WWUTT 524 The Paradigm?

A book was released this past week that just so happens to coincide with where we are in our study of the book of 2 Kings. We'll consider that book and how it's false teaching when we understand the text.

Program Introduction and Study Setup

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky, and greetings all. We continue with our study of the book of 2 Kings, ready for Chapter 11, but before getting there, something actually happened this week that directly coincides with where we are in this study, and I'll tell you what that is here in just a moment.

Recap of 1 Kings and 2 Kings So Far

First a quick recap. So at the end of 1 Kings, Ahab died, and King Ahab met his end exactly the way the Lord said he would. At the start of 2 Kings, Elisha succeeds Elijah's ministry when Elijah was taken up into heaven by a whirlwind, and Elisha performed many great miracles among the sons of the prophets in Israel, those who had not bowed their knee to Baal nor kissed them, and he also did miracles for foreigners.

You have Naaman, who was the general in the Syrian army, being cured of his leprosy in Chapter 5, showing that God is not only God over Israel, he is also God over foreign nations. Elisha didn't just bring great things to the sons of the prophets, he also brought prophecy concerning judgment to Israel for the sinfulness that they were steeped in, the rebellion against God and their worship of false gods.

You had the siege at Syria, in which the people of Israel who were there in Samaria ended up even eating their own animals to try to survive from the siege. In fact, you even had the gruesome account of someone eating their own child because the siege was so terrible.

But then Elisha prophesied relief from the siege, and sure enough, the Syrian army ran away and the Israelites took what the Syrians had left behind. Then in Chapter 8, Elisha prophesied that Hazael was going to succeed Ben-Hadad as king over Syria, but that wasn't great news because Hazael was actually going to bring judgment against the people of Israel, and this caused Elisha to mourn.

Then we read about Jehoram reigning in Judah, Ahaziah reigning in Judah, and then in Chapter 9, Jehu was anointed king in Israel. Now this was while Ahaziah was king in Judah and Joram was king in Israel, and Jehu struck both of them down, he killed Jezebel as he was prophesied that he would do, and he ended Baal worship in Israel, something that Jezebel had instituted.

He killed all of the priests of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, which we read about in Chapter 10. That brings us to the current event that I said happened this week that coincides with where we are in this story, having just finished up Chapter 10 the week before.

Jonathan Cahn's The Paradigm and the Jehu-Trump Analogy

What is that current event? It is the release of a book by Jonathan Cahn entitled The Paradigm. Cahn had been boasting up to the release of this book that it was like the most explosive book that he had ever written.

The Paradigm was the master blueprint to everything that was going on in the world, so what could this Paradigm possibly be? Well, we found out even before the book was released when Jonathan Cahn was in an interview with Dr. Michael Brown on Sid Roth's show Supernatural.

I happened to watch this episode of the show, and it is utterly ridiculous some of the things that Jonathan Cahn is claiming. He says that the blueprint for everything that happens and is going on in the world right now is right here, where we are presently in Second Kings.

Ahab is Bill Clinton, Jezebel is Hillary Clinton, Jehu is Donald Trump. This is exactly what Jonathan Cahn believes is being spoken to us here in Second Kings. And here, I'm going to go ahead and play clips of this show and respond to them.

Here is Dr. Michael Brown filling in for Sid Roth, asking Cahn these questions about his book.

In The Paradigm, you talk about the warrior. Who's the warrior?

So, you have the house of Ahab. If it stays in power, it's going to seal the apostasy. So, something happens. It's going to be a showdown. Someone rises up. In the book, in The Paradigm, he's called the warrior.

And that is... So, he's not just like a kind of quiet... No, no. Not quiet at all.

No. No, no. Not quiet at all by any stretch of the imagination. Peacemaker. He is kind of, no. He is. No, no. He is a warrior. He's not even a politician in The Paradigm. He's a warrior. He's a fighter.

He fights with everybody, okay, in The Paradigm. His name is Jehu. He's zealous. Very zealous. He's very zealous. Some rough edges. He is not gentle at all. He is coarse. He's a fighter. He's fighting everybody.

