The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The Economic Meltdown

Did you notice that the stock market collapse on September 29, 2008, totaled 777 points and occurred on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year? From my viewpoint, it appears to be a judgment on our nation that has the fingerprints of God all over it.

Keep in mind that President George W. Bush was the first president to propose the establishment of a Palestinian state, and for the past month he has had his Secretary of State in the Middle East trying to force the Israelis to give up their heartland.

The Word of God warns that nations who try to divide Israel in the end times will pay a terrible price. In Joel 3:2 the Lord says that He will “enter into judgment” against those nations that “have divided up My land.”

We have sold out Israel for Arab oil, and we are paying the price.

But our treatment of Israel is not the only reason for this remedial judgment. Our worship of money is the other reason.

In my book “America the Beautiful? The United States in Bible Prophecy” published in 2003, I presented several scenarios that could explain the absence of the United States in end time Bible prophecy. They included such things as an internal nuclear attack by terrorists, an external nuclear attack from another nation, and a societal collapse due to internal moral rot. The only positive scenario I could conceive was the destruction of our nation due to the Rapture of the Church.

The very first scenario I offered was an economic one. I put it first because it was the one I felt was most probable. Here’s what I wrote:

“The first thing that comes to mind is an economic catastrophe that will result from our out of control debt situation. The official outstanding debt of the U.S. government is currently 6.2 trillion dollars. That amounts to $21,540 per person. This debt is increasing at the rate of 1.1 billion per day! Private debt is even more horrendous. At the beginning of the 21st Century, there was a staggering $25.6 trillion of credit market debt outstanding in the U.S. That total represents a doubling of the debt burden since 1990. America’s total debt, public and private (including state and local government) stands at around $32 trillion dollars! That’s $115,322 per man, woman, and child. Amazingly, 52% of this debt was accumulated in the 1990s, a decade driven primarily by debt instead of productivity.

There is no way to escape the conclusion that America has become a debt junkie. We are living on money we do not have and will never have, and sooner or later the weight of this debt is going to collapse our economy. One irony is that we have killed 50 million babies who could have been in the work force today contributing to our economic health by producing goods and services and paying taxes.

I believe an unprecedented economic collapse is highly likely because money is the real god of America, and the true God of this universe is a jealous One who does not tolerate idolatry. God, by His very nature, is going to be compelled to destroy our false god.”

We are a nation driven by greed. The mortgage debacle which has caused the current crisis is due first of all to greedy people wanting to live in houses they could not afford. They were serviced by greedy banks who were willing to grant loans they knew the people could not pay because the banks intended to flip the loans quickly, making a fast profit. And all the while, greedy politicians were willing to look the other way while their campaigns received money from the greedy lenders who they were supposed to be regulating.

Republicans have run for office for years as fiscal conservatives, vowing to take good care of taxpayer’s money. Yet, when they gained control of Congress, they fed at the money trough like ravenous hogs, and President Bush looked the other way, refusing to exercise his veto power. The result is that our national debt continued to skyrocket.

Greed motivates big business, big labor, big sports, and big religion. Every aspect of our society is infected with it. Relentless advertising encourages people to live beyond their means by relying on credit cards.

One sobering result of the current economic debacle is that it has made it almost impossible for John McCain to be elected, meaning that our nation is most likely going to receive the kind of leaders we deserve. We could well end up with the most liberal president in our history, one intent on expanding abortion to include infanticide, determined to retreat internationally from the threat and challenge of Islamic terrorism, and committed to packing our Supreme Court with ultra-liberals who will hold our Constitution in contempt.

The Bible teaches that when a nation rebels against God, He will first raise up prophetic voices to call the nation to repentance. The Lord did that years ago here in America when he began to call for national repentance through voices like Dave Wilkerson who also warned us in graphic language of the consequences if we refused to repent.

When prophetic voices are ignored, God always resorts next to remedial judgments, which increase in ferocity over time. We have experienced a whole series of such judgments, beginning with our loss of the Vietnam War. Other judgments have included such things as natural disasters, epidemics, crop failures, political corruption, crime, and immorality. According to Romans 1, what God does in times of national rebellion is lower the hedge of protection around the nation and allow evil to multiply.

The biggest wake-up call occurred with the attacks on 9/11. But like a sleepy person, we just rolled over, hit the snooze alarm, and went back to sleep.

The most disturbing thing about all this is that the Bible teaches that when a nation refuses to repent in response to prophetic voices and remedial judgments, a point will ultimately come when God will deliver the nation from judgment to destruction. Our nation currently appears to be on that threshold.

Let us pray for our nation as we have never prayed before. Let each of us pray prayers like the one Daniel prayed in Daniel chapter 9, where he took the sins of the nation upon himself and asked for forgiveness. After all, all of us are responsible to one degree or another for the sins of our nation, either due to our participation in them or our unwillingness to speak out against them. Let us pray for God to show us grace by not giving us the kind of leaders we deserve. And let’s pray for a national revival that will sweep many people into the Lord’s kingdom before it is too late.

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Dr. David Reagan

Dr. David Reagan is the Founder and Evangelist Emeritus of Lamb & Lion Ministries. He is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher and he led over 45 pilgrimages to Israel. Dr. Reagan was the host of the radio then television program Christ in Prophecy for nearly 40 years.

9 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • charitynavigator.com reports that three people at Lamb & Lion have salaries of $84,085, $76,076 and $72,625. That is a lot more money that most of us middle class Americans make. Is that greed, too? I'm not saying yes or no. I'll let the readers of this decide.

  • To clarify my previous post, I am not saying the people at Lamb & Lion are overpaid nor deserve the salary they get. I am saying that to a lot of us that is a huge annual salary so you could say greed is in the eye of the beholder.

  • The great thing about Charity Navigator (which Lamb & Lion has a 4-star rating) and our ECFA membership is the financial accountability. Our financial statements are even open on our website.

    There’s more to a salary than just a paycheck. The high cost of living where one lives (Dallas), benefits (there are none), housing allowance, length of service (some near 20 years) and family (one family has 10 kids to support). The poorest person in the U.S. is in the top 10 percentile in the world. So, salary is relative.

    I apologize, Anonymous, that you feel offended by the article’s claim that WE ALL in America are responsible the current financial woes due to greed. But, it’s true. Man’s self-centeredness will always produce some greed, no matter how giving one is.

  • I also checked Charity Navigator's site, and they report Lamb & Lion would have to double their salaries to meet even the average pay.

    From their site http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=studies.ceo:
    "The top leaders of the 5,3241 charities in America evaluated by Charity Navigator earn an average salary of $148,9723. This represents a modest pay raise of 2.55% over the previous year studied, and is similar to last year’s pay raise of 2.34%. All together, the salaries total nearly $770 million. Although this is a considerable amount of money, CEO compensation accounts for just 3.32% of an average organization's total spending."

  • I think I don't make myself clear sometimes, it's my fault and I apologize. What I meant was I don't thinks it's greed (which I define as hoarding money) as much as it is being materialistic, which I am guilty of. I guess it was semantics that was the problem in my thinking. My point wasn't to attack Lamb & Lion, it was that someone making $30K a year may think someone making $80K a year is greedy. In reality, it's what you do with that money that counts. So I guess I'd say we are more materialistic than greedy. I am sorry if I wasn't clear and VERY sorry if I sounded like I was attacking Lamb & Lion, I wasn't. Charity Navigator will prove Lamb & Lion is one of the best charities in the ENTIRE world!!!

  • The United States is in the Bible. Daniel 7 speaks of the nations that will be on the earth in the last days. One of them is represented by the wings of an Eagle coming out of a Lion. The Eagle is the USA, and the Lion is Britian.

  • Revelation 12:13-17 states that in the middle of the Tribulation God will provide a means of escape for the Jewish remnant in Israel. They will be carried into the wilderness to a hiding place on the “wings of a great eagle.”

    Some people have seized on this imagery to teach that the U.S., whose national symbol is the eagle, will supply the end time air lift that will save the Jewish remnant.

    But the Bible is its own best interpreter. And when you look up the phrase, “wings of an eagle,” you will find that it is the same one that God used in Exodus 19:4 (see also Deuteronomy 32:11) to describe how He brought the Israelites out of Egypt. God is the eagle, not the United States.

    Read more about the United States in Bible Prophecy.

  • Hi,
    I was introduced to L&L ministries about 10 years ago. I found their web site when checking out the links page from Zola Levitt's web site whom I had been learning from some time in the early 80's. I watched Zola on television all the time and when the internet became popular and easy to use for everyone I also used that to learn from Zola.
    The salaries mentioned are modest and very fair for the work they do at L&L ministries. The two ministries I mentioned, Zola and L&L both teach absoutely the truth of the WORD of GOD and I have learned so very much from both as well as "Prophecy in the News" w.prophecyinthenews.com, "The King is coming", w.thekingiscoming.com, Ariel ministries, at w.ariel.org, along with several more.
    I prayed for the Lord to teach me His Truth and am sure the Lord guided me the the ministries I have mentioned.
    They all teach and agree with in 99% of each other.
    Two of the ministries, Zola, and Ariel are Hebrew Christians and are excellent.
    Remember what "GOD" Himself said, "Don't muzzel the OX while he treads the wheat". In other words if he is going to work he deserves to be paid and the saleries at L&L are really modest, espically in todays economy. I am very greatful for people like Dr. Reagan and Nathan Jones, and before Nathan, Dennis Polock at L&L.
    If you have seen the "SUPER PREACHERS" like Creflo Dollar, Paula White, as well as many others, O yeah, the "Hour of Power" with Mr. Schuller, and so on, these people are taking millions of dollars for their own personal use and along with that are teaching "ANOTHER GOSPEL" of prosperity, name it and claim it etc..
    BE VERY GREATFUL FOR PEOPLE like Zola, Dr. Reagan and Nathan, Ed Hindson at The King is coming, and prior to Dr. Hindson, Dr. Dave Breese. These men and women of GOD could surely be making much more money in the secular world. I want to thank the Living GOD for guiding me to these ministries. And I also want to thank them with all my heart.
    Regards in Yeshua, Mark

  • Only recently was I directed to this article by Dr Reagan and was overwhelmed by the 777 observation.

    There is currently a discussion about this on Fulfilled Prophecy where there is a concern for November the 11th ,there are quite a few 7's midway of the discussion that seem to be pointing to the coming judgment.

    There seems to fasting and praying over this.

    Re: Being Prepared

    http://www.fulfilledprophecy.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=36531&start=300

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