We know from biblical prophecy that at the end of this age a time of trouble will come upon the world like it has never known. At the same time, we will see that for God’s people this will be the time when His glory appears upon them (see Isaiah 60:1-5). The result stated in verses 3–5 of this text is that the nations of the world will turn to God’s people because of their light. The light wins! From these Scriptures, we can conclude that the times may be full of troubles, but God’s people will be triumphant at the end. Just as we are told that the Lord always leads us into His triumph, we can be sure that His people will prevail at the end (see II Corinthians 2:14). We must never forget that.
The shaking that is now coming on the world is for the same purpose that the judgments of God came upon Egypt—to set God’s people free and to judge the gods of this world. A god is not just something you bow down to or have rituals to appease, but it is what you put your trust in instead of God. All of these are going to be shaken so that which cannot be shaken, the kingdom of God, can be revealed as the only thing we should have our trust in.
We know that understanding the economy is very important at the end of the age because the “mark of the beast” is an economic mark, which determines whether we can “buy, sell, or trade” in the world system. Taking the mark of the beast is not the sin but is just evidence of the sin, which is worshiping the beast. We must understand this beast, and we must build our lives on another economy—the economy of the coming kingdom of God.
As we’ve discussed before, no map would be useful unless we know where we are going, and where we are presently on the map. Economics are important at the end, and the mark of the beast is an economic mark because both of these deal with ultimate issues of the human heart. Money is not evil, but we are told in I Timothy 6:10 that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” A more literal translation of this would be “the love of money can be found at the root of all the evils.” This is because money can be an ultimate idol of the human heart. An idol isn’t just something we worship, but what we put our trust in instead of God.
Economics also deals with basic human transactions, which is possibly the clearest barometer of the human heart, revealing how we treat others. We will only address these issues to the degree that is needed in order to understand some of the basic forces and events in the world today. However, the principles we learn by doing this can be useful in evaluating many other things that are happening as well.
Those who have had much experience with deliverance discover quickly that most demonic oppression enters through trauma of some sort. The same is true in history—many gates of hell are opened for demonic inroads into societies and cultures through crises and cultural trauma. This is why understanding the present economic crisis is so important. It will be the open door to one of the ultimate evils to ever come upon the earth.
As we have briefly discussed before, the American economy is built on many factors, but the growth engine is primarily small business. Small business now composes about 50 percent of the American economy, but provides between 70 to 80 percent of all new jobs created. Most of these small businesses are family owned and are an economic pillar and foundation for the nation as a whole. Most of the great innovations that have propelled the birth and growth of industries started mostly through individuals, small groups, and small businesses. A creative dynamic can be found with small groups that is rarely found in large, bureaucratic ones.
Even though large businesses still represent half of the economy, they were almost all small ones at first. For our continued economic strength and health, we must keep this pipeline of small business filled with those who have the enterprise and initiative without which our economy will eventually collapse from a lack of renewal in the marketplace. It does not seem that any administration or either major political party has truly understood this. Even those who were pro-business were almost entirely for big business in their policies and have done little to promote small business. Now we have an administration that is hostile to business and forcing policies and programs that will be devastating to the vital lifeline of all business—initiative.
This is one reason why large, centralized Marxist economies have never succeeded—large bureaucratic organizations become increasingly difficult for truly creative and innovative people, or ideas, and initiative dries up.
A few other factors will be covered in the coming weeks that will lead to a centralization and control by the government, which has never had good results in history, but governments seem prone to have a knee-jerk tendency to impose this on their subjects. With the confluence of other factors at this time, they seem to point to the foundation for events that usually lead to either totalitarian control, or such a breakdown that lawlessness and mob rule bring a basic meltdown to society. We are still at a place that these can be avoided and their trends reversed. However, events are happening fast, and there is not much time to waste. Whether these are inevitable or are avoidable is a major question many Christians are wrestling with in the light of biblical prophecies, and these need to be answered. We will attempt to do this.