|
the coming
nightmare
A rude awakening from the American Dream
In Western society, a successful life is
most often defined in terms of owning a home. In fact, the promise of home
ownership for the common man is the primary ingredient of the American
Dream.
But in reality, the overwhelming majority of Americans who claim to be homeowners
don't OWN the homes they dwell in! The banks and mortgage companies
do! Purchasers simply commit to making mortgage payments for thirty
years, and if and when the loans are paid in full, they receive the title
deed.
This illusion of home ownership has given many - including members of
the household of faith - a false sense of financial security. It also
creates unmerited
feelings of superiority in the "homeowner" towards those who are "just renters."
It has also afforded them the "right" to borrow large sums of money; and
thus, join the "successful" in the practice of materialism - and being evermore
the servant of the lender...
Recently, while doing a little shopping at a local electronics store, I met
a real estate salesman who looked to be in his late 60's to early 70's. During
our conversation, he tried to sell me on the idea of buying a home. I told
him that this was not a good time, since the market is extremely overvalued.
I also mentioned to him of a major housing crash coming within the next few
years.
Predictably, his demeanor drastically changed once he heard that. He began
to ridicule my comments, and the conversation became rather intense. At one
point he proclaimed, "The housing market has never crashed and never will!"
I simply told him that time will tell - and that the housing market WILL
crash within these next few years!
Obviously, the real estate salesman I encountered is not alone in his over-confidence in the American housing market...
The 'Homeownership Alliance', an association
made up of eighteen national housing organizations, recently predicted that
home prices will increase by an average of 5% per year for the next ten
years with no bursting bubble.
In regards to a housing market crash, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan recently stated, "A softening in housing markets would likely
be one of many adjustments that would occur in the wake of an increase in
interest rates, but a destabilizing contraction in nationwide house prices
does not seem the most probable outcome. Indeed, nominal house prices in the
aggregate have rarely fallen and certainly not by very much."
What Greenspan, the Homeownership Alliance, and real estate agents all
have in common is that bad news about the housing market means bad business for
them!
The truth is, in a nationwide real estate
crash, due to various economic factors, housing prices would drop
drastically, causing major losses in home equity, tremendous reductions in
consumer spending, mass foreclosures and defaults on mortgages, and a major
crisis in the mortgage banking industry.
From a prophetic perspective, a major housing market crash will soon occur
in order to humble those who have placed their trust in home "ownership."
And of course, those who have a vested interest in real estate have a vested
interest in keeping people in the dark about this coming financial crisis.
In many local congregations, encouraging home
"ownership" is done as if being in debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars
somehow glorifies YHWH. In many ways, their leaders give the impression that
the Great Commission and the American Dream are synonymous.
America and the world would do well in taking
heed to that which is written - "And it shall come to pass in the last days,
saith God [Elohim], I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams... " (Acts 2:17).
Surely, the time is nigh at hand for those who have TRUSTED in the American Dream to be humbled and abased - and for anointed voices from the
faithful remnant of Israel in Christ to emerge, putting forth DIVINE dreams...
|
