The Coming Financial Meltdown

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.