Monday, January 27, 2014

FOUR BLOOD MOONS



                                                            "A BLOOD MOON"          NASA





FOUR BLOOD MOONS



Due to John Hagee’s recent book, Four Blood Moons: Something is About to Change (Worthy Publishing, Oct. 2013) there has recently been a surge of interest in “four blood moons” as a sign that relates to end times Bible prophecy. The premise for Hagee’s book is that key events in Jewish history have occurred around the time of Jewish holy days when lunar eclipse blood moons have also appeared.  Pastor Hagee says that the four blood moons that are to appear and coincide with the Jewish holidays of Passover and Sukkot in 2014 and 2015 because of lunar eclipses may constitute a sign for important end time events.
 Astronomers know that a blood moon can occur when a lunar eclipse makes the moon appear red as it passes behind the Earth’s shadow and the moon glows red. On the other hand, we must not forget that the moon can also appear red when it is low on the horizon at sunset or sunrise, or when there is a lot of dust in the atmosphere.  NASA’s website, which records and calculates lunar eclipses, is the basis for Pastor Hagee’s assertion that four total lunar eclipses in a row during a period of two years (called a tetrad) will produce red moons in 2014-2015.  In his book, Pastor John Hagee suggests that since some important Jewish historical events have occurred around the time of Blood Moon tetrads, the upcoming 2014-2015 tetrad could signal the coming fulfillment of Biblical prophecies that relate blood moons to the day of the Lord and the return of Jesus Christ.  A number of end time aficionados also relate this tetrad to the rapture.
 However, are the red moons a sign of the end times or does scripture indicate that the red moons are the result of something else happening during the end times?  In the ancient world the word “star” could refer to any luminous body in the sky, be it a meteorite (a shooting star) or comet (a hairy star) or planet (a wandering star), etc.  Further, in the ancient world the term “host of heaven” could also refer to the objects of heaven such as comets (Deuteronomy 4:19). The blood or red moons that Pastor Hagee says the Bible is referring to do not occur because of lunar eclipses!  A careful reading of the scriptures Hagee refers to shows that that instead of lunar eclipses they speak of end time events that occur because of stars i.e. comets falling and impacting the Earth.  Cometary impacts would cause great earthquakes, pillars or columns of smoke to rise from impact sites, and put huge amounts of dust into the atmosphere that would quickly circulate worldwide.   In turn, this tremendous amount of dust would result in the moon appearing red or being darkened, and the sun being darkened.  It is believed that the cosmic impacts that lead to the extinction of the dinosaurs put so much dust into the atmosphere that the Earth laid in darkness for over a year. 
Impacts raising dust into the atmosphere would cause phenomena that are not unlike a volcano putting dust into the atmosphere and causing red moons and sunsets, but millions of times more dust would go up into the atmosphere from a cosmic impact.  Depending on where one is located this dust would filter out the blue/green light passing through the atmosphere with the longer wavelengths of red light being the least affected, therefore causing the sun, moon, and stars to appear either darkened or reddened.  It is interesting to note that after a small cometary fragment struck Tunguska, Siberia in 1908 it was reported that the whole northern sky appeared to be on fire. On October 25, 2007, there was not a lunar eclipse, but Nick Carlson took a picture of a full red moon over San Diego that glowed red because of the smoke and dust particles in the sky over San Diego that night.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/truelifeimages/1766830897/
 Below are some of the verses Pastor Hagee cites for the blood red moons.  These verses clearly show that something other than a lunar eclipse is happening in the heavens to produce the blood moon. 
Acts 2:19-20
“And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come...”
This passage says there will be a blood moon before the day that the Lord comes. Since it says that the sun will be darkened, we know the blood moon referred to can’t be caused by an eclipse, because it is physically impossible for a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse to occur simultaneously.  However, a large fiery comet impact that puts dust in the atmosphere is indicated as being the cause of both the darkened sun and the moon being reddened, since “fire” and “smoke” is mentioned.
Revelation 6:12-14
“And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”
Here again is the same description as the passage in Acts of a comet impact that would put vast amounts of dust into the atmosphere where the moon would become as blood and the sun would become darkened or black. These verses contain several clues that a comet impact is being described.  Verse 13 says the “stars (i.e. comets) of heaven will fall to the earth.”  A comet hitting the earth would also cause a huge earthquake described here as a “great earthquake.”  A comet impacting the ground would also cause the atmosphere to roll back just as it does in nuclear explosions, and indeed we are told that the “heaven (atmosphere) departed as a scroll when it is rolled together.” We also know that the “great earthquake” referred to in verse 12 was caused by a comet impact because only cosmic impacts can generate earthquakes large enough to move “every mountain and island.” (Nuclear bombs and faults in the Earth cannot produce earthquakes over 10 on the Richter scale, but cosmic impacts can produce earthquakes over 12 or 14 on the Richter scale.)

Matthew 24:29
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken...”
This verse is describing a similar cosmic event as it tells us the sun will be darkened and that stars or comets of heaven shall fall.  Although the moon is described here as darkened instead of reddened, depending on where one is on the Earth the moon as the sun can appear to be darkened by all the dust thrown up into the atmosphere by the comet impacts. We seem to be given some indication of comets coming into the solar system and gravitationally disturbing the moon and the inner planets when we are told  that the “powers (the objects) of the heavens will be shaken.”

Joel 2:30-31
 “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”
Joel 2:30-31 says the same things that Acts 2:19-20 (discussed above). Instead of the term “vapours of smoke”, the term “pillars of smoke” is used. Large impacts from big bombs or cosmic impacts raise pillars or columns of smoke, which can also be called mushroom clouds. This supports the interpretation that comet impact is being described not lunar eclipse.
Joel 2:10
“The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining...”
Here we see that the sun the moon and the stars (as we use the word today such as the North Star) are all darkened indicating that comet impacts put vast amounts of dust into the atmosphere.   The descriptions that “the earth shall quake” and “the heavens shall tremble” once again speaks of comets entering the inner solar system and striking the Earth and causing earthquakes, as it has been explained in the comments for Matthew 24:29 above.

Clearly, the scriptures that Pastor Hagee says refer to red moons are not the result of lunar eclipses. Instead, these verses describe cosmic phenomena that tell of the moon turning red or being darkened because of comets falling and putting so much dust into the atmosphere that even the sun will be darkened. These verses tell of impact events that are to take place in the last stages of the Tribulation Period as described in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Trumpet, and the Seventh Vial of the Book of Revelation. (Also, see Isaiah 13:5-13 and Isaiah 34:4).  Bottom line: the four blood red moons caused by solar eclipse that are to occur in 2014-2015 do not constitute signs of important prophetic events that will soon take place.
To learn more about cometary impacts and their connection to Biblical catastrophes and prophesied end times events visit www.thecometsofgod.com.  In addition, a satellite radio show about this subject is available at https://soundcloud.com/omegamanradio/the-comets-of-god-weapons-of-wrath-dr-jeffrey-goodman   

About the author:
An archeologist and a geologist, Dr. Goodman has devoted over twenty-five years to the study of the Bible. He holds a geological engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines, a M.A. in anthropology from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in anthropology from California Coast University. He also earned a M.B.A. from Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He was accredited by the former Society of Professional Archeologists. Goodman is a Messianic Jew who was saved in 1987.