THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE AVERAGE COMMUNIST AND THE AVERAGE CHRISTIAN CHURCH MEMBER
The following is an intentional misquotation of Douglas Hyde’s book, Dedication and Leadership. See if you can guess which words are being misquoted.
“Christians know there is a battle going on all over the world which in the final analysis is a struggle for men’s hearts, minds and souls … Their aim is a Christian World … Christianity becomes the dominant thing in the life of the Christian. It becomes something to which he gives himself completely.”
—Douglas Hyde
Correction: : Here’s what Hyde actually wrote: “Communists know there is a battle going on all over the world which in the final analysis is a struggle for men’s hearts, minds and souls …Their aim is a Communist World…Communism become the dominant thing in the life of the Communist. It becomes something to which he gives himself completely.”
Douglas Hyde served the Communist Party in Great Britain as editor of its major newspaper, he Daily Worker and was one of its most prominent leaders for 20 years until he was converted to Christianity. The above quote is taken from his book, Dedication and Leadership (This book, in this writer’s opinion, is worth its weight in gold and should be read by every Christian, especially pastors). The fact that what Mr. Hyde wrote about Communism is true explains the incredible growth and power of this monstrous system that continues to thrive and strive for world dominion.
In 1903 Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin and seven followers as serious as himself launched a campaign driven by deceit and a ruthless commitment to whatever brutality might be deemed necessary, to bring the Russian Empire under communist domination. Ten years later, Lenin’s followers had increased to 40,000 and all of Russia was under, or in the process of coming under, communist rule.
Today, nearly two billion people are enslaved under the atheistic, communist system of government, and unless there is a mighty intervention by God on our behalf, Americans will soon be added to this number. How has this happened? It has happened because, as Douglass Hyde said, “Communists know there is a battle going on all over the world which in the final analysis is a struggle for men’s hearts, minds and souls … Their aim is a Communist World … Communism becomes the dominant thing in the life of the Communist. It becomes something to which he gives himself completely.”
Christians Should Know That There is a Battle Going On
Christians should know that there is “a battle going on all over the world which, in the final analysis, is a struggle for men’s hearts, minds and souls.” Mankind is lost, dead in trespasses and in sin, and a battle is being waged by followers of Christ to see people redeemed by the blood of the cross, delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God (Col. 1:13, 14). This battle is being waged against Satan and all the powers of darkness, whose aim is to keep people under the curse of sin and steadily on course to hell (2 Cor. 4:3, 4; Eph. 6:12; 2 Tim. 3:13; 2 Pet. 1-3).
Does the average Christian appear to know that there is a battle going on for the hearts, minds and souls of people all over their world; that there is a “cause” bigger than themselves that they should be involved in? Apparently, they do not.
Many professed Christians and churches are by definition, and demonstrably, as carnal as can be; clueless to what is going on around them in terms of spiritual realities and their impact. They are ignorant of, or indifferent to, the fact that “there is a battle going on all over the world which in the final analysis is a struggle for men’s hearts, minds and souls.” This explains, More than anything else, why godless Communism has exploded all over the world, while Christianity relatively speaking, after 2,000 years (with the exception of intermittent times of revival) has made so little progress.
Christians Should Have a World View and a World Vision
In, Dedication and Leadership, Douglas Hyde said of the communists, “Their aim is a Communist world.” Karl Marx, in his Communist Manifesto, wrote, “The communists disdain to conceal their aims. They have a world to win.” Before Lenin died in 1924, he announced his plan for communist domination of the world, saying in part, “First, we will take Eastern Europe, then the masses of Asia, then we will encircle the United States which will be the last bastion of capitalism. We will not have to attack. It will fall like an overripe fruit into our hands.” Communists have stayed the course with their plan, and now at least half of those who control our government and our institutions are committed to communist ideology, and approximately half of our adult population either consciously or mindlessly supports them and their ideology. Why is this the case? Because far too many Christians have appeared aimless in terms of winning their own country, much less the world, for Christ and an unadulterated Christianity.
Communists have always known what their business is, and they have resolutely and relentlessly tended to their business. They’ve “stayed with the stuff,” keeping the main thing the main thing, which for them is a “A Communist world.” They’ve stayed goal-oriented and focused on bringing every human being on earth into the Communist fold. Christians on the other hand, in modern times, have rarely acted with any such clarity of purpose or laser-like focus on the mandate we have to bring the message of Christ to the whole world and make obedient disciples of every convert.
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world.”
— Matthew 28:19, 20
Christians can turn this world upside down for Christ. This was done in the first century AD. Shortly after Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension, it is recorded that “all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks,” and that Paul and his brethren had “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6; Acts 19:10). In modern times, Christianity has, from time to time, shown itself to be a powerful force in the world. It can happen again.
Christians Should Give Themselves Completely To Christ and His Cause
As I read the description given in Dedication and Leadership, of the communist vision for the world and of the limitless sacrifices they are willing to make for their cause, I couldn’t help but wonder if the likes of Lenin and Trotsky had not read the Book of Acts. I seriously wondered if they had studied it carefully, then perverted and adapted the principles of discipleship and strategy they found there to guide and direct their own global agenda.
Perhaps they discovered that the secret to the success of those early church members lay in the fact that Christianity had become the dominant thing in the lives of those converted to Christ, and that they had given themselves completely to winning the world to Christ. Perhaps this is why Douglas Hyde could write, “Communism becomes the dominant thing in the life of the Communist. It becomes something to which he gives himself completely.” He further writes:
“Communist Party members have it ingrained in them from the beginning
that being a communist means includes a willingness to sacrifice all that they
have in terms of time, energy and resources to the cause of the party. They
are taught to endure any hardship or persecution and be ready to sacrifice
their very lives in the interest of the advancement of Communism. Referring to
the these things, Lenin said, ‘It is necessary to be able to withstand all of this,
to agree to any and every sacrifice.’”
The above quotation sounds familiar to those who are knowledgeable of the terms of discipleship outlined in the New Testament. Jesus never glossed over the terms involved in true discipleship.
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace,
but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and
the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother
in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son
or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his
cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.”
—Matt. 10:34-38
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought
with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God's.”
— Cor. 6:19, 20
The claims that the Lord has on us and what He expects of us are stated above and reiterated throughout the Word of God. Every Christian should be knowledgable of, and gladly submissive to these claims.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable,
and perfect, will of God.”
—Rom. 12:1, 2
Real Christianity calls its converts to a challenge as big as the whole world. It makes demands on them that will necessitate their drawing on all the grace and strength available to them in Christ. It turns them into instruments God can use for “the pulling down of strongholds” and turning “the world upside down” (2 Cor. 10:4; Acts 17:6). The “gates of hell” including all the efforts of Communism don’t stand a chance against this kind of Christianity’ (Matt. 16:18).
The difference between the average disciple of Communism and today’s average professed disciple of Christ and church member is that the average Communist makes Communism the dominant thing in his life while the average Christian neither approaches or aspires to this level of dedication to the cause of Christ and His Church. Surely, “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Pet. 4:17).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
—John 8:32