Sid: Well I have Mark Biltz on the phone. Mark has been a guest on Messianic Vision previously. For those that aren’t familiar with him he’s pastor of El Shaddai Congregation in Bonny Lake, Washington. He is the one that pioneered the research of tying the blood moons with the feasts and being warning signs from God tied in with the scriptures. And as a matter of fact 2 people that have wonderful books on the subject John Hagee and Perry Stone all quote him because he got the original revelation. So I figured that there’s so many people even the secular press Mark is interested in the blood moons and there’s such an interest in it I want to get the guy that had the original revelation. So let me take you back to when that started; how long ago was it that you originally got a revelation on the blood moons?
Mark: I would say it started in March of 2008 when I saw a total lunar eclipse when I saw it on Purim over the Temple Mount.
Sid: And for those that aren’t familiar with what a blood moon is would you give is the ABC of it.
Mark: Well sure, a blood moon would be a total lunar eclipse. When it’s only a partial lunar eclipse the moon doesn’t turn red or when it’s a penumbral, where the moon doesn’t go directly behind the earth it’s two one side.
Sid: I want you to get even more basic what is an eclipse, why is it red?
Mark: Sure, what happens is when the earth is exactly between the sun and the moon the sun’s light rays that go around the earth’s atmosphere get affected. The shorter blue rays get cast off, but it’s the longer red ray that make it through that hit the moon giving it the red glow.
Sid: Now I personally have never seen a blood moon have you seen it?
Mark: Oh several times.
Sid: What did it look like to you?
Mark: It was incredible it didn’t start red it starts black as it begins to cover the moon from the left to the right. And then at the very end when the last bit of light goes out it switches to this beautiful blood red that’s just an incredible color, it’s just gorgeous.
Sid: Now tell me, we’ll kind of fast forward for a moment, why it’s important for me to know about blood moons and Biblical Feasts and them happening together.
Mark: Yeah sure. The thing that’s incredible if you believe the Bible in Genesis chapter 1 verse 14 it literally says “That created the sun and moon for signs.” We think that it was mostly for light and heat but we see that the very first thing He mentions is for signs for sending signals kind of like “One if by land, two if by sea.” Then the next word is for season. Well the problem is with our English translation because the same English word they translated seasons in Leviticus 23 they translated feasts. So what does that mean fall or food? Actually both are in accurate the word Moad means a divine appointment as if God decided God wanted the sun and moon to send signals on His divinely appointed dates. I believe when He was going to intersect human history it’s totally supernatural.
Sid: Tell me back to 2008… tell me the progression of this revelation.
Mark: Sure on the internet and I saw this beautiful blood red moon over the Temple Mount and I got to thinking about the verses in Isaiah, in Joel, in the Gospels in Revelation where it talks about the sun turning to sackcloth and the moon to blood. And I thought oh wow this… these have to be total lunar eclipses. So I went to NASA’s website…
Sid: Now just out of curiosity even before this did you know much about astronomy and think about areas like this or is this all or was this all new to you?
Mark: I loved astronomy I had a telescope growing up; I had binoculars and I always loved to look at the moon and the rings around Saturn, you know and Mars. And I always had somewhat of an interest in astronomy. I was in the Boy Scouts okay and I think that…
Sid: Well I was in the Boy Scouts but I didn’t have much interest in astronomy, but go ahead. (Laughing)
Mark: Yeah any way I always loved creation I mean to almost 19 to declare the glory of God. And then for me it was just saw the glory of God and I would know. I would just wonder I was filled with wonder and amazement. And then again thinking that from a Biblical standpoint that God said that this would happen and because He created it mathematically science could record 5000 years of eclipses. I thought “Well let’s go see if there’s any interesting eclipses coming up.” And when I went to NASA’s website I noticed that in 2014 and 2015 that there would be 4 total eclipses in a row. And that just kind of caught my eye. I start researching their website and saw that they called it a Tetrad but I thought it didn’t happen at all in the 1800’s and 1700’s and the 1600’s. So I thought that it was quite interesting and I thought that it would be happening in April and October and April and September. And so I went to my prayer closet it was about 4:00 in the morning I was getting up for prayer for weeks at a time at that time to pray. And I was contemplating this a thought came to my mind that I need to put these on the Biblical holidays. So I went to my computer so I switched from April to October to when they fell on the biblical calendar and when I saw that they fell on Passover and Tabernacles both years in a row I just about jumped out of my skin and so I had to go back and look. And then when I saw the last time it happened on these Feast days was 1967 when Israel captured Jerusalem. Right before that when they became a nation in ’48 and I’ll tell you I was doing the Hallelujah dance.
Sid: Well I can see that by putting those two together and seeing 2 of the major events history just happened to be when they had these blood moons. I can see why you did a little Pentecostal dance.
Mark: (Laughing) Well then looking at the book of Genesis and seeing that God created them for signals on His feast days I kind of look at this more. So I knew God is 100% accurate not 99% so I went to see if there were any interesting solar eclipses. And low and behold on Nisan 1, the first day of the religious calendar I mean this is the grand opening ceremony of Moses Tabernacle when the fire fell from heaven and licked the altar. Here is the total solar eclipse on Nisan 1 followed by the total blood moon lunar eclipse on Passover, followed by another solar eclipse on Rosh haShana, followed by another blood moon on the Feast of Tabernacles in 2015.
Sid: Now a lot of people have taken your teaching beyond your teaching have put definite prophetic events that are going to happen. What is your spin on that?
Mark: Well I don’t think that’s wise to ever set dates and I never set dates. But one thing I like to say is I don’t control an eclipse okay, I don’t control the calendar. NASA says that when these are falling God is saying He’s set them up that way. And all I say is “We have to be watching.” I believe that we need to be watching and praying…
Sid: And yet if we see what happened two of the major events in Israel’s history on these particular dates on these particular feasts we say “Maybe it’s something even more than a prophetic warning maybe it’s beyond that.”
Mark: I think so I think in one sense it really is but I don’t know when the event will happen but the thing that is so significant Sid according to NASA you only average one total eclipse every year and a half. Here we have 4 in the year and a half on the Biblical holidays. And the last one get a load of this is a supermoon. This is…
Sid: What’s a supermoon?
Mark: It is when the moon because it’s orbit is elliptical it’s when it’s at its closest point to earth. That is when it’s a perigee is what it’s called. Now sometimes it’s not a full moon when it’s at its closest point it’s at a new moon so you don’t even see it. But think about the odds of this, here you’re going to have a full moon at perigee. So it’s going to be a super moon that is completely blood red and not only that but the closed point to earth for the entire year and it is seen in Jerusalem. It is seen in Jerusalem on the Feast of Tabernacles when all of the Jews are outside looking up at the heavens. And not only that the culmination that makes it totally astronomical it also is the Sh’mitah year the 7th year of the 7 year cycle when God required all men, women, children, Jews and non-Jews to be in Jerusalem to hear the king of Israel read from the Torah.
Sid: Now what is… has this ever happened before according to your knowledge?
Mark: According to my knowledge it’s never happened before that you have a total blood moon that is part of a tetrad that is also the sh’mitah year that is ceasing in Israel. This is just incredible!
Sid: Okay our time has slipped away but we’ll go into more detail the rest of this week with Pastor Mark. I love the calendar you put together, I love the book called “Blood Moons Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs” and then the DVD. How did you get such I hate to put it this way “How did you get such a beautiful DVD? I mean this is not a typical Christian approach.
Mark: That’s for sure well World Net Daily, and Joseph Fara, George Escobar did a wonderful job. The cinematography is absolutely incredible. The sound, the music, the score is just incredible.
Sid: Just as a matter of review Mark I want you to tell me what a blood moon is, how frequent they are; how frequent they are on feast days and how frequent they are, as you blew us out of the water yesterday and you talked about not only are they coming up on the feast days, but a which is highly unusual, but it’s what’s known as a supermoon. So if you could briefly summarize that.
Mark: Well sure, a blood moon is a total lunar eclipse. It’s caused by the light rays going through the earth’s atmosphere when it’s between the moon and the sun. And the longer red light rays hit the moon so it looks like its blood red. And according to NASA you only get a total lunar eclipse, or blood red moon, once every year and a half. But here we have 4 within a year and 1 ½ and on top of that Sid their falling on the Feasts days God’s appointed times. This is like God’s heavenly billboard trying to communicate to us and warn us of things coming.
Sid: Now the scriptures tell us that this is God’s method of warning us explain some of those scriptures.
Mark: Exactly, well in Genesis 1:14 God said “He created the sun and the moon to send signals on Passover.” That’s basically what He said, He says “For signs and seasons” but that word for seasons is Moad referring to the appointed times like Passover. This is why in Luke 21:25 Jesus says that “There will be signs in the sun and the moon.” Well how could we not expect it if that’s why they were created for?
Sid: Now you also use a phrase when there are 4 eclipses in a row there’s a scientific phrase explain that.
Mark: Yes, the term is a tetrad when you have 4 blood moons in a row without a partial or a penumbral in between.
Sid: Excuse me you lost me a penumbral? (Laughing) Is that like a crinumble or something?
Mark: It’s called a penumbral and that is when it doesn’t go directly behind the earth, but just kind of the earth is not directly between it. Here’s the thing, according to NASA in the last 2000 years only 62 times have you had 4 blood moons in a row.
Sid: In how many years?
Mark: Two thousand years.
Sid: Hm.
Mark: In 2000 years you’ve had 4 total eclipses in a row 62 times but guess what? Only 8 times have they fallen on the feast days. This is what really increases the odds it’s only 8 times in 2000 years has this happened. And look what’s happened last three. Here in ’67 Israel captured Jerusalem. Right after it became a nation in ’48 and then before that it was at the Spanish inquisition in 1493 and 1494.
Sid: And so when was the last time we had something like this happen?
Mark: Well only 8 times has it happened in the last 2000 years where they’ve fallen on the feast days.
Sid: Now have you done research? If the 2 you mentioned ’67 and ’48. The birth of Israel, Jerusalem in Jewish possession just happened to occur on 2 of them have you researched the others out of curiosity anything interesting happen?
Mark: Well yes as a matter of fact like I said Christopher Columbus was a lot of people realized was Jewish. You got a boat load of Jews leaving Spain on the 9th of Av. All of the Jews were kicked out of Spain and Portugal. And so 1493 and 1494 but you know what’s incredible there were solar lunar eclipses all over the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. You can go back and research it in and 69, 70, and 71 there were solar and lunar eclipses around the temple. And around the death of Jesus in 32 and 33 AD there were solar lunar eclipses all over the feast days.
Sid: Now I know that you don’t like to do this but I’m going to put you on the spot Mark.
Mark: Sure.
Sid: Since things of prophetic nature occur when all of these signs occur on feast days, and that’s pretty obvious. The ones coming up you’re sanctified speculation what might happen?
Mark: Well here’s what I think might happen and this is based on facts, based on history, and based on scriptures. In Joel where it talks about sun turning to sackcloth and the moon turning to blood is given in the same context where the verse says “God will judge all nations that are trying to divide the land of Israel. And here we have this big push to divide the land of Israel. I believe that these 4 blood moons on God’s heavenly billboard is warning Israel not to divide their land, warning the nations not to divide their land or their will be consequences.
Sid: Why do you say that they’ll be consequences to the nations for dividing the land of Israel?
Mark: Well because that’s what God says in Joel 2 that’s what God says I’m the messenger (chuckle) you know. And I’m just saying that what God says “He’s going to judge all of the nations that are parting his land.” So when you look at the odds the facts of history there’s a war involving Israel in ’48, a war involving Israel in ’67, prophetically there could be a war involving Israel in the next year and half or two. So that’s one. There’s something else but I’ll just say that’s one for what I think might happen.
Sid: Oh, tell me the something else.
Mark: Ha, ha okay well here’s the other thing it’s only if you’re on the right calendar and this is why that Biblical Calendar is so important. Christians need to be aware the prophecies that are prophesied will happen on the Biblical dates. But if we don’t know where they are on our calendar we won’t know when the prophecy is fulfilled. And one of the things that I see and people don’t know that in 2001 that was a Shemitah year and it was on Rosh Hashanah that the Dow fell 7%. And the Shemitah year is an economic reset year. This is when the debts were to be forgiven okay. So what do you see an economic reset on Rosh Hashanah in 2001 which was a 7th year of the 7 year cycle the Dow falls 7%. Exactly 7 years later in 2008 now it wasn’t the same day on our Gregorian calendar but it’s the same day on the Biblical calendar. It was at Rosh Hashanah the 7th year the 1st day of the 7th month the Dow falls 777 points. It was a 7% drop on a failed 700 billion dollar bailout resulting in a 700 Billion dollar loss. And so now here we’re coming to 2015 Rosh Hashanah year the end of a Shemitah year and we have a solar eclipse. So I’m saying that there’s a good possibility that we could have a global economic catastrophe this could be our third strike.
Sid: Well you know speaking about dividing up the land, and obviously Joel makes it very clear that the judgment of the nations in the last days these Joel chapter 3 will be based on one fact and one fact alone, dividing up the land of Israel. But you know what I’ve notice every war that Israel’s had in modern times it has not started. But every war that Israel has had in modern times has ended up with Israel having more land. So that’s my intuitive spiritual spin “Israel will end up with more land before it’s all over.”
Mark: I totally agree, I think that’s what’s going to happen. I think that Israel may be the safest place to be.
Sid: Well before we tell people you represent the Israeli Chamber of Commerce, no I’m just teasing I want you to tell me about your book and your DVD series called “Blood Moons Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs.”
Mark: Yes I would love to the book is so much more than just about blood moons. I go into how ever Hebrew letter is a sign. And the Hebrew word for letter is the same Hebrew word for sign. And I go into the ancient paleo-Hebrew, or proto-Canaanite, where every letter was a picture. And I show how Jesus Yeshua is in every letter. I go through some of the letters. But then I also go into replacement theology and how that is so unacceptable and unbiblical. And then I go into calendar…
Sid: And there’s so many Christians that feel that God is finished with the Jew; God is finished with the land of Israel. There in for a big shock. They don’t know that all events at His first coming were involving the land of Israel. And all events at His return involve that same land. He is going to return to Israel; I mean they are going to be in a boat that will be rudderless with that understanding.
Mark: Oh yes I totally agree and here’s something that how I kind of end the book that I think is so amazing. The Book of Ruth I believe is very prophetic. Ruth and Orpah were non-Jews grafted into Israel. So I think that they represent the church. And what you see Ruth whose name means friend joins the Jew works the harvest from Passover to Pentecost from the barley to the wheat and ends up bringing forth the King David and the Messiah through King David. Orpah her name means to turn the back of the neck. And she turned her back on the Jew and went back to her Pagan gods. I really believe prophetically in the book of Ruth the dividing line in the church is going to be the Ruth church who joins the Jew and works the harvest and brings in the Messiah. Versus the church the Orpah church that turns her back on Israel and joins the one world church.
Sid: Okay, quickly tell me about the DVD.
Mark: Yes, the DVD the cinematography is absolutely incredible. George Escobar did phenomenal it was like a regular movie. The musical score was just incredible and just the scenery, oh my goodness. They’re going to love the DVD it’s just incredible.
Sid: Now in order for you to… no I’ll tell you what Mark, I want to go back to the first time that you taught this after the revelation in your congregation. What effect did it have on the members of your congregation?
Mark: Well it was shock and awe that’s all I could say shock and awe. And even to me as well and even as we had discussed earlier this is kind of like a progressive revelation the Holy Spirit just kind of constantly just revealing more and more things as we go in 2008 when I discovered this. And that’s when our congregation really took off we were like oh 280 – 300 people and then we jumped up to about 600.
