A rare ‘Apocalyptic’ Supermoon Lunar Eclipse Event

A rare ‘Apocalyptic’ Supermoon Lunar Eclipse Event

By E. Stanley Ukeni

The month of September will offer a rare treat for amateur astronomers and messianic Christians the world over. This is because sky watchers in Africa, Europe, Middle East and the Americas would witness a rare twin lunar phenomenon which will occur in the night sky this month.   

The cosmic event will take place on the night of September 27-28, 2015, with the concurrent occurrence of a supermoon and lunar eclipse. This rare cosmic event has gotten many, the world over, all excited for diverse reasons. Astronomic enthusiasts see it as an opportunity to experience a rare celestial phenomenon which would not occur again until the year 2033. However, many messianic and evangelical Christians have assigned apocalyptic significance to this stellar event.

A ‘supermoon event’ is a term that refers to the occurrence of a full moon phase of lunar cycle, when the moon is at its closest point in its elliptical orbit around the earth—making the full moon to appear up to fourteen percent larger, and brighter, than usual.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly behind the earth into its shadow. This only occurs when the Sun, Earth and Moon are in perfect celestial alignment—as such, a lunar eclipse can only occur on the night of a full moon phase.

This cosmic phenomenon has been dubbed, a ‘blood moon’ event by a number of evangelical Christian ministers—due to the reddish-copper hue that the moon assumes during a lunar eclipse, and assigned apocalyptic significance.

To their defense, an apocalyptic reference to a ‘blood moon’ can be found in biblical book Revelation 6:12. It reads, “I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.”  

Some evangelical Christian ministers consider this natural cosmic phenomenon to be the fourth and final lunar eclipse in a sequence of four consecutive total lunar eclipses—each separated by six lunar months. The first three in the series occurred in April 15^th, 2014; October 8^th 2014; April 4^th 2015.

There exists a strong believe amongst many fundamentalist Christians that a tetrad of lunar eclipses is a fulfillment of end-times biblical prophecy.  In fact, a prominent American evangelical Christian minister, John Hagee, claimed in 2013 that the coming tetrad blood moon is a harbinger of a cataclysmic world event in October of 2015. Well, like the year 2000 and 2012 end-of-days declarations many are not particularly panicked by this doomsday prophecy.

The biblical passage that is used most by these ministers to justify their claims is found in the book of Joel 2:30-31. It reads, "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 coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord."

The gift of accurately predicting the future is one that has eluded even the wisest of men and women throughout history—very few divinely inspired Prophets of God have shown the ability to accurately predict future events. Many who have dared to prophesy what is only known to the mind of God have all been proven wrong thus far in regards to end-times prophecy. I am one to air on the side of cautions skepticism when it comes to apocalyptic prophecies. Let us live everyday as a gift from God—our lives are a gift from our Creator.

   

This article is authored and published by E. Stanley Ukeni. Copyright © 2015. All Rights Reserved. This material and other articles or stories posted on this blog site may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed, in whole or in part, without prior expressed written permission from the author, E. Stanley Ukeni.