Are You Ready for the Great Reset?

In a world of skyrocketing budget deficits, fears of devastating climate change, and a virus running rampant and generating a global pandemic, leaders in many nations are taking notice and plan to take action on a coordinated, worldwide scale before ruin comes to the entire global economy. And for many, the state of crisis that they see presents an opportunity too “good” to pass up—an opportunity not just to return to normal, but to return to a new normal based on their vision of how the world should work. One such vision gaining great traction is being called the “Great Reset.” If you do not know about it yet, you need to, as some of the most powerful people in the world are seeking to make it a reality.

What is the Great Reset? Why do so many believe it is so crucial to humanity’s flourishing—even its survival? Can this coordinated effort among the movers and shakers in today’s world give us the free, safe, secure world mankind has long sought? Or is the Great Reset just one more pipe dream in a long history of pipe dreams?

Time will tell, but the subject deserves your attention because some very powerful people at the World Economic Forum are working very hard to reset your life—whether you want them to or not.

The Debt Problem 

Sovereign debt, the debt of national governments, has been soaring in recent years, and many analysts and politicians are confident that it is unsustainable. In late November 2020, the total debt of the United States was at $27 trillion and rising fast, with no end in sight. Multi-trillion dollar fiscal deficits are anticipated well into the future. Even though calculating the total debt for the world can be complex, economists agree that many other countries are in the same predicament.

But while the developed countries are struggling with the decline of their economies and the soaring financial demands of the COVID-19 crisis, many poorer countries maxed out their borrowing capacities long ago, and are facing the prospect of cutting back essential services, such as healthcare and education.

The Guardian recently reported,

There is growing concern of an imminent debt crisis among low-income countries struggling to keep up the payments on money borrowed from a mix of public and private creditors over the past decade. Both the World Bank and its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund, have warned that poor countries are being forced to cut back on health and education spending to keep up repayments on debts incurred before their economies were hit by a collapse in demand for their exports and a drop in remittances (“World Bank Calls for Debt Relief Programme as Amounts Owed Hit Record Levels,” October 12, 2020).

The total sovereign debt of the world’s nations is counted to be in excess of $60 trillion, and total U.S. government debt now exceeds its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as government debt does in many other countries. As Foreign Policy reported in October 2020, “Total global debt stands at an unsustainable 320 percent of GDP…. Piling debt on top of debt seems to have reached a dead end…. A growing number of economists and policymakers are beginning to talk about the need to shift to a new, possibly digital monetary regime whose contours remain unclear” (“Start Preparing for the Coming Debt Crisis”).

Current national debt loads are widely considered unsustainable, especially for the poorer countries. The world’s finances have been at a “tipping point” for some time, and the COVID-19 crisis has given them a shove.

For a number of years, economists and politicians have been recommending a “debt reset” of some kind that would allow governments to get out from under their crushing debt loads. Now this idea is being seriously considered on a broad scale as part of a grand plan to solve the world’s problems.

Seeking Global Solutions for Global Problems

And when you’re solving the world’s problems, why stop there? Sovereign debt is hardly the only “global problem” on the minds of our would-be social engineers looking to transform the world.

Regardless of what you may think of the issue, the idea that mankind is negatively changing the weather systems of the entire planet, also known as anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change, is a driving political force in the world. Taking advantage of the growing focus on climate change, some policymakers in the United States and elsewhere have pressed for a “Green New Deal”—a dramatic proposal to completely reinvent the nation’s power industry, economy, and social contracts under the banner of fighting man-made climate change. And when presented as a worldwide crisis, proponents of such measures demand worldwide solutions incorporating worldwide controls.

And sovereign debt aside, the perceived wealth disparities between “rich” and “poor” nations—as well as within nations—has long been a target of policymakers and economic philosophers. Although international trade and multinational companies have lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty in recent decades, proponents of radical change note that wealth differences have increased social and political tensions, even within industrialized countries. Many politicians and think-tank researchers have long advocated more aggressive reallocation of incomes, and they are considering a reallocation of wealth within and among nations as well.

Add a global pandemic to the mix—with poorly coordinated responses between nations supposedly adding to the spread of the virus and national economies turned to rubble—and many see opportunity in these dramatic world conditions.

One such individual is former U.S. Vice President Al Gore—a prominent climate change activist—who said in a June 2020 interview,

I think this is a time for a great reset. We’ve got to fix a lot of these problems that have been allowed to fester for way too long. And the climate crisis is an opportunity to create tens of millions of new jobs and clean up the air—[and] reduce the death rate from pandemics, by the way, because the air pollution from burning fossil fuels heightens the death rates from coronavirus (“Al Gore Talks Climate Crisis: ‘This Is the Time for a Great Reset’,” Today.com, emphasis added).

