Bible Prophecy…or Conspiracy Theory? :: by Gene Lawley

My observations over the past 40 years or so of the trends and move- ments in the secular and political world have long ago led me to believe there are strong undercurrents of activity in the shadowy sidebars of the world stage. The open denial makes the silence even more deafening, and the strange rush of various spokespersons to claim, “I am not a conspiracy theorist, but….”, makes that topic even more magnetizing to the curious and the truth-seeker. Thus, it begs the question, “Is this arena of secrecy in the secular-political world paralleled in Bible prophecy?” Let’s explore that area first.The fall of man from the favor of God in the Garden of Eden, as reported in Genesis 3, was not an unexpected even in God’s eyes, for He is eternal, knowing the beginning to the end. Acts 15:18 says, “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” And even more mankind-personal is the statement in Titus 1:2, “…in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began….” God had created man “after His own image”, with an indwelling Spirit which enabled them to fellowship in true harmony there in the Garden. The man was given other qualities, such as intellect, emotion, ability to think, decide and act (God told Adam to name the animals He had created and take charge of things), but that one feature that connected man to God was the spiritual link, the Spirit of God within man.

God had told Adam that he could not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for if he did, he would die that very day. So when Adam took of the fruit from the hand of Eve and ate it, along with Eve, they died. But they did not collapse there on the ground! The Bible records Adam’s physical longevity as 930 years (Genesis 5:5). What died, then, when they ate? What they did afterward tells the story well—their spirit died, and they were separated from God and from His fellowship, eternally…except for that promise made before time began! Titus 3:5-7 is so worded that it explains the manner in which redemption takes place in the “spiritually dead” individual: “…not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” And, we have here an understanding of why Jesus said to Nicodemus (and all mankind), “You must be born again!” (John 3:3). It is a renewed relationship with God, the Creator, through His Spirit indwelling the born again believer.

Mankind Without Spiritual Connection

However, we see that now man had the knowledge of good and evil and could choose which direction he would go with his new-found “ freedom”. Now a spirit of anti-God had become fixed in this mind of man and evil raged—Cain killed Abel and the choices of evil over good became such that God observed from heaven, “that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5), and His judgment came in the flood that took all mankind except Noah and his family.

God started over with eight people, yet it was not long until that was not working, either. There were, as the Bible does report, people who believed God and obeyed Him between Adam and Noah, and after the flood, but that thread of rebellion and independence from God reigned in the human heart in great abundance. It was not long until those intelligent, “free-thinking” gathered in the plains of Shinar and set about to build themselves a city with a tower “that reached into the heavens, lest they be scattered across the whole earth.” God apparently saw something in their minds and hearts that was beyond the seemingly innocent endeavor they were engaging in, for He “came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city’” (Genesis 11:5-8).

Thus, we have what I call the “Tower of Babel Syndrome”, which carries on the motto of “we do not need God”. And we see that thread of rebellion exhibited throughout the history of the secular world, as well as the history of God’s chosen people, Israel.

Fast forward, now, to Daniel’s prophetic visions where he sees a beast with four heads which are identified as ruling kingdoms of the world —the kingdom of Babylon, where he was then, and the coming kingdoms of Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome (Daniel 2). Then, the Apostle John writes of his vision in Revelation 13:1 that reveals a beast of seven heads. They include two kingdoms prior to Daniel’s time, Assyria and Egypt, for John is looking backward while Daniel was looking forward. Note carefully that these heads are kingdoms that cover the historical period of civilized mankind. They, individually, were ruling governments ruled by dictators.

It is interesting that John’s vision was seen at the point of time of that sixth head, Rome, and the seventh head was future (as well as an eighth head, mentioned in Revelation 17:10). He writes that one of the heads, one of the kingdoms, is mortally wounded, yet lives. Now, the only head, or kingdom, that is then alive is the sixth head, Rome. All others are in the past, or not yet on the scene. A gap of many centuries will now be in effect until the latter days when this head (kingdom) that “was, and is not, and yet is” again reforms from the descendents of that former great Roman empire. This seventh headnow on the threshold is the coming one word government, the “ New World Order”, which, according to Henry Kissinger, Barack Oboama has been “primed to lead us into”.

Now, what has all this to do with the fall of man and the long history of his rebellion? Look at this: “So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast….” (Revelation 13:4). In chapter 12, there is seen “a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads” (Revelation 12:3). He is busy there trying to eliminate the Jews, but note the similarity of his description with that of the beast John sees rising up out of the sea. This raging dragon, identified as the devil himself, has been the driving force behind every secular kingdom since the beginning! And, he will be that same guiding spirit in the coming seventh head of the beast. No doubt that all these kingdoms of the world were those the devil offered Jesus in the temptation experience (Matthew 4:8-10), for all the kingdoms of the world are the devil’s own possessions!

This seventh head of the beast has a destiny: “There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time” (Revelation 17:10). The five kings that have fallen were the heads of the beast prior to this sixth one in whose regime John now lives, i.e., “one is”. “And the other has not yet come” refers to the seventh head, a resurrection of that sixth head, after many years.

My underlining of the phrase, “he must continue a short time” is to note that this head of the beast is not yet a person and is destined to be replaced by a person, as stated in v. 11: “The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.” I submit that the beast of seven heads, being motivated and energized by the dragon, the devil, is being used by the Antichrist, working behind the scenes with all the powers of a one world government that responds to a worshipping population. It appears that ten horns had previously been in the ruling setup, but three were eliminated, and finding even seven too much or too slow to work with, the Antichrist dumps all seven after “a short time” and becomes the eighth head. One person, one show, and no opposition. But he is going to perdition, the verse says. (Kingdoms don’t “go to perdition”, but persons will.) The beast is now personified in the Antichrist, and he will be consigned, along with the false prophet, to the lake of fire to burn forever (Revelation 19:20).

Linking Prophecy to Current Events

As I indicated earlier, this underlying resistance to the ruling of God Has been in vogue and ever increasing with the passing centuries, until now, when so-called “conspiracy theories” regarding shadow governments and a New World Order are mentioned with much more openness. The organization called the Bilderberg Group has met each year since 1954, in secret and with an agreeably silent press. Heads of state, high-level government officials, industrial leaders, leaders from the financial industry, high-level news personnel, and others world- wide, including potential US presidential candidates, are among regular attenders. You would be surprised to see who some of the guests are in a given year.

Membership in Bilderberg, a smaller, tight-knit group, is fed from the larger Trilateral Commission, set up by David Rockefeller some years ago, with Jimmy Carter as its first chairman. Members of that group are fed in from the much larger and much older organization, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). These things are not hidden; you can do a Google search, find websites, membership lists and other information about the CFR, at least. You would really be surprised at the list of members in this group. They cross political lines like a loving family at a 4th of July picnic, who openly are seemingly at each other’s throats. David Rockefeller, a long-time leader in this now open and prophetic “conspiracy” confessed in his memoirs in this manner: “Some even believe we (the Rockefeller family) are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure—one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”

The annual meeting of the Bilderbergers this year has just finished (June 6-9), and some foreign press personnel were calling for it to be open to the press, but that is not likely to have happened, given their history of tight secrecy with extremely guarded facilities. One investigative reporter, who hounded the group for decades, securing meeting locations, lists of attendees, topics of discussion and other secret information, Jim Tucker, has just passed away recently, at ag 78. Hopefully he had trained a replacement before passing, but it appears that their plans are thought to be far enough along that it does not make any difference whether or not they are kept secret. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this latest meeting of the “elite of the world” as policy for implementation.

Certainly the vortex of converging events, prophetic and secular, is swirling increasingly downward, but according to God’s eternal plan and His appointed timetable. Remember that Jesus said, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28). And the beginning of these last days started when Israel was officially restored to its land on May 14, 1948. Time left for salvation is running out.