What Hand will Shape the 21st Century?–Part One
It is no secret that people and nations want to control future events. The mystery is how to know and understand the nature of future events and how they might be mitigated or even avoided. But can we know the course of human events, and can we change the outcome of world-shaping problems to arrive at a better future? The disciples of Jesus wanted to know about the future. Certainly, they wanted things to work out for everyone’s benefit and well-being. They were as concerned about their lives, and the lives of their families and friends, just as we are today. Nonetheless, the disciples knew that many things were out of their control, and Jesus confirmed this when he spoke of the “beginning of sorrows” that would catalyst greater problems for the world in the future, particularly before his second coming to set up the kingdom of God. The disciples, of course, knew what these events were, as most people would, because they had no doubt witnessed and experienced some of them, or at least heard about some of them, throughout the history of Israel. Now, these “beginning of sorrows” have been around since the foundation of civilization beginning with the fateful decision made by Adam. They are not something exclusive to the end of this world and they are not exclusive to any one nation or group of nations. They are, however, the very things that have changed and shaped the character and psychological outlook of individuals and nations throughout time. They are also what shapes people’s value systems. The “beginning of sorrows” are generally said to be wars, religious and political deceptions that cause conflicts, famine, disease and other natural disasters that continue to plague humankind with many problems (Mt. 24:5-8). Notably, any one of these events, or a combination of these events—deception, conflict, deficiency, natural disasters and disease—to a greater or lesser degree—can change the face of world civilization. They can bring down governments, change international boundary lines, eliminate populations, bring about homelessness and more, and their impact can be especially catastrophic on a globalizing world. Interestingly, the effects of these sorrows can, in part, define eras in human experience, particularly on a national level. They are something like a hand that can mold and shape the conditions of the world, and thereby influence the politics, economics and resources of nations. The long-term psychological effects resulting from these sorrows have motivated people to seek ways to stop or minimize the economic and consequent impact of these events and problems. This means seeking ways to maintain transparency, mitigate wars, prevent acts of terrorism, cure diseases and deal with natural disasters. Billions upon billions of dollars are spent each year to deal with such problems. The United Nations is an example of an institution that has been entrusted with the responsibility to mitigate or prevent these “sorrows,” and we currently see other organizations such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization attempting to play a role in dealing with these same issues in the world. So, to understand how these “beginning of sorrows” will continue to shape our 21st Century, leading to the events spoken of by Jesus, it is worth examining how these sorrows, this “hand,” shaped the 20th Century. When this hand moved in the 20th Century, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, it at one time brought the world into the grip of an unparalleled economic catastrophe—the Great Depression Now, a peculiarity of the Great Depression was not that there wasn’t work that needed to be done, or that there was not actually a total nationwide shortage of food, or that people were not willing to work, but the underlying peculiarity of the Great Depression was there was generally a famine of money. (The Dust Bowl that occurred in the southern plains of the United States in the 1930s and the migrations and disease that came with it did intensify the Great Depression.) In the period from the end of the 1800s to the early part of the 1900s there was relative calm and peace in the world. This situation, along with a stable economic system based on the gold standard, allowed for growth in the industrializing countries. Then came World War I. The economies of the world were disrupted, some were shattered. Britain had been one of the first to break from the gold standard, and it was no longer the supervisor of world trade when the war began. This economic situation set a precedent for what was to come later for other nations. After World War I, people wanted to go back to the days when life seemed better and simpler—and so they tried, but failed in many respects—because there were too many troubles with the world economy. Some national economies began to fluctuate from a general post-war boom to serious downturns. There was also the problem of national debts. Also, the world was a very different place after World War I. The boundaries of several European countries were changed. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken up into smaller countries, the map of Germany was redrawn and Poland became an independent nation. Then there was the eventual collapse of the Ottoman Empire and a reshaping and creation of States in the Middle East. The cost of rebuilding was unaffordable for many countries, and currency was devalued because of the accelerated printing of money. This inflation created an environment of economic instability. When this happens, confidence in government is abandoned. People begin to look for alternative solutions, even if those solutions are out of line with good judgment. (Examples are the rise to power of Benito Mussolini in Italy and, later, Adolf Hitler in Germany.) Consequently, after the First World War, the nations of Germany and France and England were not able to fully recover. Britain alone owed enormous sums of money to the United States. And the demands for war reparations were too great for some nations to bear. The United States emerged as