Who is the 'they' out to enslave us all? Take away our freedom? Take away our property? Take away our will?
Though I am no longer allowed to quote a line from Dr. Coleman's work, "The Conspirator's Heirarchy: The Story of the Committee of 300" (published by America West Publishers) due to a copyright violation (nor is my link to the wiretap.spies.com, who reproduced the entire book, viable, as they have taken down the entire reproduction under threat of lawsuit), I can say that Coleman basically lays the blame for our coming state of one-world enslavement on a power elite led by the so-called "Committee of 300," which is headed by Queen Elizabeth II, and its pop culture arm is fashioned by the Tavistock Institute for Social Research. Coleman, who was with the British Secret Service, MI6 branch, identifies the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
An interesting article by Annalea Eastman on'we' as 'they' out to destroy freedom says that it is the evil at the top, including good men who never intended evil, that is to blame, not the collective 'we' that armchair freedom fighters like to blame. The evil is government, and they should go to Antarctica.
That, however, can be filed under 'never'.
In fact one can look all over the Internet for articles, essays, commentary, eye-witness accounts, claiming to answer the question just who is responsible for the coming world thought/mind/speech/economic/emotional/environmental enslavement...if that is even the word for it. The consensus seems to be some nebulous power elite. 300? Maybe. A small group of mad scientists/psychologists? Possibly.
Real Christians (and I count myself among them, I hope not presumptuously) claim it is Satan, the anti-Christ, who is responsible. But is Satan here yet? Possibly, but, by all the sign I see, we are not quite into the End-Times yet. Close, but no cigar. It simply has to get a whole lots worse for that to happen.
This leads to my point: The Book of Revelation, not to mention the "Strong Delusion" section of Second Thessalonians, implies that in order for the Beast System to work there has to be a set (a very large set, in fact) of "worshippers" of the Beast and the Image of the Beast, those who bear the "mark" of the Beast. This will emcompass the vast majority of the world's population. Don't forget, one won't be able to buy and sell without the "mark", so I guarantee it most people will bear this "mark".
The thing is, a majority of people aren't just going to go out and receive this mark simply so they can buy and sell stuff. It is also supposed that unless one has the "mark", one won't be able to get medical care, won't be able to hold a job, won't be able to get a drivers license, whatever. Won't be able, basically, to conduct any normal everyday business. Think about it! One won't be able to do anything, go anywhere, really, even show himself, unless he takes the "mark".
"Who is able to make war with (the beast)?" claims Revelation 13: 4. And just as if one is Christian one can phrase the question of who will be able to defeat the power elites (led by Satan, philosophically, and soon, in fact) who will try to enslave us, if one is Christian or not one can ask, "Who will be able to defeat the so-called New World Order?"
Christians know only the Second Coming of the Savior can save us; other religions have other answers. This poses the problem of just who is going to NOT get the "mark", who will be able to, against all odds, resist the beast system.
Most religious folk who think that the world is coming to an end think that if they believe in their particlular saviors, if they pray so many times a day, if they go to church, whatever along those lines, they will be saved.
So, I ask this question: just how is praying, just how is churchgoing, invoking a savior going to save you when they are trying to force, through torture, through shunning, through persecution, through denial of all basic services and sanitation, through deprivations of all sorts?
Before you can actually resist the beast system you have to have a certain mindset, that, primarily, allows you to resist going along with the vast majority. It is my firm, unshakable position that only fierce indivudualists and non-conformists--those who are not dependent on what others think of them, uncaring as to what others say about them, and have developed an inbred shield against shunning (you don't have to be "thick-skinned" to do this)--will be able to survive in a world that will become dominated by a vast intrusive majority who will demand conformity to the herd mentality or else.
So, who is 'they'? The herd, that's who.
If you can resist the herd, the mass mentality, the mass conformity (which I call 'The Phalanx'), then you can, maybe, if your faith is strong enough, resist the beast and not receive his mark.
Speculation as to what the first beast is ranges from the Roman Catholic Church to the United Nations, but where are the seven heads and ten horns? Does the UN really come up out of the sea just because it is located on Manhattan Island? And what head of the UN is wounded, then healed, so much so that everyone "wonders" how it is doing? (Just how many folks do you know really care about the UN?).
The second beast has two horns and speaks. Could this be television, which, in its earlier days, had two antennae on its top? Doesn't a TV speak? Can't television "cause" folks to do or believe what is broadcasted? Doesn't TV cause folks to make "images"? Or could the second beast be the Internet, which, properly configured, does all of the above? Both have power to "give life" to the first beast, and have the potential--through brainwashing techniques--to cause folks to kill those who won't worship the first beast. Could it be that the Internet, with all of its "cookies, certificates" and the like, could be set up so that only those who receive "the mark" can buy and sell? Could it be that the Internet could be set up to track all human beings to ensure enforcement of the beast system?
As to the "mark": some speculation exists that the mark is some kind of bar code (the three longer lines in the middle, that separate the sections of a bar code, do in fact configure to be "666"!), and others say it is the Social Security Number (being as how this is a nine digit number, and 9 is an upside down 6!), which is becoming increasingly impossible to go without--we just learned from the IRS that our children needed SSNs so we can claim them as a deduction! However, the SSN card in use now is not in the forehead or the right hand. IN is the operative word here. It has to be implanted. But how? Will it be that ones ID number, Social Security or otherwise, will be implanted into the skin on some computer chip, and will we have to do a hand or retinal scan through the Internet or otherwise in order to buy and sell?
My opinion is the the technology is probably in place to set up these "beasts" and the "image," using the technology that has been in place since the mid-twentieth century, and that, because most people won't be able to resist the herd mentality--even those who call themselves Christians--most will willingly receive the mark.
I'll be damned if I'm one of them!