Editor, News-Register:

Let me write a word that may cause the reader to do a double take – Shemitah. What is the Shemitah? Just as the seventh day was laid out by God as a day of rest in the Hebrew Old Testament, every seventh year was designated as a Sabbath year. The word “Shemitah” is most often translated as “the release” or “the remission” and applied to the wiping away of debts as well as the resting of the land.

Johnathan Cahn has just released a book on this very subject. He explains that nearly every major U.S. stock market collapse since the early 1900s has occurred during a Shemitah year, as did the terrorist attack and stock market collapse of September 2001 and the financial collapse of 2008. The next Shemitah year began September 24, 2014 and runs through Sept. 13, 2015.

There is also something special about the day of Elul 29 on the Jewish calendar. This is the last day of the Hebrew month of Elul, when all debts were canceled and all credit released, and the nation of Israel’s financial accounts were wiped clean. This is the day that ushers in the month of Tishri and the Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah.

The first shaking was 9/11 and then a stock market crash on Sept. 17, or Elul 29 on the Jewish calendar. The second was in 2008, seven years later to the day. At end of September 2008, the greatest stock market crash (770 points) in U.S. history, again on Elul 29, touched off the Great Recession. So two particularly harsh stock market crashes in U.S. history both happened on Elul 29 to the day. They were also seven years apart.

Cahn believes the blessing and judgment aspects of Shemitah still apply, especially for nations founded by people professing Judeo-Christian values. So why do I write this?

So many of the exact same patterns that preceded the great financial collapse of 2008 are happening again right before our eyes – seven years later.

The stock market declined the first three trading days of the new year. It was down by 2.73 percent. It did that in 2001 and 2008.

There is very choppy financial behavior. The stock market jumps and falls hundreds of points in a single day, like a roller coaster. The three largest stock market gains in a single day were right in the middle of 2008 before the great fall in September of that year.

There is a substantial decline in 10-year bond yields. When investors begin moving their money to safer investments it means they think we are going nowhere for a very long time.

The price of oil crashes and there is a dramatic drop in the number of oil and gas rigs in operation. This happened in 2008 and is happening again now.

Gas prices fall, as they did in 2008. Industrial commodities begin to fall and investors leave junk bonds.

And finally, investor confidence begins to decline. The VIX fear gauge spiked in early January at 18.

From the numerous economists I have listened to last year there are many who say this will be a horrible year financially for not only this country but the rest of the world. Europe is in deflation. The Russian ruble has collapsed, and Chinese factory work has slowed down significantly.

Something else will happen between the years of 2014-2020. There will be a historical cycle convergence of three major events. These events happen like clockwork throughout history but this time all three cycles converge at the same time. They are world war, civil rebellion, and financial collapse. This is historical fact done by economists who track financial events and it does not speak well to the present nor the future Also, our world is juggling $550 trillion to $700 trillion in derivative debt and the world’s Gross Domestic Output is only $70 trillion.

A certain economist was asked when will the next great financial collapse come. His reply: 2008. It’s already here but the Fed has artificially kept the heart of America beating even though the brain and body are already dead.

So, is Cahn right? Will the Shemitah event happen this year as a warning to a nation and world that has basically thrown the precepts and teachings of the Lord into the gutter? Will it be a collapse so horrible that it will make people wish for the depression of 1929 instead? Have the central banks of the world finally been caught with their proverbial hand in the cookie jar by God and will finally be called on the carpet?

A couple of weeks ago the Swiss Bank threw off the self-imposed restriction cap on its money. What this means is that they no longer trust the Central Bank of Europe to rescue them from a sinking ship. The Emperor (Central banks like the Federal Reserve) is naked and everyone is finally seeing it.

I remember the story of the Wizard of Oz. You can build a pretty nice Emerald city on $18 trillion of debt but sometimes a small dog pulls back the curtain to reveal that the Wizard is nothing more than a snake oil salesman. Such is the future of America and the Federal Reserve.

See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her – but now murderers! Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them. – Isaiah 1:21-23

Randy Marple

Shadyside