Operating on campuses throughout Minnesota, Maranatha Campus Fellowship recently hosted Peter Hammond to talk about the consequences of Socialism in the United States and beyond.
A South African doctor of divinity and a fervent anti-communist, Hammond is the founder and director of Frontline Fellowship based out of South Africa and has been doing missionary work around the world for many years.
The presentation took place in the Atwood Theatre on Thursday, a date chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Nov. 9th).
“We are right now at the 20 anniversary of the coming down of the Berlin Wall, which I think has got a tremendous significance in understanding the nature of Socialism and what it has to say for us today,” Hammond said.
“The Berlin Wall was concrete proof of the failure of Scientific Socialism.”
Although the talk emphasized immediate circumstances surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hammond began his speech by discussing the inception of the Cold War and what he believes to be the consequences of rampant Communism.
“Socialism and Communism was very much seen interchangeably in the minds of the Communists themselves. The 20th century has proven to be the bloodiest century in all of history and Humanism has proved to be the most destructive religion of all time,” Hammond said.
“Far more people have been killed in the name of Atheism then all other religions combined; that is quite a statement.”
Hammond went on to say that according to the archives of the Communist regimes, the total death toll is at least 100 million people killed by Communist governments just between 1917 and 1991.”
Hammond expressed his belief that the centralization of government leads to inevitable corruption.
“This is the reason why the Christian book has always favored decentralization,” Hammond said. “When you get centralization, governments tend to be more corrupt, more inefficient, and absolute power leads to absolute corruption.”
Hammond continued by saying that Marxists do not typically follow through with their promises.
“We notice how the Communists promise liberty, but they are the biggest imperialists, biggest colonialists, biggest oppressors, they are the most corrupt, they have the worst human rights record, they have murdered hundreds of millions and their economies are a disaster. Nazism is Socialism, it is national Socialism. Communism is international Socialism,” Hammond said.
Hammond discussed his belief that, “The Cold War was won by a combination of Christian courage [who] endured decades of brutal persecution, and by the steadfast resistance of brave anti-Communist soldiers.”
In addition, he declared that the war was won “by persistent prayer and pressure from Christians in the West, and the bold strategy of Ronald Regan, which dismantled the evil empire.”
The trends of U.S. politics were also addressed Thursday evening, namely the ever controversial national health care reforms.
“If I am not mistaken, the present Democratic party’s policies seem awfully like national Socialism to me. Socialized health care has not worked anywhere. I am just astounded to think that anyone in America would want to follow in the foot steps of failure,” Hammond said.
Grant Buse, associate pastor for Maranatha Christian Fellowship and host of the event, offered his opinion in response to the matter.
“Socialism, the text book definition, is the government control of industry. Right now, in America even, we are at the point where if we do nationalize health care,” Buse said.
“We would be about 45 percent nationalized with our economy if that takes place. As Christians, we see it as part of our responsibility to stand up and say hey, this is not a good direction.”
Hammond ended by outlining the ways he believes Christians should reclaim their country from Socialism.
“Christians, and people who like freedom, need to get back into education, entertainment, new media, religious institutions and political institutions. Plainly, the news media has been infiltrated and they are either cowards or they have an agenda.
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