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Stories about the economic emergence of China, India and Brazil fill our serious newspapers and newsmagazines. But economic activity is on the rise elsewhere too. For instance, the 540-mile border between Syria and Turkey was once pockmarked with some 60,000 land mines. Now $2 billion in mutual trade moves freely across this formerly hostile border. Turkey is increasingly labeled "the hub of Eurasia."
Also, during the last 10 years trade between China and African nations has expanded from $10 billion to $100 billion. India and Peru have grown much closer as well. More and more South American nations are looking in the direction of Asia.
A new world economic and political order is beginning to take shape. Noted Financial Times columnist Philip Stephens put it this way: "We are living through one of history's swerves. A multipolar world has been long predicted, but it has always seemed to be perched safely on the horizon. Now it has rushed quite suddenly into the present. Two centuries of western hegemony are coming to a close rather earlier than many had imagined" ("On the Way to a New Global Balance," Dec. 17, 2010, emphasis added throughout).
But what about the fortunes of America, both economically and politically? In contrast to other nations, Washington certainly appears to be facing an uncertain future. The Chinese economic challenge promises to be very serious. Gideon Rachman wrote in Foreign Policy: "China...has proved its economic prowess on the global stage. Its economy has been growing at 9 to 10 percent a year, on average, for roughly three decades. It is now the world's leading exporter and its biggest manufacturer, and it is sitting on more than $2.5 trillion of foreign reserves...China's economic prowess is already allowing Beijing to challenge American influence all over the world. The Chinese are the preferred partners of many African governments and the biggest trading partner of other emerging powers, such as Brazil and South Africa …
"And China is only the largest part of a bigger story about the rise of new economic and political players...New powers are on the rise: India, Brazil, Turkey. They each have their own foreign-policy preferences, which collectively constrain America's ability to shape the world. Think of how India and Brazil sided with China at the global climate-change talks. Or the votes by Turkey and Brazil against America at the United Nations on sanctions against Iran. That is just a taste of things to come" ("Think Again: American Decline," January-February 2011). (Sources: Financial Times [London], Foreign Policy.)
The last book in the Bible, Revelation, was penned by the aged apostle John late in the first century, nearly 2,000 years ago. Yet the Holy Scriptures remain the most up-to-date book available to our modern age. They reveal both the origins and the prophetic destiny of America and the British Commonwealth of nations, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Our free, 110-page booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy charts the whole course, showing where we have come from and where we are headed. The final chapter sets out America and Britain's future, first severe national punishment but mercifully followed by dramatic divine intervention for the remnants of our English-speaking peoples.
Far too many present-day Americans, Australians, Britons and Canadians have refused to acknowledge the true God and the bountiful undeserved blessings He has bestowed on our nations. Many have even chosen to deny the very existence of their Creator and have instead accepted the false theory of evolution as well as secularism in general. Some have embraced a false version of Christianity, one generally devoid of obedience to God's spiritual laws.
Many prefer to believe that the awesome blessings of national wealth and power came either by chance or are the results of their own efforts. Like their ancestors in ancient Israel, they have chosen and are currently choosing to ignore God's patient warnings in the Bible. The inevitable outcome of such long-term, persistent behavior has already been recorded in Scripture (see Deuteronomy 8:10-14).
Many biblical prophecies portray the real repentance of God's people at the return of Jesus Christ to earth. Then Americans, Australians, Britons, Canadians, New Zealanders and South Africans will return to the true God. But only after they have suffered severe crises worse in many ways than the catastrophes that befell the ancient nations of Israel and Judah.
The latter-day deliverance of the modern descendants of the patriarch Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, has been recorded by the Old Testament prophets. Read just one example, this one concerning the Great Tribulation, which is also mentioned in Matthew 24:21 and Daniel 12:1: "How awful that day will be...It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but [after suffering through it] he will be saved out of it" (Jeremiah 30:7, NIV).
A special edition of Newsweek titled "Issues 2011" recently reported: "As the world enters 2011, we are adapting to the new reality of the post-crisis era. At its roots, the crisis was a symptom of a broader dysfunction in our global, political, economic and social order. We are now paying, and continuing to pay, for the sins of the past" ("To Our Readers," December 2010–February 2011).
It becomes a matter of more than just passing interest that our present plight would be described in biblical terms by the chairman and executive chairman of a popular American newsweekly with an international edition!
According to the Bible, sin is the violation of God's law (1 John 3:4). And sooner or later, transgressing God's law exacts an inevitable penalty. Even nations end up paying that penalty, and until the penalty is paid it remains as an outstanding debt to justice. The New Testament sometimes speaks of sin in terms of debt. Jesus instructed us to pray, "And forgive us our debts" (Matthew 6:12).
This Newsweek preface goes on to depict some of our specific economic sins: "Governments have assumed massive debts to save the global financial system from total collapse. As a result, countries are now grappling with higher taxes, severe reductions in public goods and services, and dwindling investments in education and infrastructure. Public disillusionment in business and political leadership is dangerously high. Because of our continued tendency to put off problem resolution, to the detriment of our children and grandchildren, we may yet trigger a deep social and generational crisis. All these are the defining features of our new reality."
The Bible simply says, "For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children" (2 Corinthians 12:14). James Hoge, Jr., the now retired editor of Foreign Affairs, frankly stated: "The United States' influence, diminished by the rise of other states and nonstate actors, will be fatally undercut if the country does not curb its unsustainable reliance on debt" (Oct. 26, 2010).
If you would like help in coping with any personal debt difficulties, read our free booklet Managing Your Finances. (Sources: Newsweek, Foreign Affairs.)
The novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, written by George Orwell in 1949, is about an oligarchic, collectivist society. Orwell's novel portrayed a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance and mind control. In 2011 we can see many similarities to Orwell's predictions.
A USA Today headline and drophead warn, "Yes, You Are Being Watched: Big Brother's got nothing on today's digital sensors" (Byron Acohido, Jan. 26, 2011). The report that follows shows that we are being monitored today in numerous ways, and we don't even realize it: "Surveillance cameras at airports, subways, banks and other public venues are not the only devices tracking you. Inexpensive, ever-watchful digital sensors are now ubiquitous. They are in laptop webcams, video-game motion sensors, smartphone cameras, utility meters, passports and employee ID cards."
As digital stalkers and peepers are increasing, the cost of storing digital data is decreasing. The result is an explosion of sensor data collection and storage. "Step out your front door and you could be captured in a high-resolution photograph taken from the air or street by Google or Microsoft, as they update their respective mapping services. Drive down a city thoroughfare, cross a toll bridge, or park at certain shopping malls and your license plate will be recorded and time-stamped" (ibid).
The chilling effect of all this is that you can be tagged, which can effectively pull you out of group photos and affect your privacy. "Once you are tagged in a photo, that photo could be used to search for matches across the entire Internet, or in private databases, including those fed by surveillance cameras" (ibid).
Question: What's to prevent Big Brother from becoming a tool of totalitarian control in the hands of the Beast of Revelation? Prophecy indicates that the Beast will be able to keep watch over people's commercial activity (Revelation 13:16-17). (Source: USA Today.)
Terrorists struck deep in the heart of Russia at Moscow's busiest Domodedovo Airport on Jan. 24, 2011. This was the second time in seven years that Domodedovo was targeted by suicide bombers. In 2004, two female bombers blew themselves up and killed 90 bystanders.
Although so far no one has claimed responsibility for the latest attack, in which a bomb filled with screws and ball bearings killed at least 35 people and wounded at least 180, the perpetrator was believed to be a Muslim suicide bomber (Nataliya Vasilyeva, Associated Press, Jan. 24, 2011).
Why would Islamic terrorists focus their attention on Russians, who have allegedly been supportive of Islamic attacks against the West? Several years back it was pointed out: "In Russia, Chechen Muslims have been conducting an insurgency against the Russian government for over ten years. They have mounted extensive terrorist suicide attacks in Moscow" (Thomas Hayden, "Suicide Bombers Are Not New," Military.com, July 29, 2005).
Dan Eggen and Scott Wilson gave a credible answer to this insane problem in a Washington Post article titled "Suicide Bombing: It's Getting Worse," which identified the ‘cult of glorification' which they described as a mix of nationalist, personal and religious fervor, and a fervent hatred against Israel, where boys see the glory being given to the suicide bombers and want to emulate that action" (quoted by Hayden).
The insanity will get worse as the god of this world comes nearer to his prophesied removal from the scene (Revelation 12:12). (Sources: Associated Press, Military.com.)
The title of the London Times article says it all: "Rocketing Price of Food in a Hungry World Brings Riots, Fear and Conflict" (Francis Elliott, Jan. 12, 2011).
The Bible forewarns that the age-old problem of famine will eventually intensify beyond our worst nightmares. This is represented by one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse in Revelation 6 and is specifically mentioned in the prophecy Jesus Christ gave at the end of His ministry in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21.
According to the Times article: "Many factors are being blamed for the global increases [in riots, fear and conflict]...Experts think that the trend is upwards." Right now the effects of famine are mainly seen in poverty-stricken nations. That will change over time. Poor countries will have to cope with two billion more people seeking food in not so many years' time.
Bad weather in the form of droughts and floods (like the one in Queensland, Australia) or earthquakes (like the Haitian disaster) tend to exacerbate the basic problem of sufficient food production.
Shortages drive the price of crucial foodstuffs ever upwards. Ultimately only God can rescue humanity from the cause-and-effect cycle that grips poverty-stricken countries.
To understand more, read our free booklets Are We Living in the Time of the End? and The Book of Revelation Unveiled. (Sources: The Times [London], The Wall Street Journal.)
Pornography has become increasingly omnipresent on the Internet. An estimated quarter of all Internet searches are related to porn. Nearly a fifth of the U.S. population searched for and likely watched smut in a recent month. That's nearly 60 million Americans.
Alarmingly, Internet sex is becoming more abnormal, grotesque and debased by the day. The various illicit categories are unmentionable in a Christian magazine. The apostle Paul stated: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness...For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret" (Ephesians 5:11-12). Tragically, while many men and some women are initially shocked at what they see on websites purveying such perversity, they can find themselves drawn in and hooked.
The intimate experience God intended to cement a lifelong love and attraction between husband and wife is thereby perverted into an unspeakable nightmare—debasing men and women, who are made in the image of God, into something subhuman as they sear their consciences by publicly performing illicit acts for money.
Sex between married partners should always be the most private of pleasurable human experiences. It should never be shared with anyone for any reason. If you want to understand the blessings God intended for His human creation in this most intimate of all of life's experiences, read our free booklet Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension. (Sources: The Sunday Times Magazine [London], The Atlantic.)
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Keywords: China Turkey debt U.S. debt privacy big brother terrorism in Russia famine food shortage pornography internet
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