INTERVIEW WITH GOD
Angels and Spirits
Interview two from God on God
By Scott McGregor
God on God Copyright © 2002, Aurora Production AG, Switzerland.
All Rights Reserved
Interview Two
Interviewer: In the last interview we touched on a variety of subjects. I hope You don't mind if we try to cover some of these more in depth?
God: Not at all!
Interviewer: One subject that has received a tremendous amount of press and attention in recent years is the subject of angels. It seems every bookstore has walls lined with an endless number of books about them, not to mention the TV shows and even movies. I think this plethora of material about them just leaves most people a bit overwhelmed and unsure of what's truth and what's fiction.
God: I agree.
Interviewer: It would be wonderful if You, being the one who really is the expert on the subject, could set the record straight.
God: I would be happy to. What would you like to know?
Interviewer: For starters, what do they look like?
God: They come in a variety of … I started to say shapes and sizes, but that hardly does them justice.
Interviewer: So there is a variety. They are not all just the same plain vanilla angels.
God: My goodness, no. Plain vanilla?
Interviewer: I'm sorry! By that I was asking if they are all more or less the same, like if you've seen one you've seen them all. … Oh, I apologize again.
God: You may have offended a few talking like that. Although they're of the same basic essence, there is an infinite variety of angels, with some having more specialized tasks. Thus their looks and powers vary.
Interviewer: You say powers?
God: Yes, they all have powers, but their powers differ depending on the tasks they fulfill.
Interviewer: And what would be these tasks?
God: For instance, each person on earth is assigned a personal angel to be his or her spiritual guardian.
Interviewer: I can see the good guys having one, but You are saying that even bad people have one?
God: Yes.
Interviewer: Why?
God: I love each and every person, so I assign angels to try to help him or her. Some people don't appreciate it, though, and because of their choices in life, their angels are hard pressed to achieve much good in their lives.
Interviewer: So why have them stick around?
God: To try to help as much as they can. Each person has moments of goodness-even the worst person-and the angels capitalize on that.
Interviewer: So You are saying that things could be much worse if these angels weren't helping?
God: Yes.
Interviewer: It would seem a pretty thankless task in many instances.
God: Indeed, but that is what they are needed to do, so they are content to try to achieve as much good as they can, even when the odds are long.
Interviewer: You use the term “guardian.” That would indicate that they have some sort of protective function?
God: Yes. They try as much as possible to protect their charges, but they have to operate within certain boundaries. It helps immensely if they get the cooperation of their charges.
Interviewer: How exactly would that be?
God: If the person they are responsible for operates within the bounds of common sense, that's a start. But much more than that, it helps if their charges make an effort to listen to their guidance.
Interviewer: So the angels are communicating with us?
God: They are most certainly trying to. They do all they can to get through, but it's like calling someone on the phone. It does no good unless the other party answers.
Interviewer: So how does one answer?
God: By stopping to listen. That voice within that you hear is often your angel trying to get through to you. Another word for it is your conscience.
Interviewer: You are saying that the voice of conscience is actually angels?
God: More often than not, yes; or others of My agents. Their voices are not the only ones rattling around in people's heads, but they are certainly some of them and their voices are distinctive.
Interviewer: In what way?
God: They are the ones trying to get you to do the right thing.
Interviewer: In the previous interview, You said this was You speaking to us.
God: It is. Sometimes I speak directly; other times I go through one of My agents, which I explained are angels or spirits that I send.
Interviewer: I would like to ask more about spirits later if I may, but for now let's finish up with angels. Besides guardian angels, what other types of angels are there?
God: Some have more power than others and their types of ministry also vary. Some are known by various names on earth, such as seraphim and cherubim.
Interviewer: Oh, cherubs-the little baby cupid-like angels.
God: That is a complete misconception. In reality, My cherubim are huge, mighty, and carry much responsibility. They are not little babies.
Interviewer: Could You explain more about angels' ministries and how their power varies?
God: Some are the equivalent of soldiers. They are in combat with the forces of evil. There is a war of the worlds going on, with the good angels and good spirits on one side (My side, you might say), and the fallen angels (which are also called demons) and bad spirits on the other side. This is a war unseen by you, but you see its effects. It is a conflict that takes place in the realm of the spirit, which coexists with your material world. Those in the spirit world can see what is going on in the material, but they are limited in how they can interact with it.
Interviewer: And who's winning the war?
God: The angels! But-and here is a little-understood secret-their ability to overcome depends on the prayers of mankind.
Interviewer: You are saying that we control their powers?
God: Control is not the right word. You supplement and magnify their abilities. They do derive a great deal of power from the material world via your prayers. When you pray for a certain situation, then their ability to intervene in that situation is increased dramatically. And the more effort that you exert in your prayers, the more they can do.
Interviewer: So we should pray to the angels to…
God: No, not to the angels. The prayer is to be directed to Me. The prayers that are prayed are then transformed into spiritual energy and transferred to those angels or spirits involved in helping that situation.
Interviewer: But I think all of us have experienced times when we have prayed-sometimes intensely-for a situation, but it didn't seem to improve.
God: Well, there are many factors involved, and thus things can get rather intricate. However, I think you would have to admit that there are times when you have prayed and there were results. You can't always try to grade Me or the effect of your prayers by their seeming success or failure. All your prayers are effective. Even if the situation doesn't turn out as expected, the prayers were used to affect the outcome in some positive way, whether that is apparent or not. Just think of how badly things could have turned out if you hadn't prayed at all.
Interviewer: Indeed, that is a positive way to look at it. But since good does not always triumph, so to speak, even when there are lots of prayers involved, it does give the impression that You and Your forces are far from omnipotent.
God: That can sometimes be the impression, but I assure you it is not so.
Interviewer: Then it doesn't seem fair to me that bad things happen to innocent people when You could make everything right, supposedly with the tip of Your finger.
God: Why do you assume that the “bad” is indeed bad?
Interviewer: Because it is obvious, or at least it seems obvious, that when innocent people are hurt, maimed, killed, made homeless, or see those close to them receive similar treatment, that it is bad. There seems no good to it at all.
God: That is caused largely by man's inhumanity to man. That is not My doing.
Interviewer: Granted, but You could intervene and stop it.
God: But I have given man free choice. It wouldn't be free if I intervened.
Interviewer: Perhaps this free choice wasn't such a good idea, if because of it there is suffering.
God: Do you think it would be better if I had created man as an automaton, programmed to do exactly what I command?
Interviewer: Well, no, I guess not. You have a point there.
God: I wanted a free being who could choose to love Me and love his fellow man. It was important that man had total freedom to make his own choices, in order to have the ability to love Me and those I put in his path, to do good wholeheartedly and not as a machine. However, many misuse this freedom. They make the wrong choices, and much hurt results.
Interviewer: Are You saying You never interfere when You see people hurting other people?
God: In many cases I have stepped in, particularly in answer to prayers, and prevented more damage being done than would have been done otherwise. This is primarily done through My agents trying to get through to the hearts of the people involved, in order to persuade them to make the right choices that will undo the wrong or prevent it from happening in the first place. But if people refuse to listen, there's not that much we up here can do. I don't force people to do good, or again, it wouldn't be free choice anymore.
Interviewer: Well, I still don't understand why You can't interfere more when You see extreme suffering. It seems that people would appreciate it.
God: I sympathize entirely with those who hold this misconception. I know it is very hard to understand. It has been the thing that people have cursed Me for from the beginning of time: “Why, God, why? If You are great and powerful, You could have done something.” But they feel this way because they are shortsighted.
I do try to influence people to do good-as I just explained-or things would be much worse than they are. But in other cases, people don't understand that often by allowing difficulties and hardships I am working in their lives and the lives of all the others involved to bring about a greater good. Difficulties can shape your character for good in ways that nothing else can. Sometimes the good manifests itself right away; other times it's something that may never be evident in your current life.
Interviewer: Current life? What do You mean by that?
God: This life is not the end. It is a very transient phase in your existence, but it is in this phase and only in this phase that certain things can be experienced and the benefits derived from them. If you look at the overall scheme of things, the big picture, including eternity, there is a long life after the one you are now in, and many accounts will be balanced later. The good will be rewarded. The unjust will be punished. All will be made right; all will be settled. It is a matter of trust. I ask you to trust Me that I know what I am doing and that the end result is worth it.
Interviewer: I can tell that this is an emotional issue with You as well.
God: A very emotional issue. I do have emotions and I am not beyond being hurt. Part of love is being vulnerable, and because I am love I am vulnerable to hurt. But the fact that I can be hurt does not mean I can be conquered. I remain invincible, and in the end, all that I have planned will come to pass. True justice and love will triumph; you will see.
Interviewer: So why? Why the hurt and suffering?
God: I just tried to explain but I see that you didn't understand. Pain and suffering are indeed “bad” things and they will eventually be done away with. But at the same time there are certain aspects of the character of mankind that can only be shaped by seemingly negative things like this. Those who have known these things are “greater” than those that have not-not because they are necessarily better people but because they know what it is like to be on the receiving end of these things. I know I am making a sweeping statement here that might not seem to hold true in all cases, but nevertheless it does hold true. However, there are always many other factors involved that can affect what could be considered the desired outcome.
Interviewer: So You are saying that at the end of the day we have to trust You, even if it doesn't seem that what is happening is right and good?
God: Yes, it comes down to that. Even when it is very hard to understand, please trust Me. Remember that life is not always so hard to bear. Sometimes things go well for you, don't they?
Interviewer: Yes. But those are not the times that we feel we need Your help or an explanation.
God: So I get blamed for the bad, but not thanked for the good?
Interviewer: Unfortunately that seems to be the case, and I concede that is very unfair. I admire Your patience with us all.
God: Contrary to popular opinion, being God isn't easy! Shall we get back to angels?
Interviewer: Yes, that would be nice. Are there different levels of authority? A command structure, so to speak?
God: Yes, there are angels and over them are archangels. Then there are other angels who have specialized tasks, that have charge over My throne or over certain places.
Interviewer: Do these look different than the others?
God: Yes, but these are spiritual entities, so to describe them by describing physical characteristics is a bit futile. They can assume physical characteristics, but that is not their normal form.
Interviewer: We picture them as having wings and halos, but otherwise bodies similar to ours.
God: They do appear as having those things and they have been described accurately, for that is one form they manifest themselves in, to mankind. But they are not limited to those manifestations.
Interviewer: So why the wings? Do they signify anything?
God: Angels do not always appear with wings. When they do, some have two, some four, and some even six. The wings are manifestations of their powers, the abilities that they have to do things that man cannot. Man has always wanted to fly, and so to see these wonderful creatures that are not bound to the earth has inspired awe and wonder. I even inspired and instructed craftsmen and artists in the past to represent My angels as having wings.
Interviewer: Was that for a more primitive time?
God: “Primitive” is a misnomer. Less advanced in some fields of science and technology maybe, but I would say the horrors that man perpetrates today are more primitive and extreme in their barbarity than much that occurred during man's earlier tenure on earth. But that is another subject.
Interviewer: Do angels have names?
God: Yes. Some of them you know from biblical and other accounts, such as Gabriel and Michael.
Interviewer: Are there other names we could be told?
God: Yes, but I would like to keep that for a little later if I may.
Interviewer: Of course, if You wish. I hope You don't mind but there is one… Well, to be honest I feel a bit silly asking this question, but it is one of those questions that has come up about angels. How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
God: You are right, silly question. But since you asked, the answer is none.
Interviewer: None?
God: Yes. None of them are silly enough to try dancing on pinheads.
Interviewer: Oh. I should have expected that. So tell me now about spirits. How does a departed human end up with the job of being a spirit?
God: All departed humans are spirits. The grave is not the end of a person's life. Each person's spirit continues to live after the body dies; it's just that different ones live in different places. How they end up with various jobs in their spirit stage depends on a lot of things. First, it all depends on where you decide you want to end up-Heaven or Hell. In Hell there are not many openings for jobs-at least not if you want to work for Me.
Interviewer: I don't think many of us would want a job there.
God: Yes, I assure you most people would rather not. As far as those in Heaven, their desires in the matter are a big determining factor.
Interviewer: I suppose some would look at Heaven as the ultimate vacation destination and wouldn't be too interested in getting a “job,” but would rather just relax and kick up their heels.
God: (Chuckles.) Yes, most true! Some of them really don't want to get down to any work for quite a while, and I can hardly blame them for that. But all play can be unfulfilling after a while, and then they want to get into doing something. Work is a lot more pleasurable in the heavenly realm and for most it is infinitely more rewarding than the drudgery many put up with on earth. Whatever they work at has eternal meaning and benefits. It is not as on earth, where much that you do one day has to be repeated the next to little avail.
Interviewer: So what kind of job openings would one find in the heavenly classifieds?
God: What kind of job would you like?
Interviewer: Something in an advisory capacity perhaps.
God: Perhaps we could find something for you in the “bad jokes” department. (Chuckles.) But seriously, there are innumerable opportunities. If you want to go into something advisory, how about working as a spirit helper to someone still on earth? That is a function of many spirits.
Interviewer: But I thought that each person had a guardian angel. Why would they need help from spirits too?
God: The spirits have more of a specialist instructor role. They are usually sent for some specific purpose, and that purpose can be long or shortterm. The guardian angel, though, is a permanent assignment.
Interviewer: Can You elaborate on what the “specialist instructor” does?
God: Well, say there is a specific task that someone has. Writing a book might be one. The assigned spirit would normally bring some expertise to the subject-perhaps an intimate knowledge of the subject of the book, or perhaps a talent for writing.
Interviewer: Would anybody who sat down to write a book get one of these helpers?
God: No, not necessarily. There would have to be a compelling reason for sending a spirit to help, and usually it would in some way be to serve My overall purpose for mankind.
Interviewer: Which is?
God: My goodness, didn't we cover that? Why, to get as many people as possible to eventually come live in Heaven.
Interviewer: So in the case of the writer, these helping spirits would be trying in some way to get the writer to say something in his book like, “Want to go to Heaven?”
God: Not exactly, but they would at least be trying to help the writer say something that might get his readers thinking in some way about the reality of the spirit world, or of Me. Or even trying to get them at least to want to do some good in the world, help their fellow man, be a bit more-or a lot more-altruistic or kind or just or show more consideration to others. Things along these lines. These are all manifestations of love, which are manifestations of Me.
Interviewer: But knowing how difficult it seems for us here to stay attuned to the spiritual, it must be a very frustrating assignment to be a spiritual companion to someone on earth.
God: It can be, but when the person is in tune and everything goes as it should, it is one of the most rewarding experiences there can be. Oftentimes the spirits ask to be assigned to someone they have an affinity with-a descendant or relative, a friend, someone who has similar interests, even one's spouse or children. Aside from deriving pleasure out of just plain helping someone they like and love, they in a sense also get to live their lives over and help that person succeed at something they didn't or accomplish something that they had always wanted to.
Sometimes they can get a little too eager and some of their thoughts and memories of their lives on earth are transferred to their charge. It can seem to the one on the receiving end that he or she is getting a flashback of a former life.
Interviewer: Does this explain the theory of reincarnation then?
God: Yes, it does. Those people getting thoughts of another life are actually experiencing the memories of a previous lifetime as though they themselves have lived before. In reality, they are usually the memories of the spirit helping them.
Interviewer: Are the spirit guides out of line in projecting their thoughts like this?
God: Once in awhile, yes, but mostly it happens accidentally. The trouble is, once those thoughts are in the mind of the one on earth, they are there permanently. Although not in conscious mind all the time, these memories can be activated by things like hypnotism or some sort of trauma, or even by something positive emotionally. This can lead to some rather complicated situations.
Interviewer: And some rather mixed-up people through no fault of their own.
God: Well, you can't draw such sweeping conclusions. Although there is some fault on the spirit's side, a lot of people make the wrong assumption. A little more caution and level-headedness might cause them to consider the evidence more thoughtfully and not jump to conclusions.
Interviewer: Any last word about angels and spirits?
God: Are we drawing to a close already? Time flies. We who live in eternity are not constrained by time, but that is another subject too. Hopefully that will whet your appetite for more.
To close on angels and spirits, I would like to say that all the forces of Heaven are fighting for the right. Although it may at times look as though the other side is winning, My angels are much stronger and more numerous than the fallen ones, and My plan will not fail to come to pass. Good will triumph and the victory of My heavenly forces is assured. So you may in full confidence put your money on My side as being the one to win eventually. In fact, you can bet your life on it.
Interviewer: I am sure the readers will appreciate that hot tip. Thank You for coming again. Can we look forward to more of these tête-à-têtes?
God: Most assuredly.
This manuscript is property of Aurora Production AG, Switzerland.
GOD on GOD
What On Earth Was He Thinking?
Scott McGregor
ISBN: 3-03730-016-7
By Scott McGregor
Design by Giselle LeFavre
God on God Copyright © 2002, Aurora Production AG, Switzerland.
All Rights Reserved.
www.auroraproduction.com
Monday, July 14, 2008
PEACE IN THE MIDST OF THE FINANCIAL, FUEL, DEBT, CRISIS STORM
By Carlos A. Cedillo
No one expected a financial problem in the sub-prime mortgage sector last year to flare up and cause major repercussions for the U.S. economy and global markets. No one really understood what Peak Oil was and that it meant the world’s oil supplies are on the down curb and with U.S. reserves running dangerously low. The fallout on this is that the barrel of oil went from $60 dollars in early 2007, to today’s current $147-- more than doubled in price in one year… and predictions of it rising to $170 later this summer. At the gas pump this translates into an average of $4.00 a gallon for gas and heading for the $5.00 mark. The effect of the price hikes have also been seen in the failing sales and layoff of workers for some of the biggest auto manufacturers such as Ford, Chrysler and GM. This has led some people to abandon their big pickups and SUV’s for the small economy models that don’t guzzle gas like it’s going out of style. In Utah, thousands of state employees are going on a four day work week to save energy.
Some folks who foresaw the fuel crisis ingeniously found the means to convert corn, sugar cane and other farm foods into ethanol fuel as a desperate measure to counter-act the acute oil shortages… only to find out it’s too little, too late and too costly. Then another malady surfaced … due to the high percentage of corn (1/3 of US corn) that is going into making the fuel substitute, the price of food has gone up incredibly. Add this to the faltering wages that can’t keep up with these rising prices, the high unemployment rate, big banks and businesses going broke and General Motors on the verge of bankruptcy… well you’ve got a pretty shaky scenario… the U.S. is changing as we know it… right before our eyes on CNN every night.
All of the above is enough to make anyone nervous about their job and how they’re going to pay the bills, how they’re going to keep up with the price of gas and food and clothes, etc. Apprehension about the future is widespread. Even business men in Mexico and abroad are concerned about the current U.S. recession as many are holding dollars and their economies are tied in to the states and what is affecting things here, is affecting things there. It’s a time to reflect about where all this is going and how we’re going to survive it all.
The God Factor
Some folks may not be used to looking to God for help-- usually there’s enough cash in the bank or enough property or nice housing to give us a feeling of “security” and well being. If all else fails, there’s nothing like eating out at Luby’s or a shopping spree at Wal-Mart to make us feel all better. But when all these physical things begin to evaporate before our eyes, when you find that your corporate $250 stocks dwindled to $2.00—then we realize there’s none of the regular stand-by crutches to hold on to anymore-- then it’s time to hold on to God.
God can take any problem you want to give him, He can handle any load you want to give him… and he can deliver you out of all your calamities and troubles. Jesus can give you peace of mind so that you can make it through the storm.
Question: I haven’t thought about God in a long time… I don’t know if He’ll want to help me… I’m not in good shape, spiritually… I don’t read the bible, don’t go to church. Why would He want to help me now?
Answer: God still loves you… even if you left Him, He’s never left you… He’s been there for you all along…just waiting for the time when you’d need Him and call out to Him. He’s not asking that you go to church or read the bible… He’s only asking that you believe in Him… believe that He can help you now… and to include Him in your life…to lean on Him in times of trouble.
Friday, June 13, 2008
INFLATION OR DEFLATION?
What is inflation and what causes it?
Written in 1974 by David Brandt Berg
IN THE GREAT ECONOMIC DEPRESSION OF THE LATE 20'S AND 30'S THE POST WORLD WAR I DEPRESSION, THEY HAD NO ECONOMIC GUARANTEES on wages, no price supports, nothing to keep wages and prices up. So when the economic crash came, the war boom burst immediately, because of the production slowdown caused by the end of the war. (See also "War, Boom, Bust!" No. H.) They weren't making any more guns and munitions, etc. The boom had been caused by the war and when they stopped making munitions for the war, this threw a lot of people out of work and so the war boom burst!
A LOT OF PEOPLE WERE OUT OF JOBS and there was no social security, no guarantees of wages, nothing for the poor man except starvation. They either cut his wages way down or threw him out of work entirely. When people didn't have jobs and had very little money, the prices also fell, because the people didn't have enough money to buy anything.
THEY COULDN'T EVEN BUY NECESSITIES, MUCH LESS LUXURIES. Many other industries virtually went out of business, not only the war businesses, but the appliance businesses, etc., went broke too! The auto business was one of the first places where people cut their spending, because it's a luxury to buy a new car, and if everybody does that, then the auto business can go broke the first year because nobody buys a new car. They keep the old car, the old refrigerators, and the old houses as well!
THEY JUST KEPT THE OLD ONES AND PATCHED THEM UP because they didn't have any money to buy new ones, which is what they should have been doing in the first place. If it happens now with so many people tied up with time and mortgage payments, they'll all go bankrupt. So the car industry nearly went broke, and some of them did, or at least went way down. I can tell you half a dozen to a dozen car manes that exist no longer because they went broke in the Great Depression. Only the big money boys survived, like General Motors, Ford, etc., and they bought up many other makes of cars.
THE MORE INDUSTRIES THAT WENT BROKE, THE MORE PEOPLE THERE WERE OUT OF WORK, and therefore, the more people there were that didn't have money to spend! It was a vicious cycle, a downward spiral that just couldn't stop, and industry kept cutting prices to where people could afford to still buy. This meant that both wages and prices spiraled downward, prices following wages so the people could buy something.--This was the deflation. Now when both wages and prices are lowered, then your money actually buys more, so its value is actually higher. Believe it or not, this is called deflation. In a deflation (or depression) the money's value grows because it buys more to pay more wages and pay more prices, etc. So the monetary system actually increases in value, not numerically but in buying power.
THE END OF THAT DOWNWARD SPIRAL WAS THAT ALL THE POOR WOUND UP WITH ALMOST NOTHING AND NEAR STARVATION, except for the public works programs that FDR put on where they were working for one dollar a day on a "make-work" project. He just declared or decreed that certain dams be built and certain places be reforested and bridges and roads built, all kinds of big "works project" where they sent thousands of people out to do these jobs. The government just took a lot of money and spent it! A lot of it was from borrowed securities and bonds. This was when one dollar a day could keep you alive, and it was called the WPA: Works Projects Administration.
THIS RESULTED IN THE POORMAN AND LITTLE BUSINESSMAN LOSING EVERYTHING. They were gobbled up by big business, the big corporations and big banks who had enough money to buy them up. Whatever cash they had was worth more now because they could buy them up at these low prices and pay low wages.
THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO BENEFITTED FROM THE DEPRESSION WERE THE ONES WHO HAD LOTS OF MONEY, cash. The depression really favoured big business--The guys who had lots of money to survive because their money was worth even more. This was not inflation, this was deflation which benefitted big business.
SO THE BIG POWERFUL LABOUR UNIONS, THE POLITICIANS, THE MIDDLE CLASS AND THE LITTLE BUSINESSMEN WHO HAD BEEN WIPED OUT DETERMINED THEY'D NEVER LET IT HAPPEN TO THE COMMON MAN AGAIN! He was never again going to be totally thrown out of work with no money and where his buying power would fall so low that the prices crashed along with the wage collapse. From that time on there were going to be guaranteed wages and guaranteed unemployment insurance with the government footing the bill, along with big business having to pay part of the bill. Big business then, of course, insisted that they also have guaranteed prices. So they put so many safeguards on the wages and prices that they'd never collapse again like they did in the Depression.
BUT WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DID WAS TO VIRTUALLY GUARANTEE PERPETUAL INFLATION, THAT WAGES AND PRICES WOULD CONTINUE TO RISE AND NEVER GO DOWN AGAIN! Every time big business hiked their prices, labor would hike its wages, and then business would say it had another excuse to hike its prices because wages went up. It became a vicious cycle, an inflationary spiral. It was impossible for prices and wages to decline because they were guaranteed by governments who never wanted to see another depression.
SO WHAT RESULTED WAS A PERMANENT INFLATIONARY SPIRAL of prices and wages, and a permanent constant continual inflation of money so that the money continues to buy less and less and less, and its value goes down and down and down. The higher the wages and prices go up, the less your money can buy. The higher the prices go, the higher the wages go, but the rich make sure the wages are never able to catch up with the prices. So they just keep going up and up and up and the money buys less and less, until finally the money is worth almost nothing compared to what its value used to be.
NOW THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HURTING ARE THE BIG MONEY BOYS, because now their money is inflating and exploding in an inflation explosion. Now it's the big investors, big business, big money and big governments whose money is dwindling down to nothing so it can't even buy much any more. In spite of the fact that industry is slowing down and therefore unemployment is increasing, there are so many safety guarantees to keep wages up and to give unemployment insurance and to keep prices up that there is still inflation in spite of a recession or depression right now this minute picking up speed!
THE STRANGE THING THAT'S HAPPENING IS THAT THE INFLATION IS PICKING UP SPEED RIGHT ALONG WITH THE DEPRESSION, just the opposite of what happened in the Great Depression. This time they're not only going to have a big depression, or economic collapse, which in days past benefitted the big money boys, but it is also going to bring about the collapse of big investors, governments, everybody! It's going to take the money down with it!--And Capitalism!
THAT'S WHAT THE LORD SHOWED US! We'll be paying three pounds or the old equivalent of seven dollars for a can of soup before long, and they won't even sell you a round trip ticket because the price of a ticket will increase faster than you can use it!
SO WHAT IS IT GOING TO DO TO THE SMALL LANDOWNER, small home owner, small business owner and the payments makers? Well, the actual value of the payments is declining so it'll actually make it easier for them to make their payments.--If they have anything to make them with! The people that own property are going to be better off than the people renting, because unless the governments control the rents, the rents are going to rise right along with the prices. Whereas, the people who are buying or leasing on a long term contract are actually going to be paying less and less for their property because of the decreasing value of the money.
THE BUYING PRICES OF PROPERTY WILL SKYROCKET, but the people who've already bought or who are already on contracts are going to benefit if they have any money at all to keep up the payments. For example: During the Depression we bought a house for 25 dollars down and 25 dollars a month. Well, that 25 dollars would be the equivalent of 250 dollars down and 250 dollars a month now, for as wages and prices go up the actual value of those 25 dollars a month payments has gone up. If the people are getting any money at all guaranteed by governments, they'll be able to meet the payments even more easily because of the inflation. It was always our policy before, because of the experience of the previous Depression when prices crashed along with the Depression and the value of everything went down, that it didn't pay to buy but rather it paid to rent, because rents were down in deflation.
BUT THIS TIME THE PRICES ARE NOT GOING TO CRASH BUT THEY'RE GOING TO EXPLODE AND CAUSE THE MONETARY SYSTEM TO CRASH INSTEAD. That's the difference between the inflation of today and the deflation of yesterday's Depression. The fellow who has bought or is buying on a contract is going to benefit because he'll already have it, and its value will skyrocket. If he has any income at all to keep up his payments, or especially if he's already got it paid for, then this is a totally different situation from the last Depression. This time they've guaranteed wages and prices are going to go up as the value of money goes down, just as the Lord has shown us.
SO IF YOU'RE GOING TO BUY ANYTHING, THE TIME IS NOW and the sooner the better. That's one reason there is a boom of land and property buying right now. Smart investors know that's where they can put their money and it'll be fairly safe and they'll have something to show for it. Whereas, the value of everything else which has a monetary price on it, like stocks, bonds, cash, etc. will actually decline, just like they're going down now. Their real value is shrinking because of the inflationary explosion.
THE "GREEN PAPER PIG" (Writing by Berg on the dollar) IS EXPANDING just like when you blow up a balloon. There's actually no more balloon there than when you started. It's just getting thinner and thinner and filled with more and more hot air and stretching further and further till it bursts. This is what the Lord showed us about the "Paper Pig", until finally it can't stretch any further and it explodes! That's why the Lord showed us even as far back as several years ago to buy gold then. The same is true of real estate or houses, buildings and lands.
IF YOU'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO USE THE LAND FOR SOMETHING TO LIVE IN OR ON, ITS VALUE IS GOING TO INCREASE along with its price. So it is better to buy now because both prices and rents are going to go up. The only safe thing to do is have it already bought. At the end of our present contracts what are they going to be worth? If you're a farmer and know how to grow food, then a farm is the best place to buy so you have food along with your place to live. That's even better than gold because you can't eat gold!
THAT'S WHY THE BIG INVESTORS ARE NOW BUYING FOOD COMMODITIES ALONG WITH GOLD. They're now not only buying this year's crops, which haven't even been harvested yet, but they're also buying next year's crops and crops as far as four years ahead because they want to make sure they're going to get them at this year's prices. But that's probably going to cause a collapse too because by that time, or maybe even before, the growers won't even be able to afford to grow them. The price that was paid one, two, three, four years ago won't even pay for the cost of the crop, so they'll collapse--if it even lasts that long! But, of course, along with the collapse of big business, big money and big banks will come the collapse of big governments.
HOWEVER, BEFORE THE GOVERNMENTS WILL COLLAPSE OR ALLOW THEIR BIG BANKS OR BIG BUSINESS OR BIG MONEY BOYS TO COLLAPSE, THEY'LL START A WAR. They're going to blame it all on the oil, like they're doing right now, that the inflation is all because of the oil prices.--Which isn't true! But at least it's a good excuse to take the people's minds off their domestic problems…
BUY PROPERTIES ON LONG TERMS with low payments, and I believe they'll be protected for the next year or two because I think rents will skyrocket along with all other costs and prices and wages. Of course, many things are going to become scarce and almost impossible to buy soon, so the same is true of any other major purchases. If you can afford to buy it outright right now, or better yet on very long term payments so you don't have to put out all that cash right now, then I'd advise you to buy it now.
D.B. Berg
What is inflation and what causes it?
Written in 1974 by David Brandt Berg
IN THE GREAT ECONOMIC DEPRESSION OF THE LATE 20'S AND 30'S THE POST WORLD WAR I DEPRESSION, THEY HAD NO ECONOMIC GUARANTEES on wages, no price supports, nothing to keep wages and prices up. So when the economic crash came, the war boom burst immediately, because of the production slowdown caused by the end of the war. (See also "War, Boom, Bust!" No. H.) They weren't making any more guns and munitions, etc. The boom had been caused by the war and when they stopped making munitions for the war, this threw a lot of people out of work and so the war boom burst!
A LOT OF PEOPLE WERE OUT OF JOBS and there was no social security, no guarantees of wages, nothing for the poor man except starvation. They either cut his wages way down or threw him out of work entirely. When people didn't have jobs and had very little money, the prices also fell, because the people didn't have enough money to buy anything.
THEY COULDN'T EVEN BUY NECESSITIES, MUCH LESS LUXURIES. Many other industries virtually went out of business, not only the war businesses, but the appliance businesses, etc., went broke too! The auto business was one of the first places where people cut their spending, because it's a luxury to buy a new car, and if everybody does that, then the auto business can go broke the first year because nobody buys a new car. They keep the old car, the old refrigerators, and the old houses as well!
THEY JUST KEPT THE OLD ONES AND PATCHED THEM UP because they didn't have any money to buy new ones, which is what they should have been doing in the first place. If it happens now with so many people tied up with time and mortgage payments, they'll all go bankrupt. So the car industry nearly went broke, and some of them did, or at least went way down. I can tell you half a dozen to a dozen car manes that exist no longer because they went broke in the Great Depression. Only the big money boys survived, like General Motors, Ford, etc., and they bought up many other makes of cars.
THE MORE INDUSTRIES THAT WENT BROKE, THE MORE PEOPLE THERE WERE OUT OF WORK, and therefore, the more people there were that didn't have money to spend! It was a vicious cycle, a downward spiral that just couldn't stop, and industry kept cutting prices to where people could afford to still buy. This meant that both wages and prices spiraled downward, prices following wages so the people could buy something.--This was the deflation. Now when both wages and prices are lowered, then your money actually buys more, so its value is actually higher. Believe it or not, this is called deflation. In a deflation (or depression) the money's value grows because it buys more to pay more wages and pay more prices, etc. So the monetary system actually increases in value, not numerically but in buying power.
THE END OF THAT DOWNWARD SPIRAL WAS THAT ALL THE POOR WOUND UP WITH ALMOST NOTHING AND NEAR STARVATION, except for the public works programs that FDR put on where they were working for one dollar a day on a "make-work" project. He just declared or decreed that certain dams be built and certain places be reforested and bridges and roads built, all kinds of big "works project" where they sent thousands of people out to do these jobs. The government just took a lot of money and spent it! A lot of it was from borrowed securities and bonds. This was when one dollar a day could keep you alive, and it was called the WPA: Works Projects Administration.
THIS RESULTED IN THE POORMAN AND LITTLE BUSINESSMAN LOSING EVERYTHING. They were gobbled up by big business, the big corporations and big banks who had enough money to buy them up. Whatever cash they had was worth more now because they could buy them up at these low prices and pay low wages.
THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO BENEFITTED FROM THE DEPRESSION WERE THE ONES WHO HAD LOTS OF MONEY, cash. The depression really favoured big business--The guys who had lots of money to survive because their money was worth even more. This was not inflation, this was deflation which benefitted big business.
SO THE BIG POWERFUL LABOUR UNIONS, THE POLITICIANS, THE MIDDLE CLASS AND THE LITTLE BUSINESSMEN WHO HAD BEEN WIPED OUT DETERMINED THEY'D NEVER LET IT HAPPEN TO THE COMMON MAN AGAIN! He was never again going to be totally thrown out of work with no money and where his buying power would fall so low that the prices crashed along with the wage collapse. From that time on there were going to be guaranteed wages and guaranteed unemployment insurance with the government footing the bill, along with big business having to pay part of the bill. Big business then, of course, insisted that they also have guaranteed prices. So they put so many safeguards on the wages and prices that they'd never collapse again like they did in the Depression.
BUT WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DID WAS TO VIRTUALLY GUARANTEE PERPETUAL INFLATION, THAT WAGES AND PRICES WOULD CONTINUE TO RISE AND NEVER GO DOWN AGAIN! Every time big business hiked their prices, labor would hike its wages, and then business would say it had another excuse to hike its prices because wages went up. It became a vicious cycle, an inflationary spiral. It was impossible for prices and wages to decline because they were guaranteed by governments who never wanted to see another depression.
SO WHAT RESULTED WAS A PERMANENT INFLATIONARY SPIRAL of prices and wages, and a permanent constant continual inflation of money so that the money continues to buy less and less and less, and its value goes down and down and down. The higher the wages and prices go up, the less your money can buy. The higher the prices go, the higher the wages go, but the rich make sure the wages are never able to catch up with the prices. So they just keep going up and up and up and the money buys less and less, until finally the money is worth almost nothing compared to what its value used to be.
NOW THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HURTING ARE THE BIG MONEY BOYS, because now their money is inflating and exploding in an inflation explosion. Now it's the big investors, big business, big money and big governments whose money is dwindling down to nothing so it can't even buy much any more. In spite of the fact that industry is slowing down and therefore unemployment is increasing, there are so many safety guarantees to keep wages up and to give unemployment insurance and to keep prices up that there is still inflation in spite of a recession or depression right now this minute picking up speed!
THE STRANGE THING THAT'S HAPPENING IS THAT THE INFLATION IS PICKING UP SPEED RIGHT ALONG WITH THE DEPRESSION, just the opposite of what happened in the Great Depression. This time they're not only going to have a big depression, or economic collapse, which in days past benefitted the big money boys, but it is also going to bring about the collapse of big investors, governments, everybody! It's going to take the money down with it!--And Capitalism!
THAT'S WHAT THE LORD SHOWED US! We'll be paying three pounds or the old equivalent of seven dollars for a can of soup before long, and they won't even sell you a round trip ticket because the price of a ticket will increase faster than you can use it!
SO WHAT IS IT GOING TO DO TO THE SMALL LANDOWNER, small home owner, small business owner and the payments makers? Well, the actual value of the payments is declining so it'll actually make it easier for them to make their payments.--If they have anything to make them with! The people that own property are going to be better off than the people renting, because unless the governments control the rents, the rents are going to rise right along with the prices. Whereas, the people who are buying or leasing on a long term contract are actually going to be paying less and less for their property because of the decreasing value of the money.
THE BUYING PRICES OF PROPERTY WILL SKYROCKET, but the people who've already bought or who are already on contracts are going to benefit if they have any money at all to keep up the payments. For example: During the Depression we bought a house for 25 dollars down and 25 dollars a month. Well, that 25 dollars would be the equivalent of 250 dollars down and 250 dollars a month now, for as wages and prices go up the actual value of those 25 dollars a month payments has gone up. If the people are getting any money at all guaranteed by governments, they'll be able to meet the payments even more easily because of the inflation. It was always our policy before, because of the experience of the previous Depression when prices crashed along with the Depression and the value of everything went down, that it didn't pay to buy but rather it paid to rent, because rents were down in deflation.
BUT THIS TIME THE PRICES ARE NOT GOING TO CRASH BUT THEY'RE GOING TO EXPLODE AND CAUSE THE MONETARY SYSTEM TO CRASH INSTEAD. That's the difference between the inflation of today and the deflation of yesterday's Depression. The fellow who has bought or is buying on a contract is going to benefit because he'll already have it, and its value will skyrocket. If he has any income at all to keep up his payments, or especially if he's already got it paid for, then this is a totally different situation from the last Depression. This time they've guaranteed wages and prices are going to go up as the value of money goes down, just as the Lord has shown us.
SO IF YOU'RE GOING TO BUY ANYTHING, THE TIME IS NOW and the sooner the better. That's one reason there is a boom of land and property buying right now. Smart investors know that's where they can put their money and it'll be fairly safe and they'll have something to show for it. Whereas, the value of everything else which has a monetary price on it, like stocks, bonds, cash, etc. will actually decline, just like they're going down now. Their real value is shrinking because of the inflationary explosion.
THE "GREEN PAPER PIG" (Writing by Berg on the dollar) IS EXPANDING just like when you blow up a balloon. There's actually no more balloon there than when you started. It's just getting thinner and thinner and filled with more and more hot air and stretching further and further till it bursts. This is what the Lord showed us about the "Paper Pig", until finally it can't stretch any further and it explodes! That's why the Lord showed us even as far back as several years ago to buy gold then. The same is true of real estate or houses, buildings and lands.
IF YOU'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO USE THE LAND FOR SOMETHING TO LIVE IN OR ON, ITS VALUE IS GOING TO INCREASE along with its price. So it is better to buy now because both prices and rents are going to go up. The only safe thing to do is have it already bought. At the end of our present contracts what are they going to be worth? If you're a farmer and know how to grow food, then a farm is the best place to buy so you have food along with your place to live. That's even better than gold because you can't eat gold!
THAT'S WHY THE BIG INVESTORS ARE NOW BUYING FOOD COMMODITIES ALONG WITH GOLD. They're now not only buying this year's crops, which haven't even been harvested yet, but they're also buying next year's crops and crops as far as four years ahead because they want to make sure they're going to get them at this year's prices. But that's probably going to cause a collapse too because by that time, or maybe even before, the growers won't even be able to afford to grow them. The price that was paid one, two, three, four years ago won't even pay for the cost of the crop, so they'll collapse--if it even lasts that long! But, of course, along with the collapse of big business, big money and big banks will come the collapse of big governments.
HOWEVER, BEFORE THE GOVERNMENTS WILL COLLAPSE OR ALLOW THEIR BIG BANKS OR BIG BUSINESS OR BIG MONEY BOYS TO COLLAPSE, THEY'LL START A WAR. They're going to blame it all on the oil, like they're doing right now, that the inflation is all because of the oil prices.--Which isn't true! But at least it's a good excuse to take the people's minds off their domestic problems…
BUY PROPERTIES ON LONG TERMS with low payments, and I believe they'll be protected for the next year or two because I think rents will skyrocket along with all other costs and prices and wages. Of course, many things are going to become scarce and almost impossible to buy soon, so the same is true of any other major purchases. If you can afford to buy it outright right now, or better yet on very long term payments so you don't have to put out all that cash right now, then I'd advise you to buy it now.
D.B. Berg
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
SUB-PRIME MORTGAGE CRISIS
Part 1
What’s the story on the Sub-prime Mortgage Crisis?
People want to know what happened... "What caused sub-prime mortgage mess and how did it spread to the point of impacting the worlds markets and how and how will this affect me?"
This economic Tsunami began early in 2006 and by 2007 was affecting the entire US economic system and its waves causing upheavals in nations around the world. Now in 2008 eyes are still widening with the evidence of ongoing economic repercussions not likely to fade away in the near future.
* * * *
(Compiled from Family International publications)
Mortgages
World Book encyclopedia describes mortgages as follows:
A mortgage is a loan agreement that enables a person to borrow money to buy a house or other property. The property is used as security for the loan. The lender may take possession of the property if the loan is not repaid on time. A person can obtain a mortgage from a bank, insurance company, mortgage company, savings and loan association, or other financial institutions. Most mortgage agreements require the mortgager to repay the loan in monthly installments over a period of 20 years or more. Part of each payment goes toward the unpaid balance of the loan, called the principal, and part toward the interest. If the borrower misses a number of payments, the lender may foreclose the mortgage. Foreclosure is a legal procedure by which the lender takes over the mortgaged property. The lender then may sell the property, keep the amount owed, and give the borrower the rest [if any]. [Editor: Or, to put it very simply, a mortgage is when someone lends you money to buy a house, with the understanding that if you can't repay the loan, they'll repossess the house.]
A form of mortgage that's much in the news lately is what's called a subprime mortgage—a housing loan to those with poor or shaky credit. Author Bill Bonner describes one such case in his book Empire of Debt (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2006):
"My daughter is only twenty-five," wrote a friend, "but she just bought a house in Northern Virginia. Of course, she mortgaged most of it. But can you believe that they lent her $275,000? Is that crazy, or what? She works as a bartender, part time. She's very responsible, but I can't believe they would lend her that much money. How do they think she will pay it back?"
Cause and effect
Why would banks encourage people to buy homes they can't afford, taking out loans they can't repay? And why would this sort of behavior have international repercussions? Journalist David Leonhardt explains in a New York Times article:
How is it that a mess concentrated in one part of the mortgage business—subprime loans—has frozen the credit markets, sent stock markets gyrating, caused the collapse of [the fifth largest investment bank] Bear Stearns, left the economy on the brink of the worst recession in a generation, and forced the Federal Reserve to take its boldest action since the Depression?
Let's go back to the beginning. It really started in 1998, when large numbers of people decided that real estate had become a bargain. At the same time, Wall Street was making it easier for buyers to get loans. It was transforming the mortgage business from a local one to a global one, in which investors from almost anywhere could pool money to lend.
Those same global investors demanded good returns. Wall Street had an answer: subprime mortgages.
Because these loans go to people stretching to afford a house, they come with higher interest rates—even if they're disguised by low initial rates—and thus higher returns. The mortgages were then sliced into pieces and bundled into investments, often known as collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs. Once bundled, different types of mortgages could be sold to different groups of investors.
Investors then increased their returns through leverage. They made $100 million bets with only $1 million of their own money and $99 million in debt. If the value of the investment rose to just $101 million, the investors would double their money.
(Wikipidia- In finance, leverage (or gearing) is using given resources in such a way that the potential positive or negative outcome is magnified. It generally refers to using borrowed funds, or debt, so as to attempt to increase the returns to equity.)
Home buyers did the same thing, by putting little money down on new houses, notes Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com. The Fed under Alan Greenspan helped make it all possible, sharply reducing interest rates, to prevent a recession after the technology bust of 2000, and then keeping them low for several years.
All these investments, of course, were highly risky. Higher returns on investments almost always come with greater risk. But people—by "people," I'm referring here to Mr. Greenspan, Mr. Bernanke, the top executives of almost every Wall Street firm and a majority of American homeowners—decided that the usual rules didn't apply because home prices nationwide had never fallen before.
The American home seemed like such a sure bet that a huge portion of the global financial system ended up owning a piece of it. That left them on the hook when homeowners who had taken out a wishful-thinking mortgage could no longer get out of it by flipping their house for a profit.
Many of these bets [by banks and other investors] were not huge, but were so highly leveraged that any losses became magnified. If that $100 million investment I described above were to lose just $1 million of its value, the investor who put up only $1 million would lose everything.
"If anything goes awry, these dominoes fall very fast," said Charles R. Morris, a former banker who tells the story of the crisis in a new book, The Trillion Dollar Meltdown.
This toxic combination of bad investments and their potential to mushroom has shocked Wall Street into a state of deep conservatism. The soundness of any investment firm depends largely on other firms having confidence that it has real assets standing behind its bets. So firms are now hoarding cash instead of lending it, until they understand how bad the housing crash will become and how exposed to it they are. Any institution that seems to have a high-risk portfolio [set of investments], regardless of whether it has enough assets to support the portfolio, faces the double whammy of investors demanding their money back and lenders shutting the door in their face. Goodbye, Bear Stearns.
The conservatism has gone so far that it's affecting many solid would-be borrowers, which, in turn, is hurting the broader economy and aggravating Wall Street's fears.
Bubbles lead to busts. Busts lead to panics. And panics can lead to long, deep economic downturns.
How could subprime mortgage loans take out the whole global financial system? That's how. ("Can't grasp credit crisis? Join the club," David Leonhardt, NY Times, March 19, 2008.)
Sub- Prime Mortgage Crisis
Part 2
Flipping, and later flopping
The problem wasn't confined to the subprime mortgage market, either. Housing prices went up so rapidly that many people, even those with good credit and decent incomes, decided that investing in it was a sure thing. Empire of Debt describes the process of flipping which was mentioned earlier—buying a house on credit and holding on to it for a little while, as its value inflated, and then selling it for a profit:
The cost of housing, in many areas of the country, was not just inflating—it was blowing up like a front-seat air bag. … Buyers were not looking for a place to live; they were speculating—betting that [they'd make] enough money to make them rich.
One genius buys a condo before it is built. He flips it to another investor, who holds it until it is completed, making a bundle when he sells it to a professional couple who intend to stay for two years and then sell (at a huge profit) to other buyers. All of them are making the smart moves—buying with little money down and making minimum monthly payments on adjustable rate mortgages. And all of them are getting richer—or so they believe—as long as prices continue to rise.
The problem, of course, was that housing prices didn't continue to rise. An AP article describes the downward spiral that resulted:
When [housing prices] began to crumble, so did financial stability.
The same people who made a financial stretch to buy their homes are now defaulting on the loans at alarming rates. Many are "upside down" on their loans, meaning they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.
[Editor: For example, perhaps someone took out a $250,000 mortgage on a new house, figuring that they'd sell it when its value reached $300,000 and make a tidy profit. They could put a few thousand dollars down, get a mortgage that had low interest rates for the first year, and make a $50,000 profit in no time. But suddenly housing prices fell and no one was interested in buying their house for $300,000, or $250,000, for that matter. The value of their house had been inflated in the first place, and they're having trouble selling it for any amount of money now. But they have a $250,000 mortgage loan they owe, and suddenly interest rates are rising inexorably. Flipping has turned into floundering, and flopping.]
Nearly 9 million households now have upside-down mortgages, and for the first time ever, mortgage debt is bigger than the total value of homeowner equity [cash invested]—bigger by $836 billion, according to research by Merrill Lynch.
The housing problem set off the dominoes: Surging defaults meant the mortgage-backed securities plunged in value. Bear Stearns found itself in the cross hairs. Rumors began to swirl [as people wondered] whether it had ample reserves to cover potential losses. Clients and investors began to demand their money back.
"I think the current financial crisis looks to me like the worst one since we got into the Depression," says Richard Sylla, who teaches the history of financial institutions at New York University's Stern School of Business.
Economists and market historians seem to agree that this is more than a typical, cyclical slump. And the X-factor that sets it apart—determining how deep the wounds from the mortgage mess really are—also makes it impossible to map the path of the downturn. ("US Ponders: How Deep Is Economic Abyss?" Rachel Beck and Erin McClam, Associated Press, March 23, 2008.)
"They didn't really know…"
The mortgages which were sold to banks, pension funds, and investors around the world were packaged in such a complex way that they practically defied understanding. As a result, many financial firms aren't even sure how much money they've lost yet—or how much the remainder of their mortgage-backed assets are worth.
Bill Bonner, writing in his Daily Reckoning newsletter, reports on his conversation with a source who is very close to the Bear Stearns situation:
"What went wrong?" we wanted to know. "How could this group of very smart accountants, lawyers, and investment pros have been so wrong about what they had in their own portfolios?"
"Well, they didn't really know. And they still don't really know," said our source. "They have no reliable way of knowing what their 'assets' are worth. They're … marked to whatever fantasy they have in their heads at the moment. When the fantasy was positive, the assets were worth something. When the fantasy turned into a nightmare, they panicked and wanted to get rid of them in the worst possible way.
"And the really scary thing is that the other financial institutions are in much the same situation. They don't really know what they have … or what it is worth. There are almost certainly some more horror stories that will be coming out." (The Daily Reckoning, March 20, 2008.)
Banks, financial firms and companies around the world are apprehensive about what will happen next, as are economists.
"It's going to go from bad to worse. … This is certainly the worst financial crisis in the last 50 or 60 years," says Kenneth Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and now an economics professor at Harvard.
Today's financial problems could likely be seen as "the most wrenching since the end of the second world war," Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan wrote in the Financial Times (March 17, 2008).
The root of the problem
(Jesus:) The root of the problem is the same as it has been for centuries: credit, which leads to debt that spirals into ever greater debt. Then those who are lenders gamble that they can make even more money by devising new and more lucrative ways for people to go more deeply into debt, while the people themselves gamble on what they consider a sure thing, just what they need to pay off their debts, or set themselves up for retirement, or finance their lifestyles, etc.
Credit has become the drug of choice of the modern world, far more widespread than any other. Individuals, companies and governments must have their fix of it, for they are addicted to it, and the withdrawal symptoms are too painful to endure. Life without credit means no future debt is possible, and often their present debt is so large and overwhelming that they cannot go on without another credit fix.
Like many drug users, however, they do not see that they have a problem. They're surrounded by other users who are in similar situations. "Credit and debt are just the way of the world, a necessity, and nothing to worry about. Everyone does it and no one's especially concerned about it. Besides, it feels good and helps make life more enjoyable. I need it. I've got to have it."
Occasionally the "users," the debtors, feel the pain of their addiction and regret what they've gotten themselves into; but a fresh infusion of credit brings relief and temporary surcease from the pain. (End of message.)
(C.A.C.) What is the economic condition in the US? Everyone’s in debt. They’re in debt on a personal level, corporate and government level. Everyone is spending dollars they don’t have, living above their means. And how can they get so much money to buy big fancy cars and TVs and furniture and whatnot? How can they afford it?—well they can’t—It’s all bought on credit.
* * * *
(David Brandt Berg) Rich people have borrowed themselves into debts that they can never repay! Poor people the same. Middle class people the same. So if the slightest little thing gets out of balance or goes off in any way, the whole thing crashes like a bunch of dominoes! And who do you suppose can jerk the rug out and make it happen so that everybody loses everything, including the government, and can't pay? Everybody loses but the ones who loaned the money and now own everything! They loaned the money on the house, now they own the house. They loaned the money on the car, now they own the car. They loaned the money on the property, now they own the property! They loaned the money on the business, now they own the business. They loaned the money on the industry, now they own the industry! Those are the facts; that's how it works!
* * * *
Part 1
What’s the story on the Sub-prime Mortgage Crisis?
People want to know what happened... "What caused sub-prime mortgage mess and how did it spread to the point of impacting the worlds markets and how and how will this affect me?"
This economic Tsunami began early in 2006 and by 2007 was affecting the entire US economic system and its waves causing upheavals in nations around the world. Now in 2008 eyes are still widening with the evidence of ongoing economic repercussions not likely to fade away in the near future.
* * * *
(Compiled from Family International publications)
Mortgages
World Book encyclopedia describes mortgages as follows:
A mortgage is a loan agreement that enables a person to borrow money to buy a house or other property. The property is used as security for the loan. The lender may take possession of the property if the loan is not repaid on time. A person can obtain a mortgage from a bank, insurance company, mortgage company, savings and loan association, or other financial institutions. Most mortgage agreements require the mortgager to repay the loan in monthly installments over a period of 20 years or more. Part of each payment goes toward the unpaid balance of the loan, called the principal, and part toward the interest. If the borrower misses a number of payments, the lender may foreclose the mortgage. Foreclosure is a legal procedure by which the lender takes over the mortgaged property. The lender then may sell the property, keep the amount owed, and give the borrower the rest [if any]. [Editor: Or, to put it very simply, a mortgage is when someone lends you money to buy a house, with the understanding that if you can't repay the loan, they'll repossess the house.]
A form of mortgage that's much in the news lately is what's called a subprime mortgage—a housing loan to those with poor or shaky credit. Author Bill Bonner describes one such case in his book Empire of Debt (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2006):
"My daughter is only twenty-five," wrote a friend, "but she just bought a house in Northern Virginia. Of course, she mortgaged most of it. But can you believe that they lent her $275,000? Is that crazy, or what? She works as a bartender, part time. She's very responsible, but I can't believe they would lend her that much money. How do they think she will pay it back?"
Cause and effect
Why would banks encourage people to buy homes they can't afford, taking out loans they can't repay? And why would this sort of behavior have international repercussions? Journalist David Leonhardt explains in a New York Times article:
How is it that a mess concentrated in one part of the mortgage business—subprime loans—has frozen the credit markets, sent stock markets gyrating, caused the collapse of [the fifth largest investment bank] Bear Stearns, left the economy on the brink of the worst recession in a generation, and forced the Federal Reserve to take its boldest action since the Depression?
Let's go back to the beginning. It really started in 1998, when large numbers of people decided that real estate had become a bargain. At the same time, Wall Street was making it easier for buyers to get loans. It was transforming the mortgage business from a local one to a global one, in which investors from almost anywhere could pool money to lend.
Those same global investors demanded good returns. Wall Street had an answer: subprime mortgages.
Because these loans go to people stretching to afford a house, they come with higher interest rates—even if they're disguised by low initial rates—and thus higher returns. The mortgages were then sliced into pieces and bundled into investments, often known as collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs. Once bundled, different types of mortgages could be sold to different groups of investors.
Investors then increased their returns through leverage. They made $100 million bets with only $1 million of their own money and $99 million in debt. If the value of the investment rose to just $101 million, the investors would double their money.
(Wikipidia- In finance, leverage (or gearing) is using given resources in such a way that the potential positive or negative outcome is magnified. It generally refers to using borrowed funds, or debt, so as to attempt to increase the returns to equity.)
Home buyers did the same thing, by putting little money down on new houses, notes Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com. The Fed under Alan Greenspan helped make it all possible, sharply reducing interest rates, to prevent a recession after the technology bust of 2000, and then keeping them low for several years.
All these investments, of course, were highly risky. Higher returns on investments almost always come with greater risk. But people—by "people," I'm referring here to Mr. Greenspan, Mr. Bernanke, the top executives of almost every Wall Street firm and a majority of American homeowners—decided that the usual rules didn't apply because home prices nationwide had never fallen before.
The American home seemed like such a sure bet that a huge portion of the global financial system ended up owning a piece of it. That left them on the hook when homeowners who had taken out a wishful-thinking mortgage could no longer get out of it by flipping their house for a profit.
Many of these bets [by banks and other investors] were not huge, but were so highly leveraged that any losses became magnified. If that $100 million investment I described above were to lose just $1 million of its value, the investor who put up only $1 million would lose everything.
"If anything goes awry, these dominoes fall very fast," said Charles R. Morris, a former banker who tells the story of the crisis in a new book, The Trillion Dollar Meltdown.
This toxic combination of bad investments and their potential to mushroom has shocked Wall Street into a state of deep conservatism. The soundness of any investment firm depends largely on other firms having confidence that it has real assets standing behind its bets. So firms are now hoarding cash instead of lending it, until they understand how bad the housing crash will become and how exposed to it they are. Any institution that seems to have a high-risk portfolio [set of investments], regardless of whether it has enough assets to support the portfolio, faces the double whammy of investors demanding their money back and lenders shutting the door in their face. Goodbye, Bear Stearns.
The conservatism has gone so far that it's affecting many solid would-be borrowers, which, in turn, is hurting the broader economy and aggravating Wall Street's fears.
Bubbles lead to busts. Busts lead to panics. And panics can lead to long, deep economic downturns.
How could subprime mortgage loans take out the whole global financial system? That's how. ("Can't grasp credit crisis? Join the club," David Leonhardt, NY Times, March 19, 2008.)
Sub- Prime Mortgage Crisis
Part 2
Flipping, and later flopping
The problem wasn't confined to the subprime mortgage market, either. Housing prices went up so rapidly that many people, even those with good credit and decent incomes, decided that investing in it was a sure thing. Empire of Debt describes the process of flipping which was mentioned earlier—buying a house on credit and holding on to it for a little while, as its value inflated, and then selling it for a profit:
The cost of housing, in many areas of the country, was not just inflating—it was blowing up like a front-seat air bag. … Buyers were not looking for a place to live; they were speculating—betting that [they'd make] enough money to make them rich.
One genius buys a condo before it is built. He flips it to another investor, who holds it until it is completed, making a bundle when he sells it to a professional couple who intend to stay for two years and then sell (at a huge profit) to other buyers. All of them are making the smart moves—buying with little money down and making minimum monthly payments on adjustable rate mortgages. And all of them are getting richer—or so they believe—as long as prices continue to rise.
The problem, of course, was that housing prices didn't continue to rise. An AP article describes the downward spiral that resulted:
When [housing prices] began to crumble, so did financial stability.
The same people who made a financial stretch to buy their homes are now defaulting on the loans at alarming rates. Many are "upside down" on their loans, meaning they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.
[Editor: For example, perhaps someone took out a $250,000 mortgage on a new house, figuring that they'd sell it when its value reached $300,000 and make a tidy profit. They could put a few thousand dollars down, get a mortgage that had low interest rates for the first year, and make a $50,000 profit in no time. But suddenly housing prices fell and no one was interested in buying their house for $300,000, or $250,000, for that matter. The value of their house had been inflated in the first place, and they're having trouble selling it for any amount of money now. But they have a $250,000 mortgage loan they owe, and suddenly interest rates are rising inexorably. Flipping has turned into floundering, and flopping.]
Nearly 9 million households now have upside-down mortgages, and for the first time ever, mortgage debt is bigger than the total value of homeowner equity [cash invested]—bigger by $836 billion, according to research by Merrill Lynch.
The housing problem set off the dominoes: Surging defaults meant the mortgage-backed securities plunged in value. Bear Stearns found itself in the cross hairs. Rumors began to swirl [as people wondered] whether it had ample reserves to cover potential losses. Clients and investors began to demand their money back.
"I think the current financial crisis looks to me like the worst one since we got into the Depression," says Richard Sylla, who teaches the history of financial institutions at New York University's Stern School of Business.
Economists and market historians seem to agree that this is more than a typical, cyclical slump. And the X-factor that sets it apart—determining how deep the wounds from the mortgage mess really are—also makes it impossible to map the path of the downturn. ("US Ponders: How Deep Is Economic Abyss?" Rachel Beck and Erin McClam, Associated Press, March 23, 2008.)
"They didn't really know…"
The mortgages which were sold to banks, pension funds, and investors around the world were packaged in such a complex way that they practically defied understanding. As a result, many financial firms aren't even sure how much money they've lost yet—or how much the remainder of their mortgage-backed assets are worth.
Bill Bonner, writing in his Daily Reckoning newsletter, reports on his conversation with a source who is very close to the Bear Stearns situation:
"What went wrong?" we wanted to know. "How could this group of very smart accountants, lawyers, and investment pros have been so wrong about what they had in their own portfolios?"
"Well, they didn't really know. And they still don't really know," said our source. "They have no reliable way of knowing what their 'assets' are worth. They're … marked to whatever fantasy they have in their heads at the moment. When the fantasy was positive, the assets were worth something. When the fantasy turned into a nightmare, they panicked and wanted to get rid of them in the worst possible way.
"And the really scary thing is that the other financial institutions are in much the same situation. They don't really know what they have … or what it is worth. There are almost certainly some more horror stories that will be coming out." (The Daily Reckoning, March 20, 2008.)
Banks, financial firms and companies around the world are apprehensive about what will happen next, as are economists.
"It's going to go from bad to worse. … This is certainly the worst financial crisis in the last 50 or 60 years," says Kenneth Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and now an economics professor at Harvard.
Today's financial problems could likely be seen as "the most wrenching since the end of the second world war," Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan wrote in the Financial Times (March 17, 2008).
The root of the problem
(Jesus:) The root of the problem is the same as it has been for centuries: credit, which leads to debt that spirals into ever greater debt. Then those who are lenders gamble that they can make even more money by devising new and more lucrative ways for people to go more deeply into debt, while the people themselves gamble on what they consider a sure thing, just what they need to pay off their debts, or set themselves up for retirement, or finance their lifestyles, etc.
Credit has become the drug of choice of the modern world, far more widespread than any other. Individuals, companies and governments must have their fix of it, for they are addicted to it, and the withdrawal symptoms are too painful to endure. Life without credit means no future debt is possible, and often their present debt is so large and overwhelming that they cannot go on without another credit fix.
Like many drug users, however, they do not see that they have a problem. They're surrounded by other users who are in similar situations. "Credit and debt are just the way of the world, a necessity, and nothing to worry about. Everyone does it and no one's especially concerned about it. Besides, it feels good and helps make life more enjoyable. I need it. I've got to have it."
Occasionally the "users," the debtors, feel the pain of their addiction and regret what they've gotten themselves into; but a fresh infusion of credit brings relief and temporary surcease from the pain. (End of message.)
(C.A.C.) What is the economic condition in the US? Everyone’s in debt. They’re in debt on a personal level, corporate and government level. Everyone is spending dollars they don’t have, living above their means. And how can they get so much money to buy big fancy cars and TVs and furniture and whatnot? How can they afford it?—well they can’t—It’s all bought on credit.
* * * *
(David Brandt Berg) Rich people have borrowed themselves into debts that they can never repay! Poor people the same. Middle class people the same. So if the slightest little thing gets out of balance or goes off in any way, the whole thing crashes like a bunch of dominoes! And who do you suppose can jerk the rug out and make it happen so that everybody loses everything, including the government, and can't pay? Everybody loses but the ones who loaned the money and now own everything! They loaned the money on the house, now they own the house. They loaned the money on the car, now they own the car. They loaned the money on the property, now they own the property! They loaned the money on the business, now they own the business. They loaned the money on the industry, now they own the industry! Those are the facts; that's how it works!
* * * *
Sunday, April 13, 2008
April 13, 2008
RETURN OF THE KING
Is The Lord of the Rings a prophetic vision of our present tumultuous times when war, violence, greed, hatred and destruction threaten to envelop us in darkness?
The world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air. —J.R.R. Tolkien
In his epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien transports us to Middle Earth where the evil forces of Sauron, Lord of Mordor, have brought great darkness throughout the land. Although the parallels with today's war-filled world are obvious, there has been much debate about whether The Lord of the Rings was written as an allegory. Tolkien himself stated that he "dislikes allegory in all its manifestations." Later, however, Tolkien wrote, "Of course, Allegory and Story converge, meeting somewhere in Truth." What is the "Truth" that Tolkien's stories impart?
Prophets and seers throughout the ages have foretold a cataclysmic end of the world. Nostradamus wrote in his quatrains of a final "antichrist" and a fiery, bloody great war: "By fire he will destroy their city. A cold and cruel heart. Blood will pour. Mercy to none." The Hebrew prophets Isaiah and Daniel predicted that in the time of the end "there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time;" and "darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people." Jesus also warned His disciples that in these last days, "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Many prophecy scholars agree that the world stage is rapidly being set for the final great showdown between the forces of good and evil. In the book of Revelation the prophet John envisioned an unearthly creature rising from the depths, a monster that derives his power from a dragon representative of the powers of darkness: "I saw a beast rise up out of the sea…and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority." According to numerous Biblical prophecies, this beast is personified in a powerful political figure who will unite the globe into a one-world government and demand the allegiance of all nations. "And all the world marveled and followed the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?' ... And power was given him [the beast] over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations."
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Although The Lord of the Rings describes an unthinkable evil, the underlying message is that there is always hope in the face of great darkness. When asked about Frodo's efforts to struggle on and destroy the ring, Tolkien said, "That seems more like an allegory of the human race. I've always been impressed that we're here surviving because of the indomitable courage of quite small people against impossible odds. ... They struggle on, almost blindly in a way." With so much darkness we can be tempted to wonder what's the use of a little light, a little good, a little love.
"Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
This message of hope for the meek, the weak, the powerless, and the downtrodden that is central to The Lord of the Rings was proclaimed by Jesus when He said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." Jesus was not born in power, but in meekness. His life began in a humble stable, His father was a simple carpenter, and His disciples were unlearned fishermen. He was a "companion of harlots," and was called a demon-possessed bastard by the self-righteous religious leaders of His day who finally crucified Him to stop the spread of His doctrine that threatened to overthrow their powerful religious establishment.
"This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields, to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it?"
Jesus' radical message that brought such fear to the hearts of the ruling powers of His time was a message of love—true love, the love of God and the love of fellowman—the greatest force in the universe that will ultimately vanquish all evil. It is man's rejection of the love of God and His loving laws that causes him to be selfish, unloving, vicious, and cruel—man's inhumanity to man, which is so apparent in today's weary world with its enslavement by oppression, tyranny, exploitation and the tortures of war. All of these evils are caused by man's lack of love for God and each other and defiance of His laws of love and faith and peace and harmony with Him, each other, and His whole creation.
"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater. Some there are among us who sing that the Shadow will draw back and peace shall come again."
When Jesus was cruelly crucified, it seemed that the lights had gone out in the world and that His message of love had been quenched. But He had promised His disciples that His Spirit would live on in them as they spread the light of His love to others. He also said that He would one day return to conquer evil, hatred and all the wicked works of the Dark Lord and establish God's kingdom of love on Earth. That day is coming soon! You can have Jesus' spirit of love within your heart by praying this simple prayer: "Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God and that You died for me. Forgive all the things I've done wrong and give me Your gift of eternal life.
(All italicized text is taken from The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R.Tolkien.)
RETURN OF THE KING
Is The Lord of the Rings a prophetic vision of our present tumultuous times when war, violence, greed, hatred and destruction threaten to envelop us in darkness?
The world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air. —J.R.R. Tolkien
In his epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien transports us to Middle Earth where the evil forces of Sauron, Lord of Mordor, have brought great darkness throughout the land. Although the parallels with today's war-filled world are obvious, there has been much debate about whether The Lord of the Rings was written as an allegory. Tolkien himself stated that he "dislikes allegory in all its manifestations." Later, however, Tolkien wrote, "Of course, Allegory and Story converge, meeting somewhere in Truth." What is the "Truth" that Tolkien's stories impart?
Prophets and seers throughout the ages have foretold a cataclysmic end of the world. Nostradamus wrote in his quatrains of a final "antichrist" and a fiery, bloody great war: "By fire he will destroy their city. A cold and cruel heart. Blood will pour. Mercy to none." The Hebrew prophets Isaiah and Daniel predicted that in the time of the end "there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time;" and "darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people." Jesus also warned His disciples that in these last days, "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Many prophecy scholars agree that the world stage is rapidly being set for the final great showdown between the forces of good and evil. In the book of Revelation the prophet John envisioned an unearthly creature rising from the depths, a monster that derives his power from a dragon representative of the powers of darkness: "I saw a beast rise up out of the sea…and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority." According to numerous Biblical prophecies, this beast is personified in a powerful political figure who will unite the globe into a one-world government and demand the allegiance of all nations. "And all the world marveled and followed the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?' ... And power was given him [the beast] over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations."
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Although The Lord of the Rings describes an unthinkable evil, the underlying message is that there is always hope in the face of great darkness. When asked about Frodo's efforts to struggle on and destroy the ring, Tolkien said, "That seems more like an allegory of the human race. I've always been impressed that we're here surviving because of the indomitable courage of quite small people against impossible odds. ... They struggle on, almost blindly in a way." With so much darkness we can be tempted to wonder what's the use of a little light, a little good, a little love.
"Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
This message of hope for the meek, the weak, the powerless, and the downtrodden that is central to The Lord of the Rings was proclaimed by Jesus when He said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." Jesus was not born in power, but in meekness. His life began in a humble stable, His father was a simple carpenter, and His disciples were unlearned fishermen. He was a "companion of harlots," and was called a demon-possessed bastard by the self-righteous religious leaders of His day who finally crucified Him to stop the spread of His doctrine that threatened to overthrow their powerful religious establishment.
"This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields, to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it?"
Jesus' radical message that brought such fear to the hearts of the ruling powers of His time was a message of love—true love, the love of God and the love of fellowman—the greatest force in the universe that will ultimately vanquish all evil. It is man's rejection of the love of God and His loving laws that causes him to be selfish, unloving, vicious, and cruel—man's inhumanity to man, which is so apparent in today's weary world with its enslavement by oppression, tyranny, exploitation and the tortures of war. All of these evils are caused by man's lack of love for God and each other and defiance of His laws of love and faith and peace and harmony with Him, each other, and His whole creation.
"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater. Some there are among us who sing that the Shadow will draw back and peace shall come again."
When Jesus was cruelly crucified, it seemed that the lights had gone out in the world and that His message of love had been quenched. But He had promised His disciples that His Spirit would live on in them as they spread the light of His love to others. He also said that He would one day return to conquer evil, hatred and all the wicked works of the Dark Lord and establish God's kingdom of love on Earth. That day is coming soon! You can have Jesus' spirit of love within your heart by praying this simple prayer: "Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God and that You died for me. Forgive all the things I've done wrong and give me Your gift of eternal life.
(All italicized text is taken from The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R.Tolkien.)
Monday, December 18, 2006
Truth
or Fabrication?
The DA VINCI CODE
Fiction, Fact or History?
Pt-1By Carlos A. Cedillo
Will it change western religion as we know it?—or will it strengthen Christian faith?
Dan Brown has caused a Tsunami in religious and secular society with his best seller and
What makes the book controversial?—Brown gives the reader a surreal flashback into history, searching out key religious events such as the Council of Nicaea of 325 AD, and a secret society-- the Priory of Sion. But there are other baffling theological aspects presented in the book-- provokingly designed to make the reader question what is truth concerning Jesus and the bible. His array of information – some factual as Brown claims in the introduction -- presents religious issues in an unexpected manner….affirming that almost everything taught by Christianity on Christ is false—that His divinity was the result of a voting process at the Council of Nicaea. Before the reader can digest the assault on Christ's divinity, the book jumps into an astounding diatribe that envisions Mary Magdalene as the figure to the right of Jesus in the famous Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci—not just envisions her as participating in Jesus’ Last Supper… but in his life as a pair-- as married.
At this point the reader will probably feel the need to double check Dan’s introduction…”Did he say it was fiction-- fact—or what?” --because unlike a novel or fiction, this writing presents certain historical events in such fashion as to cast doubt on the basic tenets of Christian belief and faith. The story subtly comes across as a true rendering of information and knowledge-- weaving back and forth between segments of real history and distorted history. In the first chapters it zeros in on a secret association whose historical origin lies amidst a twilight zone of partial truths, reality and non truths. Those who read the book may conclude that what they are reading is factual and true. Nevertheless, that uncertainty is shattered by the resulting evidence of thourough research and the simple truth, revealing key portions of this book to be cunningly crafted fabrication.
Now let’s examine some important aspects of the historical and religious pieces of this intricate mystery and the theological implications surrounding the Da Vinci Code.
Divinity of Jesus
The real purpose for the 300 bishops convening at the first Council of Nicaea (325 AD) was to oppose the Arius hypothesis on Jesus-
Arius had been in opposition to the fundamental aspects of Christian faith since early in the 3rd century. His claim was that Jesus was a creature, a mere mortal, liable to fall, etc. It’s interesting to note that Arius came from
Concerning Arius, the Council voted unanimously against him and had his doctrine condemned-- and he was promptly sent into exile at
The Priory of Sion—proof of Jesus Christ’s royal bloodline through Mary Magdalene— or fabrication?
In the DVC introduction, Brown inserts a page of information on the secret society mentioned in his book--The Priory of Sion and the Dossiers Secrets—referring to these as fact. This alleged Priory is supposed to have been a secret society set up in the 11th century. According to the narrative, its purpose was to preserve a secret having to do with the bloodline of Jesus Christ. The story claims that in 1975, certain documents or parchments were discovered at the Bibliotheque Nationale in
The documents found at the Paris library seemed to support the original story that took place in Rennes-le-Chateau, Paris—this story [Later shown to be a fabrication of Plantard, as well as the Dossiers Secrets (4)] was published in a book by Pierre Plantard, titled L’Or de Rennes (“Rennes’ Gold”) in 1967. However—in real life-- it was later discovered that it was not the librarians (as narrated in the DVC) but the associates of Plantard who found the documents in the library-- the same ones who planted the forged documents to begin with. Plantard’s book is about a buried treasure that was uncovered by Father Berenger Sauntiere at the
Massimo Introvigne, director for the
Dan Brown eventually had to face a court case in London to defend himself against authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of the Holy Blood and Holy Grail, for plagiarism. Brown won the case but in the final ruling, the judge declared the Priory of Sion a hoax (8).
(1)- Case for Christ—by Lee Strobel—pg. 10
(2)- Case for Christ—by Lee Strobel—pg. 12
(3)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ, or Will the Real Priory of Sion please stand up? By Massimo Introvigne-- Cesnur-- www.cesnur.org
(4)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ, or Will the Real Priory of Sion please stand up? By Massimo Introvigne-- Cesnur-- www.cesnur.org
(5)- Priory of Sion…. Forged documents—Wikipedia
(6)- Case for Christ—Lee Strobel—pg. 62-70
(7)- The Da Vinci Code FAQ or Will the real Priory of Sion please stand up? Cesnur—www.cesnur.org
(8)- Cesnur- Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religioni diretto da Massimo Introvigne—ww.cesnur.org—Dan Brown and the
Judge Confirms that the Priory of Sion is a Hoax
Carlos A. Cedillo is a full time member of the Family International
* * * *
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Sunday, July 30, 2006
The Da Vinci Code
Fiction, fact or fiction?
Pt- 4
Fiction, fact or fiction?
Pt- 4
Old Testament Messianic Predictions
Quote from Lee Strobel’s Case for Christ book:
First I asked whether it's possible that Jesus merely fulfilled the prophecies by accident. Maybe he's just one throughout history who have coincidentally fit the prophetic fingerprint.
"Not a chance," came his response (Louis S. Lapides). "The odds are so astronomical that they rule that out. Someone did the math and figured out that the probability of just eight prophecies being fulfilled is one chance in one hundred million billion. That number is millions of times greater than the total number of people who've ever walked the planet!
The Family International
Hundreds and even thousands of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Old Testament Prophets predicted His coming. Their predictions were not just general ones that "a Messiah, a Savior, will come" etc., but specific prophecies about places, times and events that have been fulfilled in only one person who has ever lived-Jesus of Nazareth! In this brief lesson we have chronologically arranged several of the most outstanding Old Testament Messianic prophecies in the actual verbatim text of the Scriptures and followed them with their New Testament fulfillments.
His Birth
Prophecy: Nearly 750 years before Christ's birth, the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah prophesied: "The Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."--Isaiah 7:14.
Fulfillment: In exact fulfillment of this prophecy, Mary was a young virgin engaged to be married to Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her saying that she would bear a child. "Then Mary said to the Angel, `How shall this be, seeing I have not laid with a man?' And the Angel answered, `The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you! Therefore that holy One which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God."--Luke 1:26-35. (Immanuel means "God with us", and for those of us who have received Jesus into our hearts, that's Who He is: God is with us!)
Prophecy: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: And the government shall be upon His shoulder: And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!"--Isaiah 9:6. (Prophecy given 740 B.C.)
Fulfillment: This shows that the ancient Jews, unlike most modern ones, believed that God had a Son--Who was to be born in the flesh and Whom the prophecy said was to be called "The Mighty God".
Prophecy: Micah, prophesying in the eighth century B.C., predicted the exact village where the Messiah would be born: "You, Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, yet out of you shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler over Israel; Whose existence has been of old, from everlasting."--Micah 5:2. (Prophecy given 710 B.C.)
Fulfillment: The Gospel says "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea."--Matthew 2:1. Although the Jews knew that their Messiah was to be born there (Matthew 2:4-6), they didn't, as a nation, accept Jesus as their ruler. Nonetheless, the prophecy says that He "Is to be ruler". This takes place spiritually now for those who voluntarily accept His Messiahship, and will soon take place literally by force at His Second Coming!
Jesus' existence, as the prophecy says, "has been of old, from everlasting". Jesus said, "Before Abraham was (around 2,000 B.C.), I Am."--John 8:58. He was here referring to Himself as the eternal God Who revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush as: "I Am that I Am" (Exodus 3:14), the eternal Son of God! (See also John 1:13,14.)
Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem
Prophecy: The Prophet Zechariah commanded the people by the Spirit of the Lord to: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes unto you: Righteous, and having Salvation; meek, and riding upon a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."--Zechariah 9:9. (Prophecy given 487 B.C.)
Fulfillment: Five days before His crucifixion, as Jesus neared Jerusalem, He told His disciples, "Go into the village ahead of you, and at once you shall find a donkey tied there, and her colt with her: Untie them, and bring them to Me. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the donkey and the colt...and Jesus sat on them...and the multitudes that went ahead, and those that followed, shouted, saying, `Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!'"--Matthew 21:2-10.Imagine!--The King of kings, God in the flesh, came riding into Jerusalem, meekly sitting on the lowly colt of a donkey, just as God's Prophet, Zechariah, had predicted over 500 years earlier!--And not only did Jesus fulfill this part of the prophecy, but the multitudes of Jerusalem who "rejoiced greatly" and "shouted" praises to Him as He entered the city were further proof that indeed, Jesus of Nazareth was "the King" of whom Zechariah had prophesied!
His Betrayal
Prophecy: Again Zechariah predicts: "And I said unto them, if you think good, give me my price; and if not, keep it. So they paid me thirty pieces of silver."--Zechariah 11:12. (Prophecy given 487 B.C.)
Fulfillment: "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said to them, 'What will you give me, if I deliver Him to you?' And they counted out for him thirty pieces of sliver."--Matthew 26:14, 15.
Prophecy: "And the Lord said unto me, `Cast it unto the Potter!--The handsome price at which they priced Me!' And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the Potter in the House of the Lord."--Zechariah 11:13. (Prophecy given 487 B.C.)
Fulfillment: "Then Judas, which had betrayed Him (Jesus), when he saw that He was condemned, repented, and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders...And he cast down the pieces of silver in the Temple, and went away and hanged himself. And the chief priests picked up the silver pieces, and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, because it is the price paid for blood. So they decided to use the money to buy the Potter's Field, to bury foreigners in."--Matthew 27:3-6. The thirty pieces of silver were literally "Cast to the Potter...in the house of the Lord"!
His Trial
Prophecy: "By arrest and judgment He was taken away: And who shall speak of His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living: For the transgression of my people was He stricken."--Isaiah 53:8. (Prophecy given 712 B.C.)
Fulfillment: Jesus was arrested by the soldiers of the High Priest.--Matthew 26:57. After judging Him in their religious court and condemning Him to death, they bound Him and handed Him over to Pilate, the Roman Governor.--Matthew 27:1-2. "While Pilate was sitting in judgment...the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd...to have Jesus executed."--Matthew 27:19-20. "Finally Pilate handed Him over to them to be crucified."--John 19:16.
Pilate himself knew that Jesus was innocent and had done nothing worthy of death, and that the Jewish religious leaders only wanted Jesus executed because of their religious jealousy, yet the religious leaders used their political leverage to force Pilate to have Him crucified anyway.--John 18:28-40;19:1-16; Luke 23:13-25; Matthew 27:18.
His Crucifixion
Prophecy: Around 1,000 B.C., King David prophesied: "Dogs have surrounded Me: A band of wicked men have encircled Me: They pierced My hands and My feet. I can count all My bones. People stare and gloat over Me. They divide My garments among them, and cast lots upon My clothing."--Psalm 22:16-18. (Prophecy given around 1,000 B.C.) (See also Zechariah 12:10;13:6.)
Fulfillment: That was written by King David, who died a natural death (recorded in 1Kings Chapter 1), so he wasn't talking about himself. But being a Prophet, he predicted the type of death that Christ would die! As it says in the New Testament, "then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus (pierced hands and feet), took His garments, and divided them into four parts, a part to every soldier; His undergarment remained. Now this garment was without seam, woven in one piece from top to bottom. They said therefore to one another, Let us not tear it, but let us cast lots for it, to see whose it shall be."--John 19:23,24.
Crucifixion, incidentally, was not practiced by the Jews of David's time. (They killed criminals by stoning!)--But David predicted this type of death for the Messiah--a method of execution that was to become one of the principal means of execution by the Roman Empire ten centuries later!
Prophecy: Here is another prophecy by David regarding "The Righteous", or the Messiah: "Many are the afflictions of The Righteous, but...He (God) keeps all His bones: Not one of them is broken."--Psalm 34:19-20. (Prophecy given about 1,000 B.C.)
Fulfillment: Many of God's righteous servants have had their bones broken, especially in their martyrdom--But Jesus was "The righteous", "My righteous Servant", as God called Him, Who through His death would "justify many" or make them righteous.--Isaiah 53:11-12. And to prove that He was "The Righteous" Who would "justify many", God didn't let any of His bones be broken!
Jesus was crucified on the eve of the feastday of the Passover. To ensure that the bodies of the two thieves and Jesus wouldn't be hanging there on the cross during the Jews' holy day (death by crucifixion sometimes took days), they broke the legs of the thieves, causing their bodies to sag, cutting off their respiration and bringing a quick death. "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they did not break His legs."--John 19:31-33.
Jesus was "the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the World" (John 1:29), and was crucified at the time of the Jewish Passover, a religious festival when all the Jewish households killed a lamb as a sacrificial sin offering. Right at that same time, Jesus, "The Lamb of God", died for the sins of Mankind. The Lord had commanded that none of the Passover lamb's bones were to be broken (Exodus 12:46), and Jesus' death fulfilled this specific point also!
His Burial
Prophecy: "And He was given a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death."--Isaiah 53:9.
Fulfillment: In the eyes of His bitter religious enemies, Jesus was a criminal, a wicked man, and as He died, there were "two robbers crucified with Him".--Matthew 27:38. After His death, "a rich man...named Joseph...went to Pilate and pleaded for the body of Jesus. And when Joseph had taken the body, he...laid it in his own new tomb"--A grave with the rich!!!--Matthew 27:57-60.
His Resurrection
Prophecy: "For You will not leave My soul in hell (the grave, death); neither will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption (decay)."--Psalm 16:10. (Prophecy given around 1,000 B.C.)
Fulfillment: King David, who gave the prophecy, died and was buried in a grave and his flesh saw corruption and decay. But Jesus was raised from the grave and hell three days after His death, and "His soul was not left in hell (or in the grave), neither (did) His flesh see corruption (decay)."--Acts 2:27-31. As the Angel said to the mourners who came to Jesus' tomb, "He is not here, but is risen! Why do you seek the living among the dead?"--Luke 24:6,5.
Jesus is alive! The Scriptures show that He walked the Earth for 40 days after His Resurrection and was seen by hundreds of followers!--Acts 1:3; 1Corinthians 15:4-6. He then ascended up to Heaven where He sits at the right hand of the throne of God.-Mark 16:19.
Exact Year Of His Crucifixion
Prophecy: "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and to build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince shall be seven sevens, and 62 sevens (or a total of 69): The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after 62 sevens shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself."-Daniel 9:25,26. (Prophecy given 538 B.C.)
The city of Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the armies of Babylon when the Jews went into captivity and exile in 586 B.C. But 133 years later, in 453 B.C., Artaxerxes Longimanus, King of the Persian Empire, gave the Jews the commandment to go forth (from captivity into the land of Israel), "to restore and to build Jerusalem".
We know his decree was issued in 453 B.C., and that Jesus was "cut off" in 30 A.D. Therefore, if we add the 453 years B.C. to the 30 years A.D., it equals 483 YEARS. Let's see now if Daniel's specific time prophecy coincides with this:
The prophecy predicted that from the time of this decree until the death of the Messiah the Prince would be--how long?--"7 sevens plus 62 sevens"--or 69 sevens. 69 sevens would be 69 x 7, which equals 483. So Daniel predicted that 69 sevens of years, or 483 years, would pass between the issuing of the decree to build Jerusalem and the "cutting off" of the Messiah.--And that's exactly how many years did pass between 453 B.C. and Jesus' death in 30 A.D.!--What an amazing exact fulfillment of prophecy! And this astonishing prophecy was given in the year 538 B.C.--almost 600 years before Jesus the Messiah was crucified! It's also interesting to note that this 483-year period was divided into two periods: First a period of 7 sevens (49 years), then a period of 62 sevens (434 years). History reveals that it did take the Jews 49 years from the time the decree was issued to "rebuild the walls and streets of Jerusalem". Once Jerusalem was rebuilt, it was exactly 434 years (62 sevens) later that Jesus the Messiah was crucified!
Daniel's prophecy continues with undeniable proof that this Messiah had to be Jesus:
Destruction Of Jerusalem After His Coming
Prophecy: "At the end of 62 sevens shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: And the people of the ruler that shall come shall destroy the city (of Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the Jewish Temple)."--Daniel 9:26. In other words, ac cording to this prophecy, after the Messiah's death, the city of Jerusalem and the Jews' Temple would be destroyed! Was it? Yes! Only 40 years later!
Fulfillment: After Jesus was cut off (or crucified in 30 A.D.), "not for Himself", but for the sins of the world, do you know what happened to Jerusalem and to the Jews' Temple? In 70 A.D., the Roman legions of the Emperor Vespasian ("the people of the ruler"), under his son, General Titus, marched in and burnt Jerusalem to the ground and so utterly destroyed their Sanctuary that not one stone was left upon another!
Jesus Himself, in a set of amazingly detailed prophecies given 40 years before these catastrophic events, predicted exactly what would happen! (See Matthew 24:1-2; Luke 19:42-44;21:20-24.)
Shutting Of East Gate After His Coming
Prophecy: "Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing toward the east; and it was shut. Then the Lord said unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut."--Ezekiel 44:1,2. (Prophecy given 572 B.C.)
Fulfillment: When Jesus ("the Lord, the God of Israel") made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the back of the colt of an ass, He came from the Mt. of Olives and entered into Jerusalem's East Gate (Matthew 21:9-12), the gate which led into the Temple Courts, as it says here, "the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east."
In 70 A.D., the city of Jerusalem was utterly destroyed and it remained in ruins for centuries after. But in 542, the Moslem Sultan Sulieman rebuilt the walls of the city. Because the Jews who had rejected Jesus believed their Messiah was still to come and was yet to make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Sulieman (who wanted to avoid the Jews rallying around a "Messiah" and rebelling) walled the "East Gate" completely shut, and thus unwittingly fulfilled the ancient prophecy of Ezekiel, "It shall be shut...because the Lord (Jesus), the God of Israel, has entered in by it." And the East Gate remains sealed shut until this very day!
Most Jews believe that the Messiah has not yet come, but according to these two fulfilled historical facts: 1) The destruction of Jerusalem, and 2) The walling up of the East Gate, the Messiah has already come!--And if it wasn't Jesus of Nazareth, who was it?
Who else was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, was called God, rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on an ass, was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, was proclaimed innocent yet condemned unjustly to be crucified while soldiers parted His garments, was associated with the wicked in his death, was buried in a rich man's tomb and rose from the dead--all in fulfillment of Messianic prophecy! The answer, of course, is no one else but Jesus Christ!--And the prophecies that we have quoted here are only a few out of nearly 300 specific Old Testament prophecies which Jesus fulfilled!
Why (did Jesus die on the cross)?
Why did Jesus die on that cross?--Because He loved you! He loved you enough to take your punishment, to die and be separated from His Father for a while so that He could bring you the Love of God and Eternal Life! As another prophecy says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; each of us have turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. There was no deceit in His mouth, yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer. HIS soul (Jesus') shall be made an offering for sin, and by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify (make righteous) many; and He shall bear their iniquities!"--Isaiah 53:6,9-11. (Prophecy given 750 B.C.)
Jesus died for you!--And God gave all these prophecies and had them written down and preserved down through the centuries and millenniums so that your faith might be strengthened by them enough to believe that "God so loved the World, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."--John 3:16. Do you?
God loves you and Jesus is just waiting at your heart's door for you to open to Him. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me."--Revelation 3:20. Would you like to receive Jesus into your heart? If you would, sincerely pray from your heart this simple prayer: Dear Jesus, I know that I've done wrong things and I'm sorry. I believe that You died for my sins and I ask You to please come into my heart and forgive me.-And please help me to live for You and others by reading Your Word and telling others about Your Love!--In Jesus' name, amen.
The Family International
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