The Harbinger

         Messianic Rabbi and author Jonathan Cahn sees an America that is in dire trouble. So do I. According to his popular book The Harbinger; September 11th, 2001 was a judgment upon America, a judgment with a lot of biblical meanings behind it emanating from Isaiah 9:10. Along with a judgment there is a warning to America to return to God or experience utter destruction.
         In his book, Rabbi Cahn takes what he sees as a very distinct, specific and detailed message for Israel in Isaiah, and applies it every bit as particularly to America. He presents this to us in story form, the story of a man and a modern day prophet. Thus Isaiah's prophesy to Israel, a prophesy of impending catastrophe, is being repeated with us...brick for brick, sycamore for sycamore and cedar for cedar, and will end with total collapse if we do not repent.
          Rabbi Cahn takes the reader step by step from the collapse of the twin towers to the rebuilding efforts since then and even well beyond that national disaster to the 2008 economic collapse and even back to the inauguration of George Washington. He sees us doing exactly the same thing that the Israelites did upon their first defeat at the hands of the Assyrians, that being... arrogantly proclaiming that they will merely rebuild while ignoring the reasons for God's hedge being taken down in the first place.
         The book would not have had the reception that it did if there were not a number of very interesting similarities that make it appear as if America is indeed written into the Isaiah prophesy right next to Israel. Some Evangelicals will believe the thesis of the book on face value. Others will criticize mixing newspaper headlines and Bible prophesy. I'm not concerned here with this aspect, important as it is. My concern is this: it seems as if every year there is one Christian book that consumes the evangelical community, for example, The Shack or Heaven Is For Real. It becomes the Christian's Super Bowl.....the big experience of the year. At best it's a waste of time and at worst, as in the case of these two books, it is unbiblical nonsense.
         The problems with this type of Christian culture vary. To simply read Rabbi Cahn's novel for enjoyment is one thing but we go well beyond that. The novelist, the television evangelist and the user-friendly mega-church become the teachers of pot luck theology and whats more, over time, we have become such that our minds learn mostly from the spectacular and the visual. We no longer analyse or examine. Neither are we learning through experience, rather through enjoyment. Has reading the book changed anyone? Or has it merely fulfilled a need embedded in today's Christian for the sensational? What it might do is prepare the unbeliever to view America's troubles in a different light but at what cost to the Christian.
         There was a wildly popular Christian novel published in 1986 written by Frank Peretti and titled This Present Darkness. Light reading over a few days is one thing but this book actually had Christians circling neighborhoods and praying away territorial spirits. The cover of Rabbi Cahn's book has the subtitle the Ancient Mystery that holds the Secret of America's Future. That America is abandoning God and faces His wrath should hardly be a secret to the Christian. A simple ploughman, if I might use that archaic term, knows that, as might even the flamboyant heretic reaching tens of millions through a television ministry. This book might be an urgent call to dinner but where's the beef? There is no meat in The Harbinger...none. Many Christians, myself included, saw 9/11 as a consequence of our rebellion to God and were sorely disappointed that we all, myself included, so easily and so quickly returned to the business at hand...money and trivialities!
         The Book of 1st Samuel, early on, tells of Israel's defeat at the hands of the Philistines. Along with the prophet Eli's two evil sons, Hophni and Phinehas, Israel calls for the Ark of the Covenant to be brought to the battlefield, for surely the presence of the holiest object in Israel would insure victory. It did...for the Philistines! Here then is another similarity, to me anyway, between Israel of the Old Testament and America; It's as if we are calling for the Ark when we proclaim America to be anything beyond a nation favored with blessings by God, for His purposes. Sometimes it's just presumption and other times it is total blindness on what is happening in America and why we are unravelling. It's possible to call on God in times of distress as if we were putting a talisman around our neck. Evidence of this distortion of prayer can be seen in many high profile teachers who not only totally misconstrue what the state of Israel is today but toss the Gospel of Jesus Christ out the window in attempting to save God's Chosen People. Let me conclude where I began, in agreeing with Rabbi Jonathan Cahn....America is departing from God....God's protection is departing from us.....and we could care less.