What is the problem with socialism? Why is socialism popular and fascism despised? After all, socialism, fascism, and communism are the three legs of the same stool! It’s all about government control!
The common, easily understood descriptions of these systems goes like this:
Socialism: You have 2 cows and the Government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
Communism: You have 2 cows; the Government takes both and gives you some milk, but you never get enough for your family.
Fascism: You have 2 cows; the Government takes both and sells you some milk, as long as you agree with the Government.
Nazism: You have 2 cows; the Government takes both and shoots you.
Traditional Capitalism: You have 2 cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.
Of course, it is all much more complicated and much more serious than that. A popular description of socialism is that you give some of what you have to your neighbor who doesn’t have anything. The only problem with that description is that socialism isn’t voluntary. In socialism, the government takes what you have worked for and gives it to others who haven’t worked for it. It kills productivity because the one who is working sees the fruits of his labor being given to someone else who hasn’t worked. So, why should I work if what I have worked so hard for is going to be taken from me?
Having been raised in a small southern Texas town during the volatile sixties and seventies, Rev. Dr. Melvin L. Johnson witnessed and experienced much of the cultural changes that were powered by the Civil Rights Movement and the Viet Nam War. He and his two siblings grew up in a home with traditional Judeo-Christian values surrounded by a community where “taking a village to raise a child” was normal as well as acceptable. One unique character trait in him was to see himself as an equal to people of other races who may have considered him inferior and to identify racial hatred as being the most important issue of the time in need of solving.
Dr. Johnson was licensed to preach the gospel in April of 1988 at Hall Chapel Baptist Church and has been the Sr. Pastor of the Heart of Christ Community Church, where he and Sheena, his wife of 43 years, have served for 28 years. They have nine children, two biological and seven adopted. He has earned a BA degree in Religious Education, MA degree in Christian Counseling, and a DM in Theology from Covington School of Theology.
He has authored several books such as “Junk Food in the Body of Christ,” “Overcoming Racism Through the Gospel,”“From Heaven to You,” and has a new book titled “Understanding Socialism and the Danger It Brings- A Basic Primer.”
Rev. Johnson defines himself as being a spiritual pathologist, as he seeks to study the causes for spiritual death in individuals and offer Biblical information that transforms lives for better living. As Dr. Johnson was prayerfully researching and seeking solutions to the racial disparity problem in America, he discovered that, throughout his efforts, he constantly crossed trails with one key element that either spoke out boldly or could be seen in the background of the leaders and movements, especially within the struggle for equal rights for blacks, socialism!
Dr. Johnson soon discovered that the socialist movement in the United States has exerted influences throughout practically every aspect of American life, affecting all from the basic family unit to the Oval Office of the President of the United States of America. For this reason, he has written this book for the purpose of helping individuals to understand how dangerous socialism is, the forerunner to communism! He has worked to present eight observations reflective of socialism’s nature and the effects it has had on cultures and nations past and present. He subtitles this book “A Basic Primer,” not to demean or speak to the reader in a tone of condescension, but to ensure that the reader gets the message without being pulled within the proverbial tall grass.
Please join us for this stimulating, informative conversation.
