Death and Taxes ...

It is said there are only two certainties in our modern world, death and taxes.  While we draw breath, we have the “pleasure” of contributing to our societal improvement in the form of taxation.  But few of us perceive the “privilege” of our taxes as being something to look forward to; rather, something to avoid at all costs.  The rate at which we are taxed is always a sore spot.  Whether it is property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, social security taxes, Medicare taxes, capital gains taxes, estate taxes, or “sin” taxes, it seems “everything” can find a way to be taxed.  By definition, taxes are involuntary.  The cost of taxes are wherever possible, automatically taken from us without our ability to defer or avoid them.  Should we attempt at shorting our government in what they dictate is due, we are subject to criminal prosecution that is never too pleasant.  This condition is not new, but dates back well into the time of Christ.

Romans built a massive empire of roads … in order to carry the taxation from their occupied territories back to the capital city state.  In fact, conquering other lands had only one primary motivation, to “acquire” their wealth.  Once conquered, the people would become a persistent source of revenue in the form of taxes.  Should they resist, armies were dispatched to terminate rebellion … and carry the back payments back to Rome.  Without the benefit of electronic systems and controls, people had to be assigned for the physical collection of taxes to send to Rome.  Those tax collectors had all the authority of Rome, complete with military threat of far worse punishments, in order to do their job and get the money for their Roman masters.  In the process however, the Romans were not so concerned with corruption on the local level, as long as the taxation due continued to flow.  So enterprising tax collectors simply required a higher rate than Rome actually did, and pocketed the overage. 

If this practice had been done by foreigners, it “might” have been more palatable.  At least then, the plight of the Jewish people would have been fully caused by forces outside of their own.  But most tax collectors wound up being Jews themselves, forced into, or reasoned on their own, that steady employment beats starvation or crucifixion.  Thus anyone who took on this role became instantly hated by the public.  Being a tax collector for Rome was tantamount to being a traitor to Israel.  And this was only worsened because most tax collectors were all too happy to cheat, and collect overages from anyone.  Those who were cheated had no recourse.  If they murdered a tax collector they faced crucifixion for their entire families, not just themselves.  And inevitably another tax collector would be appointed to resume doing the work, and cheating of the last one, perhaps even more greedily.  Despite hating them for what they did, the people were at the complete mercy of the tax collector.  And the tax collector had no ability to lower taxes, only to raise them.

In this climate, Peter begins to recount perhaps the most surprising pick of Jesus Christ of His next disciple.  John Mark records in chapter two and verse 13 saying … “And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.”  The crowds that created a standing room only event at the home of Peter were no less interested in hearing Jesus Christ speak.  When Jesus left the house of Peter, and moved to the sea shore, they followed Him there.  If anything they grew along the way.  In this crowd were every kind of person, from the Religious elite, to the poor, to those who were publicly known for their sins.  And to this crowd of the mixed bag of humanity, Jesus taught them all.  Christ made no distinction in those who came to hear Him.  He did not segregate them by class, or honor them with access based on what they did for a living, or not.  In the eye of Christ, all were precious sheep to be saved by their Shepherd.  What would happen next, would not be done in private, but in the most public fashion possible, during the day, with a multitude in tow.

John Mark continues in verse 14 … “And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.”  Levi Matthew who would later write his own gospel account of the story of Jesus Christ, was by profession, a tax collector.  There was no doubt the greed of this position had infected his life.  There was no doubt Levi Matthew was going to be hated by this crowd, in fact likely hated by Peter and the other disciples.  This pick of Jesus Christ for another disciple was not for lack of other candidates.  An entire multitude was following Him already, he had more than enough “members” in His church to pick from to honor someone with being a disciple.  But the mission of Christ was not to find “enough” people to save, it was to find everyone.  This mission of Christ, was not just to reach out to the normal people, but even to those we hate, despise, and consider the “dregs” of society.

To consider the magnitude of what Christ had just done and put in modern terms, Jesus had just picked as His next honored disciple Osama Bin Laden.  What our nation considers a terrorist and enemy of the people, someone responsible for many deaths of our citizens.  In His day, if you failed to pay Roman taxes, or found yourself in the disfavor of the local tax collector, you might next find yourself up on a Roman cross.  Tax collectors, like Osama, are hated for a reason.  The loss of life that may come from tax collector was less direct, but it just as easily impacted the innocent.  Children were sold into slavery, or taken this way, to pay for back debts to Rome.  Wives were taken.  No one was safe, or immune from the payment of taxes.  And now despite having a multitude of “normal church going folk” with Him, Jesus picks Levi Matthew to follow Him.  This was the surprise draft pick of the century for Peter … and for Matthew.

But the transformation of our Lord was on display in this simple text, if we look close enough to see it.  The call of Jesus Christ, brought with it, the gift of liberation from your former desires, your former weaknesses, and slavery to sin.  That call freed Levi Matthew from his greed, and his immediate response was to get up and leave literally everything behind to follow Christ.  Remember that being a disciple of Christ still carried no reward, no home, no steady employment, and no guarantee of the next meal.  None of this deterred Levi Matthew.  He was fine with all of it in an instant.  Better to be destitute at the side of Jesus Christ, than rich in a comfortable home far from His side.  Levi Matthew arises to follow Christ DESPITE the real knowledge of what Peter is going to think about him, and how the other disciples probably despise him.  Peer pressure did not deter Matthew from moving immediately to the side of Christ.  He knew if there were a “clique” of the cool kids within the group of the disciples he was sure NOT to be in it.  He was going to be an outcast at best with his peers.  But follow he did.

John Mark continues in verse 15 … “And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.”  In what should have been a climate of massive negativity within the heart and mind of Levi Matthew, there was none.  Instead of becoming instantly withdrawn and defensive and guarded with the rest of the disciples, Levi does the strangest thing of all.  He opens his home and holds a feast.  Not just a feast for his own family, or those who could stand the association with him, but for literally every person in the multitude that was following Christ, regardless of who they were.  Levi is casting aside his wealth all too happily for the honor of following Christ.  And in his FIRST act as a disciple he offers food to everyone in attendance.  A man formerly bound to greed, is instantly charitable because of the change that has occurred within him as he responds to the freeing call of Christ.

Peter continues recalling the story to Mark in verse 16 … “And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?”  Now despite the offer, the Pharisees would not be caught dead in the home of a tax collector.  And even if he is going to reform, quit his job, and attempt at becoming an upright citizen of the nation, having all these “dregs” of society in your home to eat is hardly a good first step.  On the other hand, it was likely that the people who had been publicly humiliated in the common knowledge of their sins who were free to enjoy the charity of Matthew this day.  What difference to them; their reputations were already ruined in public knowledge.  Eating at a tax collectors home would hardly make others think less of the adulterers, thieves, prostitutes, and liars.  And as an added bonus, Jesus did not seem to mind their company at all.  In fact, He seemed pleased to have them with Him to eat lunch, like if He actually looked forward to it.  This upset every social norm there was.  And of course the first ones to decry this practice were the religious leaders of the day.

John Mark continues in verse 17 … “When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  In this response, Jesus attempts to remind the religious leaders it has always been their job to bring those in need to the feet of God for the healing of their sins.  In addition Jesus makes it clear that many in this crowd do NOT BELIEVE they have a problem with sins.  This distinction is horrific and true to this day.  So many in our churches believe that mere attendance and adherence to tradition keep them immune from the problem of sin.  They freely point out sins in the lives of others … you know, the publicans of our day.  But they see no sin in themselves that warrants attention.  They are content to feel better about themselves by comparing their relatively little sins, with the great sins they see around them in the world.  But it is, and always has been, a false comparison.  There is no need to call the righteous, but in truth, there are no righteous but Christ.  The religious leaders miss both messages, because they will not hear.

The Pharisees have setup a religion of doom and gloom.  They have focused on our sins and not the cure for them.  They were the first pastors who have passed on to our modern pastors, the traditions of reverence and self-sacrifice to the point where nothing can be enjoyed, even the very personal presence of Jesus Christ.  John Mark illustrates this beginning in verse 18 … “And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? [verse 19] And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. [verse 20] But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.”  Jesus did NOT have a problem with celebration, or joy, or feasts.  The religion of following Christ is NOT meant to be one of constant quiet without ever having a moment of fun.  You will note the fun derived in this picture came from the charity of Matthew being made free from his greed by the call of Christ.  He is giving away all his food and wealth to anyone in need.  And with this charity is born great joy.  So the “fun” they are having is not based in the pleasing of self, but in the joy of pleasing others.  Yet fun it is.

The Pharisees, having failed at appealing to this young Rabbi to guard His reputation, now attempt at curtailing His behavior by appealing to tradition.  Those who fast and deny themselves food and water are sure to be holier than those who party with Christ.  Sure it takes a degree of self-control to fast and pray, to deny one’s own hunger and thirst for the sake of God.  But it is not through self-control that sin will be mastered and eliminated, it is through the call of Christ, and the surrender to that call.  To fast and pray … in order to be noticed as fasting and praying … is not about God, it is about ego.  The Pharisees made spectacle out of fasting in order to insure they were “known” to be pious.  But those whose hearts are bent on the will of God, fast in secret, and pray silently, so that only God knows the desires of their hearts.  They do not seek the reputation and fame of their peers, they seek the will of God.  And from the perspective of Christ, it is not a time to be sullen and fast.  Separation from Him will be that time.  It is our separation from Christ that should drive us to fast, not when He is close.

Then Jesus continues His object lesson to the Pharisees as Peter recalls to John Mark in verse 21 saying … “No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. [verse 22] And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.”  The object lesson here, is that we must be fully transformed, and fully made new.  Attempting to put a band-aide on our sins is nowhere near enough.  Attempting to partially be born again is nowhere near enough.  Christ is not looking for us to submit only a part of our desires to Him, He is looking for the whole of us.  We need to be completely made new, so that He can pour His spirit into us without bursting the bottles of our old lives.  He needs to completely cloth us in His righteousness because our tattered rags cannot be patched, they need to be burned.  We need the whole of what He longs to do for us, not just some limited representation because we believe we are already good enough people.

Jesus was willing to pick the Osama Bin Laden of His day to become an honored disciple.  He was willing to pick the most hated of us, to become an author of the Gospel of Christ to us.  The transformation of Levi Matthew was stunning, and it began in an instant.  Levi did what we need to do, that is to respond to the call of Christ.  His first act was one of charity.  He was willing to give up everything for Jesus Christ.  He instantly became homeless, poor, and joined a group that DID NOT WANT him there.  But Jesus wanted him and that was enough for Levi.  Over time the disciples would realize that Levi Matthew was no different than they were.  Their hate would turn to love, as the impact of Jesus Christ would see no other result in them.  If there were pity to be had on this day, it should have been from Matthew to the other disciples.  For Levi Matthew had been freed from his sins by the call of Christ, and was already living a liberated life with His Lord.  The others had yet to experience this kind of liberation to this extent.  But it was coming …

 

Epilogue of our Nation [part one] ...

When the majority is mistaken, when zeal replaces reason, when pride rules the day, there can be only one course and those who do not agree with it must be put down.  Control has always been the illusion men deceive themselves into thinking they have.  Control over self.  Control over others.  Control over their surroundings.  But control is a myth, for surely if it was not, there would be no death, or pain, or sorrow.  At the end of all things, the final seven last plagues that fall upon the earth are a literal demonstration to mankind that control has never, and will never, belong to us.  We have always been at the mercy of forces beyond our control.  Those who are bound to the slavery of self-service and self-love are completely unable to break their chains.  Those who follow Jesus Christ and trust alone in Him for their salvation realize just how fully dependent they must be on Christ, for their salvation will come in no other way.  In either case, man has no control; he is subject, a slave to himself, or set free by a power beyond himself.  Yet pride gives birth to the idea that control can still be exerted by the majority over the minority, particularly when the scales and the numbers look very attractive.  Surely the deaths of a very small subset of the populace are worth the preservation of the whole.  This thinking is boosted to near frenzy when combined with the notion that religious purity demands it – in effect that God requires the lives of these un-repentant sinners in order that His righteous anger might be dissuaded.

It is to this state of thinking that our nation is destined to fall.  Not only are we prophesied to adopt this line of thinking, but further we are to lead the world in adopting it as well.  The lamb-like creature is to speak as the dragon.  The third beast raised by the dragon, owes its power and allegiance to the dragon, it is no less guilty, and no less participatory in the plans of the dragon, than was the second beast who preceded it in the dark ages.  But knowledge and enlightenment are not insurance against fundamentalism that would seek to compel the conscience of others, and kill those who would continue to dissent.  It is all too easy to blame the “dark ages” for the disposition of the Catholic Church during these periods of time, rather than to rightly assess, it is the darkness in the nature of man that is truly responsible.  That darkness brought about by self-love and the pursuit of control over others has never abated, it has only grown stronger over time.  It was not the darkness of the age that caused the church of Christ to forsake its Lord and become an agent of blasphemy and absolute power.  Nor will it be some set of calamities that cause our nation to adopt a policy of “comply or die”.  It is the nature of carnal man to indulge himself at the expense of others, and without hope of relief from the full submission to Jesus Christ, this dark nature only expands, grows, and eventually consumes the human soul. 

The Catholic church could have been a universal beacon of light from which the gospel reached the entire world.  Had it forsaken the ideas of wealth, control, and equality with God, and only focused on charity, love, and service for God – the world would have been a different place.  There would have been no need for deaths committed in the name of God.  There would have been no corruption that inspired the birth of Islam and the need to purge the infidels from the world.  Instead there might have been only the universal message of Christ that we should love each other, sacrifice for each other, and submit only to Jesus Christ to find ourselves made free from the slavery of sin and self-service.  But alas, full submission to Christ was not achieved, and the darkness of the nature of man, infected the church, and the organization became the tool of the dragon.  A second beast was raised out of an entity that should have been a beacon of light.  Would that history did not repeat itself, but it did.

Our nation was birthed in nobility and with the purpose of protecting the woman, of protecting the church and followers of Christ by allowing them sanctuary to worship as they chose in a new land with a new form of government.  We were to be the light on the hill.  Our ideas of religious freedom were more closely aligned to our God, than any nation had considered since the founding of the world.  While we protected those freedoms and guarded the privacy of every man and every citizen, we were the pinnacle of enlightenment.  But over time, we have lost our luster, we have corrupted our ideals, we have followed the course of the beast that preceded us, and our darker nature has now replaced freedom with compliance.  To achieve security, we have sacrificed liberty.  To maintain control, we have sought to force the individual to comply with the majority view, whether it is right or wrong.  Babylon was the head of gold in the dreams of worldly kingdoms yet to come, given to Nebuchadnezzar all those years ago.  It was the head.  It was made of purest gold.  It was the greatest kingdom to rule the world where God’s people would reside.  The world has not seen it’s like since.

In the book of his revelations of Jesus Christ, John writes now the epilogue, the epitaph of Babylon.  Not the original kingdom of Babylon belonging to Nebuchadnezzar all those years ago, but to the kingdom and nation we founded and occupy today.  Babylon reborn.  The kingdom of enlightenment, of wealth, of power, of origins with purpose and meaning.  But we were not to remain in this state.  We are to fall, and our descent has already begun.  John begins our epilogue in chapter 18 and verse 1 saying … “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.”  John was recently conversing with an angel who carried one of the plagues in the previous chapter about the fate of the woman or false church, and how God has judged the counterfeit ideas of Satan that have infected all the religions of the world.  In this chapter the revelation is now given as to the fate of nations and the union of church and state.  The angel comes to earth, likely timed to be prior to the events only recently described, with a message.  His countenance lightens the earth.

John continues in verse 2 saying … “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”  This is a repetition of the message of the third angel described in an earlier sequence of seven.  It is a declaration of the state of Babylon.  It is a repeat of the lament that Babylon has fallen.  The sadness over the fall of Babylon remains.  This is not joyful news in the heavenly courts; for our original purpose and ideals have become corrupted, and our state of falling is not welcome news to our loving God.  But where earlier the message was not as specific as to how bad we have become, this message continues with an enumeration of exactly what our state is.  Our nation, the United States, has become the habitation of devils.  Many people unhappy with our nation’s policies or Presidents draw horns on their pictures.  They attempt to portray Obama, or Bush, or Cheney, or the latest political figure of the day as a devil.  But the reality is that the “devil” is in the hearts of our citizenry.  It is in the pulpits of our churches, and at the center of our ideology that would seek to force sinners to comply with our ideas of morality.

We have become the hold over “every” foul spirit.  Our sins are limited to only one type, or two, but we have embraced them all.  Instead of being a beacon of light and love, we are a “cage” of every unclean and “hateful” bird.  We are trapped by our lack of love and charity.  We are imprisoned by our slavery to self-service and self-love.  We have not embraced the freedom Jesus Christ alone can provide.  Instead we have “blended” into our salvation a certainty of self-reliance, and as a result our partnership with God has failed.  We remain trapped by our unrelenting sins.  We have sought the “balance” of loving self with loving others, and found the scales have only tipped one way.  We are now identified as “hateful”.  Those placards carried by people borrowing the name of Christ, contain nothing but “hate” speech.  They shriek their slogans of hate and reproof at those in the greatest need of love and support. We judge those who are different than us as being of less value to God than us, and therefore seek to blast their unrepentant nature with the shrill hate speech of our own unrepentant and hateful nature.

John continues in verse 3 … “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”  What price is your soul worth?  The wealth of Babylon is great.  Our currency is the strongest and sets the standard around the world.  But to become enriched by Babylon, you must abide by the rules of commerce with Babylon.  You must do what is expedient, not what is right.  You must be willing to be “flexible” with your ideas of morality, so that risks are managed, and wealth is increased.  If the needs of the poor are to be sacrificed for those of the wealthy, so be it.  The nations of the earth have embraced the ideas of self-reliance propagated by the American Dream.  The notion of a full dependence on Christ for salvation, stands opposed to the ideals of hard work to earn the rewards you are entitled to.  Our version of Christianity descends from our mother.  We are the daughters of harlotry, and taken up the trade of harlotry in our own churches.  We seek “financial security” within our churches with those who succeed finding themselves in wealth.  In order to safeguard that wealth, we turn to politics to attempt to exert control.  For our wealth must be guarded against at all costs.  The idea of sharing it, or divesting ourselves entirely from it, is a foreign notion that never enters our hearts.

John continues in verse 4 writing … “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”  Again the timing is set, the seven last plagues are about to fall.  The message is one of warning.  Come out of her my people.  We are to leave the ideas of self-reliance behind and embrace only our salvation from Jesus Christ alone.  We are to leave our sins behind us, as His redemptive love re-creates who we are from the inside out.  He remakes what we want, how we think, and most importantly how we love others.  No more should a hateful placard tarnish our hands, or poison our lips.  No more should we see those unrepentant sinners as deserving of death, but rather as they truly are, in immense pain and in great need of relief that only a loving Savior can offer.  We do not need to remind them of their pain, but instead to point them to the only source of relief from it.  We must allow our Lord Jesus Christ, to expel the devil from within our hearts, remove the hold over every foul spirit, and change our hateful shrieking nature into one of quiet humility and unrestricted love without conditions or limits for those we encounter.  In this way, we will leave behind the Babylon that has fallen.  In this way we will avoid the plagues that are to be poured out upon the evil in this world.

A physical exodus from the U.S. to other countries is not a recipe to avoid the wrath of God.  Taking an unchanged heart up to Canada, down to Mexico, or across the sea to Europe does nothing to alter who we are.  We arrive on foreign shores, the same corrupt person we were in the U.S..  The leaving of Babylon is not about relocation to a better country.  It is about a relocation of the heart, from a state of sin and self-reliance, to a state of full submission to Jesus Christ.  Simply to emigrate out of the country does nothing to change the sin that will travel in our hearts as we go.  It is akin to refusing to own a television, because so much of the programming on television is not morally acceptable.  Not having a TV, does not change the heart or nature of men.  If we are still filled with pride, or lust, or arrogance, the fact that we do not witness these traits in our media does not mean our hearts are absent of them.  Life is not about reducing our opportunities to sin.  Salvation is about a fundamental change in how we think, and what we want, so that we are freed from our sins entirely.  After that, what we watch on TV reflects what we are interested in.  We do not avoid bad programming by putting the TV on the curb, we avoid bad programming by changing the channel to something uplifting, or because we are too busy with loving others to have time to watch at all.  The desire is what must be changed, not the venue for its expression.

John continues in verse 5 saying … “For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. [verse 6] Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.”  And here is the heart of the matter, without a full submission to Jesus Christ, our sins stack up all the way to heaven.  What is about to be unleashed by our God, is a removal of His protective hand.  The consequences of the sins we commit are often shielded from us, by a loving God, who is still hoping and working for us to come to Him and be made free from them.  But alas, the time is coming when our continual refusal to submit and be made free is going to be honored for all time.  Our choice to remain in bondage to self, allowed.  The consequences of the pain we inflict on ourselves and on others is about to have the shields taken off.  And the effects of our sins are about to be put upon us in full effect.  We will see a doubling of the pain our sins cause, not because we are punished by God, but because we have refused to allow God to shield us from our choices.

John continues in verse 7 … “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. [verse 8] Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”  Here is the fate of the counterfeit.  Here is the fate of those bound in slavery to self.  Self-deception is the first hallmark of the kingdom of Satan.  Lives lived in the pursuit of wealth that can be lavished on self.  Lives modeled after royalty where all are destined to serve me, and I am destined to serve no one.  “She”, the false churches who bear the name of Christ but have abandoned His transforming love, states openly “I sit a queen”.  She further states “I am no widow”.  The blending of self-reliance into Christianity in the process of our salvation has so corrupted the heart, that we are blind to who we remain, and the sin we cling to.  But self-assessments of our grandeur, do nothing to deter the destruction God is about to permit to come upon us.  Our consequences are no more to be shielded, but instead to be revealed.  And the further judgments of God upon evil are about to be poured out.  Death, mourning, famine, and destruction from fire are on the horizon.  Wealth, ease, and a royal lifestyle are about to come crumbling down.  The kingdoms built upon the misery of the poor are about to be exploded.

And the lamentations over the fall of Babylon are about to begin …

Three Beasts [part three] - America's Image ...

In our study of the three beasts that serve the enemy of souls, we have seen certain commonalities.  The dragon sought to kill Christ, and end His mission of our redemption.  His temptations to Christ centered around “identity” and whether Christ would use His power for Himself instead of for others.  The dragon, Lucifer who has become Satan, longs for acknowledgement that he is in charge.  He comes disguised as an angel of light, quoting scripture, but seeking control and subservience.  He is uninterested in our freedom and keenly interested in our slavery, a slavery that exists where only death is the relief.  Control is his tool to achieve mastery over us.  Control under the threat of death is his tool.  He uses it, by having men attempt to control other men, often in the name of religion.  Dissent is not tolerated.  Free thinking is not tolerated.  Resistance is not tolerated.  He exerts control to force us to break our identity as children of God, and instead become followers of the beast, and of the dragon.  All we need do to avoid his penalties is acknowledge he is in charge.  But for those who truly follow Jesus Christ, we can only acknowledge it is Jesus Christ who alone is our leader.  We cannot bow to anyone, or anything else but our only true God.  Thus the war of the dragon continues.  A new beast, a new ally, must arise to bring about the last front, the last battlefield of good and of evil.

John continues revealing the battle plan of the enemy in chapter 13 of his book of Revelations in verse 11 saying … “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.”  To identify who this beast is, we must begin by examining its characteristics.  This beast is unlike its predecessor which was composed of many animal parts.  This beast instead is singular in nature, therefore constricted to a certain government or kingdom, not one that spans borders.  It originates from the earth, as noted earlier the earth had opened to help the woman.  A new area of earth emerged where the ideas of religious freedom would find a home.  The “horns” or leadership, or government of this new beast has only 2 significant elements, not 7 or 10 as sited before with the previous beasts.  A 2 party system would accomplish this metaphor.  The horns themselves are akin to those of a lamb, or perhaps a Bison, a symbol of a nation that was founded in innocence without ambitions of conquering all other nations, but instead to expand only its own undrawn borders.  But with all of the better characteristics associated with this beast it remains with a single flaw.  It was to speak as a dragon. 

This beast like its predecessor speaks with control, with authority, and with power such that the results divert worship from God and on to other things.  American idealism values self.  The American dream states that personal hard work and determination result in financial and personal success.  In essence, you “control” your destiny.  You need only serve your own needs, and you will find your dreams accomplished in this new land.  But these are not new ideas, or new concepts, or new temptations.  They are old ones.  One nation under God is a mantra to distract that at the end of the day our systems of capitalism and American idealism center focus on self first, only then upon others.  America does not teach the absence of helping others, only that this priority is secondary to insuring your own needs are met first.  The logic being that we cannot help others before we ourselves are in a position to do so.  Once we are “wealthy enough” then we can offer others the help our wealth enables.  But these ideas miss the example of the widow, who while she had nearly nothing, gave her only 2 mites in offering to God.  She did not have anything of value in wealth or prosperity.  She was already poor.  But she gave everything back to a God, who had given her everything.  Her nature was so transformed that giving all she had was something her love would drive her to do.  A system that focuses first on self, will never see this idea of giving everything achieved.  It runs counter to these ideas of total sacrifice, or even total dependence on anything other than self.

John continues in verse 12 … “And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”  The third beast has a power base that continues to grow until it reaches universal dimensions.  It would take a super-power to achieve this feat.  Only three have really existed in our modern age, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.  The Soviet Union has broken apart, collapsing under the weight of a failed system of communism combined with god-less-ness.  It carries no weight anymore.  The super-power of China does have worldwide economic power, and an incredible labor base, and military potential.  However, China has no real interest in the morality or worship the rest of the world engages in.  While traditionally Buddhist, officially the Chinese government does not accept the existence of any particular God.  Thus only the United States is left which does exert a religious influence on the world.  Our “Christian” nation does believe that human rights are the gift of the divine, and we have begun to export our ideas of morality to the rest of the world.  We marry financial reward with cooperation with our governmental policies some of which are based in our ideas of Biblical interpretation.  We have a particularly close relationship with Israel, even though a closer union with Arab nations would offer us better economic opportunity and oil reserves.  We maintain this relationship with Israel in part because our Christian ideas maintain the importance of Israel in apocalyptic prophecies.

To worship the first beast, the predecessor of this one, we would have to find elements in common.  The first is control.  Alive and well in our age of politics is the desire to legislate morality.  Whether to overturn Roe vs Wade, or restrict homosexual marriage, or forbid multiple-party-marriages; all legislation of this nature is founded on “Christian” interpretations of scripture.  The central underlying tenet is to compel the conscience of others with the power of the state.  The papal system of the dark ages pursued this course before the new beast appears.  In following the pattern of the prior beast, the new one offers homage to its originator.  The prior beast thought itself equal to God, and thus able to enact alterations to scripture, or the laws of God.  The fourth commandment of God which clearly states the special time of union between man and God would occur on the seventh day of the week, was altered to the first in honor of His resurrection.  The second commandment of God which forbids the worship of anything man made instead of our invisible God in heaven was altered to allow for obeisance to statues, and works of art, in the likeness of heavenly things.  In our nation, we continue the practice of worship on a different day, as well as honoring the works of our hands instead of a full dependence upon Christ for our sustenance and salvation.  And we are on a path as a nation to place the penalty of death for those who dissent with our moral stands.  While we have not reached this point as yet, we are headed there, and will eventually join with the original corrupt power system that produced the horrors of the inquisition.  It is the pursuit of power and control that leads to this result.  It is why Satan has evolved into what he is.  And it is why both beasts wind up at the same conclusion of their author.

John continues in verse 13 … “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,”  The military power of the United States is virtually unchallenged.  We have the best technology and most advanced weaponry in the world.  We have space based weapons, and missiles or drones, that can cross great distances and hit precision targets anywhere in the world.  No one knows the full extent of our classified weapons systems, but no one doubts their power.  Our military might, combined with our financial influence, continue to position our nation as the current world’s super-power.  John continues in verse 14 … “And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”  It is clear that our nation does not use its power and influence to attempt to force the rest of the world to adopt Catholicism.  However, the ideas of corruption that emerged in the dark ages, are something we pattern ourselves after, thus making an image to the prior beast.  We continue traditions established in that time without regard to actual scriptures.  And we intend to use our might to enforce these ideas.  Control and disregard for the dissent of others in the pursuit of even more power and wealth form a nearly identical image of the prior beast.

John continues in verse 15 … “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”  Therein lies the saddest prediction of the road our nation travels.  Fundamentalism, and conservatism, are pointing us in the direction that would make us willing to kill those who dissent from our versions of legislated morality.  Those who will not worship the way we dictate, those who would not submit to “our” authority, are to be killed for their alternative beliefs and views.  This could come in either of two ways.  First, it could emerge from atheists or islamists, or from any other competing ideology that gains enough majority to legislate laws against Christianity entirely.  Or Second, it could emerge from Christianity itself, as the far right moves farther and farther in that direction, until killing those who dissent seems like the most logical course to pursue in an effort to keep our nation “pure”.  The first beast had this same idea.  It is why the inquisition was born in the dark ages, to remove the threat of those who would dissent with the “greater good”.  The infestation of Protestantism had to be rooted out, for the “benefit” of those less educated believers that might be deceived by new ideas.  Our nation has embarked on this same path and will reach this same conclusion.  Those who do not obey the legislation of the majority must meet their death in order that the remainder of the nation be spared.

John continues in verse 16 … “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:”  First, notice that this passage refers to the third beast we have been discussing, NOT, the Antichrist.  Common interpretation would have us believe that the “antichrist” emerging after a “rapture”, which so far has not been mentioned once in this book, is responsible for the Mark of the Beast.  But John does not state or relay this.  The Third Beast is responsible for causing all mankind to receive this mark.  And the timing is not done after the return of Christ but before it occurs.  It is an event that is still in our future, but it precedes the second coming.  The Mark itself, may not be physical in nature, but decidedly real.  It does not require a tattoo to accomplish identifying everyone on planet earth.  Computers already do a fairly good job of that.  They collect DNA, finger print data from job applications for sensitive positions, medical results, census information, tax returns, financial records, etc..  In today’s age they also collect email, phone call, and communication data and content that can be used to track profiles of anyone for any purpose.  Computers control your finances entirely, no one keeps cash under the mattress anymore, neither do your land-lords accept cash as a payment for rent in general.  Our entire financial system relies upon computer systems that track and transfer funds wherever you need them whenever you need them.

John continues in verse 17 … “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”  Control was the idea behind all of this.  Compliance with our laws is to be achieved in this final assault on the conscience of men through financial restrictions and controls.  All we need do to avoid his penalty is to acknowledge “who” is in control of our lives.  The third beast exerts control, the tool of the dragon, to cause us to reject our identity as followers of Christ, and instead accept the authority of the beast in charge, any beast of Lucifer’s will do in that regard.  As long as we refuse to rely upon Jesus Christ alone, we can be a part of the empire of the beasts, and of the dragon.  We need not worship a particular pope, but merely decline to worship Christ alone.  This is not about the worldwide ascendency of Satanism, or Catholicism, or even the worldwide supremacy of the United States – it is about the choice made under threat of death, to deny Jesus Christ in favor of any other alternative.  The service of self has long been the most viable alternative the devil has offered to the systems of God that are based on service to others.  “Self” is a more than adequate alternative to Christ, even within the Christian faith.  Looking to “self” for salvation with accomplish the same failure as looking to Mohammed, or Buddha, or any other competing ideology.  Thus the battle plan of the enemy of souls is revealed.

John concludes in verse 18 to help us see more revealing characteristics of this Mark brought upon the world by the Third Beast as he writes … “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” “Vicarius Filii Dei” the banner inscribed on the crown worn by the papal power of the dark ages was the first clue at identifying the Mark of the Beast.  It was not intended to be ascribed to a particular pope, but instead was intended to point out characteristics of a corrupt system or power.  Any religious system that seeks to use the power of the state to compel the conscience of others takes on the Mark of subservience to the Beast and the Dragon.  Any system that denies the supremacy of Christ, or seeks to offer alternatives that are of equal authority with Christ, takes on the Mark of subservience to the Dragon who gave the Beasts their power, their seat, and their great authority.  We can as easily offer homage to religious leaders as we do to the man in the mirror, to effectively deny the supremacy of Christ.  This is not constricted only to the Catholicism of the dark ages, it is prevalent in the modern world by our refusal to look to Christ alone for our salvation.  This is the united goal of the three beasts.

It does not matter whether atheism suggests we deny our God.  It does not matter whether Islamism, or Buddhism, or Hinduism, or some other “ism” require we recognize some other alternative.  It does not matter whether Christianity requires we give honor to its leaders instead of to Christ.  It does not matter if ultimately all we serve is self and look to put self into the process of our salvation.  ALL that matters to see the Mark of the Beast placed in our hands or in our foreheads is that in so doing, we DENY the singular power of Jesus Christ in our salvation.  To avoid this Mark, we must be followers of Jesus Christ alone.  His word, His authority, His power are all we do obeisance to.  We acknowledge our identity as ONLY followers of Jesus Christ.  The edicts of men, to deny or alter His laws, are of no effect to us.  We will worship ONLY Jesus Christ.  We will give homage ONLY to Jesus Christ.  It does not matter what the threats of the enemy are.  If we die, we die.  Generations of Martyr’s have gone before us into their graves, still clinging to the singular truth of Jesus Christ.  The edicts of man could now sway them away from the truth of Jesus Christ.  Nor can we allow these edicts to sway us now.

The transforming power of Jesus Christ in our lives is something that will not be denied.  Even though the revelations of these three beasts outline the battle plans of our enemy, they also remain revelations of Jesus Christ.  It is Jesus Christ who shows us the insight into the plans of His enemy, in order that we might avoid missing the deceptions of His enemy.  We are not to be swept away by the flood of the dragon, but instead remain steadfastly clinging to Jesus Christ, the source of our salvation.  We are not to do homage to the dragon, or the beasts he raises as allies, in his war with God.  We are to maintain our identity as Christians, as followers of Christ.  We are to guard our servitude to Christ even from Christianity that might seek to divert it to other ideas within the faith.  It is no small thing to give homage to Satan, even though it is only words, those words matter.  If we are to allow God to write our names in His book of Life, we must remain followers of Jesus Christ in both word and deed.  We must allow Christ to remake us into the image He intends and never publicly or privately state we are anything less than followers of Jesus Christ.  The ability to buy and sell is inconsequential against the freedom to love others Christ offers us, to break the slavery of our chains to serving self.  We must avoid looking to involve “self” in our salvation, and instead allow Christ to stamp “self” out of us entirely.

The beasts and the dragon seek control.  They seek to challenge our identity upon pain of death.  It is the hallmark of their battle plans.  They seek to compel the conscience of men.  God does not.  God is not about control, but instead about choice.  He offers us His love, but does NOT compel us to accept it.  He offers us His gift of freedom, but will NOT break our chains without our consent.  For love to be love, it MUST be a choice.  God cannot compel us to love Him, as then it could not be considered love.  But if we choose to love Him, our love is then real.  If we choose to serve Him, our service is then real.  While we will need Him to save us from ourselves, it is our choice that begins and allows Him to begin this process.  It is only the dragon that would seek to enact moral laws, upon penalty of death, to compel men to do what he says.  God does not need to control us, He can change us through our consent of His love.  Our choice determines our fate with our Lord.  To deny choice, is to adopt the image of the beast, and to receive His mark in our philosophy and our deeds, upon our heads and in our hands.

As the revelation of the three beasts concludes, the enemy has been revealed, but of more value, the singular method of our salvation has been revealed all the more.  Jesus Christ alone is our salvation.  It is with Jesus Christ alone we will identify ourselves as followers and receivers of the gift of salvation He brings …

 

Does Love of Country = Hate for God? ...

Is it possible to be patriotic and maintain our Christianity?  What if the country you are referring to is NOT the United States, but perhaps Iran, or China, or Saudi Arabia, or Japan?  American instinctively associate patriotism with Christianity and believe firmly that our nation was founded by Christians, and on Christian or Biblical values.  But many citizens of foreign nations around the world also believe their countries allow for them to be both patriotic and still maintain their spirituality, albeit in many different forms.  One could argue that Italy is also a largely Christian nation, as is Germany.  Yet both fought against our country in a massive world war.  While Hitler and Mussolini may not have reflected Christian values, the soldiers on the front lines were likely praying to the same God we do.  How can we ask God to take sides where it comes to preserving our nation, particularly if it comes at the expense of another; how can they?

The most fundamental “Christian” value that the USA was founded on is that of separation of church and state.  The Bible is clear that conscience of man CANNOT be compelled either to accept or to reject God.  Each of us must make an individual choice as to what we are going to believe about God.  To attempt to force another person to believe in the moral standards I hold, or the method in which I choose to worship God, is to do the work of Satan himself.  The irony of our greatest Christian principle is that it protects the rights of an Atheist to reject the God we believe in.  In this we echo the character of God.  Where we seek to blur the lines between church and state, we embark on the work of the evil one.  Lest a zealous Christian think it is a good idea to unite the laws of the land with our particular version of religion, imagine what it would be like if the majority religion in this country was Muslim rather than Christian.  Would you still believe it to be a good idea to enforce religion based on the majority when the particular views on religion are not ones you share?

Atheists have long accused religion as being the motivator for the greatest atrocities committed in our world.  The crusades are just a single example of religious fervor turned into bloodshed across a continent.  Religious persecution is what drove the pilgrims to flee England in order that they might practice their own version of Christianity without being compelled by the reigning Church of England at the time.  The Catholic Church persecuted those who would not covert at the edge of a sword for over a thousand years.  Even today Muslim countries strictly forbid the spreading of any other religion but their own on pain of death.  Exclusionism.  Persecution.  Torture.  Genocide.  All words easily associated with attempts to force one group to believe as another does.  Even Christ Himself was put to death for standing against the power structure of the organized religion of His day.  The Romans might have cared less how much love, peace, and humility He preached; but the Pharisees could not stand his lack of subservience to their leadership on spiritual matters.  They killed Him over it.

Long have men seeking to have control over the hearts and minds of others, attempted to use religion as a way of inciting deep passions and fundamental beliefs of those to follow their cause.  The crusades would not have happened at all absent any religious implications.  Why bother invading a foreign nation to secure a capital you have no economic or other interests in?  But add religion into the mix, make it a matter of defending the honor of God (as if such a thing is possible, let alone required) and men willingly lay down their lives in the effort.  Patriotism blended with religious fervor becomes a dangerous thing.  Most often those who incite it do so to gain power over others.  Look at Osama Bin Laden for example; He did not learn to fly planes and crash them into the towers himself.  Instead he had others do it.  He did not suicide bomb his own enemies, but he freely encouraged his followers to pursue this course to paradise.  His cowardice is masked by claiming religious piety.  Yet he does not choose to die as an example, only to compel others to believe they should in his cause.  It is nothing more than a tool of control.

The problem with love of country is that most countries do not share the same values as our God, including our own.  Countries seek to maintain borders and immigration controls.  They cannot by practicality welcome everyone without precondition as God does.  Countries maintain a strong defense in order that they are not overrun by their enemies.  Yet God tells us to pray for our enemies, turn the other cheek when they strike us, and give the thief more than what he steals for free.  Countries maintain laws to maintain order.  God asks us to learn how to love each other and in so doing become free from the laws that are required to restrict our evil behavior.  Countries or perhaps better stated governments, seek to maintain power.  God asks us to have no interest in power, and instead focus on humility and simple trust as that of a small child.  Governments tend to favor the rich.  God is no respecter of persons.

The inherent values of any country run directly counter to what our God advocates.  The fundamental problem is that God teaches the true equality of man.  Respect for each individual, and their choices.  He offers love to lure us to Him, so that we might escape the pain of evil.  But He does not compel us to choose escape.  In the end, God will terminate evil and all those who refuse to let it go, but not before every opportunity has been given to avoid this fate.  Countries exert power over people, placing some in control and most under their influence.  With power concentrated on the few, the natural tendency is to do whatever is required to maintain that power.  Thus corruption enters the equation.  It is considered rare to find an “honest” politician.  And honesty seems to be the least harmful weakness we find in those who wield great power over others.

Still, Christ does not advocate revolution by force.  Instead He advocated revolution by example.  Living a life of love and service to others will have more effect than elaborate speeches and absent deeds.  Learning to accept all our neighbors and love them as ourselves will make more of a direct impact on making the world a better place than will passing laws to attempt to limit what they believe or how they express it.  Satan’s methods of control simply do not work and are not sustainable.  If they did work, he would be in control and Christ would have lost.  Christ won.  Game over.  Love conquers all, not because love has more ability to constrain, but because love has the only ability to liberate.  Liberty can only be found in the expression of love from one to another.  It is only in freedom from evil that true freedom is discovered.  Freedom is not merely an abstract concept men die for in wars with other nations.  Freedom is a reality found when submission to Christ results in the removal of evil from our desires and our actions.  This is not something any government can offer or require.

I submit that when we learn to love as Christ loves, our nationality becomes far less important to us.  We care much less whose flag flies over us, and more about whose light dwells in us.  I can accept my brothers from Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Germany, Italy, and Japan – NOT because they believe as I do.  But rather because we share the same Father God, who loves each of us as the family we all are to Him.  It is His banner alone that matters not our territorial ideologies, political persuasions, or cultural differences.  It is Heaven that unites us all, for ALL of us will walk the same streets in the same city, and no one will call it America.  It will not be pictures of Chairman Mao that decorate the walls of heaven, but instead the beauty of love in each of its citizens.  We will not pray on mats facing east, but send our petitions to our God face to face.  Heaven has a way of melting all the ideas of nation we cling to so firmly here as being completely unimportant.  Heaven will be the true melting pot of humanity when every barrier we erect now disappears entirely.  I doubt any of the redeemed will identify themselves as being from their former nations, but instead as being personally saved by His grace.

Let us love our countries most by seeking His reformation in our hearts and minds.  Let us live lives of love and service to others as He did.  In this we give our countries of origin a gift like no other.  In this we show our patriotism steeped in TRUE Christian values, not ones you just hear about on TV.  Let us protect vigorously the rights of those who disagree with us while giving them an example of a life lived without the self-inflicted pain of evil.  A life of love is a compelling thing.  It is hard to ignore and harder to find fault with.  It is an argument that stands without equal.  Were we to learn to love as our Lord, we would influence the halls of power more so than any reflection of our votes, or in taking up arms.  Gandhi brought about reform through peaceful civil disobedience.  Perhaps Christians could bring about an eternal kingdom of God, by simply taking Him up on His offer to save us from the evil that so infects our minds.  This might be the greatest form of nation building a Christian could ever engage in, one that has eternal ramifications.