by Mark Goodwin
Sharon had struggled to raise two kids by herself on a waitress’s salary. She scrimped and saved until she managed to scrape together enough money to open her restaurant ten years ago. With its success, Sharon was able to enjoy life and treat her four grandkids the way she had always wanted to provide for her own children.
Benny Loomis, a longtime attendee of the weekly study, worked as the janitor and maintenance man at Faith Church. Noah knew little about him, because Benny didn’t talk much. Noah often saw Benny with Isaiah. Noah figured he opened up to Isaiah when it was just the two of them.
Everyone had just gathered around to open the meeting in prayer, when Jim and Sandy Taylor arrived.
“Sorry. We were running a little late,” Sandy said. “Jim had a closing that ran longer than expected.”
The Taylors owned a modest real-estate brokerage in the Sevierville area. Like many brokers, they also invested in real estate. Jim and Sandy were nearly wiped out in the first housing bubble, but they rebounded quickly and were well hedged when the second bubble popped.
Isaiah opened the meeting with prayer, and everyone helped themselves to the snacks in the kitchen.
Noah made a planned attack on the lemon bars. He had already scoped out the two largest bars. He stacked them in a napkin so not to look like a pig.
“Straight to dessert?” David Ray asked.
“Yeah, we had a big dinner before we came,” Noah answered.
“Are you still running every day?” David made a small plate of celery sticks, cheese, crackers, and sausage balls.
Noah laughed. “I have to if I want to eat lemon bars.”
Everyone took their plates into the parlor and sat on the furniture, which was arranged in a large circle.
Isaiah began. “Enjoy your snacks. I’ll start and you can find your place in the Bible when you’ve finished eating.
“We left off in Daniel chapter two last week. To recap for those of you who weren’t here, we read about the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of. We pick back up with Daniel giving him the interpretation of the dream. Starting in chapter two and verse thirty-one, we read,
“‘You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
“‘After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
“‘In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
“Later on in the text, we learn that initially, the king accepts Daniel’s interpretation of the dream and declares that Daniel’s God is the true God. Afterward, however, he builds a statue of gold that seems to defy the prophecy of the dream and deny that his kingdom will ever come to an end. Of course, God’s prophecies aren’t contingent on whether or not we believe them.
“So we have this grand statue in the dream with the head of gold. Daniel explains that King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon is the head of gold. Next, the statue has a chest made of silver, which Daniel says will be another world empire to come. The book of Daniel tells us that the Medo-Persian Empire conquered the Babylonians on the very night King Belshazzar misused the articles of God’s temple in a drunken festival. The Medo-Persian Empire, like the Babylonian, encompassed all of the civilized world at the time. It extended from modern-day Greece down through Libya and Egypt, covered all of the Middle East, and reached through parts of what is now India and China.
“The statue’s waist was made of bronze. The Medo-Persian Empire fell to the Greeks in 331 BC, when Alexander the Great defeated King Darius III at the battle of Issus. You students of history will recall that the Greeks used bronze to make weapons, statues, and water vessels. The Greek playwright Aristophanes alluded to the use of bronze to devalue Greek currency in his comedy The Frogs, written in 405 BC. The Athenians may have been the first to debase their currency with bronze to finance the Peloponnesian Wars. Essentially, they were ‘printing’ money to pay for armies abroad. Does that sound familiar to anyone? Don’t let it leave this room,” Isaiah said and winked. “I’m sure the folks at the Pentagon and the Treasury think they were the first to think of such a scheme.
“The statue’s legs of iron represent the Roman Empire, as I’m sure you all guessed. The Battle of Corinth in 146 BC marked the end of the Greek Empire and the beginning of the Roman Empire. The Romans mastered the art of making weapons with iron and even used it to debase their currency. As empires go, the Romans had to debase their currency to finance their overextended armies, the popular welfare entitlement program known as the grain dole, and foreign aid.
“A quote attributed to the Roman statesman Cicero from the first century BC says, ‘The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.’
“With all of these examples from history, one would think that the central bankers would know what is to come of our current monetary system and then correct their course to avoid another catastrophic failure . . . unless that’s the plan.
“But I digress. Back to the Bible study. The final empire spoken of in Daniel chapter two is represented by the feet, which are made of iron mixed with clay. Since there has been no world empire since the fall of the Roman Empire, we can deduce that this must be speaking of an empire yet to come.”
Henry Whitaker interrupted. “Could we say that America is a global empire?”
Isaiah tilted his head from side to side. “America certainly uses bribes in the form of foreign aid and the global presence of our military to exert a very powerful intimidation campaign, but I would classify this influence more as hegemony than an empire. Besides, I suspect America’s influence and global superiority are coming to an end.”
“Do you think the United Nations could evolve into this global empire?” Jim Taylor asked.
“Traditional thought has always been that the symbolism of the clay mixed with iron implies that this empire will be some type of global government made up of the pieces of the Roman Empire. That would make it an offshoot of the European Union,” Isaiah said.
David Ray added, “The driving forces behind the UN are the EU and the US. At least those are the big players in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Now that the UN has finally gained taxing authority over offshore mineral rights, the IMF is facilitating the payment system for the global tax; they’re all sort of the same thing, wouldn’t you say?”
Isaiah nodded. “You have a point, David.”
“Who owns the IMF?” Sharon Beck inquired.
Isaiah looked at Cassandra. “Cassie, I think you probably know as much about that as anyone. Would you care to enlighten us?”
“The IMF was established under the Bretton Woods agreement after World War II. The Agreement established the gold-backed dollar as the global reserve currency. Since the dollar is no longer backed by gold, technically, no member countries are bound by the reserve currency agreement, but that’s a different subject. The IMF is owned by the member countries. The ownership interest in the IMF is primarily controlled by the central banks of the member nations. Trying to figure out who controls the central banks is the real challenge—”
“Wait a minute,” Becky Ray said. “The dollar isn’t backed by gold?”
Cassie shook her head. “It hasn’t been since 1971.”
“Then what is it backed by?” Becky crossed her arms.
“Nothing,” Cassie said. “Well, that’s not entirely true. Shortly after Nixon took us off the gold standard, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger went to Saudi Arabia and brokered an arrangement affectionately called the petrodollar system. Essentially, the US agreed to back Saudi Arabia militarily in exchange for the Saudis using their influence to get OPEC to sell oil only in dollars. This creates artificial demand for dollars, which allows the Federal Reserve to print more currency without it being devalued as fast. So I guess you could say the dollar is backed by oil . . . and lead.”
Noah smiled. He’d heard all of this before, but he always enjoyed Cassie’s snarky comments.
“You’re saying America is propping up a Muslim nation that won’t let their women drive, that doesn’t allow Bibles in the country, and that imprisons or executes any of their citizens who convert to Christianity?” Becky exclaimed.
“And you’re paying for it with your tax dollars,” Cassie said.
Sharon shook her head. “This is a lot to take in. Back to what you were saying about the central banks. Who owns and controls the Federal Reserve?”
“That is two different questions.” Cassie replied. “The Fed is owned by the members who own shares in it.”
“So it is a private corporation?” Sandy Taylor asked.
“Yes and no,” Cassie answered. “The member banks own the Fed, but they can’t sell their shares. Perhaps the more important part of the question is, who controls the Fed. Officially, it’s directed by the Board of Governors, a panel of seven people appointed by the President of the United States who serve for fourteen years each. The Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, makes the monetary policies for the country. The Board of Governors, plus five presidents of the twelve regional Federal Reserve banks, comprise the FOMC. One of the five is always the New York Fed president, and the other four rotate from the remaining eleven Fed banks. All of these people, the governors and the presidents, are hand selected and placed there by the Illuminati, which is made up of a handful of the most powerful people on the planet.”
Cassie looked at Isaiah as if to ask if she’d gone too far.
“Proceed,” Isaiah simply said.
Sharon held up her hand as if to stop traffic. “Hold up. Cassie, I’ve always known you to be a levelheaded person, but if I’d heard this from anyone else, I’d say she was a kook. You said the governors were selected by the president; then you said they were placed there by the Illuminati.”
“The president is also hand selected,” Cassie said.
Sharon shook her head. “By the Illuminati? I’m sorry; I just can’t believe that. We have open and fair elections. I don’t believe some secret society is pulling the strings of the entire government and rigging the elections.”
“If both of your choices are selected by the Illuminati, the elections wouldn’t have to be rigged. In the 2004 presidential elections, you had two candidates who both professed to belong to the secret order of the Skull and Bones. That order is at the top of the food chain for global governance,” Cassie said.
Again Sharon protested. “John Kerry and George W. Bush were both members of the same secret society? I just don’t buy it. Isaiah, can you help me out here?”
Isaiah shrugged his shoulders. “John Kerry admitted it on MSNBC, so did George Bush. George W. wrote about it in his autobiography. Whether you call it the Illuminati or some other name, it is clear in Bible prophecy that a world leader is going to arise from some type of Luciferean-cult society. From what I know about the cult rituals of the Skull and Bones, it would fit like a glove into Bible prophecy.”
Sharon rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “Cassie, honey, I’m sure you believe what you’re telling us, but I don’t. I’m sorry.”
Benny Loomis spoke for the first time. “I believe you.”
Noah was surprised to hear him speak. His simple tone was quiet, but it seemed to Noah as if Benny knew something the others didn’t.
“I don’t want to disrupt the study. Isaiah, can we get back to the dream?” Cassie said.
Isaiah smiled. “I wouldn’t say the conversation is off track. I think it is very relevant. Thank you for sharing your insights with us.
“The statue had ten toes, which many believe represent ten rulers or ten countries that will be running the final global kingdom. Daniel specified that it will be a mix of different peoples. That leaves the door open to the possibility of the UN being the meeting place of the final kingdom.
“The last event in the king’s dream was the rock that crushed all of the kingdoms of the earth and established an everlasting kingdom. The rock is Christ, and that kingdom is the final kingdom of Heaven.
“I think it is important to stay focused on the end game. Our citizenship in heaven is secure, no matter what happens on this earth.”
“It sounds like you expect things to get bad for us. Don’t you believe in a pretribulation rapture?” Jim Taylor asked.
Isaiah snickered. “I think one could believe in a pretribulation rapture and still expect things to get very bad for us in the short run. We could take a break from our study of Daniel to get into a little bit of that if you like.”
“I think that is a fantastic idea. Let’s take a vote. All in favor?” Sandy said.
All except Sharon raised their hands right away. As she looked around, she slowly put her hand up to join the others.
“I think we’ve covered enough tonight. I’ll have a good study put together for next week,” Isaiah said.
Becky stood. “Good timing. We have to get Lynette home. It’s past her bedtime.” She left the room to find her daughter.
David stood as well. “Cassie, thanks for the information. I’ll definitely look into all of that.”
Noah went into the TV room to retrieve Lacy. “Time to go, sweetie.”
“Okay.” Lacy turned off the cartoon they’d been watching and followed Noah.
Becky agreed to watch Lacy on Saturday night so Noah and Cassie could go out for dinner. Everyone collected their coats and the dishes they had brought and said their good-byes as they headed for the door.
CHAPTER 6
For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence—on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations.
Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.
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John F. Kennedy, Waldorf Astoria, April 1961
Everett strode into the upscale Cuban restaurant. He glanced around at the crisp white tablecloths. “I wonder why I’ve never checked this place out.” Sterling was only about three miles from his apartment.
He scanned the room for Ken, but didn’t see him. Everett had met Lisa once before, but he wasn’t sure he’d recognize her in a crowd. He did a quick perusal for anyone who could possibly be Lisa. “Maybe I’m the first one here.”
Everett took a seat at the bar where he could keep an eye on the door and see them when they walked in.
“What can I get you?” the bartender asked.
“What are your specials?” Everett asked.
“Two for one mojitos, but happy hour is over in five minutes,” the man replied.
“Then I’ll have two mojitos.” Everett wasn’t much of a drinker. He figured the second drink would be for Lisa’s friend Courtney when she arrived.
Everett watched the television over the bar for several minutes. The financial channel was showing yet another all-time high in the stock market. “Someone made a killing after the last market crash,” he said under his breath.
Like the first housing bubble, the second, now called Housing 2.0, had created a massive panic and market sell-off across all indices. The Dow tumbled through the 2009 lows and briefly dipped below 3,000. The Federal Reserve had pulled out all the stops with massive money printing used for federal spending on defense, welfare, bank bailouts, and huge direct stimulus payments to American consumers.
The result was that inflation was now threatening double digits, even by the Bureau of Economic Activity’s fabricated numbers. Alternative economic news sources placed inflation well above twenty percent annually.