THE THEOLOGY OF REVOLUTION
When Adam delved and Eve spun
Who was then the Gentleman?
Come and hear the hypocrisy of the priests and ministers. For the Bible says, “Blessed are the poor people,” and “Woe to you who are rich” (Luke 6:20, 24); but the priests and ministers say, “It’s great to be rich! And the best thing would be if you could become king!” Then their mouths become filled with gravel and they tell you of ceremonies and cultic practices, of building funds and their own salaries, as though salvation could come through such pap and twaddle and not the opposite. But they are only tools of the devil “transformed as the ministers of righteousness” to render the poor people psychologically defenseless before their rulers and exploiters, “whose end shall be according to their works” (II Corinthians 11:15). Enough of them, though, for we certainly all see that the clergy no longer possess the remotest significance whatsoever!
As to the class of the rulers formerly hidden behind the smokescreen of clerical propaganda — “Honor them, submit to them, obey them; do not resist them” — the Scripture clearly reveals that behind all programs of social uplift devised by their group for the children of the Kingdom — those are the poor people — lies only deceit, saying, “When you sit down to eat with a ruler understand well what is really before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are of greedy disposition; do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceitful food” (Proverbs 23:1-3). But one says to the other, “Write it off as public relations — if we spend ten million dollars on them they will think some of us are kindly and generous, just as they are kindly and generous; they will think that conditions are slowly improving. Then they will remain pliable and submissive and we — surely we will keep the other fifty billion!”
What does the whole life of the children of the evil one, who cast stumbling blocks before the elect and are the cause of all unrighteousness, consist of? We see how they strut about and practice mock humility one toward the other. They say, “Come see my house,” and every fiber of their being is directed toward maintaining their empty boast, “I’m better than you, you see — and here’s my proof!” But the Scripture refutes them, saying, “He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with its coming” (Ecclesiastes 5:10) — and how the others stare blankly through one of their own who has just lost everything!
Who can understand the degree of superficiality of the lives of the rich? They are driven by the most inane considerations as weighty altogether as an empty shell of insect eggs; but a false Satanic aura of significance has been cast over their doings in accordance with the true saying, “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” (Proverbs 9:17). We have only to picture in our mind’s eye the so-called greats of history standing beside the pious, humble and kindly people of the elect of their own days who suffered under them to sense how true this is — think just for one moment of “Saint” Thomas Aquinas and “Saint” Thomas Aquinas’ serf, George Washington and George Washington’s slave, Friedrich Engels and Friedrich Engels’ piece worker, Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt’s maid, and so on world without end.
We learn from the archaeologists that there was a time in all lands, in both the Old World and the New — “a phase of development” they call it, as though there has been true development since that time — when the people, having learned to sow the earth, lived in peace without violence or rulers, owning all property communally and living lives of piety and quiet goodness in accordance with the holy and undistorted impulse enshrined by the Spirit in the hearts of the poor people of all times and lands, as we find true of the first children of Noah after the Great Flood of whom the Scripture says (in the Hebrew), “And all the land was of one speech, and had all things in common” (Genesis 11:1). And surely Adam was created a peasant and had no lord over him but He who alone is wise, He who alone is great, Lord of Heaven and earth. But the curse of the rule of man by man was poured out first when some criminal, as Nimrod, announced that he was king and that his booty was from now on to be called taxes. Hasn’t the longing of the heart of every oppressed and manipulated man from that day to this been directed toward that ideal life enjoyed by the ancestors of every one of us? And that was the form of social organization restored through the Gospel for the church, although the first Christian commune was located in Jerusalem, a city and the largest city of its land.
Why do the archaeologists find no evidence of violence at the early sites? Because the piety and goodness innate to the mind-set of all poor people manifests itself automatically in all the deeds of the people if only wealthy individuals and rulers are absent from society. And surely the children of the evil one bear not only their own sins, but also the sins of the children of the Kingdom before whom they cast stumbling blocks, as God taught us through Paul, saying, “Who can accuse the elect of God of anything? It is God who justifies; who is that one who condemns?” (Romans 8:33-34); for without oppressors and exploiters all evil melts away. God shall mock at all hypocrites and His saints with Him, for the rulers through their pretense at moral indignation make the heart of the righteous sad whom God has not made sad, as though the sins of the poor, being an automatic reaction to oppression, are to be reckoned against them rather than visited upon the heads of their oppressors.
Yes, truly, “Blessed are the poor people, because the Kingdom of God belongs to you; but woe to you who are rich, because you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:20, 24); and, “Hasn’t God chosen the poor people out of the world, those being rich in faith?” (James 2:5). And see from the multitude of its highly complex already fulfilled prophecies that the Bible alone is even today miraculously self-validating as it ever was from the beginning, and all its words are true and the gift of Heaven. And what is this perfect love of “Love your comrade like yourself,” but sharing all things with him in the love and light of Christ, and this is called Christian communalism, and taking counsel with him in all things, and this is called democracy? And so the Scripture witnesses in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed by the Spirit are the poor people, because the Kingdom of the Heavens belongs to them.” Religionist, communalistic, democratic — such was the life of the ancients, and such is the life restored for us through the Gospel.
God appeared among us as a peasant in Christ though, not only to vindicate the mind-set of all poor people making manifest what its perfect and unfettered expression is and to announce their election and that they of all men are innately conformed to the divine image, but also to sow the seeds of the Kingdom that are to reach maturity in these last days, to have the Scripture of consolation, counsel and salvation for the poor spread throughout the world by the rich, although it is to lead to their overthrow and is the substitute for their rule and the rule of all men under whatever pretext. Surely He did the same thing to Pharaoh, telling him “three days’ journey” so that his heart would become filled with self-righteousness when they did not return and would guide him to destruction at the Sea. So God in Christ taught the men of the ancient church the ways of peace and restraint in order to endear the Gospel to the rich, but prophetically gave a command for revolution to the men of the restored church, saying that the fullness of knowledge and prophecy was yet to come which came through John and commanding His messengers — these are not angels — to uproot the children of the evil one from the field of the world; declaring that the general principle of obedience to established authority did not apply to Rome from the time when her supernal prince, who is the devil, was expelled from Heaven in 70 A.D., and so does not apply to that metamorphosed form of the Roman Empire now known as the Western Civilization spread, in fulfillment of prophecy by these last days, to every corner of the globe; and commanding vengeance upon Rome — and the daughters are like their mother, and she is “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth.
This one schemes and that one schemes and God — He is the best of schemers!
— Barry I. Hyman
CHRISTIAN REVOLUTIONARY BROTHERHOOD
When Adam delved and Eve spun
Who was then the Gentleman?
Come and hear the hypocrisy of the priests and ministers. For the Bible says, “Blessed are the poor people,” and “Woe to you who are rich” (Luke 6:20, 24); but the priests and ministers say, “It’s great to be rich! And the best thing would be if you could become king!” Then their mouths become filled with gravel and they tell you of ceremonies and cultic practices, of building funds and their own salaries, as though salvation could come through such pap and twaddle and not the opposite. But they are only tools of the devil “transformed as the ministers of righteousness” to render the poor people psychologically defenseless before their rulers and exploiters, “whose end shall be according to their works” (II Corinthians 11:15). Enough of them, though, for we certainly all see that the clergy no longer possess the remotest significance whatsoever!
As to the class of the rulers formerly hidden behind the smokescreen of clerical propaganda — “Honor them, submit to them, obey them; do not resist them” — the Scripture clearly reveals that behind all programs of social uplift devised by their group for the children of the Kingdom — those are the poor people — lies only deceit, saying, “When you sit down to eat with a ruler understand well what is really before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are of greedy disposition; do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceitful food” (Proverbs 23:1-3). But one says to the other, “Write it off as public relations — if we spend ten million dollars on them they will think some of us are kindly and generous, just as they are kindly and generous; they will think that conditions are slowly improving. Then they will remain pliable and submissive and we — surely we will keep the other fifty billion!”
What does the whole life of the children of the evil one, who cast stumbling blocks before the elect and are the cause of all unrighteousness, consist of? We see how they strut about and practice mock humility one toward the other. They say, “Come see my house,” and every fiber of their being is directed toward maintaining their empty boast, “I’m better than you, you see — and here’s my proof!” But the Scripture refutes them, saying, “He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with its coming” (Ecclesiastes 5:10) — and how the others stare blankly through one of their own who has just lost everything!
