Readers may be surprised to realize that Anti-Creationism is a function of beliefs. Evolution is a theory. Yet, disingenuously and dishonestly, many people (including those that consider themselves scientists) speak as if it is fact. No, evolution is a theory—a desperate theory. To say that it is a scientific theory is to also disparage legitimate science.

We often hear that science and religion are incompatible. This, too, is apparently accepted as fact and is just one more “foolishness” of those that profess themselves to be wise and reject the existence of God. Such a debate is all the more ludicrous because many of the founders of modern science were Christians (Pascal, Boyle, Newton, Bernoulli, Mendel, Pasteur … the list is long). These were people that believed in the Creation account in the Bible and, moreover, possessed a Biblical worldview. To them, their discoveries and inventions did not invalidate either the Bible nor the existence of God. Many of them took a deep interest in theology.

Then, how has science come to argue with God and reject Him?

Firstly, let’s define what we mean by science. It covers a wide arena of inquiry. Some of it is more of an observational type … laboratory science. It studies natural processes or things and documents them as they are. Other science is applied science. It builds on that which is observed and may find other applications for the natural laws that it discovers. Then, some of science concerns itself with explaining the “whys” and “wherefores” of what is observed. Here it ventures into the field of theory. A hypothesis may align with what is observed and can sometimes be successfully used to deduce other outcomes. However, a hypothesis or a theory is not the same as fact. This is the accepted foundation of the scientific process. Theory is not fact.

A very different pursuit under the name of science is the exploration of things and processes of the distant past—back to the beginnings. Here, observations cannot be made in real time. Such questions as to how the universe came about and how life came to earth are the subjects of this “science.” This is an entirely different kind of science, and is one that borrows (or steals) its perception of legitimacy from the other roles and applications of science.

Science is important. The benefits to mankind of its understandings and inventions are beyond measure. That said, it must also be recognized that such science has never been able to step outside the bounds of Creation. It cannot be used to prove the non-existence of God, nor to explain anything that could be outside of Creation. This would be impossible. The tired debate that has been fought over the past two centuries, staging the Bible as if it would be in opposition to science, is misplaced. Yes, there indeed may have been misguided theologians who took positions against natural science, not realizing they were speaking from the silence of the Bible.

But, let’s return to the “science” that concerns itself with the questions of the beginnings. This is where the real folly begins. Why? Because much of the thinking and theory in this field is driven by a priori adherence to atheism or a denial of both the Bible and observed fact. For some reason, this branch of scientific inquiry feels itself above the requirement of proofs and observation to elevate its beliefs as fact. They must do so dishonestly or ignorantly. This may be due to various reasons: because they refuse to be subordinate to God; or have been indoctrinated without proofs; or are perhaps misinterpreting the evidence.

Why Science Is Against God

Evolution cannot be proven. It defies evidence and logic. Why? Let’s only deal with the basic question of life, and leave aside the unfathomable complexities of a human comprised of billions upon billions of organized, specialized and interdependent cells. The probability that random events could have produced the complexity of a simple cell (the simplest self-sustaining and replicating life form) is so large that to believe this could have taken place would require one to partake in a most primitive form of religion.

This writer’s undergraduate degree was in science. As a Christian, one of the most impactful topics studied was Histology (the study of the structures of a single cell). Even the most primitive of cells (this itself being a presumptuous statement, as we cannot really be sure what is a primitive cell) with few enzymes, DNA and RNA strands is so incredibly complex it is IMPOSSIBLE that it could originate from random processes.

No one, were they to dig up a Rolex watch in an archeological dig, would think that it originated through random processes. Yet, the simplest enzyme (of which a minimum of 600 different kinds are required for a basic living cell) is many, many more times as complex.

The probability of a complete operating cell being formed out of a chance encounter of atoms and molecules is zero (practically speaking). Such a randomly formed cell would also have needed the mysterious spark of life and energy. Otherwise, it could not have had the possibility of mitosis (the reproduction of a cell into two).

Despite the Facts We Will Not Believe

It has already been known for many decades that impossible processes and probabilities are required to validate the theory of evolution. Even many secular scientists (some who would consider themselves atheists) have admitted to the impossible probabilities of one amino acid being formed by random chance (this the basic building block of all enzymes, RNA and DNA … all polypeptides).

For example, according to Fred Hoyle (a famous astronomer and controversial scientist): “[T]here are about two thousand enzymes, and the chance of obtaining them all in a random trial is only one part in 1040,000, an outrageously small probability that could not be faced even if the whole universe consisted of organic soup.”1

Yet, such theories as Evolution and the Big Bang persist. Why? The same Fred Hoyle made this comment: “Once we see, however, that the probability of life originating at random is so utterly miniscule as to make it absurd, […] that one wonders why it is not widely accepted as being self-evident. The reasons are psychological rather than scientific.”2

Hoyle saw this persistence to believe in something that is impossible to be a “psychological” problem. He is on the right track, but not quite. He himself was vulnerable to the same feats of human fancy and illogic with his own theory of panspermia. He proposed that earth’s life forms found their genesis from viruses that were spread by comets.

The problem is not entirely psychological for scientists that study cosmology. It is a result of adamantly rejecting God. It is a choice and an attitude … at best delusion or ignorance.

Using the Garb of Science to Deny God

“Despite the facts, we will not believe in God.” This attitude is not new. According to the Bible, it was there from the beginning. The Hebrews, that nation created by God Himself and who were to be a light to the world (Isaiah 42:6), were prime examples of such rebellion.

“Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven” (Psalm 78:22-24, KJV).

Despite the evidence and the demonstration of wonders, they still chose not to believe. They rejected truth. “In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe” (Psalm 78:32).

This is how Jesus Christ Himself described this attitude: “Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!” (John 8:45). Why did they not believe in the Truth? “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God” (John 8:47).

There is a primordial aversion to Truth. Not wanting to believe in God, they are given over to their perversions. God has allowed them to mislead each other in their folly. Refusing to acknowledge that there is a Creator, they are forced to indulge in foolishness, dreaming up such convenient and fanciful theories as the “Big Bang.”

Large gaps and holes remain in their theories, forcing them to become ever more inventive and hilarious. Faced with archeological evidence that bears out a world history of perhaps millions of dying species, they spin a false story of evolution … of a process of new life. It is the exact opposite, as any child (that has not yet been indoctrinated to this view) would agree. It has been a history of death, not new life.

The Follies and Perversions of Anti-Creationists

As mentioned, secular theorists regarding the “beginnings” must contort their thinking. It is the intellectual equivalent to the Baalists on Mount Carmel. They resorted to cutting themselves in a frantic frenzy to prove that their gods and cosmological views are real and true. The account is found in 1 Kings 18:

“Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.’ So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. ‘Baal, answer us!’ they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. ‘Shout louder!’ he said. ‘Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.’ So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed” (verses 25-28).

Similarly, today’s evolutionists and theorists regarding the beginning of the universe, are already far past noontime. For 100 to 120 years and more we have allowed them to continue digging for fossils, to continue developing their fanciful theories. They have yet to find any conclusive proofs for their theories. They have not found the required “missing links”; they have not shown nor proven that life can come from inanimate matter (denying the Law of Biogenesis: that life can only come from life); they continue to refuse to accept the statistical impossibility of even the most primitive cells forming from random forces, let alone even one protein or enzyme.

True science would acknowledge all of the above facts. But what is called science today does not in the matter of “beginnings.” Therefore, the study of beginnings and life, is not science but religion. It chooses a belief system that is directly in conflict with facts, the Bible and God … and real science.

Weakened Christians

Many Christians don’t have the courage to hold to Creationism. They are intimidated by the supposedly “expert” claims of modern science. They do not want to feel ostracized from the popular views of our culture. Rejecting the Creation account and various other parts of the Bible, such people really set themselves up as authorities. They show much pretension in their preferred selections of Scripture, rivaling the collective council of a long history of godly theologians, the early church councils (i.e. Council of Nicea) where the content of the Bible was debated and settled.

They choose to deny the Creation account in the Bible. By doing so, they have invalidated the entire Bible. Jesus Christ is therefore cast as a liar. The New Testament records Christ referring to the “creation” as the beginning a number of times (Matthew 25:34; Mark 10:6; John 17:24). Mark records him saying specifically, “[…]from the beginning, when God created the world, until now […]” (Mark 13:19). On none of these occasions does Jesus refute the Genesis Creation account or provide any clarifications or corrections. None were needed.

Anti-Creationism: The Answers of Evolutionism Found Wanting

Evolutionism is a religious belief system that fails to satisfactorily answer the questions that hauntingly harbor in the souls of all mankind. Why do I exist? What is my purpose? What happens to “me” after I die? Is my existence meaningless? What thinking and intellectually-honest person will not admit to such thoughts?

The fact that these questions even exist, is itself a refutation of the naturalistic theories of the origin of man. Concepts as are revealed by these questions do not and cannot “evolve” from primordial slime, nor are these organically transmitted from one living organism to another.

The greatest atheistic thinkers (whether scientists or philosophers) have no answer to these “why” questions. “Why does the universe even go to the bother to exist?” questions the famous cosmological physicist, Stephen Hawking. The fact that all mankind has ingrained in them such concepts as “love” and “justice” alone proves naturalism cannot explain the inner thoughts and destinies of man. These are ideas that evolution has no need nor means to develop.

Yet, our society taunts literal Bible-believers as being “primitive” should they hold the view that the Theory of Evolution is not conclusively supported by evidence.

We live in a society that arrogantly elevates its worldly and godless wisdom to a state of manifest superiority, thereby accusing all bona-fide, literal Bible-believing Christians as simpletons. In public secular life, it is the prevailing, and a priori view. Before examination … before discussion … before any reasoning, if you are associated with a Bible-believing perspective, by the popular mores of our culture and the world, you are therefore presumed to be primitive and stupid.

It can only be so out of a spirit that refuses to acknowledge the existence of a loving, yet authoritative God. God is not mocked. The wonderful work of his hands—we who are “[…] fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14); mortal man whose days are numbered upon earth … who shall return unto dust … who is dependent upon the Creator for salvation and eternity … ridicules this Great God? The only way for man to be prevented from perishing as do the animals (2 Peter 2:12) is to acknowledge God and His Son. According to Romans 1:16, it is the power of the gospel that brings salvation and therefore eternal life.

The Bible says that mankind will choose to believe a lie. “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator […]” (Romans 1:25). All of the “fuses” cited in this article series are outworkings of this prophecy. Yet, according to the Bible, it will get much, much worse. When the lawless one comes, “[…] He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11).

Thoughts to Ponder

This burning fuse worldwide is shortening rapidly. Anti-Creationism represents one of the most remarkable of the 12 “endtime fuses” that we are describing in this series. The dethronement of God as Creator … in fact, the entire invalidation of God … is a massive change in beliefs involving the choices of individuals and mankind.

In these latter days, taking place in the space of a little more than 150 years in the timeline of mankind, a sudden denial of God the Creator has erupted. (Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species.)

The Bible has always recognized that this would be the case. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1; 53:1). By definition, then, a world that does not believe in God is foolish. “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20).

To this day, the secular scientific theories of beginnings and evolution are unproven. The evidence does not stack up. As scientists discover ever more complexities of Creation, these theories become ever more contorted and imaginative. These theories have not satisfactorily explained that which is seen today. Too many impossibilities and contradictions are encountered. To this day, no scientist has proven that something can come from nothing (inventing anti-matter so that matter could exist).

The facts aren’t the deciding factor in any case. People who don’t want to believe in Creation and a personal God will therefore deny the facts. They will hold on to the unproven and the foolish.

Will you believe that there is a God? Will you believe the facts and the Truth? Do you believe that God created you? It is wonderful to ponder on the truth that God created us and knows you and I to be special individuals. You are known to Him. He wants to have a relationship with us, and wishes that none of His human creations would go lost (2 Peter 3:9). He therefore sent His Son Jesus Christ, and promised that whoever would believe that He was His Son, that they would have eternal life (John 3:16).

We continue with our theme of 12 endtime fuses, covering the 8th in our informal list. As we have always pointed out, each of these so-called “fuses” identifies a shift in mankind’s beliefs. As such, we are not expressly listing endtime signs of various types, just those that relate to the new beliefs of mankind … namely, the individual and personal choices that people will make. We maintain that all of these shifts are global in scope, and taken together, are of “endtime” significance.

The last “fuse” (#7) that we reviewed was mankind’s insistence that “lying and stealing” be the foundation of global prosperity and human self-dependence. The Bible says that this approach carries with it a curse and will ultimately result in a complete breakdown of mankind’s global systems and societies.

The 8th fuse that we will discuss is a related offshoot—the set of beliefs that underlie the endemic widening of the world wealth skew. What we mean here is the increasing unevenness of the world’s wealth distribution, both between individuals and nations. Just how does this relate to an endtime shift in human beliefs?

The Road to Serfdom and the Ultra-Wealthy

It is only in the last 3 decades or so that major communist nations embraced many of the “free market” economic principles of the developed Western world. For example, the former mortal enemy of the United States—Russia—gave way to “glasnost” and radically shifted its economic orientations. China, too, shifted its focus in the late 1970s when Deng Xiaoping, leader of China’s Communist Party, led the nation toward a market economy.

These changes and others were seen to be so phenomenal that one political scientist even went so far as to pronounce the “end of history,” as he believed that democracy and free market capitalism had finally trounced the whole world.1 Viewing this as the pinnacle achievement of all time, no more history was seen to be necessary.

However, it is more than interesting to note that both Russia and China (the largest of previously non-aligned nations) were quick to adopt some of the worst characteristics of the Western world. Before long their societies were marked by massive wealth disparities. Today, 83 members of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) are US dollar billionaires.2 This is the largest concentration of billionaires in political office anywhere. (By contrast, the U.S. only has one billionaire in politics, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.) Russia, according to a 2013 survey by Forbesmagazine, has a total of 101 billionaires, and many of them have been dependent upon political linkages.

Such statistics are symptomatic of an unequal wealth distribution. Russia and China today have very high Gini scores. (The Gini rating has a scale from 0 to 1 and is named after Corrado Gini, an Italian economist. The higher the number, the more unequal the wealth distribution. For example, a measure of 1.0 would mean that 100% of all wealth was owned by one person.)

Wealth distribution in the U.S. is also very uneven. It has a Gini score that is nearly as extreme as Russia’s. The reality is that this phenomenon of increasing concentration of wealth is a worldwide trend. Wealth ownership may be more concentrated in the world today than perhaps ever before in human history. And, it is also interesting to note that this unprecedented wealth imbalance has occurred hand-in-hand with the growing focus of many organizations such as the United Nations, upon the eradication of world poverty (i.e. Millennium Development Goals).

Just why have these trends come about? Why at this time? Why would wealth distribution not be fairer and more even? Moreover, we will posit here that it helps to facilitate the emergence of a global elite … a small group of people who are extremely wealthy and powerful, and may control key sectors of the world economy and political spheres. Such conditions would not happen without explanation. Crucially, human beliefs and philosophies have played an instrumental role.

Anyone familiar with the board game Monopoly will have observed that one person ends up winning, often owning all the property. When that happens, the game is over and a new one must be started. The ultra pro-wealth policies that we see today are leading to a similar, winner-take-all imbalance.

This tendency of “wealth begetting wealth” today is viewed by many economists as a flaw of capitalism. They observe that over time, the competitive economic arena leads to winners who then become very large or wealthy, in turn having the ability to suppress new competitors. These trends eventually lead to instability and future economic destruction.

Eschatology and Wealth

Is the condition of the wealthy becoming richer and fewer, the relatively poor more so, an endtime trend? Is it prophesied? Yes; James specifically prophesies that an amassing of riches plays a role in the end times. He says, “Now listen, you rich people […] You have hoarded wealth in the last days” (James 5:1, 3). The King James translation, in this writer’s opinion, translates this condition of amassing wealth more accurately, stating, “Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days” (verse 3).

Here, we understand that not only has wealth increased overall, but it is also “heaped” or “amassed,” as is implied by the Greek word thesaurizo. This is an important distinction, as it gives evidence of a wealth skew. Wealth cannot be heaped and concentrated without there being a deprivation of someone else’s wealth. As we have often pointed out, for someone to become rich, someone else must be coaxed into becoming relatively poorer, or more indebted and indentured. Here, we see that indebted governments can play a facilitating role in the transfer of wealth from the masses to an opportunistic ultra-wealthy class.

These conditions are in alignment with the character described of the Antichrist of the “end” period. Greed and economic oppression are the prominent characteristics portrayed.  For example: “The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and he enjoys the choicest food” (Habakkuk 1:15-16).

Moreover, “[…] he is greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples” (Habakkuk 2:5). This endtime regime is motivated by greed and is global in span, as it takes “all the nations” and “all the peoples” captive. “Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion!” (verse 6). “Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain, to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin!” (verse 9). Habakkuk’s prophecies could not provide a more accurate description of the world’s emerging ruling structure of our times, and perhaps yet in the future.

Biblical Perspectives on Super Wealth

We do not wish to participate in any politicizing when making our observations; but rather intend only to contrast these trends against the benchmarks and principles that the Bible prescribes.

Consider God’s prescriptions for the Hebrew. They were required to observe the Sabbath year. Every seventh year, they were to allow their fields to lay fallow and settle all outstanding debts.  This convention, not surprisingly, served to slow this “winner take all” tendency of human economies. In a sense, it would serve to reprime the “Monopoly game” every 7 years. With a Sabbath year being observed, the development of wealth imbalances and economic inequality would be restrained, though likely not entirely eradicated.

In addition, there was the observation commanded of the great Jubilee Year. “Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan.” The 25th chapter of Leviticus lays out a detailed set of rules as to how the Jubilee Year was to be observed.

In effect, every 50 years, a completely new game of “Monopoly” was decreed. Property was restored to its original owners. The year prior (the 49th year being a Sabbath Year), all debts would have been laid flat as well. The main difference of the Jubilee Year as compared to the Sabbath Year, was that land was returned to the original tribe and family and indentured labor (slavery) was broken. Together, these two Sabbath ordinances (both the 7th Sabbath year and the Jubilee Year) ensured that freedom, wealth distribution and incentives for production and income stayed in balance.

The practice of the Sabbath and Jubilee years was very effective. It did not bring about an economically dependent class of people with a sense of entitlement … who did not want to work for a living. Industrious and entrepreneurial people were still rewarded for their efforts. Individuals could still become wealthy. All the same, under this God-given 7-year and 50-year debt and economic cycle, it was much less likely that an oppressed class of indebted and poor could emerge.

Were the main principles behind these two Sabbath years observed today, our current globalized world of money would not be so dangerously imbalanced. It would be very different and not so vulnerable to an endtime development of a global elite. There was no basis for debt becoming a major asset of wealth, thereby ultimately facilitating the wealth skew that we see today. To illustrate this point in part, consider that more than 70% of the value of securitized assets in the world today are forms of debt.

The Jubilee Year ensured another benefit. There would be no permanent indentured slave class—either individuals or nation states. The maximum period of slavery could only be 50 years. As such, at least once in each person’s lifetime, one could be saved from slavery. All could be saved. Poverty, therefore, had fewer tendencies to fester as an intergenerational problem. That is not the case today.

The Endtime Super Rich in the Bible

The Prophet Daniel speaks of a class of elites in the very same verse that also refers to the Antichrist: “And he [the Antichrist] shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god: whosoever acknowledgethhim he will increase with glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for a price” (Daniel 11:39, ASV).

Who are “them” that will “increase with glory” and “rule over many,” and play a role in the dividing of land “for a price”? The answer—those that “acknowledge him,” the Antichrist (which can also mean the Antichrist system of world rule). 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.

It only follows that these elites, whoever they are, must be a small group of people who likely will be influential in their own right. Why? They will be made rulers over many. As not everyone can be made a ruler over many, these will be few. Not only is this logical, but the Bible also specifically tell us what the reward will be for everybody else … in other words, all the rest of the masses that acknowledge and worship the Antichrist. They will not be killed (a negative reward) and will be allowed to “buy or sell.” 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 13:15-16).

The elites, on the other hand, are bought off for their loyalty with further reward … the additional pay-off of power or economic domain, quite possibly. 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).

These elites selected for reward must have something to barter in return … likely their fame or endorsement. 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. Also, they must be capable of being rulers, already likely possessing some measure of power and authority. And, they must be willing worldly complicitors.

Although these final events play out during the future Tribulation period(and therefore really do not concern us), it may already be possible today to discern the power structures that these elites might command. Of course, we can only speculate as to whom these persons may be that the Prophet Daniel mentions. One possibility is that they could be powerful heads of large multinational corporations (MNCs). After all, some of these companies are already today larger than many individual nations in terms of their commercial influence and economic footprint. Or, these may be wealthy powerbrokers whose domains span many industries and countries. We can only speculate.

Thoughts to Ponder

Are our views to be seen as a vote for socialism? Not at all. Readers must remember that the ordinances that God commanded of the Hebrews (the Sabbath and Jubilee years, rules of Levitical lending …etc.) far precede the modern politicized idea of socialism (or any other “ism”) and have very little in common. God’s prescription would most certainly be more efficacious that any of the ideas of mankind.

The point to observe in relation to this 8th Burning Fuse, is that it is modern-day beliefs that have served to bring much of these conditions about. The rights of super-wealthy individuals or organizations to arrange their affairs to their maximum benefit, without consideration of the side-effects and fairness attributable to society, are out of balance. Indeed, the poor are still with us, as Christ said would be the case (Matthew 26:11).

The Israelites fell out of the practice of honoring the Sabbath and Jubilee years. Before long, they disobediently again chose to “work around the clock, 24-7,” instead of allowing God’s creation to rest. Prophets were sent to warn them of the consequences (e.g. Jeremiah and Ezekiel). Eventually, the Sabbath became nothing more than a ritualistic nuisance. Amos revealed the attitude of those times: “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?—skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat” (Amos 8:5-6).

In contrast, God commanded the Israelites not to be so overly taken up with productivity and the act of squeezing the last “mite” from every transaction. He told them to ease up. “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 23:22).

In time, God punished Israel and Judah for not observing this ordinance. The 70-year captivity in Babylon was directly proportionate to the number of Sabbaths that Judah had not observed for the previous 490 years, as Moses had warned (Leviticus 26:34). “The land enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah” (2 Chronicles 36:21).

A similar parallel could be seen to apply to the entire world. Mankind’s imperfect economies of oppression, poverty, greed, corruption and extremely unequal wealth distribution of the past thousands of years, will come to an end during the Tribulation. It will be followed by the Millennial world … the Messianic reign representing peace and justice.

1 Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man, 1992.
2 Hurun Global Rich List 2013