'Harbingers of Things to Come': Jonathan Cahn Film Explores Ancient Mysteries, Prophetic Warnings for US

In 2011, Jonathan Cahn's first book The Harbinger exploded onto the world scene. Now, more than 10 years later, "The Harbingers of Things to Come" has been turned into a hard-hitting documentary loaded with warnings for America.

Fathom Events reports that nearly 100,000 people saw "The Harbingers of Things to Come" during its limited theatrical release over two nights around the nation last week. Cahn says this prophetic film reveals a mystery that is determining America's future — and yours. 

In The Harbinger, he revealed an ancient biblical mystery behind everything from 9/11 to the economy, to the housing boom, to the war in Iraq, to the 2008 crisis on Wall Street. God used The Harbinger to send a prophetic message on which America's future hangs.

But that wasn't the end. Since The Harbinger came out, what the book foreshadowed has been coming true. So in early 2020, Cahn began to write the long-awaited sequel, The Harbinger II: The Return, and soon after, COVID-19 began to paralyze America. 

The shaking of which he had warned in The Harbinger had begun. And now, the documentary not only tells the mystery of The Harbinger, but it also shows it to you. And at the end of his new film, Cahn opens up for the first time to reveal a prophetic mystery he's been unable to share for over 20 years. 

The Harbingers of Things to Come was in theatres across America on May 12th and 19th. Now it's airing in churches and organizations nationwide through ticketed events through June 13, 2022.

THE BIBLICAL TEMPLATE

The Harbinger revealed nine signs that appeared in the last days of ancient Israel, which are now reappearing on American soil. These harbingers are not the end of judgment but the beginning of judgment. This biblical template of national judgment begins with the lifting of the nation’s hedge of protection. An enemy makes a strike on the land. It’s a wake-up call to return to God. 

For America, the beginning of national judgment came on September 11, 2001. In this biblical template of judgment, a nation is given a space of time, a window in which to come back to God or to head for judgment. If it doesn’t turn back, then greater shakings will happen. In America, it’s happening now. The Harbinger II— and this documentary—reveal how the mystery has never stopped. In the film, Jonathan shares the following revelations:

THE CITY ON THE HILL 

In 1630, John Winthrop led the Puritan's exodus to the new world. He dedicated our nation to the purposes of God, founded after the pattern of ancient Israel. Winthrop said, "We must consider that we shall be as a city on the hill. Thus stands the cause between God and us. We are entered into covenant with Him for this work."

Then, Winthrop gave this prophetic warning, "If we shall deal falsely with our God… If our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced and worship other Gods, our pleasure, profits, and serve them…” If America followed after God, it would be blessed but if it turned away from God, it would be cursed. 

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THE DAY OF THE WATCHMAN

Two years before 9/11 several believers gathered at the Statue of Liberty, knowing in the Spirit that a terrorist attack was coming to America. That day would produce two exact prophetic images of what was to take place two years later (Jeremiah 4:19-20, 6:17; Ez. 33:3).

THE PARASHA

Every sabbath in synagogues, a passage of scripture is read and chanted by Jews around the world. The scripture is called the Parasha. On the last sabbath day before 9/11, the scripture that was chanted across the world by the Jewish people was Deuteronomy 28:24, 29, 49-50, 52. These scriptures revealed the signs of judgment and tell of destruction for turning away from God.

THE ISLAND

When John Winthrop spoke of a City on a Hill, that name would not only stand for a civilization that would rise from Massachusetts Bay but for an actual city. Winthrop would not only lay the foundation for that city but also go on to become its governor. That City on a Hill still exists today. It is known as Boston. Boston was the first city on a hill. Where did 9/11 begin, it started in Boston. Winthrop had a place he called his own. It was an island off the coast of Boston where he planted a garden, orchard, and vineyard. It would become known as Governor’s Island where he would gaze out at the city upon a hill and pray for it.  

But what happened to this Island? It would eventually become Logan airport. This is the exact place where 9/11 began. The planes took off from this airport and headed toward Ground Zero—the very place where America was dedicated to God. This was the same place where John Winthrop gave his prophetic warning that if this nation turned away from God, His blessing would be removed. 

THE GATE

America is modeled after ancient Israel. God's judgment always begins at the gate. Our gate, New York City, was attacked on 9-11. The gate speaks of entrance or beginning (Deut. 28:52).

THE TOWERS

The pride and glory of an ancient civilization were embodied in its towers (Is. 2:12, 17). The towers served to strengthen the gates and as a place for watchmen to keep an eye out over their city. New York City’s towers were known as the twin towers. The fall of city towers is symbolic as a foreshadowing of the fall of the kingdom or the nation itself.

MILITARY & ECONOMIC POWER

America’s superpowers rest in two areas: military and economic. In 1941, America’s military forces quadrupled as it entered the Second World War. That same year a building began to be formed that would house, symbolize, and embody that power. That building was the Pentagon. The Pentagon was born on September 11, 1941, and struck down on September 11, 2001. America’s economic power is centered in New York City--Wall Street, the World Trade Center—which was also targeted on 9/11.

MYSTERY SHIP

New York City began when Henry Hudson discovered the island of Manhattan on September 11, 1609. During the terrorist attack on 9/11, amid the calamity, a multitude of people witnessed a strange mystery ship on the Hudson River. The ship was replaying and recreating the day that Henry Hudson discovered Manhattan. Jonathan explains, “The building up and breaking down converged on the same day. As it is written, ‘What I have built up I will break down. What I have planted I will root up.’” (Jeremiah 45:4).

THE HARBINGERS

Based on Isaiah 9:10, - “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will plant cedars in their place,” the northern 10 Tribes of Israel refused to repent after they were struck by the Assyrians - which was a warning from the Lord. Instead of listening to the alarm, turning back, and humbling themselves in repentance, they boasted of their resolve, that they would rebuild stronger and better than before.

They ignored the warning and rejected the call to return. They defied it. Sadly, their defiance led to the nation's destruction years later. The ancient prophecy forms the key to the nine harbingers of judgment, which are given to a nation in danger of judgment – each of which has reappeared on American soil – marking America as the nation in danger of the judgment.  

The First Harbinger: The Breach. In 732 B.C., the hedge of protection was removed and Israel’s enemies invade the land and wreak havoc. The calamity traumatizes the nation but it takes place on a limited scale, as with 9/11. The warning is the removal of the hedge. On September 11, 2001, America’s hedge of protection was removed – the breach of America’s security was a sign that God has lifted His protective hand.  

The Second Harbinger: The Terrorist. It was the dark shadow of Assyrian terror that loomed over the kingdom of Israel. The danger against which the prophets had warned. And when, years later, Israel’s final judgment came, the Assyrians would again be the means through which it would happen. So, too, the attack on America is carried out by terrorists. The Assyrians were a Semitic people, children of the Middle East. So too were the terrorists of 9/11.        

The Third Harbinger: The Fallen Bricks. The most visible signs of the attack on ancient Israel were the fallen buildings and the heaps of fallen bricks. The third harbinger is the sign of the fallen bricks of the fallen buildings. On Sept 11, 2001, Americans were confronted with the same sign, fallen bricks of the fallen buildings of the wreckage of Ground Zero. America was not turning back to God. It was a short-lived spiritual revival that never came.  

The Fourth Harbinger: The Tower. Israel defiantly began rebuilding on the devastated ground, vowing to rebuild higher and stronger. So, too, in the wake of 9/11, American leaders vowed to rebuild Ground Zero higher and stronger – the Tower begins to rise at Ground Zero. Those involved act unwittingly.  

The Fifth Harbinger: The Gazit Stone. We will rebuild with quarried stone - The Israelites carve out quarried stone from mountain rock and bring it back to the ground of destruction where clay bricks once stood. Three years after 9/11, a stone is quarried out of the mountain rock of New York. This massive stone was brought back to Ground Zero.

In ancient Israel, this stone became a misplaced embodiment of the nation's confidence in its power. So too the massive stone at Ground Zero became the symbolic cornerstone of the rebuilding. Public ceremonies accompanied the stone placement. Plans to rebuild Ground Zero would be frustrated for years. Eventually, they would remove the stone from GZ altogether.  

The Sixth Harbinger: The Sycamore. The Sycamores have been cut down - The attack on ancient Israel resulted in the striking down of the sycamore tree, a biblical sign of national judgment. The fallen sycamore is a sign of uprooting, a warning, and, in ignoring the warning, it becomes a prophecy of judgment. On 9/11, as the North Tower fell it sent debris and wreckage which struck and uprooted an object – a sycamore tree growing at Ground Zero.

The tree was made into a symbol and named The Sycamore of Ground Zero. When it fell in ancient Israel it prophesied the nation’s downfall and the end of its kingdom. What happens to America depends on if the warning is heeded.

The Seventh Harbinger: The Erez Tree. But we will plant cedars in their place - In their defiance of God, the Israelites replace the fallen sycamore with a Cedar tree. The cedar, being stronger than the sycamore becomes a symbol of the nation’s arrogant hope that it will emerge from the crisis stronger than before. The English name for this tree is “Cedar,” but the Hebrew word is “Erez.” Erez stands not only for cedar but for a conifer tree of the panacea family.

In November of 2003, a tree was lowered at the corner of Ground Zero into the soil where the fallen sycamore once stood. The tree was a conifer, a panacea tree, the biblical Erez. A ceremony was held around the tree and it, too, became a symbol – entitled The Tree of Hope. There is always hope.  A nation’s true hope is found only in returning to God.  Since then, the Erez Tree has withered and died which foreshadows the fall of a nation. 

