Communism in the United States is nothing new. It was documented in the 1950s when the Un-American Committee of Congress still existed. It was documented in the life of Henry F. Ward in the early days of the ACLU (1920-1940). However, covering a much earlier time period, Charles Nordhoff published a paper titled The Communistic Societies of the United States in which he reviewed five societies which adopted Communist principles.
One such society was the Society of Separatists at Zoar in Zoar, Ohio, first formed in 1817 and existing until 1898. While the society did not organize as Communist from the beginning, they adopted Communist principles once the society had gained strength. A key principle in the society was that marriage as well as sexual intercourse were discouraged. This also meant that child-bearing was discouraged. Society leaders expected members to work for the good of the community and believed that marriage, sexual relations, and children were mere distractions. Such principles have been the bedrock of Communism, and this is a key reason why divorce rates skyrocketed shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution, marriage was less common, and promiscuity increased.
In Zoar, marriage had to be approved by society leaders, and if children were born, it was the responsibility of the society to raise the children. Nordhoff wrote, “When marriages began among them, a rule was adopted that the children should remain in the care of their parents until they were three years old; at which time they were placed in large houses, the girls in one, boys in another, where they were brought up under the care of persons especially appointed for that purpose; nor did they ever again come under the exclusive control of their parents.” (Emphasis mine)
As with many of the Communist societies examined in Nordhoff’s paper, the fact that children were not introduced into the community meant that no one could replace dying members or members who left the society. Their primary means of maintaining the stability of the society was by accepting new members.
In recent election campaigns, we have heard it said that parents should not have a say in the education of their children. We must understand that this is a key principle in Communism and Marxism. The state depends on the indoctrination of children to maintain the future cohesiveness of and allegiance to the state. Thus, freedom of education is stripped from the parents and granted to teachers who are appointed by the state for such purpose.
We must understand, then, that Communism and Marxism are already firmly entrenched in American culture and politics. For those who say it will soon be too late to eradicate Communism from our society, Communism and Marxism are already flourishing here.
Now, we contrast the principles of Communism from Christ. Here, we must first note that God called us to be fruitful and multiply. This is a command and is repeated multiple times in the Bible. See Genesis 1:22, 1:28, 8:17, 9:1, 9:7, and 35:11. The command was given both at creation and after the flood. Thus, discouraging child-bearing directly contradicts God’s long-established commands.
In the Bible, God has given us specific instruction on teaching our children. In the first instance, we see the specific command in Deuteronomy 6:1-9 where God gives commandments about how the people are to obey and follow Him and then instructs them to teach their children. In verse 7, God says, “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
In Deuteronomy 11:19, we find a similar instruction, “And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
Another instruction is found in Psalm 78:4-8, “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.”
The instructions in Deuteronomy and Psalms are rather comprehensive and are to be taken as active directives. In other words, these instructions survive the test of time and are perpetual commands.
More well known instructions in the Bible can be found in stand-alone verses, such as Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it,” and Ephesians 6:4, “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
When we talk about being holy, being perfect, and honoring God, our lifestyles must include obedience to God’s commands to multiply and instruct our children in His ways.
These instructions are directed to the parent, and God places the responsibility on the parents to teach their children God’s ways and the fear of God. It is impossible to fulfill these verses when parents surrender their say or have no say in the education of their children. By design, God placed this obligation on the parents. To claim that parents should not have any say in the education of their children is to undermine the very clear and direction command from God in Scripture. Further, we cannot continue to assure obedience to the Great Commission (making disciples and teaching them – Matthew 28:18-20) unless we are first training our children in the ways of God.
What can we do? We must be careful to heed the words of God in Scripture and model Christ through our actions alongside verbal instruction of the commands of God. This we must be intentional about doing, as it says in Deuteronomy 11:19, all day and every day. We cannot assume Sunday school is enough, and we cannot relax our obligations simply by enrolling our children in a Christian school.
This is but one of several key principles over which Communism/Marxism and Christianity are incompatible.
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