Friday, July 5, 2013

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CRITICS OF THE HARBINGER

This post is a follow-up to my last one, and it is meant to suppliment it with addtional information.  It is a direct open letter to T.A. McMahon, Brannon Howse, David James, Chris Rosbrough, Tim Challies, Jimmy DeYoung, and all who have joined themselves in a campaign of defamation and disinformation against Christian Evangelicals with whom they disagree and out them publicly as heretics over doctrinal matters and other issue they could have privately corresponded with them about, and could have resolved in a Christ-like biblical manner, as exemplified by in the Scriptures.

On Brannon Howse's July 1st broadcast of his radio program, Worldview Weekend, he had author David James as his guest, who claimed that to this day, no one had challenged what he had to say regarding Rabbi Jonathan Cahn's New York Times bestseller, The Harbinger.

For almost as long as Mr. James has been writing about The Harbinger - really against The Harbinger - I and a good company of another people have been addressing what he has said and written against it from a bibicall perspective, even posted some of these on his own website, which he has since taken down.

I have written Mr. James here, and on Amazon.com, requesting that he allow me to address point by point all of his contentions in his book, by granting me full permission to quote at length in a book I plan to write, but he has chosen to ignore my requests.  He has not even replied or given his reason for doing so.  This is what I posted on that website:

“You are at the epicenter of this entire unfortunate affair. Unfortunately, you have ignored my own requests time and again; private and public to allow me to address point by point every charge you have written against The Harbinger, asking you if you may grant me exclusive legal rights to quote from your book and your writings so that I may assist you in resolving this matter by pointing the light of God's Word to each point and discussing it objectively by quoting you word for word.  I need your permission to do this, and you have not answered me, Mr. James.  I do so repeat now this request, so that you may grant me what you did not have the courtesy of asking Rabbi Cahn for when you quoted from his work without his permission or permission from his book's publisher. Will you grant - I ask you here for the sake of resolving the matter biblically once and for all, grant me exclusive rights to quote your entire work at length, and address point by point what you have written?  If you are sure that what you have written is correct and biblical, and sincerely want to get to the heart of the matter and get this resolved once and for all, then let me encourage you to grant me my request, and let us meet to discuss it in writing.  I await your answer and response. Thank you.”
 
Not only is David James lying, it’s beginning to appear that this is not new with him, and he may consider that he has a moral license to “stretch” the truth  a bit, by claiming that no one has “challenged” what he has written in his book and articles.  David James is not stretching the truth, he’s out and out lying.

What’s more, the reason he believes in his twisted mind that this is the case is because in his pride and arrogance stemming from his credentialed past, he considers anyone who lacks these credentials or some like it, lightweights and therefore “non-persons” even non-entities, and therefore ignores them.  This indicates just how far he and Howse have degenerated, because these things ought not to have any bearing as to who can debate/discuss this topic, and the validity of the person’s argument.

But I think I smell a rat.  Yes, I do smell a rat.  David James and Brannon Howse, and T.A. McMahon desperately need publicity to generate revenue.  Right now, their sales of their products and people’s donations may be tapering off – people are on their vacations, they’re struggling as is everyone else in this Depression called a “Recovery,” they’re disinclined to give anymore as they begin to read websites such as Faith’s Corner and Connie Faith’s own revue on Amazon.com, The Pepster’s Post: A Voice in Cyberspace, Ladybug’s and the Pepster’s, and more, as well as others’ postings on Amazon.com, etc. 

Brannon’s and David’s books are not generating the sales they expected, and they’re desperate, because the overhead of their respective ministries simply is eating away at their profits.  So, they’re desperate to lure big fish in.  I define “big fish” as any Evangelical leader who has a full-time ministry and is prominent among Evangelical Circles.  If they can lure someone like that, or even the “biggest fish” of all – Jonathan Cahn, then they’ve achieved what they were after, and believe by doing so, regardless of whether or not they get the upper hand in this debate, they’ll get the much needed publicity they desire, and generate from it the desperately longed for revenue they seek.

For the span of over a year now, these gentlemen have sought not only to suppress the truth, but to utterly replace it with a “truth” of their own creation, the narrative they have attempted to replace The Harbinger’s narrative with.  And it is true what the Scripture says of them where Paul writes, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18); where God’s Word itself bears witness that their actions, writings, and public statements for this period has been and continues to be, an act of “suppressing the truth,” and God’s Word is clear on this, for it defines it as ungodliness, and unrighteousness.  It is doubly egregious in that they are misusing the Word of God against a brother and brethren in the faith, not defending the Christian Faith against cults, and false prophets who are not born again believers.

The only pre-requisites to discussing/debating/rebutting David James’ polemic should be whether the person doing it is born again of the Holy Spirit of God in Christ, and is knowledgeable of both the Scriptures, some theology, the fundamental tenets of the Christian Faith, some knowledge of Biblical History, archeology, some about Jewish customs and lots and lots of chutzpah while keeping oneself humble in the Lord; not letting such things get to one’s head.

Having said that, I have no doubt that everyone here possesses these in one form or another, and we complement one another and complete the body; everyone here has these gifts from the Lord in one form or another.  But I would caution everyone here not to enter into battle by themselves, but as a group, since the attributes that we individually possess would complement one another and fill in the wholes where one lacks the other would step in, and combining these attributes and bringing them to bear against Howse and James, and the rest who’d I’d expect be sitting ready to step in and pounce upon the challenger were he or she just one person.

These people must be made accountable for what they’ve done to so many Christians who’ve become their target.  As I wrote previously, though I hadn’t considered it before; but the attitude of these people; Howse, James, DeYoung, McMahon, Ice, Duma, and those allied to them – is that of the cults of the past; they believe themselves to be the sole repositories of biblical knowledge and truth; they believe themselves unimpeachable, righteous, arbiters of God’s Word, and the sole possessors of biblical truth and proper biblical interpretation and methods of study.  This is the common mark of a cult, all cults.  I know, because my wife and I were up close and personal with one of them; one which happened to be a Christian one, “Christian” inasmuch as they emphasized evangelization – all cults to that – but the type of evangelization, because they preached Jesus Christ.  But their communal way of life, and overbearing manipulation of people, as well as their methods of splitting families up in order to win converts and add to their numbers.

The trend that the Berean Call, the Alliance for Biblical Integrity, Worldview Weekend, DiscernIT, Challies, and a couple of others is to attack fellow Evangelicals, attack and keep attacking until they fold, or are so devastated by the attacks. (how much and how often is too much?)  Does this sound and look like Christianity?  At least the cults did not conduct campaigns of destruction against their own, unless of course, they were converting and accepting Christ as Savior while exiting their “fraternity.”

If you’re a born again Christian Evangelical who believes in evangelization and charity work in your community or abroad, as many of us are, and believe in being politically active in support of politicians and organizations who fight to preserve and defend our values as God’s people in our land, you run the risk of being called a member of NAR (New Apostolic Reformation), or a Kingdom Now protagonist, accused by these people of trying to force God’s hand, and of teaching Dominion Theology. 

Nothing is beyond their “Herescope” and they will attack you and bring into question your faith and walk and ministry and personal salvation until they have totally discredited you and work for Christ and driven you away from any public discourse, and effectively “neutered” you and destroyed your mental, emotional, and physical health.  Yes, these people have done this to some, as I have received their private testimony from them about this, some of them the most conservative and mainline true Evangelicals I have known.  This is the legacy of these gentlemen.  This is what they have brought to this body and to this nation for the better part of one year.  Now here is a word for these people: 

T.A. McMahon; you wanted to make a name for yourself as you struggle to emerge from the shadow and live off of the legacy of David Hunt?  Well, you’ve done, but what bitter fruit you have picked from the tree!  What bitter fruit.  You will most assuredly sir, reap what you have sown, and if you and your cohorts, whom you’ve commissioned for this witch hunt believe you speak for God; look again. 

For God has said of you, as you attempt to blaspheme His warnings and His messengers to this nation at this hour (Jeremiah 25:4-5), just as they did to Jeremiah and the other prophets of God; this is what the Word of the Lord is for you straight from the Scriptures that you claim you believe.  For you’ve told God’s people and this nation at this hour, “Do not listen to these people who warn you, for they warn you falsely, and God has not sent them,” when in fact they are servants of the Living God, and are fellow heirs in Christ as you are, and call upon the same God as you, and read the same Scriptures that you claim you read.  Listen closely, since you claim to speak for God, and claim to speak from His Word, and claim to be defenders of His Word, and arbiters of His Oracles, LISTEN YOU WHO SAY “THE LORD HAS NOT SPOKEN, AND THOSE ALSO WHO PROPHESY FALSELY” LISTEN WHAT THE WORD OF THE LORD SAYS OF YOU – GOD’S WORD:

“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’  How long?  Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?  The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth.  What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the Lord.  “Is not My word like fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?  Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who steal My words from each other.  Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’  Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.

“Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you saying, ‘What is the oracle of the Lord?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’  The Lord declares, ‘I will abandon you.’  Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The oracle of the Lord,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household.  Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’  For you will no longer remember the oracle of the Lord, because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.  Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’  For if you say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ surely thus says the Lord, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’”’  Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers.  I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”

(Jeremiah 23:25-40)

Jonathan Cahn has sought to warn the nation and God’s people in The Harbinger, and called it to repentance and a return to God, and you have mislabeled him a false teacher, a false prophet, and attached to him all manner of epithets from “Kabbalist” to “Mystic” to “Occultist” and many others, when you have known fully well from the testimony of many who know this man personally, many who’ve worked with him for years; that he is none of these, and that he does not claim to be a prophet, nor does he claim The Harbinger to be prophecy.  But you have made that claim for him, as though you were speaking on his behalf, and you have done more than that; you have claimed to speak for God, and that what you said were, as it were; God’s Word, since you steal God’s Word to use against your neighbor, yes, even against your brother. 

Like Hananiah (Jeremiah 28), you have sought to make a servant of Christ a liar, and have claimed for God that what he has warned is to be ignored because you found fault with how he warned and what he said, but regardless of the reason for your contention; you should have instead joined in warning the nation and God’s people instead of spending yourselves and your time – God’s time – in this fruitless endeavor.  While you have spent the better part of a year and attacking God’s warnings to this nation through a fellow servant of Christ – Jonathan Cahn and others – he has not spoken of you but has faithfully continued warning the nation that if we do not repent and turn, we will most assuredly fall into judgment as a nation. 

You have said by your own actions and words that we need not heed The Harbinger, but to disregard it, while claiming the caveat for yourselves that you agree with its warnings – as though you anticipate and could escape the criticisms you will justly receive – while trashing the book and its author.  YOU TRASH THE BOOK, YET CLAIM TO AGREE WITH ITS WARNING OF JUDGMENT IF OUR NATION DOES NOT TURN!  YOU DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS BETRAYS YOUR INSOLENCE AND PRIDE, AND AIR OF SUPERIORITY OVER YOUR BRETHREN!  HOW DARE YOU DO THIS!?  HOW DARE YOU PRESUME TO SPEAK FOR GOD AND TURN ON YOUR BRETHREN AS YOU HAVE!?  YOU KNOW FULLY WELL PERSONALLY OF WHAT I MEAN HERE T.A. MCMAHON, BRANNON HOWSE, DAVID JAMES, THOMAS ICE, CHRIS ROSBROUGH, GILLEY, CHALLIES, AND THE REST, BUT ESPECIALLY THE RING-LEADERS IN THIS ENTIRE FIASCO; THE KORAHS AND DATHANS AMONG GOD’S PEOPLE.  YES, YOU ARE IN “GOOD” COMPANY GENTLEMEN.  “VERY GOOD COMPANY.”  How well have you exemplified the Christian Faith, and kept the Great Commandment of Our Lord to “love one another as I have loved you!”  (John 13:34)   “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)  How well you have exemplified how Christians will be recognized, as the Messiah Jesus Our Lord has said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)  HOW WELL HAVE YOU EXEMPLIFIED THIS FOR ALL OF GOD’S PEOPLE TO SEE AND PRACTICE, AND FOR THE WORLD TO SEE AND CONVERT AND PUT TO GOOD USE.  HOW WELL YOU HAVE DONE!!!  Now listen closely.  THE MESSIAH, OUR LORD JESUS HAS SAID, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)  HOW WELL YOU HAVE KEPT THIS COMMANDMENT TO THIS DAY, AND HOW WELL GOD SEES INTO YOUR HEARTS AS YOU WRITE AGAINST YOUR FELLOW SERVANTS IN CHRIST AND TRASH THEM PERSONALLY AND THEIR MINISTRIES AS LIARS, CHEATS, FALSE TEACHERS, AND EVEN SERVANTS OF SATAN!!!  HOW WELL YOU HAVE MADE GOD’S WORK OF RECONCILIATION INTO  WAR OF CONTENTIONS AND RECRIMINATIONS, WHILE CLAIMING OF THOSE WHO STAND UP TO YOU THAT IT IS THEY WHO DO THIS, AND CLAIM SINCE THE DAY YOU BEGAN THIS DIVISION AND DISSENSION AMONG GOD’S PEOPLE – THAT JONATHAN CAHN STARTED IT, WHEN IT WAS YOU AND YOU ALONE, WHO COMMENCED A CAMPAIGN THAT YOU BELIEVED WOULD BRING MUCH PUBLICITY AND REVENUE TO YOUR COFFERS AS YOU GRABBED AS TIGHTLY AS YOU COULD TO THE COAT TAILS OF RABBI CAHN’S NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!!!!!!!

You have told God’s people and the nation not to listen, and to disregard what The Harbinger says, but you have not stopped there.  You have sought to destroy the ministry and the work of God in this man – Jonathan Cahn – by writing against him and his ministry and his teachings, through your public broadcasts against him, over and over again, and by posting on your websites what you have said and written elsewhere to discredit and marginalize him, and destroy even God’s work in him, and not only him, but also fellow former colleagues of yours, whose lives you’ve utterly crushed with your senseless words against them, because they had the courage of the conviction of their hearts in the Holy Spirit to stand up to you, and not join you in your campaigns of defamation against Jonathan Cahn, his ministry, and the work and ministries of others, just as you do at this hour against Dr. David Reagan, and any prominent Christian Evangelical leader of note, who stands with Jonathan Cahn to defend him and the word of warning he preaches to a nation in quick spiritual and moral decline such as ours.

If the Apostle Peter were alive today, you would take issue with him, because he dreamed and fell into a trance (Acts );

You have dared to call God’s servants “false prophets,” and mingled them together with the false prophets of this age, claiming you alone have been arbiters and defenders of the faith, and have given yourselves over to destruction, saying to the people, “Don’t listen to them, God did not send them, and their message is,” as one of you has blasphemously declared, “a figment of his imagination,” and have multiplied your blasphemies one on top of the other against your neighbor, against your brother, against your fellow servant.  YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND YOU KNOW YOU DID THIS!  You have done this, and you have committed fratricide against your brother, because you have sought the breath of God from him; you have sought to destroy his works for God from the earth, and have declared him a false prophet, have said all manner of falsehoods against him.  He has done you no wrong, has not spoken a word against you, nor has he lifted a finger to harm you and your colleagues in any way. 

Yet you have relentlessly pursued him like a wild animal to strike Him doing with your swords and to this hour have not even sought in your hearts and inquired of God and repented of what you have done, that God could forgive you, and that you receive mercy and grace from His hand for what you have done.  And you have thought little of your brethren of lower esteem a yourselves, seeking people to debate you consider “worthy equals” to yourselves.  Listen up; a child will discredit you, and a woman will tear your contentions to pieces, because you’ve sought to speak for the Lord when the Lord did not send you, and you sought the blood of your brethren, rather the work of God.  Yes, you have emerged from the shadows of great men who defended the faith against the enemies of God, but what you have done – you and your colleagues – is monstrously unspeakable, and you will eat it’s the fruit of its bitter legacy.  You have brought your “scorched earth” practices against your fellow servants, your works will be burned up on the day the Lord assays the works of all of His servants.  This is the lasting legacy of what you have brought upon yourselves because you sought to bring this upon your fellow servants and brethren in the faith.

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