The Eighth Harbinger: The Utterance. The Eighth Harbinger was the public speaking of the ancient vow of defiance. For this harbinger to manifest, the vow would have to be spoken in the nation’s capital by a national leader, as it had been in ancient Israel. On Sept 11, 2004, every object mentioned in the prophecy of Isa 9:10 had manifested.

The public utterance of the prophecy had to take place publicly, which happened on Sept 11, 2004, when VP candidate John Edwards, giving a speech in the capital city, quoted this exact scripture word for word in Wash., DC. Without realizing it, he was joining the two nations together and, without realizing it, pronouncing judgment on America. The ancient and the modern were bound together.  

The Ninth Harbinger: The Prophecy. The Ninth Harbinger is the proclaiming of the ancient vow as prophecy, as a matter of public record, and spoken before the words come true. On Sept 12, 2001, the day after 9/11, America issues its official response to the attack. The one in charge of issuing the response was Tom Daschle, Senate Majority Leader. As he closes his speech he makes a declaration – he proclaims the ancient vow of defiance, word for word, to the world. By doing so he prophesies the nation’s future course, all of which comes to pass.  

The Second Shaking – The mystery of the Harbinger continues – and lies behind everything from the Global War on Terror, the Collapse of the American economy, the crash of Wall Street, the Great Recession, and more. 

Amazingly, events happened with an unseen hand, and people acted unwittingly in the unfolding of this prophecy. The Prophet character says that “The Almighty has His own purposes.” God, in His mercy, always reaches out in mercy.  At Ground Zero, the ground of devastation becomes the ground of restoration.

Incredibly, it was at the site of Ground Zero in the miracle church, St. Paul’s Chapel, that this nation was dedicated to God by first president George Washington & other leaders at his inauguration in 1789. The nation’s first government was formed in New York City before DC was formed. God is calling the nation back to Himself. “The heart of God wills for salvation,” the Prophet says. “Greater than his judgments are His compassions.”  

THE 19-YEAR MYSTERY

In The Harbinger II, there’s a chapter called the 19-year Mystery. This is referring to the ancient biblical template of judgment. Unfortunately, America is following in the ominous footsteps of Israel. When judgment came to Israel, the first strike came in 605 BC when the armies of Babylon invaded the land.

Yet, the greater shakings came in 586 BC as judgment ravaged the land--19 years between the two events. Following the same biblical template, America’s first strike happened on September 11, 2001. Our nation's greater shaking came to America in the form of a pandemic, known as COVID-19 in the year 2020, 19 years after 9/11.  

THE PLAGUE

When Jeremiah spoke about the plague that came upon the ancient land, he cited the murder of the children as one of the reasons for that judgment (Jeremiah 19:1-11, 8:22, 32:35-36). The generation that came to a close in 2020 had more blood on its hands in all of human history by killing more than 60 million unborn innocent children and in the world, over 1 billion babies have been killed through abortion.

Covid was unique in that it focused its fury on the older generations and spared its youngest. America has been at the forefront of abortion. The abortion capital became known as New York City for not only the largest number of abortions. Then, on January 22, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo signs the Reproductive Health Act-- legislation essentially allowing children to be killed up until the time of their birth. To celebrate the gruesome law, Governor Cuomo ordered the tower at ground zero to be lit up in pink.

One year later came the plague and NYC quickly became the plague capital of the nation and then of the world. Jeremiah foretold that death would return to the nation that shed its children’s innocent blood.

THERE’S HOPE

The key to national restoration lies in this scripture: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV). God uses calamities and shakings to draw a nation back from judgment. Our only hope is return and revival. The trumpets are sounding and it’s time to get right with God.

HOW PRAYER CHANGES THINGS

In 1863, amid the Civil War, America was almost destroyed. Yet, Abraham Lincoln called for a national day of prayer, humility, and repentance before God. Just over two months after that event, the Union experienced victory at Gettysburg on July 3rd and the fall of Vicksburg under Ulysses S. Grant turned things around. That is the power of prayer! 

In 1980, America was facing hardship. Jimmy Carter was the president and faced challenges during his administration with economic stagnation and the Iran hostage crisis. Carter called for a national day of prayer and believers began to gather on the National Mall with one shared scripture: 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Two key prayers were prayed that day: 1. That God would rescue our American hostages. 2. They lifted their hands to the western side of the capital building and prayed that He would place in the nation’s government, those of His will. Jonathan shares, “I know because I was there.” Two months later, there was a presidential election and a revolution in the polls. Candidates who pledged themselves to biblical values were winning across the country.

The most notable was Ronald Reagan who became the next leader of the United States of America. Regan spoke of the need for spiritual revival. On the same day that he took the oath of office, the hostages were released. When he was sworn in, his right hand was raised while his other hand was on the Bible on a specific verse that his mother had highlighted. It was 2 Chronicles 7:14. Shortly thereafter, the economy rebounded, the military rebounded, and the Soviet Union fell.

When people humble themselves before God, restoration comes. Therein, lies our hope, Cahn says. His ministry can be contacted at HopeoftheWorld.org and on his Facebook.