mrwil65
Active member
Right now, you might be wondering what all of this has to do with you. If Venezuela has proven that socialism is a bad idea, why should any one care?
You should care because socialist visions and policies are invading the United States. You'll hear them discussed under four different names: socialism, communism, Marxism, and cultural Marxism. From my studies, it seems many people consider these terms nearly synonymous. As you read the rest of this chapter, these four titles will show up. but they all refer to the same invasive ideology, one that seems to deceive people with unusual ease.
Consider this: Hugo Chávez had plenty of cheerleaders in the United States during his rise, including Hollywood stars like Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Oliver Stone, and Danny Glover. Socialism seems to hold an almost hypnotic power over many thinkers, and it's spilling into the common culture. A 2020 poll showed that 40 percent of Americans had a favorable view of socialism. That was up from 36 percent in 2019. Even more frightening, 47 percent of Millennials and 49 percent of Generation Z viewed socialism favorably. Indeed, one 2019 poll in AXIOS found that 61 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 have a positive reaction to socialism." And then there is this: In 2020, Bernie Sanders nearly won the Democratic Party's nomination for president of the United States. This is the same senator from Vermont who declared. "I am a socialist and everyone knows it."
In addition to Sanders, recent elections have seen record numbers of socialist candidates win roles as representatives both in state legislatures and in Congress. Notable among them is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In 2018, she became the youngest congresswoman in history.
Ocasio-Cortez is an avowed member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the United States. Given her young age and massive following, many believe she'll run for president of the United States one day. That's a sobering thought given her stated goals of ending capitalism and implementing the same socialist agenda that failed so spectacularly in Venezuela.
I've come to the conviction that this ideology represents a real and present danger to the freedom and prosperity that has defined America and other Western nations for centuries. As I've researched this book, one verse keeps coming to mind: 2 Timothy 3:1. Here it is in the Amplified Bible: "But understand this, that in the last days dangerous times (of great stress and trouble] will come [difficult days that will be hard to bear)."
Jesus said it like this, "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be (Matt. 24:37-39).
What were those "days of Noah" like? Genesis 6:5 describes them this way: "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
The people of Noah's day ignored and ridiculed his warnings. Noah built and preached for 120 years, and not one single individual outside his immediate family believed him. The people were so indifferent that they didn't understand what was happening until it was too late.
The heedlessness of the people in Noah's day will be duplicated in the last days of our world's history. It will be a day much like ours, a day when ideologies like socialism can sneak in without much attention.
Ask anyone under communism and they'll probably agree: socialism is an invasive weed planted by Karl Marx. Despite its catastrophic failures, it keeps spreading over the earth like kudzu. Will this be the dominant political philosophy on earth when the tribulation begins? Yes, that seems likely. Socialism is tailor-made for the Antichrist's appearance. It creates global conditions that bring great stress and trouble, difficult days that will be hard to bear. And it demands a one-world system of government. which Scripture says will be established before the end of history.
Revelation 13 describes the Antichrist as a beast having vast power and authority. "The whole world marveled... and gave allegiance to the beast... And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast" (Rev. 13:3, 7-8 NLT). This beast, or Antichrist, will be empowered by Satan, "who deceives the whole world" (12:9), and aided by the false prophet, who "deceives those who dwell on the earth" (13:14). The Lord warned us against this kind of deception: "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ" (Col. 2:8).
You should care because socialist visions and policies are invading the United States. You'll hear them discussed under four different names: socialism, communism, Marxism, and cultural Marxism. From my studies, it seems many people consider these terms nearly synonymous. As you read the rest of this chapter, these four titles will show up. but they all refer to the same invasive ideology, one that seems to deceive people with unusual ease.
Consider this: Hugo Chávez had plenty of cheerleaders in the United States during his rise, including Hollywood stars like Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Oliver Stone, and Danny Glover. Socialism seems to hold an almost hypnotic power over many thinkers, and it's spilling into the common culture. A 2020 poll showed that 40 percent of Americans had a favorable view of socialism. That was up from 36 percent in 2019. Even more frightening, 47 percent of Millennials and 49 percent of Generation Z viewed socialism favorably. Indeed, one 2019 poll in AXIOS found that 61 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 have a positive reaction to socialism." And then there is this: In 2020, Bernie Sanders nearly won the Democratic Party's nomination for president of the United States. This is the same senator from Vermont who declared. "I am a socialist and everyone knows it."
In addition to Sanders, recent elections have seen record numbers of socialist candidates win roles as representatives both in state legislatures and in Congress. Notable among them is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In 2018, she became the youngest congresswoman in history.
Ocasio-Cortez is an avowed member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the United States. Given her young age and massive following, many believe she'll run for president of the United States one day. That's a sobering thought given her stated goals of ending capitalism and implementing the same socialist agenda that failed so spectacularly in Venezuela.
I've come to the conviction that this ideology represents a real and present danger to the freedom and prosperity that has defined America and other Western nations for centuries. As I've researched this book, one verse keeps coming to mind: 2 Timothy 3:1. Here it is in the Amplified Bible: "But understand this, that in the last days dangerous times (of great stress and trouble] will come [difficult days that will be hard to bear)."
Jesus said it like this, "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be (Matt. 24:37-39).
What were those "days of Noah" like? Genesis 6:5 describes them this way: "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
The people of Noah's day ignored and ridiculed his warnings. Noah built and preached for 120 years, and not one single individual outside his immediate family believed him. The people were so indifferent that they didn't understand what was happening until it was too late.
The heedlessness of the people in Noah's day will be duplicated in the last days of our world's history. It will be a day much like ours, a day when ideologies like socialism can sneak in without much attention.
Ask anyone under communism and they'll probably agree: socialism is an invasive weed planted by Karl Marx. Despite its catastrophic failures, it keeps spreading over the earth like kudzu. Will this be the dominant political philosophy on earth when the tribulation begins? Yes, that seems likely. Socialism is tailor-made for the Antichrist's appearance. It creates global conditions that bring great stress and trouble, difficult days that will be hard to bear. And it demands a one-world system of government. which Scripture says will be established before the end of history.
Revelation 13 describes the Antichrist as a beast having vast power and authority. "The whole world marveled... and gave allegiance to the beast... And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast" (Rev. 13:3, 7-8 NLT). This beast, or Antichrist, will be empowered by Satan, "who deceives the whole world" (12:9), and aided by the false prophet, who "deceives those who dwell on the earth" (13:14). The Lord warned us against this kind of deception: "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ" (Col. 2:8).