Blood Moons

These Blood Moons correlate with Biblical Feasts

Interesting timing for 2014-2015

These significant lunar eclipses, a tetrad (four consecutive Blood Moons), correlate with Passover and Sukkot.

Passover

Passover is an important biblically derived Jewish festival. The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation over 3,300 years ago by God from slavery in ancient Egypt that was ruled by the Pharaohs, and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.

Passover commences on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan and lasts for either seven days (in Israel) or eight days (in the diaspora). In Judaism, a day commences at dusk and lasts until the following dusk. In Israel and the Northern Hemisphere Passover takes place in spring as the Torah prescribes it: “in the month of [the] spring” (בחדש האביב Exodus 23:15). It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays.

Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles/Booths)

Sukkot is a biblical Jewish holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei (varies from late September to late October). It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals (shalosh regalim) on which the Israelites would make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem: Passover, Pentecost and Sukkot.

The holiday lasts seven days in Israel and eight in the diaspora. The Hebrew word sukkōt is the plural of sukkah, “booth” or “tabernacle“, which is a walled structure covered with s’chach (plant material such as overgrowth or palm leaves). The sukkah is intended as a reminiscence of the type of fragile dwellings in which, according to the Torah, the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Throughout the holiday, meals are eaten inside the sukkah and many people sleep there as well. A sukkah is also for the temporary dwelling in which agricultural workers would live during harvesting, and celebrates harvest.

Nisan 1 is the Biblical New Years Day

Nisan (or Nissan) on the Hebrew calendar is the first month of the ecclesiastical year and the seventh month (eighth, in leap year) of the civil year. The name of the month is Babylonian; in the Torah it is called the month of the Aviv, referring to the month in which barley was ripe. Assyrians refer to the month as the “month of happiness.” It is a spring month of 30 days. Nisan usually falls in March–April on the Gregorian calendar. In the Book of Esther in the Tanakh it is referred to as Nisan.

(Sources: Wikipedia)

Some people now jump to end times prophecies but it’s unwise to jump to conclusions.  So many get it wrong so often.  No one knows the day nor the hour.  However, it’s interesting to note some significant major events around the times of previous  tetrachs:

This Tetrad with four Blood Moons coincide with major biblical feasts and the current one inludes two solar eclipses as well – Nisan 1 (biblical new year) and the Feast of Trumpets.

We need to avoid the extremes of astrologers (following wrong spirits) on one hand and of doomsday fanatics on the other.  Tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate and there are wars and rumours of wars.  But we fix our eyes on Jesus, not on politics.  Nevertheless Jesus reminded us to be aware of the times and to be ready for his return.

Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost

quoting from Joel 2:30-32:

I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.

(Acts 2:19-21)

Reflection:

Jesus will return, but as He told us, “No one knows the day, nor the hour, not even the angels in heaven, but my Father only.” (Mt. 24:36)

Now, what if something significant does happen between now and the end of these four Blood Moon signs that are still forthcoming? Well, things happen all the time.

Enjoy the lunar eclipse. Take good pictures. Marvel at God’s creation. But don’t give in to the fear and the hype.

The Blood Moons display the glory of God as the heavens declare his majesty and pour forth speech all day long.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.

Psalm 19:1-2.

(Reflection adapted from Keith Giles)

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William Tyndale

How many Bibles do you have in your house?

6 October is remembered as the day when William Tyndale was martyred. For most of us, Bibles are easily accessible, and many of us have several. Having the Bible in English owes much to William Tyndale, sometimes called the Father of the English Bible.

90% of the King James Version of the Bible and 75% of the Revised Standard Version are from the translation of the Bible into English made by William Tyndale, yet Tyndale himself was burned at the stake on October 6, 1536.

Back in the fourteenth century, John Wycliffe was the first to make (or at least oversee) an English translation of the Bible, but that was before the invention of the printing press and all copies had to be handwritten. Besides, the church had banned the unauthorized translation of the Bible into English in 1408. Over one hundred years later, however, William Tyndale had a burning desire to make the Bible available to even the common people in England.

After studying at Oxford and Cambridge, he joined the household of Sir John Walsh at little Sudbury Manor as tutor to the Walsh children. Walsh was a generous lord of the manor and often entertained the local clergy at his table. Tyndale often added spice to the table conversation as he was confronted with the Biblical ignorance of the priests. At one point Tyndale told a priest, “If God spare my life, ere many years pass, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost.”

It was a nice dream, but how was Tyndale to accomplish this when translating the Bible into English was illegal? He went to London to ask Bishop Tunstall if he could be authorized to make an English translationof the Bible, but the bishop would not grant his approval. However, Tyndale would not let the disapproval of men stop him from carrying out what seemed so obviously God’s will. With encouragement and support of some British merchants, he decided to go to Europe to complete his translation, then have it printed and smuggled back into England.

In 1524 Tyndale sailed for Germany. In Hamburg he worked on the New Testament, and in Cologne he found a printer who would print the work. However, news of Tyndale’s activity came to an opponent of the Reformation who had the press raided. Tyndale himself managed to escape with the pages already printed and made his way to the German city of Worms [famous for Luther’s stand at the Diet of Worms] where the New Testament was soon published. Six thousand copies were printed and smuggled into England.

The bishops did everything they could to eradicate the Bibles — Bishop Tunstall had copies ceremoniously burned at St. Paul’s; the archbishop of Canterburybought up copies to destroy them. Tyndale used the money to print improved editions! King Henry VIII, then in the throes of his divorce with Queen Katherine, offered Tyndale a safe passage to England to serve as his writer and scholar. Tyndale refused, saying he would not return until the Bible could be legally translated into English.

Tyndale continued hiding among the merchants in Antwerp and began translating the Old Testament while the King’s agents searched all over England and Europe for him. Tyndale was finally found and betrayed by an Englishman. After a year and a half in prison, he was brought to trial for heresy — for believing, among other things, in the forgiveness of sins and that the mercy offered in the gospel was enough for salvation. In August 1536, he was condemned; on October 6, 1536 he was strangled and his body burned at the stake. His last prayer was “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

The prayer was answered in part when three years later, in 1539, Henry VIII required every parish church in England to make a copy of the English Bible available to its parishioners.

1. Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.2. Bowie, Walter Russell. Men of Fire. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1961.3. Daniell, David. William Tyndale, a biography. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.4. Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. London: OxfordUniversity Press, 1921 – 1996.5. Kunitz, Stanley L. British Authors Before 1800; abiographical dictionary. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1952.6. Mozley, J. F. William Tyndale. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; New York: TheMacmillan company, 1937.7. Sampson, George. Concise Cambridge History ofEnglish Literature. Cambridge, 1961.8. “Tyndale or Tindale, William.” The OxfordDictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.9. Wild, Laura Huld. The Romance of the English Bible; a history of the translation of the Bible intoEnglish from Wyclif to the present day. GardenCity, New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1929. 10. Various encyclopedia articles [From website]