Galatians 1:8 (KJV) "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
It's so important that Paul said it twice, one after another. I know of no other place where Paul repeated himself so exactly. It is critical! There was a problem in Paul's day. Preachers were already preaching a gospel other than Jesus!
What is gospel anyway? "Gospel" comes from the Old English expression "Good (or God's) spell, meaning "good story" or "good news" and it's Jesus's teachings about salvation and the kingdom of God (Religion Dictionary). Of course "The Kingdom of God" means the "will of God:
Matthew 6:10 (KJV) "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."
It is God's will that we practice righteousness on earth just as it will be in heaven. "Heaven" becomes the standard of living our lives here! Since "income redistribution" is meaningless in heaven, it can't be the righteous practice for the here and now. That leaves if "socialism" is to be practiced, it must be practiced in the context of "salvation".
Salvation is not about wealth at all!
Mark 10:24 (KJV) " And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!"
This passage eliminates wealth as a means of being in God's will or making it to heaven. Salvation is a spiritual journey. It's a one-time gift which is unearned. It has no intrinsic value, and is all based on relationship to Jesus. What does it take to be saved?
Acts 16:29 "Then he (the keeper of the prison) called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..."
Salvation is belief, specifically "we are saved by hope" of Christ (Romans 8:28). "Hope" is not wealth! It's not something that can be taken away from one and given to another. It's an attribute that when experienced by one can be shared with others, but it is not wealth! However, socialism is all about wealth.
Matthew 26:7 "There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. 8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. 12 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always."
In this instance a woman was anointing Jesus prior to his death and burial. She was "wasting" expensive ointment! Jesus, knowing his death was eminent said "me ye have not always", but "ye have the poor always with you". While we are to "give to the poor" (Matthew 19), the purpose was not to help the poor with providing wealth, but to preach the gospel to the poor! (Matthew 11:5).
Poverty, as was slavery, were penalties for sins. Sins of our ancestors. Poverty, specifically goes all the way back to Cain:
Genesis 4:12 "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. 13 And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear."
A "vagabond" is a vagrant, a tramp. In modern terms a "hobo". Poverty originated with Cain. Poverty is of God and is a penalty we still pay for the disobedience of our ancestor! That's not fair you say?
Exodus 20:5 "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me."
Of course poverty at the time of Jesus is well beyond the "fourth generation"; that's figuratively speaking. Earth is God's footstool. Poverty is from God, and is a mild punishment for sin, compared to what's prepared for the unrepenitant in the afterlife! We like to think "God is good!" and that he is. However, God is a punishing God as well!
Below I summarize my points:
1) The gospel has nothing to do with wealth, let alone it's redistribution.
2) Wealth will not get you to heaven and heaven is our hope! (In fact scripture teaches against the desire for wealth).
3) We are to help the poor by spreading the gospel (spiritual hope) to them, not by spreading the wealth.
4) Poverty is from God and is an inherited condition because of the sin of our forebears.
5) The poor will always be here. There is no hope that all will ever be materially wealthy. (That's not God's will anyway or poverty would already be wiped out.)
6) The gospel has everything to do with the will of God. We are to be in God's will now as it will be in heaven and in heaven monetary wealth is non-existent!
7) The wealth of the poor is "hope in Jesus Christ". The riches of "hope" is obtained by salvation.
8) Not covered, but scriptural, is that for Christians to focus on the Lord, their hope shan't be in wealth (Matthew 19:21). Therefore, they are to voluntarily give to the poor because their hope is not concerned with riches, but in God!
89) Therefore, Jesus did not teach a gospel of socialism (income redistribution), but a gospel of salvation!
I could on and on, but will leave that up to the skeptic. I have written earlier quite extensively on socialism to which the reader may refer. However, one point I will continue to make is that socialism is evil. It's the obvious government which exists at the advent of the tribulation period, and culminates in persecution and loss of freedom (communism) in the second 3-1/2 years of the tribulation.
According to Marx, the Communist Manifesto is just a s well the Socialist Manifesto. That doctrine teachers against God (Judeo-Christians were the obvious target). Their aim is to extinguish the worship of God in a socialist world government. Hence, by their own admission, they are candidates to be the government of the Apocalypse!
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