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(The Great and Final Jubilee)

Ripening Times – An Endtime Wealth Explosion: Part I

In this series, we have been documenting the many trends and developments in the world today that evidence the “ripening” of the times. We are systematically identifying the “trends of significance”—this meaning worldwide developments that have only recently erupted on the scene in line with Bible prophecy and the promises of the Lord. These endtime “enabling” trends, we show, are so widespread and advanced that it would be plainly unreasonable to not conclude that the times are ripe for judgment and the return of our Lord.

In this issue, we focus on the unprecedented explosion of financial wealth and its global intertwining. A development we see rapaciously emerging in the world today is increasing economic captivity and financial oppression. We are now living in the most basal and duplicitous of financial regimes of all time. Economic oppression is becoming more extreme. Without a doubt, the economic order of the world is becoming ever more fragile. We will explain why. However, to truly document this statement, we must examine ancient history as well as modern financial developments. We will do that … though briefly.

What is exciting to learn, therefore, is that the Bible prophesies a day where these oppressive conditions will be reset. One great “Day of Jubilee” will be announced. Until then, however, the “endtime money snare” continues apace. The day will arrive where indeed a dictator can and will control the entire economic order of the world. No one will be able to buy or sell without first taking the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:17). According to our understanding of Scripture, that will happen closer to the middle or first half of the Tribulation Period.

Financial Trappings

We return to our aim of uncovering “significant” trends. Very definitely, one of these “signs of the times” that we have long identified as an end-time phenomenon is a global explosion of wealth (which goes hand-in-hand with rising materialism). It will be marked by a very imbalanced distribution of wealth—i.e. a super-rich emerging, which controls most of the world’s riches, and the majority of people having very little. A number of Bible verses prophesy this worldwide development; other Scriptures also prophesying companion trends.

We have written extensively about endtime wealth and related “money” trends for some time. A book written by this author entitled The Endtime Money Snare: How to Live Free (published in 2002, now out of print) specifically focused on this topic. As such, we will limit our documentation of the trends identified in this article, and refer to only one prophetic Scripture. It comprehensively describes such future conditions, and is found in James 5:1-6: It reads:

“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.”

This description of “endtime” oppression by the rich could not be better put. As we see, wealth here is described as having been “heaped” or “amassed,” as implied by the Greek word saurizo. This is an important distinction as it gives evidence of a wealth skew. Wealth cannot be heaped and concentrated without there being a lessening or deprivation of someone else’s relative wealth.

Economists that study wealth distribution trends all conclude that today’s wealth skew (viewed both in America and globally) is the most extreme since the late 1920s … perhaps even from ancient Roman times.  However, an accurate assessment of such matters is impossible. Why? Because much wealth is deliberately hidden.

For example, one leading analyst and professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Gabriel Zucman, claims to have exposed trillions of dollars of tax evasion by the global rich. His conclusion is that the wealth imbalances are much worse than generally believed.

The Final Jubilee

The Bible describes a “resetting” of world financial and economic affairs occurring at the time of Christ’s return. Why? The world at that time would be economically oppressive; financially entrapping captives as never before. We lean to the view that first will come a judgment (that being the Great Tribulation period, when mankind’s systems are destroyed); then the Year of Our Lord’s Favor at the start of the Millennium.

As mentioned, today we live in the most basal of economic regimes of all time. It is the era of the creditor … the least virtuous and most unfair of economic orders. It is the most corrosive and oppressive of all (this comment perhaps linking to Apostle James’ comment that even gold would corrode in that time). It is a Roman system. It continues to define our global systems today. We are again heading toward a regime of plutocracies (meaning an era where the rich govern).

We note that Isaiah’s prophecies foreshadow this development. For example, for the time of the last days, he prophesied: “It will be the same for priest as for people, for the master as for his servant, for the mistress as for her servant, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor” (Isaiah 24:2). We see here that he lists last the relationship of creditor and debtor.

Please note the order of the relationships described in this prophecy. There are five ranging from virtuous to basal. The timeclock of the progression is near midnight. Today, on a global level, the creditors (and the rich) have taken over, pushing the entire world into a condition of virtual slavery. According to David Graeber: “We are now witnessing the rise of the first planetary administrative system designed to protect the interest of the creditors over the social contract. The banksters and bean counters rule the world” (see his excellent and recent book Debt: The First 5,000 Years, Melville House, 2011).

Are we besmirching the rich? As we always explain, being rich is not a sin. In fact, some rich are highly used of the Lord. However, it is a fallen world in which the powers of Mammon and the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10) are the primary engines of human action upon earth.

Where Is the Lord’s Day of Favor?

Just where in the Bible is it prophesied that there would be a great Jubilee … namely, the Day of the Lord’s Favor? Readers will be familiar with this Levitical system. A Jubilee (which occurred every 50 years) effectively was an economic “resetting” … a restoration. All debts were extinguished, and heritage land was returned. A similar Sabbath year rest was also required. Every seven years, outstanding debts were laid flat.

However, our focus is upon the Jubilee Year, which provided a comprehensive resetting of wealth and debt every 50 years. The number 50 is the year that follows 7 weeks of 7. Therefore, the Jubilee Year was the 8^th Sabbath in a 50-year period. The number eight in the Bible signifies a new beginning.

Isaiah tell us that “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me [Jesus], because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair […]” (Isaiah 61:1-3).

Clearly, the Year of the Lord’s Favor is mentioned. But what happens on this day?

In Matthew 17:11, Jesus said: “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.” What will be restored? All that was proclaimed by the prophets. So says Apostle Paul in Acts 3:21: “Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.”

To conclude: What is therefore proclaimed for the Day of the Lord’s Favor is good news for the poor and freedom for the captives, and the end of darkness for the prisoners. These all have an economic interpretation, and are the very same benefits that the Hebrews were commanded to perform in the Sabbath and Jubilee years.

The Hebrews, however, did not do so … at least not for very long. God indicts them for this very thing. In time, God punished Israel and Judah for not observing this ordinance. “Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you, declares the LORD—‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth” (Jeremiah 34:17).

The 70-year captivity in Babylon was directly proportionate to the number of Sabbaths that Judah had not observed for the previous 490 years, as Moses had warned (Leviticus 26:34). “The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah” (2 Chronicles 36:21).

A similar judgment will come upon the whole world’s Mammon creditor system, which refuses economic freedom and to uphold the borrower. Rather, it protects the creditor not observing any Jubilees or Sabbaths. The first six millennia will be followed by a final Jubilee, which aligns with the 7^th Millennium … the Chiliasm otherwise known as the 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ upon earth.

Thoughts to Ponder

The Lord’s Prayer, given to us in Matthew 6:9-13, has the statement, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (verse 12). However, Luke provides us a slightly different version of this prayer. He writes: “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4, KJV). Here we note that Matthew refers to “debts” being forgiven, while Luke mentions “sins” being forgiven. Two different Greek words are used: “debts” (opheilēma) and “sin” (hamartia), respectively. Are these two accounts therefore inconsistent … one of them perhaps in error?

No. Both of these similarly involve indebtedness. Sin and debt are very closely related concepts. It is important to recognize that the Lord’s Prayer embraces the entire cosmology of God’s plan for the world, and is therefore also prophetic in character. The statement, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10) will not happen until the Millennium at the earliest. Similarly, the full forgiveness of mankind’s sins and debts, including that of the Hebrews (Daniel 9:24), will not occur until the beginning of the Millennium. As such, the forgiveness of both debts and sins are in the spectrum of the Lord’s Prayer. In the final Part II, we discuss the ripening of the timeline calling for a final Jubilee.

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.

You can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com

 

Ripening Trends #2; Post-Familialism: Raging Against the Creator – Part 1
Declining Population Growth

Why are children no longer prized? Today’s generations now plan much smaller families … if any family at all. Yes, matters such as these are personal decisions, and people are free to make them. However, while these represent private choices, they nonetheless contribute to unprecedented worldwide trends of declining fertility, births, and aging populations. After all, there are consequences for everything.

In fact, the collective impact of slowing population growth and aging is leading to a serious crisis. Already, its shape and form can easily be foreseen. Why? As is often claimed, “demography is destiny.” Therefore, we can conclude that some of the consequences we discuss here can be known in advance … actually, quite far ahead.

Never before has such a voluntary change in population dynamics taken place in peacetime … and on such a worldwide scale. A rapidly accelerating Post-Familialism has infiltrated the world. The prognosis? The worst of the demographic crises is yet to come.

As this article series focuses on “ripening times,” we will probe into the question of whether these demographic developments are a “significant trend.” In the previous parts of this series, we proposed a set of diagnostics with which to determine whether a development is of prophetic significance. We therefore ask, is the world’s demographic bust a marker of the end times? Crucially, does this massive development line up with Bible prophecy?

We believe that the answer is a resounding “yes.” We will set out our case.

Monumental Trend Underway

This author had the occasion recently to give a speech to a pension and employment benefits conference. My topic centered on the presently unfolding pension crisis—what I have called the “global income crisis” in various publications over the last several decades. This is just one aspect of the overall global demographic problem.

The attendees were interested to learn why the demographic challenges were yet to worsen … and what would be the likely future outcome. My answer, in short, was that the underlying factors contributing to this pension crisis were still accelerating. Most pension professionals were not aware of the social preferences and human values changes that were the factors driving this crisis. In contrast, pension professionals tend to try to explain things with math and economic models. No doubt, such approaches have their uses. However, they are not attuned to the related rapid changes in human values—namely, trends in social preferences and family dynamics.

As it is, it is not likely that pension professionals would even comment on such issues. Why? Because being outspoken with the truth infringes on people’s rights and freedom of choice. To do so would clash with the general trend toward “inclusivity”—everyone’s choices, values and lifestyle are equally acceptable no matter the facts or science … or consequences.

However, as already intimated, the unfolding crisis should come as no surprise. The current situation could have been discerned quite some time ago. Instead, policymakers have been kicking the proverbial can down the road for decades.

To gain a sense of the scale of today’s Post-Familial trends, consider the decline in the number of new births in China, the most populous country in the world. New births fell by two million last year (2018) to only 15.2 million. As such, China’s population growth has fallen to 0.38% per annum. That is very low. A nation requires a fertility rate of 2.1 children per household in order for its population growth rate to stay stable.

The reader may be surprised to learn that population growth has also become a potential problem in the United States. Statistics for 2017 show that around 3.8 million babies were born. That may sound like a lot; however, it represents a drop in the U.S. fertility rate to only 1.76 births per woman. This is the lowest rate ever recorded in the U.S. … a pace that does not maintain the current population.

Similarly, this phenomenon of declining births is now being experienced nearly everywhere in the world. Fertility is declining virtually everywhere. It is simply unprecedented in the history of mankind and is playing out over a very short period of time. Why?

Declining Population Growth Explained

Why the emergence of these rapid demographic shifts?

Some say it is because women are better educated today. However, that would be nonsensical. Are we to believe that better education must lead to a shrinking planet of humans? Apparently, yes, according to some. However, a recent survey shows that it is less-educated women that have had the biggest drop in fertility in the US. And, believe it or not, birth rate declines among minority groups are among the fastest recorded. Something else then must be the root cause of the fertility downturn.

The reasons are lamentable.

For example, surveys today show that parents consider raising children too expensive. This is a growing perspective around the globe … from developed nations to emerging countries. As such, economic issues are becoming the deciding determinative of family size. Birth rates now go up and down with short-term economic trends.

According to various studies, having children sharply increases the likelihood of personal bankruptcy (most certainly so for single-parent families).

There are yet other reasons why population growth is falling. Notably, the world today is smitten with “self-love.” Many people simply choose to live for themselves. They no longer commit to long-term relationships … and children. Remarkably, single-member households are expanding faster than any other sub-group in the US.

Contrastingly, we point to the Word of the Bible on this matter: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own […]” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Others refuse to have children, as they argue that population curtailment is absolutely necessary to “save the planet.” Scientist now think that the earth has entered the Anthropocene era (meaning, a new age where human activity is now the major destructive force upon earth). This is speculative, of course, but nevertheless is a prevailing view these days. Apparently, the evil being perpetrated upon earth is due to the births of new humans!

The Perverse Wisdom of the Age

The United States’ birth rate has continued to fall, as millennials increasingly believe that everything is bad; the world is going to end; and to bring kids into this nightmarish hellscape would be tantamount to child abuse.

This opinion, quoting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on an Instagram Live broadcast, is typical. She says: “The world is going to end in twelve years. If you have kids, it will end in probably like six years or something because they’ll just breathe more.” A similar view is exemplified by a high-profile blogger, Martina Bridges, who says: “The most progressive thing we can do is abort as many of the next generation as possible so they don’t have to be brought into this apocalyptic nightmare.”

It is amazing that such people do not see the conflict between their humanist wants and the foundation that the Lord, the Creator, has set. Such an “animalistic” view of humanity that is promoted today, of course, would lead to human extinction.

And, biology and morphology (the physical design of creatures and humans that God has made) are mocked. Feminists are angry at “evolution” for having given them child-bearing organs. Raising children is something that is now looked down upon as a lower caste career. Families are considered to be fluid arrangements.

Crises are the consequence of the choices in “human” values that mankind has made. There we find the ultimate causes, and not in movements of the stars, mathematics or economics. The consequences of “human choices” cannot be escaped. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7).

The dispositions and values implicit in the aforementioned trends play a causal role in the world’s current demographic challenges. At least in part, they give rise to it. While it is wonderful that longevity is increasing and that the quality of life is generally improving for the aged, the plunging birth rates have severe consequences that cannot be avoided.

Rather than raising productive children, financial markets are now expected to deliver secure retirement benefits. But with shrinking families and fertility, this is most certainly impossible.

Thoughts to Ponder

We now live in an era of Post-Familialism … even Anti-Familialism. God allows humanity (and each of us individually) to make choices. We can choose good or evil, and define morality as we wish. But God has the last say. As we already have identified, demography is destiny. That destiny is near. Judgment and consequences will come.

Oswald Spengler, the German historian and philosopher, once observed, “When the ordinary thought of a highly cultivated people begins to regard ‘having children’ as a question of pro’s and con’s, the great turning point has come.” That point has most certainly arrived for most nations. The trend will not reverse, as the point of return has passed.

Patriarchal societies (which have provided societal stability for millennia) are under attack. Fertility rates are difficult to change, as many governments have discovered. The social trends that produced this change—such as new contraceptives, feminism, materialism, narcissism (self-love), humanism … etc.—continue to grow worse. Male contraceptives (a male pill) is another development that will further depress birth rates.

Looking ahead, few economists give proper attribution to the role of lengthening lifespans in the boom of prosperity and material/financial wealth that has been generated in the past two centuries. Now that past demographic trends are reversing, they are dumbfounded and frustrated. Policymakers strive to boost birth rates with money and incentives. However, birth rates are not responsive, proving that low fertility is a “value choice,” not just an economic one alone.

What is the solution? To date, supposed answers offered by the collective wealth management establishment around the world are misleading … even fraudulent. In so doing, they may succeed in deferring the ultimate reckoning day. But what a day that will be when it comes! The longer consequences are deferred, the more perversions increase and the more cataclysmic the final outcome.

God intervened in the days of Noah and Abram. He will do so again in the future, as the Bible clearly outlines.

In the next part of this series, we will examine the question of whether the momentous demographic trends that we are discussing are prophetically significant.

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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.

You can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com