— Critical issues concerning the church —

Fellow Soldier,

During our early Christian days the Spirit imparted lifestyle principles which still guide us today.  To name four: •become acutely sensitive and obedient to His guidance, •become fit vessels through whom He can freely flow without contamination •dwell modestly as pilgrims and •live debt-free.

Now, 32 years later, the urgency of that 4th prompting has never been greater.  Winds of a perfect fiscal storm are churning and the world is poised for an economic tsunami that could sweep the globe and reduce this nation to poverty.  Meteoric inflation might then make shopping at Wal-Mart more like visiting Neiman Marcus today.  Church, be forewarned: the risk of being swallowed by an economic sink-hole is directly proportional to debt.  Look up and look out!

Get Out of Debt!

Our only debt should be love due one another.

"The LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you ... The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." — Deut 15:6; Prov 22:7

Let’s be clear at the outset: of itself, debt is not a sin or unbiblical; no more than are guns, knives or wine.  It is their unwise or evil use which is sinful.  Debt only becomes sin when it interferes with our service to God — when, so to speak, a dryer owns the buyer.  Sadly, in America (Church too) far more than clothes dryers own their buyers.  So do houses, cars, boats, TVs, RVs, vacations, wardrobes and jewelry.  Many whose lust for stuff outrun their income, are in deep trouble; debt has become their slave-master(card).

Now that you’ve been drawn in with sweet-talk, let’s examine this devilish ensnarement more closely and search for it exits.  It’s a critical Church issue.

What’s the threat?

There are several globally but the obvious, which places this nation in such danger, is deficit spending.  We spend more than we earn; individually, municipally, statewide and federally.  For decades, we’ve propped up a facade of prosperity with a sepulcher of debt.  But unlike dry bones, debt has grown into a society-threatening, “grave” danger.  In effect, we have been living in the past when, indeed — we were a wealthy nation.  That’s when we were known as a God-fearing people and export colossus of the twentieth century; before  we booted God and our manufacturing-based economy morphed into a consumer driven echo which main export is debt. We now live off past economic glories, a waning technological edge, good will of nervous trade partners, an army of mortgagees and by God’s grace.  A mere shadow of our former glory days.

The nation has mortgaged its assets (grandchildren included) to the hilt and we need be reminded that mortgage’s prefix, “mort” speaks of death; a horn’s soulful note, sounded when a quarry has been killed.  Mark it down: the time will come when this nation’s creditors will call in their paper and investors will dump U.S. T-notes in favor of a fiscally sounder reserve; most likely the euro.  Also keep in mind, it’s been the voluminous purchase of T-notes by trade partners that’s artificially propped up the dollar — and at that, it’s continued to decline for two relentless years.  One does not have to be an economist to see what will happen when nations such as China, which has been pumping 100s of billions into treasury notes, stops doing so.  Taken an easy-to-imagine step further, the mind goes apoplectic upon weighing the effect of such nations re-deploying their investments ... and they will.

According to the country’s top auditor, David Walker, the non-partisan comptroller general of the United States, the nation is broke.  Its gold reserve has long since been transferred to our mid-east enemies and the U.S. now lives paycheck-to-paycheck (more like loan-to-loan). It’s also trying to carry a 48 trillion dollar debt load, much of which is held by foreigners; some, our economic and philosophic enemies.  According to Walker, if future liabilities such as Social (in)Security, Medicare and government pensions are included, America’s total debt would approximately double, to 100 trillion dollars.  A staggering $100,000 billion!

As creditor nations see through the transparency of our prosperity facade, some will lose confidence in our ability to repay and begin transferring their reserves from dollars to the euro (which has risen 62% against the faltering dollar in just 5 years). This could trigger a foreign capital flight which sends the dollar plummeting to the abyss and catapults the euro to the world’s new reserve standard.  Though this nightmarish scenario is a matter of opinion, our rising debt brings it closer to reality with each plastic swipe.

The Euro Factor

Largely unaware to most Americans, rising from Roman ashes on the European continent, is a godless, undemocratic, imperialistic, economic behemoth of 420 million people in 27 federated nations.  It’s called the European Union (EU) or by some, the United States of Europe.  What began as benign international agreements to facilitate free trade, continues to coalesce into a historic and prophetic imperial power that’s destined to overtake America as the superpower of this planet.  It’s happening now.

Haltingly, it continues to integrate economically and politically, and will eventually field its own military.  Further, if Britain doesn’t soon wriggle out of it’s 34-year “engagement,” their nuclear and North Sea oil assets will be added to EU’s coffers.  Mind you, this is clearly not a democratic creation forming by representative government.  It’s being brutishly mortared by treaty upon treaty (often without citizen referendums) to assimilate former independent nations into a Romanesque empire that already has a powerful common currency: the euro.

In that regard ...

When the euro was launched in 1998, notable U.S. economists pridefully discounted it as ever becoming a viable international currency.  Well guess what?!  In a mere 9 years it is already vieing with the dollar for numero-uno as a trade currency; 39% against the dollar’s 43% share, and it wouldn’t take much more confidence-shaking than today’s real estate bust to radically change that ratio.  In fact, in August, we had a foretaste of foreign capital flight when a record-breaking $163 billion took wings.  Asian investors pulled out $52 billion, including Japan, one of our staunch and reliable T-note customers.  The euro appears to be destined to replace the dollar and the switch could occur almost overnight.  A portent can be seen in General Motors.  It arrogantly made light of Toyota’s Prius hybrid when it was introduced a few years ago, and now suffers from foot-in-mouth infection as it races to catch up.

The Yuan factor

In an October interview published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Costello, Australia’s Treasurer, warned: “A huge tsunami of economic instability will engulf the globe’s financial markets when China bows to international pressure to switch the yuan to a free-floating currency.”  For America: higher interest rates, a falling dollar and soaring inflation may be about to smack home like the biggest wave since the Great Depression.

For years, China has run a massive trade surplus with America — trillions of dollars.  Many U.S. officials feel this is at least partly due to the fact that China has kept its yuan undervalued in relation to the dollar.  When allowed to “float” — the dynamics of free trade tend to balance out the currencies.  However, China, by investing vast amounts of their surplus in U.S. treasury notes, has pegged the yuan to the dollar’s value.  As the dollar drops, so does the yuan.  This keeps China-made products cheap for Americans and U.S.-made products expensive for the Chinese.  Therefore, we buy huge quantities of their products and they buy little of ours ... and the trade imbalance continues to worsen.

This could lead to economic warfare.  With each T-note China buys or buck they hold, they gain that much more control of our economy.  In August, two Chinese officials highlighted how China could use its massive U.S. dollar holdings as a weapon to influence the U.S.  One cabinet-rank minister went so far as to say that America’s debt should be used as a “bargaining chip” to influence trade talks.  Another warned that China could set off a dollar crash if it desired.  Their state media referred to China’s stockpile of dollars as its economic “nuclear option,” capable of destroying the dollar at will.  Further, in early November, a Chinese central bank vice director warned, “the dollar was losing its luster as a reserve currency” and that China might diversify its currency reserves; selling its dollars and treasury-notes.  That announcement alone, roiled the world’s financial markets, causing a drop in the dollar’s value and a 350 point plunge in the Dow Jones industrial average.

According to Paul Roberts, Assistant Treasury Secretary under President Reagan, China will eventually let the yuan’s value be determined by the free market.  “The day they decide to float their currency you are going to get huge reversals of financial flows around the globe that will affect exchange rates ... flows they have been sending to the U.S., might reverse.”  With 70% of Wal-Mart merchandise made in China, when the yuan ceases to be undervalued, American shoppers in Wal-Mart will think they are in Neiman Marcus.  Price increases will cause a dramatic reduction in real income.  If this coincides with rising interest rates and a setback in the housing market, Americans could experience the hardest times since the Great Depression.

Painful times lie ahead

The nearest thing to an “exit” is to reduce debt and cut spending below expenses.  However, the main pain-remedy is to begin living according to God’s Word; to put all our trust in Him Who reminds: "the borrower is servant to the lender" (Prov 22:7) and, "seek ye first the kingdom of God" (Mt 6:33a).

ABOUT US:  Founded in 1993, Hallelujah Living Ministries is a donation-based, non-denominational Christian outreach to uplift, inform and challenge followers of Jesus Christ.  For more information or a copy of our always-free print newsletter, please include a  postal mail address along with your comments and prayer requests. Thank you for visiting  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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