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CHURCH LETTER
'Be strong, all you people of the LORD, declares the LORD,
and work, for I am with you . . . '
June 1774 was a very good year for the Kingdom of France. Louis 16th was crowned as its king in Rheims in a highly-charged coronation ritual where he promised to protect the Church and deal with all heretics. The king's regalia was blessed and he was girded with Charlemagne's sword before prostrating himself before Archbishop La-Roche-Aymon. Louis was anointed with six unctions, his gloves and ring were blessed and he was finally given Charlemagne's sceptre as Holy Roman Emperor. The secular and the sacred were united as one - God and His anointed king! All was well and all was seen to be well! Louis could draw strength from a title given to France at the time of his predecessor Louis 9th, that it was `the eldest daughter of the Church'. Since the time of Louis 9th the kings of France were known to be `most Christian kings', which expression is for an absolutionist Monarchy extended to all the king's domains, possessions and his people. In the fullest sense France saw itself as a Christian kingdom and the French themselves as God's `chosen people'. The Monarchy and Church were joined as one in a divinely appointed hierarchy as God's `Kingdom on earth'. Throne and Altar were inseparable, with high clerics in attendance in all their splendour at all the great public occasions.
In the 18th century the kingdom of France under Louis 16th, the Sun King, rose to the full height of its splendour. Stretching from Louis 9th down through the Burbon kings to Louis 16th, the kingdom of France dominated the whole of southern continental Europe. Spain now lay under the rule of the Burbons following the end of the Spanish Wars of Succession in 1714, and now in 1774 it was a second-rate power in Europe. Germany, once ruled over by an earlier Holy Roman Emperor, was fragmented into many independent States until 1701 when Frederick of Prussia was crowned king in Prussia. Conflict then opened up between the dominant States of Prussia and Austria. Russia, under the rulership of Catherine the Great of the Romanov dynasty, had no designs on extending their Empire into the south, having more than enough in ruling their Empire which stretched from the Arals to the Black Sea and to the Balkans. Indeed `all was well and was seen to be well' in continental Europe and England was `out there ' and out of sight and mind. And so it was thought that `all would last forever and a day'!
However beneath the surface of the absolute power of France, with its court splendour undergirded by the spiritual power of the Pope, talk of revolt was being heard. The response of the king was to introduce reforms, trusting that they would quell the rising tide of unrest, but this unrest which was caused by the `tide of enlightenment' could not be held back by a few reforms. In 1789 the king called a Gathering of the Estates General to discuss the rising unrest. The Gathering was preceded by a procession to the Church of St Louis, named after Louis 9th, an absolute Monarch who was held in great reverence and esteem and who was known as Saint Louis during his lifetime - he was the only French king to be canonised by the Church and his reign was known as the Golden Age of France. The 1789 Procession saw each of the three Estates through which France was governed ranged in ascending order towards the Royal party at the rear, thus heralding, so to speak, the coming of the king. Nearest the king were the high-ranking dignitaries of the Church, the First Estate. Thus was seen `Throne and Altar' at its high place in the governance of France. A remarkable scene of supreme Monarchical pomp indeed! The clerical First Estate with its scarlet-robed cardinals and bishops was followed by the aristocratic Second Estate, all individually clothed in colourful cloaks and fine clothes and with their noble House Standards carried before them. They were followed by the Deputies of the Regional Parlements of the Third Estate, dressed as more fitting in sombre clothing for the Third Estate included the urban people and peasants, the more well-known sans culottes who would be the `shock troops' of the coming insurections and rebellion. All these Great Estates, dominated by the king and his queen, seated on a raised dais and surrounded by the royal princes.
What could possibly threaten such a display of the absolute Monarchical of `Throne and Altar' ruling over all his possessions of land and people? However, as soon as the opening ceremonies were over the cracks in the `ancien regime' soon appeared! Pomp and ceremonial rituals could not conceal for long the totally venal structure that lay beneath the surface whereby High Offices of State were sold to pay for the pomp and ceremony, with the new `owners' of those State Offices free to recover their `investments' through exorbitant taxes. The High Offices of State would include positions within the high ranking clerics of the Church who were seeking further esteem - it is recorded that the king, upon being asked to confirm a bishop in his new position remarked, `At least he must believe in God'. The first cracks came when the lower clergy of the First Estate, with their many grievances against the higher clergy, were the first to `cross over' to the Deputies of the Third Estate. They knew at first hand the conditions of the rural areas and the destitution of the people, the so-called sans culottes who would become the shock troops of the coming `terror'. Both groups had common hopes and grievances which would lead to the formation and declaration of a `National Assembly', swearing together not to disperse until they were given a new Constitution addressing their grievances. The lower clergy called for a more `open management' of the Church and Episcopacy, led by moral example rather than high birth. The Deputies called for an end to the sale of the Offices of State and to the exhorbitant `investment capital' recovery by the purchase of those Offices.
As the various disputes and quarrels continued amongst all the Estates in the new National Assembly a clear lack of authority soon appeared which allowed for demagogues to appear with continuous heckling from the galleries. As promises were given but quickly gave way to more promises - often broken before the ink was dry on the paper - those demagogues called on the support of the sans culottes, resulting in the call-out of troops to quell the riots. This led to many of the troops crossing the line when orders from their superiors were in conflict with `the voice of the people', which in turn led to foreign troops being called in and adding fuel to the spreading outright rebellion. The Governor of the Bastille and the Chief Magistrate of Paris were hacked to death by the mob, and across the country a great fear gripped the people as Counter Revolutionary militias were formed to control the worsening grain store unrest. Riots and death spread out of the cities into the rural heartlands of the country, leading to atrocities being committed against the aristocratic landowners - which were also directed against Jewish money-lenders through people seeking to destroy evidence of coins received.
In both rural and urban areas mob violence threatened even the National Assembly where anti-clericalism soon rose up calling clerics to renounce their feudal privileges, and so the country slipped out of control. The Jacobin Club under Robespiere soon turned against the National Assembly, and once the work of the sans culottes, the Third Estate's shock troops, was completed they found they were expendable! Then followed `the Committe of Public Safety', with Robespiere and members of the Jacobin Club meeting the same end as the king and the aristocrats of the `Ancien Regime'. In just four short years the `Ancien Regime', which could not be reformed for it was a totally corrupt system, was swept away. It is said that the French rebellion was `the child of the Enlightenment', an intellectual, philosophical movement which broke out in the 18th century. At its heart was a cry for liberty, equality and political progress, a Republican form of Government and a separation of State and Church. It was therefore on an unstoppable collision with the `Ancien Regime' of France with its indissoluble union of `Throne and Altar'.
Prominent amongst its disciples were such men as Francis Bacon, Descartes, John Locke, Rousseau, Adam Smith and Emmanuel Kant. Its bible could be said to be the 35 volume `Encyclopedie' which was finally published in 1772 after being compiled over 21 years, and the more well known `Wealth of the Nations', written by Adam Smith. Enlightenment ideals spread throughout Continental Europe, touching those considered to be the ` thinking class' of their time and reaching the `offshore isles' of the Continent, Great Britain itself. The `ideals' also found their way across the ocean and into the Americas through such people as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who after many years in France returned to join their country's own rebellion and helping to form the American Constitution. Some European rulers tried to stem the tide of Enlightenment in their own lands by introducing some of its principles into their governance. Known as `Enlightened Absolutionism' such a contradiction did nothing to stop the inevitable happening for absolutionism, once opened up must lead to its own collapse.
Once Enlightenment had run its full course in the terror of the French Revolution it gave way to `Romantism' which brought back the artistic values of music and the intellectual elements of society, with an emphasis on emotion and individualism glorifying all that was in the classical past with its embedded pagan roots. It had, and still has, a major impact on today's historical evolution and natural science policies. Out of Romantism came Liberalism, which has formed the basis of the liberal social democracies seen in various forms in Western nations' governing systems today, but which are in their `last gasp of life' as a new force is seen emerging. And here we can safely leave the `Ancien Regime' of France and turn to more contemporary times in Continental Europe and its offshore isle of Great Britain, for the `Ancien Regime' has not been entirely thrown into the dustbin of history.
Great Britain in both fact and Law is the last remaining `Ancien Regime', that is, it is ruled according to the old Order - to use a more modern term. But before voices are raised in horror, `Selah, stop and consider' this: The people of these isles are subjects of the Crown and not, as is often said, citizens. These isles are governed by the Crown in Parliament (we use the term Crown as it can be held by both male and female). The subjects of the Crown may well live in a modern world but their affairs are determined by pre-modern ancient traditions with an unwritten Constitution centred on Common Law. This country has no Bill of Rights of its own and `sovereignty', that is authority and power, is exercised through a complex system of ancient but evolving institutions and not through the people. The people in our present system of government may well be economically and socially free but they do not own or control the country's government. In fact, as subjects of the Crown the people are `owned' by the Crown as the King or Queen rules over his/her possessions of land and people through the Crown's Parliament! It is said that our present constitutional framework of government was established in 1688 through `the Glorious Revolution' which brought William and Mary to the throne of England, but in truth that constitutional crisis was ended not with a new Constitution but merely gave a new lease of life to the old institutions of British governance through a Constitutional Monarchy - who could still exercise authority if the affairs of their kingdom required it.
Great Britain's national Parliament is in fact ruled over by the Crown in Parliament through its appointed Prime Minister and his/her government which is not elected by the people. It is the Crown who asks the person most likely to command the support of the majority of the sitting Members of Parliament to form a government under his or her authority, and of course that person must be an elected Member of Parliament. At the beginning of each new Parliamentary year there is the ceremony of a State Opening of Parliament when the Crown summons its people to the House of Lords, where the newly-called MPs swear allegiance to the Crown, for the Crown is the supreme legislative power in its lands and possessions, as `advised' by its Prime Minister. The Crown's Parliament is comprised of two Chambers, the Upper House of Lords, whose members are appointed, and the Lower House of Commons, whose members are elected. The Leader of the House of Lords must be a Peer of the Realm and have a seat in the Government, which as we have said is not an elected body. Power is therefore still under the Crown, albeit exercised constitutionally through Parliament. The members of both Chambers are required to swear allegiance to the Crown on taking up their office.
Above the two Chambers is the Crown, the third component of the `Ancient Regime', and within the Upper Chamber there sits the Lords Spiritual, the senior Bishops of the Church of England, the Church established by law as the national Church. All its `lowly' clergy including the Archbishops and Bishops must swear an oath of allegiance to the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, followed by an oath of allegiance to the Crown who gives the governance of the Church to the General Synod. Even the Judiciary, which is independent, is politically unimportant for in the exercise of its duties it is still subject to the Crown in Parliament which passes the laws of the land. This, then, is the basis of the governance of these Brittanic Isles which stretches back to the Magna Carta of 1215, a signed Charter between the Crown and its Barons. Any change to this system, any devolved authority can only be made by an Act of Parliament, and that which has been given can only be retracted by an Act of Parliament. The sole governance of these isles is the Crown in Parliament, a unique form of the `Ancien Regime' - the last of its kind in European history.
We break in here with one of our well-known digressions as we are sure that keen eyes will have noticed our use of `insurrection' or `rebellion' when decribing the French Revolution for the original meaning of the word `revolution' is `the coming round of an old system of values back to its original position'. This was not the intention of the Jacobin Club of those times under Robespiere and others. It was intended for the total overthrow and destruction of the `Ancien Regime' - in other words, an antichrist or nihlist movement. Later as the rebellion continued Napoleon Boneparte rose to power and attempted to bring back a revolution of the `Ancien Regime' when he married Marie Louise, Arch Duchess of Austria and a great niece of Marie Antionette, so marrying into the German royal imperial line. He did not succeed and the French `Ancien Regime' was swept away - there was to be no revolution! However the English Glorious Revolution of 1688 really was a revolution for it sought to overturn the rebellion against Charles 1st, and later James 2nd. Charles had declared his divine right to rule above Parliament and the established law and traditions that stretched back to 1215 and the Magna Carta. AD 1688 saw a union of English Parliamentarians and the Dutch William Prince of Orange, who was finally crowned as William 3rd together with his wife Mary, daughter of James 2nd, as joint Monarchs. Together they swore an oath which forms today's Coronation Oath:
" To govern the people . . . according to the statutes of Parliament and laws and customs of the same . . . To maintain the laws of God . . . of the Protestant faith established by law."
Since then the Crown's authority has declined whilst Parliament's authority has increased. However the Glorious Revolution of 1688 was in fact and law a revolution - a re-assertion of the `Ancien Regime' of England, which can only be changed by Parliament if circumstances warrant it.
What, then, is the purpose of this `history of the Monarchy' of the 17th-18th centuries and what can we learn from it in the 21st century concerning these Brittanic Isles? We have often written that to `see' the future you must first understand the past as you stand in the present, for the present was formed in the past and the future is being formed in the present. Clearly, then, we are looking for parallels between what happened in the 18th century French `Ancien Regime' together with the events of Great Britain's 18th century re-assertion of its own `Ancien Regime' and what is happening in the 21st century `Ancien Regime' of Great Britain. The `attempted insurrection' took shape in 1992 when Great Britain's then Prime Minister signed the `Maastricht Treaty' which was intended to draw the European nations into an ever-closer union, with the inevitable loss of sovereignty for individual nations - the continual unease over this led to Great Britain's National Referendum in 2016. There is a growing sense that, since that National Referendum events in these Isles are moving to an inexorable conclusion, events which are impossible to prevent and which were previously seen in the sweeping away of the `Ancien Regime' of the 18th century - as set out in the first part of this Letter. At that time the continual accomodations made by the King and his ministers were unable to quell the rising insurrection which within four years brought about the total collapse and removal of that Regime, releasing the horrors of the Jacobin rebellion that swept over France and engulfed Greater Europe.
Great Britain's `Regime' of today sits indeed on a very shaky foundation of a dying Liberal and Social Democratic system of government! We have already explained the system of our political parties and how government is conducted, but the Government also faces the ongoing pressure of powerful lobby groups, each pushing their own agenda and undergirded by a relentless media from which the people draw most of their opinions. In such a system real power is therefore invested to a large extent in powerful lobby groups. This is clearly seen in what is called the Sexual Revolution, more correctly called the Sexual Revolt, which few dare speak out against for fear of prosecution. The UK Referendum in 2016 has left the country divided with powerful lobby groups working hard, supported by large financial groups and political Nationalist factions, to overturn or at least nullify the results, leaving the UK powerless and broken on the outer perimiter of a reformed European Union whilst the subsequent `snap election' in 2017 has left a power vacuum. The Government is in power through a very fragile and dubious alliance with a Unionist party, and in Scotland the Government is harrassed by Separation demands.
The election results of 2017 came largely through the Government's over-confidence, badly advised with its Manifesto continually being changed before the ink was even dry on the previous Manifesto. The Opposition blatently bought their votes from an older electorate who were concerned over Pensions, Health and Hospital services, and an idealistic younger group who were offered free university places, `fully costed' by who knows? The Summer Recess of 2017 brought some relief, and so the slow collapse continues as Opposition Members of Parliament, trying to bury their past dismay at their Party leader who was elected by a powerful Trade Union, rush to support this leader who has now been raised to `celebrity' status. The governing Party, with an eye on the gathering storm and fearful of a leadership contest, and possibly another election, fight amongst themselves, aware of the fragile Unionist Alliance demanding regional `bribes' coming from cuts in an already overstretched National Budget, and with European negotiaters growing ever stronger as the UK grows weaker - all pointing to a dramatic change coming to the governance of these isles.
