Too big to fail

It seems like these days you can’t go anywhere without hearing about another “bailout”. You can’t turn on the TV without seeing a troubled company that’s “too big to fail”. You can’t read the newspaper for 30 seconds before you read about the “economic crisis”. I work in a bank so hearing all these terms are part of my daily routine. I hear folks everyday wondering where they should invest their money. They wonder about the safest place to put their money. Maybe Certificates of deposit, money market accounts, mutual funds, fixed annuities, the stock market, gold, cash, foreign currency, or maybe they should just bury a bunch of cash in their backyard. There’s a part of me that gets irritated and another part of me that feels sorry for these folks because they’re worrying their life away over money and things, and seem to have no concern for their own soul. There’s more concern for the well being of large corporations than their spiritual condition, more concern for supporting a president than exalting the King of Kings.

1 Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain
Psalm 127:1

When I look at everything going on in our economy I can’t help but think of this verse. Our modern day economy is built with greed for bricks, and deceit for mortar. Do those sound like building materials that the Lord would use? When companies become consumed with making money at any cost, rather than providing a quality product for the consumer they’re destined too fail. When banks encourage customers to “state” (lie about) their income on a loan application, and when customers “state” (lie about) their income to get approved on that same application, that bank is destined to fail. Whenever a company grows from the result of sinful activity it is destined to fail and all of the workers work in vain. This verse also says “unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” Now as much as I appreciate our military, and law enforcement, all of they’re work is futile unless the Lord is guarding our cities and our country. Right now we’ve got Mexican drug cartels, kidnapping & killing U.S. and Mexican citizens in the south. There is legislation that may soon pass opening our borders for trade and tourism with Cuba a communist dictatorship that has strong alliances with Venezuela,( whose President/Dictator has expressed publicly his hatred for the United States) and also with Russia who is longing to be a superpower in the world once again. Not to mention our President proclaiming to the world that “The U.S. is not at war with Islam” By the way who are we fighting in Afghanistan right now, and in Iraq? Who does the Taliban consist of, how about al Qaida? Have we so quickly forgotten September 11, 2001? How about the U.S. electric grid being hacked into by Russian & Chinese hackers? Does it seem that the Lord is guarding the city? You can clearly see by these examples that the Lord is withdrawing His hand of protection from this once Christian nation, and as hard as this may be to swallow we deserve it. We’ve taken God from our classrooms, our courtrooms, and our government, so why would He protect a country that didn’t want Him?

24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Matt 7:24-27

…and such a great fall is coming to this nation as long as we continue to turn from God


Now about where to invest your money… I am not a financial planner, I have no Series 6,7, or 66 licenses, I have no stock tips for you. However, I’d like to give you some startling financial news. There is absolutely, positively NO SAFE PLACE ON EARTH to put your money. You can invest in all the gold, silver, & platinum you want, you can buy all the stocks and bonds you like, dig the deepest hole and bury all your cash in it, invest in Euros, Yen, Yuan, Shekels, Ameros, Pesos whatever currency you like. Invest in real estate, life insurance, wherever you put it I GUARANTEE you will lose it all. How can I be so confident in my financial analysis? Because God says so in His word

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
2 Peter 3:10

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matt 6:19-21


First and foremost you can’t take money with you when you die. You can try, but trust me it won’t leave the casket. And second, did you see that last part of 2 Peter 3:10? “the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” I don’t care where you keep your money, who you leave it to, or what type of financial instrument you have it in when it’s all said and done this whole earth and everything in it is going to burn so why put so much effort into preserving your wealth?

The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein
Psalm 24:1

The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all its fullness, You have founded them.
Psalm 89:11

For “the earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness.”
1 Cor 10:26

Most importantly, it is not your money to be concerned about “the earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness” That means the earth and everything on the earth, including your money!!

17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
1 Tim 6:17-19

If the Lord has blessed you to have a surplus I would hope you’ve learned from the above mentioned scriptures that He hasn’t blessed you to horde your money and keep it to yourselves. Rather God has blessed you to be a blessing to others. We should all look for ways to use our money to glorify God. It wouldn’t hurt to pray and ask God how He would have you to use His money!

Lastly, I’d like to tackle this “too big too fail” nonsense. I’ve heard this so much in the past few months, “too big to fail” It implies that a company is so large that its failure would affect so many people either nationally, or internationally that the government must do whatever it can to keep that company from failing. Be it nationalizing the company, or giving the company a “bailout” (giving the company a loan from the government) Now ask yourself this, if a company is already failing because of massive debt that it can’t pay, how is giving the company a loan and adding to it’s debt going to “bail it out”? Ok another question what if the government can no longer pay its debt then who is going to bail out the government? And if the taxpayers, who bail out the government, who then bailout the failing companies, run out of money then what? And if all the nations that the U.S. government borrows money from are in financial chaos and run out of money, then the taxpayers, the government, the companies and the world, for that matter, are all in big trouble. Basically it’s like bailing out a sinking cruise ship with a medicine dropper; it’s inevitable the ship is going to sink, but since the ship is so large it’s going to take some time until it’s completely submerged. That’s our economy, that’s our country, that’s our world. That doesn’t sound “too big to fail” to me, that just sounds like something so big we don’t notice it’s failing.
Now let me tell you something, or rather someone that’s “too big to fail.” Not AIG, not Citibank, not Bank of America, not the U.S. Government, not the U.S. Economy, not the global economy, these are all failing and will fail guaranteed. The only one “too big to fail” is God. His economy is NEVER in a recession, a depression or any other kind of “ession”. He’s never had a housing crisis, is never in debt, and needs a bailout from anyone. But rather, He sent us the one and only true “bailout” in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ.
Our accounts were eternally overdrawn with no possibility of bringing the balance positive but God sent us an eternal deposit in Jesus Christ and if we accept this deposit our account will never again be empty. We need to recognize our spiritual/ financial condition and repent. Turn from our ways of managing our lives and our money and turn to the Creator for our salvation from this spiritual crisis we’re in. God’s word says that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life
John 3:16

God loves us all so much that He was willing to wrap Himself in flesh, and suffer the consequences for the sins of mankind past present and future, and because Christ rose again and lives, we now have an opportunity to have real life, everlasting life if we’d only repent of our sins and turn to Him. No one but God can get the world out of the financial mess it’s in. We’re looking to all the so called experts, but so many fail to look to the only true savior. We need to stop looking to the president, the government, the CEO’s, other nations, and start looking to the only One who can truly bail us out.

Now let me say this, being a follower of Christ comes with a price. You may lose friends, you may be persecuted, and there may be a lot that you lose.

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matt 16:26

Whatever you lose in this life is nothing compared to eternal life with Jesus!

Without Jesus we’re all spiritually bankrupt, and Satan has so many convinced that they’re “too big to fail” There are many whose eyes are blinded by the deceitfulness of wealth, believing that as soon as the economy recovers they’ll be OK. There’s a great possibility that things WON’T get better, that the economy WON’T recover, that things WILL get worse. What do we do then? Sit in despair because all our money is gone, and we’re living in our cars, or in a tent somewhere. Absolutely NOT! We thank God for that tent, that car, and the life that He’s given us to live, and appreciate all that He has blessed us with. I’ll end with this. Jesus said,

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:28,29

May God bless you & keep you!