THE HARBINGER'S CRITIC: WHEN DISCERNMENT IS DECEPTION

The following is a post I wished I did not have to make. In fact, I consider this a new low for those who spend their days publicly attacking other Christians with whom they have disagreements.

What I am about to share is to date, the most horrendous example of abuse of the so-called "discernment ministry" by the host and author of the web site named DiscernIT.
It is an example of what I have warned my readership about these past few months within the Christian Evangelical circles in this country. It is a manifestation of what I warned would happen with time; the critics of The Harbinger would eventually make it evident who the wheat and who the tares are in this controversy. Well, here is the exchange I had recently with the blogger on DiscernIT. I have expunged her name and other information to protect her privacy. But that she would have been so kind with me. I have also not included our private e-mails, because I have not had the author's permission to post it here, and to guard her privacy as well. She has since apologized to me privately for what she had originally posted on her web site, though she still holds her opinions pertaining to the author of a book I am unfamiliar with and have no interest in reading, or connection to, and neither does Rabbi Cahn and Beth Israel to my knowledge.

My replies are all preceded by MY REPLY/CORRECTION, and the other person's posts are preceded by YOUR DISCERNIT POSTING.


Thank you,

The Pepster
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THE TITLE OF HER ARTICLE IS IMMEDIATELY BELOW:

Johnathan Cahn’s Beth Israel Church Promotes “Sacred Path”

I had the strangest exchange of emails.

It began with a testimony of deliverance from “Hyper-Pentecostalism, and the teachings of the Word of Faith/Name it and Claim It preachers such as Robert W. Schambach, Kenneth Hagen, Kenneth Copeland, Charles Capps, Ernest Angley, W.V. Grant Jr., Peter Popoff, Jimmy Swaggart, Eugene Scott, and the rest..”
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MY REPLY/CORRECTION: There is nothing in my testimony that betrays in any way anything other than my sincere heart-felt personal testimony to you that you have trumped before the public to discredit me and bring into question my veracity and walk in Christ. It will become evident, even to many of your readers; just how wrong you are in what you have done here dear lady. I forgive you, and pray your repentance before our Merciful Father, because most assuredly the Lord who knows all things and sees into all hearts; will hold you personally accountable for the falsehoods you have written in your article and posted publicly for all of your readers to read. The Lord Himself on the day when all of us stand before Him, will ask you why you had to write the lies that you did against someone you do not know, and others whom you have slandered in the past by writing fabrications of your own invention against them. Everything you have written in your article against Rabbi Cahn and against me, and against my Christian brethren at Beth Israel are nothing but absolute lies and fabrications invented by you to discredit and marginalize Rabbi Cahn’s book, The Harbinger, his ministry; Hope of the World Ministries, and the work of God being done at the Jerusalem Center and the Arise and Shine Academy. LET ME PUT THIS QUESTION TO YOU: HAVE YOU READ THE HARBINGER YET? Or is your review and criticism of it simply based on second and third hand hearsay? Be honest in your answer, you stand before the Lord God and your readership, not me dear lady.
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YOUR DISCERNIT POSTING:
This was interesting and good news but then came some bad news. “As an early Christian I remember telling a friend what he had done the entire day in exact order without knowing a thing about what he had done or the places he had been to, but God knew.” I have come to know this as remote viewing and I do not see this capability in my Bible. This is an occultic experience. He later admitted to being previously involved in spiritism. It is difficult to give up what we may consider as gifts from God as actually gifts from the enemy.
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MY REPLY/CORRECTION: I have written above that you better very careful with what you write and what you infer, because when writing of other Christians and attributing the gift of Word of Knowledge (1Corinthians 12: as an “occultic experience,” as you called it, and then connecting a work of the Holy Spirit – which you call – REMOTE VIEWING – to me NOT BEFORE, BUT AFTER I RECEIVED CHRIST AS MY SAVIOR, GOT INSTANTANEOUSLY DELIVERED OF DEMONIC POWERS, AND BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD, and practicing one of the gifts of the Spirit for the edification and encouragement of another brother in Christ, and attribute it with demonic activity because of my previous life and very brief experience in spiritualism – READ BEFORE I RECEIVED CHRIST AND GOT DELIVERED AND BORN AGAIN – you are treading on water. You are running the risk of attributing a work of God with Satanic activity, if you haven’t already done so. This is the only sin that God will not pardon. Be very careful. I fear for you. Lady, your statements are not just an offense and an affront to me, they are an offense and an affront to God.

I reminded of the following Scripture pertaining to this. And I quote:

Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

The Unpardonable Sin

“He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

“Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

Words Reveal Character

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

(Matthew 12:22-37)

When a person is born again of the Spirit of God, he or she is sealed with the Holy Spirit, whom God gives to the believer as a pledge of His vow of marriage to that person as part of the Bride of Christ.

I was born again and have been walking in the grace and Spirit of God in Christ for thirty-five years. This is the first time in all of my walk that I have ever encountered anyone who has brought into question the gift of the Holy Spirit in me that Christ has given me to serve Him, bear witness of Him, and testify of His faithfulness, trustworthiness, and Lordship over all of us as our God and Savior. But then, why should I or anyone else be surprised by this. It is not the first time it has happened. We read of it in our Bibles, and the Lord Himself warns all of His disciples in the following way:



The Lord is God and Jesus Christ is Lord, make no mistake about it. If I didn’t have the Holy Spirit, I would not write as I do about this, for the Scripture which cannot be broken, says where the Apostle Paul writes in the Holy Spirit the following:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

(1Corinthians 12:1-3)

This is why we must test the spirits to see if they are from God, because not everyone who quotes Scripture is a child of God. Satan quoted Scripture and misapplied it to the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness. He had the audacity to approach God against Job (Job ) when the sons of God gathered to call upon the name of the Lord (Genesis 4:26) – the godly line of Seth mentioned in Genesis 5; Satan tried to destroy Job, and in the process caused great pain and suffering to him. We see the same deceiving spirit at work even speaking a truth about Paul and his associates when they visited the city of Thyatira. We follow the story here, where Luke’s Acts records the following:

It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.

(Acts 16:16-18)

Here we have a slave girl with a spirit of divination, a practice that is forbidden by the Law and of which the prophets have spoken against (Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, 27, Deuteronomy 18:11, Isaiah 8:19, 19:3, 47:12-13), proclaim publicly that Paul and his associates are bond-servants of the Most High God, an absolute truth; yet Paul is not only disturbed by this, but he rebukes the evil spirit out of the girl after three days, having had enough of its attention gathering shenanigans. You see, Paul who knew the Law also understood that the purpose of this evil spirit was to discredit him and his associates and the Gospel message by attaching this medium to them with her public outbursts in what appeared on the surface to be a show of support on her part, but was really meant by Satan to sow distrust and suspicion among the Jewish public towards Paul’s testimony. Think about it, what self-respecting observant Jew would believe Paul if it were found that a spiritist claims he works for God? This was what this spirit sought to do in Thyatira against Paul and against the spread of the Gospel in that city. Discrediting servants of Christ is a very old trick of the enemy. He has come between you and me, and between you and Rabbi Cahn and what God has been doing in both our lives.

I have had the opportunity to test a spirit according to the manner prescribed by God’s Word. Let me give you an example of this in practice by relating the following story. It happened when I went to get my haircut. While I sat waiting for my turn, a man entered the barber shop and began shouting Scriptures at everyone there, focusing primarily at the owner of the business who is a believer (as are most of the other employees, including my barber). As he shouted his hellfire and brimstone unintelligible message at everyone, he sought to collect some money from the owner. There was something very wrong about this man, and when he came to me, I asked that spirit point blank, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord!” He kept talking without reacting as though I hadn’t said anything. I repeated my question to that spirit, “Do you believe that Jesus is Lord!” He answered very quickly, “No,” and continued his preaching. At that instant, I thought, “Got you.” As he continued to preach at me, I asked another time, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord,” to which he again repeated, “No,” and continued. It did this in for three reasons; to test the spirit, to confirm a second and possibly a third time that it was not from God, and to allow everyone there to hear it for themselves, if some missed it the first time. The spirit in that man was preaching and quoting Scripture, but made no sense to what he was saying, not testifying of Christ, and when put to the test, failed it. This is what the Scriptures mean when it admonishes us to test the spirits.

People who get demons driven out of them without receiving Christ afterwards stand the chance of relapsing into a worst state than previously, because the Holy Spirit must take the place of residence in that person through the new birth, without which that person can either enter or see (be aware of and believe in) the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit seals us in Christ unto the day of Redemption, so that the following will not occur to those who believe:

“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

(Matthew 12:43-45)

This is precisely why it is of paramount of importance when sharing the Gospel with an unbeliever, especially if he/she has dabbled in the occult, that they repent of sins and receive Christ as soon as possible, so Satan will not come and steal the seed of the Word planted in that person with whom we have shared the Gospel. If a person gets delivered of an evil or familiar spirit, they must pray as soon as possible to receive Christ, to prevent what Our Lord warns about above. In this manner that person is sealed from and protected from this happening, because rather than the house (we are a temple of God ) being swept and clean, but empty, as Christ describes it, the house is now occupied by the Lord and therefore His temple. A person does not belong to Christ unless he/she has the Spirit of God dwelling in them. (Romans 8:9)

This is where we are told to test the spirits to see if they are from God, as the Apostle John writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

(1John 4:1-21)

I don’t see this love in you or in any of the others who spend their days criticizing other Christians, their walk in Christ, their faith, and their personal salvation, because of religious and doctrinal differences and questions over eschatology and spiritual matters. But we are to test the spirits to see if they are from God. And I am concerned for you as a brother in Christ (though you may or may not regard me as such, and it matters not to me whether you do or don’t, but that you do not stumble or cause others to stumble by what you’ve written), and write to you to admonish you in the Lord to be very careful with what you write.

The person who has the Holy Spirit manifests the fruits of the Spirit, and Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit lists them as follows:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

(Galatians 5:22-24)

The Holy Spirit declares Christ Lord (1Corinthians 12:3), that is, He ascribes to Christ His proper role in the Godhead as God manifest in human form. This is what Christ Himself has said of the Holy Spirit and His advent on the night He was betrayed:

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’

(John 14:16-27)
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YOUR DISCERNIT POSTING:
It did not take long till a reference to Beth Israel popped up. “ Beth Israel and the ministry I am involved with at the Arise and Shine Academy are the culmination of a dream I had since 1978, when I began to awaken to the Messianic Movement within the Body of Christ at the time, and began what would become my own personal study of Judaism and Christianity.”
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MY REPLY/CORRECTION: “It did not take long,” indeed. There is nothing in what I wrote up until that moment that you found wrong other than what you mischaracterize as “occultic” without understanding or knowing what you are writing about. I was honest with you, and shared with you my personal testimony and how I came to Christ. HOW DARE YOU DRAG ME UNDER THE MUD LIKE THIS! Then try to imping an intent to do wrong because I wrote you in the first place. This is contemptible.
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YOUR DISCERNIT POSTING:
Beth Israel? That is the church led by author Jonathan Cahn. Turns out all the long letters were really to get me to view David James, who wrote a rebuttal to the novel, “The Harbinger” as someone “who is at the epicenter of this controversy and who is the primary agent of it having sown discord and division in the body of Christ.”
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MY REPLY/CORRECTION: NO THEY WERE NOT! I wrote my letters – below this posting – in sincerity and in truth – sharing my personal testimony with you. How dare you accuse me of backhandedness! But this is what you do and this is what you’ve been doing for a long-long time, as I read by your postings. I opened my heart to you as a friend, a brother in Christ. Only your suspicious nature and distrust of everyone was used by the enemy to sow distrust in my intentions in writing you. As to your quote of what I wrote concerning David James’ book, I stand by that, because this is what his book has done. Look at your own behavior. It testifies of this. If I hadn’t written to you that I teach by God’s grace and election at the Arise and Shine Academy at the Beth Israel Jerusalem Center, where Pastor and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn presides and teaches; you would never had treated me the way you did. There is nothing up until that moment that I wrote to you indicated and less than honorable intent on my part. HOW DARE YOU EVEN POST THIS CANARD!
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YOUR DISCERNIT POSTING:
Not having thought about this book for some time, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the Arise and Shine Academy. There was not much information on the Beth Israel website about the source or content of the teachings, but I did notice a series on marriage. There is a book being used by Gary Thomas who wrote “Sacred Pathway.”

Source HERE
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MY REPLY/CORRECTION: You are welcome to come and sit in on any one of my classes. Currently, I am teaching the History of Messianic Judaism. It is a work I have been researching and writing for thirty years. The Arise and Shine Academy is at the Beth Israel Jerusalem Center in Wayne, New Jersey. I don’t know how far you live from there, but if you do not live in this state, you won’t be able to attend classes there. I have no interest however and supplying you my teachings for you to rip apart and post publicly. I’m on to you and others like you, who operate in this manner against Evangelical Christians whom you do not like for any varying reason, and with whom you might have one or more doctrinal disagreements with, or with whom you might have questions about hermeneutics about Eschatology.
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YOUR DISCERNIT POSTING:
ZIP – Up goes the red flag. Read the list of people promoted by ”Sacred Pathway”. Richard Foster, Thomas Merton, Brother Lawrence, Basil Pennington, Henri Nouwen, Bonhoeffer, St. Francis of Assisi, and Mother Teresa.

Source HERE
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MY REPLY/CORRECTION: A tree is known by its fruit. If what a person continuously speaks about is against other people who have professed faith in Christ and have even died for that faith, and bring their salvation into question because they “connect” them with clever epithets they’ve created to categorize those with whom they doctrinally disagree with, then I question the fruit of that tree, whether it is glorying Christ and declaring Him Lord and Savior by sharing the Good News and what it means; or spend the bulk of their days peering at other Christians in the public arena to find fault with them. There is something seriously wrong with this, especially when those doing it trump their attacks out in public. This is not the Biblical method of conflict resolution among Christians, nor is it the Scriptural method of resolving differences of doctrine and interpretation, etc. between two or more differing Christian parties.
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YOUR DISCERNIT POSTING:
Why is Beth Israel, led by Jonathon Cahn, allowing a course on marriage using a book with catholic contemplatives?
It is because it is deeply steeped in mysticism and esoteric teachings which is more gnostic in nature than biblical.
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MY REPLY/CORRECTION: Dear lady, you do not know at all what you purport to know and be talking about. If you did, Jonathan Cahn and I and others like us would be burned at the stake just for what you accuse us of, and are so wrong about. First I would ask what on earth you are referring to here? What book are you referring to? And why do you persist in accusing other Christians – my brethren in Christ – and fellow congregants with being steeped in mysticism and esoteric teachings, when you would not know the first thing about what this is, as I can tell by what you’ve accused me and Pastor and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn of in your article? Jonathan Cahn is not a mystic, he is not a Kabbalist, a I have pointed that out to you. Nor is he a Gnostic, or a practitioner of Theosophy or Christian Science, or any of the tenets of the cults. HOW DARE YOU DISCREDIT THE SERVICE OF ANOTHER FOR CHRIST WITH SUCH ABANDON AND DISREGARD!? HOW DARE YOU! The manner of your writing and your false witness against me reminds of this warning the Lord Jesus Christ has given and it applies here. I quote:

“It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!”

(Matthew 10:25)

I thank the Lord my God and Jesus Christ my Lord, and the Holy Spirit of Truth; that I and Rabbi Cahn, and my brethren and fellow congregants at the Beth Israel Jerusalem Center have been found worthy of being mischaracterized in the same way and manner as our Lord was by the religious bigots and disbelievers of His day. After Jesus Christ has saved me out of Roman Catholicism, Jehovah’s Witness, Spiritualism, and Agnosticism; and delivered me of its influences and demonic powers – how dare you accuse me or Jonathan Cahn, or anyone else at Beth Israel with being steeped in mysticism and esoteric teachings which is more gnostic in nature than biblical!? How can you speak of people you haven’t met or known personally with such abandon and cast aspersions at their confessions of faith in such a despicable manner!? Who do you think that you are to stand in judgment of another servant of Christ!? HOW DARE YOU JUDGE YOUR FELLOW AND BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST HIM!?

Let me tell you something dear lady; the Lord has saved people out of Roman Catholicism, examples we may cite are most of the Spanish speaking people at Beth Israel, Italians, etc., just as He has saved many others out of Mormonism, the Jehovah’s Witness, The Moonies, the Church of Bible Understanding, Christian Science, Theosophy, Christadelphians, the Worldwide Church of God (including those who reformed it to mainline a more mainline Evangelical Theology), and a good many other cults; and that there are a remnant within the ranks of Roman Catholicism who are true believers in their hearts and have been born again (the Catholic Charismatics). Yes, the Lord has even saved many Protestants from the myriad number of “mainline,” as well as “liberal” denominations that fill our great nation. Not everybody who says Lord, Lord is saved, as well you know. The words of the Lord Jesus clarifies why this is so:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

(John 7:13-14)

A brief comment, Jesus is that narrow gate, and any other manner and effort of man to try to reach God is nothing but attempted robbery. (John 10:7-10) There is no other way of salvation. Salvation does not come by any other means or any other person, nor belonging to any fraternity, religious order, church, synagogue, brotherhood, congregation, or denomination; it is by Christ alone and through Christ alone. Thus, He is able and does all the time, save those who are lost within all of these and much more than the Discernment/Apologists among us give Him credit for. How do we know this? Keep reading.

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

(Matthew 25:31-46)

You hear people say in defiance, “I was born a Roman Catholic, and I’ll die a Roman Catholic,” or, “I was born a Jew and I’ll die a Jew,” and even, “I was born a Baptist and I’ll die a Baptist,” without giving thought that the day they were born, they, we, all of us have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. (1Timothy 6:7) Everything we have or shall ever have, was first given to us by God. It does not belong to us, but we belong to Him. In the end, it will make no difference whether you were a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Mormon, or anything else in this life. The only thing that will determine your eternal destiny is whether or not you have been born again of the Spirit of the Living God through Jesus Christ, having accepted and received His redemption.

The transformed new life will have evidence in the life of the one who has born again, and the evidence will be many, but discernible in the person whose life has been transformed by Jesus the Messiah by the Holy Spirit for the glory of God the Father of those who have been adopted as His children through Christ. A good tree grows fruit, and it is the fruits that evidence the indwelling Holy Spirit of God in the life of a believer. It is unmistakable, and their life, speech, behavior, conduct, and associations will show it. Make no mistake about it. It is very real, and noticeable. If a person claims to be a Christian, but shows no evidence of the change, they must reevaluate whether or not they have truly come to Christ in true repentance, and seek God with all of their hearts in reexamination. Just as the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes:

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

(2Corinthians 13:5)

A Tree and Its Fruit

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

The Two Foundations

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

(Matthew 7:13-28)

In context of what Our Lord has said, Jacob, the Lord’s brother (James) under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has written the following:

My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

(James 2)

In short, the vindication as evidence of a person’s faith is the manifestation of that faith in that person’s life – their confession of faith, their behavior towards others in the love of Christ, their works in God – and it is limitless – because in God’s house the smallest peg is as important as the largest piece, and all form a vital function within the body, just as every component within a device is important to the smooth and correct function of that device. There is no such thing as apathetic, complacent, compromising, and secluded Christians – the evidence in the life of the people who claim faith in Jesus Christ whose faith is alive, not dead, and because it is alive they are manifesting it, just as the Scripture affirms above and this one affirms in the following manner: the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. (Ephesians 5:9), whether it is the Fruits of the Spirit, such as the Word of God enumerates in the following manner:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

(Galatians 5:16-25)

And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

(Romans 8:23)

As for these Catholic Charismatics; I must confess I don’t know what they’re still doing in there, because the Lord tells all Roman Catholics to get out of that Church in Revelation, where He lovingly tells them, “I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” (Revelations 18:4-5)

But when I wrote you, I was commenting on the points in your earlier e-mails I agreed with, though I should’ve pointed out my disagreements with you as well, such as those very hardened positions you take which mirror those of the critics of The Harbinger; that only Christians who hold certain theological positions are the true Christians, without taking into account whether that person or those people have been born again or believe the core principles of the Christian faith which all Christians affirm, and they are:

Jesus Christ as the only Way of salvation, the deity of Christ; Jesus Christ the Only Begotten Son of God and God in human form, His death by crucifixion, burial, bodily resurrection from the death, appearance to various disciples during a forty day period following His bodily resurrection from the grave, His ascension to the right hand of God where He sits after providing eternal redemption for all who place their faith in Him for salvation, His role as our High Priest and Mediator between God and men, His role as our Advocate before His Father; His Lordship over all creation, the promise of His eminent return, and the bodily resurrection of the dead – first the redeemed of the Lord, and a second resurrection of the unrepentant to the second death and lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet will be hurled into after a brief period of time in which the dragon will deceive the nations for one last time. The inerrancy and divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures – both the Old and New Testaments; teachings that form the fundamental core of our Christian faith.

Other variations as to when certain events will take place and how they will take place is still debatable among the devout, and open to debate, but certain not a litmus test as to salvation.

You know that for a good time after getting saved, we have all had one or more beliefs that were not Scriptural, but with the reading of the Word and the revelation of the Holy Spirit to illuminate our thoughts and understanding of it, we have been weaned away from a many false doctrines that we held on to before we received the Lord. The Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has written:

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

(1Corinthians 13:8-13)

Everyone at the present and since the beginning of time, has limited knowledge and limited understanding. Some have more than others. Some have knowledge, but no understanding, and little or no insight, and their teaching suffers because of it. This is known as dead scholasticism, even though it may contain some living truth. Everyone, according to the Apostle Paul, sees in part and knows in part. If any brother or sister in Christ is inaccurate about something, it is the responsibility of one who knows the topic or the Scripture to take them aside privately, as Priscilla and Aquila did with Apollos, and share with that person the more accurate way of God. But they never should put a stumbling block in front of that other person by hurling public abuse at him/her. The world is full of this. You see it on your nightly news. What does the Scriptures teach? We’ll examine quickly what the Apostle Paul has written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with regards to dietary laws and the observance of days. He writes:

Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. 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. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall give praise to God.”

So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

(Romans 14)

This is the fallacy and extreme points of view that a good many from the Discernment/Apologetics Movement make in judging others. I am of the opinion that God is able to save anyone within any movement and eventually take them out of it. He saved my wife and me from a Christian cult named the Church of Bible Understanding/Forever Family – a commune type community comprised predominantly of young hippies who wore large red badges which said, “GET SMART GET SAVED” who appeared during the national revival of that time known as the Jesus Movement in the US. This was the 70s, specifically 1976. Two months after saving us, the Lord took us out of this cult, and He has led us in His grace and love ever since. The two greatest blessings my wife and I got from this group whom the Lord God used to bring us to Himself through faith in His Son Jesus Christ; was for us to receive this great salvation – and for me to meet my dear friend and “brother from another mother,” Ronald Wilfred Jackson.

Beyond the most essential heart-felt confession of our faith, I do not believe that what a person believes beyond the most essential tenets of our faith; such as Jesus the Messiah being the only way to God, marks that individual as saved or unsaved, because the Scriptures are implicit in this regard, Our Lord Jesus saying:

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:1-6), whom the Father draws all those being called to the Lord Yeshua/Jesus, as Messiah has said: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.””

(John 6:37-40, 44, 65)

I continue, that Jesus the Messiah is Lord, which only one can say if the Holy Spirit of God is in a person’s heart, and He has put it in his heart to say: Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. (1Corinthians 12:1-2)

The day will come when every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, (Philippians 2:11), but between now and that day, we must discern the spirits, and only they who have the Holy Spirit in their hearts can with full conviction of salvation declare affirmatively that Yeshua/Jesus is Lord, that is, that He is God, because the Greek word here means nothing short of that. Messiah Himself told His Apostles:

“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

(John 14:7-15)

Herein lies the faithfulness of God in Christ to all who believe in Him, that He would do according to their petition, because He loves them; and since they love Him, they keep His commandments from the heart, For Jesus Himself has disclosed this and Himself to us in this way: “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” (John 14:21) And in order for this to happen, they must be born again into a new life, in order for the spiritual blindness to fall from their eyes and that they may see the kingdom of God and it may become real to them in a very real way in their lives, not a concept or a mythological belief, but a reality, just as the Lord Jesus Himself declared to one of Judaism’s great Sages – Nakdimon (Nicodemus) when Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) This is because they have been born into a new life; the life of Jesus Christ who lives within them because of the New Birth, just as it says:

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

(John 1:12-13)

Ezekiel the prophet, though he is prophesying of the house of Israel and the house of Judah; speaks of a time when God’s people will receive a new spirit and a new heart to love and follow God. He prophesies the following beautiful words:

“And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.”

(Ezekiel 11:19-20)

And Jeremiah prophesies in Holy Spirit this promise in much the same way, where he relays God’s promise in the words which follow:

I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart. (Jeremiah 24:7) Repeating this promise later on, he says: “and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them.” (Jeremiah 32:39) And we know that these prophecies pertain to the Jewish people who would come to faith in Messiah, but we also know that they apply to all of the people of every nation and tongue on the earth, because the promise of God’s blessing in Christ has extended His gifts and calling to the Gentiles, which is why the Apostle Paul and the New Testament applies these generally to all Christians – be they Jew, be they Gentile. God’s promise to Abraham was that He would bless all of the nations through him – that is – through the Messiah through whom we – Jew and Gentile – have our redemption, and with this redemption are united in spirit with His Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul in the Spirit describes this way:

But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

(1Corinthians 6:17)

And conclusively, the person who does not have the Holy Spirit, does not belong to Jesus Christ, for the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes in the Spirit:

However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

(Romans 8:9)

When Peter wrote his first letter, he preceded his entire letter with the following confession which held both a blessing to God, and the testimony of this new life in Messiah, when he wrote the following: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Messiah from the dead (1Peter 1:3); and in the same letter later on he writes in the Holy Spirit the testimony of the New Birth in the Holy Spirit of God in Christ, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. (1Peter 1:23)

At a time when only priests and prophets and kings in Israel received the Holy Spirit and prophesied God’s Word which we now have preserved by God’s people Israel in written form; we who by God’s grace are sealed into this salvation by the Holy Spirit of God, who is given to us as His pledge of this salvation (1Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30); this same Holy Spirit of God who spoke through the prophets of old, and inspired the holy people of God to write His Word under His inspiration, who continues to work in us – His people (Jew and Gentile) – to understand and learn from His Word the truth unlocked within it only by the Holy Spirit.

This is why only through the Holy Spirit can one truly testify and bear witness with full conviction of salvation the Gospel of Salvation through Jesus the Messiah, because the Holy Spirit teaches every Christian of this truth, and helps them to articulate it with power and meaning, the person bearing witness of the change that is self-evident within them, just as it says:

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.”

(John 14:16-17, 25-27)

Only through the Holy Spirit of God’s grace in Christ can anyone, Jew, Gentile, Catholic, Protestant, Coptic, Orthodox, or anything else, declare Jesus truly as God, and mean it from the heart with full conviction of faith, regardless of what society they belong to, national origin, organization, or any other man-made construct of man’s invention – these will all pass (Isaiah 40:8), but only Christ as Lord will prevail, for it says:

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

(John 16:13-15)

It is because they did not have the Holy Spirit and did not belong to Jesus, that a group of Judean Jews who approached Jesus during Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles), could not understand why it was that He taught with such authority and knowledge of God’s Word in their midst, even without quoting from their rabbis as was the custom, but straight from the TaNaKh – the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, and disclose their meaning with great clarity, having made them relevant to the people who heard these words. The Gospel of John says of this:

But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. The Judean Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

(John 7:14-18)

The Holy Spirit is the One who teaches the Spirit-filled believer – the Born Again Christian – the New Creation – the One New Man in Messiah – the Living Word of God – for John the Beloved Apostle, again bears witness of this as he does in the Gospel which bears his name; when decades later he writes his fellow Christians about the anointing of the Holy Spirit opening the closed Book of the Bible, and disclosing the meanings of its pages to the believing Christian who reads and studies it in his/her search for its unlocked truths in the Spirit. In the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he writes many years later about the pivotal role of the Holy Spirit in opening the eyes of our understanding to the Word of Almighty God. I quote:

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

(1John 2:20, 27)

The crowd who came up to the Feast in Jerusalem, all had something to say about the coming of the Messiah; questioning among themselves the finer points of Messianic Eschatology – one group would posit where He would come from (Bethlehem of Judea, see below), while another group would wonder whether or not they would know His origins (where He would come from, see below), whether He would be David’s direct descendant (see below), even conjecturing about what He meant when He said where He was going they could not follow (see below), etc., and they all could not reach an agreement over Him on these points.

The Pharisees themselves, as well as the Sadducees, were conflicted along these lines also, because when Nicodemus cited the Law as giving an accused person the right to testify for himself (John 7:50-51), implying that they were denying the Lord Jesus that right; they retorted by telling him to search the Scriptures, because according to them, “no prophet arises out of Galilee.” (John 7:52)

Now take note, it was not any of these people were wrong in what they were saying, but they erred was in the manner in which they applied these. Much in the same way, the critics of The Harbinger as well as many Christians who are very harsh in their personal assessment of others who do not hold to their brand of “Christian Orthodoxy,” are doing the same. As Solomon wrote: There is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Questions Arise About Messiah’s Origins

So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill? Look, He is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to Him. The rulers do not really know that this is the Messiah, do they? However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Messiah may come, no one knows where He is from.” Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.” So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Messiah comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?”

The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him. Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” The Judean Jews then said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He? What is this statement that He said, ‘You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come’?”

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Division of People over Jesus

Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This certainly is the Prophet.” Others were saying, “This is the Messiah.” Still others were saying, “Surely the Messiah is not going to come from Galilee, is He? Has not the Scripture said that the Messiah comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

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.” Everyone went to his home.

(John 7:25-53)

Conclusion and Closing Thoughts

In closing, with regards to many of the critics of The Harbinger – as is with all religious bigots who split hairs over the letter of God’s Word in their attacks of other people with whom they disagree with. They do all of this, while forgetting the essence, or spirit and intent of what the Word of God teaches, and often do it resulting in the very confusion they claim they are attempting to clarify others to and warn others about. Oftentimes, they create more chaos in such situations than they intended, and the result of what they do is to foment divisions, altercations, and disputations between Christians themselves, while an unbelieving and unregenerate world looks on.

Is it possible for a born again Christian to be a religious bigot? It is possible for anyone to be a religious bigot if they forget who they are, what it took Christ to get them to where they are, and lack the empathy, the understanding, the humility, and the compassion and mercy, to refrain from doing what comes very natural to them – to criticize, to condemn, to speak against another, even before gathering all the facts – and yes, even David James’ many hours of research as he claims only yielded him the grossest inaccuracies largely based upon misunderstandings of fictional book based on facts contained in a topical series of teachings that Rabbi Cahn wrote into a fictitious literary work – a novel called The Harbinger – treating this novel as though it were an encyclopedia of theology; by reading into what Rabbi Cahn has written a good many things he did not write, and redefining them in his book to mean what was never intended. (I will present these, Lord willing, in a book I am working on)

This is a form of false witness. Very likely unintentional, but it is bearing a false witness against another, and misusing God’s Word to do it, because what is being presented against that person is both inaccurate and untrue. This is a very serious thing for one to do as a teacher of God’s Word, because the Word of God says that teachers will incur a harsher judgment in the manner they handle His Sacred and inspired Word. (James 3:1) Anybody can be a critic, the world is full of critics. We see them all the time, hear them on our radios, and now have their deskbound criticisms hurled at us without cause and without provocation by people whom we do not know, haven’t even met, who know nothing about us. Why are you involved in doing this as well? What glory does God get from this?

If one confesses faith in Jesus Christ, and one’s life has the evidence of that faith, but attend or are a member of a church or organization that they consider Unorthodox according to their standards, you may very well be branded a heretic or even an unbeliever by them, or one who is led astray or leads others astray. This is what many of them are doing with Pastor and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn and his book, The Harbinger. This is what has just occurred with the article written about me, Rabbi Cahn, and Beth Israel.

And this is why they have an issue with Christians who associate with others who do not meet their standards of faith whom they consider heterodox. This is why they are apt to criticize harshly Rabbi Cahn when he appears on radio or television shows not of their liking, or when he meets with people like Glenn Beck and others like him. They forget that Christ met with the very people the religiously righteous of His day ignored and avoided at all costs. There’s no difference between the reaction of the religious bigots of Jesus’ day and those every age, even those of today.

But there is one big difference between the group that Jesus Christ visited and dined with and many of those whom the discernment ministries target – the people with whom Our Lord ate and drank were unregenerate, whereas many of the people who are targets of these discernment ministries are sincere Christians. Many of them may be misguided, some may teach error – I am speaking generally here – while others may not, and in fact don’t, but ministries like the Berean Call and the Alliance for Biblical Integrity have serious theological differences they feel they must make public – and they use their platform to do it and make it look like they’re fighting apostasy in the church. History repeats itself. And so it is in our present day, and it certainly has happened with your article, dear lady.

Listen closely to what I am about to write here, because I have no intention of writing you any longer. I was willing to honor your request that I contact you no longer, as my last e-mail of Thursday, January 17th below shows. I was willing to allow the Lord to sort things out in heaven, as I trust He will, between us. I was actually looking forward to our meeting up there, because I would have embraced (I’m stubborn, I think I still will, Lord willing and by God’s grace in Christ) I see, however that you have taken it upon yourself to persist in attacking and mischaracterizing my pastor, our ministry, and now me; in order to marginalize and discredit us before the bar of public opinion.

I have labored with great difficulty and I must confess, with mixed results; to keep above descending into the abyss that others in this controversy – almost exclusively critics of The Harbinger – have descended. People today can disagree without being disagreeable, but what you have written is not only a complete fabrication and falsehood, it has compelled me to write to you as I do, and dear lady, I do not take any pleasure in this. I much would rather have shared with you, as we did when we first wrote each other; our common faith and discoveries along the path of God’s truth in Christ through the years. But you would not once I mentioned my personal associations and work with the author of The Harbinger, Jonathan Cahn. I am a believer and born again and washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and live implicitly by faith in His complete work. But consider if I had been an misguided unbeliever seeking truth, and corresponding with you about my beliefs, and to have gotten the reaction I did from you as a believer; do you think (now search your heart) that tossing me off as you did would have won me to Christ under such circumstances? I think you know the answer to that question, and I ask it rhetorically by the way. Your acts, behavior, and written record speak for themselves.

I wrote to David James in the beginning of this controversy that the Lord in His time would make it evident who the wheat and who the tares were in this debate over The Harbinger. I believe that with your post, and what you have written, the evidence is amply laid out for everyone who truly is discerning to see and have that question answered for themselves.

I don’t know what happened to you, but someone must have really burned you really bad somewhere in your past for you to be so suspicious and distrustful. I understand and agree with the need to be discerning in these times we live in, because there is much deception, but what you have done here dear lady, not only borders on spiritual slander, but paranoia! I have never had anyone question the gifts of Jesus Christ He has by His calling bestowed and used for His glory in my life until you came along. Not even the most hardened Cessationist. I speak the truth, and the Lord who knows the hearts of all men and women, knows mine as I write this.

One last word I would leave you with is the following: be very careful who you decide to write about before criticizing either them or something they wrote, and compare what they say or write to the Word of God; before you make an opinion of them. If at all possible, contact them and ascertain exactly where they stand regarding the fundamentals of the Christian faith, and begin from there, because people are more apt to destroy with their words than they are to create; and as Paul has warned us not to do, Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.(Romans 14:15). We know the Apostle Paul when writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was not just referring to dietary lawas here, do we. You can substitute food with any other word, and the principle remains intact, because Christ has warned against stumbling blocks and those who put them in other people’s paths for them to fall over. Tread softly sister; tread very softy.
________________________________________

The Harbinger: This One Got It Right

I recently wrote to another reviewer of The Harbinger, but one who by God's Holy Spirit who communicates so much that even the most learned in humanity so often overlook; the following in praise of the article this person wrote.

Thank you for your very quick response/reply to my inquiry. I have passed your e-mail to Rabbi Cahn, and his office should be in touch with you perhaps at the earliest that they can schedule. Conservatively speaking, more than likely sometime after the Inaugural Prayer Breakfast in next Monday, where Rabbi Cahn will be the keynote speaker at that breakfast, though I don’t know for sure when he’ll be contacting you, I do know that I did pass your information and invitation to him right after you sent it to me.

I must say that your article on The Harbinger is one of the best written, most thorough review of Rabbi Cahn’s book to date. I enjoyed reading it, and it flowed like water. It is obvious to me and it bears witness, that you are one among many of God’s people to whom the Holy Spirit of God has made plain to understand what the Lord is trying to say to this nation at this very late hour. I commend you for standing for it, and sounding the alarm. The Body of Christ needs more people like you to do this, because mercy is in God’s heart, and He is has been warning America for years now, if but God’s people would awaken and be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and repent and bring our nation back so that it may be the shining city on a hill.

For too long, God’s people have played it too loose and too fast with His Word and with His commandments, emulating the world and the ways of the world, even how the world thinks and does things, instead of setting and being the example for others to follow. Our preachers have been caught in adulterous affairs, ministries discredited, false prophets have proliferated the land with their religious telemarketing, enriching themselves as they fleece God’s people of their hard earned money, while building empires for themselves and living fat off of the backs of those who labored for small pieces of bread.

But, even in this time of great upheaval and scandal, and terror, there have arisen voices in the land to warn the nation, just as God has raised up in every age and in every nation under heaven voices at specific times in human history to speak His truth and sound the alarm of impending judgment if their warnings went unheeded and without repentance. History has a way of repeating itself time and time and again, which is why someone has said, that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.” We too must learn from what God’s Word teaches us in the lives of those who came before US.

And this is precisely why Scripture tells us plainly where the Apostle Paul writes in the Holy Spirit the following:

Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

(Romans 4:23-25, 15:4)

This is because as the Apostle again writes in the Holy Spirit that All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. (2Timothy 3:16) And thus, it is through this incredible prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 9:10) that the Biblical patter of judgment is first seen in ancient Israel, and has unfolded today in the nine harbingers we’ve witness come to pass the last decade. If America and her leaders do continue to ignore these, there will be dire consequences for their willful disobedience.

This is what the warning that The Harbinger is trying to bring to America’s leaders and its people, by first bringing it to His people – Evangelical Christians, and all born again believers throughout the land, and to those who would listen – Jews and Gentiles alike – who alike must all repent and personally and as congregations all turn to God, confess our sins, and repent of them, and elect leaders who will honor God and revere and keep His Word as they are given the mantle and responsibility over our nation.

Your review of The Harbinger does just that, and it has come just at the right time. I must again commend you in Christ for having written a superlative article, and thank God for you having come along at a time such as this. You are part of history in the making.

Yours for Christ and America,

JB

To Dr. Thomas Ice: In Answer to Your Review of The Harbinger

My Rebuttal to Thomas Ice’s: A Critical Look at 'The Harbinger' immediately above which I could not post on his site because it would not accept my registration due to the fact that I was not referred to that site by anyone, and I tried to point it out to its moderator, but one must be referred to by someone with a valid username, and I was not. Nevertheless I post it here on David James’ site on Tuesday, December 4th, 2012 at 2:50PM. I resubmitted this entry on Thursday, December 6th, 2012 at 10:40PM because David James did not post it the first time. I have posted this rebuttal in the following form on my blog site The Pepster’s Post: A Voice in Cyberspace with the following caveat:

“The following is a very brief rebuttal to Thomas Ice's posting about The Harbinger which I post here on my site because I could not post on his site due to restrictions placed upon new usersp specifically, it would not accept my registration due to the fact that I was not referred to that site by anyone, and I tried to point it out to its moderator, but one must be referred to by someone with a valid username, and I was not. Nevertheless I post it here on David James’ site on Tuesday, December 4th, 2012 at 2:50PM:”

Dear Mr. Ice with regards to the following comment you made where you posted the following:

“His inaugural address was across the street form(sic) The Stock Exchange on Wall Street, blocks away from the Trade Center site.

“Also, his premise for the 9/11 is based around the judgment that Israel suffered because they didn't let the land rest. So, how can God hold us, a gentile nation, accountable for a covenant that is no longer in force?

“Also the timing from 9/11 2001 and 2008 is pretty shaky as the book presented it. If God wanted to make a statement 2001 and 2008 would be a one day event on the same date, but it wasn't. I think he is trying to make the dates and events fit a narrative, rather than the narrative be proven precisely by the events.

“Bottom line, IMO, if He judges this nation different than any other, there would presumably be a covenant He could point to that we breached, as He did with Israel. We have indeed been favored and blessed, but the difference between us and Israel is the difference between night and day. The covenant He made with Israel led to Messiah, there is no parallel to us that I can find. Interesting coincidences? Perhaps, but we being judged as God judged Israel? There are too many dissimilarities and the lack of a covenant for me to buy it.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Let us address your first statement.

Mr. Ice, whether George Washington held his inaugural address blocks away from Ground Zero or across the continent, following his address he and every other leader present walked to St. Paul’s Chapel at what is known today as the Ground Zero site, where a beam from one of the towers struck a sycamore tree which protected the chapel from being struck by the falling debris as the towers collapsed. As a result of this, St. Paul’s Chapel, the very first place where the first president of this new nation made his first public prayer as its president; was spared from destruction.

Additionally this is where the new president of the new nation along with those who accompanied him went to pray for two hours, and where he later offered the following prayer to the Lord God of the Universe for the nation and its people:

“Almighty God,

“We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy Holy protection; and Thou wilt incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field.

“And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

--George Washington

What significance does this have on our current discussion? On the day when George Washington and the framers of our Constitution established this Constitutional Representative Republic (note, not democracy, but representative republic – where its national Constitution equally protects the rights of all people – the minority as well as the majority; and tempers its government with limited powers under the rule of this same law, thus protecting its citizenry from whiles and the whims of other men.), Washington they went to a little chapel named Saint Paul’s Chapel, (built by Trinity Church) located on the grounds of where Ground Zero is located, and there they prayed for hours for the new nation to the God of All Creation.

Washington’s Prayer for the United States of America appears on a plaque in Saint Paul ’s chapel in the city of New York as well as at Pohick Church , Fairfax County , Virginia , where Washington was a vestryman from 1762 to 1784. And as a believer you understand that no man who prays in such a manner from his heart as Washington did on that historic day; can be turned away. We know this from Scripture because Christ Himself has promised universally to all men everywhere that He would never turn them away, when He said:

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”

(John 6:37)

Some would argue that because George Washington was a Mason, that his prayers were not directed to the God of Israel; the God of the Judeo-Christian faith, but to the god of the Masons – what they call the Great Architect of the Universe, and I would argue that this would be true if not for the specific times – as this one – where Washington ended his prayer specifically in the name of “Jesus Christ Our Lord.”

In his private journal, Washington has the following prayer to God:

“O eternal and everlasting God, I presume to present myself this morning before thy Divine majesty, beseeching thee to accept of my humble and hearty thanks, that it hath pleased thy great goodness to keep and preserve me the night past from all the dangers poor mortals are subject to, and has given me sweet and pleasant sleep, whereby I find my body refreshed and comforted for performing the duties of this day, in which I beseech thee to defend me from all perils of body and soul....

“Increase my faith in the sweet promises of the gospel; give me repentance from dead works; pardon my wanderings, and direct my thoughts unto thyself, the God of my salvation; teach me how to live in thy fear, labor in thy service, and ever to run in the ways of thy commandments; make me always watchful over my heart, that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of holy duties, the love of sin, nor an unwillingness to depart this life, may cast me into a spiritual slumber, but daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy son Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life bless my family, friends, and kindred.”

(An undated prayer from Washington's prayer journal, Mount Vernon)

No one unless they are a Christian, can make such a prayer to the God of heaven. Oh yes, I will agree that they will pray, but in a perfunctory manner; not in this manner, and not with this conviction of heart. No one, whether he or she claims belief in Jesus Christ can readily with conviction willfully and full cognizance of what he or she is saying, call Jesus Christ Lord unless they have the Holy Spirit of God according to Scripture (1Corinthians 12:3). What’s more, unless one is born again, regardless of what they call themselves, Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox, or anything else for that matter, unless they are born again, they will not with full conviction have Christ as Lord in their hearts, or call Him Lord publicly as George Washington has done here, and in various other prayers of his which can be read in his private journal.

This is because unless a person is born again, they cannot either enter or be aware of the kingdom of God (John 3:3-8), and therefore their public statements and behavior will mirror their private convictions, because men speak out of what is in their hearts (Matthew 15:18, Mark 7:21, Luke 6:45), and there is where the Lord looks, while man’s tendency is to look at their public affiliations, pedigree, church attendance, or such things as whether or not they take communion – the outward trappings and appearances (1Samuel 16:7), just as the Scripture says:

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

As to your second objection, if you are a Gentile, and a Christian, having received Christ by faith into your heart and life as Savior, having been born again of the Holy Spirit of God; then your prayer as a Gentile to the God of Israel with whom He established His covenant; has been heard and answered. Then you have become as a myriad of others not of the stock and seed of Abraham, that is one who is not Jewish – wild olive as it were – one who has received of the grace of God to the nations the induction by faith through Christ into this nation with whom God established His covenant – the Abrahamic Covenant. If this is the covenant that you and other critics of The Harbinger are referring to. If you and other critics of The Harbinger are referring to the Mosiac Covenant, which God established exclusively with Israel a little more than four hundred years later, then I am in full agreement. But if you are referring to the Abrahamic Covenant, let me remind you that this is the covenant whereby which God promised Abraham that He would through his Descendant would bless the nations of the earth with, his seed – that is, Christ.

For it is through Christ that the promises made to Abraham have been extended to all who come by faith through Christ to God from every nation under heaven without the need for Gentiles to become Jews through the Bris of circumcision according to the Law (read Paul’s Letter to the Galatians). There is no exception, and anyone who attempts to make one, is guilty of trying to reestablish one where God in Christ has abolished it.

As a Gentile Christian, or whether you’re Jewish; you are aware of this, and appreciate it as do I. To cite that the Abrahamic Covenant – if that is the covenant you and other critics of The Harbinger are referring to – as exclusive, it is only exclusive to the land and its people, the Jewish people, but the promise of blessing the nations extends through Christ in what Paul calls “the mystery” of the promise of God that the nations would be fellow heirs – wild olives grafted to the God’s olive tree Israel – and would be made partakers with Israel of the promises He made to Abraham through faith – faith in Christ. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the foreknowledge of Almighty God, Paul writes the following about this One People of God comprising God’s Olive Tree of grafted wild olives – Gentiles – and re-grafted Jewish believers in Jesus the Messiah:

Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

(Ephesian 2:11-22)

And unlike Reform Theology, it (Dispensational Theology coupled with Cessationism) denies the most basic tenet of the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ – that God's redemptive plan was well laid and ready before the foundation of the earth and all the covenants which followed came into being. This is why Dispensational Theology is good for breaking down history in a Bible study, but it is a poor form of Biblical Hermeneutic to use in the study of the Sacred Scriptures. God’s plan of redemption does not originate in the covenants, but the covenants originate from it – and work within the framework of God’s redemptive plan which He established long before He made these covenants with man. Yet His plan of redemption works independent of the Law. (In the providence of God, the totality of God’s redemptive plan must be taken into consideration, not subdivided and layered with theological limitations of what God can accomplish throughout history.

I am not plugging for Reform Theology here, but this is where I am in agreement with it and to an extent with Dispensationalism, where I agree with the two – God has a definite plan for the nation of Israel, but He has broken down the barrier of the dividing wall which is the Law of Commandments ratified in the Mosaic Covenant, and He has done this through the death of Jesus Christ once and for all with no distinctions other than to accept Christ as Lord and Savior in faith and be born of the Holy Spirit of God and washed in the cleansing blood of Christ. Out of two He has created one new man and out of the nations He has brought forth children unto Himself whom He has incorporated into His people Israel as One people with One Faith, One hope of our calling, One Lord, One God – our Lord Jesus Christ who is Lord above all and over all, amen. (1Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:4)

Indeed the God of Israel when speaking to the prophet Jeremiah refers Himself as “the God of all flesh.” (Jeremiah 32:26) Why then are the critics of The Harbinger trying to make a distinction that since Christ no longer exists, when the only distinction that exists is between those who know Christ and are saved and those who do not, and use this argument to claim where and when God judges nations and what nations He will judge? What’s more, Paul in the Holy Spirit, refers to God as the God of the Gentiles as well where he writes:

Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

(Romans 3:29-31)

And what the Apostle Paul in the Holy Spirit of God in his Letter to the Ephesians writes under inspiration is too great not to cite here where he makes it abundantly clear to those who would place a dichotomy between God’s people – Jew and Gentile in Christ – where one does not exist, which God through Christ has once and for all time abolished:

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

(Ephesians 3:1-21)

Therefore your statement: “Also, his premise for the 9/11 is based around the judgment that Israel suffered because they didn't let the land rest. So, how can God hold us, a gentile nation, accountable for a covenant that is no longer in force?”

And the others, such as:

“Also the timing from 9/11 2001 and 2008 is pretty shaky as the book presented it. If God wanted to make a statement 2001 and 2008 would be a one day event on the same date, but it wasn't. I think he is trying to make the dates and events fit a narrative, rather than the narrative be proven precisely by the events.

“Bottom line, IMO, if He judges this nation different than any other, there would presumably be a covenant He could point to that we breached, as He did with Israel. We have indeed been favored and blessed, but the difference between us and Israel is the difference between night and day. The covenant He made with Israel led to Messiah, there is no parallel to us that I can find. Interesting coincidences? Perhaps, but we being judged as God judged Israel? There are too many dissimilarities and the lack of a covenant for me to buy it.”

Mr. Ice, your argument is flawed on its premise that God’s standards change from nation to nation, and that His Word does not apply outside of Israel, because Gentiles are not a part of God’s covenant people (I agree to a point – outside of Christ they are not), where there is ample evidence of God dealing with Gentile nations and people long before He made His covenant with Abraham and long after He made it, as He will until the day Christ returns, and for this I would suggest that the critics of The Harbinger do a rereading of their Bibles from Genesis to Revelation.

And it is this flawed theology that is at the heart of The Harbinger’s critics, this and the false doctrine of Cessationism, which denies every work of God in the modern – all exception redemption and the new birth – which form a deadly combination that has result in the toxic concoction that lines the pages of The Harbinger: Fact of Fiction? A book that is a tacit denial of a prophetic message of God to His people – those who worship the God of the Bible and are His people by faith – Christians everywhere – to repent and seek their God, and pray for their nation and their leaders, and if they should aspire for public office that they could serve and honor God while they dispatch the responsibilities of the office they hold for which the people elected them.

The events of September 11, 2001 have been thoroughly documented and many documentaries have been produced telling and retelling the same story with various details from many different angles, testimonials, and personal recollections by those who lived it, who took part in it, and those who produced these documentaries. Both what happened on that terrible day and what preceded it has been investigated and told and most everyone is knowledgeable in some way as to what occurred. Even what has happened since that day has been reported by the various news organizations and print media with regards to the rebuilding of the Freedom Tower.

Moreover, the bricks, wood, and steel of the World Trade Center were fallen, but the rebuilding began in earnest with hewn stone on July 4, 2004 only when the granite cornerstone for the building of The Freedom Tower was set. The sycamore tree outside Saint Paul’s Chapel had fallen when it was struck by the beam and debris from the collapsing World Trade Center towers, but the cedar tree was lowered into place on November 22, 2003. It was named, the Tree of Hope.

This so-called Tree of Hope today is shriveled and is close to death. Chance? There is no such concept or thing in the Hebrew language or way of thinking. I ask again, chance? No, I don’t think so. The God of heaven is as far off as the critics of The Harbinger make Him out to be, but He is as near as the Scriptures teach; yes, as close as every man’s heart. Nothing happens by chance, but by the providence of Almighty God and in His foreknowledge and redemptive plan for mankind, beginning with Israel and extending out through the cross to all of the human race, to as many as will come to Him for salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.