Four words from 2006 & 2007 predicting an imminent economic collapse in the USA.
(1) DATE: 14 Dec, 2006.
"AMERICA IN THE BALANCES"
-by Andrew Strom.
Complacency. Apathy. -These are the greatest downfalls of the 'lukewarm' church. "We are increased with goods, and
have need of nothing," as the Scripture so rightly says.
So
what does God do with a country like America today? -A country that has
historically been a "Land of Revivals" but is
now addicted to
"consumerism" en masse. A country that for the first time since the
Great Depression now has a NEGATIVE savings
rate - because its people
are so enamoured with owning "things" - even if they can't afford them. A
country whose people are
indebted to their eyeballs
and beyond - so they can keep up the lifestyle of ease to which they
have grown accustomed.
What does God do with an America that has grown too fat to pray?
Is
anybody "desperate" any more? Where are those who cry to God from their
gut - from the bottom of their heart? Where
are the agonies and tears?
Has America forgotten what kind of prayer it takes to obtain an
Awakening? If we can't pray like
that any more, then surely
all is lost?
But just how 'desperate' are things really, you ask? Things aren't so terrible, surely?
Well,
the fact is that this nation's sin right now is utterly unmatched in
her entire history. Has there ever been a generation
of Americans that has
killed 40 million babies in just 30 years? No, such a thing is
UNPRECEDENTED. And has there ever been
an American generation that
has not only CELEBRATED homosexuality - but actually helped broadcast
and spread it around the
earth? No, such a thing has
never been seen before. Forty years ago it would have been undreamt-of.
(-God reserves for these particular types of sin the term, "Abominations" - and historically any nation practicing them
has been utterly destroyed).
Has
there ever been an American generation that has addicted the whole
earth to soft porn and violence the way that Hollywood
has done in the last 40
years? No, again this is UNPRECEDENTED in history. (The center of the
worldwide pornography industry
is located just outside Los
Angeles).
Has
there ever been an American generation whose preachers go on satellite
television and teach other leaders in 'Revival'
countries how to "milk" the
sheep for money, and grow rich at the expense of the poor? No, I tell
you, America has NEVER done
this before. Our TV
preachers are now actually being used by the devil to corrupt true moves
of God all over the globe. (Go
to Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil
and see what I mean. American "Prosperity" is everywhere - and still
spreading).
At
this very moment America is hanging in the balances. God is making up
His mind what to do with her. And yet still complacency
rules. -Still no
"desperate" prayer. Apathy covers us like a blanket. Will you sleepwalk
your way to destruction, America?
Years
ago a famous preacher commented that if God did not judge America, then
He would have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah.
I am not sure that it was
true then, but I certainly believe it is true now. We are at the crisis
point.
In the last 40 years, in every way we have become the most sick, selfish, greedy, corrupt, sin-addicted generation that
America has ever produced. And now judgment hangs over the land like a sword.
Where
are those who "sigh and cry" at the abominations in the land? Where are
those like righteous Lot whose soul was "tortured"
day after day by all that
he saw and heard? Are there none who will cry to God with strong weeping
and tears?
Let me make some predictions at this point, so I can be clear about what this country is facing:
(1)
Firstly, I believe it is IMPOSSIBLE to avoid Judgment. This nation may
have Revival in the midst of judgments - but
this is now the best it can
hope for. In fact, without judgments it is doubtful that Revival is
even possible. -People are
simply too complacent. They
need a SHOCK even to begin to pray.
(2) Expect a great economic crash - and expect it SOON. Without this, how will this nation get its eyes off its great god,
Money?
(3)
Expect further CALAMITY. This nation is "running red lights" one after
the other. -That is what 9-11 and Katrina were.
Things are going to get
much much worse before this is over. Expect something to hit the West
Coast - and expect it to be
BAD.
It
is dificult for me to put into words the crisis we are in at this
moment, and the judgments that await this nation if
there is no repentance. God
is looking for sackcloth and ashes. He is looking for those who "sigh
and cry". Will you be one
of these, my friend?
The hour is late. The need is urgent. Who will respond?
If
you want to be someone who prays like this, there are some things that
we have recently put in place to help you enter
in to this kind of praying.
Please go to our website - Revivalschool.com - and download the
"Agonizing Prayer" audio clips
on the right-hand side. Or
join us on the Friday night Phone-Hookup prayer meetings - where we cry
out to God together for
mercy and outpouring.
The time has come to PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, my friends. The need is desperate - will you respond?
(2) DATE: March 14, 2007
"HAS THE CRASH BEGUN??"
-by Andrew Strom.
In
the wake of the Stock market turmoil of the last two weeks, I felt it
important to comment. Two weeks ago the US
stock market fell 416 points
in one day. Yesterday it lost another 242 points. A lot of this is
directly caused by the Housing
crash that we have been
warning of for the past 8 months or so.
It
is only since 9-11 that I have been watching the US economy so closely.
I remember very vividly kneeling down by my
bed soon after the towers
fell on 9-11 and hearing God clearly speak to me- "The HORNS of AMERICAN
FINANCIAL POWER HAVE FALLEN."
To me this was a profound
and shocking word, which I published that same week. I felt strongly
that in following years we
would see this play out
before our eyes. -The unraveling of US financial power in the earth. (I
was made to understand it
was like the Titanic -
which hit the iceburg but did not sink for many hours. In a lot of ways,
the sinking of that vessel
was symbolic of Britain's
decline as a world power from that point on. -I know this is shocking to
contemplate regarding the
US. -It certainly shocked
me at the time).
After 9-11, I continued to publish occasional articles about a coming economic crash. Meanwhile an enormous Housing bubble
was building in America.
Eight
months ago we began to publish warnings about the bursting of this
Housing bubble, and the likely impact it would
have - beginning in 2007.
("WORST HOUSING SLUMP in 50 YEARS?" - published Aug 30, 2006).
I
began to refer to this coming financial judgment in my sermons, saying
that in many ways it would be God's MERCY - to
shock us out of our
complacency and apathy - and to cause us to desperately seek His face.
We have allowed comfort and materialism
to turn our heads. We have
become lazy - "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God". Only by
striking this country's great
idol 'Mammon' can God cause
us to cry out to Him. We have no idea how lukewarm we have become...
And
now here we are. March 2007. The sub-prime mortage market is in
free-fall. The CDO market is infected. The Yen carry-trade
is unwinding. Housing is
still sinking with no bottom in sight, and the stockmarket has suddenly
become very volatile. It
is a slow- motion
train-wreck, and this is only the beginning. (-Keep your eye on the
DERIVATIVES and the HEDGE FUNDS. -These
are the "insurers" of the
markets, and systemic danger lurks in their giant shadows).
For
some time I have wondered what it will take to get us REALLY PRAYING in
this nation. What calamity will need to occur?
Do we really need a
full-blown crisis staring us in the face before we will go to our knees?
-Perhaps we do.
Let
me state this very clearly:- This nation is at a crossroads. -RIGHT
NOW. What is at stake is an entire lost generation
- and in fact, this
country's entire future. What will we do? Will we PRAY or will we allow
this slide into the abyss to continue?
These few years decide all. -I say it again:- THESE FEW YEARS DECIDE ALL. So what is it going to be?
(3) DATE: July 27, 2007.
"STOCK MARKETS SLUMPING - WHY??"
-by Andrew Strom.
Several
days ago there was a 200+ point drop in the US Stock- market. Yesterday
there was another 300+ plunge. And
today it looks like another
rout going on. What is causing this - and does it have anything to do
with the "Housing Crash"
and other predictions that
we have been publishing on this List for the past year or so?
Here is what the experts are saying (-This is from the mainstream Marketwatch website - one of the largest and most respected):
"Around the globe, rout in credit markets accelerates"
"Subprime could create global crisis, economist says"
"World is one "Bear-like' event away from liquidity freeze, Zandi
warns"
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch - Jul 26, 2007
"WASHINGTON
(MarketWatch) -- The problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage market
could spiral out of control into a global
financial crisis, economist
Mark Zandi said Thursday. With a "high level of angst" in the financial
markets about who will
take the losses from more
than $1 trillion in risky mortgages, we could be just one hedge-fund
collapse away from a global
liquidity crisis, said
Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com. A global meltdown is not
likely, but the risks are
growing, Zandi emphasized
in a conference call with reporters following the release of a new study
on subprime debt that concludes
that the housing crisis
could be deeper and last longer than investors now believe.
And
it could spread. "Mounting mortgage delinquencies and defaults now pose
the most serious threat to the global financial
system and economy," Zandi
said in his report. "If there is a fault line in the global financial
system, it runs through the
U.S. housing and mortgage
markets," he said. Zandi's comments came as U.S. financial markets
reeled from a growing credit
crunch..." -[
http://www.marketwatch.com ]
As you can see, this "credit crunch" and the accompanying stockmarket declines are directly related to the Housing crisis
that is ongoing - and likely to be with us for several years.
When we first published warnings of this Housing Crisis almost a year ago, it was definitely not a "popular" viewpoint.
But it is bocoming more popular as the crisis worsens month by month.
Please be aware, this is going to be with us for a LONG TIME. And it is going to get WORSE.
So what do we, as Christians, DO about this?
Well - obviously I am hoping that we have already made moves to GET OUT OF DEBT as much as possible. But the real answer
to this question is SPIRITUAL.
I
was crying out to God about all this yesterday, and one thing I was
strongly led to pray was that this economic crisis
will not be "WASTED" on us.
In other words, as things grow worse, that this nation will not harden
its heart at losing its
precious "lifestyle", but
rather that its heart will be softened and broken - and become hungry
for spiritual things once
again. -That the
complacency and apathy that comes with materialism will be broken - and
people will begin to seek God more
and more with all their
heart. -That this crisis not be WASTED on us - but that GREAT GOOD might
come of it.
-For
there are two main paths that nations can take when major crises hit -
and affect their lifestyle and standard of
living. -They can either
grow hardened and bitter against God, or they can become more broken and
softened and hungry towards
Him. We need to pray that
the latter will be the case. In fact, we need to be URGENT in prayer
that this crisis will not be
"wasted" on the Western
nations, but that it will prepare our lands for Revival - that it will
help to "break up the fallow
ground".
As I said, this could go either way, my friends. We really do need to PRAY that our nations will not become hardened, but
rather humble and broken and spiritually hungry through what is happening.
All that can be shaken will be shaken. And the harvest fields will be white unto harvest. Are you ready and prepared for
this time, my friends?
(4) DATE: Nov 8, 2007
THE DREADED "D" WORD
-by Andrew Strom.
People
hate it when David Wilkerson talks about it - and they hate it just as
much when I talk about it. But right
now I have to bring it up
again because of what is happening. Yesterday WorldNetDaily published
the following:
"Alarm: China signals flight from dollar
Investment CEO says he's 'never seen people more nervous'
An
unprecedented signal from senior Chinese leaders that the Asian
economic giant might abandon the U.S. dollar sent shockwaves
through the markets today
as the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 360 points and the greenback
fell to a record low against
the euro. Xu Jian, a
Chinese central bank vice director, told a conference in Beijing, "The
dollar is "losing its status as
the world currency."
Meanwhile, at the same meeting, Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of China's
National People's Congress, said,
"We will favor stronger
currencies over weaker ones, and will readjust accordingly."
Craig
Smith, CEO of Swiss America Trading Corp., told WND he's been in the
investment business for 30 years and has "never
seen people more nervous."
Alarmed by today's economic news, he dispatched a note to brokers with a
warning of ominous potential
consequences if China and
other trading partners abandon the dollar. "If that were to happen, all
bets are off, and we will
be in a depression that
makes 1929 look like child's play," he said, "or we will experience
Weimar Republic inflation as the
dollar makes extreme moves
toward devaluations." [- http://worldnetdaily.com ]
A.
STROM Again: Actually, according to all the data that I have seen, the
Dollar situation is not even the worst of the
problems. There is a global
Credit Crunch underway - affecting giant banks and Investment companies
the worst - and every
day we are getting news of
MULTI-BILLION dollar write-downs. All of this is linked to the Housing
and Mortgage crisis in America
- and its effects are being
felt worldwide. -And it is growing worse.
This
Credit crisis by itself actually threatens the entire SYSTEM - no
exaggeration. And it is already underway - NOW.
Many international banks
are in crisis mode already - but how long it takes to reach "Main
Street" is difficult to know. There
is already some fallout.
For instance, giant retailers such as Wal-Mart reported yesterday their
worst October in over a decade.
But this is just the
beginning of sorrows.
As
one commentator put it today: "The dollar fell another 2 per cent last
night, gold soared to $840 per ounce, oil topped
$98 per barrel, General
Motors reported a $39 billion loss after the market closed on Tuesday,
the real estate market continued
its downward slide, and the
major investment banks are marching in lock-step towards bankruptcy..."
For
many months now we have been saying that this Housing bust will be the
worst (by far) that this nation has ever seen.
This is no longer a
"controversial" viewpoint. Even many of the most mainstream economists
now openly admit the same thing.
The
"D-WORD" that I mentioned in the title of this article is, of course,
the word "DEPRESSION". I continue to stand by
my statement of many months
ago that within 3 years this nation will be in a terrible financial
depression - possibly the
worst that it has ever
seen. Right now, things are right on track to see this fulfilled.
BUT WHY??
The
answer to this question mostly lies in one word - "GREED". There has
been an absolute orgy of Greed in this country
- from the Investment
Bankers selling shady Mortgage-Backed Securities to the condo flippers
and Real Estate Appraisers and
"Junk Bond" specialists and
"Liar's Loan" officers. And what is left is an absolute mountain-pile
of shameful, unethical financial
garbage - which nobody is
willing to swallow any more. -And then there are the DERIVATIVES. -A
market worth over $400 TRILLION
which, if it ever gets
infected by this toxic junk (-which is close to happening), may cause
the WORST SYSTEMIC AVALANCHE
that the world has ever
seen.
GREED is the word. At the end of the day, all of this has been for the love of the Almighty Dollar.
In
fact, even CHRISTIAN AMERICANS love the Almighty dollar so much that
they are willing to make up ENTIRE DOCTRINES to
prove that God loves money
just as much as they do. It is a new kind of gospel - never seen in the
history of the world before.
The Americans invented it
and spread it around the earth. And now, even in REVIVAL COUNTRIES, this
gospel of greed is taking
over. Carter Conlon says
that he was in a poor African nation recently where there are 700,000
little children living without
parents on the streets -
and yet the PASTORS ARE DRIVING BMW's and preaching SELFISH PROSPERITY.
Where did they get such sickness?
-They got it from America.
We beam it to them live by satellite.
And
this is why I believe God is about to make an EXAMPLE of the USA. -He
has to. All the nations follow her lead. The
entire church worldwide
looks to her for guidance. And she has become a center of corruption and
spiritual sickness almost
without precedent in the
history of the world. She has made the whole earth "drunk" with her
fornications, her movies, her
MTV, her music, her
rebellion, her love of money. And so I am convinced that God is about to
make an 'example' of her before
all nations. He cannot have
a "Christian" country spreading such things in the earth.
When
I am in Nigeria again this February I plan to preach this very thing.
-That God is making an example of America so
that all the nations will
fear. -That this is what happens when you follow a creed of "God wants
me rich", of pleasure-seeking,
materialism, selfishness
and greed. -That God is about to demonstrate to the whole earth what
will happen to such a nation.
Do you think He is just
going to stand by and watch us ruin His Revivals forever?
God has a controversy with you, America. He is girding Himself up for war. I hope you are ready to find out what it is
like to get yourself on God's "wrong side".
Enjoy the coming Christmas, America. It may be your last really enjoyable one for a very long time.
A watchman of the Lord,
Andrew Strom.