The Milgram Experiment

1998-12-14 04:57:00

A while back the television news show "Dateline" aired a special on the Power of Authority.

They started the show by showing an old clip from the television "Candid Camera." In this clip the victim of the show entered an elevator with about six other people in it. The funny thing was that the other six (who worked with "Candid Camera") were told to face different directions at different times.

Normally when you are in an elevator you face the door, but this group all faced the inside panel with their backs toward the door. Even though this was very odd, the victim did not want to be different so he turned with his back toward the door. Then they showed several clips of the people in the elevator and every time the group turned, the victim turned with them.

It seemed kind of funny and I'm sure the "Candid Camera" audience got a good laugh out of it, but the reality behind this is the scariest human trait we possess. That is, most of mankind will follow the leader or group even if it makes no sense or if it goes against every moral teaching they have ever been taught.

The second part of the feature had an experiment done with college students. Again, they had an unsuspecting victim participating with a group of about a half dozen that knew what was going on. The group was shown a set of four lines and of the four there were two of equal length. They were then asked to pick the two lines that were equal. They showed the lines on TV and it was obvious which two were the correct match.

The next thing they did was to have the planted students all give the same wrong match. Then when it became the victim's turn you could tell he began to doubt what his eyes and reasoning were telling him. Some of the victims gave the right answer for a round or two but one by one each victim gave in and started giving the wrong answer as the right answer, even though he knew within himself that it was wrong.

The interesting thing about watching their faces on TV was that they all looked a little depressed when they started knowingly giving the wrong answers as right answers. It was almost like the poor kids were selling their souls.

Finally they showed the most alarming experiment of all authority which was conducted by Stanley Milgram way back in the 1960's.

Milgram was curious about how a group of apparently normal people like the Germans could have participated in the Nazi atrocities which was against every moral teaching that they ever believed in. Their excuse was always the same: "I was just following orders."

When the "teacher" asked whether increased shocks should be given he/she was verbally encouraged to continue. Sixty-five percent of the "teachers" obeyed orders to punish the learner to the very end of the 450-volt scale! No subject stopped before reaching 300 volts!

At times, the worried "teachers" questioned the experimenter, asking who was responsible for any harmful effects resulting from shocking the learner at such a high level. Upon receiving the answer that the experimenter assumed full responsibility, teachers seemed to accept the response and continue shocking, even though some were obviously extremely uncomfortable in doing so.

What was interesting about watching this on "Dateline" was that when the subject hit the high voltage the pretended victim screamed like crazy and even said he had a bad heart and that the experiment was killing him.

The subject then turned to the authority as if asking what to do and the authority told him to continue. If the subject seemed to doubt the authority told him that he would take responsibility.

Then the subject continued to shock the supposed victim past 300 volts until he went silent. This indicated the victim was either unconscious or dead. Still the subject did not cease. He continued to increase the voltage clear up to 450 which would mean that if the victim was not dead yet this would surely kill him.

The interesting thing is that if this was a real happening, the subject would not only have killed another human being which was against every teaching that he believed in, but he would have also been brought up on murder charges. It is scary that even that possibility did not deter the subject from following authority.

The funny thing about these experiments is that the scientists predicted that only one out of a thousand would follow an authority to shock up to 450 volts, but 65% went that far and 100% of the subjects went up to 300 volts, which is still enough to kill.

Thus we have a great example of the true mark of the Beast on the right hand -- the willingness to follow blind authority no matter what the consequences.

The interesting thing is that very few people know themselves well enough to know whether or not they would administer the 300 or more volts to an innocent brother. Most would think that they would never do such a thing, but are they right? Remember, 100% of those in the experiment yielded to the authority.

Even more sinister is the mark in the forehead. Remember the philosophy of "Big Brother" in George Orwell's novel "1984" (Nineteen Eighty-Four)? It was not enough that people did as they were told. In addition to this he demanded that they also love Big Brother and totally embrace everything he stood for in their belief system. If someone was caught having independent thought he was not executed immediately. First he had to be brainwashed into loving Big Brother and when the victim demonstrated that he was willing to accept an obvious falsehood from Big Brother with Love, then he was shot, but not before.

Now we must remember that over half of the world's population is under the direct obvious control of some Big Brother type of government. For these inhabitants there is often no way for immediate escape from the Mark of the Beast. They have to at least pretend to go along or they will not be able to get work, will not be able to buy or sell and may wind up executed.

It's a little different in the Free World. We do not have to receive the Mark here; instead, we embrace it by our own free will, just as do the subjects in the Milgram experiment. They were free. They could have gotten up any moment and left, but they did not.

Kyle said that perhaps religion administers the Mark of the Beast in the free world. Yes, this is true as shown by the events of Jonestown, Heavens Gate, and possibly your fanatical neighbor down the street, but this is only part of the Mark.

The Mark is demonstrated before us right now on television by the Democrats and Republicans in the impeachment proceedings. Both sides are going along with group thought. I think out of the 435 Representatives only one Republican and no Democrats defied their party thoughtform and authoritative leaders on the last Impeachment vote.

One of about 435 going against accepted authorities. That's how powerful the Beast is! It doesn't matter to the Beast if you are Republican or Democrat, or even which is closer to the truth. What matters is control.

The question we need to ask ourselves is: "Would I be strong enough to be one out of the 435?"

Would we have been strong enough as an early Christian to refuse to acknowledge Caesar as God and allow ourselves to be fed to lions?

Putting religion aside you have to admire these followers of Christ who gave their lives to defy the Beast. Their lives were not in vain, for they paved the way to the wounding of the beast. Now finally we are in a point in time and space where the whole Beast will be destroyed. But before we can destroy such an enemy we must know and understand what it is and how it functions.

The Beast, as a whole, is not a country or anything physical, but is blind authority and is demonstrated by the "blind following the blind," or being led "as a dumb beast of the field."

The Beast is destroyed by opening the eyes of the blind, and this we shall do with power and great glory, but first we must open our own eyes to the one authority -- the Spirit of God within us.

Now we shall attack the greatest, most discussed mystery of the whole Bible -- the Number of the Beast. Everything you have learned so far has just been preparation to understand this mystery.

17  "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18  "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

(Rev 13:17-18)

So, what do you think is the meaning of the number 666?