...ahh religion....the opium of the people
This, of course, was said by Karl Marx, and combined with eaglesway talking about class warfare, I am starting to get a little nervous that the precepts of communism which is making its big move in our country today are starting to look attractive to God's people. We all know historically the outcome of Communism, worse than any church you can imagine because it is godless and insists on being godless. It is brutal beyond comprehension. Hundreds of millions of people have died at its hands. Talk about doctrines of demons. What did Satan do in the garden? He didn't throw out all of God's words, he just tweeked them a little, in a bid to make himself god.
The same is true of communism [and fascism], it insinuates itself into what already exists, not inventing something new. It tweeks the meaning of God's words, making them of no effect. Did God really say....? Here is an exerpt from an interesting article:
Russian Orthodox Theology Flipped To CommunismIn an article written by another Russian, Arno Kolz 4, we see that national traditions were basic to Communist ideology:
Russian Orthodox religious teaching has always stressed cosmic over personal redemption. The duality of the City of man and the City of God was alien to Russian thought. God's immanence in history, as in nature, led to the conviction that the Eastern Orthodox Empire was to be transformed into the final heavenly kingdom. Thus, reliance on prophecy and a sense of historic mission, combining eschatology, and national aspirations are very old Russian traditions. It does not require too much intellectual or emotional adjustment to transfer this sense of mission into the Marxian framework, making the concept of the classless society the culmination of history. All the traditional elements are still present: universal, this -- worldly redemption, Russia's unique role and leadership, the attainment of an ideal society on Russian soil. Thus, Kruschev's boast, "We will bury you," had deeper roots than Communist ideology.
Similarly, in Russian tradition the Tsar was not merely wielder of the secular sword, leaving spiritual authority to the church and intellectual pursuits to academe but, as the "living icon of God," represented God's real presence in society and history. Today, the Russian Communist Party, through its leadership, claims to be the depository of all truth and to hold the key to the future. The "Party Line," as Orthodoxy before, consequently is infallible and ruthlessly enforced. Dissent is viewed at best as ignorance, at worst as treason. Education as encouragement for independent thought and judgment, as a search for truth and values, as stimulation for creative and humanitarian endeavors is, consequently, as lacking today as it was during much of Russia's history. Instead emphasis is placed on indoctrination, training requiring primarily automatic responses, and disciplines like the mathematical and most natural sciences, which rely heavily on application of learnt formulae.
Moreover, Tsarist autocracy was not primarily maintained by Cossack sabres and secret police, but much more significantly by the faith and loyalty of Orthodox believers. Similarly, the authority of the Communist Party rests primarily on the myth of its infallibility. Ironically, a bankrupt ideology must today serve as opiate of the people to keep the ruling clique in power. As a result, ideological indoctrination is continuing as a matter of high priority. How much the people believe their leaders is hard to determine, but it appears that a combination of devotion to their country and faith in the ultimate humanitarian claims of communism make the great majority of Russian people loyal supporters of the Soviet State. (Remember that this was written in 1968).
We can see in this how Communist thought derives from a distortion of God's Word. As man distorted God's revelation, and worked up governing theories, to control people through religion, they developed a system which Communists would later use. The Russian people have been taught for centuries that they were destined to rule the world. They were taught this by a church, which was in turn ruled by political power.5 How the world has suffered from the results.
http://davelivingston.com/opiate.htm
