What Is This About “Four Blood Moons”?
Should we be seriously concerned?
Last year our friends, Dave and Kathy Organ, gave me a copy of the book Four Blood Moons, by John Hagee, published in 2013. The prophetic background for the book is found in Joel 2:27-31. “Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.”
Since on the day of Pentecost, following the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, Peter said “this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel,” the real question is if there will be a second fulfillment of this prophecy (as the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of the world at the end of time are connected by Jesus in His prophecies).
The basic premise of Four Blood Moons is that when in history there have been four blood moons lined up with the feast days that God gave to Israel, powerful events have transpired relating to that nation (and the world). Chapter 16 is entitled “The Four Blood Moons of 2014-15.” Those four blood moons are listed as:
1. Passover, April 15, 2014
2. Feast of Tabernacles, October 8, 2014
3. Passover, April 4, 2015
4. Feast of Tabernacles, September 28, 2015
This is especially interesting in view of the declaration by Benjamin Netanyahu that the deal with Iran negotiated by the Obama administration is a dream deal for Iran but a nightmare for the rest of the world. Prime Minister Netanyahu is intent on protecting Israel in view of the oft repeated threats by leaders of Iran to destroy Israel – totally wipe it off the map. Iran has not been shy, either, about calling America “The Great Satan” and Israel “little Satan.”
Should we be alarmed? Is the end of the world on the horizon this coming autumn? Even though Jesus clearly stated, “but of that day and hour no one knows,” some prophetic teachers comment that it does not say that we cannot know the month or the year. Isn’t this a slight bit presumptive?
The background evidence which John Hagee presents for his premise looks very persuasive, but I am neither historian nor astronomer. I don’t know if he is 100% accurate or not. Be that as it may, there are some things that we can know for certain.
What Can We Know For Sure?
1. The subtitle for the book Four Blood Moons is Something Is About to Change. Who can argue with that statement?
2. We can also know for sure that we are nearly 2000 years closer to the second coming than when Jesus prophesied it in the first century.
3. We can know that persecution of Christians continues to increase around the world – as Jesus predicted. The horrible slaughter of one hundred forty-eight believers in Kenya by Islamic terrorists is a somber and terrible reminder of that fact.
4. We can know that “wars and rumors of wars” are upon us now abundantly as they were in the first century before the destruction of Jerusalem (which pre-figured the end of the age).
5. We can know that “perilous times” are here and now as Paul prophesied in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Consider his powerful words in the light of daily news reports: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
6. We can know that we should not despair because Jesus said: “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:25-28 (NKJV).
7. We can know that it is high time to get ready, stay ready, and longingly look for that blessed hope. “ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” Titus 2:11-13 (NKJV).
Are You Ready?
If you have never yet surrendered your life to Christ, here is God’s word to you: “….Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:31 (NKJV). “…Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38 (NKJV)
Are You Sharing?
If you are already saved, are you sharing the love of Jesus with everyone you can at every opportunity? Are you creating new opportunities?
Are You Praying?
Are you earnestly praying? Here is an outstanding quotation concerning prayer: “There can be no substitute, no rival for prayer; it stands alone as the great spiritual force, and this force must be imminent and acting…. It must be continuous and particular always, everywhere, and in everything…. Many persons believe in the efficacy of prayer, but not many pray. Prayer is the easiest and hardest of all things; the simplest and the sublimest; the weakest and the most powerful; its results lie outside of human possibilities—they are limited only by the omnipotence of God.”
– E.M. Bounds
Another Wonderful Answer to Prayer
On March 28, I had the opportunity to attend the NW Creation Conference in Portland, and then on Sunday, March 29, to teach and preach at Vernonia Christian Church and enjoy rich fellowship with Sam and Carrie Hough before and after the services. Then on Monday morning I got a phone call from Sandy telling me that we received an email from Stas, informing us that he and his family were in Hillsboro, Oregon. Wow! What an amazing answer to many prayers over the past three years (or more). Perhaps you remember our repeated requests for Stas and his family to get refugee status because to be sent back to their middle Asian nation would be certain persecution. (He had already been intensely interrogated by the government more than once for his vigorous Christian activities.)
What a joy to see Stas again the afternoon of March 30! We had about 1 ½ hours together in Craig and Marilyn Hubler’s home in west Portland to enjoy fellowship and prayer together. Please pray for the right job and place to live for Stas and his family. A Russian-speaking pastor from another middle Asian nation brought his family to USA thirteen years ago, and they are now the host family for Stas and his family. Praise God!
Prayer Requests
1. Please pray for funds to share with co-workers in Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula (like the Schalbyetski family, church planters, Simferopol Christian Church, Love of Christ Church, etc.).
2. Please pray for abundant book sales to come in for Overseas Outreach and Northwest Science Museum.
3. Please pray for good results to continue to come from the showings of A Matter of Faith, and that we will acquire more vital co-workers for Northwest Science Museum as a result.
4. Southwestern Museum Services director and their area rep have seen our website for Northwest Science Museum and want to partner with us to raise the millions of dollars, get the property, and build the building for Northwest Science Museum. They have shown us rave reviews from clients they have served to build their museums and have met with us by conference call for our Board of Directors meeting. The catch is that their start-up fee is $35,000. Please pray for the start-up funds! We are already showing in our Vision Center some of the censored science that exposes some of the deceptions and fraudulent claims and presuppositions of evolutionism, but most of our museum is still in storage. Would you like to help us present the evidence?
