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Sensationalistic twisting of Scripture
This book is an incredible twisting and distorting of Scripture for sensational effect. The author's interpretation of Isaiah 9:8-11 (focusing on verse 10) in its original context is excellent, but his attempt to tie it to 9/11 and the current economic crisis contains some major fallacies. I will state only my two biggest objections in general terms: #1 - The prophecy is clearly addressed to the nation of Israel. It is misguided to say that it also applies to the USA because the USA is also a nation dedicated to God. The author's statements on page 19 regarding America's special place in God's plan are downright arrogant. Israel was God's chosen nation because he chose their ancestor Abraham and gave him and his descendants various everlasting promises. America, though founded on godly principles, does not have the same kind of covenant relationship, and there is no Scriptural reason to assert that it does. "Nation blessed by God" does not equate to "chosen nation." #2 - The situation in Isaiah 9:8-11 is not truly parallel to the 9/11 attacks. In the Isaiah passage God's prophets had explicitly told the Israelites that the devastation caused by the Assyrians was his punishment on them and then the Israelites essentially shook their fists in God's face and vowed to rebuild without repentance. On 9/11 terrorists attacked with no warning, and America vowed to rebuild in defiance of the terrorists...9/11 was not a divinely prophesied judgment, nor was there national fist-shaking against God in its wake. Pointing to any large-scale tragedy and declaring it to be God's judgment is nothing more than a guess. Most of the author's other "parallels" were equally as vague and required a lot of "dancing," word games, and stringing together of very loosely related words and topics in the style of a good old-fashioned conspiracy theorist. The Bible is of eternal value as God's revelation to every age without this kind of showy "playing to the crowd" nonsense.
July 2012 · Books
the product in question
The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America's Future
4.7★ · 24,144 ratings, as of 2023
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