So what is the thing that that those claiming that blood moons are part of Biblical prophecy leaving out? I'll give you a clue.
In Acts Chapter 2, starting in verse 5, it says that there were people in Jerusalem from "every country in the world." (Good News Translation) or "out of every country under heaven" (King James Version). And what is meant by "every country"? Does it say that there were people from the Americas, from Australia, from the Scandinavian countries, from sub-Saharan Africa, from China and Japan, as well as from around the Mediterranean and the Middle East? No. It does not. "Every country in the world" means only those countries around the Mediterranean and the Middle East: Parthia, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Rome, Arabia and Crete (verses 9-11). There's a lot more countries left out of this listing of "every country" than are included. And this is significant because when Peter gets up to speak to this crowd, he tells them that what they are hearing (the apostles speaking all these languages) is a fulfillment of what Joel the prophet said about the last days about God pouring out His Spirit on everyone. But Peter goes on to quote the rest of what Joel said, that the sun would be darkened and the moon will turn red as blood before the coming of the Day of the Lord (Acts 2:14-21).
So? What everyone seems to forget here is that eclipses and blood moons are local phenomenon, not global. This first of the series of four blood moons could only be seen in part of the world, and that part is a long way from Jerusalem and the Middle East. In fact, it was so isolated from the rest of the world that the majority of Europeans, Asians and Africans didn't know about it until after 1492!
When Peter was speaking to his audience he and they were making an assumption about the world that we now know is not true. They were assuming that eclipses and blood moons could be seen everywhere on earth by everybody. That only holds true if the world is flat and limited (as the list of countries in verses 9-11 shows.) It does not hold true for a globe!
So the question I would have to ask, how does a blood moon that can only be seen in what we call the Western Hemisphere or New World fit into Peter's prediction? It's clear from the context that he and his audience had a very limited view of the size of the earth and did not know that eclipses and blood moons cannot be seen worldwide. The whole blood moon/eclipse Last Days scenario falls apart once you realize the world is a globe. The Biblical writers had no interest in what might be taking place in the skies over the Americas because they did not even know that the Americas existed! As far as Bible prophecy is concerned the only blood moons and eclipses that count are those which can be seen from modern Israel and surrounding areas! So it doesn't matter how many blood moons there are between now and 2016 if none of them can be seen from the Mideast!
Well, the blood moon/End Times hypothesis makes a good story as long as you don't look at it too closely . . .
In Acts Chapter 2, starting in verse 5, it says that there were people in Jerusalem from "every country in the world." (Good News Translation) or "out of every country under heaven" (King James Version). And what is meant by "every country"? Does it say that there were people from the Americas, from Australia, from the Scandinavian countries, from sub-Saharan Africa, from China and Japan, as well as from around the Mediterranean and the Middle East? No. It does not. "Every country in the world" means only those countries around the Mediterranean and the Middle East: Parthia, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Rome, Arabia and Crete (verses 9-11). There's a lot more countries left out of this listing of "every country" than are included. And this is significant because when Peter gets up to speak to this crowd, he tells them that what they are hearing (the apostles speaking all these languages) is a fulfillment of what Joel the prophet said about the last days about God pouring out His Spirit on everyone. But Peter goes on to quote the rest of what Joel said, that the sun would be darkened and the moon will turn red as blood before the coming of the Day of the Lord (Acts 2:14-21).
So? What everyone seems to forget here is that eclipses and blood moons are local phenomenon, not global. This first of the series of four blood moons could only be seen in part of the world, and that part is a long way from Jerusalem and the Middle East. In fact, it was so isolated from the rest of the world that the majority of Europeans, Asians and Africans didn't know about it until after 1492!
When Peter was speaking to his audience he and they were making an assumption about the world that we now know is not true. They were assuming that eclipses and blood moons could be seen everywhere on earth by everybody. That only holds true if the world is flat and limited (as the list of countries in verses 9-11 shows.) It does not hold true for a globe!
So the question I would have to ask, how does a blood moon that can only be seen in what we call the Western Hemisphere or New World fit into Peter's prediction? It's clear from the context that he and his audience had a very limited view of the size of the earth and did not know that eclipses and blood moons cannot be seen worldwide. The whole blood moon/eclipse Last Days scenario falls apart once you realize the world is a globe. The Biblical writers had no interest in what might be taking place in the skies over the Americas because they did not even know that the Americas existed! As far as Bible prophecy is concerned the only blood moons and eclipses that count are those which can be seen from modern Israel and surrounding areas! So it doesn't matter how many blood moons there are between now and 2016 if none of them can be seen from the Mideast!
Well, the blood moon/End Times hypothesis makes a good story as long as you don't look at it too closely . . .