Thousands of World Ahead subscribers may not be fully aware of the extent of the Work that supports this magazine—or of our ultimate purpose. Many organizations have mission statements. This is one of ours.
The senior editors and writers of The World Ahead have served in the Work of the Living Jesus Christ for many decades, some for over forty years. We believe in a real, personal God who RULES over the peoples and nations of this world (Dan. 4:32) who is a genuine Father to those who have surrendered their lives to Him and are led by His Spirit (Rom. 8:14-15). He is a God of love (1 John 4:8) and authority (Matt. 28:18).
We have been called to serve this Living God and obey His command: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen" (Matt. 28:19-20).
In carrying out this command, we publish this magazine which is sent absolutely free and without obligation to those who request it. And, until recently, we have also sponsored The World Ahead radio broadcast on some 27 radio stations. It was then possible to hear our message in much of the United States and Canada, plus most of Europe over Radio Luxembourg, and a great deal of the entire world over short-wave radio.
Now, with the growth of this Work's resources, we plan to more effectively cover as much of the world as possible with the true message of Christ through television. We hope that most of our readers—at least in the United States and Canada—will soon be able to see and hear The World Ahead on television.
Be sure to watch the back page of this magazine each month as more and more television stations and cable networks are added to our television log. Our Canadian readers may have already noticed that we are on the VISION cable television network all across Canada. Tune in and you may be surprised and encouraged at the positive impact The World Ahead program will have on you and your families! It presents the message of the true meaning and purpose of life—plus the inspired prophecies of what lies just ahead—with clarity and power.
In the United States, we are now airing The World Ahead on the NOSTALGIA cable television network and on a growing number of local stations as well. Be sure to check your local television log for the time and channel of The World Ahead telecast. We're sure you will find the program interesting, informative and dynamic!
As our friends and "family" of readers, we solicit all of you for comments and suggestions. Don't hesitate to write us. And we most sincerely ask for your fervent prayers that God will bless this new effort to take His message to millions of people.
All men and women of goodwill should become involved in this CRUSADE to wake up our peoples and inspire increasing numbers of them to turn to God while there is time!
Remember, although we are saved by God's grace through Jesus Christ, we are rewarded according to our works—how much we give, help and serve in the Work of God. Jesus said, "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works" (Matt. 16:27). And again, "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work" (Rev. 22:12).
So—through your prayers, suggestions and encouragement—please join with us in this effort to help our peoples understand why they were born, what is the Supreme PURPOSE of life and the real WAY to fulfill that purpose! We must all make our life truly count for something. We should all personally apply Jesus' statement, "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work" (John 9:4).
by Jeffrey H. Patton
What would it take to break you, to depress your spirit to such a point that you act on, those black thoughts clinging to the dark crevices of your mind?
When Shawn Timothy Nelson died from a single police bullet on May 17 in San Diego, "family members said internal demons motivated the 35-year-old unemployed plumber to go on a 23-minute rampage in a stolen tank, leaving a path of destruction on streets and freeways.
"Nelson, they said, couldn't cope with the recent loss of both parents to cancer, his wife of six years to divorce in 1991, and...the loss of his live-in girl friend last month.
"He was also faced with financial ruin resulting from serious neck and spine injuries and the theft of costly work equipment from his truck. Nelson's home was in foreclosure and his utilities had been cut off' (The San Diego Union-Tribune May 19, 1995).
The stress in Mr. Nelson's life was enormous. He had big problems. But instead of dealing with his personal pain, he tried to anesthetize it with drugs and alcohol. His problems, however, didn't disappear; rather, they continued to beat him down. What was the source, the malevolent mental spark, that set Mr. Nelson on a tank rampage crushing cars, knocking over utility poles and smashing fire hydrants?
While Mr. Nelson's death deprives us of a full account in his own words, it is reasonable to consider that Shawn Nelson, a former army tanker, must have fantasized about being in the power seat of a 57-ton tank once again. Perhaps he saw himself smashing his misfortunes embodied in steel and glass—the tank's sheer mass flattening the obstacles that had ruined his private dreams. Was it also a desperate bid for attention or an unusual means of suicide? Whatever the motive, Shawn Nelson's internal "demons" destroyed him.
Not everyone has such a long list of personal tragedies that would initiate some bizarre reaction. Yet, increasingly, more people are easily seduced into immoral, bloody behavior.
"The idea to rob someone was spontaneous, Lamont Cherry said: the selection of a victim completely arbitrary. He said the escalation of the crime from a theft to a rape and beating was instant and insane.
"Lamont Cherry, who was 15 years old the night he and four teenage friends raped, sodomized and kicked a 43-year-old woman under the Coney Island boardwalk last spring, said the crime did not make sense then, and does not now. He said he could find no words to explain himself adequately....
"April 7 was utterly ordinary, he said. His mother served him dinner and then he went out, meeting up with his four friends over the next hour. They went to the arcade, he said, and then to the boardwalk to drink beer. And then, he said, Robert Smith, the oldest of the group at age 17, suggested they go rob someone.
"Mr. Cherry said it was an odd turn of conversation, but he said no one objected, no one hesitated. `Everybody was quiet,' he said. It took only a moment to identify the...woman as a target" (The New York Times, "Jailed Youth Recalls Whim That Led to a Robbery and Gang Rape," May 14, 1995).
In our morally adrift, ethically rootless society, when an evil idea presents itself, the simple, perchance, yield to it. Or, when everything goes wrong, a man without deep character may blindly lash out. Are you prepared to mentally wrestle with your internal demons on a day of adversity? Some are not and their lives are destroyed.
It is a sad reality of life at the close of this twentieth century that outrageous, wildly selfish, bizarre behavior is increasingly commonplace. How can you ensure that you will not fall prey to your internal demons—those uninvited black thoughts which surface in your mind? Is there anything you can do to strengthen the defenses of reason, rationality, faith and hope?
The Western world is in a state of denial. We refuse to admit that individuals and societies become what they think! And what we do think about is colored with our prevailing outlook on life—cynicism.
This approach to life is infused with "a prejudice against the face-value explanation bordering on disbelief, accompanied by a ready willingness to ascribe base motives" (Paul Starobin, Columbia Journalism Review "A Generation of Vipers," Mar.-Apr. 1995, p. 26).
A recent survey by the Times Mirror Center for The People & The Press was conducted to measure the depth of the cynical attitude in America: "All groups polled were asked to rate the ethics and honesty of Washington officials, state and local officials, top business leaders, Wall Street executives, religious leaders and military leaders. The public almost always rated these leaders lower than...[the press] did" (Los Angeles Times, "Public Found to Be More Cynical Than the Press," May 22, 1995).
When writer Paul Starobin wondered if cynicism can be reversed in our society, he speculated, "A vicious circle may be at work: cynical [press] coverage tailored to a cynical public, which makes the public more cynical and begets more cynical coverage. Future journalists absorb cynical values through the trashy pop culture of Hollywood and Madison Avenue—these days cynicism abounds even in comic books" (CJR, p. 32).
Today's "trashy pop culture of Hollywood and Madison Avenue" and their wannabes throughout the Western world are filling the world's mass communications networks with violence and sexual immorality. To quote from an ad placed by the American Family Association, "The TV industry magazine Electronic Media, in an editorial in March [1993] said, `TV no longer wants to be a polite guest; now it behaves more like a common street mugger.' Examples: A study commissioned by TV Guide reported that in a single day TV showed 1,846 acts of violence, 389 assaults, 362 gunplays, and 273 punches" (Los Angeles Times, July 11, 1993).
TV doesn't blush about its merchandising of sex either. "The broadcast networks' 8 p.m. `family viewing hour' has become a hotbed of sex and other spicy fare. Fox broadcasts Melrose Place, the California saga of steamy romance and ruthless ambition.... NBC offer Wings, a sitcom with no children and plenty of sexual innuendo. So far, the networks say, they have received almost no complaints from viewers that adult fare is unacceptable for the hour.... Strong language remains taboo. While most subject matter is now permissible...as social values change, so do definitions of family shows" (Wall Street Journal, "It's 8 P.M. Your Kids Are Watching Sex on TV," Mar. 27, 1995).
When it comes to "entertainment" on TV, most of the executives of this fabulously lucrative industry deny any responsibility for influencing young people. One typical Hollywood producer remarked, "It's not our responsibility to police what children watch. Our job is to entertain. We're just writing television situation comedy. We're not parents" (Los Angeles Times, "Youths in Poll Say TV Is Harmful Influence," Feb. 27, 1995).
Yet a poll sponsored by Children Now, a national children's advocacy group, found that even the youth realize the corrupting nature of much of what passes today for "entertainment." A 14-year-old Southern California girl observed, "`I think it pressures people my age. They [young people] think if they see it on TV, they want to go do it too.' More than two-thirds of the young people said [in the poll] they are influenced by television. Seventy-seven percent said there is too much sex before marriage depicted and 62 percent said sex on television and in movies influences their peers to have sexual relations when they are too young.
"An overwhelming majority of young people polled also said that television should help teach them values, but instead often show people getting away with—and sometimes triumphing by—deceitful behavior or physical aggression" (L.A. Times).
