THE UNITED STATES: REPLICATING
THE SLAVE ECONOMY OF THE
OLD SOUTH & LEAVING
AVERAGE CITIZENS
TO SINK INTO POVERTY    

INTRODUCTION

America is once again beginning to shed jobs - and it's doing so on a massive scale. Moreover, the jobs that remain are being relentlessly "down-waged" - creating in the process a growing class of "WORKING POOR" that's unprecedented insofar as the experience of most modern Americans is concerned.

All this lends a certain awful credibility to the saying of the rider of the Black Horse of the Apocalypse, a terrible personage in whose hands is a pair of balances, and out from whose lips issues a fearful warning:

"A measure of wheat for a penny [literally - denarius, a Roman coin which represented a WHOLE DAY'S wages], and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." (Revelation 6:6)

NOTE: The meaning of this is that the condition of man at the "end of the age" will be reduced to such that he will have to labor a whole day simply to buy a loaf of bread or three measures of barley. But the second part of the saying ["... and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine ..."] means that the destitution of these days will not extend to what might be called a "global elite of worthies" who have evidently allied themselves with the anti-Christ - only the rich in the ancient world could afford oil and wine.

The inexorable press of the American economic system in the direction of Revelation 6:6 augurs ill for all those Christians in the United States who want to hold onto the "Good-Life" and Christ at the same time.

THE CURRENT ROUND OF "DOWN-WAGING" AND
JOB LOSSES IS PROVING TO BE VERY SEVERE

And let it be clear here: The truth that more and more Americans are falling into poverty as a result of job losses and "down-waging" is a fact that is beyond dispute. Indeed, there's been a certain dreadful routine in the remorseless cycle of job losses and "down-waging" that's been going on in the country for the past thirty years, with each new round worse than the one before it.

The current round of job losses and "down-waging," however, has been particularly harsh because it is connected to a mortgage and credit crisis of unprecedented proportions. In the past, many Americans were able to ride out the worst effects of this unyielding routine by cashing in on the equity of their homes. Not this time! Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post writes:

"Everyone seems to acknowledge now that there will be lots of mortgage foreclosures and that house prices will fall nationally for the first time since the [Great] Depression. [Indeed, some analysts are predicting that house prices may fall to as little as fifty percent of their 2006 levels.] … There's even a growing recognition that a recession [possibly even a depression] is over the horizon …"

What Pearlstein is essentially implying here is that there is no way this time for most of those who lose their jobs or are "down-waged" to cushion the effect of their changed circumstances - at least until they can find new jobs or learn how to cope in their new "down-waged" situations; that coupled with a concomitant failure of "financial instruments" tied to the mortgage meltdown could lead us into a broad-based economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression.

GIVEN TIME, THE ELITES WILL BE ABLE TO "FIX"
THINGS - BUT THERE WILL BE A PRICE TO BE PAID

Most observers don't see the crisis going that far: GIVEN TIME, THE ELITES WILL NO DOUBT BE ABLE TO "FIX" THIS CRISIS BY SQUEEZING EVER MORE "TRIBUTE MONEY" OUT OF AMERICA'S SLAVE-STATES, just as the Mafia solves its cash-flow problems by squeezing out more "protection money" from those small shopkeepers it is supposedly "protecting" - something the U.S. was unable to do in the 1930s. [Please see our last article, "Ninnies, Know-Nothings, and the Falling Dollar;" please also see "Part 3: U.S. Economic Supremacy" in Chapter XII of the NEW ANTIPAS PAPERS as well as "Part 2: U.S. Military Supremacy," also in Chapter XII; finally, please see our new DVD, GREED IS GOOD: The American New World Order System and the Church That Supports It.]

Still, there will be a cost to be paid, and not only by those in America's slave states, BUT BY THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS (INDEED, MILLIONS AND MILLIONS) OF "AVERAGE AMERICANS" WHOM THE ELITES WILL NOT BE ABLE (OR WILLING) TO "SAVE."

THE SEVERE NATURE OF
TODAY'S JOB LOSSES

Evidence as to how severe the current round of job losses has been is evidenced by the unemployment figures in California; the unemployment rate there has reached a staggering 6.1 percent and is expected to go much higher. That number, however, represents only a fraction of the unemployed in the state. The fact is, the unemployment number for the state's (and, for that matter, the nation's) unemployed is so jiggered (the better word is "rigged") that it is almost meaningless - AND SO MUCH SO THAT ONE COULD EASILY CONCLUDE THAT THE "JIGGERING" OF THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS PART OF A MASSIVE GOVERNMENT COVER-UP AS TO THE REAL EXTENT OF THE STATE'S (AND NATION'S) UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM.

Take the furtive, underhanded way California (and, indeed, the entire nation) calculates the number of people who are unemployed. While the unemployment rate is supposed to be based on a monthly survey of sample households, in reality, the unemployment figure is linked to the number of those in the state who are drawing unemployment pay. But today, those who qualify for unemployment pay represent only 35 percent of the state's workers. Assuming that this rate remains true for those who don't qualify for unemployment pay (it's in fact probably higher), the unemployment rate in California would climb to an astounding 18 percent of the state's population. Now, if hiding the fact that 18 percent of the state's workers are unemployed - and substituting the figure of 6.1 percent - DOES NOT REPRESENT A GOVERNMENT COVER-UP, THEN THE CONCEPT OF WHAT COUNTS AS A "COVER-UP" BECOMES MEANINGLESS. [Please see our article, "We Are All Being Played for Suckers."]

And this still doesn't count those who are listed as "no longer looking for work" - which essentially means, all those who stop receiving unemployment pay because they have not found work in 6 months. Finally, if those who hold temporary or part-time jobs - but who are desperately looking for full-time work - were counted (about 70 percent of those holding such jobs), the unemployment rate would climb to a truly astronomical figure.

THE HUMAN IMPACT

Jocelyn Wiener, writing for the McClatchy newspaper chain, reports that the numbing, devastating impact all this is having on the state's unemployed and under-employed is easily discernable in the quiet desperation of those seeking work in the state's job centers; Wiener writes:

"These days, the line of job seekers inside the state's biggest career center never seems to end. Parents hug their babies as they move toward the sign-in desk. Professionals stand stiff and awkward in sport coats and heels. Unemployed construction workers and custodians and cashiers fill out requisite paperwork while waiting their turn.

"Each one enters the glass doors of the California Employment Development's big brick building looking for a break: full-time, part-time, a temp. job,  something. Increasingly, a break is hard to find.

"'It's getting ugly', said 47-year-old Joe Greta, who in October lost his job working at a Sears warehouse. As Greta stood examining a wall of job postings, a man nearby kicked a chair in frustration.  All the phones to reach the call center that processes unemployment claims were in use."

NOTE: the fact that one must talk to a "live" person over the phone in the unemployment center says something: specifically, that workers in the job center are afraid of the "mob" in the building and are putting "distance" (a kind of "security circle") between them and the "rabble."

Wiener continues:

"As the nation's credit and mortgage crisis grows and the retail and construction industries stall, unemployment numbers are climbing … 'I sense a more desperate feel now than in the past', said Pattie Espinosa, manager of the center. She said that many of the hundreds and hundreds of people who stand in line over the course of a day had worked at the same company for years before being laid off …"

"DOWN-WAGING"

And it's not just job losses that are affecting American workers, but "down-waging" as well. For instance, take the recent "down-waging" that's been happening at General Motors. On February 12^th, 2007 Chris Isidore of CNN reported that -

"… in order to try to stem automotive losses that have dogged the company since 2005 … [GM] is making a range of [buyout] offers [to its employees] that run as high as $140,000 …"

Isidore went on to say:

"THE GOAL IS NOT TO REDUCE HEADCOUNT BUT RATHER TO BRING IN NEW WORKERS AT A LOWER COST."

"The current … [worker] at GM today has an average base wage of $28.12 an hour … By comparison, new workers will be paid about $14 an hour."

Think about that! GM is planing to reduce the basic pay of its SKILLED workforce from $28 an hour to as little as $14 an hour, and cut its benefit package in half - that's just a little more than $2,000 a month at a time when house mortgages alone can be that much and more.

Furthermore, what's happening at GM is happening everywhere in the United States. For example, take the average pay of so-called "Wal-Mart Associates:" In 2001, sales associates, the most common job in Wal-Mart, earned on average $8.23 an hour for an annual wage of $13,861. That's below the 2001 poverty line of $14,630 a year established by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services. And even if both husband and wife were to work full-time at Wal-Mart, their combined full-time wages would just barely exceed the $27, 948 a year needed by an average family with one child to survive in today's economy.

A SILENT DEPRESSION

It's in the light of these dismal facts that Ray Tapajna reported in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (July, 2007) something that probably seems obvious to millions and millions of ordinary Americans struggling to make ends meet in today's economy:

"There seems to be many contradictions and untold stories about the human condition of our times."

The "human condition" that Tapajna was thinking about was poverty and the way the poor who have been the victims of all the job losses and "down-waging" that's been going on in recent years were being accounted for in the United States: there is a SILENT DEPRESSION abroad in the land, and the elite media are not reporting on it, or if they occasionally do, it is grossly under-reported.

20 PERCENT OF THE U.S. POPULATION
IS NOW LIVING IN POVERTY

And just how widespread this SILENT DEPRESSION is was made clear by a November 2006 New York Times analysis of 2004 federal tax information which found that the bottom fifth of American taxpayers earned below $11,166 a year ($930 a month), with their average income amounting to less than $5,800 a year ($483 a month).

Accounting for the fact that the IRS's definition of “taxpayer” applies to couples who jointly file as well as to single individuals, the Times estimated that THE POOREST 26 MILLION TAXPAYERS REPRESENTED NEARLY 48 MILLION ADULTS AND ABOUT 12 MILLION DEPENDENT CHILDREN. BY THIS MEASURE, THE TIMES CALCULATED THAT THE POOREST 60 MILLION AMERICANS (OR 20 PERCENT OF THE NATION'S POPULATION) WERE LIVING ON LESS THAN $7 A DAY (OR $210 A MONTH).

Comparing the data accumulated by the Times report to Census data published by the U.S. Census Bureau, Naomi Spencer, a well-known expert on these issues, notes:

"By comparison, the 2004 poverty line was $27 a day for a single adult below retirement age [ or $810 a month] …" [Compare $210 for a single adult per month in the Times report to what the census bureau says is a poverty level income (i.e., $810 for a single adult per month)].

What this means is that the poverty in which these 60 million Americans are living is EXTREME in the most PROFOUND meaning of that word!

