King George III and William Gates III - a cautionary tale...

Though much is learned from history, it seems that those with an authoritarian bent learn the most – not for the better, but for the worse.

Defense of the American colonies in the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763-1764) were costly affairs for Great Britain and Prime Minister George Grenville hoped to recover some of those costs by taxing the colonists. In 1764, the Sugar Act was enacted, putting a high duty on refined sugar. Although deeply resented, the Sugar Act tax was hidden in the cost of import duties and most colonists accepted it. The Stamp Act, however, was a direct tax on the colonists and led to an uproar in America over an issue that was to be a major cause of the American Revolution: a taxation without representation.

Passed in March 1765, the Stamp Act was designed to force colonists to use special stamped paper in the printing of newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs and playing cards and to have a stamp embossed on all commercial and legal papers. The stamp itself displayed an image of a Tudor rose framed by the word “America” and the French phrase, Honi soit qui mal y pense – “shame to him who thinks evil of it.”

The outrage from the Americans was immediate. Protests were staged and resolutions were hurled at Parliament. The colonists greeted the arrival of the stamps with violence and economic retaliation. A general boycott of British goods began and the secretive Sons of Liberty, organised by Samuel Adams, staged attacks on the customhouses and homes of tax collectors. Even though the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, Parliament (the same day) passed the Declaratory Acts, asserting that the British government had free and total legislative power over the colonies. After again forcing unpopular taxation measures on America in the late 1760’s, a steady deterioration in British-American relations led to the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775. In fact, it was opposition to the Stamp Act which caused Patrick Henry to break out with his famous line, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” delivered in 1775.

King George III was arrogantly unaware of why imposing the Stamp Act would inflame subjects under his control. In the eyes of the monarchy, the King was to be obeyed and respected. Even when Parliament was formed, in the King’s mind he was not answerable to his subjects – only to God.

Fast forward to our age and we see not only America, but the world, wrestle once again with the megalomaniac decisions of another third-generation man, this time one known as William Gates III – Bill Gates. As former head of Microsoft, Bill Gates has amassed enormous wealth and power. It is claimed that even now, he earns $308 per second. But it is his reach into global decision making which has alarmed many people. Just as it was when many could only access the portals of the internet throughout one of his Microsoft Windows operating systems, Gates’ investment into vaccine research has him primed to once again make him the ultimate decision maker of who can go where. This has many people see him (for better or worse) as a modern-day monarch.

Back in April, US Attorney-General Bill Barr said he was very concerned about Bill Gates’ apparent desire to have “digital certificates” which would be a digital “key” allowing those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to access pre-approved areas of society. According to Mr Barr, it would be a “slippery slope” in relation to “personal liberty”.

Many people are Bill Gates apologists, proclaiming he can do no wrong. This is fed by all of the supposedly positive articles about Gates on the internet. However, a report in September 2020 revealed that the Gates Foundation has donated over $250 million to major media outlets, no doubt in return for more favourable media coverage. Recipients included news organisations like the BBC, NBC, Al Jazeera, ProPublica, National Journal, The Guardian, Univision, Medium, the Financial Times, The Atlantic, the Texas Tribune, Gannett, Washington Monthly, Le Monde and the Centre for Investigative Reporting.

The American Revolution began in the minds of the people. So too, many are now seeing the need for a revolution against global elitists and big-tech corporations who want to control the narrative. Media, globalists, social media organisations and politicians are all trying to quell the uprising by censoring what people are saying. The trouble for them is that the people have been awakened and they are not going back to sleep any time soon.

I am not saying the revolution needs to be violent, as the American Revolutionary War was. Instead, as George Orwell proclaimed, “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” And what better truth is there than the truth of the Word of God. Let’s continue to proclaim it while the Lord has given us another day.