Dear…
'…and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath…..and men blasphemed God because of the plague…'
Revelation 16:18-21
Sponge Bob, Square Pants is this silly but lovable cartoon character that my son, Andre enjoys watching. It is about a yellow square shaped sponge liked character on two spindly legs with not much of a brain, but a determined and kind heart.
In my ministry of sharing the thoughts that I truly believe our Lord placed in my heart, I sometimes wonder if I am like Sponge Bob, always with good intent, and just maybe a good bard I might seem to be, but have I often reflected my own understanding rather than the true will of our Sovereign God?
Just this morning, as I read the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, a book that I seldom had the privilege of being led to, I was brought to Revelation 16 and two common themes stood out in this chapter, which is,
- About God's wrath towards sinful men
'And I heard a great voice out fo the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.'
Revelations 16:1
- and the continued unrepentance of men
'And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory..'
Revelations 16:9
To add on or to take away the Word of God, prayerfully I have not, much as an imperfect human I am. But I have learned to speak as I feel led, and may what I am about to reflect upon be used by Him to speak to you, even if the messenger is imperfect.
This morning, right after I completed my quiet time with Lord on Revelation 16, He brought me to an article in the newspaper which came up with an interesting postulation as to the root cause of today's economic woes.
Out of good, came the bad, and the writer believed that the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, and with it, the final loosening of the stifling Bear hug of the Russians over a large part of Europe and implicitly its satellite nations in the rest of the world, led to an open field for capitalism to rein free, and unfortunately run wild. As aspirations of the population of long suppressed ex-communist regimes rose to match the present standards of their capitalist brethrens, and as countries and private enterprises across the world flood their economic system with easy credit in their desire to seek supernormal profits, an utopic world where infinite wants are matched by seemingly infinite resources came to the forth, or more like rose to the froth with the inevitable consequences that the world is now suffering from, when beneath the now soured cream, is a cake that has lost its self rising capabilities.
Unfortunately, the world today is still trying to extend its utopic dreams, and we will bear the consequences of unfettered Sovereign fiscal ill-discipline and its resultant beggar thy neighbour policy as reflected in deceit(questionable accounting standards), selfishness(protectionism is no longer a spectre,but quite real) and willingness to compromise(where monies will take precedent over morality).
As I reflected upon this article and Revelation 16, a thought struck my diminishing brain, but thankfully enlarging heart, for God speaks to our hearts, and we use less our understanding.
More specifically, if you read the line in Revelations 16:18 as above "And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell…'
It struck me that the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism or its chief protagonist, the old USSR could symbolise the 2nd part of this great city, the world we lived in. That collapse led to a lost opportunity where instead of sharing the past good moral values of the Western world, which has its foundations in Christianity, the Western world took the opportunity to belittle and encourage unfettered greed and shared its immorality with its Eastern European counterparts, many of whom, in the face of previous deprivation, were closer to God than their free but worldly brethren from the West. How ironic indeed. The free Christian world, was closer to mammon while the anti-Christ communist world was in reality closer to the Lord.
The economic problems we are witnessing today in Eastern Europe is largely funded by Western European funds.
What about the 1st part of this great city?. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, but another wall did not fall but was partially dismantled a few years earlier. The Great Wall of China is still around but just like a breach in its defense from the treacherous action of a disgruntled general allowed the Manchus to overrun the insipid Ming Dynasty. The present newly minted economic superpower China, owe its rise in a large extent to the vision and boldness of one man, Deng Xiao Ping. Small in posture he might be, but boldness in heart he was and his bold declaration for Chinese to go forth and flower has enabled China and Chinese to take its position as a rising superpower in our present world.
To release a billion plus repressed people with a very low per capita income into a world, with the objective to move up if not eventually match or even surpass present developed world living standards is no less earth shaking than the demise of the USSR.
And what is the third part? Without the relentless desire of China to export its way up the economic curve, the insatiable consumerism of the Americans and to some extent, the developed world would never have been fully satisfied. And just like the British Imperialists were getting fat feeding the opium addiction of the corrupt Qing Dynasty, the rising Chinese Dragon has willingly fed the consumer addicted Americans.
The subprime markets grew into humongous proportions from the potent combination of greed, fear of all involved, but without the circuituous rechannelling of monies earned by the Chinese primarily, as well as others who lubricated the great American debt binge, the sorry stage that we are in today might have come earlier and the shaking maybe less!!
The earthquake that rocked the global economic system is truly such as men have never seen before. Would there be even greater earthquakes? I am not sure but for men to choose to believe that the worst is over and that they can continue to engage in their sinful pursuits, is to assume that either God is but a figment of imagination, or that God is not serious about saving our souls?
'Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool.'
Proverbs 19:1
Much as my brain might be a little pea, and my imaginations larger than a hot air balloon, I know God is ever present, and I know Christ will return. I know I have better be ready when Christ does return, but I know that I must be watchful too, for as we live through the rise of the New Babylon, not just a new financial system rising from the ashes of the 3 parts as described above, but a new political and social order, in an increasingly abused physical world. The commonality is that many men would be united by their increased depravity and sinfulness and continued desire to be like their father on earth, the devil.
'Be sober, be watchful, your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom withstand stedfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in yoru brethren wo are in the world. And the God of grace, Who called you unto His eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall Himself perfect, establish, strengthen you. To Him the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.'
1 Peter 5:6-10
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(27th June 2009)
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