The Historical Impact of Communism
It is essential to examine the historical impact of Communism on the Christian church to gain deeper insight into Fidel Castro’s approach to the Revolution in Cuba. After all, Fidel had stated, “Communism or Death.” Throughout its existence, Communism has been at odds with God, Jesus, and the church, akin to Satan’s enmity towards God and His creation. According to Xina M. Uhl, pursuing an ideal society has been a human endeavor for centuries: “People have been trying to create an ideal society for thousands of years.” [1]
In his Republic of 370-375 BCE, Plato envisioned a society led by a highly intellectual upper class who would govern together and share everything, including spouses and children. As one author said, “to Plato, this society involved an upper class of specially trained rulers who would live together and share property, spouses, and children.” [2] Plato’s thinking starkly contrasts the Word of God, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14, NKJV). Notice that the upper class would be governing together. Sound familiar? Yes, Communism. In episode 7, my last podcast, we discover how much ruling power Fidel and Putin possessed. If you have not heard it yet, please go back and listen. The working class will be the ruling class but let us be honest: the upper class of the working class will be the ones ruling and in control. Yet, how easily is the desire to rule nothing more than a disguised aberration from the truth that working for the greater good robs the individual of their God-given gifts? At the same time, the ruling upper class continues in their lust for the flesh for power, pleasure, and monetary gain.
The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848, propelled the rise of Communism, ignited by the introduction of the Industrial Revolution, which brought about unfair conditions and the exploitation of the people. One author expressed it the following way: “Marx described the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat as one of exploitation.” [3] Who were the bourgeoisie? The bourgeoisie was a class of business owners, merchants, and wealthy people that emerged in the Late Middle Ages, initially as a “middle class.” The proletariat was the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labor power.” Trading time for dollars was their value.
The Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848, propelled the rise of Communism, ignited by the introduction of the Industrial Revolution, which brought about unfair conditions and the exploitation of the people. One author expressed it the following way: “Marx described the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat as one of exploitation.” [4] Who were the bourgeoisie? The bourgeoisie was a class of business owners, merchants, and wealthy people that emerged in the Late Middle Ages, initially as a “middle class.” The proletariat was the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labor power.” Trading time for dollars was their value.
History has shown, however, that one form of power often replaces another, as seen in Fidel Castro’s overthrow of Fulgencio Batista, which resulted in another dictatorship, “An exile named Vladimir Lenin took over, and established a dictatorship in which the government-owned almost all industry.” [5] This mirrored the Communist regime established by Lenin in Russia and Castro in Cuba.
Attend to this excerpt from the Communist Manifesto. “The communists, Marx stressed, would not conceal their views and aims in this battle of democracy. Their approach would be to declare openly that what they aimed to achieve was the overthrow by force of all the existing social conditions that he had criticized so powerfully in the pamphlet. Indeed, as was mentioned earlier in this guide, Marx and Engels had helped to steer the Communist League away from its previous conspiratorial approach into one of open campaigning. ‘Let the ruling classes tremble,’ Marx demanded in line with this new approach to a Communist revolution.” [6]
Mark Zuckerberg Regrets Caving into the Biden Administration’s Censoring Demands
Today, there is a battle for free speech, so much so in America that there is a tight grip on what is deemed correct information under the guise of misinformation. Recently, Zuckerberg said that the Biden administration, which includes Harris, asked Facebook to censor COVID misinformation that ended up true: ‘Undermines trust.’ Listen to this: “Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets that Meta bowed to Biden administration pressure to censor content, saying in a letter that the interference was “wrong” and that he plans to push back if it happens again.” Question: was it wrong or illegal? Moreover, if it is unlawful, then prosecution should set in. The above information was taken from Fox News.
The notion that the entire earth was an open platform for all to use is traced back to the early Christian church. This idea was further perpetuated through the communist ideology of “communal living,” where “Early Christian groups such as the Gnostics and Manichaeans believed that private property was evil and that the whole earth was for the use of all people.” [7] The debate over whether the Gnostics could be categorized as a Christian group, or followers of Jesus Christ adds an engaging element to this historical narrative. Paul, in Colossians, warns believers of the Gnostics, who believed that excellent knowledge preceded the necessitation of salvation. Paul states, “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3, NKJV), that all wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. Paul used the ancient Greek word [uhpakroofahs] apokruphos for “hidden,” which reflects that this knowledge is in Christ and not worldly books or knowledge.
The Propaganda of False Prophets
Manichaeism [Maenuhkeeism] were not followers of Christ either because they did not believe in Jesus Christ but were instead a religion from the Iranian culture. According to Iain Gardner, “Even a hostile source such as the Acts of Archelaus (Polemical text against Manichaeism The Acts of Archelaus is a polemical text against Manichaeism. (The term “polemical” refers to a piece of writing or speech that is strongly attacking or defending a particular opinion, person, idea, or set of beliefs). “It was originally composed in Greek in the fourth century but has survived mainly in a near contemporary Latin translation) depicts Mani as a clever and astute propagandist, acquiring Christian texts, studying them, and ingeniously integrating their ideas into his own to make the latter more acceptable to potential Christian converts.” [8] Jesus warned His disciples of the propaganda of false prophets, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15, NKJV).
Fidel Castro’s Twisting the Word of God
Fidel Castro’s Communism takes the Scriptures and aligns parallels that one might be influenced or swayed into, acknowledging that maybe Communism is not so bad. What would happen if I drank a glass of soda thinking it was soda, but in actuality, poison? Listen to this: Husband who slowly poisoned his wife to death with Gatorade laced with anti-freeze. His wife, a registered nurse, was hospitalized in August 2004 after her speech became slurred and she had difficulty walking. Doctors told her she was suffering from a kidney ailment. Two weeks later, Julie Keown was hospitalized again. She died on Sept. 8, 2004. It would not be until a year later that the authorities discovered that her husband was poisoning her the whole time.
Communism Overthrows Societies by Force
Okay, so what does this have to do with Communism? When you overthrow society by force, which is the call for Communism, to begin a slow process of poisoning the minds of children and adults over two decades, you have a society dead to any other revelation, namely the Word of God. You live a life of a tombed dictatorship with a spiritual cult battle that prevents the people from receiving the truth of God’s Word. Listen, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4, NIV).
Communism is an ideology that is vibrant and moving within the socialist movement. This should raise concerns when US leaders like Bernie Sanders are openly a socialist, which paints a picture that it is not so bad. What can this older man do? He looks harmless. In an article on the Hudson.org site, David Satter writes, “Armed Bolsheviks seized the Winter Palace in Petrograd—now St. Petersburg—100 years ago this week and arrested ministers of Russia’s provisional government. They set in motion a chain of events that would kill millions and inflict a near-fatal wound on Western civilization. ”[9]
[1] Xina M. Uhl and Link, Communism (New York, NY: Rosen Publishing Group, 2019), 4.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Xina M. Uhl and Link, Communism, 6.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Peter Lamb, Marx and Engels’ ‘Communist Manifesto’: A Reader’s Guide. (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2015), 115.
[7] Lamb, Ibid., 8.
[8] Iain Gardner, The Founder of Manichaeism: Rethinking the Life of Mani (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2020), Viii.
[9] MedicalTuesday.Net | One Hundred Million Killed. http://medicaltuesday.net/one-hundred-million-killed/