7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail[a] on account of him. Even so. Amen.
The second coming of Jesus Christ to the earth is one of the most momentous events that will ever happen.
The second coming of Christ to the earth is one of the most momentous events that will ever happen.
The
end times bring with them a lot of misery and pain. It the darkest
point in the earth’s history, where evil, sorrow, and unrighteousness
run rampant. Darkness rules the earth completely. But then Jesus
will return to the earth with the armies of heaven to save it from the
grip of the beast and the Antichrist! After so much darkness the light
will finally shine forth! After being under Satan’s influence right from
the days of Adam and Eve this is the momentous turning point that
wrenches the earth out of the grasp of sin and puts it into Jesus’
hands. Read Zechariah 14 and Revelation 19:11-21 for a full description of the second coming of Christ.
At the end of the Great TribulationTribulations
or trials refer to any event or situation that comes your way that
tempts you to sin; that gives opportunity for sinful thoughts and
temptations to rise up in you. The tribulation or trial arises when your ... the Antichrist will gather all of his armies from all over the earth to go and attack Jerusalem. (Zechariah 14:1-2)
They will begin slaughtering the Jews without mercy. This will be the
Jews’ greatest hour of need in their entire history. In his bitterness
and anger the Antichrist intends their complete destruction. But then Jesus and the saints will descend from heaven to save them! “Then
the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in
the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of
Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east.”Zechariah 14:3-4. See also Revelation 19:11-16. Then all of the wicked soldiers of the Antichrist will be consumed in a plague! They will dissolve completely away. (Zechariah 14:12)
God’s judgment over the beast and the Antichrist will not be light. You
can imagine His righteous fury over the ones who have tried to hurt and
destroy and corrupt His beloved creation right from the beginning. Both
the beast and the Antichrist will be thrown into the lake of fire to
burn for all eternity (Revelation 19:20-21) and Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:1-3) Christ
will set foot on the Mount of Olives, which will split in two to create
a valley. Living waters will begin to flow out from the Jerusalem. This
signifies the start of the glorious new time of peace and plenty known
as the Millennium! The lands South of Jerusalem will be turned into a
plain and Jerusalem itself will be raised up. (Zechariah 14:4-11) Jerusalem then becomes the capital city of the world, from which Christ will rule over the whole earth. (Isaiah 2:2-4, Micah 4:1-3)
The mourning of the people
“…
then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for
Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves
for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in
Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.”Zechariah 12:10-11. When
Christ returns to save the Jews they will look at Him and recognize
that He is Jesus, the Messiah, the one they rejected and pierced and
they will realize how wrong they have been. Then there will be a
tremendous mourning. (Revelation 1:7)
Not only will they realize that they persecuted and rejected their
Messiah but also that in His great mercy and righteousness He is still
willing to save them. He is still willing to be their Messiah. Now
there will be nobody on earth who can deny Christ. Now it will be clear
that He is Christ, the Lord and Savior of the earth. There will be no
more doubt, no more mystery, no more lies. The truth will radiate over
the whole earth and everyone will come to worship Him. (Zechariah 14:16)
Thus begins the thousand-year kingdom of peace on earth, the Millennium.
Question: "What does the Bible say about pandemic diseases/sicknesses?"
Answer:
Various outbreaks of pandemic diseases, such as Ebola or the
coronavirus, have prompted many to ask why God allows—or even
causes—pandemic diseases and whether such illnesses are a sign of the
end times. The Bible, particularly the Old Testament, describes numerous
occasions when God brought plagues and diseases on His people and on
His enemies “to make you see my power” (Exodus 9:14, 16). He used plagues on Egypt to force Pharaoh to free the Israelites from bondage, while sparing His people from being affected by them (Exodus 12:13; 15:26), thus indicating His sovereign control over diseases and other afflictions.
God also warned His people of the consequences of disobedience, including plagues (Leviticus 26:21, 25). On two occasions, God destroyed 14,700 people and 24,000 people for various acts of disobedience (Numbers 16:49 and 25:9).
After giving the Mosaic Law, God commanded the people to obey it or
suffer many evils, including something that sounds like Ebola: “The Lord
will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation . . .
which will plague you until you perish” (Deuteronomy 28:22). These are just a few examples of many plagues and diseases God caused.
It’s sometimes hard to imagine our loving and merciful God displaying
such wrath and anger toward His people. But God’s punishments always
have the goal of repentance and restoration. In 2 Chronicles 7:13–14,
God said to Solomon, “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no
rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my
people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves
and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I
hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Here we see God using disaster to draw His people to Himself, to bring
about repentance and the desire to come to Him as children to their heavenly Father.
In the New Testament, Jesus healed “every disease and every sickness,” as well as plagues in the areas He visited (Matthew 9:35; 10:1; Mark 3:10).
Just as God chose to use plagues and disease to show His power to the
Israelites, Jesus healed as an exhibition of the same power to verify
that He was truly the Son of God. He gave the same healing power to the
disciples to verify their ministry (Luke 9:1).
God still allows sickness for His own purposes, but sometimes disease,
even worldwide pandemics, are simply the result of living in a fallen
world. There is no way to determine whether or not a pandemic has a
specific spiritual cause, but we do know that God has sovereign control
over all things (Romans 11:36) and will work all things together for the good of those who know and love Him (Romans 8:28).
The spread of sicknesses such as Ebola and the coronavirus is a
foretaste of pandemics that will be part of the end times. Jesus
referred to future plagues associated with the last days (Luke 21:11). The two witnesses of Revelation 11 will have power “to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want” (Revelation 11:6). Seven angels will wield seven plagues in a series of final, severe judgments described in Revelation 16.
The appearance of pandemic diseases may or may not be tied to God’s
specific judgment of sin. It could also simply be the result of living
in a fallen world. Since no one knows the time of Jesus’ return, we must
be careful about saying global pandemics are proof that we are living
in the end times. For those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior,
disease should be a reminder that life on this earth is tenuous and can
be lost at any moment. As bad as pandemics are, hell will be worse. The
Christian, however, has the assurance of salvation and the hope of
eternity because of the blood of Christ shed on the cross for us (Isaiah 53:5; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 9:28).
How should Christians respond to pandemic diseases? First, do not panic. God is in control. The Bible says the equivalent of "do not fear"
over 300 times. Second, be wise. Take reasonable steps to avoid
exposure to the disease and to protect and provide for your family.
Third, look for opportunities for ministry. Often when people are
fearful for their lives, they are more willing to have conversations
about eternity. Be bold and compassionate in your sharing of the Gospel,
always speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15)
A Review of The Oracle: The Jubilean Mysteries Unveiled
“And the burden [oracle] of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden [oracle]; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.” (Jer. 23:36)[1]
What you are about to read is presented in the form of a narrative, but what is contained in the story, all that the Oracle reveals, is absolutely real. ~Jonathan Cahn – Author of The Oracle[2]
Exhibit: Number mysticism[3]
oracle 1 in ancient Greece a: a person (such as a priestess) through whom a god was believed to speak;
consulting an oracle b: the place (such as a shrine) where people went to ask questions of an oracle c: an answer or message given by an oracle[4]
An ancient mystery that determines the course of world history. I never would have thought that anything like that could be possible…
but it’s real…
and
it touches everything from kings, to presidents, empires, superpowers,
down to the most minute details… And everything happens to happen in the
exact way, at the exact place, and at the exact time. And no one’s
orchestrating it, no one on earth. And those who play a part in one
Jubilee are gone in the next…
but the mystery keeps moving forward…
“Yes,” said the Oracle. “One Jubilee prepares the way, sets the stage and leads to the next.”
~ Jonathan Cahn, The Oracle, opening pages. A dialogue between an unnamed man and the Oracle[5][Bold added]
AN IMAGINARY TALE STEEPED IN MYSTERY
Jonathan Cahn’s current number one best-selling book,[6] The Oracle: The Jubilean Mysteries Unveiled,
begins with a chapter entitled “The Mystery.” Indeed, the word mystery
or mysteries is a key repeated word in this book, perhaps only second to
the word “vision.” The author speaks of many ancient and modern
“mysteries” surrounding the Jewish nation and the land of Israel—that
purportedly are all mystically linked to the “Jubilean mystery”
(mentioned in the subtitle of the book)—which Cahn “unveils” through The Oracle as he connects all of these so-called mysteries together with world history, Hebraic gematria, cherry-picked Scriptures, imaginary visions, and fantasy storytelling.
The book is written in a fictional format,
giving the author great license to conjure up fake visions with made-up
interpretations, and then connect them to carefully selected and
isolated Bible verses, in order to make it all appear valid and truthful
to the unsuspecting reader. This pattern becomes a troubling mixture
that will soon become apparent. The following Scripture comes to mind
immediately:
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Tim. 4:3-4)
The narrative
opens with a dialogue between an unnamed man (who has had previous
encounters with the Oracle) and an unnamed traveler who have a chance
meeting on a desert mountain.
[Ed. Note:
At times the dialogue becomes confusing to follow, because the two
characters who converse with each other at the beginning and ending of
the book are unnamed, and because the story is told by the one unnamed
man in a prolonged flashback detailing his spiritual journey with the
Oracle. For clarity, the unnamed storyteller will be referred to as ‘the
seeker’ in this review.]
The first paragraph of TheOracle opens provocatively with a loaded question from the seeker to the unnamed traveler:
What if I told you of a mystery so vast that it spans the world and the ages, from ancient times to this very moment…
a mystery that moves behind and through all human events, directs and turns the paths of leaders, determines the future of nations and empires…
and of the world itself… to bring all things to their appointed end?[7]
Instead of running for his spiritual life, the unnamed traveler gets
sucked into the seeker’s intriguing mystical web and the indoctrination
begins anew.
Question: What kind of a ‘mystery’ could be so “vast” that it
‘moves behind and through human events’
‘directs and turns the path of world leaders’
‘and determines the future of nations and empires—to bring all things to their appointed end?’
Answer: A false mystery; a blasphemous lie. All of these things belong to the Lord God almighty, Whose Word is recorded in Scripture, “Declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are
not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My
pleasure” (Isa. 46:10). It is the Lord who writes history in advance
(genuine prophecy), not some nebulous impersonal force, nor law that
connects the past with the future, which is occult mysticism.
When the unnamed traveler responds in disbelief, the seeker replies that
he wouldn’t have believed it either if, “I hadn’t seen it with my own
eyes.”[8] But contrary to his supposed visible proofs of authenticity (experiential) the Bible says, “for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2. Cor. 5:7). And “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).
Jonathan Cahn
THE ORACLE SAGE Unfortunately, Cahn
draws his readers through a murky, fictitious mixture that relegates
God’s Word to nothing more than a deceptive prop to help shore up his
own seductive mysteries and false visions. Instead of searching through
the Scriptures, the seeker (who reveals what he learned about these
so-called mysteries to the unnamed traveler), says that truth was
supernaturally revealed to him through a series of visions that the
Oracle, a mysterious mountaintop dweller, interprets for him with extrabiblical revelation and knowledge.
In the early chapters of the book, the unnamed traveler and the seeker consider the meaning of an oracle.
In one exchange, the seeker informs his companion that the ancient
world was filled with pagan oracles who “claimed the powers of
revelation and prophecy, each claiming to speak from God or the gods.”[9] (See the dictionary definition of “oracle” featured at the top of this post.)
The seeker then contrasts the pagan oracles with the biblical oracles.
He begins with the oracle at Delphi, where “seekers would journey to the
Temple of Apollo to receive the oracle’s revelations,” then pivots to
God’s “oracles,” the “prophets, seers, priests, messengers of God, those
chosen vessels of divine revelation.”
He gives two examples from the Scripture; one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. The first, “It is written that the counsel given by a man named Ahithophel ‘was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God.’”
The partial verse quoted here is footnoted, requiring the reader to
search for the Bible reference in the back of the book. The reference is
from 2 Samuel 16:23, but the context of the verse is put into proper
perspective by reading chapters 15-17 of 2 Samuel. The truth about
Ahithophel is not a positive one. He had been one of King David’s
closest advisors, but then switched his allegiance to Absalom—whom he
counseled to kill his own father. David was God’s chosen one. In the
end, Ahithophel’s advice was not taken and he hanged himself in disgrace
(2 Sam. 17:23). The unnamed traveler should have ‘been a Berean’ “in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).