And he begins this race to the throne. You read, he actually begins a race to the throne. And the Bible describes the race, describes the race as, the word is, crazy. Said he was crazy. He drives crazy.

Yeah. The man drives furiously. It's crazy. But he gets to the throne. Even though it's a crazy race, he gets to the throne.

And then he has a certain zeal for the things of God. Yeah, he has the zeal. Well, he's crazy zeal.

But he's used of God. I mean, he's the most unlikely person. You can't even, the commentaries can't even agree if he's saved or not. But he's being used of God.

And see, that's just silly. Because we know, the scripture states plainly, that Jehu did not love the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. Even though he did some things obediently. He struck down the house of Ahab.

He killed Jezebel. He destroyed the house of Baal and put the priest to death. However, we have this said to us in 2 Kings 10 29, but Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.

That is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and Dan. So Jehu still worshiped false gods. He just put an end to Baal worship in Israel. Then in verse 31, Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all of his heart.

He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin. As I said early on, when we got to the split kingdoms, all of the kings of Israel were unrighteous. There was not one righteous king over Israel.

There were 20 kings in Judah. Only eight of them were righteous. But no righteous kings in Israel. So it's just silly for Khan to say that we don't really know if Jehu was saved or not. He did not fear God.

And it's stated pretty plainly there that he worshiped the false gods, just like Jeroboam had done. All right. So Khan continues on here, connecting Jehu to Donald Trump.

And so what happens is what I'll just I can only touch on some things, but he ends up in a show to show, a showdown against the former queen. So you have the former queen and you had Hillary Clinton. You have the warrior.

You have Donald Trump. Okay. You have. And so now here's the thing, Michael. Here's what I said. I said, if you knew the paradigm before these things, and if I knew the paradigm, I didn't even know if we knew you could have actually foretold all this.

All the polls were saying Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton. The paradigm was saying no.

And there were prophetic words about Donald Trump being like a divine wrecking ball or as you call them, God's chaos candidate. That's like a Jehu. That's Jehu. That's exactly Jehu. It's exactly everything.

Everything, Michael. So the thing is the paradigm was saying no. When the warrior meets the former queen, the warrior will defeat the former queen. It will be a downfall. That's exactly what happens. And there's so much, there are details to this, too.

But so she, so he wins. He now heads to the capital city, Jehu heads to the capital city. Now why does he head to the capital city? To drain the swamp. All right. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.

So Jehu specifically is ending Baal worship, which is what? Is the offering up of children. So even Trump puts as his agenda, we want to dismantle this, which leads to the next thing. And that is that when he goes there, he actually destroys the Temple of Baal in the capital city.

All right. Now the Temple of Baal was built by Ahab, okay. And so what, he starts dismantling the system of killing children. Well that has been, one of the first things Trump did was sign the executive orders to start to try to dismantle it.

First of all, Trump is not doing that. Our tax dollars are still going to Planned Parenthood. That hasn't changed. About the only shining spark in Trump's presidency is that he's nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

That's pretty much it. But nothing is being done to abolish abortion in the United States of America. Trump is not faithful to hardly any of his campaign promises. He's a guy that's full of a lot of hot air.

We knew that when he was campaigning for president. And he's continuing to confirm that with his presidency even now. Of course, Congress shares the blame in this as well. We have a Republican in the White House.

We have a Republican majority in the House and the Senate. And still, tax dollars are going to Planned Parenthood? Absolutely absurd. So no, none of that has come to an end in the United States. But furthermore, Khan makes this connection between Baal worship and child sacrifice.

That wasn't going on here in Israel at this time. We don't see child sacrifice become the sin of Israel until Chapter 16. So that hasn't happened yet. Yes, there's Baal worship, but there has not been child sacrifice.

So there's not being an end put to child sacrifice. That is eisegesis on Khan's part. And especially that whole drain the swamp thing. It doesn't say anything about draining the swamp in Second Kings.

This is Khan imposing what he wants the text to say, not what the story is actually communicating here. All right. Next part of the interview here with Michael Brown asking Khan, so what's our hope supposed to be as we see this paradigm?

If this story in Second Kings is supposed to be a paradigm showing us all of the current events that are happening in the world right now, what is the hope that we're looking forward to?

Hope, Revival, and the Elijah Paradigm

What is coming next? And as you understand this paradigm, do we have hope for the future? Okay.

Okay. First of all, yeah. In the paradigm, there's something called about the days to come. Actually, the paradigm actually, actually converges with the Harbingers because it's the same setting. The first thing what's happened is now is this is a window, according to the paradigm, this is a window like a reprieve where we have a chance for revival.

We have a chance. You know, this depends what we do with it, but there's a whole thing about the future in there. We have one minute to go. So I'm just going to say this. So I'll just say this. So yes, we are at a dangerous period.

There are warnings. There's a warning in the paradigm. Actually, even what Jehu does or doesn't do, but there is also a chance. There is something in the paradigm called the Elijah paradigm, and that is it actually contains the keys for believers right now.

What are we to do? How are we to live? How are we to overcome? How can there be revival? That's in the Elijah paradigm because Elijah's in this, too. And that's the final part. So there is hope. As long as there's God, there's hope.

But it's not. But the thing is that we got to be like Elijah. You know, the days of being in the days of easy Christianity are over. We have to be radical. We have to be bold. We have to be on fire. We have to stand up for the truth.

And God will use it. God will anoint the Elijah's of the day.

Yeah. Elijah is not even in this story. Elijah is the prophet of Israel. Now, of course, things that Elijah prophesied are coming true. But Khan doesn't even mention Elisha, nor does he mention Hazael, whom Elisha prophesied was going to bring judgment upon the children of Israel.

This story does not go well for Israel, by the way. So if this is a paradigm for what's going on in the United States of America, the story is not going to go well for this nation either. And even if there is some kind of revival that sweeps across the land, it's only going to be for a little while before the U .S. falls right back into the same sins and the judgment of God will come upon this nation as it will come upon every nation on earth.

The only way to be saved is to trust in Jesus Christ, turn from sin and worship Christ, the Lord, which Khan never mentions. And unfortunately, neither does Michael Brown in this interview. We're getting caught up in this Elijah spirit.

Where does Christ figure into this picture that we should turn from sin and worship Christ the Lord? This is the only way that we can be delivered from and saved from the wrath of God. It's the only way that revival would come upon the land as well, that we would turn from sin and worship Christ.

And they don't even give that as the solution either. Anyway, so now we're up to 2 Kings chapter 11. I wanted to point all this out because this book, The Paradigm, released on Tuesday, it just happened to be at the same time that we're going through this in 2 Kings.

That's called Providence, 2 Kings chapter 11. Now when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family. But Jehoshibah, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were being put to death.

And she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus they hid from Athaliah so that he was not put to death. And he remained with her six years hidden in the house of the Lord while Athaliah reigned over the land.

Now Athaliah was likely one of the daughters of Jezebel and she showed the same ruthless streak that her mother had. Verse 4, but in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of the Karaites and of the guards and he had them come to him in the house of the Lord.

And he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the Lord and he showed them the king's son. And he commanded them, this is the thing that you shall do. One third of you, those who come off duty on the Sabbath and guard the king's house, another third being at the gate, sir, and a third at the gate behind the guards, shall guard the palace.

And the two divisions of you, which come on duty in force on the Sabbath and guard the house of the Lord on behalf of the king, shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand. And whoever approaches the ranks is to be put to death, be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in.

The captains did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And they each brought his men who were to go off duty on the Sabbath with those who were to come on the duty on the Sabbath and came to Jehoiada the priest.

And the priest gave the captains the spears and shields that had been King David's, which were in the house of the Lord. And the guards stood every man with his weapon in his hand from the south side of the house to the north side of the house around the altar and the house on behalf of the king.

Then he brought out the king's son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony and they proclaimed him king and anointed him and they clapped their hands and said, Long live the king. When Athaliah heard the noise of the garden of the people, she went into the house of the Lord to the people.

And when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar according to the custom and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets.

And did you catch how old he was while all of this was going on? It was in verse 11, but in the seventh year, Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of the chariots and of the guards seven years old. He was seven years old as king when this was going on.

And Athaliah tore her clothes when she saw this and she cried, treason, treason in verse 15. Then Jehoiada, the priest commanded the captains who were set over the army, bring her out between the ranks and put to death with the sword anyone who follows her.

For the priest said, let her not be put to death in the house of the Lord. So they laid hands on her and she went through the horse's entrance to the king's house. And there she was put to death. And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people that they should be the Lord's people and also between the king and the people.

Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and tore it down his altars and his images. They broke in pieces and they killed Matan, the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the Lord.

And he took the captains, the chariots, the guards, and all the people of the land. And they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the gate of the guards to the king's house.

And he took his seat on the throne of the kings. So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword at the king's house. So this is just further judgment that had come upon the house of Ahab and even the descendants of Jezebel.

It's what's being displayed here in this particular story. And remember that Jezebel was also a foreigner. She was not among the people of Israel. Ahab had married a foreigner and many foreign ideas had been adopted by the Israelites.

They were practicing Baal worship, which of course was a god of the pagans that had now been instituted in Israel with temples to this false god being raised up. And so a lot of foreign ideas and concepts, things that God meant for his people to be purified against, to be holy, to be set apart and not have anything to do with the worship of these false gods.

And yet they fell susceptible into all of this pagan worship. These things are now being cleansed from Israel. Well, Judah in this case, because the house of Ahab had infected not only Israel, it had also infected Judah.

And we read about how the house of Baal had been torn down in Israel. And here we read about the house of Baal being torn down in Judah so that the people of Judah could renew their covenant with the Lord, their God.

Holiness, Repentance, and Christ Alone

And then we'll read about Jehoash's reign in chapter 12, which we'll look at next week. So we as the people of God, we need to be the same way. We need to not have anything to do with the ways of this world.

As Paul puts it in Romans 12 to do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We need to be holy and set apart. As Peter put it in 1 Peter, be holy as God is holy.

As Jesus put it in Matthew 5, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. So we're supposed to have nothing to do with worldliness, but devote ourselves to the Lord and love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Christ alone is the giver of eternal life who forgives sin and leads us in his righteousness. And so let us turn from sin. Let us repent, which is truly what repent means. Not to return to our former ways anymore, but devote ourselves fully unto the Lord and live as Jesus lived, worshiping him as Christ and King.

Amen. Let us pray. Our father in heaven, I pray that you would protect your saints from being led astray by irreverent, silly myths like what was talked about by Jonathan Cahn and Michael Brown earlier in this broadcast.

May we instead be devoted to the sound teaching of the word of God, which points us to the stewardship from God that is by faith. The gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of salvation for all who believe trying to see this paradigm and second Kings and how it connects to the Clintons and the Trumps and the Obamas.

What salvation does that bring? What hope does it bring to anybody? Our only hope is in Christ. It is he who delivers us from this world, who transforms our thinking from following the pattern of this world.

And instead, we become kingdom people living for the kingdom of God. We hate our sin and desire the righteousness of Christ and Lord, that's the transformation that we that we pray for that would happen in our lives and would happen in the lives of others that we hate our sin and desire Christ and his righteousness and deliver us from this wicked world.

Deliver us from the fallenness of this world and even the disasters that we see that are going on around us. Earthquake in Mexico City this week, the hurricane that hit Puerto Rico, we see natural disasters happen all the time as a result of the futility that this world has been subjected to because of our sin.

And when we see these things, have it in our in our in our spirits to cry out to Christ all the more come quickly, Lord Jesus. But while we're still here on this earth, lead us in ways that we can help out those who have been affected by these disasters so we can show them the love of Christ and share with them the gospel that there is hope.

There is deliverance from this world, from our sin, from the fallenness of this world and and into an imperishable kingdom that has been promised to those who are followers of Jesus Christ. Lord, restore our our hope and our anticipation of this kingdom in our hearts, turning us from sin and calling us to holy living in Jesus in whose name we pray.

Amen.

This is the protection of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find us on the web at www .utt .com.