The following are extracts (for review purposes) from Socialists Don't Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall, Cheryl K. Chumley, 2020-Sept:
Dedication
"To Jesus, the hope of humanity." – p. v
Chapter 1: Forgetting Our Roots
Patrick Henry
"Patrick Henry[,] the well-respected lawyer from Hanover County[,] Virginia[, said] at his state's Second Convention[,] 'What is it that gentlemen wish?...Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?' " – p. 3
Americans Give
"This country is great because [it] is good. This country is good because [of its] moral compass shaped by God, dictated by the Bible, [and] forged by Judeo-Christian ideals....
"If churches feed the poor, the poor don't need food stamps. If nonprofits help people with disabilities, the people with disabilities don't need government handouts.
"[T]his nation's...Founding Fathers and visionaries of American exceptionalism...knew...that the link between individual or personal morality and good governance was inextricable. [T]heir...caveat[:] the republic [will] last...only so long as its people [a]re moral and virtuous." – pp. 8–11
Freedom Can Fall in a Flash
"If we forget what made America great in the first place, [i]t takes only a flash for freedom to fall. If conditions are right, it takes only a moment and the freedoms are gone.
"In early 2020[,] fears of coronavirus gripped the nation[.]
"In a...Today Show interview[,] Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases...said...a federal stay-at-home order was the best way to combat the virus. [H]e said[, 'W]e just have to do it.'
"Then again, that's a doctor's order—not the Constitution's. In America, it's supposed to be the rule of law based on a concept of individual rights[.]
"The climate that came from the 2020 government-imposed coronavirus crackdowns was one of fear, and that fear was then played by some of the leftists and globalists and anti-American forces and sources to instill even greater fear[,] and [to] exert even greater government control." – pp. 13–21
Chapter 2: Letting Democrats Disguise Their Socialism
Economic Rights
"[Although] in the spiritual realm, in the eyes of God, all His children are certainly equal and worthy of lives of success[,] all are not owed these lives simply because they're born. There is a biblical concept of work. There is a Bible-based idea of reaping and sowing....
"Economic rights are not human rights, no matter what [Vermont Senator Bernie] Sanders says, no matter how politicians masquerading as do-gooders push it. Arguing this[,] leads down a rabbit hole of deep, dark despair, absent ambitions, goals, and hopes, where the talents of the individual are stripped[: with] the seeds of greatness ripped, and even the power to think with clarity torn asunder. It's a life of tasteless collectivism [and] robotic drudgery. It's a life where the dreams of a child are choked for the good of the aggregate. It's a life that looks at struggle as an enemy to obliterate, not a challenge to beat, and that therefore wipes away all opportunities and motivations for individuals to win. It's a life devoid of spirit, with minds conditioned to believe that's the way it ought to be." – pp. 25–6
Socialist with a Small s
"Democrats...have...taken the country far down th[e] socialist-in-all-but-name road. They've done it by sly means[: by] pretending to be progressives, [and] pretending to be social justice warriors[.] They've done it by using a combination of...tactics[:] a never-ending drumroll of...tactics[:] a wearying, fatiguing[,] never-let-up all-court...press[. T]hey'll continue...for as long as they can get by with doing it.
"[T]here's been...not nearly enough...attention paid to...'socialism' with a small s—to the cultural changes that have brought on the entitlement mindsets and the national cravings for government to step in and solve all....It's only from 'socialism with a small s' that 'Socialism with a capital S' springs....
"There's the Constitution—and there's not. There's the God-given—and there's not. Th[e]se are...the standards by which all political, economic, social, and societal programs and proposals in America should be measured....
"As philosopher and writer Ayn Rand wrote in a letter in 1945: 'Fascism, Nazism, Communism and Socialism are only superficial variations of the same monstrous theme—collectivism.'
"[S]ocialism comes as a shadow—a seductive, creeping, shadowy figure promising nirvana[—]while deceiving [us] about the only end result that can come: [which is] government oppression.
"[From a] GenForward survey [in] 2018[:] 'A significant majority (61%) of Millennial Democrats express favorable views toward Socialism.'...
"Th[is] finding...underscore[s] the ramrodding of socialism into American society that's yet to come...as youth reach adulthood and assume positions of power and leadership[.]" – pp. 27–30
Democrats, Party of the Socialists
"[A]ll of today's Democrats, Democratic Socialists, [and] progressives[,] will, unchallenged, bring about the utter collapse of America, the total demise of individual rights[:] the choking[,] communist fists of big government control.
" '[W]hat all definitions [of] socialism...have in common is either the elimination of the market or its strict containment,' said Frances Fox Piven, a former DSA [(] Democratic Socialists of America [)] board member, in an interview with Vox." – pp. 31–2
Chapter 5: Allowing Wolves in Sheep's Clothing to Teach Socialism as Biblical
Jesus Wasn't a Socialist
"[The] type of ideology espoused by...Hillary Clinton[—]that families can't raise children, but only government; that communities, not individuals, are the source of America's power—[has] become the stuff of spiritual warfare for the left.
"The Bible teaches the opposite: First comes the personal relationship with God, then comes the foundation of God's creation, the family. [F]rom a biblically strengthened, morally solid family comes the community [and] the culture[.]
"If god is a god of anything[-]goes, then so, too, can be the culture. So, too, can be the government. Take away biblical[ly]-based standards, morals, and expectations of behavior, and you take away rule of law and rights and wrongs. Take [these] away[,] and you take away the Constitution.
"What's left[?] All roads lead to ultimate government control." – pp. 81–5
Pope Pius XI and Pope Francis
"In 1937...the Roman Catholic Church, in a papal letter from Pope Pius XI, called out communism[: 'T]he class struggle with its consequent violent hate and destruction takes on the aspects of a crusade for the progress of humanity.'...
"In religion[,] as in politics, the tendency [is] to call socialism something other than socialism.
"[T]he spirit of humanity [is] the drive to create. It's no coincidence socialists are often godless; creation itself comes from God." – pp. 85–90
Christian Socialism
"The lure of socialism is that it promises what the Bible teaches will only come in the afterlife: a state of true love, true equality, true justice, true peace." – p. 93
Chapter 6: Pretending as if Socialists Care About the Youth
Fear as a Tool for Change
"Socialists will pretend to care about the victims of...broken homes, all the while ignoring that it's their very policies and cultural designs that bring about the brokenness[.]
"Often, the end result is to harm the very people far leftists say they support[:] 'Trans Athletes Destroy the Meaning of Women'...wrote the Federalist in 2019. [W]omen's rights...used to be a foundational support for the socialist business[.]
"[A] flip of normalcy for the abnormal, a destruction of tradition, a scoffing of what's lawful[:] by...these...means[,] big government grabs a root and grows, turning a free society toward a socialist mentality[.]
"[This] inevitably creates a cycle of exploitation and destruction with a most[-]predictable outcome: the utter collapse of any semblance of a free society." – pp. 108–11
Chapter 7: Failing to Grasp That Not All Do-Gooders Do Good
Gifts of Money Don't a Saint Make
"The coursing of dollars from the elite flow[s] widely from foundation to organization to UN mission to globalist cause. It's a seamless transference that makes for some of the world's most powerful socialist-minded elitists all traveling [in] the same massively bureaucratic circles, all funding the same sorts of bureaucratic causes—all [remain]ing [safely] under [the] media and watchdog radars by cloaking their socialist, collectivist designs in altruistic wrappings." – p. 126
Chapter 9: Ceding the Constitution to Technology for Convenience's Sake
Universal Basic Income
"As China collects citizens' data that drives its technology development, so America must go forth with data dissemination and AI [(] artificial intelligence [)] development, too.
"We have no choice. We must win....
"The only way to slow[-]walk the constitutional demise is to...fight hard to keep countries with godless, secular despotism as their governing system from leading[,] on the world stage." – p. 169
Chapter 10: Forgetting Our History
Lies and Twisting the Truth
"Socialists do not belong in political office in a country such as America, where rights come from God, not government.
"[T]he common[-]sense, layman American's understanding of socialism...goes simply like this: It's government force....
"Since socialists like to use words as tools to confuse and hide, then the only way to beat socialists with their constant redirects and attempts to redefine history and truth is to remind everyone: Hey[!—H]ere in America, it's all about the God-given." – pp. 175–80
Yes, It Matters
"This is America, a nation where rights come from God, not government." – p. 181
Chapter 11: Missing the Links, Buying the Lies
First Socialism, Then Communism
"[S]ocialism gets it[s] wings...by way of messages about equality, justice, fairness, and helping others." – p. 188
Subtleties of "socialism" with a Small s
"[From the] Fall 2019 [article,] 'Socialism' [in] The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy[:] 'Socialists have condemned capitalism by alleging that it typically features exploitation, domination, alienation, and inefficiency....Socialists have deployed ideals and principles of equality, democracy, individual freedom, self-realization, and community or solidarity.'...
"Socialists...repeat...tired mantras based on [the] drumming up [of] envy, anger, and hate....
"Yanking the seeds of socialism before they root is imperative[. I]n this country, it's the Constitution and the notion of individual rights from God, not [from] government, that guide [us]." – pp. 190–4
The Media's Influence
"[In] 1901[, Russian revolutionary] Vladimir Lenin, in a[n] essay called 'Where to Begin,' wrote[:] 'A newspaper is what we most of all need; without it we cannot conduct that systematic, all-round propaganda and agitation, consistent in principle, which is the chief and permanent task of Social-Democracy'[.]
"In 2015...on C-SPAN['s] Washington Journal[,] the DSA's national director, Maria Svart, was...asked, 'Socialism requires that you take from some and give to the others.' [Her] response[: 'T]hat's what's happening right now under capitalism [at] Walmart. Anybody that works...hard for a boss who pays them...little and takes a lot of money in, knows...that's taking from some to give to others.'...
"Socialism is force, no matter how gently the government presents it. Svart's lie is aimed at confusing and, ultimately, conflating freedom with bondage, so that one day, America's light will be extinguished. Lies, lies, lies. This is the energy that fuels the socialist machine. Fending off socialism depends...on discerning the lies, and [on] bringing to [the] forefront those who can effectively fight for the American dream. This is why Christians are...crucial to today's political battleground." – pp. 194–200
Chapter 12: Scoffing Those Most Equipped to Save the Dream
Government-Mandated Face Masks
"From Time magazine: '[According to] Mitsutoshi Horii, a sociology professor at Japan's Shumei University[, t]he difference in [the] perception of the [face] mask comes down...to cultural norms about covering your face[:] "In social interactions in the West, you need to show your identity and make eye contact. Facial expression is very important." '
"[I]t's th[e] unthinking quality of the...coronavirus...face[-]mask craze...that's most concerning....It suggests a choking of reason and sound thinking [in order] to give [to] others feelings of security and comfort—no matter how false the premise upon which those warm...feelings are built....
"Do not shrug off the significance of this mask-wearing moment in American history....
"Saul Alinsky[,] in his 1971 Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals, wrote[: 'O]nce you organize people around something as commonly agreed[-]upon as pollution, then an organized people is on the move....
"Once it's accepted in American culture that others come before self[—]not as a biblical command[,] but rather [as a] governmental and political duty—it's a short and natural step to socialist takeover, to [a] collectivist win, to communist smashing of the Constitution....The left—the committed, hard-core, communist-like left—doesn't want simple obedience, anyway.
"The[ir] end[-]game is worship. The end game is a population that swoons over government[:] the provider and protector of all that's good....Yes, they'll take the votes for now. But in the end, they want the transformation of this country to be so complete, that citizens' hearts and minds are captured in their propaganda cages[—]never...again [to] be freed. Never again to even want to be freed....If America is to be saved from socialism[,] and rescued from the globalist-minded bureaucrats who'd collect the world's citizens and arrange them within nice, tight corrals to be easily ruled[—]rather than [to] let them roam free[—i]t's the churchgoers and believers and followers of Christ who must take up [the] reins and fight." – pp. 205–9
It's Up to the Believers
"Why the Christians? Why the Bible-readers, why the biblically focused, why the Bible-centered individuals more than any other segment of society—more so than the scholars, the intellectuals[,] and [the] Make America Great Again types[,] of...sovereign[-]nation fame?...
"Judeo-Christians...know [that] all of earthly living is a struggle—that this life is only a blink in [their] preparatory time for the next, permanent, everlasting life....
"We need men and women...who...unashamedly push forward a godly vision of America[,] close to what was conceived in the Mayflower Compact, in the Declaration of Independence, in the Articles of Confederation, in the Constitution, [and] in the writings[,] opinions[,] and essays of [the] framers and [F]ounders[.] And that means insisting on a government of people who are rooted in those very documents, along with the Bible, the Ten Commandments, and the Judeo-Christian system of beliefs and values....
"Anything less and it's just fighting an endless number of battles, but never winning the war. [I]f the greatness of America came by way of a founding that was steeped deep in the philosophy and biblical beliefs of Judeo-Christianity[,] then...the solution to [the] socialism that's rotting our nation is...to circle back to what made us great in the first place....Then it's to boldly insist on a culture and a political world that recognizes and abides [by] these same ideals.
"[I]ndividuals who believe in a higher power don't need man-made laws to keep them in line. They are already constrained by the[ir] higher power. [B]ecause [t]hey are self-governed[,] they aren't willing to accept a government that wants to run their lives[.]
" 'Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom,' Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying....
"Spiritual discernment relies on God for guidance. And it's more than wisdom; it's deeper than knowledge. It's the application of wisdom, yes—but without the fleshly, worldly snares that entrap...and deceive. It's a gift of the Holy Spirit, and it allows the receiver to see beyond the façade and [to] separate the good from the evil, as through the eyes of God....
"Discernment...concern[s] itself with...the godly—or ungodly—motives of [a] philanthropist. Discernment doesn't look at the medical degrees and education status of a bureaucratic spokesperson[.] Discernment doesn't...bend or break with the political or popular[-]culture winds, because discernment comes from above, through the Holy Spirit, like a blazing beacon toward truth. It clears a path[;] it cuts through clutter.
"It's...discernment that shows the lies and deceptions[,] and fills in the blanks of the spiritual battle. 'Beloved,' 1 John 4:1 states, 'do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God'[.]
"America needs [m]ore spiritually[-]discerning people[: m]ore spiritual discerners who can truly see the seeds of socialism before they root and spread. America needs more biblically[-]based spiritual discernment...work[ing] in politics and culture[:] the kind that takes a worldview of Judeo-Christianity first, [and the] Constitution second[.]
"[H]ope...rests with Judeo-Christians seizing the day...by seizing on discernment from above[,] and applying the revelations to the physical plane, in the here and now....
"Christians have a realistic, proper view of humankind as fallen—as sin-filled, as born into sin. And that causes a dependency on God, not government.
"Christians are trained on freedom[:] that Jesus frees [them] from bondage[.]
"Christians are taught...that God grants [them] free will—meaning, individuals are at liberty to choose their own paths[, and] freedom...is...a natural human trait [from] birth.
"Christians are cautioned against judging others—'Do not judge by appearances'[,] John 7:24 states[. T]olerance of others is part...of the faith[.] Acts of tolerance and love, taken together and in proper form, with discernment as the guide, are actually examples of freedom-in-Christ[.] They allow for differences of opinion, differences of speech, differences of dress, [and] differences in personalit[y.]
"Christianity is filled with standards of behavior[al] teachings that encourage followers to practice self-discipline, compassion, charity, humility[,] and...self-control, and to be honest[,] steadfast[,] industrious[,] purposeful[,] and poised[:] partakers of good—and true enemies of evil.
"Christianity recognizes the...specific gifts, talents, [and] spiritual endowments of each...of God's human...creations[. I]ndividualism...is a core facet of the Bible. Jesus wants individual relationships.
"Christianity accepts the idea of absolutes...and never wavers from the fundamental idea: Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Not government.
"Christianity points the way to living for something higher, something intangible and spiritual, [and] not of this earth—which makes...acceptance and recognition of America as a spirit...so much...easier. And that makes the striving to live for something greater than oneself[—]and to honor the sacrifices of those who went before, those who gave [their] blood and sweat and tears so that today's Americans can live free—that makes that striving all the more natural.
"Philip Vander Elst wrote in The Christian Roots of Freedom and Tolerance: 'The historical case for linking the growth of freedom with the development of Judaism and Christianity begins with the observation that the world of classical pagan antiquity was almost entirely hostile to the idea of liberty. With the rare exception of some Stoic philosophers, it had no conception of human rights'[.]
"It's no wonder communist nations seek to drive out God. Collectivism and Christianity can't coexist[.]
"If America is to be free, America needs Christians to get louder. [I]t's...the turning from God, the secularization of the nation, the refusal to uphold biblical standards and morals and values—that opened the door to big, bigger, biggest, even socialist government to enter. It's only by [re-]turning to what worked in the first place that America can recapture and hold for the long term its cherished freedoms.
"That starts with the churches. That starts with national confession and repentance. That starts with the hearts and souls of the people. [I]nteresting[ly,] Alinsky [quotes] John Adams: ' "The [American] Revolution was effected before the war commenced[; t]he Revolution was in the hearts and minds of the people." ' [And concludes,] 'A revolution without a prior reformation would collapse or become a totalitarian tyranny.'....'For God has not given us a spirit of fear,' 2 Timothy 1:7 states, 'but of power and of love and of a sound mind.'
"Socialists in America are...advancing. [T]hey're coming...for the soul of the country. Let us awaken, fall to [our] knees in confession, repentance, and prayer, don spiritual armor, and stop the advance." – pp. 209–18
Epilogue
And the 8 O'Clock Club
"Social media cannot be trusted. Social media cannot be counted upon as a tool for Americans to spread liberty views. Soon enough, there could come a day when freedom[-]focused patriots have nowhere to turn, nowhere to gather[,] nowhere...to wage mass fights against the socialists, the globalists, the collectivists, [and] the communists[.]
"We had a taste of what th[eir] world would look like...when the streets [were] filled with Black Lives Matter protesters[,] Antifa rioters[,] and outright anarchist thugs...bent on destroying any semblance of law and order by defunding and abolishing [the] police...without respect for patriotism[,] freedom, [or] constitutional...and societal standards[,] in the summer of 2020...when looters and rage-filled radicals and Marxist-like militants took over sections of Seattle, Washington[,] where...lunatic[-]fringe insurrection leaders sent out lists of demands to local government that included...end[ing] youth incarceration [and] infusi[ng] 'social equality' into budget matters....We can't rely on government to be the solution—particularly when government...stands by and watches...or...politically preaches[.] We need...Christians and those of faith to grow bolder, louder, and more organized in their appeals on America's behalf.
"[To] summ[arize this book] in a single word[:] Repent. And that means the solution [too] can be summ[arized] in a single word: Jesus....That's truth. [A]ll Americans [must] unite, with a single forceful voice, in a manner that recognizes this truth[,] and that simultaneously sets God, not government, as the leader of this nation. Once we reestablish who's really in charge, the seeds of socialism will naturally wither and die. It's our only hope. Malachi 3." – pp. 219–20
Copyright (c) 2022 Mark D. Blackwell.
