The Tribulation Foreshadowed

We continue our series on the topic of prophesied economic conditions expected in the last days. We have identified Joseph’s story and lifetime as a foreshadowing of end-time outcomes. We drew some significant conclusions in the previous part. Among these was the estimation that it only required three and a half years for Joseph and the Pharaoh to economically enslave the entire population of Egypt. That is lightning quick. Indeed, the Bible well warns that last-day trends and developments are sudden and short.

Is it a coincidence that the first and second halves of the prophesied Tribulation are also three and a half years? We think not. In fact, we are inclined to view the first half of the Tribulation period as lining up with Joseph’s story.

This period, in this writer’s view, ends with the closing of the money snare—the ability to limit buying and selling (Revelation 13:17).

This first three-and one-half-year period of the seven-year famine can be seen as a parallel to the “the beginning of birth pains” that we read about in Matthew 24:8. It serves as a foreshadowing of the first half of the seven-year Tribulation. By the end of that period, the False Prophet will have led the entire world into economic and monetary bondage.

It is during this period that a great world ruler gains increasing power, the Antichrist. He first brings the world under his control in the name of peace and prosperity. Then, once he has much of the world in his grip, he tightens the noose and brings doom to the earth. He starts the Great Tribulation, the second three- and one-half years (also known as Jacob’s trouble: Jeremiah 30:7).

Is the alignment between Joseph and the Antichrist a coincidence or just a senseless stretch of the imagination? Indeed, it may seem a sacrilege to frame such an irreverent question. Yet there are many instructive parallels and also some key differences.

The final, diabolical, last-day ruler upon earth specifically strategizes his actions under the guise of a false Christ, the Antichrist. If it is agreed that Joseph was a type of Christ, then wouldn’t it only follow that the Antichrist would act as an Anti-Joseph?

Whereas Joseph had a benevolent calling enabled by God to save physical lives, the Antichrist is a demonically-inspired person that seeks to physically entrap mankind for the purpose of destruction and his worship.

Jesus Christ came to offer spiritual life for an eternity. The Antichrist comes to do the opposite.

Today, many people are looking for a modern-day Joseph—an economic savior. They want to find solace in a comfortable life, low mortgage payments, a secure job, steadily growing financial wealth, expanding export markets, and an unfettered playing field for the globe’s burgeoning multinational corporations. It is the sure road to prosperity, say many leaders and politicians. It is the sure route to “A world free of poverty” (the slogan of the World Bank).

Much of the world—certainly, the societies in the West—has already forfeited their spiritual futures in their primary pursuit of earthly prosperity and happiness. Anyone who offers workable solutions to that end—real or imagined—will be gladly received.

However, to gain the comforts and conveniences of our times, we must agree to accept vulnerabilities. It is a required trade-off. We must fully participate with our hearts, our land, and our factories to serve this global system so that we might take part in the promised fruits of a worldwide economic order.

So it may be. However, humanity risks falling captive to an Anti-Joseph, the very same that plans, as mentioned, a brutal end-time money snare for the world. A series of world crises drives humanity to give up its money, land, and economic freedoms.

Eventually, one man, seizing the opportunity, will arrive at the pinnacle of power to take control— Antichrist.

Were the people angry with Joseph when he enslaved them? Not at all. “‘You have saved our lives,’ they said. ‘May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh'” (Genesis 47:25). Here we see that they willingly gave themselves up in bondage to Pharaoh so that they might have no existential concerns.

The entire world will do so again, the Bible indicates. Only this time, it will be in response to the Anti-Joseph. They will willingly allow themselves to become economically and financially enslaved to a diabolically-inspired person. Why? So that they might have grain … that they may have economic benefits.

The Anti-Joseph could arise very soon. Already, we can see the facilitating infrastructure being built up rapidly, which will enable a worldwide repressive regime to take full economic and financial control.

The recent global jitters with the Covid-19 pandemic prompted many more urgent steps toward that future outcome—one that now is at the very doorstep. The scale of the interventions that have been made to counter the worldwide economic impact of the virus outbreak is simply without precedent. These will have disastrous implications for mankind across the world should the same course continue to be pursued. This cannot be overstated.

All of this hastens the day described in Revelation 13:17. That is the point at which the False Prophet is able to control all buying and selling upon the earth. Life can no longer be lived outside of this system … meaning certain death. The majority of the world’s population will opt to receive the “mark.” Those that do not are certain to die—are killed, persecuted, or unable to survive.

What does “that no man might buy or sell” imply? It clearly means that NOBODY … ANYWHERE … will be able to buy or sell … ANYTHING … unless they subordinate themselves to the “Beast and its image.” They must first take the mark. This is a penultimate event in the Tribulation period.

The question we want to direct our attention to is: What systemic controls and/or developments are yet required for a global regime to be put in place so that NO ONE on earth can either buy or sell without permission?

What needs to take form before this event can actually occur? Can we anticipate the time that the Endtime Money Trap has advanced to the point where it may snap shut?

Grossly simplified, for the economic limitations that are prophesied in Revelation 13:17 to be fulfilled, at least four things must first happen:

1. 1. First, a globally integrated and closed financial system must exist. Necessary and common technologies must be in place. That means that not even a little bank in Tupelo, Mississippi, or the Island of Tuvalu will be able to facilitate any type of transaction (whether buying food or selling a house) outside of this closed system.
   2. Next, a system of central banking and national accounting must be endorsed everywhere. This results in a commonly shared monetary philosophy around the world (not necessarily a one-world currency) which, crucially, has an influential hold over financial markets and human behavior. In other words, the entire world must agree to play by the same monetary rules and values. Central bank officials must carry out the same policies, coordinating their actions.
   3. The legal statutes and regulatory institutions, which oversee the financial activities of capital markets of individual countries, must be superseded (or subjugated) by a centralized worldwide authority. This is to ensure that unified actions can be enforced. It would also mean that government treasury operations could be coordinated and controlled as well.
   4. Finally, a unified global “political economy” must exist (taking the form of a very small group of powerful countries … perhaps the 10 Kings … then eventually a single autocrat) that is powerful enough to enforce such monetary controls upon the entire world at a given time. Mankind must collectively agree to pursue this financial capture and to appoint a policymaker that will put in place such conditions and policies.

Global Money Control: We Are Nearly There

Having listed the four main steps to the Endtime Money Trap, just how far along is the world? Steps #1 and #2 are well advanced. For all intents and purposes, we could say that these two requirements are already in place.

What about the final two steps remaining to be completed?

A reassessment is now needed, given the recent rapid developments over the past several years in response to economic crises and, lately, the global COVID-19 pandemic. A significant advance in the timeline of the Endtime Money Snare has occurred.

In recent years, our view had been that global initiatives in this direction were indeed advancing but were not yet firmly in place. After all, further unifying developments in this direction were difficult. Why? Because individual countries were reluctant to give up any sovereignty.

Then, how can these last two required steps ever fall in place? Our view had been that one or more global crises of some type or another must first occur.

And indeed, that has and is occurring … quickly. The global responses to COVID-19 are chipping away at the resistance of sovereignty. Even countries such as Germany have momentously changed their views. This country has significantly loosened its fiscal policies. Nevertheless, it faces a certain meltdown in the EU (European Union) if it does not accept EU financial unification. In the meantime, the war between Russia and Ukraine is pulling the world together geopolitically … although in the form of two factions: Russia and most non-aligned countries (Iran, China, India, Egypt, and others), and NATO and America.

These actions could be momentous, as they would further promote the third step, though not yet its full completion. Eventually, the United States would also need to take part in the secession from sovereignty. That is most certainly not yet occurring at this time. In that respect, it can be said that the U.S. government administration of Donald Trump held back the clock. Of course, this situation is now reversing rapidly. At some point, it must if Bible prophecy is to be fulfilled. After all, prophecy is the foreknowledge of what future society and humans will choose to do.

As technocrats and political strategists well know, there is nothing as effective as a fearsome crisis to unify political consensus and to compel change. Quoting the late Milton Friedman (a well-known monetarist economist): “Only a crisis, real or perceived, produces real change.” A more diabolical quote expressing the same principle comes from Nazi political theologian Carl Schmitt: “Sovereign is he who decides the state of emergency.”

Global emergencies and crises can be expected to continue. Prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes. The Endtime Money Snare is rushing forward. Only the Lord tarries, the Church and the Paraclete first to be removed.

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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.

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.