By Dr. Fred Schwarz
Otis Galewood was a prime mover in foisting the centralized sponsoring church digression upon churches of Christ in the 1940s-50s. In recent years, he has been hailed as a hero among brethren who are plummeting deeper and deeper into the abyss of apostasy. He is a promoter par excellence and speaks “great swelling words” with much enthusiasm (Jude 16). His work was aimed at defeated Nazi Germany in earlier years, but later he spearheaded an effort based in Austria to reach into communist countries. Alas, brother Gatewood appears to be as ignorant of the real doctrines of communism as he is about the true doctrine of Christ! While arousing liberal brethren to support his programs designed to convert people from communism to Christ, brother Gatewood needs to study both more carefully himself. We are reminded that enthusiasm and good intentions are not enough. The following is by Dr. Fred Schwarz, Christian Anti-Communism Crusade (bulletin), 15 May 1989, P. 0. Box 890, Long Beach, CA 90801-0890. Schwarz is a Baptist.
Evangelical Misinformation Concerning Communism
If a prize were to be awarded to the individual who could compress the greatest amount of false information into a single paragraph, the author of the following statement would be the likely winner.
Communists Are Advocates of Practical Christianity
The communists themselves are in some ways advocates of Christianity. They teach truthfulness, honesty, thrift, industry, dedication, equality of all, monogamy, chastity, sobriety, diligence, obedience, humility, patience, love and honor in the family, productivity, fruitfulness and erect great schools and hospitals, and give support to their aged. All these things are fruits of Christianity. The communists, in practice cannot be said to be heathen. They are in many respects, practicing Christians, even though with their mouths they deny Christianity. One communist guide in Kiev pointed with pride to the statue of prince Vladimir, on the banks of the Dreiper River, who brought Christianity to the Soviet Union. I asked: “Have things been better since Christianity was brought to the Soviet Union?” She replied: “Very definitely because before Christianity came here our people worshipped stones. Now we worship God.” They deny God, yet they confess him, not only in action, but also in words.
This statement is contained in an article entitled, “The Communists As Ministers of God,” which is authorized by Otis Gatewood and published in the magazine, World- Wide Contact, Vol. XXIII, No. 3. The masthead of the magazine proclaimed that it is “Communicating Worldwide Evangelism in the 20th Century. ” Dr. Otis Gatewood is listed as one of the editors, and his address is given as: Box 15, A-1235, Vienna, Austria. The other editor listed is David Gatewood with the address: Christian Counseling Center, 424 No. Lake Avenue, Pasadena, California 91101.
The statement that the Communists teach the qualities listed is egregiously false. The truth is that the Communist leaders teach the exact opposite of what the statement alleges concerning most of the qualities.
Since it would require a book to present what the Communists teach on each of the qualities listed, I will select “equality for all” and document what the Communist leaders, such as Marx, Lenin and Gorbachev have taught concerning it.
People Are Unequal – Basic Communist Doctrine
Karl Marx taught that people are fundamentally unequal. They are divided into two unequal classes by the circumstances of their birth and upbringing. One class is good, the other evil; one is destined for life, the other for extermination.
These two classes are the proletariat or working class, and the bourgeoisie, the middleclass owners of property.
In the famous “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” Karl Marx states:
Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and proletariat (p. 41, Progress Publishers, Moscow edition).
You must, therefore confess that by “individual” you mean no other person than the bourgeois, than the middle class owner of property. This person must, indeed, be swept out of the way, and made impossible (p. 66).
When the Communists have conquered power, their practice has been guided by these statements of Marx. Under Lenin, “justice” was administered by considering the class to which the defendant belonged. As an official of the security apparatus, the Cheka stated:
We are not carrying out war against individuals. We are exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class. We are not lookingfor evidence or witnesses to reveal deeds or words against the Sovietpower. Thefirst question we ask is: to what class does he belong, what are his origins, upbringing, education, or profession? These questions define thefate of the accused (Destructive Generation, p. 289).
One recent example of the extermination of the “unequal” class, the bourgeoisie, by the Communists, is the hideous slaughter of all who could read and write, or who had soft hands, by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. To have been a doctor before Communist conquest was punished by death.
Every Communist leader, from Marx to Gorbachev, has repeatedly stressed the inequality of people and classes. Let us skip over Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Mao Tse-tung, and come to Gorbachev. He states:
On this point we want to be perfectly clear., socialism has nothing to do with equalizing. Socialism cannot ensure conditions of life and consumption in accordance with the principle, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” (Perestroika, p. 100).
It needs to be noted that Gorbachev defines socialism as the first stage of Communism. The Soviet Union is ruled by Communists, but these rulers impose Socialism, not “Communism.” The USSR is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Overwhelming evidence could also be presented that the Communists do not teach or practice most of the other qualities attributed to them in the article.
Attention to the instruction of 2 Peter 1:5 is indicated:
“Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge.
Ignorance opens the door to deception and may prove to be as deadly as treason.
(One of our readers sent me the copy of Contact magazine. It is postmarked Mar. 30, 1989. I found no date on the magazine, only the numbers – Vol. XXIII, No. 3. I assumed it was a recent publication, but a careful reading of the contents suggests it was published a decade ago. This rebuttal is 10 years overdue, but the delusions exposed still exist today in many minds.)
Guardian of Truth XXXIII: 18, pp. 564-565
September 21, 1989