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XXXII - 6(99) “Watchman, what of the night?” "The hour has come,
the hour is striking and striking at you,
“An Image to the Beast (Excerpt from WWN6(99)) +++++ "And
[the second beast] deceiveth them that dwell on the
earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of
the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an
image to the beast, which had a wound by the sword, and did live." (Rev.
13:14) In an analysis of this verse, the first
determination must be how the word, "earth," is to be understood. Is
it the planetary "earth" that is designated, or is it the svmbolic "earth" of Rev. 12:12 - "the
inhabiters of the earth." Following this
determination, we then seek to understand "the beast" to which the
image is made. This is the "first beast" of Revelation 13. While the
initial revelation to John describes only that "one of his heads as it were
wounded to death," this verse (13:14) indicates that the beast, not just a
head, "had a wound by the sword, and did live." This composite beast resembles in its appearance,
a leopard, bear and a lion (13:2). The sequence reflects the vision given to
Daniel (chap. 7) except in Daniel these beasts appear in reverse order. One
prophetic aspect defined in Daniel indicates that even though these three
beasts - the lion, bear, and leopard - were stripped of their dominion,
"their lives were prolonged for a season and a time" (7:12). The
vision given to John indicates that the three beasts of Daniel live on in the
first beast of Revelation 13. There is a common denominator in the history of
the kingdoms from Babylon through Rome in both of its phases pagan and papal.
That denominator is the union of church and state. Two of the human interest
stories in the book of Daniel focus on the experience resuitant
from the State seeking to enforce a religious mandate: the Three Worthies in
the fiery furnace, and Daniel in the lion's den. The first vision outlined in the Book of Daniel -
Nebuchadnezzar's metallic man - reveals a similar picture. There Babylon as
well as the other three kingdoms are all represented
by different metals, gold, silver, brass and iron. Even in the feet, the iron
is retained, but clay is introduced. There is a mingling attempted, but in the
time when this is attempted, "shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed" (2:43-44). A comment from the Writings, so
contrary to traditional interpretation of this part of Daniel 2, invites
careful study. It reads: "The mingling of churchcraft
and statecraft is represented by the iron and the clay."(4BC, p. 1168: MS
63,1899) A sentence which follows in the paragraph
reads - "This investing the church with the power of the state will
bring evil results." This is a reverse picture from our common perception.
We have perceived the state as carrying out the mandates of the Page 6
Church, and such is indicated in
other parts of the paragraph from which these two sentences are quoted. Observe
carefully that the mingling of church and state as described in the second
sentence simply indicates that the "investing" of such power
"will bring evil results." It is a prelude to what will follow. As we began this article, we suggested that the
first determination must be the meaning and use of the word, "earth."
The interpretative text is Rev. 12:12 which warns -- "Woe to the
inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil
is come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth
that he hath but a short time." As the vision progressed, John beheld the
first beast of Revelation 13 "rise up out of the sea" (v. 1) It was
this beast to which the image was to be formed. The second beast which was to
make the suggestion "to the inhabiters of the earth" was seen by John
as "coming up out of the earth" (v. 11). Clearly history indicates
the "sea" to be Europe, while "the earth" represents that
nation which came into existence, all of European extraction in its beginnings.
With this nation came a new vision of government. In 1893, the respected legal
authority, David Dudley Field, observed: The
greatest achievement ever made in the cause of human progress is the total and
final separation of church and state. If we had nothing else to boast of, we
could lay claim with justice that first among the nations we of this country
made it an article of organic law that the relations between man and his Maker
were a private concern, into which other men have no right to intrude." The European model of government imaging the first
beast is advocated by Professor Jan de Groof,
president of the European Society for Education Law and Policy. He assessed the
American achievement as "a completely outdated concept" and urged the
"European model" where church and state "are not rivals"
but work together to achieve "general, spiritual and material
well-being." In Europe, churches, church schools and other ministries of
are generously supported by tax dollars collected by their public officials. We
might dismiss de Groof's thinking as an unwarranted
intrusion into the American way of life were it not for the fact that he was
one of the featured speakers at a conference, February 5 in Washington D. C.
sponsored jointly by the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Bradley
Foundation, a wealthy right-wing foundation best known for its advocacy of
religious school vouchers. It needs to be recalled that the president of the
Ethics and Public Policy Center is George Weigel, who
contributed to the book, Evangelicals and
Catholics Together, Toward a Common
Mission, edited by Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus.
In the essay which he wrote for the book, Weigel
referred to the "wallofseparationbetweenchurchandstate"
as "a polysyllabic neologism," [One definition of
"neologism" is "a meaningless word coined by a psychotic"]
He wrote in this essay – The issue
here is the direction that Evangelicals and Catholics Together should take in
reconstructing the moral foundations of American public life. Not surprisingly,
the first item on the agenda is the reconstruction of genuine religious freedom
in the United States, (p. 50) What does "religious freedom" mean to
this "togetherness" of Evangelicals and Roman Catholics? The exact
opposite to what was founded in America - the separation of church and state.
Their goal is the union of Church and State - a replica of the European (papal)
model. In other words "an image to the beast."
This was clearly demonstrated in the conference held on February 5, 1999 in
Washington, DC. [For an exchange of Letters over this issue
between George Weigel and this editor soon after the
book noted above was published in 1995, see WWN XXIX - 4(96), p. 5]
To what extent has "the investing the church
with the power of the state" been realized? Congress has already approved
"charitable choice" funding of churches in some social service
programs, and others are under consideration. The State funds
public education, but there is a drive by the Catholic Church and the Religious
Right for "Voucher Plans" to aid religious schools. The
"image" is being moulded. Madison, writing a half century after the adoption
of the Bill of Rights into the Constitution which guaranteed the separation of
Church and State, observed that "the prevailing opinion in Europe, England
not excepted, has been that Religion could not be preserved without the support
of Government or Government be supported without an established religion, that
there must be at least an alliance of some sort between them." However, he
observed that the American experiment demonstrated that religion "does not
need the support of Government and it will scarcely be
contended that Government has suffered by its exemption of Religion from its
cognizance, or its pecuniary aid." In other words, "an image to the
beast" is not needed, but is coming, and already being formed. [All
unreferenced quotations in the above article are from the editorial appearing
in Church and State, March 1999, p.
15] # Freedom has only the
meaning with which men endow it. It is not enough to pay lip service to the
concept of religious liberty. We must pay heart service to it, as well, else it remains an empty phrase instead of a living
reality. Kenneth B. Keating
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