Economic Collapse in 2015?

There are a lot of very interesting blips appearing on the radar screen for the last half of 2015. These significant events all seem to be clustered together and it has given me reason to pause and consider if there just might be unusual events occurring this year.

This article is just a blog post of me thinking out loud. Here is a list of some of the blips that I see:

1. Seventh-day Adventist General Conference meets this July in Texas. LINK I understand that the future of the world depends on the finishing of the Great Commission by the SDA church. The world is waiting for Adventists to reach the unreached people groups. At some point in the future there will be a great shift in missions theology. The question is "How soon will it come?"

2. In line with point #1 SDA missions giving is nearing historic lows. Historically whenever God's people have shown zero interest in taking the gospel to unreached people groups there has been terrible judgments (Assyrian exile, Babylonian exile, persecution in the book of Acts). According to the data in the Adventist World January 2012 issue we are giving almost nothing to missions. It does not matter what people say to this data. It is an objective measurement of our priority and we are "found wanting" by any standard. LINK to data. This is not 2015 specific but is a trend that is worsening in this time frame. Below is my attempt to graph the general trend. I probably violated every principle of math, statistics, and graph-making in putting it together.

Seventh-day Adventist Missions Giving Trend for North American Division (NAD)

3. This July 16 will mark the 100 year anniversary of EGW's death. Not sure what to make of it...happens to occur in this same time frame of mid 2015.

4. USA Supreme court likely to make sodomy (aka "homosexual marriage") law of the land in the next few months. LINK and LINK. I think this is theologically significant because both Sabbath and marriage came from Eden and if marriage is officially destroyed then only Sabbath remains to be destroyed. Could homosexual marriage legislation precede judgements? Could those judgments create the desire for more 'reform' type legislation in the opposite direction that will ultimately include the Sabbath?

5. The first ever Jesuit pope will be making his first visit to the USA in September. LINK He will be speaking to Congress which is a historic first for any pope. A...Jesuit....Pope......speaking.....to....the....USA.. ...Congress...if you know your history this might give you cold shivers. If you place this event after making homosexual marriages 'legitimate' it is really disturbing.

6. There is a best selling book out about the "Shemitah" predicting a collapse or something worse in September. I give the book and it's topic no credit whatsoever. There author is described as a "Messianic Jewish Rabbi" and claims God gave him a special revelation ("extra biblical revelation" so red flags up) This only appears as a blip on this list because of its timing relative to other events and also because their reasoning for collapse is a bit similar to my own (more on this in a minute). This is evidence that there are people outside the Adventist perspective that also anticipate something very bad happening soon. Their reason for a judgment is so that God will "wake up the people and bring them back through judgment." Well this is certainly going to happen. I recommend reading the Great Controversy (especially chapter 36) by Ellen White before reading about the Shemitah. Only the Great Controversy will give you the big, zoomed out picture of what is really going on. All these economic ups and downs are just little wheels spinning inside the big wheel.

7. Ron Duffield's books have been out for at least a year. Return of the Latter Rain and Wounded in the House of his friends. These are important books that will only make sense to a very small group of Seventh-day Adventists who are wondering why we are so powerless and unable to complete the Great Commission. There have been other voices before Duffield but now because of these books this generation has the clearest, most conclusive, and well footnoted research on why Jesus has not returned. "To whom much is given much is required." These books by their very existence increase our burden every day we do not investigate this issue with much prayer.

I would not have given much attention to the condition of the markets and the insane amount of money printing by the Fed until I read Financial Crisis in Bible Prophecy by Tim Aka. The author points out biblical principles about debt and irresponsible spending patterns that apply especially to this generation. Unfortunately from a historical perspective God's people usually do not respond except in times of great pain, distress, and economic hardship. That we as Christians have been so apathetic towards unreached people groups for so long necessitates the greatest of collapses and hardships to break our indifference.

8. It has been 125 years since Sunday legislation began in 1888. On May 21, 1888 the Blair Sunday-Rest Bill was introduced in the United States Senate. 125 years was given to Noah's generation. These years expired in 2008. How much more time will be granted to us that was not granted to Noah's time?

9. And of course all the chatter on the internet about imminent economic collapse. I'm a very ignorant person concerning markets and economies but I'm assuming there has always been people with bearish perspectives and bullish perspectives in every market. However we did see a crash in the dotcom bubble bust and we saw a huge bust in 2008.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-10/predictors-of-29-crash-see-65-chance-of-2015-recession.html
http://www.smarteranalyst.com/2015/03/31/5-charts-show-next-economic-crash-dead-ahead/
http://www.moneynews.com/MKTNews/Market-Collapse-Finance-Stocks/2013/03/01/id/492699/

I would not have given much attention to the condition of the markets and the insane amount of money printing by the Fed until I read Financial Crisis in Bible Prophecy by Tim Aka. The author points out biblical principles about debt and irresponsible spending patterns that apply especially to this generation. Unfortunately from a historical perspective God's people usually do not respond except in times of great pain, distress, and economic hardship. That we as Christians have been so apathetic towards unreached people groups for so long necessitates the greatest of collapses and hardships to break our indifference.

10. My birthday is in September...so that must mean...well it means this year of my life will be completely over! No recovery, beyond hope of restoration or salvage. I will never get it back. Even in a bull market with the DOW topping 70,000 I can't get one day back. My 10 tons of gold bullion will not help me one bit. I should prostrate myself in cries and lamentation if I had not lived my life paying a faithful tithe, supporting missions, and praying that Jesus will come back in great glory...but I have been, so it's okay :)

Summary:
Seriously, there may be an economic collapse and there may not be. In the end the market will not determine the value of a human soul. That price was set at Calvary and it is a constant, not subject to finite sinning humans with their market fluctuations. Whatever money I have belongs to Christ and must be used to advance his name, cause, and mission among the unreached. The little I have, invested in missions, will be repaid forever with redeemed friends in eternal glory. Buffet, Sims, and Gates and all their wealth multiplied will not get them even one minute in heaven nor will it help them in the day of judgment. The book of James says about our money "Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days."

Economic security is a myth.
Invest in eternity now while you still can.