This is Part One of several exchanges I've had with David James, the author of The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction? wherein he and I have a difference of ideas which also appear on his own web site as of this writing.
I am currently working on a volume of my own that examines Biblically what Dr. James has written in his book. But here is what he and I have exchanged with each other past night or so for your reading. Because our replies to one another have been rather many and lengthy, I will post each as part one, part two and so forth in consideration to the reader.
Jose says:
October 1, 2012 at 7:27 pm
Dr. James,
Can you clarify for your readers if you are a Cessationist? If you answer in the affirmative, then how do you explain the new birth succession throughout history? Are you Dispensationalist? If so, then when did God cease imparting the gifts? Where can you provide the evidence to this effect?
Also, if the Scriptures such as Isaiah 9:10 cannot be applied to another point in history, as you claim, then how can you justify the use of specific historical prophecies to New Testament events.
Where does it say in the Scriptures that the gifts ceased with the Apostolic Second Temple Era?
Dave James says:
October 1, 2012 at 7:51 pm
Hi Jose,
Thank you for your questions.
If you take a look at the in-depth doctrinal statement on the ABI website, you will be able to see both our positions, as well as the supporting scriptural references.
Yes, I hold to cessationism and dispensational theology. I have spent many years carefully studying and teaching on this topic and have developed a 10-hour course on the theology of signs and wonders from Genesis to Revelation. As with many theological issues, including the Trinity, just because a specific theological truth is not exhaustively stated in just one verse does not mean that it isn’t biblical. I believe an examination of all the relevant biblical passages lead very clearly to the conclusion that God phased out the giving of the sign gifts of the Spirit with the end of the apostolic era. Obviously, developing and proving this to the satisfaction of some is not possible in a book-length treatment, let alone in a couple of paragraphs.
I am not suggesting that Isaiah 9:10 cannot be applied to another point in history – the principles can certainly be applied in any number of situations. That is not the question. This issue is whether this is a mystery that God has hidden as in now revealing to be about America when there is no textual reason or anywhere else in Scripture that indicates this is true. The Bible just does not teach what Cahn claims because it cannot be found in the text. If the text itself doesn’t inform both our interpretation and application, then what does? The very simple issue is that if it isn’t in the Bible, someone made it up. Isaiah 9:10 does not represent a pattern of judgment – it represents what God happened in a specific situation with the Northern Kingdom. As far as other prophecies are concerned, we recognize their future application in the NT because God has told us very explicitly.
Thanks, again, for writing.
Dave
SIDEBAR: A brief rebuttal here is necessary; If indeed, the gifts and the calling of God ceased with the Apostolic Age, as all Cessationists claim, then the prophetic writings about the events of the Great Tribulation and the time between that period and the New Testament Period, is one in which for all intents and purposes; God has ceased to function in the realm of the miraculous and the prophetic, but because according to these people He only did so in the pages of the Bible, and will do so in some future date of their Eschatological calling.
But they would retort that they do not teach this, but that God does work in the realm of the miraculous; and will do so, but that He does not at the present time. Amazing. No wonder the Lord asked, "However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
(Luke 18:18) The Greek here employs the literal meaning of "the faith," thus it can be rendered "But when the Son of Man comes, will He find 'the faith' on the earth?"
Only time will tell, but here is a foreshadow from the very halls of Christianity in our Post-Modern Age of skepticism. No Dr. James, I am not referring to you, dear brother; though you be the judge in your own heart before the Lord (who knows your heart and your thoughts) whether or not it can apply to you regarding The Harbinger.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
The Harbinger’s critics come primarily if not exclusively from a corner of Post-Modern Evangelical Christianity whose entire metric of Biblical Hermeneutics is determined by their flawed allegiance to the false premise of total Cessationism.
Building upon that false premise, they misunderstand Rabbi Cahn’s use of the words “mystery,” and “Secret,” and “Prophetic,” whereupon they build a an entire false narrative that is nothing more than the figment of their own invention, because within that false narrative are complete misapplications of what Cahn writes in his book, all entirely based on their prejudiced false presumptions about what they think he says.
It is built upon the false premise that Rabbi Cahn is using these words to mean something other than “insights,” which all Spirit-filled born again believers who are followers of Christ (amazing that I have to explain it this way, because there are so many people calling themselves “Christians” who are not), know is what Rabbi Cahn is referring to in employing such words in his book, and in the documentary The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment published by World Net Daily, a documentary I highly recommend to all readers of The Harbinger, because therein is where the entire book is concisely explained in vivid documentary style. It is professionally produced and extremely compelling, but more importantly, is entirely Scriptural in its analysis of the Nine Harbingers, the Shemitah, etc…
Returning to these critics; some have even accused Cahn being some type of Theosophical mystic on one blog site, and in another claiming that he is a Cabalist because he’s used text from the Zohar to show, as scholars and other Messianic Pastors and Rabbis do; that unknowingly even these hostile Jewish sources corroborate (unknowingly of course) – the truth that Jesus is Israel’s Promised Messiah.
Everyone who’s either heard his teachings, as I have and do every weekend – I am an active member at Beth Israel, and I teach there by God’s calling and grace; know that Rabbi Cahn is not endorsing these writings, he’s merely using them as apologetic tools that even these writings corroborate God’s truth in His Word about His Son.
For example, one can cite the many passages of the Babylonian Talmud where events recorded corroborate the Biblical New Testament narrative of Jesus’ coming, and the events surrounding His crucifixion, resurrection, and the many signs and wonders that occurred for the next forty years in Israel – all within the Talmud that teach that from 30 A.D. to the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by Titus’ legions on the Hebrew month of Av, in the year 70 A.D.; incredible things occurred, inexplicable things – all recorded in the pages of the Talmud. I’ve done a teaching on that with regards to the resurrection and plan to publish a work on it, if the Lord wills.
But returning to these critics who hail from the “discernment” ministries, the Berean Call, Berit Kjos, Brannon Howse, T.A. McMahon, Jimmy DeYoung, David James, and all of the others connected with them in one way or another (they all seem to come from the theological Cessationist corner of Post-Modern American Protestant Christianity); all of these have been over the months developing and building from each other the false narrative that appears on their web sites and in James’ book.
I agree with your assessment as to what motivates them, perhaps not all of them, but some of them; I am extremely suspicious of David James, the one who appears to have started this entire controversy over Rabbi Cahn’s book, and who seems obsessed about it, especially the quick response to Cahn’s book that he wrote, and the rush to publish a work of his own to debunk it entirely (I have a copy and am working on a rebuttal at this time).
The reason that I am very suspicious of these people are many, but I will share one, perhaps two with you here; they did not make any effort whatsoever to contact Cahn about his work before rushing to judgment upon his work, and have allowed and taken part in even questioning his salvation.
I have known Rabbi Cahn for approximately ten years, and I have seldom met men who are as dedicated to the service of God and the witness of Jesus Christ than he. Rabbi/Pastor Cahn is not a Theosophist, he’s not a mystic, he’s not a false prophet, and he is not involved in NAR (New Apostolic Reformation), as these people claim.
One common trait and characteristic about them is that they are quick to “throw the baby out with the bathwater,” and often charge others as guilty by association. Their reasoning is that if Pastor Cahn has been at TBN, then he must be in agreement with many of its religious “prophets” and “teachers” who preach the faith and prosperity gospel. They’re completely wrong.
I can attest that Rabbi/Pastor Cahn has on several occasions warned against the excesses of the faith and prosperity gospel, and himself does not ascribe to it, just I don’t. But, this is not enough for these people, and they continue to make the false claims and false charges against him, all based upon their own misconceptions and misunderstandings of what they believe he teaches.
And so, it is not enough for them to continue in this, but in recent months, they’ve launched an all-out campaign against Rabbi Cahn and The Harbinger, and the latest manifestation of this is Eric Duoma’s micro over analysis and parsing of what he believes Cahn is saying, and why no one should listen to it. Again, having heard Douma’s entire message – it is painful and meandering, and Douma’s voice doesn’t help (nothing personal here, just his voice….ah!) – their apprehension is the false narrative that Cahn is some kind of mystic and false prophet who uses divination because, according to Douma “Cahn’s insights are really mysteries that only prophets and apostles can reveal.” I mean, this guy cleverly parses words and phrases and builds an entire message for Sunday School that is nothing but a diatribe around it. I have never heard a more blatant example of Eisegesis as what this man spoke last month on The Harbinger.
By the grace of God, I have lived by His grace and in the knowledge of His salvation, since the day I received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior on August 30th, 1976, and I have never witnessed the evidence of so many self-professed avatars of “Biblical Discernment and Apologetics” bear such false witness against a fellow Christian as I have with these people.
Building upon that false premise, they misunderstand Rabbi Cahn’s use of the words “mystery,” and “Secret,” and “Prophetic,” whereupon they build a an entire false narrative that is nothing more than the figment of their own invention, because within that false narrative are complete misapplications of what Cahn writes in his book, all entirely based on their prejudiced false presumptions about what they think he says.
It is built upon the false premise that Rabbi Cahn is using these words to mean something other than “insights,” which all Spirit-filled born again believers who are followers of Christ (amazing that I have to explain it this way, because there are so many people calling themselves “Christians” who are not), know is what Rabbi Cahn is referring to in employing such words in his book, and in the documentary The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment published by World Net Daily, a documentary I highly recommend to all readers of The Harbinger, because therein is where the entire book is concisely explained in vivid documentary style. It is professionally produced and extremely compelling, but more importantly, is entirely Scriptural in its analysis of the Nine Harbingers, the Shemitah, etc…
Returning to these critics; some have even accused Cahn being some type of Theosophical mystic on one blog site, and in another claiming that he is a Cabalist because he’s used text from the Zohar to show, as scholars and other Messianic Pastors and Rabbis do; that unknowingly even these hostile Jewish sources corroborate (unknowingly of course) – the truth that Jesus is Israel’s Promised Messiah.
Everyone who’s either heard his teachings, as I have and do every weekend – I am an active member at Beth Israel, and I teach there by God’s calling and grace; know that Rabbi Cahn is not endorsing these writings, he’s merely using them as apologetic tools that even these writings corroborate God’s truth in His Word about His Son.
For example, one can cite the many passages of the Babylonian Talmud where events recorded corroborate the Biblical New Testament narrative of Jesus’ coming, and the events surrounding His crucifixion, resurrection, and the many signs and wonders that occurred for the next forty years in Israel – all within the Talmud that teach that from 30 A.D. to the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by Titus’ legions on the Hebrew month of Av, in the year 70 A.D.; incredible things occurred, inexplicable things – all recorded in the pages of the Talmud. I’ve done a teaching on that with regards to the resurrection and plan to publish a work on it, if the Lord wills.
But returning to these critics who hail from the “discernment” ministries, the Berean Call, Berit Kjos, Brannon Howse, T.A. McMahon, Jimmy DeYoung, David James, and all of the others connected with them in one way or another (they all seem to come from the theological Cessationist corner of Post-Modern American Protestant Christianity); all of these have been over the months developing and building from each other the false narrative that appears on their web sites and in James’ book.
I agree with your assessment as to what motivates them, perhaps not all of them, but some of them; I am extremely suspicious of David James, the one who appears to have started this entire controversy over Rabbi Cahn’s book, and who seems obsessed about it, especially the quick response to Cahn’s book that he wrote, and the rush to publish a work of his own to debunk it entirely (I have a copy and am working on a rebuttal at this time).
The reason that I am very suspicious of these people are many, but I will share one, perhaps two with you here; they did not make any effort whatsoever to contact Cahn about his work before rushing to judgment upon his work, and have allowed and taken part in even questioning his salvation.
I have known Rabbi Cahn for approximately ten years, and I have seldom met men who are as dedicated to the service of God and the witness of Jesus Christ than he. Rabbi/Pastor Cahn is not a Theosophist, he’s not a mystic, he’s not a false prophet, and he is not involved in NAR (New Apostolic Reformation), as these people claim.
One common trait and characteristic about them is that they are quick to “throw the baby out with the bathwater,” and often charge others as guilty by association. Their reasoning is that if Pastor Cahn has been at TBN, then he must be in agreement with many of its religious “prophets” and “teachers” who preach the faith and prosperity gospel. They’re completely wrong.
I can attest that Rabbi/Pastor Cahn has on several occasions warned against the excesses of the faith and prosperity gospel, and himself does not ascribe to it, just I don’t. But, this is not enough for these people, and they continue to make the false claims and false charges against him, all based upon their own misconceptions and misunderstandings of what they believe he teaches.
And so, it is not enough for them to continue in this, but in recent months, they’ve launched an all-out campaign against Rabbi Cahn and The Harbinger, and the latest manifestation of this is Eric Duoma’s micro over analysis and parsing of what he believes Cahn is saying, and why no one should listen to it. Again, having heard Douma’s entire message – it is painful and meandering, and Douma’s voice doesn’t help (nothing personal here, just his voice….ah!) – their apprehension is the false narrative that Cahn is some kind of mystic and false prophet who uses divination because, according to Douma “Cahn’s insights are really mysteries that only prophets and apostles can reveal.” I mean, this guy cleverly parses words and phrases and builds an entire message for Sunday School that is nothing but a diatribe around it. I have never heard a more blatant example of Eisegesis as what this man spoke last month on The Harbinger.
By the grace of God, I have lived by His grace and in the knowledge of His salvation, since the day I received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior on August 30th, 1976, and I have never witnessed the evidence of so many self-professed avatars of “Biblical Discernment and Apologetics” bear such false witness against a fellow Christian as I have with these people.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
SO-CALLED DISCERNMENT MINISTRIES NOW BEARING FALSE WITNESS BASED ON CONTRIVED EISEGISIS AND MISPLACED HERMENEUTICS
The Harbinger’s critics come primarily if not exclusively from a corner of Post-Modern Evangelical Christianity whose entire metric of Biblical Hermeneutics is determined by their flawed allegiance to the false premise of total Cessationism.
Building upon that false premise, they misunderstand Rabbi Cahn’s use of the words “mystery,” and “Secret,” and “Prophetic,” whereupon they build a an entire false narrative that is nothing more than the figment of their own invention, because within that false narrative are complete misapplications of what Cahn writes in his book, all entirely based on their prejudiced false presumptions about what they think he says.
It is built upon the false premise that Rabbi Cahn is using these words to mean something other than “insights,” which all Spirit-filled born again believers who are followers of Christ (amazing that I have to explain it this way, because there are so many people calling themselves “Christians” who are not), know is what Rabbi Cahn is referring to in employing such words in his book, and in the documentary The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment published by World Net Daily, a documentary I highly recommend to all readers of The Harbinger, because therein is where the entire book is concisely explained in vivid documentary style. It is professionally produced and extremely compelling, but more importantly, is entirely Scriptural in its analysis of the Nine Harbingers, the Shemitah, etc…
Returning to these critics; some have even accused Cahn being some type of Theosophical mystic on one blog site, and in another claiming that he is a Cabalist because he’s used text from the Zohar to show, as scholars and other Messianic Pastors and Rabbis do; that unknowingly even these hostile Jewish sources corroborate (unknowingly of course) – the truth that Jesus is Israel’s Promised Messiah.
Everyone who’s either heard his teachings, as I have and do every weekend – I am an active member at Beth Israel, and I teach there by God’s calling and grace; know that Rabbi Cahn is not endorsing these writings, he’s merely using them as apologetic tools that even these writings corroborate God’s truth in His Word about His Son.
For example, one can cite the many passages of the Babylonian Talmud where events recorded corroborate the Biblical New Testament narrative of Jesus’ coming, and the events surrounding His crucifixion, resurrection, and the many signs and wonders that occurred for the next forty years in Israel – all within the Talmud that teach that from 30 A.D. to the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by Titus’ legions on the Hebrew month of Av, in the year 70 A.D.; incredible things occurred, inexplicable things – all recorded in the pages of the Talmud. I’ve done a teaching on that with regards to the resurrection and plan to publish a work on it, if the Lord wills.
But returning to these critics who hail from the “discernment” ministries, the Berean Call, Berit Kjos, Brannon Howse, T.A. McMahon, Jimmy DeYoung, David James, and all of the others connected with them in one way or another (they all seem to come from the theological Cessationist corner of Post-Modern American Protestant Christianity); all of these have been over the months developing and building from each other the false narrative that appears on their web sites and in James’ book.
Writing to another blogger on his website, I expressed the same sentiments below in an e-mail I sent him recently about these people, where he expressed that they appear to be motivated by jealousy:
I agree with your assessment as to what motivates them, perhaps not all of them, but some of them; I am extremely suspicious of David James, the one who appears to have started this entire controversy over Rabbi Cahn’s book, and who seems obsessed about it, especially the quick response to Cahn’s book that he wrote, and the rush to publish a work of his own to debunk it entirely (I have a copy and am working on a rebuttal at this time).
The reason that I am very suspicious of these people are many, but I will share one, perhaps two with you here; they did not make any effort whatsoever to contact Cahn about his work before rushing to judgment upon his work, and have allowed and taken part in even questioning his salvation.
I have known Rabbi Cahn for approximately ten years, and I have seldom met men who are as dedicated to the service of God and the witness of Jesus Christ than he. Rabbi/Pastor Cahn is not a Theosophist, he’s not a mystic, he’s not a false prophet, and he is not involved in NAR (New Apostolic Reformation), as these people claim.
One common trait and characteristic about them is that they are quick to “throw the baby out with the bathwater,” and often charge others as guilty by association. Their reasoning is that if Pastor Cahn has been at TBN, then he must be in agreement with many of its religious “prophets” and “teachers” who preach the faith and prosperity gospel. They’re completely wrong.
I can attest that Rabbi/Pastor Cahn has on several occasions warned against the excesses of the faith and prosperity gospel, and himself does not ascribe to it, just I don’t. But, this is not enough for these people, and they continue to make the false claims and false charges against him, all based upon their own misconceptions and misunderstandings of what they believe he teaches.
And so, it is not enough for them to continue in this, but in recent months, they’ve launched an all-out campaign against Rabbi Cahn and The Harbinger, and the latest manifestation of this is Eric Duoma’s micro over analysis and parsing of what he believes Cahn is saying, and why no one should listen to it. Again, having heard Douma’s entire message – it is painful and meandering, and Douma’s voice doesn’t help (nothing personal here, just his voice….ah!) – their apprehension is the false narrative that Cahn is some kind of mystic and false prophet who uses divination because, according to Douma “Cahn’s insights are really mysteries that only prophets and apostles can reveal.” I mean, this guy cleverly parses words and phrases and builds an entire message for Sunday School that is nothing but a diatribe around it. I have never heard a more blatant example of Eisegesis as what this man spoke last month on The Harbinger.
By the grace of God, I have lived by His grace and in the knowledge of His salvation, since the day I received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior on August 30th, 1976, and I have never witnessed the evidence of so many self-professed avatars of “Biblical Discernment and Apologetics” bear such false witness against a fellow Christian as I have with these people.
A FINAL WORD HERE:
Nor have I ever in over thirty years ever witnessed the protracted and well developed campaign of defamation in all those years of the type such as the one which these people have been engaging and are obsessed with engaging against a fellow believer, in this case Jonathan Cahn, and again, in so doing, they are willfully bearing false witness against him and what he says in his book. They have accused him of dividing the flock of God with his book, and it is they who have engaged and are engaged in driving a wedge between Christians in their obsessive campaign of defamation and misinformation.
I dare say, judging by the manner, tone, and spirit of their attacks and vituperations, were these people alive during the Middle Ages and possessed the power of excomunication and even capital punishment; they would be judge, jury, and executioner of a good many Christians, Jonathan Cahn among them, perhaps (by the attention they're giving him) at the head they would execute.
These people have completely fallen off the rails of what discernment is and what true Christian Apologetics is all about. They have done and are doing great damage to themselves and to the Body of Christ. They owe Jonathan Cahn an apology, and should reexamine themselves to see where their hearts truly are in this. Their behavior is not speaking the truth in love, because there is no love, there is no grace, there is not even an inkling of Christian brotherhood in their expressions, public statements, writings, and book; there is only dead, scholastic, Cessationism based Theology, couched in clever dialogue, the parsing of words and expressions, and personal prejudices and apprehensions giving words and expressions meanings that the author of The Harbinger never had, and therefore declaring him guilty, even in the face of the author explaining to them the exact meaning of what those words are. Amazing! But such is the way of man, and not God.
Building upon that false premise, they misunderstand Rabbi Cahn’s use of the words “mystery,” and “Secret,” and “Prophetic,” whereupon they build a an entire false narrative that is nothing more than the figment of their own invention, because within that false narrative are complete misapplications of what Cahn writes in his book, all entirely based on their prejudiced false presumptions about what they think he says.
It is built upon the false premise that Rabbi Cahn is using these words to mean something other than “insights,” which all Spirit-filled born again believers who are followers of Christ (amazing that I have to explain it this way, because there are so many people calling themselves “Christians” who are not), know is what Rabbi Cahn is referring to in employing such words in his book, and in the documentary The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment published by World Net Daily, a documentary I highly recommend to all readers of The Harbinger, because therein is where the entire book is concisely explained in vivid documentary style. It is professionally produced and extremely compelling, but more importantly, is entirely Scriptural in its analysis of the Nine Harbingers, the Shemitah, etc…
Returning to these critics; some have even accused Cahn being some type of Theosophical mystic on one blog site, and in another claiming that he is a Cabalist because he’s used text from the Zohar to show, as scholars and other Messianic Pastors and Rabbis do; that unknowingly even these hostile Jewish sources corroborate (unknowingly of course) – the truth that Jesus is Israel’s Promised Messiah.
Everyone who’s either heard his teachings, as I have and do every weekend – I am an active member at Beth Israel, and I teach there by God’s calling and grace; know that Rabbi Cahn is not endorsing these writings, he’s merely using them as apologetic tools that even these writings corroborate God’s truth in His Word about His Son.
For example, one can cite the many passages of the Babylonian Talmud where events recorded corroborate the Biblical New Testament narrative of Jesus’ coming, and the events surrounding His crucifixion, resurrection, and the many signs and wonders that occurred for the next forty years in Israel – all within the Talmud that teach that from 30 A.D. to the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by Titus’ legions on the Hebrew month of Av, in the year 70 A.D.; incredible things occurred, inexplicable things – all recorded in the pages of the Talmud. I’ve done a teaching on that with regards to the resurrection and plan to publish a work on it, if the Lord wills.
But returning to these critics who hail from the “discernment” ministries, the Berean Call, Berit Kjos, Brannon Howse, T.A. McMahon, Jimmy DeYoung, David James, and all of the others connected with them in one way or another (they all seem to come from the theological Cessationist corner of Post-Modern American Protestant Christianity); all of these have been over the months developing and building from each other the false narrative that appears on their web sites and in James’ book.
Writing to another blogger on his website, I expressed the same sentiments below in an e-mail I sent him recently about these people, where he expressed that they appear to be motivated by jealousy:
I agree with your assessment as to what motivates them, perhaps not all of them, but some of them; I am extremely suspicious of David James, the one who appears to have started this entire controversy over Rabbi Cahn’s book, and who seems obsessed about it, especially the quick response to Cahn’s book that he wrote, and the rush to publish a work of his own to debunk it entirely (I have a copy and am working on a rebuttal at this time).
The reason that I am very suspicious of these people are many, but I will share one, perhaps two with you here; they did not make any effort whatsoever to contact Cahn about his work before rushing to judgment upon his work, and have allowed and taken part in even questioning his salvation.
I have known Rabbi Cahn for approximately ten years, and I have seldom met men who are as dedicated to the service of God and the witness of Jesus Christ than he. Rabbi/Pastor Cahn is not a Theosophist, he’s not a mystic, he’s not a false prophet, and he is not involved in NAR (New Apostolic Reformation), as these people claim.
One common trait and characteristic about them is that they are quick to “throw the baby out with the bathwater,” and often charge others as guilty by association. Their reasoning is that if Pastor Cahn has been at TBN, then he must be in agreement with many of its religious “prophets” and “teachers” who preach the faith and prosperity gospel. They’re completely wrong.
I can attest that Rabbi/Pastor Cahn has on several occasions warned against the excesses of the faith and prosperity gospel, and himself does not ascribe to it, just I don’t. But, this is not enough for these people, and they continue to make the false claims and false charges against him, all based upon their own misconceptions and misunderstandings of what they believe he teaches.
And so, it is not enough for them to continue in this, but in recent months, they’ve launched an all-out campaign against Rabbi Cahn and The Harbinger, and the latest manifestation of this is Eric Duoma’s micro over analysis and parsing of what he believes Cahn is saying, and why no one should listen to it. Again, having heard Douma’s entire message – it is painful and meandering, and Douma’s voice doesn’t help (nothing personal here, just his voice….ah!) – their apprehension is the false narrative that Cahn is some kind of mystic and false prophet who uses divination because, according to Douma “Cahn’s insights are really mysteries that only prophets and apostles can reveal.” I mean, this guy cleverly parses words and phrases and builds an entire message for Sunday School that is nothing but a diatribe around it. I have never heard a more blatant example of Eisegesis as what this man spoke last month on The Harbinger.
By the grace of God, I have lived by His grace and in the knowledge of His salvation, since the day I received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior on August 30th, 1976, and I have never witnessed the evidence of so many self-professed avatars of “Biblical Discernment and Apologetics” bear such false witness against a fellow Christian as I have with these people.
A FINAL WORD HERE:
Nor have I ever in over thirty years ever witnessed the protracted and well developed campaign of defamation in all those years of the type such as the one which these people have been engaging and are obsessed with engaging against a fellow believer, in this case Jonathan Cahn, and again, in so doing, they are willfully bearing false witness against him and what he says in his book. They have accused him of dividing the flock of God with his book, and it is they who have engaged and are engaged in driving a wedge between Christians in their obsessive campaign of defamation and misinformation.
I dare say, judging by the manner, tone, and spirit of their attacks and vituperations, were these people alive during the Middle Ages and possessed the power of excomunication and even capital punishment; they would be judge, jury, and executioner of a good many Christians, Jonathan Cahn among them, perhaps (by the attention they're giving him) at the head they would execute.
These people have completely fallen off the rails of what discernment is and what true Christian Apologetics is all about. They have done and are doing great damage to themselves and to the Body of Christ. They owe Jonathan Cahn an apology, and should reexamine themselves to see where their hearts truly are in this. Their behavior is not speaking the truth in love, because there is no love, there is no grace, there is not even an inkling of Christian brotherhood in their expressions, public statements, writings, and book; there is only dead, scholastic, Cessationism based Theology, couched in clever dialogue, the parsing of words and expressions, and personal prejudices and apprehensions giving words and expressions meanings that the author of The Harbinger never had, and therefore declaring him guilty, even in the face of the author explaining to them the exact meaning of what those words are. Amazing! But such is the way of man, and not God.
WHY WE MUST HEED THE HARBINGER
I recently posted this on Christian Reformed Network: URL: http://network.crcna.org/ Website the following:
I recommend the study of this book, but I would first recommend that you obtain a copy of the Isaiah 9:10 Judgment DVDs (a set of two DVDs) so you may view what precisely what the Harbinger covers. Read the book.
Judge for yourselves about its message, then watch the DVDs, or go to Youtube at the following URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj1q-H55mGU&feature=related and this URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydlVzRxRUBc both of these showcase the DVD documentary based upon Jonathan Cahn's book, The Harbinger.
The Harbinger is a warning to Christians in America to repent, to return to God, to seek His ways, and to pray for the nation and be a light unto the people, and to renew our nation with leaders who will honor the Lord and serve His purposes.
There is already a stir in the halls of official Washington D.C. as I write this, and several elected representatives and senators have reacted to its message; a timely message that we must heed if we are to survive as a people and as a nation before the coming of Christ.
If Nineveh did it, and it was not a covenant nation with God, but God warned it through the prophet Jonah, we can do it to, why? Because as Christians we are God's people, and as Christians we have a responsibility to pray for our nation, for our leaders, and elect public servants who represent our values and our ideals; ideals and values that made our republic the envy of the world.
We have lost it all in one generation, and if we continue the trajectory that we have been the past fifty-two years, we will not endure as the shining city on a hill that President Reagan spoke so eloquently about and America's pilgrim fathers once envisioned which was culled from the words of Our Lord in Matthew 5:14.
Yes, I would highly recommend you read The Harbinger, paying close attention to its underlying theme and its plea to US and to prayerfully develop a Bible Study around it. If you are interested in more information about a study of The Harbinger, you may contact Hope of the World Miistries at their website at the following URL: http://www.theharbinger-jonathancahn.com/
*** RECOMMENDED VIDEOS ***
(1) "ASTOUNDING REVELATION - GOD'S JUDGMENT ON AMERICA - REVEALED!" (9:53 video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW6roFN7NAE&feature=plcp
(2) 9/11 PROPHETIC FULFILLMENT (10:06)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_bcsgbSraM
(3) Jonathan Cahn with Sid Roth - Harbinger the Warning
Part 1 (28:31): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcsv4t9SzTg
Part 2 (28:31): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlrDYRVlUf0&feature=relmfu
*** CLUELESS U.S. LEADERS ***
(1) "Tom Daschle Speech, 12 September 2001"; (4:24 video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukYiWd3T9sk
(watch starting at 3:11 -- By the way, In Revelation 3:11, Jesus tells us "Behold,I am coming quickly!")
(2) "John Kerry Speech After 9/11"; 12 September 2001 (Text)
http://www.themoderntribune.com/john_kerry_speech_after_9_11_-_rebuild_americ...
(3) "Giuliani The Night of 9-11-01 'We will rebuild'", 11 September 2001 (0:23 video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiA5NNjf7XQ
(4) "OBAMA'S 9 11 SPEECH - PSALM 46, What is he really trying to tell us?", 11 September 2011 (1:50 video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzrkCAlzclA
*** BOOK AND VIDEO IF YOU REALLY WANT TO STUDY THESE PROPHECIES ***
Book: "THE HARBINGER: THE ANCIENT MYSTERY THAT HOLDS THE SECRET OF AMERICA'S FUTURE" by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn (paperback, Kindle edition, or audio CDs) available at http://www.amazon.com/ or the World Net Daily website at http://superstore.wnd.com/
DVD: "THE ISAIAH 9:10 JUDGMENT: IS THERE AN ANCIENT MYSTERY THAT FORTELLS AMERICA'S FUTURE?" -- a "documentary treatment of "The Harbinger" book -- available at Amazon.com or the World Net Daily website at http://superstore.wnd.com/
I recommend the study of this book, but I would first recommend that you obtain a copy of the Isaiah 9:10 Judgment DVDs (a set of two DVDs) so you may view what precisely what the Harbinger covers. Read the book.
Judge for yourselves about its message, then watch the DVDs, or go to Youtube at the following URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj1q-H55mGU&feature=related and this URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydlVzRxRUBc both of these showcase the DVD documentary based upon Jonathan Cahn's book, The Harbinger.
The Harbinger is a warning to Christians in America to repent, to return to God, to seek His ways, and to pray for the nation and be a light unto the people, and to renew our nation with leaders who will honor the Lord and serve His purposes.
There is already a stir in the halls of official Washington D.C. as I write this, and several elected representatives and senators have reacted to its message; a timely message that we must heed if we are to survive as a people and as a nation before the coming of Christ.
If Nineveh did it, and it was not a covenant nation with God, but God warned it through the prophet Jonah, we can do it to, why? Because as Christians we are God's people, and as Christians we have a responsibility to pray for our nation, for our leaders, and elect public servants who represent our values and our ideals; ideals and values that made our republic the envy of the world.
We have lost it all in one generation, and if we continue the trajectory that we have been the past fifty-two years, we will not endure as the shining city on a hill that President Reagan spoke so eloquently about and America's pilgrim fathers once envisioned which was culled from the words of Our Lord in Matthew 5:14.
Yes, I would highly recommend you read The Harbinger, paying close attention to its underlying theme and its plea to US and to prayerfully develop a Bible Study around it. If you are interested in more information about a study of The Harbinger, you may contact Hope of the World Miistries at their website at the following URL: http://www.theharbinger-jonathancahn.com/
*** RECOMMENDED VIDEOS ***
(1) "ASTOUNDING REVELATION - GOD'S JUDGMENT ON AMERICA - REVEALED!" (9:53 video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW6roFN7NAE&feature=plcp
(2) 9/11 PROPHETIC FULFILLMENT (10:06)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_bcsgbSraM
(3) Jonathan Cahn with Sid Roth - Harbinger the Warning
Part 1 (28:31): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcsv4t9SzTg
Part 2 (28:31): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlrDYRVlUf0&feature=relmfu
*** CLUELESS U.S. LEADERS ***
(1) "Tom Daschle Speech, 12 September 2001"; (4:24 video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukYiWd3T9sk
(watch starting at 3:11 -- By the way, In Revelation 3:11, Jesus tells us "Behold,I am coming quickly!")
(2) "John Kerry Speech After 9/11"; 12 September 2001 (Text)
http://www.themoderntribune.com/john_kerry_speech_after_9_11_-_rebuild_americ...
(3) "Giuliani The Night of 9-11-01 'We will rebuild'", 11 September 2001 (0:23 video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiA5NNjf7XQ
(4) "OBAMA'S 9 11 SPEECH - PSALM 46, What is he really trying to tell us?", 11 September 2011 (1:50 video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzrkCAlzclA
*** BOOK AND VIDEO IF YOU REALLY WANT TO STUDY THESE PROPHECIES ***
Book: "THE HARBINGER: THE ANCIENT MYSTERY THAT HOLDS THE SECRET OF AMERICA'S FUTURE" by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn (paperback, Kindle edition, or audio CDs) available at http://www.amazon.com/ or the World Net Daily website at http://superstore.wnd.com/
DVD: "THE ISAIAH 9:10 JUDGMENT: IS THERE AN ANCIENT MYSTERY THAT FORTELLS AMERICA'S FUTURE?" -- a "documentary treatment of "The Harbinger" book -- available at Amazon.com or the World Net Daily website at http://superstore.wnd.com/
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
A Sincere and Honest Review of the Harbinger by Denison
Jonathan Cahn's The Harbinger is one of the bestselling Christian books of 2012. The subtitle reveals Cahn's thesis: "The ancient mystery that holds the secret of America's future." This "ancient mystery" supposedly is contained in Isaiah 9:10: "The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars." To Cahn, this verse explains 9/11, the Great Recession and the future of our nation.
His logic: America was founded by Christians who dedicated this nation to God. In return, he placed a "hedge" of protection around us. Cahn believes we removed God from our classrooms and courtrooms in the 1960s, and he views the legalization of abortion as a further step away from the Lord. In response, God removed his protection from our nation, allowing the 9/11 terrorists to attack our country.
"The bricks have fallen down" describes the collapse of the World Trade Center; "we will rebuild with dressed stone" refers to a 20-ton stone used as the cornerstone of the structure that would replace the fallen Twin Towers. The "fig trees" that were felled is connected to a sycamore tree that was destroyed on 9/11; the "cedars" that replaced it refers to a pine tree that was put in place of the sycamore. As the Isaiah passage describes a nation whose prideful self-reliance spurred God to further punishment, so our nation's refusal to return to God after 9/11 has led to ongoing judgment.
Reading the Culture Cahn links 9/11 to the Great Recession, as our government used means to stimulate the economy that led to financial collapse seven years later. He connects this collapse to the biblical "Sabbath year" (Deuteronomy 15:1-2), whereby every seventh year debts would be forgiven. In his view, the seven years between 9/11 and the fall of Lehman Brothers demonstrates the biblical import of the recession. If we do not return to the Lord, further judgments will come.
I find numerous problems with Cahn's logic. For example, if God removed his "hedge" on 9/11, how are we to understand Pearl Harbor? Washington, D.C. was burned in the War of 1812. The World Trade Center was bombed in 1993. Radical Muslims have been attacking America since 1979.
He likens the Great Recession to the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, but 1929 was a far worse economic collapse. And his method of biblical interpretation is more allegorical than exegetical. It reminds me of Jewish pesher: a passage is read for its surface meaning as well as a deeper mystical message not conveyed by the literal text.
At the same time, I am grateful Cahn calls America's Christians to repentance and spiritual renewal for the sake of our nation. However we view his argument, there can be no question his burden is biblical: "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (Deuteronomy 16:18). Self-reliance is spiritual suicide. Our nation's great need is for a great moral and spiritual awakening. May it begin with me—and with you
________________________________________
OBERSVATIONS AND REBUTTAL FROM THE PEPSTER:
The use of Pesher is throughout the New Testament, but it is not widely known and is dismissed by Dispensationalists who hold a Cessationist approach to Biblical Hermeneutics.
It is from these circles that The Harbinger's message is being rejected en toto.
It is also from these circles that most attacks against other Christians from within the Body of Christ finds its main impetus, inasmuch as they believe they are judge, jury, and excuctioner in the name of Christ of Christians whom they have theological and doctrinal disagreements with.
They hide behind the mantle of "discernment" and "apologetics," but it masks a man-made veneer of a convenient theology that conveniently hides their own unbelief in what can be termed "miraculous."
They readily accept that the devil affects false miracles.
Yet they fail to ascribe to God the same works He has done since Prehistory, and teach that while He continues to transform lives through the power of His salvation and the efficacy of the blood of Chist; they deny His power in all other areas.
Paul warns the Church to avoid such people.
While Cahn is not a Charismatic, and disagrees with the wealth and prosperity false gospel narrative of the religious televangelists; he fervently believes, as the Scriptures teach, that the God who communicated with man since time immemorial, still does today through His written Word in the hearts of all believers, and it is through His written Word that He is now communicating with America.
That written warning finds its place within the pages of Cahn's book, The Harbinger and just as Daniel said that knowledge would increase as the times of the end draw near - the knowledge of God's Word, archeological evidences of the Bible's historicity are being unearthed every day, and knowledge is exploding.
The evidence is all around us. We are living in momentous times, and The Harbinger is evidence of that.
ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS FROM THE PEPSTER:
And now to a broader reply to the above article while we examine the true subtext of what undergirds and motivates The Harbinger's worst critics. We begin by exploring their rejection of The Harbinger as being a prophetic warning to our nation and our times.
The preceding article written by Jim Denison appears on a website titled the Denison Forum On Truth and Culture. The article appears largely favorable to The Harbinger, but the writer has problems with certain connections between events which occurred as part of God’s removing His hedge of protection over America by comparing with other historical tragedies in American history.
My reply and comments are below the article’s, and they’re posted on his web site for everyone to read. I have also begun to post my rebuttals to The Harbinger’s critics on this site, which you can read for yourself, all of which I am including in a book I am writing addressing The Harbinger's critics.
My reply to this man’s objections, after giving it some thought is that we should not be quick to dismiss a warning’s historical and Scriptural origin’s/connections on the flimsiest of arguments of our own inabilities to connect other tragic moments in human history – the War of 1812, the American Civil War, Pearl Harbor, the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, and the Oklahoma City Bombing, and every other disaster – with the prophetic.
Events, as we see in the Holy Scriptures, in both Testaments; possess both historical and prophetic linear and parallel connections. Allow me to define the meaning of linear and parallel in the context of Prophetic Scripture and its Fulfillments throughout history. A linear connection is one in which a specific prophecy is given and it has a direct bearing upon an event which will take place centuries later.
We see a parallel connection where a prophecy is given for a specific date and time in history and see it being fulfilled within the life of the prophet who gave it, or within a generation of it being given; having both fulfillment within the context of that historical event, and in a future event to take place centuries later which is totally unrelated to the prophecy in a literal sense.
We see the evidence of this in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament, as events in both Testaments are tied to one another prophetically (linear), and understood in the paradigm of two completely unconnected historical events (parallel) connected prophetically at the place where the two events converge in the specific prophecies given; sometimes hundreds, sometimes thousands of years from one another.
This is perhaps the best examples of Scripture interpreting Scripture, because we see the prophecy about a historical event given and centuries later applied by the Evangelists in their Gospels and the Apostles throughout the New Testament in their letters to specific events and situations within their own lifetime.
We see the same at work about prophetic events in our future, where there are specific prophecies about specific prophetic events yet to occur in the timeline of history. We find these in both Testaments as well. As to their interpretation, there are various schools of thought on that; Amillennialist, Premilleninialists, Post Millennialists, Preterists, Pretrib, Postrib, etc…
Regardless; none of these mitigate the fact that several prophecies are applicable and interpreted throughout the Scriptures in the context of more than one historical event. Additionally, the historical events have absolutely no connection one with the other, nor can one ascertain the literal meaning of the prophecy to connect it to the second historical event fulfilled unless reading it through the pages of the Evangelists who interpret it as such.
The pages of our Bibles are filled with such examples. I’ll cite the following three examples, though it is not an exhaustive sampling, it’ll suffice for the purposes of our current discussion:
After Solomon’s reign, during the years of the divided kingdoms of Israel (Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom with its capital in Samaria) and Judah (Judah and Benjamin, the Southern Kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem), in the days of Jotham when the Syrian-Samaritan alliance had come about against Judah, and its intention was to replace Judah’s King Ahaz with their own puppet-king who would be more amenable to their wishes (II Kings 15:37, Isaiah 7:5-9)). It was during this time that the word of the Lord came to the prophet Isaiah, and he challenged King Ahaz to ask God for a sign. “To make it as deep as Sheol and as high as heaven.” (Isaiah 7:10-11) But when Ahaz refused to test God by asking Him for a sign that would help strengthen his faith, at God’s explicit command through Isaiah the prophet, he was given a sign that indicated that his enemy would soon be removed (Isaiah 7:16). The Sign? An adolescent Jewish woman who is of marriageable age would bear a son and name him Immanuel – “with us, God” (Isaiah 7:14). Now move several centuries into the future, to sometime around 6 B.C., to the time when Jesus’ mother Miriam (Mary) had been betrothed to Joseph, before they had sexually consummated their marriage; she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit, which Matthew attributes as a direct fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy to Ahaz (Matthew 1:18-25). Two distinct completely unconnected historical events connected by a single prophetic verse of Scripture whose literal sense and meaning indicate two completely different things, except when interspersed with the latter historical event, ie; Jesus miraculous conception and birth by the Holy Spirit.
Hosea, whose name is a variant of the name of the Hebrew Yeshua, which means “salvation,” lived in the northern kingdom 8th century B.C., during the reign of Jeroboam. His contemporary was Amos the prophet who also prophesied to the northern kingdom, though he was from Tekoa, a town about six miles north east of Bethlehem of Judah. Hosea the prophet describes how God loved the people of Israel as His own Son since his youth and mentions the Exodus out of Egypt as an example of how the Lord loved and cared for him (Hosea 11:1) though Israel sacrificed to Baal and bowed to graven images (Hosea 11:2). The lad Israel was a enslaved in Egypt and the Lord God brought them whom He calls “My Son” out, because He loved His people as though they were His own Son. Now move several centuries into the future, to sometime around 4 B.C., about the time of Herod the Great’s death, where in his Gospel Matthew writes that hearing news of Herod’s death (Matthew 2:19-23) Mary and Joseph return from Egypt with Jesus, applying Hosea’s prophecy of the Exodus to Jesus’ return from exile in the land of Egypt (Matthew 2:15). Two distinct completely unconnected historical events connected by a single prophetic verse of Scripture whose literal sense and meaning indicate two completely different things, except when interspersed with the latter historical event, ie; Jesus’ return to the land of Israel.
Our third example is even greater in contrast as we shall see. The Babylonian Exile was so seared into the hearts and minds of the Jewish people that ninety years after the tragic event, Jeremiah, who lived around the year 627 B.C. raised a loud prophetic lamentation over his people and their plight in Ramah (modern Er Ram), a settlement in the area of Gibeon and Beeroth (see Joshua 18:25) approximately five miles north from Jerusalem, where Jeremiah was released from prison (Jeremiah 39:11-14, 40:1) describing as seeing Rachel who was buried in Ramah (Genesis 35:19, 49:7, 1Samuel 10:2) barren until she gave birth to Benjamin and died as he was born (Genesis 35:18); is seen by the prophet weeping bitterly for her grandchildren (Jeremiah 31:15), whose descendants – (from Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph Rachel’s son, Genesis 30:22-24, see 48:1-2) were taken into exile into Babylon on 722 B.C. Now move several centuries into the future, to a period sometime towards the end of the reign of Herod the Great, when according to Matthew’s Gospel, Herod ordered the slaughter of Bethlehem’s children up to two years old and younger (Matthew 2:16—18). This type of brutality from Herod is attested to by Josephus and other historians of the period. Two distinct completely unconnected historical events connected by a single prophetic verse of Scripture whose literal sense and meaning indicate two completely different things, except when interspersed with the latter historical event, ie; Herod’s genocidal act of slaughtering Bethlehem’s innocents – a day that will live in infamy.
The argument of these Cessationists who posit that Isaiah 9:10’s prophecy does not and cannot be applied to the events of September 11th, 2001 and subsequent events which the Nine Harbingers characterize prophetically because the verse denotes a specific historical event; cannot be defended under the circumstances, because herein lies the duality of the prophetic.
I posit that it is the Cessationist approach to hermeneutics that is both flawed and un-Biblical, because it places the serious student of Scripture at a loss and does not allow the full interpretation of Scripture in its full historical context. Were these people to critique the writings of the New Testament as they do The Harbinger, they would brand the entire New Testament heretical, because its writers employ the very same principles Cahn does to prophecy in The Harbinger, something these people cannot bring themselves either to understand or accept.
Perhaps because I have never studied at a seminary, I am not a Dispensationist, nor am I a Cessationist; never have been, therefore I am not theologically shackled by the limitations pure Cessationism presents to the serious student of God’s Word, because these limitations contradict, and by inference negate the very prophetic nature of events yet to take place, some of which require a belief both in the miraculous, and the supernatural; I do am not prejudiced in my analysis and study of the Biblical Texts as the critics of The Harbinger are.
To say, as Cessationists do – and they have had decades to develop their theology enough to convince a good many people – that the gifts and the miraculous ceased with the Apostolic Age/Second Temple Era – denies the very miraculous nature of future historical events like the resurrection of the righteous, the rapture, the two witnesses who will call fire down from heaven in the last days, the various judgments described in the Book of Revelations, and so many other aspects of Prophetic Scripture.
And to make a blanket statement such as “miracles, the gifts of the Spirit, and signs do not occur today,” contradicts the Biblical evidence for them. I posit as I have posited many times before that the flawed but well developed theology behind this belief (Cessationism) is a convenient method of hiding a disbelief in the miracles of the Bible in this Post Modern Age of Skepticism. It is a disbelief that such things actually occur in space and time.
The preponderance of evidence in favor of the miraculous and of signs (be they from God or Satanic) fills the pages of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and those who teach others that otherwise contradict the clear text of the Scriptures themselves, because how can such events take place if indeed as they say, “God ceased operating in this manner with the closing of the cannon of Scripture and the death of the last Apostle.”
And herein lies the problem of the Cessationist. Since he cannot accept that God is the same yesterday, today, and yes forever (Hebrew 13:8), and that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29); the Cessationist is left struggling through muddled but clever argument and the blatant Eisegesis employed to support an un-Scriptural and therefore untenable position pertaining to the very nature of God, how He operates, why He is unchangeable – the movement of God through Pre-history, ancient history, and right down to our present day, and right into the future.
His logic: America was founded by Christians who dedicated this nation to God. In return, he placed a "hedge" of protection around us. Cahn believes we removed God from our classrooms and courtrooms in the 1960s, and he views the legalization of abortion as a further step away from the Lord. In response, God removed his protection from our nation, allowing the 9/11 terrorists to attack our country.
"The bricks have fallen down" describes the collapse of the World Trade Center; "we will rebuild with dressed stone" refers to a 20-ton stone used as the cornerstone of the structure that would replace the fallen Twin Towers. The "fig trees" that were felled is connected to a sycamore tree that was destroyed on 9/11; the "cedars" that replaced it refers to a pine tree that was put in place of the sycamore. As the Isaiah passage describes a nation whose prideful self-reliance spurred God to further punishment, so our nation's refusal to return to God after 9/11 has led to ongoing judgment.
Reading the Culture Cahn links 9/11 to the Great Recession, as our government used means to stimulate the economy that led to financial collapse seven years later. He connects this collapse to the biblical "Sabbath year" (Deuteronomy 15:1-2), whereby every seventh year debts would be forgiven. In his view, the seven years between 9/11 and the fall of Lehman Brothers demonstrates the biblical import of the recession. If we do not return to the Lord, further judgments will come.
I find numerous problems with Cahn's logic. For example, if God removed his "hedge" on 9/11, how are we to understand Pearl Harbor? Washington, D.C. was burned in the War of 1812. The World Trade Center was bombed in 1993. Radical Muslims have been attacking America since 1979.
He likens the Great Recession to the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, but 1929 was a far worse economic collapse. And his method of biblical interpretation is more allegorical than exegetical. It reminds me of Jewish pesher: a passage is read for its surface meaning as well as a deeper mystical message not conveyed by the literal text.
At the same time, I am grateful Cahn calls America's Christians to repentance and spiritual renewal for the sake of our nation. However we view his argument, there can be no question his burden is biblical: "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (Deuteronomy 16:18). Self-reliance is spiritual suicide. Our nation's great need is for a great moral and spiritual awakening. May it begin with me—and with you
________________________________________
OBERSVATIONS AND REBUTTAL FROM THE PEPSTER:
The use of Pesher is throughout the New Testament, but it is not widely known and is dismissed by Dispensationalists who hold a Cessationist approach to Biblical Hermeneutics.
It is from these circles that The Harbinger's message is being rejected en toto.
It is also from these circles that most attacks against other Christians from within the Body of Christ finds its main impetus, inasmuch as they believe they are judge, jury, and excuctioner in the name of Christ of Christians whom they have theological and doctrinal disagreements with.
They hide behind the mantle of "discernment" and "apologetics," but it masks a man-made veneer of a convenient theology that conveniently hides their own unbelief in what can be termed "miraculous."
They readily accept that the devil affects false miracles.
Yet they fail to ascribe to God the same works He has done since Prehistory, and teach that while He continues to transform lives through the power of His salvation and the efficacy of the blood of Chist; they deny His power in all other areas.
Paul warns the Church to avoid such people.
While Cahn is not a Charismatic, and disagrees with the wealth and prosperity false gospel narrative of the religious televangelists; he fervently believes, as the Scriptures teach, that the God who communicated with man since time immemorial, still does today through His written Word in the hearts of all believers, and it is through His written Word that He is now communicating with America.
That written warning finds its place within the pages of Cahn's book, The Harbinger and just as Daniel said that knowledge would increase as the times of the end draw near - the knowledge of God's Word, archeological evidences of the Bible's historicity are being unearthed every day, and knowledge is exploding.
The evidence is all around us. We are living in momentous times, and The Harbinger is evidence of that.
ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS FROM THE PEPSTER:
And now to a broader reply to the above article while we examine the true subtext of what undergirds and motivates The Harbinger's worst critics. We begin by exploring their rejection of The Harbinger as being a prophetic warning to our nation and our times.
The preceding article written by Jim Denison appears on a website titled the Denison Forum On Truth and Culture. The article appears largely favorable to The Harbinger, but the writer has problems with certain connections between events which occurred as part of God’s removing His hedge of protection over America by comparing with other historical tragedies in American history.
My reply and comments are below the article’s, and they’re posted on his web site for everyone to read. I have also begun to post my rebuttals to The Harbinger’s critics on this site, which you can read for yourself, all of which I am including in a book I am writing addressing The Harbinger's critics.
My reply to this man’s objections, after giving it some thought is that we should not be quick to dismiss a warning’s historical and Scriptural origin’s/connections on the flimsiest of arguments of our own inabilities to connect other tragic moments in human history – the War of 1812, the American Civil War, Pearl Harbor, the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, and the Oklahoma City Bombing, and every other disaster – with the prophetic.
Events, as we see in the Holy Scriptures, in both Testaments; possess both historical and prophetic linear and parallel connections. Allow me to define the meaning of linear and parallel in the context of Prophetic Scripture and its Fulfillments throughout history. A linear connection is one in which a specific prophecy is given and it has a direct bearing upon an event which will take place centuries later.
We see a parallel connection where a prophecy is given for a specific date and time in history and see it being fulfilled within the life of the prophet who gave it, or within a generation of it being given; having both fulfillment within the context of that historical event, and in a future event to take place centuries later which is totally unrelated to the prophecy in a literal sense.
We see the evidence of this in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament, as events in both Testaments are tied to one another prophetically (linear), and understood in the paradigm of two completely unconnected historical events (parallel) connected prophetically at the place where the two events converge in the specific prophecies given; sometimes hundreds, sometimes thousands of years from one another.
This is perhaps the best examples of Scripture interpreting Scripture, because we see the prophecy about a historical event given and centuries later applied by the Evangelists in their Gospels and the Apostles throughout the New Testament in their letters to specific events and situations within their own lifetime.
We see the same at work about prophetic events in our future, where there are specific prophecies about specific prophetic events yet to occur in the timeline of history. We find these in both Testaments as well. As to their interpretation, there are various schools of thought on that; Amillennialist, Premilleninialists, Post Millennialists, Preterists, Pretrib, Postrib, etc…
Regardless; none of these mitigate the fact that several prophecies are applicable and interpreted throughout the Scriptures in the context of more than one historical event. Additionally, the historical events have absolutely no connection one with the other, nor can one ascertain the literal meaning of the prophecy to connect it to the second historical event fulfilled unless reading it through the pages of the Evangelists who interpret it as such.
The pages of our Bibles are filled with such examples. I’ll cite the following three examples, though it is not an exhaustive sampling, it’ll suffice for the purposes of our current discussion:
After Solomon’s reign, during the years of the divided kingdoms of Israel (Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom with its capital in Samaria) and Judah (Judah and Benjamin, the Southern Kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem), in the days of Jotham when the Syrian-Samaritan alliance had come about against Judah, and its intention was to replace Judah’s King Ahaz with their own puppet-king who would be more amenable to their wishes (II Kings 15:37, Isaiah 7:5-9)). It was during this time that the word of the Lord came to the prophet Isaiah, and he challenged King Ahaz to ask God for a sign. “To make it as deep as Sheol and as high as heaven.” (Isaiah 7:10-11) But when Ahaz refused to test God by asking Him for a sign that would help strengthen his faith, at God’s explicit command through Isaiah the prophet, he was given a sign that indicated that his enemy would soon be removed (Isaiah 7:16). The Sign? An adolescent Jewish woman who is of marriageable age would bear a son and name him Immanuel – “with us, God” (Isaiah 7:14). Now move several centuries into the future, to sometime around 6 B.C., to the time when Jesus’ mother Miriam (Mary) had been betrothed to Joseph, before they had sexually consummated their marriage; she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit, which Matthew attributes as a direct fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy to Ahaz (Matthew 1:18-25). Two distinct completely unconnected historical events connected by a single prophetic verse of Scripture whose literal sense and meaning indicate two completely different things, except when interspersed with the latter historical event, ie; Jesus miraculous conception and birth by the Holy Spirit.
Hosea, whose name is a variant of the name of the Hebrew Yeshua, which means “salvation,” lived in the northern kingdom 8th century B.C., during the reign of Jeroboam. His contemporary was Amos the prophet who also prophesied to the northern kingdom, though he was from Tekoa, a town about six miles north east of Bethlehem of Judah. Hosea the prophet describes how God loved the people of Israel as His own Son since his youth and mentions the Exodus out of Egypt as an example of how the Lord loved and cared for him (Hosea 11:1) though Israel sacrificed to Baal and bowed to graven images (Hosea 11:2). The lad Israel was a enslaved in Egypt and the Lord God brought them whom He calls “My Son” out, because He loved His people as though they were His own Son. Now move several centuries into the future, to sometime around 4 B.C., about the time of Herod the Great’s death, where in his Gospel Matthew writes that hearing news of Herod’s death (Matthew 2:19-23) Mary and Joseph return from Egypt with Jesus, applying Hosea’s prophecy of the Exodus to Jesus’ return from exile in the land of Egypt (Matthew 2:15). Two distinct completely unconnected historical events connected by a single prophetic verse of Scripture whose literal sense and meaning indicate two completely different things, except when interspersed with the latter historical event, ie; Jesus’ return to the land of Israel.
Our third example is even greater in contrast as we shall see. The Babylonian Exile was so seared into the hearts and minds of the Jewish people that ninety years after the tragic event, Jeremiah, who lived around the year 627 B.C. raised a loud prophetic lamentation over his people and their plight in Ramah (modern Er Ram), a settlement in the area of Gibeon and Beeroth (see Joshua 18:25) approximately five miles north from Jerusalem, where Jeremiah was released from prison (Jeremiah 39:11-14, 40:1) describing as seeing Rachel who was buried in Ramah (Genesis 35:19, 49:7, 1Samuel 10:2) barren until she gave birth to Benjamin and died as he was born (Genesis 35:18); is seen by the prophet weeping bitterly for her grandchildren (Jeremiah 31:15), whose descendants – (from Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph Rachel’s son, Genesis 30:22-24, see 48:1-2) were taken into exile into Babylon on 722 B.C. Now move several centuries into the future, to a period sometime towards the end of the reign of Herod the Great, when according to Matthew’s Gospel, Herod ordered the slaughter of Bethlehem’s children up to two years old and younger (Matthew 2:16—18). This type of brutality from Herod is attested to by Josephus and other historians of the period. Two distinct completely unconnected historical events connected by a single prophetic verse of Scripture whose literal sense and meaning indicate two completely different things, except when interspersed with the latter historical event, ie; Herod’s genocidal act of slaughtering Bethlehem’s innocents – a day that will live in infamy.
The argument of these Cessationists who posit that Isaiah 9:10’s prophecy does not and cannot be applied to the events of September 11th, 2001 and subsequent events which the Nine Harbingers characterize prophetically because the verse denotes a specific historical event; cannot be defended under the circumstances, because herein lies the duality of the prophetic.
I posit that it is the Cessationist approach to hermeneutics that is both flawed and un-Biblical, because it places the serious student of Scripture at a loss and does not allow the full interpretation of Scripture in its full historical context. Were these people to critique the writings of the New Testament as they do The Harbinger, they would brand the entire New Testament heretical, because its writers employ the very same principles Cahn does to prophecy in The Harbinger, something these people cannot bring themselves either to understand or accept.
Perhaps because I have never studied at a seminary, I am not a Dispensationist, nor am I a Cessationist; never have been, therefore I am not theologically shackled by the limitations pure Cessationism presents to the serious student of God’s Word, because these limitations contradict, and by inference negate the very prophetic nature of events yet to take place, some of which require a belief both in the miraculous, and the supernatural; I do am not prejudiced in my analysis and study of the Biblical Texts as the critics of The Harbinger are.
To say, as Cessationists do – and they have had decades to develop their theology enough to convince a good many people – that the gifts and the miraculous ceased with the Apostolic Age/Second Temple Era – denies the very miraculous nature of future historical events like the resurrection of the righteous, the rapture, the two witnesses who will call fire down from heaven in the last days, the various judgments described in the Book of Revelations, and so many other aspects of Prophetic Scripture.
And to make a blanket statement such as “miracles, the gifts of the Spirit, and signs do not occur today,” contradicts the Biblical evidence for them. I posit as I have posited many times before that the flawed but well developed theology behind this belief (Cessationism) is a convenient method of hiding a disbelief in the miracles of the Bible in this Post Modern Age of Skepticism. It is a disbelief that such things actually occur in space and time.
The preponderance of evidence in favor of the miraculous and of signs (be they from God or Satanic) fills the pages of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and those who teach others that otherwise contradict the clear text of the Scriptures themselves, because how can such events take place if indeed as they say, “God ceased operating in this manner with the closing of the cannon of Scripture and the death of the last Apostle.”
And herein lies the problem of the Cessationist. Since he cannot accept that God is the same yesterday, today, and yes forever (Hebrew 13:8), and that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29); the Cessationist is left struggling through muddled but clever argument and the blatant Eisegesis employed to support an un-Scriptural and therefore untenable position pertaining to the very nature of God, how He operates, why He is unchangeable – the movement of God through Pre-history, ancient history, and right down to our present day, and right into the future.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
THE HARBINGER, Pastor Ken Silva Does it Again - Critiquing the Critics of the Harbinger - Part Three
Why, I have to ask myself is Mr. Silva, so concerned whether or not Jonathan Cahn responds to those calling him a prophet? Doesn’t Pastor Silva realize that the word teaches, as he well knows, a prophet is one who teaches and speaks God’s truth.
This is why in the Book of the Revelations of Jesus Christ it declares most emphatically and without equivocation, that the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy. Thus, anyone who bears witness of the cross of Christ in the conviction and power of God’s Spirit is a modern prophet. No not someone who foretells future events, but one who teaches truth from God’s Word, as Rabbi Cahn does in The Harbinger. Silva just gets it all wrong, because he has been listening for too long to the wrong people on this, and has allowed himself to be prejudiced by their misguided and incorrect counsel.
To Pastor Silva’s credit, he does admit that Rabbi Cahn’s appearances on programs of people who hold questionable doctrinal beliefs does not indicated an endorsement of either those teachings or the ministries that teach them. He writes:
“I’m aware that going on TBN is not, in and of itself, an endorsement of the Word Faith heresies expounded on the Network and by both Clarence McClendon and the profit Manasseh Jordan so let’s avoid that rabbit trail.”
Well and good. Let’s avoid going down that rabbit hole, because it does not serve the cause of Christ and only serves distract from our discussion on The Harbinger. So, agree with Silva here; let’s avoid doing this, because it is a form religious prejudice practiced by those who think themselves superior to other Christians.
Rabbi Cahn has never claimed to be a prophet in the vein of Jeremiah and Isaiah, or Ezekiel. When he did not react to the statements made by the hosts of some of the shows he’s been on is not because he claims to be a prophet, nor is it because as Silva cynically describes, that he is being disingenuous with the Christian public. Why is Silva making this an issue?
He’s doing this in order to serve the base of his support and the support of other ministries like his, who teach Cessationism – the belief that the gifts of the Spirit such as healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues – all ceased with the closing of the Apostolic Age – Second Temple Era.
And herein lies the problem with critics of The Harbinger. It must be asked of them individually if they are Cessationists. And one not need to be a Cessationist to disbelieve The Harbinger’s message, but it appears that the book’s most vociferous critics are themselves Cessationists, and it is from this doctrinal bias they have developed their arguments against it.
But what really speaks volumes to me about Pastor Silva and other critics of The Harbinger is the manner in which they speak of and treat Christians with whom they have very strong disagreements. The example I have cited where Silva calls Jim Bakker a “wingnut,” is just one example.
Elsewhere this same Pastor calls Dr. James MacDonald “Prophet-Führer” in another post; berating the organizers of a conference recently held on the grounds of the Rolling Meadows Conference for barring entry to Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian Radio and Erin Benziger, a special correspondent of Apprising Ministries.
Is Pastor Silva as loose with his lips as he is with his writing? This kind of “name calling” and casting of aspersions against a well-respected and well-loved teacher of God’s Word is again, par for the course when it comes to Mr. Silva. He is very adept at it, perhaps too adept.
Silva’s sarcastic style of writing drips with this kind of vituperation, and one must ask if someone who refers to fellow Christians in such a way does not do himself and his credibility the damage that he seeks to do those whom he targets in his writings.
This is why in the Book of the Revelations of Jesus Christ it declares most emphatically and without equivocation, that the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy. Thus, anyone who bears witness of the cross of Christ in the conviction and power of God’s Spirit is a modern prophet. No not someone who foretells future events, but one who teaches truth from God’s Word, as Rabbi Cahn does in The Harbinger. Silva just gets it all wrong, because he has been listening for too long to the wrong people on this, and has allowed himself to be prejudiced by their misguided and incorrect counsel.
To Pastor Silva’s credit, he does admit that Rabbi Cahn’s appearances on programs of people who hold questionable doctrinal beliefs does not indicated an endorsement of either those teachings or the ministries that teach them. He writes:
“I’m aware that going on TBN is not, in and of itself, an endorsement of the Word Faith heresies expounded on the Network and by both Clarence McClendon and the profit Manasseh Jordan so let’s avoid that rabbit trail.”
Well and good. Let’s avoid going down that rabbit hole, because it does not serve the cause of Christ and only serves distract from our discussion on The Harbinger. So, agree with Silva here; let’s avoid doing this, because it is a form religious prejudice practiced by those who think themselves superior to other Christians.
Rabbi Cahn has never claimed to be a prophet in the vein of Jeremiah and Isaiah, or Ezekiel. When he did not react to the statements made by the hosts of some of the shows he’s been on is not because he claims to be a prophet, nor is it because as Silva cynically describes, that he is being disingenuous with the Christian public. Why is Silva making this an issue?
He’s doing this in order to serve the base of his support and the support of other ministries like his, who teach Cessationism – the belief that the gifts of the Spirit such as healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues – all ceased with the closing of the Apostolic Age – Second Temple Era.
And herein lies the problem with critics of The Harbinger. It must be asked of them individually if they are Cessationists. And one not need to be a Cessationist to disbelieve The Harbinger’s message, but it appears that the book’s most vociferous critics are themselves Cessationists, and it is from this doctrinal bias they have developed their arguments against it.
But what really speaks volumes to me about Pastor Silva and other critics of The Harbinger is the manner in which they speak of and treat Christians with whom they have very strong disagreements. The example I have cited where Silva calls Jim Bakker a “wingnut,” is just one example.
Elsewhere this same Pastor calls Dr. James MacDonald “Prophet-Führer” in another post; berating the organizers of a conference recently held on the grounds of the Rolling Meadows Conference for barring entry to Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian Radio and Erin Benziger, a special correspondent of Apprising Ministries.
Is Pastor Silva as loose with his lips as he is with his writing? This kind of “name calling” and casting of aspersions against a well-respected and well-loved teacher of God’s Word is again, par for the course when it comes to Mr. Silva. He is very adept at it, perhaps too adept.
Silva’s sarcastic style of writing drips with this kind of vituperation, and one must ask if someone who refers to fellow Christians in such a way does not do himself and his credibility the damage that he seeks to do those whom he targets in his writings.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Critiquing the Critics of The Harbinger - Part One
Brannon Howse of World View Weekend Radio program, along with the "discernment" ministry called the Berean Call, and other like-minded "discernment" ministries have embarked on a program of defamation and marginalization of a Messianic Rabbi who's written a book titled The Harbinger, in which there is an End Times warning to the people of America that is tied to an ancient warning the prophet Isaiah gave to Israel fifteen hundred years ago.
Howse, Jimmy DeYoung, T.A. MacMahon, David James, Eric Douma, and others have all branded The Harbinger as something much less than fiction, and Jonathan Cahn as a crank, with some of them calling him a "false teacher," and "false prophet," even before speaking with him on the matter, or allowing him to speak for himself.
Pastor Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries has made such a criticism at The Harbinger and its author, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s message on the basis that as they claim, it was launched by Jim Bakker on his program when Cahn visited for an interview.
It is not so much the “guilt by association” that bothers me; that’s bad enough, because it is precisely what was done to Christ during His ministry, when His detractors criticized Him for the company that He kept, and claimed that Christ had defiled Himself in their company for just being in their company and under their roofs.
We have the Scriptures as our example to be truly discerning and as our example and template to follow so we will not repeat the mistakes of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. It is obvious from the Gospels that to use guilt by association is not a proper method to apply in expressing a doctrinal disagreement one Christian has with another, but this is precisely what this writer does as does other critics of The Harbinger.
“To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
There is nothing that one can say or do to appease such people, but as Jesus said; in the end, wisdom is vindicated by the truth of those who are the target of self-righteous religious bigots and bullies, because the integrity and the equanimity of the person who is their target makes it self-evident whose character is impeccable and whose cause unimpeachable.
This is where Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the tares comes into bold relief; because the behavior of one as opposed to the other – their statements, their actions, and the words they use, including the manner of how they express what they have to say; either bears witness of their cause as being right, or indicts them of fomenting division, derision and dissension among brethren, or of something even worse if that is possible.
Now please take note the manner in which Pastor Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries expresses himself when referring to Jim Bakker:
“Are we really supposed to believe that God would chose to use this spiritual wingnut to launch what Rabbi Jonathan Cahn tells us could be a most important warning from God to America?”
This is straight-linked by Brannon Howse on his website, World View Weekend.com, and he showcases it prominently on his website World View Times.
Now, I’m not a fan of Jim Bakker, I never have been. But I am both revolted and disgusted by the snide way Silva expresses himself here, and the spirit of superiority he betrays in his statement about Jim Bakker. His statement against Bakker, and by association against Cahn, drips with cynicism.
What’s more, that he should elevate himself in such a manner with such a statement, and casting fellow Christians by inference here as inferior to either himself or to anyone else is the very epitome of what we are not to be as followers of Christ.
And that Brannon Howse would be so bereft of discernment himself that he would showcase this statement is beyond belief, but it is again – everything being made self-evident to the witnessing audience of this religious charade unfolding before our eyes.
There is no place in the Body of Christ for anyone to use such language about another Christian, or anybody else, regardless of whether or not they agree with them on a particular matter or topic or not. The Scriptures are clear about that, and in fact, they warn against such behavior from Christians towards one another.
Silva’s snide remark is brimming with self-righteous superiority, and makes it quite evident where his heart is when making such a statement. It reminds us of the time Nehemiah was trying to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the many frustrations and setbacks he faced rebuilding the wall. We read of Tobiah the Ammonite's cynicism against the project, where he says that if even a fox ran up that wall it would collapse it.
This is not speaking the truth in love, nor is it displaying Christian charity towards others, especially towards those of the household of faith. It is worldly chatter couched in the name of “discernment,” and packaged in a venue trusted for Biblical integrity, and therein lies the deception, and the deception is great because it is being promoted and foisted by supposed Christians against another Christian.
We are reminded of the time the religious authorities in Jerusalem deliberated among themselves and made reference to the crowd as ignorant of the Law and accursed for following Jesus, contrasting themselves with them; while admonishing Nicodemus to search the Scriptures for himself. It reads as follows:
The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” The Pharisees then answered them, “You have not also been led astray, have you? No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) *said to them, “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” They answered him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” [[l]Everyone went to his home.
Does this sound familiar? It should. Because this is precisely what these people have resorted to, and it appears now that they have made this into a crusade – a crusade to marginalize, delegitimize, disgrace, and deny the message of The Harbinger and its author, Jonathan Cahn.
Silva’s remarks are below a servant of Christ’s, and it would do good for him to reexamine himself and his heart when he made it. But it must be asked, “Who does this man think that he is that he should so cavalierly dismiss another man’s faith and call him a “wingnut” before a reading public? What does the Apostle Paul say in such matters?
Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
Do you believe that Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is writing here just about food and holy Days? It is obvious that though Paul is making reference to two aspects of where religious people judge – about the observance of religious holy days, and eating certain types of food, two matters relating to the conscience of the one who looks at both of these in one light and another who see it in another – that it is not food or holy days that Paul is talking about as important, as much as it is two things:
1.) Whether it is or not observed, it is observed or not observed for the Lord, because whatever we say or do, nor not say or do, we do in God’s service and not to ourselves.
2.) Whether a particular food is eaten or not eaten, we either eat it or abstain from it for the Lord, because we belong to the Lord and whatever we say or do, or not say and not do; it is for Him.
Now as of this writing, Jonathan Cahn has gone out of his way to address every objection these people have and continue to posit against his book. He has even tried to contacting them, and on several occasions, and they have taken his attempts to address the issues as nothing more than a clever marketing ploy on Cahn’s behalf to sell his book.
Not only have they denied speaking with him, and therefore allowing him to address their objections to his book, but as of this writing, they have only allowed him one or two interviews by phone, only to shortly thereafter misuse his statements in their unrelenting assaults against him and his book.
And it appears that they have embarked on a campaign to systematically marginalize Cahn and destroy any shred of credibility he may have before the Christian Evangelical public. In the name of discernment, the Berean Call, Apprising Ministries and others like Eric Douma of Twin Cities Fellowship; are now fully engaged in a personal crusade against The Harbinger and against its author and fellow believer in Christ, Jonathan Cahn.
As the Lord wills, I will continue to endeavor to write on this topic, inasmuch as Brannon Howse, Jimmy DeYoung, David James, T.A. MacMahon, Tommy Ice, Mark Dinsmore, Christine Pack, Chris Rosebrough, Pastor Larry DeBruyn, and others continue their unwarranted and un-Christ-like attacks on a fellow Christian whom they have set out to defame and marginalize in the name of the Christ they claim to serve.
Howse, Jimmy DeYoung, T.A. MacMahon, David James, Eric Douma, and others have all branded The Harbinger as something much less than fiction, and Jonathan Cahn as a crank, with some of them calling him a "false teacher," and "false prophet," even before speaking with him on the matter, or allowing him to speak for himself.
Pastor Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries has made such a criticism at The Harbinger and its author, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s message on the basis that as they claim, it was launched by Jim Bakker on his program when Cahn visited for an interview.
It is not so much the “guilt by association” that bothers me; that’s bad enough, because it is precisely what was done to Christ during His ministry, when His detractors criticized Him for the company that He kept, and claimed that Christ had defiled Himself in their company for just being in their company and under their roofs.
We have the Scriptures as our example to be truly discerning and as our example and template to follow so we will not repeat the mistakes of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. It is obvious from the Gospels that to use guilt by association is not a proper method to apply in expressing a doctrinal disagreement one Christian has with another, but this is precisely what this writer does as does other critics of The Harbinger.
“To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
There is nothing that one can say or do to appease such people, but as Jesus said; in the end, wisdom is vindicated by the truth of those who are the target of self-righteous religious bigots and bullies, because the integrity and the equanimity of the person who is their target makes it self-evident whose character is impeccable and whose cause unimpeachable.
This is where Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the tares comes into bold relief; because the behavior of one as opposed to the other – their statements, their actions, and the words they use, including the manner of how they express what they have to say; either bears witness of their cause as being right, or indicts them of fomenting division, derision and dissension among brethren, or of something even worse if that is possible.
Now please take note the manner in which Pastor Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries expresses himself when referring to Jim Bakker:
“Are we really supposed to believe that God would chose to use this spiritual wingnut to launch what Rabbi Jonathan Cahn tells us could be a most important warning from God to America?”
This is straight-linked by Brannon Howse on his website, World View Weekend.com, and he showcases it prominently on his website World View Times.
Now, I’m not a fan of Jim Bakker, I never have been. But I am both revolted and disgusted by the snide way Silva expresses himself here, and the spirit of superiority he betrays in his statement about Jim Bakker. His statement against Bakker, and by association against Cahn, drips with cynicism.
What’s more, that he should elevate himself in such a manner with such a statement, and casting fellow Christians by inference here as inferior to either himself or to anyone else is the very epitome of what we are not to be as followers of Christ.
And that Brannon Howse would be so bereft of discernment himself that he would showcase this statement is beyond belief, but it is again – everything being made self-evident to the witnessing audience of this religious charade unfolding before our eyes.
There is no place in the Body of Christ for anyone to use such language about another Christian, or anybody else, regardless of whether or not they agree with them on a particular matter or topic or not. The Scriptures are clear about that, and in fact, they warn against such behavior from Christians towards one another.
Silva’s snide remark is brimming with self-righteous superiority, and makes it quite evident where his heart is when making such a statement. It reminds us of the time Nehemiah was trying to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the many frustrations and setbacks he faced rebuilding the wall. We read of Tobiah the Ammonite's cynicism against the project, where he says that if even a fox ran up that wall it would collapse it.
This is not speaking the truth in love, nor is it displaying Christian charity towards others, especially towards those of the household of faith. It is worldly chatter couched in the name of “discernment,” and packaged in a venue trusted for Biblical integrity, and therein lies the deception, and the deception is great because it is being promoted and foisted by supposed Christians against another Christian.
We are reminded of the time the religious authorities in Jerusalem deliberated among themselves and made reference to the crowd as ignorant of the Law and accursed for following Jesus, contrasting themselves with them; while admonishing Nicodemus to search the Scriptures for himself. It reads as follows:
The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” The Pharisees then answered them, “You have not also been led astray, have you? No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) *said to them, “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” They answered him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” [[l]Everyone went to his home.
Does this sound familiar? It should. Because this is precisely what these people have resorted to, and it appears now that they have made this into a crusade – a crusade to marginalize, delegitimize, disgrace, and deny the message of The Harbinger and its author, Jonathan Cahn.
Silva’s remarks are below a servant of Christ’s, and it would do good for him to reexamine himself and his heart when he made it. But it must be asked, “Who does this man think that he is that he should so cavalierly dismiss another man’s faith and call him a “wingnut” before a reading public? What does the Apostle Paul say in such matters?
Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
Do you believe that Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is writing here just about food and holy Days? It is obvious that though Paul is making reference to two aspects of where religious people judge – about the observance of religious holy days, and eating certain types of food, two matters relating to the conscience of the one who looks at both of these in one light and another who see it in another – that it is not food or holy days that Paul is talking about as important, as much as it is two things:
1.) Whether it is or not observed, it is observed or not observed for the Lord, because whatever we say or do, nor not say or do, we do in God’s service and not to ourselves.
2.) Whether a particular food is eaten or not eaten, we either eat it or abstain from it for the Lord, because we belong to the Lord and whatever we say or do, or not say and not do; it is for Him.
Now as of this writing, Jonathan Cahn has gone out of his way to address every objection these people have and continue to posit against his book. He has even tried to contacting them, and on several occasions, and they have taken his attempts to address the issues as nothing more than a clever marketing ploy on Cahn’s behalf to sell his book.
Not only have they denied speaking with him, and therefore allowing him to address their objections to his book, but as of this writing, they have only allowed him one or two interviews by phone, only to shortly thereafter misuse his statements in their unrelenting assaults against him and his book.
And it appears that they have embarked on a campaign to systematically marginalize Cahn and destroy any shred of credibility he may have before the Christian Evangelical public. In the name of discernment, the Berean Call, Apprising Ministries and others like Eric Douma of Twin Cities Fellowship; are now fully engaged in a personal crusade against The Harbinger and against its author and fellow believer in Christ, Jonathan Cahn.
As the Lord wills, I will continue to endeavor to write on this topic, inasmuch as Brannon Howse, Jimmy DeYoung, David James, T.A. MacMahon, Tommy Ice, Mark Dinsmore, Christine Pack, Chris Rosebrough, Pastor Larry DeBruyn, and others continue their unwarranted and un-Christ-like attacks on a fellow Christian whom they have set out to defame and marginalize in the name of the Christ they claim to serve.
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