And so based on the motto of the French revolution the new president rode into power garnering a solid two-thirds of the final vote.  The history of the motto certainly comes from the French Revolution where is was actually  a little longer being liberty, equality, fraternity or death, which was fitting as the revolution quickly turned into the “reign of terror.”  The spirit of the phrase actually goes back much farther to the time of the barbarians.  The Bible Magazine volume 11, issue number 2 actually has an article dedicated to this subject which I will quote from and the above is the link should you want to read the full article for yourself, which I highly recommend.  In that article Paul Billington writes the following:

“It is quite remarkable that the barbarian tribes that invaded the Roman Empire and brought about its destruction were also champions of so-called liberty.  Gerald Simons in the book Barbarian Europe (Time - Life books) says:

“they stubbornly clung to their tribal attitudes toward law and the rights of the individual - and thereby preserved a priceless tradition until the time for democracy was ripe… (they) led all others in personal freedom… The very concept of progress - the belief in the inevitable and continuous betterment of man - can be traced to ideas born in the barbarian epoch.” (Page 13).

Edward Gibbon in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire tells us that “the love of liberty was the ruling passion” of the Frankish barbarians who originated in Westphalia, Germany.  “They deserved, they assumed, they maintained the honorable epithet of Franks or Freemen” (Chapter 10).  The name of the Franks is from the Latin francus, meaning free.  Gibbon describes the way in which these Franks framed their laws, appointing four venerable chieftains to compose them and then submitting these draft laws for approval by “three successive assemblies of the people” (Chapter 38).

Dig deeper into this subject in the above magazine, link .here

It was those “free and warlike barbarians” as Gibbon describes them, who overran Gaul and established the nation that we now know as France.  They overcame the mighty Roman Empire, but not the sagacious and wily priests of Catholic Rome.  As the conversion of Clovis to Catholicism illustrates, those who sought liberty and freedom actually became the servants of corruption - that is, they became servants of a spiritually corrupt Roman Church.”  

The baptism of the Barbarian King Clovis into Roman Catholicism is still celebrated today.  Interestingly Clovis’ symbol was the frog, in fact three frogs, and how incredible is it then that the prophecy highlights the teachings as “frog-like”.  Revelation 16:13,14

“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.

For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”

“Unclean spirits like frogs” may seem an odd thing but remember that Revelation is a book of sign and symbol.  It says so in chapter 1:1

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John”

Well when we look at the symbol of the frog scripture has a lot to offer us.  Let’s start by going back to Exodus chapter 8:1-8

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:

3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs:

4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.

5 And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.

6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.

7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.

8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.”

Well we can’t read it all right now but ultimately God takes away the plague and the frogs die, but there is still a lingering result in verse 13, 14:

“And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields.  And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.”

So what do we learn from the frogs

1)  It would affect Pharaoh’s house directly

2)  It brought about a false promise of liberty.  We know it was false because Pharaoh certainly does not let the people go.

3)  The land stank.  And if you look up that word stank in Strong's it also carries the meaning of “morally offensive.”  And to this point, it is also worth looking up Psalm 78:45

“He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.”

And again here, that word “destroyed” carries the meaning of decay, ruin, corrupt.

Well as the frogs corrupted the land of Egypt so the frog spirits, or teachings as it is rightly translated in Revelation are also corrupting.  They are the teachings of liberty that go all the way back to the barbarians, corrupting teachings that would in the end bring all nations against Christ and his people.

This spirit, or teaching of liberty came to the fore in the time of the French Revolution as we started out with.  There too was the promise of liberty which quickly brought corruption.  And today society is obsessed with the idea of liberty and equality, and how corrupt has it become?  And how Godless has our age become?  The words of 2 Peter 2:19 are very fitting:

“While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.”

And so with America voting in Trump and the British voting for Brexit many thought that the French would vote for Marine Le Pen.  But at the place that the liberties of this age were born the French voted for liberty, equality, and fraternity.  And maybe we should not be surprised - we have discussed in the previous programs here that Europe is to join closer with Russia and the Vatican, whereas Britain and the west are to stand in opposition.  

Interestingly Emanuel Macron not only ran on liberty, equality and fraternity, he also ran on closer integration with Europe and spoke of making the road hard for Britain and Brexit.  

Truly we really are seeing the nations lining up according to Ezekiel 38, and the frog spirits still alive and well in France.  As for the corruptness of this world’s liberty, it's always plain and naked at the UN.  In the past decade, the UN passed 67 resolutions condemning Israel, and 61 resolutions condemning human rights violations across the rest of the world.  Let that soak in and then we’ll read the beginning of Joel 3:

“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.”

Much more could be said, but start by reading the article in the Bible Magazine that we have quoted!  And then come back again for another edition of the Bible in the News at bibleinthenews.com