When I pick up the morning paper or tune in to the evening news I am appalled at what I do NOT see or hear. It is criminal what is not being reported to the people, but considering the general apathy the vast majority of them seem to be enjoying I doubt they would hear anyway.

Surveying the bits-and-pieces of what news is available (much of it on the Internet or alternative radio) and fitting the pieces together like some giant jigsaw puzzle brings focus to what has been deliberately left unfocused. The shift from government by and for the people to government by and for special interests is near completion, thanks to the complicity of many of our elected officials, both past and present. Some who we thought to be sheep have turned out to be the greatest ravagers of our liberties.

When viewing this shift (which is also from nation states to one-world government) in light of God’s Holy Word, I can come to but one conclusion: the world is very rapidly being prepared for the coming of the Antichrist spoken of in the books of Daniel and Revelation.

The feeble efforts of the few "watchmen on the wall" who have been trying to sound the alarm for many years seem all for naught. The people are listening with itching ears, hearing only what they want to hear and believing only that which justifies their desires.

I would not be so bold as to offer a time frame in which all the puzzle pieces will finally be in position, but it seems to me there are very few pieces left to place. The UN Summit on Sustainable Development currently under way in Johannesburg, South Africa is likely to shift a few more into position.

Too many Americans still view the UN as a benevolent means of settling disputes between nations instead of the instrument to move the world into a single governmental body that it is, and was from its inception. When they do happen to get exposed to some of the less desirable machinations coming from the UN they tend to discredit the news or take the attitude that those provisions will not apply to America or American citizens. Nothing could be further from the truth. America is the target’s bull's-eye, the one fly in the ointment that stands in the way of their desire for world domination. The desire for peace at any cost will always lead to tyranny, and history is replete with examples that good intentions are insufficient to guarantee good results.

While we are being besieged on many fronts the big guns currently being used against us are the environmentalists’ claims that we are destroying the earth and must work to undo much of what man has done if we are to save it. This movement has all the fervor of religious fanaticism and is in fact a return to the pagan worship of God’s creation rather than worship of the Creator Himself. Many churches are falling in line with this philosophy and instead of opposing it are abetting it. But the goal is not simply good stewardship as many believe, it is to reduce man from his position as one created in the image of God down to the same level as any other creature, thus denying the truth of God’s word. It is idolatry, and is most likely part of the great deception about which the scriptures warn us.

Now, In Johannesburg, South Africa, the UN convention is spreading the lie that we can eradicate poverty for the world. Somehow, if we will reduce our consumption of the earth’s resources it will allow the poor undeveloped nations to grow. Do they really think that nations that have been sitting on lands containing some of the richest of earth’s resources will suddenly begin to apply tools and techniques to grow into great nations? No! This isn’t about raising standards, it’s about control and power for the elite, it’s about Satan’s desire for total control of earth in his final effort to thwart God’s plan.

If you are reading this and do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, I pray that you will now make your decision to accept Him.

WHILE I WASN’T LOOKING

The WSSD (World Summit on Sustainable Development) is over but we are unlikely to know the extent of change that will be brought to our lives by it for some time. The general tenor of the news filtering out from the major media is that the Summit was a failure. That, however, is the voice of the radical environmentalists speaking, for whom anything less than total success is failure.

Every time the United Nations holds one of these ‘conferences’ the nations of the world lose a bit more of their sovereignty and the UN becomes a bit stronger in its bid for global governance. I am certain that this one will be no exception.

There were some 100 heads of state attending this Summit, along with some 700 or more NGO (non-governmental organization) groups. The philosophy behind this kind of representation is that the NGOs represent the peoples of the world and speak for the masses, bringing ‘democracy’ into the mix and legitimizing decisions based on ‘the will of the people.’

Were these NGOs actually representatives of the people the argument might have some merit, although we are well aware that our Founding Fathers considered a democracy an invitation to chaos leading to tyranny. The NGOs that will be given voice at a UN conference are always well screened and represent special interest groups far more than they represent the people. You may be sure most of the NGOs attending this conference were well connected to members of the environmental movement and would have little to offer in opposition to the predetermined goals laid out far in advance of the ‘consensus generating’ mode of operation always followed in such gatherings.

Over the years we have been conditioned to think consensus is a good thing, it means we are all agreed on a specific methodology to be followed to achieve a desired goal. Not true! The way the consensus process works leads the uninitiated to think he is having some input into the decision-making process when in fact the decision was made well in advance of the meeting (sometimes called a visioning session).

There are a number of names applied to the process, the ‘Delphi Technique’ is one, but they all fall back to the ‘Hegelian Dialectic,’ a method being used throughout the world today to change men's attitudes about what they believe, and to convince them to accept beliefs and attitudes they would never otherwise accept. We see it in schools, in businesses, even in churches almost daily and usually do not recognize it for what it is.

The German philosopher Friedrich Hegel developed his dialectic on his belief that there is an accepted ‘truth’ (thesis) that must be countered by an opposing ‘truth’ (antithesis) which will lead to a third ‘truth’ (synthesis). According to Hegel this is a continuing process in which the synthesis becomes the accepted ‘truth’ which then encounters another antithesis, and so on and so on. Later, Karl Marx substituted materialism for Hegel’s idealism and founded the school of ‘dialectical materialism,’ which is the essence of what we are now seeing put into practice. It is a system totally in conflict with the teachings of Christianity but most Christians fail to recognize this.

As we observe the reports from such UN conferences we are inundated with the glowing phrases about the desirable goals being sought. After all, no one can be opposed to the elimination of poverty and famine and lack of medical care, no one can be opposed to clean water, clean air and clean living conditions for all people. To do so would be inhumane.

In the meantime we are failing to observe what is being put into place -- a system of governance based not on a constitution but on the edicts of an organization that is using the consensus process to induce our acceptance of a governance system by individuals who are not elected, for whom we cannot vote, and over whose laws we have no say.

AIDING AND ABETTING

Jackie Patru, in an article a couple of years ago, defined governance as "control by rules, restrictions and regulations," a far cry from control by the rule of law we think of when we think of our American Republic. Of course in today’s America we find ourselves often covered up with rules, restrictions and regulations. Most of these are still the result of laws enacted by elected representatives who can be voted out of office should the voters so desire.

The Patru article I mentioned is titled "Regionalism Sneaking America into World Government," and may be accessed on the Internet at http//www.sweetliberty.org/issues/regionalism/sneaking.htm. It gives a rather in-depth history of efforts to regionalize the North American continent. The regionalization of Europe is easily evident these days, with the advent of the European Union and the issuance of a common currency, but many of us have not looked at what has been happening here, right under our noses. President Nixon divided the nation into ten regions, ostensibly to bring government closer to the people. In so doing he took the first step toward blurring state borders.

Closer to home we have been seeing efforts to regionalize population areas. The Birmingham Regional Planning Board is working very hard at establishing a 12 county region under the title of Region 2020. Such a move would require that all city and county governments within that twelve county region join forces for the greater good of the larger area. In essence this would require that a regional commission or a regional board of some kind be established to coordinate plans to avoid duplication of efforts which waste tax-payer dollars. Sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? But like so many other things that look great in theory, the proof is in the application -- and the application spells big-time loss of liberty.

How does this cause a loss of liberty? The local governments enter into a contractual agreement to establish a regional board. In so doing they agree that the board (composed of appointees) will be given authority over matters normally governed by city councils or county commissions, matters such as zoning restrictions, building permits, et al. Thus we have the public/private partnership formed but it is the private element in the partnership that now holds the power.

At this stage of the process the details of the plan for future development are vague, stating only the broadest of goals, such as clean air, clean water, improved traffic flow, the inclusion of parks and greenways, etc. The details of how these goals are to be achieved are left for the regional board to fill in as need dictates. A little further down the line, when some land owners find the restrictions being placed upon them are more severe than they had envisioned they go to their city council or county commission for relief but are told it is no longer in their hands but in the hands of the regional board. When they approach the regional board they find they have no leverage over it because the board members are not accountable to the voters. Liberties and property rights have been bartered away in the form of a legal contract that cedes those rights to unelected bureaucrats.

Planning boards also may work with individual communities to help them draft a plan for future development. The method of operation is much the same. Convince the community leaders that they need to enter into a contractual arrangement with the board, which will then proceed to develop the rules and regulations that need to be applied to future developments within the community in order to meet the standards the board will establish for them. There will of course be a fee for the boards involvement -- let the community pay them for taking away the citizens’ rights to use their own property. We see this being attempted now in the Indian Springs community in Shelby County.

While I have used Birmingham, Alabama and surrounding areas as examples, these same procedures are being used across the state and throughout the country to accomplish the globalists’ goal of taking control of property rights without actually confiscating the property. Thus they still have the advantage of the taxes the owner must pay on the property. For them it is a win/win situation.

God commands us, "thou shalt not steal." When that theft is accomplished by legal means and done by some governmental or quasi-governmental body it is still theft and is rebellion against God. When we buy into it we are aiding and abetting thievery.

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