Yesterday, I was wasting time after Children's Church. The kids were waiting, somewhat impatiently, for their parents to come pick them up. They were playing and giggling and laughing. I logged on to a Christian online magazine that I read to see if there were any updates on the condition of Ron Luce's daughter, Hannah, that had survived a horrific plane crash. My attention was taken by a quick review of the novel, The Harbinger, which has once again topped the weekly fiction best-sellers list.
The scan of the review was intriguing. Written by a Messianic rabbi, Jonathan Cahn, I was curious. God has placed a desire in me over the last few months to learn about the Jewish culture, both ancient and current. Maybe it is the fact that Jesus was Jewish, or the fact that so much of Revelation and Biblical prophecy concerns Israel, but I have been hungry to learn.
Needless to say, I started with the free sample for my Nook, and ended up purchasing the book within a few minutes. Thus started an adventure that had me staying up way past my bedtime, and waking up first thing this morning to read some more. By the time I was halfway through the book I was crying, grieved deep in my spirit about the hardened hearts and defiant spirits we as Americans have toward God.
The Harbinger is a fiction story, but only because the characters telling the story are fictitious. The story-line is true. The front of the book holds the caption "The Ancient Mystery that holds the secret of America's Future". At first glance, that was kind of off-putting. After all, it does sound kind of like science fiction. But then I opened the book,and was blown away.
A harbinger is defined at dictionary.com as anything that foreshadows a future event; omen; sign. In the book, Jonathan ahn discusses Isaiah 9:10, a verse that portrayed Israel's defiance toward God as they fell away from Him, and the words they stated as judgement fell on them. Within a few years of judgement from God coming, their country was scattered and laid in ruins.
Jonathan Cahn shows a parallel with American, beginning with the tragic events that occurred on 9/11, and leading to the present time that could be nothing other than a warning from God to repent. The nine Harbingers portrayed in the book did actually happen in America. Whether we see them as warning signs from God to repent, as a nation, and seek God's face once again, or we see it as mumbo-jumbo, is going to be up to how our hearts are convicted. The Harbingers in the novel, which parallel the ancient Israel, are warnings to us as a nation that God is lifting His hand of protection off of us. leaving us unprotected, with blessings lost, and judgement coming.
Now, before you thing I am crazy or that I am easily buying into an emotional, well-written book, you should know that I read this book quickly, but with the internet by my side. As each new Harbinger was introduced, I would look it up online to see if that was truth, to see if it all really happened. Not living in New York, I truly did not know the details of the aftermath of 9/11. I knew that St. Paul's Chapel, which sat close to the World Trade Center, had survived. I knew nothing of the sycamore tree that saved the chapel, or that the tree was replaced, or that the prophetic implications from the Old Testament book of Isaiah would hold significance in prophecy concerning America.
I have lived with the repercussions of America's economic challenges. My husband was unemployed for a time, and we struggled and nearly lost everything. I had no idea of the historical background concerning Wall Street and how 9/11 triggered something deeper in our economy. I had no idea that it all could be traced back to our land being consecrated to God, and our falling away from Him as a nation has severe consequences.
Makes sense that our covenant with our Lord, broken, would reap consequences. I am not blind. As a Christian and a homeschooling mother, I know the morality is in sharp decline. I brought my children home so they wouldn't be educated in the public schools. God isn't allowed there, but in my home I can give my children a Christian education. I can teach them about the Bible and my faith in every subject. I don't have to compete with the school's white-washed version of history and science where God has been edited out and replaced with monkeys evolving into man.
While I knew the consequences would come for our rejection of God, seeing actual warning signs from the Bible coming to life in my country, in front of me, grieves me deeply. Our nation was blessed by God. Now, I wonder and fear what losing God's hedge of protection will mean, especially if 9/11 and the Great Recession were only warnings.
I encourage you to read Jonathan Cahn's book, The Harbinger. It is one that I am going to reread, and recommend to everyone, from my Christian brothers and sisters to unsaved family and friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment