The human exodus from Syria is of an enormous scale. More than a million refugees are expected to arrive at the borders of European nations. Millions more have fled to other Middle Eastern countries.  It is a human disaster that will carry a price in many ways. Not only are there huge costs in providing food, shelter and relocation, but there will also be deep societal impacts that will manifest themselves over the long term whether in Europe or elsewhere.

Angela Merkel, long-time chancellor of Germany, famously said back in 2010 that “This [multicultural] approach has failed, utterly failed.” This was a reflection on the influx of Muslim “gastarbeiter” (guest workers who were mostly Turks), who had been encouraged to immigrate to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. It was at a time of great labor shortages in Germany. These worker communities, by and large, never fully integrated into German society. As a result, there have been challenges.

However, only five years later, despite “failed multiculturalism,” Ms. Merkel plays the “good for economy card.” Greater schisms in German society are likely to occur in the future. But, as most economists will agree, more immigrants can mean greater economic growth. However, what of the longer-term soft costs?

A similar disposition is shown by the new Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. The message he brought to his first G20 meeting was that there is an “economic case for taking in large numbers of Syrians.” This statement just happened to coincide with the latest outbreak of terrorist attacks in Paris, France. Trudeau’s intentions are good. But, why would one need the incentives of economics to justify helping someone?

Most certainly, humanitarian aid is required. Fellow human beings are suffering. However, our focus here is more narrow. We want to highlight the “economic emphasis because it is one of the signs of the times. Economics and commerce could be considered the gods of the age. They are popularly considered by policymakers to matter most. But also in another critical way: The concepts of “right and wrong” no longer belong to the domain of morality or any sacred scriptures. What is right and wrong are concepts now mostly defined by money and markets.

Consider the theme of an upcoming conference titled Pride and Prejudice: The Business and Economic Case for LGBT Diversity and Inclusion. Our focus here is upon the persuasion tactics. A full-size advertisement for this conference in the Economist Magazine, displaying this slogan in large type across the top of the page, read as follows: “Discrimination is Expensive.” The advertisement went on to explain: “The purchasing power of the LGBT community worldwide amounts to $3 trillion annually. 2.8 billion people live in countries that criminalize gay people. The estimated annual cost of homophobia to India’s economy is $30.9 billion.”

We wonder how such “monetary” costs and benefits could have been estimated with such authority. Nevertheless, the tactic of the argument is clear: Notions of morality and integrity are unnecessarily “expensive.” The god of commerce will be appeased and the world’s economies stand to benefit. It goes without saying that the persecution of any person is not acceptable for whatever reason.

What is “right” today is determined by “economics” … more accurately said, superficial economics. An intellectually-honest evaluation of the longer-term costs in terms of economics and societal health clearly argues for disastrous outcomes for mankind. The long-term costs are not considered as there is a deliberate blindness.

No Real Value of Truth?

To this point, we have yet to make an appeal to the views —“rights and wrong”— expressed by the Bible. That there should be blindness is not a surprise to the Bible reader. “The god of this world has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They can’t see the light of the good news of Christ’s glory” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Such a perspective, of course, must be ridiculed by the world if it is indeed blinded; however, the ultimate outcomes are determined by God. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7).

We see that we live in an age with more statistics and knowledge than ever before, but less truth. People seem to know the price of everything, but the value of little. Instead, wisdom — past, present and future — today tends to be found in the belly of some financial model or economic theory.

Just what is the real value of truth and wisdom? This is what Job had to say:“But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell? Man does not comprehend its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living. The deep says, ‘It is not in me’; the sea says, ‘It is not with me. It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor can its price be weighed in silver’” (Job 28:12).

Job is effectively saying that wisdom is priceless … that it is unquantifiable. It cannot be captured in a number. Therefore, we should not look for wisdom nor truth in numbers and prices.

We live in a dangerous world where prices abound without values; and costs are only measured in prices. In such a world the price becomes the value and values are separated from real costs. What that means is that the common denominator of what is right becomes the price.

A world ruled by price? That’s what happens in a world that is quickly globalizing and financializing. Price then increasingly becomes the world’s judiciary. It alone determines what is right and good. That’s a concept that ideally suits the juggernaut of globalization.

To recall, globalization reduced to its very essence is nothing more than this: A process leading to a world system in which all human actions are governed through the incentives of wealth and prosperity. And if wealth and prosperity are the worthy objectives, then whatever increases wealth will tend to be approved and considered good and right.

Of course, it’s a satanic concept that prices and wealth can be used as a measure of truth. This thinking is most obvious in the world’s money industries — investment management and brokerage or any business dependent upon trends in market prices. To financial professionals, price is effectively truth. As one financial service said, “The moment of truth is when the best price is yours.1”

Allow me to use the illustration of a portfolio manager to explain how price has become truth. If a portfolio manager buys an investment for whatever reason and the stock price then goes down in price, he has been judged to be wrong. The inverse applies as well. If a portfolio strategist reduces his investment in the stock market on the belief that stock prices are too high, it will be left to the future direction of the stock market to determine whether he was correct.

In the competitive wrangle to squeeze wealth out of financial markets, the market is never wrong. Only investors can be wrong. Though a stock market may be in the midst of a huge mania that will someday end up in a sorry bust doesn’t matter. The price is the truth, and it is hoped that the truth will be in a permanent upward trend.

Christians Not Immune From the Deceptions of Numbers

This subtle shift of thinking about truth hasn’t just affected financial professionals. It extends to our whole society, including Christians.

I can think of a number of prominent Christian investment managers who assume this posture. Their opinions about what drives markets and trends, no matter how ill-founded and baseless, are arrogantly assumed to be right simply because “the market” in retrospect has judged them as correct. That’s perverse thinking. Markets represent the judgment and vanities of the world. Markets, prices, money, gold … whatever, do not contain truth. They are all denominated in a currency of man’s making.

We must not let prices — the new spectator sport of our world — determine our values. Our values — Biblical standards and eternal objectives — must determine our conduct. That imperative, of course, demands that we continue to be good stewards, work diligently and manage our resources faithfully. However, that is not the same as staking our hope and faith in the values of earthly wealth. Nor does it mean that the correctness of our living can be judged by how much wealth we accumulate, how much we earn, or how successfully our portfolios outperform the world’s financial markets. Yet, this monetary measuring rod — like the idolatrous Asherah poles2worshipped during the times of the Old Testament prophets — is standing on many of the high places in the church today.

For us Christians caught during the times of the great Endtime Money Snare, living apart from the rule of numbers and markets will carry a cost. The measuring stick of price should not be allowed to be the arbiter of truth and what is right in our lives. And undoubtedly, for most of us, that will mean we may not accumulate as much wealth here on earth as the secular world thinks that we should.

Actually, we have great reason for joy. In one sense, living to God’s standard during the present upswing of the great Endtime Money Snare is hardly costly at all. We have the greatest money manager of all at our service. He promised that he would reward us 100 fold3 for every one of our sacrifices, with payment in an eternal currency that will never rust or corrode.

With an eternal guarantee like that, there’s absolutely no need to invest by the numbers.

Notes:

1. Advertisement for INSTINET, Barron’s August 2, 1999.

2, Quoting Compton’s Expert Commentary: Asherah poles became a regular feature of Judah’s landscape for hundreds of years. They were dedicated to a mother-goddess and often erected alongside altars on the high places devoted to God. They came to represent Judah’s slide into idolatry.

3.”I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age and in the age to come, eternal life.” (Matthew 10:29)

You may be surprised at our warning against the many warnings! What do I mean? I make some observations that will give you some important insights and perspectives into recent financial market tremors. Should you worry … or not?

Please read on. I hope to provide some balanced perspectives.

First, allow me to provide a perspective on the current outbreak of financial doomsterism. All the news media, the many economists and investment strategists, and individual investors themselves are agitated and afraid. Warnings of financial collapse—literally emanating from the four corners of the globe have been the most rampant in decades.

Financial analysts have pointed out that many conditions experienced today are similar to those of the 2007 to 2009 period. Most will well recall that these culminated in the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). (To this day, we maintain that the GFC is still unfolding, though morphing into different symptoms.)

Even pastors and prophecy pundits are joining in on the current doomsday cacophony, with some marshalling revealed Bible mysteries that supposedly substantiate their doomsday predictions.

Frankly, the collapse of 2015 to 2016 may well be the most predicted financial event of all time.

But, it may not happen … at least, for some time.

A fact to realize is this: Major financial crash periods generally do not occur when the vast majority is expecting them. By the time that everyone is worried, markets have already fully reflected these consensus concerns.

No doubt, there are many legitimate reasons why a “down phase” in financial markets and economies can occur at any time. Even now, one can identify many reasons why this could happen. However, this is not necessarily unusual. After all, down phases are a normal feature of financial markets. Why? Because economies and financial markets are driven by “human beings.”

One must understand the human behavioural element at play.

