SELAH
' O God, do not keep silent . . .'
The Bard of England once wrote: `The world is out of joint' - and as Hamlet looked with dismay at the havoc and destruction that had been caused by intrigue and duplicity he could well have been talking about today's western civilization, for it is indeed `out of joint'. Something has gone wrong! This understanding is not unique to Christians in the West: Political leaders, Social Awareness Groups and activists of all colours and flavours are aware of the problems that daily fill and fuel the media in its various and diverse ways. Some seek to correct the problem by `British Awareness Programmes' - fly the flag and remember the past Glory - whilst others demand yet more funding for Urban Regeneration and Sports Voucher Schemes for under-priviledged young people. Those of a religious bent look back with nostalgia to a supposed pre-Christian Age of High Morality and Church-going and seek to work for those `Glory Days' again. Neither activism nor nostalgia can be the answer, for activism treats the symptoms whilst nostalgia remembers only what it wants to remember. As we have said on many occasions, a very powerful world-wide move of God began in the 1960's, breaking down old religious taboos and ceremonialism, and it freed people to be able to respond to His Call and enter into a new Kingdom of Righteousness and Justice. Countless numbers world-wide responded. Those who did not respond moved rapidly into an individualistic, hedonist life-style which quickly tore down and destroyed the thin veneer of the so-called Judaeo/Christian culture, and so the root of the sin of rebellion in their hearts was exposed and laid bare. The liberal democratic system of government in the West had little alternative, if it was to stay in power, but to respond to `vox populi', and so was spawned what is called `political correctness' today, which is merely a more polite way of saying `an abdication of responsibility'. Liberalism, with individualism as its core belief, expressing itself as a democratic system of government, must inevitably and eventually lead to such an abdication of responsibility for nothing must stand in the way of the self-expressing individual.

As western political leaders abdicate their responsibility of maintaining political morality in society (that is, in the judgement of right and wrong) and protect and promote the concept that everything is relative and everything must be tolerated, the inevitable result must lead to the destruction of a liberal democratic system of government. In an homily prior to his election the present Pope Benedict spoke of `the dictatorship of relativism at the heart of western civilization'. Strange and contradictory words from a Pope who could plainly see that his world, western civilization, was formed over the long centuries by the onward march of Imperial Rome, `controlled from excesses by the benevolent religious hand' of the Church which had its philosphical, social and political ideology (and we use the word `ideology' deliberately) firmly grounded in Greco/Judaeo principles - now being destroyed by the new `dictatorship of relativism'!

What is this `new' dictatorship? In very simple terms it can be explained as `Whatever is . . . is' - there is no absolute truth, no right or wrong, for all must bow to the new god of tolerance!. Relativism rejects the suggestion - indeed, rejects the idea - that any principle can be rationally justified, and therefore leaves itself as an ideology which becomes a bridge over which all individual expressions and excesses can walk. Strange and contradictory as the words of the Pope may seem, the central destructive component at work in liberal, social democracy - such as seen in western civilization - is the ideology of relativism! It can do nothing else but destroy as there is no recognition of rights or wrongs but only tolerance - a truly demotic society which led eventually to the destruction of the old Roman Empire! Relativism is but the end part of an ideology which journies through Liberalism, on through Social Democracy and on into Nihilism - which itself has as its core belief that only through destruction and death can come something new. Within that system over long centuries the Church of the Firstborn has slumbered on . . a time of seemingly perpetual blessing . . so deeply assimilated into western civilization and its culture that it cannot see the destructive embrace which it has willingly accepted, and has within it leaders who seek to `restore' the morals of the western countries back to an earlier time in its journey into Nihilism.

The Church of the Firstborn, slumbering though it is within western culture, is slowly waking up to the fact that there are forces without which are seeking its destruction, but there seems little awareness that those same destructive forces are also at work within! To continue the analogy: The Church is mixing with some very strange bedfellows in its desire to maintain the status quo, and tolerance is the blanket under which it seeks protection. How often do we see Church leaders standing in solidarity with other religious leaders in their plea for tolerance against the onslaught of terrorism and violence, pleading their oneness in the `three great monolithic faiths'? The only true faith is in the Faithfulness of God and the message of the Christian Church is either unique or it is indeed one of many religions. It is not monolithic. It stands for the absolute truth of a Triune God. Rabbinic Judaism is defective because it has rejected the Son of God. Islam is destructive because it denies that God has a Son. All can claim the common ancestry of Abraham but only those who are born again in Jesus, the Seed of Promise, can be called `God's children . . heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ'. Moses is dead. Mohammed is dead. `Christ Jesus was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father'. God is indeed the Creator of all things, but He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and all true believers have been `made alive in Christ . . raised up with Him and seated with Him'. This is an absolute truth! To agree with or to stand with others of the `great faiths' is to deny Scripture and the Truth of God. This comfortable bed of religious ecumenicalism is one from which many Christian leaders will lead Christians deeper into apostacy and the reasonable tolerance of relativism, which has as its journey's end . . . destruction! There is still a morbid facination for the Holocaust which was perpetrated by Nazism - itself a virulent form of Facism with its core belief of Nihilism . . new life through death! God used that evil ideology to end the assimilation of the Jewish people slumbering contentedly in Germany - a `perpetual blessing' which led to the destruction of six million Jews! Has the present Pope `seen' more than he has said when he spoke of `the dictatorship of relativism at the heart of western civilization', for the western Liberal Democratic system has the same Nihilist core within it? Is there a `Christian Holocaust' at the end of this journey, for clearly we can see that the enemies without and the enemies within would keep the Church slumbering in assimilation? To this end we have prescripted this Credo with a Selah . . . a time to reflect upon previous studies and consider what lies ahead. Surely a time now to turn to Scripture!

The title for this Credo comes from the opening words of Psalm 83, which is set in the Third Book of Psalms and corresponds to the Third Book of Torah, the Book of Leviticus. As the Book of Leviticus concerns itself with the Sanctuary, the innermost part of the Temple of God, where He manifests His Presence seated on the Chariot Throne above the mighty cherubim, it does not seem to be suitable for seeking an understanding of what lies ahead in these dangerous times until we read the opening verse which, as we have said, is the title of our Credo. The Third Book of Psalms is seen as two distinct halves, both halves concerning the Sanctuary of God. The first half, which ends with Psalm 83, concerns the enemies of God at work outside the Sanctuary, seeking to destroy it by external attacks upon His Will and Purpose and, sadly, the enemies of God who are at work within the Sanctuary. With that brief introduction to the first half of this Book of Psalms we see the Sanctuary of God ruined and desolate - as seen by the eyes of man. The second half of this Book need not concern us here as its message lies in the future and the sure promise of restoration.

In the Hebrew Canon of Scripture the Book of Leviticus is merely entitled `and He called', which comes from its opening words. As we have said, God always manifests Himself in a Temple setting, and those He calls are therefore called into His Presence in the Sanctuary of God. Psalm 83 opens with a prescription stating that it is a Song, a Psalm of Asaph and is an integral part of the Psalm, speaking its own message. The Hebrew words are `a shir, a Mizmor of Asaph' indicating that it is a song to be sung. Therefore what follows on is not a cry of defeat but a song to be sung of a total trust in God that He will deal with the enemies without and within the Sanctuary, which, seen with natural eyes, lies in ruin and desolation. We also need to note that Psalm 83 is the last of the 12 Psalms of Asaph, of which 11 Psalms are set within the Book of the Sanctuary, the Third Book of Psalms, with the first Psalm of Asaph (Psalm 50) set in the Second Book of Psalms, the Book of Deliverance. An elementary understanding of numerology in Scripture speaks its own message in these 12 Psalms of Asaph. The number `12' speaks of God's Governance, His Order over which He alone rules, yet with Asaph's first Psalm (set in the Book of Deliverance) we can understand that His Governance is not yet seen in its fulness but will be delivered, set free from the bondage which holds back its manifestation. Here we can see why only 11 of Asaph's Psalms are set in the Sanctuary Book of Psalms for the number `11' speaks of disorder and the ruin and desolation that follows, thus giving us the clear break into two halves of the Third Book of Psalms.

First there is a message of Salvation, of Deliverance, for those He has called into His Sanctuary which is found to be in disorder yet with the certainty that God's Governance, His Will and Purpose will prevail and be seen in a cleansed and purified Sanctuary which has been under constant attack by His enemies. Space restricts us to all but a cursory glance at the preceeding 11 Psalms of Asaph, but a reading of them will reveal the recurring theme throughout and gives a continuity, a link between these Psalms which, sadly, in our need for convenient numbering, separates the message in these Psalms:

Psalm 73:
              But as for me, my feet had almost slipped,
              I had nearly lost my foothold.
Psalm 74:
              Why have You rejected us for ever, O God?
              Why does Your anger smoulder . . . . . . .
              Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD,
              how foolish people have reviled Your Name.
Psalm 75:
              You say, `I choose the appointed time,
              it is I Who judge uprightly'
Psalm 76:
              In Judah God is known; His Name is great in Israel . . . .
              There He broke the flashing arrows . . .
Psalm 77:
              I cried out to God for help,
              I cried out to God to hear me.
Psalm 78:
              The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
              turned back on the day of battle;
              they did not keep God's Covenant.
Psalm 79:
              O God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance;
              they have defiled Your Holy Temple.
Psalm 80:
              O LORD God Almighty, how long will Your anger smoulder
              against the prayers of Your people?
Psalm 81:
              Hear, O My people, and I will warn you -
              if you would but listen to Me, O Israel.
Psalm 82:
              God presides in the great assembly . . . .
              Rise up, O God, judge the earth.


And finally to the 12th Psalm of Asaph, Psalm 83, which sees the Sanctuary through man's eyes as desolate and in ruins because of the constant attacks by God's enemies without and within:

O God, do not keep silent;
be not quiet, O God, be not still.
What follows is a cry to God to cleanse His Temple of enemies within the Sanctuary and to put to flight the enemies without. Often these days among God's people the Psalms are used as a placebo . . a sugar pill as we flick through the pages to find a verse that will speak to our personal needs. Just as often, others will find words within the Psalms to speak of judgement against their own kind. Truly, the enemies of God are still within and without the Sanctuary! But used within the context and true meaning of Scripture we can hear the Voice of God speaking today into the lives of all `who are called' into His True Sanctuary!

The opening words of Psalm 83 are indeed pertinent to today's Church:

" See how Your enemies are astir,
how Your foes rear their heads.
With cunning they conspire against Your people,
they plot against Your hidden ones. "
As you read through the following verses you will find listed ten nations coming against God's Sanctuary, followed by a seven-fold outworking of judgemental destruction. This Psalm was written as a consequence of a mighty onslaught against God's people who were called as a nation into His Sanctuary in Jerusalem, which can be seen in chapter 20 of the Second Book of Chronicles. The Psalmist cries out: (verses 5-8)

" With one mind they plot together,
they form an alliance against You -
the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the descendants of Hagar . . . .
even Assyria has joined them
to lend strength to the descendants of Lot. "
We can read about this historical battle in 2 Chronicles 20 verse 1:

" After this the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to make war on Jehoshaphat. "
The following story is well known and has held many a Sunday School class in thrall to the `ring of battle'. We, however, need to keep our thoughts within the context of the enemies of God who even in our time seek to destroy the Sanctuary of God, and returning to 2 Chronicles:20 we read:

" The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed they came from every town in Judah to seek Him. (This led to King Jehoshaphat's great prayer to the LORD).

`O LORD, God of our fathers, are You not the God who is in heaven.
You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might
are in Your hand, and no-one can withstand you.'
All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD. (Then the Word of the LORD came with the certainty of their deliverance from the enemies of God's Sanctuary and His people `those He had called'):

' Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army.
For the battle is not yours, but God's . . . '
Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. (Then in total trust in God's faithfulness the men of Judah went into battle in praise of the splendour of His holiness):

Give thanks to the LORD, for His love endures for ever.
(The end result is well-known for in the Valley of Beracah (of Praise) the enemies outside the Sanctuary were defeated by the Word of God Who forever watches over His Sanctuary and over those He has called). The fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard how the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace for his God had given him rest on every side. " We leave the battle of Jehoshaphat and return to the Psalm of Asaph, who now completes his cry to God that He would deal with all the enemies of His Sanctuary: (v 18 KJV)

" That men may know that Thou, whose Name alone is the LORD,
art Most High over all the earth. "
(Again in verse 13)
" Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,
like chaff before the wind . . .
pursue them with Your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.
Cover their faces with shame
so that men may seek Your Name, O LORD. "
Asaph concludes with instructions for his Song to be entrusted `to the Chief Musician upon gittith'. This speaks of a time yet to come when the LORD's enemies will once again rise up for a great and final battle against Him and the Sanctuary where He has chosen to manifest Himself, for the word `gittith' has a meaning of `winepress' - foretelling the `winepress of His fury' in the time of the Great Tribulation. Gittith is also the time of the harvest when the grapes are harvested and brought in! This will be the final Harvest of God's Mercy - the last great Feast of Tabernacles when God will dwell amongst His people! This Psalm was written celebrating the great victory of the LORD at the time of Jehoshaphat against the enemies of God's Sanctuary. His response and that of his people was to seek the LORD in Whom is found all His promises of deliverance and salvation. The response, and the LORD's reply, is still the same today - and will be again in those dark and terrible days of the Great Tribulation! The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD . . . `This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the battle is not yours, but God's'. Those who watch, sometimes in despair at what they see in both Israel and the Church - invaded from without and polluted by what is brought in so that peace with all can be maintained - need to reflect deeply upon Psalm 83.

How, then, can we bring this Credo to a close, without leaving it as just an interesting Bible study without any real meaning in today's world of tolerance, where a Pope has spoken of `the dictatorship of relativism at the heart of western civilization' and with all we have seen that those words entail? Those who do cry out `O God, do not keep silent, be not quiet, O God, be not still' will know that His answer to that cry will not be merely abstract. The LORD uses natural forces and the ambitions of men with political and military power at their disposal. Scripture is full of such answers to His people's cries. Those who seek to destroy His Sanctuary, in whatever form it is revealed, will know the full force of political and military power in the hands of powerful men as well as destructive natural forces. As we know, Jesus Himself spoke of such times: (Luke 21:10-11)

" Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. "

There are respected leaders in the Church today who predict (and some have said it more forcibly) that Islam will be the `cleansing arm' of the Lord, saying that within ten years Great Britain will become an Islamic State, pointing to the `newly discovered' Islamic law of `dhimmitude' which they say is being applied in countries where Islamic communities take root. `dhimmitude' is a system where non-Islamic people, usually meaning Christians and Jews, may live `safely' but would face the daily humiliation of restricted rights and subject to Islamic law. This is seen in the stream of apologies and accomodations made by various western authorities for perceived embarassment to Islamist law and traditions. Such comments may be valid but they ignore the `humiliation' heaped upon Christians in Great Britain by `western political dhimmitudism', where a Christian Student Union has had its banking facilities withdrawn because it is exclusive to Christians . . . where Christian Social Outreach programmes are not allowed to speak of Jesus . . . where Christmas lights must now be called Winter lights . . . where Christians cannot publicly preach Jesus as the only way of salvation . . . Incitement to Religious Hatred Acts, even with Amendments, will one day be forced through Parliament and so-called `Faith Schools' will have to embrace all religions, and none! We wonder how much longer Christian Fellowships will be able to rent public buildings for exclusive use, and the Charity Commissioners are already `reforming' their work. Will registered Christian Charities, who use the system in order to claim very substantial tax rebates, be allowed to continue their exclusive activities for much longer? We would suggest that western political `dhimmitude' is at present very active and alive in its daily humiliation of Christians and is nearer to the Pope's comment that `the dictatorship of relativism at the heart of western civilization' and should be of more concern to Christians than an Islamic State in Great Britain.

Be assured that all false gods, whether they are religious or secular, are in the Hands of the One True God, and we need to keep our opinions and interpretations of the times firmly fixed on Scripture. We would suggest that the Book of Daniel - where Daniel is shown by God the `great beasts' of world powers that would appear on the world stage - should receive more of our prayerful study than should our concern over Islam. Islam does not appear in these visions! It is the `fourth beast, terrifying and frightening and very powerful, different from all the former beasts' that caused Daniel to be `troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind troubled me'. As this beast is linked to `the beast coming out of the sea . . . and another beast coming out of the earth' (Revelation 13) this should concern us all for the times that lie ahead. The Lord does not leave His people in ignorance. His times and seasons are clearly recorded for us in Scripture if we have eyes, ears and hearts to willingly look beyond the weekly assembling in our churches and fellowships, important though they are.

The terrifying `Fourth Beast' which Daniel saw was centered on the coming power of Rome, different from all the other beasts which were short-lived. The imagery of the Fourth Beast shows that it covers a long period in history, spreading over many centuries right up to the day of the return of the Lord. It is a changing, developing form of political and military power with its `power centre' in a powerful `king, different from the earlier ones'. To use a political expression, we are looking here at a full-blown Imperial system of government, spread across the whole world. We can catch a glimpse of what this means by looking at past historical Imperial powers, and in particular the last British Empire upon which (it was said) `the sun never sets', so widespread was its Imperial power over many and varied countries. That particular Empire, like so many before it, had a very short shelf-life, but the Imperial Beast which so terrified Daniel will only come to an end when `the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed for ever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High'!

From such Scriptures we can clearly see that the authority of the Fourth Beast extends through and over the whole world, and yet centered as it is upon a Single Nation Power it will need the universal endorsement of a religious beast from the earth. This cannot be Islamic power, for this religion, false though it is, does not recognise a separation between state and religion. It is a `Roman' - that is, a western European political and military - power that Daniel sees in his vision, and those who look with anxiety at the emerging European Union as being the `Fourth Beast' need perhaps to look once again at the historical forms of power that have been a foreshadowing of what is to come. Alexis de Tocqueville, an historian of the 19th century often cited by political analysts, had this quandry when visiting the emerging America, and seeing its unparalleled potential power he recorded his thoughts:

" The kind of oppression with which democratic peoples are threatened will resemble nothing that had preceded it in the world, and our contemporaries would not find its image in their memories. I myself seek in vain an expression that exactly reproduces the idea that I form of it for myself . . . therefore I must try to define it, since I cannot name it. "

Perceptive though de Tocqueville undoubtably was, he perhaps overlooked the abundant evidence that lay all around him in tracts, essays and polemic writings, all of which were concerned with the onward march of political and religious activism that fuelled the western nations' drive for a New World Order. This was a fusion of religious and secular thought which had come through many long years, peppered with violent revolutions, anarchy and devastating wars caused by ambitious men seeking to establish an eternal Empire . . . the destruction of the universal religious power of Rome . . . the emergence of new gods of reason . . . the power of the State Nations in the hands of powerful men with great ambition to rule over the peoples. Perhaps de Tocqueville was too close to those times to perceive what would emerge less than one hundred years later.

Many years before Adolf Hitler wrote `Mein Kampf' the malignant vices of extreme nationalism were at work among German and other European intellectuals. One such activist, Adolf Lasson, in his writings expressed the `ambition of the period' when revealing that:

" Hatred of other people is the conservation of one's own people, and to stand for everlasting peace is to aim at an immoral goal. The dream of a World Order over States or between States is an involved and senseless dream born of cowardice and sentimentality. "

Such thinking, which was widespread over the whole of western Europe at that time, would lead to the conflict of the 20th century between two powerful ideologies, Communism and Facism, seen in their most virulent form in Russia and Germany! Those great opposing ideologies were formed on the bedrock of religious and secular power, for we need to keep in mind that those who formulated those ideologies operated in a vacuum. Their world was one of a fusion of religious and monarchical powers, both inseparable in thought and practise, both focussed on being dominant powers - a Pope and a King - therefore always in conflict. Even though Revolution and Reason had triumped over both Pope and King, those anbitious players for world power were born into a new world but with old world values! Marx, writing a critique of Hegal's `Philosophy of Law' said:

" Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, the soul of a souless environment. It is the opium of the people. "

Marx understood the basic need for religion which in the common man's mind represents order and continuity. It is said that Marx and Engels did not form a new ideology but working in the common mindset of a stable society of religion and state they removed the sacremental element from religion, and joining this with the secular they formed the basis for their new `ideology'. But communism finally failed - a spent and utterly discredited ideology - for it failed to touch the heart of the common man. Adolf Hitler, born into the same world of the fusion of religion and monarchical society, consequently recognised this need of the sacremental if he was to reach the hearts and minds of the common people, and so he harnessed religion to his dream of a super-race and forged the ideology of National Socialism upon these twin ideals. The Roman Catholic Church was all too ready to accomodate him, and so Facism prevailed until its aggressive imperial ambitions over-reached themselves and the rest is, as they say, history!

In earlier studies we have mentioned the words of an American historian, Francis Fukuyama; `This is the end of history'. Readers will recall that those words were said in the context of the end of a mighty world conflict between Communism, Facism and Parliamentary Democracy, resulting in Liberal Social Democracy as the victorious governmental system. Communism was seen to be not only a spent force but also totally discredited as a governing state system. However Facism, although defeated by more powerful military and economic forces, had not been in existence long enough for it to be discredited as an ideology. Indeed, many politicians saw it as a panacea to their country's problems, and so it lies dormant awaiting a demagogue to breathe new life into it. A Pope, writing within the Vatican, speaking of `the dictatorship of relativism . . .', knows that the prevailing western Social Democracy has within it a cancerous Nihilism that will ultimately destroy it.

Just a short one hundred years previously the State Nation (where the resources of the people were directed towards the State) had to give way to the Nation State (where the resources of the State were directed to the people) in order to mobilize the population to engage in total war. Not so today, with modern technology! The State has no need of a civilian mobilization and the Nation State will have been seen as a hiatus . . a `blip' in the re-emergence of a powerful State system embodying the `soul' of the people under a Leader expressing the national will. Such a form of government will once again need to harness religion in order to gain acceptance from the people, and one day, just for a short time, there will emerge on the world scene `the beast' which so terrified Daniel all those centuries earlier!

We see the beginning of such a political force through the recent wars in the Middle East. International Law was flouted and broken because International Law had abdicated its responsibility and was proved to be impotent, and so the most powerful political, economic and military power in the world took measures under its President to protect itself. We need not concern ourselves overmuch with what circumstances will occur in the future that will bring forth such a State system, but as one governmental system gives way to another we need to be aware of the `dictatorship of relativism that is the heart of western civilization' and as its political will becomes weaker so its authoritarian power will be more forceful towards all who stand for absolute truth - which can only be found in the one True God, revealed in Christ Jesus. We need to be aware of the two enemies of God revealed in Psalm 83: The `enemies' without the Sanctuary of God - a growing intolerant but tolerant State system - and the `enemies' within the Sanctuary of God - compromising, unbelieving shepherds and flocks who will seek at all costs to maintain the status quo:
" May they (all) ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.
Let them know that You, Whose Name is the LORD -
that You alone are the Most High over all the earth. "

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