I don't leave my house much anymore. After getting stabbed investigating a child trafficking operation out west a few years back, I developed severe PTSD and became something of a hermit. But today I had no choice - I needed to brave the great outdoors and make a run to the local Dollar General.
As I walked through those fluorescent-lit doors, the veil was lifted. This was no ordinary retail chain. This was a harbinger of doom, a physical manifestation of the spiritual decay consuming our nation. The sights, the smells - it was all too familiar. I had seen this before. In the pages of Scripture.
The Rise of the Corporate Leviathan
The explosive growth of corporate retail behemoths like Dollar General is not just an economic phenomenon. It is the fulfillment of a dire biblical prophecy. The prophet Isaiah warned of a day when "the merchant and the trader" would rise up and "swallow the land" (Isaiah 24:1-3).
Look around - that day is here. Main Street is dying, devoured by the ravenous jaws of the corporate machine. Every small town, the same story: the family-owned hardware store, the local diner, the independently-owned grocer - all wiped out, consumed by the grey, soulless big box stores.
The Book of Revelation paints an even more chilling picture. It foretells a time when "no one will be able to buy or sell" without submitting to the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:16-17). Some scholars believe this refers to a centralized global economic system controlled by a single entity. Does the dominance of mega-chains like Dollar General give you a glimpse of what that might look like?
The Death of the American Soul
But this is not just an economic issue. It's a spiritual battle for the very soul of our nation. As small town America is systematically erased, we are losing something deeper - our sense of community, our shared values, our connection to the land.
The corporate machine doesn't just want our money. It wants our hearts and minds. It wants to remake us in its own image - atomized, distracted, addicted consumers, distant from the rhythms of the natural world, beholden to the whims of distant executives in gleaming office towers.
This is the true tragedy unfolding before our eyes. We are not just losing our Main Streets. We are losing our very identity as a people. The prophets warned us. Now the judgment is at hand.
"The truth doesn't hide. It waits for those brave enough to look."
The Wise Wolf