Foreclosures, discontentment, the end of the American empire!

The above picture says alot about the state of the American economy today, much more so the average American. Millions are going into foreclosure here in America after a long, drawn-out period of rising real estate values, speculative buying, investing, and yes, excess.

Interest rates were once attractive and very low. People are hooked by the prospect of owning a beautiful home. Most often times a home that is beyond their means to support. So they contact a lender, who offers them a shady deal -- let's go with stated income, they say, and greatly exaggerate what you really earn. I'll get you into any house you want!. The paperwork is printed, signatures signed, and the ink dries. The keys are given to the jovial new home owner/investor. And for a time it is good.

The loan's honeymoon period ends. Rates rise and payments adjust. People start getting behind on their payments causing late fees, past dues, and taxes to compound rapidly, becoming a mountain of debt that the borrower is increasingly unable to scale as the poor chap digs a hole much deeper than he/she can escape. Some scramble to get a second job, sell valued possessions or whatever in order to make ends meet and feed their families (and their unforgiving mortgages), and to make double-sure that they are not out of house and home, having to live like the homeless persons they once shunned at one time or another. The holidays are also upon us, with Thanksgiving and Christmas being so close, and it is such a cruel irony to be out on the street over what is supposed to be a festive time. Just as much so to have the nagging feeling that one's last days in a home are drawing near while eating a sumptuous feast.

Analysts, financial experts, and economic forecasters as well as well-informed pundits are all saying that next year will be much worse. We are to see a greater escalation of loan defaults, foreclosures, and bankruptcies. The ever-shrinking American dollar will sink to newer lows than thought possible, and foreign currencies shall rise in value and will soon eclipse the American dollar. And it was just a few months ago that the Canadian loonie surpassed the dollar! Some, like Ben Bernake, attempt to soften the blow by saying things such as, It will get much worse before it becomes better. Better, he says? I think that he is not attempting to soften reality's blow, but rather he is playing the false prophet and just downplaying the events unfolding before us!

C'mon now! We see the rising costs of oil. We feel the pain every time any one of us pumps gas into our cars. Day after day the news is filled with reports of more and more existing and new homes unable to sell. In both the media and in print one only has to look for the rising number of foreclosures and subprime write-downs that have occurred and are currently happening. Each day more and more Americans get up filled with hope that the nightmare will be over soon. Everyone hopes for a second job, a lottery windfall, or a miracle from Heaven. But the bills are coming due, there are no calls to work for half of those hoping for a second job, and the odds are stacked too high a million against one regarding the lottery. What to do, what to do?

What about contentment? What ever happened to the days when credit cards were to be used only for emergency? What ever happened to being up-front and honest about our credit rating, not to mention how much money we made? What happened to the kind of honest living which kept us living within our means, safely going from paycheck to paycheck and not worrying if we will be out on the street or whatever? We all seem to think we're entitled to live in beautiful homes and drive nice automobiles. We all live like fat, well-fed cows all fattened with greed and material possessions. No, we're not entitled to a home. We're not even entitled to jobs! We have the right to work and save. We have the right to earn those things we need and want. We have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In short, we are responsible for our own destiny. And it is the choices we make which will determine our character, our quality of life, and our eternal reward whether it be good or bad.

1 Timothy 6:6 reads:

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

You see we have become so concerned with "keeping up with the Jones'" that we have forgotten to be content. Many of us, disillusioned with being the workhorse middle class and hoping to join the ranks of the wealthy have entered into the real estate boom too late, and are well on the way to becoming part of Welfare America. Therefore, our souls are ever restless, always looking for the next thing -- that shiny new car to show off and make us feel important, a new relationship to stir our emotions and hormones to the pont of being jaded, we need more money for the kids and our enjoyment, and more is never enough! Have we surpassed being selfish yet, and have thereby taken greed to new levels? Has our sense of entitlement brought us to new lows? It seems as if in searching this whole time for our own happiness, we have instead found despair. We have given up contentment in favor of being discontent by looking for more until we were left with less.

I, for one, certainly wish I had the power to turn back time and do many things over again. But they say that hindsight is 20/20. There is no RESET button for life. No replaying a level over again to obtain the best score. But there is the mercy of God which says in Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

.For those of you who are called by the name of Christ, who have been born again by the Spirit of the LORD and the blood of Christ, remember that God is able to raise the dead! He is more than able to provide, and He is more than able to speak life to where there is none, or where it had once been. If you cannot find that second job, if you cannot win that lottery windfall it may be that God in His omniscience chose to bring you through the fire of testing. But remember that though the fire burns, He will be with you. Fire purifies gold, and the LORD tests the hearts of men. I've heard it once said before that Christians are like tea bags -- you never know what they're made of until you place them in hot water.

Yet there is also the grace of God which says in Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Even if the LORD were to cause you to go through foreclosure and bankruptcy, it is not the end of your world. It is the LORD's will that you endure, that you persevere through this test. Pray that your faith will not falter or fail, no matter what God decides to allow or permit in your life. Seek God's face and His will for what He would have you do. Yes, it is all right to ask God "why", but remember that He is in no way obligated to tell you the answer. But always keep in mind that God has your best interests at heart, and that He is always in the process of conforming you to the likeness of His Son.

There is a third thing that I want to say to Christians everywhere. Perhaps America's fifteen minutes of fame are up. Remember that our country is not mentioned in Bible prophecy of the last days. Anyone that says we are there is only guessing! But whatever the case, the United States will not play a major role in the final week of years, the Great Tribulation. Will God allow America to be wiped out in a one-day nuclear war? Will God bankrupt the American economy so that our military might and technological prowess be brought to nothing overnight? Would he allow a large-scale EMP to be detonated over America, bringing our entire infrastructure to its knees? Or will He step from eternity into time once again, this time removing America's Christian component from the world? It certainly can happen in an event commonly called the "Rapture"! As the LORD Jesus has commanded, "Occupy till I come", so that when He comes we will be doing what He wanted us to be doing -- being busy for Him. We may be kicked out of house and home, but perhaps the LORD wants to separate us from earthly things, and then suddenly whisk us away to our mansions in Heaven!