Prelude to the anti-christ - Part 5

The Mystery of Iniquity - Part 5

“It is a sin to write this,” is the opening line of Ayn Rand’s dystopian novelette titled Anthem. In this work of fiction, the world enters a dark age as a result of the irrational governance of the social leaders who declare self determination a crime. The concept of individuality has been abolished, and the use of the word “I” has disappeared from human language; consequently, the concepts of “me,” “my,” “mine,” and “myself” were foreign to those who had sunk into the dregs of individual achievement.

Rand’s world of Anthem is similar to the more widely read, but no less dark classic by George Orwell, 1984, in the sense that both books speak of a futuristic time when the English lexicon was pruned of words that might inspire human imagination and, consequently, threaten those in power. The leaders of the fictional worlds of Anthem and 1984 controlled society by controlling the language and making all other modes of thought impossible. In both societies, it was impossible to express love, joy, happiness, satisfaction, discontent, ambition, or any other emotion that inspires the mind, because there were no words to convey those simple sentiments.

There are more than a quarter of a million words in the English language and depending on how one weaves those words into sentences, they could arouse people to do anything: to love; to dream; to hope; to laugh; to cry; to build; to tear down; to hate; to kill, or to believe a lie. It could be argued that preceding World War II, Germany was at the pinnacle of Western culture: She gave the world Beethoven; Bach; Marx; Einstein; Daimler Benz; Bavarian Motor Works; aspirin; and a host of other artists, concepts and products. However, despite the country’s history of achievement and refined culture, Adolf Hitler was able to use language to convince the country that genocide on the Jewish population was permissible.

Historians will ponder for many years how Hitler was able to publicize a program of overwhelming terror, with such frankness, and then find men and women to assist him in his aim of a Jewish-free planet. Although its implications are far more complex, he quite simply used language to enlist millions of willing executioners.

Language is the most fundamental building block of a person’s identity. From the name that is given at birth to the expressed values that are shared along the road of life, it is the words that we learn that shape our modes of thought and modes of action. Chances are that English speaking African Americans will have more in common with a predominantly white, English speaking neighborhood, than they would with a predominantly African American neighborhood with an exclusive Swahili tongue. It is the language, not the color that gives those African Americans a greater shared sense of identity.

It has been said, “One will never be any more than the books they read or the people they meet.” What is implied in this maxim is that the words we come in contact with will establish our values and manufacture the person we become. But what happens when those words dilute the purity of a concept? In 1984, Orwell introduced two words – doublethink and newspeak – in the fictional land of Oceania. These words were the buttress of Oceania’s success in distorting the language; thereby, controlling the imagination of the citizens. Doublethink and newspeak worked their way into the English language, but ultimately these concepts have been fused into one convenient word – doublespeak.

Doublespeak is the deliberate process of distorting language so that the meaning of words and phrases lose their explicit denotation. For instance, we no longer purchase “used” cars; we buy “previously owned vehicles,” or we do not “overeat;” we have “healthy appetites,” or we use “casualty” to describe deaths and injuries during times of war, or we no longer “consume alcohol” or “drink liquor;” we “have a drink that takes the edge off.” The English language is so saturated with doublespeak, certain concepts are nearly impossible to fully grasp. As an example, there are apologists who are always ready to come to the rescue of some of the most notorious murderers, rapists or other nefarious individuals. They snivel about the neglect that he suffered during childhood, or they whine that the root cause of his acts of violence was an overbearing father, or they proclaim with righteous indignation that his mother demonstrated a lack of love by placing him in an orphanage as a young child. These pretexts mitigate their subjects’ vile acts and in some cases absolve them completely of any wrongdoing. Consequently, these wicked men are considered an abused product of their environment and are as much a victim as the people that they have injured; thereby destroying the concept of evil.

Our modern era has graphically illustrated that the Christian Church is not immune to watering down the notion of evil. Consider the number of scandals that have surfaced in churches across the country over the last few years; men claiming to be servants of the Most High God, implicated in acts of sexual misconduct, including homosexuality and other sordid behavior. For those who understand the mystery of iniquity, it should come as no surprise that sexual predators have made safe-havens in pulpits. It is the perfect refuge for men who cannot control their sexual urges. Few positions are more revered in any community than that of a spiritual leader; consequently, what better place is there to exploit a woman’s trust than from the eminent position of the pulpit? And we are seeing with more frequency that men in positions of spiritual leadership are also preying on other men to satisfy their sexual, deviant desires.

