The Mystery of the Shemitah (3 page)

The Harbinger

T
HE HARBINGER
IS
the revealing of an ancient mystery that holds the secret of what has happened and is happening to America and the world in modern times—a mystery that lies behind everything from 9/11 to the collapse of Wall Street and the global economy—a mystery spanning thousands of years, in which an ancient text ordains the words uttered by world leaders, who have no idea what they’re saying—so precise that times and dates given more than three thousand years ago set the time and dates on which some of the most monumental events of recent times take place.

The mysteries contained within
The Harbinger
touch the financial realm, the economic realm, the political realm, the cultural realm, and the lives, courses, and futures of everyone now reading these words.

The mystery begins in the last days of ancient Israel, the northern kingdom, as nine harbingers, prophetic signs, warnings of national judgment and destruction, appear in the land. The nation is given a period of grace to either change its course or head to destruction. However, the people and their leaders respond not with repentance but with defiance. They continue on their course of moral and spiritual apostasy. In a matter of years the nation will be wiped off the face of the earth.

What is eerie, stunning, scary, or amazing is that these same nine harbingers of judgment are now reappearing in modern times—on American soil. Some appeared in New York City. Others have appeared in Washington DC. Some have manifested in the form of objects; others, as events. Some have involved ceremonies. Still others have involved American leaders, even the president of the United States. They have happened with specificity, precision, consistency, and without anyone’s conscious intent or action to make them happen. The same harbingers that once warned an ancient nation of judgment now warn America and the world of the same thing.

THE NINE HARBINGERS OF JUDGMENT

What are the nine harbingers of judgment that appeared in ancient Israel years before the destruction of that kingdom? In the space we have here, we can’t even begin to explore the mysteries contained in
The Harbinger
—but we can briefly touch upon them.

FIRST HARBINGER: THE BREACH

Sign of the Breach:
Years before the judgment of a nation there comes a warning, a national shaking. The warning manifests in the form of an attack. The nation’s hedge of protection, its natural security, is breached. The attack is temporary and contained, but it will constitute the nation’s wake-up call, the “opening bell” of judgment concerning the nation’s future.

Ancient Appearance:
It manifested in ancient Israel in 732 BC, when the nation’s hedge of protection was breached through an enemy attack. The attack was temporary and contained, a wake-up call for a people who had grown so deafened to God’s voice that nothing else would get through.

The Reappearance:
It manifested in America on September 11, 2001, as the nation’s hedge of protection was breached through an enemy attack. The attack was temporary and contained, a wake-up call for a people who had grown so deafened to God’s voice that nothing else would get through—the first of the nine harbingers of judgment. In the wake of 9/11, America would begin eerily reenacting the actions of ancient Israel in its last days as a nation. The same objects, actions, events, and words would manifest, one after the other, just as they did in the days before Israel’s judgment.

THE SECOND HARBINGER: THE TERRORIST

Sign of the Terrorist:
The opening strike of judgment, the breach of the nation’s hedge of protection, is not only a military action but also an act of terrorism. It is masterminded and carried out by those who employ terror as a means to accomplish their ends.

Ancient Appearance:
This harbinger manifested in ancient Israel as those who masterminded the attack were the Assyrians—the world’s first terrorists and the fathers of all terrorists, employing terror as a strategic means to accomplish a political goal.

The Reappearance:
It manifested on American soil as the attack was masterminded by the modern counterparts of the ancient Assyrians, their spiritual children, who even carried out the attack using the sister language to that spoken by those who attacked ancient Israel. September 11 would even cause American soldiers to fight on the soil of ancient Assyria.

THE VOW OF DEFIANCE

After the attack in 732 BC the people of Israel made a vow. The words of that vow were recorded by the prophet Isaiah: “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.”
¹

The vow was an act of defiance. The nation was saying: “You will not humble us. We will not repent. We will not turn back. Rather, we will continue to depart from Your ways. We will rebuild. We will replant. And by our own power and resources, we will come back stronger than before—against You.”

So in place of repentance was pride, and in place of humility, arrogance. And the vow would become the key to the nine harbingers. It would set the course for national destruction.

THIRD HARBINGER: THE FALLEN BRICKS

“The bricks have fallen . . . ”

Sign of the Fallen Bricks:
The first act of warning and judgment is marked by the image of falling, collapsing buildings. This, and the ruin heaps that will stand in their place, become the most tangible sign and the most concrete image of the calamity.

Ancient Appearance:
The most tangible signs of what took place in 732 BC were the ruin heaps of the buildings that the Assyrians had destroyed.

The Reappearance:
The most tangible sign of 9/11 was that of the falling towers and the ruin heaps that stood in their place.

FOURTH HARBINGER: THE TOWER

“But we will rebuild . . . ”

Sign of the Tower:
The nation under judgment returns to the ground of destruction and vows to rebuild the fallen buildings, but now bigger, taller, and stronger than before. The reconstruction becomes a symbol of the nation’s attempt at a defiant resurgence. According to the most ancient translation of Scripture, it will take the form of a rising tower.

Ancient Appearance:
In the wake of the Assyrian attack the people of Israel vowed to rebuild the fallen buildings and build them bigger, better, and stronger than before. Rising up from the ruin heaps would be walls, dwellings, and towers.

The Reappearance:
In the wake of 9/11 America embarked on a campaign to rebuild the ruins. From the ground of destruction a tower began to rise. The resulting edifice would be the greatest object of defiance ever erected on American soil.

FIFTH HARBINGER: THE GAZIT STONE

“ . . . we will rebuild with hewn stone . . . ”

Sign of the Gazit Stone:
After the attack the people carve out a massive rectangular block of stone from mountain rock. They then bring it to the site of destruction, where the bricks had fallen, and there set it down in place. The stone will be the first embodiment of their vow of defiance.

Ancient Appearance:
The people of Israel vowed to rebuild, not with the clay bricks that had fallen, but with “hewn stone,” the Hebrew
gazit
, indicating a massive rectangular block of stone chiseled out of mountain rock. They go up to the mountains and bedrock of the land, carve out the massive stones, and bring them back to the ground of destruction where they vow to rebuild and come back stronger than before.

The Reappearance:
On July 4, 2004, the fifth harbinger reappeared on American soil. It was a gazit stone, chiseled out of the mountains of New York, brought back to New York City, and lowered onto the floor of Ground Zero. A ceremony took place around it, during which American leaders pronounced vows of national defiance.

THE SIXTH HARBINGER: THE SYCAMORE

“The sycamores have been cut down . . . ”

Sign of the Sycamore:
The attack not only causes the fall of buildings but also the striking down of trees—one particular kind of tree—the sycamore, a sign of national judgment.

Ancient Appearance:
It manifested in ancient Israel as the sycamores were struck down in the midst of the attack.

The Reappearance:
On September 11 the sixth harbinger manifested on American soil as the falling tower struck down a tree—a sycamore, the ancient sign of national judgment—at the corner of Ground Zero.

THE SEVENTH HARBINGER: THE EREZ TREE

“But we will plant cedars in their place.”

Sign of the Erez Tree:
In the wake of the calamity the people resolve to plant another tree in the same exact soil in which the sycamore had been struck down. The second tree is not a sycamore but a stronger one. The English
cedar
stands for the Hebrew
erez
tree—a conifer, an evergreen, a pinacea tree—a tree to symbolize their self-confident hope in their resurgence.

Ancient Appearance:
The people of Israel planted erez trees in the place of the fallen sycamores, another sign of their defiance and their resolve to come back stronger than before.

The Reappearance:
Two years after the calamity the seventh harbinger manifested in America. It appeared at the corner of Ground Zero in the form of a tree. The tree replaced the fallen sycamore. It stood in the very same soil. It was not a sycamore. It was a Hebrew erez tree, just as in ancient Israel. People gathered around it in a ceremony and gave it its name: the Tree of Hope.

THE EIGHTH HARBINGER: THE UTTERANCE

Sign of the Utterance:
A national leader utters the vow of Isaiah 9:10. The vow is spoken as a public declaration, the sign of a nation in defiance of God. By uttering the vow, the leader pronounces judgment on the land.

Ancient Appearance:
The vow was uttered by one or more of Israel’s leaders, as only a leader can speak for a nation and determine its course. The vow, intended as a rallying cry, instead pronounced judgment and set the stage for destruction.

The Reappearance:
On the third anniversary of 9/11 a famous American leader spoke before a congressional caucus, and out of his mouth proceeded the ancient vow of defiance. He unwittingly pronounced judgment on America. He even built his entire speech around the ancient vow of destruction.

THE NINTH HARBINGER: THE PROPHECY

Sign of the Prophecy:
A national leader utters the vow soon after the calamity, speaking prophetically, proclaiming that which would take place, becoming part of the national record, and setting the nation’s course to judgment.

Ancient Appearance:
Soon after the attack of 732 BC a leader uttered the vow, speaking of what would take place before it did, being recorded by the prophet Isaiah, and setting the nation’s course to judgment.

The Reappearance:
On September 12, 2001, the day after the calamity, the American Congress gathered on Capitol Hill to issue the nation’s response. The man appointed to speak for the nation was the Senate majority leader. There before the United States Senate and House of Representatives, the nation, and the world, he proclaimed the ancient vow of defiance, setting the nation’s course to judgment.
²
He had no idea what he was saying, but he identified America as a nation in defiance of God and under judgment. His words would come true. He spoke of the harbingers, the tree that was struck down, the stone that would go up, and the replacing of the one tree with the other. He set the course of defiance and set the stage for the second shaking of the nation.

The Second Shaking

The nine harbingers are not the end of the story but the beginning. The mysteries continue.
The Harbinger
reveals the biblical progression of national judgment. If a nation does not heed the warning of the first shaking, there comes a second.

The second shaking of America did not involve the destruction of buildings. Rather, it involved the shaking of American power itself. As with 9/11, it not only affected America but also the world. The second shaking involved the collapse of American financial and economic power, beginning with the implosion of Wall Street.

Behind this shaking is a stream of biblical mysteries, one of which gives the exact time and the exact dates, down to the hours. We have time here to just briefly mention them.

The Isaiah 9:10 Effect

An ancient biblical principle from the last days of Israel reveals how America’s response to the first shaking, specific actions taken in the days immediately following 9/11, would bring about, years later, the collapse of the American and global economies.

The Buttonwood Mystery

On the day America began its rise to global financial superpower, a sign appeared. On September 11, 2001, the same sign reappeared but in a different form—foreshadowing not the rise of a greater power, but warning of its coming fall.