#445: “Conspiracy for the Overthrow of Civilisation”

[These words apply now, especially to North America; words we must not ignore because the war against freedom always begins as a war against free speech and quickly escalates from there. On this last day of 2023, we are in the midst of such a war and 2024 will reveal things that most of us could never have imagined (sms).]

“From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany), and Emma Goldman (United States), this world-wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. It played, as a modern writer, Mrs. Webster, has so ably shown, a definitely recognisable part in the tragedy of the French Revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the Nineteenth Century; and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire.”*

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*Winston Churchill, "Zionism versus Bolshevism", Illustrated Sunday Herald [London], (8 February 1920), pg. 5. [Bold emphasis added.] Note that Churchill wrote this before the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were thoroughly discredited [??, i.e., psy-oped and blamed on "easy targets" by a cabal of diverse, criminal, psycopathic characters] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Conspiracy
[Read Stealth Power by Peter Duke.]

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG OM CH TD FRS PC (November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965) was a British politician and statesman, best known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He was Prime Minister of the UK from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill

#444: Millennial Promise

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.*

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*New Testament | Revelation 21:4

#443: “Religious Persecution”

“That religious persecution is a greater evil than any other, is apparent, not so much from the enormous and almost incredible number of its known victims, as from the fact that the unknown must be far more numerous, and that history gives no account of those who have been spared in the body, in order that they might suffer in the mind. We hear much of martyrs and confessors— of those who were slain by the sword, or consumed in the fire; but we know little of that still larger number who, by the mere threat of persecution, have been driven into an outward abandonment of their real opinions; and who, thus forced into an apostasy the heart abhors, have passed the remainder of their lives in the practice of a constant and humiliating hypocrisy. It is this which is the real curse of religious persecution. For in this way, men being constrained to mask their thoughts, there arises a habit of securing safety by falsehood, and of purchasing impunity with deceit. In this way, fraud becomes a necessary of life; insincerity is made a daily custom; the whole tone of public feeling is vitiated, and the gross amount of vice and of error fearfully increased. Surely, then, we have reason to say, that, compared to this, all other crimes are of small account; and we may well be grateful for that increase of intellectual pursuits, which has destroyed an evil that some among us would even now willingly restore.”*

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*Jones, Alonzo T. . The American Sentinel: Volume 1 (pp. 317-318). Adventist Pioneer Library. Kindle Edition.

Alonzo Trévier Jones (1850 – May 12, 1923) was a Seventh-day Adventist known for his impact on the theology of the church, along with friend and associate Ellet J. Waggoner. He was a key participant in the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference Session regarded as a landmark event in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonzo_T._Jones

#442: “It Cannot Be Otherwise”

“Any ecclesiastical power, be it Protestant, Catholic, or Pagan, if joined with civil power, will persecute dissenters. It cannot be otherwise.”*

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*Jones, Alonzo T. . The American Sentinel: Volume 1 (p. 278). Adventist Pioneer Library. Kindle Edition.

Alonzo Trévier Jones (1850 – May 12, 1923) was a Seventh-day Adventist known for his impact on the theology of the church, along with friend and associate Ellet J. Waggoner. He was a key participant in the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference Session regarded as a landmark event in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonzo_T._Jones

#441: “Be Not Afraid”

25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
26 For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.*

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*Old Testament | Proverbs 3:25-26

#440: "Above All Liberties"

"Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties."*

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*John Milton, Areopagitica: A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicens'd Printing, to the Parliament of England (published November 23, 1644) | https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech

John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost, written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political upheaval. It addressed the fall of man, including the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and God's expulsion of them from the Garden of Eden. Paradise Lost elevated Milton's reputation as one of history's greatest poets.[1][2] He also served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milton

#439: Millennial Promise

12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.
16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.*

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*Old Testament | Ezekiel 34:12-16

#438: Freedom of Thought

"Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or control the Right of another. And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only bounds it ought to know. This sacred Privilege is to essential to free Governments, that the Security of Property, and the Freedom of Speech always go together; and in those wretched Countries where a Man cannot call his Tongue his own, he can scarce call any Thing else his own. Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin by subduing the Fteeness [sic! Freeness] of Speech; a Thing terrible to Publick Traytors."*

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* Cato's Letters, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon (Letter Number 15, Freedom of Speech, That the Same is inseparable from Publick Liberty, February 4, 1720). https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech

#437: “A Contradiction of Terms”

“Legal Christianity is a solecism, a contradiction of terms. When Christianity asks the aid of government beyond mere impartial protection, it disowns itself. Its essential interests lie beyond the reach and range of human governments. United with government, religion never rises above the merest superstition; united with religion, government never rises above the merest despotism; and all history shows us that the more widely and completely they are separated the better it is for both.” — Supreme Court of Ohio.*

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*as quoted in Jones, Alonzo T. . The American Sentinel: Volume 1 (p. 277). Adventist Pioneer Library. Kindle Edition.