Of course, to doomsters who strive to strike fear into investors or simply relish sensationalism, cyclical and normal downturns are known as “crashes” or “busts.” Call them what you will, but they are normal in that human behaviour will have created any financial vulnerabilities in the first place, as well as the catalysts for the volatile market movements that can then take place.

As it was, the outbreak of the GFC was a global phenomenon. It was large, but likely not the biggest financial crisis of all human history. Actually, one of comparable impact took place during Jesus Christ’s time on earth, shattering the credit systems of the Roman Empire of that time.

Journalists also like to prey on extremes of human behaviour. They can exacerbate and accentuate the prevailing mood of the times. Back in 2008 to 2009 (and today!), journalists were looking for sensationalist perspectives. Some saw the unfolding crisis to be of “biblical proportions” and that of a Financial Armageddon.

At that time, a few rogue Bible prophecy pundits reinforced the view that Armageddon was at the door and that a complete financial meltdown was therefore unfolding. Others of different theological bents were also gleefully sure that a total collapse was in motion.

Some were persuaded that at last society and economies could be rebuilt according to Christian principles. As can be imagined, journalists were befuddled not knowing who to believe.

At that time, I received an invite to be interviewed by National Public Radio. They felt reassured by my Wall Street pedigree as a former research director and as someone who also happened to be somewhat knowledgeable in Biblical prophecy. I accepted.

My message? The Global Financial Crisis was not signifying the start of the Tribulation period nor were specific financial “downturns” a “sign from God.” (I’ll yet provide support for that view.)

But before that, may I point readers to a book I wrote following the onset of the GFC. Indeed, the first part of its title is overly sensationalist (which we regret in retrospect) and sadly overshadows the important essence of its title:Preserving True Riches in an Age of Deception and Trouble.

This book is still timely and focuses on the likely theoretical progression of financial and economic events into the Tribulation period. This view assumes that mankind continues its God-denying, errant ways. Importantly, the book provides stewardship outlines for these trying times.

Several crucial statements are made that readers must not forget. To begin, here is an important realization: A working global financial system is required for Satan to bring about his ungodly programs and plans for the world. It is only later in the Tribulation period that the False Prophet finds it necessary to bring in a new set of financial controls (Revelation 13:16-18).

Until then (and possibly later) financial and banking systems must remain functional.

As such, a full-fledged global financial collapse will not occur until then. But that is not the total picture. Yes, there will be financial crises, volatility in currencies and stock markets, etc. and heart-stopping events. And, while these are more the norm, these tremors may well trend to higher frequency and amplitude. However, no complete collapse can be allowed.

Readers may well ask: If world fundamental conditions are continuing to deteriorate (which is undoubtedly the case), why and how can collapse continue to be deferred? For several reasons.

First, there is technically no limit to mankind’s capacity for delusion and perversion.

Irrationality, by definition, cannot be measured. As such, unsustainable economic conditions and immoral monetary policies can continue to worsen for far longer than most may think imaginable.

Second, mankind wants to believe in its false idols and will insistently keep propping them up so long as necessary. Also, ponder on the fact that “deception” is a key condition of the last days. It will be (and is) pervasive and institutionalized.

Third, policymakers around the world today face asymmetric risks. What does that mean? The consequences of a policy error are enormous, while the consequences of erring on the side of largesse are only modest.

Policymakers are well aware of the instabilities and fragility of financial systems. They know they are dealing with an unstable stack of open explosives. None of them want to go down in recorded history as having triggered financial disaster. And, on top of everything, the globe is being buffeted with unpredictable geopolitical developments.

Lastly, there are no easy solutions and there is no way of escaping the consequences … ultimately. However, temptingly, there are ways of deceptively deferring them. These deceptions can be very convincing. (“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20).)

Therefore do not be surprised if policymakers do engineer, and grossly manipulate a global economic recovery with their policy sorceries, even if only for a short period of time. Remember what God said of the people of Babel who were attempting to build a tower into the heavens:

“If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6).

Made in the image of God, humans and collective humanity are capable of incredible things. “[…] nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” As to what could yet unfold in the future with respect to unorthodox monetary policies or anything else, it is advisable to not be complacent, keep one’s eyes open, and refrain from falling prey to the incessant doomsters.

Remember that policymakers are subject to fears as well.

As already mentioned, there is no question that mankind’s credit systems and commerce conditions are on a path of deterioration. Global indebtedness continues to increase and it is not declining as is normally the case in post-crisis periods.

Ultimately, the associated godlessness and humanism of the world will be judged. God’s wrath will be unleashed. This is clearly prophesied in the Bible as God foreknows the free-will choices that mankind will make.

However, prophetic knowledge has no predictive application to the short-term vagaries and volatilities of human monetary systems. The point to realize is that a humankind that is determined to go their own ungodly ways, and wanting to believe fables and deceptions, can indeed engineer even greater financial bubbles in false wealth. If so, many will be vulnerable to falling for these deceptions and they may well swallow up the faith of many more Christians.

But what of the signs?

There are some flaws with the messages of the various doomsters who invoke the claim that “heavenly signs” are taking place in financial markets, or that say, a Shemitah (a Hebrew cycle) is marking God’s judgments upon financial markets and economies.

First, God has already given his sign to this generation. Jesus Christ explicitly said to the “sign seekers”: “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation” (Luke 11:29-39). This same generation still exists today.

Second, the various events (a crashing stock market or slumping bond market, etc.) that are cherry-picked to serve as the “proof” signs are entirely subjective and speculative. All these supposedly divinely-induced signs all have one and the same commonality and nothing else: they are all negative. Any indicator will do as long as it is heading in the “downward” direction … or something that is anxiety-generating.

As the facts may be, in any given year there will be available a smorgasbord of “negative” proofs to choose from if you are looking for one. There is likely to be an asset class (stocks, bonds, currencies, etc.) or a specific country or an economic development of some type (soaring or plunging oil prices, inflationary spirals, etc.) that can be chosen as the “proof” negative sign.

This subjective approach does not stand the test of statistical validity. I can tell you that I would never let an analyst publish any theory or opinion based upon such flimsy and subjective evidence.

Here is the clincher: With all the emphasis being on negative “signs,” why then have major bond markets, and most stock markets and economies all continued to reach successive new highs over past years?

There may be 10 claimed proofs of a Shemitah in a row (one every 7 years) marking a subjectively chosen indicator of a “divine decline.” But each time the chosen indicator will subsequently continues on to new highs.

No respectable economist would make a career out of only predicting short-term downturns and always ignoring the recovery phases. According to natural laws and the created nature of human beings, economies and financial markets fluctuate. They go up; they go down.

Of what use then are the predictions of the Shemitah, the Blood Moons, and the various divine signs (of many claimed types) that only claim fulfillment with downturns?

Why are there no divine signs for an upturn? Is this the case because the Lord does not want Christians to save for their retirement?

Only listening to the purveyors of supposed “divine signs of doom” can be catastrophic.

It will ensure that you do not participate in the “upside periods” of financial market. Markets go up; they go down. You would have sold all your investments several times over, perhaps bought gold, etc. Does this make any sense?

No. It is nonsense … and crucially, it is also unbiblical.

Jesus Christ expressly highlights that peoples and societies will be generally unaware of any impending crisis and of the “day of the Son of Man.”

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37-39).

The same applied in the days of Lot. “People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building” (Luke 17:28).

The great and final financial collapses of pre-millennial history will come as a surprise; all are likely to occur within the Tribulation period.

In the present dispensation, it only stands to reason that Satan, who seeks to lead the world astray (Revelation 12:9), would have much more success luring mankind to a “heaven on earth” humanism adorned with perpetually-rising financial markets and economies. He will not win the world over with economic depressions and a terminal financial system. Until the final trap is sprung, the world will continue to be deceived.

There is another perspective to be kept in mind, as well. As the late David Hunt would say, Satan needs to discipline his human devotees upon earth from time to time. When they get too greedy and independent, they need to be admonished. Ergo, financial crises are needed from time to time. In fact, downturns and crises are necessary factors in the advance of worldwide humanism.

In conclusion, are we to expect financial ups and downs, and worsening economic conditions in the world? Yes, definitely. Nevertheless, we hope we have provided some balancing perspectives that will help calm anxieties.

[Readers may be interested in a five-part series that we have recently completed called “Anxiety Merchants and False Prophets.”] It elaborates further on the themes addressed in this article. The first part will be published in the February 2016 issue of Midnight Call magazine. To subscribe, please visit www.midnightcall.com.

In due course, we expect to republish at least a part of this series on Eternal Value Review (EVR).

For additional perspectives on the last-day financial trends of relevance to Christians, see Why the Global Financial System Must Survive For Some Time Longer .

This article you have just read is an excerpt from a chapter contributed to the book How to Overcome the Most Frightening Issues You Will Face This Century, Defender 2009. While the title of the book is sensationalist insinuating that the collapse of financial institutions is frightening, the real risks for Christians and humanity that we laid out are very different.