THE MARRIAGE OF THE STATE
&
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
THROUGH COMMERCIALISM
(Part IV of a Five-part Series on Apostasy)
By Doug Krieger
“SO HAPPY TOGETHER” (tune)
Expositors are loathe to correlate the Jezebel of King Ahab with the Jezebel of the Church in Thyatira (I Kings 16-22; II Kings 9-10; Revelation 2:18-29)—that great Church of apostasy that bespeaks, according to G. H. Pember, of the State and Church merger under Rome and survives to this day.
However, the allusions and comparisons are so striking, that one would have to be theologically moronic not to recognize the identity of the woman in Thyatira is the spiritual counterpart to that woman, Jezebel in the book of the Kings. Furthermore, as Jezebel clearly represents all that is apostate, that Mother of Harlots, that Woman of Wickedness—even so, the Jezebel of Thyatira is the epitome of the same and the tragic display of absolute apostasy within the Church!
And, what did the Lord have against the Church in Thyatira:
“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that (lit., according to M., “your wife Jezebel”) woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach (or “teaches and seduces”) and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality (lit., “repent, and she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality”), and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden” (Revelation 2:20-24).
Commentary on this could be exhaustive. Suffice it to say, the “depths of Satan” are found within the Apostate Church. There are those who overcome therein, but the mixture she imbibes in the cup of her fornication is so potent—it is a miracle that they who abide therein can still “hold fast what you have till I come.”
Both Israel’s apostasies of antiquity, and the Church’s aggrandizements with the Merchants of the Earth—yes, her unmitigated interplay with today’s wealth and prosperity gospel, all the while fomenting rationalizations that these alleged “blessings” of materialism bespeak of successful Christian living in the modern era, able to ingratiate themselves before their fawning leadership through their abundant contributions—bear unbelievable resemblance to the tactical deceits of Jezebel.
Again, no amazement that the HARLOT of Babylon the Great sustains her identity through both Revelation Chapter 17 and Chapter 18! She is APOSTATE, not only because she relishes the support of this Beastly State, but she is APOSTATE in that she inculcates herself by her mercantile associations who bewail her rapacious inferno. Is there not a correlation between her Babylonian reliance upon the State and her fraternization with the wealth of the world and its merchants?
How is it that the leading lights of American Evangelicalism could be seen with Republican politicos and the business elites of the U.S.A.? The sight was despicable—how dare they flaunt their associations with the politically powerful and business magnates in galas and party boats during the 2000 Philadelphia Convention? They, the Church, providing her foot soldiers to battle at the polls, well deserved a table in the presence of the Kings and Merchants of the earth! Yet, their Jesus once said: “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay His head.”
APOSTASY: MIXING THE GOSPEL WITH GENTILE WORLD POWER
Although much more can be said of the commercial entanglements of numerous “born-again” brethren throughout, in the main, the USA and how this despicable characteristic equates to the Father’s house becoming a latter-day “House of Merchandise”; however, we must excuse ourselves from this “alliance made in hell” between the Members of His Body and the Merchants of the Earth, and give further exploration to the deceit of mixing religion with politics—for it is here that the stark outrage of the divine is measured!
Notably, The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted an extensive survey on the impact of religion in the American body politic (Religion and Politics: Contention and Consensus). Certainly, their findings demonstrate the emergence of the Church-going population with the Republican Party and of the non-church with the Democratic Party (with Black Evangelical the exception to the rule):
“Attention to Kerry's personal religious commitments comes at a time when experts are touting the "religion gap" as the most fundamental divide in the current political landscape. Pollsters have found that an individual's degree of religious commitment (measured by how often they attend worship services) is a more significant indicator of voting behavior than education, income level or gender. According to a November 2003 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 63% of voters who attend religious services more than once a week say they will vote for President Bush in the upcoming election (2004), while 62% of voters who seldom or never attend services say they will vote for the Democratic nominee. However, such figures can oversimplify the often-complex relationship between personal religiosity and voting behavior. Black evangelical Protestants, for instance, tend both to attend church frequently and to vote Democratic. But commentators have used the figures to underscore the need for the Democratic Party to reach out to religious audiences.”
The establishment of the Evangelical-Republican alliance—virtually in ALL AREAS of the nation (not just the South)—bespeaks of the on-going strategies used by both politicos, as well as religious leaders within the evangelical community. The Pew Research figures indicate the on-going politicization of the believing Church is unprecedented in the annals of American religious history:
Let it be clear from the outset that when we speak of APOSTASY in its most “definitive form” we allude to the Bible’s clear and present prophetical declarations relating to religion’s contaminating engagement with politics; and, specifically, “power politics.”
The above statistics demonstrate a rather antiseptic predisposition for evangelicals to be so politicized—i.e., welcome the involvement of religion in political dialogue and discourse. Again, the initial appearance of this attachment may initially disguise itself as benign; however, the “temptation” to “take up the sword” (as Peter did in the Garden of Gethsemane—John 18:10)—as a “manifestation” to “seize the kingdom now” and to “defend kingdom rights” is what so deeply concerns.
THE OCCULT vs. RELIGIO-POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT
The initial two parts of this series alluded to the impact that the occult (i.e., what the Bible calls “sorcery” and today we label it “New Age”), has had upon the Church. These, what the Bible calls, “doctrines of demons,” compromise the purity of God’s witness through His people. Likewise, our stress was upon the “commercial hype” that has had a deleterious affect upon the Church. The alleged “success” created by excessive “materialism”—especially demonstrated within the Meta-Church Movement—has propelled its evangelical leadership into the realms of “power-politics.” Money talks—the subject quickly turns to politics and the influence it bears upon domestic and international policy.
However, Christendom’s greatest threat (and here I specifically designate the “believing Church”) comes not from the incursions of such compromise and “doctrines of demons” but from Apostasy’s purest from: The Marriage of the Church and the State—the linkage of “power politics” and “religious contrivance.”
THE AMERICAN LEFT REFUSES TO COME TO TERMS WITH RELIGIO-POLITICAL REALITIES -
Much to the chagrin of the Left, President Bush has NOT betrayed his alliance with the Religious Right in America—rumors of “their demise” and fragmentation has been greatly exaggerated and the Left has skewed this distortion for their own political/social agenda (and for this—Cutting Edge should hang their heads in SHAME!).
What the Left does NOT realize is the tantalizing mutuality that now exists between the two—nor does the Left perceive the MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL RELATIONSHIP that currently exists between the evangelical wing of the Church and the political power structures of this nation!
When evangelicals say that “they led the charge for the GOP” in Bush’s re-election, they mean it. When President Bush says he gained some “capitol” he wants to spend in the next four years—he knows precisely who was involved in giving him that capitol! For liberals and the likes of Barry Linn (through Barry Boston) to assume otherwise, is foolhardy and only demonstrates how alienated the Left is from this American strata of society.
Why is it that PRAVDA (Russia) is clear about this relationship? They do NOT underestimate the convergence of the Religious Right and the ascendancy of George Bush in this nation! But, again, why is it that the American Left is so blinded by the Evangelicals’ impact upon this election?
Fortunately, however, TheocracyWatch’s impassioned articles synthesizing the impact of the Religious Right in this nation gives some hope that someone “out there” has come to terms with what is happening and why. But, alas! TheocracyWatch makes this absurd remark:
“The kind of political momentum of the 2004 election needs to be sustained. Dominionists (sic., Dominionist) have historically targeted midterm elections because voter turnout is much smaller than in Presidential elections. Those who favor Democracy and a pluralistic society need to be passionate, and they need to be involved in politics. We can replace dominionist legislators in the 2006 elections, but it will take hard, sustained work, and lots of passion -- the same kind of hard work and passion that began with the 2004 elections.”
A sort of schizophrenic interpretation of the impact of the Religious Right upon the past election transpires amongst groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State; Alliance for Justice; Political Research Associates; People for the American Way; Interfaith Alliance and the Institute for Democracy Studies. They anxiously announce there’s this deep dark boogieman called the Religious Right—while, at the same time, demeaning its influence upon the election or, for that matter, politics in general. “The truth is out there” – someone’s influencing someone but could Sara Diamond be right? Listen, maybe she’s found the truth:
"Christians are mandated to gradually occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns" Definition of Dominion Theology by sociologist Sara Diamond
Furthermore, the ludicrous and superfluous remarks made by Air America’s airheads regarding the Religious Right’s clout (i.e., “all bark and no bite”) continues to remind one of the West’s ignorance of Hitler’s intentions leading up to the stupid diplomatic efforts by Chamberlain and his absurd and worthless document entitled: “Peace in Our Time!”
Yet, Air America will somehow have the perspicacity to print this:
“It's payback time for the Religious Right and they mean to collect in full. Bob Jones III, of Bob Jones University, sent a congratulatory note to George W. with the following admonition: "Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you. If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them." Clear enough? Newsweek reports that the evangelicals "now hold daily conference calls and meetings to review a long legislative wish list: conservative judicial appointments, a federal amendment banning gay marriage, abortion restrictions, tougher obscenity laws, school vouchers, a ban on all human cloning."
Sure, it’s payback time—but “you don’t have to pay that much back because you don’t owe them that much” – how do you spell “dumb” backwards: MUD!
Finally, the so-called “Evangelical Left” of Sojourners—they are the last ones to look into the crystal ball and discern the impact of the Religious Right on the election of 2004—listen to their gibberish:
“The much-touted Religious Right is now a declining political factor in American life. The New York Times’ Bill Keller recently observed, ‘Bombastic evangelical power brokers like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson have aged into irrelevance, and now exist mainly as ludicrous foils.’ The real theological problem in America today is no longer the Religious Right but the nationalist religion of the Bush administration—one that confuses the identity of the nation with the church, and God's purposes with the mission of American empire.” (Jim Wallis, Editor-in-Chief, Sojourner’s Magazine, Sept.-Oct., 2003)
Both Keller and Wallis should resign! Stoning of false prophets may not be such a bad idea after all (just kidding)—but, when are these guys going to get a brain?
PURE APOSTASY – JEZEBEL-STYLE
The truest meaning of “Apostasy” (i.e., “the falling away from the faith”) in its “Babylonian context” has far less to do with “sorcery” (Revelation 18:23) and the accouterments thereof (e.g., “the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers” (Daniel 2:27); or channelers, diviners, new age movements in general, self-actualization/realization, theosophy, transcendental meditation, ad nausea).
However, not to demean the significance of the threatening blast to True Christianity that these “winds of doctrine” pose to the Church, yet they are in no way equal to the image of the Woman who rides the Beast!
Pointedly: Apostasy, akin to what took place in ancient Israel—especially in the reign of King Ahab and his Gentile-born Queen Jezebel of Tyre and Sidon—is the absolute convergence of the religion of the One True God with that of the power of the State! Here we have a princess, Jezebel, whose father, Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, was a zealous participant in the worship of Baal. Well did she know the mysteries of the Canaanite religion and its entanglements with the mystery religion of Babylon.
Her peculiar familiarity with religion and politics, as well as Tyre’s commercial intrigues and how their international trading empire incorporated temple “worship” to spread its economic hegemony throughout the Mediterranean, represents an ideal Trinitarian form of apostasy wherein religion, politics and commerce depict prophetic Babylon.
Her expertise in religious subterfuge and commercial exploitation, coupled with political power—and how to manipulate the three—was unexcelled. King Ethbaal was unsurpassed in his ruthlessness, having been High Priest of Baal; he now sought, through assassination, the kingship of the ancient Phoenicians. Indeed, he sought to bring the “counsel of peace” between them both: The State and Religion – the kingship and the priesthood, the Church and the State. So, it is within this context, did “that woman Jezebel” and Israel’s seventh and worst king (I Kings 16:33) ascend the throne of Israel and become her king and queen.
Their “commercial tryst” bore no semblance of commitment and matrimonial bliss. No, as Solomon (I Kings 11:1-5), King Ahab sought commercial alliances to enforce his political control over the masses and to suffice his sensual and greedy aspirations. The fact that Ahab had some seventy sons by “women of the court” demonstrates the degradation and charade of the marriage bed (II Kings 10:1).
Furthermore, the fertile soils of apostasy were found between Israel and Tyre through Dan’s unholy inheritance grab centuries earlier, wherein the tribe of Dan seized the northernmost territory of Israel—for its environs were predisposed to trade with Tyre and Sidon. Dan’s ancient apostasy is legendary—integrating the true religion of Jehovah with the Canaanite deities of Baal and Ashtaroth (vide. Judges 17 and 18).
We must consider the inspiration of the Scriptures in leaving out the Tribe of Dan in sealing the first mentioning of the 144,000 as a rebuke to this compromise (Revelation 7:5-8), but reconsider their possible repositioning within the Holy City (Revelation 21:21) as a triumph of grace and faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God.
Now, is that overt enough—or are you going to go Garrison Keillor on me and do a Lake Wobegon
“I’m trying to organize support for a constitutional amendment to deny voting rights to born-again Christians . . . I feel if your citizenship is in Heaven—like a born-again Christian’s is—you should give up your citizenship . . . sorry, but this is my new cause . . . if born again Christians are allowed to vote in this country, then why not Canadians?”
So—what doth it profit a man if he gains the whole NPR audience, but loses his own soul? Think of it—living among so many Lutherans for so many years has caused Garrison to go mad! Again, it’s this overweening sense of the Left’s propriety and their flippant attitude concerning the Religious Right’s impact that reminds me of the Cabaret comedians who joked about Hitler!
THE ENTANGLEMENT OF RELIGIOUS POLITICS - BABYLON
I’m going to go “Biblically heavy” on you—so, bear with me . . .
