Perry Stone - The Joel 2 Harbingers
Summary:
The preacher teaches from the ancient ruins of Bashan (a Decapolis city destroyed by an earthquake in 749 AD) about signs of the end times, linking increased earthquakes, blood moon cycles on Jewish feast days, and volcanic activity to Joel 2's prophecy of the latter rain outpouring of the Holy Spirit after Israel’s restoration. He connects three modern blood moon tetrads (1949-50, 1967-68, 2014-15) with major spiritual revivals—the healing revival, Charismatic Renewal, and current youth outpourings—showing God is fulfilling these harbingers in our generation as the last days approach.
Teaching from Ancient Bashan
One of the most significant prophetic messages you’re about to hear, and I’m teaching it at an area called Bashan here in Israel. This was one of the ten cities of the Decapolis back in Roman times. This city, in the year 749, was destroyed by a major earthquake.
The first time we saw this city excavated was when they came to the columns that are in the great big, uh, I call it the highway. It’s the corridor there. The columns were all laying in one direction, where the earth shook and jerked back, and everything fell in one direction.
It was also here that they found a man’s body, actually a skeleton, and that skeleton had belonged to a person who had been killed when a column fell on them. They had gone into the temple to take the gold coins that had been given to an idol, and running out, they never made it to their freedom. A column fell and killed them. When the archaeologists dug the place out, they found the gold coins in the hand of a skeleton from 749 AD.
Now, I’m saying this to you for a reason. This was an ancient Roman city. The Romans were great builders. The Romans built roads. The Romans built boats. The Romans used the Latin language, which was known throughout the world back in their day. The Romans were also very significant when it came to occupying land, keeping the peace, and raising up a great military.
Parallels Between Rome and America
I don’t know if you’ve ever looked at the parallels that I’ve shared with people on the Manifest telecast over the years, but it is a fact that the ancient Roman Empire is connected politically to the United States of America.
You know, just as Rome’s emblem was an eagle, the emblem of America is also an eagle. Rome had a place called Capitolina, which was their Capitol Hill, and we have what’s called Capitol Hill. Rome had a Senate. We have a Senate. Rome released slaves back in their day, and we had a time when slaves were released.
There are probably 15 parallels, perhaps as high as 20, that can be compared between the United States of America and the Roman Empire. I’d like to say, for example, that where I am, I’m in a theater. The Romans were involved with chariot games, and they were involved, just as we are today, with races, games, and sports.
So my point, as I stand in this city, is that this city was built out of solid stone. The columns are marble. The rocks are massive. Yet in the eighth century, this city was destroyed by one earthquake.
Earthquakes as End-Time Signs
Now, the Bible says in Matthew’s gospel that there are going to be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in different places in the last days. That earthquakes are going to be a common occurrence, and they are going to increase with what’s called the birth pangs—Matthew chapter 24:8.
We believe—and there was an article written recently that said this—that in the evangelical community of America, the majority of evangelicals believed that everything happening with the famines and the earthquakes was not global warming but was simply a sign of the end times. Honestly, some may disagree with me, but I would have to agree with that.
What’s really taking place in our day and time are signs of the end of the age, signs that Jesus is coming back again. He predicted these things over 1900 years ago.
The Joel 2 Harbingers
But what I would like to do today is concentrate on what I call the Joel 2 harbingers. You see, in Acts chapter 2, I’m going to read this. The Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. Peter stands up and begins to tell the people, «You’re wondering what’s happened. You’re asking, 'What is this? ' I’m going to explain it to you.»
Peter then quotes from the prophet Joel. And he quotes from what we have in our Bible, Joel chapter 2. But in Acts 2, this is what Peter says:
«Peter standing up with the eleven lifted up his voice and said, 'You men of Judea and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you and hearken to my words. These are not drunk as you suppose, but it’s the third hour of the day. This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and my handmaidens, I will pour out of those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above, signs in the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon into blood before the great and notable day of the Lord come.'»
Peter’s Change from Joel
Now, if you look at the prediction recorded in Acts chapter 2, there is one major word that Peter has changed that is different from Joel chapter 2. Now, I’m going to flip over here to Joel chapter 2 and just read the early part of this and pay careful attention to how it’s worded.
Joel says this in Joel chapter 2, hundreds of years before the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost: «It shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.»
Now, the reason I point this out to you today, in the book of Acts chapter 2, Peter uses the phrase, «It shall come to pass in the last days, ” while Joel uses the phrase, „It shall come to pass afterwards.“ The phrases „afterwards“ and „last days“ identify two different time frames.
Please pay careful attention to this because it’s extremely important. When Peter is prophesying about the last days, he was not prophesying there about the last days leading to the return of Christ to rule and reign on the earth.
The Last Days of the Temple
Peter knew a prophecy given by Jesus, who had prophesied in Matthew 24 that not one stone would be left upon another that would not be thrown down in the city of Jerusalem. That the temple would be destroyed. In Luke’s gospel, they would cast a trench around the city of Jerusalem, and the Jewish people would have to flee to the mountains for their protection and safety.
Peter knew that prophecy; he knew that what he heard Jesus talk about is recorded in our Bible in Matthew 23: that because of the shedding of innocent blood, and because of the fact that Jerusalem had stoned the prophets, God was going to send judgment on that city, and it would happen—it’s in your Bible—within one generation.
In Psalms, in the book of Psalms, a generation of unbelief is 40 years. Jesus made predictions of the destruction of the temple somewhere, we believe, around 32 AD. In 70 AD, the Roman 10th Legion came in, destroyed the city of Jerusalem, burned the temple to the ground, and took the treasures back to Rome.
So, in other words, within 38 years, within a generation—a generation of unbelief again being 40 years—the words of Jesus were fulfilled.
So when Peter said, „It’s coming to pass in the last days God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, ” this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel; he was identifying the fact that there would be an outpouring of the Spirit that would happen in the last days of Jerusalem, the last days of the Jewish people, and the last days of the temple.
In other words, Peter’s prophecy quotes exactly the way it is in Joel, except he says „last days.“
Joel’s „Afterwards“ Explained
Now, if we go back to Joel, we notice that Joel said, „It shall come to pass afterwards, I will pour out my Spirit.“ Now my question is: after what? What is Joel talking about when he says, „It shall come to pass afterwards?“
Well, to understand what Joel is talking about, you have to go back and look at the context of what is recorded in the book of Joel.
The context recorded in the book of Joel is this: that he says God is going to restore the early rain and the latter rain, the wheat, the wine, the oil, and restore the years that the locust has eaten and restore the nation of Israel.
So Joel’s prophecy, as far as the context, is this: God is going to pour out His Spirit when Israel is restored as a nation.
Early and Latter Rain
Now remember, there is an early rain and a latter rain according to Joel and also according to Peter there in the book of Acts. The early rain, I believe, is the rain that fell at Pentecost, the rain that came in Acts chapter 2. Because the analogy of rain is used in the Bible for God pouring out His Spirit.
You know, God said, „I’ll pour water upon him that’s thirsty, floods upon dry ground. I’ll pour my Spirit out upon my seed and blessings upon your offspring.“ So God knew that in the last days that He would pour out His Spirit, but He also knew that in the early church He would do the same.
The first outpouring of the Spirit that came in the time of Peter and the days of the early church was an outpouring that swept the entire known Roman Empire. Literally, the gospel was preached around the world, and the Holy Spirit was poured out within 38 to 40 years leading up to the destruction of the temple. That was the last days Peter talked about.
But then there’s going to come another generation, praise God, where God’s going to pour out His Spirit after the restoration of Israel.
Blood Moons and Their Significance
Now here’s what I’ve got to share with you: some of my very dear friends talk about blood moons, and I start teaching on blood moons. What are blood moons? Lunar eclipses, and how rabbis considered lunar eclipses a sign connected to the nation of Israel.
I started teaching that from about 1996 to 1998 very heavily because I was in the city of Jerusalem right after a blood moon had taken place.
Now we didn’t know when we grew up, and the Bible said, „The moon shall be turned to blood, ” we had no clue what that meant. There was no pastor I talked to who could tell you what it means for the moon to turn to blood. One woman said, „I think the Russians and the Americans are going to fight on the moon and shed blood.“ No, that’s not what’s going to happen.
A blood moon, according to rabbinical sources and teaching, is when the moon is in a lunar eclipse during festival days.
You see, there have been thousands of lunar eclipses or blood moons, and none of them are significant unless they fall specifically on festival days.
Now, seven times in history, blood moons have fallen on the first day of Passover and the first day of Tabernacles.
Modern Blood Moon Cycles
I would like to give you something very interesting here: three significant dates in the past 60 to 70 years. I want to show you a connection that very few people have taught because they may not have been aware of it.
A blood moon series back-to-back on the first day of Passover and the first day of Tabernacles—Passover being the first feast of Israel, and Tabernacles being the last feast of Israel—happened in 1949 and 1950. Then, a few years later, in 1967 and 1968, it happened again. Years later, in 2014 and 2015, it happened again.
Meaning that a full lunar eclipse fell on the first day of Passover in all those years I just gave you and the first day of Tabernacles on back-to-back years.
Now, the law of probability of a blood moon falling on the Jewish calendar on the first day of Passover and the first day of Tabernacles two years back-to-back is so far-fetched that sometimes it takes hundreds of years for that to happen—400, 500 years, in some instances, a thousand years.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, there have been three of these cycles in which blood moons have fallen on the first of Passover and the first of Tabernacles in the past 60 to 70 years.
Blood Moons and Spiritual Revivals
Now I want to show you the connection: Joel, who talks about after Israel is restored, God would pour out His Spirit.
Okay, think about this for just a moment. He connects the sun being turned to darkness, which is a solar eclipse, with the moon being turned to blood, which is a lunar eclipse. He ties it into what? The outpouring of the Spirit.
Watch carefully. In 1948 and '49 were the first back-to-back blood moons, four of them on Passover. The first day of Passover, the first day of Tabernacles. Guess what happened during that time frame? Ready? The great healing revival, where over 160 evangelists—Gordon Lindsay reported about this—who Christ for the Nations put up their big tents all across America, packed those tents out, and miracles began to take place.
The healing revival started at the same time, the same year—1948—when Israel was restored as a nation. That’s significant because once Israel was restored as a nation—and I’m going to throw some names out there that some of you may have never heard of, you may not even know, but I’m familiar with William Branham, Oral Roberts, A.A. Allen, T.L. Osborn, Morris Cerullo, R.W. Shambach—all these men started their ministries predominantly in 1948, the same year Israel became a nation.
Now here’s the thing: God says when you see Israel restored, Joel, there’s going to be the sign of blood moons. Those blood moons came in 1949 and 1950 right after the start of the healing revival.
Now we know some of these men—I know Dr. Cerullo personally, and R.W. Shambach, I knew him personally, and we knew them as older men—but when they started their ministries, listen carefully: when Israel became a nation, they were young men. Some of them were 17, 19, 23, 25 years of age.
So God raised up young men at that time when Israel became a nation, coinciding with the first major modern cycle of 1949 and 1950 of the blood moons.
Second Cycle: 1967-68 and Charismatic Renewal
Now watch the second cycle and how this fits. The next cycle of blood moons that fell at Passover and Tabernacles on back-to-back years was 1967 and 1968.
Now let’s look at Israel prophetically. In '48, they became a nation. But something happened in '67. Jerusalem was a divided city between the east and the west. There was a great big concrete wall up, and there was barbed wire on the top. This area was called „No Man’s Land.“ In other words, the Israelis didn’t own it, and the Jordanians didn’t own it.
But in 1967, during a six-day war, Israel reunited the city of Jerusalem and tore down that barrier, which was called No Man’s Land, did away with the barbed wire, and united the East and the West together.
Watch carefully. During the next modern-day cycle of blood moons in '67 and '68, it represented barriers coming down. This was also the year—and this is amazing—when what was known as the Charismatic Renewal began.
It began among the Catholics in the northeast. It began among the Church of the Brethren in Pennsylvania. All of a sudden, the traditional Pentecostal churches—like the Church of God, the Assemblies of God, the Four Square, the Pentecostal Holiness—were already familiar with the gifts of the Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, etc.
However, the nominal churches basically were not. This move that happened in 1967 was the beginning of the Charismatic Renewal.
Now watch this: it fell directly on the same timeframe as Jerusalem being united together as the capital of Israel. What the Charismatic Renewal did is it eliminated much of the suspicion and unbelief that mainline people had toward the gifts of the Spirit and the baptism in the Holy Ghost. That was the second wave of blood moons.
Notice this: what I want to point out is that the blood moon cycles in modern times have aligned with outpourings of the Spirit. That’s what I want you to see.
Current Cycle: 2014-15 and Youth Outpourings
Now it’s interesting that we are now in the next cycle of blood moons. On April 15, 2014, a blood moon occurred. Then again in October of 2014, another blood moon occurred. We come to the spring months of Passover in 2015 and the first day of Tabernacles in 2015; another blood moon occurs.
Now, the last blood moon that occurs in Tabernacles of 2015 is the one that was seen all over Israel. Israel was able to see it; the first three they were not.
So if you look at this, it’s interesting that now there’s another outpouring happening among sons and daughters, taking place not only in North America but around the world.
I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but are you aware of the fact that in Brazil there is an outpouring of the Spirit among everyone 30 years of age and under? In Indonesia, many of the churches with tens of thousands of members are primarily 30 years of age and under.
I’ve been to Africa. It’s stunning to see the young people coming to the Lord in Africa. This is what God said He would do.
One of the heavenly cosmic signs Jesus said is there would be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars. What are the signs of the moon? I truly believe the revelation of the blood moon cycles falling on festival days in line with supernatural outpourings of the Holy Spirit is evidence and a sign to us that God is truly fulfilling the Joel 2 harbingers, the Joel 2 signs of the last days, pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh.
Volcanic Eruptions as Earthly Signs
Now I want to share something with you here that’s very significant. During the first blood moon of April 2015, I taught a message at OCI, our youth center. And by the way, for you watching from the Cleveland and Chattanooga areas, OCI is not just for youth; it’s for everybody on Tuesday nights. I want to make that clear, but we do have a lot of young people.
I said to them, according to Joel chapter 2, „Here’s how you will know if we are really in the true Joel 2 harbingers of the last days.“ Because God said that, along with the solar eclipses—the sun being darkened and the moon turning into blood, which are lunar eclipses—there’d be an outpouring of the Spirit. All that’s happened.
But He also said this: „I’ll show wonders in the heavens above, signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire, and vapor of smoke before the great and terrible day of the Lord.“
Now Joel says that these signs happen before the great and terrible day of the Lord, a phrase used to identify the great tribulation that is coming in the future.
What is blood? What is fire? What is vapor of smoke? I’ve done a lot of research on this, and let me tell you what it actually is: It’s a sign from under the earth of volcanic eruptions.
I was stunned when I was preaching at OCI in April of 2014—that was April 15th of 2014—and I said, „If we start seeing volcanic eruptions during the blood moon cycle, and they start increasing, we are absolutely unequivocally in the Joel 2 prophecy.“
And do you know what happened? While I am preaching, Jason, one of our young men, who works as a therapist, texted me, and right at that moment, there was a volcano erupting while the blood moon was taking place.
I don’t know if you’ve paid attention lately to the number of volcanic eruptions happening, but I had a list from the Smithsonian that one month before the first blood moon of April 2014, there were 20 places in the world where volcanoes were either rumbling, lava was coming out, or smoke was pouring out of the ground.
Volcanoes are an underground sign, while blood moons and eclipses in the sky are a heavenly sign.
Someone says, „Oh, but that’s been going on for years.“ You’re missing the point. It has to fall on certain feast days. Passover is the festival of redemption. Tabernacles is the festival of the kingdom which is coming to earth.
In other words, you see these things happening right now, and to me at least, it indicates we are living in the Joel 2 harbingers.
Final Encouragement and Call
There’s much more I could say about this. I have been involved in some of our major conferences. Because you know when we go to a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday conference, we always take Saturday night to do a major prophecy update.
So if we’re coming to your area for a weekend conference, you need to get there because this is where we teach this type of thing in great detail.
In fact, in most of our conferences, I share things with people that I prefer not to share on the telecast for different reasons.
But my point is simply this: there comes a time, ladies and gentlemen, when we really do go into the last days. There comes a time when the words that the prophets have spoken take place in our lifetime and in our day and time.
We can talk about—well, my grandfather said the Lord was coming; my dad taught me that, and my mom. Isn’t it wonderful? They kept the message alive so that you could believe it and hear it.
So, this is my message to you today that’s very important: if we are truly living in the last days, we’re going to have signs. And we have that. If we are truly living in the last days, God’s going to pour out His Spirit. And we are seeing that right now.
So your plan, your strategy, should be this: Number one, enter into a relationship with Christ and say, „I’m a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. I want to begin to walk with you and learn about you.“
Find you a good Bible and begin to study the word of God. Find a good church somewhere, a group of believers that you can share the word of God with—people that soundly preach the word of God.
Get baptized in the Holy Spirit and learn of the word, and share the word with others. We have to get this gospel out, and then the end will come. The signs are all around us.
I want you to stay tuned to Mana-Fest for the next few minutes as we share our offer this month. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s our offer that keeps Manifest on the air. So, if you want it to stay on in your city, help us by obtaining the resource that we have and supporting it as well. Thank you for that.
I’ll be back in just a moment from here, the city of Bashan, the ruins of an ancient Roman city from Christ’s time.