Written by: Rev Orlando Mostert
Socialism is one of the best if not the best counterfeit of Christianity ever devised by man or devil. Like all good counterfeit its acceptance is dependent on deception. The persistence of this deception over the centuries of recorded human history probably says more for the gullibility of man than it does of the cleverness of socialist deception. I say “persistence… over the centuries” purposefully because socialism is not a recent phenomenon. It is not the triumph of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie nor the vanguard of the enlightened progressives. It is, in fact, the regression of mankind into the Dark Ages of mediocracy through bureaucracy while proclaiming loudly the ideal of democracy.
Socialism is as old as Nimrod and as recent as Hitler’s National Socialist (Nazi) Party or the various People’s Popular Liberation Fronts littering the globe (being neither for the people nor popular nor liberating). Through the centuries the lofty goals remain the same: a bright new world of peace, security and justice. The means toward those goals remain the same: myths, lies, terror and violence. The result always remains the same whether it be left-wing socialists (communists) or right-wing socialists (fascists) – destruction of life, liberty and property, a dehumanized populace living in poverty, ignorance and fear.
It is evident that socialism stripped of its “caring” image is, in fact, an anti-Christian system. The Greek word for “anti” means either “against” or “in the place of”. Socialism is man’s attempt at playing God by substituting the State for God. As such, it is anti-Christ in the sense of placing the State “in the place of” Christ.
Socialism is a direct contradiction of the Ten Commandments, one of which sates, “You shall have no other gods before Me”. Socialists, being the practical atheists they are, assume the non-existence or the non-interest of God and, therefore, for them there exists a massive vacuum in the universe. Who then shall lead, protect and provide for mankind? Why they will, of course. Who needs God when you are taken care of from cradle to grave?
Socialism is a contradiction of another of the Commandments, which states, “Thou shall not steal”. Socialism is legalized robbery when it takes from the rich to give to the poor. The answer to poverty is found in the Bible: it includes such wisdom as hard work, diligence, persistence, giving to others, etc. The Bible does not condone the confiscation and redistribution of property. This is immoral. If we want a moral society, then charity must be voluntary.
Socialism is also a contradiction of another Commandment, which says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s property”. Socialism legitimizes covetousness by promising to “soak the rich” on behalf of the poor without he masses having to involve themselves directly in so sordid a matter as coercive theft, fraud and larceny. The socialist politician, knowing the inner covetousness of the masses, perpetrates on them one of the oldest con games around: the fraud Satan tried on Jesus of turning stones into bread or getting something for nothing. Welfare, jobs, education, security, pension and medical aid – you can have them all for the price of a vote.
The man who votes for that kind of thing is either stupid or immoral. He is stupid if he thinks governments can create wealth out of nothing or can offer to the people with one hand what they have not taken from the people with the other hand. Or he is immoral if, knowing this, he still votes for socialism because there lurks the secret hope within him that he will get more in benefits than he gives in taxes and freedom. The difference, of course, is going to come out of someone’s pocket; but who cares? I’m alright, Jack. Either way, socialism perpetuates duplicity and encourages covetousness.
To justify such immoral actions, socialism preaches the doctrine of equality. Since all are equal, then should some have more than others, it is because they are exploiting the masses. Such exploitation is redressed through confiscation and redistribution. Never mind the fact that Jesus said, “to one is given [by God] five talents and to another three talents and to another one talent”. Never mind that He said, “to whom much is given much is expected and to whom little is given little is expected”. But socialism says all are equal and if all are not equal, they shall be made equal because all are equal, for else by what moral right would a socialist politician take from one to give to another?
God placed man on Earth for the prime reason of developing man’s character. As a child needs progressively greater responsibilities and freedom to develop his character, so does man. God has given man the right to life (and all that contributes to life, such as reason and freedom) and the fruits of his labour (such as property) as responsibilities, which, if properly used, will enhance his character.
Socialism hinders this maturing process and as such constitutes gross interference in the affairs of God amongst men. Socialism perpetuates childishness by offering security in return for obedience. By surrendering your God-given talents of life, liberty, reason and property, you receive from socialists ‘security’ from cradle to grave.
If this appeals to you, then you are probably suffering from neurotic fantasies of infantile regression.
If you think such a society is a “caring, loving” society, you are either naive or evil, for you have no sense of morality. A society where those who give (tax), give grudgingly and resentfully, and those who receive (subsidies, welfare), receive, complaining for more, is not a caring or loving or moral society. It reminds of a pack of children grabbing at an ever-diminishing cake while screaming and kicking one another for taking the biggest piece. Such a society is not moral, for it encourages laziness, mediocrity and corruption.
No, Jesus said, “by their fruits you shall know them”.
Socialism morally, politically and economically, is rotten to the core. History has proven it over and over. If you really want a caring society, then free enterprise capitalism is the answer, for it has proven that it can create and distribute wealth more abundantly and equitable than any other system.
The question then remains, as to why many clerics are so fascinated and infatuated with socialism? Could it be that hey have the same attitude towards people as do socialist politicians, namely people are sheep and therefore need shepherds? Or could it be that they, like socialists, have a vested interest in the continued subservience of people where people are sheep and therefore can be fleeced?
The relationship of the cleric-astrologer-soothsayer-guru, etc. to the rulers and the ruled down through the centuries is an interesting one to say the least. Since both the rulers and the socialist clerics are basically parasites on the body of the population, they usually form a symbiotic relationship of mutual support. While the clerics pray, the rulers prey, because the “family” that preys together stays together.
Like ships that need rudders and horses that need bits, so rulers need myths in order to rule their people. Down through the centuries the priest-soothsayer-magician-guru class have proven their reliability to create and propagate myths which are kept sundry despots, kings, pharaohs, commissars and comrades in power. This is no easy task, and most certainly requires supernatural aid to create myths strong enough to persuade a man to part with half of his earners with which to pay for someone to regulate his life. So, it was in ancient Egypt and Babylon that the priests convinced the populace that their rulers were divine and therefore inviolable. During the Dark Ages, the Catholic Church propagated the myth of “the divine right of kings”, thereby securing the throne of many a tyrant while reserving for themselves the king-making role.
The modern manifestation of this ancient corruption is the incestuous relationship between the World Council of Churches (including their fellow-travellers, the South African Council of Churches) and the assorted socialist tyrants and tyrannies around the world. Fulfilling their ancient role as propagators of myths with which to rule the masses, they provide a cloak of moral respectability to socialism by preaching “liberation theology”.
The precepts of socialist liberation theology have redefined traditional Christian concepts such as sin, salvation, atonement and even God Himself. For the socialist the root sin that corrupts mankind is selfishness. Atonement for this horrible sin is to be found in self-sacrifice. Salvation is that process which destroys anything contributing to selfishness, such as identity, possessions, property, culture, race and nationality. Heaven is the lobotomized state of the future where the individual has lost his identity, is equal to all in nothingness, a contended drone in a human ant colony with a serialized mind working for the good of others (i.e., the State). Through this whole process, the State has become god and god enthroned in the State, ever-demanding the awe, respect and obedience of the disciple-citizen.
The attitude and actions of Jesus during His day to such socialist cleric-politicians is exemplary. The socialists of His day were running a money racket (currency exchange controls) for the Temple (notice how big banks always look like ancient temples?) in Jerusalem. If worked like this: There was a law that everyone had to offer sacrifices, actually God would have preferred repentance but the clerics liked the money from sacrifices so they never talked much about repentance. Te only problem was you had to buy your sacrifices from the Temple (State monopoly). To buy these sacrifices, you couldn’t use Roman money (currency exchange controls). You had to use Temple money (legal tender laws). So you would give in your good, heavy Roman denarius and receive in exchange a lighter, inferior temple shekel (inflation). Jesus took a whip to that crowd, demonstrating practically what He thought of socialism.
Author (1980): Reverend Orlando Mostert is a Christian activist, studied overseas for ten years, and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree at American University. Presently, he is involved in writing articles and lecturing, and is a director of the Success Institute.
Disclaimer: This article originally appeared in The Individualist of February 1980 (Vol. 5 No. 2). The Individualist was last published by the Libertarian Society of South Africa.
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