Two Years To Jerusalem 2018

Back in May 2008, I published an article titled "The Countdown To Jerusalem 2018," in which I

shared the pattern that my husband and I noticed in Scriptures. That pattern links number 70 to very important events in the history of the Jewish people culminating in the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in A.D. 70 , which fulfilled the prophecy given by Jesus Christ nearly 30 years earlier.

In the same prophecy recorded in the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke; Jesus predicted that the destruction of the temple will not be the end of this age, but only the "beginning of sorrows." We reasoned that if that pattern holds, then something very significant for Israel should take place in the year 2018 because it will be the year in which Israel will celebrate 70th anniversary of its rebirth, which itself was part of Jesus' prophecy about the end times in which we are now living.

"But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." ( Mark 13: 24-31)

The fig tree always symbolises the nation of Israel. When Jesus cursed a fig tree that did not bring its fruit when He was hungry, He was showing that God the Father in like manner will judge the nation for not repenting at the preaching and ministry of His Son, but He was also saying in the above passage that after judgement has passed there will come the time of mercy and rebirth, which is signified by the budding of the fig tree.

From the context of this passage we also inferred that this rebirth was the sign that the Second Coming of the Son of God was nearing, and just like in A.D. 70 came judgement, so 70 years from the time of rebirth will come the redemption or the beginning of the season of redemption in Israel.

We predicted that as the time of 2018 will come closer other signs that Jesus spoke of will be intensifying. There will be more wars, revolutions, more social unrest,  more epidemics, natural disasters including more mega earthquakes, and economic shaking or even a collapse.

All of these we are witnessing year after year, since 2008, the year of the so called "Great Recession," from which global economy hasn't really recovered. Then came the "Arab Spring", out of which a barbaric blood thirsty group called ISIS emerged wreaking havoc not only in Middle East, but all over the world. There were couple of pandemics, several mega earthquakes such as in Japan ( 2011) or more recently in Nepal (2015). It is a quite a decade to say the least.

Then there were also "signs in the heavens" such as the four blood moons each one of them falling on a Jewish holiday, and following that  is the year of Jubilee, which many are saying begins the last 70th Jubilee cycle during which the Messiah is believed to return.

Orthodox Jewish groups in Israel are preparing to rebuild the temple, which will be The Third Temple, they even revived the practice of the sacrifice of the Passover lamb on the replica of the altar as a sign of their faith that soon the temple will be in fact rebuilt, and perhaps in 2018 something will happen that will bring it closer to reality. I guess we will still have to wait and see for couple of more years. One thing is certain, whether they will rebuild the temple or not, Jesus will return just as He said he would and we might have anywhere from 2 -50 years until that Day if our biblically educated guesses are correct. No one can know the exact Day and hour, but we sure can know the season and are commanded by God to watch the signs and to be ready.

The Final Blood Moon

                                                                 

Weather permitting, tonight many people around the world will be able to watch the final total eclipse of the moon of the 2014-2015 tetrad, which will be the very last of its kind ever.

While there will be more tetrads happening in the near future, the next one beginning in 2032, this one is the LAST one that has all four of its eclipses coincide with the first days of Biblical feasts and that is why, many Christians and Jewish people around the world believe this tetrad to have a special significance.

This does NOT mean as many people in the media have wrongly reported that we believe that the “apocalypse” or “the end of the world” will take place immediately after tonight, but many of us do believe that it is indeed a sign from God who is letting us know that it is indeed the beginning of the end of this present age that will actually end with Jesus’ return and not the end of the world.

It has nothing to do with astrology, superstition, or omens as even some badly informed fellow Christians have accused us of believing in, but it could be exactly what The Lord Jesus Himself predicted will signal the beginning of the very end of the end times by stating the following in the Gospel of Luke chapter 21 verses 25 through 28.

“There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. “Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory. “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Was Jesus superstitious? Obviously not and I don’t think that He was talking here about any ordinary eclipses of the moon and the sun either as so many of them do take place quite often and are really nothing extraordinary, but a tetrad of eclipses falling on the first days of The Lord’s feasts including the total eclipse of the sun that also falls on a Biblical feast day is something else entirely.

As a Christian , I believe in Jesus’ words because He is the Son of the living God and  He knew the future that is why it is foolish to dismiss such signs as “superstitious nonsense” and attack fellow Christians for believing in it.

I am also convinced that because of these and other signs that I discuss on this blog, we can expect the fulfillment of many Bible prophecies in the coming years and perhaps decades that will eventually culminate and the literal, physical return of Jesus to this earth to reign here for 1,000 years.

As you can see, “the end of the world” is still quite far off though quite turbulent times are ahead of us. That being said, those of us who belong to Jesus have nothing to fear. Yes, many of us will be persecuted, especially when the Antichrist shows up on the world’s scene and establishes his global dictatorship, but we have the promise that the gates of hell itself will not prevail against us.

We will overcome him by the blood of the lamb, and the word of our testimony even if many of us will have to and already do lay down their very lives for our faith. Still, we will have the power from on high to destroy the works of the evil one and shine ever brighter in this darkening world. There will be harvest of souls like never before with people by the billions turning to our Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit will be demonstrated even in a greater measure than in the days of Pentecost. The Lord always leaves the best wine for last.

The Third Blood Moon

Early this morning during the first day of Jewish Passover and on anniversary of the day Jesus of Nazareth was crucified by the Romans, there was a third total lunar eclipse called a "blood moon" because of the color the moon takes during such event.

It is a third one in a rare astronomical occurrence called a "tetrad" when in a span of two years there are four total lunar eclipses. What makes it even more rare is that those eclipses fall on the first days of Jewish feasts of Passover and Tabernacles respectively.

In the first chapter of the book of Genesis in the Bible we read that the sun and the moon were given not only for us to use them to tell times and seasons , but also for them to be God's signs to His people and so it happened historically that every time such tetrad occurred, it preceded, accompanied, or followed major historical events in Jewish as well as world history such as the destruction of the temple and dispersion of Jewish people among all nations in AD 70, the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948 and the Six Day War in 1967.

What is interesting about this third blood moon is that it follows the total solar eclipse that took place on a Jewish New Year, Nisan 1, and the recent announcement of "historic deal" with Iran and increased tension in U.S.- Israel relations because of this deal.

While many seeing how it paves the road for a future attack on Israel by Iran, currently led by fanatical Shia Muslim government that even released a propaganda video showing their planned destruction of Israel with a nuclear bomb and mocking the Americans while negotiating with Obama and U.N. are horrified, it should not surprise those who are ardent students of the Bible.

All prophetic old Testament Books clearly state that in the last days, after Israel's miraculous rebirth, all nations will turn against it and Israel will stand alone. Right now her enemies explain to themselves the continual existence of Israel with American protection of it. They say that if it was not for America, Israel will cease to exist, so God will allow America to stop its protection of Israel in order to prove to the world that He is the one who protects her.

It will also force Israeli people to trust in God and not their worldly "friends." We can draw comfort from that knowing that God will not allow Israel to be destroyed. Iran and her Russian as well as Muslim allies will try to destroy her and perhaps this will happen in a very near future, but they will be supernaturally defeated according to the Book of Ezekiel chapters 38-39. Perhaps the defeat of Iran's army and its leadership will be the very thing that will free the Iranian people from under their oppression. There are promises in the Bible for the Iranian exiles as well who, like my very own husband, cannot even go back to visit their country of birth because of the Islamic regime ruling their country right now. It looks very scary right now, but God will have the last word and He works in mysterious ways.

Prophetic Vortex of 2015

What is in store prophetically this year can be characterized in no other way than "prophetic vortex." Let me show you what I mean.

There are of course the remaining two blood moons falling on the first days of the Jewish feasts of Passover( April 4) and Tabernacles (September 28), which I am more and more convinced relate to some difficult times for Israel coming soon (possibly another war or peace with Palestinians) that will result in the return of the access to temple mount back to the Jewish people, but there are also other prophetic signs at hand.

Next month, there will be parliamentary elections held in Israel that will decide who will lead Israel in those crucial times. Three days later there will be another celestial sign in the form of a total solar eclipse, which also falls on a Jewish holiday. This time it will be Nisan 1 ( March, 20) which coincides with the beginning of the Jewish religious year as well as the Persian New Year. It was on this day that the tabernacle was consecrated in the Sinai desert and the Aaronic priesthood was established.
Then in September besides the final blood moon, which will be also a super moon and visible from Israel, there will be the end of the Shemitah year on Elul 29, which is September 13 on our Western calendar.

It is on this day (Elul 29 which fell on different days of the Western calendar) that the two previous Stock Market crashes of 2001 and 2008 happened. Will there be another one? It is quite possible. But there is something else prophetically special that will happen on September 13 of this year and this is the beginning of Roshashana a.k.a. The Feast of Trumpets. It is on this very day that Messianic Christians expect the event that is popularly called " Rapture of the Saints," an event spoken of by Jesus Christ Himself and explained in more detail by Paul the Apostle in the New Testament and as he said himself we are not in the dark that this day should overtake us as a thief. We know the day, we only do not know the hour or the year and that is why we should watch, pray and be always ready. I am not saying that it will happen this very year, but it could.

It would for sure be the best Shemitah (release from debts) ever! But even if it does not happen this year, I believe that these signs show us that this time is getting closer because the Shemitah also finishes one biblical jubilee cycle ( 50 years) and begins another, of which many both Jewish and Christian Bible scholars believe it will be the last. They believe this last Jubilee will be the one during which the Messiah returns, so we have then really anywhere between 8 months to 50 years if they are correct, which is still not a very long time left anyway. Exciting days to live in for sure. I have no doubt that all the millions of persecuted Christians right now would not mind at all stepping into eternity and having themselves vindicated before their enemies by The Lord's return and neither would I. Come quickly Lord Jesus!

The Second Blood Moon About To Appear As World Tensions Continue To Rise

The world has changed a lot since the first blood moon took place on the first day of Jewish Passover earlier this year. In my earlier post about this event I theorized what this rare astronomical event might mean for Israel and the rest of the world from Biblical point of view.


My biblically educated guess was that it would signal increased tensions that could possibly lead to the end time war ( or wars) predicted by Hebrew prophets thousands of years ago and it appears to be the case.

Since the first blood moon a radical militant group called ISIS or ISIL emerged as the most powerful as well as the most rich terror organization in the world, which already seized by brutal force large areas of land previously belonging to the countries of Syria and Iraq.
Even as I write this, they continue to seize new villages where they execute or displace hundreds of thousands of people who do not agree with their ideology. The terrorists then seize their property and all valuables thus effectively openly robbing them.



ISIS militants act like people who are totally demon possessed and/or without any conscience whatsoever by beheading or crushing children right in front of their parents. They also seized advanced weapons from fleeing Iraqi soldiers as well as oil fields, which bring them millions of dollars of profit a day.


All the while America and other Western powers do not even have a plan of how to combat them. This all began to happen on the hills of another Israel-Gaza war  which lasted 50 days and as usual wasn't really resolved. Hamas once again began hostilities by firing thousands of rockets at Israeli cities and villages, of which 10% penetrated the Israel defense system called Iron Dome, but miraculously did not explode or were blown away into uninhabited areas.


In addition to all this trouble in the Middle East, Vladimir Putin, not only illegally annexed Crimea, but is waging a war on Ukraine trying to take away from it its Eastern territories  without any serious objections from the West beyond heavy rhetoric and some economical sanctions.


NATO explains that it does not have to defend Ukraine because it has no obligation to do so since Ukraine is not a NATO member ignoring the fact that they were attacked because they wanted to join NATO and European Union.


So what will happen next? Putin will begin in earnest blackmailing Poland and other Baltic states because he feels that he has the freedom to do so and ISIS militants will continue to wreck havoc in Middle East for the same reason, eventually destabilizing countries such as Jordan or even Saudi Arabia. They declare their plans openly. Those are certainly historic times we are living in.

The First Blood Moon And Why It Is Special

There has been a lot written lately about the astronomical event called the “Tetrad” by astronomers and “The Four Blood Moons” by the rest of us.  It is a series of total lunar eclipses happening over a period of two years that will make the moon appear blood red in colour, hence the nickname of blood moons. So, what is so special about it?

 

Well, lunar eclipses are very common, but tetrads are not happening that often. According to NASA there will be 8 tetrads in total this century, but only he tetrad of 2014-2015 will have those four eclipses occur on Jewish Feasts called “The Feasts of The Lord” in the Bible.

 

This kind of tetrads happened only 7 times in the past 1000 years and always accompanied important events in the history of Jewish people. This tetrad is the first and the last in this millennium.  There will not be another tetrad with eclipses falling on Jewish feasts until year 3000, NASA does not have any forecast beyond that year.

 

And that is what makes this tetrad, so special. It also has a biblically prophetic importance as Jesus predicted that before His return to earth “... there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations...”(Luke 21:25) he also mentioned that “the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light...” echoing similar prediction made by the Old Testament prophet Joel, “The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.”

 

I don’t think that The Lord Jesus and prophet Joel were talking about regular lunar or solar eclipses and we must remember that they were talking to the Jewish people who lived by the Biblical calendar. Lunar and solar eclipses falling on the feast days would catch their attention and as we can see they do and not only theirs, but also all of those who consider the Bible sacred text inspired by the Spirit of God.

 

In addition to this tetrad falling on the first days of Passover and Succoth in both 2014 and 2015, we will witness a total solar eclipse on Nisan 1(20/03/2015), which God taught the Israelites to observe as “the beginning of months” that in turn led many rabbis to conclude that it might have been an anniversary of the very creation of the world, the day that time itself began.

 

It therefore makes Biblical sense to expect some important events to unfold during this time period, which also leads to the significant year 2018 that marks the 70 th anniversary of Israel’s rebirth also itself prophetically significant number as well as the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.

 

Could those be the very last signs Jesus and the prophets predicted thousands of years ago? Could they signal the beginning of the Tribulation period or a significant war against Israel that would begin the end of the period of last days we are currently living in? It is very possible.

 

As the first blood moon appears in the sky this very night, there are many tensions around the world even talk of possible World War III starting over the Ukraine Crisis. Jesus warned us this would happen, nation rising against nation, wars, pestilences, and that no one would stay alive if God did not intervene to “shorten” these days, which is a good news. We are set to watch all these events and glory of God in the midst of it all.

 

And as Jesus charged us to do, so let us do, “ watch and pray so that you might be counted worthy to escape all the things that are coming upon the earth and to stand before the Son of Man.” ( Luke 21)

Five Years To Jerusalem 2018 & The Four Blood Moons

Article originally published by me on May 15, 2013:

Much has changed in the geo-political landscape of Middle East since my last update article in this series. As Israel just celebrated their 65 th anniversary of national rebirth, the civilian death toll in Syria due to civil war in that country continues to rise with the number of the dead said to have crossed 100,000 people already. And while the fighting there is getting more brutal with the reported use of chemical weapons, Russia has announced yet another shipment of arms to the Assad regime and Iran keeps arming its Hezbollah fighters helping the Assad forces as well.

 

So, we can clearly see the alliances predicted thousands of years ago by Hebrew prophet Ezekiel forming right before our very eyes. Russia being described there by the ancient names of people inhabiting their land as Magog with its ruthless leader called Gog. According to chapters 38 and 39 of the Book of Ezekiel, Gog is going to lead a great army complied of the soldiers from today’s Muslim nations including Iran, Libya, and Turkey. They are said to come against Israel from the North through what is now modern day Syria.

 

The reason for their attack is to take spoils and “riches.” With Israel about to become a major natural gas supplier to Europe, this scenario is becoming more and more probable as it is no secret that Russia is in the process of building their energy empire and seeking to control as much gas and oil trade as possible. Israel is therefore about to become their rival and that is enough reason for Russia to go to war against it.

 

If they are planning to enter Israel through Syria, then that would explain why both Russia and Iran keep supporting the Assad regime against the mostly Sunni rebels despite all the bloodshed it continues to cause and this brings us to the grave danger it puts the United States in.

 

In order for them to fulfill their plan they know that they must neutralize United States, which makes Iran threats of activating sleeper terror groups in America all the more chilling, the recent Boston bombing being just the beginning of many similar terror attacks about to be unleashed.

 

Imagine the level of chaos and panic a series of such attacks all across the country would create and how much it would cost the United States to bring the perpetrators to justice. We saw it in Boston as the entire city was on lock down as police as well as military tried to apprehend only two suspects. How much more it would take if there were more such attacks carried out about the same time all over the nation?

 

So, if the United States went into chaos and Europe was tied down with its own financial difficulties, who would be left then to stop Russian- Islamic all out war against Israel? There would be no one.  That is why such a scenario is a very real possibility and United States’ leadership would be wise not to ignore Iranian threats and not count on Russia helping to end the Syrian crisis any time soon.

 

But there is also hope in all these seemingly hopeless circumstances because if prophet Ezekiel was right, then God Himself will step in to defeat the wicked plans of Gog and his armies, which will change the political landscape in the Middle East for many years to come and potentially bring peace at least for a long while to Middle East. Could it be the major event of 2018?

 

It is very possible, but it might even come to pass as soon as 2014-2015. There are signs both in heavens and on earth happening in our own times as the ancient Prophets and even Jesus had predicted. He foretold that in the “last days” sun will become black as sackcloth and the moon will not give its light. Many criticized that prediction as very vague as there are many solar and lunar eclipses happening periodically. But what if Jesus was not talking about regular solar and lunar eclipses?

 

We must remember that Jesus was Jewish and His disciples were as well. In 2014 and 2015, we will witness a very rare astronomical events from the Jewish perspective because there will be two total lunar eclipses in 2014 and two more total lunar eclipses in 2015 all falling on the major Jewish feasts with a total solar eclipse in the middle of them also falling on the Jewish feast. This particular configuration is called the tetrad or the four blood moons and it will happen only once in this century and indeed in this millennium, and will not be repeated again  in this millennium according to NASA records that show lunar eclipses all the way to the year 3000.

 

Consider the events that preceded the last two tetrads that fell on Jewish feasts. In 1967 and 1968 ( the six day war and unification of Jerusalem), as well as 1949 and 1950 ( the establishment of modern states of Israel following its rebirth in 1948), so could we then expect something major again in 2014-2015? I would not be surprised.

Link to the original publication: http://socyberty.com/issues/five-years-to-jerusalem-2018/