Globalist Movements

The Trilateral Commission

There are a number of globalist organizations that have arisen over the same time frame as the formation of the EU that are dedicated to bringing about the goal of a unified global system.  In 1972, David Rockefeller used his influence among the corporate and banking community to gather support for the founding of a new international organization.  The following year he launched the Trilateral Commission, an elite association composed of government officials, powerful bankers, and industrial leaders from throughout the West.  The name that they chose for this group was derived from the geographical alignment of the countries identified with the major power brokers driving this global consolidation.  The word “trilateral” therefore had reference to the triangle formed between North America, Europe, and Japan—the main powers of the group called the Western Alliance.

According to Richard Barnet, “The commission had as its purpose nothing less modest than the creation of a transnational elite with a shared consciousness”.  He added that their goal was “the coordinated management of the increasingly interdependent market economies of North America, Europe, and Japan…”  (The Alliance, by Richard J. Barnet, p.360, 1983, Simon and Schuster, NY).

It was certainly apparent that the Trilateral Commission’s vision was for a united economic and political front consisting of all the Western world nations.  “The industrial nations had to cooperate because their economies were inextricably linked”, says Barnet.  “The most fundamental message of trilateralism was interdependence”, he added (The Alliance, p.384).

The first director of the Trilateral Commission was a Columbia University professor by the familiar name of Zbigniew Brzezinski.  Another early inductee into this organization was none other than Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia.  Trilateralism had so infiltrated the mainstream of U.S. politics by the time Carter was elected President of the United States that the organization became a major issue among conservatives in the late 1970s and 1980s (although conservative politicians also would eventually join the group).  A good percentage of the upper echelon of the Carter administration, including Brzezinski, was actually connected to the trilateralist philosophy—the viewpoint which consisted of developing a “one world global strategy” instead of concentrating on purely national concerns.  Pat Robertson in his book The New World Order argued that the trilateralists had become so powerful that they even nurtured and masterminded the original Carter victory (The New World Order, Pat Robertson, 1991, Word Publishing, Dallas, TX).

In the book “Trilateralism”, edited by Holly Sklar (1980) it was revealed that the driving force of the Trilateral Commission was to promote a new era of the corporate empire:

“Trilateralism is the creed of an international ruling class whose locus of power is the global corporation. The owners and managers of global corporations view the entire world as their factory, farm, supermarket, and playground. The Trilateral Commission is seeking to strengthen and rationalize the world economy in their interest.”

Trilateralist philosophy eventually crossed all political boundaries.  By the beginnings of the Reagan presidency, Trilateral Commission membership had become quite common.  Among some U.S. conservatives, however, the movement was sometimes looked upon with suspicion.  Barry Arnold, a Republican congressional candidate from California, actually interrupted a presidential news conference in 1982 with accusations that Reagan had filled his administration with trilateralists.  He said that 83 members of the executive branch were either associated with the Trilateral Commission or else with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), another group with similar views on globalization.  Arnold was right, but he was treated as a fanatic with extreme views by the media.  Of course, it turned out that the media also was becoming heavily influenced by the globalists, and thus they would quickly discredit anyone speaking out against the Trilateral Commission.

It became apparent throughout the 1970s and early 1980s that world politics was slowly but surely drifting toward a transnational point of view, which could easily lead to a type of one-world government, which would have its start among the nations of the Western Alliance.  The fact that the G7 nations, which controlled much of the world’s economy, came from the nations of the Trilateral Commission is no coincidence, either.  An Empire-Beast was rising to power having seven “heads” along with the “feet” representing a consolidating Europe (which came from the former Roman Empire and was the form of the fourth beast predicted by Daniel to be fulfilled in the last days).  This empire had virtually designed the international economy from the ground up after World War II.  Anyone wishing to do business on a global scale had to play by the rules of the Western Alliance system.  This even held true for the Eastern Bloc and the Third World nations.  So powerful had this political, military, and economic system become that it was like an iron juggernaut in which no nations outside of the trilateral group could hope to manage or manipulate.

The Council on Foreign Relations

Another significant globalist group was formed during the Twentieth Century alongside the Trilateral Commission.  The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1921 by Elihu Root, who was the Secretary of State under President Theodore Roosevelt, along with a small group of 108 high ranking representatives from business, banking, and finance to be a “think tank” of major experts on U.S. foreign policy and international issues. The initial meetings of the founding group were the result of an inquiry by President Woodrow Wilson to map out options for the world after World War I had ended.  The CFR web site states that their purpose today is to “…better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.”  The organization publishes extensively through their web site and also by means of a bi-monthly journal called Foreign Affairs that includes pertinent articles written by its members and invited authors.  The journal is available through many bookstores and online retailers.

CFR membership is an exclusive club and currently includes about 4900 individuals, which further consists of lifetime members and limited-term members.  The set of core lifetime members are the controlling elite of the organization, but the CFR also has a number of temporary 5-year memberships, which can only be held by candidates in the age group of 30-36 years old.  New members are incorporated by invitation only and must be nominated and seconded by at least several lifetime members to enter.  Each year a new set of term members are elected into the CFR, and this helps to maintain a fresh supply of new contributors.  The third membership type is corporate sponsorship and it includes many of the top international corporations operating from the U.S.  There are several tiers of corporate sponsorships available and thus several levels of potential influence into the CFR, which of course relates directly to the amount of financial donations given to the organization.  Many of the lifetime members are key solicitors of the corporate sponsorships and either are on the boards of these corporations or have close ties to them (see figure).

The CFR, like the Trilateral Commission, is openly globalist in its views and actively works to decrease the sovereignty of nations and increase the new world order agenda.  Government leaders and the key staff members of nearly all of the Western Alliance nations are filled with Trilateralists and CFR associates.  Despite what their public image may portray, the founders of these organizations didn’t create them just to be “think tanks” or to sit around and muse about their visions for the world; they formed them to be the main force leading the world toward globalization.  The CFR and the Trilateral Commission were created to influence and control world governments in order to get them to embrace the philosophy of the new world order.  David Rockefeller made this clear in his book Memoirs, which contained a statement that was in direct response to all of the conspiracy theories surrounding the CFR:

“Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as “internationalists” and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure – one world if you will.  If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it” (Memoirs, p. 405).

According to Daniel Estulin, author of “The True Story of the Bilderberg Group” (2009), since 1947 when the National Security Act became law in the US, 14 Department of Defense (DOD) Secretaries that were appointed by the Presidents have been CFR members.  In addition, nearly all of the Secretary of State positions since 1940 have been filled by members of the CFR as well as all of the national security and foreign policy advisors hired by each administration.  Is it also just a coincidence that almost all of the CIA Directors and the top military officers in the US have been CFR members?  In fact, for the past 50 years the vast majority of Executive Branch key staff, including elected and nonelected officials, have been CFR members.  Barack Obama was an invited speaker at a CFR meeting in 2005 as a US Senator, and as President his administration is loaded with CFR influence.  In addition, it doesn’t matter whether it was the Democrats or Republicans in office; for decades, both parties have loaded their administrations with CFR representatives.

This cannot be coincidental.  Despite the outward appearance of a two-party system in the US, it is clear that the private groups dedicated to a globalist agenda have gotten key members of their club into the most powerful positions in government.  Even the political leaders in the US have acknowledged the influence of the CFR.  Hillary Clinton made this fact very apparent in a speech at the new CFR Washington headquarters on July 15, 2009, (the content of which can be found on the State Department’s own web site at http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/july/126071.htm), in which she basically admitted to what the conspiracy theorists have argued all along: that the CFR heavily influences the policy of the Federal government.  After being introduced by Council President Richard N. Haass, Clinton said in her opening remarks,

“Thank you very much, Richard, and I am delighted to be here in these new headquarters.  I have been often to, I guess, the mother ship in New York City, but it’s good to have an outpost of the Council right here down the street from the State Department.  We get a lot of advice from the Council, so this will mean I won’t have as far to go to be told what we should be doing and how we should think about the future.”

Her lighthearted remark about the new CFR offices in Washington and the advice she can conveniently get from their nearby location actually had a considerable amount of truth behind it.  You can’t turn around in Washington without running into a CFR member in a prominent position.  Whether they hold elected office or are appointed as part of cabinets and staff, their presence is everywhere.  Clinton went on in her speech to describe how the world today must encourage states to cooperate and act together globally instead of acting as individual states.

Similarly, the CFR President Richard Haass wrote an article in 2006 called, “State Sovereignty must be Altered in Globalized Era” in which he argued that states must give up some of their right to “sovereignty to world bodies in order to protect their own interests” (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2006/02/21/2003294021).  His rationale was partially based on the fact that countries now are existing side-by-side with many international organizations with enormous power, such as corporations, global banks and financial institutions, financial funds, non-governmental organizations (NGOs such as Amnesty International and Habitat for Humanity), the World Court, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, and even terrorist groups and drug cartels.  Haass said that sovereign states are affected and influenced by these international organizations whether they like it or not and that no state has a monopoly on power, even within its borders.

Richard Haass has said that “states must be prepared to cede some sovereignty to world bodies if the international system is to function”.  Part of his argument is that communications, people, and goods now flow between nations at such volume and velocity that sovereign states can no longer control what crosses their borders.  They have become vulnerable not merely to other states that threaten them, but to flows of “people, ideas, greenhouse gases, goods, dollars, drugs, viruses, e-mails, weapons, and a good deal else”.  Only globalization, Haass said, can meet the new challenges that have arisen from these “global forces”.

Another favorite argument of the CFR for globalization is to use the global warming scenario as justification for increased international control.  At the Doha, Qatar, UN Climate Summit meeting in December 2012, the CFR was again present in force to promote their global warming agenda through the typical scare tactics we know too well.  The CFR claims that “climate change is one of the most significant threats facing the world today” (“The Global Climate Change Regime”, Issue Brief, CFR, May 7, 2013; http://www.cfr.org/climate-change/global-climate-change-regime/p21831).  One of their favorite solutions to stop global warming is to use carbon emission taxes to charge countries according to how much green house gases they release.  This world tax would provide significant revenues to international organizations such as the CFR to further their one-world agenda.  If they are successful in implementing such a tax, it would be the first international tax affecting every person on Earth.

The CFR and other globalist organizations constantly use fear tactics to create reasons to reduce national sovereignty and increase international control.  Whether it is the fear of terrorism, global warming, drug trafficking, nuclear weapons, or any other threat the public perceives as important, they will take advantage of the situation to further their cause.

This is precisely what the CFR wants to promote; globalism rather than nationalism; a new world order rather than sovereign nation states; a one-world government to rule all nations.  And this is exactly what the world is predicted to do at the end of the age—consolidate power into a global empire that will be led by the Antichrist!

The Bilderberg Group

In the spring of 1954, a meeting took place at the Bilderberg Hotel in the Netherlands, which was attended by some of the most powerful and influential politicians, corporate leaders, and financiers from Europe and the United States.  It was originally organized by an exiled Polish politician by the name of Józef Retinger, who, along with a number of like-minded European and American representatives, believed in promoting unity and cooperation between the two continents, especially in the wake of World War II.  Many of the organizers also were strong advocates of forming a kind of “United States of Europe” and they espoused to a globalist view of international politics.  At that time, they fit in perfectly with the forces organizing the rise of the European Community and the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Every year since that time the Bilderberg Group, as they became known from their initial meeting location, has convened on an annual basis in various locations around the world.  These meetings mostly occurred in relative obscurity until outsiders began to realize that the group consisted of mainly the same cast of characters as the senior members of the Trilateral Commission and the CFR.  The rich and powerful were discussing their vision and plans for controlling the political and financial future of the world and it was happening in secret.  This is the stuff that conspiracy theories were made from.

Over the years, those present at Bilderberg Group meetings could be some of the most well-known names in the world: David Rockefeller, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Colin Powell, Al Gore, John Kerry, John McCain, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Henry Kissinger, George Soros, Donald Rumsfeld, the top military leaders of NATO and the Pentagon, the members of European royal families, heads of state, the most powerful bankers and financiers, and invited celebrities and media personalities.  Not unexpectedly, the leading members of the Trilateral Commission, the CFR, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank were also frequent invited attendees.

The Bilderberg Group maintains no official web site and doesn’t permit video, audio, or cameras to record their meetings.  They don’t publish an agenda or release post-meeting summaries of what was discussed.  Unlike the Trilateral Commission and the CFR, the Bilderberg Group doesn’t publish articles or books on their views or activities.  All conference attendees are sworn to secrecy and their meetings are protected by private security forces as well as by a heavy police and military presence in whatever country they may hold their meetings.  No outsiders are permitted near the site of their meetings and individuals trying to take pictures or videos even at a distance are routinely arrested.  The cities where they hold their meetings typically become police states before and during their conferences.

Denis Healey, one of the original founding members of the Bilderberg Group, was quoted in 2001 as saying,

“To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair.  Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn’t go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless.  So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing” (from Ronson, J., 2001, “Who pulls the strings? (part 3)”, The Guardian, London).

The yearly meetings of the Bilderbergs usually don’t generate many stories through major news sources.  Network TV news almost completely ignore their meetings, while various Internet news sites only cover them if they are concerned about the movement toward globalism.  This is true despite the fact that the members of this secret group typically constitute a combined wealth greater than the total wealth of all the people of the United States!

Organizations like the Bilderberg Group, the CFR, and the Trilateral Commission actively promote a new world order of globalism that would transcend national boundaries.  They envision a world where a central controlling authority (a world government) rules over the nations and manages all political, monetary, judicial, and legislative functions that typically are done independently by nation states today.  In the minds of the globalists, this will create a utopian society that will solve conflicts, prevent wars, reduce crime, contain terrorism, and provide security for all people.

The conspiracy theorists are at least partially right.  There truly are organizations like the Bilderbergs that are actively working to eliminate national sovereignty and bring about a new world order consisting of global control.  The members of these organizations are among the most powerful and rich leaders in the world, and if anyone has the influence to move the nations toward a new world order, they do.  However, unlike the way in which the popular conspiracy advocates often present their arguments, the people behind these globalist initiatives don’t control everything that happens in the world; in other words, not every event is planned out or manufactured by the global elite.  Contrary to what the conspiracy theorists might say, not every political change in a country is the result of a globalist plan and not every terrorist attack is a product of the conspirators.  The truth is that the world system is full of chaos and uncertainty, and often the flux of world events behaves more like an uncontrollable raging sea, just as the prophets predicted long ago (Dan. 7:2-3; Rev. 17:15; Rev. 13:1).  No human force or organization can control every aspect of what happens in the world, despite the global elite’s desire to do so.

In addition, contrary to what some may say about the “new world order” conspiracies, the attacks of 9-11 at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were not the result of a globalist plot; neither were the terrorist attacks in London in July of 2005 or the over 170 other Islamic terrorist attacks launched around the world since 1970, which in total have cost nearly 9000 lives (Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Islamic_terrorist_attacks ).  The fact is there is extreme evil in the world today and Islamic terrorism is one facet of it that will likely continue until the Lord returns.  Jesus even predicted that his followers would be killed by people who believe they are doing God’s work (John 16:2), and Islamic persecution upon Christians is just one of many fulfillments of this prophecy.

However, the globalists actually do use the fear of terrorism (and evil) as justification to increase the levels of security and surveillance around the world.  In the wake of 9-11, increases in security at airports and other public events was just the beginning of a new surveillance society that has touched all of our lives.  The globalists also use the desire for safety and peace to set up a new international system of control that moves us ever closer to the coming one-world government.  The coordination of digital information between nations and between intelligence departments has created a network of monitoring that threatens the freedoms of people in all nations.

These globalist groups have started a wave of international consolidation that is growing ever stronger as the end draws near.  They look for every opportunity to use events and trends to develop a global consensus for their vision of a new world order.  They may not plan or carry out a terrorist attack or with certainty direct the rise and fall of national leaders, but they take advantage of every event and its effects to extend and tighten their control.  In the US and the Western Alliance countries, the new security and surveillance systems that have arisen have taken away many fundamental rights that the people formerly enjoyed.  As a result, security forces can now stop and search people at will; they also scan and monitor anyone using public transportation or attending public events; and they electronically intercept, analyze, and store all communications on a global basis.  Most of the evil dictators throughout history would have done almost anything to have such power.  Soon, the last world dictator will indeed wield such authority and the result will be disastrous.

The movement toward a one-world global system with ever greater power corresponds precisely to the Biblical predictions of the final world order.  This trend will soon result in the rise of a vast evil empire that will subjugate the entire world at the end of the age.