An anonymous letter came recently in the mail. The no-name writer addresses his comments:
TO ALL PASTORS
Actually, everything on the page is in all capital letters. The main point of this communication was that “every pastor should be teaching their congregation on end time prophecy.” It is obvious that the writer believes in a “pastor system” of church government, which the Scriptures do not authorize. For the way in which a local congregation should be structured, he might try reading 1 Timothy 3:1-13. Then he might consider that, since he did not understand the kind of church government authorized by God, he might be a little off on prophecies from the book of Revelation.
He should also have given more thought to correct grammar. He has a noun-adjective agreement problem (every pastor – their congregation). Their should be his. Also, end-time should contain a hyphen. These are minor points; nevertheless, if one is going to publish and mail out a one-page document, he might at least have someone proofread it for him. The page contains other errors, also, but we will forego commenting on these to get to the substance of the letter.
Mr. Anonymous wants to know why the most important book of the Bible is not being taught, which he fancies to be Revelation. Is he kidding? No one is teaching on the book? Such is absurd. Sometimes it seems as though that is the only book of the Bible being taught. Has he not heard of the Left Behind series, which is fiction but based on Revelation? Members of this congregation will remember, just a few years ago, spending several weeks listening to sermons from Revelation, as well as our weekly discussions of the book in our survey of the Bible. The anonymous letter-writer could not substantiate his claim of neglecting Revelation if his life depended on it.
The reader might well wonder, “Why is Revelation the most important book of the Bible?” Is it more important than Genesis, which provides the only reliable account of the origin of man? Is it more important than Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which present the life of Jesus—without whom we could not be saved from our sins? Is it more important than the book of Acts, which shows the establishment of the church and the way in which sinners can become Christians? Is it more important than the epistles of the New Testament, which reveal to us how to remain a faithful child of God? No one desires to denigrate the book of Revelation, but we also have no reason to exalt it above the others. All of God’s inspired Word is important.
It is also alleged that Revelation is “the only Book that we get blessed for reading….” Seriously? Apparently, we can throw away the 65 books of Genesis through Jude, since no one gets blessed by reading them. Presumably, Anonymous is referring to Revelation 22:7, although he never cites a Scripture. That verse teaches: “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” Of course, one would be blessed by reading the prophecy of Revelation and knowing that Christians shall triumph and be vindicated for their faith, while their accusers and persecutors will be punished.
But this verse does not mean to imply that the remainder of the Bible is irrelevant. Has not Anonymous read the beatitudes given by Jesus in Matthew 5:3-12? If one would be blessed by doing those things, would he not be blessed by reading them so that he could do them? Revelation 22:14 tells us: “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates of the city.” Where do we find those commandments by which we are blessed if we do them? They were first spoken by Jesus and were continued by His apostles throughout the New Testament.
The Harbinger
The fourth paragraph of “To All Pastors” states the following: “Jonathon Cahn wrote The Harbinger, a book given by God warning us of what’s coming, and no one’s teaching on that.” The first question is, “How does Anonymous know that this book was given by God?” We know that the books of the New Testament were inspired of God because we know the authors; we know the miracles they performed, we know the contents are harmonious with one another, and we know the respect that Christians close to the time of their writing had for the books of the New Testament. How does Anonymous know that Jonathon Cahn, whom most of us have never heard of, got The Harbinger from God? What verification has been provided? We are especially skeptical for two reasons.
The most important reason is that the Bible teaches that God has provided all that we need to live a godly life (2 Peter 1:3). Jude says that the faith was once for all delivered to the saints (3). Therefore, anyone claiming new revelation immediately violates what the Bible teaches on this subject. Second, Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, Ellen G. White, and the thousands of others who get new “revelations” daily all conflict with each other, and none of them can perform miracles. We simply have no basis upon which to believe their claims and every reason to be suspicious.
One test of anyone who claims to be a prophet or to have a message from God is to check and see what that individual teaches about salvation. The following information comes from a website that one may find by typing in the subject’s name. The first choice underneath is “About Jonathon Cahn.” Or one can go to: www.bethisraelworshipcenter.org/aboutjonathon.htm. Click: “Message from Jonathon” and then “salvation.” He asks pointedly, “How do you get saved?” in the third paragraph. He answers that Jesus taught, “You must be born again,” which is true, although Jesus expressed it in different words.
The next question that one would logically ask is, “How do you become born again?” which leads off Cahn’s fourth paragraph. Here he departs from the Scriptures. He does not say he has been referring to John 3:3-5, and he does not quote either text. Notice what Jesus actually said:
John 3:3: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.”
John 3:5: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.”
It is indeed strange that someone would refer to this passage and then, when he asks how to be born again (which is essentially Nicodemus’ question in John 3:4), he omits any reference to Jesus’ reply. Could it be that he did not want anyone to notice the mention of water and think that they might need to be baptized? He also fails to mention what Jesus taught in Mark 16:16: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
So how does Cahn answer the question concerning how to be born again? “The Bible says that whoever will receive Him will be saved.” How interesting that this answer is not found in the Bible. Perhaps that is the reason no Scripture is cited. Anyone who reads through the book of Acts will discover that becoming saved involves faith, repentance, and baptism. For example, when the Jews asked what they should do on the day of Pentecost, Peter did not give them Cahn’s message. He did not say, “Just receive Jesus.” He told them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Baptism is mentioned all throughout the Book of Acts in connection with salvation. Not one sinner was ever told, “Receive Jesus.”
But to make matters worse, Cahn quotes Jesus as saying to the sinner, “Come to me and I will not reject you. I will receive you.” Jesus, however, never spoke those words. Especially deceptive is the fact that Cahn puts these words in quotations marks as though Jesus actually said them when he knows that He did not. Is this someone who has a message from God—some-one who deals deceitfully and abuses the Scriptures? This man has received nothing from God, or he would say what God said with respect to salvation. Cahn offers up his own version of a sinner’s prayer, which includes these words:
And now I receive you Lord. I receive your forgiveness. I receive your cleansing, your washing, your love, your grace, your spirit and your presence. I receive you deep into my heart and I will be with you always.
The Bible contains no such prayer. It does, however, mention washing—in connection with baptism (Acts 22:16). Why did not Cahn do likewise? The answer is that he does not believe what the Bible teaches about salvation. If he cannot understand the most fundamental teaching in the Bible, what are the odds he can explain Revelation to us?
Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change
The 5th paragraph of Anonymous’ one-page flyer says: “John Hagee wrote a book on the Four Blood Moons of which the first one will be April of this year and no one’s teaching on that.” A blood moon occurs when the moon’s appearance takes on a red color. It is rare to have two in one year, but there will be two this year and two next year. Hagee says that the last two times these occurred in one calendar year significant events occurred for the nation of Israel. He is confident that the same will occur this time. Something significant is always happening to Israel. But these speculations are all built on the false doctrine of pre-millennialism.
The ideology of folks like Hagee incorporates the notion that the Israelites are still God’s chosen people. 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 seems to indicate otherwise; events in the Middle East today have no bearing on the prophecies of Revelation. Hagee is with the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, and their beliefs can be found on sacornerstone.org. Concerning salvation, they teach:
We believe all men are born with a sinful nature and that the work of the Cross was to redeem man from the power of sin. We believe that this salvation is available to all who will receive it.
The Bible does not say that man is born with a sinful nature; that is a tenet of Calvinism. The Bible teaches that we are born with free will and that we choose whether or not to sin (Isa. 7:16). Unfortunately, all of us—except Jesus—have chosen to sin. Therefore, we certainly found ourselves in need of salvation, which Jesus procured for us. Everyone who chose to sin can also choose salvation. But how does one receive it? Again, Acts 2:38 is the first time after Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ascension that people ask that question (which happened to be on the day of Pentecost). Peter’s answer includes repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. He does not say anything about receiving Christ or praying a “sinner’s prayer.”
Someone might point out that Hagee baptizes people by immersion. Yes, but the reason is not in order to be saved, as per Acts 2:38; he believes it should be done after one is saved. Below are the comments from the same website:
We believe in the ordinance of water baptism by immersion in obedience to the Word of God. All those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior should be baptized in water as a public profession of their faith in Christ and to experience what the Bible calls the “circumcision of the Spirit.”
He believes a person is saved when he “receives” or ”accepts” Christ. He calls baptism an “ordinance,” which the Bible does not do. He calls it a public profession of a person’s faith, but he does not tie it in to salvation, as Peter does. It is a command that ought to be obeyed, but one is saved first, according to their website. If he thought baptism had anything to do with washing someone’s sins away (Acts 22:16), it would be mentioned under the heading of salvation.
Furthermore, Hagee states the following: “We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as manifested by the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit.” In other words, he is a charismatic and disagrees with the New Testament, which teaches that the spiritual gifts would be done away when the Bible was completely revealed (1 Cor. 13; Jude 3). Thus, many have reasons for not listening to John Hagee. Like Cahn, he does not teach the truth regarding salvation.
Something Catastrophic This Way Comes
The Anonymous writer declares that four blood moons have never “taken place during the year of the Shemitah.” Apparently, Shemitah refers to the Sabbatical year. First, how does he know the truth of that claim? Has he been able to trace every Sabbatical year since the time of Moses and Joshua? Second, as Hagee explains it, the four moons are not in the same year but in two different years. We simply do not know to what Anonymous is referring. But he is certain that something catastrophic will happen. Most people would say that Hitler and the extinction of six million Jews was catastrophic, but there were not two, three, or four blood moons at that time. The easiest thing to do is to predict a catastrophe because something of great magnitude is always occurring somewhere in the world. In the next two years, war could erupt in the Middle East. Who knows what Russia or North Korea will do?
A plea is offered that we have the “courage and the boldness to tell God’s children…of these end time events.” Whose version of end-time chronology should we give: Hagee’s, Cahn’s, La Haye’s, or someone else’s? This editor also recently received a similar admonition from a different source that talks about the European Union, China, Russia, England, and the United States, along with the promise of hydrogen bombs. He predicts Nuclear World War III and claims: “God says to prophesy again.” This particular pre-millennialist did identify himself and claimed to be a prophet. So much has been written on these subjects, and they all err. They fail to notice that Jesus Himself said: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Besides, if hydrogen bombs are falling all over the place, there will not be much any of us can do about it.
We will continue to present what Jesus taught about the end of the world—that we should always be prepared for His return (Matt. 24:42). Paul wrote that Christians would join Jesus in the air (1 Thess. 4:13-17). The Book of Revelation describes things that would shortly come to pass (Rev. 1:1; 22:5). It was written to comfort Christians in the first century who were being persecuted by the Roman Empire; it was never intended to be considered as a guide to the history of the 21st century. How sad that people are much more excited about fictitious events that will never occur than they are in understanding what it means to be a Christian!
“Time is running out! Jesus is coming very, very soon.” How does the Anonymous soul who wrote these words know that? He did not get it from the Scriptures because Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, no not even the angels in heaven, but My Father only” (Matt. 24:36). Will Jesus come again? Absolutely! But no person on earth knows when. It is futile to speculate. All who have tried have made themselves laughingstocks. Our Lord could come very, very soon, or His return could still be a very, very long way off. We ought to be content with what God has revealed instead of incessantly dwelling on what He has not told us. Whenever that day is, Christians will surely rejoice.