Uncle Sam is on Life Support

Yesterday San Bernardino became the 3rd California city in a month to file bankruptcy. Last fall, Jefferson County, Alabama, filed the biggest municipal bankruptcy in American history. This week, to avoid bankruptcy, Scranton, Pennsylvania reduced every one of its salaried employees to minimum wage. Government employees who depend on Uncle Sam for their livelihood have reason to worry.

Many of you know that Uncle Sam paid my salary for 25 years, and now gives me a pension and Social Security benefits. Though I'm grateful, I wonder how long he’ll be able to keep it up. After all, he’s only human—eventually, he will die. In fact, he’s already on life support. But I’m not worried—a statement that has yet to be tested—because I know my Father, not my Uncle, is my Provider.

Anyone who thinks Uncle Sam is going to live forever is wrong! And if they (we) haven’t done it yet, it is due time to exchange faith in our Uncle for faith in our Father. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or what you will wear...your heavenly Father knows that you need them. And if you will seek first his kingdom all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:25-33). When Uncle Sam passes, a lot of his heirs will be very grieved, and worried that he was broke!  But surely not the children of God.  Right?

Is Noah knocking on your door?

Spain just received an unprecedented $125 billion from European banks to keep itself from insolvency. Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Portugal and Ireland will follow soon.  Can the rest of Europe be far behind? The US, Japan, China and Brazil, which rely on Europeans to buy their exports, are vulnerable. The dreaded question no one wants to ask: what will happen when the credit dries up?

Another drain on nations’ economies are the wars that divert money from things that are more profitable. Adding to that are the unbudgeted, and extreme, costs of natural disasters—earthquake, fires, floods—that sap limited tax revenues. Some governments (like ours) just print more money. But that threatens to cause super-inflation. Are we getting close to the time when “a loaf of wheat bread or three loaves of barley will cost a day's pay” (Rev. 6:6)?

Despite these signs of danger on the horizon, the tendency is to dismiss it as “Chicken Little” nonsense. Nobody wants to consider there might be a day of reckoning. The 'signs' are no more regarded than a car alarm in a crowded parking lot. Jesus said the last days would be like those  of Noah. Have we become like Noah's neighbors who, when he came knocking on their door to warn of impending peril, pretended not to be home?

Investing in the Future

I’ve not posted on this blog since last Monday. As you know from my previous postings, I have returned to school (Liberty University Online) to get my Masters in Theology. (I want to be able to teach at a Bible College.) For some of you this may beg the question why someone at retirement age would be going back to school to start a new career. My answer: Is it ever too late to invest in eternity?

Maybe you haven’t thought of it, but every day you are deciding how to invest your life. And whatever you invest in has the promise of a treasure in heaven that is waiting for you—like making deposits to your eternal "bank" account. Jesus said "Don't invest in things on earth where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Invest in things in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves” (Mat. 6:19-20, author’s translation!).

As you make important educational, career, and life choices, don’t forget you are making deposits into eternity. You have one life to live. It can only be invested once. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? ... Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days” (Is. 55:2; Ecclesiastes 11:1). If you don’t hear from me as often these days, don’t worry—I’m probably at the "bank," making some deposits.

"You can take it to the bank!"

Last week Federal regulators shut down the 82nd bank of the year—surpassing last year’s 37 bank closures (by this time), already a record! Most of us don’t agonize over bank closures. We believe in their solvency & reliability—the backbone of the free market! And why shouldn’t we, when up to $250,000 of our money is insured by the FDIC in case of fraud or failure? We use the expression: “You can take it to the bank!”

“Take it to the bank” means something is absolutely and verifiably true”—originally a reference to bank checks that could certifiably be cashed in at the bank—“you could bank on it [the check].”

Now, the heretofore impossibility of an unreliable bank system seems more real than ever before. [You know where I am going with this, don’t you!] In fact, has there ever been a time when you could ‘bank on’ any earthly deposit? Everything on earth is destined for destruction. There’s only ONE bank guaranteed not to crash and burn. Only ONE account you can really bank on!

Most of us probably make less than 3 or 4 deposits a month at our local bank. But if we are not making daily deposits into our divine account (treasures in heaven), we’re likely headed for a bank failure—nothing in our account when we need it. And you can take that to the bank!