What is gnosticism and what does it have to do with transsexual rights, abortion and the woke movement?  This ancient mystery religion is making a big comeback today. Once you understand what gnosticism is, you can't un-see it--but you can see its influences nearly everywhere in advertising, literature, movies, and social media. It is once again becoming part of the cultural air we breathe in everything from cremation to Disney movies.  In this episode we examine gnosticism and its relationship both to Christianity and to the woke movement. No culture and no civilization that encourages gnostic tendencies and exalts the autonomous self can survive.Sources:  Gnosticism, by Gervase M. Charmley, Banner of Truth (2016)                      The New Gender Gnostics, by Craig A. Carter, Eikon (spring 2020)                      Gnosticism, The Christian Institute

Hegel's dialectic has been called the operating system of today's woke movement. Join us as we examine the dialectic Biblically and practically and show how dangerous it has become as a tactic for social transformation both in and outside the Church. Recognize the tactic, and reject the substance.Notes and references:Hegelianism and Christianity, by John H. Gerstner, Jr. Understanding the Dialectic (New Discourses Bullets, episode 21)(short version)Hegel, Wokeness & the Dialectical Faith of Leftism (New  Discourses)(longer version)Hegelian Dialectics: The Devil's Winning Tool (David Cloud 2008)

Is it ever acceptable to suppress and silence  a political opponent, party or person you disagree with? Do two wrongs ever make a right?  In today's episode we zero in on Herbert Marcuse's 1965  essay, "Repressive Tolerance," and its alleged "justification" for the cancel culture we see today.   This episode demonstrates why no Christian, no person of good will and no one who values Western civilization and its tradition of free speech and open debate can support Marcuse's radical ideas.Repressive Tolerance, essay by Herbert Marcuse in A Critique of Pure Tolerance, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1969How Not to Resolve the Paradox of Tolerance, New Discourses, January 26, 2021 (part 1 of 4 part series analyzing Marcuse's Repressive Tolerance).Life in Herbert Marcuse's World, New Discourses, June 2, 2022 (explaining why we live in Marcuse's world).

"Know thine enemy." How can we tell when we are dealing with someone who is woke, on the one hand, as opposed to someone who merely has liberal political views on the other?  Is there any difference between traditional Western liberalism and woke ideology?  If so, what is the difference and how can we tell who's who in people and groups we interact with? What is Neo-Marxism and how does it relate to Marxism? How does it relate to today's woke movement? Were the Neo-Marxists any more sympathetic to Christianity than Marx himself was?Show notes:Critical Theory -- Translations from the Wokish (New Discourses)Problematize -- Translations from the Wokish (New Discourses

Who was Karl Marx? What did he teach? Are his teachings still alive today in Critical Race Theory?  Join us for a discussion of the Marxist versions of the Christian doctrines of sin, salvation, and the end times, as well as Christian ethics. Resources:1.  Schwartzwalder, R. Marx's New Religion, Journal of the Evangelical and Theological Society, 62.4 (2019).2. Lyon, David, The Challenge of Marxism, in Wright, ed., Essays in Evangelical Social Ethics (Morehouse-Barlow Co. 1979).3. Kengor, Paul, The Devil and Karl Marx:  Communism's Long March of Death, Deception and Infiltration (TAN Books 2020).4.  "Can a Christian Be A Communist?," sermon delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA on September 30, 1962. 

For Christians to understand their mission field in 21st century America, we need to understand Critical Race Theory (CRT) and its roots, one of which is Marxism. In this episode we talk about some of Marx's basic teachings and how they relate to two of the main headings in Christian theology -- God and man.  We also address the gnostic aspects of Marx's teachings and identify some of the ways they show up in CRT.Show notes:  In discussing Dr. Ed Feser's article, "The Gnostic Heresy's Political Successors," I mis-pronounce his name several times.  Rather than overtax my limited editing skills, I apologize to Dr. Feser.Other resources:  "Revisiting Eric Voegelin:  The Ontological Descent from God to Self," by Josh Pauling, Modern Reformation.org.Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Private Property and Communism.