Socialism: Incompatible With Freedom And Liberty

SOCIALISM: INCOMPATIBLE WITH FREEDOM AND LIBERTY

TEXT: EPH. 6:12

INTRODUCTION:

On this Sunday before the 4th of July 2019, we celebrate the 243rd year of our founding as a nation. America is called, “The land of the free and the home of the brave.” We’re the land where liberty reigns and people are free to live their lives as they see fit without the interference of an oppressive government, so long as their actions do no harm to others. Let’s let these words in our Declaration of Independence speak to us again: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.''

Unalienable rights are rights that not capable of being taken away because they come from God. As Americans, we must be reminded that our country is under attack from enemies who do not believe in God. Many of these people, some of whom have unfortunately gained positions of power in our government, do not believe a Creator-God exists. To them, since there’s no God, there are no “unalienable” rights He has given us -- they don’t exist. This is the mindset of our enemy.

I contend that this attack on our political system of Constitutional Republicanism comes from Socialism, and it is incompatible with the freedom and liberty expressed in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Some would say Communism is America’s greatest enemy, but I say “No.” Karl Marx, the father of Communism, believed and taught that all inequality, misery and suffering was caused by Capitalism. According to Marx, “Capitalists” are owners of the property, such as industries, companies, manufacturing concerns and farms, etc. In the Socialist phase, property, and the means of production is taken away from the Capitalists, if necessary, and most of the time by violence. This property, formerly owned by the “Capitalists,” would be put in the hands of the people—the workers.

Marx viewed Socialism as a transitional state of government when the property is being taken from the Capitalists and given to the workers and it would eventually lead to Communism. Marx believed the eventual Communist society would be a utopia, a “worker’s paradise,” where all is peace and love and joy with the motto: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” which would come about in the final communistic system. But Marx’s vision has never come to fruition, and it never will, because it always gets stuck in the “Socialism” phase, and dictatorship is always the result.

Socialism can be on the left of the political spectrum, such as the so-called “Democratic Socialism” of Senator Bernie Sanders, who honeymooned with his wife in the U.S.S.R., or on the political right, as in Hitler’s Nazi Germany. The term “Nazi” means The National SOCIALIST German Workers Party. I admit that my explanation of Socialism and Communism is simplistic, but I’m a preacher, not a Professor of Politics. What I want to emphasize on this eve of Independence Day, is the danger that Socialism represents to our country.

Back to our text, in this 6th and closing chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul tells children to honor and obey their parents, fathers to raise their children in the nurture of the Lord, servants to be obedient to their masters, and for masters to be kind to their servants. Then in verses 10-13 he says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devel. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” I want us to focus on verse 12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” He’s talking about the devel and his demonic hordes, and the humans they control.

Let’s look at some names given to saten in the Bible as applied to the title of my message: “Socialism is of the devel.”

I. JESUS CALLS THE DEVEL A MURDERER

A. In John chapter 8, Jesus is speaking to the Scribes and Pharisees who were constantly opposed to Him and His work. In verse 44 He says to them: “You are of your father the devel, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning…”