A Review on "The Harbinger"

The following is originally published by Herescope and is republished here with permission:

By Pastor Larry DeBruyn
A Review and Commentary On The Harbinger
Jonathan Cahn, The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America’s Future (Lake Mary, FL: Front Line—Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Club, 2011). 254 pages + Notes. In the Front Matter, it is stated: “What you are about to read is presented in the form of a story, but what is contained within the story is real.” (Emphasis added)
By applying words of judgment spoken and written to ancient Judah (circa 732 BC) by the prophet Isaiah (i.e., Isaiah 9:10-11), Jonathan Cahn creates a prophetic picture in The Harbinger—one the author admits to be part fiction and part fact—of God’s looming judgment over the United States of America (i.e., harbingers being signals of what is to come). As Jehovah judged His chosen nation in the ancient world for their iniquitous ways (Israel and Judah), so God has begun to pour out His wrath upon His chosen nation in the modern world (the United States). As such, The Harbinger (TH) delivers a spiritual wake-up call to the church and citizens of our nation.*

MORE

Seven Common Comments Non Christians Make About Christians

(Thom S. Rainer) One of my greatest joys in research is talking to and listening to those who clearly identify themselves as non-Christians. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not celebrating their absence of faith in Christ. My joy comes from listening to those who don’t believe as I do, so that I might be better equipped to witness to them.

Over the past several years, my research teams and I have interviewed thousands of unchurched non-Christians. Among the more interesting insights I gleaned were those where the interviewees shared with me their perspectives of Christians.

In this article, I group the seven most common types of comments in order of frequency. I then follow that representative statement with a direct quote from a non-Christian. Read these comments and see if you learn some of the lessons I learned.

1. Christians are against more things than they are for. “It just seems to me that Christians are mad at the world and mad at each other. They are so negative that they seem unhappy. I have no desire to be like them and stay upset all the time.”
2. I would like to develop a friendship with a Christian. “I’m really interested in what they believe and how they carry out their beliefs. I wish I could find a Christian that would be willing to spend some time with me.”  MORE

Three Beliefs of a Proud Heart

(JoeThorn.net) P ride is not something you do, it’s worse than that. Pride is a kind of spiritual heart disease; a sickness of the soul that destroys faith and piety leading to disgrace and destruction. This disease spreads by means of lies our proud hearts are eager to believe. There are three beliefs common to a proud heart which must be refuted by the truth.

“I Am Better”

A proud heart plays the game of comparison with a stacked deck guaranteeing that all others lose. It assures a man that he is good, very good in fact, in comparison to others—others he deems to be failures. A proud man ignores the strong and mocks the weak in order to establish himself as superior. In every form of its existence “I am better” is built upon self-righteousness. It is the belief held by the pharisee who stood near the tax collector in the temple who, even as he prayed, was playing the game. He was so fixated on the unrighteousness of another man he lost sight of the holiness of God making it easy to imagine himself to be holy. He found comfort in his perceived exaltation over another sinner when he should have been humbled and broken before the face of God, just as the tax collector was. For the proud heart to exist, it must believe “I am better.”  MORE

Abortion and the Black Woman

Abortion and the Black Woman

(the Gospel Coalition) Tamara* grew up in a loving home with two parents. People who knew her would have said she was an overachiever, one of those "Most Likely to Succeed" types. She was one of the many African Americans in her school to receive scholarships to attend college. Then she met a man---an older man who stole her heart and her virginity.

Pregnant at 18, she made the choice to have an abortion. Unfortunately, Tamara remained in sin, and by the time she was in her mid-20s, had four more abortions. Now 30 years old with two kids, Tamara lives with an ache in her heart at the unnecessary loss of the other children by her choice to abort them.
"Having children made me realize the ultimate value of life beyond my selfish motivations of what I felt life was about," Tamara told me. "After having my first child I realized or began to feel the other children I once had the opportunity to have were still my children. I have dealt with a greater sense of regret and conviction after having children. I have realized the gift it is to be chosen by God to nurture and raise the seeds he plants, his children, whether they were conceived by sin and lust or by love."  MORE

How Do You Explain the Trinity to Childern

(Moore to the Point) Yesterday a journalist friend emailed to ask a question I think many Christian parents have asked. How does one explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to children?
I think the reason this question resonates with so many parents is precisely because we adults can’t adequately explain the doctrine ourselves. We can teach children the inerrancy of Scripture by simply saying, “The Bible Is True.” We can explain something of the atonement by saying, “Jesus paid for our sins and is alive forever.” The Trinity, though, is another matter. MORE