Jesus hated the money changers’ exploitation of the devout two thousand years ago, and He still hates it. We may not have shady characters collecting temple taxes outside our places of worship, but we have them invading our homes through radio and television. We are wise to remember how Jesus reacted to such selfish swindlers. With no apologies, He drove them out of His Father’s house. When we identify modern money-changer, we should do the same.
More and more Americans are getting themselves into so much debt that it becomes impossible to pay back their loans. In the month of July, there was a 5% increase in the number of bankruptcies filed in the United States.
Bankruptcy petitions for consumers and businesses are on the rise. While the rise seems “slight,” this could be a glaring sign that the “everything bubble” is going to pop. According to Market Watch, there was a 5% monthly increase in total bankruptcy filings in July 2019, the American Bankruptcy Institute said this week. There were 64,283 bankruptcy filings, up from 62,241 for the same period last year. And the year totals are shaping up to be much worse.
In a “booming” economy, this is worrisome. Far too many Americans are spending way too much more than they make. There were 452,797 filings in the first seven months of 2019, up from 450,568 during the same period last year. There were roughly 1,000 more consumer bankruptcies at this point this year, compared to the same point last year, the organization added. This rise in bankruptcies is coming off a ten year low.
Southern states seem to be affected the most as well, according to Market Watch. Alabama had the highest per capita rate, with 5.61 filings per 1,000 people, followed by Tennessee (5.39) and Georgia (4.31), Mississippi (4.25) and Nevada (3.79).
There were more than 770,000 bankruptcy filings in 2018, down from 1.6 million in 2010 – the aftermath of the Great Recession. “Congress recently passed legislation that will provide better access to the financial fresh start of bankruptcy for struggling small businesses, veterans, and family farmers,” said Samuel Gerdano, ABI’s executive director.
25% Of Americans Are “Worse Off” Than They Were Before The Great Recession
According to a new survey from Bankrate of about 3,000 Americans, 23% of people who were adults when the recession started in December 2007 say they are now financially worse off than they were before the recession hit. That percentage amounts to just under 50 million Americans. Another 25% say they are doing the “same.” In all, just over half believe their “overall finances” are better than before.
“Americans were and continue to be in a degree of denial of the financial crisis and Great Recession,” said Mark Hamrick, Bankrate’s senior economic analyst according to a report by Yahoo Finance. “One of the constant themes that presents itself in the data is that Americans are still digging out in many ways from that experience.”
“While some have managed to prosper in the decade since, there are still tens of millions who are struggling to even get back to where they were before the economy took a turn for the worse,” added Hamrick. Could that mean that the economy is not all that robust? We certainly think so. But speaking the truth is a revolutionary act in times of deceit.
Not only are 25% of Americans worse off than they were before the Great Recession, but many others are also using credit to buy essentials, such as food. Millions of more people are buying essential goods and services on credit. Consumers had $14 trillion in household debt (and rising) in the first quarter of 2019, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York data. That is up from approximately $13 trillion in debt consumers held back in 2008.
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By now, you’ve heard all the nutty get-rich-quick schemes, the fiscal diet fads that leave you with a lot of kooky ideas but not a penny in your pocket. Hey, if you’re tired of the lies and sick of the false promises, take a look at this—it’s the simplest, most straightforward game plan for completely making over your money habits. And it’s based on results, not pie-in-the-sky fantasies. With The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition, you’ll be able to design a sure-fire plan for paying off all debt—meaning cars, houses, everything!
StevieRay Hansen
Editor, HNewsWire.com
Jesus chastised religious leaders in the first century for not knowing the time of His arrival. Will we make the same mistake today? Christ stated how His second coming would be preceded by global events signifying the end of our age. We may not know the day or the hour, but we can know the season!
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” (Joel 2:28.)
Education is useless without the bible (Daniel Webster)
“Courage is as “fear that has said its prayers.”
John Wesley who said that what we tolerate in our generation, will be embraced by the next. Wesley is 100% correct! We are living in sick times.
Usually, the Lord doth no great thing for or against his people, without giving warning of it before it comes.
They perverted justice among themselves (v. 7): “You turn judgment to wormwood, that is, you make your administrations of justice bitter and nauseous, and highly displeasing both to God and man.’’ That fruit has become a weed, a weed in the garden; as nothing is more venerable, nothing more valuable, than justice duly administered, so nothing is more hurtful, nothing more abominable, than designedly doing wrong under color and pretense of doing right. Corruptio optimi est pessima —The best, when corrupted, becomes the worst.
It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated.
2 Corinthians 4:8-11 New King James Version (NKJV)
8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
