Iron sharpeneth iron.  Our pastor’s message of last Sunday night sharpened my mind and gave me a few thoughts about the rules of civility that we have been reading each Sunday. 

As we have read the rules of civility it has been very noticeable that our culture is quite different than George Washington’s culture in that there was a much greater recognition of class and ranking of people.

In his day there were recognizable differences in classes of people and a recognition that authority was to be respected and revered.

But today that is not so, for there is pressure everywhere to homogenize the human race by equalization, which is a leveling

of differences between people. 

When people ask why we keep score in Tee Ball there is an inference that Tee Ball ought to be levelized so that there are no winners nor losers.  

Gushy, unrestrained and over the top compliments and praise given to all players so that none feel different, regardless of talent, is common today. 

Therefore the cheapening of praise and the erasing of differences between people.

Politically correct evaluations of things simply devolve into an equalization of the evaluations lest feelings be hurt and therefore evaluations become worthless.

The move to abolish grades in schools is part of the equalization of peoples so that all move together at one level and differences are erased. 

Even the differences between adults and children are being blurred as child rights advocates try to equalize children with adults. 

The dress styles of today promote the lowest common denominator so that no one feels there is a difference among people.

If George Washington visited Wal-Mart today he would say that most of the people in this area are of the poorer class and he would not understand from where they got the money to shop in such a place.

The pursuit of excellence and high standards is abhorred for it points up differences.

Last Monday’s Pensacola News Journal contained a column written by Walter Williams who is a professor of economics at George Mason University, entitled Redistribute wealth?  Call it what it is: Stealing.

In it he says: The rise of equalitarian ideology has driven Americans to steal from one another.

He explains that certain kinds of equality have been a cherished value in America.

Equality under the law and, within reason, equality of opportunity is consistent with a free society.

But equality of results is an anathema to a free society and within it lie the seeds of tyranny.

The word equalitarian is a relatively new word, meaning: a person who adheres to the doctrine of equality among all people.

It means the same as the word egalitarian which means: asserting, resulting from, or characterized by belief in the equality of all people, esp. in political, economic, or social life.

Now our constitution says that All men are created equal and that has long been recognized to be a statement that means that all men under the law ought to be seen as equal. 

That is a revered principle and is derived from the fact that God is not a respecter of persons nor should we when it comes to the exercise of justice.

But today, as what takes place in all things human, it is being corrupted by a move to make all things equal even in the matter of equality of results. 

Communism and socialism are two systems that promote equality in all things except of course when it comes to those in charge who are more equal than the rank and file.

These are Satanic movements for they are totally Anti-Biblical. 

Equalitarians wish to remove differences among peoples, for differences according to their thinking, are the cause of all strife between peoples.

In doing this they wish to erase the diversity of God’s creation and simply make people into automatons, robotic like, who move according to their design, consumers who are simply made to move in accordance with a social engineered program.

God’s creation is diverse and He has so made it to include a striving for excellence in all things.

It is so easy to fall into the clutch of culture for things change in small ways over generations and that is why God gave us his unchanging culture that is described in his word. 

How important it is to know God’s word for the devil is still at work seeking whom he may devour and one of his strongest weapons is culture. 

The Book of Daniel, The Portent of Doom, Daniel 5:5-9 - Lesson 22

Daniel 5:5-9,  In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king’s wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.

We have all heard the wise saying: "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it"

In our study of chapter five of Daniel we are introduced to a man who, for want of learning of the history of his grandfather, came to a place of doom in his life.

We will learn that King Belshazzar’s punishment was revealed to him by God’s hand writing a message to him on the wall of the banquet hall.

But this message did not have to be, for this grandson failed to learn the lessons which his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, had learned.

Each one of us has a history that those that come afterward can learn from, if they take heed to lessons learned by another.

This learning is not simply from history books but each of us has much to learn from those who came before and much to teach those who follow.

Belshazzar failed to heed the history and the lessons of his grandfather and because of this lack he was to suffer death that very night.

Everything he needed to know to spare him from divine judgment was his to know, for Nebuchadnezzar’s seven year humiliation, I’m sure, was well known to all in the kingdom.

Nebuchadnezzar’s honoring and worship of the Most High God was a part of the kingdom story.

But Belshazzar did not heed, nor give any credence to the experience of another and he failed to act on what was known from history.

Wisdom is believing and acting on the word of another whose word is true.

We are given the history of God’s working in the world.

We are given to believe that history, and to act upon that knowledge.

Those who reject the word of God are doomed for they refuse to learn from the history of others and go about to establish their own history apart from the word of God.

God had provided light to Belshazzar, the personal testimony of his grandfather, but Belshazzar had chosen to ignore this history and instead to go on his own path, the same path that his grandfather had gone on, the path of pride.

Each one of us has received revelation from God.

Some of us have a godly heritage which cannot be ignored.

Some have not had this great gift, but all of us have seen the glory of God in his creation and the glory of God in his word.

As God held Belshazzar accountable for the light that the experience of Nebuchadnezzar brought, so too will he hold us accountable for what history teaches us.

He will hold us accountable for the knowledge of the history of men throughout the centuries, down to the history of our godly heritage and most importantly the history of his revelation to men that we receive from his word.

At the time of this feast, this drunken orgy, Belshazzar, had been second ruler, under his father, Nabonidus, for only two years.

I’m sure his history of governance was not good before God and this feast, with its use of the sacred temple vessels, was the capstone of his sin against the Most High God.

He has filled his thousand princes with wine and the room is noisy with praises and the toasting of wine to the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

But the merriment is not to continue for God chooses to intervene in the festivities and everything changes in a moment of time.

All eyes are focused on Belshazzar as his countenance is changed accompanied by his body shaking in such as way as to cause fear in all who witness the scene.