The Crisis Equation

Are we preaching Doom and Gloom?1 Absolutely not. But like Patrick Henry we thought you might be “willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst; and to provide for it.” It is also not going to be gloom and doom because we are also going to share with you the tried and true solution that has worked for society many times when man made the same foolish mistakes we see going on today. For those who can handle the truth and are willing to do something about it the solution can provide what you need and produce a better and more fruitful society in the process.

Meredith Whitney, whose economic forecasts proved to be some of the most accurate predictions of the previous and present financial crises of this last decade does not see a light at the end of the tunnel but believes that “the tunnel is about to collapse”2. While some economists are suggesting a future of slow growth based on what they have seen they seem to be turning a blind eye to all the problems looming on the near horizon.

When the $240 billion from the Recovery Act runs out, states and local governments everywhere, with billions of dollars of unfunded benefits and services, overextended debt obligation and reduced revenue, will began to make another wave of cuts and layoffs or default.

States are trying to get a law passed that allows them to declare bankruptcy. This will kill the power of the state employee unions. States like New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, Delaware, Ohio, Louisiana, Illinois and others have reached a point of no return. The same thing we have seen in Greece, Britain and Ireland and will be seeing in Portugal, Spain and Italy will have to be faced in the states. Benefits will be slashed, millions of people including government workers may lose their jobs, and whatever people have left in their savings will be vanquished by a deluge of inflation.

Meredith and others see that banks are also facing much, much greater credit losses and 2.7 trillion dollars will be cut from the credit lines of Americans. She is convinced that we are entering the "biggest financial crisis in history".

While this will be an end to some things it will also be the beginning of others. This is because we live in a cause and effect universe and there are always two sides to every equation. Our choice is simple, “Which side do you wish to be a part of while you are making your own history?”

The phrase "biggest financial crisis in history" is not describing the gradual inflation we have seen over the last decades but a total monetary collapse. The economy is not being propped up by federal stimulus packages as much as it is by foreigners buying whatever products are still available from America. They are buying American because they see the need to dump Federal Reserve Notes.

The Chinese spending spree alone is pumping billions of dollars into the American economy as they dump the dollar. Even with that the Fed finds a need for its QE (printing of more dollars) just to keep selling bonds, sometimes to its own paid bidders. These buyouts, boondoggles and bailouts cannot occur without the repercussion of the great hidden tax – inflation - which drains the life and energy from every American, while fueling the dump the dollar syndrome growing world wide.

The first two questions which might arise at this point are:

“Whose fault is it and what can be done about it?”

The first thing to make note of is that we have not been talking about the problem but the symptoms. You could fill several books with the reasons why and how and who is responsible for every step toward this crisis over the last century or more. The problem we face is not sudden nor singular in nature but it is the result of a chain of abuses and a history of neglect. Pointing fingers at perceived culprits is not only useless but fruitless unless we are pointing those fingers at ourselves.

Yes, the problem is us. That is good news because we can do something about us a lot easier than doing something about all the other foolish people we have been keeping company with or depending on over the last century. It is not like being ugly or something. If you were ugly you would probably wake up tomorrow and still be ugly. Being foolish, on the other hand, you can do something about. With a little work you could wake up wise, if you are willing to wake up at all.

The first thing to do is stop blaming God for the governments you establish. The people create governments and give them power through their own actions and negligence, covenants and applications. We must stop turning our responsibilities over to others. If we want our rights back and control over our own lives then we must take back our responsibilities on all levels as individuals, as families and in our communities.

“As long as we look to government to solve our problems we will always suffer tyranny.”3

Man needs government. But the kind of man you are will determine the kind of government you get. The slothful shall be under tribute.4 The covetous shall be made merchandise.5 The proud shall lose their liberty to men who promises them freedom from their responsibilities to one another.6

William Penn said “Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by Tyrants.”

Sloth brings negligence and burdensome tribute, apathy brings injustice and mercy fails, complacency brings indifference and corruption prevails, dependence brings addiction and bondage reigns, and repose brings decay and a prophesied destruction.

The second thing to do is stand up and start gathering together in networks7 of freedom minded doers. Start coming together with those who care about their neighbor as much as themselves. Stop waiting for someone else to do what you need to do for yourself. Start becoming a part of the solution.

And then there are some don'ts. Don't imagine that suddenly the majority of people are going to start doing the right thing or that democracy works.8 Don't ever think they will build it so you can come. Building it is just the beginning of taking that responsibility back. You build it with anyone else who will work building it too.

You are looking for humble, hardworking, brave, selfless people full of virtue. People who are patient, not brawlers, not covetous, wise as serpents, and harmless as doves, the forgiving and the giving. You need to actually seek out those people. Yes! I know they may be a little hard to find these days, but that is what makes them such a treasure. Instead of coveting their neighbor's goods through the power of those men who call themselves benefactors, which most people of the world like to elect, they choose to be wittingly, willingly, and wisely charitable with one another.

What does that charity look like? In Christ's “woe” to the Pharisees speech he faulted those hypocrites because as a society they failed to diligently attend to “the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.”9 They had established a system of social welfare10 for the needy of their society, but that was not charity. They had an extensive system of courts to guarantee that everyone paid their share, but that was not charity. They elected a congress in the form of a Sanhedrin to pass laws and regulate what was contributed and how it was distributed but those were the men who called themselves benefactors but exercised authority which we were told not to depend upon which is certainly not charity either. Their government was a contradiction to what Moses and Christ taught.11 They had become covetous and coercive.12

Those people had rejected God though they professed him with their mouth. They had accepted the new deal offered by Herod.13 They had a new father upon the earth to apply to for benefits.14 By their own desire to force their neighbor to contribute to their welfare they were snared15 by the promises of men who were not true benefactors.16

God allows the wicked17 to elect the means of their own punishment, warning them exactly what that punishment would look like18 and what to expect from Him.19 Systems of guarantees and entitlements weaken the people and any society20 snared in a covetous relationship which shall be fatal.

If we realize that the words solution and salvation, application and prayer, contracts, covenants, allegiance and faith are synonyms and that the Bible is mostly about good and bad governments, including Jesus' preaching a kingdom at hand and taking it from one group and appointing it to another and then giving instruction on what not to do in its operation and service, a new understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom becomes a possibility. Considering the political, financial, social, and the moral crises accompanying the decline and fall of Rome everyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear might be figuring out what the problem is. If we would consider the activities and virtue that governed that early Church we could see the wisdom of that solution offered by Christ.

Americans and much of the world have fundamentally taken a wrong turn a long time ago and have been compounding that error over the last century. They have progressed into a giant world economy with the contracting of nations and the centralization of power at the expense of individual liberty. Making the identical mistakes of Imperial Rome21 will undoubtedly produce the same results on a much larger scale. The American proverb, “The bigger they are the harder they fall” simply describes a crises equation of staggering proportions.

It is passed time to repent and change our ways individually and together. First we must see our folly and then turn around and do what it takes to go in the other direction. As we already stated we must take our responsibilities back individually and in local communities, if we can handle the light.

“For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” John 3:20,21

Other articles:

Chapter 7. of the book The Covenants of the gods
Republic vs Democracy
http://www.hisholychurch.org/study/gods/cog7rvd.php

Chapter 8. of the book The Covenants of the gods
Democracy vs Demagogue
http://www.hisholychurch.org/study/gods/cog8dvd.php

Doom, Gloom, and Democracy
The real destroyer is our own covetousness
http://www.hisholychurch.org/news/articles/doomdemocracy.php

Democracy SS Video Series 5-10 4:12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EUuimhSN8w

Republic SS Video Series 6-10 8:01
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OplmP0T8v0U