The Coming Money Crisis

(From a sermon of Bro Julius Adewumi, Prayer Meeting 12/1/95)

I stumbled upon a tract written by some brethren in the 80's or early 90's about the world-wide money crisis coming. Many of us believed from the book of Daniel and the book of Revelations that the world will close up with crisis in economy. Rev.13:17 described it: "No man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark , or the name of the beast, or the number of his name". An economic crisis which will cause that evil monetary system to be implemented world-wide.

This tract was from the Lagos brethren. I want to highlight a few points out of the tract. I was searching my closet for something and saw the tract again. I sat down and read it and marvel at the urgency implied in the message on the tract. The tract was already about 5 or 6 years old. I began to share the topic in the tract with my family, how that back in those days, our brethren were placing a lot of emphazy on those prophetic issues. The title of the tract is "The Money Crisis". There was, in those days, so much, or what we can classify as too much, emphazy on the economic crisis coming soon. While we were discussing it, the Lord moved upon me and made me to think about the economic crisis which is already taking place in Nigeria right now. Then the Lord said "don't you think that was why the Lord allowed the over-emphazy on that topic among the brethren especially in Nigeria, five years ahead of time". Although we were all thinking the "antichrist" time will be the time of the economic crisis, hardly did we realize that the Lord was preparing the believers for the crisis which would hit their own country first. It is already occuring now in Nigeria:

In 1980, One Nigerian Naira was equivalent to One dollar and some cents ($1.3 - $1.5).

Now in 1996, One US dollar is equivalent to eighty Nigerian Naira ($1 = 80 Naira).

Isn't that an economic crisis? In 1980, a can of milk in Nigeria was about half a Naira (50 kobo),

but now a can of milk will be about thirty Naira (30 Naira).

The people are suffering! Currency devaluation simply destroyed the economy of the country.

What I really want to point out is the fact that we received the message about the end-time prophecies in Nigeria in the 70's and we who believed it, embraced it so seriously and propagated it within the country; sometime with over-emphazy that "it's coming folks". Now the Lord now make me realize that he allowed it to come to us with that urgency because it was coming to our nation sooner and not by the antichrist system we thought was coming. O, the goodness and the mercy of God. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" (Rom.11:33).

Let me quote some part of the tract. Many people may have heard or read prophetic messages of this kind from many prophetic ministries concerning the end of the world. We were very much over-emphasizing it among us in the 80's, but God made it so because He already knew what Nigeria would go through in some years later. He was giving us the early warning, making us to over-emphasize it in our midst. We were still thinking: "Antichrist is going to bring the world to its knees; Economic chaos worldwide is coming; Food prices sky-rocketing: you better stockpile food items." God knew Nigeria would go through hard times first before the whole world get to that stage, and he caused the believers to learn about these crisis perhaps we could do something about ourselves before it occurred.

God loves his people! You can see a pattern of early prophetic warning in the Acts of the Apostles: "And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea." (Acts 11:27-30).

Now I looked back at how we propagated the prophetic message, and wrote tracts about it, almost like to panick the people. But the brethren who are still in the country now should think: how did they prepare for these things? We were still expecting the Antichrist system to bring those evil days of economic woes, but the economic trouble had overtaken Nigeria. The thought of these things came upon me when I was in Nigeria in the 70's, that "we know about these things, but how are we ourselves going to escape?" Then ofcourse we were believing the rapture is the sure escape we should shoot for.

When I visited Nigeria in 1992, the exchange rate was still One dollar to twenty Naira. I told even a bank manager in the country about the prophecy the Lord gave me that the exchange rate will jump again, and he said "no way! if it does, there will be civil war". What will the man think now? The rate is now one dollar to eighty Naira. How did the brethren who are in the country prepared for these things? Here is the type of message written in the tract:

"The total debt of the USA alone is three trillion dollars.

It is difficult to even conceive how much that really is.

But if you spend one million dollars every day, it would

take over 8000 years to spend three trillion dollars."

The tract referred to USA debt to point out that all nations are in debt and that it would cause the economic crisis. Ofcourse indebtedness caused the Nigerian crisis but not yet in the USA so far. It's likethis: a poor man can be in serious trouble when he owes just One hundred dollars, while a rich man may not get into such trouble until he owes One hundred thousand dollars. The analysis above is correct after I calculated three trillion dollars.

Now the suggestion which the tract gave, which perhaps some preachers are still giving out even here in America is what made me to marvel. Some radio preachers, money-managers, have suggested that believers should invest in gold and valuables, and so on. We were comparing what was coming in the world crisis to the days of Joseph and Pharaoh in Egypt. The problem is that none of us knoweth "how long!" Here is the admonition in the last section of the tract:

"Make sure that you have some kind of place in the

country for yourself and your family, because

when theCrash happens the modern big cities will be

in chaos! So the time to buy some land is now - before

the Crash makes your life's saving worthless.

A bank is the worst place to have your money when a crash happens,

so invest in land and things of real value today!

A farm is the best place to buy. You'll need to buy a substantial

number of seeds, as well as to stock your place well with dried and canned

foods such as grains, rice, beans, flour and other basic necessities, and

tools and equipment. Make sure you have your own safe water supply,

not dependent on electricity to pump it.

You may have heard some religious groups believing similar things in America and many other countries. This tract was actually published by World Services in Switzerland, only echoed by our brethren in Nigeria. This tract was given out freely in the streets. We all know that world crisis will come and the suggestion sounds plausible but for how long? The next part is what made me laugh:

".if you cannot afford it (a farm), be sure that your own house

is stocked full of non-perishable foods and firewood as well

as an adequate water supply for one or two months.

I laughed at the suggestion of one or two months. Imagine how long the economic crisis had been in Nigeria! Food prices had been sky-rocketing since 1992, and it's getting worse. One or two months stock of food wouldn't have solved the problem, you see! The problem with that solution is "how long?"

We know what Joseph did in Egypt when he precisely prophezied about the famine which came upon the land. He also knew precisely how long it would take. God saved the world in those days by giving the prophecy to the one who could do something, on a large scale, about it. The vision was given to Pharaoh, the king of the only known Superpower in the world, and Joseph was there to precisely interprete the vision. No individual person could have stocked food for seven years even though Egypt heard about the prophecy.

Look at us! We knew these things were coming even though we were not expecting Nigeria to be alone in its crisis. But how could the brethren have prepared? We were thinking the rapture will take place before those evil days occur. We were thinking the antichrist system will cause those evil days. Now it is occurring in Nigeria. Did anybody do anything about it among the brethren who are living in the country? The evil days will surely come to the world, world-wide! By the Antichrist system! What can the believers do about it for themselves? What could the brethren have done? God is righteous! God does things to justify himself. He gave warnings, prophecies, over-emphazies on issues because the troublous times will surely arrive. He sent Joseph into Egypt for a purpose! He gave the vision to Pharaoh for a purpose! God then helped Joseph with wisdom to implement the storage, when Joseph was given the go-ahead to do it. He stored grains for more than seven years. Some Egyptians who heard the interpretation could have believed and tried to store food for themselves. But they couldn't. It didn't last them through the crisis. According to the scriptures, all Egypt became servants or slaves to Pharaoh who stocked the food by Joseph. "There is no unrighteousness in God." He allowed us in Nigeria to over-emphasize the message perhaps so that we might do something about it, because things were coming to Nigeria. What did we do about it, and What could we have done about it? In the final analysis, the final suggestion given in this tract is the only solution to the problem. The final suggestion is as follows:

So by all means prepare all you can, but most of all

TRUST THE LORD and don't worry!

After all, the Lord and prayer are your best protection and your greatest security.

With Jesus on your side, you are ready for anything!

Even if brethren could stockpile food in those days, do they know how long it will take? The only solution is to build up your faith and trust the Lord, and follow the Lord's guidance.

Therefore if we know these things are coming and do not prepare, we will not be wiser than those unbelievers who don't even know about them. Your preparation therefore is to build up your faith and walk closely with the Lord in these days!

This same thing is impressed upon me: think about this; just recently the same old messages, the same warnings; the same over-emphazy on these things which we received in the 70's and 80's, is now currently being passed to America all over again through the ministries of prophetic scholars. It's now on TV in America in a renewed effort. It was in the 80's when I came over here. It seemed to fade away. The prophetic messages about the coming economic crisis, and the antichrist system, are being re-transmitted on the cable TV all over America. Maybe it is time for this part of the world to begin to take it seriously too. Maybe it is just the right time for this country, USA, to begin to take it seriously. Perhaps the real world crisis which we have expected is just about to hit the world. Remember America is like a bread-basket for the world. The message is now being re-transmitted to America. Is that a pattern that we should watch?

