In articles one through three in this series, we investigated the role of Marxism, Catholicism and Spiritualism in the social justice movement. In parts four and five, we will consider social justice and its connection to Critical Race Theory (CRT) an adaptation of Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School.

Since traditional communist class warfare failed in the West, primarily because the working class lived too well in Capitalist-run countries, Marxists of the Frankfurt School came up with a new and more successful, albeit sinister, strategy.

Today, Marxist hiding in the belly of the social justice movement agitate society at the friction-points of race, gender, and sexuality. We will look particularly at their efforts to create a race war and how easily they manipulate some Christians over this issue. Turning them into what Vladimir Lenin termed “useful idiots.”

Jesus said, “if a kingdom is divided against itself that kingdom cannot stand” (Mark 3:24). The Marxists strategy is simply to create division in the West using whatever means is most effective, with the goal of destroying The United States and Europe along with its Christian moorings and establishing a global communist state!

The following few paragraphs are detailed on purpose. They are necessary to help the reader better understand how and why Critical Theory evolved into the divisive and demeaning doctrine of Critical Race Theory (CRT).

Critical Theory

It is important to differentiate between the Frankfurt School-inspired Critical Theory per se and other applied Critical social theories such as Critical Race Theory, Intersectional Feminism, LGBTQ Studies, Post-Colonial Studies, Indigenous Studies, Fat Studies and Black Studies.

These other areas of applied Critical study build on the work of the Italian Marxist scholar, Antonio Gramsci, and his concept of “hegemony,” that is, the dominance of one set of ideas over all other ideas in society, and all focus on a particular aspect of the relationship between alleged Oppressors and the Oppressed.

The Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, led by Marxist theoreticians in the 1930s who had fled Hitler and settled into American academia such as Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Georg Lukács and Herbert Marcuse, sought to understand why Marxism was not advancing within Western liberal democracies.

James Lindsay describes the core of Critical Theory thus: “Max Horkheimer defined a “Critical Theory” in direct opposition to a “Traditional Theory” in a 1937 piece called Traditional and Critical Theory. “Whereas a Traditional Theory is meant to be descriptive of some phenomenon, usually social, and aims to understand how it works and why it works that way, a Critical Theory should proceed from a prescriptive normative moral vision for society, describe how the item being critiqued fails that vision (usually in a systemic sense), and prescribe activism to subvert, dismantle, disrupt, overthrow, or change it…this use of the word “critical” is drawn from Marx’s insistence that everything be “ruthlessly” criticized and from his admonition that the point of studying society is to change it” (New Discourses, “Critical-Theory,” https://newdiscourses.com/tftw-critical-theory/ 7/20/20).

In other words, Marxism is like the guy that wants to buy your house at a greatly reduced price. So, he starts relentlessly criticizing everything about it. He is hoping this will cause you to undervalue what you have and almost give it away. Marxism is doing this to American regarding its history, constitution, free markets etc. America is often described as “systemically racist” and filled with colonizers who exploit and wrongfully imprison minorities.

Critical Theory therefore does not seek, as in traditional anthropological or sociological research, to merely research, describe, and understand what is without changing the subject of the study. Rather, Critical Theory seeks to internally problematize every possible aspect of what is to impose “what should be.” The goal of such Critical activism is to identify, problematize, disrupt, discourage, destroy, and do-away with anything in Western democracies with a Judeo-Christian foundation that is holding back the onward march of secular, atheist dictatorships underpinned by Marxist doctrine.

Perhaps you’ve noticed the shade cast on anyone in the United States who loves their country as well as Western culture, history and traditions. This criticism often comes from fellow Americans who have bowed to social justice. As one conservative rapper put it “the people who hate America are Americans!”

American patriots are accused of everything from being “Christian Nationalists” to “racist Nazis.” This is the result of Marxist Critical Theory being used to get Americans to hate themselves making them much easier to conquer!

Sidenote: The shameful assassination of Charlie Kirk, a conservative Christian debater and co-founder of Turning Point USA, is a raw indicator of how far they will go to silence free speech especially the kind that destroys their false and destructive criticisms of God and the United States!

Justice not the Goal

The applied Critical Theories from the 1970s onwards, such as Critical Race Theory, Critical Gender Theory, or Fat Theory etc., are all later applications of the underlying Critical Theory from the 1930s. However, the core concern is clear. Justice is not the goal. The goal is the elimination of any society with a Judeo-Christian foundation and worldview in favor of an atheist, Marxist superstate where rights are given (or withdrawn) by an all-powerful State rather than understood as the natural endowments upon all humanity from a loving Creator God. “Social justice” is a nice-sounding name to deceive the uninformed, but regardless of how much lipstick you put on a pig, the pig remains a pig!

Critical Race Theory

One of the fundamental tenets of CRT is that racism is present in every aspect of life, every relationship and every interaction. CRT teaches that because the USA has unequal outcomes across racial groups, the country is therefore systemically racist. No other explanation is allowed. To offer any other explanation is to be “racist.” The role of Social Justice Warriors is to look relentlessly for the racism that MUST be present in every organization / institution / relationship, problematize whatever they find, then leverage it to create bitter division and infighting.

CRT was originated by Professor Derrick Bell Jr., the first tenured African American law professor at Harvard. His ideas have evolved over the past 30 years, and are now propagated by several well-known individuals, including Robin DiAngelo (“White Fragility: Why it’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism”), Ibram X. Kendi (How to be an Antiracist”), and Ta-Nehisi Coates (“Between the World and Me”).

Interest Convergence Hypothesis

Bell also argued for the Interest Convergence Hypothesis. This is a profoundly destructive concept. If someone with “racial privilege,” i.e. White, Asian, Hispanic, Indian, Arab, and lighter-skinned black people, becomes an anti-racist activist, the I-C hypothesis says they only do so to maintain their privilege, to flaunt their virtue and to avoid dealing with their own racism.

The I-C hypothesis makes it literally impossible for any person with “racial privilege” to ever do the right thing. Thus, whites are demonized and considered evil regardless of their actions in society, for their actions are understood only as perpetuating white supremacy at the expense of non-whites.

This concept leads directly to segregating whites from all other people groups, and as we will soon see, can be used to justify their destruction (professionally and even physically), since they are falsely accused of being the source of all social evils throughout history.

Sidenote: Make no mistake, if this is allowed to go unchallenged and resisted, we will see a continual and steady uptick of violence perpetrated against the white population in America and around the world!

Ideologies have consequences!

Challenge to Liberal Order

According to Richard Delgado, CRT “questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.”[1] James Lindsay argues that CRT rejects the very foundation of a liberal society, and of a society with a Judeo-Christian worldview, because of the following factors[2]:

1.CRT rejects free societies. Societies that value individual liberty, peace, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of movement and freedom of religion are allegedly organized to maintain hegemony over marginalized groups and perpetuate inequities across racial groups.

2.CRT rejects the individual. In CRT, as per Marxist ideology, every person is understood in terms of the social groups they inhabit, and these are determined by their identity. Races are constructs that societies invent through prejudice. Thus, the goal of ideally treating every person as an individual who is equal before the law and meant to be judged upon the contents of their character and their words & deeds is rejected as a myth used to oppress racial minorities. Democracy focuses on individual rights, and Social Justice on the emancipation of the group, regardless of the impact on the individuals within that group, e.g. the NY housing projects.

3. CRT rejects science. Reason, science and evidence-based decision-making are “White ways of knowing.” CRT prefers storytelling and the personal, subjective lived experience as Black ways of knowing. The principle of universality says that it doesn’t matter who does an experiment or where it takes place - the result will always be the same. CRT rejects principles of universality and objectivity as oppressive myths. Since science and math encode and perpetuate systemic racism and White supremacy, they are to be rejected.

4.CRT rejects all alternatives, such as liberal “color-blindness”, as also being racist. The liberal ideals of an open society, of judging people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, of working for full equality before the law, and of seeking to ensure equality of opportunity, are all rejected because “systemic racism” requires the entire system to be destroyed.

5.CRT declares that any who disagree, even among the Black community, are driven by racism. CRT pre-determines the lived experience of every racial group (Oppressor, Oppressed), and requires every member of every racial group to affirm those lived experiences. When a Black man, like Kanye West, rejects CRT ideology, he is publicly condemned by leading CRT racialist ideologues as “no longer Black”! Thus, to be Black is a political identity, not an ethnic identity. Diversity is only skin deep, for everyone’s politics must be identical.

6.CRT is totalitarian. Lindsay argues that CRT cannot be disagreed with, especially by Black people. It rejects all alternatives and denies all racial progress as a mirage due to the Interest-Convergence Hypothesis. Because it rejects science, it cannot be falsified or proven wrong by evidence, and because it assumes racism is present and relevant to all situations and interactions, even the acceptance of Critical Race Theory must somehow also contain racism. Therefore, Critical Race Theory cannot be satisfied and will tear apart anything that gets too close to it – including your marriage, your home, your church, your institutions, and your nation.

Popular Monsters

When one embraces social justice, one becomes activated to defend the “marginalized” against those whom Critical Race Theory identifies as the “oppressors.”

