The Mormon Church Allays Super ‘Blood Moon’ Apocalypse Fears As Unfounded, Others Follow Suit

Super “blood” moon, or the phenomenon when a lunar eclipse coincides with the moon being closest to earth in its elliptical orbit, may be hugely exciting for star gazers, but it has also opened up a plethora of doomsday prophecies that continue to make the rounds on the internet.

As early as August, internet forums and media outlets were filled with reports about the approaching super moon, with some biblical theorists predicting that an apocalypse will soon follow the super moon that was to take place on September 27. Now with the lunar eclipse behind us, murmurs of an impending “blood moon” apocalypse are still rife in the web tunnels, and it might still take a while longer for the fears to completely subside (provided that the fears are completely unfounded, of course).

Amidst all this talk, and the subsequent panic attacks which the internet has been subject to, the Mormon church has urged its followers to remain calm, allaying fears that the super “blood moon” is about to bring the world to an end.

The latest super moon lunar eclipse completes an eclipse tetrad which started in April 2014, and it won’t be until 2033 that the event takes place again. But many Mormon church believers, among several doomsday soothsayers from other faiths, believe that we will not live to experience another super ‘blood moon’.

View of the #supermoon as the #lunareclipse begins over the #SuperstitionMountain in #GoldCanyon. #12news #azwx pic.twitter.com/Gt457EX508

— Matt Pace (@MattPaceWeather) September 28, 2015

The reason? Well, some of those people believe that last night’s super moon marks the beginning of our end times. According to Vice,the biblical book of Revelation states that the moon turning red is a sign that the penultimate symbolic seal signaling Judgement Day is broken, meaning many Mormon and other church followers have interpreted the message literally, believing the day we most fear might be upon us much sooner than we expected.

“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.”

Add to that our constant paranoia about the unfolding world events, from European migration to political instability to the ups and downs of a volatile economy, and we could sense a pattern developing, which concludes with projecting our fears of the doomsday with a celestial event.

A plane flying straight across the #Supermoon here in West Kirby pic.twitter.com/crxl2e2Sp8

— Russ McNally (@RussMcNally) September 27, 2015

Julie Rowe, a Mormon mother of three and one of the chief propagators of the super “blood moon” apocalypse prophecy through her books like A Greater Tomorrow: My Journey Beyond the Veil and The Time Is Now, claims her understanding of the impending doomsday springs from a “near-death experience” she had in 2004, where she had visions of the afterlife. The reason she speaks out now, she conceded in an interview, is to defend the sovereignty of the United States.

“[My purpose] to wake more of us up…. We need each other as we unify in righteousness and continue to build a righteous army. When we need to defend the [U.S.] Constitution, we will be ready.”

Not surprisingly, then, in the months leading up to the super moon, owners of supply stores like Emergency Essentials and Thrive Life, which specialize in freeze-dried food, reported sales skyrocketing by 300 and 500 percent, respectively. “There is a sense of urgency, like something is up. A lot of people are mentioning things about September, like a financial collapse,” a representative of Thrive Life had said in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune a few days before the super moon. A lot of customers, Jordan Jensen of Emergency Essentials says, believe “this is the month it will all happen — with a ‘blood moon’ and a currency collapse and everything.”

And yet, despite the warnings, we live to see another day. While people like Julie Rowe may be speaking their hearts out, it does seem probable that the super moon apocalypse fears spring from a desperate need to comprehend the world’s ever-changing political, social and economic landscape.

The Mormon Church expressed its disagreement with Rowe and allayed fears that a super “blood” moon apocalypse was upon us.

“Although Sister Rowe is an active member of the [LDS Church], her book is not endorsed by the church and should not be recommended to students or used as a resource in teaching them. The experiences… do not necessarily reflect church doctrine, or they may distort doctrine.”

The full statement released by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints read as follows.

“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.”

While this may come as a shock to Rowe and several other doomsday believers, the truth is that Mormon Church’s decision to allay the super moon apocalypse fears will come as a relief to scores of restless followers, who have been stacking up food and probably worrying about the extent of the doomsday. Perhaps it is time that we enjoyed the super moon without having to worry about its cosmic consequences.

The super “blood moon” is over, and it would probably be a good move if the super moon apocalypse fears were behind us too.

[Photo Photo by Phil Walter & Matt Cardy / Getty Images]