Shemitah Phenomenon Sets the World Abuzz
On the 14th anniversary of 9/11, we must reflect on what God is saying to our nation through that horrific event and the events since.
Don’t expect the secular to community to even care. Those who dare speak up about God’s judgment find their voices are drowned out or ignored. To listen to the news media, it’s all about the election, the economy, popular culture and the immense social changes happening.
One of the few to connect the dots to a much bigger picture is Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, whose 2012 book The Harbinger illustrates how God is warning America as He warned Israel in Isaiah 9:10: “The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars” (MEV).
Of course this refers to the towers falling on 9/11 and our leaders defiantly saying they will rebuild as Israel did when God sent the Assyrians to attack them in an effort to turn their hearts to repentance. In the destruction of 9/11, an old sycamore tree next to the church where George Washington prayed on his Inauguration Day to dedicate America to God was uprooted. It was replaced with a cedar. The comparisons go on.
Nearly 2.5 million copies of The Harbinger have sold, but the secular media has given it little attention. I believe it is because the book is so far outside their worldview they don’t know how to respond. Yet, it is so well documented they can’t attack it, so they say nothing.
One of the phenomena Cahn cites in The Harbinger is the Jewish Shemitah, which is the year of rest that happens every seven years. The last day of this Shemitah year is also called the Shemitah and happens only every seven years, a little like our Leap Day happens only every four years. It so happened that that the Monday after 9/11 was this Shemitah day, and it saw what was then the biggest drop in stock market history—684 points in one day.
Rabbi Cahn elaborated on this more in his most recent book, The Mystery of the Shemitah, noting the cycles of seven years. It happened again seven years to the day on the Jewish calendar, which is Elul 29. This time it plummeted 777 points, a record that still holds.
If you’ve been reading Charisma or have read Cahn’s book, you know that this Sunday, September 13, is Elul 29—Shemitah. Cahn is quick to say you can’t put God in a box, so there is no certainty another crash will happen. But everyone who watches the stock market knows how jittery it has been and how much it has already fallen during the past few weeks.
One media that did cover this—believe it or not—is the Times of India.
On August 27, a headline blared: “Shemitah, end of Jewish calendar cycle, spooks markets.”
Datelined Mumbai, India, the article began: “Strange are the ways of the market. At a time when billionaires around the world are counting their losses from the ‘Black Monday’ carnage and governments are looking for every available rule in their books to assuage frail nerves of jittery investors, ‘Shemitah,’ a little known biblical term, is keeping market men around the world busy.”
It went on to say: “From U.S. to India, from U.K. to Japan, Shemitah (also written as Shemittah and Shemita) is now one of top-trending terms on Google. On August 24 and August 25, on Google Trends search for ‘Shemitah’ had a score of 100, meaning 10 percent or more of all the searches from that region was for this particular word … Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic Jewish Rabbi and author of the book, The Mystery of the Shemitah is also trending on Google searches.” (Editor’s Note: Our editors did research Google trends to discover “Shemitah” did hit a 100 in the search terms on Sept. 3, but were unable to confirm The Times of India figures. Editors cannot verify that Jonathan Cahn trended that day).
The Times quoted the chief of one of India’s leading brokerages as calling it “scary,” saying people shouldn’t just ignore it and just move on.
What does all this mean? First we know God’s plans and purposes are beyond whether or not the stock market is doing well. But it is interesting to note the cycles repeating that God established in the Sinai with the law about 5,775 years ago.
If you haven’t read The Harbinger or The Mystery of the Shemitah, you need to do so. You can order here online or buy it electronically on your Kindle or other electronic device.
All this shows there is a great deal of interest in this topic. So be sure to share this on social media and keep tuned in to what happens in the markets Monday.
As much as we all want the economy to hum along for all the obvious reasons, we also know our nation desperately needs revival. Is it possible God will use this to get people’s attention to begin a mighty revival and a turnaround for our nation?
Steve Strang is the founder of Charisma and CEO of Charisma Media. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.
