On June 5, 1933, the United States went off the gold standard, a monetary system which backed currency with gold, preventing creditors from demanding payment in gold. President Roosevelt declared a ban nationwide to prevent a run on banks by consumers lacking confidence in the economy. Banks were forbidden from paying out gold or exporting it, increasing the amount of gold held by the Federal Reserve and increasing its power to inflate the money supply.
“Words from Above” in the Bible tell us that the God of heaven has never changed the standards by which He desires His followers to live their lives for Him. The standards of the world have changed consistently over the years, but God and His Son Jesus, according to Hebrews 13, are the “same today, yesterday, and forever”. For this reason, we can always put our trust in God, even when we cannot always put our trust in gold. Jesus declared in the Sermon on the Mount that we cannot “serve both God and mammon, or wealth”.
The world has changed in many ways over the lifetimes of most people and it will continue to change, but one day the world will change in a way that no one has ever seen before. The earth was once destroyed by the Great Flood in the days of Noah, but God promised never to destroy it like this ever again. The apostle Peter speaks about what he calls the “day of the Lord”, which he says will come as a thief in the night, which means when we are least expecting it. He says that the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, and the earth and everything in it will be burned up. This obviously means that the earth as we now know it will cease to exist.
More important than this, however, will be the change that will take place when Jesus returns to gather His Church up out of the earth in the great event called the Rapture. At the time, the bodies of the saints who have died in the Lord will rise from the dead, and the bodies of the living will all be changed. They will become like the glorious body of Jesus following His resurrection, which will make them incorruptible and immortal. They will be capable of traveling through time and space to reach the golden shores of heaven, where they will spend eternity. This will be a good change and will obviously not contradict the standards of God. The main thing about this amazing change is that we need to be totally prepared for it
Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville. Everyone is welcome to attend. For information, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.
