Thirdly, the record in Luke connects this event with a specific condition to begin among the nations - "distress of nations with perplexity." The word, "distress" is a translation of the Greek word, sunoche (συνοχη), meaning a constricted passage way, or being "in the narrows." The prepositional phrase - "with perplexity" (εν απορια) - carries the force of inability to meet the demands placed on the nations financially.  [Capitalized emphasis added.]  The word, aporia, is found in the papyri used in an imperial edict, in this sense. The verb form is used of a weaver who disqualified himself from public service because, though having means, they were inadequate to meet the demands of the office. (The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, p. 68) We might illustrate the financial picture conveyed by the use of this word, aporia, by contrast. Following the Panic of 1837, an editor of a paper in the midwest declined an offer of a cow and calf for a $1.00 advance subscription for his paper "because he had no way of realizing that amount of cash from the transaction." There was almost literally, no money. Now there is money but it is not adequate to cover the increasing costs.

This financial crisis for the nations began in 1967 as predicted in harmony with the sign given. The late C. V. Myers, noted in the London Financial  Times, as the "well-known Canadian financial expert" wrote in his Finance & Enemy of July 4, 1974:

It has now been established over the course of the last seven years -- since 1967 -- that there is nothing in this world the international monetary authorities can do to stem the advance of gold, or to stem the collapse of inflation -or to avoid the enormous deflation -- the global liquidity crunch -- and the resulting depressions.

In 1975, Myers wrote from Zurich, Switzerland, that the "monetary confusion deepens," stating:

From all that I have observed of international conferences since 1967, I do not believe that any conference is going to come up with any workable answer. It seems that the situation will just continue to deteriorate. Only six months ago we heard every monetary authority in the world shouting, "either we lick inflation or we are doomed. This is the battle of the century."President Ford said, we have a war, and we intend to fight this war against inflation. The way he is fighting this war against inflation is to add a $70 to $100 bil. deficit to the U.S. budget.

What happened to all the dire predictions of the result of inflation? All brains have been stunned. There is no answer - - so now they begin to think no answer is necessary. Or at least they have decided there is no use thinking about it at all. Therefore I can only see as the end product, as I have repeatedly said in these letters -- and especially after attending the big world meetings of the IMF -- the answer is total collapse. Either the countries will have to go back to a system which will stabilize the money, such as gold -­or the social order, not only of the United States but of all of the industrialized world, will disintegrate, and from this enormous confusion new governments will arise after much suffering and bloodshed, starvation and horror. These governments would be dictatorships.

Recently D'Estaing [Economist and former Premier of France] observed: "The world is unhappy. It is unhappy because it doesn' t know where it is going, and because it senses that if it knew, it would discover that it is heading for disaster.... The crisis the world knows today will be a long one. It is not a passing difficulty. It is actually the recognition of permanent change." (ibid. March 11, 1975, pp. 1-2)

Keep in mind this beginning date for the "distress of nations" - 1967. Newsweek, noting the great California Tax Revolt of 1978, observed that "since 1967, the value of the dollar has declined 47.6 per cent, and the average American working family is now barely better off in real dollars than it was a decade ago." (June 19, 1978, p. 21) The Consumer Price Index prepared by the U.S. Department of Labor uses as its "Base Period -1967=100." (See Appendix A) Jesus gave the signal when these things would begin to come to pass - the sign of the end of time - Jerusalem would again return to Israeli control. The beginning of the financial "distress of nations" coincides with that date!

(Cf. The Sign of the End of Time)

END TIME LINE RE-SURVEYED
(A Critically Important Sermon)