Why Did God Choose the Middle East for Jesus – Part Two

 

Why Did God Choose the Middle East for Jesus – Part Two

In Part Two of this post under the same title, we will look further at (1)  this geographic area called the Middle East from a Biblical perspective; and (2) some of the traits of mankind that might have influenced our Lord Jesus’ decisions regarding His Pre-Incarnation and Incarnation there.

Re: (1) the Middle East Region:

When we look at today’s global map, we should note that the current view is not precisely how the Earth appeared immediately after the Creation in Genesis Chapter One.  (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundaries_between_the_continents?shem=rimspwouoe,,rimspwouoe,    But before venturing into that potentially lengthy discussion, let’s try to examine the description of the area in which the LORD God placed His new creation Man.

Genesis Chapter Two provided the following information to guide us.  “⁸ And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.(Verse 8)     Then we learned that the site chosen by the LORD provided a perfect environment to meet man’s every need. :   ⁹ And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Verse 9)

To guide our geographic orientation, the Scripture gave details of specific landmarks to enable the readers to focus on the Middle East Region of the globe:   ¹⁰ And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.  [Note that the name of the river whose source was in the Garden of Eden is not given…the reason is provided at the end of Chapter Three. However, that river of origin had sufficient power / energy to spawn the four rivers whose names are provided in the next verse.  An extensive discussion of this topic can be found at:  https://www.kjvbible.org/rivers_of_the_garden_of_eden.html ]

¹¹ The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;  [This land of “Havilah” is possibly a land West of the Russian Region of Ural. See: https://www.biblestudy.org/meaning-names/havilah.html; and  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ural_(Russian_administrative_region) ]  …

¹³ And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.  [The Scripture identifies Gihon as a place near Jerusalem. (1 Kings 1: 33,38, 45; 2 Chronicles 32: 30; 33: 14)]

¹⁴ And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. [Our Strong’s Concordance Reference Hebrew  Dictionary # 2313 cites “Hiddekel” to be “a name for the Tigris (River)” ]  And the fourth river is Euphrates.  (Highlights added)

Collectively the names of these rivers and their respective landmarks should leave no doubt that God specifically chose the Middle East to place our Lord Jesus. A further look at the geography of this area gives some additional insight. Note that the paths of the flow of these rivers brings to mind the migration patterns of the families of Shem, Ham and Japeth, the three sons of Noah. Their migration occurred after the LORD had scattered them from the Tower of Babel. (Genesis Chapter Ten) (See Part One of this post for more context.) 

When Christians and others look at the map of the Middle East, they become aware of a special “omega-shaped” formation called the “Fertile Crescent”.  In the region that was known as “Mesopotamia”, it is a border of water-fed land that is most hospitable for vegetative growth that covers the Northern borders of the Arabian Desert. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia ; https://www.gotquestions.org/Mesopotamia-in-the-Bible.html ; and https://www.britannica.com/place/Fertile-Crescent )

It is quite understandable that the Fertile Crescent was included when the LORD gave Deed to the “Promised Land” to Abraham (Genesis 15); and Isaac (Genesis 26: 3-4) and Jacob / Israel (Genesis 28: 13-15; 35: 9-12) for His “Favored People Israel”.   (https://biblehub.com/topical/t/the_land_given_to_the_fathers.htm ) Further, it is this Middle East Region where the Lord Jesus will establish His future Kingdom on the Earth following His Second Coming. (Acts 1: 1-12; Revelation 21: 1-3, 22: 1-5; Ezekiel Chapters 47 and 48)

 

Re: (2) traits of mankind that might have influenced our Lord Jesus’ decisions regarding His Pre-Incarnation and Incarnation in the Middle East:

As noted earlier, we can not know what is in the mind of God.  But perhaps we can learn something of relevance by looking at the “foreknowledge” of God (as discussed in Part One of this post); and the “path” that our Lord Jesus followed during His time on the Earth.

For some additional context, consider that the Lord understood the power of the Enemy who had convinced as many as one third of the angels in Heaven to follow him in his attempt to overthrow God. (Isaiah 14: 12-15; Ezekiel 28: 11-19; Luke 10: 17-18; Revelation 12: 3-5, 7-10).   Man would be susceptible to at least that same extent. The “sin-nature” that was infused in Adam in the Garden of Eden would persist in mankind. As Nimrod was able to dominate other men during his time at the Tower of Babel, so would others throughout man’s history.  (See Part One of this post.) Further throughout history, the majority of mankind would accept that domination up to and including in today’s world.

In His foreknowledge, the Lord knew that even His own Chosen People Israel  (Genesis 12: 1-3; Exodus 19: 1-8) would be looking for their Messiah and King to appear in the mode / pattern that had been established over the many centuries under the influence of the Enemy prior to His Preincarnation and Incarnation. (1 Samuel Chapter Eight).  Note the reaction / hostility of Israel’s Chief Religious Sect, the Pharisees, throughout the Lord Jesus’ Earthly Ministry, even bringing about His suffering, Crucifixion and death.  Even so, God knew that the pattern of the Enemy was to destroy mankind. (Remember Genesis Chapter Six !! )  Our Lord Jesus came to establish a new pattern of belief and mindset in the hearts and souls of man. (Matthew Chapters 5 through 7: The “Sermon on the Mount”; John 20: 30-31) 

God also foreknew that it would require a combined effort between God the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit to redeem and save as many of mankind who would allow them. Remember also that the inherent spirit of man had been ‘contaminated” since the Garden of Eden. (Genesis Chapter Three)  It would take the action of the Holy Spirit to remove that “contamination” and regenerate man’s spirit to the acceptance of  eternal salvation through the sacrifices made by our Lord Jesus. (Romans Chapter Eight, Romans 10: 9-13, 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4)

As Christians and others remember from the story of “Christmas”, Jesus did not arrive on this Earth with the “trappings”, pomp and regalia that men had expected of a King / Messiah”.  He also did not arrive in one of the major cities or trade centers of the Middle East where disproportionately the “rich and famous” would appear. Only God knew how, when and where He would come to save mankind. That was the Middle East.  (Matthew Chapter Two.  See also: (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Magi )

Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson

https://christianityandbiblestudy.blogspot.com

Why Did God Choose the Middle East for Jesus - Part One

 

Why Did God Choose the Middle East for Jesus – Part One

With the world’s attention continuing to be drawn to the Middle East because of negative / harmful / military, political and economic issues, some Christians and others have wondered: “Why Did God Choose the Middle East for Jesus…” to be born and conduct His Earthly Ministry; to die and then return to the Father in Heaven; with the promise to return to the Middle East. As with other questions raised in this blog, we can not know definitively what is in the mind of God.  But perhaps we can look at what He has told us through the Bible Scripture, and what He has taught us over the years since those writings.

In Genesis Chapter One, Verse One, the Bible tells us that God / “Elohiym” “created the heaven and the Earth”. Later in the Scripture we learned that it was the Lord Jesus Christ, who was that part of the Triune Godhead, who actually accomplished the Creation. (John 1: 1-3; Colossians 1: 15; Hebrews 1: 10; et al.)  With His foreknowledge of what God would accomplish through His Creation of “Man” and other creatures, the Lord Jesus designed and shaped the features of the Earth.  Also having that foreknowledge, He had an infinite number of options as to how this Earth would look.

Before continuing with the discussion of the “Middle East”, I think it is appropriate to examine further what the Bible tells us about “foreknowledge”.

“Foreknowledge” is one of the special attributes of God that has shaped His interactions with mankind from the beginning. Our Strong’s Expanded Concordance Greek Dictionary of the Bible provides the following narrative to guide our understanding, based on the noun “foreknowledge” (# 4268), and verbal forms of that word: “foreknew”, and “foreknow” (# 4267).

# 4268: “Foreknowledge is one aspect of omniscience; it is implied in God’s warnings, promises and predictions. See Acts 15: 18.  God’s “foreknowledge” involves His electing grace, but this does not preclude human will.  He “foreknows” the exercise of faith which brings salvation. The apostle Paul stresses especially the actual purposes of God rather than the ground of the purposes, see e.g. Galatians 1: 16, Ephesians 1: 5, 11. The divine counsels will ever be unthwartable.”  (Emphasis added) [The word :”foreknowledge” is used only twice in the Bible…in Acts 2: 23, and 1 Peter 1: 2,]

# 4267: “To know beforehand” is used (1) of the divine foreknowledge  (1a) concerning believers, Romans 8: 29; (1b) Israel 11: 2,  (1c) Christ as the Lamb of God, 1 Peter 1: 20, “foreordained”, (2) of human previous knowledge,  (2a) of a person, Acts 26: 5, “which knew”; (2b) of facts, 2 Peter 3: 17.”  (Emphasis added) [The words “foreknew” and “foreknow” are each used only once in the Bible…in Romans 11: 2, and Romans 8: 29, respectively.]  

Having that background / context, we can look more clearly at the path that the Lord Jesus followed during His time on the Earth.  Consider these points:

·       He foreknew that the first man Adam would be disobedient to His instructions and thereby lose dominion over the Earth to the Enemy Satan. (Genesis 1: 26-28, 2: 15-17, 3: 1-6)

·       He also foreknew that the descendants of Adam would not be able to resist / overcome the temptations which led to Adam’s sin, specifically, 1) lust of the flesh; 2) lust of the eyes; and 3) the pride of life  / (desire for “god-like” power.) (Genesis 3: 5-6; 1 John 2: 15-16) …and that man’s behavior in these ways would persist even beyond today.

·       By definition, the Lord also foreknew that when given the opportunity, man would exercise his covetous sin-nature by dominating other men. It would not be sufficient for many to “simply desire” what belonged to someone else,  They would be driven by “lust” / greed to obtain what they want at any cost.  That sin began shortly after Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, and their elder son Cain killed his younger brother Abel. (Genesis 4: 1-16)  That pattern continued for the next generations and hundreds of years resulting in God’s bringing the Great Flood of Noah’s time (Genesis Chapters Six through Eight) to give mankind another chance to overcome his sin-nature. Even so, He foreknew that man would continue to fail.

·       In “starting over” with the family of Noah, God had innumerable options as to where on the Earth He would bring the Ark to rest after the flood. Note the landing on the mountains of Ararat.(Genesis 8: 4)  (Strong’s Concordance Hebrew Dictionary #780 says this is in Eastern Armenia. For geography, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia ) That location did not happen by chance.

·       Remember from Genesis Chapter One, after God created man (male and female) the Scripture says: “²⁸ And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.  ²⁹ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” (Genesis 1: 28-29)

·       God’s Plan was for mankind to overspread the entire Earth and have dominion over all of it.  He possibly chose a “centralized” location for Jesus’ Incarnation, Ministry, and Second Coming so that all mankind would have ready access to Him.  Many scholars theorize that the global landscape  / topography was markedly changed after the Great Flood of “Noah’s Time”, including a shift of the Earth’s axis (Genesis 6: 1 through 9: 19; 10: 25); but Scriptural explanations are limited to what the LORD said to Noah and his family: “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8: 22) ; …and, while listing the descendants of  Noah’s son Shem: “And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided.” (Genesis 10: 25) 

·       After the Flood, Noah’s descendants gathered at the Tower of Babel in an  effort to reject the LORD’s instructions to “Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth” (Genesis 9: 1,7; 11: 1-7). God then acted to confound man’s languages, and scatter them “upon the face of all the earth.” (Genesis 11: 7-9)   The result was therefore consistent with God’s Plan for mankind to overspread the entire Earth, even though man had lost dominion to the Enemy as recorded in Genesis Chapter Three.

