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Worst crisis since Great Depression?

I
ilive4only1

" "This has been the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. There is no question about it," said New York University economist Mark Gertler in the WSJ.

The U.S. financial system is like a patient in intensive care, the Journal states. "The body is trying to fight off a disease that is spreading, and as it does so, the body convulses, settles for a time and then convulses again.

The disease? The unwinding of the massive debt that banks and regular Americans have taken on in recent years. Household borrowing grew at an 11% average annual rate between 2002 and 2006, the Journal says, outpacing overall economic growth. Banks were just as bad. And now, well, the piper is being paid.

The article has a good explainer on credit-default swaps, a game that helped bring AIG down. Basically, the swaps are a way for firms to place bets on whether a borrower is going to default. Sounds like a sick little game, wagering on whether a company can honor its obligations. But it's a way firms get some insurance on their risk exposure. AIG sold lots of these swaps, and buyers thought the insurance giant would help protect them against defaults.

Yet some aspects of the economy seem surprisingly resilient to the financial system's woes. Unemployment isn't as bad as it was in the early 1990s, and companies are still pouring money into marketing and research, the Journal says. Exports are still strong and the government has moved swiftly to address disasters in the making."

Source MSN Money http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2008/09/18/worst-crisis-since-great-depression.aspx

S
sermonindex

These are very shakey times, to be sure. I certainly do not understand everything that is going on, but one thing I know... the smart people will get out of debt as soon as possible. Carrying debt will suck you under right now.

This all comes down to greed. We have to have the biggest house, the newest SUV... etc. It's crazy. It's materialism.

We have a decent house and we drive older vehicles. Our van is a 1999. My Jeep is a 1996... and my pick 'em up truck is a 1982 Ford F-100 (and looks every bit of it's age!). I blessed to be born into a family that built stock cars (race cars for those not from the south!) to race on local dirt tracks on Saturday nights... so I know how to keep my vehicles running. We just had the transmission rebuilt on our van this summer and that was the first time I took a vehicle to a mechanic in over 10 years.

But the best part of it is: No debt. Our house and vehicles are paid off, and I think we have like $300 charged to a credit card, and thats it. There is peace of mind that comes with that. Whats happening in our economy is bothersome because it effects my business, but I'm not worried about it because first off: God is in control. Secondly: I'm not worried about Mr. Banker coming and taking my house.

I highly recommend that everyone here do everything they can possibly do to get out from under your debt. It'll hurt while you're doing it, and it'll take sacrifice... but it's the good and godly thing to do.

Krispy

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rookie

Today marks the day that our nation has become bondservants to the world. The stock market is scheduled to continue the upward move that began yesterday afternoon when our government announced that the taxpayer of the United States would accept the burden created by the princes of this nation....

This is indeed a historic time for this nation. I have been reading in the book of Judges and this generation is no different than those who did evil in the sight of the Lord...and we will bear the burden of our worship of other gods....

Pray that we believers may continue to be allowed to live godly and peaceful lives.

In Christ
Jeff

N
Nellie

Amen to your post, Krispy.

We have the assurance of God's Word, that the righteous won't be forsaken, or their seed beg bread.

It sure is greed that has put America where she is.

May we turn our eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His Wonderful Face.
And the things of Earth will grow strangely dim,
In the Light of His Glory and Grace.

God Bless all
Nellie

P
psalm1

An interesting twist;

If the gov. "purchased" controlling interest of AIG ,and the ceo's and officers are prosecuted.
Do we,"the gov." stand to receive dividends and disgorgement monies?

naaaa

S
sermonindex

Do we,"the gov." stand to receive dividends and disgorgement monies?

Don't hold your breath...

Krispy

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psalm1

The gov, bailout of AIG could have been radically premature.
It could very well be the gov. made the steal of the century.
they had tons and tons of assets.

One thing I keep looking for that is absent is the Arab involvement in the Mortgage"crisis"

Is it really a crisis?

Arabs unwittingly bought tons of "Paper" from mortgage companies. These Arab investors believed they were getting a steal.

