FIRST LOVE MINISTRY : Understanding World Politics

7:10 PM EST Thurs., Feb. 8, 1990

Dear Beloved Followers of Christ,

Greetings in Jesus' Name.

In some of my last letters, I have spent time sharing personal reflections and spiritual implications. Tonight, having just returned to my room from watching the news, I feel led to write you a letter bringing together some perspective on the political events transpiring in Europe and in the Soviet Union.

As you know, I watch the news "like a hawk." I keep up with events because the Spirit speaks through them to alert us to the progress of development of the spiritual realities that culminate in the Lord's Return. I think it wise to devote a letter to review and give overview of the major world forces shaping up before us. Without such an overview, it's easy to get lost in the myriad of events taking place.

As an aside--- It has probably been some time since most of you read the manuscript Flight From Babylon sent to you over two years ago. I strongly recommend that you go back and read that manuscript every few months. It will help focus the context of these events for you. I especially recommend you read the later chapters that deal with the development of world history since the Reformation. The forces leading up to the final events cited in chapter 12 are now culminating before your very eyes!

Don't allow the immediacy of your daily involvements to cloud your perspective. Don't get lost in the smallness of your immediate world. Stay above it. These cataclysmic changes will shortly force changes in your small world, so you need to understand what's going on if you want to be ready for those changes. Enough said. Now to world events...

The Balance of Powers

The key to understanding world politics is to understand the balancing of oppositional fleshly forces. What is taking place throughout the world is nothing more than a cosmic balancing act of political forces at work. Consider, please:

Political reality is simply a reflection of spiritual reality. And spiritual reality always operates on a polarity between two extremes that have to be balanced out in order for forward motion to take place. You know this from your own personal life. You are always confronted with balancing spiritual extremes: in attitude, in practice, and in doctrine.

So it is with world-wide political reality. The main difference is that in politics, you are dealing with a mass of people, hence mass polarity extremes, hence opposing groups, ie, "parties." As individuals deal with polarity between extremes, so do nations, generations, and civilizations.

The other difference between politics and you is that your balancing is over the operation of God's Word in your life. In politics, the balancing is simply over dead issues that reflect God's Word. So, as you grow in Christ over the balances between the extremes you face, the world grows in its own direction of social change over balancing extremes. The flesh mirrors the Spirit. As you work out your salvation toward Christ over balances, the world of flesh balances its way toward antichrist over compromised extremes.

Note this statement: World history is nothing more than the fleshly offal that traces the church's development toward Christ. World history is the "tracks in the snow" of the Church as she moves toward Christ. World politics is but the imprint of the Church's shoes. And since the Church walks on two feet through this age, the shadow of world politics also has two feet, balancing itself through the extremes toward antichrist.

Descent from the Knowledge of Good and Evil

The reason that spiritual growth and hence world politics is a matter of balancing extremes is due to man's subjection to the polarity knowledge of good and evil. This knowledge requires constant balancing because good and evil are polarities. So individuals and nations must constantly labor to balance themselves over perceived right vs. wrong.

The Church makes her way through that knowledge out of it unto the knowledge of God, grace, and the tree of Life. But the world of flesh can only remain stuck in the shadows of the church's salvation, enslaved to dealing with dead issues over the spiritually blind perceptions of good vs. evil. And that is what world politics is all about.

If you look at the present governments of the world as well as past governments and historical trends, you can see how they all are and have been shaped by balancing polarized forces. These forces break down into two basic camps which correspond to the knowledge of "good" and the knowledge of "evil". These forces, ie, "parties," oppose each other until they meld out in the middle. Once they meld out over an issue, they then pit against a new opposition further out, melding out again, etc.

This cycle continues throughout tribes, nations, and civilizations until the world reaches a "critical mass" where it is divided into two fairly equal camps, one considered basically "good", the other "evil". Then these two camps must be compromised to form a final single antichrist/flesh meld. It is this very meld we are witnessing before our eyes right now!

More on the final meld in a minute. First, a closer look at the two basic kinds of political force:

The first political force in a people corresponds to the knowledge of good. It is characterized as a force of law and order, stability, preservation (ie, "conservation") of the status quo, and principled morality. The second and opposing political force corresponds to the knowledge of evil. It is characterized by revolution, instability, change (ie, "liberalization") against the present order (hence "lawlessness"), and pragmatism ("the end justifies the means").

