Machiavelli
and
How Rulers Think
Most professing Christians desire to be ignorant of the true nature of this World
System. It is
comfortable for us to remain deceived with a "Pollyanna" wishful thinking view of
the Political, Economic, and Religious rulers of this world. If it "steals our joy" to
know about the true nature of the World System, then our joy and our hope is in this world. If we
are to have true joy and true hope then we must be set free from worldly idolatrous deceptions and
turn again to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as our only hope and joy.
I want to encourage you with the Truth which sets us free: forsake the idolatry of the world and
turn to Jesus Christ and an eternal hope of being with him.
Introduction - The Purpose of Political Power -
Background
Morals, Ethics, and Religion - Manipulation, Deceit, and Murder
Opposites in Conflict
Manipulated or Set Apart?
Introduction
Professing Christians are being prepared for the ultimate worldly ruler: the Counterfeit
Christ.
Counterfeit Christians will worship him. They are being prepared for him by having been led to
worship worldly rulers in society, whether it be in our political states and movements, our business
enterprises, or our church and religious organizations. The rulers of each function in a similar
manner.
Machiavelli and his writings give us great insight into his worldly thinking and the thinking of
worldly rulers. It is Biblical to examine what men have said, compare it with God's Word, and
declare what men have said to be false when it is contrary to the Word.
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The Purpose of Political Power
Machiavelli wrote that the purpose of political power is to maintain itself and to extend itself.
It has nothing to do with the welfare of the people. It has nothing to do with principles or
ideology or right and wrong. The welfare of the people, principles, ideology, right and wrong: these
are related to the means to the end, but the goal is power. Do whatever it
takes to keep your power and extend your power.
"This is Machiavelli's most conspicuous quality. He writes almost wholly of the mechanics
of government, of the means by which states may be made strong, of the policies by which they can
expand their power, and of the errors that lead to their decay or overthrow. Political and
military measures are almost the sole objects of his interest, and he divorces these almost wholly
from religious, moral, and social considerations, except as the latter affect political
expedients. The purpose of politics is to preserve and increase political power itself, and the
standard by which he judges it is its success in doing this. Whether a policy is cruel or
faithless or lawless he treats for the most part as a matter of indifference, though he is well
aware that such qualities may react upon its political success. He often discusses the advantages
of immorality skillfully used to gain a ruler's ends, and the most part he is not so much immoral
as non-moral. He simply abstracts politics from other considerations and writes of it as if it
were and end in itself." 1
"Politics" is the endeavor of organizing and controlling people. Romans 13 tells us
that God establishes worldly authority in civil government in order to restrain evil. But this is no
endorsement of the men who serve in worldly positions of authority. It simply is a testimony to
God's Sovereignty in working his purposes in spite of the evil intentions of men.
When men presume to rule over political, economic, and religious organizations they are setting
about the business of organizing and controlling people. The New Testament teaches us how leaders
are to serve in the Body of Christ - The Church of Jesus. The New Testament teaches followers of
Jesus how we should relate to civil government authorities, no matter what their nature. The Bible
teaches us that this world system is under the control of the evil one and in rebellion against God.
Machiavelli provides insight into the true nature of the thinking of worldly leaders. Followers
of Jesus ought to acknowledge what the Bible says about this corruption and realize the patterns of
the rulers' thinking and recognize these patterns in the leaders they have tended to worship in our
day.
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The Background of Niccolo Machiavelli
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 - 1527) served in government in the city state of Florence. He is
considered a political philosopher because of his writings about political power. Many consider Machiavelli
the "father of modern political science".2
His most famous work is The Prince written in 1513 and published in 1532. It was written
to "ingratiate himself with powerful figures" who he hoped would return him to a position
of power after his side had lost out in a political struggle.3
Machiavelli had great influence on the thinking of many that came after him, including
G.W.F
Hegel (1770-1831) one of the most influential of the German philosophers. Hegelian philosophy, in
turn, was the basis for Marxism, Nazism, Fascism, and Western Progressive philosophy and social
engineering.4, 5, 6, 7
Hegel considered Machiavelli to be one of the most heroic figures of modern politics. "The
Prince he called, 'the great and true conception of a real political genius with the highest and
noblest purpose.'" 8
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Morals, Ethics, and Religion - Manipulation, Deceit, and Murder
Machiavelli taught that it was good to promote morals and ethics and religious
convictions among the people. These were important in order to keep them under control and
productive. Morals and ethics maintained stability and order and peace.
"He had nothing but admiration for the civic virtues of the ancient Romans
and of the Swiss in his own day, and he believed that these grew out of purity in the family, independence
and sturdiness in private life, simplicity and frugality of manners, and loyalty and trustworthiness
in performing public duties. But this does not mean that the ruler must believe in the religion of
his subjects or practice their virtues... Machiavelli offers an extreme example of a double
standard of morals, one for the ruler and another for the private citizen." 9
So the ruler, himself, was under no obligation to live by these same morals and
ethics and religious convictions. The ruler was above these things. He was beyond good and evil. The
ruler had the obligation to do whatever was necessary to maintain and extend his political power.
Machiavelli, "openly sanctioned the use of cruelty, perfidy, murder, or any
other means, provided only they are used with sufficient intelligence and secrecy to reach their
ends" 10
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Machiavelli promoted the idea that a ruler should be gentle most of the time, but when necessary
the ruler must make use of any form of manipulation, deceit, and even murder to achieve his ends.
Machiavelli writes:
"Alexander VI did nothing else but deceive men, nor ever thought of doing otherwise, and
he always found victims; for there never was a man who had greater power in asserting, or who with
greater oaths would affirm a thing, yet would observe it less; nevertheless his deceits always
succeeded according to his wishes, because he well understood this side of mankind.
"Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have
enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also,
that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is
useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so
framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the
opposite. And you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all
those things for which men are esteemed, being often forced, in order to maintain the state, to
act contrary to faith, friendship, humanity, and religion. Therefore it is necessary for him to
have a mind ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of fortune force it, yet,
as I have said above, not to diverge from the good if he can avoid doing so, but, if compelled,
then to know how to set about it.
"For this reason a prince ought to take care that he never lets anything slip from his
lips that is not replete with the above-named five qualities, that he may appear to him who sees
and hears him altogether merciful, faithful, humane, upright, and religious.
There is nothing more necessary to appear to have than this last quality,
inasmuch as men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, because it belongs to everybody
to see you, to few to come in touch with you. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really
know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have
the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of all men, and especially of princes,
which it is not prudent to challenge, one judges by the result.
"For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding his state, the
means will always be considered honest, and he will be praised by everybody because the vulgar are
always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it; and in the world there are only
the vulgar, for the few find a place there only when the many have no ground to rest on. One
prince* of the present time, whom it is not well to name, never preaches anything else but peace
and good faith, and to both he is most hostile, and either, if he had kept it, would have deprived
him of reputation and kingdom many a time." * (Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor)
[The above is from CHAPTER XVIII of The Prince: CONCERNING THE WAY IN WHICH PRINCES
SHOULD KEEP FAITH] From Machiavelli Online (This is not an endorsement of the website.) at
www.sas.upenn.edu/~pgrose/mach/index.html 12/20/2001 This link is gone. Try the following link: The
Prince
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Opposites in Conflict
Machiavelli advocated that it was actually good to have opposing forces in conflict
within a society as long as they were kept in check by the power of the ruler.
"The rivalry of patricians and plebeians in Rome Machiavelli regarded as the
secret of Roman strength. From it was born the independence and sturdiness of character that
supported the greatness of Rome. When directed by wise rulers, having great but lawful authority,
the virility that made turbulence possible became a chief reason why the Romans were a war-like,
conquering people. For this reason Machiavelli stated again the ancient theory of the mixed or
balanced constitution... The balance which he had in mind, however, was not political but social
or economic - an equilibrium of competing interests held in check by a powerful sovereign." 11
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Manipulated or Set Apart?
How often in our day are professing Christians being manipulated and deceived by demagoguery? A
"demagogue" is, "a popular leader who stirs up the people by appealing to their
emotions and prejudices. The chief aim of most demagogues is to get power and money for themselves
alone." 12
When someone observes a conflict in society, the tendency is to try to figure out which side is
the good guys and which side is the bad guys and then jump on board the bandwagon of the "good
guys".
But if a powerful ruler thinks like Machiavelli, what is the most powerful means by which to
control the outcome of any conflict in society? Control both sides! If Machiavelli is smart enough
to think of such deceptions then certainly Satan and his demons are even smarter. And certainly they
have inspired worldly leaders in this regard for centuries. Consider how Joshua was also caught up
in such worldly, fleshly thinking:
"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked,
and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went
unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his
face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And
the captain of the LORD's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place
whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so." Joshua 5:13-6:1
Our Lord Jesus calls us out of these worldly entanglements and deceptions. We stand on Holy
ground, set apart unto Him, to be used for his purposes. We are called out of the world's
philosophies and battles in order to represent Jesus to the world, to be an Ambassador from our
sovereign Lord to this foreign land, to speak the Truth in Love.
We should submit to worldly authority according to Romans 13 and Acts
5:28, 29 without worshipping those in authority and without allowing ourselves, by the grace of
God, to be deceived and manipulated by those in authority.
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Footnotes
Freemasons and Other Occult Brotherhoods
Both Presidential Candidates are Members of the Same Occult Brotherhood
Crusades for "Morality", Political Action, Social Activism
Four Ways Christians are Being Deceived
Cult
Isolation Techniques
Idolatry
History
About "Conspiracies"
Counterfeit Christianity, The World
Religion, and The New World Order
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