Jubilee and Debt in the USA Economy

Jubilee and Debt in the USA Economy

By Lee Warren, B.A., D.D.

Feel free to copy and circulate this article for non-commercial purposes provided the Web site and author are mentioned.

See Related Articles: SPIRITUAL REALITY OF CURRENT EVENTS

Introduction

In October of this year, the Wall Street stock market suffered a 524-point dropthe largest one-day point drop in its history. This drop occurred at the same time all the stock markets of the Asian Tiger economies fell because of their currency devaluation, which began to decline in June 1997. These countries will need huge loans from the United States and other international agencies, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to bail them out.

As the result of these events, the world economy made headline news. What most people are not conscious of is that a greater danger, a time bomb that gets very little ink from newspapers or TV coverage, threatens to undermine the world economy.

What is one of the greatest perils in the world?

The world debt is one of the most pressing problems of the global economy. Now the largest debtor in the whole world might surprise many. It is not some South American country, nor an impoverished African nation.

To the astonishment of many, the government of the United States of America is the worlds largest debtor. In fact, it owes more money than all the developing countries put together.

Currently, the U.S.A. owes between $5.4 trillion (http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm, http://www.slip.net/~boston/debt.html#HISTORY, http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/) and the debt of the entire Third World and developing nations is about $1.65 trillion dollars.

Everyone knows that debt is a two-edge sword. Used wisely, it can bring about prosperity, but used indiscriminately debt can bring about poverty and bankruptcy.

How much interest does the U.S. have to pay?

As with any debt there is always interest to be paid on on these huge sums. Now the United States, one of the richest countries in the world, has made interest payments that average $277.56 billion a year from 1988-1996. Simply put, every four years the U.S.A. pays out over a trillion dollars in interest. This payment continues until the debt is paid off or the U.S.A. defaults on the note.

As long as the revenue or income expands, a country can meet the interest payments. The problem occurs if a countrys revenue or income decreases and they cannot meet the interest payments. In situations like this the country is usually in a recession of some type and needs more loans to get the country growing again so that the income will rise. This is like a family without disability insurance taking on a large amount of debt. If either wage earner gets sick or is injured for a long period of time, their only recourse is to declare bankruptcy.

One can clearly see that these large interest payments weigh the economy down by preventing the government from performing many of the needed social programs, road repair, and maintenance of infrastructures.

What is the intent of this article?

The intent of this article is to show how Yahweh taught Israel to manage debt with the Jubilee cycle. Their economy should serve as a model for the nations of the world. There will have to be some form of Jubilee for the whole world if the world economy is to grow and expand with prosperity.

Was usury allowed under the Law of Moses?

Under the Law of Moses, Yahweh-Elohim gave Israel a way to handle their economy and debt. After Israel departed from Egypt, Elohim gave them a set of laws to govern them and told them how to worship Yahweh.

Yahweh forbade Israel from charging each other usury or interest. Moses wrote: "Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury (Deu. 23:19):" Clearly, Elohim prohibited the Israelites from charging interest to each other to prevent them from being in economic bondage to one another (Neh. 5:10).

Now Israel could charge interest to the Gentiles. Moses wrote: "Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the Yahweh thy Elohim (LORD thy God) may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it (Deu. 23:20)."

According to the Popes interpretation of this verse, he put the Europeans under the Law and prevented them from loaning money with interest during the Middle Ages. This is how the Jews became merchant bankers in the European culture.

When did Jubilee occur?

Jubilee occurred every 50 years. It released people from the debts that they had accrued during that period and set the slaves free. Jubilee, as well as the Sabbath year, was also called a year of release.

The Jubilee was predicated on the Sabbath of years, which was like the Sabbath day of the week, for every seven years was a Sabbath year. Israel was forbidden from working for this whole year and the slaves were freed (Ex. 21:2-6). Also the fields and vineyards were not harvested for this year and were left for the poor (Ex. 23:10). In addition, creditors were supposed to release all debtors from their debts (Deu. 15:1-3; Lv. 25:1-7). Now Yahweh blessed Israel for keeping the Sabbath year. He caused the fields and vineyards to yield fruit for three years7th, 8th and 9th (Lv. 25:19-22).

The seventh Sabbath year (7 x 7) was the 49th year. The 50th year began on the Day of Atonement (October 10th) of the 49th year. Moses wrote: "And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land (Lv. 25:8-9)." Basically, the people did not work for two years, the Sabbath year and the year of Jubilee.

This is the last Sabbath in a week of Sabbath years, just as a week of days has seven days that end with the Sabbath or Saturday. Now this cycle starts over again. There was no work performed during the 49th Sabbath year and 50th year of Jubilee.

What were the Laws of Jubilee?

According to The New Unger Bible Dictionary, the laws of Jubilee covered basically three areas: resting of the soil, return of property, and release of all Jew and Gentile slaves that had sold themselves into slavery because of poverty. So, Jubilee was just a greater Sabbath year of release.

Now during the Jubilee year, which was like a Sabbath year, there was no sowing, reaping, or harvesting from unpruned vines in the field (Lv. 25:11). So the soil enjoyed a rest.

Under the Law of Moses Israel divided the Promised Land or inheritance by lots among the 12 tribes and the Levite priests. This land was to remain with the tribe owners. During Jubilee all land that was sold due to poverty and had not been redeemed had to be returned to the original owner or heirs without payment. There were other provisions for the land during Jubilee that will not be discussed (Lv. 25:29-30) due to the space limitations of this article.

The emancipation of all Israelite slaves occurred during Jubilee. If relatives had not redeemed those that were born while in slavery or that had sold themselves in slavery to another Israelite or foreigner as the result of poverty (Lv. 25:35-43, 43-54), the person with his children was freed.

New Ungers Bible Dictionary states: "Thus the Jubilee year became one of freedom and grace for all suffering, bringing not only redemption to the captive and deliverance from want to the poor, but also release to the whole congregation of the Lord from the sore labor of the earth, representing the time of refreshing <Acts 3:19> that the Lord provides for His people. For in this year every kind of oppression was to cease and every member of the covenant people to find his redeemer in the Lord, who brought him back to his possession and family (from Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois Copyright (C) 1988)." Clearly, one can see that Sabbath years and Jubilees prevented one individual or group of people from building up wealth through owning debts whereby one could control a nation.

How did the Messiah fulfill Jubilee?

The Messiah fulfilled Jubilee by delivering the souls of man from the bondage of sin and the Law of Moses. All forms of bondage under the law represent mankind being in bondage to spiritual death as the result of sin (Rom. 5:4, 8:14). Simply put, Yahshua the Messiah brought an end to sin by His death (Rom. 10:4, John 1:29).

Yahshua the Messiah is the True Redeemer of mankinds spiritual and psychological bondage, as a relative redeemed Israelites slaves or land in the year of Jubilee.

Isaiah the prophet wrote the following about the mission of the Messiah or freeing the captives. "The Spirit of Yahweh Elohim (the Lord GOD) is upon me; because Yahweh (the LORD) hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of Yahweh (the LORD), and the day of vengeance of our Elohim (God); to comfort all that mourn (Isa. 61:1-2);"

At the beginning of His ministry the Messiah read this same scripture in the temple to all in the congregation. He told them that: "&This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears (Lk. 4:21)." Simply put, the Messiah told them that He was the Redeemer that the prophets had foretold would come and this scripture was being fulfilled before their eyes.

The Messiahs death, burial, and resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place in the Jubilee year.

It was the custom that Jews from all over the world would come to Jerusalem to worship for the year. Our Present Kingdom Age of Grace began June 6, A.D. 34, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This means that this whole age is a Jubilee Age spiritually and psychologically for all that are resurrected in their hearts and minds.

What is the significance of Jubilee?

Jubilees along with the Sabbaths reveal how Yahweh-Elohim operates through time as well as in eternity. The completion of anything that Elohim performs is in seven steps, which ends with a Sabbath and then repeats itself or initiates a new beginning. In reality, this is reflective of Elohim and His work of creation. Moses wrote of creation that Elohim worked six days according to his vision and rested on the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10:11).

Currently, according to Bible chronology, we are ending the sixth millennium (6,000-year) or the week of millenniums. Now the year 2,000 or 2001 A.D. will begin the seventh millennium or the Sabbath millennium (See "When does the Millennims Start: 2000 A.D. or 2001 A.D.," p. 9 in this issue), which many are looking for at the end of the world. It will usher in quite a few revolutionary changes.

