The Sign of the Broken Altar

A Powerful Biblical Symbol Opens Up An Ancient Mystery That Points To The Future Of America

Could one of the most significant biblical symbols signal the transformation of current American culture, just as it did in ancient times?

Could this symbol provide us with answers about the future of America and the key to the blueprint of what to do and how to live in view of what’s coming – how to survive, and stand, and prevail in the days to come?

These chilling questions and more are asked and answered in Jonathan Cahn’s newest blockbuster book The Josiah Manifesto, published by Charisma Media and released September 5.

“This book opens up the stunning mysteries that lie behind the events that are unfolding right now,” Cahn says. “And it gives the key to unlocking the answer, how to stand and prevail in this hour, and in light of what is yet to come. It’s a guide for the end times.”

ALTARS OF THE PROMISED LAND

In The Josiah Manifesto, Cahn reminds us that America is based on the template of ancient Israel, and has followed the same path outlined in scripture. When a nation falls away from God, there is judgement. Cahn reveals that one of the most powerful symbols in this parallel has to do with broken altars.

“When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, it was filled with altars to foreign gods,” Cahn says. “They were warned to have nothing to do with the altars, the gods and idols, the rites and rituals of the Canaanites. They were told: You shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars (Exodus 34:13). So the Israelite’s entrance into the land were marked by the sign of the broken altar.”

But as time went on, Cahn points out, Israel repeatedly turned away from God. As a result, the altars would reappear throughout the land, and children would once again be sacrificed to foreign gods. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel did see times of national repentance, reformation, revival, and would return to God — and when they did, those times were always marked by the forsaking of the gods and the breaking of their altars.

THE VISION

In 2020, Cahn was praying about what book to write next and the Lord put The Return of the Gods on his heart. On the very day he was to announce that new book to his congregation, one of his associate ministers was woken out of sleep at three in the morning with a powerful vision, and he shared it with Cahn.

“He saw me standing in the midst of an arid landscape,” Cahn relates. “Before me were massive objects of light-gray and brown stone. Their tops were flat and wide. They rested on large rock bases, or pedestals. He knew he was looking at ancient altars, objects of worship and sacrifice to the gods.

“He then heard a voice commanding me to speak or prophesy to the altars, to proclaim to them a word from God. I lifted my hand and pointed toward the altars, opened my mouth and spoke. When I finished giving the word, cracks began appearing on the tops of the altars. Then they broke in two, one side falling to the right, the other to the left. Dark, shadowy figures then began emerging from the broken altars—spirits, principalities, gods, demonic entities departing. He then saw waters pouring down from the heavens.”

Cahn’s associate was puzzled by the meaning of the vision. He thought of ancient Israel turning from God and erecting altars on which to offer their sacrifices to the gods. He knew it had to do with what was now happening in America and around the world.

Cahn says, “He had no idea that I had just begun writing a book that would speak of the gods and their altars.”

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE VISION

In the early summer of 2022, Cahn was speaking at a conference in Tennessee, and he finished his book The Return of the Gods in his hotel room on the morning of June 24. That was the exact day the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

When he heard of the court ruling, Cahn remembered the vision that was shared with him. “I was told to speak to the altars of the gods,” he recalled. “When I finished bringing forth the word, the altars began breaking apart. That morning, I had finished bringing forth the word concerning the gods and their altars. And as I did, something colossal had broken. And that would be the key. What was broken on June 24, 2022, was not merely a Supreme Court ruling or even an industry or institution. It was an altar.”

There is no altar of American civilization so brazen as that of abortion, nor had any other American institution ever shed a fraction of the blood shed by abortion. It was the dark towering altar of American civilization, the titanic slab upon which the nation had sacrificed over sixty million of its most innocent and defenseless.

“On June 24, 2022, America’s towering altar was broken open,” says Cahn. “It was unprecedented. It was an ancient sign—a biblical sign, the sign that had appeared again and again in the history of Israel. But now it was manifesting in America, on the national stage, on a colossal scale.”

A CHANCE TO RETURN

In ancient Israel, altars bore witness of a nation that had once known God but turned to other gods. But broken altars signified hope, the chance to return to Him.

“Thus the sign of the broken altar in America now bears witness to a nation that, likewise, had once known God and had likewise departed from His ways,” Cahn writes. “Without that departure, America could never have legalized the act of abortion, much less celebrated it. But the breaking of America’s altar is a sign that the nation is being given a chance to return.’

So, Cahn says, the appearance of the broken altar signals the beginning, the hope, and the chance of civilizational change. It can be the catalyst for cultural transformation, national repentance, reform, and renewal, the overturning of powers, the cleansing of sin and evil, and the return and consecration of a nation to God.

“Will America see national revival, return, and restoration?” asks Cahn. “Its future depends on it. That is the question on which the future of America hangs and that will determine whether that future will be of judgment or redemption. The chance has been given. The window has been opened.”

THE DAYS OF JOSIAH

With that window opened, Cahn goes one step further in The Josiah Manifesto, revealing the ancient mystery that unlocks the answer appointed for our times.

“There is more to the sign of the broken altar,” he says. “It holds the key not only for America, but for all who will seek to follow the ways of God and to live a life of righteousness — no matter which path America or any nation chooses to follow, no matter where or when, or what the future may hold.

And this is where Cahn introduces the key that reveals the answer for this present age and what is yet to come. That key can be summed up in one word…Josiah.

According to Cahn, it is King Josiah from the Bible who opens up the revelation, the answer, the template, the blueprint, and the manifesto for our time. “If these are the days of the broken altar, then these are the days of Josiah,” he writes. “We are living in the Josiah hour, the Josiah moment.”

To give some biblical background, Josiah was born in the royal line of Judah, a descendant of King David, great grandson of the righteous king Hezekiah, grandson of the evil king Manasseh, and son of another evil king, Amon. Upon the assassination of his father, Josiah, at the age of eight, ascended the throne of Judah.

When he was about sixteen years old, he “began to seek the God of his father David”  (2 Chronicles 34:3). At the age of twenty-six, he embarked on a campaign to repair and restore the Temple of Jerusalem. During the restoration work, a Book of the Law was found, and he began to lead the nation back to God. He cleansed Judah of paganism and broke down the altars on which his people sacrificed to the gods.

“The overturning of abortion in America was not merely the breaking of an altar but the breaking of an altar on which ran the blood of children,” says Cahn. “It is Josiah who, more than any other historical figure, is specifically connected to the overturning of such altars.”

Therefore, Cahn warns that this is a crucial time for America. “According to the ancient template, upon Josiah’s death, the judgment of Israel commenced. Less than twenty-five years later, the armies of Babylon breached the walls of Jerusalem. The temple was razed to the ground, the city was left in ruins, and the kingdom was wiped off the face of the earth.”

WHAT ABOUT AMERICA?

“Josiah’s reign took place against the backdrop of judgment,” says Cahn. “The very scope and magnitude of his reforms reveal the depths to which his nation had descended. Had the nation continued in the ways of Josiah after his death, could that destruction have been averted? We will never know.”

But that leads Cahn to ask the chilling question: What about America? “Could the context of the broken altar be, as it was in the days of Josiah, a sign given in the context of coming judgment?” he asks “Could the broken altar of Roe v. Wade represent the last move to righteousness on the part of a fallen nation on the way to destruction?”

Is American being given a last chance? Is the broken altar the key given to us in the present hour? And could it hold a secret, the answer, that which we need to know with regard to the days to come? These mysteries and more Cahn opens up in The Josiah Manifesto.

Jonathan Cahn is known as a prophetic voice to our times. He leads Hope of the World ministry and Beth Israel/the Jerusalem Center, his ministry base and worship center in Wayne, New Jersey. He is a much-sought-after speaker and appears throughout America and the world. For more information go to HopeoftheWorld.com