Prophecy

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National Debt: National Judgement
© Steph Cottam, 2010

More and more often, there are reports in the news of various companies, banks and individuals teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, or even crashing down the cliffs completely. Who can forget the collapse of the family-favourite store, Woolworths; or the sights of queues of people, desperate to remove their money from the crumbling Northern Rock back in 2008?

There followed a tightening of most people’s purse strings, as we all cut-back on buying those unessential items… a fifteenth pair of shoes, a third handbag in brown, another set of bed-linen. The rise of The Pound Stores, and cheaper supermarket deals caught our attention, and our loyalty to the places we had always shopped at for generations, was reconsidered.

But, these changes don’t appear to have helped so much. If we had lived in Greece during May, we would have witnessed something no-one in our democratic society could have envisioned. As is the case for those living in Ireland today! I am among the many people who are praying for our friends across the water; whilst silently grateful I am not in the midst of the collapse of a Country... Or am I?

As Britain prepares to provide finances to “bail out” Ireland, as we did with Greece, I have to wonder: In light of the recent Government cut-backs, where are we finding the funds to lend to another Country? If we have excess funds available, why did we need to make so many cut-backs to gain back some ground in our own country’s financial problems? What exactly is the state of the finances here in Britain?

According to UK Economists, Britain is somewhere between £900 billion (official Government figures) and £14 trillion (Independent newspaper report, July 2010 [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/britainrsquos-debt-the-untold-story-2025979]) pounds in debt. According to one website (http://www.debtbombshell.com), citing official Government forecasts, “To put that in perspective, the UK went bust in 1976...” the interest alone on our repayments comes to “£42.9 billion a year”.

This money is owed to a number of sources who buy “Bonds” or “Gilts” from the Government, expecting a return on their investment in what was once known as the “sixth richest Country”, within a set time-frame; buyers include a massive 35% from overseas investors.

On a personal basis, that means you and I, along with every man, woman and child in the UK owes more than £16,000, with most households paying almost two-thousand pounds in interest on our Nation’s loan (http://www.debtbombshell.com) through taxes.

Part of how this has come about, is due to the drop in private sector jobs and the rise in public sector employment, meaning the Government have been paying more money out, and receiving less in order to balance the books; plus with the increase of the “baby-boomers” reaching retirement age, more money is due to be paid out in pensions; with many people of “working age” studying instead of working, money is not being ploughed back into the economy via tax from their income; with the increase of large companies moving away from the UK and the subsequent rise of unemployment comes the inevitable rise in benefits being paid out; and finally with the various projects the Government undertook on our behalf – including the hosting of The Olympics in 2012 which require vast sums of money to be spent as insurance that Britain “gets the job done”… Incidentally, what exactly happened to all those promised jobs to local people?

But it’s OK, because the Government announced cuts in all these areas during their October “Spending Review”, meaning the average Jane Bloggs will find herself being hit harder over the coming months and years. The Chancellor, George Osbourne explained to us how, "everyone in our society has had to make a contribution" and that he had "tried to be as fair as possible".

There is of course a silver-lining in this dark cloud of debt… well, actually, that very much depends on where you are in the “food-chain” of employment. If you are the Director of a Major Organisation, a Doctor (in our flailing NHS), a successful (bonus-grabbing) Bank Manager, well you can expect to earn anything above three quarters of a million pounds per annum. Or you could forget about the really hard-work and just become a celebrity earning millions for a couple of hours work a week… oh, and you can avoid paying taxes because your highly-paid lawyer will help you with that. Again, I have to wonder… Where does the money to pay these top “celebrity” earners come from?

I have to admit, I do not have the answers to these questions, I’m not sure anyone does to be honest. But in light of these reports, should we really be surprised by the reports of overwhelming National debt or financial collapse?

As a Christian, I can see though, that the Bible clearly warns us about from the outset. Jesus Himself told us we cannot worship two masters. We cannot serve both God and Money. The Bible also talks about the Judging of the Nations; so although as an individual we may be making wise choices in our spending, we are held accountable for the Nation’s Debt by the Government, and we are held accountable for the sin of idolising money by God.

It has been said, we are living in “The Last Days” and I am not disputing this. But rather than shaking our heads when we hear of “wars and rumours of wars… Nation [rising] against nation… Famines and earthquakes… (Matthew 24:4-7), we should understand the “times we are living in”. Jesus told us these would be the “beginning of birth pains”.

Paul elaborated, in his letters, on some of the things we could expect in the end days, and I find what he says in 2 Timothy 3:1-2 particularly interesting: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money…” (emphasis mine) I believe God has begun to judge the Nations, and He is using their own scales of “justice” as a means of judgement.

What do I mean? Well, let’s look at the rise in drug use amongst British Citizens. Whilst most families of drug addicts despair at the decline of their loved ones, as they silently watch them disappear into a world not of this one, where they begin to harm themselves, others and property in order to “get a fix”, celebrities are daily taking drugs for “recreational purposes” and being hailed as “role models” for our young people.

We are locked into a national system honouring those with money, above those who are genuinely honourable. And don’t think the Church is exempt from this honourable system. You only have to switch on one of the Christian Channels to see people with money being able to buy a slot, then hailed as great teachers for this generation. And yet, the substance of what many teach is weak. Money talks... even in Church, but again this shouldn’t surprise you, for this has been going on since the early Church - James warned us to take heed of not honouring people, just because they appear to have money (James 2:1-7). People are not what they seem, especially when they become corrupted by their desire for more, “Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?” (James 2:6). A wise man once said, he who has a lot of money, can never have enough and always needs more… doing whatever he can to get it.

So what can we do? These are indeed perilous times we are living in. But friends, do not be afraid. Yes, God is judging our Nation, along with other greedy Nations across the world. Yes, we are in a financial state of crisis; will money always be worth the paper it is printed on? But I believe God wants people to cry out for His mercy. If Abraham, Esther, or Daniel could be used by God, in their generation, to save a Nation from God’s judgement by crying out for His mercy, then the Church today can too.
God Himself said it to be the case in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” God is not man that He would lie to us. We need to be aware of what is happening around us, not so we become panicked, like those in the world do, but so we can pray effectively.

And practically, we don’t need to be fearful of what we are hearing; we can allow God’s wisdom to direct our steps. Obedience to Him is the key. If He says pay taxes to those whom taxes are due (Romans 13:7) we need to do that. If He declares that trusting in Him will cause us to prosper, but greed will bring ruin to our household (Proverbs 15:27; 28:25), then we need to look at our heart’s condition in relation to money. If He says we need to look after the widows and the orphans (James 1:27), and not show favouritism to the rich, we need to ensure we are putting this into practise in our own lives.

My final point: God gave us the land and all that is in it, so we should have dominion over it. Not so we would beg, steal and demand from one another, but so the ground will yield its fruit to us. Maybe it’s time to invest in some physical seed, and not just your financial or spiritual seed, planting them for God to water them, so we may yield a harvest of much fruit. This is one of God’s principles, after all.

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