Historian Will Durant once said, “Caesar hoped to reform men by changing laws and institutions; Christ wished to remake institutions and lessen laws by changing men.”
Who is Caesar? Does he not live today, and in every day? Or are we to believe that the spirit of anti-Christ has vanished? Do you really believe that some of the authorities and powers and world rulers of the darkness that exist all live in nations other than the U.S.? And with us being the most powerful nation in the world?
And when your federal Department of Homeland Security says in 2009 that those who are pro-life, among other things, are potential domestic terrorists, your correct response as weak men and women is to keep quiet and don’t dare speak up for the unborn or speak out against Caesar’s mouthpiece.
And, as usual, we stand by like gutless, godless wimps; our mouths sealed with the fear of losing a job or alienating ourselves in a nation where political correctness rules our lives. All this in a nation whose federal authority has promoted the killing of nearly 50 million unborn children since 1973.
For some of us, and maybe for some of you, it is high time we stop our century-long worship at the feet of the American Caesar.
His charge to us is simple: Believe and do what Caesar (the corporate/government interlock) says, pay your taxes without question, assume the prescribed patriotic posture when Caesar wishes to wage war (this is a far different matter than patriotism born of conviction) and never, ever question Caesar’s authority.
For the past several decades Christianity in the United States has been mocked and belittled by a vast array of societal mechanisms, with most Christians standing idle and mute on the sidelines, as if it is their place in life to do so.
But our silence equals consent and consent equals servitude. The new slavery has no need for whips and chains; the shackles of this subservience are worn in the minds of Christians, and others, who dutifully obey the wishes of Caesar. It is fortunate for us that Christ was willing to stand against the system of power rather than being bought out by it.
There is complicity on multiple fronts that keeps us content and pliable in the Land of Mammon. As for the complicity of the federal government (via its elected citizens) in America’s transformation, I’ve already covered this topic in previous columns.
As for science and education, while it is certainly the case that one can see the world in a grain of sand through the miracle of creation and consciousness, the religion of science can only see silicon dioxide, limestone or gypsum and the various other constituent compounds through its insistent predisposition for reductionism.
As mentioned earlier, the roots of its belief system (its religion) spring from philosophical precepts that have been worked and re-worked to exclude God.
Establishment science sometimes needs to be reminded that the order of the appearance of life on this planet espoused by Darwin, Lyell and others was also laid out in exactly the same order more than 3,000 years before they were born, in the first chapter of Genesis?
As for the national news media and entertainment industry, their mission is simple. Keep the masses divided; keep them polarized (divide and conquer); feed the fires of conflict; keep people’s eyes glazed over with emotion-trapping inducements, much like Huxley talked about in “Brave New World”; and shape the beliefs that will guarantee our obedience to Caesar’s commands.
Or stated another way by William Randolph Hearst in 1897 to the artist Frederic Remington: “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” Think for a minute what that statement means. War means business, war means profits and war means death. Who dies?
Despite all the above, sometimes the time comes to take a stand for a higher cause. The trouble with rendering unto Caesar is that Caesar believes he owns everything or has a right to it.
And even on the local level, for those few who do not pay rent to a landlord or mortgage company, try going a few years without paying your property tax and see who owns your home. It won’t be you when it’s sold on the courthouse steps.
Through the disconnect arising from timidity and complacency in the Land of Mammon you are a participant of the ushering in of the prophecy that will destroy the very beliefs you hold dear. Resist the finery, like three captives did in Babylon millennia ago, and you may be able to withstand the flames no matter how hot the furnace gets.
Personally, I think the time is past due for Christians to make a choice and to chart a new path. I’m not saying this is the answer, but it can be effective in altering Caesar’s course.
One aspect of that path is economic. Christians by lights years represent the largest block of discretionary spenders in the U.S. If the body of believers as a group of tens of millions decided to make a personal business decision not to buy products from companies that sponsor anti-Christian activities, we could shut down the profits of multi-nationals within weeks or months. And for the sake of their profits they would cease those activities. I’m sure you can think of more creative examples of this than I can.
Another way to chart a new course is through civil disobedience en masse, if that’s what it takes; and without the need for violence. With a mass of a million, 10 million or 50 million people taking to the streets when an anti-Christian law or one that usurps another freedom is passed, there are not enough jail cells on the planet to hold us.
Caesar is always getting in our face. And we do nothing about it because we are afraid of Caesar, admitted or not. And don’t tell me that you’re not. In my line of work I’ve seen it too many times, whether with state or federal, even local government issues.
But it’s time we get in Caesar’s face. If we act en masse Caesar will fear us. And that’s exactly what’s needed. And plus, we already have the greatest role model for civil disobedience in history on our side: Jesus.
But wait. I’m sure we won’t do either of these. After all, the body of believers is so often divided in the practice (largely by the pigmentation of our skin) of the religion and through the many variations of dogma that we hardly stand a chance. Besides, we’re fat and lazy, afraid to get involved, afraid of Caesar’s power and afraid of our shadow; comfortably numb in the Land of Mammon.
(The expanded version of this column can be found under the Human Rights/Human Responsibilities section of www.questionsunanswered.com.)
[Ben Nelms is a staff writer for The Citizen.]
