The Rockefellers?
Sorry to spoil the whole story, but you've got to ask the question, why is there a group of leftists interested in funding a Bible study aimed to get churches to "rise above" politics and reject the right vs. left divide?
Let's back up.
There's a new Bible study curriculum being pushed by David French, Russell Moore, and Curtis Chang. It's called "The After Party," a play on the idea that Christians should be "above" partisan politics.
The website is full of Christianese that sounds nice, but when you see guys like French and Moore attached to the project, you've gotta ask who is funding this operation and why.
Megan Basham from First Things and The Daily Wire found out.
Summary: These "above politics" people went to radical leftists to fund their Bible study curriculum that is obviously meant to influence churches away from Conservative politics.
Like I said, the Rockefellers are one group funding this thing:
...in May 2022, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors announced that The After Party would be one of the thirty-two beneficiaries of their New Pluralists project, which is investing $10 million to "address divisive forces."
Yeah, we've got the Rockefeller Foundation out here paying to undermine conservative Christianity.
And just so you know it is beyond a doubt political:
While Chang and company claim their program isn't focused on parties or policies, the Rockefeller announcement noted it would launch in the "battleground" of Ohio, though none of The After Party founders call that state home.
Huh, it's almost like it's a political program meant to influence churches in swing states and try to encourage congregants to not be "divisive."
(I'm sure being mildly pro-Trump would be considered "divisive.")
Rockefeller is using part of the same grant to fund LGBTQ+ politics and "climate justice" projects. They have even funded the transing of kids in the past as well.
But the authors of this Bible study would still have you believe they aren't political.
Here are a few more backers:
The project's website lists One America Movement, an ecumenical group, as one of its partners. The group's board includes the leader of an LGBTQ-affirming synagogue, as well as a co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York who excuses rioting as self-defense and has called Jesus a "black radical revolutionary." One America has received over $2 million from some of the most powerful foundations on the left — such as the Tides Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the Walton family's Catena Foundation, and the John Pritzker Family Fund — all of which fund enterprises promoting abortion, LGBTQ issues, and other left-wing priorities. The Hewlett Foundation, which also directly funds The After Party, is the second largest private donor to Planned Parenthood.
Yeah, this "non-political" "Bible study" is taking money from the group that gives Planned Parenthood more money than almost anyone else.
And we're supposed to believe that they are "above" politics?
None of this was publicized by the authors of "The After Party."
(Someone should ask French and Moore why they are taking money from enemies of Christ to convince Christians not to proclaim Christ in the public square ... so that the enemies of Christ can have control of the public square.)
Creating a Bible study curriculum to teach churches how to engage politics is by nature a political act. That's even truer if you've turned for financial support to unbelievers committed to advancing left-wing policies. If these critics of conservative evangelicals are correct that their Trump-voting brothers and sisters are sick with political obsession, then they have the same disease.
But is it a surprise, given the compromise these brothers have fallen into over the last few years?
As a pro-life Democrat, Chang blamed the "American Church" for the January 6 riot, saying we "own what happened at the Capitol." He urged California voters to oppose the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom. And he leveraged his Christian platform to argue against religious exemptions from vaccine mandates, running the website Christians and the Vaccine, and distributing videos that described the jab as a "redemption" of aborted cell lines — all while acting as a paid consultant for federal health agencies. French and Moore have been no less outspoken on political matters.
It's a project meant to guilt Christians, namely conservative Christians who actually believe what the Bible says, for daring to live out the Great Commission by discipling all aspects of their nations, including the body politic, to reflect God's truth and beauty.
To offer a politics curriculum backed by the secular left as the church's solution to idolatrous co-optation by the right is like suggesting that a man who became obese eating cake and ice cream will lose weight by gorging on pizza and potato chips. As a friend told me, "If you want the church to be less political, start by focusing less on politics yourself."
As for those pastors considering whether to bring The After Party into their churches, they should take the advice of the classic film 'All the President's Men' and follow the money.
Keep an eye out for this curriculum being implemented this election year. We have few shepherds and many wolves right now. Even a sheepdog can protect the sheep.
If your church adopts a study like this, ASK QUESTIONS.
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