1907 Market Panic: J.P. Morgan leaves Church to save the Market

Back in 1907, there was a similar panic to the one we are facing today. It was a time that involved a failed attempt to corner the market on a stock of a copper company that lead to a run on the banks. Like this past week's injection by the Treasury department of billions of dollars, bank in 1907 the Treasury injected millions of dollars into the system. While this injection of capital helped, it was actually J. Pierpont Morgan (aka J.P. Morgan) the banking magnet that actually saved the day. J.P. Morgan was attending a church conference in Virginia when the panic hit Walls Street. After the conference that evening he took a train back from to New York City, where immediately got others to join together to form a pool of capital that was then used to pay the depositors at the banks. Once the depositors realized that they were able to get their money, the panic eased.

Today I heard a sermon by Pastor Stephen Hickson of C3 Manhattan (www.c3manhattan.org) entitled, "For such a time as this" that was on how Christians are to rise up during desperate times like 9.11 to be leaders that guide people to Christ This sermon made me wonder if history would have been the same if J.P. Morgan was not at a Christian and attending a church conference when the panic broke out. Would he have had the spiritual fortitude, peace and confidence to stabilize the market, or would he too have been acting out of panic?

We as believers during this current market turmoil must use our spiritual fortitude to lead others toward stability, peace and Faith.