Expounding the More Perfect Way….Jesus Christ and Him Crucified Acts 18:24-28

By: F. Swaggart
On Thursday, January 10, 1963, Florida Congressman A. S. Herlong, Jr., stood on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and read a list of 45 “Current Communist Goals”—an excerpt, he said, from the book The Naked Communist.1

All of these goals are listed on page 17-18, but I would like to comment on just a few of them:

Number 3: “Develop the illusion that total disarmament by the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.” A simple comparison of the size and strength of our armed forces now to what they were just 30 years ago will show how the U.S. military has been cut down again and again.

Number 26: “Present homosexuality, degeneracy, and promiscuity as ‘normal, natural, healthy.’” The president of the United States just appointed the first openly transgender man who dresses as a woman to be a recruitment director in the White House.

Number 32: “Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principle of ‘separation of church and state.’” This goal was met more than 50 years ago. In 1962 and 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court banned state-sponsored prayer in schools.

I could go down the entire list of these communistic goals and show how each one has been accomplished—completely or in part—inside of one generation.

This infiltration of communistic ideals did not happen overnight. The change happened gradually—accelerating over the past 50 years as America shifted from her capitalist foundation to reach out for socialism and communitarianism, only to find herself completely conditioned for communism.

WHAT IS CAPITALISM, ANYWAY?

Webster’s dictionary defines capitalism as a way of organizing an economy so that the things that are used to make and transport products—land, oil, factories, ships—are owned by individual people and companies rather than by the government.

We see capitalism taught throughout the Bible, beginning with the book of Genesis:

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Gen. 2:15).

God planted the garden, but He gave man the innovation, strength, and wisdom to work it. For Christians, this is capitalism in its truest form—believing in God’s provision while doing the work at hand.

A WORD ABOUT WORK

In Proverbs, Chapter 14, Verse 23, we read, “In all labor there is profit.” I believe that God expects all those who are able-bodied to work.

Having said that, I completely understand that some people—due to circumstances beyond their control or because of sickness or disability—simply cannot work. We sympathize with these precious people; they are the very ones our government absolutely should help and assist.

But there are millions of Americans out there who are capable of taking a job yet refuse to work.

Statistics show that of the 316 million people who live in the United States, 46 million receive food stamps. Think of that.

One news report claimed that the U.S. has more people dependent on food stamps than the total populations of Argentina, Columbia, Kenya, or Ukraine. The same report said, “Households on food stamps got an average benefit of $261.44 during the month, and total benefits for the month cost taxpayers $5,978,320,593.”2

So, basically, those who are working support those who either choose not to work or those who cannot work.

This dependency on government lines up with the communist agenda credited to Karl Marx.

His Manifesto of the Communist Party includes Frederick Engels’ “Draft of a Communist Confession of Faith,” which is written in a question-and-answer format. One question reads, “What will be your first measure once you have established democracy?”

The Marxist answer: “Guaranteeing the subsistence (amount of food, money needed to stay alive) of the proletariat (lowest social or economic class of a community).”3

WHAT DOES GOD SAY ABOUT WORK?

When the Lord established the nation of Israel, He showed them how the nation was to be governed. He set their economy in motion with instruction on bartering, commerce, free enterprise, and trade. Provisions were also made for the poor:

“And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God” (Lev. 19:9-10).

Notice that the landowner did not gather the food and hand it over to the poor. No, his part was to leave some of the harvest—some of the work—for the poor to do.

We see this “law of gleanings” carried out in the Bible story of Boaz and Ruth:

“And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley” (Ruth 2:15).

Gleaning barley is hard, physical work, yet we see Ruth out there from morning until night doing what she needed to do to feed herself and her mother-in-law.

Nowhere in the Word of God will you find laziness rewarded in any shape, form, or fashion. Instead, you will find Scripture after Scripture condemning slack hands and slothful living:

“He becomes poor that deals with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent makes rich” (Prov. 10:4).

“The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute” (Prov. 12:24).

“He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster” (Prov. 18:9).

“The desire of the slothful kills him; for his hands refuse to labor” (Prov. 21:25).

“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (I Tim. 5:8).

In America, we are guilty of rewarding laziness with our welfare programs. People who won’t work (but laugh) go out and buy their alcohol and drugs with money for which we have worked very hard and paid in taxes to the federal government. Then the federal government doles it out to people with no accountability for the money they receive. That’s a sin.

God had no welfare program for Israel. He made no provision for people who were lazy. In Bible times, people who refused to work were looked down upon; they were outcasts of society, and they didn’t exist for long.

God gives us the ability to work and expects us to work to provide, not only to help meet the needs of ourselves and our families, but also to have some left over to give to others.

In Ephesians 4:28 we read: “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs.”

Christians are instructed to give to the Lord. The Bible shows Israel giving to build the tabernacle so the presence of God could dwell among them. Then we see the temple constructed, again so that the people could experience the presence of the Lord. Today we have the tithe, which helps support the place we worship the Lord and finances the propagation of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

America is a blessed nation because it has always been a Christian nation, a nation built on a strong work ethic – a capitalist nation. And it’s the capitalist countries, not the communist ones, that are producing and have overflow.

I’ve been on the docks in foreign countries where goods are shipped in – food, water, and medical supplies – in response to something like a natural disaster, and all the food that’s being brought in is coming from the United States of America. It’s a patriotic feeling to see that huge ship and know it’s from the United States of America. However, as patriotic as that may look or feel, goods and services are not this country’s greatest export.

As you’ve probably heard my husband say many times, “As long as the gospel of Jesus Christ is America’s greatest export, the jackbooted heels of foreign invaders will never walk on American soil.”

Karl Marx may be the founder of communism, but God the Father is the founder of capitalism, and we must hold fast to God’s way as outlined in His Word.

As Christians, we must continue to seek the face of the Lord and pray—especially heading into this most important election year – that America returns to her roots as a capitalist and a Christian nation.

 

~Frances Swaggart

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

© 2012-2024