The Elite
Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” Daniel 4:29-30 NIV
By my mighty power – “Life is not as fate designs, nor is history a realm to be tyrannized by man. Events are like rocks on the shore shaped by wind and water. Choice, design, is what determines the shape of events. God is at work on man, intent to fashion history in accord with Himself.”[1]
“Ultimately there is only one will by which history is shaped: the will of God; and there is only one factor upon which the shape of history depends: the moral conduct of the nations.”[2]
It’s hard to keep these insights in mind when the powerful of the world are doing all they can to gain tyrannical control of the masses. No, this is not an affirmation of conspiracy theory. It’s biblical reality. The most addictive substance known to Man is power—and there is never enough for those who crave it. We are witnesses today of the enormity of this addiction as we watch bureaucrats, governments, and the elite use fear tactics to bring about mass control of ordinary lives. We are witnessing the new Nebuchadnezzars, proclaiming their right to rule everyone. As students of history, we recognize the signs. If we don’t, we will march in tune to their triumph. Heschel’s famous sentence applies: “The pessimists went into exile; the optimists went into the ovens.”
It’s worth contemplating Heschel’s remark about power and wonder:
“As civilization advances, the sense of wonder almost necessarily declines. Such decline is an alarming symptom of our state of mind. Mankind will not perish from want of information; but only for want of appreciation. The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder.”[3]
Of course, wonder requires the freedom to dissent, to question, to stargaze, to think outside the imposed limits of technological tyranny. No matter what your opinion of the current world health crisis, no one can doubt that enormous changes in personal liberty are taking place without your consent. Nebuchadnezzar is on the rise, demanding that all worship him. We wait only to see God’s response. We wait. Just those two words are scary enough for me.
“‘Emergencies’ have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded—and once they are suspended it is not difficult for anyone who has assumed such emergency powers to see to it that the emergency persists.”[4]
Topical Index: power, Nebuchadnezzar, history, wonder, emergencies, Daniel 4:29-30
[1] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets (Hendrickson Publishers, 1962), Vol 1, p. 174.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Abraham Heschel, Man Is Not Alone, p. 37.
[4] Hayek, Law, Legislation and Liberty, Vol. 3, 1979, p. 124.