5. Sergey and Vera Yurevich
Who Are Sergey & Vera Yurevich?
Sergey was one of my students at Christian Open University when I was teaching classes on worldview and on building strong relationships. After one class he volunteered to help me any way possible, and he helped me get an inexpensive, very useful cell phone for Ukraine and served me as interpreter, as well as communicator with church leadership. Last August Sergey and Vera pledged their vows before God and many friends and family to be man and wife, serving God together. Both of them have struggled with some health problems, and your offerings to Overseas Outreach have enabled us to supply some funds to help them with medical expenses. Now if you want to help them raise funds for ministry expenses, please designate your donations for them. Following is a portion of his newsletter dated 3-14-15.
“Hello dear friends! Thank you for your prayers! Our Lord is merciful to us. He provides and blesses us every day. ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ Probably each of us would like to hear these words spoken to him from our Lord, Jesus Christ.
I have not written for a while, so I would like to share what, I believe, God is doing through us. The Lord is sending a lot of people who are eager to learn English. This past week about 50 new people joined our school, and we had to create two new classes…..
God sent to us more than 200 students, at both locations (two areas), with whom we can be friends, share our knowledge of English language, and tell them about Christ. Also 400 more people would like to join our school. Unfortunately we had to stop registering new people because we want to focus on a smaller number of students so large numbers don’t distract us from our main purpose.”
From Our Mailbox
“Thank you very much for your care, support and prayers! With great joy I present to you the Christian Center for Science and Apologetics March 2015 newsletter.
The month traditionally had two major focuses. On the one hand we were going on with the ongoing work of online ministries, students follow-up, Reliable Foundation open apologetics club, translation and publishing. On the other hand it was pretty fruitful with the new resources development. We have completed recording audio Bible in Crimean Tatar language, produced a new episode of Scientists of God video (Isaac Newton) and couple more Creation Moments audio episodes, preparing children programs curricula for summer projects. May the Lord be praised!
We have completed the course on Practical Christian Ethics resources development and have started to produce resources for the Biblical Foundations for Civil Society one. I am pretty excited about this course since this is completely new area for people in Ukraine and other post-communist countries. Many know now what kind of the society they do not want to live at, but the model of the society we are about to build is still a big issue. That raises a lot of questions and open doors to tell people about Creation, about God’s initial design for humankind, about the fall and redemption. We call this approach ‘political apologetics’. Please pray with us for this opportunity.
A great progress is made in making arrangements for Russian churches leadership seminars at the Nieuwenhuis Training Center. We have several agreements with partners from Moscow and St. Petersburg up to Khabarovsk (Far East, at the most Eastern corner of China). We also are sending now amounts of books to Russia without customs fees and paperwork as well as with domestic shipment costs. Challenges of political turmoil open new opportunities for the ministry. Please join our prayers about them.
Please keep praying for our ministry, for our team, for our families, for God’s guidance and protection in everything we do. You are in our prayers as well.
Yours in the love and grace of Christ Jesus,
Sergei” (Golovin)
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“We are back in Kiev safe and sound. The trip was extremely inspirational for us! Thank you very much for your prayers! Thank you very much also for sending me your books, Millions of Miracles and More Than Conquerors! God uses you powerfully for His glory!
Yours by His grace
Sergei”
Note: Sergei is not only founder and director of Christian Center for Science & Apologetics, but also regional director for the Russian-speaking world for Good News, International. He was their featured speaker for their annual banquet in Joplin, MO, Indianapolis, IN, and Phoenix, AZ.
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Following is an excerpt from one of Ravi Zacharias’ newsletters:
“When you look across the audiences, the first thing that stands out is the young people. The report coming from Europe is exciting. As you know, we positioned an apologist in Austria and one in Spain. This was in addition to one we had in Romania and one in Turkey. When you listen to the opportunities they are receiving and the numbers coming to Christ, you would have to believe that there is a turn coming in Europe. During the last week, I have received invitations from France and from Switzerland. Both those countries are considered dry terrain for evangelism. Yet, both say that they will expect packed houses. It may just be that with the fear Islam has engendered, people in Europe are seeing the bequest of the Christian faith vanishing before their eyes, and their fear is causing them to seek answers in the worldview that made their existence possible.
“With that in mind, our initiative of Scholars With A Dream is also keeping stride. There is no way for the Christian faith to survive without understanding and responding to Islam. Islam is a clever philosophy that has mastered the art of attacking Christianity while making it impossible to attack their beliefs. That is the real problem. Any challenge to their belief is seen as in danger of their blasphemy laws. Yet, millions of them are open and want to talk about Jesus, but seek a safe arena in which to ask their questions. Our Scholars With A Dream program does precisely that, seeking to engage the Muslim with love and intelligence and to answer their genuine questions. One thing the so-called Arab Spring has done is to generate questions about their own belief and to ask why that part of the world is in such turmoil. So the doors are open.”
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“Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” Psalm 100:3
Yours & His, Rick