Rabbi Jonathan Cahn believes that he has discovered just such a pattern within recent American history that stretches back before the September 11 attacks of 2001. Cahn, the author of the best-selling book, “The Harbinger,” discovered the astounding fact that the financial crashes of 2001 and 2008 both occurred on the same day of Jewish calendar. What’s more, that date was the very day and year of the Jewish calendar on which ancient Biblical law called for debts to be erased.
“The Harbinger” gained immediate popularity, but was also the subject of fierce criticism from some theologians. Cahn had answered much of this criticism is interviews. Additionally, Jose Bernal has written a valuable book answering the critics of “The Harbinger.” Bernal’s book is “The Truth About the Harbinger.”
Cahn’s discovery centers around the Shemitah years on the Jewish calendar. The Shemitah (Sabbath or sabbatical) year was established in Deuteronomy 15:1-2 when the ancient Israelites were instructed, “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts. And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release.”
The traditional day to forgive debts was Elul 29, the last day of the Jewish year. In 2001, this date occurred on September 17, the largest single day crash of the stock market in U.S. history according to rankings by the Wall St. Journal. The crash occurred as financial markets reopened in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Seven years later, the Elul 29 of 2008 was on September 29. This date superseded September 17, 2001 as the largest stock market crash as prices collapsed after the House of Representatives voted down a bipartisan plan to bail out banks with tainted “toxic” mortgage securities.
Now Cahn has released a new book, “The Mystery of the Shemitah.” Charisma News says the new book details Cahn’s new discoveries about the Shemitah cycle that extend farther back in American history more than 100 years. World Net Daily notes that the book debuted at number five on Amazon’s Top 100 list. This is in spite of the fact that Cahn fell ill as the book was published and could not go on a promotional tour.
Cahn’s theory does not merely hinge on the fact that dates on the Jewish calendar match up to catastrophic events in American history. In “The Harbinger,” Cahn points out many other parallels between recent events in the United States to events thousands of years ago just prior to the destruction of ancient Israel at the hands of the Assyrians, the ancestors of today’s radical Islamists. Cahn asserts that these specific parallels, including specific words, dates and actions, mean that God is shaking Americans in attempt to warn them about impending judgment if the country remains on its current course. The specific details of the parallels are too numerous to discuss here, but were addressed in a previous Examiner review of “The Harbinger.”
In “The Harbinger,” Cahn makes the point that the September 11 attacks were similar to an early attack by the Assyrians on ancient Israel. Rather than accepting the attack as a warning and a call to repentance, the Israelites made a vow of defiance, echoed in Isaiah 9:10. Interestingly, two prominent American elected officials referenced this obscure verse in the wake of the September 11 attacks and President Obama paraphrased it in reference to the 2008 financial collapse.
Cahn goes on to describe how the September 11 attacks led to both record-breaking stock market crashes which occurred exactly seven years apart on the Jewish calendar. One of the main tools used to stave off a recession in the wake of the attacks was a cut in interest rates. With interest rates at abnormally low levels, saving was discouraged and people were motivated to take advantage of cheap loans to buy houses. The increased demand for real estate inflated a bubble that eventually burst in 2008, causing the financial crisis.
The process by which a nation attempts to defy God’s plans for judgment and call for repentance by using its own devices to resolve the crisis is referred to as the Isaiah 9:10 effect by Rabbi Cahn. The irony is that the action of the nation under judgment instead “sets about a chain of events that brings about the very calamity that it sought to avert,” as Cahn wrote in “Harbinger.”
On September 13, 2015, one year from today, will come the next Elul 29 of a Shemitah year. The Shemitah year begins on the evening of September 24, 2014 according to American calendars. September 25 is Rosh Hashanah, Tishrei 1 of the Jewish year 5775. The entire year is Shemitah, but Cahn writes in “The Mystery of the Shemitah” that “it is at the Shemitah’s end (September 13, 2015) and its wake that the most dramatic repercussions are felt.”
In a 2013 interview, Examiner asked Rabbi Cahn whether he believed that September 13, 2015 would be the date of another “shaking” or judgment. “I haven’t been led to be dogmatic concerning what may or may not happen,” he answered, “but I think it’s wise to keep our eyes open.”
In “The Mystery of the Shemitah” he goes further. Cahn points out that since September 13, 2015 is on Sunday, American financial markets will not be open that day, but “there is the possibility of a trigger event that takes place outside the time of the markets’ openings that could bring about a market collapse – as in the case of 9/11.” He also notes that the last day that markets will be open prior to Elul 29 will be Friday, September 11, 2015.
Cahn also points out that there will be two solar eclipses in 2015. The first will be on the exact center point of the Shemitah, March 20. The other will occur on the last day of the Shemitah: Elul 29 or September 13.
Nevertheless, he writes, “Nothing significant has to happen…. The phenomenon may manifest itself in one cycle, not in another, and then again in the next. And the focus of the message is not date-setting but the call of God to repentance and return. At the same time, something of significance could take place, and it is wise to note the times.”
Whether a shaking and judgment occurs in this Shemitah or not, Cahn leaves no doubt that, without repentance, it will occur. “No nation,” he writes, “can defy the ways and will of Him who is its source of blessings and expect those blessings to continue.”
Although he has no specific message on what lies ahead, Cahn does have advice for believers. He speculates that the timing of the completion of the new tower on the World Trade Center site may be of note. One World Trade Center, often called the Freedom Tower, is expected to open in 2014 after numerous construction delays. The first tower in the complex, 4 World Trade Center, officially opened on November 13, 2013.
Cahn also suggests that “it would be wise to take note of America’s crossing of key thresholds in its spiritual and moral descent.” This could possibly suggest a link to a ruling on same-sex marriage, support for Israel, persecution of Christian believers, or a variety of other issues that deal with Christianity that are being discussed in the public square today. Cahn cites “the offering of their sons and daughters in the fires of Baal and Molech” as the “sin that would bring about the nation [of Israel]’s destruction.” The parallel in the United States might be sacrifice of more than one million Americans annually through abortion.
In the end, although Cahn is uncertain about the nature of judgment as well as its timing, he writes, “I believe a great shaking is coming to this nation and to the world. I believe that this shaking will involve economic and financial collapse, though it will not necessarily be confined or limited to those realms.”
Given the current state of the American economy and the world, Americans, regardless of their spiritual beliefs, would do well to prepare for hard times.
Read the full article on Atlanta Conservative Examiner
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