Information Related to "Current Events & Trends - January/February 2021"
| Audio/Video |
José Dias/PR, Prime Minister's Office
Sweeping changes to the world order are gaining momentum. Breitbart News reported this past summer: "As the world continues to grapple with the deadly consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said only one thing is certain in its wake: 'a new model of global governance' is coming and the globalist body is doing all it can to hurry its arrival . . .
"The 71-year-old professional bureaucrat claimed a 'worldwide consultation process around the 75th anniversary of the United Nations [which began Oct. 24, 1945] has made clear that people want a global governance system that delivers for them.' He also maintained that the time has come for the 'developing world' to have a far stronger voice in global decision-making," with financial relief provided for struggling countries. "This is not the first time Guterres . . . has spoken fondly of his desire to see the world recast along socialist principles" (Simon Kent, "U.N.'s Guterres Warns: 'New Model for Global Governance' Is Coming to Redistribute 'Power and Wealth,'" July 21, 2020).
Earlier the same month "he demanded 'more robust global governance,' adding the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), regional authorities such as the African Union and the European Union (E.U.) to a list of organizations he says can bring 'order' to a future world disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic" (ibid.).
The previous month Guterres and the chief economist of the IMF participated in a virtual World Economic Forum meeting in which "some of the planet's most powerful business leaders, government officials and activists announced a proposal to 'reset' the global economy. Instead of traditional capitalism, the high-profile group said the world should adopt more socialistic policies, such as wealth taxes, additional regulations and massive Green New Deal-like government programs . . .
"Although many details about the Great Reset won't be rolled out until the World Economic Forum meets in Davos in January 2021, the general principles of the plan are clear . . . a form of socialism -- a word the World Economic Forum has deliberately avoided using, all the while calling for countless socialist and progressive plans" (Justin Haskins, "Introducing the 'Great Reset,' World Leaders' Radical Plan to Transform the Economy," The Hill, June 25, 2020).
One of the main themes of the June virtual meeting was that of the coronavirus enabling this "opportunity" for radical transformation. As Britain's Prince Charles, one the primary proponents of the Great Reset in the meeting, said: "We have a golden opportunity to seize something good from this crisis -- its unprecedented shockwaves may well make people more receptive to visions of big change . . . It is an opportunity we have never had before and may never have again" (ibid.).
This was later echoed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Taking up a new popular catchphrase of "building back better," he declared, "This pandemic has provided an opportunity for a reset. This is our chance to accelerate our pre-pandemic efforts to reimagine economic systems that actually address global challenges like extreme poverty, inequality, and climate change" (Global News, Sept. 29, 2020).
In regard to the latter, Covid-19 is not expected to have the needed longevity to drive this great shift through, so focus has been placed on the larger "crisis" supposedly requiring expansive government intervention -- climate change. To this end, the 2021 meeting will include the mobilization of thousands of youth activists making up the Global Shapers Community, which was involved in widespread climate strikes in 2019.
And there are many other facets to this. Some analysts predict that we will see as part of the reset a shift to digital currencies, with private savings held in central banks instead of commercial institutions, thus expanding government power over citizens through more direct and intrusive currency manipulation.
Again, the push for massive change is afoot. Globalists and central planners promoting supranational entities as a pathway to utopian dreams of world governance are sorely misled. Bible prophecy shows this will not end well.
In the lead up to the recent U.S. election, we were faced with the question of whether America would plunge further into extreme liberal progressivism, with traditional values and economic freedom being abandoned and the nation veering farther and farther away from God and a biblical worldview.
Yet the sad fact is that no matter who would've won, the years ahead for the nation appear quite bleak in this regard.
According to a survey in late 2019, a high number of Millennials, those born between 1980 and 1994 (currently 26-40 years old) are fine with socialism and even outright communism.
The Daily Caller reports: "The survey, conducted by the Victims of Communism and polled by the research and data firm YouGov, found that 70% of Millennials are likely to vote socialist and that one in three Millennials perceive communism as 'favorable.' The survey is part of the Victims of Communism's report 'U.S. Attitudes Toward Socialism, Communism, and Collectivism,' which polled 2,100 people in the United States who were 16 and older with a margin of error of +/- 2.4%.
"A little over half of Millennials polled said the Declaration of Independence 'guarantees freedom and equality' better than the Communist Manifesto. 'The historical amnesia about the dangers of communism and socialism is on full display in this year's report' said Marion Smith, executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation'" (Mary Olohan, Oct. 28, 2019).
Now some suggest that maybe the problem is that that many of these people don't actually know what socialism and communism are. While that would be a relief on one level, it still means they would invite what they mistakenly perceive to be benign or beneficial systems to take charge -- voting these disastrous ideas into power.
A major factor in the acceptance of these ideologies, whether through radical embrace or terrible misunderstanding, is the takeover of education by the progressive left, particularly in colleges and universities, which also translates down to primary and secondary schools, as their teachers are college-educated. University of California Santa Cruz professor emeritus of German literature John Ellis told radio and TV host Mark Levin in an interview June 21, 2020:
"If you go back 50 years -- studied on by a Carnegie commission 1969 -- there were 3 left-of-center professors to 2 right-of-center professors . . . which is very mild (. . . consistent with a very healthy debate between the left and the right on campus). But by the end of the century, 1999, a study shows 5 to 1. So you've got a very great concentration building up. By another five, six years later it's gone to 8 to 1. And the current studies being done, coming out now, show something like 13 to 1. Now there's every reason to believe that that's getting more extreme all the time, because one of these studies looked at the junior ranks, that's to say, the recent appointees -- the assistant professors, associate professors -- and found that the ratio there of left to right is 48 to 1. So in other words, the hiring being done now is about 50 to 1 . . . So you're going to wind up with a complete monoculture within a short period of time." And of course this extends to much of journalism and the wider media.
No wonder we are where we are! What this and the communism survey results mean is that the vast majority of the up and comers who will soon be occupying the positions of power in the country are far left. As they gain control and the older generations pass away, no longer will the country be nearly evenly divided between conservative and liberal views. Instead the nation will become extremely progressive -- in numbers there is no coming back from apart from a miracle.
In a Washington Times op-ed piece before this past election, the head of an evangelical youth ministry wrote: "Polls show that a permanent anti-religious, socialist majority . . . is emerging in the United States, a majority that will be dominant by 2024, and locked in place by 2030. My fellow evangelicals are so focused on winning this election, they don't realize that the data shows we've already lost all elections after this one . . . Young, church-going Christians aren't fighting this leftward current. They're swimming with it" (Jeff Myers, "Young Church-Going Christians Embrace Anti-Religious Socialism . . ." Oct. 21, 2020).
Socialism and communism directly violate God's commandments and have killed more people than any other political system by far. They must be rejected. But sadly they are increasingly embraced. And not long from now socialism will rule the day in U.S. politics. This will be devastating for the country and the world at large.
A 2020 study from the Public Religion Research Institute has found that 70 percent of Americans now support allowing gay couples to marry legally, the highest ever, with 28 percent opposed.
The number is up in both major political parties and across the ethnic and religious spectrum. "The majority of Democrats (80%) and 50% of Republicans support same-sex marriage . . . [And support includes] 79% of white mainline Protestants, 78% of Hispanic Catholics, 72% of members of non-Christian religious groups, 68% of Hispanic Protestants, 67% of white Catholics, 57% of Black Protestants, and 56% of members of other Christian religious groups. The strongest opposition . . . comes from white evangelical Protestants, the study finds, with 63% opposing" (Russell Falcon, "American Support for Same-Sex Marriage Is Higher Than Ever, Study Finds," KXAN Fox 8 News, Oct. 25, 2020).
This is highly disturbing. No doubt the rise in acceptance has been sped along by the legalization of same-sex marriage by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 -- along with a general increase in societal immorality.
There will yet be a terrible reckoning for rejection of God's laws and His institution of marriage between man and woman all the way back in the Garden of Eden. To understand God's great purpose in this, send for or download our free study guide Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension.
Oct. 15, 2020, marked a historical first, as Israeli officials escorted a delegation of Arabs from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates onto the Temple Mount to pray in the Dome of the Rock. This came a month after U.S. President Donald Trump presided over the signing ceremony of the "Abraham Accords," a peace agreement between these Arab states and Israel secured after months of diplomatic work by the Trump administration.
The administration brokered yet another deal between Israel and Sudan in October, and more deals were expected to follow, with Trump telling reporters, "We have probably 9 or 10," referring to countries ready to normalize ties with Israel (Fox News, Oct. 27, 2020). For his accomplishments the president received several nominations for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.
A major factor in bringing the various Arab states to the table has been the Trump administration's hard stance against Iran -- and the direct help Israel is able to be in that. The Sunni Arab countries do not want to see a powerful Shiite Iran armed with nuclear weapons and able to dominate the region. In running against President Trump, Joe Biden expressed his desire to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, which would be against the interest of the Arab states and Israel and America -- and indeed against world peace.
It remains to be seen where things will go from here. We know that the Middle East will eventually descend into terrible war (see our free study guide The Middle East in Bible Prophecy). And many pronouncements of peace are to no avail (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:3). Yet it is still a noble goal to try to bring peace while it may last provided it is not acquiescing to a ruse or ultimately harmful terms.
©1995-2022 United Church of God, an International AssociationRelated Information:
Table of Contents that includes "Current Events & Trends - January/February 2021"
Other Articles by Scott Ashley
Origin of article "Current Events & Trends - January/February 2021"
Keywords: Great Reset global governance gay marriage abraham accords
Socialism: