The Fourth Tea Party

Perhaps you have wondered why you have grown more concerned about what is happening with the United States.  You have seen her values criticized and eroded.  Now her economy is worsening, and somehow you know you must get involved.  Could it be that you have heard God’s voice, urging you to reclaim America?  Could it be that He has called, and you are answering?  Our society must be changed at every level, and this includes a drastic reformation of our financial system.

Many American citizens treat the current “Tea Party Movement” as a recent innovation, or a novel idea that will disappear in the future.  Others tie current thought patterns back to the Boston Tea Party that occurred in 1773.  Actually, the thought patterns and mindset of the Tea Party movement finds its origins in a rebellion that occurred more than 3,000 years ago.  Believe it or not, this movement was detailed in the Bible. 

Today, we are actually a part of the fourth tea party!  We can understand this better by studying out the previous three uprisings individually.  Today, we will look at each scenario case by case.  Together we will see that there was a central issue in each case that was tied to the economic system, unfair taxation, and over-regulation by governmental authorities.  The solutions in each case were also the same.  The responsibility was given to the people to enact the changes they needed.  They were not anarchists, nor were they pacifists.  And in looking back, we can discover solutions for our present crisis. 

A Little Background

In order to understand the origins of the tea party movement in the Bible we must start near the beginning, in Genesis, and lay a little groundwork.  Let’s take a look at the origins of the tribes of Israel.  In Genesis 12:1-4 God had spoken to Abram (whose name was later changed by God Himself to Abraham).  God promised Abram that because of his faith, He would be blessed, and his seed would become a blessing to the entire world.  God promised Abram’s descendents financial wealth, national stability, and a host of other promises in the years to come, and they believed God and claimed what He had foretold. 

Abraham’s seed grew through the generations, reinforcing this covenant blessing through Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac, and then also through their grandson Jacob.  Jacob’s name was later changed to Israel and he had 12 sons.  These became known as the sons or tribes of Israel.  God gave them the land of Canaan, and they occupied the land for several hundred years under the leadership of various judges.  Then they requested a shift in government to become a monarchy, and God granted their request.  King Saul ruled over the tribes, and King David followed him.  God blessed David’s reign, and promised that David’s seed would remain on the throne of Israel. 

David was succeeded by his son Solomon, who was reputed for his wisdom.  Solomon also prospered the kingdom and built a magnificent temple in Jerusalem.  He strengthened the military, made Jerusalem a beautiful city, and built himself a lavish palace.  However, in the process Solomon also angered God.  He married 700 wives and had 300 concubines!  These wives were often given as a form of a political alliance between tribes or countries.  But Solomon’s heart was turned toward their idols and cultures, and he turned away from God.  This led to the first tea party. 

1 Kings Chapter 11 picks up this story; Verses 11-13 state that God spoke to Solomon and judged him.  God told Solomon that the kingdom of Israel would be divided into two separate Houses.  Ten tribes would defect, forming their own nation.  The remaining two tribes of Benjamin and Judah would remain united under separate rule.  God said this would occur when Solomon’s son took the throne, after Solomon’s death.  God also chose a leader for the ten tribes, a man named Jeroboam.  He was closely associated with the king, but was a commoner.  Verses 30-37 tell of Ahijah the prophet’s foretelling of this event as well. 

But you see the so-called rebellion was actually a tea party.  “How,” you may ask?  In 1 Kings 12, the tribes gathered together after the death of Solomon.  His son Rehoboam was crowned the ruler of the United Kingdom, and the tribal leaders paid their respects.  Among the leaders was Jeroboam, and he acted as chief spokesman for the tribes.  They had a request. 

The First Tea Party

The reign of Solomon had increased the burdens of government upon the people.  They had paid higher taxes, and many had been pressed into governmental service, working on various programs (building structures, serving in the ever-larger military force, or serving in Solomon’s court).  Now, they were struggling.  The forty years of Solomon’s reign had been prosperous, but it also came with a price.  So the tribes requested that Solomon’s successor, king Rehoboam consider their request.  Verse 4 states, “Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.” 

The tribes were asking for less government intrusion, and lower taxes!  Rehoboam discussed this request with his cabinet.  The seasoned members recommended that the king do as the people wanted, but the younger leaders responded harshly.  They suggested Rehoboam increase taxes and control!  And Rehoboam agreed with the progressives.

When the ten tribes heard Rehoboam’s response, they were furious.  They were being taxed without representation.  The government had ceased to walk in God’s ways, and was oppressing the people.  It served only itself!  What was their response?  Rebellion!  The ten tribes chose Jeroboam to be their king, installing a new government and forming a new nation in the process.  These tribes became known as the House of Israel.  The two remaining tribes remained aligned with king Rehoboam (Solomon’s son), and became known as the House of Judah.  While these two nations were actually brothers, they were now separate and unique nations, just as God had foretold.

Many years later both the House of Israel (the ten tribes) and the House of Judah (the two tribes) were scattered by their enemies.  The House of Judah, the Jews, returned to the land God had promised to them, and occupies a portion of it to this day.  The House of Israel dispersed to the north and the west, settling in Western Europe.  Their independence, rebellion, and hatred for unfair taxation became the foundation of a new land many years later.

The Second Tea Party

The second tea party is a very unique event that is recorded in the gospels of Scripture.  Jesus Christ did many miracles, raising the dead, cleansing lepers and multiplying food to feed the multitudes.  However, there was one event that all four gospel writers recorded, and it had to do with a more graphic display of emotion. 

Mark 11:15-17 says, “And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.  And he taught, saying unto them, is it not written, my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves.”  (NOTE:  Also referenced in Matthew 21, 12-13, Luke 19:45-46, and John 2:14-16.) 

This is an astounding event!  The Christ Himself braided a whip, upended tables and drove money and business people out of the temple!  Why would He do this?  In the days of Jesus Christ, the Pharisees had devised a cozy moneymaking scheme.  They reasoned that the money of the world governments was all polluted and corrupt.  Therefore, they would not accept it as payment for the various animal sacrifices.  But the sacrifices were still mandated under religious and societal law.  So, the Pharisees coined their own money.  They would exchange the world currencies for the temple currency, with a healthy up-charge added on.  Then, they would refer you to the sacrificial animal dealers that were already approved by the Pharisees as well.  These vendors would sell you a Pharisee-approved animal at a premium price because they were already governmentally approved! 

Jesus despised the hypocrisy and oppression of these practices.  They obliterated freedom and allowed a small minority of the populace to oppress the people through unfair laws and immoral financial practices.  Christ did not merely tell them to leave.  He scattered their money on the floor, created chaos, drove out the merchants, and thundered His edict!  You are not welcome here!  Jesus Christ Himself created the second tea party.

The Third Tea Party

The first two tea parties set the stage for the third tea party.  As the descendents of the Israelite tribes migrated to the colonies, they brought with them a sense of justice that pervaded all areas of life, including the financial realm.  Those “common farmers” were well-versed in literature, especially the Holy Bible and Blackstone’s Commentaries on English Common Law.  So when the British decided to oppress the people through unfair taxation, they had seen enough. 

The events of 1773 had been preceded by attempts to tax the colonies heavily.  They were prospering, and the British government saw an opportunity to pad their coffers at the colonists’ expense.  Britain passed the Stamp Act in 1765 and the Townsend Acts in 1767, but the colonists largely disdained them.  When soldiers were sent, protests occurred.  And Britain came up with a plan. 

Since many of the colonists were from Britain, tea was popular in the American colonies.  The government saw their opportunity.  They entered into an agreement with the East India Tea Company, granting this company a monopoly.  They would be the sole distributor of tea throughout the colonies.  The East India Tea Company agreed to reduce their price for tea because their competition had been eliminated by the government.  However, they also agreed to allow the government to add a surcharge (or in today’s language a “fee”) that would be collected by the company on behalf of the British government.  This tax more than made up for the decrease in price.  And it made the colonists angry! 

On December 16, 1773 approximately 200 men disguised as “Indians” boarded three private ships filled with tea.  During the next few hours these men hacked open crates of tea, dumping their contents into Boston Harbor. (Although British Navy warships were in close proximity, they did nothing to stop their actions.)  When the sun arose the next morning, others went out into the Harbor in rowboats.  Finding some bales of tea still intact, they proceeded to smash them to pieces until all the tea was destroyed.

When the King heard of the rebellion, he was enraged.  The drumbeats of war continued until 1776, when the colonists embraced the heritage of the ten tribes and formed a separate and equal government in the eyes of Almighty God.  The battle cry of the revolution was “No King but King Jesus.” 

The Fourth Tea Party

Today, we have yet another tea party movement among us.  On February 19, 2009 Rick Santelli stood on the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.  Barack Obama had been president of the United States for less than one month, and had already passed the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan (that was supposed to bail out homeowners with mortgages that were in trouble).  Chrysler and General Motors were struggling, but not yet bankrupt.  Cap and Trade, the National Health Care debacle and Immigration had not even been addressed.  (Can you see how far we have descended downward in a very short time?)  But Rick Santelli was mad.  He was angry that the government and various business insiders were doing precisely the same things that had occurred before.  Santelli proposed a “Chicago Tea Party” in July, 2009, and with that statement a grassroots movement came alive. 

And the current tea party movement may have roots yet again in the Bible.  Amos 8 speaks of a time when the House of Israel would face an economic crisis.  Amos 8:4-8 says, “Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, saying, when will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? And the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?  That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?  The Lord hath sworn by the Excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.  Shall not the land tremble for this and every one mourns that dwelleth therein? And it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.” 

The prophet Amos was looking ahead to a time that is remarkably similar to our current crisis.  Here are some key issues he described:

• Greedy business leaders would want to skip the holidays (new moon) and sabbaths (rest times), just so they could sell more and make more money.
• They would make the ephah small.  This was the unit of measurement for the goods that were sold by the merchants.  They would also make the shekel great.  This was the money used to buy and sell.  Basically, if the ephah shrinks, and the shekel is valued as more than it’s worth, the people would be buying less food for more cost.  This is inflation!
• The merchants would also falsify the balances and deceive the people.  Through false accounting, reporting, business practices and collusion with the government the people of the land would be harmed.
• They would buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes.  Inflation would cause the people to enter into a slave-master agreement, just to obtain the basic necessities of life.
• The businesses would sell the refuse of the wheat.  The best would be withheld, and the worst commodities would be offered to the rank and file citizen.  Only the wealthy would get the best of the goods and services.
• God would despise these business practices, and would work to start an uprising, a backlash against this.
• The entire land would tremble because of this economic crisis.  Everyone would mourn and be in distress over the economy.
• The land would rise up as a flood.  There would be a populist uprising against this way of doing business.  This is the fourth tea party!
• These economic practices would be destroyed by the flood; the people would force the change.  This change will not come from government or business; it will come from the people! 

A companion verse to this is found in Deuteronomy 28:43-44, that says, “The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.  He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.” 

The economic crisis looming over the United States of America has been foretold centuries ago.  The current problems will worsen, as the government partners with various business leaders and progressives to oppress and control our freedom.  The days that we face will perhaps be more difficult than we can understand.  But hope is not lost.

What about Us?

It is up to the people to once again hear the voice of God.  God cannot bless a land that is corrupt in her practices, her oppression of liberty, and her economic behavior that flaunts itself against God’s laws.  It is time for “we the people” to stand up and begin to nullify the practices that have been put into place to oppress free men and women.  Every man, woman and child is being called to involve themselves in the fight.  As our forefathers have shown in years past, the battle may be difficult but we can have the victory. 

Many years ago Queen Esther was faced with a difficult decision.  Her people, the Jews, were about to be destroyed, and she was being urged to take a stand before the king of Persia.  It was dangerous, and she could lose her life if she were refused.  During this scenario, her Uncle Mordecai offered her his advice.  (Esther 4:14)  “For if you hold your peace at this time, then enlargement and deliverance shall arise to the Jews from another place; but you and your father’s house shall be destroyed.  And who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

I believe the current Tea Party movement is ordained by God.  As you rise up with others to reclaim our nation, you too will have your place in history.  It’s our turn now.  Let’s go forward for God.

Steven Grant pastors Destiny Christian Center in Greeley, Colorado.  He has spent many years studying links between the United States and Bible Prophecy.  He appears with his brother and fellow-minister Stan Grant weekly on “In Defense of a Nation,” found at www.change535.org.  He wishes to thank his brother Stan for his excellent study on U.S. economics in prophecy as well.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: The views expressed in the above post are those of the individual author only. The article is presented here to foster discussion, and does not necessarily represent the views or positions of the national Tenth Amendment Center.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 at 7:04 pm. It is filed under Founding Principles and tagged with Honest money, Liberty, nullification, Politics, Tea Party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.