How close did America come to economic Armageddon in the last half of September? “The nation is gripped by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression,” the New York Times wrote September 20. “Before Thursday night, when the treasury secretary, the Federal Reserve chairman and leaders on Capitol Hill proclaimed their intentions to take over bad debts, the prognosis for the American financial system was sliding from grim toward potentially apocalyptic” (emphasis mine throughout). A former vice chairman of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve said, “It looked like we might be falling into the abyss.”

Regarding that September 18 meeting, the New York Times said congressional leaders sat in “stunned silence” while listening to the assessment. According to Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, congressional leaders were told “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally” (September 19).

The September 21 New York Post added these frightening details: “The market was 500 trades away from Armageddon on Thursday, traders inside two large custodial banks tell the Post.”

If congressional leaders sat in “stunned silence,” just how sobering is this problem? It had to be frighteningly serious to impact our leaders that way.

This financial crisis ought to be causing all of the American people to be sitting in “stunned silence.” We really are falling into an apocalyptic abyss!

Is there a solution? Yes, and it is printed on our own dollar bills!

In case you have forgotten, it really does read “In God We Trust” on the U.S. dollar bills. Our forefathers had enough faith in God to know that we must not be tempted to put our trust in the dollar. But that is exactly what we have done.

Here is the giant paradox: America’s only hope is printed on the almost worthless dollar bill! Will Americans face this financial disaster saying “In God we trust”? Or will we put our faith in men to solve the problem?

The treasury secretary said on September 21, “This is a humbling, humbling time for the United States of America as we go around the world and talk to people about our financial system.” We humble ourselves before the leaders of this world as we try to solve our worst financial disaster ever. But are we humble and faithful enough to declare a day of fasting and prayer as Abraham Lincoln did? Or are we ashamed to even mention God’s name in the context of solving this problem?

We must humbly go to God to solve our financial problems and all of our other problems. We’re a long way from learning that lesson, and we will suffer mightily until we do!

Extreme greed and corruption are routine in the way we do business in America. Our business leaders and people practice the way of get, not God’s way of give. “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Where is there a Wall Street businessman who doesn’t scoff at such a beautiful scripture? We have sown the wind and now must reap the whirlwind.

America has rejected God’s warning for 70 years through this work. Words cannot reach our people. Now God is going to get their attention the only way He can.

Herbert W. Armstrong warned of a gigantic financial crisis that would shake the economic world. He said this unparalleled crisis would motivate Europe to unite into a great superpower.

He wrote in July 1984 that a banking meltdown in America “could suddenly result in triggering European nations to unite as a new world power larger than either the Soviet Union or the U.S. That, in turn, could bring on the Great Tribulation suddenly. And that will lead quickly to the Second Coming of Christ, and end of this world as we know it” (emphasis his).

In August 1984, one month later, he prophesied about a nuclear catastrophe described in Matthew 24 that would usher in the return of Christ. “Now we’re hearing in the news of a soon-coming nuclear winter,” he wrote. “Nuclear explosions will produce an Earth-covering cloud that will give us a nuclear night. The sun will not get through. Crops will not grow. Billions will be killed by the nuclear blasts. Those remaining will starve. …

“[T]his is no wolf-wolf cry! It is prophesied in your Bible! It is real! And … economic crisis threatens to bring this about ….”

Notice, this unparalleled suffering will be ushered in by a prodigious economic crisis! That means that the September 2008 “economic crisis threatens to bring this about”! This financial meltdown is leading directly to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

God is punishing America, the British peoples and the Jewish nation in the Middle East because of their many sins. More than a hundred prophecies in the Bible tell us so. (Request our free book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.)

The German magazine Spiegel wrote that “it really does look as if the foundations of U.S. capitalism have shattered.” When the foundation is shattered, the building collapses. European and Asian leaders see America’s imminent collapse. That means that the foreign currency that is used to support our mountain-sized debt will soon flee the country.

Our government is nearly $10 trillion in debt and borrowing another trillion to bail out the financial markets! When will this madness end? Not until our debt-based economy totally collapses. Then we will finally learn to trust in God—not deceived men who think we can solve our own problems.

When I discuss faith in God, I’m not talking about the lack of faith that you see in Christianity today. I’m talking about the faith you read about in your Bible. Almost all of the American people—including religious people—have bowed down to the dollar.

The solution to our financial crisis is to trust God. That faith is explained in your Bible. Request our free booklet What Is Faith? It will show you how to trust God and be protected from the economic catastrophe that has now descended on America and the world!