I love history. I won’t deny it. Some eras of history are more intriguing than others, and certain people are interesting to me. Take this quote from General Patton for instance; He was giving a speech in Boston in 1945 regarding the troops that were coming home from the recently ended hostilities in Europe. He said this about those, that sadly,  did not make it home: “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.” Wow, what a powerful thought. It’s in that powerful insight that we will look at today’s blog.

  We should thank God that such men lived is a powerful sentiment when you make it personal. When you think back to men or women in your life that have had a profound impact on your life’s course do you with gratitude say “God, thank you such a person lived to influence me.” That older brother in your church who took time to explain a Bible passage to you. Or that older sister that quietly said she’s praying for you. What about a co-worker or employer who imparted some piece of wisdom or knowledge to you on a subject? Can you envision with me what yours, or my life would look like if that person had NOT been there? How would your life be different for better or worse? I think it’s an amazing reflection that would benefit us all if we would take the time to honestly analyze who God has placed in our lifes and how they have helped us to be better servants for Him.

  I think of that because of one simple example I’ve looked at for many years. The example of the socialist playbook in a society. There is always a playbook by which socialism, then communism works as it works its way through a society. Now, this is not about society or communism.; this is purely looking at the tenants of socialism that LEAD to communism to gleen some perspective. So let’s look at this together. The steps go like this:

1. Eliminate Leadership, or old systems of Authoriy.

2. Confiscation and Redistribution of Wealth for equity purposes.

3. Through purges or arrests, make a continuous supply of slave labor for production of goods for the state.

4. Finally induced famine by government control of the food supply to better maintain the now weak masses.

  We are not going to look at each, but we will look at the first step today. The first step is arguably the most important step to any societal or economical change. Which is why personally I would feel socialism and  communism are evil forms of thought because of this one step alone. You cannot enact a change until you have completely done away with the old model, the old ways, the old teachings, the normal thinking. So to train and control the next generation the current leadership has to make the old look bad. Unequipped for this modern world. Ill prepared to bring about the needed changes to bring us the glory we all so desperately want. The regular methods of doing something. In other words; The old paths aren’t working and we don’t want that. See now where have we heard those words before? Let’s transition for a little to another thought, we will be back to this!

  See once upon a time in a far away place God was telling the Children of Israel in Jeremiah chapter 6 of their unwillingness to change. Their lusts and sins had become such that in verse 13 He says they are all covetous, and deal deceitful even the priests! In verse 15 that they were not even ashamed of all the abominations they were doing. To where He pleaded in verse 16 to “… Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” The verse sadly ends with “…but they said, we will not walk therein.” 

  There is an interesting lesson to learn from this passage and others. You see absent from God’s path, or the “old path”, there is chaos, confusion, and sin. The children of Israel experienced it countless times. And sadly so do churches today. When we as Believers chose to use our feelings, or “new found” knowledge to tear down and erase what has always been understood in God’s Word as Truth; well then we are only asking for pain and trouble in the future. Because not liking God’s plan doesn’t give us the right to deviate from it and go our own way thinking He will bless our endeavors. The old paths are there for a reason. Well worn and heavily traveled because they were depended on to get the travelers to their destination on time, and with less danger. 

  So back to the socialist road map to societal change. The same plan is used in the church. But who places this plan on the drawing room table of governemnts and churches? Might I argue it is is Satan himself that feeds socialism to the world just as he attempts to feed “woke” and progressive ideas to the Bride of Christ. He’s been doing that since Creation. He twisted God’s path to Eve in Genesis 3 to cause doubt and lust to creep in. He tried to tempt Jesus in Matthew 4:6 by misquoting and misrepresenting Scripture to Jesus. Satan loves to take the things of God and twist them or destroy them to fashion his own kingdom built on the wreckage of the Bride of Christ. Offering alternatives to the one true God and His Word.

  Homosexuality and transgenderism as alternatives to God’s design for created humanity (Romans 1),  feeding emotions over feeding the soul (Romans 13:14), the guise of wealth being a blessing so we get more by being more Godly (1 Timothy 6:5), are all alternatives to what is plainly said in Scripture multiple places, and those are just to name a few hot button items. The church has constantly been bombarded by false teaching and alternatives to the Old Paths of a Scripture, but sadly today it seems there is a greater acceptance than rejection of those ideas. 

  But again, back to General George S. Patton’s quote “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.” Can we with hearts of gratitude look back over our lives and thank God such people have lived that have wrestled the spiritual battles and by God’s grace and Holy Spirit put down the demons at the gates? Can we truly understand what men and women of faith before us have stood for and against? I hope we can. I trust we can. And with diligence and surrendered lives to Christ let’s carry the Faith forward.

Forward through the ages,
In unbroken line,
Move the faithful spirits
At the call divine.
Gifts in diff’ring measure,
Hearts of one accord,
Manifold the service,
One the sure reward;