Many years ago, my wife and I were in Israel. It was beautiful to be there but surprising in many ways, particularly the philosophy of the kibbutzim. The early settlers to Israel were from Marxist Russia and families continued their community and farm practices, in Israel. With both parents working the collective farm, they had little time with their own children, who were brought up by other workers. All the comrades ate communally, and the children of both sexes had joint showers even up to their teens.

Marx, the founder of communism, hated God and admitted, “My object in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism.” The church and the family presented obstacles to his Utopia and the hierarchical society affirmed by Scripture prevented the rise of the proletariat. The Garden of Eden was replaced with “Utopia” and God by the collectivist state. Under communism, all property is communally owned, the state controls all aspects of economic production, and theoretically provides citizens with their necessities, including food, housing, medical care and education.

However, communism has failed everywhere and since Lenin forced his theory upon the Russians in 1917, communism has been responsible for more deaths than Hitler by a huge margin. One hundred million died in Russia, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam, China and other places where Marxist socialism was implemented. One estimate says almost half of all martyred Christians since the time of Christ, were killed by communism.

Thankfully, in New Zealand, we are not ruled by communism, but we are affected by socialism, communisms safer cousin. Marx and Engels themselves did not clearly differentiate communism from socialism and modern communists refer to socialism as the first, necessary phase on the way to communism. Under socialism, individuals can still own property, and their socialist goals are pursued through the democratic processes within existing political structures, not by violent revolution.

World over, citizens in democratic nations generally get to vote for parties that seek less government control (liberal-conservative parties, the right) or ones that seek more government control (socialist/green parties, the left). The socialist left claim the moral high ground, promoting social equality and invoking concern for the “disadvantaged” but in modern western nations, both left and right parties have concern for the poor in society. After the first world war politicians from both sides of the house, informed by the Word of God, socialism and British law, created social welfare legislation which protects and assists the vulnerable. Think Michael Savages “Applied Christianity.” While New Zealand and other nations have adopted social programs (state housing, free education, health care, child care), the thing that makes all these semi-socialist states work, is capitalism. Someone needs to make taxable money to pay for the benefits that the more socialist governments give in their attempt to redistribute wealth. We need the government to promote economic growth for business and individuals and both sides of the house will assure us of their intention to do so.

If parties seem much the same, does it really matter who governs? What we are more voting for, is the philosophy that guides the parties. If humanism has replaced Christian thought within the parties, support for the vulnerable may continue, but the morality that informs social policy to do with marriage, abortion, cannabis, gender issues, justice, euthanasia, will have decreased or totally disappeared.

The biggest problem with socialism is not its social programs but its rejection of God. “The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.” – Karl Marx. Under humanism (the religion behind socialism) there is no god, so there are no absolutes and no moral rules to govern its decisions. Humanism believes that man is inherently good, therefore if a person acts wrongly, they must not have been given the type of society and support they needed from the government. According to socialists "The issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time, it is the great economic issue of our time, and it is the great political issue of our time."(Bernie Sanders) In other words, all the world problems can be solved just by spreading money around. A totally materialistic worldview based upon the idea that that salvation or even human good is achieved by the re-distribution of stuff. Jesus asserted the opposite saying that seeking God, not seeking natural things, was the place to begin. (Matthew 6:31-33). Fortunately, all people can be equally blessed with the most important things in life. Jesus said that a full and abundant life comes not from possessions but from a Person.

The next great curse of socialism is its injustice. It often punishes character when it distributes wealth to individuals according to their need, regardless of effort and the reasons for their need. Of course, there are people in genuine need, but the Bible teaches that any able person who refuses to work when it is offered, should be refused aid. Socialism punishes the industrious, taking their “talents” and giving them to those who may never have used the talents that they themselves were given. Socialism spawns from a deep resentment of the bosses and the bourgeois. It does not serve the socialist agenda for a nation to have millions of wealthy people. Only the votes of the people dependent upon the government can be brought by the promise of more benefits. It suits them to grow the needy masses, but we need people who can generate huge amounts of wealth, who own businesses so people have places to work, and we need developers, so we have houses to live in. I notice the ruling socialists have not capped their salary to the level of New Zealand average wage.

Finally, as we ourselves saw in Israel many years ago, socialism from its beginning has sought to destroy marriage and family. Friedrich Engels, the co-author of the "The Communist Manifesto, said that “the society he envisioned would be one where the single-family ceases to be the unit of society and the care and education of the children becomes a public affair.” Essentially, what godless socialism seeks is for the state to replace the family and for the state to decide what religion, philosophy, and morality will be taught our children in our state schools.

It seems obvious to me that we should look for political parties that still honour God, promote wealth in society and protect the family. Surprisingly, a recent Barna poll found that 24% of Americans thought Jesus would prefer socialism and only 12% believed He would prefer capitalism. Probably because Jesus helped and healed the sick and needy but unless you are able to multiply bread from nothing and find money in a fish’s mouth, you will need to have some money if you are going to help your needy neighbour. Two “broke” people cannot help each other. But Jesus is not American, and He does not represent any “ism.” He was not from here and He did not come as a candidate but as the King of Kings. Jesus was inevitably political - He talked about two-kingdoms and asked for allegiance to only one Kingdom - His. His goal was not just to give people bread from the cradle to the grave but to give all people an abundant life now and eternal life beyond the grave.