What Was the Purpose of Christ's Death?

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What Was the Purpose of Christ's Death?
Millions of Christians believe that Jesus Christ died for them. But do they really know why? Why was Jesus Christ's death really necessary?
by Jerold Aust
Most Christians, if asked what makes them a Christian, would respond something like this:"I know that Jesus is the Son of God who died for my sins, and I accept His shed blood for my sins."
While Jesus did die for us, is that all there is to this belief? Does the Bible tell us that there's more to the story?
A sacrifice for humanity's sins
Many Bible passages show why Jesus died for humankind. Let's look at a few.
The apostle Paul wrote that we are to"walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma" (Ephesians 5:2, emphasis added throughout).
To the Christians in Rome, Paul explained:"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation [atoning sacrifice] by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed" (Romans 3:23-25).
Later in the same letter, Paul wrote:"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us . Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Romans 5:8-9).
To the Corinthian church Paul explained that God the Father "made Him who knew no sin [Jesus Christ] to be sin for us" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Here the clear implication is that Jesus took our guilt on Himself and paid the penalty for us by His death.
The book of Revelation opens by describing Jesus Christ as the One "who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Revelation 1:5).
The apostle John also explained the reason for Jesus' death:"If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:1-2, New Revised Standard Version).
A little later he explained:"God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:9-10, NRSV).
And also:"We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world" (verse 14).
The apostle Peter confirmed this great truth, that Jesus Christ "bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24).
The prophet Isaiah wrote of the purpose of Jesus' death centuries before it actually took place:"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).
Scripture is very clear about the fact that Jesus had to die for all people of all time and for crucial reasons. He had to die because of human sin—yours, mine and everyone else's.
Sin brought on Jesus' death
The scriptures quoted above show the necessity of Jesus' death—that it was required because of sin. Without sin, there would be no need for Jesus' death, the shedding of His sinless blood.
Sin is the violation of God's law (1 John 3:4). It requires a price to be paid because, as Romans 6:23 tells us,"The wages of sin is death." Without some payment for that awful penalty, human beings would face oblivion through death with no hope beyond the grave .
The New Testament letter to the Hebrews states plainly that"without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (9:22, NRSV). One purpose for this letter was to explain that Jesus Christ was the very Son of God and that He gave His life's blood for the remission—the forgiveness, the pardon, the penalty removal—of humankind's sins.
The recipients of this letter were quite familiar with the Old Testament sacrifices that, as the epistle explains, foreshadowed the one holy sacrifice of mankind's Savior:"He has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26, NRSV).
Human beings must have their sins washed away, pardoned and forgiven, to be reconciled to God."For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life" (Romans 5:10, NRSV). Without reconciliation to God the Father, there could be no forgiveness of sins.
Hebrews 9:28 further explains that"Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him" (New International Version). A sinless Jesus became sin for us as we've seen (2 Corinthians 5:21). He took on the sins of humankind to save us from everlasting death.
How sin began
Considering that sin is so terrible and destructive that we need a Savior to atone for us, just how did sin begin?
The archangel Lucifer, since known as Satan, was the first to sin against God, the first to break His laws (see Ezekiel 28:15-16). Ironically, Satan has since influenced the world to think that mankind was the first to sin. Adam and Eve did sin, but they weren't the first to sin. Satan had already rebelled against God and was waiting there in the Garden of Eden to plant his lies in their thinking (John 8:42-44).
Eve and Adam were the first human beings to sin against God, and since then all human beings have sinned in like manner (Romans 5:12). Most people find it difficult to acknowledge sin; they simply act as if it didn't exist. But sin is destructive. If God had not provided us with a solution, eventually it would destroy all mankind.
Today, God"commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30)—to stop sinning, to cease from breaking His laws.
Since no human being can obey God's laws perfectly without sinning, God extends grace to the repentant, pardoning them for their sins.
Law and grace go together
Most Christians today find it difficult to understand the relationship between God's grace and God's laws. The view most commonly held is,"If there's something we must actually do to be forgiven, then grace is meaningless because grace implies that God demands nothing in return."
There is some truth in this. Grace, God's favor or good will toward us, is undeserved. It includes unmerited pardon or forgiveness of sins. That cannot be earned.
But God's forgiving grace was never intended as a license to continue sinning. Paul makes this truth very plain:"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 6:1-2).
Grace and law are inseparable, as the Bible clearly teaches. Since sin—the breaking of God's law (1 John 3:4)—is to be removed, what would be the point of pardoning people from it just to allow them to continue to violate God's law? This clearly makes no sense.
This also would be an utter contradiction of Paul's teaching that Jesus Christ"gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14).
Grace, made possible through Christ's sacrifice of Himself, allows us to be"redeemed"—to be bought back by God through Christ paying the price for our sins. But God's grace (His free gift ) encompasses much more. It includes our being purified as God's"own special people" through the gift of His Holy Spirit, making us"zealous for good works."
Yes, grace, through Christ's sacrifice, supplies the forgiveness that the law can't give. But grace does not replace the laws of God, as Scripture clearly shows. Rather, grace gives us a new beginning, a chance to start life over in harmony with God's teachings—which include the great spiritual principles embodied in His law. Indeed, grace includes God giving us the needed spiritual help to obey.
Who can receive salvation?
Many misunderstand grace. To think that God requires nothing from us except to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for our sins would deprive us of salvation—would leave us still in our sins!
Don't take my word for it! See what your Bible has to say:"Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
"For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law [that is, under its punitive judgment for violating it, as they had been before they repented] but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" (Romans 6:11-16).
Remarkably, many sincere people still believe that no changes are required of them to receive God's gift of grace other than to believe on the name of Jesus and accept His shed blood for their sins. Paul's words above show that is simply not true.
Perhaps the most popular and misunderstood scripture that focuses on the importance of Jesus' death is found in John 3:16:"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
The last part of this verse,"that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life," has been only partially understood by millions of people. Many mistakenly assume that believing in Jesus means only believing in His identity and promises and that it does not include any reciprocal action on their part. Yet truly believing in Jesus is demonstrated by one's actions. (See"What Does It Mean to Believe in Jesus?".)
But the Bible tells us emphatically that to be saved we must repent of our selfish ways, turn to God in faith and believe what Christ tells us to do (Acts 2:38). Many professing Christians who believe on Jesus still don't demonstrate their belief by living as Jesus instructs. As the Bible reveals, this initial, minimal level of belief isn't what Jesus desires (Luke 6:46).
When a rich young man asked Jesus what it would take for him to enter eternal life, he got an answer that would surprise many today:"If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matthew 19:17).
Jesus also warned that"whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:19).
Paul knew this truth, explaining that "the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good" (Romans 7:12). Therefore, God wants us to keep His laws in the spirit as well as in the letter—to genuinely grasp and apply their full intent. Salvation is only offered to those who are willing to strive to keep God's commandments from the heart.
If you need further proof as to whether there's anything more we must do than what is traditionally taught, go to the very end of your Bible. There it states,"Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life [for the gift of eternal life], and may enter through the gates into the city [the new Jerusalem, our ultimate destiny]" (Revelation 22:14).
The Bible shows that there is much more for you and me to do than simply accept the name of Jesus, call ourselves Christians and accept the shed blood of our Savior. God wants to transform our lives, to build in us His righteous character.
To be accepted by God, to receive that great blessing, which is a gift and can't be earned, you and I must want to keep God's laws because we respect and love them and have repented of breaking them. Then we must accept God's grace for forgiveness of our past failure to keep His laws properly. And we must strive with His help to start obeying His laws, always repenting and asking for forgiveness when we fall short.
When Jesus' death applies to you
The death of Jesus Christ applies to you and me personally when we are drawn by God to understand His truths and we respond. If you've been called by God (see John 6:44), then you already recognize how Jesus' death applies to you.
Accepting the death of Jesus must be accompanied by repentance—a change of direction from our old habitual sins. It also requires that we exercise faith (sincere belief) in what Christ has taught us. This means we will begin obeying God's laws that can liberate us from our captivity to sin (Romans 6:11-23).
Yes, John 3:16 is true—we must believe in Jesus. But we need to fully understand what that means. The truth is that there is something for us to do, once we are drawn to God to understand His truth. We must know that our sins—yours, mine and everyone else's—have necessitated the death of Jesus Christ, without which we would die permanently and be forever forgotten.
Jesus died in our place. We deserve death; Jesus didn't. Anyone who sins deserves death (Romans 6:23). But God is merciful to us and has given us His Son to willingly take that penalty on Himself and die in our stead.
In response, He expects us to listen to His instruction, to obey His commands. This is what Jesus died for.
There's more to the greatest story ever told! So be sure to read the following article,"Jesus Christ's Resurrection: Leading the Way for Others," to discover the rest of the story of His involvement in your salvation. GN

Related Resources
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Whatever Happened to Sin? It used to be common to hear messages condemning sin and warning of its consequences. Now most religious messages pass over the uncomfortable reality of sin to focus on "feel-good" themes. What is happening to Christianity—and is it missing a crucial part of Christ's message?
How To Overcome Sin You need to understand this vital biblical formula for overcoming sin.
Why Do We Sin? All of us have to deal with sin and its tragic consequences in our lives. Understanding why we sin is a first step in overcoming and avoiding sin.
Grace, Works and Obedience Through God's grace, the gift of eternal life is given to those who demonstrate their faith in God by their obedience and repentance
The Road to Eternal Life What is the purpose of human life? Are we here for a reason? Does the Bible provide answers for these questions? What does the Bible mean when it talks about repentence and conversion?
Transforming Your Life: The Process of Conversion We will examine the Bible's teaching on conversion. Contrary to what many think, it is not just a one-time event. Instead the Scriptures reveal that it is a process.The process begins with God's calling, followed by the key steps of repentance, baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit—finally climaxing with the return of Jesus Christ, when the dead in Christ are resurrected to immortality and given eternal life. That is the ultimate transformation, being changed from a mortal to an immortal being!

Can You Believe the Bible?

From http://www.el-paso.ucg.org/

Click here to get this free book.

Can You Believe the Bible?
Both God and the Bible have long been under attack. What are some of the motives of critics? And, far more important, what does the evidence dug from the dust of the Middle East reveal?
by Scott Ashley
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A crucial battle is taking place in Western culture—a battle over God and the Bible. To boil that conflict down to its essence, many people don't like the idea of having someone tell them what to do, so they reject the idea of a God who has any say in how they are to live.
Some famous evolutionists have openly admitted as much. The well-known author and evolution proponent Aldous Huxley, for example, wrote: "I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption . . .
"Those who detect no meaning in the world generally do so because, for one reason or another, it suits their [purpose] that the world should be meaningless" (Ends and Means, 1938, p. 270).
"For myself, as, no doubt, for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was . . . liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom . . ." (ibid., p. 273).
Julian Huxley, brother of Aldous Huxley and also a leading proponent of evolution, later wrote: "The sense of spiritual relief which comes from rejecting the idea of God as a super-human being is enormous" (Essays of a Humanist, 1964, p. 219).
Of course, those who reject the idea of God also have to reject the idea that the Bible is true and could be His inspired Word. It's no coincidence that the Bible has been essentially banned from U.S. classrooms.
What does the evidence reveal?
But what do the facts show? Can we believe the Bible? What does the evidence—the historical facts dug up from the dirt of the Middle East—reveal? For those willing to examine it objectively, the evidence is quite clear that the Bible is accurate and true.
The books of the Bible have existed for millennia—the youngest around 1,900 years and the oldest around 3,500. In recording events of the time, they mention many specific details—people, places, cities, towns, customs and events. When the Bible began to be translated into more modern languages in recent centuries, virtually no independent evidence had been found to support the biblical story.
Yes, historians knew of the empires of Greece and Rome and of their rulers as mentioned in the Bible, but little else was known. Even as late as the 19th century, when criticism of and disbelief in the Bible began to take hold, it was easy to dismiss the Bible because scant supporting evidence had been found.
But with the emergence of the science of archaeology, that soon changed. As scholars and archaeologists explored and excavated ancient sites, they began to uncover abundant evidence that supported the accuracy of the Bible.
Since then entire empires that were unknown outside the Bible have been brought to light. Inscriptions or other artifacts mentioning specific people in the Bible, ranging from kings to court officials to common people, have been uncovered.
Cities and strongholds mentioned in Scripture have risen from the dust. Many events recorded in the Bible, and even minor details such as customs mentioned in passing, have been confirmed by independent discoveries. Even specific buildings and structures mentioned in Scripture have been identified!
In late 2006 I was privileged to visit one of the world's great historical treasure-houses, the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. From the 16th century until the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire ruled much of the Middle East from its capital in present-day Turkey. During that period many priceless archaeological pieces made their way from the far reaches of the empire to the Ottoman rulers in Istanbul. Eventually more than a million artifacts were gathered in the museum.
Several items on display confirm people, customs and events mentioned in the Bible. Although we don't have space to cover all of them, we'll discuss some of the most notable.
Did the Hittites really exist?
For centuries the only known references to Hittites were those found in the Bible. Because of this, some Bible critics assumed they were simply invented, just one of many myths in the Bible. After all, they reasoned, how could an entire culture and people have existed and not left any physical evidence behind?
The Hittites are mentioned in connection with the patriarch Abraham in Genesis 23 where he purchased a cave from Ephron the Hittite to use as a burial place for his beloved wife Sarah. (Abraham himself would later be buried there.)
Later Abraham's grandson Esau married two Hittite women (Genesis 26:34), and still later the Hittites were among the peoples God promised to drive out so the Israelites could inherit the Promised Land (Exodus 23:28; 33:2; 34:11). King Solomon later married Hittite women (1 Kings 11:1), probably as part of political alliances with Hittite rulers. The Hittites were still an influential power in the time of Elisha around 840 B.C. (see 2 Kings 7:6). But did they really exist?
As the lands of the Middle East were later explored, particularly in what is today central Turkey where the Hittite empire was centered, archaeologists found abundant evidence of the existence of the Hittites. Their findings correlated with the mentions of the Hittites in the Bible.
Their empire had existed for centuries alongside the other peoples mentioned in the Scriptures—at times waxing and at other times waning alongside other kingdoms and empires such as Syria, Egypt and Assyria before diminishing and eventually disappearing not long after their last mention in the Bible.
Ashtoreth (Astarte), goddess of fertility
A major sin mentioned again and again in the Old Testament was idolatry and the worship of foreign gods. God repeatedly condemned the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, the primary male and female deities of the Canaanites and other surrounding peoples.
Baal and Ashtoreth were the primary god and goddess of fertility. As such, their worship typically involved ritual sex with a priest or priestess, for which an offering was given. This essentially amounted to sex for pay, which is why the Bible often equates worship of these gods and goddesses with prostitution.
The common name of the goddess in Babylonia and Mesopotamia was Ishtar, which survives today in the name of the holiday Easter. Her name among the nations around Israel was Astarte, but the biblical writers apparently deliberately distorted the name to Ashtoreth to make it sound like the Hebrew word for "shame"—as indeed the way she was worshipped, involving sex with her priests and priestesses, was degrading and shameful.
Small figurines of this and other fertility goddesses are commonly found in Israel and the surrounding countries, clear evidence of the popularity of such worship. Worship of this goddess is mentioned from soon after the death of Joshua in Judges 2:13 (ca. 1210 B.C.) until the reign of King Josiah in 2 Kings 23:13 (ca. 640 B.C.).
Assyria devastates the kingdom of Israel
As a result of the sins of idolatry and rejecting God's laws over several centuries, and their absolute refusal to repent, God warned the Israelites that since they refused to serve Him in their own land, they would serve other gods in foreign lands. He began to punish them through the Assyrian Empire, a new superpower emerging in what is today the country of Iraq.
The Bible records a whole series of Assyrian kings who made war on Israel, and archaeologists have uncovered abundant evidence testifying to the existence of these same kings. Their capital cities, palaces, archives and in some cases even their portraits and statues have been found. Much of this material is in the great museums of Europe, but evidence of these kings is also displayed in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.
Tiglath-Pileser III
We find the names of the first two Assyrian kings mentioned in the Bible inscribed on a stone stele commemorating the achievements of a high Assyrian official named Bel-harran-beli-usur. He served in the royal court of Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 B.C.) and Shalmaneser V (727-722 B.C.). The inscription describes how he served in the court of these two Assyrian kings and founded a city he named after himself.
This same Tiglath-Pileser is referred to by a shortened form of his name, Pul, in 2 Kings 15:19-20, which states that he received tribute money from the Israelite King Menahem (ca. 743 B.C.). Exacting tribute was a common practice at the time. It amounted to extortion on a national scale since the Assyrians would invade and plunder the land, destroying its cities and enslaving its inhabitants, if the Israelites didn't pay this protection money.
Around 734 B.C., as recorded in verse 29, the Israelite King Pekah rebelled against Tiglath-Pileser, who invaded Israel and took thousands of its people captive to other faraway territories. At the same time Ahaz, king of Judah, stripped the temple of its gold and silver and emptied the national treasury to enlist the Assyrian king's help in fighting against Pekah and the king of Syria (2 Kings 16:5-9). Syria, like Israel, was devastated by the Assyrian invasion.
Shalmaneser V
Tiglath-Pileser died in 727 B.C. and was succeeded by Shalmaneser V. Picking up the story in 2 Kings 17:3, we learn that Shalmaneser marched against the Israelite King Hoshea, who paid him off with tribute. A few years later Shalmaneser returned and besieged Israel's capital, Samaria, for three years before its fall in 722 B.C., then exiled the remaining Israelites to other Assyrian-controlled territories (verses 5-6).
This marked the end of the kingdom of Israel; its exiled people would then lose their identity and become known in history as "the lost 10 tribes."
Sargon II
The next Assyrian monarch mentioned in Scripture is Shalmaneser's successor, Sargon II (722-705 B.C.), who had been Shalmaneser's field commander in the conquest of Samaria. Sargon is mentioned in Isaiah 20:1, which refers to him sending one of his generals in 712 B.C. to capture the Philistine city of Ashdod on the Mediterranean coast west of Jerusalem.
Sargon, while marching against other kingdoms around Judah, did not attack Judah itself—apparently honoring the alliance the Judean king Ahaz had forged with Tiglath-Pileser several years earlier.
Sennacherib
After Sargon died in 705 B.C., Sennacherib (705-682 B.C.) followed him on the throne. Sennacherib is mentioned prominently in Scripture, chiefly for his invasion of the kingdom of Judah in 701 B.C. during the reign of Hezekiah. The Bible records this invasion in 2 Kings 18:13–19:37, 2 Chronicles 32:1-22 and Isaiah 36–37.
Hezekiah refused to pay the oppressive tribute his father Ahaz had paid, prompting Sennacherib's campaign against Judah. Both the Bible and Sennacherib's archives record that the Assyrians captured virtually all of the Judean kingdom save its capital, Jerusalem. Hezekiah initially paid off the Assyrian king with tribute, but was only delivered by a great miracle—the divine destruction of the Assyrian army outside the walls of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35).
Sennacherib, defeated and humiliated, returned to his capital where he was later assassinated by his own sons.
Hezekiah's tunnel inscription
While it is fairly common to find inscriptions or other evidence of specific individuals and places mentioned in the Bible, it's much rarer to find archaeological verification of specific events recorded in Scripture. Events by their nature are transitory and seldom recorded in ways that can survive the ravages of time. Yet proof of an event from the reign of Hezekiah is on display in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.
In 2 Kings 20:20 we read the following about King Hezekiah: "Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah—all his might, and how he made a pool and a tunnel and brought water into the city—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?"
Today visitors to Jerusalem can walk through this very tunnel by which Hezekiah's engineers managed to divert the normal flow of the Gihon Spring, which normally flowed outside the city, by carving a tunnel under the city so the water would flow to a pool inside the city walls.
The 1,750-foot tunnel, constructed in or about the year 701 B.C., is one of the great engineering marvels of the ancient world. Discovered by the famed American archaeologist Edward Robinson in 1838, the tunnel yielded up a secret to its method of construction in 1880 when an Arab boy found an ancient Hebrew inscription carved on the tunnel wall describing how two teams of men, working from opposite ends, tunneled toward each other to meet in the middle. The inscription was later removed to Istanbul by order of the Ottoman rulers of the city.
Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon
After the miraculous destruction of Sennacherib's army during Hezekiah's reign, Assyria never again invaded Judah. Assyria, from that point forward, was on the wane as a new empire rose to become the superpower in the Middle East—Babylon.
The greatest ruler of the Babylonian Empire is a figure well known to Bible readers, King Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled from 605 to 562 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned 88 times in the Bible, in the books of 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.
Nebuchadnezzar marched on the kingdom of Judah multiple times. The first was in 605 B.C. when he drove an Egyptian army out of Syria back to Egypt as part of his overthrow of the Assyrian Empire. The next was when Judah's King Jehoiakim refused to pay tribute to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar stripped the Jerusalem temple of many of its valuables and took them back to Babylon.
After subsequent rebellions, Nebuchadnezzar resolved to put a permanent end to the problem. After a siege of about two years, Jerusalem fell in 586 B.C. and the city, including its walls and temple, were utterly destroyed. Nearly all the remaining Jews in the land were then taken away captive to Babylon where they would stay until the fall of Babylon decades later.
Many Babylonian records have been found detailing Nebuchadnezzar's reign. Many of the Bible's mentions of him are found in the book of Daniel, as Daniel interacted with Nebuchadnezzar as a high-ranking official in the king's government.
Daniel 4:30 records how at one point Nebuchadnezzar boasted, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?" And Babylon truly was magnificent, one of the major cities of the ancient world for many centuries.
One of its most notable features was the Ishtar Gate, named for the goddess Ishtar discussed earlier, and the processional way leading up to it. The actual gate itself has been reconstructed in Berlin, where the German archaeologists who excavated it rebuilt it using the original brightly colored glazed bricks.
However, parts of the processional way leading up to the gate can be seen today in the Istanbul Museum. It's truly an amazing experience to see parts of the elaborate decorations of ancient Babylon that Nebuchadnezzar and the prophet Daniel had no doubt walked past many times.
Bel/Marduk, chief god of Babylon
The primary god of Babylon, Marduk, also called Bel, was represented by a dragon prominently displayed in the processional way. The prophet Jeremiah, in foretelling the downfall of Babylon, twice mentions this particular Babylonian god:
"The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. "Declare among the nations . . . " Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed. Merodach [Marduk] is broken in pieces; her [ Babylon's] idols are humiliated, her images are broken in pieces"'" (Jeremiah 50:1-2).
"I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed; and the nations shall not stream to him anymore. Yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall" (Jeremiah 51:44).
Indeed Babylon did fall in 539 B.C., 47 years after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Jerusalem. The Babylonian Empire was succeeded by the Medo-Persian Empire, which in turn was followed by the Greco-Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great and his successors, and then by the Roman Empire—all as foretold in the book of Daniel.
"To the unknown god"
From New Testament times we find two items in particular that relate to the apostle Paul and events from his life. Acts 17:22-23 tells us that when Paul visited Athens, he "stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you . . .'"
This particular area of Athens was surrounded by temples and shrines to the various gods and goddesses the Greeks and Romans worshipped. Major temples to Zeus and Athena stood there, as well as altars and shrines to various lesser deities. To be sure that they had all their bases covered, the Athenians also had an altar inscribed, "to the Unknown God" for any they may have inadvertently left out.
Several such inscriptions and shrines have been found among ruins of the ancient Roman Empire. Three are on display in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, all dedicated "to the nameless god"—i.e., a god whose name they did not know. These came from other cities in the Roman Empire, so it wasn't just Athens that had an altar and inscription like this.
Warning sign from the temple
Acts 21 records an event from Paul's life that set in motion the chain of events that would lead to his arrest, his appearances before two Roman governors, his fateful journey to Rome and his confinement there.
Paul and several companions were in Jerusalem at the temple when a tumult broke out that almost cost Paul his life. Verses 27-32 vividly capture the events:
"The Jews from Asia [the Roman province in what is now western Turkey], seeing him [Paul] in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.' (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)
"And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut. Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul."
Paul barely escaped with his life, and likely would've been killed had the Roman military commander nearby not intervened and rescued him.
So what was this uproar about? As we read here, they wanted to kill Paul because they thought he had defiled the temple by bringing gentiles into a part of the temple complex where only Israelites were allowed to go. This was something the Jews had originated, going far beyond anything God had instructed.
We see stark evidence of this attitude in a carved warning sign from the temple, one of many that were erected at regular intervals along a five-foot-high barrier wall in the temple area in the time of Jesus and the apostles. Two of these have been found, a partial one on display in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and a complete one discovered in Jerusalem under Ottoman rule and shipped to Istanbul.
Originally these were white with the inscribed letters painted in red to make them stand out. The sign warns: "No gentile is allowed beyond this barrier in the plaza of the temple zone. Whoever enters will have himself to blame for his ensuing death."
Gentiles were allowed in the outer courtyard of the temple, but the area beyond that was restricted to Israelites only. If you were a gentile, to go beyond that was considered defiling the temple, an offense punishable by death. In Paul's case, His Jewish religious opponents thought he had brought a gentile beyond that barrier, thus defiling the temple, and were about to kill him when the Roman military force intervened and rescued him.
Later, when Paul was under house arrest in Rome awaiting trial, he was likely reflecting back on this event when he wrote to the church in Ephesus that Jesus Christ "has broken down the middle wall of separation" between Jews and gentiles, "reconcil[ing] them both to God in one body," the Church, through His sacrificial death (Ephesians 2:14-16).
The term "middle wall of separation," most commentators agree, refers to the barrier in the temple complex beyond which gentiles could not go, the same one in which these warning signs were imbedded.
More evidence available for viewing
A battle is indeed being waged in Western culture over God and the Bible. This article covers some of the evidence from one museum in Turkey. You could visit several others around the world displaying similar finds that verify many other parts of the Bible—the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris, the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, among others.
Oddly enough, those who argue against the Bible typically say that those of us who believe in it base our beliefs in ignorance and superstition. But in reality, once one seriously examines the evidence, the truth is the opposite. It's those who don't believe the Bible who show that their beliefs are based in superstition and ignorance.
Often they've simply never seriously looked at the evidence and in many cases seem unaware that such things as those described in this article even exist. But you need not be ignorant. You certainly can believe the Bible. Its accuracy has been proven time and time again, and continues to be proven year after year as archaeologists and scholars continue their work digging up history in the lands of the Bible. GN
Recommended Reading

The Good News published a 24-part series of articles titled "The Bible and Archaeology" that goes through the Bible book by book, showing how archaeological finds confirm and illuminate the biblical record. While not in print, this series can be downloaded at www.gnmagazine.org/archaeology/ . Be sure to also download or request our free booklet Is the Bible True?, which examines other scientific evidence showing that the Bible truly is the inspired Word of God

Mass Media and Bible Prophecy

From http://www.el-paso.ucg.org/

Click here to get this book.

Mass Media and Bible Prophecy
Several amazing biblical passages foretell the shaping of the world at the time of the end by a powerful web of global media.
by Howard Davis
Some of the Bible's most astounding prophecies concern where global media are taking the world.
Though thousands of years old, the Bible has much to say about the "last days" and "time of the end." Some biblical visions and prophecies are descriptions of events, situations and technologies that did not apply to the ancient world and make sense only in a modern context.
Thousands of years ago the Bible foretold a massive revolution in information and communications technology like that we've witnessed in recent years. But it also prophesied a globally pervasive culture of violence and self-absorbed, pleasure - seeking indulgence in sex and greed.
Further, it forewarned us of worldwide manipulation of public opinion through economic forces and political gamesmanship that will culminate in the rise of a world dictatorship and massive religious deception so powerful that true Christians will be silenced, persecuted and even murdered- while the world celebrates their demise.
Shocking? Yes, but read on.
Daniel and the information explosion
Two prophecies lay the groundwork for many others when it comes to the role modern entertainment and news media are to play in end-time events.
First, God foretold through the prophet Daniel the development of the kind of technology and entertainment media that permeate our world. Yet Daniel lived 600 years before Christ. Through Daniel, God also foretold four mighty empires, the first and second comings of the Messiah and the final subjugation of much of the world by a charismatic dictator who will fight Jesus at His second coming (Daniel 2, 7, 8-9, 11-12).
Although God used him to record these prophecies, Daniel himself admitted that he didn't completely understand them. An angel told Daniel that some aspects of these prophecies would not be understood in his lifetime: "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end" (Daniel 12:9). Their full meaning as they pertain to world events would not be known until the last days, yet even then "none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand" (verse 10).
But God did tell Daniel-and, through Daniel's writings, He tells us-two characteristics of the end-time age, when Bible prophecies would open up to human understanding, to the "wise" who would listen to God.
". . . Shut up the words," God said to Daniel, "and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro [a reference to the availability of rapid mass transportation] and knowledge shall increase" (verse 4, emphasis added throughout). This last phrase is the key: The time of the end is the time of the "increase" of "knowledge."
Daniel's prophecy of a time when "many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase" certainly fits our time. Our age is rightly called the information age. By some estimates the accumulation of knowledge doubles every 18 months. Anyone with a connection to the Internet has vast libraries of information at his fingertips. Encyclopedias of knowledge can be reproduced on CDs for pennies apiece.
But what does the knowledge explosion have to do with modern global media?
This is where the second trend fits in. Behind the knowledge explosion is the development of mass media and the technological transformation that made them possible. Without the means to rapidly spread information abroad to many people, no knowledge explosion would have occurred. In other words, if we have no means to disseminate information, we have no information.
The invention of the printing press brought the proliferation of books, the primary medium for disseminating knowledge in the 18th century's "age of enlightenment." Along with the advent of largecirculation newspapers, public education in the 19th century brought widespread literacy, which made further technological progress possible. Technological development in electronic communications exploded in the 20th century with radio, television, computers, satellites and finally the Internet, which brings these technologies together in one worldwide web.
"At the heart of globalization," writes Thomas Friedman in his best-selling book The Lexus and the Olive Tree, are "recent advances in technology-from the Internet to satellite telecommunications" (2000, p. 22). Indeed, these two factors allow virtually anyone to instantly see and hear events and other people anywhere on the planet.
Instant international availability
Such developments are foundational to understanding two ancient prophecies that deal with the way people see and hear a final warning from two servants of God- called in Scripture the "two witnesses"- just before the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to rule the world.
Although these men are public witnesses to God's existence and the world's need to heed the warnings of the Bible to avoid even more disasters, most people will not believe them. But Scripture indicates they will be seen and heard- throughout the entire world.
A remarkable prophecy in the book of Revelation tells us that people of every nation will simultaneously see the murder in Jerusalem of these two prophets of God by the dictator mentioned earlier, called the "beast":
". . . I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days [3 1/2 years] . . . These have the power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy . . . When they finish their testimony, the beast . . . will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them" (Revelation 11:3-7).
This prophecy deals with a time of worldwide conflict in which the dictator known as the Beast will rise to power through manipulation of public opinion and religious deceptions, no doubt using the powerful tool of mass media.
But note the indications of the kind of information technology available at the time of these events:
"And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city . . . where also our Lord was crucified. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
"Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here.' And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them" (verses 8-12).
These astounding prophecies indicate that television or similar electronic media will broadcast the murder of these two prophets-probably linked by satellite and the Internet or even more-advanced technologies. Live views of the events will be available instantly and simultaneously throughout the world. These two men will be the ultimate witnesses as nations of every language behold these startling events while commentators report on them live from Jerusalem.
Signs and wonders
Before the arrival of the two witnesses, however, their two satanic counterparts- the Beast and a religious leader the Bible calls "the false prophet"-will apparently powerfully manipulate the news media to dazzle the world with supernatural acts most people will think are divine but will really be satanic in origin.
Notice Paul's prophecy of the religious leader. Writing of the time of "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," Paul tells us this man "will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God" (2 Thessalonians 2:1, 4, New International Version).
Paul continues: "The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness" (verses 9-12, NIV).
Revelation 13:13-14 further explains that he "performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast . . ."
Such passages tell us that these evil leaders will cunningly and massively deceive virtually the entire world. Most people will assume these two represent God and will readily follow them-not realizing they are really tools of Satan. (To learn more about these end-time events, be sure to request your free copy of the booklets The Book of Revelation Unveiled and You Can Understand Bible Prophecy.)
Self-absorbed entertainment
Paul wrote of yet another trend in the last days in which mass media even now play a major role.
"But mark this," Paul wrote shortly before his death, around A.D. 67: "There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Timothy 3:1-4, NIV).
Does this sound familiar? Each of these abysmal traits can be found in the daily menu of American entertainment devoured by two billion minds on televisions around the world. Welcome to the age of crude amusements and pandering to lust-24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Lust for violence, self-glorification, sex without the commitment of marriage, vicarious indulgence in forbidden fruit without the consequences-these are the themes of the comedies, soap operas, dramas and talk shows that constitute the moral equivalent of a sewer flooding human minds. It's the sated ancient Roman crowds all over again watching the doomed die in the Colosseum.
The motive for so much filth is simple -money. Delivering eyes to advertisers is the primary objective of network executives. Programming that most effectively hooks the largest audience features fastpaced content centered on a mesmerizing diet of sex, lust, greed and irreverent and profane humor. It's a sure bet to keep an audience glued to the tube. Produce such material and you make money.
If you own the movie and TV production rights to sex, lust and greed, you make more money. If you own book publishers, magazines, cable and satellite systems and video-rental stores, you make even more money-lots and lots of money. It's no wonder we've seen so many massive media mergers in recent years.
The implications are sobering. Children increasingly think, say and do what they see on commercial and "public" programming. More and more people cannot discriminate between Hollywood-produced drivel and real life. Their lives become almost surreal.
The consequences, according to the Bible, will be devastating. God's Word indicates these trends will play a major role in the downfall and destruction of the United States and other major Englishspeaking nations (be sure to request your free copy of the booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy).
Research shows that children's antisocial behavior in schools directly relates to the amount and content of the television they watch. In one survey 35 percent of imprisoned violent criminals said they got the ideas to carry out their crimes from watching television.
The last days and you
Ninety percent of Americans claim they believe in God. But they don't know who He is. They can't recite the Ten Commandments, name the four Gospels (much less the books of the Old or New Testament) or explain the difference between Abraham and Muhammad. As Paul predicted, the motivation of people in the last days will not be personal achievement, noble character or love of neighbor. Men, women and young people will be "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."
So what about you?
God says to any who are caught up in the end-time materialistic system, mindset and culture that pervades the world, "Come out of her,My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).
The way to come out is to recognize where our materialistic, self-obsessed entertainment and media are leading us. Turn off the consumption; turn away from the self-obsessed way of life promoted by our global media system. Instead, turn to God and His Word, the Bible. Remember, God recorded these warnings to us for a reason. GN

Will Global Economic Turmoil Precede Jesus Christ's Return?

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Will Global Economic Turmoil Precede Jesus Christ's Return?
What possible connection could the global marketplace have with Jesus Christ's return? Do you understand the Bible's prophetic links?
by Roger Foster
Changes in the world's economy, now shaken by a major downturn, significantly threaten your personal lifestyle. As Time magazine expressed it, the recent events are "the most dangerous shock in mature financial markets since the 1930s" (Oct. 20, 2008). Faced with a problem of this magnitude, we should seriously consider these economic trends in the light of biblical prophecy!
Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is devoted to prophecy. John says that it's literally "the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly [or quickly] take place"—especially in the last days (Revelation 1:1).
The book's 18th chapter describes a dominant system of international trade supported by corrupt political and religious allies whose combined sins "have reached to heaven" (verse 5). The Bible also shows that the return of Jesus Christ will bring about the collapse and destruction of that global system.
Before that happens, though, it will exercise for a short time immense control over the lives of the earth's inhabitants so that "no one may buy or sell" without its permission (Revelation 13:17). It will stringently regulate all international commerce.
Prior to the recent economic crisis it would have seemed almost absurd to predict such a drastic global change in economic outlook and practice. After all, our society greatly values individual freedom. What could possibly induce the citizens of civilized nations to accept such intrusive controls over their right to buy and sell as they please?
An earlier time of economic turmoil
On a regional level this scenario has already been played out once in the last century. The collapse of the world's free economies, trade wars and the economic turmoil of the Great Depression of the 1930s helped catapult Adolf Hitler to power. Hitler's solutions restored Germany to world power and made him a hero among most of his own people until the military defeat of his Nazi regime in 1945.
Today those who were adults during the Great Depression are rapidly passing from the scene. Their accounts of plummeting wages, loss of homes and jobs, and pervasive hunger seem long ago and far away. At one point in the 1930s, unemployment reached more than 25 percent in America.
The stock markets went crazy, and corporate shares fell in value overnight. As wages fell, debt repayment became more and more difficult.
Mortgage defaults skyrocketed. Business earnings dropped. Large corporations went bankrupt. People became aimless and idle. Hunger and fear became their constant companions. It was a downward spiral into economic oblivion. Little wonder that our parents and grandparents referred to the financial disaster they experienced as the Great Depression.
Could history repeat?
Today few people in the industrialized world have any concept of what happens when severe deflation—an economically crippling drop in prices and wages—sets in. The possibility of out-of-control deflation is already a threat as a direct result of the current economic crisis.
A recent leading headline, "Deflation Threat Grows Worldwide," in the International Herald Tribune (Nov. 2, 2008) bears this out. The article, by national economic writer Peter Goodman, went on to say: "As dozens of countries slip deeper into financial distress in alarming unison, a new threat may be gathering force: the prospect that goods will pile up without buyers and prices will steadily fall, suffocating fresh investment and worsening joblessness for many months or even years.
"The word for this syndrome is deflation, or falling prices, a term that generates chills among professional economists. Deflation accompanied the Great Depression of the 1930s. Persistently falling prices were at the heart of Japan's so-called lost decade following the catastrophic collapse of its real estate bubble at the end of the 1980s, a period in which some experts now find parallels to the U.S. predicament" (emphasis added throughout).
Only a few short months ago inflation—rising prices—was the dominant economic problem as skyrocketing costs of oil and food battered the world economy. But, as the article notes, "that now seems like another era. As the U.S. economy has weakened, and as much of the globe has followed, demand for oil, iron ore, grains and other commodities has swiftly diminished, bringing prices down sharply.
"The new worry is that the end of inflation may be the beginning of something more malevolent: a long, broad retrenchment in which consumers and businesses worldwide lose their ability to buy and prices for many goods fall.
"That would prompt businesses to slow production and accelerate layoffs, taking more paychecks out of the economy and further weakening demand for many products and services."
Worldwide recession on the horizon?
In contrast to inflation, Goodman notes, deflation is a far more difficult economic malady to cure. "Policy makers can generally choke off inflation by raising interest rates and dampening economic activity and reducing demand for goods.
"But as Japan discovered in the 1990s, an economy might remain ensnared by deflation for many years, even when interest rates are dropped to zero. Falling prices reduce opportunities for profit, making companies reluctant to invest even when they can borrow money for free."
This is what happened in Japan in the 1990s, with devastating results. Property prices fell, along with the prices of many goods. Businesses had no incentive to invest, so they laid off employees. For lack of buyers, goods piled up—sending prices even lower in a downward spiral.
Do we see similar dangers today? "Some fear the U.S. economy could be sinking toward a similar experience as consumers lose their wherewithal to purchase just as much of Europe, Asia and Latin America succumb to a slowdown," Goodman cautions.
The recent economic crises show that such a problem likely would not be limited to just the United States.
"Not since the Great Depression have so many countries been required to tackle so many interlocking afflictions at once," Goodman notes. "A financial crisis born in the United States has gone global, like a virus mutating in the face of every experimental cure. From South Korea to Pakistan to the Baltics to Turkey to Brazil, the pandemic has spread, bringing with it a tightening of credit that has starved even relatively healthy companies of the ability to finance operations, prompting job losses and diminishing demand for goods."
Goodman quotes former International Monetary Fund economist Kenneth Rogoff as saying: "We're entering a really fierce global recession. A significant financial crisis has been allowed to morph into a full-fledged global panic. It's a very dangerous situation."
Will history be repeated?
During times of such economic deprivation, history has shown that people respond favorably to strong leaders who show promise of quickly bringing order out of chaos.
But drastic problems can lead to drastic solutions. People want immediate action, not principles and platitudes. The leaders most likely to act decisively are those who have no objection to trampling on the rights of others to accomplish their agendas. They get things done, but at a high cost to the freedom and rights of others.
In the end they reward those who provide the support they need to keep themselves in power. They call themselves benefactors and statesmen. History sees them as despots and tyrants.
This is what happened in Central Europe between 1929 and 1945 as rulers assumed dictatorial powers and plunged the world into a global conflagration.
Bible prophecy indicates that a similar scenario will unfold just before Jesus Christ returns. It reveals that 10 "kings"—heads of state—will throw their power, authority and support behind a superleader whom the Bible compares to a clever and powerful animal, a "beast" (Revelation 17:12-13). The political entity this leader will create is likewise characterized as a beast—a cunning and dominant animal that preys on the very ones it purports to protect.
The Bible indicates that managing the global economy—by controlling what can be bought or sold, and by whom—may be a major reason for this system's initial appeal. For this to happen the international community may have to enter an economic crisis so enormous, so threatening, that nations will find themselves desperate for a solution.
If history repeats itself, a bold and daring new plan may be presented and adopted. And as before, the loss of individual rights and freedoms built into this new socio-economic and political system may well be presented as only temporary. But the Bible shows that what ultimately follows will become so appalling that only the return of Jesus Christ can stop it.
Let's now consider an unseen power destined to bring about this global change.
Ancient origins of an end-time system
In committing to writing the revelation that Jesus Christ gave him concerning this coming political and commercial system, the apostle John first connects us with this evil system's spiritual roots. According to the Bible, an unseen spirit being, a fallen angel called Satan the devil, rules the earth behind the scenes. This malevolent spirit is increasingly angry as he sees the approaching end of his influence.
John speaks of that "great dragon . . . , that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world" (Revelation 12:9; see also 1 John 5:19). This enraged adversary of God and His people has committed himself to make war against those who "keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (verse 17). He and his army of unseen demonic spirits are the unrealized driving force behind these events. (To understand further, request or download our free booklet Is There Really a Devil?)
The apostle John next refers to the physical and cultural origins of this ungodly system that is yet to arise from deep in the reservoir of ancient human tradition: "I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion" (Revelation 13:1-2).
These are the exact characteristics the book of Daniel ascribed to the ancient kingdoms of Greece, Persia and Babylon. John is telling us that there is a direct link between some of the dominant characteristics of those kingdoms and the socio-political system that Jesus Christ will destroy at His coming.
Ancient Babylon, in particular, destroyed the temple of God in Jerusalem, conquered the kingdom of Judah and took its people into captivity. As such, it symbolically became the ultimate adversary of God's people.
Notice who will manipulate the world's final superdictator from behind the scenes: "The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority" (verse 2). Satan is never far from the action. It is his agenda that will really shape this new power that will emerge.
The important religious connection
At present the nations of Europe appear to be growing more and more secular. But this era will end. The new system described above will embody much more than socio-political aspects. It will also have enormous religious support. To convey this point the apostle John introduces "another beast" that, in some ways, resembles a lamb but speaks "like a dragon" (verse 11).
This beast performs miracles and "deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast" (verses 13-14). These verses describe a great religious deceiver who is referred to as "the false prophet" in Revelation 19:20. His miracles will abruptly bring the present secular era to an end.
His influence will be enormous. "He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (Revelation 13:16-17). Also he "causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast" (verse 12).
By throwing the full force of his deceptive religious power behind the socioeconomic and political schemes of the first beast, this false prophet will play a leading role in persuading humanity to accept and support the coming transformation of the world's economic and political structures. All who consent will unwittingly enslave themselves to the state.
The masters of commerce
In the end it will be the merchants and traders who will make this Babylon-like system function (Revelation 17:5). Their global trade will include "merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet . . . every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble . . . fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots [transport vehicles—cars in our day], and [even] bodies and souls of men" (Revelation 18:12-13).
Today, as we experience a major credit crisis in the world's financial system, it is appropriate that we reflect on how greed and the manipulation of human needs will dramatically affect the future of mankind. We can't know exactly when it will happen, but based on Bible prophecies it seems a likely scenario that at some point a general breakdown of the world's economy will trigger a massive rethinking of man's social, political and economic assumptions.
The chaos of that time will set the stage for the next event. The Bible reveals that a powerful, appealing political "beast" will emerge with vast military and economic powers. For a short time his economic policies will lead some to revel in their regained prosperity, wealth and power. But his system will succeed only because all opposition will be smashed. Those who refuse to submit to his economic system will be excluded or killed (Revelation 13:15-18).
Dawn of a new era
The book of Revelation also reveals that God the Father will finally send Jesus Christ back to the earth to end and replace all ungodly governing systems: "After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, ‘Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her'" (Revelation 19:1-2).
At the return of Christ the oppressive political and economic system springing from ancient Babylon will be permanently destroyed. At that time "the merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour such great riches came to nothing'" (Revelation 18:15-17).
Also "the kings of the earth"—the world's leaders and power brokers—"who committed fornication [here symbolizing illicit political relations] and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come'" (verses 9-10).
Then the world's final experiment with the political, religious and economic systems patterned after the dictatorial Babylonian model will end, and Jesus Christ's righteous rule on earth will begin! GN
Related Resources
The Book of Revelation UnveiledWhat lies ahead for all of mankind? Where is the world headed and why? Does the Bible tell us what the future holds? What events and trends will precede Jesus Christ's return?
Seven Prophecies That Must Be Fulfilled Before Jesus Christ's Return Previous generations have thought that Jesus Christ would return in their lifetimes, but they were proven wrong. Many people alive today think that Christ's return is imminent. Certainly, the Bible contains prophecies that could not have been fulfilled until this generation.
The Global Economy and Jesus Christ's Return What possible connection could Christ's return have with the global marketplace?

Change Is Coming: Five Ways Jesus Christ Will Change Government Forever

From http://www.el-paso.ucg.org/

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Change Is Coming: Five Ways Jesus Christ Will Change Government Forever
Politicians try to win votes with promises of change. Yet all too often nothing really changes or we end up with even bigger problems. However, that doesn't mean great change isn't coming. Your Bible reveals how monumental government change will come about!
by Howard Davis

As in so many elections, the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain campaigned under the mantra "Change is coming!" They said, like candidates the world over, "The people want change!"
That is usually true. But after making claims that only God could keep, politicians everywhere usually find it difficult to keep their promises when elected. Few succeed in turning those promises into changes that endure the test of time.
Most people don't realize that Jesus Christ was—and remains—the greatest advocate for change. His plan includes changing all human governments, from the richest and most advanced countries to the world's poorest. He proclaimed that total change is coming to human civilization— through a perfect government that He will establish at His second coming.
Did you know that Jesus' message was about government? He called His teaching the gospel, or good news, of the Kingdom of God.
People today often think that the kingdom Jesus proclaimed is one set up in men's hearts—confined to human thoughts and emotions. But that's not what He taught. Rather, He spoke of an actual government to be set up over all nations.
The contrast between Jesus Christ's promises for good government and what human politicians fail to deliver couldn't be greater.
All humanly created political systems fail to meet the truly high standards of Jesus' teachings on government. This includes American democracy, which has remained enmeshed in cross-purposes, political and economic corruption, short-sighted policies that don't work and wars that Americans love to hate.
Human beings pledge to make positive changes they can't deliver—and make promises they cannot keep. Promising peace and prosperity, their leaders give them change through wars, prosperity for some, economic policies that don't work and social changes that in the end often do more harm than good.
In His teaching and prophecies, Jesus Christ announced sweeping changes that will create the perfect government when He returns to rule the world—when "the kingdoms of this world [will] have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ" (Revelation 11:15).
Here are five foundations that will create the perfect civilization—five ways Christ will change government forever!
1. Government will promote one universal faith.
One of His first acts in establishing a universal government will be to abolish the separation of church and state. It's not hard to understand why, since religious deception and division have always plagued humankind.
The promotion of one universal faith (the true faith) and accompanying religious practice will be the cornerstone of a new and transformed society and government centered in Jerusalem. Christ will impose divine laws for religious observance that will benefit the whole world. Only the true God will be worshipped throughout earth (Zechariah 14:9).
One universal religious faith will create a unified culture, making it possible for all peoples to cooperate with Christ's administration. All nations will interact with one another from the standpoint of common religious ideals and values.
Everyone will learn and comprehend the policies, laws and teachings of Christ, whose impact will be far greater than that of any president or political figure in all history. As people experience the blessings His laws and teachings bring, they will hunger to learn more about how to apply them in their personal lives, communities and nations (Micah 4:2). They will at last have the world leader they can believe in, One who means it when He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).
The resulting unity of faith will eliminate religious arguments, conflicts and wars, which have been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions throughout history. The world will at last know peace, coming to learn the very way to peace.
Christ's religious principles will not be based on human reasoning, human nature or human efforts but will flow from God Himself.
Today's world's system, like ancient Babylon, is a mixture of faiths. Even Christianity as practiced today is largely a humanly devised system of man-made beliefs built on human views of Christ with a few sprinklings of biblical principles thrown in for added flavor.
But the bulk of these faith systems don't come directly from Jesus Christ. They either distort or replace what Christ actually taught. All humanly devised faiths must be replaced with the true religion He will establish.
The introduction of this new universal faith will result in global repentance as one nation after another sees the error of its former religious traditions. All peoples will gain an understanding of their personal sins and evils, recognizing their own responsibility for the anguish and pain they have experienced.
King David foretold the coming of Christ's Kingdom, saying, "All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name" (Psalm 86:9). David also prophesied that "all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him" (Psalm 72:11).
This universal religion will include required observance of the religious festivals that God revealed to the ancient Israelites and that were later kept by Jesus and His disciples. For example, "it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles" (Zechariah 14:16).
The biblical Sabbath, the seventh day of the week (from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown in biblical reckoning of time), will also be a required religious observance of all people. "'. . . And from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,' says the Lord" (Isaiah 66:23).
2. Government will be directed toward the perfecting of man.
All governments need a singular guiding purpose to endure. For example, a goal of the U.S. government, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, is to enable its citizens to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
This is a lofty, wonderful and inspiring purpose of government. However, such purposes are all too often thwarted because of the limitations of human nature expressed through human politicians with personal character flaws. And sadly, the pursuit of happiness now is often taken to mean merely the pursuit of materialistic pleasures, which the Bible labels as covetousness and lust.
Human governments tend to become corrupt simply because both the rulers and the ruled citizens are inherently flawed. For that reason, the framers of the U.S. Constitution designed a government of checks and balances between three distinct power-sharing institutions—the presidency, the Congress and the court system. A government headed by a singular despotic ruler, it was believed, would inherently tend to abuse power.
The same appraisal of human nature led to the Constitution establishing the country as a republic, with representative government, rather than as a straight majority-rule democracy. The idea was to blunt the negative tendencies of "mob" rule. Similar thinking was involved in the creation of two legislative bodies in the Congress—the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The framers of the Constitution understood from the Bible and the wisdom of experience that human nature was corruptible. They also knew that human government could not change human nature.
The prophet Isaiah describes the corruption that bad leadership can bring to all levels of social structure: "For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed . . . For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly" (Isaiah 9:16-17).
But the Kingdom of God, in contrast, will be ruled by perfect, righteous rulers. The goal of government will not be "the pursuit of happiness" as it has typically been interpreted—the pursuit of pleasure. Rather, it will have a much higher purpose, which involves bringing people true happiness and joy.
Under Christ's administration of the Kingdom of God, all government activity will be designed for one universal purpose—the development of righteous character in every person through conversion toward God's divine nature.
This purpose is superlatively greater than the purpose of human government. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: "You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). Christ's purpose will be the perfecting of human character through the remaking of the human heart—changing its motives, intents, thinking, desires, decisions and actions.
As a result, humanity will become governable for the first time in a way that can permanently sustain progress, peace and prosperity—and real happiness. This progress will be sustained continuously for 1,000 years.
This change of the human heart and character can come only by receiving God's own divine nature through the gift of His Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of God is not generally accessible to mankind now. But God will change all that: "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh" (Joel 2:28).
The Spirit of God, available only from Him, is the essential nature of God Himself, somewhat as DNA is the code that contains the essence of the human being.
The Spirit's role in a person's life is to perfect the person's character, to make him like God. Its fruits, being shown in human behavior, are the divine attributes of God: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control . . . And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:22-24).
In due time, the opportunity to receive the Holy Spirit will be extended to everyone on earth so that all will be able to have God's laws written in their hearts and minds. One nation after another will be converted to God's way of thinking. God's laws of loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27) will be written into the human character through the Spirit of God. As God says, "I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (Hebrews 8:10).
3. Government will be based on God's Word.
A principal role of government is to create a framework of knowledge for smooth and harmonious social development and material progress. Peace and prosperity depend in large part on a common foundation of knowledge.
The modern world has brought man unbelievable progress, but because of incomplete and flawed knowledge of the purpose and nature of man, human-generated knowledge has brought mankind to the brink of instant global destruction. This strange paradox flows from the human obsession with material knowledge while rejecting the true foundation of all knowledge—which is spiritual knowledge.
The essence of all true spiritual knowledge lies in God's divinely ordained laws. It is God's desire that we be "filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding . . . in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:9-10).
While our materialistic world lacks understanding of this truth, the foundation for logical thinking in such diverse disciplines as science, history, physical and mental health sciences, accounting, business practices, economics, sociology, psychology, strategic planning, environmental conservation, urban design and much more can all be found within the Word of God—the Bible.
Under the reign of Jesus Christ, the opening up of biblical understanding will lead to answering mysteries yet to be solved in science and all other forms of knowledge. Immersing the world in an explosion of spiritual knowledge from Scripture will open progress to levels of achievement never before seen by the human race. "The government will be upon His [Christ's] shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end" (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Isaiah continues describing a world of knowledge with no harm or destruction allowed anywhere: "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9).
4. Government will focus on the family.
All of Christ's policies will make the family the centerpiece of social, economic and educational organization. The family is the primary organizational structure God works through. Starting with Adam and Eve, God designed social relationships to flow from marriage and parents (who have authority over and responsibility for their children) into the extended family, community and nations.
Jesus Christ explained that over all human beings is a great God the Father—whom He revealed, as the Father had not been known before Christ's coming (Matthew 11:27). Besides being the Father of humanity by physically creating us, God also intends to be our Father in a greater, spiritual sense.
Christ and His apostles made it clear that marriage and family are the focus of social development within the Church, as they were in ancient Israel. Mankind can be connected directly to God the Father and Christ in a family relationship.
The administration of religion as well as the system of civil and criminal laws will all enhance the family unit, "so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life" (Deuteronomy 6:2, New International Version).
The allocation of land and resources will strengthen the family's well-being with property permanently held within families. "Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid" (Micah 4:4, NIV).
Education in the way of God and the approach toward knowledge will similarly revolve around the family. Deuteronomy 6:7 says of God's words, "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up"—that is, at every opportunity.
5. Government will show breathtaking progress and achievement.
Christ will structure government to empower our human potential for astonishing personal achievement and progress in every aspect of society. The outcome will be a utopian civilization beyond the imagination of modern man or ancient philosophers.
Regions that are currently inhospitable will be transformed: "The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose" (Isaiah 35:1).
Food production will explode as one huge crop cannot be fully harvested before planting time of the next: "'Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it'" (Amos 9:13).
Even the natures of dangerous animals will be changed so they will never harm human beings: "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and the little child will lead them . . . They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain" (Isaiah 11:6-9, NIV). This is also figurative of the peace that will exist among nations.
All nations will travel to Jerusalem, which will be the international center of religion, education and government: "All nations shall flow to it . . . and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord . . . and we shall walk in His paths" (Isaiah 2:2-3).
The earth will burgeon with beautiful new gleaming cities in a Garden-of-Eden environment. "He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord" (Isaiah 51:3). "And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations" (Isaiah 61:4; see also Ezekiel 36:35).
Christ focused on changing government
Government has always been a central focus of the entire struggle of man. It is also a central focus within the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. While Christ stressed at His crucifixion, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36), that does not mean He condoned the evils of human government in what the Bible calls "this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4).
Jesus Christ condemned the manipulation of government by selfish, greedy and arrogant men who often dominate the world's system. He explained that the rulers of His day, like so many in our own time, loved to lord it over the peoples, making themselves appear to be benefactors when, in fact, they were unjust exploiters of the common man (Matthew 20:25).
Jesus taught that true leadership resides in serving others and loving your neighbor as yourself. In one of His first recorded messages He said this: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19, NIV).
Jesus Christ is the greatest advocate for government change who ever walked the earth. After all, He created the earth for His government under the coming Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God taught by Christ remains the greatest unrecognized truth in the meaning of human life. But that truth is being revealed here in this publication proclaiming Christ's original gospel.
Christ's entire message rests on the foundation of the promise of a new world system based on His government that will be established at His second coming.
Make no mistake—change is coming, and it's no empty political promise! As recorded in Mark 1:15, throughout His ministry Jesus said: "The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom is at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel." GN
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Farewell to America as a Financial World Power