Makes me wonder,who,in actuality, got "bailed out"

I
ilive4only1

"My hope is in, the name of the Lord. He is my strength, my song. My heart can rest, I'm in his hands where I belong"--Lisa Gungor

Very good point. We must pray for our nation. For these are truly shakey times. Yet, even in times of crisis we need not trust in man, but in the Lord.

Maybe now, even more so, our eyes will become open to understand that although we live in this world, we must not let this world be in us.


2Ti 3:1 [b][size=x-small]But this know, that in [the] last days difficult times shall be there; [/size][/b]

2Ti 3:2 for men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, evil speakers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, profane,
2Ti 3:3 without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, of unsubdued passions, savage, having no love for what is good,
2Ti 3:4 traitors, headlong, of vain pretensions, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 having a form of piety but denying the power of it: and from these turn away. - Darby Translation

M
MisterCheez

The gov, bailout of AIG could have been radically premature. It could very well be the gov. made the steal of the century.
they had tons and tons of assets.

I heard a gentleman on NPR the other night assessing the AIG situation and, if I understood correctly, the collateral/assets AIG maintains are things like peoples' life insurance policies, retirement funds, money markets, etc. So if AIG folds, does the government take those assets as repayment for the $85 billion loan? That's not collateral I'd want my financial group offering for a bailout loan!

L
Lawevangelis

Krispy,

Thanks for your encouragement to pay off debt. It's one we all need to hear.

This year, we've been blessed to pay off about $11,000 in credit card debt. We still have about $7,000 to go, but we're encouraged. That's almost all been moved to a 0% interest card and we're getting aggressive now that we can see a little light at the end of the tunnel.

We have no auto debt; both are paid for. We do have a mortgage, but we've built good equity and our market has not taken the hit that the rest of the nation has.

God is good and we are convinced that debt is a plague on our country. It has been a plague on us. We made a lot of stupid mistakes and let our desire for instant gratification outweigh our common sense and the clear direction of Scripture.

We are in full time ministry and just found out our salary will be cut by a third, with scale backs starting in October. We need to cut expenses to continue to pay off debt, so we're considering a move to an area where we can cut our mortgage payment in half.

We praise the Lord for this; He has taught us much (the hard way). He is worthy to be praised.

Blessings,

Jon

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JoanM

The USSR was brought down/ broken apart financially (mammon). They could not afford both the “arms race” and government.

There is NO reporting on the fact that banks are rated using banking law compliance and benefit from good ratings. Four banking laws were passed during Clinton presidency. All increased requirements banks to loan money to those that had ever increasing poorer credit ratings/history in order for banks to maintain higher government ratings. There are many roads to the Kingdom of this World’s brotherhood (socialism/communism). Only a few banks refused (USBank is one, maybe modern woodman savings). In the Kingdom of this World, do you think we will ever hear that the Legislature did this/contributed to the greed, entitlement, appearance of worth, appetites.

To those that are debt free (me too) and live in the blessings of poverty ([u][b]needs[/u][/b] met), we will now pay the debts of those that just had to have their third trinket, fast food dinners, fourth by-passes, etc. The government, not Christians, will “meet the needs” of the poor, and then some. See the other $ crisis thread on SI. Good and evil are exchanged daily. This is the Kingdom of the World.

[u]If posts from today are lost in the transfer to a new web site[/u], I won’t miss my post here.

P
psalm1

Heaven operates on abundance. The economy of abundance is saturated with God.

The world operates on the economy of lack. This is why DeBirees suppress diamond output. (Lack equals value)

The reason we erroneously think poverty is virtue is because of men and trust,or I should say lack of financial responsibility.

The world measures a man by his worth. This conception has crept into the church,along with greed,and narcissism.
Hence the always present error of men's teachings.
Their endless ability to judge spiritual things with the natural mind.

Biblical prosperity comes from heaven. I have had the opportunity to handle fairly large sums of money. It didn't worry God(his streets are paved in gold) and I didn't let it move me.

