On the one hand there are fancy conjectures and all sorts of theories that don't pan out or hold water such as we see in Dan Brown's popular and best selling book and movie, The Da Vinci Code. Then, on the other hand there is less sexy but factual information offered by Biblical scholars such as Paul Copan, Daniel Wallace and Darrell Bock to name a few. These men have actually applied scholarly study and methodological disciplines to scripture to arrive at factual and well balanced observations of what biblical authors were communicating to us.
One only need read the Bible to find that there are patterns of writing, numbers and certain techniques that the Biblical authors used to relay the message that God had given them.Certainly obscure patterns are not what the Christian lives by, however when we do see authentic patterns of certain information it's worth taking note of and trying to learn the lessons which are taught by those patterns. For example: Paul Copan, in his book, "That's Just Your Interpretation" (Baker Books 2001) pg. 147 notes the following patterns in Genesis:
- "The prologue of Genesis 1:1-2:4a is tightly packed and highly structured, using symbolic numbers, three, seven and ten. Genesis 1:1 contains seven Hebrew words, and the first section of Genesis is divided into seven sections.Genesis 1:2 contains fourteen (twice seven) words. The two key words in Genesis 1:1 occur in Genesis 1:1-2:4a in multiples of seven: God (elohim) occurs 35 times, and earth/land (eretz) is found 21 times. The paragraph on the sabbath has thirty-five words. The prologue of Genesis, anticipating the ten "words" or commandments in Exodus 20, is carefully arranged around ten divine commands."
"And God said" :10 times
"let there be" : 7 times
"Make": 7 times
"firmament": 21 times (7 x 3)
"according to their kind" : 10 times
"and it was so" : 7 times
"and God saw that it was good {tob}" : 7 times; (the word tob {good} is a contrasting word play or pun on tohu [desolate] in 1:2)
God "blessed" :3 times
These patterns are regularly observable and served the purpose of allowing scriptures to be taught, recited and retained by memory due to the oral tradition and culture in which the messages were brought forth, but even at that there are developing and overarching patterns that God doesn't deviate from as he communicates his message through history. In fact many of the signs types and shadows of apocalyptic literature are base wholly on OT (Old Testament) repetitions and concepts revealed under the OT foreshadowing.
Can We See Signs Of The Same Today?
Now, I'm not a numerologist and I don't claim to be smart enough to know all that is being presented before our eyes everyday. So much information is coming at us so quickly during this time that information overload is and can be a problem. One can become so desensitized until one misses the most important pieces of information that really tells the story of what's going on behind the scenes. I believe that a story is being told right now as we live and that we only need to awaken to what is actually happening all around us to see that story in real time. Through God's word we already know how the story will unfold. So our confidence is certainly in the facts of the sustaining word of God that we have received. I believe that a spiritual agenda is going forth and only them that have spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear can and will. Let's look at a few of these things by starting with some history.
Follow The Money Trail
After the Sept. 11th attacks on the United States, America's only interest was catching the terrorists who had promoted the ungodly acts that had been perpetuated upon Americans and upon American soil. Out of all the strategies used to identify the culprits and groups responsible for these crimes, there was one strategy that rose above all others. It was soon found out that in order to catch these terrorists all one had to do was "Follow The Money Trail". There were millions of dollars in resources applied to finding out where the money was going and when it went. Whole organizations had bank accounts seized both domestically and internationally as they were believed to be linked to terrorism because of large and regular cash transfers that went to "shadow" organizations who were fronts for terrorist groups.
I believe that as followers of Christ in order to know what's happening now, all we need do is "Follow The Money Trail" in order to see what the enemy (satan) is doing through men, countries, and even churches in this nation. Why? Because satan is known as the god of this world. (2 Cor. 4:4). He systematically controls the functions of this world.
Mt. 4:8-9 ~ 9-And saith unto him, All these things will I {satan}give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. {emphasis added} This was a bold but telling statement. According to satan, Jesus would receive all the worlds worshipful obeisance (glory) IF he (Jesus) would simply make a deal.
2 facts are indisputable here: 1- satan had the power to take and show Jesus the world, the kingdoms, and their 'glory" which includes their money and 2- All this was in effort to seduce Jesus into establishing an agreement whereby Jesus himself would become an agent of the enemy and a participant within the world's system.
1 Tim. 4:1~"1-Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;"
To all of this Jesus responded by saying:
This was certainly the reason and example of James in his book ch.4:7 ~
Jesus gave money a physical and living attribute when he called it Mammon. He said the following in Mt. 6: 24 and Lk. 16:9:
Mt. 6:24 ~"24- No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
Paul also said this:
According to Wikipedia.com all things seem to begin in 1940 with the meeting of what is called The Allies Of WWII. They were the British Empire, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Formally USSR) (initially allied with Nazi Germany), and the United States of America. These nations were known as "The Big Three". U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to The Big Three and China as the "Four Policemen". Poland and France, before its defeat in 1940 and after Operation Torch in 1942, were also considered major allies. This move led to the establishment of the United Nations during December of 1941 and the declaration of the United Nations on Jan. 1st 1942.
By 1944 the number of these Allied Nations grew to 44. During the first three weeks of July 1944, 730 delegates from these nations met at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, for the first United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. This meeting was directed by John Maynard Keynes, who headed the U.K. delegation, was a private citizen appointed for his brilliant work in macroeconomic theory and practice. Then there was Harry Dexter White who had worked his way up to a senior position in the U.S. Treasury Department. During this initial summit there was no political posturing or heads of state involved in decision making. Remember, this was the first ever conference of the sort in modern world history. The object was to rebuild or reconstruct the international economic system that had been ravished and was being ravished as a result of WWII. What was essential as groundwork for this was the signing of the The Atlantic Charter (8/14/1941) (before the UN was founded) which affirmed the right of all nations to equal access to trade and raw materials. The charter called for 1- freedom of the seas, (a principal U.S. foreign policy aim since France and Britain had first threatened U.S. shipping in the 1790s), 2- the disarmament of aggressors, and 3- the "establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security." The opening of the seas in 1941 under The Atlantic Charter was essential to what was eventually adopted and became known as the Bretton Woods Agreement or Brenton Woods Monetary System in 1944.
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
- The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which today is part of the World Bank Group.
The particular doctrine that seemingly gave import to all of these ideas was a doctrine called "Economic Security". History accounts that the "brainchild" of this idea, was former US Secretary Of State, Cordell Hull, (1933-1944), who held economic insecurity and uneven trade gaps as being responsible for the World Wars. This method was in his mind, the only way to gain a "reasonable chance at lasting peace". These are his words:"[U]nhampered trade dovetailed with peace; high tariffs, trade barriers, and unfair economic competition, with war…if we could get a freer flow of trade…freer in the sense of fewer discriminations and obstructions…so that one country would not be deadly jealous of another and the living standards of all countries might rise, thereby eliminating the economic dissatisfaction that breeds war, we might have a reasonable chance of lasting peace." ~ Hull, Cordell (1948). The Memoirs of Cordell Hull: vol. 1. New York: Macmillan. pp. 81.
In other words Mr. Hull was convinced that if every nation had access to economic security (money) and free trade that the chances of "lasting" peace would be exponentially increased globally.
Ecc. 10:19 ~ "19-A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.
G-8 (aka: The Group Of Eight) Is representative of the original G-6 nations France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States then Canada and Russia (1977). In addition, the European Union is represented within the G8, but cannot host or chair a meeting (The EU has the privileges and obligations of membership but does not host/chair summits. It is represented by the Commission and Council Presidents. 967. "EU and the G8". European Commission) Topics of this meeting are said to include health, law enforcement, labor, economic and social development, energy, environment, foreign affairs, justice and interior, terrorism, and trade.
The G-20 (aka: the Group of Twenty, Heads Of State, and Central Bank Governors)
Hailed as the group that is most representative of the worlds economic powers the G-20 includes 19 countries plus one (eg: the 27 members states of the European Union). The primary members are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States plus the European Union which is represented by the rotating council presidency and the European Central Bank.
Whereas the other G groups and Summits seek guidence and advice of financial heads and chiefs of representative countries, this group seeks heads of countries as the group or body to address world financial problems and conditions. This leaves the floor open to political and dramatic displays and self promotion on the world scene as we have seen displayed leading up to this years meeting. It also is a time in which politically elected officials or national talking heads can grandstand and return favors internationally by openly standing for and asserting certain agenda.
In 2008, 66 Years after the United Nations was founded in 1942 a renewed world Economic Summit named G-20 (aka Bretton Woods II) took place in Washington, DC. on Nov. 14 & 15th 2008 with a primary purpose of addressing the new global economic crisis. Leading up to that summit it is interesting to note that French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on September 26, 2008, said, "we must rethink the financial system from scratch, as at Bretton Woods.”
Demands & ChangesOf Order From Eastern Kings
Leading up to the 2009 summit, fairly new G-20 member nation China, the world's largest holder of U.S. debt, ($1.45 trillion in U.S. securities at the end of 2008, out of a total $1.9 trillion in foreign reserves) has called for a totally revamped international monetary system in which the US Dollar is replaced by a new "super soveriegn" reserve currency.
Rev. 6:12 ~ "12-And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared."
What is really interesting is that 3 years prior to that Stern School Of Business Economics Professor Nouriel Roubini and former staff economist at the US Dept. Of The Treasury released a statement saying this:
- "If the US does not take policy steps to reduce its need for external financing before it exhausts the world’s central banks willingness to keep adding to their dollar reserves – and if the rest of the world does not take steps to reduce its dependence on an unsustainable expansion in US domestic demand to support its own growth – the risk of a hard landing for the US and global economy will grow. The basic outlines of a hard landing are easy to envision: a sharp fall in the value of the US dollar, a rapid increase in US long-term interest rates and a sharp fall in the price of a range of risk assets including equities and housing. The asset price adjustment would lead to a severe slowdown in the US, and the fall in US imports associated with the US slowdown and the dollar’s fall would lead to a global severe economic slowdown, if not an outright recession" ~ Nouriel Roubini, Brad Setser (February 2005). "Will the Bretton Woods 2 Regime Unravel Soon? The Risk of a Hard Landing in 2005-2006"
IV. The Atlantic Charter (8/14/1941):
(a) 1941/6 = 323 (3*2) =6; (2*3) =6
(b) 8+1+4 =13
(c) 8+4 (1*4) = 12/2 =6
(d) 8+1+4+1+9+4=1 = 28 (2-8 =6)
V. Nicolas Sarkozy, on September 26, 2008
(a) Sept = 9th month (Gregorian calendar) +2+6 = 17 (1-7=6)
(b) 2008; 2-8 = 6
(c) reverse the "9" in Sept and you get a 6
VI. G-6 Nations
(a) g = 7+6 = 13
(b) 13/6 = 2.1666
VII. 2009-1940 = 69
(a) 6+9 = 15 (1+5=6)
(b) reverse the 9 in (a) = 6
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