The Clashing of Empires
The nations of the world present two clearly defined types of civilization. Two violently antagonistic classes of humanity are struggling to the death for control of human affairs. One of these classes desires peace and the pursuit of happiness for all mankind; the other fosters wars, hunger and misery as the means to a vicious end. One group would make the desert blossom as the rose; the other would wreck the earth in a fanatical attempt to gain dominion over the blood; strewn remains.
People today are wondering how this situation can exist in our day of unprecedented advance in science, business and many lines of cultural endeavor. Puzzled and dismayed by the distressing events taking place hourly, they are asking why and how such things can happen in the twentieth century.
To study the enigma of these clashing empires with any possibility of finding an explanation, it is necessary to know the background of the two types of civilization. It means going all the way back to Genesis 3:15 where God says:
�And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.� (Genesis 3:15)
Then the realization that neither Cain nor Abel were the children of Adam; and that Cain was of the devil and was evil from the moment of birth as the scriptures say:
�The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.� (Psalm 58:3)
Then we go to the fourth chapter of Genesis where we find the background of the history of important events in the household of our first parents and Eve�s sons: Cain and Abel. As no modern family is fully conscious of its influence upon posterity, so it is probably that the members of the Adamic family never realized the far-reaching, world-shaping effects of their domestic problems and tragedies that would bring.
Strangely enough the first family strife was induced by a religious matter. Cain�s attitude regarding the nature of an acceptable sacrifice was not due to ignorance but to rebellion against the will and plan of God. When God was instructing Adam in agriculture, natural history and domestic relations, we may be sure that He did not neglect religious training. Adam and all the members of his household knew the requirements of Divine worship for their day, just as definitely as Moses knew them in his day.
But the seed of disobedience was in the race. Cain was the firstborn son disobedient parents who had been drive out of paradise. Fortunately for us, all God�s justice and judgments have ever been accompanied by His mercy. One can hardly find a more striking example of this fact than in the story of Cain. Even after his obstinate refusal to make the required sacrifice, he was given an opportunity for repentance:
�And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?� (Genesis 4:6-7)
Cain�s rapid decline after his rejection of the proffered mercy and repentance. Rebellion against God led to disobedience; disobedience led to the rejection of grace and love. The his soul became filled with anger and hate which culminated in the murder of his brother. (It would appear that Yahweh let Cain murder Abel, because Abel was also not the son of Adam) Lying and refusing to accept responsibility for his acts piled up the score against him until judgment could be stayed no longer. �And now art thou cursed from the earth� not because Yahweh desired it, but because Cain deliberately brought the sentence upon himself.
�And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.� Away from the presence of Yahweh he became the servant of Satan and the founder of a godless empire and civilization. It is well to pause here to reflect that a godless empire is not necessarily one that is in a primitive, savage state. It may be a highly civilized from the standpoint of materialism. It may be highly civilized from the standpoint of materialism. Such was the civilization of Cain and his descendants. They built great cities; they promoted industry, science and invention; they had skilled workers in all the arts and crafts. Even the fine arts, such as music, flourished in the heyday of Cain�s civilization.
Recent findings of archaeologists furnish abundant proof that an advanced state of civilization existed more than five thousand years ago. It was an empire without the presence of Yahweh. Men took no counsel of God. Their chief end was not to glorify Yahweh, but to exalt themselves. Murders, wars, polygamy and evils of every kind multiplied and polluted the earth.
Consider now Genesis 4:25-26, which relates the birth of another son to Adam and Eve:
�And she bare a son, and called his name Seth: for God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth , to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: THEN BEGAN MEN TO CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD.�
Seth, appointed to take the place of righteous Abel, became the progenitor of a spiritually-minded race who called upon the name of the Lord. In Chapter 5 we rad of the expansion of this spiritual line. They, too, became a great people whose civilization developed contemporaneously with that of Cain�s descendants.
