Love Your Enemies by Valuing People
Right and left extremes are more alike than different with love in the center
Love is often thought to be just an emotion. On the contrary, love is respect. Love is commitment to the Rule of Law. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Value the individual.
Aristotle helps to clarify what is happening in the democratic republic of the USA. The Golden Mean was Aristotle’s way of explaining where the best of life is lived — in the middle. One-sided extreme left does not shake or shape the love heart. One-sided extreme right alone does not come together with the left side to bridge the gap of love that is best for all.
Liars and truth-tellers
Lies tend to fuel the extremes. The Jan. 6 Hearings show Democrats and Republicans respecting the Rule of Law. What does that mean? Throughout the hearings, truth of what really happened that day is emerging. Today more witnesses will reveal the truth as the Jan. 6 Committee calls specific individuals who were there on the ground, in the crowd.
Liars come in multiple forms. To categorize into extreme sides that do not or will not collaborate for the good of the nation, see the extreme left is as Communism. On the other extreme right is Fascism. Both are more alike than they are different. Both tend towards violence and control instead of respect for human life and freedom. Both despise the Rule of Law as stated in the Constitution of the United States of America.
On the left, the illusion of freedom draws deluded individuals to distort sharing wealth. For example, countries under communist control require excessive taxes, often nearly 50% of individual’s income “for the good of the people.” In fascist countries, the control over the economy devalues the currency to the point that it takes a wagon-load of money to buy a loaf of bread. Both economies do not value the individual.
Define the terms
Stalin and Hitler, leaders of communism and fascism, stand out in history. Both brutalized people and represent the extremes of each power state. Each determined to control people by whatever means was necessary. Fear of reprisal, fear of telling the truth, fear — fear — fear rules the hearts and minds of those under their control. Both regimes use fear are the primary weapon.
In both cases, still evident today, leaders of extreme movements gather followers who seek to do what they think is right in their own eyes. Liars lie. Liars tell lies. Liars convince others of their lies to tell lies to more people.
Truth-tellers stand for freedom of information. Truth-tellers may risk their own lives for the sake of others. Truth-tellers are honored within a society that honors truth. It’s not “your truth” or “my truth” but it is THE TRUTH. They take an oath to tell THE TRUTH, what they saw, what they experienced. It is not their perception as much as what factually happened, supported by evidence of words in the form of videos, text, email, words documented and verified by 2 or more witnesses. This is not hearsay. This is evidence to convict or deny what really happened.
However, extremists in both communism and in fascism distort the truth, twisted to their own benefit. The ROI is destruction in the end, not prosperity.
Communism defined with intentional motives
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines communism.
1a: a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed. b: a theory advocating elimination of private property
2capitalized a: a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Soviet Union. b: a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production. c: a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably. d: communist systems collectively
Beware the real meaning of communist tactics
Distilling theories into what that means in reality helps to clarify the individual objectives. For example, Skousen documents in The Naked Communist that 44 of 45 goals have already been met by 2017. The world has changed even more since this was exposed to the US Congress in 1963 into the Congressional Record — Appendix, pp. A34-A35 January 10, 1963.
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev’s promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a “religious crutch.”
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture — education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use [“]united force[“] to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.
Fascism defined with intentional motives
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines fascism.
often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control
Beware the real meaning of fascist tactics
Erwin Lutzer describes the deception in Hitler’s Cross: How the Cross Was Used to Promote the Nazi Agenda
The story of Nazi Germany is one of conflict between two saviors and two crosses.
“Deine Reich komme,” Hitler prayed publicly — “Thy Kingdom come.” But to whose kingdom was he referring?
When Germany truly needed a savior, Adolf Hitler falsely assumed the role. He directed his countrymen to a cross, but he bent and hammered the true cross into a horrific substitute: a swastika.
Where was the church through all of this? With a few exceptions, the German church looked away while Hitler inflicted his “Final Solution” upon the Jews. Hitler’s Cross is a chilling historical account of what happens when evil meets a silent, shrinking church, and an intriguing and convicting exposé of modern America’s own hidden crosses.
Erwin W. Lutzer extracts a number of lessons from this dark chapter in world history, such as:
The dangers of confusing church and state
The role of God in human tragedy
The parameters of Satan’s freedom
Hitler’s Cross is the story of a nation whose church forgot its call and discovered its failure way too late. It is a cautionary tale for every church and Christian to remember who the true King is.
Revisiting the remedies to today’s society
Aristotle in ancient history still speaks to modern history. He compares the rule of law to show the stability and the corruption of power in leadership.
A closer look at each identifies where extremes exist on the left and on the right, within an individual or a group.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” -George Santayana
Erwin Lutzer also clarifies what happens when good men do nothing in We Will Not Be Silenced: Responding Courageously to Our Culture’s Assault on Christianity
“If I could, I would put this book into the hands of every Christian in America.”
— Dr. David Jeremiah
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed,
for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
Each day, you watch America turn further from Christian values and the core principles of liberty. It’s frustrating to feel you can’t assert biblical truth without facing condemnation, and fearful to witness outrage and victimhood replace respect and reason. Amidst this dissent, how can you not only stay rooted in your own faith, but continue publicly testifying for Jesus?
In We Will Not Be Silenced, Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer prepares you to live out your convictions against a growing tide of hostility. Gain a better understanding of nonbelievers’ legitimate hurts and concerns regarding issues like racism, sexism, and poverty — and identify the toxic responses secular culture disguises as solutions. In the process, you’ll see how you can show compassion and gentleness to those outside of the faith without affirming their beliefs.
As you watch or hear about the Jan. 6 Hearings on Capitol Hill, stay centered in God’s Word, Aristotle’s analysis, and stand for the truth against the extremists on the left and the right. Come together to form the heart of love for each other to preserve our nation and the world from deception.