A midair confrontation on an American Airlines flight bound for New Jersey reportedly began with a conversation about faith before escalating so severely that a passenger had to be restrained with duct tape and zip ties.
Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic rabbi and best-selling author often described by critics as a “Doomsday prophet,” said 67-year-old Arthur Layne Lundeen, a former Arizona realtor, allegedly erupted after telling him that “Jesus is bulls–t,” then began shouting racist and homophobic slurs.
“I was the unidentified passenger and I was actually attacked, 30,000 feet in the sky. I was attacked on that plane,” Cahn said Monday in a video posted to YouTube, identifying himself as the person at the center of the onboard incident.
Cahn described the shift in Lundeen’s demeanor as sudden and disturbing. “I have never seen someone change in a split second from light to dark as I saw then, as if something had taken him over,” he said. “He went from the friendliest guy in the world to this dark person.”
Cahn is the leader of the Beth Israel Worship Center in Wayne, New Jersey, which is affiliated with the Messianic Jewish movement. The movement teaches that Jesus is the messiah and is widely viewed as a form of Christianity.
Beyond his ministry, Cahn has built a national profile through a string of controversial religious books. His 2011 debut, “The Harbinger,” connected the Sept. 11 terror attacks with the fall of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, framing the similarities as a divine warning. His 2015 book, “The Mystery of the Shemitah,” warned of a looming global catastrophe, a theme that led the New York Times to label him a “Doomsday prophet.”
According to Cahn, the tension began after Lundeen saw the cover of his latest novel, “The Altar of Pergamon,” during what had initially been a friendly conversation on Thursday’s American Airlines flight to Newark.
Cahn said the discussion turned to “the reality of the real power of god on Earth and in our lives,” after which Lundeen allegedly became enraged, “cursing Jesus” and “blaspheming Jesus and God.”
He claimed Lundeen then started saying, “It’s all bulls–t. Jesus is bulls–t.”
As Lundeen continued his tirade, Cahn said he grew physically hostile, hitting his laptop and trying to take it away from the author as the plane was in the process of making its emergency landing.
“The plane is in shock, the pilot is radioing the ground, for an emergency landing. We’re fighting over my computer,” Cahn said, noting that his laptop screen was damaged in the scuffle.
Passengers soon intervened and secured Lundeen to his seat with duct tape and plastic zip ties. Cahn said one flyer who helped subdue the madman told him, “You were being tested. God was testing you.”
The flight had to make an emergency landing in Baltimore after Lundeen flipped out and allegedly started hurling racist and homophobic slurs at a black flight attendant and attacking other passengers.
Cahn did not say if anything specific about his latest book “triggered” his seatmate, beyond it starting a conversation about religion.
The novel explores the spiritual history of a 2nd Century BC Greek structure which was excavated between 1878 and 1886, connecting its unearthing to historical turning points like World War II, the rise of the Third Reich and end-of-the-world prophecies.
Lundeen is facing state charges of second-degree assault and disorderly conduct. The FBI is still conducting interviews and will discuss the matter with the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland to weigh whether federal charges will be filed.
Long Realty said Lundeen was no longer affiliated with the company after learning of the mid-flight incident. His bio page has since been scrubbed from the company website.
