The title would seem to hint that this article will be about the activities of various money-grubbing prosperity preachers. Instead of looking at this money grubbing that is found in many denominations, we are about to look at a symbiosis between the established churches and the materially rich. A symbiosis that is described in the book of Revelation.
Revelation 18, to which we often go for understanding of the union of church and state in the end-times, also reveals to us another, often forgotten union, that the fallen churches have in the last days. It is to be found in Revelation 18:11:
And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more
Now some Seventh-day Adventists have interpreted the term "merchants of the earth" as being the false teachers in Babylon, and the merchandise in question being their false doctrine. But I believe it carries a more literal meaning and indicates that the fallen churches will also form an illegitimate union with the world's business community [##1|SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 4 (Washington, D.C: Review and Herald Publishing Assn, 1976), p. 864.###].
The Argument for a Literal Interpretation
If we look at verses 11 to 14, which precede the above verse, we find that a large number of items (28 in total) of merchandise are mentioned. And then some of those items are generalized down into even larger subgroups ("all manner vessels"). Now some may say that symbolizes the large number of heresies Babylon embraces. However, it is hard to relate any given item to a given heresy without really symbolizing the whole passage away [##2|SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 864.##]. Others say the merchandise is just that, merchandise, and that it represents a world obsessed with commerce. To try and find which of these views is correct, we need to look elsewhere in the passage.
The clue is found in verse 15:
The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
The merchants are referred to in the second-party sense. The "her" is obviously Babylon. So the merchandise is tied to the merchants, not to Babylon.
In addition, we have a verse that tells us the merchants are the wealthy and powerful of the earth.
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived (verse 23).
So, the merchants are not Babylon. That leaves us with the conclusion that they are literal merchants or businessmen. That leads us to understand this part of Revelation 18 as saying that the fallen churches (Babylon) must form a union with business as well as civil government at the end of time.
We thus conclude that Revelation 18 is describing a union of business with the apostate churches.
Some History
The life of Christ and many Biblical passages tell us that seeking power and wealth is not what the kingdom of God is about, and that these should not be the principal focus of the Christian life. The unconverted in the church will not have overcome their fallen natures and therefore will seek temporal power and material wealth. Logically then, a church controlled by the unconverted (a fallen church) will also seek temporal power and material wealth.
History records the existence of such a church in medieval and early modern Europe. The church established a symbiotic relationship with the rich and powerful of the land [3]. In a world of inequality, one problem the rich and powerful face is rebellion of the masses [4]. They can, of course, keep the masses under control with a large police/military, but that is (a) expensive and (b) faces the risk of the police/military thinking they can help themselves to society’s resources and turn on their masters [5]. A wiser course is to deceive the masses into believing those in power to be their benefactors. This is a very old principle.
And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors (Luke 22:25).
In medieval and early modern Europe the church controlled the minds and hearts of the masses because it was widely believed that the church held the keys to God’s kingdom [6]. It was thus in the interests of the rich and powerful to have the church remind the masses that the church was looking out for their interests. Likewise, it was in the church’s best interest to support the rich and powerful, as the latter controlled the military and judicial systems that the church could use in suppressing what it deemed to be heresy and thus control the consciences of citizens. The rich and powerful could also cement their relationship with the church by putting money into her coffers [7].
Modern Times
This symbiotic relationship has waned through most of the 19th and 20th centuries [8]. However, there are signs of it reviving in modern America. We have seen the political influence of the white American evangelical churches grow steadily over the last 40 years, starting with the emergence of groups like the Moral Majority in the 1970s and reaching the point where it is today [9]. At least one of America’s two major political parties goes to great lengths to secure the vote of those who comprise this movement [10]. One wonders how these churches wield so much influence, considering their members make up only about 30 percent (according to a number of estimates) of the American population [11]. Why do so many politicians see it as essential to court their approval?
The answer is, of course, money. Behind the scenes, the white American evangelicals have large financial resources to enable them to successfully lobby political parties and the media. In her book The Power Worshipers, author and journalist Katherine Stewart details the behind the scenes empowering of the white evangelical churches by wealthy Americans. She goes so far as to say:
The roots of the present crisis in the American political party system lie at the juncture of money and religion [##12|Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers (Bloomsbury Publishing, Kindle edition), p. 8.##].
Her research uncovered large donations given to these churches by some very wealthy American individuals and families, such as:
The DeVos/Prince clan, the Bradley Foundation, Howard Ahmanson Jr., the foundations of the late Richard Scaife, the John M. Olin Foundation, the Lynn and Foster Friess Family Foundation, the Maclellan Foundation, Dan and Farris Wilks, the Green family, and a number of other major funders I will discuss in this book—to say nothing of the donor-advised funds such as the National Christian Foundation, which channel hundreds of millions of dollars in annual donations anonymously, and the massive flow of right-wing dark money targeting the courts—the movement would not be what it is today [##13|Stewart, The Power Worshippers, p. 8.##].
While many in America now believe the power of the white evangelicals is waning [14], the coffers of these conservative white churches are being filled daily by the wealthy, thus giving them political clout far out of proportion to their numbers in the American population [15].
If one examines the situation in the Western world today, it is starting to hold many similarities to medieval Europe:
One similarity is a significant wealth gap, what many describe as income inequality. Much of the Western world no longer has a growing and prospering middle class [16],[17],[18]. This unprecedented wealth gap will lead many among the wealthy to fear “pitchfork economics” [19], and have them ready to again embrace a system by which the church “pacifies” the masses by claiming this wealth gap to be God’s will and that the one percent got that way by God’s blessing and not by other means [20].
Another similarity is the growth in certain circles of ignorance and superstition. We now have an ever-growing section of the population that is ignorant of science and learning, and which now ignores scientific facts to follow what can fairly be called superstition. Some of this superstition comes through the formal education system, teaching such unscientific notions that a person can choose their gender at any point in their life and change it [21]. Some of it comes through the conservative churches, such as those who discount the COVID-19 vaccine and who claim wearing a mask is bad for your health [22]. Either way, rational reasoning is under assault in the West.
All this opens the way for a return to the conditions seen in medieval and early modern Europe, which so favored a church/state/business symbiosis and unity.
Revelation 18 depicts a relationship between the church and major elements of global commerce, whereby the church promises the social stability needed for business to prosper in return for financial support. As Adventists, we have always understood that this relationship will be seen in the near future whereby, as the West’s social systems disintegrate and natural calamities multiply (thus adversely affecting business), the church comes forward with the answer in the form of a Sunday law to appease an angry God [##23|White, The Great Controversy, p. 590.##]. At that point everyone, big business included, will buy into the dream that is supposed to restore previous prosperity [##24——Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, p. 410.##].
Conclusion
As we watch the forces gathering that will bring about enforced false worship and hence the loud cry, we need to make a spiritual preparation in order that we will not be overwhelmed by these events when they happen. We should look at these events, not to scare ourselves and each other but to remind ourselves of Jesus’s call for repentance and refreshing in order that we may be with Him when He comes.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne (Rev. 3:19-21).
REFERENCES
1. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4 (Washington, D.C: Review and Herald Publishing Assn, 1976), p. 894.
2. Ibid
3. Sascha O. Becker and Steven Pfaff, “Church and State in historical political economy,” (University of Warwick, May 2022), p. 3. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/165602.
4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/04/17/what-rich-people-fear-most/
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution
6. https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/2019/08/07/the-keys-of-the-kingdom-2/
7. https://www.worldhistory.org/Medieval_Church/
8. Becker and Pfaff, “Church and State in historical political economy,” (University of Warwick, May 2022), p. 3. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/165602.
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Majority
10. https://www.oah.org/tah/issues/2018/november/evangelicalism-and-politics/
11. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/racial-and-ethnic-composition/white/
12. Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers (p. 8). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
13. Ibid.
14. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/opinion/religious-right-america.html
15. https://www.idea.int/gsod-2017/files/IDEA-GSOD-2017-CHAPTER-5-EN.pdf
16. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/04/20/how-the-american-middle-class-has-changed-in-the-past-five-decades/#:~:text=The%20middle%20class%2C%20once%20the,Center%20analysis%20of%20government%20data.
17. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2015/12/09/the-american-middle-class-is-losing-ground/
18. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/
19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Hanauer
20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology
21. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/schools-told-to-let-students-choose-their-gender-identities-and-names/MMDOBPKBTDSYHU2UJBWYAF675Q/
22. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/how-the-pandemic-radicalized-evangelicals/
23. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 590.
24. ----Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, p. 410.
Tony Rigden, a former atheist/deist, came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1980 as the result of a miraculous conversion and the reading of the book The Great Controversy by Ellen G White. He has since been a regular Sabbath School teacher, very part-time lay preacher, elder and briefly head elder. Formerly an electronics technician and computer programmer, Tony is currently still part-time programming but mostly retired. Former hobbies included diving and private flying. Currently he is a volunteer guard (train conductor) for one of New Zealand's leading vintage railways.