My wife Rachel and I were attending the Mid-America Prophecy Conference on April 11, 2014 and evangelist Don Perkins was speaking. When he mentioned Acts 28:22-26,  Rachel turned to me and said, “That was a prophecy conference.” She was right and the more I thought about it the more I realized how true that is.

The Old Testament prophets wrote books on prophecy. Following the temptation of Jesus, He returned into Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit. He taught in the synagogues and received much glory. He arrived at Nazareth where He grew up. The Sabbath came and He went to the synagogue. When He stood up to read He was handed a prophetic book. (the book of Isaiah).

The Old Testament didn’t have chapters and verses at this time, but if it had, He would have read Isaiah 61:1 and part of 61:2. He closed the book, gave it to the synagogue minister, sat down and said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:14-21). This was a prophetic message that His hometown people didn’t like. They even rose up to kill Him even though it was given by Jesus under the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:28-30).

Shortly before His crucifixion, He was leaving the Temple for the last time. His disciples approached Him to point out the beautiful buildings, but He said, “There shall not be left here one stone upon another’ (Matthew 24:1-2). He went out to the Mount of Olives (to the place where He would ascend into heaven after His First Coming; to the place where He will come back to at His Second Coming; Acts 1:9-11; Zechariah 14:4) and His disciples said, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

Their questions triggered what was probably the greatest prophecy conference the world has ever experienced. Jesus talked about false Christs, wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, persecution, the gospel, the Temple, the battle of Armageddon, the Second Coming, Israel and many other really important subjects. I love to study His words, but many church members don’t even want to hear them.

Shortly after His crucifixion, two men were walking to a village called Emmaus when Jesus drew near (Luke 24:13-28). They called Jesus “a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.” They said He had been condemned, crucified and His body was missing from the grave. Jesus called them “fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.”

Did you catch that? Jesus said those who don’t believe all that the prophets said are foolish and they have a heart problem. He referred the men to the Scriptures and “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Starting in the book of Genesis and going through the Book of Malachi Jesus showed them how current events were a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. That is a prophecy conference that I would love to have set in on.

And now to the prophecy conference that caught Rachel’s attention. Paul was arrested and eventually sent to Rome (Acts 28:16-29). Three days after he arrived, he contacted some of the Jews and told them he had been arrested for the hope of Israel. They had no idea what he was talking about, but they wanted to hear more.

“And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.” Paul did what Jesus did on the road to Emmaus. Some believed and some didn’t, but this is where Paul told the unbelieving Jews that “the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles” (Acts 28:28).

Bible prophecy is about Jesus and not understanding it was a costly thing for the Jews.

The church enjoys a unique relationship with God. He has given us the Scriptures and Jesus told us to go all over the world teaching people to observe everything He said (Matt. 28:20). This is our mission. “Everything He said” leaves no room for the exclusion of Bible prophecy. It is a significant portion of the Scriptures and those who ignore it are not following the example of Jesus and they are not teaching the whole counsel of God.

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Prophecy Plus Ministries
Daymond & Rachel Duck

God has made some wonderful promises to Israel. He will gather the Jews from all over the world back into the Promised Land (Deut. 30:1-5). They will get all of the Promised Land (Gen. 17:7-8). They will be exalted above all of the nations on earth (Deut. 28:1, 13). Jesus will sit on the throne of David and rule over them (Luke 1:32-33). Jerusalem will become the center of the nations and the Word of God will go forth to all nations from there (Ezek. 5:5; Hos. 4:2).

God said these things will happen and every jot and title of them will happen. But let’s be realistic. As things stand today, the Muslims in Gaza, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are not going to freely turn part of their land over to Israel. China, Russia, Iran and the like are not going to voluntarily accept the fact that tiny Israel is more important than they are. The UN, EU,U.S. and others are not going to willingly submit to the rule of Jesus. All of the nations on earth are not going to agree to let the Word of God go unhindered within their borders. So as things stand today, there is not a chance in the world that God’s wonderful promises to Israel are going to be fulfilled.

This brings me to what triggered this article. A Rapture Ready reader recently sent me some interesting information that he said comes from the Gemara, one of the two sections of the Jewish Talmud (Mishna and Gemara). The information concerns what the Gemara says about the significance of solar and lunar eclipses (especially eclipses on Feast Days such as the recent Blood Moon on Passover and the upcoming Blood Moon on Tabernacles). It is important to note that Christians don’t consider the Gemara to be Scripture, but it contains the remarks ancient Jewish rabbis that I don’t want to overlook.

The Hebrew children were slaves in Egypt when God sent the Ten Plagues to make Pharaoh let them go. According to the Gemara, if God had not sent the Ten Plagues, Egypt would not have collapsed, Pharaoh would not have released the Hebrews from slavery and the nation of Israel probably would not have come into being. Without the nation of Israel, we might not have had the Scriptures, the Temple, the Messiah, the prophets, the church, etc. So the Ten Plagues played a crucial part in the return of the Jews and the conduct of God’s plan during Old Testament times. Also, the fall of Egypt on the first Passover celebration can be seen as the beginning of the nation of Israel and many other great blessings. It can be seen for the good things that happened for all people not the bad things that happened to Egypt.

Now, let’s direct our attention to the future. We are living in a period of time that the Bible calls the Times of the Gentiles, but the Times of the Gentiles must come to an end (Luke 21:24). The Gentile nations must be brought down so Israel can rise up and fulfill the role that God said she will fulfill in the future. The Gentile nations must be subdued so Jesus can reign, Israel can be exalted above the nations of the earth, the Word of God can go all over the world, etc. (Psa. 110:5-6; 1 Cor. 15:24-28).

The Gentile nations are not going to go easy. This is where the Tribulation period comes in. It will be a time of judgment upon the nations (Zeph. 3:8). The Antichrist will rise to power and go forth conquering and to conquer (Rev. 6:1-2). Peace will be removed from the earth (Rev. 6:3-4). War will prevail and the nations of the earth will be brought low (Rev. 6:8; 8:11; 9:15). This will pave the way for the rise of Israel; the millennial reign of Jesus; peace, justice and righteousness on earth, etc. Christians should focus on the good that is coming to the earth not the bad.

Now, I don’t know much about blood moons. I haven’t totally avoided the subject, but I have said very little about it. I do know several things: One, God put lights in the heavens “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Gen. 1:14). Two, NASA’s SOHO satellite videoed large dark spots on the sun in 2013. Three, the Hebrew calendar and the Tribulation period are based on the moon (30 days/month; 7 yrs. X 360 days/yr. = 2520 days). Four, the prophet Joel said, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come” (Joel 2:31). Five, Peter quoted Joel when the Church began by saying, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come” (Acts 2:20). Six, a tetrad of blood moons started on April 15, 2014 and this is before the day of the LORD. Seven, the convergence of signs seem to indicate that like the day of the LORD is getting close. And eight, I am not predicting it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if war broke out in the Middle East in the coming weeks or months.

The tetrad that started in 1949 followed the establishment of Israel. The tetrad that started in 1967 preceded Israel’s capture of the Temple Mount. And the Tribulation period is the seventieth week of Israel’s punishment (Dan. 9:24-27). Each person needs to make up their own mind, but God is in control and His wonderful promises to Israel will come to pass.

Prophecy Plus Ministries
Daymond & Rachel Duck