Recession Official & Terrorism Expected
The Strength of Dollars Have Long Been Part of the “Pride of the Power” of the USA
(which will be broken per Leviticus 26:19)
There were some disturbing items in the news that I would like to mention this morning. Here are three on economic items:
Recession in U.S. May Be Just Beginning as Job Losses Mount
Bloomberg – Dec 2, 2008
The U.S. economy, now officially in recession, may be in the midst of the longest slump in the post- World War II era as job losses mount and credit dries up.
The economic slump began in December 2007 when payrolls reached a peak, the business cycle dating committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, nonprofit group of economists based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said yesterday. The last time the U.S. was in a recession was from March through November 2001, according to NBER.
“We’re going on 12 months already, and we’re just getting started,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut. “We’re looking at some pretty severe numbers for the fourth quarter, and the first quarter of 2009 will be pretty bad as well. The economy isn’t going to turn around definitively until the credit markets unclog.”
The NBER designation means the U.S. was the first country to have slipped into a contraction. While definitions differ, the economies of both the euro area and Japan fell into a slump in the second quarter of this year, making it the first simultaneous recession in the three regions in the postwar era.http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aXTWFDfLt8KM&refer=home
The current strength of the dollar is temporary and the US currency risks a hard landing in 2009, according to a team of United Nations economists who foresaw a year ago that a US downturn would bring the global economy to a near standstill.
In their annual report on the world economy published on Monday, the economists said the dollar’s sharp rebound this autumn had been driven mainly by a flight to the safety of the international reserve currency as the financial crisis spread beyond the US.
The overall trend remained a downward one, however, reflecting perceptions that the US debt position was approaching unsustainable levels. An accelerated fall of the dollar could bring new turmoil to financial markets. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/12eab3b4-bf06-11dd-ae63-0000779fd18c.html
US bank stocks in biggest drop since crisis began
Reuters – Dec 1, 2008
NEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters) – U.S. bank stocks on Monday suffered their biggest one-day decline in the current financial crisis, on expectations a deepening global economic slump will reduce employment, crimp access to credit and spur more writedowns.
The broad-based Standard & Poor’s Financials Index .GSPF plunged 17 percent, a bigger drop than the 16.1 percent decline recorded on Sept 29, which had been the largest one-day slide since the middle of 2007. Major U.S. stock indexes on Monday fell between 7.7 percent and 9 percent.http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN0135884020081201?rpc=44&sp=true
So the USA entered recession first, followed by Japan and the Europeans. The difference between the three regions is that as reported here repeatedly, the Europeans expect to be stronger because of it (see EU Stronger From Economic Crisis), while the USA will increase its debt and set itself up for a greater fall later (cf. Habakkuk 2:6-7). Japan will ultimately likely end up with closer ties to China than it now has as both are “kings of the east” (Asia in Prophecy).
USA vice-president elect Joseph Biden got told some disturbing news regarding terrorism as well:
WASHINGTON – The United States can expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study being briefed Tuesday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden. It suggests the Obama administration bolster efforts to counter and prepare for germ warfare by terrorists.
“Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing,” states the report, obtained by The Associated Press. It is scheduled to be publicly released Wednesday.
The commission is also encouraging the new White House to appoint one official on the National Security Council to exclusively coordinate U.S. intelligence and foreign policy on combating the spread of nuclear and biological weapons.
The report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism, led by former Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and Jim Talent of Missouri, acknowledges that terrorist groups still lack the needed scientific and technical ability to make weapons out of pathogens or nuclear bombs. But it warns that gap can be easily overcome, if terrorists find scientists willing to share or sell their know-how…
Graham said the threat of a terrorist attack using nuclear or biological weapons is growing “not because we have not done positive things but because adversaries are moving at an even faster pace to increase their access” to those materials.
He noted last week’s rampage by a small group of gunmen in Mumbai.
“If those people had had access to a biological or nuclear weapon they would have multiplied by orders of magnitude the deaths they could have inflicted,” he said.
‘Time is not our ally’
Al-Qaida remains the only terrorist group judged to be actively intent on conducting a nuclear attack against the United States, the report notes. It is not yet capable of building such a weapon and has yet to obtain one. But that could change if a nuclear weapons engineer or scientist were recruited to al-Qaida’s cause, the report warns.
The report says the potential nexus of terrorism, nuclear and biological weapons is especially acute in Pakistan.
“Were one to map terrorism and weapons of mass destruction today, all roads would intersect in Pakistan,” the report states.
In fact, commission members were forced to cancel their trip to Pakistan this fall. The Islamabad Marriott Hotel that commission members were to stay in was blown up by terrorist bombs just hours before they were to check in.
“We think time is not our ally. The (United States) needs to move with a sense of urgency,” Graham said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28006645/
A sense of urgency is needed by all, but especially those in the Anglo-American nations. I noticed a couple of days ago that CNN television reported that Al-Qaida stated that they would have a major attack prior to the inauguration of president-elect Barack Obama.
In Psalm 83, the Bible foretells a time where a confederation of primarily Arabic and Turkish peoples will decide to destroy what appears to be the USA, its Anglo-allies, and Israel. And then the Europeans agree to help (even though, according to Isaiah 10:7, they do not originally mean to do it).
Biological warfare and terrorism are consistent with the warnings God gave about cursings to the peoples He promised blessings to:
14 ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, 15 and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, 16 I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever (Leviticus 26:14-16).
There are also verses suggesting nuclear annihilation:
I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste (Leviticus 26:33).
19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts The land is burned up (Isaiah 9:19).
Thus, it is possible that the USA and its Anglo-allies will be weakened economically through their debt, militarily because of stretching a financially strapped army into many places, internally from disease and possible biological attacks, and then ultimately when our creditors rise up (Habbakuk 2:6-7) and probably will initiate a surprise major nuclear attack. Slavery is expected for those in the Anglo nations that survive (Jeremiah 30:7-8; Isaiah 5:13; Habakkuk 2:7).
And while the end will not be before 2012 (see Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2009, 2010, or 2011?), it may be shortly thereafter. All need to heed and repent.
Several articles of possibly related interest may include:
Are You Saved? Do You Love Jesus? What is a True Christian? What is the Gospel? Evangelist Richard Ames answers those important questions.
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States?
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States Some claim that Barack Obama is the prophesied “son of Kenya”. Might Bible prophecy be fulfilled since he is to be the USA president?
Prophecies of Barack Obama? Are there biblical and non-biblical prophecies about Barack Obama. Did Nostradamus predict Barack Obama dealing with the Antichrist? This is my longest article on biblical and non-biblical prophecies that may involve Barack Obama.
End of Mayan Calendar 2012–Might 2012 Mean Something? There is a Mayan calendar prediction for change in 2012. 2012 changes were also centuries ago predicted by the Hopi Native Americans (the Hindus may have some predictions for the next decade as well). Do these Mayan/Hindu/Hopi prophecies have any value? Why might Satan have inspired this date? Does the Dresden codex show destruction of the earth by flood? Can the great tribulation start before 2012?
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? When does the six thousand years of human rule end?
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? What is ahead for Europe?
Japan, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 1: Any Witness? This is a draft of an in-process article about Japan. Have they had any witness?
Japan, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 2: Prophecy Japan in prophecy. What is prophesied for Japan. Will God save the Japanese?
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