The Escape:

Many of us Nigerian brethren who knew about the prophecies in those days, by simply following the leading of the Lord, we migrated to the USA, not because of the fear of economic crisis. What I said is the only solution above is to be taken seriously! By simply building up our faith and seriously following the Lord's guidance, He led us out of the country individually and many of us reside now in the USA before the economic crisis aforementioned occur in Nigeria. One by one, the Lord led us out of the country and brought us over here. That is the only way we escaped the situation which is going on right now in Nigeria. Now if the same pattern can be seen in America,what do you think the Lord will do? Let's be sensitive to the Lord. If we are sensitive to him as we were led in the 80's, I believe He may have to get us out of here perhaps in the rapture before the world crisis hits America. By the time this thing will occur God will have to move His people: either to protect them, or to take them in the rapture. Remember how long we have heard and believed the endtime drama before it finally occurred in Nigeria. Almost a decade. This tract was written perhaps in '83 or before '86. The crisis became severe in Nigeria from '92 and it's still going on. Almost 5 to 10 years of warning. God will always give an early warning to his people concerning impending disasters. What other preparation could the believers had done other than to closely monitor the Lord, walking with Jesus and being led by the Spirit of God? That was the only thing I did: closely monitoring the Lord Jesus. When He said "move", I simply obeyed not knowing why! Just like Abraham. When He said "move", Abraham obeyed, not knowing why!

The Rapture:

God will do the same thing, whether to prepare us for the rapture, He will do the same thing. When He moves upon you to fast, just obey, and begin to fast; because that is perhaps what he will use to build us up for the rapturing anointing. It has to be done when he said so! Whether He is going to lead us to do something, it will be by the gentle leading of the Lord. It is very, very important to begin to listen, be sensitive and obey Him in the days ahead.

Consider what I said: if the messages are being re-echoed into America, maybe it is time for such crisis to occur in America. If it affects this country (including Canada), you can be sure it's going to affect the whole world, because this country had been the bread-basket of the world. When it hits, they will bring in the world-wide Antichrist system as predicted: the false prophet of Rev.13, which looked like a lamb (religious freedom) but spoke like a dragon, causeth the whole world to receive the mark of the beast. The two horns on the head of that lamb, I believe, represents USA and CANADA which are the two major countries (bread baskets) in the Americas. The farmers in USA and Canada really produce a lot for exports to many countries. Famine has to hit a place like America for the whole world to go into the crisis highlighted in the book of Revelations which is to bring in the Antichrist system.

What I have described, that the message is being re-echoed into the Americas, should be seen as a sign that these things are about to occur. Like it occurred in Nigeria, it may take five years, or ten years from the time the warnings begin to go forth. It is time for we believers to closely monitor the Lord henceforth. Some folks may not realize that the Lord leads individuals in various ways. Someone like me, He just told me to pack and move, and I did. Other brethren felt that all their friends are gone and they also left. In fact, when I was leaving Nigeria in 1980, a brother told me that, the way you are leaving now, others will feel like leaving too. God knows if He can move this fellow, the others will be drawn in the same direction by the pull of the human spirit. "Deep calleth unto deep!" (Psa.42:7). I read the history of the Americas when the pilgrims came over. A whole congregation perhaps or a branch of a denomination must have moved together in that major migration when they brought many ships, called the MayFlower. I pondered on that. What kind of migration was that? And they came, planning to set up a government. It looked almost like the way the Hebrews left Egypt en-mass. How could a whole bunch of people shipped out together like that? It has to be the hand of the Lord.

In our own case, God didn't tell us to ship out together. But He used a way that worked for the individual. He is preparing our hearts by this ministry also for the rapture. We are going to be shipped out of this planet en-mass. However, just like some folks were left behind in Nigeria who knew these things but some of them thought we were in error for moving to America, there will be Christians also who will know a lot about the rapture, but will be left behind because they were not walking the walk with the Lord, to closely monitor the Lord.

It is time for us to be very sensitive to the Lord more and more, because if the real economic crisis hits the Americas, it may be the worldwide crisis we had been waiting for. But we believe we ought to be led out of the trouble by the same Lord Jesus, either to protect us, as written in Rev. 12:6 &14, or to translate us out of here, as written in Rev.12:5, whatever is our lot.

"He that readeth let him understand!"

The Lord said, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." (Rev.3:10).

May the Lord give you grace to walk with Him closely and be led out of the monetary crisis which is coming shortly. AMEN!

Bro. Julius Adewumi


Gospel Distribution Ministry, USA