Another week has come and gone, and with it another debate. This time, one of the Vice-Presidential variety between Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Time Kaine.
I confess I did not watch the whole thing. I caught bits and pieces. But I think I saw enough to say that, at least from a style standpoint, Mike Pence came off well. Unlike Trump, he appeared to actually done his homework for the debate and seemed ready to answer the tough questions, especially the ones concerning Trump.
Pence also came off as more gracious than Kaine, who spent a remarkable amount of time interrupting him.
But I’m not here to break down the minutiae of the debate. There are others who can do that far better than I. And what with yesterday’s news being what happened five minutes ago, the debate is old hat at this point anyway.
What really did interest me about the debate is an aspect of Tim Kaine’s background that has, on the whole, attracted little interest from the mainstream press: his Roman Catholicism.
A little research into Kaine reveals the following:
- He went to Jesuit high school, where, according to Jesuit magazine America, “he first started ‘talking about faith and spirituality’ ”
- He Approves Jesuit Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical Laudato Si.
- He Indicates his Jesuit faith is “central to everything I do.”
- The pope’s address to Congress in 2015 moved Kaine to tears. This is the same speech where Francis took it upon himself to lecture Congress and Americans with his socialist environmental and immigration message.
I could go on, but it seems abundantly clear that Tim Kaine is a hard-core Jesuit. Brining this up isn’t anti-Catholic bigotry as some would like to think. It’s a clear demonstration that this man who wants to be Vice-President has a view of economics and politics that is far from, and actually diametrically opposed to, what the Bible teaches.
Kaine is an intellectual slave to his Jesuit philosophy, and no Evangelical should support such a man for any office. Let alone the high office of the Vice-President.
Doubling Down
The past several months have seen a steady parade of top investment managers making public statements to the effect that the financial markets are unstable and poised for a big fall. One of the biggest names to do this has been the Bill Gross.
You may not be familiar with that name unless your one to get geeked on finance as I do. But trust me, Bill “Bond King” Gross has been one of the most respected names in investing for decades now. And when he speaks, it’s a good idea to listen.
That brings me to Gross’ latest article titled Doubling Down, in which he asserts that central bankers have become like out of control gamblers who think they can recoup their losses if they just double down on their last losing bet at the casino. Says Gross,
Our financial markets have become a Vegas/Macau?Monte Carlo casino, wagering that an unlimited supply of credit generated by central banks can successfully reflate global economies and reinvigorate nominal GDP growth to lower but acceptable norms in today’s highly levered world.
To put that a little more simply, statist central bankers think that prosperity comes by printing money. Another way of putting it is that central bankers believe the lie that you can too get something for nothing.
And people wonder why our economy is going down the tubes. With these foolish central bankers in charge, what’s amazing is that we have an economy at all.
Protect Your Savings
On a related note, a reader asked me this past week whether I thought, given the serious problems with the financial system, there was any way for Christians to protect their savings, and also whether it was right for them to do so. I thought those were good questions and decided to share my answer with a wider audience.
In short, by all means it is proper for Christians to take action to protect their savings from governmental and central bank predations.
Expanding on that a bit, Scripture tells us “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, But the simple pass on and are punished” (Proverbs 22:3). Christians are expected to be able to exercise wisdom, judgment and discernment. Go has given us a Bible of 66 books filled with propositions and implications of those propositions. And we are expected to study them and apply them in our lives. That’s what being prudent means, in contrast to the fool who fails to do this.
When we study the Scriptures, we should be able to discern that God approves of limited government and free markets. What John Robbins referred to as constitutional-capitalism. And when we see the world, not just ignoring what the Bible has to say about politics and economics, but in fact dashing headlong in the opposite direction, we can be sure that tough times are coming.
The Bible is filled with examples of individuals who were faced with extreme circumstances and who survived by heeding the Word of God. Noah built the ark. Joseph urged pharaoh to store up gain for the famine. Hezekiah prepared Jerusalem against the siege of the Assyrians by stopping the wells. Jesus warned his disciples to flee Jerusalem when they saw it surrounded by armies. These and other examples are proof positive of the survival value of heeding the Word of God.
But not only is it right for Christians to take reasonable measures to protect themselves from financial and other catastrophes, it seems to me that it is a moral imperative that they do so.
After all, when the next big financial shock hits -and it is without a doubt coming – if Christians are just as confused, just as panicked, just as unprepared to deal with it as are unbelievers, what kind of witness for Christ will that be?
On the other hand if we’re prepared spiritually and financially, we can be in a position to help our families, help ourselves and help our neighbors. And that will be a Christian witness worthy of our Savior.
As to specific steps Christians can take to prepare themselves financially for the tough times that lie ahead, I recommended three measures.
First, eliminate debt. Debt is a terrible master in the best of times. In the worst of times, it’s a stone cold killer. As Proverbs tells us, The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.
Second, hold physical cash outside the banking system. Many people equate cash with their bank accounts, but this is not the case. Since our banks use what is called a fractional reserve system, the amount of cash held by a bank is only a tiny fraction of the total checking and savings deposits of it account holders. If enough people demand their cash at once in a panic, the bank will run out. Think of those old pictures of bank runs from the depression.
Don’t be a victim. Have some physical cash where you know you can get your hands on it. Even if that means “putting it under the mattress.”
Third, once you have paid down your debt and have some physical cash, consider purchasing hard assets such as gold and silver. The great thing about these monetary metals is that governments and central bankers cannot print more of them at a whim, so they hold their value, especially when inflation is raging.
Lux Lucet 
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