The Concerning Signs of the Rise of Totalitarianism in the Western World
“When we get ready to take the United States, we will not take it under the labels of communism; we will not take it under the label of socialism. These labels are unpleasant to the American people, and have been speared too much. We will take the United States under labels we have made very lovable; we will take it under liberalism, under progressivism, under democracy. But, take it, we will.”
Alexander Trachtenberg (1885-1966) at the National Convention of Communist Parties, Madison Square Garden, 1944
I have lived under a totalitarian regime and have witnessed the collapse of an empire from within when the Soviet communist bloc collapsed. Now I see the signs of a rising totalitarianism in the Western Hemisphere. Many in America are belittling and not recognizing the alarming signs of the rise of totalitarianism in the West. Many might laugh at my concerns saying that “this is America, the land of the free, what happened in other parts of the world could never happen in America.” I hope they are right and I am wrong in my statements, but for those of us who have lived under totalitarian regimes and have witnessed the collapse of our country (while our ancestors also thought it could never happen), the signs of the growing totalitarianism are very real.
As I was writing and rewriting this article multiple times, I’ve tried hard to be as objective as I can. Yet, there might be places in this writing where you might find my concerns unrealistic. If that’s the case, it is because I view things through my personal experience living under communism. I can’t emphasize enough that there is not another evil in human history that compares to communism/socialism. It only brought pain, death, slavery, poverty, persecution, lack of freedom, control, mediocracy, oppression to me, to my family, to my country along with hundreds of millions of people. I have never dreamed that after so many sacrifices, so many deaths this monster can resurrect and gain popularity in the country that fought so hard against it. May God have mercy on us!
In this lengthy article I’ll share about
- Deadly Experiments of Social Structures;
- The Signs of the Rising Totalitarianism in the U.S. and
- How Should We Then Live
Today we witness a war within Western societies. A war in the name of a more just, equal, free and fair society (just as Alexander Trachtenberg projected how communists will take over the U.S. in his quote cited above). A new “revolution” aiming to dismantle the fabric of society and undermine the concept of truth. New symbols, new slogans are embraced and promoted separating societies, pushing people into classes, and dividing us into oppressed and oppressor groups. The class-war is growing as newer and newer dividing lines are popping up separating us by race, economic power, gender, education, sexual orientation, etc..
I have a vested interest in this concern. I have lived under communism. Our family has been greatly impacted by both fascism and communism as we’ve lost family members, wealth, freedom and health in those two totalitarian regimes. We lost everything. (Reading my story can give you context for my growing concerns.) In my first 25 years I lived under communism in Hungary. The second 25 years I lived in post-communism. And then at age 50 we moved to the U.S. as missionaries and now I feel that I live under pre-communism (pre-totalitarian social construct) as I see some very alarming trends, ideologies, slogans, signs and changes in the U.S. that are way too familiar to me. All those are signs of a rising totalitarianism which now might only seem to be a soft totalitarianism (social media censorship, required sensitivity training, people are losing their jobs and businesses are shut down because of their political views, etc.), but soft totalitarianism always evolves into hard totalitarianism. I’m not sharing predictions of the future, just concerning signs.
“Prediction is a very difficult art, especially when it involves the future.”
Niels Bohr, physicist
There are many factors that can change the future, but we all know that a certain kind of sowing leads to a certain kind of harvest. And what I see the society sowing gives me great concerns about the kind of fruits we are going to harvest in the future.
Capitalism Has It’s Evil
Before I list the concerning signs of the rise of totalitarian communistic regime (communism is a socialist form of totalitarian regime) in the Western Hemisphere, I need to state that this writing is not a defense of uncontrolled capitalism either. Obviously capitalism has it’s evil. Big corporations are corrupting and controlling systems, sometimes abusing people and destroying nature. Uncontrolled greed is harmful in every form. Greed is a human heart problem that can only be cured by the salvation offered in Christ. But at least in capitalism we have the chance to offer this cure, while communism uproots religion. Of course the government needs to regulate and control the greed of overreaching corporations and needs to make sure that the profit harvested by capitalist adventure is reasonably taxed to benefit those who (with their work) helped create that wealth. This should be the job of wellintended and qualified political leaders. Often the faultiness of capitalism is pointing back to the lack of capable or sometimes corrupt political leaders who are creating unjust legislation and serving their own desire to stay in power.
Deadly Social Experiments
The social experiments of the 20th century gave us ample evidence that the two major attempts to create a better society (communism and fascism) in the name of “justice, human rights, equity” or “national pride and race” led to the deadliest century of human history. It became evident that philosophies that are ignoring the sacred origin of life and are rejecting God, were leading to genocide, totalitarianism and were creating hell on Earth. The basic premise of these totalitarian social constructs is atheism and materialism.
“When atheism begins, communism begins.”
Karl Marx
Seeing how the younger generation embraces ideas that destroyed my country and family gives me a great deal of grief and concern. Especially seeing how marxists, communist, socialist ideas are becoming more and more loved, celebrated – and even demanded.
The Oxford Dictionary defines socialism as:
“A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.”
Communism as the Oxford Dictionary defines is:
“A political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.”
In Marxist theory socialism is a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of Communism. Marx said:
“Socialism is the thin end of the communist wedge. Once they are socialist communism is inevitable.”
History proved that Marx was right: where socialism prevailed a totalitarian form of governance (communism) was unavoidable. While there are nuanced differences in definition of communism and socialism, they are closest relatives and one can’t exist without the other. (Because of that, and because of our personal experience living in a socialist/communist country, I won’t nuance the difference when I use the term communism/socialism in this document.)
George Bernard Shaw, the famous socialist gave a clear definition of socialism that became a sad reality in my country, too:
“Socialism means equality of income or nothing… under socialism you would not be allowed to be poor. You would be forcibly fed, clothed, lodged, taught, and employed whether you like it or not. If it were discovered that you had not character enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner; but whilst you were permitted to live you would have to live well.”
Sir Winston Churchill couldn’t describe socialism better when he said that:
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy; its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”
As we can see, by definition we are talking about similar ideologies: socialism leads to communism, both feed off of atheism and of the control of people. As we see from history, this experiment led to hundreds of millions of people’s violent death in the bloodiest century of history. The dark and brutal ‘middle ages’ are fairy tales compared to the evil horror committed by communist / socialist regimes around the world in a couple of decades. All this happened in the name of building a more just and equal society. But communism/socialism is always a totalitarian form of governance (soft or hard) and it is the closest relative of fascism. (If you examine these philosophies and forms of governments you’ll find that they all stand on the same secular, atheistic foundation and lead to the same murderous, evil results.) All these deadly forms of governances are dead ends.
1. Communism / socialism has the wrong goal.
Communism/socialism wants to create a society where everyone is equal and everything is owned by the public. Their goal is a utopian equity (equal outcome and results) which denies the colorfulness of creation, the differences in talents and suppresses individual creativity and drive. It is depriving people of their dignity, calling and community (first and foremost their family).
The communist goal for equity is the wrong goal. There is an important difference between equality and equity. Let’s turn to a definition given by higher education: “Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.” The goal of equity is equal results and outcome. That outcome and result is determined independent from the individual’s talents, desires, drives, discipline and work. (See G.B. Shaw’s quote above.) Equity means equal outcome for everyone regardless of their individual talents, desires, goals and merit. On the other hand, equality means equal rights and as much possible equal opportunities to everybody. Of course we need to pursue equality making sure that everybody has equal rights in any society (equal before the law and not discriminated against based on race, gender, age, sexual orientation, economic power or religion). Every society has to aim at treating people equally. (Interestingly, the societies that are not treating people equally before the law and never even tried to distribute resources evenly are the communist and socialist societies.) Equality never creates equity; it creates diversity, because it honors the individual’s desires and characteristics. Equity always creates inequality, it leads to injustice, because the only way to create equity is by treating people unequally. In order to create equity, we need to take away rights, opportunities, resources or even properties from those who are more driven, more talented, more disciplined and we need to give it to those who are less driven, less talented and less disciplined. Equity can only be created if we create an even more unjust, unequal society. Equity leads to poverty, to poor education; it leads to the lack of innovation, creativity and progress; and will feed into the rise of corruption and mediocracy. I have personally witnessed that in every level of our societies behind the Iron Curtain.
While Jesus clearly speaks that we are all equal before God (equally sinful and equally loved), yet he also clearly states that we are very different and we will not have equity (equal outcome or results) even in Heaven (which is the ultimate utopian society). Equal outcome and results would be unjust. In the Parable of the Talents Jesus talks about how we all have received different talents. (Matthew 25:14-30.) With the different talents comes equal responsibility: each servant has to invest, maximize, and multiply what they have received. Each of them will face accountability. The amount of talent doesn’t make any of the servants less valuable. Each servant in the parable had the same position and value: they were servants. The parable clearly teaches that the servants had an unequal outcome. But the servant who has received two talents, didn’t have to produce another five. But the one who has received the five talents had to produce another five. The person who received only one talent didn’t get any help to steward his talent, just as the one who received the five talents didn’t get any help either. They have the same task: invest what they have. Their merit, their hard work, their risk-taking, their willingness to own this responsibility led to a seriously different outcome and to a significantly different reward. Matter of fact, Jesus makes the outcome even more uneven when he orders that the worst producer’s one talent should be added to the best producer’s ten talents. In we would apply the demand of equity to the teaching of Jesus, it would mean that the servant who risked his five talents and produced another five should have given his outcome to the person who had one talent and was not willing to take risk and work hard to invest it. Demanding equal outcome is unjust, unbiblical, ungodly, inhumane and leads to misery.
2. Communism / socialism falsely defines the problem.
Communism/socialism views the problem in the system: there is an oppressor class who oppresses everybody in the society. The problem – as they see it – is the system that the oppressors created to support themselves and their perpetual oppression.
Of course, every society has systemic problems. Oppression is real in many places. (Ironically, the most oppressive societies are the communist ones.) But the real problem is not in the class and is not in the system. The real problem is in the heart of man. The real problem is our depraved, sinful, evil heart. Individuals create oppressions and bad systems. By putting people into classes we separate them from their individual dignity, from their own story and from their character. People become nothing more than an avatar, a representative of their class. In communism they will be treated how their class is treated and not how they deserve based on their merit.
3. Communism / socialism offers the wrong solution.
Communism’s solution is to overthrow the system, create an ongoing class-war, make a revolution, murder of the oppressors (all in the oppressor class regardless of their individual character and performance), confiscate private property, nationalize every business, building, property and force labor on every people (modern form of government regulated and controlled slavery – you forced to work to build someone else’s wealth while you never profit from it). By doing that they’ll create equity—everyone will be equal in everything: they will own nothing and will work for the same minimum pay.
The communist solution everywhere in history led to a one-man dictatorship, to brutal and violent prison camps, starvation, poverty, forced labor and lack of freedom.
4. Communism / socialism dismantles the fabric of society.
According to marixst critical theory, the main reasons why the proletariat was not able to rebel against the oppressive bourgeoisie is because they were held back by three forces: family, religion and culture. That’s why socialism/communism uproots family, religion and culture. They are against all these blocks that build the fabric of society.
Communism/socialism is a materialistic worldview. It denies the existence of God and they view man as an evolutionary product. Human life has no value and dignity. Human life only serves the common good and can be sacrificed on the altar of the public interest.
The Signs and Methods of a Rising Totalitarianism in the U.S.
“Why are we here today?” she asked.
“To make revolution,” they answered.
“What kind of revolution?” she replied.
“The Cultural Revolution,” they chanted.
“And how do we make Cultural Revolution?” she demanded.
“By destroying the American family!” they answered.
“How do we destroy the family?” she came back.
“By destroying the American Patriarch,” they cried exuberantly.
“And how do we destroy the American Patriarch?” she replied.
“By taking away his power!”
“How do we do that?”
“By destroying monogamy!” they shouted.
“How can we destroy monogamy?”
Their answer left me dumbstruck, breathless, disbelieving my ears. Was I on planet earth? Who were these people?
“By promoting promiscuity, eroticism, prostitution and homosexuality!” they resounded.
Mallory Millett: Marxist Feminism’s Ruined Lives. (Mallory is the sister of Kate Millett, who is called the “Karl Marx of the Women’s Movement.)
Living through two totalitarian regimes (fascism and communism) our family have observed many signs of how these totalitarian regimes came into power and what kind of tactics, narrative, methods they’ve used to gain and maintain their power. It is very alarming to see a lot of similarities in the nation that fought so hard against both fascism and communism.
Here are some of the disturbing trends and signs we witness that clearly proves why the U.S. is heading toward a pre-communistic soft totalitarianism.
1. Identity politics and class-war.
The first thing communists do (written in their manual by Marx) is that they identify classes in the society and create a division between those classes. Creating and maintaining an ongoing class war is essential for the existence of communism. In their view, every society needs to be divided into oppressors and oppressed. The more classes they identify and the more divided a society can become, the better this will serve their purposes. Marx’s first dividing line in society was economic power: the oppressors are the wealthy, the bourgeoisie; the oppressed are the poor, the proletariat. Today, the society in the U.S. is divided into many classes by an ongoing narrative that feeds division into race, gender, sexual orientation, age, economic opportunities, religion, etc..
Communism strips people from their individual identity, performance and character, and places them into a class. That class’s characteristics will be borrowed to describe the individual. A relevant example of this is Critical Race Theory which would identify me as a white, middle-aged, straight, cisgender male. Based on that identifier I would be placed in the oppressor class. My personal story, my character, what I have done, what I have survived, what I have suffered, what I believe in would not matter anymore. I would only be a representative of this class. The philosophy and narrative of Critical Theory were used by the communist to deport my family, to enslave some family members (forced labor in the Gulag), to kill some of them and to confiscate our wealth. (In order to further understand why Critical Theory and Critical Race Theory is dangerous, unbiblical and historically proven wrong, see my sermon here.)
This kind of narrative ignites artificial war between the classes. We see this war unfolding before our very eyes right now in the U.S. Identity politics has colonized every segment of the society: sports, entertainment, education, business, religious institutions and private life.
2. In the name of peace and love waging a revolutionary war.
Identifying and maintaining a common enemy is critical for the communist agenda. Every war requires a common enemy, and war is essential to mobilize and control people. Even the communist songs we sang said: “we have one slogan that is peace, in that name our young army breaks through…” (Ironic that in the name of creating peace, we go ahead and kill people.) Communists will do everything possible to maintain an ongoing class war. The targeted enemy can change from time to time. They make sure that they personalize their enemy. They select a representative of the enemy class (for example, a white middle-aged straight male) and they specifically target that person and portray him as the representative of all the white middle-aged straight males. That person’s characteristics will be the characteristics of all represented in that class. As they maintain this common enemy picture, they ignite fear and hate in people. Nothing unites people more than hate and fear. They control the masses by controlling their fear and hate against this common enemy. We see ample examples of that in the U.S.
Today we see that in the name of “love is love” and “equity” they promote war against people or classes they identify as enemies. Today’s activists are no different than the old communists: they say they want to achieve love, peace, equality but they want to achieve that through waging a brutal, unjust, cruel war against anybody they identify as an enemy. And their enemy is everybody who even slightly disagrees with them or dares to raise any questions about their beliefs or agenda.
3. Required idols, symbolism and slogans.
Every authoritarian regime has idols, symbols and slogans. They demand the unquestionable worship of their idols, they require you to wear their symbols and force you to repeat their slogans. Slogans become critically important because words create ideologies and ideologies create war. Communism forced on our society their idols, slogans and symbols (like the hammer and sickle, the raised fist, red flag, red five pointed star, etc.). The symbols, the slogans, the idols and the narrative of a minority was forced on the majority. Under communism we had the communist symbols on display everywhere: every classroom, workplace, public space was stacked up with them. Everyone knew the communist slogans, those were in songs, in poems, in fairy tales, in cartoons, in arts, in tv, etc.. Their symbolism, slogans and idols were forced on people from their childhood. If someone didn’t wear their symbols or didn’t recite their slogans they faced dire consequences.
Today, a prominent example of this required symbolism is the rainbow flag. (There are many other required symbolism, too.) If a company, a politician or even a country wants to survive they need to embrace and promote that symbol and recite their slogans. If they don’t promote “Pride month,” or they don’t put a rainbow on their product or in their film, they will be canceled or bullied. This forced agenda has all the characteristics of a new religion with its symbolism, rituals, sacred books, celebrations, festivals, etc..
These required symbols and slogans are forcefully colonizing the world and demanding the worship of this new religion. This is the greatest colonization the West has achieved as it forces it’s message on the world. You either abide by it or will be destroyed by it. The communist agenda doesn’t tolerate another alternative.
4. A centralized narrative is forced on the silent majority.
Similar to the previous point, in totalitarian regimes the narrative of certain groups are forced on the silent majority. In communism the whole society is viewed through the lenses of power. The majority of the society is judged and viewed only through the lenses of groups who are considered being oppressed by the majority. The narrative of those groups will be forced on the majority.
An example of this would be, again, the way the LGBTQ++ community is represented today. While they represent a small minority of the society, their dominance in today’s narrative is out of proportion. Consider the increase of LGBTQ++ characters in TV-shows. In 2011 there were 87 LGBTQ++ characters shown in nation-wide TV-series, but in 2019 that number grew to 488. That is a 460% growth (source: https://www.glaad.org/whereweareontv19). Of course this narrative contributes to the significant growth of young people identifying with the LGBTQ++ lifestyle. (While in 2020 only 3.8% of the Gen-X identifies with that lifestyle, a staggering 15.9% of the Gen-Z identifies with it. Messaging is powerful!)
The methodology the communist used is that they always shifted the agenda. They always start with a valid slogan of fighting for justice and equality for all. But later, that agenda will change and their fight will not be about equal rights for all anymore, but about gradually gaining control in every segment of society. The sheer volume of the messaging becomes overwhelming. It’s enough just look at this website where we find that the LGBTQ++ community has 23 internationally recognized celebration days/week/month and on top of that they have 9 domestically recognized special celebration times. No other heros, causes, events, historic moments ever had so many moments when they are celebrated, remembered, appreciated, lifted up and placed on the forefront of society.
As I quoted Mallory Millet at the beginning of this article, the way communist want to do a revolution is by destroying the family “by promoting promiscuity, eroticism, prostitution and homosexuality!” And now, these groups have the power of the government, the media, the tech companies and all the money they want for their causes. Any person, any company, any country is standing up against that overwhelming narrative, they will face all the wrath and bullying of the whole western world.
This is just one example of the many voices that are forced on our society today to oppress normalcy and the way the majority chooses to live their lives.
That’s exactly what the communist did in Hungary. They never had the majority. However, they terrorized individuals in the majority group (got them fired from their workplace, threatened them, etc.). Finally, the silent and peaceful majority were backed to the corner by a violent minority. The majority first just gave rights to the communist minority (to form a communist party, run for MP, etc.), but the communist’s goal was never to win an election, or to convince people. Their goal was always to get into power at all costs and annul their enemies.
For the communist agenda it is never enough that a minority gets equal rights, they want to invade every space in the society and forcefully change everyone.
5. Rewriting history.
Communists always and constantly rewrote history. In Hungary they took one or two phases of our history that were bloody, violent and they painted the whole canvas of our history with those few moments. Their goal was trying to prove that Hungarians are evil, violent people and they need to be punished. Their goal was to break our national identity, because national pride and patriotism is the enemy of communism. Culture and natural identity is viewed as something that hinders the progress of international communism (or international globalism).
Every nation has terrible and glorious things in their history. The attempt to rewrite history and paint a picture only using one segment of history is something the communists always did. Their goal with this is to create shame, guilt and opportunity for punishment. Culture, nation, patriotism is the enemy of communism, so they will be eager to destroy those elements. One plausible example is making people feel ashamed of their history and nation.
6. Destroying the family unit.
One of the target of communism is the family. The most important element of the society that stands between the individual and the government is the family. They always want to destroy the family as it keeps people in their traditional systems and does not allow the government to control people. That’s why they institutionalized child-raising and forced mothers into work. They tried to break the family unit, separate parents from each other and children from their parents as much as possible. They promoted the benefits of being a single mother. Their slogan was: “having children is mandatory for the married woman and it is the glory of the single girl.” Their goal was to put everybody into controlled institutions as much as possible and as long as possible.
Today we are witnessing an attack on the nuclear family from every front. Redefining family, redefining male and female roles, promoting “alternative” types of families—these are all on the agenda today. Once the family is successfully dismantled or weakened, it will be much easier to control future generations.
7. Occupying the education system and forcing re-education.
One of the first moves for the communists was to influence the intellectuals. They occupied universities, the higher education spaces and through that dominated the education system and promoted their false ideologies. Along those lines they occupied the whole lower education system and through the educators introduced their new history teaching and new ideologies/values.
They also moved into the workplaces and hosted (later required and forced) collective re-education programs where they were promoting their ideologies.
Finally, collective re-education was forced on every level of the society—from kindergarten to senior age. Every elementary and middle school child had to become “pioneers.” We were forced to wear a special uniform with color-coded scarfs, belts, flags; learn and sing several songs that all praised the glory of international communism. Summer camps were another space where they could promote the values of communism all day long for children. Labor camp for high schoolers was mandatory every year. Everybody had to go through ideological training. Those who were not willing, or raised questions were put in re-education camps where through forced labor they learned the “truth of communism.”
Under communism, every company had to hire “commissars” or communist party representatives who were responsible to make sure that every person in the company went through the needed ideological training. Every educational institution had a “commisar”, a special teacher being responsible for re-educating everyone.
In the U.S. we see an outstanding attack on the whole education system at every level—from kindergarten to adult education. Books, training, cartoons, programs are created to force class war ideologies. Forceful sexual, gender and racial re-education takes place everywhere. Required sensitivity, diversity and unconscious bias training are pushed in workplaces. Ideology experts (commissars in communist terms) are hired by companies . People are losing their jobs if they are not willing to go through those training sessions.
Dr. Bill Bright wrote this in 1969 (52 years ago!) in his book, Revolution Now:
“This Hydra-headed monster bares its deadly fangs in universities and communities around the world. The silent majorities of our great universities are muzzled by fear… the diabolical manipulations of international communism are bringing us ever closer to universal tyranny. All values are unsettled; all norms are broken. Mental, moral, aesthetic and social anarchy reigns.”
8. Cancel cultures, self-censorship, control of free speech.
The worst kind of censorship is self-censorship. Self-censorship is when you fearfully consider what you can say to who, because you don’t know who will report you, what impact it will have on you, or on your livelihood. Everyone under communism was in fear of what they were saying, even to their own children. Their words were used against them to cancel them—meaning, taking them to prison or killing them. (In soft totalitarianism cancelling someone means they lose their platform or their job or their business. In hard totalitarianism cancelling someone means imprisonment or killing the person.)
The communists never allowed freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of ideas, freedom of dialogue. Orwell described it well in his book, titled “1984” when he talked about the “Thought Police”, that is chasing even your thoughts and wanting to search if you have “sinned” (meaning: had a heretic thought about communism) in your thoughts.
Today we see an unparalleled attack on freedom of speech. A wrong sentence can get you canceled. You can lose your job, your contract, your home, your business, your livelihood over a post on social media. This violent control and attack aims to control you and intimidate you. It becomes risky and costly to stand up for the truth, for your convictions. Your opinion and conviction could lead to your own destruction. This is a powerful weapon the communists were and are using even today.
But they will never stop. It is never enough for them that you lose your job, or your social media account is blocked, or your business is jeopardized. Once they have total power, they make sure that their effort to cancel their enemies is completed. They are not done until their enemies are dead. Those Hungarians who said anything bad about communism were all murdered or imprisoned after the communist got into power. Once they have the majority power, they will not stop by canceling your social media account or firing you from your work—they will hunt you down.
If you doubt that the real agenda is not about getting equal rights and voice, but to completely destroy you, then you’ll just need to study the case of Dr Päivi Räsänen, a Christian Democrat member of the Finnish Parliament and former Interior Minister who faces two years in prison for quoting the Bible. Anything that is a different opinion is now considered “hate speech”. Under that umbrella they justify destroying anybody.
9. Dismantling boundaries and borders.
Communism hated traditional borders and boundaries. They hated the borders of nations—so they created a communist bloc, they redefined national borders. They dismantled boundaries between genders—so they forced women to do men’s jobs. They dismantled boundaries between adults and kids—so they placed both in institutions. They dismantled boundaries between past and present—so they viewed historic figures as they were present today, they destroyed statues and erected new ones, they demanded from past historic figures today’s values and narrative, otherwise they cancelled them also. They read literature through their communist lenses and based on that cancelled books that were written hundreds of years before if they didn’t promote the values of the present age. They destroy national identity because only international communism exists (global society). They destroy national culture, because only one culture exists: the communist culture with their new songs, new poems, new history, new forms of art, etc. While they destroy past boundaries, they create new ones, their new “safe places” where they are protected from the bad influence and the ideology of imperialism.
Sounds familiar? Do you see this happening in the U.S.? I do. Here are a few examples: patriotism and national identity belittled or destroyed, gender boundaries are under attack, new boundaries created with all the “safe place” talks, dialogue and a debate culture lacking, bordering and controlling free speech and exchange of ideas, and the list could go on and on.
10. Controlled propaganda through the controlled media.
Communists effectively controlled the media. Effectively silenced any other media outlets and voices. We had very limited and super controlled media with one message, one agenda brainwashing the whole nation.
“To tell the truth is a petty bourgeois habit.”
Vladimir Lenin
The communist / socialist agenda always aims to lie because they believe that a noble end justifies corrupt means. They will manipulate and lie at all costs because in their view this leads them to their goals.
Today we have a much more dangerous power in the hands of the communist, totalitarian forces—the social media tech companies. They control the whole world’s messaging. Messaging is power. Messaging feeds the mind and action of the people.
11. Destroying and persecuting religion.
Marx’s view on religion was that religion is used by the oppressors to make people feel better about the distress they experience due to being poor and exploited. Communism’s atheist foundation doesn’t allow a distant, neutral view of religion. They always uprooted religion and persecuted religious people.
Richard Wurmbrand, the founder of The Voice of the Martyrs, who spent 14 years in communist prison in Romania, called communism “the principal enemy”.
“Today the principal enemy is Communism. Capitalism might have its evils, but it gives to the church the liberty to work at the salvation of souls. Communism … uproots religion.”
Richard Wurmbrand
It is clear and obvious how religion and Chistianity is declining in the U.S. and in the West. We see a mass exodus from churches. We see a vicious attack against anything, any value, any idea, any opinion Christianity represents. It’s clearly a sign of growing totalitarianism. Christians are blacklisted in Argentina and in Europe. There are political desires to the same in the U.S. In the name of fighting against “religious extremists” a new EU declaration says that abortion is a “basic human right” and blacklists 50+ Christian organizations as extremist who are against abortion and transgender propaganda. Among those organizations listed are the Billy Graham Evangelistic organization and many others who are doing very important work to protect women and children in poor countries. The Nazis and the communists used this method in the past as they also created such blacklists. Later they bullied those who were on the list and finally they murdered them and all of those who aligned themselves with them. In the name of freedom and equality they persecute Christians with the power of the government. This is just the first step of the organized attack against Christians.
This list of the signs of a rising totalitarianism is not complete. The alarming signs are growing daily. These times are calling us, Christians to a different kind of way we do life.
How Should We Then Live
“Will Christians after our generation be thankful that we spoke out and acted against the issue of race and non-compassionate use of wealth, yet simultaneously and equally balance this in speaking out and acting out against also the special sickness and threat of our age—the rise of authoritarian government. That is, will we resist the authoritarian government in all its forms regardless of the label it carries and regardless of its origin? The danger in regard to the rise of authoritarian government is that Christians will be still as long as their own religious activities, evangelism and lifestyles are not disturbed…If we as Christians do not speak out as authoritarian government grows…we and our children will be the enemy of our society and state. No authoritarian government can tolerate those who have a real absolute by which to judge its arbitrary absolutes to speak out and act upon that absolute. To make no decision in regard to the growth of an authoritarian government is already a decision for it!”
Francis Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live?
Communism/socialism is born out of the pit of hell, it is a satanic logic. At its core it denies the existence of God, denies the dignity of man, destroys the family unit, deconstructs everything God created and sanctified: life, marriage, sex, family, culture, reproduction, work, truth, morals and virtue. It is against everything that supports life. Countries where this experiment was introduced turned into hell on earth.