Dr. Henry C. Kinley explains the true spiritual reality of the Sabbath. He states: "The Seventh Day or the Seventh thousand year day, He, Yahweh-Elohim RESTED and SANCTIFIED that DAY and called it the SABBATH (Ex. 16:23-27; Ex. 20:l0-ll; Gen. 2:2-4). However, we need a better understanding of the Sabbath Day. For example, BEFORE Elohim BEGAN to create the Heaven and Earth, and everything that is in them, and AFTER He FINISHED the creation, He was INACTIVE, back into the SABBATH, reigning in the REALM OF ETERNITY or THE DAY, that has NO BEGINNING or ENDING with the complete Plan of Creation in Spirit Embodiment (Elohim the Archetypal Original Pattern of the Universe, Vol. I, p. 98)."

Finally, there is a week of ages, which ends with a Sabbath Age for time begins and ends in eternity. Elohim is eternal. Dr. Kinley states the following about the Sabbath Age. "The SABBATH is THE DAY OF YAHWEH, or THE DAY before the beginning of the eighth (8th) or the beginning of another series of Ages (Vol. 1, page 98." This means another set of week of ages will be created (Eph. 3:21).

What impact does debt have on the USA?

The politicians of both parties are playing around with an extremely critical issue. Like the saying goes, they are fiddling as Nero did while Rome burned. Most of the American public has absolutely no understanding of Americas debt and its implications on the country, the individual, and the world.

President Clinton and Congress have just about balanced the budget as the result of seven years of a good economy, but no one has put forth a plan to pay off the approximate 5.4 trillion dollars in debt. Now 99% of the United States revenue comes from three sources: individual federal income taxes, corporate income taxes, and social security. Currently, the United States pays out 40 cents of each revenue dollar it collects for the interest expense on about $5.4 trillion.

This is an astounding figure to pay for interest. If an individual household had to pay out 40% of its gross income on interest expenses, it could not function and would be forced to declare some type of bankruptcy.

Can the U.S. ever get out of debt?

The debt problem is insurmountable and can never be paid off without causing severe problems in the economy. Anyone that has paid off a mortgage knows that over time one pays twice the mortgage amount. If one borrows $100,000 at 5% for 20 years, during that time one will pay $100,000 interest and $100,000 in principle giving a total of $200,000. So, if the debt of $5.4 trillion could be paid off at 5% over a 20-year period, the USA would have paid a total of $10.8 trillion dollars. The government would have to pay $540 billion dollars for the next 20 years to pay off the debt. Uncle Sam cannot meet this installment plan and all its other obligations, such as social security, Medi-care, the national defense, etc.

Gerald Celente in his book Trends 2000 states: "Gradually over the years, servicing interest on our $5 trillion national debt was closing in on defense spending and Social Security as the single-largest chunk taken out of the U.S. tax dollar. And it wasnt buying anything, building anything, producing anything, or curing anything. It was going back to the investors at home and abroad who held the debt (p. 41-42)."

Let us look at two ways of trying to pay-off the debt to see the magnitude of the problem. First, the taxes could not be raised high enough to pay off this debt without severely impairing the peoples ability to purchase products in the economy to keep it growing. Neither could the government cut its services deep enough without the people revolting. Simply put, there would have to be a lot of pain for a least 20 years. Most people would be unwilling to make this type of sacrifice.

The only other alternative, which is untenable, is that the debt could be repaid with inflated dollars by the government running off money on the printing press. This would cause inflation of an unparalleled nature in the US economy, as existed in Germany in the 1920s-30s.

Clearly, the only intelligent alternative is that some form of Jubilee must be declared.

The Third World Economy

Now the third world and Asian countries must have dollars or some major currency to repay their debt and purchase things in the world economy. To raise these dollars, they must have some natural resources to sell such as oil, copper, farm produces, etc., or the country has to export products like computers or electronic products to USA or Europe.

Simply put, according the World Bank and the United Nation the vast majority of the third world countries are in a worst situation than America where vast portions of the countrys revenue goes to paying off the countrys debt. The total debt for these third world countries is about $2 trillion dollars.

The solution for the world economies is to declare some form of Jubilee because governments around the world cannot continue to exist under such staggering interest payments. This will bring about a new start for the world economy and individuals can begin to grow and develop their potential anew.

Conclusion

Unless something is done soon by the nations of the world, they will find themselves in a world depression. History has shown that whenever there is a severe depression, wars soon follow. Conditions are ripe for dictators to rise up. If Germanys economy had not been so depressed in the 1920 s-30, Hitler would not have been elected and history would have been much different. Clearly, Jubilee will be manifest one way or another.

Bibliography

(http://www.publicdebt. treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm,

http://www.slip.net/~boston/debt.html#HISTORY,

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/)

Return to the PLIM Report Table of Contents|Home Page|What's New|