JONATHAN CAHN DEBUNKED: ISRAEL TRUMP AND CYRUS

THE ORACLE: Ancient Prophecy Foretelling Trump & End Times | Jonathan Cahn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieIIakmwFy8

Jonathan Cahn's novel The Oracle: The Jubilean Mysteries Unveiled (2019) presents specific events that allegedly correspond to biblical prophecy and the establishment of the modern-day nation of Israel. The PDF version of the book is available on https://files.charismahouse.com/pdfs/9781629996301.pdf The subject of the book is an unnamed traveller, described as "a seeker of truth", a man who receives a divine revelation from "the Oracle" on the top of a mountain. The dialogue between the traveller and the Oracle reveals "the Jubilean Mysteries" i.e. the alleged connection between the years of Jubilee and the return of the Jewish people to to their ancestral land. (Leviticus 25:10-11). Cahn's introduction reads: “What you are about to read is presented in the form of a narrative, but what is contained in the story, all that the Oracle reveals, is absolutely real.” 

The Jubilean Code

According to Cahn the Hebrew word tashuvu (you shall return) equates to the year 1948. “In this year of Jubilee each of you shall return (tashuvu) to his property. {Leviticus 25:10,13]." Cahn's thesis relies on Kabbalistic gematria rather than accepted exegetical methods.

WTCD: "When the year of the Hebrew calendar is written, the millennia number is always ‘5’, and is therefore never written (a kind of short-hand), so the 708 in this case can be interpreted by the process of Kabalistic gematria as referring to the year 5708, which just so happens to equal the Christian calendar date of 1948, the year when the modern State of Israel was declared.

The phrase (repeated twice) in Leviticus 25:10 – TaShuVU (“you shall return”) can now be interpreted according to the principles of Kabalistic gematria as – “you shall return (lacking, minus, or without the 6[,000,000] in the year [5]708).”" {1}

The Stranger

Cahn: “The prophecy was appointed to be read in every synagogue in the world. So all across the earth, in every synagogue from San Francisco to Siberia, they were reciting and chanting the prophecy of the stranger, who would come from far away to the land of Israel to bear witness of the desolation. And so the prophecy of the stranger was being proclaimed throughout the earth at the very moment the stranger was in the land fulfilling its words.” “And they had no idea.” “Nor did the stranger.” {2}

In the above quote, Cahn refers to the reading of weekly parashah, i.e. the portion of the Torah that is read each week in Jewish synagogues on the Sabbath. Cahn claims that on the particular Sabbath that Mark Twain walked through the ancient city (Jerusalem) in 1867, the remnant of Jewish people living there would have been reciting the appointed Scripture of the stranger’s visit "proclaiming it, chanting it. . . as the stranger walked in their midst.” {2} According to Cahn, Mark Twain fulfilled the prophecy of Deuteronomy 29:22-23 of "the stranger/foreigner" on account of his description of the desolation of Israel. It is true that Mark Twain did travel to what was known as Palestine in 1867, and he did describe the country as "desolate and unlovely" in his travelogue Innocents Abroad. However, this is where the similarity ends.

Mark Twain: "Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes… the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies… Palestine is desolate and unlovely… It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land." {3} 

Deuteronomy 29:22-23
And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the LORD has made it sick— the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger and wrath—

 

Cahn's alleged biblical fulfilment of Mark Twain's visit to Palestine typifies his eisegetical approach to the scriptures. The reference to "the foreigner/stranger" in Deuteronomy 29:22 is a plural term that refers to the next generation..  your children.. and the foreigner. This verse is not a prophecy regarding a specific stranger/foreigner who comes from a far land several generations later. Cahn's application of these verses to Mark Twain simply because he visited Palestine and brought back a negative report is out of context. In addition, the dates he alleges for specific Jubilee years cannot be verified.

 

Cahn continues with the coincidence that this happened to Mark Twain some years after God’s judgment on Israel through the Romans in 70AD. He claims that the beginnings of Zionism are also tied to the same year. This is inaccurate. Modern Zionism emerged in the late 19th century. The political movement was formally established by the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl in 1897, thirty years after Mark Twain's visit to Palestine in 1867. {4} 

 

Mark Twain was the pen name for Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Cahn makes much of this name, on the basis that the meaning of Samuel in Hebrew is "God has heard". Clemens is not a Hebrew name; it is an Old French name meaning “Merciful, mild, gentle". Nevertheless Cahn interprets Samuel Clemens as "The Lord has heard.. He has now been merciful". 

Cahn fails to mention Mark Twain's bizarre unfinished novel, The Mysterious Stranger: The Chronicle of Young Satan, a story that relates three boys encounter with a mysterious stranger, Satan or No. 444. {5} 

Mark Twain was a Freemason and member of the Polar Star Lodge No. 79 of Saint Louis. 

He was also a member of the Society for Psychical Research. 

Scottish Rite: "Although there is not a great deal of evidence to point to Mark Twain’s Masonic devotion, it is clear that Freemasonry had an impact on his life, which can be seen throughout his various writings. In The Innocents Abroad, he includes many Masonic phrases such as 'great Architect of the Universe,'” {6}    

The Trump/Cyrus Connection

A number of evangelical leaders, including Lance Wallnau, Mike Evans, Jim Bakker and Jonathan Cahn have exploited the idea of Trump as a modern day King Cyrus. (Ezra 5:13).

Aljazeera: "Back in 2016, during a televised conversation on whether Trump has a 'biblical mandate' to be a president, evangelical thinker Lance Wallnau opined: 'America’s going to have a challenge […] With Trump, I believe we have a Cyrus to navigate through the storm.'” {7} 

In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu made a comparison between Trump and King Cyrus. Netanyahu: "I want to tell you that the Jewish people have a long memory. So we remember the proclamation of the great King Cyrus the Great—Persian King. Twenty-five hundred years ago, he proclaimed that the Jewish exiles in Babylon can come back and rebuild our temple in Jerusalem." {8} 

Cahn informs us that the name Donald means "world leader" and that Trump means "trumpet". On the day of  President Trump's birth (Friday June 14the 1946), the appointed parashah was Numbers 10:1-10 i.e. the Lord's instruction to Moses regarding two silver trumpets. Cahn's justification for this dubious link: "Trump means the one who blows the trumpet". Once again Cahn's exegesis leaves much to be desired. Two silver trumpets were employed by the Israelites for various reasons: ..you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for breaking camp; to sound an alarm; at appointed feasts and the beginning of your months you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. They shall be a reminder of you before your God: I am the LORD your God.”

On December 6th 2017, Trump made a proclamation recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and relocating the United States Embassy to Jerusalem. Cahn speculates that 2017/18 was a Jubilee year, and he claims that "Cyrus did the same thing."  There is no evidence that Cyrus edict occurred on a Jubilee year. According to various sources there is considerable uncertainly regarding the calculation of Jubilee years. The first injunction to observe Sabbath years and Jubilee years was given to Moses, to be observed "When you enter the land I am giving you.." (Leviticus 25:1-4, 8-10). According to Chabad.org the Jubilee was not regularly observed after the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 6th century BC. As such Cahn's claims for various Jubilee years are speculative. 

Chabad.org: "..the last time there was a biblical requirement to observe the Jubilee was about 150 years before the destruction of the First Temple."  {9}

Cahn: "The building of the house decreed by Cyrus came at the end of a period of seventy years. The house decreed by President Trump was inaugurated on May 14, 2018. It was inaugurated exactly seventy years from the birth of Israel—to the exact day!" {10}

Cahn: "'[Cyrus'] proclamation was linked to a house,' says the protagonist in The Oracle. 'It specifically directed the construction of a house; it decreed a building to be built in Jerusalem. So if the American president is following the template of the ancient king, could his declaration follow that of the ancient proclamation? Could it likewise decree that a house be established, a building be built, in Jerusalem?..'" {11}

Cahn's reference to "a house" is another distortion of the scriptures. Cyrus edict is mentioned twice in the scriptures (2 Chronicles 36:22-23 and Ezra 1:1-4). In both accounts, Cyrus' edict specifically concerns the subject of the Second Jerusalem Temple. In contrast, Trump's declaration concerned the US Embassy in Jerusalem. Cahn's incomplete comparison between the two "houses" is a misleading analogy that has no scriptural precedent. 

Cyrus' Edict

Cahn's seventy year comparison between Israel's release from Babylonian captivity and Trump's declaration only partially matches his thesis. When we examine all the facts, a definite correlation between Cyrus/Trump and a seventy year mystery is questionable.

Trump issued his declaration concerning Jerusalem in his first year as president, precisely 70 years after the UN Resolution in 1947. Cahn: "Seventy years before Trump’s 2017 declaration was 1947—the very year that Israel was voted back into existence."    

King Cyrus made his edict in his first year after the 70 years of Israel in captivity according to the prophecy of Jeremiah:  

“For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. (Jeremiah 29:10 cf. Daniel 9:2).   

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and may he go up.’ ” (2 Chronicles 36:22-23).

In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem:
Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its foundations be firmly laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, with three layers of cut stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid from the royal treasury. Furthermore, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, must also be returned to the temple in Jerusalem and deposited in the house of God. (Ezra 6:3-5).

Cyrus the Great was an ancient world leader who had, or rather was given, sole authority to sanction the rebuilding of the Second Temple and the return of the Jewish exiles. Cyrus' edict was inclusive of both these events, whereas Trump's declaration related to neither of these things. Trump's declaration occurred after a seventy year gap from the birth of Israel and the reversal of the diaspora. Israel's Declaration of Independence on May 14th 1948 contained no hint of a third Jewish temple. Trump's declaration concerning Jerusalem was limited to the United States, it was rejected by the majority of world leaders. Unlike Cyrus, Trump is not an autocrat i.e. he does not have the power to sanction anything concerning Jerusalem outside his own sphere influence. According to the international standards, Jerusalem is a divided city.  

Cyrus was called by name i.e. Isaiah's prophecy applies specifically to Cyrus: “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus.. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. (Isaiah 45:1-4). Exegetically, Cahn's allusion to "Trump and trumpet" is not a credible proposition when compared with the precise information given in Isaiah 45. 

 

Cyrus the Great (c. 559 – 530 BC) 

The popular view concerning King Cyrus is that approximately 150 years before he was born, he was called by name in the book of Isaiah as the deliverer of the Jews from their seventy year long Babylonian captivity. The Jewish historian Josephus states that Cyrus was made aware of material from the book of Isaiah and that he was motivated to fulfill the prophecy. (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1ff).

Antiquities of the Jews — Book XI

“Thus saith Cyrus the King: since God Almighty hath appointed me to be King of the habitable earth, I believe that He is that God, which the nation of the Israelites worship. For indeed he foretold my name by the Prophets, and that I should build him an house at Jerusalem, in the countrey of Judea.”
2. This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his Prophecies. For this Prophet said, that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision: “My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be King over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple.” This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly when Cyrus read this, and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and an ambition seized upon him, to fulfil what was so written. {12} 

There are a number of problems with Josephus' account. Josephus was a first century Romano-Jewish historian. This puts hundreds of years between him and the events in question. As far as we know, Josephus did not have independent sources to validate his version of Cyrus' calling. (2 Corinthians 13:1). Biblical scholars generally agree that the book of Isaiah has at least three distinct timelines and was written by at least three different authors, referred to as Proto-Isaiah, Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah. Chapters 1-39 (Proto-Isaiah) is thought to have been written by the eighth century prophet Isaiah. However, there is compelling evidence that  chapters 40-45 (Deutero-Isaiah) was written during the sixth century BC. Not only is there a significant break in language, content, themes, style and theology, the events are described as past events. This evidence puts considerable doubt upon Josephus' claim that Cyrus was called before his birth. As such, it is unlikely that Deutero-Isaiah was a prediction of a future Persian ruler since Cyrus was already living at that time. 

The Third Temple

The Oracle: "A question,” I said. “Since in the ancient decree the house was the Temple, could what happened in 2018, the establishment of the house in Jerusalem, be a foreshadowing of a future rebuilding of the other house, the Temple?” “It could,” he said. “Remember, each Jubilean event is only the beginning and sets in motion the course for the next Jubilean cycle. So the Jubilee of 2017 had set in motion a course of events." {13}

The political maneuverings around Jerusalem and Trump's 2017 declaration may well be a precursor for the Third Temple. However, Cahn's partially accurate speculations are scripturally defective and are a distraction from biblical eschatology. (1 John 4:1).

There is no scriptural mandate for the Jews to build a Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

However many people would disagree, including radical fringe groups of Orthodox Jews (The Temple Institute and the Temple Mount and Eretz Yisrael Faithful Movement). Support for a Third Temple is strong in certain quarters, including many evangelical Christians who believe that the building of the Third Temple is necessary in order to fulfill bible prophecy. I do not doubt that the prophecies will be fulfilled, only that the outcome will be very different to what is expected. The apostle Paul referred to the coming temple as the seat of the man of lawlessness where he (the Antichrist) will perform the abomination of desolation before the great and terrible day of the Lord. (Joel 2:31 cf. 1 John 2:18). 

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17; cf. Daniel 9:24-27,  11:31, 12:11; Matthew 24:15; Revelation 11:1-2, 13:1-18). 

I regard Cahn's book, The Oracle, as a demonically inspired occult work with loose connections to events and dates based on half truths, numerology, speculation and mysticism (Kabbalah).

1.   http://wtcdemolition.com/blog/node/1351
2.   https://files.charismahouse.com/pdfs/9781629996301.pdf page 44
3.   http://www.literaturepage.com/read/twain-innocents-abroad-458.html
4.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Zionism
5.   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102564.The_Mysterious_Stranger
6.   https://scott,ishritenmj.org/blog/the-masonic-life-of-mark-twain
7.   https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/4/11/is-trump-a-king-cyrus-or-a-queen-esther/

8.   https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-prime-minister-netanyahu-israel-bilateral-meeting-2/
9.   https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/513212/jewish/When-Is-the-Next-Jubilee-Year.htm?
10. https://www.charismamag.com/life/politics/44606-the-mysterious-reasons-behind-trump-s-evangelical-support-for-israel
11. https://www.charismamag.com/life/politics/44606-the-mysterious-reasons-behind-trump-s-evangelical-support-for-israel
12. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-11.html
13. https://files.charismahouse.com/pdfs/9781629996301.pdf page 224