Weeks elapsed. I could no longer justify extending my son’s furlough or omitting him from a duty. Moreover, it was the Lord’s will that I eased him back into the agency for which he had been created.
As soon as he roused this morning, my son would find the top of Ariel’s head cresting above a novel – one from his own vast library. Despite my peripatetic wandering from office to common room and back I could overhear their conversation quite clearly.
“The Screwtape Letters,” my son said. His angelic powers were aggrandizing his night vision, which was to Mishael what Samson’s hair was to the Hebrew judge. His powerful night vision allowed Mish to see extremely fine prints with clarity.
“That’s a classic,” Mish added.
Ariel closed the book and got up. I heard him put something else down. “This is quite a powerful torch for such a tiny gizmo,” he said.
“You bought that for me, for my birthday last year,” Mish reminded his older brother.
The bed creaked.
A light switch clicked.
“Ah, baby brother, you’re awake at last,” the older boy stated zealously. “Good. Grab your Katana. I need someone to spar with.”
“At this unearthly hour,” Mish said. “Roll call’s not for a couple of hours.”
“But training starts in an hour,” Ariel replied. “What’s your time table like?”
“You mean for today?” my son replied. “I have artillery training with Uriel before lunch. After that, a class in Systematic Theology with Shimael’s assistant, Adoniel, followed by English language and music with Gabriel in the evening; however, except for Adoniel’s class, all the rest are subject to change. I’ll know at roll call this morning.”
“I hear you but I didn’t hear any mention of strength training,” Ariel commented. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you do look like you need a workout.”
“I put in thirty laps at the pool every evening,” Mish maintained in self-defense.
“Do you still do that? Well, swimming’s the best overall exercise there is. In that case, how about sparring with me as a wager?” Ariel proposed.
“A wager,” Mish said and, then, added sarcastically: “okay, those new boots you’re wearing. Whoever draws first blood gets to keep those boots.”
“No, Mish,” Ariel sighed patiently, “no one’s going to draw blood this morning.”
“Forgive me,” Mish whispered, “I don’t know why I said that. I’ve been saying a lot of stupid things lately.”
“No, but you do know why,” Ariel demurred. “You’re frustrated and you’re feeling under-utilized and under-valued. Which is a lie straight from Lucifer himself; because you don’t realize you’re being deceived, you’re taking out your frustration on anyone and everyone. Instead, what you want to do is put on your armour and tell the Enemy to flee whenever you start to hear his lies. An idle mind’s the Devil’s tool, which is all the more reason why you shouldn’t stay cooped up in your room all day.”
“My brother, the sage,” Mish pronounced. “How did you become so wise?”
“I immerse myself in the Lord’s Word,” Ariel replied. “You used to love spending time reading and meditating on the Lord’s Word, as I recall.”
“I still do,” his sibling replied.
“Then immerse yourself in His promises every time you study His Word,” Ariel encouraged. “There’s much wisdom in the pages of Scripture.”
“I know,” Mish said softly. “But Mika still hasn’t allocated me to a mission. He doesn’t seem to believe that I’m ready. My own Dad doesn’t think I’m reliable.”
“He doesn’t think that at all,” Ariel rebutted. “It’s Michael we’re talking about. I don’t know anyone else who’s more fair-minded than our General. Or anyone else who holds you in more esteem. What was it that Eran Reisig said? ‘Mika’s the Optimus Prime of God’s angelic hosts’.
“Look, I realize you disdain being treated like a child – though, in principle, you really are still one – but if anything, I believe Michael wants to keep you here to keep an eye on you. Either that or he’s testing your patience.”
“And I am growing impatient,” Mish whispered. “With every passing day.”
A moment’s silence.
“Your time will come,” Ariel promised.
“I so want the time to be now,” the younger brother said.
Ariel hinted: “You just might get your wish this morning.”
“Do you know something I don’t?” Mish queried.
“I’m not saying anymore,” his older sibling replied. “Spar with me. If you overcome me, you will prove to Michael that you really are physically ready to take on an assignment.”
“I can only wish,” Mish responded. “According to Mika’s memo, this morning’s briefing is an important one with new assignments being allotted. I hope to be included this time.”
“Don’t give up, little brother,” Ariel advised. “You’ve heard it said: ‘Ask and the answer shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened to you.’”
“Mm. Are you home for good?” Mish asked him.
“No, I’ve only been repatriated from District 11,” Ariel replied. “I’ve been compromised, so I’m being reassigned. Have you heard: the Lord’s going to destroy New Canaan in a couple of months’ time?”
“Yes, Gabriel’s reported that most of the elect and saints have hearkened to his message and evacuated,” the child stated.
“Gabriel’s been a big help to us in New Canaan,” Ariel maintained.
“How were you compromised, Ari?” my son enquired.
“I was blindsided,” Ari replied. “I was with a group of political dissenters when Antichrist’s anti-sedition forces descended on us to make their arrests. I was offering my assistance to the dissenters at the behest of the IDF. They had sought out the IDF to help with evac plans in response to the Lord’s warning to destroy New Canaan. Little did we know that someone from their midst would prove to be a turn coat.”
“Perhaps this person had always been a troll, or a mole.”
“No, Mish. That’s not what I’d been told. He simply lost it . . . simply snapped. Fear overtook him. I believe it all became too much for him in the end and he wanted to stop running and hiding. The Antichrist’s forces pounced on us in the midst of our meeting, blindsiding us all. In one fell swoop, they took half the dissidents into captivity. The rest of us scattered, making our way back to our secret bunkers. There we hunkered down until Gabriel and his troops arrived in the middle of the night to rescue us. After that, Gabriel made the decision to release me from my duties in New Canaan. Naturally, it was for my own protection.”
“I’m sorry,” Mish commiserated.
“So am I,” Ari stated. “Being on the lam comes with the territory, however. Could happen to anyone of us.”
Another short silence.
“You cut your hair?” my son began. “Well, I like it. You look different but in a good way: style’s very au courant.”
“Thanks, baby brother,” Ari stated. “But it’s very much a disguise . . . for when I’m being the man, Ari Benrubi. It’ll be long again . . . when I’m the angel, Ariel.”
 |
| "It’s very much a disguise . . . for when I’m being the man, Ari Benrubi." |
“That sounds like fun,” the Little One said. “I think I want a hair cut as well. It’s growing unevenly now that the shaved patch is filling out.”
“May I?” Ari asked.
“Of course,” his brother replied.
 |
| "I think I want a haircut as well." |
“Hmm . . . it does appear to be filling out,” Ari concurred. “It isn’t conspicuously uneven, though. Are you feeling self-conscious about it?”
“Mm.”
“Well, if you can trust my aesthetic taste,” Ari offered, “I’d be happy to cut your hair for you. Give you an au courant coiffure, to match mine.”
“Yeah, okay, I do; I mean . . . I do trust you. I mean, you do have good taste,” Mishka replied. “Oh gosh, I don’t know why I’m stuttering.”
“Well, let’s just do that then,” Ari said with a chuckle. “Now, I’ve been dying to ask you for some time: what’s that you’ve got hiding under that tarpaulin? I don’t believe it was here the last time I was in your room.”
“That? Uh, um . . . it’s a secret,” Mish replied. “Just something I’ve been working on to occupy my time while I’m out of commission.”
“A secret, huh?” Ari asked. “And no one knows? Not even Michael?”
“No one, only Gabriel,” his brother answered.
“And you can’t show it to me, your own flesh and blood?”
“Only at its official unveiling, Ari.”
Stifled laughter.
“So, you like my boots, do you?” Ari continued.
“The way you were flaunting them, I couldn’t help but notice them,” the child explained.
“Somehow I knew you would,” Ari claimed. “Well, I like them, too; but that only increases the appeal of the stakes, if you’re still interested in the wager, that is. I’ve always enjoyed a challenge. Tell you what; if I get disarmed first, these boots are yours. And I’ll throw in that hair cut for free.”
“You’re such a glutton for punishment, Ariel,” Mish teased. “That being said, I do feel somewhat rusty. And a new pair of boots would replace the ones stolen from me by Lucifer’s minions. For some reason, these look sturdier than the ones issued by the Quartermaster. All right, Ari, I’ll bite.”
“Perfect; hop on, then,” Ariel chuckled.
I heard the bed creak again: Ari was rising from it. After that, I found myself dodging my underlings while they tore down the corridor toward the dojo. My son was mounted on his older sibling’s shoulders.
“Later,” they said to me.
“Leave the dojo in a better state than you found it,” I reminded them.
Roll call wasn’t for another hour but the siblings were already at the Situation Room when I arrived. Perpetually helpful, my underlings hastened to help unload the tower of dossiers in my hands. I hadn’t missed Ari’s boots on my son’s feet. Or his shorter hairstyle.
“I see he’s got your new boots, Ariel,” I commented. “(Oh, you can leave the dossiers on the lectern. Thanks, boys.) And I suppose a free hair cut as well?”
Ari clarified with a laugh: “I’m surprised baby brother here was brave enough to be my little guinea pig but, no, there’s no charge for the hair cut. And as far as the boots – they were always intended for him. They were acquired at a closing down sale in New Canaan. Businesses there, by the way, are liquidating every day.”
“I don’t see the nations’ economies recovering from the current downturn,” I opined.
Ari shook his head: “The world’s economic climate has been trending down since Antichrist gave his loyalty mandate. Prophecy’s being fulfilled this day as a day’s salary is required to purchase just the ingredients for making a loaf of bread. That’s the hyper inflation the earth dwellers are facing right about now. Distressing times, but fascinating as well.”
“All this was foretold ages ago by the Lord’s beloved, John the Revelator,” my son added. “‘And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And behold, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, a measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of wheat for a penny.’”
I nodded. “That’s exactly right. Good catch, boys.”
My son turned to me: “But how did the world’s economy get to this point of no return, Mika? Hyper inflation and unemployment, and business liquidation and personal insolvency . . . I get the sneaky suspicion that Lucifer had played a role.”
I nodded: “Lucifer was a factor. But there were also other spontaneous causes.”
“How so?” my son asked.
“Do you really want to know now?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise,” he replied. “Have you time to occupy us with what you’ve been schooled in?”
“Well, what time is it?” I asked.
We turned in synchrony to the timepiece hanging on the wall. Seven forty a.m. The eternal timepiece informed us.
“I think we may have just enough time to squeeze in a quick course in Economics and Politics 201,” I informed the boys. “But it’s not what I’ve been schooled in. I know only from my observation of reality.”
The brothers sat beside each other. Ari’s long legs were stretched out in front of him under his desk, one ankle crossed over another. His brother had drawn up his knees on his chair, his arms folded below them. He was resting his chin on top of his knees. I took a seat at another desk facing my underlings.
“Seminars of this kind have the tendency to be prolix because fact-ridden and get somewhat tedious,” I warned the siblings, “so feel free to jump in to comment or query at any time during the tutorial. This way you’d stay awake as well.”
“Maybe we should take notes, sir,” Mish jested.
“Maybe you should, darlin’,” his sibling ribbed.
The boys settled down to a slight wave of my hands.
I said: “Ari can co-teach with me. For a start, Mish, why don’t you tell us what you know of the financial meltdown of 2008?”
The child shrugged: “Not a lot. Only that it affected the whole world.”
I nodded: “Well, many people had the misconception that the global financial crisis of 2008 was what led the world’s economy to this critical point in history. As a matter of fact, the problem could be traced back to the early nineteen-tens.
“Back then, the elite coterie of bankers had colluded to create rumours of insolvency of the smaller banks. The International Bank, itself part of the elite cartel, moved for a White House support of a congressional bank reform, and this resulted in the passing into law of the Federal Reserve Act.”
“The banking cartel wanted power and wealth,” Ari clarified. “This law consolidated the power of the International Bankers to dictate the wealth and economy of America. The International Bankers went on to engineer a monetary meltdown, in America first and, after that, the rest of the world.”
“What clout did they have?” Mish asked, lifting his chin from his knees. “I mean, the banking elite.”
“Financial crises all over the world had always partly been the results of currency manipulation by the banking elite and their co-conspirators among the ranks of the leaders of globalism, most of whom, by the way, were Lucifer’s unsuspecting marionettes,” Ari replied. “They wanted to cause an economic crisis that would be felt throughout the world so that they could fulfil their own global agenda: global reforms in government and in world currencies on the road toward the formation of a new world-order, one predicated on socialism.”
“Sounds like fodder for conspiracy theories,” Mish commented.
“Yet, this conspiracy was all too real and verifiable by any that bothered to study history,” Ari refuted. “Time is too short for conjecture and theory. ‘Conspiracy theories’ are the casuistry of the wilfully ignorant who deny that conspiracies exist at all. If you think about it: every political assassination, every overthrow of government, every workplace scandal – in fact, any time there’s a gathering to plot against something or someone – by definition, all this is a conspiracy.”
“But you’re saying that the banking community brought about the financial meltdown of the twenty-first century in order to bring about a socialist world-order: a One-world government and One-world currency?” Mish stated sceptically again.
I nodded: “In fact, that was precisely what had occurred. At first, these self-appointed intellectual and banking elites, and assorted free-thinking insiders that listened to them, made the claim that a global socialist government and global currency would never happen. This was previously their official line of attack. They decried those who warned against socialist revivalism as an anti-Christian sentiment, relegating such notions as belonging to ‘crackpot tinfoil-hat wearing conspiracy theorists’.
“Then, as time made denial impossible, it was these elites’ opinion that a reform was inevitable. After conferring with like-minded ‘progressives’, they later back-pedalled, purporting that reform would, in fact, be a good thing.
“After that, they came full circle by marginalizing and vilifying those who had originally given the warning against a global socialist revivalism, using labels of ‘extremist tinfoil-hat wearing conspiracy theorists’ to berate them so that no one, especially from among those running in their circles, would seriously take heed of what would befall the world next.
“These people, in essence, had inoculated themselves against the cure and, unfortunately, were in positions of influence to allow them to ‘enlighten’ tens of millions, right into accepting the Mark of Antichrist and, subsequently, the Lake of Fire.”
“Mish, if you still doubt that any single individual or cartel can bring down a nation’s economy,” Ari remarked, “bear in mind the contiguous collapse of the Asian economies in the nineteen-nineties. This had been the game plan of George Soros who manipulated the Asian currencies, toppling their stock markets and enslaving them to the International Monetary Fund, whose aid their governments sought to bail out their markets and prevent a complete meltdown. The International Monetary Fund was part of the globalist conspiracy to bring about a new world-order.
“Soros had achieved his goal, enslaving the Asian nations to the dictates of the globalist policy makers. The exception was Malaysia, one of a small handful of nations that hadn’t been enslaved to the globalists; at the advice of her top economists, her Prime Minister removed the Malaysian currency from the international market and pegged it against the U.S. dollar.
“This seemingly simple move, but seen as a hostile cheek on the part of the tiny nation, prevented her currency from being traded by the foreign currency manipulators. It saved the nation from the same economic disasters that befell her many other Southeast Asian neighbours.”
I commended the older sibling: “Ari’s illustration is evidence that individuals could and did manipulate money for their own ends. Well said.”
Mish assented: “All right, I’m sold. So, getting back to the global financial crisis of the twenty-first century, what did befall the world that was not taken seriously?”
“Its slide into socialism,” I rejoined, “which the global demagogues called the New World Order.”
“And which went through several iterations of monikers culminating in its latest, namely the Great Economic Reset,” Ari added.
“That’s correct,” I concurred, “but every one of their outcomes was the same, which was to pave the way for the worldwide reception of a global leader called Antichrist. Let’s back up.
“Since the nineteen-hundreds, it had been a well known fact that the person who controlled a nation’s economy controlled the nation’s destiny. You’ve heard that money is power. Since then people had also known of the dangers of money manipulation; the leaders most in cognizant of this fact were the international bankers. These were the men who operated in high places and directed the control of trillions of dollars, pounds, marks, francs, and other currencies. They were architects of several well known banking dynasties in the U.S. financial system, which included the Federal Reserve. Contrary to popular misconception the Federal Reserve was not a government reserve bank, but a central bank owned by private individuals, who were part of the international banking cartel.”
Mish interposed: “So this international banking cartel was comprised of the international bankers whose influence was global.”
“Yes,” Ari nodded, shifting slightly. He crossed his ankles the other way. “They commanded a chain of well known banks around the world. Earlier you asked what clout they had. Well, they had so much influence that they financed world governments and, thus, financed all the wars fought between the world’s governments, at no financial loss to themselves.”
“Who then undertook sponsorship of the financial loss?” Mish asked.
“The citizens of the nations,” Ari replied. “They were the ones that had to pay higher taxes to pay off their debts and their interests from borrowing from the international bankers to finance their wars. Since the pantheon of these international bankers couldn’t have been built on honest work and trust, it was their nature to be conspirators. With billions of dollars or pounds or marks loaned out, and at risk of vanishing, the International Bank required guarantees that its assets wouldn’t be lost overnight through events such as wars, change of governments or military coups.
“There were two guarantees: loaning to a government a huge sum of money, therefore subordinating it to the creditor a measure of sovereignty. Thus the financier was assured of considerable influence in the policies of its debtor-governments. An indebted government was an indentured nation whose economy was in the dictates of its creditor. The end goal of international bankers was not money but the control of nations and rule of the world.
“Second, international bankers would resort to financing an enemy or rival government, even creating an enemy or opposition for a ruler who didn’t have one. Many wars in the past two centuries had been the result of a ruler not conforming to their dictates. International bankers were known to finance two opposing governments at the same time to protect their investments.
“The U.S. government had been overspending and accumulating a tremendous debt to the tune of billions of dollars since the end of the Second World War. These debts should indenture the U.S. to whomever they were getting their money from. For years, America had been spending big on projects to finance wars, armaments and space programmes, as well as grants and loans to other nations. It goes without saying that no country could engage in this kind of spending without requiring huge funds, which must come from somewhere.
“Who then supplied the funds, besides taxation, for this overspending by the U.S. government? The huge amounts required could only come from the powers that had immeasurable amounts of wealth. These were the international bankers, of course. Collectively only they could have so much finance available to lend at their disposal.
“Hence the huge spending by the U.S. government had led to an annual increase of her national debt and her indebtedness to the International Bank. The writing was on the wall: U.S.A. was on the brink of an historic financial collapse. And collapse she did, in 2008.”
“So that brought the rest of the world to their knees owing to the interconnectedness and interdependency of the global market and world trade?” Mish asked. He was straightening up on his chair at the same time.
“Well,” I explained, “the world had been due this global financial fallout and meltdown from centuries of excess and corruption by financiers and rogue money traders, as well as the misappropriating of loans by money-hungry financial institutions and insurance brokers. However, do not discount the other vital factor, the common tactic of the conspirators within the ranks of the international banking cartel: create fears, crises, artificial shortages and inflation as a means of procuring the consent of the masses for change, controls and reforms, but which actually increase the power of the manipulators.
“So, then, the financial meltdown and collapse of the world’s stock markets in the late twenty hundreds were the result of the interplaying of, one, spontaneous causes due to greed, and, two, orchestration by the co-conspirators – the International Bank, the politicians and world rulers, the money traders and the globalists of their ranks – all of which were pushing for the formation of a new world-order.”
Ari agreed: “This was exactly what the co-conspirators did: orchestrate a series of panic with rumours of insolvency. In panic mongering, they took an element of truth and exaggerated it, and they had not only an untruth which was propagated but also an artificial crisis which was created on the global level. Insecurity spread around the world and individuals and nations willingly surrendered their basic interests to external control, in this case, the globalists, for perceived economic security.”
“That sounds like the Cloward-Piven strategy to bring about socialism,” Mish suggested.
“Exactly,” I nodded. “Applying this method to bring about social reforms, the international bankers manipulated the world currencies by increasing or reducing the flow of currency to create the crises of inflation or depression. Their co-conspirators manipulated the world conditions to create apparent crises – food, petrol and gas shortages caused by the deception of anthropogenic global climate change and drought, as well as the inorganic spread of diseases such as the corona viruses and other pestilences that made their sudden return such as polio – leading to inflated food and energy prices. This way the nations of the world would believe that the only hope for the world was a social and economic reform.
“As touted by the Cloward-Piven strategy, the financial and economic crises led to the collapse of the welfare states and, as governments intervened to cut spending, civil unrests reared their ugly heads.
“The jobless youth, the hoi polloi and the disenfranchised of the populace revolted against the cuts to their welfare benefits, as seen in countries such as Greece, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal. France and Germany could no longer shoulder their burdens. Other copycat uprisings spread through the globe with the help of the social media, such as the worldwide Occupy movements organized by the alleged ninety-nine percent of the self-professing have-nots of the world. In reality, the organizers behind the Occupy protests were really the globalists who were exploiting the climate of unrest to bring about the fall of capitalism and replace it with a Marxist socialist world-order. Playing into the globalists’ hands, politicians and various carpetbaggers called for reforms to legislature to stem the uprisings.”
“‘Never let a crisis go to waste,’ as their elected officials stated,” Ari added.
“Precisely,” I nodded. “‘Never let a good crisis go to waste’ was the unspoken axiom as politicians brought forth new legislation in response to the economic tragedies and social catastrophes, both spontaneous and manufactured, that had engulfed their welfare states. They thought legislature would prevent further anarchy among their young people that, in their views, had lost their moral compass giving rise to the uprisings.”
“According to the secularist, Bertrand Russell’s treatise, families that were incapable of correctly raising their children should let the State intervene,” my son offered.
Ari nodded: “Intervene they did, creating nanny states to oversee the regulations that pertained to family life and education. Except that the politicians were exploiting the social unrests to justify enlarging their influence and government; once again they were moving closer to bringing about a socialist order.”
“That’s correct,” I concurred once more. “Albeit their motive had a noble basis, their legislatures to restore social stability were doomed to fail. For how do you educate a postmodern generation in morality, since it had been raised without absolutes and knowledge of its inherent sin nature? They were simply putting a bandage on the symptoms instead of getting to the root of the problem, which was sin.”
“I guess the legislatures were doomed to fail because God’s economy is very different from man’s economy,” Mish submitted. “It is not involvement in a cultural war but spiritual war: ‘Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it does not bear fruit.’ This is God’s economy, death to sin through repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only then can the heart of the individual be transformed. Only then will he bring forth the fruit of the Holy Spirit that will bring moral healing to him and to society, consequently restoring social stability.”
I nodded: “Absolutely. You’re absolutely correct, son; very well put.”
I rose and leaned against my lectern before resuming: “Now, in the case of the economic unrests: the new legislatures allowed private individuals to bail out the nations’ debt crises. That only muddied the socio-economic waters since these individuals, to whose control the world’s citizenry was willingly sacrificing its freedom and surrendering its will in exchange for security, were the very same international cartel and globalists that had created the world’s fiscal meltdown in the first place. So you see how the nations of the world gradually became enslaved by the elite few?”
Mish nodded. He asked: “And what of the economic freefall in the U.S.?”
I nodded: “What of that indeed. Well, after 2008, the United States was amassing a debt of over fourteen trillion dollars in government spending to bail out the banks and other industries threatened with collapse. Before she could even recover from her massive spending deficit of 2008, she was borrowing again from the International Monetary Fund to repay her debts and finance more bailouts; instead of reining in spending, she was engaging in quantitative easing and printing more money.
“A drying-up treasury combined with quantitative easing was destroying the value of the dollar. Other countries called for replacing the dollar as the world currency reserve. For a long time now, the globalists had been scheming to devalue the dollar to bring about a One-world currency, and the devaluation of the dollar reignited a worldwide call for the monetizing of their debts.
“Because of the government intervention in the forms of the fiscal bailouts, the influence of governments in formerly capitalist societies such as America enlarged and their subjects were quickly embracing a socialist system of economy and government, since formerly privately-owned corporations became state-owned corporations. Socialism had arrived with the arrival of big governments and a One-world currency while the people of the world slumbered.”
“And socialism is a bad system of governance, why?” Mish wondered.
“Because you had to surrender your wills, sovereignties and freedoms to some omnipotent government or political figure whose dictates were above being challenged,” his sibling replied. “And all the hard work of the individual was pointless as you would never be able to earn or achieve more than the State dictated. This was exemplified in nations such as China and North Korea whose citizens hadn’t the will to try harder than the bare minimum, so that their economies suffered. Before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, people were risking their lives to escape from the socialist paradigm – not the other way around.”
“And who most benefited from a world without individual sovereignty?” I quizzed both my underlings.
“Lucifer’s seed, the Antichrist, of course, and he was already waiting in the wings to be unveiled to the world as the new global ruler when the time came,” Ari responded.
I nodded: “Well, the time is here and now. You’re familiar with the truism, ‘power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely’. History itself has proven this to be true with such socialistic/communistic regimes as Nazism, Stalinism and Maoism. Now imagine this on a global scale under this man who’s fully possessed by Satan himself.
“So, Mishka, you were right about Lucifer’s having played a pivotal role in the global financial meltdown. He was the chess master and the co-conspirators were his chess pieces. Just as Lucifer capitalizes on an individual’s problem, so he did with the world’s needs, turning them into crises so that the nations could yield to his designs. A giant leap forward in world control had been successfully orchestrated.”
Ari interjected: “Lucifer knew that a credit crunch would weaken America, then the world’s number one economic superpower. Weakening America and stripping her of her sovereignty were necessary to put her in subservience to Antichrist. It was also necessary to enable the prophetic revived Roman Empire, which was the European Union, to arise as the new economic superpower.
“This was in fulfilment of prophecy: it was from the core ten economic powers within the European Union, which Scripture called the Ten Horns, that the Antichrist was to rise. And that was what happened: empowered by Lucifer, Antichrist emerged from the E.U. promising to bring peace and prosperity to an embattled world.
“By this time, the people on earth had grown so weary of the cycles of austerity measures foisted on them by their governments, and so exasperated by their corrupt partisan representatives who saw no benefit from helping their countries recover from their economic paralyses, that they willingly surrendered what little was left of their rights, sovereignties and freedoms to Antichrist.”
I nodded once more while turning to my son: “A quick quiz to test your memory of your history lessons with Shimael: can you think of an event in human history that was analogous to Antichrist’s rise to power to resolve the world’s economic woes?”
My son gasped: “Eep; thanks, Dad, for putting me on the spot like this. Hmm . . . well, I guess an apt analogy would be the rise of Hitler’s Nazi regime. The economic conditions prior to the Second World War had been so dire that the people of Germany willingly surrendered their rights to Hitler’s control. He exploited his fellowmen’s mood of nationalism to rally their support for his demonic regime.
“Like Antichrist who had risen at the right time to provide a solution for the world’s economic woes in the twenty-first century, so Hitler rose at the right time to promise to resolve Germany’s economic crisis. Like Antichrist’s desire for world worship, obtaining even the Roman Catholic vote, Hitler consolidated the Fuehrer-worship, even fooling many of the Christians of the day with his charisma. Last but not least, Lucifer was behind Hitler’s rise to power and desire for world control, just as he was behind the rise to global power of Antichrist.”
I congratulated him: “Well done, son. You’ve presented a number of excellent parallels. Indeed, Lucifer had conspired toward worldwide rule since the days of Nimrod. His influence in world governments reached all the way back in the almanacs of history. Whenever Lucifer interfered in world governments, he attempted to turn mankind from worshipping the true God.
“Satan was behind the rise of the Babylonian kingdom under Nebuchadnezzar, with its idolatry and the ancient Babylonian religion from which all the succeeding harlot religions of the world had their origin. He was behind the Medo-Persian Empire under the administration of Haman, who tried to trick Emperor Xerxes to exterminate the Jewish race from which the Son of God was to be incarnated. He masterminded the Spartan experiment, under Alexander the Great, which ruled the Greek world with communistic principles; he was certainly behind the Grecian empire which used philosophy and mythology, replete with its legends of myriad gods and demigods, to divert people from the knowledge of the true God; and he was behind the Roman empire, with its deification experiment in the form of Caesar, the emperor-god, which attempted to put man in God’s rightful place of worship and veneration.
“It was the Roman Empire that later captured Jerusalem, holding the city for six hundred and sixty-six years. It was the Roman Caesars, in particular, Nero, that sought to destroy the early Christian church. And it was the Caesars that destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70. We see, quite evidently, that destruction was Satan’s hallmark of faux accomplishments.
“In modern history, Satan continued to try to usurp God, all for the desperate goal of worldwide worship. We saw this in Stalin, whose purges took the lives of millions and whose communistic precept of atheism was used to destroy faith in the living God. In Adolf Hitler’s heyday, as you’ve already expounded, the Fuehrer-worship was established and the demonic Hitler wanted to rule the world. By the end of the World War that Hitler had played an eminent role in creating, six million Jews had been exterminated.”
Ari offered another of his two cents’ worth: “Down through history, whether knowingly or unknowingly, the world’s rulers – the conspirators, the aristocrats of policy and economy, including all their plans and programmes – had been essentially used by Satan to deceive humanity so that man might be enslaved in a future international demonic order that would have the Devil at the centre of worship. It was almost a kind of dress rehearsal for the Endtimes’ rise of Antichrist. Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, Caesar, Stalin, Hitler – all were a type or forerunner of the Antichrist.
“Antichrist had always been Satan’s last gasp attempt at being worshiped in a demonic One-world Order. Satan knew this – he was aware of prophecy. The rest of the forerunners had simply been Satan’s attempts to bring forth the Antichrist since, although he understood prophecy, he lacked the omniscience to know the real identity of the Man of Sin and the actual timing of his rise on the world stage to assume global rule.”
“Excellent observation, Ariel,” I told him. “Well, within the first two years of his rise to world power, Antichrist kept his promise: he pulled the world’s nations out of their economic doldrums. For the first three and a half years, the people were riding on the crest of his global reign of peace and wealth. However, chaos set in once again when he broke the peace treaty with Israel last year.
“The people had least expected it. One moment they were eating and drinking, simply living it up with their hedonistic excess; the next moment they were faced with Antichrist’s life and death choice to accept or not his Mark, which gradually would replace the Globo as the only acceptable legal tender. See how the emergence of the One-world currency, the Globo, has made it easier for Antichrist to coerce the whole world to accept his Mark in order to continue to buy and sell?
“As in the days of Noah, most of earth’s populace had been unprepared for the coming disasters. In the last year and a half, food and energy sources have been stringently rationed under Antichrist’s volte-face. Coupled with the Lord’s droughts and pestilences causing plagues, such as the murrain plagues, we are experiencing the worst famines and resulting food and water scarcity known to mankind. “It’s Economics 101: when demand exceeds supply, prices inflate. Thus the hyper inflation that is epidemic all over the world today,” I finally concluded.
“And thus ends today’s lesson in ECOPS, World History and Eschatology,” Ari proposed, stretching his arms over his head.
“With five minutes to spare,” Mish informed me, glancing at the clock.
Ari had risen from his seat. He began to bend backwards and sideways several times. His joints cracked here and there.
I asked the child: “Now, Mish, are we a little clearer about how the world got to this point of no return?”
The child nodded: “Very clear. Thank you, Dad. Thanks, Ari.”
Footsteps were approaching the Situation Room. Recognizing the distinct-sounding footfalls, Ari grinned: “That sounds like my handler.”
