And I heard 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 the wine.”—Revelation 6:6
I have no doubt that many who have read this verse have wondered how could a quart of wheat cost a day’s wage and {cooking} oil and wine be too expensive to even think about buying. I wonder how many people are wondering that now. In these days of high fuel costs and skyrocketing food costs, there is no reason to wonder how these things could be. Simply put, it is basic economics.
The law of supply and demand is based on the premise of scarcity of goods and limited resources. Revelation 6 speaks to the arrival of the Anti-Christ. He will speak of peace but it will be a deception. Behind the scenes, he will be manipulating people and events against the very peace he is promoting. The evidence is in the following verses. Shortly after the Antic-Christ arrives, War will follow. Next, will be Famine, followed closely by Death and Hades.
This is the sequence of events: the Anti-Christ comes to proclaim peace but will work to start wars all over the earth. The natural consequence of war is famine and plagues. Because of the devastation of war, farmlands will be burned; soils will be poisoned by radiation and radioactive fallout. People will be wounded and without access to adequate medical care, infections will set in. These left untreated will lead to plagues. The radiation from nuclear, germ, and biological weapons will also contribute to the spreading of plagues. Because of the scarcity of food, wild animals will venture into populated areas to scrounge for food. Their hunger will cause them to attack people in packs and even each other. The lack of food, attacks of animals, effects of war, and uncontrolled plagues will lead to death.
So, what does this have to do with economics? War will lead to destructions of pipelines causing fuel prices to increase. Planes, trucks, and trains will also be targets of terrorist and soldiers. Each knows that one way to win a war is to cut off supplies and starve the people into submission. As mentioned earlier, the effects of war will lead to scarcity of goods. Wheat fields, for example, will be burned out through fire and radiation poisoning. This will lead to a scarcity of goods. This scarcity will drive up the price of wheat and anything made with wheat. The scarcer the product and the greater the demand for it, the higher the price for it will be.
Here’s an analogy from our own lives. Because terrorists were attacking pipelines in the Middle East, the Arabs had to increase security. This increased their costs, which they passed on to us. Then, Gustav and IKE damaged some of the oil platforms in the Gulf. This led to a supply issue. Yet, demand for the product, gasoline, never went down. As a result, prices went up, way up. This in turn, led to increase prices in almost everything from food to electronics to air fare because gasoline was a factor with each. Manufactures have to get their products from the warehouses to the retail stores. Increased gas prices meant increased transportation costs, which were passed on to the consumers. This is why airlines starting increasing their ticket prices and charging for checked bags. The additional weight of each bag meant more fuel consumption.
We’ve seen items like bread and milk increase fifty cents to a dollar each. And those increases were without the devastation of war and famines. Imagine what prices would have been like with these.
What’s the conclusion of the matter? We are seeing the small fulfillments of Biblical prophecy in our lifetime. We are seeing nations rise against nations and hearing about rumors of wars. Parents are betraying their children to death and children their parents. As Jesus said, these are the beginning of birth pangs. We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. In the coming months and years, things are only going to get worse. It doesn’t matter who is in the Oval Office, God has a plan. Things are set in motion. We can only pray for the leadership of whoever gets in office and pray that we miss all this that is to come.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Consent of the Governed
When I was watching the debates a couple of weeks ago between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, the phrase consent of the governed was on the screen behind Sen. Obama (and later Gov. Sarah Palin in the Vice-Presidential debates). That phrase stuck out to me. What is “consent of the governed?”
The term is used in the Declaration of Independence. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed—" I believe the term comes from the principle that says, “whenever a government ceases to meets of the needs of the people, the people have a responsibility to abolish such government and replace it with a new one.” It was used to rationalize the colonies’ succession from the Commonwealth of England.
In effect, consent of the governed means that governments get their power from the permission of those they govern. I suppose this is even true of those dictatorships. Even though they claim divine right of leadership, the people they govern give them their authority. They give their consent because they do not stage revolutions, plot coup d’etats, or attempt assassinations.
In the U.S., we give our consent when we vote. The U.S. is what is called a Democratic Republic. We elect people to represent us in Congress and the White House. Those people are supposed to represent the wishes of the majority of the people. That may not always be the case because with the Electoral College, it is possible to win the majority vote but lose the race with fewer electoral votes (that’s for another discussion). Some are trying to eradicate the Electoral College, but I don’t know how what going.
It gets me when people say they are not going to vote, yet they complain about the government later. They argue that they do not vote because there is no purpose. They think is all a set up and the other person is going to get in anyway. The thing is, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain about the government. If you refuse to exercise your right to voice your choice of candidate or the acceptance or decline of a proposed law, then you should keep quiet when things don’t go their way later. This is especially true of black people who didn’t even have the right to vote at one time. They had to fight to get the right to vote and now they do not want to exercise it is totally foolish.
We have a responsibility to vote. We have a responsibility to our nation, our community, and our family to put the person we think will best lead our nation. We have a responsibility to ensure the laws that are passed are laws that will be beneficial to us. The reason why lobbyists have so much power and budgets are so full of earmarks is because there is lack of accountability on the part of the constituency. If we would fire politicians when they fail to keep their promises, they might think twice about what they promise and how easy they break those promises.
We should pray first, then cast our votes and leave the rest to God. After the election, we should continue to uplift our leaders in prayer. The Bible says, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence (1 Timothy 2:1-2).” We also need to keep them accountable for their actions. If not, we cannot complain about high taxes and unethical practices in government. We must remember both honest and dishonest politicians govern by our consent.
Take advantage of your freedom and exercise your right to vote this election year!
The term is used in the Declaration of Independence. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed—" I believe the term comes from the principle that says, “whenever a government ceases to meets of the needs of the people, the people have a responsibility to abolish such government and replace it with a new one.” It was used to rationalize the colonies’ succession from the Commonwealth of England.
In effect, consent of the governed means that governments get their power from the permission of those they govern. I suppose this is even true of those dictatorships. Even though they claim divine right of leadership, the people they govern give them their authority. They give their consent because they do not stage revolutions, plot coup d’etats, or attempt assassinations.
In the U.S., we give our consent when we vote. The U.S. is what is called a Democratic Republic. We elect people to represent us in Congress and the White House. Those people are supposed to represent the wishes of the majority of the people. That may not always be the case because with the Electoral College, it is possible to win the majority vote but lose the race with fewer electoral votes (that’s for another discussion). Some are trying to eradicate the Electoral College, but I don’t know how what going.
It gets me when people say they are not going to vote, yet they complain about the government later. They argue that they do not vote because there is no purpose. They think is all a set up and the other person is going to get in anyway. The thing is, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain about the government. If you refuse to exercise your right to voice your choice of candidate or the acceptance or decline of a proposed law, then you should keep quiet when things don’t go their way later. This is especially true of black people who didn’t even have the right to vote at one time. They had to fight to get the right to vote and now they do not want to exercise it is totally foolish.
We have a responsibility to vote. We have a responsibility to our nation, our community, and our family to put the person we think will best lead our nation. We have a responsibility to ensure the laws that are passed are laws that will be beneficial to us. The reason why lobbyists have so much power and budgets are so full of earmarks is because there is lack of accountability on the part of the constituency. If we would fire politicians when they fail to keep their promises, they might think twice about what they promise and how easy they break those promises.
We should pray first, then cast our votes and leave the rest to God. After the election, we should continue to uplift our leaders in prayer. The Bible says, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence (1 Timothy 2:1-2).” We also need to keep them accountable for their actions. If not, we cannot complain about high taxes and unethical practices in government. We must remember both honest and dishonest politicians govern by our consent.
Take advantage of your freedom and exercise your right to vote this election year!
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