The Battleground

How the competition over resources will play out among the world’s great powers

Where do oil and natural gas come from? Look at a world map in terms of have and have-not nations—those with surpluses versus those with scarcity.

A simple reality quickly leaps out. The entities with the greatest advantage are Russia and a collection of Middle Eastern nations. The entities with the greatest need are the United States, the European Union, and Asia, especially China. Latin America and Africa present themselves as two regions possessing ample resources—much of which remain untapped—but little muscle.

These facts are worth contemplating. They strongly suggest the manner in which geopolitical events will play out—and how cutthroat they will get—in the time just ahead.

Largely because of its oil, the Middle East has become the pivot point of world events. The flood of cash it provides empowers the spread of Islam and funds the scourge of terrorism—two realities, undeniably linked, destined to force greater powers to deal with them decisively. Russia is on the road to a different destination.

The main battle over resources is primed to occur among three giants: the U.S., the EU and China. However, as the article on page 9 shows, the U.S. won’t stay in the fight much longer. Already we see the EU and China undermining the U.S.—even positioning themselves to be able to choke off supplies when the opportunity is right—and working to redirect those commodities to fuel their own needs. The ensuing battle to be fought between these two—Europe and China—is visible today in its early stages.

As nice as it may be today to possess assets that the world’s great powers crave, in the ruthless era of resource war into which we are now entering, it will prove to be a fatal disadvantage. Holding valuables without having the brawn to protect them only invites stronger powers to conquer, pillage and occupy. Even judging by how these regions are being treated today, it is evident that this is the dreadful future awaiting Latin America and Africa.

Following is a closer examination of the trajectory of today’s trends, with a focus on projecting where they are heading.

Land of Opportunity

Rich in resources, Latin America is a sumptuous smorgasbord for resource-hungry outsiders. Oil from Venezuela; silver from Mexico and Peru; tin from Bolivia; iron ore from Brazil; and on and on—Latin America can provide raw materials in abundance.

Germany, since the closing days of its defeat in the Second World War, has viewed Latin America as a land of opportunity. The strongest tie between these two entities lies in religion: Though Roman Catholicism is headquartered in Rome and remains the predominant faith of Europe, over half of the world’s Roman Catholics live in Latin America. This friendship served Germany well even during World War ii, when Argentina sheltered Nazi officers and provided safe haven for Nazi ships and submarines. At war’s end, many Nazis found safety in South America. By the late 1940s, German influence in Latin America was unmistakable, with its military camped out in Argentina, its industrial strength flourishing in Brazil, and Nazi leaders enjoying respected status within Chile, Venezuela, Paraguay and Ecuador.

Since then, German businesses, with Vatican support, have opened the door for Europe to penetrate key industrial, agricultural and corporate industries in Latin America. German corporate giants such as Krupp, Siemens, Bayer, Volkswagen, I.G. Farben and Deutsche Bank have become household names throughout the region. Slowly, stealthily, skillfully, German corporatists have secured the supplies of resources needed to stoke the engines of a truly world-class European superpower.

But while the foundation for this relationship was carefully laid over a period of decades, its structure has been built with much greater urgency in the 15 years since Germany’s reunification. This German penetration of Latin America has been operating under an EU cloak. Between 1990 and 2004, EU trade with Latin America more than doubled, vaulting the EU into position as the leading foreign investor in the region.

Latin America’s growing friendship with the EU has, over time, undercut its historically robust trade relationships with the United States. Of late, with anti-Americanism quickly spreading among their peoples, Latin American nations have grown even more receptive to other foreign trade proposals.

Surely, Europe must have felt for some time that it had Latin America all but sewn up for itself. But something very interesting has happened: Recently, and quite suddenly, a new entity has been aggressively moving in on this emerging opportunity: China.

Enter the Competitor

China’s newfound role as the world’s factory of manufacturing has created a rapacious craving for raw resources: A mere decade ago, China was a net exporter of oil; but it has since become the world’s second-largest oil importer (behind the U.S.)—accounting for fully 40 percent of global growth in oil demand over the four years between 2001 and 2004 and with its demand expected to double again over the next 8 to 10 years. The world’s most populous country has made similar leaps in its need for other resources: For example, where it used to be a major coal exporter, it now consumes almost everything it produces, amounting to 30 percent of global coal production.

The far-sighted Chinese haven’t taken up such habits heedlessly; they are keenly aware of the need to secure reliable sources of supply and ensure regular delivery of those supplies. The volatile nature of Middle Eastern oil has stirred China to invest aggressively in alternative sources. One of those is the Caribbean and Latin America.

It began seemingly out of the blue in 1999, with the procurement by a Chinese front company of control over the entry and exit points of the Panama Canal, when America gifted ownership of its sovereign territory of the Canal Zone to Panama. That marked the beginning of a swift and effective campaign by China to effectively storm the whole of Latin America.

Over the last two years alone, China has negotiated major trade deals and energy-related investment deals with oil producers Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, and even Mexico. In January, Bolivian President Evo Morales invited China to help develop his country’s vast natural gas reserves. Though Venezuela is currently the U.S.’s fourth-largest supplier of crude oil, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez granted Chinese firms the right to operate 15 mature oil fields in Venezuela. China is also looking at building a pipeline from Venezuela through Colombia to a Pacific port.

In return for resource access in many of these nations, China is developing the infrastructure necessary to transport the resources home. It is building and improving roads and railways and upgrading port facilities in Brazil; in Venezuela and Argentina, it is investing billions in railways and telecommunications, among other things. Most significantly, it is working overtime locking down deals on military technology and equipment with various countries in this region. Why? The president of the Washington-based Asia-America Initiative, Al Santoli, explains, “China’s growing military ties in Latin America have a direct link to their international quest for energy and other vital natural resources … as well as their efforts to reinforce the growing reach of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez to create a counterweight to U.S. influence in the region” (Washington Times, Nov. 20, 2005; emphasis ours throughout).

During 2004, Chinese military officials made at least 20 visits to Latin America, and nine Latin American defense ministers visited Beijing. U.S. Gen. Bantz Craddock says Beijing’s most recent military strategy outline “departs from the past and promotes a power-projection military, capable of securing strategic shipping lanes and protecting its growing economic interests abroad” (ibid.).

What must Europe think of all this? You can be certain it won’t stand aside and allow its decades-long efforts to be undone.

Indications are that, in fact, China’s moves are provoking Europe to intensify its work in Latin America. In the end, it could even prove to be one catalyst among many driving European nations to unify—and then to lash out as a single, powerful entity.

Watch this region! At present, it is perhaps the most vivid example of the escalating competition among the U.S., the EU and China—with the U.S. being pushed aside and the other two powers lumbering toward inevitable head-to-head confrontation.

An Alternative Source

Africa is another continent that has moved to center stage as the resource struggle intensifies. Glutted with relatively untapped mineral and energy resources, it has become a focus of resource exploitation by the U.S., Europe and China despite the inherent difficulties of operating within a continent plagued by instability.

Africa holds an estimated 30 percent of the world’s mineral reserves. It produces over 60 metal and mineral products and is a major producer of a number of the world’s most precious metals, including gold, diamonds, uranium, manganese, chromium, nickel, bauxite, cobalt and platinum group metals. But the most vital of Africa’s strategic resources, which is being discovered in increasing abundance, is crude oil.

The Corporate Council on Africa reports that Africa contains over 90 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, representing 9.1 percent of the world’s total reserves. A 2002 Cambridge Energy Research Associates study revealed that West Africa’s growth potential in terms of oil production is greater than that of Russia, the Caspian or South America. In total, sub-Saharan Africa is expected to boost oil production from 3.8 million barrels per day in 2003 to 6.8 million by 2008.

