For those who believe with me that Daniel 8 is an end-time prophecy referring to the anti-Christ, you ought to consider how implicitly it reveals his acting violently against Israel for "2300 evenings and mornings" (v 14), that terminology serving the same purpose as in Genesis 1, to assure readers that the periods are literally 24 hours long, and not symbolic for other time units (e.g. years).

Whereas some pre-tribulationists, and others, will associate this period with the ancient Israeli invasions of Antiochus IV, the text is quite explicit in the following admission made by an angel, "it is for the appointed time of the end" (v 17). That language is emphatic and clear.

We can appreciate the LORD's revelation of the 2300-day period because the anti-Christ's invasion into Israel is elsewhere said to last for only 1290 days (Daniel 12:11). It is for this very "contradiction" that some decide to view the two periods as representing two altogether different prophecies/eras. But there is no contradiction. The 2300-day period refers to the invasion of Israel as a whole, while that period's final 1290 days are spoken in regards to the Jerusalem invasion distinctly...not at all meaning that the rest of Israel won't be under oppression in those 1290 days.

Near the end of Daniel 8, as if to deal with any doubts that we may harbor concerning its veracity, the text reads: "And the morning and evening vision that was told is true" (8:26). Therefore, there is no inconsistency; he will act for 2300 days, 1290 of which represent the major damage. It's not a coincidence that 2300 days amounts to seven so-called "Biblical years" (2520 days) minus only 220 days, by which I mean to say that the 2300 days loosely represent the 70th Week.

In Revelation 11:2, we learn that Jerusalem will be "trampled" for 42 months, a period evidently defined in the next verse as "1260 days." And we also learn in Revelation 13:5 that Gog has 42 months of authority; in verse 7 we learn that this authority is a global one, not merely referring to his Mid-Eastern rampages. The easy conclusion is that Gog has world authority during the very 42 months in which Jerusalem is trampled. That could lead some to conclude that he will act as world ruler while also acting as king of Jerusalem, but the Bible does not paint that picture. Indeed, there will be nothing to be king over in Jerusalem but deserted streets filled with rubble and those too poor to move anywhere else.

Now, Daniel 12:11 tells us that the anti-Christ's forces will enter the Jewish sanctuary to set up the Abomination with 1290 days remaining prior to "the end of these wonders" (v 6). The question is, the end of which wonders? It's hard to pinpoint which event is being referred to as the one occurring on the 1290th day, whether the end of Gog mentioned in the last verse of chapter 11, or the Resurrection of the Church mentioned in 12:2. I tend to go with the former, the end of Gog, because 12:7 suggests that the 1290 days come to an end when the "times, times, and half a time" come to an end, and in fact the 1290 days are equated with that phrase, a phrase that is moreover associated specifically with the anti-Christ.

Daniel 7:25 tells that the saints will be handed over to the anti-Christ for the same "time, times, and half a time," and this must be referring to the 42-month trampling of Jerusalem. Thus, the 1290 days come to an end when the 42 months come to an end, wherefore the 1260 days that in Revelation 11 define the 42 months must also end on the 1290th day. This is why I place the 30-day difference before the 1260 days, not as many others would have it, after the 1260 days. If I am correct, then there must be something significant occurring 30 days prior to the 1260 days, which of course is the Abomination. But why the 30-day delay between the Abomination and the official start of the anti-Christ's rule?

If I've confused you, then, in short, all three periods, the 2300/1290/1260 days, come to an end on the same day, the cut-off point of the anti-Christ. This point is not to be regarded as the day of his death somewhere within the Battle of Armageddon, but a number of days earlier, during the fifth Bowl (Revelation 16:10), at which point we see that the Lord darkens/removes his "throne," the throne which in Revelation 13:5 he receives for 42 months. I have yet to determine whether those 42 months are visible from Heaven only, that is, invisible on earth, or to the contrary, an earthly seat of power such as a term in the European Union or United Nations.

There is good reason for a 30-day period prior to the 42 months, if the Abomination will occur on Purim (14th day of Adar). Purim was not created in the Law of Moses, but as a holiday to celebrate the defeat of Haman in his failed attempt (on the 14th of Adar) to procure genocide against the Jews, as per the story in the Biblical book of Esther. In this theory, the anti-Christ's soldiers will come in the spirit of Haman and commit the Abomination on the same day that Haman had planned the attack. Then, 30 days later, because Adar has 29 days, we land on the 15th day of Nisan, the first day of the seven-day Passover Feast (technically, Passover starts on the evening of the 14th, so that the Abomination may begin on the 13th of Adar).

When I came to this conclusion -- that two prophetic time spans within the 70th Week start on Israeli holy days of Old-Testament times -- I realized that another holy day could signal the start of the 2300-day time span, and that yet another holy day could mark the end of the 2300/1290/1260 days. It turned out to look very true! I am in the midst of explaining this new insight that is now well known thanks to Grant Jeffrey (pre-tribulationist). I was amazed to find this relationship, for it amounts to excellent evidence for the Inspiration of the tribulation-related prophecies. That's because no one has ever known about the relationship (as far as anyone knows, anyway). Had the writers of Daniel and Revelation not been Inspired, and had they tailored their tribulation periods to fall on holy days, we would expect them to have mentioned/publicized it in some way.

In other words, it appears that even the writers of Daniel and Revelation did not know the relationship, but only God, until Grant Jeffrey publicized it in one of his books (before 2000, the same book where he predicted the pre-tribulation rapture for 2000). I was shocked as I read this in his book, and now very glad because I would not have been able to popularize the idea as quickly as he and the pre-tribulationist talking heads have (I am not a popular or well-read writer).

When Jesus says to the Elect of Jerusalem and Judea, "Pray lest your flight [from the Abomination] occurs in winter or on a Sabbath" (Matthew 24:20), it comes across as a prophetic admission more than a mere shot-in-the-dark possibility. While Purim and Passover do not occur in the dead of winter (Feb/March and March/April respectively), the nights are cool. Remember Peter warming himself by the fire on one significant Passover eve? Purim, 30 nights earlier, will be yet colder.

Convinced by these things that the midway point of the 70th Week (i.e. with 1260 days remaining) would begin in early spring, on Passover, I worked backward to find the start of the Week. If, for example, the Week begins on the Feast of Tabernacles, the mid-way point of the Week could fall on Passover, while the end of the Week would then fall near the Feast of Trumpets. Amazing. I got the impression that God chose the Feast days to line up with major end-time events, so that Israel might, in the post-Armageddon period, look back and be amazed at what God did in this regard: it will serve as evidence that He chose the feast days -- way back in the days of Moses -- to coincide with Israel's great tribulation and eternal restoration. Wow.

The problem with the relationship between Mosaic feast days and 70th-Week events, and this something that Mr. Jeffrey knew of but failed to indicate to his readers, is that the holy days do not often, in any given seven-year period, fall in such a way that they harmonize perfectly with the key days of the Week. For example, and contrary to what Jeffrey implied, there are not always 1260 days between Passover and the third Feast of Trumpets afterward...because the Jewish calendar fluctuates from year to year.

The good news is that the very fluctuations in the Jewish calendar can help us to determine which seven-year periods are good or bad candidates for the fulfillment of the true 70th Week. While I would not tend to encourage others to monkey around with dates in attempts to discover the year of the Return, hypocrite that I am, I did so thinking that God might want me of all people to know. Why me? Because it could greatly assist in an important task that I am constantly involved in: this book, and rightly timing your wilderness retreat. I care very little for my own self as compared to the millions of others who are being misled by other prophecy writers.

After discovering by other means that the Lord could return in the fall of 2016, I went to work with an online calendar calculator to see whether or not the seven-year period from 2009 to 2016 was a viable option (In that period, the Abomination would fall on Purim of 2013). Here is what I found.