 

·       It was not a coincidence that in His foreknowledge, God introduced Nimrod at the Tower of Babel, the first man who would assume a leadership role in purposely leading mankind into the path of sin / rebellion against the LORD.   Nimrod labored on behalf of the Enemy, and was described in the Scripture in the following manner: “ And Cush (one of the grandsons of Noah) begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the Earth.    

·       ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord   ¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,…in the land of Shinar. (Genesis 10: 8-10) (Emphasis added)

[A further description of Nimrod includes the following: from Strong’s Concordance Hebrew Dictionary # 05248: “Nimrod = ‘rebellion’ or ‘the valiant’; a mighty hunter, he established an empire in the area of Babylon and Assyria.”  Another reference is from the noted Roman-Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus, who cites the following regarding Nimrod’s impact at the Tower of Babel, saying:  “Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God….a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God , as if it was through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into constant dependence upon his power.” ((See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiquities_of_the_Jews ; and from his writings:  “Ant. i. c. 4. 2”)   Nimrod was regarded as a “hunter of men”, not as we traditionally think of “hunters of animals”.  Some of his teachings have carried through to some “non-Christian beliefs / religions” even today.]

 

·       With that in mind, and foreknowing the plans of the descendants of Noah’s family to remain centralized at the Tower of Babel, God disrupted their plans by confounding their language and scattering the families of Noah’s three sons as He had previously instructed them to do.  (Genesis Chapter Ten)

As we look again at the title of this post asking the question:  “Why Did God Choose the Middle East for Jesus?”, we now note at least two important facts. (1) The Middle East was the area of the first man’s sin of disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden; and (2) It was also the area of  the first collective man’s sin of disobedience to God at the Tower of Babel.  Both of these demonstrated the power and influence of the Enemy to control man’s decisions away from what God had instructed.  Therefore it would be there in the Middle East that God would claim and demonstrate His Authority and Power over the Enemy to redeem mankind, as He had committed in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3: 14-15).

In Part Two of this post under the same title, we will look further at this geographic area called the Middle East from a Biblical perspective. We will also look at some of the traits of mankind that might likely have influenced our Lord Jesus’ decisions regarding His Pre-Incarnation and Incarnation there.

Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson

https://christianityandbiblestudy.blogspot.com

Why Does God Allow Man to Kill Other Men

 

Why Does God Allow Man to Kill Other Men

Over the past many months and years, local, regional, national and world-wide attention has been increasingly focused on the violence afflicting mankind.  This has especially been an issue in which individuals or varying-sized groups of men have resorted to killing other men.  The numbers of persons involved have varied from the minimum of two, to literally hundreds or thousands or more during a full-scale war.  In a world in which Christians worship God and Our Lord Jesus Christ, some have asked “Why does a Supreme God of Love and Peace allow men to kill other men?”   

We can never know what goes through the mind of God.  But we can try to understand what He has told us through the Scripture which was prompted through the Holy Spirit. (2 Timothy 3: 16-17).  In essence, “What does the Bible say?”

The first opportunity to look at this issue is seen in Genesis Chapter Four, which describes the first homicide. In an act of jealousy / covetousness, Cain, the elder son of Adam and Eve, killed his younger brother Abel. That was the first opportunity for the LORD to intervene in addressing the subject of this post.  Most notably He did not respond through a violent punishment against Cain. In fact, the LORD’s judgement and punishment were “controlled”, and even expressed His concern for the offender Cain. Note Verses 1-12, in which the LORD spoke with Cain both before and after he slew Abel.

The Scripture then records the following dialogue in Verses 13-15: “And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.  ¹⁴ Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.  ¹⁵ And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.”  (Emphasis added)  Those words of the LORD reflect His position that He would not take the life from any man to whom He had given it.  