A “Great Reset” is exactly what many have long wished to bring to the world—and the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have brought them just the opportunity they were looking for to make their wishes come true.

Not Wasting a Good Pandemic

You may have heard the famous quote, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”  Whether you heard it attributed to Winston Churchill, Saul Alinsky, or Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, the idea is that, as Emanuel explained some years ago, a large-scale crisis represents “an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Right or wrong, many leaders see the COVID-19 crisis as just such an opportunity. They believe that a global problem requires global solutions and presents global political opportunities that must be seized now.

For instance, Klaus Schwab, German economist and engineer, has said, “The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world” (“Now Is the Time for a ‘Great Reset’,” WEForum.com, June 3, 2020, emphasis added). And the World Economic Forum—founded by Schwab, who serves as its Executive Chairman—aims to do just that in 2021.

Annually since 1971, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has held conferences at which leaders of governments, academia, and commerce meet to give and hear presentations on the world’s social, financial, commercial, and political issues. It’s a very exclusive gathering, attendance is by invitation only, and the cost of membership in the WEF is expensive. The theme of the 2021 conference in Lucerne, Switzerland, will be “The Great Reset.”

As a policy, the WEF states, “The Great Reset is a new initiative from the World Economic Forum and HRH the Prince of Wales to guide decision-makers on the path to a more resilient, sustainable world beyond coronavirus. The economic fallout from COVID-19 dominates risk perceptions, but there is a unique opportunity to reshape the global economy” (“How the World Can ‘Reset’ Itself after COVID-19—according to These Experts,” WEForum.com, June 3, 2020, emphasis added).

Schwab has detailed this perspective in a book written with co-author Thierry Malleret titled COVID-19: The Great Reset. In it, they claim that the problematic nature of the foundations of civilization “now lie exposed as never before, and people feel the time for reinvention has come. A new world will emerge, the contours of which are for us both to imagine and draw” (2020, pp. 11–12). Schwab and Malleret cast a vision of a world reset on multiple major fronts: economic, societal, geopolitical, environmental, and technological, with consequences at all levels of civilization, from governments and major industries down through to families and individuals. The pandemic, in Schwab’s eyes, is a rare chance to reshape human institutions at all levels: “We should take advantage of the unprecedented opportunity to reimagine our world” (p. 19).

The WEF has proposed “big ideas” on a global scale before, often to little effect. But the Great Reset is drawing a level of interest that is worth noting. The Prince of Wales is not the only prestigious personality onboard.

António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, said, “The Great Reset is a welcome recognition that this human tragedy must be a wake-up call” (“The Great Reset: A Unique Twin Summit to Begin 2021,” WEForum.org, June 3, 2020).

Kristalina Georgieva, director of The International Monetary Fund, said, “This is the moment to decide that history will look back on this as the Great Reset” (“The Great Reset,” IMF.org, June 3, 2020). On Twitter, she stated, “The recovery from this crisis is a once in a lifetime opportunity to support a transformation in the economy. A greener, smarter, and fairer economy.”

Schwab and the WEF seek what they call a “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” which they hope will transform the world. The members of the WEF have been developing programs for many years and see this pandemic as a unique opportunity to convince others to move on them. In the vision of the WEF, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will change humanity—and they are open about it, explaining their desired changes in detail on WEForum.org.

Part of this “revolution” would be the elimination of market-oriented, shareholder capitalism, to be replaced with what they call stakeholder capitalism. Shareholder capitalism has been the dominant economic model for much of the past century, seeking to maximize the value given to the shareholders. The WEF’s alternative, stakeholder capitalism, seeks to serve the diverse desires and needs of the many competing groups that have an interest in what the business does.

Stakeholder capitalism is very appealing to many socialists because it can give the government a large measure of control over corporate activities for social and political purposes, but without the operational responsibility for running the corporation. That responsibility and all the accompanying headaches remains with the business’s managers and owners. The WEF is actively promoting this model for world businesses.

The Pope Weighs In

Among those joining the call for major changes in the world order is Pope Francis, leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics and global advocate for causes important to many socialists. He has published a 223-page “Apostolic Exhortation” titled Evangelii Gaudium, in which he declares sweeping social and political goals in moral and religious terms and calls for worldwide social, political, and economic change.

“Inequality is the root of social ills,” Francis states flatly in his work (2013, p. 160), and capitalism causes inequality. He characterizes modern market capitalism as “a new tyranny” (p. 47), declaring, “We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market” (p. 161). In Francis’ view, individualism is an obstacle to the collective pursuit of the common good. He writes, “We should recognize how in a culture where each person wants to be bearer of his or her own subjective truth, it becomes difficult for citizens to devise a common plan which transcends individual gain and personal ambitions” (pp. 51–52).

Francis’ encyclical echoes themes of the WEF’s Great Reset by noting, “In our time humanity is experiencing a turning-point in its history” (p. 44). And he asserts the theme of debt cancellation, saying, “Debt and the accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to realize the potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying their real purchasing power” (p. 48). In his support, he cites the words of John Chrysostom from the fifth century: “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs” (p. 49).

And it is not just the world’s Catholics who pay close attention to what Pope Francis says.

Some observers suggest that the pandemic is part of an overall conspiracy, but Tomorrow’s World does not engage in politics or conspiracy theories. However, it is clear that a broad spectrum of officials very openly advocate using the current pandemic to promote far-reaching agendas. And one could hardly call it a “conspiracy” in the usual sense, as the WEF’s policies are widely published and promoted.

Not Everyone Agrees 

But the WEF isn’t without its critics, many of whom see it as a vehicle for a socialist agenda—or worse. National Review contributor Andrew Stuttaford suggests that the Great Reset

has more to do with handing power to “leaders”—that word again—than honoring the “dignity of every human being,” a pretty concept difficult to reconcile with a worldview in which most people are regarded as victims, bystanders, or members of a “purpose-driven community”….

Why, in the wake of a colossal failure of governments, it is “capitalism” that has to be reset is unclear, as is how “the world,” that imaginary polity, will take such far-reaching decisions. But democracy won’t have much to do with it…. there is little room for dissenters—voters, say, with their unruly discord or shareholders with their unseemly greed.…

It doesn’t hurt that this club has established a privileged position within globalism’s opaquely assembled governing class. The WEF has been designated by the Swiss government as an “international institution for public-private cooperation,” granting it, according to the WEF’s history, “the privileges enjoyed by other international organizations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations.”…

The WEF acts as an amplifier and supporter of the soft authoritarianism of the globalist governing class in waiting—and not always in waiting (“A Useful Pandemic: Davos Launches New ‘Reset,’ this Time on the Back of COVID,” NationalReview.com, October 29, 2020).

As Stuttaford observes, the WEF has found a privileged position among those seeking to change our world. It may not be globally admired, but its reach is almost global. It may not always achieve its grandiose goals, but it does have influence.

A Tale of Two Mountains

Even those who disagree with the WEF’s proposals may agree that something must be done about our planet’s problems. It is interesting that the annual WEF meeting usually takes place in the mountains of Switzerland. The Bible often uses mountains to picture governments. Satan has his “mountain”—currently the whole world, in fact, as he is the “god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Yet Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ will return to establish His Kingdom, also called the Holy Mountain of God (Isaiah 11:9; 56:7; 57:13).

Ancient King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon once had a dream of a giant image composed of various materials—gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay—picturing the world-ruling governments from his time to the return of Christ. In his dream, which was a vision given by God, a stone “cut out without hands” (v. 34) smashes the image at its feet, shattering it to dust that is blown away by the wind. That stone then grows to become a mountain that fills the whole earth (Daniel 2:31–35). The prophet Daniel interpreted that dream for the king and the meaning of the stone that became a mountain, saying that “in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (v. 44).

The WEF brings powerful people together to plan various reforms for our world. Mankind continues to look to its own ideas and “righteousness,” always rejecting God’s way of life—His government. Human suffering has been the inevitable result. The causes of the world’s problems are spiritual. The results are social and political. The solutions are biblical.

Scripture shows that Satan’s world cannot be “reformed” any more than Satan can be. Jesus Christ is not coming to reform Satan’s mountain—his kingdom—but rather to destroy it and replace it with His own! That is the good news of the Kingdom of God!

Reformers for the last 6,000 years or so have tried to elevate human society with different forms of government: tribal, feudal, monarchy, anarchy, communism, socialism, Marxism, Leninism, Maoism, autocracies, democracies—to name just a few. Yet, again and again, human leaders consistently reject God’s government and His way of life. As a result, our planet is full of hurt, misery, injustice, and destruction. The world’s governments and laws are based on human ideas of right and wrong, not God’s—and human misery is the inevitable result. When Satan tempted Adam and Eve, he said that they could “be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). When Adam and Eve accepted that offer, they put in motion a profane system in which mankind would create its own governments, education systems, and other human institutions that exist apart from God’s rule.

Prophecy tells us that these systems of carnal government will eventually be used by a great political leader allied with a great religious leader during the last days of this age—individuals known in the Book of Revelation as the Beast and the false prophet. Will the Great Reset be the vehicle these prophesied figures are able to use to their advantage? Only God knows the answer to that question. Whoever can implement such a program can acquire great power very quickly, but we should note that ambitious political programs have been proposed and fizzled before.

Yet the path of prophecy remains sure, and Tomorrow’s World will continue to illuminate fast-moving world events with the light of God’s word, so watch this space! In the meantime, we can all pray earnestly for the return of Jesus Christ—the only “Great Reset” that will truly bring the sort of world we all need and desire.