Machiavelli #3 (Bible Analysis)

TheGreatBibleReset.com teaches that God's law is the only relief from judgment and the economic reset. Machiavelli advised leaders to do whatever necessary to maintain power. Deep state leaders in America promote war and a rules-based society under a facade. Violating the ninth commandment provokes God's judgment. The Bible requires rulers to obey the same laws as the people. Ahab and Absalom are examples of rulers who suffered consequences for their actions. Machiavelli values hypocrisy in a leader, while Jesus condemns it. The Bible allows mercy in certain cases, but punishment must be executed without mercy when guilt is established. Deception is allowed in certain circumstances. Machiavelli advises rulers to practice liberality and appear merciful, while the Bible requires wisdom, impartiality, and good reputation. We should promote justice and resist selling our vote for gain. God is ruling amidst his enemies. Jesus is ruling as both savior and king. We are engaged in the battle Welcome everybody to TheGreatBibleReset.com where we teach that the only relief from God's hand of judgment and Klaus Schwab's great economic reset is a reset to God's law as summarized in Exodus 20-24. Machiavelli advised political leaders to say and do whatever was necessary in order to maintain power and wealth. So today God has raised up deep state leaders in America to chastise his people by doing and saying whatever it takes to promote America's forever wars, an empire of some 800 overseas military bases, and a lucrative arms trade, and they do this under a facade of promoting a rules-based society or world order. Now the ninth commandment says, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. So public policy based on violation of this ninth command cannot fail to provoke God's judgment because God is no respecter of persons. The Bible requires a civil ruler to obey the same laws as the man on the street. The kings of Israel were to study the law of God so that their heart be not lifted up above their brethren in Deuteronomy 17-20, and only then would he provoke his days in his kingdom. King Ahab tried to deal fast and loose with the eighth commandment in the matter of Naboth's vineyard. The eighth commandment being Thou shalt not steal, Naboth's vineyard was located right next door to the palace, and Ahab had designs on that land for his palace expansion plans. The prince who takes Machiavelli's advice may seem to prosper short term, but in the long run he will fall into the pit that he has dug, according to Proverbs 26-27. Prince Absalom is another good example of a prince who stole the hearts of the people by deceit and grand promises, but he was then swallowed up by the very revolt that he had kindled against his father, King David. So is there any biblical merit at all regarding Machiavelli's advice in the exercise of mercy versus cruelty? How would Machiavelli's advice differ from that of the Bible? The Bible directs that when guilt is clearly established, punishment must be executed without mercy. The entire nation will thus be made to hear in fear, and much grief will be avoided in the long run. Where undue mercy is extended to the guilty, the outcome is cruelty to the innocent who suffer when the guilty are released to victimize them again. For Machiavelli, the exercise of mercy is totally capricious, based on whether or not it will advance the purpose of the ruler. However, the Bible does allow for one-time extension of mercy to a penitent by the victim of a capital crime, except for premeditated murder. We see this in Exodus 21, 29, and 30, where a man does not restrain his goring ox who then kills someone, the victim's family may substitute a monetary ransom in lieu of the death penalty. So we can learn a lot when we compare and contrast Machiavelli's assessment of hypocrisy in a leader with Jesus' assessment of hypocrisy in a leader, especially in Matthew 23, 23, where Jesus condemned hypocrisy in a ruler above all things. The brunt of his indignation was reserved for the Pharisees, who liked to parade their self-righteousness before men, all the time concealing their inward corruption. They were scrupulous in trivial matters, while neglecting the weightier matters of the law. By contrast, Machiavelli exalts hypocrisy in a ruler as a supreme virtue. It's essential for maintaining a power. He advises the aspiring prince that it's better to have virtues in appearance than to have them in reality. It's especially important that the prince pretend to be religious, according to Machiavelli. Unlike today's political leaders, Machiavelli did have at least a couple of limits in order for the prince to maintain some semblance of domestic tranquility. The usurping of subjects' estates and debauching their wives are the two things that the prince is cautioned to avoid doing at all costs. So when Rehoboam determined to ratchet taxes to a high level, the Ten Tribes deserted him, and a civil war was averted only by the direct intervention of God. Much later, Abraham Lincoln failed to learn from this Bible example, assuming he ever read a Bible at all. Ahab confiscated Nahab's vineyard and suffered the direct judgment of God for his sin. Machiavelli's recommendation for a moderate tax policy is the one point or another point at which modern states have departed from his counsel. The tax burden of modern states exceeds 40 percent in most cases today, and the Bible defines a 10 percent tax as tyranny in 1 Samuel 8. Now it's true that the Bible continents deception in a ruler or a subject under conditions of open warfare, in which a determined enemy seeks to destroy innocent life. Thus the Hebrew midwives were praised for their deception of Pharaoh's murderous officials in order to protect the Hebrew babies. Likewise, Rahab is praised for deceiving those who sought to take the lives of the Hebrew spies. Moreover, it was necessary for David to deceive Saul, who sought his life. And this of course differs from Machiavelli's recommendation that the ruler employ deception as a matter of policy in normal diplomatic relations. A policy of honesty does not of course require that we reveal all that we know of a matter, as did Hezekiah to the Babylonian ambassadors in 2 Chronicles 32-31. On the contrary, the Bible warns he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction, according to Proverbs 13-3. Moreover, it is the glory of God to conceal a thing, Proverbs 25-2. The qualities that Machiavelli esteems highly in a political leader is very telling when compared to the Bible. According to Machiavelli, the prince is to practice liberality to gain power, but abandon liberality for the purpose of keeping it. The liberal prince will not be able to maintain himself in power, according to Machiavelli. The prince should be esteemed as merciful, but be ready to abandon mercy at a moment's notice in order to inspire respect and establish his kingdom. Moreover, the prince should appear to be mild, merciful, courteous, sincere, religious. By way of contrast, the Bible requires rulers to be wise, impartial, and of good reputation among the people. A key verse on that is Deuteronomy 1-13. Only people with a larcenous heart are fooled by the specious promises of a demagogue or a political candidate. We need to decide not to sell our vote for promise of gain at the expense of our neighbors. Liberals and would-be rulers must resist the pressure to make such promises. So the litmus test is, does our decision to promote a particular policy or leader promote justice or injustice, as defined by God's law? Things are starting to accelerate and seem to be falling apart as we move through this era of the Renaissance in the 1300s and 1400s. Some might be asking, where is God in all of this? In the midst of humanistic optimism, the cynical attitude of Machiavelli appears to dominate. But we can rest assured that God is not asleep and he is in fact ruling in the midst of his enemies, according to Psalm 110. This psalm, Psalm 110, is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament and is one of the great eschatological psalms. Christ is ruling now, today, in the midst of his enemies from heaven. Sit at my right hand, says God, until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet. His reign is manifested gradually throughout the history of the Church as his people volunteer freely in the day of thy power. Revelation 1, verses 4 through 7 say that this letter of Revelation is from Jesus Christ, the ruler of the kings of the earth, and he has made us to be a kingdom, priests to his God. Now that was present tense in the first century, John writing to seven real churches in the nation of Turkey, or Asia Minor at that time. So this teaching that Jesus' kingdom is delayed until a thousand years after the second coming is just nonsense. We cannot interpret Revelation 20 in such a way as to contradict Revelation 1. Now the great turning point in this psalm is verse 4, where the Lord declares his Christ to be a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, who is both priest and king of Salem. So Christ is not only our savior, but he is our king in a very real sense today, and we like Abraham are engaged in the great warfare against the kings, shattering the chief men over a broad country as we disciple the nations. 1 Corinthians 15, 24-25 indicates we are now living in the era of Christ ruling in the midst of his enemies. So for more detail, I encourage you to pick up a book called The Decree of God and Prophetic Interpretation in the bookstore KingswayClassicalAcademy.com, and to help fund the school, please check out the incredible deals on the highest quality supplements at Boomers-Alive.com. So I want to thank you for joining us today, and please join us again tomorrow for Interview Friday where we are going to explore these great truths in more detail.