The Four Blood Moon Speculation
Republished September 28, 2015 (first published February 19, 2014)
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061
866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
This type of thing sells a lot of books in an age of shallow “evangelical” Christianity and in a time when people’s ears perennially itch for something new.
Observe the following dramatic statements from Hagee’s book:
“The history of THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO CHANGE FOREVER, and God is sending us messages on His high-definition billboard by speaking to us in the heavens— using the Four Blood Moons; the question is . . . are we listening?” (Four Blood Moons, Kindle Locations 326-328).
“Keep reading, because THIS MESSAGE FROM GOD IS SO URGENT to Him that He sovereignly arranged the sun and the moon to perfectly align themselves to create a Tetrad— four consecutive blood moons. He didn’t do this just one time— but Tetrads linked to Jewish history have happened only three times in more than five hundred years. And it’s about to happen again” (Four Blood Moons, Kindle Locations 498-501).
“The fourth series of Four Blood Moons is coming! They are extremely rare even by scientific standards. GOD IS SHOUTING TO US, ‘SOMETHING BIG IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN!’ ... What they are telling us is that God is getting ready to change the course of human history once again. He is preparing to display the next series of signs in the heavens” (Four Blood Moons, Kindle Locations 2568-2572).
“The coming Four Blood Moons are almost here . . . ARE YOU READY?” (Four Blood Moons, p. 244).
Hagee’s position is based on the following erroneous premises:
1. Hagee claims that a red-tinted lunar eclipse is the same thing as the Bible’s prophecies of the moon turning to blood and the sun turning black.
Hagee says that these prophecies refer to a tetrad. This is a series of four consecutive lunar eclipses, which make the moon appear to have a red tint, with a total solar eclipse occurring somewhere within that sequence, thus the “blood moon” and “black sun.” Hagee claims that tetrads that coincide with Israel’s feast days (e.g., passover and feast of tabernacles) fulfill Bible prophecy.
This is the fundamental error of the theory. This premise being wrong, the entire thing falls apart and collapses.
Consider the following Bible prophecies:
“And I will shew 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 great and the terrible day of the LORD come” (Joe 2:30-31 and Acts 2:19-20).
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Mat. 24:29).
“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken” (Lk. 21:25-26).
“And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind” (Rev. 6:12-13).
These prophecies have nothing to do with lunar or solar eclipses. They describe breathtaking signs in the heavens that cannot be missed and cannot be attributed to a natural event. They are signs that will cause men’s hearts to fail for fear. No one will need a book on prophecy to know that something earth shaking is happening. These prophetic signs will occur during the Tribulation, during Daniel’s 70th Week as described in Revelation 6-18. They will not occur in the church age prior to the Rapture of New Testament saints.
2. Hagee claims that since three previous tetrads over the past 500 years that fell on Israel’s feast days have witnessed dramatic events, the next tetrad in 2014-15 will also witness a dramatic event.
In 1493-94 a tetrad was accompanied by the expulsion of Jews from Spain. The tetrad of 1949-50 witnessed the establishment of the modern state of Israel and the winning of her War of Independence. The tetrad of 1967-68 witnessed Israel’s winning of the Six Day War and the recovery of Old Jerusalem.
It is important to observe that these “tetrads” didn’t fall exactly on the historical events emphasized by Hagee. As usual, the prophecy speculator stretches the connections and associations between alleged signs and the events. The expulsion of Jews from Spain was in 1492 rather than 1493-94; the War of Independence was won in 1949, whereas the tetrad wasn’t completed until 1950; and the Six Day War was over in 1967, whereas the tetrad wasn’t complete until 1968.
Be that as it will, the next tetrad that falls on Israel’s feast days is April 15, 2014, October 8, 2014, April 4, 2015, and September 28, 2015.
This is all very interesting, but there is zero evidence that any of these tetrads were actual signs from God.
After all of Hagee’s attempts to prove that the tetrads were supernatural signs, he is left with nothing but speculation. And speculation has no authority.
3. God will give the present world a heavenly sign to that “it has taken a wrong turn.”
“The world has taken a wrong turn and we need a sign from God to get back on the right track— the Four Blood Moons just may be that signal! If God gave Joshua and Hezekiah a sign in the heavens and if He posted a sign in the heavens to direct the wise men to the birthplace of our Redeemer, then why wouldn’t He continue to speak to us through signs? God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He has declared that He will give the terminal generation a signal that something big— something earthshaking— is going to happen” (Hagee, Four Blood Moons, Kindle Location 1871).
There is no biblical evidence for this. The signs of the end times are everywhere present for anyone who will turn his attention to God’s holy Word. Men have no excuse. There is the sign of apostasy in the churches, the sign of ecumenical unity toward the building of a one-world “church” (Hagee himself is guilty of promoting this), the sign of globalism, the sign of the explosion of homosexuality, the sign of the knowledge explosion, the sign of men running to and fro, and others. These are clear Bible signs laid out in prophecy rightly interpreted. (See the free eBook Bible Prophecies Fulfilled Today, available from www.wayoflife.org.)
There is no need for God to give a sign in the heavens prior to the Rapture, and there is no biblical evidence that He will do so.
CONCLUSION: HAGEE’S UNSOUND SOURCE
Hagee got this theory from a disreputable source. It is a product of his illicit and unwise yoking together with unregenerate Jews and the bogus “Hebrew Roots” movement. He has done this through Christians United for Israel, an organization he founded in 2006.
“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33).
Hagee disavows attempts to convert Jews. He says, “The first rule adopted by Christians United for Israel was that there would be no proselytizing at our events. CUFI exists only to honor and support the Jewish people, never to convert them” (Hagee, “Why Christian Zionists Really Support Israel,” May 13, 2010).
This was not the objective that the apostle Paul had. He was not afraid of condemning Israel for her stiff-necked rebellion against God and her rejection of the Messiah, and he certainly did not draw back from trying to convert his fellow Jews to Jesus as the Christ.
“... Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles” (Acts 18:5-6).
To bless Israel does not mean to ignore the fact that she is back in land in the spiritually-dead condition described in Ezekiel 37. It does not mean to ignore her sin and her need of salvation. Indeed, the best way to bless Israel is to preach to her the blessed Gospel.
Paul visited synagogues and preached Christ to Jews, but he did not yoke together with the Pharisees and Christ-rejectors in any sort of ministry, including a ministry of blessing Israel. Instead, he taught the churches to practice the following rule:
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
Hagee begins Four Blood Moons by admitting that he first heard of the theory on a visit in 2012 to a church in northwestern Washington state pastored by Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries. The meeting was sponsored by Christians United for Israel. Speakers included Daniel Lapin, a politically conservative but unsaved Jewish rabbi who rejects Jesus as the Messiah. During this meeting, Biltz asked Hagee if he had ever studied the sun, moon, and stars as a source of prophetic revelation, and when he got back home to Texas he researched the issue and became a convert to Biltz’s position.
Biltz publishes a series of DVDs entitled Blood Moons. The first in the series is “Linking the Eclipses to the Coming of Messiah.” It is dated 2006. Biltz’s upcoming book is Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs. You can even purchase his “official Blood Moon Eclipse Calendar.”
Biltz is not a man a Bible believer should follow. He teaches that Christians should follow the law of Moses. Following is from his web page:
“El Shaddai Ministries is a Resource and Teaching Ministry. We do not want to convert Jews to Christianity or Christians to Judaism. The Scriptures say: The LORD will magnify the Torah and make it honorable. And those that love Torah will have great peace (Is 42:21/Ps 119:65). Yeshua loved Torah and loving what He loved will bring true Peace!”
Biltz teaches that every Sunday-worshiping church is a “foolish virgin” of Matthew 25 (“The Hebrew Roots Cult Movement Part 2, http://www.nowtheendbegins.com).
Biltz sells the following book in his online bookstore -- Restoration: Returning the Torah of God to the Disciples of Jesus by Thomas Lancaster. This book claims that Jesus’ disciples “revered the Torah as the core of her scriptures” and urges Christians to learn “the profound beauty of Torah life, the celebration of the biblical Sabbath, and the application of God’s holy feast days.”
This is the spirit of Judaism that caused so much trouble in the early churches and that was the reason for the apostolic conference in Jerusalem in Acts 15. That conference concluded under divine direction that New Testament believers are not obligated to keep the law of Moses. James called it “a yoke ... which neither our fathers or we were able to bear” (Acts 15:10).
James summed up the apostles’ position as follows:
“Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood” (Acts 15:19-20).
Paul expanded this position in his epistles in words that cannot be misunderstood unless one is committed to heresy:
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Gal. 3:24-25).
Here the Bible says that the work of the law of Moses is finished when it brings the sinner to Christ. After that “we are not longer under a schoolmaster.” The New Testament believer learns from the law of Moses, as he does from all of the Old Testament (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11), but the believer has a higher law.
The believer’s law is the law of the Spirit (Rom. 8:2), because the indwelling Holy Spirit leads and empowers us to obey God. He produces the righteousness of God in us. As we submit to the Spirit and follow the Spirit, God fulfills His law in us.
The believer’s law is the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2), because we are predestinated to be conformed to His image (Rom. 8:29). We see Christ in the Scriptures and are changed into His image by the power of the indwelling Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17-18). This is what the Bible means when it says that we are to put on the new man (Eph. 4:24). The new man is Christ.
The believer’s law is the law of liberty (Jam. 1:25), not because we are free to do as we please but because our condemnation fell upon Christ and we are free to serve God without the fear of eternal condemnation. It is a like a woman who is a slave to a cruel master and serves him out of fear, but she is purchased from slavery by a man who loves her and makes her his wife. Now she works hard to serve her husband, perhaps even working harder than she did before, but her service now is out of love and without fear. The law of liberty is like a man who is drowning, and he is rescued by the kind captain of a ship. Once safe aboard, the man signs on to the ship’s crew and serves the captain out of a sense of gratitude, and if he is faulty in his duty, he is disciplined, but he is not cast back into the sea. The law of liberty is like an delinquent orphan who is adopted by a kind father. Now he is a son in the man’s family and he serves the father in his business, and if he is neglectful he is disciplined, but he is not cast out of the family.
Paul taught further,
2 Corinthians 3:6-18 “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be DONE AWAY: 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11 For if that which is DONE AWAY was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. 12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of THAT WHICH IS ABOLISHED: 14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Here the law of Moses is called a ministration of death and condemnation, and this is because sinners cannot live up to its holy demands. Here the law of Moses is thrice said to be “done away” and “abolished” (verses 7, 11, 13). When God repeats something, it is important. We need to listen carefully. The law of Moses is done away as far as having the ultimate authority over the believer. It is holy and perfect, but it is not the believer’s law. We have a new law, a higher law. That law is Christ (verses 17-18). We look upon Him through the revelation of Scripture and are conformed to His image. It is a law of liberty (verse 17), because all of our condemnation fell upon Christ on the cross, and we are free from condemnation and eternal judgment. We are dead to the servitude of the law and married to a new Master (Romans 7:1-4).
More could be said in refutation of Hagee’s theory of the Four Blood Moons, but this should be sufficient to demonstrate that it is not Scriptural and that it has zero authority.
Friends in Christ, don’t get caught up in the frenzy of prophetic speculation. We have plenty of solid prophecy in the Scripture. There is no need for speculation and theories based on unsound premises.
Don’t follow men who have demonstrated their lack of Scriptural wisdom. The result will be confusion at best with the possibility of spiritual shipwreck.
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