I have examined Chapter Four of David James’ book, The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction?, and here are my conclusions on that chapter.
THE PEPSTER
As a man thinks within himself, so he is.
Proverbs 23:7a
The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord.
Proverbs 16:33
"Do not petition G-d to go where you are going; rather find where G-d is going and travel with Him."-- Unknown Jewish Wise Man
"I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer not neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.".--- William Penn
"It’s not failure, but the fear of failure that stops most people.”-- Philip Anschutz
"THERE IS NOTHING MORE FRIGHTENING THAN ACTIVE IGNORANCE." -- Goethe
"To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth." - Unknown Author
“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position one has reached in life, as by the obstacles that he has overcome while trying to succeed.” – Booker Taliaferro Washington, 1856 – 1915
“ A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us. ”— Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Truth is in history, but history is not the truth." - Nicolás Gómez Dávila
Another grave mistake David James makes is where he attempts to cast Jonathan Cahn in the role of a self-professed end time prophet of God. For this, Mr. James dedicates an entire chapter – chapter four – conveniently titled, “A Prophetic Message.”
From pages 33 to 38 he confuses the prophetic intent in the message of The Harbinger with it being called prophecy and with some enthusiastic supporters calling Pastor and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn a prophet with his claiming to be one, which he has not claimed. This is not only a fallacy, but it use other people’s statements about someone to accuse them of making the same claim about themselves is unfair to the person and it is bearing false witness against them in violation of Exodus 20:16, which enjoins us not to bear false witness against our neighbor.
It is unfair, because Jonathan Cahn had no control, nor was he seeking to influence, what other people’s said about him. He did not seek to portray himself as a prophet, and could not be faulted for what other people said about him.
It is also unfair because these interviews were unrehearsed, and spontaneous, and the discussions and manner in which its participants expressed themselves and interacted with one another were not conducted in a moderated and controlled environment, such as it is during a debate.
It is also unfair because in none of these interviews was Rabbi Cahn heard or seen saying that he was an end time prophet of God. Additionally, his lack of response in presenting any protestations when being called a prophet did not in any shape or form indicate that he embraced such a claim. Let’s be fair. Sometimes – whether in agreement or disagreement – one remains quiet during a radio or television interview because to interrupt when a topic is being discussed – in the present case, The Harbinger and its prophetic warning – such an interruption would be an unnecessary distraction, especially when broadcast time is of the essence and extremely important, and they don’t want the show to go into “overtime,” but to keep to schedule.
Such an interruption would distract from the discussion, and with little time to spare, it is best to stay on topic and not divert the host’s or audience’s attention from it, especially as important as the message of The Harbinger is. Jonathan Cahn was not promoting himself, but The Harbinger and its message. For him to interrupt to protest about his being called a prophet would not help promote the message, but distract from the message to the one who gives it, and this Jonathan Cahn did not want to do. That was not the aim and purpose of these interviews.
What David James has done here is to use other people’s statements about Jonathan Cahn to bear false witness against him. What do the Scriptures say about such a practice? I quote:
“You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.”
(Exodus 23:1)
And we know that the Scriptures are clear that whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. (James 2:10) So I don’t care how righteous some of these people believe themselves to be, when they violate God’s Law as it is being violated willfully here, they are guilty of violating the entire Law. Not a good place to be, this is why I wrote The Truth about The Harbinger: Addressing the Controversy and Discovering the Facts About This Prophetic Message, because after more than a year of this at the time when I wrote my book, all of these false charges were making the airwaves and were all over the blogosphere by the self-same notorious ambulance chasing heresy hunters; and they needed to be addressed, and addressed biblically.
The reason Mr. James is bearing false witness against Jonathan Cahn is because he is taking statements and claims made about Rabbi Cahn that he never made about himself, and saying that he made them. Let me explain. Jonathan Cahn has never claimed to be an end time prophet, but because others have called him one, David James interprets this as meaning that Rabbi Cahn embraces these attributes made about him by others, and because Rabbi Cahn has not protested this, David James interprets this inaction as acquiescing to their remarks, and therefore he claims to be an end time prophet.
The reason David James is bearing false witness against Jonathan Cahn is because he devotes the entire fourth chapter of his book, The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction? (pages 33 to 38) where he quotes statements made about Rabbi Cahn and accolades heaped on him and The Harbinger, and say that Rabbi Cahn made them, or even worse than this; to claim that they were speaking on his behalf, which means he could not speak for himself, therefore they spoke in the role of representatives and spokespersons, and their statements ought to be interpreted as his; or even that he endorses them. In answer to all of these, it can be said Rabbi Cahn made his point clear about such claims, and it is a resounding “no.”
A person who would put other people’s words and claims about someone else into that person’s mouth to claim he said them, is involved in the most egregious form of interpolation possible, because they are imputing a guilt upon a person they are innocent of, attributing to them actions and statements and claims they never made. This is sin. It goes by no other name, and it is a direct and clear violation of the commandment that enjoins us not to bear false witness against another (Deuteronomy 5:20).
Additionally, it can be proven from the evidence in chapter four of The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction? that Mr. James has acted as a relentless and malicious witness against his brother in violation of Exodus 23:1, a clear breach of the commandment against such behavior. (See also Matthew 19:18)
On page 35 of his book, David James goes even beyond this; he actually takes Jonathan Cahn’s testimony of his encounter at a stopover in an airport on his way to a Promise Keeper’s conference, where he met a man who approached him and prophesied over him; twisting it to mean that Jonathan Cahn was claiming to be that prophet, because Rabbi Cahn told his interview he was reminded of Nouriel Kaplan’s meetings with a man whom he calls the Prophet in the story of The Harbinger.
This can be found on pages 35 and 36, and when one reads both Rabbi Cahn’s testimony, quoted by Mr. James on page 35, and Mr. James’ comment that follows at the bottom of the page, one is left with the unmistakable realization that it is not Rabbi Cahn who is claiming the office of prophet, but David James, who is claiming that he believes himself to be one.
On page 35 David James writes. I quote:
“In an interview with Molly Noble Bull of Commandment Keepers on May 13, 2012, he (Rabbi Cahn) affirmed what he believes is the supernatural origin of The Harbinger as well as how the publishing of the book was itself prophetic fulfillment.
‘[Molly] Many of our readers are published authors or trying hard to get published for the first time. Yet you said in your interviews that you never intended to become a writer – that the Lord told you to write The Harbinger. Later, you prayed and still more amazing things took place with regard to the sale of the book. Please tell us about those amazing events.
‘[Jonathan] The Harbinger just flowed out and was finished in a few months time. The week I finished it, I was scheduled to speak at Promise Keepers in Dallas. My flight took me to Charlotte, North Carolina. There I prayed, “Lord, The Harbinger is your message. I don’t want it to go forth by the ways of man. It’s yours. You get out the word your way.”
I opened my eyes. There was a man sitting next to me. He begins to speak to me. Then he begins to prophesy over me. He tells me I will publish a book, and more than one – that God is about to do something big, and it will change my life. It turns out that before we met, the man was just brought together with the president of Charisma Media, Steve Strang. He sends word to him.
A little while later, I received a contact from Steve Strang, telling me he heard what happened at the airport. He heard about The Harbinger, and he’s interested. That’s how The Harbinger became published – not by the plans or hand of men, but totally supernaturally. In fact, that whole scene at the airport was as a recreation of a scene in the book where a man meets “a prophet.”
“That Cahn (sic) is being presented as a modern-day prophet seems readily apparent.”
(As quoted by David James, The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction?, page 35, The Berean Call, Bend, Oregon, 2012)
After making this short observation at the end of Jonathan Cahn’s testimony above, David James devotes the remainder of this chapter to quote what other people have said about The Harbinger and its author, italicizing wherever the words “prophetic message,” “prophetic significance,” “prophetic Jewish perspective and insight,” of his message being “prophetic in nature,” taking issue by citing how the message of The Harbinger, and the expository nature of “this mystery touch everything, explain everything from 9/11, to the global war on terror, to Wall Street, to your bank account, to your future, to your well being? (sic) The answer is yes.”
As I mentioned at the beginning of this section, the purpose of chapter four becomes apparent. Mr. James wants his readers to believe that Jonathan Cahn believes himself an end time prophet and that he’s promoting The Harbinger as prophecy, and he uses what other Evangelicals have said about him and his book, including going so far as to twist Rabbi Cahn’s own testimony about how his book got published, to put words in his mouth he did not say, and imply meanings to statements he made about meeting a prophet at the airport, and his comparison of this meeting between himself and this prophet with Nouriel Kaplan’s meeting the Prophet as synonymous with claiming for himself that the office of prophet.
This is not a matter of interpretation of Rabbi Cahn’s testimony. One does not take a story like this and change its meaning in this way unintentionally. Mr. James quotes the entire portion of this interview, and uses it to twist its meaning from “Rabbi Cahn – the man, meets Hubie Synn – the prophet” to mean “Hubie Synn – the man, meets with Rabbi Cahn – the prophet.” Whereas that is not at all what the narrative is saying!
David James does this in order to advance his false narrative about Jonathan Cahn; that “He is also doing more than proclaiming a hard-hitting message of Scriptures – which could be called “prophetic” in the general sense – that someone is faithfully conveying God’s Word. Rather, he is the originator of a new prophetic message, (prophecy is what Mr. James refers to it here), and revealing things that have never been heard before.
“This is even more problematic (to a Cessationist like David James) because Isaiah 9:10 is a prophecy with a meaning that is already clear from the context. By declaring it to contain a hidden mystery, Cahn (sic) has given it a private interpretation which is explicitly unbiblical.”
Then David James goes on to cite 2Peter 1:19-21, to question openly, “Then on what authority has Cahn (sic) given the world this new prophetic message based on Isaiah’s already-clear prophecy?”
In other words, David James here demands to know, “Who made Jonathan Cahn a prophet? And why should we listen to him?” Sound familiar? It should. This is what the Pharisees asked Jesus (Matthew 21:23, Mark 11:27-28). It is shocking to hear this kind of disbelief and reviling from a fellow Evangelical Christian with Cessationist proclivities within the church about another Evangelical Christian to criticize a calling they personally do not believe anyone should have, much less to accuse them of claiming when they have not! James comes out very strongly against this, when he asks, Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? (James 4:11-12) And Paul the Apostle in the Holy Spirit, asks, 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. (Romans 14:4) Well in answer to David James and his colleagues; to begin with, there are more problems with how Mr. James interprets things and reads things into other people’s words as well as his asking the reviling question he does above. Let’s list these here.
1.) David James makes claims for Jonathan Cahn that Jonathan Cahn has not made for himself.
2.) In view of those claims Mr. James makes for Rabbi Cahn, Mr. James impute guilt on Rabbi Cahn he is innocent of.
3.) David James uses this and what others say about him to question Rabbi Cahn’s personal calling and mission from God; a line no Christian should ever cross with another.
4.) David James cites Rabbi Cahn’s testimony of how he came to publish The Harbinger to twist the meaning of Rabbi Cahn’s comparison of it to Nouriel Kaplan’s meeting with a man he calls “the Prophet” in The Harbinger to mean that Jonathan Cahn is comparing himself to “the Prophet” in the story, when in point of fact, he is comparing “the Prophet” in The Harbinger with Hubie Synn, the man he met at the airport. When Jonathan Cahn made the following statement, “In fact, that whole scene at the airport was as a recreation of a scene in the book where a man meets “a prophet,” he was referring to himself as the man who met the prophet. The prophet is Hubie Synn. David James twists it to mean “That Cahn (sic) is being presented as a modern-day prophet seems readily apparent,” when this is not the case. Hubie Synn is the prophet, not Jonathan Cahn. This is not a matter of misreading or misinterpretation; this is intentional. One does not make such a statement unknowingly, because the story David James cites here is clear and not open to interpretation. Jonathan Cahn is not referring to himself as the prophet when he compares his meeting with Mr. Synn at the airport, he is referring to Hubie Synn, the man who prophesied over him that he would be writing a book “that God is about to do something big” with, and that it would change his life.
5.) Because of what he has done in this chapter and throughout his book, Mr. James has treated Rabbi Cahn with nothing but derision for something he has never done, and claim for Rabbi Cahn something he has never said about himself.
6.) Jonathan Cahn does not claim to be a prophet. He has made this quite clear on several occasions.
7.) Nowhere does Jonathan Cahn claim to be “the originator of a new prophetic message” in the context Mr. James tries to imply here. To David James “prophetic” is synonymous with “prophecy.” It is not. One can have a prophetic call and not be a prophet, yet all believers are admonished in the following way:
Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
(1Peter 4:11)
8.) The Harbinger is not Predictive Prophecy, it is not Eschatology, it does not promote any specific doctrine; it warns of a pattern of remedial judgments God has sent to our nation for its great sins, and describes them and calls them harbingers of greater judgment which are meant as a warning to us to avert judgment and repent individually before God. It is a simple call to repentance.
9.) The Harbinger does not reinterpret Isaiah’s prophecy, as David James claims, but presents the prophecy in its historic context, while it warns that the same pattern of remedial judgments – harbingers – have appeared on our soil since 9/11 as they did 2700 years ago in ancient Israel.
10.) Because Mr. James is a Cessationist, he already has come to the table with a prejudicial predilection towards dismissing anything in this day and age that appears even remotely revelatory in nature, and therefore he cannot render an objective and just biblical opinion, because his theology will not permit it. All of his conclusions therefore, are based on this theological prejudice.
11.) David James confuses “prophetic” with “prophecy,” and therein lies his problem with the book, therefore he is inclined by religious and theological prejudices to summarily reject and dismiss all of the “prophetic.”
12.) Also lost to Mr. James is that the revealing a mystery, or better phrased, “expositing it meaning, both contextually and thematically, and in some cases, doctrinally in support of a theological position does not make someone a prophet. A more correct term or title to use in this context would be an expositor or teacher whom God uses in the context of 1Corinthians 2.
13.) When Mr. James asks cynically and mockingly asks (note his select choice of words), “But what besides a ‘prophet’ would be an appropriate title for someone who believes he has discovered the hidden meaning of a biblical mystery that God has given for today and then proclaims this prophetic message as factual?” (Ibid, page 34) He does so because all of his opinions are based on a preconceived theology called Cessationism which teaches that God does not present new revelation today with regards to the interpretation of Scripture, because Cessationism teaches that to do so would add to the closed cannon of Scripture. Additionally, Cessationism teaches that the sign gifts were only needed when the Bible was being written, and when the cannon of Scripture was closed, the gifts, but not the calling of God ceased, and therefore not operational today. This is unbiblical, because Cessationism teaches that to do so would add to the closed cannon of Scripture. Additionally, Cessationism teaches that the sign gifts were only needed when the Bible was being written, and when the cannon of Scripture was closed, the gifts, but not the calling of God ceased, and therefore they are not operational today. This is unbiblical, because the Scriptures teach that such gifts are given by God and necessary for that calling (2Corinthians 12:7) – you cannot serve in God’s calling without God’s spiritual gift, and if you have the Holy Spirit of God, you are empowered and anointed by God to serve Him for the common good and the glory of Christ. Mr. James, who espouses Cessationism, has issues with people like Jonathan Cahn who operate in this manner. And this is why he dares even to question Rabbi Cahn’s calling here and the message connected to that calling. Another line that no born again Evangelical Christian should ever cross with another.
14.) But the answer to David James’ mocking jab above is a simple one; such a person is not necessarily a prophet, he is a biblical expositor of God’s Word, and an end time watchman who is sounding the alarm of impending judgment as God gives him to see the light of revelation understand it and to draw it out from God’s Word. As the proverb declares of such man:
v A plan in the heart of a man is like deep water, but a man of understanding draws it out.
(Proverbs 20:5)
v The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.
(Proverbs 21:1)
v Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
(2Corinthians 3:17)
The Holy Spirit frees our minds and hearts which have been changed by God in the New Birth to understand and unlock to us the riches of God’s Word. To the unrepentant and unregenerate lost, the Scriptures are a closed book, and the Bible is and its secrets are nothing but unlocked myths and tales, but to us, they are life and liberty. This dovetails how in other places the Scriptures describe the Bible expositor and teacher of God’s Word in this manner. I quote:
v Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory, (1Corinthians 2:6-7) and further, Paul writes that, For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
(1Corinthians 6:10-16)
v “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.”
(John 14:16-18)
v “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.”
(John 14:26)
v “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
v (John 15:26-27)
v “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.”
(John 16:13)
v 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 2:27)
v “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
(Revelations 19:10d)
v The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, Searching all the innermost parts of his being.
(Proverbs 20:27)
v But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
(1Corinthians 6:17)
v Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.
(2Corinthians 1:21-22)
v In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise
(Ephesians 1:13)
v 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.
(1John 4:9)
v 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. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
(Romans 8:9-10)
v “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
(Acts 11:15-17)
v The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
(Acts 15:6-9)
v 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 Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
(1Peter 1:3-5, 13)
v Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
(1Corinthians 12:4-13)
v He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
(Ephesians 4:10-13)
In none of the Scriptures I’ve just cited relating to the Holy Spirit of God who every believers has and has access to through Christ in God; does the Scripture distinguish that there was to be any difference or distinction between believers – and the apostles added to this equation, (1Peter 1:3, 1John 2:27, 1Corinthians 12:4-14, Acts 11:15-17, Acts 15:6-9, 2Corinthians 1:21-22)? No. The distinction made is to each individual and God’s calling, ministry, and purpose in their life regarding the body of Christ. This is the way it was then, and there is nothing in any of the Scriptures that indicates that it has changed, since this distinction pertained to each individual Christian was and continues to be what gift and office of ministry a person has for service in Christ. There is no Scripture that indicates an end to any of these gifts or the various ministries God’s calling places upon the individual believer.
One office that for obvious biblical and historical reasons is no longer active today because it is no longer in existence is that of the immediate eye-witness of Jesus Christ, who as His closest followers and companions, witnessed His miracles, healings, deliverances of demoniacs, cleansings of lepers, signs and wonders such as walking on water, command over nature such as stilling storms out at sea, bodily resurrection from the dead; people who interacted with the Messiah before and after His resurrection, who dined with Him, were taught directly by Him, during this time and forty days after His bodily resurrection from the grave and ascension to the right hand of God (Acts 1:9-11).
These were His Apostle, among whom were included the immediate twelve, and maybe even perhaps – though it is not mentioned in Scripture – were many though not all, of those who left Him for misunderstanding His teachings (John 6:22-71) There is nothing in verse 66 that indicates that after the resurrection, some of these did not return to following Him, but for the period that comprised His public ministry, they never returned.
All of these immediate eye-witnesses who were taught by the Lord Jesus, travelled with Him and followed Him around, and later witnessed His defeat over sin and death, and the power of the grave – those immediate followers and apostles held an office that only an eye-witness to those events could hold and therefore their apostleship was distinct from other ministries such as missionaries, who also fall under the category of apostle, because the Greek word used – APOSTOLOS – literally means “called out one.” This is the only office that ended with the passing of the members of this group, though to a lesser and somewhat different extent the modern missionary who is “called out by God” falls into this category by virtue, not that he or she has seen the risen Savior as those men and women did, but because he or she is called out to the farthest reaches of our planet to bring the Gospel of salvation and call to repentance to those people of those far out regions of our planet.
Other than these distinctions made clear by God’s Word (John 1:14, Acts 1:21-22, 2:32, 2Peter 1:16-19, 1John 1:1-4); so much so that upon seeing for himself the risen and very much alive Messiah, Thomas, who up until that moment had disbelieved the reports and stories recounted by the other witnesses; worshipped the Lord Jesus by exclaiming, and not “saying to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ (John 20:26-29) Thomas said this TO Him, and worshipped Him; it doesn’t say, Thomas answered and said, “to no one in particular,” but it says Thomas answered and said to Him.” To whom? To Him; to the Lord Jesus; “My Lord and my God!”
These were the eye-witnesses who walked and talked, and dined with, and were taught by the Lord Jesus from the beginning of His public ministry to the day He was taken up to heaven (Acts 1:21-22). If this distinction is not made in Scripture, why is David James trying to make it here in chapters four and five? And not just trying to draw this distinction, but saying that Jonathan Cahn makes it by calling himself a prophet when he has not! How can this man lie in such a manner and be believed with anything else that he says against Rabbi Cahn???
Concluding chapter four, Mr. James presents his charge that Jonathan Cahn claims to be a prophet who prophesies for God in four key points. We will examine each one. This is what Mr. James writes at the end of chapter four. I quote:
1.) “The Harbinger is being promoted as a prophetic message, and Jonathan Cahn is being promoted as a prophet.”
2.) “Many readers have been persuaded that the prophecy of Isaiah 9:10 contains a hidden message specifically to the United States.
3.) “Many have been persuaded that Jonathan Cahn is functioning as a prophet for today and being used by God to reveal this ancient mystery.
4.) “Cahn (sic) himself seems to believe that God has chosen him to reveal the hidden prophetic message of Isaiah to America (because this idea cannot be understood on the basis of the text alone.”
We will now examine these conclusions David James makes here. In the first one he writes, and I quote:
FIRST CHARGE AND ACCUSATION: “The Harbinger is being promoted as a prophetic message, and Jonathan Cahn is being promoted as a prophet.”
ANSWER AND CORRECTION OF THE RECORD: The Harbinger does not promote Jonathan Cahn as a prophet or proclaim itself as prophecy; it is however a prophetic call to repentance, but it is not prophecy; predictive or otherwise.
Jonathan Cahn does not claim himself as prophet or The Harbinger as prophecy. This is an intentional blurring of terminologies by David James as a vehicle to promote his lying fallacy that because the message of The Harbinger is a prophetic warning, to make such a proclamation is to claim that proclamation as prophecy, and the author of it a prophet. One does not have to be a prophet to proclaim a prophetic message (Revelations 19:10); however one who prophesies holds the office of prophet, and must be a prophet to prophesy.
Any call to repent and the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is prophetic in nature, but it is not prophecy. If it were, we would all be prophets, and the Scriptures are clear that not everyone is a prophet, only some are (1Corinthians 12:29). This is why I write here that this is an intentional blurring of the terms here by David James for the purpose of imputing a guilt on another person (Rabbi Cahn) he is innocent of, by accusing him of saying something he has never said, and claiming something he has never claimed about himself.
But it’s worse, because David James accuses Jonathan Cahn of claiming prophet status on the basis not of his claiming it for himself, but of that others claiming it for him. This is a clear violation of the commandment not to bear false witness against another, especially if that other person is a brother in the faith and fellow bondservant and minister of Jesus Christ. But really, whether the injured party is a Christian or not, the act itself of imputing another party of a guilt they have not committed is itself by falsely reporting that they have, is no less a sin.
SECOND CHARGE AND ACCUSATION: “Many readers have been persuaded that the prophecy of Isaiah 9:10 contains a hidden message specifically to the United States.”
ANSWER AND CORRECTION OF THE RECORD: Rabbi Cahn cannot be faulted with people misinterpreting the message of The Harbinger. Rabbi Cahn has repeatedly said that his book does not connect Isaiah 9:10 to the United States and it is not a about America. David James’ use of verbal gymnastics to make that claim for The Harbinger does not in any way indicate that Rabbi Cahn or his book makes it.
This begs the question again, If someone has not made a claim about something, why accuse them of making it? This is to falsely accuse someone of saying something they never said, and to do this is another evidence of bearing false witness against them.
THIRD CHARGE AND ACCUSATION: “Many have been persuaded that Jonathan Cahn is functioning as a prophet for today and being used by God to reveal this ancient mystery.”
ANSWER AND CORRECTION OF THE RECORD: Because David James has intentionally blurred the office of prophet with that of a biblical expositor whom God uses as an end time teacher to unlock the prophetic mysteries of God’s Word as clearly prophesied by Daniel (Daniel 12:9-10, see also Daniel 11:33-35, Matthew 24:9-14, Joel 2:28-29). A prophet does not reveal ancient mysteries. The primary role of a prophet is for God to speak through him, not the role of expositor of God’s Word. There are some who interpret and apply Joel’s prophecy in 2:28-29 to Malachi 4:5-6, while others apply Malachi 4:5-6 to Revelations 11:3-6, as it finds fulfillment. But regardless of which way one interprets these prophecies and apply them to end time eschatology, being they clearly speak of “those days preceding ‘the terrible day of the Lord,’ the Scripture prophesies that insight will be given some to expound and unlock the deep prophetic meanings into certain sealed and locked books of God’s Word (Daniel 11:33-35), they will see visions and dream dreams (Joel 2:28-29), and two of these will appear and prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, and have power to shut up the sky so it won’t rain, and will be able to turn water to blood, and smite the earth with plagues as often as they wish (Revelations 11:2-6). They will be murdered by the Antichrist, but will arise again after three and one half days, and be taken up to heaven in front of the whole world (Revelations 11:7-12). After this, an earthquake will occur that will be so great in intensity that it a third of the population of the city will be killed by it. Those who survive this earthquake will repent and give glory to the God of heaven (Revelations 11:13). This will be the end of the second woe (Revelations 11:14).
David James treats this as though it is some type of aberration. This is because he does not properly understand fully the times we live in, and blurs the differences between the prophet who speaks as God’s mouthpiece, and the teacher who exegetes and interprets God’s Word. As a Cessationist who considers modern prophecy as an addition to the cannon of Scripture, he and others like him, will certainly struggle, as they do now, with end time manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 12 and 13), while professing Christ, and displaying all of the evidences of a proper religious life, they will deny the power that gives that life its ability in the average born again believer, because to make such a claim – to deny that certain attributes and offices imparted by the gifts and calling of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God are no longer functioning today as they did during the Apostolic/Second Temple Era – is to deny the works the Holy Spirit does in those ministries and their works for Christ. This is a tacit denial that God the Holy Spirit is actively working in the lives of those who minister in them. This is something that the Apostle Paul said should never be done (1Corinthians 12:15-26), and warns that this is what we will see happen in the church “in the last days,” calling such times “difficult,” because it will come from the least likely places – the church itself. (2Timothy 3:1-5)
Here Mr. James attempts to claim that because Jonathan Cahn is considered a prophet by some, that this is equivalent to his claiming to be one. This again is ploy of Mr. James to impute on Rabbi Cahn an act that he has not committed, because of something somebody else has said about him.
FOURTH CHARGE AND ACCUSATION: “Cahn (sic) himself seems to believe that God has chosen him to reveal the hidden prophetic message of Isaiah to America (because this idea cannot be understood on the basis of the text alone.”
ANSWER AND CORRECTION OF THE RECORD: This statement on its own is so wrong on so many levels that one is astounded that it was made by an Evangelical Christian like David James, but he did make it, and it is at the bottom of page 38 of his book. But as unfortunate as it is, we must engage it so that we can address it biblically, and be as fair as we can with it, because its premise, the spirit it expresses itself in, and where it is trying to lead its audience – the readers – is completely wrong due to honest human error.
Were we to call it anything else, or dignify it as intentional, then we would not be dealing with mere human error and fallacy here, but a purpose – an agenda, and by default do the same to the other three points Mr. James makes. I cannot make that charge for all of these points, just for some of them, tempting as it may be.
It is obvious though that Mr. James worked very hard to make it appear that because some see Rabbi Cahn as an end time prophet (Mr. James has problems with end time prophets, as he will with the two in Revelations 11), that we are supposed to interpret this to mean that he makes that claim for himself. He does not, and never has.
Additionally, Mr. James is not only telling us to lay aside our own discernment and accept his by accepting his interpretation for us, and treat it as fact and not a subjective and prejudiced opinion of his to convince his readers of something that is patently false and outright lie.
Additionally, we are told to interpret Rabbi Cahn’s silence during these interviews when others call him a prophet to mean he agrees with them. This is ridiculous. A person’s silence when something is said about them while they’re discussing something else is not tantamount to acceptance of what the other person is saying, but of remaining focus on the topic being discussed and not allowing oneself to be distracted by the peripherals others try to attach to it or to the one who is discussing them. David James knows this, and he’s intelligent enough to know the difference, but he chooses not to, or at least articulate that he’s aware of it.
Jonathan Cahn does not have time to distract anyone with personal protestations about this, because he is not on these shows to promote himself, but to promote the message of The Harbinger, and to call God’s people and people everywhere to repentance. Like he said in an interview with Jan Markell on her radio show, Understanding the Times, he can discuss this with the host of the show after the show is over in private, which is the proper thing to do, at a time of his choosing, certainly not dictated by anyone else, but by his own conscience and will, as he is answerable for such things only the One who has given him his calling in Christ.
The purpose of Jonathan Cahn’s appearance on these shows is to bring the message of The Harbinger to God’s people so they will repent and seek God with all of their hearts, and call on the name of Jesus Christ – not to talk about himself, or promote himself. He’s there for the Gospel and to lead the lost to salvation in the cross. Were Jonathan Cahn what David James and the other critics of The Harbinger make him out to be, he would be promoting himself, but what he is doing is wherever he goes, speak about these warnings, these harbingers, and calling everyone everywhere to repent and to seek Christ, calling on His name for salvation. This is the mark and sign of a true servant of God.
What’s more, a true servant of God will appear in any show regardless of the host’s beliefs, because this is the way Christ Himself and His Apostles operated. Paul went before pagans at the Aeropaus at Mar’s Hill in Athens, Greece (Acts 17), before the Roman governor Felix (Acts 23:31-35, 24:1-26), before Porcius Festus who succeeded Felix as governor (Acts 24:27, 25:6-12), before Governor Festus and Herod Agrippa II and Bernice (Acts 24:23-27, 26:1-31), before Caesar himself (Acts 25:10-12, 21, 25, 26:32, 27:1, 28:16), and preached to every pagan he could reach for Christ regardless of what they professed to believe (Acts 28:30-31). In his lifetime, he even preached Christ in places where no one had heard of Him (Romans 15:20). That is the mark of the true servant of Christ, not a Christian hermit who looks down his nose at those who break out of the religious lock box and go out into the all the world to preach Christ to the lost – to pagans, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, unregenerate Roman Catholics, unregenerate religious Protestants, unregenerate Jews and Gentiles, Hottentots, Scythians, etc. As Paul wrote in his Letter to the Romans, I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (Romans 1:14-15)
Because Mr. James is an avowed Cessationist, he has some deep seated theological biases against end time prophets, and people who call others prophets, especially if they’re Evangelical Christians, or some Evangelical Christians who identify themselves as having this gift; he does not believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit are functioning today, and he confuses others calling Rabbi Cahn a prophet with his claiming to be one.
David James totally disregards Rabbi Cahn’s own personal denials to being one, and gives him no credit for it, even though Rabbi Cahn has devoted much time and effort to deny these charges. David James disregards this, and himself devotes a lot of time and space at doing his level best to make it appear that Jonathan Cahn says he’s an end-time prophet, and not just an end-time prophet, but one who has revelations that reveal mysteries . We’ve already discussed why this is a complete fallacy on Mr. James’ part, so it is unnecessary for us to write anything else about it here.
But this is one of the many charges and accusations that he makes against Rabbi Cahn as he methodically develops his arguments one fallacy at a time. Anyone who reads The Harbinger and has read Rabbi Cahn’s rebuttals in letters he’s posted to his critics, as well as the interviews he’s given on radio and the articles I’ve written on the Pepster’s Post: A Voice in Cyberspace, as well as others who’ve come to Rabbi Cahn’s defense, such as Connie/Faith of Faith’s Corner, and Ladybug; soon come to the shocking realization that everything Mr. James has written and said about Jonathan Cahn and his book are nothing but pure and complete mischaracterizations, misapplication of the story, and misunderstanding the narrative. What he has done is to present inventive fabrications of what the man says about himself, making what others say about him – be it right or wrong – synonymous with his saying it himself. These are entire absurdities and untruths, and outright lies.
Again, I must write that I am shocked and dismayed that a sincere fellow Evangelical Christian like David James would write this way about a fellow servant of Christ in the faith. But what is more shocking to me has been his reaction when properly apprised of the facts to each one of the fallacies in his book. The man is not listening. He has closed his mind, shut his eyes, closed his heart, and hardened his neck against all criticisms of his approach and interpretation and handling of Rabbi Cahn’s book, and has dismissed what others have brought to his attention about the serious and egregious errors in his book about The Harbinger.
His answer has been to accuse those presenting the facts to him as “repeating Cahn’s (sic) error,” and summarily tossing all that is told him out as nothing but “straw man arguments” as he calls them, rather than engaging them, and either accepting that he has erred terribly or presenting the reason why he disagrees. He has not, and he cannot because there is no biblical basis for what he writes in his book. We’ve just taken one point here from one of the chapters of his book, and seen how he twists the meaning even of a person’s personal testimony to mean what he is not saying in order to present something else. He does this throughout his book, and I’ve proven it in my own work, The Truth About The Harbinger, as well as in dozens of articles on my website, The Pepster’s Post: A Voice in Cyberspace, where I have engage Mr. James’ accusations and arguments biblically and expose them as nothing but pure and unmitigated error and logical fallacies, and false allegations. I do this with all the other people who form this very small group of extreme ambulance chasing heresy hunters who call themselves “discernment ministries,” and spend their days attacking members of the body of Christ rather than preaching Christ.
The only “straw man arguments” have been those Mr. James presents to defend an untenable position of having been discovered to have completely misread a book, mischaracterized its author, and written a polemic against it replete with wholesale misleading conclusions that have been used by this small group of critics to publicly slander and libel Pastor and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn as a practitioner of the Occult, who teaches Kabbalah, is a New Age Gnostic who is into Jewish Mysticism, and is a false prophet and false teacher who promotes Freemasonry, British Israelism, and every aberrant theology out there from “the prosperity gospel” to “name it can claim it,” to NAR – New Apostolic Reformation, to Dominion Theology, to even Supersessionism (Replacement Theology) and Mormonism. In short, because of the slanderous manner that Mr. James has written about Jonathan Cahn, Rabbi Cahn has been subjected to the most vicious vilification I have ever witnessed any Evangelical Christian be subjected to in my lifetime. What makes it most egregious is that it has been done to him by about ten people who profess themselves to be members of his own faith – Christian Evangelicals. But make no mistake about it, this controversy began and was hatched when Jimmy DeYoung contacted David James to voice his private concerns about The Harbinger and asked him to read the New York Times bestseller so he could interview Mr. James as his guest on his radio show, Prophecy in the News which he did on January 7th, 2012. The two men were quick to trash the book, without having discussed it with its author, and began the trend that quickly degenerated into the worst vilification of a mainline Evangelical Christian minister by members of his own faith in recent memory.
One is reminded of the Apostle Paul’s description of the ill-treatment suffered by fellow servants of Christ like himself in his day, and to this day. I quote, and it says, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.
(2Corinthians 6:8-10)
In conclusion, David James and those who follow in his steps – his esteemed colleagues, his “trusted men” as he calls them – have played “fast and furious” with the facts, and have done great harm to the cause of Christ, and need to take remedial steps of repentance, reconciliation, retraction of what they’ve written and said against Rabbi Cahn, and correct the record, as well as make both a private and public apology rendered at the time of their retracting of what they have written and have kept up to that day on the Internet and in print form. And more importantly than anything else, they must never again conduct this type of witch hunt against any member of the body of Christ again, and warn others not to do the same as they had done. This is an egregious and terrible sin that must be remediated immediately for the sake of the Lord Jesus’ name.
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