Bible Investments

Here is an essay by Jason Hommel. He is a biblical researcher and author of numerous articles on gold and money, featured on such sites as Gold-Eagle.com. Since bible prophecy is sometimes vague due to events not yet come to fruition, I am hesitant to claim any intricacies not made clear by scripture as absolute facts. Mr. Hommel also uses the term "I believe" when speculating on how and why biblical prophecies play out. This essay is speculative but fascinating on how gold and silver may play a role in end time prophecy.

Gold and Silver in Bible Prophecy
by Jason Hommel

I've been studying the subjects of Bible prophecy (prophecy is the Bible's predictions of the future) and the precious metals market for the past several years. Interestingly, both subjects are quite related in that they focus on what the future will bring, and both subjects require a dedicated search for the truth. Bible Prophecy is a huge subject, so there is a great deal more research and scriptural support that lies beneath the conclusions and points I will be able to present here. I think that one of the ways to achieve a greater understanding of the evils of the current fiat monetary systems of the world, and a better understanding of where we are headed, would be to study the economic system that God gave the Israelites in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament, and compare it to our own.

I will start with the conclusions of what my prophecy studies have led me to believe will be the future of gold and silver with respect to prophecy, and then explain in more detail how I arrived at the following:

Israel, continuing on into the future, prior to the return of Christ at the pre-tribulation rapture, will become a very rich nation in gold and silver, and these precious metals also must rise in value enough so to move other nations to envy so that Russia, the Arab nations, and possibly Germany (Gomer?) will be led to invade Israel at the start of the seven year tribulation. (Ezekiel 38-39) Gold and silver, in the future, prior to the rapture, and even into the start of the tribulation, will become extremely valuable, much more so than today, (Rev 3:18), particularly after major currency devaluations and severe economic collapse that is planned to come to bring about the chaos necessary to humble the nations into accepting world rule by the antichrist. The world rule by the antichrist in the tribulation after the rapture, will involve a world currency, perhaps an electronic tracking system of gold credits (Dan 11:38, 11:43), involving the mark of the beast needed to buy and sell anything. (Revelation 13:16-18) In the tribulation, many (not all) of those possessing gold and silver, who refuse to accept the mark of the beast, will be hunted down and beheaded. (Revelation 20:4) I believe eventually, during the tribulation, most likely, it will be illegal to possess gold and silver in physical form as an unauthorized individual (without the mark or number or authority of the beast), anywhere in the world, (Ezekiel 7:19) but only during the short duration of the tribulation, or perhaps the second half of the 7 years time (Dan 7:25, 9:27, Rev 13:5). Finally, for the survivors of the tribulation, with the return of Jesus after the tribulation, gold and silver will be restored as money world wide, in accordance with the economic laws and principles as outlined in the the Hebrew law. (Zech 14:16, Isaiah 2:2-5)

To summarize a few of the main points of the economic system as given in the law, which are a contrast to what we have today:

Gold and Silver, as is all of creation, are from God, and given to man for good use, for a useful purpose. (Genesis 1:28, Gen 2:12.) Gold, silver, seed, and flour, were all used as money. (Lev 27:16, 2 Kings 7:1) The vast majority of the time that gold and silver are mentioned in the Bible, it is in reference to the wealth of the kings of Israel or to the wealth of the temple of the Lord. Gold and sliver were used in the workings and furnishings of the ark of the covenant, and the vessels in the temple. Therefore, gold is definitely the approved by God for men to use as money and as a store of wealth.

The people were to have and use "just weights and measures". The standard Hebrew units to measure the weight of things such as iron, stone, flour or anything, were the shekel or talent (or other measures), and also used to measure the weight of gold and silver. Unjust weights and measures were "an abomination to the Lord". (Lev 19:35, Deut 25:15, Prov 20:10)

Charging interest when lending money was forbidden, unless to a foreigner. (Lev 25:36-37, Deut 23:19-20, Psalms 15:5, Prov 28:8, Ezek 18:12-13, Neh 5)

Every 7 years was to be a time of total debt forgiveness & slave release. (Deut 15:1-3)

Every 50th year there was not only debt forgiveness, but also the return of all land (except in cities) to the people which may have been loaned out or sold. (The 50th year, or Jubilee, was after seven sevens or 49 years) (Lev 25, 27:16-18)

Wages had to be paid every day, not every two weeks. (Lev 19:13)

There was to be an inheritance from fathers to their children, and even grandchildren. (Num 27:7-11, Prov 13:22)

They were to pay tithes and suburbs (land around the cities) to support the tribe of the Levites, one of the 12 tribes, who were the priests & ministers, lawyers & judges, scribes & teachers, and caretakers of the temple. (Num 18:23-24, 35:2-7)

Next, I will examine how the above laws contrast with our modern economy and system of money.

The two evils that are most frequently mentioned with regard to dollars is that, one, dollars are not a just weight and measure, and two, that all dollars brought into the economy are done so when either the government or the people borrow money from the banks (who borrow from the Federal Reserve) at interest. Most people understand that, originally, the dollar was defined as a weight of gold, 1/20 of an ounce, but they really don't care all that much about it. The reason why is because when hard economic times come because the people are in debt and there is a perceived "lack of money", the people actually prefer allowing inflation to continue, rather than let deflation make it impossible for them to pay off their debts. Therefore, it is much less well understood why lending at usury, or any interest rate, is wrong. I will attempt to briefly cover why charging any interest at all is unnecessary for an economy to prosper, but also evil.

There are many ways to cause wealth and capital to accumulate. You can invest capital (or time and labor) directly in some endeavor, such as a business, which involves both risk and work. Or, you can lend money out at interest, requiring collateral to eliminate risk, and charge interest, which involves no work. Obviously, the second way is easier, and it is dishonest because it involves no risk and no work. Contrary to popular thought, forbidding loans at interest would not destroy an economy. Money would still be put to good use as people invest it directly into the economy. In fact, people would be more likely to invest in stocks (directly into the economy) if bonds were simply not available. In fact, it is not even necessary to pass laws forbidding loans at interest, nor is it necessary to prosecute either borrowers or lenders for participating in such transactions. What is needed is for the government to simply not recognize contracts which charge interest as being valid contracts, just as any contract which is based on an illegal practice, combined with fraud and deception and lack of disclosure should not be valid. What this means is that lenders should not be able to demand that the government enforce payment or transfer of collateral when payment becomes impossible.

When you understand that those who loan money at interest will be able to enslave the people to whom they make loans, it helps to explain what is being described in Nehemiah Chapter 5, and it explains why God's people are forbidden to lend at interest (usury) to their fellow people. Understanding the process of how usury works also explains how certain prophecies about the nation of Israel would be fulfilled. Israel would both lend to other nations and rule over them. (Deut 15:6, 28:12) Lending to others and ruling over them are concepts that are directly related, "the borrower is servant to the lender". (Proverbs 22:7)

Investors are often regaled with stories of the power of compound interest, but they are not told the full story of precisely how powerful it can be. Typically, we are told by investment advisors that if we invest $2000 very early in life (and allow for 9 doublings), or $10,000 a bit later in life (7 doublings), we can retire with a million dollars. Great! However, they don't tell you what is possible if your family dynasty invests a million dollars over a few generations. A million in gold, after 16 doublings, would come to about $64 Billion, which was way more than all the gold in the world back at $20/oz. After 20 doublings, a million turns into a trillion. See the following for proof: 1 1; 2 2; 3 4; 4 8; 5 16; 6 32; 7 64; 8 128; 9 256; 10 512; 11 1,024; 12 2,048; 13 4,096; 14 8,192; 15 16,384; 16 32,768; 17 65,536; 18 131,072; 19 262,144; 20 524,288; 21 1,048,576

Obviously, a single family, in only two-three generations, that started out moderately wealthy, if able to lend at interest, risk free, using loans secured by collateral and government enforcement of contracts, would be able to control all the wealth of the entire world. Again, just a small example of why lending at interest, risk free, using using loans secured by collateral and government enforcement of contracts is inherently unfair, and should not be legal.

Many people say that for the most part, the process of world ownership rapidly accelerated in the early 1900's, and was greatly facilitated in 1913 at the founding of the Federal Reserve Bank, and was in full swing by about World War II. The proof is that the national debt of the United States at the end of WWII was 250 Billion dollars, and this can be seen at http://www.ustreas.gov/opc/opc0019.html

The $250 Billion x 1 oz/$35 = 7,142 million ounces of gold (worth of dollars) times 1 ton/32150oz. = 222,146 tons worth of gold that the U.S. supposedly borrowed from the Federal Reserve. That's about twice the amount of gold that is estimated to exist in the world today! Back then, that was probably 4-5 times all the gold in all the world. Of course it is impossible to conceive how the U.S. was able to borrow, in value, more than what exists in the entire world, but somehow we did just that. It is mind boggling that a single private entity was able to create that many dollars out of thin air (because obviously they did not actually loan us more gold than exists), and loan them to the United States, at interest (the interest is the second fraud), and then demand payment in gold all the way up to the early 1970's until Nixon finally closed the gold window. Even today, with the debt at five trillion dollars, and all the gold in the entire world valued at one trillion dollars, something is seriously wrong with that. There is no way the United States can ever pay back, in value, 5 times as much gold as there exists in the entire world, and it is even more certain that we never borrowed any such thing in the first place. Therefore, if we never actually received any tangible thing when we took out the loan, there is no reason to claim or think that we must pay anything back. Printing the presses wildly to pay off the debt is no different than what happened when the debt was created. The debt was loaned into existence with funny-money to begin with, therefore there is no reason that the debt should be paid back with "valuable" dollars. At this point, attempting to keep the dollar valuable only continues the enslavement of the people and the nation. I say go ahead, monetize the debt, and let the printing presses run wild if the government needs money; don't sell bonds, don't even collect taxes, let the dollar collapse to zero, and let the people flee to ownership of gold and/or silver while the dollar can miraculously still purchase any.

This hopefully explains the two great evils of our monetary system which are that the dollar is not an accurate weight and measure, and that debt money and usury is evil. But more than that, it also explains why all debts, everywhere, for everyone, all at once, should be completely forgiven and wiped out every 7 years, so that this kind of enslavement debt can never be built up in the first place. Allowing the dollar to collapse to zero would be a great benefit to the economy, since all enslavement debt would be wiped out, and the entire system of fraudulent weights and measures would be forced to end.

Examining the process of evil that created our current economic problems hopefully can shed light on how it will end, and what will come next. It is a certainty that all paper money systems in all of history have eventually collapsed; therefore the dollar, like all the rest, is doomed to reach zero value at some point in the future, and anyone who saves money in dollar form is really just asking for trouble.

Next, I will explain the context and framework of my understanding of Bible prophecy so that I will be able to explain my interpretation of the scriptures in the introduction.

As I mentioned at the start, I believe in the doctrine of the "pre-tribulation rapture". For many who know next to nothing about prophecy, I apologize for the unusual terminology, and I will do my best to explain what that means. Of course, there are many different views on prophecy, which make any study of the subject quite arduous. For those who believe that Revelation 20 is speaking of a literal time period of 1000 years long, nearly all believe Christ will return physically at the start of that time. Again, nearly all who believe in that literal scenario also believe that this 1000 years is immediately preceded by a time period called the tribulation (which includes the famous battle of Armageddon). The tribulation is variously interpreted to last anywhere from 3.5 years to 7 years or perhaps an undefined period of time when the antichrist, or Satan will come and deceive people by claiming to be God, (2 Thess 2:3-4,11) The most common view is that this time of tribulation lasts 7 years. The next detail to narrow down is the issue of the timing of the rapture, which is when Christ descends from heaven and gathers his faithful up to heaven to be with him. The various views are that the event of this gathering (or rapture) might take place either before, or during, or after the tribulation. The "pre-tribulation rapture" view is generally held by various Christian fundamentalists such as Baptists, Pentecostals such as Assemblies of God churches, Vineyard Churches, Calvary Chapel, and many other independents. Famous preachers of this view include John Darby of the early 1800's, the Scofield Bible of the early 1900's, Hal Lindsey of "The Late Great Planet Earth" of the 70's, and lately Tim LaHaye of the Left Behind fiction series.

