I first published this article in spring, 2008, before the fall financial crash, in response to an article from a friend who runs a TV ministry in America.The article speculated about exchange controls in Europe to fight the overvalued currency. Asked where I saw things heading, this was my reply, covering everything from the coming cash of cash, The Greater Depression and the entry of antichrist. It is even more relevant today than it was nearly five years ago. Our website has hundreds of such articles: find them by putting key words into our search engine, top right.

Good morning D. I think this is an excellent article. I have always found economics fascinating and have long seen how things were heading. Financially, the world is at a dangerous place and I expect The Greater Depression in the next few years. I haven't heard anyone else say that yet and I hope I am wrong. Unfortunately I usually get long term trends right, although not always the timing.

In our book Goodbye America, Goodbye Britain, published in 2006, I predicted "the coming foreclosure tragedy," which had hardly got started then. America is so over-borrowed, both with its central and local government and households, that there is no way back, no "get out of jail" card.The debts can never be paid, the pension and social security promises never kept. Nobody ever admits this but just look at the figures, especially the retirement of the baby boomers. (The US debt clock can be accessed via our links-http://usdebtclock.org/  Read and be stirred to action!) The unfunded liabilities alone, things like social security and healthcare, could amount to $60 trillion or more, according to some estimates.

All "Helicopter Ben" Bernanke can do is precisely what he is doing - cranking up the printing presses. That's where all the "liquidity" comes from, as you know. And as central banks and money men round the world watch the non-Gold Standard Dollar vanishing before their eyes, who can blame them for wanting out? Almost anywhere will do.The wise are investing in gold. I advised people to do this at $600 and I saw yesterday it is now above $1660 (December 2012). I expect it to hit $2,000 and then rise more over the next few years. 

I have a dozen news stories about countries that hold a lot of Dollars seeking to "diversify" their holdings. Alan adds in December, 2012: In the past week eight central banks, from India to Saudi Arabia and, of course, China, have been adding to their gold reserves. China in particular has been absorbing all the gold it can produce and and buying worldwide on price dips. They know paper money counts for little compared to the time-tested worth of gold!

You probably saw the news report where the Saudis were discussing moves to dump the Dollar at an Opec meeting, and trying to keep the rest in line behind the Dollar, but it was a fascinating conversation, which we were not meant to hear (a mike was left switched on and the chat broadcast to the press room for 40 minutes!) The Euro is one option, although it too comes with its own set of problems and contradictions, as the article states. Mercifully Britain remains outside it.

Of course, the pound is overvalued too (in December 2012 it is now competitive) which is why British visitors like to use pounds to buy in the States! The apparatus exists, as the article states, for the EU to impose draconian measures in many different spheres. Exchange controls is one policy that will be used at some stage. Based on my knowledge of the EU and of prophecy, I do not expect the EU to break apart. Ruthless action will be taken to hold it together, even if that means a "currency devaluation war" with America.

(Alan adds: Five years on I see no solution to the EU's troubles other than fiscal union and total loss of sovereignty for nations in the Eurozone - those using a common currency. When nations slide into even deeper trouble an  obvious (though illogical)) knee-jerk reaction will be to bring in currency controls. Remember, until Margaret Thatcher liberated Britain from extreme Socialism there were ultra-low limits on the amount of cash you could take overseas - tourists could leave with just £50!)

This was a major move for freedom and was part of Maggie's efforts to put Big Brother government back in his box. Here's how the Government announced the measure in 1979: "..... there will from tomorrow be full freedom to buy, retain and use foreign currency for travel, gifts and loans to non-residents, buying property overseas and investment in all foreign currency securities. Portfolio investment will be wholly freed....."

Ten years earlier, in 1969, the wonderfully named Conservative MP John Peel said this in Britain's House of Commons: Mr. John Peel (Leicester, South-East)

 Then followed John Peel's wonderful rejoiner: Mr. Peel "Such control was first introduced before the war by the Nazi Government of Germany. No other Government felt it necessary to introduce it in those days."

 The Germans hold the greatest sway in the EU and over its central bank and are unlikely to roll over and allow themselves to be priced out of world markets. As you see in the article, the French feel the same way. Of course, if you cut interest rates you stoke up inflation, which is already much higher than governments would have us believe. We could end up with the worst of all worlds, stagflation - inflation coupled with a stagnating world economy- and a trade war as well.

Alan adds in 2012: Germany has achieved by money and machinations more than it did by war. It controls Europe which dances to its tune. It is no accident that it is home to the European Central Bank. Europe's finances will be run according to whatever Germany's leaders decide.

I slightly disagree with one point in the article, I do not think the EU is in financially as bad a state as America (although Britain on its own may be.) The EU has a current account surplus and is not as heavily in debt. Nor do individual householders across much of Europe dive into debt in the same way Americans do (although it varies a lot from country to country). It is right on another major point which hardly anyone ever mentions:demographics. We are not producing enough Europeans to replace the population - not by a long way.

There is an aging native population and a fast growing immigrant population, many of them Moslems. The figures would make your hair stand on end, but that's another story. To take one example, in the capital of Europe, Brussels, half the live births are to Islamic mothers. Oh dear. America has a higher birth rate - but much of this is due to Mexican immigrants, I suspect.

I hate to say this, but what I actually expect to happen is this: there will be a worldwide crash, perhaps sparked off by a major bank going broke. A flight from the Dollar and a stampede into gold. Massive trouble and unrest round the world. Most people will be unemployed .Food riots ( there is a growing food shortage made worse by the idiotic move to use much good food to produce ethanol, which takes more power to make than it produces!). (AF adds five years later: This was written before the bank crisis, remember. I still believe that most of the world's major banks would be effectively bankrupt if they had to "mark to market" - in other words, truthfully value their "assets.")

The collapse of China, with the mirror image of America's troubles backed up by idiotic borrowing and stock speculation. The rise of ultra nationalist/fascist type movements in many countries, especially Europe, where it is already happening.(Also a fast rise in anti Semitism.) Then, when things are black and nobody has any work, enter the strong man with all the answers.We know who he will be. Expect him on the scene shortly after cash crashes in a flash.

Then we will see the world electronic currency. Already many places here don't accept cheques. None of this should depress Christians because these are the signs of the times - and we are in the times of the signs. However, it is a good idea for Christians to get their financial and spiritual houses in order, stop spending on credit and get into a good church Bible study group. Learning to grow our own vegetables is also a good idea- this can be done in the smallest garden. Hope this doesn't worry you - until now my main problem this morning was stopping a heron from eating our goldfish!

Since I wrote this I have been surprised that the great crash has been stalled, but not stopped. The bankers are playing for time. Perhaps they can be safely tucked away with their gold in some offshore haven before the final curtain, they may ponder...

However, my analysis of trends has been right for years, although timing is difficult. These are the final end days and the prophetic time clock is at a few seconds to midnight. Better get right with God for it's later than you think.

• If you want to really understand world trends and Satan's end times cultish deceptions, it's all in our Bible-based, fact packed books and DVDs, available from our web shop. They also make good gifts for the unsaved as they are written by journalists and are easily understood.