In his latest, most controversial book yet, The Paradigm, New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Cahn calls for Christians to become modern-day Elijahs. Today’s culture is redefining not only values and morality but also what it means to be a Christian. Cahn urges readers to do as the prophet Elijah did: reject culture’s redefinitions and refuse to be redefined.
The Paradigm details how Elijah was the minority in remaining faithful to godly morality. Cahn emphasizes how those who hold true to God’s Word in the midst of apostasy will have to resist having any dependency on the surrounding culture and its corruptions.
“But as with Elijah, this separation and independence is not to be sought for the purpose of withdrawal but rather for the impacting and engaging of the surrounding culture for God. Only those who are not of the darkness can become a light to the darkness,” Cahn says.
The Paradigm uses the story of Elijah as a template for how Christians can be a powerful and effective light in the darkness. Elijah was labeled as the “troubler of Israel” because his steadfastness in the faith set him at odds with the apostatized civilization. The Paradigm depicts the moral and cultural landscape of that time and how Christians were seen as not only countercultural but also radical, dangerous and even enemies of the state.
Cahn describes how our current society has undergone and is still undergoing a similar metamorphosis of values, normalizing abortion, sexual sin, idolatry and self-worship.
Cahn says, “Just as few in the modern world would ever admit to serving idols, far fewer would ever admit to serving Baal. Yet when a civilization that has once known the ways of God turns away from those ways, it inevitably turns to Baal. The name of Baal will never be spoken; nevertheless he will be served—in one form or another. When a culture of life gives itself to serve the spirit of increase, gain, profit, materialism, prosperity, and self-interest above all things—it has given itself to Baal. He is the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age, the god of increase and materialism, the principle that inhabits and possesses modern civilization.”
The Paradigm offers a message of hope by revealing what Elijah determined was the solution three thousand years ago. 1 Kings 18:30 says:
“Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come near to me.’ So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.”
In the Bible, the destroyed altar had to be repaired before the people could submit themselves to God and break the curse on the land. An altar, upon which a sacrifice is killed, not only symbolizes ancient Israel, but also the spiritual foundation of American and Western civilization. What is our altar? Cahn reveals how our symbol of ultimate self-sacrifice is the cross. And in the present apostasy, the cross has been neglected and broken down.
“A culture obsessed with self-gratification and self-worship will reject that which epitomizes self-sacrifice. … The pursuit of prosperity, success and self-realization has caused the cross to be neglected and broken down as well in many of the houses that bear His name.”
The Paradigm uses this template of the Bible to extrapolate on how to turn away from apostasy and mobilize a true revival. Elijah called the nation to make a decision once and for all about who they will follow. First Kings 18:21 says: “And Elijah came to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.'”
Cahn affirms that America is now at a crossroads between Baal and God.
The Paradigm refers to an ancient blueprint that reveals secrets to modern-day events. In his signature descriptive and precise writing, Cahn exposes shocking parallels between ancient Middle Eastern palaces and the White House, biblical leaders and today’s political figures, scandals from 3,000 years ago and the current controversies on American soil. The Paradigm was released on Sept. 19, 2017, and is published by Frontline, an imprint of Charisma House. Learn more at www.TheParadigmMystery.com
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