Thoughts from an Email sent October 1st 2008 — Rosh Hashanah - New Year's Day in Israel :-)
The previous year has been a seventh or sabbath year in Israel for all devout Jews.
It was thus a day on which the Lord spoke of debts being cancelled between brothers and neighbours, no more debtors, no more creditors. Those who during the seven years had sold themselves into slavery/service to pay off their debts were now to be allowed to go free, and be richly endowed with gifts for their service. See Deuteronomy 15

 

Hi all

 

Yep, really enjoying the sense of the Lord's hand over all that's happening at the moment.

 

I was sharing this morning about meditating on the following scripture. Matthew 24:42-51. Particularly Matthew 24:43

 

Note - the "underlined" words link to the original Greek - the "others" are just fill in words to flesh out the meaning in King James's era :-).

 

Thus the word "good man" is not in the original Greek - the underlined word "house" refers to the "house master" -

i.e. "rulers of the darkness of this world" in Ephesians 6.

 

 

 

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come

But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season ?

Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing

Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods

But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming

And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken

The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of

And shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

 

And, following our conversation at McDonald's

Just re-reading that article on Bretton Woods in 1944 in Wikipedia, a pretty long one, pardon me if I'm being a bit forward here, but it was the following section that I found particularly well put, as the world changed from using silver - the word in Scripture translated as money - which had been generally used for thousands of years because of its innate worldly value.

Interestingly - I think the first in depth mention of a buying / selling transaction using silver in scripture was Abraham spending 400 shekels (about 4kg) to obtain an appropriate burial place for his Sarah: Genesis 23:4 http://www.htmlbible.com/kjv30/B01C023.htm#v4

 

Anyway, this was the section I found really well put:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system#Informal

 

Previous regimes

In the 19th and early 20th centuries gold played a key role in international monetary transactions. The gold standard was used to back currencies; the international value of currency was determined by its fixed relationship to gold; gold was used to settle international accounts. The gold standard maintained fixed exchange rates that were seen as desirable because they reduced the risk of trading with other countries.

Imbalances in international trade were theoretically rectified automatically by the gold standard. A country with a deficit (i.e. the country spending more in imports than it was selling in exports - Steve) would have depleted gold reserves and would thus have to reduce its money supply (the paper it was authorizing the banks to trade with - Steve). The resulting fall in demand would reduce imports and the lowering of prices (for individuals to stay in business - Steve) would boost exports; thus the deficit would be rectified.

Any country experiencing inflation would lose gold (people would change their paper money back to gold to protect themselves from the reducing value of the paper - Steve) and therefore would have a decrease in the amount of money (paper) available to spend. This decrease in the amount of money would act to reduce the inflationary pressure.

Supplementing the use of gold in this period was the British pound. Based on the dominant British economy, the pound became a reserve, transaction, and intervention currency. But the pound was not up to the challenge of serving as the primary world currency, given the weakness of the British economy after the Second World War.

The architects of Bretton Woods had conceived of a system wherein exchange rate stability was a prime goal. Yet, in an era of more activist economic policy, governments did not seriously consider permanently fixed rates on the model of the classical gold standard of the nineteenth century. Gold production was not even sufficient to meet the demands of growing international trade and investment. And a sizeable share of the world's known gold reserves were located in the Soviet Union, which would later emerge as a Cold War rival to the United States and Western Europe.

The exponential growth in world population was also playing a major role here. In 1800, following 5,800 years of human history according to Scripture, it is estimated that the world population had still only just reached 1 billion people. However, this number had grown to 2 billion in 1927, and, despite the Second World War, accelerated to 2.4 billion at the time of Bretton Woods. Since then, the number went to 3 billion in 1959, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1986, and 6 billion in 1999. In fact in 2008, the world is rapidly approaching a population of 7 billion people - Steve

The only currency strong enough to meet the rising demands for international liquidity was the U.S. dollar. The strength of the U.S. economy, the fixed relationship of the dollar to gold ($35 an ounce), and the commitment of the U.S. government to convert dollars into gold at that price made the dollar as good as gold. In fact (just as the British pound had done previously - Steve), the dollar was even better than gold: it earned interest and it was more flexible than gold.

 

There is a lot more in the article, but that's the section I particularly enjoyed because of how well it summarized the issues.

Of course, the 1944 agreement which brought in the IMF and the World Bank, then the U.S. grants through the Marshall Plan, led to a sense of real competitive anger at America - being seen to be at the top - and then Israel coming in to being. And it is certainly natural for everyone to be grasping for more i.e. covetous, or greedy, what the Scripture calls idolatry - i.e. worshipping/serving visible object(s). So, no, it couldn't last.

And so by 1971, Fort Knox was empty, or rapidly moving that way — relatively speaking :-), with this growing shortage of gold America had to devalue the dollar (also rapidly), and thus came off a fixed gold standard - and since then the standard backing of currencies is simply by "fiat" - i.e. - what governments/business markets in groups, and individually decree - based on their forecast of future incomes. Frequently driven by fear.

Click here for each country's gross external debt - with investment in America - click here - currently almost $14 trillion.
Click here for each country's foreign exchange reserves - America currently showing $70 billion.
And click here for each country's official gold reserves - America currently valued at $240 billion.

Comment from a friend "Note: The US not only holds the most gold but it represents 78 % of their reserves. This means that whilst their dollar may not be backed by gold, they still understand its role as a potential storage of wealth in tough times. So, the US financial system is being hammered but as a country, any run on the gold price will help them (i.e. the federal reserve) to buy out the toxic debt and restabilise things. Look at the UK. Backs to a wall and no gold to play with...ouch."

Further thoughts: Page 34 of Weekend Australian Oct 11-12, 2008 "China will continue to buy massive amounts of foreign - especially US - treasury bills. This will underline the growing dependence of the world on Chinese - and to an extent also Indian - commitments to resolving any global challenge."

Yes, I suppose their investment in those treasury bills makes them a major player - if not the major player. Except for where the Lord sovereignly plays a hand. :-) Massive game of poker going on at present. Click here for some background on the "ticking timebomb" as published in the Weekend Australian - October 18, 2008.

 

Luke 14:12-35

 

 

Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again and a recompence be made thee.

But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden Come for all things are now ready.

And they all with one consent began to make excuse The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused

And another said I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused

And another said I have married a wife, and therefore I can not come

So that servant came and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

And the servant said Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded and yet there is room.

And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in that my house may be filled

For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned and said unto them,

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he can not be my disciple.

Note that in Ephesians 5:28-29, husbands are commanded to love their wives as their own bodies.

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

There is no contradiction — what we are looking at here is a contrast of preferences — to receive the power "dunamis" to be a disciple / learner, Christ must come first, because Christ first loved / valued us.

Back to Luke 14:27

And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, can not be my disciple.

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

Saying This man began to build and was not able to finish

Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand ?

Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath , he can not be my disciple.

Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour wherewith shall it be seasoned

It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear let him hear