SABBATH

God's Gift to Us

Commentary: Out of Control

Diversity Creates Division, Even Wars
#1091c

Given 10-Mar-12; 10 minutes

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description: The phrase in Daniel 12:4 about 'running to and fro' could apply both to literal speedy travel and feeling overwhelmed, both interpretations directly influenced by technology. Even with technology, diversity and multiculturalism create insoluble problems. Diverse cultures separate peoples, causing cantankerousness and hostility, even when these cultures share the same language or share a common language. Political and economic problems lead to war. The current multi-cultural approach, advocated and practiced by the inept leadership of the present administration, is leading to conflict and war.


transcript:

In Daniel 12:4 is a prophecy that at the time of the end, "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."

Bible commentators report that the running to and fro can you describe what is literally occurring as people hurriedly move about on business, travel or whatever. The phrase there in Daniel 4 does not define what is motivating people to do this, only that it is happening. Considering that the time setting is the time of the end, the running to and fro might indicate people fleeing fearful circumstances and thus looking for a place of rest and peace.

However, the phrase can also describe what is isolated within one's mind, indicating uncertainty, confusion and anxiety. And again, the time element is that the time of the end, so I conclude that both of these probably apply. Consider also that the verse also prophesies that at the same time, knowledge shall be increased. I believe that what we call globalization is a major cause of this running to and fro phenomenon.

It is a truth that technology has made it possible for massive numbers of people to move about on this earth, literally on a daily basis basis. Airplanes transport people at around 500 miles per hour. Bullet trains move people from one major city to another at roughly 150 miles an hour, and automobiles and trucks at 60 miles per hour and higher. A whole boatload of people—1,000 or more—takes only five days to go from one continent to another.

Now, in addition to the literal movement of people, one must add the multitude of advancements in electronic technology. From the telegraph to movies, ti radio, television, computers, cellphones and iPads, our minds are bombarded by massive amounts of words and images. All of these things are now literally part of the to-and-fro mixture, and each one is helping to stir the pot of interaction between different cultures.

Think for a moment about stirring a pot on a stove, as it were. It's done by a cook to blend the various parts and flavors within the mixture. But is that, in reality, what is happening on earth? What we hear and see in the news on a daily basis is that we humans aren't being blended into a homogeneous oneness. All of this movement about, combined with the information passed from one person to another, confirms that events are moving ever closer to being out of control.

For example, it seems as though there is no consensus regarding solid, moral boundaries, and thus, it's accepted that anything goes. NaturalNews website published an article a short while ago that expounded on the historical phenomenon that as a culture becomes more diverse and complex, it simultaneously begins breaking down. Now, why? Because diversity creates unsolvable opinions in people.

Consider how long it is taking for the Europeans to unify the amalgamation of those very diverse nations over there in Europe. They began their pursuit just after World War II. They reached their first major agreement in 1956 with the Coal, Iron and Steel Treaty. Here it is, 56 years later, and they still aren't unified. By way of contrast, the unifying of this nation was accomplished in about 12 years, and that unification borders on the miraculous. We have two major advantages here: We were almost all Anglo-Saxons and all spoke the same language.

Without strong overriding commonalities, it becomes much more difficult to reach a consensus on virtually anything because standards and perceptions on virtually everything become widely variable. For example, when one enters Los Angeles by means of LAX, air signs may instruct people in English, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and perhaps more. We're getting pretty diverse.

The ploy that God used to divide the people that Nimrod and his companions were attempting to force together as a united group under one leader was to confuse their languages, and that alone destroyed their attempts to unify. Now today, the languages are already diversified, but the people are diverse in their thinking far beyond a mere language. They have differing attitudes about a wide variety of subjects, be it education, politics, religion, city, state and federal government. They also have different attitudes about money and about food. They have different perceptions about health issues, doctoring, housing, sports, clothing, where to live, and how to conduct themselves within marriage and the raising of children. How would you like the deal with someone in your neighborhood that is insisting that Sharia law be practiced in your home area?

Even in nations having the same language, there exist wide varieties of opinions. In the United States, we have Republicans and Democrats and hundreds of varieties of religious belief. And the wildcard within the midst of all of this diversity is human nature, which God says is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Unless it is truly controlled—and the news reports are showing that fewer and fewer are doing this—war cannot possibly be all that far off.

Human nature drives people of the same language, the same religion, the same occupations, and the same general lifestyles to become so self-centered in their desires, it creates the urge to make war, and so civil wars against each other are entered into despite having so much in common.

Almost all wars, history shows, are fought over economic issues, and second after that are political issues, and then social issues. Right now, we are involved in an economic war, and the United States is losing badly. Right now, I think we also have at the same time the most inept political leadership that we have had in the history of this nation.

It was no accident that World War II followed right on the heels of the Great Depression in the 1930s. That is always what happens historically: Wars follow economic problems. I have no hope the great diversities of belief and practice regarding political and social issues that is now extent in the world will be solved. The record of history is too clear and consistent for me to think otherwise at this time.

So, as [Carl] von Clausewitz wrote—and I will paraphrase—the economic, political and social wars being fought with words in the staterooms of governments will move to the battlefields and be fought with killing machines.

I believe we still have some breathing room from that terror. I do not think that it will come this year because the economic war hasn't broken us completely down yet. But far too many people are oblivious to what is happening globally, and that the United States of America can no longer escape it. But it's coming. Prepare.

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