Dan Popp
Brexit and the bogeyman of globalism
By Dan Popp
Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. / Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion, too. / Imagine all the people living life in peace. – John Lennon
Globalism is not the inexorable force that some – including Christians – believe it to be. The recent Brexit vote is an example of the fragility of the superstate. The breakup of the Soviet Union is another. In fact, when you think about all the empires that have risen and then fallen, you may shake off the popular impression that independent states are going the way of the dinosaur.
Conservatives sometimes start creasing our tinfoil hats when we hear the phrase, "New World Order." But what did it take for Britons to shrug off the superstate called the European Union? Only to look around and realize that the EU was effectively a mechanism for imposing non-English problems on England. It's the redistribution of failure. If the Greek government won't stop its profligate vote-buying (aka "welfare," "safety net," "social contract," etc.), then all the member-nations will end up paying for their vices. If Angela Merkel allows an inrush of the Moslem hordes into Germany, all of Europe suffers. The superstate turns out to be a kind of least-common-denominator government. The worst consequences of the worst policies bedevil everyone.
Oh, the push for global government is real, no doubt about that. If you ask a barbarian, there's just something wrong with nations. They're so...parochial. You hear it when Hillary speaks about (as some have characterized it) dissolving our borders; when Obama bawls about the potential hardships of enforcing immigration laws; when the green meanies threaten to punish producer-nations from their thrones high atop their own compost heap. You hear it in Lennon's atheist anthem. Or when licensarians sneer at national borders as "imaginary lines drawn by politicians." Behind it all is the naive cry: Can't we evolve past this primitive tribalism? Can't we all just get along?
But nations with borders are God's idea.
"When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel." (Deuteronomy 32:8, NAS95)
"...and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation...." (Acts 17:26)
Christians sometimes don't read their Bibles carefully (I know I often don't) and get a vague notion that a one-world government is now being erected, setting the stage for the Antichrist to appear. I think that's chronologically backwards. John prophesies in Revelation, "For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled." (Revelation 17:17) So the Beast arises first. There have to be kings to give him their kingdoms.
As an aside, some Bible scholars say that the word "until" in that verse implies that these kings will take their power back at some point. One-world government will collapse even under the Antichrist.
In the Old Testament the "nations" were the goy, the Gentiles. The New Testament word ethnos carries a similar idea: cohesive people-groups. A "kingdom," on the other hand, is basileia, a political state. So when Jesus prophesies, "nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom," He's not being redundant; He's probably saying that the "beginning of the birth pangs" will be marked by both racial/ethnic wars and political wars. John Lennon will be so disappointed. Again.
As my final piece of evidence, I give you Revelation 17:12-14.
Globalism is to be fought, but not feared. Superstates may come, but they will go, too. The larger the empire, the more unstable it is. Iron and clay, as Daniel assured us, don't mix. All efforts to create a superstate will continue to fail until the SuperKing is here.
God has set the boundaries of nations. And not even David Cameron or Hillary Clinton can erase them.
© Dan Popp
June 29, 2016
Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. / Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion, too. / Imagine all the people living life in peace. – John Lennon
Globalism is not the inexorable force that some – including Christians – believe it to be. The recent Brexit vote is an example of the fragility of the superstate. The breakup of the Soviet Union is another. In fact, when you think about all the empires that have risen and then fallen, you may shake off the popular impression that independent states are going the way of the dinosaur.
Conservatives sometimes start creasing our tinfoil hats when we hear the phrase, "New World Order." But what did it take for Britons to shrug off the superstate called the European Union? Only to look around and realize that the EU was effectively a mechanism for imposing non-English problems on England. It's the redistribution of failure. If the Greek government won't stop its profligate vote-buying (aka "welfare," "safety net," "social contract," etc.), then all the member-nations will end up paying for their vices. If Angela Merkel allows an inrush of the Moslem hordes into Germany, all of Europe suffers. The superstate turns out to be a kind of least-common-denominator government. The worst consequences of the worst policies bedevil everyone.
Oh, the push for global government is real, no doubt about that. If you ask a barbarian, there's just something wrong with nations. They're so...parochial. You hear it when Hillary speaks about (as some have characterized it) dissolving our borders; when Obama bawls about the potential hardships of enforcing immigration laws; when the green meanies threaten to punish producer-nations from their thrones high atop their own compost heap. You hear it in Lennon's atheist anthem. Or when licensarians sneer at national borders as "imaginary lines drawn by politicians." Behind it all is the naive cry: Can't we evolve past this primitive tribalism? Can't we all just get along?
But nations with borders are God's idea.
"When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel." (Deuteronomy 32:8, NAS95)
"...and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation...." (Acts 17:26)
Christians sometimes don't read their Bibles carefully (I know I often don't) and get a vague notion that a one-world government is now being erected, setting the stage for the Antichrist to appear. I think that's chronologically backwards. John prophesies in Revelation, "For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled." (Revelation 17:17) So the Beast arises first. There have to be kings to give him their kingdoms.
As an aside, some Bible scholars say that the word "until" in that verse implies that these kings will take their power back at some point. One-world government will collapse even under the Antichrist.
In the Old Testament the "nations" were the goy, the Gentiles. The New Testament word ethnos carries a similar idea: cohesive people-groups. A "kingdom," on the other hand, is basileia, a political state. So when Jesus prophesies, "nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom," He's not being redundant; He's probably saying that the "beginning of the birth pangs" will be marked by both racial/ethnic wars and political wars. John Lennon will be so disappointed. Again.
As my final piece of evidence, I give you Revelation 17:12-14.
-
The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.
Globalism is to be fought, but not feared. Superstates may come, but they will go, too. The larger the empire, the more unstable it is. Iron and clay, as Daniel assured us, don't mix. All efforts to create a superstate will continue to fail until the SuperKing is here.
God has set the boundaries of nations. And not even David Cameron or Hillary Clinton can erase them.
© Dan Popp
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