With Iraq languishing in crisis, Iran a heartbeat away from becoming a nuclear power and militant Islam continuing to rise, it is not hard to see the attraction in African resources, despite the continuing tribal conflicts that plague that continent.

China Sees an Opening

Largely due to its historic colonial relationships with Africa, Europe has been a major influence on the continent. Besides Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands all had colonies within the continent in the past. However, as more and more colonies gained their independence, corruption, civil war and instability seeped across the African landscape, making many Western companies hesitant to invest there. Following the decolonization of Africa, European influence on the continent, though it did not disappear, measurably shrank.

China is only too happy to take full advantage of this situation, demonstrating few of Europe’s qualms about African insecurity. In recent years, the Chinese government—more than any other power—has been building economic and political influence in economically poor but resource-rich African nations.

A January 24 article in the Providence Journal described the situation well: “When it comes to China’s extraordinary grab for the natural wealth of Africa, the Chinese keep their eyes on the prize. No hand is too bloody to shake. No genocidal lunatic too awful for an embrace. And nobody will be turned down in ordering, with special credit facilities, weapons for oppressing civilian populations.

“China is securing the wealth of Africa for itself from Sudan to Zimbabwe, with tentacles reaching into South Africa. A plethora of heads of failed states could not be happier.

“Never has one country set out to secure the treasure and allegiance of a whole continent the way China is now doing in Africa. You would have to look back to the British takeover of the Indian subcontinent for such blatant commercial imperialism.”

Though mineral exploitation is a priority for Beijing (it has been mopping up copper from Zambia, coal and gold from South Africa, platinum from Zimbabwe, manganese from Gabon, and so on), the most geopolitically significant of China’s moves is its exploitation of African oil and natural gas. About 28 percent of China’s oil imports currently come from Africa, and China’s three biggest energy firms are engaged in exploration deals with 17 African states. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing spent a week in January visiting Senegal, Cape Verde, Liberia, Mali and Nigeria promoting energy deals. On January 9, the Chinese state-owned oil company cnooc (one of the big three) announced a $2.3 billion deal for Nigeria’s Akpo oil and gas field.

China has deeply infiltrated Sudan. In 1997, the U.S. government barred Sudanese oil investment by U.S. companies because the Sudanese government sponsored terrorism and committed human rights violations. In 2004, China squashed U.S. efforts to levy sanctions on Sudan by threatening to use its veto within the UN Security Council, protecting its oil investment despite the genocide taking place in that region. Beijing has invested $14 billion in Sudanese oil through its largest energy firm, the China National Petroleum Corp., alone; a full 5 percent of its oil imports come from Sudan. China’s staunch support for the regime in Sudan has gone as far as supplying arms to the government the U.S. labels as genocidal!

But it is little wonder that China supports Sudan: Sudan ships over half its oil to China—and as new fields come on line, the amount is expected to jump dramatically.

In Zimbabwe, China, in its thirst for resources and power, is actively supporting the dictatorial rule of President Robert Mugabe despite his government’s rampant corruption and abuse of power. In Zimbabwe’s blatantly fraudulent parliamentary elections last year, China boosted the ruling party in a variety of ways: In one instance, a Chinese company “provided a radio-jamming device for a military base outside the capital, preventing independent stations from balancing state-controlled media during the election campaign” (Christian Science Monitor, March 30, 2005). And, despite the West’s arms embargo on Zimbabwe, China is supplying Zimbabwe’s army with fighter jets and other armaments.

Again, there is no guessing why: In return, China has gained access to Zimbabwe’s platinum, gold and other precious resources. The two nations are cooperating in mining and mineral processing, transport and communications.

China apparently operates free of the ethical limitations that lock U.S. businesses out of such opportunities. For instance, when Ethiopia went to war with Eritrea in the late 1990s, the U.S. greatly reduced its presence in that country—and China moved in. Now “Chinese companies have become a dominant force, building highways and bridges, power stations, mobile-phone networks, schools and pharmaceutical plants. More recently, they have begun exploring for oil and building at least one Ethiopian military installation” (Wall Street Journal, March 29, 2005).

