Jesus Christ will come again to this earth!

“This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:14

Jesus Christ will come again to this earth! The first time Jesus came in bodily form, He came to Israel about 2,000 years ago to suffer and die on the cross for our sins.

The next time He comes, Jesus Christ will come as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will ride on a white horse and lead the armies of heaven. We do not know the day or the hour when Jesus will return; no one knows that except God Himself.

We do know that there are many prophecies in the Bible that tell of future events. Many of these have already been fulfilled; this is one of the many ways we know that the Bible is God’s Word. Other prophecies have yet to be fulfilled but will happen at the end of this age. When Christ returns, He will set up His kingdom on this earth and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So whether Jesus returns soon or whether it is a thousand years from now, let us be ready! Let us do each day the things that God asks us to do, and let us be ready someday to welcome Jesus Christ as OUR King of Kings and Savior and Lord of Lords.

This week, let us pray and ask God

• To help us be ready to someday welcome Jesus Christ back to this earth
• To help Global Media Outreach reach millions of more people for Jesus Christ
• To protect our staff and volunteers as we reach people for Jesus

THANK YOU so much for your prayers. God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life — now and forever! Let us worship and praise Him forever.

May God bless you,

The "American Century": What Was Really Behind It?

Seldom has a nation dominated an era as the United States dominated much of the 20th century. Its remarkable achievements transformed the world for decades. But what was really behind its amazing accomplishments? Is there more than meets the eye?

In the history of the world, never has a nation come into power, wealth and world influence as rapidly as the United States in the 20th century. The "American Century," as some historians have labeled it, saw a union of states that had almost split apart in the 1860s rise to world power status and levels of wealth unimagined in the 19th century.

But was it merely American will and energy and luck, combined with a republican form of government, that allowed this to happen? Or is there another reason we can point to that turned a nation of immigrants into the powerhouse it became?

The background most don't realize

The biblical patriarch Abraham is acknowledged as the father of the Jewish and Arab peoples today. But what most do not realize is that he was also the father of the Anglo-Saxon peoples of the British Commonwealth and the United States.

The Good News explored that little-known history in our January-February 2010 issue. For the full story, we invite you to review it and also to request or download our free booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy, the fascinating but true account of American and British national ancestry.

Suffice it to say here that God passed the national promises made to Abraham on to his grandson Jacob. When old and near death, Jacob conferred these promises to his grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh.

Let's follow the scene in Genesis 48. Jacob's son Joseph presented his own sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to their grandfather. Jacob then laid his hands on Joseph's sons to transfer the blessings to them. Crossing his arms so that Ephraim, the younger, would receive the greater blessing, Jacob pronounced the future of these lads, a future that stretched out thousands of years from that time.

Jacob said of the descendants of the two boys: "He [Manasseh] also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations" (Genesis 48:19).

Notice also that Abraham's descendants were to number into the hundreds of millions! God promised him, "Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south" (Genesis 28:14).

These promises were never fulfilled in biblical times. While they experienced some significant periods of national wealth and power, Abraham's descendants, the Israelites, did not then rise to the level of greatness and dominion that had been foretold. Eventually they were carried away into national captivity at the hands of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires in the eighth and sixth centuries B.C., respectively.

If the promises made to Abraham and passed down to Ephraim and Manasseh were ever fulfilled, it would have to have been later—much later, in our day! As we will see, the promise of a large population was a key to American achievements and the fulfillment of some of the other promises of national greatness in the 20th century.

The amazing truth is that the people of the United States are descended in large part from Manasseh (while Britain and other nations of British heritage are descended from Ephraim).

The national commitment of World War II

Except for its two-year intervention on the side of Great Britain and France in World War I, the first 40 years of the 20th century were peaceful for the United States. This long period of peace allowed tremendous expansion in power and wealth.

American industrial might blossomed. By the late 1920s, the United States had surpassed Great Britain and Germany as the world's leading coal, steel and iron producer. Its manufacturing ability transformed the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. By 1940, most American families owned an automobile, a refrigerator and most of the other accoutrements of modern life.

But the peaceful life Americans enjoyed in 1940 was soon to change as the nation watched the growing Nazi storm in Europe and Japanese imperial expansion in Asia. Isolation, the belief that this was not America's war, evaporated on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese launched a preemptive strike at the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The United States entered World War II with the solid backing of the majority of Americans and a commitment to the all-out national effort needed for victory.

Among the blessings promised to Joseph's descendants were "blessings of the breasts and of the womb" (Genesis 49:25). The early 20th century saw the fulfillment of that prophecy among the descendants of Manasseh, when from 1900 to 1940 the U.S. population doubled to more than 130 million, fueled by a high birthrate and immigration.

An advanced and mechanized agricultural system, combined with efficient transportation based on the world's leading railway system, also made it one of the world's healthiest populations. After Pearl Harbor, millions of healthy young men—and women—volunteered for the armed forces. The United States was ultimately able to field some 16 million in uniform.

World War II saw the use of mechanized war machinery on a scale unprecedented in the history of warfare. Fighting in both Europe and the Pacific required a vast output of guns, tanks, aircraft and ships. American industry quickly converted from producing consumer goods to producing goods for the war effort.

At Ypsilanti, Michigan, the Ford Motor Company's gigantic Willow Run plant began turning out B-24 bombers by the hundreds, then thousands. At its peak in August 1944 the Willow Run plant produced 14 B-24s every day. Those bombers were crucial in systematically demolishing the industrial capacity of Germany and Japan, reducing their capacity to wage war.

All these war goods and the millions of troops had to be delivered to the fronts. America's railroads provided an efficient way to move troops and war material to America's ports. By 1940 the U.S. merchant fleet had become one of the world's two largest, along with Great Britain's. This vast fleet of thousands of ships was needed to transport troops and war materiel to Europe and the Pacific.

Sudden mastery of the seas

But with the outbreak of war on two fronts, American shipping needs grew. Henry Kaiser was one of America's leading industrialists. A master of manufacturing efficiency, he contracted with the U.S. government to produce "liberty ships"—slow-moving freighters designed to do one thing: transport lots of armaments and supplies efficiently. Kaiser streamlined production techniques at his shipyards, eventually launching a new liberty ship every 10 days.

Victory in the Second World War required mastery of the seas. Between them, the United States and British Commonwealth controlled most of the major sea gates—such as the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Strait of Hormuz and the English Channel—that could be used as choke points for shipping. Notice that God told Abraham that his descendants would "possess the gate of their enemies" (Genesis 22:17).

The Royal Navy controlled shipping in the English Channel and Suez Canal. America used the Panama Canal to save weeks of transit time for cargoes from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific. Without control of these passages, victory would have been much more difficult.

The beginning of the end for Nazi Germany probably was the German defeat at Stalingrad in December 1942. But ultimate defeat for Hitler's dream of a Nazi empire accelerated in June 1944 when thousands of American and British forces landed on D-Day at Normandy, on the French coast.

