The Christmas Conspiracy!
Day 13


The Great Capitalist Commission


All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Matthew 28:18-20

Q:  If every nation were Christianized, and everyone were observing Christ’s commandments, what kind of world would we have?

A:  A capitalist world.

As we have seen, capitalism is the social system based on the absence of the initiation of force or violence. If everyone were obeying Christ’s commandments, nobody would be initiating force or violence against others. And that would be a state of global capitalism.

The next question is, How does this come to pass? How is the Great Commission fulfilled? How does Christ turn a world of socialists, thieves and extortioners, into a world of productive capitalists?

We’ve already looked at two parts of the answer. Today we’ll examine the third part.


THE WESTMINSTER LARGER CATECHISM (1648)

Q. 43. How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
A. Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in his revealing to the church, in all ages, by his Spirit and Word, in divers ways of administration, the whole will of God, in all things concerning their edification and salvation.

Q. 44. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
A. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering himself a sacrifice without spot to God, to be reconciliation for the sins of his people; and in making continual intercession for them.



Most Christians agree that Christ is already a prophet and a priest. The Hebrews in the first century were told:

1Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.  (Hebrews 1:1-2)

And of course the rest of the book of Hebrews tells about Christ’s priestly work. There is a sense in which all of the promises of Christmas have already been inaugurated, and are now blossoming like a flower. The Book of Hebrews makes clear that many events and figures of the Old Testament were types and foreshadows of events that would later take place. They in fact took place during the period of time recorded in the New Testament. For example, the work of the high priest in the holy of holies in the tabernacle prefigured the work of Christ, the great High Priest. That work has been done; Christ has already finished His sacrificial work and has already been to the true Holy of Holies (Hebrews 9:12). Another promise of Christmas was to extend to all nations the promises made to Abraham. This was also completed in the first century (see the table on the next page).

So Christ executes the office of a Prophet and Priest. But is Christ a King? Today? Or will Jesus only be the Christ (the Messiah, the King) after His future Second Coming? Remember the warning of 1 John 2:22 : “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.” The next question in the Catechism completes the discussion of the work Christ has completed.

Prophecy: Promises of Abraham to the Gentiles

Fulfillment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Romans 10:18 But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth (ge), And their words to the ends of the world.”

Q. 45. How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
A. Christ executeth the office of a king, in calling out of the world a people to himself,[174] and giving them officers,[175] laws,[176] and censures, by which he visibly governs them;[177] in bestowing saving grace upon his elect,[178] rewarding their obedience,[179] and correcting them for their sins,[180] preserving and supporting them under all their temptations and sufferings,[181] restraining and overcoming all their enemies,[182] and powerfully ordering all things for his own glory,[183] and their good;[184] and also in taking vengeance on the rest, who know not God, and obey not the gospel.[185]

calling out of the world a people to himself

[174] Acts 15:14-16. Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written [Amos 9:11-12], After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up.

The New Testament says that these Old Testament prophecies have been fulfilled. The Gentiles have been called. The wall has been broken down, and the Jews and Gentiles have become one new man (Ephesians 2:11-19). A New Temple has been established on the foundation of Christ and the Apostles (Ephesians 2:20-22; 1 Corin­thians 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Revelation 21:22).

Some Christians believe that another physical tabernacle is going to be built. But if the New Testament is correct in saying that these Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in the first century when the Gentiles became the building-blocks of a NewTemple, why would a literal old-style tabernacle be (a) necessary and (b) delayed for thousands of years after this New Temple in Christ was established?

 

Genesis 49:10.The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

 

(Luke 2:25-32)  And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. {26} And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. {27} And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, {28} Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, {29} Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: {30} For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, {31} Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; {32} A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

Psalm 110:3.Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

The power of the Christmas King is that of changing hearts, and making people willing. This is the key to the great question of social order. This is why capitalism succeeds. This is why there is no obstacle to fulfilling the Great Commission. Psalm 110 is the most frequently-quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament.

giving them officers

[175] Ephesians 4:11-12. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

 

 

The other interpretation is that we do indeed have legitimate Apostles, healers, tongue-speakers, and miracle workers in our age. Over the last 2,000 years, this position is a minority view. Both Pentecostals and the Roman Catholic Church believe in Apostles or their successors in our day, and in continuing miraculous gifts (though most Pentecostals, unlike Roman Catholics, do not believe in miracles through relics; see the article in the Catholic Encyclopedia on miracle-workers: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10350a.htm )

We have discussed elsewhere how the “officers” in the Old Testament were created by Pharaoh in Egypt, and used by God during the exodus, but Moses expressed the goal of the Spirit to have all the Hebrews become Godly patriarchs like Abraham. “Officers” are temporary.

giving them laws

[176] Isaiah 33:22. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.

