Israel and End Time Technologies in Biblical Focus

Big city and they so they went up and uh went to this big building. They've never seen a building that was higher than two stories. And they saw this box and these doors kept opening in this box. And people would go in and then the doors would close and then the doors would open again and they're like wow what happened to these people.

So this father and son are watching. And and people go in and then all of a sudden the doors would open. The people are gone. Well then people would go up and into the box but then they started coming out and they look different.

So all of a sudden this this guy. The father and son are amazed. They see this old lady go into the box and the box doors close and then the box doors open and all of a sudden this blonde bombshell walks out.

The father looks to the son says boy go get your mama. I got that from a preacher so.

Don't hold that one against me. I forgot to give a disclaimer. So for those of you who are here watching in zoom with us just as a reminder we ask that you keep your microphones muted and your cameras off during our presentation.

If you have any questions for nathan during his presentation you can put them into the chat here on zoom or if you're following along on facebook live you can do the same thing put your questions into the comments there and we'll ask him during the q a after his presentation.

So i'm terry cameracell here with creation fellowship santee we're a group of friends bound by our common agreement that the creation account as told in genesis is a true depiction of how god created the universe and all life from nothing in just six days a few thousand years ago.

We've been meeting here most thursday nights on zoom since june of 2020. We've been blessed with presentations by pastors teachers doctors cartoonists scientists apologists and all around smarty pants people who love the lord and have a message to share.

You can find most of our past videos by searching creation fellowship santee that's s-a-n-t-e-e on youtube. We also now have a creation fellowship santee actually it's called cfs 2020 is our account on rumble and you can find our creation fellowship santee videos on bit shoot as well.

Follow us on our creation fellowship santee facebook page and sign up for our email list by emailing creation fellowship santee at gmail .com so that you don't miss any of our upcoming speakers. Most of our topics are creation themed naturally but from time to time we do a little off topic presentations and that's what we have tonight because nathan jones our guest is here to talk to us about things in the end of the book instead of the beginning.

Nathan jones serves as the internet evangelism at lamb and lion ministries reaching out to the over 4 .5 billion people accessible over the internet with the good news of jesus christ. He has served at the ministry since august of 20 of 2007.

After graduating from philadelphia biblical university now cairn university. With a bachelor's in bible nathan attended southern baptist theological seminary and later received his master's of management and leadership at liberty university.

He's currently a doctoral candidate at trinity theological seminary. He was ordained as a minister in april of 2005 by southeast christian church in louisville kentucky. Nathan is married to heather jones who also serves at the ministry.

In the media department they have three teenage children who love the lord. With that nathan we're turning it.

Over to you. Well greetings. The name of jesus our blessed hope. So good to be with you all again. I'm just honored to be invited back with you all. I i love the beginning of the bible all the way through the end of the bible.

So any area of the bible we can stop and talk about. I promise you there will be a little bit about the beginning of the bible in this presentation. Um i was asked to speak on israel in the end times technology and biblical focus.

Technology in the Bible From Genesis to the Modern World

So what i want to do is i want to go ahead and switch over to the share screen mode. Can i go ahead and have that enabled. Yes let me take care of that for you. You don't want to look at my face just talking the whole time.

That's why.

Okay let me just make sure that actually it should be that you are able to share.

Yeah okay uh let's see. So you just see the slides not me. Yes. Okay excellent. All right. Well let's talk about israel and the end times. Technologies and biblical focus. So we're going to focus on where israel plays in the end times how their technology is revolutionizing the world and how the bible prophesies a number of different technologies that point to the soon return of jesus christ.

So i got a question for you all first this is a interactive. We're going to talk about technology in the bible first. And i wanted to know if you ever thought that there was the bible that was filled with technology ever consider that that we kind of think of the old testament new testament ancient times.

But did you know that the bible was just filled with technology back in that time period. I'll give you an example. Let's go all the way back to genesis. Let's talk about agriculture. Genesis 2 15 says the lord god took the man and put him in the garden everything to work it and to take care of it.

In other words to grow agriculture to have food and all that you needed to develop technology. You had to have tools and implementations and to work that. So there was technology all the way back to the beginning of genesis.

And if anybody knows genesis you all know genesis. Genesis 3 7 the making of textiles. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves the very first clothing. They knew how to sew and they knew how to put clothing together.

There was also weaponry as far back as genesis 3 24 a flaming sword flashed back and forth to guard the way of the tree of life. Heaven showed mankind the very first swords. We can look at tools too in genesis 4 2.

Now abel kept flocks and cain worked the soil. So you know cain wasn't in the soil digging with his hands or anything. They developed hose and rakes and other tools and abel had crooks and fences and all to take care of the flocks probably shears as well.

We read about construction in genesis 4 17. Cain was then building a city. So all the way back to beginning. When god told cain to go out into the world cain said nope i'm gonna stop and i'm gonna go ahead and build a city.

And even then he was disobeying god. But you need a lot of technology to build a city. There was also mining. You go back to genesis 4 22 we learn of tubal cain who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron.

So by the time of tubal cain they knew how to mine bronze and iron and work it to forge different kinds of tools. So there's all sorts of technology involved when it comes to mining we can go to genesis 6 and read about shipbuilding where god told noah so make yourself an ark of cypress wood.

I can't imagine how many tools and how much math and architecture would need to be put to make a ark like he did. But mankind had technology even as far back as the flood. Well let's go just after the flood genesis 9 the mankind created fermentation.

They know a man of the soil proceeded to plant a vineyard and when he drank some of its wine well we know what happened he got drunk right. Well there's a lot of chemistry involved in fermentation and making vats.

And so there was a lot of technology involved in there. We can go back to ancient egypt in genesis 50 and learn about medicine. Joseph directed the physicians in the service to embalm his father israel.

So there were doctors back then who worked with different tools the technologies they had at the time and different chemicals used for medicine and herb lord. We can also go to transportation. Exodus 14 tells us about the wheel he made the wheels of their egyptian chariots come off and this was about the exodus.

So that kind of technology to even create the wheel was very ancient. We can go to writing for instance there's this misconception that adam and eve were stupid and and the evolutionists will tell you they grunted and they had no form of communication.

Or then they only drew in pictograms. But that's not true either. We can go all the way back to exodus 17 where the lord saved the moses. Write this on a scroll. They had paper papyrus at the time writing instruments inks written languages even if it was cuneiform and clay.

They had those technologies all the way back then. We can even read about tent making in exodus 28 and 35. He has filled him with the spirit of god with skill ability and knowledge and all kinds of crafts.

And this was talking about making the tabernacle. So there's a lot of technology involved in creating tents and other kind of buildings. And we read about the craftsmanship especially in the musical instruments of the time period.

We read about harps lyres lutes trumpets horns flutes pipes tambourines bells and symbols. So the ancient people weren't immune or uh disinterested in technology whatsoever. They were very intelligent and using the technology they had at the time able to build fantastic buildings and great arcs and wonderful musical instruments.

And so they had technology even back as far as the beginning. So the bible records it since most the most ancient of times humanity is a what is the definition of technology practically applied knowledge to fix their problems and make things.

This fixing of problems and making things is where we get the term technology which is the greek technologia which is the systematic treatment of art and skill. So we've had technology in the bible as far back as we could go.

But not only did the ancient israelites in the bible note the advent of so many of history's foundational technologies. But let's look at modern-day israelis as they continue to astound the world with their technological innovations.

You hear a lot about boycott divest and sanction today as people try to censor israel by divesting in them but we're going to go through a number of israel's technologies and we'd be amazed at what life would be like without them.

Did you know that although the jewish people only 0 .2 of the world's population jews been awarded 24 of the nobel prizes in both science and medicine. And similarly while jews account for only two percent of the american population they received 37 of the u .s nobel prize awards in these fields.

Author abby george in his book thou shalt innovate how israeli ingenuity repairs the world noted that the country has few natural resources a small population and enemies galore. But israel still manages to produce more startups than canada india japan korea and the united kingdom combined.

And the source credit for israel's innovative insight george believes it comes from their faith. He notes. Israel i come to believe is a nation with the soul of a synagogue a country where jewish prophetic tradition whether consciously or unconsciously has created a remarkable culture of innovation that is being marshaled in large part to solve the world's most forbiddable problems.

This israeli fascination with inventing new technologies to solve the world's problem he credits to the prophet isaiah's calling on the jewish people to act as a light and to the nations isaiah 42 6. He notes that we're partners with god that we share a responsibility in spreading morality and justice around the world.

In other words according to george when a person places their faith in god one will see that repairing the world has become one's defining purpose. So whether one agrees or not that faith in god leads to technological innovation.

The jewish people sure seem intent on proving george's assertion. And here i'm going to show you now just a few examples of israeli technology. Let's start with medical technology. We're going to start with what's called the sniff phone.

You actually breathe in it and it can smell disease and within the body and identify it. For those who are learning to walk they invented the rewalk. It's a battery-powered exoskeleton that helps people who can't walk walk.

They invented the pill cam. How many of you gone to the doctors that have had to swallow one of these. It's a swallowable medical camera that takes pictures and video of inside your body. For those who've had heart attacks or needed stints the israelis are companies invented the flexible stint.

It opens arteries to treat coronary heart disease. They've also created what's called the my eye for the blind. There are eyeglasses that read the pages to them. They've also created the nervio nervio excuse me it's a migraine zapping wearable device.

That's how what they call it you wear it and it gets rid of your headaches. There's also what's called the tito home. It's a handheld examination device. It's your own medical device that you can scan over you and help determine different ailments.

They created what's called the ambulance cycle. Then have you all been israel. You know how narrow the streets are not all the time ambulances can get through but they enveloped a motorcycle that acts as an ambulance.

They also created what's called the rebate for those who are suffering from multiple sclerosis. I have a good friend of mine who's uh really in the late stages of it he takes rebate as a drug to help fight the problems that multiple sclerosis causes.

They even created things called the emergency bandage. If you have massive bleeding they can put this on you and it'll help stop the bleeding. Now most people think when they think israeli technology they think of software and they'd be right.

For instance the israelis created the very first firewall that protects your system against malware and hackers. They also created if you like messaging and chat they created the very first one. If you guys remember icq that was the very first global instant messenger and it was made by an israeli company.

Now get this. They also invented the thumb drive called the disc on a key at the time it was the very first usb thumb drive and it was created by an israeli company. The israelis have also given tremendous amount to agriculture as well.

They created netafim which is a desert friendly drip system irrigate irrigation system so for those of you i'm sure living in california know you've got to conserve water and drip irrigation brought the desert of israel back in the bloom again and it's used all over the world.

They also created the water gen. It pulls the moisture out of the air out of the thin air and creates drinking water so you don't need to keep refilling it. For insects that destroy the crop. They created a grain cocoon keeps out the bugs and it stores the wheat and preserves it.

And they also created econocrete which is a sustainable concrete. They use it for constructing ecologically active infrastructures and marine environments. Isn't that a mouthful. But they create them to help with ecosystems and rebuild them again.

When it comes to travel to the israelis are very innovative. They created the mobile eye which is a tiny camera placed in cars alert drivers of hazards. I have four of them just on my car alone. Ways if you any used ways it provides real-time traffic information.

15 million users used ways and it was an israeli invention. They also created different aircraft. The aviation aircraft. It's an all electric computer air commuter aircraft. The israelis are also some of the most innovative when it comes to robotics.

They created temi the world's first intelligent mobile personal ai robot. They also created the leq. It's a tabletop robot aimed at helping the elderly stay connected to family and friends. And military.

Of course the israelis are at the forefront of most military inventions in order to protect themselves from 60 million hostile arabs on their borders. And the most famous of their inventions i'd say right now is the iron dome.

It's their anti-missile shield. So the israelis have given tremendous amount of innovation to the world. And the idea of boycott divest and sanctioning israel is suicide. Because you'd be surprised how many of the things that you use in your life come from israeli innovation.

I believe that the lord has gifted them very much of that to help the world and with joris said to fulfill their goal of bringing peace and health to the world. Now unless you're a toddler playing with your mother's android you have enough history to look back and see that technology has changed a whole lot right.

I mean over the last few decades. Look back and just compare where we were not just in decades but in years. Remember that for thousands of years of human history life remained pretty much the same. Well sure every 300 years or so the world eked out a technological innovation that revolutionized the world and moved humanity from say the bronze age the iron age.

But for the most part limitations and travel left most inventors cordoned off to the tiny corner of the world. But then in ad 1454 finally arrived and the german goldsmith johannes gutenberg released the very first mobile reusable tight press.

At last knowledge could be mass copied onto paper and be distributed far and wide. The age of the printed book revolutionized the world and gutenberg started with the fount of all knowledge the bible.

Were you surprised to learn from your history classes that the most world-changing technologies were invented in the last 150 years or so as we got closer to our day and age how each technological discovery came about faster and faster and faster.

Now each grew more and more powerful as one invention was built on top of another and on top of another. This increasingly rapid acceleration of technological discovery discovery has been called the exponential curve.

Let's just look at the exponential curve of computers. For instance the old joke is how do you know when your computer is obsolete. The answer when you take it out of the box. But that's not too far from the truth right.

Computer companies tend to double computer processing speeds every 18 months known as moore's law. This is just one manifestation of the greater trend and how all technological change happens to be occurring at an exponential rate.

By 2023 computers are expected to possess the processing power equivalent to the human brain. And by 2045 in just a mere quarter of a century moore's law predicts we'll possess computers with the computational ability equivalent to the entire human race.

The exponential curve is not just limited to computers. Other technologies in biomedicine space science chemical engineering human engineering and all the other sciences have been climbing faster and steeper up their own exponential curves.

With each and every passing day it's expected get this that in the next five years the world's technology will be 32 times more advanced than it is today. This exponential curve in all areas of technology reminds me of another exponential curve one jesus described in the bible.

The apostles once asked jesus what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. Jesus answered by writing 10 signs to look out for that revealed to us when his second advent would be upon us a marked increase in false prophets and false messiahs wars and rumors of wars earthquakes famines plagues fearful events signs in the sky.

The persecution of christians and the world's focus on jerusalem would encompass the first nine signs with the tenth sign involving the unnatural disasters that will directly precede the messiah's return.

Jesus said these signs would increase in frequency and intensity much like a woman's birth pains the closer we came to his return. Exponential curves become in and of themselves their own sign that marks the advent of the messiah's return to this earth.

Well let's look at some of the signs of technology. How do we know the end times jesus prophesied are upon us and that he will be returning soon. Well one of the surest ways we can know is through the incredible end time sign of technology.

God has revealed in the bible that when certain century old prophecies concerning future technology especially those technologies that exponentially increase knowledge and travel become a part of everyday life then the final days of this age leading up to christ's millennial kingdom will have at last come upon us the long ago prophesied technologies that we today now take for granted prove that jesus is returning soon.

Let's take a last look at last. Take a look here where technical technological exponential curve is leading us. Let's look at the signs of technology revealed in the bible that point to the fact we're now living in the end times in which indicate that jesus will soon return.

The following are i believe nine of the most prominent signs of technology. Sign number one knowledge. The first sign sign of knowledge. Not only does this sign stand out particularly as the most revealing out of all of the technological signs but also provides the foundation that the others in this list build upon.

We find the source text for this prophecy in the book of daniel. Daniel 12 4 says. But you daniel shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase.

Well here's some background context. Here daniel been listening across many chapters to an angel pronouncing a mind-blowing message from god. Through the angel god revealed a rise and fall of great empires leading eventually to a global empire led by a world ruler whom the apostle john would later call the antichrist.

Of course all these great empires were still future from daniel's perspective. So he was quite perplexed over what he was hearing. So rubbing his forehead in confusion he asked the angel for an explanation.

To his dismay no luck. The angel basically told daniel that he could never understand these prophecies because too much needed to happen first. This would include a great increase in mankind's knowledge which would mark the time of the end or end times.

Only those living in the end times and who were wise would at last understand these prophecies and recognize that the exponential increase in knowledge heralded the soon return of the messiah. Well have you ever considered it just a hundred years ago all that most people learn throughout their entire lifetime equal to one sunday edition of the new york times.

Our ability today to practically consume that same amount of data on a daily basis shows just how far mankind's knowledge has increased in so short amount of a time. So what technologies have helped us facilitate the advent of this massive explosion.

The growth of knowledge. You of course probably are thinking computers. And you'd be absolutely correct not only has the exponential curve in all areas of computer technology increased our knowledge to stupendous levels but computers have aided in all the major scientific discoveries of our day.

We don't need to cram all of these facts into our brains anymore either for the ability to easily store and access data means we can continue to learn like we've never learned before in human history.

Today's exponential increase in knowledge points to the fact that jesus christ is returning soon. Sign number two transportation notice. In that same prophecy the angel told daniel that beside a great increase in knowledge many shall run to and fro.

Well this tremendous increase in travel would also occur in the same context that being the end times god was revealing that once people began to run to and fro both farther and faster that those final years before christ returned to set up his millennial kingdom were finally upon us.

Well stop and think how people traveled just a single century ago most roads weren't even paved yet and were traveling along by horse-drawn wagons. People rarely if ever even left their hometowns animal domestication in the early beginnings of decent roads.

Then bicycles balloons boats and simple automobiles were developing technologies but not widely received. Since the early parts of the 20th century mankind went on to invent airplanes and jets and we've even left earth's atmosphere and rockets and space shuttles.

It used to take months for people to travel by boat overseas but now we travel that same distance abroad in mere hours. In today's world people are always on the move just as the angel prophesied to daniel.

Today's exponential increase in travel points to the fact that jesus christ is returning soon. Sign number three the mark of the beast. The third sign involves those technologies which will make the mark of the beast the terror of the world.

The book of revelation forewarned warns he also forced everyone small and great rich and poor free and slave to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark which is the name of the beast or the number of his name revelation 13.

So let me provide you guys with a little context here concerning the mark of the beast. A seven-year tribulation time period is coming when god will be pouring out his wrath upon the world just as he did during the days of the flood.

Revelation reveals that at the midpoint of the tribulation the antichrist and his false prophet will set up a system of commerce whereas a person cannot buy or sell unless they have sworn allegiance to the antichrist.

They do so by writing his name or the number 666 on their right hand or forehead. Well what kind of technologies would be required to control the world's commerce. The apostle john could visibly read the name and number etched on the people who had sworn their allegiance to the antichrist.

So some kind of tattooing is certainly involved. Magnetic ink can store a person's personal financial and health information and then digital readers would scan the ink in order to authorize whatever that person is allowed to buy or sell.

Maybe a rfid microchip is also involved embedded in a say a rice-sized glass case underneath the readable mark which is common technology throughout most of europe today. Global commerce also needs a way to collect all those countless terabytes of information and so require the construction of giant data centers in order to store a planetary population full of data.

That data would need to move lightning fast using high speed internet connectivity complex e-commerce systems wireless networks and billion-dollar satellites and so on. The closest system we have today to the mark of the beast is china's social credit score which has been already instituted in their more populated cities.

The chinese government has positioned millions of cameras everywhere in order to spy on their citizens. Computer algorithms then rate the citizens allegiance to the government granting benefits to those who are more loyal and restrictions to those the computer deems as not being patriotic enough.

So just imagine that horribly restrictive system instituted on the global scale. All of these e-commerce technologies which make today's buying and selling so much easier are actually all coming together so that the anti-christ control all of the world's commerce and thereby control all of the people under his rule.

Now a lot of fear surrounds taking the market to be especially in this covet era. And rightly. So for those who take it god says we'll have lost their hope of becoming saved. But folks listen we today should have no fear of accidentally taking the mark of the beast for will not be instituted until halfway halfway through the tribulation well after the church has been raptured up to heaven.

Therefore don't sweat chips and barcodes and credit cards. They have nothing to do with the mark of the beast yet. Today's global e-commerce network points to the fact that jesus christ is returning soon.

Sign number four is a great sign. It's a wonderful sign. It's a positive one. And it's the sign of evangelism. Its sign prophesies that the entire world will be evangelized in the end times. Matthew 24 14 says.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come. God wants the church to preach the good news of the salvation to the entire world.

And so he's provided us with powerful communication tools for sharing the gospel. Today's exponential curve and communication technology has played a vital role in reaching more of the world for christ than has ever been preached in the previous 19th centuries.

Technologies such as cameras and microphones televisions and tablets smartphones and cell towers communication networks and satellites the internet and the airwaves big media social media they all work together to form the largest pulpit the world has ever known.

And while all these breathtaking technologies are leading people to christ by the thousands each day the entire world as jesus referred to it will not hear the gospel before the rapture happens that blessing awaits the second coming at the end of the tribulation communication technologies will continue to spread the gospel to the post-rapture world.

In addition god will send forth the 144 000 jewish evangelists the two witnesses and even the gospel angel is prophesied to preach throughout the whole world so that every person on the planet will be evangelized by the end of the tribulation god will leave no person without a chance to choose his son and so be saved.

Today's communication technologies point to the fact that jesus christ is returning soon. Sign number five. The fifth sign involves the living image of the antichrist. The verse goes. And he performed great and miraculous signs even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth and full view of men.

Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast. He deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in the honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast so that it could speak and cause all who refuse to worship that image to be killed. Revelation 13. So here's the context. Revelation reveals that during the tribulation the antichrist will order his false prophet to set up an image of himself in a newly built jewish temple and he's going to order the world to worship him as if he were god.

Now this is the same scenario all over again when the babylonian king nebuchadnezzar set up a statue of himself and ordered everybody to worship it. Daniel tells of how shadrach meshach and abednego refused and so were thrown into the fiery furnace.

Well this is all going to happen again during the tribulation. But instead of chucking people into ovens the false prophet prophet will rain down fire and incinerate those people who refuse to worship the antichrist.

Well how will the false prophet make fire fall down from the sky and consuming people assuming there's nothing supernatural going on. Let's look at the technologies involved in say producing pyrotechnics.

Maybe john was referring to jets or drones dropping bombs and other incendiary weapons or satellite-based weapon systems such as missiles or laser systems which could simply zap people from high up in orbit.

Remember that the antichrist must use technology because he's a counterfeit. His false prophet will not be a real miracle maker. And so we'll use today's military technology to destroy people with just a touch of a button.

What's so peculiar about the story of this image is that john reveals that it was given life. Now nebuchadnezzar statue didn't get up and walk about and sing and dance and all like that it didn't even move.

But the image of the antichrist will appear to be alive assuming there's nothing supernatural involved in making the illusion of a living statue such as the demonic possession of an object. Statues still cannot move.

They lack the proper joints and musculature. So what kind of technology could the false prophet use then to make an image move. Well john could have been the very first person to watch television. The antichrist image may appear at regular intervals on a person's tv set or mobile device.

And once broadcast everyone's expected to fall down and worship his image. Or the image may involve robotic and artificial technologies. How about a fully functional hologram. Japan for instance has been especially hard at work developing both robotics and holographic technologies.

Why. For years now one of japan's biggest pop stars has been hatsumi miku who's a fully interactive hologram that sings in live concerts with the proper alexa. Like technology the antichrist living image be a robot or a hologram could fully interact with its adoring acolytes.

That means that today's weapons and robotic technologies point to the fact that jesus christ is coming soon. Let's look at sign number six a population explosion. The sixth sign of technology points to the fact that we're living in the end times involves a great population explosion.

Revelation reveals the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the east. Prepare a way for what. The number of the mounted troops was 200 million.

I heard their number. And what happens to the army. They were trampled in the wine press outside the city jerusalem and blood flowed out of the press rising as high as the horse's bridle for a distance of 180 miles.

So here's the context again as the tribulation winds mercifully to a close the antichrist empire begins to crumble due to a number of rebellions led by various sub rulers. Just as the antichrist squashes a rebellion in africa he must turn his loyal forces north to deal with the rebellion coming from the east.

Both armies meet in the valley of armageddon located in northern israel. And while these armies are busy slaughtering each other they will see jesus and his armies returning out of the heavens. And you then unite against jesus.

The king of kids will easily defeat the world's armies. And he does it just by speaking. And the bible says the blood from the vanquished armies will flow as high as a horse's head. And that's for a staggering 180 miles.

By the end of the tribulation most of the world's population will have been wiped out. And still these prophesied kings of the east can amass a 200 million man army. This prophecy just must have blown john's mind for when he lived and john in the first century there was only 200 million people living in the entire earth.

How then does the human population get so large that despite the massive death toll of the tribulation the east can assemble such a staggeringly large army. How do we have the billions that we have today.