Photo: Rembrandt
Once a man had two sons. The younger son said to his father, “Give me my share of the property.”
So, the father replied, “My son, have you been asleep? Don’t you remember when the government took our lands by the tip of their sword with a promise to redistribute the wealth more evenly in our country? How then can I divide that which is no longer mine to give?”
In great disappointment, the son packed his bags and left home. He found himself in a foreign land, staggering from one homeless shelter to another. Everywhere he went, the people were just like him, hungry and afraid. He soon found a job working for a wealthy government-owned business. At the end of each week, he received no pay check, but had a bed and meals. At least he had a roof over his head. All the money he earned went to the “general fund” to help other needy people.
Now those who ran the social program of equality had more than they needed. One of them owned (yes, they can own) his own pig farm and he saw just how very hard the prodigal son would work. Soon the pigs knew him by sight and welcomed him each day. The boy saw that the pigs had better care than the people and both were being used by “the good, moral owners and managers of his pay”. Realizing he was nothing more than a slave, he then came to the end of himself and said,
“I will go back to my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son. Treat me like one of your workers.’” (Luke 15)
So, he escaped his brutal taskmasters and ran home. His father, who now saw him from a distance, had also been beaten down from work and poor diet. He was weak. He was weeping so bitterly that he could not rise to greet him and welcome him back home. He simply could not get up any longer. All of his servants had been taken away and were also feeding the socialist machine. His older son, (who was supposed to be jealous of the younger son) had disappeared and was considered dead. Finally, the younger son arrived home, only to find poverty, sickness and sorrow everywhere.
The heart broken father had planned to kill a fatted calf should either of the sons return home, but alas, the calves too were taken by the socialist regime. These broken and wicked leaders ate the meals meant for the son and family. There were no more “best clothes” to give his son as planned, as all people wore the same ragged clothes so as to be equal. The family ring intended for the prodigal was taken from the father while the son was lost. All the gold that the people owned had been melted and formed into a likeness of the great socialist leader.
The prodigal son now held his sorrowful father and listened to him.
“My son, your brother is lost and likely dead. Now, for the moment, I rejoice that you are found, but they will come for you too when they hear that you have returned. Such is our new and improved Socialism.”
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“Socialism only works in heaven, where they don’t need it, and hell, where they already have it.” –Ronald Reagan
“If they had a social gospel in the days of the prodigal son, somebody would have given him a bed and a sandwich, and he never would have gone home.” –Vance Havner
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