GOOD HEAVENS!

Is 2nd Coming of Jesus etched in night sky?

'The devil perverts everything God has. There's nothing wrong with biblical astronomy'

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By Joe Kovacs
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

Is it possible the return of Jesus Christ to Earth has been foretold not only in the Bible, but also in the night sky since the creation of the universe?

The constellation known as Bo-otes, or "the Coming One," shows a man with a sickle coming to reap a harvest, and, according to some, is a heavenly sign predicting the return of Jesus to Earth.

A Christian minister who uses NASA tracking of solar and lunar eclipses in his teaching of the great event is now explaining how at least one constellation is an outright declaration of the "Second Coming."
In a new DVD series called "Studies in Our Hebrew Roots," Mark Biltz, pastor of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash., revisits what he and some others believe is the biblical plan of God on display in the physical heavens.
Probe the heavens like you never have before with this fascinating 8-DVD set that also explores more of Christianity's Hebrew roots!
In his videotaped lectures, Biltz focuses on a star called Arcturus, which is mentioned in the Old Testament Book of Job: "Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south." (Job 9:9)
If one were to consult a map of the night sky, Arcturus could be found in the "left knee" of a constellation called Bo-otes (often spelled Bootes), meaning "the Coming One," depicted as a warrior coming to harvest, according to Biltz, citing previous research by noted 19th century Bible scholar E.W. Bullinger who wrote "The Witness of the Stars."
Biltz explains the Hebrew word translated as "Arcturus" in Job comes from the same root word found in the Book of Joel discussing the return of Jesus, but is rendered in Joel 3:11 as "assemble."
"The word 'assemble' is the same word that is translated as 'Arcturus' in Job," he said. "So it means the same thing, to assemble, to come. And if you'll notice the word 'come' is 'bo,' which is the name of this constellation: 'Bo-otes.' So this constellation .... He's got a sickle in one hand and a spear in the other. This is a sign of the Messiah who says 'I'm coming.' That's what this constellation is all about, the Coming One. In Revelation it talks about He has a sickle in His hand."
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The Book of Revelation states from the apostle John's perspective, "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. ... And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." (Revelation 14:14-16)

NASA says the afterglow of a 2008 gamma ray burst in the Bo-otes constellation is the most intrinsically bright object ever observed by humans in the universe. (Click for larger image)

Interestingly, on March 19, 2008, a powerful gamma ray burst detected by NASA's Swift satellite in the Bo-otes constellation shattered the record for the most distant object that could be seen with the naked eye.
"It was a whopper," said Swift principal investigator Neil Gehrels of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This blows away every gamma ray burst we've seen so far."
NASA said the afterglow "was 2.5 million times more luminous than the most luminous supernova ever recorded, making it the most intrinsically bright object ever observed by humans in the universe."
The sheer brilliance of the event led some Christian analysts to suggest it was an indicator that Jesus would come back soon.
"I believe that this sign in the heavens points to the imminent return of Christ to judge His household," wrote Joseph Herrin of the Georgia-based Heart4God website. "We do live at the end of the age. It has been 6,000 years since Adam and 2,000 years since Christ first appeared. ... This sign in Bootes is another witness, and those who have set themselves apart to follow the Lord can anticipate what is to come."
Others, including Dr. T. L. Marshall of Community Bible Church in Brooksville, Fla., have been promoting the biblical study of the zodiac for years.
"The truth is that almost every ancient civilization stressed the importance of the zodiac," Marshall writes on zodiactruth.com. "But why? Is it just some ancient religion? The answer might surprise you! Are you ready for this? God drew the zodiac. 
"God drew the lines in the night sky which connected just the right stars to form just the right pictures which, when taken all together, form just the right story of His incredible grace and mercy, and His amazing plan to save mankind from the curse of sin."
While the Bible itself condemns astrology, Biltz says there's a big difference between astronomy, the study of objects and matter outside the earth's atmosphere, and astrology, the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions. He claims the astronomical truth of God has been twisted into astrological confusion by Satan the devil himself.
"I am totally against astrology," says Biltz. "Astrology is evil. I want nothing to do with that, but the devil perverts everything God has. That's what he does. There's nothing wrong with biblical astronomy. The big difference is, astrology says, 'It's all about you.' Believe me, you're very sweet, but it's not about you. It's all about God, and when we have the proper perspective that it's not about us, it's all about Him and to glorify Him then we'll have a proper understanding."

Total lunar eclipses often make the moon appear red

The constellation connection is just part of Biltz's message, as he also goes into an in-depth analysis of how God is signaling his followers through other sky phenomena, as WND first reported two years ago.
Biltz began focusing on the precise times of both solar and lunar eclipses, sometimes called "blood moons" since the moon often takes on a bloody color. He logged onto NASA's eclipse website which provides precision tracking of the celestial events.

He noted a rare phenomenon of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, known as a tetrad.

He says during this century, tetrads occur at least six times, but what's interesting is that the only string of four consecutive blood moons that coincide with God's holy days of Passover in the spring and the autumn's Feast of Tabernacles (also called Succoth) occurs between 2014 and 2015 on today's Gregorian calendar.
Regarding this rare cluster of eclipses in that one-year span, Biltz said: "The religious calendar starts with a total solar eclipse. And then two weeks later on Passover, you have a total lunar eclipse, followed by a solar eclipse on the Feast of Trumpets followed by another total lunar eclipse on Succoth all in 2015. Now is God trying to tell us something? Is He sending any signals? I almost feel like the coach on a baseball team, frantically [waving], 'Will you please steal the base?!'"
Biltz is careful, though, not to say that Jesus is definitely returning between 2014 and 2015.
"I'm not telling you what's gonna happen," he said. "I'm not gonna tell you this is the beginning, the middle, the end or anything of the tribulation. ... All I'm telling you, [is] you can put this in your own theological pipe and smoke it like you want. All I'm saying is God is sending some signals here."
Hal Lindsey, a well-known biblical commentator and author of "The Late Great Planet Earth," told WND in 2008 that Biltz's analysis was "pure speculation."

"In my 50-something years of studying prophecy, to me the greatest indication of the time of Christ's return is based around the general things of prophecies coming together in the same time frame."

He mentioned not only Israel's birth as a political state in 1948, but the increase in tensions with Muslims, the rise of Russia, China and the European Union, which he says is even "calling itself the revived Roman Empire."

"I see the whole sweep and panorama spinning together in a precise scenario," Lindsey said.