We are living in a time of political and religious transformation in the most powerful country of the earth. In the political confrontations that are taking place in the USA, which are echoed in most countries of the world, many don’t perceive the principles at stake in that change.
In his last day as Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo said:
“Woke-ism, multiculturalism, all the—isms—they’re not who America is. They distort our glorious founding and what this country is all about. Our enemies stoke these divisions because they know they make us weaker.”
His words have been misinterpreted by liberals and defended by conservatives. The NYT wrote the same day that these statements “infuriated American diplomats who described it as a final insult by the Trump administration.”
But like the American comedian Matt Walsh agreed.
“He’s absolutely right. Multiculturalism is a failed experiment and should be abandoned.” “The reason America is in its current state is that we are a collection of people without any shared culture or reference point. We have little in common, we are not assimilated with each other, and we have observed the results. It’s not good.”
I think that no one denies that we are a people represented by different ethnic origins. The problem lies on what the people wants to include under the term multiculturalism, and its inflammatory device for political gain. For instance, did the USA struggle formerly for public recognition of multigender people? Do we have to introduce a cultural war by neglecting the true principles that have made this country great for two centuries?
The secret of power and prosperity: Protestantism and Republicanism
What is the “reference point” that this great country has, which is being neglected by many who are introducing new issues that touch morality and faith, to fight and divide us? Let us read what E. G. White wrote on this issue more than one century ago, which constitute the secret of the power and prosperity of the USA.
“Republicanism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power and prosperity” (GC 441). “The ‘two horns like a lamb’ well represent the character of the United States Government, as expressed in its two fundamental principles, Republicanism and Protestantism. These principles are the secret of our power and prosperity as a nation. Those who first found an asylum on the shores of America rejoiced that they had reached a country free from the arrogant claims of popery and the tyranny of kingly rule. They determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty” (ST, Nov 1, 1899).
What does it mean “power” and “prosperity”? The principles of capitalism have been always linked to freedom and prosperity, because they allow men to work diligently and obtain the fruit of their labor. They are based not on exploitation of other countries, but on a responsible spirit to grow and prosper.
“As the tidings spread through the countries of Europe, of a land where every man might enjoy the fruit of his own labor and obey the convictions of his own conscience, thousands flocked to the shores of the New World… To secure the object which they sought…, ‘they asked nothing from the soil but the reasonable returns of their own labor. No golden vision threw a deceitful halo around their path… They were content with the slow but steady progress of their social polity. They patiently endured the privations of the wilderness, watering the tree of liberty with their tears, and with the sweat of their brow, till it took deep root in the land” (GC 296).
The introduction of new principles that would cause its ruin
The USA would be ruined by moral and political corruption equivalent to what happened in the atheistic French Revolution, and by the Protestant apostasy for adopting Roman Catholic principles.
a) Moral and political corruption equivalent to those introduced by atheist French Revolution
“But continually increasing numbers were attracted to the shores of America, actuated by motives widely different from those of the first Pilgrims. Though the primitive faith and purity exerted a widespread and molding power, yet its influence became less and less as the numbers increased of those who sought only worldly advantage” (GC 296-7).
In dealing with the Impending Conflict, E. G. White wrote in chapter 36 of the book The Great Controversy:
“Would we know the result of making void the law of God? The experiment has been tried. Terrible were the scenes enacted in France when atheism became the controlling power. It was then demonstrated to the world that to throw off the restraints which God has imposed is to accept the rule of the cruelest of tyrants. When the standard of righteousness is set aside, the way is open for the prince of evil to establish his power in the earth” (GC 584). “The world-wide dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution—all are tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France” (Ed 228).
“Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth… Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected” (GC 592). “Political strife, bribery, fraud, are seen on every hand. Men seem determined to rule or ruin. They are ready to ill-treat and even to kill those who will not be ruled by them. Who can doubt but that the evils which existed before the Flood exist today?” (3 MR 38).
b) Protestant apostasy by the adoption of Roman Catholic principles
“More than one-third of Joe Biden's incoming Cabinet are his fellow Catholics”.
“There never has been a more Catholic administration in U.S. history,” Steven Millies, director of the Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, tweeted when Biden first began announcing Cabinet positions in December.
This is what the Spirit of Prophecy foretold, based on the book of Revelation.
“The stern tracings of the prophetic pencil reveal a change in this peaceful scene. The beast with lamblike horns speaks with the voice of a dragon, and ‘exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him...’ Thus Protestantism is to follow in the steps of the Papacy” (ST, February 8, 1910). “History testifies of her artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people” (GC 580).
“If a Protestant government sacrifices the principles that have made them a free, independent nation, and through legislation brings into the Constitution principles that will propagate papal falsehood and papal delusion, they are plunging into the Roman horrors of the Dark Ages” (RH Extra, Dec. 11, 1888; LDE 125). “Roman Catholic principles will be taken under the care and protection of the state. This national apostasy will speedily be followed by national ruin” (RH June 15, 1897; LDE 134). “It is at the time of the national apostasy when, acting on the policy of Satan, the rulers of the land will rank themselves on the side of the man of sin. It is then the measure of guilt is full. The national apostasy is the signal for national ruin” (2 SM 373).
Is all this not a clear description of what we are seeing today? Are we not yet entered already in that final step of national ruin?
Dr. Alberto R. Treiyer was born in the Adventist community of Libertador San Martín, Entre Ríos, Argentina. Dr. Treiyer is an author, and has a doctoral degree in theology from the University of Strasbourg, France. He has served as the director of the theological department at the Adventist Antillian College in Puerto Rico, where he taught for six years. He has also taught at the University of La Sierra, and Columbia Union College, as well as theology in Costa Rica and Columbia. Alberto is now a retired pastor, giving seminars, and writing books and papers that support our distinctive message.
