 [Click here to go to Times Square Church Pulpit Series multilingual site]

                       The Collapse of New York City

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Plain Text File + Home Page + Subscribe + Copyright
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

By David Wilkerson
May 7, 1990
__________

          Recently "U.S.A. Today" ran a front-page story
          entitled, "Is New York Down for the Count?" The
          illustration showed New York City dressed as a boxer,
          lying on the canvas - nearly unconscious from a
          knockout punch. The story went on to say that the city
          is spinning out of control, and that this time many
          believe it may not survive.

          New York has the highest rents in America, the highest
          taxes, the worst crime rate and some of the most
          dangerous schools in the world. The police consider
          certain neighborhoods, such as East New York and the
          Bronx, to be war zones. Officers simply won't go to
          some areas.

          One of the commentators on a morning program warned his
          viewers to stay out of this filthy, crime infested
          place. He said New York is Calcutta without the cows.
          To top it off, he added that he was moving soon - with
          no plans to return!

          The latest crime statistics for New York show an
          alarming increase in killings. The city also has the
          largest AIDS population in America, as well as the
          highest number of babies born as drug addicts -
          innocent children who die, never knowing a moment's
          freedom from agony.

          An army of unemployed homeless people walk this city's
          streets, many of them mentally ill or on drugs. They're
          frail, emaciated - and begging all the while they are
          dying. It is incredibly heartbreaking to see them
          wasting away in front of your eyes. Many die of AIDS
          right on the streets. This tragedy will only increase,
          because New York's hospitals cannot handle the load.

          Just over thirty years ago this city was relatively
          quiet and peaceful. Central Park was a lovely place
          with very little crime. But in the late fifties, heroin
          hit New York like a bomb. Although many neighborhoods
          spawned teenage gangs and drug battles during this
          time, "turf" was the main issue - and these kids
          basically kept to themselves, isolated in the ghettos.

          But all that has changed. People are now asking, "What
          is going wrong with this city? What is happening here?"
          New York seems to be on the verge of anarchy. The
          prisons are jammed with criminals, the vast majority of
          whose crimes are related to crack! No reasonably
          intelligent person can stand by and ignore the rapid
          demise of this city. We all know that something is
          about to give!

          Four years ago, when God called me to return to New
          York City, He gave me two mandates: to find and
          encourage a holy remnant and to warn New York of
          impending judgment. The Word of God states that the
          Lord does nothing in the area of judgment until He
          forewarns His people through His prophets or watchmen.
          "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth
          his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7).

          Beloved, I won't come anywhere near to speculative
          prophecy. If a prophetic message or word is not
          grounded in the Word of God, we will find ourselves
          tossed and blown about by every wind and wave of
          doctrine. Today all kinds of so-called prophecies sound
          spectacular but haven't an ounce of truth to them. A
          tell-tale sign of dubious prophecy is if it is not
          anchored on examples from the Word of God.

          The Lord has left us patterns in His Word by which we
          may discern how His hand will move! God is the same
          yesterday, today and forever, and his principles of
          judgment do not change. The Bible says that everything
          which happened to those in Scripture serves as an
          example to us, "upon whom the ends of the world are
          come" (1 Corinthians 10:11). With all precedents based
          on Scripture, we can see clear warnings in the Bible of
          the crises coming our way.

          Ezekiel 33:1-9 tells us that the watchman who sees
          danger coming but doesn't warn the people will be held
          responsible by the Lord God for what he didn't say -
          that the people's blood will be on his own hands. I do
          not wish to have the blood of anyone on my hands - so I
          must tell you several things the Holy Spirit has shown
          me about New York City.

          First of all, consider that God has been warning New
          York for years. These warnings have been largely
          ignored. The city almost went bankrupt in the 1970's:
          but the moment the scare was over, a wild spirit of
          greed and pride moved in! Wall Street began to strut
          it's stuff - building sky scrapers and padding
          payrolls. Money quickly returned to its throne as the
          god of this city.

          Again on October 19, 1987 (now known as "Black
          Monday"), God gave New York a warning impossible to
          ignore. The stock market plummeted sharply, and
          afterward people ran up and down the streets shouting
          "It's all over!" But the "survivor" mentality again
          prevailed: "We have existed for 200 years, and we've
          always had some violence, panics, stock market crashes.
          We've been one the brink of disaster so many times that
          we know we'll stagger through again this time, just
          like before!"

          Once more God was warning New York about its greed and
          pride. But this city would not listen and continued
          killing its babies, pushing God out of its schools and
          flaunting promiscuity and homosexuality. Today's New
          Yorkers merely blinked when homosexual activist groups
          stormed St. Patrick's Cathedral and lay down in the
          aisles, seeking to disrupt the services.

          All this has happened without so much as a glimmer of
          repentance. But other warnings are just ahead - and the
          signs of their coming are clear: First, New York will
          experience a huge, black hole of financial chaos. The
          present mayor entered office and few months ago only to
          be greeted by a staggering financial crisis. His
          forerunner had left office without making any allusions
          to the existence of this crisis.

          To make matters worse, the state has cut aid to New
          York City by $125 million - in the face of a billion
          dollar deficit. Tax revenues had been overestimated,
          and now the city's expenses are spinning out of
          control. There have been - and will continue to be -
          layoffs in every branch and department of the city's
          government and services.

          You may ask where we can find a precedent of prophecy
          in the Bible for this present situation. The Lord took
          me to 1 Kings and ancient Jerusalem. While under the
          reign of Solomon, that city had a lot in common with
          modern-day New York. If we study the fall of Jerusalem,
          we will see also New York's soon coming collapse.

          Solomon clearly had been blessed by God more than any
          man on earth. He possessed more wealth that anyone in
          all of history. And there was no city as prosperous in
          Solomon's day as Jerusalem. It had become the center of
          all world trade and commerce. Merchants flocked to the
          city's markets with linens, yarns and silks. "And all
          the kings of Arabia and governors of countries brought
          him gold and silver" (2 Chronicles 9:14). The markets
          were flooded with wheat, barley, oils and wines from
          all nations.

          Most of the citizens had servants. Ornate buildings
          were created from marble, copper, precious stones,
          fine-finished lumbers such as fir or cedar. These
          magnificent edifices were surrounded by beautiful palm
          trees. Solomon sent ships all over the world to obtain
          animals for fancy zoos, filling them with ostriches,
          zebras, monkeys and birds of paradise.

          The Bible also tells us that Solomon saturated
          Jerusalem's streets with exotic, gorgeous chariots. He
          had 1,400 of them along with 12,000 horses that were
          brought up from Egypt. Yet he did this in defiance of
          the law of Moses, which prohibited the kings of Israel
          from multiplying for themselves horses out of the land
          of Egypt (Deuteronomy 17:16).

                      -------------------------------

                    Solomon Became More of a Politician
                        - And Less of a Man of God!

                      -------------------------------

          It occurs to me that with all this expansion Solomon
          must have had very little time to pray! He must have
          spent the bulk of his time with his architects in the
          drawing rooms. It's no wonder he found it easy to
          ignore the law of Moses - but his negligence had severe
          consequences for the city.

          Jerusalem had become the New York [City] of its day in
          culture and commerce. When all the heathen servants and
          outside laborers entered her gates, they brought their
          own forms of worship. People didn't just enter as
          individual servants and automatically adopt Jewish
          customs. They came in enjoying their whole style of
          living - including foreign gods.

          The Israelites had been warned of these alien gods and
          were ordered to stay away from them. Yet Solomon
          himself imported the idols right alongside the other
          exotic things he collected. And in order to support all
          this, he levied heavy taxes on the people - which soon
          became a grievous burden on them.

          The same man who once built the temple, who once burned
          with a desire to please God, ended up a politician! At
          the height of his prosperity he turned to the reasoning
          of the world rather then the wisdom of God's Word.
          Expediency became more important to him than
          intercession and supplication.

          For example, when he married Pharaoh's daughter, he
          secured an instant treaty of peace with a once
          formidable enemy. Instead of doing what is right in
          God's eyes, Solomon operated with the world's mind set
          and did what was most convenient. Eventually everything
          became a matter of politics for him - and he simply
          "went through the motions" with God. This is the kind
          of thing that would bring down any city - or believer,
          for that matter!

          In addition, Solomon harbored a tremendous lust for
          women, owning 700 hundred wives and 300 concubines.
          This too was in direct contradiction to the law of
          Moses: "Neither shall he multiply wives to himself,
          that his heart turn not away" (Deuteronomy 17:17).

          Solomon became so addicted to his wives and concubines
          that his uncontrolled lust led to and increase in
          idolatry - because each wife brought into the kingdom
          their own gods. Solomon provided each one with a temple
          and a staff: "And likewise, he did for all his strange
          wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their
          gods" (1 Kings 11:8). These temples must have included
          many priests, attendants, virgins and treasurers. There
          was a great temple to Ashtoreth, goddess of the
          Zidonians, as well as for Milcom and Molech of the
          Ammonites, and Chemosh of Moab.

          I believe that, aside from the horrendous spiritual
          destruction that they caused, every idolatrous
          institution erected in Jerusalem became a greedy entity
          gobbling up the treasury. Before Solomon's death, the
          city was inundated with godless, worthless,
          institutions that drained and bankrupted the whole
          nation of Israel.