Visualize for a moment these two ancient empires developing side by side through the centuries: the empire of Cain (Kanites), who �went out from the presence of the Lord:� and the empire of Seth whose people called �upon the name of the Lord.� What of their future? Did the Sethites value their spiritual heritage and labor unceasingly to demonstrate the privilege and glory of serving the Lord? Or did the Cainites gain ascendancy by seducing the Sethites with evil propaganda.
The answer is in Genesis 6; evil has ever been aggressive. It launches intensive, continuous campaigns of seduction and coercion to ensnare and control every human being. Some has said:
�The last thing to be expected from evil is that it will tamely abdicate. Let us be sure that it never quits its hold until after struggles which shake to their foundations personal, social, and national life. And when evil dare not claim absolute immunity, it pleads for tolerance and delay.�
Would that Christians might become as active in making disciples of men! Yahweh said:
�The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.� (Luke 16:8)
No doubt this deplorable state may be traced to �the children of light� taking too much for granted. They do not study the maneuvers of the Lord�s enemies and prepare counterattacks. Worse yet, most Christians seem to be blissfully unaware that Yahshua still has enemies opposing His kingdom program.
Observe the familiarity of the methods used to degrade the people of Yahweh; for their nature has not altered since the days of Noah and neither have the processes by which it deteriorates. Whether the Satanic agents be godless men, or �angels which kept not their first estate,� the decay of a nation invariably begins by invading the sanctity of homes with evil practices that pervert �every imagination of the thoughts� of mankind. When this is done, it become easy to put evil leaders in strategic places to control and corrupt the government, economics, education, and religion of a people. Poverty for the masses, wealth in the hands of a few, vice, crime, strife; these bitter fruits increase until the earth is corrupt and filled with violence.
This is the story of the sixth chapter of Genesis, where one expects to read very ancient history, and is surprised to find the record much like our own world today. Then we recall the words of Yahshua:
�As it was in the days of Noe (Noah), so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.� (Luke 17:26)
The Christian nations of the world need to read again �the days of Noah,� and read thoughtfully. Let us consider the warning of the Son of Man, as we see the glory of the house of Seth, appointed unto righteousness, depart from the way of life and in fellowship with the house of Cain, sink to oblivion beneath the murky waters of the Deluge.
Now let us follow the story on, taking time only to sketch briefly a few major developments through the centuries. It may be well to state here that the great flood was an act of mercy on the part of God to rid the world of vileness and grant humanity a fresh start. As London�s ravaging fire in 1666 cleansed the city of its deadly plague, so the flood was a gigantic cleanser to purify the earth and make it once again a habitation fit for God-conscious men and women. Yet just as the fire of London did not encompass the entire nation, neither did the flood encompass the entire earth. But both of them was in selected areas of the world, and did not include the entire planet.
Chapters 9, 10, and 11 of Genesis recount the growth of Noah�s family into many nations. The purpose which Yahweh had in mind through the appointment of Seth was continued in Shem and his family. This plan began to take shape in the call of Abraham to found a new race based upon faith in God; it was further advanced when these people were organized into a nation and given their constitution at Sinai under the leadership of Moses; it was revealed and established by the advent of Yahshua whose lineage traces back through David to Abraham, Shem, Seth and Adam.
The spirit of Cain seems to have been perpetuated through Ham who revolted against the righteous order of Noah and Shem. Nimrod, grandson of Ham, led the revolt and set up a government in opposition to the plan of Yahweh.
The following two paragraphs from Howard B. Rand�s book, Primogenesis, p. 58, are pertinent in this connection:
�Nimrod, son of Cush, with his wife, Semiramis, because the world�s first rulers in this revolt. A system of false worship was set up and religious ceremonies, with binding oaths and secret obligations, became the basis of the security of their government. The initiated were taken into these organizations and the teachings and doctrines found at this time are in full evidence today.
�This government, founded upon strong secret organizations, became very powerful. Nimrod laid the foundation of his kingdom in the building of Babel and he also founded the empire of Assyria and built Nineveh. Here is the record of the founding of two great empires which were destined to play a vital part in world history. Babylon and Assyria, founded in opposition to the government of Noah and Shem, have run true to form in their opposition to the kingdom established by Yahweh at Mt. Sinai.�
Verses 15-18 of Genesis 10 name other tribal groups of this same line who waged wars down the centuries against the people of Yahweh. Their enmity is written in the pages of Scripture to the very end. Again and again history repeats itself as the Bible narrates the story of these two types of people and the clashing of their divergent social, political and religious philosophies. Each succeeding generation bears testimony to the aggression of godless nations in forcing their program of destruction upon the people who have been called out to do Yahweh�s will. The triumphs of Yahweh�s people may be measured in any stage of their history by the degree to which they have resisted the enemies of Yahweh and kept His statutes; their failures, by the degree to which they have yielded to false doctrines and evil practices.
Ten-tribed Israel succumbed to the influences of wicked nations and departed from their homeland under the yoke of Assyrian bondage. Providentially led, they scattered to the north and west and centuries later assembled in the isles, according to the prophets. To them Yahshua entrusted His kingdom after his verdict to the Jews:
�The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.� (Matthew 21:43)
They are the people who have colonized the desolate heritages and carried the gospel of Yahshua to the uttermost parts of the earth. They are Yahweh�s people yet, Israel of the Old Testament and the New, errant and blind to their destiny, but unconsciously doing the things Yahweh�s prophets said they would do.
Later two-tribed Judah tasted the dregs of disobedience in Babylonian captivity. A comparatively small number returned and founded the nation of the Jews. Ezra and Nehemiah attempted to establish the law of Yahweh but the seventy years� inoculation with Babylon�s cults, financial systems and intermarriages had done its deadly work. When Yahshua appeared on the scene in old Jerusalem, Baal and Mammon had superseded the true and living God; the Tradition of the Elders, later to become the Talmud, had become authority instead of Moses and the prophets; Babylonian ethics and economics had taken the place of the kingdom of Laws, Statutes, and Judgments of Yahweh; and the evil children of the devil had replaced the Children of Israel as rulers over Palestine.
It was this system that Yahshua opposed, and no wonder. He proclaimed the re-establishment of Yahweh�s kingdom and righteous Laws for the nation, based upon the foundation of Moses and the prophets; and with this purpose the Jewish/ Babylonian suzerainty of the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees had nothing in common. They become the bitterest foes of Yahshua, His church, and the whole Christian movement. The warfare which began at that time is raging with increasing intensity in the world at this very hour:
�Abraham is our father,� the Jews said to Yahshua.
�If ye were Abraham�s Children, ye would do the works of Abraham,� Yahshua replied.
�We have one Father, even God,� they argued.
�If God were your Father, ye would love me,� answered Yahshua. �Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.� (John 8)
Again Yahshua inspired John to write in Revelation 2:9, 3:9;
�I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.�
�The synagogue of Satan� is still on the job, hating and fighting the coming reign of Yahshua, and all people who are called by His name. Anyone who can read a newspaper surely has sensed the hatred of all revolutionists and military dictators for everything Christian. At this point let us consider one of the most important statements in Mr. David Davidson�s address, �The Age of God and the Golden Age:�
�According to the learned Dr. Abelson, the Jewish rabbi in Leeds, as reported some years ago in The Yorkshire Post, the idea now permeating Jewish thought is that no personal Messiah is to be expected but that the Jews themselves constitute the Body of the messiah which, according to the prophecies, is to rule all nations with a rod of iron.�
All Anglo-Saxons, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic peoples need to ponder well the implications of these words.
Our world today is torn by the final death-struggle of the powers of evil to overthrow the dominion of Yahshua. On one side are those who have gone �out from the presence of the Lord� aggressive, greedy, hostile, ruthless; hating the will and counsel of God; on the other side are lovers of peace who, though often wayward and foolish, �call upon the name of the Lord,� and are called by His name.
The time is at hand when people of every land that call themselves �Christians� must do something more than talk about peace. They must put on the armor of defense, then humbly and unitedly call upon Yahweh to establish His righteous Kingdom in the earth, or be engulfed by the madness and destruction of nations that know not God:
�Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.� (Ezekiel 36:37)