We are continuing to address the following three questions in relation to world events:
1) What is happening?
2) What is not happening?
3) What can we do about it?
From the perspective of our calling to be “the light of the world” (see Matthew 5:14), we should have answers from the Lord concerning the world’s ultimate problems. We are taking a bit of time to address the world economic issues because these will be some of the ultimate issues at the end of the age, which is why the “mark of the beast” is an economic mark, determining who can “buy, sell, or trade” (see Revelation 13:17).
The economy deals with human transactions, and therefore, is one of the most basic barometers of the human condition. For this reason, we should be compelled as Christians to understand basic economic issues, which actually are not that difficult to understand. Even the complex derivatives markets that were a part of the cause of the present crisis can be understood with just a little effort.
Though the modern economy has become interconnected around the world, the basics can be easily understood. Once these are understood, they can become a paradigm, or grid, for understanding many things about the world at the end of the age and about the coming of the kingdom of God, and how we should prepare for both.
The U.S. economy has been the strongest in the world for nearly a century and has also become a linchpin for the world economy. For this reason, there is a saying that if the American economy sneezes, the world catches pneumonia. Huge problems have recently emerged in the U.S. economy that have virtually brought the whole world’s economy down, which revealed more about the entire world economy. There is a battle happening now concerning which direction should be taken to try to correct these problems—one being increasingly centralized control, or socialism, and the other being greater decentralization, less interdependence, or basic market driven economics.
Polls and elections show that when people begin to fear, they turn to the government for the answers to all of their problems. Therefore, socialist policies and politicians tend to win in fearful economic times. When people feel secure, they want the government to go away or at least become less intrusive and expensive. As a result, conservative policies and politicians tend to win in good economic times. These trends have contributed to many of our deepest problems because they are in exact opposite timing of what is needed at the time. Socialist policies can make it much more difficult for a free market to get out of the mire. Likewise, when regulations and government imposed control are needed, it would be far better for this to occur in good times rather than bad so there is not such a tendency for overreaction.
God’s people tend to do the same—when we’re in trouble, or fear rises, we turn to God. When we’re doing well, we tend to want Him more in the background of our lives. For this reason, we see the Lord allowing or releasing troubles upon His people to turn them back to Him. It is tragic that this is required, but it is an undisputed biblical and historical pattern.
The reason that those who do not know God turn to the government in this same way is because the government is their god. A god is not just something you love, but what you put your trust in. This is why the government becomes the god of the people at the end, when the ultimate delusions and deceptions are covering the earth.
One of the most frightening trends in the present world economic shaking is the degree to which government leaders have been blatantly lying to the country and getting away with it with very little protest from the media or the people. Either they feel that the people are too stupid to catch the contradictions in their statements or are so blinded that they can easily get away with it. People are not that stupid, which indicates that they are really that blind. This seems clearly what is prophesied in Isaiah 60 when we are told that “darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples….”
There is also jaded skepticism where many people actually expect their government leaders to lie to them. As the cynical joke goes, “How do you know when a politician is lying? Their lips are moving.” Lying to Congress is a serious offense, but why isn’t lying by Congress an offense? With some officials, you wonder if they even know what truth is anymore.
However, this is not just with politicians, but it has become an increasingly accepted practice in business. This lack of devotion to truth is producing many economic and political fault lines that are resulting in the shaking of the very foundations of government and society. This is prophesied in Scripture, and is happening at an increasing pace. It will also open the door for another prophecy to be fulfilled.
At the end of the age, we are told that the ultimate worship of another god will be directed at the one who has seized authority—the antichrist or man of sin. The antichrist is not just someone who is against Christ. We are told in the prophecies that he becomes a substitute for Christ, taking his seat in the temple of God (the church), and displaying himself as being god, taking Christ’s rightful place. We are also told that this will not last long, but the Lord will consume him with the breath of His mouth—His truth.
For this reason, it is fundamentally important that our trust be in God, not in men, and not in governments. The Lord must be our Source and our Hope. We will see a “kingdom economy” begin to emerge that is separate from the world—one which will be in it and help it as much as it can, but it will not be of it. Aspects of this kingdom economy are already becoming clear, but the basis for it are really the basics of the Christian life—loving God and one another, and putting our trust in Him. The power of this economy is its Source and its simplicity of devotion to Him. You don’t have to be a genius to understand it or be a part of it. You just have to be a true worshiper of God.