The latest buzz in the Evangelical world is all about the four blood moons that are supposed to take place this year and next. Blood moons, from what I understand, are a rare astronomical phenomenon that are connected to the amount of dust in the atmosphere and the angle of light hitting the moon during an eclipse. Since there are plenty of astronomical websites that can explain it far better and more accurately than I, I will leave it at that.
Blood moons, like eclipses and comets, have terrified humans from the time our species first started gazing at the night sky trying to make sense of what they saw. So it is not surprising that they are mentioned in the Bible as an omen of really bad things to come. I had kind of thought that 21st century Americans had got over that kind of superstitious thinking, at least I'd hoped, but sadly, I was wrong. The same mindset that brought you "Autism is God's punishment for supporting gay marriage" and "Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment" for supporting the same is now bringing you "this is a sign that the End Times/Rapture/Second Coming/Last Judgment may be near". In other words, there might not be a 2016. It strikes me as somewhat disturbing that God is so upset about what people of the same sex do with their private parts that He will go through the trouble of afflicting people's brains and sending storms to destroy towns but He seems to be all right with the near-genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans because you never hear a word about that. But then both are good Biblical values (see the Book of Joshua). But I digress.
It seems that the blood moon phenomenon and the fate of the Jews are linked as several key events in their history occurred on or near blood moons, such as when they were expelled from Spain (along with the Muslims) in 1492. I guess the Holocaust was not significant enough to warrant a blood moon. The reason this is so important is that ever since the State of Israel was established in 1948 many evangelicals started thumbing through their Bibles and have decided to be nice to Israel and the Jews because of what they found in its pages relating to the end times. You can google all that if you want; it's too long and complicated to go into here. But the main idea is that since these blood moons and Israel are linked (especially since one falls on Yom Kippur), pay very close attention to the news. If these folks are right the Middle East will push Ukraine out of the spotlight. Well, we shall see.
However--there is just one little thing that they haven't taken into account. They are looking at this through the filter of 21st century geography and astronomy, and there's been a few things we've learned about the world since the Bible was written. One very big thing, and it is a game-changer. Can you guess what it is?
Blood moons, like eclipses and comets, have terrified humans from the time our species first started gazing at the night sky trying to make sense of what they saw. So it is not surprising that they are mentioned in the Bible as an omen of really bad things to come. I had kind of thought that 21st century Americans had got over that kind of superstitious thinking, at least I'd hoped, but sadly, I was wrong. The same mindset that brought you "Autism is God's punishment for supporting gay marriage" and "Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment" for supporting the same is now bringing you "this is a sign that the End Times/Rapture/Second Coming/Last Judgment may be near". In other words, there might not be a 2016. It strikes me as somewhat disturbing that God is so upset about what people of the same sex do with their private parts that He will go through the trouble of afflicting people's brains and sending storms to destroy towns but He seems to be all right with the near-genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans because you never hear a word about that. But then both are good Biblical values (see the Book of Joshua). But I digress.
It seems that the blood moon phenomenon and the fate of the Jews are linked as several key events in their history occurred on or near blood moons, such as when they were expelled from Spain (along with the Muslims) in 1492. I guess the Holocaust was not significant enough to warrant a blood moon. The reason this is so important is that ever since the State of Israel was established in 1948 many evangelicals started thumbing through their Bibles and have decided to be nice to Israel and the Jews because of what they found in its pages relating to the end times. You can google all that if you want; it's too long and complicated to go into here. But the main idea is that since these blood moons and Israel are linked (especially since one falls on Yom Kippur), pay very close attention to the news. If these folks are right the Middle East will push Ukraine out of the spotlight. Well, we shall see.
However--there is just one little thing that they haven't taken into account. They are looking at this through the filter of 21st century geography and astronomy, and there's been a few things we've learned about the world since the Bible was written. One very big thing, and it is a game-changer. Can you guess what it is?