Seven Years On
It seems hard to believe, but September marks the seventh anniversary of the stellar-planetary alignment that gave stunning confirmation to the first of two great signs that the apostle John saw and describes in the opening verses of Revelation 12. Or as I like to call it, the REV12 sign.
I've written several articles related
to the REV12 sign in the past, and actually had no
special plan to write yet another one. I was actively considering a completely
different topic, but at some point during the course
of the month it suddenly just walloped me upside the head:
C'mon...seventh
anniversary? This is a biggy—I gotta write this!
One thing that also served to trip my
REV12 trigger was something I wrote in my last article about
Danny R. Faulkner and his views concerning the "gospel in the stars"
idea. I made reference to an article of his and I noted that although he makes
a good case for not believing that God revealed the story of His plan of
redemption in the sequence of the signs of the zodiac to early man and that it
was passed down for many generations, he went a bit too far and read some
things into Genesis 1:14–16 and came to what I felt was the flawed conclusion
that God only uses the sun and moon for signs, and that He never
uses the stars for any kind of sign, ever.
As I said in that
article: That was a bridge too far.
Although at the time of writing I
didn't recognize Faulkner's name, as I worked on that article it occurred to me
that Faulkner would have certainly been someone who attacked and denigrated the
REV12 sign. And as I later learned from an online friend of mine whose memory
is apparently a bit sharper than mine, Faulkner is precisely
that. I have since added an addendum to my last article that fleshes all
this out a bit more.
Puttin' 'em in place: Incidentally, since I wrote my last
article, I came across another reason why I am convinced Faulkner is wrong in
his conviction that God never uses stars as signs. In Psalm 8:3, David
writes:
3When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the
moon and the stars, which you have ordained, [Hebrew:
a form of kun (establish, put in place,
prepare, and so on).]
(Psalm
8:3 / emphasis & [comments] added)
So God
"ordained" the stars (and planets), and the Hebrew word used
here (a form of kun) means to establish, put in place, prepare for some purpose,
etc. Notice that this strongly suggests that God did not create the
stars and simply fling them throughout the universe in a haphazard fashion.
This clearly suggests there's more to it than that. It tells us God prepared
the celestial bodies and put them in their appointed places for a reason...and
if you can think of a better reason for God to do that than to communicate
certain things to man in certain ways and at certain times, feel free to let me
know.
But this little trip down memory
lane—although not the most pleasant on every level—served to make me realize
that I just had to write something for the seventh anniversary of the
REV12 sign, and so here we are.
Such an abundance of material has been
written about the REV12 sign that initially I struggled to decide what tack I
wanted to take; but I just asked the Lord to "give me the words" (as
I do each and every month), and in no time the Holy
Spirit was giving some ideas to chew on.
First I want to give you a quick review of
the important details of the REV12 sign, just for general purposes. A lot of
you are probably familiar with most of this, but that way everyone is on the
same page from the get-go. (Plus, that'll be helpful for any of you whose
memory may be failing as badly as mine seems to be these days.)
Then I want to discuss an issue that
cuts straight to the heart of the REV12 sign and its acceptance or dismissal by
legions of good, sincere believers, and it is one fundamental question that
must be addressed:
Was the
stellar-planetary alignment that occurred on September 23, 2017
a legitimate sign from God worthy of serious scriptural study, or was it a
bunch of hysterical hooey that got trumped up as such by a gaggle of
tinfoil-hatters who got carried away and who should have known better than to (gulp)
"dabble in astrology"?
Now, it's one thing to disagree about
the validity of the REV12 sign (i.e. whether or not
it's really a sign from God), but accusing those who studied it of dabbling in astrology
is a different ballgame. And I only mention it because many well-known
ministers accused legions of believers who were simply studying what they felt
God was showing us of doing precisely that.
And it hurt.
Far more than they realize. As I wrote
in an article a couple of years ago: Some of us still have the taste of blood
in our mouths from the abuse we endured due to our study of the REV12 sign.
Keep that graphic image in mind, because it will help you understand and
appreciate some of what I will have to say before I bring this article in for a
landing.
A quick review
The REV12 sign was discovered by Lu
Vega in about 2008,
who studied it privately for a couple of years before it made its way into the
public purview in around 2011. But when it did, before you could say
"retrograde motion" it was being studied and scrutinized by thousands
of believers all over the world with the use of programs like Stellarium.
It quickly became one of the hottest
tickets in the watch community, thanks in part to a cabal of enthusiastic
YouTubers who, either intentionally or unintentionally, managed to turn the
REV12 sign into a full-blown spate of Rapture mania. By doing so, they got a
lot of good people in a lather, in spite of the fact that
even a casual study of the pertinent Scripture reveals no clear or compelling
reason to pin the Rapture to September 23, 2017.
The first great sign is depicted in
verses 1–2, and the second is depicted in verses 3–4. Some regard verse 5 as
being separate from these two signs, while some regard verse 5 as part of the
second sign. I'm not at all certain that it really matters, but since verses
1–5 are effectively all about the woman, the dragon,
and her child, I am inclined to regard verse 5 as part of the second great
sign. Others may see it differently, however, and that's fine.
The end-time fulfillment of verse 5 is
the Rapture, which caps off this sequence of events John saw in these verses.
Here is the passage of Scripture in question, with a few pertinent comments:
1A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun,
and the moon under her feet [the constellation Virgo with the sun above it
and the moon below it], and on her head a crown of twelve stars. [The constellation Leo (composed of nine stars), is always
above Virgo. The remaining three were the planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars,
which happened to converge under Leo at the time.] 2She
was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth. [This
"child" was the planet Jupiter (the King planet), which entered the
"womb" of Virgo in late November 2016, but then went into retrograde
motion before exiting in early September 2017 after being in the womb for about
the same length of time as a normal human pregnancy.]
3Another sign [i.e. another as great as the first] was seen in heaven.
Behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his
heads seven crowns. [The dragon is Satan, and this verse depicts
him in a way similar to how Daniel describes him in Dan. 7.] 4His tail
drew one third of the stars of the sky, and threw them
to the earth. [This is Satan's original fall and his
corruption of one-third of the angels (Isa. 14:12), which became the demonic
realm that seeks to "devour" mankind here on earth.] The dragon stood before
the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. [This
could speak to Satan's efforts to first destroy Christ Himself, but also speaks
to Satan's efforts to "devour" the body of Christ. Some
have made admirable efforts to pin verses 3–4 to some other stellar-planetary
alignment, but to the best of my knowledge none of it has struck a chord the
way it did for verses 1–2.]
5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all
the nations with a rod of iron. [On one level this can be Christ, but on
another level it is the corporate body of Christ (see this for
details).] Her
child was caught up to God and to his throne. [This
can be considered to speak to the Ascension, but the corporate, body-of-Christ
fulfillment of this last bit is the Rapture.]
(Revelation 12:1–5 / emphasis
& [comments] added)
The key elements of the first great
sign of verses 1–2 are as follows:
1. The
woman:
On one level, this could be seen as speaking to Jesus' mother Mary. On another
level, the woman is the nation of Israel, and is
represented by the constellation Virgo (the Virgin).
2.
She is clothed with the sun: This is merely the fact that the Sun was located above Virgo at
the time of the sign. This happens on a routine basis.
3.
The moon is at her feet: This is just the Moon being around the bottom of Virgo. This
also occurs on a routine basis.
4.
She has a crown of 12 stars: Above Virgo is Leo (the Lion), which is composed of nine
stars—and they are always there. What happens, however, is that various
planets in the solar system go cruising past these constellations on a routine
basis. On September 23, 2017, three planets (Mars, Mercury, and Venus)
converged above the head of Virgo and under Leo, completing her crown of 12
stars. And note that the Bible never distinguishes between stars and
planets: Both are simply considered celestial bodies that are neither the Sun
nor the Moon.
5.
She is with child: As I said above, on one level this is Christ, and on another
level it's the body of Christ. In late November 2016, Jupiter entered the rectangular-shaped
central area of Virgo (the "womb"), and the woman was "with
child." Jupiter didn't begin to exit the "womb" until early
September 2017 (the birth). This is the approximate length of a human
pregnancy.
What took you so long? Jupiter passes by the
general area of Virgo once every 12 years. Sometimes it misses Virgo's central
"womb" area completely, and passes along the
side of Virgo. Sometimes it just catches a small corner of that area. But
sometimes it goes through a substantial portion of Virgo's womb, and when it
does it typically takes about two to three months to pass through it. But
instead of the usual two to three months, this time it was in Virgo's
womb for a little over nine months. So what's
the deal?
This is due to a
phenomenon technically known as apparent retrograde
motion, where Earth's orbit around the Sun influences the way we
perceive another planet's orbit. What we see from our vantage point on Earth
(which is busy orbiting the Sun as we engage in our stargazing) causes the
planet we are viewing to appear to stop and go in the opposite direction for a period of time, before stopping again and then continuing
in its original direction. This is what occurred in 2017—Jupiter went into
retrograde motion while inside Virgo's womb, and this is why we can say that
the woman "gave birth." As it turns out, her child was in her womb
for the length of a normal pregnancy.
These are the elements of the first
great sign of verses 1–2 that all came together perfectly on September 23, 2017 to form the following picture:
OK, pop quiz:
Q. How many years
typically pass between events where all the preceding elements come together in
perfect alignment, as they did on 9/23/2017?
A. Wrong question: Try
"How many millennia..."
Of course, all this is just the first
great sign of verses 1–2. Verses 3–5 describe the dragon attempting to devour
the male child as soon as it is born, but failing to
do so because that child is caught up to heaven.
On the Christ-specific level, this
speaks to Satan trying to destroy Christ by goading the Jewish religious
leadership into having Him crucified. As God would have it, however, the
Resurrection turned that into an epic fail for Satan.
On the corporate, body-of-Christ
level, this speaks to Satan's efforts to hinder, persecute, corrupt, weaken,
and yes, according to 1 Peter 5:8 devour the Church at every step of the
way and thwart its growth in every conceivable manner in order to buy him time
in his efforts to achieve his ultimate long-term goal of wiping out the Jewish
people to put the Second Coming on ice. That's because Hosea 5:15 says it is
the Jewish remnant who will implore Him to return to save them. Satan believes
that by wiping out the Jews, he can keep possession of what he tricked Adam and
Eve out of in the Garden of Eden.
But at the Rapture (last line of v.
5), God obligingly removes that stumbling block for Satan and lets him have his
brief moment in the sun before crushing him and his
sock puppet the Antichrist when His Son returns to establish the kingdom God
promised His people so long ago.
So those are most of the particulars.
But now I want to address a deeper, more fundamental issue that lies at the
heart of all of this, and it all boils down to one simple question...
Was this really
a sign from God or not?
First of all, let's get one thing
cleared up right now: Although I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that
it was, I can't sit here and tell you with absolute scriptural authority that
what we saw occur on September 23, 2017 was a genuine,
dyed-in-the-wool sign from God. (Nor can anyone else, for that matter.) And I
certainly have no intention of trying to elevate myself to such an
authoritative position.
But what I can do is
take what we know about the REV12 sign and hold it up next to some of the
things we know about some other events in the Bible that most would agree are
genuine, dyed-in-the-wool signs from God, and see how the REV12 sign stacks up
to them. I mean, if the REV12 sign wasn't a sign from God, then
that fact should jump right out at us when we compare it to things that were
signs from God...right?
And I will be the first to underscore
the fact that none of what I am about to say constitutes ironclad proof.
Rather, it is simply intended to provide those who question or dispute the
REV12 sign's validity as a sign from God with some food for thought. That's it.
1. Signs from God can most definitely be in the form of celestial
bodies other than the sun and the moon (i.e. stars and planets).
Let's get this no-brainer
out of the way right off the bat. I refer you back to
what I wrote above concerning Psalm 8:3. Also, see nos. 3, 6, and 7 below in regard to the Star of Bethlehem that led the Magi to the
Messiah (who was a likely a toddler by the time they arrived in Bethlehem).
Many people are convinced this was a conjunction of stars and/or planets (which
are always lumped in with stars in Scripture).
This is an obvious one,
and I only go to the trouble of mentioning it because there are people in the
world (and I hate to keep bringing up Danny Faulkner, but he would be a prime
example) who come up with strained, unsupportable arguments to attempt to "prove"
that God only uses the sun and moon for signs, and never
stars or planets.
But God's Word clearly
says otherwise.
2. Signs from God must be in perfect agreement with His Word.
This is another
no-brainer. It should be patently obvious that anything that anyone
might deign to refer to as a "sign from God" would have to be in 100
percent conformity to God's Word. If something occurred that some claimed was a
sign from God and it communicated something that contradicted Scripture in any
way whatsoever, then we would promptly dismiss it out of hand and give it no
further consideration. I scarcely feel the need to point this out.
I only mention this in order to emphasize the fact that every detail of the
REV12 sign lines up precisely with John's words in Revelation 12:1–2, as
I delineated in the above section of this article.
3. Signs from God may be seen by many, but
are only understood by those for whom they are intended.
There
is no question that a large percentage of the population throughout the Middle
East saw the Star or Bethlehem in the sky some two
thousand years ago. But only a trio of men from the priestly magos class in the Parthian Empire understood it and
went off seeking to find and worship the newborn Messiah they believed that
astronomical sign would lead them to.
And
they found what they were looking for.
But
others...not so much. As we will discuss in a bit more detail in no. 4 below,
many people witnessed the miraculous signs on the day of Pentecost. Some of
those people responded with sincere questioning that no doubt led many of them
to faith, but many others callously laughed it off.
In
the same manner, many people heard about the REV12 sign, and some were led to
study the details and the related Scripture to gain an understanding of what
the sign meant.
And
they found what they were looking for.
But
others...not so much.
4. Signs from God tend to be relatively minimal in nature, and not
give more details than necessary.
This
one is just a personal observation, but still...it usually seems to be the
case. For example, recall what John the Baptist said about Jesus:
16John answered them all, "I indeed baptize you with water,
but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy
to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire." [Note
the mention of fire.]
(Luke
3:16 / emphasis & [comments] added)
And
recall what Jesus said to His disciples before ascending back to heaven:
4Being assembled together with them, he
commanded them, "Don't depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise
of the Father, which you heard from me. 5For John indeed
baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days
from now." [They were waiting for something in
faith, but really didn't know what form it would take or what it would look
like.]
(Acts
1:4–5 / emphasis & [comments] added)
In
Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit fell on those in the upper room, they saw tongues
of fire descend upon them—and then they began speaking in tongues, or languages
unknown to the speaker:
1Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one
accord in one place. 2Suddenly there came from the sky a
sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where
they were sitting. 3Tongues like fire appeared and were
distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. 4They were all
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages, as
the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. [These were all signs
of the arrival of what Jesus had spoken of 10 days earlier.]
(Acts
2:1–4 / emphasis & [comments] added)
No
other details were given or needed—they knew. No further explanation
was required. The disciples got what was happening: They immediately knew that
this was the fulfillment of what the Lord had told them 10 days earlier. They
didn't need a flashing neon sign that said:
"OK,
listen up guys. This is whachya call yer baptism with fire. Get it...fire? Tongues
of fire? Any questions?"
I
still recall how after the REV12 sign that confirmed John's first great sign in
Revelation 12:1–2 came out, many people got busy scouring the heavens with
tools like Stellarium desperately trying to locate another
stellar-planetary alignment of some kind that would correspond to the second
great sign of Rev. 12:3–4 (or 3–5 if you wish). And although some interesting
ideas got tossed around, nothing anywhere near as powerfully convincing as what
occurred on September 23, 2017 came to the fore.
Now,
please don't get me wrong—there's certainly nothing wrong with looking.
But it finally began to dawn on me that it really doesn't matter if
there are any other such astronomical alignments out there to confirm
Revelation 3–5. Why? Well, stop and ask yourself the following question:
Just
exactly how many extraordinary stellar-planetary alignments does God have to
show you to confirm the fact that the sequence of prophetic events He showed
John that culminates with the Rapture is finally approaching its final
fulfillment after two thousand years?
Just
curious...because personally I'm good with just the one.
5. Signs from God are sometimes misunderstood, misinterpreted, and
even mocked and maligned by some.
When
the Holy Spirit descended on the core group of believers waiting in the upper
room on the day of Pentecost, they began speaking of the mighty works of God in
languages unknown to them but that were known to many in the multitude that
gathered to check out this strange occurrence. They were all
bewildered, but note there were two basic reactions from the crowd:
1. Some, although
bewildered, asked in a genuinely probing manner, "What does this
mean?" They didn't dismiss it—they truly sought to understand what was
happening, perhaps sensing God was doing something unusual
and they sincerely wanted to understand it. And it's a safe bet that many such
people were among the three thousand who ultimately responded to Peter's
powerful preaching and came to faith in Christ that day.
2. Others, however,
dismissed this miraculous event out of hand, mocking the disciples and accusing
them of being drunk (at nine o'clock in the morning).
5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from
every nation under the sky. 6When this sound was heard, the
multitude came together and were bewildered, because everyone heard them
speaking in his own language. [Note that it was only the core group of 120
mentioned in Acts 1:15 who received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire,
not the "multitude" that gathered to see what in the world was going
on.] 7They
were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Behold, aren't all
these who speak Galileans? 8How do we hear, everyone in our
own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people
from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10Phrygia,
Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both
Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabians—we hear them
speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!" 12They
were all amazed and were perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this
mean?" 13Others, mocking, said, "They are filled with
new wine." [...and Peter deflates their mockery by
pointing out that it's only 9 a.m.]
(Acts
2:5–13 / emphasis & [comments] added)
Yes,
an obvious supernatural sign from God was mocked in a most insultingly cavalier
manner by those with no interest whatsoever in attempting to investigate what
it all really meant.
They didn't question it and seek wisdom from above—
they
cracked wise and slapped each other on the back.
And
you probably already know where I'm going with this. This is exactly
what legions of people who had no interest in trying to understand the details
of the REV12 sign did to believers who had the audacity to study this sign in order to gain an understanding of what God was revealing
to us. And with God's help many did an admirable job of it.
The
chief difference being that instead of accusing us of being drunk, they seemed
to be of the opinion that we were stoned.
6. Signs from God often speak to key advances in His prophetic
agenda.
The
sign of speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost was not only linked to the
conception of the Church—it also spoke to the fact that God was turning His
face from Israel after their hardhearted rejection of their promised Messiah.
Although a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit for the early Church, speaking
in tongues was a sign of coming judgment for unbelieving Israel (Isa. 28:11,
referenced by Paul in 1 Cor. 14:21), a judgment that would fall in AD 70 with
the Roman sacking of Jerusalem, the slaughter of 1.1 million Jews, and the
destruction of the Second Temple.
I'm b-a-a-c-k: Note that God will continue to hide His face from Israel until
after He intervenes on their behalf in the attack of Gog-Magog (Ezek. 39:29),
when He will decimate the nations that are about to destroy His people.
Not
only that, but the Star of Bethlehem announced the birth of Christ, one of the
key events in God's plan of redemption for mankind. These are all important
pieces of God's overall prophetic agenda, as is the fulfillment of the sequence
of prophetic events John saw in his vision that culminates with the Rapture—a
coming fulfillment exquisitely confirmed by the REV12 sign.
7. Signs from God cause
those for whom they are intended to glorify Him, obey Him, and strive to
advance His agenda with a heightened level of vigor.
Following
the day of Pentecost and the miraculous signs that accompanied it, we read in
Acts 4–5 how those same disciples went straight out to boldly preach Christ and
Him crucified and perform miracles of healing through the power of the Holy
Spirit throughout Jerusalem. And we also read that the Jewish religious leaders
were at a loss. So, they did the only thing they knew to do: They roughed 'em up, locked 'em up, and did
their best to shut 'em up.
But
all their efforts to stop them backfired, glory to God!
After
the Magi (aka the Three Wise Men) saw the Star of Bethlehem, they knew exactly
what it meant:
1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of
King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 2"Where
is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have
come to worship him." [God's Word calls it a star, Mr.
Faulkner. And it was a sign, OK?]
(Matthew
2:1–2 / emphasis & [comments] added)
It
was a sign that announced the birth of the Messiah. And what did they do?
They
started getting organized and then mounted up and hit the road.
They
set off and followed that sign. As I mentioned, many astronomically
savvy people today are convinced that it was a conjunction of two or possibly
even three planets and/or stars and/or galaxies. But regardless of the precise
composition of that sign, after the Magi saw it, they set out to find and
worship the recently born King of the Jews and honor and glorify Him.
Those
who came to an understanding of the REV12 sign came to the stunning realization
that God was in fact speaking to us—this last generation of the Church
Age—through a sign that conformed to His Written Word with a stunning degree of
precision. And what did it do? It made us praise and glorify His mighty name
like never before and seek to influence those last few precious sheep to trust
Christ for their salvation while there was still time. Why?
Because the REV12 sign made it
crystal
clear that the days we had
left
to reach them were numbered.
Mission accomplished
As I said, I'm not presuming to offer
any of this as some kind of ironclad proof that the REV12 sign really was
a sign from God. But as you can see, it does at least share some of the
characteristics that we see in other clear signs from God that appear
throughout Scripture. And that tells me that those who seek to prove it isn't are gonna have
to dig a little deeper for something. And frankly, I really don't see
them ever coming up with anything of substance. After all, their track record isn't looking so good.
But I certainly don't
condemn anyone who rejected the idea of the REV12 sign being a genuine sign
from God. I just feel bad for them, because all they did was rob themselves of
the unmitigated joy and excitement of seeing what many thousands of believers
know in their hearts was a sign from God that told us in a
crystal-clear, scripturally accurate, astronomical manner that we are rapidly
approaching the catching away of the Church that John saw played out in
Revelation 12:5, which will be followed in fairly short order by events that
will lead to the launching of the Tribulation.
Shame on you: As I said, I don't condemn
those who merely don't accept the REV12 sign as a legitimate sign from God—they
are welcome to hold their opinions and honestly disagree with those who do.
But before God, it's difficult for me to go that easy on those who viciously
and cluelessly accused those who studied the REV12 sign of "dabbling in
astrology," which constitutes the sin of divination. That was beyond the
pale, because with the exception of a handful of
YouTube cowboys, the vast majority of us were doing no such thing, and so did not
deserve to be painted with that vilest of brushes. As a result, each and every one of the well-known ministers who stooped
to that level owes many thousands of sincere believers—believers who did
nothing more than study what God was revealing to us—a sincere, heartfelt
apology.
But we're not holding our
breath. As far as the sign's connection with the timing of the Rapture goes,
however, here's part of the the problem: The vast majority of people who seriously studied the REV12
sign were keenly aware that there was no scriptural reason whatsoever to pin
the Rapture to September 23, 2017. We knew that. But in the
run-up to the sign, there was really no way we could come out make definitive
statements like...
"The Rapture will
absolutely NOT occur on September 23, 2017!"
How could we?! Nobody can make such a statement, ever. We had no
more idea when the Rapture might occur than anyone else. But for all we or
anyone else knew prior to September 23, 2017, the Rapture really could
have happened on that date. That's the entire point:
For the great majority
of us, the primary focus of the REV12 sign was the confirmation of John's first
great sign that indicated that the final end-time fulfillment of the sequence
of events he describes was about to come to pass, and that sequence of events
culminates with the Rapture. It was never about trying to pin the
Rapture to a certain day.
