- 2 days ago
More and more are having concerns about the US dollar. To a degree, the economy of ancient Rome was based on a silver coin called the denarius. However, as access to silver was limited and the government of Rome wanted to spend more money, emperors began to degrade the denarius by putting less and less silver into it, until it became a bronze coin. Basically, the denarius became dross. Up until 1964, American silver coins contained silver--actually they were 90% silver by weight. But in 1965, the USA changed that and eliminated all silver from its dimes and quarters, and several years later from its half dollars. The Bible specifically warns against turning silver into dross. 'Dross' was the scum that would float to the top when metals were being refined, and was discarded. Another way to turn money into dross is to print paper with no backing. The US dollar used to be backed by gold, but now it has no real backing. And to make matters worse, the federal government continues to print more of it only backed by 'pledges' known as US Treasury notes--debt. The prophet Habakkuk warned that a heavily indebted nation would be conquered by its creditors. Could that happen to the USA? Are there dire consequences in turning the dollar into dross? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie discuss these issues.
A written article of related interest is available titled 'Is the USA Dollar Going the Way of the Denarius?' URL: https://www.cogwriter.com/news/prophecy/is-the-usa-dollar-going-the-way-of-the-denarius/
A written article of related interest is available titled 'Is the USA Dollar Going the Way of the Denarius?' URL: https://www.cogwriter.com/news/prophecy/is-the-usa-dollar-going-the-way-of-the-denarius/
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00:04Greetings, friends. This is Steve Dupuy for the Bible News Prophecy Program with Dr. Bob Thiel,
00:09bringing you news and analysis of world events in light of Bible prophecy. Dr. Thiel, inflation
00:15in the empire of the United States has many concerns. Have the ravages of inflation happened
00:21in the past? Oh, yeah. Now, this week, Jeff Thomas sent out an article that said, quote,
00:28going the way of the denarius. It says, history repeats, or at least rhymes. Throughout history,
00:34there's been an extraordinary tendency for governments or cultures to follow similar paths.
00:39Even regarding eras thousands of years apart, we're seeing people behave much the same way
00:45over and over again. So that's particularly true in the case of wrong moves. Over and over,
00:52people and their governments make the same mistakes, seemingly never able to learn from
00:57past eras. Why should this be? If surely a government in the 21st century were to make
01:04really bad decisions, there are likely to be the same bad decisions that were made in, say, Rome
01:09in the 4th century. Anyway, he continues, it's simple. It's human nature. Human nature remains
01:16the same. 2,000 years ago, governments were typically made up of egotistical, self-centered,
01:23dictatorial types, were far more concerned with their own power than the general welfare of the
01:27people. Today, politics remains a magnet for such people. Therefore, they'll revert to the type
01:34when faced with the very same problems. For example, if we spend more than we should leave in taxes,
01:39should we cut back our expenditures or should we go in debt? Well, we'll go in debt and put the
01:44debt
01:44on the shoulder of the taxpayers. Then it says, the denarius was a coin of the realm during the
01:50centuries when Rome was a republic. The silver denarius was equal to a day's wages for a common
01:57laborer and as such was more useful as a primary unit of exchange. During earlier Rome time, it was a
02:06stable currency. But as Rome became an empire, all that conquest in foreign lands became extremely costly.
02:14They decided one way to offset the cost was to devalue the denarius. Each successive emperor
02:22added a bit more of base metal, that means not silver, than the previous one. And by the time
02:28of Diocletian, there was no silver in the coin at all. It was only bronze. Anyway, he says, during the
02:35same period, Rome experienced dramatic inflation, a predictable outcome when the coin of the realm is
02:42degraded. Rome didn't collapse because the denarius suddenly failed. It was diluted again and again
02:52until the currency became a tool of the state instead of a store of value.
02:57How does the denarius relate to the U.S. dollar?
03:01Well, because the same pattern is playing out today. You know, inflating away a problem never works.
03:06Just like Rome went into an irreversible decline, so the empire of today is a self-destructing
03:15entity, in part due to monetary debasement. And the United States has been turning its currency into
03:22dross. Now, I saw another article about this. It said the major coin, silver coin used for the first 220
03:30years of the Roman Empire, was a denarius. It was between the size of a nickel and a dime. High
03:36purity,
03:37about 4.5 grams of pure silver. But they started, there's only a lift how much silver gold you could
03:44get. And so they decided, what do we do about this? How we pay for our wars and palaces and
03:51stuff? So they
03:53decided to decrease the amount of silver in the coin. So they were able to make more silver coins,
03:59supposedly with the same face value. When more coins were in circulation, the government could spend
04:04more. So the content of silver dropped over the years. By the time of Marcus Aurelius, the denarius
04:11was only about 75% silver. By the time of Gallienus, the coin had barely 5% silver. Each coin
04:22had a bronze core with a thin coating of silver. The shine quickly wore off to reveal the poor quality
04:29underneath. What was the result of the Roman government's efforts of turning silver into
04:36bronze? Well, read some more from this article that was on Zero Heads. The consequences. It meant
04:42more coins were needed to pay for goods and services. At times, there was runaway inflation in the empire.
04:48For example, soldiers wanted higher wages. And by the year 265 AD, there was only 0.5%
04:57silver left in the denarius. And prices skyrocketed 1000% across the Roman empire. Only barbarian
05:05mercenaries were paid in gold, because they wouldn't take it, the other stuff. With soaring
05:12logistical and administrative costs and no precious metal left, Romans relied more and more on taxes
05:18against the people. Hyperinflation, soaring taxes, worthless money created a trifecta that dissolved
05:25much of Rome's trade. The economy became paralyzed. By the end of the third century,
05:30any trade that was left was mostly local, using other methods like barter.
05:36And during the crisis of the third century, from 235 to 284, there may have been more than 50 Roman
05:43emperors.
05:44Most of them were murdered, assassinated, or killed in battle. The empire was in a free-for-all,
05:49and it was split into three separate states. Constant civil wars meant the empire's borders were vulnerable,
05:57trade networks were disintegrated. Barbarian invasions came from every direction. Plague was rapid.
06:04And so, the Western Roman Empire would cease to exist by the year 476.
06:12Is it your opinion that the United States is heading the way of ancient Rome?
06:19Well, not quite, but similarly. Now, the U.S. dollar used to be backed by gold and silver.
06:25Now, U.S. dollar isn't backed by anything.
06:31And this is kind of, we keep printing out dollars, so it's kind of a modern form of dross.
06:36Now, technically, dross is essentially the worthless scum or impurities that rise when you're refining
06:44metal, because you get it out of the ground, the junk that comes up on top is dross. When it
06:49comes to coins,
06:51dross is the part where they put stuff in it that's not real. As far as the basement of hard
06:58currency
06:58goes, in the United States, when I was a kid, as a matter of fact, the first job I got,
07:04I got an allowance
07:05of 10 cents a week. Now, back in 1964, the dime was 90% silver. A quarter of my son,
07:14Brian, worth about six
07:15bucks now. A quarter was also 90% silver, and it was worth about, I guess, about $15 now.
07:24But in 1965, they changed it all. And if you look at the coins, you'll see something that looks like
07:29copper on the sides of them. And there was no silver at all in this stuff anymore. And they used
07:38cheaper metals. And the United States has gotten so bad, even the penny, which was only a coating
07:44of copper over junk metal, even cost too much. They even got rid of those this past year. Anyway,
07:51the U.S. has continued to cheapen its dollars supply, and its production of debt is another
07:57massive form of dross.
08:00Well, you know, I can see the problem with dross for government money.
08:05Does God have anything to say about dross money?
08:08Yeah, let me read a few scriptures. Proverbs 25, verse 4. Take the dross, take away the dross from
08:15silver. Now, I say sit and listen to that. Here's one, Isaiah 1, 22. Prophecy, if you want. Your
08:21silver has become dross. Isaiah 1, 25. I'm going to turn my hand against you and thoroughly purge away
08:29all your dross and take away all your alloy. Ezekiel 22. The house of Israel has become as dross to
08:39me.
08:40Okay? They become dross, like dross from silver. Verse 19. Because they've all become dross, therefore
08:46I'll gather you in the midst of Jerusalem as people take silver, gold, and bronze and throw it in the
08:51fire and put on it. So I'll do this to you. God's against using dross and diluting the money supply.
08:58Of course, modern experts, they have a different view. But the wrong views on economics are going
09:05to lead to massive economic problems and ultimately the total crash of the dollar in the United States.
09:11The United States has repeatedly proven that economic pressures result in debt increasing. Now,
09:21this has worked for a while, actually a long while, but the time is going to come. It's going to
09:25end a
09:25disaster. And it's not going to take centuries like it did for the old Roman Empire to collapse.
09:32Now, back around the year 605, 625 BC, there's a Hebrew prophet by the name of Habakkuk. He wrote a
09:39short book of the Bible. Got a lot of implication from time we're in now. Verse 5 of chapter 1,
09:46it said,
09:46Look among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded, for I'm going to work a work in your
09:51days which you would not believe, though it were told to you.
09:55Well, how does that Old Testament verse apply to the United States?
10:00Well, many claim that Habakkuk was only prophesying something for the past that's already been
10:04fulfilled. And if you only look at Habakkuk 1.5, that seems reasonable. But we're supposed to look
10:11here a little there a little at the Bible. And if you go to the book of Acts, Acts 13,
10:16verses 40 to 41. In the New Testament it says, Beware, therefore, lest what has been spoken in the
10:25prophets come upon you. Behold, you despisers, marvel and perish. For I'll work a work in your
10:31days, a work which you will by no means believe, though one were to declare it to you. So we
10:37see
10:37there's certainly a duality in some of what Habakkuk wrote. So there's some for Habakkuk's time
10:43and something for later time. But getting back to Habakkuk, now I want to go to chapter 2.
10:482. He wrote, Then the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and make it plain on tables,
10:58that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, and for the time
11:05at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, so it means it didn't happen
11:09immediately, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
11:152. So what did Habakkuk see in his vision that is so bad that people should run who read it?
11:24Go to verse 4 now. We read from Habakkuk. Behold the proud. His soul is not upright in him,
11:31but the just will live by faith. Printing up money and debt like the United States,
11:37the politicians are very proud that way. Verse 5. Indeed, because he transgresses by wine,
11:43he's a proud man. Doesn't stay home because he enlarges his desire as the grave. And he is like
11:53death and cannot be satisfied. He gathers himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples.
11:59Verse 6. Will not all these take up a proverb against him and a taunting riddle against him and save?
12:06Woe to him who increases what is not his. How long? And to him who loads himself up with many
12:13pledges. Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? You'll become
12:19their booty. Because you've plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you,
12:24because of men's blood and the violence to the land and the city.
12:29Are you saying that the prophesied oppression and plundering is coming to the United States?
12:36Yes. With an admitted official federal debt of nearly $39 trillion and plans to increase that much
12:44further, the United States has increased pledges more than any nation in history of the planet.
12:49It's turning its non-coinage money into dross. That prophecy in Habakkuk is going to be fulfilled
12:55at the time of the end. And the same time of the end is referred to in the Daniel chapter
13:0110,
13:01Daniel chapter 8, Daniel chapter 11. They use the same Hebrew term for appointed times as Habakkuk 2.3.
13:09It makes little sense by the way that Habakkuk's prophecy for the end time has to do with a tiny
13:14nation called, modern nation called Israel. It doesn't have enemy creditors. It's got to be
13:20talking about a nation or a group of nations with some prominence at the appointed time of the end.
13:28And despite the fact there's biblical warnings on dross money and excessive debt, the United
13:34States has ignored those warnings. And yes, one day its dross money is going to be recognized as
13:42worthless, only worth the value of the cotton paper printed on. And that's not going to end well for
13:48the United States. The time is going to come when the economy of the United States will be totally
13:52devastated. And those who ignore the Bible's warnings will suffer because of it. The time
13:57will come when people will not value make-believe money. It happened to Rome. Does the United States
14:02have any hope? Yeah, according to 2 Chronicles 7.14, if it repents. But at this stage, that doesn't
14:08seem likely. We need to put our confidence in God and not in dross money. Thank you, Dr. Thiel.
14:15For more interviews with Dr. Thiel, in addition to written as well as audio articles, visit our website at
14:21BibleNewsProphecy.net. This is Steve Dupuis for the Bible News Prophecy Program.