During the past few decades, God's strategy was to use an economic crisis to shake New Zealand. The problem with this strategy is that God could not shake the world without also seriously shaking his church. This strategy could only work, if at least a few Christians got into a place where they cannot be touched by economic crisis. The Lord attempted to implement this strategy towards the end of each of the last three decades, but because his people never bothered to get ready, he had to turn back each economic crisis. He has been unable implement his strategy.

Many Christians would have been swept away,
because they were not prepared.
If the economy had collapsed,
most people would have been shaken
and many would have fallen.
God needed his people standing together,
so they could minister
to those who were shaken.
Despite the advance warnings, we did get not ready. Our complacency has held back God's ability to shape our nation.
As a nation we once knew God;
not very well,
but we tried to serve him,
we tried to obey him,
we tried to worship him
and he blessed us.
But now New Zealand has abandoned God
most people have rejected his love,
many have forgotten who he is,
some of our leaders oppose him,
and some really hate him.
Given that we have forgotten God,
we should have lost our blessing;
we should have lost it long ago.
But God is merciful
and has held back the judgement
He has held back the trouble and sorrow,
He has held back the pain,
and allowed his blessing to remain
although we have forgotten him.

Opportunity Gone

That opportunity for a quick victory has now passed and will not return. Times have changed and the commando strategy can no longer be successful in the way promised. Evil has now penetrated so deep into our culture that it can no longer be held back. We have progressed so far down the wrong road that God's ability to hold back the worst evil is now severely constrained. He will not be able to shape the next economic crisis for his purposes, because we have rejected his authority.

Blessing to Forgetfulness

New Zealand has been blessed abundantly by God, but we have forgotten the source of these blessings.

The LORD has given us a good land,
a land with springs, rivers and lakes,
with streams flowing out of the hills and down through the valleys;
a land of wheat and barley, of grapes and olives, and honey;
a land where bread is not scarce and we lack nothing.
We have eaten and become full.
We have built beautiful houses to dwell in
our herds and your flocks have multiplied
our silver and your gold has multiplied,
and all that we have is multiplied but our hearts have become proud and we have forgotten the Lord our God, who gave us this life.
We have said in your heart's, "Our power and the might of our hands have produced our prosperity". We have forgotten that God is the one who gives us the ability to earn wealth (Deut 8-18).

Pause Ending

The season has shifted.

Now the long pause,
between forgetfulness and consequence
between sowing and reaping
is coming to an end.
Within a year of a bright light being snuffed out
the economy will start to shake.
Just when people are saying,
The doomsayers were wrong.
We have avoided the hard landing,
a strident shudder will strike.

Power Shift

In recent years, a power shift has taken place in New Zealand. We have unwittingly handed control over many aspects of our culture, our society and our economy to the spiritual forces of evil. So far, the consequences have not been that serious, but they are now flexing their muscles ready to show what they can do. They watched the global financial crisis and thought, "We can do better than that".

The spiritual powers of evil are planning a strike that will devastate the New Zealand economy and plunge us into a serious depression. They are not as powerful as they like to think. They are having difficulty getting together the capability to cause a disaster, but they will eventually succeed.

By casting off restraint,
we have left evil unrestrained
and constrained the Holy Spirit's authority to protect us.

The global financial crisis will be followed by another more serious crash. The foolishness and folly at work in our society will have an inevitable consequence. The next crisis will be worked by the devil's fury for the purposes of evil. Unfortunately, many Christians will not understand what is happening and carry on as if life is still a picnic.

Devil's Depression

God does not create economic crises. Every economic crisis flows out of human foolishness and immorality, but, the last three crises were different, because God had a plan in place to bring good out of the human mess through his commando army. And when this plan failed, because Christians did not get ready, he turned back the worst effects of the crisis to protect his people.

The next financial crisis will be totally different. It will still be rooted in human pride and foolishness, but God's ability to use it for good will be severely limited. Our nation has progressed so far down the wrong road that the forces of evil now have a much freer hand. This next economic crisis will not be shaped by the hand of God, but will be the devil's depression.

Whereas a crash made over by God would have brought revival and blessing, the devil's depression will bring collapse and destruction that will be deeper and darker than anything that this generation has seen.

Shaking

New Zealand is going to be shaken by the Devil's Depression.

The strong will be shaken. God will protect the poor and the precarious from the worst impacts of this depression. The government is legally bound to provide income support for the poor. That law will not be easily changed. The government will have to continue with social welfare, even if the number depending on it grows very large. It will have to reduce spending on other less important activities that politicians like, so it can continue support people in need.

Get Ready

God's message to his church in New Zealand is still a warning to prepare. Christians should be preparing for life in troubled times. We should still be getting prepared, so that we can be in a position of strength when others are struggling.

The independence and individualism that shapes modern western Christianity will not "cut it". We should be establishing connections with other followers of Jesus so we can support each other when times get tough. Some should be moving closer together to create zones of security in a chaotic world.

A season of shaking is coming,
when many of the foundations that we trust
will be swept away.
God is calling together small groups of people
who can support each other through this storm
who can stand together in Jesus
while everything around them is shaken.
They will be sold out for Jesus.
doing his will, by obeying voice of the Holy Spirit.
They will lay aside the things of the world,
that would encumber them
and will live simply on what God provides.
They will share everything with each other,
and with those around them.
These groups of people will be drawn together
by love for Jesus,
and bound together by commitment to love each other.
They will be mighty warriors in prayer,
able to go out together in the power of the Spirit.
They will be experienced with gifts of the Holy Spirit
and ready to deal with any situation.
These people will be prepared for distress,
and equipped for victory.

Complacency

Christians should be preparing for this next economic crisis, but most have been lulled into a false sense of security by the mild impact effects of the previous economic crisis. People heaved a sigh of relief, as the economic signs and statistics indicated the crisis had ended and recovery was underway. Most Christians thought:

We came through the worst depression
since the 1930s,
it was not too bad
I could cope.
Things were tight,
but I was alright.
This widespread sense of relief is based on a misunderstanding of what has happened. Most Christians came through the financial crisis unscathed, but not because they were prepared for tough times. The reason that the crisis was not as severe as expected was that God held back the economic tide to protect careless people from unnecessary suffering. The entire world benefited from his mercy, but that does not mean our economic trials are over.

A greater danger now lurks and Christians should be preparing, but casual chatter has created a dangerous complacency. In face of danger, we plunge on, because things look rosy on the surface, but most Christians could not cope with a real economic crisis.

Spiritual commando units are still the best form of protection during a time of crisis. God is calling small groups of people to join together and prepare.

Christians should be getting prepared to support
those who are staggering under the strain
on the verge of collapse.
We will need to embrace them
and help them to stand.
The better we know them,
the easier it will be to support them.

Strategy Change

Our nation cannot be snatched back to God by a quick economic crisis, but his long-term strategy has not changed. He is still working to establish his Kingdom in New Zealand. He still wants his kingdom here shine as a light to the nations. The greatest obstacle to the Kingdom of God in New Zealand is faith in human government. That confidence will have to be shaken before the Kingdom of God can come. The next crisis will advance the cause of the Kingdom by smashing the power of human government.

In America, the next crisis will lead to a huge escalation of state power. Most Americans believe that their government rescued the world economy by taking quick action, so they will expect the President and the Fed to so the same again. American political leaders will take unprecedented political powers as they attempt to hold back an even worse economic crisis.

In New Zealand and a few other places at the edges of the earth, the outcome will be different. The powers of evil will overplay their hand and destroy one of their greatest tools: political power. The crisis will leave political leaders and powerbrokers crushed and confused. They will flee from their positions and power, and human government will collapse under the stress.

God will use the next economic crisis to bring about a change of government. The human political order will be swept away and New Zealand will come back under the government of God to shine as a bright light to the nations. Unfortunately, this strategy can only work, if God's people are prepared for it.

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