by Clint Archer
The reason a bevy of justifiably smug journalists was camping on Harold Camping’s front lawn on May 21, 2011 is because yet another of the preacher-cum-radio-broadcaster’s predictions of rapture had misfired.
One would think that after his failed prediction of 1988 Camping’s popularity as an authority on date-setting would have waned. If not then, perhaps after his 1989 repeat performance. Incredibly, his credulous followers remained obdurate about Camping’s abilities to pinpoint an event the Bible says is impossible to predict. When he suddenly appeared to the salivating pack of reporters on his lawn Camping explained that his prophecy must have been fulfilled in a “spiritual” way (preterist much?) but that he foresaw the literal coming of Christ happening on October 21, the same year.
Anyhoo… The reason for this trip down memorable mishap lane, is that it’s about that time of the millennium again, so we are faced with a new date-setting phenomenon at which to furrow our brows. This time the mania for rapture takes on slightly more of a lunatic hue. I mean that fairly literally.
The “blood moon tetrad” is the latest prophecy to make the rounds on social media.
Admittedly, I can’t wax eloquent on its finer details, but as I understand it the prediction is elastically derived from the prophet Joel’s words that reoccur on Peter’s lips in his Pentecost sermon of Acts 2:20
“the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.”
Obviously that verse must be referring to the blood moon tetrad. What’s that, you ask? It’s only the most rare event in the history of history. Kinda.
A blood moon tetrad is when four consecutive lunar eclipses, with six full moons in between, but no partial lunar eclipses interfering, happen to coincide with Jewish feasts. Got that? The first in the series was during last year’s Passover: April 15, 2014 (a possible portent of death and taxes?) and sported a deep red coloration. The crimson imbuement is caused by Rayleigh scattering and is not at all uncommon with eclipses, but still. Red. Like blood. Very cool.
The other eclipses presented themselves dutifully during the Feast of Booths on October 8, 2014, then again at the following Passover on April 4 (also the date of Martin Luther King’s assassination, just saying).
And here’s the good part: the final climactic eclipse will be during the Feast of Booths on September 28. Yup, this very month.
Tetrads are gratifyingly rare, but by no means historic. There have been 62 since Jesus’ first advent, and eight of them have coincided with two Jewish feasts.
What do we make of this? Pastor Mark Biltz, pastor and author John Hagee, and apparently enough readers to make his book on this topic a bestseller, have taken this to be a cosmic omen of Christ’s return or the end of the world as we know it.
This is reminiscent of the Mayan calendar’s 2012 prediction (proven wrong in 2012 in case you haven’t noticed), and like Camping’s pertinacious predictions, and like every other prediction of Christ’s return—ever. Methinks there will be some embarrassed blushing on September 29. If it’s me who’s wrong, I’ll write a retraction. 
If only the Bible had something to say about this stuff. Oh wait…
Mark 13:32-33 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.”
Luke 21:7-8 And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them.
When someone presents you with a date that Jesus will definitely return, you can go to your calendar, circle that day, and mark it as “not today.” But then go read 2 Pet 3:11 and remember that any reminder that Jesus is coming back should make us ask “…what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness”? Even when that reminder is a well-meaning crazy person predicting the unpredictable.
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Online Source: The Cripplegate
The Battle Cry 
Dang I better quit wasting my time blogging and get ready! Only a few weeks left
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Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
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I too agree that the likes of Harold Camping give embarrassment to Christianity. Date setting is a plague. However, may I give you a little food for thought? This is my understanding of what Mark Biltz, (et al.) is really saying: https://lambsharbinger.wordpress.com/2015/07/31/the-day-of-the-lord/
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Thanks. I will check it out.
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Interesting article you pointed me to. At the same time, I have researched the blood moons from every direction, pro and con. I guess time will tell. Meanwhile the mission of spreading the gospel remains paramount. Like the article I posted said, we aren’t supposed to be date setting. 🙂
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Yes, the Great Commission is paramount. Because of this, I think Christians could do the Great Commission a great service by not making “straw man” arguments against others. 🙂
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Nor sure where you are going with that, but I don’t think arguments debunking the Mark Blitz and John Hagee are necessarily straw man arguments. Well thought out arguments are worth listening to/reading. For example, Chris White at https://youtu.be/–kA2-5z2zI. I think saying that the blood moons might not be all what Mark Blitz and John Hagee are telling us they are is quite reasonable. In other words, we don’t need to be as concerned about them as the fighting duo (M.B says J.H. stole his work) would have us believe. It might be just me, but I’m not going to get too caught up in all of the end times predictions coming down the pike. Not that it’s not significant to us as believers, but because the great commission will never change, no matter what’s happening. 🙂 I have to admit that there was a time when I was all about end times eschatology and needing to figure what was going to happen when. But do I really need to have it all figured out? Do I have to take a position is debates about the tribulation, the millennium, etc? Just my personal questions. I appreciate your commenting!
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Mark Biltz is from my neck of the woods, about 40 to 50 miles south of me. Hagee, a strong supporter of the nation of Israel, stole Mark’s idea out from under him. There was a huge problem for Hagee, and it almost went to court, but then Hagee backed off. Hagee and Biltz were buddies at one time. Not sure if they are anymore.
My roommate is into Mark Biltz big time. Not me, and here is why:
Mark Biltz is a Gentile pretending to be Jewish. When I say pretending, he wants to get everyone back under the law of Moses. He calls Jesus by his Hebrew name, instead of our English transliteration, pretending that he has no clue as to who Jesus is. He thinks that the New Covenant is a “re-newed” covenant, and denies that there is any such thing as a New Testament. He is a Saturday Sabbath preaching guy. All of us Sunday people are going to hell, because we aren’t following The Law of Moses, for which he calls “Torah”.
However, The Torah is simply “The First 5 Books”. Please note that The Law of Moses, aka The Old Testament, aka The Old Covenant isn’t in Genesis at all. It isn’t in half of Exodus. It begins in Exodus 20. The Old Covenant is not the Torah. the Old Covenant is within the Torah, but it is not the Torah.
In any case, he believes that the Law of Moses is still binding, including the food laws, and Saturday Sabbath.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I consider Biltz to be a cult, much like a Judaizer, if he was a Jew, but he’s not. He’s a Gentile. Note the words: The Law of Moses, and The Law in the below verses. Next, notice the words We Gave No Such Commandment.
Acts 15:5
But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
Acts 15:24
Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
Next see Hebrews 8 and 9 and 10, to wit the following words:
First
Second
Old
New
Testament
Covenant
In other words:
First Testament aka First Covenant aka Old Testament aka Old Covenant
Second Testament aka Second Covenant aka New Testament aka New Covenant
Hebrews 10:9
He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Ed Chapman
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I was not aware of all you have to say about Mark Blitz, however I do know that there is a movement in certain parts of the professing church that is on the ‘celebrate everything Jewish’ bandwagon.
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Yes, even my own church is giving credence to Mark’s blood moon theory, not fully, but in that it could have some truth (not in my opinion, however).
However, there is another that may have credence, in my view, and it has nothing to do with end times, but judgments. Jonathan Cahn is a Jew. He is a Christian, and he wrote a book called The Harbinger. It speaks of 9-11, and the stock market crashes. Isaiah 9:10 is his main reference to 9-11, and Jubilee/forgiveness of debt/rest for the land is his reference to stock market crashes and that has a Jewish date that seems consistent, Elul 29. This is called The Shemitah.
Ed
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Dan,
You might be interested in the following link(s) in regards to Mark Biltz
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/writers/GG/the-hebrew-roots-cult.htm
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/writers/GG/the-hebrew-roots-cult-part-2.htm
Interesting read…not boring.
Ed
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The Hebrew roots movement was what I was talking about and I already have some documentation about it. I’ll check out your links. I have The Harbinger on my shelf. The author is a pretty smart cookie. He doesn’t specifically say America is another Israel, but he sure makes some really strong implications! He’s slick enough to draw in semi-literate Christians and has made a ton of money. He took statements made by politicians that anyone might say and made them ‘prophetic’. That’s just a little I found problematic in his book. I bought it so I couldn’t be accused of spurious criticisms. I had already judged the book to be false teaching without having read it all.
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I don’t think that he makes the implications that America is another Israel at all. He takes it all back to our founding fathers, in that they were very religious people, and that they wanted to model this nation after God from the Bible. And as such, he shows that George Washington dedicated this nation to God at the church next to Ground Zero in New York, much like King Solomon dedicated the Temple of God to God. It’s kinda strange and spooky that the church was spared any damage on 9-11. It’s also strange and spooky (not mentioned by Cahn) that a beam shaped like a cross was implanted by the fall of the towers. I don’t see “another Israel” in his teachings, but I do see that he teaches that God blesses a nation if…, and sends judgment on a nation if…, which is no different than how he dealt with the children of Israel. The concept of blessing and cursing. The reason that God gave for not giving the Promised Land Cannan to Israel right away was due to the fact that the sins of Canaan hadn’t reached its fullness yet.
Ed
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I said he was pretty slick, didn’t I?
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Ya, I caught that!! LOL
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Excellent articles that I will add to my Hebrew Roots folder. Thanks!
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