There is a sense of a 21st century `Glorious Revolution' coming to these Brittanic Isles, with an ageing Monarch who is unwilling to abdicate yet unable to cope with these unstoppable events taking place, and the Government, weakened by these same events, is threatened by growing rival factions within it who sense that their moment has come. With this growing sense of civil unrest and a political coup there is a great possibility of a call by Parliament to the Prince of Wales to serve and save the `Ancien Regime' as Prince Regent. As a well-known `reforming' Prince, yet with an inbred sense of the past history of these Isles, and with loosened constitutional restrictions agreed by Parliament, he would be the only person able to re-assert the `Ancien Regime', stop the break-up of these Isles and restore the order of the Crown in Parliament - now sifted and ready for what the Lord God requires of it. In case such words seem unbelievable, consider the background we have already set out. Through the Glorious Revolution of 1688 Great Britain had been prepared to resist, with its strong unified Crown-in-Parliament, the French Revolution of 1793. Eventually this would lead to a coalition of power ready to defeat the spirit of anti-christ coming out of that rebellion that was driving Napoleon Boneparte on his conquest of Greater Europe.
Surely the good hand of the Lord was upon these Sceptred Isles, sifted and prepared to be an instrument of His Will and Purpose. With our lengthy but necessary background we ask, `what of the redeemed Church of God in these Isles'? For answer we turn to the Minor Prophets of Scripture and to `the Word of the LORD through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest'. Haggai, along with Zechariah, was the first prophet to speak to the Jews returning from their long captivity in Babylon. But first, as usual, we look at the background. Scripture is not a history of the world but `His-story', as pertaining to His dealings with His rebellious people, the Jews, through the nations and events of the world so that indeed `all Israel will be saved'. In 1967 a great move of the Holy Spirit swept across the whole world, bringing a last great move of God before the Lord Jesus comes for His people. It was, to use Scriptural terms, the beginning of a Probation Period which would last for fourty years. That Probation, a testing of the character of His people, ended, as always, with a `falling away' and an eventual captivity. That Probation ended in 2007, with a world-wide financial crash leaving a world-wide crisis in the economic affairs of the nations and peoples. However the 1967 move of the Holy Spirit saw Jerusalem given back into the governance of the nation of Israel and declared by the Knesset, the Parliament of Israel, to be `the Eternal, Undivided Capital City of Israel'. This last great move of God established the only place where His appointed King will come to rule and reign over His people. This is not history but indeed His-story! The end of that Fourty Year Probation saw His people in `captivity' in a modern contemporary `Babylon', for as the 1967 move of God was world-wide so too the `captivity' is world-wide, under the control of electronic technology and the fear that arises from it. However as the Book of Haggai shows, a remnant had returned to the Land, building and preparing, looking and longing for His Coming. This was first seen in a previous Probation which began in AD 29 when an angel said to the disciples of Jesus:
" Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking at the sky? This same Jesus
will come back in the same way as you have seen Him go into Heaven. "
And so we return to Haggai, whilst keeping in mind that the Word of the LORD came by Haggai to the remnant which were brought back to the Land for the Lord's purposes. After 70 years of captivity in Babylon a new generation of Judah and the people of Jerusalem had assimilated into its culture, but a remnant remembered and were brought back to Jerusalem: (Haggai 1:1)
" In the second year of Darius (Hystaspis) the King, on the first day of the
sixth month, the Word of the LORD came to Haggai. "
The `Word' was distressing, for in just sixteen years after `the Decree of Cyrus' released the Jews from captivity and brought them back to the Land under the leadership of Nehemiah, Ezra and Zerubbabel the remnant had grown weary and lazy. They had lost the vision given them to build the LORD's House, saying, `the time has not yet come that the LORD's House should be built'. They had become indolent and squandered the provisions and wealth they had been given for the work, instead building fine houses for themselves and enjoying their social life. Into this situation Haggai was called to speak the Word of the LORD to the remnant: (Haggai 1:12-13)
" Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high
priest, with all the remnant of the people obeyed the Voice of the LORD
their God . . . . Then spoke Haggai the LORD's message to the people:
`I am with you' declares the LORD. "
We are not intending to write a detailed exposition of Haggai, but wish to bring out the four messages he spoke from the LORD to His remnant whom had been brought back into the Land of Promise for a purpose. Verse 1 of Chapter 1 records the first Word `on the first day of the sixth month', and here we are given the titles of those four months, all of which are titles brought out of Babylon.
The first Word was on the first day of the 6th month or Elul. The sixth month is set apart by the Rabbis as a month of repentance leading up to the Day of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah and into the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur.
The second Word was on the 7th month on the 21st day of Succot, or the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
The third Word was on the 24th day of the 9th month, known as the month of Kislev. This 9th month is outside the cycle of the seven sacred Feast Days and by tradition is the month of anxiously looking for rain after the long dry summer.
The fourth Word came again on the 24th day of the 9th month,the month of Kislev.
So we need to look at what was being spoken by the LORD through Haggai in these four messages. The first was a call to the remnant to repentance for not doing what the LORD had called them out of captivity and back into the Land for - the captivity into which they had been taken through apostacy! This `Word' led to a restart of the work on the House of the LORD. In that Word was the LORD's assurance, `I am with you (in that work)'. The second was in response to the weariness of the people, encouraging them that they were building a House that would stand and be filled with Glory beyond anything seen before. But first `I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations'. The third Word was to forget the past: Consider now from this day and onwards, (from the 24th day of Kislev, the day the foundation of the LORD's Temple was laid) consider it. Is there yet seed in the barn; the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit, but from this day `I will bless you' - the rain will come. The fourth Word of the LORD came again on the 24th day of Kislev: "`I will shake the heavens and the earth . . . On that Day' declares the LORD of Hosts, `I will take you, O Zerubbabel, My servant, for I have chosen you', declares the LORD of Hosts" - the ultimate blessing for the remnant that the Messiah will come for them!
There we will leave the remnant of Haggai's day, for what they were working for is yet to come in that final shaking of the heavens, the earth and all nations. The words Haggai spoke relate to the day of Jacob's Trouble and the Millenium rule of the Messiah Jesus, for they were working towards something more glorious than anything they could possibly conceive! Consider now the `remnant of Israel' of today, that is, `the Church', the redeemed people of the Lord, all those who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour, both Jew and Gentile. Consider now those who over the past two thousand years have worked to build the House of the Lord on this earth, which is far more glorious than anything they could possibly conceive. Over the many centuries they too grew weary, through disagreements of many kinds, and outright hatred and persecutions have been common. They too have built `fine houses' of many `Church Institutions', but they too face a soon-to-come 24th day of `the month of Kislev'. After a long two thousand-year wait for the rain of the Holy Spirit, a final `ninth year' will come when they will be taken out of that judgement to allow the four Words spoken by Haggai to be fulfilled in the natural people of Israel, the broken-off branches the Apostle Paul wrote of.
We have set out how the rebellion in 18th century France became the vehicle for the spirit of anti-christ to bring in that judgement, but it was not the time then for the shaking of the nations to occur. We have also set out how in the 18th century a rebellion in these Isles was put down by the `Glorious Revolution' and Great Britain was prepared for use to lead the forces to defeat Napoleon Boneparte. We have also set out what is emerging again in these Isles, a rebellion requiring another `Glorious Revolution' if the Lord intends to work in these rising events for His purposes - not because of this country's Judaic/Christian heritage, for all the nations of Greater Europe could lay claim to such a heritage! For the Lord's redeemed people living in Great Britain today the Words spoken by Haggai remain true: `Do not fear. Build, for I am with you'.
His redeemed remnant will not be fearful of the coming rebellion but will be living and working in that which they believe they have been called to, towards the `revolution' of the Lord, returning all things to the original position . . . and on into the New Heaven and New Earth. The long dry summer years are nearly over; the ninth `month' of judgement is very close when the Rain will come to judge the world in righteousness and equity
The King is coming! Now that really is a Glorious Revolution!
Selah
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