Socialism- As Old as the World

      Conservatism and liberalism are more than social or political philosophies. Conservatism is not promoting but protecting traditions, culture, civilization, and religious institutions. Liberalism, on the hand, is promoting a movement away from what exists. One might say, both are good. Indeed, the society in which one lives determines which is good.
     The two philosophical terms arose from the French Revolution but the philosophies themselves are as ancient as mankind is old.
     Europe, before the nineteenth century, was a continent consisting of nations each with monarchies. Traditionally, monarchs owed allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church, or in the case of the east, allegiance to the Orthodox faith of Constantinople. Kings answered to the pope in Rome or to the patriarch in Russia (at that time). The institution of the church had not only spiritual but political control over the monarchs. Oftentimes evil monarchs were either anointed by or tolerated by the pope. That condition kept Europe in bondage even until the time of the Third Reich.
     For the most part, with few exceptions, monarchies were good for the king but bad for the subjects. On the other hand, monarchies changed the face of the world for the better. They brought civilization to uncivilized people but force and war were required. Colonialism was the process by which the world became civilized but civilization enslaved the barbarians who were accustomed to almost unlimited freedom. Usually, nations in the middle east and the dark continent despise the western world because of colonization by monarchs from the western world. For example, King Leopold II of Belgium personally owned the Congo. That situation made less developed countries despise those which were more civilized.
     Within monarchies, the hatred was of the same magnitude. Kings enslaved commoners with the institution of feudalism where royalty and nobility owned the land, and serfs were merely laborers who lived on the fiefs (land) for a meek sustenance.
     Now, for some commentary on modern times: Marxism (aka socialism and communism) is essentially a return to feudalism. The only things which have changed are that commoners are the "kings" and the masses (people) are the serfs who are held in bondage to those who own the land. In Marxism, the government is the landowner ( the elite nobility) and the people are the peasants who live for mere sustenance. Because people live for their bellies (Phil 3:19) enough that self-satisfaction becomes their "god."
     Socialism is built on that one idea: self-indulgences of the masses. Socialists have been known to call that "the stupidity of the people." As long as people seem to be well-off, whether they really are is inconsequential. Prosperity is the outcome of capitalism but the vision of more prosperity is the deception of socialism. As long as the peasants think that they are prosperous, socialism is safe. Therefore, a tactic of Marxism is deception. The people must truly believe they are better off with a socialist economy than capitalism. Because the nobility were traditional owners of the land makes them the bad guys as the blindness of the masses fail to realize that the government is just the new nobility.
     Why do government "servants" obtain great wealth? Because they are the new nobility - the elite. Servants work for sustenance. Nobility works for riches. (The only true servant who works without pay at this moment is President Trump who declines his salary.) Modern politicians who claim to be progressive (i.e., socialist and even communist) are the worst crony capitalists. "Crony capitalism is an economy in which businesses thrive not as a result of risk, but rather as a return on money amassed through a nexus between a business class and the political class. This is done using state power to crush genuine competition in handing out permits, government grants, special tax breaks, or other forms of state intervention" (Wikipedia, "crony capitalism").
     Crony capitalism is an alliance of business leadership and politicians. When Germany was a republic, the cronies were business and the capitalists. When Hitler took power, the cronies were the Third Reich government and business. Because business goes with the flow of money, the alliance is always between business and those who have political power.
     As on the television show Survivor, those seeking to benefit the most go with the ones in power. Power and reward always belongs to those who ally themselves around how they can best obtain. On Survivor, most of the tribe owes allegiance to the one who has the most power, and then when the prize is awarded, the servants find they have merely been duped. They have felt power for a time but they soon find that they were powerless. That's how crony capitalism works. Business is always in the alliance, but the other tribe members change with who is in power. Right now, socialists are the crony capitalists while the people believe it is the conservatives. That is "the stupidity of the American voter," according to socialist Jonathan Gruber, Obama's architect of Obamacare.
     Conservatism, as maintaining traditional institutions, was a bad thing when the system was bad. Kings and the established church used the people for their own prosperity. Because the pope and the kings were the crony capitalists, they were hated by the people. Liberalism, at that time, was a movement away from the abusive cronyism of church, state, and land owners. In the 1840s Marx developed his own type of feudalism. He created enemies for the people to hate. Socialism is based on division without regard to who is divided. Progress is made through dissatisfaction of nearly all institutions. Marx was not even dissatisfied with capitalism; he merely desired to control the prosperity from capitalism, and deceive the people to believe it is they who are in control.
     Marxism defined the enemies; those who stood in the way of his version of progress. Note that by that time the industrial revolution was in progress, and Marx wanted a piece of the that. As such, industry became one of the enemies which was added to those who owned the land. Marx saw that the church had grown in wealth, so religion became another enemy of socialism. In Marxism, division is progress. It is taking from those who have and giving it to those who have not. That was a gross deception! Wealth was taken from those who had and given to the state. Socialist leaders became the new royalty. Hitler is one example, Stalin another, and Castro another. Socialism is a return to feudalism, and the peasants even cheer it on!
     The reformation in the church was religious liberalism. Luther saw the crony capitalists in the Roman Catholic Church, and decided it was wrong. The payment of indulgences to the church is a good example of cronyism. Those who have within the church pays to those who want what they have, and everyone seems happy. The cronies are happy, but the congregants are deluded into believing that they can pay for their forgiveness. Luther was the liberal who defied cronyism in the church. That was a good thing! The pope wanted to maintain his power and great wealth at the expense of the people. The kings were allied with the pope. If they sought to disagree with the church, they were threatened with excommunication. The nobility and the bishops were the cronies.
     The church was the "first estate" and the nobility the "second estate" as the church held more power than the king or nobility. Since both held sway over the people, the commoners became the "third estate". The first and second were the crony capitalists against the third estate. Thus socialism evolved to end cronyism and enemies became the wealthy and the religious. Mostly landowners and industrialists were the wealthy, and socialists are even against automation (progress) as the enemy of the people. You see, even the term "progressive" is a deception! Socialism is regression to crony capitalism with only a change in the cronies!
     The Abrahamic Covenant - God's promise to Abraham - is a promise of prosperity; namely the promised land to their people and eternal prosperity to those who are faithful. Judaism became the enemy of Marx who was an ethnic Jew and the grandson of a rabbi. He knew all about the Abrahamic Covenant. Satan seems to easily deceive secular Jews. He always has. Satan desires to usurp the Abrahamic Covenant, and the main part of that covenant is the promise of a Savior through Abraham's genes. As such, Marx included the church in his enemies list, and referred to religion (Judaism and Christianity) as the" opiate of the people." That accusation made Christ into a delusion, and was blasphemous.
     Since Marx divided the world into the religious vs. the irreligious, Judaism and Christianity has been under attack. Because the Jewish people have a history of syncretism, they easily blended this new "religion" and its false god - Marx - into their belief system. Many of the Jewish nationality have been the most deceived by socialism. To wit, the Bolsheviks of Russia's leadership was the Jew Lenin, and before long, Jews became the enemies of Stalin. They are merely co-lateral damage for power hungry socialist autocrats.
     The new method of deception is called "social justice." That is an alliance between the cronies of the elite and the liberal "Christian" church gaining power in the name of socialistic justice. Jesus rejected socialism: "For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always" (Mark 14:7).
     Therein, Jesus conveyed three crucial thoughts: (1) He recognized the existence of poverty and could have done "social justice" with a miracle, (2) that his followers should value him over the poor, and (3) that they should be charitable to the poor. He laid the responsibility on the disciples to willingly give. He didn't say, "Caesar should take care of them by taxation," but that his followers voluntarily do so out of generosity. Marx didn't like that type of "justice." He didn't want that the new "Caesars" do the "giving" through governmental coercion.
     There is no such that as Christian Socialism or even Democratic Socialism. Socialism is the antithesis of Christianity because their fault is the "love of money" - what belongs to others. Socialism is merely legalized theft, and Democratic Socialism is farcical since it is an endeavor to get the people to vote for the theft of their own money. Christian Socialism is the twisting of the Doctrine of Christ to suit Marxism. Imagine if you will, Marx in the tree back in the Garden, saying, "Eat of the fruit of  my tree; you surely won't die!" God's "Tree" is nearby, jealous that his children are eating of Marx's tree although they say that they honor God's Tree!
     Socialism (aka liberalism and progressivism) uses the existence of poverty as their pretense to capture the minds of common people. Adam and Eve had all they could eat in God's Garden. The Serpent deceived them into thinking that his fruit is better, and somehow they were doing without things they could have. That was the serpent Marx's method; he deceived people into believing they deserved more.
     God penalized Adam and Eve for believing the "socialist" lie that they deserved better than what God provided. As a result, God withheld what he had given. Capitalism is the source of modern prosperity and was ordained by God to Abraham and his people. That includes Christianity as we are benefactors of his covenant. The penalty for Adam's sin was poverty: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen 3:19).
    By grace, God returned the Jews to the "paradise" from which they had been expelled. Abraham was granted the deed to the Promised Land - a land of milk and honey, or prosperity. Prosperity is not a Marxist gift but by the grace of God who Marx despised so much!
    When powerful elite people claim to be progressive, keep in mind that it is a deception. They benefit from your gullibility. Their method is to turn people away from the author of prosperity - God - and have them look toward mankind for goodness. George Orwell was correct: newspeak and doublethink will deceive the people who fall for socialism. A recent example of newspeak is Nancy Pelosi calling the wall immoral, yet favoring the abortion of babies. Liberalism institutes a new morality with new values. Destroying one's offspring in the womb becomes a "right" instead of a "wrong." Do people really think that liberals even care about their rights? It is their own gain which they care about. The nation is divided right now by pro-lifers and those anti-life. That is a mere tactic to institutionalize socialism.
    People who fall for deception are not in harmony with God's will. They fail to understand that the promise of good things to come from bad trees is Satan's method. Most men are Adams and most women are Eve's. You are being deceived and think it is liberal enlightenment.