These activities are only a small sampling of a continent swarming with Chinese activity. They do illustrate, however, the ethical boundaries Beijing is willing to cross to oppose the U.S., to bring African resources to China, and to establish itself as a bona fide superpower.

It is true that America currently has a foothold in parts of Africa, but it won’t be a player forever. China’s efforts to thwart the U.S. are showing success and, as our article on page 9 explains, a confluence of factors will ensure the Chinese will not have to compete with America for much longer.

But that doesn’t mean China will be the only show in town. Just as China’s inroads in Latin America appear to be provoking Europe to intensify its efforts in the region, so it is in Africa.

Europe Goes on the Offensive

An awakening Europe is on the hunt for the same bounty of resources that China is laying claim to. As reticent as Europe has been to invest in unstable Africa, the thirst for resources is starting to override the fear.

In an October 2005 news release, the European Commission outlined its “Strategy of the EU for Africa.” According to the Panafrican News Agency, the strategy defines a framework for “a strategic partnership for security and development between the European Union and Africa in the next decade” (Oct. 14, 2005). The “strategy” implies that the EU is willing to spend the money and build the infrastructure needed to gain access to Africa’s resources.

Of course, terrorism, rife within many failed African states, jeopardizes the flow of oil and other raw materials to Europe. Thus, EU politicians intend to foster robust European security involvement in Africa. They have already undertaken a wave of military missions in Africa in recent months, including one in Sudan’s war-torn but oil-rich Darfur region and another in mineral-laden Congo.

How much were China’s African incursions a factor in rousing Europe to begin establishing a military footprint on that continent? At this point, only the individuals making the decisions behind closed doors in European capitals know. But in view of the crucial nature of the resources at stake, and how swiftly and aggressively China is pushing, the fact that troops are beginning to be deployed is not a trivial development.

Jockeying for Military Control

China definitely sees signs of the coming struggle and intends to come out on top.

Jan. 18, 2005, the Washington Times reported that U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had received an internal report, prepared by defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, titled “Energy Futures in Asia,” which concludes that China fears the U.S. is too easily able to disrupt energy supplies in case of a conflict. The report claims China is concerned that the Strait of Malacca, through which 80 percent of China’s oil currently passes, is “controlled by the U.S. Navy.”

But the report also outlines the giant steps China is making to limit and reduce its exposure to oil and ocean trade disruptions by foreign powers. China has adopted a “string of pearls” strategy for greater influence and power projection overseas to control the flow of trade—one that involves shoring up military forces, building strategic relationships, developing diplomatic ties and setting up bases along sea lanes from the “Middle East to the South China Sea in ways that suggest defensive and offensive positioning to protect China’s energy interests” (ibid.).

China also claims the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which for 50 years have been hotly contested. Why? Half the world’s merchant traffic by tonnage passes close to the Spratlys, two thirds of it crude oil. Whoever controls sea passage through the South China Sea has power over some of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world. China is not about to give up control of this region.

Evidently, Beijing is pulling out all stops in its efforts to lock down its supply routes for oil, particularly along the volatile path from the Middle East. No doubt it is not just the U.S. that is taking note. Europe, too, is watching closely—and diligently moving itself to secure its own supplies.

Some analysts view Europe today as a spent force, its plans for unification and superpower status as absurd. In point of fact, its leaders have already done much to create the infrastructure of an empire. The bulk of the work Continental heads have undertaken to this end has been through the expansion of the European Union. One by one, Europe is drawing key localities into its sphere of influence.

First came the Balkans—the strategic crossroads of Europe. One of the paramount goals of the German-Vatican destabilization of the Balkan region was the dismantling of Russian influence and herding of the embattled peninsula into the waiting arms of the EU. This strategy was designed to give the Union control over the land, air, river and pipeline routes for the movement of goods, services and oil, and to open up warm-water access to the Mediterranean via the Adriatic. The plan succeeded: The EU now has huge influence in Tirana, a deep-water port on the coast of Albania in the warm Adriatic Sea.

In 2004, the gateway island of Malta, one of the most militarily strategic islands in the Mediterranean because of its geographic position (directly in the middle of the Mediterranean ocean trade routes), became a member of the EU.

More recently, the island of Cyprus was incorporated into the EU fold. In the very least, this island supplies the EU with a base of operations close to the Middle East and the Suez Canal, through which much of Middle Eastern oil flows. However, the implications of EU-Cyprus partnership go far beyond that. Cyprus has been used as a staging ground for military campaigns in the Middle East dating at least as far back as the Crusades. Through the centuries, many empires, including the Roman, British and Ottoman, have controlled it. It is no coincidence that the EU, so dependent on imported oil, is expanding ever closer to the Middle East, the repository of the world’s greatest supply of oil.

Europe is aware of its vulnerabilities and moving strongly to seal them off. The intensification of the competitive atmosphere for those commodities most sought after by the globe’s brawniest nations is making abundantly clear the critical, life-and-death need for the Continent to vigorously rise up as a singular political, economic and military force. That is exactly what the most forward-thinking, ambitious leaders in Europe are planning and pushing for, and fully intend to carry out.

Military Conquests

All the events you have read about in the preceding pages of this magazine—America’s besiegement at the hands of hostile enemies; its unsustainable economy taking a fall; its resource suppliers being snatched up by other rising empires; Iran using its oil leverage to strengthen its power regionally and push its agenda globally; growing giants in Europe and Asia bunkering down economically and militarily in competition over resources—these are dramatic, even in their early stages as we see today, and are destined to become more so.

But all of these developments are pointing toward an even more dramatic event—spoken of throughout biblical prophecy as being the single most earthshaking episode in human affairs: the appearance of a fearsome European superpower, led by Germany.

This European kingdom’s soft invasion, visible today, of Latin America and Africa will do much to enrich this entity and facilitate its path to power.

Latin America’s the European Roman Catholic heritage that hails back to the region’s Spanish colonial roots is far stronger than the recent economic inroads made by China within this region. It is religion that will bind this great imperial power, the soon-to-be-resurrected “Holy” Roman Empire, to its ancient colonies in Latin America.

History suggests, and Bible prophecy confirms, that the great trading association envisaged by leaders in Europe and Latin America, cementing the EU and the South American trade bloc Mercosur into one giant market of 680 million people, will soon become reality. This entity will overwhelm China’s efforts to sew up trade in this region. And it will richly supply Europe the raw materials it needs to stoke the engines of empire.

Expect Africa, too, to fall sway to this emerging titan of trade. Read for yourself this prophecy of Europe’s exploitation of African resources: “The men of Rhodes [Dedan in the margin] traded with you [king of Tyrus—the revived Roman Empire]; many coastlands were your own special markets, they brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony [merchandise peculiar to Africa]. … The traders of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; they exchanged for your wares the best of all kinds of spices, and all precious stones, and gold” (Ezekiel 27:15, 22, Revised Standard Version). (Dedan and Sheba were sons of Raamah, the great-grandson of Ham, from whom all black Africans descended.) As Britain and America fade out of Africa and into the sunset of superpowers past, Europe positions itself to march in. Germany in particular will corporately “reinvade” its old African colonial possessions, pillaging resources to feed the furnaces and drive the machinery that will turn out tools of war for a remilitarizing imperialist power.

At what precise point in this process European leaders will consider themselves sufficiently equipped to undertake the next phase in their plan, we cannot be sure. But when that time arrives, it will come in shockingly explosive fashion. The Prophet Daniel describes it in a prophecy of this empire’s response to the provocations of the Iran-led Islamist power.

This prophecy (in conjunction with others, explained in our booklet The King of the South) convincingly suggests the kind of alliances Iran will manage to cement in the short term—including a likely takeover of neighboring Iraq. We are likely to see a continuation of the Islamic Republic gaining control of the region and the lion’s share of Middle Eastern oil, bloating its bank accounts and enabling it to push its violent program ever more assertively. Its final arrogant move may well involve a cutting off of oil supplies to the Continent—which Europe, “the king of the north,” will use to justify suddenly unleashing the full force of its military might (Daniel 11:40-42).

This European king, drunk on his impressive victory and the spoils of his conquest, “shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt …” (verse 43). Middle East resources will be Europe’s for the taking. Clearly, no single military campaign would do more to guarantee the security of the oil needed to fuel the expansion of this geopolitical colossus.

This king of the north, after conquering and securing the resources of the king of the south, is prophesied to then turn its attention to the biblical nations of Israel—specifically the United States and Britain, in addition to the Jewish state located within its newly acquired Middle Eastern territory—and to swiftly demolish them! It will strip these subjugated nations of their wealth. This is thoroughly explained in our free book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

This truly will be the most fearsome and ruthless empire ever seen. The stronger it becomes, the more power and influence it will wield over its colonies and protectorates in the Middle East, Africa, South and Central America, and yes, North America. Its economic tentacles will trail into all parts of the Earth. It will glut itself on luxury as it leeches wealth from whole foreign populations. The economic and trade dominance it enjoys, and resultant mammoth prosperity, will provide the fuel needed to feed the fires of its tyranny.

The Merchants

The great God of prophecy tells us in advance that this empire, which He labels “Babylon the great,” after reigning for a violent period of only a few years, will be smashed. But His vivid prophetic description of its ruin tells us much about the nature of its reign—which, again, this world is about to witness: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,” He says, “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury” (Revelation 18:2-3, New King James Version).

Please read those verses again. Let your imagination linger on them.

What sort of superpower is it that intoxicates all nations with its power? How shrewd, how insidious an empire would seduce and entrap into sin-soaked affairs the kings of the Earth? And how sumptuous, how opulent, how unsurpassably wealthy must this kingdom be, to be so intimate with the merchants of the Earth, enriching them with such overflowing luxury?

In this age of globalization, we have seen the emergence of these “merchants.” These are not the local town, city, province or nationally confined businessmen. These are true “merchants of the earth”—globalist corporate moguls who operate huge commercial conglomerates and who view the whole Earth as their marketplace. Driven by greed, employing every conceivable stunt to avoid taxation as they erect their corporate empires, these businessmen seek personal gain above all else, even at the expense of peoples and governments.

Consider what kind of perverse minds would relish profiting from the appalling destruction to come! Unbelievable as that may sound, such is the state of the black human heart when pushed to its limit. These despicable activities, on a smaller scale, are documented to have routinely taken place in the midst of the Holocaust and genocide of World War ii.

This mighty kingdom of the north will become infamous for its voracious appetite for resources, including “merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men” (verses 12-13).

Yes—this empire will operate a slave market of unprecedented proportions. According to Bible prophecy, the world will face the atrocity of forced slave labor on a massive scale once again—as humanity endures another world war!

Kings of the East

In those dark times, this empire will reign supreme and all nations will bow before it! But some of those nations will also be plotting a revolution.

China, having been locked out of Latin America, locked out of Africa, locked out of the Middle East, forced to watch as the indomitable European king swallows continents, will have searched elsewhere for the resources it needs to keep growing. Look again at the world map: There, to its north, lie the limitless Russian plains, dense with oil and natural gas—bristling with nuclear power. With one nation’s unmatched resources combined with the other’s unmatched manpower, this pair will form the core of a superpower—to be joined by Japan, India, South Korea, North Korea, and other Asian nations seeking protection in numbers—that is singularly intent on waging war with the European power.

