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Man, the title of my sermon this morning is communism in light of the Bible. Communism in light of the Bible. Look down at your Bible there in Proverbs chapter 30 verse 21. For three things the earth is disquieted and for four which it cannot bear. For a servant when he reigneth and a fool when he is filled with meat. For an odious woman when she is married and a handmaid that is heir to her mistress. So before I get into this sermon and show what the word of God says and bring communism into the light of the Bible, let me give you the definition of communism. The definition of communism is an ideology that advocates for a classless system in which the means of production are owned communally. And I'll explain that more as we get into the sermon. But I want to focus there on the classless society. So instead of having people that are rich, middle class, poor, the idea is to have a totally classless society where the means of production, so these would be the things that businesses own like machines, property, tools, equipment, vehicles, would be owned communally instead of being owned privately. So here are some excerpts from the communist manifesto where basically the communists themselves explain what they believe is written by, of course, most famously Karl Marx. The first step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class to win the battle of democracy. So the proletariat are basically the people at the bottom. They're just the people who are working and living paycheck to paycheck, just getting paid by the hour. They don't really own any property or anything. And he's saying that we need to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class to win the battle of democracy. The proletariat will use its political supremacy to rest by degree all capital from the bourgeoisie, which are the middle class, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state. The proletariat organized as the ruling class and to increase the total productive forces as rapidly as possible. Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be affected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property. So basically, take away property from the middle class, take away property from the rich and give it to the government, give it to the state so that the proletariat can rule. Communism is often called, quote, the dictatorship of the proletariat. Now let's see if that jives with what the Bible teaches. The Bible says here that it's a horrible injustice whereby the earth is disquieted, verse 22, when a servant reigneth. Isn't that what it says? For three things the earth is disquieted and for four which it cannot bear for a servant when he reigneth. So point number one is that servants or workers or employees should not be in charge. According to the Bible, they are not the bosses. They are to obey their masters according to the flesh and they are not to be the bosses. Flip over just a few pages to the right to Ecclesiastes chapter number 10. Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verse 5 says this, there is an evil which I have seen under the sun as an error which proceedeth from the ruler. Verse 6, folly is set in great dignity and the rich sit in low place. I've seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth. The Bible is telling us this is upside down. This is an error. This is an evil when we see this flipped over where servants are reigning, servants are in charge and the rich sit in low place and folly is set in great dignity. Here's the very end of the Communist Manifesto. Here's the ending famous paragraph. The communists disdained to conceal their views or aims, they openly declare that their ends can only be attained by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all countries unite. Okay, flip over to Proverbs chapter 24 verse 21. Let's examine this in light of the Bible. Proverbs 24 verse 21, overthrow all existing social conditions. The proletariat's got nothing to lose. Well let's see, they could lose their lives, they could lose their freedom, they could lose their dignity, they could lose their soul. But look what the Bible says in Proverbs 24, 21, my son, fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change. For their calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the ruin of them both. So is the Bible teaching us, hey, let's have a violent revolution of all the social order, let's flip everything over? No, the Bible actually says, fear the Lord and fear the King and meddle not with them that are given to change. Their calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the ruin of them both? We know the ruin of them both because we saw it throughout the 20th century when communism first took over. The first place that it was instituted was obviously Russia, 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution. But then throughout the 20th century, a whole bunch of other countries got on board with communism, didn't they? And in fact, there was a time when a huge part of the world's population lived under communism. Now today, there are only five countries left that are communists and that would be China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cuba. And you know what? None of those are places that you or I want to live. We don't want to live in those places. It was a disaster. It was a failure. It led to calamity and ruin in the 20th century which is why it was rejected and the vast majority of communist countries have now gone back to a capitalist system including Russia and Eastern Europe and the rest of them. This is reiterated in the New Testament. You don't have to turn there but 1 Peter, if you would flip over to Deuteronomy 1, 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 17 says, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king, servants be subject to your own masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward. Point number two, the Bible teaches a ruling class in all areas of life. Communism is based on this classless society, right? So point number one, I showed from the Bible that servants, workers, employees should not be in charge. They are not the bosses but number two, the Bible teaches a ruling class in all areas of life whether it be government, church, family, business, all areas of life, God has established authority and a ruling class. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 1, let's look at government. Deuteronomy 1, 13, take you wise men in understanding and known among your tribes and I will make them rulers over you and ye answered me and said, the thing which thou has spoken is good for us to do. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men and known and made them heads over you, captains over thousands and captains over hundreds and captains over fifties and captains over tens and officers among your tribes and I charged your judges at that time saying, here are the causes between your brethren and judge righteously between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him, ye shall not respect persons in judgment but ye shall hear the small as well as the great, ye shall not be afraid of the face of man for the judgment is God's and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me and I will hear it and I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do. Now let me just come right out and say this, democracy is unbiblical. Democracy is not a biblical philosophy. It's nowhere taught in scripture of just letting everybody be in charge, everybody votes and whatever the popular opinion is, that's what we're going to do. That is never taught in scripture and that never works, okay? If we look at scripture here, the Bible clearly says that they're going to take wise men, men of understanding, men that are known among the tribes. Elsewhere it says these should be men that hate covetousness, you know, they shouldn't be in it for financial gain and they're to take these men and make rulers for them and have rulers over a thousand, rulers over 50, so everybody's not in charge. People are chosen to be put in charge, not everyone is in charge. The reason democracy doesn't work is because the vast majority of people tend to be wrong about things. The Bible says broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. You want a picture of democracy in the Bible? It's when Moses is up in the mount for 40 days and then they don't have a strong leader and everything just goes to the lowest common denominator where we listen to the people, right? So Aaron, instead of leading and ruling and doing what's right, he said, well, I'm just going to listen to what the people want. The people want to make a golden calf. Let's make a golden calf. People want to eat, drink, dance, party, get naked. Hey, that's what they want. Let's give it to them. That's democracy. You know what democracy is? It's in the book of Judges when they don't have a strong leader and every man does that which is right in his own eyes and we're going to do what the people want and go with the people's will. No. Remember what happened with King Saul? He listened to the people. That was his downfall when he just did what the people told him. Well, it was the people. He said, hey, you're the leader, buddy. If the people want you to do wrong, you stand up and say, no, we're going to do right anyway. Now not only is this go for government, it goes for the church as well. Flip over to Hebrews chapter 13. You see, the church is not a democracy. If 51% of the people want to switch from the King James to a different version, guess what? We're staying on the King James Bible. If 51% of people decide we're not going to be a soul winning church, guess what? We're still going to be a soul winning church. You know, if people want to bring in worldly music and turn it into a rock concert and have a bunch of smoke machines and purple lights, it doesn't matter because it's the pastor's job to lead the church according to the word of God and not to just go with what people want and just go with the will of the people. Leadership is essential. All throughout the Bible we see this. Now think about this. Well, look down at your Bible and tell me if the Bible teaches democracy or if the Bible teaches that there's leadership in the church. Look at Hebrews chapter 13 verse 7, remember them which have the what? The rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation. Verse 17, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you. Verse 24, salute all them that have the rule over you and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. You don't have to turn there but 1 Timothy 5 17 says, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. You say, I don't know, I don't have a problem with that. You have a problem with the Bible. That's what the Bible says. I'm reading to you. The Bible. The Bible says that there are those in the church who have the rule and he says, follow their faith. He didn't just say, hey, we're just going to go with what people want. We're going to take a poll. We're going to vote. We're going to have democracy. No, you have a man of God leading the church. It's not led by a committee. It's led by a man of God. Now I was thinking about this. What would happen to our church? Here's the thing. Our church has been around for 14 years and we've had a lot of Bible teaching during that time and so our church members are very knowledgeable about the word of God. So let's say I were to just disappear and I'm just removed. I'm gone. I die or whatever and the church has no leader. I think that this church would do well for a while and I was thinking about in the Bible, you know, when Joshua died, they still served God in the days of all the elders that outlived Joshua. So yeah, there are going to be a lot of people that know the word of God, that can keep things going. But let me tell you something. Over time, if there was no strong leader in this church, the church will eventually degenerate. I think it would do well for a while but unless you get another guy in here like myself or some other man of God or somebody else who is at least leading the church in the right direction, eventually, even if it does well for a while, it's going to go downhill. We've all seen that if we've been in church our whole lives. We've seen churches with a strong leader and then the leader retires or whatever and then it stays good for a while but then it just slowly degenerates. You've got to have a leader and that's where you need the next leader to come in the Book of Judges where instead of Joshua, you've got Othniel and then you've got guys like Ehud and guys like Gideon and guys like Jephthah. There always has to be someone to step up to the plate and lead. The Bible teaches not this idea of, well, let's have the inmates run the institution. No. The Bible teaches that we should have in government, we need to have rulers. We need to have leaders who do what's right, not what's popular. I mean, look, if everybody in the US says, hey, I'm okay with being a sodomite, the leaders should say, no, it's wicked. Hey, you know, I'm okay with abortion, no. It's wrong. It's murder. No matter what people want, give them what they need, not what they want. Rule according to what's right is what the Bible teaches. So in government, we saw in Deuteronomy chapter 1 where the Lord set up a government for the children of Israel, how their government was going to work. We see he has established and ordained leadership in the church as well. He talks about the pastor, the bishop, elder ruling and leading and so forth. What about in the family? Go to Ephesians chapter 5. Is the family a democracy? You know, in the family, let's see, let's look at my family, for example. My family consists of me, my wife and our 11 children. So if we had a popular vote, my wife and I and our agenda is not going to win, okay? Because it'd be 2 verses 11, you know? Look at Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. So the Bible says the wives are to submit to the husbands. Look at chapter 6 verse 1, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. So what's the Bible saying? Wives, obey your husbands. Children, obey mom and dad. That's the order of authority. That's what God has set up. He didn't set up a democratic institution where we see what the kids want to do and we have them vote on it because we know that they're going to be voting on ice cream for breakfast and let's stay up till midnight every night and every night's New Year's Eve and they're not going to make sensible decisions. They're not qualified to lead. Mom and dad are qualified to lead. The kids need to follow. And guess what? When you're in other areas of life, there are people that are qualified to lead and people that are not qualified to lead. The Bible has qualifications for the pastor, the bishop, the elder. The Bible has qualifications for people that are in government to make sure that they're fit to lead, okay? And so you don't want to have somebody leading the church or a whole bunch of somebody's leading the church who've never even read the Bible cover to cover one time. Oh, let's let them set the direction of the church. No, you've got to have somebody who's a mature person who's studied the Bible, they've been saved a long time, they're the husband of one wife, their children obey, yada, yada, yada. Those qualifications are there for a reason. The qualifications for government are there for a reason. You know, and by the way, if people were smart today when they're electing people to government, they should look at those biblical qualifications in Exodus and Deuteronomy and they'd see that our leaders are supposed to hate covetousness. So can somebody explain to me why 99% of the members of Congress are millionaires? Because they're not making a million dollar salary. So where'd they get those millions of dollars? Where did they get millions of dollars? If you look at their salary and people are like, oh, we need to pay them less. Folks, no. They don't need to be paid less. That's not the issue because then they would just have more of an excuse to go cheat and steal. You know what they need to do? If they're going to be in Congress, that needs to be all that they do and they shouldn't be making money on the side because it's dishonest. It's a conflict of interest. Did you know that if I do insider trading, I'm going to end up in jail next to Martha Stewart? Right? Martha Stewart went to jail for insider trading. But did you know that any member of Congress or the Senate is allowed to do insider trading and it's not illegal for them? So they know what laws are coming down the pike. They know what the changes are going to be so then they can invest in this and short sell this and cheat the system. That's why literally 99% of them are dishonest, stealing. Anyone who is a millionaire in Congress who, and I'm not talking about they were a millionaire going in. I'm talking about they go in not a millionaire and then they come out $20 million richer. It's because they're stealing. That's stealing. That's dishonest. They don't make that much money. They are stealing, okay? Short selling and buying stocks based on your insider knowledge is theft. It's immoral and dishonest and if any of us did it, we would all go to prison. And yet 99% of them are doing it, okay? They don't hate coverage business. You know, that's what we should be looking at when we're choosing leaders like, well, this guy went into Congress and he just is a humble guy and now he's got $30 million? How does that work when his salary is only 150 grand a year or 200 grand a year? Where is he getting these millions? That's what we ought to be asking. But I digress. Business. Think about it in business. Go to Ephesians 6, 5. The Bible says, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ. So he's telling, servants, be obedient. In the family, be obedient. In the church, be obedient. Obey every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. There are institutions in this world that God has ordained and there is a ruling class set up. People that are qualified to lead, people that are not qualified to lead and this idea of, well, everyone should be the leader, dictatorship of the proletariat, power to the people. Hey, it's not biblical. You can like it all you want. You can just say those slogans and think they're cool but don't try to say it's biblical because it's not. Now let's go to the 10 planks of communism as found in the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. He gives the 10 planks of communism. Plank number one, abolition of private, excuse me, abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. So take property away from private people and give it all to the government. It all goes to public purposes. Number two, a heavy progressive or graduated income tax. Number three, abolition of all rights of inheritance. Number four, confiscation of the property of all immigrants and rebels, basically those who don't want communism. Number five, centralization of credit in the hands of the state by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. Number six, centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state. Number seven, extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state. The bringing into cultivation of wastelands and improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. Number eight, equal liability of all to work, establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. Number nine, combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equitable distribution of the populace over the country. And number 10, free education for all children in public schools, abolition of children's factory labor in its present form, and combination of education with industrial production. So let's break this down. First of all, I just want to point out the obvious thing at those 10 points just at a glance is that we see the number one had to do with take away land, put it under the control of the government. Heavy progressive or graduated income tax that's taking money out of your pocket, give it to the government. Abolition of all rights of inheritance, so the stuff you were supposed to inherit goes to the government. Number four, confiscation of the property of X, Y, and Z people, that's taking stuff and giving it to the government. Number five, centralization of credit in the hands of the state. Number six, communication and transport in the hands of the state. Number seven, factories and instruments of production owned by the state. Eight, equal liability of all to work, nine, combination of agriculture, manufacturing industries, armies of agriculture. Folks, do you notice the common denominator is just like give government power. Government power, government power, take it out of the hands of people privately, the middle class, the bourgeoisie, the people who have money and own stuff and own businesses. Just take all that and put it all to the government, right? And I'm going to debunk that from scripture in Romans 13. But before we do that, go if you would to 1 Kings chapter 21 and then we're going to go to Romans 13. But while you're turning there, let's talk about each of these. So number one, abolition of property and land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. We're going to come back to that one. Number two, a heavy progressive or graduated income tax. Now is this taught in scripture, a heavy graduated or progressive income tax? That's never taught in the Bible. God, when he taxes the people, he uses two kinds of taxes in the Bible. In Exodus chapter 30, he uses a flat tax of a half shekel. Everybody pays a half shekel, which by the way is a tiny amount of money, a small amount of money. That's not heavy, it's not progressive, it's not graduated. It's just a flat tax. Everybody pays a half shekel. Listen to the scripture. This shall they give everyone that passeth among them that are numbered half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel is 20 geras. And half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Everyone that passeth among them that are numbered from 20 years old and above shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for your souls. And then the other quote unquote tax that you see God using is the tithe. And what's the tithe? Ten percent. So it's a percentage. Do the rich pay 20 percent, 15 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent? Poor people only tithe 2 percent, 3 percent? No, the tithe is 10 percent for everybody. The half shekel is a half shekel for everybody. That's what the Bible teaches. So you're seeing that the ideology of communism is not compatible with the Bible. None of it is. None of it's compatible with the Word of God. Number three, abolition of all rights of inheritance. Well Proverbs 13, 22 says, a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. In fact, the word inherit or inheritance is used in the Bible over 300 times. Look at the entire book of Joshua. Here's the inheritance for the Reubenites. Here's the inheritance for the Gadites. Here's the inheritance for Simeon. And they inherit from their fathers and they pass land down to their sons. Inheritance is a biblical concept, okay? Now here we see the communist king Ahab, if you're there, in 1 Kings chapter 21 verse 1, we have the communist king Ahab, and it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, uh oh, private property, comrade, got to take that from you, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth saying, give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs because it is near unto my house, and I'll give thee for it a better vineyard than it, or if it seem good to thee, I'll give thee the worth of it in money. So this is like an eminent domain thing where the government's going to give you money and you have to give them your property. And Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbideth me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. Sorry, but I'm not going to give the inheritance of my fathers to the state. I'm not going to give it to king Ahab. And so over, this is just one example, we could literally look at over 300 scriptures about inheritance. They say in the communist manifesto, get rid of all inheritance. And the way we see this manifesting in today's world, the socialists of our day, what do they want to do? They want to have a death tax or an inheritance tax where they basically take a giant chunk of what you inherit. So instead of your dad being able to pass something down to you, they end up taking half of it or three quarters of it or however much they take of it. Now go to Romans chapter 13. And when we saw these 10 planks of communism, the thing that jumped out was just how give power to the state. The state runs agriculture. The state's going to run the factories. The state owns the land. The state owns the means of production. Centralize it. Give it to the state. Let's see what the Bible actually teaches is the role of government. Is it the role of the government to run a factory or to run a farm or to own property or to run the agricultural production? Well look what the Bible says in Romans 13 verse 1, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute, also tribute would be like taxes, for this cause pay you tribute also, watch this, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. What does it mean this very thing, this exact thing? They're attending continually on this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to him. What does it do? Custom to him. Custom, those are types of taxation. Fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Now the Bible describes the role of government as being for the punishment of evil doers. It's the government's job to be the revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. They are there for the punishment of evil doers. Evil means to harm someone else. So people that are harming others, people who are robbing, stealing, murdering, raping, abusing, right? These people are harming others. They're evil doers and the government is there to punish them, right? If some little old lady, she's in her house, she's got her stuff, how is she going to fend off a bunch of thieves, a band of thieves, you know, just coming to her house, five guys just attack her house and do a home invasion? What does she do? Who's going to protect her? That's where government comes in because we need to have a revenger. We need someone to say, hey, you guys have done this, you'll be punished. You've killed, you're going to be killed. You've stolen, you're going to pay back fourfold. You're going to pay back fivefold. You're going to pay back double. You're going to be beaten or put to death or fined or whatever. The punishment of evil doers is to prevent crime, right? To protect innocent people from just living in an anarchy where they're being harmed and where nothing's safe, right? That's the role of government. And what does the Bible say? It says that they are continually attending upon this very thing. So the way God ordained government, the way God envisioned government, both in the Old Testament and in Romans 13, it's an institution to punish the evil doers, right? To keep the evil doers at bay. Is it to take care of us from cradle to grave? Does it say, well, they're attending continually on feeding you, clothing you, running your life, running your factory, owning the means of production, owning the land, owning the property? No, that's not the way the Bible envisions government. The Bible sets up a minimalistic type government that's there to punish people who hurt other people. They're there to enforce those kind of laws so that we don't have anarchy where everyone's just killing and raping and pillaging, right? That's why we need government. That's what he established. Now a couple other things on the 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto. I want to point out in point eight, it says, equal liability of all to work. Basically what they're saying is everyone has to work, zero unemployment, right? Everybody has to work all the time. So at first you might think to yourself, well, yeah, I mean, everybody's got to work. Everybody has to work. That's what they're saying. The government is forcing you to go to work is what they're saying. Now look, I'm all for everybody going to work but not being forced by the government to go to work. I mean, the Bible says if any man will not work, neither should he eat. But you know what? What if somebody just works for a long time, saves up a bunch of money, and then they basically take some time off from work? And maybe they explore some hobbies or maybe they explore spiritual things or they spend time soul winning, doing missions. I mean, you know, I did that when I was a young adult where I took three months off from work and just traveled throughout Europe just doing soul winning and doing the ministry and everything. It's like, no, comrade, you got to go to work every single day and you're being forced to work. Folks, this is not freedom. When people are being forced to work for the state, by the state, that's the exact reverse of freedom. And the Bible says where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. So I'm all for men going to work and working every day, but that's not always going to be necessarily servile work because some people might take time off from their job to pursue other things. You know, they might work on their own property for a while or they might, like I said, work on spiritual things or they might, you know, just work on some kind of a hobby or pursuit or whatever. People should have the freedom to do that, okay? If they work hard and make money, then they should be able to live off that for a little while and do something else, okay? These are the decisions that we all make in a free society that we just take that for granted. Well, yeah, you know, if I work hard and save up, then I can take some time off and explore other things. I can take a missions trip, whatever. Not under this system. And then the other thing I want to point out is the hypocrisy of point 10 where they say, free education for all children in public schools, abolition of children's factory labor. Well, that's, you know, it sounds great, like, yeah. Abolish children's factory labor. You know, these poor kids are being sent to work in a factory 12 hours a day. But notice what they say, abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. You're not going to get rid of it. You're just going to get rid of it in its present form. They're going to work for us instead. So folks, this is not freeing the people, power to the people. It's just trading one slave master for another. Instead of the private industry, instead of the bourgeoisie or whatever, supposedly being your overlords, the people with the money, the owner of the company. Now it's the state forcing you to work. It's the state even putting kids to work. It's the state ruling over you and being your slave master. But here's the difference. You know what? If there's an abusive company or corporation, you know what, I can always just get another job, can't I? I can always just move to another town, move to another city, get another job, go somewhere else, do something else. But you know what? If the government is your employer and everybody works for the state, then you know what? They come with a gun. You know, I've never, I've had some mean bosses in my life. I've had bosses cuss me out up one side and down the other and be unreasonable and rude to me. But I've never had a boss put a gun to my head. But the government will put a gun to your head like that. You don't do what they want. They'll come to your house in the middle of the night and they'll point AR-15 at your head. Okay? You're not, you didn't pay your taxes, comrade. You know, and they will come with guns, all right? So anyway, I've got to hurry for the sake of time. There's so much in this sermon. I don't even know if I'm going to get through this. This might end up being a two-parter because I'm only like 40% in. So I don't want to rush this. I want to make sure that we cover all this, all right? So I might have to make a two-parter out of this. Okay, so let's read some more excerpts from the Communist Manifesto. The theory of the communists may be summed up in the single sentence, abolition of private property. So that's how they sum up communism in the Communist Manifesto. And you say, come on, Pastor Anderson, is there even such a thing as a communist anymore in the United States of America? Have you ever been to a college campus? Folks, hey, yesterday I had the PDF of the Communist Manifesto and I was reading it and then I also listened to it as an audio book on YouTube. And I was looking at the comments on the YouTube and everybody's just praising it, oh man, this is so good. And let me tell you something, I read the whole thing yesterday and it was the stupidest thing I've ever read in my life. It's filled with just idiotic arguments that made no sense. But if you look at the comments on YouTube, oh man, this is so great, this is so genius, this is so smart. People lie about what communists really believe, but actually it's all a straw man because this is so great, this is so right, this is so intelligent. Folks, yeah, this is a thing, okay? And by the way, you know what socialism is? Communism. In fact, I may jump to page nine of my sermon and prove that to you, okay? Listen to this, okay? Socialism, this is the definition of socialism. Tell me if this is different than communism. Socialism is a political, social, and economic philosophy encompassing a range of economic and social systems characterized by social ownership of the means of production and workers' self-management of enterprise, including the political theories and movements associated with such systems. So what is social? This is Wikipedia, socialism. What is it? Take the means of production and socialize it instead of it being held by private companies, always held by the state or everybody or whatever. That's what communism is, right? Take the means of production out of the hands of the owners and put it in the hands of the proletariat. And it says here, workers' self-management of enterprise. Basically the workers run the industry, they run the company, dictatorship of the proletariat. Folks, let me just explain to you the difference between communism and socialism, okay? You can think of communism as being a turd, okay? Socialism is a turd sprinkled with rainbow sprinkles. That's the difference. Any questions? That is the difference between communism and socialism, all right? One has sprinkles, the other one doesn't. All right, let's go back to where I was in the sermon. The theory of the communists may be summed up in a single sentence, abolition of private property. We communists have been reproached with the desire of abolishing the right of personally acquiring property as the fruit of a man's own labor. Which property is alleged to be the groundwork of all personal freedom, activity, and independence? Hard-won, self-acquired, self-earned property? Do you mean the property of the petty artisan and of the small peasant, a form of property that preceded the bourgeois form? There's no need to abolish that. The development of industry has to a great extent already destroyed it and is destroying it daily. Or do you mean the modern bourgeois private property? But does wage labor create any property for the laborer? Not one bit. Let me break this down for you, because some of this is written in a more archaic style than the way we think and talk today. Here's what they're basically saying. Well, what do you mean? Okay, so communists are going to abolish private property. Poor people don't have any property anyway. They don't own any property anyway, so guess what? They got nothing to lose. We're going to take it with property from the middle-class people who own stuff. Yeah, we are going to take their property. And then this is what they say, well, does wage labor create any property for the laborer? Not a bit. They're basically just saying, it's just impossible to get ahead, you know? You go, you work, and you can never get ahead. You can't produce any property. So basically, you got a bunch of people that are living paycheck to paycheck, making minimum wage or low wages, and then they're looking at people who make more money and have stuff and own stuff. That's not fair. Why don't I have that stuff? How come I don't? I got nothing to lose. I might as well vote in a communist, because I don't own Jack right now. Doesn't get any lower than this. Yes, it does go lower than that, idiot. Let's go to Cuba and see if you can go any lower. Let's go to Venezuela and see if you can go any lower. Let's go to North Korea and see if you can go any lower, where people are like crying and bawling the first time they get to try white rice, because they can't even believe that they're eating rice, because it's so good. Steamed rice. Oh, you got nothing to lose, workers of the world unite. You can lose your life, you could be tortured, you could be put in a prison camp. You could live in a country where you wait in line just to get junky food that's not even healthy, that's not even fresh. Look, and let me say this, my wife grew up in communism, by the way. She spent most of her childhood in Western Germany, but for the first eight years of her life, she lived under communism. She was born in East Germany, and then she lived in Hungary up until she was eight years old. Hungary has been seen as like the mildest communism. They called it goulash communism, because it was like the mildest form. So everywhere else was worse, basically. Does everybody understand? She's living where it's better. You know what she told me? She said, no such thing as tropical fruit. Oranges? What are oranges? No oranges, no lemons. The only citrus fruit that she'd ever seen as a kid was grapefruit, and they called them communist oranges, because they were donated by the West. They were donated by the West just by humanitarians who just don't want people to die because they're not getting vitamin C. She had never had a banana until she was seven years old. And her mom, when she heard that she'd had a banana, said, you need to take our money and you need to go buy every possible banana you can buy, because this is never going to happen again. Sounds great, huh? OK, her grandpa, and this is, again, this is in some of the milder areas. We're not even talking about Soviet Union. We're not talking about North Korea or Vietnam or something. OK, her grandpa put her aunt, so his daughter, on a waiting list to get a car. It's a piece of junk car known as a Trabant. Who knows what I'm talking about? Her grandpa put her aunt on a waiting list when she was born. So when she's born, she gets put on a waiting list to get a Trabant. She got it in her 30s. And she's in her 30s. She gets the car. And my wife remembers her being all excited. She's crying. And she's got her car in her 30s, OK? It's funny. I heard a funny joke where a guy said that this guy gets on a waiting list to get a car. And they're like, OK, 20 years from now, it's going to show up. They gave him the date 20 years from now. And he said, well, is it going to come in the morning or the afternoon? And the guy's like, what does it matter? It's 20 years from now. You're already what? And he said, well, because I've got the plumber coming that same day and he's coming in the morning. Folks, this stuff is real. Like I said, this is my wife's personal experience living under this system, how there's just a shortage. Because when you centrally plan everything, you screw it up. You got to let the free market work. You got to let freedom and free market and enterprise and individuals do it. When you centrally plan things, you end up with a billion of one type of food that nobody wants to eat. And then you're out of this. And you don't have this. And people are starving. Look, folks, a lot of the deaths under communism, when you look at the death count in China, you know what a lot of those deaths are is starvation. I mean, yeah, of course, the government murdered a ton of their own people in communist China. But when you look at the 50 million people who died, a lot of it is starvation. It's a combination of both, OK, starvation and just genocide of their own people. I want that stuff that other people have. I can't get ahead. You know what this is called in the Bible? Envy. Class envy. Instead of being content with what you have, and you know what, you think you're going to be better off under communism? You think you're going to be better off under, oh, we're going to raise the minimum wage. Folks, this stuff, it's for idiots who don't know how economics work. They don't know how business works. They don't know how the world works. Let me explain something to you. If you want to make more money, get some skills to pay the bills. Get some knowledge. Get some skills. Learn something. Hey, minimum wage is meant to be an entry level job, OK? All that's going to happen, you jack up the minimum wage, you know what's going to happen? Then teenagers can't get a job, because who's going to hire a teenager and pay him $15 an hour or $20 an hour? You'd hire adults, and then teenagers just don't get a job. That's how that works. Listen to, look at Proverbs chapter 27. Does the wage laborer create any property for the laborer, not one bit? Let's see what the Bible says about that. What does the Bible say? Wage laborers can't get ahead. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 27 verse 18, who so keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof, so he that waiteth on his master shall be honored. The Bible says in chapter 11, flip back to chapter 11, he's saying, look, if you do your job, if you take care of your master's goods, you're going to be blessed. You're going to be getting somewhere. Look at Proverbs 11, 24. There is that scattereth and yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than his meat but attended to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. Ephesians chapter 6, if you would turn there, Ephesians chapter number 6. Ephesians chapter 6, and while you're turning there, I'll read from Colossians 3, servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleaders but in singleness of heart, fearing God, and whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. The Bible says if you work hard, you will be blessed. If you're a servant, if you're an employee, if you're a worker that works hard, you will be blessed. Communism says you can't get ahead. You can't succeed. You can't climb the ladder. The only way for you to get your grubby hands on what someone else has is through a violent revolution. Let's murder them and take their stuff away. Let's take away the middle class's property. Let's take away the rich people's property, and if they don't like it, they'll be murdered and put in a concentration camp, and we're going to take control of the means of production forcibly. You say, well, we could do it peacefully. Folks, stealing is stealing. You're going to steal peacefully? When you start stealing people's stuff, guess what? You know what most people are not going to do? Most people are not just going to give you their stuff when you try to peacefully steal it from them. Am I right? Hey, we're just going to peacefully confiscate all your money. You know what a lot of people are going to do? They're going to fight back. Now look, if somebody tried to rob me, I'd probably just give them my money because it's not even worth dying over or whatever, but you know what? A lot of people, they're not going to hand over the money. They're just going to fight back, and they might kill you. The point is peacefully stealing on a mass scale doesn't work and has never worked and never will work because people aren't just going to go without a fight. People are going to give up their ... People are not just going to ... Okay, well, I guess I just lose everything. Here you go. It's going to be bloody. It's going to be violent. Folks, that's why throughout the 20th century millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of people died when these communist overthrows took place, when these communist revolutions took place. The middle class didn't just roll over and say, all right, take all my money. Take my farm. Take my stuff. Take my business. Take my factory. It's ridiculous. Look at Ephesians chapter 6 verse 5. Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ not with eye service as men pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free and ye masters do the same things unto them forbearing threatening knowing that your master also is in heaven neither is there respect of persons with him. And then in Colossians 4 one it says masters give unto your servants that which is just an equal knowing that you also have a master in heaven. So we see that the Bible's telling masters to treat their servants well and for servants to work hard and obey their master and he said look if you're a servant and you work hard you're going to be blessed by me all all make sure even if your boss is a jerk all make sure that you get paid. Remember Jacob had a boss that just kept ripping him off. Laban was changing his wages ripping him off cheating him and yet at the end of the day did Jacob end up with with some some property. Yeah he walked away with a lot of property because the Lord blessed him. So this teaching of the Communist Manifesto is a lie is garbage and let's close on this go to Proverbs chapter one I'm skipping a lot I'll probably do a second part tonight because there's so much there's so much I didn't get into in this thing because it's an look folks communism isn't just about if you read the Communist Manifesto itself it's not just about abolishing abolishing classes and abolishing private property oh no it's also about abolishing marriage abolishing the family abolishing homeschooling abolishing nations folks it there's way more I'm only scratching the surface on the financial side okay there's a lot in here and we see this gaining these type of philosophies are gaining popularity in the United States now this is a thing people are being influenced by this document the Communist Manifesto in universities this is being studied and praised I've listened to it on the radio before I remember I was driving and I was tuned into some college classroom that was broadcasting over the radio and I'm listening to some professor talk about how great it was in the Soviet Union and how the Soviet Union is a model and the Communist Manifesto I mean they praise this stuff like I said just go look at the YouTube comments where people are just praising it and it's great as there's 10,000 likes and everybody loves it and and and look at how today people are they did some poll amongst young people how just some mass amount of young people think socialism is good they're okay with socialism folks do you know what USSR stood for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics okay that's it's the same thing folks remember the sprinkles illustration here's a good passage for the Communists Proverbs chapter 1 this is what I always think of Proverbs chapter 1 I gotta find my place here in verse 10 my son if sinners entice thee consent thou not if they say come with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit we shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil cast in thy lot among us let us all have one purse my son walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird and they lay wait for their own blood they lurk privily for their own lives so are the ways of everyone everyone that is greedy of gain which take away the life of the owners thereof anyone who's worthy who's willing to murder people to take away their stuff which is what communism is right we're gonna take your stuff by force and you say well the u.s. would never take your stuff by force folks if you don't give the u.s. what they say you owe they will come to you with guns is that not true ask Ken Hovind if it's true they came into his house in the middle of the night with machine guns because he didn't pay what they were asking him to pay right they came into his house the middle of the night with rifles pointed at him and his family so folks everyone who who is greedy of gain and takes away the life of the owners thereof this hey let's all have one purse hey it's gonna be great hey we're gonna fill our houses with with precious things hey it's gonna be so prosperous and hey it's gonna be great and let's just all have one purse but you know what these people make haste to shed blood and that's why every single example of communism of the 20th century was just mega bloodshed mega bloodshed because that's where this eventually leads to death let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word Lord so that when we hear these these fairy tales about socialism and communism and how oh it's gonna be so great and we're gonna give the power to the people and put the workers in charge and have democracy and give people you know their right to rule and and power to the people Lord thank you for giving us the Word of God to show us the danger Lord so that we don't step into that trap or that pitfall Lord help us Lord as Christians to make the Bible our final authority and to realize that literally every aspect of this communist philosophy is anti scripture and anti Bible Lord help us to study your word and get our philosophy from that not from a Christ rejecting Jew named Karl Marx Lord and in Jesus name we pray amen