The "Harbinger Man," Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, has issued a powerful call for the world to stand up for the forgotten believers in Jesus who are being persecuted in the Middle East.
Cahn's call went out to spiritual leaders from around the globe who gathered at the United Nations to talk about the pressing challenges of the 21st century for people of faith.
"More Christians have been persecuted, brutalized and killed in the modern age than in any other," Cahn charged. "Every year, tens of thousands of Christians are dehumanized, tortured or killed, and over 100 million Christians live in the darkness of persecution.
"This very body, the United Nations, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which declares that everyone has the right to 'manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.' But then, why is it that believers are being killed for their faith in our day, in our midst, and next to nothing is being done?"
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Cahn charged that it’s the responsibility of more than just the leaders, however, to address the danger.
"If our faith consists of how comfortable and prosperous God can make us, while we deafen our ears to the cries of those who are neither comfortable nor prosperous, our brothers and sisters imprisoned and tortured for their faith, how can we bear the name 'Christian?'" Cahn asked rhetorically.
"On the Day of Judgment, we will be asked, 'Why did you do nothing to save them?' And what will our answer be?" he asked.
Cahn, the subject of the new film "The Harbinger Man," and the author of the bestselling book "The Harbinger," challenged believers around the world to follow an "Agenda of Light" built upon the words of Jesus.
"Those who call themselves by His name, the disciples of Messiah – bear this charge – they must be the light of the world," Cahn said to followers of Jesus. "Light is an active agent. It doesn't conform to its surroundings, but transforms them. Thus the light of the world must impact and transform the world around it.
"What is the agenda of the light? It is to protect the defenseless. The light must protect the weak of this world, the oppressed, the afflicted, the powerless, the children, the unborn, the persecuted and the broken."
The session was co-organized by the Permanent Mission of the Bahamas, the Global United Fellowship and the Engr Aja Eze Foundation, which exists to help women and children in conflict zones. Bishop Harold Ray, who moderated the session, highly praised Cahn's speech.
"The message was incredible!" he enthused.
Les Morrison, a violinist well known for his Messianic worship music, called Cahn's address "awesome, anointed, powerful and inspirational."
The purpose of the summit was to "stand united for a culture of peace, multicultural understanding and global harmony as a counteractive agency to the rising threat of terror, and as promoters of sustainable development around the globe."
The summit was also designed to meet the "need for religious reformations, to develop more unified and synergistic efforts to affirmatively engage global issues."
The mission may sound worthy, but such vague guidance can often lead to platitudes substituting for meaningful statements at large conferences. However, that was not what Cahn delivered, as he took a bold stand for the continuing relevance of what he called the unchanging Word of God.
"[A]ll things of this world pass away, but the Word of God endures forever, and thus we must never place our trust or stand on foundations that will crumble to dust," Cahn said. "We must never follow the shifting opinions of man, but the eternal Word of God. We do not change the truth to conform to the world; we conform to the truth and change the world."
Cahn argued the solution to global problems and world conflict could only be found by following the teachings of Jesus Christ.
"We must do all we can to be part of the answer, but we must also affirm that the answer does not come from man, but from Him who is the Answer," Cahn explained to the meeting. "We affirm that it is the truth of God's love that produces the works of true healing, true restoration and true peace. And thus we reaffirm that it is our first and highest commission to share, to make known, and proclaim the love of God to all peoples and all the earth as He commissioned us to do 2,000 years ago."
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Christian leader Al Glibert praised Cahn’s courage for defending the truth of the Scriptures at the United Nations itself.
"I was blessed to see how God spoke through him so powerfully and how well it resonated with the attendees at this United Nations meeting," he said. "He spoke boldly that we should not be politically correct but be Godly correct and speak the truth of the Word of God."
Cahn also confronted a subject that has proven extraordinarily controversial at the United Nations – the Jewish state of Israel and the persistence of anti-Jewish hatred in all corners of the world. He called for believers in Jesus to stand together against any rise in anti-Semitism.
"We must love those on every side of every conflict and we must seek the blessing and peace of all," Cahn said. "At the same time, if we claim to be of Messiah, and have no love for His own people, the people of His heart, then we cannot claim to be of Him."
In words especially resonant given the setting at the United Nations, which has so often played host to anti-Israel sentiment, Cahn specifically called on Christians to stand with the Jewish people.
He thundered: "In a world that has proven hostile and dangerous to Jewish existence, those who are called by the name of Messiah must, of all peoples, bring the love of Messiah to those who brought Messiah to the world and fulfill the command of God, as it is written, 'Comfort ye my people, says the Lord – speak kindly to Jerusalem …' and He will bless those who bless them."
Despite the grim realities of Christian persecution, persistent anti-Jewish hatred and the prevalence of Islamic terrorism, Cahn ended on a note of hope and called for believers around the world to trust in God.
"He has given us the power to shine," Cahn said of God. "For we know that the power of God is greater than the world. And that by this power, the power of the Spirit, the power of hope, the power of goodness, the power of faith, the power of love, the power of God, we can do all things and overcome the darkness.
"For when all is said and done, the only thing that will matter is that we did the will of God and we lit up the darkness. No matter what it looks like and no matter what the odds, we must always remember that in the end, the light is stronger than the darkness."
Cahn’s speeches tend to go viral. One suspects his fiery address at the United Nations last week may simply be the latest example.