Four Blood Moons (21 page)

(Z
ECHARIAH
14:12–13
NIV
)

Zechariah is describing the effects of an intense heat from a nuclear blast. What advances has man made in warfare technology since the time of this prophecy?

For eleven centuries, from AD 9 during the Tang Dynasty through the twentieth century, prior to WWII, the main source of warfare, using explosives, was gunpowder. Then in 1939 the Manhattan Project was born, ushering in the nuclear age with the invention of the atomic bomb, followed by the hydrogen bomb, which can produce 1.5 million degrees of heat in a fraction of second. This is why the Bible describes flesh falling from the body before the corpse can hit the ground.

The world still remembers the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were the only events in history where nuclear bombs were used in warfare. In the book of Revelation, John tells that four angels are going to be released to destroy one-third of the earth's population in one day. Before hydrogen bombs this was not possible! Now the world has enough nuclear power owned by the nations of the world to kill everyone on planet earth twenty times over.

Iran, with its radical religious leadership, has promised to share nuclear weapons with terrorist organizations around the globe. If and when Iran becomes nuclear, it will threaten and destabilize Western civilization. Iran's radical theology worships death, and a nuclear bomb will serve their theological concepts perfectly. It's only a matter of time before the nuclear genie is out of the bottle and a mushroom cloud covers the earth.

We detailed the importance of the Shemittah year in
chapter 3
. In short review, a Shemittah year occurs every seven years; it's known as a time of rest for the land much like the Sabbath, which occurs every seven days, is a time of rest for man. While
observing
Shemittah guarantees abundance,
neglecting
it leads to judgment.

Every seven years we experience a Shemittah year in which God allows something to happen that gets our undivided attention
whether we are ready or not!
Just look at what
happened in the last several Shemittah years:

• The Shemittah year of 1973: The Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade occurred, which has resulted in the deaths of more 60 million unborn babies.

• The Shemittah year of 1980: Saddam Hussein invaded Iran to signal the beginning of the Gulf War years.

• The Shemittah year of 1987: A supernova that could be seen by the naked eye for the first time since 1604 occurred. A supernova is the explosion of a star that has reached the end of its life; this brilliant point of light can briefly outshine entire galaxies and radiate more energy than our sun will in its entire lifetime.
⁴
That same year the U.S. stock market crashed.

• The Shemittah year of 1994: Yasser Arafat returns to the Middle East. A rare earthquake occurred in North America on the New Madrid fault line; it spanned the Midwest of the United States up to Canada.

• The Shemittah year of 2001: America was attacked by radical Islamic terrorists killing nearly three thousand Americans on 9/11. This day became America's new day of infamy.

• The Shemittah year of 2008: America experienced a stock market crash on September 29 when the market fell 777 points in one day. It was the greatest one-day decline in the history of Wall Street.

Add seven years to 2008, and you have the year 2015, in which you also find the last two Four Blood Moons of 2014–15. Remember, God does everything at a “set time” (Psalm 102:13).

We know that only three Tetrads have occurred in the last 500 years that are significant to Israel and also fall on the Jewish Feasts. We also know that these are the only Tetrads that have had a total solar eclipse somewhere within the series. The coming Tetrad in 2014–15 will also contain a total solar eclipse within its series. But what is different between the previous three Tetrads significant to Israel and the coming Tetrad?

Unlike the others, this series of Four Blood Moons contains a Shemittah year beginning September 25, 2014, and concluding on September 13, 2015. Astoundingly, this Shemittah year will begin on the first day of the Jewish New Year (Feast of Trumpets) of 2014 and conclude on the following celebration of the Jewish New Year (Feast of Trumpets) in 2015. Follow this phenomenon:

• The occurrence of a lunar eclipse is common.

• The occurrence of a total lunar eclipse is less common.

• The occurrence of a Tetrad or four consecutive Blood Moons (total lunar eclipses) is rare.

• The occurrence of a Tetrad with a total solar eclipse within its series is very rare.

• A Tetrad with a total solar eclipse that is significant to
Israel's history and the Jewish Feasts is very, very rare.

• The occurrence of a Tetrad with a total solar eclipse historically significant to Israel and Jewish Feasts that includes a Shemittah year within its series is very, very,
very
rare.

•
But
a Tetrad with a total solar eclipse, historically significant to Israel and falling on the Jewish Feasts with a Shemittah year that corresponds with the Feast of Trumpets (the Jewish New Year) within its series is
astronomically rare!

Say to the Israelites: “On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present a food offering to the L
ORD
.”

(L
EVITICUS
23:24–25
NIV
)

Rosh Hashanah occurs on the first and second days of Tishri. In Hebrew,
Rosh Hashanah
means “head of the year” or “first of the year.” Rosh Hashanah is commonly known as the Jewish New Year and is a time of introspection.

The name
Rosh Hashanah
is not used in the Bible. This holiday is instead referred to in the Hebrew as a day of remembrance or the day of the sounding of the shofar. It is called the Feast of Trumpets. One of the most important observances of this holiday is hearing the sound of the shofar (a ram's horn that sounds like a trumpet) in the synagogue. Some believe that the blowing of the trumpet is the call to repentance. Religious services for the holiday focus on the concept of God's sovereignty.

Another practice of the holiday is Tashlikh (“casting off”). Some of those observing this feast will walk through flowing water, such as a creek or river, on the afternoon of the first day and empty their pockets into the river, symbolically casting off their sins. The Shemittah year and Feast of Tabernacles begin at sunset September 25, 2014.

These occurrences are not coincidental! 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?

There have been sages within the centuries that have devoted their lives to the study of the Holy Scriptures. They have faithfully watched and waited for the signs in the heavens that God has given mankind. Now let's consider the foresights of one of these pious men, Rabbi Judah ben Samuel.

Rabbi Judah ben Samuel (1140–1217) was a legendary German rabbi of the twelfth century. He was an extremely devout man of God who gave a series of prophecies concerning the future of Jerusalem, all of which came true to the day.

Rabbi Samuel based his prophecies on the year of Jubilee. According to Leviticus 25, one Jubilee period is fifty years, in which during the fiftieth year each person would regain ownership of his or her land. All indentured servants were set free and all debts were forgiven.

The Ottoman Empire (Turks) captured the city of Jerusalem in 1517. Rabbi Samuel prophesied three hundred years previously that the Turks would control Jerusalem for eight Jubilees. Eight Jubilees would be eight times fifty—exactly four hundred years. The rabbi's prophecy came true! The Turks were conquered in 1917 when the British army, under the command of General Edmund Allenby, liberated Jerusalem on Hanukkah (the Festival of Lights), December 17, 1917.
⁵

Rabbi Samuel's next prophecy stated, “Afterwards Jerusalem will become a no-man's land for one Jubilee.”
⁶
Again, one Jubilee is fifty years.

What is the meaning of “no-man's land”? Exactly this: under the British Mandate the Jews were permitted to immigrate to what was then called Palestine, which is today Israel. While a limited number of Jews were permitted to immigrate into the land, they were not permitted to rule themselves; instead they were ruled by the British, who were favorable to the Arabs at the time.

As Rabbi Samuel had prophesied hundreds of years earlier, Palestine was indeed a “no-man's land”! The “no-man's land” prophecy was to end after one Jubilee, which was fifty years added to 1917—making it 1967, the year Jerusalem was reunited with the State of Israel and the Jewish people for the first time in nearly nineteen hundred years.

Rabbi ben Samuel's biblical calculations (Gematria) were purely theoretical; there was absolutely no sign at the time they were given of their fulfillment, for it was three hundred years after his death that the first prophecy would come to pass.

But independent of his yet-to-be-fulfilled foresights, Rabbi Judah ben Samuel's students testified that he was a godly man, a model of abstinence and selflessness who was waiting with a burning desire for the coming of the Messiah. The Rabbi was often called the “Light of Israel.”

If anyone asked him where his wisdom came from he would answer, “The prophet Elijah, who will precede the Messiah, appeared to me and revealed many things to me and emphasized that the pre-condition to answered prayer is that it
is fueled by enthusiasm and joy for the greatness and holiness of God.”
⁷

One of Israel's greatest prime ministers, Golda Meir once said, “Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.” Since the nation of Israel became a state in 1948, they have endured repeated attacks and wars. They have constantly faced the threat of a hostile Arab world that wants to destroy them.

This nation that could fit inside the borders of Lake Michigan with room to spare is surrounded and greatly outnumbered by its enemies. Israel's survival from its inception to the present is surely a result of the Hand of God and the staggering sacrifice on the part of generation after generation of the Jewish people.

This island of democracy in the sea of an Arab-Islamic world sits at the center of constant religious and civil unrest. Just who are Israel's modern-day enemies and what is their current agenda?

Israel's enemies can be divided into two groups: the surrounding Islamic nations that have historically been their opponents in past wars, and radical terrorist organizations formed more recently that are committed to Israel's destruction.

Egypt was the leading nation that fought against Israel in all of her past wars (1948, 1967, and 1973). Outlawed in Egypt since 1954, the Muslim Brotherhood emerged as a political party under a new name—the Freedom and Justice Party. Mohamed Morsi was a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood and chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party. Morsi was voted in as the president of Egypt on June 30, 2012. The following is a quote from the former president:

Either [you accept] the Zionists and everything they want, or else it is war. This is what these occupiers of the land of Palestine know—these blood-suckers, who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs.
⁸

As
Four Blood Moons
goes to press, President Morsi has been ousted from office and placed under house arrest as a result of a “complete military coup” after thousands of Egyptian citizens demonstrated in the streets of Cairo demanding his resignation.

As of July 9, 2013, former Finance Minister Hazem el-Beblawi has been appointed Egypt's new prime minister. Only time will tell if the Muslim Brotherhood will allow the new regime to stay in power.
⁹

Syria has been another opponent of Israel in all her past wars and remains an enemy of Israel to this day. Head of Hezbollah Political Council His Eminence Ibrahim Amin Sayyed laid out “dangers” facing the region, the first being the existence of Israel.

Jordan shares the longest border with Israel with a significantly large Sunni Muslim population. Although Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, the country is constantly under fire from Syria, which backs anti-Israel militants.
¹⁰