Socialism Rev 13:11-18 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
One of my greatest concerns is that Christians don’t know their Bibles and, therefore, they are growing up believing what men say instead of what God says. So, we are going to look at a number of topics from the Biblical perspective to get God’s view on these matters. We are tired of hearing man’s opinion. We want to hear the truth.
Today’s topic is socialism. Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. You hear reports that indicate that capitalism is giving way to socialism in the USA.
The question is, “Will Socialism ever succeed?” And rather than look to men and their opinions for the answer, let’s look in the Bible. The prophecies in the Bible will answer this question better than any conjecture. It doesn’t do any good to say we are going to fight to preserve a particular political or economic system in our country. History has already shown us that political systems change, economies changes, governments change and nations rise and fall. And such will be the case in the future.
Socialism will never succeed as a political and economic system. Lenin viewed capitalistic society as the working masses enslaved by a minority of capitalists and oppressed through various means including religion. Any attempt to “free” these oppressed slaves through socialism will fail. Here’s the evidence.
Turn to Rev 13:11-12, 15-18 – notice several things that are true during the Tribulation showing that the political and economic system of the world is not going to be socialistic:
A state religion – v.12, 15 – they must worship the beast – it will be an oppressive religion even more oppressive than Islam or any other religion that the world has ever known – v.15 – capital punishment for those who don’t worship the beast’s image [compare Dan 3] – no religious tolerance or freedom of religion, at all
A class society – v.16 – one of the objectives of socialism, or communism for that matter, is a classless society – but notice that there are small and great, rich and poor, free and bond – the architects of a classless society will fail to remove the classes – the rich men will be rich and will only get richer – notice the merchandisers in Rev 18:11-13, the oil men in Rev 6:6 and the liquor distributors in Rev 6:6 are still around near the end
Slavery – v.16 – “bond” – slavery hasn’t been abolished yet and it won’t be then – compare Rev 6:15; 18:13 – don’t believe “them” [socialist government leaders] when they say that they are against slavery
Central banking – v.17 – banking is centralized now and will only become more centralized in the future – people are storing up gold and silver and even that won’t work in the future Jas 5:1-3 – there will be no way to buy or sell without the mark
International dictatorship – v.18 – the method of government won’t be democracy or socialism; it will be a dictatorship – the dictator will demand worship and will kill anyone who worships the true God [Rev 6:9; 18:24; 20:4] – this dictator will profess to be God, 2 Thes 2:1-4 – he will not rule one national government; he will rule all governments internationally either directly, Rev 17:17, or by alliance, Rev 18:9 – the proliferation of what is being called democracy today is the means by which the dictator ultimately gains control – don’t be fooled
So, all of this political indoctrination that leads you to believe that socialism is going to work and that the architects of socialism really have the best interest of the community as a whole in mind is not true. It appears that the underlying motive of all socialists is to get greater control of the masses so that they can become richer and more powerful. This statement is not based upon conjecture but upon Bible history. Notice that in Acts 19:24-32 and in Matt 27:20 with Jn 11:47-48, the purpose of getting the community stirred up to action is to preserve the wealth of the wealthy merchants and to maintain the power of those in control. ultimately, these two things are the objectives of every government not submitted to God [Rom 13:1-8] no matter what label and theory you use to describe it.
So, don’t be fooled into believing that socialism is the government of the future. It’s not. The coming government is a ruthless dictatorship.