Collectivists,
Individualists, and Christians
Barbara
Henderson
There is a giant battle raging in the United
States between the Collectivists and the Individualists. The opponents
call themselves different things, but none of them really call themselves
Collectivist or even Individualist. Never the less, that is what they
are.
There isn’t a short definition of either
Collectivist or Individualist. In a nut shell, Collectivists collect
EVERYTHING they can get away with. They collect people, property, the
wealth other people have worked for (common good you know), and anything they
can get on a hook and reel in. They see the government as the ‘keeper’ of
all things. Actually, on some level, they are trying to force humanity to
mutate or evolve into a something like a giant ant colony, with most of the population
functioning sort of like blood veins, muscles, and organs in one giant
body. Government will be the brain, keeping everything running
smoothly. In the dream world of the Collectivist the working class has no
more right to determine their own future than the red blood cell has to
determine its future. It is an absolutely disgusting ideology, denying
even the basics of human dignity to the individual. That is just a few of
the high points of Collectivism.
An Individualist on the other hand is one who
wants to take responsibility for his or her own life. They want the
government to provide a safe environment in which they can live and work, but
government must always be limited to the least level of power required to
provide a safe structure in which to live. An Individualist believes in
self-reliance, self-determination, and independent living.
There are extreme Individualists who are
Anarchists. They disregard all rules of government and civilized
society.
A society is always moving in one direction or
another. They are traveling toward a more Collectivist society, or a more
Individualist society. Either side usually makes very small gains that
eventually add up to big gains. It is a real war constantly being
fought. Sometimes it is fought in the political arena. Eventually,
when the Collectivists are strong enough, the war will be fought with armies
who simply take over. (Russia 1917)
The United States House of Representatives is
currently controlled by those calling their selves Republicans. Some
Republicans truly are Individualists to some degree. Others are out and
out Collectivists who have simply joined the Republican party to further their
goals. They have no scruples about lying to the citizens. It is the
duty of the citizens to figure out who the liars are and vote them out of
office . The enemy of the Individualist is the ideology of the
Collectivist mindset. Most of the Democrats are Collectivists to a large
degree. Some are extreme Collectivists. They are constantly pushing
for ‘social reforms’ that take from the Individuals and give to the Collective.
It is so irritating to hear politicians and the
news media chastising Congress because they ‘aren’t getting anything
done.’ That is so ridiculous. First of all, every day that
Individualists in Congress stop the Collectivists from gaining more ground is a
successful day. Those favoring the Individualist way of life need to
stand up and cheer. Conservatives in Congress are taking a pounding from
every direction. How can the Collectivist agenda of the Democrats be
stopped if the goal is changed to ‘just to all get along?
Don’t let the collectivist strategy of
‘changing the public’s perception of the problem’ fool you.
The problem is what does or does not get
done. The problem is not getting along.
In any society, there are going to be elements
of both Collectivism and Individualism. Families form small
Collectives. People are born into specific Cultures. Cultures in
themselves are somewhat collective in nature. People naturally tend to
stay within the culture in which they were born and raised. Certainly the
family as formed by God is good. God also established government.
Government is necessary to provide a level of civilized society and safety for
people.
But a line has to be drawn regarding what
controls the government is allowed to place on the individuals of any society.
I mean if you believe all men are created equal and endowed by
their creator with certain inalienable rights, then you have to draw a line
somewhere on what a government can actually do.
Bigger government is virtually always
evil.
The bigger government becomes, the more insane
it becomes. It has no thought for the good of the individual.
Big government becomes like an evil entity,
drunk with its own power and importance.
It is vampire-ish in nature – sucking the
life’s blood out of the economy.
It is incapable of seeing what is actually for
the good of society, seeing only what is good for the Collectivists themselves.
It creates both addicts and worshippers in the
same person. Big government creates addicts through entitlement
programs. People are given a stipend on which they are to live, and given
no way to escape. The entitlement addicts see the government as their
provider. They go the government for their needs and never consider God
Almighty who has unlimited resources and knows them by name. Powerful
Collectivists like those in congress begin to see themselves as almost
deity. Today they are the ‘champions’ of the poor and needy today.
Tomorrow, they see themselves as the savior of the poor and needy. They
are drunk with the wine of self-importance.
Collectivism is eventually a forced form of
government. People are forced to give up their individual rights for the
‘good of something or other’. Individuals, given the choice, will very
often make great sacrifices for the good of others, beginning with their
families, their God, and their country. But when sacrifices are forced by
the government, personal rights always suffer.
