TYRANNY IN THESE LAST DAYS

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We live in a time of profound crisis: gargantuan military, economic, political, legal, educational, moral, social, religious upheaval. A new Dark Age threatens. We face a centralized planned world that assumes for itself complete omniscience and virtual omnipotence, an imitation of the attributes that exist only in God.

Our present task is to prepare ourselves and our spiritual allies for confrontation. At the moment the public hope for better times and bear the present stoically, but this will end. This period of patience must be a period of training for confrontation. Today Christians are in a permanent state of remnant psychology. Church-going has largely a social ritual with little thought or meaning behind it. Christian leaders and preachers are content to dwell on the mountain tops and are content to distance themselves from all the ever-present crises of life and certainly fail to warn of any coming confrontation. According to what we read in the Scriptures, there can be no escape from what is coming. From the life and death conflict between God’s people and Satan. We cannot dwell in caves forever. A resistance movement that is wholly negative will not get off the ground and cannot hope to survive for very long.

The general public has largely little notion of the things to come, although it is becoming clear to many. On the other hand, the civil authorities have not understood the very real threat to the modern godless bureaucratic State by the orthodox Reformed faith, but at the moment it raises its head they surely will. Today we still have time to organize as evil has not yet become what it will become. Premature confrontation can be suicidal; it must begin at the right moment.

Professing Christians differ greatly among themselves in their understanding as to what we face in the coming days. What must be insisted upon on the plain authority of Scripture teaching is that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus will triumph in our world. It is not possible for it to fail.

“And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.” (Zechariah 14:9)

This glorious day will be reached only after much persecution and many difficulties.

Today, we view with horror what is unfolding before our eyes. Those who would earnestly follow Christ and follow the Scriptures are experiencing increasing malicious and vicious opposition even in traditionally ‘Christian’ countries. Courts of law presume to instruct us about how we are permitted to interpret the Word of God. The teaching of the pure Christian faith even in faith schools is continually being obstructed. Godless parliaments persist in passing legislation that calls good evil and evil good, knowing full well that as such they contradict Christian belief. Worldwide wars and conflict proliferate; bullying and saber-rattling are the preferred forms of diplomacy.

There are those who are convinced that this will be ended in the face of some latter day awakening to the Christian Gospel either by some massive outpouring of the Spirit of God or the continued preaching and activity of Christian preachers. This is not so and contradict the plain statements of the Scriptures. At the other extreme, there are those who have completely given up all spiritual optimism and expect to be lifted out of this world before any real trouble begins. Their views are based on a teaching previously hardly heard before it become current inn the middle of the 19th century.  Such vain hope must be read into the Scriptures and certainly cannot be exegeted from them.

Over recent decades evil has grown apace, apostasy in which many good folks have been caught up has spread like a rampant forest fire that nothing can stop. This will continue and develop into something that has never been experienced on earth since the beginning of time. Its fearful and deadly progress is before us, engulfing lands once blessed by a Gospel now refused and scorned. Indeed, it seems to be most intense in such places. A great darkness has fallen over our lands, one that can be felt (see Exodus 10:21), all nature is silent. Yet the depths of this abhorrent evil will demonstrate the greatness of Christ’s deliverance.

In looking at many of the alarming developments around us, our thoughts must be directed to what the Scriptures tell us about the last days. Whilst we must take great care to avoid the widespread wild speculation this invokes in some; we need soberly to make connections, praying that by God’s Spirit we may be led into all truth. We see history moving in one direction, many things are as yet unclear and only with time will there be increasing clarity. What we do know is that there will be radical apostasy, the growth of delusion and counterfeit Christs. Rebellion against God will intensify, leading not to a celebration of life but to its destruction. We are heading to the day of the Antichrist. The Bible encourages us to look for the ‘signs of the times’. This should not cause us to run for shelter, but enable us identify what is our calling in desperate days.

We see that those who refuse the truth will be put by God under a delusion. This will cause them to believe a lie. The Antichrist will not fall out of the sky, but will doubtless set out with good intentions. Yet God will punish him for his unbelief and rebellion, turning it into a false myth, lying propaganda, nihilism and death. Those who follow him will also suffer his terrible end.

Many refuse to see the growth and true significance of this wickedness, but it is a judicial blindness brought upon the world by God. Having refused the truth, they have been fed a lie to believe and live by. These days are upon us.

