"Global Trends:15 Years in Advance?"

The National Intelligence Council (NIC) introduced Global Trends 2015 way back in the fall of 1999.

The purpose? To predict the future. (Yes indeedy, friends and neighbors, our tax dollars have been hard at work!) using the analysis of:

• academia
• think tanks
• the corporate world

Former CIA Director George Tenet launched this ambitious project enthusiastically declaring,

"Global Trends 2015, which takes a look at the world over the next 15 years (2000-2015) from the perspective of the national security policymaker. This is not a traditional intelligence assessment, depending on classified sources and methods. Rather, it reflects an intelligence community fully engaged with outside experts in a constructive dialogue about the future."

So far, so good. It truly is remarkably accurate (granted, they expected more global-warming than actually materialized, but at least there were no flying cars). Then...just as you think you're out of the woods...there's more.

Waaaay at the end, buried in the appendix, are four Alternative Global Futures...four Alternative Trajectories if you will.

Each scenario highlights "key uncertainties, discontinuities, and unlikely or 'wild card' events": from the use of WMDs to a global pandemic, we're sorry to say, none of these "alternative" scenarios bode well for the good guys.

But guess what gang--every one of these "wild card" events (and more) are suggested in Bible prophecy.

Like what, you ask?

Read Ezekiel 39:11-16. If that isn't describing a military protocol for burying bodies contaminated by WMD--#we'll eat our hats.

Zechariah 14:12 gives a very graphic idea of what may be the end result of using a modern weapon:

"...something so powerful and so sudden it will burn away flesh, eyes, and tongues while people are yet standing upon their feet." (from Atomic Bombs in the Bible).

Then there's Matthew 24 featuring:

• wars
• famines
• pestilences
• earthquakes

And that's just a small sample of coming attractions--time does not permit us to go into the book of Revelation or the many other prophecies detailed throughout Scripture.

Our point? If trends analysts and think tanks believe these "wild card" events are possible, how much more should we believe God's word?

"Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall become white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."  Isaiah 1:18

A wise man once said: "'The phrase 'Let us reason together' is a legal term.God is prepared to pardon our sins if we repent and turn to Him. He can forgive us based on the payment for sin in the death of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." -- Andrew Hill, Ph.D.

News:

• Associated Press: Russia appeals for calm as crisis forces it to cut budget amid surging inflation; country faces worst economic downturn in 15 years.
• Forbes: Layoffs Hit Oil Companies; Enormous Shock in Texas Economy Expected
• Reuters: "Global economic outlook glum despite cheaper oil," International Monetary Fund warns; nightmarish deflationary spiral may loom.