Tag Archives: America

Harbinger Remix

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In September, Sid Roth had Jonathan Cahn as his guest for a 2-part appearance on his “It’s Supernatural!” show.  If you know Sid Roth, you know that he has a certain, shall we say, “style”…and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but he does have a good knack for getting some good guests on his show.  The bottom line being that regardless of how interesting or engaging the guest is, the “signal to noise ratio” is pretty low It’s Supernatural! (which also has a lot of peddling of offers to clutter up the time) So, I took it upon myself to edit these two shows and strip out as much of the “noise” as I could so that Cahn’s message, which is quite intriguing, might have a better chance of being heard.  There’s still some Sid in there, God bless him, but only as much as is necessary.

The original parts 1 and 2 can be found here for those who are interested:

https://www.sidroth.org/site/News2?abbr=tv_&page=NewsArticle&id=10457

https://www.sidroth.org/site/News2?abbr=tv_&page=NewsArticle&id=10494

Harbinger?

I called this “Harbinger Remix” because Cahn titles his message, drawn from Isaiah 9:10, “The Harbinger” and if you search for Jonathan Cahn or The Harbinger, you’ll find plenty of references, sites, videos, etc.  I think this particular 30-minute mix does pretty good justice to the message that he’s trying to get across, which is that America’s crises from 9/11 to the current economic woes parallel a series of increasingly severe judgments that a defiant ancient Israel faced.  The Harbingers are 9 warnings or omens that Israel faced that, according to Cahn, America is also facing.

I certainly find the parallels compelling and, I too, believe that there are things that the Lord is not pleased with regarding America.  In this particular instance, I would say that I’m in general agreement with Cahn, but do I have two concerns. 

First, this sort of prophetic perspective usually adds weight to the “gloom, doom and judgment” perspective of prophecy that flies in the face of the emphasis on the goodness of God, which I believe is probably more crucial in this hour (all hours?) than dire warnings.  Judgment has its proper place in the character of God and redemptive history, past, present and future.  However, focusing on it and/or not understanding God’s heart/motivation behind it (as Mike Bickle likes to say, “God judges to remove everything that hinders love.”) can, I think, end up twisting our image of who God is, for us, for others, for His Creation.  Unfortunately, while I’m sure Sid means well, his “style” does more, in my opinion, to stir up this unbalanced perspective of God and of prophecy.

Second, while I think what Cahn has received is from God and his conclusions about the need to repent, in general are correct, I still see the same glaringly myopic perspective of what to repent of that comes out of the mouths of most American Christians: abortion, homosexuality, pornography, etc.  Granted these things need repentance, and, in my opinion they have received a notable quantity in the last 30 years or so.  Consequently, I find it curious that the two specific judgments that are mentioned in Cahn’s message, 9/11 and the financial crisis, don’t directly point the finger at this traditional triple whammy of sexual sins.  Rather, in my view, they point the finger at the two things that most (right-leaning Christian) Americans don’t notice as sin and yet they are the two things that the entire rest of the world sees as America’s most glaring offenses:

  • Unrelenting empire building/maintaining
  • Capitalism in its most predatory guises

The two are quite linked, of course, and the spirit of empire and the spirit of mammon and the predator/victim spirit all swirl together in evil glee to work with one another to steal, kill and destroy as much as possible.  Part of the reason that Americans don’t “get this” is that America is a land where individualism and independence is highly valued but these two sins are at their most destructive (and yet most elusive) in their institutional and corporate forms.  The sins become systemic and one can’t easily point the finger at an individual and say, “Repent!”  Americans don’t yet know how to see American governmental and corporate impact on the world stage and rightly point the finger at themselves and say, “Repent!”  Nowhere is this more evident than in the hyper-polarized political scene in America where pointing the finger elsewhere sinks to new amazing lows with every passing day.  I would wager that the one place where Americans are comfortable grouping people together and focusing on a “corporate entity” is when we label someone “Republican” or “Democrat”.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) the Lord looks at both individuals and corporate entities and they both have roles and responsibilities in God’s Kingdom.

So, to me, 9/11 is a wake up call about our imperialistic/neo-colonial swagger in the world and the economic meltdown is about our predatory capitalistic appetite in the world…and in those two areas is perhaps where we need to focus most of our repentance energies at the moment.

So, with that rambling preamble, on with the show!

The Wisdom We ALL Need

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I just received Jeff Fountain’s Weekly Word by e-mail today. I confess that often I don’t have time to read them. Today, I’m a bit under the weather so a more measured pace has me perusing some e-mails that otherwise would suffer neglect due to my haste.

This one was a gem! I quote it in its entirety:

The wisdom Europe needs

• European leaders came to an historic agreement in Brussels last week to limit co2 emission levels to help save the environment.
• Just a few days earlier, Christian scientists and philosophers met to discuss the relationship between faith and science at the University of Leiden in Holland.
• Also near Leiden, in 1642, two philosophers met in a castle to discuss this same topic-the interface of science and faith. Europe’s future, including that of her environment, would depend on which of these men’s views prevailed.
• It still does.

French philosopher René Descartes, sometimes called the Father of Modern Philosophy, spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He had been lodging in Endegeest Castle for several months before his visitor arrived for their four-hour discussion. Descartes’ famous statement, Cogito ergo sum, was to mark a fresh beginning in Western thought based on rationalism. His dualism separated the physical from the spiritual, science from religion.

Jan Amos Comenius, although exiled from his homeland at the time, also brought with him a reputation as one of Europe’s leading thinkers. He would earn himself the title Father of Modern Education and is today one of the Czech Republic’s national heroes. Comenius had developed a holistic or integrated philosophy called ‘pansophy‘, meaning ‘all wisdom’, taken from Colossians 1:28: We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

Wisdom for Comenius was more than simply knowledge of things. It involved knowing the relationships between all things. It meant knowing the right decisions to improve conditions and circumstances. It was the ‘fullness of the right knowledge’.

Respect & Reservation
Both men had prepared for their meeting by reading at least some of each other’s works. They approached each other with respect and reservation.

Comenius proposed a philosophy of unity with distinct but not separated fields of science, while Descartes objected to the integration of non-rational knowledge with science.

The two men cordially exchanged arguments without convincing the other. They continued to hold different views on man and his world. The Frenchman, a practising Catholic, saw man as an observer of the world from the outside. The Czech, one of the last bishops in the Ancient Moravian Church, understood man as an inseparable part of something that had been a harmonious whole until disrupted by the Fall.

Comenius continued to criticise a science free of moral values which would result in the fragmentation of the essence and existence of man. He foresaw accurately that separation of faith and natural science would lead men to ask what could be done rather than what ought be done. The Cartesian reductionist approach merely asked for causes, not meaning or destination, he objected.

Ring of gold
‘He who improves in scientific knowledge and thereby declines in moral knowledge, will end up in decline rather than progress,’ he wrote. Quoting from Proverbs 11:22, he said learnedness without virtue was ‘like a ring of gold in a pig’s nose‘.

How different Western history could have been had Comenius’ pansophy prevailed! Today we find ourselves facing drastic measures to correct problems arising from Cartesian dualism.

The scientists and philosophers who met recently in Leiden believe the answer lies in Comenius-style wisdom, integrating faith and science. Twenty-two Christian scholars complied the book, ‘Geleerd en gelovig‘ (something like, ‘Scholars and believers‘), presented to the Dutch Prime Minister on the occasion of the Veritas Forum.

Jan Peter Balkenende suggested that faith and science today were actually closer than often presumed. Both involved a search for truth that existed but could never be fully known. Faith didn’t make you better a scientist or politician, said the prime minister, but raised different questions. Take the environment debate, for example. We seek all sorts of technical solutions. But the question how to steward God’s creation and pass it on to the next generation, for him personally, had a spiritual dimension.

‘That doesn’t make me a better politician morally,’ he admitted, ‘but it does shape my way of thinking.’

I, for one, think Europe would be a better place with more of this pansophy.

And I, for one think that the United States would be a better place with more of this pansophy.