Falling for Nonsense

For the coming of that (Evil One) is the working of haSatan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all the deceptiveness of iniquity in them that perish;  because they did not receive the love of the truth by which they might have life.  Therefore Elohim will send upon them the strength of a deception that they may believe a lie; and that they all may be condemned who believe not the truth but have pleasure in iniquity. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 AENT)

There is an old saying "People will believe what they want to believe".  I have come to the conclusion that, while recognizing this will offend many, a more correct way of saying this is "People are not smart enough to determine what to believe." 

Example:  During the winter of 2013-2014 there was a flurry (no pun intended) of "news" stories about "fake snow" across the east and southeast United States.  People were demonstrating in YouTube videos they could pick up a handful of freshly fallen snow, and holding the flame from a cigarette lighter against the snow, they would observe "no melting" and the unmelted snow would turn black!  Thus many concluded the "evil" government was somehow dumping "fake snow" from "chemtrails" all over us for who knows what diabolical reason!  Even more YouTube videos appeared "proving" that the government was behind it!

 

I was on FaceBook at that time, and I tried, in vain, to explain the physics of this nonsense, how the dirty flame of the cigarette lighter itself was leaving the "black soot" on the still frozen ice (as it would on any object if the object itself did not yet reach the temperature to melt or combust), and how any melting from the heat of the flame produced water which was simply being "wicked" into the handful of snow explaining why the snow gave the appearance of "not melting". (I have since, thankfully, left the cesspool called "FaceBook".)

But instead of being thanked for the sound explanation, I was, more often than not, verbally attacked for clearly I was the one who did not know what I was talking about, and that they KNEW the government was behind it!

People will believe what they want to believe. Yet the "fake snow" thing is a perfectly good example of my version:  "People are not smart enough to determine what to believe."  Honestly, those who believed in the "fake snow" mania simply were not smart enough to properly assess the problem, and determine the ruse. 

Which brings me to the reason I am writing this blog about "falling for nonsense"

This week, the first week in March, 2015, brought Israel  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the US to speak to the US Congress on the dangers of a nuclear Iran.  Wouldn't you know it, in the week or two before Netanyahu's speech, the former "World Net Daily", now simply called WND.COM posted a sensational article called "Last days? Heavenly signs abound during Netanyahu speech" which was promptly picked up by all the other content-farm websites all over the world.

The premise of the article is that because the speech was being given at a time when solar and lunar eclipses are happening on the Jewish High Holy Days, we must all be leery and fearful of an impending "judgment".  

The article specifically cited the "total solar eclipse of March 20" and the "blood moon" of April 3rd as "signs" of the sure judgment ahead!  Of course, the sensationalized article had to quote Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries because, after all, he is the world's foremost expert on these "heavenly signs" since he wrote a book about it!  The article was careful to state that "Biltz points out that the Bible says in Genesis that the sun, moon and stars were created specifically as signs for mankind"!  Well!  Guess we should watch for these signs!  After all, Mark Biltz said an eclipse, even one few will see, and no one in Israel will see, must be a sign!

To see the March 20 total solar eclipse, you will need to be on the far northern Norwegian archipelago of  Svalbard because nowhere else on earth will see the total eclipse from land.  It will be seen as a partial eclipse in Europe, but completely invisible unless you know of it and have made an effort to view it safely.  And to see the April 4th total Lunar Eclipse you will need to be in anywhere in the Pacific Ocean to see the whole eclipse, but don't plan on being in the Holy Land or anywhere in Europe or Africa because there will be no evidence whatsoever there that an eclipse even happened! 

Which brings me to my point.

The current series of eclipses mean nothing.  When God said in Genesis 1:14 that the sun and the moon and stars were for "for signs, seasons, days and years", He most certainly did not mean the "sign" would only be visible only to the far northern Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard to have any meaning, and He certainly did not mean that a lunar eclipse visible only in the Pacific Ocean area and not at all to His Israel would have any significance.  Astronomical signs would be, should be, visible from the Land to have any significance.  Come on! In Biblical times, if an eclipse was not visible to the land of Israel, as far as they were concerned, it simply did not happen!  It does not matter now that we are in an "age" where regardless of where these events are visible, we know about them and they must have some meaning to Israel!

I'm happy Mark Biltz and John Hagee have books about the eclipses, and I'm happy they have opinions that the eclipses might mean something.  I'm only sorry for those people who buy and read these books and conclude there is any merit to what they say since most simply do not have the knowledge to discern the nonsense from the facts.  It does not take a series of eclipses not visible from the Holy Land for us to conclude that we are, indeed, seeing "end times" events come to pass.  But God's timing is God's timing, and it is not up to us to sensationalize and prophesy about things which we truly are not privy. 

The only thing we, as individuals CAN do, is get ourselves right with God.  Blood moons or no blood moons, if you really want to get ready in these end times, you might want to read instead "War in Heaven!: Surviving the End Times".

By the way, the September 13, 2015 Solar Eclipse will be visible only from the southern tip of Africa and parts of Antarctica; and the September 27/28 final Total Lunar Eclipse of the current tetrad will be visible from the Atlantic and the lands surrounding the Atlantic, while Israel will see the eclipse begin, then the sun rises soon after the moon has gone into totality and the moon sets while still eclipsed.

For grins, here are some other good quotes about the state of man:

“Humans see what they want to see.” - Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

“Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.” - Thomas A. Edison

“People are stupid. They will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true.” - Terry Goodkind, Wizard's First Rule

“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” - Benjamin Franklin