The Harbinger (22 page)

“How…exactly?” I asked.

“The extreme rates would open up an era of easy money,” he explained, “easy loans, easy borrowing, and easier mortgages. Easier mortgages would cause an already rising housing market to explode beyond all standard economic fundamentals, creating an unprecedented housing and building boom. The exploding housing market would lead homeowners to borrow and spend against the rising value of their homes. The phenomenon would create credit bubbles throughout the economy. This, in turn, would encourage massive inflows of capital from Asia to compound the problem. The stock market would surge along with the volume of monies borrowed and leveraged. And the effect would spread throughout the world. The post-9/11 slashing of interest rates would be copied by central banks across the globe, meaning that the same post-9/11 dynamics at work in America were now reproduced throughout the world—with similar consequences: credit bubbles, building and housing booms, and exploding markets.”

“So what spread around the world throughout the global economy was, in a sense, the continuing effect of 9/11.”

“And of the Isaiah 9:10 Effect.”

“But was it wrong?” I asked.

“No more wrong than replacing fallen bricks with quarried stone or sycamores with cedar trees—if nothing more was involved. But there
was
something more involved, something
much
more involved. A nation was in spiritual decline and rapid departure from God. God was calling it back, allowing it to be shaken, to wake it up, to save it from judgment. But it chose instead not to turn back. And without turning back, all its efforts, all its campaigns become, in effect, acts of defiance, the undoing of symptoms, the silencing of alarms, with no resolution of the underlying problem.”

“The foolish gardener.”

“The remedies only masked the problem, just as happened with ancient Israel. The Assyrian invasion was followed by a campaign to rebuild what had been destroyed, fallen buildings, walls, towers, homes, a massive wave of construction throughout the land.”

“Like a building boom,” I said.

“Like a building boom. So too 9/11 not only resulted in the rebuilding of what had been destroyed but, beyond that, a massive wave of building throughout the nation, a building boom linked to the suppression of interest rates, linked to America’s defiance of 9/11, linked to Isaiah 9:10 and to the words, ‘
We will rebuild
.’”

“And to the words proclaimed from Capitol Hill just days before the Treasury lowered the rate.”

“Yes,” said the prophet. “And since the economic boom was linked to Isaiah 9:10…the Isaiah 9:10 Effect…it ultimately had to collapse.
The attempt of a nation to defy the course of its judgment, apart from repentance, will, instead, set in motion a chain of events to bring about the very calamity it sought to avert
. The words of Isaiah 9:10 would lead Israel to its downfall, and all its rebuilding and all its prosperity would be destroyed. All the trappings of its national resurgence would then be exposed as having been hollow, empty, and deceptive from the start.”

“A house of cards,” I said.

“And so too in the case of America,” he said. “The extreme and prolonged lowering of interest rates would sow the seeds of future disaster. The explosion in credit would lead to a massive explosion in debt. The increased liquidity would mask a multitude of economic dangers. The standard cautions and restraints involved in borrowing and loaning would be thrown away. Banks would make loans they never otherwise would have made, consumers would spend money they never otherwise would have spent, and people would buy houses they never otherwise could have afforded. Personal debt, government debt, and corporate debt all mushroomed. And with increased pressure to produce ever greater profits, investment and banking firms would become involved with increasingly risky transactions and practices.”

“An economic house of cards.”

“And just as Israel’s resurgence was a house of cards,” he said, “so too was America’s post-9/11 resurgence. As long as credit continued to flow, the stock market to rise, and the housing market to boom, the illusion could be sustained. But if the housing market stopped booming, if the stock market began to falter, or if the flow of credit began to dry up, the illusion would collapse.”

“And so it did.”

“In September of 2008, the American financial system began to implode, triggering the greatest economic disaster since the Great Depression. The American-led global economic explosion turned into an American-led global economic implosion. The house of cards was collapsing and drawing the world into its fall. And so behind the entire global economic collapse…was Isaiah 9:10. It all began in the ruins of 9/11.”

“Did anyone else see the connection between the economic implosion and 9/11?” “In time it became clear to more and more analysts. One observer would put it this way:

“Isaiah 9:10 translated into modern economics.”

“Exactly. And from another source:

“‘
Divine anger
,’ I said, quoting what I had read, ‘
being a remedial force, will not cease until its purposes are wrought out…. If one expression is resisted another must be found
.’”

“And where did you get that?” he asked.

“From a commentary on Isaiah 9:10.”

“Very good, Nouriel. So you’ve been searching.”

“America resisted one expression,” I said, “so another was found.”

“The warning was rejected,” said the prophet. “The stem was cut. But the root brought forth another. So the economic crisis that engulfed America and the world was, in a sense, the continuation of 9/11.”

“Or 9/11 manifesting in the form of an economic collapse.”

“Or,” he said, “that which first manifested as 9/11…now manifesting in an alternate form.”

“There comes a second,” I said.

“And notice, Nouriel, the dynamic keeps getting larger. It begins with the voicing of the ancient vow. Then it becomes a direction, then the policy of an entire nation, and then a collapse affecting the course of the entire world. The Harbingers draw in everything to themselves, from the Federal Reserve to the global economy…”

“They touch the entire world, and no one realizes that it’s all part of the ancient mystery.”

He didn’t say anything in response but reached into his coat, pulled out a seal, and handed it to me. I recognized it immediately. It was another of the Nine Harbingers.

“You realize you gave this one to me before as well?” I asked.

“I do.”

“So you recycle?”

He didn’t respond to that either, though I wasn’t surprised.

“You’re giving me the seal of the Sixth Harbinger.”

“That’s correct.”

“The fallen Sycamore…the tree of Israel’s judgment.”

“And why am I giving it to you a second time?” he asked.

“Because it has something to do with the second shaking.”

“It does,” he said. “But also for another reason.”

“What?”

“Within the Sycamore are two mysteries—one going back to the last days of ancient Israel, and the other going back to the first days…”

“The first days of ancient Israel?”

“The first days of America.”

Chapter 16

The Uprooted

L
OOK AT THE
seal again,” he said. “What do you see?”

“The Sycamore,” I answered.

“Look deeper…not at the main image. Look to the left of it. What do you see?”

“Something that looks like some sort of wall.”

“It
is
a wall.”

“And…?”

He began walking, motioning to me to join him. We resumed the conversation, slowly making our way down the street, stopping several times along the way. “The Lord sent a word,” he said, “through the prophet Ezekiel:

“
Its foundation will be uncovered
. What foundations do you think the prophecy is referring to, Nouriel?”

“The foundation of a wall, it would seem.”

“A foundation is that upon which something stands or rests or is built. So a nation’s foundation is that upon which it stands…or on which it was founded…or that in which it rests or places its trust. The nations of the ancient world trusted in their idols and gods. Modern nations trust in their powers, their militaries, their economies, their resources. But what it’s saying here is that in the days of judgment a nation’s foundations are laid bare. Its idols fall, and its powers fail. It’s one of the key signs of judgment—the laying bare of foundations. The Lord said this through the prophet Jeremiah:

“That which is built up is built up
from
the foundation. And that which is broken down is broken down
to
the foundation. So the Lord built up Israel as one builds a house and planted it as one plants a tree. But in the days of Israel’s judgment, that which was built up would be broken down and that which was planted would be uprooted. Two images of national judgment—
the breaking down and the uprooting
.”

“Repeat that,” I said.

“Repeat what?” he asked.

“Jeremiah’s prophecy.”

“‘
Behold, what I have built I will break down
.’”

“‘
The bricks have fallen
,’” I answered.

“‘
And what I have planted I will pluck up
.’”

“‘
The sycamores have been cut down
,’” I answered.

“Yes, Nouriel, it follows the same pattern.”

“It’s the same pattern and the same order as Isaiah 9:10. First comes the breaking down—the fallen bricks. Then comes the uprooting—the sycamore. And that’s what actually happened on 9/11. First came the collapse of the buildings, and then the uprooting of the sycamore. The two images of national judgment—and in the same order.”

“Yes,” said the prophet, “and it goes deeper still. The World Trade Center was the towering symbol of American financial power, a power centuries in the making and long connected to the island of Manhattan, the island that long functioned as the focal point of the nation’s economic and financial activity. As far back as the dawn of the seventeenth century, the island served as a trading outpost for the Dutch. Those first traders and settlers soon felt the need to protect themselves from Indians, pirates, and other perceived dangers. So they built a wall. Along the wall, merchants opened up shops and set up warehouses. In time, the wall became the center point of the island’s trade and commerce. The Dutch would eventually lose the island to the British. The British would tear down the wall. Nevertheless, the road would continue to bear the name…”

“…of Wall Street!” I said.

“Correct.”

“The street we’re walking on right now—it’s Wall Street.”

“Yes. And it was from this street and from these beginnings that America’s financial power would rise and this island become the nation’s financial capital. Wall Street would become a channel for the pouring in and out of money to finance America’s ascendancy to economic, commercial, and industrial superpower. Here, on this street, the nation’s economic fortunes would rise and fall, and mostly rise. It would become the embodiment of American financial power. And in the twentieth century, as America emerged as the world’s towering economic colossus, the power and reach of Wall Street would encircle the globe to become, in effect, the financial capital of the world.”