THE MESSAGE
TO AMERICA
JONATHAN CAHN
jdc©2013
THE PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURAL
PRAYER BREAKFAST
KEYNOTE ADDRESS:
January 21, 2013
Members
of the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast Committee, Senators,
Members of Congress, Governors and government representatives,
Ambassadors and delegates from other nations, ministers and people of
God, friends, and media
We are gathered here in
Washington DC, America’s capital city, on January 21, 2013, the
morning of the Presidential Inauguration, with one agenda and one
purpose, to come before the Lord and in His presence to seek His face
and pray for His blessing, His will, and His purposes to be
accomplished for this nation, for its government, for its leaders,
for its president, and for its people. And it is fitting that we do
this on this day which more than any other represents the future of
our nations. We are here to inaugurate God’s own purposes.
We’ve
come here from every part of this land and from every background and
persuasion to stand before the Almighty, Who transcends politics,
movements, and men, and before whom kings and kingdoms rise and
fall. Presidents change, political parties come, from ages past,
and go, and nation’s ascend and descend, but we come before Him who
changes not but who remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.
We come before Him, before whom men and women, kings and prophets,
peoples and nations have come to seek His face in troubled times. We
come to pray for America.
But how do we do that?
How do we pray for America? Do we pray for riches, for power, for
the success of our national agendas? The Scripture tells us that God
hears the prayers of His people. But that we must pray according to
His will. If a man has a terminal disease, we don’t pray for an
increase in wealth, we pray for healing. And if a city lies in
danger of destruction, we don’t speak flowery words, we sound the
alarm. We pray for blessing. But true blessing only comes in the
will of God. So we must pray according to that will. And we must
not be afraid to speak the truth. We must give voice what must be
spoken. We must sound the alarm that must be sounded. We must
address what must be addressed. And so this message will not be
politically correct, nor will it be political. It will be biblical.
It will be true. And wherever it falls, so be it. I will not hold
back. And if I offend you, I apologize but I cannot apologize for
offending you. Without truth, there is no love. On a day that so
embodies the future course of our nation, it is critical that we must
both pray and speak what is true.
In ancient times,
there was a nation known as the kingdom of Israel. It had been
founded on God’s word, dedicated to His will, and consecrated to His
purposes. And God blessed it with prosperity, power, security,
peace, and a place at the head of nations. But the people of Israel
made a fatal mistake, in the midst of their blessings, they turned
away from God. They began to remove Him from their lives. Step by
step they ruled Him out of their culture, out of their government,
out of their economy, out of their public square, out of the
instruction and lives of their children, they ruled Him out of the
kingdom. They would still at times invoke His name but it was
increasingly hollow and meaningless. They had made themselves
strangers to the God of their fathers and their foundation.
And
as God was driven from their lives, they brought in foreign gods and
idols to replace Him, gods of sensuality, materialism, violence,
idols of wealth, carnality, and sexual promiscuity. They abandoned
the ways of God, the laws of God, the standards of God for
immorality. As the prophets cried out, they now called evil,’good,’
and good, ‘evil.’ What they once knew to be immoral, they now
celebrated, and what they once knew to be right, they now warred
against. It was a culture turned in upon itself, a civilization at
war against the very foundation on which it had been established.
And the righteous, who simply remained true to what they had once all
known to be true, were now vilified, marginalized, mocked, labeled
‘intolerant,’ increasingly banned from the public square, and,
ultimately, persecuted. The nation’s culture grew increasingly vulgar,
godless, and darkened. They now defiled, ridiculed, and blasphemed
the name of God. It was as if a spiritual amnesia had overtaken the
kingdom, as if they had never known God or His ways. And they
descended into the darkest sins of the nations which surrounded
them. They offered up their children as sacrifices to the gods, on
the altars and fires of Baal and Molech. And they now stood under
the shadow of judgment and in danger of destruction.
And
God called out to them, to return, to come back, to be saved from
destruction. He sent to them seers and prophets to wake them up, to
call them back. But they wouldn’t listen. They mocked the prophets
and persecuted them. And they hardened their hearts. And finally
something happened that brought them into the first stage of
judgment.
But there was another civilization that was
likewise founded on God’s word, dedicated to His will, and
consecrated to His purposes, from its very inception – America.
Those who came to these shores four centuries ago to found a new
civilization did so by dedicating it to God, committing it for His
purposes and glory. America was to be a city on a hill, a
civilization to which others would look. It was to be a holy
commonwealth. And so they modeled it after Israel of the Bible.
They brought forth its first governments in the name of Jesus and for
the glory of God. They established its first school system for the
purpose of teaching the Word of God. And they foretold that inasmuch
as America would follow in the ways of God, that God would bless it,
that it would become the most powerful, the most prosperous, the
most blessed nation on earth, the head of nations. And it would all
come true.
America would become the most blessed nation
on earth, a refuge for the world’s exiles, a light for the world’s
oppressed, a beacon against the dark forces of tyranny which
threatened to engulf the world. America was blessed with prosperity,
power, security, peace, and a place at the head of nations. America
was blessed as no nation in history had ever been blessed.
But
something happened to the city on the hill. As the people of
ancient Israel, in the midst of their blessings, committed a fatal
error, so have we. We too have, as a nation, turned from God. We,
too, have removed Him from our lives. Step by step, we, too, have
ruled Him out of our culture, out of our government, out of our
economy, out of our public square, out of the instruction and lives
of our children, we, too have made God a stranger. And though we
still at times invoke His name, it rings increasingly hollow and
meaningless. We have made ourselves strangers to the God of our
fathers.
And as we have driven God from our national
life, we have brought in other gods and idols to replace him, gods of
sensuality, materialism, violence, idols of wealth, carnality, and
sexual promiscuity. And as did Israel, so, we too have abandoned
ways of God, the laws of God, and the standards of God, for
immorality. The nation that was established to bring the Word and light
of God to the world, now fills the earth with pornography. We too
now call evil ‘good,’ and good, ‘evil.’ And what we once knew to
be immoral, we now celebrate, and what we once knew to be right, we
now war against. American culture has become turned in upon itself, a
civilization at war against the very foundation on which it has been
established. And those, who simply remain true to what had always
been known as true, are now vilified, marginalized, mocked, labeled
‘intolerant,’ and increasingly banned from the public square, and,
ultimately, persecuted.
We have now reached the
point, this day, that a minister was driven out of the public square,
barred from praying at the inaugural service for the simple reason
that years ago he preached a sermon simply saying what the Bible has
always clearly said regarding sin. It is a new America in which one can
be banned from the public square simply for believing the Bible,
where profanity it treated as holy and the Holy as profane, a new
America where the Bible is treated as contraband and nativity scenes
are seen as dangerous.
Our culture has grown
increasingly vulgar, godless, and darkened. We too now defile,
ridicule, and blaspheme the name of God. It wasn’t that long ago
that American television closed its broadcasting days with sermons. Now
our televisions and computers screens are filled with word and images
once unimaginable and God and Jesus have now become objects of
comedy and mockery. It’s as if a spiritual amnesia has overtaken the
land. The Lord asked Israel, “Can a nation forget its God?” And
yet Israel forgot. And now we too have forgotten. America too has
forgotten her God.
And we too, as a nation, have partaken in
the darkest of sins. Tomorrow is also a milestone of history.
Tomorrow marks the fortieth anniversary of the day that America
legalized the killing of its unborn children. Israel offered up
thousands of its children. America has offered up millions. Fifty
million souls are not here today. Fifty million people will not be
here, watching or cheering at the inauguration. They’re silent, for
their lives were legislated out of existence, even from this city.
And in order to hide the magnitude of our moral descent, we redefine
words and change their meanings on this and other sins. And yet a
thousand apostate ministers swearing on a thousand Bibles will not
change a jot or tittle of God’s word. Though silent, they cry out
in bearing witness to the darkest of our sins. And God hears them.
And as He spoke through the ancient prophets to Israel, so His words
now echo down to us, “When you lift up your hands to be in prayer I
will not listen. For your hands are covered with blood.”
The
city on the hill has grown dark. Its lamp has grown dim. Its glory
is fading. For God is not mocked. No nation can war against the
very source of its blessings and expect those blessings to remain. And
as it was with ancient Israel, the city on the hill now stands under
the shadow of judgment.
__________________
How
does judgment come to a nation? After defying all of God’s calls
and warnings, the nation of Israel would experienced something
unprecedented. It was the opening stage of judgment. God removed
one of Israel’s blessings. Years before the nation’s destruction, He
allowed its hedge of protection to be lifted. He allowed an enemy to
make a strike into the land. It was a wake-up call to avert national
destruction. Nothing else would reach them. The strike was limited
and temporary. The nation was now given a period of time to turn
back to God or enter into judgment.
This first
opening biblical sign of national warning and judgment is this initial
removal of the nation’s hedge of protection. So it came to pass in
America on September 11, 2001. It was on that day that we witnessed
the nation’s hedge of protection removed. An enemy was allowed to
make a strike on the land. As with Israel, the strike was limited
and temporary. It was a wake-up call. And for a short-time it
looked as if America would wake up. It looked as if we were on the
verge of a national revival. People flocked to churches and spoke of
God. And then, a few weeks later, it was all over. There was no
revival. There was no change of course. America continued down it
course of spiritual departure from God but did so now with even more
fervor. Eleven years after 9/11, the nation stands not closer to
God, but much farther away.
As I saw the smoke
rising out of New York City that day, and then as I stood at the
corner of Ground Zero, a revelation began coming to me. The
revelation would take the form of a book called
The Harbinger. The
Harbinger was release last year and from the first week of its release
it’s become a national best seller, spreading across the nation and
even into the Halls of Congress.
The revelation of The
Harbinger is this: There exists an ancient mystery that lies behind
everything from 9/11 to the collapse of the American economy - A
mystery so precise that it actually reveals the actions of American
leaders before they take them, the exact words of American leaders,
before they speak them., a mystery so exact that it gives the dates,
even the hours of some of the most dramatic days in recent history.
In the last days of ancient Israel, before its destruction, nine
harbingers, nine prophetic signs of national judgment, appeared in
the land. Those same nine harbingers are now reappearing on American
soil. Some have appeared in New York City. Some have appeared in
Washington, DC. Some have involved the highest leaders of the land,
even the president of the United States and they touch every realm,
the political, the economic, the cultural, the spiritual, and affect
every American and every American’s future.
The
harbingers are revealed through an ancient Scripture, the vow that
Israel made after that first strike of warning. It appears as Isaiah
9:10. Instead of repentance, they responded to the warning with
defiance. They said this: “The bricks have fallen. BUT we will
rebuild with hewn stone. The sycamores have been cut down, BUT we
will plant cedars in their place.” What they were saying was this:
“God, you won’t humble us, you won’t cause us to return. We will
continue on our course. We will continue to abandon your ways. We
will defy you and even more than before. By our own efforts, we will
rebuild and come back stronger than before.
This
vow of defiance would seal their fate and usher in their destruction.
And it’s the key to nine harbinger of judgment. We don’t have the
time to even begin to open up the mysteries of the harbingers except to
say that they are all manifesting now to America, and to touch on
just a few.
The Fifth Harbinger, the Stone of
Judgment. For this to manifest, a particular kind of stone must be
chiseled out of mountain rock and placed on the ground of
destruction, where the strike occurred. Three years after 9/11, the
Stone of Judgment appeared and was lowered onto the pavement of
Ground Zero where a ceremony took place, with American leaders
pronouncing vows of defiance over the stone.
The
Sixth Harbinger, the Sign of the Sycamore, a biblical warning of
national judgment. For this to manifest, a sycamore must be struck
down at the ground of destruction. In the last moments of 9/11, as
the last tower came crashing to the ground, it sent forth a shock
wave and a beam that strikes an object. The object was a tree. The
tree was a sycamore. The Biblical sign of national judgment - the
sycamore was fallen.
