The Economy Is Starting to Roll Over

Even since the financial crisis of 2009, the U.S. economy has been is said to be in a period of “positive growth.” We are regularly reminded of our good fortune by the Dow Jones hitting a fresh new all-time high. In February, the Dow recorded its longest “winning streak” since 1987. It closed 2,000 points above its 200-day moving average  for the first time ever.

The boom in financial assets on Wall Street is not a true reflection of what is happening on Main Street. The price of stocks and bonds has gone up because the Federal Reserve has promised Wall Street bankers an endless supply of money.

Record low rates have allowed Washington to ignore the consequences of deficit spending. Over the past eight years, our national debt has gone from $10 trillion to $20 trillion, and we have nothing to show for our indebtedness.

A credit driven boom has always ended in a crash. The Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises said it best:

There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.

There is no way to tell when the cycle will come to an end. What makes this current boom particularly difficult to forecast—is the government’s willingness to do anything to avoid the bust. Since it’s not possible to live on credit forever, the day of reckoning will eventually come when the government can no longer hold back the flood waters. Here are six possible warning signs that the economy is starting to buckle:

Sears, once the monolith of American retail, said in a recent report that there is “substantial doubt” that it will be able to keep its doors open. Sears is selling off the last of its brand names to raise cash.

Payless Shoes is set to file for bankruptcy. The chain announced it will close 500 stores.

The huge electrical and nuclear energy giant Westinghouse has filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors. The firm’s Japanese parent company Toshiba will issue a loss of $9.8 billion in relation to the bankruptcy.

The number of loans being created by banks has started to decline. Year over year loan growth by the 25 largest U.S. banks fell to around 3.35% in early March, down from 7.18% a year earlier. In New York city, commercial real estate lending was down 17% last year.

The default rate for auto loans has soared back to “Great Recession” levels. In 2009, they peaked out at 14.6% for the subprime market. That rate is now at 11.9%.

Global Art Sales Fall 11% to Lowest Point Since Recession. Sales of art and antiques dropped 11 percent to $56.6 billion, according to a report released by UBS Group AG and Art Basel.

We also have long-term problems that are about to overtake us. The biggest of these is the cost of health care. After it became clear that Congress would not be able to come up with a replacement for Obamacare, President Trump warned that the current system would soon implode. The nation’s health care tab is around $11,000 per person, and it’s growing at 9% per year. With the government on the hook for a large portion of this expense, there is simply no permanent fix that will not bankrupt the country.

Along with these unintended pressures on the economy, we now have planned efforts to hamper growth. Despite the GDP numbers declining with every new revision, the Federal Reserve has moved twice to raise interest rates. The only logical explanation for this move is that the Fed realizes the economy is headed for a recession, and they are raising rates to give themselves room to lower them once the economy starts to contract.

I can only point to divine intervention for how the U.S. economy has managed to avoid a crash. We currently have the third longest period of positive growth in American history. Because Jesus said he would come at a time of “peace and safety,” I think the Rapture is the explanation for why we have a Goldilocks economy. Since there is no room for a soft landing, the next few months may prove to be very interesting.

“For when they shall say, ‘Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape’” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

–Todd

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New World Order Throwing Fit

Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) was quick to get behind mainstream media microphones and cameras. He did so immediately following President Trump pulling the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare) from consideration of the House of Representatives.

The former presidential candidate, acknowledged as a severe critic and opponent of the new president, presumed to instruct Mr. Trump on how he might approach Democrats in order to improve the soon-to-implode health system President Obama ramrodded through Congress.

McCain then launched into his thoughts on how Trump and himself are totally on the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum with regard to America’s rightful place so far as world leadership is concerned.

The senator talked about how he believes the United States should come closer to the European Union (EU) and totally embrace NATO as part of a new world order. He implied that Trump foolishly rejects this approach, wanting America more or less to be isolationist in its approach to dealings with the world around our nation.

