I’m Looking at September 23, 2018
By Carl Worline
After so many excellent watch dates have come and gone I am trying to take a step back from it all while I try to see the bigger picture. I find it difficult, if not impossible, to express my frustrations at seeing so many pieces of the puzzle that are undeniably pointing directly at the rapture and yet I cannot make any of the pieces fit together properly. Every time it seems like things are falling into place the date they point to comes and goes with nothing happening.
Adding to this frustration is our inability to define a way to measure time. When does a year begin (Israel has four different New Year’s)? Which one do we count from? How long is a year? Do we count 360 days or 365 days? When do we throw in an extra month? We cannot even agree on when a day begins. Is it at midnight or is it at sunset. We have the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar, which are out of synchronization with each other by something like 11 days. And finally, trying to determine when important holidays and major feast days occur is (probably) my ultimate vexation. I swear, I have seen at the very least a half-dozen different dates proposed as being the “true” Pentecost for 2018.
The Feast of Trumpets, also know by several other names including Rosh Hashanah, has been a traditional watch date for the rapture for many reasons which are beyond the scope of this article. This year, the Feast of Trumpets is set to begin at sunset in Jerusalem on September 9th and end at sunset on September 11th. The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) begins at sunset on September 23rd and runs through sunset on September 30th. However, I have also read some compelling articles which suggest that the true Feast of Trumpets is really on September 23rd and 24th. If nothing happens this year on September 9th through the 11th I submit that September 23rd and September 24th will be excellent candidates for the rapture.
September 23, 2015, was a huge watch day. There were an incredible number of arrows pointing at that date. Not only was it Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement – holiest day of the year), but it was also being touted at the time as being the year of the 120th Jubilee. Islamic religious authorities were declaring it to be the year of the return of their Mahdi. The Pope (a strong candidate for the False Prophet) visited the White House for the first time in history. There were a multitude of date counts beginning or ending on this date. It was the autumn equinox. It was also the day of the Islamic Feast of Sacrifice. Movies and TV shows were filled with subtle (and no so subtle) messages pointing to September 23rd. It was even the International Day to Celebrate Bisexuality.
The list of indicators that September 23, 2015, was a significant watch date contained many other items which are too numerous to summarize here. Unfortunately, the Rapture of the Church did not happen on this date.
Exactly two years later was September 23, 2017, and it turned out to be even more promising. The sign described in Revelation 12 depicting the snatching away of the man child (Church) occurred exactly as prophesied. This sign had never happened before in recorded history and will never happen again (at least for many thousands of years – if even then).
In addition, there were a preponderance of additional signs pointing to this date. Once again, nothing happened.
Could it possibly be that September 23, 2015, was a 3-year warning that the end of the Age of Grace was at hand and the Rapture of the Church was about to take place?
Could September 23, 2017, have been a 1-year warning to us as well?
I mentioned earlier that some experts are suggesting that the Feast of Trumpets for 2018 really starts on September 23rd at sunset (instead of September 9th). On the more traditionally accepted calendar, it is the Feast of Tabernacles that begins at sundown on September 23rd (and runs through sunset on October 1st). Either way, the 23rd is an exceptionally significant day and worthy of our attention as a watch day.
I find it a bit humorous to think that September 23rd is also a Sunday. There are so many preachers in the world who refuse to acknowledge that this dispensation is about to expire, that the end of the Age of Grace is at hand, and the rapture of the Church is literally within day. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the rapture happened right in the middle of one of their boring sermons?
The Bible tells us that the road to hell is wide and the path to salvation is not only narrow, but that very few find it. We all travel along that road. Many of us diligently watch for that path hoping to find the proper exit. As I have mentioned in previous articles and posts, there are so many signs along the way at this point that it is becoming increasingly difficult to even see the road, itself, (much less the exits for the paths along the way).
We know that the End Times began on May 14, 1948, when prophecy was fulfilled and Israel became a nation again (and in a single day – just as prophesied in Isaiah 66:8). We also know from Matthew 24:34 that our journey will end within one generation. Regardless of how one defines a “generation,” we know that we have to be very close to that day. Very close, indeed.
Major signs of the rapture are coming at us at a fast and furious rate. They are far too numerous to even begin to list here. However, there are a pair of events that I would like to briefly mention because of there exceptional importance and the fact that they have received relatively little mention in the prophetic community as of late.
We are told in Joel 2:31 in the Old Testament and again in Acts 2:20 in the New Testament that the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord. This must be a pretty important End Time indicator to merit being mentioned in both the Old and the New Testaments. The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord, I believe, is the day when the current dispensation ends, the rapture takes place, and the period of tribulation like the world has never seen before begins.
There are solar eclipses and then there are solar eclipses. However, the most spectacular and significant eclipse for the Gentile world had to have been the Great American Eclipse that occurred on August 21, 2017. Every student of eschatology is aware of the incredible number of prophetic connections to this event. Solar eclipses have always been considered a bad omen for the Gentile world.
We have seen tetrads of blood moons falling on Jewish feast days and have known they were significant signposts for this age. Lunar eclipses have always been considered a bad omen for the Jewish nation and people. The super blood moon lunar eclipse visible over Jerusalem on July 27th complete with the planet Mars (symbolizing war) at its closest point to the earth was the most spectacular of the lunar eclipse of the century. Surely, this is the eclipse which turned the moon to blood that Joel 2:31and Acts 2:20 were talking about.
Something else that I find interesting is the order in which these events take place. First the sun turns to darkness and then the moon turns to blood shortly thereafter. That is exactly what just happened.
There are so many other relevant signs which we could discuss that I could easily write an entire book (and a thick one at that) on the subject. Unfortunately, such and endeavor would exceed the scope of this article. Suffice it to say that all of the events mentioned in the Bible that occur immediately before the rapture takes place are all well underway.
September 23, 2018 certainly qualifies as an excellent prospect for a watch day as we continue to carry out our duties as watchmen on the walls. I sincerely hope that the 23rd is the big day we have all been hoping for. If nothing happens, I will continue to look for an equally promising watch day beyond then.
Carl Worline