Page 4640 - 1970S

to convict him in a kangaroo court–
like setting (verse 13). After Naboth
was stoned, Ahab took possession of
the property (verse 16)-an act
which incurred the specific anger of
God Himself (verse 19).
Moreover, the Bible goes on to
point out that one of the inherent
evils of human governments is their
tendency to seize what is not btwfully
theirs! Thus the prophet Samue1,
upon learning that the children of
Israel were rejecting a theocracy in
favor of a human sovereign, told
them: "This will be the manner of the
king that shall reign over you: He
will take [seize] your sons.... And
he will take your daughters.... And
he will take your fields, and your
vineyards, and your olive yards ... "
(1 Samuel 8:1 1-14).
The Tribulation
In the early 1970s, when the Com–
munist Salvador Allende carne to
power in Chile, he sought to crush all
opposition. But he a1so wanted to
preserve the appearance of democra–
cy. So instead of just ordering the
army to shut down al! opposition
newspapers, he tried to do the same
thing in a more insidious manner. He
had the government socialize the
banks, the utilities, and the paper
milis. He still allowed a "free press,"
but that press soon found it couldn't
keep publishing because the govern–
ment controlled everything the oppo–
sition newspapers needed!
Of course, many people aren't re–
ally all that concerned when the gov–
ernment forbids individuals to own
things like banks and pulp milis. But
we soon discover that free newspa–
pers rely· on those paper milis, and
when government owns everything,
government is able to dictate what a
newspaper will say. And such a hor–
rendous result is a ditect conse–
quence of the government's failure to
respect the right of other people's
property.
Clearly, freedom of the press is
bound up with freedom to be secure
from government seizures of proper–
ty. This shows us how the distinction
between "human rights" and "prop–
erty rights" is a fa1se one. Precious
freedoms having to do with intangi–
ble things like speech, thought and
The PLAIN TRUTH September 1979
religion cannot be exercised without
material things like paper, ink,
presses, radio and television facili–
ties, and even means of transporta–
tion to meet people. Take away these
material things and there is no free–
doro of speech, press or religion!
This is why the pervasive, smother–
ing government control of economic
life has its prophetic aspects. In the
famous "mark ofthe beast" prophecy
of Revelation 13, we find what is, in
fact, a nightmarish, overregulated so–
ciety: "And he [the beast] causeth
all ... to receive a mark in their right
hand, or in their foreheads : And that
no man might buy or se//, save he that
had themark,or the nameof the beast,
or the number of bis name" (Revela–
tion 13:16-17).
The time of the tribulation will be
a time of a "famine ... of hearing
~~
The Bible points out that
one of the evils of human
governments is their
tendency to seize what is
not lawfully theirs!
' '
the words of the Lord" (Amos 8:11 ).
It will be a time of outright religious
persecution (Revelation 6:9-11) un–
der the aegis of a resurrected Roman
Empire. And it will be a time, as we
have just seen, when all economic
transactions will be closely regulated
by the "beast" power.
Now consider: The famine .of the
hearing of God's Word is a result of
government seizure of the property
necessary to propagate God's Word.
Control over al! economic transac–
tions makes it impossible to buy such
things as paper, ink, or airwaves.
And what, after all, is religious per–
secution but the ultimate in govern–
ment "consumer protection," pater–
nalistically denying the individual bis
own free choice in the relígíous
"marketplace"!
Even today, in this pretribulatíon
era, in a secular society, there are
those who would use the state to deny
to others the free exercise of their
relígion, usually under the excuse
that people need to be "protected"
from "harmful" choíces. They faíl to
realize that the very basís of a free
society is the free choice of indivídu–
als. In a free society, adults are
treated like adults, and they do not
need Big Brother "protecting" them
from what Big Brother has not put
hís offícíal government-regulation
sea! of approval on.
It is no coincidence that the true
Church of God has only been able to
preach the gospel of Chríst's King–
dom toa mass audience in free coun–
tries. (To many unfree countries,
God has had to send His Ambassador
to the nation's top leadership.) lf, as
in East Germany or Bulgaria, for ex–
ample, the government doesn't per–
mit prívate ownershíp of radio or
television stations (almost always in
the name of the public "welfare"),
then God's Church, or any other
church for that matter, cannot even
buy time to air its message. There is
a direct relationship between free–
doro of speech and the right to own
property.
God's Church has a God-given
duty to preach the gospel (Matthew
24:14; 28:19). In these end times, it
has a unique opportunity to bring the
gospel to the whole world-some–
thing which, because of the sheer
physical size of the globe, has never
before been possible! But it is on1y
possib1e because we live in an age
when the physical property of mass
media can be privately owned. When
courts allow the seizure of prívate
property, they not only threaten the
Great Commission of Christ to His
Church, but lay the groundwork for
the most compacted period of totali–
tarian horror the world will ever see
(Matthew 24:21).
Many in the Uníted States are
very zealous over the right of privacy
and the right of free speech. They
should be! Without such rights,
God's Work could not be done here.
But many of these same people have
neglected to be as zealous over the
right to own property. Now they are
discovering that when government
denies property rights, other civil or
human rights will not escape. o
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