[As a point of clarification, remember from the previous chapters  of Genesis, man was made in the image of God as an eternal, invisible “soul / spirit”. (Genesis 1: 26-27)  That soul / spirit needed a physical presence to function on the Earth, so the LORD God placed it in a temporary “earthen body” (Genesis 2: 7)…. ..where that life existed in man’s blood.  (Leviticus 17: 11-14) Therefore, the life that could “be killed” / die only applied to the act of separating the eternal soul / spirit from the temporary “earthen” / physical body. Upon that “death”, the soul / spirit is returned to the God who had given man his life. (Ecclesiastes 12: 7)] That is the “first death”, which must be distinguished from the “second death”, which is the permanent separation of the soul / spirit from the Creator God. (Revelation 20: 11-14) ]

The position taken by the LORD as described above was likely reflective of His foreknowledge that Cain’s violent action was the result of his having been the first person influenced by the “sin-nature” he inherited  from his parents, Adam and Eve. However, having that inherited trait did not absolve Cain of guilt in committing the crime of homicide.  Therefore punishment had to be meted out by the Just and Righteous Supreme God.  The LORD would not violently take the life of Cain in retribution / retaliation for his violent act, nor would He promote that action by others. (Genesis 4: 15)  [Remember that from the beginning with Adam, God has always given man the ability to think, and to make choices. (Genesis 2: 7-9, 15-17)  Cain made a very bad and costly choice.

But the LORD knew the ultimate source of that act of violence /  homicide was the Enemy who had also successfully pursued and lured Adam into sin. (Genesis Chapter Three) Later in the Scripture it was revealed that Cain’s act of killing his brother was initiated by the same emotion of jealousy / covetousness that had prompted the Enemy Satan (as the Serpent) to sabotage the relationship between the LORD God and His favored creation man / Adam.  He had been unsuccessful in his attempt to de-throne the True God. [See: Isaiah 14: 12-14 (Enemy called “Lucifer”); Ezekiel 28: 1-10 (possibly describing the Antichrist who had been indwelt by the Enemy, and called the “prince of Tyrus); and Ezekiel 28: 11-19 (Enemy called “king of Tyrus”)]

With that background / context, the LORD knew that His Enemy would continue to use his influences to encourage man to kill other men. Remember from earlier studies that when Adam sinned against  God, he chose to follow Satan / the Serpent, and thereby lost the dominion over the Earth that God had given him. (Genesis 1: 26-28)  The Enemy then became the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4: 3-4), giving him additional influence to implement his agenda to both destroy man; and to remove the threat of his own death sentence which had been imposed by the LORD God in the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 3: 14-15)

The primary “weapons” used by Satan to influence man’s violent nature were the “three “temptations” that influenced his own behavior, and were successful in convincing “Eve” / Adam to disobey God’s command in the Garden of Eden.  Those temptations were: 1) lust of the flesh; 2) lust of the eyes; and 3) pride of life (seeking power). (Genesis 3: 1-6)  Remember also that Satan’s effort to use those same tactics  against our Lord Jesus as He began His Earthly Ministry was totally unsuccessful.  (Matthew 4: 1-11)

Throughout these events in the Garden of Eden and later involving Cain and Abel, God did not intervene to stop man from exercising the freedom to “choose” his actions . Even when man’s violent behavior and homicides continued for centuries, The LORD did not intervene….until…it was obvious that man’s self-destructive behavior would result in his own extinction.  Then the LORD acted by bringing the Great Flood that would enable Him to begin anew with mankind through the single righteous man Noah and his family.(Genesis Chapters Six through 9: 1-19)

After the Great Flood, the LORD was again giving man his freedom to choose his actions towards living in peace with his fellow man, or yielding to the temptations of the Enemy as noted above.  However, this time the LORD provided the following instructions to govern the behavior of mankind: “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

² And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.  ³ Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat (food) for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.  ⁴ But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

⁵ And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

⁶ Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.  (Genesis 9: 1-6)  (Emphasis added).

In this manner, the LORD introduced the concepts  of self-government and “capital punishment” for murder.   But even with these deterrents, man could not overcome the impulses driven by the “three temptations” and the other influences of the Enemy. Note how the Apostle Paul wrote of the difficulties faced even by believing Christians who had received and needed the additional spiritual support of the Holy Spirit. (Romans Chapters Seven and Eight). (Note the rarely used word : "concupiscence" = covetous desire
Strongs Greek Dictionary #1939,  epithumia - a longing (especially for what is forbidden)

Finally, for those who think that they have somehow evaded the legal system imposed by man to control man’s killing other men, they are totally wrong!!  Our Lord Jesus will have the final word in His judgement. (Revelation 20: 11-15)   

Even so, the Scripture shows that the Enemy’s hatred for man is such that he is still working tirelessly to destroy the relationship between God and man by forcing God’s imposition of the “Second Death”, as noted above. Please read those verses as found in: Job 1: 6-12, and 1 Peter 5: 8-10.  They explain why the Enemy is called the “Accuser” / prosecutor of mankind.  But fortunately for believers in the Gospel of the Grace of Jesus Christ, the Lord Himself, serves as our “Advocate” / Attorney, defending us under the power of His shed Blood. (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4; Romans 10: 9-13; Hebrews Chapter Nine; 1 John 2: 1-2 )

In answering the question raised in the title of this post, consider the context provided above. But always remember, the choice to kill a man lies within another man, the perpetrator. No one should blame God.

Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson

https://christianityandbiblestudy.blogspot.com

Artificial Intelligence - Steps Toward the "One-World System"

 Artificial Intelligence – Steps Toward the “One-World System”

 

Recently, Pope Leo, the Head of the Roman Catholic Church, formally drew attention through his first Church Encyclical to some of the perils associated with the current emphasis on hurriedly advancing “Artificial Intelligence (AI)”. Those dangers include wreaking havoc on the employment opportunities for masses of people;  further concentrating the world’s wealth in the hands of the few; and more. These potential “negatives” are not being viewed seriously by large numbers of people, especially those who feel they will benefit from the “positives”.  See: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html ; and   https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/05/25/pope-elevates-ai-ethics-religious-imperative-with-first-encyclical/

In those contextual frameworks, and even as Pope Leo cited several Bible references to support his Encyclical, Christians should look further into what Scriptural prophecy tells us about the future “One-World System” and its relationship to some of what we know about AI.

As we begin this discussion I think it is important to first define the terms used in the title.

Artificial intelligence (AI or A.I.) "is a computer program or a machine that is able to learn and mimic human cognition / reasoning.  Artificial intelligence is also a system's ability to understand external data, to learn from that data, and to use what it has learned to achieve specific goals or tasks through adaptation.  It is widely applied in speech recognition, image recognition, robotics, autonomous systems, natural language processing, machine translation, predictive analytics, medical diagnostics, fraud detection, and the control of physical processes, among other uses." (Emphasis added)  (Abstracted from: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence ; and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence )

In defining these terms from the title, I think it is also important to distinguish between the concepts of “One-World System / Order” and the “New World Order” . The “One-World System / Order” is the name that was created to identify the terrible conditions described in the Bible under which all mankind will be living under a single government under the control of the Antichrist (false Christ), during the period of “Tribulation”, before the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Total obedience will be required by all persons, under penalty of death for disobedience.

By definition, this was all prophesied to happen at some time in the future, but knowledgeable Christians and others recognize that the groundwork has been already begun. Included in the conditions under which all mankind will live,  there will be:

·       a One-World Religion, headed by the “False Prophet” (false Holy Spirit), requiring all worship be to the Antichrist; and

·       a One-World Economy and Currency, requiring all persons to receive a distinctive mark (“mark of the beast” / Antichrist) on their hand or forehead that would be required to purchase or sell any goods or services.

[Note Daniel 7: 1-25, 9: 20-27;  Revelation Chapters 13 and 14 (which were written using much “symbolism”); and hopefully the more easily understood words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 24: 1-28; and the Apostle Paul’s words received from the Ascended Lord in 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-12. ( See also: https://www.gotquestions.org/one-world-government.html .)]

On the other hand, the “New World Order” is the name that was created by journalists / historians, and others “describing from a political perspective various periods in history in which major change took place in terms of international relations;…and for some theorists, believing in plans for a totalitarian world government”  …"The phrase 'new world order' or similar language was used in the period toward the end of the First World War in relation to the United States President Woodrow Wilson's vision for international peace”.  (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order ; and  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_world_order_(politics) .)

Although the “New World Order” was not directly related to Bible prophecy when it first appeared, in retrospect we can see the connection.  First, it is not merely a “coincidence” that the Nation of Israel became an Independent State in May 1948, thereby fulfilling the prophecy of Ezekiel 37: 1-21.  Further, it is likely not a mere “coincidence” that this period in the 1900’s, continuing into the current 21^st Century saw man’s creation of other concepts / developments that would accelerate progression towards a “One-World System”. Consider the rapid expansion in the technologies involving computers, telecommunications, international travel, space exploration, academic and medical research, military and law enforcement technologies, and more.  Consider the following examples:

·       National Identification Number:   "A national identification number or national identity number is used by the governments of many countries as a means of uniquely identifying their citizens or residents for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, health care, banking and other governmentally-related functions. They allow authorities to use a unique identifier which can be linked to a database, reducing the risk of misidentification of a person. They are often stated on national identity documents of citizens." (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identification_number )

 

·       Social Security Number (SSN)   "In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN) is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents under section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, codified as 42 U.S.C. § 405(c)(2). The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent agency of the United States government. Although the original purpose for the number was for the Social Security Administration to track individuals,^[1] the Social Security number has become a de facto national identification number for taxation and other purposes.

  Social Security numbers were first issued by the Social Security Administration in November 1936 as part of the New Deal Social Security program. Within three months, 25 million numbers were issued.^[5]  The original purpose of the Social Security number was to track individuals' accounts within the Social Security program. It has since come to be used as an identifier for individuals within the United States, …Employee, patient, student, and credit records are sometimes indexed by Social Security number."  See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_number ; and

 

·       Universal Product Code (UPC)   "The Universal Product Code (UPC or UPC code) is a barcode symbology that is used worldwide for tracking trade items in stores.  The chosen symbology has bars (or spaces) of exactly 1, 2, 3, or 4 units wide each; each decimal digit to be encoded consists of two bars and two spaces chosen to have a total width of 7 units, in both an "even" and an "odd" parity form, which enables being scanned in either direction. Special "guard patterns" (3 or 5 units wide, not encoding a digit) are intermixed to help decoding.

A UPC (technically, a UPC-A) consists of 12 digits that are uniquely assigned to each trade item. The international GS1 organisation assigns the digits used for both the UPC and the related International Article Number (EAN) barcode.^[1] UPC data structures are a component of Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) and follow the global GS1 specification, which is based on international standards.

Another frequently asked question is the difference between a GTIN and a UPC. A GTIN and a UPC go together when licensing a barcode from GS1 US. A GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is the identifying number encoded on the bottom of the barcode and the UPC code is the scannable element of the barcode.   Together a GTIN and a UPC are the two elements that make up the barcode. A barcode, a GTIN, and UPC are commonly used to describe essentially the same item; It is the standard and complete barcode you see in stores." (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Product_Code ; and  https://www.gs1us.org/upcs-barcodes-prefixes/guide-to-upcs ) 

With these examples, and continuing observation and awareness of how the concepts of Artificial Intelligence are increasingly being implemented in the society, Christians should be mindful of how even more Bible prophecy is coming to reality. As Ambassadors for Christ, we should seriously consider the points raised by Pope Leo, as noted above.

Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson

https://christianityandbiblestudy.blogspot.com