Seven Years On
It seems hard to believe, but September marks the seventh anniversary of the stellar-planetary alignment that gave stunning confirmation to the first of two great signs that the apostle John saw and describes in the opening verses of Revelation 12. Or as I like to call it, the REV12 sign.
I've written several articles related to the REV12 sign in the past, and actually had no special plan to write yet another one. I was actively considering a completely different topic, but at some point during the course of the month it suddenly just walloped me upside the head:
C'mon...seventh anniversary? This is a biggy—I gotta write this!
One thing that also served to trip my REV12 trigger was something I wrote in my last article about Danny R. Faulkner and his views concerning the "gospel in the stars" idea. I made reference to an article of his and I noted that although he makes a good case for not believing that God revealed the story of His plan of redemption in the sequence of the signs of the zodiac to early man and that it was passed down for many generations, he went a bit too far and read some things into Genesis 1:14–16 and came to what I felt was the flawed conclusion that God only uses the sun and moon for signs, and that He never uses the stars for any kind of sign, ever.
As I said in that article: That was a bridge too far.
Although at the time of writing I didn't recognize Faulkner's name, as I worked on that article it occurred to me that Faulkner would have certainly been someone who attacked and denigrated the REV12 sign. And as I later learned from an online friend of mine whose memory is apparently a bit sharper than mine, Faulkner is precisely that. I have since added an addendum to my last article that fleshes all this out a bit more.
Puttin' 'em in place: Incidentally, since I wrote my last article, I came across another reason why I am convinced Faulkner is wrong in his conviction that God never uses stars as signs. In Psalm 8:3, David writes:
3When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, [Hebrew: a form of kun (establish, put in place, prepare, and so on).]
(Psalm 8:3 / emphasis & [comments] added)
So God "ordained" the stars (and planets), and the Hebrew word used here (a form of kun) means to establish, put in place, prepare for some purpose, etc. Notice that this strongly suggests that God did not create the stars and simply fling them throughout the universe in a haphazard fashion. This clearly suggests there's more to it than that. It tells us God prepared the celestial bodies and put them in their appointed places for a reason...and if you can think of a better reason for God to do that than to communicate certain things to man in certain ways and at certain times, feel free to let me know.
But this little trip down memory lane—although not the most pleasant on every level—served to make me realize that I just had to write something for the seventh anniversary of the REV12 sign, and so here we are.
Such an abundance of material has been written about the REV12 sign that initially I struggled to decide what tack I wanted to take; but I just asked the Lord to "give me the words" (as I do each and every month), and in no time the Holy Spirit was giving some ideas to chew on.
First I want to give you a quick review of the important details of the REV12 sign, just for general purposes. A lot of you are probably familiar with most of this, but that way everyone is on the same page from the get-go. (Plus, that'll be helpful for any of you whose memory may be failing as badly as mine seems to be these days.)
Then I want to discuss an issue that cuts straight to the heart of the REV12 sign and its acceptance or dismissal by legions of good, sincere believers, and it is one fundamental question that must be addressed:
Was the stellar-planetary alignment that occurred on September 23, 2017 a legitimate sign from God worthy of serious scriptural study, or was it a bunch of hysterical hooey that got trumped up as such by a gaggle of tinfoil-hatters who got carried away and who should have known better than to (gulp) "dabble in astrology"?
Now, it's one thing to disagree about the validity of the REV12 sign (i.e. whether or not it's really a sign from God), but accusing those who studied it of dabbling in astrology is a different ballgame. And I only mention it because many well-known ministers accused legions of believers who were simply studying what they felt God was showing us of doing precisely that.
And it hurt.
Far more than they realize. As I wrote in an article a couple of years ago: Some of us still have the taste of blood in our mouths from the abuse we endured due to our study of the REV12 sign. Keep that graphic image in mind, because it will help you understand and appreciate some of what I will have to say before I bring this article in for a landing.
A quick review
The REV12 sign was discovered by Lu Vega in about 2008, who studied it privately for a couple of years before it made its way into the public purview in around 2011. But when it did, before you could say "retrograde motion" it was being studied and scrutinized by thousands of believers all over the world with the use of programs like Stellarium.
It quickly became one of the hottest tickets in the watch community, thanks in part to a cabal of enthusiastic YouTubers who, either intentionally or unintentionally, managed to turn the REV12 sign into a full-blown spate of Rapture mania. By doing so, they got a lot of good people in a lather, in spite of the fact that even a casual study of the pertinent Scripture reveals no clear or compelling reason to pin the Rapture to September 23, 2017.
The first great sign is depicted in verses 1–2, and the second is depicted in verses 3–4. Some regard verse 5 as being separate from these two signs, while some regard verse 5 as part of the second sign. I'm not at all certain that it really matters, but since verses 1–5 are effectively all about the woman, the dragon, and her child, I am inclined to regard verse 5 as part of the second great sign. Others may see it differently, however, and that's fine.
The end-time fulfillment of verse 5 is the Rapture, which caps off this sequence of events John saw in these verses. Here is the passage of Scripture in question, with a few pertinent comments:
1A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet [the constellation Virgo with the sun above it and the moon below it], and on her head a crown of twelve stars. [The constellation Leo (composed of nine stars), is always above Virgo. The remaining three were the planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars, which happened to converge under Leo at the time.] 2She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth. [This "child" was the planet Jupiter (the King planet), which entered the "womb" of Virgo in late November 2016, but then went into retrograde motion before exiting in early September 2017 after being in the womb for about the same length of time as a normal human pregnancy.]
3Another sign [i.e. another as great as the first] was seen in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns. [The dragon is Satan, and this verse depicts him in a way similar to how Daniel describes him in Dan. 7.] 4His tail drew one third of the stars of the sky, and threw them to the earth. [This is Satan's original fall and his corruption of one-third of the angels (Isa. 14:12), which became the demonic realm that seeks to "devour" mankind here on earth.] The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. [This could speak to Satan's efforts to first destroy Christ Himself, but also speaks to Satan's efforts to "devour" the body of Christ. Some have made admirable efforts to pin verses 3–4 to some other stellar-planetary alignment, but to the best of my knowledge none of it has struck a chord the way it did for verses 1–2.]
5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. [On one level this can be Christ, but on another level it is the corporate body of Christ (see this for details).] Her child was caught up to God and to his throne. [This can be considered to speak to the Ascension, but the corporate, body-of-Christ fulfillment of this last bit is the Rapture.]
(Revelation 12:1–5 / emphasis & [comments] added)
The key elements of the first great sign of verses 1–2 are as follows:
1. The woman: On one level, this could be seen as speaking to Jesus' mother Mary. On another level, the woman is the nation of Israel, and is represented by the constellation Virgo (the Virgin).
2. She is clothed with the sun: This is merely the fact that the Sun was located above Virgo at the time of the sign. This happens on a routine basis.
3. The moon is at her feet: This is just the Moon being around the bottom of Virgo. This also occurs on a routine basis.
4. She has a crown of 12 stars: Above Virgo is Leo (the Lion), which is composed of nine stars—and they are always there. What happens, however, is that various planets in the solar system go cruising past these constellations on a routine basis. On September 23, 2017, three planets (Mars, Mercury, and Venus) converged above the head of Virgo and under Leo, completing her crown of 12 stars. And note that the Bible never distinguishes between stars and planets: Both are simply considered celestial bodies that are neither the Sun nor the Moon.
5. She is with child: As I said above, on one level this is Christ, and on another level it's the body of Christ. In late November 2016, Jupiter entered the rectangular-shaped central area of Virgo (the "womb"), and the woman was "with child." Jupiter didn't begin to exit the "womb" until early September 2017 (the birth). This is the approximate length of a human pregnancy.
What took you so long? Jupiter passes by the general area of Virgo once every 12 years. Sometimes it misses Virgo's central "womb" area completely, and passes along the side of Virgo. Sometimes it just catches a small corner of that area. But sometimes it goes through a substantial portion of Virgo's womb, and when it does it typically takes about two to three months to pass through it. But instead of the usual two to three months, this time it was in Virgo's womb for a little over nine months. So what's the deal?
This is due to a phenomenon technically known as apparent retrograde motion, where Earth's orbit around the Sun influences the way we perceive another planet's orbit. What we see from our vantage point on Earth (which is busy orbiting the Sun as we engage in our stargazing) causes the planet we are viewing to appear to stop and go in the opposite direction for a period of time, before stopping again and then continuing in its original direction. This is what occurred in 2017—Jupiter went into retrograde motion while inside Virgo's womb, and this is why we can say that the woman "gave birth." As it turns out, her child was in her womb for the length of a normal pregnancy.
These are the elements of the first great sign of verses 1–2 that all came together perfectly on September 23, 2017 to form the following picture:
OK, pop quiz:
Q. How many years typically pass between events where all the preceding elements come together in perfect alignment, as they did on 9/23/2017?
A. Wrong question: Try "How many millennia..."
Of course, all this is just the first great sign of verses 1–2. Verses 3–5 describe the dragon attempting to devour the male child as soon as it is born, but failing to do so because that child is caught up to heaven.
On the Christ-specific level, this speaks to Satan trying to destroy Christ by goading the Jewish religious leadership into having Him crucified. As God would have it, however, the Resurrection turned that into an epic fail for Satan.
On the corporate, body-of-Christ level, this speaks to Satan's efforts to hinder, persecute, corrupt, weaken, and yes, according to 1 Peter 5:8 devour the Church at every step of the way and thwart its growth in every conceivable manner in order to buy him time in his efforts to achieve his ultimate long-term goal of wiping out the Jewish people to put the Second Coming on ice. That's because Hosea 5:15 says it is the Jewish remnant who will implore Him to return to save them. Satan believes that by wiping out the Jews, he can keep possession of what he tricked Adam and Eve out of in the Garden of Eden.
But at the Rapture (last line of v. 5), God obligingly removes that stumbling block for Satan and lets him have his brief moment in the sun before crushing him and his sock puppet the Antichrist when His Son returns to establish the kingdom God promised His people so long ago.
So those are most of the particulars. But now I want to address a deeper, more fundamental issue that lies at the heart of all of this, and it all boils down to one simple question...
Was this really a sign from God or not?
First of all, let's get one thing cleared up right now: Although I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that it was, I can't sit here and tell you with absolute scriptural authority that what we saw occur on September 23, 2017 was a genuine, dyed-in-the-wool sign from God. (Nor can anyone else, for that matter.) And I certainly have no intention of trying to elevate myself to such an authoritative position.
But what I can do is take what we know about the REV12 sign and hold it up next to some of the things we know about some other events in the Bible that most would agree are genuine, dyed-in-the-wool signs from God, and see how the REV12 sign stacks up to them. I mean, if the REV12 sign wasn't a sign from God, then that fact should jump right out at us when we compare it to things that were signs from God...right?
And I will be the first to underscore the fact that none of what I am about to say constitutes ironclad proof. Rather, it is simply intended to provide those who question or dispute the REV12 sign's validity as a sign from God with some food for thought. That's it.
1. Signs from God can most definitely be in the form of celestial bodies other than the sun and the moon (i.e. stars and planets).
Let's get this no-brainer out of the way right off the bat. I refer you back to what I wrote above concerning Psalm 8:3. Also, see nos. 3, 6, and 7 below in regard to the Star of Bethlehem that led the Magi to the Messiah (who was likely a toddler by the time they arrived in Bethlehem). Many people are convinced this was a conjunction of stars and/or planets (which are always lumped in with stars in Scripture).
This is an obvious one, and I only go to the trouble of mentioning it because there are people in the world (and I hate to keep bringing up Danny Faulkner, but he would be a prime example) who come up with strained, unsupportable arguments to attempt to "prove" that God only uses the sun and moon for signs, and never stars or planets.
But God's Word clearly says otherwise.
2. Signs from God must be in perfect agreement with His Word.
This is another no-brainer. It should be patently obvious that anything that anyone might deign to refer to as a "sign from God" would have to be in 100 percent conformity to God's Word. If something occurred that some claimed was a sign from God and it communicated something that contradicted Scripture in any way whatsoever, then we would promptly dismiss it out of hand and give it no further consideration. I scarcely feel the need to point this out.
I only mention this in order to emphasize the fact that every detail of the REV12 sign lines up precisely with John's words in Revelation 12:1–2, as I delineated in the above section of this article.
3. Signs from God may be seen by many, but are only understood by those for whom they are intended.
There is no question that a large percentage of the population throughout the Middle East saw the Star or Bethlehem in the sky some two thousand years ago. But only a trio of men from the priestly magos class in the Parthian Empire understood it and went off seeking to find and worship the newborn Messiah they believed that astronomical sign would lead them to.
And they found what they were looking for.
But others...not so much. As we will discuss in a bit more detail in no. 4 below, many people witnessed the miraculous signs on the day of Pentecost. Some of those people responded with sincere questioning that no doubt led many of them to faith, but many others callously laughed it off.
In the same manner, many people heard about the REV12 sign, and some were led to study the details and the related Scripture to gain an understanding of what the sign meant.
And they found what they were looking for.
But others...not so much.
4. Signs from God tend to be relatively minimal in nature, and not give more details than necessary.
This one is just a personal observation, but still...it usually seems to be the case. For example, recall what John the Baptist said about Jesus:
16John answered them all, "I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire." [Note the mention of fire.]
(Luke 3:16 / emphasis & [comments] added)
And recall what Jesus said to His disciples before ascending back to heaven:
4Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, "Don't depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. 5For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now." [They were waiting for something in faith, but really didn't know what form it would take or what it would look like.]
(Acts 1:4–5 / emphasis & [comments] added)
In Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit fell on those in the upper room, they saw tongues of fire descend upon them—and then they began speaking in tongues, or languages unknown to the speaker:
1Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. 4They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. [These were all signs of the arrival of what Jesus had spoken of 10 days earlier.]
(Acts 2:1–4 / emphasis & [comments] added)
No other details were given or needed—they knew. No further explanation was required. The disciples got what was happening: They immediately knew that this was the fulfillment of what the Lord had told them 10 days earlier.
They didn't need a flashing neon sign that said:
"OK, listen up guys. This is whachya call yer baptism with fire. Get it...fire? Tongues of fire? Any questions?"
I still recall how after the REV12 sign that confirmed John's first great sign in Revelation 12:1–2 came out, many people got busy scouring the heavens with tools like Stellarium desperately trying to locate another stellar-planetary alignment of some kind that would correspond to the second great sign of Rev. 12:3–4 (or 3–5 if you wish). And although some interesting ideas got tossed around, nothing anywhere near as powerfully convincing as what occurred on September 23, 2017 came to the fore.
Now, please don't get me wrong—there's certainly nothing wrong with looking. But it finally began to dawn on me that it really doesn't matter if there are any other such astronomical alignments out there to confirm Revelation 3–5. Why? Well, stop and ask yourself the following question:
Just exactly how many extraordinary stellar-planetary alignments does God have to show you to confirm the fact that the sequence of prophetic events He showed John that culminates with the Rapture is finally approaching its final fulfillment after two thousand years?
Just curious...because personally I'm good with just the one.
5. Signs from God are sometimes misunderstood, misinterpreted, and even mocked and maligned by some.
When the Holy Spirit descended on the core group of believers waiting in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, they began speaking of the mighty works of God in languages unknown to them but that were known to many in the multitude that gathered to check out this strange occurrence. They were all bewildered, but note there were two basic reactions from the crowd:
1. Some, although bewildered, asked in a genuinely probing manner, "What does this mean?" They didn't dismiss it—they truly sought to understand what was happening, perhaps sensing God was doing something unusual and they sincerely wanted to understand it. And it's a safe bet that many such people were among the three thousand who ultimately responded to Peter's powerful preaching and came to faith in Christ that day.
2. Others, however, dismissed this miraculous event out of hand, mocking the disciples and accusing them of being drunk (at nine o'clock in the morning).
5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky. 6When this sound was heard, the multitude came together and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. [Note that it was only the core group of 120 mentioned in Acts 1:15 who received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire, not the "multitude" that gathered to see what in the world was going on.] 7They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Behold, aren't all these who speak Galileans? 8How do we hear, everyone in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabians—we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!" 12They were all amazed and were perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13Others, mocking, said, "They are filled with new wine." [...and Peter deflates their mockery by pointing out that it's only 9 a.m.]
(Acts 2:5–13 / emphasis & [comments] added)
Yes, an obvious supernatural sign from God was mocked in a most insultingly cavalier manner by those with no interest whatsoever in attempting to investigate what it all really meant.
They didn't question it and seek wisdom from above—
they cracked wise and slapped each other on the back.
And you probably already know where I'm going with this. This is exactly what legions of people who had no interest in trying to understand the details of the REV12 sign did to believers who had the audacity to study this sign in order to gain an understanding of what God was revealing to us. And with God's help many did an admirable job of it.
The chief difference being that instead of accusing us of being drunk, they seemed to be of the opinion that we were stoned.
6. Signs from God often speak to key advances in His prophetic agenda.
The sign of speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost was not only linked to the conception of the Church—it also spoke to the fact that God was turning His face from Israel after their hardhearted rejection of their promised Messiah. Although a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit for the early Church, speaking in tongues was a sign of coming judgment for unbelieving Israel (Isa. 28:11, referenced by Paul in 1 Cor. 14:21), a judgment that would fall in AD 70 with the Roman sacking of Jerusalem, the slaughter of 1.1 million Jews, and the destruction of the Second Temple.
I'm b-a-a-c-k: Note that God will continue to hide His face from Israel until after He intervenes on their behalf in the attack of Gog-Magog (Ezek. 39:29), when He will decimate the nations that are about to destroy His people.
Not only that, but the Star of Bethlehem announced the birth of Christ, one of the key events in God's plan of redemption for mankind. These are all important pieces of God's overall prophetic agenda, as is the fulfillment of the sequence of prophetic events John saw in his vision that culminates with the Rapture—a coming fulfillment exquisitely confirmed by the REV12 sign.
7. Signs from God cause those for whom they are intended to glorify Him, obey Him, and strive to advance His agenda with a heightened level of vigor.
Following the day of Pentecost and the miraculous signs that accompanied it, we read in Acts 4–5 how those same disciples went straight out to boldly preach Christ and Him crucified and perform miracles of healing through the power of the Holy Spirit throughout Jerusalem. And we also read that the Jewish religious leaders were at a loss. So, they did the only thing they knew to do: They roughed 'em up, locked 'em up, and did their best to shut 'em up.
But all their efforts to stop them backfired, glory to God!
After the Magi (aka the Three Wise Men) saw the Star of Bethlehem, they knew exactly what it meant:
1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 2"Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him." [God's Word calls it a star, Mr. Faulkner. And it was a sign, OK?]
(Matthew 2:1–2 / emphasis & [comments] added)
It was a sign that announced the birth of the Messiah. And what did they do?
They started getting organized and then mounted up and hit the road.
They set off and followed that sign. As I mentioned, many astronomically savvy people today are convinced that it was a conjunction of two or possibly even three planets and/or stars and/or galaxies. But regardless of the precise composition of that sign, after the Magi saw it, they set out to find and worship the recently born King of the Jews and honor and glorify Him.
Those who came to an understanding of the REV12 sign came to the stunning realization that God was in fact speaking to us—this last generation of the Church Age—through a sign that conformed to His Written Word with a stunning degree of precision. And what did it do? It made us praise and glorify His mighty name like never before and seek to influence those last few precious sheep to trust Christ for their salvation while there was still time. Why?
Because the REV12 sign made it
crystal clear that the days we had
left to reach them were numbered.
Mission accomplished
As I said, I'm not presuming to offer any of this as some kind of ironclad proof that the REV12 sign really was a sign from God. But as you can see, it does at least share some of the characteristics that we see in other clear signs from God that appear throughout Scripture. And that tells me that those who seek to prove it isn't are gonna have to dig a little deeper for something. And frankly, I really don't see them ever coming up with anything of substance. After all, their track record isn't looking so good.
But I certainly don't condemn anyone who rejected the idea of the REV12 sign being a genuine sign from God. I just feel bad for them, because all they did was rob themselves of the unmitigated joy and excitement of seeing what many thousands of believers know in their hearts was a sign from God that told us in a crystal-clear, scripturally accurate, astronomical manner that we are rapidly approaching the catching away of the Church that John saw played out in Revelation 12:5, which will be followed in fairly short order by events that will lead to the launching of the Tribulation.
Shame on you: As I said, I don't condemn those who merely don't accept the REV12 sign as a legitimate sign from God—they are welcome to hold their opinions and honestly disagree with those who do. But before God, it's difficult for me to go that easy on those who viciously and cluelessly accused those who studied the REV12 sign of "dabbling in astrology," which constitutes the sin of divination. That was beyond the pale, because with the exception of a handful of YouTube cowboys, the vast majority of us were doing no such thing, and so did not deserve to be painted with that vilest of brushes. As a result, each and every one of the well-known ministers who stooped to that level owes many thousands of sincere believers—believers who did nothing more than study what God was revealing to us—a sincere, heartfelt apology.
But we're not holding our breath. As far as the sign's connection with the timing of the Rapture goes, however, here's part of the the problem: The vast majority of people who seriously studied the REV12 sign were keenly aware that there was no scriptural reason whatsoever to pin the Rapture to September 23, 2017. We knew that. But in the run-up to the sign, there was really no way we could come out make definitive statements like...
"The Rapture will absolutely NOT occur on September 23, 2017!"
How could we?! Nobody can make such a statement, ever. We had no more idea when the Rapture might occur than anyone else. But for all we or anyone else knew prior to September 23, 2017, the Rapture really could have happened on that date. That's the entire point:
For the great majority of us, the primary focus of the REV12 sign was the confirmation of John's first great sign that indicated that the final end-time fulfillment of the sequence of events he describes was about to come to pass, and that sequence of events culminates with the Rapture. It was never about trying to pin the Rapture to a certain day.
Because no one can (although regrettably a few tried). Sure, guardedly speculative ideas about possible time frames for the Rapture were discussed, as they always are. As they always have been. And as they are by a lot of the same people who accused us of dabbling in astrology. But I just want you to understand that it was a handful of YouTube cowboys that were primarily responsible for turning the REV12 sign into the hysterical outbreak of Rapture mania that it morphed into. And that, as they say, is a crying shame.
For those of us who actually studied the REV12 sign and saw with our own eyes what a stunning, prophetically accurate alignment this sign from God was, and how it unquestionably spoke to the final fulfillment after two thousand years of the sequence of events culminating in the Rapture that the apostle John was shown by God, well...
All I can say is that we will never be the same—we were blessed and encouraged out of our minds!
The thought occurs to me, however, that after seven years things have reached the point where one's acceptance or rejection of the REV12 sign has become...well, pardon me for saying it, but more or less a non-issue. And the reason I say that is because prophetically knowledgeable people (whether they accepted or rejected the REV12 sign) can study Scripture and look at what is happening in the world today and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Rapture is drawing excitingly close—there are simply too many prophetically significant things occurring and coming together right now to think otherwise. And that brings us face to face with a simple truth:
We are well past the point where we need a
sign from God to call our attention to that fact.
But that was true to a noticeably lesser degree seven years ago. When we saw the REV12 sign in 2017, it served as a major heads-up for those with ears to hear. Trump had just taken office, the economy was strong, unemployment was low, the border was secure, we were trusted by our friends, and feared by our enemies. And Israel was secure and still on friendly terms with Russia.
Speaking of which...note that today, for the first time since Israel became a nation again in 1948 in fulfillment of prophecy, Russia and Israel have now become enemies thanks to the fact that Israel has been stuck between a rock and a hard place in regard to their stance on the conflict in Ukraine.
Go ahead...sit there and look me in the eyes and tell me this isn't divine prep work for the attack of Gog-Magog in Ezekiel 38–39.
But unless you've actually been living on Jupiter for the last few years instead of just following its path with Stellarium, you know full well that at this point, everything I mentioned above that was true in 2017 and much more has either changed or is changing—and it's changing fast and it's changing for the worse. We see the world falling apart and spiraling out of control (I mean spiraling under control), and the prophetic pieces are coming together so rapidly and our date with the harpazo is drawing so near that the significance of the REV12 sign has receded. In other words...
The REV12 sign has done its job.
Either you got it and received that blessing,
or rejected it and missed out on that blessing.
So for the REV12 sign, I'd say it's "mission accomplished." The sign has pretty much run its course, and had its intended effect on those who had ears to hear what God was saying to us seven (or more) years ago.
Of course, although it may be "mission accomplished" for the REV12 sign, it won't be "mission accomplished" for us until we are changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. That's when we will be able to echo Paul's words to his young protégé Timothy:
7I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.
(2 Timothy 4:7)
Get back to work: In a sense, the REV12 sign's mission was pretty much accomplished by the time it actually occurred on September 23, 2017. The reason I say that is because it had already been widely studied and disseminated for at least four or five years by that time. It had gone public from the hands of Lu Vega in around 2011, and by 2012 the websites and YouTube channels began popping up, and we were off to the REV12 races. Although the REV12 sign generated a lot of excitement among many believers, after the sign came and went on September 23, 2017 and "nothing happened" (to the consternation of a few YouTube cowboys), slowly but surely most believers who had been excitedly studying the sign began to move on to other things with a feeling of "OK, show's over...get back to work." Yes, it had a powerful effect on us and blessed us beyond words; but after it was over, many people who had studied the sign gradually began to sense it was time to get busy and redeem the time. After all...
We had seen all we needed to see,
and the fields were ripe for harvest.
If it impressed you,
it blessed you.
If you dissed it,
you missed it.
So at this point, I have little concern over other people's opinions of the REV12 sign. If it impressed you, it blessed you. If you dissed it, you missed it. That's it. I see no reason to worry about changing the minds of skeptics: We're w-a-y past that at this point. So if you are one who rejects the REV12 sign and you write to me expecting a vigorous, impassioned response to your hard-nosed nitpickery of it, that is the attitude you will be warmly greeted with. =:)
Not so fast: The morning after I posted this article, I got a very nice email from my old friend Lu Vega, the guy who, as I mentioned, discovered the REV12 sign in 2008. He said he liked the article, but graciously pointed out that it might be just a wee bit too soon to write off the REV12 sign altogether. He indicated that he has done more in-depth study that has led him to believe that the "next" REV12 sign in September 2029 (that is, the next time Jupiter makes its once-every-12-year transit of Virgo's womb...which, by the way, also happens to feature retrograde motion, but no crown of 12 stars) could be linked to the midpoint of the Tribulation. And I'll do the math for you: If that's the case, that would ostensibly put the launching of the Tribulation in the spring of 2026. Don't look now, but the way things are going, that time frame makes a downright scary amount of sense. So, stay tuned.
As I said, the REV12 sign was an incredible blessing to those of us who knew that it was a sign from God and sought to study it and understand it in accurate, scripturally sound detail. And I hope you were one who was blessed by it as well. If you weren't, that's perfectly fine.
I say that because even though you may have missed out on that particular blessing, if you can look around at the world today and appreciate and understand how close we are drawing to the catching away of the Church, then you're starting to feel a smidge of that same blessing.
So...it's not as if all is lost just because you dismissed the REV12 sign. Oh no. The blessing of seeing end-time prophecy unfold in the run-up to the Rapture is available to all who are willing to study His prophetic Word with an open mind and look at what is happening in the world with open eyes.
So even if you happen to be a believer who missed out on the blessing of the REV12 sign, as you are blessed by watching His prophetic Word unfold before your eyes, you can take comfort in the fact that you are about to be caught up in the greatest blessing in the history of the Church.
And not a single one of us is going to miss out on that!
Greg Lauer — SEP '24
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1. Adapted from Sunset Over Grass Field © AOosthuizen at Can Stock Photo
2. Birthday Cake With Number 7 Lit Candle © destinacigdem at Depositphotos
3. Man With Black Eye © DmitryPoch at Depositphotos
4. Adapted from a screenshot from Stellarium
5. Three Wise Men © kevron2002 at Depositphotos
6. The Disciples Are Filled With the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 © rudall30 at Depositphotos
7. Silhouette of Military Soldier Saluting © andresvic at Depositphotos
Scripture Quotations:
All Scripture is taken from the World English Bible, unless specifically annotated as the King James Version (KJV) or the American King James Version (AKJV).