Notice that the offices ascribed by Isaiah to Jehovah are ascribed by the Westminster Assembly to Jesus Christ.

giving them censures, by which He visibly governs them

[177] Matthew 18:17-18. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Notice that Christ gives His church censures, but the Westminster Assembly denies that Christ gives to the church the powers that have been claimed by Popes in the past, namely, the power of the sword, or civil government. Virtually all Protestants have agreed that the only power possessed by the Church is that of censure, specifically, excommunication.

 

 

Suppose Smith steals from Jones, and Jones follows the procedure in Matthew 18 above. Smith is excommunicated. Smith’s ex-church now shuns Smith.[1] Suppose everyone in the nation is a member of Smith’s ex-church, and none of them will sell Smith groceries, water, electricity, or do any business with Smith until he repents of his crime and makes full restitution. Would Smith be willing to live as a complete social outcast, utterly self-dependent, unable to participate in commerce or social activities? Or will he repent––or, more cynically, “feign obedience” (see the verses on Day 11, p. 2)? What is a more persuasive sanction against Smith’s crime: spending 6 months in a human warehouse where all his material needs (food, clothing, shelter) are met at taxpayer expense, or having to grow his own food, generate his own power, and spin his own clothes, and being a social outcast for the rest of his life (which may not be that long, if he’s been turned over “to Satan for the destruction of the flesh”). How does King Jesus want His Church to maintain social order? “Censure” or violence?

What are the implications of this scenario for the “Great Capitalist Commission?” If we thoroughly made disciples of all nations, and taught everyone to obey the commands of Christ, who would initiate socialism?

     

bestowing saving grace upon His elect

[178] Acts 5:31. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

There is no higher position of authority in the universe than at the right hand of God.

rewarding their obedience

[179] Revelation 22:12. And, behold, I am coming quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

Compare Matthew 16:27-28:
 27 `For, the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father, with his messengers, and then he will reward each, according to his work.

 

 

The Westminster Assembly uses two passages to prove the point that God rewards obedience, and both are speaking of rewards to first century Christians who endure persecution. Most Christians have believed there are other passages that prove the point, such as Deuteronomy 28:1-14.

correcting them for their sins

[180] Revelation 3:19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

As with the passages above, this verse has its direct and immediate fulfillment in the first century church – in this case, the church at Laodicea. Some have suggested that the messages to the seven churches in Revelation are representative of successive periods of history, or different on-going spiritual conditions, and so forth. But this imaginative interpretation is not needed to establish the doctrine that Christ the King corrects His people for their sins. See the rest of Deuteronomy 28. Also Hebrews 12.

preserving and supporting them under all their temptations and sufferings

 

See also Hebrews 4:15
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

restraining and overcoming all their enemies

[182] 1 Corinthians 15:25. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

As we saw on Day 10, the immediate and direct reference to “enemies” in the New Testament is the apostate Jews who rejected Jesus as the Lord’s Christ. The Apostolic church prayed that the enemies of the Gospel would be restrained and overcome, and doors opened to spread the Kingdom (Colossians 4:2-4). Should we be doing this in our day?

 

Psalm 110:1-2.The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

powerfully ordering all things for his own glory

[183] Romans 14:10-11. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

 

powerfully ordering all things for their good

[184] Romans 8:28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

 

taking vengeance on the rest, who know not God, and obey not the gospel

 

 

Psalm 2:8-9.Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

 

 

 

 

Psalm 2 is the second most frequently quoted Old Testament passage in the New.

Isaiah 30:14

Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,

So ruthlessly shattered

That a sherd will not be found among its pieces

To take fire from a hearth

Or to scoop water from a cistern.”

 

and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial.


 


Psalm 2 is translated in different ways. The KingJamesVersion is above. But when Psalm 2 is quoted in the New Testament, it often has a different translation. For example, consider Revelation 2:27: “He shall rule them with a rod of iron.” Why is it “break” in the Old Testament and “rule” in the New? We’ll answer that tomorrow.




 
The Reality and Power of Conspiracies

In his Institutes of Biblical Law, R.J. Rushdoony discusses the reality of conspiracies as seen in Psalm 2. There are many –– both liberals and conservatives –– who believe in powerful conspiracies that orchestrate government policies around the globe. When Hillary Clinton attacked “the vast right-wing conspiracy” that she alleged was orchestrating attacks on her husband, she was referring to groups like the John Birch Society, who believe in turn that the Clintons are part of a conspiracy to overthrow Christian civilization. Many John Birch Society members become paralyzed and disabled because they see no hope in their struggle against a vast Satanic conspiracy. If you focus only on those things that are going wrong, it becomes difficult to see those that that are going right. Rushdoony writes:

Now very clearly Scripture affirms the fact of conspiracies; Psalm 2 is a classic statement of their reality. This same psalm, however, strongly underscores their futility; God laughs at the conspiracies of the ungodly nations and summons His people to share in His laughter.

Conspiracies prosper only when moral order declines. In every society, there are criminals, thieves, and murderers. Only as a society goes into a moral decline and collapse do these elements gain any ascendancy. The declining Roman Empire saw a proliferation of cults espousing revolution, communism, free love, homosexuality, and much more. When Christendom went into moral decline after the 13th century, again these criminal secret societies began to abound. Some affirmed communism, others staged nude protests and marches, and still others plotted revolution. As Schmidt observed of the Reforma­tion era, “The whole of Europe around Calvin was polluted by fra­ternities, some spreading ‘enlightenment’ and some skepticism.”[2] The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation led to the temporary decline of these groups, which rose again as Christian faith, law, and order declined.

But those who bear false witness, who ascribe to Satan powers which belong only to God, are not content to recognize that conspiracies exist. They go much further.

First, they ascribe to conspiracies a moral order and a discipline which is an impossibility. Satan cannot construct or create; he is merely a destroyer, a murderer, and he has power only to the extent that we forsake the true power of God. The Soviet Union, to cite an international conspiratorial government, is[3] a corrupt, bum­bling, and radically incompetent agency. It has required the repeated aid of other countries plus imperialistic looting in order to survive. The Hoover relief of the 1920’s,[4] the Roosevelt recognition of the 1930’s, and continuing proppings have kept it alive. The communist problem is not their evil power and ability but rather the steady moral collapse of Christian churches and nations, and their radical apostasy.

Second, the power of evil is weak and limited; it is under God’s con­trol and is His scourge of the nations. The weakness of evil conspiracies means that they can normally only occupy a vacuum. The roots of Soviet power are in the moral decay of Russia and its Kenotic Chris­tianity; the Soviet victories in the Baltic countries are due to the morally compromised position of the Western Allies, who sold these countries out.

Third, the key to overcoming evil conspiracies is not a concentration on evil but godly reconstruction. One of the sins Jesus Christ con­demned in some members of the church at Thyatira was their concern with studying “the depths of Satan,” which can be translated as “ex­ploring the deep or hidden things of Satan” (Rev. 2:24). The non-Christian conservative movements are radically given to studying or exploring the deep things of Satan, as though this were the key to the future.

Fourth, implicit in all this is the belief, as noted, in satanic determina­tion, which makes of these conservatives staunch Satanists. To deny the sovereign power of conspiracies is one of the surest ways of an­tagonizing many of the people, who will then argue with religious passion for the sovereign, predestinating power of Satan. They will insist that every national and international act is a carefully planned and manipulated conspiracy, all governed by a master plan or plot, and a secret master council. That the plotters and plans exist, and are many, can be granted, but the Christian must hold to their futility. They rage in vain; they “imagine a vain thing” when they plot together against the Lord and His anointed (Psalm 2:1,2).

To blame the world’s evils, and to ascribe the world’s government, to hidden satanic conspiracies is to be guilty of false witness against God. It is comparable to resorting to magic, witchcraft, or human sacrifice. It denies that God only is the source of prediction and ascribes power and prediction to Satan instead.

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[1] Say it five times real fast.

[2] Albert-Marie Schmidt:   Calvin and the Calvinistic Tradition  (New York: Harper, 1960), p. 58.

[3] This was written in the late 1960’s, 20 years before communism ultimately collapsed. ––kc

[4] It was (ironically) the Hoover Institute at Stanford University that published the multi-volume work of Antony Sutton, which showed (using thousands of State Department and other government documents) that the Soviet Union could not have survived without infusions of capital and technology from the once-Christian West.