British newspapers do not normally quote Scripture, so it surprised me to see two prominent and highly respected British writers calling for the introduction of the biblical year of jubilee.

According to the Old Testament statute, the jubilee was the year of release, held once every 50 years—release, that is, from debt. Everybody's debts were cancelled and economic life began all over again.

Niall Ferguson, a historian who was born in Scotland but now teaches at both Harvard and Oxford, was the first to mention the jubilee. In a full-page article titled "The Age of Obligation" (Financial Times, Dec. 18, 2008) Ferguson wrote: "In the Old Testament Book of Leviticus, God commands the children of Israel to observe a jubilee every 50 years. Nowadays we tend to associate the word with celebrations of royal anniversaries such as Queen Elizabeth's golden jubilee in 2002. But the biblical conception of a jubilee was more precise: that of a general cancellation of debts.

"This point is spelt out in Deuteronomy: 'Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord's release.'

"Such injunctions may strike the modern reader as utopian. How could any sophisticated society function if all debts were cancelled twice a century… Yet we know that such general cancellations of debt really did happen in the ancient world. In 1788 BC, for example, about 500 years before the time of Moses, King Rim-Sin of Ur issued a royal edict declaring all loans null and void, wiping out some of history's earliest known moneylenders."

Ferguson also showed that a cancellation of debts is not unknown in modern times. In 1923 hyperinflation led to the collapse of the German currency, thereby wiping out all paper denominated debts.

"In the end, the only way out of all this global debt may prove to be a biblical debt Jubilee. Creditors are not going to like that," concludes Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of London 's Daily Telegraph ("Biblical Debt Jubilee May Be the Only Answer," Jan. 19, 2009). Evans-Pritchard was writing in the midst of a renewed banking crisis severely affecting the United Kingdom.

There seems no end to the international financial crisis, with more twists and turns than a Hollywood thriller.

"As one bail-out succeeds another at ever more inflated price tags, rescue fatigue is becoming palpable. People are bewildered, fearing that good money is being thrown after bad," wrote Evans-Pritchard. Many are fearful that the frequent bailouts are mortgaging their children's future, as all the money will have to be paid back sometime, with interest.

There is also fear of hyperinflation comparable to that of Germany's Weimar Republic during the 1920s. With a greater historical awareness, Germany has been more reluctant to bail out banks and other private companies.

Germans expressed consternation when, following the near collapse of the financial system caused by bad loans, then U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson expressed the need to get the banks lending to people again! Yet good sense begs the question: If excessive borrowing caused the problem in the first place, then how could further borrowing be the solution?

Britain particularly susceptible

Although Wall Street has long been the world's biggest stock market, London has remained the world's biggest financial center. This has had a negative side. With the collapse of the international financial system, London has suffered more than New York . The British economy, more dependent on jobs in the financial sector, is now in its first recession since the early 1990s and continues to deteriorate. The British currency, the pound, has lost about a third of its value in the last 12 months.

It's hard to believe this is happening when one considers that the United Kingdom was the birthplace of the modern international financial system and also of the industrial revolution that was so much a part of the country's rise to greatness.

Even after World War II, when the United States replaced Britain as the world's major power center, the British pound was the alternate reserve currency, used in international trade. The sterling era continued for 25 years. These were countries, mostly former British colonies that continued to trade in British pounds rather than U.S. dollars, banking their assets with the Bank of England.

But then Britain changed course, pursuing closer ties with continental Europe at the expense of traditional ties with the nations of the Commonwealth. It was a total reversal in British foreign policy. Ever since the Reformation over 400 years earlier during the time of Henry VIII, Britain's policy had been to turn its back on Europe and concentrate on building trade and security ties with its colonies and former colonies around the world. Only when the balance of power in Europe was threatened did the country get involved in its own backyard, against despots like Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Hitler.

Following its entry into what is now the European Union, British manufacturing nose-dived, with the country increasingly reliant on its banking sector and North Sea oil. Now the chickens have come home to roost.

Peter Garnham, in his recent Financial Times article "Jim Rogers: 'UK Has Nothing to Sell,'" summarized that investor's view of the situation: "The pound is a currency with no underpinning and should fall against the dollar and the euro, says Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings and co-founder of the Quantum Fund with George Soros.

"He says his view reflects the UK's dire economic situation: 'It's simple, the UK has nothing to sell.'

"Mr Rogers says the two main pillars of support for sterling have been North Sea oil and the strength of the UK financial services sector, in particular, the City of London's role.

"But Mr Rogers says just as North Sea oil is running out, so London's standing as a major financial centre is set to suffer.

"'I don't think there is a sound UK bank now, at least, if there is one I don't know about it,' he says.

"'The City of London is finished, the financial centre of the world is moving east. All the money is in Asia. Why would it go back to the west? You don't need London,' says Mr Rogers.

"Mr Rogers thinks the pound is more vulnerable than the dollar or the euro. He says the UK housing market is arguably in a worse state than that of the US, given pockets of strength in the US and prices that are sliding across the board in the UK.

"Meanwhile, he says, the UK is in worse shape economically than the eurozone, where most countries are not big debtors and do not run huge trade deficits…

"The controversial comments from the investor and author came as fresh evidence emerged that the UK's economy is falling deeper into recession" (Jan. 21, 2009, emphasis added).

Britain, like the United States and other governments, is doing what it can in bailing out the banks, but it may not be enough.

"Taken together the rescues may make the difference between global recession and a deeper slump that causes mass unemployment and social turmoil, perhaps destroying the open global order we take for granted," warned Evans-Pritchard. History shows that mass unemployment can lead to social turmoil, riots and even revolution. The rise of fascism and communism in Europe followed both. Democracy could easily be the victim of any prolonged slump.

Riots in Iceland, Latvia and Greece show the frustrations of many young people faced with a seemingly hopeless future. "Many young people live with the unbearable knowledge that there is no future," wrote Roger Boyes ("Protests Tip of Iceberg as Europe Braces for Chaos," The Australian, Jan. 23, 2009).

Anglo-American vs. German model

During the first wave of the banking crisis in the autumn, the German finance minister spoke of the end of the Anglo-American financial system. Increasingly, it is becoming apparent that there are two models in the Western world with two distinctly different approaches to solving the current crisis.

The United States and Britain are throwing vast amounts of money at banks and other corporations, trying to save them from insolvency. The Germans, meanwhile, are much more cautious, remembering the historic lesson that overspending by governments can soon lead to hyperinflation and total collapse. This was a major cause of the collapse of the democratic Weimar Republic that ruled Germany between World War I and Hitler's rise to power.

Germans are proud of their economic model, which was set up in Germany amidst the ruins caused by World War II. Taking what was believed to be the best of Anglo-American capitalism, they incorporated the traditional German social market model that required more state involvement but emphasized taking care of everyone.

"The idea they came up with was the 'social market' and its architect was a future Chancellor, Ludwig Erhard.

"The concept was very simple: West Germany would have capitalism with a market economy, but the government would provide a significant amount of regulation to ensure fair play; much more regulation than in Anglo-Saxon capitalism, the system which had developed in Britain .

"Over the years, the social market has been modified, updated, and sometimes even questioned. But the system that fuelled Germany's post-war economic miracle has not only survived: with the global economy in collapse, many Germans are hailing it as the only show in town.

"In recent weeks, an ideological row has erupted between supporters of the social market and proponents of Anglo-Saxon capitalism.

" Germany is facing its worst recession since World War II and many Germans blame that on the under-regulated and over-risky financial systems of countries like Britain and the US .

"They believe it was those economies which triggered the credit crunch that dragged the global economy down the tube.

"On 14 January, the head of the German trades' union federation Michael Sommer vented his fury. He raged against 'brutal, casino capitalism.'

"'The Anglo-Saxon economic model,' he declared, 'had blown it and would disappear.' It would be replaced, he predicted, 'by Germany's socially regulated and socially responsible version of capitalism'" (Steve Rosenberg, "Germany's Orderly Social Market," BBC News, Jan. 19, 2009).

The BBC report continued:

" Germany had no housing bubble waiting to burst, Germans were not seduced by credit to the extent that people in Britain, the US or Spain were.

"You can see why Germany's finance minister has been so quick to defend Germany's way of doing things—and to criticise Britain.

"Of course, no system is perfect. Germany's unemployment rate is higher than Britain's.

"The German economy is forecast to suffer just as badly as Britain's.

"The German car industry is taking a big hit. But few Germans are casting doubt on their system, on the social market.

"As the German proverb declares: 'Order is half of life.'"

Clearly, there are two quite different models here. The German model is based on greater government regulation, more centralization. This is in conflict with the Anglo-American model with its greater emphasis on individual responsibility. Yet in spite of this clear distinction, the British have been pursuing a closer relationship with the continental Europeans for 40 years. To join the EU, they had to turn their backs on the former dominions of the British Commonwealth—Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, nations that had fought for them in two world wars and countless other conflicts.

God's Advice

The Old Testament prophetic book of Hosea is a message for the modern descendants of Ephraim, the multitude (or Commonwealth) of nations prophesied in Genesis 48. A great deal of the prophecy in the book is still to be fulfilled, including a prophecy about the fall of Ephraim, Israel and Judah at the same time, something that never happened in the ancient world (Hosea 5:5-7).

Included in the book is a prophecy about Ephraim (Britain) continually pursuing an unwise relationship with a great power to the east, which today is being fulfilled in the German-led European Union. "Ephraim feeds on the wind, and pursues the east wind" (Hosea 12:1). This is a big mistake that will ultimately contribute to the nation's downfall.

In addition to economic threats, Britain may soon find itself stripped of its special relationship with the United States. "Barack Obama Plans to Make US Relationship With Britain Less Special Than Before" ran a headline in The Daily Telegraph on Jan. 17, 2009. "Barack Obama will play down Britain's importance and cast it as merely 'one of the crowd' of countries with which America has a special relationship, sources close to the incoming president have warned," reported Tim Shipman from Washington.

The British government recently signed on to the European treaty that will result in an even closer European Union, with a single president and a single foreign policy. Realizing its growing economic weakness, and the inevitability of a lessening of the tie with the United States as America concentrates on her own problems, Britain is set to move even closer to Europe. With its currency weakened and its economy deteriorating, the United Kingdom may even be forced into switching to the euro, thereby further losing its economic independence.

British people a century ago would never have dreamed they could be in this mess. At the time they were the global superpower, ruling over a quarter of the world's people in an empire "upon which the sun never set." Their rise to greatness began in the upheaval of the Protestant Reformation, and their zeal for God and the Bible contributed greatly to their rise.

That same Bible now offers an alternative solution to Britain's problems: "O Israel, return to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity" (Hosea 14:1).

To trace the history and prophetic significance of Britain's biblical identity, see our carefully researched booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy. WNP