What is deeply troubling is that when some “celebrity” preachers have been exposed for the predators that they really are, these men are often buoyed with the support of an entire congregation, who exclaim their innocence and/or justify their behavior. This response not only diminishes the notion of evil, but it also erodes the concept of deception. To think that ministers, who prey on men and women to serve their sexual aims, can build congregations to mega-church status; it simply demonstrates the enormous capacity of deceit, which is getting more difficult to recognize.

Neutralizing the damage done by deceitful men occupied more of the Apostles’ ministry than any other concern. They understood that the virtue of the Gospel was in its pure state, and once men began to taint it, the Gospel would lose the power to remedy the ills of society. Paul was so inflamed over false leaders that when he discovered one, he did not waste time trying to convert him. He swiftly threw them out of the church: ^4.And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: ^5.To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you (Galatians 2:4-5).

The apostles demonstrated God’s power by healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out demons. This is why Paul was so stunned to see that the Galatians had so swiftly abandoned the Gospel of Christ for a watered-down version: ^6.I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: ^7.Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:6-7). As we see in chapters one and two of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, they became easy prey for false prophets.

Paul was so certain of the Gospel’s ability to redeem, to heal, and to deliver that he declared a curse upon himself and the angelic host if either brought a perverted message to the people of God: ^8.But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. ^9.As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9, emphasis mine). However, Paul’s sanction against tampering with God’s Word seemed to have the opposite effect. By the time the Apostolic Era came to a close, the seven churches of Asia were so contaminated with evil and deceit that John had to send them an explicit warning in his letter, better known as the Book of Revelation:

· The Church at Ephesus had false apostles attempting to lead the congregation astray (see Revelation 2:1-7);

· The Church at Smyrna had demon possessed men who claimed to be Jews, but were the synagogue of satan (see Revelation 2:8-11);

· The Church at Pergamos embraced the doctrine of Balaam that permitted eating food sacrificed to idols and gave license to unauthorized sexual activity (see Revelation 2:12-17);

· The Church at Thyatira, which was examined in Part 4, had embraced a culture of sexual promiscuity (see Revelation 2:18-23);

· The Church at Sardis had become so weak that spiritual death was imminent (see Revelation 3:1-6);

· The Church at Philadelphia suffered from the same evil as the church at Smyrna: Satanic men who claimed to be Jews, were attempting to control its destiny (see Revelation 3:7-12); and

· The Church at Laodicea was in the worst state of all the churches: Because of their increased wealth, they had become lukewarm; the only condition of the seven churches that warranted God’s intention to spit them out of His mouth. (See Revelation 3:13-18, and consider that no one has ever retrieved spittle from their mouth.)

Chapters two and three of Revelation give us the state of the local churches in Asia, and all of them had been infiltrated by men who had transformed themselves into ministers of righteousness. However, the condition of the Church at Pergamos is stunning testimony to satan’s skill at deceiving the most competent men of God. A careful examination of Pergamos demonstrates that he had successfully transformed himself into an angel of light. It is at Pergamos that we have the unprecedented phenomenon of the devil operating his kingdom from the leadership post of a local church:

^12.And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; ^13.I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth (Revelation 2:12-13, emphasis mine).

[s]atan’s control of Pergamos was so significant that verses 12 and 13 above utilized the concept of repetition; a literary device where an idea is repeated for emphasis. Consequently, if you missed the declaration of satan’s seat – a position of great authority – in verse 12, then the Scripture reiterates in verse 13 that satan dwelled in the church’s hierarchy. And he is not simply hiding out in Pergamos to keep an eye on the church. He is there, among other reasons, to assassinate God’s faithful servant, Antipas. It is my belief that Antipas had spearheaded such an exceedingly great move of God, that satan decided to take matters into his own hands. He gained access to the highest levels of the church leadership, by possibly possessing the pastor or the bishop, so that he could consequently fabricate a scheme to diminish the authority of the church by killing this man of God.

As Anthem and 1984 demonstrated how the aristocracy could alter the way people think and act by controlling the words and their meanings, the concept of deception and wickedness in the church has been sequestered to a malignant band of liars, fornicators and adulterers. Consequently, the notion that satan could have controlled his domain from the perch of a local church by transforming himself into an angel of light is absurd to some. In fact, there will be those who read this article that believe it was a sin for me to write it. This is the unfathomable nature of the mystery of iniquity, which makes me wonder – Where is the Pergamos(es) of today?

…to be continued

© 2011 by David R. Tolson