State-Based Propaganda -- An Old Case History

       A couple of years ago I read an old story in the Bible and caught an entirely fresh sense of its significance.  It was the historical account of Israel's ill-advised war on Syria as recorded in the Second Book of the Chronicles, Chapter Eighteen.  The story includes details of the activities of evil kings, allies, war councils, soldiers, the misguided pious, prophets, assemblies of ruling spirits, and the opinions of God Himself.

       Since I had never before seen the connections between this ancient record and current events in the Middle East, I immediately wanted to get the idea down in a lecture form -- or more recently, in the form of a lengthy post here.

       I am happy to report that that is not necessary.  Andrew Hoffman has done an excellent job in the post that begins below. -- Robert Heid

State Propaganda vs. A Prophet

by Andrew Hoffman

First of all, I know you’re probably thinking “another 2 Chronicles 18 post, how cliché!” I promise to cover something original, like Romans 13, sometime soon.

In this chapter, King Jehoshaphat of Judah goes to meet with King Ahab of Israel. After buttering him up by killing a bunch of sheep and oxen, Ahab asks Jehoshaphat to go to war with him against Ramoth Gilead. In modern PR parlance, Ahab was using the Law of Reciprocation to create a feeling of indebtedness in Jehoshaphat. It is the same technique used by the Hare Krishna’s in the 1960’s—giving someone a small gift before asking for something much more valuable in return.

Jehoshaphat immediately agrees to offer his people up to the slaughter for the benefit of Ahab’s political ambitions (quite a return for sheep and oxen). But, he soon has second thoughts and asks Ahab to “inquire for the word of the Lord today.” Ahab of course wants to keep Jehoshaphat happy, so he gathers together the mass media of his day—400 “prophets” loyal to the king. Predictably, just as mainstream media and mainstream “Christian” media today, the 400 prophets wholeheartedly support the war-mongering endeavors of the chief executive and guarantee its success, even invoking God in their predictions.

Read the rest of the article here.

Andrew Hoffman is an independent writer and researcher.  He is the author of the book, The New World Order and the Eugenics Wars: A Christian Perspective.  Visit him at his websites here and here.    As always, comments welcome, pro and con.