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The prophetic significance of the tariff war

Shortly after the stock market crash in 1929, congress passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which implemented tariffs on 20,000 imported goods. Many countries immediately reciprocated, and world trade largely froze, begetting the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

Over the years, most countries have imposed tariffs on certain items, all of which violate the basic principle of “free trade.” Americans have been irritated by this, but little has been done to reverse it. Until Donald Trump. He is now retaliating in the name of establishing a level playing field. While I understand his stated motive, he is also playing a dangerous game that could again freeze world trade and plunge the world into another depression.

My viewpoint, however, is not about the economy or world trade as such. I speak not as an economist but from a view of prophecy and especially the overthrow of Mystery Babylon.

Our Jubilee Prayer Campaign (November 21-29, 1993) was the foundational divine court case that set into motion the overthrow of Mystery Babylon. It was largely based on King Nebuchadnezzar’s prophetic dream in 1994. He dreamed of a great tree (the king of Babylon) that was defoliated and cut down, leaving a stump that was to grow up again as a new empire called Mystery Babylon.

Insofar as Nebuchadnezzar was concerned, the dream took effect 12 months later (Daniel 4:29), when he arrogantly took credit for building his great kingdom. He then went insane and was driven from the throne until he acknowledged the God of heaven.

In the long-term fulfillment in Mystery Babylon, the Jubilee Prayer Campaign in 1993 set the clock into motion for a repeat performance. Twelve months later, on November 29, 1994, congress passed the GATT treaty (General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade). After it passed, the Speaker of the House, Tom Foley, gave a speech about how great we were, and then resigned from his office.

That is how Washington was de-foley-ated. Just as Nebuchadnezzar left his throne, so also did Tom Foley resign as Speaker of the House. I wrote about this many times in the past. Here is one report from 2008:

https://godskingdom.org/studies/ffi-newsletter/2008/coming-out-of-bondage-part-3/

The GATT treaty was the precursor to the World Trade organization (WTO) that governs world trade and addresses tariffs as well. The passage of GATT gave US companies the incentive to move their manufacturing to China, and this began China’s great economic boom. US policymakers intended to give the 21^st century to China, even as the 20^th century had been given to America. They hoped to split China from Russia to allow the West to break Russia into five smaller, weaker, independent countries whose natural resources could be stolen by the West.

We ourselves understood the prophetic significance of the GATT treaty, because it told us the issue that would yet arise in the overthrow of Mystery Babylon that was centered in the West. It told us that this would result in a large imbalance of trade, especially with China, and that this would eventually lead to two things: (1) the rise of China as one of the “kings from the east” (Revelation 16:12), and (2) the West’s economic collapse and loss of power.

Trump does not have the same understanding of prophecy, of course, since his spiritual advisors know nothing of this either. His advisors are too focused on making Israel great again, thinking that if America does not back Israel’s economic and political policies fully, then God will destroy America. In fact, the opposite is true. We are being destroyed BECAUSE we are controlled by the Zionists and are complicit in Israel’s policy of genocide.

Trump’s tariff policy is just the outworking of God’s plan to collapse Mystery Babylon. God does not intend to destroy the people, of course. The reason God ordained Persian King Cyrus to overthrow Babylon was not to bring hardship to the Judahites in captivity but to set them free from the great oppressor—Babylon. So it is with us as well.

In fact, Babylon was taken intact, and I am convinced that the financial system of Mystery Babylon will be taken largely intact by the saints of the Most High in our time. So even though the world is a dangerous place now, God’s plan is not to destroy the world by to replace the political, economic, and religious system and culture of Babylon.

We are presently in the time of spiritual insanity, and Donald Trump—to his credit—is busy dismantling much of this. In fact, if it were not for the fact that God intends to destroy Jerusalem (as per Jeremiah 19:10, 11), I believe that Trump would cut off financial and military support for the genocide in Gaza. But God has allowed the Zionists to gain near total control of the US government in order to give Netanyahu the confidence to make war with Iran (Persia) and thereby destroy the nation he represents.

When God finally opens Trump’s eyes, he will understand the divine plan. I am quite sure that this will not happen until Jerusalem is destroyed. When this event happens, the way will be prepared for the Zionist church itself to be healed of its blindness. They will repent then of their support of Edom and the children of the flesh, as Paul makes clear in Galatians 4:30. Their repentance will not fully exempt them from judgment, but it will certainly spare them from the same fate as Jerusalem.

How important is it to know the divine plan ahead of time? How important is it to support the New Jerusalem and the true inheritors of the promise? How important is it to be begotten by Sarah (Galatians 4:26, 31)? How important is it to stop praying/appealing to God to make the children of the flesh “chosen”? How important is it to stop representing Esau in his case as he attempts to inherit the Kingdom? Do we really want such a bloodthirsty group ruling the Kingdom in the age to come?

The Laodicean Church today has need of eye salve to heal its partial blindness (Revelation 3:18). Let us not be among those who are blind. Let us instead be overcomers, the remnant of grace, who, as Paul says, are the “chosen” ones. Romans 11:7 says,

⁷ What then? What [fleshly] Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened [KJV, “blinded”].