Sid: But how did it become a book so quickly?
Mark: Well I… you know it was amazing I was giving the notes away from that first service just on our website anyone could read it and it was just going like wildfire. And 4 or 5 other people writing books on my material, then Joseph Farah with World Net Daily called me and said “Pastor Mark you’re the one that knows all of this you know the signs and the meat and the potatoes why don’t you write a book?” So this was last October and so I said “Well okay what do you need?” He said I need you to write 60,000 words in the next month put it all together for me. So I said “Okay, I have everything you know over the years you know I compiled it all and put the book out and it was released in March.
Sid: You know Mark you are such a conservative man by nature and a teacher by nature that I would really be curious to get your spin on whether… I mean in every good believer says that Jesus is going to return in their life time, but in your inner-most being based on your scholarship what do you believe?
Mark: I believe we are that generation there’s no doubt in my mind and I base a lot of that on Psalms 102 where it talks about “When the Lord shall build up Zion that’s when He will appear in His glory.” Well Zion is another name for Jerusalem and its back in Israel’s hands in ’67 and it’s being built up with all of these settlements that the world is so upset about. And in the next verse it says “This is being written for the generation to come.” But in Hebrew the word “acharone and it means the terminal generation it means the last generation. Now I don’t know how long a generation is but I believe that we are that generation.
Sid: Fair enough. Now you state if we throw out the feasts days then we have thrown out the ring decoder. When I was young they used to sell these little decoder rings where you could figure out the answers to questions. Explain to people that don’t know about that.
Mark: Oh yeah I loved that oh man when I was growing up I loved the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew you know all of those detective things coming up with secret codes. And I had my own decoder ring as well and to think that I found it goes back to the feast days. God said He created the sun and moon to send signals on His feast Days. And see here’s a Muslim calendar it’s based totally on the moon. The calendar the world uses it’s based totally on the sun. But God said in Genesis “Let them be for seasons, days and years.” The sun and the moon so that means He’s using the Jewish calendar for intersecting human history for sending His signals. So if we don’t understand His feast days we won’t understand how to decode when He’s trying to talk to us. I liken it to a baseball coach who tips his hat for the base runner to steal. If the base runner doesn’t know the code or the signal he’s going to miss an opportunity. So to me these feasts literally in Hebrew the word Moad means a divine appointment. Then that word convocation the Hebrew word is Micrah and it applies more than an assembly. It’s a dress rehearsal so I asked everyone “Do you want to be at the wedding of the Lamb?” And they all go “Yes.” And then I say “Why don’t you want to be at the dress rehearsals for the wedding?”
Sid: Briefly why are the first feasts mentioned in the Bible called the spring feasts, dress rehearsals of the first coming of Jesus? Why are the fall feasts the last feasts mentioned in the Bible dress rehearsals of the return of Jesus? And you state in your book that His first coming and His return are going to be fulfilled to the day an hour of His coming through the feasts.
Mark: Yes, it’s absolutely incredible. You know I tell people in Revelation it says “Jesus was slain for the foundation of the world.” What that means is it was planned out by the Father from the very beginning. It’s not like Jesus died and the Father goes “Oh go to plan B and resurrect it” you know. And he even had David write the hymns that were going to be sung at his son’s funeral. That’s why the songs were sung. And to get an idea Jesus did not die on any particular day He died on Nisan 14 on Passover. And in the gospels it says that He was bound to the cross the third hour of the day. Well that’s 9:00 in the morning the time of the morning sacrifice. He died at 3:00 in the afternoon and…
Sid: What you’re showing is He was such… the animal sacrifice on that day was such a precise shadow of Jesus that even the timing was the same.
Mark: It’s incredible! At the very moment the high priest is binding the Passover lamb to the altar their binding Yeshua to the cross. And their singing Psalms 118 the Hallel “Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the chords of the altar.” Can you imagine Josephus says that over 2 million Jews for Passover. Here’s this 2 million member choir Jesus is hearing them all sing “Bind the sacrifice with chords” at the very moment that their binding him to the cross and binding the Passover lamb to the altar.
Sid: And you know it wasn’t like modern Jew today or a Gentile Christian today He understood exactly, He understood He was the same sacrifice that all of those years they were doing the shadow of.
Mark: Yeah! And they were singing the song for 1000’s of years before when David wrote it hear they were singing these songs on Passover. What are they singing Psalms 118 “The right hand of the Lord is lifted up, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.” You know I mean this is incredible.
Sid: Oh I love the part of Psalm 118 which says “The stone which the builders rejected, (The builders were the Jewish people) it’s become the chief cornerstone,” I like that part. (Laughing)
Mark: Oh yes because when it says they sang a hymn and went over the Mount of Olives and where He was betrayed and rejected that is exactly the last hymn that they sang was the fact that He was the stone that the builders rejected. It’s incredible. So if He became the Passover Lamb on Passover to the hour the next day He’s buried on unleavened bread, then He rises on the Jewish Feast of First Fruits becoming the First Fruits of the Resurrection. And then most Christians don’t know that the Jews have been keeping Shavuot or Pentecost for 1500 years before Acts. So what did Peter say “These guys aren’t drunk it’s the third hour of the day.” Well that’s 9:00 in the morning time of the morning sacrifice is exactly what had happened.
Sid: You know I understand when Jews and Gentiles that are believer in the Messiah start seeing how precise God is why it actually kicks their faith into another gear.
Mark: Oh my goodness it’s like adding nitrogen I mean it’s….
Sid: What are you seeing on people wander into your congregation and catching this for the first time how do they react?
Mark: Well I’ll tell you what it’s the same reaction I’ve heard year after year everyone is in shock and awe and they say “We’ve been robbed! We’ve been robbed! Why haven’t we heard this before?” In Jeremiah it says the Gentiles are going to come and say “We’ve inherited lies and vanity and things that don’t profit” you know. And so for me the greatest revelation is being on the Biblical calendar which is why we have this calendar. Do you know Sid, 2 years from now Easter is a month before Passover. How do you celebrate the resurrection a month before He dies?
Sid: (Laughing)
Mark: We’re not even on the right calendar.
Sid: Well now our time has slipped away. Tell me about your book and this amazing DVD it’s not your typical Christian DVD, it is a top secular DVD making these principals so simple everyone that gets the book and DVD will totally understand it. Tell me what they’ll understand from the book and DVD.
Mark: Sure, what they’ll understand is how wrong replacement theology is. They’ll understand how to understand the signs that God sends, even the Hebrew letters are signs. They’ll understand the science behind all of this and the math. And they’ll understand what we are to do and the DVD is just incredible cinema photography where you know he just shows all of these eclipses and the different things that are going on. The book, and the DVD, talk about how the importance of God’s appointed times.
Sid: And then of course you go into the Biblical feasts and you explain how precisely they occur which is going to nothing but increase your awe of God. But I love your teaching on the blood moons. Tell me some scripture in reference to the blood moons why we should know about them.
Mark: Well what comes to my mind is Luke 1:25 where Jesus says “There will be signs in the sun and the moon.” And the amazing thing about the sun and moon they speak in every language you don’t have to have an interpreter. Okay every language understands the sun and the moon and the eclipse they have for history that God is trying to communicate. And when we see they fall on the feasts days that’s when they have the great significance. And so the whole key is to understating what God is saying is saying, is when these eclipses fall on His appointed time.
Sid: Tell me one last thought for someone that says “God is finished with the Old Testament all we need is the New Testament.” What would you say to that person?
Mark: Well I would ask them “Is God the same yesterday, today and forever?” And the other thing I would say “When did He become God’s editor, I mean God is the what?”
Sid: I actually I like to say that “Did you know the first church only had one Bible and I’ll give you a clue it wasn’t the New Testament.” And it did pretty good for the first… oh we’re out of time.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth