The World Is Ending, Part Whatever: The Blood Moons

Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

– Isaiah 47:12-13.

The world is coming to an end in the next 6 months! Or, wait, didn’t it already come to an end a few times in the last few years? I thought it ended on December 21, 2012? No, that can’t be right. Harold Camping said it would end before that, I think. That still can’t be right. It had to have ended in 2000 with all of that Y2K hubbub. This time, though, it’s definitely coming to an end. Mark Biltz and John Hagee said so, and they’ve both got the Bible to prove it, so it must be true.

According to Biltz and Hagee Joel 3 is warning mankind of the world’s end. Central to their argument are verses 14-15, which state, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.” From this passage Biltz’s book, Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs unfolds. He links past blood moons to historical events such as the Spanish Reconquista, which expelled both Jews and Muslims from Spain, the modern re-establishment of a Jewish nation in Israel, and Israel’s defeating the Arab onslaught in 1967. He makes what seems to be a compelling case. Why not? God is in control of the heavens, so why wouldn’t or couldn’t He use heavenly signs to tell us about the future? In fact, the Bible even tells of such heavenly signs throughout its pages. But does that mean that what Biltz, and subsequently John Hagee, have to say is correct?

The Bible does indeed have much to say about consulting celestial bodies, but none of it is good. Consider what God had to say about such practices in Deuteronomy. He condemns the person and the practice of consulting the heavens in 4:19, 17:2-5, and 18:9-12. Notice, specifically Deuteronomy 18:14 – “For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.” God was against such prognostication, and called it divination.

Divination is the practice of divining. Divining is popularly known as water witching. It comes from occultic practices stretching far back into ancient pagan cultures (See Dave Hunt’s Occult Invasion for one of the best documentations on this practice). Divining was heavily mixed into occultic practices that also used astrology. In other words, it is satanic. God condemned the diviners. He further went to great lengths confounding the diviners (cf. I Samuel 6:2, Isaiah 44:25, Jeremiah 27:9, Jeremiah 29:8, Micah 3:7, and Zechariah 10:2).

God did not intend to speak through the sun, moon, and stars. Such attempts to find God’s direction in the stars is the definition of Astrology. Consider that the Book of Daniel has all but one mention of astrologers in the Bible (cf. Daniel 1:20, 2:2, 2:27, 4:7, 5:7, 5:11, and 5:15. The only other mention is Isaiah 47:12-13 quoted above). This should be eye-opening in that Daniel was in Babylon, the creator of Astrological practices. The Chaldeans put great emphasis upon astrology. So too did the Medes and Persians that followed the Babylonians. For that matter, any study of the Ancient and Medieval worlds reveals that mankind was greatly affected by heavenly occurrences. God, however, warned against such thinkers and their thinking.

But all of this seems to have been lost among many modern “Christians.” They look for signs, and believe anyone, who in God’s name claims that the Bible points out these signs. Multi-millionaires have been made upon such claims, because modern American Christianity comprises immature, spiritually blind, bankrupt, Bible illiterates. Don’t be the child tossed to and from, carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness. If you are, you will be deceived by those lying in wait for gullible, foolish you.

There is hope. The Bible tells us to study to shew ourselves approved. Don’t be a shamed workman. Prove all things, hold fast that which is good. Be spiritually discerning, because the spiritual man does indeed judge all things. Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but wise. Understand the times. All of these commands are biblical. All of them profit in that they, through knowing God and His word, serve to protect us from the charlatan and the hireling, who only serve to make money off of foolishness. BE NOBLE! EXAMINE THE SCRIPTURES! Even if it is the Apostle Paul telling you something, we still have a requirement to search it out.

On that note, some readers may start claiming that the Bible does talk about the Sun’s darkening, the Moon turning to blood, and the Stars falling from the sky. The Bible pronounces such statements when regarding end times events. I agree. It does. What must be understood, however, is the order of end time events. First, understand this – “For Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:” (I Cor. 1:22) But Christ said this to the Jews seeking a sign “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.” (Matthew 16:4 cf. Matthew 12:39) These Jews were seeking for their Messiah, and they missed Him, because they were looking for signs instead of looking for Him.

Christ finally did give signs about His coming in Matthew 24-25. These chapters are Jewish in context, and understandably can and are often mistaken to be about the Rapture of the Church. They’re not. They’re about Christ’s Second Coming. They’re about His establishing His earthly Kingdom. They fit entirely within the context of the Old Testament Day of the Lord, which was prophesied about throughout the Major and Minor Prophets. All of those signs do and will occur before Christ returns and establishes His earthly kingdom.

Nothing has to happen before the Rapture occurs. The Bible’s comments about the Church being raptured are much different than the comments about His Second Coming. The Rapture can occur at any time. It was likened unto a thief in the night (I Thess. 5:2) It begins the Day of the Lord, but this day is not just one 24 hour period. In context the “Day of the Lord” so mentioned here begins with the Rapture and ends with Eternity. It is in a greater context than those proclaiming “Beware! The Blood Moons are Coming!”

In light of such an imminent return, the truly called out should be busily endeavoring to warn men of sin, their need to repent from sin, turn to Christ, and make disciples who will go and do likewise. Anything else is a waste of time.