THE DAY AMERICA BECAME A NATION - April 30, 1789

THE DAY AMERICA BECAME A NATION

            The first President of the United States, George Washington, was inaugurated on April 30, 1789, in New York City.  Washington, D.C. was not in existence at the time.  New York City was the capital of the nation at the beginning.  This was the day America officially became a nation with a Constitution, Congressmen, and a President.  That morning bells rang in New York City for 30 minutes.  People were to “go up to the house of God to commit the new government to the “holy protection and blessing of the Most High.”[1]  George Washington took the oath of office and gave the inaugural address in Federal Hall on Wall Street.  That afternoon he led members of the House and Senate on foot to St. Paul’s Chapel to pray and dedicate the nation to God.  In his speech earlier, he said, “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself hath ordained.”  This was a prophetic warning, and, sadly, it was fulfilled when terrorists flew two planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001.

            In his book, The Harbinger, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn writes about a revelation he received from God, based on Isaiah 9:10 – “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.”  These were words of defiance spoken by the leaders of Israel (the northern kingdom with the capital in Samaria) when they were first attacked by Assyria.  Instead of repenting for their idolatry that brought on the attack, they uttered these arrogant words.  Cahn saw nine prophetic signs warning of national judgment that Israel did not heed and, subsequently, were destroyed ten years later and the people taken captive by Assyria in 722 B.C.  Now, Cahn says, these same nine warnings, “harbingers,” are reappearing on American soil.

            For instance, the day after 9/11, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, spoke to a joint session of Congress, making a resolution.  This was the first official response to the terrorist attack.  He ended his speech with these words: “I know that there is only the smallest measure of inspiration that can be taken from this devastation, but there is a passage in the Bible from Isaiah that I think speaks to all of us at times like this.”[2] Then he quoted Isaiah 9:10, essentially words of defiance instead of repentance!  How remarkable that Daschle found this obscure verse to quote in this important speech!  He was unwittingly pronouncing judgment on America!  The preceding verses were ignored: “The Lord sent a word against Jacob, and it has fallen on Israel.  All the people will know – Ephraim [Israel] and the inhabitant of Samaria – who SAY IN PRIDE AND ARROGANCE OF HEART:” (Isa. 9: 8-9).  Following the vow, God says, “Therefore, the Lord shall set up adversaries … against him and spur his enemies on … and they shall devour Israel with an open mouth …” (Isa. 9: 11-12).  The defiant vow, then judgment!

            It is even more amazing that the same arrogant statement of Isaiah 9:10 was uttered again by a national leader, Sen. John Edwards, on September 11, 2004, the third anniversary of 9/11!  He was speaking at the Congressional Black Caucus Prayer Breakfast in his campaign for Vice President.  Out of 30,000 verses in the Bible, Edwards chose that verse on which he built his whole speech![3]  Like Daschle, he was unknowingly making a prophecy of judgment on America, repeating Israel’s ancient vow!  This utterance by a national leader would be repeated again by President Barack Obama in his first address to the joint session of Congress on February 24, 2009, giving an answer to the greatest crisis since 9/11, the stock market crash of 2008.  He said, “… tonight I want every American to know this – WE WILL REBUILD.”[4]

            Jonathan Cahn points out in his book that on the very ground where our nation was consecrated to God in 1789 at St. Paul’s Chapel, God brought judgment.  On September 11, 2001, the chapel was at the corner of GROUND ZERO!  He compares it to King Solomon’s dedication of the Temple to God many years before it was destroyed in 586 B.C.  The ground of consecration becomes the ground of judgment when a nation turns its back on God.  The chapel was the ONLY building at Ground Zero that was spared!  And guess what!  The chapel was shielded and saved by a SYCAMORE TREE!  Remember the Isaiah 9:10 vow – “the sycamores are cut down.”  The next part of the verse has also been fulfilled – “… but we will replace them with cedars.”  First the fallen sycamore was taken from the place of its fall and put on public display as a symbol of the calamity.  The root system was also removed.  A bronze structure of the roots was made and set up at the end of Wall Street in the courtyard of the old church, and unveiled on September 11, 2005.  The creator thought it was a symbol of HOPE, but it was really a sign of judgment.  In late November of 2003, a cedar tree was brought by crane and guided down to the appointed spot, all in fulfillment of the ancient vow of Isaiah 9:10!

            Jonathan Cahn’s book is riveting!  The history of Wall Street is given, and as I read, my jaw continued to drop further down.  None of these things are accidents or coincidences.  A merchants association met under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street in May 17, 1792, and signed the “Buttonwood Agreement,” which became known as the New York Stock Exchange.  Can you believe that the buttonwood tree is a SYCAMORE TREE!  The twin towers of the World Trade Center were a symbol of America’s financial power, but the sycamore tree was a symbol of America’s origin and a foreshadowing of the U.S. financial collapse seven years later on September 11, 2008! A living sycamore signifies the rise of America as the world’s preeminent financial power, but an uprooted sycamore signifies its fall.[5]

            A bronze statue of George Washington, our nation’s first President, stands on Wall Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange.  He is a silent witness of the coming economic collapse America may see at the end of the Shemitah on September 13^th.  Jonathan Cahn says that the purpose of his book, The Harbinger, is not to condemn America to judgment but to save her.  Redemption comes through calamity.  St. Paul’s Chapel was the place that Americans ran to on 9/11 to pray. Indeed, churches all over the country filled with people, seeking God in prayer for our nation.  Unfortunately, this did not continue, and now the state of our nation is worse than ever.  As a watchman, I have written this to give warning.  Turn back to God!  Seek His face!  “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land” (II Chron. 7:14).

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[1] New York Daily Advisor, April 27, 1789, quoted in The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn, p. 202

[2] Jonathan Cahn, The Harbinger (Lake Mary, FL: Front Line, Charisma Media, 2011) p. 117.

[3] Cahn, pp. 106-111.

[4] Cahn, p. 260.

[5] Cahn, pp. 147-150.