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Severe Stress in ShemitahSeptember 2015
I almost missed it! Sure, I knew that the world is a huge mess. There’s Putin and Iran and China and a myriad of fears fueled by fearmongers. There’s massive uncertainty about the roller coaster ride of the stock market! And, I don’t mean to be trite, but as all Chicago Cubs (an American Major League baseball team) fans know, there’s also the fact that this current Cubs team has a good chance of breaking“the curse of the goat” by making it to the World Series – their first since 1945.
During the last week or two of August a few people asked me about Shemitah. I knew about the goat curse of the Cubs but here I am, a Christian minister, and I had no idea about Shemitah, so I had to look it up. Before I looked it up, silly me, I would have believed you if you told me that Shemitah was a new electric car or another new raw fish craze, like sushi. But then, finding outShemitah was now presumed to be another “sign of the end” I had a few more conversations with people who were 1) really worried about all of the doomsday predictions for September 2015 and 2) others were really worried that their family and friends were buying up freeze dried food and moving to the middle of Kansas to get ready for Shemitah.
Shemitah refers to an old covenant mandated cycle I am well aware of, but until now, not by that name. According to the old covenant, Shemitah is a seven year land rest for the land, and “at the end of every seven years you must cancel debts” (Deuteronomy 15:1). The last day of the Shemitah this year is September 13.
According to the current doomsday prophecies and their prognosticators, since September 13 is on a Sunday, then either Friday, September 11 or Monday, September 13, the U.S. stock market will crash. But I don’t get it – they are all saying the Dow Jones will crash. But the United States is in massive debt to the Chinese. So, wouldn’t it be just as logical to predict that President Obama will sign another executive order, and declare that the entire United States will now live by the stipulations of the old covenant? That would be convenient, wouldn’t it? Then, wouldn’t it make sense that Obama would then inform President Xi Jinping that because of Shemitahthe United States has no debts to China whatsoever. Won’t the Shanghai markets crash and won’t the Dow Jones soar?
According to the end times marching and chowder society, September 15 will be another cataclysmic day, because again, according to the old covenant, September 15 begins the Jubilee Year. The Jubilee Year, explained in the 25th chapter of Leviticus, follows a cycle of seven Shemitahs – seven cycles of seven years. Among other stipulations, because landcannot be sold permanently (Leviticus 25:25) all those whose real property was taken or sold during the previous 50 years may now return to their property (Leviticus 25:13).
Okay, we’re not done yet – but just a question. The vast majority of those predicting end-of-the-world upheavals are doing so in the name of Jesus, but all their predictions are based on the law of Moses. So how does that work exactly? Where is Jesus in all of this lunacy?
I consulted several of the Shemitahsoothsayers and discovered other important dates in September when “something is going to happen” – here’s a list of their dates when “something is going to happen” (now there’s a safe bet!)along with my commentary – just in case you want to put this list on your refrigerator:
September 11 or 13 – as stated earlier, since the end of Shemitah is on Sunday then either Friday, September 11 or Monday, September, September 13, the stock market will crash. This seems like another safe bet, since the stock market has been crashing for several weeks already.
September 14 is Rosh Hashanah – one of the seven annual holy days of the old covenant. And, for Christ followers, this means ?
September 23 is Yom Kippur – another of the seven annual holy days of the old covenant. And, the significance of this day for Christ followers is ?
September 23 the Pope arrives at the White House to meet with President Obama. For all those conspiracy theorists who suspect the Catholics and Obama of being in cahoots to destroy the world, this is a dream nexus.
September 24 the Pope addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress.
September 28 the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) begins – a celebration of harvest. Why is it that so-called Christian prognosticators are basing their calculations and predictions on Jewish holy days? Yes, these days are in the Old Testament (old covenant) of the Bible, but Christians live in and by the new covenant, following the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus, so where does anyone, in Jesus’ name, get off saying that God is now reverting to the old covenant? There are significant dates during September regarded as critically important within Islam, as well as the Hindu and Jain religions. Why exclude those dates?
September 28 will also feature a Blood Moon – for the current crop for end-of-the-world jeremiads, this fourth and final eclipse in a tetrad – four consecutive lunar eclipses carries particular significance. They quote Revelation 6:12 (out of context, but what’s new?) –“the moon became like blood.”
September 23, 27 and 28 –three asteroids are anticipated to pass close to the earth. Apparently soothsayers have caused so much anxiety about these heavenly bodiesthat NASA issued a statement saying that the chances of an impact or direct hit on the earth at or around that time, or within the next few hundred years for that matter, are next to zero. But what do they know?
By the way, since so many of these end-time prophets say they are Christians, but cherry pick parts of the old covenant as it pleases them, they might also want to consider what the old covenant has to say about false prophets and soothsayers.
Finally, the “curse of the goat.”The last time the Chicago Cubs played in the World Series was 1945. The owner of a tavern called “Billy Goat Tavern” was asked to leave the Cubs’ home field (Wrigley Field) as the Cubs played the Detroit Tigers during the World Series. It seems the odor of his pet was bothering other fans seated near him. Angry because he was ejected from the game he is reported to have declared, “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.”
Most interpretations of this non-specific curse of the goat, especially as the decades rolled by without the Cubs making it to the World Series, have been about a curse on all hopes that the Cubs will ever again appear in the World Series. As I write, the odds of the Cubs winning the World Series (which begins on October 27) are about 14-1 but I seriously doubt that any of the odds makers have included the difficulties the Cubs (and apparently all the rest of us) are going to have just getting through September. Perhaps, after all is said (and lots of stuff is being said, that’s for sure) and done, the curse of the goat will continue!
-Greg Albrecht