“The Final Countdown Has Started” Series
The Real Reasons the Dollar Died 3 of 4
(Based upon Jonathan Cahn’s book “The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America’s Future”)
February 26, 2012 Chester’s FBC Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
A God has sent divine judgement upon ancient Israel because they had abandoned their Godly foundation in which their nation had been founded.
1 God had sent prophet after prophet but His message through their voice had fallen upon deaf hears and hardened hearts.
a He lifted the hedge that was around Israel and allowed the Assyrian Empire to strike hard, fast. (Limited, short in duration)
b The Judgement was meant to awaken Israel to return to their foundation, Godly heritage but instead of repenting they responded in defiance.
aa Is. 9.10
bb We will come back bigger, taller, stronger. We will rebuild/recover & they defiantly did!
c Israel vow to come back stronger and that seemed to work for a period of time.
aa Cleared away the ruins, construction and the sight of the nation rebuilding itself brought the sense of national resurgence. Illusion.
bb Their response was defiance (hewned stones/gazit stone, Cedar/Erez Tree)
cc By vowing in Is. 9.10, they were setting the nation up for future calamities/disasters.
d Their stronger, higher walls were meant to protect the nation from further injury & prevent another attack.
2 Divine anger will not cease until its purposes are accomplished (If Israel resisted one expression of anger, another must be found.)
a Is. 9.11, The nation is shaken again because it didn’t wake up the first time.
b Their root problem was never addressed. (Money, Military, Political...Spiritual!)
aa The attack/raising of the hedge was intended for “ . . . the people . . . to turn back to Him . . . “ Isa. 9.13.
bb You can’t solve a problem by dealing with the symptoms . . . its manifestations. (Must deal with the cause that lies hidden beneath the surface & their root problem was Spiritual)
c A spiritual problem can only be solved by a spiritual solution (Apart from that, every other solution will end up producing another crisis!)
aa It’s the Isaiah 9.10 Effect
bb The attempt of a nation to defy the course of its judgement, apart from repentance, will, instead, set in motion a chain of events to bring about the very calamity it sought to avert.
cc The defiant vow to rebuild/replant brought the warnings to pass . . . also put into play the second part of God’s judgement.
dd The Isaiah 9.10 Effect must be born out of the nations response to the first calamity.
B Seven years after 9/11 the American economy collapsed, triggering a global economic implosion (more on this later) and it all goes back to the hedge being lifted on September 11, 2001.
1 The economic collapse was birthed out of the calamities of 9/11.
a For six days after 9/11 the NYSE was closed, when it reopened the following Monday (September 17, 2001) Wall Street suffered it’s largest point crash in its history up to that time, lost 7% of its value.
b FYI: By January 01 our bullish economy was beginning to slow down and the FED had reduced the target interest rate to 3.5% by summer then 9/11.
aa On September 17, the Federal Reserve began lowering the target interest rate even further to help get the economy moving.
bb By December 11, the interest rate was 1.75%. (Lower than the rate of inflation which is the equivalency of creating free money.)
2 By June 2003, the rate would reach 1% and would remain under 2% for several years.
a These infusions of money were all in response to the calamities of 9/11.
b This response sets into motion a chain of events that would bring down the American & global economy.
T.S.: I want to look how an ancient blessing turned into a judgement because of national defiance to follow God.
I The Mystery of the Shemitah
A God rested on the 7th day, He has given us the commandment to keep this day of rest (the 7th day), and He told Israel that every 7th year that the land of Israel was to rest.
1 That 7th year was intended to be a blessing meant to recharge/renew the land, their economy, & their relationship with God. (The Shemitah: the rest, remission, release)
a At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord'S release. Deut 15:1-2 (KJV)
aa 10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: 11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. Ex 23:10-11 (KJV)
bb 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. 3 ~' Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, 4 but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 ~'Your harvest's aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year. 6 ~' All of you shall have the Sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you. -Lev 25:2-6 (NASB)
cc This release (Shemitah) reached its crowning day on the 29th of Elul, the final day of the final month of the civil calendar, the eve of the seventh month (Tishri) of their religious calendar. (IL. Fiscal year vs. Calender year)
b Over the course of the seventh year the effect & repercussions of the Shemitah extend into the financial realm, economic realm, realms of labor, employment, production, consumption, and trade. (KEY THOUGHT)
aa The nations production is severely decreased in its fields vineyards lay fallow.
bb The nation’s labor is greatly reduced or comes to a cessation.
cc The fields become, in part, the possession of all.
dd The buying & selling of the land’s produce are restricted.
ee The fruits of labor are abandoned.
ff Credit is canceled and debt is wiped away.
c Because the Shemitah was so shaking to Israel’s economy, over the centuries the Rabbis would try to figure out ways to get around it.
2 God created the Shemitah to be a vessel of blessing, but when the nation attempts to rule God out of existence, the vessel of blessing is turned to a vessel of judgement on the nations finances.
a When Israel went into captivity to Babylon, they were there for 70 years.
aa The land of Israel was fallow for 70 years, 70 Shemitahs in a row, The Shemitah did come, but not by choice–by judgement.
bb Israel failed to observe it for 490 years. (The Shemitah had become a judgement at that point because of the nations defaulting on their covenant with God.)
b He took what the nation had tried so desperately to keep, accomplish financially: the blessing became a judgement.
B Only Israel was commanded to observe the Shemitah, America was never told to.
1 The issue is not the literal observance of the Shemitah but rather its dynamic, its effect, and its consequence upon a nation that rules not to allow God to reign. The Shemitah is a sign of judgement.
a The NYSE was closed for six days following the attacks on 9/11.
aa When Wall Street re-opened it experienced its greatest lose in its history up to that day:.lost 7% of its value.
bb September 17, 2001 was Elul 29 on the Jewish Calender, the crowning day of the Shemitah. (Shemitah is about a nations finances, economy, employment, credit, debt, etc.)
cc On September 17, the Federal Reserve began lowering the target interest rate even further to help get the economy moving. By December 11, the interest rate was 1.75%. (Lower than the rate of inflation which is the equivalency of creating free money.)
b Like the rabbis of ancient Israel, we defiantly try to figure some way around obedience, repentance.
aa Interest rates are lowered to the point that it doesn’t keep up w/inflation, creating free money.
bb Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation/ Federal National Mortgage Association) Lehman Brothers, the companies that owned the loans, took huge gambles with their loaning practices.
c People had homes built who couldn’t afford them before, contractors were building at a furious rate and housing market was booming due to the flooding of money that was being released by the government.
aa The rising values of homes led people to borrow against their homes and create more debt.
bb World markets saw the boom and inflows of cash from Asia just added to the problem.
2 What America was doing was soon played out by central banks across the globe, meaning the same post 9/11 dynamics at work in America were now reproduced throughout the world. WHAT WAS AT WORK? (9.10)
a God was calling America back, allowing it to be shaken, awakened, saved from judgement . . . she chose not to return. (Every response that wasn’t repentance was a response of defiance.)ient rabbis trying to find away around being obedient to God.
b As long as the credit kept coming the illusion of recovery was intact but once the credit began to dry up the house of cards collapsed.
aa In September 2008, the American financial system (Wall Street) began to implode, triggering the greatest economic disaster since the Great Depression.
bb Freddie Mac & Fannie May (who owned or backed up about half of all American mortgages at the time) collapsed on 9/7/08, both were seized by the government & placed them under government conservatorship . . effectively nationalizing them (owned by the nation.)
cc Lehman Brothers began its collapse on 9/9/08 when it announced its loss of $4 billion, fell again sharply on 9/11/08 when AIG alerted the Federal Reserve they too were in danger of collapsing, & Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15.
dd The Lehman Brothers collapse was heard around the world. (Triggered the collapse of Wall Street & global financial implosion.)
c All of these events are happening during the week that America is remembering the 7th anniversary of 9/11.
aa On September 29, 2008, the world hears the news that the U.S. Government will allow Lehman Brothers to fail, release their debt over $5 trillion & the Congress voting down a bill for a $700 billion bail out.
bb Some saw it as an omen when the opening bell refused to sound as what the day of 9.29 would hold for Wall Street as %7 of the market was lost that day.
cc The market lost every gain (and then some) that it had earned in the last seven years.
dd The day was 9.29 on our calendar, but the Jewish calender said, Elul 29 the crowning day of Shemitah. (Seventh Year)
d Listen to the biblical number 7 speak of God’s hand.
aa Seventh year, Seventh month, $700 billion, 7% of the stock market was wiped away.
bb Do you know how many points were wiped away that day? 777.068!
cc The two greatest stock market crashes America had ever known, both taking place on the exact same biblical date, separated by the exact period of time ordained in the Bible, seven years to the day, both occurring on the one biblical day appointed for the wiping out of credit and debt.
dd It is amazing!
3 The effects of Shemitah ripple through out/manifest not only our nations economy but the entire global economy.
a The nations production is severely decreased in its fields vineyards lay fallow.
aa Production slows down (or cease) Ford, GM, Chrysler
bb Corporatoins downsize, factories cutback on output, business close their door.
b The nation’s labor is greatly reduced or comes to a cessation.
aa The labor force is battered, people can’t find jobs, workers are laid off.
bb Unemployment skyrockets.
c The fields become, in part, the possession of all.
aa Private organizations are increasingly bought out, bailed out, and nationalized.
bb Go to the nation!
d The buying & selling of the land’s produce are restricted.
aa Nobody is selling because nobody is buying.
bb Commerce & consumption suffer massive decline.
e The fruits of labor are abandoned.
aa Merchandise sits untouched in stores, car lots, piles up in warehouses!
bb Nations who rely on other nations to buy their goods are in deep woods.
f Credit is canceled and debt is wiped away.
aa Companies are released of their debt in the trillions of dollars.
bb Harder to use credit now.
4 Another name for Shemitah is “the fall or the letting fall.”
a In 2008 we saw the Shemitah behind ever fall.
aa The fall of the stock market, housing market, credit market, commerce and business, trade.
bb Every bankruptcy, foreclosure, every plunge in the economy . . was a fall.
b All started with the collapse of Lehman Brothers which the American government decided to let it fall.
II The Shemitah brought down our nations walls.
A The Lord sent us a word through the prophet Ezekiel: “So I will tear down the wall which you plastered over with whitewash and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation is laid bare; and when it falls, you will be consumed in its midst. And you will know that I am the Lord.” Ezek 13:14 (NASB)
1 The foundation is what the nation stands on or on which it is founded or that which it places it trust. (Ancients trusted idols and gods: Modern trust in power, military, economy, resources)
a The days of judgment reveals the nations foundation as it is laid bare. (Idols, powers, military, economy, etc.)
b Jeremiah 45.4 (KJV, NCV, TLB)
Behold, that which I have built will I break down, Jer 45:4 (KJV)
The bricks have fallen . . .(Is. 9.10)
and that which I have planted I will pluck up, Jer 45:4 (KJV)
The sycamores have been cut down . . . (Is. 9.10)
c JEREMIAH 45.4 FOLLOWS THE SAME PATTERN AS ISAIAH 9.10 !!
aa God had built Israel as one builds a house, planted it as one plants a tree.
bb In days of judgement God tears down what He has built & what He has planted would be uprooted.
2 The WTC were more than just buildings, they were symbols of American financial power (centuries in the making.)
a In the dawn of the 17th century, the Dutch used Manhattan Island as a trading outpost: feeling the need to protect themselves (Indians, Pirates, etc.) they built a wall.
aa The wall became a center point of the island’s trade & commerce.
bb Merchants built shops/warehouses along the wall.
b The Dutch would eventually lose the island to the British, the Brits would eventually tear down the wall, but the name of the road the wall was on stuck . . . Wall Street.
c From this street came the beginnings of America’s financial power.
aa Wall Street would become a channel for the pouring in and out of money to finance our nations ascendancy to economic, commercial, and industrial superpower.
bb Last century, America emerged as the world’s economic giant & Wall Street encircled the globe and became the financial capital of the world.
cc How did we get there?
3 On May 17, 1792, a group of 24 of the city’s leading merchants signed an agreement that would bring order to the trading of stocks/bonds while protecting competition in the marketplace.
a The agreement was signed under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street, “Buttonwood Agreement.”
aa The organization born out of the agreement was the Buttonwood Association, then the New York Stock & Exchange Board, then the New York Stock Exchange.
bb With the signing of the Buttonwood Agreement under a Buttonwood tree, the foundation was laid for the rise of America as the world’s towering financial superpower.
b What kind of tree is a Buttonwood? A SYCAMORE! (American Sycamore)
aa The same kind of tree growing that was growing in the shadow of the WTC . . .the Sycamore of Ground Zero.
aa The ancient symbol of blessing, prosperity, kingdom but a symbol of judgement when it is uprooted!
bb Literally, the Sycamore Agreement, Sycamore Association, Sycamore Stock Exchange Board.
B So I will tear down the wall which you plastered over with whitewash and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation is laid bare . . . Ezekiel 13.14.
1 The Sycamore of Ground Zero that fell on 9/11 was split in two and uprooted. (Symbol of judgement & a foreshadowing of economic collapse).
a The first permanent memorial to commemorate 9/11 was unveiled on 9/11/2005.
aa A sculpture, using bronze/brass, fashioned a sculpture after the root system of sycamore of ground zero.
bb He intended it to be a symbol of hope, inspiration but the symbol is of God’s judgement/uprooting/exposing of the foundation.
b If a living sycamore symbolizes our rise as the world’s preeminent financial power, what does an uprooted sycamore signify? FALL!!!
2 The site they put the bronze/brass sculpture is at the end of Wall Start!
a Bronze/brass is a metal used as a type/shadow of sever judgment.
b Rev. 1.15; Jesus’ feet are seen as bronze/brass as to say, “He has the right to judge the world!”
aa God allowed America’s power to be planted here, take root, grow, branch out all over the world.
bb When the nation departed, rejected His ways, a sign was given.
cc The blessing/prosperity symbolized by the sycamore would be removed, uprooted.
3 The Mystery of the Shemitah is the Real Reason Why the Dollar Died.
a Remember! Divine anger will not cease until its purposes are accomplished.
b If one expression is resisted, another is found; Because we ignored the purpose of 9/11 God found another force in the economic crisis . . . .which is rooted in 9/11.
C We are living in a nation that resembles the ancient nation of Israel that Jeremiah looked across as he saw its land devastated.
1 Devoid of its fruits, harvests as the judgement of the Shemitah had been issued upon the nation.
a A judgement issued because the nation had forgotten its foundation.
b Placed its trust in its power & own prosperity, and ruled God out of their lives.
2 Our nation will face challenges greater than what we have before as we face the potential end of the American-led global order.
a
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