The Threat

When I was growing up, the whole McCarthyism of the 1950's was over -- before my time -- but the Communist threat was not. We had monthly drills where the sirens would go off and we'd have to get under our desks and cover our eyes and necks in the hopes that the nuclear weapons of the Soviets wouldn't kill us. (What you can't see won't hurt you, right?) I served in the military in the '80's and learned about the Soviet war machine, their weaponry, their danger to us. I was around when the wall fell. You know, the Berlin Wall. Good times. I remember when Reagan said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" And two years later they did. I remember the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early '90's when so many republics under their thumb were released and gained their independence. The Soviet Union is no more. The Communist threat is at an end!

Or is it?

Keith Green was a Christian musician. He died in an airplane crash in 1982. One of the songs he wrote was No One Believes In Me Anymore, a song about how Satan is able to get around so much easier now that he has convinced everyone that he no longer exists. I wonder if Communism has taken the same tack. Is Communism really dead? While most of popular thought might say it is, Revolution USA doesn't think so. They still promote the violent overthrow of democracy and capitalism, saying that "Communism is ... necessary." Since Communism stands staunchly and violently opposed to democracy, capitalism, and religion (specifically Christianity) (Leslie Mason, a British Communist, wrote, "No one can be consistently both a Christian and a Communist."), it would be wise not to be lulled into a false sense of peace. Communism is not dead.

When I was growing up, we actually had a different "Communist scare" in mind, however. We were warned that the commies would attack us from within. We were concerned that they would eat us away from the inside and let us fall on our own. It probably sounds paranoid, but it did not originate from us:

America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within. - Joseph Stalin.

Well, Stalin died in 1953, but his legacy lives on. His successor, Nikita Crushchev, said, "We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism." "Small doses of socialism."

Now, of course it's mere paranoia, but one has to wonder anyway. For 50 years now we've seen an erosion of patriotism in America. In the 1940's, no one blinked an eye when they were called to send troops and make sacrifices for the country. Today, it's considered almost immoral. Lindsey Williams was appalled at the decline in patriotism in the '60's. But where the Americans of the 1950's were proud patriots, so many Americans today view their country with shame. Look what we did to the slaves! Look what we did to the native Americans! Look what we did to Iraq! Oh, we're awful! (Note that recognizing mistakes of the past does not require that we have no patriotism in the present, a fact that seems to escape a lot of people.)

Nor can it really be denied that there has been an erosion of morality in this country. We all know the quaint world of the '50's where housewives took care of their homes and kids listened to their parents, where divorce was rare and ugly and sex was clearly a function of marriage. Today the television assures us that "There's no reason to get married to have a family" and it is the norm in "The Secret Life of The American Teenager" to have sex with whomever and get pregnant and maybe even kill that baby before its birth becomes a problem. What was shameful to the adults of the 60's is recommended by the adults of our time.

The decline of America's spiritual life has been interesting. In some ways, Americans are just as spiritual as ever. "Spiritualism" is everywhere. People like spiritualism. Religion? No, not so much. "I just feel like I'm one with the universe." Christianity? No, certainly not. And while the numbers still hold that some 75% of Americans classify themselves in some sense as "Christian", since only 5% of them claim it makes any difference in their lives, I'd have to question that claim to Christianity. No, we've surrendered any sort of "Christian America" to a warm feeling about spirituality and a large animosity to anything genuinely Christian.

In other words, the threats of Stalin long since dead are working their way through America as we speak. We largely just nod and think, "Hey, change is a good thing. At least we're not racists anymore." And while I can certainly agree that this is a good thing (even if it's not entirely true), I have to wonder how long before Revolution has their way and America goes down for good. To me the parallels of American direction with Stalin's suggestion is chilling. One thing I know for sure. If it does happen, it will be when the Lord commands.