Have the Experts Spoken on our Approaching Future – The Documentation – /Part 3

Disclaimer: The views in this e-book are solely those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views of the John Ankerberg Show.

How to Plan for a Hard Future: Some brief information that shouldn’t be ignored.

Why shouldn’t this brief chapter be ignored? Because it would be unwise for someone to do so. For example, speaking universally of the world, not just of America, the History Channel warned last year, “The threat of global catastrophe has never been greater. The chain of events that could unravel our society could come from anywhere and without warning. Imagine a world without government, food, water or power.”^[1]

It is generally accepted that mankind has the potential to either: 1) destroy itself by various means (such as nuclear Armageddon or terrorist release of genetically altered high lethality viruses), or 2) be destroyed (with a massive comet strike, global plague, or another natural extinction event, of which there are about a dozen). Interestingly, according to the Bible and the most authoritative person who ever lived, Jesus Christ Himself, in the future mankind actually would have destroyed all life on earth, but for divine intervention. (Matthew 24:21-22) Thus, while a total extinction of humanity will never happen, it is also true that global devastation never before seen on Earth historically is clearly coming at some point in the future as predicted by both the Prophet Daniel and Jesus Christ. (Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21-22.)

Planning for a major disaster is perhaps the single most important task anyone can do for themselves and their family, apart from being personally reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ (which takes care of the rest of life and all eternity).

One particularly good and often surprising book along this line is Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown, which is simultaneously frightening and hopeful. The authors, Dr. David Wiedemer, Robert Wiedemer, and Cindy Spitzer successfully predicted the four previous “bubbles” that have either popped or are still in the process of deflating, but won’t be able to re-inflate (real estate, stock market, private debt, consumer spending). They believe the next two bubbles to pop are the dollar and the credit line of the US government, coupled with a major debt crisis, which the US already has. (As of August 3, 2011, three major credit rating agencies have warned of a US downgrade: Standard & Poor, Fitch, and Moody. Moody warns of one by September 2011.)

On the downside, the authors believe there will be major increases in taxes, that the dollar could fail as early as 2011-2013 and be replaced by a one world currency, a gallon of gas could cost between $12 and $15 (or a Toyota Camry $100,000), that unemployment could go as high as 40-60%, with wages spiraling downward, that the banking system may collapse, and that we may have to cut military spending by 50-70%. That would be the end of the America we know. In contrast to Williams’ estimate of 7-8 digit hyperinflation cited earlier, they expect “mere” triple digit hyperinflation, which is bad enough. Can you imagine 500% inflation? Extended families will need to live together to save on housing and other costs, which will either be wonderful or challenging, depending on the family. On the positive side, the book also shows the best ways to protect jobs, assets and businesses.

(If the crisis is only a depression worse than 1929, one of the most important things people can do is to keep their jobs, and reading a book such as Bulletproof Your Job should be useful in preparation.)

The authors believe Americans won’t be forced into a survivalist reality, and that the nation itself will survive, although it will do so with a major decline in living standards.

Here is a specific word for Christians and those in the process of becoming a Christian, but not without applicability to others. In today’s difficult times it’s important that we stay informed and know what’s happening for our own sake and that of our families. We need to keep our personal and financial house in order, strengthen our faith in God and Christ, trusting and hoping in them alone, not our personal circumstances/abilities, the world, or politics, always remembering that Romans 8:28 is perpetually true and that if more severe judgment is coming, God will use economic and other disasters to strengthen the Church, which is something good (just as He does around the world today and has always done historically when the Church is persecuted.) God will use adversity and even calamity to save probably millions of people who are driven to the end of themselves. It’s also important to remember that we live in this particular age for a divine reason. God could have chosen for us to live in any previous age, but He did not; He chose us to live in this specific age that means that He has specific things for us to accomplish for Him in this particular period of time. Every Christian is in ministry, whether their work is secular or religious. If God chose this time for us to live in, we need to fulfill His will for our being here, and discovering His will comes only through His word, prayer and by faith.

Notes

1. ↑ The beginning of the History Channel’s program “Apocalypse Man,” January 6, 2010.