Pastor John
Hagee and Pastor Mark Biltz’s noses are bloodied after the recent four blood
moons episode.
They aroused
the end times passions of millions via their electric four blood moons
prophesies about Christ’s return, significant changes to Israel and probable disasters
upon our world.
Christ has
not returned. Israel exists without any historic shifts. The activities of our
world are rather routine. The prophecies of Pastors Hagee and Biltz are absurd.
Pastor Mark
Biltz claimed that Christ’s second coming may be in the fall of 2015. The fall
season has begun! Should we hope for Christ’s return now?
No one
knows when Christ will return, says the Bible. We should hope for Christ’s
return now and even after fall.
So dump Pastor
Biltz’s prophecy!
Pastor Hagee
authored a bestselling book, “Four Blood Moons – Something Is About To Change.”
Now that this tetrad is done with…what changed?
Was there a
momentous change in Israel during this tetrad? No.
Pastor
Hagee and Pastor Mark Biltz and the other end times prophets will thrive in a
winning situation. Prior to their prophecies attaining fruition, they gained
instant fame and recognition. Wealth accompanies fame and recognition. If they
author a book and if their book is a bestseller - which they were - their wealth
multiplies and image magnifies.
Although their
predictions bombed, flopped and busted, wouldn’t they be termed as false
prophets? Once fame and wealth are in their domain, would they care if their predictions flop?
Would
fellow Christians consider them as false prophets? Some would and many would
not. This is hideous Christianity in its glory!
Pastor
Hagee is a smart man. He had another trick up his sleeve! The trick was to
divert people’s attention to that which appeases them.
How do you
get people to forget the sorry prophecy of four blood moons? You feed their
hungry end times appetite with equally, if not more, exciting prophesies.
When four
blood moons prophecies amounted to nada (nothing), Pastor Hagee authored
another book, “Three Heavens: Angels, Demons and What Lies Ahead.” (I guess
‘four’ didn’t work well for him so he limited his latest subtitle to ‘three.’)
This diversionary tactic has been successful, for this book is also a bestseller.
So let’s
now run behind three heavens! What’s new?!
The bait in
his new book is in the sub title, “…what lies ahead.” Don’t we want to know
what lies ahead from the man who fooled millions to earn millions with his
asinine rambles?
That’s not
it!
Pastor
Hagee now accuses the powers that are in the USA for spearheading the Iran
nuclear deal. Pastor Hagee predicts that this deal will result in a destructive
war - as if Iran and Israel existed peacefully in all these years.
Welcome another
diversionary tactic! Let the people now focus on the Iran nuclear deal and not
the fiasco of blood moons prophecy.
Hagee,
Biltz and all the other doomsday prophets will keep proclaiming their
predictions as long as we bite their baits. We are the culprits!
Intrinsically,
the problem is with us and not them. We nourish their egos and they continue to
bloat, swell and puff up. We are ignorant fools.
We are
ignorant of the Bible. We intentionally remain ignorant. They capitalize on
this humongous opportunity and continue to feed us with incorrect and
inordinate information.
There is a
real danger in these end-times prophecies. These end-times prophecies
deceptively indulge our egos to make us feel like gods.
God alone
knows the future perfectly well. We desire to know our future. If and when we
know our future, we feel like God.
When these (godly)
figures prophesy, the god in us is invigorated. Silently yet effectively, they play
the same card that Satan played with Eve, “For
God knows that when you eat from it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be
like God…” (Genesis 3:5, NIV, Emphasis Mine). We then fall prey to
Satan’s deception,
We want our
eyes to be opened about the future. We want to be like God.
Who
wouldn’t want to get to know the future? Our life and hope is built on our future.
It gives us immense pleasure to know what lies ahead. We feel like God when we
know our future.
When people
predict the future, they seat us on a presumptuous throne of God. Since we love
to be God, we love prophecies. These end times prophecies tickle the god-bone
in us.
If we do
not know our future, we will depend on God. But when we know our future, our need
for God diminishes.
