I’ve been turning this over in myhead ever since i attended a Bernie Rally with some democrat friends a few years back. Since then conversations about billionaires have gotten so personal and wacky that I want to look at it biblically.

For instance, when folks start singling out successful people like Elon Musk, painting them as the problem that needs fixing through higher taxes and public shaming, it strikes me as less about social justice and more about coveting. Coveting what someone else built and then using the power of government to take a piece of it. That’s the quiet theft our “thou shall not covet” commandment warns against.

I won’t put all the blame on democrats, but they more frequently dress “coveting” up in the language of “they need to pay their fair share.” So when I see someone like Musk and observe the whole democratic socialist push that Bernie Sanders, AOC, Mondoni and rest – the unbiblical nature of it becomes clear to me.

Again take Elon Musk. He’s not a Christian. And doesn’t even claim to be a republican. He’s just a smart man who has opinions, took enormous personal risks, poured his own resources into companies that actually created value, thousands of jobs, real technological progress in the very green things liberals worship and desire – electric vehicles and space travel, things that serve the planet, customers, and move society forward.

From where I sit as someone who’s spent years stewarding my finances, buildings businesses and taking real-estate risks. I think Ive done pretty well and it feels a lot like the diligence Scripture honors in Proverbs: “the hand of the diligent makes rich, and wise stewardship multiplies what God has entrusted.” Of course I’ve made some big mistakes along the way too, but I’m learning from them.

Musk’s much more substantial success didn’t come from taking from others by force; it came through voluntary exchange ( people willing to back his ideas), innovation, luck, and bearing the downside when things went wrong. The Bible doesn’t condemn that. It condemns the “love of money” as a root of evil and “the oppression of workers,” and it never treats wealth creation itself as suspect or an “unfair” proposition. The bible does however speak about impartiality. Which means we need to judge the man by his fruit. How many jobs he created and the value delivered. Not by the size of his balance sheet.

Now contrast that with Bernie Sanders and the democratic socialist movement he’s helped shape. For years the message has been that people like Musk owe society more simply because they succeeded bigger than they did. It’s the same class-based resentment I’ve witnessed my entire life. Liberal politicians singling out a whole group of high achievers for punishment because their success offends their zero-sum worldview (one person or group can only gain if another loses. Nothing is created; things just get redistributed). I call this the worldview of crazy people. And, “the rhetoric that fuels bitterness, hatred, and votes.” They look at someone else’s rewards and immediately feel entitled to a share of them. James 4:1-2 nails it: fights and battles are within us – mostly from coveting things that belong to our neighbors. Democrats are right now trying to convince their base to covet the wealth of others. They are getting organized to demand punitive redistribution. Again, there’s nothing new here, we just dont read our bibles as much as we used to, a reminder that this starts looking like the very partiality Leviticus 19:15 forbids: “don’t be partial to the poor or defer to the great; judge in righteousness.” Targeting Musk, billionaires, or the 1% as a class violates the impartiality God demands just as much as favoritism toward the rich does.

What troubles me even more is how this movement often takes on a cult-like character that feels more rigid and ideological than anything you see in the so-called “billionaires club.” The billionaires aren’t monolithic like political parties. They’re individuals who built different things through different paths, and many of them give away enormous sums of their wealth voluntarily. They have no forced loyalty test, no requirement or desire to chant slogans or view dissent as moral treason. They seem much more civil and brighter than those who covet their wealth. In the democratic socialist world, disagreement gets treated as betrayal and they organize against all opposition to gain power. They say, “You’re either on the side of “the people” or you’re part of the oppressor class.” It creates an us-versus-them fervor that echoes the false teachers and divisive spirits Scripture warns about in places like Matthew 24 and other scriptures (I wrote about this when I studied Matthew). This political cult promises a kind of secular salvation through state power and enforced equity, downplaying personal responsibility, merit, and the fallenness of human nature. It actually makes these utopian schemes dangerous. The politics of class warefare has become closer to a religious ideology than a simple policy debate. And listen up – it’s deeply unbiblical because it replaces God’s impartial scales with man-made class warfare and replaces voluntary generosity with the coercive taking of certain people’s money (this is why I’ve long been a fan of a flat tax).

As someone who’s tried to live frugally with my wife, manage real assets across internation borders, and keep God first in retirement, I’ve seen how bitterness like this poisons the hearts of many friends, and especially those who like to steal what they have not worked for. It blinds people to the truth that wealth isn’t a fixed pie to be sliced up by politicians. If done honestly, it only grows through risk and effort that benefits others too.

I must also say: The Bible calls the wealthy to hold their resources loosely and give generously (1 Timothy 6:17-19), and it especially calls the rest of us to contentment and diligence rather than envy (Hebrews 13:5, Proverbs 14:30). So when the conversation shifts from equal rules for everyone to punishing success as a category, we’ve left impartial, merit-based justice behind and stepped into something that Scripture calls SIN!

This is why I keep coming back (late into the night) to the color-blind, merit-based approach we started with. GOD SHOWS NO PARTIALITY (Romans 2:11). He judges hearts and works, not your net worth or political tribe. Whether it’s Musk building rockets or small business owners like Jackie and me, down the road, the standard is the same: God always rewards honest effort, He corrects real wrongdoing, and we need to refuse to let envy or class resentment write the rules politically.

The democratic socialist impulse, with its focus on taking from the successful (rich) to satisfy the resentful (poor), fails that test of impartiality. It cultivates the very bitterness James warns against and substitutes the state forcing people against their will (coercion) for the voluntary, heart-transformed generosity of the New Testament.

I’m griping a bit now, but I also pray the Lord would soften hearts on every side – those who have much and those who have less – so we can see each other as image-bearers of Christ rather than economic classes. Impartiality isn’t popular in a divided age, but it’s the path that honors the impartial Judge who weighs us all by the same righteous standard. We need to get back to the basics of scripture in the public square. The parties should debate what greed is, what envy is, what coveting looks like, and what impartiality looks like. This is the freedom and clarity I’ve found walking and talking with Jesus through these questions.