The Crisis of the 2020s – What is God Saying? Ten Signs of the Economic and International Turmoil of 2021 +
“What does God have to do to get our attention?” This is what a prophet said to me recently. Why do the nations refuse to seek the Lord? What will happen to get us on our knees? The Lord wants to save millions of souls. How bad will things get first?
The 1857 Prayer Revival began in New York after an economic crisis. People were forced to think of greater things than money. The Coronavirus Pandemic has focused our attention on what is important. Looking ahead into the 2020s, there are signs of hope for God’s work. The Lord is good and wants our salvation. However, people tend to seek the Lord when all other options have faded. In God’s Kingdom, a crisis is the door of hope for salvation.
I will give her vineyards from there and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth
– Hosea 2:15
If you watch the news, you may hear the bad times will be over soon; 2021 will be great. We can return to bloated consumerism, somnolent entertainment and spiritual sleep. Are they right? The problem is Covid-19 is far from over and lockdowns will return. To cope, governments are borrowing to sustain a lifestyle we cannot afford, which causes short-term optimism. The boom always comes before the bust.
The signs of the times tell me the early 2020s will be particularly painful, followed by something no-one anticipated (Matthew 16:2-4). Look out for these ten signs in the decade of the 2020s, as God prepares the heart of the people to look to Him. The Valley of Achor (affliction) will be a door of hope. They will find eternal treasure in Christ.
1. Trust in Money will Fail
We have trusted in money instead of the Lord. Expect a global economic crisis. This will include personal debt crises, national debt crises, defaults and herculean deficits. 2020 was just the beginning (James 5:1-6). Look out for the phrase ‘Greater Depression’ – a period of national economies remaining smaller than normal, with sluggish growth.
No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon
– Luke 16:13
2. Trust in Business will Decline
We have worshipped wealth instead of Jesus. Coronavirus has created zombie companies. These businesses are overwhelmed with borrowing. They are the living dead. The debt will overwhelm them and collapse will lead to shocking unemployment numbers.
You have sown much and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!”
– Haggai 1:6-7
3. Trust in Governments will Sink
We have spent our children’s future wealth! Each time there is a crisis, governments borrow. World governments are sinking in debt. The United States and Britain have been heavily borrowing since 2001. China is drowning in secret debt. Europe is sinking. When electronic free money ends, our only answer will be Jesus. The national debt is like making a mortgage in your children’s name and spending it on yourself. “Happy 20th birthday son, here’s your $400,000 debt bill and the $28 trillion national bill” (Romans 13:8).
For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children
– 2 Corinthians 12:14
4. Trust in the Stock Market will be Shaken
We have put wealth creation above the Great Commission (Mark 16:14-18). Governments have printed money calling it quantitative easing. This creates a bubble and it will burst on a global scale. The real economy is in crisis, but the stock market is booming. Watch out! Will it be 2008 or 1929?
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God
– 1 Timothy 6:17
5. Trust in the System will Diminish
We have put our trust in man instead of God. When hundreds of millions lose their jobs worldwide and governments cut spending uprisings follow. Look out for riots on Western streets and uprisings worldwide, similar to the Arab Spring. Governments will fall. What fills the void may be worse.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help…but who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!
– Isaiah 31:1
6. Trust in the European Union will Erode
God ordains the nation state and man creates post-Christian progressive unions of nations (Acts 17:26-27). The EU constitution fails to mention the Christian heritage of Europe. It shunned God. Following the 2008 crisis, the Euro almost dissolved. How will Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal survive a second debt crisis? Expect EU leaders to demand harsh spending cuts and expensive bailouts. Citizens will ask, “What’s the point of the EU if everyone is getting poorer?” The choice will be a deeper union or dissolve. Brexit has hurt the EU; Britain is showing there is another way. Will others be allowed to follow?
7. Trust in Globalisation will Crumble
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the spirit behind Communism was bound. It has risen again in an aggressive China. Nations will have to choose. Religious freedom and democracy with the United States, or be squeezed by the belt and road octopus (tentacles everywhere). China is closing churches, has secret prisons and a million citizens are in ‘education camps.’ Will the love of trade surpass freedom? (Revelation 18:11-20). Watch how China treats Australia.
8. Trust in the Democratic Process is Diminishing
Satan wants a global union united against God. This is the end time goal God has warned about (Revelation 13:7). There will be a growing loss of confidence in the democratic process. Global elites will seek to wrestle sovereignty from nations. They will aim for international goals chosen by them. Powerful hidden forces will try to deny the people another Trump card which offers real change. Choices will narrow. Whomsoever you vote for, the same global agenda will arise. Christians must resist and can prevail.
9. Worshipping the Creature, Rather than the Creator
Am I my brother’s keeper? Loving your neighbour will become second to loving the spirit of Mother Nature. The poorest in the world will suffer from the ideology of the rich. They will adopt policies which make it harder for the poor to stay warm, fed and travel. Prices will rise above their income. The earth will be first. The elite will worship nature from their private jets and mansions (Romans 1:25).
Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock
– Ezekiel 34:2-3
10. Will there be a Christian Awakening?
The promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a great awakening is conditional. Christians must fufil the obligations of Scripture. Believers must stop merely quoting 2 Chronicles 7:14 and start to apply the precepts. Christian leaders must adopt the attitude of brokenness exemplified by Joel 2:17. The Lord has found people before. He will find people again, but when?
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land
– 2 Chronicles 7:14
Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”
– Joel 2:17
By Paul Backholer. Find out about Paul’s books here.
