Commentary
on 'Return of the gods', by Jonathan Cahn
I just finished reading Jonathan
Cahn's newest book called 'Return of the Gods'. It was another
masterpiece of historical significance along the lines of his previous
books beginning with The Harbinger.
My only commentary has to do with the remedy which Jonathan Cahn sets
forth
in the final chapter of this newest book. Yes, he properly sets
forth Jesus as our only hope for reconciliation with God (Whom I wish
he would refer to as 'The Only True God' as Jesus did in John 17:3 "And this is life eternal,
that they might know You the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent). "
My concern is that the people who already know God have failed to
spread the Good News about Jesus Christ to the rest of the world in a
manner which is faithful to the instructions of Jesus
Himself. For example, Jesus said to the crowds and to His
disciples,
Mat 23:8 You [plural], don't be
called 'Rabbi', for One is The Guide of you [Plural], The Anointer, and
you [plural] are brothers.
Mat 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is
your Father, which is in heaven.
Mat 23:10 Neither be called guides: for one is your Guide - The
Anointer.
Mat 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your
servant.
Jesus is quite able to teach us and transform us personally, even
though He is now in Heaven, by means of The Holy Spirit, Who has been
available to us since the first day of Pentecost in the early first
century A. D. He may interact with us directly through dreams or
visions or revelations, or through other people, or through the Holy
Scriptures, or through circumstances of life. But we, like the
children of Israel in Moses' time, chose to decline God's invitation to
meet Him on the mountain of God, choosing instead to let Moses meet
with God and then have him tell the children of Israel what God had
said.
They went astray from God's 'Plan A' of direct contact with Him from
the beginning, and we do the
same, relying on our 'rabbis' and 'fathers' and 'mentors' to tell us
what God has to say without directly interacting with Him
ourselves! Sad for God and disastrous for us!
Even in the first century meetings of believers, in spite of the fact
that they had apparently been born again and baptized in the Holy
Spirit with the evidence of various spiritual gifts, the apostle Paul
called them 'carnal' because their allegiance was to their human
'leaders' rather than to Jesus and God the Father. Some believers
Paul referred to as 'spiritual' and others he called 'carnal', but he
never seemed to clearly define those terms or explain the differences
between those categories of believers.
The result of my forty-six years of born-again life in Jesus and His
instructions to me by various means is that I have come to the
conclusion that
2 Corinthians 5:15 contains a concise explanation of the difference
between those who are 'carnal' and those who are 'spiritual'.
2Co 5:15 και υπερ παντων
απεθανεν ινα οι ζωντες μηκετι εαυτοις ζωσιν αλλα τω υπερ αυτων
αποθανοντι και εγερθεντι
(LEB) And He died for all, in
order that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for
the One Who died for them and was raised.
(I provided the Greek text first because it is the real Scripture, and
then I provided an English translation which I believe most accurately
represents the Greek text).
So, my conclusion (for what it's worth to you, dear reader) is that
those who 'live for themselves' are 'carnal', and those who 'live for
The One Who died for them and was raised' are 'spiritual'.
Unconditional surrender to the Lordship of Jesus and the Creatorship of
Father God is the distinguishing characteristic.
In addition, it is those who by faith in Jesus claim His death as their
death to sin and unrighteousness and His resurrected life as their
source of a new holy life lived for God, who by these spiritual
exercises of faith are becoming free from 'self' to live undistractedly
for God.
How would that transform the Christian community? IF Jesus were
really teaching us all individually, then His love of righteousness and
His hatred of iniquity would be manifested in our lives as individuals
and in our interactions with others. The church lecture hall
would be transformed into a family reunion in which God could choose
through whom He wants to speak and work at any given time and place,
and everyone would be able to actively participate. For example,
the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:12,
(ERV) I mean that I want us to
help each other with the faith that we have. Your faith will help me,
and my faith will help you.
This is in accord with one of the first instructions which I received
from the Lord Jesus in the days after I was born again. He spoke
to my heart and said, "No one is always right except Me, and no one is
always wrong, including Caiaphas (the Jewish high priest who was one of
the Jewish leaders who plotted the death of Jesus. This fact is
recorded for our information in John 11:49-52). My
understanding of this statement was that I am to listen to everyone,
but
not to believe everything I hear, but that Jesus will give me
discernment to know what to receive and believe.
We all have spiritual gifts for the building up of the body of Christ,
but we need the freedom and opportunity to share those gifts with
others. The church has restricted to the 'leadership' only the
ability to share their gifts, but has limited the ability of the
'laity' to edify the body of Christ. This needs to change if we
are to have any hope in seeing the Kingdom of God established in this
world.
One result of carnality of Christians is division of the body of
Christ. (Ref. 1 Corinthians 1:10) Carnality causes believers to
be
more loyal to the church 'leaders' than to our Blessed Redeemer, our
Lord Jesus Christ! This also needs to change if we are to have
any hope in seeing the Kingdom of God established in this world!
John the Baptist and Jesus both preached a message calling for people
to 'Repent'.
Mat 3:1 In those days John the
Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
Mat 3:2 and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus
began to preach and to say, Repent! For the kingdom of Heaven is at
hand.
The Greek word which is translated as 'repent' is μετανοεῖτε - which means 'to think
differently' according to Strong's Dictionary.
On May 22, 1978, I was attending a Christian conference, and had what I
call a prophetic experience in which I heard a strong voice above and
behind me ask three questions:
"How is it that you call yourselves by
this name or that name? My people should be called by My Name!
And how is it that you say you belong here or there? You belong
to Me, for I bought you with a Price! And how is it that you bind
yourselves together with bonds of covenant when I would have you bonded
with love?"
With those three questions ringing in my heart I began to ponder the
three 'How is it? questions. I later read 1 Corinthians 1-3 and
discovered that the answer to these three "How is it" questions is
this: Carnality. So when a person stops living for himself
or herself and begins to live for God by the grace of our Lord Jesus in
their hearts, then his or her perceptions change and he or she begins
to get God's
perspective on everything. That is 'Repentance'!
So, dear reader, those are my thoughts today after having just read
Jonathan Cahn's newest book called 'The Return of the gods'.
Maybe more later.
Hebrews 13:20-21 for one and all!
Rob 9/10/22