The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn Read Free Book Online Page A

time of judgment, was drawn into war with Assyria, which is now Iraq.”
    “Yes,” he answered.
    “And now America was drawn into a war with the land of Assyria—Iraq.”
    “But Israel would ultimately discover that the danger it faced could not be solved by the power of its weapons or the thickness of its walls. The real danger was not outside its gates but within them. When the nation turned from God, it lost its protective covering. Apart from a return to God there would be no safety. But by the time they realized it, it would be too late. The chance was lost.”
    He stopped walking and pointed upward to the figure above him on the relief…a giant Assyrian archer.
    “And now, the same sign that signaled the judgment of ancient Israel two and half thousand years before reappears in the modern world—no less dark and no less threatening—the sign of the Assyrian, the attack of the Terrorist.”
    “And what does it mean for America?” I asked.
    “That is the question,” he replied, “isn’t it?”

    With those words I sensed that our meeting was drawing to a close. And I was right. He handed me the next seal—the seal of the Third Harbinger.
    “And what was on it?” she asked.
    “Shapes…unrecognizable shapes.”
    “This one may be a bit more challenging for you,” said the prophet in a voice conveying both caution and sympathy.
    “So help me out,” I replied.
    “A word,” he said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “You’ll need a word to decode it.”
    “What kind of word?”
    “The word that you need.”
    “Do you enjoy being so mysterious?” I asked.
    “It’s not a matter of enjoyment,” he explained. “It’s the nature of the job.”
    “Do you realize you’ve never even given me your name?”
    “Would that make a difference, Nouriel?”
    “No, I guess not. But shouldn’t a journalist know who his source is?”
    “And you don’t know who your source is?” he asked.
    I didn’t answer. I suspected it was a loaded question. He resumed his studying of the ancient figures on the stone relief. I did likewise, but not for long. When I turned again to ask him for something more to go on, he was gone. I looked around in every direction, but there was no sign of him. I was alone again…just me and the Assyrians…in whose presence I was growing increasingly uncomfortable. I left the museum in search of the Third Harbinger. But it would be a search that would lead me to far more than I was expecting.
    “What you do mean?” she asked.
    “It would lead me to the key that would unlock the mystery of all the Harbingers.”

Chapter 6
    The Oracle

    I COULDN’T MAKE ANY sense of what was on the seal. It was some sort of composite shape…mostly rectangles…joined together in a chaotic jumble. I decided instead to focus on the clue.”
    “On the word?” she asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Pretty vague for a clue.”
    “Yes, but it was the only other thing I had to go on. So where do you find words?”
    “In a book?”
    “And where do you find books?”
    “In a library?”
    “So my search took me to the library, the New York Public Library, the one with the two stone lions standing guard outside and millions of books and resource materials inside. I was there virtually every day for weeks, going on any lead I could think of, searching for anything that would match the puzzling image on the seal.
    “And did you find something?”
    “No. But one day I was searching through a book of symbols in the Main Reading Room, sitting on a wooden chair against one of the library’s long wooden tables by the light of a reading lamp, under a massive window and a chandelier. I took a break to look up from the page, and there he was.”
    “The prophet?”
    “Sitting on the other side of the table, directly across from me. Silent…just watching me. I had been so engrossed in the book I never saw him sit down.”

    “How long have you been here?” I asked.
    “A few minutes.”
    “Why didn’t you say