BASE WORLD

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INTRODUCTION

The people of the United States are about ready to descend into a would of unparalleled chaos and turmoil as a result of the developing and very vicious struggle between the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress over the war in Iraq - a no-holds-barred brawl that in the next two years could come to rival and even surpass the political strife that erupted between the two parties during the Vietnam conflict.

The Democrats are claiming that President Bush has taken the country into an unwinnable war in Iraq based on lies and deceit; a war that has led to the deaths of over 3,000 service members and the maiming of many thousands more. And it's not only Democrats that are saying this, but growing numbers of so-called "moderate" Republicans in the House and the Senate.

There is also a parallel firestorm that is developing on the Left regarding the Bush Administration's effort to truncate civil liberties in the United States in its effort to pursue the "evil-doers" of 9/11.

THE "BUSHITES" ARE IN A PANIC

The "Bushites" and their allies on the Right are in a panic. And they should be! The Left is now in a position to launch CONGRESSIONAL PROBES (with subpoena powers) into the "goings-on" of the Bush Administration during the last five or six years - CONGRESSIONAL PROBES that could make the Watergate investigation look like child's play.  Indeed, these probes - and the "evil" that will undoubtedly be uncovered by them - could lead to the re-emergence of STREET PROTESTS similar to the ones that broke out in the 1960s against the Vietnam War, protests that could not be easily suppressed because of the support they would undoubtedly receive from leading lights in the Democratic Party: "Movers and Shakers" such as Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Jane Harman, Harry Waxman, Charles Rangel, Edward Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich, Ron Feingold, etc,

And don't think that the Democrats are not up to it; they are! - just as they were thirty years ago when they toppled the Nixon White House, stopped the Right-Wing juggernaut that had been developing in the country against the cultural excesses of the 1960s cold in its tracks, and set back the economic agenda of the ultra-rich for a generation.

But one must keep things in perspective here: These are not the 1960s, Iraq is not Vietnam, and George Bush and his coterie of highly organized, religiously-oriented right-wing followers bear little resemblance to the button-downed followers of Richard Nixon - people who were less than useless in the street-fights that the Left unleashed on the Right in the late '60s and early '70s.

The fact is, the struggle that is now developing between the Right and the Left in the United States is far more fundamental and basic than the struggle that developed between them during the Vietnam War - and it's a struggle that ultimately favors the Right much more than the Left. There will, of course, be "ups and downs" insofar as the Right is concerned; the battle will swing from left to right and back again in the chaos and turmoil that is about to break over us, but ultimately the Right will prevail.

PASSING FROM A REPUBLIC TO AN EMPIRE;
FROM DEMOCRACY TO DICTATORSHIP

The truth is, every great republic that has broken through its "natural" borders and transitioned from a simple nation-state into an imperial power as the United States has been doing since the end of the Second World War has been ultimately forced to relinquish its republican forms of government in favor of dictatorship. The forms may remain, but the reality behind those forms is gone.

The governmental institutions that worked while the country was a small, ethnically-oriented nation-state no longer are sufficient to govern an empire, especially as resistance inevitably grows by smaller surrounding states to the empire's imperial ambitions. And so it is with the United States today. Indeed, the parallel between what is happening today with the United States and what happened two thousand years ago when Rome transitioned from a republic to an empire is extraordinary - and a quick examination of what happened with Rome so many years ago is instructive as to what's occurring today in the United States.

THE COLLAPSE OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

The last years of the Roman Republic were years of great internal and external stress and uncertainty. Internally, Rome was burdened by the weight of her newly acquired conquests (just as the United States is today), a crisis in military manpower, and the scourge of every modern state - endemic unemployment and poverty. Externally, Rome was embroiled in war on many fronts (again, just as the United States is today) - Asia, the Balearic Islands, Gaul, Dalmatia, Macedonia, and Thrace. Two serious slave revolts took place in Sicily. Above all, there was the long and difficult war with the Numidians in Africa and the peril from two powerful German tribes in the north - the Cimbri and the Teutoni.

