Mystery Babylon.

Does it rise again?

You may recall articles we've had on the fascinating bestseller, The Harbinger, by Jonathan Cahn.

This book -- in novelistic fashion -- posits that the passage Isaiah 9:10 grants us an insight into how God judges -- and dismantles -- errant nations.

When Assyrians attacked ancient Israel/Judah, instead of repenting and taking a look inward (instead of regarding the attack as a sign of God's displeasure), Israelites forged ahead and vowed to rebuild what was destroyed, stronger than ever.

Instead of repentance (the attack was a warning, argues Cahn), there was defiance.

When "sycamores" were felled, the vow was that they would replace them with cedar ("erez") trees. They would make their structures stronger. "The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones," says the passage from Isaiah. "The sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars."

This all is rather remarkable when an analogy is drawn with September 11.

Our "bricks" (the World Trade Center) were brought down by foreign assailants (some say al Qaeda originated from the ancient Assyrians of Iraq!) and afterward, like Israel, we vowed to build better and bigger (the Freedom Tower). There was actually a sycamore at St. Paul's Episcopal Chapel near Ground Zero that was knocked over as the towers collapsed, its roots still kept, in bronze, as an artifact of 9/11.

That tree was replaced, uncannily enough, by the "Tree of Hope," you may remember. It was a conifer (or an "erez," from the same genus as the cedar) -- bringing yet another parallel to Isaiah.

With defiance, the U.S. announced revenge, as did ancient Israel (which soon after was destroyed for that unwillingness to repent), and of course, after 9/11, we also attacked none other than Iraq (home of the ancient Assyrians, or at least many of them).

Now, we see a quagmire. Incredibly, our war with Iraq led not to the desired effect of erasing terrorists but a proliferation of them and the mass exodus of Christians (including many Catholics). Christians are being slain unmercifully. The rest are fleeing. There are virtually none left.

Cahn now points out that the "Tree of Hope" was recently removed (last spring) because it never took. It withered. They tried new soil and other remedies but couldn't save it, he points out. He believes this now reflects on a further passage (from Ezekiel 17:10), "'Behold, being planted, shall it prosper? Shall it not utterly wither away.”

“In the Bible,” claims Cahn, “the felling of the cedar, or the destruction of the erez tree, is a particularly stark sign given to a nation nearing the day of its judgment. It is one of several continuing manifestations of what appears in ‘The Harbinger’ – coming true after the book’s release. What these continuing signs signify is that America’s progression to judgment is continuing – if not accelerating. Combine this with the fact that America is indeed continuing on a rapidly accelerating course of apostasy from God and moral collapse – and it comprises an ominous warning: America is approaching a day of judgment.”

For our discernment. A "stretch"? Maybe. But there do seem to be a good number of coincidences. Let us also note that the greatest tragedies of late in Iraq have included those in Mosul -- where, ironically, a Catholic visionary named Dina Basher warned back in the 1990s of coming apocalyptic-like events, including persecution (we can't find out if she is dead or alive, and if alive where she may be).

Dina was from Mosul -- which is right across from the ruins of Nineveh.

Coincidence? (This comes at a time when a Medjugorje seer is suddenly mentioning the "fight against evil" and an alleged Iraqi mystic in the U.S. says she has received her starkest message ever; more on that soon. "The messages are coming to a climax," her interpreter believes.) Despise not prophecy (1 Thessalonians 5:20). But be cautious.

Meanwhile, as for "harbingers," there is also the fact that ancient Babylon is located in the same war-torn nation.

It was Babylonians who exacted the chastisement on Judah while Assyrians (not to be confused with modern Assyrians, many of whom are Christian) over-ran the Northern Kingdom in the Isaiah scenario as chastisement.

The first attack was a warning; when it wasn't heeded, Israel was removed as a nation.

A parallel to 9/11 and our current defiance (and immorality)?

We're careful about getting too "apocalyptic." But there are certain seismic rumblings. There are constant reports of dead fish. There are supposed "blood moons."  There are many people thinking many things. There is drought -- perhaps soon, excruciating dryness, as in the 1930s. There may be a warning in the outbreak (an unprecedented one) of Ebola. Are any of these harbingers?

One can go on. Interesting times. We report; you discern.

It is not cause to fear. It is to marshal us to prayer -- which, domestic or foreign, defeats any enemy.

[see also: Iraq: dark forces?]

[resources: The Harbinger and DVD: The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment]

[Michael Brown's books]

[Retreats: Connecticut and California]

[Footnote: To Medjugorje visionary Ivan Dragicevic August 11, 2014: "“Dear children, also today, I desire, in a special way, to call you to pray for peace. Pray, dear children, for the plans, for my plans for peace. Decide for peace and fight against evil and sin. Dear children, I pray together with you and I intercede for all of you with my Son. Thank you also today for having responded to my call.”

August 2nd, 2014 Message, Our Lady of Medjugorje prays with Mirjana Soldo for the unbelievers:
“Dear children, the reason that I am with you, my mission, is to help you for ‘good’ to win, even though this does not seem possible to you now. I know that you do not understand many things as I also did not understand everything, everything that my Son explained to me while He was growing up alongside me – but I believed Him and followed Him. I ask this of you also, to believe me and to follow me. However, my children, to follow me means to love my Son above everything, to love Him in every person without making differences. For you to be able to do this, I call you anew to renunciation, prayer and fasting. I am calling you for the Eucharist to be the life of your soul. I am calling you to be my apostles of light who will spread love and mercy through the world. My children, your life is only a blink in contrast to eternal life. And when you come before my Son, in your hearts He will see how much love you had. In order to spread love in the right way, I am asking my Son, through love, to grant you unity through Him, unity among you, unity between you and your shepherds. Through them my Son always gives Himself to you anew and renews your soul. Do not forget this. Thank you.”]