The Real Reset

We hear a lot of calls today, not from the grass roots but from the top down, for a “great reset”. It’s touted as the only solution to runaway inflation, an economy that’s out of control and looks likely to collapse, getting the climate back to where it should be, and rampant cyber-theft.

Resetting the financial system might sound inviting to those of us who are in debt nearly to the point of bankruptcy. But some see in it just another arm of a big conspiracy out to ruin us all. When I read the official web site on the subject, I came away thinking that, as usual, the reality is probably somewhere in between, so we have to analyze it from all sides.

There are some admirable spin-offs from this effort, such as the push to take responsibility for the consequences of our consumption, rethinking whether our definitions of “success” have gone too far, and aiming for more humane and humanitarian outcomes rather than merely profit margins. What it involves could be rather laudable if taken in the right direction. Minimalism can be a very healthy and liberating lifestyle. Putting limits on consumerism is wise and even Biblical: “Devoted holiness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Tim. 6:6) As Yeshua himself said, “Beware of covetousness, because a man’s life does not consist in how many things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15) Sometimes “less is more”, especially when simpler living is chosen for the sake of being able to give away more to others who are in need. (Eph. 4:28)

Of course we also want a sustainable world, free of pollution. We all want clean drinking water and would rather our resources be free and renewable. The Great Reset intends to ride the momentum of the pandemic that did reduce the carbon footprint into a “new normal”, while forgetting how many livelihoods the lockdowns ruined.  

But nowhere near everyone agrees on the “facts” about climate change. A great many scientists are saying, “Put the brakes on this knee-jerk reaction to limited data, which does not recognize longer-range views that show it is part of a natural cycle; one volcanic eruption can cause more atmospheric change than the whole history of human contributions have.” How much of the “science” has been rammed through without proper vetting, like the coronavirus vaccines, in the service of the rich getting richer? Financial trends make one wonder whether the economy is being deliberately allowed to careen toward a crash so that a reset appears to be our only option. Might this be a political ploy to co-opt our noble aspirations to allow a power grab that would never be possible without putting it in altruistic terms?  

Klaus Schwab’s take on the Great Reset was, “You’ll own nothing but you will be happy!” Assumedly there would be a benevolent financial dictator providing “universal minimum income”. But that is coming from a man who certainly will not “own nothing” if this gets pushed through. The elites never make the same sacrifices they ask the people who can least afford them to make. 

And don’t imagine the proposed transition would be seamless and without glitches; until alternative energy sources can maintain the same level of reliability as what is working now, dropping fossil fuels too quickly will cause many people to fall through the cracks into abject destitution. Solar and wind power only work when the sun keeps shining or the wind keeps blowing; they simply do not produce as much as we use. I know; I have solar panels and they have never been able to exceed our usage, and I keep my thermostats at levels that many would call unrealistically low!  

And owning nothing sounds suspiciously like Communism warmed over. As Chuck Mangione sang in Children of Sanchez, “Without land, man never dreams, ‘cause he's not free; all men need a place to live with dignity.” When we have something to call our own, we do have more confidence, both perceived and practical, not to mention leverage against those who would cheat us.  

Private property is condoned and even endorsed in Holy Scripture. (Deut. 15:4, 19:14, etc.) Think the Jubilee (Yovel) year, which truly was a reset—with all land going back to its original owners. (Lev. 25:9ff) And restitution for what is stolen, lost, or poorly cared for strongly implies that you owe someone for in any way diminishing what he has rightfully earned. (Ex. 22:1-15) YHWH knew that in a world where people increasingly take advantage of others, without such a reset, the poorest would become totally disenfranchised with no hope of recovery.

The only time owning nothing and having all things in common has ever worked was when the king whose throne is founded on not only justice but righteousness was the primary factor. It can work when it is voluntary and based on the right foundation, motivated not by coercion but by love and commitment to one another.  But even then it was not self-sustaining; the Jerusalem community that pooled their resources when many who owned properties in outlying countries decided to stay in the Holy City after that pivotal Shavuoth of Acts 2 still ended up running out of food and needed donations from the congregations growing among Gentiles who were eager to share their resources because they were experiencing the true reset of that time.  

Some who felt threatened by that paradigm shift cried, “These people who are turning the world upside down have come here too!” (Acts 17:6) But that was actually a compliment to those whose impact was clearly making a difference, though what they were really doing was turning the world back rightside up! It was a jubilee of a deeper sort. This kind of standard must govern any consideration of a reset.

Where Does it Lead?

Greatreset.com recommends “opening ourselves to the pornography of change” and its White Paper is full of unapologetic profanity. Such descriptions make it hard to take seriously as mature writing, but do we even want to get on that kind of bandwagon? They seem not to even notice the offensiveness of their words to polite and decent folk anymore, despite all their calls to stop offending obscure populations (though we should do that too). It seems that the sensibilities of majorities don’t matter to them. The advertising arm of the Great Reset is called Purpose Disruptors. Does that not expose a subversive intent? Just whose purpose do they really want to undermine?

Could this just be another instance of the “great rebellion” that started soon after the beginning of time, when someone else wanted to disrupt a pristine world that had been judged to be “very good”? Leaving “well enough” alone at that point would have been the wisest course of action, but someone had tasted power and we know what that does. He could not accept the judgment for his attempted coup, and like one whom he later lured into what logically follows from hate, could not master what waited at the door (Gen. 4:5-13), so he set out on a millennia-long rampage to ruin that very good world just because it was made by his nemesis, whom he would not admit was in the right. Purpose disruptor indeed, and we all bear the brunt. He promises freedom, but what we actually experience is more bondage.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed a digital I.D. without which one could not buy food or gas, pay bills, or even own a cellular phone! That would certainly be a reset, but would everyone really benefit? It seems more like an unimaginably vast monopoly in which no dissenter can survive! Schwab himself writes of “the fourth industrial revolution” (after steam, electricity, and computing) in which the lines between "physical, digital and biological spheres" have become blurred. This “fusion of technologies” includes "fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage and quantum computing."

This seems like the perfect setup for what prophecy calls “the mark of the Beast”, which many think will be something like a computer chip implant (possibly even more imperceptibly integrated with our minds and muscles) because it says it will be “in” one’s right hand or forehead, “so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark…” (Revelation 13:16-17) It would not take a very big step from the forehead scanners used during the coronavirus pandemic or the bar code scanners that supermarkets have used for decades to scanning an internal “bank” and licensing system that would forever do away with lost credit cards or identity theft.

Daniel gives us even more clues as to what form this may take. The Beast’s reign is likened to the feet of iron and clay of the statue in Nebuchadnetzar’s dream. We are told that “they shall mix themselves with the seed of men.” (Dan. 2:43) We aren’t sure whether the admixture is with Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), something more like what went on in Genesis 6, or something still more bizarre that we don’t even know about yet. The “blurring of the lines” could result in it being difficult to tell anymore whether human rights apply to someone, because it would be unclear whether he or she or it was totally human any longer. And would robots have rights to make decisions that can trump their human creators? Beastly, for sure! What we do know is that the mixture of iron and clay is very unstable; these materials cannot adhere to one another for very long, as the angel went on to remind Daniel. This actually turns out to be extremely good news.

Clay is often an idiom for mortal flesh (Isa. 64:8; 2 Cor. 4:7) and iron is clearly a metal. Might it even include silicon, which was not yet known when that was written (at least in microchip form)? Could the “Beast” be some hybrid between man and computer? Might this be why carbon (a key component in our bodies and critically necessary for trees themselves to thrive) is being demonized, and silicon so overemphasized?

A.I. is one way in which humans now want to try to become “immortal” but only by passing on the “software”, not the hardware. They want to make something in mankind’s image that can supposedly outlast us and be the “next stage in human evolution”—a conscious saltation that we ourselves create.

But mortality is one of the limitations the real Creator put on the world as soon as it had fallen. Why is this good news? Because in His mercy He temporarily prevented access to the one thing that could circumvent mortality (Gen. 3:24) since fallen humans were in no condition to be immortal. This was not a state that He would allow to last forever. He would get mileage out of it still, but it is no place to settle. But eventually people forgot there was ever anything else, and thinking death had always been the norm, “they became vain in their imaginations…
 Though asserting their wisdom, they became foolish, trading the glory of the incorruptible Elohim for an image resembling perishable man.” (Romans 1:21-23) Perishable man. Corruptible, mortal man. That’s the best they could do.  

We, on the other hand, on whom the Messianic Age has already begun to break in, are offered the option of carrying the image of a now-immortal man instead. The Inventor has offered a solution to mortality that really resolves it. Trying to grab it in a way He did not initiate instead of submitting to the “manufacturer’s protocol of repair” is clearly part of the Rebellion.  

Revelation tells us that at some point it will get out of control: those who receive this “mark” will be plagued with a painful disease from which they cannot die (16:2)—an indication that this desired immortality has backfired? And at some point they will become unable to repent of their choice to participate in this system (14:9-11) which cannot help but eventually implode, being founded on sand (which is, after all, what silicon is).

When that system that purports to improve the world is finally judged in regard to the effects that result, the Creator decides it is necessary to “destroy those who have destroyed the earth” (Rev. 11:18)—His world, which humans have messed up, this time not with traditional energy sources but with modern ideas that prove to not have the effect we imagined. Wind turbines are killing alarming numbers of birds. Solar farms take up so many acres as to mar the beauty of the landscapes they were meant to “green up”. And disposing of them when they do wear out is proving to be as challenging as nuclear waste. This revolution may not be as sustainable as it sounds.

To charge ahead with “solutions” whose blind spots or potential side effects are barred from the conversation will certainly leave us needing a reset. But by that time will it be too late to undo them?

What we read about after this is great famines and widespread disease and death which could have been avoided if more wisdom had been applied in the implementation. Before the draconian measures that have been taken in just the last few years, the famines I grew up hearing about were no longer in the news; we had achieved a level of food production never before seen that actually could have done away with world hunger, had the promoters of depopulation not bought up the world’s farmland and reduced the crops or called for the destruction of cattle and their dairy products—not to mention the effects genetically-modified plants are proving to have on our bodies. All of this could result in an involuntary depopulation that is totally unnecessary in our world, which in reality is stocked with much more potential to provide than we give it credit for.

As others have pointed out, the truly revolutionary answers to historical crises have not been austerity measures but innovations that solved shortages without sacrificing essentials. Elon Musk says the world does not have enough people, for more minds can solve more problems. Have we aborted those who would have made such life-saving breakthroughs?  

Should We Go Off-Grid?

So how do we respond? Should we jump ship while we still can, before it sinks? Should we de-digitalize before the system gets to the point of being a “beast?”  
Choosing righteousness over “the world” is not an unqualified rejection of all the ideals used to propel this counterfeit reset. But how do we address it in the meantime--especially if this is not the last regime? Many before us have thought they had reached the end of the age, but had to keep plodding. Bible-believers who lived under the Soviets went through much and were not rescued by the coming of the Kingdom. Thankfully, that reign of terror was mercifully limited to one lifetime; Chinese believers and those in Nigeria, Iran, and many other places are still going through what Paul said is the norm when the “rulers of this age” clash with the Kingdom of Heaven. (2 Tim. 3:12) 

Even if it is not the final showdown this time, the pattern is the same, so we can learn from the recipes for endurance laid down by those who have dealt with the Rebellion before. (See Rev. 13:10; 14:12) As the iron-and-clay feet of the statue, the beast’s reign is by definition the successor to all the other kingdoms in Nebuchadnetzar’s dream (Daniel 2) And we do have examples in Scripture of individuals who feared YHWH who lived under those earlier regimes, so from them we can garner examples of how to live under this last one, should it be our lot from YHWH to do so.

Daniel always addressed rulers with respect, even when rebuking them. (2:4, 37; 3:9, etc.) And his pagan emperor came around to acknowledge the sovereignty and primacy of the Elohim of Heaven. In the next regime, the Persian king Qoresh (Cyrus) did the same, even facilitating Judah’s return to our homeland. In the Greek instance that followed, Alexander the Great was apprised of a prophecy that led him to favor the people of YHWH, at least for a few generations. And a Roman cross ultimately brought the next empire to its knees. Who knows but that this could take place yet again at our time in history, as the spiritual revival among hippies bought us another generation and delayed the totalitarian revolution that YHWH was not yet ready to let have its final try at conquering the earth that ultimately belongs to Him, no matter how stubbornly its despots resist that reality. (Ex. 9:29) Eventually, it will be announced that “the kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our Lord and His anointed one!” (Rev. 11:15) So we proclaim it now, while the battle still goes on.

We should keep working within the system as long as we conscientiously can, to bring as much of the coming age to bear on the present, unfinished reality. Jeremiah told us to seek the welfare of the place YHWH was sending us into exile, “because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jer. 29:7) So we are not there to be deliberately subversive. And if we go off the grid as hermits before it is absolutely necessary, will we not be hiding our lights under a basket? All that will accomplish is to burn up the basket! 

Another aspect coming to the forefront for proponents of the Great Reset is that corporations would be given as much—or more--say in “governance” than governments themselves. But nation-states—which the global hopefuls think are just another obstacle to peace—were another stopgap put in place by YHWH to keep the world from ending up at pre-flood levels too quickly. Though they are just “schoolmasters” rather than the most ideal arrangement, standing in until the knowledge of YHWH covers the whole earth (Habakkuk 2:14), we should encourage them since even the worst of them keeps evil at bay in many ways. (Rom. 13:4)

On the other hand, Daniel’s three friends knew where to draw the line: “Even if our Elohim does not deliver us, let it be known that we will not bow to your gods!” (Dan. 3:17-18) And we all know about the lions’ den, the consequence of Daniel continuing to do what he knew was right even when the laws went against it. Even when it became a deadly threat, he kept praying openly to the only One it is ever right to pray to, so the light kept shining so brightly that even the king who was caught in the crossfire of the political intrigue sided with him as soon as he could.

The loosely-bonded feet of iron and clay are the weakness that causes the statue to tumble when hit by the “stone cut out without hands” which grows into the Kingdom that constitutes the real reset. (Dan. 2:45) It is “stoned to death” like the mysterious mixed-breed man in the wilderness (Leviticus 24:10ff) who turns out to be yet another prophecy of this beastly “mixture with the seed of men” who takes it on himself to fight with a “purebred” man who is completely of Israel. No, he is not racist. He is a picture of the second Adam, the man in whom dwells none of the mixture of good and evil, who restores the way to the Tree of Life.

Can You Top This?

So, yes, some of the values the Great Reset idea promotes are indeed laudable. The question is, can they really be accomplished by the means today’s “rulers” are proposing?

Can their reset make lions and wolves herbivores again, safe for children to be around? (Isaiah 11:6) Can it truly make men turn their swords into plowshares? (Isa. 2:4) All the revolutions of modern times have not delivered on the promise to “end all wars”, but only produced exponential numbers of “swords” and the death of millions they were claiming to liberate. Can their reset bind the tempter from leading humans into sin? (Rev. 20:2-3) Mind you, it will not be accomplished by doing away with the concept of sin; what we’re talking about is actually doing away with sin. That can only be accomplished by the one who has conquered sin’s ultimate outcome, death.

Even Schwab’s and Soros’ and Gates’ money cannot produce anything big enough to move the earth back into its original orbit or bring its climate back to the beneficial greenhouse of an atmosphere that made Eden thrive.

As Rich Mullins of blessed memory sang,

“If there’s a better world and a brighter day, even brighter than the one we’re in,
we’d be fools to think that it could be made by the wills and the hands of foolish men. So, Lord, to You we give our deepest praise, and to You we sing our loudest song…”

Undoubtedly the Kingdom that is built on true justice will include free energy sources about which we are just beginning to learn, not suppressed like Tesla, but shared by all and not for a profit; the water we drink (Rev. 21:6) and the air we breathe will not come with a pricetag: 

“Everyone who is thirsty! Come to the water, and whoever has no money, come, buy and eat wine and milk! Indeed, come, buy grain without money and without price! Why do you spend money on what is not bread, and your hard work for what does not satisfy? Listen to Me carefully, and eat what is beneficial, and your soul will take exquisite delight in how robust it is! Incline your ear and come to Me! Obey, and your soul will thrive.” (Isaiah 55:1-3)

The Jewish liturgy for the Sabbath, the day of the week that prefigures that seventh millennium of human history, ends with Lamentations 5:21, which prays for YHWH, the only One capable, to “renew our days like the pristine ancient time” (Heb. qedem)—that is, how it was in Eden. (Gen. 2:8) Only a reset that accomplishes that—a world that is again truly very good with no evil mixed in—will be truly remarkable and worthy to prioritize.

The Yovel (Jubilee), every 50th year, is better still--a “great reset” that will let you own things! (Lev. 25:10) It foreshadows one even more complete, this Kingdom, the “Age to Come”, the “time of the restoration of all things YHWH has spoken” (Acts 3:21), when elemental spirits will be even further tamed, no one will hurt or destroy (Isa.11:9), and the serpent will be back outside the Garden, where Adam was supposed to keep him. (Gen. 2:15) Only he retains the curse, for dust is still his food. (Isa. 65:25) Longevity—in the hundreds, not dozens, of years—will be the norm again. (65:20) Any “great reset” you hear of that does not include those benefits is an inferior product—a red herring at best, a deliberate counterfeit at worst. 

Because the list of tribes from which come the witnesses against the Mark of the Beast does not include the tribe of Dan, many have linked Jacob’s prophecy about that tribe with this Beast: “Dan shall be a serpent by the path, a snake that bites the horse’s heels so that the rider falls backward.”  

But the next line holds the key to it all: “I have waited for Your salvation, O YHWH.” (Gen. 49:17-18) That word for “salvation” is yeshuah. When you finally reach the watershed, don’t settle for a counterfeit, less-than-perfect kingdom mixed with compromise; hold out for the real King, Yeshua.