Many of you may be noticing prices on everything are going up. Gasoline is going up. Utilities are going up. Groceries are going up. Rent is going up. Cost of used cars are going up. The question is, will they find a top or will all these prices go up some more and more and more as we go from this year into 2022? Could we see gas at $8 a gallon? Will bread hit $6 a loaf? Will the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment go to $1800/month? Will we see an average meal at a restaurant hit $40 per person? I think that maybe, yes. In short, should we prepare mentally for the fact that our money is becoming worth less and less. It is a sure sign that it is taking more and more dollars to purchase things. I was a teenager in the 70’s when gasoline went from about 30 cents a gallon to over a dollar. Everyone was really angry, but you know what, in about a year, everyone forgot about the rise in prices and life went back to normal. We simply rolled over and got use to it. Remember when it went to $4 a gallon a while back? Everybody was livid but after a while, we went back to sleep and got use to it. It has been nice to see the price drop. Now, that all may be over. Watching the price jump once or twice is somewhat tolerable, but what would you do if you saw it continue to climb month after month after month with no let up in sight? How will people survive if groceries double or triple over the next 10 months? How will people be able to afford to live if rents double over the next 12 months? What will people do if used cars become unaffordable to the average Joe and Jane?

All this is a very likely scenario due to the amount of money that is circulating in our society. The Government use to print only a certain amount of money and before releasing it, they had to destroy an equal amount of worn-out bills and coins to keep everything in balance. So where did all the extra currency come from? Another way that money is created is by loans. The idea is that banks create money on a digital ledger when they issue you a loan. When you pay it off, the money goes back to nothing and the ledger balances. Unfortunately, the banks have gone quiet overboard on loans over the last 40 years and as a result, we have way too much currency in our system, hence, inflation. Added to that is the monetary policies implemented through the Federal Reserve loaning money to the government, which is now approaching 30 trillion dollars in debt. If the government had been paying this back, the currency loaned would go back and the “books” would balance, and we would have no inflation. Our money has been shrinking for almost 100 years and we have not even noticed. Now, we are in a cycle of inflation that is speeding up and no way to control things. What can you do? What can anyone do?

Well, if you have a lot of money, you could sit back and let it be used up by inflation, knowing that no matter what stuff costs, you have more money to burn. But, like most of us, we have only a limited supply and furthermore, we depend on a regular inflow of cash from a job or from investments or some such thing. What will you do when the cost exceeds the income?

Now would be the time to find out if your faith in God is sufficient to keep you steady as you watch a fast changing economic world crash into your little world. Here in America, we have not seen anything like what is coming. Our grandparents or great grandparents did, during the great depression. It was hard. We may have to brace for a return of those hard times. Unfortunately, they may be mixed with world changes and unbearable government control as well. I hope your faith has been built strong during the good times of the previous decades, for now, that faith may very well be put to the test. You will have to be able to trust God, maintain a steady attitude and be able to change your lifestyle to accommodate the changes in the world around you. I would suggest that you spend more time in the Word then ever before. I suggest that you spend time in prayer with your spouse. I suggest that you make sure of your friendships with other believers, for you are going to need their encouragement and be an encouragement when they are low. In the long run, Jesus will take care of his own and at the right moment, he will return to take them out of this world before the great trials of the Tribulation come, you can trust in that…