Posted: 16 Aug 2016 Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG
In America today, more than 60 million people live in multi-generational households. That number is so large that it may seem difficult to believe, but the truth is that vast numbers of young adults have had to move back in with their parents and grandparents in recent years due to the deteriorating economy.
Millions of our young people cannot find decent jobs once they leave school, and millions of them are absolutely overwhelmed by debt. Of course some of them are just lazy, but whatever the reason it is undeniable that multi-generational households are on the rise. According to the Pew Research Center, 12 percent of the U.S. population was living in multi-generational households back in 1980. Today, that number is up to 19 percent. That means nearly one out of every five U.S. adults now live with their parents or their grandparents. One of the big culprits, of course, is student loan debt. According to CNN, approximately 70 percent of all college graduates will have student loan debt to pay off once they leave school, and the average loan balance for those graduates is about $28,950. But there are many that run up $50,000 or $100,000 in debt at high end schools. We encourage our young people to apply to the “best schools” that they possibly can, and we tell them that they shouldn’t worry about how much it will cost. We assure them that they will be able to easily pay back any debts once they leave college because of the “good jobs” that they will get upon graduation. Unfortunately, millions upon millions of our young people have discovered that the good jobs that they were promised simply do not exist. We are also seeing other forms of debt rise to frightening levels in this nation. The following comes from the New York Times… Over all, Americans’ use of credit cards has recently been creeping up again: Household debt in the United States increased by $35 billion, to $12.29 trillion, during the second quarter of 2016, a 0.3 percent rise from the previous quarter that was driven by credit cards and auto loans, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.We often criticize the federal government for being 19.4 trillion dollars in debt, and rightly so, but let us not forget that U.S. households are 12.2 trillion dollars in debt. We are a society that feels entitled to everything, and we are not afraid to go into debt to get it. And unfortunately we have passed on this “entitlement mentality” to the next generation. In a recent blog post, Jenna Abrams did an amazing job of describing the crisis that we are facing with our young adults today. Here is an excerpt… Today I asked my followers how would they describe Millennials and this is what I got: “lazy”, “thin-skinned”, “spoiled”, “selfish”, “undisciplined”, “self-absorbed”, ”fragile”, “oblivious”, etc. and I can agree on this. This generation is really what you call it. But there was one description that is the most accurate. “Raised by neglectful, over-compensating for inadequacy, self-serving parents.”This generation of young adults is the most “educated” in our history, and yet they also appear to be one of the least competent. Just check out these numbers from CBS News… Half of American Millennials score below the minimum standard of literacy proficiency. Only two countries scored worse by that measure: Italy (60 percent) and Spain (59 percent). The results were even worse for numeracy, with almost two-thirds of American Millennials failing to meet the minimum standard for understanding and working with numbers. That placed U.S. Millennials dead last for numeracy among the study’s 22 developed countries.In the old days, our institutions of higher learning had exceedingly high standards and they demanded the best from students. Today, our system of higher education is a joke, and many of our best colleges are more focused on political correctness and “safe spaces” than they are on preparing our young people for the harsh realities of the real world… At Brown University – like Harvard, one of the eight elite Ivy League universities – the New York Times reported students set up a “safe space” that offered calming music, cookies, Play-Doh and a video of frolicking puppies to help students cope with a discussion on how colleges should handle sexual assault.We have raised a generation of overly-coddled, self-absorbed boys and girls that have never learned how to become men and women. They don’t understand how things really work, and they are completely and utterly unprepared for the exceedingly difficult times that are coming. And since our education system is completely and totally dominated by progressives, our young people have had decades of liberal propaganda pumped into their skulls, and the results are absolutely frightening. For example, one survey discovered that 62 percent of Millennials say that they are “liberal”, and 42 percent of them say that they are “socialists”. A different survey discovered that more than half of all U.S. adults under the age of 30 say that they reject capitalism. If the coming election were to be determined by the Millennials, Hillary Clinton would win by one of the biggest landslides in U.S. history. But of course she wouldn’t have even been the nominee for the Democrats, because Bernie Sanders would have crushed Clinton. If something is not done, this is what the future of America is going to look like. I don’t know about you, but to me that is a rather distressing thought. |
Donald Trump Key to Isaiah 45 Prophecy?
LANCE WALLNAU CHARISMA NEWS
Editor's note: This is part 2 of three. For part 1, click here.
How will the Left accomplish their final "reset" for America?
The winner of this election will have the power to appoint 3 or 4 more Supreme Court Justices. To use a J.R.R. Tolkien analogy, this is the "one ring to rule them all." The winner has power to protect our constitutional freedoms or alter the meaning of the Constitution and punish, prosecute and persecute the opposition for the next 40 years. If Democrats win, the court will be this rubber stamp behind the radical "reset."
As Hugh Hewitt, a professor of Law and media commentator, says:
"Every issue, EVERY issue, will end up there, and the legislature's judgments will matter not a bit. So vote for Hillary Clinton (or sit it out) and then prepare for the deluge of court-ordered solutions to every social problem, bench-drawn congressional districts and extraordinary deference to every agency of the federal government combined with a sweeping away of federalism."
This Election Gives the Victor the Ultimate Spoils
Traditional Judeo Christian morality doesn't exist. It has been replaced by the moral relativism that judge's morality itself. This is the ultimate spoils of the culture wars—the power to define the meaning of words. Hence, the meaning of "marriage" and "gender" already changed, are just the beginning of a whole new vocabulary. Soon freedom of speech itself will fall under the scornful branding of "hate speech." Sound unrealistic? Watch what a progressive Supreme Court comes up with for laws!
Spiritual warfare is all about whose version of reality becomes manifest on the Earth. Christians are about to make a big mistake in this election cycle if they buy into the wrong narrative about Trump. Our choice is now Soros or Cyrus.
Spiritual warfare is all about whose version of reality becomes manifest on the Earth. Christians are about to make a big mistake in this election cycle if they buy into the wrong narrative about Trump. Our choice is now Soros or Cyrus.
Trump Up Close
My first meeting with Trump was Dec. 30, 2015, in the boardroom on the 26th floor of Trump Towers, which is in fact quite a grand facility. The building is an impressive architectural marvel whose entrance merges marble and brass into a fusion resembling the grandeur of a great Cathedral with the bling of a Las Vegas Casino.
Most of those attending did not know each other personally prior to the meeting. It was a rather eclectic sampling of evangelicals, a group within the larger self-described "Christian" community that makes up nearly 30 percent of the American population—some 30 million potential voters.
It is not easily noticed on TV, but Trump is a big guy, and I don't just mean in terms of personality. He is physically tall—at 6 foot, 3 inches and then add heels and hair and he grows another inch.
His personal style is more restrained than the person you see on a platform or in an interview. He was gracious, non-confrontational, and surprisingly open to "give and take."
I got the impression that Trump takes in information quickly but filters it equally fast to distinguish one idea from another. It's an executive skill I've noticed in CEOs in whatever field I meet them. They are avid fact finders with a built in filter that separates superficial ideas from ideas with substance. He seems to be the same way with people. As individuals spoke, he was reading them and weighing their relative power within the group.
Things Got Tense
A Messianic Rabbi sitting near me said, "Your comments don't always represent you in the best light. People want to know you have a presidential temperament. They want to know that you are a person they can trust with a finger on a nuclear button." Trump perched his lips in characteristic fashion, nodded thoughtfully, and said, "I hear you." When the conversation turned to some of the more heated exchanges of the campaign, Trump explained, "You know, people aren't aware of what is coming at me ... what I am responding to. Like the storm that broke out when I took a stand on immigration. It can get pretty vicious. You don't always know the back-story. I can say this, I never punch indiscriminately. I'm a counter puncher ... but I fully hear what you are saying. I know where you're coming from."
Several of us exchanged glances. There was no denial and no need to drill deeper on the subject. Equally, there was no flippant or disingenuous commitment to change. He would do as occasion required—till he clinched the nomination. After that? He will do as occasion requires to win.
Bishop Darrell Scott of Ohio spoke up, "I wouldn't change a thing. Be you and keep being consistent. That's what people like about you. You're not playing politics."
Trump looked around the boardroom table and laughed. "So you're saying, 'Don't change?' Well, that's interesting!" Darrell replied, "Right! People would see you change they would know it isn't you. You would start to look political and that would make you look like everyone else. Just BE YOU!"
The Gospel in Black and White: A Different Sample of Evangelicals
One significant difference between this meeting and Trump's earlier encounter with Iowa evangelicals was the presence of a number of African-American ministers in the room. Almost to a man they described to me the backlash they encountered for even being willing to meet with a Republican. It was interesting to watch the interaction. In fact, some of the men present ended up on the Republican platform in Cleveland.
Pastor Darrell continued: "I came here with an open mind. To my way of thinking there are three branches of government: Legislative, Executive and Judicial. You are clearly gifted for the Executive Branch. That's what you do." Scott believes that Trump will deal with the problem of 50 percent unemployment for inner city youth in a manner much different than either Democrats or Republicans in the past. Scott believes Trump is interested in America, not party politics.
The Conversation Took an Interesting Turn
As our meeting continued I was surprised to find that Trump actually knew some of the preachers and teachers in the room, not because he had met them but because he had watched their TV programs. Media is one of his domains. He is very much dialed in on all sorts of TV programing—including Christian Programing.
Trump casually shared, "I was going around the dial last night and ran into 'Politically Incorrect.'" This is the popular left wing HBO talk show hosted by comedian Bill Maher. "It's amazing how antagonistic they are about people of faith. It was painful to watch ... wasn't always like this in America" Trump said. Turning to Jan Crouch of TBN, he asked, "This seems to have been going on for a while hasn't it?" We all agreed.
"It's open season on Christians in particular" someone added.
Then Trump Dropped the Line I Will Never Forget!
Trump scanned the room and said: "I think we had such a long period of Christian consensus in our culture and we kind of got...spoiled. Is that the right word?" Then he turned the tables on us and said something shocking: "Every other ideological group in the country has a voice. If you don't mind me saying so, you guys have gotten soft." Ouch! That's the line I won't forget. Then in a moment of reflection he corrected himself, "I mean, we, myself included, we've had it easy as Christians for a long time in America. That's been changing." From Trump's perspective, Christian leaders are a people living in fear of having opinions. Subsequent to this meeting he proposed lifting the Lyndon Johnson ban on churches discussing politics that hangs like an IRS sword over the heads of churches in America. The truth is, even with it lifted, pastors fear offending their flock.
What he said next may have been lost on others but it hit me in a particularly striking way. He added, "People who identify themselves as 'Christian' make up probably the single largest constituency in the country, but there is absolutely no unity, no punch ... not in political consensus or any other area I can see."
When the meeting broke up, I went home feeling certain there was some sort of anointing on this man but couldn't get my head wrapped around where he fit. Nor could I figure out the purpose for me being in that meeting.
That was when the next unexpected download hit me!
Trump the 45th President
I was updating some random social media activity when I ran across a simple PowerPoint showing Trump seated in the oval office with the words "Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States." The image made a peculiar impression on my mind. I was dazed. Literally no one was thinking this would be a possibility but I was sensing that this was more than some random Facebook meme; it was a prophetic picture. It struck me the same way the "wrecking ball" word did. The Spirit impressed upon my mind "read Isaiah 45."
To be honest, I didn't recall what the chapter was about. I opened a Bible and began to read "Thus sayeth the Lord to Cyrus whom I've anointed." Cyrus, I thought? Who is he in relation to all this? I recalled that he was a heathen king who was indispensable to the protection of the Jews but was frankly confused as to what God was saying.
With 15 candidates running, many who were clear conservative evangelicals, why would God be talking about Cyrus? I quickly looked up the number of the next president. I confirmed that Barack Obama is number 44. The next president will indeed be number 45. I kept reading Isaiah 45.
'Cyrus My Anointed'
Nearly 150 years before Cyrus' birth, God declared through the prophet Isaiah that a foreign man, a non Jew named "Cyrus" would be the anointed shepherd of his people and rebuild Jerusalem, beginning in the first phase with the house of the Lord.
Regarding Cyrus, Isaiah the prophet says:
"This says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whom I have seized by the right, to subdue nations before him. Yes, I will open the loins of kings, to open the two-leaved doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before you and make hills level; I will tear apart the bronze doors and cut the iron bars in two" (Is. 45:1-13).
He wasn't a Jew and he wasn't from the line of David, but God elevated this foreigner and called him, "My anointed." When Isaiah described Cyrus as the Lord's "anointed" the word in Hebrew denotes a person specifically chosen and set apart for a specific task. It never occurred to me that God anoints secular leaders who are not part of the faith community. But then again how else would you describe Cyrus, Churchill, Lincoln or even Reagan?
Notice also that God promised to intervene and help Cyrus "break open" and even conquer (i.e., make many hills level and to bring things down to size). What a gift that would be to our 19 Trillion-dollar deficit!
The Cyrus Effect!
Cyrus did something powerful. He ended a period of spiritual captivity and deterioration. He opened a gate in heaven to all the prophecies and prayers that were stored up in heaven over Jerusalem. The commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem starts with the decree of Cyrus recorded in Ezra 1:1-4. The word starts with rebuilding the house of the Lord. It was this "Cyrus decree" that worked its way through King Darius and King Artaxerxes till Nehemiah engaged his task to build the wall surrounding Jerusalem. We've got prayers for America still stored up and waiting for release!
These two phases "the house" and "the wall" should make believers stop and wonder. This is a direct promise touching the church and restoration of society. The controversy over "building the wall" in current-day politics is more symbolic than people think. What do walls represent in the Bible? Proverbs 25:28 says "He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls." America has become a nation without walls, a nation without self government. We are out of control fiscally and physically on our borders. It reminds me of the prophetic statement of Lincoln who warned that no foreign power would destroy us: "No, if destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide."
I believe this wrecking ball is sent to break the spell and stop the death spiral. The Cyrus anointing will build and restore. 
Dr. Lance Wallnau is a catalytic thought leader. An internationally recognized speaker and business consultant, he is one of the premiere speakers on the subject of cultural transformation and the seven mountains. He delivers his message of transformation with relevance, wit and intensity.
The views expressed in this article reflect the views of Lance Wallnau personally. They do not reflect the views of Lance Wallnau Ministries.
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