On September 11, 2001 the world watched in horror as the World Trade Center Towers burned and then collapsed. We Christians wondered how God could let such a thing happen.

Now, many years later, we have discovered that God sent a prophet and a sign in the Heavens to invite us to repent and save ourselves from disaster. We did not heed God’s warning, and we suffered the consequences.

In 2017 God is sending us another sign in the Heavens. Once again God will invite us to repent and return to Him, and warn us of dangers to come if we do not. Once again we will have to choose between following God or not, and receiving blessings or curses.   

On July 8, 1998 Prophet Chuck Pierce gave a prophetic word of invitation and warning which identified a 40-day period of cleansing from defilement and idolatry between July and October. This period was clearly recognizable as the 40-day Teshuvah season, which ran from August 22, 1998 to September 30, 1998. We started praying during Teshuvah as the word from God had instructed, but it was not until later that we really understood the message we had been given.

In the prophecy, God identified three major issues which would challenge the Church. First, the Church had become brittle and inflexible, and would have to change its governmental administration. The second challenge was the rapid rise of Islamic government around the world and even in the U.S. Lastly, there was a spirit of lawlessness which was rising rapidly and would be attached to the U.S. and its government.

The Church was invited to repent of its defilement and idolatry during Teshuvah and receive God’s plans concerning the next three years. If the Church prayed and followed God’s plans, a new structure would arise which would be more flexible and able to survive the shaking to come. There would be blessings and favor as the Church shook off discouragement, disillusion, and disinterest. God would visit U.S. cities of New York, Washington DC, Detroit, Miami, Houston, Dallas, and Phoenix, and would also move in Rome and Greece. The new Church structure God wanted to bring into being would have the power to overcome the challenges of Islamic government and lawlessness. 

God also warned us of what would happen if we did not repent. If the Church did not follow God’s plan for building over the next three years, the plan the Church followed would not be from Him and would fail. Failure to repent would also not stop the disaster which was set to occur in the U.S. The nation would be in crisis and chaos by 2004 if we did not seek God. 

As we began praying, we paid no attention to the Solar Eclipse of August 22 which occurred on the first day of Teshuvah. We did not understand the seriousness of the prophecy spoken by Chuck Pierce or the sign of the Teshuvah Eclipses until much later. 

In the summer of 1999 a group of intercessors made a prayer journey to France to intercede for the Church and the nation of France. 

Our prayer assignment took us to many places in France, from the ancient Celtic site and Cathedral of Chartres to modern Parisian Secular-spirit locations. We scheduled our visit to Reims, the coronation city of French kings, to coincide with a solar eclipse which would be visible there on August 11, 1999. It seemed like all of Europe was in Reims for the eclipse, and the weather was cloudy. But the clouds opened, and we were able to pray through the eclipse. 

Solar eclipses are very different from the lunar eclipses, which have been popularized in recent years. In a lunar eclipse the moon moves slowly into Earth’s shadow. As the eclipse approaches totality, the Sun’s rays are refracted through Earth’s atmosphere, and the Moon turns the reddish color which gives lunar eclipses the name “Blood Moons.” Lunar eclipses occur at night and are normally visible from about half of Earth’s surface.

As we have learned in recent years, Blood Moons play an important role in God’s revelation. (See our book The Mystery of the Blood Moons) On the Hebrew lunar calendar, the only calendar God uses, the Blood Moons can occur on the Feast Days of Passover or Tabernacles. These feast days prophetically point to the shedding of Christ’s Blood as our Passover sacrifice and the ingathering of God’s family at the Feast of Tabernacles. The Blood Moons are a sign of the Holy Spirit’s outpouring and salvation (Acts 2:17:21), and the overcoming of evil by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11).

Solar eclipses, on the other hand, occur when the Moon comes between the Sun and Earth and the shadow of the Moon moves across Earth’s surface. Unlike the lunar eclipse, which can normally be seen from half of Earth, a total solar eclipse can only be seen in a strip of land about 60 miles wide. The total solar eclipse will travel thousands of miles, but will only be visible for about 2 minutes in any location. Thus, only a small area of land is covered by a solar eclipse.

The early stages of a solar eclipse are barely noticeable. As the Moon covers the Sun, there is not a visible decrease in the Sun’s brightness. The outline of the Moon can be only seen through thick lenses like welder’s glass (looking directly into the Sun will blind a person), or in the shadows under a leafy tree. Then, as totality approaches, the atmosphere changes. A chill breeze blown in from the path of totality arrives. This can be startling and even frightening to the uninitiated. It is a reminder of the darkness of the Day of the Lord (Amos 5:20) and the judgment of God. On the Hebrew Feast Calendar, the only one which occurs on the first day of the lunar month when solar eclipses can occur is the Feast of Trumpets, which celebrates the Second Coming of Jesus on the Day of the Lord. Thus, the solar eclipse is a warning of judgment to come.

Once the shock of the arrival of totality passes, a great, glorious picture appears in the sky. The Sun and Moon come together, symbolizing the unity of the believers, who are represented by the Moon (Psalm 89:37), in the Sun, which represents Christ (Psalm 19:4, 5). (See our book The Stars of His Coming) Surrounding the united Sun and Moon is the Corona, or Crown, of the Sun which is only visible during an eclipse. There is no better sign of unity of Christ and His Church, symbolizing the prayer of Christ in John 17.

Teshuvah, the 40-day season of repentance, begins on the first day of the sixth month known an Elul, and the solar eclipses which occur on Teshuvah add to the meaning of Teshuvah. The Teshuvah Eclipses are signs of coming judgment, like the Trumpets Eclipses, but are also signs of unity in the presence of God. Thus, the Teshuvah Eclipses are both an invitation to return to God and a warning of judgment.

After the two minutes of totality in Reims in 1999, the path of totality sped off across Europe, through Iran and Afghanistan, and then on through Asia. We prayed that there would be repentance in the French Church and an outpouring of the Spirit. We did not connect the 1999 Teshuvah Eclipse to the prophetic word given by Chuck Pierce in 1998 until much later.  As the Teshuvah Eclipses of 1998 and 1999 passed into history, the prophecy of Chuck Pierce seemed to have faded from memory as well. However, the Word of God does not return void and from this distance, it is clear to see that the Church was being warned of major historic threats. It is also clear that the Church did not accept God’s invitation to repent and avert disaster.

Things started happening during Teshuvah of 1998. On September 11, 1998 it was publicly revealed that Bill Clinton, the President of the United States, had committed adultery, abused an intern, abused his power, and then lied to the American people and while under oath. When President Richard Nixon had been caught lying in 1974, members of the political party that voted him into office went to the White House to force Nixon’s resignation. In 1998 members of the political party that voted Bill Clinton into office went to the White House and announced that they would keep him in office despite his immorality and lawbreaking.

As a result, a spirit of lawlessness was loosed on the nation, as warned by Chuck Pierce. President Clinton was impeached but, as they promised, his supporters kept him in office. The subsequent election of 2000 left much bitterness as the political party that had supported him lost in a controversial election. The bitterness led to destructive partisanship and a lawless disregard for the good of the nation. One of the most damaging instances of this lawless behavior was the sabotage by Clinton’s party of the oversight of government mortgage companies, which led to the financial collapse of 2008. The new Obama Administration elected in 2008 escalated partisan bitterness and established a policy of lawlessness, ignoring existing laws and the constitutional checks and balances. During this Administration, lawlessness produced the forced acceptance of gay marriage, increased crime from political abuse of police, and attacks on freedom of religion.

Obviously, the Church had failed to repent and follow the three-year plan outlined in the Pierce prophecy. Exactly three years from the announcement of Clinton’s immorality, instead of God’s plan being in place, almost 3,000 Americans died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack; almost 6,000 were injured. The source of this attack was terrorists living in Afghanistan, one of the countries passed over by the 1999 Teshuvah Eclipse. By 2004 the U.S. was in political crisis and at war with the Islamist factions in Afghanistan and Iraq, just as warned by the Pierce prophecy. Sadly, the Obama Administration sacrificed the American victories in Iraq and opened the way for expansion by the Islamists. Today Islamists threaten the stability of the entire Muslim world from Morocco to Indonesia. And the Europeans, who were also in the warning path of the 1999 Teshuvah Eclipse, have all but been invaded by Islamic terrorists and refugees. 

The cities mentioned in Chuck Pierce’s prophecy have been visited by God either for blessing or judgment based on their response to God’s Teshuvah invitation. Prior to the 9/11 attacks on New York, the City had effectively demonstrated to God that He wasn’t wanted when the people in New York City ignored Clinton abuses and immortality and elected Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, to the U.S. Senate. The City had no spiritual protection when the attack came. Washington D.C. was also targeted on 9/11, but the attackers failed to strike the main objective, the White House, because President Bush was covered by intercessory prayer. The city of Detroit refused to change its ways and eventually went bankrupt. The cities of Houston and Dallas became revival centers and have prospered. Rome has seen movement towards unity and revival, while Greece has spent itself into poverty.

The failure of the Church to deal with increasing lawlessness and the rise of Islam was caused not only by failure to repent but also by the failure of the Church’s governmental political strategy. Beginning with Ronald Reagan, much of the Evangelical Church in the U.S. had come to believe that political involvement was the way to counteract the increasing secularization and degeneration of American society. The strategy seemed to have worked during the Reagan and first Bush administrations, and it was hoped that the success would be repeated during the second Bush administration. Unfortunately, the U.S. population continued its backsliding, and the political position of the Church has deteriorated to the point that the very right to religious freedom is at risk.

As the Church political structure has been shaken, God is taking the Church back to its mission of evangelism, for only changed hearts can save a nation. He has made a distinction between those places which follow him, like Dallas and Houston, and these who did not, like New York.

God sent the Blood Moons of 2014-2015 as a sign that He is pouring out His Spirit to revive us again. Beginning in 2014, an outreach by Pope Francis to Kenneth Copeland, a leader in the Charismatic Movement, has led to a Unity Revival in answer to Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17. And, as the Church comes together, an evangelical outpouring can come as unity in the Church shows the world that God sent Christ to save them