Christian Message Boards: The Harbinger, hum?

This is topic The Harbinger, hum? in forum Exposing False Teaching at Christian Message Boards.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://thechristianbbs.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=53;t=000610

Posted by WildB (Member # 2917) on :

WHAT TO MAKE OF THE HARBINGER MYSTERY
One of the most popular and controversial books to hit the Christian market these past few months is The Harbinger, The Ancient Mystery that Holds The Secret Of America’s Future by Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic Jewish Rabbi who we interviewed on this program twice. This perspective is my own, and doesn’t necessarily reflect our ministry as a whole:

http://standupforthetruth.com/2012/06/what-to-make-of-the-harbinger-mystery/

I lean this way.....

SolaSisters
Like many Christians who have come out of occultic, mystical or New Age backgrounds, researcher Christine Pack found some revealing statements in the book’s pages that prompted her to investigate:
Gnosticism
There is an exchange between two of the characters in The Harbinger who are discussing a secret message from a mysterious character (“The Prophet”) in the book:
“It’s the appointed time, but not for an ancient nation. It’s time for the word to be given…..for the mystery to be revealed…..for the message to go forth. It’s the appointed time⎯but not for an ancient nation.” (The Harbinger, p 13)
Friends, anytime you see language like this, and like the language below (also from The Harbinger)…..
■ “ancient mystery hidden for thousands of years……but now revealed”
■ a “mystery” that holds a “secret” to our future
■ “clues” needed to “unlock” a mystery
■ “messages” that need to be “unveiled”
……what you are dealing with is an ancient heresy called Gnosticism.
Gnosticism is a very old heresy that teaches that the truth has to be decoded, uncovered, unlocked, unveiled, discovered.
Secret Knowledge = Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a heresy because, according to God, we are given all that we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) in God’s word. We don’t need to decode secret mysteries, unravel sealed up messages, decipher clues, or pull back the veil on hidden things. All that we need, all that God wants us to know, is contained in the Bible. Now, I will grant that in the New Testament, Paul does talk about the mystery of Gentiles and Jews being united together in a common church and common faith (something that could have scarcely been imagined in Old Testament times). There is also the mystery of Jesus Christ, who was dimly glimpsed through types and shadows in the Old Testament, but Who was gloriously revealed in his fullness as our Savior in the New Testament. But these are mysteries which are laid open for all to see and know and understand and respond to, and not clues on a Mysterious Journey to Somewhere (which is really the more western understanding of the word “mystery”).
“I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.”(Isaiah 45:19)
As a former Gnostic, I found great comfort as a born again Christian in understanding that all that God truly wants me to know He has plainly revealed in his Word. I spent more than a decade of my life as a New Ager/Gnostic going from teaching to teaching to teaching. I lost track of how many conferences I went to, books I purchased, teachers and gurus that I sought out, all in an effort to find truth. My quest for truth was sincere, but truth proved to be surprisingly elusive to attain. By the time God saved me, I was weary. I was worn out. I didn’t have it in me to go after One More Thing. All I could think of at the end was that I wanted rest, just a little bit of rest, from all my fruitless searching. The Lord, in his infinite mercy, gave me rest by rescuing me out of the mire of man-made wisdom and giving me the elegant simplicity of his Word. There is such a lovely purity and clarity in knowing that I can rest securely in the knowledge that all that God wants me to know I can find in the Bible.
Read Christine’s in-depth research here. http://solasisters.blogspot.com/2012/06/commentary-on-harbinger.html