America: Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
America —Bondage, Freedom, & Bondage
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
The writing below the image :“PATICK HENRY delivering his great speech on the Rights of the Colonies, before the Virginia Assembly convened at Richmond March 23rd, 1775. Concluding with the above sentiment, which became the war cry of the Revolution.”
This is the statement that was made to bring about the revolution, to the uprising of America, and these sentiments will be the same to bringing down of America. God requires that which is past.
The Bible, an Accurate Guide of life
Ecc 1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Ecc 3:15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
Solomon, in Ecclesiastes, sets forth this simple but very important principle that means much to the Bible student. All the things that are happening now, in this day and age, have happened. The principles and spirits working upon man are the same as the ancient times, and this is why the events that take place in our time are the same, but the players being different.
Solomon saw an understood this principle from nature. In Ecclesiastes chapter one verses one to eight he saw that all the functions and workings in the earth are the same and therefore, man which is of the earth and lives in the earth follow the very same. As previously stated, this can be seen because there are only two working spirits in the earth, Christ and Satan. See Matthew 6:24, 1 Kings 18:21.
Ecc 1:4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
Ecc 1:5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
Ecc 1:6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
Ecc 1:7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
Ecc 1:8 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
Seeing this from nature, it tells us of nature’s God. As nature doesn’t change and it is the same from generation to generation, from age to age, God is the same all the time. The principles of His working are the same and it is depicted in the Bible with one hundred percent accuracy.
Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Mal 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
If we can accept and see this one point with God working in nature the same all through ages, we can now see and appreciate the way in which God works with nations and individuals, for, it is also the same. Let us see how God works with the nations of this earth.
Dan 2:20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:
Dan 2:21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
It is through the power of God along that kings and kingdoms reign. God is the one that gives life to kings and kingdoms and the one that takes away the life or give life to a kingdom. However, life is only taken away from the kingdoms and kings of the earth when they reject the very one who is life itself. Once this takes place, Satan becomes their king just as it was when the Jewish nation rejected Jesus Christ and asked for Barabbas. They rejected life and asked fro death, for, Barabbas was a murderer. Likewise with all nations of the earth and most of all with the universal kingdoms of this earth. They reject God and choose death.
Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
In Isaiah 45:5, God was speaking of Cyrus the Great, the king of the Medo-Persia realm. At this time, Cyrus was not yet living and the meds Persian realm was not the king of the earth, however, God who sees all and knows all seen into futurity and anointed Cyrus for his work to upbuild His kingdom. See Isa 44:26-28, 45:1-6, Isa 13.
Dan 4:27 Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.
This is the only way which nations can lengthen or prolong their days on this earth; by breaking off their sins by righteousness and showing mercy unto the poor. By abiding strictly to the last six commandments of the Ten Commandments their life is prolonged. Once, this is not the spirit and the life of the nation, then death is the sure result.
Pro 16:12 It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness.
Pro 20:28 Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.
Proverbs 20 lets us know that it is only through righteousness, mercy, and truth that kings and kingdoms are established. Without these divine attributes kingdoms are in the path of death.Pro 4:14-15 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
By this cause, of not avoiding the path of the wicked is why the nation of Israel fell and went back into captivity in which they cried out against, but as the Scriptures state, the last state of man is worse than than the first. So, it is with all nations of history.
The Israelites & Egypt
1Co 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1Co 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
1Co 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
1Co 10:5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
1Co 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
1Co 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
1Co 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
1Co 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Paul's objective in recounting the historical account of the Israelites to the Corinthian church was to prevent the recurrence of their past mistakes. These mistakes, as he enumerates only led to death of the Israelites and the dispersion of them as a people. Israel as a nation has been long gone. Is the Bible a dead letter? No, therefore, these verses and principles have an application to the age we are in now. “They are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
Paul clearly lets the Bible student know and understand that the things that happened to Israel of old in all their journeyings and experiences are really for the one who are living at the end of the world. The fact that America is the leading nation and a nation that is in existence lets us know that we are at the end of the world. For, in Psalms, David lets us know that the work of the Lord is from the east to the west. This is an understanding which he received from the work that took place in the sanctuary on earth. The high priest in the sanctuary was a figure of Jesus Christ which is the true high priest (see Heb. 9:11). Jesus also being styled and called the Sun of righteousness (see Mal. 4:2), and as we know, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and the known world began in the eastern hemisphere and spread over into the western hemisphere.
Bondage
Exo 2:23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
Exo 2:24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
Exo 2:25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.
Act 7:6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.
Act 7:7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
Psa 107:19 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
All of the world knows the story of Moses and the Israelites being in bondage in Egypt for four hundred years and the judgments that fell upon Egypt for holding God’s people captive in their nation. This history is left on record for those who live at the end of the world, for those living in the last nation that shall rule the world. As we have in Acts 7, the pattern of being in bondage and judgment falling on the nation that held God’s people in bondage, so we see with the papacy holding the world captive and God judging that nation and freeing His people and leading them into a place in which they can serve Him. As God leads the Israelites to Mount Sinai, the place where they will serve Him, so God led the pilgrims to come to America where they can serve Him.
Exo 3:12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
On Mount Sinai, God gave His people, explicitly, the laws that will upbuild them as a nation, and so He did again with the Protestants coming to America with the constitution.
Freedom
Exo 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exo 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Exo 19:7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
Exo 19:8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.
Exo 24:3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.
Deu 32:46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
Deu 32:47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
When the divine law was communicated by God to the Israelites, they wholeheartedly embraced its principles, recognizing its moral significance in governing their lives. They acknowledged that any divergence from this sacred code would undoubtedly lead to severe consequences, even unto death. Thus, they resolutely declared, "all the words which the LORD hath said will we do.”
Adhering to the law established by God for the nation not only fosters its development but also extends its longevity. Conversely, straying from this moral compass curtails the nation's existence, ultimately leading to its demise.
Pro 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
Act 10:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
Only through righteousness can a nation be exalted. Only through righteousness can nations and peoples be accepted of God. However, mankind is very susceptible to being led away. Circumstances occur that test nations and people to see what sort they are. God will cause trouble, distress, prosperity, or even delay to come to test nations and people, that their own heart can be revealed to themselves that they might reform themselves that they can be accepted of God.
With Israel, at the foot of Mount Sinai, the Lord tested His people by delay. This delay revealed that, at heart, many of those who left from Egypt were still Egyptians at heart. Their hearts and thoughts were upon Egypt and this is why they fashioned an idol after what they served in Egypt. Virtually, bringing the same bondage in which they left with them into a new land. Continuing the same vices and evils.
Bondage Again
Exo 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Exo 32:2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
Exo 32:3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Exo 32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
When the Israelites left Egypt after the plagues, many of the Egyptians fled with the Israelites for fear of things that were to come to Egypt. However, when they left, they did not renounce the false religion and practices of Egypt. They were actuated by a spirit of fear only and not by an abhorrence of the sins that caused the plagues to come down upon Egypt. By this cause, these Egyptians, mingling with the Israelites passed on their idolatrous worship and customs to the Israelites and caused the whole house of Israel to sin.
In this time of crisis instead of depending and waiting upon the Lord for instruction and guidance, they built a golden calf. Israel clamored and longed to leave Egypt but worshipped an animal that was venerated in Egypt. They took the worship that they once hated and reproduced it in a new land, in a place where the Lord has placed His name.
Now, let us keep this pattern in mind. Where man is in bondage and long to be freed, and when freed, their liberty is used to bring themselves back into bondage. For, this is what we will see in the near future and we are seeing right now in the United States of America in part. Paul lets us know that the history of Israel is for the end of the world. So, we will soon see these same scenes play in our day.
1Co 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Now with this pattern set before us by God and history, we will look at the beginning of the great nation of America. Why did early settlers leave from the Old World to come to the new world? What were the difficulties that they were facing that caused them to take the trek across the Atlantic Ocean? Brave the waves and storms? What can be so terrible, so daunting to make such a move for freedom?
America
Bondage
Before the early settlers came to the New World in search of fresh new land and establishing a government, they were under the oppressive rule of both church and state, with the church guiding the mind and rulings of the state. They were under the bondage of royal oppression, a king, and priestly intolerance, a pope.
The Roman Empire ruled the world for many centuries. Their rule was characterized by a restriction of freedoms — liberty of conscience and religious liberty. The Lord, when He created us, made us free moral agent, with the ability to choose according to the dictates of our conscience, however, man fell. Even after the fall, God, in His mercy, gave us a second probation, and in this probation, like the first, we are free moral agents, having the ability to choose which path we would want to take. Satan, ever true to his character, doesn’t want man to have these freedoms and liberties and he enticed man, in the Roma empire, to restrict these liberties so that he can have control over mankind. This is clearly seen in the doctrine of “papal supremacy”. In this the papacy takes the supremacy, that belongs to God, styles himself as the vicar (substitute) of Christ, and attributes it to himself. So as to make men worship and follow him and that system.
Papal supremacy is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the Pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, the visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful, and as pastor of the entire Catholic Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered:[1] that, in brief, "the Pope enjoys, by divine institution, supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls."[2]
The doctrine had the most significance in the relationship between the church and the temporal state, in matters such as ecclesiastic privileges, the actions of monarchs and even successions. — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_supremacy
Papal supremacy was the mind of the world for over 1000 years. The mind of the Papacy was the mind of all the kings, and what colored all laws and rulings. Therefore, when the emperors were baptized members of the Catholic Church, they put themselves under the Pope of Rome. Their leaders were from the church and the dictates of the church were the laws and rulings of the state. The Papacy did not have any military power for it was a church. It had to get military and political power from an outside source, and they found it in the emperors and leaders such as, Constantine, Clovis, and Justinian, to name a few.
It was the desire for liberty of conscience that inspired the Pilgrims to brave the perils of the long journey across the sea, to endure the hardships and dangers of the wilderness, and with God’s blessing to lay, on the shores of America, the foundation of a mighty nation. Yet honest and God-fearing as they were, the Pilgrims did not yet comprehend the great principle of religious liberty. The freedom which they sacrificed so much to secure for themselves, they were not equally ready to grant to others. “Very few, even of the foremost thinkers and moralists of the seventeenth century, had any just conception of that grand principle, the outgrowth of the New Testament, which acknowledges God as the sole judge of human faith.”—Ibid. 5:297. The doctrine that God has committed to the church the right to control the conscience, and to define and punish heresy, is one of the most deeply rooted of papal errors. While the Reformers rejected the creed of Rome, they were not entirely free from her spirit of intolerance. The dense darkness in which, through the long ages of her rule, popery had enveloped all Christendom, had not even yet been wholly dissipated. Said one of the leading ministers in the colony of Massachusetts Bay: “It was toleration that made the world antichristian; and the church never took harm by the punishment of heretics.”—Ibid., vol. 5, p. 335… – {GC 292.3}
Amid the gloom that settled upon the earth during the long period of papal supremacy, the light of truth could not be wholly extinguished. In every age there were witnesses for God—men who cherished faith in Christ as the only mediator between God and man, who held the Bible as the only rule of life, and who hallowed the true Sabbath. How much the world owes to these men, posterity will never know. They were branded as heretics, their motives impugned, their characters maligned, their writings suppressed, misrepresented, or mutilated. Yet they stood firm, and from age to age maintained their faith in its purity, as a sacred heritage for the generations to come. – {GC 61.1}
The history of God’s people during the ages of darkness that followed upon Rome’s supremacy is written in heaven, but they have little place in human records. Few traces of their existence can be found, except in the accusations of their persecutors. It was the policy of Rome to obliterate every trace of dissent from her doctrines or decrees. Everything heretical, whether persons or writings, she sought to destroy. Expressions of doubt, or questions as to the authority of papal dogmas, were enough to forfeit the life of rich or poor, high or low. Rome endeavored also to destroy every record of her cruelty toward dissenters. Papal councils decreed that books and writings containing such records should be committed to the flames. Before the invention of printing, books were few in number, and in a form not favorable for preservation; therefore there was little to prevent the Romanists from carrying out their purpose. – {GC 61.2}
No church within the limits of Romish jurisdiction was long left undisturbed in the enjoyment of freedom of conscience. No sooner had the papacy obtained power than she stretched out her arms to crush all that refused to acknowledge her sway, and one after another the churches submitted to her dominion. – {GC 62.1}
Clearly, from these quotes, we can see the spirit of the papal church. It was a church that punished men for exercising their God-given right of freedom of thought and worshipping Him to the dictates of his own conscience. Anything that tended to the uplifting of mankind, and freedom was snuffed out by this spirit that ruled the earth. This is the tyranny and oppression that prompted the fleeing to new untried land.
