Critiquing the Critics of The Harbinger - Part One

Brannon Howse of World View Weekend Radio program, along with the "discernment" ministry called the Berean Call, and other like-minded "discernment" ministries have embarked on a program of defamation and marginalization of a Messianic Rabbi who's written a book titled The Harbinger, in which there is an End Times warning to the people of America that is tied to an ancient warning the prophet Isaiah gave to Israel fifteen hundred years ago.

Howse, Jimmy DeYoung, T.A. MacMahon, David James, Eric Douma, and others have all branded The Harbinger as something much less than fiction, and Jonathan Cahn as a crank, with some of them calling him a "false teacher," and "false prophet," even before speaking with him on the matter, or allowing him to speak for himself.

Pastor Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries has made such a criticism at The Harbinger and its author, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s message on the basis that as they claim, it was launched by Jim Bakker on his program when Cahn visited for an interview.

It is not so much the “guilt by association” that bothers me; that’s bad enough, because it is precisely what was done to Christ during His ministry, when His detractors criticized Him for the company that He kept, and claimed that Christ had defiled Himself in their company for just being in their company and under their roofs.

We have the Scriptures as our example to be truly discerning and as our example and template to follow so we will not repeat the mistakes of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. It is obvious from the Gospels that to use guilt by association is not a proper method to apply in expressing a doctrinal disagreement one Christian has with another, but this is precisely what this writer does as does other critics of The Harbinger.

“To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

There is nothing that one can say or do to appease such people, but as Jesus said; in the end, wisdom is vindicated by the truth of those who are the target of self-righteous religious bigots and bullies, because the integrity and the equanimity of the person who is their target makes it self-evident whose character is impeccable and whose cause unimpeachable.
This is where Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the tares comes into bold relief; because the behavior of one as opposed to the other – their statements, their actions, and the words they use, including the manner of how they express what they have to say; either bears witness of their cause as being right, or indicts them of fomenting division, derision and dissension among brethren, or of something even worse if that is possible.
Now please take note the manner in which Pastor Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries expresses himself when referring to Jim Bakker:

“Are we really supposed to believe that God would chose to use this spiritual wingnut to launch what Rabbi Jonathan Cahn tells us could be a most important warning from God to America?”

This is straight-linked by Brannon Howse on his website, World View Weekend.com, and he showcases it prominently on his website World View Times.
Now, I’m not a fan of Jim Bakker, I never have been. But I am both revolted and disgusted by the snide way Silva expresses himself here, and the spirit of superiority he betrays in his statement about Jim Bakker. His statement against Bakker, and by association against Cahn, drips with cynicism.
What’s more, that he should elevate himself in such a manner with such a statement, and casting fellow Christians by inference here as inferior to either himself or to anyone else is the very epitome of what we are not to be as followers of Christ.
And that Brannon Howse would be so bereft of discernment himself that he would showcase this statement is beyond belief, but it is again – everything being made self-evident to the witnessing audience of this religious charade unfolding before our eyes.

There is no place in the Body of Christ for anyone to use such language about another Christian, or anybody else, regardless of whether or not they agree with them on a particular matter or topic or not. The Scriptures are clear about that, and in fact, they warn against such behavior from Christians towards one another.

Silva’s snide remark is brimming with self-righteous superiority, and makes it quite evident where his heart is when making such a statement. It reminds us of the time Nehemiah was trying to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the many frustrations and setbacks he faced rebuilding the wall. We read of Tobiah the Ammonite's cynicism against the project, where he says that if even a fox ran up that wall it would collapse it.
This is not speaking the truth in love, nor is it displaying Christian charity towards others, especially towards those of the household of faith. It is worldly chatter couched in the name of “discernment,” and packaged in a venue trusted for Biblical integrity, and therein lies the deception, and the deception is great because it is being promoted and foisted by supposed Christians against another Christian.

We are reminded of the time the religious authorities in Jerusalem deliberated among themselves and made reference to the crowd as ignorant of the Law and accursed for following Jesus, contrasting themselves with them; while admonishing Nicodemus to search the Scriptures for himself. It reads as follows:

The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” The Pharisees then answered them, “You have not also been led astray, have you? No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) *said to them, “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” They answered him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” [[l]Everyone went to his home.

Does this sound familiar? It should. Because this is precisely what these people have resorted to, and it appears now that they have made this into a crusade – a crusade to marginalize, delegitimize, disgrace, and deny the message of The Harbinger and its author, Jonathan Cahn.

Silva’s remarks are below a servant of Christ’s, and it would do good for him to reexamine himself and his heart when he made it. But it must be asked, “Who does this man think that he is that he should so cavalierly dismiss another man’s faith and call him a “wingnut” before a reading public? What does the Apostle Paul say in such matters?

Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

Do you believe that Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is writing here just about food and holy Days? It is obvious that though Paul is making reference to two aspects of where religious people judge – about the observance of religious holy days, and eating certain types of food, two matters relating to the conscience of the one who looks at both of these in one light and another who see it in another – that it is not food or holy days that Paul is talking about as important, as much as it is two things:

1.) Whether it is or not observed, it is observed or not observed for the Lord, because whatever we say or do, nor not say or do, we do in God’s service and not to ourselves.
2.) Whether a particular food is eaten or not eaten, we either eat it or abstain from it for the Lord, because we belong to the Lord and whatever we say or do, or not say and not do; it is for Him.

Now as of this writing, Jonathan Cahn has gone out of his way to address every objection these people have and continue to posit against his book. He has even tried to contacting them, and on several occasions, and they have taken his attempts to address the issues as nothing more than a clever marketing ploy on Cahn’s behalf to sell his book.

Not only have they denied speaking with him, and therefore allowing him to address their objections to his book, but as of this writing, they have only allowed him one or two interviews by phone, only to shortly thereafter misuse his statements in their unrelenting assaults against him and his book.

And it appears that they have embarked on a campaign to systematically marginalize Cahn and destroy any shred of credibility he may have before the Christian Evangelical public. In the name of discernment, the Berean Call, Apprising Ministries and others like Eric Douma of Twin Cities Fellowship; are now fully engaged in a personal crusade against The Harbinger and against its author and fellow believer in Christ, Jonathan Cahn.

As the Lord wills, I will continue to endeavor to write on this topic, inasmuch as Brannon Howse, Jimmy DeYoung, David James, T.A. MacMahon, Tommy Ice, Mark Dinsmore, Christine Pack, Chris Rosebrough, Pastor Larry DeBruyn, and others continue their unwarranted and un-Christ-like attacks on a fellow Christian whom they have set out to defame and marginalize in the name of the Christ they claim to serve.