This Week we in North America will be treated to a pre-dawn “Blood Moon” on October 8 as we look back to the October 7, 1949 “ Blood Moon “during Billy Graham’s game changing Los Angeles Crusade.
We are indebted to Pastor John Hagee for publicizing the historical significance of the four “Blood Moons”, or groupings of four lunar eclipses, on Jewish Feast days in 1493-94, 1949-50, 1967-68, and which will occur on 2014-15. We believe that these events marked God’s expansion of His Church (See our Blog of 4/9/14, “Blood Moon Rising”) Our Blog of 9/17/14, “Columbus and his Blood Moon Voyage “shows how Columbus’s second voyage to the New World, begun on the Blood Moon at the Feast of Tabernacles in 1494, led to the Christianization of the New World.
In 1949 at the Blood Moon on the Feast of Tabernacles we saw God begin another great expansion of the Kingdom of God as the Evangelist Billy Graham went from being an unknown preacher to a household name in the eight weeks of his Los Angeles Crusade. Graham stated that the Crusade “marked a decisive turning point for our ministry”. Recognizing God’s powerful movement, Graham said “Something was happening that all the media coverage in the world could not explain.”
Something indeed was happening. It wasn’t that the Blood Moon caused to happen, but instead the Blood Moon was a sign that God was doing something historic. Since 1949 Billy Graham has preached in all 50 states and in 84 countries on all 6 inhabited continents. He has preached to over 100 million people in person and to over 2 billion people through radio, television, and the internet. Many millions have been added to the Kingdom of God through Billy Graham’s ministry.
As we look forward to the unfolding of God’s plan for this series of the Blood Moons in 2014 and 2015, one aspect of Graham’s ministry stands out. He would only accept a crusade invitation if the local Church was united in its desire for Bible based evangelism. Graham was responding to Christ’s prayer for unity among the believers as foundation for acceptance of the Gospel (Jn 17:22). It was this same desire which led Pope Francis to reach out to Evangelical Leaders earlier this year (See our Blog of 3/5/14 “Pope’s Unity Message Goes Viral”), with a positive response to His invitation for Christ centered unity coming from Evangelicals and Catholics alike.
So let us all be partners with Christ in His payer for unity, joining Billy Graham and Pope Francis to work for unity in Christ so that we can spread the Gospel message.
The fields are white with harvest.