Signs of the Times, Gospel Outreach Association, By David Dolan [best english books to read for beginners TXT] 📗

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

By David Dolan

Shalom from Jerusalem,

Last year, I sent out to my large email list some of my salient thoughts concerning the possible prophetic significance of the dramatic events that have been unfolding in recent years here in the turbulent Middle East and elsewhere on planet earth. Specifically I wrote about the so-called "Arab Spring" (which I labeled an "Islamic Fundamentalist Spring" in some of my public talks delivered near the start of the wave of revolts in early 2011), and its possible political, social and prophetic implications for Israel and the rest of the world.

Today—the last day of Passover, and a very dusty one here—I want to mainly focus on the prophetic side of the sharp tremors increasingly rocking this region. I realize that among my many thousands of Israel News Update subscribers are some who either do not believe in the God of the Bible, or do believe but are Orthodox or non practicing Jews who do not agree with my personal belief that Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) is Israel’s Messiah King. From the correspondence I receive, I also know that some of my readers are Muslims or members of other religions, with others professing to be atheists or agnostics. A few have written very angry notes in the past when I’ve (very infrequently) written about my personal religious beliefs or about my prophetic end time novels. So for anyone who might be offended by such material, or if you are just not interested in such topics, our email programs thankfully include an easy to use "delete" button! However since most of my readers seem to share my faith, I am sending this out to my list.

DARK MOONS ON THE HORIZON

For anyone still reading J this message, I want to focus this time on the upcoming cycle of lunar eclipses that scientists inform us will coincide with the first evening of Passover during the next two years, and also with the first night of the Feast of Tabernacles in 2014 and 2015. I have never before spoken or written about this rather rare and unique occurrence, which is known to scientists as a Tetrad; when four consecutive full lunar eclipses take place in the skies above planet Earth.

While scientists note it is fairly uncommon for this phenomenon to occur, it is even rarer for all four of the total consecutive eclipses to coincide with the full moons that signal the beginning of the two annual Feasts of the Lord. In fact, they say it has only occurred seven times since the era when Yeshua ministered on earth just before the Roman destruction of the Holy Temple here in Jerusalem and the subsequent scattering of the Jewish people from the land. However, after several centuries when no such Tetrads took place at all, there have been no less than two since 1949, with a third cycle beginning next Passover. Scientists say it will be the only Tetrad taking place on the biblical feast for the rest of this century. So a remarkable three such Tetrads are taking place in the space of just 70 years after centuries with none at all. I have been receiving increasing inquiries about my views on this intriguing topic, and thus this special message is being sent out to you. Please feel free to discard it, post it, forward it, ignore it, publish it, or whatever else you might wish to do.

I first became aware of the Tetrads connected to the biblical feasts about five years ago when talking with Mark Blitz, who heads a congregation near Tacoma Washington where I have spoken several times. From checking out NASA’s web site, he had earlier noticed the previous Tetrads that coincided with the biblical feasts, including one that took place just as the Jews of Spain were being forcibly expelled from that land in 1494, at the end of the horrific Spanish Inquisition. Mark had also shared this information with my friend and journalist colleague Bill Koenig, who wrote about it on his popular website, which was then picked up by World Net Daily and other media outlets.

By the way, I first met Bill in Dallas in the early 1990s where I shared some information that he later included in his book, Eye to Eye: Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel. The weather information, which was given to me by a Messianic friend who works for the National Hurricane Center in Miami, noted the interesting correlation between several "natural disasters" that had plagued the world and the United States during important dates in the unfolding Israeli-Palestinian "peace process." My talk especially focused on the "Perfect Storm" that struck the Atlantic Ocean in 1991 as the Madrid peace conference was getting underway, and Hurricane Andrew in 1992 that my friend and his family were directly in the path of in southern Florida.

Mark, Bill and many others have noted that besides the Tetrad which began on Passover in 1493 soon after the large Jewish community was ordered out of Spain (followed by the expulsion from neighboring Portugal in 1497), the two full eclipse cycles that occurred in the 20th century coincided with seminal historic occurrences in Israel’s short modern history. The initial Tetrad began on the first night of Passover on April 13, 1949. That date was just a little over one month after Israel’s blood-soaked War of Independence came to a successful end. The next Tetrad cycle also began on Passover, in 1967, which that year fell on April 24. That means it was just over six weeks before the short, but intense Six Day War broke out. A solar eclipse closely preceded it on April 20. As you all know, what looked like a probable terrible outcome for vastly outnumbered Israeli military forces turned out to be a stunning victory for them, as was also the case in the earlier Independence War.

If we closely examine the last three recorded Tetrads that began on the full moon of Passover and ended a year later on the first night of the annual Feast of Tabernacles, we can clearly see that they have three things in common—all involved the shedding of Jewish blood. The forced exile from Spain and Portugal and the Inquisitions that preceded them left untold numbers of Jews dead or wounded, while the Independence War took 6,373 lives (about 4,000 of them soldiers and around 2,400 civilians). Many more were wounded. Despite its short length, the Six Day War left nearly 1,000 Israelis dead and over 4,500 injured. Of course many Arab soldiers and civilians were either killed or wounded in the two wars as well, and others became refugees.

It is clear that not much, if any good came out of the Roman Catholic Inquisition and subsequent expulsions for the Jewish people. However the 1949 Israeli victory in its fierce year-long War of Independence was certainly not a given, especially since Jewish fighters were battling much larger and better equipped Arab forces from several countries that had declared a war of annihilation on the fledgling Jewish State. The June 7, 1967 conquest of Jerusalem’s walled Old City and of Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula were both totally unexpected and truly phenomenal, if not miraculous.

So if this same pattern holds true for the Tetrad beginning next Passover, Israel will face war, or at least great bloodshed, that will probably eventually end in some sort of victory. This could precede the first full moon eclipse, as was the case in 1948-49, or follow it as in 1967. In the Independence War, the first Passover lunar eclipse took place a full year after the conflict began, meaning if the pattern recurs, Israel could face a major war (both previous conflicts were major ones, to say the least) at virtually anytime. If the 1967 pattern was followed, then warfare could break out sometime after Passover next year. If the 1493 pattern prevailed, then bloodshed would precede the coming Tetrad, meaning it could also begin at any time.

Of course, no one can say that the previous three Tetrads that took place on the biblical feasts were anything more than coincidental with the dramatic events that seriously affected the Jewish people. However both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures do speak of celestial signs in relation to the Jewish people and their biblical homeland. Therefore, it is certainly noteworthy that the last three historic Tetrads that coincided with Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles did indeed either immediately precede or quickly follow some of the most noteworthy events in Jewish history. It is also interesting to me that each of the string of four full eclipses in a row began on Passover, with none beginning as they could have on Succot. According to the Bible, the Jewish New Year begins in the spring just before Passover.

WAR ON THE HORIZON

You don’t need to gaze at the moon to know that the tense Middle East is gearing up for another major eruption. While Israel itself has not been directly involved with the violent revolutions that began in Tunisia over two years ago and then spread to Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Lebanon, and have also deeply affected many other countries including Jordan, it has been the object of existential threats emanating from Iran, Hizbullah, Hamas and from the besieged Syrian Assad regime. Given that the intense and spreading Syrian conflict is now raging right next to Israel’s northern Golan Heights border with the country, and that Hizbullah says it is ready to ply Israel with thousands of deadly rockets at any time, as does Iran which continues to enrich uranium at an escalating pace, it is not hard to imagine that a major war is looming. Of course, Israeli government and military leaders are not just imagining such a scenario, but are busy preparing for it.

Any new Middle East conflict would naturally have significant implications for the rest of the world as well, especially Jews residing around the globe. Financial markets would probably take a nosedive. Violence could be expected to spill over to many other places (especially if Iranian allies like North Korea get into the act, which appears possible at any moment). Plus terror and/or military attacks might also take place in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, as both Iran and North Korea are currently threatening to unleash.

Speaking of the Jewish community living outside of Israel, I found it quite interesting to note that of the four consecutive total lunar eclipses that began on Passover of 1949, all were visible in Israel. In fact one began near the start of the Seder meal in this time zone, with the others occurring later in the night or just before dawn. However in 1967, only one of the four full eclipses would have been visible in Israel… during the third eclipse on Passover of 1968 (April 13). And according to NASA charts, only the first part of it would have been viewable from Israel since the moon did not become totally darkened until after dawn here.

In other words, while the 1949 cycle of eclipses was easily viewable in the skies above Israel, the 1967 cycle was almost exclusively visible only in the Jewish Diaspora. Could this have been a Divine message to the Jewish people around the globe that it was time to come home to their ancient Promised Land? Whether or not that was the case, the Six Day War did in fact spark off a tremendous wave of Jewish immigration to victorious Israel. The Independence War did the same, but it was mostly a large influx of regional Jews who were forced out of their countries by the hostile Arab regimes that governed them.

According to NASA charts, only the final total lunar eclipse of the upcoming Tetrad will appear in the skies above Israel. That will begin on September