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What is up with the economy?
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12/23/2008 12:12:21 PM
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Our Fluctuating Economy:
Economic fluctuations can result in escalating cost for such commodities as food, fuel, clothing, housing and other products and services. In addition, as unemployment increases and companies downsize their staff or close their doors altogether, investments start to loose their values and stock markets report major losses. Due to the uncertainty of fluctuating economic indicators and an increase in importing, banks stop their lending or make loans harder to obtain. Bank foreclosures rise in proportion to unemployment which further weakens the stability of the economic system.
A severely fluctuating economy can be attributed to many factors such as severe changes in supply and demand, production leveling, product (and services) cost, imports vs. exports, environmental resources, consumption, unemployment, public expenditure, investment and the currency exchange rates between nations. We often hear of the result of these drastic changes by terms such as recession, depression and inflation. These changes, measured by economic indicators like GPD, describe the economic conditions of our world. But what do all these terms mean? Lets look at each of these terms and their definition:
Economic Terms, Definitions & Effects- Supply:the total amount of a good or service available for purchase; Effect: influences item or service price
- Demand- the total amount of customer need for a particular good or service; Effect: influences item or service price
- cost:the marketable cost of an item or service based on the supply and demand model; Effect: determines fair market value
- production leveling (smoothing)-the process of controlling production by using inventory amounts to smooth out fluctuations in the buying market; Effect: by controlling production vs. inventory, a company can keep production cost down to a minimum
- Import:goods transported into a country for internal sales; Effect: Diminishes the currency value of the importing country
- Export:goods transported out of a country for sales to an importing country; Effect: Increases the currency value of the exporting country
- Environmental Resources anything a country needs that can be taken from the environment; Effect: important resources that are geographically located can boost the economy of the producing nation greatly in proportion to exporting demands. This can also have a negative effect on the global economy as seen by crude oil for example. If cost is deemed to be unfair, or demand is more than supply, this can lead to wars between nations.
- Consumption: the amount of sales per good that is purchased over a specific amount of time; Effect: consumption can lead to a depletion of resources needed to produce and maintain demand.
- Investment:the act of exchanging money for goods or company ownership with the intent of reselling the investment when cost rises or receive monetary payments over an extended period of time (interest); Effect: investing can cause inflation and recession as large quantities of investors hoard up resources by removing them from the market. This happens as the demand rises and the supply is diminished.
- GPD (Gross Domestic Product): an important economic indicator that is a measure of economic activity in a country; a measure of the interrelationships between expenditure, production, and income; Effect: if national producers cannot meet the price and quality requirements of buyers, imports will increase which leads to further declining GPD ratings in a spiraling down effect.
- Recession: a decline in the gross domestic product (GDP) that continues for at least six months time in length; Effect: this can have a devastating effect on both a local country and the worldwide market. As this rises, so does unemployment as companies downsize or close their doors due to loss of profits.
- Inflation: a rise in the prices of goods and services over a extended period of time; Effect: as prices increase due to the overall cost of living and cost of maintaining a business rises, the value of currency declines. This leads to more inflation and more unemployment and business closures. It can lead to a downward spiral and along with recession, lead to a major depression.
- Depression: is the result of a major recession which last for an exceedingly long time; Effect: a total breakdown of the supply and demand model as the consumers no longer have resources to purchase goods or services in the amounts needed to maintain the supply cost.
What the Bible says about the economy in the last days:
Does the bible even talk about economy? Sure it talks about it in terms of buying and selling as well as trade. In fact the bible has a lot to say about worldwide major trade in the last days. But first we will look at some basics about economic principles as they apply to everyday life: James 14: 13-16 Come now, you who say,Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say,If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
The first principle we see here is that all things come from God! Everything you have comes from Him and if you wish to be successful, you must acknowledge that fact. Every country falls under this principle established by God. When a person believes that he has what he has as a result of his good business sense, wisdom or intellect, he is guilty of arrogance and pride which is sin. The bible makes it clear that every good thing comes from God!(James 1:17)
Some economic advice from the bible:Matthew 25:1-10 - What you can not buy!Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.And at midnight a cry was heard:Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him! Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise,Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying,No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
Here Jesus is describing His return at the end of the age to people. As was Jesus' custom when dealing with prophetic truths much too complex for human minds to understand, especially poor uneducated folks as most of these were, he teaches the truth in the form of a parable (i.e. a simple story to illustrate a major prophetic teaching).
Jesus compares two groups and the impacts of the last days on them. The fist group is described as foolish virgins. They were off to a wedding which was a very sacred social ceremony in which virgins use to stand holding lit candles in honor of this sacred event between a bridegroom and his bride. But these foolish virgins were unprepared. They failed to bring one essential ingredient: oil for the lamps. I'm sure each of these 5 foolish virgins were proud and arrogant and thought that they were more important then candle holders. They represent rich socialites who would, God forbid, ever meet any resistance in life. Most likely due to their heritage and status in life. Why their fathers were rich wall street big wigs!
Contrasted to them, we have well prepared wedding participants. They were humble and recognized the significance of such a sacred event. They made sure they were ready!