When the 2300 days are started in the year 2010 on the day after Pentecost (May 20th), their final 1290 days (1010 days after May 20) begin on the 13th of Adar (Feb 23), the eve of Purim (!) in 2013. Then, 30 days later (March 25th) lands on the eve of Passover (14th of Nisan), the eve on which the lamb is to be slaughtered...the day on which Jesus was killed. Amazing, is it not? Is this not some good evidence that the 2300 days are for the end times? Can I chalk it up to coincidence that, in the very year (2009) that I predict by other means, the 2300 days begin at Pentecost if the 1290 days start on Purim?

[UPDATE June 10, 2011, some years after this chapter was published -- Caps below mine

ObamaCare will require an RFID chip implanted in all of us. This chip will not only contain your personal information with tracking capability but it will also be linked to your bank account.

And get this, Page 1004 of the new law (dictating the timing of this chip), reads, and I quote: "Not later than 36 months after the date of the enactment." It is now the law of the land that by MARCH 23, 2013 we will all be required to have an RFID chip underneath our skin and this chip will be link to our bank accounts as well as have our personal records and tracking capability built into it.

http://www.borntowatch.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5165&Itemid=1

I don't know what to make of this yet, but we should definitely get more details on this program. If this report is true, then the time for compulsory chips is already here. By March of 2013, we could very well see the purchasing system go micro-chip too. End update]

Upon finding this was when I knew I really had something. Grant Jeffrey failed to discover this part...not only because he doesn't place the 2300 days in the end times, but also because he doesn't place the extra 30 days before the 1260-day period. It tends to prove that the 2300 days are in the end times, and in turn implies no peace treaty between Israel and the anti-Christ in the first half of the 70th Week.

When a man fitting the description of Gog invades Israel on Purim, know that he is the anti-Christ setting up the Abomination of Desolation. Even better, when you see a man fitting the role of Gog acting militarily against Israel at/near Pentecost, consider him a prime candidate for the anti-Christ. Pre-tribbers may, when this Gog arrives to Israel, fail to see him as the anti-Christ. What a mess that could make for believers.

More intriguing yet is that, in 2013, the 13th of Adar (the day on which I propose the Abomination to be set up) is a Saturday, this evoking Jesus' admonition all the more in which he asked us to pray that the Abomination would not occur on a Sabbath. If that's not enough, the 14th of Nisan, the proposed beginning of the 1260 days, is a Friday so that the next day, the day of Passover, is another Saturday Sabbath (i.e. a special seven-day Sabbath starting on a Sabbath and ending on a Sabbath).

As I believe that the 2300-day period ends on the same day as the end of the 1260 days, I view the 2300-day period ending 1260 days after Passover Eve of March 25th, 2013. That lands on September 5th, 2016, which is the 2nd day of the Jewish month, Elul. Having the 70th Week end on this day may have the following importance:

"During the month of Elul, from the second day of Elul to the 28th day, the shofar (a hollowed out ram's horn) is blown after morning services every weekday...The shofar is not blown...on the day before Rosh Hashanah [i.e. the 29th of Elul] to make a clear distinction between the rabbinical rule of blowing the shofar in Elul and the biblical mitzvah to blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah...As the month of Elul draws to a close, the mood of repentance becomes more urgent. Prayers for forgiveness..."

http://www.jewfaq.org/elul.htm

The 2nd of Elul is just 28 days before the Feast of Trumpets (on October 3rd). I realize that this 28-day "miss" may not sound impressive, as it didn't seem impressive to me at first, but in fact the gap is absolutely necessary because there are certain events revealed in the Bible as occurring between the end of the Week and the start of Armageddon...so that it would actually be wrong to have the Week end bang-on (or after) the Feast of Trumpets.

I'll show soon in this chapter all reasons as per my belief that 2016 is THE year, but let me start here by saying: it just so happens that, for the year 2016, the Jewish calendar requires an extra 29-day month (inserted in February/March), called VeAdar (or Adar II), following the month of Adar, and it is just this extra month that makes the 2009-2016 period viable for acting as the 70th Week. Otherwise, if 2016 did not have the extra month, the Feast of Trumpets would occur bang-on at Week's end, which cannot be the case because a gap is required.

As you can see for yourself in Matthew 24:29-31, a gap of some amount of time is required between the end of the tribulation of Israel (v 29) and the Second Coming (v 30-31). A gap of 28 days between Week's end and Armageddon is a good amount of time for such things as the blackening of the sun and skies (seen in Matthew 24:29) and the invasion of the Kings of the East into Israel (Revelation 16:12).

I view the seventh Trumpet of Revelation 10:7 and 11:15 both as the rapture trumpet (of Matthew 24:31) and the start of Armageddon. The Feast of Trumpets is otherwise known as the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, and it's chillingly interesting to note that this holy day symbolizes, according to ancient as well as modern rabbis, the end of the world and the eternal restoration of Israel. It's beginning to look as though the rabbis were absolutely correct...which makes me think that the tone of the Hebrew language and/or Scriptural text, when it describes the Feast of Trumpets, somehow indicates this eternal restoration.

Revelation tells that the kingdoms of the world pass into the possession of the Lord as a result of the blowing of the seventh and last Trumpet. How appropriate to locate this last Trumpet at/near the Feast of Trumpets at Week's end. If the Lord planned it that way, then what a New Year it will be on the Day of the LORD, with shattering noise amid "fireworks," spectacular "falling stars," volcanoes spewing their sparks, smoky clouds, and the biggest most-awed "audience" ever. That day will be cause for a celebration, do you not know? The wicked will be discovered and overturned, and their shame will be seen.

Prophecy tells that the Armageddon wrath of God will continue until the 44th day after the 1290-day period ends, for Daniel 12:12 tells that anyone surviving Armageddon to a point 45 days after the 1290 days will be extremely blessed. I believe that, in this blessing, God is referring, not to the saints who partake in the rapture, but to the Chosen Jews who endure the great-tribulation Wrath (of God), Chosen to be saved for Millennial purposes but not partake in the rapture.

Counting off 45 days after the 2nd of Elul lands on the 17th of Tishri (October 19). For this to be the last day of this history is simultaneously amazing and somewhat problematic, for the 17th of Tishri is the third day of the eight-day Feast of Tabernacles. The small problem is that logic would have the 45th day fall on the 14th of Tishri so that the next day is the first day of this great Feast.

I see a distinct military act taken against Israel on the first of the 2300 days; otherwise, how else can the 2300 days be defined, since Daniel 8 defines them as the number of days in which the anti-Christ acts militarily against Israel? Where the 2300-day period begins on the 7th of Sivan (May 20) in the year 2010, the start of the 70th Week (usually pegged 220 days earlier) is the 23rd of Tishri (October 11), 2009, which is the very first day after the last day of Tabernacles. I don't yet realize the significance of having the Week begin immediately after the Feast, but it seems to indicate an Act of God.

I should now add that the span from the start of the Week on October 11, 2009 to October 19, 2016, is seven years plus eight days. If one then assumes that a perfect seven-year period is important, we should subtract eight days from October 19 (= 17th of Tishri) to land on and include the 9th of Tishri. This is quite amazing, for the very next day, the 10th, is the greatest of the Mosaic Feasts, Yom Kippur (= "Day of Atonement").

I do not necessarily believe, as many others do, that the Lord would be violating his own statement, "no one knows the day or hour," if He would show the year of his return to someone a couple of decades in advance. But in any case I am not claiming that God has shown me this date. I may have stumbled across it on my own efforts simply because I study prophecy deeply, and because it matters much to me to know when we should prepare to live apart from the mark of the beast. Yet it is possible that God has either chosen me to write on this topic, or at least blessed me in it, so that He may have allowed/caused me to figure out the date purely for your benefit. Certainly, God does not reveal such a thing for the mere pleasure of the one making the discovery.

I want you to believe me hard and fast when I tell you that I am a man of integrity, and that I would never publicize a date on the Lord's return if I thought the evidence behind it were dubious. I am one of the majority to be appalled at the scanty evidence used by other date setters, and feel that my trib-prep writings are being jeopardized by this chapter. Yet I feel what evidence I already have for the year 2016 is surprisingly strong. I have just shown that in that year, the Mosaic feasts line up very well with the events of the Week, yet there is more.

