I’ve previously read about the new book from Lighthouse Trails Publishers, titled: A Christian Perspective on the Social Justice Movement, by multiple authors and hadn’t got to order it yet when a friend sent me a copy. This book is a must-have/read by Christians.
The “social justice” movement includes Roman Catholics, ecologists, environmentalists, New Agers, Democrats and Leftists in general, etc. These people have so disrupted the USA that it’s getting more and more difficult to find the nation our Founders established!
To give you a taste for this book so that you will want to purchase your own copy, this lengthy review will really only give you just some highlights. What you will see below are the chapters and subsections, with some citations from some of these chapters. As I usually do, I have put direct quotations in blue and quotes cited by the person in blue will be maroon. Enjoy,
Chapter 1, Carl Teichrib: All For One and Theft For All, pg.11-30. Bending Minds; Catholic Social Justice; Marxist Social Justice; Arousing Envy—Disguised as Virtue; Getting Our Terms Right.
The common good may sometimes demand that the right to own be limited by public involvement in the planning or ownership of certain sectors of the economy. Support of private ownership does not mean that anyone has the right to unlimited accumulation of wealth.
U.S. Catholic bishops 1986 letter “Economic Justice For All.”
Roman Catholic hierarchy over the past hundred plus years has increasingly bridged “social justice” with economic and political collectivism. In this sense, the Holy See has become a cheerleading squad for the United Nations’ system of socialist management. … Pope Francis, the current pope, openly embraces social justice concepts and has frequently called for “global wealth redistribution” for the common good.
Today we see social justice linked to a myriad of radical movements, including environmentalism. Nice sounding morally high terms arise from this Marxist-green marriage: “Eco-justice,” “green justice,” and “climate justice.”
Chapter 2, Berit Kjos: Social Justice and the New Morality, pg.31-38. The Roots and Results of Social Justice; The Marxist Meaning of Social Justice; Freedom: The Opposite of Social Justice.
Hate and Envy serve as driving forces behind socialism. By idolizing the leader (Hitler forced churches to hang his picture over their altars), popularizing solidarity, and inciting rage toward dissenters, socialist dictators have gained unthinkable power. Learning Soviet triumphs, Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf:
“The first task of propaganda is to win people for subsequent organization…. The second task of propaganda is the disruption of the existing state of affairs and the permeation of this state of affairs with the new doctrine.”
Chapter 3, Linda Harvey: Human Rights, Social Justice, and the “Gay” Spin for Kids, pg.39-44. Social Justice at School; Fixing Schools by Creating Student Revolutionaries.
If your son or daughter comes home with an assignment on “social justice,” make sure you look through the backpack. “Homophobia” and “heterosexism” may be some of the “injustices” taught in these lessons.
In troubled school districts like Boston and Chicago, the social justice concept is sometimes much more than one lesson. Now, themed high schools called “social justice academies” are an experiment to fix failing schools. These urban schools are essentially taking disadvantaged kids and under the guise of “excellence,” have begun training teens as left-wing activists.
Chapter 4, Manning Johnson (1908-1958): The Web, pg. 45-50. Used and Misused for a Political Agenda: A discussion of Communism in the USA.
Chapter 5, Carl Teichrib: Spiritual Perestroika in America: Building a Society of Social Justice, pg.51-62. A New Way of Thinking and Acting, Mystical Marxism, Spiritual Perestroika, A Global Civilization, The Spiritual Politics of “Oneness.”
Chapter 6, Mike Oppenheimer: The Turning, pg.63-74. Cuba;The Hegelian Dialectic; Society Being Dismantled; As the Church Goes, So Goes the Nation; Riots, Protests, and January 6th; It’s All Critical; Covid Dilemma; Two Battles.
Lying has always been with humanity but has now reached epidemic proportions having no limits. I’m shocked when I occasionally hear the truth from those who more often lie. The fact is, lies are accepted more quickly than the truth because those who lie do it so well. There are lies in the pulpits of the church, lies in politics, lies in medicine; everywhere one turns, it’s getting increasingly difficult to get a straight and honest answer.
There is a saying, “power to the people,” but now we are finding the power is to the few who want to exploit the masses. So now “the people” means the few—really, the wrong people! To certain leaders in government, the idea it to run over others forcibly, if necessary, but this is not what was meant by “we the people”! They were elected to serve the people, not the other way around.
Abraham Lincoln said during his own tumultuous times, “The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert that Constitution.”
Karl Marx said that, “The first battleground is the rewriting of history.”
How a society treats the young, the unborn, and the elderly shows where that society is. If there is no protection or care, then you know your humanity has diminished. We see this on the streets with attacks on the elderly, and we saw this in care facilities during the height of Covid.
For the most part, true critical thinking in the schools and universities has vanished; it is rarely taught by the professors is considered truth (this is called indoctrination, not education). Students are agitated instead of educated.
Chapter 7, Lighthouse Trails Editors: Emergent Manifesto of Hope Despair, pg.77-84.
Emerging Church Coming Out of the Closet.
When [Doug] Pagitt speaks of “expanding life of God” and “new creation,” he means we cannot contain truth or reality within the confines of the written Word of God but that truth is always changing and being created.
Chapter 8, Mary Danielson: A Social Justice “Gospel” Pioneer, pg.85-98. So Who Is Jim Wallis?; A Social Justice Social Gospel; The Social Justice “Gospel” and Israel; Social Justice Beliefs; Spiritual Politics and the Theory of Revolution.
Many Christian believers are expressing concern today, and rightly so, over “social justice” or the “social justice gospel.” Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners magazine, is one of the top “change agents” in the social justice movement within the evangelical/Protestant church, and the timing of his surge in popularity cannot be ignored, considering: 1) the ideology of the former Obama administration; 2) the advance of liberal theology via the emerging church and church-growth movements; and 3) the current state of apostasy the church finds itself in today. Are all these connected? Through this man and other key players, they are indeed. And by examining Wallis and a few others, we can gain important insights.
One government source defines “social justice” as, “The equitable distribution of advantages, assets, and benefits among all members of a society.” Without turning this into political science 101, I’ll keep it simple by saying that this is also the definition for “social-ism”: a government-controlled economy and the redistribution of wealth.
Wallis says in his book that the majority of his audience is under thirty, and half of those are under 25. Worth noting also, Wallis, Campolo, McLaren, and Claiborne have spoken frequently at universities and colleges—some secular, many evangelical. This is exactly what happened in the ‘60s. The youth became the target. And today’s liberal progressive thinkers got their worldview from the counterculture agendas of America’s universities.
Chapter 9, Roger Oakland: A Christian Perspective on the Environment, pg.99-118.
Parliament of the World’s Religions and “Mother Earth”; The Christian View (and Responsibility) of the Environment; Pope Francis’ Interspiritual “Global Common Good”; A Confused View on Creation and the Creator.
Christianity should not be blamed for environmental genocide; the problem has been created by mankind’s selfish lust for power and greed.
Chapter 10, Editors: Social Justice and Elections, pg.119-128. How Conservative Christians Are Being Manipulated and Ridiculed; They Like Jesus But Not the Church; Twenty Million Participants.
In a CBS Broadcast, anchorman Antonio Mora suggests there may have been over twenty million participants in the emerging church movement in the United States alone by 2006. Even half that number would be enough to change the results of a presidential election.
Chapter 11, Editors: Critical Race Theory, pg.129-148. Resolution 9 at SBC; What is Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality?; Black Lives Matter Movement; A Voice From the Past Eerily Describes Today’s Social Unrest; When God Discloses the Heart of Man; True Racial Reconciliation.
[Bob] Woodson explains that what intelligent blacks are really hearing is that blacks are incapable of rising above their condition until and unless whites clear the way for them. Consequently, he finds the practice, now instituted in many colleges under Critical Race Theory, to be patronizing at best. Even many evangelical groups have adopted CRT.
Chapter 12, Mary Danielsen: S is For Social Justice, pg.149-172. The Language of Today’s Cultural “Revolution”; Social Justice vs. God’s Word.
Chapter 13, Cedric Fisher: The Unacknowledged War and the Wearing Down of the Saints, pg.173-182. The Great Shut-Down; Shutting Down or Staying Alert?
Consider the situation today. Evidence suggests that Christianity is disintegrating from the inside out. Christian leaders are allowing (either through their silence or their promotion) millions of Christians to be introduced to heretical doctrines and practices. The effects of this landslide of heresy are pushing biblical Christianity into obscurity. One of the heresies that has made major inroads is contemplative spirituality (a mystical spirituality often introduced through Spiritual Formation programs). It is going unchecked and ignored by the majority of Christian leaders, spreading throughout Christian colleges, seminaries, ministries, and denominations rapidly. People don’t realize that by embracing such a belief system, they are, in effect, rejecting the biblical concept of God’s nature because the to oppose each other. And the results of this are rejection of love for truth and unbridled acceptance of heretical and cultural trends.
Chapter 14, Bill Randles: This “Woke” Generation Needs Truth and Love, pg.183-186. Victims of the “Woke” Religion.
What a trap also to constantly be told you are part of the “privileged group” that has benefited at the expense of others. This is the new version of the doctrine of sin Unfortunately, there is no forgiveness available. Small wonder so much suicide takes place among the young. They are told there is one possibility for redemption among the “privileged,” and that would be to hate yourself and your culture to the point where you are willing to enter into the struggle.
Not only are these new “jokes’ teaching Marxist to the core, but on a deeper level, they are Satanic. Satan has devised a new civic religion to capture the children: “wokeness.” I have never seen any teaching which is so divisive as this new “woke” religion. Many are losing family members to this new cult, which is heavily favored with money and support in corporate America and in the media. This is a spiritual war and must be fought spiritually.
Chapter 15, David Dombrowski: Our Present Situation—Finding Our Way, pg.187-194. An analogy of Finding our Way; Frequent Sightings; The Complexity of the Day; Where Lies Our Focus?; The Wearing Down of the Saints; A Simple Solution; Seek Ye First.
There are preachers today who are courageously speaking against cultural atrocities (such as abortion and homosexuality), and they are to be commended. But many of these same preachers are neglecting to talk about spiritual deception within the church. It’s as if they are afraid that if they name names or identify false teachings that they are causing division and hurting the unity of the church. But if this reasoning were correct, then it would nullify the apostle Paul’s ministry because much of his work was in warning the church about deceptive beliefs; and his teaching was that those who cause division in the church are, in fact, causing it by teaching false doctrines.
Appendix: The Greatest Question in the World; What Will You Do With Jesus?
