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 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.
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.
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
