More Blood Moon Hysteria?

As 2023 progressed into early 2024, some people began to analyze the cities which experienced the path of totality from 2017 and then also looked for those which would be a part of the path of totality in 2024. The most thorough book which examined all of these was investigated by AC Katz. I was able to do an interview with her and see an advanced copy of her manuscript as she was finalizing the book. One of the benefits of her data and analysis was that she was simply presenting the information and not making any predictions. During January through April 8 of 2024, the eclipse hysteria began. Not everyone, but the internet and YouTube provided opportunities for people to make videos and outlandish claims which included predictions of the rapture and other judgments of God. It was quite challenging to find videos which had accurate information. I kept pointing people back to AC Katz’s book because she did the homework and approached it carefully and cautiously.

The other common occurrence which continuously bubbled to the surface was the common refrain, “This can’t be a coincidence. God doesn’t believe in coincidences.” This is a good opportunity to discuss what the Bible says about “coincidences” and how the theology of the Scripture should guide our thoughts and expectations as we “see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). If we do not truly understand what the Bible says about coincidences, then the church is going to suffer even more misguided but well-intentioned confusion.

I have no interest in discussing the full sovereignty of God in this article. That would be impossible. Especially when it’s extremely complex and the inclusion of the free choices of humans can lead down many rabbit holes. However, Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father” (Matt 10:29). Some versions add the word “will” as to say “apart from your Father’s will” but that word is not in Greek and even if it is, it doesn’t change the meaning of what Jesus is proclaiming. I find it amazing the depth to which Jesus brings in to focus the sovereignty of the Father in something as seemingly insignificant as the death of a sparrow. He is not saying that the Father causes the death of the sparrow, but that the death of the sparrow is not outside of the scope of God’s sovereignty. That brings me great comfort when I see or experience adversity in the world.

Jesus continues His admonition that we are not to fear anything in this life by saying, “But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt 10:30-31). The point Jesus is making is that even the number of our hairs, which seems extremely insignificant on a daily basis, is under the sovereignty of the Father’s hands. This leads to the conclusion that in the mind of Jesus, there is nothing coincidental in God’s universe.

We have something similar from Isaiah concerning the sovereignty of God’s plans. He writes, “I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do” (Isaiah 46:9-11). Another helpful verse is Proverbs 16:33 which reads, “The dice (or casting of lots) are thrown into the lap, but their every decision is from the LORD” (Prov. 16:33 NET).

So, what can we learn from these handful of verses? I truly believe there are no coincidences in God’s universe. He is in charge and all things that happen are for a reason which He alone has determined. However, and this is the most important element in all of this discussion…. God alone knows what He means or intends through these events.

The problem in our Christian culture today is that we have the right theology in recognizing that nothing is coincidental, but we often lack the humility or wisdom to avoid assigning meaning to these events. I don’t speak this from a pedestal of being judgmental. I have made this mistake many times in my own Christian walk with the Lord over 30 years. I have seen God’s hand move in amazing ways and then I have erroneously injected into these events my interpretations of the events. In hindsight, I realize that 99.9% of the time, I was wrong in my assumptions. I am constantly reminded of another passage from Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

There certainly are times in Scripture where God reveals His intentions through circumstances or events. He will bring about a certain happening and then reveal what He meant through it (e.g. Ex 29:46; Jer 16:21; Ezek 39:6, 28). These are written in Scripture and so we can know 100% what God meant by these because He reveals it to us. This is safe and we can take these certain interpretations to the bank so to speak. This is similar to interpreting dreams. All of us have dreams every week and some of them are quite interesting. We have people sending us their dreams on a regular basis asking for our interpretation. My response is always the same… “I am not Daniel or Joseph.”   Any interpretation I might offer is pure speculation and can have no weight of authority which is what people are looking for. The key here in all of these endeavors is looking for an authoritative answer to what a dream or other event might mean.

