil himself.

When he was young he wrote in his poem called Invocation of One in Despair: “So a god has snatched from me my all, in the curse and rack of destiny. All his worlds are gone beyond recall. Nothing but revenge is left to me. I shall build my throne high overhead.” 

What does Satan say in Isaiah 14:14? “I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian Pastor who was put into prison and suffered persecution under his government, wrote the famous book Tortured for Christ where he tells about his experience. In the late sixties soon after his release from prison I heard him speak in one of our Operation Mobilization conferences.

In his book Satan and Marx he said this about Karl Marx’s religious commitments: “Lunatcharski, a leading philosopher who was once minister of education of the U.S.S.R., wrote in Socialism and Religion that Marx set aside all contact with God and instead put Satan in front of marching proletarian columns. It is essential at this point to state emphatically that Marx and his comrades, while anti-God, were not atheists, as present-day Marxists claim to be. That is, while they openly denounced and reviled God, they hated a God in whom they believed. They did not question His existence, but rather challenged His supremacy. When the revolution broke out in Paris in 1871, the Communard Flourens declared, ‘Our enemy is God. Hatred of God is the beginning of wisdom.’”

In a work called The Last Judgment Marx mocks God and in another poem called The Player Marx speaks in the first person and says: “The hellish vapors rise and fill the brain. Till I go mad and my heart is utterly changed. See this sword. The prince of darkness sold it to me. For me he beats the time and gives the signs. Ever more boldly I play the dance of death.”

It would seem that Marx’s goal is destruction and we know from various New Testament verses that this is the agenda of the prince of demons who is known as Apollyon or Abaddon which is translated the “Destroyer.”

The weakening of the Christian West did not come about through one man. If there had not been the ideas of John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and  Immanuel Kant eroding the Christian roots there would probably not have been a Karl Marx. Again we see how idea upon idea or brick upon brick a fortress is built over a period of time – that needs to be torn down.

Karl Marx’s personal life was a disaster. Swanson, in his book Apostate says that out of the seven children by his wife Jenny and a child born from his maid, five died prematurely and two who out lived him committed suicide. His favorite daughter Eleanor married Edward Aveling, a Satanist known for his lectures on the “Wickedness of God.”

Marx’s life was filled with violent explosive arguments with his family that separated him from his mother as well as from his wife on occasions.

He blamed the Jews for the problems in the world and in an article in the New York Tribune he suggested the complete annihilation of the Jews. He felt that they were a cancer in society because through their organizations they had become so strong that they needed to be cut out of society. He also referred to the Slavic people as “ethnic trash” and prophesied that their very name will vanish.

In the weeklies ahead we will spend more time with Marx’s philosophy and influence, but what is amazing to me is how academia embraces him with such enthusiasm and wonder as one of the great philosophers and thinkers in the modern world.

Yes, he has been embraced by almost every country in the world.  Looking back over the 20^th century what can we say about the results: good or bad? If we are honest we need to choose the latter.