September 24, 2014 – Rosh Hashanah (Jewish
New Year – beginning a ‘Sabbath Year’)
October 3, 2014 – Yom Kippur (Day of
Atonement)
October 8, 2014 – Feast of Tabernacles &
Blood Moon #2
End Times At Hand?
The ancient principle of the “Shemitah” goes back 3,000
years to the time of Moses, but a rabbi from New Jersey
is warning Americans to pull out their Bibles and take
note.
The year of the Shemitah, also called the Sabbath year,
begins at sundown Wednesday with the start of Rosh
Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and continues through
Sept. 13, 2015 [eclipse of the sun].
It could hold severe consequences for the future of the
United States of America, warns Messianic Rabbi
Jonathan Cahn.
Cahn has authored a new book that zeroes in like a laser
beam on the little-known biblical passage of Leviticus 25:1-10.
It contains what seems like a benign rule of Sabbath rest for
farmers, yet Cahn believes there is a lesson for today’s
America – the principle of the Shemitah is alive and well.
Ignore it at your own peril.
Every seventh year, the land was to lay fallow and rest. At
the end of that year, precisely Elul 29 on the Hebrew
calendar, [Sept. 24 to us this year] all financial debts and
accounts were released. The slate was wiped clean, paving
the way for a fresh start. Many ultra-Orthodox in Israel still
honor this biblical rule today.
But what relevance does an obscure Levitical law have for a
modern-day superpower like America? Plenty, says Cahn, and
you don’t have to be a farmer to feel its effects.
While the rules for farming may no longer apply, Cahn
believes the broader principle of the seven-year cycle still
holds the secret of how God deals with nations in terms of
blessings and judgment. Is it possible that financial crashes,
the rise and fall of nations, even empires, can occur within
the patterns of seven-year cycles?
Cahn thinks so, and he lays out his case in the book,
explaining that the judgments of nations begin with clear
warnings, which tend to come in a series of “shakings” or
increasingly catastrophic events. They often strike at the
core of a nation’s financial wealth or provision.
In ancient Israel that was the family farm. In America, it’s
Wall Street. Hence, the dramatic stock-market crashes, one
more severe than the next in 2001 and 2008, both Shemitah
years. Now comes the next Shemitah, starting Sept. 24, 2014,
and continuing 12 months to September 2015.
Cahn’s book is chock full of examples of market collapses,
wars won and lost, even the fall of the Twin Towers, in
lockstep with the patterns of Shemitah.
The Shemitah, which is literally translated as a “release” or
“shaking,” was meant to be a blessing for God’s people,
Cahn said. But as the people fell away from God the
Shemitah manifested as judgment.
“This mystery has been behind the collapsing of Wall Street
for our entire lifetime,” he told CBN News. “It has pinpointed literally the collapse of our economy down to the
days, hours, seconds.
“We’re coming to one right now. And it has always marked
gigantic, massive change in the plans of God (for nations).”
Cahn believes the key to unlocking end-time prophecy
could also be linked to Shemitah.
“I was not planning on doing another book for a while
but this is so big it literally is going to affect every part of
our lives,” said Cahn, whose first book, “The Harbinger,”
came out in 2011 and also warned of impending judgment
on America if it did not turn back to God.
The power to ‘wipe away nations’
When ancient Israel turned away from God, started
worshiping idols and stopped keeping the Sabbath year, the
blessings of Shemitah turned to judgment.
“In 586 B.C., the nation was judged and it was literally wiped
away,” Cahn told CBN. “They were taken to Babylon, into
captivity, for 70 years. Well, God said the reason was that for
all the Shemitahs you broke now the land will rest for all the
years it did not rest.
“So the Shemitah literally becomes something that not only
wipes away accounts, it wipes away nations.”
For the judgment to happen, the Babylonian empire had
to rise. As one superpower falls in Israel, another one
rises in Babylon to take its place.
Cahn believes America could devolve into the same kind of
global has-been.
He sees the historic stock-market crashes of 2001 and 2008 as
a type of God-given wake-up call, as warning signs of
impending judgment.
Neither one of those crashes seemed to get the nation’s
attention in any sort of spiritual way, he said, so he expects
to see more warnings or “shakings” ahead.
These tremors are most likely to occur at the end of a
Shemitah year. The new Shemitah year, which begins at Rosh
Hashanah Wednesday night, ends on Sept. 13, 2015.
In 2001, the greatest financial crash in American history to
that point happened on Elul 29, the last day of the Shemitah
year. That record lasted for seven years, only to be topped
by the crash of 2008, which struck on the exact same day on
the Hebrew calendar, Elul 29.
“It happens on the exact same biblical day that God gives,
Elul 29, to wipe away the accounts of a nation,” Cahn said.
“The two greatest crashes in American history happened,
seven years apart, down to the day, the hour, the minute and
the second. I mean it’s so precise, and we’re heading to
another one.”
A historical perspective: Cahn tracks American history and
sees the Shemitah at work.
The nation, as he points out in “The Harbinger,” was
dedicated to God at the inauguration of George Washington
in 1789. And the blessings followed the nation for more than
100 years, except for a brief but terrible period of turmoil,
division and death during the Civil War. By 1917, at the end of
World War I, America began its meteoric rise to global
superpower status.
“It shifts history,” said Cahn, noting that 1917 was a Shemitah
year. “Then you come to 1945, another Shemitah, and World
War II.” By the end of that war America sat alone atop the
world order.
The blessings continued throughout the 1950s and into the
1960s. But that’s when things started going awry, according
to Cahn. Prayer was removed from public schools and God
was removed from the public square. Abortion became legal
in 1973.
“When you get to another (Shemitah) in 1973, you have the
beginning of the fall of America. Abortion gets legalized, the
financial world collapses. We lose our first war, Vietnam, on
the same day that we won World War II on the other
Shemitah,” Cahn said. “And then you get to 2001, and when
you get to September, that’s the peak of the Shemitah, and
that’s when 9/11 happens.”
The word Shemitah can also be interpreted as “collapse,” he
said.
“You have not only a collapse of markets but a collapse of
towers, the symbol of American strength,” Cahn said.
“The warning is, if America doesn’t turn back to God, its
blessings, which come from God, will be removed from the
land.”
How much time does America have left?
So as he stands in the here and now, in 2014, as the author of
a book claiming to have a prophetic warning, he often gets
asked, “Where are we now?” How much time does America
have left to repent and turn back to God, to end its defiance
and acknowledge God as the source of its blessings?
It’s a question he is reluctant to answer.
“I’m not setting dates, even though in the book I give dates.
God doesn’t need to do it according to our schedule,” he told
CBN. “But, I believe we have to be aware. We need to be
prepared. We’re coming up on one.”
If the pattern continues, the end of the Shemitah year will
bring some kind of climactic shaking or shift in world
history.
“That’s how it happened with the last two, it happens on the
last day. That is Sept. 13, 2015.
But I believe, regardless of when it happens, a great shaking
is coming to America. I believe it will affect the economy, it
will affect the financial realm,” Cahn said. “I believe it will
even be greater than those realms. Just like 9/11 was.
So I believe we need to be ready. I believe a shaking is
coming. Because without a shaking America is not coming
back to God. I believe this has to be. It doesn’t have to
happen this time, but I would be aware of it. That’s one of
the reasons why I normally don’t give dates, but I did. We
need to get ready.”
Looking toward 2015, how does one ‘get ready?’
Cahn says he is not a financial analyst, but most people tell
him, “I want to be safe. I want safety!” The word in Hebrew
for safety or salvation is “Yeshua,” and Yeshua is Jesus.
“Financially, I would play it safe. I would go with safety,”
Cahn said. “But the most important thing for safety is you
get your life right with God. In times of judgment, anything
that is not in God, get it out. Anything that needs to be, get it
in.”
The exactness of the pattern seems too mind-boggling for
many investors to get their heads around, but more and
more are getting interested in the principle of the Shemitah.
“When this started coming, and most of it is all new, I did not
expect to write this but it’s so big,” Cahn told CBN. “I was
amazed it has not been seen before, but it is there. And you
would expect it. I mean, God is in charge of everything. And
the patterns He gives are true even to this day. And they are
affecting every one of our lives from the day we were born
until now.
“So we need to be ready. Because everything that can be
shaken will be shaken.”
Millions across Planet Earth are now paying serious attention to the Shemitah. Get up to speed with
all the Shemitah-related books, movies and calendars in the WND Superstore.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/shemitah-starts-at-sundown-are-youready/#aDbr6QAOjcHOhobV.99
Genesis 17
God’s Covenant with Abraham and his descendants
through Sarah and Isaac, not through Ishmael
Genesis 17:1-2
17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years
old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God
Almighty[El-Shaddai]; walk before me faithfully and be
blameless.
2 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you,
and I will multiply you exceedingly”
Genesis 17:3-5
3 Abram
fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me,
this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of
many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram
[exalted father]; your name will be Abraham, [father of
many] for I have made you a father of many nations.
Genesis 17:6-8
6I
will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you,
and kings will come from you.
7I
will establish my covenant as an everlasting
covenant between me and you and your descendants
after you for the generations to come, to be your
God and the God of your descendants after you.
8 The
whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a
foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you
and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
Genesis 17:9-10
9 Then
God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep
my covenant, you and your descendants after you for
the generations to come.
10 This
is my covenant with you and your descendants
after you, the covenant you are to keep:
Every male among you shall be circumcised.
Genesis 17:11-12
11 You
are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign
of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the
generations to come every male among you who is eight
days old must be circumcised, including those born in
your household or bought with money from a
foreigner—those who are not your offspring.
Genesis 17:13-14
13 Whether
born in your household or bought with your
money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your
flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any
uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in
the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken
my covenant.”
Genesis 17:11-14
Q: Is it significant that God required circumcision on the
8th day?
In Genesis 17:12, God specifically directed Abraham to
circumcise newborn males on the eighth day. Why
the eighth day?
In 1935, professor H. Dam proposed the name “vitamin
K” for the factor in foods that helped prevent
hemorrhaging in baby chicks.
Genesis 17:11-14
We now know vitamin K is responsible for the
production (by the liver) of the element known as
prothrombin. If vitamin K is deficient, there will be a
prothrombin deficiency and hemorrhaging may occur.
Oddly, it is only on the fifth through the seventh days of
the newborn male’s life that vitamin K is present in
adequate quantities.
Genesis 17:11-14
Vitamin K, coupled with prothrombin, causes blood
coagulation, which is important in any surgical
procedure.
Holt and McIntosh, in their classic work, Holt Pediatrics,
observed that a newborn infant has “peculiar
susceptibility to bleeding between the second and fifth
days of life.... Hemorrhages at this time, though often
inconsequential, are sometimes extensive; they may
produce serious damage to internal organs, especially to
the brain, and cause death from shock…” (1953, pp. 125126).
Genesis 17:11-14
Obviously, then, if vitamin K is not produced in sufficient
quantities until days five through seven, it would be
wise to postpone any surgery until some time after that.
Q: But why did God specify day eight?
Genesis 17:11-14
On the eighth day, the amount of prothrombin present
actually is elevated above one-hundred percent of
normal—and is the only day in the male’s life in which
this will be the case under normal conditions. If surgery
is to be performed, day eight is the perfect day to do it.
Vitamin K and prothrombin levels are at their peak.
The chart below, patterned after one published by S.I. McMillen,
M.D., in his book, None of These Diseases, portrays this in graph
form.
Genesis 17:11-14
Genesis 17:11-14
We should commend the many hundreds of workers who
labored at great expense over a number of years to discover
that the safest day to perform circumcision is the eighth. Yet,
as we congratulate medical science for this recent finding, we
can almost hear the leaves of the Bible rustling. They would
like to remind us that four thousand years ago, when
God initiated circumcision with Abraham....Abraham did not
pick the eighth day after many centuries of trial-and-error
experiments. Neither he nor any of his company from the
ancient city of Ur in the Chaldees ever had been circumcised.
It was a day picked by the Creator of vitamin K (None of These
Diseases, 1984, p. 93).
http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=13&article=1118
What is the Jewish view
of circumcision today?
See:
http://www.chabad.org/search/results.asp?searchWord=
circumcision
Genesis 17:11-14
Q: What would a Jewish Rabbi say is the purpose for
circumcision on the 8th day in modern society?
1. To allow the baby to gather strength before going
through the pain of circumcision
2. The Talmud (the central text of Rabbinic Judaism)
says that the reason is so that the mother can be
cleansed from her pregnancy after 7 days
3. The Zohar(the foundational work in the literature of
Jewish mystical thought) explains that the baby
must experience a Shabbat (Sabbath) before being
circumcised, imparting special favor from God
Genesis 17:11-14
4. “We do not wait beyond the 8th day because it will
be more difficult for the parents to do this to their
baby as he grows older…it becomes more
painful…and the number 8 has special spiritual
significance (representing Godly revelation that is
completely beyond this world---the source of the
supernatural)
Genesis 17:11-14
“According to some opinions, Abraham circumcised
himself on Yom Kippur (the Jewish Day of Atonement,
when an animal is sacrificed for the sins of the nation).
In that merit, every year on Yom Kippur, G-d ‘sees’ the
blood of Abraham, and forgives the sins of the Jewish
people”
Genesis 17:11-14
Q: What is the advantage of being circumcised to a
Jewish male today?
1. In the merit of the continued observance of this
mitzvah (‘commandment’), the Jewish people are
assured the continuation of the interrupted Davidic
dynasty with the arrival of Moshiach (‘Messiah’ or
‘anointed one”), of their continued possession of the
Holy Land, and of the continued presence of the
shechinah (divine presence) among the Jewish
people
Genesis 17:11-14
2. One who is circumcised will be saved from gehinnom
(purgatory; destination of the wicked; the place of
the dead) by our forefather Abraham, who will
prevent him from being brought there
Genesis 17:11-14
3. The Midrash (exegesis of the Torah, or homiletic
stories) asserts that it is healthier to be circumcised
(extra protection against urinary tract infections,
various sexually transmitted diseases---and perhaps
protection for the wife from ovarian cancer, etc?)
4. This mitzvah (commandment) is one that the male
continues to ‘do’ throughout one’s life---he always
remains circumcised.
5. The blood of the brit milah (circumcision ceremony) is
stored in a special place in heaven. When G-d is
upset at His people, he looks at this blood and has
mercy upon them.
Genesis 17:11-14
6. The Jewish soul of a baby boy begins to enter the
baby at the time of his brit (circumcision). For this
reason, it is better to start ritual hand washing upon
waking in the morning after the baby boy has been
circumcised.
Genesis 17:11-14
Q: What are the consequences for a father who does
not circumcise his son---and the consequences for the
son if he will not willfully circumcise himself before
adulthood if he wasn’t as a child?
His soul is cut off from its divine source (karet). “And an
uncircumcised male, who will not circumcise the flesh of
his foreskin, that soul will be cut off from its people; he
has broken My covenant.”
This is one of only two positive commandments whose
neglect carries this punishment. The other is the Paschal
(Passover) sacrifice.
Genesis 17:11-14
Q: What does Karet mean?
KARET (Heb. ‫" ;כָּ ֵרת‬Extirpation"), a Divine punishment at
the hands of heaven mentioned in the [Bible] as the
penalty for a considerable number of sins committed
deliberately such as: idolatry, desecration of the
Sabbath, the eating of leaven on Passover, incest and
adultery; and for some forbidden foods. No previous
warning need be given in these cases. Since the
punishment is divine, and the fact that the sin is
deliberate is known only to God, it does not require
witnesses or previous warning. Death before age 50
was deemed a Karet, or Divine punishment.
(
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0011_0_10755.html )
Genesis 17:11-14
Q: What about Jewish women / girls?
They are considered naturally circumcised. This means
that they do not have to go through this painful mitzvah
(commandment) in order to achieve all of the objectives
of the brit (circumcision). For them, these are inborn
traits.
From: "The Mitzvah of Circumcision (Part 1)", written by
Parshat Lech Lecha, at WWW.chabad.org
*For more study on the Jewish view of circumcision,
see:
http://www.chabad.org/search/results.asp?searchWord=
circumcision