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by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2013. Talk, talk, talk. Turn on the TV or radio, and everyone has an explanation of why things are the way they are. Some of them might be partly right. Some of them are surely wrong. On the news this evening, one network TV anchorman said the reason for the drop in the stock market today was the good news regarding employment, which meant that Wall Street would be worrying that the Federal Reserve might go in an undesirable direction. Oh really? Is that why the market did what it did? That anchorman has been doing journalism for probably forty years. He's not an Economist. Someone wrote those lines for him, and then he read them. If he's so smart about the stock market, why is he not a billionaire? Later came the evening news on PBS, and their explanation for the drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the low earnings reported by Cisco and Walmart. I don't really think both explanations could be why the Dow did what it did. But both might be contributing factors. The stock market is an extremely complicated animal. Many factors go into why the Dow does what it does. Investors have hopes and fears, there's programmed automatic computer trading, there's after hours trading. Some investors go with the flow. Some investors buck the trends. There are what are called "circuit breakers" for the stock market. Even Economists very much disagree about why things are the way they are, and what the trends are. It's a full-time job for people who are just trying to understand the stock market. Analysts are employed for that very purpose. Also, if you invest, you're playing against some really big players, so watch your back. Also employed are computer programmers to write the software used in programmed automatic computer trading. Those programmers had better get it right, or their employers could lose thousands, or perhaps millions of dollars. Those computers have to be pre-authorized to make trades on the stock market because the success of the programmed computer trading depends on immediately reacting to changes in the stock market by doing buying and selling of stocks. And if the computer makes the wrong trades, they can't go back and say, "Well, we didn't really mean to make those trades." They should have thought of that when they were pre-authorizing the computer to make trades on the stock market. It's like a library card. You're responsible for everything borrowed with your card. People's credit scores have been hurt because of poorly managed library card transactions, and library materials not returned on time. Suggestion for amateur investors: Don't get your computer pre-authorized to do automatic trades on the stock market, or your computer could make you homeless. I remember a few months back when the stock market hit a big bump, and activated one of the "circuit breakers," as I recall, because, in entering a stock trade that he was trying to do into his electronic apparatus, the broker was off by a factor of ten. He wanted to trade X number of shares, but instead, he unintentionally tried to trade ten times as much. There is probably no single person who can say exactly why the Dow did what it did except for God, and I don't think he is generally offering an investment counseling service, however there are exceptions to that. Kenneth E. Hagin tells about a man who never lost money on his investments. His secret was that he had a walk-in closet, and he would go into his closet and pray about his investing until God gave him an answer. He must have been a Christian. Seems like this was in Hagin's book, "How to be Led by the Spirit of God." That investor might stop praying and get a bite to eat. He might stop and take a nap. But then he'd go back to praying until the Lord showed him what to invest in. Then, there's the situation in Egypt. Any number of so-called "experts" will try to explain why things are going the way they're going. But many of those talking heads don't know what they're talking about. And if they know so much, why haven't they fixed the problem? In Luke chapter 21, verses 24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be walked on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, 26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking at the things that are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. Notice in verse 25, "distress of nations with perplexity." Perplexity because no one on the public scene seems to have the answers. Verse 25 also talks about ocean activity. Have you heard anything recently about the sea washing away people's homes? I have. The Japanese tsunami, and other examples. And I expect there will be much more of that. Verse 26 says, "men's hearts failing them for fear." Heart attack is one of the main killers these days. My Dad had a heart attack. "Know this also, that in the last days dangerous times shall come." (2 Tim 3:1) We are now in those "last days." We are now in those dangerous times. A man went from the U.S. to Egypt to attend a wedding, and was killed in the turmoil, it was reported on today's news. Going to a wedding can be dangerous, depending on where the wedding is. There's the McLaughlin Group talk show. There's Washington Week in Review. There's Fox News Sunday. There's the Wall Street Journal Report. If you want talk shows, they're abundant. But who really has the best information? As it happens, I'm in a position to give the correct answer to that question. Your best information is in the Bible. The author of the Bible, God, gives us the beginning of the story, the middle of the story, and the end of the story. If you have a good knowledge of the Bible, you're in pretty good shape. If you don't know much scripture, you are not working with good illumination. If you're reading a book, try to have good light. It's not so good for your eyes to try to read in the dark. If you'd like to understand world events, have good illumination by having a good understanding of the Bible. God has been dealing with man for probably six millenia, beginning with Adam and Eve. God raised up Israel because of his covenant partner, Abraham. Many wars have been fought in world history. People are often not aware that God participated in those wars. "The Lord is a man of war, the Lord is his name." (Ex 15:3) David was not only a King, but a General of the Army. David inquired of God, and the Lord gave David battle plans. In 2nd Samuel chapter 5, verses 22 And the Philistines came up again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 23 And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, "You shall not go up, but circle around behind them, and come at them opposite the mulberry trees. 24 And let it be, when you hear the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then you shall stir up yourself, for then the Lord shall go out before you, to strike the host of the Philistines." 25 And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him, and struck the Philistines from Geba until you come to Gazer. If the Lord gives you a battle plan, and you follow his plan, you'll win the battle. David was always winning battles. The Lord fought with him. "But evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." (2 Tim 3:13) This scripture shows us things are not generally trending in a better direction, but rather in a worse direction. Sin is on the increase. Sex perversion is on the increase. It is generally agreed that sex perversion destroyed the Roman Empire, after they had conquered most of the then-known world. So what was that, just a one-time thing? But sex perversion doesn't destroy generally? No, sex perversion does destroy generally. The city of Sodom was destroyed for sex perversion. Lot and three of his family escaped before the destruction, God being merciful to them. "The wicked shall be sent to hell, and all the nations that forget God." (Psa 9:17) There is a real heaven and a real hell. Jesus said so. I've heard that most European nations will not execute murderers. "So you shall not pollute the land in which you are, for blood defiles the land, and the land can't be cleansed from the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of him that shed it." (Num 35:33) When God says blood defiles the land here, he's not talking about animal blood, if you kill an animal for food. He's talking about human blood that has been shed by a murderer. And in this passage, God says, YOU MUST EXECUTE MURDERERS. Failure to execute murderers causes the land to become more and more polluted. (Num 35:33) Why is it that there are governments that think they know better than God? But if there's a really smart government, they won't go against God, they'll do what God said and execute the murderers. Scriptures quoted are from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version and the New Testament, Hoehn Version, copyright 2011, both are available as ebooks for the Kindle readers from Amazon.com.
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