The Lord is in the Right

The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place. – Isaiah 9:10

This verse and its surrounding text is the basis for a book called The Harbinger by messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn.  I skimmed through a copy of it, and by skimmed, I mean I read the actual information which comprises probably five pages out of a book of 150 pages or so.  To summarize, Cahn draws a parallel between the nation of Israel and the nation of America.  The quoted verse is not a statement of optimism or hope but of defiance of God.  This verse was quoted by then-Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle immediately after the 9/11 attacks, again by vice-presidential candidate John Edwards on the 9/11 anniversary in 2004, I think.  There are a number of other strange “coincidences” that Cahn documents – including the fact that debris from the falling towers uprooted a sycamore tree on grounds of a church near Ground Zero.  It happens to be the same church where George Washington took his oath of office in 1792.  There is also the somewhat disturbing revelation that the stock market crashes in September 2001 and September 2008 both occurred on a specific date in the Jewish calendar -- the seven-year debt cancellation anniversary called the shemitah.  Or something like that.  Note that I am not recommending this book, I am just acknowledging it.  

Anyway, this information is embedded in a fictional narrative about a prophet who dresses like Neo in The Matrix and a protagonist who turns out be a scribe on the order of Jeremiah’s Baruch.  I have no idea why Brother Cahn did that.  It’s a lagniappe I did not need.  I am pretty sure that America as a nation is not a new version of Israel.  The Israel of God is Christ and His Body and Bride upon the earth is the Church.  God still loves and cares for His Chosen People, and the modern nation of Israel is a sign and a witness to His grace and His mercies, which, as Lamentations remind us, are new every morning. 

God will warn any of us against self-destruction.  We have a critical mass of people in America and in Europe who have given themselves over to greed, selfishness, and materialism – not only in terms of consumption but as a philosophy of life.  The materialists are not limited to the declared atheists and agnostics but include many who would call themselves religious, even Christian.   Anyone who makes success in this world their goal is in danger of being deceived into believing that the derivative material world is the only reality. 

I agree with the writer of The Harbinger that the horrors and destruction wrought on September 11, 2001 were warnings we should have heeded.  This does not in any way minimize or mitigate the guilt of the Islamic demons that planned and carried out the attack.  They were not “doing the will” of God, and they will all rot in hell.  Nevertheless, I believe the attack succeeded only because America had broken down a hedge of protection through sin and the neglect and outright denial of truth.  In response, we should have, as a nation but especially as Christians, humbled ourselves before God. 

For a few days after those horrible events, we did fill the churches in this country.  We did pray.  We did ask why.  Still, from the very first moments, our thoughts were of defiance.  The terrorists, we said, were not going to be allowed to win.  They were not going to get us to change our habits, our lifestyle, our values ...

… except , except ... our values are empty.  Our lifestyles are corrupt and immoral.  Our habits are destructive. 

I am all for revenge.  I am too much Scots-Irish to think there’s anything a good feud can’t settle.  I can hold a grudge with the best of them.  While it is true that I have an explosive, hair-trigger – some would say, berserker, temper, I recognize the value of planning and not trying to fire from half-cock.  Self-assessment is essential to doing anything right.  You have to be able to step back and look at yourself in an objective, realistic way.  After 9/11, I do not think we did that as a nation.  I think we were just like “Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who [said] in pride and in arrogance of heart”, we will rebuild, we have plenty of resources, plenty of money, plenty of military might and firepower.  We can do whatever we need to do.  No one (and, by implication, not even God) can stop us.   

We did not see 9/11 as a warning – not in the nation, not in the Church.  We did not see the market crash in September 2008 as a warning.  We have continued down the path to destruction as a nation, and the Church is not calling people to repentance in a unified or consistent way. 

As far as politics go, neither candidate is willing to say the hard things America needs to hear.  A righteous nation would never have elected Bill Clinton as president.  We were long gone once my generation took over.  We have been defying and challenging God for many decades.  We mock Him daily.  Our gods are the state and our bellies, as Paul so aptly put it. 

As the election draws closer, it is clear that politicians are offering a false and misleading version of hope.  We have more than half the voters in this country who think that government is capable of “fixing things” – that’s across right, left, and middle.   Now, more than ever, it is critical that we have our hope focused beyond the White House, state houses, government, jobs, economic conditions, military power, education, and status.   Truth is not decided by a vote of the majority.  Hope begins and ends in Christ Alone.  There can be only One.  

For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.  But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.  (Philippians 3:18-21)