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Burning Alight: 12 Endtime Fuses – Deceit & Dishonesty For The Good of The World – Part VI
By Wilfred Hahn ((Eternal Value Review)
We continue our theme of 12 Endtime Fuses Burning. They all represent a change in the beliefs or the idolatries of humanity. Crucially, all of these changes are relatively recent in the timeline of human history; and all have the potential for explosive impact.
We quote from an article written by Mr. Robert Kaplan, Chief Geopolitical Analyst for Stratfor, entitled “Machiavelli’s Virtue”:
What is modernity? Is it skyscrapers, smart phones, wonder drugs, atomic bombs? You’re not even close. Modernity, at least in the West, is the journey away from religious virtue toward secular self-interest. Religious virtue is fine for one’s family and the world of private morality. But the state—that defining political structure of modern times—requires something colder, more chilling. For the state must organize the lives of millions of strangers and protect their need to selfishly acquire material possessions. […] The state appeals not to God, but to individual selfishness. Thus, it clears the path for progress.
Mr. Kaplan may just as well have provided an exegesis of various Bible Scriptures, because his observations are correct. The Bible clearly does confirm the values upon which worldly affairs would be conducted—self-interest (or vested-interest). What Mr. Kaplan neglects to mention is that the world and its leaders would be “cursed” because of this state of affairs (for example, see Isaiah 24:3-6).
The world in this present state is surely run by self- and vested-interest. That’s not to say that there are not people who are other-worldly; to whom the things of this world appear strangely dim; or whose motives are inspired by love. It is just that there are much less of them. The values of the world, its societies and people, have been roundly turned toward materialism in recent times.
A century of humanistic influences has revised the definitions of human happiness, achievement, and progress. None of these are any longer defined by “eternal values” or from an eternal timeline. Success in these endeavors is defined solely in terms of material wealth, net worth, GDP growth, a rising standard of living or a rising MSCI World All-Country Index (representing the global stock market value).
By necessity, a world that is defined by the “need to selfishly acquire material possessions,” and is set apart from “private morals” or conscience and “religious virtue,” must be terrifyingly competitive. It would be a world of deceit and theft. And, indeed, such conduct and doctrine is accepted today in the world of geopolitics and political economy.
Not surprisingly, the Bible prophesies exactly such conditions. We find this message in the two visions of the Prophet Zechariah, found in chapter 5 of the book of the same name. Here are mentioned the two sins that would define the world of the last days—lying and stealing (verse 3). A two-part article series entitled “Flying Scrolls and Baskets: A Vision of Today,” outlines these connections (MCM May and June 2007 issues).
These sins tie in directly to the commercialized global corruption and political globalism that we see enveloping the world today. This short chapter in Zechariah of only 11 verses, contains two separate but important visions of the endtimes. Readers will recall the account of a giant scroll that is levitating in the air (verses 1 to 4). Right after this, the angel speaking to Zechariah shows him another vision. We then see a strange picture of an ephah (measuring basket) being transported by two women with the wings of storks.
We concluded that the false witness (lying) and the stealing being mentioned specifically had to do with the global idolatrous materialism and corruption of all human life on earth of the last days. Pinpointed were the two sins that are mainly responsible for the filthy idolatry that was shown in the flying ephah—lying and stealing.
Encompassed in these visions, we concluded, was everything from the elevation of manipulative and global monetary systems, fiat money, capitalism, competitive globalism based on the vested interest of intertwined worldwide trading systems, accounting shenanigans, corporatism and debt-based wealth to grand larceny. To this end, dishonesty and corruption must be accepted by the world as being the norm. All together it represents a humanity that denies truth. Yet, it is even much worse than that: It is a world which insists that untruth and deceit … for instance, a bit of inflation … is necessary to grease the wheels of daily life and progress.
According to Zechariah’s visions, we see that the corrosiveness and imbalances of these moral liberalities literally consumed “the timber thereof and the stones thereof” (Zechariah 5:4), this symbolizing the collapse of mankind’s societies. Policymakers and leaders fail to recognize that permissiveness and endorsement of such ungodly values must have an impact on the morality (actually a two-way cause and effect) of entire societies. Eventually a complete moral breakdown occurs, whether in commerce or sexual mores.
Lying and Stealing for Mankind’s Good
Let’s next examine the roles of these two endtime conditions of institutionalized lying and stealing.
Firstly lying—in other words, swearing falsely in the name of truth. It is the lubricant of our world’s economic and geopolitical systems. At the highest levels, lying is mirrored in the institution of contract law. Most contracts today are made on the premise of what is legally allowable as opposed to what is right or moral. The same attitude applies to the world of geopolitics. The “lie” is the most deftly used technique in the pursuit of a nation’s interests. Lying and deceit are definitely essential. The same applies to statecraft in dealing with the public.
What about stealing? In our time, stealing is more prevalent than ever before. Moreover, it has become much more sophisticated. There are numerous types of stealing that are institutionalized into world systems. For example, consider the phenomenon of inflation (the price of goods continually rising in currency terms). It is one of the biggest and most deceiving forms of stealing. Yet, every central bank in the world today will argue that some stealing (inflation) is necessary for the smooth and safe functioning of economies and financial systems. In fact, currently, a number of the world’s largest central banks are deliberately trying to encourage inflation.
Stealing is endemic and accepted in many other areas. Corporate executives steal from shareholders (like never before), and countries try to steal precious resources from other countries (oil, for example), although such motivations are couched in official policy-speak such as “securing our interests” or “gaining access through free trade.” Such techniques are the norm today.
Without a doubt, we see that swearing falsely and stealing are at the very root and apex of man’s global endtime edifice.
Returning to the earlier-quoted Mr. Kaplan, despite his cogent perspectives on the world’s state of affairs, he concludes: “This is not something to lament, however. For in the last analysis, self-interest can lead to peace while rigid moral principles can lead to war. Self-interest informs compromise with other human beings.”
He chooses to have faith that Global Man can tame and harness Mammon for the good of mankind by using Machiavellian techniques (namely, the endorsed lying and stealing among other ungodly tactics). He couldn’t be more wrong. One day there will be a new order, one diametrically opposite to what we have today. It will not be defined by self-interest or vested-interest. Truth, peace, justice and love will prevail. That will occur to an extent in the 1,000-year kingdom outlined in the Bible. The final perfect state occurs after this period when the eternal New Jerusalem descends.
Last Day Deceits and Corruption
continue article at Rapture Ready:
