It seems that the doomers are at it again. Last night's lunar eclipse was the first of a series of four, called a tetrad, that will be happening at six month intervals. Texas pastor John Hagee wasted no time declaring the eclipses to be a sign of the end of the world. It remains a mystery why this particular set of eclipses has been singled out, though, as they're not particularly rare and nine sets of them will occur during the 21st century.
A spokesperson for Hagee later claimed that he "has not associated the blood moons with the end of days." However, it's pretty hard to interpret his comments any other way. The return of the Lord is pretty unambiguously the apocalypse, after all. But after the whole Harold Camping debacle it makes sense for Hagee to walk back his claims, even if he is trying to sell a book based on them. People do slowly seem to be starting to wise up and realize that a literal physical apocalypse is not going to happen, and that perhaps the prophecies of the Book of Revelation need to be interpreted another way.
UPDATE: It seems that Answers in Genesis - you know, the "Jesus rode a dinosaur" organization - disagrees with Hagee and some other guy named Mark Blitz, who are both predicting that apocalyptic events will accompany the lunar eclipses. Their response actually sounds totally reasonable, surprising though that may be given some of their other beliefs.
The controversial 73-year-old founder of Texas' Cornerstone Church says he has been preparing for this tetrad for years. The preparation includes a book — Blood Moons: Something is About to Change and an online TV special Tuesday. "What is the prophetic significance (of the four blood moons)? Is this the end of the age?" Hagee asked his congregation during a sermon shortly after his book was released, Christian Today reports.
He cites Acts 2:19-20 as a sign: "And I will show wonders in Heaven above and signs in the Earth beneath, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord." In extensive remarks available online on his interpretation of the Blood Moons, Hagee says, "I believe that the heavens are God's billboard, that He has been sending signals to planet Earth, and we just haven't been picking them up."
He adds: "God is literally screaming at the world: 'I'm coming soon.'"
A spokesperson for Hagee later claimed that he "has not associated the blood moons with the end of days." However, it's pretty hard to interpret his comments any other way. The return of the Lord is pretty unambiguously the apocalypse, after all. But after the whole Harold Camping debacle it makes sense for Hagee to walk back his claims, even if he is trying to sell a book based on them. People do slowly seem to be starting to wise up and realize that a literal physical apocalypse is not going to happen, and that perhaps the prophecies of the Book of Revelation need to be interpreted another way.
UPDATE: It seems that Answers in Genesis - you know, the "Jesus rode a dinosaur" organization - disagrees with Hagee and some other guy named Mark Blitz, who are both predicting that apocalyptic events will accompany the lunar eclipses. Their response actually sounds totally reasonable, surprising though that may be given some of their other beliefs.
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