In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats,to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he? - Isaiah 2: 20-22 (ESV)
I am sometimes tempted to refer to him as Jonathan Con because it always feels as if he is trying to sell me something. The author of two wildly ridiculous books utilizing numerology to tell us what we already know, Cahn has seen a meteoric rise in the public spotlight. Many like him in Christian circles because he brings a unique mix to the table. He speaks against sin, which is rare, but does so with a heavy dose of Israel worship mixed with the idolization of America. The real problem however is that the sin he speaks out against is rarely sin within the body of Christ and is almost exclusively the sins of the world. You know, the unsaved. The people who do not understand the things of God. Just two days ago, Cahn penned an op-ed for Charisma News claiming in the very title that there was only one way to save America from hell. This title alone reveals the problematic theology of Jonathan Cahn.
He spends the first portion of the article trying to insist that there can be no debate that America was founded as a Christian nation; going as far as to claim that the early colonial leaders believed the new commonwealth came into existence solely for the glory and purposes of God. I have debunked such notions before, as I used to teach American history. Were the people in 1776 more religious than we are today? Absolutely! Was Christianity in its varying forms the dominant religion of the day? Once again, absolutely! To take those facts though and leap to the conclusion that it means were a Christian nation is beyond sophomoric in its logic. Cahn quotes Washington even though historians agree he was not an overly religious man at all. He completely ignores even clearer examples such as Jefferson, who removed all references to the deity of Jesus Christ from the Jefferson Bible. Or the fact that many of these men were deists, who believed in a god, but not the God of the Bible. Not to mention the several atheists. Cahn nevertheless quotes Washington (it was an event honoring the first President) from his first inaugural address where he did indeed say:
"the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself hath ordained."
Of course that was a political speech. Barack Obama has said and quoted the Bible itself yet I would wager Cahn does not view him with the same Christian rose tinted glasses he views Washington. But what Cahn engages in is cherry picking of quotes that support his failed premise and ignoring others which would eviscerate it. Here are some other quotes from George Washington:
Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience. -- George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789, in Anson Phelps Stokes, Church and State in the United States, Vol 1. p. 495, quoted from Albert J Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom
Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society. -- George Washington, letter to the congregation of Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island, August, 1790, in Anson Phelps Stokes, Church and State in the United States, Vol 1. p. 862
There are plenty of other quotes as well. The point however is made. Jonathan Cahn sells a version of American history that is simply false. He then takes that and tries to conflate it with the nation of Israel. Here is an excerpt from the article which breathtakingly displays this disingenuousness:
They drove God out of their government, out of their public squares, out of their culture, and out of the lives of their children. They worshiped idols and served other gods. They celebrated immorality and persecuted the righteous. They lifted up their children on the altars of foreign gods. And the blessings of God were removed from the land and replaced with judgment. It is two and half thousand years later, and America has made the same mistake. We, too, have turned away from God. We, too, have driven Him out of our government, out of our public squares, out of our culture, and out of the lives of our children. We too have profaned the sacred and sanctified the profane. And we, too, have killed our most innocent, over fifty five million of our unborn children, and our collective hands are covered with blood. What we were warned never to do, we now have done.
Cahn starts by telling the story of the nation of Israel and their wanton disobedience to the Law of Moses. They had been indeed warned by God in Deuteronomy 28 and yet they did not listen. The entire Old Testament is this constant cycle of disobedience and restoration. Israel did worship idols and serve other gods. They did celebrate immorality. There were times when they lifted up their children in sacrifice to false gods. The problem is when he tries to pivot and make the transition to America:
It is two and half thousand years later, and America has made the same mistake.
Whoa, easy there Rabbi Con. America has not made the same mistake. Let me explain why. Israel was under covenant with God. They were the chosen people. Their very salvation was a works based salvation achieved by adhering to the 613 laws of Moses. They were a theocracy. That means they were led by God Himself. Even after they demanded mortal kings, God remained the head of the nation of Israel. Beloved, none of these facts are true for America, no matter how much Rabbi Cahn wants them to be. We were never a theocracy and in fact, many of the Founding Fathers were very concerned about the influence of religion in public governance. We were never under covenant with God Almighty. Were we more moral than we are today? Sure but that is because the whole world is increasingly immoral. Are we less Christian today? Sure but that is because the whole world is.
Yet this is the crux of the argument Rabbi Cahn has been making over and over again. It is the same argument in his books. It is the same argument he made as a guest at the President's Inaugural Prayer Breakfast. It is an erroneous argument however based upon a poor understanding of history, a poorer understanding of the Bible, and a political ideology that drives the whole thing. Cahn then quotes Jeremiah:
Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. - Jeremiah 2: 11 (ESV)
Great verse but again this is dealing with Israel, not America. The verse even references "my people." The nation of America was never a Christian nation. Were we following Christ when we exterminated the Native Americans and stole their land? Were we obeying Christ when slaughtered each other in the Civil War? Or when we owned salves? Or when we operated sweatshops and had kids working 20 hours a day? Or when we became an imperialistic nation and routinely overthrew other governments to annex their property and steal their natural resources? Mind you this is all before the 20th Century. Is America the best nation in the history of mankind? Absolutely but that does not make it righteous, holy, or Christian.
But let's take these leaps of illogic with the Rabbi for a minute. Let us entertain what he offers as the solution to the problem. Cahn closes his article by insisting that unless the U.S. turns back to God then this country is going to hell. It is in the title and the concluding sentence. The meat in the middle primarily focuses on the same two major moral issues of the day - abortion and gay marriage. Let us imagine that for some reason, the collective millions of Americans change their minds on these two issues. Even though the Bible teaches us that the things of God are utter foolishness to them, let's chase down this bunny trail. Does Jonathan Cahn actually believe that then God would stay His wrath? Would our key verses, outlining the prophecy of the second coming of the Lord, suddenly be deemed false? Would God Almighty come to judge the nations but spare America?
What if the good Rabbi was able to convince the President, Supreme Court and Congress to pass laws outlawing abortion and gay marriage? That they would impose the Biblical belief system upon people who have no relationship with Christ. Would that eliminate abortions or relegate them to back alley abortions? Would it eliminate homosexual sex or just the state acknowledgement thereof? Beloved, forcing goats to behave like sheep is not the answer. The wrath would still be inevitable. The judgment spoken about in our key verses would still be coming. Not to mention that this seriously reduces the salvation of Christ down to a works based theology. Think about it. That is what Jonathan Cahn is selling. That if the works of the lost were just better when it came to key social and moral issues that somehow God would change His mind.
The problem is twofold beloved. The first is that Jonathan Cahn is attacking the symptoms of sin instead of the reason for it. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. You have to get to the root of the problem and that is our sinful nature before a holy God and our desperate need for a Savior. Cahn seeks to change the sinful behavior but the reality is repentance is seeing sin differently and because of our new perspective we turn from it. You cannot expect people to just magically turn from it when they still see it the same way. It just does not work that way. It is not the Gospel.
The larger problem however is that it is clear that Jonathan Cahn has turned this country into an idol in his heart. He is far from alone. The truth is that this country not only is not righteous, but it is in fact Sodom. How can anyone look around this country and think otherwise? Feeding a great portion of this depravity is a depraved church as well. A church that idolizes America too. A church that seeks common ground and relevance with a country that is sending its citizens to hell in a luge. Just like Lot was enamored with Sodom, so too are we. Let us be honest. We like our freedoms. We like our toys. We like our sin. So instead of seeing this country as the Bible says we ought to we try to find ways we can save it. The Bible says we are to be sojourners and pilgrims in this land. That we are citizens of heaven. But the Jonathan Cahn's of the world have pitched their tent in Sodom and are trying their level best to save it. But they cannot. The terror of the Lord is coming. The splendor of His majesty is imminent. Jonathan Cahn needs to stop regarding man, stop trying to sell books, disavow the silliness of his blood moons and Shemitah nonsense, and get busy preaching the Gospel.
Rev. Anthony
