https://americanreformer.org/2023/10/providence-and-empire/
This unfortunate article was reposted at The Aquila Report and there seems to be more and more of this sort of thing as of late. The whole of theology (and even thought) is increasingly subordinated to the concerns and interests of Dominionist ideology and hence the growing concern with political and cultural thinking. Ironically, the more these 'civilisation' paths are pursued, the more readers are likely to turn to Rome as in many respects the narratives of the Magisterial Reformation and its legacy begin to collapse. And so in that regard one might say that such articles are doubly pernicious.
In a series of visions, the prophet Daniel reveals a succession of Beast-powers that would lead up to the appearing of Messiah. The Chaldean or Neo-Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar was felled in Daniel's own lifetime and replaced by that of Medo-Persia. The Persians in turn were defeated by Alexander and the Diadochi kingdoms born of his short-lived empire were cast down by the most dreadful and terrible beast of all – Rome, the dreadful and terrible kingdom that breaks and devours all things.
The New Testament reveals that the Kingdom established by Christ is heavenly and in God's longsuffering and mercy the eschaton is delayed. As such, the imagery in Daniel finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Age to Come – announced and inaugurated but not yet fully realized. The New Covenant Kingdom exists in an already-not yet dynamic, creating a kind of in-between time called the Last Days or the Age of the Church on Earth. And yet as seen in Daniel, Revelation gives the impression that it is the same Roman beast that is in power when the Day of the Lord makes its appearance. It therefore could be implied that Rome serves as the Bestial archetype for the Last Days period – and indeed nearly two thousand years after the Crucifixion and Resurrection, Rome's ghost and memory still loom large.
Hyper-literalists err in thinking that this means there must be some kind of literal revived Roman Empire fulfilled in the EU or some variation of it. Not at all. Rather, one can read Western history as a series of permutations – variations of the Roman model and vision. From the papacy to the Holy Roman Empire, to the founding of the American Republic – and then empire, the spectre of Rome haunts the minds of all Western thinkers. It is the Beast that is still with us. Rome is the West and there is no West without Rome.
It is Rome that Daniel describes as destroying the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary, an obvious foretelling of Titus and the war that culminated in 70AD with the destruction of the Temple – and with it the end of the Old Order. This abomination of desolation, an even greater profanation than what was committed by Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century BC, hints also at the apostasy and destruction awaiting the Church during the Last Days – a time when the Temple (or Church) is profaned and effectively destroyed and silenced (as hinted at in many passages such as Revelation 11).
Rome is the culmination of all the previous beasts and it dominates the imagery of Revelation which spans the Last Days – the second half of Daniel's Seventieth Week-Year imagery. Again, Rome is the West – it is the New Babylon (even in the New Testament) that outstrips all that old Babylon was. We need not look to a reconstituted city in the Fertile Crescent as some have thought. Babylon lives in Rome and is enhanced and amplified.
Rome is the West. Rome is also Christendom because that's what Christendom represents – the syncretism, the wedding of the Church to Bestial Rome and its legacy. This is the imagery in Revelation. This is what Christendom is – a false and unbiblical paradigm from the very beginning. The Church could not be defeated through persecution so instead the enemy seduced it by means of the test presented to Christ in the wilderness. Unlike our Lord, the tired and unvigilant Church took Satan's offer, changed its identity, ethics, doctrine, and purpose in order to have worldly power and glory. It became Mystery Babylon, the Bride turned Whore riding the Beast. It was indeed a Great Apostasy and the episode lives on and has been repeated more times than can be counted. It's been happening yet once again for many years right before our eyes.
Clearly the lessons have not been learned. The proponents of Christendom ignore what the Scriptures say about Rome and its persistent presence throughout the Church age. Even though the original Rome lies in ruins, Rome's vision and values live on and are with us today. And just as the wicked values and ideals of Rome were promoted by Court Theologians and Historians in Late Antiquity – so it is in our day as well.
Modern 'conservatives' will look askance at Babylon, Persia, and the Greek kingdoms, but Rome – Rome is different. They admire it. They look up to it. They view it as a necessary component or step for the Christendom project which in so many ways merely appropriated its symbols and power – or baptised them if you like.
To their peril, they have forgotten that Rome was and is a Beast and as such they turn the Church into a whore that rides the Beast, serves it, and in some respects is indistinguishable from it.
An so once more the blind lead the blind. The Scriptures are clear: Empires are bestial and Rome is the model for the Last Days. As these deceived deceivers glory in its accomplishments, the Scriptural imagery and its implications never come up and consequently these dazzled teachers play a harmful part in misleading the Church, in helping the baptized masses sleepwalk into the arms of the Church-Empire fusion that is Christendom.
Such teachers need to be denounced as agents of this Beast. They have infiltrated the Western Church on a massive scale and more or less rule the day. It is but another iteration of the same Great Apostasy that so shook and negatively transformed the Church seventeen hundred years ago.
Providence brought Rome to power and the same can be said for the likes of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Alexander – and later empires like Britain and America must be included as well. The outworkings of Providence cannot be judged. Foolish men count the rise of the empires they happen to like as blessings when in fact their rise and vindication can just as easily be a form of judgment – judgment on other wicked nations and empires, or a kind of blinding judgment for the people of these empires – and those that would serve them. Their consciences are seared and calling good evil and evil good they justify imperial theft and whitewash the countless atrocities that are always the result.
The author is right about one thing – there are definite even startling parallels between Roman history and the path that America is following.
The fact that empires recur throughout history leads Daniel Strand to shrug his shoulders. This is how the world is – so you might as well embrace it. That's worldly wisdom to be sure but such fallen thinking and reasoning has nothing to do with the New Testament and the apostolic expectations and exhortations regarding the renewed mind, heavenly mindedness, and cross bearing.
The argument that some empires are good is again a case of worldly thinking framing the issue. Providence might use an empire to bring technology, industry, or transport networks to another land. The legacy of these changes is mixed at best. The real lesson Strand is teaching is very simple – let us do evil that good may come.
Even a 666 on the forehead can be made to look attractive and people can be fooled into think it's glowing with heavenly light. Of course they will not understand what they are seeing.
His Christian argument is (when taken at face value) naive and when reflected on, wicked and stupid. Empires are rooted in a simple concept – you have lands and resources we want and if you won't give them to us we will kill you and take them. And often this is further buttressed by arguments that suggest it was our right and even duty to do so. It's Satanic reasoning as are the arguments of Strand – all the more since he couches them in Christian terms.
He has confused Providence with endorsement and as such he divorces these questions from the ethics of the New Testament. Additionally it's clear he has also learned nothing from Divine revelation and what it reveals in a few select cases about Providence and how it works. It would be just as easy to say that America is like another Canaan awaiting destruction – God is longsuffering, allowing America to stew its own juices as it were, to build up the judgment that is due. This can be argued just as easily as what Strand proposes. The difference is this – I can make a Biblical case for my argument. His apologia for empire has no Biblical basis but is instead rooted in a biased read of history and philosophical speculation.
Augustine was brilliant on certain points but on these questions he was wrong. His position may have been moderate in his day – a kind of balanced position when compared to those hostile to Rome or those who had sold their souls to it – and there were many. And yet it doesn't matter if his premise and assumptions and wrong – and they are.
The fact that 'barbarian' nations in some cases wanted to be part of Rome is immaterial. Men look for security and wealth. It's called worldliness. These are the values celebrated by Strand and other Christians of his ilk but they are values antagonistic to the New Testament call to be cross-bearing pilgrims and martyr-witnesses.
We could walk through Strand's tiresome and often ridiculous essay and repudiate him point by point but to what end? It's enough to know that his basic assumptions are wrong and therefore so are his subsequent interpretations. Even Christians who are weak on the history should (if they are grounded in Scripture) detect that something is off in his reasoning and deductive process.
One could wish that Americans would acknowledge their empire. The failure to do so just adds another layer of lies to this already evil order. And yet, the reality would not lead to a great deal of repentance. The British are an example of this as they gloried in their abomination-empire and still do. And sadly there are many deluded Christian leaders (including far too many in the Reformed camp) that propagate this filth, dressing up sin in the trappings of glory and romanticised reminiscence.
Strand is blind to the evils of empire and thus to the American Empire and the millions upon millions of deaths for which it is responsible. The fact that this servant of the war machine, the death legions of empire is a professor of ethics makes one want to laugh and cry at the same time.
The fact that this rubbish is promoted on Christian websites and that these sorts of false teachers are elevated in the Church is a sure sign of judgment – a strain of Providence that Strand is unable to fathom. The blind lead the blind. And why are they blind? Because their consciences have been seared – they no longer posses consciences and lack all discernment. This article is Exhibit A.
Flee such men! They are the agents of death. To fellowship with them is to commune with darkness.