The Antichrist? 

We are chronicling the world’s most “significant trends” of the present season. These might be considered among the “signs of the times” that Jesus implored us to discern (Matthew 16:3). The sudden, “significant trend” that we continue to review in this part of the series is the rise of very powerful and large multinational corporations (MNCs)… often called the Global Titans. Among a long list of factoids presented, we pointed out that some of the Titans have more employees that some countries have in population.

The senior executives of these companies indeed wield much power. Among other venues, these executives yearn to participate in the annual pilgrimage to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum meeting (which is sponsored by some 1,000 companies around the globe). There they hobnob with politicians, academics, and anyone else who is a “mover and shaker” in world affairs or ultra-wealthy.

Could these powerful executives be considered the equivalent of “kings” in our era? Could they comprise the 10 kings (mentioned or figured 10X in the Bible)? The Bible allows for some alternative views, mentioning several other groups of powerful and/or wealthy elites. Do these qualify as actors in the last days?

Greatly Honored People

Consider this Bible verse, “He […] will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price” (Daniel 11:39, NIV). This verse is excerpted from a section in Daniel that describes the actions of the final world ruler (the Antichrist). We see here that elites of some kind will receive considerable reward for their complicity in supporting the agendas of the final incarnate “spirit of the Antichrist.”

Who are the ones that receive honor from the Antichrist? The answer—those that will acknowledge him. Virtually all English Bible translations use the word “acknowledge.” It means here that certain key people who recognize him and accept his authority will receive a reward—land.

It should be noted that the original Aramaic word used for “land” in this verse can also convey the idea of property or economic domain, as well as geographic area. After all, in ancient times, land was the main foundation of wealth and economy. Today, there are other forms of significant wealth.

It only follows that this must be a small, elite group of people, who likely are already influential. Why? They will be made rulers over many. As not everyone can be made a ruler over many, therefore these will be few.

The elites—whoever they are—are bought off for their loyalty with further reward: the additional pay-off of power or economic domain, we reason. It is the same or similar deal that Satan offered Christ when He was being tested in the wilderness, promising “authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So, if you worship me, it will all be yours” (Luke 4:6-7).

But why did the devil think it worthwhile to specifically test Christ in such a colossal way? Obviously, it would have been great gain for him were he successful. Here was motive and incentive. We may therefore take some license and deduce that there will be similar motives and incentives behind the Antichrist’s endtime reward systems.

Also, the elites selected for reward must have something to barter in return … likely their fame or endorsement. It wouldn’t be surprising then if these were highly revered people, politicians, great humanitarians, or Christian masqueraders … even so-called “angels of light.”

We are given at least a few criteria with which to identify who these elites might be at that future date. In the first instance, they must be humans (not demonic spirits). Also, they must be capable of being rulers, already likely possessing some measure of power and authority—perhaps a large multinational. And, they must be willing, greedy, worldly complicitors.

Although these final events play out during the future Tribulation period (and therefore really do not concern us personally), is it already possible today to discern the power structures that these elites might command? Although we cannot be definitive in light of conditions today, we can certainly consider some possible candidates that play a facilitating role.

Apostle John prophesies about yet another type of rich elite. These are the rich merchants that appear to play an influential role in the world at that future time. These “merchants of the earth grew rich from her [the whore’s] excessive luxuries” (Revelation 18:3). Those that “gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment” (verse 15).

These merchants clearly are wealthy people, and their economic power is on a global scale. It is true that, indeed, merchants (famed business executives of major companies) today are the most venerated people on earth. We live in a materialist culture that worships wealth and affluence.

Can we identify the elite group of people described by Daniel or Apostle John in Revelation 18? Are they one and the same? We cannot know for sure, but likely not. Though they may be different groups of elites, they certainly will be identifiable once the Tribulation Period begins.

What about the rich of the last days, mentioned in James 5:1-6, and the rule of the 10 kings, mentioned by both Daniel and Apostle John? These two groups of individuals may very well be visible before the Tribulation begins.

What we can safely conclude is that a great economic power structure has emerged over a very short period. These power nodes await some type of elites to play their role in the service of the Antichrist.

Continue to Get Bigger, Concentrating Industry Power

And still, the Global Titans are getting even bigger. These firms gobble up other companies, merge or build new companies at a rapid pace. In recent years, these activities have boomed to frenzied levels. One hundred billion plus takeover deals have become the norm. The total number of mergers or acquisition by MNCs around the world (both cross-border or domestic) has literally exploded over the past twenty years. Clearly, an energized trend is underway.

All signs are that this global favoritism for the multinational company will continue. Some people are even willing to invest greater powers in MNCs. One global thinker advocated that global companies be given the responsibility of international security. Given their superior global information systems, MNCs are the natural choice to regulate international exports and imports and to gather intelligence. We should expect MNCs to become even more powerful worldwide in the years ahead.

Without a doubt, the Global Titans are a major enabler—if not the very epicenter—of an endtime economic and monetary order, whose aim is to conspire against God and persecute the values and beliefs of Christians. MNCs are one of the major “significant trends” on earth today, driving a worldwide convergence toward unified beliefs and values, centered upon money and wealth.

Looking ahead, one can imagine that MNCs as a group will continue to expand and envelope a greater part of the earth’s human economic activity, wielding fierce financial control of world affairs.

The rise of the MNC is of great significance to Christians for more than a few reasons. As we have observed, they are at the very center of globalization and financialization. MNCs are at the forefront of the convergent drive to a worldwide materialistic belief system. In the process, they impact our personal and economic freedoms and challenge and test our Christian faith.

Increasingly, the values and ethics promoted in the places where many of us work are being determined by these basically amoral entities. We see that MNCs as a group wield enormous power over world affairs, as they collectively dominate global economic and financial systems.

The multinational organization is certainly a very influential and relatively new form of human organization, viewed against the human historical timeline. These have strict hierarchies and highly defined “pecking” orders. Obedience is lavishly rewarded, especially among the higher executive echelons. Can Christians comfortably work in the top executive tiers of global Big Titans? In many ways, these new leviathans have created a spiritual and materialistic “straight jacket” that challenges the faith and freedom of overcoming believers.

Thoughts to Ponder

The Bible mentions both rewards and acknowledgement as playing a significant role in the end times. However, there are two different types of reward regimes—one good and the other, evil.

Those elites that acknowledge the Antichrist, get the reward of land and wealth. The Bible also specifically tells us what the reward will be for everybody else … in other words, all the rest of the masses that acknowledge and worship the Antichrist.

What is the reward of non-Christian earth-dwellers? They will not be killed (a negative reward) and will be allowed to “buy or sell.”  Unfortunately, those who do acknowledge him will be eternally condemned.

On the other hand, for all the Tribulation Christians, he causes “all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell” (Revelation 13:15-17).

What then is the reward today for pre-Rapture Christians … and the price?

Certainly, we do not have the promise of something so mundane and temporal as the “land” promised to the elites (in other words, material wealth), position and power in the world. Said Christ, “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:12).

The saints are the ones that the world will hate, as the world also hated Christ. Said Jesus, “[…] you will be hated by all nations because of me” (Matthew 24:9). As Apostle Paul experienced, the saints are more likely to be troubled than coddled, perplexed than self-reliant, persecuted than befriended, rejected than accepted. “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body” (2 Corinthians 4:11).

Finally, says Christ, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:32).

Take courage, Christ is coming quickly with His reward. “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done” (Revelation 22:12). For, soon it will be time for “rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great” (Revelation 11:18).

Wilfred J. Hahn is a global economist/strategist. Formerly a top-ranked global analyst, research director for a major Wall Street investment bank, and head of Canada’s largest global investment operation, his writings focus on the endtime roles of money, economics and globalization. He has been quoted around the world and his writings reproduced in numerous other publications and languages. His 2002 book The Endtime Money Snare: How to live free accurately anticipated and prepared its readers for the Global Financial Crisis. A following book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving true riches in an age of deception and trouble, looks further into the prophetic future.

You can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com

 

We are chronicling the world’s most significant trend of the present world season. The previous column defined the term significant trend as anything that has to do with the Bible’s prophetic time-line and the Lord’s promises. These might be considered among the “signs of the times” that Jesus implored us to discern (Matthew 16:3). Moreover, we had laid out a set of seven criteria serving as a diagnostic screen of sorts—the objective being to qualify and identify trends that are a significant trend.

We continue with the first trend of this series—corporations—no doubt a significant trend development that will seem rather mundane. We will further explain.

According to Martin Wolf, the well-known economics editor of the Financial Times of London (Dec 12, 2018): “The business corporation is one of the most remarkable of all human innovations. Corporations are warring armies battling for supremacy in markets […].”

As we see here, some will be inclined to view corporations as a benign force. And indeed, many corporations engage in beneficial activities. The corporate structure (it being considered a legal “person” and offering “limited liability”) is not necessarily evil and is a useful legal invention.

Actually, however, we are on the trail of the actions of an associated type of entity—the multinational corporation (MNC). These are companies that operate across sovereign borders—in fact, around the world. And, so, the conglomerations of related corporations have become very large. What catches our eye here as a potential significant trend is that multinational companies have become very powerful and large rather recently and suddenly.

We discern that the “multinational company” (also named transnational company or TNC) has emerged upon the world as a significant trend only as of the early 1950s. That is very recent when viewed against the human cosmological time-line. While indeed many corporations existed before that time, it was not until the middle of the 20^th century or so that corporations’ share of global economic activity began to rise very sharply.

This trend was noticed by several economists at the time. Famously, Dr. Joseph Nye Jr. wrote a seminal article on this significant trend in 1974. His major observation and concern was that multinational firms were getting so large and influential that they had become a potential geopolitical force to contend with.

As it was, these multinationals were the very “seed bed” of globalization, a rapid development that also cannot be underemphasized in terms of global importance (this being a significant trend that we will yet cover). These past decades, incorporated organizations were the very henchmen of “globalization” … the attacking phalanx on the front lines of global trade and cross-border capital flows. Seen collectively, the multinational phenomenon has done much to commercialize the entire world and establish common materialistic values and powerful behavioral systems.

Already in the early 1970s, some economists were predicting that perhaps 300 companies would, in time, run the entirety of human commerce. In fact, a “think piece” published by a respected international accounting firm (Deloitte LLP) speculated that perhaps 10 to 20 large “megaglots” would run all economic activity in the world. To be sure, this prediction has not yet played out. They may have been too sensationalist in their predictions. Nonetheless, the trend cannot be denied.

The number “10,” of course, will pique the interest of those who are familiar with Bible prophecy—particularly, the topic of the “ten” last-day kings. We will yet examine whether there are some prophetic connections.

Just what kind of force is represented by TNCs? Consider the following general factoids about the emergence of “significantly” important multinational corporations.

• While TNCs were estimated to account for only about 2% of world economic activity in the early 1950s, 60 years later, this share is now estimated to be as much as 50%. Imagine that today, only some 6,000 companies control 50% and more of world economic activity. However, in recent decades, according to this writer’s experiences, it has become more difficult to compile data on TNC activities, as these became harder to access by UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development).
• In recent years, publicly-listed corporations have declined significantly in number. On the other hand, what is notable here is that the share and size of private companies is increasing rapidly. In Europe, key families control 40% of the big listed companies. What to make of this trend? It is too early to say; however, it should be noted that these companies are much more secretive and inaccessible.

·           Even at this late date in the supposedly modern and transparent state of world financial affairs, it can be very difficult to ascertain the ownership of private corporations. The World Bank issued a report called “The Puppet Masters: How the Corrupt Use Legal Structures to Hide Stolen Assets and What to Do About It” (2011). This revealed just how concentrated and murky is the state of global corporate affairs. Consider that some states in the U.S. continue to allow corporations to register without requiring them to provide the identity of their owners. To what advantage is this? Obviously, secretiveness, concealment and diversion must be key motives.

