Author: Rene Fretz

My first interest in Biblical Astronomy was sparked during the study of the celestial signs surrounding the Birth of Christ in the late 70's and early 80's. This grew into a greater interest in Astronomy, resulting in numerous studies, clubs and activities as an amateur astronomer. Starting around 2003 I began working on the Try-God website, as a venue to publish my various articles and studies in Biblical Astronomy, which in the last 10 years, has garnered interest from an audience around the globe. With renewed effort and energy, we are expanding on our initial efforts with the website, for a more effective outreach to our growing audience.

Blood Moons and Israel

HistBibAstron

Blood Moons and the History of Israel

Have you noticed all the headlines about “Blood Moons” in the News lately? Everyone seems to be wondering when the next Blood Moon is?

red moon
Four Blood Moons

It might help if we knew what a Blood Moon actually is, and why its getting so much attention. A Blood Moon is associated with a type of Lunar eclipse,  but attention has been focused on the Moon turning to Blood ever since it was prophesied in the Book of Joel, as this prophet of God gave this  Bible Blood Moon prophecy by divine revelation;

[Joel 2:28-32] v. 31…the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great and terrible day of the Lord come.

This provides a foundation reference for Blood Moon Prophecies in the Bible.  There are four blood moons scheduled in 2014 and 2015 that align with Hebrew holy days in the Spring and Fall of the next 2 years. This has been called a “Blood Moon Tetrad,” and has consistently been associated with key events related to Israel in history. The Four Blood Moons are certainly grabbing headlines lately, but we should also remember the Sun being mentioned, as turning into darkness, referring to a solar eclipse, in the first part of Joel’s prophecy. As we can see in the graphic above, the Total Solar Eclipse is central in the midst of four Blood Moons in 2014 and 2015! This should get our full and undivided attention, especially since Blood Moon Tetrads are very rarely associated with a Total Solar Eclipse in the last 2000 years, in view of the celestial signs on Holy Feast days of Israel’s calendar. The fact that Blood Moons are tied to Lunar Eclipses is not that big a deal in itself, but what has captured the public’s imagination is that these blood moons are happening on the feast & holy days of Israel’s sacred Calendar. Also, the fact that this is the final Blood Moon Tetrad occurring on Hebrew Feast and Holy days in the 21st Century has also caused people to sit up and take notice. As a result, the Blood Moon prophecies in the news have gotten a lot of attention recently.

According to NASA the dates for the Blood Moons in 2014 are as follows;

4/15/2014 Total Lunar Eclipse on the Hebrew Passover
4/29/2014 Annular Solar Eclipse

10/08/2014 Total Lunar Eclipse on the Hebrew Feast of Tabernacles

10/23/2014 Partial Solar Eclipse

NASA also gives the following 2015 Blood Moon dates;

3/20/2015 Total Solar Eclipse on Nisan 1, Hebrew New Years Day

4/14/2015 Total Lunar Eclipse on Hebrew Passover

9/13/2015 Partial Solar Eclipse on Hebrew Rosh Hashanah

9/28/2015 Total Lunar Eclipse on the Hebrew Feast of Tabernacles

img6

The interest in Blood Moons has centered around their association with the Hebrew Calendar, since historically Israel has always counted the start of the months of their year based on the sighting of the New Moon, [read more]. Due to this, the naysayers will tell us that the Blood Moon prophecies “mean nothing,” which is what naysayers do… But it is hard to ignore the fact that Blood Moons have also been an indicator that something important was about to occur relating to Israel as a nation. For example in recent memory, there was a Blood Moon Tetrad in 1949-1950, which occurred when Israel was reborn as a Nation. There was another Blood Moon Tetrad in 1967-1968, marking their 6-day War with Egypt, when Israel regained control of Jerusalem. This was also the last time a Total Solar eclipse occurred during four Blood Moons on Hebrew
Feast days.  The 1492 Blood Moon Tetrad, that occurred just prior to the 1967 Blood Moons, in this Blood Moon Tetrad series, was also key in Israel’s history, since it marked the Jews being expelled from Spain, during the Spanish Inquisition.

A primary key in understanding these Blood Moon prophecies in the Bible is not listening to the naysayers, but to what the truth of God’s Word reveals to us. One of these keys is found in the immediate context of Joel’s Blood Moon prophecy in [Joel 2:28-29];

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men will see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit...”

Here Joel’s Blood Moon prophecy refers to a time when God’s gift of holy spirit is available to all who believe, which was not the case in the Old Testament, but only became available on the Day of Pentecost following Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension to the Right Hand of the Heavenly Father. This opened up a new Spiritual Age; the Age of Grace when, as Jesus told us, the Comforter [Jn. 16:7] could not come unless and until Jesus left to be with the Father. The Comforter of course, is God’s gift of holy spirit, which is given to all who believe in their heart, and confess with their mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord, [Rom. 10:9-10]. As we link the holy Hebrew Feasts with key events related to the first coming Jesus Christ, we will start to notice a pattern developing. For example, Christ was crucified at the Spring Passover Feast the 14th of Nisan, 28 AD, buried during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the 15th of Nisan, resurrected at the Feast of First Fruits, on the 17th of Nisan.

The next important date where the Blood Moon prophecy appears in the Bible just happens to be on the Day of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, in the third month following Jesus’ resurrection in 28 AD, when first, the 12 Apostles spoke in tongues, showing evidence of their new spiritual rebirth, followed on the same day by over 3000 new believers showing the same evidence. As the Apostle Peter addressed the Pentecost Temple crowd in Acts 2:14-ff, he quoted this Blood Moon prophecy from Joel 2! It is important to realize that this Blood Moon prophecy is uniquely associated with the Biblical Age of Grace, which Peter calls the “last days” [Acts 2:17], beginning in 28 AD, wherein we still reside today. It is critical that the Apostle Peter himself quotes this key prophecy in the opening fanfare of his Pentecost address, not only to the 3000 new believers and the rest of the crowd that day, but to all Christian believers since that day, who share in the spiritual gift that God continues to pour out upon his people. A few years later, the first Blood Moon Tetrad in the Age of Grace occurred in 32-33 AD. This started a series of at least 9 Blood Moon Tetrads over a 2000 year period from 32-33 AD to 2032-2033 AD!! Thus we should pay attention to what is happening with Israel in the news during the current Blood Moon signs, and when the next Blood Moon sign is set to occur, just as their appearance has held great import for Israel over the last 2000 years! As the graphic below depicts, Blood Moons/lunar eclipses have historically been a negative omen for Israel, usually indicative of the bloodshed associated with war, as the Talmud teaches. Solar eclipses on the other hand, have been held as bad omens for the Gentile nations.

The blood moon of April 15 passes over the winged figure of victory gracing the cenotaph at Queens Park in Maryborough.

The Angel’s Sword shown cutting across the Blood Red Moon, symbolizing Bloodshed associated with War! 

These Blood Moon signs as Joel foretold, are to occur before that great and notable Day of the Lord, which is the Day Christ will return in triumphal victory over the evil darkness of this world, bringing the believers of his spiritual body-his Church with him in the final defeat of the enemy. This is the second phase of the Lord’s return, preceded by our Gathering together unto him [I Thess. 4:13-18, II Thess. 2:1]. We all anticipate this day as it is our Great Hope, the Hope of his return in ultimate deliverance from the shackles of this world, which will effectively wrap up the Age of Grace, as the Lord gathers his Church together, ushering in the Revelation
Administration. As we pay heed to the next Blood Moons and activities involving Israel, with unquenchable believing do his work, that Christ has called each believer to accomplish in his stead, until the dawning of that Great Day, we will truly show our love for the returning Lord! As the Gospel of Luke tells us;

Luke 21:24-28
24 “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 25 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; 26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for lo0king after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, lift up your heads for your redemption draws nigh.”

As the Creator of the Heavens and Earth, it was Almighty God Who originally set the order and significance of these blood moons, coordinated with the Feast days of the Hebrew Calendar, when He spun the celestial bodies in their orbits in the Sky, [read more]. He did all this as a means to shed the light of his spiritual knowledge concerning the appearances of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ on earth. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, we can discern the signs of the times in preparation for the victorious return of Christ for his saints.

The Celestial Prelude of Signs Revealing the Birth of Christ

BirthofChrist

The Celestial Prelude

The controversy surrounding the “Star of Bethlehem” has been a hot topic of conversation annually around the Christmas season, for a long time. There are those who don’t believe that there was any special prelude of celestial signs marking the birth of Christ, as it was clearly spoken of in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Popular opinion has it that there were some unique signs or miraculous manifestations witnessed only by the Magi. [read more]. Then there are always the astrologers who, while promoting their fatalism, ramble on about half-baked superstitions muddying the truth concerning the Biblical astronomy of the Prelude of Signs leading to the Promised Seed. Over the last thirty years or so, however, there has been a steady increase in the volume of the voices of reason. There are a handful of professional astronomers all who have pointed out the importance of the celestial signs during the period of 3 to 2 BC. Some of these include John Mosley, Roger Sinnott of Griffith Observatory, Professor D.C. Morton Senior Research Astronomer at Princeton University, noted Biblical Historian Jack Finegan of Berkeley, CA,  and Dr. Earnest Martin of the Association of Scriptural Knowledge. Their combined study of this period and the time encompassing the birth of Chist, has revealed a vast treasure trove of celestial signs that has finally uncovered the true nature of the nativity, and the so-called “Star of Bethlehem,”[read more]. This is the subject of the following study, which appears as part of a larger, more detailed as yet unpublished work on the Celestial Signs surrounding the Birth of Christ called: The Season of the Morning Star. This work is designed to provide a new awareness of the Biblical Astronomy that marked the birth of Jesus Christ the promised seed. [read more]

God marked the holy season of the birth of His only begotten son Jesus, from before the foundations of the world, according to His vast omniscient foreknowledge, in concert with the celestial cycles He installed in His Creation. In this way His handiwork would show forth praise and worship of His wisdom, exhibited in the eternal purpose of His plan of the ages. As the Creator and God of the Heavens and Earth, our Heavenly Father saw fit to mark mankind’s long awaited deliverance, prophesied in the circle of the stars, marked by a 25,920 year celestial cycle recognizing the Sun’s retrograde motion through the zodiac at the vernal point, initiating the Age of Pisces in the precession of the equinoxes, circa 7-6 BC. He also marked the celestial signs leading up to, and surrounding the birth of the Christ, the embodiment of the Morning Star, with a unique series of triple planetary unions, involving a series of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions. This realization is a primary element in understanding the Biblical astronomy of the Celestial Prelude of signs revealing the Birth of Christ.[read more]

As a genuine “mandate from heaven,” these celestial signs ordained from the Hand of the Creator, mark the decisive epoch of the coming of the promised seed, near the inception point of the Piscean Age. As the signs of the birth of Christ unfold in the true extant of their scope and structure, we can only stand in humble awe and reverence as they testify to God’s omniscient Power and Love in revealing His Morning Star Redeemer to mankind. The Power and Glory of His Creation reveals His three fold light as He shed it forth abundantly, in the heavens, in the Scriptures, and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ enlightening the Earth, [read more]. What follows are some primary excerpts from my aforementioned unpublished book. This work expands on the work of many of the experts in this field, spoken of earlier along with others of no less brilliance, but perhaps lesser fame. Many modern astronomers have not deemed to make any judgments on the celestial signs of this period, while other historians and theologians have. Perhaps it is beyond the realm of modern scientific Astronomy and astro-Physics to seek out the meaning and symbolism of these celestial signs. This job may best be left to the historians and theologians who should apply no less scientific principle or zeal while seeking out the truth of the Morning Star. The science of our method is described in the section of our web-site on the Research Principles of Biblical Astronomy. [read more]

   Let’s take a brief overview of both the general and specific aspects of the Celestial Prelude. [read more] The General Sign, as we will see below, was visible for over 200 years, while of celestial signs from 7-5 BC, focus on the triple planetary Conjunction of Jupiter-Saturn during this time. These signs of the Celestial Prelude allowed the Magi to recognize the stellar details of the long awaited prophecy of the coming of the promised seed. [read more]