 | We were giving out leaflets advertising one of our meetings at The Bridge at the time when the present economic crisis was beginning. A Christian went past and said, 'Everyone will turn to Christ now because the system is being shaken and they will realise that Christ is the answer.' 'Not necessarily,' I replied. 'They may turn to antichrist.' He thought I was being a bit defeatist, but a study of history shows that it was out of the economic crisis of 1930s that Hitler arose in Germany. |
Woolworths Store in Bournemouth - Last Day of trading on 27th December 2008
As the present economic system becomes undone, we may well see a new system being proposed as the solution. Gary Kah in his newsletter says, 'It will include some form of global government based on regional economic arrangements similar to the EU and the proposed North American Union. Global planners have long understood that there can't be a new world system until the old order has failed. Developments in the US will most certainly impact the entire world.' He points out that the US government is now almost as broke as the institutions it is trying to fix. Its only options to raise the money required for the proposed payout of the banks are a massive rise in taxes, printing money (thereby creating hyper-inflation), or borrowing it from foreign entities. The most likely option is the third one so increasing the already massive US $10 trillion debt.
I was struck by reading Genesis 47:13-26 in this connection. 'Now there was no bread in all the land for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine .... So when the money failed in all the land of Egypt and in all the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, 'Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.' What Joseph did out of this crisis was to give the people bread in exchange for their land, their livelihood and eventually their bodies. Everything ended up being owned by Pharaoh and the people became his property. The state as represented by Pharaoh had total control. As long as the God fearing Joseph was in power, the people were protected from this situation being abused by those in power. But then 'there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph' (Exodus 1:8). Now the way was open for the tyranny and exploitation of Pharaoh. Only the intervention of God could rescue His people Israel.
In the present world situation we see a huge crisis which has suddenly blown up and is now engulfing the world. Now it is affecting the Euro region, Russia, China and the rest of the world. It could end in the total disintegration of the global economic system and bring chaos to all nations. Or it could be fixed at least temporarily in a way which ends up giving much greater power and ownership of people's land, livelihood and bodies to banks which are controlled by a global regulatory authority. Eventually you end up with a system in which this authority has total control over the key institutions that keep the system going. Since all countries have now become interdependent, a global government is required to achieve this. The crisis is so severe that people are willing to accept the loss of freedoms they previously held dear in order to survive. Out of this a new king arises, energised and empowered by Satan, to give an apparent solution, but in fact to bring in the final period of world tyranny which only the intervention of God through the second coming of the Lord Jesus to the earth can save His people from.
Is this how the present situation will end up? If the beast system of Revelation 13 is yet to be set up it is hard to see how this could happen if the whole world system falls apart totally at the present time. The fall of Babylon which brings about the collapse of the world trading system (Revelation 18) happens at the end of the tribulation period just before the return of the Lord Jesus to the earth, not before it. With this in mind I see the present global economic crisis as one of the labour pains of the last days which is pushing the world towards the tribulation period. I would also expect some kind of fix to be given to it which will cause economic and social pain to people, and at the same time will give much greater power to global institutions. This will lead towards the final period of this age in which 'the dragon gives authority to the beast' (Revelation 13:3).
Only God knows how long we have before all this comes to pass and at what time the Lord intervenes to take His people to Himself. But we can be certain that as the world system is being shaken so the kingdom of God cannot be shaken. We should therefore look up and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that our redemption is drawing near (Hebrews 12:25-29, Luke 21:25-28).