#436: “Somewhere I Read ...”

All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper."
If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there.
But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly.
Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech.
Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press.
Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.
And so just as I say, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on.*

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*https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr. (Bold emphasis added.)

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the son of early civil rights activist Martin Luther King Sr.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

#435: “Somewhere Somebody Must Have Some Sense.”

“Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.”*

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*https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the son of early civil rights activist Martin Luther King Sr. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

#434: A Plea for Religious Liberty

... God requireth not a uniformity of religion to be enacted and enforced in any civil state; which enforced uniformity (sooner or later) is the greatest occasion of civil war, ravishing of conscience, persecution of Christ Jesus in his servants, and of the hypocrisy and destruction of millions of souls.

... in holding an enforced uniformity of religion in a civil state, we must necessarily disclaim our desires and hopes of the Jew's conversion to Christ.

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*Williams, Roger. A Plea for Religious Liberty (1644) (p. 2). . Kindle Edition.

Roger Williams (c. 1603 – March 1683) ... was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with the American Indians.[2] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams

#433: A Plea for Religious Liberty

“... that the blood of so many hundred thousand souls of Protestants and Papists, spilt in the wars of present and former ages, for their respective consciences, is not required nor accepted by Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace.

“... the doctrine of persecution for cause of conscience is proved guilty of all the blood of the souls crying for vengeance under the altar.”*

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*Williams, Roger. A Plea for Religious Liberty (1644) (p. 1). . Kindle Edition.

Roger Williams (c. 1603 – March 1683) ... was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with the American Indians.[2] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams

#432: The Duty of Christians

“To let their light shine, not to force on them their interpretations of God’s designs, is the duty of Christians towards their fellows. If you, who set yourselves to explain the theory of Christianity, had set yourselves instead to do the will of the Master, the one object for which the Gospel was preached to you, how different would now be the condition of that portion of the world with which you come in contact!

“Had you given yourselves to the understanding of his word that you might do it, and not to the quarrying from it of material wherewith to buttress your systems, in many a heart by this time would the name of the Lord be loved where now it remains unknown. The word of life would then by you have been held out indeed. Men, undeterred by your explanations of Christianity---for you would not be forcing them of their acceptance---and attracted by your behavior, would be saying to each other, as Moses said to himself when he saw the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight!”  They would be drawing nigh to behold how these Christians loved one another, and how just and fair they were to every one that had to do with them!  To note that their goods were the best, their prices most reasonable, their word most certain!  That in their families was neither jealousy nor emulation!  That mammon was not there worshiped!  That in their homes selfishness was neither the hidden nor the openly ruling principle!  That their children were as diligently taught to share, as some are to save, or to lay out only upon self!  Their mothers more anxious lest a child should hoard than lest he should squander!  That in no house of theirs was religion one thing, and the daily life another!   That the ecclesiastic did not think first of his church, nor the peer of his privileges! Refusing to obey him in your life, how can you trust him for your life?”*

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*Quoted from Hein, Rolland. Through the Year with George MacDonald: 366 Daily Readings (Kindle Locations 5146-5160). Winged Lion Press. Kindle Edition.

George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons. / ...
C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later", said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald

#431: Church & State - Justice Joseph Story

First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

"Judge Story,^[1] in his “Exposition of the Constitution,” speaks thus of the object of the First Amendment:

“The same policy which introduced into the Constitution the prohibition of any religious test, led to this more extended prohibition of the interference of Congress in religious concerns. We are not to attribute this prohibition of a national religious establishment to an indifference to religion in general, and especially to Christianity (which none could hold in more reverence than the framers of the Constitution), but to a dread by the people of the influence of ecclesiastical power in matters of Government; a dread which their ancestors brought with them from the parent country, and which, unhappily for human infirmity, their own conduct, after their emigration, had not, in any just degree, tended to diminish. It was also obvious, from the numerous and powerful sects existing in the United States, that there would be perpetual temptations to struggles for ascendency in the National councils, if any one might thereby hope to found a permanent and exclusive national establishment of its own; and religious persecutions might thus be introduced, to an extent utterly subversive of the true interests and good order of the Republic. The most effectual mode of suppressing the evil in the view of the people, was, to strike down the temptations to its introduction.”²(Bold emphasis added.)

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1. Joseph Story (September 18, 1779 – September 10, 1845) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1812 to 1845. He is most remembered for his opinions in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee and United States v. The Amistad, and especially for his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, first published in 1833. Dominating the field in the 19th century, this work is a cornerstone of early American jurisprudence. It is the second comprehensive treatise on the provisions of the U.S. Constitution and remains a critical source of historical information about the forming of the American republic and the early struggles to define its law. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Story
2. as quoted in Jones, Alonzo T. . The American Sentinel: Volume 1 (p. 162). Adventist Pioneer Library. Kindle Edition. <

#430: Warning - “Unto the Ends of the Earth"

11 Wherefore the voice of the Lord is unto the ends of the earth, that all that will hear may hear:
12 Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh;
13 And the anger of the Lord is kindled, and his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall upon the inhabitants of the earth.
14 And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people;
15 For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant;
16 They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall.
17 Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments;
18 And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets—
19 The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh—

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Doctrine and Covenants | Section 1:11-19 (bold emphasis added)

The Doctrine and Covenants (sometimes abbreviated and cited as D&C or D. and C.) is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, editions of the book continue to be printed mainly by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [RLDS Church]).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_and_Covenants

#429: Promise: To Them that Walk Uprightly

11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

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Old Testament | Psalms 84:11-12

#428: Promise: In Every Age

10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of his saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.

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Old Testament | Psalms 97:10-11

#427: Promise: "Even to Your Old Age"

4 And even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

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Old Testament | Isaiah 46:4

#426: The Voice of Roger Williams*

Let us, with urgency, repeat and live the words of Roger Williams. Perhaps this advice from 1839 AD could apply to this earlier voice from the dust of 1600s New England: “Let no man count [these words] as small things; for there is much which lieth in futurity, pertaining to the saints [and to all the world -sms], which depends upon these things.” (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 123:15)

Men's consciences ought in no sort to be violated, urged, or constrained. And whenever men have attempted any thing by this violent course, whether openly or by secret means, the issue has been pernicious, and the cause of great and wonderful innovations in the principallest and mightiest kingdoms and countries... **

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*Roger Williams (c. 1603 – March 1683)[1] was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with the American Indians.[2] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams
● "The most fascinating figure of America's formative seventeenth century," Roger Williams has now gained general acceptance as a symbol of a critical turning point in American thought and institutions. He was the first American to advocate and activate complete freedom of conscience, dissociation of church and state, and genuine political democracy. From his first few weeks in America he openly raised the banner of "rigid Separatism." In one year in Salem he converted the town into a stronghold of radical Separatism and threw the entire Bay Colony into an uproar. Banished for his views, after being declared guilty of "a frontal assault on the foundations of the Bay system," he escaped just as he was to be deported to England.
He settled in Providence with thirteen other householders and in one year formed the first genuine democracy, as well as the first church-divorced and conscience-free community in modern history. Williams felt that government is the natural way provided by God to cope with the corrupt nature of man. But since government could not be trusted to know which religion is true, he considered the best hope for true religion the protection of the freedom of all religion, along with non-religion, from the state. | Cyclone Covey in The Gentle Radical: Roger Williams (1966) | from https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_%28theologian%29 (Section: Quotes about Williams)
**"A Plea for Religious Liberty" an excerpt from The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience (1644)" (Address to Parliament)

#425: The Voice of Roger Williams*

Let us, with urgency, remember and live the words of Roger Williams. Perhaps this warning from 1839 AD could apply to this voice from the dust of 1600s New England: “Let no man count [these words] as small things; for there is much which lieth in futurity, pertaining to the saints [and all the world -sms], which depends upon these things.” (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 123:15)

Enforced uniformity confounds civil and religious liberty and denies the principles of Christianity and civility. No man shall be required to worship or maintain a worship against his will.**

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*Roger Williams (c. 1603 – March 1683) ... was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with the American Indians.[2] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams
● "The most fascinating figure of America's formative seventeenth century," Roger Williams has now gained general acceptance as a symbol of a critical turning point in American thought and institutions. He was the first American to advocate and activate complete freedom of conscience, dissociation of church and state, and genuine political democracy. From his first few weeks in America he openly raised the banner of "rigid Separatism." In one year in Salem he converted the town into a stronghold of radical Separatism and threw the entire Bay Colony into an uproar. Banished for his views, after being declared guilty of "a frontal assault on the foundations of the Bay system," he escaped just as he was to be deported to England.
He settled in Providence with thirteen other householders and in one year formed the first genuine democracy, as well as the first church-divorced and conscience-free community in modern history. Williams felt that government is the natural way provided by God to cope with the corrupt nature of man. But since government could not be trusted to know which religion is true, he considered the best hope for true religion the protection of the freedom of all religion, along with non-religion, from the state. | Cyclone Covey in The Gentle Radical: Roger Williams (1966) | from https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_%28theologian%29 (Section: Quotes about Williams)
** As quoted in The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom (1991) edited by Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr

#424: Promise: “My People Will I Preserve”

60 And the Lord said unto Enoch: As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah;
61 And the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve;*

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*Pearl of Great Price | Moses 7:60-61

#423: Promise - “To a Thousand Generations”

9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;*

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*Old Testament | Deuteronomy 7:9

#422: Promise - “Great Shall Be Their Reward”

5 For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end.
6 Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.
7 And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.*

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*Doctrine and Covenants | Section 76:5-7