The Harbinger (21 page)

“So by executing the vow…the vow to defy the first calamity…the nation ends up ushering in the second.”

“Or the second disaster is brought about by the very campaign to prevent it.”

“But why?”

“What would happen, Nouriel, if a gardener tried to remove a weed from his garden by cutting off its leaves?” he asked.

“The leaves would grow back,” I replied.

“And if he cut off its stem…”

“It would sprout another.”

“His efforts would be doomed to fail. You can’t solve a problem by dealing with its symptoms…its manifestations. You have to deal with the cause behind it. In the case of the gardener, the cause lies hidden beneath the surface, in the roots. So even if he solves one problem, another will reappear…and another…and another…until he finally deals with the underlying problem…the root.”

“So, in other words, Israel’s real problem was a spiritual one—its separation from God. Everything else was just a symptom, or manifestation, of the underlying problem. So the vow to rebuild is like a gardener attempting to remove a weed by cutting off its leaves.”

“Exactly. The ultimate problem wasn’t national security or defense or the Assyrians or even the attack. If a nation’s underlying problem is spiritual, then all the political, economic, or military solutions will do nothing to remove it. Such things can only treat symptoms—the bricks and the sycamores. A spiritual problem can only be solved by a spiritual solution. Apart from that, every solution will end up producing another crisis.”

“So the only solution is to return to God.”

“But Israel would choose otherwise. The nation would harden itself, seeking to come back stronger without addressing its spiritual descent. And the strategy appeared to be working…for a time. The clearing away of the ruins, the construction, and the sight of a nation rebuilding itself created a sense of national resurgence. But it was all an illusion. The judgment hadn’t been averted—only masked. The root problem was never addressed. They were moving farther and farther away from God. The resurgence was hollow. They had vowed to rebuild. But what they were building was a house of cards. And in time it would all collapse.”

“And it all began with the vow.”

“It was the vow that set it all in motion,” he said. “The same spirit of defiance that led to the vow would eventually lead Israel to reassert itself, to flaunt its strength, and, through a series of strategic maneuvers, to challenge the Assyrian Empire. That challenge would lead to calamity. So it was the vow, and the spirit behind the vow, that triggered a chain of events that would ultimately bring about the nation’s destruction.”

“The Harbingers are manifestations of the vow,” I said. “So is it inevitable that the Harbingers lead to…”

“Calamity? The Harbingers lead either to calamity or redemption. If heeded, they lead to redemption; if not, then to calamity. Now…it’s been years, Nouriel, but is it possible that you still have the last seal?”

I reached into my coat pocket and pulled it out.

“The one he gave you at the Capitol?” Ana asked.

“Yes…with the image of the scroll on it…the seal of the Ninth Harbinger.”

“But you gave up on seeing him again.”

“That’s right.”

“So why did you still have it with you?”

“I didn’t know I
did
have it until I reached into my pocket. For a time…after that last meeting, I made sure to keep it with me, as I did with every seal. But after giving up hope of seeing him again, I wasn’t as careful to make sure. Still, it was there in the pocket of my coat…and that’s what I just
happened
to be wearing that day.”

“So you gave him the seal.”

“And as he examined it, he began to speak.”

“If a nation rejects the call of God to return, and if the Harbingers aren’t heeded, then comes a second stage. So we move now to the second stage, within which are contained four mysteries.”

“Four mysteries…”

“Do you see this?” he asked as he pointed to the image on the seal…to what looked like a shadow around the scroll, a shadowy double image. It was faint, and nothing that would have struck me or anyone as noteworthy.

“It’s significant?” I asked.

“It’s a double image…a second image.”

“A second image as in
there comes a second
?” I asked.

“As in
there comes a second
, yes. So what would it mean?”

“The prophecy has a second part, it leads to something else…to a second manifestation.”

“The Isaiah 9:10 Effect.”

“Which is what?”

“This:

“And this all has to do with America?” I asked.

“Seven years after 9/11,” he said, “the American economy collapsed, triggering a global economic implosion. Behind it all, and all that followed, was something much deeper than economics.”

“Behind the collapse of Wall Street and the American economy was….”

“Isaiah 9:10.”

“How?”

“The explanations for an economic collapse are endless,” he said. “No one factor stands alone. And one can go back in time as far as one chooses to search for causes. But according to the Isaiah 9:10 Effect, the second calamity must be effectively born out of the first…and out of the nation’s response to that first calamity.”

“So then the collapse of the economy and Wall Street would have to somehow go back to 9/11.”

“And it all
does
go back to 9/11,” he said. “The smoke was still hovering over Ground Zero when the ancient vow of defiance was proclaimed from Capitol Hill. In the days and years that followed, the nation would attempt to fulfill that vow. The rebuilding was never just about Ground Zero—but about rebuilding the entire nation. Remember what was proclaimed over the hewn stone:

And when the ancient vow was proclaimed in its entirety, it happened in Washington DC, the nation’s capital. In both cases, it clearly had to do with more than Ground Zero and New York.

It was about America as a nation. And it would be the nation as a whole that carried out the vow. Just as it happened in ancient Israel, it would happen in post-9/11 America—the vow would be turned into reality. Isaiah 9:10 would become the nation’s foreign and domestic policy.”

“How so?”

“What did ‘
We will rebuild
’ mean for ancient Israel?” he asked.

“It meant they would repair the damage and rebuild their fallen buildings, towers, homes…”

“And their
walls
,” he added. “They would rebuild their walls and fortify their defenses so as to become invulnerable to future attacks. In the same way, America, after 9/11, would embark on a campaign to rebuild its walls of protection, to strengthen and fortify its systems of defense. The campaign would mean the establishing of the Department of Homeland Security, the launching of a global war against terror, and two conventional wars abroad, one in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq. It was all a reaction to 9/11. America was doing exactly as ancient Israel had done in Isaiah 9:10—attempting to defy the first calamity. In fact, the speech that would launch the nation’s War on Terror would contain the words, ‘
We will rebuild
.’ America was waging war against 9/11, trying to reverse its consequences, overcome its impact, and nullify its danger. So in the years following the attack, American foreign and domestic policy was, in effect, a translation of the ancient vow.”

“But was it wrong?” I asked. “What choice was there?”

“Is it wrong for a gardener to cut off the stem of a weed,” he asked, “instead of dealing with its root? The issue was deeper. You can’t solve a spiritual problem with a military or political solution. Apart from a return to God, the root issue remains untouched and will manifest again in a different form. It’s in this that the Isaiah 9:10 Effect begins to operate. A nation’s attempt at defying judgment apart from repentance ends up setting in motion a future calamity. In its campaign to strengthen itself, it ends up bringing about its own weakening.”

“So, then, as America vowed to emerge stronger than before and wage war against 9/11, the Isaiah 9:10 Effect was set in motion.”

“Yes. And each campaign born of that defiance would end up producing a backlash.”

“How so?” I asked.

“The campaign to strengthen America’s national security and defenses would require massive expenditures. The War on Terror, the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, would add multiplied billions of dollars to the federal budget. Funds and resources that otherwise would have been used to strengthen the American economy were now diverted and drained away from investment. The war in Iraq would impel a surging of oil prices, further draining the nation’s gross domestic product. The massive amount of governmental spending in support of the nation’s War on Terror would lead to the skyrocketing of the national debt, further draining its economy. And beyond the financial consequences, what America began in the wake of 9/11 would end up further dividing the nation.”

“And it all would lead up to the economic collapse?”

“In part,” he said. “And for all that, it would be yet another manifestation of the Isaiah 9:10 Effect that would bring about the collapse of the American and global economy. And this too was born out of the ruins of 9/11. The most critical effect of the calamity on the American and global economy would begin six days after the attack.”

“As a response to the calamity?”

“Yes,” he said, “as in the ancient vow. In January 2001, with the American economy beginning to slow down, the Federal Reserve began reducing the target interest rate, lowering it to 3.5 percent by the summer of that year. Then came 9/11. The first economic impact of the attack was the closing down of the New York Stock Exchange the same day. The market would remain closed for six days. When it reopened the following Monday, it would suffer the largest point crash in Wall Street history up to that time.
4
The attack had inflicted a damaging blow to an already fragile economy. In the days and months after September 11, there was a pervading fear that the calamity would cause the economy to hemorrhage. The repercussions of 9/11 and of the nation’s response to it would continue to affect the economy long after those initial fears had vanished along with the ruins of Ground Zero, long after even what appeared to be an economic rebound. September 11 would not only continue to affect the American economy but would also alter it and, in so doing, change the global economy.”

“So what happened six days after the attack?”

“The Isaiah 9:10 Effect begins with the nation’s response to the first calamity.”

“So the effect would begin with the proclaiming of the vow on Capitol Hill, the next day.”

“Yes,” said the prophet, “but those were words, ‘
We will rebuild
.’ It would be the following Monday that those words would be translated into reality. It was the day that the Federal Reserve attempted to inject liquidity into the market in a campaign to avert economic disaster and ensure that America would indeed rebuild and recover.”

“As ancient Israel had attempted to defy the consequences of its first calamity.”

“Yes, except that the hewn stones of America’s recovery were primarily economic. So on the first Monday after 9/11, the Federal Reserve slashed its target interest rate still further…as the first concrete act of the nation’s rebuilding. The rate had already been lowered to 3.5 percent. But the extreme nature of 9/11 would now cause it to begin descending to extreme levels. That Monday morning of September 17, the Federal Reserve lowered the target interest rate by fifty basis points. Over the next three months it would be slashed several more times until hitting 1.75 percent on December 11, 2001.
5
September 11 would force the interest rate below the rate of inflation.”

“Which is equivalent to creating free money.”

“The Treasury would continue its extreme suppression of interest rates over an extended period of time. By June of 2003, the rate would reach 1 percent and would remain under 2 percent for several years. Only after that would it be adjusted upward. But the severe slashing and prolonged suppression of interest rates in reaction to 9/11 would set in motion a chain of events that would bring down the American and global economy.”