The Tribulation Foreshadowed

We continue our series on the topic of prophesied economic conditions expected in the last days. We have identified Joseph’s story and lifetime as a foreshadowing of end-time outcomes. We drew some significant conclusions in the previous part. Among these was the estimation that it only required three and a half years for Joseph and the Pharaoh to economically enslave the entire population of Egypt. That is lightning quick. Indeed, the Bible well warns that last-day trends and developments are sudden and short.

Is it a coincidence that the first and second halves of the prophesied Tribulation are also three and a half years? We think not. In fact, we are inclined to view the first half of the Tribulation period as lining up with Joseph’s story.

This period, in this writer’s view, ends with the closing of the money snare—the ability to limit buying and selling (Revelation 13:17).

This first three-and one-half-year period of the seven-year famine can be seen as a parallel to the “the beginning of birth pains” that we read about in Matthew 24:8. It serves as a foreshadowing of the first half of the seven-year Tribulation. By the end of that period, the False Prophet will have led the entire world into economic and monetary bondage.

It is during this period that a great world ruler gains increasing power, the Antichrist. He first brings the world under his control in the name of peace and prosperity. Then, once he has much of the world in his grip, he tightens the noose and brings doom to the earth. He starts the Great Tribulation, the second three- and one-half years (also known as Jacob’s trouble: Jeremiah 30:7).

Is the alignment between Joseph and the Antichrist a coincidence or just a senseless stretch of the imagination? Indeed, it may seem a sacrilege to frame such an irreverent question. Yet there are many instructive parallels and also some key differences.

The final, diabolical, last-day ruler upon earth specifically strategizes his actions under the guise of a false Christ, the Antichrist. If it is agreed that Joseph was a type of Christ, then wouldn’t it only follow that the Antichrist would act as an Anti-Joseph?

Whereas Joseph had a benevolent calling enabled by God to save physical lives, the Antichrist is a demonically-inspired person that seeks to physically entrap mankind for the purpose of destruction and his worship.

Jesus Christ came to offer spiritual life for an eternity. The Antichrist comes to do the opposite.

Today, many people are looking for a modern-day Joseph—an economic savior. They want to find solace in a comfortable life, low mortgage payments, a secure job, steadily growing financial wealth, expanding export markets, and an unfettered playing field for the globe’s burgeoning multinational corporations. It is the sure road to prosperity, say many leaders and politicians. It is the sure route to “A world free of poverty” (the slogan of the World Bank).

Much of the world—certainly, the societies in the West—has already forfeited their spiritual futures in their primary pursuit of earthly prosperity and happiness. Anyone who offers workable solutions to that end—real or imagined—will be gladly received.

However, to gain the comforts and conveniences of our times, we must agree to accept vulnerabilities. It is a required trade-off. We must fully participate with our hearts, our land, and our factories to serve this global system so that we might take part in the promised fruits of a worldwide economic order.

So it may be. However, humanity risks falling captive to an Anti-Joseph, the very same that plans, as mentioned, a brutal end-time money snare for the world. A series of world crises drives humanity to give up its money, land, and economic freedoms.

Eventually, one man, seizing the opportunity, will arrive at the pinnacle of power to take control— Antichrist.

Were the people angry with Joseph when he enslaved them? Not at all. “‘You have saved our lives,’ they said. ‘May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh'” (Genesis 47:25). Here we see that they willingly gave themselves up in bondage to Pharaoh so that they might have no existential concerns.

The entire world will do so again, the Bible indicates. Only this time, it will be in response to the Anti-Joseph. They will willingly allow themselves to become economically and financially enslaved to a diabolically-inspired person. Why? So that they might have grain … that they may have economic benefits.

The Anti-Joseph could arise very soon. Already, we can see the facilitating infrastructure being built up rapidly, which will enable a worldwide repressive regime to take full economic and financial control.

The recent global jitters with the Covid-19 pandemic prompted many more urgent steps toward that future outcome—one that now is at the very doorstep. The scale of the interventions that have been made to counter the worldwide economic impact of the virus outbreak is simply without precedent. These will have disastrous implications for mankind across the world should the same course continue to be pursued. This cannot be overstated.

All of this hastens the day described in Revelation 13:17. That is the point at which the False Prophet is able to control all buying and selling upon the earth. Life can no longer be lived outside of this system … meaning certain death. The majority of the world’s population will opt to receive the “mark.” Those that do not are certain to die—are killed, persecuted, or unable to survive.

What does “that no man might buy or sell” imply? It clearly means that NOBODY … ANYWHERE … will be able to buy or sell … ANYTHING … unless they subordinate themselves to the “Beast and its image.” They must first take the mark. This is a penultimate event in the Tribulation period.

The question we want to direct our attention to is: What systemic controls and/or developments are yet required for a global regime to be put in place so that NO ONE on earth can either buy or sell without permission?

What needs to take form before this event can actually occur? Can we anticipate the time that the Endtime Money Trap has advanced to the point where it may snap shut?

Grossly simplified, for the economic limitations that are prophesied in Revelation 13:17 to be fulfilled, at least four things must first happen:

1. 1. First, a globally integrated and closed financial system must exist. Necessary and common technologies must be in place. That means that not even a little bank in Tupelo, Mississippi, or the Island of Tuvalu will be able to facilitate any type of transaction (whether buying food or selling a house) outside of this closed system.
   2. Next, a system of central banking and national accounting must be endorsed everywhere. This results in a commonly shared monetary philosophy around the world (not necessarily a one-world currency) which, crucially, has an influential hold over financial markets and human behavior. In other words, the entire world must agree to play by the same monetary rules and values. Central bank officials must carry out the same policies, coordinating their actions.
   3. The legal statutes and regulatory institutions, which oversee the financial activities of capital markets of individual countries, must be superseded (or subjugated) by a centralized worldwide authority. This is to ensure that unified actions can be enforced. It would also mean that government treasury operations could be coordinated and controlled as well.
   4. Finally, a unified global “political economy” must exist (taking the form of a very small group of powerful countries … perhaps the 10 Kings … then eventually a single autocrat) that is powerful enough to enforce such monetary controls upon the entire world at a given time. Mankind must collectively agree to pursue this financial capture and to appoint a policymaker that will put in place such conditions and policies.

Global Money Control: We Are Nearly There

Having listed the four main steps to the Endtime Money Trap, just how far along is the world? Steps #1 and #2 are well advanced. For all intents and purposes, we could say that these two requirements are already in place.

What about the final two steps remaining to be completed?

A reassessment is now needed, given the recent rapid developments over the past several years in response to economic crises and, lately, the global COVID-19 pandemic. A significant advance in the timeline of the Endtime Money Snare has occurred.

In recent years, our view had been that global initiatives in this direction were indeed advancing but were not yet firmly in place. After all, further unifying developments in this direction were difficult. Why? Because individual countries were reluctant to give up any sovereignty.

Then, how can these last two required steps ever fall in place? Our view had been that one or more global crises of some type or another must first occur.

And indeed, that has and is occurring … quickly. The global responses to COVID-19 are chipping away at the resistance of sovereignty. Even countries such as Germany have momentously changed their views. This country has significantly loosened its fiscal policies. Nevertheless, it faces a certain meltdown in the EU (European Union) if it does not accept EU financial unification. In the meantime, the war between Russia and Ukraine is pulling the world together geopolitically … although in the form of two factions: Russia and most non-aligned countries (Iran, China, India, Egypt, and others), and NATO and America.

These actions could be momentous, as they would further promote the third step, though not yet its full completion. Eventually, the United States would also need to take part in the secession from sovereignty. That is most certainly not yet occurring at this time. In that respect, it can be said that the U.S. government administration of Donald Trump held back the clock. Of course, this situation is now reversing rapidly. At some point, it must if Bible prophecy is to be fulfilled. After all, prophecy is the foreknowledge of what future society and humans will choose to do.

As technocrats and political strategists well know, there is nothing as effective as a fearsome crisis to unify political consensus and to compel change. Quoting the late Milton Friedman (a well-known monetarist economist): “Only a crisis, real or perceived, produces real change.” A more diabolical quote expressing the same principle comes from Nazi political theologian Carl Schmitt: “Sovereign is he who decides the state of emergency.”

Global emergencies and crises can be expected to continue. Prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes. The Endtime Money Snare is rushing forward. Only the Lord tarries, the Church and the Paraclete first to be removed.

——

Wilfred J. Hahn is a global economist/strategist. Formerly a top-ranked global analyst, research director for a major Wall Street investment bank, and head of Canada’s largest global investment operation, his writings focus on the endtime roles of money, economics and globalization. He has been quoted around the world and his writings reproduced in numerous other publications and languages. His 2002 book The Endtime Money Snare: How to live free accurately anticipated and prepared its readers for the Global Financial Crisis. A following book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving true riches in an age of deception and trouble, looks further into the prophetic future.

If you have questions or other perspectives, you can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com. Please note that for reasons of volume and investment securities regulation, he cannot give financial advice.

Lightning Developments

We continue our three-part study of Joseph’s life and his prophetic foreshadowing of worldwide conditions in the last days. To this point in the story, Joseph had responded to the first pleas of starving Egyptians. Joseph collected ALL the money that was found in Egypt. Joseph took every last penny in return for grain he sold so that people might eat and be saved from the famine.

He deposited all of this money into Pharaoh’s coffers. Joseph then controlled all payment specie (money) in Egypt.

What happened next? Predictably, once all the monetary savings of the people had been depleted (ending up in Pharaoh’s coffers), the people then faced a cash crunch—what Wall Street practitioners today call a “liquidity crisis.” There was no more transactional specie (cash) circulating in the land after that point.

Thereafter, from that time on, people could only barter.

The famine continued for another year.

At this point, the populace again had no grain or money left. What to do next? They needed to replenish their cupboards.

They again begged Joseph to give them food. What did Joseph do in response? He provided handouts. Actually, no, that would be a false statement. Truly, what did he do next? He demanded the people’s livestock.

In an agrarian society, as existed during that time, livestock represented assets that generated a large part of household income. Consider also that in that era, livestock was the equivalent of today’s industrial capital. They were the equivalent to our factories and transportation systems today. Horses, cattle, sheep, and other animals in Joseph’s time were the means to the production of wool, butter, and many other products. What was the result?

Here is what the hungry people did: “[…] they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock” (Genesis 47:17).

Now Joseph—on behalf of Pharaoh—was in control of ALL the capital stock of Egypt. Joseph had secured ownership of the land-based transportation system (donkeys and horses) and the productive capacity of factories (livestock). He could now sell the outputs of milk and meat, as well as transportation services.

Pharaoh had become a countrywide rentier.

However, the takeover by the state didn’t stop there. Relentlessly, the famine continued yet another year.

People needed more grain, and they again became desperate. What were they forced to do? They now said to Joseph: “Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh” (verse 19). What did Joseph do next?

He reduced the people to complete servitude. He took all their land. Now, everything from one end of Egypt to the other became the property of the state and under the control of one man— Pharaoh (with the exception of a small amount of land that was owned by the priests and special elites).

At this point, the populace owned absolutely nothing and was totally enslaved. They probably remained as such until the end of their lives.

Will the Real Joseph Stand Up?

Are there two Josephs mentioned in the Bible, or are we dealing with the one and the same?

Many see Joseph as an Old Testament picture of Christ. We would not disagree. He suffered so that he might be able to save his family in Egypt; to go ahead and, like Jesus, prepare a place for them (John 14:3). It is also noted that Joseph is the only major person in the Israelite lineage of Christ found in the Bible, of which no character flaw or sin is explicitly mentioned.

Joseph surely was a sinner like every other human being, so why are his sins not mentioned? Yet, we do discover that through his errors, this instrument of God—like all the others from Abraham to King David—has bequeathed lessons to mankind that are very relevant for our day.

An impartial examination of Joseph’s life reveals that the results of his actions were not entirely beneficial, nor his techniques virtuous. That statement will likely strike the reader as disrespectful. Should this be said of Joseph, a venerated person mentioned in the Bible?

While it is true that Joseph succeeded in saving many lives, his mission was not performed entirely in the spirit of a merciful rescue operation. Egyptians and others seeking to buy grain had to virtually sell their souls and freedoms to gain access to grain.

We note that Joseph did not donate the grain to needy people but instead required payment. Think of it. People were starving, and he asked for money for grain. Few Christian aid organizations today would think they are fulfilling Christ’s command to “feed the poor” (Luke 11:41) or their enemies (Romans 12:20) if they were profiting from their ministries.

To the contrary, the entire ownership structure of the land of Egypt was changed virtually overnight from private ownership to vassalage. With the exception of a few Egyptian priests, the immediate family of Joseph, and probably some other high-ranking elites—the entire land of Egypt came under the direct ownership of Pharaoh.

Moreover, we are told that as a result of Joseph’s policies, a system of onerous taxation resulted that is “still in force today” (Genesis 47:26). Indeed, government taxation is the norm today.

Just imagine what would happen if this type of “absolute” power that Joseph attained for Pharaoh were given to a diabolical entity or person in our day? Indeed, the Bible does clearly indicate that just such an individual is prophesied to appear in the last days.

Thankfully, Joseph was a person whom God prospered and blessed in almost everything that he did (Genesis 39:2). Yet, as mentioned, the Bible remains silent in its judgment of his techniques. It will be evident to any reader that the consequences of Joseph’s actions were not entirely ideal.

As such, a major conundrum must be noted in this story: People were saved from hunger on the one hand, yet taken captive in the process on the other. It is clear that the whole saga turned out to be a giant opportunity for the secular Pharaoh to gain power and wealth at the expense of those in need.

But did this need to occur? Joseph could have saved everyone from hunger without making Pharaoh an extremely wealthy potentate and everyone else an oppressed vassal. So, why did he not choose to do so?

We can recognize here the classic problem of mankind. People who have power and/or the opportunity will most often choose wealth … and more wealth. That is certainly the case in our day. Elites and plutocrats become ever richer.

There is one other lesson. Just as Mammon and God are incompatible, so are charity and profit. One cannot give equal weight to both. On earth, at least, money and wealth eventually win out.

Other Prophetic Parallels to Today

It may well be asked: If Joseph’s actions did indeed save millions of lives, then what does anything else matter? Wasn’t the trade-off worth it—putting entire populations into vassalage and even further widening the imbalances of the wealth distribution?

That may appear to be the same type of situation faced by those today who are making policy decisions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Should we save everyone from dying from the virus but completely destroy the global economy and place massive debts upon the shoulders of citizens? How can it be ensured that the stimulus of massive new indebtedness (created by fiat) will be distributed fairly?

Is everyone being forced into economic bondage? Attempts may be made to achieve fairness. But it would be foolishness to believe that mankind’s primordial unfaithfulness with money will suddenly turn benevolent. Pharaoh, as we have shown, ended up being super-rich. The same tendency is at work today, especially so when crises are seized as catalysts for major wealth heists and transfers.

Once policymakers begin going down the road of fiat money (Modern Money Theory) and economic interventions, there is no easy return. Temporary government policies and interventions tend to eventually become permanent fixtures. Even Joseph faced this dilemma. After serving Pharaoh for 26 years—including 12 years after the famine was over—he claimed that he was still saving lives (Genesis 50:20). Here we note that a temporary government policy measure will tend to become a permanent one.

Another specter of the Joseph story is that “[…] all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the world” (Genesis 41:57). Here, in the first book of the Bible, we find the very roots of modern-day “globalization.”

The whole world converged together for reasons of “bread” (a euphemism for “money”). Egypt had become the world’s commercial center, and its grain became the senior currency of that epoch.

Pharaoh came to this position of controlling the entire world by dispensing the means of obtaining bread and prosperity. Here we see that the incentive of gaining “bread” had been harnessed by one centralized system … even one man. We may see that aspects of that process are again sweeping the entire world today under the guise of the promise of more bread for the entire world.

An Endtime Trap Foreshadowed

How long did it take for the entire known world of Joseph’s time to come under economic bondage to Pharaoh? According to this writer’s calculations, once the drought began, this process required only a period of three-and one-half years.

Three one-year periods are indicated, and an additional half year is deduced. Explicitly mentioned to last a year are these two yearly stages: Livestock was used as payment for one year of grain supply (Genesis 47:17). Another year was survived by giving up ownership of land and their “bodies” (verse 18).

What about the period before these two yearly spans? In response to the first request for grain, Joseph took all the money in the land (verses 13-15). We judge that the monetary transactions could not have purchased more than a year’s worth of grain consumption. As it was in those times, most wealth was represented by livestock and land. Transactional money did not play as significant a role in the livelihoods of people as today.

As already reviewed, Joseph did not buy the excess grain during the plenty period in the first place. Therefore, the seven years of plenty would not have produced a big cash hoard in people’s pockets, which may have been sufficient to purchase an adequate grain supply for all year.

With this logic, we so far count the duration of three years on the road to serfdom for Egypt’s population.

We next note that the Nile Basin at times supported two grain harvests each year. As such, it would be logical to assume that people would only have laid aside provisions of grain for one half-year, this being long enough to last until the next harvest. That suggests that six months of drought would have first taken place before food shortages began to occur. As of that point, money would have been used to purchase the next year’s grain supply.

If our estimates are correct, we can conclude that it required a three-and-one-half year period to bring the entire world under the control of one system, under the authority of one man.

In the final part of this series, we focus on the prophetic indications of global economic bondage of the entire world. What can yet be expected to occur in the future?

—-

Wilfred J. Hahn is a global economist/strategist. Formerly a top-ranked global analyst, research director for a major Wall Street investment bank, and head of Canada’s largest global investment operation, his writings focus on the endtime roles of money, economics and globalization. He has been quoted around the world and his writings reproduced in numerous other publications and languages. His 2002 book The Endtime Money Snare: How to live free accurately anticipated and prepared its readers for the Global Financial Crisis. A following book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving true riches in an age of deception and trouble, looks further into the prophetic future.

Do you have questions or other perspectives, you can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com. Please note that for reasons of volume and investment securities regulation, he cannot give financial advice.