There’s a tendency to disengage our mind when it seems the herd is stampeding in a particular direction. After all, if you were in a shopping mall and suddenly everyone in the mall started running for all their worth to the exits, screaming and shouting in terror as they went, you would most likely join them and ask “why” after you got outside.
What we see today in Christian circles is a stampede of expectancy for something big about to happen due to the blood moons rising. But unlike the hypothetical stampede in the mall, you have time to think this through, ask some questions, and yes, even pray about it. That ancient, almost forgotten practice of quieting oneself down and communing with God.
One thing I do not wish to do, is malign anyone in the body of Christ for having a different perspective, even if I think it’s misguided. I consider men like Mark Biltz, the man accredited with discovering the blood moon tetrad connection to feast days and significant, even catastrophic events in Jewish history to be a God fearing, Jesus loving, sincere man of God. Other ministers of the gospel have gotten on that track and made this message huge. It is not my intent to ascribe ill motives to anyone. I only wish to respectfully disagree and I will tell you why…
First of all, I want to say that I fervently believe what Genesis teaches, that the sun, moon and stars are for signs or signals and to mark appointed times. In short, they are God’s calendar. The book of Joel and Revelation and other places reference signs in the skies, not the least of which were those signs that led the wise men to Jesus when he was a small child. So, I believe in paying attention to signs in the skies.
But can we put our thinking cap on for a few minutes please?
You’ve heard it said that this blood moon tetrad occurring on Jewish Feast days has only happened 8 times in history and each time has been an omen of some horrible event in Jewish history. Most often cited are the last three that have happened in the last 500 – 600 years. (The previous ones since the time of Christ had no significant events to mention.) By way of review, here they are briefly…
The blood moon tetrad beginning in 1493 and running through 1494 has been claimed as a sign or bad omen for the Jews because of the Spanish expulsion in 1492 when the Jews were forced out of Spain. That was a horrible thing. But here’s the problem. The blood moon warning didn’t begin until the year AFTER the event. “Close enough” only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
The next one to occur was some 456 years later in 1949 – 1950. This “omen” is believed to portend to Israel’s miraculous rebirth in 1948. But remember, the blood moons are supposed to be a “signal” pertaining to Israel, an advance warning. That “signal” began a year late. “Close enough” just isn’t close enough because it comes AFTER the event it is supposedly warning about.
Finally, we have the blood moon tetrad from April 1967 – to October 1968. The six-day war happened in June of 1967, was a miraculous victory for Israel and gave them back Jerusalem. It could be argued this was a sign for Israel, even though it was not a bad omen as is suggested.
But here’s the problem with that…
The signal is a tetrad, meaning 4 consecutive blood moons falling on feast days. There had only been one when the war broke out. Maybe they knew there were more coming, but the other problem was this… Not one of the four blood moons was visible from Israel. Not one. God is pretty good at signals and I’m confident He can make those signals that apply to Israel, visible in Israel. Didn’t happen.
Now fast-forward to this series of blood moons of which today is the third one. I got up at 4 AM this morning and after fumbling in the kitchen, was able to make myself a pretty decent cup of coffee. It was then I remembered the blood moon. Upon checking for the time, I discovered that we miss most of it on the East Coast. That made me wonder whether it would be seen in Israel and like the two from last year, it will not be visible in Israel at all. Hmmm. So if something is about to happen over there, they will not be able to see the signal unless they live around the Pacific like in Hawaii or Alaska.
Then we had this totally rare, once in 100,000 years solar eclipse on March 20th. Surely that had to be a sign to the world because not only was it a total eclipse but it also happened on the first day of Spring and it was on a Friday (beginning of Sabbath). Being a solar eclipse, it is believed to be an omen to the world.
But here’s the problem, unless you live with Santa Clause at the North Pole, the total eclipse of the sun was simply not visible. OK, it was visible in the Faroe Islands and Svalbard archipelago in the Norwegian Sea. Not the best location to announce a signal meant for the whole world. Unfortunately, chances for a clear sky there were pretty slim. It’s hard to imagine a more remote location to place a signal in the sky for the world to take note!
Back to the blood moons…
One dear saint argued on Facebook that these blood moons must be significant because this time we had the Gaza War of 2014 (Operation Protective Edge) and ISIS has emerged doing horrific things. That seems a bit convincing, but let’s step back a bit. ISIS began in 2004, rebranded itself in 2006, was kidnapping and killing en masse in 2011 and 2012. They began long before the blood moons and will continue doing so until they are met with force and stamped out.
Last week, Judy and I were in Israel. On our last day there we visited with a former Israeli military man who spent three years in counter terrorism and still volunteers regularly for service. I asked him about the threat of war. He said he expected war, but that Israel is in a war just about every year and it was not a concern to him.
That got me to thinking about this Gaza War in 2014 during the blood moon tetrad… I did a little research and found that he was in fact correct. (No surprise there) Israel has had a Gaza war in 2012, another one in 2008 and so many other conflicts since their birth that do not coincide with blood moons that are too many to mention. But you can check out this link for a list of Israeli conflicts in succession since 1948. Most Israeli military conflicts are not related to blood moons. Especially blood moons that are not visible in Israel.
Let me be clear…
There will be wars and rumors of wars until Christ comes back. I believe Israel’s enemies are at the gate, so to speak, and Israel will not stand back and let their country be overrun. War is coming to Israel. And I believe Israel will be victorious.
I believe the timing of a big war in Israel can be discerned by a different set of cycles. They are evidenced by events in 1897, 1917, 1947, 1967 and quite possibly 2017. You can research those dates for yourself if you’re interested. But they are not blood moon related.
One thing an orthodox Jew taught me in Jerusalem a couple weeks ago… Jews don’t look at prophecy to see into the future like Christians do. They look at prophecy to explain the past once the prophecy has taken place. The prophecy serves to explain what just happened instead of predicting what and when something will happen. Reminded me of Peter when he said in Acts 2, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.”
I believe when God wants to send a sign for Israel or the world, it will be an obvious sign, not something that you have to be in the North Pole or Hawaii to see. By all means, keep your eyes open. Learn about God’s calendar, but please, please, please, put your thinking cap on before joining the stampede.
Until next time, be fruitful and multiply!
Well spoken my friend! More importantly was the tomb still empty?
Have a very Happy Resurrection Day!
We love you and are praying for you!
Amen! We checked! The tomb was empty. He has risen indeed!
We have gone with the stamede as you call it and are going to stay with them. We are proud to stand with the prophets of God and believe there is GREAT SIGNIFICANCE to these signs in the sky now- no matter where or if you see them. Not everyone saw the star in the East, yet Jesus is Emmanuel (God with us) for all of us. You have not proven a thing. I respect you but cannot agree with you. Not all the other prophets are wrong. These signs are too powerful for us to ignore. Keep thirsty, my friend.
Hi Jane & Ed;
Thank you for your respectful disagreement. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. I agree that not all the other prophets are wrong. In fact, not all the prophets agree on this subject. We probably just don’t agree on which prophets are right. However, I am not taking my lead from the prophets.
In fact, none of the leaders I know of who are championing the four blood moons consider themselves to be prophets. They are pastors who, like me, are anticipating the coming of our Lord and trying to discern the times. I just believe they are not reading the calendar correctly.
That is not an eschatological argument on my part. It is a reasoned argument. When the “facts” that are offered to support a viewpoint are in fact, not facts, then the argument begins to fall apart. I in no way am implying someone is lying or deceiving. I am stating that what I have seen and heard from these precious brothers has some significant factual errors.
Believing factual errors to be true tends to lead one to a wrong conclusion.
All that notwithstanding, I believe we live in some momentous times.
Keep pressing in! (I will too)
I may be speaking a little out of school here. It is a difficult post for me to respond to without writing another post or “book.”
Nonetheless, You have written on this subject more than once…and each time, the logic of your statements were solid enough to encourage me to look further into the subject…yet, I just have not taken the time. I think the reason is that, first and foremost unless I experience a real unction from the Holy Spirit concerning something, I rarely focus much time on it. I do believe in signs in the sky, in the earth and all around us. But not for the same reason many of God’s people do. I see them as signposts of something He has already said…not necessarily an indication that all is lost and the great escape is imminent.
Everything that God has spoken to us has been very meticulously mapped out for us in His word. He tells us what He is doing, what we need to do and how to do it. We have to purposely look into His word to make these discoveries. All of Heaven was downloaded into us when we were born again. He will continue to reveal to us what He has already said and done throughout our life time. He has set us up to win. However, we miss some of the signposts because of ignorance or just plain “not looking.” I am just beginning to understand in 2015 the prophetic words spoken to me thirty years ago. However, those prophetic words were not new. They were already written in eternity by God’s word before He formed me in my mother’s womb. He was simply sending my DNA (destiny) ahead of me so that when I walked into it I would recognize it.
I have a problem with so-called facts that have to be adjusted to become factual. I am not even convinced that the three scriptures that mention the moon and blood in the same sentence are referring to what the Tetrad is referring to. I also have a problem with signs that supposedly point to “an end” that has not been laid out biblically. I have a great appreciation for the sciences, etc…but there are signs written in the scripture that few talk about. Yet, so much time can be devoted to signs that I do not find in the bible, though others can attest to them historically. The birth, death and resurrection of Jesus is both scriptural and historical.
The Magi referred to the star that led them to Christ as “His star.” How did they know it was “His star?”… and it is not clear that others did not see that star. Different signs of Christ’s birth were given to different people up to and including His birth. All did not see or hear of the same signs…yet the conclusion was the same…Christ, the King was born, Christ, the King would die and Christ the King would resurrection…and BECOME resurrection life.
Thanks for your courage. It is a difficult stand when the facts are not factual enough, yet we know there is something…???…Be Blessed!
Hi Joanne;
Thank you so much for posting your thoughtful response! One of the results of my 30/30 challenge is that I find myself being more careful in my communication with others, especially with those with whom I disagree. Not careful in the sense of hesitating to speak the truth (as I understand it), but careful to be respectful and patient, even when I believe they are using terribly faulty reasoning.
The subject is a bit challenging to take on because a lot of folks have really bonded with the teaching and think I am either choosing logic above “the Spirit” or I am rejecting the word of the “prophets”. I certainly believe in the prophetic ministry, but none of the blood moon voices are claiming that mantle. It is being conferred on them because their topic has gained much national attention. So the assumption seems to be, “they are a prophetic voice”. I contend that a true prophetic voice is one that speaks a message birthed by the Lord, not invented by a man, regardless of how well meaning he is.
As you point out, there is not one Scripture that conclusively points to a tetrad as a sign. As I point out, if the tetrads were signs, they either came late (after the fact) or they warned when nothing in fact happened. That reality would suggest they were not signs.
What makes this whole subject difficult for me is that I do believe we are in dangerous times and that we will see and experience unprecedented challenges in the not too distant future. But both World War I and World War II were unprecedented in their scope and destruction. Neither were connected to a blood moon, despite the horrific Jewish holocaust during WWII. We may be staring down the barrel at something worse. BUT, it is NOT inevitable. What if the final battle of Armageddon is not for another couple hundred years?
There is nothing in Scripture that says it must be now. So, rather than prepare our bomb shelters and silence our voices, perhaps the world and thus the church, would be better served if we fully engaged the culture with the preaching of the gospel and better yet, with signs following. Who knows the changes that may occur? Who knows what a third great awakening would look like? I would rather spend my life in that endeavor and be wrong about the timing of His coming, than be right about His coming but when He comes, He finds no one with faith on the earth. (Luke 18:8) The evidence of faith is courageous action, not cowardice or cowering.
What I really liked about your comment was the thought I have never had about Heaven being downloaded when we were born again. I well remember the moment I was born again. When I think of taking a memory stick and inserting it into my computer for downloading, the screen lights up, activity becomes apparent and information I had previously not known appears on the screen. That pretty much happened the moment I was born again. I have been learning what’s on that memory stick ever since! (o-:
God bless you Joanne. Your comments are always welcome!
Thank you, Michael, for your thoughtful and thorough response. My greatest concern with the understanding of the prophetic by God’s people that it is seen as a “cause and effect” ministry. When spoken in the mode of a horoscope our response may be toward the circumstances rather than the truth of God’s word. I am hard-pressed to find places in scripture where God warned of danger or disasters without giving His people a solution or strategy of what to do in the midst of the problem. There are times when there is nothing we can do to stop a problem from coming, but God always has a way to deal with that “mountain” even if it means going “through it.”
Although a prophet is usually seen as one who speaks forth what God is saying, the prophet also has the function of training others how to hear, see and know from the Holy Spirit, themselves, what God has said and is doing and will do. This is the mandate for all of the ascension gifts…to train the people to do the work of the ministry [of each gift].
My pastor always refers to God’s word as deer tracks. The deer is not always on the track. However, if you follow the track you will find the deer. If we will follow the tracks of what God has said, we will see (and hear) what He is saying.
I look forward to hearing the result of your time with Brother Cahn, I, too, believe he is a man of God…and it may be time for some of God’s servants to dialogue and reason together.
Be blessed…
Thought led or Spirit led?
The Holy Spirit is not going to lead to a false teaching or even an honest mistake taught as Truth. in Torah two witnesses are required. Make sure you have the right witnesses: His Word and His Spirit.
His Word and our intellectual capacity doesn’t cut it.
Sometimes, in my experience, YHWH has allowed me to meander in the slippery slopes. It was only to show me how to recognize error, deceit, danger. I’ve come to learn that when I mix the clean, HIs Word, with human teachings, even man-made Christian-theology I got off the narrow path. Distraction is an effective weapon of the enemy. When in doubt, I don’t rely on reason, the enemy is a lot smarter and older than I am. If in His Son I have access to Abba, why ask anyone else?
We are commanded to be aware and look for the signs so that we are not taken by surprise and the inclusion of blood moons in Amos, Joel etc. are not there for anecdotal purposes. A third of the Bible is prophecy I am discovering that when I get rid of Christian Theology, Eschatology and man made theories I am starting to get a different picture of the Times of Jacob’s Trouble.
Bottom Line: Don’t mix the clean and the unclean.
Hi Louis.
Happy Resurrection Day to you my brother!
So glad to receive your comment and your respectful dissenting point of view. I agree with your comment about two witnesses being His Word and His Spirit. In fact, that is probably the point where the blood moon tetrad argument begins to break down. Let me explain…
First of all, nowhere in Scripture, which is one of the two witnesses we both look to, is there even a remote suggestion that a tetrad (a sequence of 4 blood moons) a sign of His coming or even a sign of something consequential pertaining to Israel. That witness simply does not exist.
What we do find in Joel is a reference to the moon being turned into blood. We must assume that to be a figurative expression referring to its coloring. When Peter quoted that same passage in Acts 2, he seems to suggest that all that just happened. But maybe he quoted more of the passage than he meant to suggest was being fulfilled. I suspect Jerusalem had recently witnessed another blood moon.
We do know the sky turned to night in midday at the crucifixion. There may well have been a dramatic blood moon in the days leading up to Pentecost. You can find a list of 1st century lunar eclipses here if you are interested…https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/LE0001-0100.html
For the record, there have been about 2,700 blood moons (total lunar eclipses) in the last 5000 years. There have also been over 100 tetrads in that same period of time.
Another thought to consider… It is not certain that the moon turning to blood is an eclipse. If a mountain is thrown into the sea as prophesied in Revelation 8, that would turn the moon to blood red for more than a few minutes we seen in a lunar eclipse. It would also turn the sun into darkness. That would be a sign of momentous proportions. Something more clearly indicating the imminence of His second coming, than a total lunar eclipse that occurs every 24 months approximately.
Please understand my position is not one that pits logic or human reasoning against the Word or the Spirit. That would be foolish. The tetrad / blood moon focus is rooted in a very loose and inaccurate reading of historical data from NASA. It is not based on Scripture. If anything, it is the very thing you rightly decry… mixing the clean (Scripture) with the unclean (misapplied historical data that simply doesn’t fit the timeline proposed).
I would welcome any Scriptural insights you can offer Louis. I have tried to walk softly with this topic because it is easy to build a bunker around one’s own opinion. I anticipate seeing Jonathan Cahn next week and hope to ask him about some of my concerns. My questions will not be in the form of a challenge but a sincere inquiry to understand what he sees. I realize he is not the blood moon author but he is a proponent of it all and I believe him to be a sincere man of God who I also respect.
Blessings,
Michael
What do you think of the Shimtah that Jonathan Cahn said is this year. He is predicting financial catostrophy. What is your take on that? Just curious. I’ve been told be some believers they believe that’s been every 7 years pointing to 2008. It’s created some confusion for me, because I haven’t gotten a clear word on it, yet they are convinced.
Hi Micah;
I have found that many people who point to every 7 years being a crash of some sort have never actually looked at a 100 year chart of the DOW for example. I have. Most people don’t. You can find one here… https://stockcharts.com/freecharts/historical/marketindexes.html and examine for yourself if it is so.
For some quick insight into this topic, please read an earlier blog of mine here…
https://blog.michaelpink.com/blood-moons-shemita-earthquakes-fact-from-fiction/
It has happened on those dates, but also on other totally unrelated dates. Also some of the 7 year dates were uptrends.
Blessings,
Michael
Thank you Michael. That gave me a lot of peace. There was confusion before. One thing I heard Hilton Sutton say, before he went to be with the Lord, was that the American economy would be strong before the coming of the Lord, because of America’s calling to finance the gospel throughout the world before the return of the Lord. If the Body of Christ weren’t still in America, it would make more sense to me that there would be a huge apocolpytic collapse. However, with the Body of Christ still in America, it’s a restraining force – even in the midst of the wars and rumors of wars.
The main thing behind these negative prophetic message is they play to peoples fears, they don’t quiet ‘add up’, and they seem to come in cycles -trying to put things ‘on hold’. It makes the Lord seem erratic in His behavior, when He is very strategic and, even when His judgements come there is glory and produces a sense of holy awe and the fear of the Lord, rather then ‘a spirit of fear’. The fear of the Lord empowers you, whereas a ‘a spirit of’ is a disempowering force, when yielded to. God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear, but power, love and sound mind. God bless you.
Hi Micah;
Didn’t know that about Hilton Sutton. He used to buy copies of my first book, The Bible Incorporated. There are a lot of negative messages out there that appeal to our own sense of judgment. It somehow makes sense to us that God would want to severely punish America. BUT, there are millions of God fearing, Bible believing, praying Christians on the scene as well.
I have asked God specifically about the two major streams of thought concerning the future of America. On the one hand we have doom, disaster and gloom. On the other hand we have things are going to be rosy. All He spoke to me so far was, “Would you believe Me if I told you?”
Believe you me, I have prayed plenty about that but still don’t know what to expect. As for me therefor, I am going to do my level best to bring people to Christ while I have breath in me.
Bless you my brother!
Michael
Dear Michael,
When you write, “As for me therefore, I am going to do my level best to bring people to Christ while I have breath in me.” I would ask, Where did you get the idea that you have to bring people to Christ? What exactly does that mean, to bring people to Christ? Does it mean to get people born again by getting them to accept Jesus as their personal savior? If that’s what you mean then it seems to me you are following the crowd of evangelical believers who think the salvation of the world is their responsibility. But Jesus knew what was in man. He knew man could not be trusted to preach the gospel of the kingdom until the end times. When Jesus revealed the mystery of the Kingdom of God to his immediate disciples (Mark 4:11-12) using his parable of the sower, he said, “Unto to you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: that seeing they may see and not perceive; and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted,and their sins be forgiven them.
At that time, according to Jesus, only his immediate disciples would know the mystery of the kingdom of God. For all others, Satan would come and steal the word from their hearts lest they should believed and be saved. However St. Paul wrote to Timothy that we should pray for all men because its God’ s will that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. It seems to me that salvation comes only according to God’ s sovereign will and timing. Jesus said, If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. Does Jesus need the help of men who he considered evil? In John 3:23-25 we read about men who believed in Jesus and wanted to crown him king before his God-appointed time. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. (He knew that man had two natures, good and evil like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
David Thompson
Thank you for a well written and researched article. I do believe that you have captured the heart and wisdom of God in this matter. I have found myself in the same place today that I was at in 1999, going against the flow of prophecy and thought in the church. As then, I have found I had no witness in my spirit as I listened to many well know and anointed leaders predictions. However, as a pastor and self employed business man, I have not found the time to research the matter as thoroughly as you obviously have. What you have written does indeed “ring true” in my spirit, thank you again for devoting your time and energies to this matter.
Many Blessings
Kevin
Hello Kevin;
Thank you for posting your thoughts on the matter. I really appreciate you sharing your perspective. There is no joy going against the popular flow. People think you are not spiritual, that you do not respect the “prophets”, that you are relying on flawed human wisdom instead of God’s Word, etc. However, the opposite is true, which is why I raise the issue.
You have a hard row to hoe, being a pastor and self employed business man. May God bless your efforts abundantly my brother!
In Him,
Michael
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