his Hebrew name Yeshua.
Below is some disturbing economic news: Citi Group is forecasting Gold to top $2,400.00 an ounce this year, $3,400 in the near future. Consider the following astounding statistics.
Mexico bought 16.8 tons of Gold in March or nearly a $B in March
Russia bought 16.5 tons in of Gold in March
Turkey bought 11.5 tons of Gold in March
Argentina bought 7 tons in March its first addition to its reserves since 2005
China bought 490 tons of Gold in 2011.
S. Korea, Thailand, Philippines, Columbia and Belarus are also buying gold
Western economies are teetering and governments are fleeing to precious metals and land.
The price of farm land is skyrocketing and for every farmer & rancher under 25, there are 5 who are 75 or older.
2011 farm income was 98.1 billion up from $79.1 billion in 2010
Cropland values rose 19% in the 1st qtr and 5% in the previous qtr.
Unemployment in Ireland is 30%, England 22%, France 23%, Portugal 34%, Spain 49%, Italy 30% and Greece 49%
Mervyn King a Bank of England Governor said recently, “There are major credit losses to be realized….whatever happens there will be difficulties ahead that will undoubtedly affect us.”
Greece is now operating on a barter system and Greek citizens withdrew $894 million in U.S. currency from their bank accounts.
In Dec 11 J.P. Morgan had $25 billion in deriviatives, now they have $75 billion in deriviatives and 33% of Americans are under employed.
College graduates now have $1 Trillion in student debt. 94% of students now have student loans, that is up from 45% in 1993. Credit card debt is 693 billion and auto debt is 730 billion. The govt. is enslaving young people with debt. 50% of people ages 16 to 24 are unemployed in the U.S. the highest number since the Great Depression. 33% of Black people are unemployed, 22% of Hispanics, 16% of whites, 20% of men and 17% of women. In Oct 2008 UE was 10.8% it is now 13.2%. How we lookin economically – NOT GOOD!
In these tough economic times it is important to put on the full armor of God. James 4:7 says that if we resist the devil, he’ll flee from us and this is what Ephesians 6 is all about. Each piece of the armor symbolizes something we do, and we must put on all the armor to be protected.
The belt of truth stands for God’s promises. It protects our “gut”, the core of our beliefs. We may lose our Gold, precious metals & land but God will never leave us and will never lose us (John 6:39-40). Even during the time we were “backslidden” He was with us. No one can take us out of His hands. (John 10:27-30) Once we are saved we are always saved.
The breastplate of righteousness protects our heart. God’s righteousness is imputed to us by faith. (Romans 3:21-22) No one is worthy of God’s grace and righteousness, and it has nothing to do with how we behave, it has to do with what we believe. Romans 10:9 says that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised Yeshua from the dead, we will be saved.
We must have our feet fitted with the Gospel of Peace to do our “walk”. Phil. 4:4-7 tells us that to receive peace, we rejoice in all things. Nothing will cause the enemy more frustration than a continual attitude of gratitude. Ephesians 4:17-32 and all of Romans 12 tell us how to live as believers. Expressing our gratitude to the Lord pleases God and drives satan crazy.
A shield is movable and can be placed between us and the source of the attack upon us. The shield of faith stands for our belief in the Lord’s power to defeat our enemies. We meet each attack with the belief that we’ve already achieved victory. The Lord said we’d have trials in this world, but to take heart because He’s overcome the world. (John 16:33)
A helmet protects our head, where our knowledge of God resides. 2 Cor. 10:3-5 tells us that we have the power to demolish every stronghold and every pretension that conflicts with our knowledge of God. We can take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.
And the sword is our weapon with which we counter every attack. It represents our knowledge of God’s word. It’s what Jesus used to defeat the devil in the wilderness temptation. (Matt. 4:1-11)
Each of these items is helpful to us only to the extent that we study and understand the word of God – the Bible. Having zeal for the Lord without knowledge of His Word is like charging into battle without protection or weapon. No soldier would ever go into battle without all his armor. Neither should we.
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