A new area of focus is Eastern Europe, which continues to edge closer to a financial abyss that further threatens the stability of the global financial system. While America has banks that are too big to let fail, Europe has banks that are too big to save. Some Austrian banks have loaned out more than 70 percent of Austrian GDP—clearly an untenable system.

Bible prophecy tells us a future power will arise from the turbulent scene that is anchored on the Mediterranean basin.

Look at Daniel 7:1-3. "In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts. Daniel spoke, saying, 'I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea [ Mediterranean ]. And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.'"

The fourth beast of this system, in its end-time configuration, will be a political/religious system that controls the commerce and wealth of the world. It arises out of a time of turmoil that threatens global stability. We are watching scenes that could very well be the prologue to what we see described in Daniel.

The present world financial scene shows the confusion of a world that is spiritually, morally and ethically blinded. Old solutions do not seem to be working. Each week brings more revelations and understanding of just how deep the financial morass really is. We hear about the greed, dishonesty and incompetence involved in the collapse of banks and financial houses. These are spiritual matters that strike to the basic questions of our times.

The prophet Isaiah foretold our times with these words. "O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the LORD. For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with eastern ways; they are soothsayers...

"Their land is also full of silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is also full of horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands... People bow down, and each man humbles himself [to the idols]; therefore do not forgive them" (Isaiah 2:5-9).

Our age is steeped in a postmodern form of idolatry that values the power, status and celebrity that come with money. The developed world is vastly wealthy. But we have seen the fabric of that wealth can come apart with lightning speed.

When a house is built on a shaky foundation, it will ultimately collapse. It will not stand the stress and strains created by a world blinded to the true spiritual law of God. That is what we are seeing with today's financial turmoil.

It will take God's intervention and His rule through His Kingdom to bring the restoration of the kind of world that will guarantee long-term stability. We are not there yet. But we should pray every day for its coming. WNP