"Shock and Awe"

“Shock and Awe” is a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming power, dominant battlefield awareness, dominant maneuvers, and spectacular displays of force to paralyze an adversary's perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight. Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, officials in the United States armed forces described their plan as employing shock and awe.

“Shock and Awe” might also be used to describe the global pandemic in the financial markets. Day after day, citizens around the world have stood shaking their heads as they have watched trillions in monetary currency disappear. Central banks have engaged in universal worldwide actions trying to stem the tide of bank liquidations that are freezing up credit markets. Words like depression, meltdown, socialism, rescue and bailout are in the daily headlines of the media.

While the financial experts try to figure out the remedies to fix the problems, maybe the focus for the rest of us should be one the “Why” and what we might learn from this.

True, the why this is happening stems back to greed, power and pride. The greed exerted by those in financial power and the pride that nothing could ever happen to bring them down. And lest we try and blame it all on the “Wall Street Fat Cats” that greed extends to the average American household that has mortgaged themselves to the hilt, taken out second mortgages to turn their house into an ATM and spent what they didn’t have and carrying huge credit card debt. Yes sir, pride will get you every time.

Interestingly, the Scripture is clear that “pride goes before a fall” so we should have seen it coming. Many people will admit now that they knew better but people have a way of thinking that those are the things that happen to other people and somehow we are the exception to the rule.

God in His wisdom knew mankind’s nature and therefore instituted in the Old Testament a set of holidays to deal with these very issues.

Rosh Hashanah literally means “head of the year” hence, meaning the New Year. It also is the first of ten days known as the “Days of Awe” [coincidence?]. During those 10 days, Jews ask friends and acquaintances for their forgiveness for any wrongs committed against them. On the 10th day, known as Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement, they approach God and ask forgiveness for their sins, missteps and unfulfilled promises.

Rosh Hashanah is characterized by the blowing of the shofar, a trumpet made from a ram's horn, intended to awaken the listener from his or her "slumber" and alert them to the coming judgment.

Yom Kippur 2008 was marked by two significant events in the stock market. In 2007, the DJIA reached its highest close ever. One year later to the date, it closed down over 42 percent from that high. In fact, during the 10 Days of Awe for 2008, the DJIA dropped 2,732 points, obliterating over $3 trillion dollars of U.S. citizens nest eggs. It sounds like we should have been listening for the shofar of another kind.

All of this points to the coming global economy, the Mark of the Beast, the Antichrist and the fulfillment of prophetic scripture. It also points to the return of Jesus Christ to planet earth.

Revelation 6:12-17 tells us of another “shock and awe” that will precipitate His return. 

“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Consider this article your wakeup call—it’s time to get ready!