Executive Summary

There is a lot of financial speculation taking place. Some are asking: How much government money will big business get for how many shares of government ownership?

In addition, Russia is making a move on the world stage to test the new president-elect by pointing missiles at Poland and making new overtures to Cuba. Meanwhile, there appears to be a global effort to make a one-world economy out of many failing economic situations.

Inside the White House

by Bill Koenig

The United States is experiencing a rapid moral slide and a further acceleration into the final days. The outcome of the recent national election will only accelerate this.

We are living in a time as spoken in Isaiah 5:20 (KJV): "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"

Americans being impacted by inept leadership in Washington

Sadly, the leadership in Washington, which helped create the crisis our nation is facing on so many fronts, is not qualified to handle the challenges, so that means the times will get more challenging. Their previous actions have created many "unintended consequences" with many more coming in the future.

The world says the US is responsible for the worldwide financial contagion

The world is blaming the US for the worldwide financial contagion; but President Bush, others in his administration, and those on Capitol Hill deny that the subprime fiasco and Wall Street's financial derivatives and futures trading activities were a main reason for the financial catastrophe.

Apparent biblical connections to the US financial contagion

There have been some very interesting possible connections between the state of the US economy, the Jewish fall feasts this year, and the Torah readings of Nov. 1, 8 and 15.

(Thanks to Dr. Elliot Snyder of Dallas for the Wall Street and fall feast connections and Pastor Mark Biltz for the Noah/Cheshvan connection to this Saturday’s G-20 Summit in Washington and the Torah readings.)

Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) began at sundown on Monday, Sept. 29, and ended at nightfall on Wednesday Oct. 1, 2008.

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. As such, it is a time for Jews to review the mistakes they made in the past year and to resolve to make improvements in the upcoming year.

On Rosh Hashanah, Jews listen to the shofar blown during lengthy prayer services, eat holiday meals, and do no work. After repenting for bad deeds through prayers, they symbolically cast off sins through the tashlich ceremony.

Rosh Hashanah is both a solemn and a happy day. It is a time for introspection, asking for forgiveness, giving forgiveness, resolving to do better, remembering God is King and Judge, and praying for a healthy and happy year to come. Those observing the Jewish New Year are solemn in their repentance but happy in their confidence that God is merciful and good.

The stock market crash of 2008

In 2008, Rosh Hashanah began on the evening of Sept. 29, while Yom Kippur began on the evening of Oct. 9.

On Rosh Hashanah eve in the U.S. (Sept. 29), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed down a record-setting 777.68 points. Israel was already celebrating Rosh Hashanah at the time of the record Dow close.

Dr. Elliot Snyder wrote:

Seven is the number of God, and 777 could represent "Holy, Holy, Holy." This is God's signature, the manner in which the angels praise the Sovereign God in Isaiah 6:3. This is also reflected in 7-Seal, 7-Trumpet and 7-Bowl Judgments, in the events of things to come as outlined in Revelation 6:19! I believe the Rosh Hashanah shofar was a heralding, proclamation or announcement of God's weighing our nation in the balance beginning at the start of the 10 Days of Awe. The judge is entering the courtroom.

The eyes of the financial world were fixed upon the 777-point drop, the largest single one-day point decline in the history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), although not the largest percentage drop.

Other peculiarities on the opening bell and gavel of 9/29/08 and 9/30/08 for the NYSE

There was an anomaly at the opening bell when there was no opening bell! At 9:30 am ET a mechanical bell should have rung. As the CNBC countdown to the opening reached zero, there was puzzlement at the podium as the bearer of the gavel awaited the opening bell in vain. After about a minute, even without the bell, trading began.

The next morning, the bell worked. CNBC had made a big deal over the bell having never failed to ring before; it had failed on the morning of 9/29. On 9/30 the bell worked at 9:30AM; however, with the camera fixed upon the podium, there was no one manning the gavel!

——

Yom Kippur (the Jewish Day of Atonement) began at sundown on Wednesday, Oct. 8, and ended at nightfall on Thursday, Oct. 9.

Yom Kippur, literally "Day of Atonement," is the holiest day of the Jewish year.

After the Israelites alienated God by worshipping the golden calf, Moses ascended Mount Sinai to ask God for forgiveness. While Moses was on the mountain, the Israelites repented by fasting. On the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei (Yom Kippur), Moses descended Mount Sinai with the second tablets. Thus, on the first Yom Kippur (approximately 3,500 years ago), the Israelites succeeded in atoning for their sins and restoring their covenant with God.

Why is Yom Kippur important?

Yom Kippur is observed eight days after Rosh HaShanah (the Jewish New Year). Jews believe that on Rosh HaShanah, God inscribes all of their names in the "books"; and on Yom Kippur, the judgment entered in these books is sealed. Yom Kippur is, essentially, the last chance to demonstrate repentance and change God's judgment. On Yom Kippur, one's fate for the coming year is sealed.

Dow falls 678.91

Dr. Elliot Snyder wrote:

On Yom Kippur eve in the U.S. (Oct. 9), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed down 678.910 (6, 7, 8, 9, 10!) The odds of this precise sequence arising are 1:99,999.

Following the 10 Days of Awe, on the Day of Atonement or Judgment, God sent another numerical message through the fall of the stock market. Specifically, God has judged the nation in accordance with the Noahic law. This is spelled out in the second table of the Ten Commandments – specifically, 6-10* — by the Dow falling exactly 678.910. As the sun had already set in Jerusalem, God was telling us that we have been weighed in the balance of the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th commandments and found wanting. God has spoken for all with eyes to see and ears to hear!

Our nation is not being judged for idolatry, blasphemy or failure in Sabbath observations, but rather for murder, adultery, stealing, lying and covetousness.

——

The Days of Awe refers to the ten days between the first two Fall Feasts of Israel, Rosh Hashanah (or the Feast of Trumpets), and Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.

The sound of the trumpet shofar ushering in Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe is a call to a searching of our souls and thorough examination of our thoughts, deeds and intentions for the past year. This begins a time of God's evaluating the life of each member of the House of Israel, culminating on the 10th day with Yom Kippur, the day of final judgment, and hopefully, atonement.

The just verdict was to be pronounced on the Day of Judgment, Yom Kippur!

One of the worst seven-day declines in Wall Street history occurred during this year's Days of Awe

Chronology – Sept. 29–Oct. 10

Sept. 29: U.S. House of Representatives rejects mammoth $700 billion bailout plan. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) drops 777.68. (Rosh Hashanah began that evening; it had already begun in Israel at the close of Wall Street.)

Sept. 30: Wachovia Bank teeters on collapse, starts negotiating with Citigroup for takeover deal.

Oct. 1: U.S. Senate adopts massive bailout plan, adding sweeteners to get House acceptance.

Oct. 3: Wells Fargo Bank and the fourth largest U.S. bank, Wachovia Corp., announce merger.

Oct. 3: The largest government intervention in capital markets in U.S. history clears the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming law with President Bush's signature. The bailout was for $700 billion.

Oct. 6: Responding to global credit fears, the Dow finished below 10,000 for the first time since October 2004. After a day in which stocks dropped as deeply as 9,600, the market rebounded, finishing the day at 9990.47.

Oct 9: The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 678.910 points, or 7.33 percent, at 8,579.19. It's the first time since May 2003 that the Dow traded below 8,600. The steep sell-off capped the Dow and the S&P's biggest seven-day decline since the October 1987 market crash, and the NASDAQ’s worst seven-day decline since December 2000. Over the seven days, the Dow shed almost 21 percent and the S&P 500 nearly 22 percent. The steep declines came on the anniversary of the Dow's all-time closing high above 14,000.

"With no visible sign of restoration of normal credit movement, that is shaking investor confidence that the banking system at this point still has a long way to go before it gets fixed," said Frederic Dickson, senior vice president and market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co., in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Oct. 10: The central barometer of the U.S. economy, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended one of its worst weeks in history.

—————

Torah reading – Nov. 1 – Times of Noah

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/index.html

Torah / Gen. 6:9-11:32 – Haphtarah / Isaiah 54:1-55:5, 1 Pet. 3:18-22

• The Torah makes clear that the world was not flooded because of the caprice of some god, but because it had become corrupt, destructive and entirely idolatrous. Moreover, Noah was not arbitrarily saved, but was considered ish tzaddik (a righteous man), perfect in his generation: Noah walked with God.

• The earth was repopulated through Noah's three sons (as the founders of the "seventy nations" of the Gentiles — as described in the detailed genealogy of Genesis chapter 10). The descendants of Noah remained a single people group with a single language (leshon hakodesh) for ten generations.

  However, they eventually returned to the evil ways of the "sons of Cain" by uniting in an idolatrous religion that led them to build a "tower with its top in the heavens." God confounded their evil religion, however, by "confusing their speech" and thereby dispersed the people into the 70 nations of the earth (the abandoned tower was called Bavel (Babel) and is considered by many to be the origin of "Mystery Babylon").

• Nov. 2 Israel's secular leadership pressured Israeli settlers to leave unauthorized settlements

• Nov. 2 Shin Bet chief warned extreme-right settlers might carry out political assassination

• Nov. 2 Israel's government decided on new measures against the illegal Jewish outposts in the West Bank

• Nov. 2 Ehud Barak: Settlers trying to fracture State's authority

• Nov. 4 Ehud Olmert reiterated that he intended to use every day left in office to continue pushing forward with the diplomatic process, saying that Israel's problems were too pressing to wait.

• Nov. 4 Dozens arrived at Jerusalem's Mt. Herzl Cemetery to take part in the civilian memorial ceremony held for slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak spoke of the growing violence within the far right: "Rabin wouldn’t have allowed for a reserve officer to have his arm broken and do nothing about it. This simply cannot happen, and it makes no difference whether it emanates from the Left, the Right or the middle."

  Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eilezer warned that a political assassination was still possible in today's political climate: "The writing is once again on the wall, this time in bigger letters. The next political assassination is right around the corner," he said.

• Nov. 4: The United States selected Barack Obama to be president, a man who says homosexuality isn't a sin, is not opposed to late-term abortion (even infanticide), has questionable domestic and foreign associations, and says that people can be saved through other faiths while calling himself a Christian.

• November 4: Daunting challenges lie ahead for the U.S. economy as it faces the worst financial crisis in decades, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said Tuesday. "We are navigating the mother of all financial storms," Richard W. Fisher, the Dallas Fed's president and chief executive, said at a meeting of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association in Grapevine.

  "Despite the efforts of the Fed, the hope that comes with a new presidency and what will hopefully be responsible and carefully calibrated fiscal initiatives from Congress, I believe we have an epic challenge ahead of us," he said.

  All told, the assets on the Fed's books now exceed $1.9 trillion, compared with $890 billion at the beginning of this year, Mr. Fisher said. They could grow even more in the coming months to as much as one-fifth of gross domestic product, or GDP, he said. "I would not be surprised to see them aggregate to $3 trillion — 20 percent of GDP — by the time we ring in the New Year," he said.

• Nov. 5-6: Major post-election sell-offs on the Dow, S&P 500 and the NASDAQ. Rice left for Israel.

• Nov. 6: Harvard University sponsored Islamic Finance 101 at the U.S. Treasury Department.

• Nov. 6: Rice arrived in Israel for the 24th trip as secretary of state. On Thursday evening she met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, followed by a dinner at the home of U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham in Herzliya with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

• Nov. 7: Rice met leading prime ministerial candidates, Likud head Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. She traveled to Ramallah for a meeting with PA officials and flew to Jordan for a meeting with King Abdullah.

Torah reading Nov. 8 – God instructs Abraham to go to Canaan

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/index.html

Torah / Gen. 12:1-17:27 – Haphtarah / Isaiah 40:27-41:16, Romans 4:1-25

• Abram left everything behind in response to the promise of divine inheritance given by the LORD. As a result of his obedience, the LORD told Abram that he would become the father of a multitude of people, as numerous as the stars in heaven. The LORD then renamed him Abraham and made a covenant to give him the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession. The LORD further commanded Abraham and his descendants to be circumcised as a sign of the covenant.

• Nov. 8: Rice flew back to Israel on Friday evening, and on Saturday morning took a trip to Jenin to get a first-hand look at the PA's efforts to assert security control there.

• Nov. 9: The Quartet met in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, on the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants. Rice and the Quartet leaders met with Livni and Palestinian Authority negotiator Ahmed Qurei on where the negotiations currently stand. In attendance were United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, High Representative for European Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and Quartet Representative Tony Blair.

• Nov. 9: This day was the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht — the nights of Nov. 9-10, 1938, when gangs of Nazi youth roamed through Jewish neighborhoods breaking windows of Jewish businesses and homes, burning synagogues and looting. In all, 101 synagogues and almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed. Some 26,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Jews were physically attacked and beaten, and 91 died (Snyder, Louis L. Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. New York: Paragon House, 1989:201).

• Nov. 10: This day was the 7th anniversary of President Bush declaring to the U.N. General Assembly that he favored a Palestinian state — the first time a U.S. president had made that declaration.

• Nov. 11: The Obama-Biden transition team included both "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" in its non-discrimination policy for applicants for employment in the incoming Obama administration.

  Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, said "President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden, by explicitly rejecting the bigotry and intolerance of the past, are committing that gay, lesbian and transgender professionals can serve in government without fear of discrimination." (AFA)

• Nov. 12: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson laid out details for the next stage of the government's financial-market rescue package announcing that he has shelved the original plan to buy troubled mortgage assets while turning his attention to non-bank financial institutions and consumer finance.

• Nov. 12 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia sponsored United Nations high-level debate on interfaith dialogue. President Bush gave a message on faith. He said freedom is God's gift to every man, woman and child — and that freedom includes the right of all people to worship as they see fit.

• Nov. 13 Bush discussed financial markets and world economy. He said, "We're facing this challenge together, and we're going to get through it together. The United States is determined to show the way back to economic growth and prosperity."

• Nov. 13 Bush unexpectedly met Livni, Peres: During a brief, unscheduled and warm encounter on Thursday afternoon in New York, Livni told Bush that he had helped advance Israeli-Palestinian peace hopes and congratulated him for standing up to terrorism and extremism.

Torah reading Nov. 15 – Abraham and Sarah promised a son. Abraham pleaded for Sodom. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/index.html

Torah / Gen. 18:1-22:24 – Haphtarah/ 2 Kings 4:1-37, 2 Peter 2:4-11

• While the three men were eating, one of them announced that in exactly one year, He would return to them and Sarah would then birth to a son. Sarah, who had been listening from the tent door, heard this and laughed within herself at the suggestion. To this the LORD (disguised as one of the three guests) replied "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son."

• The three guests then set out from there for Sodom, and Abraham accompanied them to see them off. Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that he shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?" The LORD then explained that He was going to see if the outcry against the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was true, and if so, was going to pronounce judgment upon it.

• Abraham then questioned the LORD: "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?" he asked. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" In a profound sequence of hypothetical questions and answers, Abraham asked the LORD whether He would destroy the entire city if 50 righteous dwelt there. No, answered the LORD, not if there were 50 in the city. Well, how about 45? No again, answered the LORD. Abraham began showing some chutzpah. What about 40? 30? 20? … 10? The LORD then stated that if even ten righteous men were found there, He would spare the city from His wrath, and then went His way.

• Summary: Abraham and Sarah were promised a son. Abraham begged for Sodom. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaac was born. Hagar and Ishmael were sent away. God tested Abraham.

Bank Crisis: Special G20 Summit in Washington

The Top 20 global financial powers will meet in Washington on Saturday, Nov. 15.

• Nov. 15 is Cheshvan 17, the 17th day of the second month, the very day when Noah's flood began (Genesis 7:11): "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened."

News Briefs

Russia

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sees America's election of President-elect Barack Hussein Obama as evidence of a nation in decline, and Putin is setting out to test Obama's mettle as a leader … For example, Russia chose the day of the Obama victory to announce deployment of short-range missiles pointed at Poland.

This perception of a weak Obama was driven home by a photograph on the front page of the Kommersant newspaper that showed his humiliating detention at an airport in the Ural Mountains on a 2005 visit he made as part of a nuclear disarmament program.

Last week, Putin dispatched a trusted lieutenant, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, to Cuba and Venezuela to prepare a presidential tour of South America this month that is likely to rankle Washington. (The Associated Press)

Cuban President Raul Castro will visit Russia in 2009, the Kremlin has announced, in a new sign that Moscow is reviving a Cold War-era trade and military alliance … Moscow also repeated calls for Washington to lift the economic embargo imposed on Cuba in 1962 when Castro's brother, Communist revolutionary Fidel Castro, was in power.

"Next year we await … Raul Castro in our country, and this will be yet another contribution to the development of ties," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque in Moscow. "Your visit is yet more evidence that relations between Cuba and Russia are developing in a very dynamic way," NTV television showed Medvedev saying. (Reuters)

The Kremlin on Wednesday rejected U.S. proposals aimed at easing concerns over a missile defense system in Europe and said it would try again to resolve the row once Barack Obama is in the White House … "Russia is ready to cooperate with the United States on European security but considers the proposals that were sent [as] insufficient," Itar-Tass news agency quoted an unidentified Kremlin source as saying.

"We will not give our agreement to these proposals, and we will speak to the new administration," said the source. The Bush administration "is intent on putting the new U.S. president in a hopeless situation, so that he should take responsibility for what they concocted without him." (Reuters)

One-world Obama

Had the whole world been able to vote in the American elections, it would make the same choice made by Americans: Obama. Indeed, he has enjoyed record-breaking global support. In the past 60 years, the US elections have not featured a presidential candidate whom a majority of six billion people hoped would win.

According to Ynet columnist Sever Plocker, the wave of excitement that swept through the streets of the world in the wake of Obama's victory reflects deep desire by current-day humanity for a social leader who would not only lead the world’s greatest power but, also, the entire world.

Does Obama carry significance in Islamic prophecy? According to Daniel Pipes, he just might … Ali ibn Abi-Talib, the seventh-century figure central to Shiite Islam, is said to have predicted when the world will end.

A "tall black man" commanding "the strongest army on earth" will take power "in the west." He will carry "a clear sign" from the third imam, Hussein. Ali says of the tall black man: "Shiites should have no doubt that he is with us." Barack Hussein in Arabic means "the blessing of Hussein." In Persian, Obama translates as "He [is] with us."

But the Muslim reaction to Obama's victory is more mixed than one might expect. American Islamists are delighted, and terrorist groups like Hamas are happy. However, Iran insiders believe that enmity between the U.S. and Iran would have been better served with a McCain victory, and Taliban terrorists believe that resistance will continue.

In a Sunday address celebrating Obama, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Obama has a God-given capacity to handle any burdens he'll face as the nation's leader … Farrakhan added that Obama will only be able to make positive changes with help from "God and people of good will," and he urged the Chicago-based movement's followers to do their part.

"Because if God is involved, and He is, then it is God who has laid on this young man this horrible burden at the worst time in the history of America and the world," he said. "But it was also God that has given this young man this tremendous capacity to handle what God has put on his shoulders." (AP)

World economy

The worldwide economic summit hosted by the Bush Administration this coming weekend has prompted academic economists to weigh in with a bail-bucket of advice … The economists agree that governments need to act more quickly than they have to recapitalize banks, guarantee cross-border bank claims, restructure nonperforming assets, and extend support to countries in crisis.

In the collection of ideas, several offer creative ways to regulate financial institutions across borders. One argues for a World Financial Organization, modeled on the World Trade Organization. At the same time, others worry that countries may over-regulate financial institutions and raise protectionist barriers in response to the crisis — a response they say would impede the global economy in the long run. (The Wall Street Journal)

Connecting the Dots —

by Bill Wilson, Daily Jot News Service Senior Analyst

Over a week after the historical presidential elections, Americans are expressing concern and anxiety over what a Barack Hussein Obama presidency will mean. Some are complaining that Obama will open the doors to unimpeded abortions. Others are concerned about Obama’s plan for mandatory civil service camps where young people between the ages of 18 and 25 will be forced into military-style civil service and “reeducation’ as to what it means to be an American—Obama style. Still others are upset with using taxpayers’ money for massive federal bailouts and the government taking ownership positions in America’s most storied industries.

Others are alarmed that anti-American voices like former Clinton Administration secretaries of state—Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright—will be taking strong advisory roles in the Obama administration.

The media now confirms reports that the Obama campaign met with the terrorist group Hamas before the election but told Hamas not to announce the meeting until after the election. And then there is the question of exactly where did all the money come from that Obama raised and how nobody will ever know because he is not subject to the scrutiny of Federal Election Commission guidelines—Obama did not receive public financing.

Americans wanted change. And change is what they are going to get. Change was defined all along in the details of what Obama wanted to accomplish. But the public refused to hear. Now that the Obama chief of staff is defining exactly what mandatory civil service means; the co-chair of the Obama transition team says that Obama will be ready to “rule” on day one; and every big business in America is going to get billions of taxpayer dollars in return for government-held stock, Americans are alarmed. There were warnings all along. But Americans, even American Christians, ignored the warnings.

The National Election Pool exit survey showed Obama won 43 percent of voters who say they attend church weekly, eight points higher than 2004 Democratic nominee John F. Kerry. Obama won 57 percent of occasional worshipers, 11 points more than Kerry. Some 54 percent of the Catholic vote supported Obama—two points higher than Catholic support for President Bush in 2004.

The Los Angeles Times cited as an example Christian leaders like Pastor Rick Warren for helping Obama court Christians with appearances at an AIDS conference, a Warren review of Obama's book, and the presidential forum Warren hosted.

Jesus warned in Matthew 24:24 (NKJV), "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."