Never before in history has Satanmarshaled the power of his world and the things of his world to distract and captivate the minds of God’s people like he is doing today! He and his demon cohorts have spent 6,000 years honing their skills and perfecting their devices to deceive humans.
We live in the “perilous times” of “the last days” described in 2 Timothy 3:1. The word perilous here, in the Greek, means to “let down … to loosen, slacken, relax … to let down from a higher place [or position] to a lower ” (Strong’s Enhanced Lexicon). It is referring to savage spiritual peril! It is the sort of peril that leads to the “curse” of Malachi 4:6: the deprivation of spirit life—utter destruction! Satan wants to rob us of our crown (James 1:12; Revelation 3:11). And he is exerting the full force of his power to delude in an effort to pressure us to let down , to slacken , and to relax—to capitulate! He wants to cause us to forget our position and let down from a higher place to a lower—to a place where, like Prince Edward, we do not fight to subjugate our self-interests to what is in the best interest of the realm.
Since the time that John the Baptist came announcing the imminence of the Kingdom of God, Satan has been in an uncontrollable rage to prevent its advent. He instigated the gruesome decapitation of John for proclaiming the message, and he pulled out all stops to destroy Jesus Christ. Because he was unsuccessful in his efforts to destroy Christ—He whose right the throne of David is—he is now focusing the brunt of his rage on the co-heirs to that throne—God’s Church. We of God’s Philadelphia remnant—in an era where Satan has captured the minds of most of God’s people—have to remember our position and fight to uphold the royal Philadelphia standard set by our Father. We must fight to uphold this standard at the end of Satan’s 6,000-year dominion on Earth—when he is full of his worst wrath ever toward God’s people. We are to be “violent men” in the way we fight to uphold God’s royal standard and “take” the kingdom from Satan “by force”! (Matthew 11:12). In this regard, the life of Prince Edward gives us a good example of what not to do!
Sapping Life of Monarchy
Wallis Simpson was born on June 19, 1896, in the American city of Baltimore. Sometime in the autumn of 1930, she was introduced to Prince Edward in London. In January 1932, the prince sent her an invitation to Fort Belvedere—his home. She accepted, and this was the first of many visits she would make to the fort. In June of 1933, Prince Edward gave a party for Mrs. Simpson’s birthday. Then in July he dined, for the first time, with the Simpsons in their flat. By the summer of 1934, Mr. and Mrs. Simpson had become an almost permanent part of the private life of the Prince of Wales. By the end of 1934, Mrs. Simpson and Edward were spending considerable time alone, and he had become incredibly infatuated with her. “In the ecstasy he felt, he showed a reckless disregard of the conventions which should have bound his behavior and an insensate determination to break the barriers which stood between him and this woman who had succeeded in appeasing his everlasting need for fulfillment, not as a prince , but as a human being” (Frances Donaldson, Edward viii : The Road to Abdication ; emphasis mine throughout).
Edward was not using his mind to control his emotions. His mind was in absolute subjugation to his emotions! He sought fulfillment as a human being—not as a prince, a future king of England! He put himself and his lust above the welfare of the realm! This is something we, as heirs to the throne of David, must learn from. We have to be growing in the knowledge of God our Father, so we will think and live like Him. We have to be “armed” with the mind of our Husband, Jesus Christ, to resist any emotional pressure our adversary brings to bear on us (1 Peter 4:1; Philippians 2:5).
“News of the prince’s latest love had quickly reached the palace, and the anxiety that it caused the king spoiled the last year of his life—some believe hastened his death. … George v had never ceased to hector his son about such things as his clothes and his deportment , but on this matter, which he was well aware sapped the life of the monarchy itself, he could not bring himself to intervene” (ibid.). In the same way Edward’s rebellion sapped the life of the monarchy, the Laodicean rebellion sapped the life of God’s Church and Work in our time. God says His Laodicean Church has robbed the whole “nation,” or the whole world! (Malachi 3:8-9; request a free copy of The God Family Vision for more details). At a time when all God’s Family should be united and boldly trumpeting that Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, is about to return, most of God’s people, like Edward, seek only to please themselves. Like Edward, they are showing a reckless disregard of the conventions that should have bound their behavior!
“[The] year 1935 had slipped by and most of Edward’s spare time had been spent in the company of Wallis. When, in May, the Simpsons were at Buckingham Palace for the Silver Jubilee State Ball, Wallis danced for most of the evening with the prince once again, in full view of the king and queen. …
“The king, the following day, raged once more that his son had invited such an unsuitable person into the palace. ‘In my home,’ he kept saying, ‘in my home.’ Before that outburst, Edward was already contemplating telling his father of the seriousness of his relationship with Mrs. Simpson. Her total domination of him was clear to see …” (John Parker, King of Fools). How pathetic to see the future king of England reduced to such a wimp in the presence of a woman! Our Father instructs us, as future kings: “Waste not your strength on women, your love on these destroyers of a king” (Proverbs 31:3, Moffatt). God expects us to exercise the character to resist being drawn into relationships with unsuitable women—spiritually and physically!
New and Dramatic Phase
King George v died on Jan. 20, 1936, and Edward, Prince of Wales, became King Edward viii. “The monarchy then moved into a new and dramatic phase. The old king had written in his diary, ‘When I am gone, he will ruin himself within a year.’ It would not take quite that long. Everyone around him could see the disaster ahead and it became a favorite topic at parties, trying to predict what would happen now that Edward was at Buckingham Palace” (ibid.).
Alexander Hardinge, the king’s private secretary, later wrote, “It was scarcely realized at this early stage how overwhelming and inexorable was the influence exerted on the king by the lady of the moment. As time went on it became clearer that every decision, big or small, was subordinate to her will. … It was she who filled his thoughts at all times, she alone who mattered , before her the affairs of state sank into insignificance” (Donaldson, op. cit.). In a matter of months after he became king, Edward resolved to marry Mrs. Simpson, and she sought a divorce from her husband. It was calculated that a decree nisi could be received on Oct. 27, 1936, which would be made absolute on April 27, 1937, just in time for them to marry before the coronation in May.
To the masses in England, the idea that Edward might abdicate was unbelievable. The fact that the king—on or off the throne—wanted to marry Mrs. Simpson sent a moral earthquake rippling throughout the country! One correspondent wrote: “Our king is being asked to give up the woman he loves that the empire may still be on solid ground. In the war many thousands of men gave up the women they loved and much more than the king is asked to—some gave up everything. I cannot believe that the king we have always loved and looked up to can fail to do the same thing for the British Empire” (Iles Brody, Gone With the Windsors).
The prospect of a woman with two living ex-husbands marrying the king and becoming queen of England was absolutely untenable to Stanley Baldwin, the prime minister, and Cosmo Gordon Lang, the archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England. The church regarded marriage as indissoluble and did not accept divorce and remarriage. The king was bound by the Act of Settlement of 1701 to be a member of the Church of England and its officially designated “Defender of the Faith.” How could the Defender of the Faith put his self-interests above the faith he was expected to defend? To contemplate such a situation is absurd! But such was the power of the spell Wallis cast that Edward was deceived to believe it possible that he could have her and the Crown!
Having no control over his emotions, King Edward finally advised the prime minister that he intended to marry Mrs. Simpson, even if he had to abdicate to do so. “… Baldwin made the first of several appeals to the king to consider his duty , and that evening he told his wife: ‘To all arguments based on responsibility towards his people, the king did not react , not feeling any responsibility which should dictate or influence his conduct.’ And he said that the king had said again and again, ‘Wallis is the most wonderful woman in the world,’ and that he could not live without her” (Donaldson, op. cit.).
There was no evidence whatsoever of Edward using the power of his mind to control his emotions. He was running on 100 percent, high-octane, supercharged, unrestrained, carnal, self-centered emotion! He had lost all perspective of his position as king of an empire and sought only to satiate his person! He had no comprehension of who he was and what was expected of him as a king. He listened to nothing his father had taught him, and he scorned the advice of his father’s friends.
Isn’t this just like it is with so many of God’s people today? So many have deceived themselves to believe they can ignore the advice of God, their Father; that they can co-exist with the world, wallow in its ways, and still retain their crown! Sometimes, like Edward, God’s young people become confused and deceived, and allow themselves to become enamored with someone outside the Church—outside the royal family. They meet that “special” person they think they just can’t live without. Drawing God’s people into relationships with those outside the Church is one of Satan’s oldest and most tested methods of robbing them of their crown. Over 3,000 years ago, he instructed the Moabite King Balak—through the false prophet Baalam—to use this tactic on the Israelites. God challenges us to learn from the examples of how Satan counseled Balak to use women to vex and beguile the Israelites and how he used a woman to vex and beguile Edward.
God warns: “Her house is the way to hell [the grave], going down to the chambers of death” (Proverbs 7:27). Edward lived to learn that the happiness he was deceived to believe existed with Mrs. Simpson was illusory as she reduced him to a “little man.” “What should one do, laugh or cry, when one looks at the man who was Edward viii? The ex-caesar in the role of a handbag-carrying cavaliere servente , a sort of ornament, a woman’s background, is a melancholy sight” (Brody, op. cit.).
Similarly, it is a melancholy sight to see most of God’s people at this time deceived to believe they can be treacherous with the wife of their youth (Malachi 2:14)—the church they were part of when they covenanted to marry Christ—and come through the experience unscathed. Those who don’t repent of their treachery soon will find themselves going down to the chambers of death in the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21). In tribulation, they will be shocked to realize they have been ravished by a “strange woman” (Proverbs 5 and 7). The good news is that the 50 percent who repent of their treachery in the Tribulation will be reconciled to Christ as part of His Bride (Matthew 25:1-13; Revelation 14:1-5). But the bad news is they will not receive a “full reward” (2 John 1:8). Illicit relationships, even if repented of, leave scars! And repentant Laodiceans will carry the scars of their adulterous affair for eternity!
Edward knew the ministry of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if he proceeded to marry Mrs. Simpson while reigning as king. Some historians believe it could have have led to civil war and broken up the empire—undoubtedly an objective of the god of this world!
In a final attempt, as related by Walter Monckton, when “the prime minister had urged once again all that he could do to dissuade the king, for the sake of the country and all that the king stood for , from his decision to marry, the king wearily said that his mind was made up and he asked to be spared any more advice on the subject ” (Donaldson, op. cit.).
“When Edward viii rejected the advice of Baldwin, as a step toward abandoning his charge for purely selfish reasons, he struck such a blow at the Christian conception of man, faced with the onslaught of atheistic dictatorship both black and red, as a [coward] in battle might strike at comrades who refused to bolt with him. …
“But even if he did not at the time give any thought to public matters, now, at this later time [1956, when this was written], and in his personal memoir, he might have [referred] to them. For decorum’s sake, for the sake of history, he might have admitted that when confronted with two great issues, his own happiness and the well-being of his people , he found the former the more important of the two” (Brody, op. cit.).
Rather than give up Mrs. Simpson, Edward abdicated on Dec. 11, 1936, making him the only monarch of Britain or any Commonwealth realm to have voluntarily relinquished the throne. Many of God’s people are in the process of doing the same thing today, because they have allowed themselves to be seduced by false religion—strange women!