(*Note: If you are not familiar with the Blood Moons Prophecy and would like to watch a video explaining the theory you can follow the links at the bottom of the page)
May 19, 1780 is known by historians as
“New England’s Dark Day.” In the midst of the Revolutionary War, nightfall eerily
descended on New England at midday. Farmers were bewildered as birds quit
singing and animals returned to the barns to roost. Families who were in the
middle of eating lunch reportedly had to eat by candle light. A Massachusetts
resident noted that in some places, the darkness was so great that “persons
could not see to read common print in the open air.” Townspeople crowded the
local churches in a frenzy thinking that the Judgment Day was at hand. People
prayed through the night wondering if the sun would ever rise again.
The extent of the darkness was
remarkable. The phenomenon was observed at the farthest regions of New England.
Westward it spread to the farthest part of Connecticut. Southward at Albany, NY
it was observed all along the sea coast. To the north, the land was blanketed
in darkness as far as the American settlements extended. The duration of the
darkness was also disturbing, continuing in the neighborhoods of Boston for at
least fourteen hours.
During that dark day in 1780, the House
of Representatives was convened in Hartford, Connecticut, under the leadership
of its speaker, Col. Abraham Davenport. The Colonel opposed adjourning the
state legislature early, announcing to his men:
I am against adjournment. The day of
judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause
of an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore
that candles may be brought.
For the past two centuries historians
and scientists have argued over the cause of this strange event. Today there
are many theories. Was it the result of volcanic eruption, fire, meteor
strike—or something more sinister? A solar eclipse can be ruled out as there is
a record of when these occur, and they only last for a matter of minutes. There
is no record of volcanic activity in 1780 either, making a huge ash cloud an
unlikely explanation.
Then there were the mystic Mayan prophecies. Predictions that the cosmos would implode and that life as we know it would be squelched out on December 21, 2012 were heralded from books, blogs, and blockbuster films. Again, 2012 came and went with hardly a yawn. History is strewn with the carcasses of prophecies and predictions that never materialized.
You might say we have become obsessed with post-apocalyptic visions of the future. Just look at the films and shows that have been released recently which spell doom and gloom for humanity: 2012, The Book of Eli, World War Z, The Road, The Walking Dead. While the method of destruction may differ—natural calamity, nuclear holocaust, zombie apocalypse—each of those predict the same grim ending: no one is getting out unscathed. Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke observed, “This is the first age that’s paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we might not have one.”
Christians are suckers for this kind of
stuff too. Prophecy buffs are notorious for whipping their audiences into
heightened states of paranoia by drawing obscure passages out of Ezekiel and
Zechariah and connecting them to the headlines. If the price of oil goes up or if
there’s a tsunami tearing up jack, there’s a television evangelist with a
chapter and verse saying, “Look, see here, the sky is falling.” If a nefarious
world dictator wakes up with a bad case of indigestion, some over-caffeinated
blogger who read every book in the Left
Behind series is writing about it.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not making
light of biblical prophecy. I am looking for the Second Coming of Christ. I
adhere to a pre-mil, pre-trib, rapture eschatology. I salivate at the sight of
end-times charts and graphs. I am just as interested in the identity of the two
witnesses in Revelation 11 and understanding the meaning of Daniel’s wild and
crazy visions as the next guy. But sometimes the Christian community tends to
go overboard when it comes to end-times scenarios.
What is the
Blood Moons Prophecy?
Case in point is the recent interest
over the so-called, “Blood Moons Prophecy.” According to NASA, four blood moons
will appear on four Jewish feast days in 2014-2015. In the middle of this
sequence (known in scientific circles as a tetrad), there will be a solar
eclipse. Here are the times of their appearance:
04/14/2014
. . . Passover
10/08/2014
. . . Feast of Tabernacles
03/20/2015
. . . Total Solar Eclipse
04/04/2015
. . . Passover
09/28/2015
. . . Feast of Tabernacles
A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth’s
shadow (the umbra) falls on the moon. If the earth’s shadow completely covers
the moon, it is a total eclipse. These total lunar eclipses are known as blood
moons because when they occur, the moon takes on a reddish hue or blood color.
Astronomers explain that this happens because the earth’s atmosphere scatters out
shorter-wavelength light (green through violet) leaving mostly
longer-wavelength light (red, orange, and yellow) in the earth’s umbra.
So what’s all the fuss about? A few prophecy
buffs, based upon a handful of Scriptures and a few historical facts, believe
that this tetrad of blood moons signals some impending event with Israel, or
perhaps even the end of the age. Some believe that these moons could be the
“final four” warnings for humanity to turn or burn.
Mark Blitz of El Shaddai Ministries was
the first to take the blood moons prophecy to the mainstream market with the
release of his 2008 book and documentary, Blood
Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs. Blitz said in an interview:
I believe that the blood moons have
great historic and prophetic significance just as they did following 1948 and
1967. In the book of Joel it mentions three times about the sun and the moon
going dark and in context it also mentions Divine wrath against all countries
who want to divide or part the land of Israel. I believe the moons are like
flashing red lights at a heavenly intersection saying to Israel as well as the
nations they will be crossing heavenly red lines if they do, and God has more
than a pen and a phone in his hand.
Another fire and brimstone preacher
telling us to look to the heavens is John Hagee, the pastor of Cornerstone
Church in San Antonio, who has championed this view in his recent bestselling
book Four Blood Moons: Something Is about
to Change. He writes:
This is the hand of God orchestrating
the signs in the heavens. The final four blood moons are signaling that
something big is coming . . . something that will change the world forever. But
the bigger question is, are we watching and listening? . . . What they are
telling us is that God is getting ready to change the course of human history
once again. He is preparing to display the next series of signs in the heavens.
In
another interview Hagee said of the blood moons:
There’s a sense in the world that things
are changing and God is trying to communicate with us in a supernatural way. I
believe that in these next two years, we're going to see something dramatic
happen in the Middle East involving Israel that will change the course of
history in the Middle East and impact the whole world.
As you may have already surmised, I am
skeptical of Hagee’s and Blitz’s claims. In my estimation, they have only added
to the hysteria associated with the end-times by cobbling together a few
Scriptures taken out of context and selectively reporting certain aspects of
history. It is my aim in this essay to give a critique of their predictions and
show that their message has some serious flaws.
Why do I feel the need to do this?
Because we are told multiple times in the New Testament to do our homework. No
one wants to be deceived and there is enough bad preaching and false doctrine
leading people astray as it is, so we should be wary of sensationalists who are
all but setting dates for the return of Christ.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 Paul tells
us, “Do not despise prophecies, but test
everything; hold fast what is good.” The apostle John gives a similar
command, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many
false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). Finally, we are to emulate the example of the
Berean Christians in which it is written, “Now these Jews were more noble than
those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if
these things were so” (Acts 17:11).
As a former seminary professor of mine
once said, “Christians don’t get brownie points for being gullible.” I think he
has a point. The American church is known for its shallowness when it comes to
doctrine. There is a tendency to swallow hook-line-and-sinker whatever comes
out of pulpits today, simply because a preacher said it. If you don’t believe
me, just look at how many are wrapped up in the prosperity teachings which promise
believers the ability to simply “name-it-and-claim-it.” We must be more
discerning in the last days as Jesus warned that counterfeits would be on the
rise, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying,
‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray” (Matt. 24:4-5).
Examining the
Evidence
Essentially, the blood moons theory is
built upon four main ideas:
First, God uses the heavens to give
signs to humanity. In Genesis 1:14 we read, “And God said, “Let there be lights
in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them
be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.” According to Blitz and
Hagee, God uses the skies as a billboard to advertise to the world what He is
about to do. Hagee writes, “Therefore based on the Bible, God uses the sun,
moon and stars as signals to mankind. He uses the heavens as a divine billboard
announcing coming events.” So
if humanity is watching the heavens intently with the Bible in their hand they
should be able to discern when God is sending an unmistakable message.
Second, science confirms there will be
four blood moons in 2014-15, each falling on the Jewish feasts of Passover and
Tabernacles.
Third, Scripture mentions the moon
turning to blood in conjunction with the end times. They are as follows:
And I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned
to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the
Lord comes. (Joel 2:30-31).
Immediately after the tribulation of
those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and
the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes
of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory (Matt. 24:29-30).
And I will show wonders in the heavens
above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the
sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the
Lord comes, the great and magnificent day (Acts 2:19-20, *note that in this
passage Peter is quoting from Joel 2:30-31).
When he opened the sixth seal, I looked,
and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as
sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to
the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale (Rev.
6:12-13).
Fourth, historical evidence suggests
that when four blood moons fell on Jewish feasts in the past, significant
events transpired involving the Jewish people and/or their land. According to Blitz
and Hagee the blood moon tetrad in conjunction with the Jewish feasts has
occurred three times in the last five hundred years. These coincidences are as
follows:
·
The
first tetrad occurred in 1493-1494, one year after The Edict of Expulsion of
the Jews was signed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain on March 30,
1492. The edict banned Jews from Spain if they failed to convert to
Catholicism. The year before the tetrad, Columbus sailed to the Americas,
paving the way for the rise of the United States, which became a haven for the
Jewish people from their perpetual persecution.
·
The
second tetrad was in 1949-1950, one year after the founding of the modern state
of Israel on May 14, 1948. Even though Israel was attacked from every side,
they prevailed. The birth of Israel was backed and supported by the United
States and President Harry S. Truman. After this historic occasion the Chief
Rabbi of Israel, Isaac Halevi Herzog, called the White House and told Truman,
“God put you in your mother’s womb so that you would be the instrument to bring
about the rebirth of Israel after two thousand years.”
·
The
third tetrad transpired in 1967-1968. On June 5-10, 1967 Israel fought the
famous “Six Day War” against the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.
The Jewish people turned a bloodbath into a victory and captured the Sinai
Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria,
and they seized control of Jerusalem.
With one tetrad remaining Hagee and
Blitz are certain that a Divine conspiracy of cosmic proportions is afoot. This
unique confluence of science, history, and Scripture fuels speculation that
something significant is about to happen with Israel and/or America in 2015. But
does this argument stand up to historical and biblical scrutiny or are these
guys just trying to sell books?
Scripture
Twisting
The first problem with the blood moons
prophecy is the way that the Scriptures are taken out of context in order to
support the theory. Anyone who attends a reputable seminary or Bible college to
learn how to interpret the Scriptures (also known as hermeneutics, or the
science of interpretation) is taught the first three rules of biblical
exposition: context, context, context!
Understanding context begins with four
principles: literal meaning (what it says), historical setting (the events of
the story, to whom is it addressed, and how it was understood at that time),
grammar (the immediate sentence and paragraph within which a word or phrase is
found), and synthesis (comparing it with other parts of Scripture for a fuller
meaning). As Christian apologist Norman Geisler used to say, “If the literal
sense makes good sense, seek no other sense lest you come up with nonsense.”
This is the golden rule of interpreting the Bible. If passages are taken out of
context, then confusion reigns.
In my evaluation the most fundamental
mistake of the blood moons proponents is that they have taken several
Scriptures out of context and twisted them to fit their argument. We first run
into this when Hagee and Blitz argue that the heavens serve as a “cosmic
high-definition billboard” which advertises God’s agenda to the world. They
base this on an exaggerated reading of Genesis 1:14.
However, if we go back and look at that
verse, it’s simply stating that the sun, moon and stars were created for more
practical purposes, which are as follows:
·
Separation: the sun and
moon are there to divide the day from the night. As the earth spins on its axis
it moves one hemisphere from day to night.
·
Regulation: Along with
marking the passing of days and nights, the sun and moon are there to be “signs
and for seasons and for days and years.” The earth’s rotation on its axis
determines our days. The moon’s orbit around the earth determines our months.
The earth’s rotation around the sun determines our years. At some point during
the earth’s journey around the sun, one hemisphere is closer to the sun and the
opposite hemisphere is farther away.
This accounts for the differing weather patterns of spring, summer,
winter, and fall.
·
Illumination: Genesis 1:15-17 tells us of the two great
lights, “one to rule the day and one to rule the night.”
There is nothing really extraordinary
associated with the regular movements of the heavenly bodies as reported in
Genesis. This passage has nothing to do with God using the sun, moon, or stars
as a means of sending mankind specific messages. I think that Hagee and Blitz
are overstating the real purpose for God creating the heavenly bodies as
spelled out in the creation week. The lights in the heavens are “signs” only in
the sense that they mark off time periods—like the changing of spring to
summer.
Never in the Bible are we told to look
for astrological signs in an attempt to discern future events. Instead, this
practice of astrology is flatly rejected by God, “And beware lest you raise
your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all
the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them,
things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven”
(Deut. 4:19).
The stars, planets, and moons should
awaken wonder at God’s power, wisdom, and infinitude. We should use the stars
to keep track of time and place and to remind us of God’s faithful,
covenant-keeping nature. Anything beyond that is treading into dangerous
territory.
There are also problems with the other
passages which are listed above as evidence of the blood moons prophecy. Let’s
first look at the oft-quoted passage by Hagee and Blitz in Joel 2:30-31. There
are two basic difficulties with using this passage. The first is a timing
incongruity and the second is an issue with selective interpretation.
At the beginning of Joel 2 we are given
a time-stamp which explains when this prophecy will come to pass. The important
phrase comes in 2:1, “Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy
mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near.” Again in Joel 2:11 we
read, “For the day of the Lord is
great and very awesome; who can endure it?”
The Old Testament refers to “the day of
the Lord” nineteen times (Isaiah 2:12, Ez. 13:5, Joel 2:1, 11, 31; Micah 4:5). The
New Testament mentions “the day of the Lord” four times (Acts 2:20, 1 Thess.
5:2, 2 Thess. 2:2, 2 Peter 3:10). If you do an in-depth study into the meaning
of this phrase, you’ll quickly understand that this is a period at the end of
time in which God miraculously intervenes in human affairs. It is a time of
unparalleled natural disasters, judgment, and terror. The events described
during “the day of the Lord” correspond with the same kind of supernatural wrath
and destruction defined during the tribulation period in Revelation 4-19 and
Matthew 24. Remember that the tribulation is a future seven-year period of time
when God will finish His discipline of Israel and finalize His judgment of the
unbelieving world. Therefore, it is safe to say that “the day of the Lord” and
the tribulation period are synonymous terms describing the same cataclysmic time
period when God unleashes unprecedented judgment on the world.
If we pay attention to the context of
Joel 2 then it’s clear that those events will take place during the
tribulation. This becomes a problem for Blitz and Hagee’s theory because the
setting for the sun being darkened and the moon turning to blood will be just
before the Second Advent of Christ, which cannot be in 2014-2015, since we are
not in the seven-year tribulation period that must precede it.
Another problem with Joel 2 is that it
speaks of other astronomical phenomena going on at the same times as the blood
moons. For example, Joel 2:10 adds, “The earth quakes before them; the heavens
tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their
shining.” Obviously, these events are considered to all happen in conjunction,
which is scientifically impossible considering that a solar and lunar eclipse
cannot happen at once. Thus, the events spoken of here are supernatural and
definitely not on NASA’s radar. Notice also that this same prophecy speaks of a
total darkening of the heavens and an earthquake. Hagee and Blitz do not factor
in these other events taking place in 2014-2015. If we are going to be
consistent in our interpretation of this passage then we have to consider all
of this prophecy in order for this to be fulfilled, not just selected parts of
it.
These same problems also apply to
Matthew 24:29-30. First, Jesus appears to be saying that the darkening of the
sun and moon and the falling of the stars will happen at once. If this is
correct then it cannot refer to the blood moons of 2014-2015 for the same
reason that the Joel 2 passage doesn’t fit. The fact that all of these
phenomena are happening at once entails an incredible, once-in-the-history-of-the-universe
event—not a predictable series of eclipses. While there may be a solar eclipse
to occur on March 20, 2015, this will not happen on the same day as any of the
lunar eclipses.
This passage also suffers from a timing
inconsistency. Notice when Jesus says these celestial events will happen,
“immediately after the tribulation of
those days (Matt. 24:29). In other words, these events happen at the end of the
seven years of tribulation. Again, this passage cannot apply to 2014-2015
because we are not yet in the tribulation.
Revelation 6:12-13 also cannot pertain
to the blood moons of 2014-2015 for the same reasons as the other two passages.
The context of this passage is set during the tribulation. Since the blood
moons of Revelation 6 happen as a result of the opening of the sixth seal then
we have to consider the previous five seals. The first seal releases a rider on
a white horse; the antichrist. The second seal unleashes a red horse which
brings worldwide war. The third seal lets loose a rider on a black horse which
brings with it hyperinflation and famine. The fourth seal brings about the
rider on the pale horse which has death and hell behind him. As far as I know,
none of these terrible things have happened yet. Therefore, Revelation 6 cannot
apply to the blood moons of 2014-2015 since the tribulation hasn’t started.
Revelation 6:12-14 also outlines five
other cosmic signs along with the blood moons—a great earthquake, the sun
becoming as sackcloth, the stars falling from the sky, the sky splitting like a
scroll, and the mountains and islands moving. I hate to sound like a broken
record player, but proponents of the blood moons prophecy conveniently ignore
all of these other signs that accompany the moon turning to blood.
Finally, prophecy scholar Mark Hitchcock
points out, “None of the verses quoted to support this theory mentions four
blood moons. The entire blood moon prophecy is based on something that the Bible
never specifically predicts. The Bible does mention the moon turning to blood
in connection with Christ’s return, but it never mentions four blood moons, let
alone four blood moons in conjunction with the Jewish feasts of Passover and
Tabernacles.”
Once in a Blood
Moon
God can do anything He desires with the
world He has made. In fact, He caused an unusual star to guide the wise men to
the Christ child (Matt. 2:2) and He caused unnatural darkness to envelop the
skies of Jerusalem during Jesus’ crucifixion (Matt. 27:45). However, these were
special, supernatural events that coincided with significant moments in the
life of Christ. Moreover, we know that God will cause supernatural disturbances
in the heavens during the tribulation period (Luke 21:25-26). But these are
exceptions to the norm—what we would call miracles.
The problem with claiming that the blood
moons are “special” or “rare” occasions is misleading, since they are phenomena
which astronomers are able to predict with regularity. In fact, the NASA
website has every solar and lunar eclipse that will occur already marked on the
calendar until the year 2050. The
reason they can do this is because the orbit of the moon around the earth and
the orbit of the earth around the sun is constant. Miracles, on the other hand,
are not predictable or even expected. The problem is that the passages the blood
moon preachers cite as evidence for their theory are definitely miraculous in
nature. They report future supernatural phenomena that could not be explained
by science. Therefore, the blood moons of 2014-2015 do not seem to fit with the
prophetic passages cited because they are part of the natural and predictable
order of the solar system.
In a fascinating article published by
creation scientist Dr. Danny Faulkner, he explains how eclipses and even
tetrads are not really as exceptional as Blitz and Hagee would lead us to
believe.
To illustrate the frequency of the
coincidence of lunar eclipses with Passover and Sukkot, consider that there
were 230 lunar eclipses of all types (total, partial, and penumbral) during the
twentieth century (1901–2000) . . . and 39 lunar eclipses in the twentieth
century that coincided with Passover or Sukkot . . . This is about one-sixth
(39/230) of the twentieth-century lunar eclipses, which is what we would expect
because Passover and Sukkot happen in two of the 12 months. Therefore, again,
the coincidence of lunar eclipses with these two observances is more common
than Biltz realizes.
Another glaring problem with the blood
moons prophecy is that it will not be visible to everyone on earth. Concerning
the first blood moon on April 14, 2014, NASA reported, “None of the eclipse is
visible from north/east Europe, eastern Africa, the Middle East or Central
Asia.”
Since the Middle East will not see the first blood moon, that means that
Israel—the nation to which the blood moon prophecies are supposed to be
for—won’t even catch a glimpse. Astronomers say this is true of the second
blood moon as well, on October 8, 2014.
Why is this an issue? Because two of the
blood moon passages that Biltz and Hagee cite are connected with the return of
Christ (Joel 2:30-31, Matt 24:29-30). Scripture tells us very specifically that
when Jesus returns His coming will be witnessed universally, “Behold, he is
coming with the clouds, and every eye
will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will
wail on account of him” (Rev. 1:7). The limited visibility of the blood moon
tetrad works against the idea that something of biblical proportions is about
to happen. Mark Hitchcock adds:
Something can’t be a sign if you never
know about it. Those who maintain that the four blood moons are a portent that
something is about to change need to explain how something hidden to most of
the world, and especially those in Israel, can serve as a dramatic sign of the
times for them. This is a serious problem.
Historical Sleight
of Hand
Blitz and Hagee are also misleading in
the way they report the connection between blood moons of the past and significant
events for the Jewish people. There’s no doubt that in the past noteworthy
events in Jewish history have occurred around the time of a tetrad, but this is
not all it’s cracked up to be.
First, let’s look at the supposed
connection with the tetrads of 1493-1494 and the Great Expulsion of the Jews
from Spain. John Hagee wrote, “The explusion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 was
a world-changing moment. The mantle of prosperity was lifted from Spain and
placed upon the shoulders of an infant nation that would become the United
States of America. God Almighty used the Four Blood Moons of 1493-94 as a
heavenly billboard to mankind.”
There is no doubt that the Edict of
Expulsion was significant for Israel. However, I don’t see how the blood moons
heralded this great persecution since the tetrad of 1493-1494 happened after
the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and the discovery of the New World by
Columbus in 1492. The blood moons can’t be much of a sign to the Jewish people
to get ready for change if they happened after the fact. Something can’t be a
sign of a coming storm if it happens after the event. That sign isn’t much
help—kind of like sounding the fire alarm after the house has been burned down.
The second tetrad of 1949-1950 is flawed
for the same reason. The birth of the nation of Israel in May 1948 was a
prophetic game changer. I personally believe it is the greatest sign that we
are indeed in the last days. Almost every other end-times prophecy hinges in
one way or another on the presence of the Jewish people in their land. This
should not be overlooked. However, the blood moons tetrad of 1949-1950 happened
after the nation was born. Israel’s rebirth occurred on May 14, 1948 and the
eclipses came a year later. Again, something cannot be a sign if it postdates
what it’s supposed to predict.
What about the third tetrad? On June 5,
1967, the Six Day War erupted in Palestine. As previously noted, Israel’s
victory was overwhelming and shocked the Arab world. The first blood moon of
the tetrad occurred on April 24, 1967, a little over two months before the Six
Day War began. The final tetrad of this series happened on October 6, 1968. So
it would seem that this historical example has some validity.
My point is that the historical evidence
for the blood moons prophecy is hit or miss. Hagee and Biltz’s claims are not
as airtight as they may seem. In fact, in a World Net Daily interview Blitz
reported, “We are on the verge of witnessing something historic. This has
happened only eight times over the last 2,000 years!”
Eight times?! I wonder why he is talking only about four tetrads and leaving
the other four out? My guess is that because the four tetrads before 1493-1494
were not connected to anything historically significant in the lives of Jewish
people. Since they didn’t support his theory he conveniently threw them out.
If Biltz and Hagee are really suggesting
that God uses these tetrads as a means of communicating to Israel about coming
events, where were the warnings about the far greater and far worse events the
Jewish people have faced? Why didn’t God warn them about the Holocaust or the
Roman siege in 70 AD? Furthermore, why are some of the tetrads denoting good
events, while others bad events? The Spanish Inquisition right next to the
victory of the Six-Day War? There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.
Conclusion
Please do not misunderstand me. I do
believe that significant things are on the horizon for Israel and the rest of
the world. Bible prophecy declares that times are a changin’ and we ought to be
ready as God’s people if the Lord tarries. However, I just don’t think there is
any connection between Israel’s future and the blood moon tetrads of 2014-2015.
When you place the theory up against scriptural and historic evidence it
withers away into another false prophecy that sounds compelling and will no
doubt send books flying off the shelves.
That being said, I do believe that there
are signs indicating that Christ’s return could be very near. However we still
must confess that we don’t know the specific day, the hour, or the year of His
coming (Mark 13:32) or the Rapture. God’s timetable is not ours. Christ could
return tomorrow or it could be another century. All we can do is be ready for
Him by working, witnessing, and watching. Perhaps the best advice we can take
is from Martin Luther who said we should, “live like Jesus died last evening,
rose from the dead this morning and is coming back after suppertime.”
Video Links:
Mark Blitz on "Prophecy in the News" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32ZkCygd8bE>
John Hagee preaching <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lqk3XdMkDY>