These are the two basic political forces at work in all human society and civilization throughout history. Below is a chart sampling from history and also from contemporary politics the balancing of these forces through their parties:

	LAW AND ORDER FORCE	CHANGE/LIBERALIZATION FORCE
	(Knowledge of good)	(Knowledge of evil)

Qualities:	principled morality stable legalist preserve status quo	whatever works is right unstable lawless overthrow status quo
Associated Terms:	CONSERVATIVE "Right-wing"	LIBERAL "Left-wing"
(color-) [ed. note: since 2000, these colors have been intentionally reversed by the news media in the U.S.]	"blue"	"red"
Ancient Nations - Israel (kingdom age) - Israel (under Rome) - Greece - Rome	Judah (south) Pharisees Aristotelians Patricians	Israel (north) Sadducees Platonians Plebeians
Present Nations (West): - United Kingdom - Canada - United States	Conservatives Progressive Conservatives Republicans	Liberals Liberals Democrats
Present Nations (East): (communist view)* - Poland - Czechoslovakia - Romania - China	Communists Communists Communists Communists	Solidarity Civic Forum National Front Student Democracy Movement
World-at-Large:	The “West”	The “East”

*(Keep in mind that one's point of view of who is "good" and who is "evil" plays a part in assigning columns like this. From the western viewpoint, the columns" for China, for Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania should be reversed. This is because the political party more principled morally is not always the party in power.)

These are just a few samplings. Every country has its "right wing" and "left wing" party, it's "status quo" party and its "revolutionary" party, and its "more principled" party and its "more pragmatic" party. Even in countries with official one-party rule (like the USSR) or multi-party rule (like Israel or Italy) factions and coalitions are formed around two opposites.

For example, in the USSR Communist Party, you have "hard line conservatives" like Ligachev, and "liberal mavericks" like Boris Yeltsin. Or in Israel you have coalitions of several parties making either the "Labor" coalition or the "Likud" coalition. But always, societies break down into these two polar forces, one that preserves the way things have been (and/or lives by principled moralism), and one that calls for change (and/or lives by unprincipled pragmatism).

Reaching the Final Merger Between the "Goods" and the "Bads"

The two political forces described above have been at work since Adam partook of the knowledge of good and evil---"good" flesh striving against "evil" flesh. The goal of these fleshly forces has been the eventual meld between two great world camps, one representative of "conservative goodness", the other more representative of "liberal evil."

Today we see the West being melded with the East. The age long process of political opposition and compromise has occurred to the point that the world is now on the threshold of final unification of the two great empires: The West---championed by the USA with its allies, and the East---championed by the USSR with its allies. Understanding this reality is the key to understanding and appreciating the significance of the world events now transpiring.

When it comes to the sudden collapse of communism in the east bloc, then, it is for one purpose. The East is being made politically compatible to the West so they can be merged into a single coalition government. (Note: this follows a long slow process in which the western countries have been made increasingly socialist.)

This is why the Berlin Wall came down and the whole Iron Curtain. The curtain was necessary for 45 years as a point of world polarity conflict until all the world could come under sufficient control of either the East or West. Now that that has been accomplished, the wall had to come down so the two can now merge. Now, please note carefully: The prototype for this mergence is Germany. Here we see East and West uniting openly.

Tonight, experts give Germany two to five years to become one political entity! What no one is saying yet is that Germany is just the prototype. Listen to your news. In months you will hear some bold soul propose the same union for all East and West. And because it will work for Germany, it will work for Europe. The political union of Western Europe is set for 1992. But that is only part of the overall unity to include all Europe, and in turn all the world.

Age of the Gentiles and the Roman Empire

This is the Age of the Gentiles. For two millennia, Europe has been the focus for world union. The quest for this union has been embodied in the continuing dream for resurrection of the Roman Empire. The prophet Daniel first prophesied that the center of world empire conflict would move from the eastern hemisphere (Babylon and Persia) to the western hemisphere (Greece and Rome). Since then, the western hemisphere has remained focal to the development of world history toward world union.

By 117 AD, the Roman Empire embraced some part of every present-day European country except for Scandinavia and a handful of the east European countries. It even included parts of the USSR. In 395 AD, Europe was split in half. This fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel which pictured the Roman Empire as "two legs" of a statue. So there was the "western" empire and the "eastern" empire. That split was virtually equivalent to the present day split by the iron curtain.

In the time since that split and the subsequent fall of Rome, all world history has been geared about talk of "resurrecting the Roman Empire." What did that mean? It meant that someday, if that Empire was ever to come together, all the lands represented by both eastern and western empires would have to come together. And inasmuch as the present age division of Europe was indeed the approximate revival of the divided Roman Empire, it became inevitable that the Iron Curtain would have to come down.

East - West: North – South

But there's more. Not only did an east-west polarity develop out of the Roman Empire, but so did a north-south polarity. During the 700-900's AD, the northern European tribes became very powerful and united with Rome in the south. In 800 AD, Charlemagne was crowned by the pope creating what was called the Holy Roman Empire. In this time period, the center for political power became focused in Germany, while the religious power remained focused in Rome.

This empire also did not survive. But like the original east-west empire, this north-south empire also gave birth to visions of resurrection leading to what were called the German "Reichs." The first was in the 900's AD, the second in the 1800's, and the third under Hitler in the 1930's. You must note that Hitler had a powerful ally in Italy with Mussolini. So the north-south polarity was kept also through this age.

Putting the Compass Together

What does all this mean? Together, we see two polarities that grew out of the Roman Empire, one East-West, the other North-South, just like the four points of a compass. The four points are symbolic of total world domination. "Four" is the number of Creation. The Bible speaks of the "four winds" and the "four corners" of the earth. So it is that the push for world union was to continue along the development of struggle over both these polarities.

The East-West polarity has come to be centred in two cities that are far outside the bounds of the empire; Moscow and Washington, DC. The north-south polarities still exist in the cities of Berlin and Rome. Together I give you to understand that these four cities represent the entire capture of the earth under one government in which Europe, Land of the Gentiles, is the center:

If you want to understand what progress is made toward world union then, you must watch these four cities to see how the polarities develop toward melding into world government.

Watching the West: Key to Unlocking the Source of Antichrist

The key to understanding politics is also the key to understanding prophecy. Both are simply the outworking of spiritual reality over the counterfeit knowledge of good and evil. Politics is simply the outworking of the good-evil polarity in the present. Prophecy is but the projection of that same outworking toward the future. There is really no great mystery to it. But you do have to understand the good-evil polarity. The more we are personally delivered from subjection to the knowledge of good and evil, the more easily we can observe this situation shape up over the broad spectrum around us. Salvation brings perspective!

What does all this mean? It means that if we understand how the devil works by his counterfeiting of Christ over the image of what is "good," and if we understand how the whole good-evil conflict has been played out over the two great global hemispheres, then it becomes a cinch to tell from where the final leadership for world government must come. Again, I say to you, understanding prophecy is not a matter of interpreting isolated facts and symbols, but a matter of reading spiritual patterns.

So let's read the pattern! What do we know from spiritual reality in our own lives? We know that satan's greatest deceptiveness is his ability to counterfeit spirituality through the natural power and perception of what is good. All religion is based on self-righteous ("good") works. We see this in the world religions and cults. We see it in our own flesh-ridden churches. And we see it in ourselves as we labor to die to our satanically-bred nature and perception of what is good.

Allright! So all we have to do is transpose this awareness to the big picture! Question: Where is the focus for perceived goodness in the earth? Answer: the western hemisphere. Specifically, the United States.

So what should we expect? We should expect the counterfeit Christ to appear from the perceived center of goodness in the world-- as usual, the place from which you would least expect!

Isn't that what the very first satanic deception was all about? Satan offered man goodness in the place of God, and that is how he will finally offer himself as the curtain closes. It's simple spiritual reality. That's how he has to do it! He has no other choice. It's his nature. So, his final offering must come from the seat of goodness: the West.

Fleshing-Out the Picture

Let me wrap up by simply directing your awareness to some of the specific realities that compose the political scene right now. Part of the polarity between good and evil in the world is the polarity between stability and instability. Applied to the hemispheres, the west is comparatively stable while the east is unstable. This has been a long-standing fact of world spiritual history.

Under communism, the East has always been a miserable place to exist, and even before. Now communism is collapsing showing all the more instability. Meanwhile, the West is fairly stable albeit corrupt. So what does this say?

Where world stability is centered, there must the eyes of the world be focused, and from there must therefore come all direction and steering toward world government, and therefore from the west must rise the final leadership of world government, namely the man of sin.

I challenge you to pay attention to the news! Where does the news come from? What is the source channel for information throughout the world? The West, most notably the USA.

Who lets the world know what is happening? Whose news correspondents travel the globe this very minute to not only report world opinion but to shape it? The USA.

Who goes to whom to get their information? Does the American get his news from Moscow? Or does the communist populace get its information from America?

When the Chinese revolted, where did they have to go to get the news about what was happening in their own country? The USA.

When the governments of the world have a point to make, to whom do they turn? Is it to their own media? Of course not. They seek out Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, and Tom Brokaw!

The point is, if you're going to control the world, you have to be able to own and control the sources the world relies on for their information, and it happens to be the western media.

Now for the economics.

Which hemisphere depends on which for their trade and for their goods? Does America depend on the USSR? Is Bush begging Gorbachev for more rubles? Obviously, the East is bankrupt and is desperate for western supply as it always has been. The West has all the capital. It's McDonalds that has opened in Moscow! If you're going to control the world, you have to have control of the world’s source and supply of capital. That control must therefore come from the West.

Now add to that the language issue and it comes all the clearer. Whose language is the language of diplomacy spoken out over the world? What language appears on the banners of people protesting in remote places like Estonia and Lithuania? What is the main secondary language learned by most of the schoolchildren of the earth? Is it Russian? Of course not. It's English!

Did you never marvel how wherever the American news media go in the world, they can always find somebody that speaks English, and invariably it is someone in government who was likely trained at Harvard! Again, if you're going to be the center for world control, it's your language people have to be able to speak! Guess who?

All of this establishes beyond clarity that the US is the counterfeit center of righteousness whose society is directly descended from the tree of fleshly knowledge of good which must produce the final counterfeit christ --- the last place in the world from which man would expect evil to come, and therefore the place from which they will most easily embrace it.

Conclusion:

The key to understanding world politics and end-time prophecy is to understand the polarity between the knowledge of good and evil as it is played out through human flesh as the Church sheds that knowledge to enter eternal Life. Let's keep shedding, and keep watching!

Postscript: What You Should Know About Involvement in Politics

No matter where we are in the Lord, we find ourselves compelled to work out our salvation over our involvement with the issues of life with their polarity of good vs. evil. We have to deal with this concerning both our personal struggle for holiness, the Church at large, and also to some degree, the surrounding world. Our degree of involvement with each of these spheres depends on where we are when Christ calls us, how far we have moved into Christ, and also what Christ's specific call to our life involves.

When we take all these factors into consideration, we have to conclude the following things about involvement with politics. First, it is possible to be involved in politics as a Christian. But, while involvement is possible, it is not the focal thrust of the Lord's direction for our salvation. Rather, such involvement is exceptional.

Why is that? It is because the Lord's call to us is away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and toward the knowledge of Himself as the tree of Life. If this is so concerning our relationship with God's Word, how much more is it so with our relationship with dead human society whose struggles over good and evil only mirror God's word? If we are called to come out from our own personal legalism over spiritual issues, how much more must we be called to come out from societal legalism over earthly issues?

Given the foregoing understanding, here are the factors that allow limited Christian involvement in world politics:

1) involvement in politics is legitimate for those who are already involved in it when they are first called, who have not yet received the personal illumination to leave it, and whose involvement is not contrary to their understanding of God's word to that point.

2) Political involvement is also legitimate for a Christian who, against his more perfect understanding of God's salvation, finds himself specifically, irresistibly, personally called to that involvement by God.

Other than these factors, God's will is for Christians to forsake their involvement with the dead political issues of this world and to press into the knowledge of God and purity of new identity outside the bounds of the world. Again, the overall thrust of salvation is away from legal involvement with hammering out right vs. wrong, and toward resting in the grace of the knowledge of God. World politics is the basest level of dealing with the knowledge of good and evil. For this reason then, our involvement with it ought to be the most exceptional.

In all things, the life of Jesus is our model. When we are in doubt as to our involvement over such issues, we can always go to His Life to test our direction and understanding. I believe that the life of Jesus clearly bears out the truth of what you have just read on this page. If you have any doubt about your involvement, test yourself against His life. Make His Life, and His personal Spirit Word to your heart your final reference point in all things.