Forging New Fetters by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 9, 1911

Forging New Fetters

By C. M. S.

What Is Involved in the Movement to Establish a Theocracy in America

In the true theocracy, God spoke through men appointed by himself, by that means leading men, admonishing them, pleading with them, warning them, and laying out before them the way in which they ought to walk.

In the false theocracy, men appointed by other men or self-appointed assume to speak for God, compelling men, threatening them, forcing them by bodily punishment, and laying out before them the way in which they must walk.

There is as much difference between the two systems as there is between light and darkness, between righteousness and sin; because the one is the offspring of light, the other was conceived in darkness; the one is righteousness working out in government, the other is sin working out in tyranny; the one is real, the other a counterfeit.

If Protestantism would continue to stand on the platform of true Protestant principles,—the right of private judgment and the separation of the church from the functions of civil government,—the world would never again have cause to fear the threatening menace of a false theocratic rule. But Protestantism is not standing there. Every organization that stands for the commingling of civil and religious affairs in government, stands for the theocratic principle in government. And because God has declared the theocracy ended, every organization which stands for the theocratic principle in government now, necessarily stands for a false theocracy.

The National Reform Association has openly declared for theocratic rule, and is seeking in every possible way so to transform the fundamental laws of this country that this republic shall be governed upon the theocratic principle.

Another great religious organization has declared: “A true theocracy is yet to come, and the enthronement of Christ in law and lawmakers; hence I pray devoutly, as a Christian patriot, for the ballot in the hands of women, and rejoice that the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union has so long championed this cause.” “The kingdom of Christ must enter the realm of law through the gateway of politics.”

These two organizations have set themselves energetically to accomplish what Christ rebuked his disciples for attempting; that is, to make Christ king of this world. Said the organization last quoted: “The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, local, State, national, and world-wide, has one vital, organic thought, one all-absorbing purpose, one undying enthusiasm, and that is that Christ shall be this world’s king: yea, verily this world’s king in its realm of cause and effect,—king of its courts, its camps, its commerce; king of its colleges and cloisters; king of its customs and constitutions.”

To attempt to make Christ the king of this present world, in the face of his refusal to accept any such position, is a project as belittling to our Saviour as it is impossible of accomplishment. To declare him king of such a realm as this present, unregenerate world, is to put upon him the responsibility for all the wickedness in the world, and to take that responsibility off the shoulders of Satan, where it properly belongs. That old temptation which Satan laid before Jesus, and which he spurned, Satan is now laying before the professed followers of Christ, and they are not spurning it. Could they accomplish that purpose, they would place upon a throne made by human hands some individual claiming to be or to represent Jesus Christ. He would be the recognized ruler of the world, the regulator of its national constitutions, and the chief politician of the realm.

Under such a régime these misinterpreters of the spirit and purpose of the gospel expect to “march up to the polls to worship God;” and it is in the furtherance of such a purpose that they are willing to join hands with Rome “in resisting the progress of political atheism.” That organization (as also the National Reform Association) proposes to enthrone Christ in law and lawmakers. But they both forget that when the true theocracy comes, there will be but the one Lawmaker—Jesus Christ. The business of the politician and the professional lawmaker will be forever gone, and the codes of this world will be things of the past. In working for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom, enthusiasm is not the all-important thing. A knowledge of the character of the great King and of his plans and purposes is of much greater moment than blind enthusiasm. That King declares, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” That declaration applies most emphatically to this movement for the establishment of a false theocracy. There is certain to be destruction in it, both for its promoters and for those who allow themselves to be deceived by it. This sad result is bound to follow, for two reasons: sons: first, it is in opposition to God’s plan and purpose, and all such things are as certain to end in disaster as God’s way is certain to triumph over Satan’s; and, second, being in opposition to God’s plan, whoever is exalted to its headship when it is finished is bound to be an opposer of God and his government. It is impossible that he who opposes God and his law and government should carry out the divine purpose and lead men in the ways of truth and righteousness; but they must be led in that way if they are ever to have a part in the everlasting kingdom of God.

The commingling of the sacred and the secular in false theocracies has everywhere had a most ruinous effect upon the morality and the spirituality of the people. Heathenism as well as apostate Christianity has had its Pontifex Maximus. Nebuchadnezzar took to himself that prerogative when he compelled his subjects of all creeds to bow down to his golden idol. Darius took kindly to the suggestion that no prayers should be offered, for a period of thirty days, to any god but himself. Says B. P. Noel:—

By the aid of the superstition the despot fortified his tyranny, and by the aid of the despotism the priest gave currency to his falsehoods. Thus the union of the state and the priesthood was an alliance of force and fraud. Neither party was strong enough to rule alone. But when the priest preached for the despot, and the despot governed for the priest, both the more easily kept their feet upon the necks of the people, and made the universal degradation subservient to their greatness.—“Union of Church and State,” page 36.

That was the false theocracy brought to such a state of perfection in the early centuries of the Christian era, and of which Mosheim speaks thus:—

The bishops assumed in many places a princely authority; they appropriated to their evangelical function the splendid ensigns of imperial majesty. A throne surrounded with ministers exalted above his equals the servant of the meek and humble Jesus; and sumptuous garments dazzled the eyes and the minds of the multitude with an ignorant veneration for their arrogated authority. The example of the bishops was ambitiously imitated by the presbyters, who, neglecting the sacred duties of their station, advanced themselves to the indolence and delicacy of an effeminate and luxurious life. The deacons, beholding the presbyters deserting thus their functions, boldly usurped their rights; and the effects of a corrupt ambition were spread through every rank of the sacred order.—Mosheim, Cent. III, Chap. II, Sec. 4.

The chief distinguishing characteristics of a false theocracy are oppression and the boycott. John Cotton, the defender of the Congregational theocracy of Massachusetts, declared: “We never persecuted any for cause of conscience, but for sinning against their own consciences” . Thus did they put themselves in the place of God as the judge of men’s consciences, determining when men were sinning against their consciences and what the penalty should be. Since the theocracy was disestablished by God, every pretended theocracy has been putting men in the place of God. But that other characteristic, the boycott, has not been so generally recognized. When the State of Rhode Island began its career as the advocate and protector of soul freedom, the Congregational theocracy of Massachusetts pronounced a boycott against the inhabitants of that State. No Rhode Islander could buy or sell in the markets or at the ports of Massachusetts. They could not even purchase arms or ammunition with which to defend their homes against the savages. Therefore Rhode Island was compelled to pass a law that every householder in the State should provide himself with a bow and arrows and practise with them and teach his sons to use them, that they might have some weapons of defense in case of need.

The book of Revelation tells of the coming of a time when a certain power, operating upon the theocratic principle and dictating to men in religious things, shall declare a boycott against all who refuse its dominance in the spiritual realm, and only those who make known their subserviency to that power will be permitted to traffic in the marts of this world. See Rev. 13: 12-17. That theocracy can not come until professed Protestantism, abandoning the principle of the sacredness and importance of private judgment, the rights of conscience, and individual choice in religious things, shall, in its endeavor to secure the enforcement of a compulsory day of worship, join with Catholicism and compel the state to do its bidding in this matter. When that combination has been effected, and these united powers have joined religion and the state, the last theocratic impostor we shall ever see in this world will be in full fruitage, and we shall not have to wait long to hear the dragon voice pronouncing a universal boycott against the loyal children of God. The overtures necessary to bring about that combination have already been made, and the object to be attained by such a combination has long been considered an all-important one by both Protestantism and Catholicism.

In that combination new fetters will be forged for the people of this world, fetters which Americans at least had fondly supposed had been broken off the limbs of the race for all time.

It is not without significance that this last and greatest false theocracy is to be ushered in just prior to the time when Jehovah will put into the hands of Christ the literal rulership of this world, restoring

to man through man’s Redeemer the dominion lost in Eden. It is peculiarly characteristic of the deceiver of souls that he should make his last and greatest endeavor in the work of deceiving men at such a time as that, putting the counterfeit for the genuine at the time when the genuine is due.

But there is no need of being deceived. God has plainly declared that the theocracy is overturned and will be no more until he himself establishes it by his own mighty power and in his own way. Eze. 21:25-27; Dan. 7:9, 10, 13, 14.

The true theocracy says: “In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment.” “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.”

The false theocracy says, by the records of its own history: “By oppression and the boycott have I repelled and persecuted all who will worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences.”

The true theocracy carried into effect makes men servants one of another, and exalts the truth of God above all things else; the false theocracy elevates men to the highest pinnacle of exaltation, and turns the truth of God into a lie. The true theocracy magnifies the law of God, and teaches men the exceeding sinfulness of its transgression; the false theocracy mutilates the law of God, tramples it underfoot, and absolves men from sin for any and every breach of its precepts. All through the one is the Sabbath of Jehovah; all through the other is a rival sabbath, with oppressive laws to enforce it upon the people. It should not be a difficult matter for the child of God to detect the difference, and abandon the present and spurious for that which is yet to come in the power and glory of Almighty God. C. M. S.