The image is of an event held this past Wednesday calling Christians to pray for the world’s economies.
A quote unrelated to the event::
Conversion in the U.S. seems to mean we’ve exchanged some of our shopping at Wal-Mart, Blockbuster, and Borders for the Christian bookstore down the street. We’ve taken our lack of purchasing control to God’s store, where we buy our office supplies in Jesus’ name.
—Mark Riddle
I’ll let you draw all the conclusions you wish.
In late July of this year, I asked the following economic questions, and this is how you answered:
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I would be interested in knowing if those figures still hold true.
The even greater question is whether or not your church has discussed the economy. I’m suspecting now that they have.
Rather than open up a new set of polls, I’d simply like to ask you all to leave a comment on the following questions:
Has your church leadership addressed the financial meltdown? If so, what did they say or do?
Has your church leadership taken any steps to initiate a new program/benevolence to address financial issues among the congregants within the church? Outside the church?
Do people in your church think this meltdown is The Beginning of the End?
Thank you for being a reader and for contributing your comments.
Saturday a bit more than a week ago, I was out driving on the highway near my home when the Lord spoke this to my spirit:
The just shall live by faith.
It’s a sure word, so sure in fact that it’s said four times in the Scriptures: Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38. I believe God would have us remember this point!
The just are those who have placed their faith in Christ and have been made right with God. I think the phrase is less a command and more a statement of fact. People who have been given the power to become the children of God are the ones who live by faith.
Some believe that the financial meltdown now afflicting our country is the start of a great tribulation. I don’t know; it may be.
What I do know is this: The just shall live by faith.
The one who trusts money will see that money fail.
The one who trusts in cunning will see that cunning fail.
The one who trusts in elaborate disaster plans will see those plans fail.
The one who trusts in friends will see those friends fail.
The one who trusts in the ability to control life will see that control fail.
The one who trusts in self will see self fail.
Who will survive when all the foundations are rocked? The one who trusts God and God alone for all provision, all wisdom, and all security.
The just shall live by faith.
The world will scream at genuine Christians, claiming they are fools. The worldly will say, “Look, you have lost everything.” 
And we will respond, “We have Christ, therefore we have all that matters.”
Many Christians will be overtaken by fear in the days ahead. They will fear because their confidence is in their own resources, not in the Lord. The one who knows Christ cannot be shaken.
The idols we have made of our jobs, our homes, our material goods, and our investments have been assaulted. If we do not recognize this time of shaking for what it is, we will not be found ready.
But the just, who live by faith, will find a most unusual word spoken to them: “Peace.” I can hear God speaking it even now. “Peace.”
The world cannot hear that word, nor will they accept it. Their rejection comes because they are not just and they have no faith except in what moth and rust destroy.
God will raise up those Christians who are at rest. Some may even have felt an otherwordly peace descend upon their hearts in recent days. I think those will be the people who will be able to stand as lighthouses for Christ in the midst of the storm.
Though the world around us may go to pieces, God will preserve those who trust Him no matter what is going on outside the four walls of the local church.
The just shall live by faith.