Throughout the years, I have come across people who have spent hundreds of hours bringing various data points together and have concluded who the antichrist is or the date of the rapture. How did they come to this conclusion? “All these different connection points certainly cannot be a coincidence!” How wrong they were in making assumptions at what the meaning of those connecting points meant. Now that I have been at Prophecy Watchers for 5 years, I receive at least 1-2 new letters or emails per month wanting to show me their calculations about the date of the return of Jesus and every time they write, “God is not a God of coincidences.” However, this is not an argument that we can just pull out anytime we want to try and make our preconceived ideas fit a narrative.

What about a solar or lunar eclipse? Can we be certain or even give a good guess as to what God means from one of these astronomical events? Many people recently are saying Yes to this question. They were claiming that the X of the 2017 and 2024 solar eclipses over America was a warning and even some were saying it was pointing to the rapture. Others were looking at the names of the cities which the shadow of the path of totality crossed. Sadly, many Christian leaders created online videos in which they were very loose with the actual data. Some were claiming that there were 7 cities named Nineveh in the path of totality and to quote one person, “of course 7 means completion, so this is no coincidence.” Yet this clearly was not the case if one was to consult AC Katz’s book. When these erroneous facts were pointed out, many just dismissed these and moved on to the other “amazing” claims. Or they said, “Well, it’s close, how many Ninevehs do we need?” The point is that there were statements of fact being made and when shown otherwise, they were dismissed.

These other “amazing” claims involved a series of other “coincidences” that they asserted were clear evidence that God was speaking a warning through these 2 eclipses. One very influential pastor posted a video which received almost 4 million views. I want to examine exactly what the Bible does and doesn’t say about the meaning of eclipses, but first we need to briefly remember how people making predictions or alluding to predictions cause harm to the church and the evangelizing of the lost.

Now, let me say upfront, that I make no judgment concerning the motives or intentions of these people. I don’t read hearts. All I can say is that based on the very careful language used by many of these people, they are intentional not to predict or prophesy something directly. Yet they will often do everything they can to lead you down a path to believing what they are saying, but always allowing themselves a path of deniability when what they say does not come to pass.

Do you remember the book, “88 Reasons Jesus will come Back in 1988” or “1994” by Harold Camping? Or Harold’s prediction of the rapture on May 21, 2011 and then switching it to October 21, 2011? These are obvious rapture prediction failures. The current crop of prognosticators is far wiser and so they will make sure to have some levels of vagueness to what they are claiming. I find it fascinating also that many of those that comment on these videos are quite defensive of the claims being made by the teacher. Even when the speaker ends up being incorrect, they will come to the defense saying there was nothing specifically being predicted.

Again, I would agree that often nothing specific was being predicted, but you can see for yourself the way in which the April 8 eclipse was being presented. Here is the verbatim description of the video (capital letters are their emphasis, not mine):

“This solar eclipse could be THE SOLAR ECLIPSE that unleashes one of the seals of Revelation. I wasn’t a believer at first, but after hundreds of hours of research, I am literally in awe of all the “coincidences.” DO NOT miss this, whatever you do! Along with dozens of INCREDIBLE CONNECTIONS and patterns, I will also be revealing a MAJOR PROPHETIC CONNECTION of how the eclipses of 2017 and 2024 tell us EXACTLY where the Gog/Magog war will start and WHEN the temple sacrifices will begin.

When this happens, it will start the time clock for the revealing of the Antichrist! I have truly been in shock as to the mathematical impossibility of all the events that I will be showing you, all happening at the same time! I will be detailing the prophetic implications of how the last 4 sets of blood-red tetrads that land on biblical holidays coincide with world-changing events and how they have set the stage for this monumental “X-marks-the-spot” moment on April 8, 2024.”

As you can see from the description, there certainly is a lot of hype and sensationalism going on. The major claim is that all these isolated connections and patterns certainly could not be a coincidence. So, here again, we have arrived back at the idea that all these cannot be coincidence and the speaker has come to their own conclusion about what all these events could mean or probably mean. They are making broad assumptions about what God might mean, but ultimately their assumptions are based on a host of errors and this sets a bad tone for other Christians who end up getting caught up in this type of poor thinking.

Ultimately, I have a heart for the people in the church and it is frustrating to see them get hoodwinked into bad theology, bible interpretation, and then disappointment when what was suggested to come to pass does not. I have seen too many become burned out by all the prophecy hype. Biblical prophecy is exciting enough that we do not need to sensationalize or misrepresent the facts in order to promote erroneous or ideas filled with assumption.

If we look at recent history, this isn’t the first time people have sought to use astronomical events to indicate that something major was intended by God. Do you remember the blood moons hysteria of 2014-2015? This also was claimed to mean something ominous or monumental, but in fact all of the historical events connected with the blood moons were a desperate reach to try and show some level of connection. If you examine the data you will notice that the blood moons happened after dates on the Jewish calendar and two of them (1493-1494 and 2014-2015) had no discernible or reasonable connections to the Jewish people at all. Some try to make a connection to the Jewish expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, but the persecution of Jews in Spain started a full century earlier. If you pick a date any time in the last 2000 years, it is relatively easy to find something evil that happened in the world (or to the Jews living somewhere worldwide) and seek to connect it to that date. This is cherry picking information to make it fit a pre-conceived belief.

Let me take a break for a moment to share why I am writing this article. I love prophecy. I love the rapture. I am eagerly waiting for the Lord’s return. Jesus told us to “Watch!” in Mark 13:37 and this is exactly what we should be doing!

At the same time, I want to encourage us to watch for the signs Jesus specifically told us to watch for and not to run the risk of sensationalizing signs that He did not tell us to watch for. As we continue to get closer to the Lord’s return, there is going to be the temptation to speak publicly and assign meaning to events that possibly don’t have any biblical authority to mean something. That is what has happened with the eclipse. Some people have gone public and now that the eclipse has come and gone and the rapture or some other judgment didn’t happen, this has provided opportunity for people to mock the Bible and Christians who claim to be prophecy watchers.

I have no desire to win the approval of the world. That is not the goal. The world will always hate us as it also hated Jesus first (John 15:18-19). However, when we make claims or allusions that all these events are not coincidences and then we end up making public proclamations, the church loses some level of credibility in its evangelism.

Here is an example. I have a close relative who is not a believer, but is a very strong mocker. When the Harold Camping prediction came and went, he mocked me and became even more unwilling to hear the gospel even though I never embraced those predictions. The same thing happened with the blood moons hysteria. Every time something like this happens, it pushes him away from hearing the genuine message of Bible Prophecy.

But didn’t Jesus say, “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Lk. 21:25-27)?

Yes, He did! We must read this in context and recognize that what Jesus was describing are those absolutely unnatural cosmic events which happen inside the 7-year tribulation period. Nowhere are we told to look for these prior to the tribulation period. I will address this further below.

But didn’t God say, “And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night (#1). And let them be for signs (#2) and for seasons (#3), and for days (#4) and years (#5)” (Gen. 1:14)?

Yes, He did! I have seen this verse quoted the most in all the various videos as proof that the April 8 solar eclipse can be used as a warning mechanism from God. The same was being said with the Blood Moon hysteria and the Lunar eclipse “blood moon” of March 3, 2026.

However, this is clearly out of context. There are five purposes for the lights in the heavens that God wanted to make (noted above). We know from the summary of verse 16 that these lights were the sun, the moon, and the stars. We must remember that the 5 purposes were all given in the context before evil was in the world. He created all of these and called them good (1:18). What this means is that the primary meaning of the 5 purposes must be able to be understood in the original context of something good and not as a warning of judgment. Let’s quickly examine each purpose, but I will do them out of order so I can discuss #2 in more detail last.

Clearly, the sun’s great light is used to separate the day from night (#1). We also know that our orbit around the sun produces a yearly/annual calendar (years, #5). The moon has a 29.5 day lunar cycle and was later adopted by the Hebrews as a monthly lunar calendar which allowed them to keep track of Sabbaths and Feasts (#4). We also know that the starry constellations reveal the various seasons of the 365-day solar year. The orientation of the asterism of the Big Dipper can be used to tell you the arrival of the equinoxes and solstices (i.e. seasons, #3). So far, all of these purposes have a good purpose and none of them are meant to be understood in a context of warning or judgment.

What about #2 (signs)? How were the luminaries created by God in the original creation used as good signs?

What I have been hearing for the last 6 months before the eclipse is focus on Genesis 1:14 in which God created the Sun, moon, and stars for signs (the Hebrew word is ōt)? People then have run with this and claim that a solar eclipse is a sign of judgment or often used as a warning for nations. They have made this claim without a single verse to back this up. Let me speak clearly. There is not a single time in the entire Bible in which God said that a normal and periodic solar or lunar eclipse was to be interpreted as an omen or sign of judgment or warning. Not once.

The best lexicon used by OT scholars is The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT) and it lists 9 different nuances of the Hebrew word for sign (ōt). It isn’t relevant to list all nine, but I will reference two of the nuances because they apply to our text in Genesis 1:14. In the context of that which is good and not evil, one of the main nuances for the word “sign” in Hebrew is that it is used to refer to an object lesson as a remembrance or memorial for God’s goodness and kindness. This Hebrew word is used in the book of Joshua as they just crossed over the Jordan river as the conquest of the promised land begins.

It reads, “And Joshua said to them, ‘Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever’” (Jos. 4:5-7; see also Exodus 13:9 where sign and memorial are used together again).

When God says that the starry skies would be used for a sign/memorial, it makes great sense that from the beginning of the creation the constellations or what God calls the mazzaroth (zodiac) would be seen as a memorial of His creative power (Job 38:32). We know that God makes reference to the various constellations as a memorial to His creative genius (Job 9:9; 38:31; Amos 5:8). Some people go as far as to describe the mazzaroth as a gospel in the stars idea which has some interesting possibilities based on Romans 10:17-18. No matter a person’s opinion on that topic, we see that the constellations were created specifically to reveal the glory of God and are a memorial/sign to the creation (Gen 1:14). There is nothing inherent in the word “sign” in Genesis 1:14 that even hints at the idea that God intended the heavenly hosts to be seen or used to point to a warning or judgment.

The other nuance of the Hebrew word ōt that applies to our discussion according to this lexicon can be “omen or foretelling the future.” Is it true that Genesis 1:14 “sign” can be an omen? They list 11 passages in which this word can mean “omen or foretelling the future.” Three of the 11 passages are in reference to heavenly bodies and should be examined for our purposes (Genesis 1:14; 2 Kings 20:8-11 and the parallel passage of Isaiah 38:6-8). They listed Genesis 1:14 as a possible “omen” interpretation, but as noted above , it is clear from that context in the original creation week where everything was good that the sun, moon, and stars were not given at that time as an omen or even foretelling of the future.

What about the other two passages? This is one of the most amazing stories in the entire Bible as it relates to a supernatural event involving the Sun. Most of us probably remember the long day of Joshua in which God delayed the setting of the Sun to give Joshua more time to conquer God’s enemies (Joshua 10). Yet there is another similar type of story involving the good king Hezekiah. He became very sick and yet God promised to heal him. This story appears in two parallel passages and used the Hebrew word ōt (sign) as a foretelling of the future while involving a heavenly body (the sun).

“And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?” And Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps? “And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps. “And Isaiah the prophet called to the LORD, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz” (2 Kings 20:8-11). “I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city. “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he has promised: Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined” (Isaiah 38:6-8).

What can we learn about how the Bible uses the word “sign” from these passages? No doubt something amazing happened in which God provided a supernatural miracle to reaffirm the prophecy that God would heal Hezekiah. This was not a natural event. It was not a normal periodic eclipse, but instead something outside of the natural order that God instituted in His universe in Genesis 1:14-16.

This is very important to remember as we seek to understand the future 7-year tribulation period and the abundance of supernatural astronomical (cosmic) events during that time frame. A solar eclipse happens on average every 18 months somewhere on earth. This means that they are rare, but not super rare. Many solar eclipse aficionados travel constantly to the various eclipses around the world to enjoy them. As mentioned earlier, God created our solar system perfectly to allow these beautiful and majestic events to happen at a normal predictable rate. Not a single time does God ever say that a solar or lunar eclipse is to be interpreted as an omen or sign of judgment or warning.

In fact, we know from the Ancient Near Eastern archaeological literature that the Babylonians and Assyrians worshiped the host of heaven. Not only did they worship the heavenly bodies, but they lived in fear of them. One of the ancient tablets was called Enuma Anu Enlil and contains dozens of tablets with 1000s of omens related to the sun, moon, eclipses and other stars. What God intended for good, Satan has corrupted by using it for fear and trepidation. This is why God continually commanded Israel not to be like the nations around them in worshiping or fearing the host of heaven (Deut 4:19; 17:3). Later, in the time of Jeremiah, God once again reminds the Jewish people that they were not to fear the heavens. “Thus says the LORD: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them” (Jeremiah 10:2).

If we take these truths from Scripture and apply them to the current eclipse hysteria of March 2026, we can see how anyone promoting the idea of a normal and periodic eclipse being interpreted as a sign of judgment or even a warning is actually committing the same sin as the heathen nations. They are promoting the false idea that the natural phenomenon of an eclipse should be used as an ominous sign to bring dismay to people. Let me reiterate that not a single time in Scripture does God ever promote the idea that the natural comic order of events which includes a solar or lunar eclipse is portending judgment or warning.

What then should we say about the words of Jesus saying there will be signs in sun and moon and stars? We know that these will occur inside the 7-year tribulation, but they are definitely not natural or periodic in the normal sense. What happens during the tribulation is quite unprecedented. Jesus said it will be a time period that has never existed prior in the entire history of the creation (Mark 13:19). Remember,  not a single time ever in the Bible does God point His people to looking at the normal course of heavenly host as being indicators of warnings, judgments, or omens. We saw that this is what Satan encouraged the pagan nations to do. God forbid this type of fear mongering when observing the normal course of cosmic events such as eclipses.

Throughout the 7-year period preceding the return of Jesus in great glory with the angels, there will many astronomical and cosmic events which are not natural. They will be 100% supernatural and will not be able to be dismissed by NASA or any other astronomers living at that time. What I mean by this is that they will not follow the normal order of things that humanity has experienced in the past.

Joel made reference to some of these events when he wrote, “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes” (Joel 2:30-31). This cannot refer to the normal lunar eclipse (blood moon) because the moon turns copper red because of sunlight bent around edges of the earth producing the color. If God turns the sun to darkness, there would be no light to bend around the earth to turn the moon blood red. Once again, this is not a natural occurrence. It is 100% supernatural and will happen during the tribulation period.

When we examine the astronomical judgments as mentioned in the book of Revelation, it becomes obvious quickly that these are not natural/normal events. Jesus gave a preliminary understanding of the ways in which God’s judgment during the 7-year tribulation will affect the entire universe. We saw in Luke 21:25-27 above the powers of the heavens will be shaken and people will faith with fear because of this. One of the last events of the tribulation period happens just before Jesus returns. Matthew writes, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matt. 24:29). Isaiah also prophesies about this time, “For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light” (Isaiah 13:10).

Think about this. The entire universe will go dark! None of this is normal, it is 100% supernatural in its fulfillment. When we see the sun turning dark and the moon to blood and the stars falling from the heavens, we recognize that we have no way to comprehend these events as they are completely unprecedented (Rev 6:12; 8:8, 10, 12; 16:8-9). What does it mean that “something like a mountain burning with fire fell into the sea” (Rev 8:8)? Is this an asteroid? A comet? We cannot be sure about the exact mechanisms of these judgments. Either way, we recognize that all these events in the heavenly bodies inside the 7-year tribulation are unprecedented and outside of the normal course of astronomical understanding that we can observe at the present time.

In summary, my overarching goal in writing this article is to encourage others (including myself) who are super excited about the return of Jesus to avoid the temptation of making interpretative leaps of conclusions in regard to the natural phenomena that we are privileged to see (solar and lunar eclipses, comets, etc.). These are natural normal events which God never describes as warnings or judgments. As we do this, we will avoid inviting mockers to scoff at Bible prophecy which we know is worthy of being heeded on its own.

I hope you enjoyed the eclipse and the next one also! We just shouldn’t take away from the awesomeness of these events by claiming they have some specific meaning which no one can prove.

by Mondo Gonzalez, Prophesy Watchers