The greatest evils in the world today are the false prophets and false religions born of science and technology which have empowered us far beyond our emotional development; rather like children in possession of a deadly weapon. They may not call themselves religions, but they are de facto religions, offering up false gods and idols: fame, money, sex, power, etc. They encourage us to believe we're gods ourselves, with godlike powers.
But human wisdom, compassion, and consciousness - the attributes of God - develop far slower than science, and we're still primitives; vengeful, vain, and full of lusts, which we often declare are virtuous. Governments have been remade to exploit these new powers and pander to our wishes, or, when that doesn't work, beat us into submission. Compare the European Union at one end, and North Korea at the other, for an idea of the scale. Governments are displacing God, the Creator, as the source of our happiness and contentment. This is a crime, and will not end well. We must set ourselves apart from this horrible game. It's not fashionable to be a person of faith today in many parts of the world, and it can even get you killed. But that's a small price to pay for salvation, and the only way to escape the madness.
The proponents of falsehood frequently blame religion for historical conflicts, misery, deaths, and oppression. But the atheistic wars of the 20th and 21st Century have killed or reduced to misery far more people - many hundreds of millions - than have suffered in all of history.
But human wisdom, compassion, and consciousness - the attributes of God - develop far slower than science, and we're still primitives; vengeful, vain, and full of lusts, which we often declare are virtuous. Governments have been remade to exploit these new powers and pander to our wishes, or, when that doesn't work, beat us into submission. Compare the European Union at one end, and North Korea at the other, for an idea of the scale. Governments are displacing God, the Creator, as the source of our happiness and contentment. This is a crime, and will not end well. We must set ourselves apart from this horrible game. It's not fashionable to be a person of faith today in many parts of the world, and it can even get you killed. But that's a small price to pay for salvation, and the only way to escape the madness.
The proponents of falsehood frequently blame religion for historical conflicts, misery, deaths, and oppression. But the atheistic wars of the 20th and 21st Century have killed or reduced to misery far more people - many hundreds of millions - than have suffered in all of history.
Human societies have always been violent, but not all wars are as futile as recent ones have been. Violence has led to spiritual and material progress in the past. The bloody Protestant Reformation in the 1500's established the right of individual conscience over church authority. The English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution of 1688 brought about the English Bill of Rights and the American Revolution. The Civil War of 1861-'65 settled issues of human rights, equality, and freedom for all time.
The economics of our modern era have spawned governments unique to human history. Most of them are so-called "socialist" to one degree or another, which means they attempt to provide social services to the mass of their people, and eliminate poverty. Some form of communism is the end result. These governments strive and fail to replace God. Some of them, like those in Scandinavian countries, appear very successful. But their suicide rates are some of the highest in the world. Many others are abject failures, and they brutalize and manipulate their people with terror. Ironically, they often call themselves "The People's Democratic Republic of______". Fill in the blank.
Today's European Union is a disaster waiting to end. Now the EU speaks of The Great Reset, the end of individual human rights. In exchange we'll have a guaranteed income, medical care, and total surveillance. The Chinese model shows us how horrible this is. Individuality, free speech, and religions will all be destroyed.
There was a saying that workers had in the old Soviet Union, "We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us." Poverty for 90% of the population was the result.
In previous ages governments didn't have the technology to monitor us constantly, and didn't have the resources to even attempt to provide for everyone's needs, so they left us alone for the most part. Our self-sufficiency and belief in God encouraged wisdom and forbearance. Civilization advanced. When the winds of change blew, those beliefs woke us up and righted the ships of state, over time, like ballast in a ship's hold.
In previous ages governments didn't have the technology to monitor us constantly, and didn't have the resources to even attempt to provide for everyone's needs, so they left us alone for the most part. Our self-sufficiency and belief in God encouraged wisdom and forbearance. Civilization advanced. When the winds of change blew, those beliefs woke us up and righted the ships of state, over time, like ballast in a ship's hold.
The United States believed for centuries that it owed its very existence - and certainly its prosperity - to its faith in a Judeo-Christian God. But no more. For over a hundred years atheist and anti-theist political parties, with anti-Christian leaders, have steered our ships of state, globally, onto the rocks where they are foundering. The barbarian states are closing in. But it's not too late for you, as an individual. It's never too late for individuals to succeed:
Every great culture dreams of Utopia, and attempts to create ideal governments date back at least to the Golden Age of Greece around 500 B.C. Athenian Greek democracy was the first brilliant but short-lived spark. Rome tried an enhanced form of democracy, the republic, and had eight-hundred-years of relative success until their empire collapsed in the mid-4th century.
Since then, monarchies dominated world history, and Utopia remained a fantasy; until industrial democracies arose.
The Industrial Revolution, which began generating enormous wealth in late 18th Century England and transformed the Western world, reinvigorated the desire for Utopia. Karl Marx, an unemployed writer and barfly in London, teamed up with Friedrich Engels in 1840 and devised a collectivist scheme he called communism that fueled bloody rebellions all over Europe in 1848, and eventually toppled Czarist Russia.
They promulgated one of the central lies of our modern world, that labor and laborers are the driving force of human prosperity (never the risk-taking managers of capital), and only communal property - without private ownership - will bring prosperity to the laboring class.
The Industrial Revolution, which began generating enormous wealth in late 18th Century England and transformed the Western world, reinvigorated the desire for Utopia. Karl Marx, an unemployed writer and barfly in London, teamed up with Friedrich Engels in 1840 and devised a collectivist scheme he called communism that fueled bloody rebellions all over Europe in 1848, and eventually toppled Czarist Russia.
They promulgated one of the central lies of our modern world, that labor and laborers are the driving force of human prosperity (never the risk-taking managers of capital), and only communal property - without private ownership - will bring prosperity to the laboring class.
Marx and Engels said in their Communist Manifesto, "Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!" This falsehood has caused the deaths and impoverishment of many hundreds of millions of people since 1848, as communism morphed and transformed itself into other virulent forms like socialism and progressivism. A mania for reforming and perfecting masses of people took hold, and prosperous citizens were punished for their success. With the support of science, eugenics was born; the belief that humans could be perfected genetically by killing off "undesirables".
Eugenics by itself caused the deaths of many millions of people in the 20th Century. Not only the Nazis and Soviets, but many other political groups practiced, and are practicing today, mass murder in the name of social good. The United States and Britain harbored many of the prophets of eugenics; Margaret Sanger, and George Bernard Shaw, among others. One of the downsides of free societies is that they allow people the freedom to mislead millions and make huge mistakes.
It's true that labor is an essential element in human development and prosperity, but the management of labor and capital is critical, along with technology. The talent and skill required to organize and direct human labor productively is relatively rare in human beings. Everyone who has ever run a business knows this.
Technological advancements as well require freedom of scientific inquiry, and a thriving economy. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, and Stephen Jobs have gone on record saying this. But the foremost proponents of communism/socialism almost never have any business or real-world experience. Often they are the drones and dimwits who can't compete in a free society. They delude themselves into believing their lie, and imagine that a powerful state, directed by an educated elite, can do a far better job than free people in a free market environment, lawfully organized, can do. It has never worked as promised.
It's true that labor is an essential element in human development and prosperity, but the management of labor and capital is critical, along with technology. The talent and skill required to organize and direct human labor productively is relatively rare in human beings. Everyone who has ever run a business knows this.
Technological advancements as well require freedom of scientific inquiry, and a thriving economy. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, and Stephen Jobs have gone on record saying this. But the foremost proponents of communism/socialism almost never have any business or real-world experience. Often they are the drones and dimwits who can't compete in a free society. They delude themselves into believing their lie, and imagine that a powerful state, directed by an educated elite, can do a far better job than free people in a free market environment, lawfully organized, can do. It has never worked as promised.
Economies are far too complex to be micromanaged from a central bureau. When manufacturing, buying, and selling decisions are made at the individual level, by many participants, the results have been proven to work very well in the long run.
Marx and Engels's Utopian dream utterly failed, and by 1900, it was confirmed in much of the world. But Marxism then adapted, often changing its name to "progressivism", "socialism", and "Bolshevism". It deceived millions, and the lie took root and thrived like a cancer in Russia; then metastasized into many countries.
The central tenet of socialist/progressives is that God is dead, and religion is, as Marx said, "The opiate of the people." Another tenet is that there is no such thing as moral absolutes, or pure truth. All of history and human experiences are "narratives" subject to interpretation. If enough people believe a narrative, it becomes truth, they preach.
Fact is, the belief in truth and moral absolutes implies the existence of God. And if God exists, the all-powerful State cannot be God. Biblical Scripture is clear that people should govern themselves without kings (1 Samuel, 8).
Marx and Engels's Utopian dream utterly failed, and by 1900, it was confirmed in much of the world. But Marxism then adapted, often changing its name to "progressivism", "socialism", and "Bolshevism". It deceived millions, and the lie took root and thrived like a cancer in Russia; then metastasized into many countries.
The central tenet of socialist/progressives is that God is dead, and religion is, as Marx said, "The opiate of the people." Another tenet is that there is no such thing as moral absolutes, or pure truth. All of history and human experiences are "narratives" subject to interpretation. If enough people believe a narrative, it becomes truth, they preach.
Fact is, the belief in truth and moral absolutes implies the existence of God. And if God exists, the all-powerful State cannot be God. Biblical Scripture is clear that people should govern themselves without kings (1 Samuel, 8).
To maintain power, these statists must persuade or force you to accept that they and the state are God. Their whole global movement is atheistic and anti-theistic. In every country where it takes root, belief in God and goodness dies off. People fail to be perfected, "undesirables" proliferate, and mass murder and misery become reality. More than 40 million Russians were killed by Stalin and his government in the 20th Century. Mao Tse Tung killed many more millions of Chinese. Pol Pot of Cambodia, the Kims of North Korea, and the minions of Castro's Cuba have killed millions also. Death isn't the only result. Ten times as many people have been impoverished, debased, and afflicted by these evil schemes.
The Soviet Union, founded on Marxist principles, failed by 1989. So too did Red China, until they modified their system to make it freer. Since then they've experienced explosive economic growth reminiscent of the US at the turn of the 20th Century. The Western Tradition of individual freedom, free markets, private ownership of capital and property; along with freedom of speech, religion, and assembly, produced two centuries of dazzling progress and prosperity in those countries that embrace Judeo-Christian principles. But people have turned away from God, and today we're threatened as never before with destruction, from our worship of false gods.
Be of good cheer, though. This world will pass away, but we individuals have salvation as long as we have life and faith.
