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B.
DYBWAD BROCHMANN THE ART OF READING
THE BIBLE Chapter 7 The Tower of Babel The Jews and Money The following is from Genesis11: 1-8: And the whole
earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they
journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and
they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and
burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for
mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top
may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad
upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and
the tower, which the children of men built. And the Lord
said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this
they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they
have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their
language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord
scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they
left off to build the city. (Copied from the Bible.com Website). The ordinary person who
reads this story would make fun of it and would dismiss it as something
“unreal” that at least doesn’t have anything to do with his life, or the
reality of today’s modern society. The ordinary pastor assures people that
this is a story about something that happened a long time ago, and that maybe
they can find “the place” where Babel’s tower stood. The scientist just
shakes his head and assures people that it is only an old “myth”, which
safely can be dismissed. Modern people with their practical science don’t
build Babel’s Towers anymore, but with ordinary “simple” people the story is
still remembered, and the expression is still used for building “castles in the air”. When you build
“illusion” on top of “illusion”, you are making a Tower of Babel.
Philosophers and etymologists (those who research in languages) give quite
another explanation as to why there are so many different languages on this
earth. Therefore, you don’t have anything concrete to believe in when you
want to believe that the story about the Tower of Babel was inspired by God. The following is an
example. During the last world war the German “state” needed much money. “The
state” took a war loan with the people who were ready to pay their “money” in
to the state treasury and they compensated them with a promissory note. The
people believed in “the state”, worked day and night for “the state”, and
quickly received their own money back. So then they had both the money and
the promissory notes. Since “the state” constantly needed more money, “the
authorities” played the German national anthem for the people and encouraged
new loans, and a large amount of promissory notes were written and gathered
up. After a while, while this was going on, the term promissory note was changed to “fortune”. “The state’s” notes continue today
to be considered secure property. The language quickly became confusing. What
one called debt, the other called credit; and what one called the national
debt, the other called the national credit. Nobody could detect that “the
spirit of God” stepped down from heaven and confused their language and
terminology. This happened quietly inside of them. The spirit of God worked
Itself “down” to them. When the people had emptied their pockets at least 10
times, a complete “Babel’s Tower “ of German “national property” now existed.
If Germany had “won” the war, they would have demanded that “the enemy” pay
the German “state” an amount equal to the total German war loan. Then they
would say: “Look, we made money on the war. We were right when we said that
the “state’s” notes were assets. Of course the German people would then have
paid “property tax” on their “state’s” notes. If Germany had won, then
Germany’s customers (the enemy) would have had to take up new “state’s” loans
in their country, and “assets and debts” would have grown correspondingly in
these countries. When Germany lost, the German “state” received the net amount
of their war loan. They went bankrupt, and the people were disappointed, cheated and swindled by their
“moloch”, i.e. the state of Germany, the German pastors, and statesmen. The great Tower of Babel
fell down, and a new one appeared in its place. All the prices went up, and
everyone was happy because they were getting richer. The workers got a
“higher salary”, even an increase from day to day, so they couldn’t to strike as often as the salary went up. The
property owners paid their debt by selling things – first a pig for 43
million marks, then a hen was worth just as much as the whole property’s
mortgage debt. This new Tower of Babel didn’t end before the stamp for a
letter cost more than the entire French war indemnity in1874. This Babel’s Tower also fell
down, and at the same time the German people were very divided, and it became so difficult to express new
ideas, that the people “reached a boiling point”. One didn’t understand
more than the other. The German people were swindled and cheated. The Kaiser
had said: “I will be leading you toward glorious times”. The people believed
him, and they worked and sacrificed day and night, as only the clever and
energetic German people can. Disappointment had to create panic and was a
sign of internal disruption. The faith in the adventure of a “state” as a
benefactor began to crumble. It was clear that a “state” that loses is a
deceiver. A “prugelknabe” (scapegoat) had to be found, and that was quickly
found in the Jew. It was the fault of the Jews, according to the Kaiser and
the people. Now the foundation was laid
for the next Tower of Babel. “The writings would be proven true”. The Jews
were God’s disobedient children. The Jews had crucified their Messiah. “We
have their blood on us and our children”. Many Germans knew The Bible well,
and the writings were fulfilled (for the thousandth time?). I don’t know how
many times the Jews have been the “scapegoat”, but it happens every time the
illusions of the national heathens and the utopias connected with the political
money start being revealed in the histories of various peoples. At least 10
or 15 times the Jews have been pointed to as the scapegoats for various
reasons when “wars” are not successful, or when one or another Tower of Babel
falls down. I only need to remind you about the persecution of the Jews in
the old Rome, Spain, Poland, Russia, France, etc. I don’t know how many times
people really want “the writings to be fulfilled”, before people learn to
understand and obey the writings. In 1936 I traveled to Vienna and spoke to
the Jews to help them to accept – for their own good – any misconceptions
about the writings. It was of no use. In Vienna there was a strict censor,
and the truth was told in such a “watered down” version, that no one
understood what was said. When German nationalism was
forced on Norway, we had already built quite a few Towers of Babel. We had
done this ourselves, but a lot was also copied from abroad. Everything was so confused that German
socialism suddenly became “Norwegian” socialism, and
a ravished people were now called “freed people”. In Norway, no one had seen
God, the Father step down from heaven to confuse the formation of our
languages and ideas. This was taken care of by our leading men, i.e. the
spirit of the time. Soon I won’t know a word in our language that doesn’t
have two or three different meanings. Here are some examples of what I mean: Intolerance and mutual
sabotage = “Liberalism” Central power = “Democracy” Struggle against public
control and bungling the election laws
when the Parliament re-elects itself = “Parliamentarianism” Monopolies, privileges,
cartels, syndicates = Hurray for
freedom and Independence Day Terror, force, and violence
= Humanism Compulsive formation of
organizations = Freedom National heathenism and the
dance around the golden calf = Christianity Judaism’s customs,
sanitizing the race, and ideology = Eliminating the power of the Jews Enormous war losses = Enormous gains Price increases and a
period of high prices = Good times Excess of material goods =
Bad times Exporting basic goods
(discounted price) = A thrifty economy Taxes and fees = Increasing
revenues and prosperity Old fashioned delusion =
Radicalism (the opposite of conservatism) Debt = Credit National property (stolen from the nation’s
flesh and blood and mortgaged abroad) = National fortune Unemployment = A thrifty
economy Expropriation Committee =
Provisions Committee Maximum prices = Insuring a
continued rich supply Black Market = New
organization The exorbitant prices of
the State Wine and Liquor Store = Price police The State Lottery =
Tax-free income (the players pay about 1 million crowns in taxes each month) Military power with bombers
and torpedo boats = Protective tax and defense Class consciousness and
class hate = Feeling of brotherhood (positive socialism) Class differences =
Equality Demagogues = Pubic
information Civil war and provocation =
the Norwegian Nazi Party Delusion = Experience and
empirical science Lack of organization,
everybody struggles with everybody else = the current society Blindly obedient to
foreigners = Patriotism Challenge by Russia =
Protection against Russia International armaments
race = Finally awake and alert Fear of a superior force =
Organized world peace Increasing power of the
government = “Power to the people, self-government” Keeping quiet and agreeing
to swindling = “Everything for Norway” Foreign impulses = National
self-government “Reorganizing” finances =
Restricting industry, unemployment A large increase in use of
non-personal items = National economy Attempt to show
misinterpretations = Negative criticism Inspired speech = “Speaking
in tongues” Religious intoxication = A
special type of religious devotion Public Pharisaism = True
Christianity True Christian proclamation
= False prophets We could continue forever. All Utopians and
daydreamers have the following in common: 1. They always build one fantasy tower on top of the other. 2. They’re all trying to
reach heaven. 3. Everybody means well and
believes they’re coming closer to heaven. 4. Everybody dreams that
his or her wishes will be fulfilled. 5. Everyone experiences the
symbols as reality. 6. No one reacts to what is
not real. All the internal censors and self-controls are missing. 7. The worried subconscious
is shown by: a. Their expressions b. Their choice of types of
violence c. Their positive and
generous reaction to giving to preserve the illusions d. Their need for a
“scapegoat” if things don’t go according to plan e. Their bitterness if
someone tries to awaken them. Disinterest in criticism. f. Their Pharisaic question
about the ‘bad” human nature g. Their rage and
bitterness if something doesn’t go their way (while they’re playing) h. Their confusion with
languages i. Their need to
monopolize. (Compare this with what we
have shown earlier regarding the most common characteristics in the dream
state). - Picture of Quisling - All of this shows us that
the story about the Tower of Babel is a fantastic, natural, symbolic version
of man’s involuntary self-deception. I have many years experience from
discussions and controversies in the newspaper, and all of my experience is
that people speak and write without listening to each other, because the confusion of ideas has become so great
because the words that are used have various meanings. The practical contents and the original
etymological meanings have been slowly changed, “so that the one doesn’t
understand the other”. How shall life, or the
great creation, free itself from all of this? What shall or can realistic
people do with the fanatical supporters of unreality? Everybody can see that
now, if they have eyes that can see, and ears that can hear. It is stated
rather clearly in The Bible that the
spirit itself “came down” and “caused confusion”. Our spiritual
life declines into thoughtlessness,
being uncritical, and superficiality
that continue first into confusion of languages, and then into
disintegration. The inherent
orderliness of life sees that the laws of life are followed, and this
happens dynamically. The Spirit of God is exactly just this almighty and
invincible. His creation is built in such a solid way that the universe with all its innumerable and
huge heavenly bodies doesn’t end up in chaos. Even all of our thoughts
and delusions are taken into consideration, so that every Utopian idea is
dissolved and eliminated. “Every plant which my heavenly Father planted not”
is a remote and unreal plant, which because of its own reality “shall be
rooted up”. (Matthew 15:13). Listen heathens, Utopians,
and everyone who believes that they are selfish: Life has plenty of time.
There is enough of eternal material, energy and dynamics. Just keep up with
the utopias, as long as you feel like disappointing yourself and others. Just
keep it up everybody. "Just
continue like your forefathers have done", but when you finally discover the truth about yourself, it would
surprise me if you don’t, for your own sakes, discontinue the utopias and the
misunderstood ways of living your lives. Stop and think about the dangerous
“leaven” that the Savior of the world has warned against. The League of Nations in
Geneva, and now the U.N., are surely the largest Towers of Babel the world
has ever seen. The intention was and is good. People wanted “to keep” the
peace within an organization - but think about this. Every country has
experienced that the more you tried to organize the many artificial
opposition interests, the more oppositions arose. Then it became even more
acute, because the oppositions were taken seriously as a reality that had to
be protected, instead of finding out
what the reasons were to the opposition interests and removing them. In
all the European “national” administrations the oppositions were legalized,
and intrigues, censures, passions and understandings were elevated to
“politics” or “practical politics”. The political state’s administration in
every country had developed into an arena for all special interests and a
gathering place for all kinds of opposing interests. Everyone who had decided
to live with and organize desire after
your neighbor’s goods met in “the state”, so that together they could
manage the community’s interests.
But wasn’t this, in itself, Utopia? If all the animals that had the blood and
mentality of wolves were put together to “steer” the lives of all the other
animals, how would that be? (When I compare politicians with wolves, it is
partly because they believe people are “animals”, for example wolves and
sheep, and partly because The Bible uses this analogy). When the wolves come
together, won’t they share the carcass among themselves? “Where the carcass
is, there will the predators gather,” as Christ says. This has been practiced
for a long time in every “Christian” country in Europe. The result was
miserable. “The “wolves” understood this and agreed that all of “the wolves”
in Europe should meet in Geneva “to organize” the whole world and to organize
peace. Yes! That is really how it happened. Wouldn’t it have been more
correct to say that a political state is unsuitable because it is easier to
get organized and create peace in small, simple and special groups, than in
large, complicated and complex groups? Everything in the reality of life
starts as something small. Find first the key to the small, secret, local and
easily understood difficulties. Above all, don’t generalize. Wouldn’t this
type of thinking have been closer to the truth? Instead, people say that
since the delusions in the various countries are so difficult to straighten
out, we have to gather all of the European
delusions in one room, so that the sun will come up and shine over both the
good and the bad. If one crazy “statesman” isn’t crazy enough, he could learn
from the others and take a whole suitcase full of more craziness home to his
own country. We have to build a tower that is so high that it reaches all the
way to heaven. Up there we can watch over the peace in Europe and knock down
anybody who creates unrest. “When the president of the League of Nations
opened the first meeting, it was deathly silent in the room. Everyone took
himself or herself so seriously”, said the local press. The Germans and the
Jews did too. And don’t forget Hambro
and Mowinckel. What an honor. Think
about all of the new possibilities available for all the small nations. And
Satan laughed so much that hell shook. “People have an unconquerable need to
fool themselves and misunderstand themselves”, said Satan, and then he
started working on the League of Nations. Here in Norway I pleaded
that we shouldn’t be a part of the Tower of Babel in Geneva. I begged
Norwegian scientists to explain that life can’t be organized in a general
way, from top down, from the complex to the simple, but that everything that
is living and real grows from down below upward, from the inside to the
outside. But also the scientists meant they had “historical” experience that
there also were “trees” and plants that grew from top down. Such plants are
not in nature and it was my mission to tell people about the Savior’s
orientation to life and that such a plant would be torn out by the root. The
Tower of Babel was repeated. It was the Utopists’ picture of the world that
was manifested. Henrik Ibsen would
have said: “Flowers bloom from the
abyss. The night betrays itself”. I have understood The Bible
as a textbook in the art of living
together. But Norwegian members of Parliament cried tears of joy and
gratitude because they got to participate in “Norway’s solemn occasion”, when
Norway was allowed to participate in organizing world peace and to eat
cherries with the great ones. We humans can read The Bible in different ways; we can also have different
meanings for words like peace, freedom, justice, as well as “practical
politics, reality and fantasy reality”. ”Jøssinger” (Norwegian
patriots during World War II) was a name carried by Norwegians who believed
in the Tower of Babel in Geneva. It’s understandable and reasonable that they
were very disappointed and bitter when the Tower of Babel fell. It almost
felt like malice or an insult, and now they had to find another “prugelknabe”
or scapegoat. Couldn’t they be the ones
to blame? Maybe they had thanked God for the League of Nations. It would
be insulting to God to realize that their god had made fools of them. “These
damned Germans”. “If only the Germans hadn’t come”. “We had it pretty good
before the Germans came”, were some of their comments. It wasn’t possible for
the ”Jøssinger” to admit that their pastors and authorities had “made a
mistake” and seduced them. If a German soldier seduced a Norwegian girl, it
was one thousand times worse than if “the Church”, the university, the press,
schools, and “the state” had seduced all of the Norwegian people. This is
exactly how deeply rooted the Tower of Babel is in our nature. The thousands
of years old story in Exodus is so worthwhile that we can forgive the old
patriarchs larger and smaller indiscretions, when we take into consideration
the spiritual riches, the very
spiritual treasures contained in their bible. The ”Jøssinger” will never
find peace in their soul before they look inside themselves and see the
German invasion of Norway during the Second World War as a result of the
legalities of life. (Please see Revelations 17:17). The Germans themselves
didn’t know what they did or why they did it; they were instruments in the
hands of the spirit of the times. Being able to admit this is the first step
toward salvation. If this isn’t admitted, then the next and the last will be
much worse than the first. We have our destiny in our own hands, but our
hands are weak now, and our picture of life is a “foggy” and black night. The
spirit of seduction sits where it
shouldn’t sit – in a holy place – on society’s temple summit. That’s why we
are afraid that the next big Tower of Babel will soon be built. The poor
“egoists” don’t know any better. The devil talks behind their backs every
Sunday in church and every day in the newspapers. For many years, here at
home, I have testified for my fellow citizens that military war is only an extension of a trade war. Tanks and
airplanes are only “an extension” of safes and adding machines. Suggested
prices are the extension of declarations of war. When everyone wants to buy cheaply and sell for a good price,
everyone is unconsciously at war with himself or herself. It is only
unrestrained fantasy to believe that you can deceive others without also
deceiving yourself. That’s why a bishop in Bergen said, showing his endless
lack of knowledge, that it would be to “honor the name of God” when someone on his honor signed his name agreeing that
he had really made a profit. People are not clear about their
“dedication” to mammon and “the state”, and it is the scourge of mankind. There is no profit. When what you call
earnings or profit is deception and self-deception, how big is the
self-deception? Compare this to the teachings of Jesus: “But if your eye is
not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you
is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6: 23). Also read the
prophet Isaiah 5:20: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that
put darkness for light, and light for darkness…” |