A
couple of weeks ago, I was listening to American Family Radio’s Bryan
Fischer as he said, “Only two nations in history have ever had a direct
covenant relationship with God, Israel and America.”
He claimed that the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were America’s
covenant documents with God. He was making this claim in the context of
promoting Jonathan Cahn’s book, The Harbinger. As soon as I heard him
say those words, I thought to myself, “That’s the AFA heresy right
there. That’s the whole problem with their theology!”
In the list of top-selling Christian books, right along with Todd
Burpo and Sarah Young (books I have reviewed and critiqued elsewhere in
this blog – here and here), stands The Harbinger by Jonathan
Cahn. This book takes readers to Isaiah 9:10 as a prophecy of the
judgment of God against America on 9/11/2001. Cahn point out that “The
One-Year Bible” published in 1985, puts Isaiah 9:10 on Sept. 11th:
“The bricks have fallen,
but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will put cedars in their place.
But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,
and stirs up his enemies.” – Isaiah 9:10-11, ESV
but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will put cedars in their place.
But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,
and stirs up his enemies.” – Isaiah 9:10-11, ESV
First of all, before I go any further, any time an author starts
playing “numbers games” or hidden-code tricks with the Bible (“secret
prophecies”/ citing page numbers from “The One-Year Bible”), run the
other way! This is not a responsible way of handling the Bible.
The basic “prophecy” behind the book rests on Cahn’s ability to
string together random events and coincidences and read them into the
text of Isaiah 9:10. This is called “eisogesis,” when you read into a
text a meaning which is not there.
FACT: No responsible Bible scholar would assert that Isaiah 9:10 anything to do with America whatsoever.
The Harbinger has been heavily promoted on American Family
Radio (AFR). I listen to AFR regularly, as they sometimes have some good
things to say. However, when they start talking about The Harbinger or the theology of Israel & America which underlies both this book and much of AFR’s message, I get pretty irritated. Continue at Jason A. Van Bemmel
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