Kicking the Socialism Habit: Do we love the Lord (and one another) enough to confront and correct our dependence on the State?

You've probably seen the signs before. They tend to make an impact:

• Billboards featuring young men with elderly looking, dried out faces, blackened teeth and lost, hopeless eyes.
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• Stories of Miss Small Town USA pageant winners transformed in just a few months' time into soulless zombies wandering alleyways in search of...they're not sure what.
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• Testimonials highlighting acts of animalistic depravity and desperation in pursuit of just...one...more...hit.
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• Pictures featuring the faces of beautiful but broken children, mourning the loss of their parents to addiction.

These horror stories confront us as part of a provocative campaign against the methamphetamine monster that is ravaging the land. Most of us have seen one or more of these warnings, and those who have are unlikely to ever completely get them out of their head. The images are that powerful.

While the aim here is not to evaluate the appropriateness or usefulness of such a campaign in dealing with the range of sin associated with the proliferation of meth use in America, the impactful images and stories used by anti-meth campaigns do seem to serve as a helpful, if painful, tool by which we might better come to grips with our own profoundly destructive addiction.

To Socialism, I mean.

Make no mistake: "We the People" are absolutely, positively, and quite purposefully owned and hopelessly addicted to American-style Socialism.

That's what we need to face now if we are to have any realistic hope for our children and grandchildren living in a land that is not defined by ever-deeper, ever-darker State-dependence.

And this "State-dependence" idea is hardly limited to people getting "welfare benefits" like food stamps and the like. Oh no; it's way bigger than that.

The "State-dependent" pool covers the vast majority of the American population, including most hard working, generally honest "conservative Christian" types.

That important sub-group's problem - the addiction of most professing conservative Christian Americans to Socialism - is where we should focus to get a better handle on this subject. After all, if "judgment begins in the house of the Lord" (it does) and there is no biblical worldview basis for believing that unbelievers are really going to fix anything in the truest sense, then we'd better focus on the only people through whom real, true, lasting reformation and restoration is, by the grace of God, supernaturally possible: Christians.

This is why we have to start with the dependence of professing Christians on American Socialism if we are to ever actually slay the beast of American Socialism.

So think: Social Security.

Think: Public Schools.

Think: Medicare, Unemployment "Benefits", Disability "Benefits", and Food Stamps.

Think: Artificially propped up home and stock values by way of relentless money printing. (You didn't think that only the direct recipients of "Welfare State" products were addicted to American Socialism and purposefully made dependent upon the State, did you?)

Most politically aware and active "conservative Christian" Americans have no trouble at all identifying the goofiness and danger of some Socialism - the items fitting neatly under the "Welfare State" umbrella - while completely ignoring the many overtly Marxist, openly Socialistic modern American programs and systems by which they feed and fuel their own lives. The hypocrisy apparent in this selective application of standards, criticism and outrage has been one of the greatest enablers of Socialism in America for many generations now.

How many "conservative Christian" Americans freely, proudly, and happily make "good use" of the explicitly Marxist State-run children's "education" system, which is funded through the State-enforced extortion and redistribution of wealth in order to fund a system set forth in the tenth plank of The Communist Manifesto?

How many "conservative Christian" Americans even stop to notice, much less ponder or address, the fact that this bit of American-style Marxism "for the children" has rendered true, actual home ownership an impossibility here in "the land of the free" and the home of the NSA?

Many Americans - including most professing conservative Christians - don't even recognize their favored pet Socialism programs as being Socialism at all.

The denial, spin, rationalizations and justifications can get pretty thick, and quickly so, if you ever have the occasion to lovingly but firmly confront a Christian on their use of these wildly unbiblical systems.

Take Social Security, for example.

Most Americans have been so successfully encouraged to happily avoid the details of that program (or any other) that they actually believe (or pretend to believe) that they pay into an account over time and that the money that they're supposed to get later is coming from that which they put in from the start.

They don't know - and often don't want to know - the truth that Social Security is nothing better than a naked Ponzi Scheme by which current "benefit" payouts are secured from the incoming wealth of workers who have some of their earned income confiscated by the State. This is the forced redistribution of wealth. This is Socialism. This is a Ponzi Scheme - and even worse than the typical Ponzi Scheme, since this one feeds itself through the coercive power of the State.

Younger working Americans with more than two brain cells to rub together and the will to make a spark know that they will get nothing like what others are taking out of the Social Security system when their time comes to claim the "benefits" of this rank Socialism/Ponzi scam, if they get anything at all. They don't "wonder about" this coming reality. They don't think of it as "likely but maybe avoidable". They know it to be true. They know it to be inescapable. They know that they are being economically raped.

And you know what?

Most of those at the other end of the Social Security system - the ones receiving "benefits" - well...they know it too.

They just don't care enough to actually stop.

They know that the ones working now are going to get absolutely hosed down by this whole deal.

They know that it's all gonna come crashing down on those poor saps' sweet little hard working heads.

But they just...keep...taking...

After all, it's "their turn", right?

That's what The American State tells them.

They "paid in" and now they're due "what they have coming", yeah?

That's what The American State encourages them to believe.

Who cares if we all know the whole thing is a scam that will inevitably crash around the younger ones paying in now to prop up the Ponzi Scheme for just a little longer?

That last line isn't often said, but it is the strongly implied sentiment felt by many of those who are on the "tough luck" side of this destined-to-fail system.

When younger workers see the way that their obvious and apparent economic abuse is simply swept aside by those feeding on the "benefits" they work to provide, those younger people notice.

They see.

They understand.

They understand that for all of the talk of love and Jesus coming out of the "conservative Christians" who defend and use the destined-to-crash Social Security system, when the rubber meets the road, the futures of the young are being knowingly sold into ever deeper bondage so that many "conservative Christian" Americans can get just...one...more...hit.

Just one...more...check.

Who could have ever even imagined that the younger, destined-to-be-sacrificed workers would not notice?

How delusional have we become in our addiction?

How far have we fallen in our Socialism-induced stupor?

These are hard things, am I right?

They're heavy. They're challenging. They may even sound like really, really mean things to say

...but are they true?

And does the truth matter?

Are we allowed to even look for the truth in this situation?

And if we're not, how are we ever going to even begin to solve this mountain of long-term American Socialism-inspired problems?

How are we going to repent of sins that we will not even acknowledge?

How are people my age and younger going to escape the inevitable end of this monstrous course of action if it is just allowed to go on and on and on without even serious examination in light of the truth, however painful or hard or embarrassing that that truth may be?

For those thinking I'm angry or just being a big meanie here, please allow me to clarify a few things:

First, while I am indeed angry and repulsed by the system that I am describing, I am far more heartbroken for those who are enmeshed and entangled in its tentacles at every level: rich, poor, and everywhere in-between. I really am. This system has fundamentally contorted and warped the hard work and sound ethics of many; encouraged the sloth, covetousness, and jealously of others; and aimed to wrap us all in one form of State dependence or another.

This system is evil, and since Christians are commanded and equipped to properly hate what Christ hates and love what He loves, I have no qualms about saying that this American Socialistic System of systems is disgusting to me. I pray and work toward its death as God makes me able, and I encourage you to do the same...all in a Spirit of Christ-centered grace, peace, and pursuit of justice.

The people impacted, drug down, and dominated by this System are dear to me. I love them. I want the best for them. Which is why I am writing this now, hoping to at least put some hard truths in a biblical light so that repentance, reformation, and restoration might actually come...so that my children and yours might actually find freedom from the beast that we, our parents, and our grandparents have enabled and encouraged for so very long.

Secondly, I have so much to repent of in this area myself that I dare not imagine for even a second that I come to this topic or discussion with even the slightest little bit of self-attained superiority. I do not.

Until fairly recently, I was unaware of most (if not all) of the harder things that I now share here at Fire Breathing Christian on this subject, so I want you to know that while I do share these hard truths in the hope that they will properly jolt Christians out of the apathetic, lazy, and disengaged approach to life that has come to define American "Christianity", I do so knowing that I am the "chief of sinners" in this regard and that, apart from the grace of Christ in my life, I would seek every "legal" American Socialism enabled "benefit" I could lay my hands on, and without the slightest hesitation or apprehension.

I have used the unemployment not once, not twice, but three times in my life. I also accessed a program to help cover costs when our own precious little Rosie was born not even three years back. Since then, I've been convicted and inspired to test these things in light of Scripture and those tests have made very plain that my using these "legalized" systems of State-enforced theft and wealth redistribution was not only sinful, but also practically destructive on many, many levels (not only to me and my family, but to future generations yet unborn). I have therefore repented of these past actions and, as a part of that repentance, I pledge to never knowingly access any Socialist American "benefit" again. (Yes, even though I am still "paying in" to the various systems in question.)

I type this at a time when my family "qualifies" for all sorts of "benefits" of American Socialism, some of which are quite substantial, as men measure such things. While we are struggling at times to eek by, we do so happily, trusting with complete confidence in the Lord to provide all that we need. However much the American System of systems may try to tempt us with "help" and "assistance", we know that the Lord will provide all that we truly need in accordance with His Word. There is no perceived "need" that justifies our rejection of His Word as the standard by which we strive by His grace to approach every area of life, certainly including all economic concerns.

While I'm in "rabbit chasing mode" here, let me also make plain that, biblically speaking, there is no inherent virtue in material poverty. Material wealth when pursued and used in a God-glorifying, Kingdom-advancing manner, is a beautiful thing and worthy aspiration. While Holly and I hope to build something of great value and impact in Fire Breathing Christian and related works, we trust God to define the nature and greatness of that value and we will not strive to "help" Him or help ourselves along the way by dipping our hands into the State-coerced "benefits" made available to us. Whatever we build by God's grace we want to strive to build in accordance with His Nature as revealed in His Word.

Finally, I know that it's very easy to write hard things in a blog and much harder to do the things one might write about. And when we're talking about truly kicking the American Socialism habit and actually slaying the American Socialism beast, we're talking about something that is impossibly hard...in and of ourselves. Such an otherwise impossible task requires precisely what our Lord has given us through His Spirit, His Word, and His Gospel-fueled Great Commission.

We are without excuse.

Earlier this week we posted Our “Free Money” Heroin Habit: Why “conservative Christian” Americans sell their own children for just one more hit of Socialism.

That post hit hard. It was challenging, both to me and many readers.

What I want to do now is encourage you to read that post if you haven't already and then, as we prep to consider this subject more and try to plan and encourage one another along the way of actually tackling and killing the beast of American Socialism in our own lives, consider the following questions:

• Do you believe that God has given us all that we need in His Word to pursue any good and necessary work in all of His creation, including the works of feeding the poor, caring for those in need, and the works of self-, family-, church-, and civil government? (See: 2 Timothy 3:16-17)
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• Do you believe that God has lovingly detailed the roles, responsibilities, and limitations of the institutions of Family, Church, and State?
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• Do you believe that God has equipped the Church to do what He has commanded it to do?
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• Do you believe that God has equipped the Family (and individual families) to faithfully apply His Nature as revealed in His Word?
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• Do you believe that God has equipped each and every supernaturally saved New Creature in Christ to do what He has lovingly commanded them to do?
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• Do you believe that God will really and truly provide for every genuine need of His people?
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• Do you depend upon and trust Him in this completely?

Kick these questions around.

Pray.

Ponder.

Lord willing (and crazy schedule permitting), I will follow up with some hopefully helpful and encouraging thoughts and strategies in the not-too-distant future.

In the meantime, thank you for your grace, patience, and interest in these beautifully challenging (and Christ-like character building) things.

Soli Deo Gloria!