Populism-Democracy Reared its Ugly Head;
Overruling Law and Justice for Pragmatic Goals
President Trump’s term was capped the other day by a riot in the Capitol building that resulted in several deaths. First, since all informational services serve themselves, all details are submersed in propaganda messages: liberal and conservative; left and right; republicanism and socialism. No source is trustworthy. The only trustworthy message is that a riot occurred, it appeared to support President Trump, people died and President Trump was held accountable even by his own Vice President. Supposedly the people were having their say after the courts refused to hear any cases about voting corruption practices. The people, believing they were robbed of their voice, were going to have their say. Their message was lost in the midst of confused pandemonium and government violence. This is the historical result of democracy: diminution of justice.
Justice only flows from the Bible. God made man in His image (Ge 1:26-27). God gave man the synopsis of His character in the Ten Words (Ex 20:1-17). That which may be known of God by all people, saved and lost, has been placed within them; God’s morality (Ro 1:18-19). Justice is the application of God’s Ten Words, Moral Law, to human behavior consistently and beginning with one’s self (Mt 7:1-5). This was embodied in the civil aspects of the Mosaic Law. The Jews failed to apply justice and quickly devolved into doing what was right in their own eyes. (Ju 17:6). Thus, the people of God returned to living like sinners apart from God; i.e., in rebellion against God as exemplified by Cain in his murder of Abel (Ge 4:1-12). This was the rebellious heart of Satan who is the father of all sinners (Jn 8:44).
Sinners, all people ever born, are disingenuous; they hold to the same morality but deny the God who is the source of the moral code and our souls. Yet, because they cannot, and will not, acknowledge God, the lost are forced to find a different source for the moral they have stolen, and modified, from the Bible. One should not be surprised that the source of man’s moral code is…Man (Ge 3:4-6). The Hellenists were the first culture to both separate this concept from religion and embody their thesis in this motto: “Man is the measure of all things” (Protagoras. Encyclopedia Britannica.). This tenet was injected into Romanism which became the foundation for the Western nation-states which flooded this philosophy into those cultures they came in economic contract. But, this is not justice because it denies God who is the basis for the Moral Law and, as law-giver, has the authority and responsibility to hold people accountable.
Sinners consistently refuse to hold themselves accountable while condemning those whom they perceive as different or worse than themselves in order to advance their self-justification and power agenda (Ro 2:1-11). God renders impartial justice; Christians are not pardoned. They are clothed in Christ’s righteousness as He suffered sin’s penalty in our place. The Lost demand to face God without Christ, and will do so to their own determent (Re 20:11-15). But the Lost cannot and will not dispense judgment impartially; they are incapable of justice. They justify their partiality by blinding the goddess of justice {idolatry} giving a false impression of impartiality. God dose not judge blindly nor does He demand that man do so. But from these Hellenistic values came the modern concept of democracy even though it was soundly condemned by Hellenism’s two greatest philosophers: Plato and Aristotle!
Hellenism Feared Democracy as Mob Rule;
Tyranny of the Majority at the Expense of Justice
America began as a republic but retained its Greco-Roman idolatrous roots overlaid with a veneer of Judeo-Christian morality which is used as a hammer to force its people into a particular behavior pattern. This, in effect, denied the power of God (2Ti 3:1-5). This moved America from a loose collection of co-equal states into a tyrannical federation of subordinate power after President Lincoln’s War. Americans were fed a diet of democratic nonsense in public schools giving them the illusion of control while being enticed to vote away more of their liberty in return for security in the form of socialism; commonly masqueraded as Progressivism and later as wars of equality such as: War on Poverty and War on Terror. These were mere smoke screens behind which the government exchanged nearly worthless dollars in exchange for valuable votes securing their power and wealth. The illusion of democracy occasional broke out into sputtering flames of populism such as the late 19th century and the last four years; not only in America but also in portions of Europe. But, majority rule is not in the Bible. It may be fair but fair is not in the Bible because God dispenses justice based on His nature as embodied in the Ten Words. Governments are supposed to be instruments of justice on earth; however, they are tools of Satan who uses them to advance his power at the expense of people (Ro 13:1-7; Mt 4:8-10).
Man’s Partiality Exchanges Justice for
Power Placing the Elites over the People
Both political parties used the excuse of democracy, under the guise of populism, to encourage their adherents to express themselves via public demonstrations. These would turn violent because sinful human nature cannot be easily controlled, not even by Satan. The Bible gives us two potent examples for how democracy is controlled to achieve one’s desired goals.
The Sadducees and Pharisees both disposed Christ who revealed their hypocrisy and injustice. His Sermon on the Mount was a lecture in how they did not understand the purpose of God’s Moral Law; to lead them to repentance since it was impossible for sinners to meet its stringent conditions (Mt 5-7). After three years, Judas of Iscariot became a defector and for a bribe led a night raid to arrest Christ so as to prevent a riot and thus Roman interference. Once they had fabricated a charge against Jesus, they brought Him before Pilate to gain a sentence of death. However, Pilate was not easily swayed and these elite leaders, who despised the crowd as ignorant and worthy of damnation, used the crowd to near riot and force a death sentence. Here is democracy in action under control of the government to gain more power, especially over a stronger political rival (Mk 15:8-15, 17-20; Jn 7:45-49; 19:5-6, 12-16). This is power struggle by proxy both parties have played, oblivious to the damage, injuries and deaths their proxies have caused while they parade before their favorite informational propaganda outlets in justification of their righteousness. No one cared for the people; there were simply pawns in their struggle for power: international socialism versus national socialism. They did not care if their rhetoric inflamed the populists, they could express plausible deniability.
In the book of Acts, the silver smith guild smarted under the mass conversion of people from idolatry of Diana of Ephesus to Christianity. Their wealth, and thus power, suffered; therefore, they rioted. Many who rioted did not know what they were protesting, they were simply screaming with everyone else and in danger of bringing the city government under the power of the Roman military (Ac 19:21-41). We have seen in our present riots how baser elements mix with those who are legitimately seeking a voice denied them elsewhere. Instead, these baser rebellious elements simply seek destruction for destruction’s sake. But, even more sinistrously members of President’s Trump party turned on him as if he were personally responsible for the violence and death. Those of his cabinet who resigned were at least honorable, Vice President Pence who rebelled and chasten the President publicly violated God’s most basic premise against rebellion (1Sa 15:23). He calls himself a Christian and during the heat of battle, rebels rather than simply resign which was his right.
Christians, we have to remain in the Bible and not be swayed by emotional rhetoric that only seeks to enslave us to Satan for his own purposes. What so ever one sows, that is what one will reap (Ga 6:7-8). Let us remain faithful to Christ and we will reap His reward in eternity future.