• MNCs are masterful users of tax havens. Some MNCs may have hundreds of associated companies registered in tax havens. The main reason for this is to avoid taxes and, in some instances, to cover up the trail of various global transactions. It was once estimated by Global Financial Integrity, that some 50% of all global merchandise exports in the world are booked through foreign tax havens.
• Corporate concentration has risen across almost every industry sector. This is a form of monopoly. Concentration is also happening on a global scale. This allows these companies to more effectively impose their prices. To provide just one example, did you know that only two corporations today control 90% of the beer that Americans consume?1 Many more industry examples like this could be provided, showing that concentration is an accelerating trend.
• The interconnectedness of global economic activity has accelerated rapidly in recent decades. Consider this: According to three professors at a Swiss university, 80 percent of world profits are now being earned by a core group of 1,318 corporations. These are mostly run by super entities coming from 147 countries. These companies are interlocked … 755 of them are financial institutions. They found that 737 of the largest holders accumulated 80% of the control over the value of all TNCs.
• Deception abounds, most certainly also involving the actions of MNCs. According to one survey, corporate motivation to cheat on their accounting performance was high. 93.5% of CFOs (Chief Financial Officers) acknowledge that the objective of cheating is to influence the stock price, and secondly, 88.6% would do so in order to increase their own compensation.
• In recent decades, researchers have discovered the increase in “monopsony.” This term refers to the condition where one or more companies are the largest employers in a region. That allows them to dictate wages and the price of other inputs. This is a deliberate strategy to boost profit … but also depressing wages for others.
• It is the board of directors of a corporation (usually, their compensation committee) that makes the decisions on how much to pay senior executives. The compensation of many senior executives today is truly obscene … 200 times and more than the average income of employees working on the factory floor.
• Some large multinational firms have more employees than many nations have citizens. Of the top 100 economic entities in the world today, corporations make up 37 of these, the rest being nations according to a report by the Transnational Institute.
• In August of 2018, for example, two companies for the first time in history were valued at over $1 trillion (Apple and Amazon).

There are many more factoids that we could mention. What these collectively reveal is that the multinational company is indeed a powerful global force that has benefited from much favoritism. (For instance, corporations attract much lower taxation rates than do individuals.)

As is popularly said: Money talks. Without question, the prime objective of multinational firms is “profits.” Their senior executives are brutally incentivized to expand the size and profitability of these firms.

Many may be unaware of these trends and their future implications. Nevertheless: “[…] Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better” (Isaiah 56:12). To the contrary: We cannot see any trend here that indicates that these trends will become “even far better.”

Thoughts to Ponder

Corporations have a big and growing footprint in the economic arenas of the world. Most certainly, the phenomenon of the rise of the multinational is a significant trend. It is a development that fits into the season and times of the “last days.”

Not only that, they also hold implications and challenges for Christians (as we will yet review in Part III). Their influence is evident in many ways, as we have already mentioned. The cultural and workplace values that are promoted, the development of a systemic world financial and economic power structure, and a rapid convergence of materialistic beliefs around the globe are all processes that MNCs have either enabled or endorsed.

Above all, MNCs figure prominently in an endtime boom in wealth and in the emergence of an all-encompassing global commercial order.

Therefore, the rise of the MNC could even be prefigured in the Bible. How so? While they are not mentioned in specific, their role in bringing about the prophesied world conditions of the last days cannot be easily dismissed. Nonetheless, the Bible does mention four different groups of elites that do play a role in the last days.

For example, could the top industry bosses of the world even qualify as the ten kings of the last days, as spoken about in Revelations 12, 13 and 17? If the world continues its path toward rampant materialism and economic centralization, these managers of large industry-dominating MNCs—global economic kingdoms—could indeed number among the modern world’s equivalent of kings.

While that is clearly a speculation, it is a possibility deserving some examination. In the next and final Part III, we will consider this possibility, and will also examine three other elite groups that may be endtime actors.

Whether or not these interpretations and speculations will prove to be correct, one thing is clear: the rapid emergence of the MNC is not a random event of human history. It must be seen as a “significant trend” of the ripening times.

 

Wilfred J. Hahn is a global economist/strategist. Formerly a top-ranked global analyst, research director for a major Wall Street investment bank, and head of Canada’s largest global investment operation, his writings focus on the endtime roles of money, economics and globalization. He has been quoted around the world and his writings reproduced in numerous other publications and languages. His 2002 book The Endtime Money Snare: How to live free accurately anticipated and prepared its readers for the Global Financial Crisis. A following book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving true riches in an age of deception and trouble, looks further into the prophetic future.

You can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com

 

1 Jonathan Tepper, Variant Perception. Competition Is Dying. Accessed online November 27, 2018.

2 The Network of Global Corporate Control. Stefania Vitali, James B. Glattfelder, and Stefano Battiston. September 2011.