An Analysis of the Financial Crisis in the United States
By Scott Webster
Scott Webster serves on the Apostolic Core Team of Congress WBN with TC’s manager, Steve Schultz. He is also Global Director of Congress WBN’s Global Insight Services (GIS), coordinator of Elijah Centre Embassy Atlanta, and president of Scott Webster Ministries.
www.scottwebsterministries.org
The economic crisis continues to unfold and the new administration is putting together its cabinet in anticipation of assuming power in January 2009. The full effect of the crisis is yet to be seen, though home foreclosures continue to occur at a rapid pace. In the month of October alone, over 10,000 foreclosures occurred in metro Atlanta, where I live. Other regions are taking even more of the brunt of the downward spiral of credit availability and lack of bank confidence.
The Economist (The Economic Crisis, Wolves at the Door, November 8th, pg 37) notes that some officials at the Fed think that the recession could be as mild as it was in 1990-91, predicting that unemployment will peak at about 7% with a mid-2009 date to mark the end to the recession. More pessimistic estimates compare the impending recession to the one experienced in 1981-82, which would ratchet up unemployment to the 8-9% level and a deep recession lasting into late 2009…or beyond.
As we seek to understand these events from God’s perspective, we can learn from two kinds of prophets who spoke directly into the political processes and events unfolding into the nations of Israel, Judah and Ramoth Gilead. One set of prophets was convinced that God was going to give Ahab victory in war, while in complete opposition Micaiah declared that God had declared disaster for Ahab:
1 Kings 22:10 Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them… 19 I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. 20 And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’ 20 “One suggested this, and another that. 21 Finally a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 ’By what means? The LORD asked.” ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.” ‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’ (NIV)
There is a direct contrast here: the 400 prophets stood before Ahab’s throne, while Micaiah saw God sitting on His throne. The first group was fixated by the events on the earth and they prophesied falsely. We realize from this that too intense of a focus on immediate political processes produces incorrect perception, and that proximity to natural power (the king’s throne) produces blindness. The prophets spoke only victory for the nation because they were seduced by a lying spirit sent by the Lord to deceive the king, a spirit which undoubtedly found a place of agreement and support within their nationalistic mentalities.
In comparison there is Micaiah, who was not against Ahab nor was the prophet in alignment with any other political or partisan interest. If God’s purposes had required Ahab to prevail in war, Micaiah would have spoken victory. But Micaiah saw the Lord sitting on His throne firmly in control of and directing events which unfolded upon the earth. Sight of God lifts us above the carnal divisions of nation and political party and allows us to look down into the earth from God’s perspective to see how He is directing the events of the earth, and therefore it also lifts us above the crisis.
This is true not only in the crisis of the cosmic economic meltdown, but also when we may be facing a personal crisis, such as a challenge to personal health or difficulty within family. Micaiah himself was in trouble on a personal level – he was in prison because the king didn’t like his prophecies, and the false prophet Zedekiah slapped him in the face in front of all the assembled people at his palace. Micaiah received both his imprisonment and the blow without shame or anger, and he never allowed his personal difficulties (rejection, assault, prison on minimal rations of bread and water) to affect his view of the Eternal God who is in charge of all eventualities. Like our brother Micaiah, we must be lifted above the crisis by a clear view of God.
The prophet’s view of God’s mastery of events was in a very similar political context to the present day: a) there was an impending change of national leadership b) kings formed alliances for invasion c) these events were bracketed by a war effort predicated upon assurance of a swift victory at the outset which did not prove true d) multiplied voices stood before the thrones of these kings gushing forth with their opinions and predictions.
The Elections & Sovereignty
God instituted a process with Ahab, and that process had a series of steps that led towards an inevitable conclusion that the king could do nothing to stop though he tried desperately to do so. When he went to war he had Jehoshaphat dress up in his kingly robes though he himself was disguised, and the ruse worked for a while as the armies of Ramoth Gilead pursued Jehoshaphat but turned back when they realized he was not Ahab, the king they were ordered to kill. An archer who was not even aware of Ahab’s presence in the battle shot a random arrow that hit Ahab precisely between the sections of his body armor, and the king slumped over and bled in his chariot all day until finally he died that night. A slow bleeding out is a powerful metaphor for the diminishment of the national will and treasury in a time of war, a metaphor that has clear applications for our present day.
Just as God was directly involved in the matter with Ahab, He is at work superintending the events taking place before our eyes. Consider for a moment the unique happening of the recent elections. The economic meltdown which erupted in the heat of the campaign, and certainly favored Obama’s political profile, had been brewing in the markets since early 2007 though most were not aware of its severity. If we envision a scenario in which the economic crisis is pushed back into early 2009 and we have instead a national security crisis (for example, a terrorist attack against a strategic U.S. interest), clearly the tables would have been turned to favor McCain and perhaps the election would have had a different result. The point is that cosmic movements far beyond the control of any human agency have been occurring and those happenings have direct influence on present events. It would therefore be impossible to decode the meaning from a strictly human or rational point of view. It would also be foolish to view the elections from a partisan basis, just as it was for the 400 prophets whose agenda required Ahab to win. Those who swear loyalty to a Republican or Democratic candidate or platform, or who remain trapped in the confines of a provincial mentality, will be unable to see the real meaning behind the events.
There are important questions for us to consider. A) what host of heaven has been dispatched from the Lord to arrange events on the earth in the recent elections? B) will there be a dynamic in which unseen spiritual reality empowers the new administration to fix the economic crisis, or alternately stonewalls all attempts to address the problems facing society – all for Divine purpose? C) was there a divine initiative which stirred the outgoing administration to invade Iraq as a part of a process that led to the recent election results?
This leads to other important inquiries, such as the nature of the Church’s interaction with the events taking place, and the quality of their perceptions up to this point. For instance:
• Were incorrect prophetic voices used by God to urge the previous administration on in their quest for war?
• Were the ‘prophets’ who declared victory basing their insights in the context of a nationalistic paradigm, causing them to be unable to see God sitting on His throne far above the United States objectives, policies and norms?
• Are there lying spirits roaming across the earth, sent by the Sovereign One, to bring the events in the United States and the nations of the earth to a place of culmination?
• Is there an emerging prophetic company like Micaiah who is able to see above the false divisions of nation and ethnicity imposed by darkness upon the minds of man?
Insights into these issues won’t be found by a shallow church which is petulantly claiming their own financial blessing during the crisis, and this series of articles is not designed to offer simple predictions, or provide denouncements or endorsements of a partisan position. Rather, they are a configured to provoke the people of God into a more thorough knowledge of the Lord and to adjust the mentalities and worldview of the Church. I wrote in my book Architecture that the New Prophetic Dimension is producing some characteristics in the church, including:
• The ability to comprehend our world from the mind and viewpoint of God above the definitions and assumed standards of the earth.
• Fresh insights into global affairs, with greater empowerment to decode the answers to the troubling and complex issues of the planet.
• New ability to rise above the fractures and carnal divisions of race, ethnicity, economic polarization and political oppressiveness.
It is not a time for easy and instant answers which fit neatly into a pre-determined and limited context. Do not accept the swift pronouncements of prophets who have not stood in the council of the Lord and who are simply speaking from the immediacy of their gift. Refuse to listen to those who counsel easy resolution, urge you towards claims of personal prosperity, or who offer analysis based in simplistic views. The events which are unfolding require the church to come to a place of new maturity in the Lord, and to possess fresh insights that transcend the immature perspectives and narrow worldviews endemic to previous moves of God. It requires us to be transformed through interacting with the living God!
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