1 Cor 3:13 ...the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.

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Last news: September 6, 2010 08:36:30

It brings me no pleasure to be at the computer at 3 am, for soon morning will come and I will need to go to work and I will go wearily. But here I am, a watchman on the wall that is staring into the darkness, because I know something is not right.

Perhaps it has always been not right, perhaps I have only recently become aware of what is not right. Does that lessen the danger? I don’t know. My hackles are up. Does this make me more likely to perceive danger, risk, and outliers? I feel like NEO seeing cracks in the code, but I also feel like his shipmate who just wanted to go back to blissful ignorance.

People who love me are worried about me. Am I stalking shadows? Have I forgotten how to relax, to enjoy life, to be my fun loving self? No, I still love fun and I love sleep…yet both are hard to come by these days.

This week, there were more cracks in the code. The federal reserve admited to breaking the law. A brave whistleblower nailed a prediction on silver market manipulation while the “watchdog” agencies yawned and did nothing, zero news broke on the subject from any station. Further light has been shed on recently passed legislation and the corrupt and hidden aspects would make a sailor blush. And perhaps the oddest bit of news, the traditional media giants have lost half their audience yet they refuse to report meanginful news and they persist in serving as the government’s propoganda arm, reporting fluff that noone believes in as if it were credible news.

“CNN executives have steadfastly said that they will not change their approach to prime-time programs“

Corruption and hidden deals are not new in politics or power, I get that. What is new is the brazenness. It begs the question, why are the criminal politicans, stock market manipulators, and media moguls being so bold? John 3:19 states that “men love darkness better than light because their deeds are evil.”  So why now, are they bringing their evil deeds into the light?

Are they trying to foment violence? Are they seeing what they can get away with? Would a currency collapse triggered by a lack of confidence in the soundness of money and government somehow serve their interests?

I don’t know, but it keeps me up at night…

^{MT 24:10}At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹²Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” 

I bet you have some great friends, I know I do. I believe they would drop everything to be there for me just as I would for them. Local churches are full of groups that consider themselves close. Yet Jesus says in the end times that MANY of these “friends” will betray and hate each other.

I bet you know some sweet believers, I know I do. I believe they would take a bullet rather than deny their faith. Local churches are full of believers that would not for a moment think that they were vulnerable to falling away. Yet, Jesus says that MANY of these believers will turn away from the faith.

What could cause people who love each other to betray and hate each other? What could cause people who are excited about being believers to turn away from the faith? We could contemplate the circumstances that might bring that about. What about worldwide famine, worldwide persecution, or both with people being rewarded with food to turn in the remaining christians? What that be enough to cause the great falling away? Well, those things certainly wouldn’t help the situation.  But no, the answer is Shallow Roots.

^{Mt 13: 20}The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

The man with shallow roots was unprepared for trouble and persecution. He may have been following Jesus for the bread and fish he was handing out or because he was famous. But when times got hard, he either determined that this is not what he had signed up for, or he simply chose to give up rather than continue suffering.   I suspect that you have seen an individual fall away. I know I have. Perhaps you have felt the temptation yourself in the midst of suffering circumstances. Why do some fall away but others do not?

I recall a conversation I had with my pastor, standing in a hospital corridor while my wife lay a few doors down with what had just been termed inoperable cancer. My pastor asked me how I was coping and I opined that my evangelical foundation was more useful to me in these times of trouble than my charismatic experience. You see, over the previous 7 years MANY people of faith with good intent had stood around us like cheerleaders echoing phrases that lacked root. “Everything is going to be fine!” , “Just have faith.” , “I have a good feeling about..”, “God has such good plans for you, there is no way he would cut her life short..”

Don’t get me wrong, we both believed in healing, and I still believe that God heals people today. I have participated in effective healing prayer many times.  But she died. After 7 years of anointing with oil, standing in faith, and enlisting a great crowd of believers and churches in other states and countries to pray and believe with us, she died.  But I did not fall away. Many people, especially non-believers don’t understand why I didn’t abandon the faith when in their eyes God abandoned me.

But I didn’t fall away because I didn’t come to rely on paperback theology, false assumptions, or empty rhetoric. God was faithful to me in so many ways. He spoke to me several times during her sickness. He told me that even Lazarus died again after Jesus had raised him up. He reminded me of eternity and that this life isn’t about us, its about His Kingdom and His Glory. He allowed me to be there when she went to be with Jesus and I saw the reflection of heaven in her face as she went.

¹The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 1 tim 4:1

My “friends”, I believe we are living in the end times. I believe that times will soon be upon us where those who have shallow roots will be sorely tempted to turn away from their faith in order to do what they must to survive including turning in their other “friends” for reward and recognition.

Are you satisfied with shallow responses to the quickly deteriorating circumstances all around you?

• It could never happen here..(Hurricane Katrina)
• We are a modern economy with a strong currency (Argentina)
• He is an elected leader bound by a constitution (Hitler)
• The things we worry about most rarely happen (Noah/Joseph/EndTimes)
• It will probably be fifty years or more until we see a one world government (No man knows the day)

The end times will happen. World trade will cease. Famine will be widespread.  A one world government will arise and will persecute and kill Christians. MANY believers will abandon their faith. MANY believers will turn on and betray one another.  The love of MOST will grow cold in the midst of tough choices and widespread extreme suffering.

Dig some roots, trade in shallow and empty rhetoric for an honest risk assessment, focus on timeless principles and timely actions.  You are going to need a durable faith for the times ahead so you can refuse to participate in the great falling away, so you can continue to provide and protect for your family, so you can have something to share with those in need, so you can stand firm to the end.

1 Corinthians 7:21
21Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so.
There are times when it is tempting to give up, to accept that things are the way they are and there is nothing we can do about it.

There are also prophecies that declare that undesirable outcomes will one day come to pass. Consider the example of Jesus explaining to his disciples that he was headed for the cross. Peter responded ‘Never Lord’ (an interesting combination of words). Ultimately, he was rebuked by Jesus for having in mind the things of men instead of the things of God.

Jesus himself predicted that his followers would encounter wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, and persecution. Should we take note fof Peter’s rebuke and do nothing to prevent the descent into the end times? Or should we cling to our role as salt and light and as Paul said, secure our freedom if we can?

What if we are the ones to witness a steady march towards a tyrannical one world government? What if we begin to witness the loss of cherished religious freedoms? What if our government is quietly co-opted by forces that intend to revolutionize our country and toss out its constitution and trample the concepts of human rights, private property, and equal opportunity?

Are we to accept all these developments because prophecy states that in the end times such and worse will occur? Should we just take solace in the hope that (as some believe) we will be raptured before things get really bad so it doesnt really matter anyway?

Paul’s advice: “if you can gain your freedom, do so” contains great wisdom and a balanced approach that we would do well to consider.

In Paul’s day, not everyone had the opportunity to gain their freedom. Slaves in the Eastern regions could gain their freedom, where in the Western regions they were treated more harshly. Similarly, in our times not everyone has the opportunity to gain their freedom. There are oppressive governments where the people have few rights and where even speaking out against injustice can have severe ramifications.

But..in the USA we have a constitution that gives us the right, the responsibility to preserve our freedom for us, for our children, and for future generations (be they few or many).

Creating a sense of Inevitability is a stated goal and known tactic of the enemies of freedom. For example, Saul Alinsky in his Rules for Radicals states “Always remember the first rule of power tactics; power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.”

It may seem at times that the enemy has a foothold in so many places, more than you can hope to dislodge. Be careful to validate the strength of the enemy as you decide if it is possible to gain your freedom. Do the enemies of freedom have control of the minds of the masses thru media, the government officials by bribes and corruption, the world’s largest banks through concentrated ownership in the hand of the few? Perhaps they do..

But in the USA (as I write this) we do still have some freedoms. We should take our opportunity to regain and secure our freedom seriously. We still have a legally binding constitution, the freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, the right to assemble, and the right to dissent. We still have the power to vote, and the opportunity to ensure that our friends and family are aware of the risks to freedom in our time. Plato said “The price good men pay for indifference to political affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” It is time for believers to rediscover their civic duty to “select capable men and let them serve”. It is time to reject the cocktail party mentality that we should check our spiritual and political worldview at the door, that religion and politics are off-limits for polite conversation. It is not time to surrender or stick our heads in the sand, it is time to take Paul’s advice..

“If you can gain your freedom, do so!”

¹¹1 Thes 4:12 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, ¹²so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Paul was giving counsel to the church at Thessalonica, a church that was undergoing hardship and persecution

Not being dependent on anyone…

But there are many to whom this concept is completely foreign. In my informal survey of members of churches from protestant, charismatic, or ecumenical streams, no one has ever heard a sermon on the topic of self-reliance. It seems that to many self-reliance is a truth for a different age, an age where division of labor had not yet arrived, where debt funded prosperity had not yet liberated people from subsistence living. We live in a different age, the rules are different now. But are they?

We know that God does not change. Is 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 still a valid New Testament scripture? Of course it is. It might even be an important truth for us if we should fall into hard times or even persecution like the church at Thessalonica. We assume that tomorrow will always be like today and yesterday. The sun will rise, the lights will come on with the flick of a switch, the paycheck will arrive, the grocery store shelves will be restocked, and the church service will go on as usual this weekend (in the building we are still trying to pay for). And although we certainly hope for continuity, it is not guaranteed and it is not a tried and true biblical principle.

In fact, Paul takes the church to task for assuming that things will remain the same.

James 4

The reality is that we are not promised tomorrow and Paul advises us to consider the possibility that the Lord may not have a long life planned for us. The implication is that we are here to honor Him (in good times and bad) and that this life is about His Glory, not our comfort or enjoyment.

Proverbs 27:1 "Do not boast about tomorrow,for you do not know what a day may bring forth."

Those words were written by Solomon over two thousand years ago, but today our modern society is more fragile than most people realize. Let’s briefly consider one current risk factor as an example of how most of our lives are dependent on factors beyond our control. In the last hundred years the human population has grown exponentially because of the productivity boost made possible by fossil fuels. Most communities cannot supply enough food to feed themselves from their immediate geographic surroundings. Food is now grown with petroleum-based fertilizers, and it is shipped in via transportation powered by oil and gas,and it even takes energy to prepare the food.

Any disruption to the supply of energy would result in a devastating impact that would be very disruptive. The world’s super-powers are aware of this risk and they are now in a mad-scramble to secure oil reserves. This scramble is giving birth to alliances that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. But most consumers, and most believers are blissfully unaware of the serious risk of long term shortages and price escalation for something that has become basic to life on earth. We truly do not know what a day may bring, and most of us haven’t spent any time thinking about how to reduce our reliance on others.

In ancient times, when Joseph learned of Pharaoh’s dream, he could have chosen to believe that the second 7 years would be pretty much like the first 7 years and to do nothing to reduce his risk. Did the Lord tell him to store food? Not directly. Or did Joseph just assess the potential danger and take appropriate action?

Many are vaguely aware of the risks in our society, but they are waiting on “a word from the Lord” before they begin to prepare or reduce their dependence. In fact, the Lord has already spoken in His word extensively about the principles of self-reliance, risk aversion, and prudent preparations. He is waiting on us to obey, while we are waiting for Him to speak.

Proverbs 27:12 “The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”

What is happening to our nation? Have there been similar situations in the past? Are things going to bet better or worse? What can we do to influence the outcome?

In 1857 there were 30,000 men idle on the streets of New York. Drunkenness was rampant, and the nation was divided by slavery. On September 23, 1857 began noontime prayer meeting on Fulton Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. Out of a city of 1 million people, six people showed up a half hour late.

The group decided to meet the next week and there were 14. The next week there were 23. The following week there were 40. Within weeks there were thousands of business leaders meeting daily. God moved so powerfully that the prayer meeting spread across the nation. It is estimated that nearly 1 million people were converted out of a national population of 35 million, including 10,000 weekly conversions in New York City for a season.

Could God heal our land today? What would it take to bring it about?

2 Chronicles 7:14

(New International Version)

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

(Amplified Bible)

14If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

Many of God’s promises are conditional – IF is a well-used word in the Bible and it places conditions on God’s promises.

God’s “iffy” promises are only “effective” if you fulfill the “if”, the conditions. Around 1,500 verses in the Bible contain the word “if”, and there are lots of other promises in Scripture that do not use the word “if” but contain conditions (like our John 3:16 example). According to Quick verse Bible software, the word “if” is used 1,784 times in 1,589 verses within the NIV. In the KJV (post 1820 version), the word “if” is used 1,595 times in 1,420 verses.

Examples of conditional promises from scripture

"See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse – the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known." Deuteronomy 11:26-28

"If you make the Most High your dwelling – even the LORD, who is my refuge – then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent." Psalm 91:9-10

"If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea." Isaiah 48:18

Jesus said: “If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” John 15:6-7

"…if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

The benefits of the promise:  God “will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Ch 7:14)

What does healing of the land mean?

Jer 33:6 " ‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. 7 I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity ^[a] and will rebuild them as they were before.

8 I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. 9 Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’

What are the conditions on which the promise depends?

1. The first condition: Humble

James 4: 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Humble = “to bring low”

The true man of God is heartsick, grieved at the worldliness of the Church, grieved at the blindness of the Church, grieved at the corruption in the Church, grieved at the toleration of sin in the Church, grieved at the prayerlessness in the Church. He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of the Church no longer pulls down the strongholds of the devil. He is embarrassed that the Church folks no longer cry in their despair before a devil-ridden, sin-mad society, “Why could we not cast him out?” (Matt. 17:19). Leonard Ravenhill

To fulfill the first condition, we must not be content to pretend that everything is fine. We must declare a fast, a solemn assembly, we must know in our guts that if God does not intervene, we are ruined.

2. The second condition : Pray

“I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.” — Abraham Lincoln

“One can believe intellectually in the efficacy of prayer and never do any praying.” –Catherine Marshall

“Those who do not believe do not pray. This is a good functional definition of faith. Faith prays, unbelief does not.” –John A. Hardon

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” Mt 18:19

To fulfill the second condition, we must actually pray for our country, together with other believers whenever possible. Find a prayer meeting or start one. It does not require any decree, accreditation, or credentials to start a prayer meeting (my fourteen year old son has been facilitating one at his school for two years now during lunch time and if a fourteen year old can do it, you can do it.). Just start meeting and don’t quit.

3. The third condition: Seek

“Seek My Face” In the Amplified

– “Seek, Crave, Require of necessity My Face”

"I began to live as if there were no one save (except) God and me in the world.“ Brother Lawrence

To fulfill the third condition, we must develop or rediscover our emotional dependence on God. He created us for fellowship with Him, He has things to say, He wants to prompt us to pray throughout the day. If we are saturated with our IPODS, blackberry, the latest TV Sitcom, the www.drudgereport.com , and yes talk radio..how can we hear Him. Elijah had to push past the  wind, the earthquake and the fire to hear the still small voice. We need that still small voice today more than ever.

4.  The Fourth Condition: Turn

Eph 4:20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

To fulfill the fourth condition, we must again hate sin, love correction, and repent repeatedly and often. We must develop a pattern of not grieving the Holy Spirit so we can be powerful in prayer.

Consider the conditional aspects of the promise found in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

What was promised? (Healing of our land: Moral, Financial, Spiritual)

Who must fulfill the conditions? (It says “My people”, not my leaders)

What happens if the people don’t meet any of the conditions? (What happens if you don’t pour vinegar on baking soda? Nothing)

What happens if they meet only part of the conditions? (What happens if you pour water on baking soda? Nothing significant)

Is there a chance that they meet all the conditions but nothing would happen? (No, God is faithful.)

What were the Guidelines for the Fulton Street Prayer Meetings?

The Prayer meetings which convened for one hour with people coming and going according to their schedules:

• Meeting began with a song, usually a commonly known hymn.

• A passage of Scripture was read.

• Prayer requests were written out and read by the moderator or they were given verbally during the meeting.

• No one was to pray or speak more than 5 minutes, nor more than twice per meeting. A moderator would ring a bell after a person had prayed for 5 minutes.

Proverbs 27

23 Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,
give careful attention to your herds;

24 for riches do not endure forever,
and a crown is not secure for all generations.

Solomon, the King of Israel, was one of the richest men on the planet in his time. If anyone could reasonably expect that his kids should be just fine, that they should never get their shoes dirty, should never break a nail doing manual labor, it should have been Solomon.  Yet..we have this record of Solomon giving his son advice to never get too far from the fields, to always know how the condition of his flocks. In effect, he was saying, no matter how secure your position and your riches make you feel, never surrender the means of production, instead retain the means and the knowledge to provide for yourself and your dependents. 

But why? He explains in verse 24. It is because Solomon, in his God given wisdom, understands that neither crowns nor riches offer true security. Anyone who has studied history understands this. But then again..

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."

  –  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

This is why Solomon made it a point to teach his son, it is also why I am writing this blog.

You, like Solomon, probably have many reasons to feel secure. The USD is the reserve currency of the world, meaning the rest of the world transacts business using our currency. When there is a flight to safety worldwide, our currency benefits because. Surely our riches are fine…Right?

“Mr. Strauss-Kahn of the IMF also said it would be “intellectually healthy to explore” the creation of a new global reserve currency.” 2/26/2010 NYTIMES

It turns out that our riches do not offer us dependable security after all.

In her book, “this time is different” which analyzes 800 years of economic history, Carmen Reinhart states that

“Perhaps more than anything else, failure to recognize the precariousness and fickleness of confidence-especially in cases in which large short-term debts need to be rolled over continuously-is the key factor that gives rise to the this-time-is-different syndrome. Highly indebted governments, banks, or corporations can seem to be merrily rolling along for an extended period, when bang!-confidence collapses, lenders disappear, and a crisis hits.”

According to the 2009 United States Financial GAAP reporting released in late Feb 2010 (which was over two months late), our ratio of obligations to annual economic output is nearly 500% when long term obligations such as medicare and social security are factored in. Perhaps this explains why in 2009, the Federal Reserve was the number one buyer of US debt, buying over 80% of the debt issued last year.

Many world renowned financial experts have said that the current economic crisis could turn out worse than the great depression

• Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke

• Investment advisor, risk expert and "Black Swan" author Nassim Nicholas Taleb

• Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker

• Well-known PhD economist Marc Faber

• Former Goldman Sachs chairman John Whitehead

• Morgan Stanley’s UK equity strategist Graham Secker

Perhaps we should carefully re-consider Solomon’s wisdom and evaluate any false sense of security offered by our riches and economic system.

Discussion questions:

What is the modern equivalent of knowing the condition of our flocks?

Should believers monitor the risk associated with the broader financial system and our currency?

Or should we just relax because it is different this time?

I often think about Joseph and the dream about the prosperous years followed by the hard times. There are several interesting things about the biblical account.

In ancient Egypt most people were involved in agriculture. In agriculture, the weather plays a huge role. One bad storm can ruin your crops. So, most farmers would not put all their seed in the ground. They would have next season’s seed set aside. And they would have enough food/money on hand to get them to at least the next harvest season in case the unexpected happened.

Can you imagine the fear, the uncertainty, the paranoia that a farmer would feel if he had been reckless. If had all his seed in the ground, crops near harvest, and a deep dark hail storm was approaching, how would he feel? If the farmer had sufficient food stored up for his family in his basement, and he had enough money to procure next season’s seed, perhaps the storm would be disappointing but not devastating. His fear would be in proportion to his preparation.

How would farmers behavior tend to shift, if for seven years straight they had record crops? Would they hold back more seed or less? Probably less. Would they have more food storage or less? Probably less. The natural effect of 7 years of prosperity would be reckless behavior as people began to believe that times would always be good. But as we know, as any student of history knows, that is simply not true. So God sent a warning and had Joseph put in just the right place to ensure the survival and even prosperity of his people.

In our modern times, hardly anyone is involved in farming, we live in a just-in-time economy that is possible because we have had DECADES of prosperity. As I have discussed in other posts, fossil fuels, modern technology, and fractional banking have come together in a perfect storm to create a period of unrivaled prosperity in human history. So naturally, we have become reckless. All our seed is in the ground, we have no reserves, we have borrowed money from our children’s children and the mother of all hail storms is fast approaching.

So what should we do?

1. Pray that a Joseph is out there preparing against hard times?

2. Should we trust that our good and benevolent government has things under control and will not put us in a vulnerable position?

