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The Decline and Fall of the United States
RV225-02© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1993)
We are studying Revelation 18:1-24, dealing with political and economic Babylon. This is "Political Babylon," segment number 16.
Reasons for the Fall of the Roman Empire
In 1788, a historian named Edward Gibbon wrote an all-time classic called The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In it, as he analyzed the
records that we have about the progression of Rome from a powerful republic of freedom to where it became an uncontrollable democracy under the
Caesars, he said that this came about because of five things that they allowed to happen. Number one was the undermining of the dignity and sanctity
of the home, which is the basis of human society. Number two, he said was higher and higher taxes – the spending of public money for free bread
and circuses for the populace. Number three was the mad craze for pleasure. Every year, sports were becoming more exciting, more brutal, and more
immoral. Number four was the building of great armaments when the real enemy was within – the decay of individual responsibility. Number five
was the decay of religion – faith fading into mere form; losing touch with life; and, losing power to guide the people.
I think that's amazing. This was his perception in 1788 of what happened to the Roman Empire that finally brought about its demise. I need not point
out to you that that's exactly where we are on each one of these points. We are precisely in tune in America with these exact problems that brought
the Roman Empire down. So, I think from these present trends, we can probably agree that we are on the same path to a nonentity position in the world
as the Roman Empire was.
Gibbon also pointed out that nations progress, he has observed, through a sequence. The sequence is this: they go from bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness
to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; and, from dependence back again to bondage. I need not tell you that we are
down in this country to dependence – dependence upon the government as the provider for the needs of the people. Consequently, the next step
is bondage.
This has happened again and again in the history of great nations, and we would be very naive to think that, in our case, it's going to be any
different. But that's exactly what we would expect to happen, because in the Word of God, the United States is not a power. Something happens that
this superpower unravels, and goes down just as the Soviet Union did. And everything shifts to Western Europe as the base of power in the world, and
the base from which the antichrist works.
When God, near the end of the tribulation, finally does destroy Babylon, He commands the saints in heaven to rejoice. I mean, He commands the
saints to rejoice that this vengeance is being exercised upon those who have ignored God. They are to be happy over the fact that God has executed
for them (these saints in heaven) the very vengeance that they have pronounced against Babylon, who had been their persecutor. As we learned earlier
in the book of the Revelation, the saints under the altar, who were martyred during the tribulation were saying, "O, Lord, O Lord, how long must we
wait? When is vengeance going to be exercised in our behalf?" And the Lord says, "Stand by. We have a few more of your brethren who must be martyred.
But then the vengeance that you have pronounced upon the Babylon system, I will carry out for you.
We have pointed out that vengeance has to be
executed by God. You cannot take your own vengeance. The Bible forbids that because you'll do it wrong. But it is not wrong for you to place those
who are opponents of the Word of God at God's disposal – those who oppose your ministry as a saint of the living God. When your ministry is on
target, compatible with the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, you deliver them to the vengeance of God, and then butt out, and He takes
it from there.
God illustrates to John how completely Babylon is going to be obliterated by comparing it to the throwing of a large stone into the ocean where it
sinks right out of sight. Once Babylon is gone, the site of the city is silent, where once it buzzed with the sounds of a great metropolitan center.
Something very dramatic happens all of a sudden that day, in one hour's time.
The cultural life, first of all, of Babylon, we have seen, will be silenced, as the sounds of musical instruments will be heard no more. In
Revelation 18:22, after the sound of the instruments is silenced (that part of the cultural life), we are told, "And no craftsmen of any craft will
be found in you any longer." The word "craftsmen" is another one of those examples, as we pointed out in the previous session, from which we get our
English words from foreign languages. The word for "craftsmen" is "technites." "Technites" is the origin of the English word "technician." It refers
to skilled and unskilled workers who are producing products. The research and development people, as well as the workers on the factory assembly line,
are included under the word "technites." And out of them there will be no craft ("techne") made. Utilitarian and luxury products made by these
artisans will cease. Actually, literally, we may translate this as: "And all craftsman of all crafts will not be found in you any longer."
Again, I point out to you that the negative "will not" is that you "ou me" – is that very strong phrase. Absolutely, God is going to bring to
an end the production of manufactured goods, and this will no longer be found in Babylon. Factories will be silent because they'll be destroyed by
God as if hit by a bomb.
This is not only going to be true Babylon. Because Babylon is the control center of the world at this time, and the economic center, when it goes
down suddenly, then it affects the production of nations around the world. As you know, there is a constant effort to bring together local
alliances of countries who are going to work together economically, so that what affects one will affect them all. By the time of the tribulation,
these countries are all going to be under one authoritative economic system.
So, a thriving metropolitan center will no longer be there. The prosperous days of manufacturing products and of gathering oil and gas deposits in
the Iraq area will be gone. Business will cease, and there will be no goods for sale.
Then there will be one other thing that describes the total judgment of God on Babylon, and that is that: "The sound of a mill will not be heard in
you any longer." This is referring to the mill that grinds grain, and this illustration represents the whole industry of food production. So, we're
talking about the cultural life of the city. We're talking about the products that are manufactured that people use. And here is a very key thing
that sustains life itself – the food supplies. The sounds of processing and of packaging of food ceases. The food supplies dwindle quickly,
and famine conditions intensify. Those will already be in effect by things that have previously happened.
Please remember that we're talking about the last month or two, if not the last few weeks of the tribulation. We're talking about the bowl judgments,
and they are so severe that nobody could live on this earth very long after they are poured out. So, things come apart so quickly, and they can't
make corrections any longer. This again is indicating that once there was prosperity, but now it is there to be found no more.
Mankind today is very proud of the civilization that it is building on liberal, non-biblical principles under the dominating control of government.
God laughs at the kingdom of man for the joke that it is. When it reaches its climax in the kingdom of the antichrist, and in the capital of Babylon,
He will sweep it away in one hour's time.
The totality of Babylon's destruction is conveyed by the ceasing of its cultural programs; the manufacturing of goods; and, food production. The
economy and the social life of proud Babylon ceases abruptly forever. The good times are no more for the whole world.
No More Lights
In verses 23 and 24, we have the city of doom. Verse 23 says, "And the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer." The light of a lamp will
not ("ou me" – absolutely not) shine in you, the city of Babylon, any longer. As darkness settles that day of the destruction of Babylon (on
the site where Babylon once stood), those who watch from afar will notice that there are no lights. There is no illumination. But this will be even
more significant because I remind you that back in Revelation 16:10, under the fifth bowl judgment, a blanket of darkness was brought down by God
upon Babylon. So, the city hasn't had any sunlight. It has been under this horrendous blanket of darkness: "And the fifth angel poured out his bowl
upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened, and they gnawed their tongues because of pain."
The city will be dependent thereafter on artificial sources of illumination at night. Once Babylon is destroyed and it, as we suggested in the
previous session, the earth opened and swallowed the whole thing, and then closed over it, you will see why there is not even illumination of people
burning candles or lanterns or anything of that nature. Furthermore, the hydroelectric plants will have been affected by the drying up of the
Euphrates River. So, the power supply is down. Earthquakes will probably have toppled transmission lines from distant power sources. So, that's cut
out. The city has already been reduced to the use of candles and fires and a few lanterns for any lighting purposes.
With the city obliterated, God finally puts Babylon's lights out forever, and He is vindicated and honored in that. Babylon, the glamorous city of
lights, ends up in ashes under an ominous darkness.
In our day, there is a city in the world called the City of Lights. That is Paris. But once World War II began, and the French sat behind their
Maginot Line, preparing to fight World War I all over again, the Germans got the brilliant idea: "Hey, let's walk around the end of the Maginot Line.
Forget going through it." Suddenly, the French found themselves with the Germans coming on the other side of their line, because the suckers had gone
around and circumvented the end of the line. Turmoil broke loose in the City of Lights (Paris), as the Germans came bearing down upon the city. And
then lights were extinguished. Overnight, that which had been the City of Lights cowered in fearful darkness, trying to avoid identifying itself to
aircraft bombing, and to making it easier to locate the city by the approaching Germans.
No More Joy
Furthermore, we're told in verse 23 that Babylon not only was a place of darkness, but it is a place where there was no more joy: "The voice of the
bridegroom and the bride will not be heard in you any longer." No more will there be the happy sounds of voices of a bride and bridegroom at a
wedding festivity. What is in mind here is that there will be no happy voices of any social events such as weddings. This is going to be done to the
city by God Himself. Babylon was once a place of joyous sounds, but now silence reigns, even in social events, because the place is gone, and there's
nobody there to rejoice anymore, where once it was the hub of the world's social life.
The New World Order
Then God the Holy Spirit proceeds, at the end of verse 23, to give us the basic reasons for Babylon's eradication from the face of the earth: "For
your merchants were the great men of the earth." Here again, we have a reference to the merchants, and they were continually the great men of the
earth, which means that they were the people who were influencing all mankind. They were the policy makers. They were the people who set the pattern
for life in the tribulation. These merchants are what today we call the insiders. You probably have noticed it doesn't matter whether the Democrats
or the Republicans win an election. It doesn't matter who controls the White House. It doesn't matter who controls Congress. There's a certain
inexorable movement that has been behind the scenes toward a new world order. Now it's more open to us, but this has been going on for about 50
years, except it's been behind the scenes.
There is a group of powerful international financiers who, since the time of World War I, through the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and in more
recent times, the Trilateral Commission, have been the people who have run this country. The 12 or 13 Secretaries of State that we have had during
this time, every one of them has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Admiral Inman, who is the latest nominee, is also a CFR man.
The Council on Foreign Relations publishes a magazine in which it makes recommendations of what these men believe should be done by the American
government. You will discover that if you read these advisements, that within a short time, this is exactly what the government does. People who have
been keeping track of this have wondered, "How can that happen?" There are insiders who do call the plays, and who make the decisions. These
merchants here in the tribulation will be the descendants of these insiders, many of them having come right out of the nations of the world before
the tribulation. They have always ruled nations for Satan in one way or another.
When Babylon first comes to world prominence, it will be a glamorous city which indeed attracts the financial elite of the world. These financiers
become wealthy through their subjection to Babylon, who governs the whole world, and so controls international finances. The greatness of the
merchants is due to their wealth, not to their quality of character.
It is quite clear, to men who have made studies of this, that these international financiers following the great wars like World War I and World War
II, have kept certain nations in poverty and in privation while they position themselves to come in and to have the dominant positions in those
countries. This is happening today all over the Eastern Bloc nations, including Russia herself. Powerful American corporations and powerful American
financial families have positioned themselves in those countries so that they are now the beneficiaries of enormous wealth. This has been a
systematic control exercised by the insiders.
These volunteers become wealthy because they play ball with Babylon. These men do not have quality of character. You may have noticed, as I have,
that there are men who are shallow and uncultured, and who lack integrity, and money makes them the great men of the world who influence mankind as
the world's beautiful people. These are the people who have money. These are the people who are in positions of public prominence, and who are the
pattern setters for us. These are making pronouncements. Congress will call them to testify at committees. They love to bring Hollywood entertainers
in there to testify before congressional committees. Why? These people are lowlifes. They have a skill for entertainment in the dramatic world, but
they themselves are people of low quality. But money gives them influence.
So, these money-makers are not really the beautiful people that the world calls them to be. They are in fact part of a world system which is destined
for divine destruction, and they, along with it, by being cast themselves into the lake of fire. While biblical Christians (people such as you and I)
are viewed by the world's great men as ignorant nonentity losers, the Christians are in fact the world's beautiful people.
The World's View of Christians
One commentator made the mistake (I wish I could remember his words exactly) of describing biblical Christians (which they like to describe as the
religious right) as being ignorant, and mindless, and unthinking followers. Could you imagine a public media (a public commentator) saying that about
any other group, and the outrage that would break out? But nobody got excited. They say terrible things about us as Christians, but nobody cares
about it. Nobody is distressed because they think that Christians deserve that kind of treatment. But if you dare say that about some minority group,
and the outrage will be heard from here to Timbuktu.
Christians are part of God's future reign on earth through Jesus Christ in the Millennial Kingdom. Christians are really the great ones of the earth,
because they're destined to govern the Millennial Kingdom of God under Jesus Christ the King.
So, take the flak, folks. Take the scuff and the ridicule, and that nasty phrase, which has now developed, "the Christians," to describe those who
are the people who cause trouble in our society. The Christians are the real people, and God knows it. And sometimes the people who now run the
world (the insiders) are going to learn it too.
Sorcery ("Pharmakia")
So, God says, "For your merchants were the great men of the earth." Why were they great? "Because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. The
international businessmen of Babylon were looked up to as great leaders. People of the world were deceived by them. They were something to see. These
men were intelligent; they were worldly; and, they were sophisticated in financial matters. They were deceived in accepting the authority of the
antichrist and the domination of Babylon upon them. How could this happen? What was it? It says, "By your sorceries." This is another one of those
Greek words from which we get an important English word. The Greek word is "pharmakia." Obviously, you see that we get the word "pharmacy" from this.
Drugs
This is the word in the New Testament for "drugs," and drugs are always associated with reaching the demon world. Occult powers are reached through
the use of drugs. And Babylon, because of occult powers given to her by Satan, was able to perform miracles, especially through the false prophet.
This supernatural power from Satan is what convinces the world's leaders (these financiers) that Babylon is the agent of the gods. And the use of
drugs and sorcery has induced altered states of consciousness, which have deceived the insiders that they come into touch with something divine.
This is what Babylon has given people in its idolatry. It not only gives you idols, but it has led into the drug culture. When you're in that state,
you feel that you have touched that which is the divine. What you have touched is the world of the occult, the world of Satan.
So, Babylon's sorceries gave her a bewitching attraction to these men. The merchants were made wealthy by joining Babylon in a religion of idolatry
(primarily the worship of the antichrist), and in going along with her government domination over the citizens. The religion of Babylon promoted
indulgence and abominable practices, acts of the old sin nature filthiness. Only the believers at the time are not going to be deceived about
Babylon's true nature.
So, all nations join the antichrist for financial gain in the united, humanistic culture with demonic power at their disposal. Babylon seemed eternal,
but God suddenly wipes out the city; the culture; the religion; and, the commerce off the map. Babylon becomes a dead, nonexistent city forever:
"Because all the nations were deceived by your sorceries."
Verse 24: "And in her was found." This introduces another reason for God's destructive wrath against Babylon, because God has observed something
else in this city: "In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints." Babylon is found guilty of murdering over the centuries the spokesman of
God and the people of God. The blood shedding of Babylon will be at an intensified state in the tribulation era. This is exemplified by the martyrs
that I referred to a moment ago in Revelation 6. These were good people. These were the really beautiful people, but they would not take the mark of
the beast. So, they became martyrs. Their blood was shed in the tribulation.
Revelation 6:9-11: "Then He broke the fifth seal, and I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God,
and because of the testimony which they had maintained. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'How long O Lord, holy and true, will You
refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?' And there was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told
that they should rest for a little while longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed, even as they had
been, should be completed also." This is very significant. These saints are saying, "We want vengeance." It is not wrong to want vengeance upon those
who are the opponents (the enemies) of God. We want the enemies of God to be stopped. We want them undermined. We want them stopped dead in their
tracks. You just have to remember one thing: you can't execute the vengeance. You have to leave that with God to do. These saints in heaven are very
rightly calling upon God to do that.
Now, when He finally brings Babylon down, you can bet your boots that these people that we have just read about are going to be up front cheering
and yelling and clapping and rejoicing as God had told them to do.
So, in her (in Babylon) was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth." That's an interesting addition.
The word "slain" refers to an act of murder here by the hands of Babylon's devotees. This is a word which is in the perfect tense in the Greek. That
means that it was done in the past. So, we're talking about centuries past of innocent godly people being put to death by Babylon's religious and
governmental systems. The result continues to the very day that Babylon exists in the tribulation with an accumulation of these martyrs. This is in
the passive voice. It means that it was done to these people by Babylon. And it says, "To all who have been slain on earth." So, we're talking about
worldwide persecution of believers over the centuries. The religions which Babylon has spawned are inspired by Satan so that they seek to kill the
true believers.
That takes place today. Babylon has always wanted to kill people like you and me – people who are loyal to God, whom she could not deceive,
and she could not corrupt with her cup of abominations and filthiness. This murderous practice is part of the reason that God brings such total
obliteration upon Babylon. She was the instigator of this martyrdom.
This persecution of God's people has been in the name of the idol gods which have been worshiped by these nations. Believers, I should remind you,
have also been persecuted not only by these idolatrous religions. These religions in Salon, India are trying to get the government to pass laws
against Christians testifying so that they can protect Buddhism, because the Christians are making so many converts. If these people were in charge,
they would simply take the lives of these Christians, and those devotees indeed do. But I want to remind you that there are certain religious groups
that call themselves monotheist, but they are pseudo (imitating and false) monotheistic. Among them is Islam, who worships idols in one way or
another. And certainly the Roman Catholic Church has its idols of its saints. And these people have been in the forefront of shedding the blood of
believers. No one has shed more blood of born-again people than has the Roman Catholic Church.
Fascism
Babylon's murder of Christians is also done through governmental agencies (governmental entities), I need not remind you, such as communism. During
World War II, this included fascism. Fascism, you remember, is where the government lets you keep your own factory, but it tells you how to run it;
how much to produce; and, everything about conducting your business. This is what Hitler did in Germany. This is what Mussolini did in Italy. That's
what the word "fascism" refers to. Isn't it interesting that the American government today is talking about distributing government benefits and
finances to encourage certain industries to be promoted and to be able to prosper because the government decides that it needs those industries, and
the government will regulate what they do? That's fascism.
God's destruction of Babylon avenges the murder of His children by Babylon and by her descendants. So, Babylon is going to end in joyless, dark
silence. It will be a monument to the holy vengeance of God.
Equality
Satan has a goal that is triggering all this, and that goal is equality. Get that word: equality. First of all, I must remind you, from all we have
read and see here as we've come through Revelation 17-18, that God's anger is so great because Satan and his demons are not a bunch of naughty,
mischievous little fuzz balls. They are smart; they're cunning; they're mean; they're obscene; they're filthy; they're sophisticated; they're
ingratiating; they're accommodating; and, they're dedicated to their cause. What is their cause? Their cause is to achieve the goal of their master
Satan, which is to be like God, and to be independent of their Creator's authority.
The target of this battle with Satan is the believers today. We are the agency that Satan wants to bring down. Before Jesus Christ ascended to
heaven, He was that agent. Now it is against us. How is Satan seeking to reach his goal of equality, which is what the tribulation is going to be
all about? People are going to be so happy that everything is equal. He is primarily seeking to create a perfect social environment on planet earth,
which is now under his control. The world's culture is ugly. You only need to read 1 John 2:15-17 to see how ugly the culture of the world is. A
major technique in reaching Satan's objective to be like God is getting the societies of the world to seek equality, while destroying esteem for
individual liberty: "Forget your personal freedom. Take our national health card, and you will be cared for from the womb to the tomb. Forget all
the things that you think you need to pursue in life on your own effort. The government will supply them for you."
I remember a lady some months ago speaking to Congressman Frost. And this gal was substantial to look at, and she was berating the congressman for
not doing his job. And after she said quite a few things, and I was sitting there listening to her, she finally summarized it so effectively. She
said, "Remember, Congressman, we sent you to Washington to get us some money." I said, "Boy, you're right on target, lady. You know exactly how the
system works. You have a legitimate right to put that pressure on, because that's the kind of people you elected."
The reason for being willing to destroy personal liberty for equality is to have a system that Satan can control. Equality is unattainable. You can
have dictatorial control over people, but you can's establish equality. The Soviet Union demonstrated that. But Satan thinks that he can control the
old sin nature in man so as to achieve a perfect society on earth without God. He can make us all equal.
However, when you look in the Word of God, you will find that equality is not what the Word of God promises. What the Word of God tells us is that
we will have freedom in Christ. We will have people trying to dissuade us from the freedom concept. Satan thinks that he can control, and form a
perfect society, if everybody's equal. Here's the tactical plan.
We need to look at systems of government. This is right in keeping so that you'll understand the background of the tribulation structure. In keeping
with his objectives, Satan has devised systems of social organization which are dedicated to creating equality in a society. Socialism and communism
are among them. These systems destroy individual liberty for the idea of returning the will-of-the-wisp premise of equality. The pursuit of equality,
however, always leads to dictatorship. The only equality that we can have in a society that government can provide is equal opportunity to exercise
our unequal abilities. That's what the Constitution ensures to us. That's what the Declaration of Independence called upon government to do – to
create a climate in which we all have equal opportunity to exercise our unequal abilities. All men under these systems are promised equal material
benefits in a society, even though the squelching of individual liberty has made the society economically unproductive.
So, all they end up sharing is shortages and lack of necessities. If you take away a person's incentive to enjoy the fruits of his labor, he will
not knock himself out.
When Mrs. Danish and I were visiting Eastern Europe a few years ago, we were in Prague, and we went into a restaurant, and sat up at a counter, and
they were serving a pretty nice meal. It was like a half a chicken baked. When we had finished, we wanted to pay the bill. Here were all these
waitresses. They smoked like crazy there. That's why the tobacco companies are moving into Europe in a big way with advertising. And these waitresses
were all there against the wall, puffing away. We were trying to get their attention: "Please, we want to pay you." Even though they understood in
their own language what I was saying, they just ignored me. We could have walked out of there. I don't know whether they would have chased us or not.
We could have run and hid behind Jan Hus's statue. It was right out there in the square. They'd have never found us. But these characters didn't
care. They were going to get paid the same thing whether they did their job or not. That was so prevalent everywhere.
If you take away the incentive to make equality, which is what these people had, and all they had was equal nothing. So, Satan and his demons are
now in our day becoming more frenzied as time is running out for them. The return of the Lord is near.
So, the level of violence of secret police coercion and cruelty is steadily mounting in the world to make people conform in order to be equal. Our
president is meeting with Assad of Syria. Assad ruled over a police state, the likes of which Hitler would have been proud of. You cannot do anything
without government permission in Syria. There is total police state control. But everybody is equal. Everybody gets everything free.
The goal of equality is contrary to God's plan. God says, "I want you to know the truth, and the truth of doctrine will make you free."
Ignorance of this issue in the United States is destroying our nation and our way of life which is based on personal freedom. We are being
overwhelmed today with laws which steadily erode individual liberty for the vain promise of equality. This is being done to the greatest; the most
generous; the most prosperous; and, the kindest society that this world has ever seen – in the American people. Yet, failure to make our youth
aware of divine viewpoint origin of the capitalistic system of our society based on individual liberty has made fools even of our college students;
their professors; and, the lawmakers.
Please don't be deceived by any preacher, no matter how famous, who tells you that the Bible does not commend a certain economic system. That is not
true. You know yourself, from your own reading of Scriptures, that you'd have to be dumb, stupid, blind, and not too smart not to see that the Bible
commends private ownership of property. Do you remember Ananias and Sapphira that we looked at in the previous session? The Bible commends strictly
private ownership. It is yours to do with as you please. The American heritage of individual liberty comes from this.
Representative Government
There are two systems of representative government.
A Representative Democracy
One form of representative government is representative democracy. How does it work? People periodically go to the polls. By majority vote, they
select rulers as their representatives. These rulers then come to some kind of an assembly, like a Congress. There, by majority vote, they have
absolute power to make any laws they please to govern the people. That's democracy. You will notice that in this system, the order is this:
government; and, then law. Government makes the laws. That's backwards from Scripture, and it's backwards from all the American system. Get this
clue. Under representative democracy, government is supreme, and it determines everything. This is how Russia works. So, Russia can say, "Number
one comes the government, and here are the laws. You can do this, and this, and this. The people may say, "But we don't want to do this." The
government replies, "Shut up. You don't have any say in this. The government allots you your freedoms, because we are going to have everybody equal."
Representative democracy is designed to create equality. The goal with this system is equality, and democracy gradually concentrates power in a
single absolute authority over the people, which is, of course, what happened in Russia.
You would be mistaken if you didn't understand that Russia was a democracy. It was a representative democracy. This is why our founding fathers
hated democracy with a purple passion, and they used to get out these large volumes of historical records. They gathered in that state house in
Philadelphia, and they would read what had happened to democracies in their past. I think it was Madison that said, "Democracies have historically
been as violent in their deaths as they have been uncontrollable in their exercise of power." This was a very impressive statement, and he was
exactly right. So, when the founders wrote the Constitution, they were very careful not to give us a representative democracy. And they didn't call
us democracy for that reason.
A Constitutional Republic
The second form of representative government is a constitutional republic. Under this, people periodically go to the polls, and by majority vote,
they select rulers. These rulers, by majority vote, have power now to make laws, but they must make laws under the restrictions and limitations of a
written constitution, which only the people themselves can change. Do you see the difference? This is the biblical order. First comes law, and then
comes government. And with us, the laws is the Constitution, and the Constitution is based upon a biblical frame of reference. Therefore, the
government can only do certain things. It is not free-wheeling to do what it wants to do. That's why the Constitution says, "The government of the
United States shall be a republican form of government." Republicanism is a form of government. What they're saying is that law comes first, based
upon the law of God. The Constitution is the law of the land.
That's why it's so important when you go into military service, or when you go into
public office (such as Congress), you take an oath. And every one of those oaths has the phrase in it that: "I will protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States without any mental reservations to evade thereof" (something to that effect). I had to say those words when I was
sworn into commission in the Marine Corps. I'm going to the military, and I have to protect the Constitution without any mental reservation to evade
in any way. Why? Well, because if this is gone, the law is gone, and, boy, there's no control over government.
So, under this system of a republic, these representatives do not have absolute power over us. What they have is limited power by the constitution.
Furthermore, a republic keeps power distributed, through a system of checks and balances, so that no one group can become all-powerful in the
republic. This way, individual liberty is preserved.
What's the problem? The problem is that the courts are supposed to protect the law status of the Constitution, and that's what has been eroded.
Somebody said that at least 50 to 60% of the laws of the United States are contrary to the Constitution of the United States in the limitations that
it places upon the legislatures.
The goal (the ideal) of a democracy is universal equality, so you have a representative democracy. The ideal of a republic is individual liberty, so
you have a constitutional republic. These two goals are important because they're mutually exclusive, and equality is unattainable.
What produces the tribulation world and the world of the antichrist (the new world order and his world government) is the system of representative
democracy. That's what finally leads again in his time, as it did under Joseph Stalin with the Russians, to where one man can simply send you to
your death because he makes the laws: government; and, then the laws, rather than the laws based upon the laws of God; and, then government subject
to that. These two goals are mutually exclusive. The only equality possible is that all men in the eyes of God before the law are permitted to have
their individual liberty.
The American Revolution
We have two great examples of how this worked out. In 1776, the American colonists went to war with Britain and the American Revolution began. The
Declaration of Independence made the statement that all men are created equal before their Creator, and thus before the law. There it was again.
First there was God, then law based upon the laws of God. Jefferson was quite right in saying that. This did not ignore for one moment the obvious
inequalities in human society due to difference of personal abilities, or character, and so on. But government was viewed as ordained by God. It was
the divine institution of nationalism given to Noah, and it was designed to protect what the Declaration of Independence called certain unalienable
rights: life; liberty; and, the pursuit of happiness. Originally, for "the pursuit of happiness." they had written "private property ownership"
(something like that). Then they didn't like how that phrase sounded, so they scratched it out, and they replace it with "the pursuit of happiness,"
because to them, the pursuit of happiness was being able to enjoy the fruits of your labor, and spend your money as you chose. So, it was the same
idea.
The governments were viewed as ordained by God to protect liberty. The goal of the American Revolution was a constitutional republic, and maximum
individual liberty in an organized society without chaos. The only way you can have freedom without chaos is to have a system that begins with law,
and then the government underneath it being controlled on what it may do to the people.
How many kids in school have been taught that? When do you remember being taught this – so that you could grow up and be an outraged citizen
over what is being done by Congress. Once these men get into Congress, the Constitution doesn't mean a hill of beans to them. They consider
themselves a democracy. And what they all getting up to decide to do, there no one who is going to stop them. The American Revolution was led by
uncommon men, and the people of our country followed these men into freedom, and they wanted to become like these men in their stature; in their
education; and, and in their example.
The French Revolution
13 years later, in 1789, the French Revolution came along. They had helped us to win our revolution, and now the French had a revolution. The battle
cry of the French Revolution was "Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood." ... Now, this revolution very quickly turned into a representative democracy, and
the primary thing that was sought was equality and brotherhood. Liberty fell through the cracks. It was just for a few people on the top. They were
the ones who had liberty, just like under the king (under the monarchy). The spirit of hatred for individual superiority is what came to the top in
the French Revolution, and that resulted in trying to level people down, and they did that by means of the guillotine. They chopped people's heads
off if you were an achiever. If you were an achiever, and you stood head and shoulders above the rest of the people, they cut your head off. And that
generally levels a person pretty well when you do that. And it did create a certain quality among people.
The French Revolution, with its idea of equality – where did it lead? It was so dramatically different from the American Revolution, with its
pursuit of personal freedom. The pursuit of equality of France turned into such chaos that, finally, a young lieutenant named Napoleon Bonaparte
faced-off with the mob, because he was an artilleryman, which was his specialty, and which gave him his claim to great success later. And he laid a
few well-targeted shots from his cannon down upon the mob, and they lost their taste for any more equality. The result was that Napoleon took over,
and a great bloodbath then followed from those Napoleonic wars.
What the American system did was produce sensational material prosperity for a maximum number of people, and the United States became a beacon of
hope for all mankind, as is expressed on the Statue of Liberty. Our constitutional republic is now ferociously under attack by those calling for a
limitation on individual liberties in exchange for government promises of material security and equality. Such a role demands a gradual conversion
from a constitutional republic to a representative democracy, so as to remove these limitations upon the people who make the laws, and that's what's
happening.
United States is playing into Satan's hands, trading freedom for equality, so that Satan can enslave the people into his perfect millennium without
God. This is the reason that the American constitution is viewed today by liberals as a plot against the people, because it secures the blessings of
liberty to ourselves and to our posterity. That includes the use of your own money as you choose.
The American Constitution
The Constitution of 1787 was ordained to safeguard the principle of liberty which had been proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence of 1776.
The two are connected. The writers of the Constitution were openly concerned to protect the new nation against democracy. They saw the danger in
mindless tyranny possible by majority rule without constitutional restrictions. So, thank God, when we say the Pledge of Allegiance, we say, "I
pledge allegiance to the United States of America, the democracy?" No, "the republic". Yet, the politicians are all talking about democracy. Isn't
that interesting? But we pledge allegiance to a republic because that's what the Constitution says that we have. Changes can be made in the
Constitution, but not too easily. The Constitution is a grief to Satan because it protects us against both anarchy and tyranny, which grow from
equality. And, certainly it stifles, ultimately, spiritual freedom.
The Believer and Liberty
Let's sum it up: the believer and liberty. The place of maximum freedom for any individual in the United States today is functioning under our
constitutional system as a constitutional republic, and we are to develop personal spiritual growth to the super grace level – using the grace
system of orientation to build those five facets of the spiritual maturity structure of the soul. The Christian who is at super grace level,
functioning on doctrine and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, within a country of freedoms such as ours, has the greatest potential for happiness;
the greatest potential for personal prosperity; and, the greatest potential for doing good everywhere that he looks. It all requires one thing:
keep your hands off the people's money; keep your hands off the people's freedom; and, keep the bureaucrats out of the authority that the
Constitution never gave them over our lives.
Such a Christian, however, I should remind you, is going to be under maximum satanic attack. Christians with a spiritual maturity structure are the
things that are standing in Satan's way of creating this society of equality without God. Christians with a spiritual maturity structure are the
preserving salt of individual liberty in a nation like ours, and they're hate because they see through the fraud of equality created by government.
Satan's demons are constantly seeking to divert the Christian from doctrine through negative oblation in order to cause spiritual reversionism, and
thus loss of orientation to liberty.
The doctrinally oriented Christian who is the one who understands freedom in Christ, and he is the one who is a zealot for protecting that freedom.
It is because we, as the United States, are losing that, and will lose it, that this nation is not a factor in the end times. The ultimate end of the
tribulation will be the product of representative democracy. Thank God that you were born in a nation where law comes first, and then comes the
government to operate under those laws. And the first law is the law of God.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1993
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