The Great Reset Summit

It could have been written today - the words of the apostle Paul in 2nd Timothy 4, as he was passing the torch to his associate. He stated:
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Paul tells Timothy to "be watchful," and that is great instruction for us today. We have to continue to place ourselves under the authority of Scripture and make sure the teachers we choose line up with the principles of the Word of God.  Faith Radio carefully chooses Bible teachers who have a proven track record of Biblical faithfulness.  We encourage you to grow in the Lord and be protected from the ideologies of this world that would divert us from faithful devotion to Christ.

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In 1st John chapter 4, we are given the admonition to "test the spirits." While we are told in Scripture about the rise of a worldwide leader, known as the Antichrist, that spirit is already functioning in the world. The Bible says in that chapter:
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

2000 years ago, a man told his followers to go into "all the world" and to share His message - by His power!

Days ago, a man told his followers to change the world by harnessing human power, saying "The future is not just happening. The future is built by us, by a powerful community such as you here in this room...We have the means to improve the state of the world..." That's according to a Tweet referenced in an article at the Daily Caller website, quoting the founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum, meeting this week in Davos.

His name is Klaus Schwab, and his commitment to leading the charge for implementing the global agenda is well-documented, even though he may not be a household name.  The Daily Caller piece goes on to say:

Schwab went on to outline what he viewed as two conditions for such an improvement to occur. The first condition relied on his vision of global leaders as “stakeholders” of the future.

“The first [condition] is that we act all as stakeholders of larger communities,” Schwab said, “That’s what we call ‘stakeholder responsibility.'”

The second condition, Schwab said, was collaboration within the “community” of global leaders.

He references a so-called "global agenda," and the article concludes by saying this week's Annual Summit "will feature discussions among political and business elites on how to, 'tackle global issues and find solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges including the ongoing global pandemic, the war in Ukraine, geo-economic shocks and climate change.'" In other words, these global challenges, or perceived crises, can be met by the implementation of a global agenda - in the past, it's been called a New World Order, but you can regard it as a precursor to the one-world government to which the Bible points, that will be established - which will encompass not only the political, but the economic and the religious.  

The WEF came up with the phrase, The Great Reset. A primary tool in the furtherance of this one-world mentality is fear: fear of what is to come upon the earth. Fear is borne out of a misplaced response to crisis, and as believers in Christ, we recognize that we have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind, according to 2nd Timothy chapter 1.  Fear brings bondage - faith brings freedom.

One of the tools in the Great Reset toolbox, that I wrote about in the latest edition of River Region's Journey magazine and addressed in a recent commentary is what's called ESG, which rates businesses according to their scores on three areas of responsibility: environment, social, and governance.  Recently, as the New York Times reported, Elon Musk decried the concept, but only because his company, Tesla, was removed from an index measuring such scores, while the oil company ExxonMobil stayed on.  The former vice-president, Mike Pence, according to the article, also expressed his concerns about the use of ESG scores to rate companies.

A Fox Business story recently quotes Justin Haskins, director of the Socialism Research Center and editorial director at the Heartland Institute, who said: "The point of it is to transform all of society, not just to transform what happens inside the walls of some big corporation..." The article goes on to say:

Haskins compared ESG scores to a social credit system being developed in China. The Chinese Communist Party announced a moral ranking system in 2014 that monitors individuals, government organizations and companies ranks them based on their social credit, according to the South China Morning Post.

Haskins also related: "If you want to transform society through a social credit scoring system, you can do a lot of that through corporations and banks and financial institutions and Wall Street, but at some point, you probably are going to have to apply that to individuals as well..." The buzzword, or phrase, to listen for, is "stakeholder capitalism."  The Fox Business article stated:

World Economic Forum founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab wrote in 2019 that ESG scores are necessary for stakeholder capitalism.

"‘Stakeholder capitalism,’ a model I first proposed a half-century ago, positions private corporations as trustees of society, and is clearly the best response to today’s social and environmental challenges," he wrote. "We should seize this moment to ensure that stakeholder capitalism remains the new dominant model."

And, there is Schwab - at Davos this week - using that word, "stakeholder."  It doesn't mean what you might think...

A piece on the World Economic Forum website, part of series called, "The Davos Agenda," states:

I believe ESG considerations need to be incorporated into strategy and are closely linked to operational excellence, which is a core part of many private equity value-creation models.

Private equity understands the imperative of operating successfully with consumers and customers, partnering with suppliers, working with regulators and NGOs and building a diverse, healthy, safe and productive employee base and culture.

They understand that following a responsible ESG strategy has the potential to do more than reduce reputational risks, thereby creating the perception of a well-led and managed company with a concomitant premium valuation.

Does that mean a company's reputation is determined by these ESG scores?  That's certainly what it sounds like.

We have seen the implementation of groupthink with regard to corporate culture in so many instances. And, companies are willing to get in line with ideologies that are deemed to be socially acceptable, like the LGBTQ+ agenda.  The most recent example: State Farm Insurance - and please allow me to state that this is on the corporate level.  The Washington Examiner reported:

Insurance company State Farm is discontinuing its support for the controversial GenderCool Project amid backlash following reports that the company was donating books about transgender issues, targeted at 5-year-olds, to schools .

"State Farm's support of a philanthropic program, GenderCool, has been the subject of news and customer inquiries," the company said in a statement to the Washington Examiner late Monday. "This program that included books about gender identity was intended to promote inclusivity. Conversations about gender and identity should happen at home with parents. We don't support required curriculum in schools on this topic. We support organizations providing resources for parents to have these conversations."

A FoxNews.com story quoted from Will Hild of Consumers' Research.  The article stated:

Hild said Consumers’ Research was overwhelmed with feedback from customers and State Farms agents alike on Monday, as many were completely unaware the insurance giant was caught up in liberal politics.

"They were appalled and shocked as everybody else. Customers were livid. They were canceling, calling their agents, canceling their State Farm policies. So, this is obviously something that America's consumers were not happy about," Hild said. "America's parents were not happy, they were appalled."

Jeremy Tedesco of Alliance Defending Freedom was on The Meeting House recently to talk about a sinister development, in which financial institutions are being pressured to restrict the ability of donors to give to certain charities through their donor-advised funds. 

Christians are called to be distinctive, and we need to be informed and determined to take steps to resist being compliant with agendas that do not line up with Scripture.  There are developments that can produce fear in our hearts - from manipulation from corporations to the misinformation of politicians to the misrepresentation of public health instances. For example, news stories are already proliferating about the spread of a virus that currently has relatively few instances worldwide - we have to guard against panic. We can be firm in our convictions and not allow the culture to dictate our viewpoints and violate our conscience.