How Bout Some Good News

HOW BOUT SOME GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE?

In the chaos and turmoil of a world that appears to be under siege by terrorist and evil people, it sometimes helps to take a step back and look at the big picture. I certainly want to know what’s going on in the world but there is an unhealthy preoccupation with the worst of the worst events taking place in the world.

The media in a frenzy to stay on top of the latest “breaking news” can in my opinion become the pawns of those perpetrating evil in the world by spotlighting with endless hours of reporting of horrible events running the same footage over and over and over again as a backdrop. All for the ratings and  at the same time providing free air time and exposure for those committing the atrocities.  After all, these small but determined groups are out to gain public awareness for their cause and what better way to do it than in ways the media cannot ignore.

No doubt bad stuff is happening and will continue to happen until it can be contained which it should be by any means necessary to protect innocent lives.

All that said, the devastatingly horrible events of last week in Paris demonstrate what desperate people will do to draw attention to their misguided cause even to the point of self-destruction and destruction of innocent people.

For the record, Christians suffer under more persecution than any other people group on the planet and from a multitude of violent misguided groups from Islamic terrorist to Indian Hindu’s to Chinese Communist even to persecutors here in the United States who deny religious freedom in the land whose money declares, “In God We Trust” and with a constitution that guarantees freedom of speech, conscience and religious beliefs.

But all that is for another discussion.

I want to turn the page to what is happening that can be considered,

“Good News” in our world today.

I was recently reading some amazing statistics about the growth of Christianity in the world today, which in reality is the only hope for the world now and in the future.

In the midst of the “doom and gloomer’s” who point to all these things as signs of the end of time  being in sight causing fear and trepidation among God’s people and an escapism mentality that looks forward to more bad things happening so Jesus will show up and rescue us from the mess, there is a much more hopeful view that I’m hoping some of the “good news” I’m about to share will instill.

Here’s a portion from chapter 10 titled “The Kingdom Advancing”  from “Raptureless! An Optimistic Guide to the End of the World” by Jonathan Welton. (Click here for the entire book: RAPTURELESS  )

Historical Perspective

Many Christians have a hard time viewing the future optimistically because they have a lack of perspective regarding the past. When they look back, they think that they are seeing “the good ol’ days.” However, with a better grasp on history, we will see that God’s Kingdom has, in fact, been steadily progressing forward. To see this improvement, we must lift ourselves to a higher perspective, from which we can look over the course of history. We know what life is like today; let’s compare it to the conditions of society in the past.

The Early 1800s

First, let’s look at what life was like in the United States 200 years ago—in the early 1800s. At that time, the population was slightly over 5 million, but 20 percent of those people were slaves (that’s more than 1 million slaves). Abortion was legal during most of the 19^th century, and according to the records, one fifth of all pregnancies were aborted (Michigan had the highest rate at 34 percent). Also, in many states, the age of sexual consent was as low as nine or ten years old, and prostitution was commonplace. New York City estimated having a ratio of one prostitute to every 64 men, and Savannah estimated a ratio of 1 to 39.

This was also the time of the pioneers and covered wagon trains heading westward. Thousands relocated to the “wild west,” looking for gold and a fresh start. When gold was discovered, the gold rushes created the most despicable and dangerous of communities. In fact, throughout the West, murder was so common that most people carried a gun for protection. Even in safer frontier communities, no organized churches were formed until years after settlements had been established. At the same time, tens of thousands of American Indians were murdered or forced from their lands, and thousands of Chinese people were imported on the western coast as slaves.

During that time period, women had virtually no rights. Not only were women not allowed to vote, but their husbands were legally allowed to beat them as long as they avoided maiming or killing them. Also, alcoholism occurred at a much higher rate than it does today.

Although some godly people were laying the foundations for the U.S. government and other good things were happening, from these simple statistics, we can plainly see that morally, ethically, and spiritually the climate of the U.S. was far worse than it is today.

The Time of Jesus’ Childhood

Looking even farther back in time, let’s examine the climate of the whole world approximately 2,000 years ago—the time when Jesus was a child. As we know, the Roman Empire ruled the world, with its primary cultural centers being in Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. Throughout the empire, slavery was commonplace—to the point that in Italy, the hub of the empire, about 40 percent of the population was slaves. Homosexuality was also the norm, especially between masters and slaves.

Many babies were killed after birth because of being deformed or sickly or even simply female.

Obviously, at that time, since Jesus was still a child, the Gospel had not yet arrived on the scene. The Jews had a revelation of God, yet they lived in disobedience, and it had been 400 years since a prophet had spoken on God’s behalf. Rather, most people worshipped a multitude of cruel and capricious gods, including Jupiter, Juno, and Neptune. Temple prostitution and ritual child sacrifice were a regular part of this religious system. This was also the era of the gladiators, and in the Roman arenas, people were regularly tortured to death or mauled by wild animals. Later, under Nero, this fate befell many of the early Christians. It is hard for us to understand, but the philosophers that Western society so praises—Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates—saw nothing wrong with these practices.

Ernest Hampden Cook, in his book The Christ Has Come, wrote:

The fact is that bad as the world still is, yet morally it is vastly better than it was when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea…. Few people in these days have an adequate conception of the misery and degradation which were then the common lot of almost all mankind, owing the monstrous wickedness of the times, to continual wars, to the cruelties of political despotism, and of everywhere-prevailing slavery.

Outside of the Roman Empire, things were no better. In Africa, Asia, and Australia, people worshipped nature, demons, and their deceased ancestors. In North America, the American Indians had many forms of worship, and in South America, tens of thousands of people were regularly sacrificed to a bloodthirsty god. Yet throughout the whole world, no one knew the Messiah.

Truly, as we can see from this brief overview, the world was lost in darkness beyond what most of us can even imagine. This is what the apostle Paul meant when he wrote, “…formerly you, the Gentiles…were at that time separated from Christ…having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:11-12).

Today

By comparison, let’s examine the world today. The Gospel is reaching even the remotest places in the world, and Christianity is experiencing phenomenal growth globally. In fact, worldwide, more than 200,000 people are being born again daily. In China, it’s 20,000 a day, and in South America, 35,000 a day. That adds up to more than 1 million people who are becoming Christians every work week. The tiny seed that came into the earth in that little nation of Israel has grown to permeate the earth.

Christianity is, in fact, the largest, most influential force of humanity in the world today.

Certainly, I am not saying our world is perfect or that global peace and utopia are just around the corner. Until Jesus’ return, the struggle between light and dark will continue. Difficult times of war, famine, disease, and poverty may yet happen in the future, and during such times, people are often capable of the most inhumane acts.

I am not denying the reality that life is sometimes tragic and excruciatingly painful. But I also want to highlight the definite reality that, though it is not anywhere near perfect living here on earth, it is consistently becoming morally, ethically, and spiritually better.

We must be watchful and hard at work, for we still have much to accomplish before Christ’s return, but we must do this with the understanding that we are gaining ground, not losing it. The increase of God’s government and peace is truly without end.

Many of you may have been stretched by the historical facts that you just read. You may need to read it a few more times to grasp the shift in thinking required of you. But when you are ready to be stretched some more, the following material from author James Rutz will take you even farther:

Status Update²

Rutz states that the growing core of Christianity crosses theological lines and includes 707 million born-again people, a number that is increasing by 8 percent each year. (This number excludes those groups that have essentially stopped growing because they are “so liberal in theology, so isolated in structure, or so rooted in…tradition.”) This growing core of Christianity is comprised primarily of charismatics, Pentecostals, and evangelicals—their main characteristic being that they are part of “expanding, connected, and easily countable networks.”

Though straight projections never work, it is interesting to note, as Rutz does, that the current growth rate would create a world composed entirely of what he calls “apostolic Christians” by 2032.

In fact, tongue-in-cheek, Rutz tells us that, according to statistics, by the fall of 2032, there will be more Christians than people on the earth.

The new realities Rutz is pointing at are clear. As he says, “The future of your world is being written at this very hour.” For example, Rutz points out:

• Until 1960, Western evangelicals outnumbered non-Western (Latino, black, and Asian) evangelicals two to one.
• In 2000, non-Western evangelicals had surpassed Westerners four to one.
• In Latin America, traditionally a Catholic region, now has more evangelicals attending church on a Sunday morning than Catholics.
• In India, “as soon as we produce some church models that are culturally acceptable to Hindus,” we may see between 70 and 100 million secret Indian Christians come forth.
• More missionaries are now sent from non-Western nations than from Western nations

These facts about the new realities of Christianity are somewhat mind-boggling. As Rutz says, “God writes history, but human eyes have trouble reading his handwriting. It’s not that he writes too small, but too big.”

Every 25 Minutes

When the Spirit was first poured out on the early Church, 3,000 people were saved in one day. That was amazing. Back then, it was a huge number. However, today approximately 3,000 people get saved, somewhere in the world, every 25 minutes! The math is almost overwhelming.

According to Rutz, often these numbers happen though large events, such as the crusade that Reinhard Bonnke held in Lagos, Nigeria, in November 2000. During those six days and nights, almost 6 million people attended, and 3.4 million registered decisions to follow Christ, over 1 million of them being on the final night. One important element of such events is the widespread healing of all kinds of physical deformities, diseases, and illnesses through the power of the Holy Spirit. At Bonnke’s Nigeria event, over 1,000 physicians were present to examine people and confirm healing s. Bonnke also had 30,000 ushers and spent the six months prior training 200,000 counselors to assist the many converts.

Such massive influxes of new believers are not isolated events, but are increasingly becoming common occurrences. Some have even estimated the advent of a billion new converts within ten years.

“From our vantage point in North America and Europe, where church membership is going nowhere, this sounds like a cooked-up fantasy,” Rutz says. “But it is true. This is the biggest mega-shift in history. Can you think of any time when over a billion people eagerly changed their lives and loyalties in one generation?” Looking at the statistics, we can clearly see that, if growth continues at this rate, whole nations will experience transformation on all levels. In fact, as Rutz predicts, “We are in the early stages of a total transformation of our planet.”

The point of these statistics is clear. The “good ol’ days” were not as good as many of us have assumed they were. When we remove our romanticized lenses in order to see what really was, as well as what really is happening now, we can clearly see that God’s Kingdom is markedly advancing.”

Here’s some more “good news” to consider.

What about China?             

China may have as many as 200 million Christians and growing daily by an estimated  20,000.

“How many Christians are in China?

The lack of credible statistics on how many Christians are in China today have led to estimate that vary widely.

At one end, some Bible organizations claim that there are as many as 200 million Christians in China already.

This figure is corroborated by Xiaowen Ye, head of the Communist Party’s State Administration of Religious Affairs, who reported at a 2006 closed door meeting at Peking University in 2006 that the Protestants in China numbered 110 million.

2014 – 2006 = 8 years. Applying the same conservative annual growth rate of 5% (110 million x 1.05) over those 8 years also results in 163 million as the number of Christians in China as of 2014.*

163 million* is both a large and a small number. There are now more Christians in China than in the United States, but this number still represent only about 12% of China’s 1.4 billion people. As large as the Lord’s harvest is in China, it has only just begun.” Quote from Christianity in China.

“Protestant Christianity has been the fastest growing religion in China. When the CCP took power in the mainland (excluding Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau) in 1949, there were no more than one million Protestant Christians. Following decades of suppression and eradication, the CCP admitted in an official document released in 1982 that there were about three million Protestant Christians. Since then, estimates have varied. The Party-State has insisted on some very low-end estimates, suggesting about 23 million Protestant Christians in 2010; others—including missionary organizations outside China but also a reported internal document of the CCP—have made higher estimates, suggesting as many as 100 to 130 million in 2010. The Pew Research Center’s Report of Global Christianity, after carefully comparing the various estimates and reasoning through survey findings, reports that there were about 58 million Protestant Christians and 9 million Catholics in China in 2010. I think this is a more prudent estimate that may be used to make projections of future growth.” John Templeton Foundation

China on course to become ‘world’s most Christian nation’ within 15 years ( The Telegraph –UK 19 April 2014)

The number of Christians in Communist China is growing so steadily that it by 2030 it could have more churchgoers than America

“By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon,” said Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule.

“It is going to be less than a generation. Not many people are prepared for this dramatic change.”

WHAT ABOUT INDIA?

How India’s ‘Untouchables’ Are Stirring a Spiritual Revolution

10:00AM EST 11/18/2015 J. LEE GRADY

The growth of Christianity in India today is slowly changing the status of women. (J. Lee Grady)

India’s economy is growing, and its population may soon overtake China as the world’s largest. But behind these trends is something much bigger: Christianity is growing faster than government leaders will admit, and the spiritual changes are reshaping a nation that has been identified with Hinduism for thousands of years.

I saw this with my own eyes this week. A miracle is occurring in India that will shake the world in our lifetime.

What is most remarkable about the growth of Christianity in India is that the people spreading the gospel most aggressively are not foreign missionaries but indigenous evangelists who have been stuck at the bottom of the oppressive caste system.

Consider the case of my friend Prasad, who is a Dalit—otherwise known as an “untouchable.” Defying his background, he planted a church in a major city in southern India 20 years ago. Today he oversees more than 100 churches in his region, and he provides hot meals to 1,500 poor children every day at 20 feeding centers where the gospel is served along with rice and vegetables.

Another young pastor named David, who was trained by Prasad, recently moved into a one-room apartment in a slum community on the outskirts of a major Indian city. With a monthly income of less than $200, he and his wife are aggressively sharing Christ with children and adults. Both Muslims and Hindus are converting to Christianity because of the courage of a man who is classified by the caste system as “backward.”

Further south, in a region of India that is known for its ornate Hindu temples, a young evangelist named Raja operates a home for abandoned girls, provides food and clothes to neglected orphans and offers counseling to abused shop workers. He and his brave team use motorcycles to reach remote villages in tribal areas where many of the local Hindus are highly resistant to other religions. Even though he has been pelted with rocks and threatened, Raja has planted churches in 32 communities.

The cruel “untouchable” label was pinned on Prasad, David and Raja when they were growing up. Hinduism teaches that Dalits are outcasts who deserve to be at the bottom of the spiritual scale of human worth. Even though India supposedly outlawed the caste system years ago, Dalits still suffer horribly through social stigma, denial of education, bullying and discrimination in housing and jobs.

Yet despite the continued oppression, Dalits are the key reason the gospel is spreading so quickly in India today. The same people who were told they weren’t worthy enough to enter a Hindu temple are finding that Jesus Christ touched lepers, sinners and other “untouchables” of His day and invited them to dine at His table.

Everywhere I went in India this past week, I met people from the lowest caste background whose lives have been transformed by Christ. They have found true value and dignity after meeting Jesus.

And I was happy to worship with them, hug them, eat with them and remind them that there is no caste system in God’s kingdom.

An intense spiritual war rages in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was elected in 2014 as a self-avowed Hindu hardliner, is working with his pro-Hindu government to stop Christianity’s growth (as well as the growth of Islam). Acts of violence against Christians—including the burning of churches—have increased so much that Open Doors now lists India’s persecution status as “severe.”

But the violence isn’t stopping Dalit believers. As I ministered to groups of pastors this week, it was obvious that they have pulled the rug out from under the old system of Indian oppression. We can expect sweeping changes in India in our generation:

• The caste system will disintegrate. Wherever Christianity goes, true prosperity follows. Today, born-again Dalits are getting high-tech jobs and graduate degrees; the underdogs are overcoming a system that was rigged to oppress them. The more Christianity grows, the more the caste system is becoming irrelevant.
• The killing of baby girls will stop. At least 60 million female babies have gone “missing” in recent years because of either sex-selection abortion or infanticide. This is because many families simply prefer boys for economic reasons, so they killed their baby girls. As early as 1991, the Indian Census began to show a dramatic drop in the girl-to-boy ratio. But today, Christians are rescuing abandoned girls from trash bins and raising them to love Jesus.
• The status of women will shift. In the past, Indian women have suffered silently from domestic abuse, social discrimination and sexual slavery. High-profile cases of violent rapes in the past few years have tarnished India’s global reputation. But now Indian Christians are challenging the dowry system—a tradition that requires families of girls to pay exorbitant fees to their prospective husbands. As Christianity spreads in India, the gospel is elevating the dignity of women, and Christians are educating girls and empowering them to be leaders.

My time in India this week convinced me that we will see a massive miracle unfold in India in our lifetime. A nation that was rigged to favor the rich is literally being turned upside down because poor “untouchables” have been touched by Christ.”

And what about the Muslim world?

Why Muslims Are Becoming the Best Evangelists

Missiologist Dave Garrison documents global surge in Muslims leading Muslims to Christ. He calls it, “Unprecedented.”

Interview by Timothy C. Morgan/ APRIL 22, 2014

Image: Courtesy, WIGTake Resources

Author Garrison subdivides the Islamic world into nine global regions.

After traveling 250,000 miles through Dar al-Islam (“House of Islam”) as Muslims call their world, career missiologist David Garrison came to a startling conclusion:

Muslim background believers are leading Muslims to Christ in staggering numbers, but not in the West.

They are doing this primarily in Muslim-majority nations almost completely under the radar—of everyone. In the new book, A Wind in the House of Islam: How God is Drawing Muslims Around the world.

The first sizable movement of Muslims toward Christianity did not occur until the mid-19th century, nearly 1,300 years after Mohammad established Islam. Garrison said 69 of these movements today are still in process:

• In Algeria, after 100,000 died in Muslim-on-Muslim violence, 10,000 Muslims turned their backs on Islam and were baptized as followers of Christ. This movement has tripled since the late 1990s.
• At the time of the 1979 revolution in Iran, about 500 individual Muslims were following Christ. Garrison projects that today there may be several hundred thousand Christ-followers, mostly worshiping in Iranian house churches.

This really marks an unprecedented turning to Christ. I don’t think it’s ever been captured in a global sweep as it has been here.”

Islam in Fast Demise

In Africa Alone Every day, 16,000 Muslims Leave Islam 

By Ali Sina

“Hitler said if a lie is repeated often enough and long enough, it would come to be perceived as truth. One such lie often repeated is “Islam is the fastest growing religion”.

Despite the fact that Muslims by virtue of being poor and uneducated are much more reproductive than others, Islam as a religion is not growing but dying fast.

More and more Muslims are discovering that the violence evinced by some of their coreligionists is not an aberration but is inspired by the teachings of the Quran and the examples set by its author. Muslims are becoming disillusioned with Islam. They find out that the mechanistic ritual of praying five times per day, reciting verses that they do not understand and indeed mean nothing, getting up at taxing hours of the morning and abstaining from food and water until the sunset are not means to becoming more spiritual but are instruments to control their mind.

These enlightened Muslims no more heed to the fear mongering verses of the Quran that threaten to burn them and roast them in the fires of hell if they dare to think and question the validity of that book.

Every day thousands of Muslim intellectuals are leaving Islam. They find Islam inconsistent with science, logic, human rights and ethics. Millions of Iranians already have left Islam. The enlightened Muslims of other nationalities are not far behind. This is the beginning of a mass exodus from Islam.

It is a movement that is already in motion and nothing can stop it.

However the exodus from Islam is not reserved to the intellectuals but also the average Muslims are finding that Islam is not the way to God but to ignorance, poverty and wars. They are leaving Islam to embrace other religions especially Christianity.

Perhaps it is best to listen to the truth coming from the mouth of the horse. The Internet site aljazeera.net published an interview with Ahmad Al Qataani An important Islamic cleric who said: “In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every day, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity.”

What Muslims say among each other, is not the same thing that they say for the consumption of the Westerners.

These are huge numbers. If this trend continues we can expect to see Islam become insignificant in Africa in just a few decades. This is good news for those who are concerned about the ongoing slavery in Africa and the prospects of war and genocide.

It is important that we realize that this terrorism that is threatening the peace of the world and these wars that bleed the Muslim nations are not economically motivated but are they are hate motivated. They are religious wars. The weakening of Islam means peace for mankind.

Al Qataani and al Jazeera Network were alarmed by these huge numbers of Muslims leaving Islam, but humanity must rejoice over these numbers. The weakening of Islam means the triumph of mankind.

The following is part of the transcript of Al Jazeera’s Interview with Al Qataani translated to English. Here is the original transcript in Arabic

Maher Abdallah:

Dear viewers, peace of Allah be upon you, greetings and welcome to a new episode of the program Islamic Law and Life.

Our topic this evening will be Christianization in the Dark Continent … Africa. For after Islam was the religion of the majority, the great majority of that continent, the number of Muslims now is no greater than a third of the population.

This is taking into consideration, of course, that a large portion of this group are Arab Muslims. No doubt that the missions of evangelization and Christianization played a great role in this demographic shift of Muslims in the continent.

To discuss this topic, it is my pleasure to introduce today a man who is an expert on the issue of evangelization and Christianization in Africa, even though he will concentrate on the issue of Christianization first and foremost…. Sheikh Ahmad Al Qataani; the president of The Companions Lighthouse for the Science of Islamic Law in Libya, which is an institution specializing in graduating imams and Islamic preachers.

Sheikh Ahmad, welcome to you on the program.

Ahmad Al Qataani:

Greeting to you.

Maher Abdallah:

If we start by inquiring about your strict stance against the Christian missions in Africa, don’t the followers of every religion have the right to seek new converts, exactly as you train and graduate young Muslims to propagate Islam?

Ahmad Al Qataani:

The question that you pose is a result of not comprehending the difference between the concept of Christianization and the concept of evangelism.

Islam used to represent, as you previously mentioned, Africa’s main religion and there were 30 African languages that used to be written in Arabic script. The number of Muslims in Africa has diminished to 316 million, half of whom are Arabs in North Africa. So in the section of Africa that we are talking about, the non-Arab section, the number of Muslims does not exceed 150 million people. When we realize that the entire population of Africa is one billion people, we see that the number of Muslims has diminished greatly from what it was in the beginning of the last century. On the other hand, the number of Catholics has increased from one million in 1902 to 329 million 882 thousand (329,882,000). Let us round off that number to 330 million in the year 2000.

As to how that happened, well. there are now 1.5 million churches whose congregations account for 46 million people. In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every day, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity

These numbers are very large indeed …..

Maher Abdallah (interrupting):

Hold on! Let me clarify. Do we have 6 million converting from Islam to Christianity or converting from Islam and other religions?

Maher Abdallah:

So 6 million Muslims a year convert?

Maher Abdallah:

My dear viewers welcome back to this episode where we are speaking about the topic of Christianization in the African continent and we are speaking with the Sheikh who is observing and following this issue, as each hour Islam loses just under 700 Muslims who join the Christian religion which leads us to the number of 6 million Muslims every year.”

 And what effect is ISIS having on Muslims?

ISIS seen undermining Islamic faith as more Muslims convert to Christianity

Monica Cantilero 08 June 2015

Islam will reportedly become the world’s largest religion 55 years from now based on recent projections, but the barbarous practices of the Islamic State could undermine the growth of the world’s Muslim population, experts said.

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, Christianity and Islam will be near parity by 2050, with Christians expected to comprise 31.4 percent of the planet’s population against 29.7 percent who follow Islam.

The study said Islam will grow more than twice as fast as any other major religion over the next half century because of a higher fertility rate in Muslim dominated countries.

However, Muslims frightened by the inhumane acts by the ISIS, which the militants claim they are doing in the name of their god Allah, are now questioning their very own faith, and presumably considering to leave it, CBS News reported on Friday.

This is backed by testimonies from missionaries working in the Islamic world who noted that more Muslims have converted to Christianity in the last 14 years since the devastating Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US. The number of converts in the recent period, they said, is greater than during the entire 14 centuries of Islamic history.

“Many Muslims are saying, ‘If ISIS is Islam, I’m leaving.’ Some are becoming atheists,” said Brother Rachid, who hosts a Christian program reaching Muslims called “Daring Questions” in Arabic language. “There is a huge wave of atheism in the Arab world right now and many are turning to Jesus Christ. Islam was never faced with this crisis before.”

“Islam is going to collapse,” added Brother Rachid, whose father is a Moroccan imam who lived as a secret Christian convert for 15 years.

Pastor Fouad Rasho of Angered Alliance Church in Sweden, who has baptized more than a hundred former Muslims, maintained that ISIS causes many Muslims to come to Jesus.

“Every week I meet one or more persons who come to me and want to know more about Christianity and the Bible because they are very angry about being a Muslim. They don’t want to continue to be Muslim,” said Imran, who is also an immigrant from Syria.”

So Where does all this lead us?

So these are just a few bright spots against a dark, dismal backdrop painted daily by world events and media barrage emphasizing the negative.

I have always been “the glass is half full” guy and believe without a doubt that the best days are yet ahead for believers in Jesus, the advancement of His Kingdom and consequently for the world.

There is always hope where there is Jesus.

His work is finished so ours can be completed in His Kingdom Expansion in the earth. He sent His Holy Spirit to live inside us to carry out His purposes in the earth, not for us to sit around and wait for Him to return to take us all away but for us to make a difference here and now for His Kingdom and to prepare the way for His return.

We are living now by His design to play a part in seeing His Kingdom of forgiveness, grace and love permeate the entire world. He has empowered us with all that we need to accomplish this while we are here.

His Kingdom will continue to expand and will fill the earth until He returns.

Now that’s Good News!

“Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28,29.

 

Being Still

BEING STILL

Distractions  intentional as well as unintentional bombard our daily lives like no other time in history.

We all are infected unless we have moved to a remote corner of the world with no phones, no cell service and no cable or satellite totally off the grid.

As an example, as you read this, where is your cell phone? How far is it at this moment from your person?

I remember in 1997 traveling to Singapore and Malaysia. What made the greatest impression on me about the culture was that everybody had a handheld cell phone and they were all talking on them at the same time wherever I was. It was amazing because handheld cell phones had not yet caught on here and if you had a cell phone it was called a car phone because that’s where you primarily used them.

In just 18 years look at the transformation technology has brought to us to the point that it has affected every level of our societal interactions and created a dependency for staying “plugged in” constantly.

Now I’m not writing this to down play the importance of these portable devises. In fact as I write this mine is maybe a foot away. I’m just suggesting that we slow down for half a minute and think about this and the impact of continuous electronic updates and the flood of information we swim in daily.

Saturday I had a novel experience. I was planning on heading to our beach here in our community on the bay where I like to go for some solitude as there’s usually no one there and it’s a great spot right on the water with a private sand beach.

I had been wanting to download some classical instrumental music as I have missed listening to it so I went through some old CD’s to find what I wanted and found some other old ones as well. One of them was Eric Clapton’s “Unplugged”. Not necessarily one of my favorites but I do like Clapton and thought maybe I might enjoy having it on my phone. I never got around to it but the title jumped out at me; “Unplugged”.

As I started ripping one of my classical albums, I got impatient with how long it was taking so I decided to do it later and head to the beach as it was around 3 something and it gets dark around 5. So I made my way to the beach got there did my usual routine of setting up my chair, pouring some water into a thermal mug with ice and sitting down then I realized, I didn’t bring my phone and my Bluetooth!

I thought for a moment about what to do then I realized things happen for a reason so this being the first time ever that I didn’t bring my phone, I asked the Lord, what’s up and heard “your unplugged”.

What was amazing about this was the conditions at the beach were mysteriously “quiet”. I have never been to our beach and heard so much silence. It was eerie. There were hardly any waves, the bay looked like a calm lake, there were hardly any boats and the sky hung like a light grey blanket with dark streaks and little movement.

The acoustics were like a quiet soundstage waiting for an event to start and it stayed like that the entire time I was there, for a couple of hours.

For a good while, I was quiet, listening to the quite. The waves sounded like breathing as they slowly and quietly broke the silence as they gently lapped against  the shore. I noticed sounds like someone’s AC kicking on and then going off, the boats a mile away puttering along.  An occasional jet overhead leaving Destin /Ft. Walton Beach Airport and then more silence.

I watched the pelicans sail a few inches over the water and then heard the slow prolonged splash as they landed. I watched the waves in patterns coming towards me and saw the faint ripples of a breeze skim the water and an occasional mullet jumping two or three times in a row. And then the silence would return and I just breathed and rested relaxing in the moment.

I also never wear my watch to the beach so I had no way to know what time it was other than when it began to grow dark and the lights began to come on across the water a few miles away in Destin, Okaloosa Island and Ft. Walton Beach all visible from my vantage point on the bay.

When I go to our beach for some “me time” it is a time when I reflect on what’s going on and try to connect with the Lord privately.  So, as I listened to this intense silence in a place of stillness I asked Him again  “Lord, what’s up?”,  I heard

“BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.”

So I did. For a good long while I was still and tried to quiet my mind and not think about anything other than to enjoy my surroundings and take it all in. It was amazingly peaceful, relaxing and restful.

After enjoying the quiet for a good while,  I decided to meditate on this phrase one word at a time saying it over each time slowly emphasizing the next word and pausing to reflect and meditate on the meaning of each word.

What took place was amazing. It was like being taken to another realm of reality where time seemed to slow down or at least I wasn’t time conscious. I let my thoughts float around and examine each word to draw the meaning and life out of it like slowly enjoying a tasty morsel of filet mignon.

My consciousness expanded to include God in my thought process and to allow my thoughts to go in His direction. Here’s a few observations I remember that came from this experience:

Be– being not doing, existence as a created human being not human doing, just breath, it’s OK to just Be.

STILL– quite, not moving, not doing, observing, listening, waiting, peace, not thinking (which is hard to do.)

And- conjunctively connecting to the next thing which required doing the first two things; BE STILL before the next can happen.

KNOW– as in knowing intellectually however in the Hebrew “Yada”, intimately knowing, familiar, safe, secure, emotionally grounded by being known, loved and accepted completely by the one I’m invited to Be Still and Know.

That– a fact , a reality to be dealt with that is just that a fact.

I – personal identifier spoken in the first person by a person. The one who became like us, flesh and blood and who still lives in a human body in Heaven, wherever that is. I know He went up so it’s up there somewhere, another dimension like an “alternate reality” that exists at the same time as our existence yet transcends all limitations of our known reality. It has to be a place somewhere for his body to exists like a physical place right? Maybe beyond the known galaxies out there in space somewhere or maybe it’s an “other dimension” that could be right here where we are right now with like a tissue paper thin veil that separates us. (OK I got a bit carried away with this one)

AM- self existent one who self sustains all with no limit to power or dimension or scope or range; ever existing, no beginning and no end, forever yet outside of time living in what I call the eternal “now”. Beyond comprehension. What would it be like to live forever with no beginning and no end yet always  now? My head is hurting. Next word.

 GOD- what can I say that I didn’t already say. He’s God. There’s no other one, just Him. And He invites me to just, Be Still and Know that He is God. This means that all that He is is available to me to know  which is unlimited in every aspect of His person. With all eternity before us, we will always be getting to Know Him in all His fullness forever in ever increasing measure from glory to glory infinitum.

This is available for everyone who will just “Be Still” and take time to experience Him. He obviously wants to be known by us otherwise why invite us to know Him.

This is the invitation to all whosoever’s that come to Him through believing Jesus who said He is the only way to know and experience God.

And why would he offer such an invitation to know Him?

 “For God So greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.” John 3:16-17 AMP

Jesus, the one who removed all the obstacles of humankind’s failings through His sacrificial gift of Himself, on a cross in our place, the One who became sin in our place so we could receive His free gift of His righteousness; the ultimate gift of love exchanged when there was absolutely nothing we could do to save ourselves and nothing we could offer to Him other than to surrender ourselves to Him and receive life eternal from Him. So one sided. All Him. None of Us. Ours to freely receive if we can just believe it is true. Undeserved, Unearned, Unmerited Favor.; Jesus truly is amazing grace offering this invitation; to Know Him.

There is a lot to this “Being Still” for us to learn. I suspect we will be growing in this from now on.

I am grateful that He arranged the circumstances so I could “unplug” for just a few moments and spend some time Being Still. I recommend intentionally taking some time to “unplug” and just Be still and Know that He is God. Then you can write something like this and post it on Facebook, like I’m doing or get a blog and let the world know about it on Word Press, or send a text with a selffie of you being still or well you get the idea. After all it’s good to share.

WHY GOLD MATTERS

Source: WHY GOLD MATTERS

WHY GOLD MATTERS

WHY GOLD MATTERS

 For quite some time now I have been watching the global news and developments regarding gold. Being a part of the industry now makes it a higher priority than in the past. What I am about to share is what I consider crucial to understanding the times in which we live and the role that gold plays in it now and into the future and how it will affect our lives.

 Where it all began

The first mention of gold is in the second chapter of Genesis where it says in verse 10 “A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

12 Gold from that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also there.”

 Gold is mentioned from Genesis to Revelation and is used both as physical gold and references to spiritual attributes as well such as our “tried faith is worth more than refined gold.” That verse would imply that in New Testament times, gold was perceived to be the ultimate material measure of worth.

Gold and silver metals which I believe include platinum group metals have from the beginning of time been considered measurements of wealth and a means of trade and exchange.

Coinage dates back to 2,700 B.C. with the Sater, a mixture of gold and silver pictured here:

“The use of gold as proto-money has been traced back to the fourth millennium BC when the Egyptians used gold bars of a set weight as a medium of exchange, as had been done earlier in Mesopotamia with silver bars.”

We know from the bible that Abraham was a very wealthy man.

“Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.” Genesis 13:2.

One of the most intriguing verses to me is found in Haggai where the Lord is quoted as saying

“The silver and gold belong to Me” — this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts. “

The fact that the silver and gold according to the Creator belongs to Him creates a unique paradigm for considering the role of precious metals in the world and to gaining an understanding of what in the world is going on, when it comes to gold.

Our World today-

The world is a rapidly changing place. What we have come to know and rely on for stability, predictability, security, and a sense of direction is up for grabs.

 I believe the cultures of the world ultimately reflect the inherent belief systems of the various people groups and nations of the world.

As an example, our nation, founded on biblical principles with a fairly clear sense of right and wrong and justice and human life being the greatest value, has over the past two hundred years cut loose of its foundation and is adrift upon popular public opinion that seems to be shifting morally to the extent that in many cases what was previously considered right is now wrong and what was wrong is now right.

In World War II, over fifty million people died in the battle to counter evil and to reestablish liberty.

 A noble self-sacrificing cause for those on the right side.

Since 1973 in the United States alone over fifty million babies have been killed in their mother’s wombs.

 An ignoble self-centered cause for those only concerned for themselves and their personal convenience.

The purpose of this writing is not to dwell on the atrocities occurring in our society and on a global basis where Christians are the most persecuted people on earth and are experiencing more persecution than in any other period of history, but to demonstrate that the lack of valuing human life on a global scale is a reality that I believe reflects a world in chaos desperate to find stability and personal security at just about any price and looking to blame someone for their lack of it.

 Without God, the world has no hope and no security for its future yet it is desperate to find it somehow and someway even at the great cost of human liberty and life.

 Historical and Biblical Perspective-

As I began this by introducing the fact that gold has been around since the beginning of time and has been considered a measurement and means of determining wealth, I will now return to that idea in light of the backdrop of the world we now live in and the purpose and function it has had and  will have in the world in our lifetime.

Trade of goods and services has always needed a stable means of determining value within a given culture. As I mentioned earlier, the government of Egypt 6,000 years ago established monetary value based on gold as the standard of measurement. By doing this everyone could determine value for the goods and services on an agreed upon basis thus creating a system of economic trade with a sense of stability and predictability. Such a system fosters a level of trust and dependency for financial security with everyone in unity agreeing upon the values.

Weights and measures are part of the Mosaic Law and were considered important even by God himself who warned against false representation. In Proverbs it says “Differing weights and varying measures — both are detestable to the Lord.”

In Deuteronomy 25:15 it says, “You must have a full and honest weight, a full and honest dry measure, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For everyone who does such things and acts unfairly is detestable to the Lord your God.”

So fairness and equitable standards are important to God. When these are violated He considers this a detestable thing and something that can lead to shortening of life. This is true for individuals as well as nations and how they conduct business.

One of the fundamental principles in the formation of our country and in fact the same principles affect all nations, was in attempting to establish a basis for evaluating our currency. There’s much written on the history of money in our country and I will not detour into that area but recommend looking into it.

 One note however referencing gold and silver is found in our Constitution.

“Runaway inflation and the collapse of the Continental currency prompted delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 to include the gold and silver clause in the United States Constitution, preventing individual States from issuing their own bills of credit. Article One states they were prohibited to “make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”

The short version is that gold and silver have been the primary standards behind our currency since 1785.

During brief periods, war times especially, the currency was taken off the standards and temporarily became what is known as a “fiat” currency, not backed by anything other than the government and the perceived value of it.

For the purpose of this writing, I am going to reference our recent history and the role that gold has played.

Towards the end of World War II in the summer of 1944, a meeting occurred in Bretton Woods, Massachusetts.

“The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, to regulate the international monetary and financial order after the conclusion of World War II.

The conference was held in July 1944. Agreements were executed that later established the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). (This also led to the creation of the World Bank. my added note)

After the Second World War, a system similar to a gold standard and sometimes described as a “gold exchange standard” was established by the Bretton Woods Agreements.

Under this system, many countries fixed their exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar and central banks could exchange dollar holdings into gold at the official exchange rate of $35 per ounce; this option was not available to firms or individuals.”

 All currencies pegged to the dollar thereby had a fixed value in terms of gold.

In 1971, Richard Nixon through an “executive order” took our currency off the gold standard and the dollar became a fiat currency backed by the perceived value of the United States. One of the reasons for this was the fact that there were more dollars in circulation than the gold reserves could support. More money was allowed to be printed than could be backed up by the gold held in reserve by the government.

It’s interesting to note that from that point in the next nine years until 1980 gold rose in value from $35 an ounce to $850 an ounce once gold was allowed to seek its own level of value after having being restricted to an artificially controlled price since 1944.

“Since 1999, the dollar has fallen in value from about 123 mg of gold to less than 21 mg today – a drop of more than 80%. Overall, from 1900 to 2010, the dollar fell from 1500 mg to 25 mg, losing over 98% of its purchasing power.”

This chart shows the value of the dollar in milligrams of gold from 1787 to the present:

The practice of fixing other nation’s currencies to the dollar persists even to this day.

Many commodities especially oil have been traded exclusively in U.S. dollars for the past forty years.

The primary reason the U.S. can continue to print money 24/7, about half a billion each day, is that as the world leading fiat currency many other currencies and commodities are pegged to it and are dependent upon it and goods and services are traded primarily in dollars between nations of the world.

The average cost of printing a note is 10 cents, regardless of the face value; $1, $10, $100. That’s what is amazing about the system. Nothing is given in exchange for these notes but the promise of the United States of America that it’s worth what they say its worth. And by the way, have you noticed it is just a “promissory note” backed by the Federal Reserve Bank to be worth exactly what they say it is worth but exchangeable for nothing tangible, like gold?

Recent estimates show that between one-half and two-thirds of U.S. currency in circulation is held abroad. As long as other nations agree to play along and support the fact that the U.S. dollar is the sole determining factor for determining values and exchange of goods and services, there’s not a problem.

But what would happen if nations decided not to participate any longer and came up with alternatives to the dollar? What would happen to the perceived value of the dollar and more importantly what would happen to the possible two thirds of the U.S. currency in circulation abroad?

 SDR’S

Another important historical fact occurred in 1969. This is when the IMF established what is known as SDR’s.

Here is an explanation taken directly from their website:

“The SDR was created by the IMF in 1969 to support the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system. A country participating in this system needed official reserves—government or central bank holdings of gold and widely accepted foreign currencies—that could be used to purchase the domestic currency in foreign exchange markets, as required to maintain its exchange rate. But the international supply of two key reserve assets—gold and the U.S. dollar—proved inadequate for supporting the expansion of world trade and financial development that was taking place. Therefore, the international community decided to create a new international reserve asset under the auspices of the IMF.

Only a few years after the creation of the SDR, the Bretton Woods system collapsed and the major currencies shifted to a floating exchange rate regime. In addition, the growth in international capital markets facilitated borrowing by creditworthy governments. Both of these developments lessened the need for the SDR. However, more recently, the 2009 SDR allocations totaling SDR 182.6 billion have played a critical role in providing liquidity to the global economic system and supplementing member countries’ official reserves amid the global financial crisis.

 Basket of currencies determines the value of the SDR

The value of the SDR was initially defined as equivalent to 0.888671 grams of fine gold—which, at the time, was also equivalent to one U.S. dollar. After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1973, the SDR was redefined as a basket of currencies. Today the SDR basket consists of the euro, Japanese yen, pound sterling, and U.S. dollar. The value of the SDR in terms of the U.S. dollar is determined daily and posted on the IMF’s website. It is calculated as the sum of specific amounts of the four basket currencies valued in U.S. dollars, on the basis of exchange rates quoted at noon each day in the London market.

The basket composition is reviewed every five years by the Executive Board, or earlier if the IMF finds changed circumstances warrant an earlier review, to ensure that it reflects the relative importance of currencies in the world’s trading and financial systems. In the most recent review (in November 2010), the weights of the currencies in the SDR basket were revised based on the value of the exports of goods and services, and the amount of reserves denominated in the respective currencies that were held by other members of the IMF. These changes became effective on January 1, 2011. In October 2011, the IMF Executive Board discussed possible options for broadening the SDR currency basket. Most directors held the view that the current criteria for SDR basket selection remained appropriate.

The next review is currently scheduled to take place by the end of 2015.”

Whether you took time to read all of this or not, please note the highlighted statements and particularly the last one.

This brings us to the present which is where I want to share what I am observing taking place in real time, meaning right now and the importance of what I have shared in terms of the place gold plays currently and will play in the immediate future. As Bob Dylan prophetically sang back in the 1960’s;

“The times they are a changing!”

 Present day realities

SDR’s- The significance of the SDR program to provide stability to the world economies has served to primarily keep the U.S. dollar propped up as the primary global fiat currency. SDR’s or the basket of currencies are all measured and evaluated daily in U.S. dollars.

Unfortunately, one of the down sides to this is that now the IMF primarily has moved into the role of every five years determining what all of those currencies are worth. The next evaluation was scheduled to take place before the end of this year as the review is every five years but for some reason has been put off until January 2016

Obama is pressing to have this extended to the end of next year, 2016 after the national elections. Why would he want to do this? Out of concern for the outcome of the evaluation and how that might affect the country in an election year. Why should he be concerned? The IMF looks at the countries represented in the “basket” as to their value based on the country’s GDP, debt load, trade and other economic indicators such as the rate of economic growth and projected growth. Our growth is projected to be at about half of what it has been for the past fifty years for the next ten. This could adversely affect the dollar and its value on a global basis as well as the other currencies which have suffered losses in recent days.( As of two days ago, the IMF did agree to put off the review until September 2016.)

 Negative Interest Rates?

Value for currencies are also related to what can be charged in the form of interest without negatively affecting the economies they support. The stronger the perceived value of the currency the higher the interest rate is the typical scenario however since the bottom fell out in 2008 the Federal Reserve Bank has kept their interest rate near or at 0%.

There were recent rumblings that this was about to change and that an increase was on its way. In September of this year that disappeared. Statements from the Fed now indicate it may be before the end of the year however there is some speculation that it might even go the way of the European Banking system  that decided to go negative this past year. Interest rates historically have been used to control inflation and deflation within a given economy. The 0% was designed to help stabilize the U.S. economy after the crash of 2008. Only the Fed knows for sure what they will do next.

The Central Bank of Europe is now charging interest to the banks in their system for the Euros they hold in their banks. This is seen as a desperate effort to force banks to put their Euros into circulation in an attempt to prop up a troubled economy. Some of the banks, including the Swiss banks are passing the charge to their large depositors and charging interest for keeping money in their banks.

The Euro like the Dollar is a Fiat currency backed by the perceived value of the European Union.

Both currencies along with Japan’s Yen and the U.K’s pound are up for reevaluation by the IMF which could affect the value and strength of the dollar on a global basis because SDR’s are quoted in U.S. dollar values.

 A New World Currency?

Perhaps one of the most significant events taking place is the establishment of an alternate currency system to the dollar based IMF system  known as the BRICS  Development Banking System.

BRICS is made up of currencies from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Here’s a recent statement regarding this emerging currency system:

“The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank operated by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as an alternative to the existing American and European-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The goal of the bank is to “mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries”.

The bank is headquartered in Shanghai, China. Each participant country holds an equal number of shares and equal voting rights, and none of the countries will have veto power.”

Though this sounds good and rather “humanitarian” the purpose of the NDB is to establish an new means of trade bypassing the U.S. dollar as the primary means of exchange.

Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a former World Bank staff member.

Here’s a recent quote:

“In other words, a large junk of hydrocarbons will as of immediately no longer be traded in US (petro) dollars, but in rubles and yuan’s and their partners respective local currencies. This will reduce worldwide demand for the petro dollar. The US is able to maintain pressure on other currencies, currently the ruble, only as long as the petro dollar remains the major world reserve currency. This is the main reason why Washington gets away with a seven-fold indebted dollar (i.e. total outstanding and uncovered commitments are currently more than 7 times higher than the US GDP (US$ 17.6 trillion, 2014 est. – vs. US$ 128 trillion of unmet obligations); making the US worldwide the most indebted country – by far. Once the demand for the (petro) dollar fades – as hydrocarbons are no longer dealt in dollars – the value of the dollar will decline and at worst may result in hyperinflation in the dollar economies, including those closely linked to the US economy.”

Wars for dominance have been fought from the beginning of time. In these days the wars being waged are politically driven by currencies. Since 1944 the U.S. Dollar has dominated world currencies as the major world reserve currency. This appears to be in the process of shifting and the repercussions could have major impact to not only the U.S. economy but also for all those closely linked to the US economy.

 So what does this have to do with gold?

Good question. To answer this question let me share some pertinent information regarding what has been transpiring over the past several years with gold.

There has been an alignment behind the scenes of major purchases of gold from guess who?

Russia, China, and India. The primary large scale purchasing has been done by China and Russia but there are other interesting alignments taking place as well.

This article came across this week announcing a new policy regarding gold in India:

“India to roll out gold monetization plan”

Andrew Topf | October 25, 2015 

India has a plan to pull more gold into its banks, and the general public is set to play a pivotal role in the program.

On Sunday Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the scheme to “monetize” the precious metal could be ready in weeks. Under the plan, people who own physical gold will be allowed to put their metal into banks and earn interest until it is withdrawn. The idea is to mobilize the thousands of tonnes of gold estimated to be sitting idle in Indian households. “Please, don’t let your gold be dead money,” Reuters quotes Modi as saying. “Gold is very important for the country. Gold can become an economic strength for us.”

India is the world’s top consumer of bullion, with many Indians placing high value on the precious metal as jewelry, often given as a gift, and as a store of value.

The country consumes close to 1,000 tonnes a year, with most of the gold imported; the gold monetization plan is a way to keep the metal in the country and avoid a situation that occurred in 2013, when high gold imports pushed India into a record current account deficit of $190 billion.

In May the Economic Times reported that the Indian public hold 20,000 tonnes of the yellow metal in jewelry, coins and gold bars.

Gold has been pouring into India since the government a year ago scrapped gold import restrictions, including the 80:20 rule, which required gold traders to export 20 percent of the gold that they imported.”

The question is why is India making this unprecedented move to monetize gold and even pay interest to depositors? The reason is to increase the gold reserves of their national banking system and in affect strengthen their currency with the backing of gold reserves.

 What about China?

Here are some comments on the trends in China:

This article is from 2013 showing a trend that has taken place over the past couple of years:

China and the Yuan RMB-

“Up until recently, the yuan was only directly convertible into dollars and yen.  But now that is rapidly changing.  So far this year, the Chinese government has entered into currency convertibility agreements with Australia and New Zealand.

So instead of having to change yuan into U.S. dollars to trade with Australia and New Zealand, now China can cut U.S. dollars completely out of the process.

But right now there is nothing that really gives the Chinese yuan a significant competitive edge over the U.S. dollar.  If Chinese authorities truly want the yuan to end up replacing the U.S. dollar as the primary reserve currency of the planet, they need to do something that will make the rest of the world want to use it.

And they could do that by backing the yuan with gold.  In fact, there are persistent rumors that China has been busily preparing for that.

For example, the Economic Policy Journal recently pointed out that Dr. Pippa Malmgren, the President and founder of Principalis Asset Management who once worked in the White House as an adviser to President Bush, is claiming that China has plans to turn the yuan into “a hard, gold-backed currency” that will have a distinct competitive edge over the rapidly depreciating paper currencies that the rest of the globe is currently using…The most interesting piece of the puzzle is that the Chinese have emerged as the biggest buyers of gold, mainly off-market. They want the yuan to emerge as a hard, gold-backed currency in a world where everyone else has chosen to inflate and devalue.

The recent bilateral currency deals with Australia, France, Russia and Singapore, and many others, reflect this desire to displace the USD as the world’s reserve currency.

Countries have been battling each other in order to cheapen their currencies. The problem with a cheaper currency is that commodities cost more. So China has decided to opt for a higher currency.

The move in the yuan overnight was one of the most significant upticks I have seen. Like I said, the yuan moved to an all-time high. The yuan has advanced roughly 5% against the US dollar in just nine months. China also imported over 200 tons of gold for the most recent month. That is an extraordinary number. At that rate that’s over 2,400 tons of gold per year on an annualized basis.

This simply speeds up the point at which China will be the largest gold holder in the world.

 China saw gold come down and they didn’t just buy on the dip, instead they bought as much as the market would give them. And, again, you see the yuan going up so that is making the price of gold even cheaper for the Chinese. It’s only a matter of time before the Chinese back the yuan with gold. This will push the yuan front and center as a key element in terms of being part of the world’s reserve currency basket. China gets the message. They are doing whatever it takes to establish their dominance in the world, particularly in the commodity arena. Their currency is flying and they are importing as much gold as they possibly can. And without a doubt, China has been hoarding massive amounts of gold.  Everyone agrees on that.  But what nobody knows is exactly how much gold China currently has stockpiled, because China is not telling anybody.

One recent estimate put China’s gold reserves at more than 7,000 tons of gold, but it could potentially be far higher than that.  When China does finally tell the rest of us how much gold they have, they will probably be just a move or two away from checkmate.

What we do know is that China is importing absolutely enormous amounts of gold right now even though China is also the number one gold producer on the planet.

According to Reuters, more than 223 tons of gold was imported into China from Hong Kong in March.  That smashed the previous record of 114 tons in December.

Overall, Chinese imports of gold from Hong Kong tripled in 2012, and the final number for 2013 is going to absolutely smash what we saw in 2012. (three years ago)

Obviously something is happening.

China is massively hoarding gold at the same time that it is trying to substantially raise the international influence of the yuan.

It doesn’t take a genius to see where all of this is headed.

If China does decide to back the yuan with gold and no longer use the U.S. dollar in international trade, it will have devastating effects on the U.S. economy.  Demand for the U.S. dollar and U.S. debt would drop like a rock, and prices on the things that we buy every day would soar.  At that point you could forget about cheap gasoline or cheap Chinese imports.  Our entire way of life depends on the U.S. dollar being the primary reserve currency of the world and being able to import things very inexpensively.  If the rest of the world (led by China) starts to reject the U.S. dollar, it would result in a massive tsunami of currency coming back to our shores and a very painful adjustment in our standard of living.  Today, most U.S. currency is actually used outside of the United States.  If someday that changes and we are no longer able to export our inflation that is going to mean big trouble for us.

So keep an eye on China, and look out for any news about the yuan. It won’t happen next week or next month, but eventually we could see China back the yuan with gold. When that happens, it is going to be a complete and utter financial disaster for the United States.”

Since this article was written, the Chinese Yuan has risen from near the bottom of the list of global currencies to the number four currency bumping Japan out of that position.

 Ken Ford, president of Warwick Valley Financial Advisors, said China has been pressing to be included in the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights, or SDR, currency basket. “So they want to show that they have accumulated enough, but do not want to show their whole hand because it may spook the markets,” he said.

China has undertaken economic reforms aimed at persuading the IMF to include the yuan in the basket, which would accelerate its acceptance as a reserve currency. Read: China’s yuan has ‘Long March’ to reserve-currency status

Or, China could be “lowballing” their reserves to maintain confidence in its substantial U.S. dollar holdings, according to Mark O’Byrne, research director at GoldCore in Dublin.

But lifting the yuan’s potential as a global reserve currency is what’s behind China’s move to lift the shroud of mystery surrounding its hoard of gold.

“China has ambitions to create a global reserve currency to challenge the hegemony of the U.S. dollar and fill the void created by the declining holdings by central banks of the euro. ” Norman said.

And the Chinese “clearly recognize gold’s role in providing credibility and status to what would be a new currency on the international stage,” he said.

 The IMF will be considering the inclusion of the yuan “under the special drawing rights in October (now pushed to September 2016 my note) evidently the PBOC has more legwork to do if they want to be taken seriously,” he said. That could mean China will be adding a lot more gold to its reserves in the months to come.” (Two days ago the IMF indicated that China’s Yuan will be voted on to be added to the basket of currencies in September 2016)

So China wants in on the SDR basket to boost the credibility of their currency and at the same time is home of The New Development Bank now on line to compete with and bypass the dollar as the world fiat currency.

It is clear that their long and short term objective is to become the dominant currency of the world. In order to accomplish this objective they will need to divest themselves of U.S. dollars which they are doing even to the extent of recently purchasing gold with a record sale of U.S. treasuries.

Because they hold large amounts of dollars it will take time for the process to transpire without causing problems that could occur from dumping the dollars too fast. And as many have speculated their objective could be to build their gold reserves to the level that could support their currency as a form of the gold standard.

No one knows for sure, except the Chinese how much gold they actually have on hand. The fact that they have become the largest purchaser indicates the direction they are headed; to the gold standard or where gold plays a major role in the value of the Yuan.

 And what about Russia?

 Putin is the other driving force behind the New Development Bank (BRICS). Surprisingly, the Russian Ruble is already backed by gold. In fact the Russian debt is only 15% of their annual GDP compared to nearly 100% for Europe and 102.98 percent in 2014 for the U.S.

Russia is now in position to bypass selling oil in petro dollars. Many speculate that the sudden drop in oil prices last year was a manipulated attempt to retaliate against and damage Russia. But it backfired.

Here’s a recent comment by Peter Koenig:

“More than a year ago, Russia started selling her hydrocarbons in rubles and local currencies of her trading partners, like China and other BRICS countries. Today Russia is selling her hydrocarbon in gold – yes, in physical gold. The west did not count with the quick analytical thinking of Mr. Putin’s. He will accept artificially inflated dollars and then immediately exchange them for gold, thereby increasing Russia’s gold reserves dramatically. Already today, the ruble is backed by gold – a reality the west with its casino currencies is quiet about.”…” In the meantime and as Russia’s gold reserves increase, Russia has established an alternative SWIFT system. (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication- bank messaging service used globally)

It is currently being tested internally but could go global within a few months – so that any country wanting to avoid the corrupt dollar casino scheme could use the new system for international monetary exchanges. That combined with ever more countries willing and daring to trade their hydrocarbons in their own currencies or currencies other than the dollar, will further lower demand on the petro-dollar. In addition, under their economic alliance, Russia and China may soon launch a new currency, a basket of currencies that could be joined by other nations ready and willing to abandon the fraudulent western fiat scheme. Immediate candidates would be the other BRICS and the countries of the SCO.(The New Development Bank)

The system could function in the same way as did the Euro at the beginning – as a basket of currencies each valued according to some key indicators of its national economy. – Initially the new monetary system might be gold based – as opposed to the current fiat money with no backing whatsoever. (So the writer thinks that the new currency may be backed to some degree by gold but not necessarily entirely. My note)

Such a new monetary system may soon cover 25% to one third of the world economy, thereby becoming fully autonomous. The petro-dollar would further lose its stature as world reserve. Ten years ago 90% of world reserves consisted of dollar-nominated securities. Today that ratio has shrunk to a mere 60%, as currencies like the Yuan is rapidly gaining ground as reserve money, especially in Asia. Even Australia has recently declared it will increase its Yuan holding.

The drop of the dollar as the world’s major reserve currency is Washington’s biggest nightmare, and has been for the last 15-20 years, when first Iran and then Iraq (Iraq’s oil for food program) and Venezuela threatened to sell their hydrocarbon in Euros. At that time this economically strategic move was not so much meant as an affront to the US, but rather a measure of security for their own economies, as worldwide trust in the US dollar was waning then and now.”

 So what’s the point?

 I’m an eternal optimist when it comes to life. I repel “doom and gloomer’s” and want no part in there “end times” fear mongering. In fact, I believe the best days are still ahead of us and that those days can be the best of times and the worst of times simultaneously, depending on how we are prepared to handle change.

Living by faith is a way of life that I have had 45 years to practice. More so I would say in the past seventeen years since I took the plunge into full time entrepreneurship. It has been quite a ride emotionally, spiritually and financially.

The one thing I have learned is that the journey is rarely in a straight line. In fact my experience has been more like “a long and winding road”, to borrow a line from Paul McCartney.

What sustains me on this life journey is one thing; knowing the Lord Jesus is with me and for me.

He sees the end from the beginning and is not bound by time or circumstance and is never caught by surprise with any turn of events. In fact, I believe he personally orchestrates and reveals His plan as we go along with our eyes fixed on Him. I also believe that He only has good in mind and planned for us no matter what things may look like.

The fact is, I am more excited about the future now than at any other time in my life. I believe He has pulled the curtain back to show me some of the behind the scenes of what is unfolding in the world and how to prepare for it and prosper in it so that I can be positioned to fulfill His purpose and plan for His Kingdom in the earth.

It is for this reason that I have taken time to put this information together in order to share a way through all that is happening and how to rise above and excel in what He may call you to do.

 So where are we today?

 If you were to go into your local bank today and were allowed to see the vault and all the cash on hand in the bank, you might be surprised at what you would find there. I would venture to guess that if you could find $20,000 in cash on any given day it would surprise me. Banks only hold cash to cash checks.

So where is the rest of the money? It’s in the internet world of cyber space. But wait a minute. You put your check in and expected to see cash in your account. Well it’s there but it’s not there. And if you should be so bold as to request your cash you may find that you are limited to how much you can withdraw at one time. For amounts over $10,000 you may be asked to wait 7 to 14 days and a SAR (Suspicious Activity Report) will be filed on your withdrawal. The bank is required to report any withdrawals of $5,000 or more to the IRS and to file a SAR on withdrawals of $10,000 or more.

We have moved into the realm of a cashless system with only a remnant of paper money. Not to try to go too deep into the banking system and how it works, which quite frankly I don’t understand and doubt anyone really does, we live “by faith” that the system will work as it always has and when we need cash there’s always the ATM on the corner to reassure us that our cash is available 24/7. It gives us a sense of security and confidence that our faith is well placed and we really don’t want to think about it too much.

In the meantime the world is rapidly changing and what we have put our faith in may not be as reliable as we would like to believe. I know they’re doing the best that they can because after all they have our best interest at heart, right?                         

Let’s say for sake of argument that the U.S. dollar is in fact artificially inflated and on a dangerous path of just printing more $100 notes for about 10 cents to pay the debts of the U.S. government.

How long do you think other countries are going to want to keep accepting them when there are alternatives that are actually worth more than the paper they’re printed on, say backed by gold?

Fortunately, the U.S. is the world’s largest holder of gold reserves. In fact we hold 8,133 metric tons of gold. Well let’s see how much that’s worth. Say gold is selling today for $1,100 an ounce. Sixteen ounces in a pound and 2,204 pounds per metric ton. Let me work on that a minute. Ok, that comes out to $315,568,207,680. Wow that’s over $315 billion!

So how many dollars do we need to cover to make that work out. Let’s see. There are $1.39 trillion dollars in circulation. So there’s 1,000 billion in 1 trillion. So, 1.39 trillion is 1,390 billion. So the amount of gold based on current values will cover 22% of the dollars in circulation. Well, that doesn’t really matter because we are not on the gold standard and we are still the international fiat currency right?

So what would need to happen to bring everything into alignment if gold became the standard again for the U.S dollar? Gold would have to go up in value to $4,932 per ounce and the U.S. treasury would have to stop printing extra money and be limited to only printing money to replace old worn out money which is what they were supposed to be doing all along.

But there’s a couple of other problems.

 With $1.39 trillion actual dollars in circulation in the entire world and 2/3rds are overseas what about all

the “money” held in banks in the U.S.? Well, 1/3^rd of $1.39 trillion is $472 billion. So how can there be as of 10 /28/2015 according to the FED $8.15 trillion in deposits in U.S. banks?

 Sounds like “funny money” to me but I don’t hear anyone laughing.

The second problem is called the national debt which we read earlier is not just the $17 trillion we hear about but also has to do with the $128 trillion unmet obligations, whatever those are. So with only $1.39 trillion in circulation how do the debts ever get paid? Print more money I guess so we can at least try to cover the interest payments, right?

Some would say that a “correction” will need to take place to sort of, start over sort of like a Jubilee when in Israel all debts were wiped out in a single day once every fifty years so everyone could have a fresh start. But how does the most indebted nation in history pull that off when the creditors are other nations of the world like China and Japan and others who really want to get paid? Not to mention that our Social Security system and other government programs hold most of the paper debt in U.S. treasuries. I’ll leave that for the economic pundits to figure out.

All I know is that if the U.S. was a person, he would have been declared bankrupt a long time ago and found guilty of printing counterfeit money to pay his debts.

 So what does all this mean?

 Frankly, I don’t know. I think that there are multiple outcomes that appear to be developing simultaneously and can only be speculated on as to the final result.

Here’s what I think could possibly be happening but you will need to draw your own conclusions.

• I think it is a given that the status quo that we have all grown accustom to is changing. Some may be fearing that it will be for the worse especially for the U.S. However, being the eternal optimist that I am, always seeing the glass half full, I think the changes will ultimately be for the better though we may go through a painful time of transition just as in giving birth to something new, I think the ultimate outcome could be a good one.
• China will emerge as “a” if not “THE” primary dominant world economic leader– With all that is going on publically and view-ably, I suspect that it is the tip of the iceberg for what lies beneath the surface. I think there is a long range plan that has been in motion for quite some time to position China to become a dominant financial factor on a global basis. I have shared several of the key elements of these factors in this writing and would recap them by pointing to five major considerations;.
• China has become one of the largest purchasers as well as being the largest producer of gold in the world giving rise to the possibility that the Yuan could be headed towards the gold standard or at least a significant support to the value of their currency.
• China has positioned itself as a key player with the New Development Bank in Shanghai which was strategically placed there to prevent any outside interference from the U.S., the World Bank, or the IMF. Other locations were considered more vulnerable to “attack” or interference. It establishes China as the “headquarters” for the NDB.
• China has petitioned the IMF for entry into the SDR program with a good possibility of being added which would give them the unique position of working both sides of the street so to speak in influencing global currency. This is only possible due to the rocket like advancement of the Yuan as a currency in recent years, surpassing Japan’s Yen which is a SDR currency. It makes it hard for the IMF to say no. As the IMF originated in the U.S. as a means for effecting world currencies and the fact that like so many other currencies, the Chinese Yuan has been pegged to the U.S. dollar, this could lead to unilateral cooperation between the U.S. and China with the potential of removing the political barriers and establishing an economic partnership on a more official basis much like the relationships with our allied members already participating in the SDR basket of currencies. In other words they could become an official ally and partner to the U.S. based on inclusion in the IMF basket of currencies.
• China holds more U.S. debt than any other nation just ahead of Japan at $1.226 trillion dollars. “China has in the past bought Treasuries as a way to keep its currency, the yuan, pegged to the U.S. dollar. That helped lower the value of the yuan and made China’s exports more competitive in foreign markets. In recent years, partly due to U.S. pressure and partly as an effort to curb its own inflation, China has allowed the yuan to rise in value.” This is intentional on the part of China to have leverage over the U.S. “The borrower is always subservient to the lender.”
• China has the fastest growing number of people becoming Christians of any nation in the world. Estimates are approximately 25,000 new believers are added daily. Estimates are that there are 70 million Christians compared to 87 million communist. No one knows for sure because the fastest growing groups are in underground churches. Though Christians are still severely persecuted in China and pastors imprisoned and abused, the spreading of Christianity in China is a force to be reckoned with that has potential to literally transform the nation. I believe that the prayers of these brothers and sisters in China for their nation along with our prayers can bring about a radical change in the future of China and its government.
• I think that the future of the U.S. dollar and its dominant fiat currency in the world status will diminish or at least get adjusted in the near future. With the advent of nations having alternatives to the petro dollar system those 2/3rds of all printed money will begin to come home to roost. This will diminish their value and buying power and the power they have held over other nations. This will have a global impact on all the currencies that have been pegged to the dollar as well resulting in the need for a solution with another form of currency perhaps backed by gold and other tangible commodities. It may open the door for some kind of global currency that combines all into one and backed by gold and maybe some other commodities.

I don’t know. I know that sounds like “Antichrist- end times – one world government stuff”, which I am not a fan of but something will have to change drastically.

The U.S. can’t just keep the printing presses running and neither can the European Union. We are already at 0% interest rates so you can’t go much lower than 0. Well, apparently you can. You can go negative. Which is already happening in Europe.

By the way, while I was still working on this today I saw this headline from The Wall Street Journal, “Big Banks to America’s Firms: We Don’t Want Your Cash (Updated Oct. 18, 2015 8:50 p.m. ET)

“Profit-crunching low interest rates have banks judging cash too costly to keep.

U.S. banks are going to new lengths to ward off a surprising threat to their financial health: big cash deposits. State Street Corp., the Boston bank that manages assets for institutional investors, for the first time has begun charging some customers for large dollar deposits, people familiar with the matter said. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co…”

At some point the bubble will have to burst and the real value will have to be determined. It may result in a new U.S. currency in place of the old “green backs” issued as a result of the adjustment and perhaps it may be backed by something solid like gold once again.

Again, I don’t know and will leave it with you to consider the potential outcome. “Business as usual” I don’t think will be an option for much longer. Here’s a link to an  interesting article that just came that shows others are thinking this way. :  Overstock.com hoards gold and food 

• Russia will grow in power and influence globally- I think this is a given especially in light of what I’ve shared economically. I am not going to address political ideology or Putin other than to state the obvious. He is considered the strongest, most powerful and potentially dangerous government leader on the planet. 

We need a strong leader to emerge in the next election that can match and counter his prowess. Keep that in mind as you pray for our country and especially for that new leader to emerge. 

I think Russia will play a more strategic role in the EU nations as they look for other sources for stability and resources. Oil and gas particularly and their dependence on Russia for these commodities.

It would be great if our laws changed so we could ship oil to Europe. Unfortunately this is considered illegal at this time. This needs to change. Natural Gas on the other hand is now being processed to be shipped globally. This could help our economy and compete with Russia who has a strong hold over Europe for natural gas. This is a good change taking place.

•  The European Union will remain in a state of turmoil and will be vulnerable to outside influences from stronger nations. There is a symbiotic relationship that dates back to World War II with Europe depending primarily on the U.S. to help rebuild the continent. This relationship has continued and is one of the main reasons the U.S. dollar remains in appearance strong and dominant in the world in spite of the inherent weakness within the system.

 When the EU was established and the euro became the currency it was a bold and independent move to separate from that relationship. Unfortunately the interdependent socialist based nations have put a severe drain on the stronger nations and put them in a dependent position; Greece and Spain particularly that is causing damage to the Union. It could result in Germany and France opting out which would signal the demise of the Union.

Germany could emerge as the dominant nation in Europe with its lender and owner status over the weaker partners. They also have the lowest debt ratio to their GDP at 75% which gives them an edge over the other EU nations with heavier debt.

 So what’s the alternative?

 What if there was a way to exchange our dollars for something solid like gold or silver for instance and still be able to use a card to buy gas and groceries and whatever else we want to buy? Only instead of using electronic transfers of invisible cash we were able to actually buy physical gold and then when we needed something exchange it for what we need by using a prepaid credit card backed by our own gold? So when we buy groceries, we simply automatically sell that much gold to pay for the groceries and do all of this without having to use the banking system with the invisible money? Sound too good to be true?

 Well welcome to the age where Gold and Silver are money once again.

There are several new systems in place that make it possible to bypass the banking system and turn invisible money into “sound money”. (Sound money is based on something real and tangible like gold. Wednesday night during the republican debate, Ted Cruz made a reference to auditing the Fed and returning to “Sound Money” which drew applause from the audience.)

Bitgold is a Canadian company fully accredited to do what I just described. You can go to their website, use your credit or debit card or even draft from your checking account any amount you desire to exchange your invisible money for solid, real, gold bullion.

In fact you can tell them where you want your physical gold to be stored in secured vaults in Canada, New York, London, Singapore, Zurich and other locations. The gold is actually there and if you want they’ll send it to you or hold it for you. It’s up to you. And in doing so, you have bypassed the world’s banking system and entered the world of a new world currency using “sound money”; gold bullion. Bitgold.com.

Here in the states, I just learned about The United Precious Metals Association with a similar program. Here’s part of a recent article:

 “The Gold and Silver are Money Again. Finally. Thanks to this Group.”

By RogueBeekeeper on Sat, 09/19/2015 – 17:26

“As of today you really can pay your taxes, your credit cards, your mortgage, shop at Costco, and buy your groceries without so much as a bank account while using “sound money”.

The United Precious Metals Association in Utah has gold and now separate silver accounts that act as checking accounts do at any bank or credit union.

The way it works is that members deposit Federal Reserve Notes (FRN or paper dollars) into their UPMA account which in turn translates them into golden dollars (or silver). The golden dollars are based off the $50 one ounce gold coins produced by the Treasury of The United States. They are legal tender under the law and are protected as such. So if I were to deposit $1,200 FRNs then I would have $50 golden dollars.

UPMA is the only institution in the country that I know of that doesn’t have a buy/sell spread on their Golden Eagles or Silver Eagles. This means that all my $1,200 FRNs once converted to gold could be spent the next day without losing anything to any sort of premium. The price of a Gold Eagle is 5.8% above spot but when you ‘cash out’ you do so at 5.8% above gold spot. This effectively removes that barrier from sound money.

This year the UPMA released a gold backed debit card via American Express. The way it works is that a member may spend up to half of their gold or silver dollars in any given month period using the card. When I interviewed the founder of UPMA today, Larry Hilton, I learned that the way the card works is that they have made a contract with American Express so that UPMA members can use what are technically credit cards as a debit card anywhere American Express is accepted. The members are added on as ’employees’. Right now there are already hundreds of people around the country using this method of payment. They are literally spending gold on groceries without losing anything to premiums or in transaction fees to UPMA. In fact they get 1% cash back in gold.

This service is available to anyone in the United States and requires no credit check whatsoever. Using the bill-pay service online one can pay for what American Express can’t such as credit card bills, property taxes, or your mortgage.

The golden dollars are simply converted right back into FRNs and paid out. When asked Mr. Hilton affirmed that there are many people that don’t store anything in the banks anymore thanks to this service. They are obsolete if you want to use sound money. There are no fees associated with the use of the card. Members that store more than $50 in golden dollars do pay a small storage/membership fee of 10 golden cents or $2.50 FRNs and an additional 0.25 FRNs for every additional $50.

These $50 Golden Eagles can also be withdrawn and sent to you directly.The United Precious Metals Association has the full backing of Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes who also uses the service. The legal foundation was set up in 2010 and 2012 here in Utah where the vault is located. Many members of the board including General Counsel Larry Hilton are lawyers that specialize in law regarding the use of legal tender.

An elected board of members makes regular audits to assure that all of the gold and silver is there and reports to the general membership every year at the monetary summit. This year it will be held on October 17 in Salt Lake City. The vault is insured from theft and fraud via the Lloyd’s of London. They hold a 100% reserve ratio.

Accounts with UPMA can be opened on their website UPMA.org by anyone residing in the United States. They require only a name, a zip code, and an email address. It takes about five minutes. They can be reached for questions during normal business hours at 888-210-8488 or via email at info@UPMA.org(link sends e-mail).”

I particularly like the UPMA program because it completely bypasses the banking system. Even the card they selected, American Express, is not a bank card but a true credit card whereas Visa, MasterCard, and Discover are bank cards.

Anyone living in the U.S. can get a card without any credit qualifications because it works as a “prepaid” card drawing on your gold account based on what you have purchased in gold. And even better than Bitgold.com who charge a 1% fee this one actually pays you a 1% reward for purchases and pays this in gold.

Thanks to the age of the internet these opportunities now exist and are available and worth looking into.

 The world is rapidly moving back to gold as a standard and we need to take note.

 So where does God stand on the subject?

This brings me back to where I started at the beginning and where I think God stands on the subject.

Do I believe that God will send judgement on the U.S. for the predicament we find ourselves in?

And what about all the rampant sin and fist waving in His face and open hostile rejection of Him and growing persecution of His people?

 The answer is absolutely not.

However, I do believe without His divine intervention the U.S. will suffer the consequences of its own misguided choices. Bad choices always lead to bad consequences and rejecting God and His ways is always a bad choice for an individual or a nation.

We can see the signs if we’re willing to take the blinders off and take a look at the evidence.

 A couple of controversial books that I believe clearly demonstrate the destructive path our nation is on are “The Harbinger” and the sequel “The Shemitah” by Jonathan Cahn. He has gotten a lot of flak and has been accused of fear mongering and being a doom and gloomer. I do not find this to be the case. The amazing facts reported in these books are indisputable.

The hope is that as a nation, we will return to our core principles and do what is printed on our money and “In God we trust” again.

I have great hope for the future of our nation and the world because I know as a believer in Jesus Christ, we have already won.

I also believe that we have been given everything we need to succeed in expanding the Kingdom of God in the earth with the hope of every knee bowing and confessing that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God. (Philippians 2:10)

We are the only ones in this world with true hope and have been given the mandate and the authority to bring hope to the world. It’s time we got about it and see that we are here with a purpose given by Jesus to change the present world with His love, grace and power.

To do this we will need a paradigm shift from self-dependence to complete dependence on the Lord Jesus for our wellbeing, provision, and wisdom which from the Hebrew means having a “hearing heart”, tuned into what He is saying and doing whatever He says to do.

Getting past our own personal well-meaning agenda’s and asking the question, “What do you have in mind, Lord?” is the hard part.

There’s a reason you and I are here in 2015. He has an amazing plan for us if we are willing to hear from Him and then do whatever He says to do. If it sounds a bit adventurous and risky, trust me it is. But if you want to experience Him on a level where He can do more with one single word than we could hope on our own to accomplish by our best efforts in a life time, then take the risk and ask the question.

I am confident that what He has in mind will be more satisfying than all our efforts to take care of and provide for ourselves will ever accomplish and it will satisfy our universal need for peace, security, stability and put us in a perpetual state of wellbeing known as “His rest”. In a word, His shalom.

The world seeks financial, political and personal security and peace. It cannot be found outside of a personal relationship with the Creator and King of the Universe; Jesus Christ. After all he made it and knows how best to make it work.

My hope in writing this, is to not to cause fear but rather to sound a warning and to encourage you to seek the Lord for wisdom and guidance. He is faithful to provide both when we seek Him.

I do believe things are changing dramatically and my hope is that even if we as a nation go through some tough seasons of adjustments, that we as the people of God will shine in the midst of the darkness and lead the way for others to find their hope and rest in God alone.

I believe that if we seek the Lord for wisdom, He will give us revelation to understand the times He chose for us to live in and how to not only survive but thrive so that we can be a source of encouragement and comfort to people who are needing to know the hope that we have in Jesus.

I believe that shifting our dependence totally to God and His means for providing for us is essential for such a time as this. I encourage you to pray about these things and then take whatever actions the Lord leads you to take to prepare for the future.

So, I’ll end where I began with that intriguing verse from Haggai where the Lord declares,

 “The silver and the gold belong to Me.”

I believe his ownership of the gold and silver is for the benefit of His children and for our well being.

After all, He doesn’t actually need it for Himself. I think He had us in mind when He said this so that we would know His intention of always having what we need to be safe and secure in Him even in sharing His possessions with us.

He’s really good that way.

Footnote:

My business is now devoted to developing a new technology for processing waste rock from old gold mines, tailings from mines that have been processed and still have precious metals, and other sources of precious metals.

I believe that this technology will be utilized on a global basis to release “the hidden riches, treasures stored in secret places” to benefit the Kingdom of God. I would welcome your prayers for the success of this business dedicated to “Venturing all for the Kingdom of God.”