I bring back this second post on Jonathan Cahn's The Paradigm because it was on the Barnes & Noble best selling nonfiction shelf this past week. The following post is three and a half years old and our situation in America then was tame compared to what it is today:
Blood Moons.......April 15, 2014
There will be a total lunar eclipse tonight. Lunar eclipses are not rare but when four consecutive total eclipses occur they are called a tetrad. Tetrads are relatively rare. The earth has gone hundreds of years without experiencing one, yet five occurred in the 20th century. (Donald Trump was born on one of them) Tonight's will be the first total eclipse of a tetrad. The others will occur this October, next April and next October. What makes it even more interesting is that all four occur on Jewish feast days. North America gets the front row seat in tonight's Blood Moon as NASA has named them.
There is a lot of speculation from biblical prophesy teachers on the meaning of this tetrad. My concern with this speculation is that blood moons should not be necessary to warn us of our condition...and that lunar eclipses are not the only events that can turn the 'moon to blood.' (Rev. 6:12)
Billy Graham is credited with the quote but it was his wife Ruth who uttered it. The quote was "If God doesn't punish America, he'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah." She must have said this in the mid-1980s. I don't know about the 'apologizing' part of her statement but her intent was correct. America's fall is near complete. Our rebellion against God is so extensive that we can no longer visualize what it was like to be a God-fearing nation.
We have sacrificed tens of million of babies through legalized abortion. Those who are born into this world in this nation are deliberately herded away from God unless the parents forcefully intervene in the rustling of their children. This alone should be a call for America's demise. Not satisfied with the results of this attack, these powers that be have moved on to attacking marriage....the uniting of one man and one woman. If this tactic is successful then all children will be forced to accept and live with, in just about every aspect of their lives, this frontal assault on God himself. (same-sex marriage was legalized on June 26, 2015)
God has consequently removed His hand of protection from us. He has given us leaders who are either undiscerning, totally incompetent or corrupt on one end or viscerally hateful of America's heritage on the other. Our fascination with....ourselves....has become a tragedy abetted by technology. Our idol craving culture has long since presumed too much of God's longsuffering towards us. We are drunken with our entertainments, staggering from one venue to the next. We no longer can analyze the meaning of statistics fed to us by universities that have become nothing but 'puppy mills' to a culture that needs only someone to buy its clothes and trinkets.
Yes, there is a remnant of God-fearing Americans but even much of that remnant has lost discernment in this anti-intellectual abyss we have fallen into. Jesus was asked "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?" His response can be found in the 24th Chapter of Matthew and includes this "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark....."
The ark was safety to Noah. He was in the world but he was safe. Our safety is in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, of who he is and what he has accomplished for us, and of whose we are....."but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end." (Hebrews 3:6) This verse is followed by "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion...."
The Paradigm
This morning I picked up Jonathan Cahn's newest book The Paradigm. I'm not going to write a point by point review for that's not necessary. It's very similar to his books The Harbinger and The Shemitah that many Christians have read. I wrote posts on both of those books in 2012 and 2014 respectively. This short summary is going to sound very strange. I don't present it like this in any way to ridicule....for the book itself on the back cover tells the reader..."Prepare to be stunned."
The author sees a possible blueprint from the Old Testament where Bill Clinton follows the course of King Ahab....Hillary Clinton-Queen Jezebel....and Donald Trump-Jehu....who destroyed Baal worship after the demise of Ahab and Jezebel. The author emphasizes a few times in the book that this is not a political diatribe but rather a plotting of current chronological events and distinctive personalities on an Old Testament grid. Barack Obama is in there as is Vice President Pence as is even bin Laden. Phrases like 'could this...' and 'is it possible that...' and 'does the paradigm reveal...' are used to make it clear that the author is not declaring prophetic fulfillments but rather offering possibilities as to Old Testament figures pointing to present day leaders and events. Rabbi Cahn may not be declaring prophetic fulfillment...but does the reader interpret his book as prophetic fulfillment?
All of Jonathan Cahn's books have been compelling in the information that they give....but all of the 'astounding' facts together....in all of his books combined....do not measure up to any single solitary verse in the very Word of God! Jonathan Cahn would readily admit to this. We know that we have become a pagan nation. We know who Bill Clinton was....and we certainly know who Hillary Clinton is. And what about Donald Trump? He's the hero in Jonathan Cahn's book....sort of. He stops the worship of the Baals? Why even pay attention to politics....just look up Jehu and see what happens to him. Well he ruled for 28 years and his son became king. In fact why even read biblical prophesy at all....just read the latest books? Jonathan Cahn addressed some of the problems that might arise in a book such as this but his attempts to assuage the concerns were not entirely convincing.
Many Christians through the years have likened Hillary Clinton to Queen Jezebel. Only a few posts ago I likened our election of Donald Trump to the Israelites demanding a king...King Saul...instead of depending on Yahweh. Cahn's research on Israel's rebellious culture is helpful in that we can see ourselves following the exact same path. This alone should serve as a warning...and indeed it does....but Billy Graham and many others have warned us of this for decades!
If we are perceptive enough we can see the potential conflict in a book like this, and how easily we can let down our guard if we are not careful. Here is the problem..."For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." God's Holy Spirit is He who has told us that we are following in the steps of Israel in our idolatries. The Paradigm certainly describes that idolatry...but it goes further. It takes us into a world of politics....and it unintentionally leads us away from..."...the two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow...."
Read the book if you are interested, for it does lay out in very simple terms how we are every bit the worshipers of idols as were the Phoenicians....who were Hillary's people.....I mean Jezebel's people......but this is not an "ancient blueprint that holds the mystery of our times." It's more of an ancient newspaper clipping that eerily resembles today's USA Today. I don't deny that the reader might not be "stunned" as the jacket cover expresses it....but "stunned" is not necessarily blessed.....whereas we know...that we know...that "Blessed is the man who reads aloud the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." (Revelation 1:3)
Blood Moons.......April 15, 2014
There will be a total lunar eclipse tonight. Lunar eclipses are not rare but when four consecutive total eclipses occur they are called a tetrad. Tetrads are relatively rare. The earth has gone hundreds of years without experiencing one, yet five occurred in the 20th century. (Donald Trump was born on one of them) Tonight's will be the first total eclipse of a tetrad. The others will occur this October, next April and next October. What makes it even more interesting is that all four occur on Jewish feast days. North America gets the front row seat in tonight's Blood Moon as NASA has named them.
There is a lot of speculation from biblical prophesy teachers on the meaning of this tetrad. My concern with this speculation is that blood moons should not be necessary to warn us of our condition...and that lunar eclipses are not the only events that can turn the 'moon to blood.' (Rev. 6:12)
Billy Graham is credited with the quote but it was his wife Ruth who uttered it. The quote was "If God doesn't punish America, he'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah." She must have said this in the mid-1980s. I don't know about the 'apologizing' part of her statement but her intent was correct. America's fall is near complete. Our rebellion against God is so extensive that we can no longer visualize what it was like to be a God-fearing nation.
We have sacrificed tens of million of babies through legalized abortion. Those who are born into this world in this nation are deliberately herded away from God unless the parents forcefully intervene in the rustling of their children. This alone should be a call for America's demise. Not satisfied with the results of this attack, these powers that be have moved on to attacking marriage....the uniting of one man and one woman. If this tactic is successful then all children will be forced to accept and live with, in just about every aspect of their lives, this frontal assault on God himself. (same-sex marriage was legalized on June 26, 2015)
God has consequently removed His hand of protection from us. He has given us leaders who are either undiscerning, totally incompetent or corrupt on one end or viscerally hateful of America's heritage on the other. Our fascination with....ourselves....has become a tragedy abetted by technology. Our idol craving culture has long since presumed too much of God's longsuffering towards us. We are drunken with our entertainments, staggering from one venue to the next. We no longer can analyze the meaning of statistics fed to us by universities that have become nothing but 'puppy mills' to a culture that needs only someone to buy its clothes and trinkets.
Yes, there is a remnant of God-fearing Americans but even much of that remnant has lost discernment in this anti-intellectual abyss we have fallen into. Jesus was asked "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?" His response can be found in the 24th Chapter of Matthew and includes this "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark....."
The ark was safety to Noah. He was in the world but he was safe. Our safety is in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, of who he is and what he has accomplished for us, and of whose we are....."but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end." (Hebrews 3:6) This verse is followed by "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion...."
The Paradigm
This morning I picked up Jonathan Cahn's newest book The Paradigm. I'm not going to write a point by point review for that's not necessary. It's very similar to his books The Harbinger and The Shemitah that many Christians have read. I wrote posts on both of those books in 2012 and 2014 respectively. This short summary is going to sound very strange. I don't present it like this in any way to ridicule....for the book itself on the back cover tells the reader..."Prepare to be stunned."
The author sees a possible blueprint from the Old Testament where Bill Clinton follows the course of King Ahab....Hillary Clinton-Queen Jezebel....and Donald Trump-Jehu....who destroyed Baal worship after the demise of Ahab and Jezebel. The author emphasizes a few times in the book that this is not a political diatribe but rather a plotting of current chronological events and distinctive personalities on an Old Testament grid. Barack Obama is in there as is Vice President Pence as is even bin Laden. Phrases like 'could this...' and 'is it possible that...' and 'does the paradigm reveal...' are used to make it clear that the author is not declaring prophetic fulfillments but rather offering possibilities as to Old Testament figures pointing to present day leaders and events. Rabbi Cahn may not be declaring prophetic fulfillment...but does the reader interpret his book as prophetic fulfillment?
All of Jonathan Cahn's books have been compelling in the information that they give....but all of the 'astounding' facts together....in all of his books combined....do not measure up to any single solitary verse in the very Word of God! Jonathan Cahn would readily admit to this. We know that we have become a pagan nation. We know who Bill Clinton was....and we certainly know who Hillary Clinton is. And what about Donald Trump? He's the hero in Jonathan Cahn's book....sort of. He stops the worship of the Baals? Why even pay attention to politics....just look up Jehu and see what happens to him. Well he ruled for 28 years and his son became king. In fact why even read biblical prophesy at all....just read the latest books? Jonathan Cahn addressed some of the problems that might arise in a book such as this but his attempts to assuage the concerns were not entirely convincing.
Many Christians through the years have likened Hillary Clinton to Queen Jezebel. Only a few posts ago I likened our election of Donald Trump to the Israelites demanding a king...King Saul...instead of depending on Yahweh. Cahn's research on Israel's rebellious culture is helpful in that we can see ourselves following the exact same path. This alone should serve as a warning...and indeed it does....but Billy Graham and many others have warned us of this for decades!
If we are perceptive enough we can see the potential conflict in a book like this, and how easily we can let down our guard if we are not careful. Here is the problem..."For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." God's Holy Spirit is He who has told us that we are following in the steps of Israel in our idolatries. The Paradigm certainly describes that idolatry...but it goes further. It takes us into a world of politics....and it unintentionally leads us away from..."...the two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow...."
Read the book if you are interested, for it does lay out in very simple terms how we are every bit the worshipers of idols as were the Phoenicians....who were Hillary's people.....I mean Jezebel's people......but this is not an "ancient blueprint that holds the mystery of our times." It's more of an ancient newspaper clipping that eerily resembles today's USA Today. I don't deny that the reader might not be "stunned" as the jacket cover expresses it....but "stunned" is not necessarily blessed.....whereas we know...that we know...that "Blessed is the man who reads aloud the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." (Revelation 1:3)
