Review: ‘The Paradigm’ By Jonathan Cahn

The Paradigm by Jonathan Cahn (fair use)

When Jonathan Cahn speaks, the Christian world takes notice. The messianic Jewish rabbi is most famous for The Harbinger, his 2012 book that detailed the striking parallels between ancient Jewish history detailed in the Bible and modern events that have shaped the world we live in today. The Harbinger and its follow up, The Shemitah, were both runaway best sellers.

Now Mr. Cahn is set to release his fourth book, The Paradigm: The Ancient Blueprint That Holds The Mystery of Our Times. In The Paradigm, due out September 19, Cahn has once again found a pattern in which American history seems to be replaying historical events that took place in the Middle East almost 3,000 years ago.

I have long thought that America seemed to be following the paradigm, or pattern, that the Bible described of ancient Israel. The nation was founded on the basis of God’s commandments and, while it followed and honored those commandments, it thrived. In ancient Israel, the people eventually rebelled against God in spite of the blessings that he had given them. Success became pride and pride led to sin and rebellion. I could see that America seemed to be following the same general pattern.

Rabbi Cahn takes the analogy a step further. Cahn describes how the United States, once a Christian nation, is following the pattern of allowing our success to lead us into apostasy. The parallels between modern culture and that of ancient Israel are eerily similar.

Cahn describes how the proliferation of Baal worship turned Israelite morality on its head. Marriage became separate from sexuality as prostitution became part of the worship of Baal, a Phoenician fertility god. As sex was removed from the marital bedroom, it was increasingly put on public display. As a result, culture became more coarse, crude and harsh. Even gender became subjective as male prostitutes became a part of Baal worship.

What was evil began to be viewed as good and what was good came to be viewed as evil. The remaining worshippers of the Lord came under persecution as a culture war raged for the soul of the country.

The most heinous part of Baal worship was the sacrifice of children to the monstrous deity. At first, child sacrifice was illegal, but eventually it became commonplace and was even endorsed by the government and practiced by the royal family. The obvious parallel here is the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of babies through abortion, which was encouraged by the federal government in the administrations of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.  

This general parallel should be alarming enough to those who are familiar with how Israelite history ends, but Cahn goes even further. He describes specific parallels between the dynasty of the Israelite King Ahab and his wife, the notorious Queen Jezebel, and American political history over the past 30 years. The links are too numerous and specific to list here, but Cahn vividly and in detail shows how the dynasty of Ahab has been replayed in American politics with astounding accuracy.

In ancient Israel, the reign of Ahab and his son Joram represented a defining moment. As the cult of Baal grew, Israel teetered on the brink of irreversible apostasy. In Biblical history, the turning point came when the prophet Elisha anointed Jehu, a soldier in Joram’s army and a political outsider, to become king. Jehu came from nowhere in a meteoric rise to upset the status quo. In a lightning fast campaign, Jehu killed Joram, the sitting king, and his mother, Jezebel, and assumed the throne of Israel.

Cahn says that the warrior Jehu arrived to deliver the country a temporary reprieve from apostasy and ultimate judgment. Jehu’s goal was reform toward worship of the Lord, an ancient version of “draining the swamp.” In that vein, he killed the prophets of Baal as well as the members of the royal lineage of Ahab and Joram.

Cahn points out that while Jehu was used by God to temporarily halt the Israelite slide into apostasy, he was not necessarily a man of God. “Some undoubtedly saw Jehu’s rise as a calamity,” Cahn writes. “Others saw it as the answer. It was neither. It was a window.”

Cahn makes the same case for the election of Donald Trump. The Trump Administration, he believes, represents a reprieve for America from irreversible apostasy. The question is what the president and the country do with the postponement of the ultimate rejection of God and the judgment that would follow. “A political answer cannot solve a spiritual problem,” Cahn says. The only way to avert judgment in the long run is through national repentance and revival. Trump’s election may provide an opportunity for that revival.

As in his other books, Cahn offers little in the way of prophetic claims for the future. His focus is on how God is sending messages to America through the modern echo of ancient Israel’s history. He does note that the Biblical Jehu was only partially successful in “making Israel great again.” The Bible tells us that Jehu “was not careful to keep the law of the Lord” and “did not turn away from the sin of Jereboam,” worshipping the idol of the golden calves. Jehu’s false religion was of a more nationalist nature than the foreign god imported by Ahab and Jezebel, but it was still sinful.

The revival necessary for the redemption of Israel never happened. It was in the years following Jehu’s reign that the signs that Cahn described in The Harbinger began to appear. The warnings and “shakings” were ignored and, ultimately, the kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians.

In discussing Jonathan Cahn’s books, it is important to note that he never engages in replacement theology which holds that America has become a new Israel. Instead, he presents parallels that he believes God is using as warnings for America. Cahn’s core message is that America is careening toward judgment unless we change course. He urges nonbelievers to repent and believers to follow the models of Elijah and Elisha who stood strong to resist the moral decline of their country.

Some will also say that the replaying of ancient Israelite history in modern America is a series of coincidences. As the series becomes larger and more detailed, the question becomes how many coincidences are necessary to show evidence of an omnipotent God who controls events and history. At some point, the odds against the manifestation of such an improbable series of events repeating itself become astronomical.

Jonathan Cahn makes a compelling case that America is following the same pattern of disobedience and rebellion that ultimately led the kingdom of Israel to destruction. Regardless of whether you accept Cahn’s conclusion that history is repeating itself in a way that seems preordained by a higher power, it seems clear that the country is on an unsustainable path.

If America is to be saved, it must repent. And if America is to repent, it needs people like Jonathan Cahn to sound the warning.

Originally published on The Resurgent

Interview with Harbinger author, Jonathan Cahn

Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, the best-selling author of “the Harbinger: the Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America’s Future,” recently took time from his busy schedule to answer a series of questions from Examiner.com. Rabbi Cahn, who will be the keynote speaker at today’s Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

“The Harbinger” is a work of fiction, but Cahn uses the fictional story of a writer’s meetings with a mysterious prophet to tell the real story of nine harbingers that preceded the destruction of ancient Israel. Cahn believes that the same harbingers are warning modern America of God’s impending judgment. “The Harbinger” has recently passed a major publishing milestone with a 1 million copies sold.

David W. Thornton: How was The Harbinger prophecy revealed to you?  Was it similar to the fictional account in the novel or was it purely through prayer and study?

Jonathan Cahn: After 9/11, I was praying and was led to a particular section of Scripture in Isaiah concerning the first warning of judgment given to Israel.  I found out later that David Wilkerson in Time Square Church told his congregation that the Lord was giving a word to America and it was the same section of Scripture. In fact, he even spoke the specific “decoder” verse of “The Harbinger” [Isaiah 9:10].  And he did say it because he saw the harbingers manifest.  Most would only come later.  But it was simply from the Lord.

Later I was standing at the corner of Ground Zero and my attention was drawn to an object.  Something said “seek it out.”  I began searching the Scriptures and the mystery began to unfold.  It was the first puzzle piece of the ancient mystery which kept getting bigger and bigger, deeper and deeper until I was completely blown away.  It was an ancient mystery that lay behind everything from 9/11 to everything that happened after.  It was [so] specific that it even foretold the precise actions and words of American leaders.  It was mind boggling.

When I shared it at my congregation, the Jerusalem Center/Beth Israel, the people were likewise blown away.  Everyone felt it was a word from the Lord that had to go forth to the nation.  As I began to write the book, an entire second stream of mysteries began to unfold, ancient mysteries which lay behind the collapse of the American [nation], mysteries so specific that they pinpointed events down to the days and hours.

When I began to write the book in the form in which it now exists, of a prophet revealing the mystery through a series of seals, the words just flowed out as it the book were already written before I wrote it.

DWT: Since major cataclysmic events occurred in the financial world on Elul 29 in the last two Shimitah years, do you believe that some act of judgment will occur on the next Shimitah Elul 29 which is September 13, 2015?  If so, do you have any idea what? 

JC: The next Shimitah will take place from September 2014 to September 2015, culminating on the 29^th day of Elul, September 13, 2015, that’s correct.  I haven’t been led to be dogmatic concerning what may or may not happen, but I think it’s wise to keep our eyes open.

DWT: Much has been written about the reinstatement of Israel as a prophetic super sign.  Is there a relationship between modern-day Israel and American judgment that leads to Biblical end-time events such as the War of Magog and the tribulation of the Revelation?

JC: There is a connection between the macro pictures of end-time prophecy and the specificity of The Harbinger.  We know that there is no clear reference to America in end-time prophecy and yet America is now still the head of nations.  Thus, to go from where we are now to the scenario of end-time prophecy, somehow America must fall as the world’s leading superpower; it must lose its crown as head of nations.  “The Harbinger” fills in the gap with specific detail as to how it would proceed to that end.

DWT: Do you believe that recent cataclysmic events such as Hurricane Sandy and the Newton massacre are related to the removal of God’s protective hedge?

JC: We must be careful in our discerning what every calamity means.  “The Harbinger” rests on a precise, unique, eerie, and exact outworking of an ancient template of judgment in all its specificity and detail.  Thus there is a clear Biblical frame of reference.  With most other calamities, this is not the case.  Nevertheless there are general principles of Scripture concerning national judgment.

In the case of Hurricane Sandy, it was striking for such a storm to develop when and where it did – and then to specifically strike New York City.  It was also of note that the storm struck Ground Zero, flooding it over.  The governor of New York then went down to Ground Zero and from there made declarations that the city would rebuild and come back better than ever. Anyone who read “The Harbinger” would know the significance of such words.

DWT: Have you had any other revelations since writing the book?

JC: Yes. The mystery of “The Harbinger” has not stopped.  It’s continuing.  Since the book was released, the harbingers are continuing to manifest.  And what was foreshadowed in the book is coming true.  Some of it has been so amazing that it has left those who read the book literally gasping.  When my wife informed me of one of them I didn’t even believe her.  It was too far out (and I wrote the book)!  It involved the president of the United States and a[n] ancient Hebrew mystery.

DWT: Do you have any idea how much time is left for America to repent or what the result of the final judgment will be?

JC: We all live in the face of judgment.  And the time to repent, to be saved, and to get right with God . . . is now.

For more information on “The Harbinger” and to receive a CD and other gifts from Rabbi Cahn, visit Jonathan Cahn’s website: http://www.theharbinger-jonathancahn.com/

This interview was conducted via email. Rabbi Cahn’s responses are presented in their entirety except for minor editing.

Originally published on Examiner.com:
http://www.examiner.com/article/interview-with-jonathan-cahn-author-of-the-harbinger?cid=db_articles

Rabbi’s book warns of God’s judgment on America

Messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn believes that a 3,000 year old prophecy holds the key to understanding many of the cataclysmic events that have shaken the United States in the past decade. In his book, “The Harbinger,” a narrative that intertwines fiction with historical fact and Biblical teaching to point out striking parallels between God’s judgment of ancient Israel and recent American history. In the book, Cahn uses discussions between a mysterious prophet and journalist to point out these parallels.

Cahn’s message centers around Isaiah 9:10, a verse in which the ancient Israelites vowed to rebuild stronger than before in the aftermath of the first Assyrian invasion. According to Cahn, the process of divine judgment begins with the removal of God’s protective “hedge” to open the nation to attack. In the case of both nations, the removal of God’s protection led to an attack by terrorists. In Israel’s case, the attack was by the Assyrians in 732 B.C. In America’s case, it was by al Qaeda on 9/11. (Warning: The following review contains spoilers.)

In both cases, the attack was followed by defiance. The Israelites made the vow found in Isaiah: “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.” Put simply, they would take what was destroyed and replace it with something even better rather than repenting of their sins.

Ironically, this obscure Old Testament verse with its vow of defiance was used not once, but twice by American leaders in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. On Sept. 12, 2001, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle quoted the verse in a speech to congress where he specifically linked the verse to America. Three years later, on Sept. 11, 2004, Sen. John Edwards, then a vice presidential candidate, again invoked the verse in a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus. On February 24, 2009, President Obama echoed the defiant tone of the verse, saying in his address to Congress, “I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” Although George W. Bush also promised to rebuild after the attacks, he did not make the defiant vow that the U.S. would become stronger.

The prophecy literally came true in the case of the United States after 9/11. After the attacks, a giant sycamore tree was uprooted at Ground Zero. Two years later, the sycamore was replaced by a Norway spruce, scientifically the same type of tree that the ancient Israelites would have called a cedar according to Cahn. Likewise, bricks from the World Trade Center were replaced with a dressed cornerstone for the new Freedom Tower in 2004.

The links between the Bible and the news don’t end there. Cahn points out that the 9/11 attacks set in motion not one, but two record crashes of the stock market. The first occurred on the first day of trading after the attacks, Sept. 17, 2001. The second occurred seven years later on Sept. 29, 2008 at the onset of the Great Recession. The second crash was set in motion by the low interest rates put in place after 9/11 to stimulate the economy. The low interest rates fueled the credit bubble that eventually led to the real estate collapse.

There is significance to the dates of the two crashes. According to the Hebrew calendar, both occurred on Elul 29 of the years 5761 and 5768 respectively. Both of these years were Shemitah years according to Jewish tradition. In the Shemitah year, the ancient Israelites were to cancel debts and let their fields lie dormant. In 2008, billions of dollars in debts were canceled in terms of lost value, bailouts and bankruptcies. Many storefronts have factories have lain empty and unused since 2008. Further, the first collapse of the looming fiscal crisis was Northern Rock, a British bank that was nationalized on Sept. 13, 2007. In the Hebrew calendar, that would be Tishri 1, the New Year’s Day of the Shemitah year.

Cahn establishes the connection between America and Israel all the way back to 1789, the year of George Washington’s inauguration. Sen. Daschle alluded to this year in the same speech in which he cited Isaiah 9:10.

In 1789, New York City was the capitol of the United States. Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall where he gave a speech acknowledging God’s help in gaining independence: “No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”

Washington also called on the American people to remain faithful to God, saying “We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.…”

After being sworn in at Federal Hall, Washington led a procession of dignitaries to St. Paul’s Chapel in Manhattan for a prayer service. The same St. Paul’s Chapel is located at Ground Zero and was the original site of the Ground Zero sycamore. The shock wave when the World Trade Center collapsed literally cracked the foundation of Federal Hall, the birthplace of the United States government.

After the initial Assyrian invasion, Israel continued to resist both God and the Assyrians. Ten years after the first invasion in 722 B.C., the Assyrians conquered totally conquered Israel and took her people into captivity. The stakes for America are high.

“The Harbinger” lays out a convincing case that there is more to these connections than mere chance. The book contains many more links than can be presented here and their sheer volume makes it difficult to explain them away as coincidences. The majority of the instances that Cahn cites can be verified through independent sources online, such as the articles that have been linked here.

According to Lucille Gabel, an assistant at Cahn’s Hope of the World Ministry, the “Harbinger” is “reality” that is “framed and delivered through a narrative.” She continues, “The characters are fiction, but what they say through the mouth of the prophet is real.” The storyline makes the message easier to understand and receive.

Cahn has not revealed what he believes the next acts of judgment against the United States to be or when they will occur. On the “Jim Bakker Show” on Nov. 9, 2012, Cahn did say that the pattern of judgment includes repeated “shakings” that can include natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy and the Newtown massacre. He also noted that in the wake of the storm, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo again made the vow to rebuild Ground Zero better than before.

An obvious question is whether there is any significance to the next Shemitah Elul 29. The Gregorian date for this day on the Hebrew calendar is Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015. According to Gabel, “Jonathan [Cahn] was not led to dogmatically commit to that or deal with it in the present book.  He did allude [to] the fact that the pattern may extend – but he hasn’t yet been led to be dogmatic concerning it – just that we must stay vigilant and aware regarding this and many things.”

A recurrent theme in the book is that the “attempt of a nation to defy the course of its judgment, apart from repentance, will instead set in motion a chain of events to bring about the very calamity it sought to avert.” Cahn refers to this as the Isaiah 9:10 effect. The low interest rates after 9/11 leading to the real estate bubble and financial collapse is a prime example.

In the end it is up to each reader to decide for himself if the evidence that Cahn presents is sufficient to prove that the U.S. is indeed coming under divine judgment and, if so, what to do with that information. In any case, Sept. 13, 2015 might be a good day to watch the stock market.

 

If you are a social conservative or a believer in Christ and are concerned about the direction of the country, join the Christian Tea Party on Facebook.

 

Originally published on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/rabbi-s-book-warns-america-is-under-divine-judgment?cid=db_articles

“Harbinger” author to headline inaugural prayer breakfast

Jonathan Cahn, a controversial messianic rabbi, announced on his Facebook page today that he has been asked to be the keynote speaker at the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast on Jan. 21. Cahn is the rabbi of the Beth Israel Worship Center in Wayne, N.J. and president of the Hope of the World ministry. He is also the author of “The Harbinger,” a prophetic novel that details Cahn’s belief that the United States is receiving divine warnings as a prelude to judgment.

“The Harbinger” centers around Isaiah 9:10, a verse in which the ancient Israelites vowed to rebuild stronger than before in the aftermath of an Assyrian attack. Cahn finds many parallels between modern America and ancient Israel.

According to Cahn, the process of divine judgment begins with the removal of God’s protective “hedge” to open the nation to attack. In the case of both nations, the removal of God’s protection led to an attack by terrorists. In Israel’s case, the attack was by the Assyrians in 732 B.C. In America’s case, it was by al Qaeda on 9/11.

In both cases, the attack was followed by defiance. The Israelites made the vow found in Isaiah: “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.” Put simply, they would take what was destroyed and replace it with something even better rather than repenting of their sins.

Ironically, this obscure Old Testament verse with its vow of defiance was used not once, but twice by American leaders in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. On Sept. 12, 2001, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle quoted the verse in a speech to congress where he specifically linked the verse to America. Three years later, on Sept. 11, 2004, Sen. John Edwards, then a vice presidential candidate, again invoked the verse in a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus. On February 24, 2009, President Obama echoed the defiant tone of the verse, saying in his address to Congress, “I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” The book cites many other striking similarities between ancient history and modern news.

Other confirmed guests at the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast include Chaplain of the U.S. House Father Patrick Conroy, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Rep. Eric Cantor, and Sen. Roy Blunt. Worship music will be provided by Jeremiah and Wendy Ginsberg and the Philadelphia Tabernacle of David. It is not known whether President Obama will attend.

Tickets to the event are available to the public. They can be purchased online at http://pipb2013.eventbrite.com/ or by calling (804) 971—0414. Limited tickets will be available at the door.

Originally published on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/author-of-book-on-judgment-of-u-s-will-headline-inaugural-prayer-breakfast?cid=db_articles&no_cache=1357424951