The Blood Moon -"This is that."

There is a popular show on CBC radio called “This is That.” The program is laid out like a news program. When I first heard it, I was incredulous. The government can’t be thinking of doing that… It took me a while to figure out that I was being spoofed.  It is funny and entertaining program, the way good radio should be. It makes up plausible news stories that contain a few elements of truth. Of course, the whole show is fiction.

          That is a wonderful when it comes to entertainment, but not so good when it comes to how some people use the bible. Last night a fascinating astronomical event occurred. It is called the blood moon. It is a kind of lunar eclipse that cause the moon to appear a reddish brown.

          Pastor John Hagee in his book Four Blood Moons , which became a best seller on Amazon, connected this moon to the prophecy in Joel, that was repeated in Acts 2

Acts 2:20

The sun will become dark,

and the moon will turn blood red

before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.

(New Living Translation)

          What John Hagee and others do with prophecy is say, “This is that.” So what this blood moon means is that the coming of the Lord is close.

          The problem, of course, is that there are a few elements of truth. Jesus could come back at any time. The stage is set for the return of Christ. It could happen today, or it may not happen for another 500 years.

          However getting caught up in the “this is that” kind of prophecy often distracts us from life and the gospel. It promotes a fear based gospel rather than a love based gospel. It distracts us from the challenges of the gospel to love our neighbour, and leads us to a theology that is bad for the environment, bad for our neighbours and bad for the gospel.

          The people of God have important business to be about. Our mission is the mission of Jesus.

Luke 4:18 (NLT)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,

that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

          In a time where the Ebola Crisis is growing, where human trafficking is proliferating, where the poor are hurting, the good news of the gospel is no longer being taken seriously because the people proclaiming it cannot be taken seriously. We need to stop playing the “this is that” game.

          When it comes to prophecy, be careful of the “This is that” kind of interpretations of scripture or you too might be spoofed.