It doesn’t
matter if their noses are bloodied now. They would not worry. They are not
accountable, you see.
They will
continue doing their business. As long as we are gullible, we would keep buying
their prophetic antics. Their business is to continue prophesying for they are
certain of a dogged audience drooling eagerly to devour their predictions.
As long as
we Christians support their ridiculously asinine end times prophecies, the
non-christian world will enjoy and laugh at this farce of a comedy show in
Christendom. Yes, we are those farcical and foolish actors.
When we buy
these incredibly insane prophecies, do you really think that the non-Christian world
will buy the gospel of Christ?
Another
Israel-Hamas conflict that could escalate into full-blown bloodshed; three
flight crashes in a week – Malaysian Airlines MH17, Taiwanese GE222, and Air Algérie
AH5017 that amounted to around 450 fatalities. Is the four blood moons prophecy
coming true?
The four
blood moons prophecy (which had prophesied disaster upon Israel) did not persuade
me to affirm Pastor Hagee and Pastor Blitz’s prophecies. This was stated in my earlier
article.1 However, with conflicts and calamities abounding, do we
need to rethink and affirm the four blood moons prophecy?
Let’s
consider Israel-Hamas conflict, especially the rocket and mortar attacks on
Israel.2 Wikipedia reports 3000+ rocket and mortar attacks in 2008.
Subsequently there’s been a decrease in the attacks through 2009, 2010 and 2011
- 858, 365, and 680 respectively. But 2012 witnessed a huge increase - 234%
& 2000+ attacks. Thus far 2014 has recorded 700+ attacks; a 1500% increase since
last year.
There’s been
an enormous increase (2415++) in the rocket and mortar attacks on Israel in the
month of July 2014.3 The recent mid-June kidnapping and murder of
three Israeli teens (suspected work of Hamas militants) witnessed escalation of
violence in the Gaza strip with the deadliest military operation since the Gaza
war of 2008-09 by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) code named “Operation
Protective Edge.”4
This is
indeed a cause for alarm.
However,
the rocket attacks since 22nd July have relatively decreased. This could
primarily be due to ceasefire agreement and the extraordinary offensive of the
IDF.5
Statistics
cannot facilitate accurate forecasting, but they could reveal a probable
future. If 2008 and 2012 elapsed without larger conflicts, then we could anticipate
a similar 2014. Therefore, if 2014 and 2015 would slip away as 2008 and 2012, then
the four blood moons prophecy would remain unfulfilled.
Furthermore,
only the insane would hope and pray for a bloodier conflict anywhere in the
world, let alone Israel and Palestine. None in their right mind would pray for
war and violence.
If our
prayer and hope is for peace to reign in the Middle East, then we are praying
against the four blood moon prophecy. If peace were to reign in the Middle East,
specifically in Israel and Palestine, then four blood moons prophecy would
remain unfulfilled.
Yet the fourth
blood moon will be on 28th September 2015. So, nothing definitive
can be said about the fulfillment or the nonfulfillment of the prophecy.
Three plane
crashes in a week is agonizing to fathom. Is this a sign of an imminent
doomsday (end of the world)?
151, 600
people die every day6 – some peacefully and some not so. The 450+
deaths due to three plane crashes this week seems insignificant in comparison
to the number of deaths in a day.
An average
person fears death and considers death as a great evil. The great Greek philosopher
Plato, who lived much before the Lord Jesus, ridiculed mankind’s fear of death,
“No one knows whether death may not be
the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that
it is the greatest of evils.”7
Christians fearing
death flaunt an impoverished insight into the Bible’s teachings. The most
famous Psalm 23 urges its believers not to fear death, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no
evil, for You are with me…” (Psalm 23: 4, NASB). Having been seated at the
heavenly realms already (Ephesians 2: 6), the believers of Christ should eagerly
await their death, “But our citizenship
is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will
transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body”(Philippians
3: 20-21, NIV).
Christians condemning death demonstrate their acute paucity of Biblical knowledge. Violence
should be abhorred; not death. Everyone dies at the precise time ordained by
God. No one will ever die before their time. This is the entailment of God’s
sovereignty and justice.
Moreover, because
God is sovereign, loving, good and just, no one would miss out on their
salvation because of death. A just God ensures fair opportunities for every person
to either accept or reject Christ. Christians should understand this truth.
Failure to understand this truth would lead a Christian into a faulty and a
more damaging outlook of life.
Death materializes
variously – at the hospital bed, plane crash, fatality in a war or a violent
situation, or a peaceful death in the presence of the loved ones etc.. Whatever
the case may be, death is inevitable and necessary for mankind.
But that’s
not it.
As long as
this world exists evil will exist, and as long as evil exists violence and gory
deaths will exist. Violence, hence, is not merely the work of evil, but also necessary
for the elimination of evil.
Let’s now draw
a distinction between aggression and defense. The initiator of gratuitous or unjustified
hostility is the evil aggressor. The one who guards against assault is the
defender. The world needs not a gratuitous aggressor. A morally conscientious entity
would seldom be the unjustified aggressor. The evil entity would always be the gratuitous
aggressor.
However, the
realization of an opportune time to eliminate evil is the state in which a morally
conscientious entity becomes a justified aggressor (Romans 13: 4 Cf. Proverbs
25: 26; 1 Timothy 5: 8). Elimination of evil favors the world. The Bible proclaims
a permanent elimination of evil when the Lord returns in all HIS glory to judge
the world.
As much as
death is a necessity, violence is inevitable when evil should be eliminated. Violence
includes gory scenes. As much as we do not desire violence, and as much as we
hate it, and as much as we speak against it, let us be assured of the
prevalence of violence as long as evil exists. Violence is inevitable to
eliminate evil.
We could
argue endlessly about the goodness or the evilness of Israel or Hamas, but the
fact remains that one is good and the other evil. God alone knows perfectly as
to who is good and evil.
Being right
or wrong in our opinion or judgment is insignificant unless we possess an active
and substantial role to usher peace. But the existence of evil entails violence
and war. Let’s be prepared for this eventuality.
The aspect
of violence and war becomes complicated in perceptions. Violence and war are
the entailments of perceptions. Let’s consider Hamas-Israel conflict.
Israel and
Hamas perceive themselves as virtuous. Moreover, Israel perceives Hamas as the
agent of destruction and Hamas requires Israel’s eviction from what it
considers as a forcible occupation of Palestine. In this context, both parties focus
on eliminating their evil enemy, and hence they justify violence and war.
But the fact
remains that both cannot be right at the same time. Either Hamas or Israel is
right, certainly not both. How then would good sense prevail in Israel and
Hamas?
It’s only
through Christ crucified and the cross. It’s at the cross where the Lord Jesus
Christ sacrificed his life to save mankind of their sins. Therefore, either
Israel or Hamas should necessarily sacrifice their desire and earnestly work
towards peace. This is the voluntary or autonomous or a free-willed solution.
Regrettably,
both Israel and Hamas reject Christ. So Christ as a voluntary solution to terminate
this conflict may not be a valid proposition. This is reality.
The other
rational solution is to force one or both parties to submit. But with the world
polarized as it is now, this too seems farfetched.
What then
should we do? We could pray for those in pain that they would experience the satisfying,
comforting and encouraging blessings of the Lord Almighty during their pain and
need. We could pray that God would, in ways that only HE could, put an end to
this conflict.
Outside of prayer,
we could materially and financially bless the needy. But the dilemma is that we
may never know who the recipients would be, whether those suffering or those
perpetrating evil.
We are
living in the last days. The Bible teaches that wars between nations are
inevitable in the last days (Matthew 24: 6b). When the Bible teaches wars are
inevitable, there would be wars, whether we pray for or against them. This is
an existential reality we should learn to live in.
We will
wail with everyone who is in pain, especially gruesome pain. This is reality. But
a world without war and violence will not be a reality.
Habakkuk
pleaded with God about God’s apparent inactivity when wickedness, strife and
oppression were rampant in Judah. When God assured him of the eventual
destruction of evil, Habakkuk rested in God’s sovereign will and waited for
God’s perfect and pleasing will to be done. As Habakkuk hoped and patiently
waited on God, may we hope and patiently wait on God to deliver everyone from
evil:
“Fig trees may not grow figs,
and there may be no grapes on the vines.
There may be no olives growing
and no food growing in the fields.
There may be no sheep in the pens
and no cattle in the barns.
But I will still be glad in the
Lord;
I will rejoice in God my Savior.
The Lord God is my strength.
He makes me like a deer that does not
stumble
so I can walk on the steep mountains.”
(Habakkuk 3: 17-19, NCV)
Come Lord
Jesus, come soon and deliver us from evil. Amen.
Endnotes:
1 My earlier article on
four blood moons: http://rajkumarrichard.blogspot.in/2014/03/four-blood-moons-in-2014-15-christs.html
3 There were 181 rocket
and mortar attacks on Israel from January to June, 2014. But there were 2415++
rocket and mortar attacks on Israel in July. This data is as of 26th
July 2014. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2014)
5 The extraordinary
offensive of the IDF has rendered fatalities of 1000 and injuries to 6000 Palestinians.
“According to OCHA, as of 26 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, over 200,000
Palestinians have been displaced and 165,548 are taking shelter in 92 UNRWA
schools. 1.2 million people have no access or very limited access to water or
sanitation, 120 schools and 18 health facilities have been damaged, 3,333
housing units have been destroyed or severely damaged rendering them
uninhabitable, 3,380 housing units have been damaged but are still inhabitable
and 80% of people only receive 4 hours of electricity per day.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Israel%E2%80%93Gaza_conflict)
6 http://www.ecology.com/birth-death-rates/
7 Written by Plato in
his work “Apology,” (universally known as Plato’s ‘Apology’ of Socrates), p27.
In 2008, Pastor Mark Biltz of ‘Church
For All Nations’ predicted that Christ’s second coming may occur in the Fall of
2015 (his book, “Blood Moons: Decoding
the Imminent Heavenly Signs” is to be published on March 18, 2014). Subsequently
Pastor John Hagee’s book “Four Blood
Moons: Something is about to change” (published in October 2013) seems to
endorse Pastor Mark Biltz’s prediction.
The four blood moon event is creating
considerable interest in certain segments of Christianity that anticipate the
fulfillment of Biblical prophecy about Christ’s second coming or the end times.
The four blood moon event in 2014-15 is also predicted to bring a change / disaster
upon the nation of Israel.
Blood moon is a reference to full
lunar eclipse – the earth in between the sun and the moon. In a full lunar
eclipse, earth’s shadow is cast on the moon so that the red light from the sun
is reflected on to the moon making it appear red like blood - hence the term,
‘Blood moon.’
Four total lunar eclipses in a row
are called ‘Tetrads.’
Significance of
Tetrads Coinciding with Jewish Holy Days
NASA reports the following dates
for lunar eclipses in 2014-15: 1
Table # 1: Lunar Eclipse in
2014-2015
Date
Eclipse
Jewish Holy Days 2
15-April-2014
Total Lunar
Passover
8-October -2014
Total Lunar
Sukkot (October 9)
4-April-2015
Total Lunar
Passover
28-September-2015
Total Lunar
Sukkot
The oncoming tetrad in 2014-15 (row
of four total lunar eclipses) coincides with Jewish high holy days – hence the
connection to the nation of Israel.
NASA has seemingly confirmed the
occurrence of blood moons on the first day of Passover and first day of Sukkot,
seven times on back-to-back years since 1 AD. In other words, tetrads
coinciding with Jewish holy days have occurred only seven times since the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Table #2 describes the dates and historical
significance of the seven tetrads that coincided with Jewish high holy days:
Table #2: Dates & Historical
Significance of Seven Tetrads Coinciding with Jewish Holy Days Since 1 AD
#
Total lunar eclipse
Jewish Holy Days
Historical Significance
1
162-163 AD
Passover & Sukkot
Severe elimination of Jews in 3 years by Antonine
Plague, following the tetrad.
2
795-796 AD
Passover & Yom Kippur (?)
Establishment of a demilitarized zone (DMZ) between
France and Spain, ending centuries of Arab invasions into Western Europe, by
King Charlemagne.
3
842-843 AD
Passover & Yom Kippur (?)
Shortly after the eclipses the Vatican church in Rome
was attacked and looted by an Islamic invasion from Africa.
4
860-861 AD
Passover & Yom Kippur (?)
Shortly after the eclipses the Byzantine Empire
defeated Arab armies at the Battle of Lalakaon in Turkey and stopped the
Islamic invasion of Eastern Europe.
5
1493-1497
Passover & Sukkot
Tragedy: 200,000
Jews expelled from Spain in 1492.
Triumph: America
was discovered in the same year. Today America is the home for more than 5
million Jews (cf. Esther 4: 14à“…relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place…”).
6
1949-1950
Passover & Sukkot
Tragedy: Holocaust
(1933-1945) – murder of 600,000 Jews and elimination of 5000 Jewish
communities.3
Triumph: Israel’s
war of independence - May 1948.
Israel became 59th member of UN – 11th
May 1949.
7
1967-1968
Passover & Sukkot
Tragedy: Israel’s
six day war – 5th June 1967.
Triumph: Jerusalem
became a part of Israel.
(?) – There are references to these total lunar eclipses occurring
on Sukkot.
This video
briefly outlines Pastor Hagee’s thoughts.
So there does seem to be an
activity in the world during the tetrads that coincides with Jewish holy days. But
we should also observe that the tetrads of 795-796, 842-843 and 860-861 have
little or nothing to do with the Jews, although they coincide with the Jewish
high holy days.
Significant ‘tragedy-to-triumph’
story for Israel have occurred in Israel during the previous three tetrads.
These events around Israel are used by Pastor Hagee and Pastor Biltz to make
significant claims.
The Jewish
Talmud, one of the central texts of the Jewish people, records the rabbinic
teachings of 600 years, from 1 AD through to sixth and seventh centuries. The
Jewish Talmud (Babylonian) states that it is bad omen for Israel when the moon
is in eclipse. It also states that if the moon is as red as blood, there would
be trouble in the world (Talmud - Mas. Sukkah 29a).4
Therefore there is a certain
credibility built in the predictions that there could be trouble in the world
with a possible localization to Israel during tetrads that coincides with
Jewish high holy days.
Must one be
dogmatic in predicting a disaster upon the world or Israel during a tetrad? A
report from NASA website states that there were other tetrads5
during the same periods as mentioned in table #2.
For instance, NASA website recorded
a tetrad in 2003-2004: 16-May-2003, 9-Nov-2003, 4-May-2004, and 28-Oct-2004.
None of these dates coincided with Jewish festivals.
Notably no major disasters were
recorded around this period, except for a 6.6 magnitude earthquake on Oct. 23,
2004 in Niigata, Japan that killed 40, injured 3100, and affecting tens of
thousands of people.6 This lone incident does not motivate us to
claim that tetrads usher in disasters in the world, let alone Israel.
The Middle East is as similar to
the other sensitive and potentially volatile parts of the world. The Middle
East is a region with a definite possibility of escalation of unrest. The sectarian
unrest in Islam – the Shia-Sunni tension, seems to escalate.
The sectarian unrests are escalating
in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Iran and Syria are sensitive locations. So we cannot
eliminate the possibility of anything in and around Israel anytime, let alone
during the tetrads.
However, an assertion that something
significant could happen in and around Israel when a tetrad coincides with
Jewish festivals is not totally out of order. But an assertion that something
significant will happen in the world during a tetrad seems totally and surely
out of order.
Tetrads and Christ’s
Second Coming & End Times
Pastor Hagee seems to make two
contradictory statements. On the one hand, he asserts that no one would know
when Christ would come. On the other hand, he confidently speculates the
possibility of the oncoming tetrad ushering in the messianic age – the Lord’s
second coming.
In line
with the second coming of Christ, the Bible articulates three thoughts:
1. The
Bible unequivocally speaks about the signs that would precede the Lord’s return
(Matthew 24; Luke 21: 7 - 36). Lunar and solar eclipses are mentioned as signs
- blood moons are presented as signs (Joel 2: 31; Matthew 24: 29; Acts 2: 20;
Rev 6: 12).
So the tetrad coinciding with
Jewish holy days in 2014-15 cannot be discounted as totally irrelevant, considering
the previous three tetrads.
2. The Bible says that the Lord’s
coming is near (Zephaniah 1: 14; James 5: 8). It has been 2000++ years since this
was said. So as much as we eagerly await the Lord’s return, HIS return is
nearer than before, for 2000++ years have elapsed since this statement was
first made.
But knowing that one day is like
a thousand years in the Lord’s sight (2 Peter 3: 8), any prediction about the
season or the day of the Lord’s glorious return will always be in the realm of
uncertainty. All we can say is that the Lord’s return is near.
3. No one knows the exact timing
of the Lord’s return. Mark 13: 32 states, “But
of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but the Father alone.”
It is quite interesting to
observe Christ mentioning the shorter time period (hour), and the longer time
period (day), while making this statement. The word “day” in this verse could
mean a 24-hour time period or of time in general (cf. John 14: 20).
Thus it
would be wise not to speculate the hour or date or even the season in which
Christ will return in all HIS glory.
Conclusion:
1. Tetrads need not bring disaster upon the world.
2. Tetrads that have coincided with Jewish high holy days
have not brought disaster or changed Israel’s political climate, every single
time. Out of the seven occurrences (Table #2), the Jews were affected by four
tetrads, and were unaffected by three tetrads.
3. The previous three tetrads that have coincided with
Jewish high holy days did surely have an impact upon Israel.
4. The turbulent political climate in the Middle East at present
does indicate a possibility of increasing unrest in the region in the near
future. This may include Israel.
5. Although something could happen to Israel in 2014-2015,
one need not be dogmatic to assert a sure possibility of such an event
occurring. This is based on (2).
6. With reference to the Lord’s glorious return, we can most
surely assert that the Lord’s return is near, for the signs of HIS imminent
return are in abundance. There is nothing wrong in eagerly expecting the Lord
to return in 2014-15.
But in light of Mark 13:32 and
the likes, it would definitely be unwise and futile to mention a timeframe for
the Lord’s return.
7. Yes, we should be on the alert (Matthew 25: 13; Mark 13:
37), for the Lord’s return to judge the world is certain. But then our life in
this world is uncertain, for our life is like a vapor – alive one day and dead
the next (James 4: 14).
We could be dead even before we
encounter the tetrad. But we would be safe, come what may, death or tetrad or
anything, if we are with the Lord Jesus Christ – if we have accepted HIM as our
God, and love HIM will all our life (cf. Romans 8: 38 - 39).
My prayer is that all who read
this should be with the Lord Jesus forever and ever. Amen.
Endnotes:
Yom Kippur: Eight days after
Rosh Hashanah, is the Day of Atonement, of Divine judgment, and of “affliction
of souls” (Lev. 23:26-32), so that the individual may be cleansed of sins.
Passover (Pessah): Festival
celebrating the Exodus from Egypt and liberation from bondage.
Sukkot: Described in Leviticus
23:34 as the “Feast of Tabernacles.” Begins 5 days after Yom Kippur – Day of
Atonement & divine judgment (Lev 23: 26-32).
…the information on Israel high holy days is available at:
