Bringing People Back to Faith

A recent story in the news is that, on the day following the general election, the Federal Reserve began purchasing Treasury bonds in large numbers – 600 billion dollars’ worth. In other words, The United States is borrowing money from itself (the purchase of a bond is a loan to the issuer of the bond) – and the Fed has its printing presses working overtime.

Does this sound as crazy to you as to me? Don’t most people know you don’t handle debt by going deeper into debt? Could this drastic action mean the beginning of the end of the American economy? I don’t know the answer to that last question, but there are a few things I do know. I know that foreclosures abound. I know that unemployment remains high. Now it appears that a third wave is about to engulf us – the wave of inflation. Already I see its creeping effects: gasoline and grocery prices climbing. These are the staples which people need daily and they are becoming increasingly expensive.

A leading writer on economics (Brian O’Connell) has stated that this latest action is the Fed’s way of saying to Americans: “Stop saving.” Or to put it another way: “Start spending and borrowing – get this economy moving.”

The manipulation of the economy is a frightful thing to me. Who is doing the manipulating and why? And if this person today is “OK”, so to speak, remember that the next person may not have benevolent ends in mind. But the worst part of the “quantitative easing” (government speak for borrowing from itself) is that it signals desperation.

The Federal Reserve obviously underestimated the depths of the Great Recession. Perhaps they should have asked an Alliance, Hartville, or Louisville, Ohio resident – any resident – how bad the recession was and continues to be. In December 2008 the Federal Reserve Board reduced its interest rates to near zero. It has maintained a similar stance since. But tough times continue. Maybe not as tough as when the nearly zero interest rates were targeted, but tough nevertheless.

The point in stating all this is that those who save and try to live within their means, being frugal and responsible, are penalized. Those who accumulate debt are rewarded – or so it seems. Just how convoluted can things be when savers are penalized? Is this not indicative of how far removed from sound stewardship principles the country has gone?

But it will not stay this way forever. Eventually the way God has ordered the world to run comes to the fore, correcting the flawed notions of mankind – yes, even those of the brightest economists.

If harder economic times than we presently face are in the future, and I think they are, then let us prepare to thank God. It will be His way of doing a great work in the lives of people.

It will be His way of inviting people to repent of greed. Greed is just another word for covetousness, which God has warned against in the Tenth Commandment.

Economic hardship will be God’s way of inviting people to understand the principles of Biblical stewardship and avoid undue indebtedness. To understand and employ these principles is to avoid making a disaster of one’s life.

Economic hardship may well be God’s way of…
bringing people back to faith.