Will the Dollar Lose Its Reserve Currency Status?
The U.S. has a very special and privileged relationship with the rest of the world. We control the reserve currency that 85% of all trades are conducted with. This puts us into a position where foreign nations send us goods and we send them dollars.
The one thing the dollar has going for it is that there is so much of it in the world, it can be used for large transactions. If a nation is going to buy $3 billion of oil from Saudi Arabia, it’s not going to use Russian rubles. As the supply of dollars soars into the tens of trillions, people are starting to worry about the number of dollars in the system.
When we were on the gold standard, global trade remained largely balanced. If a nation imported too many goods, the value of its currency would decline as gold left the country. America had a surplus in its trade with the world. It built a horde of gold of 22,000 tons. When it began spending too much money on imports, our reserve of gold dwindled to $8,000 tons. When Nixon closed the “gold window” on the convertibility of dollars into gold, the U.S. government was free to print all the dollars it needed to fund America’s financial deficits.
Many nations realize that they are getting the short end of a bad deal, but nobody can think of a better system. The Chinese tried to get the world to use its currency, the Renminbi. President XI traveled the world, signing one trade agreement after another. Nothing happened because the Renminbi doesn’t freely float exchange markets. People can’t trust a currency that they don’t know what its true value is.
The imbalance in trade between the U.S. and the world has become so extreme, something will have to change in the coming years. In 1987 the U.S. had a monthly trade deficit of $17 billion, which helped lead to the stock crash of that year. Today we have a trade deficit of nearly $100 billion a month, and most people on Wall Street have no concern.
The Ford Motor Company recently reported low earnings because it could not get the microchips needed to produce many of its vehicles. It had an 18% decline in sales. Since these chips almost solely come from Taiwan, the lack of them should be a wake-up call for Detroit to have a more redundant supply chain.
General Motors has the same problem with the lack of chips. The company said it was building some full-size pickup trucks without software that helps manage fuel consumption, reducing miles per gallon. “By taking this measure, we are better able to meet the strong customer and dealer demand for our full-size trucks,” a spokeswoman said.
What is truly amazing is how much food we import. Many companies import apple juice from nations like Turkey and Poland. I looked at my bottle of olive oil, and it said the country of origin could be Argentina, Greece, Italy, Tunisia, or Spain. America is surrounded by three bodies of water, and yet we import 75% of our shrimp.
We don’t seem to mind that food standards are lacking in some of these nations. Many farmers mix their olive oil with peanut oil or use oil that is rancid. We don’t care as long it’s cheaper than oil produced here in America.
I can only wonder what would happen to America if the world woke up and started selling the horde of dollars they’ve accumulated. If the value of the dollar declined, we’d still need to import goods. With the dollar dropping, we’d need to spend more dollars to get the same amount of products.
If the dollar crashes, we will have to start producing goods here at home. It would take a very long time to build a factory that could make microchips. Many of the components needed to manufacture the chips are produced in other nations. We have become so dependent on other nations for even the simplest product, I doubt I’ll live to see America return to its greatness.
I firmly believe that when God calls His church home, America is going to implode. The loss of millions of people would be reason enough for a financial meltdown. Every time I write about America’s economic problems, I can only conclude that God’s restraining hand is the only way that such a profligate nation could avoid total collapse.
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
— Todd
Moriah the “Burdensome Stone”?
We looked last week at the world’s diplomatic cabal increasingly moving toward a consensus against the state of Israel. Since the time of that writing, the energy devoted by the globalist-elite diplomats has increased in condemnation of the Jewish state.
This is the nucleus issue to consider as most key to where the world stands on God’s prophetic timeline.
The nations of the world more and more moving in that direction is a general trend that has been witnessed for decades. Israel is always condemned by majority vote whenever such votes are called for in the UN General Assembly. But, it seems to me that “general trend” has now moved into an operation in which the Zechariah 12 prophecy can be seen as pointed to by the prophetic finger of God in a specific way.
Let’s again look at that prophecy:
The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretched forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:1–3)
We believe that the ultimate turning of the world against God’s chosen people, Israel, will come during the Tribulation. In particular, that total turn against all Jews will take place, led by Antichrist, himself, during the second half of that seven-year period.
The Man of Sin will, at the three and one-half year mark of that era, sit in the Temple and declare himself to be God. The most horrendous period in all of history will then begin as the dictator unleashes all-out genocide. It will be far worse, according to the words of Jesus, than even the Nazis’ Final Solution during the Holocaust.
In dissecting Zechariah’s prophecy, it can be said that, for decades, Israel has been a “cup of trembling unto all the people round about.” The Mideast is feared by the world’s leaders to be the chief worry so far as a future ignition point for nuclear war. Israel, it is known by all, has its Samson Option, in which resides a nuclear arsenal the Jewish leadership will be willing to use in defense of Israel’s existence. And it is fear well-founded, both by the world’s leadership and by Israel’s leaders, because the Islamic-led neighbors of Israel declare consistently and constantly that they will wipe the Jewish nation from the map.
Most maps of the region that are held by anti-Israeli Arab-Islamic nations don’t even have the Jewish state represented as part of them. So Israel is by any stretch already a “cup of trembling” as predicted by Zechariah.
But, for our purposes here, I would like us to consider Zechariah’s words “burdensome stone.” It seems to me that there might be more to this statement than meets the proverbial eye.
There is a giant stone in Jerusalem, right in the middle of the whole Israel-versus-the-world controversy, in my view. It is called Mount Moriah, and also is known as the Temple Mount.
Not only is it the center of the great tectonic pressures that rub Israel against its enemies, it is the “burdensome stone” for God versus Satan and fallen mankind.
The Temple Mount is where God, Himself, dwelt in the Holy of Holies. His shekinah glory resided within that fifteen-foot-cubed inner sanctum within the Ark of the Covenant. Mount Moriah was God’s touchstone to humanity.
When His Son, Jesus the Christ—the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world—was sacrificed on Calvary’s cross, the Temple veil rent from top to bottom, indicating that God had provided a way for redemption and reconciliation with all of fallen man.
Mount Moriah is indeed a “burdensome stone” and is prophetically scheduled to become the trigger point for all-out satanic rage against God’ chosen people and all of mankind.
I believe God is allowing Moriah to be seen more and more in our headlines to show believers just how near we are to the wrap-up of this Age of Grace.
Here is a news excerpt that I believe proves my contention.
The Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades has issued a new ultimatum to Israel on Wednesday: Withdraw from Al-Aqsa Mosque and Sheikh Jarrah or “100 times” more rockets will be fired at 6 pm towards new targets.
The Al-Aqsa mosque, which sits on the Temple Mount, was a flashpoint of violent confrontations between Muslim worshippers and Israeli security forces since the beginning of Ramadan about a month ago.
The site, which is the holiest to Jews, made headlines recently after a massive blaze was seen next to the mosque apparently caused by fireworks that were ignited at the site. Israel has yet to respond to Hamas’ latest ultimatum…Leave Temple Mount or 100 times more rockets will fly. (“Hamas with Ultimatum to Israel: ‘Leave Temple Mount or 100 times more rockets will fly,’” Israel365 | May 12, 2021)
So there is indeed a large “burdensome stone” to be considered. It is a great rock of offense, as Jesus Himself has been termed by those who are anti-God. Look for the Temple Mount to be more and more front and center in the days ahead.
And, from this, just know how very near must be Christ’s call to the Church (Luke 21: 28).
–Terry