8/9/2019 [An Analysis of the Financial Crisis in the United States] 18 The Nations are Connected

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P r o p h e t i c B r i e f

An Analysis of the Financial Crisis in the United

States Part 18The Nations are Connected

The closure of the largest airports inEurope due to the ash cloud from anIcelandic volcano has caused massiveglobal travel disruptions, and will havean increasingly negative economicimpact upon all nations the longer theairways are closed. Last week it

prohibited most Western foreigndignitaries, including President Obama,

from attending the state funeral for thelate Polish President Lech Kaczynski.The estimated economic impact on thetroubled airlines alone is immense,greater than that which followed 9/11 reaching $250 million per day, accordingto Giovanni Bisignani, head of theInternational Air Transport Association(IATA). Bisignani called for urgent actionto safely re-open airspace and the IATAexpressed its "dissatisfaction with how

governments have managed it, with norisk assessment, no consultation, nocoordination, and no leadership.Business leaders and airlines are urgentlycalling for the reopening Europe's skies.

"We will try to outline corridors, if wecan, based on the evolution of the cloud,to allow the reopening of as large anumber of flight paths as possible, asquickly as possible and in good securitycondit ions , " said EU Transpor tCommissioner Siim Kallas. He toldreporters in Brussels about the travel ban:"it is clear that this is not sustainable, wecannot just wait until this ash clouddissipates."

Economic Impact is Broad

Of course the economic impact is not justupon the airlines, though its affect ontravel industries is the most immediate.Consider TUI, the largest travel operatorin Germany. With all the countrysairports closed the company had to takeextraordinary and costly steps to

b r i n g c u s t o m e r s b a c k f r o mMediterranean vacations. Late Saturday,TUI flew 540 of its customers from theSpanish island of Mallorca to Barcelona.After staying overnight in hotels paid for

by TUI, the vacationers boarded a dozen

buses for a 20-hour trip to Frankfurt.From there they continued home by train.Beyond travel related companies,industries which rely on moving cargoand people through Western Europe haveeither already felt the pinch or they willsoon. Kenyan growers account for 35

percent of the European Unions imports

of flowers, and they are losing up to $2million a day in earnings because theycannot fly their blooms to market.

Vegetables grown in Kenyas Great RiftValley are also bound for Europe:

peppers, corn, carrots, broccoli andbeans. Airport warehouses in Nairobi arefull and both vegetables and flowers are

beginning to perish; new shipmentscannot be received because there is noroom.

Its a terrible nightmare, said StephenMbithi, the chief executive officer ofthe Fresh Produce Exporters Association

of Kenya. He rattled off some figures:Two million pounds of fresh produce isnormally shipped out of Kenya everynight. Eighty-two percent of that goes toEurope, and more than a third goes solelyto Britain. Five thousand Kenyan fieldhands have been laid off in the past fewdays, and others may be jobless soon.The only way to alleviate this would beto restore the air bridge to Europe, whichwould necessitate the equivalent of 10Boeing 747s of cargo space per night.1

The AfghanistanBriefs

Afghanistan continues to be in the

news with new troops, a renewed

push against the Taliban and

increased deaths. The month of July

has seen the highest death toll of

American soldiers since the

beginning of the war in 2001, and

the total may increase still more

before the month is out.In a series of short video briefings,

S c o t t W e b s t e r a d d r e s s e s

Afghanistan from the perspective of

the Word of God. Included in the

video sessions are:1. Why Be Aware

2. The Formative Process

3.U.S. Involvement4. Key Players

5. What Does the Future Hold

6. Kingdom InsightsVisit scottwebsterministries.org

where all 6 videos have been

posted for viewing.

ISSUE 304 APRIL 21ST 2010

Insight and Analysis for the 21st Century

1 Mark With Flights Grounded, Kenyan Produce Wilts; NYTimes, retrieved April 20, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/world/africa/20kenya.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/world/africa/20kenya.htmlhttp://www.scottwebsterministries.org/category/prophetic-briefs/podcasts/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/world/africa/20kenya.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/world/africa/20kenya.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/world/africa/20kenya.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/world/africa/20kenya.htmlhttp://www.scottwebsterministries.org/category/prophetic-briefs/podcasts/http://www.scottwebsterministries.org/category/prophetic-briefs/podcasts/http://www.fpeak.org/bod.htmlhttp://www.fpeak.org/bod.htmlhttp://www.fpeak.org/bod.htmlhttp://www.fpeak.org/bod.html

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M i l i t a r y a n d S e c u r i t y

ImplicationsEven though the skies over Europe werenearly empty of military and otheraircraft, NATO General Secretary AndersFogh Rasmussen insisted that Europewas not defenseless. I can assure youthat the Icelandic volcano does not haveany effect on our operations nor ourterritorial defense of allied memberstates, Mr. Rasmussen told reporters at a

press conference in Brussels. To makesure that message was crystal clear, astory appeared quoting a senior Westerndiplomat, who said several NATO F-16fighters suffered engine damage after

flying through the volcanic ash cloudcovering large parts of Europe.

