To the Readers' Forum:
"Carnality, impurity, greed, materialism, vanity, self-obsession...and the altars covered with the blood of its innocent. Without a change of course, there can be no change of destination. Only in repentance can judgment be averted, and only in a true turning away from darkness to the light," wrote Jonathan Cahn, Messianic Jewish Rabbi, in his documented book, "The Harbinger." Believers are the first ones who need to repent, he says; they failed to fulfill their call to be the light of the world.
Isaiah 9:10 ("The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with hewn stone; The sycamores have been cut down, but we will plant cedars in their place.") serves as the cornerstone for Cahn's book. He described nine harbingers-given first to ancient Israel, and now to America-serving as omens or signs warning of impending destruction to our nation unless there is a turning back to God, upon whom our nation was founded. Isaiah warned of a nation placing hope in its own powers rather than in God. But this is what both ancient Israel and present-day America did. Following a war with Assyria (now Iraq), ancient Israel announced it would rebuild, making the nation greater than ever. Following 9/11, the highest leaders in America uttered the words of ancient Israel: We will rebuild. We will become stronger. We are defiant! They even quoted Isaiah 9:10! These were acts of arrogance and defiance against God, lacking in any understanding of the true meaning of Isaiah 9:10. Israel rejected God, losing His protective covering. Will America lose its protective covering?
Following destruction of the World Trade Center, people cried, "Where was God?" Cahn responded: "We drove Him out of our schools, out of our government, out of our media, out of our culture, out of our public square. We drove Him out of our national life, and then we ask, 'Where is God?'"
Cahn stated: "If America upholds God's eternal standards and follows His unchanging ways, then it will be blessed with His favor..His protection...His prosperity....But if America should depart from the ways of God, if it should disregard His eternal standards, then the smiles of heaven, the blessings of God, will be withdrawn-its prosperity, its protection, and its powers would be taken away. He's giving a warning to the nation: The day America turns away from God will be the day that begins the removing of its blessings." Are we listening?
Deann Nelson
Jamestown