Doctrines and Practices of the Church
The Witnesses
Part 2

Will the Witnesses Focus on the Deception of Humanity?
     There is a serious problem with the Christian, and thus, the world view about how Satan will actually deceive the world. Various accepted theories about this include numbers of satanic antichrists and false prophets, an individual Antichrist convincing the world he is actually the real Christ, or hoards of evil aliens who are backed by Satan, either attacking or befriending mankind in a deceptive plot to woo church members from the flock. The variations are as numerous as the minds contemplating them. What the Bible says about the deception of mankind is very specific and completely clear; it is the global corporations at the heart of the deception. This is covered in-depth in our research called Humanity Incorporated, but it all hinges on two very obvious biblical references.
    ♦  The first reference is to, what is commonly known as, the "Mark of the Beast", and is described in the Revelation:
     "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:16- 17)
     Although the mark is often characterized as a sign of loyalty / worship for the Antichrist, we see no indication that this is connected to worship in the verses describing it. Instead, we see a direct, and very specific, explanation of the real purpose of the mark. It is for the purpose of buying and selling; what we now use money, checks, money orders, and debit and credit cards for. We now give all those various forms of money to businesses. The mark is also global and indiscriminate in its use; required for all peoples, regardless of social or monetary status, to conduct any form of financial transaction. We can assume that this means all businesses, both small and large. The major corporations are now controlling the vast majority of all forms of business, and this marking system can be seen as primarily benefiting large corporations. Considering the vast majority of small businesses rely on major corporations for the goods they sell or the raw materials for manufacturing, even that sector is directly controlled by those corporations. The first reference directly attributes the most specific prophecy in scripture about the world control of humanity to corporations.
    ♦  The second reference can be found in a series of little known scriptures found in the 18th chapter of the Revelation describing how big business will react to the collapse of the global financial system. Here are excerpts of those verses specifically naming corporations, with the first being a prophecy that anyone will easily recognize as the current state of affairs between corporations and the world's governments, whether they think it beneficial, or detrimental:
     "For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." (Revelation 18:3)
     At first reading, the last part of this verse shows that the merchants getting rich. We know the global corporations are rich, but the beginning of the verse implies they became rich over sexual sin. A closer look at the words wrath and fornication casts a more relevant light on the prophecy. 'Wrath' is taken form the Greek word thumos pronounced thoo-mos', which simply means passion, and the word 'fornication', from the word porneia, pronounced por-ni'-ah, which does mean harlotry, is also commonly used in a figurative sense to mean idolatry.
     If the verse is read with these meanings, a more logical concept is revealed; "For all nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her idolatry". No one will argue that global corporations are passionate about exploiting the marketplace to the maximum. Idolatry is defined by Merriam-Webster as 1: the worship of a physical object as a god, or 2: immoderate attachment or devotion to something. Promoting the obsession for the possession of physical objects is at the core of all marketing strategies. Fostering strong attachments and devotion to things is a basic philosophy of advertising called "branding"; not far in its reality from "cattle branding" in the ranching industry. Placing religious, political, sports and entertainment figures in the "idol" category is a major aspect of the social fabric and, at the time of this writing, one of the most popular shows on television in the U.S. is actually called "American Idol". Creating the desire to possess, and promoting the images to worship, through a blitz of commercials and media attention, is the vehicle used to mentally and emotionally addict the public to their products.
     The concept of the "kings of Earth", the governments, participating in the promotion of the corporate control of humanity by conditioning them to a dedication to a life focused on possession and consumption, could not be more obvious. A list of the members of the Administration branch of the most powerful nation on Earth, the United States, reads like a "Who's Who" in the upper echelons of the corporate world. The figures at the core of that Administration are, of course, known supporters of the philosophy that corporations should actually control the country. And, no single event could more attest to that philosophy than the immediate edict of the President of the United States to the 9/11 attacks that the only way the American public should respond to this disaster was to take to the malls and go shopping. He was obviously more concerned with the effect on the economy than the horror of the attack and the true effects on the people he governs.
     When we see the corruption in the corporate world going unpunished, the rampant destruction of the environment being justified as necessary for economic growth, the unfettered control over the rapid rise in prices for goods and services completely ignored, and the obvious control of the people's representatives in government through lobbying, another word for extortion and bribery, the above cited verse takes on a new light.

     "And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:" (Revelation 18:11) "The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing," (Revelation 18:15)
     The importance of the downfall of the world's global businesses is emphasized throughout this chapter. This point alone, the fact that an entire chapter in the Revelation is devoted to global business, should attest to the relevance of the control of corporations over the world at the end of this era. It becomes particularly relevant in the last verses of this chapter.

     "And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth." (Revelation 18:23-24)
     Here the various mistaken concepts of the "Great Deception" of the end times; the many satanic antichrists and prophets, an individual Antichrist, or even the evil aliens, meet stark biblical reality. The great merchants, now known as corporations, are directly tied to the deception of the entire world. As a note worth considering; the word "men" in the 23rd verse was added by translators. The phrase "great men" is taken from the plural of the Greek word megistos, pronounced meg'-is-tos, which means greatest or very great in a generic sense, not specific to men.
Many people now actually believe that there is a conspiracy by the corporate world to control every aspect of our lives.
     Consider the following realities involved directly with the very fact that you are able to read these words:
♦  These words are being typed on a keyboard and using a mouse; both with the prominent logo "Microsoft", using a "Microsoft Word" document, and it will be entered into a program called "Microsoft Front Page" for uploading to the web. Microsoft is a corporation.
♦  The computer that facilitates the whole process is manufactured by Compaq, a corporation; it is powered by electricity from Pacific Gas and Electric, a corporation, and is assembled from parts supplied by several other corporations.
♦  The web page these words appear on will be uploaded to a web host, which is a corporation, through an internet connection provided by Comcast, another corporation, to a website that is accessed using a web address purchased through yet another corporation.
♦  All of those reading these words can trace the way those words got to them through several more corporations.
♦  It should be noted that this work is not incorporated.
     Without paying several corporations, the publication of these words would not be possible. If everyone would simply look around in their individual worlds, their possessions, the activities they participate in and virtually every aspect of their lives, they would realize this is not a conspiracy of corporate world control. The conspiracy is history, the reality is here; every aspect of our lives is being controlled by corporations. Put in the simplest of scriptural terms, we can see how the unfettered greed of the corporate mindset and actual laws governing corporations is the epitome of evil as described in the Bible: "For the love of money is the root of all evil:.." (1 Timothy 6:10). The dedication to wealth and possession of wealth is the cause of all evil and corporations are not only completely dedicated to this, they have programmed the entire world to think that this is the highest ideal humanity can achieve and the most worthy goal to pursue. Is this not only the greatest deception in human history, but also the most obvious?
     While Jesus clearly said it is harder to get a rich man into the Family of God than to squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle, we are conditioned, from cradle to grave, to obtain as many possessions as possible, and to follow the capitalist ideal religiously. The imposition of capitalism, under the deceptive name "democracy", throughout the world, is now the stated goal and major focus of the most powerful nation on Earth.
     Since Satan is the great deceiver, he tried to kill Jesus at his birth, (Rev. 12:5), and he attempted to deprive mankind of its ultimate destiny by his temptation of the Christ, is it any wonder that he is again involved in a full blown attempt to deceive mankind and presumably lead it to its own self-destruction? We do know that a dire warning is given if the deception in place is not stopped. When asked about when he would return at the end of the age, he began his description by saying "Take heed that no man deceive you." (Matt. 24:4), describes those times and the events to watch for, and predicted that, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved:" (Matt. 24:22)
     No doubt, the two witnesses will loudly decry the deception of the corporate world as the greatest power Satan is using to blind humanity to its ultimate destiny, which is the salvation Jesus died for. This will immediately garner the wrath of the corporations who will try to have them destroyed.