First, messianic rabbi and author Jonathan Cahn wrote it. Then, he said, he lived it.
Cahn recently wrote “The Altar of Pergamon: The Mystery of the Dark Angel and the Future of the World,” but became part of headlines around the world after he was on a jet with Layne Arthur Lundeen, 67, who ended up being duct taped to a seat after an outburst on the plane.
Cahn, the leader of the Beth Israel Worship Center in Wayne, New Jersey, said that at one point he and Lundeen were talking about religion; the next moment, Lundeen became violent, according to the Daily Mail.
“It was a split second. The change was like unbelievable. It was two hours of friendly, and then in one second it just changed to the most different voice, different faith, different guy. It was as if something had taken him over,” he said, noting that the confrontation grew worse when he showed Lundeen the cover of his new book.
“When he saw the book cover, that’s when he started getting violent. I could only describe what happened as demonic. It was like he was influenced by the dark side,” he said, alleging that the man said, “I’m gonna punch your f***ing Jewish face in.”
An air rage passenger who got duct-taped to his seat says he doesn’t remember a thing. Thankfully, plenty of people took photos so he doesn’t need to pic.twitter.com/IoMhiUi4Kw
— Have I Got News For You (@haveigotnews) September 17, 2026
Cahn said the conflict on the plane mirrored the book, according to the The Christian Post.
Cahn called the book a “revelation about the enemy” in which the protagonist meets a stranger told through a thriller-like story. He said the protagonist encounters a stranger with whom he has a “friendly conversation” that “turns demonic.”
Cahn said the protagonist is put in a chokehold and elsewhere tried to protect his laptop computer, as he did on the plane.
“What’s happening in the airplane is what’s happened in the story,” Cahn said.
Jonathan Cahn says events leading up to ‘duct tape man’ incident mirror latest book https://t.co/7oqlPhCCeB
— The Christian Post (@ChristianPost) September 18, 2026
Cahn noted that the weekend before the flight, he shared a message centered on Ephesians 6:12: “We wrestle not with flesh and blood but principalities in high places.”
Then came the flight.
“I’m literally now wrestling with flesh and blood and… I believe a principality, and I’m in a high place; I’m 30,000 [feet] up,” Cahn said.
Cahn said the spiritual conflict discussed in Scripture is real.
“What the enemy meant for evil God has been using for good,” he said, adding that he is certain what happened to him had spiritual implications.
“God is real, this is real, what the Bible says,” Cahn said. “God has been using this.”
Lundeen, who is from Tucson, Arizona, was charged with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct, according to CBS News.
In a hearing the day after the incident that led to him being duct taped, he told a court, “I don’t remember any of what happened.”
As he was being told the charges against him, he said, “I assaulted a police officer? Is that what it says? I don’t have my glasses.”
After hearing the charges, Lundeen, who said he had two screwdriver drinks on the plane, said, “Oh my God. What a mess… I don’t remember any of it.”
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