Our Sept.-Oct. 2021 issue cover story, “The Great Reset: Where Will It Lead?” revealed plans currently underway to “reset” the world’s political structure by replacing mankind’s centuries-old system of nation-states with effectively one-world governance by a cabal of the world’s elites. This new system would direct many aspects of daily life for virtually all people on earth.

The foundations for such change are already being laid today through increasing government tyranny over people’s lives. Recent events have paved the way for such a Great Reset, with national governments exerting greater and greater control over the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Especially sobering is the fact that these dictatorial policies were put into place not in Third-World dictatorships, but in advanced liberal Western democracies.

As we pointed out, planning for the Great Reset has been well documented, and many are working to carry out those plans. More importantly, an evil political system along such lines is prophesied in your Bible to emerge in the end time. Jesus Christ revealed to the apostle John a glimpse of what this system would look like. Revelation 13 and 17 speak of a despotic world leader described as “the Beast” being empowered by a union of 10 other leaders. This leader will, for a short time, exert tremendous control and power over the world.

Covid: excuse for vast state control

The Covid-19 pandemic gave those who advocate more government power just the leverage they needed. In nation after nation and state after state, individual liberties—the bedrock of modern democratic systems—were sacrificed as governments seized unprecedented powers to control daily life in the name of combating the disease.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued directives under which most state governments locked down hundreds of thousands of private businesses while allowing large national retailers to remain open. They dictated which businesses were considered “essential” and which were not. Since the vast majority of small, private businesses fell into the second group, many thousands of these have gone bankrupt since March 2020.

Restaurants and entertainment venues were shuttered. Businesses were shut down, schools forced to close. And at a time when millions looked to God for strength and guidance, churches of all denominations found themselves closed down by the state. At the same time such “essential” businesses as liquor stores, tobacco and marijuana shops were allowed to stay open!

Vaccination products were developed in record time, in an effort comparable to America’s rapid industrial militarization in World War II. By early 2022, a majority of Americans had either voluntarily received these or had contracted Covid-19 and recovered, providing a large measure of “herd immunity.” Despite this, national and state governments seized on Covid’s continuance to require vaccination shots of these products, in spite of growing evidence of their ineffectiveness or even harmful side effects.

Major corporations, following government dictates and wanting to be seen as reflecting current “accepted” values, enforced vaccination mandates on their employees. Those who refused lost their jobs or were subjected to harassment and discrimination. Michael Rectenwald, chief academic officer at American Scholars and author of the book Beyond Woke, has pointed out how major progressive corporations like Google, Apple and Facebook (now Meta Corporation) led corporate efforts to enforce vaccination mandates while squelching any opposing views.

Meanwhile, large retailers such as Amazon and Walmart profited astronomically, even as small businesses deemed “non-essential” shriveled and died. Amazon’s profits more than doubled in 2021 as millions, shut in and banned from visiting local businesses, had little choice but to use its online shopping business model. Amazon’s first quarter 2021 revenues jumped 44 percent from the previous year, its first quarter profits skyrocketing to more than $108 billion. Company founder and chairman Jeff Bezos soon became one of the world’s three wealthiest men.

As some have noted, these huge retailers and high-tech businesses spend millions on political donations —something their much smaller competitors cannot afford. Now thousands of those smaller competitors simply no longer exist.

Around the world, many governments imposed mandatory mask and vaccination mandates. Those who refuse to conform have faced restricted travel and denial of service at restaurants and stores. It seems the popular cry “my body, my choice” does not apply when government bureaucrats direct otherwise.

Trampling of personal rights

European restrictions were especially severe. Austria passed legislation requiring unvaccinated citizens to pay fines equivalent to thousands of dollars and face losing their jobs and livelihoods. Germany’s Federal Ministry of Interior and Community instituted some of the world’s strictest entry policies, requiring proof of negative Covid test results and severe quarantine rules. Many European nations put in place vaccine passports. Those without the passport were denied airline travel and could not stay in hotels and other lodging.

Asian and Pacific governments joined the frenzy. Australia, long considered a bastion of personal freedom, shocked the world with its policies, establishing “quarantine facilities” around the country. Initially these were intended for unvaccinated travelers, but when we consider that the unvaccinated are effectively deemed “unclean” and “non-compliant,” it’s easy to see how such facilities could be misused beyond that time.

New Zealand’s government edicts were unexpectedly harsh. Those refusing to follow onerous orders have faced stiff fines amounting to thousands of dollars. In some sectors workers who continued to work while unvaccinated could be fined. Businesses failing to enforce vaccine passes could be fined up to $15,000.

Those who didn’t pay their Covid-violation fines faced other penalties, such as arrest, having their driver’s license suspended, having their property seized and being denied passports for overseas travel. Fines not paid would be reported to credit agencies, affecting people’s ability to get loans or credit cards.

