The Tribulation: A Trial in Two Parts

Since I've been talking a lot about the Tribulation on here, I wanted to go ahead and explain a few things about the concept, briefly. Enjoy.

What is the Tribulation?

A depiction of the judgments during the Tribulation.
Image here.

The Tribulation is the period traditionally held to be the 7 years immediately preceding the Second Coming. This is obviously not an LDS site so read with the Spirit and everything, but this site explains the Biblical reasoning for the assumption of a 7-year Tribulation period. It comes down to things like Daniel's prophecy of seventy weeks of years, and the mention in Revelation 11:2 of "42 months," which obviously equals three and a half years--and if 42 months is the middle of the Tribulation, that means the whole period is seven years long.

The event takes its name from Matthew 24:21:

21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

What Happens During the Tribulation?

The Tribulation is the time of the wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences and plagues, and everything else we hear about at church all the time as "signs of the times." Re-read Matthew 24 (and go ahead and compare with JST-Matthew 1, which is an inspired translation of Matthew 24). The Tribulation is also associated with a completion of the Gospel being preached to all the world, the murdering of the prophets in Jerusalem but also the murdering of Saints elsewhere, per the book of Revelation, and other very intense things.

The Tribulation in Two Parts


Now, it's important to note that Biblically, the Tribulation is divided into two parts: the Beginning of Sorrows (see Matthew 24:8) and the Tribulation, as mentioned above in verse 21.

So while the overall seven years is known generally as the Great Tribulation, or the Tribulation, the first three and a half years are the Beginning of Sorrows. The Bible explains:

6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

The second part is the true Tribulation half of the Tribulation:

Jerusalem. Image here.

9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16 Then let them which be in Judæa flee into the mountains:
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

So if the Tribulation is near, we are truly nearing the first half of it, what non-Mormon Christians refer to as the Beginning of Sorrows. So we could expect an uptick--possibly a sharp, fairly sudden uptick--in worldwide plagues, natural disasters, and famines, possibly corresponding with this year and next, as we transition into the final set of seven years out of the 21 years in the "half hour of silence" described in the scriptures.

However, the Joseph Smith Translation is significantly less cut-and-dry on this timeline. In that translation, it seems like all seven years will be essentially made of the same stuff. The separation between the two halves is much less distinct there. But I believe it's good to be aware of both interpretations of the text.

Feeling Scared? Don't.

Christ commands us in Matthew 24:6 to "see that [we] be not troubled." It's our job to have faith! Note Matthew 24:44-46:

44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

If we are keeping the commandments diligently, we will be blessed.


Exact Timing

I want to be very clear that no one here is claiming to know any specific dates or anything like that. On this blog, I examine patterns and their implications. I don't pretend to know anything specific. I'm just looking at the scriptures and at history.

Fig tree. Public domain.

Remember JST Matthew 1:38-43 (corresponding to Matthew 24:36-39):

38 Now learn a parable of the fig tree—When its branches are yet tender, and it begins to put forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh at hand;
39 So likewise, mine elect, when they shall see all these things, they shall know that he is near, even at the doors;
40 But of that day, and hour, no one knoweth; no, not the angels of God in heaven, but my Father only.
41 But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man;
42 For it shall be with them, as it was in the days which were before the flood; for until the day that Noah entered into the ark they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage;
43 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

In other words, for people actively scouring the scriptures for clues and searching for the leaves of the fig tree, things will make sense and they will be prepared. For everyone else, life will go on basically as normal until the very end, and they will not realize what is going on until it is too late.

This all goes along with the Parable of the Ten Virgins, as well.

The Ten Virgins.

Conclusion

The Tribulation is a thing; scripturally we would appear to be swiftly approaching its beginning; it pays to be diligent in keeping the commandments and building our faith. No one can know the exact timing, but we are commanded to learn the parable of the fig tree and seek out the signs that it is beginning.

a half hour of silence in the heavens

 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. -Revelation 8:1

Hopefully we've all read the Bible by now and recognize this verse. There has been a lot of talk throughout history about the opening of the seventh seal, but we are among the lucky few who have lived to see it. This claim is based on scriptural evidence.

Note about this essay: This is not to make any fancy claims about exact dates or the exact nature of coming events. It is just to point out some scriptural and calendrical evidence for the scriptures and collaborate it with recent General Conference talks. My goal here is to inspire preparedness--which, I have blogged before, has been considered "urgent" for many, many, many years now. Even in the New Testament, Saints were counseled to treat their spiritual preparedness with urgency, even though the Second Coming was clearly not for some time (as we have yet to experience it ourselves, two millennia later). Hopefully we all approach our spiritual and material preparedness with the urgency recommended in the scriptures and by the prophets, regardless of upcoming events and how soon or far away they may be.

Upcoming: some evidence that the seventh seal has already been opened, per the beginning of the seventh thousand years as explained in the scriptures; an exploration of the calculation of the "half hour" of silence; how this fits with and supports the concept of the Christ coming at the Meridian of Time; the relation of the Seventh Seal to the Shemitah and upcoming Jubilee; and implications.

Seven seals. Image here.

The Seventh Seal: Timing, and the Half Hour

Poking around on the Internet today I found a link to Cleon Skousen's analysis of the time leading up to the Second Coming.

The whole article is worth a read, but here is a "brief" excerpt (brief compared to the rest of the essay, anyway!) Bolding is mine, and I cut out a giant paragraph that is worth reading but not necessarily as part of this post:

JOHN BEGINS DESCRIBING MODERN TIMES AFTER THE OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL

Now John is ready to transfer his attention from the five chapters outlining the preparations in heaven for the Second Coming and concentrate on the unfolding of these events on earth. All of these events are controlled by the factor of “time.” He therefore defines the period in which these events will occur. John says:“And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” ¹⁵This immediately raises four highly significant questions. For example:#1. According to OUR calendar, when will the seventh seal be opened, and the half-hour of silence begins in heaven?Until 1582 A.D. our calendar was not at all accurate, but Pope Gregory employed a group of mathematicians and astronomers to restructure the calendar. They set up the new calendar so that it was in perfect harmony or calibration with the sun. To make it completely accurate they had to add one day every four years and that is how we got our “leap year.”But even with all that restructuring, how are we certain that it is completely accurate? The best answer to that question is in the Doctrine and Covenants. On two occasions the Lord used the Gregorian calendar in such a way that it seemed to clearly imply his approval of it.In Section 20 the Lord said he wanted the Church established on the sixth day of April because it would be “one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh.” ¹⁶In the very next section we are told the Church was set up by Joseph Smith under the guidance of the Holy Ghost and then it says:“Which church was organized and established in the year of your Lord eighteen hundred and thirty, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April.” ¹⁷So if our calendar is accurate and apparently approved by the Lord, there is no question about the date of the opening of the seventh seal and the half hour of silence in heaven. It will commence in the year 2000 AD .#2. Why is there suddenly “silence in heaven” when the SEVENTH seal is opened?Apparently there is a great deal of furious activity in heaven right up to the time the seventh seal is opened. The Priesthood of this dispensation are required to work at a tremendous pace to get ready for the Second Coming. This was explained to Wilford Woodruff the last time he was allowed to see Joseph Smith in the spirit world.

[...] 

Joseph Smith made it plain to Wilford Woodruff that the Priesthood of this dispensation are working under a fantastic deadline to teach everyone who has died without the gospel since the apostolic times. This task has to be completed by the time of ‘the opening of the seventh seal when the hosts of heaven will have a new task connected with the final preparation and cleansing of the earth for the Second Coming.#3. DO WE KNOW WHEN THE HALF HOUR OF SILENCE ENDS?From a modern revelation we learn when the half hour of silence ends. Here is what the Lord says:“And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour, and IMMEDIATELY after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, AND THE FACE OF THE LORD SHALL BE UNVEILED; and the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him.” ¹⁹Obviously we are talking about the Second Coming. So this tells us when the half hour of silence ends. It is just before the Second Coming.#4. CAN WE calculate THE ACTUAL DURATION OF TH HOUR OF SILENCE?Since we know the half hour of silence begins at 2,000 A.D. when the seventh seal is opened and since we know from a modern revelation that the half hour of silence ends with the Second Coming, can we calculate in terms of years the length of time which will elapse between these two monumental events? In other words, can we determine about how long the half hour of silence lasts?One of the apostles felt that such a calculation was possible. Here is the way Elder Bruce R. McConkie suggested it could be done. After talking about the half hour of silence, he says:“If the time here mentioned is ‘ Lord’s time’ in which one day is a thousand years, the haft hour would be some twenty-one of our years.”Elder McConkie reached this conclusion based on the following scriptures:“A day with the Lord after his manner of reckoning, it being 1000 years according to the time appointed to that [ whereon thou standest."And again:"But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that ONE DAY is with the Lord as a THOUSAND YEARS, and a thousand years as one day."The next step was to divide 1,000 years by 24 to determine what an hour would be according to God’s time. It turned out to be 41.66 years or just under 42 years. This means that a half hour of God’s time would be ? 7 years or nearly 21 years. This would clearly suggest that this is the duration of the half hour of silence in heaven and the period of time when the angels undertake the calamitous preparation of the earth for the Savior’s second coming.

 So, to recap:

The scriptures indicate that the Gregorian calendar is an accurate count from the time of the Savior's birth. This would put the opening of the seventh seal from Revelations in the year 2000 AD, Gregorian. Here is a site with explanations from the scriptures and the prophets about why that is. But here's a good scriptural recap, D&C 77:12 (my bolding):

Angel sounding trumpet. Public domain. 

 12 Q. What are we to understand by the sounding of the trumpets, mentioned in the 8th chapter of Revelation?A. We are to understand that as God made the world in six days, and on the seventh day he finished his work, and sanctified it, and also formed man out of the dust of the earth, even so, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man, and judge all things, and shall redeem all things, except that which he hath not put into his power, when he shall have sealed all things, unto the end of all things; and the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels are the preparing and finishing of his work, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years—the preparing of the way before the time of his coming.

Basically, ancient and modern scripture agree that man is allotted 7,000 years on the earth. The opening of the seventh seal corresponds to the beginning of the last thousand years. The world gets a "half hour of silence," according to Revelation, and then Christ returns, the world burns, and the Millennium for real begins. Since the year Christ was born in was 1830 years prior to the restoration of the Gospel in 1830 AD Gregorian, and He was born at the Meridian of Time (the 4,000th year out of the 7,000 total), that would put the beginning of the seventh thousand years in 2000 AD: Y2K.

Per the scriptures, the ending of the world didn't happen then, with the opening of the seventh seal; rather, we began the half hour of silence predicted in the book of Revelation.

How does this fit with the Meridian of Time?

 This is slightly tangential, but I want to throw it in here in case anyone is as confused as I once was. One thing that always bothered me was that if that whole 7000 year thing was accurate, and Christ came at year 4000, then why--?? How does that work if He was supposed to come at the Meridian of Time?

John Pratt has an article about that, kind of--it doesn't address the Meridian of Time according to the whole history of humankind, but it does address the issue of the Meridian of Time according to the Enoch and Hebrew calendars. Examine:

The Enoch calendar. Image here. 

Christ born at Meridian of Grand Year. Following the same pattern shows that 6 Apr 1 BC fell in the year called 14 ADAR 2. The Feast of Esther begins on the day 14 Adar, or, in years with the thirteenth month, on 14 Adar2. So the proposed year of the Savior's birth also fell in a "holy year" of the Grand Year, corresponding to the Feast of Esther.
Moreover, that particular Grand Year comprised 385 years. The Feast of Esther that year fell in the 193rd year of the Grand Year, which is precisely the middle year of the 385 years. So the birth year of Christ occurred at the meridian of a Grand Year, which was also a "holy year."
One final point: the name Esther means "A star," so the birth year of Christ was the year of the "Feast of A Star." That seems appropriate, in light of the appearance of the Star of Bethlehem, which heralded his coming. If that was planned, then even Esther's very name was inspired.
Christ born at Meridian of Jubilee Year. The year beginning in Sep., 2 BC was a SUNDAY, the first year of the sabbatical cycle. In fact, it was also a Jubilee year which is always a SUNDAY, occuring every 49 years.^[5] The jubilee year was to be announced with the blowing of the trumpet on the Day of Atonement (in September/October) (Lev. 25:9-10). If Christ was born during the night preceding 6 Apr 1 BC, as all of my calculations indicate, then he was born exactly on the meridian day of that Jubilee year, which was also the day of Passover. That is, from 10 Tishri to 15 Nisan is half a solar year. A normal Hebrew year is ten days short of a solar year, to the 5 extra days from the 10th to the 15th is exactly what is required to separate the two days by half a solar year. Thus, the meridian of time is precise down to the very day, not just the year. 

Anyway, it's awesome, but not super relevant--another article of his, I believe, points out that although the halfway point of 7,000 years would be 3,500, it would be rounded up to the nearest day to be the meridian. 3,500 rounded up is 4,000. Hence Christ's birthday as the Meridian of Time, even though it is not technically at the exact halfway midpoint of time.

So we really are looking at exactly 2,000 years from Christ's birth for the opening of the seventh seal--not 3,500 years.

OKAY.

What Happens in the Half-Hour of Silence? 

What does this half hour of silence mean? What is supposed to happen in it?

Revelation Chapters 8-12 are dedicated to this very thing. In Chapter 8 we see hail and natural disasters, Wormwood making the waters bitter, the water of the sea becoming blood. In Chapter 9 we see terror visiting men: "And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them" (verse 6). In Chapter 11 we learn of the prophets who will be slaughtered in Jerusalem. And so on. Basically there is a lot of stuff that is going to happen during this half hour--or, as Bruce R. McConkie calculated, 21 years--that immediately precedes the Second Coming, as explained in D&C 88:95-96:

 95 And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour; and immediately after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, and the face of the Lord shall be unveiled;
 96 And the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him.

Seven angels. Except in real life they are male. Image.

We know from the scriptures that "times of tribulation" are supposed to happen immediately prior to the Second Coming. Mormons don't super call that time the Tribulation but other Christians do, and it is said to be a seven-year period. You can read more about that on the Wikipedia article about it. Mormons would qualify by those standards as "Posttribulationists"-- people who believe the "Rapture," or "quickening" and being caught up as described in the scripture above, will happen after the Tribulation.

If there are seven years of Tribulation immediately prior to the Second Coming; if there are 21 total years between the opening of the seventh seal and the Second Coming; if the seventh seal has been opened as the scriptures indicate in the year 2000, AD; that would put us just on the cusp of beginning the Tribulation.


Relation to the Shemitah and Jubilee

Image here.

Twenty-one years happens to fit exactly 3 Shemitahs. We just began the third Shemitah year since 2000, on September 25, 2014. And it just so happens that the Jubilee begins on September 14, 2015. According to my research, this will be the 70th Jubilee since the Exodus and the 120th Jubilee since Creation. Examine this research on the relationship between the Jubilee cycles, Biblical prophecy, and the House of Israel. This Jubilee would, theoretically, signal the beginning of the final seven years--or "week of years"--preceding the unveiling of the Lord's face. In other words, we are on the cusp of the beginning of the Tribulation, the seven final, turbulent years preceding the end. It would begin right after 13 September 2015, the final, collapsing day of 29 Elul that corresponds to 9/11 and 9/28/08 (the date of the largest Wall Street collapse in history). Mid-September of 2015 starts the figurative Sunday of the final week of our half hour of silence immediately preceding what Protestants would call the Rapture.

This final week of years--seven years--is what other Christians call the Tribulation, as I explained above.

Conclusion and Implications

This is all based on scriptural evidence. That is not to claim great claims of accuracy or truth; but it is to say that this is not completely unfounded speculation. The Biblical calendar backs it up, and teachings in the Old and New Testaments as well as the Doctrine and Covenants back it up. According to the scriptures the seventh seal's opening corresponded with the year 2000, and right now we are almost 2/3 done with the silence during the half hour. This is scriptural. It isn't to name dates or claim anything about exact timing of the Second Coming or exact events or anything like that; exact dates and predictions are not the point. The point is that the scriptures said to be on the lookout for the half hour of silence, they told us when they would be, and told us how to recognize them. From what I can tell, we are in that half-hour now and times of tribulation are rapidly approaching.

The major implications for me:

Image here.

- Spiritual preparedness for self: we have a responsibility to be as spiritually developed as possible in order to handle the rigors of the trials coming up in essentially the immediate future. This month's Conference talks include recommendations to prepare in a way that has never been known, develop our personal ministries, and make our exercise of faith our first priority. I and my family were also very intrigued by the amount of talks dedicated to the importance of following the prophet even if it doesn't always make sense. I had a sense that those talks would be relevant very soon. And they already are relevant. So if you're not following the prophet, now would probably be a good time to get on that.

- Spiritual preparedness for others: we have a responsibility to do our part in the Hastening of the Work. It's our job to warn our neighbors and to reach out to them in love. This is also spiritual preparation for ourselves, as we exercise our faith in reaching out even though it can be scary.

- Material preparedness: my research has indicated that in the case of a widespread economic collapse as one might infer from a Shemitah-Jubilee link and a coming Tribulation, money will be less important than food, water, and other material essentials. If you were quarantined to your home for weeks due to plagues, would you have the necessaries you need to survive? If you had no electricity or clean water available, would you be able to meet your needs and the needs of your family? Would you be spiritually prepared to share with others, too?

- Physical preparedness: Is your body ready for some upcoming trials? In Conference this year, we were expressly counseled to get in good physical shape and health (as a way of increasing our spiritual confidence, no less!). AH I LOVE THAT TALK.

Again: This is not to make any fancy claims about exact dates or the exact nature of coming events. It is only to point out that the scriptures likely indicate that tough times are coming. I'm just passing it on. And for anyone wondering why this would not be explicitly addressed in General Conference, I did blog about that before. The prophets have been warning us, even explicitly, about this time for all of time. To echo their call for urgency in preparation is not alarmist. Since a person can die at any time and end their mortal probation, even if the Tribulation is not right around the corner, spiritual preparation is still of utmost urgency and importance. It is never bad to be scripturally aware and wisely prepared.

Shemitah: year of judgment

Image here. Link to page about Shemitah.

The past few months I have been learning a lot about holy calendars. Read this article by LDS astronomer John Pratt to learn more about ten of the sacred calendars that testify of Jesus Christ. God has appointed the sun, moon, and celestial lights to be calendars for His appointments with His people--i.e., us. It is good to be aware of them.

In the book of Leviticus, Israel is commanded to sow the fields for six years, and on the seventh, let the land lie fallow. This Sabbath for the land is called the Shemitah. Leviticus 25:1-4:

 1 And the Lord spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord.
 3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
 4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.

See also Exodus 23:10-11. 

Implications of a Land's Sabbath

The image is link. If you buy it from this
link, I'll get paid. So if you want the
book, buy it from this link, please! :o)

We know nowadays that leaving the land fallow every once in a while is really good for farming. But when we do it in modernity, we tend to rotate which field is resting, so something is always being cultivated.

Not so for the Jews. ALL of them were supposed to take a year off from farming, from growing anything in the land.

In other words: for that one year, literally no Jews were supposed to grow food. They were supposed to essentially live on food storage, and spend the year reading the Torah and growing closer to God instead of working. All of them. The Shemitah year is uniform for everyone--it's not like you can stagger it out. So for that one year, essentially all economic activity would come to a halt. What does it look like when all economic activity comes to a halt? Some might call that a recession or even a depression. 

The Jews obviously noticed that this practice was economically intense for them, so they came up with all these "ingenious" strategies to get around it all: selling the land for 1 year to their non-Jewish neighbors for cultivation was, I believe, the prime example. Their punishment for this was outlined in 2 Chronicles 36:20-21:

 20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:
 21 To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

Lehi left Jerusalem shortly before the invasion,
after spending his life warning the people to
repent or else. Image here.

In other words, the Jews ignored the land's Sabbaths for 70 years. So when they were invaded (shortly after Lehi left Jerusalem, right, directly after he warned the people--he left ~600 BC and Jerusalem was invaded ~587 BC), the land had to rest for the 70 years it missed.

The land needs a Sabbath whether it is given one or not. When it doesn't get its Sabbath the easy way, the Lord makes sure it gets its Sabbath the hard way. It all comes down to obedience.

Release of debts

 1 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
 2 And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord’s release.
- Deuteronomy 15:1-2

On 29 Elul of the Shemitah year, the final day (the Hebrew equivalent of New Year's Eve) all the credits and debts were to be released. That final Shemitah day is a biggie, the culmination or peak of the Year of Remission (which is what the Shemitah is). So if you owed a bunch of money on your, I don't know, wagon or something, all of a sudden you didn't anymore, and it was just yours. But if someone owed you money, suddenly they didn't owe that money anymore. So pros and cons. 

The past two Shemitahs

The past two Shemitah years spanned from Sept 2000 - Sept 2001, and Sept 2007 - Sept 2008.

America experienced an industrial peak in September 2000, which obviously means that afterwards there was a decline. It culminated in the terrorist attacks of 9/11--an event that was both physically and economically destructive. 

Ram's horn shofar. Image here.

In September 2007, global financial collapses began with British mortgage lender Northern Rock, on September 13--Day 1 Tishri, the New Year's Day of the Shemitah year. The greatest one-day crash in world history took place on 29 Elul, New Year's Eve, of that Biblical year--September 29, 2008. As Jonathan Cahn writes in his book The Mystery of the Shemitah, "The crash was sealed with the sound of ram's horns that evening as the Feast of Trumpets began." Biblically, the Feast of Trumpets is a symbol of Judgment Day. 

Current Shemitah status

We currently just began our next Shemitah on September 25, 2014. The day that Thomas Duncan Liberian Ebola victim guy checked himself into the hospital in Dallas and was sent home. That was Rosh Hashana, New Year's Day. As New Year's Day goes, so the rest of the year goes! 

The culmination date of this cycle's Shemitah is September 13, 2015. So now we know to be prepared and aware. 

Jubilee status

Leviticus 25:8-10:

 8 ¶And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
 9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

The scriptures explain that every 7 Shemitahs will culminate in a so-called Jubilee year, which is actually the first year of the next set of 7 Shemitah years. (So the cycle is of 49 years, not 50, technically speaking. If the Shemitah is Sunday, the Jubilee is not another Sunday, it's Monday). 

Money black hole. Economic collapse sounds funner
than it is. Image here.

The Jubilee in Hebrew is the word yobel, which means "trumpet blast." Again, this is a reference to the Feast of Trumpets and Judgment Day. Jubilee = Judgment. Like the Shemitah, the Jubilee year is supposed to be marked with no one farming, and all the lands lying fallow. So it's like the Shemitah, but kind of worse/more intense, because instead of just one year of living off food storage, it's supposed to be two consecutive years (one of Shemitah, and then one of Jubilee, in a row). I bet by the end of the second year things would get pretty tight.

The Jubilee year is all about "proclaiming liberty" to the people. It sounds like a good thing but... let's put it this way. Theoretically being set free sounds good, especially set free from debts, but also being set free from all credit, and everything else...

You don't owe anyone, but no one owes you anything. Economic collapse. If you're set free from your tyrannical government, that means societal collapse. All this freedom can sound good because freedom is just a nice word and we like it because we're Americans and so on. I personally am a giant fan of freedom and I super hate tyranny. I am a Gadsden flag person. However, being set free from our behemoth government at this point would be a giant overhaul that would not really be comfortable. The implications of this involve a lot of violence and struggling to survive. Getting set free from, say, modern infrastructure will not be as fun as it sounds. 

I'm not saying that anything major will happen, but I am saying that we should be prepared for something major if it does happen, and we should not necessarily be surprised.

Conclusion

We are just starting out a Shemitah (Judgment Year) that is building up to a Jubilee (super Judgment Year). Past Shemitahs have ended in economic collapse. It is worth it to note the pattern and its Biblical basis and listen to the Holy Spirit in case there are any special preparations the Lord wants you to make.

Read the Book of Mormon here. 

Signs and wonders: Draconid meteor shower tonight

The Draconids. Image here.

I just found out that tonight is also the Draconid meteor shower.

Oh, FYI: people who are having trouble sleeping lately, which is a lot of you--I would count that as the influence of the moon. It is seriously, biologically, measurably more difficult to sleep on a night with a full moon, which is tonight and last night.

Anyway, it is pretty unique that today would showcase both a Biblical blood moon and the Draconids.


A book available at LDS bookstores, Pattern of the Heavens by Timothy J. Adams, explains the significance of Draco, the constellation the Draconids are named after.

Adams quotes Moses 4:1-6, 20-21 (his emphases):

1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.
 2 But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will bedone, and the glory be thine forever.
 3 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;
 4 And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.
 5 And now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which I, the Lord God, had made.
 6 And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world.
 20 And I, the Lord God, said unto the serpent: Because thou hast done this thou shalt be cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life;
 21 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed; and he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

He explains that from these verses we learn that Satan tried to usurp God's power and was therefore cast down. And then he explains that Draco is the constellation Job refers to in Job 26:13 when he says that God "hath formed the crooked serpent" in "the heavens."

He explains (my emphasis),

The celestial sphere experiences a movement known as the precession of the equinoxes. The Earth spinning like a top with an ever-so-slight wobble causes this precession. The precession moves one degree every 72 years, taking about 26,000 years for a complete wobble. In the course of this movement the Earth's axis points to different celestial bodies; approximately six thousand years ago the North Star wasn't Polaris but a star in the tail of Draco. The slow precession has since moved the axis so that it now points to Polaris--the footstool of the true king; not Draco and not Cepheus, but the Nazarene Jesus the Christ.

He goes on to cite two scriptures that seem to allude to this shift, Genesis 22:17 and Genesis 24:60 (the seed as the stars of heaven possessing the gates of his enemies).

The moon represents Israel, so a lunar eclipse represents
Israel's power faltering.

Long story short, Draco represents the serpent--Satan in the creation story. Over the past 6,000 years, the North Star has shifted from the star in the tail of Draco to Polaris, which is located in the footstool of the constellation representing Christ as King.

Traditionally, lunar eclipses represent hard times for Israel, followed eventually by triumph. Draco and his Draconids represent Satan and his followers. A torrent of Draconid meteors happening at the same time as a Biblical blood moon is notable to me--symbolically it would refer to Satan unleashing his minions and wrath just as Israel faced some tough times anyway. Just thought I'd share.

Signs and wonders in the heavens: Biblical blood moon tetrad

This morning is the second lunar eclipse of the final Biblical blood moon tetrad of the century. So let's talk about it.

First off, a link to my last post about reading the stars. Recap: we're not supposed to worship the stars or use them as an excuse to give up our agency. The stars are ordained to bring forth signs. Prophets have long read the stars (think of Moses and Abraham, and also the wise men following the stars to find Jesus).

Okay, let's go.

From The Mystery of the Shemitah by Jonathan Cahn:

The Scriptures speak of the sun and the moon and the celestial lights functioning as "signs." The Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:14 is otote; it can also be translated as "evidence," "mark," and "omen." The same verse declares that they will be connected to days and years and "seasons." But the Hebrew word translated as seasons is moedeem. Moedeem literally means "an appointment," or "the appointed time" or "the appointed meeting." It is the same word used for the holy days of Israel. Add to this the Scriptures' emphasis on these celestial lights as signs of judgment and the end times, and we have to, at the very least, conclude that they may at times serve as signs of significant events. 

Moon. Shutterstock.

Indeed, scriptures such as Isaiah 13:8-10 and Joel 3:14-15 and Matthew 24:29 all refer to signs like the ones we are presently witnessing. The Biblical blood moon tetrad is significant.

What is the Biblical blood moon tetrad?

Biblical blood moon tetrads are groups of four lunar eclipses, separated by 6 lunar cycles each, in a row, falling on Biblical holy days. This Biblical blood moon tetrad is falling on Passover and Sukkot, twice in a row.

Traditionally, the moon represents Israel, so an eclipse of Israel is symbolically bad news. The upside is that traditionally, the bad news has been followed by good news. From the Blaze:

Blood moons surrounding the Crucifixion. Image here.

In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella “issued an edict of expulsion” kicking the Jews out of Spain, Hagee told TheBlaze. This happened during the Spanish Inquisition, which began in 1478 in an effort to rid the region of Jews and Muslims.

Blood moons surrounding the Jewish diaspora and plague.
Image here.

According to NASA data, there was a tetrad from 1493 to 1494 (there were three preceding tetrads that century as well, but they did not fall on Jewish holidays). 

And that’s not the only series of blood moons Hagee links to Israel, as NASA data shows that yet another tetrad unfolded between 1949 and 1950, a key time for Israel’s modern-day manifestation. 

Biblical blood moons surrounding Columbus's discovery of
America and the Spanish Inquisition. Image here.

“In 1948, that’s the year Israel became a state,” he explained. “The thing that happened prior to that was the tragedy of the Holocaust, which ended in the rejoicing of statehood.” 

Another tetrad happened between 1967 and 1968, a period which saw the Six-Day War — a moment of “triumph” when Jerusalem was reunified and became “the eternal capital of the Jewish people once again,” Hagee said. 

Clearly, there is a pattern for the Biblical blood moon tetrad. I expect that this one will be similarly eventful for the House of Israel.

Ebola and the blood moon

Biblical blood moon and the return of Jerusalem to Israel.
Image here.

So far I have personally noted how close the first Biblical blood moon of this tetrad was to the initial outbreak of Ebola in West Africa--the blood moon was only maybe two or three weeks after the initial diagnosis of it.

The second blood moon is falling right after Rosh Hashana of the Shemitah, which is something else I need to blog about--but suffice it to say, we are living in an economic judgment year, Biblically speaking, which is to say, according to the Biblical calendars set forth in Leviticus. We can expect major economic shut-downs as the year progresses, building up to 13 September 2015, the Biblical-calendar equivalent of 9/29/08 (the day of the 777-point one-day drop, the largest one-day drop in the history of Wall Street) and 9/11. But this Rosh Hashana was also notable because it was the day that Ebola Patient 0 for the US checked into the hospital with his beginning symptoms and was sent home.

Traditionally, how Rosh Hashana goes, as New Year's Day, is supposed to be a symbol of how the rest of the year goes. If that tradition is at all valid, we can expect lots of sickness and people being turned away from medical facilities, as well as medical personnel not seeming to take illness seriously. Hopefully I am just being a crazy person. But in case I am not, that is what I have been feeling.

Conclusion

We are living in a time of signs and wonders in the heavens. If you are not aware of them, it's not because they are not happening. It is time to wake up as they did in ancient days and be aware. Prepare.

We are currently at 10/8/14, approaching the midpoint of the most symmetrical Biblical blood moon tetrad in history.

studying the scriptures like you meditate

I have to go to bed RIGHT NOW, but I wanted to blog quickly!

I've been taking the 40-Day Meditation Challenge from Tree of Life Kundalini Yoga, which is run by Progressive Prophetess. One of the rules is that you have to do your meditation for 40 consecutive days, as in, you miss a day, you start the count over.

For the record, I believe I am on Day 14. And yes, I did my meditation for today!

One of the reasons meditating for so many days in a row is recommended is that you're building new neural circuitry in your brain and each day builds on the habits built in the last. It's more complicated than this, I think (or is it?), but that's my summary.

This site explains the kirtan kriya.

To perform the kirtan kriya, which is the kriya I am doing for 40 days,  one of the things you do is envision light from God entering you through your crown, and making kind of an L-shape in your head to beam out through your forehead (your third eye).

[Side note: Progressive Prophetess has pointed out the Christ connection to the kirtan kriya. If I may add to the LDS kundalini scholarship, I would like to mention that in my own practice, rather than interpreting the "maa" as "rebirth," I interpret that rebirth more along the lines of "resurrection," which to me more solidly reinforces the idea of the kirtan kriya being about Jesus Christ and our own divine paths. Resurrection is a type of rebirth, after all--our rebirth into our new perfected bodies.]

Anyway, I've been focusing on getting in my daily meditation, and it's become a priority for me. I will stay up late to get it in, even if--like right now--my eyes are closing on me and I'm totally drowsy. I realized, I want to get in my meditation because:

A. I want to complete the challenge! 40 consecutive days, baby!
B. Did I mention I paid $60 for the class on the challenge? Gotta get my money's worth! :o)
C. I want those brain changes!

But here's the important thing: the prophets and scriptures have certainly commanded us to meditate (although they are not always clear on the definition of meditation). But an even clearer commandment is to study the scriptures.

As I was explaining the L-shape of light that's supposed to go on in the kirtan kriya to a friend, I had a sudden understanding that this is how scripture reading is supposed to work, too. Maybe not in exactly the same way as it does in meditation, but in a similar way. A chiastic way, perhaps. Maybe the opposite way. Maybe as we study the scriptures, light and understanding enter us through our third eye--basically our eyes and minds--and help us connect up with God. Or maybe light and understanding from God is supposed to enter us through our crowns and enlighten our minds and eyes as we read the scriptures. Either way makes sense to me.

From lds.org.

It suddenly became clear to me that just as meditation is the most effective at creating a change of heart and mind when it is done for consecutive days, so is scripture study. To me, in the past it has been easy to compartmentalize scripture study into something that's just kind of nebulously good for the spirit, rather than something that actually has real, true potential to change the literal heart and mind. I mean, I know that's true, but I don't know that there are studies showing how scripture study changes the body as there are studies about kundalini meditation.

I mean, look. Wikipedia even has an article about the research on meditation's effects on the body. Meditation has been shown to make a measurable difference in the workings of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Meditation has been shown to alleviate chronic pain, reduce stress, and do all sorts of great stuff for the human mindbody.

But it appears to me now that meditation works on the same pathways that scripture study can work, if we are diligent about it and do it every day, and go into it with the right frame of mind.

Imagine reading your scriptures for 11 or 31 minutes a day, with the background focus of your mind being that light of God entering your body through the top of your head and then enlightening your vision and your mind as you study His words. Or imagine envisioning the light from His holy scriptures enlightening your body through your third eye and linking you back up to Heaven, opening your connection with God in a more visual way. Would that not enlighten your understanding, even just the one time you tried it?

From lds.org.

Now imagine doing your scripture study that way every day--building those neural circuits that are also built during meditation as you study God's word. Imagine the ability to reduce stress, get your body in better condition, receive greater light and understanding, as you implemented this practice.

I write all this as someone who doesn't actually do that stuff--yet! But just understanding that this type of scripture study is a possibility is kind of blowing my mind. I had to share. Maybe tonight will not be the night I start reading the scriptures with the background intention of that light and knowledge making the L-shape in my head as I read, but it's now officially on the to-do list. We'll see how it goes!