The last post should have made it clear that we need to love people, but there is one type of counterfeit that I want to address specifically: getting caught up in any ideology.

“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” or so the saying goes. And many ideologies do have good intentions, including Communism and Socialism.

But as history has proved, the fruits of Communism, Socialism, and many other ideologies with good intentions are anything but good.

The Savior was right when He said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

But even good ideologies can have bad fruits when taken too far. For example, the ideology of liberty, taken too far, leads to anarchy.

Unfortunately, ideologies do have a tendency to be taken too far, and the surest sign of that happening is when the ideology, or the ideologues that fuel it, will not compromise for any reason.

Refusal to compromise usually leads to seeing ideological opposition as evil, and thoughts like that easily lead to justifying harm done to other people. And we know from the post about charity that loving people is what we should be aiming for. Also, refusal to compromise usually leads to anger against those who will not accept the ideology, and anger is the worst disease of the Last Days.

In other words, avoid becoming radicalized.

If you decide to follow an ideology, be sure to put people first, and be sure it is a good one, one that actually helps people.

And whatever you do, set it aside if it isn’t helping.