SPEAKER_01
0:20 We have two brothers in a field, and one of them is about to become the first murderer in human history. 0:26 There's not some sort of conflict over money or over territory or even, you know, over a woman. 0:31 It's over an offering. 0:33 Over the fact that his brother's gift was accepted and his wasn't. 0:37 That's the oldest sin on the ledger of human relationships, and it's not greed, it's envy. 0:44 And every political and worldview system built on legislative equality of outcome instead of equality of opportunity is underneath all the slogans and bumper stickers, just one brother standing in the field, unable to stand the sight of his other brother having what he doesn't. 1:02 Alright, guys, today on The Daily Blade, we are going to go into day two of Hell's Hydra. 1:07 So these are the five heads of a hydra that Satan is using right now to just dominate modernity. 1:13 So day one, we talked about fundamentalist Islam. 1:15 That was yesterday. 1:16 And today we're going to be talking about socialism and communism. 1:20 So before we go too far, we do need to kind of do some quick definitional work. 1:24 So there's a lot of definitions, but the easiest ones of socialism is that it's an economic and political system in which the means of production they're owned or controlled collectively. 1:34 So that's typically by the state, workers' cooperatives, or the community as a whole rather than by private individuals or corporations. 1:41 Okay, so that's socialism. 1:42 Then we have communism. 1:44 So that is a classless, stateless, moneyless society in which the means of production are owned in common by everyone, and the goods are distributed according to the principle of from each according to his ability to each according to his need. 1:57 So simply put, so communism is where all socialist roads lead, right? 2:02 So socialism is kind of like the gateway drug, but it always ends up at communism. 2:06 And so socialism is just communism with a lot more gusto, a lot more guns, right? 2:12 A lot more people dead, if you will. 2:14 But let's get back into the story from the beginning. 2:16 Obviously, if you've been around the Bible for any length of time, you know that that story is from Genesis 4, but you don't even have to have a deep understanding of the Bible to recognize that this is the story of Cain and Abel. 2:26 And so it doesn't take up a lot of real estate in the Bible. 2:28 I'm going to read the entirety of the story here in Genesis 4, starting in verse 3. 2:32 In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. 2:40 And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. 2:45 So Cain was very angry and his face fell. 2:47 The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry and why is your face fallen? 2:51 If you do well, will you not be accepted? 2:54 And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. 2:58 It's desirous for you, and you must rule over it. 3:01 Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 3:08 Now, notice what actually produced the violence in this story. 3:11 It wasn't scarcity, there wasn't some sort of injustice, it was comparison. 3:17 Cain simply could not tolerate his brother having favor that he himself did not have, and rather than examine his own offering, he decided to extinguish the man who reminded him of the gap. 3:28 That is the emotional engine underneath every eat the rich slogan and every revolution that starts with confiscating what someone else built. 3:36 So it really starts with the poor asking for bread. 3:39 It starts with someone convincing them that another man's harvest is evidence of that person's theft. 3:46 But if you've been paying attention, you will see a lot of people on the socialism, communism side of things that will actually use examples from the Bible to try and prove their point. 3:55 Specifically, they'll go to Acts 5, and they love using what is described there to defend coerced redistribution. 4:03 So Acts 4 tells us that the early church held things in common and that the believers sold their property to meet each other's needs. 4:09 It sounds very communal, but here's what people skip. 4:13 Peter tells Ananias directly that the property was his own before it was sold, and after it was sold, the money was his own to control. 4:23 So let's go to the actual text here. 4:25 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own after it was sold? 4:30 Was it not at your disposal? 4:33 So the generosity of the early church was never compelled. 4:38 It was never confiscated by the you know, some sort of apostolic committee of some kind. 4:43 It was all done voluntarily by men and women that were so gripped by the resurrection of Jesus that they held their possessions loosely. 4:50 You see, the sin of Ananias and Sapphira wasn't keeping some of the money back. 4:55 I mean, really, no one, you know, required them to give it all to begin with. 4:58 Their sin was pretending. 5:00 Their sin was lying to the Holy Spirit to look more generous than they actually were. 5:04 They were wanting the reputation of sacrifice without the substance of it. 5:08 And it's, you know, pretty brutal because God struck them dead on the spot, and great fear came upon the whole church. 5:15 And that is the opposite lesson of the one socialism tries to draw from this text. 5:19 This passage is a warning against manufactured piety. 5:23 This text does not provide a blueprint for the state seizing our labor and calling it loving. 5:28 And ultimately, when you put the two stories together today, you have the whole anatomy of socialism and communism. 5:34 Cain's envy as fuel, and the false use of Acts 5 as a theological cover story. 5:40 Because every system that promises to fix inequality by force runs on the same premise, the serpent, the dragon used in the garden. 5:48 That God, or in you know, in this case, the market or your neighbor has cheated you out of something that you deserve. 5:54 And that taking it back sometimes by force is actually justice. 5:58 And in order for that to happen, the state has to be large enough to do the taking, which ultimately means that the state is powerful enough to eventually take you. 6:08 And so my warning to you men is this guard your own heart before you fight the ideology in the public square. 6:16 I mean, be honest. 6:17 Do you look at another man's house or his car or his success or the size of his business or his wife or the accomplishments of his kids and feel a little cane heat rising up inside of you? 6:29 Do you somehow feel like his gain is your loss? 6:32 I mean, that's the door sin is crouching at, and you need to rule over it. 6:37 You need to build your own offering with the strength God gave you, and you need to give generously and voluntarily out of gratitude, the same way the early church did. 6:45 Not because a strong government system extracted it from you, but because Christ already gave you everything and you have nothing left to grip so tightly.