Part Two: Christianity and Marxism: A Dialectical Deception
Lesson Overview
Christianity and Marxism: A Dialectical Deception, Part Two with Brannon Howse
This session continues Howse’s argument that Marxist method has entered the evangelical church. He examines a specific influential author, traces the strategy of co-opting rather than persecuting churches, and closes with a point-by-point contrast between what he calls the true church and the false church. Use this overview to review the key points after watching the full video.
The Governing Text
Howse opens with Colossians 2:8, warning believers not to be taken captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men rather than according to Christ. He notes the phrase can be rendered as the fables or lies of men, and makes it the frame for the whole session.
Defining the Terms
Because he uses the label repeatedly, Howse pauses to define what he means by a “neo-Calvinist,” listing several hallmarks he associates with the movement: liberation theology (blending Christianity with socialist economics), replacement theology (holding that the church has replaced Israel), dominion theology (holding that the church transforms culture to establish God’s kingdom on earth), and mysticism in the form of contemplative or centering prayer and spiritual formation, which he traces to Catholic mystical traditions.
Underlying these, he argues, is a defective anthropology: the idea that man is essentially a product of his environment, so that the right conditions will produce good people. Against this he sets the biblical teaching that the heart is deceitful above all things, meaning the problem is sin rather than circumstance.
The Case Against a Particular Author
The bulk of the session examines Tim Keller, whom Howse identifies as among the most influential figures in this movement and a co-founder of the Gospel Coalition. He tells two personal stories of friends who encountered Keller’s influence without knowing anything about the man, which he uses to argue the influence is widespread and largely unexamined.
He draws on two critics. Timothy Kaufman, in an article titled Workers of the Church Unite, argues that Keller’s book Every Good Endeavor restates Marx’s theory of alienation and that his treatment of wages and his recommended model organizations reflect the same tradition. E.S. Williams, in his book The New Calvinists, argues that Keller quotes several thinkers in the Marxist and liberationist tradition without identifying their commitments, effectively presenting a social vision as biblical wisdom. Howse notes that Williams’s book carries an endorsement from the current pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, the London church once pastored by Charles Spurgeon, which he offers as evidence that this is not simply a Calvinist versus Arminian dispute.
Howse pauses here to place himself, saying he is neither Calvinist nor Arminian but holds both divine election and human responsibility together, describing himself as a Biblicist.
He then presents what he considers primary-source evidence, stressing that he spent hours locating original documentation rather than relying on secondhand citations. He points to a statement on the church’s own website that the purpose of salvation is the restoration of the material world, which he reads as a fundamentally material rather than spiritual understanding of redemption. He also cites a video in which Keller urges church leaders to build the church not for themselves but for non-Christians, the poor, and the less mature.
Why Bring Unbelievers In?
Howse connects the “church for non-Christians” idea back to the dialectic. Citing Robert Klenck’s analysis of the seeker-sensitive movement, he argues that continual change in an institution requires an opposing element inside it. If everyone in a church stands on Scripture as final authority, nothing changes. Introduce a contrary element, and the pressure toward consensus begins, which requires someone to compromise.
He argues this is why doctrinal specifics get softened: to avoid making the visitor uncomfortable. Against this he cites Ephesians 4, that the church exists to equip the saints for ministry, and notes the word for church, ekklesia, means the called-out ones.
Purchasing the Church Instead of Persecuting It
Howse then lays out what he considers the larger strategy. Persecution, he argues, historically strengthens the church, so the more effective approach is to co-opt it.
He quotes John D. Rockefeller’s vision of denominational distinctives set aside and the church leading in establishing the kingdom of God on earth, and observes that denominational identity has in fact blurred, so that the same social-justice emphasis now appears across traditions that once held distinct confessions.
Drawing on Edgar Bundy’s Collectivism in the Churches, he argues that the social gospel used the phrase “kingdom of God” as a disguise, replacing individual salvation through personal faith with a collective vision achieved through redistribution and economic justice.
He then describes a mechanism: churches reconceived as community organizations become eligible for foundation and government funding, but on the condition that the money not be used for preaching the gospel or evangelism. His conclusion is a phrase he repeats: they do not have to persecute the church if they can purchase the church.
He supports the broader claim with Richard Wurmbrand’s congressional testimony after fourteen years in a communist prison, that the goal was not to win clergy to communism but to win them to a left-wing Christianity that supports it. Howse summarizes the strategy in three words: deceive, disciple, destroy, and describes the pattern by which a congregation moves from traditional to transitional to transformed, with longtime members told they are obstructing progress.
He also connects the “three-legged stool” of government, business, and the social sector to management theorist Peter Drucker’s influence on several megachurch leaders, and cites the occult writer Alice Bailey’s expectation of a coming synthesis in business, religion, and politics as evidence, in his view, that this convergence was anticipated in spiritually dark quarters.
The True Church and the False Church
Howse closes with the contrast he has spent years developing, which is the most useful summary of the message.
The true church holds the biblical gospel; the false church holds a social gospel. The true church teaches individual salvation; the false church teaches collective salvation. The true church pursues the Great Commission; the false church pursues cultural transformation. The true church makes disciples; the false church makes community activists. The true church has pastors; the false church has community organizers. The true church seeks biblical unity; the false church seeks group consensus. The true church exegetes Scripture; the false church contextualizes it to the culture. The true church believes God brings His kingdom; the false church believes it builds the kingdom. The true church expects the world to end in God’s judgment; the false church expects the world to evolve into heaven on earth. The true church engages in spiritual warfare; the false church in class warfare. The true church believes the Word and the Spirit change lives; the false church believes the right environment changes lives.
He anchors the point in John 18:36, where Jesus says His kingdom is not of this world, and Daniel 2, that God brings His kingdom rather than men building it.
The Closing Charge
Howse warns that a false dominant church will eventually turn on the true church, aligning with governing authorities against it, which he connects to the religious system of Revelation 17. His question to listeners is whether they will join the consensus or remain part of a faithful remnant.
He acknowledges the loneliness of that position, noting how many people write to say their own families consider them unstable for holding to these convictions, and says this is part of why the conference exists, so believers can encourage one another. He closes with Romans 8:18, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed in us.
Key Terms
Contextualization: adapting the presentation of Scripture to the surrounding culture, which Howse contrasts with exegesis.
Liberation theology: the blending of Christian theology with Marxist economic analysis.
Dominion theology: the view that the church is to transform culture and establish God’s kingdom on earth.
Spiritual formation: contemplative practices Howse traces to Catholic mysticism rather than to Scripture.
Collective salvation: redemption understood as social transformation rather than individual conversion.
Communitarianism: the merging of government, business, and the social sector, sometimes called the third way.
Verses to Know
Colossians 2:8, do not be taken captive by philosophy and empty deception. Jeremiah 17:9, the heart is deceitful above all things. Ephesians 4:12, equipping the saints for the work of ministry. John 18:36, my kingdom is not of this world. Daniel 2:44, God sets up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Romans 8:18, present sufferings compared with coming glory.
Takeaway
Howse argues the most effective attack on the church is not persecution but purchase, replacing individual salvation with collective salvation and the Great Commission with cultural transformation, so believers should test what they are being taught against Scripture and be willing to stand apart when consensus requires compromise.