NEW YORK (ANS) -- “The Harbinger - The Ancient Mystery That Holds The Secret of America’s Future,” a new non-fiction book by first-time author Jonathan Cahn that links modern day America with nine specific warnings of destructions that befell ancient Israel, is breaking records in its short retail history and has briskly run up the NY Times bestseller list.

Cover artwork for 'The Harbinger'.

Released by Charisma House/Frontline Books on January 9, “The Harbinger” hit the Times bestseller list and premiered at #1 on Amazon’s New Release list within days after its initial release date. The book became an immediate first week sell-out with booksellers nationally, forcing the publisher to boost their original print run of 50,000 to a reprint of 250,000 copies in order to meet retail re-stock demands in January.

Though framed in a fictional narrative, “The Harbinger” is a non-fiction that contains one of the most controversial, unique, and potentially ominous revelations concerning America -- its past, present, and future, and how it connects with a 3,000 year old prophecy from the Bible’s Old Testament Book of Isaiah. “The bricks fall down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.” -- Isaiah 9:10.

Hidden in the ancient prophetic verse, ‘The Harbinger’ reveals precise ties to the foretelling of recent events in modern day America—stunning in accuracy down to the exact day of the stock market collapse in 2008. With stunning precision, the author unfolds an accurately precise and chilling line of continuance between nine specific ‘harbingers’—prophetic omens of warning--that were given to ancient Israel to align them with recent cataclysmic events in modern day America.

“The Harbinger” focuses on the appearance of nine warning signs from God that are being amazingly re-played in the sequence of recent national history that has been unfolding before the eyes of Americans since 9/11. Written by Cahn in riveting narrative style, the mysteries revealed in The Harbinger are so precise that they foretell recent American events down to the exact days… the 3,000-year-old mystery that revealed the exact date of the stock market collapse of 2008… the ancient prophecy that was proclaimed from the floor of the US Senate and then came true…and more.

The revelations are so specific that even the most hardened skeptics are finding it hard to put the book down. Pat Robertson, Founder and Chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network termed the book “extraordinary” during a January appearance by the author on CBN’s “The 700 Club.” Media executive Joseph Farah of www.WND.com  has expressed his intentions of bringing “The Harbinger” to wider audiences through a film documentary that explores Cahn’s in-depth connections of ancient prophecy to modern events. Commenting on the book, Farah termed it “stunning in its relevancy to recent history in America."

Initially, Jan Markell, who runs Olive Tree Ministries (www.olivetreeviews.org  ) and the ‘Understanding The Times’ companion radio program and annual conference, said she chose to ignore The Harbinger until the pastor of a Bible-based church in Appleton, WI called her and told her about it.

“He started reading the book and then called his staff, telling them he would not be in that day. Knowing this man as I do, I took that contact as my own wake-up call to make the effort to understand the phenomenon,” Markell said in a ministry update about the book.

Markell has talked to Cahn both on-air and privately. “Cahn insists he is not a prophet but a ‘watchman who doesn't want the blood on his hands – (Ezekiel 33:6,)’” Markell said. In the ministry update, Markell lays out both criticisms and supporting points for The Harbinger’s message.

Markell goes on to say that Christians are called to preach the gospel and win the lost before we save a nation. “But watchmen on the wall warn! I am doing that all the time. I am not a prophet -- I just don't want blood on my hands. I sense the church is too riddled with apostasy and too busy majoring in minors to bring about national repentance and I hope I am wrong. But God calls none to be successful, just to be faithful.”

Markell added: “It would seem the parallels found by Jonathan Cahn in his book, and portrayed brilliantly by Joseph Farah in the film, defy ‘coincidence.’ Using his understanding of Jewish culture and Biblical tradition, Cahn makes a convincing case.

“This ministry has nothing to gain as it concerns The Harbinger. But if you could hear the story from beginning to end, you will be prompted to think and have a fresh perspective concerning the detail of God and you will be engaged in sober reflection. You will be encouraged to be salt and light for whatever time we have left as a nation and a Church.”

Jonathan Cahn.

Author Jonathan Cahn is known and respected nationally for his teachings on the explorations of biblical truth. He serves as Senior Pastor and Rabbi of the Jerusalem Center/Beth Israel located in Wayne, New Jersey and is president of Hope of the World Ministries.

In an interview by e-mail, ANS asked Cahn why he wrote the book. What was the inspiration behind it, and how is it different from other prophecy books?

Cahn said: “In the wake of 9/11, I was in prayer, and I was led to the section of Isaiah that spoke of the first strike on ancient Israel, God’s opening warning to that nation concerning judgment. Later on, I was standing on the corner of Ground Zero and my attention was drawn to an object which turned out to be the first puzzle piece in a mystery which, as I searched, kept growing larger and larger and more and more mind-boggling. This would become the beginning of The Harbinger.

“When I first shared this with the congregation, everyone was blown away and there was a strong sense that it had to become a book and go forth to the nation.”

Cahn said The Harbinger is considered extremely unique in many ways.
“First, it’s not a standard book on end-time prophecy. It’s a revelation of an ancient mystery that lies behind events taking place in our midst. It’s not speculating about how end-time prophecy might come about, but a revelation of specific, precise, and exact manifestations of prophetic significance, taking place in America – an ancient biblical mystery of judgment – the warnings given to a nation in danger of calamity.”

Beyond that, said Cahn, the form through which this mystery is communicated is a narrative involving a figure known as “the prophet” who, through nine seals, reveals each mystery. “So the framing is a narrative, but that which is revealed within it, is a non-fiction mystery – and very real,” he said.

ANS asked Cahn what were his aims and goals in writing this book, and what did he hope to achieve in its publication?

“To be obedient to God. To sound the alarm, to give warning,” he said. “I’m continually convicted by Ezekiel 33 which warns that if the watchman sees danger coming and does not sound the trumpet, then the blood of those who perish will be on his head. If one sees danger coming, one has no choice but to sound the alarm. What I hope for is that this message produces all God intends it to produce – repentance, salvation, and revival.”

Cahn was asked what is the "ancient mystery" that holds the secret of America's future, and how is it related to everything from 9/11 to the collapse of the global economy?

“In the last days of ancient Israel, nine harbingers of judgment were manifested in the land, each a warning of national destruction,” he said.

“Those same nine harbingers are now reappearing on American soil, each occurring in precise detail, prophetic reenactments of the last days of ancient Israel, an ancient mystery of judgment. Some of the harbingers have appeared in New York City, some have appeared in Washington, D.C. Some have involved ceremonies. Some have involved the highest leaders of the land, even the president of the United States. Each of them contains a prophetic message to America.”

He added: “The mystery lies behind 9/11 but also behind the crash of Wall St., the Great Recession, everything. It includes the Stone of Judgment that was placed on Ground Zero by American leaders, the Sign of the Sycamore and the prophetic foreshadow it holds concerning the future of America as a world superpower, the day a vice-presidential candidate uttered an ancient biblical proclamation of judgment on America, how the two greatest collapses in American financial history each took place on the exact same day appointed in the Bible to wipe away a nation’s financial realm, and the existence of a national ‘Mystery Ground’ and the prophetic message it contains for this hour.”

Cahn continued: “The Harbinger is a prophetic message to America, calling it back to God. It’s a call to the nation to repentance and return. It’s a call to the unsaved to salvation. It’s a call to the Church to revival. It’s a call that I believe is of the most critical nature and at a most critical hour, in the shadow of judgment.”

He was asked how his background as a Messianic Jew influenced him in writing this book.

“The Jews are a prophetic people, a prophetic time piece. The Harbinger is a prophetic book. Perhaps there’s a connection in that,” he said.

Cahn was born in New York State, raised in the synagogue.

“When I was around 8 years old, I became an atheist. When I was about 12, I began to question my atheism and search for truth. One day I picked up a book called ‘The Late Great Planet Earth’ by Hal Lindsey about the biblical prophecies now coming true. I began to study the Hebrew Scriptures for the prophecies of Messiah – seeing it fulfilled in Jesus/ Yeshua. I began to believe, but I didn’t want to give my life to the Lord.

“When I was 19 years old, in a Ford Pinto, I was struck by a locomotive train. I survived. I took that as the final sign that I better get right with God, and so I did – on my 20th birthday. This all happened while in college studying with a major in history. At that time, the Lord interrupted my life to let me know I was called to full-time ministry.”

How and in what ways did God prepare him to write the book?

“The Harbinger is not only a revelation of biblical mysteries, but the sounding of the watchman’s alarm – the trumpet. I’ve always, somehow been linked to the sounding of the trumpet/ the shofar. I was even circumcised on the eve of the Feast of Trumpets, the day of warning. About a year after coming to the Lord, I was asked to lead a Bible study. Later on I was asked to become the Pastor/Rabbi of the Beth Israel Worship Center. So I’ve been studying and sharing the Word of God for many years. It was from a number of special prophetic sharings, that The Harbinger was birthed.”

Cahn went on to say: “I can’t think of any message more important than one on which, not only a nation’s future hangs, but everyone’s future depends. It’s a matter of life and death, judgment or redemption, for the saved and the unsaved alike.”

He said the takeaway that he wants readers to gain from the book is, “That God is alive. That He’s calling. That we’re in danger. That in God, and God alone, in Jesus, is salvation, life, and hope.”

The Harbinger is available wherever books are sold. And in addition, the message exists in the form of a powerful documentary on 2 DVDS – The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment, which is available on www.Amazon.com  and www.WND.com.  Readers can get in touch with Cahn’s ministry at www.TheHarbingerWebsite.com  or www.HopeoftheWorld.org  . The Worship Center is called The Jerusalem Center, located at 11 Railroad Ave., in Wayne, N.J.

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** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter