— Critical issues concerning the church —

Fellow Soldier,

From today’s typical retail news media (January 2nd) you would never know the dollar was falling and hardly realize oil hit $100 a barrel.  The bigger stories were that pundits could not predict the outcome of Iowa’s upcoming presidential caucus; that one of Hollywood’s own mis-behaved and Dick Clark co-hosted the New Year’s eve bash at Times Square.  However, thanks to newspapers such as London’s “Financial Times” and other quality publications, one can be informed of the important issues of the day.

Increasingly, responsible sources talk of what economists call a “disorderly adjustment” — a global fiscal upheaval.  We urge you to take this before God, do your homework and prepare for whatever lies ahead.  Having low or no debt, will surely help.

Get Out of Debt! Pt-2

Our debt is driving the dollar into dangerous devaluation.

"And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth." — Gen 47:15

Though Great Britain was nearly impoverished by the Great Depression (when they left the gold standard) and WW-II, their currency (pound sterling) continued in use for international trade, mostly between former colonies; roughly one quarter of the world’s nations.  This was advantageous to Britain as those countries maintained substantial currency reserves in London.

By that time the U.S. dollar was also no longer backed by gold, but its Silver Certificates moved onto center stage as the pound’s trade successor and reserve currency of the world.  The dollar’s value, like most hard currencies then, was fixed; ours anchored to the price of gold, which hovered about $32/ounce.  The U.S. dollar was one of the most reliable and prized currencies on the planet, prompting the now archaic saying, “as sound as a dollar.”  I recall how Europeans were very glad to lay hold of “greenbacks,” especially in Spain.

By 1948, when the world was still digging out from beneath the rubble of WW-II, America was the world’s undisputed economic heavy-weight and benefactor.  We had a technological, manufacturing capability and work ethic that propelled us to unprecedented prosperity.  We were  predominately an Anglo-Saxon, Judeo-Christian nation whose citizens, by and large, respected family, neighbors, authorities, institutions, the law, and God.  Generally, we were industrious, prudent and financially conservative. Crime, drugs, gangs and terrorism were foreign to most; houses were rarely locked and keys often left in the ignition.

Most mothers tended children, homes, the garden and baked pies, while TV was still new and went off at 10 PM.  A phone was a luxury and a one-party line still uncommon.  When used, a live woman operator courteously asked: “number, please?”  “Electronics” hadn’t yet entered the national vocabulary and its myriad out-workings were still beyond science fiction.  There were no parking meters, sales or state income taxes and postage was 3 cents.  There were also no credit/debit cards.  America was indeed, land of the free, home of the brave and a dollar bill could still be exchanged for silver (of which most of our coins were made).  China, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran were unknown to most; Israel was reconstituted on May 14th of that year, and the European Union (EU) wasn’t yet born.  It was a wholly different nation and world of which, sadly — most of the above is no longer true.

America has since declined, such that, short of divine intervention, the end of its once noble and prosperous global status is inevitable.  Why?  We’ve ripped God from our national fabric; unbridled greed, self-indulgence, drugs, corruption, crime, pornography and sexual perversion of every stripe.  Our 2-3 job shredded families carry $9,900 of credit card debt, a victim-entitlement mentality — and much of the church has woefully strayed from its biblical model.  Combined, these forces are producing a harvest of debt, deception, depravity, destruction, death and decay.  We are now a sickly (in the fullest sense) overweight, over stressed, over-medicated, overly indebted people — desperately trying to hold our lives together — typically without God.  These qualities characterize our country’s leaders, most of whom do not model attributes of wise statesmen committed to the well-being of this nation.  We are a sad, pitiable lot and a disgrace to the claim on our coinage!  A godly leader would surely call for national sackcloth and ashes.  O God, have mercy on us!  Send a David or a Jonah; a Lincoln.  No, send us Jesus ... again!  (Would we even listen?)

“The money faileth”

Americans under 65 years old have not had to be concerned with the stability of this nation’s currency.  Except for manageable inflation, the U.S. dollar has been dependable and the pillar of international commerce.  No more.  That era has past and we must now contend with a faltering currency, symptomatic of a nation in decline.  The dollar has fallen 40% against the world’s major currencies over the past seven years; 16% of that loss coming in the last 18 months alone.  Against gold, the dollar is faring even worse, losing 19% in the first 3 weeks of 2008, and its slide continues unabated.  This rapid decline in the U.S. dollar’s value is drastically altering global trade and reserve-currency dynamics.  It threatens to precipitate a trade war; the kind that led to the world-wide, Great Depression of 1929-40.

Arguably, in the short term, a cheap dollar is profitable for America’s export business, making U.S. products less costly on the world market — much the way China has been capitalizing on its undervalued yuan.  A monumental difference is that the dollar happens to also be the world’s reserve currency.  For over half a century, nations increasingly banked dollars (by buying U.S. treasury notes) in order to shop on the global market.  As an example, oil: it’s priced in U.S. dollars.  This means that when China wants to buy oil, say from Venezuela, it must have dollars to make the transaction.  In effect, they must go through the U.S.  That might soon change; in fact, it’s under way.

It’s estimated that China now holds about a trillion U.S. dollars which are depreciating every single day.  In the past 18 month alone, they’ve lost 16 percent of their buying power as the dollar’s value has plummeted.  That’s a 1600 million dollar loss!  If you held a stock that was going down at that rate (40% in 7 years) what would you do?  You would likely dump it and put your money in something that’s going up, not down.  Right?  Well, that’s exactly what is happening throughout the world.  Nations are exchanging dollars for a more stable investment, or at least a currency that’s on the upswing; i.e. the European Union’s euro which has gained 62% against the dollar during the past five years.  Globally, things are turning against America ... because of our debt.

However, jettisoning dollars further reduces their value, creating a downward spiral which, in economic terms, if not done in an “orderly” manner, can get out of control (disorderly) and precipitate a global depression.  The least effect is to further depreciate a nation’s remaining dollar reserves.  To help prevent the dollar’s total collapse by switching to other investments too quickly, another redeployment tactic is rapidly gaining momentum: Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF).  Governments are using their withering dollars to buy up this country’s hard assets; corporations and infrastructure.  This not only helps stem their loss, but provides greater control over our economy.  The recent $40 billion bail-out of Merryl Lynch and CitiCorp are examples.  Many SWF investors are not only those to whom we’ve transferred our gold reserves and debt ... but are often ideological and/or economic enemies; nations, not private parties.

The May 29, 2007 issue of the Daily Reckoning estimated that if China were to invest their entire trillion dollar reserve in corporate America, it would buy controlling interest in the 30 top American corporations comprising the Dow Jones Industrial Average: Boeing, Exxon-Mobil, Citigroup, General Electric, Microsoft, JP Morgan Chase, Wal-Mart, General Motors — plus 22 others.  China recently seeded their own SWF with 200 billion dollars!  This puts Washington in the position of possibly needing to clamp down on SWF investments for national security reasons, further alienating our creditors and adding more fuel to global fiscal tensions.  Veerry dicey indeed.

Historically, economic warfare precedes military action and/or depression.  Perhaps the strongest warning about a looming trade war comes from French President Nicolas Sarkozy in his 11/7/07 address to the U.S. Congress.  After stating that America risked triggering “economic war” with Europe if it attempted to devalue its way out of economic trouble by allowing the dollar to plunge, he said: “The dollar cannot remain solely the problem of others.  If we’re not careful, monetary disarray could morph into economic war.  We would all be its victims.”

My friend, the cause is debt ... American debt.

Instructing His disciples, Jesus said: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" — Mt 10:16.  Dear one, that applies to you and me today.  God’s wisdom is always the order of the day, especially so during these uncertain economic times.  Understand, we are NOT saying that the sky is falling ... but we do believe it’s a lot closer than it used to be.  Wisdom would counsel us all to put our personal finances in as good repair as possible. That suggests bringing our spending in line with income and getting rid of as much debt as possible.  Most of all, we need to look ever more fully to the Lord for everything.

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

FR14-02