Hi all,
I’ve had a lot of people ask about the ‘Four Blood Moons’ teaching, based on Mark Biltz’ 2008 theory that became the title of a best selling book, co-written with John Hagee, which I’ve also read. Several have said they are asking me because they know I’ll tell them the truth of what scripture says, so I take their trust quite seriously.
Where is that Island?
In the year 1879 an Italian Captain sailing the ship Barone Podesta, discovered a small island nearly 1400 kilometers (870 miles) west of the nation of Chile. He named the island ‘Podesta’, and the Captain received acclaim as the discoverer of new land, though he faced scrutiny from the start because others couldn’t find his island.
The island was on every chart for that section of the Pacific Ocean for 56 years, until 1935 when it was finally removed. Most suspected he wanted to make a name for himself as the discoverer of new land in that age of exploration. Though the Captain repeatedly claimed it was real, it has never been found to this day.
The Italian Captain’s name was Pinocchio, and within a couple years of his unverifiable claim, Italian author Carlo Collodi wrote a series of children’s stories about a boy named Pinocchio whose nose grew each time he told a lie.
Now I’m not saying Pinocchio’s nose grew each time he affirmed its existence, but it shows how something if repeated enough, becomes true to a lot of people until proven otherwise. Some are like, ‘Don’t confuse me with facts because my mind is already made up’, but others want the truth.
It was only after people carefully researched the location where Pinocchio said the island was that his claims were proven untrue. Perhaps he so wanted it to be true he reported a half truth here, conveniently left off some facts there, or maybe he was confused and innocently made wrong calculations.
And so I critique, not criticize the ‘Four Blood Moons’ teaching, for we must believe the best of the authors.
Questions related to the book
The most common questions that I’ve received revolve around the ‘rapture’ happening this September or next, or the Ezekiel 38 war between Israel and her allies against Russia and her allies happening this fall, or the US abandoning Israel with tragic results for the USA.
The subtitle of the book is ‘Something is about to change’ and because many of us do have an abiding sense in our spirits that things are changing, we wonder if their book details what we sense.
Are there significant events ahead for Israel and the world? Of course. So anything I share below is not to say there won’t be dramatic things this year and next – The Father has told me and others many things, and the Lord has told me some things He is doing in the body of Christ as well, so I know there are some major things happening this year through 2017 (He hasn’t shown me beyond that).
The questions I’ve been asked to answer relate to the claims of the book, so I’ll keep my focus narrowed to that.
First – What is a ‘blood moon’?
The basis for the book is that the moon turns red during lunar eclipses as it passes into earth’s shadow. The moon is called a ‘blood moon’ when this happens, thus the title.
A blood moon is also a harvest moon, full and bright, and due to dust rising from the fields at harvest time turns red in appearance when low on the horizon. This turning red or orange can happen anytime due to atmospheric dust, heat waves, and other atmospheric factors. It is also a common occurrence any time the moon is low on the horizon. The sun also turns to blood in the same way, and anyone reading this has seen sun and moon rises, and sun and moon sets that qualify as turning to blood in appearance.
What does the book say?
The book is based on Joel 2:31 which states: “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible Day of the Lord.”
The thought process was to ask what causes the sun to go dark and the moon to turn red, and their answer was lunar eclipses. Then they looked for eclipses during Jewish festivals and found tetrads of eclipses, which is a set of 4 lunar eclipses, occurring within a 2 year time frame. (2 one year, 2 the next – a tetrad)
With 2 sets of eclipses/blood moons nothing of note happened, so they conveniently leave that off, but with the others they found world events around the same time. The eclipses they mention and world events they tie to them are these:
1493-1494 – the Spanish Inquisition, removing Jews from Spain
1949-1950 – the establishment of the nation of Israel
1967-1968 – the Six Day War (June 5-11, 1967)
Then they noted that 2014-2015 has another set of 4 eclipses, and so conclude that things are about to change for Israel and the Jewish people this year or next. This is the whole basis for the book.
The trouble is…
The Edict of Expulsion was in March 1492, but the first eclipse didn’t occur until the year after, and the last eclipse in the tetrad over 2 years later. (Additionally, the Inquisition went from 1478-1834)
Israel’s Statehood was May 1948, but the eclipses didn’t happen until a year later, in 1949, the last in 1950.
The 1967 eclipses didn’t start until many months after the war had ended and the last the year after that.
Yet because some so willingly accept what a ‘name’ writes without checking basic facts, some in the body of Christ are in near panic about the 2014-15 tetrad of eclipses. Will the rapture happen this fall or next. Will the Ezekiel 38 war happen this fall or next. But it is clear these eclipses do not predict events, they came AFTER events related to the Jews or Israel.
All these events and more COULD happen perhaps, but the ‘blood moon’ eclipses don’t predict them.
Other factors the book leaves out
Israel uses a lunar calendar for their festivals, so there will be eclipses. In fact, in the 20th century lunar eclipses occurred in 37 of 230 festivals it is such a common occurrence. (www.answersingenesis.org)
The authors had to dismiss all those eclipses in just the 20th century and many more through 19 other centuries to find 3 that came near these 3 events related to the Jews or Israel.
They built the whole book out of these 3 that came 1-2 years after events related to Israel, and then turned the 2014-15 eclipses into predictors for you and I for this and next year.
To stay with their logic, because the eclipses will happen in 2014 and 2015, we need to look back to 2012 and 2013 for significant events for the Jewish people on the same scale as the Inquisition, establishment of Israel as a nation, or the Six Day War. Hmmm…nothing of that scale happened. So dismiss the claims of the book.
It sells well, and they got my $7.74 for the Kindle version, but their teaching and logic are totally flawed. Sad. I’m a stickler for the Word and Spirit and truth, and when such a poorly done work has much of the body of Christ quivering in fear and confusion, I can’t ignore it. (And don’t get me started how they pulled Joel 2:31 out of context to make it fit their theory)
Of course if something happens this year or next to Israel, the authors will most likely cry out, “I told you so”, but as you’ve seen above, that would be akin to saying my team won the big game because I wore my lucky underwear. Beware of Pinocchio.
Blessings!
John Fenn
