“The Prophets of the Old Testament said that every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree that, uh, he will not build in another inhabit, he will not plant in another eat; in other words, capitalism… The system of the Utopia we’re looking for when the Messiah comes, the Messianic Era, will be a capitalistic society. And, by the way, it will be a perfect Utopia as well so capitalism isn’t necessarily tied to greed; it is, uh, it is the way…”
-J.R. Church
Prophecy in the News (Podcast)
07/26/2009: The New World Coin
24:53 – 25:27
Let me begin by stating my objections to the above statement. The description of the Messianic Era is in no way capitalistic in nature. Capitalism is by it’s nature a faulty system because of the setup of the job market. The people who actually need the money don’t have it, hence all of this controversy regarding health care reform in Washington. There is a reason that the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10); “but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and [into] many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition” (6:9). Why did the economy fail? Why do children and the homeless in the world go without food and shelter while others can afford to drive a Bentley or a Maserati? Because of the same greed that has plagued humanity since the fall. Is capitalism the cause of greed? Obviously not (greed has been around for a lot longer), but it is not innocent of it either. Nor is any other governmental system in the world, because it is still in it’s truest form a fallen world. But alas, I have digressed into another rant that has no real relevance to what I wanted to talk about.
So I subscribed to the Prophecy in the News Podcast with the hopes of learning a bit more about Biblical prophecy and the fulfillment of prophecy today. Thus far I have found that the show seems to work for me more as a lead-finder. The main problem I’ve found in watching the Podcast is that it’s not so much an examination of prophecy, so much as a soapbox to promote the old-school American way of life.
In this episode titled The New World Coin the “theologians” began by explaining a situation that occurred during the G8 Summit in Italy this past July. During the G8, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev introduced a coin minted in Brussels which he hopes will soon become a “supranational” currency. To read about the event check out the Bloomberg Report on it. There’s no speculation here, Medvedev and the organization (United Future World Currency), are proposing a unified global currency which would draw the world’s economies into what I like to call a “Super-Market” economy (and yes, I was writing that in the Dr. Evil voice…). In the realm of prophecy this has major implecations. Essentially through various events control seems to become centralized and authority is given over to the Antichrist. Through this control mechanism the mark of the beast is established. Without it, no one will be able to buy or sell anything (Revelation 13:16-18).
I know that there are some who feel like we as Christian’s must resist this in everyway we can, however I simply note the fact that if it is prophecy it is the Will of God, and so resisting what we see as bringing forth evil may actually be resisting God which we all should know never really works out in the long run. Furthermore and more importantly, resisting in that way is not our mission. Our mission is to love God and love others while making Christ known to the nations. This doesn’t mean we should be oblivious to the happenings around us because, after all, we are still in the world; I simply feel we need to fulfill our callings and be prepared, trusting in God.
There are a lot of things in this world that have occurred (even just in the last century) that have changed our world into something unimaginable just two or three hundred years ago. What needs to be done?
Don’t Panic- Self-explanatory (and I wasn’t quoting Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…) There’s a lot of hysteria whenever we work ourselves up about the “End Times”, but we were not given a spirit of fear. God takes care of His children, and He is ultimately in control of the situation.
Get Right with God and with Others- If we’ve wronged someone, then own it and apologize and then come to God with a clean heart.
Spend Time with God- I think everyone knows the saying “It’s about quality, not quantity,” well I respectfully disagree. When it comes to God it’s about both. The more time we are in communion with Him, the more He will pour into us, and the more we will grow into the men and women God has called us to be.
Listen to God- He’s speaking to you. Allow Him to guide you and, when you’re sure it’s God, follow Him even if it doesn’t make any real kind of logical sense (FYI: in case you didn’t know, God by His very nature is irrational… think about it…)
Prepare Yourself- God provides for us but we are called to be good stewards (and stewardess’) of what He has provided. Take care of what you’re given and do with it what God is telling you to do with it.
In other words, set things right with God and other people and live a life that is glorifying to God. Joyce Meyer stated the obvious truth that when God, or an angel of the Lord says “Do not fear,” that doesn’t mean don’t feel the emotion of fear, it means control that emotion and remember who is in control. I don’t believe that God wants us focusing on the apocalyptic prophecies because it when we focus too much on the possible futures we miss that which is most important.
Live like you mean it…
Jumpman
Rants, Theories, & Random Observations 