Below are the minutes of a debate regarding another bestselling book by Pastor and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn titled The Mystery of The Shemitah. In this book he outlines the historical pattern of remedial judgments visited upon America as early as the 19th century and well into the present, showing from historical records which cannot be refuted that every major collapse occurred precisely on a precise date in the Rabbinic Hebrew Calendar in which debts are released and property changes hands. An incredible find.
Dispensationalists, who for theological reasons argue against this because the modern Rabbinic Calendar in use since the second century CE/AD does not line up with the one with the Pre-Exilic, Post-Exilic, and the one used during the Second Temple Era, forget that God’s Sovereignty, regardless of the calendar dates used which are mere conventions of man; He has historically (as borne out by Scripture) been more than able to act within whatever framework and convention man has erected for himself to tell time and dates regardless of the alterations.
This is most evident in the progressive multiplicity of prophetic parallelisms evident in Scripture as Midrashically expounded by the New Testament Evangelists, particularly Matthew and John, in revealing the events of their day applied to precise prophecies from the Hebrew Bible to the Messiah and vice a versa. Many of the passages they cite from the Tanakh themselves possess historical content and refer to specific historical and religious events within the Law and the Prophets that by themselves have no other meaning, but when seen through the eyes of Messianic Eschatology through the lens of the Holy Spirit of God, are given new life in the events recounted in corpus of the God-breathed writings of the New Testament. Only those ensconced to a letter based upon a theology cannot understand or see the essence or intent of biblical prophecy, and therefore kill the intent spirit of the prophecy or teaching itself. This unfortunately is what happens when one weds themselves to a specific philosophy based upon a theological school of thought. The Bible is not wedded to any theological or philosophical school of thought man has invented to understand it. It stands in its totality all by its own and is uniquely God’s inspired inerrant Word.
Jose J. Bernal (THE PEPSTER)
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
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CRITIC’S CLAIM: EVEN THOUGH OUR FOUNDING FATHER’S INVOKED GOD’S NAME, FREEMASONRY IS PAGAN AND IT IS WOVEN INTO THE FABRIC OF AMERICA. THE APOTHEOSIS OF WASHINGTON IS AN EXAMPLE OF THIS PAGANISM IN OUR CAPITOL BUILDING: Any objective evaluation of America's history will reveal that although God's name was invoked by the Founding Fathers at various points, even to the point of some seeing America as a new Israel, it is equally true that the paganism of Freemasonry is woven into the very foundation of America - and this is evident everywhere one looks in our nation's capital of Washington, D.C. - to the degree that in the dome of the Capitol building, George Washington is depicted as becoming deity as he is received into heaven.
Before I continue to present my reply to this critic, I must stress and make absolutely clear right here that I do not endorse Freemasonry, or any fraternity or secret society, I have never belonged to one, nor do I ever plan on joining one, and I personally do not agree with many of the teachings and beliefs that characterize what has come to be known as modern Freemasonry.
My father was a Freemason and belonged to two of these fraternities, and at one time, I had considered becoming a member of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry upon invitation by one of my father’s closest acquaintances; but after my spiritual conversion to faith in Jesus as Messiah, and upon my own investigations into the history, various rites and beliefs of the different orders as they stand today, I decided against it because they are at variance to my closely held personal beliefs.
I do however, make a clear distinction between what Freemasonry has become and what it was more than two hundred years ago; what and who comprised its membership then, and how it eventually became what we know of it today. I believe that the history of the development of Freemasonry from what it was when American society was predominantly Protestant Christian to what it later became – with influences from the humanist and neo-pagan and socialist Enlightenment – beliefs that found their way from Europe across the ocean to these shores in the early part of 19th century society, did to American society and the fraternities and our higher education system what the Haskalah Movement did to Judaism in Europe. Having made this distinction here, let us continue in addressing the critic’s complaints about George Washington and many of our Founding Fathers’ connections to Freemasonry and personal salvation in Jesus Christ as the Scriptures teach it.
FACT: Regarding modern Freemasonry, I agree, it has been infested and infiltrated at every level by an odd mixture of Judeo/Christian and Neo-pagan concepts and teachings, and since the early part of the nineteenth century, been infiltrated with influences from the European Enlightenment and socialist progressive secular humanism.
FACT: Additionally, Freemasonry of colonial 18th century colonial America was very different from what we see today, and the critic and many of his colleagues have a tendency to impose their conceptualization of what Freemasonry is today in a Post-Christian Post Modern America into what Freemasonry was during the era of the founding of our republic. Colonial America was not Post-Christian, but predominantly Judeo-Christian, not only culturally, but also religiously and in practice, and America’s lodges were filled with many clergymen and members of several of the most prominent Protestant Christian denominations.
FACT: The critic, like many of his colleagues, always see history through a Post Modern twenty-first century lens as though American society was always as it is today and its peoples, organizations, and fraternities; static and quiescent institutions populated by two dimensional characters on a cardboard stage. They forget just how dynamic and living, free flowing, and dynamic our American forefathers were. Like us today, they were transformative beings, who like us had dreams, aspirations, faced challenges, and while some converted spiritually, others lived lives of quiet desperation.
FACT: The people changed, the institutions changed, even the fraternities they belonged to, evolved as well. It is a foolish errand to equate today’s Freemasonry with the Freemasonry of the mid to late eighteenth century America; as foolish as it would be to equate today’s Post Modern/Post Judeo-Christian American culture with the Judeo-Christian-based, predominantly Protestant Christian culture of eighteenth century colonial America. The two are polar opposites. So too is the Freemasonry of that era with today’s, though I in no way consider Freemasonry of any era itself an ideal venue for Christians, simply because of its pantheism, which is antithetical to Christianity’s exclusiveness and uniqueness as a faith.
FACT: These critics attach so much on what organization a person belongs to, such external matters as to what denomination one belongs to, what theology they profess – Calvinism, Dispensational Theology, Armenianism, Messianic, and all of the others in between, whether one belongs to a lodge, what type of lodge, what type of fraternity, what order, etc…, things have absolutely no value and are of no consequence to the born again faith in Jesus professing believer.
FACT: They profess to believe in Christ alone, by faith alone, for salvation and as a metric in discerning another person’s faith; yet they set up so many other markers which nullify their claim to believe in the cross alone for salvation, as they do repeatedly against George Washington, and other Founding Fathers of our republic who were Freemasons.
FACT: But the critic misses the point entirely. He argues the point from the point of how men view and characterize other men, not how God’s Word does. In other words, George Washington’s faith (and that of many of the Founding Fathers who like him, were Freemasons), like the faith of any other person, is brought into question because of his earthly affiliations with a fraternal order, not a profession of personal faith, but because he belonged to a Masonic Lodge and was a Freemason. This is not a biblical assessment of another man’s faith, because it is totally devoid of the only criteria for such a judgment – Christ and the person’s relationship to Him. Can this critic, or any other feel they can stand before God with these arguments and argue with Him that based upon these, not the cross, they do not believe Mr. Washington, and anyone else by extension – any of us – are worthy of heaven? In fact, the Scriptures tell us regardless of the critic’s arguments, that we are not worthy of heaven. Not a single one of us is worthy. So, how dare the critics or anyone else stand in the place of God, and judge another, based upon his earthly fraternal affiliations, and not the cross; to criticize that person for it, when there is a huge beam of religious pretense lodged in his own eye?
FACT: In Theosis, deification denotes taking on the divine nature of God, a by-product of the new birth. The Apostle Paul makes mention of this in his Mar’s Hill Discourse, where he declares, “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.” (Acts 17:29-30) Regarding the doctrine of THEOSIS, I defer to the following from Wikipedia the Online Encyclopedia. I quote:
Now, not everyone will agree with how God’s Word defines Theosis, but it is the transformation of the believer from his previous natural state of mind and being into what, God in His grace, created him to be before the fall; as Christ’s restorative process continues after the new birth through the indwelling Holy Spirit through God’s sanctification process during one’s life. Theosis is possible only following a genuine new birth in Christ (1Peter 1:2-5, 23) made possible by the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1Peter 1:18-21). There is not achievable by any other means, but by the work of the Holy Spirit indwelling the penitent and submissive born again believer who dies to self, loves God from the heart (1Peter 2:24), loves his commandments from the heart, and loves his brethren as Jesus gave us commandment to do with one another – “love each another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12, 1Peter 1:22) The process of Theosis is best described in what the Apostle John the Beloved has written. I quote:
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
(1John 1:1-10)
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
(1John 2:1-11)
THE MEANING OF THEOSIS ACCORDING TO GOD’S WORD AND ITS PROCESS
The aim of God’s heart is that everyone be saved, that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Equally so, His heart is that our works not be burned up, but that we may receive seed directly from the Sower of men’s hearts, and plant them for His harvest and receive His reward. We are those laborers in those vineyards and fields. But to be true laborers of Christ we must put Him on daily and keep Him on throughout each day.
That means we die to ourselves – to our old nature which our bodies which await final redemption and transformation at the resurrection of the righteous of God, still war with us and we with it – our consecration to Him, so that we may live for God, and God may express Himself unencumbered by any leaven of our past – any leaven of our egos, any leaven of our pride, any leaven of our petty prejudices and biases, any leaven of man; because a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough (Galatians 5:9). We must decrease so God may increase, just as John the Baptist said when he spoke of himself and his mission as the Lord Jesus embarked on His (John 3:30). So it is with us. Indeed, Paul the Apostle in the Holy Spirit writes, For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)
This is the true process of THEOSIS – that we become through Him – like Him in every way that is possible while yet inhabiting these bodies, before our glorification into that which we will become at the first resurrection of the righteous in Christ (Philippians 3:21, Revelations 20:4-6).
I praise the God of heaven, indeed the God of all Creation for this gift; the gift of true eternal life that He has given to us, and all who willingly come to His cross; who have all of their guilt and suffering released from them; God forgives their sins, removes them as far as east is from west (unlike north and south which meet, east and west never meet, but go in opposite directions, Psalm 103:12) - and remembers their sins no more (Hebrews 8:12, 10:17).
To the cross, where we find God’s mercy and forgiveness, where He has made His peace with us (2Corinthians 5:19, Colossians 1:20), where we can make our peace with Him (2Corinthians 5:20), and find our peace in Him – in Christ – in His Spirit.
To the cross, where He has ransomed us from the domain of darkness of this realm and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).
To the cross, where by His stripes we are healed in every way (Isaiah 53) all of our baggage we’ve carried all our lives (Matthew 11:28-30), burdens we were not created to carry (Psalm 55:22), He has taken upon Himself and removed for us (Isaiah 53:4), and given us a new spirit and removed the heart of stone from us and given us a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 26:36).
To the cross, where He has and continues to fill us with His Holy Spirit of Life Eternal in Him (1John 2:25) with whom we are sealed for Him (Ephesians 1:13) so that we may continue in abiding in Him, be transformed in the spirit of our mind (Romans 12:2), and be conformed to His.
To the cross, where He removed the garments of unrighteousness from us and its filth, washed us clean – not only ritually, but sacrificially by His blood which He shed for us – and put garments of righteousness and praise over us.
To the cross, where He has crowned us with the crown of life, declared us righteous – as He has imputed to us His righteousness which He lived in perfect harmony with the Father when He walked the earth.
To the cross, where God adopted us as His own children, Christ made us joint heirs of His kingdom, and the Holy Spirit has provided for us in every way possible way in order to transform us into the likeness of the Eternal Christ who lives forevermore, amen, amen, and amen.
And there is no passage more fitting for the description of Theosis than what Paul writes in the Holy Spirit. I quote:
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
(2Corinthians 3:17-18)
Praise be His name for His indescribable gift! Thank You Jesus, thank You Lord, Thank You Eternal Father!!!
FACT: Now with regards to The Apotheosis of Washington which is the fresco painted by Italian artist Constantino Brumidi in 1865 and visible through the oculus of the dome in the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building, George Washington had nothing to do with his deification by Mr. Brumidi decades after his death.
FACT: It is intellectually dishonest of the critic to misuse it here to revise American history with the personal charges he makes here regarding Washington’s personal faith. It is equally intellectually dishonest to bring this up here, because the topic under discussion has absolutely nothing to do with THEOSIS.
FACT: Bringing up The Apotheosis of Washington and equating Washington’s nominal connections towards 18th century Freemasonry with the Freemasonry of mid-19th century America, to use these two to connect and paint the two with very broad brushstrokes, is highly misleading. This is because it fails to account for the changes between the two over this period, and Washington’s own personal beliefs about it.
FACT: To use it to question Washington’s personal faith is unbiblical, because the only metric that the Bible gives to validate a person’s salvation is Christ and His cross, not one’s lifetime affiliations and associations. If lifetime affiliations and associations had anything at all to do with personal salvation, men such as Joseph and Daniel – both who were high officials in the court of pagan kings and part of their religious monarchial order and entourage – would be lost and condemned by this critic and his associates for their associations.
FACT: Joseph was second to Pharoah in all Egypt – a Vice Monarch himself, and Daniel was the highest of the kings’ eunuchs during the reign of Babylonian and Medo-Persian monarchs. And these are just two biblical examples we can cite here, but many others – too many to cite here – all of whom would also be at risk for the same criticisms by these critics because of their earthly affiliations.
FACT: The critics attach great importance to these things for themselves and apply it to others, as they do here with Washington. They may deny it when confronted, but the fact is, without realizing it, they attach a good many other requirements to personal salvation other than the cross, when they make such judgments regarding the faith of other men and use it to support an argument that has no relevance to the topic at hand, but is used by the critic’s hyper-judgmental treatment of this author’s literary work. Bringing it up here is just another obfuscating tactic employed here to confuse the readership and lull it into believing.
FACT: An interesting sidebar which I mention anecdotally here, because it relates to the Judeo-Christian roots and nature of our republic, we have the following regarding the religious use of our capitol building. I quote:
Early religious usage
“In its early days, the Capitol building was not only used for governmental functions. On Sundays, church services were regularly held there - a practice that continued until after the Civil War. According to the U.S. Library of Congress exhibit Religion and the Founding of the American Republic: "It is no exaggeration to say that on Sundays in Washington during the administrations of 3rd President, Thomas Jefferson, (1801–1809) and of 4th President, James Madison, (1809–1817) the state became a church. Within a year of his inauguration, Jefferson began attending church services in the chamber of the House of Representatives. Madison followed Jefferson's example, although unlike Jefferson, who rode on horseback to church in the Capitol, Madison came in a coach and four. Worship services in the House — a practice that continued until after the Civil War — were acceptable to Jefferson because they were nondiscriminatory and voluntary. Preachers of every Protestant denomination appeared. (Roman Catholic priests began officiating in 1826.)"[29]”
CRITIC’S CLAIM: THE HEBREW CALENDAR “MAY BE OFF” BY ONE TO THREE YEARS FROM THE ONE IN MOSES’ DAY, THIS UNDERMINES THE BASIC PREMISE OF THE BOOK: His next objection is written in classic Orthodox Jewish Anti-missionary Argumentation, I quote:
“Initial research indicates that the present Hebrew calendar may be off by 1 to 3 years from that of Moses' day. If further research reveals this to be true, then this basically undermines the basic premise of the entire book because that would mean that none of the events described by the author are actually connected to the biblical seventh year that was to be observed when the Law was given to Moses. However, this remains to be definitively determined.”
FACT: This is the error that Ellen G. White, the founder of the 7th Day Adventists, made when she approved of Samuel S. Snow’s incorrect assumptions he made regarding the date of Yom Kippur for the year 1844 in what he believed was the Karaite reckoning for the date upon which that day fell as opposed to that which the Rabbinic Calendar marked as the day. In an article by Robert K. Sanders, titledDay of Atonement of the Karaite Jews in 1844, Mr. Sanders claimed that both the Rabbinic and Karaite Abib/Aviv Calendars to be identical with regards to the Day of Atonement for 1844. Mr. Snow was incorrect in his assersions, as was Ms. White, who approved them.
FACT: The calendar that was used in Moses’ day was the Aviv Calendar of Karaite Judaism. The modern Hebrew Rabbinic and Karaite Calendars have some differences and are calculated differently, but it was the Aviv Calendar that was used to calculate Daniel’s prophecy of Weeks and the coming of the Messiah, and both point precisely to A.D. 30 as the time of His coming. Modern Rabbinic Judaism may be in denial of this today because of fifteen hundred years of Anti-Semitic Roman Catholic and Protestant Reform persecutions of Jews in the name of Christ, but before the advent of Christianity, there was one calendar and it was used to calculate the coming of the Messiah, which is why the Evangelists correctly record in all four Gospels the high expectations everywhere in their day of Messiah’s coming. We will now examine these, and will see what they can show us regarding the Shemitah, since the critic brought this up.
Because Karaites follow the Torah injunctions to use the physical sighting of the moon to declare new months and to set the dates of holidays, they complied and continue to comply with the biblical injunction in Psalm 104:19, where it says, “He created the moon for Mo’adim – that is for the – appointed times.” This injunction of keeping the observed times – Hebrew Mo’adim – is found in Leviticus 23:4, where the Torah says, “These are the Mo’adim – appointed times – of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed times (Mo’adim).” During the appointed times of the year, led by the Hazzan (Cantor), Karaite congregations recite this Scripture from the Law of Moses, because of their adherence to its letter. This is what Wikipedia the Online Encyclopedia says of the differences between the Karaite “Aviv” Calendar with the one used by Rabbinic Judaism:
And in so doing, affirms its centrality in indicting man of sin because it brings the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:19-20, 7:7), making it evident that sin is producing death (Ezekiel 18:20) in the person who transgresses the commandment (Romans 7:8).
FACT: Idolatry was and always has been idolatry and God prohibits it whether from Jew or Gentile ().
3. Bought U.S. Treasury bonds for the first time in history; and created trillions of dollars in new money out of thin air.
THE SECOND ABOMINATION: “LOW INFORMATION VOTERS” KEEP REELECTING CORRUPT INCUMBENT POLITICIANS INTO OUR GOVERNMENT (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE 2014 MIDTERM ELECTIONS)
Though we are continuously told by this government and its government-controlled-media interests that we have been in a “recovery” since late September, 2009, there are since 2012 109,631,000 Americans on Welfare..., (besides that number, as of September 5th, 2014 a record number of 92,269,000 AMERICANS NOT WORKING) and the numbers continue to increase, with half of the populace in the US untaxed and out of work. Some have been out of work for so long that they are “off the radar,” and have all but given up trying to find work in this so-called “recovery.” We are not in any recovery, but in a steep nose dive and about to crash once more.
FACT: Since 2000, the value of the dollar has declined by 40%, taking with it, the value of your retirement account. While the third round of tapering is coming to an end, and the stock market is becoming more volatile each day, most economists are convinced that we're moving closer to a total market collapse worse than was seen in 2008.
A LEADING EXPERT EXPLAINS NATURAL PHENOMENON AND OCCURRENCES IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD
By Charles A. Clough, Th.M., M.S
Meteorologist, U.S. Army, Bel Air, Maryland
How are Biblical descriptions of God' s judgments, such as "stars falling from Heaven," "the moon turning red," and "great earthquakes" to be understood? Do they refer to literal astronomical and geophysical events, or are they merely exaggerated forms of speech and mere metaphors?
The proper way to understand prophecies of catastrophes is to follow the apostle Peter's approach and look at the true record of God's past historical judgments: 2 Peter 3.5-7. The universe, including all astronomical and geophysical processes, runs under the control of the Word of God rather than being the product of hypothesized natural laws: Colossians 1.17 and Hebrews 1.3; 11.3. God has preserved in the Bible eyewitness observations which testify to sudden, precisely-designed catastrophes affecting the celestial heavens as well as planet earth.
The most catastrophic judgment ever to befall mankind was the Flood of Noah's day, which radically altered the planet and which is used in Scripture to illustrate God's future end-time judgments: Matthew 24.37-39 and Luke 17.26,27. The flood judgment had a specific pattern:
1. The judgment came suddenly, Genesis 7.11, but only after a period of grace, Genesis 6.1-8
2. It involved the total physical environment in the heavens and the earth in ways previously unobserved, Genesis 2.5,6 and 6.17.
3. It surgically and precisely separated the saved from the lost, Genesis 6.18-21 and 2 Peter 2.5-9.
4. It included specific geophysical phenomena which manifested God's glory in supernatural fashion, Genesis 8.1 and 9.13-16; Psalm 29.3; Ezekiel 1.28 and Revelation 4.3.
God continued this pattern of judgment throughout the subsequent history of Israel:
1. The ten Exodus plague judgments consisted of suddenly occurring, intelligently directed phenomena which targeted specific objects.
2. The visible fiery pillar between Heaven and earth was the Angel of Yahweh, a Theophany: Exodus 13.21.
3. The crossing of the Red Sea featured unique meteorological and hydrodynamic phenomena: Exodus 14.21-29.
4. Joshua was aided with "stones from heaven" which hit only enemy soldiers, while solar and lunar motion ceased: Joshua 10.11-14.
5. Unusual celestial and atmospheric events occurred in the days of the Judges and Samuel: Judges 5.20-23 and 1 Samuel 7.10.
6. While David reigned, a precise 72-hour plague, which killed only Hebrews, occurred: 2 Samuel 24.10-25 and 1 Chronicles 21.9-27.
This judgment pattern is an inherent feature of God's rule as explained in the Mosaic Covenant: Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. It is the Biblical answer to the problem of evil. God's determination to deal with the consequences of the fall extends not only to Israel, but also to all nations: Deuteronomy 30.7; 32.43 and Isaiah 34. The Old Testament prophets announced coming judgments within this pattern. Their prophecies of future judgments, therefore, use the vocabulary of these past judgments: Isaiah 10.26; 11.15; 28.21; 29.6 and Zechariah 14.4-8.
The New Testament continues the Old Testament view that God judges with awesome power. Jesus and the apostle John repeat the familiar prophetic language of unprecedented physical judgments accompanied by Theophanies: Matthew 24.29,30 and Revelation 16.18. The same fire, smoke, hail, thunder, plague and earthquake of the Old Testament judgments once again appear in Revelation 6 – 18. These terms are not exaggerations nor metaphors. They point to a final culmination in God's program of separating good from evil throughout all creation. God's past judgments thus model His future judgments.
Published by AMG Publishers, 2000. Used with permission.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE APPLY THE CRITIC’S LOGIC TO THESE EVENTS?
Two years ago, the critic first appeared on the scene shortly after Pastor and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn released his book, The Harbinger, and immediately set about an attempt to disprove the New York Times bestseller, and discredit its author. He did not follow the biblical model used in God’s Word, and would have had he reached out to Rabbi Cahn before making any public statement about the book or its author.
Instead, since that time, in concert with a small group of others who spend much of their time and expense chasing what they call “false prophets” and “false teachers” within Evangelicalism, the critics and his colleagues proceeded pall mall on a campaign of public defamation, slander, and reproach against a fellow brother of the Christian faith, as they are now doing against other Evangelicals with whom they have doctrinal differences.
In thirty-eight years of God’s grace, I witnessed discussions and taken part in debates between differing fellow Christians, and others. Always, there has been a mutual respect and deference to the other party, recognizing their worth as God’s fellow bondservants. After all, when it comes down to eternity, we are all saved the same way, and are equally accountable before God and to Him, especially we who teach His Word.
Never have I witnessed any abusive language or personal ad hominem jabs in these public discussions and debates; just each person contributing to the discussion their opinions in light of what they believed God’s Word teaches. Some of the finest examples of this are the debates between Dr. Michael Brown and Rabbi Schmuley Boteach, Dr. James White, Dr. James Waldron, Rabbi David Blumofe, and Rabbi Asher Meza.
But I have never seen anything that approaches the kind of assault that Jonathan Cahn, whom I’ve known over a period of ten years, suffered from the critic and his small group for a protracted period of over two years on radio, on the Internet, and in print.
In fact, I have never in my lifetime witnessed anyone, who after being so egregiously wrong about what someone else teaches, who after being shown through the Scriptures and given the facts, as I and several others have attempted to do with the critic, as well as with many of his colleagues; when presented with them, turn away from them, disregard them, disregard any further dialogue, and resume to continue the errors they spread previously, but only afterwards with a greater zeal, without retracting a single error, or apologizing to the offended party for the damage done to them and their ministry, or showing any sign of remorse or repentance for what they have done.
Ladies and gentlemen, nothing personal to the critic here; but I’ve seen this in the world among the prideful unregenerate when I worked in Wall Street in the 70s, but seldom if ever can I recall this type of behavior – this kind of visceral attack by a small group of professing Christians upon another member of our faith, as I have from the critic and his colleagues; Jimmy DeYoung, Gary E. Gilley, Tommy Ice and Brannon Howse. No, not in my lifetime, not ever before I witnessed it two and a half years ago from these men directed against Jonathan Cahn, and again here and now by the critic. And here, once again, we are witness to some more of the same by the same person who started it all from whom originated all manner of urban legends and false witness against Jonathan Cahn, a man I’ve personally known for over ten years. It is the critic who was and continues to be at the epicenter of the campaign mounted in 2012 by his associates, primarily based on his writings, to denounce and defame a member of their own faith.
Now, don’t misunderstand me; I have dealt very strongly – not just with the critic – but with these people, because they have not repented of this, have not retracted the lies and the slanderous unjustified comments they’ve made of Jonathan Cahn, and have not taken a single remedial action, nor made any effort to reconcile themselves with the offended party. He has not been contacted by any of them in this regard. It was only after repeated and great efforts by Jonathan Cahn at contacting them to discuss the matter – months into the controversy in 2012 – that they finally condescended to allow him to speak with a number of them. Unfortunately, rather than attempt to reach a consensus of understanding, they instead used their conversations to further hammer him on the same objections they had raised before he contacted them. So, while the critic and they may interpret what I have written about them to be harsh, they must understand that behavior such as theirs must be treated harshly because it is uncalled for, unjustified, and undignified of fellow bondservants of Jesus Christ.
SOME SOBERING OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THOSE WHO SET UP SHOOTING GALLERIES INSIDE THE CHURCH TO TARGET OTHER CHRISTIANS
Now before I conclude here, let me make this clear, I do not accuse the critic of being either a false teacher or a false prophet for mistakes he makes, he and they, like the rest of us, are only human and fallible men. One cannot accuse another of being either of these two – as the critic and his colleagues have done to Jonathan Cahn – when the facts roundly speak against it. To do so would be to do to him and his colleagues what I and many others have reproved and in some cases rebuked them of doing against Jonathan Cahn and other believers and their ministries.
The false teacher and false prophet knowingly teaches deception; the critic speaks out of his personal bias and or ignorance and his theological approach based upon these that he’s both acquired and developed with which he feels most comfortable, and is not responsible when being ignorant about some things while knowledgeable about others. However, he is rather responsible and accountable to God for not listening, and believing that the topics he writes about in these discussions he knows anything about. From what he writes here, it painfully obvious he knows nothings little about them, otherwise, he’d not waste anyone’s time arguing against events that have already taken place in precisely the order and magnitude described in Jonathan Cahn’s book, some of which I also cover in book The Truth About The Harbinger in the chapter on the Shemitah (pp. 50-55). He would not be arguing from a Hyper-Dispensationalist point of view, because he would possess a proper understanding of the topic, and of God’s redemptive plan, and how the Law fits into all this, particularly with regards to godliness and sanctification, and personal consecration before God.
There is a fundamental difference between the man who encourages and builds upon the Word of God’s grace and the one who treads to do violence against others with his mouth and his keyboard in the name of “discernment: and “contending for the fatih.” Nowhere in Scripture does it say that Christians are to contend with one another, but the contention we have is with the world, not amongst ourselves, and only those who missapply this principle, do so with great damage to their ministry, and to the ministry of others within the body of Christ. It is a difference between two worldviews – between two kingdoms – one from the cross and the other from religious men – one from Abel, who offered a better sacrifice to God, one which was accepted by God, and the other which Cain offered and was not accepted – one which is heavenly and the other which is earthy – one which comes from God and the other which comes from man – one which is from the Holy Spirit and the other which is from demonic spirits. The two can quote equally from God’s Word, but only one of the two is heavenly from the Holy Spirit of God, the other is natural and earthy, from man’s spirit and therefore vulnerable to Satanic influence in the intellect.
The great persecution which follows the great apostasy, will like the great apostasy, come from within the Church itself. In fact, it is already happening. Today we are witnessing more professing Christians attack Christian ministries – and I am not referring to the false prophets and false teachers who are now advocating Evangelicals ecumenically join with the Roman Catholic Church, or those who preach Chrislam, or the false commercialized materialistic “faith and prosperity name it and claim it” religious telemarketers on television and radio – I am referring to real genuine born again bondservants of the Lord being persecuted by these ambulance chasing heresy hunters, who spend more time looking for heresy than they do sharing the Gospel with the lost.
These people paint with a very broad brush, and cast a wide net and drag in with the false many good genuine servants of God. They have a zeal for God, but not in accordance to knowledge, for they do the body of Christ more harm than good by their irresponsible methods of false apologetics. I repeat. The great persecution which follows the great apostasy, will like the great apostasy, come from within the Church itself.
The critic is a contentious brother who has made it his objective to argue Ad nauseam and Ad infinitum as long as it contradicts the message of The Harbinger and anything else Jonathan Cahn writes or teaches. He is very nuanced and very careful here, so he does not tip his hand, but anyone familiar with his writing will readily see that he does not pull punches when writing or speaking about other Evangelical Christians, and often uses the epithet of “false prophet” or “false teacher” when referring to them. He’s careful not to use it here, because red flags would instantly go up in many discerning Christians about his real objectives in positing these criticisms against this author and his book.
But both in his polemic against The Harbinger and in his online postings and in interviews he’s given on radio, he has used this unfortunate epithet against other Evangelicals. This is nothing less than irresponsible and without merit. Anyone who attacks a member of their own faith, as these men have Jonathan Cahn, are behaving in the same way as wolves in sheep’s clothing enter the sheep pen and ravage the flock within the sheepfold. One has to ask why these critics who professes faith in Christ – and claim to be Evangelical Christians – would make a fellow Christ-bought, blood-washed Evangelical Christian – their brother in the faith – the object of their obsessive attention to be repeatedly treated as an enemy of the faith. This is not apologetics, and it is not discernment, it is out and out religious bigotry of the worse sort. It is raw, it is nasty, and it is unbiblical and not sanctioned by Scripture.
The most dangerous and damaging type of people are those who deem themselves infallible representatives of what they believe Christianity is and ought to be, and have determined themselves to be above all others; who spend their days targeting members of their own faith for having the temerity to differ with their interpretation of what “orthodoxy” is in the realm of doctrine (beyond the essential professions of the Christian Faith, such the deity and resurrection of Christ, etc.). And these people are severe in coming down anyone in the Church who digresses in the smallest detail to their standards.
Remember, these people know more than everyone else, possess the correct methods of interpretation, are flawless avatars of the doctrine of God, and have a purer theology than all others outside of their group. As such, they have appointed themselves critics of other Christian Evangelicals, and by virtue of this esteem religious pedigree and privilege they claim for themselves, they alone hold in their opinion – which the reader must remember is “flawlessly perfect” – exclusive rights, privileges, and authority to anesthetize and cut off any other Christian Evangelical who does not meet their fickle approval, but of whom they, as “doctors of Theological Correctness” disapprove – thus you have the critic and his “religious alliance.” Since Rabbi Cahn published his first book, he has become their NUMBER ONE TARGET, and the attacks against him by this group and those allied to it, have been incessant.
This is NOT the biblical norm for disagreeing ministers and theologians of God’s Word, between any of God’s children, and God does not approve of this, as the sufferings of all of His servants throughout history has proven. We have the example of the prophets of Israel, we have the example of the Apostles of Christ, especially the Apostle Paul. We have the example of Christ Himself. Why is it that in every age, there is always a small coterie within the Church and Synagogue that revels in targeting their own members for death? Today that “death” is the death of a ministry that has been savaged by others.
Remember, they know more than you do; they alone understand and teach the Scriptures correctly; they do not make mistakes; they are above reproach; they are never wrong, etc., etc. Does this sound familiar? Then you understand that history has a way of repeating itself. Every age has had religious people like this, and so it will be until the day the heavens open and the Messiah comes in His glory.
These critics have been warned several times by other Evangelicals – present company included – that they best treat these matters in a biblical manner, and discuss these things respectfully in a spirit of Christian love and amity and not contention with Jonathan Cahn, and other Christians they differ with, before rushing to judgment on topics such as these; because as farfetched as it might seem to them, there are people outside of their circle who might just possess an understanding about things they themselves lack.
I understand that to such an august body of religious intellectuals, such a possibility appears to be remote, even humanly impossible. In such cases, it behooves these critics to discuss these matters, studying them thoroughly as the Bereans did. The Bereans did not search the Scriptures to destroy other Christian ministries, but to learn and confirm what Paul told them about Jesus being the Messiah and the news of His resurrection. That is a fundamental approach that none of these critics appear to understand or even acknowledge.
Ladies and gentlemen, regarding these critics, we are witnessing Peter’s prophetic warnings he has made clear would manifest themselves in the last days. Scoffers who would question the genuine prophetic signs preceding the return of Christ, because there have been so many charlatans in history who have set dates, and according to one of them, there have been signs like blood moons throughout history. It is no different here. You have a front row seat as witnesses to this in the online expressions of these critics and revilers, mockers of this Post Modern/Post Christian age; those who reproach the brethren, the watchmen God has raised up – not the phonies out there who peddle prophecy for a buck, but the genuine watchmen; who seeing danger in the horizon, as Rabbi Cahn has done, have stepped up, taken up the shofar in their hand, and sounded the alarm to call every Jew and Christian to return to God, every non believer to call on the name of the Messiah Jesus for salvation, repenting from the heart, and bringing forth works keeping with this repentance.
When a person knowingly and willingly rejects God’s message, regardless the reason for their rejection (they don’t accept the messenger, etc.) God will release them to the demonic influence that is causing the spiritual blindness in them (Romans chapter 1). MANY but NOT ALL of these critics are the end time mockers and revilers we were warned about in Scripture, because it is they who will persecute the servants of the Most High God, and do so even now in writing; who will be used to testify against their own brethren so as to put them to death. Think I’m exaggerating this? Read Jesus’ words on this, and the Apostles’ repeated warnings. The Apostle Peter prophesied of this, when he wrote:
Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
(2Peter 3:3-9)
Now take note of what the critic writes on his own website, I quote:
If someone like these critics can do what they do and do it with glee – every day of the week and make a living from it, thinking that they are doing God a service; what makes anyone think that the same kind of people will not someday turn against those whom they now brand as heretics and false teachers and prophets? But take heart, because Jesus promised:
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
(Matthew 5:11-12)
Ladies and gentlemen, we are told in the Scriptures that we will be persecuted for our faith. It is not much of a stretch to see the day when some professing Christians will testify against other professing Christians, even we are not already seeing it in our day. We are reading it here in the writings of these critics. Someone during a period of extreme persecution (like the Holocaust and during the Soviet Era in Russia, as well as nations such as Cuba and North Korea, China, and Viet Nam, as well as many African nations) in order to save themselves from execution and send someone else in their place to their death, betrayed them and did it openly and as often as they felt they had to without any remorse, and did so repeatedly to members of their own faith. Think it through. Read the Scriptures about the end times, and verify this, because we are now beginning to see it in our day in print.
Persecution is not blunt, it is very sophisticated, it is very clever, and very convincing when arguing its justification for its reproach of another. But we are not called by the Lord to bring our brethren to open reproach, as these people do to Jonathan Cahn (and other brethren like him) and did for over a two year period on radio, in print, and on the Internet, and as can be witnessed here, continues to do without the least bit of remorse or repentance, after all, their cause is “just.” No, this is not the biblical method of conflict resolution; but we are told repeatedly in Scripture to discuss everything privately and resolve our differences as Priscilla and Aquila did with Apollos.
But unlike these critics, I have better things to do with my time than to chase anyone to see what they do, say, or write next, in order to criticize and reproach them before the bar of public opinion. I do not argue with their personal faith, I argue with their approach of public reproach of members of our own body of Christ. I have no desire to prove I know anything better than anyone else, and prefer to lead a quiet life serving the Lord in peace and sharing His redemptive plan with as many as will hear it and accept it for themselves.
These displays of religious scholastic intellectual gymnastics and parsing of words which Paul wisely admonishes us to avoid (2 Timothy 2:23-25), are exercises in futility. People like these critics do not listen. They don’t listen, because they’ve convinced themselves they know more and are holier than anyone else, and therefore believe their cause is just. You understand; they’re never wrong. So have every religious Pharisee been since before the time of Christ, and this is what He had to contend with; this is what took Him to the cross. In short; it is the most flagrant manifestation of sin that a human being can express, because it is the religious pride of man in the face of God. The religious pride of man opposes God, because it believes itself superior to His offer of grace. So it was with Cain with regards to Abel, so it has been throughout history and right down to this day.
IN CONCLUSION – A FINAL WORD ABOUT CESSATIONIST DISBELIEF-BASED THEOLOGY USED IN JUSTIFYING OUR PETTY PERSONAL UNBELIEF
The reader should take note here how the disbelieving unbelief upon which these critics in their Cessationism expresses itself – that not any part of God’s Word, which they claim is their yardstick for measuring doctrines and beliefs based on those doctrines – is cited when they present their objections, and they are left with only their own mind’s reasoning to document why they do not believe the claims made in this book.
CLAIM: PROLOGUE TO THE CRITIC’S ARTICLE AGAINST RABBI CAHN’S BOOK – Going back to the imposed-Shemitah: God's reason for linking judgment to an imposed-Shemitah upon Israel was because they had failed to observe the required Sabbath years. However, there is no biblical basis for suggesting that God would impose a Shemitah-type judgment upon any nation that was not obligated to observe the Sabbath year in the first place. Therefore, no matter what has happened to America over the last 100+ years, it cannot be linked in any biblical way to the Shemitah, even if it were true that economies tend to go through roughly seven-year cycles.
FACT: Here the critic contradicts his earlier statement regarding the Shemitah as blessing and criticizing Rabbi Cahn for pointing out how God used it during the Babylonian Exile as a curse of the Law by forcing it upon Judah for breaking the Mosaic Covenant, which we have seen from God’s Word, God said He would impose upon the people and the land were they to disobey His Law. Here the critic admits, I quote, “God's reason for linking judgment to an imposed-Shemitah upon Israel was because they had failed to observe the required Sabbath years.” So previously the critic claims that the Shemitah could not be imposed as a curse, where he writes and I quote, “..this theory is without merit on biblical grounds. Rather, the Scriptures indicate that the Shemitah was a blessing in every respect with no downside whatsoever.” Here under the same breath, the critic unwittingly agrees with the author (and contradicts himself again to make another specious argument) where he writes above and I quote, “God's reason for linking judgment to an imposed-Shemitah upon Israel was because they had failed to observe the required Sabbath years.” We see then that the critic will even contradict his own statements in order to bring additional false presumptions to his argument which have absolutely no merit whatsoever, either biblically, or contextually.
It is amusing how the critic presumes that say that the spirit of the Law does not apply outside of Israel to the Gentiles, by alluding to the Letter of the Law a standard that God’s Word does not itself ascribe to it, where the critic writes, and I quote, “However, there is no biblical basis for suggesting that God would impose a Shemitah-type judgment upon any nation that was not obligated to observe the Sabbath year in the first place.”
FACT: Arguing from this point of view, if one follows its logic, there is absolutely nothing from the Law that is applicable outside of Israel as far as the nations are concerned, so that every element from the Law which the New Testament makes use of is at risk, because it cannot be applied outside of the confines that have been carefully created by the critic in his argumentation. This is the heresy that extreme Hyper-Dispensationalism (as it is argued by the critic here) leads to. The doctrine is inconsistent and unbiblical, and can readily be seen as false just by reading the New Testament and see the use of the Law in the inspired and inerrant writings of the Evangelists and other writers.
In examining these Scriptures, the contrary opinion becomes evident in the proper use of the Law from Paul’s own inspired writings. In these writings, we see a very different opinion and use of the Law than that which the critic proposes. We begin to see the Law is extremely relevant with regards to sin in all human beings, as Paul explains how the commandments contained in the Law interact with sin – where he writes that it is the commandment contained in the Law that gives life to sin. I quote:
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
(Romans 7:7-13)
In an online article that reproduces the writings of Carl F.H. Henry taken from his book, Revelation and the Bible, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1958), pp. 137-151, we read the following which dovetails the totality of God’s Word is to be protected and defended against any and all attempts to assail it. I recommend everyone visit this website and read the entire article for themselves. I quote:
“The use of the terms “law” (John 10:34; 15:25; Romans 3:19; 1 Corinthians 14:21), or “prophets” (Matthew 13:35), where reference is made to passages belonging, strictly speaking, to other parts of the Hebrew Canon, indicates that the New Testament writers viewed the whole Old Testament Scripture as having legal authority and prophetic character.
“In their formulas of quotation the New Testament writers give expression to their conviction as to the eternal contemporaneity of Scripture. This is manifest in particular in the many (41) instances where the introductory verb is in the present: “He says,” and not “he said.” This is reinforced by the use of the pronouns “we,” “you,” in connection with ancient sayings: “That which was spoken unto you by God” (Matthew 22:31); “The Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us” (Hebrews 10:15; cf. also Matthew 15:7; Mark 7:6; 12:19; Acts 4:11; 13:47; Hebrews 12:5). This implication gains explicit statement in Romans 15:4: “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning” (cf. also Romans 4:23, 24; 1 Corinthians 9:10; 10:11).”
CLAIM: WITH THE KNOWLEDGE THEY GAIN FROM THIS BOOK, ECONOMISTS COULD RIG THE SYSTEM AND MAKE FORTUNES, THEREFORE IT HAS TO BE WRONG: If Jonathan Cahn were right about the mystery of the Shemitah, then economists almost certainly would have noticed and been writing about this precise seven-year cycle long before God "revealed" it to the author. Tremendous fortunes could have been made by savvy investors who know how to play just such market cycles. However, preliminary research indicates that while some economists have suggested that economies may naturally follow a cycle of a bit less than seven years to as much as ten years, there is no universal agreement on this point. This stands in sharp contrast to the precise seven-year Sabbath cycles in ancient Israel.
FACT: Of interest here is to ask if this critic could be kind enough to furnish us with this preliminary research of his, not the forced review he posted on his website, but the raw data. Jonathan Cahn has put together raw data and dates, this critic has not. All he offers here are platitudes towards self-promotion at the expense of another in the form of vague claims and presumptuous declarations about God. The speculative fallacy the critic employs here does not add to the discussion, but distract from it, and is nothing but a collection of obfuscation designed to turn the reader away from the facts contained the book, and redirect them to the critic’s forced interpretation of it. In doing this, the critic desires to replace, as he tried to do with Rabbi Cahn’s previous work, the clear narrative of the book with one of his own, the purpose of which is to discredit what Rabbi Cahn says. The critic just doesn’t simply disagree with Rabbi Cahn, he claims that Rabbi Cahn is in error and mishandling God’s Word. This is the purpose, but upon closer inspection from God’s Word, the critic’s arguments fall flat, because all he offers us, as he has done before, are claims without evidence to support them. Where is the evidence? Present the evidence, and present it from God’s Word, not from mere arguments.
CLAIM: THE US ECONOMY HAS CYCLED 11 TIMES SINCE WWII: us economy cycle 1948 to 2012 Since World War 2, we've already had 11 recessions. And if you go back another hundred years, you'll see the same pattern. Those dates in red show the bottom of each recession. Now look: how far they spaced apart? Would you agree: another recession is inevitable? It's only a matter of when. In the past, recessions occurred at intervals of 7-10 years (barring a few that came a little quicker).
FACT: It is interesting that here the critic attempts to discredit the raw data by affirming it. This indicates that he is quite capable of using any means to hone in his argument and trash the book. The ends justify the means. This is not intellectually honest, nor is it ethical. It may be employed in a debate between two secular authors, but it is unacceptable among Evangelical Christians. It is duplicitous.
CLAIM: THIS CONTINUAL CYCLING IS PREDICTABLE, LIKE HURRICANE SEASON IN THE CARIBBEAN: It's almost like summer hurricanes in the Caribbean. We know they're going to happen. We just don't know when and where exactly. Fortunately, we've developed a good system of hurricane warnings.
FACT: Dittos. But there are flukes where the hurricanes do not come in their season, such as this past season. One recent headline on The Drudge Report reads, 3,230 Days: Record Hurricane Drought Continues.... So we are witnessing a season that is currently the exception to the proverbial rule. The same can be said about The Shemitah, if we repent, and turn to God, and I refer here to God’s people who should be leading the nation now in this effort, not the vast number of unregenerate unbelievers who do not know their right hand from their left, and are clueless as to what’s going on with this economy, this nation, and this government.
Here are some of the recent headlines on The Drudge Report, which bear witness that there is something seriously occurring in this nation that is of biblical proportions.
Widespread power outages...
State of Emergency Declared...
Woman Killed By Piece Of Falling Gargoyle Outside Chicago Church...
100+ Quakes Following Napa Jolt...
CLAIM: Obviously economic cycles of some duration are inevitable because bull markets don't last forever and neither do bear markets. And that economic cycles might generally have some average length is not necessarily surprising. However, to conclude that the mystery of the Shemitah is behind these, when the Shemitah cycle is exactly seven years, but the length of the modern cycles varies by as much as three years or more just defies common sense.
FACT: Arguing as the critic does above is like saying, “I know that by a certain hour of today, the sun will set and it will be evening. So I must await the inevitable arrival of this pattern of sunset and sunrise, sunset and sunrise. And on and on and on it goes.” Well, yes; on and on and on it has gone, as documented in the book, and on and on and on it will continue to go according to God’s pre-ordained redemptive plan.
The claim made above by the critic is pure absurdity. He does not present, as Rabbi Cahn has in his book, specific examples as evidence in support of this argument. It must be summarily dismissed as nothing but an opinion without any foundation in fact, because it lacks evidence to support it. Let us continue.
CLAIM: All of this raises many questions of which the following are just a few: How is it possible that God has not been imposing Shemitah judgments upon Israel and the Jewish people for two millennia, when they are the only ones ever obligated to observe the Shemitah year?
FACT: This rhetorical question assumes that God has not been imposing a two thousand Shemitah on the land of Israel, when in fact the topographical evidence points to the contrary. For two thousand years, the land that God had given exclusively to Israel through the Abrahamic Covenant has lied uncultivated and untilled and uncared for. In fact, according to Mark Twain, when he visited it, he said it was nothing but a malaria-infested swamp. The critic makes broad claims and huge assumptions without foundation and presents absolutely no evidence in support of these. Here he assumes while the Jewish people suffered two millennial exile, that God had not imposed by force (as He did during the Babylonian Exile), the Shemitah upon the land. Here too, in the rush to criticize the book and discredit its author, the critic denies reality once more, and uses another non-sequitur to deny the reality of a land that has not been cared for in two thousand years! The sad fact was it was only when the modern State of Israel was founded in 1948 that the land began to be cared for and tilled by the returning Jewish exiles who began to populate the region. Today Israel is a modern marvel.
CLAIM: Why is it that, while ignoring Israel's ongoing failure to keep the Sabbath year, the Lord has been using seven-year Shemitah cycles as warnings or judgments upon America over the last 100 years or so, even though the United States has no obligation to observe the Shemitah
With no scriptural reason for anyone to think that the mystery of the Shemitah might be influencing America's economy, how could it possibly be considered to be a biblical warning?
FACT: The charge of “no scriptural support” is one the critic often makes without providing the least bit of evidence to prove his assertion. It is neither based on biblical fact, because he has not cited the Scripture in support of such a charge, nor presented the evidence for making it; and in fact is nothing but the critic’s personal opinion which he should have reworded as such. Lacking any evidence for the claim, this personal opinion of this critic has no merit to this discussion.
CLAIM: If the mystery of the Shemitah affects the world, does this mean that every country experiences the same seven-year economic cycles, or is it that only America suffers when even Israel does not?
FACT: This is another non-sequitur made by this critic, because he has lacked any evidence to support such a claim presented here as a rhetorical question. Rhetorical questions are by nature simply a statement posed as a question that challenges an opposing premise that is made in leue of any evidence that supports such a challenge. This also has no merit in this discussion, because the evidence to support it is not presented by the challenger making it.
CLAIM: If the mystery of the Shemitah is always at work, then how can it be determined when God is issuing a warning and when He is not?
FACT: This question is purposely designed to be circular in nature while insinuating that God is not issuing a warning, an awfully big claim for a so-called conservative Evangelical such as this critic. It is a tricky manner of posing another rhetorical question while cleverly masquerading a claim of denial regarding what is being questioned while avoiding the need to present evidence to support such a claim against it. Cunning, mischievously cunning, and intellectually dishonest and not in the least biblical.
CLAIM: If there are no cataclysmic events connected to a particular Shemitah cycle, does that mean God is pleased with the way things are going?
FACT: Another rhetorical circular question purposely designed to throw off the reader by making another claim against what the critic does not believe God does by presumes to ask rhetorically that if God delays or relents to exact judgment upon a nation or people in His sovereign grace, does such an act indicate that – I quote – “God is pleased with the way things are going?” The answer is in Scripture itself, not in man’s presumptive reasoning of what he believes God does or does not do. God, who knows the end from the beginning, anticipates such presumptuous questioning of His judgments, and through the inspired pen of the Psalmist has provided the answer to the age old question the nations have asked regarding Him, just as this critic does here. I quote:
Why should the nations say,
“Where, now, is their God?”
But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.
(Psalm 115:2-3)
One common strain about the reasoning behind this critic and all of his writings is that he presumes to say that God no longer acts as He does in Scripture and as He has throughout history. And this critic, like the others, makes bold claims for God on His behalf that there is not the least bit shred of biblical evidence for, while projecting the same to those he and they target for their criticism.
CLAIM: What is it that determines that one economic cycle might be six and a half years, while another might be eight years-and why are they not always exactly seven years so that a precise pattern might be recognized by serious believers who know the Bible well?
FACT: This is another loaded circular rhetorical questioned cleverly disguising statistics as though they were facts without providing the least bit of evidence to support it. The critic presents non-existent metrics to bolster an argument without presenting any facts to support it, whereas The Mystery of The Shemitah provides one historical pattern after another – actual events and dates from one end of the book to the other. Where are the historical dates and statistics provided by the critic? Nowhere. There is the rhetorical claim made by him here without the least shred of evidence. This is a repetitive method this critic uses to cleverly argue against something he does not understand and denies.
CLAIM: Furthermore, although Israel was to be blessed by the Shemitah through God's faithful provision, according to Cahn's theory, America has experienced nothing but judgment related to the Shemitah. Once again, none of this makes any sense from a biblical or logical perspective.
FACT: The statement the critic makes above is selective cherry picking. Nowhere does the author’s book claim that America has exclusively experienced nothing but judgment related to the Shemitah, but at its founding as its early settlers and founders as God’s Christian covenant (New Covenant) people covenanted to establish their communities and a new society according to the standards contained in God’s Word, God blessed their efforts and caused the nation founded on this land to be the most prosperous, most powerful and blessed Gentile nation in history, and like Israel is today to its people and all who love freedom, so was and is America to all who yearn to live free. When American turned from this, as it did with slavery, God brought the Civil War between the states as His remedial judgment against her for the sins of its people. When America became involved in a global alliance with the British Empire, and financed the Bolshevik Revolution as it fought its own wars in two fronts, as well as “making the world safe for ‘democracy’” – as part of a new alliance, only a few short years later, Hitler appeared to bring the world to war. But in all of these things, God had His plan for His people and by 1948 a new nation was conceived in one day; the modern State of Israel. Post-War America became fat and complacent and spoiled. The degeneration began with the IRS tax exempt compromise America’s churches made with the government with the passing of the infamous Johnson Law. Ten years later, school prayer was removed, ten years after that abortion was litigated into law through the Supreme Court’s infamous decision in Roe versus Wade; and on and on it has progressed, until today our beloved nation is nothing but a fading shadow of what it once was. The Shemitah in the past 150 years has come to America as it did to Israel and as it has to every nation that has flaunted the principles codified in God’s Law.
Additionally, Rabbi Cahn’s book clearly delineates between the biblical Shemitah used by God as a blessing and the incidents where it has been used by God as judgment, and cites the relevant Scriptures as historical empirical evidence in support of this argument. Where is the critic’s biblical evidence to the contrary? As is with his other arguments, he posits none, because there are none. These are nothing but purposeful willing sophistries and nothing more.
CLAIM: And finally, as noted previously: The Shemitah, being a Sabbath year and an integral part of the Law of Moses, was completely fulfilled in Christ and is no longer in operation (even it actually did affect other nations prior to the Cross).
FACT: The critic often contradicts himself, as he does above. He spends much time arguing against the Shemitah affecting nations other than Israel, while here he tacitly admits that it has (and continues) to affect all the nations of the earth, because all one has to do is read books within God’s Word that prophecy of the various judgments which will befall mankind before Christ’s return to realize that all of these will still be at play right down to the taking up of God’s people and the return of Jesus Christ to planet earth in glory. For the critic to argue this point in order to oppose the author is to argue against what God’s Word clearly says about the end of the days, the last days, which we are now living. It is senseless. And it is senseless because, all claims aside to the contrary, the theology that drives the argument is not a biblical argument; it is a pure invention of man. Christ fulfilled the Law, He did not abolish it (Matthew 5:17), and Paul asks rhetorically, Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law. (Romans 3:31) But when Paul argues for righteousness found in God’s grace apart from the Law, he is not abolishing the law, but affirming the faith that has now come apart from the Law and the Prophets – from another covenant – the New Covenant at the cross, and writes, I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” (Galatians 2:21) Paul is not arguing for the annulment or abolishment of any part of God’s Word, but that God Himself has imputed His Son’s righteousness to us, has provided – God’s indwelling Holy Spirit in us (Luke 11:13, Acts 5:32), has washed and regenerated us by His blood (Matthew 26:28, Hebrews 9:11-14, 22), and renews our mind (Colossians 3:10) – Jew and Gentile alike (Colossians 3:11); all products of this magnificent redemption of us unto salvation (Ephesians 1:3-7), because He has taken away our sin (1John 3:5) and removed it far from us, as far as east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). East and west do not meet, they go in opposite directions. The Law, as divine as it was and continues to be, could not do these things, but was a mere promise of a shadow of them; bearing witness of them from afar, yet also bearing witness of our sin and our guilt before God. The sweeping theological statements, such as those posited by the critic, are the result of a misunderstanding of fundamental concepts that are at work within the redemptive work of God in us as He continues to work His purpose in every nation under heaven, having begun with Israel, continuing to every nation and tongue, with His redemptive wheel turning full circle back to His resurrected nation, Israel, and His people, the Jewish people. Many Christians and Christian theologians struggle understanding this in its biblical essence.
FACT: When John the Baptist exclaimed to his followers as he saw the Lord Jesus approach, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” , he was referring to that part of the Mosaic Law that had established the Pascal Lamb of the Passover – a unique Hebrew Feast (Exodus 12) that Israel was told to observe on precise a Hebrew day at twilight, or as it means literally in the Hebrew “between evenings,” I quote:
“‘These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.’”
(Leviticus 23:4-6)
So Moses told the sons of Israel to observe the Passover. They observed the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did. But there were some men who were unclean because of the dead person, so that they could not observe Passover on that day; so they came before Moses and Aaron on that day.
(Numbers 9:4-6)
The people of Israel commemorated their ancestral deliverance from the bondage of Egyptian slavery imposed over them centuries before, now taking its full significance and meaning and fulfillment in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Take note, the Evangelist in the Johannine Gospel draws from the Law of Moses this unique command of God, specific to that celebration and Midrashically applies it to the crucifixion of Jesus at the cross, where he writes, and I quote:
“In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight, they shall observe it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover they shall observe it. But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet neglects to observe the Passover, that person shall then be cut off from his people, for he did not present the offering of the Lord at its appointed time. That man will bear his sin.
(Numbers 9:1-13)
John applies a Midrash to this part of the Law of Moses in the following manner to show its literal fulfillment in an event he was an eye-witness to; an event that bears absolutely no literal resemblance to the passage described in the Book of Numbers the Ninth Chapter; an event (the crucifixion) where there is no literal lamb that is being eaten in a literal meal in a literal home someplace, only within the place where God has chosen to place His name (Deuteronomy 16:4-6) – Jerusalem, celebrated only by Jews once a year in the month of Nisan, commencing on a specific day in a specific fashion for seven days hence, as described within this codified Mosaic Law given exclusively to Israel (as the critic is fond of reminding us) . I quote:
Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
(John 19:31-37)
From this one incident that John beheld, the Holy Spirit gave him insight into the witness of the Law of Moses (Numbers 9:12) and the Prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 12:10), which he applied Midrashically to those two passages from the Hebrew Bible to the event he bears witness to in his Gospel narrative. Hyper-Dispensationalism would condemn such use of the Old Testament as it does to The Mystery of the Shemitah. This type of dichotomy placed on God’s Word is nothing but a Post Modern Hyper-Dispensational Twenty-First Century Theological Contrivance in order to discredit somebody else’s literary work that is reaching hundreds of thousands for Christ.
It is in the context of John’s Gospel drawing from the Law of Moses, that John the Baptist made his exclamation about Jesus being “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” But note, John DID NOT SAY, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of Israel,” but “BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD (FROM A HEBREW FEAST THAT ONLY ISRAELITES COMMEMORATE GIVEN ONLY TO ISRAEL UNDER THE MOSAIC LAW) WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD!” This is the proper application of Torah to fulfillment, not the extreme theologies development from fundamental misunderstandings and Gentile Anti-Semitism having old roots in Supersessionism that crept into parts of the Protestant Reformation, now finding new life in extreme Hyper-Dispensational Theology – although the critic has not realized this aspect to it.
CLAIM: CONTEXT IS THE ONLY THING IN UNDERSTANDING A BIBLICAL PASSAGE: Discernment Tip: Context isn't the main thing-it's the only thing. Always take care to understand any passages cited to support a given point in their original context. Of course there is the literary context of the text itself, which includes the verses leading up to and following the passage being considered. However, just as important is the historical context, which includes the author, the recipients, the time period in history and various cultural factors.
FACT: The statement made above is true. But what does one apply it to a parable? To metaphors and types? To thematic examinations of entire passages of Scripture where the history is not being discussed so much as the application of the passage to a given personal situation where God speaks directly to that situation, and what He is saying has nothing to do with the literal, grammatical, and historical application of Scripture; for example in such situations as the didactic and epistolarian application of such a given passage to address a situation?
In such cases the literal context and content of such a passage bears little or no resemblance to the situation it is being used for, intended to teach a certain moral code or behavior to address it. Christians will often cite a passage of Scripture which jumped at them from their Bibles which God used to speak directly to a personal matter. But I cite this here by way of illustration and not to say that God’s Word is to be used in this manner for teaching doctrine, but rather that the potential God’s Word possesses is limitless. God’s Word has many applications. When taught as history, one must follow the literal, grammatical, and historical context and not read into its content something that is not there. But when used to teach object lessons, the historical content and context of the passage is not being studied for its history, but for its thematic lessons applied to a specific situation applicable because of the object lesson given addresses directly a matter of personal import to the individual. Only God’s Word has that kind of power and authority. That is why the writer to the Letter to the Hebrews describes it in this manner. I quote:
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
(Hebrews 4:12)
CLAIM: ONLY ISRAEL WAS GIVEN THE REVELATION AND COMMANDMENTS CONCERNING THE SABBATH YEARS THROUGH MOSES: In the case of the Shemitah, the historical context is supremely important. The revelation and commandments concerning the Sabbath years were given specifically and exclusively to the nation of Israel. They were the recipients of the revelation given to the author who is Moses.
FACT: The critic forgets the purpose that God gave His revelation to Israel and the purpose Israel came into being; was so that His nation would bless the entire human race as protectors and keepers of the living oracles of God (Act 7:38), and with the progressive revelation of the prophets of Israel (see immediately below), the image of the Coming One – the Messiah, Blessed be He – the Lord Jesus Christ, would make His appearance to His people for whom they needed to be prepared by these writings and declarations made long before His appearance. And the significance of this appearance and of Israel’s to those who would come after. For the Scripture says:
As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.
(1Peter 1:10-12)
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;
You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
For the heart of this people has become dull,
With their ears they scarcely hear,
And they have closed their eyes,
Otherwise they would see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart and return,
And I would heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
(Matthew 13:10-16)
Indeed, the Gospels and the Pastoral Letters of the New Testament bear witness from the Hebrew Scriptures in their totality of the Messiah and God’s redemptive plan through Him for the human race (Matthew 24:27, John 13:18, 19:28) right down to the things which would transpire and what people would do before they happened (Matthew 26:56), without which there would be absolutely no point of reference either for Israel or the nations (Romans 16:26, Galatians 3:8)! This the critic forgets when he presumptuously argues against God’s use of His own standards codified in His own Law regarding judgment and redemption; Israel and the nations. He totally forgets this.
In fact, it is in the totality of the Hebrew Scriptures – Torah, meaning "Teaching", the Pentateuch (meaning five) – also identified as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im – "the Prophets,” and Ketuvim – “the Writings" — thus called the “TaNaKh” – also called "Miqra" which literally means "that which is read” – when properly read and understood through the indwelling Holy Spirit; that divine revelation into the God’s Word is possible because it is imparted by the indwelling Spirit of God. Without the Holy Spirit-led study of God’s Word, and using just raw human intellect, Eisegetical errors become a serious danger to contend with and are commonplace. This finds its expression when such attempts are made by even Christians (such as this critic does here) in applying Eisegetically-based Hyper-Dispensational Deistic argumentations presented as correct theology and doctrine. For the Christian, it is a willful choice how they approach this; by natural intellect or in the anointing of the indwelt Holy Spirit, but it is a choice.
CLAIM: THE SHEMITAH LAWS WERE GIVEN EXCLUSIVELY TO A SPECIFIC PEOPLE AND WERE LIMITED TO A PERIOD OF TIME WITH A CLEAR BEGINNING AND ENDING: Furthermore, the period in history was the era of the Law of Moses, which extended from the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai in the middle of the 14th century B.C. to Christ's death on the cross around A.D. 30. So, the Shemitah laws were given exclusively to a specific people, during a limited period of with a clear beginning and ending, with no indication whatsoever that there was an underlying mystery affecting the nation or that God would use a mystery of the Shemitah when dealing with any other nation but Israel.
FACT: This is a pure Hyper-Dispensationist Fallacy. Were any of the writers of the New Testament to use this argument and apply it to the Law or the Prophets, or any other part of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible), we would have no New Testament today, because there would not be a single application under this man-invented rule the critic presents here, that would allow anything to be learned or applied to the events which have transformed our lives.
FACT: The cross itself would have absolutely no basis outside of Israel for the Gentiles; who were not given the sacrificial system, were not given the Law upon which that sacrificial system was based, were not given the worship of God as the Israelites were given under the Abrahamic Covenant, which God made exclusively with Israel and with no other nation under the Mosaic Covenant codified in the Law; and giving us from the Law ample examples of the divine architecture of heaven in the building of the sanctuary and regulations of worship (Hebrews 9), we can go on and on from there. I’ll repeat this and cannot overstress it enough, without these elements contained within the Law, there would be absolutely no point of reference for anyone to the value and efficacy of Messiah’s death on the cross of Calvary for us. So, it is not limited to one nation, or to one era, but it has great significance to this day, because of the Messiah who has come to fulfill it. Yet there are many aspects of it in its fall Feasts that are yet to be fulfilled Eschatologically, therefore much of the Law still in several aspects are still at play. It is fallacious to argue against this reality as the critic does.
FACT: This is pure Hyper-Dispensational heresy being taught as mainline “Christian” doctrine. Hyper-Dispensationalism may use Christian terms because those who promote it are themselves from within the Dispensational faction in the Church, but its extreme interpretations of Scripture is the antithesis of sound Christian doctrine and does a great disservice to Dispensational Theology. No self-respecting Dispensationalist would agree to it, just as they would not agree to Dual Covenant Theology, another extreme expression of Hyper-Dispensational Theology.
FACT: The critic’s argument falls flat from there, because it is based on the fabrication the critic himself sets up as his own law to apply to the premise of the author’s book. In doing this, he argues against the entire writings of the New Testament, because it is filled with citations it uses as hallmark of the Christian Faith applicable not only to Israel, but to the nations as well. Therefore we read Paul writing, not in the intellect and religious reasoning of men, but in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, who does not contradict itself, for Scripture cannot be broken; the following:
You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
(2Timothy 3:14-17)
CLAIM: AMERICA DESERVES JUDGMENT, BUT JONATHAN CAHN’S BOOK IS BIBLICALLY FLAWED: SUMMARY: The Mystery of the Shemitah has significant problems that should give pause to anyone who takes the Word of God seriously. While America is definitely deserving of God's judgment and a call to repentance is definitely in order, the foundational premise of this book is biblically flawed from the outset. The Shemitah (Jewish Sabbath year) was an obligation given specifically and exclusively to the nation of Israel and there is no biblical support whatsoever for the idea that God would either require the Shemitah year of any other nation or that He would impose a Shemitah-type judgment on a seven-year cycle on any nation, including the nation of Israel. Furthermore, none of the assertions and fact-claims in the book concerning economic trends and financial statistics is documented whatsoever, raising the question of exactly where did the author get any of his information. The burden of proof for such assertions should never be on the reader if an author is to be taken seriously.
FACT: While I must objectively agree with critic’s objection here about the lack of documentation in Pastor and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s book, The Mystery of the Shemitah, but I disagree with his premise that the book in his words, “has significant problems that should give pause to anyone who takes the Word of God seriously.” Allow me to explain why. This critic is known for throwing these statements out there, but without anything to offer as evidence for his assertions. He is free to make such claims as often as he likes, but one would wish he would present some solid biblical evidence in support of what he says. He does not. He only argues the point, leaves it there, and goes on to the next. I do not know what is more insulting; that he would do this, or that he expects us to accept what he claims against Rabbi Cahn’s well-researched and compelling book at face value. Please spare us.
Additionally, the objection to the “lack of documentation,” in other words, the source of the graphs and data compiled, organized, described, and explained in Rabbi Cahn’s book, The Mystery of the Shemitah, is what the critic complains about here, because it’s not that he wants to know where Rabbi Cahn got his information – that goes without saying – the reason he brings this up is in order to present an objection to the book; any objection will do, as long as it is an objection. Were Rabbi Cahn to present to him his source/s, instantly there is no doubt in my mind, that the critic would scour the Internet, travel the world, and inquire in the most unlikely places, any scrap of what in his mind would be “evidence” to contradict the information in order to discredit The Mystery of the Shemitah. Although this is a valid objection, it is not at the heart of what this critic opposes Rabbi Cahn’s book. There is a lot of history behind his objections and much personal bias involved in it against the author by this critic. I have followed this critic and others like him for two years, and there is more to this objection than what he presents here.
Long before Jonathan Cahn wrote his books, I spent over thirty-five years studying Biblical Eschatology as well as Biblical History and Biblical Archeology, independently of Rabbi Cahn’s teachings and long ago reached the same conclusion Abraham Lincoln reached in his reading of the Bible; and for that manner, almost every statesman we have ever had, all of whom, in one form or another, bear witness either in their private journals, personal correspondence with associates and family members, or in their public statements that “the judgments of the Lord are just,”, and we have ample illustrations by way of examples throughout the Scriptures, in both testaments, that God does not deal with unjust weights and unjust measures regarding His nation or the nations of the earth; nor does He with individuals, but what He requires of one, He does of the other. If this were not the case, then we would not preach the Gospel, which is calling all men everywhere to repentance and salvation in Christ. It is the cross that is at the epicenter of history, and God’s redemptive plan in it precedes history.
Because of this, I readily recognized a biblical principle, contested by the critic over an of semantics, that Jonathan Cahn teaches, which reflect the biblical template of remedial warnings, or judgments as Abraham Lincoln called them, followed additional remedial judgments – or harbingers as Rabbi Cahn calls them – increasing in frequency and severity with each ignored warning, until a nation either repents (as the Ninevites did with one warning), or continues in its demise into total self-destructive depravity towards its extinction by God’s judgment for its sins.
FACT: Jonathan Cahn is biblically correct where he writes of two of what he calls “keys” to understanding these remedial judgments or warnings, which he calls “harbingers,” which I call elements – two keys or essential elements in recognizing the judgments of God. He describes it thusly. I quote:
“The mystery of The Harbinger reveals an ancient template of national judgment now replaying in modern America. This template reveals a specific progression from the moment of the nation’s first shaking in the form of an enemy strike, to the day of its destruction. Two of the keys involved in this progression are these:
1. “If the nation rejects the first shaking and warning it of judgment, there will come another, and another, until the nation either returns to God or descends into the full end of judgment.
2. ‘“The Isaiah 9:10 Effect’ – The attempt of a nation to defy the course of its judgment, apart from repentance, will, instead, set in motion a chain of events to bring about the very calamity it sought to avert.”
(Jonathan Cahn, The Mystery of the Shemitah, pp. 136-137, Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Group, 2014, Lake Mary, Florida)
In his prophetically powerful little book, titled, A Prophetic Manifesto, this is how Dr. David R. Reagan describes what Rabbi Cahn is writing about in his own words. I quote:
The Steps to Destruction
“The first chapter of Romans reveals how God deals with a rebellious nation. He will step back, lower the hedge of protection and allow evil to flourish. The first result of this action will be the outbreak of a sexual revolution which occurred in this nation in the 1960’s (Romans 1:24-25)
“If the nation refuses to repent, God will take a second step back, lower the hedge again, and a plague of homosexuality will be unleashed (Romans 1:26-27). That happened in our nation in the 1980’s, and it accelerated in the 1990’s.
“If the nation continues in its sin with no sign of repentance, God will step back a third time, lower the hedge again, and the society will be delivered over to a “depraved mind” that will result in its destruction (Romans 1:28-32).
“The time has come for God to deliver us over to a depraved mind — to deliver us from judgment to destruction. We have reached the point of no return, which is identified by the biblical prophets as the point where “the wound cannot be healed” (Jeremiah 30:12, Micah 1:9, and Nahum 3:19).
Our Prophetic Type
“Only one other nation in history has been as blessed as ours, and that was ancient Judah. Like us, they rebelled against the God who had blessed them so richly. And as with us, God sent prophets to call them to repentance. When they refused, He hammered them with remedial judgments.
“When they persisted in their rebellion, God delivered them from judgment to destruction, allowing the Babylonians to conquer them and take them away from their homeland into captivity. The fate of Judah prompted two of the saddest verses in the Bible:
Part 1: The Death of America 17
“The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy.
(2 Chronicles 36:15-16)
“We may experience a temporary revival, as ancient Judah did when the righteous king Josiah succeeded the monster king Manasseh (2 Chronicles 34-35). But when Josiah was killed, the nation plunged right back into spiritual darkness and soon ceased to exist (2 Chronicles 36). Evil had simply become too ingrained in the fabric of the nation.
“Like ancient Judah, our fate is sealed. Our collapse will be just as sudden and overwhelming. Why should God treat us any differently? We can be assured that He will not.”
(Dr. David R. Reagan, A Prophetic Manifesto, pp. 16-17, Lamb & Lion Ministries, McKinney, Texas, May, 2012)
Dr. Charles A. Clough, Th.M, M.S. is cited by White House correspondent Bill Koenig on how the principles which govern God’s standards as codified in the Mosaic Law given to Israel as its Constitution at Sinai as it embarked upon its journey to possess is inheritance as a nation, governs the patterns of judgment in human history. As it is with all things; it begins with Israel, but it ends with the nations; this is the biblical pattern of God’s redemptive plan in human history and it is the pattern of His judgments which fall into that plan. (Acts 17:26-28, Romans 2:9-16)
God’s Pattern of Judgment
Meteorologist and Bible teacher Charles A. Clough, Th.M, M.S. gives us his insights in the article below. For more information on Charles, click here for his bio.
“The proper way to understand prophecies of catastrophes is to follow the apostle Peter’s approach and look at the true record of God’s past historical judgments (2 Pet. 3:5-7). [Emphasis added.]
“This says, “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” (2 Pet. 3:5-7, KJV, emphasis added)
“The most catastrophic judgment ever to befall mankind is the flood of Noah’s day which radically altered the planet and which is used in Scripture to illustrate God’s future end-time judgments (Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27).
“The flood judgment had a specific pattern:
“1. The judgment came suddenly (Gen. 7:11), but only after a period of grace (Gen. 6:1-8).
“2. It involved the total physical environment in the heavens and earth in ways previously unobserved (Gen. 6:17, 2 Pet. 2:5-6).
“3. It surgically and precisely separated the saved from the lost (Gen. 6:18-21, 2 Pet. 2:5-9).
“4. It included specific and geopolitical phenomena that manifested God’s glory in a supernatural fashion (Ps. 29:3, Gen. 8:1; Ezek. 1:28; Rev. 4:3, Gen. 9:13-16).
“God continued the pattern of judgment throughout the subsequent history of Israel.
“The Lords past judgments are a pattern and model for future judgments
“The judgment pattern is an inherent feature of God’s rule as explained in the Mosaic Covenant (Lev. 26 and Deut. 28). It is the Biblical answer to the problem of evil. God’s determination to deal with the consequences of the fall was not only for Israel but for the nations (Deut. 30:7; 32:43; Isa. 34).
“The Old Testament prophets announced coming judgments within previous judgment patterns.
“Their prophecies of future judgment, therefore, used the vocabulary of these past judgments (Isa. 10:26; 11:15; 28:21; 29:6; Zech. 14:4-8).
“The New Testament continues the Old Testament view that God judges with awesome power. Jesus and the apostle John repeat familiar prophetic language of unprecedented physical judgments accompanied by Theophanies (Matt. 24:29-30; Rev. 16:18). [Emphasis added.]
“The online dictionary Theopedia explains that a theophany is “an explicit appearance of God to a person. In a sense, the story of Jesus on Earth is one long theophany (John 14:9), but the term is generally reserved for dramatic, short-lived, supernatural experiences of God [emphasis added].”
“The same fire, smoke, hail, thunder, plague and earthquake of the Old Testament judgments once against appear in Revelation 6-18.
“God’s past judgments thus model his future judgments. [Emphasis added.]
The following is how God’s Word describes it. I quote:
“At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.
(Jeremiah 18:7-10)
This principle of repentance following a harbinger – a remedial judgment – a warning from God – which God honors is illustrated beautifully in the Book of Jonah. Although Nineveh was not given a choice; it was not told to repent or die, but it was given a warning that in forty days it would face God’s judgment. Here is the account as the Scriptures have recorded for us:
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
(Jonah 3:1-4)
Destruction was eminent and there appeared on its surface as there was nothing for these people to do but await what appeared to be their fate – destruction and death for their sins. After all, this was a foreign nation without a covenant with God and with no Law given by Him to speak of. What could they expect, but eminent judgment? They knew of no prior precedent where the God of the Hebrews, to their knowledge, spared anyone outside of Israel, especially after being given a prophetic death sentence with no recourse for repentance and salvation.
According to the mindset and thinking of The Harbinger’s critics, under such circumstances and for this reason alone, there was nothing to do but await death. There was no reason for these people to accept the word of a Hebrew prophet, because they had no covenant with his God, and no Law by His God to govern them, and therefore no pact with the God of the Israelites, a conquered people under their iron rule. They had every reason to believe that the God of the Hebrews had abandoned them, and that they (the Assyrians) now had His favor.
In the mind of The Harbinger’s critics, there was absolutely no reason that God should have any regard for these people and impose on them any of His standards codified under His Law given to His nation – Israel. After all, this is what they argue about even regarding Solomon’s prayer in Deuteronomy 7:14, and other extreme form of Hyper-Dispensationalism.
In fact, according to their reasoning, as expressed by these critics of Rabbi Cahn, the Mosaic Law had no legal jurisdiction over them or any other nation but only Israel, and therefore there would be absolutely no reason for God to send one of His prophets to deliver to these Gentiles a rebuke regarding something that according to Paul in Romans when sin, takes its opportunity through the commandment to produce in these Gentiles every kind of behavior God’s Law considers a violation of such commandments contained within the Law; for apart from the Law sin is dead. Yet, sin took its opportunity to give life to the commandment contained in that Law, and it (sin) brought God’s judgment on this Gentile nation, just as it did to God’s people who had such a Law both codified and given to them at the onset of the Mosaic Covenant. (Romans 7:4-13)
Yet this people who had no prior knowledge of God, who did not read the Scriptures of the Hebrews, who had no existing covenant with God, and who worshipped false gods of their own; was visited by a Hebrew prophet with a word from God. This word, compelled its citizenry to repent of sin in sackcloth and ashes. Here is the account as the Word of God gives it:
Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”
(Jonah 3:5-9)
And God (who heals on the Sabbath, who Himself rested of all work on the seventh day from creation) Himself set this precedent for the day He codified it into His Law, and Whose universal principles of grace apply to every nation under heaven – overlooked the sins of idolatry committed in ignorance at that time (Acts 17:30), and in His forbearance, God passed over their sins (Romans 3:25) – relented and spared the capital city of the Assyrian Empire (Jonah 3), because God is not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2Peter 3:9). This is how the biblical narrative describe what God did when these heathens turned to Him:
When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
(Jonah 3:10)
So God called out to these people with His prophet – a people without His Law to speak of, yet here they demonstrated the keeping of the Law, as Paul writes, by exhibiting from every person – from the greatest to the least – the Law of God through their sincere repentance of sin, and humbling that few Christian Evangelicals today – yes, us – even display in our dealings with God and with one another, and towards outsiders.
It is clear about the judgments of God with regards to all nations – in keeping with His standards which do not change from nation to nation – for it says:
Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.
(Proverbs 14:34)
Time and again, we see throughout the Hebrew Bible, examples of these, all of them nations both blessed and judged by the God of Israel, who had no covenant with Him, had no law to speak about, and were as it Paul describes them in this way:
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. (Ephesian 2:12). But what does the Scriptures declare? I quote:
Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
(1Corinthians 10:11)
And:
For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you.
(2Thessalonians 3:7)
And the Apostle Paul continues, writing:
not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example
(2Thessalonians 3:9)
And the Apostle Peter writes:
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps
(1Peter 1 Peter 2:21)
CLAIM: JONATHAN CAHN BUILDS UPON THE CONCEPTS HE INTRODUCED IN THE HARBINGER: In this book, Jonathan Cahn builds on concepts he presented in The Harbinger, particularly those in the chapter titled in that book.
BACKGROUND: In the Law of Moses, God required that his people, the Children of Israel, cease from their work on the seventh or Sabbath day of each week. During the time that they were in the wilderness, God provided a double-portion of manna on the 6th day each week, so that they would not have to work on the Sabbath, even if it only meant gathering food for that day.
In addition to the Sabbath day, the Lord also instructed them to observe a Sabbath year, during which the Israelites were to allow the land to rest from planting and harvesting. And not only was it an agrarian cycle, but it was also an economic cycle as lenders were required to forgive or "release" (the meaning of Shemitah) borrowers from the obligation of repaying their debts. In order to prevent the collapse of Israel's economy and to provide for their need for food during the entire seventh year, God actually tripled the harvest in the sixth year to carry them through.
However, over time, as the Israelite men disobeyed the Law concerning marrying wives from the other nations where idolatry and the worship of false gods was practiced, these foreign wives brought their idolatrous practices and pagan worship into the nation of Israel. The result was that the worship of the one true God was abandoned and the Law of Moses was largely ignored. Consequently, Israel failed to observe the Sabbath year for 70 cycles - meaning a period of 490 years.
In judgment against this pervasive sin, God used the merciless Babylonian empire as His agent of bringing judgment upon Israel because they had turned from Him. Furthermore, the Babylonians carried most of the nation of Israel into captivity - a captivity which lasted for 70 years - one year for each cycle of seven years that the nation had forsaken the Shemitah or Sabbath year. Thus through this God-imposed Shemitah, with the Israelites in captivity, this allowed the land of Israel to rest for the same number of years that the Israelites had failed to allow the land to rest voluntarily.
COMMENT: In his commentary above under the context titled BACKGROUND, the critic above is historically correct, therefore there is nothing to add to this, but to commend him for a correct historical backdrop to this discussion. This is one of only two places where I agree with the critic, but it has to do more with contextual than theological reasons, as we shall see. Would that the what follows had been the same, but alas, this is perhaps wishing too much from this critic. Let’s continue.
CLAIM: BOTH THE HARBINGER AND THE MYSTERY OF THE SHEMITAH MAKE CLAIMS ABOUT HEBREW SABBATH YEARS: EVALUATION: The premise of The Mystery of the Shemitah is that not only does the Shemitah explicitly and exclusively involve the nation of Israel, but that the "mystery of the Shemitah" is such that it is woven into the very fabric of history and the order of the creation and therefore can and does affect other nations and even the world through various calamities, including natural disasters, wars and financial crises - just as happened to Israel.
As such, Jonathan Cahn claims that God continues to follow the same seven-year cycle, based on the Hebrew calendar, and that just as He imposed a Shemitah upon Israel as a judgment of 70 years of captivity in Babylon because they turned from God, He will also impose a Shemitah upon any nation that turns from Him and when this happens that nation will suffer an economic crash and other cataclysmic events.
Just as in The Harbinger, Cahn claims that America has experienced just such calamities over the last many decades, with the most recent cluster beginning with the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. Furthermore, he claims that the mystery of the Shemitah has been working in conjunction with what he calls the Isaiah 9:10 Effect, and manifested itself with the precipitous fall in the stock market on the last day of the Hebrew month of Elul in both 2001 and 2008 - which, admittedly are exactly 7 years apart on the Hebrew calendar.
In addition, the author goes back in American history many decades and tries to demonstrate that the mystery of the Shemitah has been at work and that many financial crises have happened in at least roughly the time-frame of a number of these Sabbath years.
FACT: The first premise made the critic is patently false because The Harbinger and The Mystery of the Shemitah both describe historical events that are a matter of both public record and history. They are not claims, as this critic describes them. They are events which have actually happened on the dates described in these two books. The critic is arguing against events that have actually happened!
Additionally, THE MYSTERY OF THE SHEMITAH collects specific events which occurred on specific dates with specific historical national and global repercussions on the economies of this nation and those of the major powers in the last 150 years. It is no speculation, it is not prognostication, it is not even empty claims, all of which the critic tries to impute to the author as having made. He is wrong. The critic argues against what has already happened, how it happened, when it happened, and why it happened without knowing a single thing about it.
The evidence incontrovertibly speaks for itself of against these historical events being claims as this critic says, and as matters of public and biblical record, they are easily verifiable if the person is serious enough to do it and not take this critic’s word for it. The critic’s use of calling historical events falling on a precise dates and bringing precise results “claims” is utterly preposterous and uncalled for, unnecessary, and highly misleading.
No one in their right mind calls a historical event falling on a precise date with exact and precise results “a claim” unless their intent is to discredit the information by misleading others about a topic. Where’s the evidence that it is a claim? I challenge the critic to show it. There is none, because these events happened and they fell precisely on the dates given in these two books, and happened precisely as the books described them, with the precise results given in the narrative of both works.
The Harbinger is written in the form of a novel that describes a biblical pattern of judgment that has repeated itself in just about every great civilization in history, but the book focuses on how this specific pattern of judgment befell the northern kingdom of Israel, headquartered in Samaria, in 732 B.C. when the prophet Isaiah rebuked and pronounced judgment on the nation for vowing – as he describes it – “in pride and in arrogance of heart” (Isaiah 9:9) ) to undertake a rebuilding and recovery program after a limited first strike on the land was made by Assyria. This rebuilding, replanting, and recovery effort was done without accounting to God in repentance, or giving Him any mind, much as our leaders today have done today.
FACT: The full strike occurred ten years later in 722 B.C., when the Assyrian Empire invaded Damascus, overran the northern kingdoms’ defenses, and exiled almost the entire population to the east, to the cities of Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. (1Kings 17:6) The Assyrians then resettled the land with Gentiles from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-vaim; who then mingled with what was left of the Israelites to produce what became known as the Samaritans. (2Kings 17:29)
FACT: The Harbinger breaks the various parts of this judgment down to its elements – nine specific warnings – harbingers – that manifested themselves in the land, and describes according to the summary parts contained within the biblical text as they are described in the vow made by the ancient leaders of Israel and how historically these played out, and their subsequent results. This vow was pivotal to their fate, because in pronouncing it, they unwittingly pronounced their own judgment, which Isaiah uses to prophesy God’s judgment on them and the land.
The Harbinger then takes the reader to the present and describes in exact detail and precision how the same pattern of judgment has befallen the United States. It documents thoroughly the biblical history contained in Isaiah’s prophecy and the prophetic events that are now a matter of public record available regarding the same patterns of warning and judgment that are now repeating in our land today, in the same recurring pattern of warning and judgment as they occurred in ancient Israel.
CLAIM: AMERICA IS SUBJECT TO THE SHEMITAH AND THE BOOK BOMBARDS US WITH A DELUGE OF ASSERTIONS AND CLAIMED FACTS CONNECTED TO THE SHEMITAH WITH NO FOOTNOTES, However, before one gets too excited or becomes too convinced that "Cahn has done it again" (as some have put it), a number of things need to be considered.
Among the many problems with both The Harbinger and the Shemitah, the three that immediately come to the reader's attention are 1) Cahn mistakenly identifies the Shemitah as a universal principle that can affect any and all nations, 2) he wrongly identifies America as being a parallel to the nation of Israel in that he says it is a nation once dedicated to God and his purposes, but which has turned from God and is therefore subject to the "the mystery of the Shemitah," and 3) one of the most egregious errors for a work of non-fiction, Cahn bombards the reader with a deluge of assertions and claimed facts concerning financial and economic trends, building programs, and calamitous events which he connects to the Shemitah - but does so without any footnotes or any citations of source material whatsoever.
FACT: Again, because the critic above does not understand biblical prophecy, he believes that it is simply prediction and then fulfillment, and that’s that. What’s more, because of a type of Hyper-Dispensationalism, not his fault, this is what he was taught and has come to believe personally, he does not see any application of Israel as an example or template for any nation, so he makes the sweeping presumptuous statements one reads above. Of course, the critic is in error theologically, though he does not realize it, because the error forms an integral part of his theology, and because he attaches such importance to this particular brand of theology as vital to his faith, his theology is to him his faith. In light of this, it is understandable how he can arrive at such incorrect conclusions, and then make opinions just as equally incorrect which support them, without providing any biblical evidence in support of his arguments.
FACT: What the critic forgets here is that The Mystery of the Shemitah is a sobering analysis of historical trends that have occurred in time and space which all have fallen precisely during specific Hebrew days. It has absolutely nothing to do with whether we or America are under the Mosaic Law; it has to do with God’s providence and His universal standards applicable to every nation under heaven.
FACT: The nations which were dispossessed of the land of Canaan had no covenant with God or law to speak of, yet they were dispossessed for their sin. So it is that God’s Word speaks of every nation under heaven that it is righteousness that exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Thus, it is God’s standards of which His Law illustrates, but which predates it, which govern the course of nations and kingdoms through history and right up to this day and beyond it until the Messiah returns.
This is missed by critics such as he. Additionally, his statement above that America is “is a nation once dedicated to God and his purposes, but which has turned from God and is therefore subject to the "the mystery of the Shemitah," as the critic asserts above, he claims is patently false and incorrect. Well, he is wrong. There is no place in the Scriptures where God judges the sin of any nation differently than His own. Nowhere.
FACT: The critic’s assertions above are entirely unbiblical and therefore erroneous, because God’s standards for righteousness are just and equal and applicable to every nation under heaven. A codified Law given under a temporary covenant does not change that, just as it does not change the promise of grace given to Abraham who preceded it (Galatians 3:17). The principles within that Law are eternal and universal as it applies to sin and judgment righteousness and rewards.
FACT: God does not deal in unjust weights and unjust measures. That is an abomination to Him. America was originally founded as a society patterned by its founders – the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock – after the biblical pattern of the nation of Israel. It is matter of historical record that the Puritans and the Pilgrims were devout Christians and they structured their communities after the Bible. So, the critic is wrong here as well.
FACT: The critic’s third opinion above is pure hyperbole, because rather than using such charged and provocative language, he could’ve simply said, as I do, that he wished Rabbi Cahn had provided his sources for the many graphs and charts and historical data he cites in his book. In that I agree, but I do agree with using hyperbole to make that point. It’s not necessary.
FACT: BUT THE CRITIC’S COMPLAINTS AND CONTENTIONS BELY AND TOTALLY IGNORES THE UNCANNY JUXTOPOSITION OF THE EVENTS TO PRECISE HEBREW DATE THE SHEMITAH FELL WHEN THE CALAMITIES TOOK PLACE. He cleverly sidesteps this, because he would have to present evidence to show that these events did not occur on the dates they did, and this would require a total revision of history by this critic in order to do it, because THE EVENTS HAPPENED PRECISELY AS DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK AND ON THE EXACT DATES MENTIONED. That no critic can over-write and undo. They happened.
CLAIM: THE BIBLE DOESN’T SUPPORT OR HINT THAT GOD IMPOSES A SHEMITAH UPON ANY NATION BUT ISRAEL: There is not the slightest biblical support - and not even a hint that God expects or will impose a Shemitah upon any nation but Israel. There are no commands nor are there any examples whatsoever in the Scriptures that this is some sort of universal principle woven into the fabric of the Creation. Beyond this, in an appearance on the Jim Bakker show in August, Jonathan Cahn stated that when he was writing The Mystery of the Shemitah, "the revelations just came" to him from God, placing him in the position of essentially claiming to receive new revelation from God such that he is functioning as a prophet (my words, not his). This is significant because he is claiming to have discovered and is now revealing a mystery that has been neither seen nor expounded before he started doing so.
FACT: The statement the critic makes above is like all of the rest he makes here. He lays a claim but does not present evidence for the claim he makes. He expects the reader to accept what he says at face value without any biblical basis for it. It is interesting how the critic here argues against something which, according to the critic, Jonathan Cahn says in The Mystery of the Shemitah has never been seen or expounded before. Yet without realizing it, the critic argues against something that he himself has never seen before he read The Mystery of the Shemitah, not realizing that what he is arguing against had not been expounded until Jonathan Cahn wrote his book by his own admission! First, the critic complains against the author, or presumably any Spirit-filled Evangelical Christian making a discovery that has not been made before; then he complains that he (the critic) hadn’t made it, so in his thinking, it can’t be true. This is pure absurdity. Not only is it pure absurdity, but it is the height of religious hubris. The prophets Daniel and Joel have prophesied would occur in the last days. We are in the last days. But unfortunately the critic himself is an avowed Cessationist, and as such he does not believe in biblical revelation into the Scriptures such as that claimed by this author. Now here is a question that I would pose to the critic for saying, I quote,
“Jonathan Cahn stated that when he was writing The Mystery of the Shemitah, "the revelations just came" to him from God, placing him in the position of essentially claiming to receive new revelation from God such that he is functioning as a prophet (my words, not his). This is significant because he is claiming to have discovered and is now revealing a mystery that has been neither seen nor expounded before he started doing so.”
This is what I would ask this critic, “Where does it say in Scripture that since the ascension of the Messiah two thousand years ago,” (and the advent of the Holy Spirit and His commencement of “falling upon all flesh” – that is to say, not limited to just prophets, kings, priests, and a select few within Israel – but beyond Israel and upon the nations of the earth all who come to the Israel’s Messiah – I might remind the critic) – “since when or where does the Scripture say that the Holy Spirit will not impart knowledge, insight, and understanding into previously sealed books of the Bible at these last days?”
Daniel is clear about this. In fact, it was the Protestant Reformers and many who preceded them, who were persecuted by the Catholic Church, using similar arguments as the critic does here with this author; men whom God the Holy Spirit enlightened with the revelation that salvation is through Christ alone, by faith alone, and not through the institution of the Roman Catholic Church. To claim here that such revelation is not possible is to deny the very foundation that Protestant Christianity itself stands upon. Such are the heresies in Cessationism combined with Hyper-Dispensational thinking that leads to such sweeping claims without any biblical foundation whatsoever. But even in the first century, such men were found in the Church, for Jude describes them in this way, I quote:
These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.
(Jude 1:16)
They appear a certain way to their peers, whom they wish to make a good impression upon, but inside them is a pathological darkness they have allowed after crossing barriers God has set up in the human conscience, and a point is reached where they no longer listen to the voice of God, but justify everything they do and say because they have the approval of their peers, who by now have taken over the integral part of God’s Spirit in them, whom the person listens to more than he does anything or anyone else, yes, even God. When a person finds the opinions of others of more importance than they do God’s, then they’ve crossed that line, and their conscience is seared; their frontal lobe recedes, and they are operating on pure intellect fed by dopamine induced psychosis. By then, there is no more conscience, because what little of it is left no longer operates normally. This the Romans One Syndrome. And this is how Paul describes it:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
(Romans 1:18-19)
When the truth is willfully suppressed by “the little white lies” and “the stretched truth” becomes “the truth,” with each successive selective bending to justify the act or the claim, the dopamine-induced rush, feeds the need for more and greater and more sweeping claims, leading for more and more of the same until the inhibitors which could’ve and would’ve prevented any further crossings themselves are mollified and the person out of their own will surrenders to the pathology whatever it may be. It can be of a religious nature, such as here, or anything else that induces the person to sin greater and greater with each successive breach of the conscience and transgression of the commandment, leading to sin and eventually causing the person to become totally reprobate. Thus we read the following:
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
(Romans 1:20-23)
The Scripture above deals with the pathology of idol worship and animalistic religious practices of the ancient and modern pagan, but it applies to all types of pathologies and aberrant sinful behavior in people, and the effects these have on the human mind, body, and spirit, their mental, emotional, and physical health. There comes a point of no return. Here is what Paul describes in the following part, and take note, the person whom he describes once knew God, but has ceased in some way to acknowledge Him – that is to say, that person has stopped listening to Him (acknowledging Him), and now listens to other suggestions either of Satanic origin or of human origin or conjured demonically in his mind as he begins to undergo increased demonic oppression. The most extreme examples of this is Schizophrenia and dementia. Paul writes:
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
(Romans 1:24-25)
When the opinions of other men become more important and take precedence over God’s Word and His opinion, a person then become idolatrous towards to whomever they give the importance or adoration to. It can be religious or it can be a non-religious, but it is idolatry, and it does not honor God.
For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
(Romans 1:26-27)
In the case above, Paul is tackling the sin of the deviant lifestyle of the homosexual, transsexual, and Lesbian – what is popularly known today as the LGBIT lifestyle that our society and our government promotes today. But again, the pathology can by anything that puts a barrier between the person and God. Let us continue.
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
(Romans 1:28-32)
Now let me be clear about this, I am not saying that this critic or any other are in the advance stages of what is described above. I mention it here, because anyone can allow themselves over time to become this way, and suffer the consequences for it in their lives. I interject here, because what you have just read above has had destructive effects on families, on ministries, on occupations and careers, and with relationships. This is what Paul refers to when he warns us not to be slaves to sin any longer, but to be slaves of righteousness. I quote:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:1-23)
For example, the critic claims now that it is not about the author, Jonathan Cahn, just about the issues. Not true. The highly charged personal language the critic used from the onset belay a more sinister agenda than just the issues. While in the very beginning it might’ve been altruistic, there were many hurdles and barriers that the critic and his colleagues crossed many times long go, which have dulled the sense of conscience enough to the point where it is indistinguishable to them between the two.
So in their minds, and in the present case, in the critic’s mind, there is absolutely nothing wrong with his approach – though he has been told many times by several mature Bible-believing Christians that it is unbiblical – he believes it to be completely biblical, especially since he is encouraged by this group of people he puts great stock in to continue in these activities, rather than seek not the counsel of men, but of God’s Word on these matters, and listen to the voice God put in him, which with each successive blow, has become weaker and weaker and smaller and smaller, as his rush gets greater and the need for the “fix” increases with each barrage of attack he presents against this particular author and those who defend him.
Recognizing what I do above, a more objective reviewer than the critic on Amazon.com felt compelled to address this critic in the following manner, I quote:
Hi Mr. James,
Come on now at least be fair in your criticism. There are literally hundreds of books written about Daniel 9 which claim Ezra and Nehemiah are contemporaries of "Artaxerxes" Longimanus and all of them provide less evidence for that assumption than Mr. Cahn does for his belief. It must be admitted that the "Artaxerxes" assumption is magnitudes more important to our eschatology beliefs than anything Mr. Cahn has written. If we insist on pulling the mote out of Mr. Cahn's eye wouldn't it be best to first address the beam in our own?
Warm regards,
William Struse
IN CONCLUSION:
The critic gives no slack. He criticizes Jonathan Cahn for writing The Mystery of the Shemitah,, then criticizes him because it didn’t exist before he wrote it! Can you believe this guy!!!???? This is typical of this critic, as he does here, so he does everywhere else he writes on any topic regarding anything Jonathan Cahn teaches or has written. This is pure lunacy and absolute sophistry, masking an unhealthy obsession this critic has with this author and has had it for almost three years.
I have reached the conclusion about this man that because he is now defending his credibility, rather than retract the false charges and false witness against this author, and going after those who posted the Anti-Semitic diatribes about Jonathan Cahn being a Kabbalist and an Occult New Ager who dabbles in mysticism and a teacher of Gnosticism, rather than pursuing these people and asking them to retract these falsehoods against Rabbi Cahn, the critic and his band of "trusted men" did absolutely NOTHING AT ALL to stop this, and this went on for over two years.
Now he's out again, arguing against events that have taken place as described in Jonathan Cahn’s book, to argue Hyper-Dispensationalism against any portion of the Mosaic Law having any relevance for the born again Christians! I repeat, the cross itself has finds its most impressive types, allegories, and metaphors in the sacrificial system codified and contained within the Mosaic Law!
The Feasts of Israel are all prophetic metaphors of God's various dispensations in His redemptive plan throughout history! The moral code contained within the commandments govern the universe. The priesthood within the Law is a type of the Messiah's priesthood. I can go on and on and on, and the nations who did not have the Law or covenant with God have historically been judged as He has judged His people! God does not met out justice with differing weights and differing measures. This is pure nonsense. Where does such dichotomy exist in the New Testament? It does not. Indeed the Apostles do not cite the Law of Moses to teach, "You’re a Jew. This is for you. You’re not a Jew, but a Gentile, this is not for you. This is for you, and this is not for you." On the contrary, Paul goes to the Law and from the Law preaches the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, because he uses the Law to teach that by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
Not only this, but I've said it before and I'll say it again; we will all be going to Jerusalem during Sukkot and dwell in Sukas there every year, and Ezekiel is very clear about the sacrificial services being reestablished in the Third Temple Messiah will build. And guess what? Without the sacrificial system derived from the Law, there is absolutely NO MEANING TO THE CROSS OUTSIDE OF ISRAEL, because IT WAS THE SACRIFICAL SYSTEM THAT BORE WITNESS AND STILL DOES ABOUT THE CROSS. THE MOSAIC LAW AND ITS SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED GOD'S MANDATED REQUIREMENT AND CLEAR STIPULATIONS AS TO HOW HE IS TO BE APPROACHED BY MAN AND WORSHIPPED.
In the Torah, God uses His Law to say, "Here is how you will worship Me," because IT IS THROUGH THE CROSS OF CHRIST THAT WE HAVE ONE ACCESS TO THE FATHER – BOTH JEW AND GENTILE - the only access, through faith in Jesus the Messiah. Who was on the cross? Jesus. By what rubric is His sacrifice measured and given worth? By the Law. Toss out the Law and claim that it is irrelevant outside of Israel, and there is no meaning to the death of an obscure itinerant RABBI in a tiny middle eastern country at a tumultuous period in human history for non-Jews. But put in the Law of Moses taught properly under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, in its proper context and purpose, and the death of this obscure RABBI, including Who He was, why He was, why He came, Who He came for, What He accomplished, and what He fulfilled and is yet to fulfill; all find its answers. Think it though. Without the Law, the cross is meaningless!!!
Now we have Hyper-Dispensationalists setting up religious dichotomies in their extreme theologies in order to establish a false Anti-Christ premise such as the one critics of this book are attempting to apply to The Mystery of the Shemitah.
Consider these things, because the method that every New Testament writer used when teaching from the Hebrew Scriptures, did not use the arguments this critic and other Hyper-Dispensationalists like him use, but cited the Law. Were the writers of the New Testament to be writing the Scriptures today, they would be savaged by people the critic and others who attempt to apply a 150 year old literal method of interpretation across the board, as they do with everything else, in order to apply their anathemas across the board to other members of their faith with wanton abandon and total disregard to what the Scriptures say about those things.
The writers of the New Testament did not flee from the Law, but taught argued from it and used it when it was necessary. Paul wrote more than any other writer about the Law of Moses, and from the Law of Moses; yet nowhere will one find the arguments that the critic makes in what Paul wrote. Nowhere.
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