          The tax system that Solomon devised was rigid and
          binding in order to support the massive expansion of
          the kingdom, the idolatrous temples, the
          pleasure-madness and the sensuality. Drinking had no
          doubt clouded his wisdom, because he admitted "he gave
          himself to wine."

          Solomon died a sick, decrepit, disillusioned man. I
          wonder if, as he died, he had any regret of leaving his
          son a legacy of hopeless debt - for his son Rehoboam
          came to the throne with the nation facing certain
          economic disaster!

          Multitudes of special interest groups stretched out
          their hands saying, "We have no room to cut! We need
          every dollar!" Rehoboam got a quick education - just
          like the mayor of New York - when his financial
          advisors told him the extent of the financial disaster
          looming overhead!

                      -------------------------------

                         God Is Going To Bring Down
                          New York City Just As He
                          Brought Down Jerusalem!

                      -------------------------------

          How was Jerusalem brought down? It's tax base was
          destroyed! After Solomon's death a man named Jereboam,
          who had fled to Egypt during the reign of Solomon, led
          the entire population to petition king Rehoboam for tax
          relief! "Thy father made our yoke grievous: now
          therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father,
          and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and
          we will serve thee" (1 Kings 12:4).

          Rehoboam gave himself three days to make his decision.
          During that time he consulted both the old men who had
          "stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived"
          (verse 6) and the young men with whom he had grown up.
          He chose to ignore the advice of his elders, which was
          to lighten the load of the people. Instead, he followed
          the advice of his peers - who told him to add to the
          people's tax burden rather then reduce it.

          Yet there was a solution to the entire problem, had
          Rehoboam wanted to see it: Shut down the idolatrous
          temples! This would have laid off thousands of heathen
          priests, stopped the financial bleeding and thus
          relieved much of the burden from the people. Instead he
          proclaimed, "My little finger shall be thicker than my
          father's loins (thigh)... my father has chastised you
          with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions" (1
          Kings 12:10-11).

          Rehoboam did not want to face the ire of those
          well-entrenched special interest groups, so he cried,
          "More taxes!" "And the people replied, "What portion
          have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the
          son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine
          own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents"
          (1 Kings 12:16). The revolt was on!

          This is exactly the way God will bring down New York
          City. History will repeat itself: We will see the tax
          base crumble because of businesses, families and
          individuals who are weary of the grievous taxes will
          depart and say, "See to your own house, New York! We
          are departing! No more taxes for us!

          Believe me - the exodus has begun! We hear that the new
          jobs have been created and that statistically there are
          more opportunities available - but what the analysts
          ignore is that those new jobs are on the lower end of
          the pay scale. Middle managers, who are being laid off
          as companies cut back, are not able to find comparable
          new jobs. So more and more people will simply move out,
          unable to finance living in the city.

          When Rehoboam sent out his tax collectors, the people
          of Israel responded by stoning them and sending their
          chariots rumbling home empty! Jerusalem degenerated
          into an idolatrous, wicked city. Everywhere men
          indulged themselves. The city spun out of control,
          ruled by lust and greed.

          I have thought to myself that perhaps a weaker tax base
          would cause the government to stop funding abortion
          clinics, and they would have to shut down. Or that
          degenerate art shows endowed by federal funds would
          halt without support from arts grants. But not so!
          Abortions would be carried on kitchens with knives, and
          art exhibits would continue on, staffed with volunteers
          in donated space. Because even in the face of
          undeniable warning signs, lust, greed and sin continue
          on uncontrolled!

          Soon New York will no longer be the "in place" for
          business and pleasure. God is going to orphan and
          isolate this city! As we see in the example of ancient
          Jerusalem, the loss of the tax base here will lead to
          greater iniquity. It is all foretold in Moses' curse on
          godless peoples: "And thou shalt grope at noonday, as
          the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not
          prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed
          and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee."

          No money is being apportioned to fix roads or bridges,
          to improve schools or to hire more police. Broadway
          will face some very dark days, because people will fear
          coming to town even for one night. The general public
          will have no money for luxuries because of mass
          unemployment. The time will come when high-paying
          government jobs - the ones that require no work but
          which utilize huge expense accounts and
          chauffeur-driven limousines - will shut down!

          And what about the real estate market? Beloved, there
          will be none! A market implies buyers and sellers, but
          soon there will be only sellers. No one will have the
          money to buy! Right now, 14 percent of New York City's
          available commercial space sits empty! That amounts to
          6 million square feet of empty, non-tax-producing
          space! The Japanese have bought a number of Manhattan
          office buildings, but their economy has begun to
          reflect problems as well. Very likely, they soon will
          be in exodus from New York too.

                      -------------------------------

                         Wall Street Will Be Called
                          "High Street" Instead!

                      -------------------------------

          I don't foresee another Wall Street panic. Instead, I
          picture a fatalistic, lethargic madness - caused by
          drugs. Wall Street will drift into disaster during a
          cocaine high. Few will care - they will be stoned!

          Recently, a beloved brother in the Lord told me he lost
          his job as vice president of a Wall Street firm because
          he refused to snort cocaine with the other executives.
          Apparently all but two in his entire department were
          hooked on the drug. How much of their financial risk
          taking was done under the influence of coke? Their
          attitude was: "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we
          will be canned! It's not our money, so who cares
          anyhow? Risk it all!

          The Tokyo market could collapse 15,000 points and
          they'd ignore it. All the warnings - old and new - and
          being ignored. It is as if the market is a Las Vegas
          casino, and the stakes are the American pension and
          insurance funds.

          Wall Street will go out on the biggest cocaine high
          ever recorded! Economic power will soon shift to the
          common market! Wall Street will whimper and die of
          neglect as Europe rises. The preparation for the
          kingdom of the Antichrist is underway.

                      -------------------------------

                            God Himself Will Be
                      The Refuge in Time Of Trouble.

                      -------------------------------

          The Hudson and East Rivers bear no meaning to those of
          us in the Body of Christ - because we depend wholly on
          the River of Life! To those who rely completely on the
          Lord, the stock market has no meaning. The real estate
          market may come or go, and the tax base may crumble,
          but we are not citizens of this world's cities! We are
          citizens first and foremost of Zion, the City of our
          God!

          God has always had a city within a city. In the midst
          of all the trouble and danger, God Himself will come
          down and fight for Zion! We have read in Revelation,
          "Woe to the inhabitors of the earth... the devil is
          come down unto you having great wrath..." Beloved, he
          will engage in hand-to-hand combat with Almighty God,
          because my Lord promised to "come down and fight for
          Zion" (Isaiah 31:4).

          He will personally lead this final war, going before us
          to subdue all our enemies before they can raise a hand.
          You have heard about the war on drugs and the war on
          AIDS - but there is a bigger war: It is God's war on
          anyone or anything that would dare touch His children!
          "For the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you,
          as he hath promised you" (Joshua 23:10).

          Psalm 121:8 says, "The Lord shall preserve thy going
          out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even
          for evermore." And Revelation 3:10 promises, "Because
          thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will
          keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come
          upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the
          earth."

          God is very personal with us. He is watching our
          comings and goings in cars and buses and subways: His
          eye is on us as we walk the city streets. He promises
          to be our guide and our protection.

          In the third chapter of Daniel we read of the three
          Hebrew boys who were thrown into King Nebuchadnezzar's
          fiery furnace because they would not bow to an idol as
          ordered. Where was God during that ordeal? Far out in
          the cosmos? No! He was in the very midst of the flames
          with them! "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the
          midst of the fire, and they have no hurt: and the form
          of the fourth is like the Son of God" (Daniel 3:25).

          So will our God ever be with us - for He is our "very
          present help in the time of trouble" (Psalm 46:1)!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

          This material is solely for personal use and is not to
          be posted publicly on other web pages. The Lorain
          County Free-Net Chapel holds exclusive rights from
          World Challenge, Inc. to publicly post these messages
          on its web page. You are free to download, copy, print
          and distribute this material, so long as you do not
          post it on a different Internet site. You may, however,
          link this site to reference these messages.

                 ------------------------------------------
            Plain Text File + Home Page + Subscribe + Copyright
                 ------------------------------------------

         Times Square Church Information | New Reader Information

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

COPYRIGHT/REPRODUCTION LIMITATIONS:

This data file is the sole property of World Challenge. It may not be
altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for
circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this data
file must contain the copyright notice [i.e., "Copyright  1999 by World
Challenge"]. This data file may not be used without the permission World
Challenge for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold. This
includes all of its content with the exception of a few brief quotations.
Please give the following source credit: Copyright  1999 by World
Challenge, Lindale, Texas, USA.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                       This web site is a service of
                          The Missing Link, Inc.
       Linking Troubled Youth and Adults with Life-Changing Programs
                       Web Site - http://misslink.org
               Chapel Site - http://misslink.org/chapel2.html
  Home of David Wilkerson's Times Square Church Pulpit Series Multilingual
                                  Web Site
                      http://www.tscpulpitseries.org

                                ------------

            Copyright  1999 - The Lorain County Free-Net Chapel
                         North Central Ohio, U.S.A.

                                TOP OF PAGE

           Our webmaster welcomes your comments and suggestions.
               This page was last updated February 26, 1999.

  Why Revival Tarries/ "Help!"/ What's Here/ Sponsor/ Statement of Faith/
   Bible Study/ Around the Piano/ Bulletin Board/ Library/ Pulpit Series