I know that I'm fighting an uphill battle attempting to convince readers, against the writings of so many others, that Gog is the anti-Christ, and that Gog will stem from Iraq. I am expecting God to provide means by which my writings become sufficiently convincing before time runs out on you. I can much better prove those two points by predicting years in advance when Gog will enter Iraq. That timing can be ascertained, so far as I can see, only by knowing the year of the Lord's return.

As there is a very good premise for discovering the year of the Return by working with the date of the re-capture of Jerusalem by the Jews, in 1967, I applied myself to the task, albeit with an attitude of never revealing my findings lest I misinform my readers. But after years of not disclosing my findings, I found yet more evidence that convinced me enough to publish this chapter. Do consider my dating ideas, especially as the events in Iraq as they now stand seem well in line for allowing Gog to enter Iraq between 2005 and 2009, though I suspect closer to 2009 because the US military is expected to be in Iraq for some years.

A Biblical Jubilee ( a one-year "event") occurs every 50 years when all land in Israel is to revert to original owners. Shouldn't the nation of Israel be restored eternally to Jesus Christ on a Jubilee year? Or, should not the Day of the LORD be on a Jubilee year? Sounds logical. It moreover made sense to me that the recovery of Jerusalem to its rightful "owners" (or Owner) in 1967 should take place on a Jubilee year. And that's how I (and no doubt others) have come to theorize on 2016 as the year of the Lord's return, 50 "Biblical years" after 1967.

No man knows anymore upon which years the Jubilees fall because the ancient Jews failed to honor and keep track of them. Nevertheless, I calculated 50 years forward from June 11th, 1967 (the day upon which Jerusalem was re-captured by Israel). I calculated with so-called "Biblical years," of 360 days each rather than the 365.25 days of the solar cycle. I landed on the 18th of Elul (September 21), 2016, just a dozen days before the Feast of Trumpets. Admittedly, that interesting exercise really isn't evidence at all that 2016 will be the year of the Lord's return, but merely a lead that yet requires some hard proof.

Now behold. I traced back many 50-year periods starting from October 3 of 2016 (i.e. the Feast of Trumpets) in an effort to see if major Biblical events were separated by multiples of those 50-year periods. What I found was such strong evidence that I broke my own rule, by divulging here. I found that between the birth of Jesus and October 3 of 2016, there were 41 Jubilees. The math (41 x 50 years x 360 days / 365.24 = 2020.58 solar years of 365.24 days each) brought me back to the first week of March, 4 BC, which is right in line for Jesus' birthday (Biblical scholars know that Jesus was not born on December 25th, the date set by the ancient Vatican). Thanks to the internet, I was able to learn, not only the year, but nearly the month in which Jesus was born. Here is how it can be derived.

It is known from the Bible that Jesus was born while Herod was yet alive, and because evidence from Josephus (= Jewish historian of the first century AD) has pinned Herod's death prior to Passover (April 12) of 4 BC, Jesus was born prior to that date, wherefore the first week of March qualifies. So far, so good.

Jesus could not have been born in 5 or 6 BC, as some contend, for it can be shown that he was born most-definitely in 4 BC. It is the Gospel of Luke, in conjunction with John 2:20, that certify His Birthday in 4 BC. Here's how one goes about finding it. First, Luke 3:23 tells that Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his ministry (at the baptism given Him by John the Baptist). Second, Luke 3:1 tells that Jesus started his ministry in the 15th year of Caesar Tiberius. The problem has been that Tiberius started a joint reign with Caesar Augustus in 12 AD, but reigned alone starting in 14 AD, wherefore his 15th year has been debated because it can fall either in 27 or 29 AD. The good news is, one can easily discover which of those two years is correct, and then count backward 30 years to His birth. In neither case will it get us further back that 4 BC.

John 2:20 is key for solving the problem, where we learn that the Jerusalem Temple was in it's 46th year of construction at the near-start of Jesus' ministry. Thanks to the internet, I easily found that the temple was started in Herod's 18th year. The bad news is that his 18th year lands in either 20 or 19 BC, but the good news is that it doesn't matter, for this purpose. For when we add 46 years to 20 or 19 BC, we land in 26 or 27 AD, wherefore 29 AD is not an option! That is, it is a concrete matter so far as I am concerned that Tiberius' 15th year was not 29 AD, but 27 AD. Having made that solid conclusion, I then subtract 30 years from 27 AD to find the year of Jesus' birth: 4 BC (not 3 BC because there was no year 0).

This all tends to confirm both that the 2016-theory is correct and that Jesus was born on a Jubilee. Jesus is, after all, the redemption of Israel.

As for the idea that Jesus (based on information shared by the Magi to Herod) was up to two years old when Herod died (in 4 BC), the fact is that Herod asked the Magi not the age of the infant, but the time in which the star appeared to them. The implication of the Luke text is that the star appeared to the Magi up to two years prior to the arrival of the Magi to Jerusalem, which is a difficulty in its own right but does not at all mean that Jesus was already born when this star appeared to them. Nor does the star seem to have been a comet, for the text says that it stopped over the building where Jesus was located so that the Magi thereby found the house. I cannot see how a comet can indicate one building from another, wherefore the star must have been a miraculous event...although I haven't the slightest understanding beyond that [it could be that this part of Matthew was an addition from Gnostic "Christians" i.e. satanic fakes who stress astrology, meaning the star-magi event never did happen, but was a fabricated event in the birth of Jesus].

I asked myself why there should be 41 Jubilees between Jesus' birth and October 3, 2016. It's such an odd number, but then I went further back in time to see on what date of prophetic/Biblical importance a rounder number of Jubilees would land on. A nice round number is of course 50 Jubilees, wherefore I wondered what occurred 50 Jubilees before October of 2016 (= 9 Jubilees before His birth). That's when I discovered the all-important key that 50 Jubilees back from 2016 landed me at the very beginning of the 70 Weeks! Yes, the first year of the first Week. In other words, 50 Jubilees are placed between the 1st and 70th Weeks.

This is very easy to figure, since Daniel 9 reveals that there are exactly 450 years -- exactly 9 Jubilees -- from the start of the 70 Weeks to the birth of Jesus. For, we are shown outright in verse 26 that there were 483 years (69 Weeks, i.e. 7 years x 69 = 483) from the start of the 70 Weeks to the Crucifixion, while it is strongly evidenced from the Gospels that Jesus was 33 years old when he died. So, 483 - 33 = 450 years to his birth. That's exactly 9 Jubilees! Amazing; I was shocked to find this.

It had me fairly convinced that 2016 was the year to look to, but then I discovered even more. I learned that a period of 1260 days beginning at Passover would end before the Feast of Trumpets only on rare occasions, whereas in most periods, 1260 days from Passover would end one or more days after the Feast of Trumpets. This find turned out to be a super method for confirming possible and impossible candidates for the year of the Return, with the possible candidates being rare, precisely what was needed!

If, in any given year, there are less than 1260 days between its Feast-of-Trumpets date and Passover 3 years earlier, that year is not deemed by me as a candidate for the Lord's return. For, if it's correct that the Armageddon trumpet sounds at a Feast of Trumpets, the 1260-day period must end before the Feast of Trumpets (because it is known Biblically that Armageddon takes place after the 1260 days).

Having deduced that key (correctly, I hope), it was great news to find that, in the next several years (I checked to about 2022), the end of a 1260-day period can fall before the Feast of Trumpets only in 2005 and 2016!!! Upon finding that, I felt confident in publishing this chapter.

A 1260-day period starting on a Passover ends before the Feast of Trumpets due to the extra month (Veadar) inserted into the Hebrew calendar once every two or three years (see back of Strong's Concordance for some details). However, there are years where Veadar is added in which a 1260-day period ends after the Feast of Trumpets. The point is that, due to 2005 and 2016 being the only Veadar years (up to about 2022) with more than 1260 days between Passover and the Feast of Trumpets, I'd say that, unless the Lord is returning in 2005, 2016 looks as though it will be THE year.

Perhaps I made a mistake in my calculations. If you wish to verify the above, just follow these directions: 1) Use an online Jewish (calendar calculator) to find the date of any Passover; 2) find the date on the 1260th day after that Passover; 3) find the date for the Feast of Trumpets for that same year. That's it. If the 1260 days end before the Feast of Trumpets, then that year is a candidate for the Lord's return...(if indeed the 1260 days are slated to begin on a Passover). When using a Jewish calendar, the Feast of Trumpets in the year 2016 is the start of the Jewish year 5777.

None of the arguments that I've shared above stand solid alone, but when combined they have convinced me that 2016 is the year. This is why I place the start of the Week in the fall of 2009, the start of the 2300 days in the spring of 2010...and why I predict that Gog will enter Iraq a good measure of time before the spring of 2010 (on this topic, see a different scenario in the August 13 update below).

UPDATE April 10, 2009:

The webpage below indicates that, on September 1st, 2016, there will be a solar eclipse! It'll be an annular eclipse, i.e. when the moon appears smaller than the sun, but the point is that September 1st is just four days before I have the end of the Week (on September 5th). In my scheme, the sun is to turn black, and the moon blood red, at about this time.
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phase/phase2001gmt.html

Perhaps I have been wrong after all; perhaps these prophesied heavenly phenomena are the result of merely an eclipse. But it doesn't make sense because eclipses are a dime a dozen. The language in Matthew 24, and elsewhere concerning these phenomena, requires something altogether strange/different. Perhaps the solar eclipse is followed by a sun that just doesn't return light when the eclipse is over.

The account of the Crucifixion tells that the day went dark for a period in which Jesus hung on the Cross. It was Passover, wherefore it was the full moon on that day, but, the problem is, there cannot be a solar eclipse on any day but on a new moon. If God could make the sun go dark on that day, apart from an eclipse, he can make it go dark at the end of the Week apart from the effects of an eclipse.

Solar eclipses are not visible from every spot on earth, and so my question was: will the solar eclipse of September 1, 2016, be visible from Israel? I found a NASA eclipse calculator that verifies its visibility from Jerusalem! However, the calculator indicates a "P" (= partial eclipse) rather than the "A" (= annular eclipse) indicated by the data (also from nasa.gov) at Phases of the Moon.

I'm therefore assuming a near-annular eclipse with just a small portion of the solar disc visible. In fact, the chart shows the "Eclipse Obscurity" as .914 = 91.4 per cent, the highest figure (i.e. the deepest eclipse), aside from the total eclipse in November of 2013, for the entire century from 2000 to 2100. The eclipse starts at 6:14 am and reaches maximum eclipse at 7:26 am, when the sun is 21 degrees high (= one-quarter the way up to the perfect-noon position).

The only solar eclipse visible from Jerusalem in 2017 (according to the calculator above) is in February, but not the one on August 21 near the Feast of Trumpets. In fact, after 2016, the only solar eclipse visible from Jerusalem, at a time remotely close to the Feast of Trumpets, is in 2046 on August 2nd. To operate the calculator, start by clicking on "Asia and Asia Minor." You'll know what to do after that.

UPDATE January, 2011:

It doesn't look as though the 70th Week began in 2009, or even in 2010. I don't think the anti-Christ has yet appeared politically in Iraq. I'm leaving this chapter up, anyway, for whatever some of the points might mean to some.

In order for the Week to have begun in 2009, the 2300 days must begin in 2010, but I don't think they've yet started. I do not hold to the new theory of some, that the 2300 "days and evenings" amount to 1150 full days.

I'm not willing to entertain that the 2300 days are for an ancient time only, and not for the end time.

I should mention that the 50-year Jubilee could be based, not on a 360-day year as I have it, or the particular duration of the year when the Law was given to Moses, but on whatever the solar years happened to be at various points in history (in fact, that makes a lot of sense). I think the earth has been slowing down gradually, due to friction on solar particles streaming from the sun. It could therefore be that a Jubilee today is 50 years of 365.25 days each.

A Jubilee is a Law-incepted period of one year in length, falling every 49 years (at the end of the 50th year, the next Jubilee falls 49 years later). There's no rule stated in the Law as per the specific time, during a Jubilee year, that things are to go back to original owners.

Assuming that there was a Jubilee year known only to God and starting roughly when Israel took Jerusalem in June, 1967, one might expect the Return of God's Son on the next Jubilee year i.e. starting roughly in June, 2017. Interestingly, Rothschilds took Israel from the Turks in 1917 (not necessarily meaning that God favors Rothschilds), as though 1917 too may have been a Jubilee year (known only to God).

In that 2017 picture, the 2300 days can be moved ahead (from the May-20-2010 date that I have it in this chapter) about 262 days (= 50 x 5.25 days). One problem with moving them ahead is, the arguments made in this chapter, which I thought were quite amazing/surprising, would no longer apply. That is, the start of the 2300-day and 1260-day periods, as well as the start of Armageddon, would no longer fall on/during Holy days/feasts.

The other problem is: 262 days further ahead lands in the first week of February, 2011. It's not likely that the anti-Christ can arise in Iraq and then act against Israel in some significant way by that time.

Another scenario is as per this: "On December 11 [2017], General Edmund Allenby entered the Old City [of Jerusalem] on foot through the Jaffa Gate." That is, the taking of Jerusalem from the Turks began in December of 1917, and one might then expect a return of Jesus in (or by) December of 2017. That would move the proposed February-2011 date ahead by six months to August. The required prophetic events could certainly develop in that amount of time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jerusalem_%281917%29

I don't want to paint a hopeful/profound picture out of this in case it turns out to have no merit for anyone, but I'm explaining my personal thinking anyway, just so you know: it's my personal watching; it's not prophet-spirit based. I've received no specific Message on this.

Assuming that December 1917 fell near the start of a Jubilee year, one could argue that a Jubilee year in 1967 had not yet begun in June when military forces took Jerusalem from Palestinians. Perhaps the Jubilee started later in the year, i.e. making the Six-Day War (June 5-10) a stepping stone to an official Jubilee affair known only to God. Consider this:

The 1967 Palestinian exodus refers to the flight of around 280,000 to 325,000 Palestinians out of the territories occupied by Israel during and in the aftermath of the Six-Day War including the demolition of the Palestinian villages...

...By December 1967, 245,000 had fled from the West Bank and Gaza Strip to Jordan, 11,000 had fled from Gaza to Egypt and 116,000 Palestinians and Syrians had fled from the Golan Heights further into Syria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Palestinian_exodus

The point is, the so-called "exodus" was roughly complete by December. I'll therefore be watching for the start of the 2300 for this coming August, or even earlier.

Two-to three months earlier makes sense because it allows Armageddon to fall in regards to the Feast of Trumpets (September 21, 2017). The problem is, two-to-three months before the start of August of this year seems too tight for a brutish act on Israel by an Iraq-related anti-Christ.

The picture could be the following. The 2300 days begin at Pentecost (6th of Sivan) of this year, making the start of the 1260 days fall on April 13 (my quick and possibly wrong math tells me), 2014. Passover eve (13 of Nisan) in that year falls on April 13, a perfect match.

Purim of that year falls on March 15, 29 days before Passover day. (I'm assuming the latter date as roughly the start of the 1290-day period).

Then, 1260 days forward from April 13 lands (according to some quick five-finger math) on September 23, 2017, two days after the Feast of Trumpets. "Rosh HaShanah in 2017 will start on Thursday, the 21st of September and will continue for 2 days until Friday, the 22nd of September." In this picture, the 1260 days end immediately after this feast.
http://www.when-is.com/rosh-hashanah-2017.asp

The bottom line: we could be waiting for years yet before he appears even in Iraq, and worse, who in Christendom might be convinced, after these years have elapsed, that he must arise in Iraq in the first place?