ONE-HALF OF THE NATION'S POPULATION
IS LIVING IN POVERTY OR "NEAR-POVERTY"

And that's not all! - Spencer goes on to say that if poverty is measured by one's net worth, then close to one-half of the nation is living in poverty or "near-poverty;" that is to say, although their outward circumstances may belie the fact of their poverty, many Americans are only one paycheck out of "beggary." Spencer continues:

"At a time when the top 1 percent of US households received 17 percent of all national income, held more than a third of all net worth, and more than 42 percent of all net assets, nearly a fifth of households held zero or negative net worth. Another third of the population held less than $10,000."

Think about that!! - ONE-FIFTH OF U.S. HOUSEHOLDS WITH A ZERO OR NEGATIVE NET WORTH and another ONE-THIRD OF U.S. HOUSEHOLDS THAT HOLD LESS THAN $10,000 IN ASSETS.  That includes equity in homes, cars, furniture, clothing ad infinitum, ad nauseum. That's approaching almost one-half of the U.S. population.

MOST AMERICANS DON'T
SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING

Most Americans - i.e., those who still have good-paying jobs - don't see what's happening. The growing numbers of the poor remain invisible to them much as the poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They know they're there - but only in the most detached way; there's no subjectivity to their "knowing;" no empathy. Commenting on this deliberate, very premeditated indifference of most Americans towards the poor in their midst, award-winning journalist James Fallows writes:

"America's poor are like people in Madagascar. We feel bad for them, but they live someplace else. I recently worked for several months on a temporary project inside a large software company. Because I had a long commute I often stayed late to wait out the traffic. Around 9 p.m. I'd hear a knock on the office door. A woman in her 60's, wearing a stiff-fabric vest with the logo of an office-cleaning company, stepped into the room to empty my wastebasket and collect Mountain Dew cans from the recycling bin. She walked as if her feet hurt. Eventually I started leaving the office to go home as soon as I heard her a few doors down. I was willing to read articles about the travails of the working poor, but I just didn't want to see them; I didn't want to watch her limp. These days, the poor are like the Rwandans, a problem without a name or face. I never knew the name of the woman on the cleaning crew. I didn't want to ask."

MOST EVANGELICALS BELIEVE THAT THE POOR
ARE POOR BECAUSE THEY DESERVE TO BE POOR

And there's something more, especially insofar as evangelical Christians are concerned! - an attitude towards the poor which implies that the poor are poor because they deserve to be poor; an attitude that, according to Richard McCormick, is based on the idea that "poverty is caused by an aversion to hard work," an opinion that Francis Fitzgerald says is reinforced by the fact that since the 1960s -

"Evangelicals have made the greatest gains of any … group [in the U.S.] in income and education."

Obviously, most of today's evangelicals find themselves on the "prosperous" side of America's division between the "haves" and the "have nots."

FACTS THAT ESCAPE MOST EVANGELCALS

The fact that there are millions and millions of hard-working Americans (many holding down two or more jobs) who are, nonetheless, poor, and the fact that over the past thirty years there has been a shocking exodus of good-paying jobs out of the country seems to entirely escape them. [Again, please see our article, "We Are All Being Played for Suckers."]

Finally, the fact that the job losses and "down-waging" that's responsible for most of the country's new poverty is, as Naomi Spencer says, "THE PRODUCT OF DEFINITE [GOVERNMENT] POLICIES" that their business allies in the Republican Party have been promoting for the past three decades is a concept that most evangelical Christians would probably reject out of hand. Nevertheless, that's the truth - and that truth becomes abundantly clear when, as Spencer suggests, one asks himself a few simple questions,  such as -

• Why did the U.S. government support and fund the Maquiladora factories in Mexico during the 1980s?

• Why has the U.S. government been involved in moving production outside the U.S.?

• Why has the U.S. government funded programs to move factories outside the U.S.?

• When did the connotation of international trade change to include the exporting of jobs and factories?

• Why is the government colluding with the Mexican elites to import cheap Mexican labor into the United States knowing full well that this "illegal" workforce is not only reducing the wages of American workers, but displacing millions and millions of them not only in the agricultural sector, but in the trades and in manufacturing?

WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT UP TO?

The question to be asked in the light of all this is, What are the government and the business elites up to in promoting policies that are so at odds with the interests of ordinary working Americans? Put simply, what the government is doing is making use of the PLUNDER that has accrued to it as a result of its policy of "empire expansion" in recent years - plunder that consists not only of "natural resources," but of "HUMAN RESOURCES" as well - "HUMAN RESOURCES" THAT THE BUSINESS ELITES CAN UTILIZE AS "CHEAP LABOR." [Please see our articles, "The American Empire: the Corporate / Pentagon / CIA / Missionary Archipelago," "Working Conditions in the Third World," "The Congo and American Greed," and "The Versailles Phenomenon;" and once again, we urge you to order our FREE DVD, GREED IS GOOD: The American New World Order System and the Church That Supports It.]

Specifically, what's been happening is this: AT THE INSTIGATION OF AMERICA'S ECONOMIC ELITES, THE GOVERNMENT IS PURSUING POLICIES THAT ARE PURPOSEFULLY AND RELENTLESSLY TRANSFORMING THE AMERICAN ECONOMY FROM AN ECONOMY THAT FAVORS WELL-PAYING JOBS FOR ORDINARY AMERICANS INTO AN ECONOMY THAT FAVORS "CHEAP LABOR" - AND THEY ARE POCKETING THE DIFFERENCE.

VERY OBVIOUSLY, THESE POLICIES CANNOT HELP BUT HAVE THE EFFECT OF FAVORING THE ECONOMIC INTERESTS OF THE ELITES OVER THE ECONOMIC INTERESTS OF ORDINARY CITIZENS - POLICIES THAT INEXORABLY TRANSFER THE WEALTH OF THE NATION FROM THE HANDS OF AVERAGE AMERICANS INTO THE HANDS OF THE ULTRA-RICH.

THIS IS NOT A NEW PHENOMENON: IT'S HAPPENED
BEFORE TO OTHER WAR-MAKING NATIONS

THIS PROCESS IS VERY SIMILAR TO THE ONE THAT TOOK HOLD OF ANCIENT ROME AND TRANSFORMED THE ROMAN REPUBLIC OF PLINY AND CICERO INTO THE ROMAN EMPIRE OF NERO AND TIBERIUS; FROM A NATION BASED ON SMALL FARMERS AND ARTISANS INTO A STATE BASED ON THE HUMAN PLUNDER OF WAR THAT COULD BE PUT TO WORK ON ROME'S HUGE FARMS CALLED LATIFUNDIA - FARMS NOT UNLIKE THE SLAVE PLANTATIONS OF THE OLD SOUTH.

The latifundia [from the Latin for "broad" (latus) and "estate" (fundus)] were the great Roman farming estates owned by Rome's economic elites - estates not unlike the large corporate farms of today that emphasize the "efficiencies" of cheap labor (SLAVES IN THE CASE OF ROME, "ILLEGALS" IN THE CASE OF THE UNITED STATES) and mass production that inevitably drive out small competitors. The development of the latifundia represented a trend in Roman agriculture that took many years to complete.

Roman agriculture was originally dominated by free peasants, each cultivating land (usually 10 acres or less) for their own family needs. But, as Rome's military conquests continued all through the second and first centuries B.C., more and more prisoners taken in these conquests were sent back to Rome as slaves - AND THERE WERE A LOT OF THEM! For example, one source reckons that by the time of Christ there were some three million slaves in Italy as opposed to four million free citizens.

NOTE: This is analogues to what's been happening insofar as the American Empire is concerned where - as a result of the American Empire's expansion into the Third World - "cheap labor" has become available to America's business elites on a scale never before realized. Moreover, while there is still a necessity to "import" a great deal of this "cheap labor" into the United States (which is precisely what many American businesses are doing insofar as "illegal" Mexican workers are concerned) much of it can be put to work outside the American homeland making products for export into the United States as a result of so-called "free trade" deals such as NAFTA, CAFTA, and other "deals" promoted under the aegis of the WTO. IT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED IN THIS CONTEXT THAT SLAVERY IS NOTHING MORE THAN THE ULTIMATE FORM OF "CHEAP LABOR."

Using the "cheap labor" the slaves provided, the Roman farming elites were able, as we just suggested, to achieve enormous "economies of scale" that undercut the "profitability" of the small peasant farms of ordinary Romans - a process that eventually bankrupted them and forced them off the land and into Rome's cities where they were compelled to go on the dole. For example, where before there were 10 Roman farmers working 10 acres each, there was now one 100 acre farm owned by a single wealthy man and worked by slaves who made nothing.

The Roman elites would then purchase the small farms that had been abandoned and add them to their already extensive holdings. Over time, these estates or latifundia became truly enormous. For example, by the time of Christ, a farm (or fundus) of one thousand acres would have been considered quite small. A more typical estate was one in central Italy that comprised 250,000 acres and was worked by thousands and thousands of slaves.

A GROWING INCOME GAP

As the process wore on all through the second and first centuries B.C., the gap between the rich and the poor in Rome became enormous. For example, one estate - owned by Marcus Licinius Crassus - was valued at 50 million denarii, the basic unit of Roman currency, making the owner of this estate more than 900 times richer than an ordinary Roman citizen.  Still another estate owned by a Roman Senator was valued at 370 million denarii.

THESE ARE THE KINDS OF GAPS THAT HAVE OVER THE PAST FORTY YEARS DEVELOPED BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR IN THE UNITED STATES WHERE THE PAY OF SOME CEOs IS 900 TIMES GREATER THAN THAT OF AMERICA'S AVERAGE CITIZENS. [Please see our articles, "The Measure of a Man's Worth," "Divergence of the Rich from the Poor," and "The Derivatives Market."]

CHEAP-LABOR SPREADS FROM THE AGRICULTURAL
SECTOR TO THE TRADES (OR MANUFACTURING SECTOR)

In the initial stages of this relentless process by which Rome's economy was transformed into a slave economy akin to the one that came to prevail in the Old South, many of the small farmers who migrated into Rome's cities were able to find work as artisans and small trades people (e.g., as carpenters, dye-makers, clothiers, iron workers, armament workers making weapons for the army, etc.). BUT IN TIME, EVEN THESE VOCATIONS BECAME DOMINATED BY HUGE ENTERPRISES THAT USED SLAVE-LABOR, THROWING AVERAGE CITIZENS TOTALLY OUT OF WORK AND TURNING THEM INTO A MOB OF "DO-NOTHINGS."

This is precisely what is occurring in the United States as the use of "illegals" (AMERICA'S VERSION OF THE ROMAN SLAVE) continues to spread throughout the economy. Low paid "illegal" workers are undercutting the wages of low skilled American workers [and now even skilled workers (e.g., skilled assembly workers at General motors - see above)], and forcing them out of their jobs.