Because no one can
(although regrettably a few tried). Sure, guardedly speculative ideas about
possible time frames for the Rapture were discussed,
as they always are. As they always have been. And as they are by a lot of the
same people who accused us of dabbling in astrology. But I just want you to
understand that it was a handful of YouTube cowboys that were primarily
responsible for turning the REV12 sign into the hysterical outbreak of Rapture
mania that it morphed into. And that, as they say, is a crying shame.
For those of us who actually studied the REV12 sign and saw with our own eyes
what a stunning, prophetically accurate alignment this sign from God was, and
how it unquestionably spoke to the final fulfillment after two thousand years
of the sequence of events culminating in the Rapture that the apostle John was
shown by God, well...
All I can say is that we
will never be the same—we were blessed and encouraged out of our minds!
The thought occurs to me,
however, that after seven years things have reached the point where one's
acceptance or rejection of the REV12 sign has become...well, pardon me for
saying it, but more or less a non-issue. And the
reason I say that is because prophetically knowledgeable people (whether they
accepted or rejected the REV12 sign) can study Scripture and look
at what is happening in the world today and know beyond a shadow of a doubt
that the Rapture is drawing excitingly close—there are simply too many
prophetically significant things occurring and coming together right now to
think otherwise. And that brings us face to face with a simple truth:
We are well past the point where we need a
sign from God to call
our attention to that fact.
But that was true to a
noticeably lesser degree seven years ago. When we saw the REV12 sign in 2017,
it served as a major heads-up for those with ears to hear. Trump had just taken
office, the economy was strong, unemployment was low, the border was secure, we
were trusted by our friends, and feared by our
enemies. And Israel was secure and still on friendly terms with Russia.
Speaking of which...note
that today, for the first time since Israel became a nation again in 1948 in
fulfillment of prophecy, Russia and Israel have now become enemies thanks to
the fact that Israel has been stuck between a rock and a hard place in regard to their stance on the conflict in Ukraine.
Go ahead...sit there and
look me in the eyes and tell me Ukraine wasn't divine prep work for the attack
of Gog-Magog in Ezekiel 38–39.
But unless you've actually been living on Jupiter for the last few
years instead of just following its path with Stellarium,
you know full well that at this point, everything I mentioned above that was
true in 2017 and much more has either changed or is changing—and it's changing
fast and it's changing for the worse. We see the world falling apart and
spiraling out of control (I mean spiraling under control), and
the prophetic pieces are coming together so rapidly and our date with the harpazo is drawing so near that the significance of
the REV12 sign has receded. In other words...
The REV12 sign has done its job.
Either you got it and received that blessing,
or rejected it and
missed out on that blessing.
So for the REV12 sign, I'd
say it's "mission accomplished." The sign has pretty much run its
course, and had its intended effect on those who had ears to hear what God was
saying to us seven (or more) years ago.
Of course, although it may
be "mission accomplished" for the REV12 sign, it won't be
"mission accomplished" for us until we are changed in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye. That's when we will be able to echo Paul's
words to his young protégé Timothy:
7I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have
kept the faith.
(2
Timothy 4:7)
Get back to work: In a sense, the REV12
sign's mission was pretty much accomplished by the time it actually
occurred on September 23, 2017. The reason I say that is because it had
already been widely studied and disseminated for at least four or five years by
that time. It had gone public from the hands of Lu Vega in around 2011, and by
2012 the websites and YouTube channels began popping up, and we were off to the
REV12 races. Although the REV12 sign generated a lot of excitement among many
believers, after the sign came and went on September 23, 2017
and "nothing happened" (to the consternation of a few YouTube
cowboys), slowly but surely most believers who had been excitedly studying the
sign began to move on to other things with a feeling of "OK, show's
over...get back to work." Yes, it had a powerful effect on us and blessed
us beyond words; but after it was over, many people who had studied the sign
gradually began to sense it was time to get busy and redeem the time. After all...
We had seen all we needed to see,
and the fields were ripe
for harvest.
So at this point, I have little concern
over other people's opinions of the REV12 sign. If it impressed you, it blessed
you. If you dissed it, you missed it. That's it. I see no reason to worry about
changing the minds of skeptics: We're w-a-y past that at this point. So if you are one who rejects the REV12 sign and you write
to me expecting a vigorous, impassioned response to your hard-nosed nitpickery of it, that is the attitude you will be warmly
greeted with. =:)
Not so fast: The morning after I
posted this article, I got a very nice email from my old friend Lu Vega, the
guy who, as I mentioned, discovered the REV12 sign in 2008. He said he liked
the article, but graciously pointed out that it might be just a wee bit too soon
to write off the REV12 sign altogether. He indicated that he has done more
in-depth study that has led him to believe that the "next" REV12 sign
in September 2029 (that is, the next time Jupiter makes its once-every-12-year
transit of Virgo's womb...which, by the way, also
happens to feature retrograde motion, but no crown of 12 stars) could be linked to the midpoint of the
Tribulation. And I'll do the math for you: If that's the case, that would
ostensibly put the launching of the Tribulation in the spring of 2026. Don't
look now, but the way things are going, that time frame makes a downright scary
amount of sense. So, stay tuned.
As I said, the REV12 sign
was an incredible blessing to those of us who knew that it was a
sign from God and sought to study it and understand it in accurate,
scripturally sound detail. And I hope you were one who was blessed by it as
well. If you weren't, that's perfectly fine.
I say that because even
though you may have missed out on that particular blessing,
if you can look around at the world today and appreciate and understand how
close we are drawing to the catching away of the Church, then you're starting
to feel a smidge of that same blessing.
So...it's not as if all is
lost just because you dismissed the REV12 sign. Oh no. The blessing of seeing
end-time prophecy unfold in the run-up to the Rapture is available to all who
are willing to study His prophetic Word with an open mind and look at what is
happening in the world with open eyes.
So even if you happen to
be a believer who missed out on the blessing of the REV12 sign, as you are
blessed by watching His prophetic Word unfold before
your eyes, you can take comfort in the fact that you are about to be caught up
in the greatest blessing in the history of the Church.
And not
a single one of us is going to miss out on that!
From Greg Lauer @ A Little Strength—SEP '24
Thank you, Greg for this timely and relevant re-cap of the Rev12 sign--that got us all here in the first place. I thank God the He led me to the discussions of this sign back in 2017, even tho I now know that Lu had led that revelation (no pun intended) and discussion well before that. I encourage everyone to link out to your explanation of the "man child"--just excellently done! Although I never thought the Rapture would "necessarily" occur on Sept 23, 2017, and I intuitively could make some of your arguments for the man child being the corporate body of Christ, I also intuitively knew, I think, what Lu Vega often says, "The sign is not the event." Not that it couldn't be, mind you, but we can't hang our hats (or disappointments) on whether that turns out to be the case or not. Regardless, this 7 year anniversary seems to shout in neon flashes PAY ATTENTION! PAY ATTENTION! As always, I appreciate your article development, research, and writing style.
ReplyDeleteOn a different topic, I find it interesting that the US et al is calling for a 21 (I would italicize that if I could) day ceasefire . . . reminds me of the 21 days Gabriel was delayed due to war in the heavens to deliver his message to Daniel. We know the war rages, above and below. The signs on the world stage are shouting their own warnings--in neon. Let him who has eyes see, and him who has ears hear. And may we all have minds to comprehend what the Spirit is saying to the Church. Maranatha!
I would venture to qualify the REV 12 sign (9/23/2017) as a sign since:
ReplyDelete- John wrote about it nearly 2000 years ago as part of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
- Jesus said I tell you these things before they happen, so that when they do happen, we will know He is God, and others will believe.
I came across my share of superstitious so-called believers who bandied around the "Astrology" accusation, and many of the plentiful "The Rapture is a lie from Hell" types.
I was really miffed at some of the so-called preachers who made fun of the Rev12 believers, because it didn't fit their narrative.
Didn't help that Scottie Clarke, the one who really popularized it all over Utoob, turned and rejected it and then literally fell from "grace" into extreme dispensationalism and works, and made a laughing stock of the whole idea to a lot of people with his instability.
I look back on these 7 years as the start of the Birth Pains, and compare it to the first 7 year cycle of fat corn and cows in the Joseph typology. Obviously I suspect the next 7 are the mean and lean ones...
Buckle your seatbelts...
_____
Prayers for Israel and her people.
Keep the word, and don't deny His name. Endure patiently.
🚫 🍇
🦊 Jack Foxman on the Wall Blog
"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." - Jesus
ReplyDelete
The quickening will be here soon enough and hopefully a few of those left behind will remember us nutters fondly but until then I'll keep telling people how supersessionism and preterism are nonsense and the root of confusion vis-a-vis 'end times' with all my best.
Massive news in Israel/Lebanon:
ReplyDeleteRemaining Hezbollah top leadership reportedly killed, including Nasrallah himself and his #2.
4-6 high rise buildings leveled in Beirut, below which lied Hezbollah's HQ and main bunker.
Israeli intelligence assessing to confirm if Nasrallah was killed.
Iran/Hezbollah/Houthis/various proxies consulting on response.
Invasion of Lebanon has begun. Would pray for the safety of Israeli soldiers and protection of civilians in harm's way.
ReplyDeletehttps://x.com/VividProwess/status/1840838118309519409
Deletehttps://x.com/visegrad24/status/1840819785736540297
Deletehttps://x.com/sentdefender/status/1840831087162851434
DeleteFather,
ReplyDeleteI pray that you protect each and every Israeli soldier involved in the daunting task ahead. Keep them safe from injury, capture, and death.
Please bring Hezbollah's forces into immediate repentance through a vision of Jesus Christ before it's too late for them.
Please protect all civilians in harm's way from injury, death, and the loss of homes and property.
Come quickly Lord Jesus. Amen
AMEN brother! Maranatha King Jesus!
DeleteI am already praying accordingly. Praying for Israel. Praying for the saints. Praying for the lost. Amen, Gary. Amen.
DeleteRed Alert, folks.
ReplyDeleteU.S. Intelligence have notified Israel of an "imminent ballistic missile attack" by Iran. Things could get very crazy in a short time.
DW
Very likely that Israel will retaliate this by attacking Iran's nuclear facilities and by destroying Damascus.
DeleteBiblical prophecied wars are upon us or soon will be and I believe we exit prior to Isaiah 17 and Ezekeil 39...Maybe we do leave during Rosh Hashanna? Next 3 days could unfold painfully slow! After years of waiting and watching this month/year may truly be it. The thought of "flying" with a transformed glorified body and seeing Jesus face to face is almost too impossible to comprehend. This could be our last opportunity to share Jesus and pray for Israel.
ReplyDeleteCould be!
DeleteCounting 80 prophetic years from the birth of the modern State of Israel, plus 359 days, ends at Shushan Purim in Jerusalem in 2028. Perfect timing for the death of the two witnesses to mark the end of their ministry to a proud generation. Backing out the days of their witness on Earth leads to this Thursday (Yom Teruah) as the potential day of their arrival and beginning of the last week of Daniel. It is entirely possible that war in heaven reaches its climax, Satan is thrown down and we go up this week. The gates of heaven are said to open on Yom Teruah (aka, Judgment Day or Yom HaDin). The gates were opened to the wise virgins who kept the faith. They had all the oil they needed and kept their lamps trimmed. (Bear in mind that we just marked the firstfruits of new oil).
All of that said, *IF* that's the way it plays out then there is no gap between the harpazo and 70th week. When they come down we go up. May we be counted worthy to stand before the King on that great Day and be ushered into the wedding feast -- no matter when it is.
Keep the faith!
Video of Iran's ballistic missile strike.
ReplyDeletehttps://x.com/sentdefender/status/1841164247474012594
It seems to me that Psalm 83 is closing out. Jeremiah 49 is in progress, and part of 49 is the Elam (Western Coast of Iran with the nuclear facilities). Jer 49 is also a prophecy about the demise of those around Israel as well. Additionally, Jer 49 is a sister prophecy to Isaiah 17 about the demise and desolation of Damascus in finality.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that Damascus will be the first use of a Tactical Nuke or Neutron Bomb, who's target is the palace of Asad.
The thought has crossed my mind as well concerning (Psalm 83) and (Jeremiah 49).
DeleteJUST IN CASE...
ReplyDelete...here's the live link to the annular solar eclipse,
LIVE: Annular Solar Eclipse - October 2, 2024
Maranatha!!!
In case those here haven't seen this yet, the drums of war have just gotten louder and larger. It appears that Russian bases in Syria were attacked by Israel last night.
ReplyDelete***** FLASH ***** BULLETIN ***** URGENT***** Russian Hmeimim Airbase ATTACKED by Air Strikes and Naval Salvos, in Syria
https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/world-news/flash-bulletin-urgent-russian-kheimim-airbase-attacked-by-air-strikes-and-naval-salvos-in-syria
ISRAEL ATTACKS RUSSIAN AIRBASE IN SYRIA - RUSSIA WARNS CITIZENS "LEAVE ISRAEL IMMEDIATELY; GET OUT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE"
https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/world-news/israel-attacks-russian-airbase-in-syria-russia-warns-citizens-leave-israel-immediately-get-out-before-its-too-late
It seems that we may be on the very cusp of 2 Kings chapter 2! This as the comet of the century looms ominously in our sky. America will defend Israel if Russia attacks Israel over this it would seem.
I can almost hear that Trumpet already!
As a resident of Western North Carolina (which even Florida's DeSantis says needs the most help because of the devastation of Hurricane Helene) I wanted to let you all know--
ReplyDeleteWHAT’S GOING ON IN NC AND HOW TO HELP SURVIVORS OF HELENE
And GARY!
DeleteI almost forgot to let you know I gave you a shout out in another article I wrote the day after our power was restored--
5785 Time’s Up—Transitioning to the Rapture
Lyn, thank you for sharing and thank you for the shout out. I had no idea you were in Western NC. Praying for your community. We were in the area 2 summers ago. Blowing Rock, Boone, Asheville, etc. It's been so heartbreaking to see the news.
Delete