Dorfnarrs in Command

Scan of actual 2008 Zimbabwe monetary note

Christ is Risen! In celebration of that fact, try this little pop quiz, assuming normal conditions:

1. Is it a good idea to spend money you don't have?
2. Is it morally correct to obligate other people to debts that they cannot pay?
3. Is it wise for the leader of a nation to do things that harm the economy of his nation?
4. If you find yourself in debt, with too little income to pay it off, will it help you to borrow more money?

For some time now, politicians in the United States have answered these questions with a "yes." How about you? Do you know what happens if you write a check for more than what's in your bank account? Do you want to avoid that? Yet, it's been happening for quite a few years now, with the only exception being during the boom years of the nineties. I suspect that was an accident caused by a stock market bubble in a time when the US economy was still revved up from the Reagan years, and Cold War expenses had dropped substantially. Overall, the direction our fearless leaders have been taking us is a 4-letter word: debt. School House Rock called it "Tyrannosaurus Debt."

There is one thing that a sovereign nation can do when its debt becomes too big to manage, but only when its currency is a fiat currency. (More than an Italian automaker, fiat is Latin for "Let there be...," as in "Let there be light," or "Let there be a hundred trillion dollars.") A nation can abuse its sovereignty by simply printing the money needed to pay the debt, supposedly creating it out of thin air. The scanned image at the top of this post is a good, recent example of that. If it were a U.S. Treasury note, that one hundred trillion dollar bill would be enough to pay off the whole national debt of the United States, with change left over. It is real money, but not American money. If it were, then put yourself in the shoes of those to whom the United States owes its debt. What would you think of being paid with such new money, hot off the presses? I would think I was being robbed.

As Christians who live in a society led by dorfnarrs who are running the nation into slavery as fast as they possibly can, we have a particular kind of cross. Where do we place our trust? What does that trust look like in our actions?

Since the second Roosevelt, our government has promised its citizens something like this: contribute your part to the Social Security (and Medicare, etc.) program, and the United States will take care of you when you need it. Should Christians trust such a promise? It may seem that we have no choice, because we are required to participate. But no, we are not required to trust; only to participate financially. It's really a tax owed to Caesar, which Caesar will use as he sees fit. Our trust should be in the God who became man to die for our sins and rise again for our justification. Our trust should be in Christ.

Does trust in Christ mean that we don't care what the dorfnarrs in charge may do? Does it mean that we won't prepare for famines, floods, or other such problems? No. We can care. We can prepare. But even so, our trust should remain in Christ rather than our preparations. And our lives should demonstrate God's love for our neighbors, beginning with the household of faith.

It seems Ben Stein, who knows a lot of things, is now also warning us against the current inflation problem. That Zimbabwe note is an extreme example of it. Let's hope hyperinflation doesn't come here too, though given the nature of politicians, we should count on it. Meanwhile, trust in Christ, care for your neighbor, pray for those dorfnarrs, and prepare. It's just another cross.