Global Economics And End Times Prophecy

Revelation 17 is a picture of the political scene, at the end of the age. It is personified as a woman, sitting on a scarlet beast. This beast is the same "beast" of Revelation. 13.

This beast has the power of "the dragon." It has 7 heads and 10 horns. The 10 horns have 10 crowns (authority). One of his heads has a wound that is severe enough to cause death, but has been healed. The people "wonder after the beast."

Revelation 17 says the 10 horns are 10 kings which have no kingdom (now), but receive power as kings one hour with the beast (v. 12).

While the Revelation narrative is symbolic it is not allegorical. These are actual events, yet to be played out on the world stage. But what exactly are we looking at?

I believe this is describing an unholy alliance between a godless religious system (the woman), in league with a despotic, global, political system (the beast), intent on ruling the world in place of the promised Lord Jesus Christ.

In so doing, 10 kings come to power but without kingdoms. How is this possible?

Amsel Mayer Rothschild, a prominent 18th century banker is quoted as declaring, "Let me issue and control the money and I care not who makes the laws." [1838]

The recent G-20 meetings in Europe produced a plan to establish a Financial Stability Board. It's mission will be to regulate all international financial institutions, with authority to regulate all "systemic firms and compensation."

We are watching our President do exactly this, as General Motors was required to fire their CEO and as the president appointed his own man to fill that position.

It would not surprise me to see a Stability Board made up of 10 nations which have global authority, but no political power, only to receive that power in the End Times.

The world's economic power is already concentrated in Roman-style democracies with political leaders working every day to globalize the economy as well as civil laws.

When this happens, what will stop "The Dragon" from taking over? Our commerce is already monitored and controlled through computerized transfers.

What would it take to add a 3-digit prefix to our bank accounts and credit cards, in order to join this global economy?

The Backslider

Last Sunday night, on the Bible Forum, a caller asked: When I was a backslidden Christian, had I died, would I have gone to heaven? He was convinced he would not. I hope I convinced him he would.

Think about it: To be a backslider you must slide back from something. In this case, Christianity.

Maybe it's the way the term has suffered in recent years, describing anyone who willingly goes to church or has prayed 'the sinner's prayer.' Or because of the charismatic movement that loves to define saving faith as a purely human capacity we can exercise (to our benefit) or not.

The truth is, salvation is a supernatural conversion. It does not proceed from anything in the sinner. It is something that takes place on the inside (spiritually). And which is accompanied by a host of spectacular transitions and creations.

Here's a representative list.
A saved person has his sins forgiven.
He is justified in the sight of God -- being declared righteous
The "Life" of God is now his -- a quality of existence, unique to God
He is made a "New Creature" in Christ -- something brand new
He is made a "partaker of the divine nature"
He is sanctified by God -- separated unto God / from sin
He is indwelt by the Holy Spirit
He is gifted by the Holy Spirit -- for the benefit of the Body of Christ
And Paul said he was already glorified (Rom. 8:30)

Now, to say such a person will suffer eternal damnation because of his actions, is to imply that
1. some human action must have occurred to placed him in this enviable situation
2. that God has un-done all that he did in that life (see the List)

Ask a backslider: Do you know you are backsliding, right now? Do you know this is inconsistent with your testimony? Do you know you're going to have to stop this and get back to serving God?

The answers to these questions will expose the person's heart. A born-again believer answers all these questions in the affirmative. An unsaved person (according to Scripture) has no understanding of God, nor is he seeking Him (Rom. 3:11).

Maybe Now It Makes Sense

Over the last 10 years suicide among young people (10 - 24 years of age) has increased 10-fold. Suicide is now the 3rd leading cause of death among this demographic. There are now twice as many suicides as deaths from HIV/AIDs. More females than males consider suicide, but four times as many males die by this method than females.

It is not fair to make sweeping generalizations about such a serious situation. However, there are some interesting and informative statistics.

The children committing suicide largely feel as though they are cut off from family, friends and any meaningful relationships. Feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness, a family history of depression, feelings of isolation, physical or sexual abuse and the lack of a social support system are just a few of the emotional issues that accompany suicide.

My opinion is that we're playing around with fundamental social structures like family and sexuality and worth, reaping the logical result.

The psychological community responds to all this by insisting parents make sure children feel a sense of worth. Of course, this means simply telling a child how special they are, whether they are or aren't. Any engaged parent can tell you this just creates monsters. Young people who think they're special are now sure of it!

In the "old days" parents gave children credit for doing worthwhile things. And the accomplishments of worth reinforced positive feelings of worth. A worth that translates into productivity rather than destruction.

Children were an integral part of the family structure. They had a place. They had a job. And they knew who they were and where they stood. Today our children are living a disconnected life and wondering what's the use.

Where does all this come from? We'll here's a suggestion:

Richard Dawkins -- noted Darwinian Evolutionist -- said, "Life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate the survival of DNA...life has no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference."

William Provine -- another Darwinianist -- said, "There are no gods, no purposes, and no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death....There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will for humans."

Is it possible that, after 70 years of this kind of instruction in our Schools and government-sponsored indoctrination, we have an entire society that believes these things?

On the other hand, noted scientists like Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle (Father of Modern Chemistry), Michael Faraday (Father of Electromagnetism), Louis Pasteur, Charles Babbage (Computer Science), Lord Kelvin (Thermodynamics) and scores of others were men and women who believed the Bible.

It was the fact that the universe was orderly (the product of intelligent design) that both motivated and encouraged them to continue in their research and study. A random universe can have no scientific hope. If things don't work the same way every time, how can you make sense of them or quantify them?

And, it would seem, a social structure without hope is equally discouraging.

When Worlds Collide

I was reminded the other week when a caller to the Bible Forum started reciting historical and scientific facts that bore no resemblance to anything I had ever read or learned, that we live in a parallel universe.

Technically it's about worldviews: how people view the world they live in. And a Christian sees things differently than does an atheist -- or at least he should.

The caller couldn't think of an atheist, world figure, who was responsible for the mass murder of thousands, if not millions of people declaring this "proof" that religion is the biggest problem in the world.

He saw the Crusades and Hitler as Christians and Israel's incursion into Gaza as adequate examples of his theory. Never mind that Hitler was creating a completely atheistic (and occultic) society, or that the Crusader's raping and pillaging across Asia Minor was not in the least Christian.

He also didn't want to hear my list of atheistic despots: from Attilla the Hun, to Gheghis Khan, to Joseph Stalin, to Mao Tse Tung, to Slobivan Misolovic, to Idi Amin, to Pol Pot.

But the most shocking revelation was that this caller was working on a Master's Degree in Education! He's going to be educating YOUR children. And he hasn't heard any of these things?

So, if this doesn't motivate parents to make sure their children understand the world they live in, they probably don't care.

The real question is: Do YOU see the world the way God presents it? Or the way godless ideologues present it? Does it really matter?

It matters more than whether or not you have enough food! There is a (not-so) subtle battle raging behind the veil -- on a spiritual plane. It is the battle for your heart and mind, and that of your children.

When a parent entrusts their child to the Federal School System and to the media for their world-view, is it really such a surprise that so many have such a warped perspective?

reEvolutionary Thinking

The last few weeks on the Bible Forum, folks have commented on evolution. Generally those who favor Darwinian Evolution are a) uninformed as to what evolution is, and b) rude in their effort to communicate what they DO know.

Take, for example, the most common comment regarding the criticism of evolution: "Everyone knows that animals evolve!" "They adapt to their surroundings and needs."

Okay. That's true, but it's not a discussion of evolution. It's a discussion of adaptation of the species, which everyone accepts.

The second most common comment is that science supports evolution in the fossil record or in the geologic column or by carbon dating. This one is so thoroughly ingrained that any criticism of the concept is received as proof that the critic is an idiot.

If it were possible to keep a Darwinianist 'on subject' for more than 30 seconds, it might also be possible to enlighten them. But alas.

In it's simplest and most fundamental form, Darwinian Evolutionary Theory is the effort to explain what we see in nature without considering God. It is a completely naturalistic and therefore materialistic hypothesis. The logical conclusion of which is to subvert known science and exalt the human spirit.

If life began in some primordal ooze and evolved upward to become a human being, where will it end? Since this life came from non-life, it exists completely on it's own and is answerable to no one and to nothing but the all-knowing and all-sufficient self.

What this means is every society is free to craft the governing system that best suits their goals and needs. Each one being just as good as the other and capable of providing for the people it serves.

There is no superior system. There is no system that fails. And, as societal needs change, we are free to alter our system to satisfy these new needs.

Enter the destruction of the American System! The Constitutional Republic that brought the strongest, most productive and creative culture the world has ever known has given way to the selfishness and greed of the human spirit.

Perhaps this will expose Evolution for what it is: regressive. Having come this far, giving honor and submission to God, we have thrown Him over in favor of a god more to our liking. One that has greater promise. Not for morally upward progress, but for self-gratification.

Perhaps, when all this is firmly in place, people will begin to see the fallacies in Darwinian thought.

Chickens Coming Home To Roost

What do Bernie Maddow, Marcus Schrenker and Arthur Nadel have in common? Answer: Bilking the public of millions and millions of dollars through investment scams! I think we can expect to see more of these sorts of situations. Why? Because of the moral climate in America, today.

So, how did we get here? The answer to this question is not flattering.

You see, we've deliberately structured our society for immorality and selfishness through our educational system. Over 50 years of indoctrination and behavioral modification have resulted in a culture that rejects objective morality and absolute truth.

It came together in the 1960's with major educational changes. Changes that reflected the reality created by over 30 years of Humanistic educational philosophy. A cadre of young people, many college students, took to the streets advocating the destruction of society, as it was. We call it the "Turbulent 60's" but it was a seminal moment in our history.

In 1960, the U.S. Department of H.E.W. published a blueprint for restructuring the school system called, "Soviet Education Programs: Foundations, Curriculums, Teacher Preparation." It was built on B.F. Skinner's 'Behavioral Modification' theories.

In 1976, the President of the National Education Association said, "First we will help all of our people undersand that school is a concept and not a place. We will not confuse "schooling" with education. The school will be the community, the community, the school."

This is when Basic Skill Courses took a back seat to affective education courses. What had taken up 90% of a student's educational time, was now relegated to about 40%. The new Global Student was being prepared for a very different world.

What had to be sacrificed was objective morality. The idea that some things are right and some things are wrong. Not because the individual thought so but because God said so. The new Global Citizen had to shed this out-dated and old-fashioned idea and embrace his own set of values. And it was the Educational System that would provide those values.

In the 1970's, Jimmy Carter established the Department of Education which effectively moved the seat of education from the State to the Federal Government. In 1989, George H.W. Bush gave us a new educational policy, called "Goals 2000," setting in concrete the whole behavioral modification movement. In 2001, George W. Bush gave us "No Child Left Behind," which meant teachers would now be essentially teaching to the test.

Along the way the S.A.T.'s have been watered down, Direct Educational techniques have been outlawed, Traditional Values were declared personal non gratia and all objective morality has been removed from the classroom. Teachers now work to prepare children to be good citizens, not good students.

In the end we cannot educate our children. Our entire educational system is an embarassment. But worse than that, we are completely without a moral compass. Sexually transmitted diseases are rampant, children as young as 11 years of age are being required to receive injections to prevent cervical cancer, a condition not all that prevalent among monogamus females, the details of sexual intercourse are freely discussed in co-educational health classes and preventative devices are distributed by the State, through the school system.

Arguments are made on both sides to explain why 40% of our children cannot read or why they do not graduate High School. But I am convinced there is a direct connection between the elimination of objective morality and educational proficiency.

The bottom line: The general impression among Americans is that whatever it takes to be successful, is morally acceptable. It's the new definition of capitalism: the idea that Greed is Good!

Is there a way to move the hands of the clock backward? Yes. Bring God back into our educational system and into our society.

Will that happen? There doesn't seem to be any hope of that in the near future. Keep that in mind when you send little Johnny or Janey off to the Federal Propaganda Institution we call our "Public" school system.

This Week On The Bible Forum

What if we, as a society, could eliminate 70% of the most destructive behaviors we have? What if we could do that by eliminating just one social situation? And how significant would that be if God is found to be on record as anticipating this situation by establishing one institution to keep it from happening? Well, this is exactly what's happened!

Ann Coulter's newest book is out. It is called, Guilty
In it she lists some shocking statistics.

She cites "The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators" as referenced by, of all people, Hillary Clinton in an interview on Feb. 11, 2008, that shows
63% of all youth suicides are among children raised in single-mother homes
70% of all teen suicides
71% of all adolescent chemical and/or substance abuse
80% of all prison inmates
And 90% of all homeless or runaway children come from single-mother homes

In addition, The Village Voice did a Study which showed that children from single-mother homes are 5 times more likely to commit suicide
9 times more likely to drop out of school
10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances
14 times more likely to commit rape (boys)
20 times more likely to end up in prison
And 32 times more likely to runaway from home

Even controlling for socioeconomic factors, where these children lived and regardless of whether they were White or Black, the results were the same [statistically]

Being raised in a singel-mother home is more central than crime, drugs, poverty, illiteracy, welfare and homelessness, when it comes to the future well-being and productivity of a child.
Because the home drives everything else in life.

And the point? The point is that God established marriage (and the home) around one man and one woman, committing to each other and to their family, for life.
For richer or for poorer. For better or for worse. In sickness and in health.
A commitment (read, Promise) that doesn't depend on what the other person does or becomes.
A commitment that doesn't depend on whether times are easy or hard.
A commitment that simply depends on the character and veracity of the persons making it.

That's marriage, Bible-Style. And it's far better than it's nearest substitute. Ask any child.
The next time someone touts some form of Alternative Family, drag out these statistics and ask them if they want this for their children.

Of course it only happens to all those "other" people.