"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 55:8)
Manifesto: "A written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives or view of the issuer, be it an individual group, political party or government." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifesto)
In such verses as: "For nothing is secret that shall be made manifest;" (Luke 8:17) and "... and I will love him and will manifest myself to him." (John 14:21) the word manifest in Greek gives the meaning: 'to inform, show openly, declare plainly, disclose, make known'. (Strongs 5318/9, 1718). So although the word 'manifesto' can sometimes carry with it a negative and perhaps even a somewhat Communist connotation, it's simply a list of promises (or pledges) from any individual or political party explaining to voters what he or she plans to accomplish if elected.
Yet on both sides of the Atlantic are issues that are deeply troubling the electorate - issues that each candidate has promised to resolve: runaway inflation, national and individual debt and illegal immigration. Experience tells us though, that these election promises are more than likely to be ignored or trampled over than kept. As reported in the UK media at the end of last month:
More than two million people at time of writing [3 million today] have signed a petition calling for another general election in the UK. It follows a raft of broken campaign promises and downright horrendous policies enacted by the far left Labour government since it was elected in July, including imprisoning people for social media posts. The petition was created last Wednesday and quickly passed the 100,000 signatures mark, the amount needed for it to be considered for a debate in parliament. The petition, which now stands at over 2 million signatures, states that the “current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.” (modernity.news - 27/11/2024)
It seems that their promises are indeed "like pie crusts, made to be broken" – a quote attributed to another 'politician' Vladimir Lenin. Yet how often this seems to be the case. And at the heart of the problem is the manifesto or political platform of those desiring our votes – confidently predicting the results their polices will engender, while, at the same time, the message of HOW to achieve those results will largely elude them, as it invariably will involve a spiritual dimension which they refuse to acknowledge.
Let us take some of the financial promises that are made as key examples: Throughout history different areas of the world have suffered times of massive inflation, financial collapse and upheaval of varying degrees, many times due to unrealistic speculation, resulting in what we call a "bubble" ... the South Sea Island Bubble of 1711 being the first use of the term. The lie that physical things can bring contentment and happiness is one major reason the average credit card debt in the US and UK is in the multiple thousands of dollars/pounds. So crippling debt – whether national or individual – actually originates from a spiritual source. Whether it's a country's military budget or an individual's desire for a higher standard of living – whether he can afford it or not – the satanic broadcast is always pushing the GET motivation.
In Charles Dickens’s novel David Copperfield, Mr Micawber drops a gem about financial planning that has stood the test of time, "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty-pound ought and six, result misery." Very much a lesson for today! And because of God's living spiritual laws, this Get motive inevitably results in the misery of personal debt, runaway inflation leading to national collapse ... which in turn is followed, as history bears out, by war.
When we consider the current worldwide financial problems, the potential scale and nature of modern warfare is chilling. Without Christ's intervention, the next global conflict would literally erase all life from the planet. Prophetically therefore, what we currently see unfolding in the economic sphere appears destined to lead eventually to the greatest time of trial and trouble this world has ever seen – and the time of Jacob's Trouble (Jeremiah 30:6,7) It should be clear therefore that unless and until there is a different approach to life – at both an individual and national level – Christ's utopian millennial reign would be impossible. But the horrors of the end time will leave mankind more willing to listen to his God, and without Satan's influence, the next step is to change man's approach, his whole focus, from INcoming to OUTgoing. i.e. and to loving our neighbour as ourself.
With this transformed approach to life, we will at last be able to teach a new, amazing financial system, outlined in two specific laws: the Jubilee and the Sabbatical year. These two laws will massively impact not only inflation, individual and national debt, but even the problem of illegal immigration!
Some in the Church of yesteryear – including some ministers – used to give the impression that God's view was similar to that of some kind of worldly capitalist. They saw the financial system in the Millennium as little more than a mild adjustment of the capitalism we currently 'enjoy' in the West today. We need to fully understand that such a view is utterly untrue and totally unbiblical! Though God's system does indeed give enormous freedom for people to make and enjoy wealth, it is NOT worldly capitalism at all. But neither is it communism, fascism or any other "-ism". It is totally unlike anything found at any time within the present evil world of Satan.
At its very foundation, God's financial system is family based – recognising the nuclear family unit of a man, his wife and their children as the unit in which every potential member of God's family begins his life. God's financial system then gives this family nucleus the financial security required to be able to live life to the full, without constant money worries, so giving a stable family environment to succeeding generations. God's laws for mankind show He is always concerned for the individual, with even His financial laws being people-based! And one of the main ways His laws do this is by tying every family to the most tangible thing found on this earth – the land – and renews that tie every 50 years, come what may.
In the western world today, the word "jubilee" is used most often when "denoting the celebrations associated with the reign of monarchs after a milestone number of years have passed", for example the platinum jubilee of our late Queen Elizabeth in 2022. But in catholic circles; "a period of remission from the penal consequences of sin, granted under certain conditions for a year, usually at intervals of 25 years." The incredible, far-sighted and far-reaching REAL meaning has been lost! What the Jubilee God instituted does, is to return the basis of all real, tangible wealth back into the hands of the family – as a means of purging this "boom and bust", and unmanageable debt tendency from society – because absolutely everything we own ultimately comes from the land. In this way it levels the financial playing-field for everyone, family by family, in a real and practical way. With just this one law, we see resolved the issues of land speculation, planning laws, compulsory purchase, inheritance tax and limited companies.
Because it is land based, returning people to their land every 50 years, the Jubilee is also designed to create a society that is predominantly rural, not urban! In this way, it also forces man to appreciate the source of his food, and to recognise its link to the blessings of good weather given by God. In addition, because the land stays in a single family's custody, it helps preserve the land's fertility and encourages truly long-term thinking in that custodianship. Unlike the transitory nature of families today, people will literally be able to put down roots! They will want to plant walnut trees, because they'll know that whatever they do with the land will remain for their great-great grandchildren! So they will naturally landscape, fertilise, improve and beautify it – caring for it as the priceless heritage it is, knowing that by doing so they will be able to watch succeeding generations of their offspring enjoy it as well.
The law of the Jubilee even solves the problem of unbridled immigration, of which God warned us millennia ago, if His laws were ignored:.
But with the land returning to its original family every 50 years, there's no attraction for strangers from other nations to settle for any length of time and buy up farms, lands and agri-businesses as they are doing now. Those businesses will not be able to grow into mega-monster conglomerates, buying up acres and acres of land and extending their reach – and usually negative effect – into the local area, as at the end of 50 years, the land has to return to its original owner. But even before then, if the finances become available in the family, then the land that was sold can be redeemed!
The law of the Jubilee also leads people away from interracial marriage, as it continually brings people back to their own genetic environment and doing so in a patriarchal (not matriarchal) way. This is because the right to the family land normally passes through the sons, with the daughters becoming part of the family into which they marry, and then tied into that new family unit by the very land they – eventually – pass on to their offspring. This in turn also leads society back to placing fathers at the head of each home. It is the father's family that is tied to the land, not the mother's in the vast majority of cases (for the exception see Numbers 27:1-11) .
This is not to say that a foreigner can never stay in Israel at all, as the reason for Israel being the model nation is for "Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isaiah 60:3).
Part of the "ways and paths" the nations will learn about will be the financial laws of God, and it may well be that the representatives of the nations will spend a considerable time in Israel, seeing how they work and how to implement them in their own areas. They won't settle down permanently as is happening now, but rather take their understanding back to their own nations, to benefit their own people.
But God's Way does not end with the Jubilee. The financial aspects of the Sabbatical year also make it a Law designed to level out wealth within the population, yet at the same time in no way detract from genuine enterprise and hard work. And in addition, part of God's Law is that no interest was to be charged within Israel:
This aspect would presumably expand to apply to all within the commonwealth of Israel as other nations see, and bring themselves under the Government of God in the future (Zechariah 8:23). But then, not only is it illegal to charge interest, but even the capital sum is to be released every 7 years! No horrendous interest piling up that many times becomes totally unmanageable and ends in bankruptcy and in some countries today, slavery for many generations.
This is the financial aspect of the Sabbatical Year, and the very purpose of this amazing law, is that "there shall be no poor among you" (Deuteronomy 15:4)
Just imagine the scene of a land with no poor! Israel is going to be dealt with first – being taught the way of God, which includes these two laws – and then used by God to be the example nation. The other nations may not want to come up to Jerusalem at first, but they will be forced to do so, to see what is taking place (Zechariah 14:16-19). This also fits with The Way God tends to work ... by beginning small and then expanding in an orderly way. The Church will begin teaching and ruling within Israel, making it the model nation. This will then also help us to learn what we need regarding running a nation, before we expand out to teach the whole world.
The other nations will certainly be commanded to send representatives to Jerusalem, but until they come fully under the Government of God, they will not be part of the commonwealth (Ephesians 2:12). The purpose for commanding them to appear – and plaguing them if they don't – is so they will see what is happening in Israel ... and be stunned by the peace and prosperity, and once they see, naturally they will want to be included themselves. And when they too begin to obey these laws and reap the benefits in their own land, there will be no reason to "take to the boats" and seek a better living in another country.
Another thing that these two laws of finance reflect, is the identical profound symmetry between simplicity and beauty that is all around us in the creation. Just look at snowflakes as an example. Each one is an absolute marvel of design, but at the atomic level, the laws producing such intricate complexity are as simple as they are profound. So too with these financial laws of the Jubilee and Sabbatical year. Such simple things – but how profound, how far-reaching ... yes how vast a change they will give compared to the world we find ourselves oppressed within today. The Sabbath itself picturing in part a millennial rest and the Jubilee, being announced on the Day of Atonement – freedom, and liberty! (Romans 8:21) Two laws well worth taking time on which to meditate.
As mentioned in Isaiah 9: "Of the increase of [his] government and peace [there shall be] no end". (Isaiah 9:7) Not only will this be the way His rule will spread in the Millennium, but from there, by the end of the Millennium there will be sufficient sons and daughters of God to cope with the Great White Throne judgement – when billions will be resurrected. And after that, the entire Universe! That is the Kingdom of God - a Universe-ruling Family, born of the Spirit, with the character and mind of God Himself, and brought into being in clear, planned stages. The stage we are in today is merely the beginning of a vast, limitless Plan.
"Manifestos often mark the adoption of a new vision, approach, program, or genre. They criticize a present state of affairs but also announce its passing, proclaiming the advent of a new movement or even of a new era. In this sense, manifestos combine a sometimes violent societal critique with an inaugural and inspirational declaration of change. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/manifesto)
The Gospel revealed in the Bible could be described as the ultimate manifesto, in that it promises the passing of this present evil world government and proclaims the advent of a new era – the peaceful and prosperous millennial reign of Jesus Christ. As He declared in the gospel of John:
Indeed, every human government has indeed been thieves and robbers, learning from Satan the devil himself. And that is why the world stumbles on in the darkness of immigrations issues, financial problems and other intractable headaches. But part of God's manifesto promise – the Good News of the coming Kingdom of God – is that Christ WILL return and show mankind how to enjoy a truly abundant life, now and for ever, and we can be totally assured that what He has promised He will also bring it to pass: ..."being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform" (Romans 4:21)... "in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; (Titus 1:2 and Hebrews 6:17-19).
“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7)
Those who have ears to hear and eyes to see will understand.
“Ukraine's former military chief has warned that World War Three is already underway - with Vladimir Putin's autocratic allies, North Korea, Iran and China, openly supporting his forces on the battlefield. Valery Zaluzhny, who is now Ukraine's envoy to the United Kingdom, told the UP100 award ceremony in Kyiv: 'I believe that in 2024 we can absolutely believe that the Third World War has begun.' The General said that as of this year, 'Ukraine is no longer facing Russia. Soldiers from North Korea are standing in front of Ukraine.' He made the comments after reports emerged that around 10,000 soldiers had been sent by Pyongyang to fight alongside Russian troops in the Kursk region, as Moscow aims to replenish its forces and reclaim the territory taken from it three months ago.” (dailymail.co.uk)
“On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s ‘OutFront,’ Washington Post columnist and CNN host Fareed Zakaria stated that Russia is getting help from China, North Korea, and Iran and ‘the axis of Russia, China, North Korea, they’re collaborating more than the Japanese and the Germans did during World War II.’
Zakaria said that he’s not sure he would describe things as World War III, but ‘I think it’s fair to say that you now have the outlines of a global coalition. The Russians are being actively assisted by the Chinese, by the North Koreans, by the Iranians. And Ukraine, of course, has the support of a very large cohort of Western and significant non-Western countries.
So, if you think of it in those terms, this is a struggle limited in one place, but the coalitions are global. And if you think about the axis of Russia, China, North Korea, they’re collaborating more than the Japanese and the Germans did during World War II. So there is a global dimension to it.’” (breitbart.com)
“Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius warned that Russia takes three months to produce the amount of weapons the EU does in a year. Germany has issued a shocking warning over the scale of Russia's weapons production, as it reportedly produces four times the amount the EU does. Boris Pistorius, the country's defence minister, said Russia only takes three months to produce the amount of weapons the EU does in a whole year.
He said Vladimir Putin has ‘completely switched to a war economy’ in order to fuel the protracted conflict with Ukraine, which has now been raging for more than 1,000 days. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) politican spoke at an event organised by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Arnsberg in the west of the country.
He warned that Germany's ‘security is a fragile commodity’ and its ‘combat capability’ needs to see more investment in order to compete with Russia.” (express.co.uk)
“Contrary to some claims, the Oreshnik is not an upgrade of Soviet-era missile systems, according to Putin. Instead, it is a completely new development built on modern Russian technology. The president emphasized that the missile represents the culmination of efforts within ‘New Russia,’ referring to developments after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. ‘It was created on the basis of modern, latest developments,’ he stated.” (rt.com)
Back in 1979, this warning was given:
“The nations of Western Europe had formed the Common Market, solely an economic union. But there was a growing FEAR of Russia; a growing DOUBT of US protection from Communist military might; a growing and desperate desire among European leaders to UNITE politically, to provide their own military force, which would make them a third gigantic world military power, perhaps stronger than either the US or the USSR.” (The Plain Truth – January 1979)
“Europe prepares for WW3: Now Germany reveals plans to mobilise national defence and 800,000 NATO troops after Kremlin nuke threat - as US announces new weapon Kyiv can use to stop Russia after allowing long-range missile strikes. European nations are gearing up for an all-out war on the continent as Ukraine launched US-made missiles into Russia for the first time and Vladimir Putin officially lowered the threshold for Moscow to consider a nuclear strike. Germany's foreign minister yesterday vowed her country 'will not be intimidated' by Putin, just one day after German media revealed the nation will transform into a NATO staging ground if the conflict to the East should escalate.
According to a 1,000-page document entitled 'Operationsplan Deutschland', Germany would reportedly host hundreds of thousands of troops from NATO countries and serve as a logistics hub for sending huge quantities of military equipment, food and medicine toward the front. The German army is also instructing companies and civilians on how to protect key infrastructure and mobilise for national defence, envisaging a situation in which Russia expands drone flights, spying operations and sabotage attacks across Europe.
Businesses have been advised to create crisis plans detailing employee responsibilities during emergencies and will be instructed to stockpile diesel generators or install wind turbines to ensure energy independence. Germany's preparation follows examples set by Nordic countries, where pamphlets and emails have already been sent to millions of homes with advice on seeking shelter, stockpiling supplies and rudimentary military training.” (dailymail.co.uk)
“The February-March, 1939, issue of The Plain Truth contained another article on the resurrection of the Roman Empire to come.
We have warned our radio listeners of this prophesied event since the first year we were on the air – 1934. WE HAVE SHOUTED THIS PROPHECY EVER SINCE 1934 IN THE PLAIN TRUTH.” (The Autobiography - Chapter 40)
“Contrary to most self-professed ‘authorities’ on bible prophecy, NO ALL OUT FULL SCALE WAR IS PROPHESIED BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE UNITED STATES… the world will be stunned to see Germany emerge suddenly in a power never equalled by Hitler – by a union of ten nations, probably including some at present puppets of Russia – in a gigantic United States of Europe!” (The Plain Truth - August 1950)
“Russia may give East Germany back to the Germans and will be forced to relinquish her control over Hungary, Czechoslovakia and parts of Austria to complete the ten nation union. Europe will have A FREE HAND TO DESTROY AMERICA AND BRlTAlN AS PROPHECIED.” (The Good News, April 1952)
Talking about the Holy Roman Empire, Mr Armstrong wrote:
“In its final phase, to appear in our day, will merely be a restoration of that ancient Roman Empire – a United States of Europe which we are beginning to foster within the confines of the ancient Roman Empire! We are building the Frankenstein Monster that is destined to destroy us!” (The Plain Truth - June 1955)
“The way is being prepared for a colossal third force in world politics — a European Federation of Nations more powerful than either Russia or the United States! …We have shown years in advance what would happen to Russia’s ill-fated Empire in Eastern Europe.” (The Plain Truth - December 1956)
“United within ancient boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire; united by the common spiritual bond of universal Catholicism; united in a burgeoning and booming industrial economy that dominates today's world; united geographically in the most productive and industrial complex on earth — at least ten nations of modern europe will march onto the scene of world history as the greatest single human force ever seen by man!” (The Plain Truth - March 1962)
“Germany — a UNITED GERMANY with her former territories restored — is ready to emerge as the strongest nation on earth at the head of a revitalized … Europe! This power colossus is then going to deal a death blow to the United States and Britain…” (The Plain Truth - October 1964)
“The 7th chapter of Revelation plainly describes a spiritual-political union of ten kings, ten military/political leaders, and a great spiritual leader. For decades we have been proclaiming the eventual creation of some form of united Europe … we have proclaimed repeatedly that the ultimate unifying force would be religious.” (The Plain Truth - August 1968)
Much of today’s world regards Russia as the nation to start WW3. However God reveals that the threat to the USA and Britain is not from Russia.
“Now, we are a long ways from Russia; and we are fearing the Soviet Union. The two great powers in the world are the Soviet Union and the United States – the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic and the United States; and we are really fearing Russia. Let me say right here: I know of no prophecy in the Bible that speaks specifically of any war between Russia and the United States; and I have been saying for years and years that is not the way that World War III will come.” (Sermon - 1982-11-27 - United States Of Europe Is Coming)
“Germany — a UNITED GERMANY with her former territories restored — is ready to emerge as the strongest nation on earth at the head of a revitalized … Europe! THIS POWER COLOSSUS IS THEN GOING TO DEAL A DEATH BLOW TO THE UNITED STATES AND BRITAIN… ” (The Plain Truth, October 1964)
…the very same message since the first edition of the Plain Truth magazine … now 90 years ago!