From the late 6th to the late 8th centuries there was a turning of the papacy to the West and its escape from subordination to the authority of the Byzantine emperors of Constantinople.... As the leading civil official of the empire in Rome, it fell to him to take over the civil administration of the cities and to negotiate for the protection of Rome itself with the Lombard invaders threatening it. Another part of this phase occurred in the 8th century, after the rise of the new religion of Islam had weakened the Byzantine Empire and the Lombards had renewed their pressure in Italy. The popes finally sought support from the Frankish rulers of the West and received from the Frankish king Pepin The Short the first part of the Italian territories later known as the Papal States. With Pope Leo III's coronation of Charlemagne, first of the Carolingian emperors, the papacy also gained his protection. — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_supremacy
These are the two trees here. One says you can worship God according to the dictates of your conscience and the others is forced worship.
Points of Papal Supremacy:
Rule over the kings
Rule over the church
Churches have to be one
Enforcement of Doctrine
Bible locked up in an unknown tongue, and hidden away from the people
With all these restrictions to the inalienable rights of mankind, it is not a wonder that the souls who are in this bondage will seek for freedom.
“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” — Freedom
"Give me liberty, or give me death!" is a quotation attributed to American politician and orator Patrick Henry from a speech he made to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.[1] Henry is credited with having swung the balance in convincing the convention to pass a resolution delivering Virginian troops for the Revolutionary War. Among the delegates to the convention were future United States presidents Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_me_liberty,_or_give_me_death!
If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death![6] — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_me_liberty,_or_give_me_death!
The colonies of America realized and knew that to go back to the system in which England had, which was a church state system, where the kings of England were subordinate to the papal church and enforced its dogmas, was to go back to death. It was either forward to the New World or backwards to the Old World and death. This is the bondage that the pilgrims sought to be freed from and one they won.
In the Old world, religious liberty and liberty of conscience were not ideas and principles that were a “norm” in England. This is why the Pilgrims trekked across the Atlantic for. For, liberty from the tyranny of kingly and papal rule.
Eleven years after the planting of the first colony, Roger Williams came to the New World. Like the early Pilgrims he came to enjoy religious freedom; but, unlike them, he saw—what so few in his time had yet seen—that this freedom was the inalienable right of all, whatever might be their creed. He was an earnest seeker for truth, with Robinson holding it impossible that all the light from God’s word had yet been received. Williams “was the first person in modern Christendom to establish civil government on the doctrine of the liberty of conscience, the equality of opinions before the law.”—Bancroft, pt. 1, ch. 15, par. 16. He declared it to be the duty of the magistrate to restrain crime, but never to control the conscience. “The public or the magistrates may decide,” he said, “what is due from man to man; but when they attempt to prescribe a man’s duties to God, they are out of place, and there can be no safety; for it is clear that if the magistrate has the power, he may decree one set of opinions or beliefs today and another tomorrow; as has been done in England by different kings and queens, and by different popes and councils in the Roman Church; so that belief would become a heap of confusion.”—Martyn, vol. 5, p. 340. – {GC 293.1}
Magistrates, kings, rulers, bishops, and popes in the old world took the prerogatives of God upon themselves and controlled the consciences of the masses, and the inevitable result of this would be oppression. Free thought was shunned and frowned upon. The only thought that can be tolerated is the thought that came from the throne.
Attendance at the services of the established church was required under a penalty of fine or imprisonment. “Williams reprobated the law; the worst statute in the English code was that which did but enforce attendance upon the parish church. To compel men to unite with those of a different creed, he regarded as an open violation of their natural rights; to drag to public worship the irreligious and the unwilling, seemed only like requiring hypocrisy.... ‘No one should be bound to worship, or,’ he added, ‘to maintain a worship, against his own consent.’ ‘What!’ exclaimed his antagonists, amazed at his tenets, ‘is not the laborer worthy of his hire?’ ‘Yes,’ replied he, ‘from them that hire him.’”—Bancroft, pt. 1, ch. 15, par. 2. – {GC 294.1}
Making his way at last, after months of change and wandering, to the shores of Narragansett Bay, he there laid the foundation of the first state of modern times that in the fullest sense recognized the right of religious freedom. The fundamental principle of Roger Williams’s colony was “that every man should have liberty to worship God according to the light of his own conscience.”—Ibid., vol. 5, p. 354. His little state, Rhode Island, became the asylum of the oppressed, and it increased and prospered until its foundation principles—civil and religious liberty—became the cornerstones of the American Republic. – {GC 295.1}
The foundation principles of America — civil and religious liberty is what makes America great. The Bible states that righteousness exalted a nation (Pro. 14:34) and God is the one that declare things that are right (Isa. 45:19). The keeping of this foundational principles is what keeps America alive and well. However, when there is any departure from these principles dying and death is the result.
In that grand old document which our forefathers set forth as their bill of rights—the Declaration of Independence—they declared: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And the Constitution guarantees, in the most explicit terms, the inviolability of conscience: “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” – {GC 295.2}
“The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal principle that man’s relation with his God is above human legislation, and his rights of conscience inalienable. Reasoning was not necessary to establish this truth; we are conscious of it in our own bosoms. It is this consciousness which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many martyrs in tortures and flames. They felt that their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man could exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn principle which nothing can eradicate.”—Congressional documents (U.S.A.), serial No. 200, document No. 271. – {GC 295.3}
The principles in the document of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution is the cause of the freedoms in which Americans enjoy now, without this, no man has any freedoms in the USA, and all that makes this nation what it is will be lost.
Berthier accompanied Napoleon throughout the campaign of 1796, and was left in charge of the army after the Treaty of Campo Formio. He was in this post in 1798 when he entered Italy, invaded the Vatican, organized the Roman Republic, and took Pope Pius VI prisoner. Berthier supervised the Pope’s relocation to Valence, where, after a tortuous journey, Pius died. The death of the Pope dealt a major blow to the Vatican's political power which, however, did not prove as ephemeral as that of the First French Empire. — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Alexandre_Berthier
Pius VI condemned the French Revolution and the suppression of the Gallican Church that resulted from it. French troops commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the papal army and occupied the Papal States in 1796. In 1798, upon his refusal to renounce his temporal power, Pius was taken prisoner and transported to France. He died eighteen months later in Valence. His reign of over two decades is the fifth-longest in papal history.
Rev 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Hab 3:4 And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
A horn is a symbol of power, and the two horns of the lamblike beast, which is the United States, are republicanism and protestantism. A government where the power is vested in the representatives of elected people and the principles of protestantism, the rejection of the principles of the Roman Catholic church.
REPUB'LIC, noun [Latin respublica; res and publica; public affairs.]
1. A commonwealth; a state in which the exercise of the sovereign power is lodged in representatives elected by the people. In modern usage, it differs from a democracy or democratic state, in which the people exercise the powers of sovereignty in person. Yet the democracies of Greece are often called republics.
PROTESTANT — Prot·es·tant
noun
noun: Protestant; plural noun: Protestants
a member or follower of any of the Western Christian churches that are separate from the Roman Catholic Church and follow the principles of the Reformation, including the Baptist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran churches.
1Sa 8:7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
1Sa 8:8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
1Sa 8:9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
1Sa 8:10 And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.
Samuel gives us the true spirit of a Protestant. One who solemnly protests against the raising up of an earthly monarchy.
Pro 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
Lev 18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
Isa 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
Many of the British North American colonies that eventually formed the United States of America were settled in the seventeenth century by men and women, who, in the face of European persecution, refused to compromise passionately held religious convictions and fled Europe. The New England colonies, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were conceived and established "as plantations of religion." Some settlers who arrived in these areas came for secular motives--"to catch fish" as one New Englander put it--but the great majority left Europe to worship God in the way they believed to be correct. They enthusiastically supported the efforts of their leaders to create "a city on a hill" or a "holy experiment," whose success would prove that God's plan for his churches could be successfully realized in the American wilderness. Even colonies like Virginia, which were planned as commercial ventures, were led by entrepreneurs who considered themselves "militant Protestants" and who worked diligently to promote the prosperity of the church. — https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html
The religious persecution that drove settlers from Europe to the British North American colonies sprang from the conviction, held by Protestants and Catholics alike, that uniformity of religion must exist in any given society. This conviction rested on the belief that there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens. Nonconformists could expect no mercy and might be executed as heretics. The dominance of the concept, denounced by Roger Williams as "inforced uniformity of religion," meant majority religious groups who controlled political power punished dissenters in their midst. In some areas Catholics persecuted Protestants, in others Protestants persecuted Catholics, and in still others Catholics and Protestants persecuted wayward coreligionists. Although England renounced religious persecution in 1689, it persisted on the European continent. Religious persecution, as observers in every century have commented, is often bloody and implacable and is remembered and resented for generations. — https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html
On August 15, the House considered a version of the amendment that read: “no religion shall be established by law, nor shall the equal rights of conscience be infringed.”18 Debate revealed differences of opinion on what such an amendment should accomplish, but some Members expressed concern that the amendment would unduly prohibit government support for religion—even by the states—and thereby abolish religion altogether.19 Two days later, the House considered the amendment providing that “no State shall infringe the equal rights of conscience,” along with other rights.20 Madison “conceived this to be the most valuable amendment in the whole list,” again arguing it was necessary to prevent both state and federal governments from infringing “these essential rights.”21 Ultimately, the version passed by the House on August 24 read: “Congress shall make no law establishing religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; nor shall the rights of conscience be infringed.”22 The House also passed the amendment providing that “[n]o state shall infringe . . . the rights of conscience.”23 — https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt1-2-2-7/ALDE_00013274/
The First Amendment is widely considered to be the most important part of the Bill of Rights. It protects the fundamental rights of conscience—the freedom to believe and express different ideas—in a variety of ways. Under the First Amendment, Americans have both the right to exercise their religion as well as to be free from government coercion to support religion. In addition, freedoms of speech, press, and petition make democratic self-government possible by promoting the open exchange of information and ideas. Unpopular ideas are especially protected by the First Amendment because popular ideas already have support among the people. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “freedom for the thought that we hate” is important to the discovery of truth, because sometimes viewpoints change. According to Holmes, the way to oppose thoughts with which we disagree is not to ban them, but to speak up for what we believe. In this way, truth has an opportunity to compete in the “marketplace of ideas.” — https://www.pbs.org/tpt/constitution-usa-peter-sagal/rights/first-and-second-amendments/
The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. Empowered with the sovereign authority of the people by the framers and the consent of the legislatures of the states, it is the source of all government powers, and also provides important limitations on the government that protect the fundamental rights of United States citizens. — https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1600/constitution#:~:text=The%20Constitution%20is%20the%20supreme,land%20in%20the%20United%20States.
The foundation of the United States of America is the constitution. If this is abolished in any part, the nation will fall.
God had set up the United States of America to be a bulwark of religious liberty. Prior to this nation, many peoples and lands could not, at point of fine, imprisonment, or death, keep the faith that lied within them. The Bible was locked away and any deviation from papal Rome’s mind and laws was met with death.
Deu 32:46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
Deu 32:47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
Deu 4:5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
Deu 4:6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
Deu 4:7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
Deu 4:8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
Their views found place in the Declaration of Independence, which sets forth the great truth that “all men are created equal” and endowed with the inalienable right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And the Constitution guarantees to the people the right of self-government, providing that representatives elected by the popular vote shall enact and administer the laws. Freedom of religious faith was also granted, every man being permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. Republicanism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power and prosperity.
The first amendment of the United States was made and set forth as a protection against a rebirth of papal tyranny in the United States of America.
Bondage Again — Returning To Your Vomit
Pro 26:11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
What was the system that America rejected or vomited out? The system of papal supremacy, where the church rules over the state power, and the state is a tool to enforce the dogmas of the church. The words of Solomon in Proverbs is a principle to show how mankind goes back to their vomit, or something in which they once rejected. Well then, if we apply the principle in Proverbs of a dog going back to its vomit, to the United States, then this would mean that the United States will set up a system that will mirror that which this nation was created for to keep out.
The framers and people of the United States fled from Europe to escape the persecution of the papacy, to establish a government where people can worship God to the dictates of their own conscience. Now, what would it mean for the United States return to its own vomit? Go back to where they wanted to flee from. Establish a government which mirrors the one that wanted to depart from so dearly.
Man and nations escape the pollutions of the world through knowledge of Jesus Christ. As we have seen, the everlasting gospel is that knowledge in which men escape. However, some go turn their backs on the knowledge in which they have received and entangle themselves again to their own destruction.
Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
These verses in Revelation 13 is a continuation from the beginning of the chapter to verse 10. From verses one to ten John sees, as Daniel saw in Daniel seven and eight, this papal beast, but from verse 11 onward there is another beast that is on stage to rule the rule and this nation is none other than the United States. In Revelation 13:11, we see that the beast begins as a lamb, a symbol to show meekness and lowliness. The constitution of the United States is what makes this nation a lamblike nation, but when it is rejected then it speaks as a dragon. How does a dragon speak?
Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Jer 51:34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.
Jeremiah likens Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon to a dragon. How did Nebuchadnezzar rule over God’s people?
Dan 3:1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
Dan 3:2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Dan 3:3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Dan 3:4 Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,
Dan 3:5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:
Dan 3:6 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Nebuchadnezzar ruled over God’s people by forcing them to worship false idols. This is how a dragon speaks. By making a law, to force all those in their dominion to worship to the dictates of the conscience of the ruler(s), and all those who do not follow the conscience of another shall be killed. This is the system that shall be in the United States very soon, if they do not turn from the path in which they are in right now. This is how the United States will cause all to worship the first beast before him, the papal beast, by making a mirror of that same system.
The history of Israel asking and picking a king gives us an illustration of what it will look like in the United States when the citizens choose a king. In 1 Samuel 8:10-20, Samuel enumerates exactly what the king shall do the nation. The phrase “he shall take” comes up five times in these verses, showing that it will not be to the benefit of the citizens, sadly, they still are determined to follow their course to be as the nations around them. Now, this shall be done in our day as well. The United States will be warned just as amply as Israel of old was warned. The United States will be corrected and warned before this fatal step is taken, to turn them back into the right way, for this is the way of the Lord. He does not delight in the destruction of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. The Lord chastises in measure before He lets men or nations be joined to their idols.
Jer 30:11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
Deu 8:5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
Deu 8:6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
2Sa 7:14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Moses, Jeremiah, Samuel and Paul lets the Bible student know that chastening of the Lord unto His children is for the benefit of those who are chastened. The Lord only chastens those whom He loves and never puts worthless material in the fire of affliction. However, as Paul says, the chastening in the moment never seems joyous, nevertheless, its purpose is to bring forth fruit unto righteousness. This chastening has happened in the USA already, and it will happen again, if there is a repetition of the same sins that brought the first chastening.
Pro 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
Going back to the quote from the beginning of this article, the statement, “give me liberty or give me death”. The sentiments of this statement will be used in the near future to promote and advocate the church being connected to the civil power, which in turn, will bring back the deposits of the old world. As it was the sentiments that brought about the first American Revolution, so, it will be the sentiments to bring about the last American revolution. That which the American politicians and citizens will see as life, are in fact, the paths of death.
Pro 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