Ironically and even hypocritically, social justice protects the “marginalized” by brutally marginalizing others!

In other words, it attempts to overcome evil with...evil!

Who are these popular monsters they claim can be justifiably marginalized? As we’ve already discovered, these “oppressors” are identified as—"Christian, male, heterosexual, able-bodied and white.” In fact, white skin color, is proof positive of one’s villainy according to the social justice movement (Voddie Baucham: “Biblical Justice vs. Social Justice,” https://youtu.be/i60eQZPG5XM).

To be white is to be intrinsically evil. To paraphrase the Pravda, the official newspaper of the USSR when they were demonizing the Kulaks of the Ukraine and calling for their elimination from society, “As individuals, whites are guilty of nothing, but as a group, they are guilty of everything.”

This places an enormous burden of existential, inescapable guilt on the shoulders of whites, particularly children being taught CRT in school, which leads to socially catastrophic outcomes (more on this in our next and final article).

The UCLA School of Public Affairs, a hotbed of Critical Race Theory, leaves no doubt as to whom they identify as society’s villains: “CRT recognizes that racism is ingrained in the fabric and system of American society. No individual racist need be identified to argue that institutional racism is nevertheless pervasive in the dominant culture. This is the analytical lens that CRT uses in examining existing structures and institutions. CRT identifies that these power structures are based on white privilege and white supremacy, which perpetuates the marginalization of people of color (“What Is Critical Race Theory?” UCLA School of Public Affairs, Critical Race Studies).

Encyclopedia Britannica defines Critical Race Theory this way: “Critical Race Theory (CRT): the view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially-constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory).

Notice, those who embrace CRT never ask, “Is this institution, organization or denomination racist?” They always assume it is! Social justice warriors see racism not only as an individual issue but as a “socially constructed” one, created by white people to oppress “people of color.”

In other words, even when CRT advocates cannot identify a single racist in an entire organization, they still assume its systemically racist. They then get to work proving their assumptions through, as we’ve learned, incessant critique. This evil surmising not only leads to the degradation of others made in the image of God, but as we will discover, contains the seeds of violence and even genocide!

Watchmen on the wall of Zion wake up!

“Born Demons”

Producer, artist and feminist Ashleigh Shackelford is unrivaled in her ability to use CRT conclusions to embarrass and degrade whites.

In 2016, speaking to a room filled with mostly white women she said the following, “all white people are racist…no you’re always going to be racist, actually, even when you’re on a path to being better human beings…I believe all white people are born into not being human…to be demons” (Christianity and Wokeness, Owen Strachan p. 1).

At the time, this rhetoric was fringe at best, but today it's mainstream! White folks are now openly vilified and even demonized from babyhood. Notice that her rhetoric completely strips whites of their humanity and reduces them to monsters.

The Arizona Department of Education even claims that white babies as young as three months, have racist inclinations and demonstrate full blown discriminatory behavior by 4 or 5 years old. Apparently, Ibram X Kendi agrees since he wrote a book for children entitled Antiracist Baby (Douglas Murray, War on the West p. 38).

Racism is no longer defined as a universal evil that every human being should overcome. It is now solely connected to “whiteness.” According to the social justice narrative, “prejudice plus power equals racism,” and since only white folks have power (apparently from babyhood), only they can be racist. So regardless of one’s age, according to the Marxist social justice narrative, skin is sin, if it happens to be white!

Where is this rhetoric leading? We don’t have to guess. The dehumanization of particular people groups before stripping them of their human rights, including their right to live, is a well-documented pattern in world history!

For example, in Rwanda the Tutsi’s were called “cockroaches” and in Germany the Jews were called “vermin” by the Nazis.

As one article put it, “Genocide never just happens. There is always a set of circumstances which occur or are created to build the climate in which genocide can take place.” Make no mistake, social justice is building that climate! (https://hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/what-is-genocide/the-ten-stages-of-genocide).

In 2021 at Yale’s Child Study Center, psychiatrist Aruna Khilanani publicly shared a violent fantasy she had of “unloading a revolver into the head of any white person that got in my way, burying their body, and wiping my bloody hands as I walked away relatively guiltless with a bounce in my step. Like I did the world a F*&%$#@ favor” (Douglas Murray, War on the West, p. 64). The fact she felt comfortable saying this publicly says volumes regarding society’s acceptance of CRT’s hate-laced conclusions!

When Evil Triumphs

As mentioned above, if Christians do not speak out against this hateful rhetoric, harm emotionally, professionally and physically toward this people group as well as those who oppose it, will increase exponentially.

