Dear Editor:

Recently, China’s Central Bank proposed replacing the U.S. dollar as the international stockpile with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund. In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China Web site, the governor of Central Bank said the goal would be to create a reserve legal tender that is “disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies.” That pitch, according to analysts, is an indication of Beijing’s fears that actions being taken to save the domestic USA economy would have a negative impact on China. We Christians should readily recognize this scheme as yet another step toward the soon coming Rapture of the Church followed by a revealing of the Anti-Christ, “that man of perdition” and his successful plan of a one-world government with a one-world currency.

While U. S. President Obama, at Monday night’s news conference, played down China’s idea as he responded to a reporter’s inquiry regarding the topic by stating, “It is not necessary,”

Biblical scholars know that China’s suggestion will indeed come to pass in the not too distant future. While the world seemingly is falling apart, God continues moving in magnificent ways to ensure that His Gospel reaches the lost. In March, something remarkable took place in the Middle Eastern capitol city of Syria, Damascus. More than 1,100 senior Syrian government officials, journalists, business and religious leaders – Muslim, Catholic and Evangelical Christian – attended a gala premier of a motion picture entitled Damascus, written, produced and directed entirely by Arab Christians. The film, part documentary and part narrative drama, tells the story of how Saul of Tarsus, one of the first prominent persecutors of Christ became a disciple of Jesus during a miraculous encounter with the Messiah on the road to Damascus and eventually became known as the Apostle Paul, who then authored much of the New Testament. I can tell you first hand that it is unheard of in the Middle East for a Christian film regarding the New Testament to debut in a Muslim-majority country run by the secular Ba’ath Party, much less have the unveiling of it supported and attended by senior government officials. That is what makes the Damascus film-drama project so extraordinary.

But, is that not just like the Heavenly Father? As if that is not enough, the motion picture was hosted and narrated by one of the most well known Syrian TV newscasters who explained the historic events of the luminous life of Paul in the exact places where those actions occurred. Numerous happenings in Paul’s existence were performed using famous Syrian Muslim actors playing both the parts of Jews, and Jewish followers of Jesus. It is expected that the picture-dramatization will be launched throughout Syria and the rest of the Muslim world. While radical Islamic jihadists have not controlled Syria’s government, it has long stifled activities of Arab Christians to teach about their faith.

The motives of the Syrian government for both allowing and supporting the release of the Damascus flick are unknown. However, it is encouraging to witness the move of God in this manner. We find two Bible prophecies in Isaiah 17 and in Jeremiah 49 that inform us that the city of Damascus will be obliterated in the “last days.” Could it be that God, in the release of the aforementioned big screen creation, is attempting to reach those in the Middle East now prior to the forthcoming destruction of Damascus? Let us be prayerful that the powerful message of Paul’s living and Jesus Christ’s love and forgiveness for all people is clearly communicated to every person who views this presentation.

Blessings & Peace,

Dr. Kathleen Runyon

Zion Ministries