Blood Moon Prophecy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

8/3/15 1:53 PM

Blood Moon Prophecy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Blood Moon Prophecy is a theory studied and taught by some Christian ministers, such as John Hagee and
Mark Biltz, which states that an ongoing tetrad (a series of four consecutive lunar eclipsescoinciding on
Jewish Holidayswith six full moons in between, and no intervening partial lunar eclipses) which began with
the April 2014 lunar eclipse is a sign of the end times as described in the Bible in Acts 2:20 and Revelation
6:12.

Contents
1 Overview
2 Media attention and critics
3 Tetrad
4 References
5 External links

Overview
On April 15, 2014, there was a total lunar eclipse. It was the first of four
consecutive total eclipses in a series, known as a tetrad; a second one
took place on October 8, 2014, third one on April 4, 2015 and the
remaining one will take place on September 28, 2015. It is one of eight
tetrads during the 21st century AD.[1] As with most lunar eclipses, the
moon appeared red during the April 15 eclipse.[2][3] The red color is
caused by Rayleigh scattering of sunlight through the Earth's
atmosphere, the same effect that causes sunsets to appear red.[2] Hagee
also connects the solar eclipse of March 20, 2015 in the middle of the
sequence.
The idea of a "blood moon" serving as an omen of the coming of the end
times comes from the Book of Joel, where it is written "the sun will turn
into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day
of the LORD comes."[4] This phrase is again mentioned by Saint Peter
during Pentecost, as recorded in Acts,[5] although Peter says that date,
not some future date, was the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. The blood

Pastor John Hagee, 2007

moon also appears in the book of Revelation chapter 6 verses 11 - 13,[6]

where verse 12 says " 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
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blood"
Around 2008, Biltz began predicting that the Second Coming of Jesus
would occur in the fall of 2015 with the seven years of the great
tribulation beginning in the fall of 2008. He said he had "discovered" an
astronomical pattern that predicted the next tetrad would coincide with
the end times. When the prediction failed, he pulled the article from his
website, but continued to teach on the "significance" of the tetrad.
Hagee would later seize on Biltz' prediction to write Four Blood Moons,
which would become a best seller, spending more than 150 days in
Total solar eclipse of March 20, 2015

Amazon.com's top 150 by April 2014.[3] For the week ending March 30,
2014, it was the ninth best selling paperback, according to Publishers
Weekly.[7] By mid-April, Hagee's book had hit No. 4 on the The New

York Times best-seller list in the advice category.[3] Hagee's book (and subsequent sermon series at his home
congregation, Cornerstone Church) did not proclaim that any specific "end times" event would occur (as did
Biltz in his original prophecy), but claimed that every prior tetrad of the last 500 years coincided with events in
Jewish and Israeli history that were originally tragic, yet followed by triumph.

Media attention and critics

Hagee and Biltz's speculations gained mainstream media attention in publications such as USA Today and The
Washington Post.[2][3] Earth & Sky reported receiving "a number of inquiries about Blood Moon", prompting a
response.[1] Despite the attention, it is not clear if many people actually believe the ideas. According to
Christian Today, only a "small group of Christians" saw the eclipse as significant.[8]
Writing for Earth & Sky Bruce McClure and Deborah Byrd point out that the referenced verse also says the
"sun will be turned into darkness", an apparent reference to a solar eclipse. They note that since the Jewish
Calendar is lunar, one sixth of all eclipses will occur during Passover or Sukkot. Furthermore, there have been
62 tetrads since the first century AD, though only eight of them have coincided with both the feasts. Thus, the
event is not as unusual as Hagee and Biltz imply. Additionally, three of the four eclipses in the tetrad will not
even be visible in the biblical homeland of Israel, casting further doubt on Hagee and Biltz's interpretation.[1]
Writing for Space.com, Geoff Gaherty said he was saddened that " 'prophets of doom' ... view these lifeenriching events as portents of disaster" and said the eclipse was "hardly something to be concerned about".[9]
In January 2014, Mike Moore, the then General Secretary of Christian Witness to Israel, wrote a lengthy article
dismissing the claims of Biltz and Hagee. Moore's view was that no significance can be drawn from the
eclipses.[10]

Tetrad
Lunar eclipse tetrad 20142015
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Ascending node

Descending node

Saros

Date

Type

Saros

Date

Type

122

2014 Apr 15

Total

127

2014 Oct 08

Total

132

2015 Apr 04

Total

2015 Sep 28

Total

137

References
1. Bruce McClure; Deborah Byrd (March 30, 2014). "What is a Blood Moon?" (http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-a-bloodmoon-lunar-eclipses-2014-2015). Earth & Sky. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
2. Elizabeth Weise (April 3, 2014). "Blood moon eclipse on April 15 is a special event"
(http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/04/03/lunar-eclipse-april-15-blood-moon/7210901/). USA Today. Retrieved
April 3, 2014.
3. Sarah Pulliam Bailey (April 15, 2014). " 'Blood moon' sets off apocalyptic debate among some Christians"
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/blood-moon-sets-off-apocalyptic-debate-among-somechristians/2014/04/15/00b76502-c4be-11e3-9ee7-02c1e10a03f0_story.html). Washington Post. Religion News Service.
Retrieved April 15, 2014.
4. Joel 2:31
5. Acts 2:20
6. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+6:11-13&version=KJV
7. "Bestsellers for week ending March 30" (http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/books/bestsellers-for-week-endingmarch-30-1.7600211). Newsday. April 3, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
8. Samantha Blake (April 5, 2014). "Lunar Eclipse April 15, 2014: Four Blood Moons a sign of End Times?"
(http://www.christiantoday.com/article/lunar.eclipse.april.15.2014.blood.moon.sign.of.end.times.when.to.watch/36566.ht
m). Christian Today. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
9. "Four Blood Moons: Total Lunar Eclipse Series Not a Sign of Apocalypse" (http://www.space.com/25409-four-bloodmoons-tetrad-lunar-eclipse.html). Space.com. April 9, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
10. Mike Moore (20 January 2014). "Blood Moon Rising" (http://fromthetopcom.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/blood-moonrising_20.html). Mike's Musings. Retrieved 31 October 2014.

External links
Robbins, Stuart. "Exposing PseudoAstronomy Ep 85: Blood Moons, Jewish Holidays, and the End of All
Things" (http://podcast.sjrdesign.net/shownotes_085.php). Exposing PseudoAstronomy Podcast.
4 Blood Moons by John Hagee (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVCcZF2Yfn4)

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