3. Or should we begin to store up provisions to be used if hard times come?

Consider that in the biblical account, the people of Egypt had to buy the reserves and when they ran out of money, they sold themselves into slavery. We really don’t want to be dependent on anyone because it gives the person you depend on power over you. It is a much better approach to prepare and be ready to share, not beg. Be a Joseph.

Your fear will be in proportion to your preparations.

Happy Prepping.

^{Rev 13:16 ”}He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, ¹⁷so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. ¹⁸This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.”

^{Matthew 24:7}Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are the beginning of birth pains. ⁹“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.

¹⁹How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ²⁰Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. ²²If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. ²³At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴For false Christ’s and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. ²⁵See, I have told you ahead of time.”

Jesus went to great lengths to make sure we knew IN ADVANCE that the days would come when…

1) All nations of the earth would eventually unite in their hatred and persecution of Christians (MT 24:9)

2) A leader in this united world government would emerge and would deny people the right to buy or sell anything unless they trade in their faith for allegiance to the beast. (REV 13:16-17)

3) He also made it clear that we should seek wisdom and use it to navigate the challenging times and that we should attempt to endure to the end. (REV 13:18, MT 24:25)

So, we had a 2,000 year head start, we knew what was coming. We had time to develop strategies, to set plans in action, to position ourselves as well as possible. How are we doing so far?

Let’s put it this way, if we were living in Noah’s times we would drown. If we were living in Joseph’s time, we (and all of Egypt) would starve.

We do of course have a strategy. Based on our actions (and lack of actions) our strategy appears to be:

1. Work hard to blend in with the lost world around us.

2. Become utterly dependent on said world and get addicted to all of its conveniences.

3. Pretend that the daily news has no resemblance to prophecy and hope that we will be long gone before times get really bad.

There is one potential problem with our plan, Jesus just might be right…and if He is, our paperbacks, movies, and our end-time-prophecy charts aren’t going to give us much comfort.

Proverbs 11

¹ The LORD abhors dishonest scales,
but accurate weights are his delight.

Source: This is a portion of a post from Neithorcorp.us/press/

At the beginning of the year, official unemployment stood at around 10%.  This number of course does not include those people who are off unemployment benefits and still have not found jobs, or those people who are underemployed.  The Labor Department then announced their intention to revise their “birth/death ratio” method of calculating job loss, which would supposedly add a whopping 800,000 lost jobs to their books that were hidden before:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/04/news/economy/jobs_outlook/

Directly after this news was released, markets braced for a substantial increase in the unemployment percentage.  Yet, by some act of magic, the unemployment percentage fell to 9.7%!

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/jobs_picture_20100205/

How is this possible?  Well, those of us who were hoping for greater Labor Department transparency (including myself) should have known better.  With the Labor Department, two-plus-two NEVER equals four…

As the EPI article above indicates, while the government has reportedly changed their dubious “birth/death ratio” method, they also at the same time changed their “home survey” method.  This survey is meant to give the Labor Department an overall view of unemployment percentages, but now the government has sharply reduced the number of households they actually survey, making the results more volatile and easier to manipulate.  This why even though nearly a million jobless people were added to the unemployment rolls, the government was still able to report a drop in unemployment percentages.  Sound like a dirty trick?  Yes, it is…

According to the EPI’s estimates, which are probably still conservative, over 11 million jobs would need to be created in order to bring employment rates to pre-2007 levels.  This is called the “jobs gap.”  To fill the jobs gap by 2013 (which is about the time frame that the government has suggested it would take for a full recovery) the U.S. would need to generate over 400,000 jobs a month for the next three years!  As I think most of you can see, this is not going to happen.  Last month according to official numbers the U.S. lost another 36,000 jobs.  Jobs are not being created, and will not be created anywhere near the 400,000 a month mark required for a three year recovery.

Also not often reported is the span of weeks at which those who are unemployed have to wait until they find another job.  This “lag time” in-between jobs has grown markedly higher in recent months as the chart below shows:

In January of this year alone, 6.3 million people (over half of those unemployed) had been without a job for more than 6 months.  This is an astonishing number, and it shows just how out of touch MSM reports of recovery are.  Anyone who has been unemployed for more than just one month knows how tense and uncertain such a situation makes life.  Imagine the misery of a 6 month hiatus from steady work, not able to fully support ones self and not knowing when you’ll be able to again.  The Labor Department, nor the media, seems to take the factor of ‘duration’ into account when considering whether employment is actually in recovery.  Nor do they take into account the fact that most of the jobs lost over the past two years were high paying and specialized, while most of the scant few jobs created have been low paying service sector positions.

What is most frightening about this information is that it reveals deliberate mishandling of statistics.  Instead of being more open about unemployment numbers, the government is moving to hide them further.

————————————————————————————————–

^{When statistics are handled without virtue, businesses and individuals make decisions based on bad information. This is a sophisticated way of stealing. When the media ceases to function as a watchdog and instead becomes a lap dog, loyally repeating utter rubbish as if it is unvarnished truth, there is great danger ahead.}

^{But we have been warned not to be naive, not to pretend that everyone’s motives are good all the time. We are to keep our innocence, purity, and virtue without becoming blind to the fact that we are among wolves.}

^{Matthew 10: 16}I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

¹⁷“Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues.

Isaiah 59:4 (New International Version)

 ⁴ No one calls for justice;
       no one pleads his case with integrity.
       They rely on empty arguments and speak lies;
       they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.  

From: from www.firstchurchoftheinternet.org , I validated and linked to points of interest)  

Today, nearly 4,000 precious and innocent unborn babies will be murdered in America by abortion… And 300,000 pulpits are mostly silent…  

In 40 years, homosexuals have gone from the closet, to the classroom, to the comedies, to the cabinet, and now to the clergy… And 300,000 pulpits are mostly silent…  

Hardcore pornography outlets outnumber McDonald’s in America. Since 1960, the pornography industry has grown by more than 10,000 percent. Over 6,000 adult videos are produced every year. Consequently, rape has increased 700 percent in the last 50 years, and every year a majority of all sexual assault victims were reported as children under 18, many of these attacks were made on children under 12… And 300,000 pulpits are mostly silent…  

Nearly every state in America now has a lottery or some form of gambling preying on the poor and robbing their children’s future…And 300,000 pulpits are mostly silent…  

Christian morality cannot be taught in America’s public schools, but atheistic immorality can. The Ten Commandments cannot be distributed, but condoms can. A Christian pastor cannot address the class, but a witch or a transvestite can. Jesus cannot be mentioned, but Muhammad can. The Bible cannot be read, but the Koran can…And 300,000 pulpits are mostly silent…        

The entertainment media in America offers the average American TV viewer 14,000 references to sex a year, 81 percent of which are outside of marriage. Add to that the multitude of homosexual characters preaching tolerance of what God declares as an abomination. Add to that the extreme violence and sexual immorality, the greed and the paganism. Program after program, movie after movie contains immoral, ungodly, destructive messages that grow more gritty and graphic with each passing day… And 300,000 pulpits are mostly silent…  

Rock and rap music fills the media and our children’s minds with music and images which legitimize rape, murder, group sex, sado-masochism, adultery, satanic worship, homosexuality, alcohol and drug abuse, etc…. And 300,000 pulpits are mostly silent…  

And Perhaps even worse than our silence, many Christians are Not Participating in Democracy  

In the 4 elections from 1992 to 2000, Christian voter turnout declined by 40 percent. In 2000, of the nations 59 million self identified evangelicals who were qualified to vote: 24 million did not even bother to register to vote, and of the 35 million who did register, only 15 million actually voted.  

Several Christian public policy organizations have identified that of their own members, who are active participants in trying to restore godly principles to government, 35–45 percent were not even registered to vote. 45 percent of Evangelicals vote according to economic issues above moral issues.  

Again from www.firstchurchoftheinternet.org, when a church accepts the 501c3 status, that church:  

• Waives its freedom of speech.
• Waives its right to influence legislators and the legislation they craft.
• Waives its constitutionally guaranteed rights.
• Is no longer free to speak to the vital issues of the day.
• Becomes controlled by a spirit of fear that if it doesn’t toe the line with the IRS it will lose its tax-exempt status.

TITLE 26–INTERNAL REVENUE CODE

 

Sec. 501. Exemption from tax on corporations,
          certain trusts, etc.

  (c) List of exempt organizations

 

A 501c3 organization is to have ”no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation (except as otherwise provided in subsection (h)), and which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.” 

The church in America today is, by and large, not speaking to the vital issues of the day. The church has been effectively silenced. There has been a chilling effect upon the church’s freedom of speech for fear of IRS retribution should the church get out of line. The inevitable result is a moral downward spiral in the culture as the church stands mute.   

So many are concerned about the problems we have in washington these days. I’d like to suggest that our problems didn’t start there. When good men and women do nothing and say nothing; evil triumphs.   

Matthew 5:13-16 (New International Version)

 ¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. ¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.   

Silence is tacit acceptance therefore silence is not acceptable…

I ran across this today and it underscores an aspect of our nation’s true unfunded liabilities that NOONE is including in their calculations.

The report underscores the challenges large cities will face in the coming years. If you are in a large city, not only are you dependent on others for your water, you are dependent on aging, forgotten, decayed infrastructure that has insufficient budgeted for maintenance…

Makes me think twice about the proverb that states “drink running water from your own well…” 

“There are 16,000 publicly owned wastewater treatment plants in the United States that operate 100,000 major pumping stations, 600,000 miles of sanitary sewers and 200,000 miles of storm sewers, according to U.S. EPA. That system received a grade of D- from the American Society of Civil Engineers in its latest “Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.” The society noted that billions of gallons of untreated wastewater is discharged each year because of lagging investments. Hornback said many communities would be facing a difficult challenge even if the economy were more robust. Communities historically “undervalue” their water and sewer services, charging users less than is needed to keep the systems operating to modern standards. “The pipes in the ground are in some cases over 100 years old,” he said.”

 ”The conference report, written by senior adviser Richard Anderson, estimates that local governments will have to spend between $2.5 trillion and $4.8 trillion over the next 20 years to fulfill those demands for improved water and sewer systems. There is a “vague and false confidence among Congress that they have already addressed the issue by granting $60 billion to cities over two decades ago to build water infrastructure when the cost in a single year (2008) is over $40 billion in capital investments and another $50 billion for operations and maintenance,” Anderson wrote. “A more thorough understanding of how much is spent on public water and wastewater is a necessary first step in establishing a framework for a National Strategy.”"

 What are the two topics that polite people do not bring up in social circles ? Religion and Politics right? Sometimes I wonder who came up with that rule. Clearly there are topics where it is easier to agree. How many people would argue over whether it was hot or cold, sunny or rainy? Sticking to common ground is safe, or so it would seem.

In actuality, there are forces of evil in the world. There always have been and there will continue to be evil forces until the Lord returns and punishes them and their followers. Until then, we can choose to do nothing, and evil will prevail or we can do something. We can engage in the battle for the minds of our children and neighbors.

Jesus said that we were either gathering or scattering, he gave no middle option of being politely mute on important topics.  

• Believers should seek to influence and preserve the moral character of society –Matthew 5:13-16

• Believers should pray for those in authority –Timothy 2:1-8

• Believers should become familiar with potential leaders and select them carefully –Exodus 18:21

• Believers should discuss important topics with each other and with their elected officials. –Proverbs 27:17

There are many ways that believers can begin to fulfill their civic duty, to be salt and light in their world. One important way is to educate oneself on what the bible says about today’s important issues. And it does speak plainly to the important issues of our time, and it is not politically correct.  It is good to remember that in situations where mankind and God disagree, God is right and He will be proved right by the outcomes and the subsequent judgement.

• Abortion / Stem Cell Research –Ps. 139:13–14, Jer. 1:5

• Socialism / National Healthcare / Card Check –Proverbs 1:10-14, Exodus 20:15

• Fairness Doctrine, Freedom of Speech –John 3:20-21 , Psalm 82:3-4

• Out of Control Spending, National Indebtedness – Proverbs 22:7, Proverbs 22:26-27

There are two important questions for us to consider:

 1) What will happen if we cower before the intimidation of social mores and political intimidation?

• All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.  Edmund Burke

• The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.  Plato

• The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.  Albert Einstein

2) What does God require of us in relation to governing authorities?

• Authority is given by God –Romans 13:1-7

• Authorities are supposed to submit to God –Psalms 2:10-11

• When God and Authorities are in conflict, Believers should obey God instead of Man. –Acts 5:28-29

Now it is time for the righteous to rule. Stand up, be heard, rule well.

“When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.” –Prov. 29:2

Proverbs 11

¹ The LORD abhors dishonest scales,
but accurate weights are his delight.

Source: This is a portion of a post from Neithorcorp.us/press/

At the beginning of the year, official unemployment stood at around 10%.  This number of course does not include those people who are off unemployment benefits and still have not found jobs, or those people who are underemployed.  The Labor Department then announced their intention to revise their “birth/death ratio” method of calculating job loss, which would supposedly add a whopping 800,000 lost jobs to their books that were hidden before:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/04/news/economy/jobs_outlook/

Directly after this news was released, markets braced for a substantial increase in the unemployment percentage.  Yet, by some act of magic, the unemployment percentage fell to 9.7%!

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/jobs_picture_20100205/

How is this possible?  Well, those of us who were hoping for greater Labor Department transparency (including myself) should have known better.  With the Labor Department, two-plus-two NEVER equals four…

As the EPI article above indicates, while the government has reportedly changed their dubious “birth/death ratio” method, they also at the same time changed their “home survey” method.  This survey is meant to give the Labor Department an overall view of unemployment percentages, but now the government has sharply reduced the number of households they actually survey, making the results more volatile and easier to manipulate.  This why even though nearly a million jobless people were added to the unemployment rolls, the government was still able to report a drop in unemployment percentages.  Sound like a dirty trick?  Yes, it is…

According to the EPI’s estimates, which are probably still conservative, over 11 million jobs would need to be created in order to bring employment rates to pre-2007 levels.  This is called the “jobs gap.”  To fill the jobs gap by 2013 (which is about the time frame that the government has suggested it would take for a full recovery) the U.S. would need to generate over 400,000 jobs a month for the next three years!  As I think most of you can see, this is not going to happen.  Last month according to official numbers the U.S. lost another 36,000 jobs.  Jobs are not being created, and will not be created anywhere near the 400,000 a month mark required for a three year recovery.

Also not often reported is the span of weeks at which those who are unemployed have to wait until they find another job.  This “lag time” in-between jobs has grown markedly higher in recent months as the chart below shows:

In January of this year alone, 6.3 million people (over half of those unemployed) had been without a job for more than 6 months.  This is an astonishing number, and it shows just how out of touch MSM reports of recovery are.  Anyone who has been unemployed for more than just one month knows how tense and uncertain such a situation makes life.  Imagine the misery of a 6 month hiatus from steady work, not able to fully support ones self and not knowing when you’ll be able to again.  The Labor Department, nor the media, seems to take the factor of ‘duration’ into account when considering whether employment is actually in recovery.  Nor do they take into account the fact that most of the jobs lost over the past two years were high paying and specialized, while most of the scant few jobs created have been low paying service sector positions.

What is most frightening about this information is that it reveals deliberate mishandling of statistics.  Instead of being more open about unemployment numbers, the government is moving to hide them further.

————————————————————————————————–

^{When statistics are handled without virtue, businesses and individuals make decisions based on bad information. This is a sophisticated way of stealing. When the media ceases to function as a watchdog and instead becomes a lap dog, loyally repeating utter rubbish as if it is unvarnished truth, there is great danger ahead.}

^{But we have been warned not to be naive, not to pretend that everyone’s motives are good all the time. We are to keep our innocence, purity, and virtue without becoming blind to the fact that we are among wolves.}

^{Matthew 10: 16}I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

¹⁷“Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues.

^{Exodus 5:18} ”Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”

(Note: If you feel the temptation to raise an eyebrow, let me encourage you to take the time to mouse over and/or follow the links.)

In Ancient Egypt, Pharoah had a problem: the people of God, they were his problem. Sure Joseph had been one of them and he was pretty cool, saved the nation and all that. . . but then they were multiplying like locusts and well, that’s a problem.

You see the Pharoah’s family needed clean water, land to settle, and then there was that carbon dioxide output issue. . . so he came up with a brilliant plan to get rid of the Hebrews. He had a two point plan, 1) Kill the newborn males 2) Make the Israelites miserable so they wouldn’t want to bring kids into the world. It was his Population Control Agenda.  If his plan worked, then their numbers would never grow to be a threat to him militarily and they would not compete with Egyptians for critical resources.

^{Ex: 1: 11} So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁴ They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. ¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶ ”When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”

Today, there are those in the world who continue to follow the two-step plan.

Step 1: Limit the flow of new babies through medical intervention

There are many advocates for population control including Obama’s recently appointed Science Czar John Holdren. United States tax payers unknowingly funded forced sterilization in China and continue to fund the promotion of abortion internationally.

Theresa Okafor, a director of the Foundation for African Cultural Heritage and organizer of the 2009 World Congress of Families Dialogue of Civilizations in Abuja, Nigeria, said Africans emphatically reject the “conspiracy to strip Africa of its cherished values by international organizations like Planned Parenthood and the United Nations.” http://www.lifenews.com/int1502.html 

Step 2: Make people miserable so they won’t want to have children

Pharoah simply withheld the straw for their bricks and kept the expectations high. Unreasonably high so that not only were they physically exhausted trying to achieve the number, they would also be mentally, perhaps even spiritually broken by their failure to measure up.

The rise of  terror, the slow motion fall of the global economy, and the hysteria of man-made global warming are all carefully orchestrated and promoted on state-run television to achieve the desired effect.

In “The First Global Revolution,” published by The Council of the Club of Rome, an international elitist organization, the authors note that: “In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine, and the like would fit the bill. All these dangers are caused by human intervention …The real enemy, then, is humanity itself.”

Today in the United States, the real purchasing power of the USD has been shrinking since the formation of the Federal Reserve. The standard of living in the United States is actually moving in the wrong direction pretty quickly as well. Americans have been getting by using home equity loans and credit cards which has led to a form of debt slavery not unlike the situation in Egypt.

But “the worst is yet to come,” according to Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, who believes American’s standard of living is undergoing a “permanent change” – and not for the better as a result of:

• An $8 trillion negative wealth effect from declining home values.
• A $10 trillion negative wealth effect from weakened capital markets.
• A $14 trillion consumer debt load amid “exploding unemployment”, leading to “exploding bankruptcies.”

“The average American used to be able to borrow to buy a home, send their kids to a good school [and] buy a car,” Davidowitz says. “A lot of that is gone.” And with that many people stopped having babies... During the first year of the great recession, the birth rate dropped 2% in the U.S. and it is expected to fall further. 

So who is behind this strategy? That’s easy to figure out..

John 10:¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;

Satan is the enemy of God’s people and he is constantly seeking to kill and destroy. So are there willing human accomplices? In a word, Yes.  Consider that  Ecclesiastes says there is “nothing new under the sun“.  Pharoah was an accomplice. Stalin, Lenin, Hitler were accomplices. Moving on to discuss who today’s accomplices might be is tricky business because the media and the government have waged an impressive campaign to marginalize those who consider “conspiracy theories”. In reality, we know the nature of man is sinful, we know the enemy comes to kill and destroy, and we have history as our guide. Conspiracy theories are sometimes nothing more than sunlight exposing evil intentions before the plan has fully played out.  After the plan has played out, it is called history (and is quickly forgotten).  For instance here are 9 instances of what was formerly called conspiracy theories, that are now known to be true. And below is one recent historical footnote to help you consider the risk to you and your loved ones in the not too distant future.

“One has only to learn what really happened to the Christians in Rwanda between April and July of 1994 to imagine what may lie in store for Christians here in America at some time in the not-too-distant future.  After the Christian Tutsis had been disarmed by governmental decree in the early 1990s, Hutu-led military forces began to systematically massacre the defenseless Christians. The massacre began in April 1994 and continued until July 1994. Using machetes rather than bullets, the Hutu forces were able to create a state of abject fear and terror within the helpless Christian population as they systematically butchered hundreds of thousands of them. The United Nations immediately convened hearings on the genocide taking place in Rwanda, but Madeline Albright, the American Ambassador to the United Nations, argued strenuously that neighboring African nations should not be allowed to intervene until the “civil war had come to an end.” In reality, of course, there was no civil war since those being slaughtered had no weapons with which to defend themselves; it was simply a matter of mass murder.” http://www.radioliberty.com/pca.htm

In Egypt, Pharoah didn’t get his way because God intervened. More specifically, the people of God cried out to Him for deliverance and he intervened. They didn’t pretend they still had straw, they didn’t make fun of those who thought the Pharaoh was trying to thin the herd. They acknowledged the very real threat and they took it to the Lord together. Then they took bold action which included considerable risk and lifestyle change.  They relocated and they reduced their dependence on everyone who hated them. It seems clear that they did not have the option of gaining their freedom where they were.

The danger of staying put, staying quiet, and being uninterested in “political affairs” should by now be apparent. Believers in Rwanda, and more recently in Nigeria, the Philipines, and Indonesia were simply cut down. Some allowed themselves to be disarmed and were run off their land before they had time to realize that “this is the last straw…”

1 Kings 19:  ¹ Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ² So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”³ Elijah was afraid ^[a] and ran for his life.

Elijah was a mighty man of God, a man of discernment and courage. He was tuned in to the problems of his time, real problems not imagined. There was a very real war going on and a very real enemy that was intent on destroying him. And he was afraid…

His fear was rational, fact-based, and was actually a God-given instinct that the learned among us call the “fight or flight response”. The idea behind this naming convention for this primal human emotion is that it reveals its purpose. The fear is there for a reason. It sharpens the senses and gives us a burst of energy that can help us to run or to fight.

Elijah had already fought and now, based on the new information he had received, he reasoned it was time to run.  

So Elijah ran for his life to a cave and God taught him an important lesson. When our senses are hyper aware of all that is going on around us, it can actually make it harder for us to hear the voice of God. Elijah had been living with heightened emotions, he was attuned to the threats around him, but he needed the practice of looking past the circumstances, past the wind, past the earthquake, past the fire, and learning anew to listen for the voice of his master.  

We too, are in perilous times. The threats to our nation, the institution of the family and the church, are real, the urgency is high. This is precisely why we must practice, with Elijah, looking beyond the news, the commentators, the economic and industrial data.

God told Elijah to “go back the way he came” and then he showed him his future.

Perhaps God will do the same for us, if we are able to push past the threats, the wind, and the fire to hear his voice.

Recently, I ran into a nice young man that I generally only see during spring break when he comes to visit his grandparents. When I saw him, I knew instantly that something was wrong, that he had recently been through very trying times.

Perhaps it was the look on his face or his reluctance to explain the soft cast on his right hand. It turns out he had been through a life and death experience and barely escaped with his life. He lost a finger and a thumb and sustained an injury that will certainly impact him the rest of his life.

One night he had been hanging out with a friend goofing off with fireworks when things started to escalate. They were drinking and his friend started making homemade jar explosives. At one point his friend tossed him one of the jars with a lit fuse and when he used his hand to deflect it, it exploded. The good news is he deflected it, for it was headed for his chest and would have almost certainly killed him.

In retrospect, its easy to reflect on the situation and conclude that he should have seen the warning signs. He should have sensed the escalating risk and removed himself from the precarious situation.

When I was fourteen, i was once in a similar situation with a friend who decided it would be fun to hit live ammo with an aluminum bat atop a cinder block. He assured me that he had been doing it often. His brothers and sisters, who were younger than me, apparently loved the diversion. They would stand nearby and shout with glee when a round “fired”. I did not share their enthusiasm, I overcame his objections and ridicule and went home, alone.

Few in the Christian community would reflect on these two stories and conclude that perceiving risk was equivalent to lack of faith, or that avoiding a precarious situation was equivalent with abandoning one’s friends or community, and yet…

That is exactly how the christian community at large treat preppers. People who have assessed the risk in our modern interdependent world and decided that they should prepare, take steps to reduce the precariousness of their position. they are often relegated to the stature of extremist.

Why is it that prudence in assessing risk (balaam’s donkey) or taking bold action in mitigating risk (joseph) is celebrated in scripture but scorned in modern christian life?

Has playing with fire suddenly become safe? My friend with 3 fingers on his right hand certainly doesn’t think so.

“A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.” Prov 27:12

Jesus was actually pretty clear on self defense, telling his disciples: “If you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one..”  Many Christians wonder, why would he say that? Doesn’t he know that a child could get a hold of that sword and hurt him or herself? Shouldn’t Christians and well informed citizens want to control dangerous weapons so that our society stays civil?

Short answer, no! Christians should advocate the moral responsibility of civil citizens to arm themselves and to teach proper gun (or sword) handling to their children. Consider that the states with the least restrictive gun laws in the US, North Dakota, Vermont, also have the lowest crime rates. Consider the drop in violent crime in Florida when gun laws were loosened.

Florida adopted a right-to-carry law in 1987. Between 1987 and 1996, these changes occurred:

                             http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

 Consider that Switzerland mandates arms training for its adult male  citizens and has them keep their assault weapons at home. Not only do they have a low crime rate, they have managed to avoid significant impact during the past two world wars even though the wars were fought on their very doorstep.

How then can anyone with intellectual honesty even suggest that gun control makes anyone but criminals or governments with criminal intent, safer?

Take a moment to consider the Historical Human Cost of “Gun Control”

In closing, I’ll just mention Jesus clearly taught that mankind was evil. In fact Jesus was a conspiracy theorist as is clear in this passage form Mt 22:18 -> ”But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?” 

I think we should reject the feel good label so that the debate is more clear and more honest, instead of arms control, let’s have a debate about victim disarmament.

1000 Point Drop In The Dow? This Is Just The Beginning…

By Giordano Bruno

Neithercorp Press – 5/14/2010

Anyone who has been following the fundamental underlying details of the economic downturn since 2007 recognizes that the mainstream financial media have regularly misreported facts in order to quell public concerns over the true magnitude of the collapse we are facing. More often, they choose to simply leave out certain details which might alert people to the greater problem, or underreport vital facts and hope that the truth is eventually buried by the gravity of the great “memory hole”. However, there are instances under which they will lie blatantly and outright about the state of the economy if a piece of information is highly damaging to the establishment. The 1000 point drop of May 6th was one of those instances.

Theories, most of them MSM fabrications, abound in the trading community over this recent event. The shock of such a drop in the market has given many analysts ‘tunnel vision’, and blinded them to the bigger picture. A 1000 point loss in the Dow is certainly a historical event, but in contrast with the whole of what we now face, it is only a symptom, a footnote. It is common for investors and even people with little concern for markets to see what they want to see when it comes to economics. Strong fair trade is the lifeblood of any society. No one wants to believe that they are in the midst of a financial freefall, and some will ignore the obvious until the world comes crashing down around their ears. People fear economic uncertainty more than they fear war, and denial is always pervasive in any culture facing such calamities as depression, or hyperinflation. We WANT to believe economic lies. We want “comfort”, not truth.

In this article, we will ignore comfort. We will set aside what we might wish to see, what we know others want to hear, and examine only the facts, which is something Americans should have been doing years ago, before the collapse ever began. Only by admitting that there is a serious problem, and examining the fundamentals at the heart of that problem, will we ever be able to fix the problem, or at least prepare for its consequences.

One “Fat Finger” Crushed Wall Street?

I know a tall tale when I hear one. “Green Shoots are sprouting”, “The Federal Reserve is necessary”, “Inflation will save us”, “Debt is good” etc. But this one really takes the cake. For those not yet aware, on May 6, 2010 for about 20 minutes the Dow Jones index experienced what some are now calling a “flash crash”, causing it to lose approximately 10% of its entire value. It is considered by many to be comparable to the Black Monday crash of 1987. The market went into a panic, and many traders reported being locked out, unable to process buy and sell orders.

Usually, when the Dow takes a dive like the one on May 6th, there are a whole myriad of factors including instabilities in foreign markets that must be accounted for. We have problems in spades here in the U.S., including a meltdown in long term Treasury bond sales, constant fiat liquidity injections by the private Federal Reserve, continuously frozen credit markets (the problem the bailouts were supposedly going to fix), sustained high unemployment, and a debt to GDP ratio of around 96% (this does not include the debt of unpaid entitlement programs such as Social Security, which if factored in would increase our Debt/GDP ratio by about 800%). Setting the United States aside, Europe is also on the verge of a sovereign debt collapse. Countries such as Greece and Italy have debt to GDP ratios between 150% and 200%.

This kind of debt around the world is absolutely unsustainable regardless of liquidity injections, not even for another few years. The elements for market chaos are everywhere. And yet, when the Dow took a thousand point hit last week, the mainstream media blamed a “fat finger” pressing the wrong key at a trading computer:

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/05/07/2010-05-07_sec_investigating_whether_trader_error_caused_998point_dow_freefall.html

This claim was thrown about by some in the MSM as if it was a verified fact, yet there was absolutely no evidence anywhere to suggest it had any validity. Now, the SEC has reported that it found NO SIGNS that such a trading error ever occurred:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7OLNQchlb7g&pos=5

The bottom line: The “fat finger” story was completely fabricated in order to placate the general public and distract them from the very thin thread our economy hangs by. As if to say to the curious populace “Move along! Move Along! Nothing to see here…”

What the SEC’s findings show is that no one “error” initiated the flash crash, and that the drop was most likely caused by very real and dangerous economic instability! Our markets are indeed so falsely inflated and manipulated that they are capable at any moment of 10% losses in less than twenty minutes time. May 6th was a loud and clear warning to America; pull your money out of stocks while you still can, and get ready for intense volatility in the coming year.

Europe On The Ropes

Last year, we talked about the near sovereign default in Dubai, calling it a stark “canary in the coal mine” alarm to the rest of the world that market chaos was about to commence:

http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=199

If Dubai was the canary, then Greece is one of the miners…

It was only a matter of time before Europe’s debt problems caught up with them. Greece was already in financial limbo when it was allowed through a bending of rules to join the European Union in 1981. Budgetary actions involved in joining the EU strained Greek markets, and those who take on membership in the Euro are also not able to lower their own interest rates, or inflate their currency in order hide or temporarily delay debt default conditions as we do here in the U.S. This is why even though American external debt is greater than any nation in history, and our budget deficit dwarfs most country’s GDP, Europe was still hit first by prominent signs of sovereign bankruptcy. We are able to delay for a short time our inevitable financial fate by printing money out of thin air. Some mainstream analysts argue that our ability to inflate makes us safe from default. Of course, what they don’t mention is that this strategy monetizes our immense debt, a process which I and many others believe will result in the destruction of the Dollar; the very foundation of our now de-industrialized economy.

European default would be quite a disaster, but one that over a moderate period of time could be rebalanced. May 6th, conversely, signaled a possible change in policy for the EU, which has now suddenly rushed forward with a nearly $1 Trillion bailout package for troubled member nations in the span of a weekend:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=alxKmD3w0yqY

This news caused an initial surge in world markets, as did the other half-dozen times that the EU put forward the idea of a bailout for Greece. Investors are still mildly enchanted with the idea of liquidity injections, but certainly not as much as they may have been a year ago. The surge is now beginning to fizzle, and investor sentiment over the supposed recovery is shriveling. Debt in countries such as Italy, Portugal, and the UK are extremely precarious, though the media has focused all of its attentions on Greece for the past several months. The phrase “Greek Debt Contagion” is highly misleading. The Greek crisis is not “spreading” to other countries, its just making the already fragile financial issues of other countries more visible.

The induction of a U.S.-like inflationary program in Europe is less than appealing. Those involved in the markets are now realizing what we have been saying for years; the sovereign debt crisis is global, and no bailout will ever stem the tide. The EU bailout may even serve to exacerbate imbalances, turning a difficult but surmountable disaster into an outright holocaust, due to the suffocating and vicious circle of austerity.

“Austerity” is an eloquent word for a rather brutal policy. The EU’s bailout was facilitated with the help of the IMF (an action which goes against EU law and IMF charter), and when you deal with the devil, there are always strings attached. These strings include the austerity process, which involves the draconian dismantling of most social welfare programs and the disenfranchisement of government employed workers.

In America, many of us see smaller government as a good thing, but from the average European’s point of view, government has been the primary provider for generations, causing many citizens there to become entirely dependent on the system. To cut social welfare in countries that know nothing beyond the socialist constructs they are used to would be a demoralizing proposition. This is a process in which the citizens of Greece are actually penalized for the mistakes of their runaway government officials. That is why riots have exploded in Athens. They know full well the IMF’s track record of subverting nations with highly conditional loans that demand austerity crackdowns on public programs, usually ending in the feudal enslavement of the people while the members of government that accelerated the mess get away scot-free.

Imagine if the U.S. government decided to cut Social Security, and millions of retirees no longer received the money they have grown dependent on for their survival. Imagine that those Americans that receive food stamps (currently 40 million people and climbing), were suddenly cut off because of the establishment’s engineered “blunders”. Imagine the fervent anger that this would cause. It is the kind of mass disillusionment and outrage Europe is facing today, and likely what we will be facing tomorrow.

Citizen unrest is also not the only factor that could throw off the EU bailout or disrupt markets. Because the package is being presented as a fund not just for Greece, but for all EU member states, all these states must adhere to the particulars of the decision as well. This means that all EU countries could eventually be subject to austerity conditions. Many in Germany are extremely unhappy with this arrangement after being outvoted on the initial proposal, and have hinted at the possibility that they will fight against it in the future:

http://www.businessinsider.com/germany-was-out-voted-and-forced-to-bail-out-europe-2010-5

This means that the bailout itself is not even finalized, placing Europe in a Catch-22 scenario (again, just like the U.S.). Pushing forward with the legislation and selling out to the IMF could cause severe division amongst EU nations, disrupt government programs in numerous countries, and foment more riots among the population. Finding (as we have in the U.S.) that the bailouts are not working, they will continue on the path towards over-liquidity and hyperinflation. If they do not push for the bailout, Greece will default, and it will default in short order, followed immediately by Spain and Portugal. This would cause global markets to crumble as well as a cataclysmic devaluation of the Euro.

Interestingly, the only entity that seems to come out ahead in this mess is the IMF, and I believe this is by design. International banks like Goldman Sachs (supporters of globalism and the IMF) triggered the collapse in Greece with fraudulent credit default swaps, just as they helped trigger the collapse here in America with toxic derivatives. Goldman sold these derivatives KNOWING full well that they were toxic, then, bet against them later, making an enormous profit. The fact that Goldman bankers bet against the very derivatives they sold to others shows that they were well aware of the unstable toxic nature of the assets. Here is the boisterous and refreshingly savage Max Keiser to explain the Goldman Sachs involvement in the Greek collapse further:

Goldman’s involvement in the Greek snafu is assuredly not isolated. Goldman deals with many countries and has likely pulled the same scam everywhere. But why would a large international bank deliberately sabotage the economies of the countries it does business with? Would this not ruin the banks as well in the long run? Not if you consider the possibility that Goldman is destabilizing countries deliberately to help the IMF…

Cascading the European economy in the near term will damage all markets, and could even make some markets disappear entirely. However, this is exactly what the IMF is best known for; netting economies as they begin to spoil, while the people are too frightened, distracted, or desperate to do anything about it. The disconnect for many of us is that we seem to think the IMF only hijacks third-world shanty nations. What we need to realize is that the model the Global Banks used to strong arm the third-world is now being used on us. Goldman’s utilization of financial poison on western countries is in fact ‘necessary’ in the process of globalization, and the institution of the IMF’s new “world currency”, the SDR. Europe and the United States have the most prominent currencies in international trade; the Euro and the Dollar. The actions of Goldman Sachs in the Eurozone indicate to me that Global Bankers hope to engineer a simultaneous breakdown of both currencies to make way for the SDR.

Claiming that it is “necessary” to prevent another meltdown, the head of the IMF has already called for his organization to be given unprecedented oversight and control over the economic functions and decisions of member countries, effectively making the IMF global overseer of all finance:

http://www.businessinsider.com/head-of-imf-calls-on-member-states-to-give-him-global-oversight-of-the-financial-system-2010-2

And just hitting the news wire in the past couple days, the IMF’s high level meeting in Switzerland on May 11th has apparently openly produced a strategy to officially make the SDR the new global currency to “assuage fears” of monetary collapse in the Euro and the Dollar. That’s right, they use the words “Global Currency”. This news comes straight from the IMF’s own press release on the meeting, which you can read here:

http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2010/051110.htm

Here is expert on global capital Jim Rickards of consulting firm Omnis Inc. on the implications of this announcement from the IMF. He also believes the institution of the SDR as a world reserve currency may take less than a year-and-a-half:

http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2010/5/13_Jim_Rickards.html

I have been warning that the IMF and global banks were positioning the world for this move for the past three years, and now it is here.

The May 6th incident proves that EU nations will do anything to prevent a sovereign debt default in any of its members, and to keep markets happy for as long as possible. The speed at which they produced the $1 Trillion package is astounding (unless, of course, they had it ready all along in anticipation). This means that they will continue fiat bailouts just as we have in the U.S., even if eventual hyperinflation results. The difference in Europe’s case is that their bailout is coming directly from the IMF, which means the more they inflate the deeper they go into the IMF’s pocket, and the more viable an option the SDR will seem. The endgame of this is obvious. What we are looking at is the total subjugation of Western finance and infrastructure at the hands of global banks. Both sides of the Atlantic are now, to be quite frank, targeted…

America: Default If We Do, Default If We Don’t

May 6th dashed ideas of “green shoots” in America, at least subconsciously, in most people. If the Dow Jones can lose 1000 points in a matter of minutes, then there is no recovery. A Greek bailout might appease investor sentiment for a short time and boost markets, but only until the fog of disinformation lifts again and we get a new glimpse of reality. If one was to examine the Price to Earnings Ratio (P/E ratio) of the S&P 500, he would find that S&P company earnings are so low that the high value of their stocks is absurd in comparison:

http://moneynews.com/StreetTalk/David-Rosenberg-stocks-Overvalued/2010/04/30/id/357410

Most American companies have sustained low or nonexistent earnings for the past 3 years. The widely publicized earnings revamp in 2009 by some corporations was due in most part to budget cuts. Meaning, the mass layoffs they instituted in 2008 gave the illusion that they were making a profit when they were only scrapping labor. Most companies are making little to no substantial profit through actual sales, yet the value of their shares continues to rise. This has caused stocks to bubble, currently overvalued by 35% or more.

One might ask where the money is coming from to drive the Dow to such unwarranted highs despite the floundering earnings of many companies. A little known decision by the Reagan Administration, Executive Order 12631, may explain a good number of inconsistencies in our economy:

http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1988/031888d.htm

Also known by some as the PPT (Plunge Protection Team), the order forms an action group composed of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the private Federal Reserve, the SEC, and the CFTC. The language of the order was very broad, but the general goal of the PPT was clear; prevent another ‘Black Monday’ stock crash. How? By dumping liquidity into stocks whenever they begin to falter, and snuffing out the last embers of natural free market economy. This kind of manipulation went for the most part unnoticed by the public until our current Recession/Depression began. Some international banks have admitted to the use of the continuous bailouts handed to them by the Fed to snap up stocks instead of reenergizing credit markets as the money was supposedly intended. It is likely that the Fed with the SEC’s blessing has also been pouring fiat into markets directly. This would explain how the May 6th drop could have turned around by 700 points in a matter of minutes.

The establishment is doing everything in its power to keep the illusion of recovery alive.

Hidden Unemployment:

The latest unemployment report from the Labor Department shows a positive job creation of 290,000, yet also reported that unemployment increased to 9.9%. Apparently, the Labor Department still hasn’t been able to get its story straight. In March we talked about the LD’s new ambiguous survey method, which severely narrowed down the number of participants, thus allowing the government to “interpret” the survey in almost any way they choose. Interestingly, some economists are questioning why the government doesn’t report MORE fake job creation, since they now have the option to:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=akL7QcsF23dI&pos=2

These economists apparently have no clue as to the subversive changes in the survey method. I suspect that the Labor Department is trying not to overdue its manipulation of employment figures, or risk drawing too much ire from the millions of Americans who know for a fact that there are no jobs, because they are still looking for one.

Real unemployment counting those no longer collecting benefits and those who are underemployed is around 20%. One need only examine the actual availability and quality of jobs in his own city to see that the government is being anything but honest on unemployment.

State Budget Deficits:

Greek debt is nothing compared to the debt of many states here in the U.S. California’s economy is four times as large as Greece, and is experiencing the same sovereign default issues:

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-california-is-the-next-greece-2010-05#california-has-a-20-billion-budget-gap-despite-last-years-ravaging-cutbacks-1

In June of 2009, the state of California sent IOU’s to employees instead of paychecks, and Schwarzenegger is now warning of “terrible cuts” to public programs in order to meet the budget shortfall, meaning, California is suggesting its own “austerity program”:

http://www.businessinsider.com/schwarzenegger-warns-of-terrible-cuts-absolutely-terrible-cuts-coming-in-california-2010-5

California is not alone. Many states are now in the red in terms of budgets:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/economy/30states.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all

Siphoning Pension Funds:

Another disturbing prospect is the suggested move by some governments (including the U.S.) to begin confiscating employee pension funds in order to cushion the accounts of the banks that caused the crisis in the first place:

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article16809.html

This move may not only be designed to prop up bad banks, but also as a clever way to hide the fact that state pension funds in the U.S. now have a $1 Trillion shortfall or more:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61H13X20100218

The government effectively erases the issue of pension shortfall by simply taking away everyone’s pension!

Ignoring Inflation:

According to Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve, fiat money injections have not created inflation, and will probably never create inflation. Of course, ever since the Fed stopped reporting M3, which was the most accurate and definitive measure of our money supply, it is difficult to know what is going on at all. It would seem we are expected to take Ben’s word for it. Despite the lack of transparency, the Fed’s current method of inflation measurement has still revealed a 2.2% hike in consumer prices in the month of March, which is approaching the maximum level the central bank considers “sustainable”:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.f4ca4a183df2102e9ad9338f1c9b7c75.171&show_article=1

This measurement does not even include Food and Energy prices. When these are examined, the Fed reports that from March 2009, to March 2010, food and energy prices rose 18.7%! This is an incredible bane to the average consumer’s pocket book!

Some may argue that most of this inflation is due to the steady increase in gas prices, but if they were to look over the price increases in individual food items, instead of the manipulated “mean average” put out by the Fed, they would find considerable price spikes in essential foods over the past year:

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ap

Anyone who does their own grocery shopping knows inflation is ever present. I have noticed in my own area price increases in stock goods of 14% to 20% from a year ago. While Americans might feel like they are being slowly exsanguinated by this trend, it is a cakewalk compared to the inflation we are liable to see in the coming year.

To make matters even worse (which is hard to imagine), the Fed is now creating fiat at the expense of the American taxpayer and sending the money to bailout Europe, doubling our chances of hyperinflation!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Federal-Reserve-opens-credit-apf-3150539460.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

Default Inevitable:

One major difficulty I have come across in trying to explain the circumstances of inflationary breakdown in the U.S. is the debt default issue. Deflationists who argue that inflation is not a concern almost always overlook the problem of our national debt and its effect on the value of the Dollar.

To be as clear as possible; overprinting is NOT the only cause of inflation. Inflation is caused by a fall in the value of our currency. There are many events which can incite the Greenback to devalue, and overprinting is only one of them.

Our unprecedented national debt and our increasing yearly budget deficit can trigger a dollar collapse if foreign investors in our debt decide we are too much of a risk. If BRIC nations, for instance, were to declare that they will no longer use the Dollar as a reserve for trade, the value of our currency would plummet, and we would have inflation despite any physical printing executed by the Fed and the Treasury. If major investors in our Treasuries decided to stop purchasing our bonds (which they have), and begin dumping their existing store (which they are in the process of doing), this would also cause a dollar dive on the world markets, and since we produce very few of our own goods anymore, most manufactured items and some food items would skyrocket in response.

I have said this many times in the past, but I’m going to go over it again for the deflationists out there. Foreign investment in our long term debt has disappeared, and it is waning in our short term debt. This raises a very serious conundrum. If the Fed does not continue monetizing our debt, we will default, the dollar will lose its reserve status, and hyperinflation will commence. A deflationary reaction may occur in stocks, but this is meaningless compared to the increase in prices of goods. If the Fed continues to monetize our debt as the only real investor of Treasuries, the dollar will lose its reserve status, its value will disintegrate, the U.S. will still default, and hyperinflation will commence. Either way, the dollar dies, and we get inflation.

In this scenario, I would not at all be surprised if infusions from the IMF were presented as our only option, with a heavy price tag attached of course…

Another common argument I hear from some financial analysts is that inflation could be a “good thing”, because most debts are denominated in U.S. dollars, and an increase in the supply would make those debts “disappear”. Firstly, these men are assuming that debt will ALWAYS be denominated in U.S. dollars. If we see a major Greenback devaluation, it is very possible that other countries will refuse to take dollars as payment on debts, instead asking for payment in a more stable currency, or even gold. Inflation does not dissolve debt, as I’m sure anyone in Zimbabwe can attest.

Second, even if inflation could somehow be used to wash away deficits, a major dollar depreciation is in no way worth balancing our checkbook. The death of a currency is the death of an economy, and sometimes the death of an entire culture. To hope for hyperinflationary conditions is pure insanity, and any economist who tries to argue otherwise should not be taken seriously.

Prepare For The Worst…

Years ago, the financially conscious in this country saw the precipice ahead and attempted to fight our downhill locomotion towards it. We did this in the hope that through the system, we could affect greater understanding and greater transparency. Our efforts have yielded an astonishing surge in awareness among the public, but very little in the way of diffusing the economic time-bomb we now sit on. There comes a point in any impending disaster when evasion is not an option, and we can only prepare, strengthening ourselves to absorb the trauma. Ron Paul’s Fed Audit Bill was in my view our last chance of working within government to deflect or at least soften the fall we are about to experience. Unfortunately, the Senate has partly derailed Paul’s efforts by passing a toothless proxy supported by CFR member Chris Dodd. The proxy bill allows a one time only audit of the TARP bailouts utilized by the Fed, but not an audit of the Fed’s actual accounts and stockholders. In short, the bill is impotent.

Ron Paul’s bill still has broad based support, and we should continue to fight for it, but do we have the time? I do not believe the Federal Reserve will ever submit to a full audit of its policies and accounts, and is simply dragging out the process until we are in the midst of the final stages of this collapse. Europe’s decline is accelerating faster than most anticipated, threatening to set off a chain of dominos leading straight to the U.S. If anything, this situation proves that the concept of globalism is impractical; through obligatory interdependency, any handful of nations can drag the rest of the world underwater like a cinderblock tied to our feet. Yet, more globalism is being presented as the only solution to our ills!

We and many others have been predicting that the climax of the downturn which began in 2007 will be initially triggered this year. According to the fundamentals, there is no way that we can avoid a currency implosion this late in the game. My suggestions for preparation remain the same as they always have; buy silver, buy gold, buy food, and a means to defend yourself. We might not be able to halt the collapse, but we can survive it, and rebuild in such a way as to ensure such tragedy is never forced upon us again.

World Government: Impractical, Unnecessary, Insane!

Guest Post By Giordano Bruno of Neithercorp Press – 05/23/2010

Every culture in history has had innumerable difficulties and imbalances, some of them due to a lack of understanding amongst the populace, and many others due to corruption in government. Human beings have been dragging themselves out of the muck over and over again for centuries. The struggle for a better world, a world that meets the standards of our inherent conscience, has always demanded overwhelming labor, bravery, sacrifice, logic, wisdom, and sometimes even genius. And through it all, it has been those men who sought to be truly free that were able to contribute most to the betterment of the human condition. Not just those who are politically free, but also psychologically free.

For many of us, the need to honor and even surpass the accomplishments of those who came before is absolutely tantamount to our success as a species. However, there are many who see the concept of ‘hard work’ as an anathema, a mental “disease” that has left our society running in circles towards a hazy and undefined future. These people believe that there must be a simple solution to all our ills, and if the majority of us weren’t so “stupid”, we would see it as plain as the wide blue sky.

For the ancient Romans, it was assumed that an ever expanding empire and the subjugation of all peoples would cement their legacy, creating a perfect society. For the medieval feudal kingdoms, religious centralization and dominance was the answer. For the British Empire, the forced insinuation of Western culture into “barbaric lands” was meant to “enlighten” the planet. For Soviet Russia, the purging of free thought and the repression of individualism in exchange for collectivism and the advancement of a vaguely defined “greater good” was going to radically progress mankind. For Nazi Germany, it was the purging of those seen as a “hindrance” to biological success, the idea of racial purity, which was going to revolutionize our species. In every case, civilization turned from the ‘great work’ of understanding, individual awareness, and personal liberty, towards offers of what they saw at that time as the easy way out, the secret that would save us all the trouble of coming to terms with ourselves.

Today, we face the broad promotion of yet another “magic solution”, one that some claim is, of course, the only way out of our dire circumstances. The supposedly inspired stratagem I speak of is ‘World Government’.

Members of the elitist class and their cheerleaders have been calling openly for global governance (what they sometimes call the “New World Order”) for the past century. Adolph Hitler, H.G. Wells, Trotsky, James Warburg, Senator William Fulbright, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, British PM Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Brazilian President Luis Silva, are only a few of the prominent world figures who have openly supported the end of national sovereignty and the formation of a centralized financial and political global governing body.

Only in the past few weeks the Director of the IMF, Dominique Kahn, has called for global oversight and control of all economic activity and even the institution of a global currency as a way to stop financial instability:

http://www.businessinsider.com/head-of-imf-calls-on-member-states-to-give-him-global-oversight-of-the-financial-system-2010-2  

http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2010/051110.htm

And Barack Obama has called for the formation of a new “International Order” to deal with the threat of “extremism”:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/22/AR2010052201586.html

In this article, we will examine the propaganda and ‘group think’ responsible for the prominence of the World Government concept in the general populace, as well as the many reasons why the notion is implausible as a solution to ANY problem whatsoever. When placed under an objective microscope, the effective practicality of the globalist ideal disappears, and this begs an important question; with the obvious flaws and destructive nature of extreme centralization, why would anyone sane support it?

More Government Makes Us “Safer”?

Ever since the Code of Hammurabi, structured society has believed faithfully in the necessity of law. In those days, laws were assumed to be passed down from the heavens, and the Gods were the ultimate arbitrators. Governments asserted themselves as the “conduits” of divine judgment, and thus publicly accepted moral determination became centralized into the hands of an elite few. Very little has changed in the thousands of years since. People today still see written law as absolutely essential to maintaining civilized behavior, and government as the irreplaceable “creator” and steward of order. In this twisted sort of world view, the idea of continually expanding the power and influence of government is almost an obligation. If the government is the engineer of law, and law is the binding force of a stable civilization, then wouldn’t more government and more law make all of us safer and more ethical?

The error in this way of thinking lay in the fact that “law” is ultimately NOT a determinant of moral judgment, nor is government. Law is an afterthought. Words scribbled on paper, and nothing more. True morality is inborn, universal, determined by the force of conscience, and tempered by the even hand of rationality. It is conscience that resolves what we as individuals are willing to tolerate as law, and what we are not. No law can stop a man from doing something he deeply believes is right. And, no law can constrain a man from ignoring his conscience and committing terrible acts. In the end, government has little to no power over decisions that lay in the hands of individuals, and therefore serves little to no role in the day to day balance of society. In truth, a world of fully self aware and free thinking men and women would render the very notion of centralized government mute.

The only real use of government is not to lord over citizens’ choices, but to safeguard an atmosphere in which individuals are able to make decisions for themselves without the obstacles of despotic or collectivist totalitarianism. This is why the Constitution as a “legal” document is so ingenious and as an event, so vital. It was really the first time in history that government was not the primary arbitrator of law. The common man became judge and jury, mediating what was right and honorable, from that which was course and unethical. The Constitution was the first document to hold government itself to a moral standard of conduct, making it subservient to the demands of the people. For the first time ever, the Western establishment was decentralized, and personal liberty was given primacy over the mechanizations of bureaucracy. This accomplishment cost years of war, blood, and sacrifice.

However, even the Constitution as written law is not eternal without the fortitude of the American conscience. It is not the Constitution that safeguards each of us, but we who safeguard the Constitution. Yet again, law does not make man, man makes, or breaks, law. This fact is lost on many people today. Centralization seems to be the answer to everything. Global governance is touted as the cure for war, terrorism, economic volatility, environmental catastrophe, overpopulation, religious “conflict”, even unhappiness and menial labor! But rarely do we hear any explanation as to how world government would actually solve these issues.

World government is in itself a GOAL, not a SOLUTION. Solutions involve a reasoned and well thought out process, a schematic for the achievement of a goal. I have yet to see anyone outline the methods by which world government is supposed to save us from the imbalances and injustices of society, I have only seen elitists and useful idiots make promises they have no intention of keeping.

People are easily duped by such promises for reasons that are rooted deep in our collective psyches. Human beings tend to search for the path of least resistance, and if the opportunity arises to defer personal responsibility to an imposed authority, they often jump at the chance. This is especially true in cultures infantized by the elevation of superficial desire over practical necessity, or cultures that confuse self-centered behavior with self-aware behavior. Essentially, certain segments of the population have an inclination towards mental and emotional laziness. Surrendering the responsibility of their own destiny and their own development to government gives them comfort, much like a well fed house pet. This feeling of safety, though, is entirely an illusion…

There is no example in the history of human endeavor which supports the theory that more dominant government makes us safer, or allows us greater freedom. No ancient empire ever placed the concerns of the common man over the concerns of the establishment aristocracy unless the common man became a threat to their immediate power. Greek city states such as Athens had only the semblance of democratic self-rule, which was controlled by a minority of those lucky enough to be designated “citizens”.

Modern examples of government expansion are no better. The British Empire enslaved entire civilizations in the search for centralized global power. The Soviets under Stalin murdered tens of millions in an effort to centralize. Hitler did the same. Communist China under the collectivist fervor of Mao Tse Tung engineered the deaths of 15 to 20 million innocents, and endeavored to use the ‘Cultural Revolution’ as a tool for erasing the very history of the Chinese people. To this day, China is a cesspool of authoritarianism which oppresses and murders citizens to maintain government ascendancy. The European Union, supposedly the model for global governance, has attempted to control numerous personal aspects of daily life, including surveillance of all web and phone traffic in some countries, and even what vitamins people are allowed to take! It is also in the midst of economic collapse, with their common currency, the Euro, hanging by a thin thread; hardly an example of the effectiveness of globalist philosophy.

The United States itself is on the edge of implosion due to unprecedented growth of government. George W. Bush tripled the size of the Federal Government during his tenure, and constructed legislation which if activated allows the Executive Branch to assume de facto administrative control (martial law) without any oversight from Congress or the citizenry. Barack Obama has fully supported these measures and has now indebted the American taxpayer by more than all other presidents combined! Our debts are so great that the private Federal Reserve now continuously prints money out of thin air just to keep the infrastructure of this country breathing. Never have I been confronted with anyone who could give me a well reasoned and logical illustration of how America is better off because of expanded government. For every self proscribed advantage, there are a dozen disgraces.

Misleading terms like “harmonization” are thrown about by globalists as a way to rename old and failed strategies and promote further centralization. Economic equality especially is a favorite pledge of world government proponents, but what does this really mean? If the EU is any indication, harmonization means that everyone must become equally poor. Even in a grand futurist pleasure dome, someone is always going to have more than you. Someone is always going to have something that you want but can’t get. Artificial financial equality is not possible. The drive for it has done nothing but erase the middle class and make all nations similarly unstable, which may have been the goal all along.

If focusing authority into fewer and fewer hands deals us such dreadful results on a national scale, why would anyone believe that our plight would be any better on a global scale? Giving government extreme oversight into personal lives has made no society safer. Freely handing over civil liberties has made no society safer. Handing over individual responsibilities to authoritative bodies has made no society safer. If anything, these strategies have only placed humanity in the most acute peril.

Utopianism, Idealism, And Cartoonland

The “perfect world” is a delusion driven by hubris and naivety. Those who promote Utopianism often presume that their version of social edifice is somehow unique and that the vast majority are too ignorant to grasp the “brilliance” of their methodology. I can’t count how many times I have confronted a Utopian and asked them to outline the specifics of how their perfect world would actually function in a practical way. In every case they cite goals instead of solutions, like “we will end war, get rid of money, no one will have to work hard, everyone will be fed, and energy will be infinitely abundant.” This all sounds quite marvelous, and certainly a world such as the one they describe would be a never-ending Disney vacation, but where is the plan? How does one get from point A to point Z? When asked to actually describe the manner in which globalists and Utopians hope to achieve the world they fantasize over, they usually respond indignantly, accusing you of being “too narrow minded” to understand their idea. Basically, they are implying that they know better for you than you do for yourself.

It is one thing to be passionate over an ideal, and another thing to be blindly obsessed. Imagination is one of the primary keys to progress, but so is sensible application of imagination in the real world, which does not always operate in the way we want it to. Life has its own rhythm, culture its own current, and this must always be taken into consideration when trying to assert our view upon our surroundings. Human beings operate most effectively in an atmosphere of diverse thought. In a centralized system with a single minded philosophy, our principal development becomes stifled and we suffocate. In most circumstances, forcing the issue of centralization creates unnecessary and severe conflict that poisons every aspect of a population. That is to say, an ideal cannot function unless it adapts suitably to our nature.

Globalists brazenly ignore the issue of human nature, sometimes claiming that such a thing does not even exist. The reason being that inherent human nature is a factor they cannot control, an inconvenient monkey wrench caught in the gears of their flawless machine, grinding everything to a halt. Our inborn desire for sovereignty in all things is one good example of an instinctive quality that defies “management”. We as individuals do not want freedom, we DEMAND freedom, or risk losing our very sanity. In the world of Global Government, however, instincts and intuition must be suppressed and the masses must be molded towards principles that defy our character. In order for overt centralization to succeed in any way, the integrity of the people would have to be eradicated and replaced with fabricated and submissive ethics; passive swarms following a hive mind, all in our best interests of course.

For elitists or anyone else to even consider that this is an acceptable future for our species is wildly and inspiringly absurd. The level of idiocy and arrogance that could drive a man or a group of men to believe they can bend not only society but the human spirit to their will must surely be astonishing. Not only is it not possible, it is also grotesquely bizarre and cartoonish. The decidedly insane often fancy themselves as godlike, and the Elites are prime examples; Mad Hatters parading as intellectually superior ideologues.

Leaders And Followers

All men begin life searching for a path. Some never find their own. Some desperately cling to the paths blazed by others, even when those paths become dangerously wretched. In the absence of foresight, we look for leaders. Leaders provide the advantage of direction, and for some this is enough, but at the cost of individual experience. Once again, we try to avoid the struggle of finding our own direction, and the hardship and pain of making our own decisions. Some of us find the thought of personal failure unbearable. Better to follow someone else and blame them for any shortcomings in ones environment or ones existence. Some of us project those qualities we think we lack onto others and elevate them, turning them from imperfect people into faultless symbols. Some of us simply lose interest and stamina for the fight, roll up into a ball, and become numb to our own weaknesses.

There are indeed great people in this world that cut through the fog and give us a glimpse of a wiser tomorrow, but the efforts of these teachers are in vain if we do not push forward on our own strength. We must become the leaders we once searched for and idolized. We must stop waiting for others to define us, and begin defining ourselves. Each and every man must become his own guide.

The concept of world government plays heavily on our fear of taking responsibility for our own providence. It seduces us with assurances of ease, security, and luxury; things that no government regardless of its size can guarantee. Government in general is only an organization of mere citizens, many of which see themselves as vastly competent and righteous compared to the rest of us, but in contrast are usually rather frail, inept, or downright vile. When we follow the mandates of government without question or conscience, these are the men we are bowing to. It is difficult enough to counter this stupidity and corruption in a single nation, let alone the entire planet. Global Government would act only to insulate the Elite further from accountability and justice, as increased bureaucracy is designed to do. Sovereign states may not be the picture of social health, but they do have the advantage of disconnecting world cultures from adopting a singular and destructive mindset. Diversity in societies helps promote diversity in ideas. Not to mention, helps to protect the world from systematic failures and calamitous chain reactions.

This is why borders and nations are necessary. Not so much to keep peoples separate, but to give possible sanctuary to vibrant ideas and values. To prevent a single overpowering entity from shaping or squashing those who disagree with its self-serving directive. To provide nurturing ground for a new way of living without having to ask permission from the rest of the world before hand. For the possibility that we may finally reach the definitive state of sovereignty, a world in which every individual takes his destiny into his own hands and lives fully, becoming aware, honest, and courageous, and in the process, improving humanity as a whole.