Does The Blood Moon Signal An Apocalypse? The World Will Not End According To Astronomers

Earlier this month, Pastor Paul Begley said that the Blood Moon was prophesied in the Bible, and foretold of the coming of the end times according to The Express. The apocalypse, Begley offers, is substantiated by textual evidence found in the Book of Joel, Book of Revelation, and Acts Chapter 2.

Doomsayers of a more radical religious stripe refer to the pertinent section contained within the Book of Joel to back their apocalyptic assertions, quoting the following passage from Chapter 2, Verses 30 and 31.

“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.”

This section is retrieved from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Other versions of the Christian text are even more ominous in their reading of the last verse, including the New Living Translation which is one of the most circulated versions of the text.

“The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and terrible day of the LORD arrives.”

The Book of Revelations also contains a very similar bit of prose, reading from Chapter 5, Verse 12 of the New Living Translation: “I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood.”

Pastor Begley finished with the following admonishment: “Study the scriptures and find out the Blood Moon was prophetically prophesied of the last days. Look at all the signs.”

The doomsday preachers may want to hedge their bets, however, as astronomers beg to differ on the matter. Hasan Ahmad Al Hariri, an astronomer who works with the Dubai Astronomy Group, made it very clear that the Blood Moon is, in fact, a natural celestial phenomenon, and should not be interpreted as any sign of an imminent end of existence for mankind.

“These kinds of superstitions surround these kinds of phenomenon. We tell everyone that none of this is true, it’s a very natural event that can be observed.” Hariri said according to Metro.

Hariri went on to explain to reporters that the lunar eclipse is a geometry of three different bodies that makes the moon turn a bright red.

“Now, how does it happen? When the sun, earth and moon are aligned, the shadow of earth falls on the moon and we see what we call the lunar eclipse. Usually, during the moon eclipse, which we see approximately twice a year in different places around the world, the moon passes in a short brief of time from above or below the shadows in partial levels or in fast speeds. But this upcoming lunar eclipse has a uniqueness because it goes from the centre and this geometry makes the eclipse the longest one to observe in a century.”

While the eclipse is taking place, refracted sunlight in our atmosphere will make the moon appear red to the naked eye. The same particle effect, formally known as Rayleigh scattering, is responsible for the beautiful sunrises and blue skies of our planet, something covered in the Inquisitr’s earlier reportage on the Blood Moon.

Irvin Baxter, president of Endtimes Ministries, remains unconvinced of the scientific argument according to Metro. “The Bible teaches that end event is coming just ahead of us now and that will be the greatest prophetic fulfilment in the last 2,000 years.”

It should be noted that Mr. Baxter has been regularly predicting the end of days since at least the mid-1980s and has yet to be proven correct.

The Blood Moon, or total lunar eclipse, will take place this July 27 and 28.