Is the Bible socialist manifesto?

By Joseph Farah

A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.

– Ecclesiastes 10:2

My column earlier this week titled, “Who was the first leftist?,” has been prompting shrieks of hysteria from defenders of tyranny and evil disguised as progress and forward thinking.

In it, I make the case that the first leftist was Lucifer himself – a created being who was puffed up with pride and arrogance who challenged God’s authority and power.

Yet there are still many pseudo-liberals and “progressives” who insist the Bible is some kind of socialist manifesto and that, inexplicably, Jesus was the inspiration for the atheistic movements that were kicked off in the French Revolution, the ideas of Karl Marx and the holocausts of V.I. Lenin, Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin and other mass murderers of recent history.

It’s preposterous and offensive and blasphemous, to say the least.

Instead, the Bible is a story of man’s fall from grace and his redemption through the work of a loving God.

But it’s also, through and through, a series of lessons that are the very antithesis of the socialist-humanist creed.

  • In the Bible, government is never a solution to problems unless that government is specifically blessed by God because of faithfulness and obedience.
  • The Bible discourages centralized human authority at every turn and promotes the kind of decentralized, limited government that uniquely inspired America’s Founding Fathers.
  • The Bible promotes personal responsibility, not collective action.
  • The Bible promotes personal armed self-defense.
  • And, most of all, the Bible promotes trust and faith and reliance in God, not in government.

That’s why I believe the political left as we know it today is, in essence, a rebellion not just against free enterprise, not just a rebellion against American tradition, not just a rebellion against pragmatism and what works, not just a rebellion against common sense, it is a rebellion against God’s order and authority.

I’d like to organize a Bible study for the Occupy movement. We would start with the parable of the talents as told in Matthew 25:14-30.

Read this lesson from Jesus and try to imagine a way this message could be twisted into a socialist paradigm:

“For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

“And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

“Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

“And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

“But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.

“After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

“And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

“His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

“He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.

“His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

“Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

“And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

“His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

“Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

“Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

“For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

“And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

This message is so counterintuitive for the socialist mindset, it’s not surprising it is universally neglected by the so-called “liberation theologists.” God could have provided everyone equal shares, but He sovereignly chose not to do so. All He asked is that his servants make the most of the gifts they were given. He rewarded those who had more and produced more, and punished severely those who started with less and produced less.

This has to be a nightmare for socialists who try to use the Bible to justify their humanist utopian dreams.

And then there’s the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10: 29-37. After summarizing the responsibility of man on earth by commanding, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself,” Jesus went on to explain what is meant by “neighbor” and how one might demonstrate that love:

“… A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

“And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

“And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

“And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

“And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

“Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

“And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”

Keep in mind, the priests and the Levite tribe were set aside to keep the law, execute the law and enforce the law. That was their primary job. But, evidently in this parable, these members of the governing class didn’t take personal responsibility for saving a man’s life. But along came someone from outside the Israelite community, a foreigner, a Samaritan, who did just that.

The Samaritan didn’t lobby the authorities to take care of the victim. He didn’t call 911. He didn’t point a finger at the government class that had ignored the problem. He didn’t wait for someone else to offer assistance. At great personal sacrifice and some risk, he came to the aid of the man in need.

This is an unmistakable and undeniable lesson in personal responsibility, not collective responsibility.

Again, this has to be a big problem for the leftist revisionists of the Bible.

Even way back in Bible times, God was sending us little signals about right and wrong and right and left.

And Jesus promises when he comes back to judge men and nations, it will be the same once again: In Matthew 25:33, it says, “And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”

I don’t know about you, but I want to be one of the sheep. I want to be at His right hand. I don’t want to be a goat on his left.

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Joseph Farah

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and chief executive officer of WND. He is the author or co-author of 13 books that have sold more than 5 million copies, including his latest, "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament." Before launching WND as the first independent online news outlet in 1997, he served as editor in chief of major market dailies including the legendary Sacramento Union. Read more of Joseph Farah's articles here.


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