The Shemitah, the Blood Moons and the Rise and Fall of Empires
Dr. William D. Poovey
Luke 21:33-21:36
The Shemitah, the Blood Moons
and the Rise and Fall of Empires
Luke 21:33-36 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. 34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
1 Thessalonians 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Mark 13:32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Matthew 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
The Shemitah is marked by the number seven. At my Birthday Service here at the pavilion, 2014, a Shemitah year, I turned 57, Butch turned 77, we had 57 people present
and 7 asked for prayer for Salvation. Lyril recently gave a message on the number 7. God deals in numbers.
The Shemitah is in years, what the Sabbath is in days.
The Shemitah is the seventh year and its last day,
is the final day and climax of the biblical seven-year cycle.
Shemitah Year Events of the Twentieth Century:
The rising and falling of empires.
1917- America rises to power ending World War I.
The rising of the Communist State of the Soviet Union.
1917- The defeat of Germany. The fall of the Czar of Russia. The fall the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
The fall of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire.
1938- German Nazis attack Jewish businesses and burn Jewish Synagogues on Kristallnacht
(the Night of Broken Glass.)
1945- Nazi Germany is defeated. The Atomic bomb is dropped on Japan thus ending World War II. Japan signs peace treaty the same week of the end of the Shemitah year.
1945- The United States becomes a military super power. The U.S. dollar becomes the world standard currency.
The United States is the richest country in the world,
and the world's largest lender nation.
1973- The United States Supreme Court declares
that America's can kill their unborn babies.
1973- The World Trade Center is completed
which is a symbol of Americas economic strength.
1973- America looses its first war to Vietnam.
Nixon takes America off the Gold standard.
This sets in motion the decline of the U.S. dollar.
1980- The U.S. Supreme Court bans the posting of the
Ten Commandments in Public Schools. Thus God is now completely banned from our public schools in America.
2001- The World Trade Center buildings (the symbols of Americas economic strength) are destroyed by an Islamic terrorist attack. One week later Wall Street has one of its greatest collapses on the last day of the Shemitah Year.
2008- Exactly 7 years later, Wall Street suffers its largest decline. America is now the world's largest debtor nation.
2014-2015 In Sept of 2014 we started a new Shemitah Year.
This happens in connection with a Tetrad of 4 Blood Moons, which all occur on Jewish feast days.
Passover, Blood Moon, Lunar Eclipse April 15, 2014
Tabernacles, Blood Moon, Lunar Eclipse October 8, 2014
Jewish New Year, Solar Eclipse, March 20, 2015
Passover, Blood Moon Lunar, Eclipse April 4, 2015
Tabernacles, Blood Moon, Lunar Eclipse Sept. 28, 2015
2014-2015: A Tetrad of Four Blood Moons,
all on Jewish Feast Days and in the Shemitah Year
is a once in two thousand year event!
As the United States has turned away from God and endorsed many sins, it is very possible that God's judgment will fall on America during this year of the Shemitah.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Is it possible that the greatest stock-market point crash
in history, having taken place on the day of the Shemitah, would bear the sign of the Shemitah—the mark of seven?
◦The Seven-Year Mark: The greatest point crash in stock market history happened on the end of the seventh year
and the completion of the seven-year cycle.
◦The Seventh Month: On the evening of the greatest crash, began the month of Tishri. Tishri is the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. Thus the crash took place on the day that ushers in the most sacred of times in the biblical calendar, the seventh month.
◦Seven Hundred Billion: The crash was triggered by the failure of Congress to pass the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. The bill was a response to the economic implosion of September 2008, an attempt to save the U.S. financial system. The amount chosen for the bailout was $700,000,000,000.
◦Seven Percent—2008: What percentage of Wall Street was wiped out on the last day of the seventh year? Seven percent.
◦Seven Percent—2001: How much of Wall Street was wiped out seven years earlier on the last day of the preceding Shemitah in 2001? Seven percent.
◦Seven-Seven-Seven: How many actual points were wiped out on the last day of the seventh year? Seven hundred seventy-seven (777).
The next "Shemitah" or "Biblical Sabbatical Year" runs from: September 25, 2014 until… September 13, 2015.
While many assume when God created the Sun and the Moon that He did so for light, heat, gravity, and other natural mechanisms, when looking at Genesis 1:14, we learn of four other purposes behind why the lights in the heavens were created and placed where they are.
The Bible says these are for "signs," "seasons," "days," and "years." The Hebrew word for "signs" in this context is owth, a word meaning a "miraculous sign," "omen," or "warning." It signifies, among other things, that God created the heavenly bodies to communicate important matters at particular times to His covenant people. The next reason God created the sun and the moon is for "seasons." Again, in our Western mindset, we figure God is talking about… winter, spring, summer, and autumn (fall).
In Hebrew, the word here is "mow’ed" and is accurately translated as "an appointed time" or "divine appointment" especially related to "sacred seasons" or Feast days.
This same Hebrew word is translated into English in Leviticus 23 as "feast" where it talks about the "Feasts of the Lord." So we have “A Divine Appointed Warning”.
The word "mow’ed" implies that God has a "day timer"
or "calendar" on which He keeps predetermined "appointments" with human history and that are connected with "His Feasts or Holy Days." God the Father knew the year, the month, the day, and the exact time His Son, Jesus, would die and how this event would be played out in fulfilment of the Levitical feasts of Israel. Finally,
God declares that the sun and the moon were created to determine "days and years." Obviously, this has nothing to do with our modern Gregorian calendar, which was created by a pagan Roman ruler and is based on the sun.
The Muslim calendar is based on the moon. But the Biblical calendar… the one that God uses according to Genesis
is based on the sun and the moon. So when the Scripture refers to "days and years" in Genesis 1:14, it is pointing to "Biblical days and years" or "holy days" as well as Shemitah years (every seventh year the land was to rest).
What is a Shemitah Year…? The Shemitah Year is the seventh year, the year of rest. When Moses received the Levitical law, God gave the commandment to rest on the seventh day… the Sabbath. Moses also applied the cycles of "seven" to weeks and years. A cycle of seven weeks points to the 50th day, called Pentecost. And a cycle of seven sets of seven years points to the 50th year, the year of Jubilee.
The year of Jubilee is based on letting the land rest every seventh year as follows; "For six years sow your fields,
and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the Lord." (Leviticus 25:3-4)
Leviticus 25 promises great harvests to those who observe the Shemitah, and describes its observance as a test of faith.
The Hebrew people count and observe 7 year cycles.
Every cycle would fulfill a "Sabbatical Year known as
a "Shemitah" and means, "to release".
Deuteronomy 15:1&4 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release:
4 Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it:
Every seventh year, the “Shemitah, or Sabbath Year,” would cause the land to rest, when sowing and reaping, buying and selling would come to a standstill. For the nation that departs from God, the Shemitah becomes a sign of judgment. The year of Shemitah reaches its culmination
on the last day of the Hebrew year.
What happened in the last two Shemitah years…?
The Shemitah year of 2001… America was attacked by radical Islamic terrorists killing three thousand people
on 9/11 and this sad day became America's new day of… discredit and humiliation!
The Shemitah year of 2008… America experienced a stock market crash on September 29 when the market fell 777 points in one day. It was the greatest one-day decline in the history of Wall Street. All this happened on the 7th year
of the Jewish Shemitah.
The two greatest stock-market crashes America ever knew, took place on the exact Biblical day separated by the exact period of time ordained in the Bible… 7 years to the day…! Coincidence…? I don’t think so… the odds of the events happening over the past 11 years the way that they did without God’s hand being behind it is astronomical.
The Shabbat (Sabbath)… is the foundation of all other Hebrew festivals. God said that the Sabbath was to be
a holy day. This simply means a day that is set apart from other days as a day of rest and worship.
The Blood Moon Tetrad of 2014 / 2015 coincides with the beginning of the “Shemitah” as well a “Jubilee Year”…
A Jubilee (50th) year comes after 7 sabbatical cycles of 7 years (49) and it is more amazing that a Jubilee convergence with the “Four Blood Moon” is all happening together !
So now we have, every seven days, Sabbath or Sunday,
a day of rest, set aside for worship,,, next, every seven years, Shemitah, a year of rest and worship,,, then, after seven Shemitahs, a year of Jubilee, or the 50th year.
So then what is a Jubilee Year…? You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family,” Leviticus. 25:8-10.
Jesus indicated in Matthew 24:32-34 that there would be a time when the "fig tree" (Judah / the Jews), would bring forth leaves… and that this generation should see the return of Christ. We are presently living in that time! The founding of the State of Israel in 1948 and the deliverance of Jerusalem in 1917 and 1967 are all signs of the fig tree putting forth leaves. Jesus will indeed return soon, intervening in the coming final nuclear war and establishing His kingdom on earth which will exist for a thousand years. The signs can already be seen. Are you ready?
How To Be Ready For Christ's Return
1. WATCHFULNESS (Matt 24:40-41)
Matthew reminds us - "Two shall be in the field; the one taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. WATCH therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." The word 'watch' means to be alert, be on your guard,
and be found ready for Christ's coming.
2. PRAYERFULNESS (Luke 21:36)
Luke tells us: "Watch ye, therefore, and PRAY always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."
Do you pray that you will be ready when Christ appears?
3. FAITHFULNESS (Matthew 25:14-23)
It is in view of our Lord's coming that He relates the story of a man going into a far country and giving various talents to his servants. Talents, in this case, means money.
So, depending on the wise use of these talents, whether invested or neglected, these servants are rewarded.
Those servants who were faithful in the use of their talents were rewarded with the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
4. WARNING AGAINST CARELESS LIVING (Lu.21:34)
"Take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and CARES OF THIS LIFE, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Did you hear it? As the flood in Noah's day affected the entire earth, so we read Christ's Coming will be as a snare or trap that will affect the whole world. When our Lord appears the saints will be caught away, and those living carelessly will be left behind to go through the awful great tribulation. Like a trap springing shut, there will be no exit from this earth. That's why it pays to be ready, living lives of purity and service, witnessing, and winning the lost.
5. WARNING AGAINST BEING LEFT BEHIND WITH UNBELIEVERS. (Luke 12:45-46)
We read: "But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming: and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and WILL APPOINT HIM HIS PORTION WITH THE UNBELIEVERS."
Did you hear it? I know some doubt there is such a scripture in the Bible. For they don't believe it is possible for a person who is a professing believer to be left behind at the rapture.
6. WARNING CONCERNING INIQUITY. (Matt 7:22-23)
"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you;
depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
7. GUARDING AGAINST LUKEWARMNESS (Rev. 3:16)
Concerning the Laodicean Church, which constitutes the professing body of believers in the last Church Age of which we are a part, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou weft cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." If we're going to call ourselves Christians, then let's be real, genuine followers of Christ. Let's stop playing church and get on fire for God!
8. BE LOVING--NOT GRUDGING (James 5:8-9)
"Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. GRUDGE NOT one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned; behold the judge standeth before the door." Has someone spoken ill of you, lied about you, mistreated you? Don't worry about it. The Lord will take care of it. Just be ready, yourself .
9. BE CAREFUL FOR NOTHING (Phil. 4:5-6)
Don't WORRY but rather commit yourself wholly to God believing He will keep you ready for our Lord's Coming.
Paul writes: "Let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing..."
10. BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT (Matt. 25:1-13 )
In Matthew 25 our Lord gave a parable of ten virgins.
All were looking forward to a wedding, and made the necessary preparation for the marriage. But when the bridegroom came only five were ready.
If our Lord were to come today and only half of those who were looking for Him were ready to go back with Him, HOW SAD! What was the secret of those who were ready? It was simply this, the 'wise virgins' had oil in their vessels.
That is they had the Holy Spirit filling their lives.
Be filled with the Spirit is a command of God.
Be Ready….
Watch
Pray
Be Faithful
Live Right
Be Ready
Live Pure & Holy
Be On Fire
Be Filled With Love
Don’t Worry
Be Filled With The Holy Ghost
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Respectfully,
William Poovey