McCain said “The new world order is under tremendous strain.” While speaking at the Brussels Forum, he went on to say  that the world “cries out for American and European leadership” through the EU and NATO, and said that the EU and the US needed to develop “more cooperation, more connectivity.”

McCain, chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, said, “I trust the EU.” He said further that the EU was “one of the most important alliances” for the U.S. and that the EU and NATO were the ” [most effective organizations] in history”–in maintaining the peace for the last seventy years.

McCain’s strong implication was that Trump’s idea of moving away from the so-called new world order was opposite of the direction America should move. The nation must, he implied, embrace this alliance in order to save the world in keeping peace and security in view.

I am reminded of Psalms chapter 2 about the end-times powers that be that will have no deity to rule over them, but declare that humanist effort will prevail. I believe the tremendous upheaval we have seen, particularly since Trump’s election, is minion-driven enragement. The insane statements and movements are centered in the fact that God has intervened, for whatever reason, into Satan’s plans to install world government.

It is just a postponement–a temporary setback–for the new world order builders, but it has driven them into manifesting the insanity that reprobate minds come to, as indicated in Romans chapter 1.

All of this involves two of the end-times characteristics the apostle Paul prophesied in his 2 Timothy chapter 3 foretelling.

I wrote about this in-depth in my latest book Rapture Ready…Or Not: 15 Reasons Why This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind. I include a portion of that presentation here.

Heady/High-Minded

The powerful and elite, would-be new world order builders fit well within this perilous times category. They sell out their nations and even their families for the sake of building the new world they desire —apart from any governance by God. Psalms, chapter 2, calls out these earth-dwellers as the KJV of the Bible defines them. They are driven by the powers and principalities outlined in Ephesians, chapter 6.

This self-uplifting, while ascending on the misfortune of others, is symptomatic of headiness or high-mindedness. Satan was and is the highest-minded of all. He sought and still has the audacity to believe he can lift himself to a position above the one, true, eternal God. Those who reject the truth of Jesus Christ are, through omission, heirs to the fallen ones – Lucifer’s great high-mindedness.

All who seek, through their great intellect, their desire, or their superiority in the realm of power-brokerage, to put themselves upon the pinnacle of god-likeness in the world they have chosen to conquer are inheritors of Satan’s pridefulness. They are exhilarated by the cut-throat struggle to vanquish all obstacles, all foes.

The high-minded intellectuals of academia, of the sciences, or of the liberal clergy seek more than at any time in history to erase all mention of God the Almighty, even at the temporary expedient of tolerating many religions and allowing those religions their many various ways to godhood.

With the intellectual exercise of plotting the planet’s physical and social salvation, they are sacrificing their eternal souls on the altar of “Evolutional Theory.” God’s Word tells that the last generation will be as was the generation that perished in the flood of Noah’s day. Of that people God says:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things (Rom. 1:21-23).

What is this, if not a description of modern intellectual man and his attempts to rationalize away all vestiges of the true God? It perfectly describes the writings of Charles Darwin and those who have reworked, reformulated and totally fallen for, in one form or another, the evolution lie These, like the antediluvians, “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.” (Rom. 1:25). These foolish, soul-darkened “intellects” join forces with those they would once have termed superstitious idiots, the occultists, and New Age adherents, to deify Mother Earth for the sake of ecological purity.

Headiness and high-mindedness are encapsulated within the climate change, radical environmentalism that is being used to destroy national sovereignty and autonomy, thus to bring all within one-world rule. The Antichrist regime will be the penultimate outgrowth of that drive toward global order.

The headiness and high-mindedness of the new world order builders–and the rage we are witnessing, I believe, are prime reasons why believers in Christ should be more than ever looking up–as we are exhorted in Luke 21: 28.

–Terry

The Authenticity of the Bible Compared to the Koran

The Bible has been under attack from the secular world for a very long time. The attacks have only grown stronger with the passing of time. The enemies of the Bible are so convinced of its error, they seek to ban it from all public places.

One of the most repeated attacks against the Bible is the notion that it is just a collection of stories that have evolved over time. The claim is that a group of unknown writers got together and wrote down a series of legendary tales; as the Bible was copied, the narrative changed with each translation.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls should have silenced these critics. With the 1940s discovery, we suddenly had biblical text going back as far as 200 B.C., that perfectly matched modern Old Testament passages.

There is even bonus evidence of the Bible’s authenticity. In 1979, two tiny silver scrolls were found in a tomb from the 7th century B.C. that were inscribed with portions of the well-known prophylactic Priestly Blessing from the book of Numbers. The scrolls show that some of the material found in the Five Books of Moses existed in the First Temple period.

The more recent establishment of the Muslim faith should give the Koran a much easier track record. Since Muhammad’s death was in 632 A.D., there should be better records of his revelations. As it turns out, the Koran’s documentation trail is incredibly vague.

The prophet Muhammad did not write any part of the Koran. The teachings of Islam were first based on oral tradition. Over time, bits and pieces of Muhammad’s sayings were written down on the Bronze Age version of Post-It notes. For example, one Quranic verse was inscribed on the shoulder blade of a camel while others were written on stones. Because Islam’s teachings were so disorganized, a decision was made to compile all their sources into one document.

Over a twenty-year period, a series of people had a free hand in creating their version of the Koran. According to Islamic tradition, the standardization of the text of the Koran was seamless. In reality, there were conflicting accounts of Muhammad’s words, meaning there is more than one Koran. History also shows that on one occasion, a man named Uthman decided for himself what was correct, and then had all other records destroyed.

The Koran also has a problem with some glaring errors. There are numerous scientific and historical errors in the Koran. In several passages, Muhammad claimed that the sun and the moon orbit each other. He also said there was a time when the moon split into two.

The Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, Chinese and Indians were all avid astronomers. They would have likely recorded this event:

“The moon has split and the hour has drawn closer.” —The Quran, 54:1

“That the Meccan people requested Allah’s apostle to show them a miracle, and so he showed them the splitting of the moon.”  —Sahih Bukhari 4:56:83

In 1972, during the restoration of the Great Mosque of Sana’a, in Yemen, laborers found old parchment and paper documents—damaged books and individual pages of Arabic text. In this mash was the oldest Koran in existence; dated to around 700 A.D.

A team of German scholars pried apart the pages and made several shocking discoveries. The Yemeni Koran was written in a kind of shorthand that allowed an individual word to have up to thirty different means. In light of this discovery, suicide bombers that expected to get “72 wide-eyed virgins,” may in fact receive “a modest bunch of grapes.” The pages also show signs of embellishment where versions were clearly written over even earlier, washed-off versions.

Since the early 1980s more than 15,000 sheets of the Yemeni Korans have painstakingly been flattened, cleaned, treated, sorted, and assembled. Yemeni authorities have been reluctant to allow the documents to be seen by the public. It is very telling that the Dead Sea Scrolls have their own museum for public view, while the Islamic world’s version is kept under lock and key.

If someone found a Bible that was based on variable text, the academic world would question its reliability. If a biblical manuscript had been found where the text was disjointed and rewritten (as discovered with the content of the Koran), the entire Bible would be conclusively declared a work of fiction.

The Koran doesn’t need authenticity. It gets by on a cult of mythology. It’s not what the Koran says, it’s what Muslim’s believe it says. They boldly claim that Islam is the “religion of peace” and if you say otherwise—they will kill you.

Muslims will boast that Arabic is used so eloquently in the Quran that it must have been created by a god. In Fact, the Koran is so special, a person needs to learn Arabic in order to fully understand the “holy” text. The problems of the Yemeni Korans can be dismissed because they were uncovered by Western scholars who had a “Christian mindset.”

The simple reason why the world hates the Bible and gives the Koran a free pass is because the Word of God is true. The realization of this reality should give comfort to all believers in Christ.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5 ESV).

–Todd

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Rumors of War Realities

Jesus sat with His immediate disciples upon the Mount of Olives just before His crucifixion. He answered the question that most troubled them, following His declaration that the Jewish temple would be completely destroyed, with not a stone left standing.

Their question–offered in wide-eyed amazement, no doubt–was: “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3).

Jesus then said that  there would first come deceivers and great deception, even people declaring themselves to be Christ. Another thing that would signal the end of the world (the age) would, He said, be wars and rumors of war.

So, rumors of war is a major signal, given by God, Himself, that the end of human history is on the verge of reaching its conclusion. We do note that the Lord next said:  “See that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

The disciples surrounding Him at the moment of His prophecy about the wrap-up of human history were to understand that the “end” was still future, and we know that the future in this instance has extended nearly 2000 years to this point. The end, as we know, is not yet…

But there is now, in these portentous times, more than enough rumblings upon the volatile geopolitical horizon to cause the diplomats of the world to be “troubled.” Nuclear weaponry and its imposition into the present-day mix of the possibility of war-making is something of which the disciples could know nothing.

Diplomats, and the rest of us as well, however, have seen what such weaponry can wreak, since “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” did their war-concluding work on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945.

Possibility of war is much more than mere “rumors” these days. We have the historical experience, prophesied by Christ many centuries ago, to confirm that in this present hour upon planet earth there is reason to “be troubled.”

Wars down through the last two millennia have run their courses, with hundreds of millions dead in their aftermaths. Nuclear war will, if initiated, make all the conflicts of the past pale by comparison. Thus, it is incumbent upon the so-called “peacemakers” to put a bridle on the vicious jaws of tyrants who seek nuclear weapons in order to rein in their megalomania.

We have for years heard about Iran seeking such weapons. Attempts to rein in the Ayatollahs’ nuclear weapons ambitions have been tepid. Iran has basically been given a practically unencumbered pathway to developing not only nuclear bombs, but the means to deliver them anywhere in the world.

Russia has been complicit in helping Iran get its way, with little resistance from the Obama administration or anyone else So, the rumors of a future war loom mightily, if the new president doesn’t deal effectively in the matter.

Now we are facing another building crisis involving a major rumor of future nuclear war. Our other chief antagonist, China, is acting in much the same way in dealing with their proxy state, the North Koreans, as the Russians are in dealing with the Iranians. These matters constitute rumors of war of infinite magnitude. It has been left by previous administrations–particularly the most recent previous–for the new president to deal with these potentially deadly situations.

American Secretary of State Rex Tillerson a week or so ago, while visiting South Korea, refused to rule out a preemptive strike against North Korea’s nuclear facilities. The ongoing fallout has China pushing back against such an eventuality, making veiled and not-so-veiled threats. It is not a lovely picture of international, diplomatic tranquility we see developing, to say the least.

Yet, there is comfort in all of this rumors of war business, I can happily report, based not upon my word, but upon the Word of God. Jesus’ words “but the end is not yet,” still apply to our time upon this much-bedeviled sphere.

As a matter of fact, Jesus said life would be pretty much as usual right up until the time He next catastrophically intervenes into the affairs of mankind. It is God, Himself, who is holding back all the evil of the world (read 2 Thessalonians 2) until that moment of intervention Jesus spoke of as recorded in Matthew 24:36-42 and Luke 17:26-30.

When the Church (all born-again believers, according to Romans 10:9-10) goes to be with Christ when He calls us to “come up hither” (Revelation 4:1-2) as detailed by Paul the apostle in 1 Corinthians 4:51-55 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, then the red horse of war, according to Revelation 6, will gallop forth.

That’s a  long, rambling sentence, I realize, but well worth your taking apart and analyzing from the pages of your Bible. It is a matter of great comfort to read and study such promises. Such comfort–to those who know Christ for salvation–more than neutralizes the troubling, even terrifying rumors of war we now face.

–Terry