A friend recently sent me a post from a Christian organization soliciting support in their stand against the growing popularity of Socialism and Communism in the USA—case in point: the recent election of Socialist / Shia Muslim Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor.
Our friend wondered if she’d had her head in the sand. The answer, as I see it, is,
We all do, to a degree.
As it turns out, the growing popularity of Socialism, Communism, and Anarcho-communism is less about indoctrination via Critical Theory and Postmodernism. Rather, the current shift is more a result of failed capitalism.
Those sixty and over might recoil at the last sentence. After all, many of us were taught that capitalism and socialism are both evil, but capitalism is less evil.
Socialist systems invariably become rooted in nepotism, as wealth and power end up in the hands of a few. Yeah, I am aware that the current narrative says differently. Yes, I am aware that some people benefited in places like the Soviet Union. Some people in places like Romania today still lament the fall of the USSR. This isn’t an exclusively anti-leftist post. Rather, the same dynamics also take place in the context of capitalism.
“Yes, the rich are always getting richer, but the poor get richer too.”, the capitalists say. After all, capitalism was framed as a foundation for individual freedom. By definition, it was a meritocracy where anyone willing to work could pursue happiness.
Unfortunately, Millennials and Gen Z are not having this experience. Never mind saving up to get married, purchase a home, and start a family. Relatively speaking, those who are more than one paycheck away from becoming homeless are prospering. Hence, socialism isn’t attractive on mere philosophical grounds. Socialism is how many millennials plan to not starve to death. Interestingly, food security was the primary incentive that drove the Chinese to embrace Communism.
The problem and blessing of capitalism is that it requires constant growth. Constant growth means constant acquisition of capital. That’s great while the playing field is level. Inevitably, a hierarchy is formed as wealth and power become so consolidated in the hands of a few that continued acquisition and growth become impossible even for the 1% apex—this is where we are today.
When push comes to shove, the most successful capitalist will shove first. Otherwise, the snake eats its own tail.
He might send an economic hitman to explain the benefits of supporting the capitalist’s causes to a given leader. If he doesn’t want to play ball, the capitalist bombs his country or kidnaps the president and takes his oil.
Historically, capitalism always begins to collapse in on itself. The ruling financial elite don’t like the taste of their own tales, so they take us to war.
World wars allow the elite to reset the global economy while maintaining their own wealth. They distract the public from the true source of its angst and focus the collective attention and energy of a given society on an external enemy. The sins of an ancient proverbial Epstein Class are buried beneath our collective grief and drama as we histrionically proclaim, “God Bless America!” and “Freedom isn’t Free!”.
Trust and purpose are reborn in a flood of media-induced dopamine as we prepare to lay our children at Molech’s feet to be consumed at the direction and command of the very people we should prosecute.
In a desperate attempt to avoid dealing with the grief associated with the demise of our culture and lifestyles, we enshrine some leaders and bedevil others. More often than not, the church and society ignore scriptures like Acts 10:34-35 and pick a side in the emerging conflict. If an enemy doesn’t attack us, then contemporary Neros within the Epstein class will do so and then blame it on the enemy of their choice. We need a divine hero and someone to blame.
Who cares if the categorization contradicts God’s word?
Is Jesus a capitalist or a communist?
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:44-47
Acts 2 seems to imply that Jesus would have aligned himself with the Left.
Right?
Not exactly. Jesus said, His kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36-38). Many Christians believe they are to give 10 percent of their income to the Church (Mal 3:10). But Jesus said to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. What part of my life and possessions belong to God? The correct answer is all. Still, the believers in Acts 2 were responding in obedience to the Holy Spirit, not a socioeconomic political philosophy.
That a worker is worthy of his wages (Luke 10:7 and 1 Timothy 5:18) is often received in the context of capitalism. But Jesus and the disciples never once acquired capital beyond the clothing on their backs. They worked with their hands. There was no such thing as a free lunch. If you don’t work, then you don’t eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10)
That sounds like capitalism.
Jesus cleared the temple because people were capitalizing on people’s need for God. He also said You cannot serve God and Mammon, not both.”Mammon” is the word for money, wealth, and material greed. Before Pentecost, Peter thought Jesus was going to overthrow Rome and make Israel great again. Jesus rebuked Peter for setting his eyes on the things of the world instead of the things of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us that Satan is the God of this world. The world is the world system. Worldly and Satanic are synonymous. So why are we so prone to align with political and/or economic philosophies as if they are Christian or not?
Is Communism Satanic? YES. Is capitalism Satanic? YES. Fallen man is dead in his trespasses and therefore Satanic (Ephesians 2). He is incapable of creating a system that solves his problems.
Why, then, do so many believers act as if it is their job to bring heaven to earth?
The answer is simple. They listen to false teachers.
Of course, all of this is foolishness to unbelievers. (1 Corinthians 1:18). This is especially true today among those who deny the depravity of man and believe in his inherent goodness. In their minds, the absence of objective truth invalidates any claim that good and evil exist. The obvious question is.
“IS THAT TRUE?”
Hence, sin does not exist; it is a social construct that has outlived its usefulness. The problems that ail society can only be solved by creating systems formed based on collective consensus. Consensus is true until consensus changes. “That’s crazy!” the right proclaims. Not really. The right does the same things.
The left tends to believe that food security, healthcare, education, and housing are human rights as described in the Bill of Rights. They are interpreted as “life and liberty.”
The right categorizes these under “the pursuit of happiness. “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps!” they say.
Has anyone ever done that?
That’s what I mean when I say, “the right does the same things.”
The politically conservative church regurgitates capitalist conservative rhetoric. Then it spends hundreds of millions of dollars providing food security, healthcare, education, and housing to the less fortunate all over the world. They return home and demonize the left for having the same goals.
Except abortion, of course. Abortion is wrong. Killing 10 women and children in Gaza to get one terrorist isn’t abortion. It’s collateral damage.
The left tends to believe in anthropomorphic CO2-driven climate change. Those on the right are more prone to believe that geoengineering, made increasingly illegal in right-leaning states, is the problem. Both sides accuse the other of holding conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, we are entering into what many are calling World War E.
E is for energy, a.k.a oil.
I could go on with more examples of how the god of this world created hypocrisy and pits people who want the same things, albeit for different reasons, against each other. He knows he can’t do anything directly to us. He can only convince us to do it to ourselves. Historically, he’s done a pretty good job.
It looks to me like we are about to do it again on a global scale.
I used to engage in left-versus-right debates. I no longer do and mainly listen instead. I’m pretty certain that the US is about to descend into Socialism and maybe Communism by choice. As is the case with all systems, it will benefit some and hurt others.
I say, who cares?
We already have Socialism for corporations and investment banks. After all, when was the last time you saw an individual go bankrupt and the government swoop in to pay all their bills? We spend hundreds of billions of dollars to blow people up in Ukraine and the Middle East. Should I be more angry at people who want to receive food, housing, and health care on the government’s dime?
The entire political narrative on both sides is oxymoronic.
That said, I’ve been around long enough to see that, beyond the local level, politics is a
F.A.T.E.-based psyop.
Elections come around, and we choose one candidate mainly because we Fear the opposing candidate’s policies. That fear was primarily generated by media talking heads to whom we assigned Authority over our worldviews.
The authority that determined our worldview also defined our Tribe. No one from the conservative tribe would dare agree with anything from the opposing Leftist tribe and vice versa, lest they risk being ostracized and put out of the proverbial camp.
Finally, the flood of images depicting ignorance, lawlessness, and terror generated by polarizing media narratives keeps our amygdalas fully engaged in Emotion. Our prefrontal cortices are held at bay while we brainwash ourselves by dog-whistling or virtue-signaling media talking points to each other, thus confirming our participation and place as Large Language Models in skin bags within a tribal consensus.
Yeah, I know that’s a mouthful.
Listen
There are no socioeconomic or political solutions to a spiritual problem. No conservative republican capitalist candidate or organization, no Leftist philosophy or system, is going to save the day. No amount of Jesus sprinkled on the world is going to transform Satan’s kingdom into heaven any more than sugar sprinkled on a turd will turn it into a cookie.
Satan’s kingdom will not be transformed on earth. It will only be replaced by the author and finisher of our faith. Even so, I accept that people around me on the left and the right will try and try and try again until they reach the inevitable conclusion that there is nothing new under the sun.
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live… Ecclesiastes 3:9-12
What Time Is It?
Here is the end of the matter.
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
Maranatha!