The official declined to provide moredetails on the military flights, except tosay that glasslike deposits were foundinside the planes' engines after they

patrolled over European air space. Thekey i s sue they a re s eek ing tocommunicate is that F-16s are patrolling

European air space. Just in casesomeone got a crazy idea about a choicenation or region being more vulnerable asa result of the closed air space, theyshould now consider themselves warned

by a senior Western diplomat the flightsand announcement were strategically

planned for just that reason.

Iceland and the UK

The volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajokull(pronounced EY-ya-fyat-lah-YO-kut) inIceland and resulting ash cloud in Europeis the most recent connection between thetwo countries, and it follows acrimoniousdealings between the two nations duringthe meltdown. While the 2008 economic

meltdown affected every nation,Icelands economic implosion stands out

as one of the most severe. All three of thecountrys major banks collapsed due todifficulties in refinancing their short termdebt, which in turn caused a run ondeposits their banks located in the UK.Britain froze the Iceland banks assetswithin the UK because they believedIceland might engage in acts that weredetrimental to the UK economy. Icelandwas outraged at the British action and itsthen Prime Minister, Geir Haarde,declared it to be an unfriendly act.

The Iceland Central Bank thenannounced they were engaging in talks

with Russia for a $4 billion loan, aboutwhich Geir Haarde said: "We have notreceived the kind of support that we wererequesting from our friends. So in a

situation like that one has to look for newfriends. Later the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) agreed to loanIceland more than $1.5 billion, but beforethat loan could be finalized the UK andthe Netherlands halted the loans becausewhat had become to be known as theIcesave dispute had not been resolved.Eventually loans were made, but it leftIcelanders with $5.4 billion in IOUs toBritish and Dutch depositors and its

international ego bruised. In that lightone can understand some of the jokesabout the volcanic ash clouds making therounds this week in Iceland. One hasIceland misunderstanding what Europewas requesting: we wanted cash, Europe

says, not ash. Another indicates that itwas the last wishes of the Icelandiceconomy that its ashes be spread overEurope.

Tongue in cheek attempts at humor aside,the present crisis may pale in comparison

Rev 18:17-19"Every sea captain airline, and all whotravel by ship plane, the sailors airlinecrew, mechanics and ticketing staff, andall who earn their living from the sea global commerce, will stand far off. 18When they see the smoke of her burningolcanic ash cloud, they will exclaim,

'Was there ever a city like this great cityglobal economy like we have in 2010?' 19ey will throw dust olcanic ash ontheir heads, and with weeping andmourning cries of fear of economiccontraction due to travel bans and closedairspace cry out: "'Woe! Woe, O greatcity, where all who had ships on the seawere dependent on global commerce and air travelbecame rich through her wealth! In one hour olcanic eruptionshe has been brought to ruin!

ISSUE 304 APRIL 21ST 2010

We have written in thisseries before about hownations have been movingtowards economic oneness,and how that is a featurethat is prominent towards theEnd. When John saw Babylonbeing judged it was thekings of the earth andthe merchants of the

earth that were crying out or global political andeconomic systems thatfunction as one entity comingto a place of collapse(Reve lat ion 18:3) . Theeruption of a volcano inIceland which shut downEuropean airspace and isc au s i n g Ken yan f a rm

products to per i sh inwarehouses in Nairobi illustrates how much theearths economic system isc o n n e c t e d a n d interdependent. If one partlapses it dramatically impactsthe rest of the earth.

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if a 2nd Icelandic volcano called Katlaerupts. Located just 16 miles east ofEyjafjallajokull, Katla is much larger andcapable of releasing far more materialthan its smaller sister. In a recent paper inthe journal Developments in QuaternaryScience, a team led by University ofGothenburg researcher Erik Stukell notesthat the two erupted together in 1612 andagain from 1821 to 1823. Both showedevidence of a build-up of magma

between 1999 and 2004. An increasedlevel of earthquake activity at Katladuring those five years, along with amore inflated shape to the volcano"suggests that the volcano is close to

failure," the team cautions. In otherwords, the two volcanoes are connectedand have historically erupted together,something for everyone to keep in mindas European airspace gradually opens tomore and more flights this week.

e Biblical Application

We have written in this series beforeabout how nations have been movingtowards economic oneness, and how thatis a feature that is prominent towards theEnd. When John saw Babylon being

judged it was the kings of the earth andthe merchants of the earth that werecrying out or global political andeconomic systems that function as oneentity coming to a place of collapse(Revelation 18:3). The eruption of avolcano in Iceland which shut downEuropean airspace and is causing Kenyanfarm products to perish in warehouses in

Nairobi illustrates how much the earthseconomic system is connected andinterdependent. If one part lapses itdramatically impacts the rest of the earth.

In fact the cessation of air travel inEurope due to volcanic ash cloud hasstrong similarities to the Biblicaldescription of the fall of Babylon. TheW o r d o f G o d i s e t e r n a l a n dunchangeable, It cannot be added to ortaken away from. Yet it must be appliedto personal lives and situations forexample Jesus statement you must beborn again (John 3:7) must be appliedto my own personal experience. I onlyhave authentic faith if I can say ScottWebster has been born again. It doesnt

change or add to the Word of God tosubstitute my name, instead it takes theunchangeable Word of God and applies itto individual lives.

Let us use the same process ofapplication of the Word of God to recentevents. Its not the Bible, it cant be sinceI have struck through some words andadded descriptions of contemporaryevents to aid in our understanding. But itis a fair application of this portion ofScripture:

Rev 18:17 "Every sea captain airline,and all who travel by ship plane, thesailors airline crew, mechanics andticketing staff, and all who earn theirliving from the sea global commerce,

will stand far off. 18 When they see thesmoke of her burning olcanic ashcloud, they will exclaim, 'Was there evera city like this great city global economylike we have in 2010?' 19 ey willthrow dust olcanic ash on their heads,and with weeping and mourningcries of

fear of economic contraction due to

travel bans and closed airspace cry out:"'Woe! Woe, O great city, where all whohad ships on the sea were dependent on global commerce and air travelbecamerich through her wealth! In one hourolcanic eruption she has been broughtto ruin!

What this little exercise shows is that theconditions described by John certainlyexist in the earth at this point in time, infact the conditions are present now in away they never have been before inhistory due to developments of

technology, travel, interconnectedeconomies, etc. Could the volcanic ashcloud over Europe be a small prelude tothat ultimate moment in the future?Perhaps it is a warning and a sign to usthat we must be ready. It is certainly truethat we must prepare ourselves andcontinue to grow in righteousness andcorrectness, regardless of when (howsoon or distant in time) the dramatic

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ISSUE 304 APRIL 21ST 2010

The Architecture of

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collapse of Babylon occurs. The issue isthree-fold:

a) We must be increasingly aware of thetimes in which we live so that Godsmovements dont take us by surprise and

find us unprepared. The key events thatare occurring must be perceived in light

of Gods unfolding purpose for the earth,and one basis that forms the differencebetween believers and unbelievers is thatwe are aware while they are takencompletely by surprise. It is clear that theactual timing of the Lords return isknown only by the Father, no man knowsthe day or the hour (Mark 13:32). We arerequired to know the season of the Lord,however. The day of the Lord will be likea thief in the night only for those who areundiscerning, but we are not in darknessand therefore we are not surprised.

1essalonians 5:1 Now, brothers, about times and dates we do notneed to write to you, 2 for you

know very well that the day of the

Lord will come like a thief in thenight. 3 While people are saying,"Peace and safety," destruction willcome on them suddenly, as labor

pains on a pregnant woman, andthey will not escape. 4 But you,brothers, are not in darkness so

that this day should surprise youlike a thief. 5 You are all sons of thelight and sons of the day. We donot belong to the night or to thedarkness. (NIV)

b) Economics is the primary value thatdrives the earth. The economic crisis andthis recent volcanic eruption evidence thereality that a global system of commerceexists, and it drives the activity of nationsand merchants alike. We can see howevents in one part of the world have adramatic effect on the entire earth, and

the thing that is feared the most is a slowdown or stoppage of trade. The earth isnot consumed with proper values or

reverence for Christ; they are consumedwith making a living and ensuring

profits. They easily live without God, butthey cant live without cargo shipments,

banks that extend credit, plunging valuein the markets, etc.

c) We must have internal value systems

and positions of correctness while weexist among the global economic system.We reject Babylons deficient valuesystems and standards, even while we goto work and live within (but not of)Babylon. The mandate from God is thatwe come out of her my people so that

you will not share in her sins, so that youwill not receive any of her plagues (Rev18:4). Coming out of Babylon is not a

physical separation, it is a refusal to liveaccording to the values that driveBabylon (competition, breach ofcovenant, greed, selfishness, etc.).

ISSUE 304 APRIL 21ST 2010

Releasing The New Prophetic Dimension Activating The Capacity To Build Obeying The Command To Finish