TRUE  SOCIAL  JUSTICE

Did The Early Church Believe In
Wealth Distribution and Communism?
 

  
By Paul McGuire | September 15, 2016

Excerpt from: A Prophecy Of The Future of America 2016-2017

Many people have completely misinterpreted the meaning of the passage in Corinthians about sharing possessions and have attempted to suggest that the early Church did not believe in private property, but instead believed in wealth redistribution and Communism.
 
Nothing could be further from the truth!

In Communism the government demands that you give up your wealth and property and pay for government programs of wealth redistribution. If you do not go along with the orders of a Communist government, you will be arrested and thrown in jail.

In addition, in Communist nations and even in some socialist nations true Christianity and a true Biblical church are not even allowed. For example, the true Church in Communist China is forced to meet illegally in secrecy. True Christians are tortured, put to death, and imprisoned for daring to meet in people’s homes to worship God or share their faith in Christ.
 
In Communist nations like China there is an official state approved church, which is allowed to have church buildings and can meet publicly. But everything they do and say must be approved by the state. If they teach any message from the Bible, which even remotely disagrees with Communist ideology, they can be arrested and imprisoned.

For example, in Communist China and other Communist governments you are not allowed to preach or teach on Bible prophecy or the Book of Revelation because that kind of teaching is the greatest threat to the Antichrist doctrine of Communism. Isn’t it ironic that most seeker friendly churches also forbid the teaching of Bible prophecy and the Book of Revelation? They practice self-censorship of the Word of God and become in effect state approved churches like in Communist China.
 
This is not the faithful preaching and teaching of the Word of God.

In the Book of Acts, the church submitted to the authority of Caesar and the government. That is why, in regards to taxes, Jesus Christ said, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.” Christ was teaching His disciples to obey the laws.
  
 
However, when it came to theological matters the Apostles declared, “We must obey God rather than men.” In the New Testament we read about people who are wealthy voluntarily using their wealth and homes to help the church.

But nowhere does the Bible tell individual Christians that they cannot own anything or that they cannot have wealth. The point is that whatever a person has is to be viewed as under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God entrusts different people with different degrees of wealth, power, and talents and they are accountable to Him concerning how they use it.

 
Often God has raised up certain individuals to positions of power and influence, or given people certain incredible talents and abilities, along with the ability to accumulate and manage great wealth, which can be used for God’s purposes.
 
 
In societies like ours, people who possess great wealth can do certain things, for good or for evil, that ordinary people cannot do.

Both the Old and New Testaments give us many examples of societies which allowed people the freedom to create wealth, and this is always God’s preferred choice, because God wants to give those people who are faithful, diligent, and wise the opportunity to create businesses, make money, and create things that can be a blessing to others.

 
In 3 John 2, God expresses His desire that all of His people be given the opportunity to prosper. But God also expects His people to minister to the poor, to orphans, widows, and those who are less fortunate.
 
God desires to bless people, but God also wants those who have been blessed to use their resources to help the poor and not hoard their wealth.

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 2
 
 

 
This opportunity for individuals to prosper cannot happen in totalitarian type governments, whether they are communist or fascist, because in these states an all-powerful government controls everything. 
 
 
Most often if you are a true Christian in one of these states, you are prevented by the government from being given the opportunity to make money and rise to positions of power.
 

Throughout the Old and New Testaments and even in our current day in America and other nations, it is always the will of God that individuals be given the right to make money, own things, create businesses, create products and services, invent things, and create things of beauty... and help the poor and needy.

 
The Pilgrims and Puritans escaped the religious tyranny of England and Europe where both all-powerful religious systems and governments were trying to control and impoverish them and not permit them personal or religious freedoms. They came to America where they entered into a Covenant with God based on the Mosaic Covenant, which is partially outlined in Deuteronomy Chapter 28, where God makes a covenant or sacred promised to His people that He would bless them in every single area of life if they would obey His Word, which was centered on two primary conditions, which were:

God’s people would diligently obey the voice of the Lord, observe and do all His commandments.
 
God’s people would not worship idols or false gods of any kind. They would only worship the true God.

 
In the opening two verses:
 
“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.  
 
And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
 
 
Then we read the conditions for a long list of blessings, especially economic prosperity.

Then, beginning in verse 13, we read about all the curses that would come upon God’s people if they chose to worship false gods and disobey the Word of God.

“And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. So you shall not turn aside from any of the words, which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them. But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.”  
 
Deuteronomy 28:13-15

 
The Pilgrims and Puritans entered into the same covenant with God based on Deuteronomy 28, and God began to bless them in all their ways.
 
  
Whenever any problem or adversity came up in their lives they understood that it must have been because they had violated God’s Word or had in some way started to worship idols.

First and foremost, they understood that God was their Source of all things and understood that to look to government, their talents or abilities, or even other men as their source was a form of idolatry and had to be repented of.

At the time of the founding of America, the majority of the Pilgrims and Puritans had good relationships with the Indians and ate with them and celebrated with them.
 
Then other people came from Europe who claimed to be Christian or called themselves Christians, but were really ruthless businessmen who began to make treaties with the Indians, that they broke and stole the land, property, and possessions of the Indians. This resulted in the slaughter of the Indians in the name of Christianity.

  
Later on, the settlers in America began to buy slaves from Africa and stacked their bodies on top of one another in slave ships and then brutally exploited them in order to work their crops, such as cotton and tobacco.
 
This was another great crime.
 
Many of these plantation owners also claimed to be Christians and went to church.
 
But their horrible treatment of the slaves and the rape of their women proved this to be a lie, and the effects of this great sin still reverberate across every part of our society.