Global conditions are spiraling into an ever-worsening state. Daily people are bombarded with news of further disruptions, the prospect of food shortages and the impending global famine the UN has repeatedly warned about, that will be of biblical proportions , economic depression, localised lockdowns, and the possibility of a second national lockdown in the autumn due to a second wave – all of which depletes a person’s psychological wellbeing, robbing them of their peace. But are the secular prophets predicts correct?
THE NEW ABNORMAL
Globally, people are seeking to cope with the ‘new norm’ of living in a pandemic society, some are sounding the alarm that we are heading for a global financial depression and not a recession. An economic downturn, unlike anything previously experienced; worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s in America. Therefore, through outlining the effects of the Great Depression, and examining what is expected/transpiring now, I hope to show a pattern. Rmember, Scripture states, that there is nothing new under the sun; and that what has been, will be again (Eccl 1:9).
THE GREAT DEPRESSION-IN A NUTSHELL
During “The Great Depression” America witnessed people’s spending habits change, as the average person had no capital. This change affected business, as people could not afford to purchase essential items, never mind non-essential.
The depression impacted on the already increasing levels of unemployment, as businesses laid off staff because they could not afford to keep the doors open. Those most affected by the depression were the working class.
People could only afford the bare essentials, food and rent, and when the money dried up, people/families moved into shantytowns and had to queue in food lines.
During these times, many people became desperate to survive, to feed themselves and their families. Ravenous children led parents to steal from those more well off, in an attempt to provide something for their famished children. Parents watched helplessly as their children died of starvation or illness because they could not afford food and medicines.
Many people, because of the depravity, death and despair they had witnessed and overwhelmed by the depression, lost hope.
To escape from the harsh realities, many people turned to alcohol as a means of numbing the pain, resulting in an increase in alcohol dependency during this period.
Men often left their wives in search of a better life, leaving women to look for work to support themselves and their children. This led to an increase in “poor man’s divorce” which resulted in a surplus of single women.
People struggled to find honest work; many ladies turned to provide domestic services for wealthier families, to enable them to provide for their own children/families.
People learnt how to be thrifty, far different from today’s throwaway society, and self-sufficient, as people grew small kitchen gardens in an attempt to provide food for themselves.
DEBT & THE GREAT DEPRESSION
While hardships affected the working-class predominantly, they did reach all sectors of society.
The Great Depression was compounded by the debt accumulated by the pervasive increase in the average person investing in the stock market. Investing was encouraged as a person could borrow to invest, and then borrow against what they had invested, even though some of what they had invested was debt.
Accounts of the stock market making people rich grew, encouraging the average joe to borrow to invest. It was this fervent debt frenzy that led to the Great Depression. The high levels of unsecured debt and excessive borrowing brought about the perfect conditions for a cataclysmic fall, one that resulted in what we refer to today as “the Great Depression”. The question is, could this happen again?
LIKE AN ALL CONSUMING MONSTER-DEBT WILL DEVOUR US
In the wake of the global pandemic, many financial leaders are openly stating that we are heading for a worldwide depression, worse than the aforementioned Great Depression. In the UK, debt is now spiralling out of control, as people are only just beginning to start to recover from the 2008 recession. Figures released in 2020, before the UK Covid-19 lockdown show a stark picture.
At present the UK national debt grows at a rate of £5,170 per second, with the government national debt, standing at 2.4 trillion. However, the real debt figure, inclusive of state and public sector pensions, is estimated to be closer to £4.8 trillion, equating to £78,000 per person in the UK. These figures do not account for the effects of Covid-19 and the national lockdown or the lavish government bailouts that act to prevent the inevitable depression rather than stemming the problem.
THE AVERAGE UK HOUSEHOLD IS ALREADY IN SIGNIFICANT DEBT.
In January 2020 the money charity assesses the average total debt per UK household to stand at £60,363, with a projected increase in March 2020, made before Covid-19, to be £86,388 per family. In the UK, 12.8 million households have either no or less that £1,500 in savings. A further 4.8 million homes are without at least one essential household appliance, fridge, freezer, washing machine or cooker, due to financial hardship.
DEBT & DIVORCE = A DRUNK DISASTER
To exacerbate things, there is speculation, both in the UK and the US, that we will witness an increase in divorces once the lockdown ends.
People, due to being faced with their own mortality, have assessed their lives during the lockdown, leading many to seek to change their lives. Others, due to the financial stress and being confined have felt a pressure upon many marriages, to such an extent they see divorce as the only door/solution.
If we do see a surge in divorces post lockdown, this will, in turn, affect the financial position of those affected.
Furthermore, clinicians have reported an upsurge in the use of alcohol during lockdowns, as every day is a Friday, and an increase in referrals for alcoholic dependency due to people using alcohol as a means of escaping the pervasive and restrictive measures of the pandemic – the so-called ‘new norm’.
IS THE GREATEST DEPRESSION KNOCKING ON OUR DOOR?
I believe it is inevitable that we witness a financial backlash from the global pandemic. A person would have to be inept and blind not to expect financial repercussions.
Professor Roubini, who predicted the 2008 recession, has warned that globally, we face a ten-year global depression due to the Coronavirus. Professor Daron Acemoglu has also stated that
“A great depression lasting several years is not out of the question, if we continue to mismanage the crisis.”
While the UK government has previously played down the condition of the British economy, they’ve recently admitted that the nation is in a bad recession; however, the reality is this is a global depression, the consequences of which will decimate people’s lives.
THE RAVAGES OF FINANCIAL RESET
The Global reset is around the corner. Presently the World Economic Forum is preparing people globally for the economic transition the global reset will instil and enforce.
Catherine Fitts, Investment advisor and former US Assistant Secretary of Housing, states that nothing will be the same once the global reset takes place. The new system will be 100% digital, thus allowing all transactions to be monitored, enabling the Global Government to control full access to the global monetary system. Those who do not comply will, as in China’s social credit system, have reduced rights and social engagement.
The problem is, that even though credible people are speaking out about what will shortly be imposed upon citizens globally, the majority of people will disregard such warnings as mere conspiracies Just as the Jews did prior to the holocaust.
To understand these stark predictions, one only needs to look at the effects of the pandemic on the global economy thus far.
• At the time of writing, Rolls Royce, as a result of the pandemic, axed one-fifth of its staff, affecting 9,000 people. Easy jet has cut its staffing team by 30%, affecting 4,500 people.
• British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have also announced staffing cuts due to the pandemic. International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that airlines globally will lose at least $314 billion due to the pandemic. Therefore, it is no wonder this sector is having to lay off staff or face bankruptcy.
• Avianca, one of Latin America’s largest airlines, which served more than 30 million passengers, last year on the 10th May 2020, filed for bankruptcy.
• Hertz, the car rental company, filed for bankruptcy in the US, laying off 10,000 staff, due to a debt of $18 billion.
• Latam Airlines filed for bankruptcy on the 26th May 2020.
• Virgin Australia, filed for bankruptcy on the 21st April 2020. C
• arluccio’s, a UK Italian restaurant chain with 73 restaurants, entered into administration on the 30th March 2020.
• Forbes reports that oil and gas drillers like Whiting Petroleum and Diamond Offshore, filed for bankruptcy in late April, and J. Crew became the first major U.S. retailer to do the same on 4th May. BrightHouse, a UK cash loan company, entered into administration on the 30th March 2020.
• Debenhams, which employs 20,000 people in the UK, entered into administration on the 6th April 2020.
• British burger chain Byron entered administration on 29th June resulting in the closure 31 of its 51 locations and laying off 651 employees.
• Canadian oilfield services provider Calfrac filed for bankruptcy on 14th July after its revenue declined by 56% in the first half of 2020.
• California Resources Corp., the largest oil and natural gas producer in California filed for bankruptcy on 15th July to wipe out more than $5 billion in debt.
• Texas-based oil driller Denbury Resources filed for bankruptcy on 30th July to eliminate $2.1 billion in debt.
It is evident from the above sample of statistics that the Coronavirus has significantly affected the global economy. These effects are, aptly, summed up in an article in the Independent, which stated
“Coronavirus’s economic danger is exponentially greater than its health risks to the public. If the virus does directly affect your life, it is most likely to be through stopping your going to work, forcing your employer to make you redundant, or bankrupting your business”.
While many people have lost their lives from the Coronavirus, the global depression that will emerge will transcend the effects of the virus, affecting everyone. The effects of the depression will be further compounded by future waves of infection.
What was witnessed in the Great Depression will be witnessed globally in greater intensity.
WHAT CAN YOU DO PRACTICALLY?
In a nutshell, start to learn skills;
• use the days ahead to understand how to forage for food, fish, purify and make water fit to drink.
• Seek out likeminded people, make relationships,
• have an emergency supply of food,
• get out of debt.
In essence, put your house/life in order.
WHAT CAN YOU DO PSYCHOLOGICALLY?
For the Christian, it is still important that you and your family prepare psychologically by understanding that great disasters are going to come upon the earth. God can and will give you peace, as He directs, guides and protects you if you seek Him.
Spend time each day, praying and reading God’s word, as you seek His leading and direction.
Do not fear what is coming upon the earth. Remember that the perfect love of God casts out all fear. Therefore, draw close to Him and allow His love to encapsulate you and remove any fear.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHAT CAN YOU DO SPIRITUALLY?
However, while many will be concerned about their physical lives and earthly future, which is understandable, the most important question is not when a person dies, but rather where they spend eternity and how they stand before God. Scripture asks us
“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?”
Therefore, everyone’s first priority is to get ‘right with God,’ and when I speak of God I mean the one true God, mentioned in the Bible, who sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die for humanity, so that whoever believes in Him and confesses their sin, He, God, is faithful to forgive.
Then we must seek to walk a righteous life, a life according to God’s word, as we work out our salvation in fear and trepidation. As we do this, we need to make preparation for the times ahead, times that are mentioned in the Bible, referred to as the Tribulation, or Jacob’s Trouble. This is a time that will see global pandemics, famines, economic depressions, wars, natural disasters and much more, prior to the return of Jesus the Messiah.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
I understand that many will discard what I have written. That is up to you; I have warned you. Although, I do pray that in the days ahead, when these things transpire, God will bring to your mind this article and you will seek God.
For those who accept and have a quickening in their spirit to take on board what I have written, I pray God will give them His wisdom and bestow peace upon them as they seek to make preparations for the return of Jesus the Messiah. But please do not do nothing, do not wait till things get bad, it will be too late then!
Remember that regardless of what is transpiring, if we draw near to God, and make Him our refuge, then His perfect love will cast out all our fears and instil His shalom/peace in our lives.
Freelance Researcher & News Compiler | *Nathan Barnard | Published | 2020 | August 25th | 07:00 |
The views expressed in this Opinion Editorial are entirely the view of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views held by the Editorial Board of ‘The Way, or the Trustees/Directors of 66Books.’
*Nathan Barnard - Co-Founder of Arrows of Ephrayim Ministries
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· [1] Fies.
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· [1] Omar Hassan, 11th March 2020, ‘Coronavirus will bankrupt more people than it kills- and that’s the real global emergency’. The Independent, online, accessed 3rd June 2020, available from https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-deaths-trump-stock-market-pandemic-economy-bankrupt-italy-a9394891.html
· [1] Mark 8:36
· [1] John 3:16
· [1] Philippians 2:2
