Is a Great Economic Shaking Coming?
By Brian Shenton
Mankind has a great plan for the world, and then there is God’s plan.
The Bible says that there will be a great shaking at the end of the age. The prophet Haggai gives us specific months and days to watch for in terms of this shaking, and mysteriously, they connect to major economic events today.
Today, our world is globally interconnected through economic activity between the nations. Our economies are dependent upon each other through globalization and the trade of goods and services.
While globalization of the world’s economies has its’ plusses and minuses, this economic system is coming to an end soon.
As a matter of fact, it might have already begun. In June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the Economic Union of Europe, much to the shock of the world.
The election of Donald Trump in 2016 and his campaign slogan of “Make America Great Again” has clearly been a shift away from economic globalization to a more nationalistic stance of putting America first.
President Trump is Shaking the Global Economic System
Trump is shaking the global economic system through trade wars with nations surrounding the United States, but especially with China. The United States and China are in a literal economic war with each other by raising tariffs significantly.
This is huge world news. The world is wondering who might win the trade war. However, I believe God has a much different plan for the world than simply “Make America Great Again” through better trade deals.
In the Bible, there is a prophet whose name is Haggai. He wrote a few chapters about a great economic shaking that would take place at the end of the age. It’s a great shaking that will turn nation against nation and through this shaking, the wealth and the prosperity of the world will return to God.
Haggai 2:7-9
‘I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the Lord of hosts. ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the Lord of hosts.
Of course, Haggai is not talking about the United States, but the nation of Israel. Through this great shaking, Israel will rise and be blessed. God’s house will be restored, and this house will be greater than the former. It will all begin with a great economic shaking of the global system.
The Coming Great Financial Shaking
Haggai gives specific months and days to watch for in terms of this great financial shaking. Haggai mentions one of these dates four times in chapter two. This date is the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Haggai refers to economic hardship and a great economic shaking. Haggai urges his readers to keep watch for a significant “shaking” type of event on these dates.
The two calendars to watch regarding these dates are the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars. The Hebrew calendar was the calendar Haggai was referring to in his book and the Gregorian calendar would be considered the world calendar of today.
It just so happens to be that United States began implementing its $267 billion, 10 percent tariff on all Chinese imports on September 24, 2018, which is the twenty fourth day of the ninth month on the Gregorian calendar.
This would be the date that the economic war between the two economic superpowers became a serious threat to the global economic system. In retaliation to America’s tariffs China began implementing $60 billion, 5-10 percent tariffs on United States’ goods effective on the same date.
This is when one might say the gloves came off and real punches began to fly. This was the beginning of the two biggest economic superpowers going nuclear on each other. What are the odds it would begin on the twenty fourth day of the ninth month? It’s at least 365 to one.
Haggai 2: 20-22
Then the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, “Speak to Zerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, ‘I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders will go down, everyone by the sword of another.’
The G20 and Superpower Trade War
The global economic system has played a significant role in keeping the world relatively peaceful the last half a century. Yes, we have had small wars in places around the world but nothing that would “shake” the peace of the world to its core.
Central banks and the major economic superpowers have a vested interest in keeping the shipment of goods and services flowing between countries. If there was to be another major war, our global economy would most likely collapse. This would not be good because all countries would suffer massive economic consequences — threatening the very system that keeps these governments in power today.
The G20 was created to help keep the global economic system running smoothly. The G20 is an international forum of governments and central bankers from 19 countries and the European Union who collectively make up 90 percent of gross world product and 80 percent of world trade. Their purpose for meeting and existing is to discuss policies regarding the promotion of financial stability among the economies. It exists to bring together the global economies of the world to discuss important issues about financial stability.
At this year’s G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, the main topic of concern, of course, was the economic trade war between China and the United States. President Trump and Xi Jinping, the leader of China, agreed to meet face to face to discuss resolving the current trade war. The result of the meeting was an agreement between the parties to not escalate the trade war for the next 90 days to see if they could reach a compromise on trade.
The Meng Wanzhou Complication
All seemed to be going well until a few days later when a news story broke about Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei, being arrested for allegedly breaking Iran sanction laws in Canada on the exact same night Trump and Xi were meeting at the G20.
This is no small potatoes here. The Huawei company is the Chinese equivalent to Apple in the United States. Meng’s father, Ren Zhengfei, was the founder of the company and Ren is in Xi’s circle of trusted business partners when it comes to technology. Imagine if the CFO of Apple was arrested for breaking Chinese international sanction laws. Would the United States stand for such behavior?
The stock markets surely did not like the news the week it came out that Meng was arrested. It was one of the worst December weeks in stock market history and the situation is already intensifying.
China has since arrested two Canadian citizens in retaliation for arresting Meng for extradition to the United States. The Canadian government and the United States are heavily discouraging business executives and other high-level leaders from traveling to China for fear of more retaliation arrests by the Chinese government.
China is focusing on Canada because they are less important to their economic livelihood as they try to sort out trade with the United States. However, if this trade truce does not work out, we may see the gloves come off once again between the two biggest economic powers in the world.
We will have to wait and see how all this plays out. It may well be that the damage from the tariffs by United States and China have already sent the economy in a downward spiral and it will be irreversible. There are already signs of a slowing global economy and the worries are beginning to affect stock markets around the world. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out over the next 90 days. It should be interesting to say the least.
Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention the date of this G20 meeting between Trump and Xi and Meng Wanzhou’s arrest. It was on the evening of December 1. This was the twenty fourth day of the ninth month on the Hebrew calendar. This is the date that Haggai refers to four times to watch for in Haggai 2. Could these two major economic events be the great economic shaking prophesied by the prophet Haggai? Only time will tell, but I’m listening to the prophet and will be watching to see what unfolds.
Haggai 2: 15-16
But now, do consider from this day onward (twenty fourth day of the ninth month): before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord, from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there would be only twenty.
Brian Shenton was brought up in an evangelical church and has served as a middle school special education teacher for two decades. His job as a teacher requires him to simplify complex information for his students. This has given him the intellectual tools to take what many people might consider a difficult and complex message and transform it into a simple and easy-to-understand one about God’s great plan of restoration in the last days. His upcoming book, The Great Restoration: The Final Economic Shaking and God’s Plan to Restore His Kingdom, explores this in depth. Shenton, who received a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from California State University, San Bernardino in 2001 and is taking graduate-level courses at Pastor Jack Hayford’s The King’s Seminary, enjoys spending his time with his family, playing basketball, traveling and reading. He lives with his wife and children in Irvine, California. Find out more and read his blog at https://thegreatrestorationblog.wordpress.com.
