Is Socialism Biblical?

Today, I am going to preach on a topic I never had and may never preach on again: Socialism.

I Got Duped

About ten years ago, I was trying to get a new iPhone but I didn’t have the money. So, I did what a lot of people did back then – go on Craigslist to get the best cheap deal. Eventually, I found a guy who was selling a $700 iPhone for $100. I thought to myself, ‘Yes, the Lord has heard my prayer and favored me.’ We met in the parking lot of a Walmart and I ignored my discernment of how everything seemed fishy – like there was something wrong. 

At first, the phone wouldn’t turn on but when we charged it and it eventually did, instead of an iPhone operating system showing up, an Android system did. The red flags kept piling up but I was already too far in to listen to them. It felt wrong, it sounded wrong, it looked wrong but I couldn’t stop now – what if it truly was the Lord blessing me? I paid $160 for that phone and man, I was duped. It never worked. I still keep that iPhone to remind me that there are counterfeits to everything that is good. There are fakes to everything that is real. Not everything that gets presented to you on discount is worth pursuing or is a sign of God’s blessing. 

Socialism Is The Devil’s Counterfeit

Socialism is the devil’s counterfeit utopia. Share on X

Socialism offers utopia on earth, claiming we can get rid of all poverty and greed by getting rid of privately owned property and redistributing wealth. Socialists claim that human beings are inherently good. According to them, what makes us bad is the fact that we own property but when we can do away with that, we will return to the good natural state and we can do all of this without God.

The reason I am going to address this message is because the statistics are alarming.

Modern View Of Socialism

In 2019, Gallup poll found that 51% of Americans aged 18 to 29 had a positive view of socialism, while 45% had a positive view of capitalism. 

A 2021 poll conducted by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School found that 55% of Americans aged 18 to 29 said they would prefer living in a socialist country over a capitalist one.

Where did this come from? An enormous amount of people are in student debt, a liberal approach to destroy societal norms, the greed of capitalistic businesses caused the Great Recession, and morally corrupt practices. Today’s generations see this and begin to absorb the message that capitalism is greed and socialism is about the human need.

Water And Alcohol

What is happening is that something is being presented to today’s generation, to your children, which looks like an iPhone but that has a broken operating system. The young generation that hasn’t experienced the issues of Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, or the former Soviet Union, drinks this in, thinking it is water, whereas, in reality, it is alcohol. Water and alcohol look alike from a distance but they are not alike. 

My desire today is to remove the curtain from this demonic lie so people can see what it is. What I have an issue with is where this will take us if my generation decided to take a bite of this agenda. Socialsts always advertise free healthcare, free education but we must understand, the only thing in this world that is free is the cheese on the end of a mouse trap. There is nothing free in this world.

Scandinavian countries, which are often wrongly touted as ‘Socialist’ countries are not socialistic in their wealth accumulation but in their wealth distribution. Norway, Sweden, Finland and others are capitalist, meaning they believe in privately owned property and the importance of business. The only way these nations provide their citizens with ‘free’ things is because they charge them over 50% in taxes. It also seems like the free services offered are not wanted because one in five students in Norway go to private schools. If free education is so great, why does everyone not take advantage of it? The same applies to free healthcare and so on.

Free Stuff Is An Illusion

They do not work. Free stuff is a lie that gets sold to my generation and we absorb it because we hate the fact the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

Some people even think this is a Biblical way, which I will address in depth later on. They say God is a socialist God because Jesus said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy man. 

Karl Marx And Socialism

The socialist movement really all began with Karl Marx, the son of a Rabbi, who was born in Germany in 1818. He lived during the time of the industrial revolution, in which the factory owners were getting richer, and those who worked for them were getting poorer. Their economic climate was not like how it is today, where people can invest in the stock market and own shares in companies. When the owners of the factories and businesses died, their children inherited everything, who many times were meaner than their parents. Karl Marx saw that poor people did not stand a chance when wealth got transferred from one generation to another. Nobody could break the cycle of poverty and nobody could stop the cycle of wealth.

What Marx did was to cause workers to revolt against their employers until they were overthrown and a new system could emerge in which property was abolished, everything was owned by the state, the state received all the money, and then decided who got what. Marx’s idea was the engine of communism. Socialism and communism are like two sides of the same sword. This idea is responsible for the murder of over 100 million people in the last 100 years. This is straight from the heart of hell. Jesus said the thief comes to kill, steal and destroy.

The Seven Lies Of Socialism

1. God is not real.

Socialism says there is no God whereas the Bible says only fools deny God’s existence (Psalm 14:1; 53:1)

The Holy Bible does not try to prove the existence of God. Rather, it starts with this notion – “in the beginning, God” (Genesis 1:1-3).

“The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.”

Karl Marx

Karl Marx knew that he could not establish socialism until he had first destroyed religion because one cannot control people who believe in the God who created everything. In order for a government to control you, they have to get rid of your belief in something that makes you uncontrollable. The first thing communism had to do was wipe away the knowledge of God and the people’s ability to believe in God.

“Religion is the opium of the people.”

Karl Marx

What he said was that rich people use religion to control people but the reality is the other way round. Faith gives you the freedom to make your own decisions. Faith lets you know that you are made in the image of God and that the government is not your God. 

“The idea of God is the keynote of a perverted civilization.”

Karl Marx

Socialism is demonic. It will send you to the lake of fire. There is a God who created the Heavens and the earth. He created you and I in His image and likeness because He wants to know you personally, through His Son, Jesus Christ.

2. Humans are good.

Socialism says people are good. The Bible says people are sinful, (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:9-18). It is natural for us to do bad things. We have to practice hard not to. Just because our world is progressing, it does not mean we are. Mankind is actually regressing with time. 

To complete their goal, socialists advocate for a state to intervene and squash rebels to the socialist movement, which once a utopia has been established, the people would later be grateful for. People in North Korea love their utopia so much that they are not even allowed to escape it.

The core of socialism is anti-Biblical.  Share on X

The solution is not getting rid of privately owned property; the only solution is Christ. Our problem is not a capitalist system but our heart that needs to be changed.

Our problem is not capitalism, it’s the human heart.  Share on X

3. The state is the final authority.

Socialism teaches that the state is the final authority. The Bible says God is the final authority, (Acts 5:29).

There are scriptures that say we should subject ourselves to authorities as Christians but the Bible always makes a differentiation and praises people who practice civil disobedience when the authority rebels against God. 

4. Children belong to the state, not to parents.

In socialism, your children don’t belong to you; they belong to the government. 

This goes contrary to the Bible which commands parents raise their children, not public schools. (Psalm 127:3; Deuteronomy 6:1-9). Public schools can teach them how to read, write, do mathematics and P.E. but they don’t teach them what to believe. 

“Education of all children, from the moment they can leave their mother’s care, in national establishments at national cost.”

Frederick Engels, The Principles of Communism, 1847, paragraph 18

“There is no such thing as someone else’s child. No such thing as someone else’s child. Our nation’s children are all our children.”

Joe Biden

This is just plain wrong. This is what is happening in our culture; it goes contrary to the scriptures and we have to speak what the Bible teaches.

Senate Bill 5599 in Washington State allows shelters to keep runaway teens as young as 13 from their parents to get an abortion and/or gender-affirming surgeries. In the same state, a 13-year-old cannot buy alcohol, get a tattoo or drive a car but the government says it is okay for them to get irreversible surgeries and take puberty-blocking drugs. The government does not have your best interests at heart. 

The government was given to protect our rights, not give them or take them. Our rights don’t come from our government, they come from God. 

5. All people must be equal. 

Socialism teaches that everyone should have equal wealth while the Bible teaches humans are equal in value but different in abilities, (1 Corinthians 12:15-19; Matthew 25:14-30).

“The abolition of classes means placing all citizens on an equal footing with regard to the means of production belonging to society as a whole. It means giving all citizens equal opportunities of working on the publicly-owned means of production, on the publicly-owned land, at the publicly-owned factories, and so forth.”

V.I. Lenin, Put Pravdy No. 33, March 11, 1914

Jesus said the poor, you will have with you always. Socialism says we will never have poor and everybody will have more than enough but in every place where socialism has thrived, everyone was poor. They removed wealth and made everyone poor. 

The Bible says that why God allows the poor is to test the rich to see that they are generous and caring for other people. Scriptures also command us not to covet another person’s wealth. How can you covet somebody else if everyone else has equality? That means the Bible assumes not all of us are going to be equal. 

6. The product of one’s labor is shared by those who have not labored. 

Socialism: from each according to his abilities to each according to his needs. The Bible: hard work is rewarded, not idleness. (Matthew 25:29)

The Bible teaches sharing our bread with the needy, but it doesn’t give the power to the government to enforce it, (Isaiah 58:7).

7. The state eliminates private property.

Socialism mandates no property ownership while the Bible instructs don’t let things own us, (Acts 5:4; Exodus 20:15). The Bible is not against us owning anything. 

Was the Early Church Socialist? 

“Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common. And sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.”

Acts 2:44-46

I want you to notice they were all together but their community was not forced. A forced community is communism. Christianity is a voluntary community. When you gather in a home or on Zoom in a small group or Bible study, that is not socialism, it is community. 

Sharing was totally voluntary, not imposed by the state or apostles. The early church was not forced to be together; they wanted to be together because God put the desire in their hearts.Christians didn’t sell all their property, (Acts 8:3; 9:11, 17; 10:6; 12:12; 16:15; 17:5; 18:7, 11; 20:20; 21:8).

Sharing everything with everyone didn’t continue. By Acts 6:1, only widows were still receiving help. This was an instruction for a moment not a standard for the operation of the church. 

The sharing of Acts 2-5 was a description (what the Church did), not a prescription (what the Church should always do).

Let Them Do Good

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

1 Timothy 6:17-19

There is no guilt in enjoying the blessings God has given you. How can one be a cheerful giver if they are forced to give? (2 Corinthians 9:6-7). If you are rich, trust in God. Don’t think that your riches mean you are better than others because it is God who gives you the power to get wealth. Give God the credit. Be rich in good works. Be known as someone who helps those who are less fortunate. You are given the opportunity to help the poor. The Spirit of God leads you through your heart, not by compulsion from the state.

Governments try to compensate for their belief that people will not be generous. People won’t be generous unless they have a change of heart.

The government cannot change the hearts, only God can.  Share on X

God is not a Robin Hood who steals from the rich; instead, He stirs the hearts of the rich to help the poor. 

Summary:

1. Government is not God. We are to practice civil disobedience when government goes against God.

2. People are not good. We progress externally but regress internally.

3. Wealth is not wicked. How we get money, how we spend money, and how we view money can be sinful but money in itself is not.

4. Charity shouldn’t be forced. We are encouraged to help the poor, not shift that duty to the state. 

5. Socialism fails to deliver on its promises. Even the gift of eternal life came at the cost of Jesus’ blood. Nothing is for free.

6. Revolution is not the solution because God commands everyone to repent. 

The Justice Of God

The Bible says the wages of sin are death. That is eternal separation from God. It is not a comfortable truth but if you don’t embrace it, you miss the whole point of Christianity. God is not just a good Father in Heaven, He is a just judge. A judge who doesn’t punish a criminal is not just or good. The only time you want a judge who dismisses a crime is when you are a criminal. But when you are sinned against, you want a judge that is just and good. You wouldn’t want a God who is soft on sin and crime.

God, knowing that you and I are corrupt on the inside, He sends His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and take all our sins – everything we deserved. Now, the penalty is paid and God can forgive us for all our sins, and accept me into His Kingdom. This is what governments and socialism cannot give you – peace with God and a new heart. Once god gives you a new heart, it becomes natural for you to want to do good. You won’t be perfect but you will be new and you will have forgiveness of your sins. That is what Christ offers.

There can be no utopia on earth without repentance and the forgiveness of sin.  Share on X

One day, Jesus Christ will return and be the supreme ruler of the earth. Then, there will be no more tears, pain, curse, death, abuse, or evil but until that day, He establishes His Kingdom in our hearts.

Watch The Full Sermon Here: