Pr. Joseph Abrahamson of Clearwater Lutheran Parish-Northwestern MN
Holding stated: "Now, it's open to question whether or not Joel is referring to literal eclipses in that particular passage. In that period in which Joel wrote, the biblical peoples considered the sun and the moon to be symbols of political entities. And we do the same thing, of course: we have the fifty stars on the American flag--each star representing a state. And so Joel's message is very much more likely something saying governments are going to fall. That's what he means by the sun and the moon being eclipsed. Rather than that he's referring to some literal eclipse."We should clarify first that when the Bible uses the phrase "blood moon" it does not necessarily refer to an eclipse. The phrase is found only in Joel 2:31; Acts 2:20, and Revelation 6:12.
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.Here is how Scripture teaches us that this prophecy has already been fulfilled. Peter, preaching on Pentecost said:
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:And here Peter quotes Joel 2:28-32 up to the word "saved." What was the sound of the rushing mighty wind? Why could these Twelve Galilean men speak all these different languages fluently? "This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel"!
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— (Acts 2)What was it that they were witnesses to? Peter appeals what they had witnessed of Jesus in the last three years of festivals when they had come to Jerusalem. But he exhorts them to focus on what took place 50 days ago by saying:
23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.The outpouring of the Holy Spirit to which they were now witnesses was tied together by Joel with the the darkening of the sun and of the moon. There would be wonders in the heavens. And there would be wonders in the earth.
45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27)Just to be clear. This could not have been a solar eclipse. Passover is on the full moon. At that time the moon is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun. The sun was darkened by God through some other method. And as the greater light to rule the day was darkened, the lesser light which ruled the night by reflecting the sun's light would also be darkened.
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.There was also the earth quake the morning of the first day of the week after the crucifixion. Peter directs his hearers to remember all these signs that they saw and heard. Each of these signs was in fulfillment of what God promised through His prophet Joel. All of these done to point the people back to the written Word of God about His Messiah. All focusing on the Work of Christ for our salvation and His resurrection.
51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”(Matthew 27)
All this is impressive, and must be significant, but needs to be put in a wider perspective. These are almost all unusually sophisticated and elaborate structures of their kind, and as such highly atypical. None of the other fifty-odd cursuses known in Britain has obvious solar alignments, nor do any of the other passage graves, which number over a hundred. ... To sum up, it is clear that at particular times and places in British and Irish prehistory the cardinal points of the sun, and particularly the winter solstice, had considerable ritual importance. None the less, the vast majority of prehistoric monuments in these islands do not relate to any of them, so that no overall or enduring pattern of cult can be detected. Furthermore, a considerable gulf separates all these monuments from the pre-Roman British Iron Age, not one of the temples of which has yet been found to have possessed a significant solar alignment. (Stations of the Sun, p. 4-5)Thus, these prehistoric “Celtic” sites do not demonstrate any consistent preoccupation with the solstices. Furthermore, these prehistoric monumental sites cannot be considered relics originally representative of Celtic religiosity. Modern people have projected a sense of Celticness on these monuments because they exist in what are considered Celtic lands. The problem is that these monumental structures predate any people group that could be called Celtic by at least 1,000 years.
Then doth the ioyfull feast of John the Baptist take his turne,Notice that Naogeorgus does not claim the people were pagan, nor does he claim that the people thought the Burning Wheel represented the sun. Rather he conjectures about the Burning Wheel as "resembling much the sun which should fall down from the heavens."
When bonfiers great with loftie flame, in euery towne doe burne:
And yong men round about with maides, doe daunce in euery streete,
With garlands wrought of Motherwort, or else with Veruain sweete,
And many other flowres faire, with Violets in their handes,
Whereas they all do fondly thinke, that whosoeuer standes,
And thorow the flowres beholds the flame, his eyes shall feele no paine.
When thus till night they daunced haue, they through the fire amaine
With striuing mindes doe runne, and all their hearbes they craft therein,
And then with wordes deuout and prayeres, they solemnely begin,
Desiring God that all their illes may there consumed bee,
Whereby they thinke through all that yeare, from Agues to be free.
Some others get a rotten wheele, all worne and rast aude,
Which coured round about with strawe, and tow, they closely hide:
And caryed to some mountaines top, being all with fire light,
They hurle it downe with violence, when darke appears the night:
Resembling much the Sunne, that from the heauens down should fal,
A straunge and monstrous sight it seemes, and fearful to them all:
But they suppose their mischiefes are all likewise throwne to hell,
And that from harmes and daungers now, in safetie here they dwell.
(Reprint of The popish kingdome, by T. Naogeorgus, Engl. by B. Googe, ed. by R.C. Hope, 1880, page 55)
Before all else, I denounce and contest, that you shall observe no sacrilegious pagan customs. For no cause or infirmity should you consult magicians, diviners, sorcerers or incantators, or presume to question them because any man who commits such evil will immediately lose the sacrament of baptism. Do not observe auguries or violent sneezing or pay attention to any little birds singing along the road. If you are distracted on the road or at any other work, make the sign of the cross and say your Sunday prayers with faith and devotion and nothing inimical can hurt you. No Christian should be concerned about which day he leaves home or which day he returns because God has made all days. No influence attaches to the first work of the day or the [phase of the] moon; nothing is ominous or ridiculous about the Calends of January. [Do not] make [figures of?] vetulas, little deer or iotticos or set tables at night or exchange New Years' gifts or supply superfluous drinks. No Christian believes impurity or sits in incantation, because the work is diabolic. No Christian on the feast of Saint John or the solemnity of any other saint performs solestitia [solstice rites?] or dancing or leaping or diabolical chants. No Christian should presume to invoke the name of a demon, not Neptune or Orcus or Diana or Minerva or Geniscus or believe in these inept beings in any way. No one should observe Jove's day in idleness without holy festivities not in May or any other time, not days of larvae or mice or any day but Sunday. [emphasis added]The bolded sentence above is the one sentence that modern pagans and others quote. Two things are important to note:
(Saint Ouen of Rouen: The Life of Saint Eligius, Book 2, sec. 16)
No Christian on the feast of Saint John or the solemnity of any other saint performs solestitia [summer solstice rites] or dancing or leaping or diabolical chants.Notice the interpretation of solestitia as "summer solstice rites". This has become the fixed interpretation of the word only in modern times from Neopagan and Wiccan sources.
[wikipedia, witchesofthecraft, pagan-place, timessquare, etc...]
This is the second of three articles on the Nativity of St. John and its relationship with the Pagan Midsummer. In the previous article we looked at the documentation about the origins of the Feast of St. John's Nativity. In this article we will look at the claim about ancient pagan origins and the information available to evaluate these claims.
Summer Solstice (also Litha). One of the most important and widespread solar festivals of Europe, and universal around the world. The Sun God dies. In European tradition, the night before the solstice is a time of great magic, especially for love charms. Certain herbs picked at midnight will bring luck and protect against ill fortune. Contact with the fairy realm is easier. Bonfires are lit to help the Sun change its course in the sky, and rites resemble those for Beltane. Burning wheels are rolled downhill, and burning disks hurled at the Sun. The peak of power of the Sun God is manifested in the flourishing of crops and livestock. Celebrants jump over fires. The Christian Church absorbed the holiday as St. John's Day, for St. John the Baptist. (p. 357)
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| With a Temple of the Sun. |
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| Computer reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism from 100BC Greece thought to be a Mechanical Calendar |
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary....
35 And the angel answered and said to her, "... 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”The Biblical text does not necessarily mean that the conceptions and births of John and Jesus were exactly six months apart to the day. But this arrangement provided an easy to remember date for the celebration of St. John the Baptizer's nativity.
Natus est Ioannes hodie:By the time bishops met in France for the Council of Agde in 506 A.D. the festival of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist had been widely established throughout the Eastern and Western Church.
ab hodierno minuuntur dies.
Natus est Christus octavo calendas ianuarias:
ab illo die crescunt dies.
Ioannes in passione capite est diminutus,
Christus in ligno est exaltatus. (sermo 287:4)
John is born today:
from this day the days diminish.
Christ is born on the 8 Kalends of January (Dec. 25th):
from that day the days continue to grow.
John was diminished through his suffering by the loss of his head,
Christ was exalted through his suffering on the tree.