Concerning the new book Cauldron: Supernatural Implications of the Current Middle East, let me say from the outset that it’s been a long time since I felt so strongly that people purchase, read, re-read, study and then share a particular book, and to do so with a sense of urgency. This is because, with recent developments throughout the Middle East and especially those surrounding Israel, I have increasingly felt as a publisher that somebody (with qualifications to do so) needed to put into clear perspective for the rest of us the ramifications of what is currently unfolding in light of Bible prophecy. As I have spoken with the world’s most respected prophecy scholars over the past 12 months, I have learned that, to a person, there is a heightened sense of belief that global events not only seem torn from the pages of apocalyptic literature but truly are those foreseen by Scripture (the signs of the end times) and that they are now coming together with such precision and speed that it has several well-known Christian leaders beside themselves.
“Something is in the wind,” they say, pointing to such developments as the recent call by Jewish leaders (even in the Knesset, the legislative branch of the Israeli government) to build the Third Temple in Jerusalem; a simultaneous effort by the United States to push Israel into a peace agreement this year; political and religious leaders advocating for a single global, financial, and political authority; and even what now appears to be intentional movement by global powers that could initiate the battle of Armageddon. Please understand that within the degrading relationship and saber rattling between the United States, Russia, the European Union, and China exist the very components necessary for the final global conflict, called in Ezekiel 38 “the battle of Gog and Magog.” Ezekiel foresaw this supernatural contest occurring in the latter times after Israel would be “gathered out of many people and nations” and recognized as a nation once again. During that generation in which Israel is so reunified—which was accomplished in 1948—the Battle of Gog and Magog occurs. But if a biblical generation is approximately seventy years (see Psalms 90:10, Daniel 9) and if seven years is also needed for a coming “Peace” plan (called a “covenant” in the book of Daniel) to be enforced upon Israel, counting forward from 1948 seems to indicate these decisive events leading to the Great Tribulation and “battle of Armageddon” have already started their countdown. Ezekiel even tells us who the instigators of the battle will be—Iran (Persia), which becomes the number-one confederate with Russia (Gog) in this invasion of Israel:
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And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog [the Russian Federation]…and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will…bring thee forth, and all thine army…. Persia [ancient kingdom of Iran], Ethiopia, and Libya with them.” (Ezekiel 38:1–5)
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This is but one example of what has prophecy scholars so alert now; that not only some BUT ALL these prophecies that were proclaimed so far in advance appear to be abruptly cascading around the world. Something frightening yet marvelous is unfolding, these experts believe, and yet there is another set of related events even more fascinating to tell you about involving “signs” in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars. This week for a limited time (starting Tuesday, March 11 while they last) we will be giving away FREE the incredible Pikes Peak Live BLOOD MOONS DVD Presentation by Mark Biltz, the original discoverer of the coming tetrads, which are set to begin falling on Jewish feast days next month in unprecedented ways (discussed below). We will also be giving away FREE David Flynn’s incomparable book Temple at the Center of Time specifically because it too foresaw this very moment—the time between 2012-2018—as when the Temple Mount in Israel and the Middle East in general would suddenly come alive with prophetic activity. Why did Flynn believe this and how did he come to conclude the Temple Mount would literally be sitting at “the center of time”?
First, let me discuss the Blood Moons and their potential importance. These “signs” cannot be manufactured by men and were clearly stated as important by the apostles and prophets. For example:
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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… And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:25-28).
Then in the book of Revelation it says:
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood (Rev. 6:12).
And in Joel we read:
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come (Joel 2:31).
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While many assume when God created the Sun and the Moon that He did so for light, heat, gravity, and other natural mechanisms, when looking at Genesis 1:14, we learn of four other purposes behind why the lights in the heavens were created and placed where they are. The Bible says these are for “signs,” “seasons,” “days,” and “years.”
The Hebrew word for signs in this context is owth, a word meaning a “miraculous sign,” “omen,” or “warning.” It signifies, among other things, that God created the heavenly bodies to communicate important matters at particular times to His covenant people.
The next reason God created the sun and the moon is for “seasons.” Again, in our Western mindset, we figure God is talking about winter, spring, summer, and fall. This is the farthest from the truth. In Hebrew, the word here is mow’ed and is accurately translated as “an appointed time” or “divine appointment” especially related to “sacred seasons” or Feast days. This same Hebrew word is translated into English in Leviticus 23 as “feast” where it talks about the Feasts of the Lord. At first, these two words—appointments and feasts—seem about as far apart as you can get. This is why one needs to keep the Hebrew language in perspective so as not to miss the deeper conveyances of this text. The word mow’ed implies that God has a day timer or calendar on which He keeps predetermined “appointments” with human history and that are connected with His Feasts or Holy Days. For example, in the Book of Revelation it says that the Messiah was slain “from the foundations of the world.” This means God the Father knew the year, the month, the day, and the exact time His Son would die and how this event would be played out in fulfillment of the Levitical feasts of Israel.
Finally, God declares that the sun and the moon were created to determine “days and years.” Obviously, this has nothing to do with our modern calendar, which was created by a pagan Roman ruler and is based on the sun. The Muslim calendar is based on the moon. But the biblical calendar—the one that God uses according to Genesis—is based on the sun and the moon. So when the Scripture refers to “days and years” in Genesis 1:14, it is pointing to biblical days and years or “holy days” as well as Shemittah years and Jubilee years (every seventh year the land in Israel was to rest. This is why the Jewish people went into captivity because they did not observe the seventh year. Every fiftieth year was to be a year of Jubilee when captives were set free and received their land back). When this is understood, a whole new discovery is made concerning how God created the sun and the moon and the stars as harbingers or “signal-senders” of His appointed times. This is confirmed throughout the Bible in places like the books of Joel, Isaiah, Revelation, as well as Jesus, Himself, in the Gospels confirming there would be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars that would herald the last days.
