Month: February 2022

God and the Invasion: Where is Yahweh in All This?

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden

Absolutely nothing happens randomly, catching God by surprise. Everything is filtered through His sovereign will including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But, there is constant spiritual warfare going on in which Satan strives to inflict the world with evil forces. Putin is an agent of evil daring America and its allies to stop his bloody aggression. Will we? Let’s look at what is at stake spiritually and materially.

My latest book, Daniel: Prophet at the King’s Command, begins with the invasion of Jerusalem by Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar. The prophet, Daniel, then just a teenager, poses the question, “Where is Yahweh in all this.” Yahweh is the Hebrew word for God. There had been many invasions of innocent nations by evil nations before Daniel’s 605 BC generation. And there have been many such invasions since throughout the entire globe. It would seem that civilization should have learned to live peacefully after thousands of years. But as long as there is evil in the world, there will be wars among nations. There will always be narcissistic leaders of passive nations that are willing to risk innumerable lives of their own citizens to gain control of the government and citizens of another country. Evil will always be with us on personal and aggregate levels until Christ comes again. Satan will manipulate his subjects, but, according to the scriptures, God will never lose control.

Putin is an evil dictator. He may also be a psychopath. Although he claims membership in the Russian Orthodox Church, he is a Communist leader, and Communism is both atheistic and antireligious. In contrast, Ukraine adheres to Christianity with over 70% of its population declaring themselves believers. Although Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish, he has great respect for Christians and churches, and he actively supports religious freedom in the country. Ukraine is the main missionary sending country for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. So, the deadly crisis in Ukraine is more than a ruthless tyrant dictator seeking to reestablish the former Soviet Union nation by nation. Granted, that is apparently his long-term strategy. But the war is more about an evil government’s attempt to consume a Christian nation. It is a classic example of spiritual warfare on a massive scale. The Bible teaches that certain of Satan’s demons are assigned to rule over certain nations. The nations of Russia, China, and Iran must have very powerful demons.

Godly people worldwide, including America and the NATO nations, oppose Putin’s diabolical action. Even many of Russia’s own people are rising up and protesting the attack on Ukraine. Brave Ukraine civilians are taking up arms and resisting the Goliath Russian army. Many Russian soldiers are surrendering to the weaker Ukraine soldiers. It is difficult to predict what will be the end result of Putin’s brazen disregard for world order. I believe it will eventually backfire on him and the Russian government even though it may look like a win initially. God may use this atrocity to ultimately unleash His wrath on the government that has been Satan’s operative for almost a century. Pray that America remains on the right side spiritually and otherwise. Whatever happens, we should watch it closely with an eye toward where Yahweh is in all this.

1

As the National Debt Passes $30 Trillion, You Owe Over $90,000

You didn’t hear a boom or see flashes in the sky, but on January 31, America’s national debt broke through the $30 trillion threshold. And there is no end in sight to government borrowing. This debt is owed by every American man, woman, and child. Each of us currently owes over $90,000. An average American household owes over $231,000. Let’s look at what this means to you personally.

Let’s imagine a man with the American average annual income of $53,000. This man has run up credit card debts totaling $69,000. He has been paying only interest on the debt for years with nothing going to principal. He has not even slowed his pace of borrowing for about anything he desires. He has no plans to get out of debt or even to reduce his balance. In fact, his plans are to make some extravagant purchases this year that will add more to his credit card than ever before.

This financial idiocy is precisely analogous to the American national fiscal situation. Our debt of $30 trillion is now 1.3 times our annual income (GDP) of $23 trillion. Since March 2020, the national debt has surged by 27% or $6.5 trillion. It has doubled in the last ten years. A basic macro-economic principle has long been that, when any nation’s debt exceeds its GDP, that nation’s economy is in trouble. Yet our congress and our presidential administration has ignored the debt for decades. As the chart above indicates, congress frequently legislates debt ceilings to curb spending. But their discipline lasts only a few months until they vote for the next item on their wish list that will require lifting the ceiling.

A trillion is an incomprehensible number. A trillion seconds is over 31,000 years ago. A trillion pennies stacked on top of each other would reach the moon and back and to the moon again. A trillion one-dollar bills laid side by side like floor tile would cover the states of Rhode Island and Delaware. If you spent $40 per second around the clock, it would take 23,775 years to spend the $30 trillion Americans collectively owe. Remember, the government has no money. It is our money…and our debt.

Recently President Biden’s $5 trillion Build Back Better Act passed in the House with all republicans voting no, and all democrats, except one, voting yes. It would have passed in the Senate had it not been for two democratic senators with some semblance of sanity. Now, the democrats are frantically breaking the bill into smaller pieces to get at least some of the excessive liberal spending passed before they lose their majority in the 2022 elections. Congressional democrats are determined to increase the debt even further.

The only answer to eventual national bankruptcy is to stop federal deficit spending. Contact your congressional representative and senators immediately. Tell them to stop dragging you into more debt. Tell them to vote “no” on any spending bill that exceeds tax revenues. Then tell them you want to see a strategy for reducing the current debt.

I welcome your comments.

0

Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