The seeker cites Romans 3:2 in the New Testament example of God’s oracles, “So the apostle Paul wrote that the nation of Israel was entrusted with the ‘oracles of God.’”
Again, the verse is footnoted. What Paul is actually saying in this
verse, is that God had entrusted the Jewish people with the “very words”[10] of God—His Word—the Scriptures. The ‘oracles of God’ are ‘God-breathed’ words (2 Tim. 3:16). They are not the mystical hocus pocus Cahn’s ‘Oracle’ reveals. Rather, this enigmatic man operates like the ancient pagan Oracle at Delphi.
“Then
the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in My name: I sent
them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they
prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought,
and the deceit of their heart.”(Jer. 14:14)
Exhibit: Depiction of the Oracle at Delphi[11]
SEARCHING FOR TRUTH IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES The saga begins in the
seeker’s living room when he experiences a troubling vision at three
separate times. The vision directs the seeker to find someone named “the
Oracle.” Unbelievably, the seeker then begins his search on the
Internet! Undeterred, he also scours libraries, history books,
periodicals, and religious books, ultimately finding a reference to the
Oracle in an obscure article preserved on microfilm. Then begins his
long and arduous journey to a faraway desert mountain. Note that the
seeker doesn't start by searching the Scriptures (Acts 17:10-11).
Reading about the seeker’s pilgrimage to locate the elusive Oracle
immediately reminded me of the young Jedi, Luke Skywalker, seeking out
the murky planet Dagobah (from the Star Wars universe) in order to find the enlightened grandmaster Yoda, so that he could begin his training in the Force. The seeker, like Skywalker, was on a spiritual quest to find a guru of ancient mysteries that was revealed to him in a vision (in Luke’s case, it was the ghost of Obi Wan).
Before each encounter with the Oracle (and there were several), the
seeker would have to find him first, guided each time by an unnamed,
shadowy little boy who appeared at all the right moments and always
seemed to know the seeker’s whereabouts, as well as the Oracle’s.
Between visits, the Oracle instructed the seeker to wait in his tent
until the specified number of visions manifested, which the Oracle would later decipher. The seeker was given the umbrella ‘vision of seven doors’, which consisted of multiple visions behind each successive ‘door’ that required a special ‘key’
from the Oracle to open. If I counted accurately, there were a total of
42 imaginary visions unveiled in the Oracle (not including the one the
seeker had in his living room)—each one creatively devised by Rabbi
Cahn.
The seeker should have instead sought out the true Door, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 10:9).
GOD’S PROPHET DANIEL Prophets in the Bible
who had prophetic visions didn’t have to make holy expeditions into the
wilderness in order to receive a vision from God. Every single prophet
was directed by God Himself, and many like Daniel, received a visit from
His angelic messengers. Each vision had a distinct purpose, time, and
chosen human vessel—and each one was recorded in God’s Word as He alone
directed. The Lord orchestrated every move.
The prophet Daniel was taken into captivity by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar in 605 B.C., in the first siege of Judah.[12]
God would prepare and use Daniel to record the most incredible
prophecies given by God beginning from his time all the way to the end
times—all relating to the Jewish people. The Book of Revelation would
pick up where Daniel ended, but this time the prophecies would be
recorded by the Apostle John on the isle of Patmos during his exile
(Rev. 1:1,9). Both of God’s servants, separated by centuries, obeyed the
Lord’s call and recorded what they saw.
Following Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue in Daniel Chapter 2, only Daniel was given the correct interpretation—by the Lord. Note how Daniel acknowledged God for revealing the king’s dream:
"Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are His:
"And He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings: He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
"He revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him.
I thank Thee, and praise Thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of Thee: for Thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter." (Dan. 2:19-22)
Exhibit: A depiction of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream[13]
In Chapter 22 of The Oracle, titled “The Number of the End,” Cahn
relies on a single verse in Daniel’s prophetic book as a proof text to
support his strange teaching that “1,335 is the number signifying the
end of the occupation of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount” (pg. 86). The
verse was taken from Dan. 12:12:
“Blessed is the one who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.”
The problem is that Cahn fails to put this verse in its proper context.
In addition, the reader is forced again to search for the Bible
reference cited in the chapter notes at the back of the book. Here are
verses 11 and 12 together:
“And from the time the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation set up, there will be 1,290 days.
Blessed is he who waits and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.” (Dan. 12:11-12)
Prophetically, the timing of these verses take place AFTER the Antichrist desecrates the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (when “the abomination of desolation is set up”)!
The timing of this terrible event is during the Tribulation—Daniel’s
70th Week (a 7-year time period). Dan. 11:36 through Dan. 12:12 puts
everything into context. These verses take place during the “Time of Jacob’s Trouble”
(Jer. 30:7), an unparalleled time of distress and persecution for the
Jewish people (Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21-22). Antichrist will already be on
the scene, and the end-time Jewish temple will already be standing in
the Holy City.
“From the time of the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation set up (see Dan. 9:27; 12:1; 2 Thess. 2:3-4; Matt. 24:15-22), there will be 1,290 days” (7 years, plus 30 days). “Blessed is he who awaits and reaches the end of the 1,335 days” (7 years, plus 75 days). Verse 13 closes Daniel’s prophetic book, “But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.”
Daniel would be with the Lord before these prophecies would take place,
but these verses serve to warn and encourage his people, the Jews, who
would live through the most difficult time the world has ever seen, a
distinct period in history that God revealed to him and He recorded.
Sadly, none of these truths are mentioned in The Oracle. This is a
curious omission considering how much Jewish history is covered in the
book. Instead, Cahn devotes a chapter of his book, using Dan. 12:12, to
prove that the number 1,335 is a magic number—'a biblical template’
“given to the Jewish people to speak of the end of foreigners occupying
the land, inhabiting the holy places, the end of the obstruction of
God’s purposes (pg. 87).” Here are a few so-called signs that Cahn cites
in this chapter to bolster his teaching focusing on a single number:
The
number 1,335 began manifesting on Egyptian coins at the end of the
Ottoman occupation of Jerusalem in 1917—a Jubilee year (pg. 87)
The Islamic calendar year in 1917 was 1,335
It
would be 8 Jubilees (periods of 50 years) from the rise of Mohammad in
1,335 until the end of the Ottoman Empire with the Balfour Declaration
in 1917 (pg. 88)
Rabbi Cahn dedicated a lot ink in his book to elevate this particular
mystical number—at the expense of the astounding truths that God had
already communicated to Daniel. To make his mystical case Cahn goes
back, not to the covenant God made with Abraham, but rather to the
Mosaic covenant concept of the year of Jubilee.
THE LAW OF JUBILEES According to the Law of Moses, the Jubilee was seven sabbaths of years. The last year of the seven-year cycle was called a Shemitah, or “releasing.”[14]
The 50th year, the Jubilee, was consecrated to the Lord. Debts were
forgiven, slaves were freed, and property was returned to its original
owner. The ordinance is recorded in Leviticus:
"And
thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven
years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee
forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to
sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement
shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
"And
ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all
the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto
you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall
return every man unto his family. A jubile shall that fiftieth year be
unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in
it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the
jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out
of the field.
In
the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.
And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy
neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another: According to the
number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and
according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto
thee: According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price
thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the
price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth
he sell unto thee. Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou
shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God." (Lev. 25:8-17)
The Jubilee becomes central to Cahn’s teaching in The Oracle. He links a series of 50-year cycles to the return of the Jews to their land which he refers to as, “the Jubilean mysteries.”[15]
Yet Scripture is plain on its face that the promises of the land to the
Jewish people hearken back to the covenant God made with Abraham.
So the first question that arises is how could this law of Moses still
be in effect after the birth, death, and resurrection of the Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ? Cahn never explains it. Neither does he explain
how he can precisely pinpoint each so-called Jubilean mystery when the
Jewish rabbis say that the modern Hebrew calendar and the one
established in Moses day are out of synch. Dave James, in an article review of Cahn’s 2014 book, The Mystery of the Shemitah, outlines the difficulties with accurately dating not only the Shemitah, but the Jubilean cycles:
Even less certain [than the timing of Shemitah] is the timing of the Jubilee year,
which was a special Shemitah year that occurred after seven of the
seven-year Sabbath cycles, i.e., in the 50th year. Furthermore, there is
no consensus among the rabbis as to whether the Jubilee year was
concurrent with the 49th year or whether it was after the 49th year and
concurrent with the first year of the next seven-year cycle.
To
complicate things further, some have suggested that the Jubilee was an
intercalary year (a year that is inserted into the calendar), such that
the Jubilee cycles were 50 years each. If this is true, which the Jewish
Encyclopedia indicates is the majority view among the rabbis, then the
seven-year cycle would move later by one year for every 50 years. And
besides all this, there are questions concerning exactly when the
Jubilee year was suspended (as it is no longer observed).
Taken
together, this means that it is virtually impossible to know for
certain if the Shemitah years are being reckoned according to God’s
calendar. Yet, despite all of these difficulties which should be known
by a Jewish rabbi, and after acknowledging that no one knows when the Jubilee years are on the Hebrew calendar,
Cahn apparently brushes these problems aside and begins discussing the
Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the Six-Day War in 1967, claiming that
these amount to Jubilee years for the nation of Israel, whether or not they are legitimate Jubilee yearsin the eyes of God.[16][bold added]
In The Oracle, Cahn again mystically links ‘the Balfour
Declaration of 1917 and the Six-Day War in 1967’—among a litany of other
important Jewish dates and figures—regardless of “whether or not they
are legitimate Jubilee years in the eyes of God.” Yet these dates… and
other specific numbers become the foundation of the entire book.
Cahn's 2014 book cover
‘THE MATRIX OF YEARS’ The best synopsis of
Cahn’s Jubilean mysteries is found in chapter 55, “The Matrix of Years,”
but it does not cover all of them. The other ‘mysteries’ of dates,
numbers, events, and important figures are tricky to ferret out due to
the manifold visions and subsequent dialogue the reader must slog
through to understand the next revealed ‘mystery’. The significance,
from Cahn’s perspective, of repeating dates and numbers in the Jubilean
years from this chapter are bulleted below, along with added quotes and
insights gathered from elsewhere in the book:
AD 67 AND THE NUMBER 17
“So
with the exception of the political Jubilee, which began in the
fiftieth year of Zionism, every Jubilean event manifests in a year
ending with the number 17 or the number 67: 1867, 1917, 1967, and 2017…
the timing of each one determined by the [Roman] invasion of AD 67, the year in which the destruction began.” (pg. 240) [bold added]
It begins in Galilee - the first Israeli ancestral possession to be lost beginning in AD 67 by Roman General Vespasian.
- This “loss determined everything that followed.”
- “It was that event in AD 67 that would determine the timing of everything else.” (pg. 239) [bold added]
The Jubilee (50 years) after AD 67 = 117.
- “…The timing of the Roman invasion plus the fifty-year cycle of the Jubilean mystery will determine that the years of restoration will end in then number 17.” [bold added]
- The land of Israel transferred for the last time before the
restoration to the Ottoman Empire in 1517— “a year ending in the number
17—the twenty-ninth Jubilee from the year of Vespasian’s invasion.” (pg.
240)
General Allenby drove the Ottoman Empire out of the land and liberated Jerusalem in 1917.
- “Another year ending in 17—the thirty-seventh Jubilee from the year of the invasion.” (pg. 240)
- The Balfour Declaration established a homeland for the Jewish people following WWI in 1917. (pp. 70-74)
America recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capitol in 2017.
- “Another year ending in 17—the thirty-ninth Jubilee from the ancient invasion.” (pg. 240)
The Jewish Virtual Library
states that the Roman siege which culminated in the destruction of the
Jewish Temple took place from “66-70 CE.” It appears that Cahn
selectively chose 67AD because this number fits his mysterious template.
Secondly, how on earth could the timing of this event determine
each of the other dates in Jewish history ending in the numbers 17 or
67? This is absurd. If this so-called foundational date is wrong (or
fudged), then all the dates that follow it fail as well.
Also note that none of this numerology is essential to understanding the
basic biblical prophetical significance of the Jewish return to their
homeland after millennia in exile.
AD 67, THE NUMBER 67
“In
1867 the release of the land began. In 1917 the release came to its
fulfillment. In the first Jubilee the land was measured. In the second
it was transferred.” (pg. 73)
Mark Twain—the prophesied ‘stranger’ of Deut. 29:22-23—came to the Holy Land in 1867.
- “the words of Moses from the mouth of Mark Twain in the form of prophecy…” (pg. 38)
- “A year ending in 67—the thirty-sixth Jubilee from the first loss of the ancestral land.” (pg. 240)
British Military officer Charles Warren was commissioned to survey and map out the Holy Land in 1867. (pp. 40-42)
- He excavated Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, discovering an
ancient shaft that year which foreshadowed the restoration of Jerusalem.
(pp. 47-49)
The
Ottoman Empire began releasing the land of Israel in 1867 following the
Crimean War foreshadowing the Jubilee of Israel’s return to the land.
(pp. 50-53)
- “… the mystery applies to the entire world, to believer and unbeliever alike. The mystery causes
all things, all events even the rise and fall of kingdoms, to move in
the course that will fulfill the appointed purpose…” (pg. 50) [bold
added]
- “… in the Jubilee, those who occupy the land must release it…they
must relinquish it. The land must return to its original owner. And so
it would all happen as it was prophesied…the prophecy could not be
stopped. The release of the land would continue nonetheless and would
prepare the way for the return of the exiles…” (pg. 51)
Jewish soldiers entered in through the gates of Jerusalem in 1967 during the 6-Day War.
- “Another year ending in 67—the thirty-eighth Jubilee from when it all began.” (pg. 240)
There would be 7 Jubilees from the transference of the Holy Land to the Ottomans in 1517 to the release in 1967. (pp. 54-56)
Equally disturbing to the magical number game, Cahn’s erroneous
contention that “the mystery causes all things, all events even the rise
and fall of kingdoms, to move in the course that will fulfill the
appointed purpose…” usurps the sovereignty of the Lord! “The mystery” is
not a person, so it must be an impersonal, mystical force (think Star Wars). This is a New Age belief that is completely opposed to Christianity. As above, so below.
Have you noticed Cahn’s fascination with so-called prophetic numbers and dates—that are correlated to Israel’s history? The Oracle betrays Cahn’s substantial reliance on gematria—Jewish mysticism—to connect these so-called ‘Jubilean mysteries’ together. Gematria is explained below by a Jewish website:
Gematria is a numerological system by which Hebrew letters correspond to numbers. This system, developed by practitioners of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), derived from Greek influence and became a tool for interpreting biblical texts.
In
gematria, each Hebrew letter is represented by a number (for example,
aleph = 1, bet = 2, etc.). One can then calculate the numerical value of
a word by adding together the values of each letter in it. In the realm
of biblical interpretation, commentators base an argument on numerological equivalence of words.
If a word’s numerical value equals that of another word, a commentator
might draw a connection between these two words and the verses in which
they appear and use this to prove larger conceptual conclusions.[17][bold added]
Gematria is the mystical glue that holds everything together in The Oracle.
Below is an overt example of this taken from a chapter called, “The
Jubilean Code.” It is a narrative taking place between the Oracle and
the seeker. The Oracle is interpreting the seeker’s vision of “the four jeweled keys”:
[The Oracle]: Now we can open up the mystery. In the Jubilean ordinance in Leviticus 25 it is written: “You shall return, each one to his own family”. Three verses later it is written, “you shall return, each one to his possession, his ancestral land.” The words you shall return are the translation of just one Hebrew word: tashuvu.
The verse the Oracle quoted, “you shall return, each one to his
possession, his ancestral land,” was taken from Lev. 25:13. I looked at
28 Bible translations[18] of
that verse; 13 of them translated the verse, “… each to his possession,"
omitting the phrase “his ancestral land.” 11 of them translated it, “…
to its original owner,” again omitting the phrase, “his ancestral land.”
One translated it, “his own land that he has inherited,” again omitting
the phrase, “his ancestral land.” There was only ONE of the 28 Bible
translations that translated the verse, “the land that belonged to your
ancestors”—the New Living Translation. When I checked which Bible
Cahn used in the footnotes it read: “author’s translation.” How
convenient. The fact is that a search of the term “the land”
in the written Word reveals that God plainly and openly (not secretly)
spoke to the Jewish people about the significance of their land
ancestrally, economically and prophetically (Genesis 13:15; 13:17; 17:8,
etc.).
Tashuvu is the Jubilean command contained in one word. Hidden in that one word is a secret that spans the ages, a mystery of four Hebrew letters.
[The seeker]: Four Hebrew letters… [t]hey were the four keys, the four symbols in my vision. The four keys were the letters of tashuvu… [bold added]
The Jubilee passage cited in Leviticus (v. 8-17) is 10 verses long. How
is it that Rabbi Cahn chose the single word “return” from dozens of
other words in that section? Did he have special knowledge… or did he
arbitrarily select it as he did his Bible translation?
[The Oracle]: The four Hebrew letters of tashuvu are the letter tav, the letter shin, the letter beit, and the letter vav. And remember, each letter is also a number. Tav is the Hebrew number for 400. Shin is the Hebrew number 300. Beit is the Hebrew number 2. And vav is the Hebrew number 6. 400, 300, 2, and 6. What number does the word tashuvu come out to?
Since we know that Kabbalists came up with these esoteric numerical
values for the Hebrew alphabet, why would we trust such occult methods
over a proper hermeneutic of the plain words of Scriptures?
[The seeker]: 708.
[The
Oracle]: 708. That’s correct. Now tell me… what year do those Hebrew
letters and that word pinpoint on the Western calendar?
[The
seeker]: If the Hebrew letter for 660 stands for 1900… then 708 is… 48
years later. So the Hebrew letters stand for… the year… 1948!
[The Oracle]: Yes… the word tashuvu pinpoints the year 1948.
[The seeker]: 1948! The year Israel came back into the world.
[The Oracle]: The year of the return.
[The seeker]: Amazing! And so the Hebrew word that means you shall returncontains the secret of the time when the nation of Israel would return! The ancient Jubilean ordinance actually identifies the year of Israel’s return![19][bold added]
Cahn’s entire “secret of time” scenario is based entirely on a boatload of arbitrary and cherry-picked data that he fed into his gematria
calculator with the desired outcome established beforehand. Each of his
newly ‘revealed secrets’ moves the reader farther and farther from the
truth and away from sound Bible exegesis.
NUMBER MYSTICISM It is apparent that the
source of the Oracle’s knowledge (and Cahn’s) is not based upon the
actual written Word of God, using the plain meaning of the language,
rational thought, and the Holy Spirit to understand what the Lord is
communicating. But rather, this is a form of occult mysticism born out of the Kabbalah. Note this familiar theme denoted by a sampling of chapters from The Oracle
listed below. These occult-sounding chapter titles do not honor Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Savior, and the simplicity of His Gospel of
salvation:
The Mystery
The Vision
The Sultan’s Code
The Number of the End
The Jubilean Code
The Babylonian Code
The Masada Algorithm
The Seven-Year Mystery
The Matrix of Year
The Final Mystery
Cahn relies heavily on gematria, which is a form of divination
related to numerology. In 2012, we published an article called, “The
Enigma Bible,” which was the third part of an article series exposing
the mysticism of the Postmodern Prophecy Paradigm (PPP) teachers, including the late Chuck Missler, titled “Cosms, Codes, and Cryptologies.” Note the similarity of numerology to gematria:
The Book of Divination names one of these scientific methods “numerology,”
or “number mysticism.” It was discovered by the 6th century Greek
mathematician Pythagoras, who believed that “[t]he numeral relations
among things was… the motive force of the universe.” Numerology is a
form of divination used widely in the occult world. It is often
connected with astrology (birth dates, e.g.) and it is used “to
discover the secret passageways that connect all things,” i.e., to
divine esoteric knowledge by mystical means using numbers.[20][bold added]
In that same article, it was noted that there is a legitimate place for examining numbers and patterns found in Scripture, but not as Cahn does:
Although
numerology is clearly a form of occult divination, there is a
legitimate study of numbers as it relates to the Bible. John Weldon
informs us that:
"The
Bible clearly uses numbers in a conventional and rhetorical sense, and
as far as these are concerned, the study of biblical numerology is
legitimate. We also occasionally find numbers used symbolically—such as
the number 7 in Revelation 3:185—but we never find numbers used mystically—that is, with hidden meanings that can illuminate the text or reveal the future."[bold added]
In a legitimate study of numbers in the Bible “we never find numbers
used mystically—that is, with hidden meanings that can illuminate the
text or reveal the future.” But this is exactly what Cahn does. His book
premise falls apart without it.
“That saith of Cyrus, He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (Isa. 44:28)
Exhibit: A depiction of King Cyrus[21]
THE RETURN OF THE PERSIAN— THE ‘TEMPLATE OF CYRUS’ Over a century before he
was born, Isaiah prophesied that Cyrus, God’s “shepherd” would rebuild
Jerusalem and God’s temple (Isa. 44:28). Daniel the prophet would not
only see the kingdom the Medes and the Persians conquer the Babylonian
empire through the dream of the statute, (“his breast and his arms of silver,” Dan. 2:31, 39) and the dream of the four beasts, the second (“like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side,” Dan. 7:5), he would be alive when King Cyrus came to power. “So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian” (Dan. 6:28).
Ezra records that Cyrus had been chosen by God to rebuild His temple in Jerusalem:
“Now
in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the Word of the LORD by
the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the
spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout
all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
'Thus
saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all
the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build him an house
at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.'” (Ezra 1:1-2; 2 Chron. 36:22-23)
Note that God ordained each of these details—and much more “… that the Word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled….” God “stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia.”
The Lord had called another prophet named Jeremiah to record key
prophecies related to Judah’s seventy years of Babylonian captivity and
the promise that the nation would return to their land (Jer. 25:12;
27:22: 29:10). To understand these prophecies, their fulfillment, and
purpose, we did not have to resort to number mysticism, seek out
visions, or consult a spiritual guru. The Lord has told us what He wants
us to know from Genesis to Revelation. We dare not venture beyond the
Scriptures.
New Apostolic Reformation founder C. Peter Wagner's citation of the so-called "Cyrus anointing" in his 2008 book Dominion!*
Unfortunately for his readers, Cahn has drifted well away from the Word
of God into the forbidden mystical (occult) realm. He appears to be
following in the footsteps of other leaders of the New Apostolic
Reformation (NAR) with whom he has associated over recent years. Cahn devoted five entire
chapters of his book to prove that “the Jubilean mysteries determined”
the election of two modern U.S. presidents— “in the template of Cyrus.”
Bulleted below are selected tenets and quotes from chapters 29, and
48-51:
“[President] Truman, the one who would follow the template of Cyrus, had to become president at the exact time, at the moment of Israel’s resurrection, at the Cyrus moment. So the Jubilean mysteries determined who would become president of the United States.” (pg. 122) [bold, underscore added]
Again, Cahn parallels “the Jubilean mysteries” as an unseen force that
has the uncanny ability to “determine” American presidents. As we saw in
Dan. 2:21, “… [God] removeth kings, and setteth up kings…,” not Cahn’s Jubilean force.
Cyrus’
time in government spanned thirty years, and so did Truman’s. “Most
scholars place Cyrus’ birth between 600 and 599 BC. That would mean that
when he ascended to the pinnacle of world power, he would have been
around sixty years of age. The seminal moment in Truman’s rise to world
power came in the spring of 1945 when he assumed the office of the
presidency… [w]hen he came to that position of world power, he was…
sixty years old…” (pp. 118-119)
Cahn admits here to fudging the facts about Cyrus’ age when he rose to power. He says “Most scholars place Cyrus’ birth between 600 and 599 BC… he would have been around sixty years of age…”
This is hardly a “template” if he isn’t even sure the exact year of
Cyrus’ birth. Cahn then devolves into the following mystical sequence:
Thus
all of world history there are two leaders associated with a
declaration of universal human rights and specifically the right to
return to one’s homeland: King Cyrus and President Truman.” Cyrus gave
his ancient declaration in 539 BC; Truman in 1948.
Truman
urged the British to release one hundred thousand Jewish Holocaust
refugees and allow them to return to Palestine. Truman’s “pressure of
the return of the Jewish exiles to the land would ultimately lead the
British Empire to end its occupation of the land which would in turn
lead to the nation’s rebirth. Cyrus had bought about the end of a
seventy-year exile; Truman would ultimately bring about the end of a
two-thousand-year-old exile…” (pp. 120-121)
President Donald Trump would become “a second American Cyrus, one who would replay the mystery and who would begin where the first had left off.” (pp. 205-206)
President
Trump issued a statement from the White House in 2017 that quoted King
Cyrus. “It was not only that the president had issued a public statement
in which he spoke of Cyrus but that he spoke words attributed to the
ancient king. In other words, he wasn’t only speaking of Cyrus; he was now speaking as Cyrus. The president and the king were joined together.” (pg. 206) [bold added]
“So Trump was appointed Cyrus for America.” (pg. 207) [bold added]
“Trump was appointed Cyrus for America,” but it was by Rabbi Cahn and
his NAR cohorts, not by God. The ludicrous idea that by merely quoting
King Cyrus, President Trump would not only be speaking of Cyrus, but
also “be speaking as Cyrus” is utterly foolish and illogical. The president simply quoted him. Cahn continues with his mystical sequence:
Jeremiah
said that the Babylonian captivity would end when seventy years was
completed—then Cyrus would rule. “The key is seventy years… Cyrus is
connected to and interval of seventy years… [Trump] ascended to world
power after seventy years and that rise began… in the start of his
seventieth year.” (pg. 208)
Going
back seventy years from Trump’s proclamation concerning Cyrus leads to
“1947. The year that Israel was voted into existence at the United
Nations. So the seventy years began with Israel’s conception. In the
ancient case it was at the end of a critical seventy-year period in
Israel’s history that Cyrus ascended to world power. So the template
would reveal that after a critical seventy-year period in Israel’s
history we would see the rise of a world leader who would issue a
proclamation concerning Israel. So the modern seventy-year period ended
in the year 2017, the very year that a new Cyrus, Donald Trump, rose to
world power…” (pg. 209) [bold, underscore added]
“The two presidents [Truman and Trump] who walk in the template of Cyrus are
connected not only to a critical seventy-year period in Israel’s
history but a seventy-year period with regard to each other. The two
presidencies take place seventy years apart from the other. Trump leads
America seventy years after Truman led America. And as the reign of
Cyrus framed the seventy-year period, so each of the two American
presidents frame the modern seventy-year period… And the seventy-year
period they frame has to do with Israel’s restoration.” (pg. 209) [bold, underscore added]
Exhibit: Cyrus anointing and Trump****
Cahn has ravaged the significance of the seventy-year time frame from
Scripture in order to promulgate his “template of Cyrus” mystery. In
truth, Daniel learned from reading Jeremiah that the desolation of
Jerusalem was going to last seventy years (Dan. 9:2; Jer. 25:8-10).
Chronicles 36:21 records that God judged Judah for disobeying the
Sabbath rest of the land for seventy years (Lev. 25:4).
“So the central figure in the Jubilee of 2017 was Trump, which means he who sounds the trumpet… Trump means trumpet.” (pg. 212)
In
2017, a Jubilee year, President Trump formally recognized Jerusalem at
the capitol of Israel and placed the U.S. embassy there—the first time
in modern history. (pp. 201-204)
“As
in the proclamation of the ancient king, the president’s declaration
ultimately focused on a house. An embassy is not a temple, but it is
nevertheless a house, a building. And likewise the president
specifically directed that the house would stand in Jerusalem. The house
that Cyrus decreed was specifically linked to the return of the Jewish
people to the city—so too would be the house that the president
decreed….” (pg. 221)
Cahn exhausts the reader with such endless dubious linkages—all based
upon his unbiblical number mysticism. The bulleted portion above is a
wee sampling of these templates and patterns permeating the pages of The
Oracle.
Did you catch the inconsistencies in that last bullet point? They may
have been missed in the mystical weeds of repeating dates and numbers
swirling about the text in an ever-turning kaleidoscope of new-found
revelation. Isaiah and Ezra both record that God charged King Cyrus to
rebuild Jerusalem—and His temple (house) within the Holy City. Neither
President Truman nor President Trump did anything like that. While
Truman was beneficent to the Jewish people, he never ordered the
construction of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Neither has Trump. While
he has also been a friend of Israel and to its current prime minister,
President Trump did not commission the building of a Jewish temple in
2017—the supposed Jubilee year. There has been no Jewish temple in the
Holy City since AD 70 when it was sacked by the Romans. Cahn may do
gymnastics with the word “house,” passing it off as “an American
embassy” in a crafty sleight of hand, but the trickery fails after
examining Isaiah 44:38 and Ezra 1:1-2. Truman nor Trump remotely compare
to what Cyrus did—by the Lord’s instruction. There is no “template of
Cyrus.” Yet Rabbi Cahn is just one of many PPP leaders peddling this deception concerning Cyrus.[22]
One origination of the Cyrus anointing heresy in the NAR***
Here is the plain scriptural truth of the matter:
“And
the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up
betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on
His dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised
His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose
against His people, till there was no remedy.
Therefore He brought upon them the king of the Chaldees,
who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their
sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or
him that stooped for age: He gave them all into his hand. And all the
vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the
house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.
And
they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and
burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly
vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he
away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the
reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the Word of the LORD by the
mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
Now
in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the Word of the LORD
spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred
up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation
throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 'Thus
saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD
God of heaven given me; and He hath charged me to build Him an house in
Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people?
The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.'” (2 Chron. 36:15-23)
Dave James 2015 book
THE TRUTH:
“For we are not as many, which corrupt the Word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” (2 Cor. 2:17)
In the fall of 2015, we published a review of David James’ 2015 e-book, Biblical Guide to the Shemitah and the Blood Moons,
which critiqued Rabbi Cahn’s book as well as his teachings (and a few
of his contemporaries) on the Blood Moon prophecies. Here is an excerpt
of that review:
The book, The Mystery of The Shemitah, by Jonathan Cahn—a runaway sequel to his bestselling book, The Harbinger—has
nearly rivaled the success of its predecessor—and has proponents of
these ancient mysteries eagerly anticipating the economic destruction of
the United States this September (when the “Shemitah” cycles end), in
fulfillment of the apocalyptic and calamitous judgments, predicted in
the so-called hidden end-time Jewish prophecies, Sabbaths (Shemitahs,
pronounced sh’mee’-tah), and current Blood Moon Tetrad (aligned with
Jewish feast days), detailed in Cahn’s books.
There
is extraordinary publicity ramping up over the dire events that are
predicted to happen the last few weeks in September this year, 2015.
Charisma, for example, just ran an article titled “10 Things That Are Going to Happen Within 15 Days of the End of the Shemitah,”
which attempts to prophetically connect the Jade Helm military
exercises, selected United Nations conferences, and even the Pope's
upcoming visit to America events [due] to the Blood Moons prophecies
that have been popularized by men such as Jonathan Cahn, Mark Biltz and
John Hagee.[23]
The reader may recall the media bombardment of that time, a veritable
cacophony of so-called religious experts, Christian pundits, and news
outlets broadcasting the looming dire consequences of the “Shemitah”
judgments on America and the ominous synchronization of the Blood Moon Tetrad. Rabbi Jonathan Cahn was the main prophecy monger of the hour. Do you remember what happened? Absolutely nothing! Not one of Cahn’s predictions came true.[24] But his book was a runaway best seller. Knowing these things, how is it then that his latest sensation, The Oracle: the Jubilean Mysteries Unveiled, is now also a number one best seller? The Apostle Paul warned of this time when he said,
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Tim. 4:3-4)
ERROR + TRUTH = ERROR
In the final chapters of The Oracle, on pages 274-277, Cahn
finally mentions salvation in Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah through the
narrative between the Oracle and the seeker. Here is part of what is
spoken on these pages:
“So
it was foretold in the Hebrew prophecies that Messiah, through his
death, would make atonement for our sins and cleanse us from iniquity.
If you make and end of sin, then you end the separation… then the exile
is over… then our exile is over.”
“There
was only one day in the Hebrew year on which the Jubilee could come—on
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. That was the day that the sacrifice
was offered up to atone for sin, to end the separation between man and
God. It’s the sacrifice that… ushers in the Jubilee. Messiah is the
sacrifice. So from him comes the Jubilee and the power of restoration.”
“All restoration… Resurrection… is the ultimate restoration.”
“… salvation is also a Jubilean mystery.”
Note that last sentence. Is he seriously teaching this?! During the
dialogue, the seeker asks the Oracle how one “returns to God.” He
responds:
“It’s
all in the mystery… In Hebrew to return is to repent, and to repent is
to return. So how do you return? You repent. You turn to God. You come
back. You open your heart to His love and His forgiveness, and you come
home… It can begin with a simple prayer. You ask for mercy, for
cleansing and forgiveness, for redemption and restoration. And you find
it in the love, the hope, the sacrifice, and the name of Messiah…
Messiah is the Jubilee.”
Then the Oracle shares the mystery of the “final Jubilee”, a “return to
Paradise,” concluding that Heaven is “the ultimate land of the Jubilee”
and that Jerusalem is a “shadow of Heaven.”
While Jesus is mentioned here, this is troubling at many levels. The
main problem is his confession of SIN. Simply praying to the Lord
‘forgive me’ doesn’t cut it. We must acknowledge what we did, what we
said, or even things we thought about that ‘missed the mark’ in God’s
eyes. Naming the sin and having true remorse for it are all part of
confessing sin. Jesus Christ went to the Cross because of our sin. The
Apostle John exhorts believers saying, that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9). Confession of sin is the beginning of repentance and cleansing.
Romans says “that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom.10:9-10). And in Acts, “And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).
Believers also confess that Jesus is Lord… and that He is raised from the dead. He is not simply the familiar “Jesus,” but the Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word for “Lord” used in both verses above is kuros, or “supreme in authority,” “Master.“[25]
There is a heart-ward submission to His sovereignty over all
things—especially our lives. But Rabbi Cahn does not refer to the Lord
Jesus this way in The Oracle. He is called Messiah (Christ) or Yeshua (Jesus), but He is never called Lord.
But in The Oracle, Jesus is simply a means to an end. Yeshua’s
Jewish-Christian reputation was needed to stamp the ‘Jubilean Mysteries’
with a divine imprimatur.
Finally, it should be noted that there are major historical events
surrounding God’s blessings toward the Jewish people that are celebrated
in The Oracle. But even the bits of truth that are found in it
are hopelessly overwhelmed by Cahn’s captivating visions, spell-binding
mysteries, beguiling number mysticism… and other seductive teachings not clearly found in Scripture. A mixture of truth and error is error.
Readers shelling out $20 to buy Cahn’s book don’t seem to want to be
convicted of sin, brought to repentance, nor told that the Lord Jesus
Christ reigns over their lives. Rather, they are choosing bewitchment.
They apparently prefer the latest untold secret, unlocked mystery, or
revealed hidden prophecy. Many are flocking to religious
hucksters—supposed experts with the hidden knowledge—whom they believe
have the special Gnostic keys to reveal ancient mysteries and to unlock
prophetic doors. Such thrill seekers will only drift away from the “King of kings and Lord of lords“ (Rev. 19:6)—the Word (Jn. 1:1) and—the Truth (Jn. 14:6).
“And I fell at his feet to worship him [an angel].
And he said unto me, see thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God:
for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev. 19:10)