On a few internet polls, I have found that perhaps half of the people who believe the pretribulation rapture also believe that the event of the Gog & Magog war of Ezekiel 38-39 takes place right at the start of the 7 year tribulation. It makes sense to place the event of this war at that time because after this war, the Israelites go out and collect and burn the weapons of their fallen enemies for the next seven years, which is the length of the tribulation. The other main reason to place this war at that time is that the antichrist will need some sort of deception to claim, somewhat like Hitler did, that the 1000 year reign has begun. This Gog & Magog war can therefore be falsely claimed to be the war of Armageddon, thus properly confusing people into thinking that the tribulation must be over, and that Christ really has returned.

The implications of this for gold and silver are obvious if you take the Bible literally because the passage is quite clear that jealousy of Israel's wealth of gold and silver causes the nations to the north to invade. (Ezekiel 38:13) Based on this, I have both a question and advice for precious metals dealers. Question: Do the people of Israel today have an affinity for gold and silver, and are they big buyers of the metals, and do you see them becoming buyers of the metals increasingly into the future? Advice: Why not go to Israel to set up a coin shop to sell physical gold and silver, since it appears quite clearly that the Bible says they will become wealthy in it. Israel will have to buy precious metals from somebody to fulfill the prophecy.

In connection with the Ezekiel passage, there is Revelation 3:18, which many interpret only symbolically. However, the passage is to the Church of Laodicia, which reads like a description of our monetary system of false wealth.

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Americans today think they are rich, because they have plenty of goods, and the dollar buys much, but they seemingly do not know that the are truly poor, having no real wealth at all, which is gold. They are even blind to the fact of their poverty (no gold) and debt because they can live in nice houses and drive nice cars, which is exactly what the passage is saying on the literal level, they are "increased with goods". America even exports pornography to the world, which is showing the world our nakedness, and for the most part, our culture is not ashamed. I don't think taking this passage as literal advice to buy gold is wrong in any way, and taking the passage literally does not necessarily invalidate the spiritual message that is also contained in the verse, which is that we should be seeking Jesus for our spiritual needs. Undoubtedly, if the passage is to be understood on a literal level, the Bible is saying for all who have ears to hear, "buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich".

Furthermore, this passage supports and compliments the passage in Ezekiel 38-39 in two clear ways. First, I find it difficult to believe that the nations of the north would ever invade Israel for gold and silver if these precious metals retained their current value of about $275/oz and $4.60/oz. All the gold in all the world, about 4 Billion ounces at today's prices, is approximately valued at a paltry one trillion dollars. This is less than the annual budget of the United States government. So it makes much sense that gold and silver have to drastically come up in value to be worth enough to go to war over. Secondly, the passage in Rev 3-4 is in the context of the pretribulation rapture. The passages in Rev 3:8-10 and Rev 4:1 are often quoted as rapture support passages. Therefore, it appears as if the valuation of gold and silver will go up just before or by the time of the rapture, and the invasion of the Gog & Magog war.

After the rapture, the antichrist will come to power through peace. (Daniel 8:25, 9:27, 11:21, 11:24) Since the main goal of the antichrist is to convince people that he is Christ, this is quite fitting for him to be the one to usher in peace after the supernatural destruction by fire at the Gog & Magog war of Ezekiel 38-39. After all, Christ is the one who brings in peace at the start of the 1000 years in Revelation 20. Furthermore, one of Satan's signs of deception is that he shows he has the power to make fire come down from heaven. (Revelation 13:13, 2 Thess 2:9) Why would Satan, or the antichrist, need to show he has this power, unless it is to back up his false claim that he is God, the one who destroys the enemies of Israel by fire in the Gog & Magog war? (Ezekiel 38:22, 39:6)

Since it appears that the world was going to World War III or WWIV or Armageddon over gold and silver (Ezekiel 38:13), I believe one of the antichrist's solutions for world peace will be rather simple. One solution would be to outlaw physical possession of gold and silver by anyone except for the world government. It is rather clear that the antichrist controls and owns gold and silver. (Dan 11:38, 11:43, Ezekiel 28:4,5,18) There is a rather complimentary passage in Revelation 13:16-18 which describes the mark of the beast which is required to buy and sell. There must be some sort of compulsory system of tracking electronic credits, such as an implantable microchip or tattoo of some sort which properly identifies people who are authorized to buy and sell. Cash and physical possession of items of monetary value like gold and silver are simply incompatible with such a system.

Further, Ezekiel goes on to describe a frightening passage about how gold and silver seem to be less that worthless, but almost even dangerous to possess, again, I feel I should quote the full passage.

Ezekiel 7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

Why would anyone ever feel the need to "cast their silver in the streets"? Even if silver were to drop in value to ten cents per ounce, people would still buy and sell and hoard the stuff (I certainly would), and there would be no need to throw it away like it was garbage. So, to cast silver into the streets! In the context of Daniel 11, Revelation 13, and the rest of the passage where it says "their gold shall be removed", it seems as if the only reason people are casting silver into the streets is because they want to get rid of it, so it cannot be said that they ever owned or possessed the stuff. Today it is possible to scan someone's house from the street and detect whether a person has a quantity of precious metals. Throwing one's metals into the trash might not be a good idea, because it might be shown that it came from you. Burying it might not be an option, if they can detect that as well. Isaiah 2:20, Isaiah 30:22, and Isaiah 31:7 compliments the idea that people will be casting away all items of gold and silver in the time of the tribulation, also known as the "Day of the Lord". These passages are best to be understood to take place in the context of the time of the 7 year tribulation, since it speaks of the "day of the wrath of the Lord", which Zephaniah also describes as the time of the tribulation, or trouble, or distress. Zephaniah 1:14-18

To the novice Bible interpreter, it might seem as if these are contradictory passages that on the one hand say that gold will be valuable, and on the other, say it won't be valuable. But even these passages about "casting away silver" strongly suggest that gold and silver will be quite valuable at that time. Consider the phrase, "their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD", which is also repeated in Zeph 1:18. This phrase is not only suggesting that God cannot be bribed, but that the forces of Satan which will rule at that time will also not be able to be bribed. But there is no explicit notion that gold and silver won't be valuable at that time, on the contrary, I feel the passage is saying that even these supreme representations of wealth, gold and silver, no matter how valuable they might be, will not be able to save them from the time of the wrath of God.

There is one other prophecy passage in the New Testament about gold and silver in James 5:1-6 which is especially relevant to what we see today in the precious metals market.

James 5:3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

I do not think that this verse is advice against owning gold and silver. This verse is not saying that it is honorable to maintain wealth in the form of dollars which, remember, are fraudulent weights and measures which are an abomination. Holding dollars would place one in the category of the worker whose wages of wealth were "kept back by fraud" as indicated in James 5:4. If anything, James 5:3-4 is a testimony against the bankers who have stolen gold and silver from the people through fraudulently issuing more and more paper contracts that they never intended to honor in the first place.

But James 5 is also a testimony against the banking practice of leasing gold and silver. For when they do that, their gold and silver literally "rust away", as they attempt to continue to list as assets in their books the gold and silver that is gone! Truly, gold does not rust, it is only the insane practice of leasing gold that helps to explain how gold could be cankered and rust away. Furthermore, the verse says that the rust of the gold will be a "witness against you", and today, we see the increasing awareness among people of the fraudulent banking practice of metals leasing, which, increasingly, is certainly a witness against the banks.

In conclusion, I do not know exactly when the set sequence of events in scripture will begin. Perhaps the rapture will happen next year, or 5 years from now, or 10 or 30 or more. But I am confident in my interpretation of the scriptures, and I'm confident that I have placed them in the correct time sequence with regard to the overall prophetic outline of events. I'm extremely confident that Israel will become wealthy in gold and silver, and that this will take place before the return of Christ. (Ezekiel 38-39) I am also extremely confident that the Bible does not condemn ownership of gold and silver, as these are truly the only Biblically approved forms of money according to Hebrew law, and the metals are the very embodiment of "just weights and measures".

If anyone wishes to discuss further the details of my interpretation of Bible Prophecy, I invite you to visit my web site at www.linkjesus.com or email me at bibleprophecy@yahoo.com

Other essays by Jason Hommel

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