While the West continues to push sanctions against Russia (and some other lands) as well as arms into Ukraine, there are various consequences.

In Russia, many have been buying gold bars:

Russians bought record number of gold bars in 2022, data shows
February 3, 2023
Russians bought an all-time record number of gold bars in 2022, finance ministry data showed on Friday, as tax cuts on precious metals encouraged people to stock up on bullion as a safe asset.
Moscow scrapped its 20% VAT on physical gold trades for individuals last March in a bid to draw people away from using the US dollar as a safe haven.
It also exempted people from paying income tax on profits gained from selling gold bars, further boosting demand for the metal.
According to the data, Russians bought over 50 tonnes of gold bars in 2022, ten times more than the year before. The most sought after were 1 kilogram bars which accounted for about 60% of those sold.
The figures are not yet final and only cover the period ending November 2022, the finance ministry told Reuters. https://www.mining.com/web/russians-bought-record-number-of-gold-bars-in-2022-data-shows/

It is not just Russians that are buying gold, many people around the world, including many governments are buying gold.

Here are some comments about what one believed Russia wants to do:

Gold & Geopolitics
October 2, 2022 …
Together with the Russian Central Bank’s reserves, Russia’s state fund and its National Wealth Fund are believed to hold about 12,000 tonnes of gold.
Steps have been taken to “mobilise” the non-reserve gold.
This is not for emergency war funding as some commentators think, but more likely to be so that they can be included in central bank reserves.
Russia could then declare the largest monetary gold reserves in the world.
Together with the recently announced Moscow gold standard and plans for a new trade settlement currency to replace the dollar, enhanced gold reserves will provide support a new gold standard for cross-border trade.
It would replace payments to Russia for energy in weak Asian currencies, and probably force China to declare its true gold reserves as well.
If this is Putin’s plan, the consequences for Western fiat currencies are likely to be devastating – suffering the financial equivalent of a nuclear attack. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/gold-geopolitics

Yes, Russia and China, along with the other BRICS nations, are looking at gold to push aside the USA dollar. Brazil’s president even said that a major purpose for BRICS was to bypass the USA dollar (see BRICS was created as a tool to attack US dollar dominance as former Brazilian president states). The two other BRICS founders are also involved with gold, with South Africa a major producer and India a major buyer.

As far as BRICS goes, notice the following which is in our free online book Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America?:

Those in Iran and some of the Arab lands, along with nations such as Brazil, China, and India have discussed plans for the removal of the dominance of the U.S.A. in global trade as well. The former (again current) President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, even claimed that eliminating the U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status was one of the reasons that the BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) was formed in the first place. [i] Others have noted that bypassing the USA dollar is still an object of BRICS—and officially BRICS nations “are currently working on setting up a new global reserve currency,”[ii] which may have gold-backing.[iii] The expansion of BRICS (which is in progress) may ultimately even hurt Australian trade as well as “severely weaken primacy of the US Dollar as an international currency.”[iv]
The Bible clearly warns against cheapening the money supply and encourages having money hold its value (Proverbs 25:4 Isaiah 1:25, Ezekiel 22:18-22). Debt is also warned against (Habakkuk 2:6-8). Yet policies enacted under the Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations, following certain other administrations, have ignored these warnings.
[i] Escobar P. BRICS was created as a tool of attack: Lula. Asia Times, August 28, 2019
[ii] BRICS developing new global reserve currency – Putin. RT, June 22, 2022
[iii] Helms K. Economists Discuss Russia, China Potentially Developing Gold-Backed Currency. BRICS Information Portal, November 11, 2022
[iv]Hunter M. BRICS Is Becoming The Big Kid On The Block: Implications For Australia – Analysis. Eurasia Review, November 1, 2022

While much of the mainstream media in the USA seems focused on internal politics, much of the world is moving towards a type of integration that will result in the final time of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24; see also The Times of the Gentiles) and the end of Anglo-American dominance.

More and more nations will realize that hard assets are real and USA dollars are not. This will not end well for the USA–and yes, Europe faces pressures as well.

Instead of taking steps to help its dollar, the USA continues to push sanctions as well as measures that look to increase its debt–which is something that will ultimately end in destruction per Habakkuk 2:6-8.

Gold will outlast the USA dollar.

Hard assets will, for a time, have value when the USA dollar no longer does.

Notice something else from our free online book Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America?:

The Bible warns about silver becoming “dross” (Isaiah 1:22; Ezekiel 22:18-22) and says to reverse it once it happens (Proverbs 25:4a; Isaiah 1:25). But the Anglo-American nations have not done that, their old silver coins are now dross (made/filled with cheaper materials) and their massive debts have made dross out of their fiat currencies (currencies that are not tied to gold or some other hard asset).
Furthermore, the “U.S. is highly vulnerable to loss of confidence by foreign creditors.”[i] U.S. government debt is “extremely vulnerable to foreign attack because of the high percentage of foreign ownership — almost 40% of the market.”[ii]
Interestingly, in the past, one foreign creditor, China, has raised concerns about the U.S. debt that are so serious, that its potential dumping of that debt has been called China’s “nuclear option”[iii] against the U.S.A.—an option that involves no military intervention, but that could greatly harm the U.S.A.
Many have complained about the U.S.A. “weaponizing” its dollar through sanctions, bank restrictions, and other means.[iv] By doing so, the U.S.A. has inadvertently been building up a coalition to push aside the dollar—and this will happen when the timing is considered to be better. European leaders have been working for years to establish a new reserve currency for the world, partially with the intent to remove the U.S. dollar from its position as the world’s primary reserve currency. The fact that Europe would develop its own currency, as well as for that purpose, was predicted by Church of God writers no later than 1971[v] –which is over two decades before the euro was officially agreed to.
Those in Iran and some of the Arab lands, along with nations such as Brazil, China, and India have discussed plans for the removal of the dominance of the U.S.A. in global trade as well. The former (again current) President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, even claimed that eliminating the U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status was one of the reasons that the BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) was formed in the first place. [vi] Others have noted that bypassing the USA dollar is still an object of BRICS—and officially BRICS nations “are currently working on setting up a new global reserve currency,”[vii] which may have gold-backing.[viii] The expansion of BRICS (which is in progress) may ultimately even hurt Australian trade as well as “severely weaken primacy of the US Dollar as an international currency.”[ix]
The Bible clearly warns against cheapening the money supply and encourages having money hold its value (Proverbs 25:4 Isaiah 1:25, Ezekiel 22:18-22). Debt is also warned against (Habakkuk 2:6-8). Yet policies enacted under the Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations, following certain other administrations, have ignored these warnings.
Destruction is coming.
However, the relationship between debt accumulation and prophesied destruction remains unapparent to many. Because there is a time lag, many ignore that there will be real consequences (cf. Ecclesiastes 8:11; Habakkuk 2:3,6-8). Yet, massive increases of debt are utterly dangerous.
When the time comes that the Federal Reserve is no longer able to keep interest rates low enough, the U.S.A. will continue past the point of no return. That will become one of the final factors that will cause creditors to rise up and destroy the U.S.A. …
One more verse should be perhaps touched on in this chapter is Daniel 11:43.
43 He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians* shall follow at his heels.
* Note: The Hebrew word is כשׁים kushı̂ym, meaning Cushites, like from Sudan, and is not specifically a reference to the land of Ethiopia.
The “he” is the King of the North. This is the same King of the North that valued gold and silver in Daniel 11:38. Although other scriptures also show that gold and silver will have value around this time (like Revelation 18; 9:20), the Bible is clear that gold and silver will be worthless for a short time before Jesus returns (e.g. Ezekiel 7:19).
The fact that the King of the North himself will accumulate gold (and some silver) is consistent with several Byzantine (“Greek” Orthodox) prophecies of their predicted Great Monarch:
Emperor Leo the Philosopher (died 912): You will amass gold … And you will be the leader of the surrounding nations …
Addressed to Emperor Manuel II, Palaeogous (died 1425): The Emperor … will discover gold and silver…
Saint Andrew Fool-for-Christ (c. 4th century): God will reveal to this king all the gold wherever it happen to lay concealed from view …[x]
One side note is that, in Egypt, major gold deposits were found in 2006 [xi] and the government announced increasing investment in gold mining in 2022. [xii] This is relevant as it does suggest that Egypt seemingly has enough gold that a foreign power could be interested in taking/using it as Bible prophecy teaches.
Since many are now questioning the role of the U.S.A. dollar as the world’s reserve currency, more are looking into other currencies as well as gold.
Gold will set records in U.S. dollar terms.
In 2017, I also published that last statement in my book related to Donald Trump, and it did hit records in July and August in 2020. [xiii] Now, despite having ups and downs, gold will set further records in U.S. dollar terms in the relatively near future.
It has been asserted that:
The only replacement for fiat {currency} is a currency credibly backed by gold.[xiv]
Although the above can be debated, the reality is after the elimination of the U.S.A. and the crash of its dollar, the world will want something more stable than unbacked currency. Thus, it is likely that some type of gold-backed currency will emerge as the preferred reserve currency in the world.
It has been long been reported that various nations around the world are already in the process of accumulating gold to one day overthrow the U.S. dollar—and that the “U.S. is unprepared for this strategic alternative to dollar dominance.”[xv] Various steps were also taken in 2022.xvi]
When the U.S. dollar totally collapses people all around the world will consider that even if the euro (or something similar) is strong, having a more gold-backed currency would be safer.
The collapse of the U.S.A. dollar will shake a lot of the world’s confidence in non-gold backed currencies. The Europeans do not have to have a perfect currency, only one that is perceived to be in better shape than the U.S.A. dollar or various other currencies.
Having the European power acquiring more gold to back the Euro or possibly another future European currency (that might potentially replace the Euro or even a basket of currencies) may greatly increase European credibility, prosperity, and influence around the globe, even if the backing is only implied.
i] Rickards J. Axis of Gold. The Daily Reckoning, December 20, 2016
[ii] Ibid
[iii] Gertz B, China Debt Threat. Washington Times, March 2, 2011
[iv] Jayakumar V. The weaponization of finance threatens the future of the dollar standard. The Hill, March 1, 2022
[v] Hogberg G. Rising World Colossus. Plain Truth magazine, May 1971
[vi] Escobar P. BRICS was created as a tool of attack: Lula. Asia Times, August 28, 2019
[vii] BRICS developing new global reserve currency – Putin. RT, June 22, 2022
[viii] Helms K. Economists Discuss Russia, China Potentially Developing Gold-Backed Currency. BRICS Information Portal, November 11, 2022
[ix] Hunter M. BRICS Is Becoming The Big Kid On The Block: Implications For Australia – Analysis. Eurasia Review, November 1, 2022
[x] Tzima Otto, pp. 76, 102, 114
[xi] A Gold Mine Worth LE 23 Billion (and counting). Egypt Today, August, 2006
[xii] Hosny H. Egypt to invest in gold, mineral mining. Al-Monitor, June 13, 2022
[xiii] Gold hits new record, posts best month since 2016 CNBC, July 30, 2020; Woodall T. Gold surges to new highs as US dollar weakens despite growing macro risks. S&P Global, August 10, 2020
[xiv] MacLeod A. Designing a new currency is impractical. Goldmoney Insights, March 24, 2022
[xv] Rickards J. Axis of Gold. The Daily Reckoning, December 20, 2016
[xvi] Guistra F. Why the U.S. dollar will be replaced as the dominant global currency — sooner than you think. Toronto Star, July 5, 2022

That said, the Bible is clear that gold and silver will, for a while, be less than worthless. Notice:

19 They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the Lord; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity. (Ezekiel 7:19).

This is probably because gold and silver cannot be eaten (in times of massive and severe food shortages many people will not be interested in it) and because of the fact that if nuclear weapons are exploded, and people are ill or dying from radiation sickness, that they will not want to have gold and silver (which retain radiation) near them

The Bible teaches:

11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15)
4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
But righteousness delivers from death. (Proverbs 11:4)
72 The law of Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of coins of gold and silver. (Psalm 119:72)

However, this does not mean that owning some may not help a little bit, but that a relationship with God counts much more. It seems to also include a warning that some will apparently focus on gold and silver and not rely on God or truly give as they should to God (tithes and offerings).

Notice that the Apostle Peter clearly taught that salvation was more precious than gold and silver:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith–the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9)
17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:17-19).

God’s plan of salvation will work and that, and not metals, is what really should be precious. And unlike precious metals, it will not perish.

Do not place your trust in the USA dollar or precious metals.

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