Why the September 23, 2017 “Prophecy” of the “Revelation 12 Sign” is Totally Bogus

The constellation Virgo. Foreboding a fulfillment of the Book of Revelation, of the “woman clothed with the sun?” I think not.

Some folks have a bit too much time on their hands.

We had the whole four blood moons tetrad thing, a few years ago. Then we had the “mystery of the Shemitah.” Now, coming September 23, 2017, we have the fulfillment of the “Revelation 12 Sign.” Falling close to the heals of today’s, August 21, solar eclipse, across the U.S., some even see this as signaling “the Rapture” of the church.

This latest “End Times” fad has an informative writeup now on Wikipedia. Basically, the constellations Virgo and Leo, along with the sun, moon, and a bunch of planets, are going to be in alignment, and this is supposed to fulfill a kind of prophecy in Revelation 12:1-2:

“And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.“(Revelation 12:1-2 ESV)

I want to get out ahead of this thing a bit and make my own prediction: NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN.

Or to put it more accurately, if something prophetic is going to happen, (and it always could, as Jesus told us that the Son of Man does not even know the time), it will have nothing to do with astronomical phenomena viewed through some sketchy interpretations of the Bible. As with the four blood moons tetrad and the “mystery of the Shemitah,” prophecy predictions like this have a 100% failure rate.

This should be pretty obvious, but in our era of “fake news,” it seems like almost anything is believable. If you think I am just an unbelieving naysayer, do not take my word for it. Look into some detailed rebuttals to the whole “Revelation 12 Sign” business and get the scoop:

• Answers in Genesis Danny Faulkner. His approach to Young Earth Creationism is controversial, but he is no doubt on target with this one.
• Premillennial Bible teacher, Joel Richardson, talks a lot about an Islamic Antichrist threatening Israel, making some people scratch their heads, but his message on the “Revelation 12 Sign” is quite sober.
• My favorite here would be Logos Software’s Michael S. Heiser, host of the Naked Bible Podcast. He just tells it like it is, and tells it very briefly.

As folks today (August 21, 2017) step outside to try to catch a glimpse of the Great American Eclipse, some might want to tie this eclipse together with the September 23, “Revelation 12” sign, as predicting some type of prophetic event, warning of God’s judgment. The Bible has plenty of warnings of God’s judgment, encouraging folks to get right with God. My advice is that believers should turn those speculative conversations around, and simply take in and celebrate the wonder of God’s creative majesty on display today.

I do not plan on braving the traffic down in South Carolina today, but if anyone is planning to go to view the eclipse, in its totality, save some photos and upload them to the blog, will ya??

P.S. : Old Testament scholar Claude Mariottini has nice blog entry today examining solar eclipses in the Old Testament.