The New York Yankees. Growing up near New York people either loved the Yankees or hated them. Brooklyn Dodger fans hated them.

But just suppose (hypothetically) Dodger fans groundless hatred became supported by facts that the team had bribed the umpires, taken steroids, rigged the player drafts, used loaded bats, etc. Now I know that some of these things didn't exist in the 50's era of which I speak but the illustrative point is made. If people realized the Yankees weren't just good but had won by cheating in every way possible, there would be outrage. The whole sport would be ruined. The fans of other teams would never get the enjoyment of watching their teams win as they should have; all the records would be bogus.

This is the position of Japan and the rest of the world to the U.S. They all feel, and rightly so, that they have been played for suckers. In addition to blowing up financially the U.S. has the wrath of the world to face and the payback might well be financial abandonment or worse; it may even go to deliberate financial retaliation.

The U.S./Britain world power is the last of the seven world powers listed in the Bible. John, in writing the Revelation account, lists the fact that there were to be seven and said, "five have fallen, one is "(Rome at the time of his writing, circa 98 A.D.) and "one is yet to come." This would be followed by an "eighth king" who gains power for a very brief period of time. The eighth king is unique in that it derives its power from what remains of its seven predecessors. The seventh king is also said to have brought into existence this eighth king before the eighth king gains its power. Interestingly, the U.S. and Britain, represented by Woodrow Wilson and David Lloyd George proposed the League of Nations shortly after World War I. The organization was formed and went into an abyss of inactivity during World War II only to rise again, as prophesied, under the name United Nations.

Recently there was some chatter from the U.N. about the U.S. dollar being inadequate to serve as the world's reserve currency. It just may be time for the seventh king to lose its power and the eighth king to gain its brief role on the world scene. It will then do its strange deed in carrying out what it thinks to be its thought but in fact is God's thought and then it too will be destroyed.

Many people think the U.S. was blessed by God to become such a wealthy and powerful nation. They should give careful consideration to Luke 4:5-7 and note that Jesus did not contradict the Devil, which he surely would have done if his claim were false. Further it would not have been a temptation if he did possess such power or the ability to give it. Just what part of "all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth" do people not understand? see also John 14:30; 2Cor. 4:4

The financial games of this world and the global corruption are about to come to their end. Regardless of the precise means, the U.S. will soon lose its dominance on the world scene. The eighth king will do its deed and shortly thereafter all human government will be removed from the face of the earth by God's kingdom never to be seen again. (Dan 2:34,35,44) Persons living then will have what they have prayed all these many years. Let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth...

...as the book of Revelation fittingly concludes, "Amen, come Lord Jesus."

P.