An American pastor who made news in April by studying NASA's eclipse calendar to speculate on the return of Jesus Christ to Earth is now planning a worldwide blast of trumpets this fall to get God's attention.

Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash., is organizing the global "Day of Shouting" for the evening of Sept. 29, marking the annual biblical holiday known as the Feast of Trumpets.

A man blows a shofar trumpet at sunset at a beach in San Diego, Calif.

The event is still in its early planning stages, with Blitz posting this invitation on his website:

You know how at sporting events they have "the wave" where one group starts it and then it cycles all the way around back to the beginning? Do you remember how at the year 2000 they showed on television all the New Year celebrations going on around the world as the new millennium began? ...

Let's have an around the world shofar assembly in every time zone on the Feast of Trumpets at sunset announcing to Messiah we are awake and anxiously anticipating His return. What a dress rehearsal! Won't that stir His heart?

We will list on our website all the cities in the different time zones that are participating and hopefully we can get people from every tongue, tribe and nation participating as we join in proclaiming Yeshua (Jesus) as our coming King!

A shofar is a trumpet-like instrument made from the horn of a ram or other biblically clean animal, and was sounded not only at the new year and new moons, but also as a call to wake up and repent.

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Trumpet blasts are common in both the Old and New Testaments, including:

• A trumpet was sounded for a long duration when God met Moses and the ancient Israelites at Mount Sinai. (Exodus 19:19)

• There was shouting and trumpet blasts when God brought down the walls of the ancient city of Jericho. (Joshua 6:20)

• The apostle Paul spoke of the last trumpet blast when believers will be resurrected and given immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:52)

Participants in the 2008 trumpet wave are asked to include the name of "the King" so people can shout it during the event. Besides Jesus, many have posted names such as Master, Prince of Peace, Lamb of God and Yeshua ha Meshiach (Jesus the Messiah).

Two men sounding shofars in San Diego, Calif.

Since announcing his plan, Biltz told WND, "The response has been phenomenal with people responding from Arabic countries as well as Asia, Europe, Africa and America."

Indeed, a chart of time zones and participants on his website shows residents in many time zones already signing up.

"Very happy to be part of this," writes Dawn Piper of Durban, South Africa. "Maranatha!"

Trevia Jimenez of Brooklyn, N.Y. said, "This is so cool. You go, Pastor Mark!"

As WND previously reported, Biltz, a minister who promotes the Old Testament roots of Christianity, suggests a rare string of lunar and solar eclipses said to fall on God's annual holy days seven years from now could herald what's come to be known as the "Second Coming" of Jesus.

"God wants us to look at the biblical calendar," he said. "The reason we need to be watching is [because] He will signal His appearance. But we have to know what to be watching as well. So we need to be watching the biblical holidays."

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