Having superficially explored the prototype of Biblical apostasy, may I concentrate your attention upon the earth’s most unique religious/secular mixture to date: The United States of America and its burgeoning relationship with conservative Christianity, again, in particular, evangelical Christianity—for it is here that apostasy’s most prophetically grotesque appearance is recognized.
I do this at the risk of accusations that such political analysis has little to do with spiritual matters; however, understanding the times in which we live is a Biblical injunction that bears credibility:
“ . . . of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do . . .” (I Chronicles 12:32).
At first glance, and since “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (I John 5:19), it appears that an argument can be made in support that little difference exists between nations insofar as evil is concerned; however, the Bible is altogether clear regarding such differentiation along many lines and levels (e.g., in the Image in Daniel there are “principalities” identified as “the prince of Persia” and the “prince of Greece” – let alone copious Biblical examples that delineate differences among nations, tribes, peoples; the “sheep and goat” nations (Matthew 25:32-33), etc.).
Even so, regarding the end-time’s Babylon, which shall arise at the “End of Days” (i.e., the last of the Last Days, for the “Last Days” or “Latter Days” surely commenced at the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry), we observe that its physicality bears remarkable resemblance to a multitude of Biblical descriptions, which resoundingly point to our shores! But, the chief evidence that convicts us of Babylon’s identity is this insidious characteristic of ancient apostasy.
Consider: the nations of Russia, Germany, Japan (of course), and even of Canada, etc., have little or no claim upon professing a Christian character—even the European Union’s Constitution (notwithstanding the Catholic heritage of many of its states, let along the long history of Christianity (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox)), with secular revulsion refuses to acknowledge its Christian heritage within that document to the chagrin of its more Catholic constituents.
Yet, it is here that a glaring differentiation is noted: The United States of America—with multitudes of its leaders and people—feign to be “of Christ” – when, in point of fact, she (i.e., America) is part and parcel of the “prince of this world’s” empire. Her service to the prince of this world, notwithstanding the Christian protestations to the contrary, is fraught with abominable indignities—so much so, that to decry her ties with both Egypt and Sodom, and of her many curses written on both sides of the Flying Scroll, could literally cover the entire earth if pen could be found to write such a despicable diatribe.
The iniquity committed by the aforementioned nations (for there is sufficient wickedness to go around—especially now that we have absolute proof of the UN’s indiscretions in the “Food for Oil Program”) is done outside the pale of Christianity—i.e., they hold no claim to divine proclivity. They bear no mystique with the “Light and the Glory” ascribed by a vast list of Christian Americans who see our history as a “City set on a hill which cannot be hid.”
The concept of the “Christian nation” is highly esteemed by a growing number of American Christians and is cloaked in a variety of platitudes—everything from “God bless America” to “holding forth the traditions of our founding fathers.” Think it not peculiar the film “Of Gods and Generals” premiered to our troops prior to its official release and invasion of Iraq—virtually deifying the coming battle as if God fully blessed the coming onslaught!
Indeed, President Bush’s first term witnessed regular “prayer sessions” with Attorney General (John Ashcroft) and the head of its National Security Council (Condoleezza Rice), as well as a multitude of members from both Houses of Congress, including scores of military, business, and entertainment leaders—let alone tens of millions of its nearly 300 million population, claim the nation for Christ and the Church. It is no small phenomenon in modern times that America bears a unique distinction of holding forth the most vibrant “Patriotic Church” on the globe.
A CITY SET ON A HILL?
And for all her religiosity—what testimony is held forth to the nations who behold the “city set on a hill which cannot be hid?” How do the “have-nots,” and for that matter, “the haves” of the world view the Woman of Wickedness within her commercial ephah? (Zechariah 5:5-11). Where do the Two Women with Wings of a Stork place this woman in the basket whose name is WICKEDNESS? On the plains of Shinar in the center of Babylon (Dura)! Coincidental—hardly.
The world witnesses, regrettably, and increasingly, a nation permeated by violence, oppression, murder, war, thievery at the highest levels; while trafficking in the bodies and souls of men (cheap labor)—all from a nation, which allegedly bears witness to the claims of the Savior. Indeed, our prisons are stuffed full—America incarcerates over 2M (the world’s highest prison population).
And yet, she says: “I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow” (Revelation 18:7) . . . but God Almighty shall have the final word:
“Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her . . . the kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come” (Revelation 18:8-10).
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Back to the
Table of Contents
Part 1 - The Apostasy comes first
Part 2 - The "Shrine of Micah" or "The seeker-friendly Church"
Part 3 - Jezebel Religion - Politics - Commerce Apostasy Then, Apostasy Now.
Part 5 - Apostasy's final enticements & Judgment