experience opposed to doctrine; freedom,rnto law; emotion, to the commandmentsrnof God; subjective criticism, to thernobjective authority of the Bible; arrogantrninnovations, to humble submission to thernWord of God. Men refuse their God-givenrnresponsibilihes, and women are illegitimatelyrnexalted to positions of authorit}’.rnFinally, we see the arrogant substitutionrnof illusions, dreams, prophesies,rnand visions to the written, inspired, andrninfallible Word of God.rnNow St. Paul, in this text, indicatesrnthat an obstacle will, for a hme, preventrnthe advent of the Antichrist. The textrndoes not explicitly define the nature ofrnthis obstacle, but it is easy to deduce itsrncharacter. The outward application ofrnthe law to the public domain is the affairrnof the magistrate. The public exercise ofrnpiet}’ is the affair of the Church. Whatrnour text tells us is that the time will bernripe for the advent of the Antichrist whenrnthe state has radicallv separated itselfrnfrom justice, from the application ofrnCiod’s Law to the ills of societ)’, and whenrnthe Church has forsaken orthodox piety,rnboth in its life and in the public worshiprnit renders unto God. When these twornfactors appear in combination, then it isrntime to read the writing on the wall!rnThen the legitimate state will have beenrnreplaced by a satanic beast and the Bridernof Christ turned into a prostitute. Therneil alliance between these aberrant factorsrnwill then take its stand against all whornhold to true pieb, and who fear to offendrnGod’s Holy Law,rnhi a parallel passage of Scripture, Revelationrn8, St. John shows us the true characterrnof this beast. We find ourselves inrnthe presence of three strange animals: arnDragon, a Beast coming up from the sea,rnand another Beast, similar to the first, butrncoming out of the earth. The Dragon,rnwe are told, is the Devil, hi opposition tornthe normal two-tier spiritual structure ofrnpower (God and tlie authorit}’ to whomrnHe delegates His power), we here have arnthree-tier political structure: the Dragon;rnthe first Beast, which holds its powerrnfrom the Dragon; and the second Beast,rnwhich acts on the authority of the firstrnand in its presence. So all three are contemporaneousrnin their action.rnThroughout Scripture, the image ofrnthe Beast is applied to huge empiresrnwhich, in their pretension to absoluternpower, place their sovereign authorityrnabove that of God himself These are politicalrnsystems with totalitarian pretensions.rnIt is interesting to note that, inrnHitler’s thinking, the normal structures ofrnstate power, with its limitations and controlsrnand the traditional exercise of justice,rnwere in fact considered as “moral”rnobstacles to the exercise of the absoluternpower of the party and of the fiihrer.rnRousseau’s General Will also standsrnabove the normal, God-given institutionsrnof society, hi the communist system, realrnpower is the domain of the organs of thernpart)’, which act within all the legal institutionsrnthrough the noyau dirigeant, theirrn”directing core,” made up of men totallyrnsubservient to the part}’, from which theyrntake all their orders. The biblical Beastsrnsymbolize this anti-Christian powerrnstructure. ‘Lhe empires of Eg’pt, Assyria,rnBabylon, of the Medes and Persians, ofrnAlexander the Great and the Roman Empirernall, to various degrees, fit into thisrncategor)’. Thus also, and here equally inrnvarying degrees, do the modern attemptsrnat world concjuest, from the medieval papacyrnand empire, to the empires of thernHabsburgs, Napoleon, the British, thernGermans, the Russians and, today, thernAmericans.rnEvery day, it is becoming more evidentrnthat the great power of the 20th centuryrnwas neither that of the British or FrenchrnEmpires, nor that of Germany or Russiarn(whatever their pretentions to universalrnpower may have been) nor that of thernnascent European Union, incapable asrnyet of any kind of coherent and independentrnpolicy. The really great power todayrnis that of the United States of America. Itrnis also abundantly clear that the controlrnof this nation has been taken over by anrnoligarchic clique, at least from the inceptionrnof the Federal Reserve System inrn1913. The distinction between the realrncountry and the occupied country isrnplain for anyone who has eyes to see.rnWith the semi-public Davos Conferencern(established in 1978) and with thernspeeches of President Bush in favor of arnNew World Order, these men have begunrnto come out of the closet. It is becomingrna matter of public knowledgernthat such secret organizations are the truernsource of the power of our visible politicalrninstitutions. And from those whornhave left these organizations and recountedrnwhat they have witnessed, wernlearn that at the center of these abominablernsects the Devil himself manifestsrnhis will and communicates his power.rnThese are the citadels of Satan, the assembliesrnof the Devil, to which St. Johnrnrefers in Rev. 2:9 and 2:13. The wiles ofrnthe prince of this world have come to bernrecognized. But what is equally plain isrnthat every attempt to oppose this growthrnof totalitarian power has resulted in defeatrnand failure. Wliy? How are we thenrnto resist and overcome such a system ofrnunlimited and uncontrolled power?rnPolitics is nothing if not a struggle forrnpower, the greater power being always, inrnthe long run, victorious. We know thatrnJesus Christ at the Cross overcame all thernpowers of Hell. We also know that allrnpower in Heaven and on earth has beenrngiven Him by His Father. We know thatrnthe faithful Church has received custodyrnof this divine power, having in the accuraternpreaching of the Word of God thernLIBERAL ARTSrnWAITER, THERE’S A RACIST IN MY SOUPrn”Police in Gloucester liave begun a crackdown on racial abuse in ethnic restaurantsrnby going undercover to make sure that diners keep unpalatable opinions to themselves.rn”Operation Napkin was started last week with four plain-clothes officers eating inrnpairs in Indian and Chinese restaurants.rn”The first two days resulted in a 51-year-old man being arrested for racially aggravatedrnharassment in an Indian restaurant. . . . Another man was o’erheard . . . as hernmimicked an Indian waiter, but police decided that his behaviour was not badrnenough to warrant prosecution. . . .rn”Chief Inspector Dean Walker said: ‘Racist behaviour is unacceptable. The constabular}’rnis now taking a proactive stance in relation to racist offences rather thanrnwaiting for people to report them to us.rn”‘Our aim is to act in the interests of the restaurants and of other diners who are offendedrnby racist behaviour but feel reluctant to intervene.rn'”We want to encourage the reporting of racial crimes.'”rn—from “Distasteful views policed,” London Times (March 15, 2000)rnJULY 2000/45rnrnrn