Four Blood Moons ~ Signs In The Heavens

The first of the four blood moons is set to occur in just a little over 45 days, on the First Day of Passover, April 15, 2014.  What will happen? I have no idea, but I am certainly going to be praying and watching for something spectacular in the days, weeks,  and months to come.  After all, that is how we should be living our lives, waiting, watching and expecting.

I personally believe that heavenly, or celestial signs and warnings get a bad rap these days because satan has twisted and perverted the viewing of the cosmos. We are warned in Deuteronomy 4:19  that "God's people  must not seek guidance from the stars, nor worship them." This is astrology, and yes that is against God.  However astronomy is different. Astronomy is an investigation into God's creation. The reason God placed stars and planets in the heavens was to reveal knowledge about His Son, Jesus Christ.  The wise men followed a star!  Job too studied the stars. The book of Job has more to say about the cosmos than any other book of the Bible.  Let's not ignore the signs in the heavens, God still speaks through his creation.

“Let lights come to be in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and appointed times, and for days and years, (Genesis 1:14)

Fox News Report on Four Blood Moons

Please note that this is not a post or advertisement for or about Pastor John Hagee, love him or despise him, the information he and many others have presented is true, and not just some "goofy" preachers trying to predict end times. Pastor Hagee himself says that he is not predicting the return of Christ or end times, he is merely pointing to the facts of the blood moons in the past and how they coincided with significant events in Jewish history. 

This data can be confirmed at www.nasa.gov, and it could mean that God is preparing those who are watching for something spectacular.



History of the Four Blood Moons and the significant impact that coincided with Israel and the Jewish people:

The Spanish Inquisition — 1492

* Passover, April 2, 1493
* Sukkoth, Sept. 25, 1493
* Passover, March 22, 1494
* Sukkoth, Sept. 15, 1494 

The War of Independence — 1948

* Passover, April 13, 1949
* Sukkoth, Oct. 7, 1949
* Passover, April 2, 1950
* Sukkoth, Sept. 26, 1950 

The Six-Day War — 1967

* First Day of Passover, April 24, 1967
* First Day of Sukkoth, Oct. 18, 1967
* First Day of Passover. April 13, 1968
* First Day of Sukkoth, Oct. 6, 1968 

What will occur in the 2013–2015 time period?

* First Day of Passover, April 15, 2014
* First Day of Sukkoth, Oct. 8, 2014
* First Day of Passover, April 4, 2015
* First Day of Sukkoth, Sept. 28, 2015 

Myles Weiss of Zola Levitt Ministries sums this topic up very well: "I am not putting a date on the unfolding of the Book of Revelation, nor am I setting any dates for the coming of the Bridegroom of Heaven — only the Father knows the time. Rather, I see before us an incredible opportunity to watch the Lord of Creation reach for lost loved ones and confirm not only His love for Israel but also our need to stand with the Jewish people!" ~

Shalom!

Kelly

Overview of the Seven Feasts of Israel ~ The Holy Days of Our Lord

“Leviticus 23 is the single chapter of the entire Tanakh that sums up everything. God's eternal plan -- from chaos to eternity -- is ingeniously revealed through the nature and timing of the Seven annual Feasts of the LORD.”

• The Feasts were given by God, not the government. (Columbus Day, Labor Day, July 4th ~ these are government “feasts”). 

• Gentile Believers are not required to “keep” the feasts, however having a knowledge of them will certainly enhance your faith.

• Our Lord kept every one of them without fail, even celebrating Passover on His last earthly night.  AND he will fulfill the remaining feasts in the near future!

• To each feast there is a:
• Historical meaning ~ relating to Israel  
• Prophetic meaning ~ pointing to Messiah 
• Personal meaning ~ always something for you and me, a teaching for our lives

• God meets us in time.

• Israel lived by the feasts as their calendar. By watching the moon, you can keep the calendar. 2014-2015 brings Four Blood Moons that correspond to the feasts. Very interesting and I will blog about that soon.
  

The feasts are still celebrated today by the Jews, however in an “altered form”. Without the proper Temple of God in Jerusalem, the original meaning efficacy of the feasts has been completely lost. And without a knowledge of the New Testament, even the fulfillments of the feasts—the most far reaching and momentous features of their meanings—are lost. 

Today, we are living between two of the feasts; Pentecost and Trumpets ~ we are living in the long summer of the church age, anxiously awaiting the blowing of the Trumpet!

Next time, I will further detail each feast, beginning with Passover.

Shalom,

Kelly

Quotes: Zola Levitt Ministries

To Whom Do We Bow?

I have been studying the life of Esther and learning a great deal more about the ignorant King Ahasuerus, the evil Haman and the courageous Mordecai.  You are likely familiar with the story:

 Esther was a Jewish woman who was selected by the Persian King Ahasuerus to be his wife. His former wife, Vashti had been banished and Esther was chosen as her replacement. However, the king did not know she was a Jew. (Esther 1-2) 

Some time later King Ahasuerus began to single out Haman the son of Hamdata the Agagi for advancement; eventually he gave him precedence over all his fellow officers.  All the king’s servants at the King’s Gate would kneel and bow down before Haman, because the king had so ordered. But Mordecai would neither kneel nor bow down to him.  The king’s servants at the King’s Gate asked Mordecai, “Why don’t you obey the king’s order?”  But after they had confronted him a number of times without his paying attention to them, they told Haman, in order to find out whether Mordecai’s explanation that he was a Jew would suffice to justify his behavior.  Haman was furious when he saw that Mordecai was not kneeling and bowing down to him.  However, on learning what people Mordecai belonged to, it seemed to him a waste to lay hands on Mordecai alone. Rather, he decided to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole of Ahasuerus's kingdom. (Esther 3)

What Haman was plotting was a pogrom; a bloodbath, holocaust, and massacre against the Jews.  It indicates butchery, carnage, and killing. It signifies slaughter and bloodshed "against all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day." (Esther 3:13). Total annihilation of the people is what the plot was designed for. This was not the first, nor will it be the last pogrom plotted against the Jewish people.  

Haman went to King Ahasuerus with news that "there is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all the other people's, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain." (Esther 3:8)

King Ahasuerus listened to Haman, and agreed to his plan; the king said "the money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you."  AND then the part that really struck me, "the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed." (Esther 3:15)  
  
King Ahasuerus simply took Haman's word regarding the Jewish people. Obviously if the city of Shushan was perplexed by the decree to have these people slaughtered, the king should have been moved to investigate before listening to Haman.  The king was ignorant and simply took Haman's word.

Christians today seem to be just as ignorant as King Ahasuerus regarding knowledge of our biblical roots, our Jewish roots.  Christians can converse intelligently about the latest Facebook news, movies, fashion, music and sports, but far too few give evidence of a deep understanding of their spiritual heritage.  We seem to be more focused on our daily lives, rarely looking outside our own box. And this ignorance is dangerous, very dangerous.

The news surrounding modern day Israel is overwhelming. Israel is in the midst of a current pogrom plotted by Iran (and their many allies).  I myself do not understand much of what is going on with these foreign haters of Israel. Is my ignorance excusable? Absolutely not!  We can be like King Ahasuerus and simply take the word of those we hear on the radio, television and social media as to what is going on in Israel and surrounding OR we can educate ourselves, step out of our ignorance and join forces with truth.  

The world's news media is prejudiced against God's work and God's people.   "Only those who are God-followers can properly assess history, politics and government. Everything in human history, every current event, is moving forward in His (God) timing."  Therefore, when you listen to the news, listen with discernment, ask yourselves questions: "what is the real story behind this report? What is the Lord doing? How am I to be praying here? Is He expecting me to respond?

When Mordecai heard the news of what Haman was plotting, he didn't return to his daily life, or keep quiet because it was so overwhelming and much larger than himself. NO, "When Mordecai learned everything that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes and went out through the city, lamenting and crying bitterly." (Esther 4).  Mordecai responded! Are you a modern day Mordecai?  Are you crying out and lamenting over the hatred and plots of destruction for Israel and today's Jewish people? 

You can't say you love God and not love what He loves ~ He loves Israel.

We must watch, investigate, understand and pray.  We have been seated in heavenly places for a reason, at such a time as this!  

Praying for Israel impacts: The World, Our Country and Our Lives!

Coming soon, the whole world will take a stand against Israel. "All nations will gather against Jerusalem and bow to a godless ruler. At that point, our earthly nationality no longer matters, all that matters is that we are born-again-into-the-kingdom fellow citizens with Israel."  To whom do you bow?

Pray for peace for Jerusalem: "May those who love you be at peace!



 Kelly

Your People Shall Be My People ~ Don Finto

What Is Replacement Theology?

Replacement theology is a doctrine (set of beliefs) that has been around nearly as long as the church.  Those who support the doctrine of replacement theology believe many of the following:

1. Israel (the Jewish people and the land) has been replaced by the Christian Church in the purposes of God, or, more precisely, the Church is the historic continuation of Israel to the exclusion of the former.


2. The Jewish people are now no longer a "chosen people."


3. Apart from repentance, the new birth, and incorporation into the Church, the Jewish people have no future, no hope, and no calling in the plan of God.


4. Since Pentecost of Acts 2, the term "Israel," as found in the Bible, now refers to the Church.


5. The promises, covenants and blessings ascribed to Israel in the Bible have been taken away from the Jews and given to the Church, which has superseded them. However, the Jews are subject to the curses found in the Bible, as a result of their rejection of Christ.

Replacement theology has caused much confusion, and we know who the author of confusion is, right? Satan is the author of confusion; "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." 1 Cor. 14:33.  Why does Satan  provoke such hatred for the Jews? Satan "knows something that many Christians have not yet discovered - that the promises of God will not be realized if Satan is successful in destroying Israel."  

The separation of Jews and Gentiles has been a gradual thing. In 400 A.D. a major error came into the church.  St. Augustine wrote a treatise called The City of God. Augustine concluded that God was through with Israel and the church was its replacement, this was the start of replacement theology as church doctrine.  One can hardly blame Augustine for this error in his writing as the Jews had been dispersed and there was not a Jewish Israel to be seen at this time.  Even the name of the land was changed in 135 A.D. to Palestine-"Philistia," after the Philistines. ("THIS NAME HAD NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH ARAB PEOPLES. THE MOSLEMS WEREN'T TO COME ON THE SCENE FOR 500 YEARS. THE ROMANS RENAMED THE LAND TO WIPE OUT JUDAISM.")  Arab Moslems are not the original Palestinians!

The church picked up on this replacement theology doctrine, and "the original Catholic church began to think that it was Israel.  This belief has been carried down through the centuries and has cut Israel and the Jews completely out of Christianity, even though the Jews were the original Christians!" How preposterous is that?  Martin Luther eventually called on Christians to return to the scriptures, unfortunately the idea of replacement theology continued.  With each new reformation, Christians split into various denominations. "By breaking from those who birthed us, the Church has produced one division after another. Every new movement has resulted in a new church; each reformation, a new denomination." There is still a "family resemblance, but a mutation has entered our bloodstream. Mutations may produce only a slight change in the first generation but can ultimately bring about "great changes such as severe deformities or diseases."  All of this confusion and rejection of the Jews because the Gentile Church assumed a superior position.  Didn't Paul warn us about taking this superior attitude? "Then don’t boast as if you were better than the branches!...Remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you." Romans 11.

Thankfully today there are "Bible Churches" beginning to emerge, churches that are getting back to verse-by-verse study of the Scriptures.  The Rapture has been uncovered again, and a greater understanding of the role that a physical Israel plays in this.  True Bible churches are actively involved and excited about the return of Jews to the land of Israel.  Israel is crucial, it is God's timepiece!  God has created an everlasting covenant in Genesis 17:7-8   

“I am establishing my covenant between me and you, along with your descendants after you, generation after generation, as an everlasting covenant, to be God for you and for your descendants after you.  I will give you and your descendants after you the land in which you are now foreigners, all the land of Kena‘an, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.” 

 Although the Jews have been dispersed, this covenant did not end.  What we are seeing today is a fulfillment of God's covenant:  

"At that point, Adonai your God will reverse your exile and show you mercy; he will return and gather you from all the peoples to which Adonai your God scattered you.  If one of yours was scattered to the far end of the sky, Adonai your God will gather you even from there; he will go there and get you.  Adonai your God will bring you back into the land your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you prosper there, and you will become even more numerous than your ancestors." Deut. 30:3-5

"God's covenant with Israel did not depend on their behavior, just as our salvation in Christ does not depend on our behavior.  God is not keeping score and trying to keep people out.  To be accurate, He said that He is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). He is trying to get people in, for heaven's sake! His love for Israel, His forbearance with them, is unshakable." As long as the sun, the moon and the stars are in the sky, the nation of Israel is still before the Lord!

Some people believe that modern day Israel is not the same nation as the biblical Israel. Fact is, the modern nation of Israel is the ONLY nation that "can trace by language, by religion, by prayers and songs and costumes -- by everything -- that it does go back to the biblical era."  Fascinating facts: America goes back 200 years, Englishmen 800-1000 years. "ONLY Israel goes back thousands of years to the Scriptures, saying the same words every Sabbath as written there 3,500 years ago.  This the biblical Israel and you cannot cast it out. God has NOT cast it out."  Paul saw the error of replacement theology in his own time and wrote about it in Romans 11:  "I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew."

Because of Israels falling away, there was room for the Gentiles to come in.  Israel is judicially broken off from the good olive tree called Christ, but they are to be grafted in again.  Israel also has a very specific role to fulfill in End Times prophecy.

I urge you to not be influenced by replacement theology, which leads to a twisted understanding of the Scripture. Open your Bible and read the word, pray and ask God to open your eyes to the debt we owe the Jewish people, and how we need to stand up for Israel now. Your future hope really does depend on this.

Shalom!

Kelly 

Quotes from: Your People Shall Be My People ~ Don Finto and Broken Branches ~ Zola Levitt