THE SHEMITAH The following is extracted from an email sent to me by Bro. Matt Jamieson recently. He wrote: We are set for a riveting month in September with so many financial, religious and geopolitical events. Below I’ve listed some of these important dates, along with some brief comments on the significance of what is scheduled to occur. This September will mark, according to the Jewish calendar, the end of the 7th Shemitah (“release”, or Sabbath Year), and the start of the Jubilee year. Understanding this makes September 2015 a very important month from a Biblical perspective. If you would rather watch a couple of interesting videos than read what is a lengthy email on this occasion, then please scroll down to near the end. "Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come" (Psa 102:13) "Blessed are all they that put their Trust in Him" (Psalm 2:12) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS IN SEPTEMBER 2015 September 13th – End of the 7th Shemitah (Sabbath Rest) Year (see further comments below) From a financial perspective it is significant to note that the end of the Shemitah years (or the seventh sabbatical year) were accompanied by significant stock market falls in 1987, 1994, 2001 and 2008. For example many of you will recall that the end of the Shemitah years on 17 September 2001 and 29 September 2008 witnessed the two of the greatest stock-market crashes in America’s history, both taking place on the exact Biblical day appointed for the wiping out of credit and debt! September 13th/14th – Start of the 70th Jubilee Year since the time when Israel first inherited the promised land under Joshua. Also, being the start of the Jewish New Year, it is “Rosh Hashanah” (Feast of Trumpets). September 15th – The Jade Helm military exercises are scheduled to end. On July 15th the US military began a major training exercise involving a massive rollout of military equipment and personnel all throughout the southern US called Jade Helm. There has been a complete media blackout on the details of these exercises. Related to this the Pentagon has been war-gaming for civil disorder (i.e. on the domestic front) for the last few years. Such events have given rise to speculation that the US government is preparing for some major future event that could bring chaos to America. September 15th – The 70th session of the UN General Assembly begins on this date. (Hence we have the 70th Jubilee and the 70th session of the UN occurring within one day of each other). France plans to introduce a resolution, which will give formal UN Security Council recognition to a Palestinian state shortly after the new session begins. Up until now, the U.S. has always been the one blocking such a resolution, but Barack Obama has already indicated that things may be different this time around. So could it be that the decisions of the 70th session of the UN Assembly will add more meaning to God’s words in Joel 3:2 - “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and PARTED my land.” September 20th to September 26th – The “World Week For Peace in Palestine Israel” sponsored by the World Council of Churches. September 21st – The UN International Day Of Peace. Could this be the day when the UN Security Council resolution establishing a Palestinian state is actually adopted? Do not be surprised if we hear these specific words, PEACE & SAFETY…reminding us of the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Thess 5 , ‘For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.’ September 14-18 - The US Federal Reserve is scheduled to hold a meeting wherein they may announce their long, seven-year awaited, rate hike. This alone has potential to topple the entire economy loaded with debt. My view is it would be crazy to raise interest rates from a practical point of view as it will make it even more difficult for the government to repay it’s debt. The raising of interest rates will automatically have a negative impact on Global financial markets (both stock and bonds) as it will increase the risk premium and thereby decrease the value investors are prepared to pay (all financial models work on this basic assumption). Central banks around the world have been pushing up the bond and stock markets by keeping interest rates low over the past 7 years. With the world economy in stagnation mode, then raising interest rates will result in a financial collapse. Separately it’s interesting to note that the Fed is moving operations outside of New York to Chicago in expectation of a “natural disaster” that they never gave specifics on. September 23rd – Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) September 23rd – Pope Francis arrives at the White House to meet with Barack Obama. Some have suggested that the timing of this event is interesting because Francis is the 266th pope who will be meeting with President Obama on the 266th day of the year - 266 days is the typical human gestation period from conception to birth. So the question is being asked “what could be “birthed” on this day”? September 24th – The Pope addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress. September 25th to September 27th – The United Nations is planning to launch a brand new sustainable development agenda called “The 2030 Agenda“ in New York City. The Pope is scheduled to deliver the keynote address to kick off this conference. Unlike the previous “Agenda 21”, which primarily focused on the environment, the 2030 Agenda is actually a template for governing the entire planet. In addition to addressing climate change, it also sets ambitious goals for areas such as economics, health, energy, education, agriculture, gender equality and a whole host of other issues. This global initiative is being billed as a “new universal Agenda” for humanity. This should make alarm bells go off in our heads re the standing up of Daniel 2’s image on its feet before the final destruction by Christ. Perhaps related to this “2030 Agenda”, back on 13 May 2014, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius issued a cryptic statement while standing beside U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington. He said, “We have 500 days to avoid climate chaos.” Going 500 days out from 13 May 2014, brings you to 25 Sept. 2015. See this News Video - Laurent Fabius - 500 days until "Climate Chaos" [May 13th 2014]. September 28th – This is the date when the Feast of Tabernacles begins. It is also the date for the last of the four blood moons that fall on Biblical festival dates during 2014 and 2015. The final blood moon will fall on the very first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, it will be a “supermoon”, and it will be clearly visible from the city of Jerusalem. Apparently a similar pattern of eclipses happened just before and just after the destruction of the Jewish temple by the Romans in 70 AD. In early October - The BRICS Nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are planning an economic summit where they intend to set up an alternative monetary standard to the U.S. petro-dollar. Currently the planned headquarters of this new banking system is in Shanghai, China. My guess is that the Anglo- American banking system (Merchants of Tarshish) will be doing everything they can to oppose this, as per the IMF’s recent decision to delay the inclusion of the Chinese Yuan into the furture “global” currency the IMF and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS – the global central bank of central banks, based in Basel, Switzerland). In any case, in the long term a new global currency is likely to be introduced once today’s fiat (paper only) currencies collapse during "Daniel's time of trouble such as never was", with Europe aligned with Russia and possibly China. Sometime in September - CERN, also called the European Organization for Nuclear Research, at its complex near Geneva, restarted its Large Hadron Collider in June for the first time in 27 months and is scheduled to perform a controversial experiment in September. CERN scientists have said their latest work involves trying to open up a black hole, or “hidden extra dimensions,” “Out of this door might come something, or we might send something through it,” said Sergio Bertolucci, the director for Research and Scientific Computing at CERN, at a press briefing in November 2009. This sounds to me like man trying to play/defy God. THE SHEMITAH, THE JUBILEE, AND THE 49 YEAR CYCLE Shemitah is the Hebrew word for “release” (Strongs H8059). It is the 7th, shevit or sabbath year (Leviticus 25:3-4; Deut 15:1-4), when all debt and credit is to be erased, and the land enjoys a full one year rest. Deut. 15:1 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. Deut. 15:2 And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD'S release. Jewish scholars note that modern Shemitah or “Shmita years” The first Shmita year in the modern State of Israel was 1951-52 (5712 in the Hebrew calendar).