The Debt Ceiling And Luke 16

[NOTE: This Bible study was also converted into a podcast for Right Now Radio in case you prefer listening to it rather than reading it. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO STREAMING FEED AND/OR DOWNLOAD MP3 FILE.]


The Senate has approved the debt ceiling plan by a vote of 74-26, avoiding a government default. President Obama says it's just the first step. Lovely.

Tuesday, America lost any hopes that it had for a solution to this nation's messy credit problems as we witnessed the largest debt hike in our country's history.

From what we do know, this agreement would raise the debt ceiling an additional $2.4 trillion in exchange for $1.2 trillion in cuts over the next decade.

Unfortunately for taxpayers, most of these cuts are to what the country would have spent, not what we are spending. In other words, the government will keep growing, just at a slower rate.

In a letter to President Thomas Jefferson in 1805, John Adams wrote...

"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in the Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, as much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation."

Thomas Jefferson would later write...

"I sincerely believe that banking institutions are more dangerous than
standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity is but swindling futurity on a large scale."

Jefferson would also warn...

"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude."

How appropriate is all of that, right? Who among us doesn't nod their head approvingly when hearing such historical quotes anchored in universal truth? But it was something about those ancient words, our present national situation, and the word "servitude" from that last Jefferson quote that got me thinking about Luke 16.

Is it any wonder that the Lord is going to destroy this nation's economy as a form of divine judgment for our unrepentant sins? He will show (He is showing) the world that the god that they've set up in place of Him -- the economy, finances, and money -- cannot possibly provide them lasting happiness, peace, and security.

Despite my concerns with some of the things Chuck Baldwin has to say sometimes, he recently nailed it when he noted...

Today, our nation is sinking into bankruptcy, insolvency, and a serious financial reckoning day because our political class in Washington DC continues to load our posterity with perpetual debt and servitude. Most Americans are distressed, perplexed, and confused because of their downright ignorance of sound money principles enshrined in our US Constitution and the evils of central banking. In 1910, a secretive cabal of Wall Street and international bankers conspired to create the Federal Reserve System, which became our nation's central bank in 1913. Our Founding Fathers were well acquainted with the evils of central banking (beginning with the Bank of England in 1694), and they diligently sought to enshrine hard money principles into our Constitution. In 1913, our national debt was $2.9 billion dollars and today it is $14.5 trillion dollars -- an incomprehensible 400,000% increase! According to our US debt clock, our unfunded liabilities now exceed $115 trillion and each taxpayer is on the hook for over $1 million dollars!

The fact is we are already un-creditworthy and our creditors (foreigners like China) know it! Because of our reckless spending and printing money (called QE), rating agencies like Moody's Investor Services and Fitch Ratings are threatening to downgrade US bonds to AA. In April of this year Standard & Poor's (founded in 1860)
downgraded all US debt to 'negative' and both Germany and China have downgraded US bonds to AA from AAA with a 'negative' outlook.

America is facing a dangerous tipping point unless we enact some serious fiscal and monetary reform. Already 46 out of 50 states have failed to meet their balanced budget deadlines for June of this year, and many like Illinois, Minnesota, Florida, California, Wisconsin, and Arizona are laying off workers and suspending essential services. As Margaret Thatcher famously said, "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." The states are broke! And, unlike the federal government, they cannot print money over at the Fed.

Those last points about the states individually being in the red are key because it is more evidence of what we suspected and theorized last July 2010 in the 2-part Right Now Radio broadcast that focused on the likelihood of seeing a 'North American Union' if not a 'Second Constitutional Convention (Con-Con)' due to a collapsed national economy (LISTEN TO PART 1 / LISTEN TO PART 2).

I know that was a little lengthy, but it's absolutely necessary that we're all on the same page here before we continue with this Bible study.



The reality is that I've been preparing this post for a couple of weeks now ever since it became obvious that this so-called 'debate' over the US debt crisis was going to end badly. I say 'badly' by the rest of the world's terms, but mean 'exactly as planned' according to God's perfect plan for humanity. Such is the only description of the acts of a Sovereign God.

Whatever does or doesn't happen in the days, weeks, and months ahead it is imperative that we respond Biblically to all of this. My advice is to spend some time listening to/watching the May 2010 Sermon we called attention to last week from John MacArthur titled 'About Material Debt And Spiritual Debt' to help set the stage.

If we boil things down further we come to realize the truth of God's wisdom about such matters...

Hebrews 13:5 (KJV) Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 (KJV) He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

Luke 16:13 (KJV) No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV) For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Those are only a few Biblical examples, and they remind me of this famous quote too...

"He that serves God for money will serve the Devil for better wages."
-- Sir Roger L’Estrange

In other words, whatever does or doesn't happen as a result of this US debt crisis in the near future, let's keep our priorities (and morals) in order.

As you all know, the US has officially done what it could to avoid going into default mode. For now. The real ramifications haven't been felt yet, but rest assured that they will come upon every individual and every family in this country in no time (if they haven't been felt already).

That brings us to today's Bible study. A couple of points need to be made before we embark on what seems to be God's sobering commentary on where we are today along His prophetic timeline.

First and foremost, I'm going to assume that a majority of us are already familiar with the discovery that the Book of Psalms seems to correspond to history in a very specific way. That is to say that each Psalm is a match for the corresponding year, or as Cindy By The Sea recently put it...

I have been looking closely at the Psalms again and am more convinced than ever that the numbering of the Psalms correspond to the current years we are in, particularly, when it comes to Psalms 111-119.

Psalms 111-119 as many of you know, form an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet, a set of Psalms, which, also contain what is known as the Hallel - (Psalms 113-118). Psalms so important, that they are recited at each of the major festivals – Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles) and, if I remember correctly, were recited as the pilgrims made their ascent to the temple mount from the streets of Jerusalem each year for the various festivals.

Therefore, I see this particular set of Psalms, (and, those that bracket them -111, 112, & 119), as progressive in nature, starting with Psalm 113 and culminating with the magnificent 118th Psalm, which, speaks in part of - ”the stone the builders rejected,” becoming the chief cornerstone.

That's the first point.

Second, my unexpected exposure to Al Neal and his work a few weeks ago led me to one of his discoveries that suggests that, in much the same way, each calendar year also has a corresponding Old Testament chapter and a corresponding New Testament chapter, and that reading and studying both will clearly show links to historical events that marked that given year.

Naturally, I was very skeptical and took it all under prayerful consideration, but then once this US debt ceiling stuff began to unfold in such a dramatic fashion I decided to take another look at what Luke 16 tells us. That's because Luke 16 is supposedly (according to Al Neal) the New Testament chapter that corresponds to the year 2011, or our present day and age.

I hope you will grant me the license to take some of your time to make this same case today because the parallels are uncanny! At the very least, even if you're not inclined to believe in any type of 'Bible Code' regardless of the evidence presented, then this will still serve as an appropriate Bible study, which makes it worthy of your time and interest.

Let's begin by looking at Luke 16:1-13 and the "Parable of the Unjust Servant"...

Luke 16:1-3 (KJV) And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

I should mention that some translations of the text title this passage as the "Parable of the Shrewd Manager" instead. Either way, that only adds another layer of intrigue here because "Unjust Servant" and "Shrewd Manager" are both extremely appropriate.

Ok, now let's look a little more closely at a verse-by-verse study of this specific passage from Luke 16 and then see if it might relate at all to what's been dominating the news headlines lately.

Before we do that though, I want to continue to make sure we're all on the same page here regarding what's really going on with this quote-unquote 'debate' we've been hearing about day-in-and-day-out for a couple of weeks now because it will go hand-in-hand with our exposition of the Biblical text.

I'll defer to the National Inflation Association for an overview...

NIA Exposes Debt Ceiling Truth

NIA hasn't written about the whole debt ceiling issue over the past few weeks because in our minds it is completely irrelevant. Our elected representatives in Washington, along with the mainstream media, have been wasting thousands of hours of time and hundreds of millions of dollars debating a topic that has no meaning at all. The President, Senate, and House of Representatives are putting on a show to make it look like they care about cutting spending and balancing the budget. Except for a select few elected representatives like Ron Paul who care about protecting the U.S. Constitution and preserving what little purchasing power the U.S. dollar still has left, every other politician in Washington is putting on a complete charade in order to trick their constituents into believing there is a difference between the proposals from the Republicans and Democrats. While our incompetent and corrupt mainstream media has been proclaiming there are major differences between the two bills proposed by House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, NIA believes John Boehner might as well be a Democrat and Harry Reid could easily pass himself off as a Republican. There are absolutely no meaningful fundamental differences between Boehner's plan that was approved by the House of Representatives yesterday evening, before being killed by the Senate two short hours later, and Reid's bill, which was just rejected by the House today in a pre-emptive vote before the Senate even had a chance to vote on it. Both bills are estimated to reduce the U.S. budget deficit by approximately $900 billion over the next 10 years. Of the $900 billion only about $750 billion are actual discretionary spending cuts with the rest being an expected reduction in interest payments on the national debt as a result of either bill passing. When you have an unstable fiat currency that is rapidly losing its purchasing power and could collapse at any time, it is impossible to accurately project what our budget deficits will be 5 or 6 years from now, let alone 9 or 10 years from today. As far as the next two fiscal years are concerned, both proposed bills from Boehner and Reid are estimated to only cut spending by a total of about $70 billion in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 combined. The budget that former President Bush submitted to Congress in early-2007, projected the deficit to decline in each of the following four fiscal years. Not only did the deficit not decline the next four years in a row, but it nearly tripled in 2008 and from there more than tripled in 2009. Shockingly, Bush's budget actually projected a $61 billion surplus in fiscal year 2012, but instead we will have a budget deficit of $1.1 trillion based on President Obama's latest budget, which takes into account unrealistic GDP growth next year of 4.86%. U.S. GDP growth for the first quarter of 2011 was just revised down yesterday by 81% from 1.91% to 0.36%. The advance estimate of second quarter GDP growth came in at 1.28%, well below the consensus estimate of 1.8%. NIA is going to really go out on a limb and predict that second quarter GDP growth will soon be revised downward as well. If this is the highest GDP growth the U.S. could muster after the Federal Reserve's $600 billion in QE2 money printing, this should prove once and for all that monetary inflation does not create real economic growth and employment. The U.S. Treasury as of Thursday night had $51.6 billion in cash, with its cash position declining by $15.2 billion during the previous 24 hours. It expects to bring in $172.4 billion from August 3rd through August 31st in tax receipts, but is scheduled to pay out $306.7 billion during this time period for an estimated deficit of $134.3 billion. The U.S. is scheduled to make its next interest payment on the national debt on August 15th and it will equal approximately $30 billion. Over the last 9 months the U.S. has spent a total of $385.9 billion on interest payments on the national debt, which means it is on track to spend a record $514.5 billion this year on interest payments alone. Just a tiny 30 basis point increase in the interest rate on the national debt would totally wipe out the deficit reductions proposed by both Boehner and Reid. The U.S. Treasury has been able to pay its bills in recent weeks by using many different accounting gimmicks. However, come Tuesday, there will be no more accounting tricks left to play and the U.S. won't be able to meet all of its obligations. Without a raise in the debt ceiling, the U.S. government will have to prioritize who it pays using the tax receipts coming in, which will probably include the $30 billion interest payment on the national debt (to avoid a default), $49.2 billion in Social Security payments, $50 billion in Medicare/Medicaid payments, $31.7 billion in defense payments, and $12.8 billion in unemployment benefits. With $23 billion of the $49.2 billion in Social Security payments due to be paid on August 3rd and $59 billion in t-bills due on August 4th, the U.S. Treasury's remaining cash balance could dissipate very quickly. The 10-year bond yield reached a new 2011 low yesterday of 2.785%, its lowest level since November 30th of last year. It is approaching its record low of 2.08% from December of 2008 during the middle of the financial crisis. With threats of a U.S. debt default making headlines across the world, investors are once again rushing into U.S. bonds as a safe haven. It is almost as if the whole world has gone insane. The world is fearful of the U.S. government defaulting on its debt and not being able to pay off maturing bonds, so as a safe haven let's just all rush into the very asset that will soon be worthless due to either an honest default or default by inflation. The U.S. dollar bubble is the largest and longest running bubble in world history and U.S. bonds are currently mispriced big time. U.S. dollar-denominated bonds should be the last asset in the world to benefit from fears of a U.S. debt default. One positive sign that NIA members are having success at spreading our message to the world is that gold reached a new all time high yesterday, rising $15 to $1,631 per ounce, with silver rising $0.31 to $40.10 per ounce. Thanks to the efforts of NIA members who worked tirelessly to spread the word about NIA's economic documentaries including 'Meltup', 'The Dollar Bubble', and 'Hyperinflation Nation', a larger percentage of the global population than ever before is educated about the global currency crisis that is ahead. During the financial crisis of late-2008/early-2009, gold and silver prices declined along with all other assets. Today, NIA estimates that half of the world's investors seeking a safe haven are buying dollar-denominated assets like U.S. Treasuries and the other half are seeking safety in precious metals. By mid-2012, investors will most likely no longer look at U.S. bonds and other dollar-denominated assets as a safe haven. During future times of uncertainty, NIA believes that precious metals will receive nearly 100% of safe haven buying, just like the U.S. dollar received 100% of safe haven buying in late-2008/early-2009. Once the debt ceiling is inevitably raised, the U.S. Treasury will have a lot of catching up to do in order to get its house in order, and we will likely see the largest amount of debt ever sold by the U.S. government in a single month. With QE2 having finished at the end of June, the U.S. will be relying on foreigners in these upcoming record Treasury auctions. In our opinion, we are likely going to see interest rates rise at an unprecedented rate that will shock the world. Don't believe the mainstream media's laughable claim that there is a shortage of U.S. Treasuries. It was just reported yesterday that Cambodia, one of the most rapidly growing emerging market economies with GDP growth this year of 6.5%, is moving away from the U.S. dollar, which currently accounts for 90% of their currency in circulation, in favor of its own currency the Riel. NIA believes it is only a matter of time until China ends its currency peg with the U.S. dollar. The world is flooded with trillions of dollars in U.S. Treasuries that will soon have no buyers except the Federal Reserve. There is no chance of yields falling below record lows from December of 2008. The mainstream media has been reporting all week that if the U.S. defaults on its debt as a result of a failure to raise the debt ceiling, it will be the first time that our nation has defaulted on its debt obligations. Most NIA members know that the real U.S. debt default already occurred in 1971 when President Nixon closed the gold window and stopped allowing foreign governments to convert their U.S. dollar holdings into gold. Since then, the U.S. currency system has been completely fiat and the national debt has increased by 3,400%. For the past 40 years, the U.S. government has been running on fumes left over from when countries were able to convert their paper U.S. dollars into gold. The price of gold has increased by 3,900% during this time period, meaning the U.S. dollar has lost 97.5% of its purchasing power. Meanwhile, the median household income has only increased by 384%. In terms of gold, the median U.S. household is earning 87.9% less income today than they did in 1971. The U.S. debt default of 1971 was many times more significant than the pending debt default, because back then our foreign creditors expected to receive real money and not a piece of paper with no real value that we print. The average American family has experienced a dramatic decline in its standard of living since 1971. The U.S. dollar and its reserve currency status is currently serving as the last thread that is keeping our "house of cards" economy propped up. The U.S. debt ceiling is very similar to a publicly traded company's authorized shares. When a public company consistently loses money like the U.S. government does, they print new shares just like the Federal Reserve prints dollars and when its total outstanding shares reach the shares authorized, the company's Board of Directors simply raises the shares authorized, which allows it to continue issuing shares and diluting shareholders. Since 1962, the U.S. has raised its debt ceiling 74 times. Any public company that needed to raise its authorized shares 74 times would likely have seen its stock price decline by 99.99% from above $10 to below 1 penny. NIA is strongly against an increase in the debt ceiling because there are ways for our country to stay afloat and continue operating without getting deeper into debt. The U.S. is currently supposed to have 8,133.5 tonnes of gold reserves at Fort Knox. We don't know for sure if these gold reserves still exist because the last audit of our gold reserves took place in 1954 and we had the little minor issue of our real debt default in 1971. Assuming that all of our gold is still there, this gold is worth $426.5 billion at the present time, enough to cover our U.S. government's deficit spending for almost four whole months. The U.S. government also owns valuable land, buildings, monuments, and other types of Real Estate, that could also be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Although we don't support selling all of our gold and Real Estate, if the U.S. government isn't going to implement real spending cuts that will lead to a balanced budget, we rather sell our assets than see the dollar-denominated savings and incomes of all Americans lose its purchasing power. If we continue raising the debt ceiling and getting deeper into debt in order to pay back the debts we already have, we are defaulting on our debts through inflation. With gold at a record high of $1,631 per ounce, the market is clearly telling us that a default through inflation is coming. As the Chinese, Japanese, and our other creditors are paid back in U.S. dollars that are rapidly losing their purchasing power, they will be reluctant to increase their purchases of U.S. Treasuries in the future, which we desperately need them to do in order to fund our spending increases. With the Federal Reserve likely to become the Treasury buyer of last resort, the world will lose their confidence in the U.S. dollar and hyperinflation could potentially break out as soon as 2013. NIA believes it is very likely that U.S. GDP will begin declining again in late-2011, which will officially put the U.S. in double-dip recession territory. In our opinion, the U.S. is still in the early stages of a hyperinflationary depression and the so-called economic recovery reported by the government and mainstream media has been completely phony and only due to misleading and manipulated economic statistics that don't factor in the real rate of U.S. price inflation. We expect Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to do everything in his power to avoid a double-dip recession at all costs. By the end of 2011, we are confident that not only will we see QE3 under a new name, but the Fed will act to force banks to lend their $1.6 trillion in excess reserves. It is a joke that we are debating spending cuts of $70 billion over the next two years, when only very dramatic across the board spending cuts of 50% or more of the total budget will give the U.S. any hope of balancing the budget and avoiding hyperinflation. Best case scenario, if the U.S. government cuts spending by 50% or more in all areas of the budget including entitlement programs and is able to prevent hyperinflation, NIA still believes we will see the U.S. dollar lose 90% of its purchasing power this decade with the price of gold rising to above $16,000 per ounce. It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us

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(Latest Update Sent Monday, August 1st, 2011) Important Debt Ceiling Update

President Obama just announced late this evening that a deal has been reached to cut government spending and raise the debt ceiling in order to avoid a debt default. If the deal is approved on Monday, it will raise the debt ceiling by between $2.1 and $2.4 trillion in three installments: $400 billion immediately, $500 billion this fall subject to a disapproval vote by Congress, and $1.2 to $1.5 trillion more after a special committee agrees on a matching amount of spending cuts that will be in addition to $900 billion in spending cuts proposed in the bill. With no tax increases included in this plan, all of this additional debt will eventually be monetized and paid for through monetary inflation. Although the deal is supposed to cut as much as $2.4 trillion in spending over the next decade, Obama said that none of the spending cuts will occur anytime soon so that not to derail the phony economic recovery. That's right, none of the cuts will come until early 2013 and by then we will need to once again raise the debt ceiling to north of $20 trillion. If our elected representatives were serious about cutting spending, they would have the bulk of the spending cuts now and not in the future when many of them will be out of office. This deal is a complete and total sham, and will do nothing to prevent hyperinflation. In no way will these spending cuts be mandated and nothing will force future Congresses to abide by them. Even with these cuts, government spending is going to increase every single year for the next decade. As price inflation spirals out of control in the years ahead causing the purchasing power of the dollar to plummet, all government employees will demand higher salaries and it will cost more to run all parts of the government. Future Congresses will raise spending and make the spending cuts proposed in this deal meaningless. NIA believes that all of the events that took place in Washington this weekend were scripted in advance. It is likely that both parties knew from the beginning what deal they would ultimately agree to, but came out with these other proposed bills in order to satisfy tea party supporters and make them think that their efforts are making a difference. The reality is, although the tea party movement helped Republicans take over the House of Representatives so that Democrats didn't have free rein in Washington, most of the new Republicans elected to Congress haven't followed through with their promises and have failed to make any kind of a positive difference. Everybody in Washington assumes that interest rates will remain at artificially low levels for the rest of this decade. The interest rate that the U.S. paid on its total marketable debt in the month of June was only 2.38%. Exactly one decade earlier, in June of 2001, we paid 6.162% interest on our total marketable debt or 159% higher than current average interest rates. On August 15th we owe our next interest payment of approximately $30 billion. Imagine if that payment rises 159% higher to $77.7 billion or $932.4 billion annualized. Later this decade, interest rates will not only rise back to normal levels like we had in 2001, but will likely rise to artificially high levels to balance out the damage being created today from artificially low interest rates. If this bill is approved by Congress and the President on Monday, it will avoid a short-term honest debt default but just about guarantee a default by inflation later this decade. There is about a 1 in 1,000 chance that future Congresses will stick with the spending cuts in this bill, but even if they do, rising interest payments will not only wipe out the $2.4 trillion in spending cuts, but they will add trillions more to future deficits and the national debt. A new Gallup Poll shows that 53% of Americans oppose raising the debt ceiling compared to only 37% who favor an increase. We pray that millions of Americans march to Washington tomorrow in protest of this bill and that millions more call, email, and fax their elected representatives in the morning demanding that they vote no. It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation.

That's the truth of the matter. Wanna know what else is true? The fact that contrary to the NIA's wishful thinking, America will not survive hyperinflation.

Furthermore, once again, I strongly urge you to let go of this Democrat-Republican, Liberal-Conservative, Left-Right paradigm because it's all political theater. They're just two sinister sides to the same corrupt coin.

On to our Bible study that I believe relates to this whole mess based on what we find in Luke 16:1-13. Please prayerfully consider the following.

In verse 1 we're introduced to the word "steward", or a man that worked for "a certain rich man" we're told. A steward is a trusted servant, usually someone born in the household, who was chief of the management and distribution of household provisions.

He provided food for all the other servants, thus managing his master's resources for the well being of others. He acted as an agent for his master, with full authority to transact business in the master's name. Ah, but what else do we read in the very first verse? That he was what? That he was accused of "wasting his goods" we're told.

Notice his prodigality too. His prodigality is a thread that ties this parable to the more famous and preceding one. Like the younger son in the previous parable, this steward was guilty of wasting the resources available to him.

Unlike the prodigal son, however, he had enough sense to make sure that his wastefulness did not leave him friendless and unprovided for in the future.

After we learn of the accusation made against this steward, verse 2 reveals the decision by the owner that he "can no longer be steward" without much of an investigation at all. I mean, he didn't even ask the steward to refute the charges against him. By announcing his intention to fire the man, the owner acted unwisely, and it cost him even more. Evidently, he thought the man guilty of incompetence, rather than fraud. That would explain his reaction a few verses later in verse 8, which we'll get to shortly. For now, let's press on with the next verse.

Verse 3 uses the words "I cannot dig", which tells us that the steward, upon resigning himself to the fact that his role had just been taken away rather abruptly, concludes that he is not fit for physical labor.

By now, I hope you're starting to notice some uncanny parallels between this parable and what we're seeing happen in this nation in Washington DC with the current debt crisis, on Wall Street with the economy, and across the country with the populace and unemployment and the welfare state.

Back to Luke 16:4-5. Here the steward "resolved what to do" instead of actually working for a living like everyone else. Cleverly, he arranged to give large discounts to his master's debtors, which they would eagerly agree to pay. Sound familiar? We then read about his hope that they would "receive me into their houses" too. See, by reducing their debts to his master, he gained their indebtedness to him. They would then be obligated to take him into their homes when he was put out of his master's home.

Gee, I wonder how many politicians in Congress and the Senate voted a certain way in response to this whole debt ceiling garbage with the same kind of scenario in mind?

Verse 6 makes us feel right at home with its allusions to the present day state of affairs I'm afraid. Look at the "quickly" in that verse. This was a secret transaction, unauthorized by the master. The borrower was guilty of deliberate complicity in the man's fraud. Forgive me, but the role of Foreign Nation States, Foreign Nationals, and Amendment 14 in all of this comes to mind here. See what I mean?

Remember earlier when looking at Luke 16:2 we said that the owner evidently thought that the steward guilty of incompetence, rather than fraud, and that such an interpretation would explain his reaction later on in verse 8? Well, we've now arrived at verse 8.

There we read "the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly", right? Outwitted, he actually applauded the man's cunning! His admiration for the evil steward's criminal genius shows that he, too, was a wicked man. So, both men were nothing but immoral crooks!

Again, I have to ask, do you notice any eyebrow raising parallels between this parable and what's captivating the world's attention right now since we've suggested at the outset that there exists a 'Bible Code' of sorts that says that each year of human history has a corresponding Old Testament and New Testament chapter that serves as a sort of spiritual commentary on what took place that year. Luke 16 is said to be the New Testament chapter that corresponds to the year 2011. I gotta admit, it does seem likely, and to think we started with the Word instead of starting with the news headlines of the day makes this even more intriguing I think.

A few more comments about verse 8. It's the natural tendency of fallen hearts to admire a villain's craftiness, isn't it?

Psalm 49:18 (KJV) Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.

Also, note that all the characters in this parable are unjust, unscrupulous, and corrupt. Yep, I'd say that definitely sounds like the politicians and bankers.

Something else for the body of Christ to think about from this verse. The words "for the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light" reminds me how most non-believers are wiser in the ways of the world than some believers are toward the things of God. We are "sons of light" so let's start acting like it for a change!

John 12:36 (KJV) While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

Matthew 10:16 (KJV) Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Ephesians 5:11 (KJV) And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Ephesians 5:18 (KJV) And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

In other words, the instruction is plain and direct: Christians are to faithfully live in righteousness and purity and have nothing at all to do with the evil ways and works of Satan and the world. The two ways of living are unalterably opposed to each other and mutually exclusive.

We now move on the Luke 16:9. This seems to be the heart of this entire parable especially where we read of "unrighteous mammon", or money. The unjust steward used his master's money to buy earthly friends. In comparison and contrast, believers are to use their Master's money in a way that will accrue friends for eternity -- by investing in the kingdom Gospel that brings sinners to salvation, so that when they arrive in Heaven ("an everlasting home"), those sinners will be there to welcome them.

Notice that Jesus Christ did not commend the man's dishonesty; He pointedly called him "unjust" (verse 8). He only used him as an illustration to show that even the most wicked sons of this world are shrewd enough to provide for themselves against coming evil.

The message then, for us, is both clear and sobering. Believers ought to be more shrewd because we are concerned with eternal matters, and not just earthly ones.

Luke 12:33 (KJV) Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

Matthew 6:19-21 (KJV) Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

If you aren't inclined to accept what God's Word teaches us here, then keep reading Luke 16. Verse 11 speaks of "true riches" and says that the faithful use of one's earthly wealth is repeatedly tied to the accumulation of treasure in Heaven.

Luke 16:12 underscores this point. For when we read "what is another man's" it literally means "what is another's" -- referring to God, and the believer's stewardship of His money (not ours), which we believers only manage as...get this...stewards.

At this point, we've come full circle, and I pray that you can see the similarities between the characters in this parable, the truth that the parable imparts to us, and the bankers, the politicians, and you and me. Guess what? We're the stewards of the Master's money, and we haven't done a very good job managing what He's given to us.

Finally, the last verse of this passage and parable that is a verse that many people know by heart...

Luke 16:13 (KJV) "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Many of the Pharisees taught that devotion to money and devotion to God were perfectly compatible (verse 14). This went hand-in-hand with the commonly held notion that earthly riches signified divine blessing. Rich people were therefore regarded as God's favorites.

Boy, doesn't that sound like a lot of what the apostate Preachers and apostate believers cling to nowadays? This is the Prosperity Gospel through and through, isn't it? So, once again, the uncanny parallels between Luke 16 and the state of the world today is breathtaking even if there is no 'Bible Code' like the kind we suggested seems to exist.

While not condemning wealth per se, Christ Himself denounced both love of wealth and devotion to mammon. Why?

1 Timothy 6:9-10 (NKJV) But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Who would argue that our nation has been consumed by greed? Greedy people are compulsive, and they are continually trapped in sins by their consuming desire to acquire more. The harsh reality is that such greed may lead those people to suffer the tragic end of destruction and Hell. Money is not evil in and of itself because it is a gift from God. The Word condemns only the love of it, which is so characteristic of not only false teachers, but I would argue of false converts as well.

Bottom line? We have failed to be good stewards of the blessings God has bestowed upon us both collectively as a nation and individually as so-called believers. Worse, we've made those very blessings from Him more important than the One who gives them to us, committing idolatry as a result. So, we must learn how to be better stewards of our God-given resources (Deuteronomy 8:18; 1 Samuel 2:7; 1 Chronicles 29:12).

What happened Tuesday is not the end of the story, but merely the beginning. The US economy will eventually collapse taking the US Dollar with it. It must in order for there to be a One World Economy complete with a One World Currency. Get ready for the new normal too.

By the way, lost in the shuffle and the euphoric atmosphere over the debt agreement was another major story that will have the same negative impact on the nation's economy let alone the average US taxpayer.

The government is likely to lose more than $1 billion in airline ticket taxes because lawmakers have left town for a month without resolving a partisan standoff over a bill to end the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.

The government already has lost more than $200 million since airlines are unable to collect taxes on ticket sales because the FAA's operating authority has expired. The Senate recessed on Tuesday until September, erasing any possibility for quickly resolving the issue. The House left Monday night.

Caught up in the partisan acrimony are nearly 4,000 FAA employees who have been furloughed. The FAA also has issued stop work orders on more than 200 construction projects, threatening the jobs of thousands of other workers.

Even the most hardened skeptic can't deny the handwriting on the wall. I mean, after all, we've also learned that the federal government has already drawn up plans for a large-scale economic breakdown in 2011 called 'Unified Quest 2011', or another one of those Big Government-Big Military national exercises. This year-long Army exercise -- underway right now -- is studying the implication of a collapse of the US Dollar and Bond Market, maintaining "domestic order amid civil unrest" and "ways to deal with fragmented global power and drastically lowered budgets" too. If the US government and military is currently making contingency plans shouldn't you be making plans?

I can help you with that. It's called 'Getting-Your-Spiritual-House-In-Order' and it's absolutely essential you do that today if you haven't already. For everyone else, I'll leave you with one final comment. I hope that when the debt ceiling finally comes crashing down it will force many to fall to their knees in humble repentance.

Don't wait until then to get right with God. Reconcile with Him TODAY by repenting for your sins; one of which is probably the sin of being an irresponsible steward of His blessings to you, or the sin of worshipping the blessing itself.

Keep looking up!

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Posted in: Al Neal,America In Prophecy,Apostasy,Bible Study,Economic Signs,How Close Are We?,Moral Decline,One World Currency,One World Economy,Political Signs,Spiritual Growth,Witnessing