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Farewell to America as a Financial World Power
A major shift in world financial power centers is on the horizon. America is on the decline, while Asia and Europe are on the rise.
by Paul Kieffer
Just five years ago, it would have been hard to imagine an official representative of the German government making such statements in a speech outlining his government's position in Germany's parliament, the Bundestag. Yet at the end of September, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück bluntly stated his view of the world financial crisis.
One thing is absolutely clear, he said: "The United States is the place of origin and the focal point of the crisis." Although the long-term effects of the crisis are as yet undetermined, Germany 's finance minister stated bluntly that America "will lose its status as [the] superpower of the world's financial systems."
Stunning financial developments
It doesn't take a lot of insight to identify America as "ground zero" of the turmoil in the world's financial markets. The latter part of 2008 will go down as one of the most noteworthy chapters in the history of the modern financial system. In less than 30 days the world witnessed several alarming developments in the United States:
• The U.S. Department of the Treasury nationalized mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
• The investment bank Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, making it the largest insolvency in American history with a loss of some $600 billion.
• To stave off possible failure, the investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley applied to operate as commercial banks to gain access to the FDIC for securing investor deposits. In so doing, both banks voluntarily accepted regulation by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.
• The U.S. Congress approved an emergency aid package worth $700 billion to prevent a possible economic meltdown.
According to Steinbrück, the financial malaise in the United States "spread like a poisonous oil spill." The European Union and several Western countries took emergency measures of their own to cope with the crisis. The Bundestag quickly passed legislation authorizing the establishment of an emergency fund for German banks that was proportionately even larger than America's initial $700 billion plan.
"The world will not be the same again"
One result of the worldwide financial crisis is already foreseeable: "The world will not be the same again as it was before this crisis," was Steinbrück's prediction. Europe's response to the crisis is likely an indication of the shape of things to come.
The European Union and Asia are pushing for new regulations to oversee the world's financial markets. Former U.S. President George Bush reluctantly approved additional regulation.
For 40 years former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has championed unregulated capital markets. "I made a mistake," Greenspan said in recent Congressional hearings, "in presuming that the self-interest of organizations, specifically banks and [other financial institutions], were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and the equity in the firms."
Some analysts called this a "non-apology apology," an attempt to deflect blame away from his management decisions.
An alternate view is that the U.S. Congress is itself largely responsible for the crisis because it interfered too much in the mortgage industry. It ordered lenders to give mortgages to people who would otherwise not be able to obtain one, leading to the now infamous subprime mortgage meltdown.
Regardless of the political viewpoint, it is naive to fail to account for human nature's ability to make use of an opportunity for personal enrichment at the expense of others. "Love of money" is one of the characteristics of the perilous times to arise in the last days, wrote the apostle Paul (2 Timothy 3:1-2).
Even without the current crisis, though, the U.S. position as the world's financial leader has been threatened by America's risky financial policies.
A developing shift in the geopolitical balance of power
With the turbulence in world financial markets, "small" investors are understandably concerned about the safety of their deposits and investments. However, the current situation is more than just a financial crisis. It signals an impending irrevocable shift in global power. The age of America's dominance as the world's financial superpower is coming to an end.
The damage to America's standing in the world community as a result of the current crisis will be irreversible. Government intervention in the U.S. economy and the nationalization of financial institutions defies the principles of free capitalist markets. The inherent weaknesses in America's economic system are being exposed, just as were those of the Soviet system.
The American system operates on the premise that capital markets will be self-regulating to everyone's benefit. The result of this false premise—as the current financial crisis clearly demonstrates—is a "predatory capitalism" where some seek quick profits using greed techniques like short-selling, leveraged buyouts, speculative hedge funds, etc., that provide no real economic value.
For years American administrations seemed to be schoolmasters, lecturing other countries on the virtues of sound financial planning, budget deficits and related issues. American influence within the International Monetary Fund was the reason countries like Argentina, Indonesia and Thailand went into recession when their governments were forced to cut government spending in exchange for funding by the IMF.
However, the United States did not practice what it was preaching. Overspending and the burden of unforeseen military obligations have led to an unprecedented increase in the federal budget deficit.
At the end of September the U.S. national debt exceeded $10 trillion for the first time in history. By Jan. 6 then-President-elect Barack Obama warned Americans of the likelihood of "trillion-dollar deficits for years to come" due to government spending and lowered revenues from a battered economy. Yet he is now, as president, advocating vast overspending through what is claimed to be an emergency stimulus package.
More spending, less saving
In the past, concerns over America's growing national debt were countered by the argument that the creditors were largely Americans themselves, who bought U.S. treasury bills. Today, however, 25 percent of America's annual federal budget deficit is paid for by foreign purchases of treasury bills.
The percentage has doubled in just the last 20 years and is set to continue to increase. Why? The average savings rate of the American public—the percentage of disposable income set aside in savings—is at an all-time low and is actually negative at about 2 percent. That means the average American is actually spending more money each year than he has available to spend. By contrast, the German savings rate is at a postwar record level of 11.2 percent.
America's emergency economic stimulus packages will lead to more deficit spending, which is being financed increasingly by foreign nations like China. Oddly enough, China has been one of the nations that Washington lectured in the past on sound fiscal policy.
But will China and other nations that have been major purchasers of U.S. treasury securities in recent years—countries like Russia and the petrodollar nations lining the Persian Gulf—continue to support the U.S. dollar as the world's leading currency? Or will the current crisis be the impetus that eventually leads to moving away from the dollar?
Whatever the answer turns out to be, the United States won't be determining the answer on its own. The current financial mess can only be solved through cooperation among the affected regions of the world.
Caught in a debt trap
The U.S. economy will remain the world's largest economy for the time being. However, the demise of former world empires was often tied to the adverse effects of vast government spending, with one adverse effect being the rise in national debt.
For example, the British Empire began to buckle under the weight of its colonial obligations in the 19th century, and expenditures for World War I pushed Britain further down the road to losing its position as the world's financial center. One of the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet system was the failure of its economy, which was strained by its war in Afghanistan and the attempt to keep up with the United States in the Cold War arms race.
It won't be any different for America when it comes to the impact of mounting deficits and increased government spending. In the five years since the United States invaded Iraq, the national debt has grown by $500 billion annually. This trend would have threatened America's position as the world's primary financial center even without the current crisis.
Currently the publicly held portion of the national debt accounts for about 37 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). When that portion of the national debt held by U.S. governmental agencies is factored in, the percentage rises to 65 percent. That is twice as high as at the end of World War II, which was the most expensive war in U.S. history. By contrast, the current ratio of national debt to GDP for China is only about 19 percent.
If current trends continue and legislated increases in U.S. entitlement programs and deficit spending for unfunded Social Security obligations are factored in, then America's national debt will be well over twice the country's annual GDP by the year 2040. As financial expert David Walker asks, "Who will want to lend us money then?"
What does the Bible say?
Proverbs 22:7 reveals an interesting principle that this development will have on America's status as a world leader: "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Most Christians do not realize that America's greatness as a nation—as well as her impending decline—were prophesied in the Bible. America's real heritage can be traced back to the ancient nation of Israel with its 12 tribes.
One of the blessings promised Israel for faithfulness to God was a solid financial standing among the community of nations: "You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath" (Deuteronomy 28:12-13). Conversely, Israel was prophesied to become a debtor nation if it chose to disobey God (verse 44).
As noted earlier, the U.S. national debt has now surpassed $10 trillion. Only a generation ago the United States was the world's largest lender. Today it is the greatest debtor nation in the history of the world.
Bible prophecy indicates a shift in the balance of power among the world's major regions for the period preceding Jesus' return. The main focal point of that development will be the continued decline of the English-speaking peoples that descended from their British homeland, including the United States.
That is the real story behind the current financial crisis and the impact it will have on America's future. Are you paying attention? GN

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