Relying on Egypt: The Sovereignty of God and The Recession pt. 2

Sure you're angry about what has recently happened with AIG...

But can you really say that you are surprised?!  After all that has been revealed about America's business corporations and their mismanagement of funds (most importantly, other people's funds), this should come as no big shocker.  I will be as bold to say that the shock should have worn off after the Enron/Tyco scandals of yesteryear.  The bottom line is this:  Big business of these United States needs a major overhaul and is in desperate need of a review in the Puritan/Protestant Work Ethic.  It may seem like a strange thing to say in our day, but much of this can be traced back to an abandonment of biblical principles in regards to work.  However, God is still at work during this time of massive financial corruption.  John Piper sheds some insight on this matter here:

So everything is being brought to the forefront.  But, I think that it's safe to say that we can't completely lay all of the blame solely on the shoulders of "Wall Street".  We have to take some of the blame ourselves, don't we?  I know, I know -- but just put the pitchfork down and here me out for a second.  I was thinking about this the other day; isn't a lot of what we see going on a direct result of the greed on "Main Street"?  We have to have some culpability.  We're angry because our trust has been betrayed.  For that, we should be.  But why did we trust them in the first place?  I believe that in many cases it was because of the promise of prosperity.  We buy into the idea of the promise of something for nothing.  All we have to do is sit back and watch the grass grow, then, BAM!!  Mo' Money, Mo' Money, Mo' Money!  How do ponzi schemes happen? As P.T. Barnum so eloquently put it, "There's a sucker born every minute".  How do people get put into homes with upside down mortgages?  In most cases (not all), it involves a willing participant who allows themselves to suckered in by the allure of promises that cannot deliver.

Truth be told, the only place where the promise of something for nothing can be found is in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  In these times of financial and social dereliction, there is no message that needs to be proclaimed more than this (Isaiah 31:1-6, 55:1).

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

The Coming Evangelical Collapse

I heard this topic being discussed this week on Issues, etc. - For what it's worth I think that the writer of this article is dead on.  My only disagreement would be in the timeline...I would think that this would all begin to happen much sooner.  This is  exactly what Francis Schaeffer predicted would happen in his day.  For more on the subject,  you can get it here.

ONEIDA, KY. - We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close. (more...)

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon