Yesterday I posted a link to a speech made by Newt Gingrich, who essentially said that the threat of ISIS and radical Islam itself, is every bit as real to our freedoms and dire as the threat of Communism has historically been.

Isn’t it interesting that the new “sweetheart” of Europe is the newly elected Prime Minister of Greece, an atheist and left wing Democratic Socialist, Alexis Tsipras?  A buddy of Pope Frances!  He had this to say about his visit to the Vatican to meet with the Pope

“We agreed on the need to continue the dialogue between the European left and the Christian church,” he said. “There is a need to create an ecumenical alliance against poverty, inequalities, against the logic that markets and profits are above people.” ^source

Taking the idea of this Alexis Tsipras fulfills the “type” of the anticipated Antichrist, and the fact that he and Pope Frances seem to align on more things than those on which they differ,  I’d like us to take a look at the ideologies in play.  But first, lets sort out Communism, Socialism, Marxism, and Fascism.  There is a lot of overlap, but there are some distinctions.  First off, Marxism is Communism.  It was Marx who wrote the Communist Manifesto.

Communism and Fascism differ in their primary philosophies.  Whereas in Fascism, the State is glorified, and even worshipped, Communism rejects any and all worship and religion, and there is no such thing as private ownership, instead all citizens hold all resources (supposedly) “in common”.  In Communism, politically, the state (the government) has supreme control over all aspects of public as well as private life, whereas in Fascism, there is one supreme leader who has all power and authority over the state, and there is only one party, with no elections. Neither Communism, nor Fascism allow a “free market”.  In Communism, the attempt is made for common interests to motivate the meeting of the common needs of everyone directly, without the necessity of money. Though Fascism “allows” for private ownership, business owners can make no decision concerning their business, that is not approved by the state. With Communism, the State owns everything, and both ideologies pay lip service to redistribution of all wealth, with Communism pretending to do so for the “common good”, while Fascism doesn’t much try to hide the fact that the “redistribution” is all from the bottom, up.

Socially, Communism purports to eradicate all distinctions of class, while in Fascism, the “class” questions all depends on your particular “flavor” of Fascism.  In regards to freedom/choice, in Communism the “collective” trumps the “individual”.  In Fascism, there is no such thing as an individual.  Communists don’t think in terms of “my state, your state”, but rather one common international movement or ideology. Fascists regard themselves as a “law unto themselves”.  Communism pretends that the people rule themselves, but of course that  can never happen, someone has to be “in charge”, and since the power is centralized, it is rather absolute and therefore, inevitably corrupt.  Fascism is a dictatorship, while anyone in a subservient “governmental” position is only there to carry out the will of the dictator, and therefore utterly expendable.

Socialism, is essentially a “soft-serve” version of Communism.   Socialism allows for individual religion, so long as you keep it to yourself,  the only “sanctioned faith” being that of secular humanism. Socialism allows for some private ownership, though all industry is collective and must  benefit society as a whole.

As you can see, the many “isms” encompass economy, religion, and politics. By what means does the Bible tell us the Antichrist will gain power over the whole world? He will use a religious system, to rise to political prominence, and implement a global monetary system, which will give him control of the economy of the entire world.

Now, knowing that Satan works more often through subtle, middle-of-the–road means, than extremes, and knowing that Europe spans the socioeconomic continuum this brings us to the question of what Communism (or the soft Communism that is Socialism) has in common with Islam.

Terrence P. Jeffrey , in a January 15 CNSnews.com article, had this to say on the comparison of the two:

Communism and the radical Islamist vision of the Islamic State are both ideologies that seek to re-order the entire world from the top down — using the force of unrestrained government to tell us how we must live.

Communism and the radical Islamist vision of the Islamic State both work in opposition to the natural God-given law that is the foundation of Western Civilization and the only true bulwark of human freedom.

As a consequence, Communism and the Islamic State deny freedom of speech and freedom of conscience and violate the right to life itself.

Though most nations have a religious aspect to their societies,  except for those states in which their politics is their religion (they worship the state), most maintain some distinction between the two.  Not so with fundamental Islam.  To a true devout Muslim Islam is both their faith and their political ideology.

Islam and Socialism/Communism actually have a good bit of “history” together, with the first Islamic commune established in Russia in 1917 during the Russian Revolution.

Ever hear of the International Pan Islamic Communist Party of Proletarian Islam? Their stated goal?

“our goal is the reunification of the Pan Islamic homeland which stretches from West Africa to  Indonesia  into one Nation”

What else do  Communism/Socialism and Islam have in common?

This guy:

The same guy who is enabling Iran and Russia, throwing Israel under the bus, and delivering Lady Liberty’s head on a platter, with almost two years left in which to finish the job!

Prop  from the Paramount movie Cloverfield. Image source:  Flickr: Defamer.com

After Obama’s “work is done”,  it might be wise to pay close attention to those other two.