YET FURTHER EVIDENCE OF THE ACCURACY OF BIBLE PROPHECY AND THE APPROACH OF THE END OF THIS AGE
“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,” Revelation 18:23.
This is the headline and the opening line of an article in ‘The Irish Examiner’ of 4th September 2023.
The synthetic opiate is 50 times more powerful than heroin and has killed thousands in the US
It clearly indicates how that ‘drug smuggling’ has almost attained to the status of a legitimate business activity. What used to be called ‘smuggling’ is now referred to as ‘importing’! The ‘drug business’ rivals the largest international commercial enterprises. It is reported that such evil activities involve vast sums of money.
A United Nations publication of 1998, ‘Economic and Social Consequences of Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking,’ states that:
“With estimates of $100 billion to $110 billion for heroin, $110 billion to $130 billion for cocaine, $75 billion for cannabis and $60 billion for synthetic drugs, the probable global figure for the total illicit drug industry would be approximately $360 billion. Given the conservative bias in some of the estimates for individual substances, a turnover of around $400 billion per annum is considered realistic.”
These activities of the illegal (on paper anyway) suppliers of ‘street drugs’ can be reported in newspapers yet the police forces of the world cannot really do anything to stop their activities.
Another headline, this time in a British newspaper, heralded the truth of the growing acceptance of this illegal practice. We’ve surrendered on drugs – and not one MP will fight it – (Daily Mail-2nd September 2023). There is the following statement in that article: “But the police and courts do nothing to prosecute the serious crime of drug possession, the only proven way to combat the problem.”
There has always been the use of drugs, from the ‘legal’ alcoholic beverages which lie at the centre of a world-wide business empire, to the use of such drugs as opium by wealthy Victorians.
But never has there been such a universal usage as is currently the case. Even children have been entrapped in this evil undertaking, both as ‘workers’ in the distribution of them and addicts!
I say that this ‘phenomenon’ is foretold in the Word of God. In the beginning of this article, I quote Revelation 18:23. We have there a statement regarding the capital of the Antichrist’s empire, the city Babylon, yet to be rebuilt.
Verse 10 of this chapter, records the cry of the merchants who will thrive under Antichrist’s brief reign: “Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.” That judgment will bring to an end their mercantile activities. Amongst those activities there was that of “sorceries” by which “all nations (were) deceived”.
The word ‘sorceries’ is a very important and informative one, the implications of which can be easily overlooked. The Greek word translated ‘sorceries’ is pharmakeia. It is the word from which we have our English word ‘pharmacy’. The Greek word carries the meaning of ‘the use or the administering of drugs’!
In other words, these antichristian merchants, will be engaged in a trade whereby “all nations (within Antichrist’s domain, are) deceived”, or ‘caused to stray, led astray, led aside from the right way’. (more…)