Recently the world received a warning. There will be no exit. For central banks, accountability will not be escaped. And “thus spoke Zarathustra”…more specifically, the Master of the Universe himself, the head of the U.S. central bank. Recently, he made a big pronouncement and the world listened.

What are we speaking of? Nothing other than the announcement by Ben Bernanke of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board (Fed) that they would not “taper.” Readers might not appreciate the large kerfuffle that this caused. Many observers were shocked. Earlier, the Fed had signalled that it would like to begin “tapering.” As a result, interest rates promptly soared. Bond markets everywhere, from Indonesia to Spain, threw a tantrum. Then, when the time came for their decision on September 18th, the Fed balked. It announced it would not “taper.”

What is the “taper” all about? Simply this: Back in 2012, when the economy was again sagging, the Fed felt it could not risk a further deceleration and again began a program of buying $85 billion worth of treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities per month. It can do so quite easily, though this might amount to a gargantuan $1.02 trillion per year. It can pay for its purchases by simply crediting banks with new reserves.

For all intents and purposes, it is a form of money printing. It’s a clever little technique, since by doing so, these actions also lower the debt burden for the federal government. The Fed collects the interest on all the fixed-income instruments that they have purchased and gives it back to the government. Voila.

But now, the Fed said it would not stop this program. They would not “taper” (reduce their pace of buying every month); they would continue. A number of conclusions and confirmations spring from this action.

Firstly, the Fed now realizes that there is no easy exit. Once the financial markets, both domestically and globally, are used to the drug of cheap and unlimited money — this being money that has not been earned by human effort and wages — they become hooked. It is like heroin. A few doses may be necessary when the patient is in triage with deep economic trauma, but no more. As soon as drug dependency is established, the exit can only be painful. This situation applies to the actions of all the world’s major central banks including the Bank of Japan (whose monetary arteries have already collapsed long ago), the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and others. Taken together, the world’s eight biggest central banks have bloated their money base by over $9 trillion over the past five years. The balance sheets of all the world’s central banks (almost all of it by fiat) now amounts to an equivalent of 32% of world economic output.

This is unconscionable. Yet, very few officials have any great worries. They have no sense of the grave immorality and kleptocracy that these policies are ushering in. Wealth distribution, extremely unequal as it is already, will become even worse. Without a doubt, that is indeed what is happening. Just why would sales of Ferraris be at an all-time high, while revenues at Wal-Mart are slowing down? (See Charts #1 and #2 on page 3.) This is symptomatic of a much broader trend.

The larcenous policies of the major central banks are indeed endorsed at the highest levels. In time, these actions will be sure to contribute to an obliteration of morality at all levels of society. To illustrate, in the great Weimar inflation of the 1920 to 30s (another era of massive monetary malfeasance, though not the same form) people would no longer wait to get married. Money was devaluing so quickly, waiting to pay for a wedding was financially hazardous. Better to cede to economic advantage and get hooked. Out-of-wedlock births soared. This is but one anecdotal illustration of the effects on morality.

What is worst of all is that central banks themselves are now unsure and confused…and desperate. They have pumped many trillions of dollars into the world economy and what do we see? Nothing more than slow, creeping economic growth in most of the developed countries in the world. Even the faster-emerging countries are facing economic decelerations at the present time. All the trillions in fabricated money has been shown to be largely impotent. (See Chart #3 which shows the trend in world trade. No acceleration is evident!)

In Europe, an economic depression is underway in many countries. While some economists are lately ecstatically celebrating the fact that economic collapse has stabilized in some of these nations, the fact remains that unemployment levels in Spain, Greece and other European countries is massive…at much higher levels than in the U.S. during the Great Depression of the 30s.

Our expectation all along has been that even greater monetary cleverness yet lies ahead. Too clever by half to this point, the major central banks have lost their reverse gear. They have discovered that they cannot unwind their actions. Should financial instabilities strike again, they can only ramp up their money creation to even more absurd levels.

More and more economists are prescribing “money finance” policies. This involves true high-power money creation. What these types of policies comprise is the direct purchase by central banks of new government bonds. In effect, central banks would be directly financing governments with newly-created money. Governments will be sure to spend this free money. What government wouldn’t? No doubt, this will cause a surge in economic activity…but only for a time. Inflation will also surge.

We anticipate that many people will be taken in by these possible actions. Thinking that a new prosperity is underway, suddenly, they will discover that it is a trap…a false, empty, fabricated prosperity.

The Psalmist brings a comforting message for those that loathe the ungodly environment of the world at this time. “This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!” (Psalm 73:12-13, 18-21).

“Will not your creditors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their prey” (Habakkuk 2:7).

“While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

We have written frequently on the topic of the Endtime Money Trap. A book entitled The Endtime Money Trap: How to live free was published on this topic in 2001. It documented the steadily accelerating trends toward financial controls, global financial interconnectedness and the financialization (money captivity) of an ever greater part of human activity. These trends indeed have continued to accelerate and remain a topic of interest at many levels.

A number of verses in the Bible point to the emergence of a potential “money trap.” Most specific is the following prophetic text: “[…] 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?” (Revelation 13:17 KJV).

We note a number of new developments over recent years that could hasten the facilitation of just such an event as described. However, before pointing to these, it is worthwhile to first reflect on the implications of just such a prophecy. What does it mean that “no man might buy or sell”? It clearly means that NOBODY ANYWHERE will be able buy or sell ANYTHING unless they subordinate themselves to the “Beast and its image.” The question we wish to focus on is this: What systemic controls must be in place so that NO ONE on earth can either buy or sell without permission?

Essentially (and grossly simplified) for Revelation 13:17 to be fulfilled at least four things have to happen :

1. A globally integrated and closed financial system must exist. Necessary technologies must be in place. This 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. A system of central banking must be endorsed everywhere and centrally coordinated. This must result in a commonly-shared monetary philosophy around the world, which, most importantly, achieves a strong influence over market and human behavior. In other words, the entire world must agree to play by the same rules and values, thereby obeying and following the actions of monetary officials (the modern money equivalent to suzerains).

3. The legal statutes and regulatory institutions that oversee financial activities of individual countries must be superseded by a centralized world-wide authority in order that unified actions can be enforced.

4. Finally, a unified global “political economy” must exist (either taking the form of a very small group of powerful countries or a single autocrat) that is powerful enough to enforce and authorize such controls upon the entire world at a given time.

How far along is the world with respect to the four steps mentioned? Steps #1 and #2 are well advanced. For all intents and purposes, we could say that they are already in place. Only the final two remain to be completed. In our view, global initiatives in this direction are already well in tow. However, further development in this direction is difficult. Why? Because individual countries must first give up a measure of sovereignty for these to occur. They will do so only very reluctantly. If this is the case, then how can these last steps ever fall in place?

As technocrats and political strategists well know, there is nothing as effective as crises and fear to unify political consensus or to compel change. In such desperate times people will be prone to strike deals that will hold them captive. An example of this tendency is shown in the Genesis account of the 7-year famine during the time of Joseph. In the later stages of the famine, people became so desperate they said: “[…] buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh.”

A major crisis occurred only recently — the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). It was most significant as it was a globally-interconnected and fiercely contagious financial disaster that elicited the greatest globally-coordinated response of all time. Almost instantly, the attention of the entire world was captured, triggering a global wave of fear and angst. The spectre of collapsing stock markets, banks and other financial institutions met a hurried and panicked response. The sheer financial immobilization of the crisis allowed regulators and policymakers to enforce measures that might otherwise have been considered illegal. Such is the effectiveness of crisis. It can galvanize responsive action. Invariably, the changes born of such crisis tend towards centralization, greater controls and, crucially, massive wealth transfers. A measure of all of these has played out in recent years.

Let’s return to our original inquiry. Just what significant new developments over recent years serve to hasten the future facilitation of the Revelation 13:17 money policy? We will mention three.

Firstly, in 2008, in response to the GFC, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) was formed by the G20 countries. It was established to coordinate internationally the work of national financial authorities and international standard-setting bodies and to develop and promote the implementation of effective regulatory, supervisory and other financial sector policies.

As such, it brings together national authorities responsible for financial stability in significant international financial centres, international financial institutions, sector-specific international groupings of regulators and supervisors, and committees of central bank experts. As can be concluded from this description, it is yet one more transnational organization that is seeking to promote an internationally-connected and regulated financial system.

Most interesting is that the FSB has determined that some financial institutions around the globe are systemically important banks (G-SIB). It has identified 28 such G-SIBs, these being the biggest, most internationally-connected banks. What are the implications of this initiative? To our thinking, while these banks will be carefully monitored at the international level, they therefore will likely also be favored and protected during any future financial crisis. With this protected status, it would not be surprising if the entire world banking system were eventually centralized into a few institutions. That would certainly facilitate the ability to control all financial flows.

A second significant development in the effort to harmonize banks around the globe is the activity of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) based in Basel, Switzerland. Its purpose is to foster international cooperation and to act as a bank for central banks. Sixty such central banks are members of this organization today and its board of directors includes members from China to Canada.

A major endeavor of the BIS is the monumental Basel III program. This initiative was also taken expressly in response to the financial instabilities of the GFC. The new Basel III operating standards are now foreseen to be in effect by 2018. Crucially, the BIS continues to successfully build a common and unified foundation for global financial institutions and their central banks. This serves to organize common operating procedures and philosophies of global financial systems around the globe.

Finally, we will mention one other critical development in central banking. This involves the adoption of unorthodox monetary tools by central banks that by any fair standard would be considered immoral. These methods are considered necessary in response to the economic fall-out of the GFC. Central banks are desperately hopeful that such actions will restore prosperity. We would not be surprised to see aggressive implementation of such ideas as “money finance” and Outright Permanent Money Finance (OPMF) in the future. These policies will cause massive and unjust wealth transfers and an even greater stratification of wealth than already exists. All of this breeds the type of instabilities and problems that will require even greater financial controls in the future.

In our view, the three developments we have briefly outlined could well pave the road to the ultimate advent of the final money trap. Just when can we expect the next crisis that will drive the “money trap” to its final snap? According to our understanding of Scripture, the final one will occur in the second half of the Tribulation. This crisis could very well be the next one. Maranatha.