Blood Moons Rising

From the November 19, 2013 eNews issue
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There has been much talk lately of what is termed the coming “Blood Moons.” We have put off any public comment on this due to our stance of extreme caution on these sorts of issues. In order to have a foundation from which to evaluate what you are hearing, we thought it wise to give you a framework of information from which you can build a perspective. This is in no way designed to be exhaustive.
It seems almost every day we are confronted with yet another prediction that culminates in the “world” getting its just due. Honestly, the world has ended some 20–25 times in the last twenty years. We do realize that some day, possibly soon, it will.

A rational and skeptical approach to the End Times can be healthy and a worthy use of the days we have been gifted with. That being said, we must be careful to not become part of the problem. We are called to be Watchmen, but false alerts are a detriment to the cause of Christ.

Biblically, those that were in error were dealt with in the harshest of manners. what caught our attention about this issue is that although there are timing issues still unresolved, the statistical probabilities involved are impressive.

The Facts of the Matter Are…
The “Blood Moons” that are spoken of are actually four somewhat rare eclipses. Blood moons are not uncommon in and of themselves. They are an astronomical event much like an eclipse. They occur cyclically.

The “blood” effect is from the sun being at just the right angle to project through the atmosphere onto the moon. It is actually more pink than red (unless it is harvest season and there is particulate matter in the air).

There are rarer occurrences when several blood moons occur in proximity. The ones spoken of as “The Blood Moons” are rarer still and consist of two sets of two, a year apart, occurring on Passover (Spring) and Succoth (Fall) in each of the paired years. This has only occurred three times in the last 500 years.

The Dates
The dates are reported as 1492–93. 1948–49 and 1967–68. As you can see these are somewhat momentous occasions. Those that are finding greater meaning in this right now are drawing patterns from the Jews being persecuted to God rescuing them to them being provided a safe haven.

In 1492, of course, the Jews in Spain were just coming out of the Inquisition. God rescued them by their being cast out. They were provided a safe haven by Columbus’ discovery of the New World, which came to house the largest population of Jews by any country in the world.

In 1948 the Jews were just coming out of the Holocaust and God rescued them by having, for all intents and purposes, cast out of Europe. A rightly guilty world provided them refuge as a nation in an area cut out of the deserts of Jordan–Only coincidentally this location was the site of the historic Israel, but only a small portion of it.

In 1967, not only did they win an impossible war against impossible odds and recapture Jerusalem, but they recovered large areas of Judea and Samaria, increasing their borders.

The fourth time in the last 500 years is about to occur in 2014–15. This Spring, April 15th will be the first of the next set of four Blood Moons.

This type of event will not occur for another 100 years.
Coincidentally, President Obama has said there must be a two-state solution achieved by March 15th, 2014. This will include requiring Israel to give up land. In the Administration’s words “there will be” an agreement. Obviously Israel is yet again being persecuted by the world (we certainly, as a country, no longer support them).

There is land that was given to Abraham that Israel doesn’t control yet. Psalm 83 is a reasonable use to achieve that. And we are told that there will be peace (no walls) by the time that Ezekiel 38–39 comes. The approximately 18-month period that is marked by the Blood Moons is an opportunity for the next great leap of the end times scenario. Maybe not the Second Coming, but certainly the Rapture and God finally dealing with Israel.

Can We Be Sure?
We have a saying that has held true for at least twenty years. “If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything.” In these situations, we have to be extremely precise. In fact this type of situation actually supports the idea of a literal fulfillment of prophecy, as opposed to something that has to be “translated” to fit. Anything less than precision opens issues of a prophetic nature to manipulation.

Predictively, when these never come to pass (in our day and time) no one is ever held accountable. Although Israel became a nation in 1948, the actual years of the set of blood moons were 1949–50. It wasn’t until 1949 that the UN recognized Israel as a nation. This is (depending on who you listen to) the same situation with 1492 (actually 1493–94). Both dates actually fall outside the 18-month period. The 1967 event is the only one that falls inside.

The majority of times we have made mistakes in this regard it was by not taking the Scripture precisely enough. Again, we can watch and see if the pattern repeats itself this next year and the following. World events are in place that could quickly lead to Psalm 83 and following. God is very specific in these issues. Small “leaps” to fit the paradigm are a concern and we urge extreme caution.


For Further Study
* Four ‘blood-red’ total lunar eclipses will fall on Passover and Sukkot in 2014 and 2015, the same back-to-back occurrences at the time of 1492, 1948 and 1967
* “The Four Blood Moons” by John Hagee
* BOOK REVIEW: Pastor John Hagee’s “Four Blood Moons”