Home Christian News ‘Enemies Within the Church’ Targets Christian Institutions as Marxist, Names SBC Leaders

‘Enemies Within the Church’ Targets Christian Institutions as Marxist, Names SBC Leaders

Enemies Within the Church
Source: YouTube

The documentary film “Enemies Within the Church” has been making waves in the evangelical community for its bold claims about the pervasive presence of Marxist ideas within the American church. The film names as “enemies within the church” a number of the country’s most influential evangelical institutions, as well as a diverse group of individuals, from Bill Johnson to Albert Mohler.

The film became the subject of controversy when the Conservative Baptist Network (CBN) tweeted an announcement that a showing of the film would be hosted on the campus of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary (MABTS). 

The trailer of the film featured footage of other SBC entities, including a shot of the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS), seeming to imply that the SBC seminary was one of the “enemies” described in the film, drawing sharp criticism from other Southern Baptists, particularly those associated with SWBTS

A viewing of “Enemies Within the Church,” which is available to stream on the film’s website for $12.95, reveals that SWBTS is only one of many enemies that the film identifies as propagating Marxism within the American church. 

‘Enemies Within the Church’: A Synopsis

Redefining the term “woke” as an acronym for “willfully overlooking known evil,” “Enemies Within the Church” follows the journey of Cary Gordon, senior pastor of Cornerstone World Outreach in Sioux City, Iowa. Gordon narrates the film as he travels the country to interview various experts and educators about what he believes is a coordinated, subversive attack by Communists to bring down western civilization by infiltrating the church. 

The film opens with a viewer advisory, which says, “Warning: the following film contains disturbing facts and evidence concerning major Christian organizations. Biblical discernment is advised.” 

The shots that follow, which are accompanied by cheerful folk music, include images of civil unrest, the demolition of an old church building, proof of vaccination requirements being posted on the windows of storefronts, hundred dollar bills being set on fire, and a fiery inferno transposed over the Statue of Liberty.

The Alleged Origins of Communism in the American Church

The first interviewee Gordon consults was Trevor Loudon, whom the documentary describes as an “expert researcher on terrorist ideas,” and who describes how Communism has become commonplace in the American church. 

Loudon argued that the first Communist “front” that was established to destroy America was the Methodist Federation of Social Action, which was founded in 1907 (about a decade before the Bolshevik revolution in Russia). Loudon wrongly referred to the organization as the Methodist Federation for “Socialist” Action, going on to argue that founder Harry Ward infected American seminaries and churches with Communism. He did not provide any evidence or specific examples to substantiate this claim. 

Next, author and podcaster Jon Harris explained that many evangelicals became “radicalized” by social justice in the 1970s, including former Fuller Seminary president Richard Mouw. According to Harris, Mouw almost walked away from his faith until he read Carl F. H. Henry’s “The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism” and found a way to frame his “leftist ideas” in a Christian theological framework. Harris then referred to Mouw and his ilk as “elites,” going on to argue that this is why most “everyday” evangelicals rallied behind leaders like Jerry Falwell and “Moral Majority” ideals, instead of people like Mouw.