The Seventh Harbinger called in
Hebrew – the Erez. This sign of judgment appeared in the sky at the
corner of Ground Zero two years after the calamity.
The
ninth harbinger, the vow of judgment itself, the vow of bricks and
sycamores, as recorded in Isaiah 9:10. It very utterance in the
last days of ancient Israel, would lead the nation to destruction.
For this harbinger to manifest, an American leader would have to
proclaim the vow of judgment from the capitol city, and it would have
to be linked to the attack, to 9/11. If you see this happen, know
that it is a stunningly clear sign that your nation is under
judgment.
On the day after 9/11, the United States
Congress gathered on Capitol Hill, the same place where the
inauguration will happen, to give America’s response to the calamity –
just as ancient Israel had presented its response to its calamity in
Isaiah 9:10. The man appointed to speak for the nation was the
Senate Majority, Tom Daschle. He makes his way to the podium and
presents the nation’s response. At the end of his speech, the words of
the ancient vow that brings national judgment come forth from his
mouth. He says this: “there is a passage in the Bible, from Isaiah,
that I think speaks to all of us at times like this. “The bricks have
fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone…” He then speaks
of the tree that is struck down. He speaks it without even
realizing there is an actual tree that was struck down and just
discovered that day. He speaks of the stone of judgment that is to
be placed Ground Zero, which will come to pass three years after he
declares it. He has no idea what he’s doing, but the vow of judgment
is pronounced. Israel’s fatal vow becomes America’s and is recorded
in the Annals of Congress.
_______________
And it is
ominous. It will set the nation’s course. It will lead to the next
national shaking, a shaking that won’t involve buildings, but the
implosion of American power itself, the collapse of the American
economy, a collapse that still affects everything we do. In The
Harbinger it is called the Second Shaking. And behind this second
shaking, this economic implosion, likes a stream of still more
ancient mysteries. We don’t have the time to speak of these except
to mention this one mind boggling reality.
There was
a day given in the Bible, called on the Hebrew calendar, the 29th
day of Elul. Once, every seven years, on that date, Elul 29, the
nation’s financial accounts would be wiped away, all accounts of
credit and debt, wiped away. It was originally meant to be a blessing,
but as Israel turned away from God, it became part of a judgment, a
sign for a nation that had driven God out of its life, and pursued
idols of wealth, a sign that strikes that nations financial realm.
The
peak of the collapse of the American economy took place at the end
of September 2008. On that day the Stock Market crashed 777 points.
It was the greatest crash in Wall Street and American history. When
did it happen? The greatest collapse in American history took place
on the 29th day of Elul, the exact day given in the Bible to strike a
nation’s financial realm and wiped out its financial accounts, the
sign given to a nation under judgment.
But Elul 29
is part of a seven year mystery. What happens if we go back seven
years from that greatest crash in American history? It takes us to
September 2001, the month of 9/11. But something else happened that
month – the other greatest Stock Market crash in American history up to
that date. And when did that take place? The other greatest Stock
Market crash in American history took place on the exact same
Biblical day, the day appointed to wipe away a nation’s financial
accounts – the 29th day of Elul. The two greatest crashes in
American history up to those days – both took place on the exact same
biblical day, on the one day appointed to strike a nation’s
financial realm, a sign to a nation that has driven God out of its
life. And as according to the ancient mystery they each took place
exactly seven biblical years apart to the exact day, and the exact
hours. And there’s a prophetic mystery here, a prophetic warning, that
if America does not return to God, that American prosperity and the
American age itself will come to an end.
_________________
Since
The Harbinger was released, that which was foreshadowed within its
pages, is actually coming true. The harbingers and mysteries
haven’t’ stopped, they’ve continued to manifest. In fact one of them
took place this year and involved the president who is about to be
inaugurated into office. And one of the mysteries in The Harbinger,
something called The Mystery Ground, actually involves this day, the
inauguration, or rather the first inauguration of which this day is a
continuation.
It was the day that America as we know
it came into existence, April 30, 1789. It was the day the nation’s
first president was sworn into office, the inauguration of George
Washington. Washington placed his hand on the Bible and then gave
the first ever presidential address. And in that speech, on
America’s first day as a fully-formed nation, is embedded a prophetic
warning. He said this:
the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation
on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which
Heaven itself has ordained
What
was he saying? He was saying this: America’s blessing are based
its relationship with God. If America ever disregards or forgets or
turns away from the eternal rules of order and right, the laws, the
precepts, the standards, and the ways of God, if America ever departs
from these, then the blessings of God will be withdrawn from the
land. This is the prophetic warning embedded in our national
foundation. And it is coming true in our day. We are now
witnessing America disregarding the eternal rules of order and right
which God has ordained. And the warning is, that if we do so, then
the smiles of Heaven, the blessings of God will be withdrawn.
When
judgment came to Israel, the destruction returned to the same ground
where the nation had been dedicated to God, the Temple Mount. The
calamity returns to the nation’s ground of consecration.
After
Washington gave that prophetic warning, he and the nation’s first
Senate and House of Representatives, all proceeded on foot from
Federal Hall, the place of the inauguration, to a site especially
chosen for the nation’s first government to pray and dedicate
America’s future to God. And that’s what they did on that first
inauguration on America’s first day as a formed nation – they prayed
and committed the nation’s future to God. That was the nation’s
consecration ground.
If we can find out where that
ground is, we will have a mystery. Where did it take place? It
happened in the nation’s capital. But the capital then was not
Washington, D.C. It was New York City. Where? The place where they
dedicated America to God on its first day as a nation, America’s
consecration ground.. is .. Ground Zero. America was dedicated to
God at Ground Zero. The ancient mystery, the calamity returns to the
nations ground of consecration.
And it was on that
ground that the harbingers appeared. It was in that soil of
America’s consecration that the sycamore grew and was struck down.
And on 9/11 a shock wave went forth from Ground Zero and struck an
object, Federal Hall, the very place where Washington was sworn in,
and where he gave that prophetic warning of what would happen if
America ever turned away from God. It struck the foundation of
America and put a crack in the foundation of that foundation.
And
all around Ground Zero, every building was ruined or destroyed…
except one. Which one? It was the little stone chapel inside of
which they dedicated America’s future to God. And why was it
protected? It was protected because there was an object outside the
chapel which absorbed the full force of the calamity. The object was
the harbinger. The sycamore. You see, the purpose of the
harbingers are not to consign a nation to judgment, but to awaken it
to redemption. For in 9/11 America was brought back to its ground
of consecration. It’s a message of return, for the voice of God is
calling this nation to return, in prayer, in humility, in repentance,
in hope.
__________________
And here we stand today on
the 21th day of January 2013, in the capital city, on the same day,
the continuation of that first Inauguration day. And on that first
inauguration, they gathered together in prayer and consecrated
America’s future to God. And here now we, who are of that future,
for whom they prayed and consecrated the nation, now come together, on
that same day, likewise in a gathering of prayer before the
Almighty.
We stand here, centuries later, in witness to
God’s hand of faithfulness and blessing on this land. But we stand
here also in witness to the fact that America has done exactly that
of which, on that first day, we were warned never to do. We bear
witness that we have turned from His eternal ways of order and
right. We have turned and are rapidly turning away from His face.
And
that is why it is so crucial that we have gathered here, in this
place, and on this day. For very shortly, the president will place
his hand on an object… the Bible. And I say to you, Mr. President,
we have come here to pray for America, for its government, for you,
its leader, and for its future. We pray for your blessing and for
your prosperity in the will of God. For only in God’s will can we
ever know true blessing. The answer is not found in the agendas of
man, but in that on upon which your hand will rest, upon the Word of
God. For everything else will pass away, but the Word of God will
abide forever. And so it must be asked, with respect… Can you lay
your left hand upon His word and then with your right hand enact laws
against it? Can you invoke the name of God to assume the presidency
and then use the presidency in any way to endorse that which clearly
wars against the ways of the God you invoke? Can you stand in the
city name after our first president, and perform the act that he first
performed on that first day, and ignore the warning he gave on that
day to the nation. Can you do all that and disregard the eternal
rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained. Can you
utter the words ‘so help me God’ if you should in any way take part
in helping to lead a nation away from the God whose help you
invoke.
We pray for your blessing in the will of
God. For if a nation that once knew the Almighty is called to return
to Him, then so too must the one who leads it.
You
will hold in your hand the Bible of Abraham Lincoln. But do you not
know what Lincoln said and did. In the midst of the darkness that
engulfed his land, a darkness he saw as the righteous judgment of God,
Lincoln issued a call to the nation to return. Abraham Lincoln said
this:
It is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon
The overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in
humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead
to mercy and pardon; And to recognize the sublime truth, announced in
the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
And,
insomuch as we know that, by His Divine Law, nations like
individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this
world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war,
which now desolates the land, may be but punishment, inflicted upon
us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national
reformation as a whole people?..
We have forgotten God. We
have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and
multiplied and enriched and strengthened us….
It
behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to
confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness…”
So
Lincoln sent forth this call for America to repent, to return to
God, and to seek His mercy. Soon after the call went forth, the tide
of war would begin to turn and would ultimately lead to national
healing.
The words of Abraham Lincoln ring out to us today – those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
Has
this nation now grown so far from God that we can’t imagine a
president doing so today? Mr. President, if you look to Lincoln as
your model then dare to follow him in his actions.
For
all the politics, and all the parties, all the inaugural balls, and
all the voices of political correctness, and all the sounds of
applause will grow still and silent, and we will all, we will each,
stand before the Almighty. And it will not matter then how many
votes we won or praises we garnered– only this – were we faithful to
Him and to His word.
The voice of Lincoln now cries
out to us and pleads, ‘Let us humble ourselves, confess our national
sins, and pray for forgiveness.’
As it is written and promised in the word of God:
If
My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray
and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear
from heaven I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.
We
have come here on the 21st day of January 2013, to the capital city
on the day of the Presidential Inauguration, for that purpose, to
humble ourselves and pray, and to seek His face, and to turn from our
evil ways.
The time is late. The hour is
critical. A great nation proceeds in rapid spiritual descent. And
the signs of warning and judgment are manifesting in the land. The
shadow of judgment is upon us. And for those who would be ask “How,
in light of judgment, can one be saved, or safe?” We give this
answer - The word in Hebrew for safety and salvation is Yeshua.
Yeshua is the name which we know in English as ‘Jesus.’ Outside of
Him there is no safety. But inside of Him there is no fear. It was
for Him and in His name that this nation, this civilization, this
city on a hill, named America, came into existence. And it is only
to Him and in His name that its problems can ultimately be
answered. He remains the answer, the light in the darkness, and the
hope when all other hopes are faded and gone. And to all who come,
He will receive. And He calls out ‘Come.
For all you who dwell in darkness, it’s time to come. And you will not be turned away.
And
for all you who know Him, for you His people, it is time to put away
any shade of darkness and compromise – and take up the mantle of
your calling.
It’s time to be the salt of the earth
and the light of the world you were called to be, in truth, in power,
and love. It is time to light up the darkness.
It’s time to be strong. It’s time to be bold. It’s time to be radical.
The watchmen are crying out, and the trumpets are sounding.
And the voice of the Lord is calling to this nation, and saying “Return,”
And calling to His people and saying, “Return,”
Let the word go forth. Let the power of God be seen in this land. And let revival burst forth like a mighty river.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord
Prepare the way of the Lord
Make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God
Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill shall be cast down
The crooked way shall be made straight
And the rough way shall become a plain
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
And all flesh will see it together
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken
Kumee Oree Ke Vah Oreich
Arise and shine for your light is come
And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you
And nations will come to your light
And kings to the brightness of your rising
In the name above all names that are named
Yeshua Ha Mashiach, Jesus the Messiah
The King of Kings
And the Lords of Lords
The Light of the World
The Hope of America
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah
And the glory of His people Israel
AMEN & AMEN