Because the job is already taken
- The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” (Psalms 2:2-3)
Every time it’s attempted, it eventually fails. Just ask Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Queen Elizabeth I, Napoleon, The Ottomans, Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Stalin, Mao, and, maybe one day, Klaus Schwab—he should live so long.
Sure, in some cases their empires lasted for quite awhile, but inevitably, invariably, they have all disintegrated. The world in the days of Alexander and Rome was actually much smaller than now, and brute force, while very effective at first, is also very costly for everybody concerned—including the conqueror. There’s always the day coming when it’s payback time. Poor Alexander died young—just 32—not from the sword or the arrow that flies, but likely by a bug that nobody could see. For that reason, his death still remains a mystery.
According to the History Channel, Dr. Katherine Hall, a senior lecturer at the Dunedin School of Medicine at the University of Otago, New Zealand, theorized in a 2018 article published in The Ancient History Bulletin, what killed Alexander was certainly agonizing, lasting for nearly a week.
He developed a “progressive, symmetrical, ascending paralysis” during his illness. And though he was very sick, he remained compos mentis (fully in control of his mental faculties) until just before his death.
Hall argues that Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare but serious autoimmune disorder, can explain this combination of symptoms better than the other theories advanced for Alexander’s death. She believes he may have contracted the disorder from an infection of Campylobacter pylori, a common bacterium at the time. According to Hall, Alexander likely got a variant of GBS that produced paralysis without causing confusion or unconsciousness. (From history.com)
But empires are not the same as world rule. Not really. The only ones that even came close were in an entirely different epoch.
That doesn’t mean that everyone has given up trying. You see, the new tyrants think they’re coming up with some pretty clever, albeit nefarious, ideas. Sadly for them, like their ancient role models, they will eventually discover who the king of the world actually is. The clue is in His title: the King of Kings.
Victor Davis Hanson, explained one reason why empires ultimately fail and fall. He says, “[The empire] didn’t last very well in Roman times. Romans, being far more practical, they didn’t talk about globalization as much as reified it. They made it concrete, but immediately there were voices within Rome that said the further a sovereign nation expands and globalizes, the more difficult it is to maintain the solidarity of the people—the purity of the original founding Concepts. The more we think we were making people into Romans, the more they think they are making us into… people’s other than Romans.”
The Soviet Union could not maintain its vast territory and collapsed when confronted with a determined resistance. Ronald Reagan somehow understood that. Conversely, Vladimir Putin (pictured) so pines for its return, he sees nothing wrong in invading Ukraine to get it back. Therefore he, many would say, is evil.
But what do say about those who would empty the treasury of their own country, without any clear plan for stopping him—spending billions and billions of the people’s money in the feeble attempt? Are they evil? Or, simply misguided?
Evil is not a theory. It’s a force. It exists in this world today as it always has. To understand this requires an honest and true relationship with our Creator, who gifts us through His Spirit to give us wisdom, discernment, and understanding about transcendent truth. Here is a very good explanation:
“However, evil is not a ‘thing’ like a rock or electricity. You cannot have a jar of evil. Evil has no existence of its own; it is really the absence of good. For example, holes are real but they only exist in something else. We call the absence of dirt a hole, but it cannot be separated from the dirt. So when God created, it is true that all He created was good. One of the good things God made was creatures who had the freedom to choose good. In order to have a real choice, God had to allow there to be something besides good to choose. So, God allowed these free angels and humans to choose good or reject good (evil).” (GotQuestions.com)
So, is a person who desires to rule the world evil? Arguably, yes, but often as not, it’s only evident when they believe they are justified in bringing suffering to others in their quest for personal gratification, we can say they are filled with evil. Walking among us or speaking to us on our screens, there are people right now who are fully imbibed in evil. Contrary to what Star Wars would have you believe—the force is not with them. It’s in them.
There is evil in the here and now; on this earth evil exists. There should be no way believers can make an argument that this is not so. And yet many who profess a Christian belief will try and make that argument.
This is why it’s necessary to establish a stronger understanding of what the Christian faith teaches, what the scripture proclaims, and what Jesus and His apostles, and by extension all who follow Him today must understand: “Many will say, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’” (Matthew 7:22b ESV)
In a time such as this, arguably among the portentous in all of modern history, many of the faithful are beguiled by the false teaching of many popular preachers and teachers. Jesus called such people “workers of lawlessness.” Are they evil? Alexander died while attempting to conquer the world, but was he evil for doing so? Or, did God use him to develop a Hellenistic culture for a much larger purpose? What is the purpose of false teaching?
Eric Metaxas, writing about the concept of “spiral of silence” in Chapter Six of ”Letter to the American Church” (1) recounts the work of Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, who coined the term when she realized why so few, even in the Church in Nazi Germany, failed to speak out against the evil of Hitler and nazism. She observed, “When people fail to speak, the price of speaking rises. As the price rises, still fewer speak out… until a whole culture or nation is silenced.” According to Bonhoeffer, Metaxas continues, “Silence in the face of evil is evil.”
Not speaking out is not being neutral, because remaining silent when knowing the truth, actually contributes to evil.
Metaxas continues, “Contrarily, it follows that those who speak out make it easier for others to speak out. Just as cowardice begets cowardice, courage begets courage.”
- “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13)
If we preach the idea that, “we are in the world, but not of the world,” why would we then be so enamored by the philosophies that are?
Cover Photo from “King of Kings” MGM, 1961
1.Metaxas, Eric. “Letter to the American Church.” Salem Books (September 20, 2022)
