Obama Visit to Ground Zero Given Apocalyptic Significance by WND

WND has more evidence that America is doomed thanks to Obama:

“On June 14, two of the mysteries of ‘The Harbinger,’ foreshadowed in the book came true,” explained [Rabbi Jonathan] Cahn. “Obama went to Ground Zero to see the still rising tower. He was given a beam which will constitute the tower’s final and highest beam. On the beam, the president wrote eight words – which were, in effect, a summation of the ancient vow of judgment: ‘We Remember, We Rebuild, We Come Back Stronger!'”

Cahn continued: “So now the now the tower will be crowned and finished with words paralleling Isaiah 9:10, the ancient vow of national judgment. The tower was begun with the laying down of a hewn stone, the very same object mentioned in Isaiah 9:10 which begins the rebuilding.”

“Now the words and the tower have been joined together in reality – and the one who did it was the president of the United States,” he told WND. “One subtle difference in the words, is that the vow is spoken in the future tense. But now the words inscribed on the towers are in the present tense. In other words, they not only speak of the defiant vow, but of the fact that the vow is being fulfilled. This,” says Cahn, “constitutes another ominous sign.”

As I’ve previously blogged, Cahn’s book The Harbinger is currently a best-seller in the USA; he focuses on the misuse of a Biblical verse by Jonathan Edwards in 2001 and Tom Daschle three years later:

“The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.”

These words were first uttered by leaders in Israel and in response to a limited strike by Assyria on the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali – an attack the prophet makes clear is actually part of a limited judgment by God against apostasy. It wasn’t meant to destroy the nation, but to awaken it, according to most commentaries.

But, says Cahn, Israel didn’t take the cue. Instead, the response from the people in Isaiah 9:10 is one of defiance. The brick buildings were toppled, but they vowed to build bigger and better. The little sycamore trees may have been uprooted, but they vowed to plant bigger and better cedars in their place.

“Like Daschle, Edwards thinks he’s invoking inspirational and comforting words from the Bible, but he’s actually inviting judgment on America,” says Cahn. “He’s repeating the vow that provoked God to bring calamity on ancient Israel.”

The notion that the 9/11 attack was a judgement of God was of course raised at the time, by Jerry Falwell in conversation with Pat Robertson:

I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way – all of them who have tried to secularize America – I point the finger in their face and say, “You helped this happen.” 

This was less than a week after the 9/11 attacks, when grief and anger at the massacre was still raw; such demagogic ramblings did not match the national mood and were widely regarded as repellent. Things have changed somewhat since then. However, Cahn’s obsession with Isaiah 9:10 takes us beyond the idea that Americans are ignoring a “warning” from God to change their ways; he seems to regard the verse as a magical invocation, through which Daschle and Edwards (and now, at a stretch, Obama) have mechanistically unleashed a spiritual force.

Cahn is a Messianic Rabbi, and his teaching is being promoted in the context of rising interest in the “Hebrew Roots” of Christianity. This does not just mean putting Jesus and the New Testament authors in historical context; it includes vicarious identification with Jewish cultural practices, as well as the idea that a Hebrew understanding of the Bible reveals hitherto secret spiritual realities. Hence items on advertised on Cahn’s website have an esoteric air:

The Mystery Of The Temple Doors!

Discover the long-hidden, never before revealed, Mystery of the Temple Doors – The ancient secret hidden in the Garden of Eden, the visions of the prophets, the writing of Josephus and the rabbis and the flaming sword of the cherubim.

The Mystery
The First Time Uncovered!

The Hebrew Mysteries!

The fascinating, deep and profound mysteries hidden in God’s ancient language. Discover The Mysteries of Heaven and living a Heavenly life on earth – Includes: The Divine Pluralities (the six divine words that break all rules) and Divine Timelessness (how to live from Heaven).

The Awesome & Heavenly Mysteries Hidden in God’s Ancient Language! – Our Gift To You!

I looked at another “Hebrew Roots” teacher promoted by WND just a week ago.

Cahn’s website also carries a bio, although this appears to have been made shorter at some point. A fuller version appeared on his site in 2006, and can be found on Wayback. The older version tells us that he is “descended of the line of Aaron”, and there’s a stronger claim to uniqueness in his teaching:

His teachings are noted for their richness and depth, the revealing of ancient mysteries, and the bringing back and restoring to the Gospel message its long lost Biblically Jewish context, flavor, and power after two thousand years. His teachings include the revealing of ancient mysteries, the depth and wonders of God’s Word, and the restoration of the Gospel message in its original Biblically Jewish context, richness, and power.

