The Altar of Pergamon, Part 2

Dr. James Dobson: You’re listening to Family Talk, the radio broadcasting division of the James Dobson Family Institute. I am that James Dobson, and I’m so pleased that you’ve joined us today.
Roger Marsh: Well, welcome back to Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, the voice you trust for the family you love. My name is Roger Marsh, and our special guest again today is Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. He has written 10 best-selling books; they’re all New York Times bestsellers. His 11th book is a slightly different take on his writing style. In the past, he’s written non-fiction books. This one comes from more of the storytelling approach, and it’s a book that is just now out as I mentioned. If you like *The Harbinger*, you are going to be absolutely fascinated with his newest book called *The Altar of Pergamon*. It’s where the Apostle John describes some things that we refer to as the throne of Satan in Revelation 2:13. This is just an amazing work that we have linked up at drjamesdobson.org. Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, welcome back to Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk for part two of this conversation.
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn: Great to be back with you, Roger. The story involves a man who’s a skeptic named Ariel Herzog. He receives this page from a cryptic book he can’t decipher, and he needs the help of a woman named Lara, who’s actually a believer. They’re kind of opponents, but they’re forced together. The journey takes them across the world to Istanbul, Havana, Berlin, and Moscow. At each point, there’s a mysterious person who reveals the next mystery and gives him the next page. At the same time, there’s a force, an agency linked to the altar, that’s trying to stop them. It’s like a thriller, but it’s revealing. We counted 200 mysteries. It’s totally real. One of the reasons why I say that is I’m praying and my hope is not only that it goes to believers, but that people in your life who are not believers or are not saved read it. Give it to them because they’re going to be drawn into the story. It’s like Indiana Jones or *The Da Vinci Code*, but it’s God, and it leads to salvation. That’s really my hope for it.
Roger Marsh: I love the meaningfulness and the purpose that you’ve put into this brand-new book, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. We talked in our opening segment, part one of this conversation, which is up now at drjamesdobson.org, about Adolf Hitler, the Third Reich, and World War II. But this mystery does have a connection to communism, to Karl Marx, and the Soviet Union. Help us understand that connection as well.
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn: For those who didn't hear it, in a quick nutshell, this altar of Pergamon, or throne of Satan, is taken from Pergamon and goes to Germany. Everything happens in Germany. World wars come from Germany. The Holocaust happened. All these things—Hitler, all that. Now, at the end of the war, World War II, Hitler is dead. So there’s nobody owning the altar, but it’s going to pass to another hand. To set the stage with Karl Marx, right now, there’s a resurgence in socialism. A lot of the young are like, "Well, this sounds like a great idea." Well, it’s not. The thing is that it begins with Karl Marx. What people don’t realize is that Karl Marx was born in the land that was going to become Germany. Karl Marx was German. This is the culture that is going to have the altar. By the way, people might think that communism is Russia and the Soviet Union. No, communism came from Germany, the same place that had the altar. So it’s not only Nazism; it’s communism. Karl Marx was raised knowing about Jesus. When he was 17 years old, he wrote a devotion to Jesus, saying how we have to get closer to Jesus. But when he was 18, they sent him to Berlin, which was going to be the place where this throne of Satan was located. A change took place with him that very year, and he started writing strange verses. It’s as if he was taken over. It’s as if the devil was speaking right through Karl Marx. He wrote things like, "A god has taken away from me what I had, and I’ll have revenge." He said that in Isaiah, the devil says, "I will exalt my throne." Well, Karl Marx wrote, "I will lift up my throne to the highest." It’s like the words of Satan. Karl Marx said, "I will bring the world to destruction and I will walk the ruins as a god." He said, "I have this sword," and that the Prince of Darkness has given him this sword. Karl Marx’s favorite verse throughout his life was quoting the demon from *Faust* saying, "Everything that exists deserves to be destroyed." That’s Karl Marx. That’s at the root of Marxism. Marx ended up writing the Manifesto. Nobody read it, basically. Within a short time, he became forgotten. In fact, if it wasn't for something that happened, we would never have heard of Karl Marx. He was forgotten, living in exile as a hermit. There was no movement and nothing. He didn't even talk about the Manifesto. But then something happened that changed everything. It happened at the altar of Pergamon. At the same moment they brought the altar to Germany, which is when anti-Semitism came into the world, there was a resurrection of Marxism in Germany, where the altar was. There are a number of events that caused it that we won’t have time to go into, but it happened with the altar. At the same moment that the altar came to Germany, Marxism was revived there and the Manifesto was re-released. Now it was released in German and for the first time was given the name "The Communist Manifesto." It would become the second-most read book in the world after the Bible. But it all resurrected at that time. At the same moment, one of Marx’s books went to Russia. In Russia, you’ve got a guy named Vladimir Lenin. The key moment was when Lenin became a revolutionary and he came upon the book of Karl Marx. Remember I told you in the last one that when they started piecing together the altar for the first time in Berlin, Hitler was born into the world? Well, in 1889, when they put it together, that’s when Lenin came together with Marx. That was going to change the world. There’s another part of this mystery because there’s another child who was born into the world. He was born as soon as they put the shovels into the earth to start unearthing the altar of Pergamon. When they did that, this other child was born. His name was Joseph Stalin. Now you’ve got Stalin coming into the world with the altar. Hitler came into the world with the altar. He was going to be part of the mystery as well. What happened was Nazism being formed in Germany, but you have communism and Marxism also rising. It’s going to take over the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was going to become the first communist state. A lot of people think that the communists overthrew the Tsar. They never did. The Russian people overthrew the Tsar. But what communism did is it overthrew democracy. Lenin came to Russia when they were about to have a democracy and he overthrew it with communism or Marxism. But the secret story is that it wasn't just Lenin coming. What happened was he was sent to Russia by Germany. It was a plot to send Lenin and destabilize Russia, who was an enemy of Germany at the time. The plot came from Berlin where the throne of Satan was. Even the Soviet Union’s birth is linked to this mystery. When we last spoke, Roger, we left it off where Hitler had just killed himself in 1945. Hitler was in a bunker, and he killed himself. In another bunker in Berlin, something else was hidden. The Nazis hid the throne of Satan in another bunker. You’ve got Hitler in one bunker and the throne of Satan in another bunker. Soldiers came upon this bunker, opened it up, and saw the throne of Satan. Who were the soldiers? They were going to become the new masters. It was the Red Army, and the Soviet Union was going to become the new owner of the throne of Satan. You see literally how history changed according to the passing of that altar from Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union.
Roger Marsh: That is a fascinating statement. I want you to unpack a little bit more because of the connection it has with the whole world, not just the eastern part of the world. Whenever the altar changes hands, a new power shows up. So, take us to 2026. What power is rising right now? Is there a Western connection to this?
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn: Well, it's going to go all the way to where we are right now. In fact, I said it's even linked to the internet. There’s also an American leader who is actually linked to the altar of Pergamon. But let’s lead up to it. The Soviet Union got it, put it on a train, and brought it to Russia. Now think about it. Russia was now the capital of the throne of Satan—the capital of evil in the world once it moved from Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was already linked to the altar, but now when it got the altar, it was almost like it got empowered. Communism owned the throne of Satan and became empowered. Communism started spreading right then. It took over all of Eastern Europe until you had one-third of every person on earth under this evil. Notice there’s a parallel here because every power that gets this object—and now it’s sounding like *The Lord of the Rings*, but it’s real—becomes the center of a war against Christians. Think about it. Nazi Germany hated Christianity. It was pagan; Hitler wanted to destroy it and he hated the Jews. What happened in the Soviet Union? They became the key power against Christianity in the world and against Israel. So it follows where that goes. But there’s another part of the mystery, and that is that we say the word "devil" and people don’t realize there’s a real meaning to that. The word devil comes from the Greek diabolos. Diabolos means the one who divides. What’s going to happen now in the world? If you can divide, you can destroy. If you can divide man from God, you can destroy man. If you divide man and woman, you destroy marriage. So now what was going to happen was the whole world was going to be divided. We call it the Cold War, but it’s actually linked to this ancient mystery. Where did the Cold War begin? In Berlin, right when they came to the altar. Right where the throne of Satan was, the line came and divided Germany, divided Europe, and divided the world. Basically, the Cold War was two camps: one camp that has the throne of Satan and the other camp that is against it. That’s what many of us grew up with. In 1958, the Soviet Union decided for political reasons to send the altar back to East Berlin. This was still communist. The Soviet Union was still controlling the altar. Communism still had it, but the location changed. As soon as they brought it back to Berlin, all of a sudden, everything exploded there. The two superpowers came to a head in the Berlin Crisis. You could have almost had a nuclear war. The enemy, the destroyer, wants to destroy the world. Well, the crisis continued until Kennedy became President. When Kennedy was President, he met with the Soviet Premier Khrushchev. Khrushchev again wanted Berlin; he wanted the Allies out of there. Kennedy refused. Khrushchev built the Berlin Wall. Then there came another Berlin Crisis at what was called Checkpoint Charlie. You had Soviet troops armed facing one side of the wall and American troops armed facing them. It’s the only time it ever happened, and both sides were now prepared for nuclear war. The world came that close to destruction over the throne of Satan right there at the wall. Now let me add another puzzle piece. You can’t destroy the world without the power to destroy the world. So when did that nuclear destruction come into the world, and could that be linked to this ancient mystery from the Bible? It actually began at the throne of Satan, at the altar of Pergamon. It began in Berlin. Berlin is where they split the atom. Two German scientists under Adolf Hitler in 1938 split the atom, and that started the nuclear age. Hitler wanted and almost got that power, but he was kept from getting it, so it went to America. Let me just go back to that mystery. Last time we were saying, "What kind of altar is it?" It’s the altar of burnt offerings. In the Greek, we saw it’s the word Holocaust. What’s the power to totally burn something up? It’s actually a new fire: a nuclear fire. When we use the word "Holocaust" today, it’s only used two ways. One is to refer to the Holocaust of Hitler, and the other is when we say "a nuclear holocaust." Both holocausts came from Berlin and from where the throne of Satan was. So now you’ve got the power to destroy the world. One more thing about this: this is the most dangerous moment in world history, and that is the Cuban Missile Crisis. What happened was the Soviet Union sent missiles to Cuba. America discovered it and Kennedy quarantined the island. They put American ships in the water there. Soviet ships were coming with more missiles. The whole world was preparing for nuclear war. People were going into bomb shelters. They were putting dog tags on their children. If anything went the wrong way, we wouldn't be here today. This is how real this is. But here’s the mystery they won’t tell you. Here’s the secret behind it all, and it goes back to the Bible. It didn't start with those missiles in Cuba. It started because Khrushchev and the Soviet Union were near the Black Sea and they pointed out the missiles that America had put there aimed at the Soviet Union right after the Berlin Crisis. He said, "Okay, we’re going to put missiles right at the doorstep of America." It really started with these other missiles. Do you know where those mystery missiles were that really almost brought the world to an end? They were all standing in the land of Pergamon. Almost destroyed the world from Pergamon, from the throne of Satan. They were all standing in the ancient kingdom of Pergamon. Remember that I said the altar of Pergamon is linked to the god Zeus? In Rome, it’s Jupiter. The missiles that almost destroyed the world bore the name of the god Jupiter. They were the Jupiter missiles.
Roger Marsh: Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, this is amazing. I love the fact that you’ve put this together in such a compelling story as your new book, *The Altar of Pergamon*, which is up at drjamesdobson.org. We have been skirting around the issue of Israel for a moment. Can we wander through that just a little bit? Because obviously, whether it’s the Holocaust and Hitler’s assault on the Jews or Israel’s place in the world and their relationship with the United States and the bond that we have. Talk about the role that Israel plays in all of this because I’m sure there are a lot of people looking at it from October 7th, 2023, on, saying, "Boy, things are really heating up in that region."
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn: It’s certainly the case that the enemy wars against the Jewish people and Christians, those who represent God. He’s been warring for thousands of years. What happened on October 7th totally had the fingerprints of the enemy on it. The world hating Israel. What does the Bible say? The Bible says that Israel has to come back into the world for Messiah to come. Jesus said He is coming, and He’s not coming to New Jersey; He’s coming to Israel. So what would the enemy want to do? He’d want to destroy. If you can destroy Israel, you can stop the kingdom of God and you can stop his defeat. He’s been trying to destroy it. Think about all this. When did Hitler come about? Just before Israel was about to come back into the world. Why did the enemy go crazy? Actually, by the way, this goes back to a mystery that I probably won’t bring up in most interviews, but because you brought this up, I will. The timing of the altar coming back into the world was timed to God bringing Israel back into the world. God started bringing Israel back in like 1870. Refugees started coming back and you follow every event. I do this in the book at the end. Every event, that’s when the altar of Satan comes back. Think about it. It goes to Germany. So Germany is used by the enemy to try to stop it all. If you can destroy the Jews, there’s no coming back. Then who gets it next? The Soviet Union. What did they become? They became the arch-enemy of Israel in the world. Whoever has that, that’s what happens. So actually, this mystery is linked to something very good: the kingdom of God and the throne of God is coming, so Satan brings back his throne to try to stop it. It makes total sense. It’s supernatural, but it’s totally, absolutely logical. We are still in that right now. We are in that fight in every single way. This is going to bring it to where we are now. What happens to the altar after this? In 1989, the Berlin Wall falls. Remember, the altar's there. So all of a sudden, communism loses the altar. So what happens to communism? Well, in Eastern Europe, communism falls. The Soviet Union loses possession of the altar. What happens? The Soviet Union disappears. It’s like clockwork. But on the other side, whenever the altar changes its sovereignty, it signals also the rising of another power. So what power are we talking about now as we head to the future? This has to do with end-time prophecy as well. If the enemy could not destroy the world by dividing it, he’ll seek to possess the world by bringing it together. This is end-time prophecy. This is one world. What actually possessed it? It’s in Germany right now. By the way, they have been keeping the altar hidden for years. They’re going to reveal it in Berlin at the beginning of next year. I didn't plan the book around that; I just found out. We don’t know what’s going to happen here now. But it’s not just Berlin, because Germany is under something else; it’s under what’s called the European Union. So right now, the European Union is ultimately possessing the altar. The European Union is an entity that represents nations coming together as one. Biblical prophecy speaks of some kind of one-world state linked to nations, and many Bible prophecy students see Europe. Europe actually possesses the throne of Satan. What happened to Europe and the West when the altar came there? What’s been happening is it’s been de-Christianizing. We’ve been watching this massive de-Christianization with the altar in Europe and even touching America, because America’s part of the West, too. Which brings us to one thing I promised you. One of the things that’s also bringing the world together is the internet or the web. The web was conceived at the moment the wall came down in Berlin. The moment it changed to one world, that’s when the web was conceived. When Germany became a one nation again and possessed it in 1990, that’s when the web was officially born. Now, in Hebrew, you know that every letter is a number. Well, every time you look on the web, you’ll see it says Worldwide Web: WWW. In Hebrew, the language of the Bible, it’s not WWW; it’s Vav Vav Vav, which is the number six. In other words, 666 on every computer. But I will tell you, there is an American leader who is on the stage right now. It's not Trump. But he’s on the stage and he is actually linked to the altar of Pergamon. He actually went over to Berlin, made a speech calling the world to become one, came back to America, and began his rise to world power. When he was on the stage beginning his rise, they had erected in back of him this massive structure. The structure they erected—I don’t think they knew what they were doing or even realized it—was a replica of the altar of Pergamon, the throne of Satan. This American leader—I’m not going to reveal it. It is in the book. So we are in that, but it’s ultimately a message of hope. I always go to hope. The man goes to salvation in the book. That’s why I’m hoping that, again, people get it for unsaved people as well.
Roger Marsh: Lovely. Wonderful resource to have that’s entertaining, but also very informative for us in the body of Christ. It will no doubt have an impact on unbelievers as well of all different backgrounds. The book, again, is called *The Altar of Pergamon* by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. It’s now available in stores everywhere, and of course, we have a link for more information on it at drjamesdobson.org. Rabbi Cahn, the time always goes by much too quickly. I appreciate your passion and your enthusiasm for these topics. Thank you for investing a little bit of time with us today with our listeners here on Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk. We really appreciate it.
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn: Thanks, Roger. It’s always a joy.
Roger Marsh: What a fascinating conversation today here on Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk. Our guest has been Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, and he connects the dots between ancient mysteries and today’s headlines in a way that really makes people stop and think. His brand-new book is called *The Altar of Pergamon*. It’s a novel this time, but boy, is it a page-turner. If you missed any part of this conversation, or if you’d like to hear today’s program again as well as yesterday’s program, you can find both online at drjamesdobson.org. Or if it’s easier, just type in jdfi.org. Those will take you to the exact same home page. Here at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, our mission is to strengthen families and share biblical truth with the culture, and we can’t do it without your help. We invite you to join our work today by making a gift of any amount, because your generosity helps keep these broadcasts coming to you and other families as well. Give securely at jdfi.org or call a member of our constituent care team at 877-732-6825. That’s 877-732-6825. Well, I’m Roger Marsh, and on behalf of all of us here at Family Talk and the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, thanks so much for joining us today. Be sure to tune in again next time right here for another edition of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, the voice you trust for the family you love.
Roger Marsh: This has been a presentation of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.