Jonathan Cahn - The Harbinger Companion with Study Guide

In Romans 15:4 it is written that “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us” (NIV). If that which took place in ancient Israel were not applicable to us today, most preaching would have to cease.

Is such a revelation beyond the Bible’s parameters?

The Bible reveals that God is righteous, He judges sin and nations, He sends warning, and He acts in a manner consistent with His Word. The Harbinger is simply revealing that this is happening in reality—that the biblical template of judgment in Isaiah is replaying now before our eyes. This is all solidly within sound scriptural parameters.

Does The Harbinger say that God has made a covenant with America and that America has somehow replaced Israel, or does it advocate some form of Replacement Theology?

No. The Harbinger notes that American civilization was founded by the Puritans, who envisioned it after the pattern of ancient Israel, who dedicated it to God, and who believed that they were in covenant with God. This is all historical fact. The question of whether God has honored their dedication is left open. But the historical fact is noted only as it forms a striking background to the fact that America has followed the same pattern of ancient Israel’s apostasy and is now witnessing the same pattern of judgment. But none of the mysteries revealed in The Harbinger are dependent on this background. And none of this has any bearing on Israel’s calling as God’s covenant nation.

Does The Harbinger say that Isaiah was prophesying of America?

No. This comes from a fundamental misunderstanding. The Harbinger never says that Isaiah was prophesying of America—but of ancient Israel. What it does say is that the biblical template and warnings of national judgment that manifested in the last days of ancient Israel are now manifesting and replaying in America, precisely, eerily, and uncannily.

What does this have to do with hermeneutics?

Very little. Hermeneutics concerns the interpretation of a given text. The Harbinger fully affirms that the text of Isaiah’s prophecy is about ancient Israel—thus no hermeneutical issue exists. The use of the biblical template in Isaiah to give warning in no way alters or even touches the original meaning, context, or interpretation (hermeneutics) of Scripture.

There have been some extreme ideas hurled in the direction of The Harbinger —everything from Replacement Theology to Freemasonry, etc. Is there any connection?

Not in any way. When anything becomes as large as The Harbinger has become, it invites all sorts of confusion and misperception. The bizarre and confused nature of such disparate and contradictory notions only shows the impact The Harbinger is making. One observer thus noted: “The strangeness of the attacks against The Harbinger have to make you wonder what the devil has against it.” 1

Does The Harbinger say that God was on the side of the terrorists?

Not at all, no more so than the Bible says that God was on the side of the ancient Assyrians when He allowed them to attack His land. God was against such evil then as well as now. God is against all evil, but He will use all things, good and evil, for good, for redemption.

Are the modern harbingers literal fulfillments of Isaiah’s prophecy?

No. They are biblical signs, manifestations, and warnings in a biblical pattern or template of judgment. Because some have confused that issue, they’ve mistakenly argued over the differences in the modern manifestations as opposed to the ancient. If one were to go by such logic, one could only accept the harbingers if New York City were invaded by spear-throwing Assyrians attacking buildings made of clay bricks and if Americans responded in perfect ancient Hebrew dialects.

Does The Harbinger say that victims of such national calamities as 9/11 were under judgment?

No, no more so than Abraham Lincoln, when he spoke of the Civil War as a national judgment of America, was saying that those wounded or killed were being individually judged—and no more than the Bible says such things when it speaks of the national judgment of Israel. The Harbinger very clearly distinguishes the differences between the realm of individual experience and that of national judgment.

Isaiah is from the Old Testament. How can we say that God can act in a similar way in the New Testament age?

First, it’s never wise to tell God what He can and cannot do. Second, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. There is nothing in the New Testament that says God no longer brings judgment against sin or nations. In fact, it says the very opposite.

If God is good, and a God of love, how can He bring judgment?

It’s the other way around. If God did not judge what is evil, He could not be good. Love must oppose what is evil. And yet the message of the Bible is that this same love would put itself in the place of those being judged if it would result in their being saved.

How are signs different from fulfillments?

The point of the harbingers, or warning signs, is to give warning, to speak. The modern signs correspond to the ancient signs but speak to a modern nation just as the ancient harbingers once did to an ancient one. For example, the sign of the sycamore in ancient Israel was a Middle Eastern sycamore appearing to a Middle Eastern nation, but the sign of the sycamore in America was a Western version of the sycamore appearing to a Western nation. On the other hand, some have attempted to argue that the Seventh Harbinger technically belongs to the spruce family and not the cedar as in Isaiah. But neither Isaiah nor the ancient Israelites spoke English or used the word cedar. They used the Hebrew word erez , which, actually and most exactly, refers to a pinacea tree, which includes both what we would today call a cedar and the spruce, among others. And it was an erez tree that manifested at the corner of Ground Zero.

Is it possible that one can make statistics say anything we want?

Statistics can be used in a biased way (as in politics, ideology, etc.), but no amount of statistic handling could produce anything remotely like what is presented in The Harbinger . For example, the chapter entitled “The Mystery of the Shemitah” reveals the two greatest crashes in American history up to September of 2008. Each took place on the same exact biblical day , a day that comes around once in seven years; each occurred exactly seven biblical years from the other, on the day appointed in Scripture to wipe away the financial accounts of a nation. Nothing could have constructed that except for the absolute reality of the fact.

Why does an argument of coincidence not hold up with regard to the harbingers?

The problem is coincidences are not consistent—but the harbingers are. Every one of the Nine Harbingers of Israel’s judgment and, specifically, of Isaiah 9:10, have, in one form or another, appeared in America. Each of these is joined together in the specific biblical template and verse. Each of them is linked to 9/11. Most became actual symbols of 9/11. No one person or organization was behind making all nine of these harbingers manifest as they did.

For example, an American leader proclaimed the ancient (and obscure) vow of judgment in Isaiah 9:10, word for word, on the very day after 9/11—from Capitol Hill. He mentioned a stone that would go up on the ground of destruction, where the bricks had fallen. He could have no possible idea that three years later this very thing would happen. He spoke of a tree being struck down by the calamity and being replaced by another. He could have no idea that on the very day he said that, the tree was being discovered, and three years later, the act of replacement would take place in the form of a ceremony. The truth is the manifestation of all nine harbingers in a consistent progression has never happened before in American history, or world history, except one other time—in the last days of ancient Israel, before its judgment. One analyst did a statistical analysis of just two of the many connections in The Harbinger and found the odds to be astronomically against coincidence. 2