[Excerpts from a review of The Mystery of the Shemitah]
Jonathan Cahn,
a popular Christian author, claims that his books reveal mysteries and
predict the future. He thus portrays himself as like the Biblical
prophets, including the claim of having new revelations. The main point
of his book is that America is a second Israel and that she is being
judged according to the seven-year Sabbath law called "shemitah" that
was given to ancient Israel. This judgment manifests itself in
seven-year cycles of stock market collapses or other cataclysmic events.
The apostle Paul claims
that he was chosen by God to reveal mysteries as were the other
apostles. The gospel itself was the mystery of which he spoke. We see
this in Ephesians 3: that
by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before
in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can understand my
insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not
made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy
apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles
are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of
the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (Ephesians 3:3-6).
A
mystery is something that would not be known had God not chosen to
reveal it through His appointed spokespersons. These are Moses and the
prophets in the Old Testament, and Christ and His appointed apostles and
prophets in the New Testament. The writings of the Biblical prophets in
Scripture are inerrant and infallible. In the Scriptures we have
revealed all the mysteries that will be known until Christ returns.
However, Jonathan Cahn, who is not one of the Biblical prophets, claims to reveal mysteries: "The Harbinger and The Mystery of the Shemitah are
not only revealing mysteries but also the sounding of the
alarms. Cahn's claim to be a revealer of mysteries is strong and
severely problematic: "Much that will be revealed in this book has never
before been revealed in written form" (Cahn: 2). This is a rather bold
claim that echoes the apostle Paul's cited above. He claims to have
special revelation like the biblical authors.
Cahn often
repeats what I call our national myth—that America is somehow the new
Israel. This myth goes back to beginning of our history but cannot be
sustained by any biblical standard. The myth is based on the belief that
man can unilaterally make a covenant and bind God to it, without God
having agreed to anything. Cahn claims, "Embedded in America's
foundation is a prophetic warning. The warning was given on America's
first day as a nation. It concerns what will happen if America should
ever turn away from God" (Cahn: 21). For such a warning to be valid and
binding, it would have to be issued by an infallible prophet who speaks
for God, in this case, beyond scripture. Who, exactly, is America's
Moses, or Jesus, or the apostles? Lacking any such person, God cannot
have stated that America is Israel and has a binding covenant. That she
does is our national myth.
The
truth is that God draws out the boundaries of all nations through His
providence. The truths revealed in Romans 13 and elsewhere about how
Christians relate to civil governments applied to Rome when Paul wrote
and all civil governments in history. Only Israel was directly
established by God and had a binding covenant mediated through Moses who
God chose and appointed. America has neither a Moses nor a binding
covenant. We are not the new Israel and never have been. The moral laws
of God that do apply are found in the Bible and they apply to all people
in all nations.
Cahn falsely
claims that any nation can become a covenant nation: "Such a prophetic
sign could be given to any nation as long as that nation in some way
matched the description or shared the attributes of ancient Israel in
586 BC" (Cahn: 56). Cahn obviously fails to understand what Moses taught
in Deuteronomy 32:8, 9 (cited at the beginning of this article). Only
Israel was directly under Yahweh, all the other nations are under the
"sons of God." No other nations had an Exodus, a Sinai, or a Moses. All
nations are ruled by God's providence and are under the principalities
and powers (‘sons of God' of Deuteronomy 32:8). America is no
exception. Cahn again repeats our national myth: "Those who founded
America not only foretold its future blessing—but also gave warning. It
was this: If America ever turned away from God, then the same judgments
that fell upon ancient Israel would fall upon America" (Cahn: 61).
Israel had Moses and the prophets who spoke inerrantly for God. Who
speaks bindingly for God beyond Scripture for America? There is no such
person.
All
the moral laws of God always apply to all peoples in all nations. They
are revealed in Scripture. All geo-political entities have boundaries
that are drawn out by God in His providence and have leaders that His
providence allows. In these important ways America is like all nations.
We are not Israel. Furthermore, no man or nation has the power or
authority to bind God to a man-made, unilateral covenant. Unilateral
covenants in the Bible are established by God, not man. We need to
reject the myth that America is a special covenant nation and start
thinking Biblically rather than mythologically.
[TBC:
T.A. and Dave James address the distortion of prophecy by
Jonathan Cahn and Mark Biltz in their “Search the Scriptures 24/7”
broadcast (“Serious Abuse of Prophesy”
Oct 30, Nov 6). Cahn and Biltz's more than implied disaster-pending
date settings (that failed to occur) led multitudes of fear-induced
Christians to suffer financially, emotionally, and spiritually.]
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