By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS The American economy has gone away। It is not coming back until free trade myths are buried 6 feet under।America's 20th century economic success was based on two things। Free trade was not one of them। America's economic success was based on protectionism, which was ensured by the union victory in the Civil War, and on British indebtedness, which destroyed the British pound as world reserve currency। Following World War II, the US dollar took the role as reserve currency, a privilege that allows the US to pay its international bills in its own currency।World War II and socialism together ensured that the US economy dominated the world at the mid-20th century। The economies of the rest of the world had been destroyed by war or were stifled by socialism [in terms of the priorities of the capitalist growth model: Editors।]The ascendant position of the US economy caused the US government to be relaxed about giving away American industries, such as textiles, as bribes to other countries for cooperating with America's cold war and foreign policies। For example, Turkey's US textile quotas were increased in exchange for overflight rights in the Gulf War, making lost US textile jobs an off-budget war expense।In contrast, countries such as Japan and Germany used industrial policy to plot their comebacks। By the late 1970s, Japanese auto makers had the once dominant American auto industry on the ropes। The first economic act of the "free market" Reagan administration in 1981 was to put quotas on the import of Japanese cars in order to protect Detroit and the United Auto Workers।Eamonn Fingleton, Pat Choate, and others have described how negligence in Washington aided and abetted the erosion of America's economic position। What we didn't give away, the United States let be taken away while preaching a "free trade" doctrine at which the rest of the world scoffed।Fortunately, the U।S।'s adversaries at the time, the Soviet Union and China, had unworkable economic systems that posed no threat to America's diminishing economic prowess।This furlough from reality ended when Soviet, Chinese, and Indian socialism surrendered around 1990, to be followed shortly thereafter by the rise of the high speed Internet। Suddenly American and other First World corporations discovered that a massive supply of foreign labor was available at practically free wages.To get Wall Street analysts and shareholder advocacy groups off their backs, and to boost shareholder returns and management bonuses, American corporations began moving their production for American markets offshore. Products that were made in Peoria are now made in China.As offshoring spread, American cities and states lost tax base, and families and communities lost jobs. The replacement jobs, such as selling the offshored products at Wal-Mart, brought home less pay."Free market economists" covered up the damage done to the US economy by preaching a New Economy based on services and innovation. But it wasn't long before corporations discovered that the high speed Internet let them offshore a wide range of professional service jobs. In America, the hardest hit have been software engineers and information technology (IT) workers.The American corporations quickly learned that by declaring "shortages" of skilled Americans, they could get from Congress H-1b work visas for lower paid foreigners with whom to replace their American work force. Many US corporations are known for forcing their US employees to train their foreign replacements in exchange for severance pay.Chasing after shareholder return and "performance bonuses," US corporations deserted their American workforce. The consequences can be seen everywhere. The loss of tax base has threatened the municipal bonds of cities and states and reduced the wealth of individuals who purchased the bonds. The lost jobs with good pay resulted in the expansion of consumer debt in order to maintain consumption. As the offshored goods and services are brought back to America to sell, the US trade deficit has exploded to unimaginable heights, calling into question the US dollar as reserve currency and America’s ability to finance its trade deficit.As the American economy eroded away bit by bit, "free market" ideologues produced endless reassurances that America had pulled a fast one on China, sending China dirty and grimy manufacturing jobs. Free of these "old economy" jobs, Americans were lulled with promises of riches. In place of dirty fingernails, American efforts would flow into innovation and entrepreneurship. In the meantime, the "service economy" of software and communications would provide a leg up for the work force.Education was the answer to all challenges. This appeased the academics, and they produced no studies that would contradict the propaganda and, thus, curtail the flow of federal government and corporate grants.The "free market" economists, who provided the propaganda and disinformation to hide the act of destroying the US economy, were well paid. And as Business Week noted, "outsourcing's inner circle has deep roots in GE (General Electric) and McKinsey," a consulting firm. Indeed, one of McKinsey's main apologists for offshoring of US jobs, Diana Farrell, is now a member of Obama's White House National Economic Council.The pressure of jobs offshoring, together with vast imports, has destroyed the economic prospects for all Americans, except the CEOs who receive "performance" bonuses for moving American jobs offshore or giving them to H-1b work visa holders. Lowly paid offshored employees, together with H-1b visas, have curtailed employment for older and more experienced American workers. Older workers traditionally receive higher pay. However, when the determining factor is minimizing labor costs for the sake of shareholder returns and management bonuses, older workers are unaffordable. Doing a good job, providing a good service, is no longer the corporation's function. Instead, the goal is to minimize labor costs at all cost.Thus "free trade" has also destroyed the employment prospects of older workers. Forced out of their careers, they seek employment as shelf stockers for Wal-Mart.I have read endless tributes to Wal-Mart from "libertarian economists," who sing Wal-Mart's praises for bringing low price goods, 70 per cent of which are made in China, to the American consumer. What these "economists" do not factor into their analysis is the diminution of American family incomes and government tax base from the loss of the goods producing jobs to China. Ladders of upward mobility are being dismantled by offshoring, while California issues IOUs to pay its bills. The shift of production offshore reduces US GDP. When the goods and services are brought back to America to be sold, they increase the trade deficit. As the trade deficit is financed by foreigners acquiring ownership of US assets, this means that profits, dividends, capital gains, interest, rents, and tolls leave American pockets for foreign ones.The demise of America's productive economy left the US economy dependent on finance, in which the US remained dominant because the dollar is the reserve currency. With the departure of factories, finance went in new directions. Mortgages, which were once held in the portfolios of the issuer, were securitized. Individual mortgage debts were combined into a "security." The next step was to strip out the interest payments to the mortgages and sell them as derivatives, thus creating a third debt instrument based on the original mortgages.In pursuit of ever more profits, financial institutions began betting on the success and failure of various debt instruments and by implication on firms. They bought and sold collateral debt swaps. A buyer pays a premium to a seller for a swap to guarantee an asset's value. If an asset "insured" by a swap falls in value, the seller of the swap is supposed to make the owner of the swap whole. The purchaser of a swap is not required to own the asset in order to contract for a guarantee of its value. Therefore, as many people could purchase as many swaps as they wished on the same asset. Thus, the total value of the swaps greatly exceeds the value of the assets.* [See footnote.)The next step is for holders of the swaps to short the asset in order to drive down its value and collect the guarantee. As the issuers of swaps were not required to reserve against them, and as there is no limit to the number of swaps, the payouts could easily exceed the net worth of the issuer.This was the most shameful and most mindless form of speculation. Gamblers were betting hands that they could not cover. The US regulators fled their posts. The American financial institutions abandoned all integrity. As a consequence, American financial institutions and rating agencies are trusted nowhere on earth.The US government should never have used billions of taxpayers' dollars to pay off swap bets as it did when it bailed out the insurance company AIG. This was a stunning waste of a vast sum of money. The federal government should declare all swap agreements to be fraudulent contracts, except for a single swap held by the owner of the asset. Simply wiping out these fraudulent contracts would remove the bulk of the vast overhang of "troubled" assets that threaten financial markets.The billions of taxpayers' dollars spent buying up subprime derivatives were also wasted. The government did not need to spend one dime. All government needed to do was to suspend the mark-to-market rule. This simple act would have removed the solvency threat to financial institutions by allowing them to keep the derivatives at book value until financial institutions could ascertain their true values and write them down over time.Taxpayers, equity owners, and the credit standing of the US government are being ruined by financial shysters who are manipulating to their own advantage the government's commitment to mark-to-market and to the "sanctity of contracts." Multi-trillion dollar "bailouts" and bank nationalization are the result of the government's inability to respond intelligently.Two more simple acts would have completed the rescue without costing the taxpayers one dollar: an announcement from the Federal Reserve that it will be lender of last resort to all depository institutions including money market funds, and an announcement reinstating the uptick rule.The uptick rule was suspended or repealed a couple of years ago in order to permit hedge funds and shyster speculators to ripoff American equity owners. The rule prevented short-selling any stock that did not move up in price during the previous day. In other words, speculators could not make money at others' expense by ganging up on a stock and short-selling it day after day.As a former Treasury official, I am amazed that the US government, in the midst of the worst financial crises ever, is content for short-selling to drive down the asset prices that the government is trying to support. No bailout or stimulus plan has any hope until the uptick rule is reinstated.The bald fact is that the combination of ignorance, negligence, and ideology that permitted the crisis to happen still prevails and is blocking any remedy. Either the people in power in Washington and the financial community are total dimwits or they are manipulating an opportunity to redistribute wealth from taxpayers, equity owners and pension funds to the financial sector.The Bush and Obama plans total 1.6 trillion dollars, every one of which will have to be borrowed, and no one knows from where. This huge sum will compromise the value of the US dollar, its role as reserve currency, the ability of the US government to service its debt, and the price level. These staggering costs are pointless and are to no avail, as not one step has been taken that would alleviate the crisis.If we add to my simple menu of remedies a ban, punishable by instant death, for short selling any national currency, the world can be rescued from the current crisis without years of suffering, violent upheavals and, perhaps, wars.According to its hopeful but economically ignorant proponents, globalism was supposed to balance risks across national economies and to offset downturns in one part of the world with upturns in other parts. A global portfolio was a protection against loss, claimed globalism's purveyors. In fact, globalism has concentrated the risks, resulting in Wall Street's greed endangering all the economies of the world. The greed of Wall Street and the negligence of the US government have wrecked the prospects of many nations. Street riots are already occurring in parts of the world. On Sunday February 22, the right-wing TV station, Fox "News," presented a program that predicted riots and disarray in the United States by 2014.How long will Americans permit "their" government to rip them off for the sake of the financial interests that caused the problem? Obama’s cabinet and National Economic Council are filled with representatives of the interest groups that caused the problem. The Obama administration is not a government capable of preventing a catastrophe.If truth be known, the "banking problem" is the least of our worries. Our economy faces two much more serious problems. One is that offshoring and H-1b visas have stopped the growth of family incomes, except, of course, for the super rich. To keep the economy going, consumers have gone deeper into debt, maxing out their credit cards and refinancing their homes and spending the equity. Consumers are now so indebted that they cannot increase their spending by taking on more debt. Thus, whether or not the banks resume lending is beside the point.The other serious problem is the status of the US dollar as reserve currency. This status has allowed the US, now a country heavily dependent on imports just like a third world or lesser-developed country, to pay its international bills in its own currency. We are able to import $800 billion annually more than we produce, because the foreign countries from whom we import are willing to accept paper for their goods and services.If the dollar loses its reserve currency role, foreigners will not accept dollars in exchange for real things. This event would be immensely disruptive to an economy dependent on imports for its energy, its clothes, its shoes, its manufactured products, and its advanced technology products.If incompetence in Washington, the type of incompetence that produced the current economic crisis, destroys the dollar as reserve currency, the "unipower" will overnight become a third world country, unable to pay for its imports or to sustain its standard of living.How long can the US government protect the dollar's value by leasing its gold to bullion dealers who sell it, thereby holding down the gold price? Given the incompetence in Washington and on Wall Street, our best hope is that the rest of the world is even less competent and even in deeper trouble. In this event, the US dollar might survive as the least valueless of the world's fiat currencies.
http://www।counterpunch.org/roberts02242009.html
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Quotes
Napoleon Bonaparte
“When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.”
Niccolo Machiavelli
“For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.”
President James Madison
“History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control of governments by controlling money and its issuance.”
President Abraham Lincoln
“The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy.”
President James A Garfield
“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.”
The Rt. Hon. Reginald McKenna – Chancellor of the Exchequer
“I am afraid that the ordinary citizen will not like to be told that the banks can, and do, create money. The amount of money in existence varies only with the action of the banks in increasing and decreasing deposits and bank purchases. Every loan, overdraft, or bank purchase creates a deposit and every repayment of a loan, overdraft or bank sale destroys a deposit. And they who control the credit of a nation direct the policy of governments, and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people.”
Sir Josiah Stamp – Bank of England
“Banking was conceived in inequity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the costs of your own salary, let them continue to create deposits.”
President Woodrow Wilson
“A great Industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the world – no longer a government of free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and vote of majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men.
“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country.”
(President regretted signing into law the Federal Reserve Act)
Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter
“The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes.”
Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of Banking & Currency Committee
In 1932:
“The truth is the Federal Reserve Board has usurped the Government of the United States. It controls everything here and it controls all our foreign relations. It makes and breaks government at will …”
In 1933:
“Roosevelt has brought with him from Wall Street James P. Warburg, son of Paul M. Warburg, Organizer and first Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve System…”
In 1950:
“This same Warburg had the audacity and arrogance to proclaim before the U.S. Senate: ‘We shall have World Government whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by Conquest or Consent’.”
Senator Barry Goldwater
“Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international money-lenders. The accounts of the Federal Reserve System have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and manipulates the credit of the United States.”
Henry Ford
“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
The above is the truth laid bare before your eyes and which the shadow money-lenders have spent billions over the years for the control of the global mass media, and paid handsomely specially cultivated economists, historians and politicians to disseminate lies, divert attention and to cover up their hidden agenda.
The next quotation will shock most of you and will change your perspective of many global issues. It is written by a courageous Jew to another courageous Jew.
Benjamin H. Friedman
Letter to Dr. David Goldstein dated October 10, 1954
“The history of the world for the past several centuries and current events at home and abroad confirm the existence of such a conspiracy (to destroy Christianity and obtain global power). The world-wide net-work of diabolical conspirators implements this plot against the Christian faith while Christians appear to be sound asleep. The Christian clergy appear to be more ignorant or more indifferent about this conspiracy than other Christians … It seems so sad.”
“When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.”
Niccolo Machiavelli
“For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.”
President James Madison
“History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control of governments by controlling money and its issuance.”
President Abraham Lincoln
“The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy.”
President James A Garfield
“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.”
The Rt. Hon. Reginald McKenna – Chancellor of the Exchequer
“I am afraid that the ordinary citizen will not like to be told that the banks can, and do, create money. The amount of money in existence varies only with the action of the banks in increasing and decreasing deposits and bank purchases. Every loan, overdraft, or bank purchase creates a deposit and every repayment of a loan, overdraft or bank sale destroys a deposit. And they who control the credit of a nation direct the policy of governments, and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people.”
Sir Josiah Stamp – Bank of England
“Banking was conceived in inequity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the costs of your own salary, let them continue to create deposits.”
President Woodrow Wilson
“A great Industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the world – no longer a government of free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and vote of majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men.
“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country.”
(President regretted signing into law the Federal Reserve Act)
Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter
“The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes.”
Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of Banking & Currency Committee
In 1932:
“The truth is the Federal Reserve Board has usurped the Government of the United States. It controls everything here and it controls all our foreign relations. It makes and breaks government at will …”
In 1933:
“Roosevelt has brought with him from Wall Street James P. Warburg, son of Paul M. Warburg, Organizer and first Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve System…”
In 1950:
“This same Warburg had the audacity and arrogance to proclaim before the U.S. Senate: ‘We shall have World Government whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by Conquest or Consent’.”
Senator Barry Goldwater
“Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international money-lenders. The accounts of the Federal Reserve System have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and manipulates the credit of the United States.”
Henry Ford
“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
The above is the truth laid bare before your eyes and which the shadow money-lenders have spent billions over the years for the control of the global mass media, and paid handsomely specially cultivated economists, historians and politicians to disseminate lies, divert attention and to cover up their hidden agenda.
The next quotation will shock most of you and will change your perspective of many global issues. It is written by a courageous Jew to another courageous Jew.
Benjamin H. Friedman
Letter to Dr. David Goldstein dated October 10, 1954
“The history of the world for the past several centuries and current events at home and abroad confirm the existence of such a conspiracy (to destroy Christianity and obtain global power). The world-wide net-work of diabolical conspirators implements this plot against the Christian faith while Christians appear to be sound asleep. The Christian clergy appear to be more ignorant or more indifferent about this conspiracy than other Christians … It seems so sad.”
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Mission
The Church as a whole has a different mission from the overcomers. The Church's mission is to get saved and then get other people saved in order to get more membership. It is to empower the Church (i.e., leaders) so that theoretically the whole world would become Catholic, or Baptist, or Pentecostal, etc.
This eventually translates into political power, as we see from a study of Church history. The goal is to give political power to men while presuming that those men (leaders) are submitted to Jesus Christ. The problem, as King Saul's example shows clearly, is that as men gain political power--even Christian leaders--they tend to act like King Saul and assume ownership of that which is God's.
Kings are supposed to find out the will of God and then implement it as a steward. But kings inevitably become corrupted by power, regardless of their religious affiliations. They usurp power by taking the place of God and ruling by their own will, expecting God to rubber-stamp their decisions. Such behavior is justified on the grounds that "God made me king." In other words, since God made me king, He has given me the right to do as I please, and He will back me in all that I do.
Or, as Nixon would say, "If I do it, that makes it legal."
This is how King Saul acted, even though he prophesied as an Old Testament Pentecostal. It is how the popes of the Roman Church acted very soon after coming into power. Their moral corruption is well documented by many cardinals and bishops throughout the centuries who wrote histories of the Church.
The mandate of the Overcomer is different. First, I do not believe that God will empower the Overcomers in an in-the-world manifestation until they are perfected. That is, they must fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles before they are fully qualified to rule the earth. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before they too would succumb to the temptation to move from steward to usurper.
Yet there is much to be done in the present time. Obviously, we are to teach people about the Feast of Tabernacles in order to understand the true path to perfection. We must understand that the Feast of Passover is insufficient in itself. Likewise, the earnest of the Spirit given through the Feast of Pentecost is insufficient. Only Tabernacles can give us the fullness of the Spirit by which perfection comes.
Secondly, we must recognize that the time will come, as Daniel tells us, that the saints will be given the dominion (or "adjudication") over the earth. Dominion will be transferred from Babylon to the Overcomers (Dan. 7:27). The (Stone) Kingdom will then grow until it fills the whole earth (Dan. 2:35). The Roman Church believes that it will fulfill this prophecy, but it was established under the administration of King Saul and Pentecost, not David and Tabernacles. So the Roman Church proved to be the extension of Imperial Rome known as the "little horn" of Dan. 7:8, 20.
The key problem to understand here is about usurping the throne of God. A usurper is an "antichrist," one who rules in place of Christ in the sense of a usurper, rather than of a steward. And this has to do with rulers doing their own will, instead of seeking to do the will of God.
When we speak of "the will of God," we cannot separate this from His law (Rom. 2:18). Whatever God says to do is a law, whether we call it that or not. God's law is the expression of His character, often with the added feature of teaching and training. It is not unlike the house rules of a parent, who is responsible to teach the children right from wrong and instill in them a sense of responsibility for their actions.
Laws are not given as an end in themselves, but as a training mechanism to renew our minds (our thinking) and to bring us to the place of obedience. One cannot separate law from obedience, for law demands obedience, and whatever we obey is a law by definition. We cannot claim to be obedient to God without compliance to some law that has expressed His will.
Immature children are given laws because their own wills naturally want to rule their lives. Children are not born compliant to the will of a parent. They must be trained to be obedient. As long as the child's will differs from that of his parent, he needs a law, and that law goes against the child's sense of personal freedom to do his own will. Only when the child's will becomes one with the parent does the child no longer need a law to tell him what to do. This is the point where the child reaches spiritual maturity and does the will of the parent, not because of any external law, but because the law is written on his heart.
This is precisely the purpose of Passover and Pentecost. Passover puts the believer (by faith) on a journey from "Egypt" to the Promised Land. Pentecost keeps a person on the right path as he hears God's voice, learns His will (law), and learns obedience as he is led by the Spirit. Pentecost is the big training ground that brings us to spiritual maturity.
An overcomer is ultimately one who goes beyond Pentecost into Tabernacles, where God no longer needs to command him to do this or that, because the overcomer does the will of God by nature, and no longer by command. This is the point where he/she is fully qualified to speak the will and law of God and to expect obedience from the rest of mankind. In other words, overcomers are called to rule (Dan. 7:27) and to judge the world (1 Cor. 6:2).
That does not mean the overcomers are called to condemn the world, but to establish the standard of righteousness and define unrighteousness, injustice, and sin (crime). The world has had its own standard, based upon the will of man, but the overcomers are called to know the will of God and to establish that new standard. It is called the law of God.
The law will remain the standard of right and wrong until mankind no longer needs it. When all men do the will of God by nature, they will no longer need to have the law imposed upon them. They will be spiritually mature. As Isaiah 26:9 says,
"When the earth experiences Thy judgments, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."
The Overcomers are to prepare themselves by life experience, study, and prayer, to know the will of God, so that they may present it or clarify it to the rest of the world. To know His will, one must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4). One must know the law, the prophets, and the royal records, as well as the New Testament Gospels, Epistles, and the book of Revelation.
The mission of the overcomers is to bring the will of God into the earth, so that injustice is first restrained and finally eradicated and replaced by God's love. There is much that can be done even during the time of Babylonian jurisdiction, but for the most part God has been using the opposition of Babylon as a training tool for the overcomers.
Babylon was given jurisdiction because of the sin and rebellion of our forefathers, as the prophets clearly tell us. But we are now approaching the time of Babylon's fall, where the whole system is falling under its own weight of sin and financial unrighteousness. Seeing this, we ought to be alert and to prepare ourselves with diligence for the work in the Age to come. A new administration is coming, and with all due respect, it has little to do with Mr. Obama or his cabinet of Babylonian experts.
We must understand, however, that becoming a believer does not qualify anyone for rulership--nor does a Pentecostal experience (however valid)। God is looking for a man after His own heart. He is looking for the few who know His heart, His will, His mind, and know how to apply it as Jesus would.
This eventually translates into political power, as we see from a study of Church history. The goal is to give political power to men while presuming that those men (leaders) are submitted to Jesus Christ. The problem, as King Saul's example shows clearly, is that as men gain political power--even Christian leaders--they tend to act like King Saul and assume ownership of that which is God's.
Kings are supposed to find out the will of God and then implement it as a steward. But kings inevitably become corrupted by power, regardless of their religious affiliations. They usurp power by taking the place of God and ruling by their own will, expecting God to rubber-stamp their decisions. Such behavior is justified on the grounds that "God made me king." In other words, since God made me king, He has given me the right to do as I please, and He will back me in all that I do.
Or, as Nixon would say, "If I do it, that makes it legal."
This is how King Saul acted, even though he prophesied as an Old Testament Pentecostal. It is how the popes of the Roman Church acted very soon after coming into power. Their moral corruption is well documented by many cardinals and bishops throughout the centuries who wrote histories of the Church.
The mandate of the Overcomer is different. First, I do not believe that God will empower the Overcomers in an in-the-world manifestation until they are perfected. That is, they must fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles before they are fully qualified to rule the earth. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before they too would succumb to the temptation to move from steward to usurper.
Yet there is much to be done in the present time. Obviously, we are to teach people about the Feast of Tabernacles in order to understand the true path to perfection. We must understand that the Feast of Passover is insufficient in itself. Likewise, the earnest of the Spirit given through the Feast of Pentecost is insufficient. Only Tabernacles can give us the fullness of the Spirit by which perfection comes.
Secondly, we must recognize that the time will come, as Daniel tells us, that the saints will be given the dominion (or "adjudication") over the earth. Dominion will be transferred from Babylon to the Overcomers (Dan. 7:27). The (Stone) Kingdom will then grow until it fills the whole earth (Dan. 2:35). The Roman Church believes that it will fulfill this prophecy, but it was established under the administration of King Saul and Pentecost, not David and Tabernacles. So the Roman Church proved to be the extension of Imperial Rome known as the "little horn" of Dan. 7:8, 20.
The key problem to understand here is about usurping the throne of God. A usurper is an "antichrist," one who rules in place of Christ in the sense of a usurper, rather than of a steward. And this has to do with rulers doing their own will, instead of seeking to do the will of God.
When we speak of "the will of God," we cannot separate this from His law (Rom. 2:18). Whatever God says to do is a law, whether we call it that or not. God's law is the expression of His character, often with the added feature of teaching and training. It is not unlike the house rules of a parent, who is responsible to teach the children right from wrong and instill in them a sense of responsibility for their actions.
Laws are not given as an end in themselves, but as a training mechanism to renew our minds (our thinking) and to bring us to the place of obedience. One cannot separate law from obedience, for law demands obedience, and whatever we obey is a law by definition. We cannot claim to be obedient to God without compliance to some law that has expressed His will.
Immature children are given laws because their own wills naturally want to rule their lives. Children are not born compliant to the will of a parent. They must be trained to be obedient. As long as the child's will differs from that of his parent, he needs a law, and that law goes against the child's sense of personal freedom to do his own will. Only when the child's will becomes one with the parent does the child no longer need a law to tell him what to do. This is the point where the child reaches spiritual maturity and does the will of the parent, not because of any external law, but because the law is written on his heart.
This is precisely the purpose of Passover and Pentecost. Passover puts the believer (by faith) on a journey from "Egypt" to the Promised Land. Pentecost keeps a person on the right path as he hears God's voice, learns His will (law), and learns obedience as he is led by the Spirit. Pentecost is the big training ground that brings us to spiritual maturity.
An overcomer is ultimately one who goes beyond Pentecost into Tabernacles, where God no longer needs to command him to do this or that, because the overcomer does the will of God by nature, and no longer by command. This is the point where he/she is fully qualified to speak the will and law of God and to expect obedience from the rest of mankind. In other words, overcomers are called to rule (Dan. 7:27) and to judge the world (1 Cor. 6:2).
That does not mean the overcomers are called to condemn the world, but to establish the standard of righteousness and define unrighteousness, injustice, and sin (crime). The world has had its own standard, based upon the will of man, but the overcomers are called to know the will of God and to establish that new standard. It is called the law of God.
The law will remain the standard of right and wrong until mankind no longer needs it. When all men do the will of God by nature, they will no longer need to have the law imposed upon them. They will be spiritually mature. As Isaiah 26:9 says,
"When the earth experiences Thy judgments, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."
The Overcomers are to prepare themselves by life experience, study, and prayer, to know the will of God, so that they may present it or clarify it to the rest of the world. To know His will, one must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4). One must know the law, the prophets, and the royal records, as well as the New Testament Gospels, Epistles, and the book of Revelation.
The mission of the overcomers is to bring the will of God into the earth, so that injustice is first restrained and finally eradicated and replaced by God's love. There is much that can be done even during the time of Babylonian jurisdiction, but for the most part God has been using the opposition of Babylon as a training tool for the overcomers.
Babylon was given jurisdiction because of the sin and rebellion of our forefathers, as the prophets clearly tell us. But we are now approaching the time of Babylon's fall, where the whole system is falling under its own weight of sin and financial unrighteousness. Seeing this, we ought to be alert and to prepare ourselves with diligence for the work in the Age to come. A new administration is coming, and with all due respect, it has little to do with Mr. Obama or his cabinet of Babylonian experts.
We must understand, however, that becoming a believer does not qualify anyone for rulership--nor does a Pentecostal experience (however valid)। God is looking for a man after His own heart. He is looking for the few who know His heart, His will, His mind, and know how to apply it as Jesus would.
Mission
The Church as a whole has a different mission from the overcomers. The Church's mission is to get saved and then get other people saved in order to get more membership. It is to empower the Church (i.e., leaders) so that theoretically the whole world would become Catholic, or Baptist, or Pentecostal, etc.
This eventually translates into political power, as we see from a study of Church history. The goal is to give political power to men while presuming that those men (leaders) are submitted to Jesus Christ. The problem, as King Saul's example shows clearly, is that as men gain political power--even Christian leaders--they tend to act like King Saul and assume ownership of that which is God's.
Kings are supposed to find out the will of God and then implement it as a steward. But kings inevitably become corrupted by power, regardless of their religious affiliations. They usurp power by taking the place of God and ruling by their own will, expecting God to rubber-stamp their decisions. Such behavior is justified on the grounds that "God made me king." In other words, since God made me king, He has given me the right to do as I please, and He will back me in all that I do.
Or, as Nixon would say, "If I do it, that makes it legal."
This is how King Saul acted, even though he prophesied as an Old Testament Pentecostal. It is how the popes of the Roman Church acted very soon after coming into power. Their moral corruption is well documented by many cardinals and bishops throughout the centuries who wrote histories of the Church.
The mandate of the Overcomer is different. First, I do not believe that God will empower the Overcomers in an in-the-world manifestation until they are perfected. That is, they must fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles before they are fully qualified to rule the earth. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before they too would succumb to the temptation to move from steward to usurper.
Yet there is much to be done in the present time. Obviously, we are to teach people about the Feast of Tabernacles in order to understand the true path to perfection. We must understand that the Feast of Passover is insufficient in itself. Likewise, the earnest of the Spirit given through the Feast of Pentecost is insufficient. Only Tabernacles can give us the fullness of the Spirit by which perfection comes.
Secondly, we must recognize that the time will come, as Daniel tells us, that the saints will be given the dominion (or "adjudication") over the earth. Dominion will be transferred from Babylon to the Overcomers (Dan. 7:27). The (Stone) Kingdom will then grow until it fills the whole earth (Dan. 2:35). The Roman Church believes that it will fulfill this prophecy, but it was established under the administration of King Saul and Pentecost, not David and Tabernacles. So the Roman Church proved to be the extension of Imperial Rome known as the "little horn" of Dan. 7:8, 20.
The key problem to understand here is about usurping the throne of God. A usurper is an "antichrist," one who rules in place of Christ in the sense of a usurper, rather than of a steward. And this has to do with rulers doing their own will, instead of seeking to do the will of God.
When we speak of "the will of God," we cannot separate this from His law (Rom. 2:18). Whatever God says to do is a law, whether we call it that or not. God's law is the expression of His character, often with the added feature of teaching and training. It is not unlike the house rules of a parent, who is responsible to teach the children right from wrong and instill in them a sense of responsibility for their actions.
Laws are not given as an end in themselves, but as a training mechanism to renew our minds (our thinking) and to bring us to the place of obedience. One cannot separate law from obedience, for law demands obedience, and whatever we obey is a law by definition. We cannot claim to be obedient to God without compliance to some law that has expressed His will.
Immature children are given laws because their own wills naturally want to rule their lives. Children are not born compliant to the will of a parent. They must be trained to be obedient. As long as the child's will differs from that of his parent, he needs a law, and that law goes against the child's sense of personal freedom to do his own will. Only when the child's will becomes one with the parent does the child no longer need a law to tell him what to do. This is the point where the child reaches spiritual maturity and does the will of the parent, not because of any external law, but because the law is written on his heart.
This is precisely the purpose of Passover and Pentecost. Passover puts the believer (by faith) on a journey from "Egypt" to the Promised Land. Pentecost keeps a person on the right path as he hears God's voice, learns His will (law), and learns obedience as he is led by the Spirit. Pentecost is the big training ground that brings us to spiritual maturity.
An overcomer is ultimately one who goes beyond Pentecost into Tabernacles, where God no longer needs to command him to do this or that, because the overcomer does the will of God by nature, and no longer by command. This is the point where he/she is fully qualified to speak the will and law of God and to expect obedience from the rest of mankind. In other words, overcomers are called to rule (Dan. 7:27) and to judge the world (1 Cor. 6:2).
That does not mean the overcomers are called to condemn the world, but to establish the standard of righteousness and define unrighteousness, injustice, and sin (crime). The world has had its own standard, based upon the will of man, but the overcomers are called to know the will of God and to establish that new standard. It is called the law of God.
The law will remain the standard of right and wrong until mankind no longer needs it. When all men do the will of God by nature, they will no longer need to have the law imposed upon them. They will be spiritually mature. As Isaiah 26:9 says,
"When the earth experiences Thy judgments, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."
The Overcomers are to prepare themselves by life experience, study, and prayer, to know the will of God, so that they may present it or clarify it to the rest of the world. To know His will, one must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4). One must know the law, the prophets, and the royal records, as well as the New Testament Gospels, Epistles, and the book of Revelation.
The mission of the overcomers is to bring the will of God into the earth, so that injustice is first restrained and finally eradicated and replaced by God's love. There is much that can be done even during the time of Babylonian jurisdiction, but for the most part God has been using the opposition of Babylon as a training tool for the overcomers.
Babylon was given jurisdiction because of the sin and rebellion of our forefathers, as the prophets clearly tell us. But we are now approaching the time of Babylon's fall, where the whole system is falling under its own weight of sin and financial unrighteousness. Seeing this, we ought to be alert and to prepare ourselves with diligence for the work in the Age to come. A new administration is coming, and with all due respect, it has little to do with Mr. Obama or his cabinet of Babylonian experts.
We must understand, however, that becoming a believer does not qualify anyone for rulership--nor does a Pentecostal experience (however valid)। God is looking for a man after His own heart. He is looking for the few who know His heart, His will, His mind, and know how to apply it as Jesus would.
This eventually translates into political power, as we see from a study of Church history. The goal is to give political power to men while presuming that those men (leaders) are submitted to Jesus Christ. The problem, as King Saul's example shows clearly, is that as men gain political power--even Christian leaders--they tend to act like King Saul and assume ownership of that which is God's.
Kings are supposed to find out the will of God and then implement it as a steward. But kings inevitably become corrupted by power, regardless of their religious affiliations. They usurp power by taking the place of God and ruling by their own will, expecting God to rubber-stamp their decisions. Such behavior is justified on the grounds that "God made me king." In other words, since God made me king, He has given me the right to do as I please, and He will back me in all that I do.
Or, as Nixon would say, "If I do it, that makes it legal."
This is how King Saul acted, even though he prophesied as an Old Testament Pentecostal. It is how the popes of the Roman Church acted very soon after coming into power. Their moral corruption is well documented by many cardinals and bishops throughout the centuries who wrote histories of the Church.
The mandate of the Overcomer is different. First, I do not believe that God will empower the Overcomers in an in-the-world manifestation until they are perfected. That is, they must fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles before they are fully qualified to rule the earth. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before they too would succumb to the temptation to move from steward to usurper.
Yet there is much to be done in the present time. Obviously, we are to teach people about the Feast of Tabernacles in order to understand the true path to perfection. We must understand that the Feast of Passover is insufficient in itself. Likewise, the earnest of the Spirit given through the Feast of Pentecost is insufficient. Only Tabernacles can give us the fullness of the Spirit by which perfection comes.
Secondly, we must recognize that the time will come, as Daniel tells us, that the saints will be given the dominion (or "adjudication") over the earth. Dominion will be transferred from Babylon to the Overcomers (Dan. 7:27). The (Stone) Kingdom will then grow until it fills the whole earth (Dan. 2:35). The Roman Church believes that it will fulfill this prophecy, but it was established under the administration of King Saul and Pentecost, not David and Tabernacles. So the Roman Church proved to be the extension of Imperial Rome known as the "little horn" of Dan. 7:8, 20.
The key problem to understand here is about usurping the throne of God. A usurper is an "antichrist," one who rules in place of Christ in the sense of a usurper, rather than of a steward. And this has to do with rulers doing their own will, instead of seeking to do the will of God.
When we speak of "the will of God," we cannot separate this from His law (Rom. 2:18). Whatever God says to do is a law, whether we call it that or not. God's law is the expression of His character, often with the added feature of teaching and training. It is not unlike the house rules of a parent, who is responsible to teach the children right from wrong and instill in them a sense of responsibility for their actions.
Laws are not given as an end in themselves, but as a training mechanism to renew our minds (our thinking) and to bring us to the place of obedience. One cannot separate law from obedience, for law demands obedience, and whatever we obey is a law by definition. We cannot claim to be obedient to God without compliance to some law that has expressed His will.
Immature children are given laws because their own wills naturally want to rule their lives. Children are not born compliant to the will of a parent. They must be trained to be obedient. As long as the child's will differs from that of his parent, he needs a law, and that law goes against the child's sense of personal freedom to do his own will. Only when the child's will becomes one with the parent does the child no longer need a law to tell him what to do. This is the point where the child reaches spiritual maturity and does the will of the parent, not because of any external law, but because the law is written on his heart.
This is precisely the purpose of Passover and Pentecost. Passover puts the believer (by faith) on a journey from "Egypt" to the Promised Land. Pentecost keeps a person on the right path as he hears God's voice, learns His will (law), and learns obedience as he is led by the Spirit. Pentecost is the big training ground that brings us to spiritual maturity.
An overcomer is ultimately one who goes beyond Pentecost into Tabernacles, where God no longer needs to command him to do this or that, because the overcomer does the will of God by nature, and no longer by command. This is the point where he/she is fully qualified to speak the will and law of God and to expect obedience from the rest of mankind. In other words, overcomers are called to rule (Dan. 7:27) and to judge the world (1 Cor. 6:2).
That does not mean the overcomers are called to condemn the world, but to establish the standard of righteousness and define unrighteousness, injustice, and sin (crime). The world has had its own standard, based upon the will of man, but the overcomers are called to know the will of God and to establish that new standard. It is called the law of God.
The law will remain the standard of right and wrong until mankind no longer needs it. When all men do the will of God by nature, they will no longer need to have the law imposed upon them. They will be spiritually mature. As Isaiah 26:9 says,
"When the earth experiences Thy judgments, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."
The Overcomers are to prepare themselves by life experience, study, and prayer, to know the will of God, so that they may present it or clarify it to the rest of the world. To know His will, one must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4). One must know the law, the prophets, and the royal records, as well as the New Testament Gospels, Epistles, and the book of Revelation.
The mission of the overcomers is to bring the will of God into the earth, so that injustice is first restrained and finally eradicated and replaced by God's love. There is much that can be done even during the time of Babylonian jurisdiction, but for the most part God has been using the opposition of Babylon as a training tool for the overcomers.
Babylon was given jurisdiction because of the sin and rebellion of our forefathers, as the prophets clearly tell us. But we are now approaching the time of Babylon's fall, where the whole system is falling under its own weight of sin and financial unrighteousness. Seeing this, we ought to be alert and to prepare ourselves with diligence for the work in the Age to come. A new administration is coming, and with all due respect, it has little to do with Mr. Obama or his cabinet of Babylonian experts.
We must understand, however, that becoming a believer does not qualify anyone for rulership--nor does a Pentecostal experience (however valid)। God is looking for a man after His own heart. He is looking for the few who know His heart, His will, His mind, and know how to apply it as Jesus would.
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