THE HARBINGER & MYSTERY OF THE SHEMITAH: AT THE HEART OF THE CONTROVERSY

Beloved brethren of God in Christ,

I have written and posted the following both on Amazon.com and on my own website regarding Rabbi Cahn’s critics.  What this controversy is all about is much more than a small group’s public criticisms of another’s ministry and teachings, it goes to the heart of our faith and calling.  Please read.

Jose J. Bernal

Systems Analyst

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

       ---------O-O-O
|_//___l__,\___\,___|_l_---\___l---[]IIIIII[]
__(o)_)--(o)_)--O-)_)

Beloved brethren in Christ,

Rabbi Cahn and I vehemently oppose all manner of Replacement Theology (Supersessionism), and Dual Covenant Theology popularized by some Evangelicals.  Both of those doctrines are unbiblical. 

We either believe in what the Bible clearly teaches us by knowing what it says, or we believe the doctrines of men.  As for me and my house, I prefer the witness of the Scriptures rather than the doctrines of men.  I teach at Rabbi Cahn's ministry; at the Beth Israel Arise & Shine Academy, at the Beth Israel Jerusalem Center in Wayne, NJ. 

I know Rabbi Cahn personally and have known him much better than most people.  His critics do not know him, never met him, never sat in any - not a single one - of his teachings, do not understand his teachings and even after I and several other people have taken great pains to point out to them, specifically where they have erred regarding both his books, and his teachings; but not only this, they have erroneously publicly written, as they do here, that he mishandles the Scriptures and history - all complete absolute untruths based upon their own flawed and jaundiced perspective based upon Hyper-Dispensationalist/Cessationist/Deistic approach to God's Word. 

They continue to this day, obsessed by the man and his success in reaching countless millions for Christ.  An amazing thing, because they're doing this over a fundamental misunderstanding of the man and what he teaches based upon their own private personal pet theologies - in this case a combination of what I have written above. 

This is NOT how Christians ought to conduct themselves with each other.  The story behind this story of what Rabbi Cahn and his ministry has had to endure from these people to this day is a very sad one and blight in the annals of God's people, but it has happened, is happening, and even now the same group of people have again mounted a public relations campaign - led by the writings of one critic and his associates (who encourage this type of activity - a sign of the times), and oppose anyone who dares to biblically oppose what they do and say about Rabbi Cahn in public as nothing but a religious form and expression that should have been conducted privately and not in the manner of this horrendous public relations campaign. 

We are not called by God for this, and it is sadly unfortunate that the self-justifying religious person always has a comeback, always has a last word to say about things.  But the day will most assuredly come when this person and people like him will not be able to justify either their behavior or their words, because the One whom they will have to give an account to, judges and knows the intentions of every man's heart, no matter what they say in public, and no matter how many clever excuses they make for themselves for doing what they've done to - not just a neighbor, but a blood-bought brother and fellow-bondservant of God, whom they've slandered and whose teachings they've vilified and mischaracterized, even after being shown by several people, many not even connected in any way to Rabbi Cahn's ministry who are themselves ministers of His Word with full-time ministries - that what these critics have said and written about his teachings and his book, is completely wrong. 

These critics will not be able to hide anything from Him, because He knows how to separate between these petty and self-righteous claims, excuses, and alibis, and to cut through them straight to the intentions of one's heart.  They will not able to argue their theology with God and say, "This, and this, and thus, and well..." 

Because it will be made evident to them at that hour just how specious their arguments were, and how unfortunate it was that they chose to continue them even after they were exposed to what God's Word says.  That is even worse, and because many of these are teachers of God's Word themselves, they will the Scriptures warn us, incur a more severe judgment.  God's Word is not to be used like some scholastic textbook or Popular Mechanics Journal, nor are his servants who teach from to mischaracterized and slanderously misunderstood as Rabbi Cahn has, and even worse, put to public reproach by some on flimsy basis they disagree with him. 

Again, I say, "You disagree with him?  Discuss the matter in public, but don't go traveling around the country giving interviews about your disagreement and tell others that based upon your own subjective opinion and those of your colleagues and those allied to them in purpose - to mount a public-relations campaign against him, his books, his ministries, which is what you are doing.  There is absolutely no justification for this type of behavior from a professing Evangelical leader, from any member of Christ's body.  It is wholly inexcusable.” 

On the day when men's hearts are judged by the only Judge of all, no excuse made by these critics to justify such actions against a member of their own faith, a minister of the Gospel, as Rabbi Cahn is and I am by God's calling, no excuse these people make, either between themselves or in public, will stand, and the works related to these will be burned up. 

This has nothing to do with personalities, or popularity, or anything else.  It has to do with God's accountability for what we do with what He has given us, and how we use it.  The Great Commission is what should occupy our time, not chasing one another across the country to watch for "heresies" based on our own religious pet prejudices masked cleverly by religious sounding rhetoric to convince others to mistrust disbelieve what this author is saying.  That is not what we are called by God to do.  That is what men appoint themselves in God's name do, not what servants of Christ do.  There is a great difference between the two, and it is clear to the discerning eye. 

Now it is my humble opinion that many of these critics are servants of Christ as Rabbi Cahn is, but like fallible men that we all are, they have misplaced their priorities based upon a mistaken application of what God's Word means when it says to contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints - it bears no resemblance to how these gentlemen misinterpret and misapply it to in their activities and public statements, and written articles and books; because what Jude writes of here regards contending with those outside of our faith, not in it.  These people contend with the brethren and fellow bondservants of Christ within the Church, within the Body of Christ, and the Bible clearly identifies them as "contentious brethren" and "those who bring divisions" into the Body of Christ, and warns us to avoid them for good reason.  They divide the Body of Christ and cause dissensions, and controversies.  I would say that what The Harbinger's critics have done and continue to do biblically fits the bill.  Thank you.

Jose J. Bernal

Biblical Instructor

Beth Israel Arise & Shine Academy

11 Railroad Avenue