The Harbinger

Driving to work this morning and flipping through the stations, I heard a snippet of a distinctive voice from my past: James Dobson.  Many years ago Carla and I were devoted followers of Dobson and his organization Focus on the Family.  He was our "go to guy" for family and parenting advice--some of which was good and some of which we now regret.  We diverged from the Focus on the Family path many years ago and had lost track of Dr. Dobson, so I decided to listen in and find out what he is up to.  I do recall that in January 2013, in the wake of President Obama's reelection, Dobson wrote in a newsletter, "Nearly everything I have stood for these past 35 years went down to defeat."

But he is still on the radio and this week Dr. Dobson is promoting a book entitled The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future.  The Harbinger was written by a "messianic" rabbi in New Jersey who lacks formal theological education but claims to have uncovered a "hidden prophecy" in the book of Isaiah which foretells the fall of the United States.  The book extrapolates from two verses in Isaiah (chapter 9, verses 10 and 11) that there are nine "seals" or harbingers of America's destruction which began unfolding on 9/11/2001.  In other words, God cryptically embedded warnings in an ancient Jewish document roughly 2,500 years ago that were intended specifically for the U.S. of A. in 2014 and have just been discovered in the nick of time!  Needless to say, the hermeneutical approach employed is questionable.

The reason, according to The Harbinger and to Dobson, for America's impending destruction is, sin.  The only way to forestall God's imminent judgment is by national repentance.  I'm pretty sure that in Dobson's view this would entail not only sackcloth and ashes but also repealing same-sex marriage rights, turning back Roe v.Wade and dismantling Obamacare.  If Hillary is elected as our next president, we're toast.   

So, this is the same old fundamentalist fear-mongering claptrap, but amped up to a whole new level of nuttiness.  

I'm a bit more optimistic about America's future, but it seems as if Dobson's empire has already fallen.


You can listen to Dobson's program about The Harbinger here:
http://drjamesdobson.org/Broadcasts/Broadcast?i=38802661-9f63-4f7a-a49b-746dafef86af