Spir Dynamics 270-277 9/28/93; David 365-366 5/4/80

DOCTRINE OF REVOLUTION

A. Introduction.

1. The sin nature is always involved in any form of unrest in any national entity. The sin nature is involved in revolution under the principle that sin plus arrogance equals evil and human good plus arrogance equals evil. Many believers get drawn into revolution through human good plus arrogance producing the evil of revolution. They believe in the principle of the greater good for the greater number.

2. Revolution is the quintessence of the manifestation that sin plus arrogance equals evil and human good plus arrogance equals evil. Revolution is the quintessence of evil.

3. Crusader arrogance provides motivation and justification for all forms of unrest, including revolution.

4. Criminal arrogance provides the leadership for revolution. But you never know the leadership has criminal arrogance because of the facade of hypocrisy and the slime of superficialities.

5. Dissatisfied people exist in every nationality, in every organization that has over twenty-five people. These people are called malcontents. Dissatisfied people, who function inevitably under the arrogance skills, provide the power for revolution. The weapon formed for revolution is always the general population with emphasis on the malcontents. Absalom was a revolutionary leader and his propaganda was that the people were not getting a fair shake. Authority arrogance in the people provides the power for revolution. The common people must be molded into a weapon through propaganda. All revolutions start with a small hard core and branch out from there to the real suckers.

6. There is great power for evil when public opinion rejects the principles of authority orientation and substitutes the three arrogance skills, the arrogance complex of sins, and the emotional complex of sins. Together these three constitute public opinion arrogance.

a. Public opinion arrogance and lust creates a power which some demagogue will come along and pick up. It is vulnerable to being forged as a weapon for revolution.

b. It creates a power without virtue, without truth, without facts, and without reason. Therefore, public opinion becomes a power without facts, without reason, and guided by emotions.

c. Public opinion arrogance is used to create revolutionary power from six sources: institutional, crusader, blind, political, client nation, and authority arrogance.

7. Therefore, when public opinion becomes a power for revolution, it is a weapon forged from strong delusion.

8. Truth related to the laws of divine establishment is the only protection public opinion possesses against revolutionary arrogance. Public opinion includes both believers and unbelievers.

a. There are three categories of truth which can be rejected for strong delusion: the Gospel, Bible doctrine, and the laws of divine establishment. People reject truth and are enslaved by propaganda, thereby becoming vulnerable to revolution.

b. Jn 1:14 cf. 1:17 says that Christ is full of truth, and that grace and truth came through Him. Jesus Christ always disciplines anyone who rejects truth, whether believers who reject doctrine or the laws of divine establishment, or unbelievers who reject the laws of divine establishment.

9. 2 Thes 2:9-12, “that is, the one whose presence shall be according to the modus operandi of Satan, with all power and by means of miracles, even wonder-miracles of the lie, and by means of all deception of unrighteousness to those who are being lead astray, because they did not receive a love for the truth [doctrine] in order that they might be delivered. And so for this reason God sends them the function of error [the modus operandi of strong delusion] that they might believe a lie, in order that they all might be condemned who would not believe the truth, but took pleasure in evil [injustice, unrighteousness, deceitfulness, wrongdoing].”

a. While this lawless one will live in the Tribulation, the same principles by which he will function are already operational in the Church Age.

b. These miracles are to support the same old lie that Satan has a better program than God that will be equal to all. The lie comes in every possible form. Christian activism is believing the lie.

c. A love for the truth is the modus operandi of the three spiritual skills and ten problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT (forward line of troops) line of your soul.

10. Crusader arrogance plus criminal arrogance equals revolution. Crusading believers are criminal believers. For example, in the French Revolution the criminals used the crusaders as the front for their activities.

B. Definition and Description.

1. Revolution is the forcible overthrow of an established government or a political system by the people governed. Revolution is the overthrow by violence of duly constituted authority, resulting in a fundamental change in political organization, constitution, or government and violence done to its leadership.

a. Change in a political system from establishment to crusader plus criminal arrogance is a revolution. Revolution involves lawless mobs of people who can neither think, nor work, nor achieve. Therefore the mob is manipulated by criminality. The mob is the weapon of the revolution, exploited by the crusader, but eventually controlled by the criminal as a part of the cosmic system.

b. There are two documents which tell us in America that we were not a revolution: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

2. Revolution is a form of conspiracy, an evil, unlawful, treacherous, and surreptitious plan, formulated in secret to overthrow government to remove establishment authority by means of violence. It is formulated in secret to overthrow government, to remove establishment authority by means of violence.

3. Conspiracy is a combination of persons whose objective is evil, who are anti-authority.

4. The carefully devised and secret plan of the conspirators is called a “plot,” while the means of carrying out that plot is called “intrigue."

5. “Machination” emphasizes a crafty and torturous process of plotting.

6. Revolution is the antagonism of evil directed toward the laws of divine establishment. The antagonism of evil toward the laws of divine establishment is the concept behind all revolution, Prov 17:11, “A rebellious person seeks only evil.” Therefore revolution is related to evil, Ps 64:4-5, “Suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear the law. They cling to an evil purpose. They conspire to lay snares secretly. They rationalize, `Who can see us?’”

7. Since God is the author of the laws of divine establishment, revolution is generally anti-God, as in the case of the French revolution and the Russian revolution. Jer 5:23, “But this people have a calloused and revolutionary heart. They have turned aside from doctrine and departed from establishment.”

8. Pre-revolutionary activity is the key to understanding revolution. Pre-revolution activity indicates the unrest of a client nation to God, which terminates often in disaster to the nation under some form of the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline.

a. Isa 1:2-5, “Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the Lord speaks, `Sons I have reared and brought up, but they have revolted against Me. An ox knows his owner, And the ass his master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand [doctrine]. Ah, too bad, sinful nation, people weighed down with evil, a seed of evildoers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned their backs on Him. Why do you want to be punched again, why do you persist in revolution? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint.’”

b. Isa 59:13, “Transgressing [rejection of establishment truth] and denying the Lord [rejection of the Gospel], and turning away from God [rejection of Bible doctrine]. Speaking oppression and revolution, uttering the lies our right lobe has conceived.”

9. In a legitimate government, the system of laws of divine establishment provide a correct balance between authority and freedom. If you attack either one the balance is destroyed. Freedom without authority is anarchy and authority without freedom is tyranny. This is the balance which must be maintained. When you destroy the balance, you get anarchy and tyranny—revolution. Socialism carried to its logical conclusion is authority without freedom. Bureaucrats are never responsible to elected representatives. They are responsible to whomever formed the bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is responsible only to the tyranny that forms it. The laws it makes are not laws made by our legitimate representatives.

10. Revolution Related To Establishment.

a. Revolution uses freedom to destroy freedom.

b. The laws of divine establishment never divorce freedom from authority and law.

c. Revolution is anti-authority, anti-establishment, anti-law, and anti-God. The laws of divine establishment provide a government whose function provides law and order to protect human volition, privacy, and recognize the sacredness of property and human life. Absalom used his freedom to set aside the law and undermine the authority of David.

(1) The conspirator and revolutionist always suffer from authority arrogance.

(2) The revolutionist rejects the principles of authority as a basis for freedom.

(3) Arrogance cannot separate the principle of authority from the person who abuses authority, and the authority itself.

(4) Lack of authority orientation in the home destroys capacity for life and replaces it with the interlocking system of arrogance. Revolution destroys both authority and the person who has the authority.

(5) Mobs are forged into a weapon of destruction removing both the principle and person of authority, therefore removing authority as the umbrella of freedom.

d. The laws of divine establishment emphasize freedom and self- determination, resulting in inequality within a nation, while revolution emphasizes the equality of man propaganda to destroy both authority and freedom. The emphasis on freedom leads to self-determination, and the emphasis on self-determination means inequality.

e. Freedom does not guarantee equality, in fact, the true function of freedom guarantees inequality.

f. Forced equality is the policy of totalitarianism, the propaganda of tyrants and dictators. What leads to revolution is forced equality. Utopian socialism is the redistribution of wealth and is evil. Socialism sponsors exploitation of every kind and leads to pseudo compassion.

g. Equality becomes the lying propaganda of the revolutionist, seeking to gain power and control over the masses by exploiting their arrogance, their strong delusion, and their lust pattern.

h. The Absalom revolution undermined David’s authority as the greatest king in the history of Israel. “In estimating the character of David, it is generally allowed that he is the most gifted and versatile personage of Israelitish history, that he is surpassed in ethical greatness and general historical importance only by Moses, that he completed what Moses began, that he created out of Israel a nation and raised it to its highest immanence, that in spite of all his human frailties he was genuinely a pious man, an ideal ruler, a lover of righteousness and peace, and the only man of his age who appreciated Israel’s religious destiny,” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Volume II, page 797a.

C. The So-Called American Revolution, 1775-1783.

1. It is called revolution which it was not. There was no anti-God movement. We did not overthrow the establishment of English government. We did not kill the king or harm one member of parliament. We did not hurt in any way the established government of English.

2. It was a war for independence. It was a fight for freedom and establishment rather than the overthrow of establishment in the name of “liberty, equality and fraternity.” Liberty is canceled by equality and fraternity. It was in no way a revolution and should never be called the “Revolutionary War.”

3. Establishment in England was not vested in King George III. Parliament ruled the county, not the king. Authority was in the House of Commons, not the House of Lords.

4. The colonies were taxed without consent and had no representation. At first we fought to gain seats in Parliament, and were denied. Through victory a new government was established.

D. The Bible condemns revolution.

1. The revolution against Moses and Aaron, Num 16, was a rejection of the priestly ministry of the tribe of Levi and of establishment.

a. One of the revolutionary leaders was Korah, who was of the same tribe, Levi. Korah was the cousin of Moses. He was jealous and disoriented to authority.

b. Korah, also the cousin of Aaron, resented being excluded from the function of the priesthood and being confined to the inferior service of the tabernacle.

c. Other conspirators from the tribe of Reuben were Dathan, Abiram, and On. They thought they should rule instead of Moses. But Gen 49 set aside the tribe of Reuben as rulers.

d. There were 250 princes who formed the hard core revolutionary party in the time of Moses.

e. One of the men in the tribe of Reuben is not mentioned in the conspiracy narrative of Num 16:1, because according to tradition his wife persuaded him to withdraw from the conspiracy so that he was not involved or punished.

f. The conspirators were destroyed by an earthquake, Num 16:31-35, 26:9-11. Only the children of Korah were spared and became the singers of the Temple, Deut 11:6; Ps 106:17.

g. In the plague judgment which followed, the general public lost 14,000 people who were sucked into the revolution, Jude 11.

h. Since God is the author of the laws of divine establishment, revolution is always anti-God, Isa 31:6, “Return to Him from whom you have revolted and defected, O citizens of Israel.”

i. Revolution is always anti-God as illustrated by the French and Russian revolutions. Since the basic characteristic of revolution is anti-God or anti-establishment, or both, it poises a problem regarding the misnomer of the American revolution.

2. The Absalom Revolution.

a. 2 Sam 15:1-6, “Now it came about after this that Absalom provided for himself chariots and horses, and fifty men acting as couriers. Now Absalom would get up early in the morning and stand beside the castle gate road, so that any one who had a grievance, who came to the king for a judicial decision, then Absalom would call to him and say, `From what city are you?’ Again he would say, `Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.’ Furthermore, Absalom would say to him, `Look, your case is good and right, but you have no one appointed by the king to judge your case.’ Then Absalom would add, `Who would appoint me judge in the land, then everyone who had a grievance or a legal complaint would come to me, and I would see to it that he received justice.’ Furthermore, it came to pass when anyone approached to greet him, he would extend his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. Consequently, Absalom behaved in this manner to all Israel who came to the king for the administration of justice; and so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.”

(1) The couriers were Absalom’s agents of intrigue, co- conspirators. Absalom provided himself and them with transportation to travel throughout the country to undermine David’s authority and to extend a plot against David. The couriers are a fifty man clique, accepting the authority of Absalom only, totally anti-government. Absalom only needed three things to start the revolution: recognition from David, his father (the kiss of David), transportation for his hardcore conspirators, and he needed agents to begin the revolution (the fifty couriers). Absalom, as the leader of the revolution, had already become a criminal, when he destroyed Joab’s ranch.

(a) Crusader arrogance plus criminal arrogance equals evil and revolution.

(b) Crusader arrogance provides the motivation and justification for revolution. Criminal arrogance provides the leadership for revolution. Dissatisfied people who function under the arrogance skills provide the power for revolution.

© Public opinion arrogance and lust create a power without virtue, facts or reason. There is a great power for evil when public opinion rejects the principles of authority orientation and substitutes the arrogance skills, the arrogance complex of sins, and the emotional complex of sins. Public opinion arrogance plus lust creates power without virtue, facts without reason. Therefore, when public opinion becomes a power for revolution, it is a weapon forged from strong delusion. The weapon of revolution is always the same—the people who are deluded. Truth related to the laws of divine establishment is the only protection for public opinion against the arrogance skills.

(2) Absalom places himself in a strategic spot to make contact with the discontented, those who had real or imagined grievances, and those who were criminals in the land. Absalom would parlay their grievances into revolutionary fervor and vigor. Absalom used his friendly manner, his pseudo compassion, his personality and beauty to destroy the authority of David. But he does not attack David directly. When you want to undermine and destroy a government, you do not attack its leaders, you attack its laws. The inspiring and attractive personality of Absalom would motivate the people. Therefore, he would possess power over the people. Absalom used his apparent and hypocritical facade of concern, pseudo compassion, to mold the people into the weapon of revolution. To enlist support for the revolution, Absalom must give personal attention to the malcontented people through pseudo compassion. This gives the malcontented people a chance to talk about themselves under the arrogance of self- justification and the arrogance of self-absorption. Absalom exploited the arrogance skills in the malcontents. Since the malcontent is preoccupied with his grievance, he is also preoccupied with his life. Absalom exploited the instability in these people by being friendly. Revolution always exploits instability in people.

(3) The Hypocrisy of Pseudo Compassion.

(a) The malcontent is happy to talk about himself, especially to someone important, whose friendliness and attractiveness is really temporary therapy to their condition.

(b) The malcontent can go home and tell his family and friends he met someone important. Absalom undermined the authority of the king by stealing the hearts of the people who lived under this slimy facade of pseudo compassion.

© By sympathizing with those who were going to court, Absalom maligned the judicial system. Therefore, Absalom undermined the authority of the king where it was strongest—the judicial system. Claims and grievances cannot be settled by emotion, nor can they be settled by violence; only by the tenets of a legal system where hearsay is not admissible in the courtroom. It is the law that protects human freedom, not emotion, not violence, not sympathy for the criminal. Sympathy for the criminal is pseudo compassion, and is destroying the country today.

(d) Power lust made Absalom a lawless person. Therefore, he sympathized with other lawless people. The victims were forgotten and true issues were submerged in a sea of emotional and irrational nonsense. Two things make a person a revolutionist: crusader arrogance and criminal arrogance. Approbation lust made Absalom a crusader. Power lust made Absalom a criminal. Crusader arrogance plus criminal arrogance make a revolution. A lawless person found it easy to sympathize with lawless persons. Out of lawlessness, the weapon of revolution is forged in the people.

(e) The hypocrisy of concern for others became a system of stealing power from legitimate authority.

(4) The Concept of The Right System, The Wrong People.

(a) Absalom was the wrong person; for he used pseudo compassion to undermine the authority of juris prudence. All revolution begins by successfully undermining authority of the law. Respect for the law must be destroyed to pave the way for successful revolution. The right system is good law. There is nothing wrong with law enforcement and the legal profession as guardians of our freedom, and protectors of our privacy, property, and lives. (b) The hypocrisy of concern for others is a system for stealing power from the legitimate authority of the law. Pseudo compassion for the criminal forgets the victim of crime and the true issues are submerged in a sea of emotional and irrational nonsense.

© By sympathizing with those who had not yet entered the court to receive a decision based on the law, Absalom was undermining the authority of juris prudence; therefore, stealing power and authority from the law to create a lawless revolution.

(d) Wrong people like Absalom reject the right system. Revolution succeeds to the extent that it destroys and undermines the authority of law. Wrong people destroying a right system in government are the most subtle criminals in all of human history.

(e) Right government demands right people for right function. You cannot right wrongs through wrong doing. This is the formula of activism, civil disobedience, and revolution. You do not throw out the system because of wrong people functioning in the system, you punish the wrong people who have abused the system.

(f) When abuses within a system are used as excuses for abolishing the system, then revolution destroys personal freedom and replaces it with tyranny and the violence of revolution. When the system is right and the people who administer the system are wrong, the system should be preserved by punishing those who abuse the system. Punish those who abuse the system, but do not destroy the system. Do not throw out the system, which is exactly what socialism does.

(g) When the government is good and right and the people seek to destroy that government by activism, socialism, and revolution, it is a case of wrong people destroying what is right.

(h) Revolutionary propaganda implies that the judicial system is wrong; therefore, the people need a change, a new ruler, someone who understands them, someone who has compassion for them. Absalom implies that there is malfunction of the legal system. He sows doubts in the minds of the people coming to the court, and thereby undermines the judicial authority of the courts. This leads to the rise of crime. The judiciary was overworked because of the rise of crime. Therefore, many trials had to be postponed or delayed and people had to wait their turn. This situation indicates that crime was extensive in the Land at the time Absalom began his undermining of authority. In order to win the favor of the people, Absalom appointed himself as judge, accepting hearsay as evidence and rendering decisions without facts. Absalom flattered criminals by implying they were innocent. You can never wink at criminality without condoning crime. You cannot condone crime without destroying the judicial system. You cannot destroy the judicial system without creating anarchy. Arrogance attracts arrogance. Revolution is promoted in the environment of arrogance. Without national arrogance, revolution is impossible. To condone crime means to become a criminal.

(i) Absalom is the beneficiary of grace and freedom. He is standing at the gate maligning the judicial system through the courtesy of David’s judicial decision. David had pardoned Absalom and restored him to his place in the palace. The function of Absalom under the arrogance skills had no capacity for love or appreciation for the benefits of grace. When people have no capacity for appreciation of how they are graced out in life, it is inevitable that they will resent and rebel against those who have been kind to them.

(j) Absalom uses the people to promote himself to king. The weapon was pseudo compassion. Anyone who rejects authority becomes a user. While Absalom pretends great interest in the people, like all arrogant people, his interest is in using the people to promote himself. All arrogant people are users. Only the humble, who are grace oriented, can avoid being exploited by the arrogant. Humility is part of that defense. Absalom’s pretended interest in the people is designed from power lust to become self-promotion.

(k) The malcontent are the fertile field for revolution, which will promote Absalom. Beware that the discontent and grievances in your life, real or imagined, are not exploited by some arrogant person, so that you revolt against God and His plan for your life. Beware of the condescending personality; for behind the facade of alleged interest is the activism of self-serving arrogance.

(l) Discontented people are maladjusted to the authority of law and vulnerable to exploitation by the arrogance of activism and by the hypocrisy of pseudo compassion. When people are upset or angry or disillusioned, they are suckers for pseudo compassion.

(5) The Concept of Arrogance and Evil.

(a) Those who are malcontent dance to the tune of their sympathizers under pseudo compassion. Today’s flattery is tomorrow’s exploitation of you. Exploiters tell you what you want to hear. All exploitation of people means bigger and bigger government which means tyranny.

(b) National arrogance is molding material for revolution. All you have to do is remove establishment authority and revolutionary disaster is inevitable.

(d) In the atmosphere of revolution is always the advancement of evil. The advance of evil includes all forms of socialism, the welfare state, redistribution of wealth, the destruction of law by diluting it with social programs and environmental nonsense, downgrading the military establishment, and destroying police work by going easy on crime.

(e) Sin plus arrogance equals evil. Human good plus arrogance equals evil. Evil comes from two sources—from human good as well as sin. Human good plus sin plus the arrogance skills equals revolution. People are promised that they will gain from change or revolution, but the people always lose in the revolution. The people who are forged as a weapon of change or revolution are the victims of change and revolution, because they are enslaved by the arrogance of power and approbation lust. People who vote for change are voting for the destruction of their freedom. They will destroy their freedom for a bowl of soup called the welfare state.

(f) Three categories of people live in a nation threatened by revolution.

i. The hardcore revolutionists. They conspire and intrigue to overthrow the establishment government of a nation. This category includes the crusaders and the criminals.

ii. The general public. They must be propagandized by the hardcore revolutionists as well as the leadership of the conspiracy. It is the general public who are formed into a weapon to be manipulated by the revolution for the destruction of their freedoms.

iii. The incorruptables. These are the unbelievers who are influenced by the laws of divine establishment and believers who are consistent in the perception and metabolization of doctrine. They are believers whose function of the problem solving devices insulate them against strong delusion and lying propaganda. This category is called “the remnant according to the election of grace.” This is the pivot of mature believers, the invisible heroes of the Church Age. The hardcore revolutionists and the general public follow a person, but the incorruptables follow a principle—the absolutes of the infallible word of God.

(6) The Hardcore Revolutionist.

(a) The hardcore revolutionist is a combination of the crusader and the criminal plus the function of the lust pattern of the sin nature. The lust pattern of the hardcore revolutionist includes power lust, approbation lust, crusader lust, criminal lust, greed, and inordinate ambition.

(b) The propaganda of crusader arrogance is always equality. The propaganda of criminal arrogance is freedom. The crusader offers you equality and the criminal offers you freedom. Equality and freedom are promised to the people and neither are given.

i. Crusader arrogance functions through socialism, which destroys the economic benefits of freedom.

ii. Criminal arrogance functions through a system of confiscation and violence, which destroys both spiritual and establishment benefits.

iii. An arrogant nation is vulnerable to revolution; for national arrogance produces national instability and national irrationality, unprotected by the laws of divine establishment.

iv. Human freedom is vulnerable to deception when truth is rejected. Therefore, crusader arrogance plus criminal arrogance equals evil and revolution. Revolution is tantamount to evil. Evil is tantamount to revolution.

i. Revolutionary leadership practices demagoguery by gaining power and popularity through arousing the emotions, the passions, and the prejudices of people.

ii. This includes telling the people what they want to hear and giving the crowd what it wants to have.

iii. You cannot gain the favor of people and at the same time lead the people.

iv. You cannot agree with the crowd and at the same time lead the crowd.

v. You cannot rule the public and at the same time be ruled by public opinion. You have to be ruled by the principles of establishment. Integrity, honor, and justice must rule the people, not flattery, arrogance, and deception. Therefore, a leader in any area must have moral courage, not immoral ambition.

(7) Revolution is inevitable, when the arrogance skills dominate the people, so that strong delusion is created in the populace. Only the incorruptibles are not influenced. Revolution cannot advance beyond the arrogance of the people. When revolution does advance, it is because of the arrogance of the people.

(8) The crusader gains adherence through promising change. The criminal gains adherence by promising equality. Neither change, nor equality ever brings happiness to the people.

(9) Absalom, through political arrogance and flattery, undermined the authority of king David. The people who have rejected David’s authority had previously rejected the truth in three categories—the laws of divine establishment, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Decalogue of freedom. All revolutions are anti-God as well as anti- authority.

(a) Arrogance appeals to arrogance, so that arrogance is vulnerable to arrogance. Part of blind arrogance is to be deceived by the arrogance of others, especially pseudo compassion.

(b) Absalom’s political arrogance was considered by the people to be humility. An arrogant person will only accept an arrogant leader. Arrogant skills combine with defense mechanisms to create strong delusion in the souls of the people, so that the people are easily deceived by hypocrisy and condescension of arrogant leaders.

© Arrogance destroys both the ability to lead and the ability to follow legitimate authority. Therefore, the people traded the great leadership of David for the evil leadership of Absalom. The arrogance skills of the people responded to the arrogance skills of Absalom, causing vulnerability to all kinds of deception and believing the lie. Arrogance skills cause arrogance sins and emotional sins and strong delusion in response to being deceived.

(d) It took four years after David kissed Absalom in 2 Sam 14:33 for Absalom to reach the general public with his revolutionary conspiracy. During the first two years, Absalom consolidated the hardcore revolutionists. In the second two years, Absalom seduced the general public with strong delusion.

b. 2 Sam 15:7-11, “Now it came to pass after four years that Absalom said to the king, `Please, Sir, permit me to go to Hebron and fulfill my vow which I vowed in the Lord. For your servant [loyal subject], while living in at Geshur in Syria, made a vow, saying, `If the Lord restores me to Jerusalem, then I will worship the Lord.’” Then the king replied to him, `Go in peace.’ So he got up and went to Hebron. Meanwhile, Absalom sent slanderers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, `As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you will shout, “Absalom is the king in Hebron."’ Incidently, two hundred men from Jerusalem had been invited to accompany Absalom and they followed him in their sincerity; for they knew absolutely nothing about the revolution.”

(1) Absalom wanted to go to Hebron to be close to the Egyptian border, so that he could escape in case anything went wrong with the revolution. Hebron was only twenty miles from Jerusalem, close enough to gather his army without notice and strike Jerusalem quickly. Absalom needed to get to Hebron without suspicion. David would have no problem with Absalom going to Hebron. Absalom was born there. David was crowned king there and lived there for seven and one half years, until he conquered Jerusalem. Absalom also wanted to be crowned there. Absalom was not allowed to travel without the permission of his father, the king.

(2) All criminals are liars. Absalom had made no such vow to the Lord. Honorable people always tend to assume that others are as honorable as they are, which was not the case with Absalom. This lie was Absalom’s second criminal act. Lying as part of a conspiracy to start a revolution becomes criminal modus operandi. The criminal is a pathological liar. He considers lying as justified for self-preservation and self- justification. Lying is the criminal’s standard way of dealing with the world. The criminal often forgets what lies he has previously told.

(3) Being deceived by Absalom’s lie, David is manipulated into granting permission for Absalom to travel, and therefore, to start the revolution. David will never see Absalom again on this earth. While David is deceived by Absalom’s deceit, it is Absalom who is the loser. You never lose by being deceived when you are an honorable person and have no regrets. You can only take the responsibility for your own life and your own decisions. David never complained about his son or the revolution. He was never bitter; he took responsibility for his own decisions. If you have bitterness or hatred or anger or self-pity toward anyone, you are a loser and are missing something great in life. Being the recipient of unjust treatment should not disturb you. If you think of yourself as a victim, you are a loser. You have the most fantastic assets that ever existed on the face of the earth to deal with unjust treatment.

(4) The con artist gains everything through deceit and loses everything worthwhile in life. Those who gain by deception are always the losers; for the wages of crime and revolution creates the greatest losers in history. For the unbeliever the loss extends into eternity.

(5) The Concepts of Criminality.

(a) The criminal is irresponsible.

(b) The criminal has zero authority orientation.

(d) The criminal has no control over his temper or emotions. He parlays his temper into criminal motivation and activity.

(e) Criminality is characterized by boredom.

(f) The criminal is involved in the recycling of the arrogance skills.

(g) All criminals are liars. Habitual lying is the criminal’s demonstration of disregard for the truth in any form. He lies for self-preservation, to build up himself, or to achieve some criminal objective. Lying is a part of criminal manipulation. The criminal lies as part of the con game. Conning is a way of getting your own way, while giving as little as possible in return. Criminals lie so often, they come to believe it’s the truth.

(6) Absalom has organized the hardcore revolutionists to spread out over the land of Israel, to continue the undermining of David’s authority and to concentrate the revolutionary forces. Propaganda is the life-blood of the revolution. Propagandists are slanderers of both David and the establishment government. Slander becomes a system for gaining authority over people.

(7) Slander and propaganda is a means of establishing pseudo authority in life. Pseudo authority is preceded by pseudo compassion. Pseudo authority must be established, so that the propagandized public will follow orders of the revolutionary leaders. The shouting that Absalom is king is to mislead the stupid into thinking David is already dead. The great crowd noise will drown out thinking. A revolution must forge a weapon of mindless people who think they are doing good in all of the violence they create. The content of the shout is a lie and the people must now choose between the truth and the lie. The crusader provides the truth and the criminal distorts the truth into lies for the advance of the revolution. Legitimate grievances become revolutionary propaganda activity.

(8) The two hundred men from Jerusalem were Absalom’s aristocratic friends, simpletons, dupes, sincere admirers. Absalom used them. They were attracted to Absalom’s personality. They were social butterflies, hungry for attention, and proud of their friendship with him.

(a) In their emotion, they were led into a revolutionary trap. The stupid of life never have the Bible doctrine necessary to provide discernment and to avoid the allure of physical attractiveness or mental attractiveness or the attractiveness of idealism in the land.

(b) “Cursed is the man who puts his trust in man, who depends on the flesh for his strength, and whose right lobe turns away from the Lord.” To be a friend of Absalom was to neglect Bible doctrine.

(d) These two hundred would be comparable to big businessmen today. Big business on the side of socialism destroys itself and takes down the nation’s economy with it.

(e) They made the decision to accompany Absalom to Hebron from their own free will, even though they made the decision in ignorance. No one forced them to go. God holds us responsible for decisions in ignorance as well as cognizance. Ignorance of truth is the basis for evil. Ignorance of truth sets up a vacuum into which human good finds its way.

(f) Absalom’s power over these two hundred men had become a power of evil, which inspires an evil loyalty. To break from Absalom’s evil authority each of the men must be flexible, humble, apply the truth, and recognize the great danger in trying to extricate himself. Extrication is much more complicated than implication. We are often delivered by what we avoid rather than what we accept. This was a good time to avoid Absalom in the first place and to leave Absalom in the second place.

(9) Sincerity is an emotion, not a true virtue. You can be as sincerely wrong as you are sincerely right. Sincerity is an emotional state where thinking is not involved.

(10) Principles.

(a) Revolution is both anti-authority and anti- establishment, which explains why revolution is always anti-God. Revolution emphasizes the goodness and equality of mankind as the propaganda of motivation, while doctrine emphasizes self-determination resulting in human inequality. Freedom guarantees inequality because people will make choices to succeed or fail. Socialism destroys freedom.

(b) Freedom neither manufactures nor guarantees equality in the human race. Hence, revolution uses freedom to destroy freedom through social engineering, activism, socialism, and civil disobedience. Socialism and environmentalism are two great systems for destroying true freedom.

© Absalom will use his greatness, his beauty, his attractiveness, his personality combined with the arrogance skills and hypocrisy to change the allegiance of the people from David’s legitimate authority to the evil authority of Absalom. The inspiring personality, which can motivate people, can also possess evil power over people. Loyalty to evil power contradicts the true biblical concept of integrity, honor, and virtue. These distortions, distractions, and deceptions are resolved by making Bible doctrine number one priority in the life.

c. 2 Sam 15:12-16, “While he was offering these sacrifices [in Hebron], Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s [former] secretary of state, from his home in Giloh. Therefore the conspiracy gained momentum and the people came to Absalom in constantly increasing numbers. Now an intelligence agent came to David, and reported, `It has happened. The hearts of the people of Israel follow Absalom.’ Then David issued a command to all his loyal staff who were with him in Jerusalem, `Red alert, we must flee, for otherwise none of us will escape from Absalom. Move out immediately, lest he pursue rapidly and overtake us and bring disaster to our cause and furthermore massacre the city with the edge of the sword.’ Then the king’s staff replied to the king, “Your loyal staff are ready to do whatever the king our lord decides. So the king departed with all his family in his train. But the king left behind ten concubines to keep the palace.”

(1) The people of Hebron were very vulnerable to revolutionary propaganda, since they had never recovered from what they considered to be David’s insult, when David moved his capital city to Jerusalem after he conquered it. Absalom used the animal sacrifices as a religious front for the revolution.

(2) Absalom sent for Ahithophel because he was the wisest man in the land and as David’s secretary of state had done a phenomenal job.

(a) Ahithophel directed the revolutionary strategy. While Absalom was the leader of the revolution, Ahithophel was the brains. He was famous for his wisdom, 2 Sam 16:23.

(b) Ahithophel had reacted to David in bitterness, hatred, malice and revenge motivation. He was a crusader who became a criminal through the arrogance skills. © He was the grandfather of Bathsheba and possibly defected to Absalom because he resented David’s interference into her life.

(d) He is also the father of one of David’s famous generals who remained loyal to David, 2 Sam 23:34.

(e) He was the author of two plans for the revolution. He advised Absalom to rape the ten ladies of David’s harem to indicate that the breech between father and son was irreconcilable, 2 Sam 16:16-22. He advised Absalom to pursue David immediately when David fled Jerusalem. This advise was not taken and allowed David to escape. Ahithophel committed suicide, 2 Sam 17:23.

(3) Either David or Joab or both became suspicious as rumors began to spread about what was happening in Hebron. So they sent an intelligence agent to Hebron who saw the situation and reported. The report was accurate—the revolution had begun. God promoted David and only God could demote David, not Absalom. If God does not promote you, you are not promoted. David will only be removed from the throne by death. Jesus Christ controls history, not revolution. The revolution will fail because of the pivot of mature believers with doctrine in their souls.

(4) David ordered retreat out of thoughtfulness for the people of Jerusalem. There was no conflict with his personal sense of destiny.

(a) The legitimate government must remain intact during the crisis. The legitimate government is in Jerusalem and is not defendable by David’s army, scattered throughout the land. David must be loyal to his staff and withdraw to protect their lives.

(b) David, as a soldier, understands that he must choose the place where the battle will occur. He must choose his ground, not Absalom’s .To remain in Jerusalem hinders David from maneuver. David needs a battlefield which will not endanger the lives of his subjects and where he can concentrate his forces and maneuver.

(d) The incorruptibles include both military and administrative staffs. The revolutionists were following a person. The incorruptibles were following a principle of Bible doctrine.

(5) Psalm 62 was written by David just before he withdrew from Jerusalem. This was David’s message on hearing the news of the revolution. David can think under pressure thanks to the problem solving devices. David won the battle before the battle was fought.

(a) Ps 62:1, “For the choir director; according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. My soul waits in silence for God only; My deliverance comes from Him.” This is the time for the faith-rest drill to be deployed on the FLOT line of the soul. His has won the battle in his soul long before the battle is fought. There is no panic in his soul at all.

(b) Ps 62:2, “For He alone is my rock and my deliverance, He is my fortress; I cannot be shaken.” David was leaving behind castle Zion because he does not need it. He needed to pick his own battlefield.

© Ps 62:3, “How long will you attack a man, That all of you may murder him, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?” This is David’s message to Absalom and his army. Revolution seeks to murder establishment leadership and destroy establishment government.

(d) Ps 62:4, “They have plotted only to topple him from his high position; They delight in lies; They bless with their mouth, But inwardly they curse. Selah.” Politicians who become revolutionists are liars.

(e) Ps 62:5, “My soul finds rest in God alone, For my confidence comes from Him.” David has a personal sense of destiny and no unrealistic expectations. Doctrinal rationales result in realistic expectation.

(f) Ps 62:6, “For He alone is my rock and my deliverance, He is my fortress; I cannot be shaken.”

(g) Ps 62:7, “My deliverance and my honor depend on God; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.” David is thinking offensively and moving out to a place from which he can maneuver.

(h) Ps 62:8, “O people, trust in Him at all times; Pour out your heart before Him; for God is a our refuge. Selah.”

(i) Ps 62:9, “Men of low degree are only vanity, and men of rank are but a lie; In the balances they go up; They together weigh no more than a breath.” The revolutionists are scum, functioning under the arrogance skills. Both the revolutionary scum and the revolutionary aristocracy are nothing.

(j) Ps 62:10, “Do not trust in terror, And do not become vain by robbery; Though your riches increase, do not become arrogant.” This is David’s message to those who have accepted the revolution.

(k) Ps 62:11, “One thing God has communicated; Two things I have heard: power belongs to God;”

(l) Ps 62:12, “And grace belongs to You, O Lord, For You will prosper each person on the basis of his function.”

d. Ps 23:5-6, “You have deployed a table in front of me for my benefit in the sight of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. No doubt about it, good [prosperity, happiness] and grace shall pursue me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

(1) David wrote these words after he had just fled from Jerusalem and the Absalom revolution.

(2) Verse five is a military metaphor.

(a) In verse five, we have the order of battle and in verse six we have the winner in pursuit. There are two winners in this miliary metaphor: David, who deployed the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of his soul for the greatest test of his life and the Lord Jesus Christ, who provided the grace pursuit.

(b) David was a winner before the battle began because he deployed the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of his soul. He was a winner because of the divine initiative of antecedent grace. The Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate winner because He pursued David with grace.

i. The battle is won before the battle is fought because the battle is won in the soul. This emphasizes the importance of the three spiritual skills: the filling of the Spirit, metabolization of doctrine, and the deployment of the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul.

ii. David will not lose the table. The table refers to the problem solving devices in the Absalom revolution. The problem solving devices will remain deployed on the FLOT line of his soul during the entire crisis.

iii. David will not lose the anointing, Ps 89:20. The unconditional Davidic covenant will be fulfilled at the second advent, 2 Sam 7:8-16; Ps 89:20-37; 2 Chr 21:7. The humanity of Christ in hypostatic union is the seed of David, Rom 1:3. The Son of David is another title related to the Davidic covenant, Mt 1:1; Lk 3:31.

iv. David will not lose the overflowing cup in the Absalom revolution. David’s escrow blessings for time and eternity remain intact.

v. David the soldier will not lose the battle. David the king will not lose his throne. David the mature believer will not lose the overflowing blessings.

© There are three analogies in this metaphor: the table represents the FLOT line of the believer’s soul, the food on the table is metabolized Bible doctrine, the eating of the food is analogous to the problem solving devices. The table (the problem solving devices) stands between David and his enemies.

(d) The second metaphor is the anointing and represents the principle of divine authority delegated to a believer—David. Application to the Church Age is the authority delegated to the pastor.

(e) The overflowing cup is the third metaphor and represents the blessings of the believer in the application of doctrine to experience through the problem solving devices on the FLOT line.

(f) Verse five is the battle of the soul. The battle of the soul must be won before the overt crisis occurs. You win the victory before the battle by the consistent and faithful function of the three spiritual skills. David won the battle with Goliath before the battle when he said, “The battle is the Lord’s." The problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul provide the basis for victory in the battle of the soul. Before any crisis, God always provides plenty of time to win the four different battles: the battle of stress in the soul, the battle of sin in the soul, the battle of false doctrine in the soul, and the battle of defense mechanisms versus problem solving devices.

(3) Verse six is the victory. Grace and prosperity pursued David all the days of his life. Grace and prosperity pursue as a result of the deployment of the problem solving devices on the FLOT line. The result of the deployment of the problem solving devices is maximum utilization of living grace and maximum blessing in dying grace.

E. The Success of Revolution.

1. The success of revolution depends on the strong delusion factor.

2. People must reject the truth before they can enter strong delusion and become vulnerable to the propaganda of revolution. God always provides truth before revolution, so that revolution is a result of a maximum number of people using their volition to reject truth.

3. No revolution can gain momentum apart from its involvement with the cosmic system. The cosmic system produces discontent with life in all categories and types of people: the poor, wealthy, everyone.

4. Therefore both arrogance and strong delusion are necessary for revolution to gain momentum with the general public.

5. The general public becomes the forged weapon to be wielded either by the hard core revolutionist or the incorruptibles.

6. There will always be hard core revolutionists and conspiracies but they cannot succeed without arrogance and strong delusion.

F. Revolution Parlayed into Civil War.

1. Most revolutions also involve a civil war which becomes a struggle for power, violence or both.

2. The Absalom revolution resulted in a civil war, as did the French, and Russian revolutions.

3. If revolution does not gain enough converts from the general public, then civil war is inevitable.

4. When revolution starts a civil war there are two opposing forces seeking to gain control, power and authority.

5. One group is the revolutionary party, lead by the hard core revolutionists; the other group is the establishment party lead by the incorruptibles.

6. But revolution is not the only cause of civil war. There are two causes for civil war: revolutionary and political.

7. When politics starts a civil war, the issue is freedom. Lincoln started the American civil war with his radical politics.

8. When revolution starts the civil war the issue is truth.

9. No matter how the war starts there is always a little of revolution and politics involved.

10. In the context of 2 Sam, the civil war was started by revolution. Therefore, the issue in that war was truth.

11. Eventually those who believe in truth in any of the three categories will rally around David and follow him. Those involved in the arrogance of the cosmic system and who suffer from strong delusion will follow Absalom.

G. Revolution is inevitable where no distinction is made between authoritarian government and totalitarian government.

1. Many forms of government exist, to include monarchy, oligarchy, republic, dictatorship, and democracy. Any of these can function under the laws of divine establishment and provide through its authority protection of freedom. Democracy is the easiest form of government to revolt against. Revolution is anti-establishment, therefore anti-authority.

2. Revolution usually results in totalitarian type government: a highly centralized government under the control of one group, e.g., the communists.

3. It is imperative to distinguish between authoritarian government, which secures the freedom of the individual, and totalitarian government, which destroys both personal and national freedom.

4. Authoritarian government provides the balance between authority and freedom in compatibility with the laws of divine establishment. Whereas totalitarian government destroys freedom with the total ascendancy of one party, one authority, thus producing tyranny.

5. Socialism and the welfare state is always totalitarian, while establishment government provides authority to protect freedom.

6. In authoritarian-type government, the laws of divine establishment provide authority and freedom in correct balance.

7. Two categories of freedom exist.

a. Temporal freedom, which results from the imputation of human life at birth.

b. Spiritual freedom, which results from the imputation of eternal life at the new birth.

8. Temporal freedom is defined by the laws of divine establishment, while spiritual freedom is defined by the royal family honor code.

9. The laws of divine establishment never divorce freedom, privacy and property from authority, so that a good government always uses the laws of divine establishment to provide a system of authority to protect your freedom, privacy, and property.

10. Totalitarianism represents the equality of man as propaganda. It always appeals to the arrogance of the general public.

11. Revolution uses freedom to destroy freedom by attacking authoritarianism and replacing it with totalitarianism.

12. “Equality” is the lying propaganda of the revolutionist, who seeks to gain power over the masses by exploiting their strong delusion in a coup d’etat to remove authoritative power.

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