If you doubt that communism is turning to demonic models, read what Saul Alinsky, a communist leader, activist and ideologist wrote in his book, Rules for Radicals:
“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.”
The communists’ prime model is Lucifer, the first who rebelled against the establishment, God.
So, how should we then live? Here are a few recommendations for your consideration.
#1 – Be sober-minded and watchful.
Apostle Peter warns us to “be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1Peter 5:8.) What does it mean to be sober-minded and watchful?
- Know that we have an enemy, Satan, whose nature and goal is lying, destroying, deceiving and killing (John 8:44-45, John 10:10). His agenda is not to promote life and pursue happiness. We need to be brutally realistic about the ultimate motive and agenda of our enemy. There is an enemy in this world who is after you, who wants to devour you. His goal is to hunt you down. His method is deception.
- Know that Satan will do everything possible to deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9). In that endeavour he is and will be successful, deceiving, if possible, even many Christians. (Matthew 24:24.)
- Know that this world is Satan’s playground to spread and promote his lies and deception. Many of the values the masses follow are born out of Satan’s playbook. Many of the news we read are manipulated lies. Be very careful what you buy into and what you believe. Ask these questions when you come across something:
- Does this cause or issue promote and support life, respect and reflect the whole spectrum of truth, leading to the flourishing of mankind?
- Does the offered solution reflect biblical values?
- What are the fruits of what they promote? Does it inspire faith, hope and love? Or does it promote selfishness, greed, promiscuity, etc.?
Know what to expect in the last days. Be ready for the reality of the coming ages. There are ample warnings in the Bible about the reality we will be surrounded by.
“Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”
2 Timothy 3:1-5.
# 2. Love the truth, study the truth, know the truth and stand up for it.
This world is a battlefield. There is a battle for you, for your mind, for your heart, for your life. One side wants to destroy you. The other wants to save you. The easiest way to be deceived (and destroyed) is just believing everything we read, hear or watch in the news and follow the crowd. Jesus made it clear that most people will go on the wide path—that is easy, that is popular, that is celebrated. But that wide path leads to destruction. (Matthew 7:13.) Just following the crowd, going with the flow, believing what everyone else believes in, doing what everybody is doing—that’s the path that will lead us into a delusion and eventually to death.
The most effective way to recognize deception is by knowing the truth. If you want to know the truth, you need to love the truth. Most people hate the truth, because they hate the freedom truth offers. Truth always sets us free. Most people rather want to stay in the prison of their self-worship, of their desires, of their sensual appetite, of their greed or of their pride. It would require too much pain to face the truth. And “because they refused to love the truth and so be saved…God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10.)
God offers his guidance for everyone who wants to know the truth. Although knowing the truth would demand change in our own lives. Knowing the truth would require us to embrace the responsibility of freedom—freedom from the captivity of self-worship. Freedom only comes to those who embrace the truth. The only way to withstand the flood of lies and walk on the narrow path is if we hold fast to the truth revealed to us in Christ and in the Bible. God’s desire is to teach the truth that will always lead to complete freedom and a profitable life. (Isaiah 48:17.)
“Danger here is all in the not-fighting. The safest place is on the battlefield, for it is there that Christ is active, riding the white horse.”
Eugene Peterson
We have to stand up for the truth and tell it. Truth proclamation leads to life. “In a Time of Universal Deceit — Telling the Truth Is a Revolutionary Act” (probably from George Orwell). If we stay silent we will be silenced.
Don’t believe the lie that communism and socialism is about helping the poor and the oppressed. No, it is always and only about power. It is always about control. It is always about destroying life. It is always about the original life of Satan: “you can become gods.” (Genesis 3:5) Communists want to be gods. They want to be the ruler of life and the ruler of law and the ruler of money. Everything in communism is viewed through the lense of power. They want to be all-mighty gods. They have no intention of helping the outcast and the poor and lifting up the oppressed.
“Mass destruction, the inevitable outcome of all socialist/communist experiments, leaves behind its signature trail of wreckage… If you believe that you can create heaven on earth through social justice, what lies will you not tell?”
Mallory Millet
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My Journey to Emmaus 