In G-D We Trust

A few weeks ago we flew with Iceland Air over Reykjavík on our way to Europe. A week later we heard on the news that Iceland was bankrupt. I know that people go bankrupt all the time and companies do, too. But it can happen to an entire country also. - Yet Iceland’s government shut down the stock market and seized control of its last major independent bank. That brought trading in the country's currency to a halt, as foreign banks were no longer willing to accept the Icelandic Krona.

"Iceland is bankrupt," said Arsaell Valfells, a professor at the University of Iceland. "The Icelandic Krona is history. The IMF has to come and rescue us."

The IMF managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said in Washington that he had activated an emergency funding system, last used during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990's, to help countries in crisis. This has happened of course before, but in places like Argentina and Thailand, and never in a country so close to Europe.

Iceland is raked by icy North Atlantic winds and dotted with volcanoes and geysers. Its inhabitants now not only live with the threat of earthquakes and maritime disasters, but also with the new fear of losing all of their money.

We live in an hour in the earth that the Bible speaks of as the "last days." Many of the prophets of G-D are predicting times of trouble and tribulation for our world today. This is certainly a description of our present world. One of the greatest fears people are fighting today is fear of financial loss and fear of the future.

Just this Friday stock markets around the world plummeted and oil prices plunged to their lowest in more than a year. Even gold, the traditional safe haven in times of panic, fell sharply. According to Associated Press Writers, Patrick Rizzo and Ellen Simon:” The common denominator was growing fears that governments, central banks and finance ministers seem powerless to stop the deepening of a global recession that will slam corporate earnings and lead to deep job losses around the world.”

"This is beyond volatile: It is chaotic," Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics wrote in note to clients.

On March 10, 1862 the first United States paper money was issued. The denominations were $5, $10, and $20. They became legal tender by Act of March 17, 1862. The inclusion of "In God We Trust" on all currency was required by law in 1955.

This inclusion is not such a bad idea after all. Since you can’t trust your bank today, the only safe place for any of us is to stay in the will of God!

Psalm 91:15-16: "He will call on me, and I will answer him: I will be with him when he is in trouble; I will deliver him, and bring him honor. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation."