In True Tabloid Fashion, Jonathan Cahn’s Mystery of the Shemitah Makes Waves

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

It reads like a tabloid or an introduction to a new Sci-Fi movie. It also unfortunately, pushes the Bible to the side and draws attention to itself. What am I talking about? Jonathan Cahn’s newest book – Mystery of the Shemitah – which actually builds on a previous one (The Harbinger).

The book you can’t afford NOT to read.
It’s already affecting your life…
And it WILL affect your future!

You’d think with those words emblazoned on the back cover, Jonathan Cahn would be referring to the Bible, right? Nope. He’s referring to his own book that seriously implies it is “inspired.” No, Cahn did not use that word in reference to his second book, Mystery of the Shemitah. However, he takes great pains to explain to us that he certainly believes the contents of both of his books were given to him by God Himself. By the way, the word “shemitah” is pronounced shmeetah.

David Wilkerson claimed as much in his book from years ago called, The Vision. I would like to know what it is these makes these men (and others like them) believe that God needs to continue to publish new books? It seems that those people who are involved in charismatic aspects of Christendom tend to place a good deal of emphasis on signs and wonders.

There seems to be a great deal of self-aggrandizement by Cahn in his newest book. For instance, on page 2, Cahn makes this statement:

“Much that will be revealed in this book has never before been revealed in written form. Most people have never heard of the word shemitah, much less the mystery that surrounds it. Yet their lives have been critically impacted, altered, or determined by its manifestation.”

Kind of a bold statement to make. On page 8, in referencing his first book, The Harbinger, Cahn makes this statement:

“The Harbinger is a book that reveals an ancient biblical mystery manifesting in modern times. It is a message of warning concerning coming calamity. How and when did it come forth?”

From this point, Jonathan Cahn continues by informing the reader how, starting on the night of September 11, he happened to be looking across the Hudson River and saw the smoke coming from the destruction of the World Trade Towers. It was at that point Cahn says he was “led to turn to the ninth and tenth chapters of the Book of Isaiah.”

I have written several articles involving my critique of The Harbinger. The reader can view them here, here, and here. Readers are welcomed and encouraged to read through those articles to learn more of my thoughts on Cahn’s first book. There is no need to rehash that book here, but it is noteworthy to point out that Cahn spends the first 12 pages or so rekindling the reader’s familiarity (or lack thereof) to The Harbinger, because he builds The Mystery of the Shemitah on that first book.

I get the deep sense – because of the way Cahn couches his words and phrases and the verbiage he uses – that if we reject Cahn’s message, we reject a form of God’s Word. While it is possible he uses disclaimers such as “I believe,” “I believe God led me to…” or “it seemed to me” or something else of that sort, I didn’t see any. What I routinely came across were pronouncements such as these:

• I heard an inner voice say, “There’s a mystery here. You must seek and find it.” (p. 9)
• I was immediately led to the same section of Isaiah… (p. 9)
• One by one, each of the nine signs were revealed. (p. 9)
• …when I was led to commit the revelation to writing. (p. 10)

There are many such instances of verbiage that Cahn uses in an effort to elevate the status of his book to near-inspiration level. He provides witness to his own alleged authority, let’s face it. If God was the One who actually revealed these things to Cahn, then any attempt to ignore it or even deign to negatively critique Shemitah would be tantamount to attempting to negate God’s own written or spoken Word, wouldn’t it?

Dave James – the Alliance of Biblical Integrity – has written an article also critiquing Cahn’s newest book. For James, Cahn’s book comes up wanting. The same problems exist with Shemitah that existed with The Harbinger. What Jonathan Cahn actively engages in is a form of Replacement Theology where, by using broad brush strokes, he takes promises and ceremonial law that are to be strictly applied only to Israel, and enlarges them so that they apply to America and other parts of the world. Because Jonathan Cahn is a Jewish Christian, people automatically believe that he must know what he’s talking about and therein lies the problem. Not even the apostle Paul objected with the Bereans heard Paul’s teachings and compared what he said to Scripture. In fact, Paul was glad they did (Acts 17).

We should never take what someone teaches and simply believe it because it strikes us emotionally or for any other reason. Everything that we read and everything we are taught by pastors, Bible teachers, and everyone else who deign to teach biblical concepts (myself included) should always have their teaching compared with the Bible because the Bible is the absolute and final truth. We earnestly need to comprehend what God is telling us through His Word. To that end, we can never settle back on any laurels and think we have arrived.

The biggest problem with Cahn’s book – aside from what I’ve just mentioned when he takes ceremonies and laws that are to be only applied to Israel and applies them to America or to Christians – is his reliance upon this idea that he felt “led.” We’ve all used that expression at times. By it, we mean that it seems like God is leading us in a particular direction. But the person who is so determined to believe that God spoke, God directed, God moved us to do something, will find it very difficult to be questioned about it. This becomes the issue because if we disagree with them or even question them about it in a way that to them seems negative, we are often dismissed as “unspiritual.”

No one – and I mean no one is above misunderstanding God’s Word or how He moves in our life. What Jonathan Cahn is doing with these books is taking one or two verses in Scripture and building a theology for America for 2015. Unfortunately, he is using Scriptural texts that are directed to Israel, not to America and not to any portion of the world.

David James notes this about Jonathan Cahn’s book The Mystery of the Shemitah:

“The fundamental premise of The Mystery of the Shemitah is that not only did God require the nation of Israel to observe the Shemitah / Sabbath year, but that there is also a mystery connected to the Shemitah such that there is a seven-year cycle woven into the very fabric of history and the order of the universe—a cycle that can and does affect other nations and even the entire world. According to Jonathan Cahn, this mystery manifests itself through various calamities, including natural disasters, wars, and financial crises that tend to occur according to this seven-year cycle on the Hebrew calendar when God is trying to get the attention of a nation and warn her of impending judgment.“

This, like The Harbinger (or rather the nine “harbingers” that warn of impending doom and judgment for America are absolutely unnecessary!  The Bible already speaks to the fact that at some point, all nations will be judged. This we have been pointing out in our series on the Meaning of the “Day of the Lord.” Take Obadiah 1:15 as just one for instance.

“For the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you.”

All nations means ALL nations. America cannot escape judgment. While Christians are to stand against evil, the main way we do that is by preaching (and living!) the gospel of Jesus Christ, which brings salvation to everyone who believes! We resist the devil through prayer, understanding that God alone controls all things and keeps the devil at bay as it suits Him (God).

Though many believe that American can be turned around, that is not my belief. Thinking that causes the Christian to lose focus. It takes our mind off of God’s goal in and through us, which is as just stated. Getting involved in the political arena in order to wrest control back from the left at the federal level is likely an impossibility. Those Christians who get involved with that might as well bang their heads against concrete.

The Bible tells us that the end is coming. We will be entering a period of the Tribulation, lasting seven years and will be the worst time this earth and the people on it will have ever experienced! America is not going to be turned around. Jonathan Cahn has nothing new to tell us that God has not already revealed. Unfortunately, Cahn is making it appear as though it’s new because he is using eisegesis (reading into Scripture) to gain new meaning. It’s absurd and the fact that so many are taken in by it tells us the sorry state of affairs within Christendom today when people will run out and buy and then devour Cahn’s books, but the Bible remains on the shelf!

We’ll end this for now, but we’ll likely be back with more critiquing of Cahn’s latest book. Sigh…

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective