I read the other day that 44% of Americans believe that we would be better off under a socialist society. This belief is prominent among our millennial generation. Why not? After all, we read of socialism in the Bible, right?

In Acts chapter 4  verses 32 through 37 describe the situation. Verse 32 says, “And the multitudes of believers were of one heart and mind, and no one was saying that his possessions were his own but they were common to them all.” And in verses 34 and 35,  “And in fact not any among them  was needy: for as many as were possessing properties or houses, as they sold the things, they brought the prices of the sales and were putting the money beside the feet of the apostles, and it was being  distributed to each to the degree that any had a need.”

It seems to parallel  what Karl Marx was alluding to in his 1875 speech when he passed along the following: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Here we have the suggested basis for a Marxist socialist/communist utopia, where those who wish to work do so, and everyone gets all that they need. What could go wrong??

We know that the recipe has been tried in numerous societies and the results have always been the same, with riots on the part of the populace and the extermination of millions of citizens on the part of the central government. One Russian peasant was heard to say, “We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us.”

I was blessed to be able to travel to Russia in December of 1976 during the “cold war”. While in Moscow we discovered that the citizens took their windshield wipers with them when they parked in public because those scarce items would be stolen off of their cars otherwise! We enjoyed visiting the beriozka shops, (which accepted only foreign currency) where we were able to purchase wonderful Russian products such as nested dolls, Stolichnaya vodka, beautiful dresses, etc. Those shops were off limits to citizens. In front of some shops there would be lines of people who did not even know what was being offered, but knew that it was a rare opportunity to get something that they normally could not.

Socialism is described well by former Air Force First Sergeant Joseph Casey. “It means those who can and want, will support those who can’t or won’t. How that possibly sustains itself without forced labor I don’t know.” People who work hard to support many who won’t work at all won’t do it for long. And we recall Margaret Thatcher’s comment that “socialism works until you run out of other people’s money.”

What about the “socialism” found in the Bible? Why has it not worked in our world today? What are the differences? There are several. First, in Acts  the money the people had was their own to do with as they saw fit. They could sell it and give some for the common good, or they could keep it. It wasn’t forced. Most importantly, this was a group of believers who had just been saturated with the Holy Spirit and where Christ was at the center. Their hearts had been forever changed by their trust in the Savior.

It is common for sociopaths and psychopaths to gravitate to positions of political control today, and many times our leaders cannot be trusted to act for the common good, but to favor what’s good for them. There is no better example of this than our own central bank, the Federal Reserve, which has for the past 100 years acted for its own benefit and is responsible for the unbelievable levels of unpayable debt  we face today.

In fact we owe the presence of the Fed in our country to socialism! The notion of a central bank comes directly out of the Communist Manifesto. So does the graduated income tax which was passed in the same year (1913). Just think if you got to keep 100% of the money you earn and could spend it any way you wanted, or keep as much as you wish. Purchases would be taxed, but otherwise you would be free to use it as you wish. And our nation would be so much better off.

This economic coup that the Fed represents was not accidental. It has bankrupted our nation. That our economy is thriving is an illusion. When you average in the trillionaires and billionaires with the rest of us, we seem to all be okay, but if you leave out the wealthy upper 10% it leaves the rest of society struggling, living paycheck to paycheck, with prices having risen far faster than wages.

All of this, including the mountain of debt for college loans, has left the millenials in a very tight situation financially. They have been brainwashed by the Marxists who teach in most public colleges and universities today, and they now outnumber us “boomers” for the first time in history. They will jump at the chance to vote for someone who promises them all of the “free stuff”, such as forgiveness of college loan debt, free health care, and even a “basic minimum annual income”. And who pays for it all? You get the picture.

Socialism at first sounds like a good idea. It’s not. Be sure to educate the folks you know who are in favor of it. It would quickly lead to the destruction of our beautiful nation.

What kind of people should we vote for in the 2020 election? Let’s consider the claim of America’s very first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay. He said, “Almost all nations have peace or war at the will and pleasure of rulers whom they did not elect, and who are not always wise or virtuous. Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” (Letter to John Murray 12 October, 1816).

Be blessed,

Dr. J