Great Judgment, Great Awakening … or Both?

Whether we’re headed for downfall or mass revival, it’s hard to dismiss The Harbinger’s warning for America

You might call Jonathan Cahn a harbinger—one who foreshadows what is to come.

The Messianic rabbi’s prophetic message is not only winning the attention of the body of Christ, it’s beginning to demand the attention of the secular world as well. That’s just the way he wants it. 

Cahn’s book The Harbinger reveals an ancient mystery that claims to hold the secret to America’s future. Cahn is blowing the trumpet in Zion, so to speak. He’s living out the Ezekiel 33 mandate as a watchman to warn America because he doesn’t want the blood on his head. And his voice is being heard.

Here’s the message in a nutshell: God is warning America to turn back to Him using nine harbingers, or prophetic signs, to shake the nation. The Harbinger may anger some; it may scare others. It will cause some to fall to their knees in repentance, and it will cause others to cry out in intercession. As of this writing, it’s clearly doing one thing: In its first week of release, the book rose to No. 8 on Amazon’s Best-Sellers list and had moved almost 200,000 copies.

I recently had the opportunity to discuss The Harbinger with Cahn. He believes the Holy Spirit showed him that events such as 9/11, the collapse of Wall Street and the Great Recession are the result of God lifting His hedge of protection around America. He believes God is trying to get the nation’s attention.

I’m not into the “judgment scene,” but I do believe God does and is sending warnings to America. I believe we reap what we sow. I believe where there is unfettered sin there is ultimately death. And although some like to make the argument that many nations are more sinful than America, consider this: To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). As a world power, America has done much good. But the foundations of our Christian heritage are fast eroding. The seven mountains of society—economy, government, family, spirituality, education, media and arts—are shaping an idolatrous, New Age culture.

In April 2007, the Holy Ghost woke me up at midnight and told me a shaking was coming with the purpose of laying bare the sin in the land. He told me He requires repentance for abortion, prayerlessness, apathy and idolatry. He also told me there is a Great Awakening coming to the nation, and that it would get darker before the light shines brightly again. And so it has.

Again, I’m not one to prophesy judgment. Jesus came to save the world, not condemn it (John 3:17). But I do believe The Harbinger offers a timely message for the church. The shaking is undeniable. Natural disasters are claiming lives in America. Economic disasters are driving poverty in America. Agronomists are predicting famine in America. Politicians are being shot in America. Protesters are taking to the street in America. All the while some Americans are armed for another Civil War. 

It would be easy to dismiss Cahn’s revelation about America’s future, which is based on a pattern found in Isaiah 9:10 where God temporarily lifted the hedge of protection around Israel and an enemy struck the land. It would be easy enough, except for the fact that the U.S. is not specifically mentioned in end-times prophecy as a leader among nations. 

Many Bible scholars believe the reason the U.S. is seemingly absent from end-time prophecy is because the nation falls from world power and will not play a major role in end-time events. There is any number of scenarios that could lead to America’s downfall. But I believe we’ll see another Great Awakening first. In fact, I believe that we are on a cusp of that Great Awakening even now. And I believe the Lord is using The Harbinger to sound an alarm that will wake up the mighty men and women, the reformers and deliverers who will stand in the gap and make up the hedge. 

One thing is certain: Cahn’s prophetic message is waking up the sleeping giant that is the church.

Jennifer leclaire is news editor for Charisma. She has worked in publishing since 1990 as a journalist, editor and marketing copywriter, and is also the author of several Christian books, including The Heart of the Prophetic and Doubtless: Faith That Overcomes the World. To read her blog, The Plumb Line, go to plumbline.charismamag.com.