The Church, Freethinking and Revelation -Out of the Book: "The Church, Freethinking and Revelation"

"And I will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (her seed) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Gen. 3: 15.)

This testimony indicates the evolution of all the three objects — the serpent, the tree and the woman. The tree is not mentioned, but it is, nevertheless, the main object as the cause of the enmity. But in the picture it has the middle position, and, as we shall endeavor to show, it still retains this position. The sentence, "enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed," reveals that the superior force of the serpent over the woman by virtue of the tree of knowledge would divide the human family into two special classes — one oppressed and suffering, the other, be­cause of the deceit of the tree of knowledge, oppressing and enjoying. The fact that the serpent was to bruise the woman's heel shows that the woman has a long walk ahead of her, and that the serpent and his seed were to follow so closely in the steps of her and her seed that those of the latter who were caught up with would be bruised and destroyed. But the woman's flight before the serpent will at last take such a turn that she faces the serpent. The woman and her seed turn their faces instead of their heels to the serpent and his seed, then beginning to retrace their steps, crushing the head of the serpent on their way. The scene is reversed.

The class represented by the woman is defined in the Lord's words to Adam, the head of the woman: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." (Gen. 3:19.) She and her seed represent the laboring and producing class — the natural man. The non-working, who is existing by means of knowl­edge and deceit, is, therefore, represented by the serpent and his seed. And this is also confirmed when the woman in her journey had reached the station on the road of revelation where the central figure appeared. John, who pointed out to the woman where she then was, described the oppressing class as follows: "0 generation of vipers." (Mat. 3:7.) And Christ confirmed this in the following designation: "Ye ser­pents, ye generation of vipers." (Mat. 23: 33.)

The nature of the serpent is to crawl in among trees and bushes, where he can lie in wait for living objects, which he can attract to himself by his magic power as soon as his eye catches theirs, as for instance that of the pigeon, chicken or hare, or larger or smaller objects according to the serpent's size. After this he lies basking in the sun.

The transformation of the tree of knowledge into the serpent's head and horn is also, as stated, connected with the evolution. The land-owning institution and the capitalistic power constitute the very evolutionary or transformatory power, dividing the human family into the two classes, the working class and the upper class. The embryo of the evolu­tion, which in the 17th chapter of Revelation is described as the queen of the world, who rules over nations, was set in motion by the building of the tower of Babel — a common and uni­versal building of safety. Upon this followed the founding of the city of Babylon, which surrounded the tower, and from thence the Babylonian evolutionary work has continued to this day. By means of this the right to possess land and the capitalistic power have also continued to grow, and in pro­portion to their extension the tree of knowledge has divided the two classes. In our time it is possible for less than one thousand non-working people to lord it over and enslave a working class of ten thousand persons by means of knowledge and deceit. What is this in the light of revelation? It is the serpent and his seed and the tree of knowledge, representing the many branches of inventions, on one hand, and the woman and her seed on the other, who, though they have produced and maintain the tree, are destitute and must always continue to produce more.

In this manner the woman and her seed have continued to journey from the border of Paradise in the East until, now, they have reached the extreme West. When the gates of America were opened, the woman and her seed hastened over there, because the extension of the tree of knowledge in Europe had forced them out of there. In the same manner they were driven to Europe. Now, when the woman, pressed against the boundary of the West, looks back over the road she has traveled, what does she see following in her footsteps? A ruling power which enjoys and is dependent on what she in sweat and toil has produced, and which is as closely linked with the works of her hands as the head and horns are one with the body of an animal.

The serpent, or the class he represents, develops in and through the tree of knowledge. His heads develop, one after the other, in the proportion the woman and her seed cultivate the land and build cities and other institutions. The heads are formed and grow through the protective power, which is brought forth in defense of the existing order. The first defensive head was formed by Nebuchadnezzar, the second by the Medio-Persian power, the third by the Grecian power, the fourth by the Roman power, the fifth by the papal power, the sixth by Protestantism, and the seventh is now being formed. In the revelation the number seven is the complete form, into which the preceding forms in the same chain merge. The seventh head is the one which the woman and her seed will crush.

As the representative head of the complete form, this head must comprise not only everything that previously had developed in defense of the tree of knowledge, but also every­thing which the revelation discloses as belonging to it as special powers against the work of the revelation. In this are included the false Christs, of whom the central figure of the revelation said that they would appear at the time desig­nated as the final scene of the revelation. It is because of this they now appear in their order. The revelation does even disclose the Salvation Army to be a spiritual image, without which the military army in the filling of its dragonic measure would be incomplete. The military army is the male part, and the Salvation Army the female part of the image, and they belong to the seventh head. The evolution is in progress, and the embryos gradually attain their pre­determined form.

When the seventh head is completed, then the woman and her seed will have reached the last station on their long journey. There is then no more new country or territory for them to emigrate to and work in order to extend the serpent's kingdom. The embryo of the horns came into existence through the fact that Emperor Constantine divided the Roman empire into ten parts, and these he handed over to his land barons — the generals of the army — to have the revenue of. The time converted them into as many kingly powers, and these are still in existence in Europe. And now, in the seventh head, or the international governmental form against the labor movement, they are again incorporated into the central power in defense of the great tree of knowledge.

Through the institution of landed property and the capi­talistic power the church and state are already united as to the principal power, and gradually the parts or sects of the church are pressed into the determined form, such as it is revealed and shown in Rev. 17:3-6 that they will be when the time arrives for the woman and her seed to turn about and return to Paradise. The woman is still standing below the tree and the serpent is speaking to her. But now he does not say: "Eat and you will be like God," but, instead, he says: "If you eat of the forbidden fruit, I will kill you." Is not this the position of the workers under the ever increasing oppression? They have created cities and kingdoms, and yet they are destitute.

At the start of the journey it was said to the woman, that she was to submit to her husband. The opposite will take place at the time she begins to pursue and smite the serpent. "Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame.... For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called." (Is. 54: 4, 5.) When He, the woman's right husband, as a tender mate intervenes with His invincible battling power against the might of the dragon in defense of the woman, then she will have no reluctance against a meek subordination. Then she will also be willing to bring forth her seed in the tribulation.

In the woman's development for the great battle during her return to Paradise — the kingdom of heaven the revela­tion discloses — the center of the revelation is first formed, that is, the word of revelation takes form in a work that puts in motion the cyclonic power and its revolutions. In proportion to the pressure of the negative powers to prevent the development, the motion of the whirl increases, attracting all related elements. The Messianic power is the very motive power, but the form that the revelation through its evolu­tionary movement brings forth constitutes the body of the Messiah, or the visible form in which the Messiah clothes the work by means of which He will become "the King of kings, and Lord of lords." The working class will gradually rally to this movement, like the mother encompasses her fetus.

The speed of the whirl increases from time to time, and the scene left behind will be now, as when the woman went out of the Egyptian bondage, "The Red Sea." But this time it will be an actual sea of blood, which will reveal how much blood the seed of the woman has had to shed because of the serpent. The mystery of the great work from the beginning of time might be explained in the following brief words:

The woman has walked around the earth, with tools in hand, so that she might support herself on the way. But in her footsteps has followed a terribly large serpent, which has fed on her offspring and barred the way behind her. He has now driven her to the extreme border of the West, in order there to devour what is still left of her seed. Then and there the woman and her seed turn about and face the ser­pent. When the serpent realizes this, his monstrous head develops against the woman, so that he might bar her on all sides and press her against the wall. In this her distress an invisible but powerful help links itself with the woman and her seed, and they, despite the opposition, press on toward the goal, where the woman began her journey. This is simply the second manifestation of Christ, and the embryo of this was formed when He appeared as the lowly Nazarene at the opening of the period of Christianity's development. The work is now to be completed.

It is the year of jubilee or liberty, when all oppression and all causes thereof shall be exterminated, that is ushered in when the woman turns about. According to the Mosaic order, the land was merely a loan from God, its Creator, and every individual within the nation had access to and the right to use it. But through mortgages and leases there arose grad­ually an oligarchic land monopoly, a power which now con­trols the Christian nations, creating riches for a few, while the great mass of the people is pressed down into extreme poverty. It was for the purpose of doing away with such a power that the year of jubilee was given, which came every fiftieth year. At the very moment the New Year or the Feast of Atonement broke in on the tenth of the seventh month, which is about the twenty-fifth of September, in the fiftieth year, the horn of jubilee was blown, and this indicated that all lands were to be returned to their rightful owner, and that all oppression was to cease and the slaves to be set free and that the whole land was to be given rest. Toward this, the greatest of all sabbatical feasts, the oppressed looked forward with joy, because liberty, the most esteemed in man's life, then met them. The landlords among the Hebrews finally made an end to this institution of liberty, a change that is sanctioned and confirmed by formalistic Christianity.

According to the light of revelation the jubilee horn of the feast of jubilee is again to be blown, and just then the time of freedom, the shadow of which is seen in the Mosaic jubilee institution, will be ushered in. When the central figure of revelation read Isaiah's prophecy in the synagogue concerning the great year of jubilee and its work, He closed with the sentence: "To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD," thereby making known that, although the prophecy was connected with Him and His mission, the time had not arrived for the fulfillment of the whole context. The time will come when the book of revelation again shall be opened, and then the context will be read, namely: "And the day of vengeance of our God (against land barons and oppressors); to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion (those oppressed under the might of Babylon), to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called (like the oppressors now) trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified." (Is. 61: 1-3.)

In Is. 41: 1-3 we also have the wonderful work of the year of jubilee described. The horn of jubilee sounds:

"Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment. Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet."

In Is. 63: 1-6 the same time and the work thereof are described. The year of jubilee is there called "a day of vengeance" and "the year of my redeemed," and is compared to the work of the treader of a winepress. It is a year of redemption for the oppressed, but a day of vengeance against the oppressors. The movement in its progressive work toward the goal of freedom, or the paradisiacal kingdom, is described in the form of an answer to the question: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?" Edom represents Esau's possession of land against the land­less Jacob, and Bozrah, the principal seat of the land barons, for Esau's sons became dukes and possessors of land. (See Gen. 36.) The coming cyclonic power, linked with the in­vincible power of the lightning, shall bring about the great work of redemption of the year of jubilee.