February 28, 2009 Steve Collins

Christians are familiar with the prophecy of Revelation 13:7 and 16-17 which foretell that the final beast power to hold sway over the nations before the end of this age will exercise a global political and economic control. Why should the communications industry be any different? Trend are now firmly in place that indicate global control of communications media and news outlets is also inevitable.

The first link below reports that the economic situations of America’s newspapers and newsmagazines is now so dire that both the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Magazine Publishers of America have cancelled their annual meetings. The link also briefly comments on the decline of print media and the inexorable trend toward electronic media in today’s world. The second link comments on the demise of the, a media fixture in the Denver region for well over a century. The link is from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, which is itself in bankruptcy reorganization. The electronic version of this story was not as extensive as today’s print version, which was entitled “Goodbye Colorado.” A sidebar article noted that the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Philadelphia Inquirer are also in bankruptcy proceedings. It also states that the San Francisco Chronicle and daily newspapers in Seattle and Tucson will be closed if buyers cannot be found for them. What does this have to do with prophecy? More than you would first think, I believe.

Rocky Mountain News
As liberal as the print media are, the existence of hundreds of newspapers and many more news magazines meant that the reporting of news was decentralized all over the nation (and world). It was difficult to “spike” news uncomfortable to the globe’s elites when any newspaper editor could print a story and other newspapers could reprint it. While the advent of the internet has meant a globalized free means of communications so far, I wouldn’t expect this freedom to exist until Christ comes. When the beast power asserts control over the globe’s political, economic, financial and monetary systems, you can expect that it will control the global media as well. Voices proclaiming a biblical message will surely be shut down and censored at some point. Christians may not be allowed access to a centralized electronic media of the internet unless they swear an oath of loyalty to the beast’s system.  I do not know that this will happen, but it is certainly likely given the prophecies in Revelation 13. Amos 8:11-13 warns that a time will come when there will be a “famine of hearing the words of the Lord” in which people “will wander from ‘sea to sea’ [think about what modern nation is known as a land “from sea to shining sea”] and will run ‘to and fro’ to find God’s Words and will not be able to do so.” This kind of “black-out” of all biblically-based speech is possible in today’s electronic age when all communications could be centralized under the control of one, global body loyal to the beast power which will temporarily dominate the world until the return of Christ obliterates both them and their control (Revelation 19:11-21).

Does this sound outlandish to you? Consider the third link. It reports that at the recently-concluded Davos meeting of world global elites, the concept of a “global television network” emerged which would “usher in a state of ‘global governance.'” The article rightly observes that this Orwellian proposal sounds “authoritarian, even totalitarian.” However, that is what the global elites are planning. This “Big Brother TV” network would be dedicated to “telling us who we are and what we mean to each other” (emphasis added). Notice we will be “told” things by this new global network, not simply “informed.” Sounds like a propaganda network to me. Hitler’s media shill, Josef Goebbels, would have loved a “global TV” network. Lest you think that diverse media would be allowed under such a regimen, the article reports that media giants as diverse as FOX News, China Central TV, the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and others were all part of the planning for this global TV network. The article asserts that this new global TV network would promote “global governance” and global solutions even as it would work to end “localised” or “national-based” communications systems. Say “good bye” to a free press when this occurs.

If you want to preserve blogs, articles and biblically-based items on this or any other Christian or faith-based website, you better make hard-copies of such items now. All voices opposing the “global TV” network of the beast power will surely be suppressed and shut-down at some point in the future. People who believe in and serve the Creator God of the Bible need to be part of a local church, congregation, fellowship group, synagogue, etc. as they may have no way to communicate with any other believers outside their local area at some point. The “famine of hearing the word” is going to come.

Let me close on a positive note. The globalists who think that they are “masters of the Universe” are in for a shock. The very Creator God that they reject and deny will not be silenced in the latter days. Revelation 11 prophesies that God will empower Two Witnesses who will proclaim his words to the earth with miraculous power for three and 1/2 years. Perhaps it will the beast’s own action to shut down all mention of God’s Words that will trigger God’s decision to send the Two Witnesses. God will give them “carte blanche” authority to “smite the earth with all plagues as often as they wish” (Rev. 11:6). My view of their arrival on the world scene is that it will be very soon after the beast power takes shape, but this is not certain. What is certain is that they will arrive. When they do, this world will be shocked to its foundations. Let’s consider one hypothetical possibility within the context of this blog’s subject. Let’s assume that the “global TV” propaganda network of the beast has arrived and its elitist Board has met and banned all Christian and Orthodox Jewish voices (anyone who is loyal to the God of the Bible) from the world’s internet and all electronic media systems. When the Two Witnesses appear, they could pronounce a week-long “plague” on all board members and officers of this global TV network. Perhaps they might choose to have all these administrative agents of the beast experience the same plague visited on Nebuchanezzar when that ancient world leader got too full of himself. Daniel 4 relates this event.

Nebuchanezzar was sentenced by God to go mad and think he was a grunting animal for seven years. When Nebuchanezzar was allowed to return to sanity, he glorified God and humbled himself. If the hypothetical leaders of this future Global TV network are given a similar plague for one week, the Two Witnesses could allow them to briefly return to sanity and reverse all their prohibitions against biblical expressions on the world’s global media. If they repent (as Nebuchanezzar did), Christians and Jews can express themselves again. If the Global TV leaders harden their hearts (as Pharaoh of Egypt did), the Two Witnesses could return them to insanity and make their madness permanent for the rest of this age. Being able to “smite the earth with plagues as often as they wish” means just exactly that! It will be a fearful power and responsibility. No one in the beast administration will be immune to their plagues. Revelation 16:10-11 prophesies that even “the seat of the beast” and “his kingdom” will be subject to Divine plagues in the last part of this age. God’s power will be exalted above all power exercised by the Beast in the end times. The Two Witnesses will be busy people. They will also be hated by an unrepentant world, which will rejoice when they are slain at the end of their ministry (Rev. 11:7-10). If you wish to know more about the Bible’s prophecy re: Two Witnesses, I invite you to read my article about the Two Witnesses at this website.

In case you are wondering who these two people will be, I can acknowledge I have the same question. I don’t know who they will be, but I do know this. They will be revealed in the future by their deeds; they will not need to call a press conference to boast about their “calling.” Matthew 24:24 warns that there will be many “false prophets” in the latter days. Expect some charlatans and counterfeits before the genuine Two Witnesses emerge.

http://www.startribune.com/business/40448987.html?elr=KArksUUUU
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2009/ss_media0117_02_10.asp