What is the world is going on with Iran?  Over the past week we've learned that the Iranian KUDS forces (which is the equivalent of our special forces) were involved in a plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States.  Allegedly, the plot involved working with Mexican drug cartels in an effort to hire professional assassins to carry out the plot.  As more and more details of this plot become known, it is clear that the Iranian government was involved in this effort. 

This is a radical move on the part of the Iranian government - even a game-changing event.  It has led to several things that are happening presently in our own government reaction to this attempt on the Saudi Arabian Ambassador.  The first is that the Obama administration is seeking what they call, "crippling" sanctions against the Iranian government.  The problem with this action is that it will require countries like China and Russia to comply as well.  Since we do not do any business with Iran, our ability to directly affect their economy is fairly limited.  The second action, which is not receiving hardly any attention involves Israel and the sale of 55 advanced bunker-busting bombs to their military.  This was something that was allowed by the Obama Administration.  To give a little insight on this action, the Bush Administration was asked to do the same thing - and did not do it.  It was viewed as too controversial a decision, and one that would come back to haunt them if Israel used these weapons to destroy Iran's nuclear program.

What does all this mean for our world.  It actually means a great deal.  One of the things Israel absolutely had to have to deal with Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons was bunker-busting bombs.  Now that they have them - an attack on Iran's nuclear infrastructure is far more possible.  This would cause a huge disruption of the delivery of oil throughout the world.  Those who understand the ramifications of this say it might cause the cost of oil to surge to 6-8 dollars a gallon - or more.  This would send an already fragile world economy over the edge into full scale collapse.  Such a collapse would put our world into financial chaos.  It would be a perfect scenario for a world leader to rise to help solve such an issue - not to mention to lead the world toward a one-world currency or system that would be easily be transformed to a cashless economy.

There is also the problem of military reprisals for Israel taking out Iran's nuclear weapons program.  If such an attack were to take place, there is a good possibility that the world would be set on fire.  Russia, Syria, and Turkey all have mutual defense pacts with Iran.  If Israel were to attack Iran - what would these countries do?  It could easily cause the region to erupt with protests - and eventually a military action against Israel from nations throughout the region.  That would fit the view of the Gog-Magog conflict of Ezekiel 37-38 being an event which happens before the rapture of the church and the beginning of the 7 year tribulation period of the book of Revelation. 

The situation with Iran is fluid at the moment.  Much of what I've written today has yet to happen.  We do not know what sanctions will be put on Iran.  We do not know how effective they will be.  We do not know how Iran is going to react to such things.  We do not know how the rest of the Middle East will react to Iran's actions.  But the one thing we do know is that Israel now has the ability to penetrate the bunkers which hide much of Iran's nuclear facilities.  The question will be what Israel will do with them?  The other thing we also know is that these events have done nothing to lessen the political pressures that are rising in the Middle East.  We will need to stay tuned to learn what will happen.  But in the mean time we also need to stay on our knees and continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, because these events have made that peace that much more difficult.

I’m on vacation presently – but as I’ve taken the time to keep up with the news I’ve had a sense of destiny in the things that I am reading.  Let me explain by making reference to the book of Revelation and the things we see happen in that amazing prophecy of last things. 

In the book of Revelation we see some astounding things happening in the world prior to the return of Jesus Christ.  Among them is a world leader who arises promising peace, but delivers something far different.  We see war on a scale possibly unknown to mankind.  We see horrific events involving famine and plague that seem almost out of the realm of possibility.  We see a world system of finance that no longer involves a currency or currencies of the nations of the world.  All these things seem so far fetched that many have written off Revelation as either a book that is to be interpreted non-literally – or as the rantings of a crazed prophet or worse.

Yet, as I read the news I cannot help but watch the stage being set for the return of Jesus Christ.  We are watching our own nation on the edge of a financial Armageddon – not because of the debt ceiling debacle in Congress, but because we have $14.2 trillion in debt and actually think that more borrowing is not a bad thing for us.  Because of our position in the world as the largest consumer nation, if we fall the world is coming with us.  There is such an inter-connectedness in economies in our world today that a failure in the United States will bring down the world with it. But the debt crisis is not just in the United States alone.  European countries who have embraced the lies of socialism are coming to their own day of reckoning as their ability to handle a debt explosion are coming upon them.  Not only is the U.S. economy going to implode, but Europe’s as well – and they may get there first. 

Consider the implications of all this.  Two of the world’s largest economies are going to implode.  With that we will see a collapse of the U. S. farming community as well – because without financial backing, the system we’ve maintained for our farming will fall apart as well.  That will bring a lack of food the likes of which the world has not seen in modern times.  With it will also come the looming specter of famine as one of the largest producers of food in the world suddenly will be struggling with feeding themselves as economics prevents the growing of food. 

This coming economic Armageddon will also affect the nation that has done more to promote world health than any other on the planet.  That work will come to a grinding halt as the companies that have pioneered much of the innovation and advance of medicine also implode.  Medicines that have been readily available will soon find shortages popping up all over the world. 

With this kind of financial meltdown will also come the inevitable showdowns between nations who are now facing dire choices as the shortages grow.  Historically this has led to war between nations – because contrary to biblical truth – wars are primarily not engaged in because of political differences.  James tells us that the reason for wars is because we want and we cannot have – so we argue and fight on a local level – but on a geo-political scale such arguments become wars.

Now add to this the growing problem of an Islamic radicalism that is wanting world domination and you have a recipe for a worldwide conflagration that is coming soon to a planet near you.  Some will read this and commence hand-wringing as they try to figure out how to stop it.  But the fact is that you will not be able to stop these kind of events when Christ’s return is imminent.  When I look at the things that are happening now – I see two things.  First I see that when a world sows to the wind, they will reap the whirlwind.  Our world has been in rebellion against God since Adam’s fall in the garden.  This rebellion seems to be reaching a critical mass in our day.  The godlessness in our world only knows one other context historically and biblically – and that is the days prior to Noah and the first destruction of the earth by water.  Just as the pre-flood world had to face the consequences for their sin and rebellion, so does ours – and that host of consequences seems to be knocking at our door.  The second thing I see is possibly an engineering of all this as God is sovereignly working in our world.  Please understand I do not see God as the author of such sin and wickedness.  He is not responsible for the sin and rebellion – yet He is still sovereignly working through it toward the ultimate end of His eternal purposes.  That eternal purpose has as its goal the summing up of all things in Christ Jesus – the ultimate punishment of the wicked – the ultimate reward of the righteous – and then the penultimate reign of His Son for all eternity. 

So where does that leave us – you know, the ones who are still on this planet as these things hurtle toward their horrific conclusion?  It leaves us where we have always been – redeemed ones of Jesus Christ who have a task before us.  That task is to continue making disciples of all the nations – preaching the gospel to the ends of the earth – and preparing our own hearts for the return of our glorious Lord and Savior.  The days and years will continue to be piled upon the past – until He comes and our salvation is completed as we are glorified in heaven.  But no matter whether this end comes in days or years – or decades – or centuries – our task is the same as our brethren right after the ascension of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  Preach Jesus – live Jesus – lead others to Jesus – disciple them for Jesus – and love Jesus until the end . . . whether it is an end as we die on this earth – or one where we greet Him in the clouds in a glorious reunion as He comes again!

Recently while in Sudan teaching I came across a couple of verses in Habakkuk that arrested my attention.  This, along with several things that happened while overseas, has brought me to the place where I want to write about what is soon coming to a nation near you.  What is coming soon to the United States is a complete meltdown of our entire financial system.

Habakkuk 2:6-7 "Will not all of these take up a taunt-song against him, Even mockery and insinuations against him and say, 'Woe to him who increases what is not his— For how long— And makes himself rich with loans?  Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, and those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them.“

These are the two verses I read while in Sudan, and immediately the Lord nudged me in my spirit and gave me a sense that these were going to come upon the United States very soon.  Unfortunately I do not have an exact time table for what very soon means – but if history is any indicator – it would be my guess that we have less than 2-3 years until this happens (and I would not be shocked if this happens before the end of this year). 

Let me explain first biblically, and then with a reference to history.  First we turn to Habakkuk and the warning that he offers to where God’s people were then – and honestly, where we are now.  God told Habakkuk to stand and watch for the vision He gave him.  That vision included a rebuke for their drunkenness – and the lack of self control it brought about in them.  They were focused as a consumer culture – and part of that consumer mentality was to become “rich” by the use of loans.  God rebuked them for this and told them though a person may look rich by becoming rich with loans, the question one should ask is, “For how long?”  The problem with becoming rich through debt is that it is an illusory wealth that you have.  The ones who are truly rich are your creditors – the ones to whom you owe the money.  These people are collecting interest from you – and what you thought cost only $100 – is costing you far more.  In the end, if you cannot pay your debt, your creditors will, “rise up suddenly” and “You will become plunder for them.”  You don’t actually own anything – they own you.    For God’s people during the time of Habakkuk, this was a huge problem – for they were blind to what was about to happen to them.  But whether they were blind or not, this was going to happen.

Our country is over 14 trillion dollars in debt.  We’ve decided to become rich through loans – but the time is quickly coming upon us where we will have to pay for our illusory wealth – and it is going to cost us dearly.  The past two times we’ve heard reports from the FED, they have told us that everything is fine – as they are “monetizing” our debt.  What this means is rather than paying the debt and tightening our belts as Americans, our foolish leaders have decided to print money at rates that are alarming.  This is destroying the stability of the United States dollar.  This has led to a meeting that has never happened before in modern history.  Recently, all the major economic players in the world met together – and did NOT invite the United States to the meeting.  What they discussed at the meeting is that they are strongly working toward removing the dollar as the world currency of choice.

Recently, while in Amsterdam, I experienced what is happening in our world first hand.  The businesses in that city were very forthright in telling me that they did not accept U.S. dollars.  I had to trade them in for Euros.  What was even more shocking to my sensibilities was that there were only two places where you can still do this – the Forex booth at Central Station – and at the Central Post Office in Amsterdam.  This did not match what I had been told even as late as March of 2011.  But the reason for this is because the monetizing of our debt is destroying the value of the dollar. 

Now for the history lesson.  Prior to WWII, the German Weimar Republic also decided that the way to deal with their debt problems was to print money.  This quickly destabilized their paper money – and it led to a devaluation of their money – and to a meteoric rise in interest rates.  Before long it almost took an entire wheelbarrow filled with money to buy a loaf of bread.  Today, when I share this with people they scoff and think that this was long ago.  Such things cannot happen today.

In 1967 the Labour Party in Great Britain decided to lead their country in a decided socialist direction.  In order to pay their bills (as they gave away everything to everyone) they decided to devalue the British currency by 14% overnight.  The result was that everything suddenly became much more expensive.  In the late 1970’s this situation led to what had been called the “Winter of Discontent.”  During this time things got so bad that there were strikes among numerous workers and at one point hospitals were reduced to accepting emergency patients only.  Also they saw inflation explode 26.9% in one year!  In 1974 businesses and homes were forced into a “three day week” where electricity was given for only three days, broadcasting on television was shut down at 10:30 p.m. each night – and there were constant shortages of food – and even candles as people struggled to live.  This same kind of situation has happened recently in Yugoslavia and most recently in Greece. 

The truly frightening thing that I see right now is that there are currently 46 states in the United States who are nearing bankruptcy.  This has led to Arizona selling most of their public buildings – and California to release almost 11% of their prison population because they cannot afford to keep them in jail any longer.  Another interesting development is that in parts of Massachusetts they are no longer accepting U.S. dollars to pay for goods any longer.  They are asking for Euros instead.  There are reports that in Texas some stores are preferring Mexican Pesos to American dollars for payment.  Since the U.S. dollar has devalued 11% in 2010, the world is seeing the writing on the wall – and is planning to abandon the U.S. dollar. 

Here is the prophecy part of all this.  What Habakkuk saw IS going to happen in the United States.  Soon we are going to see inflation and the devaluing of our dollar run completely rampant.  Commodities are going to skyrocket in price to where we will hardly recognize prices at our grocery stores.  The price of gasoline  will most likely shoot up to European prices (around 6-7 dollars per gallon).  We will watch unemployment reach record levels very soon.  All this is happening for two reasons – first we are not following God’s principles when it comes to debt and how we manage the money God has given to us.  The second reason is that God in His sovereignty is working through this disobedience toward His eventual end – which I believe Scripturally will involve a financial collapse – and a subsequent one world financial system not involving countries having individual currencies. 

So what do we do about this?  First, we read and follow God’s Word when it comes to our financial dealings and practices.  Study the book of Proverbs to understand more about wisely handling the money God gives you.  Turn from this world’s view of money, and adopt God’s instead.  Second, realize that no matter what you do, that some aspects of the financial meltdown are inevitable.  God is moving toward His ultimate goal of bringing down the pride of man and exalting Christ alone in the end.  Don’t take a fatalist view of things – do what you can – but also don’t think you will be able to escape what happens in this world unscathed as God moves toward His future works.