Signs of the Times

World Bankers Repent

Bro. Alan Eyre of Jamaica was recently a delegate to a meeting of the World Bank Group in Washington. The organizations in this group, consist­ing mainly of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, serve as bankers to the world, receiving deposits from the wealthier countries and loaning money primarily to the developing world.

Like Virtually all Banks, the policies of the World Bank Group have always been seen by the poor as hard-headed, strictly capitalistic and profit-oriented. Its “conditionalities” (especially those of the IMF) have been seen in the developing countries as ruthless and mean, “grinding the faces of the poor” so as to make the rich richer: a multibillion dollar rip off to benefit the rich, advanced western nations.

The World Bank in particular has always been notorious for funding projects that destroy, pollute or de­grade God’s beautiful world in the name of development. In fact, their literature (much of it now being qui­etly allowed to go out of print) abounds with capitalistic platitudes telling the world that such despolia­tion is the inevitable price we must all pay for “development” and mate­rial (meaning materialistic) prosper­ity.

A change of heart

Conferences of the World Bank Group frequently amount to pep talks by rich white western capitalist bank­ers to cringing suppliants from the poor world. Not this time, however, as the invited speakers were those known to have a conscience and to have rejected objective “value-free” science as irrelevant ignorance pos­ing as knowledge. There was open acknowledgement of past sins against God, His world, and His principles of justice and equity. And the World Bank Group leaders committed them­selves to change their ways. In the future, they will work tirelessly with receiving countries and entities to conserve the planet God made for His and our enjoyment, and, where pos­sible, endeavor to improve it.

The most far reaching and funda­mental change of outlook manifested during those three days was that the World Bank Group publicly declared it has abandoned the atheistic ratio­nalism and materialism that have made our home unfit to live in and beggared its peoples — excepting the few who have cornered most of the world’s wealth.

How has it come about?

The key has been the internation­alization of world science, econom­ics and knowledge. Until a few years ago, the Eurocentric, western atheis­tic and humanistic sciences and tech­nology of the affluent nations set the pace. These are bankrupt. They have led to the trashing and mining of the earth and perpetuating the impover­ishment of billions of people. The uselessness of so much supposedly objective and value-free research has been starkly revealed. Those who participated in this conference were even more literally “from every nation under heaven” than those in Acts 2. And they contributed a collective spiritual conscience, a determination to treat God’s wonderful world with care, and at least respect even the poorest of the poor.

Undoubtedly the tone of this movement is in part due to the qual­ity of the leadership given by the Bank’s President, Sir James D. Wolfensohn, a deeply religious obser­vant Australian Jew. He has mobilized funds for the poor and for the world environment as no other single man this century.

A wide ranging agenda

The problems faced are truly daunting. In three days scientists as­sessed World Bank projects in dozens of countries, dealing with issues as diverse and fundamental as ozone depletion, drought in the Caribbean, volcanoes, shanty towns, cloning, wildfires in Indonesia, crop losses in Zimbabwe, building roads in Nicara­gua, biodiversity in the Amazon, oil exploration in Ecuador, AIDS, the rapid resurgence of tuberculosis, air and road traffic in Hong Kong, brib­ery among communist officials in China and nuclear hazard in the Ukraine.

One dark cloud bears particular mention. The presentation on the environmental impact of genocide and the consequent refugee problem was utterly horrifying. I was given an aerial photograph of a refugee “city” of a quarter of a million in Africa, the world’s largest; a vast area of pristine rain forest with hundreds of irreplaceable endemic species has been devastated in a frantic scramble for fuel wood, building materials, even coffins for the dead. Yet more vivid was the scene showing thousands of refugees waiting to board a train sent to rescue them — only for the train to take them straight to an African “Auschwitz,” a death camp in the rain forest, the new killing fields of the 1990’s.

Sir George Alleyne, Barbadian Director of the Pan American Health Organization, warned that terrible diseases, new and resurgent, many of them spawned by our destruction of the wondrously balanced environment God has left in our trust, are right now positioned to ravage the world, and they will not distinguish between rich and poor. He warned that the biblical apocalyptic horsemen may be symbolic, but we in our generation grasp the reins that will hold them or let them loose.

An appeal from Genesis

Rabbi Joel Meyers spoke of pollution and environmental destruction as really sacrilege against the Name of God and the names of His creatures. He reminded us of a wonder­ful moment at the beginning of our world, recounted in Genesis, when the angel of Yahweh led a procession of birds and beasts to Adam and “brought them to the man to see what he would name them: and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.”

A man to rule the world

One vivid recollection will remain from this conference. Talking with deeply committed staffers and with sincere people from more than 100 countries left one abiding impression: just how widespread is the longing for a world ruler who will “rule from sea to sea… deliver the needy… take pity of the weak… save the needy from death… crush the oppressor…” (Psalm 72).

In September, U S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited the Middle East attempting to help bring the peace process back on track Many see this as an impossible mission

Iran

Although Albright didn’t venture into Iran, her first comments con­cerned that nation, and in particular, Iran’s stockpile of weapons On September 11, 1997 Reuters reported that “The United States has been concerned about Iran’s acquisition of weapons of mass destruction and their general behavior, Albright told report­ers on the second day of a Middle East peace drive.”

Israel has expressed the same concern “Iran is feverishly arming itself with ballistic missiles and seeking also to develop nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters after meeting U S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright He said most of their 70-minute meeting was devoted to discussing the ‘common threat’ to Israel and the United States posed by Iranian arms.”

Albright was quoted as saying “We had a discussion about the importance of what can be done to make sure that this region which is so important obviously to the Israelis and also to us not be exposed to greater danger” Although Albright was extremely professional in her comments regarding the Iranian threat, she realizes the impact that a strong Iranian nation can have on the Middle East peace process This realization stems from the fact that within the next 18 months Iran will have acquired enough ballistic missile technology so as not to require outside assistance in attacking Israel.

In addition, the Washington Times reported in early September, Russia and China were working closely with Iran to build long-range nuclear missiles that could be fielded within three years The newspaper quoted Pentagon officials as saying that a detailed Israeli intelligence report about the cooperation was provided to the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon. The report was said to confirm Iran is building two systems based on North Korea’s Nodong missile with ranges up to 1,200 miles It is interesting to note that the capital of Iran, Tehran is located approximately 1,000 miles from the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv.

Peace plan unraveling

The main purpose of Albright’s visit to Israel was an attempt to settle the differences between the Israelis and the Palestinians Albright arrived in the region Wednesday with peace prospects bleaker than at any time since Yassar Arafat and Israel’s late leader Yitzhak Rabin sealed the Oslo accords four years ago this week.

In a symbolic step Rabin’s widow, Leah, and Arafat signed (during Albright’s visit) a symbolic commitment to peace in the West Bank self-rule town of Ramallah, honoring the legacy of the assassinated Israeli prime minister “The train of peace right now is deeply stuck but the day will come when we hear the train roll,” Rabin said, reaffirming the Oslo accords Arafat and her husband sealed with a handshake on the White House lawn four years ago.

Substantive peace talks have been blocked since March, when Israel gave the go-ahead to a new Jewish settlement in the eastern part of Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967 but seen by Palestinians as the capi­tal of a future state. Two suicide bomb attacks by Muslim militants killing 20 Israelis in the heart of Jerusalem have widened the abyss. This combined with the failed Israeli retaliatory air strike into Lebanon have derailed the peace accord to the point where it is doubtful it will be brought back on track without some form of divine in­tervention.

Tough message on security

In an attempt to jump start the negotiations, Albright delivered a tough message on security to Arafat, saying the Palestinian fight against militants had to be comprehensive, relentless and sustained. “It cannot be pursued only when it is convenient to do so. As Chairman Arafat knows, fighting terrorism is a 24-hour-a-day job,” Albright said.

All 10 points violated

Can the peace accord every be saved? The current Oslo peace ac­cord lists ten obligations both parties must implement. These obligations include; cessation of incitement to violence, public denunciations of ter­rorism and violence, and confiscation of illegal weapons.

In August, Albright spoke at the National Press Club. During her speech, she pointed out that all ten obligations of the peace accord were not being upheld. In essence, she was stating that the accord is dormant and may become extinct unless all parties concerned work toward revitalizing the agreement. During the August speech, Albright remarks concerning terrorism were extremely pointed: “they fear that violence is being given a green light, or a yellow light, or a blinking light.. .what is essential for peace is an unceasing red. ..there can be no winks, no double meanings, no double standards…”

Such a condition will prevail when there is one King in Israel and in all the world. Only then will peace come to the troubled Middle East.

In July, the citizens of Russia came perilously close to being deprived of religious freedom The Philadelphia Enquirer reported on July 25, 1997 that “The religious groups’ growing popularity has alarmed the conservative Russian Orthodox Church and communists — who sparred throughout the Soviet era — and has driven them into an unlikely partnership With the church’s backing, the communist-led parliament last month overwhelmingly approved legislation that would give the state the power to revoke the legal status of most religious groups and monitor their services Under the proposed law, religious groups would have to work in Russia for 15 years before they could register, own property, set up bank accounts or perform other basic tasks” In other words, the Rus­sian Orthodox Church would be given a monopoly on religious beliefs throughout Russia.

President Boris Yeltsin vetoed the bill before it was allowed to become law As the Philadelphia Enquirer reported “President Boris Yeltsin set off a storm of opposition and recrimination last week by refusing to sign the bill — the first time he explicitly and publicly rebuffed the Russian Orthodox Church on a matter of na­tional policy”

The reaction of the Church was swift “Russia’s Orthodox Church warned President Boris N Yeltsin yesterday that his rejection of a bill restricting ‘nontraditional religions’ — Christianity and Roman Catholicism included — threatens the very structure of Russian society”

Even more interesting is the fact that this incident opens a rift between the state and the church, whose fortunes have otherwise been entwined since the collapse of the Soviet Union Before the veto, Patriarch Alexy, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, was an open supporter of Yeltsin Even before the collapse of the former So­viet Union the Patriarch publicly blessed him at his first inauguration as Russian president in 1990 Dur­ing last year’s hard-fought presiden­tial campaign, Alexy made a point of reminding believers of Soviet-era re­pression and urged them to “make the right choice” between Yeltsin and his Communist opponent.

The Associated Press reported on July 25, 1997 that “For his part, Yeltsin has given the church extremely high visibility, attending services at Christmas and Easter and incorporating Alexy into many osten­sibly secular Kremlin ceremonies, such as treaty signings The partnership was important for both sides the Russian state needed the legitimacy the church could provide, and the long-repressed church was eager to throw off its shackles and regain its stature” Today this union is shattered

The changing Church

The Russian Orthodox Church claims 80 million followers, or more than half of Russia’s population, and, with the government’s support, the Church has restored hundreds of its old churches which suffered decay during the communist era The battle over the proposed religion bill shows the post-Soviet church-state alliance has weakened During the past few years the government and the Church have grown apart For one thing, Yeltsin’s regime is now primarily re­formist, while the Church has moved into closer alignment with nationalists in the hard-line parliament, as shown by the strong vote supporting the religion bill.

The bill allied the Church with the Communists, its former atheist enemies Although the Church is enshrined in power at the top, it fears erosion of support from below, particularly from evangelicals and other religious groups with a strong commitment to conversion.

Quoting again from the Associated Press “Proselytism was illegal in Soviet times, so while the church was unable to campaign for converts, it didn’t have to fear that other churches would do so That has changed dramatically The number of Protestant evangelical churches has increased from 50 to 800 congregations in seven years Religious groups pass out leaflets at subway stops”

Patriarch Alexy argues that the law on religion is needed to protect Russians from “destructive pseudo religious cults and foreign false mission­aries” (as he would term the Christadelphians).

The battle of church monopoly is far from over Yeltsin called the bill an unconstitutional threat to religious freedom and had it sent back to par­liament with a suggestion to try again But leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church have demanded that parlia­ment send the measure back to Yeltsin as is If anything, one senior Church official said, the bill does not go far enough.

Veto override possible

While Yeltsin vetoed the bill last week, legislators have more than enough votes to override.

This incident in Russia is really nothing more than a microcosm of what might happen prior to our Lord’s return Church and State may once again unite in the hope of denying the Truth to true believers, or opposing the return of Our Lord Jesus Christ Right rule can only be achieved with the establishment of our Father’s Kingdom.