Newsletter
#74
On Terrorism
One can
find fantastic insights into all sorts of real life topics in the Bible--if you
know where to look. In the case of "terrorism" (1, 2) the concordance
in the back of the Old Family Bible would appear to not be of much help.
Terrorism is, however, to be found under the subject of "lawlessness"
in Scripture--and lawlessness is a vast subject indeed.
The Greek
anomos, means
"without law" (adjective), and anomia, means "lawlessless" (noun). In the KJV these Greek words are
very often translated "iniquity." The translation of anomia as "iniquity" is very
common in the Septuagint, (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible)--for
example anomia
is rendered "iniquity" 70 times in the Psalms.
For the
purposes of this discussion, let's see stick with the term
"lawlessness" instead of "iniquity" for anomos and anomia and see what we can discover. First
John 3:4 gives us a good working definition of lawlessness,
"Every
one who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that
he [Jesus]
appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin." (1 John
3:4-5 RSV)
What God
does in creation and in His government of the universe, in the affairs of men
and angels is always orderly and harmonious. The original state of affairs
before the fall of the angels, and before the fall of our race, was a totally
orderly kosmos.
(The opposite state of affairs from cosmos is chaos). The basically orderly
nature of the cosmos implies that divine laws are operating everywhere behind
the scenes, both in nature and in human affairs. "Lawlessness" in the
broadest sense is rebellion against the created order, the rule of law in
society, and direct personal opposition to the will of God. Lawlessness can be
open defiance, or silent rebellion hiding behind apparent respectability
Writing
in 1966, Ray Stedman said,
"What
are these activities of lawlessness? Essentially they are threefold: hatred,
darkness, and death. Hatred, the violation of love; darkness, the extinguishing
of light; and death, the destruction of life. Now look at this mid-twentieth
century world, with its love of scientific technological advancement, its
fascination with the exploration of space, and its manifestation of confusion,
uncertainty, and darkness on every side. Look at this world. Look first at the
respectable world. Is there not hatred there? Is it not evident in prejudice
and haughtiness, in cattiness, in exclusive clubs, in selfish cliques, in
indifference to the clamant needs of other human beings? It is manifest also in
quarreling parents and resentful children, in bitter feuds within the home, in
scheming acts of revenge against other individuals and groups, in broken homes,
in the skyrocketing divorce rates, in neglected children, in cruelty that
breaks out in a most frightening manner from time to time. At the root of it
all is this principle of lawlessness; this acting as though there were no
restraints, no rules, no laws in life; this rejection of reality. Take
darkness, the extinguishing of light. Is that not evident everywhere in the
world, even in your own life? It is manifest in confusion, in uncertainty, in
double-mindedness, in vacillation, in the freedom with which we change direction
according to the expedient thing. It is evident in anxiety, in fears, tensions,
in neuroses, in obsessions, and in this fantastic wave of mental illness that
is sweeping the world today. The root of it again is lawlessness, the refusal
to recognize reality.
"Take
violent death. This is so disturbing to the world in which we live, the
respectable world. It is supremely evident in warÉthere is not a thoughtful
Christian individual who can look at war and see it as anything but the utter
madness of men. You can see this tendency to lawlessness in the destruction of
life--in crime, in the violence that fills our streets, in murders,
persecutions, and suicides. It is evident in the blank hopelessness that
spreads like a pall of gloom across great segments of our society, in the
despair and emptiness that fills human hearts. That is death." (http://raystedman.org/1john/0152.html).
When
lawlessness is extreme, unexpected, and recklessly violent we call it
"terrorism." Wars between nations are ordinarily fought with some restraints -- by International Law,
the Geneva Convention, from concern for innocent civilians, and perhaps by
restraints from third party nations. The very existence of nations in the first place (3) represents a
degree of divinely imposed order among the peoples of the earth which dates
back to the Table of Nations, Genesis 10-11, (just after human civilization was
recovering from the Flood of Noah). The confusion of languages at the Tower of
Babel (4) further slowed the rate at which fallen men could unite the world
under one world leader. The appointment by God of kings over the original 70
nations also delays the coming together of "one world government"
under the tyrannical rule of evil. In order words, man left to himself tends
toward more and more evil, and the devil takes every advantage of this to
further man's rebellion against God and to gain more control over us.
The
overall control of the present world system is currently in the hands of a
fallen angel, Satan or Lucifer. This state of affairs came about through the disobedience
of Adam in the Garden--Adam lost his right for dominion over God's creation as
appointed steward (Hebrews 2:6-8). Satan is described in Scripture as "the
god of this age, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience," (2 Corinthians
4:4, Ephesians 2:2). Jesus called him, "the father of lies and a murderer
from the beginning" (John 8:44).
Failing
in his attempt to take over the throne of God in heaven, (Isaiah 14:12-15,
Ezekiel 28:1-10), Satan still has access to the heavenly places, and with God's
permission is allowed to wreak havoc on our world and its peoples from time to
time. He is a master of deception, successfully keeping most of earth's
inhabitants unaware of his existence and "ignorant of his devices."
He has vast influence over the kingdoms of this world. One gets glimpses of
this evil angel's great power and jurisdiction in the Temptation of Jesus
described in Matthew 4. "ÉAgain, the devil took Jesus up on an exceedingly
high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
And he said to Him, 'All these things I will give You if You will fall down and
worship me.'" (Matthew 4:8-9)
Ray
Stedman notes that our day to day ability to live reasonably peaceful, orderly
lives is due to God's constant restraint of evil on earth. God restrains Satan,
and also holds the evil latent in every human heart in constant check.
"ÉDo
you ever stop to think that moments of leisure and relaxation are only possible
by the restraints of God upon the evil of man? If human evil was allowed for
one moment to be loosed among us; if people were allowed to do what they want
to do in their hearts toward each other; we would be instantly plunged into
terrible anarchy and murderous bloodshed. Nothing of the pleasantness of life
would be possible to us. God has sent anticipations of his judgments to us so
we know what such judgments are like. We have seen enough of them to know how
bad they will be. But it is God's grace that invites us to receive the Lord
Jesus, to come to the One who took our place, who gave himself for us, not only
to change us, and make us over anew, but to teach us how to live in the midst
of a world gone mad! That is what grace is for. How grateful we ought to be for
the present restraints of evil that God has ordained in our day!" (Ray
Stedman, http://raystedman.org/revelation/4207.html)
Now comes
the hard part. First, only a very small percentage of the people on earth
cooperate with God and therefore it can be said that the vast majority of
mankind lives lives of lawlessness as described in the Bible. Secondly, Satan, the
temporary "god of this world" is constantly seeking to warp, mar,
twist and destroy all that God has made. Furthermore, he is actively seeking to
unite the nations of the world into one global power with himself as
world-ruler, world-king. God is allowing history to move towards this end
because of our persistent refusal to respond to God's call to live together in
harmony under His benevolent rule.
According
to Second Thessalonians, much of the restraining force opposing evil in the
world--keeping it somewhat under control--comes from the presence on earth of the
true Christian church. The influence of the church continues to decrease as we
approach the end of the age, thus restraint against evil from this source is
reduced. (Another factor at work is that God has determined to allow evil to
run its full course in this age--what is hidden will come out into the open for
all to see). As Satan cranks up his program, deception will increase and also
more lawlessness and terrorism.
In the
Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24ff) Jesus warned that the course of the age before
His return would be filled with deception from both religious and secular
sources--and the world would grow increasingly violent. Jesus said, ÒÉAnd because lawlessness (anomia) is multiplied (from plethos, hence
"plethora"), the love (agape) of many will grow cold" (24:12). What this means is
that people nowadays fear their own neighbors, trust one another less, and
avoid making deep and the lasting commitments upon which stable societies are
built.
A number
of notorious tyrants who have ruled in history have eventually become demonically
possessed and brought horrific evil into the world. Terrorism goes a step
further than most dictators go, because terrorists often have direct
connections to Satan from the beginning of their "careers." Dictators
ordinarily operate from within a given nation, but terrorism knows no national
or territorial boundaries and shows no respect for the innocent. Dictators can
be overcome by military force (with God's help), terrorism can only be fought
by the weapons of spiritual warfare Jesus has given to His church (http://raystedman.org/warfare/warfare1.html).
There is
more: The Bible says that one unique "man of sin" will soon come upon
the stage of history. This individual will be the very incarnation of
lawlessness, and he will temporarily succeed in uniting the earth under his
full control.
The Apostle
Paul wrote,
"Now, brethren, concerning the coming (parousia) of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or
troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though
the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day
will not come unless the falling away comes first,
and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition
(apoleia, "utter destruction"), who opposes and exalts himself above all that is
called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God,
showing himself that he is God.
Do you not remember that when I was still with
you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may
be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at
work;
only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
And then the lawless one (anomos) will be revealed (apokalupto, "unveiled"), whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth
and destroy with the brightness of His coming (lit; "by the epiphaneia of his parousia").
(See Revelation 19:19-20)
The coming of the lawless one is according to
the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all
unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the
love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this reason God will send them strong
delusion, that they should believe the lie, (5) that they all may
be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
But we are bound to give thanks to God always
for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you
for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to
which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you
were taught, whether by word or our epistle." (2 Thessalonians 2:1-15)
Ray
Stedman remarks on this passage,
Paul
(says)Éthere is a mystery of evil at work in our world. He calls it "the
mystery of lawlessness" (6) which is already at work. It is the strange
secret of universal evil. Even secular prophets are puzzled by it. What is it
about our race that makes it so difficult to correct the conditions that
destroy it? Why is drug trafficking so impossible to stop when it is clearly
evident what terrible things it does to people? Why is it that alcoholics will
return again and again to their habit when they see that it is destroying their
homes and families, and even their own lives? It is a mystery; the mystery of
lawlessness; the strange secret of human evil. Why is it that as the centuries
go by we have made zero progress in curing human wickedness? We are still
wrestling with the problem just as people wrestled with it five thousand years
before Christ. We do not make any progress in this area.
This
can be put another way. Why is it that Jews today are unable to build a temple
upon Mt. Moriah? Some of us here are closely associated with a number of Jews
in Jerusalem who have committed themselves with all their lives and possessions
to rebuilding the temple. We have been following their efforts for some years,
and find that they are totally frustrated. They cannot seem to get anywhere.
Why is this? It is because something is restraining them! A temple will one day
be built on the spot where the Dome of the Rock now stands and that is the
place where the Man of lawlessness will take his seat and proclaim himself to
be God. Why has that temple not been built since there are Jews with powerful
political connections (I can personally testify to this) who are completely
dedicated to building it? It is because the time has not yet come. There is a
force that is restraining it. Just as God would not destroy the earth until
Noah and his family had entered the ark (a picture of being "with
Christ"); and just as God would not rain judgment on the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah, despite their terrible evil, until Lot and his family had first
been removed; so God will not begin the last terrible judgment upon this earth
until the church has been removed. The Spirit-indwelt church is the restraining
force!
For years
I have been trying to get across to Christians what tremendous power they could
exercise in the world today, if only they knew who they were. And likewise what
tremendous evil they permit in the world when they refuse to live as God wants
them to live. That is why society falls apart. What happened in the '60's and
'70's when we went through a terrible incursion of evil into society, with a
breakdown of morals on every side, and the rise of previously unacceptable
public practices, was that the church had failed to live as God had called it
to live. Christians had instead begun to live for themselves instead of for the
Lord. (http://raystedman.org/thessalonians/4098.html).
There is
much more that can be said about terrorism and lawlessness--and the end of the
age, by drawing upon the rich revelation God has given us on these matters in
the Bible. Suffice it to say that the agents of terrorism we see in the world
today are enemies of all of mankind, and clearly they are enemies of God bent
on taking over the world in the service of the coming man of sin--the one who is
striving to be king over all of us--taking the place of God.
As the
world draws near to the end of the age, lawlessness is increasing, and a unique
and terrible figure on the stage of history the man of man, the man of
lawlessness will appear. There is, however, no reason for despair because things
will get worse before they get better. A great golden age of true peace on
earth is on its way--for Israel and all of God's people everywhere. Old and New
Testaments testify over and over about the coming again of the Prince of Peace,
our true and rightful King and Lord.
"Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of
decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun
and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness. The LORD
also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and
earth will shake; But the LORD will be a shelter for His people, And the
strength of the children of Israel. ÒSo you shall know that I am the LORD your
God, Dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, And no
aliens shall ever pass through her again.Ó And it will come to pass in that day
That the mountains shall drip with new wine, The hills shall flow with milk, And
all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; A fountain shall flow from
the house of the LORD And water the Valley of Acacias. ÒEgypt shall be a
desolation, And Edom a desolate wilderness, Because of violence against the
people of Judah, For they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah
shall abide forever, And Jerusalem from generation to generation. ÒFor I will
acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted; For the LORD
dwells in Zion.Ó (Joel 3:14-21)
Notes:
1. Our
English word "terror" is Latin from the verb which means to frighten.
The KJV translates the Greek phobos, fear, as "terror" in Romans 13:3, 2 Corinthians
5:1 and 1 Peter 3:14. The KJV Old Testament uses "terror" 35 times
for several Hebrew words that are associated with fear, dread.
2. From Wikipedia:
"Terrorism is the systematic use, or
threatened use, of violence to intimidate a population or
government and thereby effect political, religious or ideological change. Acts of terrorism are not intended to merely victimize or
eliminate those who are killed, injured or taken hostage
but rather to intimidate and influence the societies to which they belong.
Modern
terrorism has come to be defined in part by the influential power of the mass media that terrorists co-opt in their
efforts to amplify and broadcast feelings of intense fear and anger. As a type
of unconventional warfare, terrorism is designed to weaken or supplant existing
political landscapes through capitulation or acquiescence as opposed to subversion or direct military action.
"Terrorist
attacks" are usually characterized as "indiscriminate",
"targeting of civilians" or executed "with disregard for human
life". The term "terrorism" is often used to assert that the
political violence of an enemy is immoral, wanton and unjustified. According to
the definition of terrorism—typically used by states, academics,
counter-terrorism experts and non-governmental
organizations—"terrorists" are actors who don't belong to any
recognized armed forces or who don't adhere to the laws of war and who are, therefore, regarded as
"rogue actors".
Those
accused of being "terrorists" rarely identify themselves as such and,
instead, typically use terms that refer to their ideological or ethnic
struggle, such as: separatist, freedom
fighter,
liberator, revolutionary, vigilante, militant, paramilitary, guerrilla, rebel,
jihadi or mujaheddin, or fedayeen or any one of similar-meaning words
in a number of languages.
Terrorism
has been used by a broad array of organizations to further their objectives.
They including both right-wing and left-wing political parties, nationalistic and religious groups,
revolutionaries and ruling governments. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism)
3. Note
what the Apostle tells us about national boundaries and temporal limits on
governments and rulers.
"ÉGod, who made the world and everything in it, since
He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor
is He worshiped with menÕs hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives
to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every
nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their
preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should
seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though
He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our
being, as also some of your own poets have said, ÔFor we are also His
offspring.Õ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think
that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art
and manÕs devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now
commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which
He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He
has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.Ó (Acts
17:24-31)
4. The
Tower of Babel and the confusion of languages:
"Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain
in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another,
ÒCome, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.Ó They had brick for stone,
and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, ÒCome, let us build ourselves a
city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for
ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.Ó But
the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had
built. And the LORD said, ÒIndeed the people are one and they all have one
language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to
do will be withheld from them. ÒCome, let Us go down and there confuse their
language, that they may not understand one anotherÕs speech.Ó So the LORD
scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they
ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the
LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered
them abroad over the face of all the earth." (Genesis 11:1-9)
5. "The lie" is the lie that man can
be his own god and run his own life in independence of His Creator. This is the
original lie of the Satan to Eve in the Garden, Genesis 3.
6. A "mystery" in the New
Testament is a previously hidden body of truth, which is now divinely revealed by
the Apostles and therefore understandable to us. The "mysteries" of
the New Testament all have profound depth to them and in the end, a
supernatural element still remains despite the revelation. To cite one example,
Paul says that the relationship between Christ and His Bride the church
resembles the relationship between man and wife in marriage. The subject matter
of this one "mystery" easily fills volumes of discussion and
analysis. The greater mysteries made known to us in the New Testament are: (1)
The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:3-50); (2) the mystery of
Israel's blindness during this age (Romans 11:25, with context); (3) the
mystery of the translation (rapture) of living saints at the end of this age (1
Corinthians 15: 51, 52; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17): (4) the mystery of the New
Testament church as one body composed of Jew and Gentile (Ephesians 3:1-11;
Romans 16.25; Ephesians 6:19; Colossians 4:3): (5) the mystery of the church as
the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:28-32); (6) the mystery of the indwelling
Christ (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:26, 27); (7) the "mystery of God even
Christ," i.e. Christ as the incarnate fullness of the Godhead embodied, in
whom all the divine wisdom for man subsists (Colossians 2:2, 9; 1 Corinthians
2:7); (8) the mystery of the processes by which godlikeness is restored to man
(1 Timothy 3:16); (9) the mystery of iniquity (lawlessness) (2 Thessalonians
2:7; Matthew 13:33); (10) the mystery of the seven stars (Revelation 1:20); and
(11) the mystery of Babylon (Revelation 17:5, 7). (CIS)
Other News:
Fall Classes: On Saturday mornings I am currently
leading a great group of San Jose State University students through Paul's letter
to the Romans. October 8, God willing, our Forum Class at my home church, PBC will begin a 14 week study of the book of Job.
These classes will be available in mp3 audio format on my web site, http://ldolphin.org/job. Previous PBC Forum
classes are available on also my web site or as weekly Podcasts through iTunes.
Contributions: Friends who want to help out with
my expenses may send contributions directly to me by means of the PayPal or
Amazon.com links on my web site. For those who'd like to contribute for tax
purposes, checks may be sent to Peninsula Bible Church, 3505 Middlefield Road,
Palo Alto, CA 94306. Please include a note designating your gift to my support
account. I am not an organization and not employed by any organization so I
depend very much on the support I receive from friends. I do not receive a list
of those who send in contributions to my church so I can't send thank you notes
in most cases. But thank you!
Lambert Dolphin
lambert@ldolphin.org
http://ldolphin.org/