It has come to my attention that the book, “The Harbinger,” by Jonathan Cahn has a lot of false teaching in it. Today we have access to so much information in the form of books, television, news, internet, and many other sources. We need to be careful what we read and listen too. We need discernment to know if the message is Biblical, or if it goes against the Bible. These are the only two possibilities, and we have to be extra careful today. If you will click on the link below, it will take you to an article by Christine Pack called, “A Commentary on the Harbinger: A Warning About the Harbinger. This article explains what is wrong with this teaching.
http://www.solasisters.com/2012/06/commentary-on-harbinger.html
Perhaps you have read this book and got all excited thinking the author is really on to something. What we find is that he has added extra-Biblical teaching to it.
Another good review is by Tim Challies. He is a wonderful Christian and reviews many books to help us with our discernment.
You can read his article below called, “The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America’s Future.
http://www.challies.com/book-reviews/the-ancient-mystery-that-holds-the-secret-of-americas-future
hatchcreek.com Bible blog 
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When performed
This ceremony is traditionally performed daily in Israel (except in Galilee),[16] and among most Sephardi Jews worldwide, every day during the repetition of the Shacharit Amidah. On Sabbath and festivals it is also recited during the repetition of the Musaf prayer. On Yom Kippur the ceremony is performed during the Ne’ila service as well. On other fast days it is performed at Mincha, if said in the late afternoon. The reason for offering the blessing in the afternoon only on Fast days is that the Kohanim are forbidden to eat and (especially) to drink alcohol prior to the ceremony.[17]
In the Diaspora in Ashkenazic Orthodox communities, the ceremony is performed only on Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur.[18] German communities perform it at both Shaharit and Musaf, while on Yom Kippur it is performed at Neilah as well. Eastern European congregations only perform it at Musaf. On Simchat Torah, some communities recite it during Musaf, and others during Shacharit, to enable Kohanim to eat or drink during the Torah reading between Shacharit and Musaf. On weekdays and Shabbat, in Ashkenazic diaspora communities, the blessing is not recited by Kohanim. Instead, it is recited only by the shaliach tzibbur (prayer leader), or a hazzan (cantor), after the Modim prayer, towards the end of the Amidah, without any special chant or gestures.[19] This Ashkenazic practice is based on a Rabbinic ruling of the Remoh, who argued that the Kohanim were commanded to bless the people with joy (besimcha) and that Kohanim in the diaspora could not be expected to feel joyful except on the above-mentioned holidays where all Jews are commanded to feel joy.[20]
Procedure
At the beginning of the ceremony, those descended from the tribe of Levi, the Leviim in the congregation wash the hands of the Kohanim and then the Kohanim remove their shoes (if they are unable to remove their shoes without using their hands, the shoes are removed prior to the washing), and walk up to the platform in front of the ark, at the front of the synagogue. The use of a platform is implied in Leviticus 9:22. They cover their heads with their tallitot, recite the blessing over the performance of the mitzvah, turn to face the congregation, and then the hazzan or prayer leader slowly and melodiously recites the three verse blessing, with the Kohanim repeating it word by word after him. After each verse, the congregation responds Amen.
Raising the hands
During the course of the blessing, the hands of the Kohanim are spread out over the congregation, with the fingers of both hands separated so as to make five spaces between them; the spaces are (1) between the ring finger and middle finger of each hand, (2) between the index finger and thumb of each hand, and (3) the two thumbs touch each other at the knuckle and the aperture is the space above or below the touching knuckles.[21]
The Kohen raises his hands, with the palms facing downward and the thumbs of his outspread hands touching. The four fingers on each hand are sometimes split into two sets of two fingers each (thus forming the letter Shin (שׁ), an emblem for Shaddai, “Almighty [God]”), or sometimes they are arranged to form an overlapping lattice of ‘windows.’ This ceremony is sometimes called Nesiat Kapayim, the “lifting of the hands.” The Jewish tradition states the Divine Presence would shine through the fingers of the priests as they blessed the people, and no one was allowed to look at this out of respect for God.[22]
Each kohen’s tallit is draped over his head and hands so that the congregation cannot see his hands while the blessing is said. Performing the ceremony of the priestly blessing is known in Yiddish as duchening, a reference to the “duchan” (Heb: platform) on which the blessing is said. The tradition of covering the hands stems from the biblical prohibition against a Kohen with hands that are disfigured in any way from offering the blessing. The rabbis softened this prohibition by saying that a Kohen with disfigured hands to which the community had become accustomed could bless. In later centuries, the practice became for all Kohanim to cover their hands so that any disfigurement would not be seen by the Congregation. This gave rise to folklore that one should not see the hands of the Kohen or even that harm would befall someone who sees the hands of the Kohen. Some congregants will even turn their backs to the Kohanim so as to avoid any possibility of seeing their hands—although this practice is unsupported by any rabbinic source.
The Talmud describes God as peering through the “lattice” formed by the hands of the Kohanim, referencing the verse in the Song of Songs (2:9):
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart
Behold, he stands behind our wall
He looks in through the windows
Peering through the lattices (הַחֲרַכִּים).
Ha-kharakim means “the lattices” and this is the only place it occurs in the Bible, but splitting off and treating the definite article as a numeral produces ה׳ חֲרַכִּים — “[peering through] five lattices”.[23]
Prayer chant
In some communities it is customary for the Kohanim to raise their hands and recite an extended musical chant without words before reciting the last word of each phrase. There are different tunes for this chant in different communities. Aside from its pleasant sound, the chant is done so that the congregation may silently offer certain prayers containing individual requests of G-d after each of the three blessings of the Kohanim. Because supplications of this nature are not permitted on Shabbat, the chant is also not done on Shabbat. In Israel, this chanting is not the custom.
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In Hebrew law and custom
• Only Kohanim (i.e., adult – age 13 or older – males in direct patrilineal descent from Aaron) can perform the Priestly Benediction. And the blessing should be performed only in the presence of a minyan (quorum of ten adult males in orthodox judaism, ten adults in all other branches of judaism) – even if the Kohanim themselves must be included for a total of ten.[3]
• Tradition prohibits a Kohen from reciting the blessing while under the influence of alcohol,[4] or in the period immediately following the death of a close relative.[5]
• All Kohanim present are obligated to participate, unless disqualified in some way.[6] If a Kohen does not wish to participate, he must leave the sanctuary for the duration of the blessing. A Kohen may be disqualified by, e.g., having imbibed too much alcohol, having a severe speech impediment, blindness, having taken a human life, having married a disqualifying wife (such as a divorcee), the recent death of a close relation.[7]
• A Kohen who is on bad terms with the congregation or who is unwilling to perform the ritual should not perform it.[8]
• It is customary that, once the Kohanim are assembled on the platform, the canter or prayer leader will prompt them by reciting each word of the blessing and the Kohanim will then repeat that word. This custom is especially followed if only one kohen is available to give the blessing. Apparently this prompting is done to avoid errors or embarrassment if any of the kohanim should be ignorant of the words of the recitation. However, if there are a number of kohanim, they may say the first word of the blessing (“Yevorekhekhaw”) without the prompting, presumably to demonstrate their familiarity with the ritual.[9]
• If the prayer leader is a Kohen himself, he does not prompt the other Kohanim in the blessing. Instead, a non-Kohen is designated with that task, and the leader remains silent.[10]
• The Mishnah records advice that a person who is troubled by a dream should reflect on it when the Kohanim recite their blessing. This practice is still done in many Orthodox communities.[11] It is also recited at bedtime.[12] Both uses derive from the Song of Songs 3:7-8, telling of 60 armed guards surrounding Solomon’s bedchamber to protect him from “night terrors”; the 60 letters in the [Hebrew] text of the blessing similarly defend against night terrors.
• In many traditional Jewish communities it is the custom for congregants to spread their tallitot over their own heads during the blessing and not look at the Kohanim. If a man has children, they will come under his tallit to be blessed, even if they are quite old.
• This blessing is also used by some parents to bless their children on Friday night before the beginning of the Shabbat meal. Some rabbis will say the blessing to a boy at his bar mitzvah or to a girl at her bat mitzvah. It is usually prefaced, for boys with a request for God to make the child like Ephraim and Manasseh These were the two sons of Joseph) who are remembered because according to tradition, they never fought with one another. For girls the traditional request is God to make them like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, the Matriarchs of the Jewish people.
• It also may be said before a long journey, and some people will write it out and wear/keep it as an amulet. It is often used in the liturgy as the first section of Torah to be read in the morning after reciting the blessing before studying Torah.
• In the case where no Kohanim are present in the synagogue (but there still is a minyan) the hazzan will read the prayer verse by verse, and the congregation will respond after each verse with “ken yehi ratzon” (May it be God’s Will). This response is used instead of “Amen”, because the hazzan is merely “mentioning” the blessing, essentially quoting it rather than actually performing the ritual.[13] However, some congregations (including Chabad) do indeed respond “Amen”. This response is also employed on days and times when the Amidah is repeated but the Kohanim do not recite the priestly blessing.[14] However, according to Abudirham, since the Priestly Blessing is not a conventional benediction (that would begin with “Blessed are Thou …”), but rather a prayer for peace, ken yehi ratzon is the more appropriate response at all times.[15]
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I am writing this to you in response to what the person who identifies himself as “Rafael” has copied and pasted here about Pastor and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn and me. I am the author of The Truth About The Harbinger, a non-fiction literary work that biblically addresses the objections detailed here and in other posts on the Internet about The Harbinger which are inaccurate and based on false information and outright errors and misreadings of Rabbi Cahn’s work.
DOES THE HARBINGER AND JONATHAN CAHN PROMOTE THE KABBALAH AND VENERATE THE TALMUD AND THE ZOHAR AS SCRIPTURE?
Rafael/LEGNA/ANGEL/Gabriel Suarez has written and posted:
THE MYSTICAL TEACHINGS OF THE ZOHAR & THE ANTI-GOYIMITIC, ANTI-CHRISTIAN HATRED DOCTRINES OF THE JEWISH TALMUD REVEALED & MR. CAHN’S EXTRA-BIBLICAL THEOLOGY EXPOSED: A TRUE FULL DISCLOSURE BY A FORMER MEMBER OF BETH ISRAEL”
MY ANSWER: The person who posts these lengthy diatribes is known by many aliases – LEGNA/ANGEL/Rafael, etc., whose names is really Gabriel Suarez, a member of the Prophecy Club, who lives to perpetuate the urban legend that The Harbinger is an occult book, and that Jonathan Cahn is some type of Jewish mystic who promotes Kabbalah and dabs in the Occult. He deftly uses various writings by Ted Pike, a known rabid hater of Jews and Jewish Culture, who has been cited by the Anti-Defamation League as a known Anti-Semite, and promoter of Jew-hatred.
Rafael/LEGNA/ANGEL/Gabriel Suarez has written and posted:
ATTENTION AMAZON CHRISTIANS WORLDWIDE:
BEFORE YOU BEGIN READING MY COMMENTS, CLICK ON MY USERNAME RAFAEL AND TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT THIS PHOTO OF
MR. JONATHAN CAHN. NOTICE CAREFULLY HIS RIGHT HAND. IF YOU ARE WONDERING WHAT IS THE TRUE MEANING BEHIND THIS HAND SIGNAL OR SIGN WHICH HE USES LOG ONTO THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE:
jesus-is-savior.com. IN THE SEARCH BAR TYPE IN THE FOLLOWING:
THE OCCULT MAGIC OF THE JEWISH CABALA BY MR. TEXE MARRS.
ALSO LOG ONTO: michellesantos.wordpress.com and read her article:
DEPROGRAM: ALL PEACE SIGNS ARE SATANIC LUCIFERIAN SYMBOLS. AS A CONCERNED CHRISTIAN YOU BETTER READ THESE ARTICLES CAREFULLY. THE LENS OF A CAMERA NEVER LIE.
MY ANSWER: Rafael here betrays his Anti-Semitic ignorance of Jewish customs in general and Judaism in particular. I quote here from Wikipedia the Online Encyclopedia, under an article titled Priestly Blessing, which has well-written and well-explained article about this enigmatic blessing. I quote:
The priestly blessing or priestly benediction, (Hebrew: ברכת כהנים; translit. birkat kohanim), also known as raising of the hands (Hebrew nesiat kapayim), or Dukhanen (from the Yiddish word dukhan – platform – because the blessing is given from a raised rostrum),[1] is a Jewish prayer recited by Kohanim during certain Jewish services. It is based on a scriptural verse: “They shall place My name upon the children of Israel, and I Myself shall bless them.”[2] It consists of the following Biblical verses (Numbers 6:24–26):
May the LORD (YHWH) bless you and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
(“Yebhārēkh-khā Adhōnāy weyishmerēkhā …)
May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you –
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
(“Yāʾēr Adhōnāy pānāw ēlekhā wiḥunnékkā …)
May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace –
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
(“Yissā Adhōnāy pānāw ēlekhā wiyāsēm lekhā shālōm.”)
Biblical source
The source of the text is Numbers 6:23–27, where Aaron and his sons bless the Israelites with this blessing.
This is the oldest known Biblical text that has been found; amulets with these verses written on them have been found in graves in dating from the First Temple Period, and are now in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
Various interpretations of these verses connect them to the three Patriarchs; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or to three attributes of God: Mercy, Courage, and Glory.
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Kabbalah, Cahn, and Hebrew Mysticism
BY James, David
Apr 1 2013
Excerpted from The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction?
Jonathan Cahn has over 1,700 of his messages available through the Hope of the World website. The descriptions of many of these messages are quite revealing about his approach to handling the Word of God-which appears to be mystical at its core:
1. MESSIAH’S CATACLYSM & THE HIDDEN WRITINGS OF 30 A.D. ( The amazing signs contained in the hidden writings of the rabbis that happened c. 30 A.D. . . . )
2. THE COSMIC TSULAV & THE MYSTERY OF PURIM ( The deep mystery at the center of Purim, and the center of the existence itself, the mystery hidden in the Sistine Chapel, Dante’s Inferno, Josephus, the Septuagint, and in the ancient Biblical account – the mystery of the Tsulav, the Cross, the Xulon. )
3. THE SWORD OF AMALEK & THE MYSTERY OF PURIM ( From the day of the Red Sea, Pharaoh’s chariots and Amalek, to the Third Reich, Joseph Stalin, Saddam Hussein, and the nuclear sabers of Iran, the amazing mystery of Amalek, the hand of God, and what it has to do with your life. )
4. THE PRODIGAL SON REVELATION! ( The most universal and personal of Messiah’s parables also contains a mystery behind the present age, the Jew, the Gentile, Israel, the Church, and the last days. )
5. THE MESSIAH BEARER! ( From the deep and mystery filled Book of Hebrews, the mystery of the Messiah Bearer-what it means for your life. )
6. THE MYSTERY OF THE COSMIC FRINGE ( The Kraspedon Mysteries come to their conclusion-The mystery of Messiah’s sacred garment and the mystery of its fringe and a hint: It has everything to do with you. )
7. THE NISAN GOSPEL MYSTERY ( All the events of our salvation happened in one single time period – the Biblical month of Nisan – Discover the mystery of Nisan, of your salvation, & the powers you have for breakthrough. )
8. THE COSMIC KEYCHAIN ( As real as a keychain has many keys to unlock…a house – there is a supernatural keychain with supernatural power to unlock the closed doors of your life. )
9. THE COSMIC KEYCHAIN II ( Messiah has given you a keychain with specific powers of breakthrough – learn how to use the keys & it will change your life. )
10. ENTERING YOUR PROPHETIC DESTINY! ( One of the most important and very awesome principles operating in your life – and how to walk into your prophetic destiny…! )
In the last chapter of [ The Harbinger ], Kaplan explains to Goren how he figured out the meaning of his personal clay seal…. Between the last sentence in the quote below and what can be seen from the titles above, the real mystery of The Harbinger may be that its foundation is actually Jewish mysticism:
[Kaplan] “The writing on the seal was in a language I had never seen before. But I remembered the words of The Prophet that day we first met on the bench, when he took the seal to examine it. He said it was Hebrew, but a different form of Hebrew-Paleo-Hebrew, an older version.”
[Goren] “And did you know anybody who could read Paleo-Hebrew?”
[Kaplan] “No. But I knew someone who studied Hebrew from biblical and rabbinical writings. I looked up the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, then transcribed each of the letters into its modern Hebrew equivalent. Then I made a trip to Brooklyn. That’s where my friend was, an Orthodox Jewish man who ran a little bookstore, in back of which was a study, a library of all sorts of mystical Hebrew writings. That was his passion-finding meaning in mystical Hebrew literature.”
The introduction of Jewish mystical writings into the storyline of The Harbinger is very problematic, and one has to wonder why Cahn would have done this.
Mysticism and mystical experiences have been a part of Judaism since the earliest days. . . . The mystical school of thought came to be known as Kabbalah, from the Hebrew root Qof-Beit-Lamed, meaning “to receive, to accept.” The word is usually translated as “tradition.”
“Kabbalah” is a doctrine of esoteric knowledge concerning God and the universe, asserted to have come down as a revelation to the Sages from a remote past, and preserved only by a privileged few. Kabbalah is considered part of the Jewish Oral Law. It is the traditional mystical understanding of the Torah…. Kabbalah includes the understanding of the spiritual spheres in creation, and the rules and ways by which God administers the existence of the Universe.
Most forms of Kabbalah teach that every letter, word, number, and accent of scripture contains a hidden sense; and it teaches the methods of interpretation for ascertaining these occult meanings.
That Cahn would include this reference to Jewish mysticism in the book is not necessarily an anomaly. Cahn gave a message at his church that also included detailed references to mystical writings, titled “Gulgatah: The Cosmic Skull: The Rabbinic Mysteries V.”
A segment from near the end of this message was uploaded to YouTube on February 25, 2010, titled “The Zohar Speaks.” The following description accompanies the video: “Something never before revealed , to the glory of Messiah! The Cosmic Skull, the mercy of God, and the hidden and mystical writings of the Rabbis that point to Messiah.” The description coincides exactly with the overall trajectory of Cahn’s messages, and that of The Harbinger , which is to reveal to the world mysteries that have been hidden until he discovers and proclaims them.
The Judaism 101 website notes the following:
In the middle ages, many of these mystical teachings were committed to writing in books like the Zohar. Many of these writings were asserted to be secret ancient writings or compilations of secret ancient writings.
Even though he introduces the Zohar as a “hostile witness,” the way Cahn describes its teachings gives the impression that he views the Zohar as being a credible source of truth:
Incredible thing. Blew me away. I found it in the mystical Jewish writings of the Zohar. Something I never heard mentioned anywhere, ever. . . . The Zohar speaks, the rabbis are writing of the redemption of the world with Messiah’s coming. They speak of life from the dead. They speak of resurrection, the redemption of the world. . . .They say it all will come, the power of all this, the miracle of all this will come from a sacred thing, a sacred place. And this place, this thing, is where all the mercy of God is stored. All the mercy of God pours out from this place, this thing. What is it? Very strange. They call it the “gulgatah.” This holy, mystical thing. . . .The most famous scene in human history, the center of salvation. Messiah dying on that hill which appears as a skull. That’s why they called it “gulgatah”-Golgatha. And which signifies God’s mercy. All His mercy. Why on earth would the rabbis put it there? Makes no sense at all-except that God just puts it in.
“God just puts it in.” In other words, God inspired the rabbis to write about redemption coming from a skull , yet they had no idea what it meant. So, in this message Cahn presents concepts that are reflected in The Harbinger . The first is that Isaiah:9:10 contains a mystery that no one has seen before-Cahn has discovered it for the very first time-just as he has discovered this inspired message in the ancient rabbinic writings. The second is that Tom Daschle was inspired by God to proclaim America’s defiance and thus set up the nation for judgment-even though he didn’t know what he was doing-just as is true of the ancient rabbis.
As Cahn continues his exposition of the Zohar, the mystical nature of his thinking becomes even more clear. And once again he notes that perhaps no one has ever said the words he has just uttered:
In the gulgatah-Golgotha-sit thousands of myriads of worlds. And from the gulgatah-Golgotha-drips dew and fills . . . the dew fills the world and the dead will awaken in the world to come as the dew comes forth. The dew is the light of the ancient one. The light of the ancient one comes from Golgotha and as it touches-the dead ones come to life. From Golgotha is the light of God bringing life from the dead. Golgotha-the radiance of God which brings life. Whoa! That’s amazing stuff. And that may be the first time it’s ever been said. ‘Cause you have to be a believer and you have to be in that stuff.
What stuff? Ancient mystical writings . Even more telling, Cahn confidently elevates the rabbis to the level of Moses and Daniel:
The death of Messiah-all pinpointed in time and space. Moses zeroed in on the day. Passover. He dies on the day that the lamb is killed. The prophets-Daniel zeroes in on the time period, mathematically, before 70 A.D. Daniel-those seventy sevens. The rabbis in the book of Moed, unwittingly, and another thing we shared this [ sic ], zeroed in on the year by saying that the cosmic change all took place in the year 30 A.D. . . . And now the very hill, the very place, here in, of all places, the rabbinical writings, the Zohar. . . . you want mercy, you go there. Listen to the rabbis on this point. . . .
How can a pastor instruct his congregation to “listen to the rabbis” who produced the Zohar and tell them these rabbis were inspired by God? The Zohar is not simply an innocuous source of information-it is an extrabiblical guide to “higher spirituality.” It is mystical. It is occultic.
The Zohar cannot be understood and felt directly, but requires preconception of spirituality, before one approaches the book. The greatest Kabbalist of our time-Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam)-wrote introductions to The Zohar precisely to guide one’s approach to this profound book….
Such articles cultivate one’s spiritual qualities to perceive the Higher reality. Additionally, these texts provide knowledge of how to approach certain terms, phrases, and concepts in The Zohar, to maximize its use as a guide for spiritual attainment, avoiding being lost in materialized depictions that the human mind is prone to form.
Cahn [has since] tried to justify his practice by noting that the Apostle Paul also referred to the teaching of pagan philosophers in his address to the Athenians (Acts:17:22-31
). He went on to suggest that Paul would have been “crucified” by discernment ministries for using a hymn to Zeus, and because of his associations.
That is a red herring…. Paul’s approach is nothing like Cahn’s. Cahn refers to the mystical rabbinical writings positively , saying that because God had inspired them his church should “listen to the rabbis.” He presents the Zohar as something that can be studied and its depths plumbed for hidden mysteries like he has just revealed.
In stark contrast, Paul immediately tells his audience that what they have been taught by their poets about the unknown god…is completely wrong . He does not suggest that their sayings contain hidden mysteries that were inspired by God…. Paul never implies that the Athenians should listen to these men. Rather he refers to a single point of agreement (we all come from God) to denounce their idols. From Romans we understand that the knowledge of that truth is not a hidden mystery, but has rather been made plain to everyone through both the conscience and the Creation (Romans:1:18-2:16).
Unfortunately, this treatment of the rabbinic material is consistent with Cahn’s frequent practice of “discovering and revealing” hidden mysteries-be it in the Bible or in extrabiblical Jewish writings like the Talmud or even in kabbalistic writings like the Zohar.
Have untold numbers of Christians unwittingly accepted mystical Jewish thought? And after having done so, how many pastors, teachers, and other ministry leaders have preached messages connected to the claims of The Harbinger and have publicly endorsed, promoted, and defended the book and Jonathan Cahn? How many have shared this book and the documentary with unbelieving family and friends? How many millions of dollars have gone into keeping The Harbinger on so many best-seller lists?
Something seems to be very wrong….
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SAFEARMSREVIEW SAYS:
Rafael, I agree that talmud, zohar and other writtings are not something I want to get into & won’t.
My question is this, I try to adhear to scripture and what it teaches – we observe the sabbath & feasts of the Lord.
Do you see any problems with believers doing this?
Just curious
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