The Spiritual Condition of America, Politics, Culture, and Current Events Analyzed Through the Lens of Scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal. Hi, Alex McFarland. That's a quote from Aristotle, often called the father of logic.
He lived a couple of hundred years before Christ. And in today's show and next week, we're going to do a two-part series that is really a reasonable cultural, economic, and yes, scriptural critique. Of socialism. Why the rise in infatuation about socialism? I'm sure in the news you've been following how so many candidates are successfully being elected to offices, mayoral races, senate races, city councils, school boards.
Socialism. Is growing in America. Should this be a cause for concern? I believe absolutely. And the Aristotle quote with which I began says the worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.
That's exactly what Marxism And socialism, which really is communism light, it's entry level ground floor communism. It tries to forcibly equalize things that are unequal.
Now we're a nation of equal rights, equal protection before the law. equal humanity, male, female. regardless of one's culture or ethnicity. Our founding documents presuppose that all are created equal. In the eyes of God.
But there's a philosophy being really shoehorned on the American. Public and into the American mindset, it's been around for decades, called egalitarianism. And egalitarianism is more than merely saying that we have equal rights, equally protected constitutional rights. This enforced Egalitarianism wants all things to be equal in terms of income and standard of living. and thereby socialism ultimately wants to put the means of production and the means of distribution ultimately in the hands of the government.
But I'm getting ahead of myself and I want to give a a critique And in the next few sessions, I'm going to talk about the presuppositions. That drive socialism and certainly even many professed Christians fascination with socialism. And we'll come back to these, but the presuppositions that drive the modern infatuation with socialism, for one, there's evolution, then scarcity. The assumption that water, food, money, Healthcare, everything is scarce. And if one person has what they need, there's the assumption that somebody else is doing without.
And that's really the assumption of what we might call a finite pi. View of economics.
Sometimes it's called the zero-sum fallacy. That's an assumption. There's this strict, unyielding limit. on the total amount of the world's jobs, resources, or wealth. We'll come back to this.
Another presupposition driving socialism is the fragility of the planet. That planet Earth and its abilities to sustain human life is very, very delicate. And human activity, especially a free market economy, is necessarily going to upset the careful balance of nature. Uh there is the assumption of victimhood. That if one person is prospering, necessarily somebody else is suffering or doing without, and that a person who doesn't have what they need, or a person whose life has gone nowhere, person who's unemployed, a person who is indigent, necessarily they are a victim.
And if somebody else is doing well and succeeding, It's not because they worked hard or lived within their means or Exercised self-restraint. If somebody else is succeeding, necessarily, the socialist assumes they did it off the back of somebody else. There's this. presupposition of victim and oppressor. And then there's the presupposition of relativism.
And again, I'm going to come back to all of these. But relativism is the assumption that there is no objective moral truth. We all make our own truth. And there are no absolute moral guardrails that come from the character and nature of God. We make our own truth.
And then there's the presupposition of human perfectibility. not that humans are sinners and need redemption and regeneration from a Saviour, but that humans are perfectible. And I would say, as a corollary to that, this belief in human perfectibility and the fact that human nature is inherently good. Rather than Fallen and sinful. There is also this corollary, the assumption That government is our Saviour.
that government really is ultimately our our God, Now if fallen humans run the government, then the government itself will be fallen and finite, And prone to evil. But I digress.
So let's talk about socialism. You know, James Madison famously warned Quote, the accumulation of all powers may justly be pronounced as the very definition of tyranny. Let me go back. Madison said the accumulation of all powers by the government. may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.
And so all of the people, especially young people, that are currently so enamored with socialism, I don't know if they realize it, but they are really stoking the fires of an eventual tyranny. that will leave everyone's standard of living far, far diminished. The United States Constitution was written to create a government of limited enumerated. Powers.
Now, the enumerated limited powers of the government protects private property, individual liberty, the free exercise of religion. And the founders understood that concentrated political power threatens freedom. And so the US Constitution, part of the genius of it, and there are many just points of brilliance. In fact, I I think divine oversight In the Declaration, the 52-word preamble, the Constitution, the 27-point Bill of Rights, the 50 out of 50 US state constitutions that mention God. and or Christianity The genius, and there are many Points of brilliance, but our government disperses power rather than concentrates it.
And that's why we have liberty and freedom.
Socialism, by contrast, necessarily expands governmental authority over economic life. But it doesn't just stop there, not just over economic life, but over other areas of life.
Now socialism Wants to control the industries, nationalize production and industries rather than private industry. Government industry, handle redistribution, centralize planning. A socialism requires greater and greater governmental involvement. In everything from commerce to public services and any national economy. That has generally been organized around centralized government control.
The economy goes down, the GDP goes down, the betterment of the human condition is vastly diminished, the standard of living goes down.
Now, the American economy has been organized around market principles, rather. Then state ownership. We're going to come back. Please stay tuned. We're going to talk about Freedom or Socialism.
A biblical critique Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Would you invest a financial contribution to see young people saved, people give their lives to Christ, and people care about God and country? If you would please make a donation securely online, you can give at alexmacfarlane.com or please mail a check to TNG P.O. Box 485 Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, 27313.
Your gift will be faithfully handled, fruitfully used, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Hey, this is producer Mike here from the Alex McFarlane Show. Why are so many Christians divided over important issues? In his powerful book, 10 Issues That Divide Christians, Alex tackles the biggest questions facing the church today. Alex helps believers navigate difficult topics while staying grounded in God's Word.
If you're ready to strengthen your faith and better understand today's spiritual challenges, get your copy of 10 Issues That Divide Christians Today, wherever books are sold. He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here.
So honored that you're listening. We're giving a critique of socialism. And, you know, it's one thing when wide-eyed, rose-colored glasses, secular academics become enamored with socialism, but it is very concerning that professed Christians, even those that would profess to be Bible-believing Christians, are enamored with socialism. And let me point out why socialism is just utterly incompatible with Scripture.
Now, from the Bible, God's Holy Word, work is presented as a blessing. And a responsibility. In the book of Genesis, humanity is instructed to cultivate and steward creation. And very famously, of course, and this should be the textual death knell to any Christian's infatuation with socialism, but 2 Thessalonians 3.10, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. End of quote.
It's what the Bible says. If a man will not work, neither shall he eat. And one of the things, and I've said it for two and a half decades, that one of the very fundamental differences between liberalism and conservatism is our disagreement over human nature.
Now, call it liberalism, leftism, wokeness, progressivism, socialism. The socialist says humans are inherently good. buy it expendable. The very same leftist that will wax eloquent about how good and deserving people are will think nothing of aborting the unborn human, talk of euthanizing the elderly or the non producers. The the the Nazis call the Jews and others useless eaters.
And thought nothing of destroying the ones made in God's image.
Now, the conservative or the realist, I'll be very specific, the epistemic realist. And epistemic means epistemology, how we know what we know. The conservative knows that truth comes from God, and we are made in God's image, and we are able to think about and ascertain. Truth Because the Spirit of God is in us, and if we respond to truth, we'll be given more truth. We say that humans are inherently fallen.
We're sinners. We can't perfect ourselves. We have known the truth and we've deviated from it. We've known the right, we've done the wrong.
However, even though we are sinners, we're valuable to God. In fact, so much so that He sent His one and only Son to be our Saviour. Therefore we are pro life, because let me just say this unless it is self defense or national defense, We don't have the right to take another person's life.
Now, the Word of God and great Christian thinkers, Jewish and Christian. And Moral philosophers thought history. Have said that national defense and self-defense are justified. It's unfortunate, but in a fallen world full of sinners, miscreants, narcissists, selfish people, sometimes self-defense and national defense are warranted. That's why Romans chapter 13:1 through 7, speaking about the powers that be, do not wield the sword in vain, But they the Bible says the the soldier, the policeman, the peacekeeper, even though they may against evildoers that's what Romans thirteen says even though they may have to deal with evildoers with uh capital force.
They are the ministers of God. For keeping peace keeping moral order, but also protecting and rewarding those that aren't evildoers. Those that live righteously. And, you know, wherever socialism goes, or wherever there is defund the police, or legalize drugs, or open the borders, right away. the undocumented shall we say turn the place into lawlessness.
And the tax-paying, hard-working citizen For the rule of law, that the leftist government will not. In force. And so socialism ultimately is horribly, unspeakably Evil. and unjust. I mentioned the 2 Thessalonians 3:10 that says, if someone will not work, They are not to be fed.
And here's the difference.
Socialism Dehumanizes people by saying, you're inherently good, you shouldn't have to work, you don't have to work. But you cannot make it without the government. You, citizen, in a socialist Paradigm, you don't have the smarts to make it on your own. You don't have the wherewithal to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You don't have to live morally, and you can't.
Daddy government will do it for you. It's very dehumanizing, it's very demeaning, horribly condescending.
Now in a free market constitutionalist economy, And William Bradford of the Pilgrims recognized this. George Washington recognized it. Look, you can keep what you own. But you have to get up and work.
Now there is charity, there is benevolence. That comes out of the church and from voluntary uncoerced. philanthropy from the hearts of compassionate Christians. But in the eighth commandment, the eighth of God's Ten Commandments, it says, Thou shalt not steal. And clearly the prohibition against stealing someone else's possessions presupposes the right to own Property.
And this prohibition against taking something that doesn't belong to you. That goes all the way to the governing authorities, too, whether it be a king or a monarch. Ellen. A constitutional republic. Stealing is stealing, even if that stealing is dressed up in the garb of.
Charity. Law Now, in the parable of the talents, let's talk for a moment about private property ownership. And responsibility, and we'll call that stewardship. In Matthew 25, there's a parable of talents, and God commends. Faithful stewardship, investment, and productive labor.
And throughout Scripture, clearly generosity is encouraged, but it is generosity flowing from willing hearts, not by coercion or by the government. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 7, God loves a cheerful giver. but Biblical giving is voluntary.
Now, socialism is government redistribution through compulsory taxation. And these are fundamentally different concepts, vastly different concepts. Voluntary, cheerful, compassionate giving versus compulsory government confiscation. And redistribution. Where you the giver, your heart doesn't have to be right.
You might protest it, you might. Vehemently dislike it, and then you have no say over how it's redistributed.
Now history provides sobering lessons. The twentieth century saw so many communist regimes that would come and they would go, they would fail, they would harm people. And the lives of human beings were always the worse for it, whether it be the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, under Mount Zedong, Cambodia, under Pol Pot, and elsewhere.
Now we've got to take a break. We're going to come back and we're going to talk more about those who have recognized. the evils, the delusion. and the tragedy of Socialism I'm sharing this because my prayer is God in His mercy will wake up America. And we will rouse from the delusional back to a free market economy and a constitutional republic Which for 250 years has been the envy of the world.
We dare not lose it. Please stay tuned. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Over the last several decades, it's been my joy to travel the world talking with children, teens, adults, people of all ages about the questions they have related to God, the Bible, Christianity, and how to know Jesus personally.
Hi, Alex McFarlane. I want to make you aware of my book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. You know, we interviewed hundreds of children and parents and families to find out the questions that children and people of all ages are longing to find answers for. In the book, we've got practical, biblical, real-life answers that they have about how to be a Christian in this modern world. My book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, you can find it wherever you buy books or at resources.afa.net.
He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here.
We're going to continue our critique of socialism and our fervent prayer that God will spare America from the rise. And the growth of socialism. But as we continue, I'm going to ask you to please pray for our ministries. We're in the middle of our summer camps. Already, hundreds of young people have come to camp and heard the gospel.
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And they're going to talk about not only how Muslims can be reached for Christ, but what is Islam's plan for America and what you and I can do about it.
Now, the Conversation That Matters speaker series, we're spending many, many thousands of dollars on this. Last year, as you may recall, we brought in Dinesh D'Souza, Gary Chapman, Jenna Ellis, Charlie Kirk. Just two weeks before his tragic assassination. And all over the country, people say to me, please, Alex, please bring this content to our city. I just was in San Angelo, Texas, and I was also in Abilene, Texas.
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Well, in our critique of socialism, I'm going to invoke a name, a very well-known name. Everyone will know. One of the most formidable forces in socialism, Marxism, and Communism. Vladimir Lenin lived 1870 to 1924. He was one of the driving forces behind the Communist Revolution of 1917.
And under Lenin's authority, Russia became the world's first. Communist state. And ideologically, he was a Marxist. And he said, and I quote: Vladimir Lenin said: the goal of socialism is communism. End of quote.
And the Communist Manifesto had the famous words: workers of the world. Unite.
Now Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were a part of this Communist worldview that necessarily believed that workers were victims and they had to engage in collectivism and unite to fight the structure, the system The the business owner. And critical theory believes in this idea that there is systemic oppression. Necessarily oppression of workers and employees.
Now, could workers be oppressed? Of course they could. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they could. And I'm going to get to how a free market economy. has empowered more people, put more food on more people's tables, given us technological advancements and innovation, prosperity, raised the standard of living for people everywhere, not socialism.
but a Judeo-Christian principled capitalism. And my goodness, what would be called poverty in America today and Europe? The standard of living enjoyed or experienced by the quote unquote poor Other generations of world history would have looked with awe and envy But Karl Marx wrote, quote, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in a single sentence. Abolition of Private Property End of quote. You think about that.
So many people say, well, the government should do this and the government should pay for that.
Well, if the people enamored with socialism are feeling so charitable, why don't they begin to dole out their money? and begin to write checks. If you feel bad that there are homeless people, why don't you invite them into your house, apartment? town house or condominium. But Karl Marx wanted to put the ownership of property in the hands of the State.
Zoran Mamdani wants that. AOC. And the other pop-level socialist. And they trade, they build their base on two things. One is class envy.
And the other is really Twisted semantics. They call spending increases budget cuts. They call confiscation of wages. A compassion. They want to make conservatives and/or Christians feel bad if we want government waste reined in.
If we believe there should be accountability, we shouldn't just give things away and throw money at problems. There should be responsible, mature budgeting and oversight. And if you believe In boundaries and accountability, you're hateful, you're not compassionate, the socialists would say.
So they trade on class envy, the alleged racism, and then shaming those that want there to be oversight.
Now, this abolition of private property by Karl Marx, this statement alone really illustrates one of the deepest differences between Marxism and America's institutional tradition. America protects private property, Marxism abolishes it. Supporters of socialism argue that the goal is economic equality. Critics respond that equality before the law is not the same as equality of outcomes. It never works when the government wants to control outcomes, whether it be in education or sports or in economics.
Winston Churchill famously observed, I love Churchill, he was brilliant. Churchill said, quote, socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. End of quote. It's surely a trick. If you have, you didn't oppress anybody, you worked for it, I would suppose.
I meet people everywhere. And I'm one of them that grew up poor. And yes, we did. We grew up poor. Didn't know it.
We were happy, but really, my farm family in rural North Carolina, we were poor, but we worked, we saved, we didn't go into debt. In fact, my dad's business was so far in debt when I was a child, I made myself a promise that I would never go into debt. And we never have. But Churchill went on. He said and I'm sure you've heard this quote, the inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings.
The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
Now, there are important historical lessons to be learned concerning the dangers. of socialism, and really the dangers of assigning different values to different human lives. I mentioned earlier that the Nazis famously used the term useless eaters. To dehumanize people with disabilities and Jews and others they deemed unproductive. And the Nazi language really reflected a worldview in which the state determined the worth of human beings.
And this is a principle fundamentally incompatible with the biblical teaching that every person bears the image of God. And I have to say, folks, please pray, please vote. Vote for constitutionalists, not socialists. The future of America hangs in the balance. Your future, the future of your children.
and our nation's ability. To do what we were raised up by God to do, which is live out. contribute to fulfil the great commission. We're in a spiritual battle. Alex McFarland Ministries is here to help you be equipped.
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Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarlane Show.
