THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
1. THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
The first world war (1914-1918) ended the Ottoman Empire and the second world war (1939-1945) ended the British Empire. From the ashes of those two empires arose the American Empire. The US achieved this feat militarily and economically. Militarily, its entrance into the second world war contributed greatly to the defeat of Germany and Japan. Till date, the US has several military bases around the world. On the economic front, it pumped billions of dollars into the reconstruction of a war-ravaged Europe after the second world war. Its consolidation did not go unchallenged: the Russian Empire going by the name of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR) was also building its own empire in Eastern Europe.
The establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 following the triumph of the People’s Liberation Army under Mao Zedong, a Chinese communist revolutionary, supported by the USSR, over the Nationalists, supported by the American Empire, boosted and emboldened the Russian Empire. For more than fifty years, these two empires competed for space in both the world and the skies. Though the American Empire was the stronger of the two, the unprecedented development and stockpile of nuclear arsenal capable of wiping out the whole world by the two antagonistic empires in the event of a war created a balance.
The year 1991 changed that balance of power with the epic collapse of the USSR. The American Empire had become the world’s sole superpower and therefore could lay claim to being the greatest empire since the extinct Roman Empire. In effect, the United States of America became the revived Roman Empire (an empire with the feet of iron and baked clay).
But its sole superpower status could not last for long because of greed and the internal contradictions inherent at the founding of the US as a nation in 1776. From the start, greed was the driving force. It was that same greed that created the internal contradictions inherent in its society. Its claim to being the beacon of democracy was masked in hypocrisy. At its founding, it professed equality of human beings when it was actually creating a very unequal society. Persons of Caucasian descent were at the highest level of the creation order while those of African descent, described as less than human by even church leaders, were at the lowest rung in God’s creation order. Yet, they (Caucasians) had no qualms sleeping and even having children with them (Africans). This hypocrisy has bedeviled and continues to bedevil it.
The second paragraph in the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America in Congress on July 4, 1776 states the following:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…
This most quoted part of the US Constitution “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” was a false declaration to begin with. Why, you ask? Is it not self-evident from its history that most of the framers of that constitution were also abusers of their fellow human beings? They did not believe in the equality of human beings. Had they believed that human beings had certain inalienable rights endowed them by their creator, would they not have restrained their compatriots from killing, maiming and forcibly evicting the owners of the land (Native Americans) from their lands? Would they not have enacted laws to stop the transatlantic slave trade and the debasement of millions of Africans being used as beasts of burden in their plantations?
Rather than enact laws that would have erased those twin evils, they enacted those that justified the presumed superiority of Caucasians over all other races and classed human beings of African descent as properties. That justification and practice led to the creation of an unequal world–the lighter the skin tone, the more acceptable one is in all areas of human endeavor. The rest of the world learnt, and very fast too.
2. THE AMERICAN EMPIRE AND A GLOBALIZED WORLD
The American Empire is largely responsible for the great leap in technological knowledge and to the creation of an interconnected world where people can see events in real time on handheld devices and post videos and pictures for viewing around the world in seconds. In technological terms, this is a marvel!
“But you Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase” (Dan 12:4)
Knowledge has indeed increased as prophesied by Daniel. But let us be clear: Daniel was stating a fact of the far future as he saw it. His prophecy was not about whether such knowledge was good or bad. As one living in the time of the end, I can say categorically that the increase in knowledge foretold has not been beneficial to humanity.
The US used its sole superpower status to drive the globalization agenda. No one can contradict the fact that there has been a quantum increase in knowledge in the last twenty five years? Unfortunately, that knowledge has been to the world’s detriment because it was devoted primarily to completing the infrastructure for the antichrist’s future use.
2.1 INFRASTRUCTURE
With the help of technology and an interconnected globalized world, the American Empire has built the infrastructure which the antichrist will use. The prophets saw the time we are in and did speak about it. The antichrist could not have shown himself in any other generation since the infrastructure prophesied had not been put in place. I am not saying that the American Empire purposely built the infrastructure; it just happened to be the last world empire before that of the antichrist and all the ingredients were in place to build it.
a) Satellite Technology: We now see world events in real time on our TV screens and handheld devices because of satellite technology.
“Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three and half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves” (Rev 11:9).
The above refers to the two witnesses who prophesied in the period of the antichrist’s reign. Without satellite technology, it would have been impossible for the whole world to witness the events recorded in Revelation 11.
b) Advances in computer technology: Management of near-infinity information from one supercomputer could not have been possible without cutting-edge advances in programming and computer technology. According to the NEWS of May 20, 2003, the Pentagon had proposed to build the largest spy computer to monitor everything on the Internet including driver’s licenses. One can confidently assert that more than 12 twelve years after, that supercomputer is existing and is operating.
Without this infrastructure, the antichrist and his government will not be able to keep watch over the world. But with advanced computer programs, biometrics (the science and technology of measuring and analyzing biological data) and the Internet, he can manage information and allow those with the mark of the beast to buy and sell as well as fish out those opposing his government.
c) Decoding and Sequencing the Human Genome using the so-called disruptive technology approach: Scientists began in 1998 to decode the human genome. By the year 2000, they had succeeded in decoding and sequencing it.
Dr. Craig Venter, an American biotechnologist, biochemist and geneticist and one of the principal scientists involved in that project stated in a 2008 BBC program titled “A DNA Driven world” that he was about to create the first artificial life on earth.
It was not a boast: In May 2010, he led a team of scientists to successfully create the first “synthetic life.” According to Wikipedia, he did this by “synthesizing a very long DNA molecule containing an entire bacterium genome, and introducing this into another cell.”
d) Use of Biometrics for Identification: The world has accepted the use of biometrics for identification. Prior to September 11, 2001, human rights advocacy groups would have rebelled against the embedding of fingerprinting, iris scan, face recognition, etc, on travel and other identity documents.
However, with the devil-orchestrated 9/11 of 2001, everything changed. As fear overcame reason, the world led by the US began to embed biological data into identity documents. The next step will be for governments to incorporate the genetic code of a citizen on his or her identity document. When the antichrist comes, he will simply substitute an individual genetic code with Satan’s genetic code i.e., the mark of the beast.
e) Cloning: In a cable broadcast in 2008, they (scientists) finally admitted to having successfully cloned a human embryo though they claimed to have destroyed it. Other claims had been discounted in the past but the recent claim came from a very reputable institute. Now we are told that cloning will be limited to creating human organs and tissues for use in patient cures. Not much is said about its terrible downside.
Many wonder whether science has crossed that wicked barrier. I, for one, believe it has and the repercussions are too grave. Since scientists cannot clone the soul and spirit of a human being, who do you think has and will be filling those voids in human clones?
From the foregoing, one can conclude that human genome decoding and sequencing, biometrics and advanced computer programming will provide the technological platform for the implantation of the mark of the beast or Satan’s genetic code on the face or right arm as described in Rev. 13.
2.2 APOSTASY
Just as it (the American Empire) was developing cutting-edge technologies that built the antichrist’s infrastructure, it was also leading Biblical Christianity into apostasy.
“Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thes 2:1-3).
Unless the falling away comes first: This has already happened. Can we honestly compare our churches to the churches of the 1st and 2nd centuries?
The 21st century ‘Christian’ is loved by the world. It is now ‘cool’ to say ‘I am born again.’ The unsaved loves the ‘21st century born again Christian’ because he is not a threat to his way of life seeing they both love the same things and do the same things. Because of the commingling of worldly and Kingdom values, the lifestyles of many Pentecostal and Evangelical Christians are not different from those in the world.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? (2Cor 6:14)
What are the implications when the world loves those who claim to be Bible-believing-practicing Christians?
- They (those claiming to be born again but living like those who have not believed) either no longer believe God’s word in all matters (they pick and choose what to believe and practice in the same way that one can make a selection from the buffet table)
- Or they are fake and not truly Bible-believing-practicing Christians.
But how did we come to this point where the gospel of Christ has become synonymous with the gospel of greed aka prosperity and entertainment?
The answer lies in the introduction of strange (false doctrines) on faith and the glamorization of preaching via the television by televangelists in the American Empire. The rest of the Christian world copied them and it hasbeen chaos since then. It is very difficult to find a Bible-believing church that has not embraced one or more ofthese strange doctrines that minimize the cross and elevate the desire for wealth and health above it.
2.3 CELEBRATION OF EVIL
The American Empire led the resurgence of witchcraft under the guise of promoting the arts in the last twenty five years. Our planet has become polluted with such filthy books and movies like the Harry Porter witchcraft series, the blasphemies of the Da Vinci Code and the Lost Tomb of Jesus. Time travel (forward incarnation and reverse re-incarnation), occult worship, séances, witchcraft and other Babylonian occult practices have been repackaged in modern wraps and disseminated by American Empires movie industry. Successes of such ventures in the American Empire’s Hollywood encouraged others like India’s Bollywood and Nigeria’s Nollywood to emulate. The result is that billions of viewers worldwide are watching such occult movies regularly.
Through those movies, Satan and his demons continue to pollute young impressionable minds and to transfer their spirits to the very gullible. One has to ask, how many churches are even aware of what is going on and how many church leaders have loudly decried this development?
2.4. THE FINAL STRAW
The American Empire through its so-called arts popularized homosexuality around the world. Some churches and denominations have been enablers; a good number have been ordaining persons who have stated openly that they were practicing homosexuals. This modern day Sodom and Gomorrah that has permeated our world received momentum when the US Episcopalian Church consecrated an openly gay person as a bishop.
Politicians in the American Empire jostle with each other during gay-lesbian parades. Many have found out that it is political suicide to challenge this very rich, influential, and vocal political action group.
The courts, not to be left out, joined in legitimizing that which God hates so much. Court judgments in Massachusetts (USA) and Toronto (Canada) redefined marriage to include same sex couples. Images celebrating ‘marriages’ of thousands of homosexuals by the Mayor of San Francisco beamed on TV screens around the world a couple of years back set the stage for people to watch same sex persons kissing on cable TV.
And God is supposed to be happy? Even Sodom and Gomorrah did not go this far!
3. THE BEGINNING OF THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
Just its zenith, the American Empire began to decline, albeit imperceptibly at first.
3.1. RISE OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM
Scandals at home like a president seducing a Whitehouse intern in the mid 1990 led to the public airing of the affair and the impeachment of that president by Congress. A nascent terrorist organization (Al Qaeda) led by a Saudi born terrorist, using those distractions in Washington as cover, moved against American interests overseas. His Afghanistan-trained terrorists killed hundreds of Africans and a few Americans in bomb attacks on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and many American sailors in an attack on an American warship in Yemen in 1999.
A new United States President elected with the help of the Supreme Court took the reins at the dawn of the new millennium. On the advice of his rightwing ideologues, the new president adopted neoconservative doctrines of pre-emption and unilateralism despite opposition arguments that pre-emptive military strikes on perceived future enemies could lead to anarchy in the world.
On the 11th day of September 2001, terrorists, mostly Saudis, belonging to Al Qaeda, using two hijacked commercial planes, destroyed the World Trade Center, the world’s tallest twin towers, in New York. Within minutes of the New York attacks, another plane crashed into the Pentagon, the pride and heart of America’s military might, in Washington D.C. The US felt vulnerable and very humiliated.
Going into a ‘barricade mode,’ as fear soon turned to grief and then to anger, the US passed many draconian national security laws. Before long, those laws led to loss of individual liberties as many found themselves held without trial in the world’s self-declared freest democracy. As fear overtook reason, security agencies began to use new technologies to spy on citizens and the idea of embedding biometric data like fingerprints, facial recognition features and iris scan on national identity cards, hitherto anathema, was resurrected.
After a botched Afghanistan operations, where the US special forces failed to kill or capture the terrorist leader due to wrong strategy (the president had chosen to use air power rather than a large ground force in Afghanistan), the president turned around to attack Iraq in 2003 on the basis that it possessed weapons of mass destruction (an assertion that later proved false). This was a pre-emptive war; a war fought on the basis that the US considered Iraq’s possible possession of weapons of mass destruction a future threat. And this war met with groundswell opposition worldwide.
The removal of the Iraqi dictator would lead to a stable Middle East and stem the tide of worldwide terrorism, so said the propaganda. Unfortunately the war and toppling of the Iraqi dictator had the opposite effect. It destabilized the Middle East and led to a virulent resurgence of terrorism worldwide. Having opened the Iraqi Pandora Box, the Empire could not stem the tide of terrorist attacks that was causing many civilian deaths as old Iraqi sectarian rivalries and hatred bubbled to the surface. Soon, Shiite and Sunni militias were at each other’s throats and a civil war was on. American troops, unable to stop the internecine conflict that was claiming hundreds of innocent Iraqi lives daily, retreated into carved-out strongholds. However, they continued to suffer casualties whenever they made forays into cities and towns.
Many of the terrorists, after gaining battlefield experience in Iraq, shifted their attention to the rest of the world. Blowing up buildings, buses, trains and people in many countries like Indonesia, India, Morocco, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Kuwait and the United Kingdom, the terrorists succeeded in wrapping the whole world in a blanket of fear. Iran and North Korea were apprehensive. They were the other two countries previously branded along with Iraq as the three countries making up the axis of evil by the US President in his state of the union address prior to his incursion into Iraq. Needing a deterrent, North Korea began to amass more nuclear weapons while Iran started to develop its own.
3. 2. THE RISE OF A NEW RUSSIAN EMPIRE
With the epic collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, greed had driven the American Empire into helping Russia. Aid flowed freely even as western businesses jockeyed for places in what the western world labeled as the world’s newest market. The multinational oil companies were in the forefront, delivering billions of dollars worth of investment and state of the art technologies for the drilling and development of oil fields in Russia’s Sakhalin Islands and Siberia.
Russia, using billions of the dollars provided by the western world, began to rebuild its economy. Business boomed. Western nations rejoiced as their companies made great inroads and profits and the new Russia Empire willingly engaged in nuclear disarmament talks.
A change of guards at the Kremlin and Washington at the dawn of the new millennium was pivotal in the altering of the power balance between the American and Russian empires. While the US president was largely uninformed having no foreign affairs experience, the new Russian president was a renowned ex-KGB officer (it is doubtful whether he ever left Russian intelligence services).
In the chess game (some will say in the Russian roulette) that followed, Russia came out on top even though it was the weaker partner.
Three wrong-headed assumptions on the part of the US-led American Empire contributed to this:
- Russia was truly down and would never get up to challenge its supremacy again.
- It could do whatever it liked in any part of the world since its leader (the US) was now the world’s only superpower.
- The US unilateral invasion of a sovereign state (Iraq) on the basis it possessed weapons of mass destruction (a claim that proved false) would have no consequences.
The humbling of the US in Iraq had major consequences:
- The election of the 44th US president (He had been on record opposing the US invasion of Iraq) who would eventually become a champion of homosexual rights around the world.
- The rise of Russia led by the ex-KGB officer turned president from ‘ashes’ to military prominence (it could ignore the US as demonstrated by its invasion and annexation of South Ossetia in Georgia in 2008, annexation of Crimea in 2014, incursions into Ukraine, and imposing its will in Syria).
- The rise of China as a global economic superpower (China owns a good percentage of US debts).
- The rise of ISIS (a new terrorist organization that would gain so much real estate in both Syria and Iraq in a very short time)
- Less trust and respect for the US around the world.
TO BE CONTINUED