Marx’s Brothers
by Norm Bomer

In 1980, Marxist Robert Mugabe led a communist revolution that turned Africa’s white-ruled Rhodesia into Zimbabwe. His 37-year rule brought the once-prosperous nation into the pit of oppression and poverty. And to add to the predictable economic disaster, he and his other corrupt officials stole millions of dollars from the pension fund set up for their revolutionary troops.

Mugabe had once tried to divert angry protesters by promising that his government was ready to seize white farms for them. That was all they needed to hear. Soon gangs of armed thugs invaded white farms, beat farmers and their workers, and smashed and looted homes. They soon occupied about 1000 farms.

Zimbabwe’s courts ordered Mugabe to have the squatters removed. He refused. Then the nation’s High Court in Harare, the capital, ordered police to remove the squatters. That was a tough call, considering there were 20,000 police up against 50,000 squatters. Most landowners were left to fend for themselves.

In one typical case, about 30 armed squatters smashed a truck through the farmhouse gate at Raul Retzlaff ’s farm near Arcturus. They broke into his home and stole electrical equipment, cell phones, clothing, and food. “They stated several times they were going to kill me,” Mr. Retzlaff said. He called the police, but they did not respond.

The attackers were finally driven off by about 200 black workers from Mr. Retzlaff ’s farm and his neighbors’ farms. But the outcome on hundreds of other farms was not that good. The eventual outcome for the Retzlaff family wasn’t exactly perfect either. The Retzlaffs heroically and with great sacrifice managed to escape with their three children and save about 100 of their horses by driving them cross-country and into neighboring Mozambique. That’s where poachers began killing their horses for meat. It was also where many of their horses died from grazing on poison plants.
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The villainous promise-breaker Mugabe was replaced in 2017 by his then vice president Emmerson Mnangagwau, another Marxist with a long history of insurrection and mass murder. Zimbabwe’s national economy is still in the tank, abject poverty is ram- pant, much of the country is inflicted with drought, citizens are starving, and medical and hospital care are scarcely available. Now the corona virus is run- ning rampant with very little being done about it. And citizens generally cannot isolate, for they must be out and about just to obtain enough food for them to survive the moment.
 
FAITHFUL VS UNFAITHFUL
God promises. God delivers. Man promises. Man, however, often does not deliver. That has never been truer than with Marxism. Big, big promises – period. When God says he will do something, he does it. God is holy. God tells the truth. God is almighty. God can do anything.

So why do so many people follow false gods? There are many reasons – including foolishness, blindness, pride, rebellion, selfishness, and greed. They all boil down to one thing: sin.

About 150 years ago in Europe, Karl Marx wrote books about how to build a heaven on earth called Utopia. Trouble is, Marx didn’t believe in God or the real heaven. He believed material things are the only real things in the universe. Although Marx’s ideas were all foolish, millions of people ended up believing them anyway. People who follow false gods can’t tell right from wrong. And Marx’s foolish Utopian ideals delivered millions of them into suffering and failure.

​Marxism led to modern socialism and communism. Here’s a brief synopsis of what Marx taught:
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1) Things are all that exist. Only things can make
2) The greatest happiness (Utopia) will come when everybody shares all things equally. No one will own anything privately. No one will have more than anyone else.
3) Rich people and owners of private property stand in the way of Utopia. Revolution, violence, murder, and theft are okay if they are needed to get rid of these enemies.
4) A strong “people’s government” must run all factories and businesses.

YOU WANT A REVOLUTION?
Hmmm. There was an American national candidate recently who says much the same. Although North American universities often overlook much of recent history, Russian Marxists convinced workers that property owners were to blame for all their troubles. So in 1917, hordes of workers got their guns and overthrew the Russian government. They also seized houses and lands, putting bullets in the heads of their owners – millions of them.

Like those Marxists, Zimbabwe’s criminal squatters thought they had a right to take what they wanted without working for it. No one, they thought, should be allowed to have more than they had.

But the farms they invaded are no longer producing as they did before. Marxists historically don’t seem to think of minor details like hard work and responsibility – until they find themselves starving. Or until they find themselves slaves in a communist dictatorship.

When the bloody Russian Revolution was over, the Marxist leaders ran the country. That began 70 years of Soviet oppression, poverty, atheism, and mass murder. Marx’s utopia had arrived. It is utter foolishness today to overlook the Marxist danger in voting for one of the current national candidates – one, who by the way, is the darling of many thousands of college students. (Remember one of my favorite warnings: Education works.)

GIVING VS. TAKING
Now good news. God tells the truth. God promises the real heaven to all who believe the Truth. “I am the Truth,” Jesus said. Jesus taught true sharing – not the give-me-my-share Marxist kind. Christian sharing is based on love of God and “tenderness and compassion” for others (see Philippians 2:1). “In humility consider others better than yourselves” (2:3).

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (2:5). Jesus did not rob or kill others to help himself. Instead he humbly gave his own life to help others. Karl Marx didn’t know that things won’t produce heaven or anything like it. He didn’t know that people are sinners. People are not the sharing kind – unless the Savior washes them clean.
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Marx obviously didn’t believe or admit that a nation controlled by squatters and thieves is a nation bound for suffering and failure. President Mugabe and his followers didn’t seem to know these things either – or even care. Nor, it appears, does his successor.