Current Events & Trends: Could Greece wreck Europe and America?
The Associated Press reports that "a disorderly and potentially devastating Greek debt default is looking much less likely.
Greece and investors who own its bonds have reached a tentative deal to significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed...130 billion [euro] bailout.
"Negotiators for the investors...said it [the deal] could become final next week. If the agreement works as planned, it will help Greece remain solvent and help Europe avoid a blow to its already weak financial system, even though banks and other bond investors will have to accept multibillion-dollar losses...
"If no debt-exchange deal is reached with private creditors and Greece is forced to default, it would very likely spook Europe's—and possibly the world's—financial markets" (Demetris Nellas, "Private Investors Near Deal on Greek Debt," Jan. 28, 2012).
The bigger picture here involves two things—how this might affect the emergence of a biblically foretold European-centered superpower and how what's happening in Europe will contribute to America's diminishing power in the world.
If Greece is successfully propped up by other governments and investors, then America and Europe could retain the power they presently enjoy for a while longer. But it's all tenuous, and in one wrong slip it could all come falling down like dominoes. The results of this scenario are in the hands of the one true God who sets up and takes down nations (Daniel 4:25; 5:21).
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: March - April 2012
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
