The mainstream media loves to hate the judgment day predictions of us Christians. I found myself caught-up in this love-to-hate feeding frenzy two weeks ago, after Root Source’s Gidon Ariel and myself informed the world that the March 20 Total Solar eclipse would reach the North Pole, while issuing a joint call to pray Isaiah 11:9 during that exceeding rare event.
Admittedly we often make of ourselves an easy target for the media. They relish the chance to show once again that the religious nuts are at it again, predicting the end of the ‘world’ and then becoming a ‘universal’ laughing stock. It’s a low-risk, high-reward exercise plan in three easy steps.
Step 1: Type out a few keystrokes about people who repulse you and their judgment day predictions you deplore.
Step 2: Wait few days for the event to come and go without anything particularly bad happening to anyone.
Step 3: Laugh. Wait for the next prediction. Then repeat.
And who can really blame them? I don’t.
But the thing is that Gidon and I never once mentioned judgment. Not once. What we said was that this was likely a message from God. And if there is a message from God, then we might want to focus on trying to hear that message.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of allowing myself to be quoted as saying that God might want to ‘teach us a lesson’, which I was thinking about only in the rabbinical context of eager students desiring to learn from a wise teacher! Oops! My lesson learned? That’s the last time I will approve a quote on a cell phone in downtown Plymouth Massachusetts, while my GPS barks out directions to Plymouth Rock!
To my wife – yes, the phone was in hands-free mode and I had both hands on the wheel. To my partner Gidon – yes the promo video at Plymouth Rock was completed safely. To my quote – well, I guess 2 out of 3 ain’t bad!
But foolishness aside, why did Gidon and I stay clear of judgment in our original call to prayer? Because there is something unique that our research on the Blood Moons revealed, something that we do not see being talked about anywhere in Christian circles. Our research shows first that these things signal very long term changes in history, not the kinds of things that would be indicated by a Shemittah (Sabbath) year, and secondly that these things are good – completely, totally, good – for the nation of Israel.
So what about the Shemittah year predictions from Jonathan Cahn? Well, so be it, but we ask in response, does the fact that Blood Moons and Shemittah are coinciding on the very same year mean for sure that the impact of these events must be exactly the same? And is God so one-dimensional that he is all about judgment all the time? Hello! Redemption anyone?
The Shemittah work by Jonathan Cahn is quite good, and likely signals some level of judgment. But it seems to us that the Blood Moons and a Solar Eclipse at the North Pole are a very different phenomena. One could easily imagine there could be two very different storylines happening simultaneously.
If the Shemittah is about judgment, then why can’t the simultaneously occurring Blood Moons be about redemption! The God I have fallen in love with is the One who lives to bring us all to redemption much more than he desires to bring us all to the judgment we deserve! “For with the LORD there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption.”
My beliefs in the redemptive nature of the Blood Moons are detailed partially in lessons 4, and then in lesson 5 and 6 of the free Blood Moons series I recorded for Root Source in the last few weeks. I say ‘detailed partially’ because my first goal is not to convince anyone of what I believe, but rather give viewers the tools to make up their own minds about all the theories. I’d rather you learn to ask really good questions, even of my views, than to simply accept my views!
Now what about the call to prayer? Mark Biltz and I, while having somewhat different views of the meaning of the Blood Moons, agree in principle that God loves Israel and will care for her. As such I am honored to join with him in his call to prayer for the peace of Jerusalem on Saturday April 4th, at 11:58AM GMT, 7:58AM Eastern, 6:58AM Central, 4:58AM Pacific, to pray for 4 minutes and 44 seconds while the moon is totally engulfed in the earth’s shadow.
This is not only the world’s shortest blood moon in history; it is the world’s shortest Passover eclipse in history too!
Praying Psalms 122 for the peace of Jerusalem, as we are exhorted to do by King David himself, is a biblical, unifying prayer that all Christians and Jews can pray.
But why are we taking such a not-so-dire approach to this lunar eclipse, when the Jewish sages have said that lunar eclipses are a bad omen for Israel? Because they also give a concluding remark in that very same paragraph of tractate 29a, that is overlooked by everyone it seems:
“But when Israel fulfills the will of the Omnipresent, they need have no fear of all these [omens] as it is said, “Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them, the idolaters will be dismayed, but Israel will not be dismayed.”
So dear Christian friend, please consider whether you believe Israel is, overall, in the will of God right now? If you say yes, then perhaps God is telling us that they will be quite safe in His hands! But believing even that does not mean that there is no reason for prayer! Indeed we should all join in with King David and pray for the peace of Jerusalem this Saturday morning at a local time that you can find right here.
When there is peace in Jerusalem, there will be an increased measure of peace in the world. Therefore, this prayer is a prayer for the ‘world’. In fact, given that this prayer was authored in the heart of God, before it was authored by Kind David, we can even say that it is in fact ‘universal’ in nature.
A cynical mainstream media may even make fun of us for praying for the peace of Jerusalem during a less-than-five-minutes lunar eclipse. But, some of us really do believe that any time spent praying for the peace in Jerusalem is time well-spent. Those who might demean this action will suffer in return no ill will from me, nor, I hope, “from us”, yet they should be wary of standing in any way against the welfare of Israel, or they might find themselves in opposition to someone much more powerful – and I don’t mean even the mighty, ancient King David, but the Almighty Ancient of Days.
