High on the Scriptures :: Wilfred J. Hahn

In recent issues, we have been reviewing major “human actions” that are affecting our world today. We continue here, commenting on four. Some of these are new and urgent; others we have touched upon previously.

To begin, we may wish to better understand the global disruptions of the past few years—geopolitically, economically, monetarily, and humanitarian-wise. For the most part, the narrative is quite simple.

There are three main impulses (among numerous others that we could cite) that are playing an overarching impact. In no particular order, a virus named Covid-19 erupted upon the world without warning. Policymakers around the world did everything they could—and more—to stabilize economies. They injected far too much monetary stimulus and subsidies into economies. The IMF estimated this support to have amounted to some $11 trillion by the end of 2022. For perspective, consider that this amount is equivalent to 10.8% of global nominal GDP, the latter an approximation of the size of the world economy ($101.6 trillion).

Were one to also add the direct fiscal support to households and businesses, total Covid-related stimulus would be equivalent to a staggering 17% of world GDP. Seeing actions of such magnitude worldwide, we can begin to understand how inflations of the scope prophesied in the Bible could come about. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine” (Revelation 6:6).

Recent actions of policymakers may have been the largest intervention since 30—32 AD, when Roman Emperor Tiberias was called upon to clean up a world financial mess. (The Global Financial Crisis of late 2008-09 was virtually a carbon copy.) Yes, there is nothing new under the sun.

It is not possible that such a large sum—equivalent to 17% of world GDP at $101.6 trillion—would not trigger enormous inflationary pressures. This has indeed happened and should not be a surprise. Terrible repercussions have followed. (Consider retirees depending upon their fixed pensions.) What happens next lies in the hands of the central banks and global policymakers.

Next, we cite two other great “human actions” that play a major role at this time. Firstly, without a doubt, a new global contender is presenting itself at the door. China openly reveals that it intends to surpass—and greatly distinguish itself from—the US. This initiative can be expected to lead to a complete redefinition of the entire world. To be sure, this is and will continue to breed disruption. An indication of the possible ruthlessness of this rivalry is shown by US actions to date. It is playing tough. Without doubt, these movements raise tremors globally.

We must mention climate change issues as the third in our abbreviated list of three key “human actions.” This ushers in great change with a wide range of impacts. It is certainly injecting much volatility into energy markets.

Looking ahead, we are sure to face further disruptions; some, if not all, may be unforecastable. Even the usually august WEF (World Economic Forum) describes the current global era as one defined by disruption.

Psychotropic Consumption Trends

We next turn to our fourth “human action” that we wish to discuss here. It is quite an alarming trend, affecting the entire world. It is the consumption of mood-altering pharmaceutical medications and psychotropics. This is a global phenomenon… however, much accentuated in North America and other high-income nations.

What is a psychotropic substance? Quoting healthline.com: “A psychotropic describes any drug that affects behavior, mood, thoughts, or perception. It’s an umbrella term for a lot of different drugs, including prescription drugs and commonly misused substances.”

To reiterate, all of these psychotropic substances target mood, stress and depression management. Some are legally dispensed with a doctor’s prescription. Cross-counter and illegal mood enhancers are booming as well.

There are five main types of psychotropic medications: antidepressant-meds.com, anti-anxiety medications, stimulants, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers. It represents a vast and profitable business. (Have you ever wondered why so many TV commercials are promoting pharmaceuticals of various kinds?)

Consider some of the trends in psychotropic drug usage and mental ails that are already entrenched around the globe.

In 2019, 1 in every 8 people, or 970 million people around the world, were living with a mental disorder, anxiety and depressive disorders being the most common.

In 2020, the number of people living with anxiety and depressive disorders rose significantly because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Initial estimates show a 26 and 28% increase respectively for anxiety and major depressive disorders in just one year.

About 20% of respondents in the 2020 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) reported taking psychotropic drugs.

A study published earlier this year in the journal Psychiatric Services found that more Americans than ever before suffer from serious psychological distress (SPD). The researchers concluded that 3.4 percent of the US population (more than 8.3 million adult Americans) suffer from SPD.

A recent national survey on Drug Use and Mental Health found that nearly 20 percent of the adult population suffers from some type of mental illness. This compares to just 18.1 percent a few years ago.

We could continue presenting many more statistics on mental health trends and other phenomena (for example, approximately 100,000 people in the US die from oxycontin abuse every year! … more on this shortly).

Most alarming is the statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) that mental issues are a global epidemic.

The statistics we have mentioned allow little room for any optimism. These trends are not likely to reverse. The phenomena are clear. And their impact upon societies, economies, and financial markets is also clear. How so?

We quote an insightful report from Gavekal Research (to which this writer is a subscriber). It provides examples of the impact of various health deterioration trends.

Drug legalization and gig jobs: an important societal shift in recent years has been the legalization, or at the very least decriminalization, of drugs across most Western countries. This has helped remove the social stigma toward substance abuse. At the same time, young people not overly concerned about developing a career have been given the option to forego having a nine to five job, and instead work on their own schedules doing things like driving an Uber or delivering Doordash. This combination has meant that finding workers for entry-level jobs at retailers, fast food operators, restaurants and the like has become far harder.

Opioids: even before Covid, the US was losing about 70,000 people a year—mostly young males—to opioid drug overdoses—roughly the equivalent of the whole Vietnam War. Moreover, locking people down while also sending them into a health panic made a bad opioid situation far worse. During the pandemic, overdose deaths jumped up to 110,000 a year. (The US fentanyl epidemic is so bad that the US is one of the few Western countries to see falling life expectancy in peacetime. In fact, for the first time in modern history, life expectancy at birth is now lower in the US than in China.) And, if 110,000 Americans die every year from drug overdoses, that means that millions are probably regular users and thus not able to perform tasks like handling heavy machinery or doing health care work. (“Aging, Productivity and Inflation,” February 24, 2023)

Thoughts to Ponder

We have reviewed another “human action” that is potentially destructive for mankind. Indeed, some psychotropic drugs are intended as medications. This writer is most certainly not qualified to judge what serves as a legitimate medicinal prescription or not.

Yet, it cannot be denied that the boom in psychotropic drug consumption has occurred in recent decades. It tragically suggests that many people are wishing to escape reality. They are medicating their depressions … and again, it must be added, in record numbers.

It represents another attack on the human mind. (See “Endtime Stratagem: Super-Jamming the Mind” from the June issue.)

The Bible clearly indicates that we should not seek to escape reality but should be living with a clear mind. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). This verse couldn’t be clearer: we have been given a “sound mind” … assuming we wish to avail ourselves.

And if we were to find ourselves “conformed to the pattern of this world,” we are to renew our mind. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).

We can only imagine how many depressions could be avoided were humans to align their minds to the Bible.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27). Expending all one’s strength to love the Lord our God is sure to transform one’s mind.

***

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.

 

Endtime Stratagem: Super-Jamming the Mind :: By Wilfred Hahn

Twenty-plus years ago, in this space, we published an article named “The Business of Snatching Minds.”

It was a shocker. At the time, we were incredulous as to how much of people’s waking hours were taken up with media devices. The latest surveys at that time reported that the average person living in North America spent 9.2 hours on such devices (social media, iPhone, internet, radio, TV … etc.) every day. Yes, 9.2 hours per day. This was a stunning increase of 45% from five years before. Surely this trend could not extend much further, we reasoned. After all, people need to sleep too!

However, now two decades later, updating the data, we are shocked again. Perhaps people don’t sleep after all … or have no need of quiet times to rest their brains. (Granted, some of the increased media usage is attributable to Covid-19.)

Consider this statistic: According to recent surveys, people in the US over 18 years of age are spending a seemingly frivolous 11.1 hours a day on their media devices (smartphones, iPads, gaming consoles … etc.). That equates to an average of 70% of one’s waking hours. What to make of these trends?

This and related trends are highly significant and must be seen in an endtime context. However, we should be careful to mention that technology in and of itself is not evil. However, it can facilitate great evil if applied to nefarious agendas … especially so given the power of its globally interconnected infrastructure.

We commented at the time that, just as the concept of “share of wallet” had been used by marketing strategists to great effect, the same would apply to a strategy focused on “share of mind.”

We postulated that Satan himself has masterminded this strategy of “share of mind.” The proof? The “share of mind” that God’s truths or a relationship with Jesus Christ attract in our time—specifically also in so-called Christian nations—is at an all-time low. In fact, the collapsing “share of mind” trend that we reference is actually a phenomenon applying to last-day Bible prophecy (as we will show).

But why is this stratagem to jam people’s minds and thinking so important and effective? Why is the mind such an important facet of Satan’s endtime strategies? And, sadly, why has this strategy been so successful?

Targeting the Mind

The human mind is a strategic focus in the cosmic battle for at least three important reasons. First, our faith involves the mind. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord” (Isaiah 1:18a). Faith, belief, and obedience are connected to reasoning. As Apostle Paul admonished, we are urged to use our mind … to not put our brains on the shelf: “…I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind” (1 Corinthians 14:15).

In contrast, cultic religions try to immobilize and disable the mind … to circumvent the natural safeguard of the mind. Not so, our Lord. Yes, it is true that our minds are not able to fully understand His greatness and His ways. But that does not mean we do not accept logic and reason to support our beliefs.

The next reason is that our mind is the place of the spiritual battleground. It is precisely what thoughts gain access to the mind—whether through eyes, ears, or spirit—that have an impact upon our hearts and soul. In fact, what the Bible calls the heart is, in essence, what our mind chooses to believe and pursue.

Our thoughts represent reality and are just as eternally important as our physical actions. Christ made this point very clear, saying, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Here we see that the evil thoughts of the mind—if not repulsed—become an actual sin of the heart, whether there has been physical consummation or not.

Lastly, the mind finds its interface in the brain, a fleshly organ that learns and adapts. This grey matter can become habituated to lifestyle, thought patterns, and thinking processes. Just like an exercised muscle becomes stronger, so also the physical pathways of the brain.

These pathways can become trained and expert. To the extent that we have trained our brain to allow bad thoughts and behaviors, we need to undo them. Apostle Paul refers to this as renewal. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).

In conclusion, we now understand the main reasons why the human mind is the logical point of assault. It is the essence that exercises faith and chooses a relationship with God. It is the spiritual war zone. And lastly, through our physical brain, our mind can entrench behavior and responses that we may have to strive to unlearn.

Super-Jamming the Human Mind

The onslaught against the attentive human mind continues. Without question, the mind of modern-day humanity remains under assault. The incursions are increasing and coordinated as perhaps never before. Moreover, a global communications bandwidth has rapidly taken form, which plays a pivotal role in enabling the Antichrist and the Beast to deceive the world, both on a macro and personal basis.

(An earlier article published in this space was entitled “The Last Technology.” It explained why the internet-connected smartphone is the last and final technology required for prophetic enablement.)

The result is that the average person’s mind is bombarded with entertaining images and populist messages. With that kind of informational diet, the mind loses its alertness … its ability to discern truth from fiction … to see and recognize the signs of the times.

“So let us not be like the others, but let us be alert and self-controlled” (1 Thessalonians 5:6). Fewer and fewer people today have the ability to test and approve what God’s will and plans are. Moreover, Jesus Christ counseled His followers to be alert and to watch. How many find the time and focus to do so today?

The Focus of Mind That the Bible Wants

What “share of mind” does our Lord encourage? The Bible leaves no doubt. Hundreds of Scriptures indicate that Jesus Christ should possess our total being. God’s truth and presence should dominate our minds. Perhaps the most quoted passage is found in Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night” (vv. 1-2). “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long” (Psalm 119:97).

Thoughts to Ponder

Sadly, all of us living in the age of the super-charged media and commercialized culture of our time struggle to attain the type of devotion that Scripture upholds. Apostle Paul was already worried about this type of assault upon the minds of Christians 2,000 years ago.

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). Yes, Paul may not have understood the “somehow.” But today, we do recognize the devices and means being deployed to lead our minds astray.

What can we do? Acknowledge this encouragement: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2-3). But in our time of a massive, coordinated assault upon the functions of people’s minds, more than acknowledgment is required.

We must also willfully act to govern and guard our minds. The Bible provides much counsel on this task. “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy'” (I Peter 1:13-16).

“The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray” (1 Peter 4:7).

***

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.