It's not just evangelical Christians, messianic Jews and Hebrew roots believers touting something big, something significant in the tetrad of blood moons set for a grand finale "supermoon" show Sept. 28 in a week.
Increasingly, Orthodox Jewish leaders and teachers are saying the event is significant historically and for the future of Israel and the Jewish people.
Bob O'Dell and Gidon Ariel, founders of Root Source, an educational program in which Orthodox Israelis teach Christians about the Bible and Judaism, say the closing blood moon on the first day of Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, should not be ignored or dismissed.
For the fourth time in two years, a blood moon will occur on either Passover or Sukkot. Previous blood moon tetrads, four lunar eclipses in succession over an 18-month period, occurred in other historically significant times for the Jewish people – 1428-1429, 1493-1494, 1949-1950, 1967-1968 and now 2015-2015.
The blood moons patterns were discovered by Mark Biltz, a Tacoma pastor who emphasizes the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith. He is the author of the bestselling "Blood Moons" and is featured as the presenter in a documentary movie about the phenomenon.
What is God telling us? Read the details of the blood moons, in "Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs."
Making the latest tetrad more significant for some is the fact that it takes place at the end of a Shemitah cycle – the seven-year period leading to God's commandment for resting the land and release of debts in Israel. O'Dell and Ariel also believe this one occurs in a Jubilee year – kind of a super-Shemitah that comes every 50 years.
The Shemitah cycle has become big news all over the world as a result of the work of Jonathan Cahn, a messianic rabbi from New Jersey who wrote the No. bestselling books, "The Harbinger" and "The Mystery of the Shemitah," and collaborated with WND Films on "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment," the bestselling faith movie of 2012 and 2013.
"We are not at all predicting the end of the world or the arrival of the Messiah in September," O'Dell told Breaking Israel News. "If you look at all the blood moons that have occurred in history, you see that every time they arrive, they mark turning points in history – major new trends involving the Jewish people."
Watch the trailer for "Blood Moons":
The tetrad in 1428-1429 marked the end of a wave of forced conversions for the Jews in Spain, and the tetrad in 1493-1494 signaled the end of the Spanish inquisition, which concluded with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.
"We can now look back and see that the nation of Spain was peaking in power, while God was preparing a new home for the Jews with the founding of America through Christopher Columbus," O'Dell said. "The blood moons occurring on those Jewish feast days were a witness that God had not forgotten His promise to return the Jews to their homeland."
More modern Blood Moons tetrads have come at significant times for the reborn state of Israel.
"With the blood moons of 1949-1950, 1967-1968 and 2014-2015, when we take them all together they are marking the three phases of the rebirth of the nation of Israel," explained O'Dell.
According to O'Dell, the dates mark the creation of Israel as a nation in 1948, the unification of Jerusalem in 1967, "and as for 2015," he said, "we will need to wait and see. But our guess is that it has to do with Israel being now able to stand upon its own without help from the United States. We also see the coming together of Christians and Jews in love and support of each other as a new spiritual trend as well."
Gidon Ariel, the Israeli co-founder of Root Source, provided a historical perspective on the lunar occurrences."I think that Jews paid more attention to the skies in previous eras. In Ethics of the Fathers 3:18, Rabbi Eliezer ben Hisma states that tekufot, seasons, referring to all astronomical sciences, are parparaot lachochma, side dishes of wisdom. Maimonides also went to great lengths to document lunar tables and the like," he said.
What is God telling us? Read the details of the blood moons, in "Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs."
Ariel pointed out that this trend has been largely neglected by modern Jews.
"Today, some astronomy buffs might pick up on [the blood moons], but it is still pretty esoteric for the mainstream," he told Breaking Israel News, adding, "That being said, I would mention there are more and more individuals and organizations dedicated to charting lunar data, some of them in preparation for renewing the Jewish lunar calendar based on r'eeyah, sighting, as part of the return to Temple service."
O'Dell and Ariel have co-authored a book entitled "Israel FIRST!" in which they highlight the importance of blood moons and other fascinating biblical phenomena. They hope to give the topic more appeal for both modern Jews and Christians to raise awareness and interest in the subject.
"For those who follow end-times prophecies, the blood moons are fascinating," said O'Dell, explaining, "Heavenly signs are mentioned in some of the end-times Bible passages and moons specifically."
O'Dell pointed out that the current blood moon is different from previous ones in that it will be visible in both Israel as well as in North America.
"The four eclipses in 1949-1950 were all visible from Israel," he said. "The four in 1967-1968 and the four in 2014-2015 are all visible from the USA – an extremely rare occurrence. But this very last blood moon in September is visible from both Israel and the USA simultaneously. It is something to ponder."
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