NOTE: The following is protected by federal copyright law and is an excerpt from the book Marxianity written by Brannon Howse and is not to be published online. The footnotes that document the content in this article are found in the book Marxianity or the eBook.
The attempt to use James 5 and other biblical-sounding concepts to support the work of the Gamaliel Network is especially disingenuous when you consider who is really gaining through dishonest means. The strategies of the network demonstrate that they are truly the ones involved in fraud, stealing, and coveting. They are the ones with plans to steal other people’s money, and oddly enough, a variety of truly rich people support the Gamaliel Network—among them the Tides Foundation, the Rockefeller foundation, and George Soros’ Open Society Foundation. I believe the Gamaliel speaker who was using James 5 against capitalists was really reading about himself and his judgment.
Unfortunately, the Gamaliel Network is not alone in the surreptitious work of undermining American life. The Worker’s Interfaith Network operates in my hometown, Memphis, Tennessee. Pennsylvania has the Interfaith Impact Network, which partners with CAIR (the Council on American Islamic Relations). In Racine, Wisconsin, the Interfaith Coalition board of directors includes an imam. The Interfaith Worker Justice group in Minnesota works with a major church in Minneapolis, Bethany Lutheran Church.
Because of the furtive growth of groups like these, Worldview Weekend has intensely opposed interfaith dialogue, especially since James White came to our own backyard in 2017 and held his interfaith dialogue with Yasir Qadhi, the Jew-hating, Holocaust-denying, Hitler-defending imam, I mentioned in Chapter 3. At the event, White claimed that he sensed a “kindred spirit” with the man—the one we have on video talking about the Jews he doesn’t regard as real Jews and their crooked noses, all the while maintaining that the Holocaust didn’t really happen and that Hitler didn’t really do so many horrible things. Yasir Qadhi believes it is acceptable to take the property—and the lives—of Christians and Jews in jihad. And yet this is the man with whom James White felt a kindred spirit. White benignly offered that there was room for them to find areas where they disagree and agree.
White also proposed that Qadhi make a video to teach the church about the real face of Islam, even though the imam bemoaned Christ and denied the crucifixion and the resurrection, saying they were a fraud. If it was an area in which the two men disagreed, White said nothing about it.
I’m not alone in exposing the travesty of the White/Qadhi interfaith dialogue. In June 2017, Usama Dakdok and Shahram Hadian also revealed the sad reality of the White/Qadhi interfaith dialogue. As a result, many folks within evangelicalism came against all three of us, not addressing the facts, but attacking us personally.
And sadly, supporters of the event were not alone, either. One of White’s premiere defenders was Phil Johnson, executive director of John MacArthur’s Grace to You ministry. In affirming the interfaith approach, he tweeted an odd interpretation of Jesus’ ministry: “Have you not read, most of the rebukes he [Jesus] delivered to erroneous ways and teachings took place in interfaith dialogues?” Johnson construes Jesus’ interaction with people as “interfaith dialogues!”
It’s hard to believe that we’ve come to the point at which the executive director of Grace to You would be saying Jesus was involved in interfaith dialogue. Has he never read (or taken to heart) 2 Corinthians 6:14-17? The meaning of Paul’s rhetorical question is clear: “What fellowship does righteousness have with unrighteousness, or light with darkness, or things of God with the things of Baal?” The answer is “none!” Don’t do these things. Don’t mix these things. Do not involve yourselves in interfaith dialogue, trying to find common ground with unrighteousness or satanic, demonic things.
Jesus dialogued with people, but Jesus was not involved in “interfaith dialogue.” Yet Phil Johnson claimed on Twitter that “interfaith dialogue, some kind is mandated by the second great commandment.” But it gets worse. Not only did Johnson support White’s event in Memphis, but John MacArthur’s church and seminary subsequently brought James White to speak at a Grace Community Church and Master’s Seminary conference—and White’s topic was “Islam, Roman Catholicism, and a biblical approach to defending your faith.” Defending the faith like he did in Memphis with Yasir Qadhi? Why would MacArthur’s ministry bring someone to teach who has engaged in interfaith dialogue and who senses a kindred spirit with a Jew-and-Christian-hating imam involved in raising money for jihadi organizations all over the world? Yes, these are troubling times.
So, if a ministry such as John MacArthur’s can be seduced and compromised into supporting interfaith activities such as that of James White, you can see why it’s difficult for many churches to grasp what is happening. Even true Christians who are part of the church often lack the necessary information to be discerning. They wonder whether or not they should oppose interfaith dialog—often because they see esteemed evangelical leaders supporting it.
Interfaith dialogue is a key battleground on which Marxists are organizing churches for their own ends. So now you know what some of your well-intending brothers and sisters in Christ don’t: You should oppose interfaith dialogue and all of its spin-offs in every way possible, and keep your eyes open to threats from all directions!
