Capitalism

Capitalism is another highly politicized term. This term has been used to propagate free enterprise. This is a trick bag when you consider how we are over-taxed for things we have already fully paid for. We must re-examine what we've been told and what is actually happening. Listen in as we crack open the whole idea of capitalism.

Transcript

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Hello everyone. This is Bobby Simpson with another episode of Yeah, It's In There. And today we're going to take a look at capitalism. I'm going to give you whatever I've experienced by way of capitalism, and I'm going to define it for you that way. We're going to take a look at what Merriam Webster has to say. And then we're going to draw the parallel for just where and how it shows up in Scripture and what exactly the Bible has to say on capitalism. And I know I can hear you now. Bobby, is capitalism in Scripture? And my response is what it always is, and that is, yup, it's in there. So come on, let's get into it. So I've had the opportunity to work on campaigns on both sides of the aisle, and that is meaning for both Democrats and Republicans. I've also worked on issue campaigns as well as having run for office and holding office myself and running and losing for some other offices. And so politics and campaigning has been a big part of my life for probably the past 15 years. And my involvement has been in local state as well as some national campaigns that I've worked on. And with that being said, I just wanted to qualify my experience, number one, for detractors and even for those who may disagree with what I have to say concerning this. But I want to clarify for those of you who follow me, who have followed me over these some odd 15, 20 years that I've been doing the work that I do on a local and national level. And with that being said, I am now going to go ahead and give you my definition of what capitalism is. Capitalism is a system that tricks people into believing they are working for just means when in fact it's for unjust means. It claims to be a free market, indicating anyone can get in. In the US politics, this means white men. When a new market is opened up, then the political system in America says we need to regulate and make sure we are protecting the people, which is cold word, protecting white people from being replaced by innovation and someone other than the white majority, which has a chokehold on politics and the economy in the U.S. And so for me, I want to qualify that statement. My experience with working with policy and in politics, what I've come to know and I've come to understand is that regulation strictly means how can we keep it in the hands of the white men who are in power. It is not a free market. When you consider you have Asians who come into the US and they decide that they want to open up markets in white neighborhoods, they are declined and further offered funding to then move their Chinese restaurants or the cultural restaurants into more urban areas. And so while you have African Americans who have to beg, borrow, and steal in order to get a small business loan so that they're able to establish a business in their own community. What in fact is happening is further disenfranchisement. And so when they say a free market, it is not a free market, it is a classist market that subjugates anyone who is not white male in America, and then they call it a free market or capitalism, which in fact is not true. And for many of my black followers, listeners, and subscribers, and even some of the white ones who are clear, you know, about the type of privilege that they have and who understands what is happening happening now, and further what has happened throughout history with regard to some of the red lining that keeps some African Americans and members of urban communities from being able to fully participate in the so-called free market. And so, with that being said, I will now give you the Miriam-Webster's dictionary definition. And excuse me, not Miriam Webster, this is coming from dictionary.com. And according to dictionary.com, capitalism is defined as an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profits. And I'm going to read that again so we're clear. Dictionary.com defines a capitalist system as an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profits. And so, as I indicated to you before, and which is clearly defined again by dictionary.com, it is clearly those who are most able and well able to afford, you know, to broker in the uh controlled private industry, then of course, those are the ones who are, in fact, participating in this so-called free trade. And so dictionary.com does not disagree, but they gave something a little bit more succinct and a lot less colorful than it is for the definition that I was able to give you. And so I just want us to be clear that when we hear the term capitalism, that is in fact what's happening. And I've heard many people in error indicate that they are in fact capitalists when they don't have a snowball's chance in competing, you know, against those who have been a part of this free market who has been a part of the free market for generations. They're 40 acres and a mule, they did not get. And it reads, The word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, tell Israel, you are a land that is not made clean or reigned on in the day of my anger. Israel's false religious leaders are making plans within her. They are like a lion making noise over the food it has killed. They have taken human lives and also riches and things of much worth. They have made many women in Israel lose their husbands. Her religious leaders have broken my law and have made their and have made my holy things unclean. It makes no difference to them if something is holy or unclean. They have not taught the difference between what is clean and what is unclean. They hide their eyes from my days of rest, and I am not honored among them. Her leaders are like wolves tearing apart the animals they have killed. They kill and destroy lives to get things by doing wrong. Her men who speak in my name have covered their sins with whitewash for the people. The people of the land have made it hard for others and have stolen. They have done wrong to the poor and those in need, and they have made it hard for the stranger who lives among them, taking away his rights. I looked for a man. I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the place where it is broken to stop me from destroying the land, but I found no one. And I'm also going to go to the book of Amos because this same practice was a practice done in the book of Amos as well. And in the book of Amos, we're going to take a look at, we can look at the uh first chapter or the first two chapters in the book of Amos, but God clearly takes a position concerning this capitalist mentality and the way that things were done. It says, Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they have despised the law of the Lord and have not kept his commandments, and their lies cause them to err, after which their fathers have walked. But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. And excuse me, I I jumped in there. And okay, so I want to read Amos chapter two, verses six and seven, and it reads Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Israel and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes, that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek, and a man and his father will go into the same maid to profane my holy name. And so clearly to capitalize off of someone who has the inability to compete is frowned upon, according to scripture. And so again, that was Amos chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. And the first scripture that I read was Ezekiel chapter 22, verses 23 through 30. And I do, I would like to add, there is an imperialistic uh reign that is practiced in the political systems that we have in this nation. Many of us we've grown up with the uh imperialistic ideology, and we celebrated people such as Alexander the Great, and all of those. And this imperialistic ideology, many would claim came from the Roman church, and the Roman church from which many of the uh men that we read about in history, such as Alexander the Great and all of those who say for land and country, you know, I will die. And I want to add that we as a body of believers, we are here not to set up an imperialistic ethnic reign for any religious organization other than that of the kingdom of heaven, and so we now have what you may have heard is Christian nationalism, and that is imperialism cloaked in religion, and except we are establishing the kingdom of heaven in the earth, then that falls under the judgment that we've read in both Amos and in Ezekiel. We are not here to set up or establish an imperialistic reign from the examples of the earth, and that is comparable to the kingdoms of this world, the kingdom that we are establishing here on earth, that kingdom is the kingdom of heaven, and we're here to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth because we know that when Christ comes again, that the government will be on his shoulders. And so, as it relates to a whole capitalist ideology with regard to how we treat people that is in fact in error, and as you look at scripture and even as you study, many go to seminary and they teach you how to learn, they teach you what they want you to teach everyone else, and so there is a hermeneutic and a hermaletic, and a hermeneutic is as you look at the sum total of what's in the book, what's in the scripture, what's in the holy writ, you thereby establish a standard for what it is that God is saying. And so for far too long, we have taken our signals from the imperialistic systems of this world, whose origin goes back as far as Scripture, not just the Roman Catholic Church, the imperialistic mindset, I think, was there throughout Scripture, but we are of the new covenant. And with the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ and the cutting of the new covenant, what was before has now been fulfilled through the blood of Jesus. And so we no longer seek an imperialistic reign that gives us glory in this earth per se, but we are here to establish the kingdom, and we take our direction from the kingdom of heaven, and we take that direction through the governance of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. And so as it relates to capitalism as we know it, it runs contrary to the standard of God, according to the standard of scripture in the word of God. And for those who have gone to seminary and understand hermeneutics, what you cannot do is take a piece of scripture and not look at the totality of everything that God is saying, not just in this one text here, but the consistency throughout the Word of God. And so God's standard is that we take care of those who have trouble taking care of themselves. And so a capitalist system runs contrary to that very thing. And so I do want to uh make sure that you understand. I there are many who may not understand the term capitalist. You hear it a lot during campaign season. You know, the businesses, businesses they seem to receive earmarks, and legislation is pushed through for businesses at a greater level than it is for the common man or for, say, a nonprofit organization. And so capitalism oftentimes speaks to all of the money in politics, all of those who are able to broker deals with legislators in order to ensure that their products are pushed through with very few regulatory constraints on them. And what's contra to that and what they try and make or appear to be godless and horrible is the idea of socialism. But today we're talking about capitalism, and so in our next episode, we will cover socialism, but today our topic has been capitalism. And so I want to thank you for taking the time to walk with me through scripture as well as the definitions of capitalism. And so I'm gonna say what I've always said is capitalism in scripture, Bobby, and you already know that my response is what it all is. Is and that is yeah, it's in there. See you next time.