From a perspective of dialectic materialism the have's have become very prosperous while the have-not's get religion as their opiate for the masses.History reads like a slow descent into the 9th level of hell.
So whats the downside?
From what I gather,the opiate is death itself, the death consequent to worshipping that which is not God because some slithering low life taught them that to defy the first commandment is the most sacred and holy expression for the object of their devotion, a false god and his earthly representative, the devil who tricked them..
Once dead and under the condemnation of God they are lost in the dark, incapable of critical thinking and objective honest self-awareness. Without a connection to God or a functioning brain they become dependent on the ones have who tricked them and then (for a nominal service charge) turn to the image and likeness of a serpent instead of God for healing and guidance condemning themselves to be perpetually held in captivity, religiously addled, religiously fleeced.
The ones who resist assimilation are still thrown to the lions, the public circus still the favorite pastime of the insane.
Deception, half truths, manipulation, fear and intimidation, threats of real and imaginary violence, all to get them on their knees in front of a blood drinking flesh eating actor in a silly costume on a gilded stage in a deliberate and brazen defiance of the divine commands which leads to death, the surrender of their minds and consequently their will..
This is how the devil uses the power of death to accumulate possessions, whatever the religion. Works like a charm.
Their victims walk away convinced that they just had a spiritual experience and they did, just not a very good one.
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