The catchy chart topper seems to be about changing the world—and our world definitely needs changing! But a closer look reveals more of the same old sins that have made the world what it is today. Isn’t it time to fight for true values?

“We are young,” declares the song. It speaks of young people who plan to set the world on fire. The words are simple, and the music is very catchy, with a heavy beat and an unadorned rock-and-roll appeal.

Fun?

I first heard it on the radio, as I lazily let the NPR culture feature pour out of the car radio. I’d not heard the song before, but I quickly learned that it was No. 1 on the Billboard charts at the time (as I write, it’s dropped to No. 2), that the band was simply named “fun.,” and that the success of the song had caused quite a stir since the artists were virtually unheard of prior to their early March arrival.

Boom-boom-boom. “We are young.” Like so many heavily rhythmic pieces of music, it reverberated in my head. Top of the charts! Rock and roll 2012 style! Simple vocals, and apparently not even any guitar!

I kept turning over the lyrics in my mind. Young people who want to set the world on fire. Young people whose youthful energy would be turned to making the world a better place. Pretty idealistic. Admirable, in a way.

Reanalyzing

Or so I thought. Silly me! When I dug a little deeper, I discovered the song wasn’t about reforming the world at all. It wasn’t even about setting the world on fire by climbing the corporate ladder in the business world or by making lots of money like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Via the Internet, I read and reread the lyrics, and then read a perceptive analysis by Andrew Unterberger of the meaning behind the words. Whoa! Or perhaps woe! I was soon disabused of my idealistic fantasyland assumptions.

Sex, drugs and violence

The song includes references to heavy drug usage, as the singer’s friends are in the bathroom “getting high.” Domestic abuse is hinted at, with reference to a scar inflicted maybe months earlier.

Perhaps the farthest it goes in exploring the deeper things of life is the reciprocal request that someone would drive the singer home that night, as he gets too inebriated to function, or that he would drive home his potentially very drunken companion.

Add in a good streak of sexual innuendo, and you come up with a pretty disappointing mix—not at all the world-reforming ambition I first imagined.

Sad reflection

Thankfully, the words present a stereotype, not a “one size fits all.” Not all of our youth limit their goals to getting as high as the Empire State Building or filling their system with so much alcohol that someone has to carry them home. Not all. But some. Too many.

A song like this is a sad reflection of influential currents in North American and Western youth culture.

Values confusion

What is happening to our value system? How have so many (not just the young) become cut loose from traditional Judeo-Christian values that were once accepted by the culture?

As we question and pick apart values such as rejection of narcotic drugs, shame associated with drunkenness, and the sanctity, centrality and value of healthy families, our popular culture has come to reflect the confusion.

Fighting for true values

Thankfully, there are kudos for some brave souls who are pushing back:

• Families that educate their children in true values, in spite of the winds in the culture and the pressures of 21st-century living.
• Educational institutions that still make a place for true values, based on the inspired Source of those values.
• Peers, young people, true friends who stand up for what they know to be right.

They’re still there; yet at times they seem to be fighting a losing battle.

Destroyed for lack of knowledge

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children,” God said many centuries ago (Hosea 4:6).

It sounds prescient, doesn’t it? Fitting for this 21st century.

Reprise

To be young. To plan to set the world on fire. It’s a fine goal to change the world—with right values. It’s a particularly excellent goal for young people, who have their lives ahead of them. It needs doing. Urgently!

Ralph Levy is a minister of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, and instructor at Foundation Institute, who grew up in England and now lives in the United States. Dr. Levy enjoys reading, travel and foreign languages. He has a Ph.D. in biblical studies and has worked in foreign language and religious education for much of his life.

For more about music and about true values, see:

• Drop the Beat
• “They’re Playing Our Song!” Helping Children Build Right Relationships With the Opposite Sex
• More Important Than Life Itself

News reports have exposed some companies that place profit above proper treatment of people. How challenging is it for businesses to be their brother’s keeper while also trying to maximize quarterly profits?

A purely profit-motivated business owner will probably identify with the following model of success:

1.      Find an in-demand skill or product.

2.      Sell the skill or product for as much as customers are willing to pay, regardless of its inherent value (garage sale and yard sale veterans are very familiar with this).

3.      Advertise the product to the public and make changes in pricing due to public reaction.

How many other business owners, on the other hand, are motivated by the following?

1.      Make sure the product is honestly advertised in all aspects.

2.      Make sure the product does not take advantage of destructive or unsafe weaknesses in others.

The two styles can be hard to combine. Many businesses, defending their products, such as alcohol or junk food, make a strong case that people should have the right to pick what and how much they eat or drink. The consumer has a personal role in the process. It is the consumer’s responsibility to inspect products and decide whether (and if so, how much) to purchase based on wisdom.

However, what happens when products and services are geared more toward profit and less toward love of others? In today’s depressed economy, this can be a tempting way to do business.

Selling soda

In a recent piece on soda’s part in the rampant obesity seen in America, the author details a study that, to no one’s great surprise, identifies high sugar content as unhealthy. In the article, the vice president and chief scientific regulatory officer of one major soft drink company stated, “Our products are part of a balanced, sensible diet, and they can be enjoyed as a valuable part of any meal, including snacks.”

Part of a balanced, sensible diet? Valuable part of any meal? Statements such as these make many wonder if profit is being placed before logic.

The article revealed that one 20-ounce regular soda contains 227 calories and that about 25 percent of Americans drink at least 200 calories from sugar-filled beverages a day. Since that amount is around 10 percent of total calories for healthy weight maintenance (for adult females), that means 10 percent of what the official called a “balanced, sensible diet” seems to be pure sugar.

Even drinks with low-calorie artificial sweeteners have been consistently linked to obesity.

The profit-first approach says, “Make our product part of your daily diet. It’s valuable.” (Buy more of it.)

The concern-for-others-first approach says, “Enjoy our product occasionally as a treat. It’s unhealthy to have regularly.” (Buy less.)

Selling rehab

Fortune recently wrote about a particular health-related company that is involved with addiction treatment centers, or “rehab.”

The CEO points out that the size of his group—with over 150 sales representatives versus their competitors’ 10 to 20 reps—could help out more addicts. The Fortune article suggests that this company actually makes rehab a lucrative business (a monthlong stay costs about $30,000 per person).

However, the article continues by highlighting alleged profit-over-quality issues: using a cookie-cutter approach to patients, “an assembly line of recovery,” and sacrificing care for revenue/profit. Penalties such as fines and lawsuits have been launched in an attempt to have the situation rectified.

Trying to grow a business out of the need for rehab—a service in which the goal is to help someone stop using the service (break free from addiction)—may not be successful in the long-term. That is, unless the goal becomes less about breaking free from addiction and more about making money.

The profit-first approach says, “We want our care to be available to and needed by more and more people.” Goal: Gain customers.

The concern-for-others approach says, “We want rehabilitation to work and benefit our customers.” Goal: Lose customers.

Well-being or profit?

God makes it clear through the Bible that we should take the well-being of others into consideration in business and private life. In Philippians 2:3, the apostle Paul states, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

Of course, each person individually makes the choice to overindulge in types of food or drink, or get involved with drugs—but that doesn’t mean that God ever intended other people to take advantage of those weaknesses for profit.

Proverbs 13:11 says, “Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, but he who gathers by labor will increase.” This reveals that we also make the choice to conduct business by honest labor or by dishonesty.

There are some business executives who are responsible and actually care about the customers they are servicing. Imagine if all people were to actually care about the well-being of others in every respect.

Will that ever happen? According to the Bible, yes. It’s called the Kingdom of God. For more information about this wonderful time and how it will come, see our booklet The Mystery of the Kingdom.

Eddie Foster, a school speech-language pathologist, and his wife are members in the Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.

In a surprise move, Benjamin Netanyahu formed a national unity government with rivals to the left and right. How will this affect the Middle East? When will peace come?

Middle Eastern politics took an unexpected turn on Tuesday (May 8) as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surprised political observers by announcing the formation of a broad-based political coalition.

In an unanticipated move, the centrist Kadima party was brought into the government, under the leadership of its newly elected leader Shaul Mofaz. Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition now includes parties from the center left to the extreme right of the Israeli political spectrum and commands a virtually unchallengeable majority of 94 seats in Israel’s 120-seat Knesset (parliament).

The move to a unity government removes the need for national elections, which had been expected in early September.

Strange bedfellows

They say politics makes strange bedfellows. It has been only a few weeks since Mr. Mofaz was elected leader of the Kadima party, replacing former leader Tzipi Livni as head of the centrist opposition to Mr. Netanyahu. After being elected, Mr. Mofaz was quoted as firmly rejecting any coalition: “No, Kadima under my leadership will remain in the opposition. The current government represents all that is wrong with Israel, I believe. Why should we join it? We will be a responsible opposition” (haaretz.com, March 30, 2012).

Earlier he had harshly criticized Mr. Netanyahu, going so far as to call him a liar: “Israeli citizens must know that they have a lying prime minister” (haaretz.com, Jan. 16, 2012).

Yet politics is politics, and now Mr. Mofaz has been named deputy prime minister in a broad-based government that includes religious parties, small parties to the right of Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud, as well as Mr. Mofaz’s Kadima party.

Preparing for an attack on Iran?

It has not escaped the attention of observers that there are now three former army chiefs in the government: Shaul Mofaz, the new deputy prime minister; Ehud Barak, defense minister; and Moshe Yaalon, the minister for strategic affairs.

Israeli politics have often coalesced into national unity governments with former military leaders in positions of influence when the nation is threatened or about to take action against its enemies. This has heightened speculation that the new unity government presages an attack on archenemy Iran.

Yet on this there is uncertainty. Israel’s political establishment has presented anything but a unified front on attacking Iran. Mr. Mofaz earlier this year sought to distance himself from Mr. Netanyahu’s hawkish position on Iran, stating that an attack on their nuclear facilities was only a last resort, after economic and diplomatic moves have failed.

“Netanyahu’s irresponsible statements implying that something has to be done within a few months create a bad reality,” he declared in an interview with an Israeli newspaper (haaretz.com, March 30, 2012). Others share his reluctance. Both Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, and Shimon Peres, who occupies the largely ceremonial role of president, are on record as being reluctant to support immediate military action.

Israel, the Palestinians and peace

In spite of the uncertainty on the defense front, the Israeli economy continues to perform well, notching an impressive 4.6 percent increase in GDP in 2010. Its technology, defense and tourism sectors continue to perform well. Ironically, its economic well-being has spread to the West Bank territories now administered by the Palestinian Authority, which have also experienced growth, reaching a reported 9 percent in 2009, higher than in neighboring Israel.

Yet in spite of economic improvements, not all is well in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship, with the “peace process” all but moribund and frustration on both sides. At the time of writing, Israeli jails are reported to hold some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners who are on hunger strikes and demanding improved conditions.

With the formation of the new national unity government, some Palestinian leaders began to call on Mr. Netanyahu to return to the negotiating table. “‘We are hoping that the coalition will be in a position to come back to the negotiating table, bearing in mind that the coalition has a wide base of support,’ said Muhammed Shtayyeh, a member of the Palestinian negotiating team” (“Surprise Alliance Resets Israel Policy,” The Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2012).

Yet the prospects for peace still look dim. With the situation in Egypt still unstable and explosive and an increase in support for Islamist groups there and in other Arab nations, it looks as if time is running out.

The Jews in prophecy

What does Bible prophecy tell us about the destiny of the Jews in the last days? Perhaps our best source on that topic is the Old Testament book of Zechariah, which traces the relationship between the Jewish people and their Creator, as well as their prophetic destiny.

Zechariah tells us of a time of great trouble for the people of Judah, when Jerusalem and Judah will be almost strangled by their enemies. Yet divine intervention will save the Jews from extinction at the hands of enemies (Zechariah 12:2-4).

Once God does that, there will be a wholesale change of heart among the Jewish people: “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (verse 10).

Make no mistake: political alliances will not save either the Jewish people or the Middle East generally. Only really turning back to God will do that.

Lasting peace will come!

This part of the world will yet see even more suffering and bloodshed, and no real peace, apart from the lasting peace that will eventually come with the “Prince of peace” Himself (Isaiah 9:6). But come it will!

“And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in both summer and winter it shall occur. And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be—‘The LORD is one,’ and His name one. …

“The people shall dwell in it; and no longer shall there be utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited” (Zechariah 14:8-9, 11).

We look forward to that day!

Ralph Levy is a minister of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, who grew up in England and now lives in the United States. Dr. Levy enjoys reading, travel and foreign languages. He has a Ph.D. in biblical studies and has worked in foreign language and religious education for much of his life.

For more about Israel, the Middle East and peace, see:

• Is Israel Going to Bomb Iran Within Months?
• How Will All Israel Be Saved?
• Keep Watching the Middle East!
• World Peace: Is It a Possibility?

Socialist party leader François Hollande is the new president of France, replacing conservative Nicolas Sarkozy. This election may well have significant repercussions not only for the future of France, but also for the future of Europe.

Newly elected French President François Hollande is promising a major change in France’s response to the economic crisis. Outgoing President Nicolas Sarkozy had worked closely with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to put Europe’s fiscal house in order through drastic reductions in deficit spending and moving toward balancing national budgets as means of obtaining International Monetary Fund and European Union bailouts.

These measures, known in Europe as the “austerity” approach, have been painful to national economies and workforces that have depended for many years on massive budget deficits. In other words, many European nations have been living largely on credit, borrowing money to support gigantic government sectors (state jobs, entitlement and welfare programs).

The bill is coming due, and many feel the price is too high. They are flocking to politicians who tell them “someone else should pay.”

A wave of anti-austerity

Mr. Hollande ran on an “anti-austerity” platform, claiming that the emphasis needed to be placed on “growth” (read: more deficit spending). He used the vocabulary of class warfare, claiming famously at a Socialist party rally that the problem was not massive state overspending but the financial industry: “My true enemy has no name, no face, no party. He will never stand for election and will never be elected. Despite all this, he is in charge. My enemy is the world of finance.”

The election revealed an ominously fractured French society. In the first round of elections (France has two rounds of elections for president; the first round is used to reduce the field to two candidates) both extreme left and extreme right parties garnered large percentages.

The Communist party and left-wing radicals took 11 percent of the vote. The extreme right National Front party won 18 percent, a record for the far right in a presidential election. These results represent a rise in local and nationalistic demands.

The election results in France, and a similar rejection of “austerity” parties in Greece, call into question the future of the current European Union. Europeans were promised peace, stability and prosperity in exchange for melding their various nations into the larger union.

Now the stability and the prosperity are proving to be a chimera for many, at least for the foreseeable future. Many voters are turning away from the lofty ideals of a European superstate and demanding leaders to “make the pain stop now!”

The European ideal may well have to be reconfigured.

Europe in Bible prophecy

Bible prophecy predicts a world-dominating political and economic union to exist just before the return of Jesus Christ. This union will be an avatar of the Roman Empire that dominated Europe for centuries.

The imagery of Daniel chapter 7 speaks of four great successive empires. The last and most powerful of them is Rome. The Western Roman Empire fell in A.D. 476, though it was resurrected a number of times in the form of the Holy Roman Empire—a union of European kings and the Catholic Church.

Interestingly, Daniel 7:21-27 shows this fourth empire will be active at the time of the return of Christ. There will be a resurrection of this politico-religious union in Europe prior to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on the earth.

Parts of Revelation 17 mirror the prophecy of Daniel 7, showing a city built on seven hills that “reigns over the kings of the earth” (verses 9, 18), which will produce a great king who will attempt to make war on Jesus Christ at His return (verses 13-18).

A number of cities in the world claim to be built on seven hills, but few can claim to reign over “the kings of the earth” and none in the manner of Rome.

How do we get from here to there?

Since the near destruction of Europe in World War II, there has been a consistent and growing effort to unify Europe, and certain world trends have opened the way. The cold war partition of Europe, a great obstacle to European union, ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. A dedicated bureaucracy of European technocrats, often unelected and unaccountable to the voting public, continually push in the direction of a United States of Europe.

It is likely that the kind of union mentioned in Revelation 17 will not ultimately come about in stable, peaceful times but will be forged in a time of crisis that would force normally democratic Europeans to voluntarily give their allegiance to autocratic leaders. In that context, it is interesting to consider the rise of the extreme right in Europe.

Still, the end-time union will be fragile. Daniel 2:43 says of the end-time European Union that the parts “will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.”

Fleeing toward a strong union

A number of these elements are at work today: a chaotic world scene, especially the world economy, is forcing Europeans to “flee forward” toward stronger union. But nationalistic elements are also tugging strongly in the other direction. Iron and clay don’t easily coexist.

Our world is unlikely to grow quiet and stable in the years ahead. The rise of radical Islam antagonistic toward the Western world, the increasing spread of technologies of weapons of mass destruction, the potential for world health emergencies, the chaos of a highly integrated world economy that no one fully understands or controls—all contribute to the likelihood of world crises the likes of which the world has never yet seen.

These will force European nations together in their culminating union. And this, in turn, will be a clear sign that the establishment of the Kingdom of God is very near.

Joel Meeker is the regional director for French-language areas for the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. He and his wife lived in France for nine years.

For more on what’s ahead for Europe in Bible prophecy, see:

• Greece: The Burning Question
• Coming: A United States of Europe!
• Is a “New Europe” on the Horizon?

The war of words and policies goes on between those defending the richest 1 percent and those exposing the plight of the 99 percent. Words like hatred, jealousy and greed are thrown back and forth at whim. Could the Bible, of all places, provide some insight in this area?

The issue of income disparity between the richest of the rich and the rest of us has come to a boiling point in the last year. Although the Occupy Wall Street movement has faded, the discussion continues.

The 99 percent versus the 1 percent in the media

On the side of the 99 percent, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) has reported that average CEO pay at several companies is now 380 times that of average Americans. In other words, some CEOs made $12.9 million a year while the pay of a typical worker was $34,053. (More statistics highlighting income disparity are on the AFL-CIO website.)

On the side of the 1 percent, Nina Easton of Fortune magazine bemoans the constant attacks on the 1 percent in a recent opinion piece. She illustrates that there are many factors that contribute to income disparity, including whether there are two incomes in the family, whether people have highly marketable and in-demand skills, and whether they continue their education past high school.

She concludes, “It’s entertaining to wail about fat cats and the greedy rich. But if we’re serious about addressing widening inequality, we should figure out what the 1% is doing right—and apply some of those ideas to closing the gap.”

Typical views

Those bravely taking up the flag of the gallant, abused 99 percent generally support these views:

1. The 1 percent cheats and is greedy and immoral.
2. The 1 percent uses the 99 percent to get more money, and it’s the 1 percent’s fault others don’t have more.

Those eagerly defending the plight of mistreated millionaires generally support these views:

1. The 99 percent is jealous, is too lazy and unmotivated to attain more wealth, and is immoral.
2. Members of the 99 percent don’t know how much they are benefitting from the rich and should make better choices.

The 99 percent and the 1 percent from the Bible’s perspective

Actually, the Bible presents some challenging teachings regarding wealth for members of both groups, especially if they claim to be Christian.

It is interesting to ponder that if these biblical attitudes were in full force today, there might not be such a rift and hatred between the rich and poor.

To the 99 percent

As for the 99 percent, notice Philippians 4:11-12: “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”

The apostle Paul makes it clear that Christians should not let the wealth of others affect their state of contentment. Being content both while prospering and while suffering need requires an attitude of gratitude toward God that seems to be sorely lacking today.

Also look in Matthew 6:32-34: “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Following God’s way and putting it as the priority in our lives may not bring vast human riches, but it will bring peace of mind and the promise of something greater than money—the Kingdom of God. (To learn more about this, see The Mystery of the Kingdom booklet.)

To the 1 percent

As for the 1 percent, notice 1 Timothy 6:8-10: “And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

The warning continues in 1 Timothy 6:17-19: “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”

Avoid the traps

In summary, the Bible makes it clear that Christians on either side of the spectrum are not to fall into the traps of coveting (jealousy), greed (seeking massive amounts of wealth for selfish purposes) and lack of contentment with the gifts of God.

One of those gifts is the opportunity to be a part of His coming Kingdom—a priceless gift beyond what the 99 percent or the 1 percent can even imagine!

Read more about it in The Mystery of the Kingdom booklet.

Eddie Foster, a school speech-language pathologist, and his wife are members in the Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.

For more about the conflict between the 1 percent and the 99 percent and other economic issues, see:

• Occupy Wall Street? What’s the Real Solution?
• Why All the Riots in the Streets?
• The Money Mess
• Economic Stability Is Coming!

One of my daughters saw the The Hunger Games movie and told me it was really exciting. There wasn’t time for me to see the film before I left on a long trip through Africa, but I decided I would read the book while traveling, so I downloaded the novel to my Kindle before I left.

Reading The Hunger Games in Africa

Ironically, I started reading the book in the Congo and finished it in Rwanda. Why is that ironic? If you don’t already know, read a little farther.

The novel is certainly well-written and exciting. But as I followed Katniss Everdeen through her story—from the misery and hunger in district 12, where she struggled to feed her family by poaching, to the merciless ordeal of the Hunger Games, where teens are forced by an oppressive government to kill other teens in order to win a televised game and survive, to trying to figure out her feelings for two different boys who offered different qualities in the middle of the horror and chaos—I kept thinking to myself: This is real life today for thousands of teens and preteens.

My thought was confirmed at the end of the book in the blurb about the author. It states that she “continues to explore the effects of war and violence on those coming of age.”

Child soldiers

It is a sad reality that in quite a few countries in the world, children have to begin working or scavenging quite young to contribute to the family food supply. And in several nations involved in armed conflict, young teens and even preteens are “drafted” into armies or paramilitary organizations.

A recent UNICEF report gives a list of countries where this has occurred in the last decade. The list includes Afghanistan, Burundi, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Uganda.

I just traveled through three of those countries and saw some of the destruction firsthand. Hundreds of thousands of young people have been affected. In some cases boys are forced to kill to avoid being killed themselves, and young girls are forced into becoming sex slaves for soldiers. It’s repugnant.

Sure, it’s exciting and fascinating to watch or read about The Hunger Games as fiction in a dystopian future. But it’s shocking and depressing to hear about such horrors in our dystopian present.

Why would adults abuse children that way?

The answer to that question is tragic but not complicated: Adults use child soldiers because they want to win. They want to defeat their enemies or to win power and wealth, and they decide “the end justifies the means.” So young people, who should be nurtured and protected, become nothing more than objects, the disposable means to an end.

The Proverbs state, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Actions can seem reasonable to human beings in given circumstances, but the results are often tragic and horrific.

This is nothing new. Human history is a litany of terrible abuses of human beings of all ages at the hands of other human beings. We sometimes speak of “man’s inhumanity to man,” but if we’re honest, it’s all too human to be abusive toward our fellow human beings. The Roman Plautus wrote some 2,200 years ago: homo homini lupus—man is a wolf to his fellow man.

Is there a solution?

We can all be grateful that there is a solution, and one that is sure to come—in time. But the end of the real-life Hunger Games won’t happen as a result of UN action or better education or more “humanity” toward people. In fact, the solution will come as a result of less humanity.

Paul’s epistle to the Galatians underscores what comes naturally to human beings, and it’s not pretty. The list includes hatred, jealousy, sexual obsessions, rage, ambition and selfishness (5:19-20).

Man won’t stop being a wolf to man until that fundamental human nature changes. And it finally will change on a worldwide scale with the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth at the second coming of Jesus Christ.

One of the promises that accompany Christ’s return is a change to the human heart: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

The cruel, insensitive, selfishly hard heart we see so often today will be replaced by kindness, care, compassion—in a word, love. This level of love can only come from the Spirit of God. Galatians 5:22-23 describes the wonderful results—the fruit of the Spirit of God in action.

When that change occurs, the real-life Hunger Games will finally come to an end—forever.

Joel Meeker is the regional director for French-language areas for the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. He travels and works frequently in Africa.

For more about man’s inhumanity and God’s solution, see:

• Invisible Children, Criminals in Hiding: What Can We Really Do?
• Humanity’s Track Record of Inhumanity
• Is Evil Becoming Normal?
• A New Heart
• The Mystery of the Kingdom

God’s message can be summarized by the word

We see and hear bad news every day. Here are just a few of the troubling trends we’ve been following in this News and Prophecy Blog:

• Is Israel Going to Bomb Iran Within Months?
• North Korea: More Plowshares Into Swords?
• Syria Lurches Toward Civil War
• Arab World in Crisis: Where Will It Lead?
• Could the United States of America Be Bankrupt and Ungovernable by 2016?
• Europe Edges Toward Disaster

We feel these and other trends are important to watch in light of Bible prophecy. But why?

Good news

Why watch all the bad news? Because Jesus Christ said it would be a prelude to the best news ever!

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

Jesus said this good news about the Kingdom of God would be preached worldwide before the end of this evil age and His second coming (Matthew 24:3).

This is good news because it means He will intervene to prevent the self-destruction of humanity: “And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22).

It is also very good news because it means humanity will finally learn the way of peace and will begin to live by the beneficial laws of God. Consider this description of the wonderful world that God’s Kingdom will usher in:

“Many nations shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

“He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

“But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken” (Micah 4:2-4).

The gospel of the Kingdom of God

This was the hope that motivated the apostle Peter at the beginning of the book of Acts. Peter preached powerfully about a time of refreshing for this war-weary world and a restoration of the perfect world God created:

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:19-21, emphasis added).

This wonderful world—the Kingdom of God—is also the message all of the prophets of the Old Testament proclaimed and longed for.

And when we turn to the end of the book of Acts, we see that the apostle Paul was still “preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him” (Acts 28:31).

It’s interesting to note that the book of Acts does not end with the word “Amen,” as most other books in the New Testament do. Perhaps this is a reflection of the fact that the story of God’s Church and its mission to preach this good news continues. As Jesus said, His followers will continue to preach this message of hope until His return.

What should we do?

The gospel is the best news this troubled world could hear. But it is not good news to those who reject it.

The good news of the Kingdom of God requires a response. In His first recorded proclamation of the good news, Jesus Christ said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

Repentance is not a passing remorse, but a major, life-changing U-turn from going our own way to a full commitment to learn and obey the rules of that better world—the Kingdom of God.

Belief—faith—is necessary, or we would never commit to such a drastic transformation.

You need to learn more about the Kingdom of God. Take the time to read and, if possible, download and save or print out our eye-opening booklet The Mystery of the Kingdom. You will want to study this booklet—and especially the inspiring scriptures covered in it. You need this good news!

Mike Bennett is a writer and editor for the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, and he attend the Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio, congregation with his wife, Becky.

An inspired dream 2,600 years ago laid out the course of history from then onwards. This foundational Bible prophecy especially gives us hope for the troubled time just ahead of us now.

You could say a lot of things about the most powerful leader in the world six centuries before Christ. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was arrogant, hot-tempered, extremely powerful and used to getting his own way. But no one would have accused him of being a prophet of the God of Israel.

Yet the Bible records that one of God’s most foundational prophecies was given to this pagan king in a dream.

Nebuchadnezzar’s challenge

The dream was so vivid and troubling that King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to know right away what it meant. He called all his pagan wise men together and told them to give him the dream’s meaning on threat of death. He also offered great rewards to whoever gave the meaning, but he was astute enough to realize that they would be tempted to just make something up. To be sure they were giving him the real meaning, he said they also had to tell him what he had dreamed.

“The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, ‘There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh’” (Daniel 2:10-11).

King Nebuchadnezzar was not used to hearing “no,” and he didn’t care what other kings might have done. He “gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon” (verse 12).

Daniel in danger

Daniel and his three friends, captives from Judah, apparently hadn’t been called to give an answer, but the king’s decree still demanded their death!

Daniel and his friends sought God’s mercy, and God revealed the secret to Daniel in a dream. Daniel’s prayer of thanksgiving is a beautiful masterpiece of pure praise and an example for us all. Please take time to read it in Daniel 2:20-23.

Daniel faces the king

The king asked if Daniel could tell him the dream and its meaning. Daniel didn’t take the credit. In fact, he agreed with the wise men who had said no man could do this.

“But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days” (verse 28). These latter days are also referred to as the last days, the end of the age and the time of Jesus Christ’s second coming (2 Timothy 3:1; Matthew 24:3). Christ’s return to save humanity from self-destruction will come after the Great Tribulation, heavenly signs and the Day of the Lord (Matthew 24:21-22, 29; Joel 2:30-31).

All of these events are major themes of prophecies throughout the Bible, and all point to a time just ahead of us now in human history.

The beauty of the prophecy in Daniel 2 is that it gives an overview of a succession of empires that would rule on the earth and ends with a striking message of real hope—a powerful promise for us today.

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image

After describing the huge statue Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream, from its golden head to its iron and clay feet, Daniel gave the dream’s meaning.

The statue’s golden head represented Nebuchadnezzar himself (verse 38).

The chest and arms of silver represented the next major empire to come on the scene after the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians.

The belly and thighs of bronze we know from history as the Greco-Macedonian Empire.

The legs of iron and feet partly of iron and clay represent the Roman Empire and its successive revivals all the way to the return of Christ. The 10 toes of iron and clay show that the last revival of this European superpower will be “partly strong and partly fragile” (Daniel 2:42).

Hope for our future

It’s interesting to consider that Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom was likely the best of these four world-ruling empires, since God says the succeeding kingdom was “inferior to yours” (verse 39) and the value of the metals decreases further down the statue. The implication is that, as cruel and ruthless as Nebuchadnezzar was, things would only get worse till the end.

But thankfully the end of man’s misrule will signal the beginning of a wonderful new world.

“And in the days of these kings [the 10 kings represented by the 10 toes; these are also described in Revelation 17:12-14] the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (verse 44).

For more about the wonderful, peaceful Kingdom of God that will be established at Jesus Christ’s return, see our beautifully illustrated booklet The Mystery of the Kingdom.

Mike Bennett is a writer and editor for the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. He and his wife Becky attend the Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio, congregation.

For more about Bible prophecy, see:

• Understanding End-Time Prophecy
• Is a New Europe on the Horizon?

Another valiant effort at peace negotiations appears to have failed in Syria, and fighting has claimed victims in Turkey and Lebanon. When will real peace finally come to Syria and the entire trigger-happy Middle East?

As the April 10 deadline passed for Syrian troops and heavy equipment to be pulled from cities, towns and villages, “Activists reported shelling in Homs and areas of northern Aleppo province, and unrest in the capital, Damascus” (BBC).

Meanwhile, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said his country was withdrawing some troops, blaming “armed gangs” for the continuing violence.

“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said most cities were relatively calm on Tuesday after heavy bloodshed in recent days, but reported no clear sign of troop withdrawals.

“There were no immediate reports of action by fighters of the rebel Free Syrian Army, whose commanders have said they will order a ceasefire only if they are satisfied that Assad’s forces have indeed pulled back and stopped offensives” (Al-Jazeera).

As this is being posted, the Guardian is reporting, “Syria has announced it will cease military operations from Thursday morning in line with plans by Kofi Annan for a ceasefire after political negotiations to end the bloodiest crisis of the Arab spring.” However, the article acknowledges that “the prospects for success are privately rated as slender to nonexistent.”

Spilling into Turkey and Lebanon

The Wall Street Journal reported, “Fierce fighting in Syria poured over two borders on Monday [April 9], all but dashing hopes for a United Nations–backed peace plan and spotlighting the conflict’s potential to ensnare neighboring states” (“Syria Fight Spills Over Borders,” April 10, 2012).

On the border with Turkey, Syrian soldiers battled rebel fighters, killing two Turkish officials and others in a refugee camp on the Turkish side of the border. This sparked outrage and even talks of NATO involvement, since Turkey is a NATO member.

Also, “a cameraman for a Lebanese TV station was shot dead by Syrian troops while he worked in northern Lebanon near the border with Syria,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

Have these events sealed the fate of the peace plan?

The peace plan

What was the peace plan? After intense negotiations on the international level (to avoid vetoes by Syria’s friends on the UN Security Council, Russia and China) and between the warring parties, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had hammered out a peace plan.

The BBC summarized the peace plan this way: “Under the peace plan—negotiated by the UN and Arab League’s special envoy on the Syrian crisis, Kofi Annan—Syrian troops were to have completed their withdrawal from population centres and stopped the use of heavy weaponry by Tuesday, ahead of a full ceasefire coming into place on Thursday.”

However, Syria made new demands on Sunday that many international observers felt confirmed their skepticism of Syria’s commitment. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called the cross-border violence “just another indication that the Assad regime does not seem at all willing to meet the commitments that it made to Kofi Annan” (The Wall Street Journal).

The BBC’s Jim Muir in Beirut, Lebanon, wrote, “Everybody recognises the Annan peace plan went as far as anybody could go in providing a balanced, peaceful political solution. If this doesn’t work it’s very hard to see how any other plan could.”

More fighting coming in the Middle East

Sadly, in spite of the best efforts of many well-intentioned diplomats and leaders, real peace remains elusive in Syria and across the Middle East. Age-old feuds and animosity between religious and ethnic groups, sects and tribes continue to simmer and flare up.

The Bible says this of the natural human condition: “Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known” (Romans 3:15-17).

Jesus Christ warned that wars and rumors of wars will continue until humanity reaches the brink of destruction (Matthew 24:6-7, 21-22). The climax of end-time events will include conflict between a European power and a Middle-Eastern power (Daniel 11:40-41).

At the very end, armies from around the world will gather at Armageddon in preparation for “the battle of that great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:14-16).

How peace will finally come

Ironically, it is through this final battle that peace will finally come. The deceived nations may not realize they are trying to fight against the returning Jesus Christ, but all their weapons will be useless against the Son of God. They will be totally defeated, and the survivors will learn to recognize the futility of war.

Jesus Christ will then teach the way of peace—the loving way of life outlined in His beneficial laws. When the Ten Commandments are taught and really practiced, peace will result.

For more about what to look for in the Middle East today and about God’s way of peace, see:

• Syria Lurches Toward Civil War
• Keep Watching the Middle East!
• World Peace: Is It a Possibility?
• Peacemakers, Peacekeepers and the Search for Real Peace

Mike Bennett is an editor and writer for the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. He and his wife, Becky, attend the Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio, congregation.

Worries about our supply of oil make the headlines all the time. Will water shortages become an even bigger crisis? What is the real solution for this thirsty world?

“The Truth About Oil,” says the cover of the latest issue of Time (April 9, 2012). The article looks at the breakthroughs that are allowing oil companies to tap “extreme oil.” The record high price of crude oil has made it profitable to pursue ever-deeper offshore drilling and to try new technologies to find and extract oil from previously inaccessible places.

Delaying the inevitable

These breakthroughs have delayed the shortages that experts have long predicted. But “demand for oil is still rising—set to grow 800,000 barrels a day this year despite a still sluggish global economy” (Time, p. 30). And the amount of fossil fuel buried in the earth is not going to increase. The lines of increasing demand and limited supply will inevitably cross.

Currently, countries like the United States are benefiting from the new techniques, which are helping reduce oil imports. “Americans spent $331.6 billion—the size of the entire agriculture industry—on oil imports last year, up 32% from 2010. Cutting imports keeps that money in the U.S., reducing the trade deficit that hit $560 billion last year” (Time, p. 34).

But can the United States really achieve energy independence in a globalized economy? When the U.S. owes the world trillions of dollars, can it really claim independence? God says, “The borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7).

Volatility

In our interdependent and dangerous world, oil prices seem sure to stay high and to be volatile.

The world doesn’t have to run out of oil to have a disastrous oil crisis. Conflicts in oil-producing regions will continue to cause panic in the markets and fluctuations in the prices.

What if Iran does block the Strait of Hormuz? What if Russia uses its oil and gas supplies as a weapon? Unrest in countries like Iraq, Libya and Nigeria fuels worries about future disruptions in oil production.

Can Saudi Arabia fill the gaps?

In the past, Saudi Arabia was able to ramp up production to make up for disruptions. “At one time or another, the Saudis have been called upon to replace exports from Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and, most recently, Libya,” wrote Jim Krane, who researches Gulf energy policy at Cambridge University (“The End of the Saudi Oil Reserve Margin,” The Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2012).

Mr. Krane believes Saudi Arabia is becoming less and less able to fill such gaps, partly because of skyrocketing demand at home. “Saudi Arabia now consumes more oil than Germany, an industrialized country with triple the population and an economy nearly five times as large.”

What are the implications? Mr. Krane concluded, “America’s Middle East confrontations have long depended on Saudi spare capacity. Without it, as the faceoff with Iran already shows, Washington—and the world—will be less free to intervene in the region without raising gasoline prices at home.”

Worries about water

Oil may be the lifeblood of the modern world economy, but another developing shortage is even more worrisome. In many areas of the world, access to clean, fresh water is approaching a crisis level.

Even T. Boone Pickens, who made billions in the oil business, has said the fossil fuel era is over and that water is the new oil (“There Will Be Water,” Businessweek, June 12, 2008).

New intelligence reports highlight the dangers of our water woes:

“Competition for increasingly scarce water in the next decade will fuel instability in regions such as South Asia and the Middle East” (“U.S. Intelligence Says Water Shortages Threaten Stability,” Bloomberg.com, March 22, 2012).

“North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia will face major challenges coping with water problems” such as shortages, poor water quality or floods, the intelligence report said.

“Annual global water requirements will be 40 percent more than current sustainable water supplies by 2030, according to a 2009 report by the 2030 Water Resources Group, a World Bank–sponsored collaboration.”

The real hope for a thirsty world

Behind the looming oil and water crises are multiple stories of mismanagement, lack of wisdom and human greed.

Beyond that is the fact that humanity as a whole has not recognized the source of all of our resources. The Creator God is the One who provides rain in due season and gives us the power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 28:12; 8:18). But He makes it clear that ultimately these blessings are dependent on our obedience to His beneficial laws. God looks for righteousness—obedience—from people of all nations (Acts 10:34-35). When we ignore God and break His laws, we bring penalties on ourselves.

God warns: “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you” (Deuteronomy 28:15). Among the curses are drought, hunger and thirst (verses 24, 48) and worse.

God also uses physical thirst as a metaphor for humanity’s underlying problem—spiritual dehydration. He freely offers the real solution to those who will repent and draw close to Him:

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters,” God offers (Isaiah 55:1). As Jesus Christ put it, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

But the Bible warns that humanity will continue to pursue unrighteousness instead, bringing this world to the brink of destruction (Matthew 24:21-22). Thankfully Jesus Christ promises to return and save us from ourselves. Then, as His way of living spreads around the world, physical and spiritual blessings will spread as well (Isaiah 11:9).

What can we do?

What can we do now? The apostle Peter said, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things” (Acts 3:19-21).

Refreshment and restoration—that’s what this thirsty world really needs!

Mike Bennett is a writer and editor for the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, and attends the Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio, congregation with his wife, Becky, and their two adult daughters.

Related reading:

• What Is Repentance?
• Rumors, War, Oil and What They Will Cost Us
• The Mystery of the Kingdom