The wild stock market swings of recent days have left investors gasping and with good cause.
Does the age-old "Buy & Hold" mantra still apply?
Based on historical performance the answer is 'Yes'...however some see things differently:
Financial expert Bill Holter says the "ability to prevent a crash no longer exists."
"The system has gotten too big...there's too much debt. Too many sovereign governments have bumped up against debt saturation. In the U.S., we are over 100% debt to GDP."
Holter believes the credit bubble was "pricked" this week and no matter how things play out in the very short term, the September/October time-frame looks like a disaster.
"You can't fix debt with more debt--but that's what they keep trying to do," he said. "What we need is a complete reset."
Holter's advice? If we get a bounce in the market, use it to get out.
Chris Martenson, of Peak Prosperity, has these words of wisdom: "What goes up must come down--and that's especially true for the world's many poorly-constructed financial bubbles, built out of nothing more than gauzy narratives and inflated with "hopium"..August, it appears, is the new October."
"Markets are quite possibly in crash mode right now, although events are unfolding so quickly--currency spikes, equity sell-offs, emerging markets routs and dislocations and commodity declines--that it's hard to tell for sure. However, that's usually the case right before and during big market declines," say Martenson.
"Further, most of the gains in financial assets engineered by the central banks were false and destined to burst because the were based on bubble technology, not actual returns."
Jim Rickards,
author of The Death of Money, explains why China was unable to keep their limited free market under control: "...markets have a mind of their own," he says. "But the 'Empire' will strike back, they have an enormous arsenal of tools they can use to try to fight the bubble."
Good to know somebody is trying to fight the bubble, because according to Rickards, the U.S. Federal Reserve is now out of ammo and on a "Kamikaze Mission."
So, should we 'buy & hold' or jump out & run?
Your guess is as good as ours.
A wise(?) man once said: "This is a pre-crash, and we are not making it through September without the real thing." --Jim Sinclair, gold expert
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:36-38
News:
- The New York Times: Signs, Long Unheeded, Now Point to Risks in U.S. Economy; "Once you encourage an equity bubble, it will collapse--and then you're really in trouble," says financial strategist Albert Edwards of London. "This was utter madness."
- CNBC: The New York Stock Exchange invoked the little-used Rule 48 to pre-empt panic trading for three days in a row; move historic.
- The Washington Free Beacon: Iran Renews Support for Hamas and Other Anti-Israel Terrorists Groups.
There's a lot going down this September (and we're not talkin' blood moons or shemitah's).
It seems the internet is buzzing with chatter and speculation regarding the myriad of events slated for next month.
We want to zero in on only one: the 70th session of the UN General Assembly.
Why? Because it relates to a major Bible prophecy (sans all the hype and speculation).
On September 15th, France plans to introduce a resolution which will give formal UN Security Council recognition to a Palestinian state.
And no, this isn't the first time.
So what's new? In the past, the United States has always had Israel's back and blocked this from happening.
Now? Not so much. Barack Obama has hinted the U.S. may no longer be interested in playing the role of Israel's BFF.
Should it pass, this UN Resolution will invade Israel's sovereignty as a nation and establish a Palestinian state in the middle of Israel.
It would also divide Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and a Palestinian nation.
And most importantly, it would set the 1967 borders as the baseline for future negotiations.
Why does that matter? Because Israel becomes indefensible within the 1967 borders. It is simply too small.
In other words, the 1967 borders spells DEATH for the tiny nation of Israel.
And that ain't all folks!
A two-state solution = poking God in the eye. (see Zechariah 2:1-8).
God has made it abundantly clear throughout Scripture that whoever is foolish enough to attempt dividing His land for "peace" will not end well.
Don't believe it? We've got two words for you: Rabin & Sharon.
Both Yitzhak Rabin and Ariel Sharon (former Israeli Prime Ministers) found out the hard way not to ignore God's clear warnings about dividing the land of Israel.
Rabin took a bullet during the Oslo Accords and Sharon suffered a massive stroke (that eventually ended in death) after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
If you haven't been praying for the current P.M. Benjamin Netanyahu--now might be a good time to start.
A wise woman once said: "The country exists as the fulfillment of a promise made by God Himself. It would be ridiculous to ask it to account for its legitimacy." -- Golda Meir, P.M. of Israel, 1969-1974.
"And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land" (Joel 3:2).
News:
- Associated Press: UN to Let Iran Inspect Own 'Nuke Weapons Site' According to New Disclosure in secret 'Sidedeal'.
- Fox News Channel: Russia Arming Iran; Deal to Buy Missile System Going Through Despite Ban.
- Fox Business Network: Stocks Hard Hit on Economic Fears; DOW Plunges 357 Points
"What you believe about life and death matters because it determines your eternal destiny," says J.R. Hudberg of RBC Ministries.
"We don't like to talk about death, yet it comes for us all," he says.
"When our hearts stop beating and our brains shut down and our last breath rasps from our lungs, is that the end?
"Death is not the end," Hudberg contends. "It's a doorway."
And what we believe about Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection determines where that 'doorway' leads: Heaven or Hell said Jesus Christ Himself.
According to literary scholar, C.S. Lewis' famous argument (or "trilemma" as it's become known), Jesus was either a "Lunatic, Liar, or Lord".
Your choice between these three options will have eternal ramifications. Says Lewis, a former atheist:
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him:
"I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.
"That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell."
"You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is the Son of God, or else a madman or worse.
"You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to...
"Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend; and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God," Lewis opined.
So, was Jesus mad, bad, or God?
Your choice in life determines which doorway will open for you at death: Heaven or Hell.
A wise man once said: "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." -- C.S. Lewis
"Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me." John 14:6
"I am the door. Those who come in through Me will be saved." John 10:9
News
- Free Beacon.com: Russian Warships Dock in Iran For War Training
- Reuters: Desperate Venezuelans Facing Food Shortage; Looting on the Rise
- The Guardian: China Devalues Yuan for Third Straight Day--Adding Fears of Currency Wars
1 - Iranian Nuke Deal
+2 - Secret Side Deals
=3 - Deals Too Many
According to The Washington Post:
"(President) Obama didn't even reveal the existence of these secret side deals to Congress...The agreements were uncovered, completely by chance..."
So, what's in these secret deals? No one seems to know.
Negotiated exclusively between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), these two side deals are apparently none of our bees wax.
"Congress should insist on public disclosure of secret nuclear side deals," says The Wall Street Journal.
(Uhmmmm--ya think?)
"The Obama Administration insists there's nothing secret about the Iran nuclear deal, even as it claims not to have read two crucial side deals Tehran has struck with the IAEA.
(we really can't make this stuff up!)
"Confidential agreements, but no secrets" is the way top U.S. negotiator Wendy Sherman describes the deals, which are thought to concern military dimensions of Iran's nuclear programs," says The WSJ.
House Intelligence Committee member, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R. Kan.) fears "there might be additional separate agreements we haven't heard about."
"When you ask (the Administration) if there are other (side deals), you don't get a 'yes or no' answer," Rep. Pompeo tells The WSJ.
It gets worse, people:
"Iran intends to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles to ultimately strike the United States and not Israel," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday.
And with all economic sanctions lifted, Iran will be laughing all the way to the bank as the U.S. virtually funds its own destruction.
A wise man once said: "Congress will vote on the Iran deal in less than 60 days. We can stop it...It is critical that these U.S. Senators know that you oppose the Iran agreement Please contact them today and let them know where you stand!" -- Pastor Jack Hibbs, Senior Pastor, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills link to Senator Chuck Shumer (you can email any of the other Senators!)
"I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." (Genesis 12:3)
Christian, stand with Israel.
News:
- The Washington Free Beacon: Iran Warns of 'Third World War' Sparked By Terrorists; Blames U.S. and NATO
- Yahoo!News: (Pres.) Obama Admits Unfrozen Iran Cash Will Fund Terror, But Says Stopping Nukes Worth It
- NBC/WSJ Poll: 71% Say Iran Deal Won't Prevent Bomb
- Fox News Channel: Pres. Equates Republicans With Iran Hard-liners Who Chant 'Death to America'
