DBE, Archbishop of Canterbury
“Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad.”
These are the words of a ‘proverb’, which is of classical Greek origin, but which, I am led to believe, first appears in English in exactly the above form in the Reverend William Anderson Scott’s book Daniel, a Model for Young Men (1854) and is there attributed to a ‘heathen proverb’.
An early precedent of the proverb appears in verses of Sophocles’ play Antigone. In that play is found a phrase which may be translated: ‘Evil appears as good in the minds of those whom god leads to destruction.’
The Bible
While these sentiments have appeared in Greek literature, that is not its primary source of the observation expressed by this proverb!
No! It comes from the Bible!
The inspired Word of God, the only source of true knowledge, informed men much more succinctly, a long time before the period of renowned Grecian literature (800 BC – 400 AD), of the truth observed by Greek scholars.
“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom,” Proverbs 11:2.
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall,” Proverbs 16:18.
“A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit,” Proverbs 29:23.
Such truths as these came from the pen of Solomon, some 200 years before the emergence of the era of classical Greek literature.
Nebuchadnezzar
The word “pride” carries the meaning of an arrogance that is self-deceiving. It is best illustrated in the folly of Nebuchadnezzar, who, despite being warned by Daniel of what awaited him due to his pride, nevertheless forgot the words of the prophet and one year later gave way to the self-exaltation that spring from his depraved heart.
“All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws,” Daniel 4:28-33.
The Lord Jesus gives us a wonderful explanation of what it was overtook the proud Babylonian king.
“And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted,” Matthew 23:12.
The author of the Greek proverb was but observing the sovereign providential care that the Lord exercises over His creation.
The Westminster Confession of Faith states:
CHAPTER V – ‘Of Providence’
- God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.
That truth, stated concisely here, was observed by men since the fall of man! It would not have been understood as clearly as we, with our Bibles to guide and inform us, may comprehend it. However, a discerning eye could see that a divine hand moved amongst the nations of men and pride and wickedness invariable came to a dreadful fall!
Modern history illustrates this truth, The pride, the arrogance, the madness of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, both of whom for a time strode upon the stage of world politics but whose madness in the end brought them both ignominiously down to utter ruin!
Even a heathen, who knows nothing of God, will see that these two evil men are but modern examples of those whose fall and ruin history has recorded.
The terrible truth that is staring us in the face here in the United Kingdom, is that our nation is being steered to just such a fall by the ‘madness’ that governs and dominates the thinking of our national leaders, those occupying the seats of power both in ‘church and state’!
There has been an arrogant abandoning of the TRUTH of God and an embracing notions, views and policies that have sprung from the mire of man’s depraved nature!
Ecclesiastically
Recently, the Church of England installed a new ‘Archbishop of Canterbury’, a woman with as Irish a name as any ‘Paddy’ ever possessed — Dame Sarah Mullally! That name originates in the south east of Ireland in the counties of Tipperary and Kilkenny.
However, her name is not a cause of real concern. It is the fact that she has usurped a position in the Church of England that the Lord declares is strictly reserved for men!
“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach,” 1 Timothy 3:2.
The word ‘husband’ indicates the gender of the one who occupies the office of a bishop.
Clown
The ludicrous and comically adorned woman, as pictured in the press at her installation, unwittingly demonstrated just how far removed from Bible Christianity Anglicanism has gone in its rebellion against God!
Sadly, the nation’s churches, by and large, have gone down this same road of apostasy and infected the moral thinking of every element of the country.
The daily reports of murder, infanticide, brutality and innumerable crimes, committed in the face of helplessness to effectually respond to the tide of lawlessness by the police, paints an ever increasing depressive picture of ‘Great Britain’!
Politically
The same rebellious malaise is manifested in government. So plain, so conspicuously obvious is the madness that resides in offices of government, that I need not illustrate the every day occurrences of it.
We have become the laughing stock of the world. Even that jackass, Donald Trump is able to divert attention from his own folly in Iran by poking fun at the Royal Navy.
Sadly, recent governments have so neglected the vital arms of the nation’s defence forces that such ‘poking of fun’ is regrettably admissible.
That once great institution of which it was said: ‘Ruled the Waves’, has not now the capability to rule the village duck pound!
Weeks ago, a naval vessel was sent to protect British interests in Cyprus from Iranian missiles. The last I read of it was that some three weeks after it was directed to go to Cyprus, it had reached Gibraltar! Whether or not it has reached Cyprus is literally anyone’s guess!
Such is the state of our national defences should Argentina re-invade the Falklands, I doubt if anything could be done to stop it!
The reason for all this of course is unknown to the ‘thinkers’ of this age! That is because the source of all wisdom has been abandoned and that at the behest of the Bible-hating charlatans who have invaded the pulpits of the land!
It has been an ‘invasion’ masterminded and resourced by the devil and his host.
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works,” 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron,” 1Timothy 4:1-2.
“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,” 2 Peter 3:1-3.
The madness that is everywhere evident is but that resulting from men leaving the path of truth and righteousness set forth in God’s Word.
Solomon penned these words under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death,” Proverbs 16:25.
That is the path our national leaders have directed the nation to take. To follow such a path illustrates their madness.
When the ‘way of death’ is considered the ‘right’ way, then how mad and foolhardy are those that travel down that road?
Rev Ian Foster (Rtd)
7th April 2026