We live in a time when it is almost illegal to point out biblical sin. Idolatry, Cursing the name of God, Keeping the day of worship, Respect and obey your parents and elders, Do not kill (In any way including Abortion), Do Not commit adultery (Almost laughable today because so many fail to even marry.), Do not steal (Our Police don’t have time to even police theft now.), Do not lie (You only need to look at politics to see that today the crime is not to lie but to get caught lying.), Do not covet your neighbour's goods (In this Godless society what don’t we covet?) None of these commandments are considered relevant anymore and Christians are considered to be and intolerant nuisance. In the secular world if Christians stick their necks out by bringing the truth of the Word of God to bare on wickedness of the people then they will be persecuted through prosecution.
The Ten Commandments of Exodus chapter twenty state:
The Ten Commandments
- You shall have no other Gods but me.
- You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it.
- You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
- You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy.
- Respect your father and mother.
- You must not commit murder.
- You must not commit adultery.
- You must not steal.
- You must not give false evidence against your neighbour.
- You must not be envious of your neighbour's goods. You shall not be envious of his house nor his wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour.
The Ten Commandments above are a foundation to the laws that our Western Societies are founded on. Non God fearing folk want to ignore these laws and to have what they call a more tolerant and open society. A place where everyone has the freedom to do as they please as long as it doesn’t interfere with anyone else. What they don’t realise is that you can only have that freedom if God’s laws underpin your society. The world they are living in is a hybrid of Good and Evil. Once the law is completely removed and replaced by evil that freedom no longer exists. Then they will find themselves in the a Dark and Satanic Kingdom where their only right is complete obedience to their the devil. A world of complete lawlessness and utter tyranny. A place where horror is routine and hatred, malice and contempt are the fruit of the spirit of evil. A place best described in the book of Genesis as Sodom and Gomorrah epitomised by the actions of Ahab (King of Israel), and his infamous wife Jezebel in the book of Kings in the service of Baal.
You can’t have a society without moral values and have freedom. You can have a hybrid society of good and evil but eventually the people either repent and follow God or, continue in sin and end up facing the judgement of God. Most people in their right minds don’t want to live in an evil and unsafe society like Sodom and Gomorrah. These people were so evil that the men of the city wanted, one of their citizens, Lot to give them the Angels that came to take him out of the way of God’s judgement. This so that they could have carnal knowledge of them. The Angels smote them with blindness and even that didn’t stop them trying to find a way into Lot’s house to have their way with them. Lets face it, the world we live in kills unborn innocent babies by using the most barbaric methods and no one raises an eyebrow. How different is our society from that of Sodom and Gomorrah? How far are we from the point at which God decides to judge this society. You can read in Genesis chapter nineteen what happened to the cities of the Dead Sea Plain.
The Greek philosopher Plato described the various types of government which unfold in a kind of perpetual cycle over time. In his opinion first came Aristocracy or the rule of a King. Secondly followed Timocracy or the rule of benevolent or often more accurately a benign military rule. This is followed, thirdly, in Plato’s opinion by Oligarchy which is rule by wealth and land holding or the Free Market. The final, or fourth type of legitimate government is Democracy or rule by liberty and equality where the people vote to make laws and choose representatives. Aristotle called this the rule by many or the free citizenry. Plato believed this cycle of government always lead ultimately to to tyranny or “Rule by fear, without just laws; like a despot.” Plato also believed that a perfect Republic contained a blend of all of these types of government and the ultimate goal was to create a government that avoided Tyranny for as long as possible and at all costs.
We see the tension between the types of government that Plato considered played out in real life in the Roman Empire. Rome had it all: Aristocracy, Timocracy, Oligarchy and Democracy in various configurations through the seven hundred years of the Empire. The Romans employed all of Plato and Aristotle’s collective wisdom to save Western Civilisation as the Empire began to decline and fall. Changing to Christianity as the state religion and incorporating the pagan elements in that new hybrid religious Church State. Attempting to ensure that a scaffold was put in place to sustain unity of government in Europe and to halt the decline into anarchy and eventual tyranny by making certain that enough of the key structures of government survived the transition from Empire to Church State.
Probably the closest governments to Plato and Aristotle’s model of blended government have been the British Empire and in the current United States of America. The British Empire was far from perfect but God allowed righteousness to prosper in the British people and the Christian Church that other type of Government resulted from the freedom to share the gospel of Jesus Christ during the Empire’s period of influence. America has been an interesting blend of righteousness balanced against the wickedness. I don’t know if Plato and Aristotle counted the influence that the one true creator God could have on the government of a nation. Anymore than they factored in the negative influence of Satan and his forces of darkness. The United States as we see it right now is the principal actor to usher in the New World Order. The New World Order will enact Plato’s worst fears. A sustained period of Tyranny and Lawlessness.
I doubt that many people realise that God represents all that is good in the universe. He embodies love, light and righteousness. In our world he is the champion of the lost, the embattled and the disenfranchised. He loved mankind so much that he came to us as the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, that he might redeem us from our sins and that we might have eternal life. So that we might live in glory with God fulfilling the destiny that God has had for us since the day he created Adam and Eve. His purpose is to demonstrate the righteousness is the only wise and true form of government and that there is no greater act of love than when a God lays down his own life as a human being to provide a path back to a restored relationship with Jehovah Elohim through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Satan was once a great and glorious ArchAngel. Probably the most powerful being in the Universe next to God himself. He was perfect until sin was found in him. He embodies hatred and unrighteousness. He rules through tyranny and gives no quarter to anyone or anything. His hatred of God is such that he deliberately subverted the work of creation here on Earth and usurped the place of man becoming the Prince of this World. Most of the people in his service don’t truly understand Satan or his plans for mankind and the Earth. Part of his revenge against God for casting him from heaven will be the total annihilation of mankind from the face of the Earth and the destruction of every aspect of God’s perfect creation. Those who worship him in his various guises are simply and completely deceived. He is a master liar and is the Prince of Deception. Loyalty is not in his nature and he will casually reward a lifetime of service with a knife in the back. Those who are valuable to him are only valuable for their skills in the pursuit of wickedness. Beyond that he has no sentimentality or attachment to his tools. Serve him and die or fail him and die. It matters not to the devil. Tyranny is his only aim, that and to take the place of Jehovah God on the throne in heaven. His greatest motivation is to oppose and if possible to destroy people’s faith in God so that they are eternally separated from God. If he could he would destroy God and all of the Creation and then to supplant himself on the throne of God. Ultimately he is doomed and Satan and all of those who follow him will be thrown into the Lake of Fire in the day of judgement.
In the end The Festival of Sin that so many describe in an almost euphoric way as “Wicked Man” will have been seen to be only possible if there is a semblance of a moral framework underpinning it. Once that is completely eroded by tyranny and wickedness there is no freedom and so no seemingly enjoyable “Festival of Sin.” The devil and his throng will have seen to have failed to produce a substantial case for his model for the universe based on evil and those who have watched for so long will understand that Jehovah’s way of righteousness is only viable system of rule for the universe.
THEREFORE MY FRIENDS. Come to Jesus Christ in repentance so that you may truly say as the apostle Paul did in the book of Galatians chapter two: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me...”
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Reference List
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ancient Political Philosophy. First published Mon Sep 6, 2010; substantive revision Fri Dec 7, 2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ancient-political/ 22.12.18
Michelle T. Plato’s Five Regimes: Understanding The Classical Forms of Government as Presented By Plato. http://factmyth.com/platos-five-regimes/ 22.12.18
Sodom’s Depravity. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+19&version=NKJV 15.12.18
What are the Ten Commandments. Topmarks. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/judaism/the-ten-commandments 15.12.18
Jezebel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jezebel 15.12.18
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