It is no secret that Phil Vischer has gone off the deep end in proclaiming the Social Justice Gospel. The Veggie Tales guy took to Twitter to promote perhaps the most ridiculous church history take on the last 100 years of evangelicalism.
Phil Vischer’s new friends include obvious heretic, Jemar Tisby, a woke professor teaching at a supposedly Christian university, and a gender historian (whatever that is).
This is a list of fears that White Evangelicals have peddled in the past according to Phil Vischer. Let’s go through them decade by decade.
1920s – Darwinists and Modernists
Allowing these groups to infiltrate the church will essentially undermine the belief in the authority and accuracy of Scripture. This threat was real. Furthermore, Modernism which I would define as mankind’s quest for utopia through science, ideology, and other means was a replacement religion, a false gospel. Darwinism is the belief that mankind came from nothing. These false religions were popular a century ago and required being addressed.
1930s – Socialism
While perhaps less religious than the other two, socialism ultimately elevates the government to a god. America is still influenced by the disastrous policies of the New Deal which laid much of the foundation for what we are seeing. This fear perhaps was unfounded, for a time, as America did not flirt with socialism near to the extent as other nations did, though FDR was a socialist. But perhaps it was the actions of Americans which allowed prevented this from happening, as Phil Vischer states that this fear was used to motivate behavior.
1940s – Distracted by World War 2
Phil Vischer claims that the fear peddling took a break in the 1940’s from being preoccupied with World War 2. This fails to point out that America, and the church’s livelihood, was threaten by the previous two decades’ ideologies. The Nazis were National Socialist (where we get Nazi from). But they also had Darwinism as their main driver of evil. The Holocaust and belief in German Superiority stemmed from this ideology. So, Christians concerned about these ideologies for two decades somehow knew just how evil these ideologies were. If anything, they should be commended, not scorned by Phil Vischer. Insert a “right side of history” argument.
1950s – Communism
The Korean War and the overall threat of nuclear war with communists makes this fear rather realistic. Communism, like any Marxist ideology, in incompatible with the Christian faith and should have been spoken against by the church, especially as it was a pressing issue at the time. Given how many have died at the hands of their own communist government, Christians, just as in previous decades were loving their neighbors by not wanting that ideology to spread in the United States.
1960s – Socialism, Radicals, and Feminists
Though the division in present day America makes 1968 look like a walk in the park, there were a lot of emerging ideas that terraformed our culture. Feminism or egalitarianism teaches that men and women are the same or interchangeable which is not reconcilable with Scripture. Feminism also pushed for abortion which would be America’s greatest evil.
1970s – Homosexuality
Needless to say, this concern of Christians aged incredibly well. The slippery slope on this issue is undefeated.
1980s – More Homosexuality and Public Schools
Decades ago, Christians were warning about public schools and now public schools are indoctrinating children with Marxism. The amount of horror stories that come out of public schools these days is incredible. Likewise, the Christians who foresaw the issues with public schools ought to be commended for their warnings.
1990s – Bill Clinton
This is perhaps the least rational on the part of Christians. Though not a moral man, Bill Clinton did in the 1990s what Republicans today are not willing to do. That does not make him a great President, but Clinton’s last four years are certainly superior to Bush II’s last four. This could be a strawman as Phil Vischer is ignoring a lot of other issues the church was warning about back then. So this is a reach.
2000s – Muslims
After 9/11, Americans decided to look into Islam. And society was inundated with heretical ideology, such as claiming that Christianity and Islam worship the same god. This came from Bush II, public schools, and more. I can attest to my own public school experience on this. American have a sense that cultural shifts in Europe will happen over here. And Europe, during the last 20 years has received a flood of Muslims, drastically shifting their culture. This fear has aged rather well.
2010s – Hillary Clinton, Liberals
2015 was certainly a very influential year in American culture where America redefined marriage which shifted the Democrat Party from a progressive party to a socialist party. Obama was President for the first six years of this decade and oversaw and enabled much of America’s decline. Hillary Clinton, though extremely corrupt and unlikable, was not the concern so much as continued Democrat policies. So Phil Vischer is quite inaccurate in his assessment of the previous decade by using the word “liberal” and focusing on Hillary.
2020s – Marxism, BLM
This ideology was revealed to be so pervasive in the church, it is now difficult to find uncompromised churches and organizations. Phil Vischer, being a Marxist, believes that the White Evangelicals are wrongfully peddling fear of this ideology. He nailed the concern for this decade, though. And like many of the other decades, the fear will age wonderfully.
Conclusions
Many great men have taken a stand against the evil ideologies of their day. The challenge for us is no different. Perhaps we should thank Phil Vischer for pointing out this history. However, this could also be pointing out a failure of the church for not heeding the warnings of previous generations, which is why we find ourselves in this situation today. Pray that this decade will be different.
