“In God We Trust.” It is a well-known slogan that has become an accepted colloquialism almost everywhere, both in America and in other nations. On the other hand, it is also true that it is generally frowned upon to post this statement in public places or promote it in government-run schools. Yet, it is stamped on perhaps billions of US coins. Few people seem to mind. In fact, even atheists rarely object that the slogan, “In God We Trust,” might touch their palms frequently. Why this apparent indifference? It may reveal the condition of our societies.
What if, instead, coins were imprinted with the slogan, “In Money We Trust”? Many people may object. Its admission, were it true, would be considered too blatant or pagan. For one, our enemy doesn’t use truth and consequences as a tactical device, but rather deceptions and half-truths. An inconvenient truth is much more effective when it is wrapped in a lie.
Do we detect a lie?
Which slogan is closer to the truth in our day? An answer is important. As we will see, depending on the answer, Bible prophecy clearly reveals the future that can be expected, both for nations and individuals. As it happens, it is a question that yields an easy response—no opinion necessary, as Scripture and facts themselves provide a clear diagnosis. By observing the symptoms evident in our society today, we can determine whether the coins jingling in people’s pockets are speaking the truth … or hiding it.
Symptoms That Betray Our Trust
The Bible provides us with rich object lessons in the matter of trust. If we place our trust in God, certain outcomes follow over time. If it is in anything other than Jehovah, another pattern of outcomes can be expected. The prophets of the Bible clearly stated what would happen if the Hebrews turned from God to trust in anything or anyone else besides Jehovah.
Moses admonished this people, “If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that […] you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 8:19-20).
Other gods can be anything that displaces trust from God. In this case, as is revealed two verses before, the Hebrews were warned about self-reliance. If they ever were to say, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me” (verse 17), they were headed for tribulation. They are reminded that it is “the LORD your God […] who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today” (verse 18).
The conclusion here is straightforward: If people forsake their trust in God—for example, trusting instead in their own powers and wealth—eventually, destruction will follow. This consequence is repeated later: “But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed” (Deuteronomy 30:17-18a).
But destruction didn’t come right away. After all, God is merciful and slow to anger (Exodus 34:6). His wish is that all might repent (Acts 17:30). He first provides plenty of warnings through His prophets, then follows with harsh discipline and hardships. This pattern is observable through the entire history of God’s people (then and now). We can therefore view these conditions as the symptoms of our spiritual condition.
More Truth and Consequences
Other direct consequences resulting from misplaced trust were: slavery, poverty, droughts, famines, and national embarrassment. Moses prophesied: “Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you” (Deuteronomy 28:47-48).
Expressed in today’s language, Moses is saying if you do not place your trust in Jehovah, you will become impoverished, face difficult economic times, and come under foreign domination and oppression. Once more, destruction is named as the ultimate end. But here, we clearly see that other trials came first.
There are additional proofs of disobedience and misplaced trust. “The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail. All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you” (Deuteronomy 28:43-45).
Here, we see again that foreign influences begin to dominate the land. Another sign of God’s coming judgment is that the nation will become increasingly indebted to other nations.1
Later, when the twelve tribes had split into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Jehovah used the same gentle tactics against both nations, even though the evil was great. Speaking to Israel, the northern nation that did not have even one righteous king: “Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins. You will eat but not be satisfied; your stomach will still be empty. You will store up but save nothing, because what you save I will give to the sword. You will plant but not harvest; you will press olives, but not use the oil on yourselves; you will crush grapes but not drink the wine” (Micah 6:13-15).
Why did this happen? Because Israel was a “wicked house, your ill-gotten treasures and the short ephah, which is accursed. Shall I acquit a man with dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights? Her rich men are violent; her people are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully” (Micah 6:10-12). Elijah was sent to announce a three-and-one-half year drought during the time of King Ahab, Israel’s most wicked king.
Israel certainly wasn’t trusting in God, but rather in their material prosperity secured through treaties with Tyre and other foreign entities and false gods. We learn here (and in other texts) that the pursuit of the good life apart from God was carried to the point of violence and oppressive commercial practices.
But again, true to His nature, God didn’t bring destruction right away. Rather, He showed Israel that the more they put their trust in foreign powers and material things—the symbols of opulence and maximum consumption—they would experience the exact opposite. No amount of eating satisfied. No matter how much they attempted to store up, nothing was saved.
They also discovered that their trust in “prosperity” economics and materialism came up deceptively empty. The more they pushed and stimulated their nation to create wealth, the emptier became their pockets … the more their unsatiated passions … the greater their foreign debts. This inverse relationship should not be surprising. “Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?” (Habakkuk 2:13). This is recognition and recompense for the one “who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime” (verse 12).
God delivered a similar message to Judah: “[…] Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it” (Haggai 1:5-6).
Why were these words pronounced? Again, the nation’s trust was being placed outside of God and His direction. Rather than being about God’s business, they were concerned with their prosperity and creature comforts. “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled house, while this house remains a ruin?” (Haggai 1:4).
Unquenchable Wants and Quests
We clearly see in these examples that the more God disallows prosperity, stable nationhood, and healthy societies, the more people seek these goals without Him … or, more exactly, ahead of Him.
If anything, these experiences prove the deceitfulness of other gods … of foreign affairs with unbelieving nations … of human power … of wealth. On this latter point, the Bible expressly warns, mentioning the “deceitfulness of wealth” (Matthew 13:22). The writer in both Proverbs and Ecclesiastes confirms the same deceitfulness: “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (Proverbs 23:5). “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
When Judah trusted in the might and prosperity of Egypt, they were severely disappointed. “Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man’s hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him” (2 Kings 18:21).2
Both Shalmaneser and Sennacherib taunted Judah with this truth. Egypt repeatedly disappointed those who put their trust in its ability to deliver them. In this picture, the ultimate result of any misplaced trust in an idol or another apparent deliverer’s power or wealth can be seen. In the end, not only is the hoped-for objective not achieved, but also an even more dire outcome results—a pierced hand or worse.
We can conclude from the above Scriptures that before God brings peoples and nations to utter destruction because of their misplaced trust, He first allows warnings, inverse consequences, and disappointments. Invariably, these take the form of famine, drought, scarcity (all of these being types of economic troubles), societal deterioration, declining national standing and debasement. The storehouses become empty … the cistern runs dry … the wombs are sealed up. All this occurs before the final destruction.
To the extent that these conditions can be observed in any country, we have the symptoms by which we can assess the nature of national trust. If so, what do the symptoms in America today say about trust? Is it a nation that trusts in God or in Mammon?
(In the final part, we present our conclusions for America, as well as several other nations.)
***
1 The Lord says that if Israel obeys Him, then this will happen at the time of its future restoration. “For the LORD your God will bless you as He has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you” (Deuteronomy 15:6).
2 Similar references are also found in Isaiah 36:6 and Ezekiel 29:6-7.
Wilfred J. Hahn is a global economist/strategist. Formerly a top-ranked global analyst, research director for a major Wall Street investment bank, and head of Canada’s largest global investment operation, his writings focus on the endtime roles of money, economics and globalization. He has been quoted around the world and his writings reproduced in numerous other publications and languages. His 2002 book The Endtime Money Snare: How to live free accurately anticipated and prepared its readers for the Global Financial Crisis. A following book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving true riches in an age of deception and trouble, looks further into the prophetic future.
Do you have questions or other perspectives? You can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com.