Government control can get pretty Orwellian, especially with the use of modern technology. Australia, for example, used citizens’ personal cell phones to track their movements—presumably to verify their compliance with government travel restrictions.

In a story from April 5, 2020, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a major Australian cell-service provider voluntarily turned over to the federal and New South Wales governments the aggregated data of millions of Australians “to monitor whether people are following social distancing restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.” When a reporter questioned this invasion of privacy, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison replied, “What I want to be clear about is the policies and measures that we will put in place for Australia will be right for Australia.”

The message here and elsewhere is clear: We, the government, know what is best for you. There’s no acknowledgment at all of the gross invasion of personal freedom and privacy.

Such technology could be used to enforce any number of government edicts by, for example, preventing a person from holding a job, traveling, making purchases or otherwise carrying out normal economic activity needed for everyday life.

This stokes fears of the rise of “the mark of the Beast” foretold in the book of Revelation: “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads: that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:16-17). While evidently figurative of acting and deciding in submission to the evil system’s dictates in opposition to God, there could well be some kind of technological enforcement to control the populace in this way.

Canadians vent their frustrations

In Canada, where the trend toward more government control has progressed faster than in the United States, many thousands of freedom-loving Canadian citizens have said—and shown—that they have had enough.

In a dramatic February protest that garnered worldwide attention, hundreds of Canadian truckers formed the “Freedom Convoy” to protest the government’s new requirement that all cross-border truck drivers reentering Canada from the United States be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or face a 14-day quarantine. Huge 18-wheelers from most of the provinces converged on Ottawa, the national capital, in protest against the Canadian government’s strict vaccination mandates, leading to disruption and effective shutdown in Ottawa.

In response, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked Canada’s never-used Emergency Powers Act, giving the government draconian powers intended only for wartime or other severe national emergencies. In clear violation of the intent of the legislation, Trudeau had protestors arrested and ordered banks to freeze financial assets of those taking part in the otherwise peaceful protests.

Outraged by the treatment of the truckers, early March saw thousands of Canadians take part in the Freedom Chain, in which tens of thousands of ordinary citizens attempted to form a chain of vehicles spanning from British Columbia to Labrador, a distance of nearly 4,000 miles. Other thousands attended local gatherings organized in different cities across the country, calling for an end to what they see as vaccine tyranny.

Participants cited a variety of personal reasons for joining the mass protest. “It’s not even about a vaccine at this point. To me, it’s simply about control, and it seems to me that they don’t want to let that control go,” one individual said. Another added: “I care about freedom for all Canadians. In British Columbia [the government] has not lifted the mandates for anyone in this province yet, and as an unvaccinated person, it’s really hard for me to find work, to feed my family, and live my life.”

U.S. Congressman John Kennedy of Louisiana poignantly summed up the frustration of the truckers and millions of other ordinary Canadians and Americans: “What we’re seeing in Canada is the tyranny of the managerial elite over the working-class majority. This is not really about the vaccine, since most of them are vaccinated already.

“What I hear them saying is ‘We’ve had two years of Covid restrictions. Our lives have been turned upside down, our livelihoods are being restricted, our kids have lost months, maybe years of their educations. You say, “Follow the science,” and we see the omicron variant waning. Most of us now have either natural or vaccinated immunity. So what is your road map for getting government off our backs and letting us get back to normal?’”

Mainstream media—mouthpiece of the elites

The steady encroachment of stifling government rules and restrictions could not take place without a compliant and complicit mass media. A free press that used to aggressively question government mandates has largely become compliant to those mandates.

In the Western world, mass media have to a great extent become willing accomplices of despotic governments. Mainstream newspaper and electronic media staff, many of them liberally educated young workers, believe that government bureaucrats know what’s best for people and that it’s their duty to serve as spokesmen for those in control.

And, as previously mentioned, the social media giants also play their role. By “canceling” those who dare to defy the official line on Covid, mask and vaccine mandates, and other government edicts, Facebook, Google and Twitter not only promote the official line, but demonize and silence those who dare to express other views.

Europe—ground zero for government control

As noted above, the nations of the European Union seem to be the worldwide focal point of this movement toward greater governmental control. The EU was at the forefront of Covid restrictions, and continues to maintain some of the most stringent restrictions in spite of evidence that the disease is now largely a non-factor throughout much of the world.

This magazine has for many years foretold that European nations will ultimately coalesce into a political, military and economic superpower under a powerful leader. Your Bible, which reveals the broad outline of history for those willing to study it with an open mind, reveals this awesome development in the books of Daniel and Revelation. This end-time government, which will include leaders of a number of nations or groups of nations, will wield great control over the lives of its citizens. A major part of this control will be over the ability to hold jobs, own property and conduct everyday business such as buying food or fuel.

We appear to be experiencing a foretaste of that in governments increasingly restricting their people with ever more stringent regulations along with growth in technological surveillance. Far worse restrictions and controls are yet to come!