Unable to pay its debts without borrowing more, the credit rating of the US was downgraded in August, triggering a fall of financial markets across the world.
It is as yet unclear how severe the consequences will be for the world economy. But this was a calamity waiting to happen. Back in 2007, EN reviewed the book Black Mass by John Grey of the LSE. It said: ‘The US is unable to live on its own economic activity and must be subsidised … at present cruising speed that subsidy amounts to $1.4 billion a day’. Obviously unsustainable. Since then we have witnessed the worldwide credit crunch, the introduction of stringent austerity measures in Britain and now deep financial troubles in the Eurozone.
Riots and the idol
Are we beginning to see the terminal decline of the West? That might be a prematurely gloomy forecast, but, having rejected its Christian foundations, it must be taken seriously. God, who rules over all nations, is not the impotent ‘delusion’ our intellectuals claim him to be. Rather, he is the living God and bound to expose the feet of clay of the secular West’s favourite idol — wealth.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …