This insightful presentation was given by Pastor Bryce Bowman at the Village Church Religious Liberty Weekend in August 2023. It explains how nations came to be, and how they stand as a bulwark against totalitarian globalism (Revelation 13:3).
Religious Imperialism
Political imperialism has given way to religious imperialism and the success of this plan seemed beyond question.
The corruption of the church didn't take long, and by the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established and the seat of power was fixed in the imperial city and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church.
The dragon had given to the Beast his power his seat and his great authority. Now for religious imperialism to succeed, the truth of God's word must be kept from the people which was done with great success.
Ellen White says the accession of the Roman Church to power marked the beginning of the Dark Ages and persecution opened upon the faithful with greater fury than ever before and the world became a vast battlefield.
Just when it appeared that Satan would successfully destroy those who remained faithful to God and accomplish his imperialistic plan to bring the entire world under his control God intervenes and once again places a check on Satan's power.
Three developments served to temporarily undo Satan's plans during this time that lead us to our present day.
The first is that the Bible begins to make its way into the hands of the people. The light of God's word brings about the Protestant Reformation which not only opposed the imperialism of the Roman papacy but also led to a reconstruction of the political world in which national Independence and self-determination came to be regarded as fundamental principles. National Independence since the fall of the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire at the end of the 1260 years has led to a better more prosperous and Freer World—allowing the truth of the Gospel to spread around the globe. God predicted this in Daniel 12 verse 4.
The Second development I alluded to a moment ago was in 1798. At the end of the 1260 years just as predicted in Bible prophecy, the nation of France inflicted the deadly wound upon the papacy temporarily removing its power and severely limiting Satan at least for a while in using religion as a means of establishing a global Empire. Those days are quickly coming to a close. The Bible reveals that this deadly wound would be healed and the papacy will regain its former power. Ellen White indicates that nationalism is--at least in part--restraining Satan's ability to establish Global religious imperialism on our modern world.
She says in great controversy 564 “Let the restraints now imposed by secular governments be removed and Rome be reinstated to her former power, and there would speedily be a Revival of her tyranny and persecution.”
The Third development was that on the very territory that God had provided as a refuge for his persecuted people a new nation was forming under his protective care. It is the last independent nation state mentioned in Scripture. The United States of America is coming into existence just as described in Revelation 13. It's very interesting that the founders of this nation determined that the best safeguard against Global imperialism in the form of the tyrannical overreach of the political imperialism of the British Empire embodied in a king and the religious imperialism of the Roman papacy embodied in a pope was through the safeguards of nationalism.
America
By forming an independent nation with a written Constitution securing liberty of conscience for al,l they set up a form of government predicated on values which was republicanism and Protestantism—that are diametrically opposed to the global imperialist rule Satan was seeking to establish. In this way, the nation-state stands in the way of global imperialism and this is why so many efforts are underway to destroy this nation.
You know we have efforts to rewrite history, to reinterpret history, to do all these kind of things. And you know the best way to destroy a nation is by destroying its national identity. The best way to destroy national identity is to create tribalism—create intersectional groups of people based on different characteristics and then foment hatred and discontent between those groups and pit them one against another. You can very easily and quickly undermine the cohesion of a nation.
The United States (Ellen White said) has been a refuge for the oppressed. It has been spoken of as a bulwark of religious liberty. “God has done more for this country than for any other country upon which The Sun Shines.”
Sadly, as we know, Revelation 13 predicts a time when this nation will abandon the principles upon which it was founded and will become instrumental in aiding Satan in establishing his global imperialistic empire and gain control over the whole world. We know that is the mark of the beast crisis outlined by God to warn us ahead of time. This brings us back to the present time and back to the present question of why nationalism is seen as such an evil in our world today.
I've already noted that God used the formation of independent nation states to prevent Satan from establishing universal control. Perhaps that's the single greatest reason why Satan hates independent nation states and why he's working so hard to undermine them.
Let's not forget that Satan's goal is complete control over every human being on planet Earth in order to consolidate everything under a central government fully under his power.
According to Revelation 13 He will finally accomplish this. You know there are several reasons why I think the idea of Nations and nationalism is seen as such an evil in our world today.
The War on Nationalism
The first one is that nationalism is blamed for the atrocities of imperialism including racism. I already mentioned that nationalism is not the ideal, it came in after sin and sometimes nation states can create bad situations and do very terrible things. It's not the perfect solution. These nations can come under Satan's power. When nationalism moves away from its role for which God intended and becomes secularized it will no longer respect the sovereignty of other nations and it becomes imperialistic. Satan can then blame these atrocities on nationalism, and in this way he can convince the world that independent nation states are evil and move the nations toward his ultimate goal of consolidating his power under a centralized global regime. The case in point is Nazi Germany.
Today many have bought into the simplistic narrative ceaselessly repeated which asserts that nationalism caused two world wars and the Holocaust. After all isn't the word Nazi short for national socialism?
Now if nationalism is the ideal that the world is governed best when nations are able to chart their own independent course without interference, was Hitler a nationalist? Ask the people of Czechoslovakia or Russia or Poland or France whether or not Hitler respected the borders of their nations. Hitler was not a nationalist he was an imperialist. He may have started out under the guise but Hitler was an imperialist carrying forward the designs of Satan to conquer and centralize control and power.
As Vishal Mangalwadi alluded to, if Hitler had been a nationalist his policies would have made Germany a living hell but it would have spared the rest of the world. As more and more of the world turns from God and the truths of his word there comes an increasing conviction that we must look for Human Solutions to the problems faced by mankind.
These challenges real or imagined are all being used by Satan to sell the idea that nationalism and independent nation states have failed. What is needed today is the unity of global imperialism and the centralized control of a universal political regime. This has many appeals from certain perspectives. It's very easy to control people when you have centralized power. In fact this is what is described in Revelation 13.
The second reason I think nationalism and nation states are so in disrepute is that nationalism has been redefined. It is no longer used to describe a principle that regards the world as governed best when nations are able to chart their own independent course. Today, nationalism is an imprecation used to disparage anyone that seeks to uphold the fight for judeo-christian values in the public square.
It is used to malign those who cherish the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, principles that have made America the freest and most prosperous nation in the world. In fact, belief in God and country and love of country is enough to get one labeled as a nationalist.
Many leaders in our church have been beating the drum vilifying the religious rights so incessantly that they have become blind to the reality of what the secular left is doing to destroy this nation to assist Satan in establishing the universal template to criminalize not only free speech but ultimately religion on a global platform as described in Revelation 13.
In America, particularly as Seventh-Day Adventists, we're keenly aware of the path upon which apostate Protestantism will eventually lead this nation in forwarding Satan's agenda. There are certainly those among the so-called religious right that want to make America a Christian Nation and enforce religion by legislative fiat. But that doesn't mean that every Christian that seeks to uphold morality In the public square believes that we should enforce Christianity and declare America to be a Christian Nation.
By vilifying evangelicals as Christian nationalists we have not only redefined what nationalism is but we have written off what could be our most fertile mission field. Sadly we often view non-Adventist Christians with suspicion because we see their effort to uphold biblical values in the public square as synonymous with wanting to legislate religion.
The Evangelical mom that fights to keep the public school from sexualizing her eight-year-old probably isn't ready to send any anyone who's not a Christian to the gulag. The Christian father who doesn't want his minor to be given puberty blockers behind his back likely isn't part of some grand conspiracy to force atheists to become Christians.
Jonathan Zirkle spoke about the fact that God's Ten Commandment law is divided and we should leave the first four, as a society, alone. The first four Commandments have to do with our relationship with God. It should never fall into the auspices of a secular government.
But the last six Commandments (you know we say “Well we don't legislate morality” and maybe we don't directly, but we certainly legislate against immorality) deal with our relationship with one another. They're universal in scope. Honesty may be a Christian value but it's a universal principle to govern relationships whether people believe in God or not.
In order for society to function should we not as Christians push back against immorality in the public square? Should we abandon the struggle for Christian values in society and be content with a private gospel that makes no claims upon how we live our lives in society? Should we listen to the secular left and nominal Adventists who argue that to speak out against evil is playing politics? Should we remain silent when the values upon which our country was founded are attacked--many of which happen to be biblical--for fear that we might be called a nationalist?
This is from Eric Metaxis. He said we must remember that William Wilberforce in his day was told to keep his faith private and was told that his religious view of slavery was wrong and had no business poking into the wide world. Jesus said in Matthew 16 “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify Your Father in heaven.”
Now you might say well that's passive. Jesus said just let your light shine. But in John 5:35 Jesus said about John the Baptist that he was a burning and shining light and no one would accuse John the Baptist of being passive about letting his light shine.
It's time for Seventh-day Adventists to stand up and stop being ashamed of being a follower of Christ and stop withholding the truth because we're afraid a label is going to be thrown at us. Let the devil label but let the truth be told.
The third reason is that (and this is the one I hear the most) nationalism is arrogant and isolationist because it implies that one's country is superior. And this is selfish and diminishes the value of others and violates the teachings of Jesus. Is it wrong to prioritize one's own country?
If you put your family first and prioritize your wife and children are you arrogant and selfish? Does it mean you see your family as superior and better than anyone else? Does this mean that you are selfish? Does it diminish the value of other families? Does it mean that you are isolationist and won't help other families if they have needs?
Said another way, what if you put everyone else's family first and you give your time and your money to everyone else while neglecting your wife and children? What type of person would you be? You might be able to claim great virtue and make yourself look good in the eyes of others but you would be abandoning your duty as a husband and father (1 Timothy 5:8).
In the Bible, Daniel and Nehemiah were strong patriots that loved their country and prioritized their country over the country that they were living in. This did not prevent them from serving faithfully where God had placed them.
Those that work to undermine the nation states are aiding and abetting Satan's move to bring the world under a centralized global regime. Independent nation states and those who strongly support the idea of decentralized control and the principle that regards the world is governed best when nations are able to chart their own independent course stand in the way of Satan's plans to gain control over the entire world. It has been said that Rome was not built in a day. In the familiar account recorded in Daniel 3, the image of Nebuchadnezzar that he constructed (and which serves as a typological counterpart to the final conflict on planet Earth) was not built in a day either.
There were forces at work both in public and private that enabled the circumstances that brought about the showdown on the plain of Dura. Of all the followers of the true God that were likely present that day only three were sufficiently aware of the details to properly discern the issues at stake and trust God enough to make the right choice.
Satan has been perfecting his art of military deception for generations and apart from The Holy Spirit and a thorough understanding of God's word we are no match for those deceptions.
This is no time to drift off in the comfort of complacency. Ellen White said in education page 230 “As the student sacrifices the power to reason and judge for himself he becomes incapable of discriminating between truth and error and falls and easy prey to deception. He is easily led to follow tradition and custom in our modern times.”
Satan has come to the realization that in order to establish his empire on planet Earth he cannot rely on material force alone. He has become much more sophisticated in accomplishing what God has warned us he would accomplish. His primary method in the present is to establish new moral, political, and cultural values as conventional norms of practical behavior. He is working to change the way we think.
Now the effectiveness of this new approach is found in a truth well articulated by Joseph S Knight Jr. He said this,
“If I can get you to want what I want I will not have to force you to do what you do not want to do.”
In other words if Satan can slowly change the beliefs and values of each person to accord with his will, people will do what he wants. The exercise of violence and compulsion by cruelty can be reserved for those who refuse to comply.
We need to think these things through carefully.
We live in a world where things are not as they always appear to be and I want to leave you with this text from Jesus “And what I say unto you I say unto all, watch.” Let's pray together.
Father we thank you for your Word. We thank You for the insights that are provided. Let us be diligent students of that Word so through your Spirit we can have insight and discernment to be able to navigate through times that You have warned us about.
Amen.
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“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:8-10).