"ILLEGALS" AS MODERN-DAY SLAVES

And make no mistake about it: One is not stretching the truth too far when one compares America's "illegal" workers to Rome's slaves. America's "illegals" are some of the poorest paid and most exploited workers in the US economy. They are excluded from most of the fundamental labor rights guaranteed to other US workers, including the right to organize and the right to overtime pay. In addition, these workers also lack health insurance, sick leave, pensions, and job security - and their "illegal" status renders them powerless to protect themselves from their employers and those who "traffic" them from work site to work site.

The "traffickers" of these "illegals" (TODAY'S VERSION OF YESTERDAY'S "SLAVE TRADERS") prey upon the "illegal's" vulnerability and desperation to find work. Often they promise to take workers on credit to well-paying jobs where the debt incurred for transport can be paid off quickly. In some instances, workers arrive at the place of work already thousands of dollars in debt where they face brutality and a near-total loss of control over their lives. Subsequently they are forced to pay off their debts in conditions to which they did not agree, working in the fields or on factory floors for 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week. Deductions are made from their wages for transport, accommodation, food, work equipment, and supposed tax and social security payments. Weekly wages are sporadic and in many instances workers are left with no pay.

As many as 12-16 "illegals" may be housed in one cramped, run-down trailer or apartment and kept under constant surveillance by employers using a variety of methods, including armed guards. Some endure a constant barrage of verbal abuse along with threats of violence and death to themselves and their families back home. In the most severe cases, employers use "public" beatings, pistol-whippings, and shootings to make an example of those trying to escape. In addition, women in forced labor are sometimes faced with sexual harassment and even violent sexual assault.

IT'S NOT JUST "ILLEGALS" WHO ARE HURT BY
THIS BRUTAL SYSTEM, BUT AMERICANS AS WELL

But it isn't just the "illegal" workers who are harmed by this brutal system; American workers are hurt as well. Historian Graham Stevenson writes:

"Low paid illegal workers are pricing … American workers out of jobs … Instead of using capital to increase the productivity of American workers, many farms and factories are simply using illegal workers to lower costs. Like the latifundia [in ancient Rome] this isn't affecting total output as much as redistributing wealth within the country. Instead of an owner and 2 American workers at a farm, and two at a factory making farm machines, there is the owner and 10 illegal workers. Essentially the income of the two farm workers is divided amongst the 10 illegals and the income of the 2 factory workers is kept by the factory owner."

WHAT TO DO WITH AMERICA'S
DISPLACED WORKERS

The question that arises is, What is one to do with all the displaced American workers? The government and the elites the government serves are pursuing two solutions:

• Lock much of the excess population up in prison - especially those who are viewed by the government and the elites as "troublemakers." This is being done under cover of the "War on Drugs" where the government is imprisoning or otherwise "disappearing" many of them into the bowels of the American penal system. [Please see our articles, "Measuring the Depravity of the Elites: Pacifying the Poor through Drug Addiction" and "I Was in Prison and Ye Visited Me Not."]

• There's also another way the government is attempting to deal with America's displaced workers - and that is to recruit them into the army or some kind of "National Service." Indeed, the concept of "National Service" is viewed by many as a perfect way of bringing back the draft without necessarily connecting "National Service" with service in the military. The nation's youth could be added to the nation's "cheap labor" force and put to work re-building the nation's infrastructure, cleaning up the cities, serving as "auxiliaries" in the nation's police apparatus, etc. - all of which would serve to undercut the wages of American workers that much more. [Please see our articles, "The Draft: You Had Better Get Ready," and "Closing the Trap: the Draft."]

"National Service" [in Rome's case, this meant strictly military service] is exactly the way Rome ultimately solved its unemployment problem - a solution perfected by Marius' reforms at the end of the 2nd Century B.C.; a solution by which many of Rome's unemployed were "persuaded" [really, forced] to join the army where they were paid a salary.  Stevenson writes:

"At its height, the native Roman army was at one of the highest proportions to the citizenry at large ever known, at one eighth [12.5%] of the entire population."

These were the legionaires spoken of in the Bible in such passages as Acts 10:7 (Cornelius), the Centurion whose servant Jesus healed in Matthew chapter 8, and the Centurion who said of Christ at the crucifixion, "Truly, this is the Son of God." (Mark 15:39).

Between these twin solutions - i.e., prison for malcontents and "National Service" for the rest of America's unemployed - America would go a long way in solving its growing unemployment problem.

Insofar as those Americans who appear to be living the "Good Life," but who are in reality just one paycheck away from the "poor house," they could easily be cowered into subservience lest they fall through the cracks into oblivion - which is precisely the way the U.S. business elites have cowered union workers.

GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT IS CONNECTED
TO ONE'S LOYALITY TO THE STATE

Finally, for that portion of the American population that retains secure, "good-paying" jobs (still, about 50 percent of the U.S. population), their hold on the "Good Life" could easily be predicated on their loyalty to the state - a situation that could be comfortably enforced since most of these jobs would be connected to America's armament and related industries - INDUSTRIES THAT THE UNITED STATES WOULD FIND DIFFICULT TO MOVE "OFF-SHORE" FOR FEAR THEY COULD BE "NATIONALIZED" BY THEIR SLAVE STATES AND USED AGAINST THE "HOMELAND."

One should remember here that it would certainly be no "big thing" to require a security clearance for those employed in such industries. Who, after all, would challenge the necessity of a "national security" check for those working in defense related industries?

A GREAT DILEMMA THAT ALL TRUE
CHRISTIANS MUST ULTIMATELY FACE

And so, now we come to the great dilemma that will be imposed on all those Christians who - at the "end of the age - "want their cake, and eat it too;" in other words, those Christians who want to retain their connection to the "Good Life" while maintaining their Christianity.

That will prove to be IMPOSSIBLE!  It's not without reason that the Lord said,

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon [i.e., the god of money]." (Matthew 6:24)

And come on now! Isn't this true of our present situation. Think about it! -

• IF the United States is indeed "Prophetic Babylon," God's great enemy [please see our article, "In Search of Babylon; What Do the Scriptures Say"],

And,

• IF one's connection to the "Good Life" is connected to a LOYALTY OATH to the United States - again, God's great enemy,

• THEN, how is it possible for a "good" Christian to maintain his hold on the "Good Life" when that connection is predicated on an alliance with the enemy of God?

Obviously, it's not possible! - a fact that makes Matthew 6:24 ["No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon"] really come alive!

THE "END OF DAYS" COMES
DOWN TO A QUESTION OF MONEY

It's in the light of this STARK reality that we can begin to understand what Revelation 13:16-17 is all about:

"And he [i.e., the anti-Christ] causeth all … 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, or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:16-17)

BUYING and SELLING! - that's what the "mark of the beast" is all about; in other words, participation in the economy and, ipso facto, the "Good Life" in the "end of days."

And so now we begin to appreciate the momentous significance of Christ's words when He said:

"For the love of money [i.e., mammon] is the root of ALL evil." (1 Timothy 6:10)

And when He called those who wish to hold on to their money "FOOLS:"

"The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

"And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

"And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

"And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

"But God said unto him, THOU FOOL, THIS NIGHT THY SOUL SHALL BE REQUIRED OF THEE: THEN WHOSE SHALL THOSE THINGS BE, which thou hast provided?

"SO IS HE THAT LAYETH UP TREASURES [ON EARTH] FOR HIMSELF...." (Luke 12:16-21)

NOTE: Again, one should bear in mind here that this passage of Scripture is very specifically connected to the "end of the age;" that's what Christ is discussing in Luke chapter twelve.

A FOOL! - that's what Christ calls people who trust in their riches. And why is that? Because money blinds people to the TRANSITORY nature of life here on earth. Indeed, the Bible warns us:

"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, WHICH DROWN MEN IN DESTRUCTION AND PERDITION." (II Tim. 6:9)

MONEY INEVITABLY MAKES US THE
ENEMIES OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST

And insofar as Christians are concerned, money has a way of turning them into the "ENEMIES" of the "cross of Christ!" That's what the Bible says! That's what the Apostle Paul says:

"For I have told you often before, and I say it again now with tears in my eyes, there are many who walk along the Christian road who have become the ENEMIES OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST. Their future is ... loss ... [for] all they think about is this life here on earth." [Phil. 3:18-19 (Amp.)]

It is precisely this fact (i.e., that money inevitably turns Christians into "ENEMIES OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST") that Jesus took the time to warn those living at the "end of the age" to -

"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on." (Luke 12:22) [Remember again, Luke 12 has a very special reference to the "end of the age."]

And why He went on to say:

"Be yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.

"Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." (Luke 12:36-37)

Plainly, what Christ is saying is, Be ready to go! Get rid of anything that can hold you back! - any connection you have to this world; any so-called "responsibility" that you have to "this life."

THE CRUX OF THE MATTER

And so now we come to the "gist - the essence, the crux - of what we've been talking about; why we have written at such length regarding the economic process that you presently (or soon will) find yourselves involved in at the "end of the age;" and that is this: TAKE HEED TO YOURSELVES; A TRAP IS BEING SET FOR YOUR SOULS.

Soon, very soon now, you will have to choose between

• Your participation in the "Good-Life"

And

• The Cross of Christ.

It is not a choice that you can ignore, nor one from which you can flee. As more and more jobs are "down-waged" and / or shipped overseas - in other words, as people are subsumed in the SLAVE ECONOMY that has come to prevail in the United States - the only good jobs that will remain for ordinary citizens will be jobs connected to the defense and related industries - industries that REQUIRE a loyalty oath from all those who want jobs in them.

And don't think - even for a moment - that this is a conclusion that we've "created out of whole cloth." It isn't.  THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL COUNTRIES THAT ENGAGE IN PERPETUAL WARFARE. Again, this is PRECISELY what happened to Rome. Stevenson writes:

"Warfare became a way of life [in Rome], the norm for economic growth [just as it has become now in the United States]. After the first Punic War with Carthage, which established Rome as the dominant Mediterranean power, the expansion of the Roman republic brought about a period of wealth and power for the noble patrician class. AS FOR ORDINARY ROMANS, THEY WERE NOW LARGELY PREOCCUPIED WITH MILITARY SERVICE and their previous economic role was filled by the labour of slaves in a new large-scale agricultural economy."

Now come on! - isn't this exactly what is happening today in the U.S.? The only "gainful employment" that remains for ordinary citizens is connected in one way or another to what President Eisenhower called the "MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX" - employment that is, of necessity, connected to loyalty to the state.

SETTING THE POOR AGAINST ONE
ANOTHER: AN OLD TRICK OF THE ELITES

And there is something more to be remarked on here: It's not just that "gainful employment" in the United States is increasingly being linked to loyalty to the state, it's that those Christians who refuse to be disconnected from this kind of "gainful employment" will increasingly find themselves divided from the very objects of Christ's offer of salvation: The POOR. It's not without reason that Jesus said:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, BECAUSE HE HATH ANONTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." (Luke 4:18)

Indeed, the government and the elites which the government serves have purposefully set in motion policies specifically designed to set not only the rich (i.e., those who still retain "gainful employment") against the poor, but the poor against one another: blacks against Latinos, poor whites against both blacks and Latinos, men against women, and, most especially, "illegals" (America's version of the Roman slave) against native-born Americans. This is precisely what Lou Dobbs is all about, or do you think that his "raging" against "illegals" in the country would be tolerated by the elites (after all, CNN is nothing if it is not an elite institution) if they did not have a "greater purpose" in mind?

SETTING THE POOR AGAINST ONE ANOTHER IS AN OLD TRICK OF THE ELITES FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL, and was precisely the policy pursued by the Southern oligarchs during Jim Crow and the so-called "Bourbon Restoration" when poor whites were persuaded - in contravention to all their economic interests - to join the oligarchs against the blacks. The bait the oligarchs used to entice poor whites to their side was racial rage - at least, poor whites were led to believe, there was one group that they were better than: Blacks. This is exactly the kind of enticement that the Roman elite used to entice poor Romans over to their side against the slaves in their midst - at least the poor Romans were better than the "barbarians" (i.e., slaves) in their midst.

MARX MIRRORS CHRIST

IT WAS CHRISTIANITY THAT ENDED THE GAME THE ELITES WERE PLAYING IN TURNING POOR ROMANS AGAINST THE SLAVES. Karl Marx had it right when he wrote:

"It was here, in the spiritual vein, that the proletarian and barbarian slave found common ground in the end. Indeed, it was … [Christianity] that offered a safe haven to body and debt slaves of all kinds. As Engels has written, "where was the way out, salvation for the enslaved, oppressed, and impoverished, a way out common to all these groups of people (slaves, ex-slaves, the plebeian mob, impoverished free men) whose interests were mutually alien or even opposed? Christianity, at least in its early message, provided such an ideology." [F. Engels "On the History of Early Christianity" Die Neue Zeit Vol. XIII - ed. L S Feuer "Marx and Engels - Basic Writings on Politics and Philosophy." p 225]

Christianity, "AT LEAST IN ITS EARLY MESSAGE," was instrumental in healing the breach between the poor of Rome and Rome's slave population. One might fairly ask, then, WHAT KIND OF TWISTED CHRISTIANITY IS IT TODAY THAT FOSTERS ILL-WILL BETWEEN THE "ILLEGALS" IN AMERICA'S MIDST, AND NATIVE-BORN AMERICANS? It's certainly not the kind of Christianity practiced by the early church!

It was in the light of this stark reality that Karl Marx once remarked to a Christian acquaintance:

"I love your Christ; but I hate the religion that has now come to represent Him."

TWOFOLD MORE THE CHILD OF HELL

God help you, dear Christian, if you find yourself being drawn to the message that Lou Dobbs and his ilk are purveying today: It means that you are involved in a kind of religion the early church would not recognize as Christianity; the kind of religion against which Christ said:

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, YE MAKE HIM TWOFOLD MORE THE CHILD OF HELL THAN YOURSELVES.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

"YE BLIND GUIDES, WHICH STRAIN AT A GNAT, AND SWALLOW A CAMEL.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

"Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

"Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. (Matthew 23:15, 23-28)

TODAY'S CHRISTIANS: BEING
CONDEMNED ON TWO LEVELS

It's here - it's precisely here - that Christians may find themselves condemned on two levels:

• First, by holding "gainful employment" from an AGENCY OF HELL,

And,

• Second, by being labeled a "CHILD OF HELL."

I TELL YOU A TRUTH …

It's in the light of this somber reality that I convey to you a truth, dear Christian: IF YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE WHO HAS FALLEN THROUGH THE CRACKS OF TODAY'S ECONOMY; one of those who has lost his hold on the "Good-Life," do not think - even for a moment - that God has been unkind to you. The very real fact of the matter is, God may very well be taking the "long view" insofar as your welfare is concerned, and so much so that in eternity to come, you may well say with the Apostle James:

"Let the rich [rejoice], in that he is made low." (James 1:10a)

And IF, PER CHANCE, YOU, BY GOD'S GRACE, ARE ONE OF THOSE WHO STILL RETAINS HIS WEALTH, then be -

"… not highminded [with your wealth] …but be READY TO DISTRIBUTE [it to your brethren] …" (1Timothy 6:17-18)

Prepare yourself in these "last days" to take upon you the mind of Joses whom the Apostles named "THE SON OF CONSOLATION, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, who, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet [for distribution to the needs of the saints]" (Acts 4:36-37). Indeed, it was because of the generosity of saints like Joses that the church was able to expand in those very HARSH times after the crucifixion. Describing this remarkable phenomenon, the Bible says -

"And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; BUT THEY HAD ALL THINGS IN COMMON …

"Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

"And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: AND DISTRIBUTION WAS MADE UNTO EVERY MAN ACCORDING AS HE HAD NEED." (Acts 4:32, 34-35)

Sounds like Karl Marx, doesn't it! But it was precisely because of this spirit of generosity that -

"… great power was given unto the apostles as a witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

"And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people …" (Acts 4:33, 5:12)

THE LORD HAS NEED TODAY OF
MANY "SONS OF CONSOLATION"

In the "Tribulation" of these "last days," THE LORD HAS NEED OF MANY "SONS OF CONSOLATION" - people who "have the mind of Jesus" -

"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery [i.e., who thought it not presumptuous] to be [called] equal with God:

"MADE HIMSELF OF NO REPUTATION, AND TOOK UPON HIMSELF THE FORM OF A SERVANT, and was made in the likeness of men:

"And being found in fashion as a man, HE HUMBLED HIMSELF, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Phil. 2:6-8) [Please see Part 2 of Chapter VIII of the New Antipas Papers, "The Tribulation As a Winnowing of God."]

IF YOU ARE RICH …

If you are rich, are you willing to take upon yourself the mind of Christ? Are you willing to become like Joses? It's precisely this kind of generosity - the kind that Joses exhibited in the early church - that the world longs to see! It is this kind of generosity that will expose today's American church and her "harlot churches" throughout the world for what they really are: FRAUDS!

And so I ask you again, Are you willing to sacrifice everything you have so that the church might have such a testimony? - the kind of testimony that would prompt God to pour Himself out in GREAT SIGNS AND WONDERS in these "last Days;" so -

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

"And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:10-11) [Please see Chapter V of the New Antipas Papers, "The Church;" please also see our article, "The Church vs. the Machine."]

LIVING IN THE "IMMEDIACY"
OF THE "END OF THE AGE"

We must learn to live in the "immediacy" of the "end of the age." We must be able to recognize the "signs of the times" and orient ourselves towards that reality. Jesus said:

"When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a storm; and so it is.

"And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.

"Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?" (Luke 12:54-56)

We must NOT be like that unfaithful servant in Luke 12:45-46, the servant who said in his heart:

"My lord delayeth his coming; and who began to … eat and drink, and [make himself comfortable in this life here on earth];

And why is that? Because -

"The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, AND WILL APPOINT HIM HIS PORTION WITH THE UNBELIEVERS. (Luke 12:45-46)

That's scary! That's very scary!

THIS IS NOT THE LORD I KNOW

Some Christians, of course, will say in their heart, "This is not the Lord I know! My Lord is not this "extreme;" this "unkind;" this divisive in His severity. But that's not what Jesus said of Himself:

"Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

"For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

"The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law." (Luke 12:51-53)

TWO PATHS ARE LAID BEFORE YOU

Listen to me! - I say again, there is now laid before YOU two paths:

• One path leads to the "Good-Life."

• The other path leads to the cross of Christ.

The question is, Which path will YOU choose? - and you should understand here that in conjunction with this choice, IT'S NO ACCIDENT THAT THE "PIVOT" AROUND WHICH THIS CHOICE MUST BE MADE IS MONEY!

HOW DOES A RICH MAN
KNOW IF HE IS TRULY LOVED?

And is that so surprising? Think about it!  How does a rich man - AND GOD IS VERY, VERY RICH - ever know that he is truly loved? The sad truth is, he doesn't so long as he retains his wealth. But should he lose it, then he will find out.

Great crowds of people followed Jesus so long as He fed them and healed them of their diseases. But when tribulation arose because of the Word He spoke, the crowds disappeared.

Oh, to be loved because of who you are, and not just because of the "things" you have! This is the love that God desires from those who follow Him. It is the love that Ruth gave to Naomi, and this even after Naomi had asked Ruth to depart from her because she [that is to say, Naomi] had nothing further to give Ruth - she no longer possessed any "things" with which to "purchase" Ruth's love. But Ruth said:

"Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me." (Ruth 1:16-17)

The Lord is looking for such to follow Him - those who will follow Him long after the "things" are gone, the crowds have left, the popularity faded; when the clothes are tattered and torn, there is no food on the table, and persecution rages all around. These are the disciples who can say with the prophet Habakkuk:

"Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls - YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD, I WILL JOY IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION." (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

THE WORLD IS LOOKING
FOR THIS KIND OF LOVE

The Bible says:

"For the earnest expectation of the creature (i.e., the creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God (i.e., the church) ... For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain to­gether until now." (Romans 8:19, 22)

These are the TRUE "sons of God" - i.e., those who "manifest" such love; again, the kind of love that Joses, "THE SON OF CONSOLATION" manifested towards his brethren. With such people one can repose trust and friendship; true love is here to be found!

It is in this kind of love that the TRUE Church will be "revealed," "disclosed," "manifested" (Romans 8:19)! It is this kind of love which will expose the hypocrites for what they really are. It is this kind of love which will separate the wheat from the tares. And it is only in tribulation that this love is truly revealed in all of its splendor and peerless beauty. In this, God's glory can find rest; in this the presence of God securely dwells. [Please see Chapter V of the New Antipas Papers, "The Church."]

AND SO, NOW I SAY TO YOU ALL …

Choose now! Choose that path that leads to the Cross of Christ - and in conjunction with this urging, let me suggest to you a very practical way of doing so: Order our FREE DVD, GREED IS GOOD: The American New World Order System and the Church That Supports It, and show it to everyone you can.

You will find that you will very soon be "SEPARATED OUT" for His "Testimony" on earth, and Christianity will then become something that is very, very real in your life.

God bless you all!

S.R. Shearer
Antipas Ministries

P.S. IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY, ORDER YOUR FREE DVD ON THE AMERICAN NEW WORLD ORDER SYSTEM NOW.

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Finally, Remember the Word of God:

"IF WE HAVE SOWN UNTO YOU SPIRITUAL THINGS, IS IT A GREAT THING IF WE SHALL REAP YOUR CARNAL (MATERIAL) THINGS?" (1 Cor. 9:11)

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