[Roundtable] The Man of Lawlessness

[Jefferis Peterson]

The Man of Lawlessness, a Man of Many Laws
http://www.scholarscorner.com/eschaton/manlaws.html

Why Legalism is a Hallmark of A Lawless Spirit

  2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, RSV.
  1 Timothy 1:8-10, NIV.

If we look throughout history at recent despots and tyrants like Hitler,
Mussolini, Stalin, and Mao, what is notable is the fact that all these
rulers used an extensive legal system to control their people. The massive
legal apparatuses, their courts controlled by party loyalty rather than
impartial justice, legalized punishment for all types of infractions, minor
and major. It was through the instrumentality of the law that they gained
inordinate control over the lives and "loyalty" of their people. They held
the people in subjection through threats of punishment or death, and
heightened fear of exposure through an extensive network of spies. Hitler
used the law to establish his dictatorship, and then passed laws that
outlawed opposition parties. Later, he used his powers to legalized the
inhumane treatment of the Jews.

What is common to these dictators is not only that they want absolute power
over the lives of others, but that they want to extinguish freedom of
thought, of speech, of opposition and true debate. They want to control
human behavior and they demand ultimate and complete allegiance from all who
surround them. Any person found to waver in his support is removed from
power, arrested, or executed. Mao's "re-education" camps were an attempt not
only to control the behavior of the opposition, but to control the thoughts
of the heart and mind to force them into abject obedience. In short,
demagogues demand a godlike obedience that not even God requires of his
subjects.

The irony is that despots use the laws of the land to justify their lawless
behaviors. Hit squads, abductions, assassinations and torture become part of
the arsenal of the State, in its quest for security and secrecy. It isn't
just for matters of national security, but these forces of intimidation and
murder are used to eliminate perceived enemies as well as those who only
disagree with their policies. The extreme examples of the misuse of the law
for evil purposes are genocides [the Holocaust or persecution of a race of
people, the Gypsies, e.g.], forced sterilizations of people determined to be
"inferior," for imprisoning opposition parties, and for enforcing
personality cults, like Maoism or Führer worship. In other words, the law,
or the power of law, is misused by despots to cloak evil behaviors. It is
this misuse of the law, to make what is evil appear to be good, that is at
the heart of lawlessness.

In some ways, Hitler had the appearance of good things. He taught children
to respect their elders, he restored the economy, and he suppressed public
immorality. Yet at the root of his "order" was a craving for personal and
absolute power over the lives of others. If we take Hitler as an example, we
can see that the heart of lawlessness will flourish in a State with many
laws. Laws create power, and laws misused can reinforce injustice.

Since Paul says, this man will be one "who opposes and exalts himself
against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat
in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God," we can surmise that he
will have the power to enforce absolute obedience and worship over all his
subjects. He can only enforce such control over people through a worldwide
legal and governmental system which has the power to kill or imprison all of
those who oppose him. For this reason, the "Man of Lawlessness" will have
the appearance of morality and be a man of many laws.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jefferis Peterson, Pres.
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