Sibling Rivalry In The Brotherhood of Man
Our lack of discernment for over 100 years has invited wolves among the sheep
“For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name” (Ephesians 3:14-15).
Caring for the least, last, and lost is an important part of the Christian faith. But, this instinct — built into our churches — can be taken advantage of and misused. Over the last 150+ years, a strain of socialist thinking has been deeply embedded into our national discourse on religion. Social justice warriors foolishly add to real justice to make it a virtue signal rather than rolling up their sleeves to work and sacrifice. So much so that irreligious evil politicians and foolish false teachers cite scripture or church doctrine in defense of their liberal or atheistic anti-Christ positions and policies. Their power is used to influence our culture, undermine the truth of the Bible, degrade our population through sin, and subvert the power of Christ.
Free market economics requires a moral population. Adam Smith’s approach was toward a moral philosophy of money and commerce. When trust is diminished and honor is destroyed we lose our ability to purchase goods, contract services, and partner with others. Socialism is not the answer to economic problems — Jesus is. Western civilization was based on a moral core that supported free markets. Socialists have taken a jackhammer to the foundation. Without faith and practice, we will be at each other’s throats. Our system requires law and order that is based on Biblical ethics. Without Christian leaders, we would not have had a sound legal system. Without just rulers who enforce this code and punish wrongdoers, we get the criminal DAs and attorneys general who encourage law-breaking and exacerbate theft and murder by importing and releasing criminals.
We must have magistrates and judges who “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed” (Psalm 82:3). We do not. This applies first to our children and cities, which need love and justice, not handouts. Abortion, divorce, and fatherlessness have blighted our nation. “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9). The problem is not rich people with money and power, but immoral people who use this power unjustly. “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3-4). We should care for the least fortunate. Church history is replete with examples of charities, orphanages, and hospitals that did this because of states that got out of the way or better yet urged them on.
The “Brotherhood of Man” is a socialist term that originated in 1848 to describe the idea that because all people are “children of God” there should be no divisions or hierarchy in society. This led uppity churchmen to gain power in government, not to build the kingdom of God but to use state power and taxes to enforce a humanist view of equality. It is a false doctrine that expresses the universal kinship of men, promoting human worth, dignity, and rights — at the expense of justice, truth, and order. This is an unctuous and pharisaic plan because socialists become Communists who deceive people by using Biblical language and manipulating them with empathy.
The fact that socialism germinated in the church is to our eternal shame. It was a Satanic attack that should have been better combatted then and over time. But that is par for the course, the Devil always attacks the weakness in the church to lead sheep astray.
When we hear these passages do we think about social justice warriors who claim to care for the lowly? “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:17). How many men who plead for widows are the cause of functional orphans? “Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart” (Zechariah 7:10). These are not socialist verses, these are admonition toward righteousness. “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58:6-7). We should have personal generosity, and corporate charity through the church for the needy rather than an inefficient and corrupt state program.
E. L. Hull, an author and preacher At King's Lynn UK, promoted early British socialism through his ministry.1 His sermons spread to the US and led to a movement called the Brotherhood of Man. He taught that are no leaders or followers — just people, wandering and bumping into each other, and picking each other up. It is a utopian ideal that sounds like a path to a better world. But, it is not just simplistic and unrealistic to hope for reformation and revival without preaching the full council of scripture — it is wrong to put your hope in human goodwill rather than the Holy Spirit’s transformational power. Hull’s sermons were a mishmash of self-help and social critique, not redemption and salvation. We are indeed all called to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Once converted we share in the inheritance of faith and blessings of imputed righteousness. Until then we are deeply entrenched in spiritual warfare.
Consider the following eisegesis of Ephesians 15 as an example of Hull’s style:
“The brotherhood of man has been the dream of old philosophers, and its attainment is the endeavor of modern reformers. Like a memory of some lost Paradise it has floated down the ages, and, failing in one generation, it has never been revived by its successors. And if we inquire into the meaning of this deep conviction, we shall find that, like all such beliefs, it is founded on a great truth — the truth that man can only reach his highest life when he forms part of a society bound together by common sympathies and common aims; for, by a great law of our nature, it is true that he who lives utterly apart from his fellows must lose all true nobleness in selfish degradation. There is no real progress for the individual but through social sympathy. There is no strong and enduring aspiration but in the fellowship of aspiring souls. Thus the belief in brotherhood, and the yearning after its attainment, spring from the image of God in which humanity was made. But strong as that conviction has been, all human endeavors to achieve it have failed. It can be found only in Christ.
The brotherhood of man in Christ. You can scarcely fail to observe that Paul speaks of this as an actually existing fact. He does not say that there shall be, he asserts that there is a family named in the one name of the Father and the Son. It is the unity of spirit and life underneath the external differences which constitutes the brotherhood of man. Paul's words imply a three-fold unity: the Fatherhood of God: the Brotherhood of Christ: and the union between the seen and the unseen worlds.
The fellowship of devotion to a common Father. This, at first sight, may seem to be a very feeble bond of union between men. We all join in this devotion; we all join in saying "Our Father, which art it heaven"; and yet are we any nearer our fellows? But in reality, it destroys the grandest source of disunion, for the absence of fellowship with God is the great cause of separation between man and man. If you consider it, you will find that all the strong bars of disunion have here the secret of their power. All forms of selfishness rise from separation from God. On the other hand, by devotion to a common Father all separating walls are broken down, and a real brotherhood arises. Through the earnest consecration to our Father in heaven, pride and selfishness dissolve, for we are our own gods no more. No man can live in the love of God, because God first loved him, and then yield to bigotry, for bigotry is the love of an opinion, not the love of the Father. Here, then, is a real and actual ground of unity.
The fellowship with Christ, our common Brother. In the words, "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," Paul implies this second ground of unity as an existing fact. What does he mean by it? What power is there in that? Evidently, in one broad and true sense, the humanity of Christ makes all men brethren. The fellowship of the Savior's obedience and conflict is the great bond of unity. Distinctions vanish here. Varieties of creed and culture become of little consequence. The poor man in his ignorance, and the rich man in his temptations; the preacher and the hearer; the student and the man engaged in the toils of commerce — are all one. Again I say, this unity is real and actual. Men are nearer to each other than they seem to be; and the more they realize this life, the more they struggle to reach the Christ-like life, the more will they feel this essential unity amid all diversities.
That fellowship is unbroken by the change of worlds. "In heaven and earth." In conclusion, glance at the results of realizing this fact of brotherhood. (1) Earnestness of life. If we are isolated, it seems sometimes as if it were impossible to live always earnestly. We say we have to bear the responsibility for our own acts. We shall bear the penalty and suffering of failure. Realize the fact of brotherhood — and an awful fact it is. If one member suffers, others suffer with it; for we are linked by chains of influence to each other — we are one body. Complain not that your task is low and poor; it is as needful in its place as the task of the great thinker. (2) Power and grandeur of hope. Some men complain that their ideas of heaven are vague and ineffective. Only realize the brotherhood of man, and then the hope of the future will become a power in life. Realize that you are coming to the "general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven," and hope will glow with the radiance of reality. You will feel that the veil is rent and that the family is one.”
This sounds good. In many ways it is. And that is the danger. In the church, the hearer is led down a primrose path of generosity and charity but the destination is a takeover by secular pagans. Liars and conmen typically use the promise of something good and pure to convince the mark to go along. Listen! Religion and faith have clear benefits: we demand moral laws, require ethical practice, convict people of their sins, and pray for personal transformation. This is different than implementing a program of wealth redistribution on the back of a state-sponsored tax regime. But that is what we’ve gotten in a country run by liars, thieves, and crooks.
Massive conceit is required to believe that apart from the shed blood of Jesus Christ we may reform the hearts of man. The goal must be a greater commitment to Jesus, reading his word, studying it, praying daily, and being conformed to his image. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29). Then people who were made in the image of God but fallen can restore their proper place and attain the image of Christ.
Our next topic will be our role in the discernment of leadership. America suffers because we have miseducated our population about what matters in men who lead. We don’t value character. We get bombastic liars (and that’s not a shot at Trump, even if the shoe fits) who at best do the right thing half the time or sycophantic scrubs (that is a shot at the disgraceful McConnell) who sell us out.
Hull, E. L. (1872). Sermons Preached at King's Lynn: Second Series. United Kingdom: J. Nisbet.