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Four Blood Moons, a theatrical one-night event scheduled for March 23, 2015, and based on Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee’s New York Times bestseller of the same name, has garnered attention. I’m featured briefly in the film as a skeptic of Hagee’s central claim that a sequence of four total lunar eclipses signifies that “world history is about to change,” bringing about the rapid fulfillment of a biblical end-times prophecy. I’m also included in a 20-minute panel discussion on the movie that was recorded at Hagee’s San Antonio headquarters.
Hagee knew in advance my views on his claims and I’m impressed that he would allow a “skeptic” of his view to participate. For that, he is to be commended.
The biblical basis for the four blood moons claim as an eschatological event appears in Joel 2:31, which states, “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to…
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Figure 1: The Moon during a Total Eclipse on October 8, 2014
Credit: Tomruen, Wikimedia/Creative Commons
Popular Bible preacher John Hagee has authored a book and produced a movie by the same name, Four Blood Moons (in theatres March 23 only). On the film’s website the San Antonio megachurch pastor states, “The heavens are ‘God’s billboard.’ He’s been sending signals to earth, and we haven’t been picking them up.” In part 1 of this series, as an astronomer I analyzed those “signals,” a series of four (tetrad) total lunar eclipses that supposedly ushers in prophetic activity ahead of the return of Christ. Now, as a student of Scripture and as one who believes in premillennial eschatology, I convey my primary, biblical criticism.
Biblical Concerns
1. Earth phenomena might be responsible for lunar darkening. Three biblical passages mention the Moon taking on a blood-like appearance: Joel 2:31, Acts 2:20…
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By Jerry Bowers , CP Guest Contributor from the Christian Post
The moon is shown in eclipse from Los Angeles, California, April 15, 2014. The lunar eclipse on Tuesday will unfold over three hours when the moon begins moving into Earth’s shadow. A little more than an hour later, the moon will be fully eclipsed and shrouded in an orange, red or brown glow.
(Photo: REUTERS/Edgard Garrido)
A combination photo shows the moon during a total lunar eclipse as seen from Mexico City April 15, 2014.
One of the interesting things about being a Christian economist is that you hear so many strange new theories. People read something on the internet or hear about it in small group, and because it comes from within the Christian family, they tend toward trust. And they tell somebody else, and eventually someone gets curious and calls their Christian financial advisor. And their advisor calls his company headquarters, and sometimes, HQ calls me. That’s how I learned that there are people who think they should take their money out of the market this year because of lunar eclipses.
It’s important to be fair to a theory like this when you first hear it, no matter how strange it seems on the surface. The Bible is filled with strange things and the Bible is true. So strange things can be true. They can be true; that doesn’t mean they must be true. Things have to be tested.
The Blood Moon/Shemitah idea (henceforth BMS) is associated first with pastor Mark Biltz, Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn and his bestselling books, and with TV evangelists John Hagee and Jim Bakker. A veritable cottage industry of books, blood moon calendars, DVDs, study guides, blogs, and direct-mail fundraising has sprung up around it. This article is about the idea in general, not about any one particular purveyor of it.
So, let’s get clear what we’re talking about: Blood moons are lunar eclipses. Occasionally the sky shows us a tetrad (a series of 4 consecutive total eclipses occurring at approximately six month intervals, per NASA). It is alleged that these events (Tetrads) are “prophetically significant” and have served as prophetic signs and warnings about important days in Jewish history, for example the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, the founding of modern Israel in 1948, and the six day war in 1967. Tetrads are big in BMS theory.
Then there’s the Shemitah – the debt “release” commanded of Israel (found in Leviticus 25) which she was to observe on a 7 year cycle. According to the Bible the Shemitah system was turned from a blessing to a curse when Israel ignored it. According to BMS theory, this applies not just to ancient Israel, but to modern America, and Shemitah years have coincided with stock market collapses. In fact, they tell us that 8 of the 10 largest market collapse in the past 100 years have occurred on Shemitah years. Furthermore, we’re told that Shemitah years also correspond with important dates in Israel’s history, for example, the beginning of the Holocaust. Shemitah years are also big in BMS theory.
But now we’ve got a tetrad and (allegedly) a Shemitah year at the same time! A great convergence of great signs pointing towards an extremely important prophetic season, and we are warned of a great likelihood of market collapse; a big one on September 28th (the last of the tetrads) and a smaller one this Saturday (the third eclipse of the tetrad). Rabbi Cahn, in particular, has cautioned people to be out of the stock market at this time.
Scary stuff. But is it true?
Not really.
Let’s fact-check it:
First, Tetrads have not actually generally served as warning signs in advance of major events in Jewish history. In fact, none of the four tetrads of the first millennium coincided with important dates in Jewish history. Furthermore the most important events in that time period all happened during non-tetrad years: Neither the birth of the Messiah, nor His death and resurrection, nor the destruction of the temple, nor the destruction of the entire nation occurred during a tetrad.
Second, although there are a few events which have been in the historical vicinity of Tetrads (such as the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the founding of Israel, and the Six Day War) these signs and warnings generally occurred after the tetrad. Furthermore, in many of those cases, the eclipses were not visible from Israel (or in the case of the expulsion, not visible from Spain either). It’s hard to square BMS theory about tetrads as warnings if the warnings mostly occur after the event, and were not visible to the people being warned.
Third, when Rabbi Cahn tells his readers that 8 out of 10 of the largest market corrections in the past century occurred during these alleged Shemitah years, he does not mention that 5 of the 8 occurred in 2008, nor that the remaining 3 occurred in 2001. Confused? Cahn uses the dollar value declines, rather than (the appropriate) percentage decline. If he had calculated corrections the way pretty much everybody else does, he would have found that the crash of 1929, was by the far the largest correction, and that it did not occur on a Shemitah year. In fact, a majority of the top ten percentage market crashes occurred on non-alleged Shemitah years.
Fourth, I’ve used the word “alleged” about the Shemitah years, and you need to know why: No one actually knows for sure which years are actually Shemitah years. The Torah doesn’t give us dates for them, so there is no way to know with certainty whether 2014-2015 actually qualifies biblically. Instead BMS advocates end up having to choose one or another competing particular rabbinical traditions. Tradition, not Bible, not proof.
Fifth, even if BMS advocates have somehow chosen the right year to initiate their Shemitah calculations, that their view of this current year being a Shemitah must be wrong. That’s because the only way to get 1903 and 2015 to both qualify, is to omit the Jubilee year. You can’t just start in a certain year and then add 7 forever. Once every 50 years, you have to add one. They don’t.
Sixth, if one is going to use the Hebrew calendar to choose the year, one should also use the Hebrew calendar year to choose the months. The claim that Kristallnacht, which initiated the Holocaust, began in an alleged Shemitah year depends on using the Hebrew calendar to choose 1938, but then switching to a Gregorian calendar to fit Kristallnacht in. If this system runs on Hebrew calendrics, why the switch?
Seventh, everything else. There are numerous other problems – historical, astronomical, et cetera – with the BMS view, far more than we can deal with in this space. For more detail, please consult the much more detailed White Paper on this issue, which I helped write.
BMS advocates look at the world through an open Bible. That’s good. But it’s not enough. One of the authors has said publicly that he wrote this book in six weeks. Kudos for work ethic, but not for fact-checking. Accuracy takers time, so it falls upon us to check things out for ourselves. And when we do, the theory just does not hold up.
I’m afraid that we’re going to have to keep doing the hard work of financial and economic analysis to make investment decisions, instead of relying on blood moons. Sorry it didn’t work. It was a cool idea.
******
Jerry Bowers is an American economist, author and columnist. He is a weekly contributor to Forbes.com, and an occasional contributor to Forbes magazine. He also occasionally contributes to The Wall Street Journal.
Source…Christian Post HERE
GOD, ADAM AND THE GARDEN: LOVE AND TRAGEDY IN PARADISE
When I recently read the first few chapters of Genesis, I felt the full measure of God’s overwhelming creative power and love for me as He, and the Holy Spirit (see Gen. 1:2) designed and built a beautiful, and glorious habitation for His beloved new creation – man. I felt the intimacy of God’s thoughts towards us as He created thick green grass to cover the barren earth, and a multitude of seed-yielding herbs and fruit trees to provide us life-giving food, sweet and delicious to the taste. God then created lights in the heavens to govern both the day and the night – for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. God also made a multitude of creatures to fill the earth, the waters, and the sky with abundance. He blessed…
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| Feature Article – Dave Hunt |
| Revival or Apostasy? |
| Knowing that we are in the last of the last days, with an imminent Rapture a very real hope, our thoughts often (and indeed should) turn to the signs that Christ said would herald the nearness of His return. The signs that are most widely cited include “wars and rumours of wars…[when] nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…and…famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes…these are the beginning of sorrows” (Mt 24:6-8).
Unquestionably, these specific “sorrows” have been both prominent and accelerating since Israel again became a nation in 1948. Since that time, the intensity and frequency of these signs have increased like the birth pangs of a woman approaching her time of delivery, exactly as Christ foretold. However, the first sign that Christ gave has been largely overlooked and His solemn warning neglected:
And Jesus answered and said…Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many….And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many….For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Mt 24:4,5,11,24) [Emphasis added.]
Concern for this prophesied deception has marked this ministry. Let us take a closer look at the religious deception that Christ foretold. He issued a warning: “Take heed [beware] that no man deceive you.” Its seriousness is emphasized by being thrice stated. Its nature is specified: false Christs, false prophets, and false signs and wonders. His repetition four times of the word “many” indicates a worldwide deception of multitudes.
Paul issued a similar warning: “Let no man deceive you by any means….” He explains that the spiritual deception to which Christ referred will infect the professing church. That is evident from his words “falling away,” or apostasy:
For that day [of the Lord] shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin [Antichrist] be revealed, the son of perdition.” (2 Thes 2:3)
Although a true Christian cannot fall away, a false Christian can. Fall away from what? From the faith in Christ that he or she has outwardly professed without inward reality. Those few apostates who announce themselves as atheists or convert to Buddhism or Hinduism are not the concern of Christ and Paul in this verse. They are warning of a turning from the truth within the professing church. Other scriptures confirm this, as we shall see.
Paul warns us not to be deceived into thinking that the apostasy won’t come. It must. Such a warning can mean only that in the last days many will reject the biblical teaching that apostasy is inevitable. The false prophets to whom Christ refers will use their signs and wonders to support their false teaching that revival, not apostasy, is underway. Paul therefore warns us not to be deceived with talk about revival: the apostasy must come, or Christ will not return!
False signs and wonders will be an integral part of the apostasy. The departure from the truth will be spearheaded by apparent miracle workers, and the delusion will be made possible by a prevailing emphasis upon experience over doctrine: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine” (2 Tm 4:3). Christ declares,
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Mt 7:22-23)
These apostates of whom Christ speaks do not lose their salvation; they were never saved (“I never knew you”). Yet they are high-profile Christian leaders apparently performing signs and wonders in the name of Christ. Tragically, they seem to think that their ability to prophesy and to perform wonders proves that they belong to Him. The signs and wonders are so impressive that doctrine no longer matters – exactly what we see today!
Surely these of whom Christ speaks in Matthew 7 must be the same “false Christs and false prophets” to whom He refers in Matthew 24. Moreover, the signs and wonders they are able to perform are apparently so impressive that without discernment by the Holy Spirit even the very elect would be deceived by them. Obviously, something more than mere trickery is involved. These miracle workers are backed by the power of Satan, whom they unwittingly serve in the name of the Lord.
The Bible clearly predicts a last-days signs and wonders movement – but it will be of Satan, and thus a delusion that will deceive many. After a solemn warning that in the last days “perilous times [not revival!] shall come,” Paul makes this remarkable statement:
Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these [apostates] also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. (2 Tm 3:8)
Jannes and Jambres were the magicians in Pharaoh’s court who, through the power of Satan, duplicated (up to a point) the miracles that God did through Moses and Aaron. Paul thus declares that the last-days opposition to the truth will not come so much from outside the church but from those within who are reprobate concerning the faith: depraved men who corrupt the truth. And they do so by performing apparent miracles in Christ’s name some of which (when more than mere trickery) are actually of Satan. In that way, they deceive and lead many astray – not out of the church but into false doctrine and thus a false hope within the church. Satan has no more effective tactic to damn souls!
Such [deception] involving the whole gamut of today’s revival scene must be seriously faced! Videos of the services show people crawling on the floor, howling like wolves, barking like dogs, roaring like lions, going through bodily contortions impossible without the aid of some spiritual power, unable to speak or even remember their names when they try to give a testimony – and worse. Many of those being baptized seem to lose consciousness or shake so violently that they must be carried out of the baptismal tank or they would drown. Others flail about so wildly as to require several men to handle them. That such things could now be widely accepted as evidence of the Holy Spirit can only testify to the depths of the delusion!
Jude exhorts us to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Contend against whom? Surely not primarily against godless enemies outside the church. The warning concerns those within: “For there are certain men crept in unawares” (v. 4). Crept in can only mean inside the church.
Paul confirms Jude in addressing the Ephesian elders: “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30). The spiritual deception of which Christ warned would be rampant within the church.
In further confirmation, Christ warned His disciples that “the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (Jn 16:2) – a most remarkable prophecy. He can’t be referring to the slaughter of Christians by the Caesars or by Mao or Stalin or Hitler, for they did not believe they were thereby serving God. Yes, when the Jews of Jesus’ day killed the early Christians, they thought they were serving God; so did the Roman Catholics when they slaughtered the true Christians before and after the Reformation; and so it was when Muslims killed Christians. But none of this was the complete fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy.
“Whosoever” is the key. Neither the Pharisees, the popes, nor the Muslims were alone in killing Christians. Others pursued them to the death at the same time. But Christ is saying that a time is coming when whosoever (in other words, everyone) who kills Christians will think he is serving God thereby. That can only mean that a world religion to which everyone must belong is coming, a religion that will seek to exterminate true Christians in the name of God. John saw the same scene in the future:
And it was given unto him [Antichrist] to make war with the saints, and to overcome them….And I beheld another beast…he exerciseth all the power of the first beast…and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast….And he had power to…cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. (Rv 13:7-15)
To summarize, the scriptural warnings foretell the very delusion we find in our day: 1) a false signs and wonders movement led by many false prophets; 2) many being deceived through these seeming miracles; 3) the rejection of the biblical teaching concerning apostasy, and the insistence that we are in the midst of, or at least building up to, the “greatest revival in the history of the church.” The promise of revival will be part of the last-days deception, Paul warns, so beware! Instead, in the days preceding the Rapture there will be a great apostasy, a falling away from the faith. Don’t be part of it!
That we must earnestly contend for the faith against those who have crept into the church implies that the battle is not so much one of faith against unbelief, but rather of true faith against false faith. And that, too, is precisely what we see today. Articles in leading medical journals cite studies showing that those who have any “religious faith” are more likely to recover from illness. Christianity Today ran a major article naïvely promoting these studies as though they were supportive of the truth.1 Thus God has been reduced to a placebo that can come in any shape, size, or color.
Multitudes of Christians imagine that faith is believing that what they are praying for will happen and that if they truly believe, they will have whatever they ask. Obviously, if things happen because one believes they will, then one doesnʼt need God. This is mind power, not the faith in God that Christ taught (Mk 11:22)….
The topic on everyone’s lips and mind today is revival. Christian TV and radio and best-selling books persuasively argue that we are in the midst of the greatest revival of Christianity in the history of the world….It comes as a shock to many to learn that the word “revival” does not appear even once in the entire King James Bible. The hope of revival, which excites so many today, is not even a biblical concept. Ask yourself a few questions: Is Christ not indwelling us? Is He not in our midst each time we meet? Are we not to be filled with the Holy Spirit at all times? Is not the Word of God sufficient? Why, then, run after signs and wonders as though unusual manifestations prove that God is at work while neglecting what God has already given us? In the meantime, undertake a study to see what the Bible says. Check every source (including TBC) against Scripture! Be a Berean. TBC
First published in October 1997
EndNotes
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Bibiographic details:
- Page name: April 2015 Printable Newsletter (pdf)
- Author: TBC Staff
- Publisher: The Berean Call
- Site name: thebereancall.org
- Date published: April 1, 2015
- Date accessed: March 28, 2015
- Link: http://www.thebereancall.org/content/april-2015-printable-newsletter
This is an excerpt from
http://www.spiritual-research-network.com/dangerouspractices.html
Potentially Harmful and Dangerous Spiritual Practices
Compiled from numerous sources by Chris Lawson
Contemplative Spirituality / Spiritual Formation (Please read note below)
- “Ancient Prayer” Practices
- Awareness of Being
- Being in the Present Moment
- Beyond Words
- Breath Prayers
- Contemplative
- Centering
- Centering prayer
- Dark night of the soul
- Divine Center
- Divine Mystery
- Enneagrams
- Ignation Contemplation
- Inner light
- Jesus Candles
- Labyrinths
- Lectio Divina
- Mantras
- Mantra prayers
- “Palms Up, Palms Down”
- Practicing the Presence
- Prayer of the Heart
- Prayer Stations
- Sacred Space
- Slow Prayer
- Spiritual Direction
- Spiritual Disciplines
- Spiritual Formation
- Taize
- The Jesus Prayer
- Thin Place
- The Silence
- Yoga
SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY PRACTICES:
The contemplative spirituality catch phrases and practices referred to above are used by Eastern occultists, religious mystics, and many “well-intentioned” Christians. Almost the enitre list of these practices has been gleaned from Eastern mysticism and the occult – and they have been brought into Christian settings. Due to the massive explosion of experience driven Christianity and the endorsements of many well known personalities, these practices are now thought by many to actually be “Christian”.
It must be clearly noted however that “Christian mystics” gleaned these practices from Eastern religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism. (See The Desert Fathers, Fr. Bede Griffiths, Fr. Thomas Keating, Thomas Merton, etc.) As such, they are “Christianized” forms of non-Christian practices. Even biblical prayer has been convoluted and re-defined as “centering prayer”, the “Jesus prayer”, “slow prayer”, “mantra prayer”, “meditation” (unbiblcal forms), etc.
We make special note of this here because oftentimes the “results” that people experience from these Eastern practices are contrary to biblical theology and balanced Christian practice. With this in view, it is no wonder that a number of so-called Christian leaders in our age have adopted a pantheistic, occult worldview – in place of a biblical, Christian worldview. The proof of this can be found in their books and sermons. The tragic end result of this is that many undiscerning church-goers (and quite a number of true Christians) are now being subjected to and influenced by an unbiblical Christianity. This new Christianized form of Eastern spirituality is an amalgamation of Eastern occult practices mixed with theologically corrupted biblical terminology. In theory it has major problems and in practice it can very quickly lead to spiritual delusion.
Another very serious problem that can arise through the use of a number of these practices is direct, overt contact with the spirit world apart from God. The technique or practice of “Centering prayer” as contemplatives call it, has a very strong potential to introduce well-intentioned people to occult practices such as Clairvoyance, Clairaudience and Clairsentience, etc. The Bible calls this divination, a form of the occult condemned by God Himself (Deuteronomy 18). Click here to see many references of the biblical condemnation of divination in any form).
It is very simple to do the research and find out just where these practices originate from and how they have crept into the church. Sadly, many refuse to look at the facts!
Finish HERE
FOUR BLOOD MOONS OR
FOUR RED FLAGS OVER AMERICA
By Pastor John Muncy
This is the single most deadly prophetic heresy in many years. It is based on something real, and on biblical Jewish feast days. But this teaching now promoted by John Hagee is profoundly heretical and violates the very words of Jesus Christ.
Just so you know my opinion from the start; I will spill the beans and say that I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the rapture WILL NOT occur on April 15, 2014, if you disagree with me, we can talk about it on Wednesday, April 16th. (Yes, there are some who are taking this blood moon theory way out of proportion, even though most who are teaching on this don’t believe that. However, some believe that the Great Tribulation could be started on one of the blood moons.)
I’m convinced that the first of the four blood moons will be like every other day, with no big significant change in our world. And again later in October, when the second one occurs, and then when the other two blood moons show up 2015, I’m convinced that they will not usher in the coming of Christ, nor will that be the beginning date for the Great Tribulation. Of course, not everyone who believes the blood moon theory believes that either, but there are a large number of people expecting “major” events to arrive on those dates. The blood moon dates are as follows:
April 15, 2014
October 8, 2014
April 4, 2015
September 28, 2015
Let’s go back to how this teaching got started…
Finish Article HERE
What Does the Scripture Mean: “Greater Works than these shall he do….?”
John 14:12
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; andgreater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. John 14:12 (KJV)
Jesus Christ says, In Matthew 18:8-9, that if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away, for it is better to live this life maimed than to have two hands and two feet and to be cast into “everlasting fire.” If that wasn’t clear enough, Jesus goes on to state that even if one of our eyes is causing us to sin, it is better to pluck it out and throw it away than to have two eyes for this life, but to be cast into the fires of…
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