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, as commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, agonized on the date to launch the invasion. Several days of bad weather made aircraft reconnaissance impossible and seas too rough for the landing craft.

But a break in the weather was forecast for June 6. Early that morning, German defenders on bluffs overlooking the beaches were stunned to peer out over the English Channel and see nearly 5,000 ships. Many felt the hand of God was involved in providing the crucial weather break needed to launch the invasion.

Some of the fiercest fighting of the war took place over the 11 months that followed, leading to Germany's surrender in early May 1945. Trapped in Berlin, Hitler committed suicide. The nightmare of Nazi oppression was past. But a defiant Japan still had to be dealt with.

Several millennia earlier, God had described to ancient Israel the blessings that would follow if they honored and obeyed Him: "You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight" (Leviticus 26:7-8).

Except to some degree during the time of Joshua and a few times under David and Solomon, this prophecy likewise was never fulfilled. Yet a development occurred toward the end of World War II that could be deemed a latter-day fulfillment of that prophecy.

It provided America, a nation that comprised only 5 percent of the world's population, with the power to militarily control the other 95 percent. For the short time that the United States was the sole possessor of nuclear weapons, it made the United States the undisputed military leader of the world.

The Manhattan Project

Despite its advantages in manpower, industrial capacity and wealth, America realized that its war effort could be trumped if the Axis powers successfully developed a long-rumored "secret weapon."

By the late 1930s, several of the world's leading physicists, such as Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi and Albert Einstein in the United States, and Otto Hahn, Fritz Strassmann and Werner Heisenberg in Germany, had concluded that the tremendous, almost unimaginable energy locked in the nucleus of the atom could be released to create a weapon so destructive that the first nation to possess it would be assured of victory.

In Germany, Adolf Hitler was aware of this and ordered a research and development project to produce an atomic bomb.

As America began its rapid mobilization to enter the war in early 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt had also been informed about the destructive potential of nuclear energy. Historians acknowledge that America's decision to pursue a nuclear weapon stemmed largely from fears that Nazi Germany was already at work on one.

In the United States, Oppenheimer and Einstein, the latter a brilliant Jewish physicist who fled Germany in 1937, had worked out the theoretical framework for the bomb. Einstein wrote several letters to Roosevelt, urging action before Germany could take the lead. But it would take a vast national commitment of resources to support the research and development to get from theory to actually having a weapon to deliver.

Roosevelt appointed Oppenheimer to head up a research group to study the feasibility of using nuclear fission, the splitting of the atomic nucleus, as the basis of the weapon.

In the fall of 1942, with Germany in control of Europe and Allied forces reeling in the Pacific, Roosevelt gave the Manhattan Project the green light. Production of the bomb would require uranium-235, the addition of plutonium (an extremely rare element produced from uranium) and a site for final production of the weapon.

It was decided that these activities would be carried on, in utmost secrecy, at three laboratories that were established in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; in Los Alamos, New Mexico; and in Richland, Washington. Later in the war a research site was established in Canada at Chalk River, Ontario, where scientists and engineers from Britain, Canada, New Zealand and other nations carried on additional research.

The main requirement was the production of enriched uranium-235, which would require a remote location where secrecy could be maintained. So in late 1942, with utmost secrecy, the U.S. government purchased a 60,000-acre tract of secluded, wooded land in Anderson County, Tennessee, about 30 miles west of Knoxville. So tight was the secrecy that even Tennessee's governor at the time had little awareness of Oak Ridge's real purpose.

Production of plutonium required a large nuclear reactor. The Hanford site near Richland, Washington, was chosen for its location near the Columbia River, a source that could supply water to cool the reactors required for plutonium production.

On a bleak mesa in New Mexico, the government created the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In addition to being the main "think tank," Los Alamos was responsible for final assembly of the bombs, mainly from materials and components produced at Oak Ridge. It was at Los Alamos that final bomb manufacturing took place—where casings, explosive lenses and enriched uranium were assembled into the actual weapons.

Early on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, a trio of B-29 bombers took off from a base at Tinian Island, about 1,800 miles from Japan. Col. Paul Tibbets commanded the lead plane, the Enola Gay, which carried the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare.

The target city, Hiroshima, was deemed to have considerable industrial and military significance. At 8:15 a.m. Tibbets released the bomb, "Little Boy." The resulting blast was brighter than the sun. It produced temperatures greater than 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and a shock wave that approached 700 miles per hour.

On Aug. 9 a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, an important port city and industrial center in the south of Japan. Between them, the two bombings resulted in unbelievable destruction.

On Aug. 15 millions of Japanese citizens huddled around their radios to hear an important announcement by their revered emperor. Hirohito told his people of his decision to accept the Allied terms of surrender. To fail to do so, he told them, would "result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation." World War II, in which some 60 million people had died, was now over.

Putting a man on the moon

Victory by the Allied forces in World War II left the United States as the world's undisputed supreme power. But within a few years, the Soviet Union also had atomic weapons. And in the next decade, these two powers would square off in another race for world prestige—the space race.

Victory in Europe at the close of World War II brought an unexpected and, at the time, unrealized benefit to the United States. A virtually unknown band of 118 German scientists and engineers decided to surrender to the U.S. Army rather than fall into the hands of the Soviet Red Army.

Their young leader, the brilliant and charismatic Wernher von Braun, had led Germany's efforts to develop the V-2 liquid-propelled rockets that rained by the hundreds on England late in the war. Fortunately for England, the V-2's crude guidance system caused most of the rockets, armed with deadly one-ton explosive warheads, to miss their marks.

But Von Braun had proven the viability of liquid-fueled rockets, and the V-2 would prove the developmental grandparent of America's Saturn V, the giant rocket that less than 25 years later would launch men to the moon.

Amid the chaos of the end of the war, the U.S. Army gathered up all the V-2 parts and pieces they could find and sent them with the Von Braun team to the U.S. military base at Ft. Bliss, Texas. Under U.S. Army direction, Von Braun and his group continued the research and development of rockets. Aided by a growing team of American scientists and engineers who would soon take the forefront, V-2s achieved higher and higher altitudes—up to 244 miles in 1949.

The term rocket soon gave way to a new term: guided missile, a large rocket, directed in flight by a sophisticated guidance system, that could travel up to thousands of miles to deliver a warhead—even a nuclear one. But Von Braun had always dreamed of space travel. From his earliest years, he knew that rockets could carry human beings into space.

The Russian launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957 caught America off guard. Development of rockets to carry human beings accelerated, and early in 1961 America was able to launch Alan Shepard into a suborbital flight. Shortly afterward John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth.

By the late 1950s, the United States was involved in the space race, but it was not a national commitment. Congress decided by 1958 to make space exploration a civilian function, and that year created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA would soon become an acronym well-known to the average American.

