The Struggle for World Dominion

DR. EDWARD HINDSON

Dean, Institute of Biblical Studies

Liberty University

We have now moved to the final round in the struggle for world dominion. The collapse of communism has removed one of the significant players in what one writer has called the “Great Millennial Endgame.” But the end of the Cold War is by no means the end of the struggle for world supremacy. As we approach the third millennium of church history, we may well be running out of options-and time!

Everyone realizes that we are standing on the edge of a new day in world politics. The dramatic changes we have witnessed in Europe, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union tell us that the world is undergoing a massive transformation. The aftermath of World War II finally has been shaken from us like an old rag. Eastern Europe is awakening to a new day of hope and freedom.

At the same time, there is great concern about where all these changes are taking us. Charles Colson recently said, “We sense that things are winding down, that somehow freedom, justice, and order are slipping away. Our great civilization may not yet lie in smoldering ruins, but the enemy is within the gates. The times seem to smell of sunset.” He goes on to suggest that Western civilization is facing the greatest crisis encountered since the barbarians invaded Rome.

Our neglect of God’s revelation has pushed us to the limits of our own rationalization. We have abandoned rationality for irrationality in the attempt to hold onto belief in something-anything-beyond ourselves. All through the 20th Century, we allowed godless secularism to replace the Judeo-Christian values of our society. God has been deliberately and systematically removed from prominence in our culture and in our intellectual lives. We have made him irrelevant to our culture. Tragically, we have also made our culture irrelevant to God. In so doing, we have abandoned our spiritual heritage. The Christian consensus that once dominated Western culture is now shattered. The world is already mired in the quicksand of secularism, relativism, and mysticism. It is a wonder we have survived as long as we have.

In the place of Biblical Christianity, people are now calling for New World Order that consists of the very elements Scripture warns will signify the empire of the Antichrist:

1. World Government

Globalists are now insisting that national governments should surrender their sovereignty to a one-world government. Such a government would operate through a world headquarters, a world court, and even a world military.

2. World Economy

This aspect of globalism is already upon us. No developed nation of any kind can survive today without

networking with the global economy. There is almost no such thing as an “American” product that is not dependent on parts, trade, or investments from foreign countries.

3. World Religion

This will be the final phase of the New World Order. The idea of a new world religion or peace and cooperation is already being proposed. Religious unity has been endorsed by Pope John Paul II, the Dali Lama, and leaders of the World Council of Churches.

What we are witnessing today may well be the fulfillment of the biblical prophecies of the end times. Revelations 13 predicts the rise of a powerful world ruler who is able to control the world politically and economically. This ruler will have at his side a false prophet who promotes a one-world religion.

The New World Order

Today there is a new wave of optimism sweeping across Europe. By the end of 1992, the economic unification of the European Community became complete. “We are past the point of no return,” announced Jacques Delors, the father of European unification. The Europe of the future may well become a political union, the United States of Europe. If this happens, Europe, not America, will be the strongest and most powerful “nation” on earth -- economically, politically, and even militarily. And if the current European Community were to continue to ex-pand into the former Soviet satellites of Eastern Europe and even into Russia itself, Europe would stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the

Pacific Ocean for the first time in history!

The key players in the New Europe will be England, Germany, and Russia. The unification or cooperation of these three superstates could well determine the issue of who controls the world of the future. Already Chancellor Helmut Kohn of the reunified Germany is calling for Germany to “take a bigger role ... in the community of nations.”

Many Christians believe that the resurgence of the New Europe fulfills the biblical prophecies of a revived Roman Empire in the last days. Like the architects of the Tower of Babel, advocates of the New World Order believe that “coming together” will consolidate what were formerly volatile or weak economies and foster global peace and cooperation. Helmut Kohl has said, “The United States of Europe will form the core of a peaceful order ... the age prophesied of old, when all shall dwell secure and none shall make them afraid.”

The real tragedy in all this talk of global unity is the absence of any emphasis on the spiritual roots of democracy and freedom. The Gospel has been blunted in Western Europe for so long that there is little God-conscientiousness left in the European people. Without Christ, the Prince of Peace, there can be no hope for manmade orders of peace and prosperity. There will be no Millennium without the Messiah!

Where Are We Now?

What is now more clear than ever is that we have taken a quantum leap toward the fulfillment of the biblical prophecies of the last days. The stage is now being set for the final climatic act in the long history of the human drama. Things could not have been arranged more perfectly to set the stage for the fulfillment of the prophecies of the end times:

1. The fall of communism has paved the way for a world economy and a world government. The global web is tightening around us every day.

2. Secularism is giving way to New Age mysticism as the do-it-yourself religion of our times. The end result will be the watering down of religious beliefs so that they are more palatable to the general public.

3. Global economic interdependence will eventually lead to a global political system that dominates national sovereignty.

4. Materialism and selfism will replace spiritual values. Mankind will be left in the mindless pursuit of material prosperity as the basis for meaning and value in life.

5. The spiritual vacuum that results will leave the world ready for the ultimate deception: The Great Lie of the Antichrist that will deceive the whole world.

6. A world leader will quickly arise on the international scene prom-ising to bring peace and economic stability. He will receive the support of the European community and eventually control the whole world.

7. A crisis in the Middle East will trigger this world leader’s intervention militarily and politically. He will eventually sign a peace treaty with Israel, only to break it later.

8. A False Prophet of international fame will suddenly emerge to gain control of the world religious system and use it to reinforce the worship of Antichrist.

9. All resistance to the world system will be crushed by a massive worldwide persecution. Men, women, and children will be slaughtered in the name of the World Sate.

10. Israel will become the central figure in the conflict with the World State. The Antichrist will eventually break his covenant with Israel and invade her land, setting the stage for the Battle of Armageddon.

How Close Are We To The End?

There is no doubt in my mind that we are fast approaching the final chapter of human history. The hoofbeats of the four horseman of the Apocalypse can now be heard in the distance. The stage is set for the final act of human drama. The clock is ticking away the last seconds of any hope for a reprieve. We are being swept down the corridor of time to an inevitable date with destiny.

How much time is left? Only God knows! I believe we must use every means at our disposal to preach the gospel of God's saving grace everywhere we can while there is still time. This is not the time to rest on our laurels. Rather, we have a window of opportunity, by the grace of God, and we need to take advantage of it right now! It is time for us Western Christians to take seriously our responsibility to evangelize the world in our lifetime.

If we do not meet this challenge and fulfill our obligation, every kind of false religious cult, every kind of secular materialism, and every kind of moral perversion will rush to fill that vacuum. We alone have the truth that can set men and women free from the chains of spiritual oppression. We must be willing to do all we can to fill that void-now!

Jesus Christ said what we all must realize at this crucial hour: “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4). To the ancient church at Philadelphia, our Lord said, “I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut” (Revelations 3:8). God has also given today’s church an open door to preach the gospel where it has not been heard for a long time. May we rise to the occasion, recognizing that the ultimate struggle for world dominion is between the forces of Christ and the forces of Satan.