In Part 1, we reviewed all the major wealth transfers except the last. There were five major ones that we reviewed, as well as a few small ones. At the end of all these wealth overturns mentioned to this point, there is one more great and final wealth overturn that occurs at the start of the Millennium period and thereafter. It is the great wealth transfer to Israel. While Israel and Jerusalem are raided and sacked in the Tribulation period, in the end, all and much more is returned to her.
Much of the world’s riches that are not destroyed in the Tribulation period flow to Zion. Even here, there are at least two types of flows:
1. That which apparently is seized as part of the “threshing” of the nations that rise against Israel. These are “ill-gotten gains” of the nations (Micah 4:13, translated as “illicit” profits) that go before the Lord.
2. Other flows to Israel are more a type of tribute, resulting from Israel’s dealings with the rest of the world. For example, “Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come” (Isaiah 60:5; cf. v. 11; 61:6; 66:12; Zechariah 14:14).
Imagine: Israel will become the world’s financial center. No doubt, a new financial system will prevail. In this writer’s opinion, there will be no more debt slavery and high levels of indebtedness. It would not be surprising were this new financial system to be founded on the Old Testament Levitical laws.
Wealth, the Church, and the Christian
The Bible has a strange interpretation of who is truly rich and who is not. At least, that would be the opinion of most people living in our presently humanistic age, whether Christian or not. Christ pointed to the importance of true riches for His followers and the Church, saying, “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” (Luke 16:11-12).
Large swathes of churches today stage the attractiveness of Christianity in terms of the pursuit of prosperity. In this view, practical Christianity must produce earthly rewards and worldly affluence. The problem with this view is that it is not Biblical. Nowhere in the New Testament is there any hint of this principle. Not one of the disciples ended up a wealthy man, with the possible exception of Judas. His fate is well-known.
Instead, the New Testament shows Christians as persecuted. Here is just one substantiation: “For you did sympathize and suffer along with those who were imprisoned, and you bore cheerfully the plundering of your belongings and the confiscation of your property, in the knowledge and consciousness that you yourselves had a better and lasting possession” (Hebrews 10:34).
However, it would not be a surprise for Christianity to be attracted by the great worldly wealth explosion of the last days. Its lures are powerful. Apostle John reveals that the last of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation is the one that is lukewarm and fixated with wealth: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17).
Nonetheless, some religious movements believe that the wealth of the world—the “wealth of the wicked,” as it is sometimes identified—will be transferred to the Church. It is claimed that there will yet be a last-day global harvest before the Lord returns; that the Church will need great wealth to fund this objective, as well as the eradication of poverty in the world.
There are many problems with the concept of last-day wealth transfer applying to the Church. Again, there is not one verse we can find in the New Testament that even indirectly refers to a great endtime wealth transfer to the Church. Even the book of Revelation is silent on this topic, though it refers to the destruction of the wealth of Babylon the Great, which will “never be recovered” (Revelation 18:14).
Assuredly, if such wealth were to be transferred to the Church, support for this concept would have been found in the New Testament. Instead, there we only find admonishments about the deceitfulness of wealth (Mark 4:19), and how the faith of many will grow cold (Mathew 24:12) due to the cares of this life.
What Happens to the Elites When Markets Crash?
A popular pastime in some circles is to document the transgressions of the world’s rich people and to condemn them. There seems to be a countless number of bloggers and newsletter writers that track the activities of the rich and their supposedly evil schemes. According to some of these observers, rich elites (whether organized or individual, Jew or Gentile) are conspiring to take over the world. They are seen to be diabolically evil—a brotherhood of demon-inspired conspirators who have sold their souls to the devil.
Perhaps some people fit the description. However, our view of conspiracy theories is that they are mostly a waste of time for the Christian. Yes, there is a group that calls itself the Bilderbergers, and there may be an Illuminati. There definitely are conspiracies of many types. Then, what should be the response of the Christian? Condemnation? Taking upon us the assignment of tracking their every move? Reporting publicly their every sin? Organizing political activism against such purported people?
Every human being has the same potential to sin. We are all sinners. All of us naturally give priority to our own interests (rather than loving our neighbors as ourselves), have the same vulnerability to lusts and idols, and all have the same inventiveness in justifying our actions. Rich people are no different as humans. They will face the judgment seat as everyone else. All sins are sin. Then, why single out only one particular caricature of a sinner? Why not all other sinners? The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
The so-called “elites” of the last-day world have no special privileges, seen from the perspective of eternity. Long ago, long before the vast commercialization of mankind, this was already observed by the Psalmist: “Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increases; for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them” (Psalm 49:16-17).
When the judgments of the Tribulation period come and wealth hoards are destroyed, elites are not omitted from this outcome: “They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out” (Revelation 18:19).
Inhospitable conditions apply to everyone. There is no exception for the elites: “Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains” (Revelation 6:15).
And when the False Prophet arrives on the scene and puts in place controls on “buying and selling,” it applies to everyone. The beast “forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads” (Revelation 13:16).
The elites of the world are just as deceived and deluded as anyone else. As the Bible lays out, the challenges of wealth have existed from time immemorial. The basic human underpinnings of conspiracies, in essence, are no different today. What is different is that in our time, we face globalized dimensions of these conditions.
Thoughts to Ponder
The merging of God and Mammon—figured as religion and materialism, faith and globalization in bed together—is the final capstone of mankind’s deception. This is reflected in the religious and commercial Babylon, shown to rise in illicit cahoots in Revelation 17 and 18. It could be seen as the final, globe-spanning religion.
The Bible does prophesy a major endtime wealth transfer. But it is not to a particular church or “righteous” group, as some false religious movements like to claim, but rather to Israel and to the righteous of the Millennial Kingdom.
One wonders why it is the rich Laodicean church that is being reprimanded by Christ. In fact, the apostate church and its many daughters, shown as Mystery Babylon the Whore in Revelation 17, are well on their way to a full union with commercial Babylon of Revelation 18. The grand, last-day ecumenical lie—of serving both God and Mammon—is far advanced. Since this is an impossibility (“You cannot serve both God and money”: Matthew 6:24), it is really a movement in which Mammon has robed itself in the garb of religion and apparent “Christian godliness.”
If anything, the true Church of the last days is more of a remnant than it is resplendent with wealth. Revelation 3:8 says that the church of the “open door” is weak and feeble … far from being imbued with worldly power and wealth. It is this little Philadelphian band of believers to which is promised, “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).
Where should we look for wealth and power? “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:12).
***
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.