France has taken a sharp turn to the left these past few weeks with the election of François Hollande and the defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy. Hollande’s election brings in a Socialist government, returning France to its revolutionary roots.

Returning to Revolutionary Roots

It was the French Revolution that gave birth to democracy, socialism, humanism, communism and other isms that form the chorus of the frog spirits. The Revolution saw the end of the Monarchy with removal of heads of the Royal family of France, quite literally, through the use of the guillotine or the “national razor” as it was termed. This was a result of the judgments of God described in Revelation 16 as the “vials of wrath” and summarized in Revelation 11:13:

And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

A 10^th part of the ‘great city’ of Europe, meaning France was to fall with a great political earthquake which would result in the slaying of many men.

The revolution didn’t stop with the change of government it carried on to see the entire aristocracy of France wiped out. Not satisfied to end here it moved on to business owner and anyone with wealth. Tens of thousands of France’s citizens lost their heads at the hands of the “Committee of Public Safety” in what was known as the “Reign of Terror”.  

The French Revolution had been carried out in the name of “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”, but it was a false liberty, not the liberty of Christ and used for an occasion to the flesh. The scripture rightly warns:

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.  (Galatians 5:13–15)

The Committee of Public Safety eventually devoured itself and its factious parties of Girondists, Hébertists, and Jacobins along with their leaders such as Danton and Robespierre all ended up going to the guillotine, fulfilling the warning of the Lord, “them that take the sword shall perish with the sword”.

The interesting thing about modern socialism is its link to the “equality” of the Revolution. It seeks to do through legislation what the Revolution sought to do by the sword. Although under the guise of “fraternity” or brotherhood and love of man, it is really rooted in covetousness – taking one man’s possessions by force of arms or l aw and giving them to another. At its rudimentary level it is simply theft. 

François Hollande’s election has seen an immediate sweep into this mindset. TIME World reported this week,

Hollande’s fellow Socialist Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a May 30 interview with newsweekly l’Express that new regulations will soon be imposed on state-controlled companies to prohibit top executive salaries from exceeding those of lowest-paid employees by a ratio of 20:1. Were that not enough to send shudders through the pinstripe set, Ayrault also said the rules will not only apply to newly hired managers at public businesses, but also extend to existing contracts…

“I believe in the patriotism of managers, who can understand that the [financial] crisis demands political and economic elites set an example,” Ayrault told l’Express.

“Patriotism” is a phrase pulled from the French Revolution where revolutionaries where termed “patriots” while the supporters of the Royalty were called “royalists” and traitors against the people.

Fortune Magazine reported the following:

Hollande wants to tax France to death. Anyone making more than a million euros a year will see their tax rate go from 45% to a mind-blowing 75%. He'll then stick it to the banks, raising their taxes by 15%...

He says he will raise the minimum wage, cancel scheduled spending cuts, hire back thousands of government workers and roll back the retirement age from 62 to 60. He also wants to increase government spending to sponsor large infrastructure projects - all in a bid to spur economic growth.

The article continues, “To avoid financial firms from leaving in droves, Hollande will most likely push for the tax to be implemented across the European Union.” All of this signals an about face turn for France, turning from the “right” dramatically to the socialist “left” with promise of salvation through social spending. It also signals the direction France will be pushing the European Union.

In a Debate on Socialism held in 1909 between Mr. F. G. Jannaway (Christadelphian) and Rev. N.E. Egerton-Swann (Catholic), Mr. Jannaway called as a witness the French Revolution, wherein, he stated:

Socialism was tried on a large scale. Laws were passed to do away with misery and poverty. Indirect taxation was removed and taxes without end were put on the rich. How did it end? Let me quote one historian:- “Commerce was annihilated. The rich vanished and the taxes on them brought in nothing. The price of food rose in terrifying fashion… Famine showed itself in Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, Bordeau and Rouen. Pallor and agony were on all faces. One million died of famine, and nearly as many more perished on the scaffold or in prison.”

Poverty and misery will not be resolved by laws passed by the French government today, any more than they were during the French Revolution. Only the righteous rule of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will soon return to earth and wrest control from the greedy hands of mortal men, establishing a kingdom of righteousness, can bring peace and happiness to this world.  

We are to expect this “cry” from the European nations who comprise the “beast” of Revelation – along with the Vatican and the Russians.  It is they who cry out “liberty, equality, fraternity” – the song of the Frog spirits of Revelation 16:13:

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

Public Enemy: The World’s Financers

What other policies does Mr. Hollande have up his sleeve? He put it fairly succinctly,

"My enemy is not another candidate, it is not a person, it has no face, it is the world of finance."

While this has been the rallying cry of many of the France’s youth, and is popular among those who blame the banks for the world’s current financial crisis, it also raises bells of alarm. In times gone by, and even in recent years when the finger is pointed at the Banks, it isn’t long before the finger is pointed at the Jews, perceived as the worlds “financiers”.

Is this a veiled salvo of anti-Semitism coming from the new French government?  Only time will tell, but it is certainly worth watching. The Israeli publication Ynet Daily, while interviewing Jews who had left France and were now living in Israel, stated:

Hollande is not good for the Jews or for Israel," said Lorence Partush, adding that many Jews in France will  now have an excuse to make aliyah, because "he loves Muslims."  

"We are worried about the Jews who live in France. The world should be worried about them too," said Collette, another Netanya resident who moved to Israel from France.

 "Hollande is a danger to the Jewish community in France. We lived there for over 40 years, but those were different times. Now its difficult for us," she added.

The Jewish Press reported an aliyah fair (return to the Israel) in Paris on election day, saw some 5,000 French Jews participate.  The annual fair usually attracts about 2,000 visitors, according to the Jewish Agency.  Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, (member of Knesset and former Russian “refusenik”) who attended the fair stated:

“I cannot recall having seen such a massive number of people interested in aliyah since the days when lines of people stretched out of the Israeli embassy in Moscow,”

A new survey conducted in March, of the 500,000-member French Jewish community, the second largest in the Diaspora, found that French Jews have grown so disgusted with anti-Semitism that more than one quarter of them are considering emigrating.       

Turning our attention back to the attack on the Worlds Financiers, let us not forget the Vatican’s comments on this idea of setting new rules in the name of Christian Socialism to “control” the distribution of wealth. In July of 2009, Pope Benedict XVI issued an encyclical letter entitled Caritas in Veritate or Charity and Truth.

The current crisis obliges us to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment, to build on positive experiences and to reject negative ones. The crisis thus becomes an opportunity for discernment, in which to shape a new vision for the future. In this spirit, with confidence rather than resignation, it is appropriate to address the difficulties of the present time…

In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth…. Such authority would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice and respect for rights.

The Church, of course sees itself as a key partner in managing the reorganization and setting of new rules reshaping the future to fit its own objectives. Mr. Hollande may well have an ally in the church in this regard.

Consolidating Europe

Mr. Hollande’s platform includes a desire to consolidate power in Europe.  EuroActiv.com reported

He wants to "combine the positions of presidents of the European Commission and of the European Council (currently held by José Manuel Barroso and Herman van Rompuy respectively) into a single office and that it should be directly chosen" by the Members of the European Parliament.

This is in keeping with the mantra of many politicians who are trying to keep the European Union from being broken up on the shoals of economic crisis.

Even the Economist posted the  question this past week:

What will become of the European Union? One road leads to the full break-up of the euro, with all its economic and political repercussions. The other involves an unprecedented transfer of wealth across Europe’s borders and, in return, a corresponding surrender of sovereignty. Separate or superstate: those seem to be the alternatives now….

That is why we have reluctantly concluded that the nations in the euro zone must share their burdens. The logic is straightforward. The euro zone’s problem is not the debt’s size, but its fragmented structure…. To survive, Europe has to become more federal: the debate is how much more…

For people like Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, the single currency was always a leg on the journey towards a fully integrated Europe. In exchange for paying up, they want to harmonise taxes and centralise political power with, say, an elected European Commission and new powers for the European Parliament.

According to the Economist column, “Charlemagne”:

“The European Union”, bemoans one veteran Eurocrat, “was not designed to deal with a crisis.” Blame Jean Monnet, the EU’s godfather. The French functionary believed in gradually unifying post-war Europe through discrete projects run by a caste of technocrats, with the end-point left deliberately ambiguous. Europe, he said, “will not be built all at once, or as a single whole: it will be built by concrete achievements which first create de facto solidarity.” His method has gone far. European states have voluntarily pooled a remarkable degree of sovereignty….

The limits of Monnet’s method are being reached. Governments are running out of modest steps that can be passed off as technocratic fixes. Short of an unexpected change in the markets, or a sudden return to growth, they must confront a fundamental political decision: if the euro area wishes to avoid the nuclear option of complete disintegration, it will have to make the leap towards fiscal union.

So according to the Economist we can expect some drastic measures to unite the Union or see it shipwrecked on the shoals of economic crisis.

Well, the Bible certainly paints the picture of political and economic union, speaking of the ten horned scarlet coloured beast, ridden by the harlot woman in Revelation 17:12–13

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

Power is defined by Strong’s as “strength, ability or influence residing in riches, wealth, resources”. Strength is defined as “power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases”. So both its monetary and its governmental power is surrender to this beast system.

The end result is their combined rebellion against Christ upon his return (v14):

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

 So as we watch governments falling, and being replaced by whomsoever the Most High deems appropriate, we take comfort in the fact that God has a purpose with the world which he will accomplish. The invitation is made to us to join Christ in the new administration, termed “a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness”, by being obedient to his call now.

Join us next week for the Bible in the News.

Jonathan Bowen