Under the weight of these difficult problems, the institutions of Republican Rome began to collapse. Factionalism and strife were everywhere rampant. Although the Assembly of the People remained in the hands of "the people," the Senate had been captured by the forces of the rich and was being used as an instrument of oppression against the poor. As a result, the government was paralyzed - which, again, is pretty much the situation today in the United States.

During this period two brothers - Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus - emerged as champions of the poor and dispossessed of Rome. An almost modern aura of Kennedy-like "liberalism" and charisma surrounded the two brothers and their activities. They challenged the Old Religion of Rome as an abusive instrument of oppression by the rich and the powerful. Both embraced Greek philosophy (a kind of "mind-set" that parallels the "mind-set" embraced by today's "secular-humanists"), and in all of this they were not afraid of using Greek philosophy as a battering ram against the decaying institutions of Republican Rome - once again, just as liberals in the United States are doing today.

Tiberius Gracchus, as "Tribune of the People," attempted to solve the twin problems of poverty and unemployment by repossessing all holdings of public land over three hundred acres and distributing it through a commission in inalienable allotments to the poor as farms. Naturally enough, Tiberius had little support for his measures in the Senate, and feelings ran high against him when he took his bill directly to the Assembly of the People over the objections of the Senate. He increased the fury of the Senate even further against himself when he broke a colleague's veto by going back to his colleague's constituents and having him voted out of office.

This was too much! When Tiberius sought re-election, his senatorial opponents raised a mob against him by claiming that he was IRRELIGIOUS and that he had abused the sanctity of the Tribune's office. He was murdered during the ensuing riot in 133 B.C.  Plainly, the Senate was using religion to bludgeon the poor - once again, a situation that parallels what the Right is attempting to do with the Left in the United States today,

Ten years later, Tiberius's brother, Gaius ("Tribune of the People" from 123  to 122 B.C.) revived the "liberal" programs of his brother, but on an even wider scale. His measures to alleviate the suffering of the poor included a grain law to prevent high prices, and a public works program - all this in addition to the original measures championed by his brother. But the same fate which befell his brother overtook him in 121 B.C. The parallel here between what happened to JFK and RFK is staggering.

From 121 B.C. to the final installation of the dictatorship under Augustus (Octavian) Caesar (the same Caesar mentioned in Luke 2:1) the battle between the "People" and the Senate raged, with first one group gaining the ascendancy, and then the other. A succession of military leaders - Marius, Sulla, Pompey and Cataline (some favoring the Senate and some the Assembly) - vainly attempted to restore order. But all failed in their turn.

THERE SIMPLY WAS NO GOING BACK

There simply was no going back to the democracy of the Old Republic; the institutions of Republican Rome were simply not up to the task of ruling a huge empire. Democracies are workable ONLY in those situations where people feel they BELONG, and where they share in the benefits of that BELONGING - and very few in Rome's newly acquired territories shared in the benefits of Rome.

ROME WAS, THEREFORE, REDUCED TO RULING HER NEWLY ACQUIRED EMPIRE THROUGH THE USE OF BRUTE MILITARY FORCE AND THE CREATION OF A GIGANTIC MILITARY BASE-SYSTEM THAT MEANACINGLY GARRISONED HER TROOPS THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE READY TO SPRING ON ANYONE WHO WOULD DARE CHOOSE TO OPPOSE ROME'S MIGHT.  

Naturally enough, the dichotomy between the way Rome cruelly ruled her conquered territories and the way Rome ruled her own citizens in Italy created TENSION, and this TENSION ultimately created "BLOWBACK" on the democratic institutions that prevailed in Italy. The fact is, as the citizens of Rome were about to learn, one can either have dictatorship or democracy, but one cannot have both existing side-by-side in one empire. Either the one or the other would have to go. One had to choose between the wealth that the empire brought (which meant ultimately that one had to choose dictatorship), OR one had to be willing to relinquish that empire, "bring the troops home" to Italy, and return to the simple ways of the Old Republic with its far less lavish life-style.

The poor and their champions like the Gracchi would have just as soon given up the empire and "brought the troops home;" they were certainly not benefiting from the wealth that was flowing into Rome from the provinces.

But that was surely not the case with the wealthy - AND THEY CONTROLLED THE ARMY. In addition to all that, THERE WAS SIMPLY TOO MUCH IMPETUS, TOO MUCH INERTIA (AS IT WERE) BEHIND THE EMPIRE FOR IT TO BE STOPPED BY THE GRACCHI OR ANYONE ELSE. THE MILITARY SYSTEM THAT HAD BEEN DEPLOYED IN ITS DEFENSE WAS SIMPLY TOO BIG, TOO SOPHISTICATED AND TOO SPREAD OUT THROUGHOUT THE WORLD TO BE DISASSEMBLED.

SUCH IS NOW THE CASE NOW WITH THE UNITED STATES.

THE AMERICAN BASE SYSTEM: AN
INFRASTRUCTURE OF COERCION & DEATH

LIKE REPUBLICAN ROME BEFORE IT, THE UNITED STATES HAS ACQUIRED AN EMPIRE, THOUGH OF A MUCH GREATER SCOPE AND MAGNITUDE THAN ROME EVER POSSESSED. IT'S AN EMPIRE THAT CAN BE HELD TOGETHER ONLY BY BRUTE MILITARY FORCE - for it cannot possibly be imagined that if the millions and millions (even billions) of people that the U.S. has ruthlessly subjected and brought into its orbit had the vote, they would vote to remain in that system. What benefit do those who toil in the sweat shops of America's multi-national corporations overseas or those whose lands are being stripped of their mineral and agricultural wealth derive from this pitiless and cold-hearted system. No! - these people can be held in check only by brute military power.

IN DEFENSE OF THIS EMPIRE, AMERICA HAS CREATED A POWERFUL MILITARY MACHNE - INDEED, THE GREATEST MILITARY MACHINE THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN - AND HAS GARRISONED IT THROUGHOUT THE WORLD IN A BASE-SYSTEM VERY SIMILAR TO ANCIENT ROME'S - A SYSTEM THAT, LIKE ROME'S SYSTEM BEFORE IT, IS BY NOW TOO BIG, TOO SOPHISTICATED AND TOO SPREAD OUT OVER THE WORLD TO BE DISASSEMBLED. Indeed, the distinguished author and academician, Chalmers Johnson - whose books include The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic and Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire - writes:

"Our [military] garrisons encircle the planet. This vast network of American bases on every continent except Antarctica actually constitutes a new form of empire -- an empire of bases with its own geography not likely to be taught in any high school geography class. Without grasping the dimensions of this globe-girdling BASEWORLD, one can't begin to understand the size and nature of our imperial aspirations ..."

Johnson continues:

"With the exception of those who have served in the U.S. military, Americans are almost entirely ignorant of the existence of this INFRASTRUCTURE OF COERCION AND DEATH. If they are dimly aware that the U.S. has some foreign military bases, they have little idea that they exist for purposes other than to defend the people of the "host" nations."

Dr. Joseph Gerson, the Director of Programs of the American Friends Service Committee in New England, comments on this system as follows:

"At root, this entire system serves as an INTEGRATED GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR IMPERIAL DOMINATON. Not even Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar or Benjamin Disraeli [of Great Britain] had such a host of mighty fortresses."

THE MILITARY MACHINE
THIS SYSTEM SUPPORTS

In this connection, it MUST be noted that the military machine that this IMPERIAL BASE SYSTEM supports cannot in any way be compared to the relatively archaic, underfunded, and under-equipped armies that Europe, Russia and China are capable of deploying. It's a supper-sophisticated killing machine deploying technologies and equipment unheard of in the armies of Europe, Russia and China - a military machine consisting of a "standing ground army" (including the Marine Corps as well as Reserve and National Guard units capable of immediate deployment) that approaches 1,000,000 men.

When the 1,000,000 or so men and women of the air force (with its thousands of strike aircraft scattered in bases all over the world), and the navy with its hundreds of ships including its thirteen "magnificent" super carriers - oceanic BATTLESTARS such as the Kitty Hawk, the Constellation, the Enterprise, the John F. Kennedy, the Nimitz, the Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Carl Vinson, the Theodore Roosevelt, the Abraham Lincoln, the George Washington, the John C. Stennis, the Harry S. Truman, and the Ronald Reagan - the size of this military machine becomes staggering. [This figure includes navy and air force reserve and National Guard units capable of immediate deployment.]

ASSESSING THE SIZE OF
THE AMERICAN BASE-SYSTEM

Johnson reports:

"It's not easy to assess the size or exact the value of our empire of bases. Official records on these subjects are misleading, although instructive. According to the Defense Department's annual "Base Structure Report" for fiscal year 2003, which itemizes foreign and domestic U.S. military real estate, the Pentagon currently owns or rents 702 overseas bases in about 130 countries and has another 6,000 bases in the United States and its territories. Pentagon bureaucrats calculate that it would require at least $113.2 billion to replace just the foreign bases -- surely far too low a figure but still larger than the gross domestic product of most countries -- and an estimated $600 billion to replace all of them. The military high command deploys to our overseas bases some 253,288 uniformed personnel (not including those currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan), plus an equal number of dependents and Department of Defense civilian officials, and employs an additional 44,446 locally hired foreigners. The Pentagon claims that these bases contain 44,870 barracks, hangars, hospitals, and other buildings, which it owns, and that it leases 4,844 more.

"These numbers, although staggeringly large, do not begin to cover all the actual bases we occupy globally. The 2003 Base Status Report fails to mention, for instance, any garrisons in Kosovo -- even though it is the site of the huge Camp Bondsteel, built in 1999 and maintained ever since by Kellogg, Brown & Root. The Report similarly omits bases in Afghanistan, Iraq, ISRAEL, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, and Uzbekistan, although the U.S. military has established colossal base structures … [in these countries] in the two-and-a-half years since 9/11.

"For Okinawa, the southernmost island of Japan, which has been an American military colony for the past 58 years, the report deceptively lists only one Marine base, Camp Butler, when in fact Okinawa "hosts" ten Marine Corps bases, including Marine Corps Air Station Futenma occupying 1,186 acres in the center of that modest-sized island's second largest city. (Manhattan's Central Park, by contrast, is only 843 acres.) The Pentagon similarly fails to note all of the $5-billion-worth of military and espionage installations in Britain, which have long been conveniently disguised as Royal Air Force bases. If there were an honest count, the actual size of our military empire would probably top 1,000 different bases in other people's countries, but no one -- possibly not even the Pentagon -- knows the exact number for sure, although it has been distinctly on the rise in recent years."

THE SPECIFIC MISSIONS OF THE BASEWORLD

According to Johnson, the mission of this huge BASE SYSTEM is -

• To reinforce the status quo: for example the deterrent role of U.S. bases in South Korea, and the intimidating role of many of the U.S. bases in Middle East which are designed to ensure continued U.S. privileged access to, and control of, the region's oil.

• To encircle enemies: as was the case with the Soviet Union and China during the Cold War and China to this day. This is a role played by U.S. bases in Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Pakistan, Diego Garcia, and in many of the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia

• To serve & reinforce the aircraft carriers, destroyers, nuclear armed submarines and other warships of the U.S. Navy. This includes bases in Okinawa, Yokuska outside Tokyo, and "visiting forces" and "access" agreements in the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and many other countries.

• To train U.S. forces, as was long the case for bombardiers in Vieques and as jungle war fighting and other training which continues in Okinawa.

• To function as jumping off points for U.S. foreign military interventions as: the cases of Okinawa, the Philippines, now Korea with the changing missions of U.S. forces there, Spain, Italy, Honduras, Germany and the new bases in Eastern Europe, Kuwait and in Iraq.

• To facilitate C3I: command, control, communications and intelligence, including essential roles in nuclear war fighting, and the use of space for intelligence and warfare as we saw in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S.bases in Okinawa, Qatar, Australia AND EVEN CHINA serve these functions. [Yes! - U.S. bases in China; which is the exact opposite of what so many Christian nincompoops and other "conspiracy ninnies" believe who contend that China has bases in the U.S. (which is not true).]

• To control the governments of host nations. Japan, Korea (where U.S. military forces were deeply involved in military coups,) Germany, Saudi Arabia, and today's Iraq begin the list.

OUR "FOOTPRINT" ON THE WORLD

Johnson writes:

"Once upon a time, you could trace the spread of imperialism by counting up colonies. AMERICA'S VERSION OF THE COLONY IS THE MILITARY BASE. By following the changing politics of global basing, one can learn much about our ever larger imperial stance and the militarism that grows with it. Militarism and imperialism are Siamese twins joined at the hip. Each thrives off the other."

Johnson continues:

Marine Brig. Gen. Mastin Robeson, commanding our 1,800 troops occupying the old French Foreign Legion base at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti at the entrance to the Red Sea, claims that in order to put "preventive war" into action, we require a "global presence," by which he means gaining hegemony over any place that is not already under our thumb. According to the right-wing American Enterprise Institute, the idea is to create "a global cavalry" that can ride in from "frontier stockades" and shoot up the "bad guys" as soon as we get some intelligence on them." [Which is, incidentally, exactly what the Americans at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti did two weeks ago when it sent troops and specter gunships to kill al Qaeda that had been trapped in southern Somalia by Ethiopian troops operating in conjunction with the Americans.]

"LILY PADS" IN AUSTRALIA,
ROMANIA, MALI, ALGERIA …

Johnson reports that our BASE SYSTEM now includes six SUPER-BASES in Iraq, including bases at Baghdad International Airport, Tallil air base near Nasariyah, in the western desert near the Syrian border, and at Bashur air field in the Kurdish region of the north, Camp Anaconda, etc. In addition, the U.S. now controls the whole northern quarter of Kuwait -- 1,600 square miles out of Kuwait's 6,900 square miles -- which is now being used as a logistical center for American forces in the Middle East.

Other countries where the U.S. has recently established bases - including several SUPER-BASES - are Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Bulgaria; in Asia -- Pakistan (where we have four bases), India, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and even, unbelievably, Vietnam; in North Africa -- Morocco, Tunisia, and especially Algeria (scene of the slaughter of some 100,000 civilians since 1992, when, to quash an election, the military took over, backed by our country and France); and in West Africa -- Senegal, GHANA, Mali, and Sierra Leone (even though it has been torn by civil war since 1991). The models for all these new installations, according to Pentagon sources, are the string of bases we have built around the Persian Gulf in the last two decades in such anti-democratic autocracies as Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

Johnson says that most of these new bases will be what the military calls "LILY PADS" to which our troops can jump like so many well-armed frogs from the homeland, our NATO bases, or - as Johnson says "from our bases in such docile satellites as Japan, Britain and Germany."

BUT WHILE THIS BASE-SYSTEM IS A WONDER TO BEHOLD IN ITS BREADTH AND SOPHISTICATION, ONE MUST BEAR IN MIND THAT IT EXISTS SOLELY TO IMPOSE A BRUTAL SYSTEM OF MISERY AND SORROW ON THOSE OVER WHICH IT STANDS GUARD. IT IS NOT A SYSTEM OF DEMOCRACY, BUT ONE OF BRUTALITY AND TYRANNY - A SYSTEM THAT WILL INEVITABLY BITE THE HAND THAT CREATED IT.

THAT'S CALLED "BLOWBACK" - and that "blowback" is exactly the fomenter behind all the strife between the "peace faction" of the Democratic Party, and the "war faction" of the Republican Party, just as it was years before between the Gracchi in Rome (the faction supporting the institution of the "Old Republic" in Rome) and the Empire faction that finally took control of Rome under Augustus Caesar.

THE PROBLEM THAT THIS IMPERIAL BASE-SYSTEM
POSES FOR DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES

The very real fact of the matter is, what happened to ancient Rome is pretty much what is happening to the United States today. Like Republican Rome, America has almost willy-nilly stumbled into possession of an immense empire; an empire that contains within itself the same TENSIONS that collapsed the Roman Republic two thousand years ago. And while a great many Americans - if NOT the poor (i.e., most blacks, Hispanics, and all those others who have seen their jobs shipped overseas in recent years) - continue to enjoy the privileges of democracy, those outside the United States in America's conquered territories are subjected to cruel and heartless dictatorships financed and supported by the American state. But just as Rome could not live with this dichotomy, and the tension created by it, neither can America.

As a result, the American people are confronted today with the same choice that confronted the citizens of Rome two thousand years ago: Either they must choose dictatorship or they must choose democracy, but they can't have both - that is to say, democracy for themselves and dictatorship for the peoples in their conquered territories. If they choose to give up the empire and retreat back to their own borders, they will - ipso-facto - have to relinquish the wealth (really, the TRIBUTE money - see our last article, "The American Empire: the Fundamentals of U.S. World Hegemony") that flows into the United States from its overseas empire.

The poor and their champions in the left-wing of the Democratic Party such as Charles Schumer, Harry Waxman, Charles Rangel, Edward Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich, Ron Feingold, etc, would just as soon give up the empire and "bring the troops home;" after all, their constituents (i.e., the poor in Harlem, the destitute in the ruined factory towns of the Midwest, etc.) are certainly not benefiting from the wealth that is flowing into the United States from her empire abroad.

The problem with that, however, is it will bring ruin to all those who are today benefiting from this system - and don't be so sure that you are not one of those who are benefiting from it.

ARE YOU BENEFITING FROM THIS IMPERIAL SYSTEM?

Are you living up to your eyeballs in debt? Are you willing to stop living on credit of any kind? Are you willing to pay off your debt immediately, and if you can't, are you willing to declare bankruptcy? - especially in light of the new bankruptcy laws that forbid you to save your home and require you to subject yourself to the minute "ordering of your life" by the bankruptcy court? [Please see our article, "Making Men Cogs in a Machine: The Reformation of the Bankruptcy Laws."]

REMEMBER HERE! WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO LIVE ON CREDIT THAT MOUNTS UP TO THE SKY IS THE VERY TRIBUTE MONEY THAT FLOWS IN FROM AMERICA'S CONQUERED TERRITORIES ABROAD; TERRITORIES THAT ARE HELD IN SUBJECTION BY AMERICA'S MILITARY AND THE BASEWORLD THAT SUPPORTS IT. [Again, we urge you to read (or re-read) our last article, "The American Empire: the Fundamentals of U.S. World Hegemony."]

THE "GOOD LIFE" IS HARD TO GIVE UP

The Bible says:

"And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

"And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

"He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

"Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

"The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

"Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

"But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

"And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a [sewing] needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:16-24)

Are you able to give up the "good life?" Are you able to do this? - that's a very important question. Why? - because, after everything is said and done, the "END OF DAYS" IS ABOUT MONEY! You're surprised? You thought it was about "false signs and wonders," "false doctrine," etc. Well, it's that too; but much more than that, it's also about money! The Bible says:

"And he (i.e., the "false prophet") causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

"AND THAT NO MAN MIGHT BUY OR SELL, SAVE HE THAT HAD THE MARK or the name of the beast (i.e., the Antichrist), or the number of his name." (Rev. 13:16-17)

"Buying" and "selling?" - what's that all about? - it's about MONEY! Yes - again - the "Great Deception" of the "end of days" will involve false "signs and wonders," "false doctrine," the "New Age," false forms of ecumenicism, etc. But more than most Christians want to admit, it is also about money - that's what the "Mark of the Beast" is all about! - MONEY!

THE REAL TEST FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS

And make no mistake about it, money is the REAL reason why so many "good Christians" were unable to make it out of the United States and get up to the ranch in Canada. There was too much financial risk involved! Too much financial uncertainty! And that's why all these "good" Christians were unable to obey God's command in Revelation 18:4 to -

"Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Revelation 18:4)

I tell you the truth when I say that my heart breaks for that. I know these Christians! They are good and sincere people - people who can say with the "rich young ruler," "All these [good] things have I kept from my youth up." And Jesus did not rebuke the man. On the contrary, the Bible says in Mark 10:21, "Then Jesus beholding him LOVED him."

But when He told the man, "Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me," the rich young ruler couldn't do it. MONEY HELD HIM BACK - as I imagine is the case with so many in the United States today.

THE TIME IS LATE

Now, I cannot tell you the EXACT time when it will become too late for you to extricate yourself from the United States - no more than a husband can be sure of the EXACT time when his pregnant wife will give birth to their child. But I can tell you that the time is late. Soon, very soon now, Antichrist will emerge from out of the chaos and turmoil that the U.S. is being plunged into as a result of the war in Iraq, just as Caesar (Octavian) Augustus finally emerged out of the chaos and turmoil of the last days of the Roman Republic. We shall know him because he is the one who will "cause to prevail" the defense pact between Israel and the United States. [Please see our article, "Here Comes the Judge."] Now whether that will occur in the next two years of the Bush Administration (as I rather suspect it will), or whether there will be a short Democratic interregnum, and then the coming of the Antichrist - time is, nonetheless, very short.

There is simply no way that the "press of empire" can be forestalled. The INERTIA of empire is simply too great to be terminated. Leaving aside the obvious benefits that accrue to the elites, the fact is, too many ordinary Americans benefit from the financial advantages - specifically, the endless credit - bestowed upon them by America's TRIBUTE system that is "hardwired" into the complex structure of the American Empire - and while many people may not realize how financially dependent they have become on this system, they will become more aware as the system is rocked by the chaos and confusion of the upcoming days.

For example, studies from the Congressional Budget Office indicate that "since 1997 credit card issuers have nearly doubled the amount of credit they offer to consumers to more than $3 Trillion - about $30,000 per household." That's simply astronomical! - and, again, it's the TRIBUTE money flowing in from America's overseas empire that makes all this credit possible. No other nation on earth is able to offer its citizens this kind of endless credit. If the money that made this credit possible suddenly dried up, average Americans would be plunged into penury and destitution.

STREET PROTESTS AND CHAOS ARE COMING

But for now, most Americans have not come to grips with this reality, and they have "bought off" on the siren song of the Left to "bring the troops home." Street protests against the war are already being planned. Indeed, this Saturday one is scheduled to take place in Washington D.C. - AND THERE WILL BE MANY MORE TO  COME.

• Who knows how the elites will react to all this?

• Who knows what Israel will do in the upcoming months as its concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions reaches the boiling point?  If they decide to strike Iran, that could change the equation in the Middle East forever.

• And if the Bush Administration passes into history as a result of this chaos, and a "peace candidate" from the Democratic Party emerges, "the people" will really find out that there is no going back from empire. God only knows what the elites will dream up to drive that fact home to the American people: a new "9/11?" a multitude of new 9/11s? etc. Then a coup d' etat becomes a REAL possibility as the American people tremble in fear of the "manufactured" onslaught.

Brothers and sisters, I say again, there simply is no retreating from the empire America has created for itself, just as it proved impossible for Rome to retreat from its empire two thousand years ago. THERE SIMPLY IS TOO MUCH INERTIA BEHIND THE EMPIRE AND ITS WORLDWIDE SYSTEM OF MILITARY INSTALLATIONS AND BASES FOR IT TO BE DERAILED NOW. How does one begin to tear down such a massive structure? It would be like leveling Mt. Everest with a spoon.

Besides, the elites will not permit it - AND THEY CONTROL THE ARMY. Moreover, once ordinary Americans begin to really count up the costs of relinquishing the empire, they will surely rebel against that notion.

A LIGHT THAT SHINETH IN A DARK PLACE

Truly we are immersed in dark times. But the Bible says:

"We have … the sure word of prophecy; WHEREUNTO YE DO WELL THAT YE TAKE HEED, as unto a LIGHT THAT SHINETH IN A DARK PLACE, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." (2 Peter 1:19)

I URGE you, therefore, with all of my heart to sign up for the training here and begin putting your life on the line for Christ. This training well equip you for the hard times that are coming, and it well involve you in action. It will bring you out of your isolation into the open field where people will join you or cast insults at you and eventually persecute you for your belief. But isn't this what Christiantiy is about, and isn't this what Christ said:

"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

"Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 5:11-12, 14-16)

WE CONTINUE TO NEED YOUR FINANCIAL HELP

Finally, we continue your financial support as we begin to transition the ministry out of North America to Germany. So I say to you, if the spiritual things that we have ministered unto you have profited you, then please respond with your material things. As Paul said under similar circumstances so many years ago:

"If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?" (1 Cor. 9:11)

God bless you all,

S.R. Shearer
Antipas Ministries