Prophecy watchers have once again been turned aside from the central issues of preaching the gospel to a new fad of "every wind of doctrine".... the infamous Blood Moon....wooohoooo. Sounds scary doesn't it? A number of Bible teachers have attempted to ride this teaching to prosperity. Even some financial commentators have tried to predict the collapse of the economy…which was predicted to have occurred between July 20 and July 27, 2018. Looks like we are still here. Another popular author was hyping it for last year…
Funny enough the financial commentator kept posting updates throughout the last week of his prediction that looked less and less certain...he was clearly starting to hedge his bets when Tisha B’av came and went and nothing happened. Then on Friday the last day of his predictions he sent out an update published on certain financial websites blaming his readers for not clearly reading what he "actually" wrote. How sad...he even claimed he was Moses reincarnated giving obscure and random pieces of "evidence" for why it was supposed to all go down last week.
But it was all related to 50 years since Jerusalem was captured by the Jews and 70 years since 1948 and the founding of Israel...and all tied to the Blood Moons and Tisha B’av. In a matter of 7 days he went from claiming to be the second coming of Moses to blaming his readers. He refused to be accountable. Now mind you I am glad these people love the commandments of God, but that does not deny the utter baselessness of the Blood Moon phenomena. It starts with a biblical truth and then morphs into a convoluted and obscure ramming of scripture into a "Christ is about to return" timeline which disappoints believers when it does not happen and turns ministers of truth into a mockery.
Here is the Blood Moon of the scriptures.
Joel 2:31, The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
Acts 2:20, The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:
Revelation 6:12, And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Now I have no doubt that these things will occur...and the entire world will not need an astronomical computer program to "read into" a conjunction like the current Blood Moon fad requires believers to do to actually "see" their sign. A sign is by nature a warning to the world for all to see that the coming of Christ is nigh.
Matthew 24: 2, And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Notice Jesus first asks them to do something simple..."see". "See ye not all these things?" These signs will be visible to all human eyes. You will be able to easily see what is transpiring and these warning signs will be clearly visible. These teachers have conjured up something that people cannot "see" without doing back-flips. They are trying to force a sign that coincides with a "timeline" that they feel God must keep in order to find significance in a 50-year Jubilee, a 7-year Shemitah, or a 70-year window since Israel was set up. Now I am not debating the scriptural truth of any of these time periods...but God cannot be put into a box of our making. That is what these men have done...trying to force Holy Day conjunctions with Moon events and Biblical patterns of the Shemitah, Jubilee, etc.
Many prophecy teachers will teach their theory and also start hedging their bets by saying, "nothing has to happen"... Now this is clearly a poor way of letting the scripture say what the scriptures say. You cannot claim a sign is set to occur and then say it also doesn't have to mean anything. That is a logical contradiction. It sets the writer, the reader, and the follower up for disappointment. Too many of these Christian leaders lose their credibility over this use of poor logic. TV pastors shouting their doctrine does not make it more valid because they feel passionate about it. Instead of backing a theory with clear facts and logic, shout it with emotion and hope nobody notices that lack of thinking.
What did Jesus go on to say about what people on earth would actually see? He goes on to list off a number of things that would be observable by all...earthquakes, persecution of believers, false Christ’s, wars, famine, pestilences, believers fleeing Jerusalem, false prophets and false Christ’s doing great signs, etc. Then finally He gets to the Blood Moon. When does it occur? It is so simple...you won't need a computer program or a deep understanding of the Holy Days.
Matthew 24:29, Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Christ is saying quite clearly that these events are what Joel 2:31 was speaking of...and they occur "after the tribulation of those days"...not before! And this Blood Moon event occurs immediately "before" the appearing of the "Son of Man". Blood Moon advocates are missing the trees through the forest. Jesus clearly says this Blood Moon event will be seen by all and will be in the context of the heavens being observably shaken causing the peoples of the earth to turn to mourning for the great fear that has come upon all the earth. Nothing to read into...no conjunction computer program required. Nothing to force to make it fit a timeline...it is one of the last things to occur before the return of Christ.
Well intentioned or not...these teachings often carry believers without scriptural depth into every wind of doctrine. Does this make them false prophets? They will likely claim that they were just theorizing on the scriptures and speculating possible outcomes.
2 Peter 2:1, But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
The focus of being a false prophet or a false teacher is whether or not what they say ends up to be true. There is no scriptural concern for their intentions or motives. Notice these same false ones are among the believers...doing the same thing that believers do, loving Christ and keeping the commandments. Does that make them any less false...or any truer?
Jeremiah 5:41, The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
What was the original mandate to believers concerning those trying to predict future events?
Deuteronomy 13: 1, If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
So in one case you have actual signs and wonders that come to pass...yet the prophet is leading the people away from YHWH. The Bible is clear...do NOT follow that false prophet or his signs. Jesus clearly warns that this will happen in the end-time. Do not follow them. The Torah further expounds on this issue of false teachers and false prophets. This time a prophet that does claim to represent YHWH, but is claiming to speak something for Him that he was NOT told.
Deuteronomy 18: 20, But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. 21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
Clearly this false teacher and false prophet claimed to represent YHWH and what he said would occur did not happen. YHWH says this person is also a false prophet and a false teacher. Do not follow him. Can we legitimately say these teachings are only misconceived error and not the fruit of a false teacher or false prophet? Are these teachers trying to make merchandise of believers? Can you really say that when they turn such an unfounded theory into a cottage industry for years and years...ultimately distracting the Church of God?
Ephesians 4: 14, That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
These are the same kind of teachings as those who immerse themselves in Giants, Nephilim, UFOs, Aliens, Flat Earthers, Kazarians, Theistic Evolution (Gap Theory), and a number of other topics that waste the time of believers and keep them from learning their actual bible and then validating those beliefs with the patterns (fractals) found in nature. What is the problem with these topics? There is a lack of facts, logic, and scriptural validity to much of these teachings that are wasting the time of sincere believers. Believers should show exemplary logic and clear thinking in defending their faith. We should be appealing to the obvious patterns of nature as proofs that unbelievers can rely upon. They trust their eyes and ears to get about on a daily basis and do so successfully because their senses have been matured and lead them to right and logical conclusions that are effective to maintaining their lives.
It is the same thing with the Bible, Prophecy, and Spiritual matters. On the matter of the Blood Moon...many of these Bible teachers are clearly scripturally wrong. They need to publicly say so and apologize for years of wasting believers' time. Why? I believe they are setting the Church up for contempt in the eyes of the world and eventual persecution by continually theorizing inaccurate dates for the coming of the Lord. This sets the Church up for unneeded persecution. There is a reason why in the end-time believers will be saying "The Lord delays his coming". It is not necessarily because the Lord is delaying...though that may be the case. It is more likely because false teachers keep saying he is about to return and they are repeatedly wrong. This hardens the heart of the believer and discourages them from following the Lord.
Luke 12:45, But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; 46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
How do we avoid this? Train your senses, your eyes, ears, and your mind to find the patterns of God in nature and in the Bible and then use those patterns to cross verify the validity of each. If the patterns cannot be validated...throw them out!
Hebrews 5:14, But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Jesus made it very plain that the Kingdom would be restored according to patterns of God, Nature, and the Universe. That fractal is seed (death) then Manifestation (resurrection fruit). Jesus is the Seed of the Kingdom...and He has said we should be spending our time spreading that seed. Do not allegorize the concept of "seed" away for Jesus is very clear that the seed of the Kingdom would not bear its fruit until the environment was right and the seed would lie dormant until the water and growth would be provided by God.
Acts 1: 6, When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Jesus' answer to this question was very literal. The restoration of the Kingdom of God will be according to its appropriate season and according to the will of God. This is the only timeline that matters. There is a season of planting and a season of growth and a season of harvest. This Seed of the Kingdom will grow as God wills.
1 Corinthian 3:7, So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
When the conditions are right for the seed it will grow until the point of harvest. The timing of that is according to God's will. Teaching otherwise will lead well intended believers aside. Be careful not to follow after false teachers...no matter what their intentions. Would you like to learn what the scriptures actually do say on this matter and on how to easily identify the God given patterns of nature in your bible? Read the "Restoring Truth" series, Book 1 "The Elijah Calling" and Book 2 "Elijah vs Antichrist". They have been on Amazon's Best Seller list since 2014 and are free for Kindle Unlimited Users. I would suggest the paperback version since conservative speech is being targeted more and more online.
Click here to go to Restoring Truth Series on Amazon! Buy a copy for friends and family. Jesus showed us that the best way to show them that you love them is by giving them the truth...even when they do not want to hear it.
