Dear Friends,
Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry. It is a pleasure to spend this time with you. Today, I hope you will see a little more of how prophecy is being fulfilled in our time. This is also the end of the year. I hope that you are much closer to Jesus now than at the beginning of 2010.
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This month we are going to learn some amazing things about what is being planned for this earth in the next 15 to 20 years, if time should last that long. And it is very prophetic.
Here is a statement from the book Colporteur Ministry, page 17. “The end of all things is at hand. The men of the world are rushing on to their ruin. Their schemes, their confederacies, are many. New devices will continually be brought in to make of no effect the counsel of God. Men are heaping up treasures of gold and silver to be consumed by the fires of the last days.” What a statement! Men are confederating together to rebel against God. They are making new schemes to control their fellow man so that they can heap treasure to themselves and lead the world into idolatry.
In the next 15 years, should time last, dramatic changes are going to revolutionize the world in which you live. There is an extraordinary shift coming to the nations. Megacities are going to grow up out in the middle of nowhere. The vast majority of world population is going to live in huge, teeming cities. If you think the cities of New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Tokyo are large cities, wait a few more years and you will see cities much, much larger.
This relatively new or at least unforeseen development is going to repeat what happened before in scripture and history and will change the way the world operates. Already there is a shift away from the sovereignty and national identity of nation states. In the place of nations, as we know them today, the driving force of world politics is shifting toward the emerging power of cities and city-states. Echoing ancient Babel, and the medieval order of Europe, the new world order is taking shape as millions more people concentrate in the cities being built to accommodate them.
This should not surprise students of Bible prophecy. Historic principles of ancient Babel, and of medieval times, are being resurrected in our modern context and are going to shape everything you do including your religious worship, eventually.
And don’t expect those cities to respect your individual rights to privacy, freedom of speech and freedom of worship. They are not interested in you as a person. World leaders and city political hacks are interested in the usefulness of the city as a global political tool to achieve their own goals and objectives.
But before we go any further, let us ask the Lord for clarity of understanding and insight into our study today. Please bow your heads with me in prayer where possible. Our wonderful Heavenly Father. Our time on this earth is nearing its end. Now more than ever we need Jesus to help us see the plan of heaven for the preservation of Your church. As we study today, please open to us the principles of Your Kingdom. Help us see that this world is not our home, and we are looking for “a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Thank You for Your love and for the warning that shows us how important it is to prepare for what is coming upon the whole world as a surprise. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Once again the Bible amazes me as current events reveal how accurate the prophecies are. Even the stories of Holy Scripture themselves are prophetic. Perhaps one of the most relevant to our study today is the story of Nimrod and the tower of Babel, which shows us exactly the purposes and attitudes of those planning the structure of the emerging new world order in which we are all living to some extent.
Satan tried to orchestrate a coup de ‘etat to control the world as soon after the flood as was practically possible. The descendants of Ham rebelled against the Lord and built a city. Genesis 11:2 tells us that as the descendents of Ham “journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.” They had lived among the mountains with their brethren, the descendants of Shem and Japheth who were God fearing. But the descendants of Ham were unhappy to live with them because their teaching and example annoyed them. So they decided to leave them and go somewhere else, where the restraint of God’s law could not be felt.
The plain of Shinar on the banks of the river Euphrates was beautiful and fertile, and here they could prosper. They decided to build a city with a tower of such magnitude that it would become the wonder of the world. Verses 3 and 4 tell us that “they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
From these verses we learn some important points. First, they wanted to make a name for themselves. In other words, they had great pride, which always leads to great rebellion. They were not satisfied with God’s name. They wanted their own.
Secondly, their aim was to prevent the people from scattering in colonies. This was the very opposite of what God had told them to do after the flood. God said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” Genesis 9:1. They were not to replenish the earth in cities. That would just take them quickly back to the wickedness of the world before the flood. They were not to concentrate in large metropolitan areas because God knew that pride and selfishness would take them further away from His law, and the result would be oppression, violence and only evil continually.
Instead of following God’s directions however, these sons of Ham wanted to keep everyone together in one place. Nimrod was their leader in this rebellion and was very ambitious. Not only did he want to make a name for himself, but he wanted to become the ruler or monarch of a world empire. Moses said that Nimrod “began to be a mighty one in the earth,” and that he became a “mighty hunter before the Lord.” Genesis 10:8, 9. That means he was in rebellion to God and His law.
But the Bible tells us that Nimrod was incredibly ambitious. Starting with Genesis 10:10 we learn that “the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” These are the cities he started. And Babel was the centerpiece of his government.
But that wasn’t all Nimrod wanted. Listen to it from Patriarchs and Prophets, page 118. “But these Babel builders determined to keep their community united in one body, and to found a monarchy that should eventually embrace the whole earth.”
Did you hear that? These rebellious and evil people were planning to take over the whole world in defiance of God. Moses tells us in verses 11 and 12 that “out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.”
So now you know where the large city of Nineveh came from. It was part of the global empire of huge city-states that Nimrod was trying to build. We also learn that one of the sons of Ham became the father of the Philistines and the Canaanites, which included the Jebusites, Amorites and the Girgasites, and many others. And verse 19 even tells us that the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon… unto Sodom and Gomorrah and other large cities of the plain of the Jordan valley.
So Nimrod was the founder of all the rebellious tribes after the flood and his intention was to establish a global power that would control all the city-states in revolution against the government of heaven. This means that he was also the founder of paganism. This is incredible, but it is also prophetic. Don’t forget that at end times there will arise a new world order, a global empire called Babylon with a pagan religion. It’s centerpiece is “that great city” mentioned in Revelation 14:8 known as the Papacy or the Vatican today. The Holy See, as the Vatican is known among the nations of the world, is trying to “make a name.” As ambitious as Nimrod, the Vatican is working hard to elevate herself to become the moral guide of the world, so that she can “sit a queen,” as it says in Revelation 18:7.
Nimrod was the founder and king of Babel. Perhaps Nimrod could see that by keeping everyone in big cities, he could then control them. He could control their economies, control their politics, and control their religion. He was determined to do what he could to gain power, prestige and notoriety. By concentrating people in cities, he knew that he could thereby gain much economic and political advantage.
Babel’s glory would command the admiration and homage of the world and render the founders famous. The magnificent tower, reaching to the heavens, was intended to stand as a monument of the power and wisdom of its human builders, perpetuating their fame forever. Notice that their new world order revolved around large cities that would keep the people concentrated inside them, and would consolidate wealth and power into the hands of a few.
This was the first attempt at globalism. And like every attempt at a new world order since then, it would also lead to a global religion that would defy the worship of the true God. There is no other purpose, ultimately, for the new world order today than to oppose God and His law. The principles of modern Babylon are the same.
Do you think that today there are men like Nimrod who have similar ambitions? Do you think that in our time, there are some who want to rule over their fellow man and concentrate populations and power in such a way so that they control the whole world like Nimrod wanted to do? Today, I’m going to show you how these questions have one answer, a resounding yes! In fact, we are on the brink of the resurrection of Babel on a global scale. Our generation is marked by the very same principles that were developed in ancient Babel. And let me point out that Nebuchadnezzar attempted the same thing in ancient Babylon (a direct descendent of Babel) while Charlemagne attempted the same thing in Medieval times. History repeats itself over and over again. These men made a name for themselves and turned from God’s law.
Some of the men of ancient Babel were atheists and others were agnostic. Like today, “many of them denied the existence of God and attributed the Flood to the operation of natural causes.” So often when we read about disasters, they are explained on the basis of mere natural causes. Earthquakes, for example, are described as the result of tectonic plates moving against each other deep under the surface of the ocean or the earth. While this is true, these “scientists” forget that God controls these things. Modern science takes God out of the picture and only presents the facts of nature (as far as the scientists understand them), forgetting that God is the author of nature and that His power is what sustains the earth. A tectonic plate cannot move a single millimeter without God’s permission. So their foolish hearts are darkened, and they cannot comprehend God’s love and His hand in nature and history.
Some of the people of Babel believed in the Supreme Being, and that He was responsible for destroying the world in a flood. Satan misrepresented Him so that they saw Him as a cruel tyrant. Their hearts rose up in rebellion against Him. These people did not want to believe God’s word. Therefore, they had to deny everything God had said, including the fact that he would not destroy the earth with another flood. They wanted security, especially security from God’s vengeance. So they built a towering monstrosity.
It is interesting to note that the more globalized nations become, the more concerned they are about their own security. Right now, global leaders are obsessed with the security of the global financial system. They are also obsessed with security against terrorists. But security was Nimrod’s concern back in Babel too. He and his colleagues believed that another flood could threaten their lives.
From Patriarchs and Prophets page 119, we read. “By carrying the structure to a much greater height than was reached by the waters of the Flood, they thought to place themselves beyond all possibility of danger. And as they would be able to ascend to the region of the clouds, they hoped to ascertain the cause of the Flood.”
The whole idea was to exalt the pride of human ingenuity and technology. They wanted to explain away the flood by finding a physical explanation for it. These so-called “scientists” wanted to turn the minds of future generations away from God and lead them into worship of technology and science, which is a form of idolatry. That would have been only a small step from paganism. They wanted a global idolatry. The result would have been disastrous. Having turned from the law of God, there would be no restraint and lawlessness would reign. Without the restraint of the law of God, without justice, mercy, purity, and love, society would descend into oppression, violence, and brutality.
Does the modern world have the distinction of repeating these things? Modern cities, just like ancient Babel, have become hotbeds of wickedness, impurity and violence because of drugs, prostitution, homosexuality, corruption, bribery, and immorality of every kind.
“The men of Babel had determined to establish a government that should be independent of God… Had they gone on unchecked, they would have demoralized the world in its infancy. Their confederacy was founded in rebellion; a kingdom established for self-exaltation, but in which God was to have no rule or honor. Had this confederacy been permitted, a mighty power would have borne sway to banish righteousness—and with it peace, happiness, and security—from the earth.” That’s from Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 123. They wanted to replace the law of God, which is “holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12), with their own selfish principles. In other words, they would have concentrated power in the hands of a few who would actually ruin the peace, happiness and security of the earth by sweeping away righteousness.
The Bible says that it is “righteousness that exalteth a nation.” There is no way that cities can be righteous. It is not in their cultural “DNA.” Instead, they breed wickedness as unholy men and women, seeking unholy purposes, congregate together in great numbers. And there is a prophecy about these kinds of people in the last days. Have you ever heard of the prophecy of Enoch? Yes, Enoch prophesied. You can find it in the book of Jude 14-16. Here it is. Speaking of the wicked people of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and other wicked people, Jude says, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and; their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s person in admiration because of advantage.”
Think about what godly Enoch was saying. He is telling us that all these ungodly sinners are going to be judged and punished for their evil deeds. How do you know who they are? They are the ones who make marvelous buildings so that men will admire them. These are the ones who boast that they know so much that they have learned that the world came into existence without God. These are the ones who take advantage of others by flattery, sweet talk and adulation. These are the ones who teach that sin is ok. They complain about those who do believe in God and wish to ridicule and discredit them. Those who are going to be judged are Sodomites and Gomorrahites who push for legalization of marriage between those with unnatural affection. Every evil deed is going to be brought into judgment.
And this is the way cities are today. They are established for the exaltation of the men, and the concentration of wickedness is the result. Buildings, streets, stadiums, airports and other edifices are named after the men that founded them or fashioned them, or in honor of those who controlled them. Moreover, the acquisition of money and assets is one of the key purposes of the city. Greed and selfishness motivated Nimrod and his fellow conspirators just as it does many leaders today.
Genesis 11:5-7 tells us that “the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
The Babelites said “Go to, let us make brick,” and God said, “Go to, let us go down and confound their language.” When “nothing will be restrained from them,” He was talking about the complete withdrawal of the Holy Spirit which restrains the wicked. God was saying that if these wicked people were permitted to carry out their conspiracy against heaven, they would become so hardened that the Holy Spirit would be wholly withdrawn from them, and nothing would prevent them from doing only evil continually again.
“Angels were sent to bring to naught the purpose of Nimrod’s builders of Babel. They confused the language so that the people could not understand each other. The work on the tower came to a standstill. In fact, they became angry with each other, and their confederacy ended in strife and bloodshed. Lightnings from heaven, as an evidence of God’s displeasure, broke off the upper portion of the tower and cast it to the ground. Men were made to feel that there is a God who ruleth in the heavens.” That’s page 119 of Patriarchs and Prophets. And that’s what they wanted to forget; that God ruleth in the heavens.
Of course, God’s attack on the tower would be explained away today in mere physical or natural terms. The lightening struck because the tower was the tallest structure around, and it wasn’t grounded properly. That would have salved the guilty conscience and Nimrod and his fellow conspirators would have set out to restore it. So God had to go beyond natural phenomena, and do something more supernatural. He confounded the languages so that they could no longer communicate. Do you think scientists can explain that away in natural or physical terms? Certainly not! Now all they can do is claim that the story is a myth.
So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Genesis 11:8. The monument to their pride became the memorial of their folly.
Today however, even with languages still confused, man is trying to overcome the impediments to constructing another oppressive regime of global power just like Nimrod. Men are continually pursuing the same course. Even so-called Christian teachers in so-called Christian universities teach evolutionary science, which separates the facts of science from God. They teach evolution as a fact, leading many Christian young people to disbelieve the Bible account of creation, and replace it with evolution.
Babel is a classic example of the results of globalization. The process of globalization is rapidly advancing. Its hidden purpose is to prepare to force a global religion on the whole world as is predicted in Revelation 13:8 which says, that “all that dwell upon the earth shall worship” the first beast, or the Papacy. The Vatican wants globalization because it is centralizing control in the hands of fewer and fewer people, just like Nimrod did, making it easier and easier for the Vatican and other related powers to manipulate the whole global empire.
In the last few years, the world has reached a tipping point. Now more than half the world’s population lives in cities and that percentage is growing rapidly. Up until now, merely 100 cities account for more than 30% of the global economy. These cities are the heart of globalization, and what keeps them ticking is money.
But a new set of huge megacities is emerging around the world, dwarfing the cities that presently dominate the world landscape. In addition smaller cites are also being built. China, for instance, has built or is in the process of building 300 new cities to handle its fast growing population. Seoul, Korea is expanding at a fantastic rate. Each new residential and commercial block that opens sells out almost instantly.
A huge migration of people into the cities has forced them to expand, but it has also spurred the creation of new cities virtually from nothing on a scale that can hardly be imagined. For instance, by 2025, 15 supercities with an average of 25 million people will be scattered across China. Some of them are vast “factory cities,” as they are called, constructed in the wilderness to handle future expansion of manufacturing. Brand new “knowledge cities,” as they are called, out in the Arabian desert, are preparing to absorb huge populations of people looking for jobs.
Cities of the near future will not be numbered in two, three, four or five million people, but in 10s of millions and will stretch as far as the eye can see. The bigger they get, the more independent they can become from the national government that spawned them. The new world will not be defined so much by nations, such as Brazil, Japan, Italy, China or Australia. The new centers of global gravity will be these megacities, increasingly expanding their influence beyond their own nations, in an increasingly borderless world.
It is the cities that have always made empires great, and it is the cities in the last days that will make the new world empire strong if God allows it to reach maturity. These megacities are what makes the new world an echo of the middle ages, when city-states dominated the political landscapes. The medieval structure is being resurrected, but instead of primitive peasant farms, it is in the context of modern technology, innovation and high-speed communications. Control of economies will not be rooted in national capitols such as Beijing, Washington, Berlin, or Sao Paulo, but in the cities with the greatest savvy in the global marketplace. The key for the new world order is in controlling the cities.
Just like in medieval times, the coming megacities will be the engines of economics, innovators in geopolitics, and international diplomacy. These cities don’t follow the same old codes of conduct that the nations have followed. They will forge their own opportunistic codes of business conduct. For instance, trade within Asia has exceeded trade with western cities. Consequently, Asia has established its own financial and business infrastructure, including an Asian monetary fund to assist in keeping Asian currencies stable, and instead of more long haul intercontinental flights, a system of short haul flights has been erected to shuttle planeloads of travelers between business cities throughout the region. Middle eastern cities are creating “free zones” where goods can transit through its ports without government red tape, and they are offering huge incentives for businesses to relocate to these kingdoms.
Alliances between cities, such as Dubai and Hamburg, Germany, which are creating strong partnerships in shipping and the sciences, or Abu Dhabi and Singapore, which have developed a new commercial axis, reflect their medieval ancestors pension for direct relationships. No one is waiting for Washington to give permission to make the deals. To accommodate the growth, the Middle Eastern emirates are creating new urban districts in the desert sands that are eco-friendly, carbon neutral, no-waste cities. These “smart cities” as they are called will be designed to serve the needs and interests of the commercial markets, not freedom of speech and religion. Economic might will be the prerequisite for participation in global diplomacy, not personal freedoms or other philosophical matters. To a significant extent, national sovereignty will not play as dominant a role in global politics as it has in the past. As a result national constitutions will have less influence on personal life.
National governments will not restrain the emerging city-states. Like during the middle ages, national or regional supranational governments will help them with their global ambitions. But the way capital flow and supply chains are being forged between megacities, there will be less need for national governments to negotiate international treaties and other diplomacy. The nation state will not be as important in the new world order. And globalist planners know this. That is why consolidation of power always starts with trade agreements between nations within a given region of the world. Ten of these regions are being forged right now along natural lines of trade and commerce.
The coming supercities will strategically conduct more and more of their own “sovereign” diplomacy. For instance, watch for the new city-states to invest billions of their own cash to buy up huge tracts of farmland in Africa to supply their demand for food. In the future, you will probably see them also buy up increasingly scarce water resources too. Also, look for these cities to develop their own private armies and intelligence services to protect their investments or perhaps advance their ambitions.
Global Policy Forum: Conflict over water
As national sovereignty increasingly diminishes or even disappears, and cities become the political centers of the resurrected Babel in the new world order, watch for consolidation and confederacy of the larger cities with smaller ones. Echoing their medieval ancestors, the megacities are in competition with each other for resources, innovation and new technologies. Imagine, if the leaders of one huge city gain control over another smaller city, or several smaller cities for that matter, and use them to support their needs in manufacturing, food production and processing, etc. The smaller cities would then become vassals, dependent on the larger ones for economic survival, and to serve the needs of the larger and most aggressive cities.
Consolidation of power will reconstruct the principles of medieval Europe all over the world, not in primitive conditions, but in the conditions of modernization and technology. Suppose some cities band together in an alliance or confederation against other cities. As drinkable water, edible food, petroleum and other natural resources become more scarce and difficult to bring to the cities, there could well be wars fought over their control, as conflicts will inevitably arise. Jesus predicted both famines and war in the same sentence of Matthew 24:7. Let me point out, that globalization increases the likelihood of shortages of resources, famine, social instability and war, because the demand is so concentrated in the cities, and because cities are managed by human beings who have their own agendas, which are not usually in the best interests of the people in their care.
That kind of scenario reminds me of the city-states in the time of Lot. In that prophetic story, the kings of some of those cities led by Chedorlaomer made war against the kings of other cities which included Sodom and Gomorrah. The Bible therefore predicts that in the last days a similar situation will exist. City-states may well develop their own militaries and make war on other city-states, particularly over natural resources, food supply and water resources.
Conflict over water
But it isn’t just that. When there is a major disruption to fuel supplies, such as during the recent labor strikes in France, it is the cities and multitudes of people in them that are affected. When there is a food shortage, as almost happened to Europe during the Icelandic volcano, it is the people in the cities that are most affected. When there are shortages of other basic necessities, it is the people living in the great megacities who have the worst difficulties, not to mention the chaos and disruption from workers strikes, violent protests, and sometimes brutal law enforcement.
Fuel Shortage in France
It is in the cities where homosexuals are most open and aggressive. It is in the cities where corruption is concentrated. It is in the cities where God is least thought of.
What happens in cities matters more than what happens elsewhere. That is because of the intensity of resources. Financial, human, technology and infrastructure assets are all concentrated in the cities, and this gives a large megacity substantial clout in terms of global influence.
But don’t forget Lagos, Manila, Shanghi and Mumbai. These cities will grow too. According to globalist forecasts, cities like these will not have merely 20 million people, but 100 million jammed within and around them. In India alone, 275 million people, it is estimated, will move from the country into its teeming cities and slums in the next 20 years. This is nearly the same as the whole population of the United States. These cities will also have a huge amount of “organic” growth, which means growing populations from people living there already who are having children.
And in China migration to the cities will even be greater. By 2025, it is predicted by those planning the new global era of urbanization that 70% of China’s population will live in cities of over 1 million people. By 2030, they are predicting that China will have 221 cities with over 1 million people living in them, and will add 400 million people into those cities. Again, that is way more than the population of the entire United States and Canada combined. India will have 68 cities with more than 1 million inhabitants and will add 215 million people to them. That’s more than the population of Brazil.
Population of the United States
Population of Canada
Population of Brazil
To build these cities over the next 20 years, India will need between 14 to 18 billion square meters of floor space for both residential and commercial use. That’s equivalent to almost four New York cities or the size of the Kingdom of Kuwait. But get this, China will need 40 billion square meters of floor space for residential and commercial uses, which is equivalent to 10 New York cities, or the size of the whole country of Switzerland. Just think of the demand for concrete and steel, let alone all the rest of the supplies needed to build these supercities and sustain them.
And it isn’t just China and India where this process is transpiring. Cities are spreading like cancer all around the world. And there is a very dark side to all of this gravitational pull into the cities, which you don’t read in the press. These megacities have, and will become the centers of Satan’s power and control. Historically, it is the cities that have always been at the center of global wealth, power, and consequently great struggles and strife. It was that way in ancient Babylon. It was that way especially in ancient Greece. It was that way in the medieval Europe. It will be that way again at the end of time, particularly as globalism gains more and more traction. Again Satan will wield his power to bring these megacities and their teeming populations under his bewitching control. Men are building a modern tower of Babel. And in defiance to the God of heaven, they will turn from His law, and seek to control every aspect of society, including religion.
Crime, immorality and vice are characteristic of the cities, and the supercities will be no exception. Organized crime will control the main commercial markets. Fraud, theft and violence will rise. Injustice, corruption and oppression will sweep over the people like a death pall.
As a result, just like in the middle ages when the Catholic Church controlled the populations, knights and walls protected the aristocracy from unwanted intrusions, now, walls with broken glass shards across the top, electrified gates, and private security forces do the same.
But it is more than that. The underlying intention of these global megacities is to rebel against God. That is the way it has always been with cities. And the more wicked they become, the more hardened will be the hearts of their inhabitants. The thoughts and intentions of their hearts will be “only evil continually,” like it was in the days of Noah. And these cities will become exceedingly wicked. Those who profess to follow Jesus, but who are living in these supercities at the end of time will be drawn into the spirit and attitude of those around them, just like what happened to Lot in Sodom.
Here is what is predicted to happen to these megacities. It is from The Great Controversy, page 589-590. “While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, Satan will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast. ‘The earth mourneth and fadeth away,’ ‘the haughty people . . . do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.’ Isaiah 24:4, 5.”
As these end-time cities become more determined in their resistance to the law of Jehovah, they will be given over to the visitations of Satan and his destructive power.
Looming on the prophetic horizon are gruesome and horrendous pestilences. Imagine a plague of superbugs that are resistant to all forms of antibiotics sweeping through even one city, killing hundreds of thousands. In the age of travel, pestilences can easily pass from one city to another in a matter of days, even before a plague is recognized. We’ve heard about these sorts of viruses in the news in recent times. Perhaps there will be amalgamations of things that have been around for a while, but when combined create chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction that Satan, or his human agents can use to cause death and destruction of millions. Efforts to contain these pestilences will make everyday life very difficult, let alone travel, trade and commerce. Globalization jeopardizes health and safety. Globalized megacities will make hundreds of millions of people vulnerable to virulent diseases and other disasters.
Superbugs=
Here is another statement. “The depths of the earth are the Lord’s arsenal, whence were drawn weapons to be employed in the destruction of the old world. Waters gushing from the earth united with the waters from heaven to accomplish the work of desolation. Since the Flood, fire as well as water has been God’s agent to destroy very wicked cities. These judgments are sent that those who lightly regard God’s law and trample upon His authority may be led to tremble before His power and to confess His just sovereignty. As men have beheld burning mountains pouring forth fire and flames and torrents of melted ore, drying up rivers, overwhelming populous cities, and everywhere spreading ruin and desolation, the stoutest heart has been filled with terror and infidels and blasphemers have been constrained to acknowledge the infinite power of God.” That’s from Patriarchs and Prophets, page 109.
You don’t want to be caught in the middle of all of that, do you? Your survival may well depend on the actions you take now. The destruction of the antediluvian world; the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; and in modern times, the destruction of San Francisco in 1906, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Christchurch, New Zealand, cities in Chile and some cities in China, all in 2010, are intended to warn us of the impending destruction of the whole world. They are intended to remind us not to turn our backs on God. Through them a warning is given to us, and time to repent of our sins and come fully onto the side of Christ in the great controversy. God’s judgments are also designed to check the exceeding wickedness that characterizes the cities of our day.
Students of prophecy know the outcome. All the warnings that God sends to turn men from their wickedness will go unheeded. Men will continue to oppose God’s law, and shall be lovers of their own selves, without natural affection, and sinful in the extreme. And Satan will eventually be given power to work destruction on cities.
By the way, did you also notice the classic form of conspiracy that Satan will use on the masses? He will cause disaster, but will present himself as the great healer. He will bring great destruction and claim that he is the savior. He creates the problem, and then presents himself as the solution. The Bible says “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:14. And Satan’s earthly ministers will do the same thing. Vs. 15 says “Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
Did you know that Satan has pastors or ministers? Like their master, they will say that God is angry with the inhabitants of the world and that the world needs to get back to God, all of which is true. But they will then say that in order to do this, we need laws that will enforce the false Sabbath, or Sunday as the requirement of God instead of the Sabbath of the Bible. They will urge and pressure lawmakers and government leaders to enact laws requiring observance of Satan’s day of rest instead of God’s.
To support their false claims, many signs and wonders will occur. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 24:24. “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” And 2 Thessalonians 2:9 tells us that the antichrist “whose coming is after the working of Satan,” will work with “all power and signs and lying wonders.”
