Counterfeit Jubilee for Some Homeowners?
The political atmosphere and the blogiverse were all abuzz yesterday with rumors that President Obama might forgive the debts for “home owners” whose mortgages were “under water.” It would appear to me that this is a trial balloon being floated by the Obama administration. But the fact that Wall Street firms are quietly telling some of their clients of the possibility tends to indicate that it is more than a wild rumor. The blogiverse on the so-called Left and Right were both weighing in. Before I show you the biblical ramifications and signs involved, here are a few samplings [all emphasis is mine unless otherwise noted—JWB]:
Main Street may be about to get its own gigantic bailout. Rumors are running wild from Washington to Wall Street that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive
a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth. An estimated 15 million U.S. mortgages – one in five – are underwater with negative equity of some $800 billion. Recall that on Christmas Eve 2009, the Treasury Department waived a $400 billion limit on financial assistance to Fannie and Freddie, pledging unlimited help. The actual vehicle for the bailout could be the Bush-era Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, a sister program to Obama’s loan modification effort. HARP was just extended through June 30, 2011. [This is from a Reuters columnist. The rest of his article is here.]
From the Leftist-Progressive Atlantic Monthly:
But today, a possibility is being talked about where the GSEs [government-sponsored enterprises; i.e. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; i.e., government-owned and/or controlled businesses—JWB] instead (or maybe also) forgive the principal on the underwater mortgages they own or guarantee. James Pethokoukis of Reuters suggests that this could amount to as much as $800 billion. This would be such a huge move that it’s hard to wrap your head around it.
First, this could really happen. The Treasury has unlimited discretion to plow as much money as it pleases into Fannie and Freddie. So adding several hundred billion dollars to the $150 billion already provided through their bailout would be as easy as the stroke of a pen. Moreover, the government’s other foreclosure efforts, particularly the HAMP program, have had lackluster success [i.e., failure]. This would provide the principal reductions that many progressives have been calling for… [remainder of article here.]
On the Right at the American Spectator, the headline read: “Obama’s Pre-Election Mortgage Payoff?” To which one respondent, Barbara Newland, opined:
I wish someone would have paid for my home. I worked hard and finally paid for it. I am 76 and still working to keep my land and business, after I pay taxes( income and real estate), and insurance and upkeep and utilities, I no longer have any extra money to save…I am very tired of paying for other people’s debts!! I do NOT want a socialist country but unless Americans wake up and vote these people out who only like to take from us and line their own pockets with money …it is only going to get worse..One will not recognize America as it use to be!! [Hers and other posts here.]
What is this all about? Well, in the natural and in the short term it is about Mr. Obama’s sagging approval ratings and the desire of the Democrats to prevent a severe whipping at the polls in November. “Democrats are in real danger of losing the House and almost losing the Senate. The mortgage Hail Mary would be a last-gasp effort to prevent this from happening and to save the Obama agenda. The political calculation is that the number of grateful Americans would be greater than those offended that they — and their children and their grandchildren — would be paying for someone else’s mortgage woes.”
But in the longer view, it is all about a failing economy—an economy that has been in the process of being deliberately destroyed by progressives, Democrats and Republicans alike. This is merely the latest smokescreen whereby the elites pretend to be trying to “right the ship” all the while puncturing more holes in it. The endgame is total and complete control over all aspects of life in America. We have been and will continue to expound upon and make simple this and much more in my series Mystery Babylon and the Stone Kingdom (link is no longer valid).
The “game” is, of course, part and parcel of our Father’s great plan to bring His children in America to their knees and to return to Him. How? Not by mere words of self-flagellation such as “Oh Father, we’re sorry, we’re sorry; please restore our land and prosperity.” That is not going to move Him. Only sincere words of repentance, acknowledging our sins, and real movement towards the restoration of His law—in reality, not even a restoration, because His law has never been anywhere near implemented in its totality here in the Second Promised Land. And this political brouhaha points to one major aspect of God’s law that has never been even tried in modern Israel-America: the law of Jubilee. (See previous posts on our work at the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank.)
Years ago I presented Bible lectures giving the details of God’s laws of Jubilee. See especially, CD’s #271 & 272 (link is no longer valid), Jubilee-Level One—The Moral Law. Currently, they can be ordered from our offices; but within a week or two, we hope to have them available for fee-based download. Essentially, a declaration of Jubilee means that all debts are immediately forgiven and all property that had been lost to debt or hardship in the preceding 49 years was to be returned free and clear to the original owners. It is God’s “reset” button for a successful economy. Of course, there is much more to it, such as no interest (usury) being permitted, which is why we point you to the details in the lectures referenced above.
What I believe is happening with this trial balloon from a spiritual and prophetic perspective is the possible manifestation of the false jubilee, the counterfeit jubilee. Anyone with an ounce of common sense can see how grossly unfair such a “forgiveness” would be to large segments of American citizens. If such an order of “forgiveness” were to eventuate, it would certainly buy some votes in the November election, but it would also embitter millions of other voters and continue to divide Americans into even more polarized groups than exist now. But, by golly, when you think about it, perhaps that what the elites of both political parties have in mind. After all, it is a Machiavellian tactic that has served the elites for many decades now! But the false Jubilee is nothing new. It happened in the days of Jeremiah the prophet.
Before I quote that passage, let me clarify some biblical terminology so you can understand the passage in terms of today’s economic language. First, the term “proclaim liberty” is a direct reference to the law of Jubilee (and its concomitant statutes regarding release at every seventh year.) It is part of the declaration that all debts are cancelled. It is part of that which was inscribed on our Liberty Bell, a passage from the book of Leviticus. It is the heart of the law of Jubilee.
Leviticus 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
Secondly, in the Jeremiah passage, when you read about the “princes,” equate that to the ruling elites today, and their controllers behind the scenes. This would include those in all realms of society, not just politicians. It would include false shepherds in the churches, and their fellow elitists in academia, commerce, foundations, etc.
Since the Bible states that the borrower is the servant to the lender, understand that the words “manservant” and “maidservant” refers to anyone “in hock” to the banks or other lending institutions (credit card companies, auto loans, stores at the shopping mall, etc.) I guess that covers just about all of us today, doesn’t it? We’re all menservants and maidservants to the princely elites. So exactly what happened in the days of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 34: 8 This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
9 That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
10 Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.
11 But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.
Hmmm. In other words, first they freed them all from their debts and then they revoked the cancellation of debt and put them back in the same bondage from which they had just been released. If the trial balloon becomes fact, it will be essentially the same thing—a false Jubilee, a false seventh year release—because while the elites are giving with one hand (the forgiveness of mortgages), they are taking with the other hand (saddling that much more debt on us all, including those benefitting from the mortgage “forgiveness.”)
But despair not; this is all from the Father, to bring us back to His law. My own opinion, is that the time is not quite right for the genuine Jubilee, one reason being that Sarah Palin and Barack must both be involved in the defeat of the money powers. (My reasons were for this were addressed in great detail in six lectures called Sarah Palin: A Prophetic Perspective.) [Link is no longer valid.]