Last Sunday night, the U.S. bore witness to a rare event: a blood moon. The week before, the U.S. bore witness to an equally rare event: a visit from Pope Francis. Now, prophecy enthusiasts suggest that these two events have signaled the beginning of the end.

A blood moon happens once in a blue moon. It appears whenever a super moon and lunar eclipse occur simultaneously. A super moon occurs whenever a full moon is closest to Earth along its orbital path, so it appears much larger in the sky. A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Earth passes between the sun and the moon. Once the moon is engulfed by Earth’s shadow, it take on a red-orange color, thereby giving it the name blood moon.⁽¹⁾

Although blood moons occur occasionally, four blood moons occurring so closely together is extremely rare. The latest lunar eclipse was the last one to occur in a series of four blood moons within the last two years. Those can happen only a handful of times within a 500-year period. The last super moon eclipsed happen 33 years ago.⁽¹⁾

A word to the wise… men

So what does any of this have to do with the End Times? According to the Book of Genesis, God uses the sun, moon and stars to issue various signs to people.⁽²⁾ The wisemen, for example, were guided to Jesus following a star, and Joshua was able to lead Israel to victory in battle after the sun stood still. So what does the blood moon signal?

According to Pastor Mark Biltz, the blood moon fulfills a prophecy that signals the end of days. The prophecy is based upon a verse from the prophet Joel which states, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.”⁽³⁾

Sunday night’s blood moon was the fourth one to take place since April 2014. As the prophecy stated, all four blood moons take place on Jewish holidays. According to an interpretation of prophecy purported by Biltz, the fourth blood moon will launch a series of debacles, including earthquakes and meteor showers, before the war of Gog and Magog begins. This will ensue the battle of Megiddo (Armageddon), which refers to a major battle fought near the ancient site of Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley. Those who survive the battle will bear witness to the second coming of Jesus.⁽³⁾

One verse, many interpretations

The Blood Moon Prophecy has been open to interpretation in recent years. Some people believe that the disasters following the blood moon will happen within a narrow span of time, whereas others believe that they will be spread out over seven years. And according to Pastor John Hagee, author of the book Four Blood Moons, Sunday night’s blood moon won’t bring about the end of days. Rather, it will assure a series of trials and tribulations upon Israel that the country will eventually overcome.⁽³⁾

As can be seen, a single verse can be subject a wide range of interpretations. In an effort to mitigate widespread panic, NASA issued a public statement saying no major asteroids were on a one-way collision course with Earth. The space agency even streamed the blood moon event live on the internet.⁽³⁾

Of course, reassurance from NASA only does so much for doomsday enthusiasts. The End Times is believed to be brought about by divine intervention — not the blind forces of the universe. As to whether the blood moon was simply a rare astronomical occurrence, a prophecy fulfilled or a mixture of both is open to debate.

Sources include:

(1) CNN.com

(2) CBN.com

(3) Haaretz.com