In the Letter from London a couple of weeks ago we wrote of the next major financial disaster to hit the western world following the credit crunch and the fallout from that. This was the incredible scam perpetrated by Bernard Madoff which resulted in a large number of people losing around $50 billion in total. A newspaper survey of the major losses showed that quite a number of people, who had many millions of dollars and pounds and wanted a safe, but profitable, haven for these funds had entrusted Mr. Madoff with the entire amount. A number have lost everything, apparently never having heard the maxim “spread your risks”! Or the bible verses which tell us not to trust people. There has, of course, to be a certain confidence otherwise nothing would ever get done, but to put a trust in others, which if abused or fails would have untoward consequences, then the bible warns us to be careful. It is only God in whom we can have absolute trust. Now the newspapers are reporting what is virtually an attack by China upon the United States. War can take a form which is not necessarily military. In this case we are seeing the opening shots of war, a financial war to begin with, but it may take a more catastrophic form in the not-too-distant future.
We have written before about the danger of China accumulating huge amounts of dollars. We have said how China was virtually financing a continuation in the U.S. of the good life. Now it is out in the open. The Herald Tribune reported that “the Chinese had piled up so much in excess savings that they lent money to the United States at low rates, underwriting American consumption.”….”Today, the dependence of the United States on Chinese money looks less benign.” Another comment was this: “China and the United States have been locked in a tight financial and trade embrace that seemed beneficial for both sides but has proved to be perilous.” It resulted in bringing down American interest rates and fueled a “…. historic consumption binge and housing bubble.” What is more it continues to do so. Once again, the clear word of God is ignored. One verse says “… the borrower is servant to the lender…” Do we think for a moment that China didn’t know what it was doing? The Tribune said this: “Americans did not use the lower-cost money afforded by Chinese investment to build a 21st century equivalent of the railroads. Instead, the government engaged in a costly war in Iraq, and consumers used loose credit to buy sport utility vehicles and big houses. Banks and investors, eagerly seeking higher interest rates in this easy-money environment, created risky new securities …!” “Nobody wanted to get off this drug.” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. Senator Graham wants to take it out on China by imposing heavy tariffs. One thing is certain and that is that China would not take that lying down.
Britain has chosen a slightly different route. Ignoring the fact that it was borrowing huge amounts of money with no realistic hope of paying it back that caused our problems in the first place, the British government has chosen to borrow stratospheric amounts of money to bail out banks, finance companies, industry, people. The reality is that when you borrow money you have to pay it back! How is the government to pay back the enormous sums it borrowed? It has no money of its own so the only way it can is by raising taxes. Raising taxes takes money from people. They are then unable to spend that money. A result is huge unemployment, bankrupt businesses, and a depression. At best it would take years to recover. Although there is a worldwide problem it would seem that two nations are at risk more than any others, and that is the United States and Great Britain. This indeed is the time of Jacob’s trouble. A trouble we have brought upon ourselves through our own foolishness, our greed, and our rejection of God’s laws. We may think that other nations are suffering the same problems as we are. This is not true! Just take a look at the exchange rates for the pound sterling. For the British currency. Against the European Euro the pound has crashed! Not very many weeks ago the pound was valued at EU1.54 it is now down to around 1.26! A drop in value of around 28% and it is continuing to slide. We could well see the collapse of the currency in the not-too-distant future.
A broadcast on BBC radio the other day brought together several pundits. People who purport to be experts in finances, domestic and international. They were asked various questions on the subject of the present distress and what was the way out for Britain. One of them said that Britain’s only hope was to get back to manufacturing. To making things. Just how much out of touch with reality can a person be! We no longer want to get our hands dirty! We prefer sitting at desks, looking good, and pretend that we can make a national living offering financial services to the world. Those particular chickens have come home to roost! We haven’t been very successful have we! The time has long gone when we made things. When things are made, real value is added and has a price. Many, if not most, of our significant companies are now owned by other nations. Most of our energy production is owned by France or Germany. Shipbuilding has gone. We can no longer build railway trains. We now have to buy them from France, Italy, or Japan. We first invented the Maglev train. The very first trials were conducted, as I recall, at Manchester University. Did we develop it, put it into production and build a first-class network nationwide which we sorely needed? No! We closed the experimental plant down. The Chinese now have a superb system connecting Shanghai with its airport. Further construction is planned.
Most of British industry has been sold to foreign nations. Industries, vital to our survival as a nation have been sold to other nations. We will have to go to France for new nuclear power stations. In any crisis other nations will put themselves, their citizens, and their industry first. When oil really hits a crisis do you think for a moment that any other nation will be concerned that Britain should have a fair supply? Natural gas supplies are more and more coming from Russia via Europe. The supply line ends in Britain. No prizes for guessing how much gas we will receive in an emergency. Why have these things happened? It comes right back to government. In Britain the most important thing for any political party which forms the government is to keep itself in office. Not to serve the people. The only way to achieve this aim is to virtually bribe what it perceives to be its supporters. Money is required to do this. So, government, and especially British governments, will sell off whatever they possibly can to supply money that the government can then use how it wants. It is the possession of that money, or the availability and use of it that gives power to individuals and organizations to control others. The present government at this moment wants to sell off the British postal system. A German company, DHL, is the favored purchaser. What the citizen wants is quite irrelevant.
The direction Britain is following at present is one that is going to end in complete disaster. It isn’t just the currency, industry or the lack of it, it is also the very fabric of our society which is being targeted. The family structure has already been seriously undermined in a way which is totally against the law of God. The Pope upset many in Britain and America the other day when he pointed out that homosexuality would inevitably result in the end of mankind on earth. He was right. It would! It’s presented today as an “alternative lifestyle” – and today is being pushed as hard as possible in our schools as such. No wonder so many today do not want to allow any religious teaching in our schools. In fact, it is a wonder that any teaching at all can be achieved in our schools. It was just reported that in Kent alone, a conservative area of England, 8,000 pupils were suspended from school in just the last year. However, the “alternative lifestyle” is against God’s law. God created the family structure, and it is within that God-given relationship that children are to be born and brought up. The bible clearly says that God created mankind to be male and female for a reason. In the first chapter of the bible the reason is given. It was in order to replenish the earth and to then maintain it. He instructed mankind as male and female to be fruitful and multiply. Verse 24 tells us that in marriage between a man and a woman they become one flesh.
In any other relationship it is not possible to obey God. It is not possible for the purpose for Man on earth to be fulfilled. In chapter 2, verse 18 God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet (meaning suitable) for him.” He did not create two men or two women. Many years ago, my wife and I kept chickens. We reared some day old hens, or female chicks for eggs which they duly produced but not one egg hatched out! Why? Because they weren’t fertilized by a cockerel, by a male bird. We did keep some cockerels. But not one egg was laid by them. Right throughout nature the male/female principle holds good. Yet within the professing Christian community there are even priests and ministers who hold they know better than the God they profess to serve and whose word they profess to teach. The apostle Paul in the epistle to the Galatians says: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” To those who teach God’s word he says in the epistle to the Romans they should be keeping that same word.
Many more Letters from London could be written and broadcast, if the time was there, so dangerous are the times into which we have now entered. Britain and America are going to learn that there is a God who is not to be mocked. A number of significant and dangerous situations have opened up in the world. The Middle East is going to erupt, and it will be the European Union which will step in. Tensions have arisen between Pakistan and India – both nuclear powers. A report from Washington says that “today, the dependence of the United States on Chinese money looks less benign.” “China, some economists say, lulled American consumers, and their leaders, into complacency about their spendthrift ways.” Be warned! We have entered into the last days. |
