Jonathan Cahn: The Shemitah That Was and the Shaking to Come
I believe it is important to give an update.
I have given warning concerning judgment. I have said that I believe America is rapidly advancing toward calamity—that we have crossed the line in our apostasy and defiance of God. I've warned that if America continues in its present course, if there's no return to God, its crown as head of nations will be removed and that I believe a great shaking is coming to this nation and the world.
As for when these things are to take place, I have from the beginning always issued a strong caution, in spoken word and in writing, from The Mystery of the Shemitah itself onward—specifically that we cannot be dogmatic about timing, and that nothing has to take place on a particular date or season, or according to any set calendar, or even as God has done before.
I have ministered that it is wise to be aware of the signs and seasons of the times, and that though such things can take place on biblically relevant times or dates, nothing has to happen on any particular date, whether within the parameters of the Shemitah or in its wake. Our focus must be not on dates but on God and getting right with Him.
At the same time, we remain in a dangerous period—and one of the reasons I've always cautioned regarding dates is that I never wanted such focus to obscure or minimize the larger picture: that regardless of what does or does not happen a particular date, America is racing toward judgment.
In The Mystery of the Shemitah, I share of biblical patterns which, at times, have had stunningly precise manifestations. Each of the last two Shemitahs has climaxed with the greatest stock market point crashes in history on the same exact biblical day—a once-in-seven-year day that happens to be appointed in the Bible for the effecting of financial remission and nullification. It remains a stunningly and eerily precise historical reality.
And precisely because it is so precise and because it happened in the last two of the Shemitah's cycles, many saw it as an absolute that a massive stock market day crash had to take place on the next such day, September 13. Thus we have cautioned repeatedly that this particular manifestation and any particular manifestation does not have to occur in every or any one of the Shemitah's cycles.
At the same time ... having said and having said again all these things—there are a number of very large and significant facts to be noted:
The Shemitah of 2015 has, in fact, followed the most prevalent of the Shemitah's templates.
What was missed by most in focusing on only one day, was that the largest and most prevalent of the Shemitah's templates has, in fact, manifested. The Elul 29 day crash is only one of several manifestations, an exception and a minority template. In each of the last seven of the Shemitahs there has been a collapse—but only two of those seven collapses have involved an Elul 29 day crash. The majority have taken place according to a much larger template.
The larger and, by far, the predominant of the Shemitah's templates is that of a long-term collapse, a collapse taking place over the course of several months, or one in which a rising stock market comes to an end, peaks within the Shemitah year, reverses its momentum, and begins a continuous descent. This descent may, at times, involve increasing volatility and dramatic day crashes, particularly in proximity to the Shemitah climax.And this is exactly what occurred in the Shemitah of 2015.
*The 2015 Shemitah has manifested in accordance this larger and predominant of the Shemitah's patterns, a template that appears in the book repeatedly.
Following the Shemitah's pattern...
- The Shemitah of 2015 ended a rising stock market on May 19, a market that then reversed its overall momentum and began a long-term descent for the rest of the Shemitah year.
- As it approached its final phase, the stock market and its descent grew increasingly and dramatically volatile.
- Nearing its conclusion in late August, the Shemitah produced some of the most dramatic days in stock market history—most notably what would be called Black Monday—and which would trigger the collapse of stock markets throughout the world.
- It produced the 10th largest and 8th largest stock market point crashes in American history
- The Shemitah of 2015 produced the greatest stock market intraday collapse in world history, a crash of over 1000 points.
- It would wipe away 16% of the British market
- It would wipe away 18% of the French market
- It would usher in the dramatic financial collapse of the world's new economic engine—China.
- The collapse of China's financial realm alone constituted one of the greatest long-term stock market crashes in history and, by itself, would make 2015 one of the most significant of Shemitahs.
- The amount wiped out from the Shanghai Exchange, in the space of just a few months was over 40 percent!
- It wiped away approximately one fourth of the German market
- It wiped away 4000 points from the Indian market
- It wiped away 12,000 points from the Brazilian markets
- From the peak of the U.S. market to Elul 29, it would wipe out approximately 2 trillion dollars!
- In the same period, from international markets, it would wipe out a sum in excess of 5 trillion dollars!
In many of the Shemitah years, the turbulence and collapse continue and may intensify past Elul 29, in the period of the Shemitah's wake. In others, they do not. But whatever happens from this point forward, even if nothing further happened, the Shemitah has already most definitely and powerfully manifested.
Other key manifestations that have marked 2015 as an especially significant Shemitah year:
- The Mystery of the Shemitah chronicles how the Shemitah has marked the shifting of world power. So it was again. The American Age began in 1871, when it became the strongest economic power on earth. Within the parameters of the Shemitah of 2015, that era has officially come to its end.
- The Shemitah of 1973 became a milestone in America's moral and spiritual collapse as the Supreme Court legalized the killing of the unborn. The Shemitah of 2015 was no less a milestone in this fall—as it was the year that the nation's hedges protecting the biblical definition of marriage collapsed across the land, and were then, by the Supreme Court, conclusively struck down.
I have said that I believe it is wisdom to be prepared and that regardless of what happens, it is always wise to have essentials on hand—and yet that each needs to be led by the Lord in such things. For you who have done so, I believe you've been wise and are prepared and better off than you would have been otherwise. Regardless of what the future holds, it is a wise insurance that can always be used. And of course the most important preparation one can do is to be right with God.
I have said and repeat now that we stand as a nation in danger of judgment. The Shemitah is one template by which judgment may be manifested. Whether or not what is yet to come will be joined to what has happened in the most recent Shemitah, I believe that this nation is in and approaches days both critical and perilous. I see ahead, apart from the hand of God, days of apostasy and persecution, and, by the hand of God, a great shaking.
At the same time, God's heart is salvation. And the purpose of shaking is to bring to repentance, salvation, and revival to those who will come. At this point I believe it is only through shaking that a true and great revival can come.
For you who would seek safety, the word for safety in Hebrew is Yeshua. And Yeshua is the name of Jesus. Thus the only way to be safe is to be in Jesus, Yeshua. As for you who are in Yeshua, the safest place to be is in the will of God. Make sure that's where you are.
Know that in all things, God remains absolutely on the throne. And the one who lives in His will, lives and stands on the winning side. Now is not the time to be silent, fearful, or compromised, but to be all the more strong and all the more bold. When the night comes and the dark grows even darker, it is then time, for the lights of God to shine even more brightly. Be strong and of good courage. Proclaim the good news of Messiah. And pray for revival but don't only pray for revival—Live in revival.
And as we witness the progressing of the apostasy, as America races to judgment, as the biblical signs, principles, and harbingers of judgment continue to manifest, and as the events of the last days continue to unfold, I will, and we must, continue to sound the trumpet and the alarm, to call to repentance those who will come, and to draw the lost to Messiah Jesus, Yeshua, who remains the same yesterday, today, and forever and the only answer, the only way, and the only hope America has and all have, to be saved.
Jonathan Cahn is the author of The Harbinger and The Mystery of the Shemitah, the president of Hope of the World Ministries and leader of the Jerusalem Center in Wayne, NJ. To get in touch, receive prophetic dates, and free gifts: Go to HopeOfTheWorld.org or find Jonathan Cahn on Facebook.