Armageddon
Lets take a look at some numbers
666. Do we ever hear enough of this number? It's been associated with the devil, Damian, Bill Gates, Ronald Wilson Reagan (6 letters in each name), and tons of other blue-turbaned boogiemen through the ages.
The false prophet also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666. (Rev. 13:16-18)
I'm not a biblical scholar, nor do I pay that much attention to the Bible. But the Bible is an interesting account of how people thought and what they thought about, and it's one of the few books that gives an historical perspective from the common man's point of view.
One of the more interesting Bible stories is Genesis, written by none other than Moses. Ever see The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston? It's about Moses, a would-be pharaoh who gave up his Egyptian prosperity to take his blood family's people to the promised land and to freedom. It took 40 years of wandering in the desert until they found the promised land. 40 years of babysitting this horde of ignorant ex-slaves, constantly pissing and moaning about how long it's taking Moses to get them there. Imagine driving from New York to Los Angeles with a carload of screaming kids ... "When will we get there, Daddy?" "Bobby just farted on me!" Suzie took my crayons!" "I have to pee." Now, picture this trip without a car, in the desert heat, with thousands of screaming brats making golden idols to worship every time you turn your back, multiplied by 5,000 and you can see how even Moses would want to crack a few skulls. I'm sure, more than once you could hear him screaming, "One more peep and I'm turning this horde around and going back!"
Moses was the originator of the first book in the Bible known as Genesis, and he was also one of the few people in Egypt who knew things that only the pharaoh could know -- and the Egyptians at that time were more knowledgeable about ancient knowledge than anyone on the planet.
Just as dad might spin some yarns or devise a game on that long trip to keep the kids busy, Moses told a few stories to keep the masses entertained. One of these stories was how it was in the beginning.
Long story short ... Adam and Eve lived in paradise. A place where every want was immediately satisfied. A climate-controlled environment where food grew on trees and clothing wasn't needed. The devil, in the guise of a snake, talked Eve into taking a bite from the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, and she got Adam to have a taste, too. Apparently, the Garden of Eden had only one law, and that was to not eat the forbidden fruit. Breaking this one rule, God evicted them. As Adam and Eve were leaving, God told them they'll have to get jobs and pay for their food, clothing and shelter from now on. (Gen. 3:19) (If King James can do it, so can I)
The current economic system of Western civilization that has now spread to the entire planet began some 6 thousand years ago, probably in Mesopotamia. It began with the Agricultural Revolution, that evolutionary leap that brought us writing, cities, specialization of jobs, warfare over territory, male-dominated society, and gods and religions. The time before the Agricultural Revolution is called prehistory. The time after the invention of writing, originating as a result of this revolution, is called history. It's interesting to note, this is approximately when the Bible says the world began. Perhaps Moses really referred to the beginning of "our" world, not "the" world when he wrote Genesis.
OK, so the story of Adam and Eve was probably metaphor, and the only way Moses could make his point. But look through the Bible, and all you see are metaphors trying to explain the unexplainable in easy-to-understand language.
Ever since the Agricultural Revolution humanity has lived by trade. Civilizations rise and fall, but commerce is at the root of everything. Economic systems have been put in place. They all revolve around who controls the means of production... who can "buy or sell." But they all have one other thing in common. In each civilization the rich tend to get richer and the poor tend to get poorer, until, eventually and inevitably, the civilization falls and something new replaces it. A spiritual or metaphysical "economic power" is in place. It demands of each of us that we participate. No one can really go it alone anymore. We all have Social Security numbers. We all carry credit cards. We have numbers, fingerprints, files, DNA, and computer databases. We cannot "buy or sell" without them. Does this mean we all wear "the mark of the beast"? Does Armageddon really refer to the demise of a 6,000-year-old social system that carried, at its root, the seeds of its own destruction? When the Agricultural Revolution began, did fallen humanity, represented by Adam and Eve, who unknowingly invented it, place on their hand and forehead the mark of the antichrist?
"Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist" (1 John 2:22).
Logically, the economic system that has been in place for 6,000 years is contrary to the commands of Jesus. He ordered us to "give a cup of cold water" in his name, to "turn the other cheek" and "walk the second mile." Jesus insisted true religion meant giving, not hoarding. He never suggested anyone ever save for a rainy day, and look how pissed he got at the money changers.
"We fight not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:10)
These powers are not beings created by God who subsequently fell from grace. but metaphysical powers inherent in a human invention called modern human economics. Fed by greed and avarice, sins that are contrary to Christ (antichrist), they have now grown so big as to take over every facet of our lives. So great has their power become that we now take such powers for granted and can't imagine life any other way.
So what does all this have to do with the battle of Armageddon and the number 666?
The author of Revelation doesn't say that the number 666 refers to "a" man. He says that "it is man's number." It symbolizes humanity, not one distinct individual. Six is one short of seven, the number of perfection assigned to God throughout the Bible. 666 represents either fallen humanity or humans striving to become more than they are. As such, 666 represents a system, not a man, and not just any system but the human economic system of Western civilization that's been in place for 6,000 years. Could it be that 666 also has something to do with a time span of 6,000 years, the time it took to get to here from the garden?
Could the battle of Armageddon be a war between spirituality and economics? The ultimate battle between good and evil? What could the world possibly be like without commerce?
For an answer to that last question, let's take a look at the Jews. A spiritual slave nation saved and escorted by Moses to the promised land. Strong ties to family and community, and they take care of each other. Got kicked out of a lot of countries in the past. Lost more battles than France. Good businessmen. Adapt well to almost any circumstances. The chosen people. Wrote the Old Testament. Believed in Jesus but as a philosopher, but not as the Christ. A force to be reckoned with in the Middle East.
I should point out here that Jews being the chosen people doesn't mean they were God's favorites. It simply means they were chosen as stewards of humanity. A rational people who could be trusted with such a duty.
I think I'm missing the mark here... This involves all of us, not just the Jews. But the Jews wrote the Bible, and it still stands as an important historical document, containing clues of life before the Agricultural Revolution. You can't see where you are going without seeing where you've been -- and IF Armageddon is a battle between the Western economic system and spirituality, then we have to understand what kind of world would remain after the battle.
Let's take a look at Enron as a microcosm of the Western economic system. Greed, avarice, and corruption propelled the company on its massive rollercoaster ride to oblivion, where everyone involved invested their life savings, dazzled by the incredible profits this company was, apparently, generating. They lost everything a short time later when this star ship of commerce went down in a fireworks display, culminating in 21,000 unemployed, pension-less people and multiple companies crashing into its debris. You can't blame the people involved, aside from Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. This was a system with a life of its own cruising toward a destiny even the top people could never imagine. Up until the very end, even Skilling did his best to keep the good ship Enron from going down. He just happened to be the first to grab his goodies and launch his own personal lifeboat, letting the crew go down with the ship. (What would Kirk do?)
And what of our economic leaders? The top 1% of humanity own 99% of the world's wealth and they want more. The ultimate goal in the Western economic system is one company to own everything with one person in total control. Of course, we may never see that scenario. The system will self-destruct long before that happens, as it has done in so many cultures in the past 6,000 years, just as it happened to Enron in its very short lifespan. But this time around, the Western economic system has gone global, and just like Earth's oceans it touches all shores. African bushmen have computers, Australian aborigines have cell phones, and Eskimos have snowmobiles. Commerce and the ability to "buy and sell" have embedded themselves in the core of humanity, and just as Dick Cheney said, "We want America to be the best place to do business". What he's really saying is "I want to be part of the 1%. Please let me live."
Population control used to be a big issue in the early '70's. It's not even mentioned now. Not because we've achieved zero population growth or we managed to produce food in desert wastelands, but because it's already taken care of by the Western economic system just as a cattle farmer will take care of his livestock. As long as a cow gives milk or breeds other healthy cows it's an asset to the farmer. Once the bovine gets too old and sick and ready for death it's put down, and every part of it is used from steaks to hotdogs. Humanity is thought of the same way. As long as you're a viable part of humanity, i.e. a good consumer, you can live. Once you reach the age of mortality, the cost of drugs to keep you alive increases until you are totally consumed by the system. The consumer becomes consumed and the cycle starts again. How many prescriptions do you have? How does it feel to be a dying cow?
Everything I know about humanity I learned from the Third Reich. (unknown corporate scientist)
World War II was a dress rehearsal performed by the Western economic system as an exercise in world control. I'm not going to get into the nuts and bolts of why and how it happened except that most of the players in this drama were manipulated by the producers, and the idea was carried out by the stage managers in every theater of battle. Everyone had their own part to play. Most thought they were fighting for patriotic reasons like the fatherland, truth, justice and the American way. The Japanese fought for more openly economic reasons such as raw materials, food, supplies, and conquest. The rest, for mere survival and a chance to play in the sequel. The players in one scene had no idea what the players in another scene were doing. Only the producers knew. A few facts... The data learned from WWII showed us it's possible to eliminate entire races from the face of the Earth and the tools to do it. We learned brainwashing, rocket science, atomic power, secret police tactics, terror control, propaganda, manipulations of human beings by way of health and mind control, nerve gas, and the ABCs of warfare, i.e., atomic, biological, chemical warfare. No one questions how a nobody like Hitler, a vagabond, vagrant, bum, homeless nobody could rise from total obscurity to master of the world in a few short years. It never happened before in our vast history that a connectionless human could rise to such power. No one questions how carpet-bombing industrial centers in Germany left ball bearing factories and chemical plants standing while destroying bakeries and residential areas. The producers knew. After all, they were the only ones making money on both sides. They also owned these factories. "Buying and selling" is reaching maturity. A buyers market for the 1-percenters. While Hitler was playing the bunker scene, his last order was "flood the gates." meaning, kill the rest of Berlin's survivors who were huddled in the city's underground bunkers. (Sounds something like the downfall of Enron, doesn't it?) We sure learned a lot from WWII. One question keeps rearing its ugly head. Why did the Nazis pursue with such vigor the final solution to the Jewish problem? The Jews weren't fighters. They offered no resistance. Why exterminate the Jews? Could it be by exterminating the chosen people, the stewards of humanity, the exterminators would then become the stewards of humanity and take their place as the chosen ones?
By now you should realize 911 was an inside job. Too many unanswered questions. Why did 3 of the most recognized buildings in the world get hit by stolen aircraft piloted by people who couldn't get a Cessna off the ground? Why didn't any of the military air bases around Washington, D.C. scramble any aircraft when they knew they were a target? Just 2 of hundreds of questions that haven't been answered by the people in charge. Do a search on 911 or simply go here if you want to know what happened. At any rate... IF 911 was an inside job by the powers that be (the Western economic system) then it seems they destroyed 3 buildings considered the center of world capitalism and by doing so marked the beginning of the end for themselves. The Third Reich did it. Enron did it. The Western economic system just did it on September 11, 2001 and marked the beginning of the end. They control the news media, so very soon you'll see control of the internet, the last bastion of free speech on the planet, with the help of Bill Gates and Vista. National I.D. cards are next (papers please) followed by microchip implants so you can be tracked anywhere you go. Don't bother looking for cameras. They can see you from space. Only a few more steps before they have total control of what you say, what you do, what you eat, where you live, and IF you should live. Land of the free? I don't think so. But home of the brave seems more like it.
Follow the clues. Look for historical similarities. Don't take my word for it. I may be way off base on this. God, I hope I am. But what if I'm on the right track? What if this system we developed over millennia is inherently flawed and has taken on a life of its own, with no semblance of restraint? On a previous page I suggested the world was run by computers because only computers could contain all information on planet Earth. What if that concept is correct, but instead of the computer's prime directive being lofty goals such as ending famine, war, and poverty, the prime directive is world rule by the few? It just accelerates the inevitable. After all, who owns all the super computers?
Look around you. Rich vs. poor, young vs. old, strong vs. weak, haves vs. have nots, race vs. race. Income tax, IRS, Federal Reserve, international banking elite, government, corporations, credit cards, privately owned media, police state, self mutilation, acid rain, pharmaceuticals, fluoride, mind control, identity theft, surveillance, tracking implants, emotional plague, engineered famine, engineered wars, engineered chaos. Brave new weapons, brave new fears, brave new world. Work 'til May to pay off the interest on imaginary debt. Is this the way things are supposed to be?
What if credit didn't exist? What if we did things that we enjoyed rather than doing things for money? What if education was free? What if everyone was satisfied with enough? What if we used our advanced technology to advance humanity? What if racism and prejudice didn't exist? What if corporations and governments used their vast resources for the betterment of mankind rather than controlling everything until the human spirit is eliminated?
In what ways is life better than it was 10 years ago? 20 years ago? 50 years ago? The world economic system is maxing out. Its core means of existence is to profit more today than yesterday and growth and consumer markets are at their peak. Just like an immortal elephant that keeps on growing, it needs an ever growing food supply. It's already consumed what's left of its body fat and it's beginning to feed on the muscle...YOU.
I'm convinced Armageddon will be a world conflict between the world economic system and spiritual righteousness. There will be one winner and it'll be a fight to the death.
Which side do you choose?