has invested more than 27 billion dollars in factories, oil wells, mines and other enterprises in foreign lands,” says U.S. News and World Report. These American billions are estimated to have created more than one million jobs overseas. They are part of a flow of dollars abroad that has turned a dollar shortage throughout the world into an abundance of dollars that is causing concern in the U.S. More than 3,000 American companies have operations outside the United States. Business done by these branches in countries abroad last year amounted to about 30 billion dollars, almost twice as much as the value of goods exported commercially by U.S. This may be responsible for the unemployment of nearly 3,000,000 of America’s jobless. As a sample, let us look at what is happening to American agriculture as well as industries through American operation in foreign lands. U.S. News reports: “ The largest single manufac turing plant ever built in Britain was opened this spring by an American firm, the H. J. Heinz Company. It is one of several Heinz facilities in Britain that employ more than 7,500 workers to turn out a full line of the company’s 57 varieties of food.” The largest food-processing plant in Australia also is a Heinz plant. It was opened in 1955. In Holland, Heinz purchased a Dutch company a year ago, and recently started shipping food from there under the Heinz label. It is investigating the possibilities of opening other plants in Europe and South America. If this sort of thing keeps on, we shall have an Ameri can crisis that can upset the commercial world. The coming Beast will then show the world how to cure the situation. In desperation the nations will turn to him. Revelation 13:16-17 tells how Anti-Christ will handle all labor and production. “He will cause all, both great and small, and rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark in their hand and on their forehead, that no man might buy or sell save he that has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of the name!” Our own land is well on the way to a situation calling for someone to take over complete rule of labor, capital and commerce. Little do our labor unions know that the racketeer ing of so many labor leaders, their thievery and brutality are making Americans, both in and out of the union movement, desperate for someone who can handle the multi-headed monster. Obviously, all elected representa tives fear to do more than give them a verbal slap on the wrist. Labor is today creating a vacuum which may be filled by the Anti-Christ. Anti-Christ may well find America’s agricultural situation a nice landing field for his totalitarian program. A short time ago, The New York Times carried a front page story telling of the possibility of a record crop of 4,200,000,000 bushels. It appears to spell more trouble for the government, says The Times. Farmers and taxpayers are already beset by a surplus farm production that, many officials believe, threatens the collapse of agriculture’s price support pro grams. On hand in federal storage and on farms are more than 1,500,000,000 bushels valued at $2,457,000,000. These stocks include production from the 1955, 1956 and 1957 crops, as well the record 1958 production. American politicians dare not cut off subsidies to the farmers of the com belt and incur their wrath at elec tion time, so billions of dollars are handed out, taxes are increased, inflation soars. The people are robbed and be come desperate. Anti-Christ may easily gather them into his fold.
The Reader’s Digest (July, 1959) in a condensed article from Newsweek warns that the United States is pricing itself out of the world market; “ All too often they (American producers) are beaten at their own mass production game.” Many believe commercial chaos is overtaking the greatest industrial nation on earth. The Beast’s answer to that will be complete and com petent control of all buying and selling (Rev. 13:16-17). He may have a world center of all industrial undertak ings, and substitute collaboration for deadly competition. “ All both great and small” is the prophecy; the big cor poration and the little business man will come under the stern control of his world trade organization. Second, religion has been the greatest and bloodiest divider of men. “ All that dwell upon the earth shall wor ship” the Beast at the command of the False Prophet (Rev. 13:8). Satan through the Beast will give the world a reli gion. The present day denial of redemptive religion has resulted in a turning to a socialized faith that looks for the coming of the kingdom of heaven by social, political and international efforts. That is why some denomina tional leaders are willing to accept a communistic phi losophy no matter how bloody, because it talks of brother hood. Somehow they feel it will benefit the world. Today the prophesied “ falling away” is evident. The self-deifi cation of mankind is blatantly vocal in our space age. The Beast will declare himself as the representative man. As the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ, so the Anti-Christ will claim that all of mankind finds its complete fulfill ment in him, the acme of human power. He is 666, man’s number raised to perfection. Apparently, humanity accepts the Beast’s claims with enthusiasm. “Who is like unto the beast?” they ask. “ And who is able to make war with him?” (Rev. 13:4). He deifies himself, sets himself in the temple of God, de claring that he is God (II Thess. 2:4). He welds state and church together through his head ship of both, and with the False Prophet whips all into line (except a few whose names are written in the Book of Life). Satan is working against the true Church today, to try to create this ecumenicity. The “ falling away” is everywhere. The World Church is already in existence, and grows increasingly impatient and intolerant of all who dis agree. It has not reached the pinnacle of falseness yet, but with the departure of the “ restraining power” at the translation of the true Church, she will rapidly metamor- (Continued on page 24)
Dr. William Ward Ayer, Bible teacher, author and radio preacher, is the former pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church, New York City. He was one o f the speakers this year during the Torrey Memorial Bible Conference.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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