Christians should be Individualists who cling
to God as their helper, obey the commandments, and are bonded to first God,
then family, then country.
So, there is a constant war going on between
the Collectivists and the Individualists.
Collectivists in general are not
Christians. They may profess Christianity, but their works show their
claim to be false. Some probably are Christians, but the majority of them
are not.
Many Individualists are not Christians
either. So they don’t have the light of God in them either.
THEN there are Christians. The Christian,
no matter how dedicated, is facing the war between their sin nature and the new
nature.
So you have the Collectivists who are mostly
not born again into the family of God through Jesus Christ. You have the
individualists who include many non-Christians. And you have the
Christians who are mostly Individualists, believing each will answer for their
actions, and ultimately each will receive the rewards of their own work.
But, they are facing a constant war with the old nature and with the worldly
elements embodied in the Collectivist mindset. It appears our goose is
cooked! Fortunately, we have an advocate which is Jesus Christ. By
leaning on Him, we have the ultimate victory.
One of the things that is very hard to grasp is
that the clash between Individualists and Collectivists, cultures, nations,
religions, and all powers of this earth are only temporary. The devil is
out to claim as many people as possible in the time that he has.
Our goal is not really to transform cultures or
governments.
It isn’t to raise the poor out of poverty or to
pull the wealthy down into poverty.
Our goal is to grow closer to Jesus
Christ personally, and to tell others about the way to eternal peace with God
Almighty. It is totally true that you get into heaven through Christ
alone. It is also true that when you become a true believer it will show
up in your actions. The fruit you bear will be in yourself. You
will become more conformed to the image of Christ. Don't confuse your
works with your salvation. Works are evidence of salvation, but they are
not part of salvation itself. (By grace are ye saved through faith, and
that not of yourself. It is a gift of God.)
We are to do the things Christ says to
do. We are to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire
world. That is more easily done when the government is in the hands of
the righteous. Perhaps the lost are more receptive to the Gospel message
when the government is persecuting the citizens of the land. Regardless
of the situation, the job description of the Christian is still the same.
Live like you mean it when you say you are a Christian, realizing that your
actions are representing the true God of creation and salvation to those
around you. And, tell the world that while they are separated from God by
their imperfections, Jesus died to make one way for the individual to be
reconciled to God Almighty. Tell them they can gain heaven and escape
hell.
Today, we are seeing an unimaginable trend in
the US government to call Christians terrorists and make them equal with the
murderous radical Islamist terrorists. ( Please make a note here that I did not
lump all Moslems into a group of evil terrorists). I don’t know if
this is more insane or more intentionally maligning a group with whom
Washington disagrees.
All Individualists are enemies of the
current leadership in Washington, but Christians are going to bear the brunt of
their fury if the liberal politicians in Washington are not stopped.
There are at least two things Christians can do to counter this insanity in the
government.
First, the most important step is to live like
a Christian. Do not do even the small things that are outside the
boundaries set by God. Make the difference in your Christian life obvious
to the world. I don’t mean that you wear certain clothes that stand
out. Just wear modest clothing. I don’t mean do or don’t wear
makeup, do or don’t cut your hair in a specific way, or things that draw attention
to you by appearance. Don’t do things that align you with the
world. Stay out of ungodly places. That does mean that Christians
have no place in honkey-tonks slurping down alcohol. At the very least
this gives non-Christians a reason to see you as a hypocrite. It is true that
the Bible does not condemn the use of alcohol. It does condemn
drunkenness. The Bible also says not to do things that might cause a
young Christian to falter. You will not win the world to Christ by joining
ranks with the world. It shouldn’t even be an issue considering what the
people wear who go to those places. It is very hard for a godly man to
keep his eyes from staring if he happens to be in a Hooters restaurant.
(I have never been to one - the commercials are enough to make me sick.
And they advertise as being a family restaurant.)
In a nut shell:
Your conduct as a professing Christian should
give people cause to consider the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Your conduct should NOT give people a reason to
reject Christianity.
Do go where you should go. You should go
to church. You should go to visit those in need. You should support
full time missionaries, and part time missionaries.
Do the things you are supposed to do. Be
kind to each other. Treat others the way you want to be treated. We
are not told to treat other kindly who treat us kindly, but rather treat even
our enemies well. Your actions can make obvious liars of those trying to
put Christians in the same category as Islamic terrorists.
Do not go to places that will cause people to
see Christianity in a bad way. Do not use gutter language that will
align you with the world. A clean mouth
does matter!
The second thing you can do is to make an
effort to complain every time you hear something about the right-wing
Christians – or Bible thumpers – or those clinging to their guns and Bibles –
or anything that trashes Christians.
Also, when a so-called Christian is
guilty of a crime, you have a chance to shout that whatever they did – it is
not condoned by the teachings of God. Do your best to tell the world that
wicked behavior is forbidden. Demand a retraction when a criminal is
falsely labeled Christian. Of course there will be incidents when a
Christian does something wrong, but it is ridiculous to label someone a
Christian just because there are Christians somewhere in their family
tree. An example of such blatant lies and intentional distortion of the
facts was the case in Norway. A dreadful man (Anders Breivik) murdered
more than 80 people. He was called a Christian fundamentalist out to
prove something. The truth is he was NOT a professing Christian at all
and never had been.
He was NOT a Christian.
He never professed to be a Christians.
Do liberals think it will somehow lessen the
guilt of Islamic terrorists by inventing an equal number of Christian
terrorists? Actually they do. Their mindset is that of 'equitable'.
The goal is to put everyone in exactly the same position regarding guilt,
innocence, abilities, income, and every single thing that would make anyone
standout as an individual.
Make it clear that Christianity is a choice. It is not an
accident of birth.
Make it clear that while salvation is by the
grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, the actions of a true Christian
should make their faith obvious.
Make it clear that Christians are going to
speak out.
When speaking out as Christians one of the
things that needs to be made clear is that following Jesus Christ is not an
easy path to take! Ask the first Christians just exactly how that
worked out for them. Truthfully the early believers saw the reward and
found that to be worth the trials and tribulations they went through while they
lived on the earth. It is true that following Jesus is NOT the easiest
path to take sometimes. However, it is always the BEST path to take
because it is the path that leads to eternal life.
And be sure to make it clear to yourself that
you will not be pulled into a social gospel. You have a right to speak
out. Use it. But, don’t let it replace living a life pleasing to
Christ or telling the world God’s plan for salvation.
In pleasing Christ Christians
are to do their civic duty and vote. There is seldom a good choice in
any election. It is always voting against the worst choice. Look at
the candidates up for office and see which of the candidates is the
closest to being a collectivist. Then vote for the other. There will be
no really righteous leader until Jesus is the King. Do vote, but don't
let voting and government become so important to you that you turn from
the gospel of Christ to a mere social gospel.
Do help others when you can,
but transforming the world into a Christian utopia is not your job.
Your job is tell others about Jesus Christ and the way to heaven.
Christians doing their duty make more Christians. Christians who truly
believe change their behavior to do the things Christ says to do. God
blesses His children. Why do you think America became such a mighty
nation from such a small beginning? The earliest settlers, the
pilgrims, sacrificed everything for the chance to do things God's way.
Their first year in the new world they suffered 50% casualties. And
still they did not turn from serving God. From their very humble
beginning the Lord built up a nation such as the world had never before
seen.
Today this nation is failing.
All the Democrats seeking the presidential nomination are collectivists
of the worst kind. The Republican nominees are more individualistic
but most certainly not stellar individualists by any means. It will be
simple choice regarding which candidate will make the best president.
Another way to put it is that it will be a simple choice as to which
candidate will make the least objectionable president. Do bother to
vote, but don't become sidetracked by a social gospel. Your call is the
great commission - tell the world that Jesus is the way to heaven.
Matthew 5:16 says, ‘Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is
in heaven.’
The more we follow the examples of Jesus, the
more our light will shine.
Footprints
of Jesus
Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling,
Come, follow Me!
And we see where Thy footprints falling
Lead us to Thee.
Refrain
Footprints of Jesus,
That make the pathway glow;
We will follow the steps of Jesus
Where’er they go.
Though they lead o’er the cold, dark mountains,
Seeking His sheep;
Or along by Siloam’s fountains,
Helping the weak.
Refrain
If they lead through the temple holy,
Preaching the Word;
Or in homes of the poor and lowly,
Serving the Lord.
Refrain
Though, dear Lord, in Thy pathway keeping,
We follow Thee;
Through the gloom of that place of
weeping,
Gethsemane!
Refrain
If Thy way and its sorrows bearing,
We go again,
Up the slope of the hillside, bearing
Our cross of pain.
Refrain
By and by, through the shining portals,
Turning our feet,
We shall walk, with the glad immortals,
Heav’n’s golden street.
Refrain
Then at last when on high He sees us,
Our journey done,
We will rest where the steps of Jesus
End at His throne.
Refrain
