Roundtable Discussion:
Shakings – first Japan, then US/World

A headline caught my attention Dec 20th: Bank of Japan shocks global markets with bond yield shift. What was the shift? The BOJ is winding down the yield curve management that was ushered in by Haruhiko Kuroda as BOJ President starting 2013. He has stated that he will not seek reappointment at the end of his term April, 2023.

Why does this matter? Because it could be a signal that the BOJ reserves the right to raise short-term interest rates at some point in the future. It could happen quickly and by surprise. This could portend/trigger other global financial events, as it did in 2007.

When was the last time this happened? 16 years ago at the end 2006 and the beginning of 2007. The BOJ raised rates. It was unexpected. It was premature for their economy, which was still greatly depressed and had just turned positive for the first time in a long-time.

The Lord visited me with a word on Jan 2, 2007 when our family was in St. Thomas that surprised me. Here is a summary:

This word changed my life. The net result of its coming to pass, for me personally, was that it marked a shift in my way of thinking from simply running a specialized US long-short, public-private hedge fund using Wall Street models, into thinking globally, and paying attention to the macro financial markets (such as currencies), with the opportunity to shift generations of wealth for good. This also coincided with a shift in my business practices away from pure capitalism and into biblical economy (the New Breed of Business reform) and with that, the Storehouse vision. God making ready Storehouses of finance and resources throughout the earth for his Kingdom’s purposes, not adhering to the ways of “Babylon“. Like a type of global endowment for the Church at large, if you will.

Back to Japan…

Japanese stock market never fully recovered – even 35 years later…

So what emerged from all this is there seems to be a financial pattern: first Japan, then the US/rest of the world. Fittingly, Japan is known as the land of the rising sun. Where does the sun rise first? In the east. In Japan. What happens to the Japanese experiment in monetary policy has then flowed into the rest of the world’s thinking, starting in the US.

Let’s look at some important – not so great – firsts and facts:

 FIRST – JAPANFOLLOW – USA / EURO
STOCK MARKET CRASH19892008
0% SHORT RATES19952009
0% 10Y TREASURY20162019
DEFLATION19982009
DEBT TO 100% GDP19992013
DEBT TO 200% GDP2010 
CENTRAL BANK QE – GOV DEBT20012009
CENTRAL BANK QE – ETFS20102020
CENTRAL BANK QE – 50% OWN GOV DEBT2022 

Now, I’m not sure exactly why Japan might be a leading indicator for the Western world’s central banks and economies.

Some believe that the USA missed the opportunity to introduce the gospel and Christianity to Japan in the post WWII reconstruction period. Unlike Europe, Japan’s nation was never rooted in Christianity. Instead, the US helped reconstruct and “Westernize” Japan’s economy post-WWII through introducing democracy and capitalistic economy, banking and financial markets. But, the absence of any Judeo-Christian moral grounding and guardrails, its implementation led to the decade of Japanese decadence and triumphalism of the 1980s. Japan’s economy grew twice as fast as the US from 1960-1989. By some measures, Japan was briefly the #1 economy in the world in the late 1980s. Its financial markets were on a tear. Its real-estate was the most expensive in the world. Its manufacturing efficiency and quality was the envy of the world (remember Kaizen and Just-In-Time manufacturing?)

But not anymore.

Bob Jones Earthquake Prophecies

There is a key prophetic pattern to understand that relates the geo-physical to the geo-political/financial: The Bob Jones earthquake prophecies. Both natural and economic earthquakes. First, the big one will hit Japan physically (fulfilled March 11,2011), then the big one hits West Coast USA physically as well as an “economic shaking” to the US/World:

  • First Japanese Quake -> then West Coast USA quake
  • First Japanese Quake -> then US/global economic shaking/meltdown

Bob Jones Earthquakes Dream/Vision 1989 (incidentally the year the Nikkei also tanked):

  • First, N. California Coast quake will be witnessed all around the world (fulfilled Oct 17, 1989 during world series televised game)
  • Second, a Japanese major quake (fulfilled March 11, 2011)
  • Third, a major California quake (beyond what has been seen – not yet fulfilled)

Part of the prophecy relates to an “economic unraveling”, a “financial collapse”, “economic meltdown”, that will hit the US and the world. All of this is God lifting his hand which currently is “holding it all together”. It is a remedial judgment of God which we pray for his mercy, and the grace in its aftermath to repent and reform.

Rick Joyner’s advice for Preparation:

Build our houses on the Rock of Jesus Christ

These coming financial shakings are one of the reasons why we work toward the Storehouse Vision.

Japanese Earthquake Prophesied 20 Years Ago by Bob Jones