On the other hand I have seen people get large sums of money and watch them metamorphose into a completely different person.

Money and wealth can shipwreck the best of us.
But it is not bad nor is poverty virtuous.

Just as "the glutton shall come to poverty" is a bad thing. A man that has a lot of food on hand is a good thing.

Riches and wealth "CAN" ruin a man but are not bad or evil of themselves.

If poverty is of God shouldn't we all forsake electricity and vehicles?

I would love to see the break off point of what is poverty and what is riches.

Abundance is of God. It is his economy

R
rookie

Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke have planted this message...

Our financial system is in deep trouble, there is very little time left to save it. The people of the United States must give to us the full authority to do whatever we deem necessary in order to save the people's economic security.

If one reads the Scripture, this sounds like what the anti christ might say....

Now we can see for our own eyes, in this generation, how easily it might be for the anti christ to take hold of this world...

In Christ
Jeff

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sojourner7

Buying out bad debt and bad loans with a bad
check is bad fiscal policy !! The writing's
on the wall: our financial system is sure to
fall. Why? We have forgotten what is plainly
printed on all our currency: IN GOD WE
TRUST !!

R
rookie

Bernanke Says Failure to Pass Plan Threatens Economy (Update1)

By Scott Lanman and Simon Kennedy

Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned lawmakers that failure to pass a rescue plan to take over troubled assets from financial firms would pose a threat to markets and the economy.

``Action by the Congress is urgently required to stabilize the situation and avert what could otherwise be very serious consequences for our financial markets and for our economy,'' Bernanke said in testimony prepared for delivery today to the Senate Banking Committee. ``Global financial markets remain under extraordinary stress.''

Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are pushing Congress to quickly approve a $700 billion plan to remove illiquid assets from the banking system. Lawmakers have balked at rubber-stamping the proposal, with Democrats demanding it include support for homeowners and limits on executive pay, while some Republicans question the plan's reach and size...


(end of this morning's article)

Do you see how easy the masses can be swayed when their perceived security is in question?

In Christ
Jeff

C
crsschk

The reason we erroneously think poverty is virtue is because of men and trust,or I should say lack of financial responsibility.

[i]Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.[/i]

Heaven operates on abundance. The economy of abundance is saturated with God.

Is it now ... that is that you would tie it to a monetary system of dollars and cents.

Biblical prosperity comes from heaven. I have had the opportunity to handle fairly large sums of money. It didn't worry God(his streets are paved in gold) and I didn't let it move me.

Well good for you. I am taking great umbrage at your notions that have all the tinge and stench of the 'prosperity' movement of this hour. Sheer foolishness and lack of grasp to stick this in here, your prideful boasting while all around you pain, misery and suffering ... [i]narcissism[/i]?

I have been following this for quite some time now, reading a great deal of a variety of opinion. There is blame to be had for certain and that from all corners. It ought to start at the top and it ought to be met with severe consequences - but it won't. There is a collusion going on that makes suspicious even the usual bi-partisan squabbling that is normatively conspicuous by it's absence. They will go ahead with it (the bailout) and try and cover it all up quickly ...

I must say it is surprising how many real people do in fact 'get' this. They are not all Christan's of the sort we might like to have them, but they do get the moral shipwreck of it all. The lack of accountability - The ease with which they will foster this whole nightmare upon the taxpayers - That would be you and me of those that live in this country. Politics aside there are many more law abiding, bill paying, hard working people in this country than not. The silent masses who will pick up the tab of the greedy and the over-extended, the house flippers and those who never in their wildest imaginations should have ever been given a loan in the first place ...

There are consequences, untold consequences of all this corruption and unmitigated greed - "[i]We the People[/i]" are now stuck with a bill of goods for that which we never had a hand in.

Thank God for those who are trying their best to get out of debt. I am with you all and have been at this struggle as well for years now, it is the main goal ... and now it has the added benefit of being made that much harder taking on [i]their[/i] debt in the form of economic increase, fuel, food - etc.

This is no light trivial matter.

An interesting piece for your chewing ...
[url=http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8974]The Secret Bailout of J. P. Morgan:[/url]

R
rookie

Here is the latest fear mongering in the hope that 2 men would be assigned the task of saving the world financial system...

Bernanke: Recession more likely without bailout
Tuesday September 23, 1:32 pm ET
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press Writers
Bernanke: Congress must pass bailout bill to avoid recession, more job losses, foreclosures


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke bluntly warned reluctant lawmakers Tuesday they risk a recession with higher unemployment and increased home foreclosures if they fail to pass the Bush administration's $700 billion plan to bail out the financial industry.

Bernanke sketched a scenario in which neither businesses nor consumers could borrow money as President Bush and top lawmakers leaders in both parties voiced hope for agreement within days on a plan to ease the crisis...


how easily are the masses of men manipulated to do Satan's will...

In Christ
Jeff

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PaulWest

Abundance is of God. It is his economy
The economy of abundance is saturated with God.

Take this message, why don't you, and preach it to our persecuted brothers in labor camps, take your lie to the apostle Paul in a roach-infested prison. Riches, miracles, healing, saturated abundance?

You should be so blessed to be poor and in constant want, where God is your only daily reliance for life and sustenance; as it stands, I am more and more convinced that riches and great wealth and perfect health are pitfalls rather than blessings. We don't see the results immediately, but over time, it becomes more and more apparent.

P
psalm1

But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:

You cant take a stand on total poverty any more than total riches.

I know for a fact that it is God to pray for those that I come across that are in desperate need. I dont thank God for their suffering ,I help those I come across.

I dont know about your unbiblical statement about praying to be poor.

I dont consider poor to be a blessing. I also dont think you guys know anything about poor.
Take a trip to matamoros Mexico.
Veer off the beaten path. The images will stay in your mind for the rest of your life.
One thing I will promise you......You won't thank God for their plight,and you wont say "wow what a blessing to live in a refrigerator box and eat from the garbage dump.

To take a position on total poverty would necessitate never praying for a financial need.

I am NOT wof. Not even close. I do have a bible and am able to read it.

You judge me so wrongly and name call and then tell me what a lousy christian I am.

Paul said I have learned to abound and learned to do without.
The word says "to have food,raiment and a roof over your head,therein be content.

Its hard to be boastful when you are a landscaper that works with your hands for chickenfeed. Am filing my taxes as we speak. My gross receipts are 17k for 2007.
How about I exchange bank accounts with anybody on this forum?
I dont have extra money. I used to be a car dealer. I know what loss is.
I am not wondering if abundance is Gods economy. I know for a fact there is no lack in heaven.
You think because of the word of faith error that abundance is of the devil.
Abundance is the absence of lack. Since there is no lack in heaven ,and since God will not pattern his economy on poverty,I will definitely take the position that abundance is from God . And I will continue to thank him for his blessing.
Look at Sudan. Are we to thank God for their suffering? I would think we would help them.(Take some abundance and supply their need) (prosper them)

This whole thing is totally inverted and I have been misjudged and Maligned for no good reason.

P
psalm1

Take this message, why don't you, and preach it to our persecuted brothers in labor camps, take your lie to the apostle Paul in a roach-infested prison. Riches, miracles, healing, saturated abundance?


So God never heals, never does any miracles,and the principle from heaven (Gods abundance) is a lie?

Paul,I dont think you yourself live in poverty.
I would venture if you saw real poverty you would not think God was putting poverty on people. You need a field trip to mexico.


Paul west said;
Take this message, why don't you, and preach it to our persecuted brothers in labor camps"

Since when is any format on this earth to stop anybody from rightly dividing the word.
You cant change Gods word to fit your doctrine.
There is NO lack in heaven.Period.

The testimony of brethren suffering does not necessitate the changing of Gods word.

Just like Jesus healing people is a clue that it is his will to heal.
Jesus ministry absolutely must be our example.
What did he do? Healed the sick,cast out demons,cleansed lepers,brought hope to the hopeless,opened blind eyes,and preached.
It seems to me to minimise Jesus ministry would be counterproductive to Jesus' kingdom.


It is up to whoever preaches to preach as led by the Holy Spirit.
I probably would not preach abundance to anybody. I would instead hope to be led of the Spirit. Just like I would not preach drinking wine to an alcohaolic,even though Jesus drank wine,or preach sanctification to the unsaved.

Anyway Like I told you before I will simply stay biblical.

P
psalm1

Well good for you. I am taking great umbrage at your notions that have all the tinge and stench of the 'prosperity' movement of this hour. Sheer foolishness and lack of grasp to stick this in here, your prideful boasting while all around you pain, misery and suffering ... narcissism?


OK, fair is fair. Only I dont quite feel the same liberty as you. However, I dont need a level field .....just a bible.

You can't seem to equate the words from the English language to the bible but you choose to align my words with word of faith.

I know prosperity is the calling card of wof.
And healing is the calling card of Benny Hinn.
And power to women is the calling card of TD Jake's.
Encouragement is the calling card of Olsteen.

The problem you will face is that these things (words) are in the bible and they cannot become triggers for name calling and berating your fellow brother in the Lord.

J
jsisrl


May we turn our eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His Wonderful Face.
And the things of Earth will grow strangely dim,
In the Light of His Glory and Grace.

God Bless all
Nellie

AMEN!!! This song has been coming upon my heart for about 5 months now. It was a joy to hear you speak it as well. God bless you Nellie.

J
jsisrl


PaulWest wrote:
Abundance is of God. It is his economy
The economy of abundance is saturated with God.

Take this message, why don't you, and preach it to our persecuted brothers in labor camps, take your lie to the apostle Paul in a roach-infested prison. Riches, miracles, healing, saturated abundance?

You should be so blessed to be poor and in constant want, where God is your only daily reliance for life and sustenance; as it stands, I am more and more convinced that riches and great wealth and perfect health are pitfalls rather than blessings. We don't see the results immediately, but over time, it becomes more and more apparent.

Amen PaulWest.

It is written:
Phil 4:11-13

11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
KJV

J
jsisrl


Pray that we believers may continue to be allowed to live godly and peaceful lives.

In Christ
Jeff

Amen, we shall--------->[b][size=large]"if we/ye":[/size][/b]
It is written -

Gal 5:25-26

25 [b]If we[/b] live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
KJV

2 Tim 2:11-14

11 It is a faithful saying: For [b]if we[/b] be dead with him, we shall also live with him:

12 [b]If we[/b] suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

13 [b]If we[/b] believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
KJV

Col 1:21-23

21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

23 [b]If ye[/b] continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
KJV

PRAISE GOD FOR HIS WORD!!!

A
AbideinHim

"As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack." (2 Corinthians 8:15).

"And all that believed were together and had all things in common; and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need." (Acts 2:44,45).


The prosperity teachings that God wants his children to be rich is a false teaching, but so is the teaching that God wants his children to be poor and in lack.

The Lord has promised us that we would meet our needs, and that we are not to worry about what we are to eat and to drink but to seek the kingdom first.

Those in the Church that have been blessed abudnantly in finances should help those that are in lack. This was the principle that the early Church operated under.

As the scripture says: "I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread."

Mike

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crsschk

This whole thing is totally inverted and I have been misjudged and Maligned for no good reason.

David, brother ...

Couple of things. Can you please use some " " quotation marks when you are quoting others? There is the button for this as well, but it helps to distinguish for the reader who is speaking ...

I think you are also missing a great deal here ... If you take things at face value and in the context of this post how is it that we are supposed to know just what is your experience or what you might have meant, what you are thinking? We cannot read your mind only what you wrote. That is a great presumption on your part to afterwards come in and fill in the blanks as it were.

Now, just as well it is also my part for assuming too much - I took your 'abundance' language as it sat in the midst of this post over this deplorable situation as it's own wedge that had all the teeming insensitivity and flippant contorting of the scriptures that [i]sounds[/i] quite consistent with the Word of Presumption- Prosperity nonsense that is running rip-shod through the faith in this hour.

But I still think there is a collusion of what constitutes lack\\abundance in your usage of these terms- Biblically.

Abundance is the absence of lack. Since there is no lack in heaven ,and since God will not pattern his economy on poverty,

Have often heard this definition as well, 'the absence of lack' ...

[i]Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the [u]abundance[/u] of all things;[/i] Deu 28:47

[b]H7230[/b]
רב
rôb
robe
From H7231; abundance (in any respect): - abundance (-antly), all, X common [sort], excellent, great (-ly, -ness, number), huge, be increased, long, many, more in number, most, much, multitude, plenty (-ifully), X very [age].

[b]H7230[/b]
רב
rôb
robe
From H7231; abundance (in any respect): - abundance (-antly), all, X common [sort], excellent, great (-ly, -ness, number), huge, be increased, long, many, more in number, most, much, multitude, plenty (-ifully), X very [age].

I think most of us grasp the concept of what it is to be content with what we have and to thank God for it and some of us also know how to abound and to be abased - who are not strangled by the love of money and so on and so forth ...

" ...[i]since God will not pattern his economy on poverty[/i]"

That is a bit tortured is it not in this context, that is the context of this post? Brother it is just here where it seems there is the confusing of the matters at hand. This is not 'God's economy' we are discussing on the one hand and on the other ... depending on how you want to look at this - Spiritually speaking it is often very much just this, 'suffering' for the sake of others, suffering for the sake of our own carnality - Lay up your treasures in Heaven - Blessed are the poor in spirit - Give what you have to the poor - The widows two mites - I could go on for quite some time ...

To be fair you have no idea what I myself am currently up against or just how difficult it is to be practically handcuffed in the efforts to be freed from this shackle of debt\\death. Suffice it to say that not everybody is on the same page in my situation. But again I do not expect you to extrapolate that either by hunch or guess -

This is not about Sudan nor about that kind of suffering - There is as many results as there are causes for all the present sufferings in this world, you know that, we know that; "The poor you will always have with you" the Lord stated. I would say that there is far more of;

Mal 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

Or better ...

[i]Your riches are rotten, your clothes have been eaten by moths, your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be used as evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasures in these last days.

Look! The wages that you kept back from the workers who harvested your fields are shouting out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.[/i] Jas 5:2-4

... to draw parallels to in this present situation then talk of abundance -

This whole thing is totally inverted and I have been misjudged and Maligned for no good reason.

I think we may be both at fault here David at least to the inversion, but it is only the words and ideas that are at stake, don't take it personally. I apologize, maybe it is the hair trigger that gets to me on certain key words that are now so abused ... 'Abundance' ... 'Lack' ... It's the now twisted jargon of the Copeland's and Creeflo's of the world.

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PaulWest

Good morning, David. I would like to address your reply in a somewhat straightforward manner, but without animosity and keeping a dignified Christian demeanor between us:

You cant take a stand on total poverty any more than total riches.

No, David, I was taking a stand against your post, which seemed to pronounce abundance as God's sole "economy"; I am rather stating that God has no one "economy" that He is obligated to work in. The finest men of God have lived in sickness and squalor compared to the children of the devil who live in the earthly abundance you describe. While kings and princes dwell in ivory towers and wore soft raiment, God's elect suffered in prisons, floggings and were considered the outcasts and garbage of the world. Jesus illustrated a poor man (with lack of carnal abundance) going to heaven, while a rich man with full abundance going to hell. Does this fall under God's economy as well? The abundance we are talking about is spiritual, rather than carnal. Their treasures and wealth and abundance were not tied up in physical things, but hid in heaven and the "economy" you speak of is not an economy that is measured by an earthly marketplace and Caesar's taxation. Is your estimation of divine economy measured by dollar signs and comfort? Some of the wealthiest nations of the world with the most abundant economies are actually Mohammedian nations, the worshippers of a demon.

No, David, the true treasures and economy of God are unseen; the treaure we have on earth and any economy for the believer is found in the earnest of the Holy Spirit given unto us. It is the same for all believers, whether living in squalor or comfort, slum or palace, house or hut, sitting in a labor camp or driving a Toyota Corolla to the office. Ironically, we see the ones with less in the physical having more in the spiritual, and not by virtue of having [i]less[/i] (for it is not a magical formula), but by possessing nothing but daily assurance and faith in God to give them their daily bread and protection. Worldy comfort and abundance have a way of quashing all that.

I dont know about your unbiblical statement about praying to be poor.

Where did I say we should "pray" to be poor? Jesus said [i]blessed are the poor,[/i]; He also remarked on how hard it will be for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and we see throughout the the Word how when people begin to grow fat and comfortable and enjoy long periods of good health and wealth and riches and a sabbatical from suffering that they eventually wander from God and sin. Sickness and poverty are often a means God employs in His "economy" to keep His people close to Him. They can be blessings in disguise. Now, since I didn't even mention the word "prayer" (you did, thank you), why don't we pray the Biblical prayer: "Lord, give Thy child neither riches in abundance nor extreme poverty and want, lest by my abundance I forget Thee, and by my heavy suffering curse Thee.."

You won't thank God for their plight,and you wont say "wow what a blessing to live in a refrigerator box and eat from the garbage dump.

[b]Straw man.[/b] No one wants to thank God when they see a person living in a refrigerator box. This is so foolish, I can't believe you would even put it in my face, and yet, knowing the kind of theology you espouse, I can sort of believe it. Everything is tied up in earthly comfort and tangible miracles and health and wealth, even though you always seem to backpedal when called to account. Are these earthly things really the measuring stick for God under the New Covenant? Did Jesus promise earthly abundance to his followers? Or did He promise pain, persecution, prison and death? If a person lives in a box, they are cursed. If a person has abundance, they are blessed?

A very, very small amount of Christians actually live in earthly abundance; the vast majority of our brothers and sisters live in poverty, are persecuted and beaten, living in the slums, sawn asunder, slain with the sword, imprisoned in labor camps, being destitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom the world is not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth - and yes, some of the are even in Matamoros, Mexico.

I know what loss is.
If it's only connected to dollar signs, I wonder if you truly do...

L
Limey153

I listened to a very compelling message by David Wilkerson today which I would encourage folk to listen to.

It is available to order or download (for free) from openhisword.com and the sermon is called 'The Last Revival'

[url=http://www.openhisword.com/David_Wilkerson.html]The Last Revival[/url]

In this sermon our brother David Wilkerson explains how he believes that God will provide us with a great revival before his return. However... he explains how he also believes that this revival will be preceeded by great economic turmoil.
I for one am already being hit by economic problems, my wife and I are not well off in comparison to western standards and any rise in costs will I'm sure be hard on us. Nevertheless the Lord is our provider not the economy and since I (and many others) have been praying earnestly for revival, if revival must indeed be preceeded by economic instability as brother Wilkerson here states then God be praised indeed!!! For is this the answer to prayer that we have we waiting for all this time?
As dear David states in many of his sermons, when these things occur it is not doom and gloom but a time of rejoicing because with each passing event in the world today we draw closer to our great Redeemer's return :-D
In the light of all eternity I'm sure that this time of turmoil however hard it becomes will seem a mere fraction of a second when compared with the glory ahead. Certainly wealth and prosperity are keeping many away from the Lord,

Rev 3:17
Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked

If the Lord deems this economic turmoil nesessary then so be it! Economic stability is not worth as much as a single soul!

R
rookie

This stipulation is taken from the legislation given to Congress by Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Benanke...

Sec. 8. Review.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

................................

The ground work is being prepared for the time where one man will say this to the world...and the world because of fear will in unison tell the anti christ....save us....

In Christ
Jeff

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