This has now been toned down to:

His teachings are widely known for revealing the deep mysteries of God’s word and for the restoring of the new covenant message to its original biblically Jewish richness and power.

The older version also goes into further detail about his particular activities:

  • Spoke at the United Nations in November of 1996.
  • Invited to lead the Christian leaders of India in the celebration of the Gospel’s coming to India, on Mount St. Thomas.
  • Was invited in as part of an historic return, walking in the footsteps of Thomas, culminating on Mount St. Thomas.
  • Was featured in news stories around the world from BBC to ABC World News Tonight.
  • Ushered in the Indian Jubilee with the sounding of the shofar.
  • Led an estimated 70,000 people in an altar call, in Madras, India.
  • Invited by the Evangelical Council of Cuba to minister in the first evangelical celebration on the island since the revolution. With the sound of the shofar, ushered in the Jubilee of Cuba, which opened up the Communist island to the public preaching of the Gospel, Cuba’s subsequent mass revival was traced to this event.
  • Led the children of Menasseh, the “lost tribes” of Israel in a prophetic gathering of reconciliation in the hill country of Northeast India.
  • Led millions of Nigerians in a prayer of dedication to the Lord after sharing an end-time message for the nation, and sounding the Jubilee shofar at what is reported as the largest gathering of believers in history.
  • Has sounded the shofar, taught, proclaimed the Gospel before millions, and to leaders and kings, to the effecting of great changes and moves in the outworking of God’s will.

I discussed the idea of a “lost tribe” of Israel living in northeast India in 2006.

12 Responses

  1. […] at Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion  Share this:DiggEmailFacebookTwitterLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. Tags: Bizarre, […]

  2. […] being promoted now in the wake of Jonathan Cahn’s bestseller the Harbinger. Cahn, as I blogged here, claims  that ancient Israel’s futile defiance against enemies sent by God described […]

  3. Thanks for this keen observation: “Cahn’s obsession with Isaiah 9:10 takes us beyond the idea that Americans are ignoring a “warning” from God to change their ways; he seems to regard the verse as a magical invocation, through which Daschle and Edwards (and now, at a stretch, Obama) have mechanistically unleashed a spiritual force.”

    This is quite true. Cahn’s mystical double-speak and history-twisting are exposed in David James’ new book, “The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction?” now available on Amazon or from the publisher. Author blog here:
    http://www.biblicalintegrity.org/blog/2012/04/26/harbinger-fact-fiction/
    Free chapter here: http://www.thebereancall.org/harbinger-fact-or-fiction

    The Harbinger falls far short of meeting the biblical requirements for such a message from God, being based on the mishandling of Scripture, faulty theology, misleading statements, the selective use of historical facts, and unsupported speculation.

  4. […] discussed the background to Jonathan Cahn’s book The Harbinger previously. In the days after 9/11, Edwards had quoted the Isaiah 9:10: The bricks have fallen, but we will […]

  5. […] Cahn’s Harbinger, and his claims to have special insight into “Hebrew mysteries” previously; I’ve also logged some of Farah’s ludicrous pretensions to expertise on […]

  6. […] is the author of The Harbinger, which, like The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment, claims that events on and after 9/11 parallel the Biblical […]

  7. […] strange, involving esoteric “Hebrew mysteries” and such, but his Harbinger book, which claims that events such as 9/11 represent God’s judgement against the USA,  is currently a top […]

  8. […] come to wider attention due to a best-selling apocalyptic paperback called The Harbinger, and he presents himself as being an expert in “Hebrew […]

  9. […] must repent to avoid further disaster. Before he achieved fame, Cahn’s religious teachings emphasised his special understanding of “Hebrew mysteries”, such as the “the long-hidden, […]

  10. […] Jewish cultural identity is expressed in worship), and he has for some years been marketing himself as an expert on esoteric “Hebrew mysteries” and […]

  11. […] its author, Jonathan Cahn, is a Messianic pastor and as such has been able to market himself as having special insight into “Hebrew mysteries”. There is also a related Hebrew Roots movement which […]

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