Fourteen trillion dollars and counting.
That’s fourteen hundred-billion dollars.
And that, is our national debt.
Many people get lost in all of those zeros and simply decide to trust our politicians to do what is best for us. I don’t think we can do that anymore. And somebody must pay the bills when they come due.
The ills of a society that allow for explosions of personal and national debt are symptoms of a 'me generation' - and a sign of how far we have moved away from God's plan. What will it take to make it right for our families, for our country and with our God?
Imagine it is ten years from now. The debt is 25 trillion dollars. That is $25,000,000,000,000. Interest rates have steadily risen as the people and countries that buy our debt want more for the risk they are taking. This is economics 101. The numbers above are real and not fiction. This is the dangerous, foolish course we are on. Interest rates are hovering around 7%. Multiply 7% by 25 trillion dollars and you get 1.75 trillion dollars. This is the interest we will pay on that debt. Today, the United States Treasury took in just over 2 trillion dollars. I believe it is a stretch to believe the economy will recover substantially with the current and future debt levels hovering over us like a ton of bricks. Therefore, almost every dollar of tax money ten years from now will go to interest on the debt. Before we get to that point, our country will either go into bankruptcy or we will print the money out of thin air which will lead to hyperinflation. Both scenarios spell disaster for the United States of America.
Debt, by definition, is wanting something NOW and paying for it LATER. Today in the United States, we can have it our way no matter if we have the money or not. We yank out the credit card and sign away, we sign loan documents for a car we can’t afford, or we go to a high interest lender on the street corner strip mall. We must have it now! Why wait? Instant gratification is the hallmark of the “me generation.” Our materialistic culture has permeated every area of society including the church itself.
The message of the Bible is exactly the opposite:
We are to think of others before ourselves.
We are to give to others without regard for what we will receive.
Waiting for rewards is a trait of godliness. Debt is seen as self-gratification and unwise while saving is considered intelligent and unselfish.
The Bible teaches that nations who borrow from other nations will be the tail and the nations lending the money will be the head. In other words, the nation that borrows will become the slave to the nation that lends them the money.
Debt is dangerous for families, cities, corporations - and - countries.
Our national debt is a reflection of the spiritual condition of our nation as a whole. This is a spiritual issue because the Bible teaches that we are not to covet our neighbor’s property.
I believe God has an intense desire to see this nation return to her spiritual roots. This movement of God will result in a spiritual rebirth and reawakening of Americans of all stripes and colors that will rock Washington D.C.
God wants this more than you could possibly imagine. Yet, in the end, Americans must want this before it will transpire.
We must recognize the heights that we have fallen and desire to change before the power of God will heal our nation.
Until then, the debt will continue to spiral out of control. We are less than a decade (and maybe a lot sooner) from the day of reckoning. Too many Americans are trusting their politicians and have turned a blind eye to the crisis lurking in the distance.
Some may think I am fear mongering. Some may know we have a problem but don’t believe that it will come to this. I challenge you to run the numbers. We have over 14 trillion dollars of debt on the books. In five years, our government is projecting that number to shoot past 20 trillion dollars. In ten years, the debt is projected to be around 25 trillion. I believe those numbers will be higher. Why? When was the last time the government underestimated the cost of anything? We finance our debt as if it were an adjustable rate mortgage. So as interest rates increase, the cost of our debt skyrockets. As the debt increases, it will cause interest rates to rise also.
Return to the principles of the Bible. Don’t spend what you don’t have. Get out of debt. Don’t covet what your neighbor owns. If enough people in America would try these principles and only vote for politicians who will uphold these truths, maybe the disaster can be averted. I hope this happens. I doubt it will.
