Are you familiar with the idea of a “Pyrrhic victory?” Pyrrhus was a Greek king who was undone by his costly battles against the Romans. Pyrrhus first invaded Italy in 280 B.C. with a force of some 25,000 men and 20 war elephants. Immediately, Pyrrhus won a couple of smashing victories over the Romans. However, with each victory he also suffered great losses.
See Pyrrhus had no way of replacing his casualties, and his failure to deal the enemy a deathblow sent morale plummeting within his ranks. According to the ancient historian Plutarch, the warrior king was quoted as muttering, “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.” Five years after his first victory, Pyrrhus was forced to retreat home in utter defeat.[1]
The reason I mention ole’ Pyrrhus is because we seem to be suffering from a similar problem. At the time of this article’s publishing, many nations are battle weary from fighting COVID. While the virus will never be totally eradicated, research is showing that the Omicron variant is not much of an existential threat.
Case in point: this past weekend was the Super Bowl in Los Angeles. 70,000 fans packed into So-Fi Arena, many of them opting to ditch the masks (as if they actually worked in the first place). One article in the National Review announced, “Maskless Super Bowl Marks Our Return to Normalcy.” A good thought – but only if our medical and political overlords think we have earned enough gold stars for good behavior to get our freedoms back.
While COVID cases appear to be decreasing, inflation rates are increasing fast. That’s the Pyrrhic victory. Win the battle, lose the war. Defeat the virus, but at what cost? COVID may be slowing to a whimper, but just ahead is perhaps an even bigger juggernaut.
A few days ago, we learned that the consumer price index was 7.5% higher in January 2022 than it was a year ago. We are being told that this was the highest reading since February 1982. However, some economists are saying the numbers are actually worse.
According to John Williams of shadowstats.com, if inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1990, the official rate of inflation would be above 10% right now. And if inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, the official rate of inflation would be above 15% right now. Many have compared the current crisis to the Jimmy Carter era, but the truth is many think this slump is not just “transitory” as the economists say.
On her Twitter account, Washington Post columnist Heather Long shared some specific numbers from the inflation report which show where American consumers are being hit the hardest. Used cars up 40.5%. Gas up 40%. Bacon up 18%, steak up 17% and peanut butter up 15.5%. According to the Labor Department, energy prices overall are up a whopping 27% over the past year, and the list goes on. The point is you and I will have less buying power this year.[2]
There’s no telling how long inflation will last, or how tight budgets will get, but the Bible predicts that as we move closer towards the last days, the world will become more economically unstable. Specifically, the Scriptures reveal that money will have an impact on the end times, both leading up to and during the period known as the tribulation. Here are just a few financial trends the Bible warns us to look for.
·
An Addiction
to Money
2 Tim. 3:1-2 says, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be … lovers of money.” In other words, man will become greedier and more materialistic. Gold will become our God. The great danger of this is that riches are deceiving and lull us into a false security, like Jesus’ rich fool (Luke 12). The man died an ultimate loser, having done more preparation for his financial future than he did for eternity. As Proverbs 18:11 says, “A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.”
·
An
Acceleration of Inequality
Revelation 6:5-6 predicts that during the start of the Tribulation there will be huge financial woes, “5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”
The “quart of wheat” mentioned by John’s vision was the least amount of food necessary to sustain a person for a day. The denarius was the Roman coin that was equal to a worker’s wage for one day. During the Tribulation this double whammy of famine and inflation will crumble world markets. The text also says that oil and wine will be exempted. Oil and wine were considered rich man’s fare in John’s day. This suggests that although the poor man’s food will be severely restricted, the luxuries of the wealthy will remain untouched. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. We already see this trend, as the Global Wealth Report indicates that 1% of the world’s population, owns 44% of the world’s wealth.[3]
·
An Acceptance
of the Antichrist
Revelation 13 speaks of a future mandate even more far reaching than ones we’ve seen recently with the vax. “The Mark of the Beast” will be the final solution to force people to bow to the knee to the Antichrist’s regime by crippling them financially if they don’t take His mark.
“16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”
The technology is already in place to make this a reality. Some companies, like BioHax International in Sweden, and Three Square in Michigan are already microchipping their employees with RFIDs that contain all their necessary purchasing info. Meanwhile, Amazon has already rolled out Amazon One – “a device that is a fast, convenient, contactless way for people to use their palm to make everyday activities like paying at a store, presenting a loyalty card, entering a location like a stadium, or badging into work more effortless.”[4]
The point is this—we can
see how today’s world conditions are acting as a set up for the last days. The
trends of Bible prophecy are converging. Make sure your hope is not in the
Almighty Dollar, but Almighty God. Christians ought to leverage these trends by
helping the lost see how current events are connected to God’s Word and the
soon return of Jesus! -DM
[1] Evan Andrews, “5 Famous Pyrrhic Victories,” The History Channel, 4 March 2021 <https://www.history.com/news/5-famous-pyrrhic-victories>
[2] “Is
The Real Rate of Inflation Double the Number We Were Just Given?” Prophecy
News Watch, 15 February 2022 <https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5213>
[3]
David Jeremiah, Where Do We Go From Here? (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson,
2021), 81-82.
[4]
< https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/introducing-amazon-one-a-new-innovation-to-make-everyday-activities-effortless>
No comments:
Post a Comment