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http://bibliocentric.

com/ The Economy is not the Governments Fault


By: Josh Mann

The recent economic plunge that the United States has been going through since 2008 is generally blamed on the government. When asked for more specificity, people will generally cite bad policies, or greed, as the main contributors to the less than favorable economic situation. A recent Fox News Poll shows that fifty five percent of Americans believe that the current economic climate is due to bad policy making on the part of president Obama. In addition, the same poll showed that seventy five percent of people are depending on the federal government to much, which has led to the current state of affairs. However, I believe the Bible tells us to do something different when economic woes befall a nation. If you ask the average person why the economy is the way it is, youre likely to get a myriad of answers. The most common response that I hear is "Because the government is running the country into the ground" (paraphrasing). Now before we go on to examine the biblical response to such claims, let me be clear, I believe that our government has undermined the faith it once clung to, the family it once celebrated, and the political ideals that once made it great. Policies that our government has enacted in recent decades (i.e. the relocation of wealth by the taxing of the rich, the rejection of biblical law, perpetuating a corporate society in which mom, and dad both work, and children raise themselves) has led to consequences, and in some cases judgment that has plagued the nation. I am in no way suggesting that the government should not make good policy decisions, in fact such decisions should be informed by scripture. Although, I do think that the average person may not be taking their share of the blame for the poor state of the economy. Let's let scripture speak. "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34).We have talked about this verse before, and we are going to talk about it again today. Why is this an important verse? Because it gives us great insight into the mechanism God employs to pass temporal (prior to "Day of the Lord") judgments (and after for that matter). So lets apply this to the general well-being of a nation in specific terms. According to the Bible, what might cause a nation's economy to be prosperous? A general state of righteousness among the people, and leaders. What might cause a nation to be generally safe from harm? Righteousness among the people, and leaders. Righteousness is God's standard for judging the nations. Some might be quick to retort "What about nation's that practiced widespread immorality, and yet prospered such as Rome"? Answer: Where is Rome now? The ruins of Rome testify to the sovereign God who passes judgment on the nations. Jeremiah lamented Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead with you; yet let me talk with you about your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?" (Jeremiah 12:1). You see, man (even the prophet Jeremiah) looked at the world from a finite vantage point and asked God why he seemed to allow unrighteousness to endure. Another great example of this is 2nd Peter 3:1-9, and it is this text that we will get an answer. Peter is talking to his readers about judgment. He says people will come in the last days and say "where is the promise of his coming" (3:4)? He responds by saying "But they deliberately forget that long ago by Gods word the heavens came into being and the earth was

formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly"(3:5-7). What he basically says is "people are saying today 'Judgment? What Judgment? Everything is fine!' but they forget that this is exactly what people were saying in the days before the flood, and before they knew it the flood was upon them. So likewise will God catch the world by surprise once again by the promise of his judgment"? The reason God waits so long to judge however, displays his mercy as well as his judgment "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance". Jeremiah asked "God why won't you judge?" and people today ask the same question. The reason God waits is because he is patient with people and he wants them to repent. At a certain point though, God is done dealing with a nation. I believe that we are unfortunately very close to this point as a nation. America has been at war with God for some time now. We kicked him out of the capitol building, then the schools, and then the courts. Now there seems to be absolutely no place for a holy God in our society any more, we have rejected him and his word. Unfortunately this does not bode well for us, and God may start to reject us corporately because we have rejected him. To bring it back to the original point, when things go unfortuitously for us as a nation (such as the economy taking a dive) we should hear the train coming. We should hear the voice of the Lord declaring "Repent, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" Otherwise we will one day lye in ruins, just like Rome.

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