Upon arriving at the wedding ceremony, the foolish virgins realized they forgot to buy oil. Frantic, they asked the wise for some and were instructed to go buy some. The wise virgins were not going to let their candles go out in the midst of such an important event. So the foolish griped and grumbled and headed off to town as fast as their Prada shoes would carry them. Unfortunately for them, when they returned they noticed the doors were already closed, the ceremony had begun and they were locked out.
This story illustrates that when Jesus comes back to the earth to judge and take possession of it, His followers would be protected inside His church while the foolish would suffer the judgments. BTW the oil represents the Holy Spirit which indwells every born again Christian who repented of their sins and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Salvation - Something you can't buy no matter how (worldly) rich you may be!
Revelation 13:17 - What you will need in order to buy in the last days!He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666
As conditions worsen on planet earth due to wars, hunger, natural disasters and the pouring out of God's wrath on this wicked and perverse generation, another player comes on the scene -The Anti-Christ!
The Anti-Christ is a world leader who takes control of the world in the last days as a one world governmental leader, slated with the job of solving the world's financial and environmental problems. He will be an expert in economical planning and improvement. His plan will be to use every tool at his exposure to solve the international problems. His primary tool will be technology. He will set up a true cashless society (read more). He will make use of the current ecommerce technology which uses bar codes and scanners at registers in retail and wholesale locations. By modifying the UPC code and creating a new field for PurchaserID, he will not only control cost and supply of goods and services on a global scale, but will be able to track individuals and reduce crime by removing the physical monetary system(money) and replacing it with a one world economy of online currency-electronic economy. The new product code would be laser etched into the hand or, in the sense of amputees & deformities, in the forehead of every person. This code would not be visible to the naked eye, but scanners would be able to see it. No one will be able to perform a transaction (buy or sell) without a proper PurchaserID. By doing this, he will not only eliminate online fraud, but also stop the selling of illegal substances such as drugs or guns as no physical money will exist for such sales.
We are told to calculate the number for it is the number of a man:666. Interesting terms for a reference from the bible that is some 2,000 years old! "calculate" as in process; something computers already do well."number of a man" is seen here as a man made item; a UPC product code.
So what is a UPC product code anyway and how does it work?UPC (Universal product Code) is a bar code placed on goods which tells micro-processor cash registers what the product is and what company marked it. This tied to the back end database also contains its price, size and/or weight and any other pertinent information. The UPC code was developed by The Uniform Code Council back in 1974. The first product to use the code was Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum. The code has a starting code, one digit security code, 5 digit manufacturer's code, middle code, 5 digit product code, 1 digit security code and the end code.(read more)
Take a closer look at this example UPC Code on the right. Notice that on the right side, I have marked the code for the number six (6) in green. This code has two thin black bars with a thin white space between them. Now look at the start, middle and end codes which I have marked in orange. Notice they are displayed as the same thing: two thin black bars with a thin white space between them. These lines are easy to see as they extend down lower than the bars over the numbers in the center area. Every UPC Code has the same two thin black bars with a thin white space between them as the start, middle and end code of the bar chart. As we have seen this three bar sequence (2 thin black with 1 thin white in the middle), is the exactly the same as the bars that display the number six marked in green! Grab any item out of your house and take a look and you will see the same start, middle and end codes are always the equivalent of the right side six (6) or:
666. Now any item you look at with a "6" on the right side will show the same 2 lines so you can verify this as many times as you like. OK but why right side for a "6"? Because that is the product code side. The left side (manufacture code) is not calculated the same way as it is sort of a mirror image to inform the scanning device as to what code it is currently reading as the item is scanned. Slick Huh?And the bible referenced this 2,000 years ago! |  |
Multiple Fulfillment of ProphecyIn these next (2) sets of verses, we have a great example of the Multiple Fulfillment of Prophecy principle. Lets look at these verses as they related to the time of the prophet and yet were more related to the last days:
In this chapter, Ezekiel is told by the Lord to give a prophecy against the king of Tyre. This event occluded a few hundred years before Christ. There are (2) occurrences of the Multiple Fulfillment of Prophecy principle at play here. First we have Ezekiel who's title given to him by God was "Son of man". You will find him referred throughout the book of the Ezekiel as the "Son of man". This was also the very same title Jesus used to refer of Himself. This title for Jesus was used 87 times in the New Testament. Ezekiel was a foreshadowing of Jesus as the Prophet!
The second way this chapter is a Multiple Fulfillment of Prophecy principle, is that the entire chapter, while a prophecy against the King of Tyre, was also a prophecy about the Last Days when God will pour out his judgment against a great nation:The United States of America
(USA)!
You can read the chapter and see the major similarities to the USA. But I will leave that to you. We will be looking at a much clearer text from the book of Revelation that points to the ultimate fulfillment of this prophesy in the Last days.
Revelation 18:16-18 - The Destruction of the United States After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying,Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.
And I heard another voice from heaven saying,Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart,I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow. Therefore her plagues will come in one daydeath and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying,Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.
And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore: merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men. The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying,Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour such great riches came to nothing. Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying,What is like this great city?
They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying,Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.
Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her! Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore. The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore. The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth
Here we see the Total Destruction of the Global Economic System! This is brought about by God as he pours out His Wrath on the country of the United States of America, the Good Ole' USA!
Let's look at the content of the prophecy to see what Economic Identifiers are used and how they can only apply to the US. We see the title given to this country is Babylon. Babylon was the first world empire and reached the height of its glory under king Nebuchadnezzar. At that time, Babylon was the world's center of trade via its Imports & Exports with all other subordinate nations. Babylon was rich in gold and precious stones. The country was full of pride and its leader was proud and arrogant. The country had forced policies and procedures on the Jews to keep peace in the world. One of these policies was that no one could pray to any god other than the gods of Babylon. You can read more about this and the judgments that God used to humble and ultimately destroy this first world empire in the book of Daniel.
So how does this country, referred to in the last days, relate to the old Babylon economic situation? What riches does she possess and how to they identify her as the US?
- Babylon the great is fallen
- Refers to her great position on the planet.
- all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication
- This nation shared in all international events; UN; International Policies; Global Economics
- the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury
- Refers to the enormous trade benefits this country provided to all nations; Recovery support after WWI & WWII; International Disaster Aid; Import & Export monetary gains
- her sins have reached to heaven
- Abortion; stem-cell research; Happy Holidays with no Merry Christmas; wars; pride; agnosticism; evolution; no prayer in schools; and on and on and on...
- she glorified herself and lived luxuriously
- Refers to the US being the richest nation on the earth yet she shares that wealth with no one who is poor or needs help; selfishness; gluttony; exclusiveness; Home Land Security; etc...
- I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.-Ironically she is called "she"& a "queen" referring to the Statute of Liberty?"Send us your poor, your desolate..." not any more! Walls around Mexico, blocks on immigrants; etc...
- merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men - In bible days these terms dealt with the most luxurious and advanced goods a company could possibly possess to make themselves rich as well as make merchant importers rich in their countries as they imported her fine goods and services. If this was written to day, it might read more like: ocean liners, computers, spaceships, airplanes. jets, nuclear accelerators, MRI machines, science grants, cars, trucks, art, etc, etc...
How does God Judge her?
- her plagues will come in one day - God used plagues to judge nations throughout much of this worlds life when His intentions were to make it clear who was behind the judgment. For smaller judgment, God would usually use a country's enemies to carry out His judgment via wars and slavery. But here we see He chooses to judge the US personally and thoroughly. See Noah; Moses; Ezekiel; God will judge her in 1 day! This shows the size of this judgment. It will not be a series of events but rather one major event that will annihilate all life.
- she will be utterly burned with fire - most likely these fires are the result of a massive meteor cast to the earth which is equivalent to billions of tons of TNT.(see Armageddon). The vastness of the fire is immense as it will cover most of the land. It is possible that this could be from nuclear explosions as the result of terrorist attacks but this author doubts this theory as the judgment comes from God not from other nations as they are surprised and mourning and God is Personally involved here in this context.
- a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down - Here we see another reference that strongly suggest a meteor as the weapon of God's wrath. It is identified as a really big stone like a millstone. The audience at the time of this writing would understand the implications here. A mill stone was a large round stone used to crush wheat into flour. It was a purposeful stone and was carved out (designed) for its main task. But to imagine the veracity and strength it would take to pick one up, let alone to through one down with force and deadly accuracy no doubt was astonishing to them! Hence a large meteor!
What is her condition after her judgment? What is the reaction of the world at her destruction?
- a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit - Initially after the destruction, no one could survive in such a harsh climate accept demons! Since Satan and his demons know that their time is short might choose this place as their headquarters for their remaining time on earth.
- a cage for every unclean and hated bird - Ironically, buzzards and other foul birds find their way over to scavenge for food once the dust settles.
- The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment - The Reaction of World Leaders: All the world's leaders will be devastated by the judgment! Notice, they can not even offer support or try to help in anyway as the judgment is so severe that all they can do is stand at a distance. They are too fearful to even attempt any type of rescue of possible survivors for fear of them being judged also.
- The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment - The Reaction of World Investors & Importers: All the world's economic investors and importers are as shocked and scared as the world leaders.
- Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning - The Reaction of Shipping Fleets Out at Sea: As you can see this is a most perilous disaster to all international trade! Even the transporters of goods can not believe their eyes! While shaking in their shoes, they can literally "SEE" the fire and smoke miles from shore!
- The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore. The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore - No music, no art, no industry and no electricity ever again as there will be no human life to ever become citizens of the Good Ole' USA ever again!
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Summary
We are being
warned! God is showing us what His purpose for this
world entails. As we get closer and closer to the end,
the world has become more and more sinful! And
unfortunately, this condition will worsen till He
returns and redeems us from ourselves. Don't let sin,
self or Satan who has invaded our planet separate you
from the free gift of salvation that Jesus extends to
you in His invitation to be born-again:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send
His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes
in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe
is condemned already, because he has not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18)
Are You Ready? If not get ready, "Repent
for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand"!
Click to Read:
Luke 13:3;
Ephesians 2:8-9;
Romans 10:8-13;
Acts2:38
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