Blood moon on Jewish holiday sparks doomsday fears

[dlevere]

By Raoul Wootliff


Blood moon lunar eclipse, April 15, 2014 (Photo: CC BY-SA Tomruen, Wikipedia)

A rare astrological event set to take place next week could herald the “End Of Days,” according to some who have been following the blood moon phenomenon.

The Internet is awash with forecasts, from cataclysmic catastrophes to the Rapture, as a fourth lunar eclipse in two years — the series is known as a tetrad — will fall on the first night of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot taking place on September 28th.

Some Christians believe the celestial event could mark the start of disaster, based on a passage from the Book of Joel, which reads: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord comes.”

Blood moons are full lunar eclipses in which the sun’s rays entering through the earth’s atmosphere make for a red, or blood-like, appearance.

The first three instances of the current tetrad have already occurred on Jewish holidays, on April 15, 2014 (Passover) and October 8, 2014 (Sukkot) and April 4, 2015 (again on Passover).

According to popular American evangelical pastor John Hagee, the blood moons are historically linked with a time period “that begins with a tragedy and ends with a triumph” for the Jewish people.


Pastor John Hagee (photo credit: Christians United for Israel)

In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Hagee claimed that in each era, “there’s a sense in the world that things are changing and God is trying to communicate with us in a supernatural way.”

Spain’s expulsion of its Jews and discovery of the New World in 1492, the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and the Six Day War in 1967 are the last three times the blood moon tetrad occurred, according to Hagee.

Hagee narrates the history of the phenomenon and the possible future in his book “Four Blood Moons: Something is About to Change,” which has been turned into a motion picture in honor of the event.

Whether Hagee’s predictions come true or not, the eclipse will be visible over Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas on Monday, September 28, for approximately one hour and 11 minutes. In Israel the eclipse will begin at 3:12 a.m.

[dlevere]

Armageddon, Blood Moon, End Of Days Or Just Another Astronomical Event?

http://www.ibtimes.com/pulse/supermo...nother-2108264


A supermoon lunar eclipse will occur Sunday, Sept. 27th. Reuters

[dlevere]

Tonight's Dazzling 'Supermoon' Lunar Eclipse: What You’ll See

By Robert Roy Britt

If you pick just one night this year to go out and look up, make it tonight (Sept. 27). If skies are clear, expect a delightful treat as a total eclipse of the moon occurs in rare circumstances that will render the moon slightly bigger than normal, a so-called "supermoon."

Here's how it will happen: To start with, there will be a full moon, which occurs every 29.5 days when the sun, Earth and moon are pretty well lined up, with Earth in the middle. Tonight, the moon is in just the right spot on its orbit — which takes it above and below the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun — so the alignment will be perfect, and Earth will cast its shadow across the face of the moon. In fact, full moons are never totally full, because when they would be, the moon is in total eclipse.

As a bonus, the moon is at its closest point to Earth right now, so it will appear slightly larger than most full moons. "Because the orbit of the moon is not a perfect circle, the moon is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other times during its orbit," explains Noah Petro, deputy project scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The effect is not dramatic, "but it does look larger," Petro said.

Tonight's Total Lunar Eclipse: When and How to See It

The combination of a total lunar eclipse with a supermoon last occurred in 1982 and won't happen again until 2033.

When, where and how to watch

The eclipse will be visible across more than half the planet. North America is perfectly situated for an evening and late-night sky watching treat. People across much of Europe, Africa and western Asia will have good seats, too.

Watching a lunar eclipse requires no special equipment or knowledge. Just go out and look up. If skies are clear, the moon is of course impossible to miss. If you have a telescope, however, you can explore the moon's surface in detail while the eclipse plays out over a few hours. The dividing line between light and shadow on the moon — which will be moving all evening leading up to the total phase — is the perfect place to see lunar craters in stark contrast.

Rare 'Supermoon' Lunar Eclipse Tonight: Sky watching Tips

To enjoy the full effect of the event, you'll want to take your first look as soon as the moon begins to rise in your location — it will come up at sunset, no matter where you are. Then stay out or return periodically to see the Earth's shadow gradually gobble up the moon. In Western states, the eclipse begins right around moonrise. Back East, you can have dinner first. In Europe, you may need an alarm.

Here are the two most interesting moments: The moon enters Earth's full shadow, called the umbra, starting at 9:07 p.m. EDT (6:07 p.m. PDT). The total eclipse begins at 10:11 p.m. EDT (7:11 p.m. PDT). Totality lasts an hour and 12 minutes, at which point a bright sliver of the moon will emerge and grow.

Times will be a bit different depending on where in a time zone you are. On Live Science's site Space.com, you can find full coverage of the supermoon eclipse, including details on timing, locations, more viewing tips and photos of the event during and afterward.

(For folks outside North America: The corresponding Universal Time when the moon enters the umbra is 1:07 a.m. Monday morning (Sept. 28.)

What to expect

Once the moon enters the umbra, our favorite little satellite will appear to be swallowed gradually, as Earth's shadow, in the shape of a scallop, crosses the lunar surface.

At the height of the eclipse — during what's called "totality" — the moon won't disappear. Rather, sunlight will bend through Earth's atmosphere, with only the red light making it to the moon and reflecting back to us. (The shorter-wavelength blue light gets absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, which is why on any given evening, a sunset can be red.)

In effect, all the world's sunrises and sunsets are casting their glow on the moon.

"Picture it from the point of view of an astronaut standing on the moon," said Alan MacRobert of Sky & Telescope magazine. "They would see the dark Earth in the sky thinly ringed with brilliant orange from the sun hidden behind it. The ring is bright enough to illuminate the lunar landscape an eerie red."

Some refer to this as a blood moon. If you did not know where the moon was during this time, you can find it, but it might take a moment, as the moon will be very dim against the black heavens.

Here's another cool thing:

If you're able to go out when the full moon rises, you may notice the moon seeming to loom much larger than it will later in the night, when it lifts off the horizon. This is called the moon illusion (and has nothing to do with the supermoon effect, which renders the moon bigger than normal all night, not just on the horizon).

To prove the illusion, hold a pencil eraser, a dime or other small object next to the moon on your outstretched arm at moonrise. Compare the size of the two objects. Do the same thing when the moon is higher in the sky and seems to be smaller. You'll see that the sizes of the object in your hand and the moon don't change over time. If you don't believe your eyes, you can snap a photo of both moments and compare them.

Scientists don't know for sure what's going on, but the human brain seems to interpret objects on the horizon as being larger than objects overhead. It may be because we're used to seeing clouds overhead that are just a few miles away, while clouds on the horizon can be tens of miles distant and yet, sometimes, a larger faraway cloud might appear to be the same size as a smaller one straight above.

Whatever, the main event is the total lunar eclipse. If you've never seen one, don't miss it. And expect to be wowed.

[dlevere]

Mormon End Of Days Prediction: Preppers In Race To Stock Up

By Brad Ryder



The end of the world is nigh - according to a book of prophecies, a volatile economy, and reported deadly space rocks threatening Earth. In fact, some Mormon preppers are so fueled by a doomsday Hebrew prediction, stores can't keep pace with demands for freeze-dried food.

Believers in the Mormon apocalypse prediction - believed to take place as early as the end of the month - are depleting shelves in Utah stores in search of emergency staples, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. It's behavior normally seen by residents exercising hurricane preparedness along Atlantic and Gulf Coast states.

In Mormonism, preparing for tough times ahead is geared towards self-reliance, and less with fear over the end of times. In short, prepping is seen as an article of the Mormon faith.

Hordes of Mormon “preppers” stock up for doomsday; Author claims vision of Iranian bomb...http://t.co/FFAaeRlcmb pic.twitter.com/51pQ8B6E1d
— Second Coming Herald (@secondcomingh) September 14, 2015

Reportedly, some of the frenzy over global calamity has something to do with books published in 2014 by a member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints (or LDS).

Julie Rowe is a Mom of three who wrote two compelling books: The Time Is Now and A Greater Tomorrow: My Journey Beyond the Veil. Eleven years ago, Rowe had a "near-death experience." The books detail her experiences with the afterlife.

Recently, the author sat down with Kate Dalley for a Fox News Radio interview. Rowe stopped short of offering dates of the end of the world. Instead, she described her visions of the future.

She described seeing "cities of light" and preppers atop mountains living in white tents. She also described a crisis in the Middle East in which a bomb drops on Israel from Libya, but "Iran takes responsibility" for the carnage. She also speaks about allegations of government corruption and warns that Americans should be ready to defend the U.S. Constitution against tyranny.

Mormon preppers like Rowe say the prophecy is based on seven-year cycles, and the world is due for a cataclysmic one now. Supposedly, September 13th began the countdown to a financial crisis. China is devaluing its currency, the Fed is considering raising interest rates against the World Bank's advice, and Wall Street is going topsy-turvy as of late.

In response to Rowe's books and rhetoric, LDS officials sent out a strong rebuke. They wrote a letter to instructors in the Church Educational System, ordering them not to adopt the book as an instructional text. Moreover, the letter says her books do not necessarily reflect the views and doctrines of the Mormon faith.

Moreover, during a speech at the 2011 LDS General Conference, the late Mormon apostle, Boyd K. Packer, said that that the "end" of the world was "not" near. In fact, he encouraged believers to prepare for long and prosperous lives ahead.

He advocated "getting married, having a family, seeing your children and grandchildren, maybe even great-grandchildren."

Paul Chodas is a manager in Pasadena, California of NASA’s near-Earth object office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He weighed in on the frenzy behind beliefs some Mormons share that asteroids or comets will obliterate the planet soon.

"There is no scientific basis – not one shred of evidence – that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates. If there were any object large enough to do that type of destruction in September, we would have seen something of it by now."

Do you believe in the so-called Mormon Apocalypse prediction? If so, will prepping make a difference if the end of the world is near?

[dlevere]

Mormon church issues statement about lunar eclipse apocalypse

Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took the rare step of issuing a statement cautioning the Mormon faithful not to get carried away with visions of the apocalypse.

By Brady McCombs


This Sept. 13th, 2015 image provided by NASA shows the moon, left, and the Earth, top, transiting the sun together, seen from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The edge of Earth appears fuzzy because the atmosphere blocks different amounts of light at different altitudes. This image was taken in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, invisible to human eyes, but here colorized in gold. A total lunar eclipse will share the stage with a so-called super moon Sunday evening, Sept. 27th, 2015 as seen from the United States. That combination hasn't been seen since 1982 and won't happen again until 2033.

Salt Lake City — A rare confluence of a lunar eclipse and a super moon set to happen this weekend has prompted such widespread fear of an impending apocalypse that the Mormon Church was compelled to issue a statement cautioning the faithful to not get caught up in speculation about a major calamity.

Sunday night's "blood moon" and recent natural disasters and political unrest around the world have led to a rise in sales at emergency-preparedness retailers. Apocalyptic statements by a Mormon author have only heightened fears among a small number of Mormon followers about the looming end of time. The eclipse will give the moon a red tint and make it look larger than usual. It won't happen again for 18 years.

It's unclear how many Latter-day Saints buy the theory, but Mormon leaders were worried enough that they took the rare step this week of issuing a public statement cautioning the faithful not to get carried away with visions of the apocalypse.

Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints told its 15 million worldwide members that they should be "spiritually and physically prepared for life's ups and downs," but they urged them not to take speculation from individual church members as doctrine and "avoid being caught up in extreme efforts to anticipate catastrophic events."

The full statement, reported by KUTV Salt Lake City, reads:

The Church encourages our members to be spiritually and physically prepared for life's ups and downs. For many decades, Church leaders have counseled members that, where possible, they should gradually build a supply of food, water and financial resources to ensure they are self-reliant during disasters and the normal hardships that are part of life, including illness, injury or unemployment.

"This teaching to be self-reliant has been accompanied by the counsel of Church leaders to avoid being caught up in extreme efforts to anticipate catastrophic events.

"The writings and speculations of individual Church members, some of which have gained currency recently, should be considered as personal accounts or positions that do not reflect Church doctrine."

The Mormons preparing to hunker down Sunday night aren't alone. Some from other religions also fear a doomsday scenario. A Christian pastor in Texas has written a book predicting a world-shaking event.

John Hagee, founder and current leader of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, has been prophesying for months that the upcoming "blood moon," so named for the reddish hue that the moon takes on as it is illuminated by sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere, will bring calamity.

The upcoming eclipse is the fourth in a series that began on April 15th last year. Pastor Hagee told the London-based evangelical Christian news site Christian Today this next one will "point to dramatic events in the Middle East."

Pastor Hagee also sells "Blood Moon" T-shirts for $15.

Storing away enough food and water in case of disaster, job loss or something worse is part of the fundamental teachings of the Mormon religion. Many homes in Utah are equipped with special shelving for cans of beans, rice and wheat. The belief that regular history will someday end, bringing a second coming of Jesus, is embedded in the minds of Mormons and the church's official name.

Though most Latter-day Saints probably haven't even heard of this latest theory tied to the blood moon, the church's decision to address it publicly is significant and shows leaders felt the need to reassert their authority on the matter, Mormon scholars said.

"For it to filter up to that level and for them to decide to send out a policy letter means that they felt there was something they needed to tamp down on," said Patrick Mason, the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University in California.

Kevin Allbee, spokesman for Utah-based Emergency Essentials, said his company has seen a steady rise since June with sales up 200 to 300 percent. He attributes it to a variety of events leading to more anxiety, including the earthquake in Nepal, Russian's intervention in the Ukraine and economic concerns in Greece and China. He said it goes well beyond Mormons in Utah. The company does most of its sales online with customers outside the state.

The public pronouncement by the church comes after leaders earlier this month sent a memo to teachers in the church's religious education system for high school and colleges telling them to be wary of Mormon author Julie Rowe's books.

Rowe writes about and speaks to audiences about a near-death experience in 2004 when she says she crossed over into the Spirit World and was shown tragic upcoming world calamities and told she would be expected to tell others in the future. "That time has come," her website proclaims. It is believed her teachings have fueled some of the speculation.

The church memo says that while Rowe is an active member of the religion, her books are not endorsed and should not be recommended as a teaching resource.

Rowe's publisher, Spring Creek Book Co. in Idaho, did not return requests for comment. She issued a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune, which reported on the rise in apocalyptic worries among some Latter-day Saints.

Rowe said she doesn't intend to make her comments church doctrine, but she chose to share her story to help people prepare for the "times we live in by increasing their faith in Christ and by looking to our prophet and church leaders for guidance."

[bungholio]

Can we just start rounding up these doomsday speaking baboons and toss them into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean so we never need to hear their superstitious drama ever again? They're an embarrassment to humanity.

[dlevere]

Remember Harold Camping?

[Pyriel]

Can we just start rounding up these doomsday speaking baboons and toss them into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean so we never need to hear their superstitious drama ever again? They're an embarrassment to humanity.

Why, such an act would surely presage the end of days!

[bungholio]

Why, such an act would surely presage the end of days!

More like "End of listening to their bullcrap" days, and I definitely wouldn't have anything against not hearing their junk ever again. The junk is so invasive in life it even makes it to this site, there really is no escaping hearing the stupid that comes from them. Oh no, "blood" moon approaching on some day of seeming significance that is no different than the other 363 days around the sun, blood red just like in those horror movies with monsters and evil IT MUST MEAN THE END IS COMING.

The more "end of days" drama I hear the more I wish it were true because it would be the end of their nagging. If people make the right comment in public somewhere they get sued/imprisoned yet these clowns never get that same end of the stick. They need a permanent shut up order like institutionalized people get for the same thing without religion attached to their junk.

[dlevere]

Christian cult that predicted Wednesday's world annihilation will study Bible

By Adam Gabbatt


An illustration of Earth exploding because of God's wrath (Shutterstock)

The leader of a Christian group who claimed that the world would end on Wednesday has admitted his prediction was “incorrect”.

Chris McCann, head of the eBible fellowship, warned that the planet would be destroyed “with fire” on 7 October. This did not happen.

“Since it is now 8 October it is now obvious that we were incorrect regarding the world’s ending on the 7th,” McCann said.

McCann originally told the Guardian that by Thursday the world would be “gone forever: annihilated”. McCann based his claim on an earlier prediction by Christian radio host Harold Camping, who said the world would end on 21 May 2011. Camping’s forecast also turned out to be incorrect.

As the clock struck 12 in timezones around the globe, turning Wednesday into Thursday, it became apparent that the planet had not been destroyed. McCann, who is based in Philadelphia, said on Thursday it was “surprising” that the world was still in existence.

Prior to 7 October he said there was a “strong likelihood” the world would be wrought asunder, but did admit there was a chance he could be incorrect.

“Well, a strong likelihood means that something was pretty well set to happen (in this case according to the biblical evidence),” he said. “Yet there is a possibility it may not happen.

“So it was surprising that it did not occur. But the comforting thing is that God’s will is always perfect.”

In 2011 Camping used his radio station, Family Radio, to notify people that the world would end. When that turned out to be incorrect, he revised his prediction to October 2011. That also turned out to be incorrect, and Camping retired from public life soon after. He died in 2013, at the age of 93.

The eBible Fellowship believed that Camping’s 21 May 2011 was actually “judgment day”. The fellowship thus claimed the world would end 1,600 days from that date: hence 7 October 2015.

McCann said “one of the big pieces of evidence” in his prediction was that 7 October 2015 was the last day of the feast of the tabernacles, or sukot. (Most online sources say sukot ended on 5 October.)

“Once the last day of the feast passed it soon became apparent that we were incorrect about the world’s conclusion on [7 October],” McCann said.

While the world did not end, McCann said on Thursday it would be obliterated “soon”.

“I also know that God knows exactly when that end will come,” he said. “So we’ll keep studying the Bible to see what we can learn.”

[bungholio]

The leader of a Christian group who claimed that the world would end on Wednesday has admitted his prediction was “incorrect”.

I'M SHOCKED!!!

These people have so little worth ever hearing they should be banned from making any kind of announcements to the public. Even if it were the end, what's it to them? Going to go around heaven bragging "I was right, told you so." to every last person they can? Bunch of idiots. When throughout the history of time have these people ever been right and not wrong about anything? They're hysterical fools embarrassing all religions. Same fools that thought witches existed and killed out of fear with a complete lack of knowledge like cowards fearing for their afterlife rather than their current lives. They suspected others of being possessed by demons and evil spirits, killed or exorcised. They speak of doomsday nonstop and are never correct. I would love a world without religion, just erase it all.

Seriously, where have they been right and not been proven wrong? It's amazing the wheel ever came to be with these people on this planet, there's probably a suppressed history of them fighting it saying it was evil that was erased from the books because there is no good story involving them.

[dlevere]

Heheheh...good points.

[Phil The Hammer]

The "blood moons" thingie is absurd. These are cosmic events that astronomers & mathematicians predicted many years ago bu studying the motions of the moon & earth in relation to the sun. JESUS said only His Father knew the time of the apocalypse.

And the apocalypse won't suddenly occur without any warning. It will occur during the reign of an evil ruler who will control most of the world, issue the "mark of the beast", etc. this won't occur overnight.

The BIBLICAL "blood moon" will be caused by smoke or volcanic dust during a great cosmological disturbance prophesied by Jesus in Matthew 24:29-30. Astronomers have NOT predicted this event, of course! please don't be taken by cults such as the mor(m)ons, Seven-Day Adlibbers, or the Jabroney False Witlesses. (or the Moonies, etc.)