The Prophetic Significance Of Socialism's Rise In America

We have been hearing a great deal these days about the rise of Socialism in our nation and around the world. Now, of course, everybody knows that the seeds of Socialism have always been present in our country; however, the sudden surge of Socialism today is nothing short of shocking—and it carries vast significance.

We have witnessed a real turnaround in America, with people increasingly moving in the direction of socialist candidates. Let’s not forget that socialist Bernie Sanders almost won the Democratic presidential primary in 2020. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is an avowed socialist who is steadily rising within the Democratic Party. Zohran Mamdani is a self-professed “proud Democratic socialist” who just won the mayoral race in New York City.

In the United States House of Representatives, Cory Bush, Greg Casar, and Rashida Tlaib are vocal socialists. Recently, Tennessee state representative Aftyn Bane, a Democrat who ran on a socialist platform, nearly won a seat in the US House of Representatives. She lost by only nine points in a district that went for President Trump by 22 points!

This dangerous ideology is literally being elected by the hundreds all across our nation in various offices at the federal, state, and local levels. Socialism is clearly on the rise, and there are no signs that it is stopping. In fact, every sign indicates it will continue to mushroom.

The rise of Socialism has profound implications for the future of our nation and, given the fact that America is the global leader, it also has ramifications for the entire globe. It’s nothing short of meteoric. However, beyond those concerns, the popularity of Socialism also has strong prophetic overtones that I believe will pave the way for the rise of the world’s final great tyrant: the antichrist.

A recent survey by the Cato Institute and YouGov paints a very troubling picture. The report found that 62% of Americans aged 18 to 29 say they hold a favorable view of Socialism—that’s almost two-thirds! Meanwhile, 34% (one-third) say the same of Communism. Even more surprising and saddening is that 66% of Democrats—of all age demographics—have a positive view of Socialism.

A man named Friedrich Hayek, in his 1944 book “The Road to Serfdom,” warned: “The rise of fascism and Marxism was not a reaction against the socialist trends of the preceding period but a necessary outcome of those tendencies.”

In other words, Socialism is what ultimately comes out of or paves the way for fascism and Marxism. Hayek notes that both Mussolini and Hitler began as socialists.

Socialism leads to tyrants and dictators—and that is where the Bible says the world’s future is headed in the end times.

According to The World Socialist Party of the United States (WSPUS), the definition of Socialism is as follows: “The establishment of a system of society based on the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of society as a whole. We call this ‘common ownership,’ but other terms we regard as synonymous are communism and Socialism.”

Dr. David Jeremiah, in his book, “Where Do We Go From Here?” responds to this definition of Socialism: “Socialists believe the world’s means of production—including infrastructure, farms, factories, energy, natural resources, medicines, and more—should be under the control of ‘the people’… These socialist countries are owned by ‘the people.’ Of course, there’s no way to make decisions based on such a loose concept as ‘the people.’ Under Socialism, the government becomes the sole authority and the controller of the means of production. Unfortunately, governments are controlled by specific people, often the kinds of people who seek out power—and those people are entirely corruptible by greed, selfishness, lust, vindictiveness, violence, and the overwhelming desire for authority. As more power flows to the government, the handful at the top become dictatorial.”

Ayn Rand warned back in 1944: “Fascism, Nazism, Communism, and Socialism are only superficial variations of the same monstrous theme: Collectivism.”

It sounds good to say that people will own everything, that there’ll be equality, but the people inevitably become one person—in Nazi Germany it was Hitler, in Italy it was Mussolini, and it still exists today in places like China and Russia. Interestingly, some of the key ideas being spewed out today, like cancel culture, “defund the police,” and the redistribution of wealth, all sprang from Socialist, Marxist, and Communist ideology.

We don’t have to look back to the past very far to see the scourge of Socialism.

We can currently see in Venezuela the catastrophic results of Socialism gone wild. Right now, Venezuela is a social and economic wasteland. 99% of its citizens live below the poverty line, and most people earn less than a dollar a day. This once-flourishing nation, rich in petroleum resources, was previously known for freedom and opportunity. Now it is an oppressed, depressed, empty, and hopeless place.

The downward spiral—really Venezuela’s collapse—began in 2006 when Hugo Chávez was reelected as president. Dr. David Jeremiah provided an interesting account of this timeline of events, detailing: “When oil prices crashed in the 1980s and then again in the 1990s, the Venezuelan economy experienced a dip. But that dip became a dive in 1998 when the Venezuelan people elected Chavez as their president. Once in power, Chavez relentlessly implemented the socialist playbook formulated by the Soviet Union, Cuba, China, and other nations. His first task was to rewrite the Venezuelan Constitution, guaranteeing citizens the so-called free rights of government-provided health care, college education, and social justice. When the Supreme Court ruled against Chavez on several important issues, he responded by stacking the court with 12 new justices, all of which were loyal to him.”

It’s important to note that in the United States, many within the Democratic Party, especially while in power, propose the same, urging America to do away with the filibuster in the Senate and pack the Supreme Court—increasing the number of justices loyal to their agenda.

Dr. Jeremiah continues, “Socialism totally engulfed the country when Chavez was reelected in 2006. Fully in control of the courts and the legislature, he moved quickly to nationalize the media, removing voices of dissent. Then he authorized government agencies to seize privately owned wealth and prosperity from Venezuela’s citizens—all in the name of fairness and equality. Chavez took control of the nation’s oil industry, expelling foreign investors and influence. He nationalized power companies, farms, mines, banks, and grocery stores. His final step was to eliminate term limits for elected officials, setting himself up to rule for the rest of his life in the style of Russia’s Stalin or Cuba’s Castro… He died from cancer in 2013, but his handpicked successor, Nicolas Maduro, continued to implement Chavez’s agenda, even going further in some areas to force a Marxist system on the Venezuelan people.”

Despite the warnings all around us, which showcase the catastrophic failures of this ideology, it continues to spread largely unencumbered throughout the world—and I believe this is prophetically significant.

Could this explain America’s absence in Bible Prophecy? Like Venezuela, will the United States in the future be swamped by Socialism, with all of its ills? Further, will Socialism be the ideology setting the stage for the coming of the Antichrist?

The Cato Institute and YouGov highlighted that “Communism is responsible for 100 million deaths worldwide and is rooted in Socialism. The same philosophy that spawned both Mussolini’s fascism and Hitler’s National Socialism. To favor Socialism is to flirt with tyranny.”

Let me quote Dr. Jeremiah’s book, “Where do we go from here?” once more: “Will [Socialism] be the dominant political philosophy on earth when the tribulation begins? Yes, that seems likely. Socialism is tailor-made for the Antichrist’s appearance. It creates global conditions that bring great stress and trouble, difficult days that will be hard to bear. And it demands a one-world system of government, which scripture says will be established before the end of history.”

Socialism could create the conditions ripe for the “third horseman of the apocalypse,” detailed in Revelation 6. First runaway inflation, worldwide famine, a collapse of the global economy, then the antichrist will come in to seize control, ultimately installing the same Socialist style ideology.

Marxist, socialist, and communist ideologies that we see surging around the world, and in our own country, are part of the infrastructure that the antichrist is going to seize and solidify to take over.

Are you ready for some good news? In spite of all of this, as we celebrate Christmas this month, remembering the first coming of Jesus when He came to die on the cross to take away our sins, we also look to the second coming of Christ. Upon His return, the Bible tells us that “the government will be on His shoulders.”

Isaiah 9:6-7 reads, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

When Jesus comes back to this earth, Socialism, Marxism, communism—and every other “ism” that has ever existed will be discarded, abandoned to the ashbin of history. The kingdoms of this world are passing, but the Kingdom of Christ is coming to pass. Our Lord Jesus Christ will reign forever and ever.

He is our hope… and may He come soon.