Blood Moons and the Precursor to War

Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: May 31, 2008

Sighted Moon News Letter 5844-010
3rd day of the Third month 5844 Years After Creation
42nd day of the Counting of the Omer


June 3, 2008

 

Shabbat Shalom,

 

Greetings Brethren! Once again we have had our readership increase to over 3500 this week. We also had another record month of hits to the website with over 15,000 viewing our posts last month. Once again, I thank you for studying the information I am presenting to you regarding the Jubilee and Sabbatical Cycles.

For the many new readers, this site is showing you how the Jubilee and the Sabbatical Cycles tell us exactly where we are in Biblical chronology of prophetic events. When you understand the Jubilee and when it began, as explained in 2 Kings 19:29, and begin counting forward from there, you can understand why we have Terrorism on the nightly news and the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can also understand why we have Global Warming and Droughts in addition to the news of world-wide Famines coming if not already started.

This Newsletter and this web site, www.sightedmoon.com explains these things each week in our articles. We covered Pestilence in the Newsletter 5844-008 – The Third Curse, Pestilence

We prepared for this article last week in Newsletter 5844-009 – Review of News Letters in preparation of the Sword

 


The Blood Moons

 

This week, we will be showing you the meaning of the Blood Moons and the Sword which are coming soon to Israel, (the USA, and the UK and her dominion). We do this, keeping in mind that the Jubilee cycle shows us when these things are to happen.

So, for all of you who are from a Church of God, a Seventh Day Adventist, a Messianic, a Jewish or even what the world calls a “christian” background, we welcome you! We will not hold these disadvantages that you bring to the table against you. We hope each of you will be blessed and learn from this website and then teach it to your own Congregations or groups.

In fact, many of you are here as a result of someone caring enough to add your name to our email list, or suggesting you get this Newsletter. We are told in the Gospels to go into all the world. We, meaning you and I both.

We are like a kernel of corn. We are of no use when we stay all huddled up in our “husk” or Congregation. It is when the husk is pulled away and the kernel is eaten that it is of benefit to others. Or when it falls to the ground and grows up into another stalk to produce more kernels.

So I urge each of you to add a brother or sister; even those who are not reading the Bible, to this Newsletter list. Add brethren from your Congregation. Why do I ask this repeatedly over and over? Because the Scriptures say that very soon many will die from Disease, Famine and War. The Jubilee Cycles shows us when these things are to happen. It is very soon with Drought and Terror have already been let loose since 1996.

When we see danger coming, we become responsible to warn those who are in harms way. You know the Scripture in Ezekiel about the watchman. So, once you have learned the things I am sharing with you, you then must warn you family and friends and brethren; even if it means they think you are nuts.

To help you ease them into this site, try showing them the articles on when I went to Noah’s Ark last year. Yes, the real Noah’s Ark. Or you can show them the article on “The Garden of Eden – Where is it?“, where I show you exactly where it is today and where the rivers are. No hocus pocus, just Biblical, archaeological and historical information, all given to you for free.

NO strings attached; no one will call on you. Here are links to the Noah’s Ark articles:

Newsletter 5843-013 251- My trip to Noah’s Ark from the beginning:

Newsletter 5843-014 308 – Description of Noah’s Ark and the Length and width. What is a cubit? The Golden Section or Ratio?

Newsletter 5843-015 402 – Noah’s Ark the Height Ziggurats Volume

Newsletter 5843-016 – The Location of Noah’s Ark from all Sources. Naxuan and Seron. Mt. Judi, Mt. Mashar

Newsletter 5843-017 417 – What exactly is Gopher wood? Easter Eggs and Doves and the Relationship to Noah’s Ark

Newsletter 5843-018 473 – Explanation of How Noah Felt Warning Everyone and Only His Eight Heeded his Warning.

Newsletter 5843-019 480Locating the Garden of Eden from Scriptures and How it and the Temple are Related.

I share these with you so you can share them with others. So that you both might come back and learn about the Sabbatical and Jubilee Cycles and the severe danger in front of mankind right now.

Before we get into this weeks Newsletter, the article I shared with you last week about the Days of Noah has been on my mind all week. In the article it says that one of the things that angered Yehovah was the fact that men were marrying men. And when society allows this, or approves of this as has just happened in Colorado and Massachusetts, Canada and Holland and other Israelite countries, then we can bet the farm time is up.

Also this week, I heard a sermon on the radio by Charles Stanley regarding taking this message into all the world. I thought it was excellent. I encourage you to take time to listen to it as well at: http://www.intouch.org/site/c.dhKHIXPKIuE/b.2287423/

I want to acknowledge that this week some will be keeping Pentecost on Sunday June 8th and others on Tuesday or the Wednesday of this coming week known as Sivan 6 and still others on next Sunday June 15th. Which one is correct? Well, I am not going to answer that at this time, although I do encourage you again to read the article Pentecosts Hidden Meaning

What I do want to say and have you consider is how Pentecost/Shavuot is an annual reminder of the Jubilee cycle. The Jubilee and Pentecost/Shavuot are the same thing. One is counted by days and the other by years.

You never see anyone arguing over the Jubilee year which follows the 49th Sabbatical year. They are always one after the other. Yet some will go to extreme efforts to prove to you that Shavuot can fall on any day of the week, such as they say it does this year on a Tuesday or Wednesday. This is not how the Jubilee cycle is depicted. The fiftieth year comes after the 49th. Both are Holy Years. They are always back to back. The same thing with Shavuot/Pentecost. The fiftieth day will always follow the 49th day- which Scripture says is the weekly Sabbath.

Lev 23:11 The day after the Sabbath
Lev 23:15 from the day after the Sabbath
Lev 23:16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath…

Brethren, I just want to leave you with that to consider as you keep Shavuot this year.

On Pentecost Sunday, June the 15th I will be presenting The Chronological Order of Prophecies in the Jubilee online live. We have opening for 20 computer hook-ups. Some of you have already contacted me and if others are interested in watching this and asking questions in real-time then drop me a line.

We have been told of the following news about the Blood Moons as told to us by Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries of Puyallup, Washington. He will be speaking on this subject this Coming June 11, 2008 – San Diego, CA
10752 Coastwood Road . San Diego, CA 92127

Pastor Ray Bentley, of Maranatha Chapel will be interviewing Pastor Mark about his remarkable discovery regarding all lunar eclipses and solar eclipses that NASA posted for a 5,000 year period. He will be talking about the four “blood moons” or lunar
eclipses scheduled to occur on the Biblical Feast days of Passover and Feast of Tabernacles in the near future. This is extremely rare, and in fact will not occur again the rest of this century. It will be a fascinating discussion highlighting the prophetic
significance of these events and other relevant issues concerning the age in which we live!

I would suggest that those who can go and listen to what he has to say. For the rest of us who are not close by, I will add my comments next.

I was told of this on May 9th 2008 by a brother who sent me the following link from the news site World Net Daily:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=63076

This is another interesting read.

Pastor Mark Biltz who is a Messianic teacher as far as I can tell, has shown the following dates:

  • A total Lunar Eclipse on April 15, 2014 1st Day of Unleavened Bread
  • A total Lunar Eclipse on October 8, 2014 The Eve of Sukkot
  • A total Solar Eclipse on March 20, 2015 The Eve of the New Year
  • A total Lunar Eclipse on April 4, 2015 1st Day of Unleavened Bread
  • A total Partial Solar Eclipse on September 13, 2015 Eve of the Feast of Trumpets
  • A total Lunar Eclipse on September 15, 2015 The Start of Sukkot

Please make special note that all of these “Holy Days” as stated by Pastor Biltz are according to the Hebrew Calendar, and as readers who have been reading this Newsletter are well aware of, we teach the calendar according to the Sighted Moon method. So does this make any difference in the findings?

I do not think so.

Lets look at this rare celestial event from the point of view of the Jubilee and the Sabbatical years to see if we can glean something out of it. At the end of this article is the May report from Bob Wadsworth of Biblical Astronomy, where he deals with this subject and the speaker directly. I was able to speak to Bob on the phone and by emails to Mark about this subject this week.

From: A Time For Judgment
By Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)

If the eclipses fall at regular intervals, how can we relate them to our behavior and responsibilities? It would seem that they are just celestial events that are unrelated to our behavior. So, how can we KNOW that they are related to our behavior and that they are sent by Yahweh to speak a specific message to us?

The fact that they are a specific message from Yahweh can be learned from the Torah:
Genesis 1:14-15 And Yahweh said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

We know that these eclipse are related to our behavior from the oral Torah,
Mechilta to _Parshat Bo_ (http://www.betemunah.org/annual.html) (second chapter) as well as in the _Talmud_ (http://www.betemunah.org/orallaw.html) :

Succah 29a Our Rabbis taught, When the sun is in eclipse, it is a bad omen for the whole world. This may be illustrated by a parable. To what can this be compared? To a human being who made a banquet for his servants and put up for them a lamp. When he became wroth with them he said to his servant, “Take away the lamp from them, and let them sit in the dark”. It was taught: R. Meir said, When ever the luminaries are in eclipse, it is a bad omen for _Israel_(http://www.betemunah.org/gen-jew.html) since they are inured to blows.

This may be compared to a school _teacher_ (http://www.betemunah.org/teacher.html) who comes to school with a strap in his hand. Who becomes apprehensive? He who is accustomed to be daily punished. Our Rabbis taught, when the sun is in eclipse it is a bad omen for idolaters; when the moon is in eclipse, it is a bad omen for Israel, since Israel reckons by the moon and idolaters by the sun. If it is in eclipse in the _east_ (http://www.betemunah.org/east.html) it is a bad omen for those who _dwell_
(http://www.betemunah.org/dwelling.html) in the east; if in the west, it is a bad omen for those who dwell in the west; if in the midst of heaven it is bad omen for the whole world. If its face is red as blood, [it is a sign that] the sword is coming to the world; if it is like sack-cloth, the arrows of _famine_(http://www.betemunah.org/famine.html) are coming to the _world_(http://www.betemunah.org/worlds.html) ;if it resembles both, the sword and the arrows of famine are coming to the world. If the eclipse is at sunset calamity will tarry in its coming; if at dawn, it hastens on its way: but some say the order is to be reversed. And there is no nation which is smitten that its gods are not smitten together with it, as it is said, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments.

But when _Israel_ (http://www.betemunah.org/gen-jew.html) fulfill the will of the Omnipresent, they need have no fear of all these [omens] as it is said, Thus saith the HaShem,’ Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the _signs_ (http://www.betemunah.org/signs.html) of _heaven (http://www.betemunah.org/heaven.html) , for the nations are dismayed at them, the
idolaters will be dismayed, but Israel will not be dismayed

 


 

A Time For Judgment

By Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)

Josephus tells of a lunar eclipse after Herod kills Matthias. It was an omen of his impending death. Antiquity of the Jews XVII Chapter 4

Isaiah 50:1-3 1 Thus says the Lord: “Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce, Whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, And for your transgressions your mother has been put away. 2 Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink because there is no water, And die of thirst. 3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, And I make sackcloth their covering.”

Brethren, do you not see what is going on? Have we not been showing you the Sabbatical cycle and the order of the curses? First comes Terror, followed by Drought and it includes Famines. Then the Famines are followed by epidemics and then a Sword, which is what we have been explaining these past two weeks.

The Redemption spoken of in Isaiah is that which takes place at the end of the Jubilee; when all things are redeemed by Yeshua. Isaiah goes on to say that it is Yahweh’s rebuke that dries up the rivers; in other words, a Drought. Where it says the “heavens are blackness” are lunar and solar eclipses.

Joel 3:1 “For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land. 3 They have cast lots for My people, Have given a boy as payment for a harlot, And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. 15 The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness.

Before Yehovah can bring us back from captivity WE MUST FIRST GO INTO CAPTIVITY! This means we must go to war and loose that war.

Joel 2:28  “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. 32 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.”

The “Moon turned to Blood” occurs before the great and awesome day of Yehshua, but we are not told exactly how far before that day it occurs.

Joel 2:1 “Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is coming, For it is at hand: 2 A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations. 3 A fire devours before them, And behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them. 4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like swift steeds, so they run. 5 With a noise like chariots Over mountaintops they leap, Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, Like a strong people set in battle array. 6 Before them the people writhe in pain; All faces are drained of color. 7 They run like mighty men, They climb the wall like men of war; Every one marches in formation, And they do not break ranks. 8 They do not push one another; Every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, They are not cut down. 9 They run to and fro in the city, They run on the wall; They climb into the houses, They enter at the windows like a thief. 10 The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness. 11 The Lord gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?
12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. 14 Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him– A grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; 16 Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room. 17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ 18 Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people.”

He will pity his people if they repent as the Priests are told to do.

But read what Yehovah will do in Psalm 89:30  “If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, 31 If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments, 32 Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes.”

Isaiah 10:1 “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have prescribed 2 To rob the needy of justice, And to take what is right from the poor of My people, That widows may be their prey, And that they may rob the fatherless. 3 What will you do in the day of punishment, And in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory? 4 Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners, And they shall fall among the slain.” For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. 5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation. 6 I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.”

It is Assyria that is the ROD with which Yahweh shall chastise Israel- the ungodly nation, the people of His wrath. The USA and the UK. Assyria shall invade and destroy all of this land.

Ezekiel 20:33-44  “As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. 34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. 35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. 36 Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,” says the Lord God. 37 “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; 38 I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

After all is said and done, only a remnant shall remain. A mere 10% will survive Yehovah’s Rod via Assyria.

Lev 27:32 “And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord.”

These blood moons and eclipses are a sign for us to repent while we can; before the rod is used on us- to correct us. They are a warning of impending doom. A very bad omen.

Ezekiel 22:23-31 “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24 “Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ 25 The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26 Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. 28 Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. 30 So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. 31 Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.”

Our pastors, priests and prophets have lied to us! They have been hiding the truths of the Sabbath as well as the Holy Days and the Sabbatical and Jubilee years from our understanding. It is time to repent of this now. You no longer have the luxury to hide your head in the sand. Time is UP!

We have shown you in a previous study the first curse of Lev 26:14 “But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, 15 and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, 16 I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.”

He is going to send Terror. I have explained this in Newsletter 5844-006. But know that the Rod He uses in His wrath is Assyria and we have shown that Assyria is Germany. Just as it was in the days of Nimrod, Assyria was also known as Terror. See our Newsletter 5843-051  and take special note of where I discuss the Chatti and the Hittites and Hess. If you remember, they mean Terror. When Yahweh says He is going to send Terror who else could He mean?

We have already looked at this so this week we are looking at Lev26: 23  ‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, 24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. 25 And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26 When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.”

If we are not reformed by the first curse of Terror, or the second curse of Drought and Famine and the third curse of Pestilence, then Yehovah is going to send the fourth curse: A Sword.

To see this in chart-form go to: The Charts Archive, and study these charts. Look at the different pages to see my notes also. Follow this link to view the video and listen to the whole message of the Jubilee, go to this link: “Movie – The prophesies in the Jubilees

When we retreat into the cities we will have pestilences. From there we are taken into captivity. We are going to be so short on food that we will not be satisfied with the meager rations we do get.

In his book The Star of Bethlehem, the Star that Changed the World, E. L. Martin shows us how the planets announced the coming of the Messiah. To see a video of this event, click on: http://www.askelm.com/video/v020301.htm

We have also shown you how astronomy has shown us when the Messiah was born in the article entitled: Conjunction or Sighted Which? I am Yahovah

To see for yourself all the Solar and Lunar Eclipses go to http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html

Luke 21:7  So they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?” 8 And He said: “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore do not go after them. 9 But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.” 10 Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.”

The movement of the planets can give us some indication of things that are happening. Are the blood moons of 2014 and 2015 the announcement of the return of Yehshua? No. But they are a warning of a sword that is about to come on the USA and UK.

Brethren, we have shown you a number of times that the last Jubilee was in the year 1996. This makes 1995 the 49th year in the Jubilee Cycle. Counting by 7, we can see the following:

  • 1995-1996=49th year
  • 1996-1997=50th year The First curse of Terror is applied and goes to,
  • 2002-2003=7th year and First Sabbatical year and the Second Curse of Drought is applied and goes to,
  • 2009-2010=14th year and Second Sabbatical Year and the third Curse of Pestilence is applied and goes to,
  • 2016-2017=21st year and the Third Sabbatical year and the Fourth Curse of the Sword is applied and goes to
  • 2023-2024=28th year and the Fourth Sabbatical cycle which we shall show you next week.

In “Newsletter 5844-007 – The Second Curse, Drought & Famine Prophecy as it happens” I showed you many Scriptures which said that Yahweh would send Famines, Pestilences, and the Sword on those who did not repent. In the news lately is mention of a silent world-wide famine taking hold on the earth. Last week I told you of places selling storable food supplies.

Much of what I am showing you here in this weeks Newsletter I was not allowed to say on the DVD. Many groups and many people believe that the USA is Babylon. They believe that Babylon is going to fall as the Scriptures say. In believing this, they think the USA is about to fall and they are right, the USA is about to fall. But the USA is NOT Babylon. These people and these teachers are deceived by Satan. They think that Israel, The USA and the UK, the State of Israel (the Jews whom are all together known as Israel) that these people are Babylon. But they are not Babylon. Babylon is the European nations and they will form a league with the Arabs for a short time.

When the USA and UK fall, they will do so at the hands of the EU. Many in the Messianic Community will believe this to be an act of Yehshua. When Satan moves down to Jerusalem, these same people will think he is the Messiah. And they will worship him as such and be deceived by Satan.

If it were possible, even the elect would be deceived.

I hope you are able to see this. And if not, I hope to make it plain in the next few Newsletters.

One last thing, in each of the Newsletters about the curses, I was able to show that history supports my position. Now take a look at this:

When we check things with history we can learn a lot. We have already learned that the year 701 BC was the 49th year and the year we count forward from. But, when we count backwards to the previous Jubilee, look what is shown to us:

701 BC was the 49th year. This would make 750 BC the 49th year and 749 the Jubilee Year.

Lets do some math:

  • 750 – 7 = 743 BC This when the first curse of Terror is applied.
  • 743 – 7 = 736 BC This is when the second curse of Drought is applied.
  • 736 – 7 = 729 BC This is when the third curse of Pestilence is applied.
  • 729 – 7 = 722 BC This is when the fourth curse of the sword is applied.

Guess what happened in 723 BC? Yes, Israel was finally defeated after a three year siege by Assyria and led away. It is the year 723 that renown Chronologist Edwin R. Thiele and others have determined to be the year that Samaria fell. So what? Does Yehovah apply His punishment in a haphazard manner or is He consistent in the way He punishes His people?

MAL 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not!

HEB 13:8 Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and for ever.

Will His punishment change; or the order of the sequence in which it is administered change?

ARE WE ABOUT TO REPEAT THIS EVENT IN OUR TIME?

Something to think about, isn’t it? The Jubilee is important to Yehovah. Is it important to you yet?

One other thing to ponder in your studies: I am not sure if this is prophetic or not. In Genesis 37:26 Judah sells Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver.

Then in 2 Kings 16:7 tells us how Ahaz king of Judah sent to Assyria for help in fighting off the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This would eventually lead to the total destruction of Israel by the Assyrians.

We already know from the news that Judah, the state of Israel, has gone to the EU for help. What will be the end of this, time will tell.

Prepare for the coming Famine. And prepare for the coming Pestilence. But how are you going to prepare for the coming War in your very own front yard?

We read in Ezekiel 14:12 “The word of the Lord came again to me, saying: 13 “Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. 14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God. 15 “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts, 16 even though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate. 17 “Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land,’ and I cut off man and beast from it, 18 even though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered. 19 “Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, 20 even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”

They are only going to be saved by their own righteousness. Whenever I read something like this, I want to know how do I get this righteousness? The Biblical definition is found in Psalm 119:172 “My tongue shall speak of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness.”

All your commandments are righteousness.

We can read in Ezekiel 18:4 “The Soul who sins shall die.”
In case you missed it, it is repeated in Ezekiel 18:20 “The soul who sins shall die.”

Then, for those who just read the New Testament, we can read in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death.”

This then begs the question, “What is Sin?” To get the Biblical answer, we turn to 1 John 3:4 “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”
1John 2:3 “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

And what are the commandments we are talking about? They are the Ten Commandments as found in Exodus 20. By obeying these and only by obeying these will you be found to be righteous.

And even though you can stock up for a drought and for a famine and maybe put some medications away for pestilence, how are you going to be protected during a war? Only by having the righteousness of Noah, Job and Daniel; by keeping the Ten Commandments and having the protection of Yahweh.

Here is the report by Bob Wadsworth. Please note that Bob has calculated the 120th Jubilee to be in the year of 2047-2048. He has done his calculations by using a 50 year Jubilee and astronomy. I, on the other hand, have concluded that the 120th Jubilee is 2045-2046 and have done this based on the 701BC year as the year that Yehovah spoke to Hezekiah.

Also take special note of what Bob says concerning the time period of 2030-2033. Please take special note of this as it will play into the prophetic events I am teaching in these Newsletters. Which of us is right? You will have to stick around and see, won’t you?

Biblical Astronomy
May 2008

Editor: Robert Scott Wadsworth <> P.O. Box 2272, Oregon City, OR 97045
Phone (503) 655-7430 <> e-mail – starguy1@comcast.net <> Website: http://www.biblicalastronomy.com

 


 

NEW MOON REPORT

Nehemia Gordon from Jerusalem, Israel compiled the following New Moon Reports for the months of April 2008 and May 2008 and the beginnings of the First Month and Second Month on the Biblical Calendar.

April – “On Monday April 7, 2008 the new moon was sighted from several locations around Israel. The moon was sighted: from Eilat by Eli El-Tanani and Shai El-Tanani at 19:13; from Ashdod by Neriah Haroeh and Nilit Masliach at 19:15; from Mitzpeh Ramon by Bart Vangronsvelt and Ganneke Kunst at about 19:15; from Beersheva by Simchon Firouz, Kobi El-Tanani and Ovadiah Firouz at about 19:30; from highway 6 by Chad and Barbara Peterson at 19:39.

On the previous evening, Sunday April 6, the moon had a lagtime of 33 minutes and illumination of 0.52%, which means it was not visible under any circumstance from Israel.

Shanah Toyah!

Happy New Year!

On Tuesday May 6, 2008 the new moon was sighted from Jerusalem by Nehemia Gordon at 19:34 and shortly thereafter by Devorah Gordon.

The next new moon is expected to be visible from Jerusalem near sunset on June 4, 2008 when the moon will be 1.17% illuminated and 10.38o above the horizon at 5 minutes past sunset. In the event of thick atmospheric haze it will be visible the next evening, June 5, when it will be 5.13% illuminated and 22.46o above the horizon at 5 minutes past sunset.

The new moon will be clearly visible over the west-northwest horizon from areas with clear skies in the United States on June 4, 2008.

 

LUNAR ECLIPSES ON FEAST DAYS

Speaking of the moon, in late April I started to receive a number of e-mail inquiries concerning a video produced by J.R. Church featuring a presentation by Mark Blitz on certain upcoming lunar eclipses occurring on the feast days of Passover and Sukkoth in the years 2014 and 2015. Also mentioned were upcoming solar eclipses over the next three years and others in the years 2014 and 2015 starting with the total solar eclipse that is to occur on August 1, 2008. First of all, Mark Blitz gave a very good presentation on the upcoming events. However, since I have received so many inquiries on it, I am dedicating most of this newsletter to present more facts of the mentioned eclipses as well as on other such eclipses in the last century and in this century. The links below are to the video presentations that Mark Blitz did on J.R. Church’s program “Prophecy in the News.”

I also received e-mails that added false info to Mark’s presentation, such as all the eclipses will be visible from Jerusalem and this will be the last time for hundreds of years that such a series of eclipses will be seen. Mark did not say these things in the presentations that I watched and the added info is just not true. Mark did say that the four total eclipses in 2014 and 2015 would be the last time this century to occur on Passover and Sukkoth. This may be true if you just use the Jewish Talmudic calendar which has its share of problems. There will also be a tetrad of four total lunar eclipses in the years 2032 and 2033. The first will occur on April 25, which may be Passover on the Biblical calendar if the barley is late in ripening that year. We will not know for sure until that time comes. If that is the Passover, then the next total eclipse on October 18, 2032 will fall on Sukkot. The two total eclipses in 2033 will fall on Passover and Sukkot and there will also be two lunar eclipses on Passover (penumbral) and Sukkot (partial) in 2034. All six of these eclipses except for one, the total eclipse on October 8, 2033 (Sukkot), will be visible from Jerusalem and Israel.

There is another tetrad of four total eclipses that occur on Passover and Sukkot two years running in 2061 and 2062. This is according to the Hebrew calendar and most likely the Biblical calendar as well, but not all by the Jewish Talmudic calendar. All of these eclipses except for the one on September 29, 2061 are visible from Jerusalem and Israel.

Then there is a series of four lunar eclipses in 2079 and 2080, three total and one partial, all on Passover and Sukkot according to the Jewish Talmudic calendar.

You can check these all out from the links to the NASA eclipse web pages below. These are the web pages Mark speaks about in his presentation. I was unaware of these websites until I heard Mark’s presentation.

One website is for Lunar Eclipses and the other is for Solar Eclipses. I believe they are relatively new. I wish they had them up years ago. It would have saved me many weeks in researching eclipses using astronomy programs and calendar programs. All the info one would want on eclipses over thousands of years are on those websites. I confirmed the accuracy of the info by spot-checking various eclipses with my astronomy and calendar programs. Info is shown on whether the eclipses are total or partial for lunar or solar eclipses as well as annular for solar. Click on the eclipse date and a page will pop up with a map that you can click on and zoom in to see where the eclipses will be visible from. It even has the Sari (plural for Saros) of all the eclipses. I will get into the Saros in a bit. The two NASA links are below.

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/lunar.html

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html

For subscribers who do not have internet access, the summary of Mark’s presentation is concerning the total solar eclipse in August 2008 as a possible starting point of the last shabuah or seven years prior to Messiah returning at the end of that seven year period and the total lunar eclipse on Sukkoth 2015 as marking the end of that seven-year period. He also states that the years 2014 thru 2015 is a sabbatical year. This is true according to the Jewish Talmudic calendar. However, I disagree with that calendar. My calculations show that 1996/1997 was a sabbatical year and 1997/1998 was a Jubilee year (1947/1948 as well). My calculations also show that the year 2032/2033 is a sabbatical year, the years that other eclipses occur. I could be wrong. In any event, Mark believes that the signs of these eclipses should put us on a tribulation watch (not warning). Mark may be on to something and it would do no harm to watch. I am always watching anyway, especially during the Spring Feasts and Fall Feasts every year.

Mark Blitz’s presentation was focused on eclipses that occur on the feast days of Passover and Sukkot, especially those that occur in a string of four total lunar eclipses, which is called a tetrad. I do not know of any special significance in Biblical Astronomy of a tetrad over a string of four lunar eclipses with a mixture of total and partial eclipses. Though it is of course possible that there is certain significance to it. Of all the total lunar eclipses occurring in 2014 and 2015, only one is visible from Jerusalem, and that one is only partially visible from Jerusalem since it sets below the horizon shortly after it reaches totality. The solar eclipse on August 1 is also not visible from Jerusalem. It may be slightly but not noticeably visible from northern Lebanon. I do not know for sure if the eclipse needs to be visible from Jerusalem, but that is where Yehshua spoke the prophecy that immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. Also some key words here are immediately after the tribulation of those days. That could mean a total solar eclipse just before the Day of Trumpets and a total lunar eclipse on Sukkoth immediately after the Great Tribulation. There is a total lunar eclipse on or near Sukkoth in 2015 and a solar eclipse on the eve of Tishri 1, 2015, but that solar eclipse is only a partial eclipse and is only visible from southern Africa and the Antarctic; hardly a big sign.

Furthermore, I do not believe what the Lord is talking about in that prophecy are eclipses but rather supernatural events, and events so awesome that people (those who are not believers) will be awestruck and frightened by them. Believers are not to be dismayed with such signs (Jer. 10:2). This is not to say that certain solar and lunar eclipses are not signs of Messiah’s return, since they certainly may be, but the events Jesus speaks of in the Gospel of Matthew are most likely supernatural events.

In looking up information on when strings of eclipses will be occurring this century I remembered an article that I did for the December 1996 issue of Biblical Astronomy which included a list of such eclipses in the 20th century. Below is that article. If back page in the below article does not link you with that list, just go to www.biblicalastronomy.com and enter the site, then select newsletters and then scroll down and select 1996 newsletters and then December. You will be able to link to the list from there.

 

Lunar Eclipses On Holy Days

December 1996 – Currently, we are in the midst of a string of Lunar eclipses falling on or within one day of the Jewish holy days of Succoth, Passover, and, or, Purim. Such a string of eclipses falling on or near these holy days occurs about every ten years. This is because when such strings occur, the eclipses are six months apart, and Passover and Succoth are six months apart. The moon is always full during an eclipse and during Passover or Succoth. When such a string starts on or near Passover or Succoth, then the other eclipses will follow suit. Not all of such eclipses are seen from Israel. In the past century there was only one other string (other than 1996/1997) where all the eclipses could all be seen from Israel on the holy days. This occurred in 1949/1950. In two such strings (1949/1950 and 1967/1968) Israel was at war with her enemies. Most of the eclipses in 1967/68 were not seen from Israel. There was a series of six lunar eclipses falling on the Holy days between 1930 and 1932. Two of those were not seen from Israel. Of course, Israel had not yet become a nation at that time. Hitler came into power in 1932.

The most dramatic of such strings is now occurring. All are seen from Israel, three of the eclipses are total. The partial eclipse, coming up on March 24, will be near total, but only will be seen 1/3 eclipsed from Israel before it sets. At least two of the eclipses are accompanied by two bright comets; Hyakutake on the Passover of 96, and Hale-Bopp on the Passover or Purim of 97 (Passover on Hebrew calendar, Purim on Jewish Talmudic). The eclipse of September 27 (12 hours from Succoth) was in conjunction with Saturn, a rare event which hasn’t been seen from Israel since the year 611. It remains to be seen if there are any other celestial surprises to occur with the eclipse on September 16, 1997. The total eclipse that occurred on Passover, 1996 appeared blood red over Jerusalem. I do not know if any of the previous eclipses for this century appeared such a deep red color.

I have listed all of the lunar eclipses falling on or near Passover (Nisan 15), Succoth (Tishri 15), and Purim (Adar 14 or Adar II 14), for the 20th Century on the back page of this newsletter. Dates are given in both the Jewish Talmudic calendar and the Hebrew calendar. The Hebrew calendar is more ancient and uses different factors in calculating when the extra month is added in certain years. It is much too complex to go into the details of the two calendar systems in this newsletter. I will spare you the perplexity that comes with it.

In December 1996 I did not have access to new moon reports or barley reports. Michael Rood and I were in conference many times over many months over the phone from early 1997 about the Biblical calendar and how it would be nice to have reports from Jerusalem on sightings of the first crescent moon each month as well as barley reports each spring. Michael made his first trip to Jerusalem in the autumn of 1997 and ran into Nehemia Gordon. The rest is history.

To continue with the upcoming eclipses, I found it interesting that all of the eclipses that fell and are to fall on Passover in 1996, 2014, and 2032 are all of the same Saros (Saros 122), and ancients would consider them all the same eclipse. There will be more on what a Saros is soon to follow.

Also, all the eclipses that fall on Sukkot for 1996, 2014, and 2032 are the same Saros (Saros 127). All the eclipses that fall on Passover in 1997, 2015, and 2033 are the same Saros (Saros 132). All the eclipses that fall on Sukkot 1997, 2015, and 2033 are the same Saros (Saros 137). Check it out on the NASA Lunar Eclipse webpage.

My calculations show that two of these series of eclipses fall in a Sabbatical year, 1996/1997 and 2032/2033. Seven years from 2033 brings us to the year 2040 when a very rare celestial event is to occur in Bethulah (Virgo) on the Day of Trumpets (September 8, 2040). The first crescent new moon will be in the midst of the five bright planets that will be in a Grand Massing (a one in twenty-six thousand to fifty-two thousand year event in Bethulah on the Day of Trumpets). My calculations show this date to be exactly 6,000 years from the creation of Adam and the beginning of the Biblical Year 6001 from the creation of Adam. I still believe that Messiah will return in the Fall Feasts of 2047, which is the next Jubilee and 6,000 years from the fall of Adam, but I could be wrong. At any rate if the events of the last of the last days do not unfold by 2040 or sooner, we still have 2047 to look forward to.

Below is an excerpt of an article from E.W. Bullingers The Witness of the Stars, pp. 177, 178 concerning Signs for Seasons and Sari.

 

“For Signs and For Seasons”

We have seen the great truths which are taught from the position, and forms, and names of the heavenly bodies. There are also truths to be learned from their motions.

When God created them and set them in the firmament of heaven, He said, in Genesis 1:14– “Let them be for signs and for seasons.”

Here the word “signs” is othoth (plural of oth, from the root to come). Hence, a sign of something or some One to come. In Jeremiah 10:2 Jehovah says, “And be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens, for the heathen are dismayed at them.” The word “seasons” does not denote merely what we call the four seasons of the year, but cycles of time. It is appointed time (from the verb to point out, appoint). It occurs three more times in Genesis, each time in connection with the promised Seed–

Genesis 17:21, “At this set time in the next year”;

Genesis 18:14, “At the time appointed I will return”; and

Genesis 21:2, “At the set time of which God had spoken.”

Genesis 1:14 is therefore, “They (the sun, moon, and stars) shall be for signs (things to come) and for cycles (appointed times).”

Here, then, we have a distinct declaration from God, that the heavens contain not only a Revelation concerning things to come in the “Signs,” but also concerning appointed times in the wondrous movements of the sun, and moon, and stars.

The motions of the sun and moon are so arranged that at the end of a given interval of time they return into almost precisely the same position, with regard to each other and to the earth, as they held at the beginning of that interval. “Almost precisely,” but not quite precisely. There will be a slight outstanding difference, which will gradually increase in successive intervals, and finally destroy the possibility of the combination recurring, or else lead to combinations of a different character.

Thus the daily difference between the movement of the sun and of the stars leads the sun back very nearly to conjunction with the same star as it was twelve months earlier, and gives us the cycle of the year. The slight difference in the sun’s position relative to the stars at the end of the year, finally leads the sun back to the same star at the same time of the year, viz., at the spring equinox, and gives us the great precessional cycle of 25,800 years.

So, too, with eclipses. Since the circumstances of any given eclipse are reproduced almost exactly 18 years and 11 days later, this period is called an Eclipse Cycle, to which the ancient astronomers gave the name of Saros; * and eclipses separated from each other by an exact cycle, and, therefore, corresponding closely in their conditions, are spoken of as being one and the same eclipse. Each Saros contains, on the average, about 70 +/- eclipses. Of these, on the average, 42 +/- are solar and 28 +/- are lunar. Since the Saros is 11 days (or, more correctly, 10.96 days) longer than 18 years, the successive recurrences of each eclipse fall 11 days later in the year each time, and in 33 Sari will have traveled on through the year and come round very nearly to the original date.

But as the Saros does not reproduce the conditions of an eclipse with absolute exactness, and as the difference increases with every successive return, a time comes when the return of the Saros fails to bring about an eclipse at all. If the eclipse be a solar one before this takes place, a new eclipse begins to form a month later in the year than the old one, and becomes the first eclipse of a new series.

* General Vallancey spells Saros sin, ayin, resh, vav, tzadai, which amounts to 666 by Gematria! Viz., sin=300 + ayin=70 + resh=200 + vav=6 + tzadai=90 = 666.

As I wrote earlier, a series of eclipses do not necessarily need to be all total eclipses to be a sign. There was such a string of eclipses at the time of the captivity of the ten northern tribes of Israel, but they were not all total. It is most likely from these eclipses and what happened to Israel at that time that the sages got their understanding on what such lunar eclipses may mean. Those eclipses fell about a month before the feast days of Passover and Sukkot but occurred in the constellations Bethulah and Pisces. Bethulah (Virgo) represents the faithful of Israel and Pisces represents the nation of Israel, with one fish representing the ten northern tribes and the other the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Pisces portrays Israel going into bondage or coming out of bondage. At this current epoch of time, and because of the precessional cycle of the earth, when lunar eclipses occur on Passover or Sukkot they occur in the constellations Bethulah and Pisces.

The four eclipses around the time of the captivity occurred on March 19, 721 BC (Total Blood Red Moon Eclipse in Bethulah); September 12, 721 BC (Total Blood Red Moon Eclipse in Pisces); March 8, 720 BC (Partial Lunar Eclipse in Bethulah); September 28, 720 BC (Partial Lunar Eclipse in Pisces).

The above dates are Julian calendar dates. To calculate what day of the month they would fall on the corrected Gregorian calendar (the calendar we now use) subtract 9 days. Example: March 19, 721 BC on the proleptic Julian calendar is the same solar day as March 10 on the corrected Gregorian calendar. Also, if you look for these eclipses on the NASA webpage, -719 is 720 BC. There is no year 0, so 0 becomes 1 BC in calendar as well as astronomy programs. If you wish to look at the eclipses for 721 BC, look at the year –720 on the NASA webpage. You will also need to go to the 5,000 year catalog on the webpage to access info on these eclipses. If memory serves me right, all of those eclipses were visible from Israel.

Another interesting series of eclipses occurred on Passover and Sukkot at or around the time of the Exodus. I have the Exodus occurring in 1453 BC but in case of the very slight possibility that I am wrong, there was as series of four of eclipses beginning on April 26, 1449 BC and ending on October 9, 1448 BC which may have marked the event of the Exodus. I am writing of this here even though it is contrary to the date of the Exodus according to overwhelming calculations that puts it 5 years earlier, so you can have all the information for that time period and can have fun speculating.

I believe all of these eclipses were visible from Egypt and the rest of the Mideast. I know for certain that the main ones in 1448 BC were. For that time period you need to subtract 14 days from the proleptic Julian calendar which are the dates given below in order to get the same solar day as the corrected Gregorian calendar. For example: April 15, 1448 BC on the Julian calendar is the same day of the year as April 1 on today’s calendar.

The first lunar eclipse to occur in this series was a partial lunar eclipse on April 26, 1449 BC. The second was a partial lunar eclipse on October 29, 1449 BC. The third (and possibly the first Passover) was a total blood red eclipse on April 15, 1448 BC. The fourth was another total blood red eclipse on October 9, 1448 BC. If it is really a fact that the blood red eclipse that occurred on April 15, 1448 BC indeed was the first Passover, then the blood red moon would have represented the blood of the lamb that was put on the door posts and mantel of the homes of Israel to protect them from the Angel of Death and the curse that came on Egypt with the dying of all the firstborn. Of course, a blood red moon now represents the atoning blood of Yehshua Messiah, our Passover.

If you have ever watched the movie The Ten Commandments you may notice that on the evening of the Passover Joshua looks up at a crescent moon that is high in the sky. At first look, there is something really odd with that picture. A crescent moon can only be the new moon or a waning old moon and is never seen in mid-sky high above. The Passover moon is always a full moon. Cecil B. Demille and his crew of experts could not have made such a mistake. Many ancient historical records from such historians as Josephus and Philo as well as the Holy Scriptures were used in the making of the film. The only thing that I could think of, of why that scene had a thin crescent moon high in the sky on Passover was that they were most likely trying to show the moon going into an eclipse and it was not yet totally covered with the shadow of the earth as the cloud came from where the moon was seen and came down to the earth (the cloud represented the “angel of death that came upon Egypt and passed over the children of Israel doing no harm to them). If this is not what the filmmakers had in mind, they appear to be a bunch of complete idiots. But I do not think that is the case.

Another interesting fact of the total eclipses of 1448 BC is that the second eclipse on Tabernacles went into eclipse as it came into conjunction with the planet Saturn. This is a very rare celestial event, especially for it to occur on Sukkot or even Passover. These two eclipses are almost identical to the eclipses that occurred on Passover and Sukkot in 1996. The blood red Passover eclipse of April 3/4, 1996 was followed by a total lunar eclipse as it went into conjunction with Saturn on September 27, 1996. Before that, the last time this was seen from Jerusalem was in the year 611 and that was not a feast date. There is a very high probability that the only times that there were blood red moons on the Passover followed by a total lunar eclipse on Sukkot as it went into conjunction with Saturn, only occurred in 1448 BC and 1996.

These are certainly exciting times.

 

THE NORTH STAR IS WINKING AT US

The following article is from a Sky & Telescope news bulletin posted by Alan MacRobert on April 28, 2008 concerning the North Polar Star Polaris. All the stars of the northern hemisphere revolve around this star.

Polaris’s Pulsations Pick Up

Polaris is important not just because it’s the North Star. It also happens to be the brightest and nearest Cepheid variable star, 430 light-years away. Cepheids, a special class of pulsating giants, have provided astronomers with a crucial link in the cosmic distance scale for almost a century. But Polaris isn’t just any Cepheid. It has been changing its period and especially the amplitude of its pulsations.

Polaris varies in brightness only slightly, by just a few percent across its 3.97-day cycle. Moreover, the pulsations steadily diminished for decades: from 0.12 magnitude per cycle a century ago — almost enough to see by eye — to a mere 0.02 magnitude per cycle in the mid-1990s. Astronomers wondered if Polaris was about to stop pulsing completely.

Apparently not. Four years ago Edward F. Guinan (Villanova University) and several colleagues reported that Polaris’s fluctuations bottomed out in the mid-1990s and had started increasing again, to 0.038 magnitude per cycle in 2004. Now an international team of nine astronomers finds the trend continuing. From 2003 to 2007, says the team, Polaris’s brightness pulsations increased by an additional one-third.

The group used instruments aboard satellites to monitor Polaris almost continuously for 4.5 years. Based in this very high-quality data, they suggest that Polaris is not evolving away from the “instability strip” due to long-term, one-way stellar evolution as astrophysicists thought, but instead is showing some kind of centuries-long, periodic behavior and no evolution at all.

So the mysteries of the North Star continue. The group’s paper will appear in the Astrophysical Journal.. You can read it as a preprint on the Astro-ph preprint server, which has been taking over from traditional journals as the main place where astronomy researchers share their news.

 

BIBLICAL ASTRONOMY SUBSCRIPTIONS

It is nearly that time of the year again to renew your subscriptions for the Biblical Astronomy newsletter. Next months issue will be the last issue for the July 2007 to June 2008 subscription year. If you subscribe to the online version of the newsletter, please wait until at least mid-June before you re-subscribe. I should have the new passwords for you in latter June. You will not need to use them until July. At the beginning of July all of the newsletters from July 2007 to June 2008 will go on the regular web page and will be free to view without a password. You will need a new password, however, to view the July 2008 to June 2009 newsletters online. If you are a postal subscriber, you can also view the newsletters online for no extra fee, but please write down your e-mail address so I can send you your password. The subscription fee for online subscribers is $12.00 for the July 2008/June 2009 subscription year.

The subscription fee for the July 2008/June 2009 subscription year for postal subscribers is $25.00 for domestic; $30.00 for Canada; and $35.00 for overseas. You can either order online via PayPal in the Biblical Astronomy Products Section or by check or money order for both online and postal subscriptions. Mail to the address in the header of this newsletter.

YHVH bless you richly through His Son Yehshua, Jesus Christ.
Bob Wadsworth

Shalom
Joseph F Dumond
www.sightedmoon.com
To write send e-mails to admin@sightedmoon.com

To read all past News Letters from last year go to: Sightedmoon Archives

 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.