The Euro Crisis and the Apocalypse
“A crisis of apocalyptic proportions” is the way Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, recently described the economic morass into which the Eurozone is sinking.
Sikorksi may be more accurate than he realizes. The whole world seems to be moving inevitably toward the apocalyptic reality described in Revelation 18:17, where the collapse of “Babylon’s” entire economic system occurs in “one hour."
“Babylon,” in the Bible’s prophetic symbolism, is the world system organized without and even in defiance of God. It is comprised of the interweaving and networking of all the civilizational and national components of the globe’s geopolitical infrastructure.
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For the first time in history, a “one hour” crash of the whole is possible. This is because of the increasing irrelevance of borders. Economic boundaries have been demolished through the electronic linkage of the global economy, the multinational marketplace, and regional alliances like the Eurozone.
The European dilemma is showing that such economic arrangements cannot be merely regional in scope. The whole world invests in and trades with them. When they collapse, the global economy slides with them.
And because of the “wired world” it can happen in “one hour."
“Apocalypse” comes from an old Greek word that means an “unveiling,” as in lifting a curtain. What the euro-crisis is going to unveil is the delusion of a world without boundaries.
Ironically, modern Greece is a major factor in the looming “apocalypse.” In the 1990s almost all the European nations abandoned their currencies and embraced the euro. Eventually Greece and other Mediterranean countries in the European region joined the federation. The Greek currency, the drachma, went away, but the monetary policies of the Greek government did not. The politicians continued to spend more than taxes brought in. Under the old system, the government covered deficits by printing more money. But with the drachma gone, the only option was for the Greek authorities to borrow more euros at high interest rates. When Greece, Italy, and other countries showed signs of defaulting on their huge debt, all Europe was brought to the precipice of crisis.
Many nations had grabbed hold of the rope of Eurozone investments, hoping for a pull up Prosperity Mountain. But as Europe loses its financial footing, it threatens to pull down everyone tied onto the Eurozone economy. That means the global economy is in peril.
“Anthropos”, another Greek word, identifies the root of the crisis. The term means “man.” It’s often used in the broader sense of “humanity.” Human nature is behind the apocalyptic dilemma in which Europe – and much of the globe – finds itself. The sin the world loves to deny propels people into the delusion of credit binging, the short-term Esau philosophy of quickie investments that get investors in a “mess of pottage,” the fantasy that welfare states can be supported through a declining work ethic, and the rising expectations of the spreading entitlement culture.
The collapse of cyber-borders as well as geopolitical boundaries, coupled with fallen human nature, speeds us toward the apocalyptic conditions Sikorski fears. The answer is in the same place it’s always been: the transformation of human nature.
What will save the world is an “inside-out-bottom-up” movement. It is “bottom-up” in that it begins with the individual human being. It is “inside-out” because such transformation begins at the core of the inner person. Truth sets us free from Babylon’s bling, and provides the worldview and impetus for a lifestyle of responsible living that luxuriates in the joy of the liberty of Jesus Christ.
To many that sounds preachy. However, after decades of institutions, schemes, and movements that promised the Millennium, all we’ve gotten is apocalypse.