The elections of 1960 produced a new, energetic young president. John F. Kennedy was a believer in space exploration and saw it as a cause, a national project, on which to focus the nation's attention. In a speech before Congress in May 1961, Kennedy issued the challenge: "First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

Kennedy's electrifying announcement gave rise to the Apollo-Saturn program, the national effort to put a man on the moon. In Huntsville, Alabama, NASA established the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, devoted to the development of large rockets whose sole mission was to lift not weapons of mass destruction, but human and scientific payloads into space.

With Von Braun at the helm of these efforts, the United States developed the Saturn series of ever-larger and more powerful booster rockets, culminating with the gigantic Saturn V.

American TV viewers thrilled to the sight of the July 1969 launch of Apollo 11, the mission to the moon. As the Saturn V lifted off from Florida's Cape Kennedy, with a 500-foot shaft of flame and a rumble like that of an earthquake, Americans knew that three brave men were taking the ride of their lives.

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were on their way to the moon. When the lunar lander successfully touched down on the moon's surface, Armstrong radioed to earth: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." America had beaten the Soviet Union to the moon. In the 40 years since, only a handful of Americans, and no one from other countries, have set foot on the moon.

Apollo 11 excited the American people as few other events in the nation's history. Many saw the hand of God in the American triumph as a Christian nation beat the atheistic, communist Soviet Union in a supreme effort of national will and commitment of resources.

Promises fulfilled—now what?

God Almighty keeps His Word, and there can be little doubt that the promises made to Abraham have been fulfilled. The British Commonwealth and the United States became the multitude of nations and the great nation promised in Genesis 35:11 and 48:19. But God also told ancient Israel that the promises could be taken away. Read Deuteronomy 28 and 29 to see what God said would befall His people if they rejected His way and turned their back on Him.

Notice also Leviticus 26:19: "I will break the pride of your power," God warned. At the beginning of the 21st century the United States is still, militarily, the world's leading power. But the nation is bogged down in bloody and costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The United States is still leader of the free world, but cannot seem to stop rogue nations like Iran and North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. America wrestles with the problem of militant Islam, and many wonder if the Muslim conquests of the seventh century will be repeated. The nation's law enforcement agencies must constantly guard against a devastating terrorist attack that could come at any time and in any place.

Economically, the United States has been transformed from the world's leading lending nation to its greatest debtor. And in Europe, an economic bloc is rising whose combined output easily surpasses the United States. In Asia, the ancient nation of China is rising rapidly as another major competing economic force.

Blessings can be given, and blessings can be taken away. America has been richly blessed, enabling great national achievements such as those we've noted. And we could easily name many more.

But it is time for Americans to realize their place in the world, wake up to what is really going on and soberly pay attention to what the Creator says is in store for the nation if its people do not turn their hearts and mend their ways.

Have Faith In God

(Jesus teaching). "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear...". Matthew 6:25

Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world for all who truly receive Him. He also is the world's greatest teacher. When He was on earth 2,000 years ago, He taught us many things.

Here are just a few of Jesus' teachings. He taught us to love even our enemies. Jesus said "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...". He taught us to have faith. "Have faith in God."

He taught us of the greatness of God. "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.". He said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."

Jesus taught many other things. You can read His teachings in the Bible in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

This week, let is pray that

• God will help us learn and obey the teachings of Jesus
• God will bless someone who has wronged us
• God will protect and preserve our ministry at Global Media Outreach

THANK YOU for your prayers!

May God bless you,

Exposed

As we work and develop, we grow strong; as we don’t work, we grow weak. We do not stay the same for long. What we become is not an accident—it is a product of effort or a product of neglect. No matter what we are, we can always choose to be better. Our weaknesses or strengths can be exposed by a crisis. In seeing ourselves exposed, we can develop the determination to become better.

Students are tested at school so they know which areas need improvement and so the teacher knows which areas need more attention. God tests us frequently so we can see ourselves and change and so He knows what we will do (James 1:12-14). We cannot stay hidden from God and simply coast through life. We will be exposed. When crisis comes, you can stand strong and full of hope. Knowing we cannot hide is a good motivator for self-examination and change. Let’s take the trials in our lives as opportunities to grow in our character.

The Grand Design of Stephen Hawking's Universe

One hot summer afternoon at a church youth campout I asked about a dozen and a half thoughtful teenagers in my congregation to consider a key point from legendary physicist Stephen Hawking's most recent book The Grand Design.

I read the following excerpts from the London Telegraph of Sept. 2 for their analysis:

"Hawking said: 'Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist...'

"In June this year Prof Hawking told a Channel 4 series that he didn't believe that a 'personal' God existed. He told Genius of Britain: 'The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second.'"

I asked the teens to analyze those statements. To be fair, I had to read them twice. It was hot and they'd stayed up late the night before sitting around the campfire, visiting and admiring the constellations that are impossible to see from their own backyards in the city. Their mental wheels were turning, but they needed one more reading, emphasizing the key phrases—"Because there is a law such as gravity" and "the universe...was...determined by a law of science."

Suddenly they had it! One of the girls articulated the problem first. Although the great professor understood the amazing complexity of modern scientific thinking, he was presupposing the existence of the natural laws of physics that govern the universe. (Or, instead of universe, shall we say "multiverse" to reflect the current "M-theory" that conjectures we live in one of many existing universes?)

Smart kids

Another of the teens chimed in, voicing the real killer question that defeats modern atheistic thinking: "Where did the laws of physics come from?"

Stephen Hawking and his coauthor and leading Caltech physicist Leonard Mlodinow reason from the premise that those laws do exist. We expected that because that's where most of modern science starts thinking. Based on the laws of physics, they can envision things like the Big Bang origin of the—or at least our—universe.

So Professor Hawking said, "Because there is such a law as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing." But as Julie Andrews, playing Maria in The Sound of Music, sang with remarkable scientific veracity, "Nothing comes from nothing; nothing ever could"!

The point is, the laws of physics are not nothing. Even our tired teenagers knew that.

The law gap

This is a great gap in atheistic thinking: the existence of physical law.

So where do laws come from?

Consider the specific evidence of the laws of society. National and local laws do not simply generate themselves, nor can we claim that they have always existed. They originate with people.

Likewise, where did the laws of physics that intricately govern the universe come from? Because these physical laws are so powerful and constant, they must come from a transcendently powerful lawmaker and sustainer (law enforcer). It's ludicrous to simply claim that the laws of physics, mathematics, chemistry and other sciences have just always existed.

What's the conclusion? In spite of and with respect for Professors Hawking's and Mlodinow's credentials and expertise, there is a God. That God is the great Lawmaker and Sustainer who created the laws of physics that govern the universe of His making.

Turtle laws of physics

Stephen Hawking included a wonderful story with an unexpected lesson on the first page of his 1988 best-seller, A Brief History of Time.

"A well-known scientist...once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady...said: 'What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.' The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, 'What is the tortoise standing on?' 'You're very clever, young man, very clever,' said the old lady. 'But it's turtles all the way down!'"

For modern science to claim that the laws of physics have always existed with no Lawmaker is like saying, "It's turtles all the way back."

Yet at the same time Professor Hawking was absolutely correct to choose as the title for his book The Grand Design, because, in fact, there was and is a grand design being worked out here below and you can be a part of it!

Has America Lost Its Way?

Increasingly it seems that the United States cannot solve its problems—whether it be the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, illegal immigration or the Gulf oil spill. Previous generations seemed to know what to do. Has America lost its way?

When I'm home on Sundays I try to watch The McLaughlin Group on PBS, which I find to be the most enlightening discussion on television. My daughter refers to it as my "shouting program" and invariably leaves the room. It's a 25-minute discussion on current events sponsored by The Financial Times, one of the world's most prestigious newspapers.

One of the regular contributors is conservative columnist and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. On a recent program when the Gulf oil spill was being discussed, he made a profound and insightful comment. Paraphrasing his words, he observed: "Just look at us. We can't cap an oil spill in the Gulf, we can't balance our budget, we can't police our borders and we can't win our wars! How can the world take us seriously?"

Clearly something has gone seriously wrong in the United States, and Americans are increasingly aware of it.

The big issue—the economy

The economy remains the number one issue. As I write this, TV news programs are highlighting the fact that consumer spending is going down, meaning that people are worried about the immediate future. Also, GDP growth slowed in the second quarter of the year to 2.4 percent. This rate of growth is not enough to put a dent in the increasingly worrisome unemployment figures.

Whereas the official unemployment rate is under 10 percent, the real figure is closer to 16.5 percent, according to various financial and economic sources. The reason for the discrepancy is the way the unemployment figures are calculated.

The long-term unemployed are dropped from the figures after they stop reporting that they are looking for work. These so-called "discouraged workers" may still be looking but have no reason to report it after their benefits run out, or they may have taken part-time work to try to get by, and so could be called underemployed.

The most widely reported figure from the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts as unemployed only those who have reported actively looking for work in the previous four weeks, leading to systematic undercounting.

Making things worse is that many of those who are employed are working shorter hours, suffering through a prolonged period of reduced pay. There's little wonder consumers are not spending as before.

Illegal immigration a major issue

This stubbornly high unemployment rate is no doubt a contributing factor to increased fears over illegal immigration. When unemployment is high in any country, citizens will turn against immigrants who are seen as taking their jobs at lower pay. Reality is not as simple as that, since many immigrants, especially those who are in the United States illegally, will do jobs most Americans are not inclined to do.

Arizona's new law giving police the right to check whether a person is in the country legally is being fought by the federal government, sending a clear signal to Americans that Washington lacks a serious commitment to securing America's borders. The president has made statements expressing support for the 12 million illegals' desire for full citizenship, and cynics sometimes refer to "illegal aliens" as "undocumented Democrats," as conferring citizenship on them and allowing them to vote would considerably sway elections.

It should also be pointed out that the Republicans are not blameless, as many of them want the illegals to stay since they keep labor costs down for businesses. Either way, nothing is likely to be done.

What's wrong with the economy?

In the same year that the United States declared itself independent from Great Britain, the Scottish economist Adam Smith wrote his book The Wealth of Nations. Smith was an advocate of free enterprise. He believed that when individuals pursued their own personal interest, society as a whole benefited. He strongly supported free-market competition, which helped everyone by keeping prices low while at the same time providing incentive to produce a broad range of products and services.

The wealth of both the United States and Great Britain was built on the free enterprise system promulgated by Smith and his followers. After World War II, Britain turned increasingly away from those principles, advancing the power of the state at the expense of the individual. Consequently, Britain lost its preeminent position and its empire, succumbing increasingly to foreign competition where Smith's principles are increasingly making inroads. India and China are two notable examples.

The United States, regrettably, seems to be following in England's footsteps. The government sector is growing by sucking wealth and resources from the private sector.

Federal government jobs, according to several recent reports, now pay on average double what the private sector pays. Almost 50 percent of Americans depend on government for their livelihood in one way or another. The present administration seems set to increase the role of the state sector further.

Ironically, at the same time a communist country on the other side of the Pacific—China—moves closer to free enterprise principles to promote economic growth.

It's not too difficult to see why the United States is in serious trouble. Nor is it hard to see the solution. Quite simply, the government sector (both federal and state) needs to be downsized, thereby enabling taxes to come down and giving a boost to private enterprise.

More than 3,000 years ago, God warned the ancient Israelites about the tendency of government to keep on expanding at the expense of the private sector, increasing the hardship on businesses and the general public. When the Israelites asked for a human leader like the other nations (1 Samuel 8:5), God warned them that the king would take more and more from them in the form of taxation until "you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day" (verse 18).

Until the United States reduces the size of government and encourages private business and individual initiative, it will not solve its economic problems and will continue to decline.

Why can't the United States win its wars?

Aug. 15, 1945, was the last time the United States conclusively won a major war. That was World War II, and the United States was in alliance with the British Empire and the Soviet Union.

A few years later came the Korean War, which, as evidenced by the recent sinking of a South Korean warship by a North Korean submarine, ended in a dangerous and uneasy stalemate that remains unresolved to this day. On the heels of the Korean War came Vietnam, a war that the United States gave up on.

More recently we have seen two wars against Iraq. The first Persian Gulf War left Saddam Hussein in power, with the result that the second war there was fought over a decade later. Saddam was deposed and later executed, but the struggle in Iraq against insurgents is still ongoing. Furthermore, the toppling of Saddam has allowed Iran—for a long time held in check by Iraq—to become a regional superpower and a major threat to the United States, Israel and its neighbors.

Meanwhile, after nine years the war in Afghanistan continues, with the Taliban seeming to gain the upper hand more recently. The world watches puzzled as the greatest military power cannot defeat ill-equipped zealots holed up in caves!

What's wrong with this picture?

Why has the United States not been winning its wars? Part of the problem is that the United States has misread some of these conflicts.

For example, Vietnam was not so much about democracy versus communism as about nationalism versus colonialism. The Vietnamese defeated their French colonial rulers in 1954. After more than a century of foreign domination, they did not want another group of foreigners telling them how to run their country.

The American war there was simply a continuation of the wars the Vietnamese had fought against both the Japanese and the French. Ironically, 35 years after America's defeat, Vietnam is a nation that, like China, is venturing into free enterprise as the way ahead.

A similar error in American judgment has taken place in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Clearly there was little enthusiasm for Western-style democracy in either nation. Meanwhile, tribal and religious loyalties have complicated conflicts that go back centuries and are not likely to be resolved by America and its allies.

At the same time, the financial cost has been horrendous and has contributed greatly to America's current fiscal deficit. America urgently needs a new and effective strategy.

The problems come back primarily to America's biblical name, which is Manasseh, meaning "forgetting." (For a fuller understanding of this, download or request our free booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy.)

Americans in recent decades tend not to know their history and repeat the mistakes other nations made in the past. For example, Afghanistan has been called "the graveyard of empires" for obvious reasons. The last major power to fight a war there, the Soviet Union, collapsed after more than a decade of fighting.

It was the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that led to the current war in Afghanistan. There are other ways to prevent another 9/11. Remembering that all 19 suicide hijackers that day came from the Middle East, changes in the country's immigration laws—or even enforcement of the laws already in place—would seem a logical place to start!

From blessings to curses

It wasn't so long ago that Americans could boast that they had never lost a war. Why has this not been the case in recent decades? The Bible gives us the answer.

Two chapters in the Old Testament, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, are often called the "blessings and curses" chapters. These chapters promise blessings for obedience to God's law and negative consequences or curses for disobedience. In Deuteronomy 28:7 the Israelites were promised victory as a result of their dedication to God. But in verse 25 they were told they would suffer defeat due to turning away from God and His laws.

This has been the history of the United States, one of the modern nations descended from the ancient Israelites. The nation was founded on Christian principles by a deeply religious people. In the last 50 years, however, it has become increasingly secular, rejecting and even denying its Christian roots. Now we are increasingly seeing the negative consequences mount up.

The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote: "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it" (Isaiah 1:5-6).

Today it seems that America's leaders make few, if any, sensible decisions—that when the United States is confronted with a challenge, any challenge, the wrong decision is made. Moreover, it seems increasingly clear that the decisions these leaders make are the exact opposite of what earlier generations of U.S. leaders would have said or done. Thus it seems as if the country really has reversed course.

America has truly lost its way as it enters dangerous and uncharted waters!

Faithful in the Little Things

The Bible tells us that if a person is faithful in little things, he or she will also be faithful in the big things (Luke 16:10). This is a principle of living that is like a two-edged sword, because the opposite is also true.

If we lie a little, it is easier to tell bigger and bigger lies. If we steal a little, we will soon steal more. This side of the sword shows how we can slowly deteriorate by doing a little evil.

We should be faithful in the little things of friendship, outgoing concern for others, prayer and knowledge of God. Take time each day to do the little things that are pleasing to God. This positive side of the sword reveals how we get better little by little. Show patience and kindness, self-control and diligence. These are some little things that allow us to become more like our Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:48).

What is the meaning of the hundred years mentioned in Isaiah 65:20?

Is the 100 years symbolic? When will this event take place?

The setting of Isaiah 65 is a prophecy about the time when the Kingdom of God will govern the entire world. The book of Revelation complements many Old Testament prophecies, including this one. Revelation 20:5 tells us that there will be a resurrection after the first 1,000 years of Christ's reign. Verses 11-13 add more detail, explaining that God will bring people who were not called to salvation during their initial lifetime back to life again.

In the Church of God, we often refer to this time as the Great White Throne Judgment, because of the description of God's throne in these verses. How long is this period? These verses in Revelation do not tell us. Instead, they focus on the purpose for it—to give everyone an opportunity to respond to God's calling and to live the Christian way of life.

Some have said that God intends to show us through Isaiah 65:20, where the phrase "one hundred years" appears twice, that this time frame is 100 years. That may be the case, or it may be a way to emphasize the same principle given in Revelation 20. That is, the people will have the time that they need to respond to God's calling and live the Christian way of life. "One hundred years" may be a way of making that point, rather than a literal prophecy.

Due to the limited evidence available, the Church cannot say with certainty that this will be a total of 100 years. There are different alternatives for interpreting this verse, while maintaining the teaching of three resurrections. The following is an excerpt from our "Resurrections" study paper.

1. The Great White Throne Judgment will last for 100 years. The Church of God has taught that this will be a testing period of 100 years, during which billions of children and adults would have an opportunity to inherit eternal life. Therefore the death of the "sinner being one hundred years old" has been considered to be the second death. God certainly could do things this way if He so chooses.

2. Life spans will exceed 100 years during the Great White Throne Judgment. This verse certainly conveys a time of longevity, though not necessarily an exact "one hundred years." Isaiah 65:20 says, "No more shall an infant [uwl, 'suckling'] from there live but a few days . . . For the child [naar, 'young, youth, young man'] shall die one hundred years old" (Enhanced Strong's Lexicon, Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995). This could be describing pre-Flood-type conditions where 100 years are a small portion of one's life. If so, then those who are only 100 years old will be considered a "child, youth" or "young man" at 100 years old. And to die at this age would be analogous to a premature death.

3. Isaiah 65:20 describes a time during the Millennium. If so, then this would provide plenty of time for the pre-Flood-type extended life spans (see above). Under this scenario, one might expect the same type of life spans during the Great White Throne Judgment time period.

A Short Course in Human Relations

Find opportunities to say these words every day and you can create a new positive environment.

Years ago I read an anonymous poem "A Short Course in Human Relations." It goes like this:

• The six most important words:
• I admit that I was wrong.
• The five most important words:
• You did a great job.
• The four most important words:
• What do you think?
• The three most important words:
• Could you please...
• The two most important words:
• Thank you.
• The most important word:
• We.
• The least important word:
• I.

These few words not only outline important management principles, but apply to all human relationships. Keep these words posted on your desk or dash of your car: "I admit that I was wrong"..."you did a great job"..."what do you think"..."could you please"..."thank you"..."we".

Find opportunities to say these words every day and you can create a new positive environment in your workplace, church or family.

Christ in us, the Hope of Glory

(Jesus speaking) “If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth...He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14: 15-18

Jesus Christ said He would never leave us or forsake us. What does this mean?

When Jesus died on the cross and then rose from the dead, He spoke to his followers and told them He would never leave them and He would be with them always, even to the end of the world. A few weeks after He rose from the dead, Jesus rose into heaven where He now sits at the right hand of God His Father.

How can He be with us now? Jesus Christ is with us in that He lives spiritually in our hearts, in the hearts of all true believers in Jesus Christ. You cannot see Him because He is here spiritually. Some day we will see Jesus again when He returns to this earth or when we see Him in heaven. But right now, when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, He comes to live in your heart.

So wherever you go, Jesus Christ is there. He loves you and He hears your prayers in His name. “Christ in us, the hope of glory.” We serve a living Savior and Lord who rose from the dead and now lives in us by the power of His wonderful Holy Spirit. Truly Jesus Christ is with us always, even to the end of the world.

So, this week, let us pray and ask God to

• Help us realize every day that Jesus Christ is with us always
• Bless our loved ones with the knowledge of His love
• Protect and give wisdom to our staff and volunteers here at Global Media Outreach

THANK YOU so much for your prayers. God loves you and so do we!

May God bless you,

Varnish

Varnish can mean a superficial polish to conceal some defect or inadequacy. Applied to people, it is the false front one sees all too often projected by politicians and others who desire to look good to the public. It is like beauty that we see, but which is only skin deep. Beauty fades in time and our concept of beauty changes. It is not wrong to enhance the outward appearance to some extent, but it is wrong when the purpose will deceive those who view whatever it is.

Instead of focusing merely on the outside appearance, we should look to what our core contains. It is the true value within us that helps us work for the greater good of all. It is the strengthening and increase of human ability. We paint the surface of many of our goods, but the quality of the product is inside. The lesson is that our appearance is important, but what we do not see is even more important. Don’t always judge what you see by the varnish (James 2:1-9).

Was Animal-Loving Discovery Channel Gunman Right About Humans?

On Sept. 1 an armed gunman with explosive devices strapped to his body took three hostages whom he held captive for four hours, until he was shot by Montgomery County Police in Maryland. The gunman, James Lee, apparently had taken issue in the past with Discovery Channel, railing against its environmental programming.

His postings included the following: "I want Discovery Communications to broadcast on their channels to the world their new program lineup and I want proof they are doing so. I want the new shows started by asking the public for inventive solution ideas to save the planet and the remaining wildlife on it." He also wrote: "Nothing is more important than saving...the Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels. The humans? The planet does not need humans."

"Given to the children of men"

While it is vital to preserve and protect our earthly environment, the fact is that God created this planet for human habitation. "The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; but the earth He has given to the children of men" (Psalm 115:16). God put humanity upon the earth in order that we might "tend and keep it" (Genesis 2:15).

How well have we performed this assignment? The earth was a lush paradise when God first created it. There are still many places of outstanding beauty, but as most anyone will tell you, we have also despoiled much of the earth. The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is just one example.

Cause for despair

This is all tragic, but the greatest of human tragedies is the way we have corrupted the human soul and psyche. Some years ago, American author Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) stated that modern man behaves like a wild animal: "The daily news tells us again and again that, with all his knowledge and with all his refined ways, modern man remains the wildest animal... What makes me despair more than anything is that scientists, whom God has given great brains and a lot of diligence, sell their achievements to murderers. Every day we get more and more inventions, and many of them are used for killing our brothers and sisters" (U.S. News and World Report, 1983).

Murder of brother by brother has been happening from the beginning. Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve, killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8). As earth's population increased, murder became a constant. As nations became large, the result was manifold slaughter through warfare. This included slaughter of civilians as well as troops on the battlefield.

Beastly behavior

Man is not in actuality an animal. We are made in the image of God, and there is a vast chasm between us and even the "highest" of animals. However, unregenerate humans do exhibit behavior that is so beastly at times that the Bible uses animal analogies in representing our rampaging behavior, particularly that of armies in times of warfare.

In Daniel 7 God used the symbolism of four beasts to represent conquering armies through the ages, because their tactics have been brutal and animalistic. When locked in the grip of war, man is often the wildest of all "animals." Estimates of those killed in the two world wars of the 20th century range between 50 and 70 million.

While we do not agree with James Lee that "the planet does not need humans," man is the most dangerous creature. He has destroyed far more than any four-legged creature has ever done.

Needed: a new heart

We need the attributes of our human heart replaced by those of the heart and mind of God. The apostle Paul wrote: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).

Paul warned that "the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Regarding the phrase "natural man," the Greek word translated "natural" refers to "the principle of animal life, which men have in common with the brutes" (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament). This entire chapter emphasizes the importance of rising above the physical realm by means of the Spirit of God. So the Bible also stresses our need to be transformed in our hearts and minds (Romans 12:2; Hebrews 8:10).

James Lee didn't understand God's purpose for humanity. In fact, the most important creature that needs to be saved is man. Our transformation is the real key to ending the violence and restoring the planet.

Do Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:11 condemn wearing mixed fabrics?

Why did God say not to mingle linen and wool? What does this mean for us today?

In addition to His eternal spiritual commandments, God gave Israel various statutes and judgments as part of its civil code or national law. Most aren't binding laws for Christians today, but Christians should consider and learn from the principles contained in all of them. Is there any principle in these laws or in their intended purpose that can guide Christians in everyday life?

In its introductory notes on Leviticus, Expositor's Bible Dictionary points out: "The weaving of two kinds of material (wool and linen in Deuteronomy 22:11) may be a rule that would prevent loss by unequal shrinkage." There is no apparent application today for two reasons: (1) Most Christians do not make their own fabric or clothing today, and (2) clothing manufacturers do not mix these materials.

However, the broader principle of the several statutes that forbid "mixing" in various ways is that God wanted His people to pursue purity and quality. Similarly, Christians are to pursue pure and godly character. The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary offers the following explanation for Leviticus 19:19:

"Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee—Although this precept, like the other two with which it is associated, was in all probability designed to root out some superstition, it seems to have had a farther meaning. The law, it is to be observed, did not prohibit the Israelites wearing many different kinds of cloths together, but only the two specified; and the observations and researches of modern science have proved that 'wool, when combined with linen, increases its power of passing off the electricity from the body. In hot climates, it brings on malignant fevers and exhausts the strength; and when passing off from the body, it meets with the heated air, inflames and excoriates like a blister' [Whitlaw]. (See Ezek 44:17, 18.)"

Silence Is Golden

There are times to speak and times to remain silent. Knowing the difference between these moments demonstrates our ability to have wisdom. Many people seem to put their feet in their mouths all too often. Silence is a wonderful tool for living when it is applied in the right situation. It gives us time to think before we speak, and it does not introduce an interruption in a conversation while others are trying to express themselves.

There are some people who are very nervous when silence appears. They feel a need to fill the gaps. Obviously the silence that is golden is not the kind that makes everyone uncomfortable, but rightly used, it has great value. The Bible tells us to be slow to speak and quick to hear (James 1:19). It’s important for us all to remember that sometimes the best thing to say is nothing.

You shall have no other gods before me

“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:7, 8

There is only one true God who created the heavens and the earth and who rules the universe. God says to us in the Bible, “You shall have no other gods before me.”

What does this mean? It means we should worship the one and only true God as our supreme Lord and we should worship nothing else before God. No other god is more important than God. Money is not more important than God. Success is not more important than God.

You can have only one god and that should be the one true God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the maker of heaven and earth. Do not bow down to any idols. Do not let yourself think that anything on earth or in heaven is more important than God. God loves you and He wants to bless your life; He forgives all your sins in Jesus Christ when you accept Christ as your savior. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

So, this week, let us pray and ask God to

• Help us worship Him and Him alone
• Help Global Media Outreach reach millions more people for Jesus Christ
• Protect and bless our staff and volunteers

THANK YOU for your prayers as we seek together to reach the world for Jesus Christ. Our God is all loving and all powerful and all knowing. He is worthy of all of our praise.

May God bless you,

A World Held Captive: Soon to Be Set Free!

Most Bible believers think this is God's world—but how can we reconcile that with all the crime, violence, wars, oppression, starvation and disasters we see all around us? The surprising fact is that, in terms of human society and its impact, this is not God's world, but a world that has been kidnapped by an unseen enemy. Here's the story of how it was kidnapped and how it will be set free!

Kidnapping or hostage cases grab our attention, probably because the crime itself is so horrendous and the victims so helpless. But they also intrigue and puzzle us because of the unusual relationships that sometimes develop between the victims and their abductors.

Jaycee Lee Dugard, who in 1991 was snatched at a bus stop at age 11 and kept in captivity for the next 18 years, apparently did not try to escape and, over time, developed a close relationship with her captor. About her kidnapper, her stepfather said that she "has strong feelings with this guy" and "feels it's almost like a marriage" (Laura Fitzpatrick, "A Brief History of Stockholm Syndrome," Time, Aug. 31, 2009).

Natascha Kampusch, kidnapped at age 10 while on her way to school, was held captive in a cellar for eight years before finally escaping. Yet she is reported to have cried after her abductor then committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train. "All I can say is that, bit by bit, I feel more sorry for him," she said. She later called her captor a "poor soul—lost and misguided" (ibid.).

Shawn Hornbeck, after 10 months of captivity at the hands of a kidnapper, called the police to report his stolen bike, giving them his first name, Shawn, and as his last name the surname of his abductor, Devlin (ibid.). He stayed with his captor another three years, never escaping even while the man was away working at his two jobs.

Then there's the infamous case of Patty Hearst, daughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, who not only acquiesced to the Symbionese Liberation Army's criminal leader after her kidnapping, but also adopted a new name and joined his group in robbing a bank (ibid.).

Stockholm syndrome at work

All of these hostages identified with and supported their kidnappers, even for a time after gaining their freedom. Mental health experts have a particular term for this irrational bonding between kidnapper and victim. They call it Stockholm syndrome.It refers to victims becoming bonded to and even feeling compassion for and loyalty to their captors.

Stockholm syndrome gets its name from a 1973 bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, in which two thieves held four bank employees hostage at gunpoint in the bank's vault for six days. "When the victims were released, their reaction shocked the world: They hugged and kissed their captors, declaring their loyalty even as the kidnappers were carted off to jail" (ibid.).

Psychologists are still largely at a loss to explain such bizarre bonding. At its core it seems to stem from the victim coming to perceive the perpetrator as the one controlling one's survival and life itself. Thus the victim aligns himself or herself with the captor out of pure self-interest.

Paradoxical? Yes. Uncommon and remote from everyday experience? Surprisingly no—at least not in a broader sense, which the majority of psychologists are woefully ignorant of. Indeed, they and everyone else, including you yourself, have certainly succumbed to this disorder to some extent.

This is because our whole world has been held captive for several thousand years—and mankind has fallen victim to Stockholm syndrome, identifying with our malevolent captor more than our loving Creator!

The story is strange, but true—and spelled out in the pages of your Bible!

What's your worldview?

Everyone has a worldview. A worldview is simply the view we have of the world. Overall, a worldview can be predominantly good or bad, depending on how it affects our thinking and what we do.

How is our worldview shaped?

Human beings aren't born with a worldview; it's developed over time. From infancy up we acquire all kinds of knowledge through our five senses—hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. We are immersed in the world surrounding us, absorbing some of what we encounter without much consideration and evaluating other input in light of earlier impressions or conclusions we've been led to.

Our parents, siblings, education, media, jobs and other life experiences all help shape our accumulated worldview. Most people do not question their worldview, assuming that what they think and practice is simply the way it is.

When challenged, they often defend themselves. The core values of religion and politics are among the most sacred to us. We guard such values with our lives; they are our lives. Nations go to war over real or imagined threats, sometimes over the sanctity of their core beliefs. To challenge one's core values is like threatening one's life.

Our accumulated values make up our worldview, which is a rich garden bed for seedling ideas, good and bad. These grow into weeds or wheat, through external influence, holding us captive to our thinking—which we don't realize is often seriously off track.

A wrong worldview can give rise to a host of societal problems, such as crime, violence, warfare, oppression, corruption, thievery, bad government, sexual sins and perversity, drug and alcohol abuse, broken marriages and homes, widespread religious deception, poverty and many other social ills.

Darkened hearts through an unseen kidnapper

Is this a world in which people are open to God's thinking? Notice Jesus Christ's answer in Matthew 13:15: "For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed" (emphasis added throughout). Human beings gullibly close their eyes and ears to God's truth, which leaves them open to the influence of unrecognized spiritual forces.

The apostle Paul also writes: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened" (Romans 1:20-21, New International Version).

What is the unseen force that has darkened human beings' foolish hearts, keeping humanity in captivity to corrupt thinking? Satan the devil, a great fallen angel, is the culprit! Paul also wrote of the need for people to learn God's truth so "they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:26).

Here we see that, yes, humankind has indeed been "taken captive" by the devil "to do his will." And like those who fall victim to Stockholm syndrome, people have come to identify with their captor more than their Creator!

The apostle Peter similarly warns us to "be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

He devours people through the tool of deception. Satan has taken full advantage of the weaknesses of human nature and exploited them through the greatest deception ever perpetrated. He in fact holds the kingdoms of this world captive under his control and is able to give them to whomever he wishes (Matthew 4:8-9).

How did we fall under Satan's control?

How did we come to this state? How did mankind fall under the control of this evil and deceptive kidnapper? The story begins with our first human parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden.

On the sixth day of creation week, God created this first human couple. "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth'...Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good" (Genesis 1:26-31).

God's creation was indeed very good. But it wasn't long before Satan emerged on the scene in the form of a serpent. Appearing to Eve, he deceived her into disobeying God's instruction to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He lied to her, contradicting God and telling her she would not die if she ate it. Adam also chose to disobey and took of the fruit (Genesis 3:1-6).

These first human beings chose to disbelieve God and believe Satan. They chose to disobey God and to obey Satan. They chose to disregard God's instruction and to follow Satan's instead. They willingly chose to follow not God, but the devil—into his deception and captivity. They willingly allowed themselves to be taken prisoner by their abductor!

The pattern was set; the die was cast. The entire human race has sprung from these first two people, Adam and Eve. And every man and woman since has followed in their footsteps, choosing to follow the way of sin—of disobedience to God (Romans 5:12, 19). Only one human being, Jesus Christ, never sinned (Hebrews 4:15).

Satan's tools for deception

A classic line from a movie sheds light on the deceptiveness of Satan. "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist," it goes. Satan has indeed convinced many that he doesn't exist. And such an approach makes his job that much easier! (See "How Naturalism—Rejection of God—Holds Humanity Captive".)

But Satan works in other ways as well, including through religion. If you were the devil, how might you go about deceiving humanity into thinking your way was the truth? How about counterfeiting the true God and substituting a big lie for His truth? Can you perhaps envision exploiting humanity's weaknesses by offering a religious philosophy that says good is bad and bad is good?

Maybe you'd come up with making God out to be harsh, intolerant and untrustworthy, or perhaps just the opposite, painting God as extremely lenient and never imposing judgment. You could in that vein try to convince well-meaning human beings to believe they don't have to obey Him.

All of this is precisely what Satan has done to human beings. This is how he has led humankind into captivity to sin. Jesus Christ plainly said that "whoever commits sin is a slave of sin" (John 8:34). Paul said that we are all slaves to sin until we are freed by God and become "slaves of righteousness"—which is obedience to God's law (Romans 6:16-23; Psalm 119:172).

One of Satan's main strategies for deceiving people throughout the Christian world is to convince them that they don't need to keep God's laws, that those laws are obsolete or even harmful, or that Jesus kept them for us so we no longer have to. But Jesus said, "If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matthew 19:17). The apostle John tells us, "He who says, 'I know Him [God],' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).

This is part of Satan's major goal of eradicating humankind from this earth through manipulating us into harming one another and eventually destroying ourselves (Matthew 24:21-22).

A world under Satan's rule

Before God created Adam, Satan convinced a third of the angels to rebel with him against God in an attempt to overthrow Him (see Isaiah 14:13-14; Revelation 12:4, 9). Jesus said that He actually witnessed, long before becoming human, the results of Satan's rebellion: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18).

God cast Satan back to his originally assigned domain: "And the angels which kept not their first estate [the earth, where they had been stationed], but left their own habitation [again, the earth], he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6, King James Version).

While the earth, along with all who dwell on it, rightfully belongs to God (Psalm 24:1), He has allowed it, because of man's choices, to become Satan's domain for the time being.

The Bible tells us that Satan is "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:3-4, KJV), "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2) and the one "who deceives the whole world" (Revelation 12:9). Paul makes it clear that Christians struggle "not against flesh and blood, but against...the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly [unseen spirit] realms" (Ephesians 6:12, NIV).

Satan is also behind a great religious deception that presents "another Jesus" with "a different gospel" (2 Corinthians 11:4). He presents himself as an angel of light, as do his unwitting representatives, who in reality are "deceitful workers" (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Due to this widespread deception, God's Word warns us that "the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19).

In the beginning, Adam and Eve were free to know the truth, being free from Satan and from sin. But sin or lawbreaking separates human beings from God (Isaiah 59:2). Satan tempted Eve to sin and then, through her, Adam to follow (Genesis 3:1-24). Humankind has taken up where our first parents left off, continuing to break God's laws. Following the way of sin blinds us to God's truths.

The inhabitants of this world are Satan's captives, and they unknowingly identify with their kidnapper, preferring to believe his lies and even adopting his cunning, subtle and deceitful ways.

Satan's attitudes permeate the world

Living under Satan's rule has brought mankind untold heartache and suffering. Jesus pointed out Satan's deceitful ways that were evident in those wrongly accusing Him: "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it" (John 8:44).

Since Satan is a murderer, it's no surprise that we live in a world overflowing with violence and mayhem of every kind. It's no wonder that human history is written in blood, with the record of human existence being largely a chronicle of war after war after war. War is simply murder on a massive scale! Satan is behind genocide and the fact that technological advancements often lead to more efficient means of killing larger numbers of our fellow human beings more quickly.

Murder, manslaughter, beatings and assaults plague many countries. We're appalled by the headlines. Even our popular entertainment is often filled with violence! Where does this evil influence come from? It comes from the one who "was a murderer from the beginning"!

Jesus also called Satan "the father" of lies. Again, is it any wonder that we see so much deception of every kind all around us? Should we be surprised that lying is so commonplace? We lie to each other. Our governments lie to us. We lie to our governments. Our various forms of media lie to us. Countries lie to other countries. Again, there is a reason for this—the father of lies who is behind it all.

As we noted earlier, Satan was an angel who, resenting God's control over him, rebelled against Him. Why do we see so much rebellion and resentment throughout the world? There is a powerful spirit influence behind it all. The very word Satan connotes an "adversary" or "enemy." And indeed he continually sets us against one another as well as against God.

So why do we see so much evil and suffering? There is a reason for it. The world is imprisoned by an evil, malicious captor whose attitudes permeate society. He has deceived the world, and those who are deceived, of course, do not know they are deceived—or they wouldn't be deceived.

The coming end of Satan's reign

With all the bad news we see around us, good news is definitely on the horizon. The time of mankind's deliverance from its captor is drawing near! Soon the deception, discontent and death that permeate our world will be replaced by peace, prosperity and purpose!

Why does it seem that the world's problems are increasing, growing worse by the day? One reason is that Satan knows his time is running out (compare Revelation 12:12), and that God will soon intervene to save the world and set mankind free from Satan's captivity (Hebrews 8:10-12).

Few people realize that a primary reason Jesus Christ must return is to save us from ourselves! Jesus Himself said of conditions just before His coming: "It will be a time of great distress, such as there has never been before since the beginning of the world, and will never be again. If that time of troubles were not cut short, no living thing could survive" (Matthew 24:21-22, Revised English Bible).

Christ's return will literally be a matter of life and death! We might also consider that only within recent decades has it been possible —with the creation of modern weapons of mass destruction—to eliminate all human life on earth. And every weapon man has created he has eventually used—even such horrifying creations as nuclear weapons, nerve gas and germ-warfare devices. As mankind stands on the brink of disaster, Jesus Christ must and will intervene.

Revelation 11:15-17 describes the scene: "The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: 'The kingdom of the world [currently Satan's kingdom] has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.'

"And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: 'We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign'" (NIV).

Revelation 20:1-3 tells us what will then happen to the being who has held the world in cruel captivity and deception for so long:

"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more..."

At last—a world set free!

These events mark the beginning of a thousand-year period known as the Millennium, a time when Satan will "deceive the nations no more." (You can learn much more about it in the article "Coming Soon: The Magnificent Millennium," beginning on the next page.)

With Satan at last out of the way, the world will learn the promise of Christ's statement in John 8:32: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." God's truth includes the Ten Commandments, which summarize the way He wants mankind to live.

Of this new world God says, "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9).

Satan's deceptive influence will be gone. So will his attitude of murdering, lying and rebelling. Instead of war breaking out, peace will break out all over! "He [Jesus Christ] shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:4).

This is the wonderful future God has in store for the world. Yes, the world is shrouded in deception and blindness for now. But this state of affairs is soon coming to an end!

If God is opening your mind, though, you need not wait until then to experience the freedom His truth brings. He eagerly desires to share that message of hope with you and bring you out of Satan's deception and captivity now.

In Isaiah 55:6-7 Scripture urges: "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

You can, with God's help, break free now. He is waiting to hear from you!