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)

To understand our own times better and in their true context, we need to see them in the shadows cast by the end of days. Especially important is the prophesied formation of a totalitarian power of the beast that rises from the sea and is worshipped by the masses. A delusion is practised on the masses to bring about worship using deceptive miracles, signs and marvels. Wicked attempts to deceive are made by the Antichrist: the one who rejects the Father and the Son.

“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:22)

“Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.” (Revelation 13:7-14)

Today’s society, as none before, reveals all the marks of the society of the Antichrist. We must first put to one side thoughts about we can do, instead we should look at what is happening and try to see what Christ is doing. We must look not only at what is before our eyes, a crisis, a treaty, a war, but try to understand the deeper meaning of it all. God’s Word shows us that all powers and governments which bestir themselves so impressively on the world stage are all subject to Christ whether they like or recognize it or not. They are all links in the chain, elements in the unfolding of world history, controlled and directed by Christ through the ages right to the end, to the full consummation when the enemies of Christ will be subdued and vanquished.

What this does mean is that revolution as a means to overthrow rulers is not a path given to us. What godless revolution seeks to do is whittle the structure of society down to its smallest elements by brute force and then rebuild it in its own image, again using brute force. Not only science, but education, religion even, are all being harnessed in a remodeling of man, a re-forming of our souls. Revolutions usually emerge not from below, but an elitist clique that has snatched power for themselves. This does not mean that we cannot work to remove evil men from their positions by recourse to legitimate magistrates and judges. Certainly, the ultimate triumph of Christ will bring an end to totalitarian rulers.

The social and political tendencies of our day have increasingly led to totalitarianism in various measures as the State has encroached increasingly upon areas of our life where it has no God-appointed authority. It is our Christian duty to resist every unlawful intrusion into spheres where the State has no right to be. Whilst victory is assured to our King and Saviour, the Lord Jesus, in the meantime according to the Scriptures, this tyrannical ungodliness is set to encompass all before the end. The creation ordinances expressed will be increasingly redefined with catastrophic consequences. We face step by step a centrally controlled future and the curtailing of or freedoms is a necessary procedure to this end.

The totalitarianism we face will not come about as a result of some kind of social determinism. Its real origin is in the special choice on the part of those presently partly hidden in the shadows planning an all-inclusive re-structuring. Whilst in the past history has held such advances in check, arousing counterforces to bring about derailment, restoration is not automatic.

Where man no longer has any sense of right and wrong and is left blindly groping in the dark, he is rendered unable to resist tyranny. The transvaluation of all values, Umwertung aller Werte (Nietzsche), is in reality an abolition of all values, nihilism. Where God as the giver of righteousness is no longer recognized, moral power in life becomes vague and formal and social unity fragments. Those swallowed up in nihilism will find resistance to tyranny impossible and any check only temporary.

The final totalitarian state is described for us in Scripture as that of the kingdom of the Antichrist. Socially it is totalitarian, spiritually it is nihilistic. Today’s situation is extremely serious. With the lack of vital convictions and spiritual life there can be no strength against nihilism. The planning elite cannot be kept from amassing their power. Pseudo-scientists are specialists of the elite pulling the ropes in a scientifically-planned society, devoid of all freedom, maintained by threats and violence, aided by an ideology of a new world order that silences the masses and serves the interests of the elite.

Western society is being made spiritually ripe for an elite that will bring about the co-ordination of all society, but on behalf of its own power. If we lose the war, we do so by our own indolence and weakness thus preparing ourselves for a universal totalitarian structure. The acceptance of the division into an elite and a mass as being proper means that truth and falsehood are irrelevant. The elite cannot lie and the mass cannot but believe them. In the world of scientific planning the elite do not expect the public to understand or serve as a check. Where the distinction between truth and falsehood is ignored or trampled on, the perpetrators themselves become entangled in their own deception. In the end, a system of instruction develops around a number of leading slogans which are unrelated to the truth and serve only as a camouflage for the intention of the elite whose aims the public must serve.

The systematic method of deception used today by media and politicians is nothing new: trickery, propaganda, ‘loss’ of memory, misquoting, over-simplification, complicating simple matters, covering up facts, or fraudulent tampering with data. What is alarming is the advancement of the technical means now put to use in control of the masses. Resist and expose it, we can and we must.

Demagoguery is not new, but has shown itself in to a greater or lesser degree in all ages. The emergence of an elite in Western culture seems to coincide with citizens ridding themselves of the power of priest, medicine man, Caesar, and absolute monarchs. The advancement of new technology is in many ways alarming because it enables the masses to be brought under yet more rigid control. The increasing control of language in terms of what can and what cannot be said is also a method of control.

In order to keep tyranny alive, there needs to be a spook. For some it may be the environment, for others a pandemic, capitalism. In this way an ideology brings coherence to lies and misleading propaganda. Within this ideology a myth is constructed taking on the form a religion with a god, a devil and demons, heaven and hell. Extremes are pitted against each other, e.g., the wickedness of a dictator against the benevolence of the elites. This myth mediates between the elite and the masses. It becomes the substitute faith for a passive and dependent crowd. It fosters faith and confidence in the elite and hope for the future.

Economic interests occupy the minds of all classes of the population. Personal security is coupled largely to material security. The eradication of worry is essential in the formation and control of the masses. A person will share in material prosperity and security only if submissive to the plans of the elites, stamped with the ‘mark of the beast’ and participates in the current ideologies.

It is clear from Revelation, chapter 18, that the society of the last days will live in luxury. Little in terms of security is to be expected. Instead, we find insecurity, want, unrest, war anxiety as the outstanding features of life. There will be want (Revelation 6:5-6); men will seek death (Revelation 9:6); they will be tortured and killed (Revelation 9 & 16).

The power of the elite has set off a chain reaction. The masses are given security in exchange for dependence. Gradually self-sufficiency grows smaller and blind trust in the elite ever greater. Finally, wars, threats of wars, disasters, pandemics, the meaninglessness of life bring about a torturing insecurity that binds the masses permanently to the elites. The masses must be deluded to ensure their co-operation. When things do not turn out as expected the elites begin to fool themselves. To keep hold of power they then cultivate yet more unrest and insecurity.

Where will the current tyranny end? It will grow and develop into something awful, but thankfully, God will not permit it to last for very long. Satan will achieve his lifelong ambition, that which caused his fall from heaven, but it will end in his final and irreversible downfall.

There has never been a period in the history of mankind quite like the present. Political, economic and even religious forces are now working to radically change our society, nation in a way that was impossible in previous generations. With the assistance of modern technology, in an instant pictures flash around the globe bringing news from every corner whether it is of riots, earthquakes, famines, wars, murders, shootings and every kind of social upheaval.

We are entering a period where the fulfilment of biblical prophecy with respect to the end of days is becoming much clearer. The development of an anti-Christian one-world government that will, according to the Bible, be headed by one man can no longer be thought to be beyond the realm of possibility. The advent of mandatory digital passes for all, the disappearance of physical money and the mooted suggestion of one global central bank only add weight to this development. The end of this frightful tyranny will be brought to end very suddenly, in one hour according to Revelation 18:10 at the coming of Christ and the establishment of His Kingdom in its place.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 24 about what it will be like to live in those days are interesting. It seems that most people will be living fairly ordinary lives getting on with their lives. The end therefore will come as a frightful shock.

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (vv. 37-39)

Yet the characteristics that mark out these last days are ones of extreme wickedness, just as in the days prior to the flood.

“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” (Genesis 6:5-6)

And the last days:

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

As we read the Scriptures, there appear to be two distinct parts to these last days. The first part is fairly chaotic.

“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matthew 24:6-14)

There are wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes all over the place and Christians betrayed and killed for hatred against them will be intense. Against this there will be many propagating false religion, false Christs, and vast numbers will follow them. The professing church will be marked by coldness and a diminished love for the Saviour. The end itself will come when once the Gospel of Christ has reached the four corners of the earth, all nations. This seems very much to describe the days in which we are now living. The end is not yet.

The strivings of worldwide tyranny will produce a world of profound wickedness and chaos. People will look for a ‘strong man’ as they have often done in the past. Out of the chaos will arise an evil genius, and absolute dictator who will be welcome by almost everyone as a saviour and redeemer and worshipped as such. He will deceive millions of people. The Antichrist will not appear like some kind of raging monster, but will be of extraordinary intelligence, an oratorical and military genius and above all he will be liked and adored. People will be in the grip of a powerful delusion, mesmerized and utterly deceived by the Antichrist.

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-11)

Although the ‘mystery of lawlessness’ is already at work, there is at present a restraint and evil is kept from its full potential. He will be someone promising great things. “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies”(Revelation 13:5). He will do amazing wonders that will astound everyone. Most people will be totally captivated by the man. “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (v.4) Called here the beast, known elsewhere as the Antichrist. His power comes from the ‘dragon’, Satan. He stands as the agent of Satan in opposition to Christ the true King and ruler of the universe. The whole of this period will see a worship of Satan such as there has never been, that which Satan himself always desired for himself, the take the place of Christ.  He will demand that the entire human race worship him. He will be worshipped as god and will oppose and persecute believers. His rule will, thankfully, be only for a fairly short period of time, just “forty and two months”.

“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” (Revelation 13:1-7)

Yet this power and authority is not from himself but given him (see v.8 above): “And it was given unto him…”

If we want to know what is going to happen to these Satanically confederate tyrannies, the Bible is quite clear. They will for a very short spell receive power to rule with the beast, but ultimately, they will all surrender their sovereignty to the beast. They will fight against Christ the true King of kings and will be crushed. We shall share His victory.
“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” (Revelation 17:12-14)
We see that the present global push towards some kind of one-world world order is perfectly in keeping with Bible prophecy. History is running out of road; it is coming a climax.

The social structure of our world today has grown from that of previous centuries. In the same way the future will grow from our own day. The society of the future will be that of the Antichrist, the social organization immediately preceding the return of the Lord Jesus. From the Word of God, we have reliable knowledge of the past, the present and the future. It provides us with their meaning and their bearing on the end. Christ wants us to learn from the fig tree that summer is near:

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.” (Matthew 24:32)

We ought not to let that day come upon us as a thief in the night:
“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” (1 Thessalonians 5:4)

The Bible tells us “the things which shall be hereafter” (Revelation 1:19). It instructs us about a succession of events, gives coherence to history and the culmination of all things. This knowledge is essential to strengthen our faith in dark days and direct our actions. Those who refuse to reflect on the future deprive themselves of a knowledge of God’s promises and judgements. They will see little real significance in what is going on around them in terms of God’s timetable. In unfolding history the hand of God is perpetually in evidence.

“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:6-7)

Thus we see there are serious symptoms around us in the social, political and spiritual aspects of society. All are leading to a totalitarian society that is leading to Antichrist. This is the consequence of man forsaking his divine calling. When unbelief predominates, the law of sin takes over. We must have a clear picture of the seriousness of our situation and warn against the tendencies of our time. We must not camouflage the present state of affairs.

The kingdom of Antichrist is totalitarian in its social aspect and nihilistic in its spiritual aspect. The Antichrist will not simply fall from a clear blue sky. He will start with good intentions. God will transform his unbelief and relativism into a false myth, lying propaganda and a nihilistic view of life. Those who refuse the truth will be placed at this time by God under the influence of a delusion to cause them to believe a lie.

As soon as the trumpet shall sound announcing the descent of the Lord into the air, the dead saints shall rise. It will be a moment after darkness, all natural sources of light have been withdrawn. Suddenly the earth shall be radiant with the brightness of unearthly glory, bodies of myriads of saints shall rise from their graves, glorified in the likeness of their glorified Lord. Earth clothes with the garment of heavenly light far greater and more excellent than any natural light, but this light will only be momentary. Saints also caught up to meet the Lord in the air and come with Him in the train of His glory. Utter darkness contrasts with brightness of consuming glory.

Creation is freed from the bondage of corruption under which it has groaned. God will use the power of Christ’s redemption to make all created life on earth sing and rejoice before Him. An hour coming when nations angered because rule has passed to God and Christ will be in bitterness of hopeless rage. The last hour for anger. Time will have come to destroy. It is a fearful delusion to think that these words have already been fulfilled -darkness mistaken for light, evil not distinguished from good.

“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.” (Revelation 11:18-19)

Christianity shall have proper standing on earth, spiritual and secular power combined. When these two branches of power dissevered, human society cannot flourish. As long as heart sees anything out of its right relation to God, it is so far under the power of falsehood.

 

 

David W. Norris