This deception will be great. “Some will be tempted to receive these wonders as from God. The sick will be healed before us. Miracles will be performed in our sight. Are we prepared for the trial which awaits us when the lying wonders of Satan shall be more fully exhibited? Will not many be ensnared and taken? By departing from the plain precepts and commandments of God and giving heed to fables, the minds of many are preparing to receive these lying wonders. We must all now seek to arm ourselves for the contest in which we must soon engage. Faith in God’s word, prayerfully studied and practically applied, will be our shield from Satan’s power and will bring us off conquerors through the blood of Christ.” That is from Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 302.
Friends, the development of a huge number of megacities is a prophetic development that you need to watch. But you also need to take action. You and your family are in danger if you live in a city or if you have brought the principles of the city to your country home. Make sure that you are under the protection of God.
The question may be going around in your mind; what about the United States in prophecy? Will not the United States continue to play a major role right up until the end? I believe so. The United States is in a way, an exception to this process though not entirely. The United States has been so powerful and has controlled so much of the globalism process that it is positioned to continue as a nation state regardless of what happens to others. Remember it is the United States that leads the world in Sunday worship laws. So I don’t see the United States losing all of its significance. I don’t see other nations losing all of their significance either, but I do see their importance diminishing under the new realities.
Patriarchs and Prophets, page 124 says, “The time of God’s investigation is at hand. The Most High will come down to see that which the children of men have builded. His sovereign power will be revealed; the works of human pride will be laid low. “The Lord looketh from heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of His habitation He looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.’ ‘The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: He maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations.’ Psalm 33:13, 14, 10, 11.”
Do you think we are nearing that time again? Certainly. We have come back to the time of Nimrod. Great cities have been and will be built to concentrate power and control over the people.
Listen to what God says he is going to do. This is from Nahum 2:3-6. Speaking of the destruction of Ninevah, one of the key cities in Nimrod’s empire and one of the successors to Babel, the prophet Nahum says, “The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.
The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.” Their defense is in vain. They will be destroyed.
Have you seen the chariots jostling in the streets? How about all those taxicabs in the great cities of the earth jammed into the streets. The buses and the subways too. These cities, like ancient Babel and Nineveh, will be overthrown. But when His judgments fall, they will all try to flee out of the cities. In desperation, they will all try to run from the destruction. But it will be too late.
But there is a wonderful side to all this exceeding wickedness. Listen to this important prophetic statement. It is taken from Prophets and Kings, page 186. “In the closing work of God in the earth, the standard of His law will be again exalted. False religion may prevail, iniquity may abound, the love of many may wax cold, the cross of Calvary may be lost sight of, and darkness, like the pall of death, may spread over the world; the whole force of the popular current may be turned against the truth; plot after plot may be formed to overthrow the people of God; but in the hour of greatest peril, the God of Elijah will raise up human instrumentalities to bear a message that will not be silenced. In the populous cities of the land, and in the places where men have gone to the greatest lengths in speaking against the Most High, the voice of stern rebuke will be heard. Boldly will men of God’s appointment denounce the union of the church with the world. Earnestly will they call upon men and women to turn from the observance of a man-made institution to the observance of the true Sabbath.”
Brothers and sisters, we are living in perilous times. Globalization is moving ahead rapidly. This will set the stage for the final conflict in the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan over your soul. It is high time for us to arrange our personal lives so that we live close to Jesus and under His protection. Please make sure your calling and election is sure, my friends. God wants you to join those who will give the last warning to the cities under the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. That is your calling, your destiny if you are faithful to Jesus.
Let us pray. Our heavenly Father, we realize that we are approaching the final conflict between Christ and Satan over the control of our own hearts. We are vulnerable. We are weak and our lives are unsustainable in the coming crisis unless You take over. Please Lord, reveal Yourself to us in a way that will help us become spiritually mature and live in harmony with all of your principles. In Jesus name, amen.
Beyond City Limits
Prime Numbers/Megacities
Global Cities Index: Text
Global Cities Index: Rankings
