Will the Dollar Lose Its Reserve Currency Status?

The U.S. has a very special and privileged relationship with the rest of the world. We control the reserve currency that 85% of all trades are conducted with. This puts us into a position where foreign nations send us goods and we send them dollars.

The one thing the dollar has going for it is that there is so much of it in the world, it can be used for large transactions. If a nation is going to buy $3 billion of oil from Saudi Arabia, it’s not going to use Russian rubles. As the supply of dollars soars into the tens of trillions, people are starting to worry about the number of dollars in the system.

When we were on the gold standard, global trade remained largely balanced. If a nation imported too many goods, the value of its currency would decline as gold left the country. America had a surplus in its trade with the world. It built a horde of gold of 22,000 tons. When it began spending too much money on imports, our reserve of gold dwindled to $8,000 tons. When Nixon closed the “gold window” on the convertibility of dollars into gold, the U.S. government was free to print all the dollars it needed to fund America’s financial deficits.

Many nations realize that they are getting the short end of a bad deal, but nobody can think of a better system. The Chinese tried to get the world to use its currency, the Renminbi. President XI traveled the world, signing one trade agreement after another. Nothing happened because the Renminbi doesn’t freely float exchange markets. People can’t trust a currency that they don’t know what its true value is.

The imbalance in trade between the U.S. and the world has become so extreme, something will have to change in the coming years. In 1987 the U.S. had a monthly trade deficit of $17 billion, which helped lead to the stock crash of that year. Today we have a trade deficit of nearly $100 billion a month, and most people on Wall Street have no concern.

The Ford Motor Company recently reported low earnings because it could not get the microchips needed to produce many of its vehicles. It had an 18% decline in sales. Since these chips almost solely come from Taiwan, the lack of them should be a wake-up call for Detroit to have a more redundant supply chain.

General Motors has the same problem with the lack of chips. The company said it was building some full-size pickup trucks without software that helps manage fuel consumption, reducing miles per gallon. “By taking this measure, we are better able to meet the strong customer and dealer demand for our full-size trucks,” a spokeswoman said.

What is truly amazing is how much food we import. Many companies import apple juice from nations like Turkey and Poland. I looked at my bottle of olive oil, and it said the country of origin could be Argentina, Greece, Italy, Tunisia, or Spain. America is surrounded by three bodies of water, and yet we import 75% of our shrimp.

We don’t seem to mind that food standards are lacking in some of these nations. Many farmers mix their olive oil with peanut oil or use oil that is rancid. We don’t care as long it’s cheaper than oil produced here in America.

I can only wonder what would happen to America if the world woke up and started selling the horde of dollars they’ve accumulated. If the value of the dollar declined, we’d still need to import goods. With the dollar dropping, we’d need to spend more dollars to get the same amount of products.

If the dollar crashes, we will have to start producing goods here at home. It would take a very long time to build a factory that could make microchips. Many of the components needed to manufacture the chips are produced in other nations. We have become so dependent on other nations for even the simplest product, I doubt I’ll live to see America return to its greatness.

I firmly believe that when God calls His church home, America is going to implode. The loss of millions of people would be reason enough for a financial meltdown. Every time I write about America’s economic problems, I can only conclude that God’s restraining hand is the only way that such a profligate nation could avoid total collapse.

“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

— Todd

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Moriah the “Burdensome Stone”?

We looked last week at the world’s diplomatic cabal increasingly moving toward a consensus against the state of Israel. Since the time of that writing, the energy devoted by the globalist-elite diplomats has increased in condemnation of the Jewish state.

This is the nucleus issue to consider as most key to where the world stands on God’s prophetic timeline.

The nations of the world more and more moving in that direction is a general trend that has been witnessed for decades. Israel is always condemned by majority vote whenever such votes are called for in the UN General Assembly. But, it seems to me that “general trend” has now moved into an operation in which the Zechariah 12 prophecy can be seen as pointed to by the prophetic finger of God in a specific way.

Let’s again look at that prophecy:

The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretched forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:1–3)

We believe that the ultimate turning of the world against God’s chosen people, Israel, will come during the Tribulation. In particular, that total turn against all Jews will take place, led by Antichrist, himself, during the second half of that seven-year period.

The Man of Sin will, at the three and one-half year mark of that era, sit in the Temple and declare himself to be God. The most horrendous period in all of history will then begin as the dictator unleashes all-out genocide. It will be far worse, according to the words of Jesus, than even the Nazis’ Final Solution during the Holocaust.

In dissecting Zechariah’s prophecy, it can be said that, for decades, Israel has been a “cup of trembling unto all the people round about.” The Mideast is feared by the world’s leaders to be the chief worry so far as a future ignition point for nuclear war. Israel, it is known by all, has its Samson Option, in which resides a nuclear arsenal the Jewish leadership will be willing to use in defense of Israel’s existence. And it is fear well-founded, both by the world’s leadership and by Israel’s leaders, because the Islamic-led neighbors of Israel declare consistently and constantly that they will wipe the Jewish nation from the map.

Most maps of the region that are held by anti-Israeli Arab-Islamic nations don’t even have the Jewish state represented as part of them. So Israel is by any stretch already a “cup of trembling” as predicted by Zechariah.

But, for our purposes here, I would like us to consider Zechariah’s words “burdensome stone.” It seems to me that there might be more to this statement than meets the proverbial eye.

There is a giant stone in Jerusalem, right in the middle of the whole Israel-versus-the-world controversy, in my view. It is called Mount Moriah, and also is known as the Temple Mount.

Not only is it the center of the great tectonic pressures that rub Israel against its enemies, it is the “burdensome stone” for God versus Satan and fallen mankind.

The Temple Mount is where God, Himself, dwelt in the Holy of Holies. His shekinah glory resided within that fifteen-foot-cubed inner sanctum within the Ark of the Covenant. Mount Moriah was God’s touchstone to humanity.

When His Son, Jesus the Christ—the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world—was sacrificed on Calvary’s cross, the Temple veil rent from top to bottom, indicating that God had provided a way for redemption and reconciliation with all of fallen man.

Mount Moriah is indeed a “burdensome stone” and is prophetically scheduled to become the trigger point for all-out satanic rage against God’ chosen people and all of mankind.

I believe God is allowing Moriah to be seen more and more in our headlines to show believers just how near we are to the wrap-up of this Age of Grace.

Here is a news excerpt that I believe proves my contention.

The Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades has issued a new ultimatum to Israel on Wednesday: Withdraw from Al-Aqsa Mosque and Sheikh Jarrah or “100 times” more rockets will be fired at 6 pm towards new targets.

The Al-Aqsa mosque, which sits on the Temple Mount, was a flashpoint of violent confrontations between Muslim worshippers and Israeli security forces since the beginning of Ramadan about a month ago.

The site, which is the holiest to Jews, made headlines recently after a massive blaze was seen next to the mosque apparently caused by fireworks that were ignited at the site. Israel has yet to respond to Hamas’ latest ultimatum…Leave Temple Mount or 100 times more rockets will fly. (“Hamas with Ultimatum to Israel: ‘Leave Temple Mount or 100 times more rockets will fly,’” Israel365 | May 12, 2021)

So there is indeed a large “burdensome stone” to be considered. It is a great rock of offense, as Jesus Himself has been termed by those who are anti-God. Look for the Temple Mount to be more and more front and center in the days ahead.

And, from this, just know how very near must be Christ’s call to the Church (Luke 21: 28).

–Terry

We Are Losing the Cyberwar to Enemy Hackers

I’ve always thought it was a bad idea for America to have an open internet with enemy nations like China, Russia, and North Korea. They contribute hardly anything to the net, and they use their access to steal from us. I can’t recall the last time I visited a website that was in one of these countries.

We spend a quarter of a trillion dollars in developing a new fighter jet. A few years later, the Russians and Chinese have one that looks similar to ours. They are able to copy our jets by hacking into the computer files of our military contractors. Since we store so much of our data online, it has become much easier for spies to steal our intellectual property.

SolarWinds is a major US information technology firm, and it was the subject of a cyberattack last year that compromised much of its clients’ data. Foreign hackers, who some top U.S. officials believe are from Russia, were able to use the hack to spy on private companies like the elite cybersecurity firm FireEye and the upper echelons of the U.S. Government, including the Department of Homeland Security and Treasury Department.

Most software providers regularly send out updates to their systems, whether it’s fixing a bug or adding new features. SolarWinds is no exception. Beginning as early as March of 2020, SolarWinds unwittingly sent out software updates to its customers that included the hacked code.

The code created a backdoor to customers’ information technology systems, which hackers then used to install even more malware that helped them spy on companies and organizations.

We are still trying to figure out how much damage was inflicted by the SolarWinds breach. By having access to one computer system, hackers can gain logon information for other programs.

We just saw the most dangerous hacking attack on a U.S. firm. The hacking of Colonial Pipeline by Russians has shut down the biggest U.S. gasoline pipeline in the nation. On May 7, the hackers began their blitz against the company, stealing a large amount of data before locking computers with ransomware and demanding payment, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ransomware is a type of malicious software (malware) that threatens to publish or block access to data or a computer system, usually by encrypting it, until the victim pays a ransom fee to the attacker.

Bloomberg reports that the intruders are part of a cybercrime gang called Darkside. They took nearly 100 gigabytes of data out of the Alpharetta, Georgia-based company’s network in just two hours, two people involved in Colonial’s investigation said.

Darkside claims to only be interested in money, but it is very likely that they have some connection to the Russian government. Since the attack has crippled a fuel supply line that provides 45% of the Northeast’s gasoline needs, it is very likely that Putin has some connection to the incident. You don’t hear about Russian firms being the victim of Ransomware.

As a Christian website that is interested in sharing the gospel message with the whole world, you probably think I would be opposed to blocking any nation. I’m all for blocking them because there is little chance of citizens in these nations accessing a site like R.R. North Korea has no access to private citizens. China and Russia have access, but key Western sites are heavily censored.

The “Great Firewall” is a colloquial term for mainland China’s internet censorship system. It’s part of the Golden Shield project, also called the National Public Security Work Informational Project. The person staying at a hotel in Beijing may have no trouble accessing American sites. The average Chinese citizen is increasingly only able to access sites that the government wants people to see.

If we blocked these nations from accessing the web ten years ago for bad behavior, they’d have long cried uncle by now. They know access to the western world is essential to their economic growth. Instead of policing the internet for the common good of all, we have turned control over to third-world nations.

We are losing the war against cybercriminals because we are in the run-up to the tribulation hour. Mankind will only increasingly become more wicked with each passing day.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

— Todd

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Quartet Flirting With Rupture

Our title for this commentary could have just as easily been something like “Quartet Sips on Poison.” Either title would be appropriate. This is because the powers that be in world geopolitics are involved in tampering with things that are guaranteed to injure them and the entire world of nation-states.

This we know from the very Word of God, who does not slumber or sleep when it comes to His chosen nation, Israel:

The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:1–3)

This should be no surprise to Bible prophecy students. Israel is the key to understanding the lateness of the hour, as has been pointed out many times.

Many who study from the pre-Trib perspective of prophecy believe that the rebirth of Israel (often represented as the fig tree) on May 14, 1948, unleashed the prophecy Jesus gave as recorded in the book of Matthew.

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. (Matthew 24: 32–34)

If this prophecy is indeed about the reforming of Israel in 1948 for the wind-up of this Age of Grace (Church Age), then we are very late into that prophecy. There should be some proof when observing our times and season, if there is any validity to this proposition by those who hold to this scriptural passage as relating to this generation.

I believe we might just be witness to that prophecy proving just how late we are into the final stage of human history immediately preceding Christ’s call to His Church in the Rapture, based upon the world beginning in earnest to “burden” itself with God’s chosen nation.

In this regard, I refer to the large power bloc that represents the nation-state epicenter of global influence—the so-called Quartet. This group has designated themselves as the nucleus of geopolitical power. They’re making known that they intend to assert that power by doing some heavy lifting in making God’s chosen nation-state comply with their version of how things ought to be. The following illustrates this assertion of this group’s powerful influence in the matter of Israel and its blood-vowed enemies.

Canada and the Middle East Quartet (the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia) condemned on Sunday the violence that took place on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and called on Israel to halt eviction plans for Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood as violence rises in the country’s capital.

The EU and the US also issued a statement against the violence and the pending Sheikh Jarrah evictions, as did Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Individual European countries, as well as South African, have spoken out as well…

Tensions were heightened as thousands of Muslim worshippers flocked to the Temple Mount – al-Haram al Sharif in Arabic – to pray there on Islam’s holy night of Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Power).

Further violence is expected on Sunday night as Israelis celebrate Jerusalem Day, which marks the day that the IDF captured the eastern part of the city from Jordan during the Six Day War…The Quartet also issued a joint statement. While it has [been] largely dormant during the final years of the Trump administration, it has since been revived now that US President Joe Biden is in office.

“The Envoys express deep concern over the daily clashes and violence in east Jerusalem, in particular last night’s confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli security forces at Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount,” the Quartet stated…

“We call upon [the] Israeli authorities to exercise restraint and to avoid measures that would further escalate the situation during this period of Muslim Holy Days,” the Quartet stated.

“We call on all sides to uphold and respect the status quo at the holy sites. All leaders have a responsibility to act against extremists and to speak out against all acts of violence and incitement.” (“Canada, Quartet Slam Jerusalem Violence, Int’l Pressure Grows on Israel,” by Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post, May 9, 2021)

If God’s Word is true—and it is—then we should witness the ramping up of this global power against this nation, chosen by God as a prototype nation in His dealing with all of his creation called man. Satan fuels the hatred that is scheduled to develop—already is developing—to energize the human powers and principalities as they sip from that “trembling cup” and try to lift that “burdensome stone” the prophet Zechariah was directed to foretell.

It all means that our redemption is drawing very near indeed! (Luke 21: 28)

–Terry