BAAL was the god of prosperity. As the Lord of rains and fertility, he represented increase, gain, and profit. The belief that he could bring fruitfulness to one’s fields and vineyards was among the strongest of his appeals and weapons in his battle against the God of Israel.
The lure of Baal had always been a present danger in American culture. For any nation so blessed with material prosperity as was America, there would always be the risk that its prosperity would become an idol and that it would turn to the god of increase and gain. But with America’s departure from God in the late twentieth century, the spirit of Baal became ascendant.
[COLOR=rgb(20, 20, 20)]Unlike the ancient apostasy, the spirit would not be centered on the fruit and yields of the earth but on their modern equivalents—financial seeding and yield, monetary profit, increase, and gain. It had the trappings of a new religion, a cult of success, and a doctrine of materialism and greed. In the Scriptures, God is called “the Almighty.” In a revealing choice of words, America dubbed its own currency “the almighty dollar.”
The spirit of Baal even went to church. As in ancient times, when Baal worship was added to the worship of God, so now the doctrines of Baal, the pursuit of material prosperity and personal gain and success above all things, invaded the sanctuary. And so what could have been a protection and antidote against the invasion was compromised.
[SIZE=5]The Bull God[/SIZE]
Baal’s preeminent symbol was the bull in the form of metal or clay.
https://www.artnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AP20252574163329.jpg
[SIZE=3]Charging Bull, sometimes referred to as the Bull of Wall Street or the Bowling Green Bull, is a bronze sculpture that stands on Broadway just north of Bowling Green in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The 7,100-pound (3,200 kg) bronze sculpture, standing 11 feet (3.4 m) tall and measuring 16 feet (4.9 m) long, depicts a bull, the symbol of financial optimism and prosperity. (Wikipedia) [/SIZE]
It was America’s financial realm and, in particular, its stock market, and, more in particular, Wall Street, that epitomized the unadulterated pursuit of money. It was there that the spirit of Baal as it related to a nation’s yield and prosperity most clearly manifested. The prosperity of the stock market had long been tied to the prosperity of America as a whole. It was therefore striking that the symbol that had come to embody the prosperity of the stock market and America—was the bull.
Of course the bull did not come to Wall Street because anyone was seeking a connection with Baal. Nevertheless, it did come. And the fact that the symbol of American prosperity was the same ancient symbol of national prosperity and that it was so without any conscious intent is even more striking. If the American stock market appeared heading toward increase, gain, and prosperity, it was the market of the bull, the bull market. So Baal’s ancient symbol became not only an American symbol but one that embodied the same realm and dynamic as it had in ancient times.
From “The Return of the Gods” by Jonathan Cahn