The prophecy in Daniel picks up on this future moment, when the king of the north, though glutted with power and wealth, becomes concerned and obsessed with reports of these activities emerging from Russia and Asia. “But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him,” the prophet records. And what will Europe do—this mighty empire that essentially recolonized the whole of Latin America and Africa, that consumed the Middle East in a whirlwind, that smashed the nations of Israel in a stroke? “[T]herefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many” (Daniel 11:44).

The biblical narrative is explicit in describing the grisly outcome of this conflict. We urge you to request a free copy of our book Russia and China in Prophecy to aid you in your study of these prophecies.

At the height of the warfare, Jesus Christ will return in power and glory, bringing to an abrupt end the madness of these kings of the north and east. Your Bible then declares that the kings and merchants, these global corporate strategists, will weep, because the luxury they enjoyed on the broken back of Israel will be gone! They will wail and mourn at the destruction of the chief commercial, industrial, political and religious city of their global corporate empire (Revelation 18:9-11, 15-19).

The kings of the east will be likewise destroyed by the returning Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:11-21) as the righteous, incorruptible Kingdom of God is set up on Earth. This King of kings will establish a perfect reign that will produce never-ending peace and prosperity.

Some may dismiss this view of what is about to occur because of its foundation in biblical prophecy. But the intensifying competition over resources in the world today is already pointing to this reality. The pieces are in place. The stakes are enormous. The powers at play are starting to move. The makings of a global conflict of unprecedented proportions are becoming increasingly obvious—and the factors required to prevent it, increasingly overwhelming.

Resource war is upon us.

As we witness events moving toward the fulfillment of these prophecies, we should recognize the fingerprints of the God who issued these prophecies for our benefit. As Jesus Christ said, “I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.”



http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=2021

This is anti-Catholic BS and not much more. The so called facts are, at best, half truths and misleading beyond reason. FACT: Germany’s population is half Lutheran – something that the whole conspiracy theory seems to forget. If the article must resort to obfuscation to make a point, it is reasonable to assume that the rest is not what might be called “worthy” of consideration. It is not.

Now I see (I looked at the organization), The Trumpet is anti-Catholic. How Christian of them. The whole thing is offensive to me and I wonder why you are posting these articles. Are you a Catholic hater?

To answer any questions you may have, yes I am Catholic and I did read several articles from this rag you use as a source.

It reminds me of the story of the track meet where it was reported that one country came in second and the other next to last and did not mention that there were only two teams at the meet. Propaganda is generally used to fool the simple minded.

Actually I am Catholic & so are my family, relatives, & friends including my mother country the Philippines. However I am deeply disturb by Vatican' s allege historical conduct during the crusades & World War II.

It does not help that many Catholic priest that I know in the Philippines is unfortunately corrupt. I do believe that all of us in this forum would like to know the truth of so called allegations against the Vatican.

Let us hope & pray that our God will enlighten us in this issue.

Blogie:

I would avoid the web site you keep using; they have a creditability problem with me and seem to advocate hate towards Catholics in general (remember – we are the Church). The term crackpot comes to mind.

As for the Pope and his boys – they have a problem with the majority of Catholics because of the general hierarchy of the Church. They also, as do many Christian Churches, seem to forget that they are there to serve the community and demonstrate the love of God. It is difficult to believe in a God when the clergy lives in better conditions than the membership.

The Crusades were fought by a group of men looking for plunder and they used religion as an excuse to meet that end. Yes, there were true believers what wanted to clean the holey land of the evil of other religions. They were wrong. You also have to remember that there was only one Christian sect at the time. During the wars between England and France, they both used God’s will as a reason to kill the other evil people on the other side – even though they were all Catholic.

World War II found more than just the Catholics turning away from the holocaust. A great many Catholics died during that war fighting for both sides. Do you wonder where the Lutherans were (or anyone for that matter)? I am not sure that many people in Germany did too much to stop the holocaust. Would you have the Pope killed or working behind the Nazi’s back? The Vatican did hide Jews from the Germans. I just might blame the whole thing on the Germans and Austrians.

Sure is sad that throughout history, its just fine to kill in the name of god.

We need to face it, we as a species, like to kill, and to help us sleep afterwards, justify the killing by labeling it was done in the name of god.

Catholics? they mean well generally, but still leave a lot to be desired, especially the bit about priests and choir boyz.

Lutherans? another well meaning lot, but yet we don't hear to much from that quarter. (either that or I ain't listening hard enuf

Presbterians? These folks are a funny bunch. Seems like anything goes with these people.

Baptist? seems like most were annointed with goat piss rather than holy water

Southern Baptists? they needed to hold them underwater much, much longer

Johova Witness? these folks worship the almighty doorbell

Muslims? go nutz over a frigging cartoon. you all know the rest about this group, and yeah, theres some that truely believe and such, others just use it as reason to hate an kill some more. (as if this will solve the original problems)

The Battle ground today is somewhat enriched with a big ambition. the power to gain more possessed by one man alone. i am not naming names here but basically its true. If you analyzed the present situation you know these individuals knew the resources and also knew where the get the resources and also where to get the acquired wealth. to sum it up itsbasically power struggle to gain ones ambitions. not to mention its trail of suffering along the way.



check freebies and video clips at www.q121.com/freestuff

How concisely ambiguous your statement is.

The last justified wars by GOD were before Christ in the old testimate.

All the rest afterwards have either been self defense or some shit bag who started a war for various reasons, and that line got really blurry after the times when "GOD sactioned wars".

quote:

Originally posted by rppearso:
The last justified wars by GOD were before Christ in the old testimate.

All the rest afterwards have either been self defense or some shit bag who started a war for various reasons, and that line got really blurry after the times when "GOD sactioned wars".

???????????????????????

Read the old testimate sometime.

Tried to find the old "testimate". Never got anywhere, the left one kept referring to the right one, and the right one back to the left.....

sad that the article presented veered off topic part way through.. Certainloy the information regarding China and her quest for oil markets is quite legitimate and known to many and, no doubt, debated hotly among the ' secret backroom boys' in Dubya's cabal, as well as in other government enclaves among the western nations, etc..

as for the ' conspiracy ' of the Church [ in whatever configuration ] and its secret corrupting influences..well.. pish tosh.. its merely one of a hundred other greater or lesser entities pushing its own agenda in world affairs..

non of which will matter when the last few drops of oil are pumped from the deserts and rainforests of the world..then it will be time to worry among those not smart enough to have bought a ticket to the moom or Mars colonies or who haven't built their ' hobbit hovels' under the riverbank and invested in solar energy alternatives [ assuming that industiral pollution and the coming nuclear holocaust hasn't blotted out the sun ]...
Still time to learn Chinese folks.. though in rrpearso's case, since he has't passed Kindergarten English..it will be a stretch..

"non of which will matter when the last few drops of oil are pumped from the deserts and rainforests of the world..then it will be time to worry among those not smart enough to have bought a ticket to the moom or Mars colonies or who haven't built their ' hobbit hovels' under the riverbank and invested in solar energy alternatives [ assuming that industiral pollution and the coming nuclear holocaust hasn't blotted out the sun ]...
Still time to learn Chinese folks.. though in rrpearso's case, since he has't passed Kindergarten English..it will be a stretch"

I seriously hope you are joking, just because we dont have oil does not mean it will be the end of the world, it might be the end for alot of people because the earth is over populated, but there are plenty of alternative fuels to go to, there just alot more expensive so you cant drive behemouth SUV's. If a barrel of oil goes over 100$ the chinese will be hurting the most, becasue fuel is what is driving there economy and if the price goes up there economy goes down, where as the US has plenty of alternatives, its just that farmer joe wont be able to afford to drive his giant ford duely, oh well.