As Irish philosopher Edmund Burke put it, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

The Apostle Paul gives relevant counsel on how to deal with folks who teach and promote divisive and destructive ideologies like CRT. He writes “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned” (Titus 3:10-11).

Virtue Signally

In 2020 on the tonight show, Jimmy Fallon read a statistic that showed that the population of white folks in America was declining through death. The audience broke into raucous applause! To them this was good news and something to be celebrated. Fallon, himself a white man, oddly added this to his comedic monologue, then acted shocked at the response (https://fb.watch/ytfZJ5vIKt/). But who can blame him, in a society that is rapidly embracing Critical Race Theory, Jimmy Fallon’s “virtue signaling” makes ratings sense.

Many whites have chosen this same naive “play along to get along” course of action. They think it will help them rise above the growing and malevolent sentiment toward them, but they are wrong. They have unwittingly emboldened discrimination against themselves and others who look like them. They have also allowed this Satanic worldview to bully the next generation of youth into either “oppressed” or “oppressor” camps.

No Justification!

The fact that CRT claims to correct existing power structures or systems of oppression, does not minimize or justify its hateful slander against whites.

For this reason and many others, social justice as defined today stands in contrast to the “everlasting gospel,” and is at war with the Three Angel’s Messages. A message inclusively proclaimed “…TO EVERY NATION, TRIBE, LANGUAGE AND PEOPLE…” (Revelation 14:6).

This means, “every” life matters to God!

Anti-West

As mentioned before, whenever CRT is taught, not only are whites vilified but so is Western culture since it is built on “white privilege.”

In her book the Diversity Delusion, Heather MacDonald, an outspoken critic of this ideology, further expands and simplifies it: “The roots lie in a charged set of ideas that now dominate higher education: that human beings are defined by their skin color, sex, and sexual preferences; that discrimination based on those characteristics has been the driving force in Western civilization; and that America remains a profoundly bigoted place, where heterosexual white males continue to deny opportunity to everyone else” (p. 2, emphasis added).

This is no accident. As we’ve discussed, CRT is a key component in the Marxist strategy to take down the United States and Europe (the West), by replacing capitalism with communism, Christianity with atheism and individual rights with State enforced redistribution for the “common good.” CRT is indeed the “adult offspring of Marxist and postmodern thought” (Dodson, Critical Race Theory vs God’s Divine Law p. 17-18, 23).

The sad fact that Christians are allowing themselves to be manipulated by this so called “analytical lens,” will certainly be a cautionary tale for generations to come!

Watchmen...wake up!

DEI AND CRT

In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson required government employees to “hire without regard to race, religion and national origin” (en.wikipedia.org). Today, the opposite is true.

Until the current US Administration came to power in January 2025, companies were encouraged even mandated to hire with regard to race through Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies and agencies.

According to ToughConvos, a cultural intelligence firm in support of social justice, DEI and CRT are “intertwined.” In fact, “DEI training is founded upon ideas from CRT” and considers “lesser percentages of non-white people in key leadership areas,” to be evidence of inequity, an inequity that is perpetuated by “European descendent whites” (Daphne Magna, “How Does Critical Race Theory Help DEI,” April 15, 2022).

Sidenote: People should be hired for jobs and accepted into schools, based on their character and competency never based on their skin color or identity group. Christ’s parable of the talents confirms an individual and merit-based approach (Matthew 25:15, 21).

In essence, CRT, which is the philosophy behind DEI, asserts that 37% of Adventist Church members are inherently, irredeemably, inescapably racists (Michael Lipka, “The Most and Least Racially Diverse U.S. Religious Groups,” July 27, 2015).

This is why Critical Race Theory as well as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies and agencies should be removed from all Seventh-day Adventists institutions! If they are not, we will see more of the white demographic disappearing from school enrollment, church attendance, membership and leadership at every level of the denomination.

Already this group is slowly disappearing from the church scene leaving some administrators wringing their hands and wondering “where did all the white folks go?” They might blame “white fragility” but in really its white affability! In other words, if you don’t like them or their culture, they won’t be hanging around.

Although some may celebrate this as “diversity,” it is discrimination by design. It is the unethical mistreatment of our own brothers and sisters in Christ!

“Less White” the New Diversity

As mentioned above, Adventist churches, Conferences, Unions, Divisions, Colleges and Universities, that allow this discriminatory and even genocidal ideology to be taught, should face global rebuke from a church that believes “EVERY nation, kindred, tongue and people” matter to God (Revelation 14:6, Acts 6;1).

Unlike Coca Cola, Adventists should not reinterpret “diversity,” to mean “try to be less white” (February 26, 2021, 2 pm cst, fox32Chicago.com).

Sadly, the once beautiful term “diversity,” has been hi-jacked. “Diversity” now means “less white.” This is exactly what social justice activists mean when they say, “We need to diversify this country, conference, church or school.” So think twice before saying “amen” when a social justice activist preaches “diversity is our strength!”

Inclusion Delusion

Social justice does the same to the once appealing term “inclusion.” It highjacks it’s traditional meaning to build consensus among the unaware.

Dr. Conrad Vine discussed this in his January 2021 sermon, “Wrongthink II.” He pointed out how the term “inclusion” is being used today to sabotage both the Gospel and Religious liberty on university campuses etc.

Sidennote: During the racial hysteria of the early 2020s, Dr. Vine was one of the few voices within Adventism, speaking out against this Trojan horse of social justice. His courage was remarkable!

You might imagine that “Inclusion” means that as a team, organization or society we intentionally create space for all voices to be heard and welcomed. You would be wrong!

According to Vine, in Critical Theory, “Inclusion” means turning organizations into “safe spaces,” that will not allow for any presenters, books, articles or ideas that disagrees with the social justice narrative or challenges the lived experiences of the alleged oppressed group. Nothing can be allowed to question the authenticity of their experience.

Everything must be positively affirmed!

Vine went on to speak about how on some campuses, the net effect of “Inclusion” means that those who teach the Gospel of Jesus and His power to give victory over sin (Coming Together Ministries for example), are de-platformed by administrators.

Whenever the spoken word of God, calls for repentance and clashes with idolatrous lifestyles, the truthtellers are either loudly attacked or quietly canceled. This is excused on the grounds of “inclusivity” and “safe spaces,” but in reality, it excludes “present truth” and genuine truth seekers.

The following graph produced by Dr. Vine, clearly shows the stark contrasts between the Biblical and Marxist worldviews, as they relate to “Diversity” and “Inclusion.”

It is truly time for Adventists in North America and around the world to wake up! Although this Trojan Horse has found its way into some of our precious institutions, our young people can and must be quickly equipped to repel it.

Sidenote: Jesus had some frightening words for Marxists masquerading as Christians who exclude the truth found in the Bible and demonize people groups based on their melanin. God says this to all who dare trip up His kids and lead them astray.

“It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble” (Luke 17:2).

Pushback Steps

Paul’s directive in Ephesians and Titus is particularly relevant for the church today. Notice he outlines six pushback steps every Christian must take against Marxist ideas like Critical Race Theory, DEI and therefore social justice.

“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but instead expose them... (Ephesians 5:11). And “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. 11 You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned (Titus 3:10-11).

1.     Take no Part
2.     Expose them
3.     Warn them
4.     Warn them again
5.     Have nothing to do with them’
6.     Be assured they are “warped and sinful... self-condemned.”

Sidenote: Although we must confront social justice, speaking the truth in love to those who are allowing themselves to be agents of evil, it is important that we remember that our true enemy is Satan and not our fellow human beings.

To this point, Ephesians 6 is clear “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (verse 12).

Church Manual

The degree of success with which social justice and its CRT worldview has penetrated some Adventist organizations and publications is a wonder to behold. Especially since it violates the will of the world Seventh-day Adventist church as expressed in the following quote from our 2022 Church manual.

“Nor is there to be among Christ’s followers any preference of caste or nationality or race or color, for all are one blood…no distinction on account of nationality, race, or caste is recognized by God…Christ came to demolish every wall of partition…in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free. All are brought nigh by His precious blood” (p 22).

In The Desire of Ages, Ellen White writes the following regarding the Good Samaritan who is our best human example of Adventist activism. “Thus, the question, who is my neighbor is forever answered. Christ has shown that our neighbor does not mean merely one of the church or faith to which we belong. It has no reference to race, color, or class distinction. Our neighbor is every person who needs our help…” (p. 311, emphasis mine).

All are precious

Paul further counsels the church, to “judge” no one according to the “flesh” or “what they seem to be on the outside” (2 Corinthians 5:16 CEV). What a crushing statement to social justice and any other discriminatory worldview!

Scripture embraces “every” people group and declares that all are loved and valued by God. Every human being regardless of skin color, is in desperate need of a heart-changing and soul-saving Savior! (Revelation 14:6, Romans 3:23, John 3:16).

Perhaps it’s time for us to rediscover what we once sang in kindergarten. “Red and Yellow, black and white all are precious in His sight.”

In our next and final article, we will contrast biblical justice with the social justice narrative. We will also show how social justice presents a false gospel that endangers the very souls of those activated by it!

As we will discover in article five, the following words of Christ are particularly relevant to those who teach and preach social justice.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Matthew 23:13).

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