Research

Under God's Watchful Eyes

Description: An examination of the proposition that supranational organisations such as the UN and the IMF are the means for the new world order under the anti-Christ.
        Author: Dr. Ian Chia

UNITED NATIONS

Introduction
The world will soon enter into the next Millennium. As we approach the new Millennium, more and more people are beginning to believe that it may usher in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. As the Bible mentions about the emergence of the anti-Christ prior to Jesus' Second Coming, many have also tried to identify the anti-Christ. Some have pointed at the current Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) as their candidate for the anti-Christ.

"Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" (Matt: 24:3). Many see the happenings in our current world as the "signs of the times"; they include the Y2K, AIDS, the new digital cashless society and electronic implants which are said to be the "mark of the beast". While the signs superficially do seem to fit the prophecies of the Bible, Jesus emphatically stated "But of the day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angles of heaven, but my Father only" (Matt: 24:36).

Although we must be aware that new electronic inventions can be used or are already in use to manipulate and control man, and the trend could move us towards world dominance by a single entity namely, the New World Order, we have to rationalise that many of the supranational institutions had been created to stop man from destroying each other. They were created by collective consensus and not by some individuals or a single nation. The creation of the UN, for instance, is the consequence of the massive destruction of life and properties during the Second World War. The survival of man was threatened by the introduction of the atomic bomb. Unless men unite to solve our problems by more rational means rather than going to war, we will have to face the danger of total annihilation.

The question then is this: "Is the UN one of the tools in the master-plan of the anti-Christ to control the world through a so-called "new world order"? In the first place, the nature of any of Satan's evil plans is more likely to produce disorder, thus the so-called "new world order" should appropriately be called the "new world disorder".

The UN Structure
To answer that question, one has to look at the motives and circumstances that lead to the creation of UN and its agencies and try to piece together the fabric structure that makes up the UN today. The preamble to the UN Charter begins with the following:

"We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind and ... for these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace and security as good neighbours, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and ... to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,"

In the 54 years of its existence, UN has eradicated a number of major diseases and prevented the escalation of local conflicts to major wars. It has, however, failed to democratise its decision-making processes and has been ineffective in responding to regional outbreaks in war, economic crisis and natural disasters. With the veto still solely in the Security Council, its apparent weaknesses have been its inability to enforce UN Resolutions. Much of its weaknesses stem from the lack of commitment of its key members to ensure that the world system works. Some member countries, particularly the United States, refused to pay its annual subscriptions and this has hampered the UN from operating effectively. Structural weakness limits the scope of the Secretary-General. Under its current Charter, the Secretary-General's function is mainly as the top administrative officer. Despite the calls for a change, only minor changes to its Charter has been made since its establishment.

The amendments made in 1965 and 1968 include changing four Charter Articles:

  1. increasing the membership of the security council from 11 to 15,
  2. increasing the number of affirmative vote needed on procedural matters from seven to nine,
  3. increasing the membership of ECOSC0 from 18 to 27, and
  4. increasing the number of votes for the security council to convene from seven to nine.

Even with the amendments, the scope of responsibilities of the Secretary-General does not provide him with the power or the capacity to 'act as the anti-Christ'. In fact, the boldest Secretary-General todate was Dag Hammarskjold who took the initiative to prevent an outbreak of violence in Congo but he lost his life in the process.

The UN system itself limits the Secretary-General to act beyond the mandate of the General Assembly or the Security Council . The system in its current form is depicted in the official UN diagram attached. It consists of three kinds of intergovernmental organisations in varying relationships to each other:

  1. The first is the United Nations itself. It has six principal organs: the General Assembly which governs it; the Security Council; the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); the Trusteeship Council; the International Court of Justice (World Court); and the Secretariat headed by the Secretary-General.
  2. A second component comprises seven major specialised agencies. Governments with its own constitution separately established each of the agencies. Each has its own membership of states, its own governing bodies, its own secretariat with an executive head, and its own policies and programmes adopted by the government bodies.
  3. The third category is the technical agencies with its specific focus such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Universal Union (UPU), The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are two separate entities which co-operate with ECOSCO but they not under the control of the UN. The World Bank is a group of three institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the International Development Association. The common objectives are to help raise standards of living in developing countries by channelling financial resources to these countries from developed countries. On the other hand, the IMF is intended to function as the fledging central bank of the international community. It aims to promote monetary co-operation, expansion of international trade, exchange stability and avoidance of competing deprecations. It acts as a multilateral payment system and provides assistance to member-countries to correct balance of payments and maladjustments with minimum impact either on the national economy or international growth.