Who can understand the degree of superficiality of the lives of the rich? They are driven by the most inane considerations as weighty altogether as an empty shell of insect eggs; but a false Satanic aura of significance has been cast over their doings in accordance with the true saying, “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” (Proverbs 9:17). We have only to picture in our mind’s eye the so-called greats of history standing beside the pious, humble and kindly people of the elect of their own days who suffered under them to sense how true this is — think just for one moment of “Saint” Thomas Aquinas and “Saint” Thomas Aquinas’ serf, George Washington and George Washington’s slave, Friedrich Engels and Friedrich Engels’ piece worker, Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt’s maid, and so on world without end.
We learn from the archaeologists that there was a time in all lands, in both the Old World and the New — “a phase of development” they call it, as though there has been true development since that time — when the people, having learned to sow the earth, lived in peace without violence or rulers, owning all property communally and living lives of piety and quiet goodness in accordance with the holy and undistorted impulse enshrined by the Spirit in the hearts of the poor people of all times and lands, as we find true of the first children of Noah after the Great Flood of whom the Scripture says (in the Hebrew), “And all the land was of one speech, and had all things in common” (Genesis 11:1). And surely Adam was created a peasant and had no lord over him but He who alone is wise, He who alone is great, Lord of Heaven and earth. But the curse of the rule of man by man was poured out first when some criminal, as Nimrod, announced that he was king and that his booty was from now on to be called taxes. Hasn’t the longing of the heart of every oppressed and manipulated man from that day to this been directed toward that ideal life enjoyed by the ancestors of every one of us? And that was the form of social organization restored through the Gospel for the church, although the first Christian commune was located in Jerusalem, a city and the largest city of its land.
Why do the archaeologists find no evidence of violence at the early sites? Because the piety and goodness innate to the mind-set of all poor people manifests itself automatically in all the deeds of the people if only wealthy individuals and rulers are absent from society. And surely the children of the evil one bear not only their own sins, but also the sins of the children of the Kingdom before whom they cast stumbling blocks, as God taught us through Paul, saying, “Who can accuse the elect of God of anything? It is God who justifies; who is that one who condemns?” (Romans 8:33-34); for without oppressors and exploiters all evil melts away. God shall mock at all hypocrites and His saints with Him, for the rulers through their pretense at moral indignation make the heart of the righteous sad whom God has not made sad, as though the sins of the poor, being an automatic reaction to oppression, are to be reckoned against them rather than visited upon the heads of their oppressors.
Yes, truly, “Blessed are the poor people, because the Kingdom of God belongs to you; but woe to you who are rich, because you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:20, 24); and, “Hasn’t God chosen the poor people out of the world, those being rich in faith?” (James 2:5). And see from the multitude of its highly complex already fulfilled prophecies that the Bible alone is even today miraculously self-validating as it ever was from the beginning, and all its words are true and the gift of Heaven. And what is this perfect love of “Love your comrade like yourself,” but sharing all things with him in the love and light of Christ, and this is called Christian communalism, and taking counsel with him in all things, and this is called democracy? And so the Scripture witnesses in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed by the Spirit are the poor people, because the Kingdom of the Heavens belongs to them.” Religionist, communalistic, democratic — such was the life of the ancients, and such is the life restored for us through the Gospel.
God appeared among us as a peasant in Christ though, not only to vindicate the mind-set of all poor people making manifest what its perfect and unfettered expression is and to announce their election and that they of all men are innately conformed to the divine image, but also to sow the seeds of the Kingdom that are to reach maturity in these last days, to have the Scripture of consolation, counsel and salvation for the poor spread throughout the world by the rich, although it is to lead to their overthrow and is the substitute for their rule and the rule of all men under whatever pretext. Surely He did the same thing to Pharaoh, telling him “three days’ journey” so that his heart would become filled with self-righteousness when they did not return and would guide him to destruction at the Sea. So God in Christ taught the men of the ancient church the ways of peace and restraint in order to endear the Gospel to the rich, but prophetically gave a command for revolution to the men of the restored church, saying that the fullness of knowledge and prophecy was yet to come which came through John and commanding His messengers — these are not angels — to uproot the children of the evil one from the field of the world; declaring that the general principle of obedience to established authority did not apply to Rome from the time when her supernal prince, who is the devil, was expelled from Heaven in 70 A.D., and so does not apply to that metamorphosed form of the Roman Empire now known as the Western Civilization spread, in fulfillment of prophecy by these last days, to every corner of the globe; and commanding vengeance upon Rome — and the daughters are like their mother, and she is “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth.
This one schemes and that one schemes and God — He is the best of schemers!
— Barry I. Hyman
CHRISTIAN REVOLUTIONARY BROTHERHOOD