Servias Ministries Blog

I attended a technology conference in Orlando last week.  In my business you must keep up with the latest developments or get left behind.  There will be over 600 million touch devices shipped in 2012.  Layers and layers of complexity are being built around the globe.  I can’t help but believe that a collapse will occur at some point.  Developers are generating lines and lines of source code on a daily basis to embrace the “touch” technology.  Everyone has their heads bowed down but they are texting not praying.  Ten years’ ago the Internet was just moving to a reliable platform for business.  Now we can’t do without it.  I wonder what would happen if an epic solar flare took out all of our technology?  Would we remember how to communicate face to face again?

At the Universal Studios resort we stayed at you would think there were no economic issues.  Downtown Disney served up a view that all is well around the world.  The properties were impeccable and there were no signs of deterioration anywhere.  The crowds were notable.  In the meantime world events continued their march to a day of reckoning.

China has decided to pay for Iranian oil with gold.  The SWIFT system of international wire settlements will be bypassed.  The U.S. attempt to force sovereign countries to submit to an agenda inconsistent with the needs of their countries may have just reinstituted the gold standard system by default.  Central governments have become major buyers of physical gold.  Once the U.S. crossed the line on international settlement, other countries have begun moving into a defensive posture from a monetary point of view by necessity.  They can’t allow a foreign power to control their medium of exchange any longer.  Executive Orders have been passed to control the Internet, banking system, etc. which causes the average person to get concerned about what is coming soon.  Americans have always valued their freedoms and rights to pursue constitutional assured activities.

Our Heavenly Father is the only true reality.  We must repent and turn back toward Our Heavenly Father.  We can only live in the land of make believe for so long.  Any escape from reality last only until the money runs out and Orlando will make sure that happens sooner than later.

50% unemployment in the youth sector in some countries has missed the mainstream media’s (MSM) radar.  Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal all have systemic problems that can’t be solved by further quantitative easing.  Gold is moving out of Italian banks into Swiss banks, a sign that wealthy Italians don’t trust their own banks anymore.  Europeans are expecting a major event soon.  Until then, they are hesitant to make any financial moves other than taking their gold to a safe haven.

The IMF is obtaining commitments from countries with cash to help build up its war chest.  If everything was rosy, why would the U.S. Federal Reserve reconfirm 0% interest rates into 2014?  You don’t need to listen to the rhetoric about recoveries, lower unemployment, improved housing starts, etc.  Just look around.

The U.S. economic statistics are pointing to recession once again.  QE3 is not far off now, maybe within the next 120 days.

Oil speculators are not the villains as we are being told.  $80 oil would slow down the Canadian tar sands and expensive well stimulation and development.  This would tighten the supply even further than it already is.  Alternative fuels are over a decade away from becoming a serious large-scale alternative to the oil-based transportation industry.  Think tank planners know this and hence we are keeping troops in the oil-rich Gulf region on an indefinite basis.

All of this bodes well for those who hold precious metals.  Quantitative Easing (QE) will put support underneath precious metals’ prices.  Attempts to manipulate the prices to lower levels last only for a few days or weeks.  Silver has resisted the $30 level in the last few attempts.  Mining companies continue to grow their cash reserves and are looking to buy junior miners.  Those of us who have held steady in our positions are being rewarded with buyout premiums of 30% or better.

Eliminate leverage when possible.  You will sleep better at night and not worry when the dips in your investments come.  I have seen 20% swings in the stocks I hold but I am unconcerned about the short term volatility.  A bull market will always attempt to shake off the investors who are not fully committed.  Solid mining companies with good management and sizable cash positions are excellent candidates for investment of discretionary cash.

On the positive side, the Kingdom of Heaven is at full employment, zero inflation, no crime, and plenty of resources set aside for development.  The universe is still expanding and the Throne is still occupied.

When we are called to be stewards, we are given three things:

1. Responsibility and accountability.  Jesus expanded on this principle in the following passages:

Matthew 25:14   “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country

Luke 19:12   Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

13   So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’

We are given resources to do business.  We are expected to conduct business in a reasonable fashion and produce good fruit.  If Our Heavenly Father tells us that all the gold and silver (true money) is His then we are to be stewards over wealth.  Yes, we are given ownership over assets but we are still accountable to Our Heavenly Father for ultimately we are called to be good stewards.  As we embrace the reality of stewardship, we open up ourselves to the blessing of Heaven.  Each person has a different level of stewardship based on his or her calling.  We should not be envious of someone else’s level of stewardship for with it comes greater responsibility and accountability.  We should focus on what matters.  Are you willing to establish the Kingdom of GOD on earth or are you concerned about “me and my four and no more”?  Do you believe that the Creator of this earth would fail to set aside sufficient resources to establish HIS Kingdom?

2. Time and Resources.

Mathew 25:19   After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

The servants were given plenty of time to produce fruit.  They were given resources.  It was up to them to make the correct choices with the resources which had been provided to do business.  Each of them knew that there would be a day of reckoning but only after they had been given the opportunity to produce fruit.  Just as in the Law of fruit trees, time must be given to produce.  Those trees that were not producing might be given fertilizer (opportunity) before the day of judgment.  If the fruit tree did not produce it was cut down.

3. An Adversary

What is the test of stewardship?  An adversary will come to test your commitment.  Sometimes that adversary is another person who would rob you by attempting to redirect your focus on other callings.  They would have you focus on areas that just don’t matter and send you on a wild goose chase.  They would want you to waste your resources on a “get rich quick” scheme that had no relevance to your calling.  Typically those schemes only enrich them.  Sometimes the adversary is your flesh or ego.  Will you consume resources to satisfy the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life?  The adversary will force you to make choices.  Those choices will reveal what is in your heart.  The day will come when the accounting of your stewardship will be judged.

For those who have ears to hear:

Matthew 25:23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

For those who are blinded by their flesh:

26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

These parables were spoken by Jesus for our benefit and instruction.  Jesus doesn’t particularly need your resources, he wants your heart.  He wants you to be an expression of the Love of Our Heavenly Father on earth.  When people look at you, HE wants them to see Love.  These parable express a reality of stewardship.  They also express the ramifications:

29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Now is the time to see what is in your heart.

We should pay close attention to what the average town is doing in Greece.  They have been decimated by the previous “borrow and spend” economy.  They have returned to a system that worked in the old days: bartering.  It now uses a computer system to track it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17686384

Hmmm!  Selah!

Gold and silver represent honest money.  It puts value in the hands of the person who generates the value the money represents.  In the current electronic system, money is stored by a system that can manipulate its value.  This lends itself to dishonesty.  If you work hard and save your money, you want your savings to represent the productivity of your labor.  In the current electronic system, the value of your savings is diluted by the excess printing of money.  Inflation eats away at your savings and the productivity it represents is transferred out of your control into the hands of the central bankers.  In turn, they enrich selected banks, government programs, and others who have found favor with them, all at your expense.  This system becomes dishonest as they encourage the transfer of wealth.  We are to love thy neighbor as ourselves.  Can anyone honestly say that this transfer of wealth is an act of Love?

By eliminating gold and silver as money, the central bankers have taken control of the monetary system.  Can they really know what is best for me?  Do they really care about my future, my retirement, or the inheritance I want to leave my loved ones?  They coin the term “greater good” to justify their actions.  Often it means for their own “greater good”.

Gold and silver place value in the hands of the people and decentralizes control of value.  This is a good thing.  It allows individuals to make decisions in their own best interest without any interference from those who know nothing about their situation.  What happens if the central bank makes a mistake in the handling of the monetary system?  If individuals have their value in their own pockets, they are protected from human error.

Honest money eliminates exchange rate issue with other countries.  In a recent trip to Australia, I was in sticker shock of the cost of a meal.  In terms of U.S. Dollars, an Aussie lunch was roughly 30% higher than its American equivalent.  With honest money, sticker shock would be a thing of the past.  Once ounce of silver has the same value around the world.

Banks would become depositories of gold and silver and could act as settlement facilities or clearinghouses for trade.  A transaction fee could be developed to cover the cost of acting as a depository for excess gold and silver beyond the working capital needed for day to day exchange.

Honest money will reemerge once the current system has collapsed.  Obviously I would prefer an orderly conversion from the current system to a bimetallic system.  I just don’t think the current debt-ridden system can sustain itself much longer.  Its days are numbered.  Only Our Heavenly Father knows when the inflection point will occur.  Until then, stay liquid, stay out of debt, and stay in prayer for guidance.