Man's Free Will
The record of the UN reveals that nations have not been united in the quest for world solutions. Man, by his nature, rejects regimentation or other forms of practice that robs him of his free will. The free will granted by God (Phil 2:13) is the factor which distinguishes man from other creatures. Even God leaves it to man to seek him (Matt 7:7). If He had given us no free will, we would have been robotic and Satan would have a free reign over us.

In the quest for peace, it is desirable that a world body exists for the expression of various interests and for generating consensus for the betterment of man through the common effort to fight evil, poverty and suppression in all forms.

In recent years, there have been various attempts to form a world parliament and to have a world government. In fact an organisation in the United States which calls themselves the World Parliament was formed in 1997. In the context of an anti-Christ who could use the UN as the base to dominate man, there seems to be moves to this end. Perhaps through technology, implants may become a means to manipulate and control others through the control of thoughts and thinking processes. But this will run contrary to man's basic nature. For contrary to common belief, men are not born equal. Although we may have the same physical attributes and bodily functions, we are born to different environment and influenced by different situations during growth. However, God has given us all opportunities. He may bestow even more opportunities and gifts to those who make good use of his gifts (Luke 19:26). The idea to standardise man and make him a human robot runs contrary to the basic nature of man. History has shown that all attempts to out-smart God, to dampen the human spirit and take away God's gift of a free will, cannot last for long and will surely fail. Slavery, communism, dictatorship and Nazism have all been tried and all have failed.

So long as man have this free will and the strong spirit provided by God, he will resist all temptations of submitting to any power other than to God. His free spirit will seek God and by his nature, he will seek a path through life towards God. It is only when he looses his free will or surrenders it to someone else other than God that a world dictator can arise to control him.

The United Nations System
Source: Erskine Childers, Renewing the United Nations System, Dag Hammarsk Jold Foundation, Sweden, 1994, p. 24

 

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Introduction
The 1997 financial crisis in Asia has brought the International Monetary Fund (IMF) into the limelight in our region. The solutions provided by IMF for South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia have not given the recipient countries much relief nor have they solved the financial crisis. On the contrary, the IMF's directives to stop subsidies and control spending have contributed to the unrest and riots in Indonesia and mass unemployment in all three recipient countries. As part of the loans to the recipient countries went to repaying the foreign lending financial institutions first, IMF has been accused of acting in the interest of Western bankers. When IMF responded immediately with instant loans to non-Asian countries facing a crisis, it was accused of only caring for the Western countries. In fact, a well-known professor at Harvard, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, even suggested that the IMF should be scrapped.

How has the IMF become such a tragic hero? Are the accusations against it valid? To be able to answer this question, one has to look at the reasons for forming the IMF, its achievements and failures todate and then examine its relevance in providing solutions to the world's problems today.

Background
Towards the end of World War II, the Governments of the Allied powers knew that the devastating impact of the War needed swift and decisive policies. Therefore, a full year before the end of the War, representatives of 44 nations met in the summer of 1944 in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA. The objective was to map out a post-war international monetary system. It was a difficult process. Although the conference was attended by over 40 nations, the main policymakers at Bretton Woods were the British and the Americans. John Maynard Keynes, the leader of the British delegation, argued that attempts to tie currency values to gold would cause inflation as most of the economies after the War were faced with enormous re-industrialisation needs. The American delegation led by Henry Morganthau Jr, US Secretary of Treasury, argued for stability and suggested fixed rates of currency and that the redemption of gold could only take place with the Central Banks of Governments.

The conference was divided into three commissions. One commission led by the USA was to organise a fund to be used for exchange rate stabilisation. The second commission chaired by Britain was for organising a second "Bank" for long-term reconstruction and development. The third commission was to consider other metal substitutes such as silver which may be used in the new financial system.

Following weeks of negotiations, a three-part Bretton Woods Agreement was agreed upon. It became the post-war new international monetary system. The new "system" called for:

  1. Agreement to fixed exchange rates termed as "adjustable pegs" among members.
  2. A bank for financing long-term developments projects. The bank became known as the World Bank consisting of three institutions - the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) established in 1945; the International Finance Corporation (IFC) established in 1956 and the International Development Association (IDA) established in 1960.
  3. An international organisation later known as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established in December 1945 with three main objectives:-
  1. Firstly, to administer a code of conduct regarding exchange sale policies and restrictions on payments for current account transactions;
  2. Secondly, to provide members with financial reserves to enable them to observe the code of conduct while they are correcting or avoiding payment imbalances; and
  3. Thirdly, to provide a forum in which members can consult with each other and collaborate on international monetary matters.

The IMF makes financial resources available to members with payment problems under a range of policies and facilities. In its lending policies, the fund is guided by two principles. First, members can borrow in any currency from the Fund's pool of currencies. A member borrowing another member's payment currency is expected to return as soon as payment problems have been solved, so as not to limit other members' access to the same currency. Secondly, before the Fund releases any money from the pool, the member must demonstrate how it intends to solve its payment problems, so that it can repay the Fund within its normal repayment period of three to five years (which can be extended up to 10 years in certain cases).

Each of the Fund's 181 member countries is represented on the Board of Governors, the Fund's highest authority, which meets annually. The daily business of the Fund is conducted by an Executive Board of 22 Executive Directors chaired by the Managing Director. The Managing Director is the Chief of Staff of more than 1,700 international civil servants from about 100 countries.

Membership in the IMF is available to any country willing to agree to its rules and regulations. To join, a country must pay a deposit, called a quota, 25% in gold and 75% in the country's own currency. The quota's size primarily reflects the global importance of the country's economy, although political considerations may also have some effect. The size of a quota is important for several reasons:

  1. A country's quota determines the voting power within the IMF. From time to time, quotas have been adjusted which have led to much political bickering among members.
  2. A country's quota serves as part of its official reserves.
  3. The quota determines the country's borrowing power from the IMF. Each IMF member has an unconditional right to borrow and draw on the Special Drawing Rights (SDE) which is an artificial reserve asset for member countries representing the resources available to each member in the event it was to draw on IMF Funds.

Additional borrowing is contingent on the country agreeing to the IMF's imposed restrictions called the IMF Conditionality. For example, the IMF required Indonesia to remove all its export subsidies, massive cuts on spending in Thailand and a reduction in domestic money supply or increase in interest rates.

The Crux of the Matter
Although the IMF Conditionality has the "financial clout" to force changes in a recipient country, it has not achieved its desired results. Radical changes take time and require an understanding of the sensitivities of the realities of political practices and structures. As most of the emerging countries are poor comparatively, a sudden denial of the money supply tends to starve the economy, leading to economic hardship and eventual violence in order to satisfy the essentials for living. The attitude of IMF is that of a strict, untrusting parent who is willing to provide food only when the child behaves in the way the parent wants.

Many of the heavily indebted countries have continued to suffer high rates of inflation and slow or negative growth. But unfortunately, most policies necessary for long-term economic stability (the reduction of inflation, reduced government deficits and exchange rate stability) cause increase in unemployment and reductions in the standard of living of the lower income group.

Despite its inability to solve the economic crisis, the IMF has important roles to play when it gets its objectives and mission right. There is a crying need for a world surveillance system that can guard against disruptions which could lead to massive destruction as a result of the massive instant flow or outflow of funds from country to country. The crisis in Asia and Brazil is a case in point. There is a need for a bank for emerging countries to help them develop its infrastructure and production capabilities. Alternatively, Asia, through its own regional grouping, needs to have its own regional intra-banking network with a common currency similar to the Euro.

Currently, there is strictly speaking no economic order in the world after the collapse of the Bretton Woods Agreement following President Richard Nixon's 15 August 1971 announcement that the US dollar would not be converted to gold at a fixed rate. Today, of the 177 currencies listed, 23 are pegged to the US dollar, 14 are pegged to the French franc and 37 currencies are pegged to another currency or a currency composite of their choice. There are 31 countries whose currencies are "managed floating" and the rest are classified as "independently floating".

While currencies float and technology advancements make it easier for currencies to be traded, currency disorders and financial crises can be expected to continue. Added to this are the resistances by the more developed countries to change. This is because the present economic crisis have not affected them as much as the poorer nations.

Our currency crisis is not a recent phenomenon. The difficulty in repayments of much of the capital that flowed into the world's developing countries began in the late 1970s. In the past two decades, many countries have joined the club of indebted countries. The debt crisis has worsened to the extent that countries such as Algeria has to pay 71.3% of its export income to debt servicing while Mexico pays 44.4% (see Table below).

Table showing Total Service as Percentage of Exports, 1992

Algeria

71.3

Pakistan

23.6

Mexico 44.4 Brazil 23.1
Hungary 35.6 Peru 23.0
Argentina 34.4 Venezuela 19.5
Indonesia 32.1 Egypt 15.5
Turkey 31.9 Thailand 14.1
Nigeria 28.9 China 10.3
Philippines 27.7 Poland 7.9
India 25.3 Korean Republic 7.4
Morocco 23.6 Russian Federation 3.8

Source: World Development Report, 1994

Solutions to the crisis have been both short and long term. First, the debtor countries needed additional capital immediately to avoid defaulting on the existing loans. Additional credit was immediately provided by the international organisations such as the IMF, BIS (Bank for International Settlements) and individual loans or advance export purchases by exporting countries such as the United States.

The continuing management of the debt service problems has gone through four stages:

Stage 1: Bailout Lending
The immediate liquidity extended by the IMF, BIS and others are only a temporary measure. The true solutions would require the restructuring of their existing debts which will require grace periods (before additional debt service payments), lower interest rates and extended maturities of repayments. It is critical that debtor countries are provided with so-called "bailout loans" to see them through the time required for re-negotiations.

Stage 2: Multiple Restructuring Agreements
These allow some minimal continuing flow of capital to the indebted countries.

Stage 3: The Baker Plan
The Plan proposed by US Secretary Baker in 1985 consisted three elements: a) be realistic in pushing for limits in austerity measures; b) solutions to the continuing crisis require not only debt reduction but also positive measures of promoting economic growth in the debtor countries; and c) the need for renewed lending by private banking institutions.

Stage 4: The Miyazawa- Bready Plan
The original plan of the Japanese Finance Minister, Kitchi Miyazawa, was to focus multilateral efforts in debt reduction. This was to be accompanied by dividing the outstanding debt into two parts: one part debt reduction; the other for debt interest payment guarantees. US Secretary of the Treasury, Nicholas Bredy, proposed that the IMF and World Bank would guarantee the interest payments on the second position of the outstanding debt, thus, shifting risk from the borrower countries to the institutions. Japan itself also serves as a major source of capital necessary for debt reduction.

Other solutions now involve debt swap programmes (debt for equity, debt for environment, debt for development, et cetera). The debt crisis is serious enough for the United Nations to establish a specialised body to look after this category of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).

Conclusion
From the history of events, it is obvious that the world does not really have a World Economic Order. The existing Order is a "free-for-all system" and many currency traders will continue to find loopholes and exploit the situation's weaknesses.

Among the few leaders who recognised our world's chaotic situation is our Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad. His focused and persistent reminder to stop currency traders exploiting the system have initiated leaders of the world to re-negotiate for a proper, more orderly, World Economic System. The current disorder must be corrected and new solutions need to be found among the regional groupings to solve their currency problems as a regional group. The concerted action of a regional group will find a more persuasive voice in negotiating with the G-7.

In the light of a world financial system that calls for a more responsible and responsive international bank of last resort, the question is whether the IMF can fulfil this role without any bias. The question is whether the IMF wants to be a world banker or not? To be a world banker, it must not be a foe-in-disguise to the poor countries. It must also be restructured so as not to be dominated by a few powerful nations.

All said, supranational organisations such as the UN and the IMF in their present forms have their structural limitations and operational weaknesses. For them to be used as a tool or base by the world dictator, such a person must be so tremendously powerful as to make very drastic changes in these organisations. Meanwhile, they remain under God's watchful eyes.

(Note: The views expressed herein do not reflect that of the United Nations Association of Malaysia, of which Dr Ian Chia is the Honorary Secretary- General, nor that of the opinions of the other public bodies on which he serves.)

 

References

Asia's Crisis: John Lipsky, Chase Manhatten Bank, NY, Finance & Development,IMF,June 1998

Chart of the UN: UN publication op/611

IMF Annual Report 1998: IMF, USA, 1998

Renewing the UN System: Erskin Childers and Brian Urquhart , Dag Hammarskjold Foundation

Signature of God: Grant R. Jeffrey

The Great Shaking of God: Pastor Norm Franz-The Elijah Report (Jan/Feb 1998)

The Regionalization of Asia: Pastor Norm Franz-The Elijah Report (May/June,1998)

Trade & Development Report 1988 UN, 1998



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