1. Scott Huckaby www.BibleTract.org …a Biblical Perspective

2. What should we keep in mind about the economy? For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. (Psalm 50:10, NKJV) God owns it all and He is Almighty so He is in control of the economy… so the state of the economy serves His purpose.

3. How did locusts affect an agrarian society? The LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land" (Exodus 10:12, NKJV) God used them to crash their economy so that they’d listen to Him.

4. What are the locusts of today’s economy? You shall carry much seed out to the field and gather but little in, for the locust shall consume it. (Deuteronomy 28:38, NKJV) The frantic focus on accumulating wealth by a few in one sector devours wealth for the many in other sectors creating “financial bubbles” that burst. (technology, real estate, oil, credit, food...)

5. What will be mankind’s solution to our economic perturbations? These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. (Revelation 17:13, NKJV) Global problems require a global solution… No one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Rev 13:17, NKJV) …centralized power will lead to centralized abuse

6. What is the problem with big government? “the prince of this world is coming” (John 14:30, NIV) Worldly power does corrupt; Satan takes advantage of God removing His restraint of evil on the earth to pursue his ambitions… …it will be a terrible time.

7. How is Satan behind our economic woes? No one can serve two masters… you cannot serve God and mammon. (Matt 6:24, NKJV) Mammon represents the spiritual forces leveraging the lusts of the world to diminish God’s glory. Satan supports anything that detracts from God.

8. What has made today’s economic swings worse? With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed— an accursed brood! (2 Peter 2:14, NIV) Increasing moral relativism has institutionalized greed as good for the economy.

9. What threatens our economy? Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! …you have heaped up treasure in the last days. (James 5:1-3, NKJV) GREED… The lust for more wealth or the appearance of wealth (credit) has caused people to make immoral decisions.

10. What is the problem with greed? Give me only my daily bread; otherwise, I may have too much and disown You (Proverbs 30:8-9, NKJV) It causes us to be self-reliant and thus turn away from God.

11. How has humanism contributed to the credit crisis? The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9, NKJV) Humanists do not have any concept of sin and will make credit approvals into a social program.

12. What does God think of taking on debt? The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7, NKJV) While loans can be a useful tool, they do put us in bondage to the lender… and this can make us vulnerable to abuse.

13. How does inflation affect us? The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. (James 5:4, NIV) Common workers are taken advantage of. The increasing frequency of these financial bubbles are birth pangs of the Tribulation.

14. What controls the tribulation economy? He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark… (Rev 13:16-17, NIV) The Antichrist will use computer and RFID technology to control everyone

15. What will the economy be like during the Tribulation? A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine! (Revelation 6:6, NIV) Most people will be living paycheck to paycheck; working just to eat.

16. What will the food supply be like during the Tribulation? There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events… (Luke 21:11, NIV) There will be food shortages as a consequence of war.

17. What will become of the economy of the Tribulation? The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn… In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin! (Revelation 18:16-17, NIV) The economy built on greed will suddenly come crashing down.

18. Where is the hope in the economic trend? The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. (James 5:4, NIV) The Lord will return to bring justice to the earth thus fixing the economy… They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat… My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands; they shall not labor in vain (Isaiah 65:22-23, NKJV)

19. How else do we know we don’t have to fear the economic trend? As in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark (Matthew 24:38, NKJV) The economy will be normal enough so that those who do not know the Lord are caught by surprise at the Tribulation.

20. Is the Lord’s return the only hope for the economic trend? As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. (Genesis 8:22, NIV) The Tribulation is not yet. God promised His provision… as there have always been agricultural cycles, there will be economic cycles.

21. How should we respond if the economy… Realize that the Tribulation may be further away than we thought; so more time to help others know Jesus! (b) gets better? Recognize that this helps set the stage for the Tribulation; so Jesus is getting ready to rapture us! (a) gets worse? Seed on good groundSeed among the thorns Seed on stony places Seed on the wayside of Matt 13:3-23