The Myth of Tyranny

Guardian Angel of Gnosticism

The title is a double entendre designed to grab your attention. The modern definition of tyranny bears little resemblance to its origins. The modern definition of tyranny is, “arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.” However, this definition is not supported by history.

In his book, “The Dictators: Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia”, author Richard Overy clearly details how the people of both societies loved these leaders; that is, neither Hitler nor Stalin could rule without consent of the people. Most of the people never felt the “power” of the police state and believed that those who ran afoul of the governments were justifiably guilty. Germans were still worshiping Hitler long after World War II while the majority of Soviet homes had a picture of “Papa Stalin” in their homes as an object of worship! Thus, these two most obvious modern examples of tyrants do not fit the modern definition of tyrants. They do however, fit the ancient definition and examples of tyrants. It behooves the modern person to look beyond his, or her, worldview and discover the larger context and the far more significant danger that awaits him in the near future.

The concept of tyrant is very ancient. The word itself actually comes from the Eustrucan goddess of love, Turan. She was the goddess of love and life of the Eustrucans, a people contemporary with the Mycenaeans (early Greek society) and Phoenicians. These relatively unknown people significantly influence both the Hellenistic and Roman cultures that become the foundation of modern Western culture. The images of angels or guardian angels comes from the Lasas, guardians of the graves who are often in the company of Turan and all three women are depicted with wings.This Etruscan imagery was reproduced during the Renaissance and retained through the Reformation. This Gnostic depiction is so prevalent that nearly every artwork of angels depicts women with wings! The concept of Guardian Angels are the Lasas who guide people to the afterlife after Turan, goddess of life, hammers their nail into the wall signifying the end of their life. Turan is also associated with our topic of tyranny for the word actually comes from her name.

The Hellenistic Greeks defined a tyrant as one who usurps or gains authority outside of the usual means for the society. The reign of the tyrant may be “good” or “bad”. Thus, it is the means by which power is obtained that defines a tyrant and not the authority or results the tyrant produces. Thus, in Hellenistic culture, one who procured rule of a city-state by appealing directly to the people would be considered a tyrant; yet, by today’s standards this would be called democracy! Both Plato and many of America’s “Founding Fathers” feared democracy, rule by the people, as they considered the majority of the people to be unable to wisely choose the best path to tread, especially during periods of crisis. That is why America has an electoral college so that the people do not directly elect the president but representatives who then vote on who should be president. According to Rome, a despot was elected for one year during a period of crisis to lead military forces in resolving the impending doom. The modern usage of this term has little correlation to its literal meaning. These terms are bandied about so carelessly to sway the masses to particular points of view.

Therefore, by the original definitions of the terms despot and tyrant neither Hitler nor Stalin could be considered tyrants! Hitler was both elected and promoted to his position in pre-World War II Germany while Stalin came from the ruling class of Soviet Russia. Both men came to power according to the respective legitimate channels of their respective societies! Were they despicable? Yes! Both of these men demonstrated the results of power unrestrained by morality, ancient or Christian, which is the logical result of an atheistic, scientific modern mind. Their form of Gnosticism kept the Lasas and Turan very busy ushering people into the afterlife! But, what does this mean to us today, especially in America?

The current presidential election rhetoric revolves around: unity and love. What this actually means is that to have unity we must all think the same. Any deviation from unity, difference of opinion, has to be punishable. The problem is the concept of unity. By definition politics is the airing of differences to reach a solution for the problem under discussion. Unity, as it is now used, means that any deviation from what the government defines as correct is disunity and must be corrected, punished. The other pillar is love as defined by controlled speech. It is quickly becoming “hate speech” to discuss the differences between issues, including people in positions of power. Our college campuses are bastions of controlled, correct speech, training people to despise those who speak different opinions. This was illustrated by California State University students refusing to allow Ben Shapiro to speak on their campus. These college graduates percolate throughout society infusing their unity and love philosophy into every facet of life. Thus, America has become what it inarticulately accused Hitler and Stalin of doing, controlling speech and punishing those who speak differently from the majority!

What is really interesting is that the most popular Republican candidate today is the very definition of a tyrant! Mr. Trump is appealing directly to the people and obtaining the delegates needed to run for president. This is outside of the usual power establishment who seem incapable of understanding the issues.  They have demonstrated their eagerness to compromise their values for unity and “love”, and the usual admixture of money and power, losing the confidence of the people and actually promoting usurpers of power like Mr. Trump. Now, by definition Mr. Trump is a tyrant who may or may not achieve the results many expect from him. This has nothing to do with his use of power. But America’s political establishment has consistently demonstrated its willingness to use power to force people to unify according to its current, and changeable, dictates. Those who speak a different tune are labeled as haters and their speech is labeled as hate speech, simply for daring to be different. Now, why do you suppose Mr. Trump is popular? He is willing, and able, to speak what many want to speak about the political establishment; in short, he has become their advocate!

This is another proof that America is not a Christian nation and that many Christians have little understanding of their Bibles, allowing themselves to be led willy-nilly by catch phrases like, “making American great again”, “returning America to Godly morality” and so on. The Bible says that people who ignore their Bibles will be allowed to make foolish choices because they have despised Godly wisdom. Boys will be their rulers and infants shall rule over them as they oppress each other (Is 3:4-5, 12). America runs after a woman who has no fear of the law and after a man who acts little more than a little boy name calling those whom he disagrees. The very issues people claim are important are not even addressed in any meaningful way and the best men who tried to discuss the issues were, or are, being driven from the fray. The myth of the tyranny is that we will vote the tyranny upon ourselves because as a nation, as a Christian people, we have loved unity (oppression) and love (suppression of speech) over openly discussing in depth the true causes and possible solutions of those problems that seem to plague America today. By valuing unity over truth the nation will find unity under oppression and lose the truth which comes the guidance of Scripture and not from Washington.