NEW YORK – Nearly 12 years after Islamic terrorists attacked the World Trade Center by hijacking two commercial airliners they turned into weapons of mass destruction, Americans are as confused as ever about who is to blame for 9/11 and what their response should be, says the producer of a bestselling documentary that characterizes what happened as an effort by God to wake up America to its sins.
"This week we had a court ruling against the owners of the World Trade Center who were suing the airlines for $5 billion – blaming them for allowing the hijackers to take over the planes," said Joseph Farah, producer of "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment," which has been the No. 1 faith movie in the country for 64 weeks. "There's a lot of finger-pointing over 9/11, but very little introspection, very little prayer, very little repentance for our own national rejection of God."
What does America’s drift from God have to do with 9/11?
"The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment" is a documentary adaption of Jonathan Cahn's "The Harbinger," the No. 1 Christian book of 2012 and 2013 – a title that has been on the New York Times bestsellers list every week since its release in January 2012.
Meanwhile, "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment" has been atop Amazon's bestselling faith movies for 64 weeks since its release in March 2012. It has also ranked among the top documentaries of all kinds for that same period.
"The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment" makes the case that the devastating attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, represented the same kind of limited judgment by God experienced by ancient Israel as reflected in the Book of Isaiah. Even more remarkable – and documented in the movie – were the similarities of response by American leaders to those of ancient Israel in Isaiah 9:10.
Most notably, the very next day, Sept. 12, 2001, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle delivered an address to a joint session of Congress in which he actually cited and quoted Isaiah 9:10 – explaining, "That is what we will do. We will rebuild."
On the fourth anniversary of 9/11, Sen. John Edwards, a candidate for vice president at the time, delivered a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus, framing his entire address around Isaiah 9:10.
Later, in his first State of the Union Address, Barack Obama framed his speech around the theme: "We will rebuild. We will recover."
All of the American leaders think they are bringing words of comfort to the people, but they are in fact reciting an ancient curse of judgment as uttered by Israel's leaders in their defiance against God.
It seemed like a natural reaction of public officials.
But the point of the bestselling Christian book of 2012 and the bestselling faith movie is that America is re-enacting an ancient drama played out thousands of years ago when Israel's leaders did not repent and turn back to God after a limited strike on the land. Instead, their words are recorded in Isaiah 9:10, proclaiming they would simply rebuild bigger and better. The result was eventually the destruction of the nation.
Cahn recalls the "We will rebuild" comments repeated "like a mantra after 9/11."
"And the subsequent policies that embodied these words would end up leading to the second shaking, the economic collapse," he added.
Both the book and the documentary present a series of remarkable parallels between the judgment of ancient Israel and events impacting America since 9/11.
"The fall of ancient Israel hung on an ancient vow made by its leaders in the wake of God's first warning of national judgment which came in the form of an enemy strike," explains Cahn. "The vow, found in Isaiah 9:10, is the key to the nine harbingers of judgment that foreshadowed the nation's destruction. 'The Harbinger' reveals how these same nine harbingers of a nation under judgment are now reappearing on American soil. Key in this reappearance is the phenomenon of leaders uttering the ancient vow in one form or another. Sometimes the vow occurs in an eerily precise form, as in Tom Daschle's public declaration before the U.S. Congress on the day after 9/11, when he recited the judgment vow word for word. Other times it appears in summary form – a voicing of the vow's central phrase 'We will rebuild.' In the days after 9/11, one finds American leaders voicing these three central words, again and again and again, almost as a mantra. One of those who uttered them was the president of the United States, George Bush."
Isaiah records that Israel had known God and yet turned away from Him. Following a devastating attack by Assyria, rather than returning to God, the leaders declared "with pride and arrogance of heart" a defiant pledge: "The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars." (Isaiah 9:10 KJV).
"The Harbinger" reveals the startling reality that beginning the day after 9/11, several American leaders began repeating that 2,500-year-old vow, word for word, in speeches in the Capitol. In the film, viewers get to see and hear the actual speeches.
"Having no idea what he was doing, the majority leader of the U.S. Senate [Tom Daschle] was declaring America as under the judgment of God," Cahn gives as just one example. "It was the reenactment of an ancient mystery – and bore the most grave of consequences."
"Christians throughout America are using 'The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment,' as the centerpiece of Bible studies and the movie is being screened in churches by the hundreds," says Farah.
"This story is about much more than 'coincidences' and shocking 'parallels,'" explains Farah. "I doubt more than one of 100 Americans recognize even today what the significance of Ground Zero is in American history," he says. "'The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment' shocks audiences when they see that represents America's ground of consecration to God – that is it the very site where George Washington, in his very first official action as the new president, dedicated America to God. He even prophesied, if you will, that America would be blessed if it remained faithful and would be judged if it did not. In other words, the 9/11 Ground Zero site represents America's ground of consecration every bit as much as Solomon's Temple represented the consecration ground of ancient Israel."
You won't see this movie on television.
You won't see this movie in theaters.
You can't even see it on digital downloads
You can only see it in your homes and churches by getting the two-DVD package, "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment," as hundreds of thousands of Americans already have.
See the trailer: