We have entered a new era.
As Carl Sagan once put it, "We have grown fat and lazy and careless."
There is no turning back.
Sylvia
Are we entering a new era?
by BurnTheShips 23 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Doubting Bro
I think we are probably towards the end of the US superpower reign. Civilizations rise and civilizations fall in terms of world importance or relevance. The US will likely enter into its worst depression and my opinion is that its going to take at least a decade to recover.
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abbagail
Yes, agreed, on the question.
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BTS wrote re: China:
"Incidentally, an army of millions of sexually frustrated young men would probably be unstoppable."
FWIW, that very thing (millions of Chinese men w/o enough Chinese women to marry) is often the explanation by some Bible prophecy teachers for what will account for the "two hundred million" army of horsemen of Revelation 9:15,16 and the "kings from the East" of Rev. 16:12:
9:15,16: "So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of the horsemen [was] two hundred million; I heard the number of them."
16:12: "Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared."
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I don't know, though... if you continue reading chapter 9:17-19, it doesn't sound like a description of "normal" Chinese soldiers... unless they end up wearing lion/dragon-like military headpieces that can emit bursts of fire and smoke...
"And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses [were] like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three [plagues] a third of mankind was killed -- by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails [are] like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm."
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As for chapter 16:12, you know the WT used to say (and maybe still does-?) that the "Kings from the East" applies to "Jehovah and Jesus" but I don't buy that either. In this case I think it literally could be ALL of the "kings" from the ALL of the Eastern/Asian countries heading to the Valley of Megiddo for Armageddon.
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Back to chapter 9:15,16, this author gives some interesting "logistics" problems as to why the 200 million army of horsemen cannot be a Chinese army: http://www.aoreport.com/mag/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=272&Itemid=6
But the Chinese army is growing just the same per this global elite Heritage Foundation report from 2007:
A Chinese Military Superpower?
http://www.heritage.org/Research/AsiaandthePacific/wm1389.cfm
And this current wiki article gives an idea of their current total personnel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Liberation_Army
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"The PLA is the world's largest military force, with approximately 3 million members (see List of countries by number of total troops: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_total_troops ), and has the world's largest (active) standing army, with approximately 2.25 million members (see List of countries by number of active troops: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_active_troops ). The PLA comprises five main service branches consisting of the PLA Ground Force, PLA Navy (PLAN), PLA Air Force (PLAAF), Second Artillery Corps (strategic nuclear or missile force), and the PLA Reserved Force."
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vs. this older report from year 2000:
http://www.comw.org/cmp/fulltext/iddschina.html
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" In 2000, the total estimated personnel strength of the Chinese military is 2.5 million, of which 1.8 million are in service with the PLA (ground forces)."
[...]
Anyway you look at it, 7 million max army personnel at present for China is a long way from 200 million, even if you combined ALL of the military personnel from ALL of the Eastern/Asian countries (which I don't feel like doing, but here's China alone)...
People's Republic of China, per wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_active_troops
China's Armed Forces, CSIS (Page 24), (PDF) (2006-07-25):
Active Service Personnel - 2,255,000
Reserve Force - 800,000
Paramilitary - 3,969,000
Total - 7,024,000
You could then add the Republic of China/Taiwan:
Republic of China (Taiwan)
290,000
1,653,500
22,000
Total: 1,965,000
Those two combined only brings it up to approx. 9 million.
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And LOL at ninja. -
Finally-Free
guys,guys......calm down......you are starting to sound like them conspiracy theorists.........he he
Just starting? W