Question: One World Government/One World Currency and the mark of the beast

As I understand it at this present time our current financial system must collapse in order for the mark of the beast system to be instituted; thereby restricting who is able to buy or sell. Can anyone help me to understand what may be the possible pending financial collapse as many in the media are predicting? How might such a collapse relate to the fulfillment of bible prophecy in regard to this evil mark of the beast?

As popular as the theology is, there is nothing in the Bible about a one world government or one world currency. That is a popularized fiction from the dispensationalist camp.

Although the anti Christ is given considerable influence over this world as a world leader, he never institutes a universal government. In fact, the prophets show that eventually there are pockets of resistance from the nations against him. Even the fallen kings of this world will think him too big for his own britches.

The mark of the beast is not a form of currency. It is simply a mark. In the Greek , it literally means to be branded like cattle (with a hot iron). The mark will simply be a form of identification showing loyalty. It is not a computer chip or any other such Hal Lindsey type theory.

As far as currency collapses, through the history of the world, currencies have always collapsed. Monetary systems are very fickle things, and all have never lasted a very long time. Even "the gold standard" that so many people seem to love had severe limitations and was very unstable.

Currently all the nations of the world have embraced a form of money known as "fiat" currenncy, which comes out of the "fractional reserve banking" system. It is entirely a debt based system of currency, where we trade debt based instruments known as "notes" with one another, representing our labor, time, goods, and services. It has "value" so long as our government says it has value. The purchasing power of these notes is highly dependent on other nations recognizing the value of our notes against their own, and the "value" or "purchasing power" of that money varies depending on how much currency is in circulation, and what other nations are willing to exchange their own notes for ours.

Eventually this will collapse when the ability to pay debts back collapses. This has happened already in smaller nations, whose ability to pay back debt has been crushed through hyper inflation, or whose nations simply take on debt loads that their GDP levels can't keep up with.

This form of system is pretty stable, so long as the wheels on the bus keep going round and round. It is a system ultimately designed for stable and secure nations, who assume their nations will be rather productive ones. Should anything cause production to slow down or come to a sudden hault, the integrity of the system is threatened. It presumes a normal life cycle of buying, saving, and taking out debts in order to keep going.

It is especially dependent upon debt to keep on going. Such is why the government never really educates the masses on personal finance in public school. They need you to be as ignorant about debt as possible, so you take on as much of it as you possibly can afford, and buy the biggest home possible, otherwise if most people failed to do such, it would collapse the system overnight if everybody simply paid in cash instead.

Such is partially why Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created, so that people could afford to take on high levels of debts that they simply were not loaned prevoiusly. Banks usually gave mortgages for no more than 8-15 years prior to the creation of these two housing giants by the government. It was simply too risky to loan somebody money for 30 years of their lives. Your local bank couldn't afford such risk, it wasn't profitable enough for them.

But such lending practices made for a weakened economy. As a result of all these things, these enterprises were created by the government so that the government would purchase such loans in mass from the banks, and thus, assume most of the lending risk. And such has been mostly a good thing for the government to do, so long as unemployment is kept low. Thus, America experienced a major housing boom for a few decades, with now 60%+ of adults owning a home instead of renting.

To show the weakness of our system, I have heard it has been said if everybody in our nation started using Dave Ramsey's financial philosophy, and lived debt free lives, the entire system would collapse over night. Money would have almost no value, as there is no debt upon which to issue notes, except for perhaps bonds issued by the government through the treasury department. A vast majority of the system depends on mortgages and auto loans to exist. Mortgages especially. As for every dollar paid into the banking system, 100 more dollars can be loaned out to others. Such loans are used to finance the creation of homes and businesses. And so the cycle repeats itself, more money comes in from savings and mortgage payments, and even more money goes back out into the nation.

So, if anything would ever weaken our appetite for consumer debt, such as a major catastrophic natural disaster, war on national soil, terrorist events, and things that lead to excessive personal debt obligations that we default on, the present system would collapse. Of course, when such seems to happen on a national level, such as in Greece, it looks like the solution to this problem is just to declare national bankruptcy, and essentially restart the system all over again.

So, there does seem to be some resolve in the system in the event of a collapse, at least, in regard to small nations. But we have yet to see what happens if a major nation is forced into bankruptcy, or lost it's entire interest in taking on additional debts. However, the "housing crisis" of 2007-08 in America, and the massive wave of defautls experienced on consumer debts, and the impact it had on America's economy ultimately caused a major ripple effect throughout the globe.

If for some reason our nation collapsed, it would cause the rest of the world to collapse overnight. The only way this collapse could probably resolve itself is through a massive series of world wars, probably only resolvable by an anti-Christ type figure. Then again, maybe not.

**edited**

I would also add that according to Revelations, the city of Babylon will be a very wealthy city when it finally does fall at the end. The text also seems to imply that the world, in spite of all the judgments that fall upon it during the "Great Tribulation" seems to be doing well financially. For it is said when Babylon falls, the merchants of the world will mourn over her wealth and splendor being destroyed in one day.

So, it would seem to me at least that as fragile as the current world economic system is, it will find a way of enduring until the very end. And should we not be in the last days yet, and it should it be another 1000 years until Christ returns, it sounds like should the present system collapse, it will be replaced with something that allows a great amount of wealth and trade to exist up until the very end.

Indeed, for it to endure the devastation inflicted on the world in the last days, up until the time of Christ, it sounds like that system must be pretty flexible. As I can't imagine our economic systems presently in place being able to endure such massive devastation.

It should be noted, for all you in favor of a gold standard, that such a system has exploded in the past. Silver and gold are only valuable because people say it is valuable. It holds no "intrinsic value" as "imagined." It's worth is conceived in the same way treasury notes are.

Gold's value has been based on the fact a lot of people desired it, because it was considered very rare and hard to find. It was valuable becomes kings seemed to love the stuff, and wanted more of it. Today the kigns of the world want US treasury notes, and it's considered valuable because they want it and are willing to trade with it. It's very simple.

When the present financial system collapses, if it does, the person with the most bullets, chocolates, and tobacco will probably be the wealthiest person in town. The person with gold will probably starve... unless he can somehow convince the person with the bullets, chocolates, and tobacco products to trade with him. Otherwise he'll have a bunch of gold, and people will realize that doesn't do very much anymore. You can't eat a loaf of gold.

**edited**

this article gives light on the matter,
it also talks about the "mark of the beast"

Characteristics of The Antichrist - Man of Sin (Series 1)by Zac Poonen

We are living in the days immediately preceding the emergence of the Antichrist on the world scene. But before he becomes manifest as Satan's chief representative on earth, there will be a gradual build-up of the world situation to pave the way for him - somewhat like the slope that leads to the summit of the mountain. The building up of this slope had commenced even in the first century - as John tells us in 1 Jn. 2:18 - "It is the last hour; and just as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen". The Holy Spirit states there that it was already 11 p.m. at the time when that was written - around 100 AD. We are in the closing seconds of the age now. Things have come to the stage where the summit has almost been reached. We are to live as those who have understanding of the times in which we live (Matt. 16:3).

The kingdom of the Antichrist will be political, economic and religious. We want to consider just the religious aspect of it. The devil has accomplished his purposes far more through false religions than through atheistic governments; and also far more through counterfeit Christianity than through false religions. This is why John speaks about the antichrists as having sat in the Christian churches of the first century. They were however driven out through the strong preaching of the apostles. "They went out from our midst", he says (1 Jn. 2:19). This spirit of the antichrist is now found in abundance in Christendom today. We need to identify it clearly for what it is, for only then can we drive it out of our own flesh and then out of our churches.

The characteristics of the Antichrist are described briefly in 2 Thess. 2:3-12: (i) He is called the man of sin [v.3]. (ii) He is one who exalts himself, wanting to be like God (v. 4) (iii) He is one who lies and deceives [v.9,10]. These give us an indication as to what we can expect to find in the antichrists who sit in Christian assemblies today, as they did in the days of John.
The Antichrist is called the man of sin. His spirit will be manifested in Christendom by a casual attitude towards sin. Preaching against sin will become unpopular in this last generation before Christ returns. There may be plenty of preaching on social equality, on caring for the poor and the illiterate, on providing relief for flood victims, etc, - all of which are good. But there will be hardly any emphasis on sins such as the love of money and material things, sexually sinful thoughts, unforgiving attitudes, outbursts of anger, seeking the honour of men, backbiting, gossiping, etc, (the things that Jesus mentioned in Matt. 5-7). 'The mystery of iniquity' (2 Thess. 2:7) will be seen as a false grace that assures people that they are eternally secure just because they once 'accepted Christ', despite the fact that they continue to live in sin. Such preaching tickles the ears and therefore many believers will readily listen to it (2 Tim. 4:3,4).

In Rev. 13, where the reign of the Antichrist is described, we are told that he gives his followers the option of following him either publicly or secretly. They can receive his mark on their forehead (if they desire to serve him publicly) or on the palm of their right hand (if they desire to retain their reputation as believers in a Christian assembly, and yet want the privileges that can be theirs through receiving the mark of 'the beast') (Rev. 13:16,17). The followers of Jesus, who are described in the next verse, however have no such option. Their mark must be on their foreheads (Rev. 14:1).

In the reign of the Antichrist, it will not be possible to buy even essential foodstuffs without 'the mark of the beast'. We have not reached that summit yet, but we are fairly close to it. It is difficult to get employment and admission in many educational institutions today, without defiling your right hand with a bribe (one mark of the beast). Factory workers who do not contribute towards the riligious festivals each year, are punished by being given difficult tasks in some factories. Many so-called believers compromise in such situations, and yet come to the meetings on Sundays to worship the Lord as `spiritual' believers. How is this possible? Because no one else in the assembly knows of the unrighteousness and sin that they have practised during the week.

The mark of the beast is invisible on their right palm. They may even justify their actions by saying that one has to give in a little if one wants to survive. These are the ones who feel that bowing down to Satan is justifiable, if it is done in secret, in such a way that one does not lose one's testimony! Today, there are even elders of New-Testament-pattern assemblies who have received the mark of the beast on their right hands in secret. Thus the spirit of the Antichrist rules in such assemblies. Here lies the reason for so much strife and quarrelling and death in many churches.

Only those who have a radical attitude against sin in every form, and who seek to hate sin as Jesus hated it (Heb. 1:9), can have the power to expose and drive out sin from the assemblies of believers.

Just-in, might I make a friendly suggestion you take your sovreign citizenship and conspiracy theory ideas elsewhere. One thread was already shut down because of them. Revelation 18 is not talking about sovereign citizenship issues and secret stuff done behind closed doors. It's stuff that happens all in the open.