You can know what day it is on the Hebrew calendar (a.k.a. “God’s calendar”) just by looking up.

Moon Phase, Days & What You See

• New Moon, Day 0-1: Moon is not visible.
• First Quarter, Day 7-8: Right half is illuminated.
• Full Moon Day, 14-15: Fully illuminated disk.
• Third Quarter, Day 21-22: Left half is illuminated.

Exactly each quarter marks the Sabbath.

Key appointed feasts – like Passover on the 14th of the 1st month (a full moon) and the Feast of Trumpets on the 1st day of the 7th month (a new moon) – are ordained to repeat through alignment with lunar phases.

The 9th of the 5th Month “Av”

Tisha B’Av (the 9th of the 5th month Av) is a significant date on the Hebrew lunar calendar. It is a day of Jewish mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Temples, as well as other tragedies understood to be acts of divine judgment for Israel’s sin.

Biblical & Ancient Foundational Events on the 9th of Av

• Loss of Faith about Canaan and God’s Judgment (1313 BC): According to the Talmud, after scouting Canaan, the spies returned on the 9th of Av with a frightening report, causing the people to lose faith. God decreed that generation would die in the desert.
• Destruction of the First Temple (586 BC): Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians led by King Nebuchadnezzar, leading to the first exile.
• Destruction of the Second Temple (70 BC): The Second Temple was destroyed by the Roman legions under Titus, leading to a 2000-year exile and a complete transformation of Jewish life.
• The Fall of Betar and the Plowing of Jerusalem (135 AD, 136 AD): The fall of the last stronghold of the Bar Kochba revolt against Rome occurred on 9 Av, resulting in a massive massacre. Exactly a year later, the Roman commander Turnus Rufus plowed over the site of the Temple and surrounding area, symbolically fulfilling the prophecy that Zion would be “plowed like a field.”

Medieval Expulsions and Persecutions on the 9th of Av

• The Expulsion from England (1290): King Edward I signed the Edict of Expulsion on the 9th of Av, decreeing all Jews must leave England.
• The Expulsion from Spain (1492): The Alhambra Decree, ordering the expulsion of all Jews from Spain on the 9th of Av.
• Expulsion from France (1306): King Philip IV of France ordered the expulsion of all Jews from France on July 22, 1306, just days before 9 Av, with the expulsion process unfolding during this mournful period.
• The First Crusade (1096): While the pogroms began earlier, the worst massacres of Rhineland Jewish communities (in Worms, Mainz, etc.) by Crusader mobs occurred around 9 Av.

Modern Tragedies on the 9th of Av

• Outbreak of World War I (1914): Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914, which was the 9th of Av. The war shattered European Jewish communities and set the stage for WWII and the Holocaust.
• The Final Solution Authorization (1941): On July 31, 1941 (7th of Av), Hermann Göring formally authorized Reinhard Heydrich to plan the “Final Solution to the Jewish question.” This directive set the Holocaust’s machinery into motion and is powerfully linked to the day.
• Liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto (1942): The Nazis began the mass deportation of over 265,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp on 9 Av (July 23, 1942), a deliberate act of symbolic cruelty.
• The AMIA Bombing (1994): A bomb destroyed the Jewish community center (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85 people and wounding hundreds on 9 Av.
• Israeli Disengagement from Gaza (2005): The forcible evacuation of all Jewish settlers from Gaza began on August 15, 2005, or 9 Av.

This isn’t just a list of random bad events. The fact that so many tragedies happened on the exact same date shows a weird and scary pattern. History seems to repeat itself on this day. It’s as if the same kind of evil – destruction, exile, and judgment – keeps coming back around. This pattern suggests that evil isn’t random; it almost as if it’s looking for important dates to copy the past and cause even more pain.

Weaponizing the Moon: Hitler’s Psychological Warfare

Acutely aware of biblical prophecy and Jewish history, Hitler timed his actions to craft a narrative of divine punishment and to fulfill the Nazis’ own antisemitic prophecy.

The single largest deportation to the concentration camps began on 9 Av – July 23, 1942. On that day, the Nazis initiated a brutal round-up and deportation of over 265,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp. This was a deliberate act of symbolic cruelty by Hitler, meant to position the Nazis as the successors of the Romans, completing the destruction they began. The Nazis repeatedly launched major operations and “Aktions” in Jewish ghettos across Europe.

While the Warsaw Ghetto deportation is the most famous example of an event timed to 9 Av, the overarching campaign of destruction was often scheduled around dates that were important to the Jews, in order to maximize their terror. This could include holy days like Passover, which was also a common time for pogroms and actions, or other dates, as part of the psychological warfare.

The Ultimate Deception: Playing the Antichrist to Prove You’re Not

This pattern of evil using sacred dates makes us ask a tough question: If someone tries to act out a prophecy on purpose, does that make it come true? Hitler tried to make himself part of God’s plan by copying tragedies of the past. So did he accidentally fulfill a prophecy just by trying to, or did he actually?

This same idea applies when we talk about the Antichrist today. Many people believe a future ruler will fake miracles and peace to deceive the world. The scary thought is this: what if a leader knows about all of these prophecies? They could stage events and use religious symbols on purpose to trick believers into following them. They wouldn’t claim to be the Antichrist; they would pretend to be the opposite – a good leader sent by God. The greatest trick would be to use the Bible’s own prophecies to hide their true evil intent.

This leads to a potential double-reverse psychology scenario. Imagine a leader who openly stages “Antichrist-like” events, but frames them as a performance to expose how silly the prophecies are. His supporters and insiders would see this and say, “He can’t possibly be the Antichrist! See, he’s just mocking the whole idea.” This very thought – the confident belief that he is merely “playing the part” – could itself be the ultimate trap. It is the perfect deception: using insider knowledge to create a sense of security that blinds people to the real evil present. This confident disbelief in the face of a staged performance could be the very “powerful delusion” God sends for rejecting the truth and loving wickedness, fulfilling the prophetic warning in 2 Thessalonians 2:11.

In this way, a figure attempting to “play the part” of the Antichrist would be doing nothing new. He would simply be the latest and greatest mimic, following Hitler’s dark blueprint. Just as Hitler repeated the tragedies of 9 Av to pose as an agent of divine judgment, this future deceiver would repeat the script of “Antichrist-like” events. Unbeknownst to him, even in his arrogance and deception, he would be falling into the biblical pattern. He wouldn’t be writing a new story; he’d just be acting out the oldest one of all – the repeat of history itself.