The Bible and the stock market

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This economic crash will pass, like others before it. The Bible predicts a time of prosperity in the end times. How does this fit into what we see now? How does the prosperity come about, and how long does it last? Can the world trust it?

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The world can rejoice at any future prosperity, but do Christians, or faithful Jews, really want to be around?

There are 2 time frames to look at:

(1) the future (final days): first- to see where we are headed

(2) the time we are in now

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The final days: The Prosperity precedes the Beast, who increases it.

The antichrist will come during this time of prosperity, when men’s hearts are on their goods, and not on worshipping God.

Dan 8:23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

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*** dark sentences – obscure remarks, hidden meanings, deceit intended, convincing.

Dan 8:24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.

Dan 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause deceit (fraud) to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify [himself] in his heart, and in/by prosperity (shalvah) shall destroy many.

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*** prosperity – this is financial prosperity. It seems to be connected to destroying the holy people. I could assume the holy people are the Jews, but it could include Christians as well. There will be an end time transfer of wealth from righteous gentiles to the Jews (Isaiah 60), and of course, the Antichrist will want the money.

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Notice it mentions a “policy.”   In his campaign to get elected, he will have an economic platform (policy) to increase prosperity.  A “redistribution of wealth” would occur, and money from the holy people would be taken, and given to the unbelievers who support the evil king. (Don’t worry, they will get it back in the end.)

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Doesn’t this sound like a political platform? Greedy, lazy, godless people will love this plan.

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The antichrist has to come during a period of false prosperity, which he may help to create or increase, and the false prosperity will set people up for destruction.

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Usually, poor people are willing to seek and depend on God, and pray for Him to provide for them. The need motivates them.

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The antichrist cannot have them doing this, since it takes away from him as ruler.

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He will know that if people become rich, they will abandon the true God, Yahweh. They will see themselves as gods unto themselves, who created their own prosperity, with the Antichrist’s help, of course.

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It would be the Antichrist’s plan, then, to enrich his supporters, so they would see him as the God of prosperity, and then they would idolize him, and themselves, instead of Yahweh. He would be the hero and role model that everyone would look up to.

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Since it says that he causes fraud to prosper in his hand, the prosperity is false, and will eventually fail.

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In Revelation 13, the Beast arises out of the water and makes war with the saints. Wealthy Babylon is already in existence. He just takes it over.

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Since the prosperity precedes his coming to power, this is one clue that the world economy has to improve again before his coming. So, for those looking to recover present losses, there will be a window of time to do this.

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But in the end, there will only be 2 groups who are wealthy; Babylon, and Israel. Therefore, the Antichrist will war with the saints to destroy them, take their wealth, and remove Jewish opposition to his unholy desire to be god.

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Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

This agrees with this passage in Daniel.

Dan 8:24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.

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The Beast is first mentioned in Chapter 13, but his influence or presence seems to be around somewhere before that, just hidden. There is an evil presence during the tribulation which is mentioned in and complete by Rev 7:14.

Rev 7:14 … And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Babylon, the wealthy religious harlot, who rides the beast, does not fall until Rev 18. So in spite of all the horrible judgments that come upon the earth, people will still cling to her, until she is destroyed. They will mourn as she falls. This also means that the wealthy financial and religious system will be strong until this point, not weak. The financial and the religious systems are linked to each other.

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Wealthy Babylon will also become successful by deceit.

Rev 18:23 ……. For thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

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Wealthy Babylon will also become successful by the blood of the saints

Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus:

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Wealthy Babylon will also become successful by the mark of the beast

Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Since the saints have no mark, they naturally will not have access to their money, which will be confiscated by the beast. Most likely, because they are blessed, they will be considered as selfish, rich people who need to give to the poor. This is the “redistribution of wealth” policy in effect again..

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:World_Bank_income_groups.png

Countries based on World Bank income groupings for 2006 (calculated by GNI per capita, Atlas method).

██ High income

██ Upper-middle income

██ Lower-middle income

██ Low income

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What about right now?

Look at the map above. People in certain countries do not need a financial savior (Antichrist). Prosperity is already present, relative to the rest of the world.

The Antichrist would have more initial public support if he appealed to, and ruled over, the red or purple areas. He, personally, however, to have the financial resources to get started, would have to come from a green or blue area.

My guess is that although the Antichrist is not visibly recognized here yet, the system is already in place.

The current stock market value of anything has nothing to do with the true value of the product.

The values shoot up and down with hearsay, and statements made in the media by public personalities.

The value, then, of any product can be easily controlled, and the economy controlled as well.

So whoever is in control determines who says what the values should be.

This means that in spite of the apparent, current financial crisis, things are actually sounder than they look.

Since the beast has not arisen out of the water yet to identify itself, then wealthy Babylon is still safe for awhile.

The global economy cannot really fail until after Babylon falls. It will not fall before the Beast takes over and is defeated.

This would indicate that what we are currently seeing in the global markets will pass.

However, this also means there may be more ups and downs until then, and that local areas or countries may do well, while others still suffer, as they have before.

This current crisis, along with others is a warning from God as to who is really in charge of this planet. He is being longsuffering with us, and at some point, the warnings will stop. Then things will REALLY get bad.

As long as man is in charge of the prosperity, it will come and go from now on.

People need to learn that ONLY God can grant endless, unbroken, unlimited prosperity, because He is really in charge of the true wealth of this world.

If people obey and respect Him, they will be taken care of.

If people rebel against Him, and commit all sorts of sin, then their prosperity will be false, limited, or not at all, and will crash on them when they least expect it.

Man cannot control God – Yahweh.  God gives, and He takes away.  God reigns over this earth, and someday, all knees will bow down to Yahweh, and declare Him King over all creation.

He is the one and only true God of prosperity.  Trust Him and you will be OK.

My God is an awesome God !!!!!

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***  Marianne’s  guess – current problems will take until the end of 2009. It will be ok for about a year or so, then it will crash again by 2011.

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