The Coming Economic Crisis/Program 2

By: Dr. David Jeremiah; ©2011

The Bible predicts the rise of a future, global government that will be led by a single leader called the Antichrist. As economic concerns grow, both in America and internationally, nations find themselves collaborating together to rebound, granting concessions in the process that make global control an increasing reality.  In this week’s John Ankerberg Show, we’ll look at some of the moves taking place in the recent economic recession that reflect increased global control. In addition, we’ll see what Bible prophecy teaches about the coming global government and how today’s activities might reflect these predictions.

Contents

Introduction

Announcer: Nations across North Africa and the Middle East are erupting in bloodshed and revolution. Japan continues to confront its largest crisis since WWII. And America’s economy, along with the economies of the world, stand on the verge of crisis. Just a few months ago, President Obama’s bi-partisan Debt Commission warned in its report: America faces staggering deficits. This coming year, for every dollar, the US Government plans to spend, it will have to borrow 40 cents to do so. Interest on the debt could rise to nearly $1trillion by 2020 – just 8 years from now. And by 2025, our total revenue will be able to finance only 4 things: the interest payments on our debt; Medicare; Medicaid; and Social Security. Every other Federal Government activity, from National Defense and Homeland Security and to transportation and energy, will have to be paid for with borrowed money. Is the world stage being set for the endtime events the biblical prophets predicted? Are we beginning to see a world-wide, economic Armageddon? My guest today, is Dr. David Jeremiah Senior Pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, CA; and founder and speaker of the popular radio and television ministry, Turning Point. We invite you to join us for this special edition of the John Ankerberg Show.

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Ankerberg: Welcome to our program. My guest today is Dr. David Jeremiah, Senior Pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, CA; and the founder and speaker on Turning Point, the very popular television and radio program heard around the world. Folks, this is going to be a great program, today. David is the author of the best-selling book, The Coming Econmic Armageddon, which is on the New York Times best-seller list. Our topic today is the “new world order.” Why are we seeing so many people, including writers, politicians, presidents, statesmen, even religious leaders, all calling for this new world order? Start us off.

Jeremiah: Well you know what I think one of the reasons, most recent is, we’ve had this incredible meltdown financially, and a lot of people feel like we no longer are going to be able to solve this problem in our individual nations; that it’s got to be done globally. We already had a momentum toward that because we’re going to see some of the presidents who have served us have pushed us in that direction. But it’s taken on a whole new life now because of what’s happened in the last couple of years. Actually, it goes back, John, as far as I can see, to a work by a guy named H.G. Wells. He wrote a book called The War of the Worlds. It was not only his book about life-changing events on the earth, but it was about a new world order: a book in which he actually used the term, “The United States of the World,” and a need to work out a clear conception of a world order to dissolve our compromise and our differences so that we might set our faces with assurance toward an attainable world peace. That’s kind of where the foundation of it was.

Ankerberg: He started it off, but Jimmy Carter picked it up.

Jeremiah: Yeah. I mean I was surprised. I didn’t know this, but I read that in 1977 Jimmy Carter wrote a message that was placed on the space vehicle Voyager I and II. That message said the following: “The Voyager spacecraft was constructed by the United States of America, a community of 200 million human beings among the more than 4 billion who inhabit the earth, still divided into nation-states but rapidly becoming a single global civilization.” And he put this in that capsule so that if anybody found it, he assumed that by the time it was found we would no longer be national entities but we would be one global entity.

Ankerberg: Yeah, and then when George Herbert Walker Bush actually came into office and we had the Persian Gulf crisis, and he got all the nations involved in terms of going into Iraq. And the thing is that he used the phrase “the new world order” as well, didn’t he?

Jeremiah: Yeah. I was surprised to learn that he is probably the greatest champion for the new world order, in the White House at least, in history.

Ankerberg: What did he say?

Jeremiah: Well, he addressed a joint session of Congress, which had been called to deal with the Persian Gulf crisis and the federal budget deficit. And he repeatedly referred to the “new world order.” Here’s a quote: “Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective, a new world order, can emerge at this very moment. They serve together, the Arabs, the Europeans, the Asians and the Africans, in defense of principle and the dream of a new world order.” And again: “And today that new world is struggling to be born – a world quite different from the one we’ve known.”

And John, it’s not only true in the political world. I read a statement by the Pope that was part of his encyclical letter of 2009. And here are his words, he said, “In the force of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, there is an urgent need of a true world political authority. Such an authority would need to be universally recognized and be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all.”

Ankerberg: Yeah. Explain what they’re trying… What’s their goal? What is the new world order? What are they trying to shoot for?

Jeremiah: Well, they’re trying to bring everybody together so that there’s basically centralized leadership. And of course, we can talk about this later, but we know that’s the preliminary force that’s going to bring us to the place where one man can actually rule the world.

Ankerberg: Yeah. I mean, the Europeans are trying to get all their nations together in one group and they’re having a tough time doing it. But they’re still calling for the United States and all of the major nations of the world, that would have – what was it – almost 90% of the economy of the world, come together and then figure out the rules: that they would govern and everybody would obey the rules so that the whole world would work together. Because if the United States goes down, or if China goes down, or some of these countries like Greece, they can pull the rest in, and they don’t want that. They’re afraid of that so we’ve got to work together, they’re saying, so we don’t hurt each other.

Jeremiah: Right.

Ankerberg: That’s the goal.

Jeremiah: Well, that’s exactly right. You know, sometimes when you see “new world order” it gets conspiratorial, and I don’t think that’s really the issue here. I think the issue here is that these nations are beginning to realize how interdependent we are globally and how what happens here affects what happens there. And they think the answer to that is to somehow bring us all together and make us one, and create a unity out of the disunity that we have.

Ankerberg: It hasn’t worked in the past. Tell us about the ancient tries at a new world order.

Jeremiah: Well, you know, it’s interesting. The “new world order” is not orderly and it’s not new. It goes all the way back in history to the book of Genesis. In fact, in the post-flood civilization – after Noah’s flood – they possessed a unity of language. And they came to the land of Shinar, we’re told. It’s a place where Iraq is today, actually, and it’s the historic place of Babel. And according to Genesis 11 the leaders of this first “new world order” decided to build a tower to celebrate their unity and their power. And there were really two reasons, as you look back at that, for doing it. They were interested in security and they were interested in significance.

Ankerberg: Let’s get God’s perspective on this attempt to get all the nations together. Where is God coming from on this?

Jeremiah: You know, it sounds like it would be a good idea. It even maybe sounds like it’s a God-idea. But it’s not. In fact, I remember how impressed I was, and how simply put it is in the book of Acts that God is not an internationalist. Listen to this, John; this is what it says in the book of Acts: “And God has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth. And God has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each of us.” Isn’t it interesting that it was the attempt of the ancient civilization to try to reach up to heaven in rebellion against God, and God put us in nation-units, so that in those smaller units we would be more prone to seek after God and not sense the power we had apart from Him? So God’s made it very clear where He stands. And by the way, when you get to the end of the time of history, and all of the end prophecies, guess what – there are still nations. We are still in a national format. So I don’t think God is a champion of the new world order.

Ankerberg: David, the ancient attempt to create a new world order was dissolved by God. Now take what God is saying in Acts and apply that to America. Why have we been so great? Why are we the most powerful nation in the world? And how does this relate to what God says?

Jeremiah: You know, John, one of my favorite statements from the pen of C.S. Lewis goes like this: “There is no clever arrangement of rotten eggs that will make a good omelet.” One of the problems we have in trying to put our nations together is we’re all sinful nations, we’re sinful creatures. But I think we need to stop and ask ourselves, at this point in time as a nation, are we concerned about the world? Absolutely. But God has called us as a nation, and Acts 17 really makes that clear. He set our boundaries. And this nation that you and I love has been great because the people of this nation have taken seriously the importance of building a strong national entity. We’re not the largest nation but we’re the most powerful nation in the world. We have not been globalist and we have not been internationalist. We have been nationalist and because of that we have been strong. And frankly if you want to know why we’re having such activity among the tea party people and all of that, there’s this sense in our nation, John, that we have lost some of that and people are angry about it and they want it back. I think that’s a good thing.

Ankerberg: Alright. We’re going to take a break. When we come back we’re going to talk about the modern attempt to create a new world order. And we’re going to look at an example of that in the United Nations. And why we should not pursue this one world order – this new world order. Stick with us, folks. It’s fascinating stuff. We’ll be right back.

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Ankerberg: Alright, we’re back. We’re talking with Dr. David Jeremiah about his new book, The Coming Economic Armageddon. And we’re talking about one of the chapters in the book which is the “new world order.” We’ve talked about the ancient attempts to create a new world order. Now let’s talk about the modern attempts, and you’ve got to talk about the United Nations. You‘ve done a lot of research on that. Tell us about it.

Jeremiah: Well you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that most conservatives are not fans of the United Nations. But a lot of people may wonder why. First of all, I think some of our viewers, John, might be surprised to learn that the United Nations is an eighteen-acre campus right in the center of the City of New York, and it doesn’t belong to the City of New York and it doesn’t belong to the State of New York. It’s a vacuum in the midst of the city. If you visit the United Nations you will be shocked at how much biblical stuff there is there. I mean there’s a mosaic called “The dove of peace.” There’s a “peace” bell from Japan. There’s a statue with these words: “Let us beat our swords into plowshares,” believe it or not, a gift from Russia. And here’s my favorite. This isn’t biblical, but it’s really interesting. It’s a 45-caliber revolver twisted into a knot – a gift from Luxembourg. It is a picture that, you know, we don’t want to have war anymore. Everywhere you look around the United Nations there are artists’ renderings portraying the world’s desire for peace.

But for all their good intentions, John, the United Nations, from its very beginning, has been an example of bureaucracy run amok. It’s overrun with fraud and pointless debates and international mismanagement, and ludicrous behavior. Here’s an example. In 2005, under Secretary General Kofi Annan, the United Nations had been charged with investigating human rights abuses in member nations. Now get this: In 2006 the Human Rights Commission was put together, including these nations: Sudan, Zimbabwe, China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. Every single one of these countries have themselves been accused of major human rights violations, and it sounds like sending the fox to guard the henhouse. Ankerberg: Yeah. It’s so true. And I mean, everybody knows it. If that’s the hope of the world – the United Nations – we’re in big trouble.

Jeremiah: And you can go through the history of everything they’ve done. It is a litany of mismanagement and ineffectiveness, and even yet today people keep looking to the United Nations as if somehow they’re going to solve the problems of the world.

Ankerberg: Yeah. Even the fact of giving money for food for countries that needed it; there was so much fraud involved in that – even the trading of oil that went through the United Nations. Here you had corrupt people that were eventually found out as a result of the Gulf War, that when the lines broke down with Saddam Hussein and all of his cronies. The fact is that then the people were caught that were doing this, when they found the records.

Jeremiah: Right. John, the problem is the United Nations doesn’t even believe their own statements. They don’t even follow their own directions. Back in 2005 Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote a statement – a very proud and powerful statement about their support for Israel. He said, “A United Nations that fails to be at the forefront of the fight against anti-Semitism undermines its future.” But how does that play out in their actions? It was just a bunch of words. Listen to this. Since 1977 every November 29th the United Nations has held an International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. But shamefully, the same United Nations that the Secretary General said must be anti-Semitic in its policies, waited until January 2005 to commemorate the holocaust of the Jewish people – unarguably the worst tragedy in the history of the world. It seems to me that is the shameful thing that stands at the core of what we now call this modern attempt at new world order.

Ankerberg: People obviously have a yearning to have unity and cooperation in love. Is there ever going to be a new world order that works?

Jeremiah: Well, let me give you some good news, John – there is. The problem with any world order that we have currently is, the leadership will always end up being absolute, and absolutely corrupt. But there’s coming a day when there is going to be a new world order. The Bible refers to it in Revelation chapter 20. In fact, several times in that section it talks about a thousand years. We know it as The Millennium. It’s the time when Jesus Christ will set up his kingdom on this earth, and it will be – it’s a day to read about and get excited about. It’s pretty special.

Ankerberg: In your book you also talk about what’s wrong with pursuing a new world order now. You say there’s four things. What are they?

Jeremiah: The problem with pursuing a new world order today is simply the fact that we’re asking something that we can’t do. We’re promising a peace that we can’t produce. We all want peace, but we also know there is no peace apart from God. After all the years and all the attempts, we find ourselves at war. Every peace treaty that has ever been signed with other nations – even including NATO – is violated every time you turn around. The problem with setting up a new world order is it promises something it can’t deliver. You know why? Because every nation that’s in the new world order is filled with leaders who have corrupt hearts.

Ankerberg: Yeah. I love Lord Acton who said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” And that’s what we’re seeing in many places in the world; we’re seeing it in the United Nations. That’s why we can’t achieve it.

Jeremiah: Well, and that’s true. And the second thing that’s wrong is that this pursuit of a new world order assumes a unity that’s impossible. Everybody wants us to just get along. They figure that we should somehow be able to wave a wand and get along. Back in 1971 John Lennon wrote a song that almost became a national mantra. It was called Imagine. And the song asks the listeners to imagine a time when there was no heaven, no hell, no countries, nothing to kill or die for, no religion, no possessions, no need for greed or hunger, living for today, living life in peace, and the world will live as one. Doesn’t that really sound nice? This popular song captured the attention of an entire generation. And it expressed this utopian dream of a world unified and at peace. But you know the problem. The problem is we can’t create unity until we get a hold of the human heart. You know, there’s a difference between unity and unification. We may achieve unification, because unification is an outside-in thing. Unity is an inside-out thing. You can never have unity unless you have control of the heart. You can create a kind of outward unification – that’s what we’re trying to do. And that’s setting the stage for a time when one man will be able to rule the whole world because there will be a coalition of nations over which he will be granted power.

Ankerberg: Today, David, it’s absolutely true that the world is looking for a leader that can come on the scene and can solve the problems: that can put the money back in their bank account; that can give their kids education; that can take the pain away that they’re feeling right now. There’s a lot of pain going around the world. The Bible predicts that there’s going to be such a person. Who is that?

Jeremiah: Well the Bible talks about the Antichrist, who is given to us in the Scripture under numerous names. But he will arise out of the European coalition; he will consolidate three of the nations; and then take control over that whole part of the world, making a covenant with Israel and then breaking that covenant. And then ultimately he will be in control of the world. And the unholy trinity of Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet will be reigning supreme in the secular realm on planet earth during the Tribulation.

Ankerberg: People are looking for a leader but really the One that’s going to make it all work is Jesus Christ. What will Jesus Christ do?

Jeremiah: Well you know, John, without Jesus Christ there is no peace in the nations, there is no peace in the world, there’s no peace in the churches, there’s no peace in the family, and there’s no peace in the human heart. That’s where it starts. The peace that we’re seeking is not something that’s first global, it’s something that’s first personal. And if a man or a woman doesn’t know Jesus Christ in their heart, if they’ve never trusted him with their eternal destiny, if they’ve never asked for the forgiveness of sin, they will never know the peace they’re seeking. Jesus Christ came into this world to provide the answer to that personal peace.

And you know, there’s enough time to worry about world peace. I guess the thing I’d be concerned about today if I didn’t know Christ is, where is the peace I seek in my own heart? I know we have lots of people watching us today and I’d just like to invite them to know this wonderful Savior that I’ve come to know; who, in the midst of all of the chaos we’re living in right now, gives me the kind of peace that I pillow my head at night and I sleep like a baby. I’m not oblivious to what’s going on, I just know that he’s in charge and that he’s already resolved the greatest dilemma in my life, and that’s my sin issue. And he’s willing to do that for anyone who will put their trust in him.

Ankerberg: Quickly, how can a person who says “I don’t have that peace and I don’t have that relationship with Christ” – how do they come into it?

Jeremiah: The first thing that’s important is to acknowledge that you’re a sinner; that you cannot save yourself; that God grades on the 100% percentage and he doesn’t grade on the curve.

And if you want to know God, you’ve got to reach up to that standard – and you can’t. So he reached down to you through Jesus Christ. And if you will believe that and if you will determine in your heart to accept that, as your only hope of heaven, Jesus Christ will come in; he will wash you clean from the inside out. And he will make you the person you always wanted to be, if you will trust him. He is waiting for you to open the door and receive him as your Savior.

Ankerberg: Folks, I hope that you’ll do that right now if you haven’t done that with Christ. Talk to him right now. Ask him to forgive you of your sins and invite him to come into your life. Just trust what he’s done on the cross is enough. It’s all that God will ever want in terms of getting you into heaven. He’s forgiven you of your sins.

Now next week we’re going to continue. We’re going to talk about another aspect of this thing, the new global economy. There’s an electronic financial net surrounding the earth that has created a global economy that is setting the stage for end-time realities. This is going to be fascinating information. You won’t want to miss this. I hope you’ll join us then.

Read Part 3