Is it any surprise then, according to James Fox, dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, "The rate at which boys are committing crimes, particularly homicide, is skyrocketing.... We're now in the lull before the crime storm. By the year 2005, we will have 23 percent more teen-agers than now" (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Crime rate drops, but killings by teen boys soar," May 22, 1995).
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole has condemned the Hollywood entertainment establishment, saying, "A line has been crossed—not just of taste, but of human dignity and decency. It is crossed every time sexual violence is given a catchy tune. When teen suicide is set to an appealing beat. When Hollywood's dream factories turn out nightmares of depravity. The mainstreaming of deviancy must come to an end" (Los Angeles Times, June 1, 1995). Senator Dole accused Time Warner Inc., one of the largest media companies, of "marketing evil. " He asked, "Must you debase our nation and threaten our children for the sake of corporate profits?"
How about the hot, new, up-and-coming cyberspace communication networks that you've just connected your home computer to—whether Internet, America Online or CompuServe? Do you really know what's digitally lurking in cyberspace for the uninitiated?
"Computers are offering a totally new way of distributing child porn and we are concerned that it may become the preferred method," said Los Angeles City Attorney James Hahn when commenting on the arrest of cyberspace voyeur, David Luera, 41 (The New York Times, "Man Held in Child Pornography by Computer," May 19, 1995). Luera's computer equipment held more than 80 "child erotica" electronic images which he obtained from the Internet.
Also, techno-savvy extremist groups are thriving in cyberspace by disseminating their oftentimes weird, hateful propaganda and recruiting new members. "Extremist groups have put so much information on-line that there are listings rating other resources. Tens of thousands of files are stored on-line, including titles such as `Klinton Kronicles,' `How to Use Ammonium and Nitrate in Explosives,' articles describing how to start a militia and software files to launch an electronic bulletin-board system" (Wall Street Journal, "Militia Groups Meet, Recruit In Cyberspace," Apr. 26, 1995). Many civil rights organizations are worried that this new technology may be used to create a mass hate movement in the United States.
"Leroy Pyle, a member of the Illinois Militia who started the Paul Revere Network in 1987, says online technology allows for `the political Amway. It's a multilevel marketing of ideas'” (WSJ).
Currently, about one-third of all households in the U.S. have computers. Tens of millions of people can easily have access to the vilest, most hate-filled or perverted thoughts that ever lodged in man's consciousness. Will this have an effect? President Bill Clinton commented, "We hear so many loud and angry voices in America today... [who] leave the impression, by their very words, that violence is acceptable," in referring to political extremists who "have so coarsened the nation's discourse that social peace is at risk" (Los Angeles Times, Apr. 25, 1995).
What can you do to strengthen your defenses and avoid being infected by hatred, despair and the mindless immorality to which countless thousands are falling prey—being destroyed by these cynical demons which darken men's minds?
The Columbia Journalism Review cannot be considered a religious publication. Yet Paul Starobin's conclusion to his article, "A Generation of Vipers," has moral merit.
"The antidote for a failure of spirit would seem to be belief, an attachment to cosmic values. The cynic, to whom almost nothing is sacred, has difficulty reconciling a contemptuous distrust of mankind with belief in a high meaning to human existence. Today's generation of cynics, in journalism and elsewhere, seems afraid to believe " (CJR, p. 32).
Faith and belief are the antidotes for the mental demons conjured up in private meditation from the poisonous, self-destructive ideas spread by just about every means of mass communications possible. When Jesus Christ started His ministry in the midst of a politically oppressed, economically squeezed people, the message of hope He gave them to think about was: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God [Luke 1:32-33.; Isaiah 35] has come near; repent, and believe in the Good News" (Mark 1:15 NRSV).
What was the Good News which those exploited working-class people and others of the first century A.D. reflected on? The Apostle Paul put it this way: "And this is the Good News which we are proclaiming: There was a promise which God made to our forefathers. And this promise He has redeemed to their descendants through raising Jesus from the dead. As indeed it stands written in the second psalm, `You are My son; this very day I have become your Father'” (Acts 13:32-33 Cassirer Trans.).
Those who hear God's Good News, who reflect upon it and put it into action in their lives, develop a close, personal relationship with Him. Jesus taught His disciples to consider God their spiritual Father who hears their prayerful requests and provides for His children because He loves them (Matt. 7:9-11). "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son [Luke 1:35], that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
This Good News of eternal life in God's future Kingdom was of tremendous encouragement to the Christians living in the first century A.D. because, the world around them was mostly bad news. Times were often tough. In fact, one could draw many parallels between life then and life now.
But not all of the elements of the Good News message implied: "You'll get your reward down the line—later." Much of God's Good News has an immediate, right-now impact on the lives of the people who hear it, think about it and then follow up on the message by putting it into action. When the Apostle Peter said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38 NRSV), he was only giving the briefest of outlines on what a person's response to the Good News should be.
Paul gave more extensive instructions and information on how belief in God's Good News revitalizes our spirit: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom. 12:1-2 NRSV).
God's message is not like the "entertainment" programming on today's mass media. Yet it, also, can effectively TRANSFORM the thinking and mindset of those who listen to it. God doesn't pander to the public's baser instincts or naiveté in order to get some advantage. Rather, God seeks to uplift us by freeing us from a cynical, negative frame of mind which leads, eventually, to self-destruction: "Therefore, my brothers, it is no longer our lower nature which has claims on us, so that we should live according to the dictates of that nature, the truth being that, if it is your lower nature which rules your lives, you are marked out for death, while if through the Spirit you put to death the vile deeds which the body gives rise to, you shall have life. Indeed, all those who let themselves be led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (Rom. 8:12-14 Cassirer).
It is God's Spirit which a person receives after belief, repentance and baptism that empowers our personal transition into a new understanding of what it means to be really alive and happy: "For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self discipline" (2 Tim. 1:7 NRSV).
When God sees the cynical emptiness, bitter unhappiness and seemingly unending misery and depression so many are living in, His heart aches. He dearly desires that it would not be so. To all humanity, including YOU, the LORD God says, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die" (Ezek. 33:11 NRSV).
"I appeal to you, I declare to you solemnly, as one who has his being in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, with their minds fixed on futile things, with their understanding darkened, being estranged from the life of God by reason of their hearts.... You must become renewed in respect of the spirit imbuing your minds, and you must clothe yourselves with the new nature which has been created after God's likeness, and which expresses itself in righteousness and devotion to God founded upon the truth" (Eph. 4:17-18, 23-24 Cassifer).
To have God's mind we cannot continue to drink from the poison well of today’s cynical, jaded, corrupt media. If we do, we will reap the consequences as did Messrs. Nelson and Cherry. No one, however, is wishing for such sad results. If we desire to dwell in the light, then we must think about the right and do it. We must feed our minds wholesome nourishment as Paul did.
If anyone had reason to be cynical, depressed or angry, it was the Apostle Paul. In his service to others he was in and out of prison, whipped, beaten, stoned, betrayed, shipwrecked, regularly in physical danger from robbers or enemies, and too frequently, he lacked even the basics of life. Eventually, he was viciously murdered. Yet in spite of it all, he maintained his faith and peace of mind. What was Paul's secret? Why didn't he fall prey to internal demons of self-destruction?
"And now, my brothers, all that is founded in truth, all that commands respect, all that makes for righteousness, all that is innocent, all that is lovable, all that is gracious in the telling; if there be any excellence, anything worthy of praise, let these be the things which you have your minds dwelling on.... And you will have God, the giver of peace, by your side" (Phil. 4:8-9 Cassirer).
This apostle, tested by sufferings, encourages us to: "Find your joy in the Lord at all times.... Do not be anxious about anything, but instead let your requests be laid before God in every way, by prayer and supplications; yes, and let there be giving of thanks as well. And the peace of God, which far surpasses anything we can comprehend, will protect your hearts and your minds, with Christ Jesus keeping guard over them" (vv., 4, 6-7 Cassirer).
If you do this, you will never fall prey to the demons of dark thoughts.
by Roderick C. Meredith
Is God "real" to you? Do you need a picture, a representation of some sort, to help or inspire you to think about or pray to God?
In 1977, U.S. essayist Susan Sontag wrote, "Industrial societies turn their citizens into image-junkies; it is the most irresistible form of mental pollution. Poignant longings for beauty, for an end to probing below the surface, for a redemption and celebration of the body of the world. Ultimately, having an experience becomes identical with taking a photograph of it" (Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, 1993).
In fact, man's attempt to capture the essence of the moment is not limited to photography or the industrial age. During humanity's entire history, people have sought to express aesthetic experiences through painting, sculpture and other art forms. God bestowed this wonderful talent on humanity as a reflection of His own creativity. Unfortunately, man has misused every good gift God has given. Can this be the case with art?
God gave all mankind His magnificent, spiritual law summarized by Ten Commandments to instruct us about pitfalls we must avoid if we want to realize our greatest of human potentials. When people violate the first of God's Ten Commandments by having something else in place of, or in front of, the God of the Bible (see The World Ahead May issue), they cut themselves off from the One who gives us life, breath and the lifestyle that leads to perfect peace and happiness. False gods don't reveal the purpose for which we were created. Many lives are empty as a result of transgressing this First Commandment—filled with frustration and misery.
The Second Commandment concerns appropriate aspects of the way in which we are to worship the God of Creation, and it specifically tells us what we must not do as part of our worship. Whether we listen to Him or not is our free choice. But God forewarns us that our willingness to obey Him in how we worship Him will have direct consequences on us and our descendants—whether for reward or punishment.
In a scene set for high drama, a thick, dark tempest raged over the barren mountaintop known as Sinai. Suddenly, a loud, commanding voice spoke these thunderous words—the words of the Living God:
You shall not make for yourself any carved ["graven," KJV) image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments [Ex. 20:4-6].
God was not condemning artwork in general by this commandment. Our Creator was teaching us NOT to set up pictures, or statues as a help in our worship of Him. It is the misuse of art as an aid to worship that God is proscribing here. Is this an unreasonable request from the One being worshipped?
Why do you suppose God gave this command? It is, no doubt, because physical human beings feel a need to reduce their experiences to physical representations. English historian Thomas Babington Macaulay wrote in 1825, "Logicians may reason about abstractions. But the great mass of men must have images. The strong tendency of the multitude in all ages and nations to idolatry can be explained on no other principle" (Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, 1993).
The shameful episode of the golden calf perfectly illustrates this point. After the Israelites had heard, and agreed to obey, all of God's words, Moses was called up to Mount Sinai to receive more of God's instructions. He was gone for over a month when the people grew restless and convinced Moses' brother, Aaron, to make a golden image of a calf:
So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!"
So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD"....
And the LORD said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshipped IT and sacrificed to IT..." [Ex. 32:3-5, 7-8].
Notice that the Israelites considered this an aid to the worship of the same God that Moses had proclaimed to them—not a foreign god. But God was NOT flattered. Angry at this proscribed aid to worship, the LORD did not say they "sacrificed to ME"—He said "to IT." God saw the golden calf that was intended to represent Him as a foreign, false god—an intruder into the covenant relationship He had with His physical people, Israel.
Most people, like the ancient Israelites, want some visible or tangible object to help them visualize the God who is invisible—some aid to help them worship Him. Yet that is the very thing God forbids in this Second Commandment. Why would God forbid this?
When people create representations of God, they are, in effect, denying His omnipotence, His omniscience and His omnipresence. The limitless God is all-powerful, all-knowing and, through His Spirit, ever-present. No picture or sculpture could ever capture these important aspects of God's essence and truly portray who and what He is.
A created object is always inferior to its creator. An idol is a piece of religious art picturing or symbolizing a deity. Idols don't make themselves, despite Aaron's lame excuse to Moses: "And I said to them, `Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.' So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out" (Ex. 32:24). Idols are the creation of, and are thus inferior to, men. When men make idols, they are setting up inferior objects to be venerated and adored—which means they are representing God by something less than themselves.
In man's attempt to craft an image of God, he will almost certainly look to the physical world around him for inspiration. And, while there certainly are aspects of the natural world that typify divine existence, to physically or mentally cast God in the mold of something He has created limits Him in the minds of those who do so. This is how mankind turned to idolatry in the first place. The Apostle Paul explained it this way:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man-and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature [creation] rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen [Rom. 1:18-25].
Surprisingly, some so-called "scholars" use this verse to try to prove that God does not have the same form and shape as human beings. A comparison of Genesis 1:26 and 5:3, as well as many other scriptures, shows that He absolutely does have form and shape; man was created in His image. (For proof of this, please write for our free brochure, The God YOU Can Know!)
One problem with the ancient pagans was that they fashioned their mythological gods such as Zeus, Apollo and Venus to act and think like "corruptible" human beings—manifesting selfishness, vanity, vindictiveness and scheming. Truly the ancient Greek and Roman gods were like the people who worshipped them.
God gave many strong warnings to ancient Israel against making religious images:
Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth.... Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you [Deut. 4:15-18, 23].
Any portrayal of God by human handiwork, then, would be a far cry from the reality. And, if God is represented as a human, some of the bad qualities of human beings might be attached to Him in the minds of worshippers—as was the case, already mentioned, in ancient Greece and Rome.
The Bible admonishes, "Cursed is the one who makes any carved or molded image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman..." (Deut. 27:15). Yet, despite God's incessant warnings, Israel would regularly relapse into a worship that incorporated idolatrous images.
Where did the Israelites get the concept of making idols? Sadly, all nations of that time period were steeped in making images of their particular pagan gods or goddesses. God knew that Israel would be tempted to adopt this common practice when they dispossessed the Canaanites. What did God think of this?
You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall NOT worship the LORD your God with such things [Deut. 12:2-4].
Certainly, pagan images should NOT have been imported into the true religion. God did NOT accept mixing the worship practices of the true religion with the false at that time, nor will He accept it today.
Describing the Roman society in which early Christianity existed, the respected writer and historian, Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, wrote:
"Idol worship was interwoven with life in every department. Images stood in every house to receive adoration; libations were poured out to the gods at every festival; with every civic or provincial ceremony the images were worshipped. In such forms the Christians would take no part. Hence they were regarded by the unthinking as unsocial and morose, as atheists, having no gods, and as haters of their fellow-men" (The Story of the Christian Church, p. 41).
Later, Mr. Hurlbut describes the growth of pagan practices within the developing Church in the Roman Empire:
"The services of worship increased in splendor, but were less spiritual and hearty than those of former times. The forms and ceremonies of paganism gradually crept into the worship. Some of the old heathen feasts became church festivals with change of name and worship. About 405 A.D. images of saints and martyrs began to appear in the churches, at first as memorials, then in succession revered, adored, and worshipped. The adoration of the Virgin Mary was substituted for the worship of Venus and Diana; the Lord's Supper became a sacrifice in place of a memorial; and the elder evolved from a preacher into a priest" (p. 62).
It should be obvious that the "Christianity" which began to take over the Roman Empire was very far removed from the Christianity of Christ and the Apostles. The men and women beginning to practice idolatry at that stage simply DID NOT KNOW the God of Abraham, the God of Jesus, the God of creation. So they began to make pictures, idols and images.
What does your Bible say about the millions of pictures of "Jesus" out there today—either hanging on people's walls or printed in Bibles and children's storybooks?
The Second Commandment forbids the use of anything which visually depicts God or could easily become an object of worship. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is GOD along with His Father (John 1:1-3, 14; Heb. 1:8). Even as a human being, He was "God with us" (Matt. 1:23). So the Second Commandment directly prohibits any picture or likeness purporting to be of Him!
Even if someone wanted to argue this point, these pictures in question do not bear any resemblance whatsoever to Jesus Christ's actual appearance! They are not a TRUE representation of Jesus Christ, a Jew (Heb. 7:14). Most "Jesus" pictures do not portray Him with Jewish features. Like the average Jew of His day, Jesus did not have long hair! Paul was inspired to write, "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" (1 Cor. 11:14 KJV). Most supposed pictures of Jesus show a long-haired man with soft, feminine features and a far-off, sentimental look in His eyes.
This "Jesus" also commonly looks like a weakling. Yet the real Jesus grew up working as a carpenter. He was strong and muscular; a working man with callused hands. A puny weakling couldn't overturn the huge tables of the outraged moneychangers and frighten them out of the temple (John 2:14-16).
The real Jesus was a healthy, strong, young Jew. However, if we imagine the appearance of Jesus at all, it should be—in general terms—of the way He appears now as the glorified Christ: "His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace...and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength" (Rev. 1:14-16). Jesus Christ's face now shines with the full glory and majesty of the Living God!
Using drawings of Jesus is a direct violation of the Second Commandment! If you use them, you are incorrectly picturing the Living Jesus Christ in your mind, because He now sits glorified at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. You cannot and MUST NOT put the Living God in a "box"—or in a picture frame!
The real underlying foundation of all idolatry is that man, in his rebellious self-will, refuses to unconditionally surrender himself to worship the true God in the way God commands! As the Apostle John explained, "He who says, `I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4). If men are not willing to OBEY God—to experience His character by keeping His commandments—then they do not truly know God. God is UNREAL to them. Therefore they have to seek various devices by which they can focus on a "god" of their own creation. This is where IDOLATRY always leads! Jesus said, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23-24). Many attempt to worship God. But, because they have erected a false image of God in their minds, their worship is mostly in vain.
To truly worship God, we must do so in truth. This includes the truth of the Second Commandment. God does not want us to use physical aids or helps in our worship of Him because they will only limit the limitless God in our minds. We will better understand this vital truth if we worship God "in spirit."
To worship God in spirit requires that we possess His Holy Spirit. As Paul wrote, "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he is not His" (Rom. 8:9). God gives us the precious gift of His Holy Spirit only after true repentance and baptism (Acts 2:38)—true repentance means turning to God to "obey Him" (Acts 5:32).
When we really SURRENDER to obey God, we begin to walk with Him, letting Him direct all our thoughts and actions. We commune daily with Him in prayer and come to really know Him as our Father. We study His inspired Word regularly and so "feed" on Jesus Christ (John 6:50)! In such a circumstance, we will feel no need to have some humanly devised picture or image of God to serve as a reminder that God is real. We will KNOW Him from our unceasing contact with Him!
We need to always keep in mind NOT to limit our concept of the great and awesome God who gives us life and breath! His power and glory are only partially comprehensible to our finite human minds. Thank God that we can come to know the Great GOD whose face SHINES like the sun (Rev. 1:16) and whose voice sounds like rolling THUNDER (Ps. 18:13). Thank God that we can become His literal sons and daughters (2 Cor. 6:18). And thank God that we can worship Him in spirit and in TRUTH.
by Raymond F. McNair
Many people in the late twentieth century find it difficult to believe in a supernatural, all-powerful God who takes an active interest in the affairs of nations. They look upon such biblical stories as the Exodus of the ancient Israelites from slavery and the destruction of the pursuing Egyptian Pharaoh’s army in the waters of the Red Sea as myth.
The premise that God IS interested and DOES intervene during critical events of a nation’s history is deemed absurd conjecture by our modern, secular civilization. Yet, some members of the older generation who lived through and perhaps fought in World War II are not so callused and hardened against such a belief. Why? They saw and experienced incredible events for which there are no logical, rational explanations.
In this series, we have noted God’s prophecies that “in the last days” the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples, modern descendants of the Patriarch Joseph, would become the most powerful nations on earth. God Almighty Himself promised to strengthen them against their enemies (Gen. 49:22-24). Their descendants were destined to “push the peoples to the ends of the earth” (Deut. 33:17)! Incredible as it may sound, the Bible predicted that god would so orchestrate events that the descendants of Israel or Jacob were to be like a powerful LION: “Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off [destroyed]” (Micah 5:8, 9)!
The article is about two World War II incidents in which we believe God intervened on behalf of the modern descendants of Israel to turn the tide, giving victory to those to whom He willed it.
By June 1944, much of southern England was an armed camp: tanks, half-tracks, bulldozers, army trucks, armored cars, amphibious trucks, self-propelled guns—over 50,000 pieces of military hardware in all. Some 10,000 airplanes jammed dozens of airfields. Mountains of ammunition were securely laid up.
More than 5000 ships of every description were poised for the invasion: six battleships, 22 cruisers, hundreds of destroyers, landing craft, submarines, minesweepers, tankers, torpedo boats, tugs, ocean liners, Channel steamers, hospital ships and attack-transports. These and other types of ships waited anxiously in British ports for D-Day. The mightiest armada the world had ever seen was ready to assault Nazi-occupied France.
By D-Day nearly three million Allied troops were ready to assault Hitler’s Fortress Europe. Never before in the history of the world had so many men and war machines been assembled in so small a place for so great a military undertaking. The Allied commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and his capable staff tried to evaluate every known risks—leaving nothing to chance.
Waiting for the Allies was the capable German Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt. He was in overall charge of the entire coast stretching from the dikes of Holland to the Brittany peninsula—800 miles of powerful German fortifications called the “Atlantic Wall.”
Under von Rundstedt, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was directly in charge of the area where the invasion would occur. Fortunately for the Allies, Rundstedt and Rommel disagreed on the Nazi strategy to prevent the Allied landings. Von Rundstedt believed it best to keep his powerful panzer units back, let the Allies land, then annihilate them. Rommel believed the Wehrmacht’s powerful armor ought to be kept close to the coast—so the Germans could crush the Allies immediately—not even allowing them to get a toehold. “Later,” said Rommel, would be “too late”!
He explained, “The war will be won or lost on the beaches. Only one chance to stop the enemy and that’s while he’s in the water, struggling to get ashore…. Believe me…the first twenty-four hours of invasion will be decisive…. For the Allies, as well as for Germany, it will be THE LONGEST DAY”!
Even though the Allies tried to plan for every conceivable eventuality, there was one factor they had no control over—the all-important weather. The Allied planners hoped and prayed for good weather in which to make their amphibious landings to assault Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. But what the Allies didn’t understand was that if God sent somewhat bad weather, the Allies would lose far fewer lives than if He sent good weather! Why?
D-Day was originally set for June 5—and the invasion could be postponed to no later than the sixth or seventh. The landings could only be successful if the tides were just right, and there needed to be a late-rising moon for the air-drops. As D-Day approached, the weather turned bad—the worst June weather for 20 years! Therefore, Eisenhower postponed the invasion until later. Then, a sudden break in the weather made it look as though the Allies would have barely 24 hours to make the landings on June 6. A meteorologist told Eisenhower, “Gentlemen, there have been some rapid and unexpected developments in the situation”—making the Normandy landings feasible. After agonizing for some time, General Eisenhower said, “Ok, we will go!”
The Normandy invasion’s timing completely surprised the Germans. Hitler and his generals couldn’t believe the Allies would be so foolish as to assault the Nazis’ Atlantic Wall on a day when the weather was so bad!
The abominable weather on June 6 lulled the Germans into thinking the Allied invasion was not imminent. German weather experts had noted that, in the past, Allied assaults had always occurred in good weather. The Nazis concluded the Allies would not invade Normandy unless the weather was just right!
Field Marshall Rommel and many top officers were not even in Normandy when the invasion began. He had returned to Germany to celebrate his wife’s birthday. Though Rommel quickly returned to his post, he didn’t arrive until 6:00 p.m. on D-Day—too late for him to direct the battle during the crucial daylight period of the first day of the invasion. Rommel had previously stated, “The first twenty-four hours of the invasion will be decisive!” How true. It was as though the strange Hand of Providence had engineered the departure of many of the top German officers from the Normandy area.
The Germans also blundered by relocating most of the Luftwaffe’s planes based in Normandy back to Germany’s heartland to defend it against increasing Allied bomber attacks.
When Colonel Josef “Pips” Priller, a top ace who had shot down 96 Allied planes, heard of the redeployment command, he called his group commander saying, “This is mad. If we’re expecting an invasion, the squadrons should be moved up, not back! And what happens if the attack comes during the transfer? My supplies can’t reach the new bases until tomorrow or maybe the day after. You’re all crazy!”
His commander replied, “Listen, Priller. The invasion is out of the question. The weather is much too bad!” Priller slammed the receiver down, asking, “What can we do? [Only two planes were left on the air-field!] If the invasion comes, they’ll probably expect us [two pilots] to hold it off all by ourselves. So we might as well start getting drunk now.”
Many tens of thousands of Allied troops survived D-Day due to these critical Nazi miscalculations. The bad weather saved many lives by catching the Germans totally unprepared!
President Franklin D. Roosevelt led the United States in prayer, appealing to God for the safety and success of their undertaking, “Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set out upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization and to set free a suffering humanity….”
Before sending the Allied soldiers into battle at Normandy, General Eisenhower told the troops: “Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.
“The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you…. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”
On the eve of D-Day, Britain’s King George VI said, “Four years ago our nation and Empire stood alone against an overwhelming enemy, with our backs to the wall. Tested as never before in our history, in God’s providence we survived that test!
“Now once more a supreme test has to be faced. This time the challenge is not to fight to survive but to fight to win the final victory for the good cause…. That we may be worthily matched with this new summons of DESTINY, I desire solemnly to call my people to prayer and dedication.
“We are not unmindful of our own shortcomings, past and present. We shall ask not that God may do our will, but that we may be enabled to do the will of God: and we dare to believe that God has used our nation and Empire as an instrument for fulfilling HIS HIGH PURPOSE.”
God Almighty surely did hear the prayers of thousands of sincere people who humbled themselves before God in the face of what could have been imminent death (cf. 2 Chron. 7:14)! We must never forget that the Second World War cost the lives of about 55 million people. The Allied forces did successfully invade Normandy, and eventually destroyed Hitler’s regime, bringing the Nazis to their knees—to total, “unconditional surrender”!
Years later, General Eisenhower revealed what an agonizing decision he had been called upon to make when giving the green light to the Allied invasion of Normandy. He also said, “If there were nothing else in my life to prove the existence of an Almighty and Merciful God, the events of the next twenty-four hours did it!”
Later that same year, American forces in the Pacific fought the powerful Japanese fleet in what became the world’s greatest sea battle, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, on October 23-25, 1944. This occurred shortly after General Douglas A. MacArthur kept his promise to the Filipino people (“I shall return!”) when American soldiers landed on Leyte, Philippines, on October 20.
However, the Japanese still had very powerful naval forces in the area, and there was always the possibility that they could defeat U.S. naval forces in the Philippine theater of action—then cut to pieces the U.S. soldiers which were struggling to establish a defensible beachhead on Leyte. The situation was extremely dangerous.
Remembering their defeat at the Battle of Midway, the Japanese decided they would have to lure the main U.S. fleet away from the beaches at Leyte. To accomplish this, they planned to send a decoy of expendable ships—four nearly empty carriers, escorted by two hybrid battleship-carriers, and 11 cruisers and destroyers. The Japanese decoy would pretend to approach Luzon from the northeast, as though threatening the U.S. landing on Leyte. Their aim was to lure Admiral Bull Halsey northwards, away from the beaches of Leyte. Japan’s vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa was ready to sacrifice his entire decoy force to the powerful U.S. fleet in order to lure it away from protecting U.S. troops, newly landed on the Leyte beaches. Admiral Ozawa later said, “We expected complete destruction!”
“Halsey was known as Bull’ because of his tendency to charge at tempting targets, and Ozawa intended to make himself as tempting as possible” (The World at War, THE READERS DIGEST ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF WWII, 1st ed., p. 373).
The Japanese plan was that—after Bull Halsey took their bait, chasing after Ozawa’s decoy fleet—the main Japanese fleet would move in and destroy the remnants of the puny U.S. fleet still protecting the beaches at Leyte. Other feints were employed to confuse or deceive the U.S. so that the Japanese could achieve their ultimate goal—total annihilation of U.S. troops on the Leyte beaches!
“Halsey had indeed taken the Japanese bait…. Unaware that the carrier force was a decoy with few planes, and certain that [Admiral] Kurita had decided against advancing, ‘Bull’ Halsey set off in pursuit of Ozawa’s red rag. The only acknowledgement he made to the threat posed by Kurita was to warn four of his six battleships, and some of his cruisers and destroyers, to be ready to form a special group—designated Task Force 34—which would turn back if necessary [to protect the U.S. beachhead]. His messages were picked up by [Vice Admiral Thomas C.] Kinkaid, who believed that Task Force 34 would very soon be formed.
“The result of Halsey’s action, and Kinkaid’s misunderstanding, could have been catastrophic, for now San Bernardino Strait [leading to the Leyte beaches] was unguarded, and no one knew it. And, as the fall of night and the diversion of Halsey’s aircraft made the going safer, Kurita was on his way through [to attack the beaches], exactly as he had planned. Soon MacArthur’s land forces, almost unprotected, would come into his sights” (p. 374).
What then followed is one of the incredible sagas of World War II naval history. Admiral Kurita’s powerful fleet could have easily moved towards the Leyte beaches, and cut to shreds the American forces who were clinging precariously to their beachheads. Fortunately for the Americans, the remaining U.S. naval forces in the area—though much smaller in number, and much less powerful in size and firepower—put up a terrific fight and a thick smoke screen to hide their weak position. The tenacity of the U.S. naval forces confused the Japanese and led them to suppose they were fighting a more powerful force than they actually were. And, for reasons not wholly understood, Admiral Kurita turned back his powerful fleet when it was almost within shelling distance of the Leyte beaches.
At the time when Vice Admiral Kinkaid’s battered ships (inferior in size and number) were about to be overpowered, “Kinkaid frantically called for Halsey to come and attack the real target…. [but] Kurita continued to believe that he was engaging a far larger [U.S.] force…. Then, after 2 hours and 23 minutes of battle, just when it seemed that Kurita was read to pounce on [the U.S. force’s] surviving ships, the Japanese turned away” (p. 375).
“Sprague [the U.S. force’s operational commander] was dumbfounded at the sight of the Japanese turning away northward: ‘I expected to be swimming by this time’ he wrote later…. He had done more than simple survive. He had held his own against a fleet many times his superior, and in doing so had kept Kurita’s attention away from the Leyte beachheads! His success was due, he wrote later, not simply to the tactics he had adopted but also to ‘the definite partiality of ALMIGHTY GOD’” (The World at War, p. 375).
Did a Merciful God again intervene during the Battle of Leyte Gulf to prevent mass slaughter of U.S. forces by the overwhelmingly superior Japanese forces?
“Equally astonishing had been Kurita’s premature withdrawal. Halsey had committed the biggest and fastest U.S. battleships to a useless pursuit in which he had not fired a single shot. In doing so he had unwittingly imperiled the whole assault on Leyte. Kurita’s decision to pull back canceled out Halsey’s error.
“It was not entirely the end—later that day, Sprague’s ships were astonished by their first experience of kamikaze attacks—but the Japanese were broken. The Americans had lost one light carrier and five other vessels, together with some 3000 men. Japan had lost four carriers, three battleships, 19 cruisers and destroyers, and about 10,000 men. The U.S. not only controlled the Philippine Sea, they had knocked the Japanese Navy out of the war. And MacArthur and his men were safe ashore, already on the way to taking control of Leyte island” (p. 375).
If the Japanese had not withdrawn their powerful fleet from its intended goal, American forces on Leyte would surely have been annihilated! As a result, America’s plans to retake the Philippines would have been postponed, and this would surely have greatly delayed the end of the war in the Pacific.
During 1995, we Allies commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II. Let us never forget that, just as in “Bible days,” when God often worked through the forces of nature (wind, water, thunder, storms, earthquakes) or caused Israel’s enemies to make the wrong moves in order to bring about a victory for His people, God has likewise, in modern times, intervened on behalf of the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples. They, in truth, are descendants of the “Lost Ten Tribes” of Israel.
During this modern twentieth century, Almighty God has intervened on many occasions when we would have lost crucial battles, and, ultimately, the war! As a people we should gratefully listen to God’s Word. He promises victory in battle to the people who will obey His Word that He spoke on Mount Sinai: “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth…. The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways” (Deut. 28:1,7).
We should remember that the Almighty may remove His protection umbrella from over the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic nations—thereby allowing our enemies to get the upper hand in a future war—unless we begin to acknowledge Him, putting faithfulness to His World first in our lives!
by Staff
Q.
Why do you enumerate the Ten Commandments differently than millions of Roman Catholics?A.
To answer this question, we must first understand the contention that exists regarding the enumerated points of the Ten Commandments or Decalogue—listed in full in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The total number of the Commandments is not in dispute—it is ten (Ex. 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4). The argument is over which commandment is which.
The problem began about 1500 years ago. At that time, Augustine, who was the Roman Catholic bishop of Hippo in North Africa, concocted an arrangement of the Ten Commandments which would permit the use of graven images in “Christian” worship. Augustine’s Decalogue made the second commandment part of the first and split the tenth into two separate commandments.
Skipping the second commandment as a separate command from the first makes it appear that there is only one commandment against idolatry. But there are, in fact,. TWO kinds of idolatry—and two distinct commandments forbid these two points of sin. The first commandment prohibits worshipping anything else besides God (Ex. 20:3). The second concerns a different problem—bowing down to, serving or otherwise using physical representations of God, such as pictures, sculptures and other icons, in worshipping Him (Ex. 20:4-6).
When the second commandment is made part of the first, one might argue that it seems to only forbid serving images of other gods. Standing alone, it clearly forbids images of even the true God. But, since Augustine’s list combined them, he still had to make the Decalogue work out to TEN Commandments.
To achieve this, as pointed out, Augustine divided the tenth commandment (Ex. 20:17) into two separate commandments. His idea maintains that the ninth commandment states, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife…” (Deut. 5:21), and that the tenth commandment states, “…and you shall not desire [covet] your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (same verse).
However, notice that the Apostle Paul quoted the commandment as, “You shall not COVET” (Rom. 7:7; 13:9). Paul did not distinguish between coveting a neighbor’s wife and coveting a neighbor’s house and possessions.
Notice carefully, also, that Moses did not deem it necessary to preserve a particular order in listing the two points Augustine considered the ninth and tenth commandments. In Deuteronomy 5:21, as we have already seen, the proscription against coveting a neighbor’s wife is given first, before forbidding the coveting of a neighbor’s house and other possessions. In Exodus 20:17, on the other hand, the prohibition against coveting a neighbor’s wife and house is mentioned in the opposite order. Obviously, Moses would not have been switching around the actual ninth and tenth commandments. It is clear, then, that He understood these different aspects of coveting to be part of the same commandment—the tenth commandment. The second commandment prohibits the use of graven images to worship even the true God.
Q.
Where did the cross symbol originate? Didn’t Christians adopt it because of Christ’s crucifixion?A.
History shows that the cross was used centuries before Christ was even born. For example, the British Museum holds an Assyrian statue of King Samsi-Vul, son of Shalmaneser, wearing an almost perfect Maltese cross around his neck. The Greek goddess Diana was often portrayed with a cross above her head—looking very much like later medieval portrayals of the “Virgin Mary.” Bacchus, the Greek god of wine, was often shown with a head-band covered with crosses. The Vestal virgins of pagan Rome wore the cross suspended from their necklaces. Large stone crosses were erected in Latin America ages before Catholic missionaries arrived there. The cross has been prominent in Hinduism and Buddhism for millennia. And, as the Crux Ansata or “sign of life,” it was borne by Osiris and the other gods of ancient Egypt. The cross symbol appeared as a Semitic letter of the alphabet around 1500 B.C.
Surprisingly, the “Christian” use of the cross did not begin until the time of Constantine, three hundred years after Christ. Archaeology has discovered no prior Christian use of the symbol. According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, the cross was adopted by “Christians” directly from paganism (article “Cross”).
We don’t even know the appearance of the instrument Christ was nailed to. The New Testament does not specifically describe it, though it is referred to as a “tree” (Acts 5:39; 10:39; 13:28-29). The Greek word rendered “tree” here (xulon) can mean a tree, club, stick or other wooden item. The Romans, who did the crucifying, are known to have used instruments of different shapes. Some were just upright logs, others had a crosspiece attached at either the top or a little below it. The word “cross” in the NT is translated from the Greek staruros. It simply means a “stake” or “pole.” This word used in Greek literature to denote such pieces of wood and variants of the same—including ones with crosspieces.
There is no description in the Bible of the specific type of stauros on which Christ died. If this were important for us to know, God surely would have given us more information. The important thing is the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice, what He is doing now, and why—not the exact shape of the wood He died on. However, the fact that the traditional cross came straight from pagan religion should give us pause. Remember, we must not use ANY images as part of our worship of God—and that goes DOUBLY so for images so thoroughly pagan in origin.
by John H. Ogwyn
The hated foreign troops held strategic points all over the nation's capital. They were occupation troops. Of course, it hadn't started out that way. They came as allies under a treaty arrangement. But they stayed as occupation troops propping up an unpopular, corrupt leader.
Greedy, compromising politicians had bartered away the nation's freedom bit by bit over a period of years. The power elites of the country were so concerned with maintaining their own wealth and privileges that they gave little thought to what the long-term consequences of their actions would be for their fellow citizens. Probably they didn't care.
As a result of selfishness, the nation's leadership was virtually paralyzed by the infighting of various political factions. The country became increasingly ungovernable. Then a strong foreign "ally" to the west became concerned that the faction it supported might lose control, so it arranged to send in troops as "peace-keepers." The introduction of "allied" troops in support of the foreign power's "clients" seemed natural—just there to promote stability, you understand.
But not everyone was deceived as to what was really taking place. Patriotic resistance movements were formed. Some mostly talked and debated. Their resistance was passive and intellectual. They groaned under the load of oppressive taxes and evaded what they could. Others, however, slipped off to the desert or mountains to train and drill with weapons. Their intent was to reclaim their God-given land and God-given freedoms by any possible means. They were prepared to die in the name of freedom.
Tension mounted in the capital because one of the patriot leaders had been captured. The unpopular government accused him of murder, robbery and insurrection. After a quick trial he was convicted, sentenced to death, and left to await execution. Troops throughout the city were on the alert. Would his followers attempt to free him? Would they violently retaliate against government targets in order to avenge his death?
A fictional scenario about America's future? No. A true account of events in first century Judea. The patriot leader? His name was Barabbas and instead of being executed as a terrorist that spring day, he received last-minute clemency. It seems that the people preferred to see Jesus of Nazareth executed instead! In that sense, He took Barabbas' place. Of course, He took yours and mine as well!
Patriotic militias have been around for a long time. Their appeal is rooted in the human desire for freedom. Usually, the line between patriotic militias and armed terrorists is blurred and depends upon your perspective. After all, "Treason doth never prosper. What's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason" (Sir John Harrington, 1561-1612).
In the wake of the April 19 Oklahoma City bombing, a spotlight has been focused on a movement mostly ignored in the mainstream press. This movement represents a broad array of organizations who are united in their fear and distrust of the increasing intrusion of America's central government into the lives of ordinary citizens. Many of these groups view this burgeoning central control as part of a great conspiracy.
In recent decades America has been shaken by a combination of economic pressures and dislocations, massive immigration, and a raging culture war that has transformed the concept of normalcy. Add increasing regulation of virtually everything by faceless federal bureaucrats and you have the ingredients for frustration and an increasingly volatile political climate.
Whether you're talking about anything from the policies of local school systems to the personal use and development of private property, Washington has the last word. To many Americans, it increasingly seems that Washington often wants the only word!
On top of that are stories circulating about armed raids on ordinary Americans in the middle of the night by federal officers. Acting on "tips" about alleged illegal weapons caches and drug dealing, agents of the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agency) and DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) have, on a number of occasions, displayed far more zeal than prudence would dictate. At best, innocent citizens were terrorized and frightened out of their wits for a few hours. At worst, several have died at the hands of overzealous federal officers.
The May 10 Wall Street Journal reprinted a letter to the editor detailing six such incidents that have occurred since 1990. These incidents have contributed to the shocking findings of a Gallup Poll commissioned by CNN and USA Today since the Oklahoma bombing. Fifty-two percent of Americans agree with the statement that the central government represents a danger to the rights and liberties of the American people. Thirty-nine percent believe it represents an immediate danger!
The smoldering fears and frustrations of many ordinary Americans are being fanned by the patriot movement. Rooted in mistrust and fear of a tyrannical central government, the militias are merely an armed, organized expression of a much broader public attitude.
Chip Berlet, an expert on conspiracy and paramilitary groups for the liberal think tank, Political Research Associates, estimates that there are about five million people who are sympathetic with the patriot movement. Newsweek magazine, in a May 1 article, estimates 100,000 within the militia wing of the movement. But, as the recent Gallup Poll shows, the militias have a far larger reservoir of fear and mistrust into which they may eventually tap.
The Founding Fathers of the United States generally agreed with Benjamin Franklin's assessment that "ambition and avarice" were prime motivational forces in human nature. They valued freedom and distrusted the tendencies of large centralized institutions. The result was a federal constitution that gave to the national government only limited, delegated powers. Suspicion was so high about the "necessity" of creating a central government that the new constitution could not be ratified until the Bill of Rights was added to further spell out the rights of the individual and restrictions on the federal government.
The Bill of Rights restricted the federal Congress from a wide variety of actions. These included passing any law that prohibited individuals from freely speaking and publishing their convictions, as well as passing any law that would establish a national church or prohibit the free exercise of religion. Congress was also prohibited from passing laws that would infringe on the rights of the people to keep and bear arms, or to peaceably assemble and petition for redress of grievances. Individuals were also guaranteed protection from arbitrary search and seizure of property by the federal government and assured that they could not be deprived of life, liberty or property by an arbitrary act of the central government, but only upon conviction of a crime by a jury of their peers.
On top of all of this, the ninth and tenth amendments of the Bill of Rights spelled out that every power not specifically delegated to the federal government was understood to be reserved by the people or by the several states. The men who shaped this system were students of history and of human nature. Their view of government was perhaps best summarized by George Washington's statement: "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master" Their worldview and experience had been shaped by the arbitrary use of power so commonly exercised by many European monarchs. As a result, they instituted every check and balance they could imagine to check the tendency of man to abuse and tyrannize his fellow man.
However, no system of government is going to be long superior to the character of the men who hold office under it. When people value virtue over vice, relationships among neighbors and communities can proceed with relative smoothness. Greed and ambition are corrupting factors, as is conceited self-righteousness, which is a form of destructive pride. Many abuses have been perpetrated in the context of "reforms" by individuals so blinded by pride that they were able to justify anything. Overwhelmingly convinced of their own righteousness, leaders and their followers throughout time have convinced themselves that the ends justify the means. Zealots of all stripes and persuasions have sacrificed countless individuals, convincing themselves that it was "for a greater good."
A variety of factors and historical developments have contributed to bringing the United States to this point where its people are so divided against one another that it is reminiscent of the time immediately prior to the War Between the States.
American President Woodrow Wilson, a noted scholar and historian before entering politics, drew some interesting conclusions concerning the dramatic impact the American Civil War and its aftermath had on the power of the federal government.
In a 1901 article in the Atlantic Monthly, titled "The Reconstruction of the Southern States," Mr. Wilson wrote, "The national government which came out of Reconstruction was not the national government which went into it. The civil war had given leave to one set of revolutionary forces; reconstruction gave leave to another...the effects...were permanent, and struck to the very centre of our forms of government."
Mr. Wilson went on to say, "A government which had been in its spirit federal became, almost of a sudden, national in temper and point of view... But the real change was the change of air—a change of conception with regard to the power of Congress, the guiding and compulsive efficacy of national legislation, the relation of the life of the land to the supremacy of the national lawmaking body."
For over fifty years following the close of the Reconstruction, the national government steadily grew in power and scope, yet remained distanced from the lives of ordinary citizens. With the coming of the Great Depression of the 1930s and the launching of President Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal" to combat it, federal regulatory agencies began multiplying. America's entry into World War II in 1941 only accelerated the growth in the number of bureaucrats. Though there were voices of concern at the growth in size and scope of the national government, most Americans were willing to accept these changes as a temporary necessity because of the crises presented by the depression and the war. It seemed to many that survival itself was at stake.
The size and scope of the national government didn't shrink or recede after the war, however. Peace never really came, because the United States entered the Cold War against our former ally, the Soviet Union. For over forty years, fear of the Soviet threat fueled an ever-rising spiral of defense spending and espionage.
Similarly, the civil rights revolution, the rise of environmental activism, and anxiety about America's mounting drug problems have all served to feed a glutton-like federal apparatus of national regulation and enforcement. All of this has brought the national government to a level of intrusion in the lives of individual citizens never remotely imagined by the Founding Fathers.
The militia movement has been spawned by increasing numbers of people from "middle America" who feel alienated from their government. They are fearful of what lies ahead. Americans see mammoth changes in their nation in everything from its ethnic make-up to its cultural norms. Government is viewed as out of control in both size and scope, though, paradoxically, powerless and ineffectual in performing essential functions—such as insuring that citizens can walk the streets without fear of criminal violence.
Many within the militia movement are also fearful of forces arising within Europe and elsewhere that could threaten even our national existence. Some discuss these apprehensions within the context of Bible prophecies. As alarm about the future mounts, increasing numbers are arming themselves with a wide range of weapons and preparing for their version of a future apocalyptic struggle between good and evil.
Many of the same beliefs and frustrations that currently fuel America's growing militia movement fueled another militia movement over 1900 years ago in first century Judea. There are some important parallels and lessons to consider.
Outrage at the loss of national independence fueled the growing Zealot movement of the first century. Random acts of violence perpetrated by Zealots and Romans alike raised tensions and finally culminated in the First Jewish Revolt. But the Zealot's rebellion failed; in 70 A.D., the Roman legions under Titus destroyed the Temple and the city of Jerusalem as punishment. The last Zealot holdouts committed mass suicide at Masada to avoid capture in 72 A.D. Hatreds smoldered for another 60 years until the conflagration of war again engulfed the Jewish nation with the Bar Kochba Revolt in 132-135 A.D.
The Roman Emperor Hadrian brutally repressed the Jews throughout much of the Roman Empire, and he obliterated the Jewish state from the map—a consequence which lasted almost two millennia.
The Zealot movement, of which Barabbas was an early first century leader, included at least one man who went on to become one of the original twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. His name was Simon the Zealot (Luke 6:15). What prompted Simon to leave the first century militia movement in Judea and become a disciple of Jesus Christ? Undoubtedly, he was an intensely patriotic man who deeply loved his people and his country. He longed to see the kingdom restored to Israel. He wanted to see his beloved nation achieve its God-given destiny as foretold by the prophets. He was disgusted by the compromising and corrupt politicians who were willing to pay almost any price in order to perpetuate their own status. He was not simply a "sunshine patriot," but rather was willing to endure danger and hardship in order to bring his dreams to reality.
Around the autumn of 27 A.D. Simon came into contact with a preaching prophet from Galilee, a patriot hotbed. Jesus of Nazareth came with a message of hope about government. He talked about restoring the kingdom to Israel (Mark 1:14, Acts 1:3, 6). Over the months that followed, Simon the Zealot came to embrace the only Revolution that will ever succeed in bringing about genuine peace and real freedom. You see, Jesus of Nazareth was born to be a real king, and He will ultimately sit upon the throne of David and rule over Israel forever (Luke 1:32-33).
However, as Christ later explained to the Roman-occupation governor, Pontius Pilate, His kingdom was not of this world's system (Gk. kosmou). If it were, then His followers would have been prepared to fight, just like the Zealots (John 18:36).
In the years ahead of us, calamities more devastating than most of us can even imagine will overwhelm not only the United States but the rest of the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic nations as well. Jesus Christ spoke of that time in Matthew 24:21 when He said, "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be."
That same time period is also spoken of by the Prophet Jeremiah: "Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it" (Jer. 30:7). Two times of trouble can't each be worse than any other. Clearly the Great Tribulation is the same as the time of Jacob's Trouble, a time of great national punishment brought upon the Israelitish nations because of national sins (Deut. 28:47-48).
Simon the Zealot never lost his zeal to see his nation's greatness restored. He did come to understand, however, that the kingdom for which he longed would not be established by a human militia with its weapons, but by the triumphant Messiah returning in power and glory accompanied by angelic armies. In the lifetime of many of you reading this article, the God of heaven is going to set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed (Dan. 2:44).
To share in that kingdom and to finally bring righteous government to a suffering world is the hope of true Christians (Dan. 7:18; Is. 2:2-4). All suffering humanity, this nation and every other nation, will ultimately be delivered from bondage and invited to share in the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom. 8:21 ).
by Jeffrey H. Patton
God promised the father of the faithful, the Patriarch Abraham, "I will make NATIONS of you" (Gen. 17:6). To Abraham's wife, Sarah, God said, "She shall be a mother of NATIONS" (Gen. 17:16). God solemnly promised Abraham's son, Isaac, "And I will make your descendants multiply as the STARS OF HEAVEN" (26:4). Isaac's wife, Rebekah, was also to be greatly blessed, "May you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands ["thousands of millions," KJV]" (Gen. 24:60)!
The God of your Bible made great promises! Did He fulfill them? Manasseh and Ephraim, the great-great-grandsons of Abraham, were to become both a great people (or nation) and "a multitude of nations." This prophetic promise was never fulfilled in the JEWS! They only constituted, either anciently or in modern times, just one small, relatively insignificant nation [Judah or modern Israel] in, comparison to the world s superpowers!
Yet the fulfillment of God's Word is absolutely vital. Why should God expect you to believe in His spiritual promises of eternal life if He can't even deliver on promises of a mere physical, national nature? God's reputation for faithfulness is at stake!
This article examines just one important aspect of God's fantastic promises to the founding fathers of the nation of Israel: the LORD' S promise that Abraham's descendants would become the WORLD'S GREATEST COLONIZERS, seizing control of the world's richest real estate!
Chief among colonizing nations were the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples from the British Isles. Only Bible prophecy explains why, beginning in the 1600s, the colonizing instinct became so strong in the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples.
God gave the Patriarch Jacob (later called Israel) a prophetic dream, revealing the destiny of his descendants. "Then he dreamed, and behold... [said God] `I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall SPREAD ABROAD to the WEST and the EAST, to the NORTH and the SOUTH…” (Gen. 28:12-14).
Jacob's descendants would become the world's foremost colonizers! God had promised it!
Later, God revealed that JOSEPH would become the chief colonizing tribe in Israel. The name "Joseph" [Heb. "He shall add"] signifies that God would greatly add to the blessings in offspring and rich lands which his descendants would receive. Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim [Heb. "fruitful"] would be the most blessed. "But truly his [Manasseh's] younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a MULTITUDE of nations" (Gen. 48:19)!
God's promised bounties are explained in Jacob's blessings upon his twelve sons just before his death. "Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; his branches run over the wall" (Gen. 49:22). "The Almighty...will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath. Blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father [Israel] have excelled the blessings of my ancestors... They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers" (vv. 25-26).
When the twelve tribes of Israel inherited the Promised Land under Joshua, only the tribe of Joseph inherited a double portion. Yet these areas in the ancient land of Israel hardly begin to compare in scope, size or quality with the fertile lands of North America, Australia, New Zealand and Britain.
Those ancient Israelites would have been astonished at what their descendants have truly received as their inheritance: the choicest lands of this earth.
By itself, the cozy island of Britain is an incredibly beautiful and productive land. Yet, from this small homeland, Britons went forth and colonized nine-tenths of the North American continent, the whole continent of Australia, plus the rich lands of New Zealand—and numerous other territories.
There is no other instance in the entire history of the world where such a small, relatively insignificant people spread themselves around the entire globe (Gen. 28:14), successfully colonizing such vast, rich portions of this globe—the FAT PLACES of the earth (Gen. 27:28).
In the early 1500s, England was an average European power. The Protestant Reformation initiated by Martin Luther in 1517 set loose a liberalizing force which made it possible for various nations in Northwest Europe to begin challenging the authority of the politically powerful Popes.
In 1529, King Henry VIII declared himself head of the English church and confiscated Catholic properties. When Henry's daughter, Elizabeth I, came to the throne in 1558, she continued to consolidate the Protestant's hold on England. When she discovered that her sister, Mary Queen of Scots, was involved in a Catholic plot to take over Protestant England and return it to the Catholic fold, she had her sister beheaded in 1587.
The following year, 1588, Catholic King Philip II of Spain prepared a huge fleet, the "Invincible Armada," to sail against England—fully intending to conquer that nation by force and install a Catholic clergy and government. But Philip's Armada was destroyed. Consequently, British seamen felt secure and confident in their ability to protect future British colonies.
The first permanent British colony was established at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and was quickly followed by a string of British colonies along the eastern seaboard of North America. Ninety percent of North America was destined to be divided up between the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic "sons of Joseph."
God had foretold that the descendants of Joseph would become very fruitful, like the branches of a fruit-bearing tree. "Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; his branches run over the wall" (Gen. 49:22). This expression in the Hebrew language is intended to convey the idea that the descendants of Joseph would become exceedingly prolific—colonizing beyond their own national borders! Joseph's descendants were to become "many nations" (Gen. 48:19) "in the last days" (49:1).
At the time when God Almighty began to fulfill His awesome promises to the patriarchs in the early 1600s, the population of England only amounted to about 4 or 5 million. A little over a century later (c. 1750), the population of Britain was still under 8 million. "One of the unexplained mysteries of social history is the explosion in the size of the population of Great Britain between 1750 and 1850. For generations the British population had been static, or rising only slightly. Then in the space of a century it almost trebled—from 7.7 million in 1750 to 20.7 million in 1850. Why it happened is unknown.... Britain was a dynamic country and one of the marks of its dynamism was the population explosion" (Colin Cross, The Fall of the British Empire, chap. 6, p. 155).
Speaking of the British Empire, Lord Archibald Roseberry once remarked, the Empire was "Human, and not wholly human, for the most heedless and the most cynical must see the FINGER OF THE DIVINE.... [as the Empire spread like a] restless tide over tracts, and islands and continents, until our little Britain woke up to find herself the Foster-Mother Of Nations.... Do we not hail in this less the energy and fortune of a race than the SUPREME DIRECTION OF THE ALMIGHTY" (Lord Roseberry, speaking at Glasgow University, Nov. 1900)!
To fulfill the prophecy regarding Ephraim becoming "a multitude of nations," God used the British Empire. Notice the words of Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India. "I would describe the [British] Empire...as the result, not of an accident or a series of accidents, but of an instinct—that ineradicable and divinely implanted impulse, which has sent the Englishmen [as colonizers] into the uttermost parts of the earth, and made him there the parent of new societies and the architect of unpremeditated creations" (Lord Curzon, speaking in Birmingham, England, in 1907).
"The British Empire was the largest empire in the history of the world, comprising nearly a quarter of the land mass of the earth, and a quarter of the [world's] population" (James Morris, Pax Britannica, p. 21)!
Was there a divine Architect behind the British Empire or Commonwealth? Many students of the Hebrew Bible have somehow failed to grasp the significance of the fabulous promises which God made to Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Never in the history of mankind were any humans given such all-encompassing promises of material wealth and military greatness.
Ephraim and Manasseh received the special honor of having their grandfather, Israel, adopt them and confer upon them his own name, ISRAEL. What is the significance of Ephraim and Manasseh having been given the name "Israel"? Only Ephraim and Manasseh of Israel's many grandchildren would be blessed by receiving their grandfather Israel's name. This meant their descendants would form two of the future twelve tribes of Israel!
Notice that Jacob promised his grandsons a "double portion"—rather than the usual "single" blessing which would be given to each of his other sons. "I have given to you [Joseph] one portion above your brothers..." (Gen. 48:22).
The firstborn son was the one who would normally receive a "birthright blessing"—a double blessing, as the son who would be responsible for guiding the family after the death of the father. But in the case of the sons of Israel, the birthright blessing would not go to the firstborn son, Reuben, but would go to Jacob's eleventh son, Joseph.
"Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel—he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph [Ephraim and Manasseh], the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright...the BIRTHRIGHT WAS JOSEPH'S" (1 Chron. 5:1-2)!
The prophecies of Joseph's son, Manasseh, becoming a great nation, and of his other son, Ephraim, becoming "a company of nations" have only been fulfilled in the Anglo-American peoples. America is the "great nation" ("one nation under God, indivisible"), whereas Britain and her British-descended Commonwealth nations constitute the divinely prophesied "multitude of nations." Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are independent, sovereign nations, all loosely tied together by the British Crown.
"It was Sir John Seeley who remarked that the Empire had been acquired `in a fit of absence of mind'” (Pax Britannica, p. 37). Further, Morris says, "The acquisition of [the Empire was] a haphazard accretion of possessions..." (Pax, p. 22). He also said that "romantic idealists" believed in "the manifest destiny of the Empire" (Pax, p. 41).
Many Britons believed it their manifest destiny to plant colonies in many parts of the world and rule over large areas of the earth. But it was not superior British brains or foresight which created the British-descended nations of the Commonwealth. Rather, it was God Almighty who saw to it that Joseph's son, Ephraim, would become a "multitude of nations," as promised over 3500 years ago!
How did God Almighty fulfill His promise that Joseph's son, Manasseh, would become a great people, or great nation (Gen. 48:19)?
The Thirteen British Colonies which Britain had planted in America rebelled and gained their independence as a sovereign nation, totally separate from the Mother Country. In the second Treaty of Paris of 1783, Britain ceded to America all her territory east of the Mississippi River, between Canada in the north, and the Spanish-held Florida territory in the south. In that year it could rightly be said that the United States was assured of becoming the great nation God had promised.
Then, France sold its Louisiana Territory to America for the paltry sum of $15 million, about 5 cents per acre! That vast land of 828,000 square miles gave the U.S. over 500 million acres of the richest and best farmland in the whole world. "This accession of [the Louisiana] territory affirms forever the power of the United States," said Napoleon Bonaparte.
In 1818, America and Britain agreed that the "Red River Basin" should become U.S. territory. This region included parts of Minnesota and North Dakota.
Then, in 1819, Spain sold all her Florida Territory to America for $5 million. In 1845, America annexed the Texas Territory which included Texas plus parts of New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado. In 1846, America and Britain signed a treaty granting the U.S. the land that would become Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming.
From that time forward, many Americans began to believe it their "manifest destiny" to possess and hold all the land between Canada and Mexico. In 1848, the U.S. and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, by which America paid the Mexicans $15 million for the newly ceded territory: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, along with parts of Colorado and Wyoming. Again, America gained a vast territory—over 525,000 square miles. Then, in 1853, by the "Gadsden Purchase," the U.S. bought some 29,640 square miles from Mexico.
Finally, in 1867, the U.S. purchased Alaska (Russian America) from Russia for $7,200,000—about 2 cents per acre! At the time many Americans thought it foolish to purchase Alaska—referring to it as "Seward's Icebox" and "Seward's Folly."
With the purchase of Alaska in 1867, the U.S. had acquired her final territory on the North American continent. Amazingly, during a short period of 84 years (1783-1867), the U.S. received legitimate titles to all the contiguous 48 states, plus the mineral-rich land of Alaska!
The American and British peoples had truly inherited the "fat places" of the earth—the breadbasket of the world! Later the U.S. gained possession of Hawaii, Midway, Puerto Rico and numerous strategic Pacific islands, thereby insulating herself from attack by hostile enemies.
A nineteenth century French historian said this of America. "'The Indians occupied but did not possess the land. It is by agriculture that man wins the soil, and the first inhabitants of North America lived by hunting.... PROVIDENCE [God] when it placed them [the Indians] amid the riches of the New World, seems to have granted them a short lease only.... Those coasts so well suited for trade and industry, those deep rivers, that inexhaustible valley of the Mississippi—in short, the whole continent [of North America]—seemed the yet empty cradle of a GREAT NATION" (Alexis De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, p. 24).
De Tocqueville added, "It was then [ 1492] that North America was discovered, as if GOD had held it in RESERVE [for Joseph's posterity] and [as if] it had only just arisen above the waters of the flood [of Noah]" (p. 258).
America's greatest President, Abraham Lincoln, said: "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven [the "fat places" of the earth].... We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of [God's] redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us" (Proclamation, March 30, 1863).
President Lincoln realized that we Americans had received "the choicest bounties of Heaven" from the gracious Hand of God.
Japan's former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka said, "I think God has not been very fair in the distribution of resources.... Of all the...people on this earth, Americans have...an abundance of resources available within their own country" (U.S. News and World Report, Nov. 26, 1973).
But was God Almighty really unfair? The Great God says, "I have made the earth, the man and the beast...by My great power...and have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me" (Jer. 27:5)! God Almighty is "Possessor of heaven and earth" (Gen. 14:19). He is also "LORD [Ruler] of heaven and earth" (Acts 17:24).
King Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that it is God's prerogative to give this earth to whomever He wants. "I blessed the Most High... All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will...among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, `What have you done?'” (Dan. 4:34-35).
What principle did the Creator use when He divided the earth among its inhabitants? "When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam [at the Tower of Babel—Gen. 11 ], He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL" whose future population size He foresaw (Deut. 32:8). The only people God ever dealt with directly, nationally, was the nation of Israel. "You only have I known of all the families [nations] of the earth" (Amos 3:2)!
President Harry S. Truman sensed God's hand guiding America. "I have the feeling that God has created us [Americans] and brought us to our present position of power and strength for some GREAT PURPOSE" (speech, Washington D. C., April 3, 1951 ).
We must remember that God says He "calls those things which do not exist as though they did" (Rom. 4:17). He says, "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, `My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure'” (Is. 46:9-10)!
Over 3500 years ago Almighty God determined that the sons of Joseph would inherit the "fat places" of the earth "in the last days." When the time appointed, according to His divine plan, had come, Almighty God caused the descendants of Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to colonize two vast continents plus many islands and other important territories around the world—"to the west and the east, to the north and the south" (Gen. 28:14)! Through an unprecedented frenzy of colonization in the 1600s and 1700s, Joseph's descendants colonized vast tracts of relatively uninhabited terrain! Truly, Joseph's progeny did "run over the wall," extending into many other lands.
God's Word had revealed that the "birthright blessings" would devolve upon the end-time descendants of two brothers, Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:19; 49:22). Is it any wonder that Winston Churchill once spoke of the "sense of BROTHERHOOD" existing between the peoples of America and Britain; and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher also spoke of Americans and Britons as "members of the SAME FAMILY"?
At the Peace Park located at the Washington State-British Columbia border crossing on interstate highway I-5 is a memorial bearing witness of the kindred among nations founded by the Anglo-Saxon-Celtics. Inscribed on a beautiful white arch is a poignant testimony to our common ancestors: "Children of a Common Mother." The Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples of America and Britain are, indeed, "members of the same family" and possess a definite "sense of brotherhood"!