{"id":8235,"date":"2015-09-03T23:45:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-03T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=8235"},"modified":"2015-09-04T15:37:38","modified_gmt":"2015-09-04T07:37:38","slug":"the-end-of-the-world-not-again-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=8235","title":{"rendered":"The End of the World? Not again, please!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last End of the World was predicted for 21-12-2012, the end of the Mayan calendar. Earth would be destroyed by an asteroid, Nibiru<\/a>, or some other interplanetary object, an alien invasion or a supernova. Nothing happened<\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"mayan-cartoon-astrology-quote\"<\/a><\/p>\n

End October 2012 I created a special homepage for my website stuif.com<\/a>\u00a0with a counter keeping track of the time until the apocalypse. Have a look..:-)<\/p>\n

This counter is still counting, now almost\u00a01000\u00a0days later.<\/p>\n

Maybe I it is time to\u00a0design a new homepage…:-;<\/p>\n

So what about the next End of the World<\/span>?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next apocalypse prediction has a “Christian” background and should take place between 15 April 2014 and 28\u00a0September 2015. I have written “Christian” in quotes because it is not mainstream Christianity. Heavily leaning on its\u00a0Jewish roots, “evangelical”,\u00a0\u00a0often considering the Catholic Pope as the Anti-Christ.<\/p>\n

Why these dates? It has to do with lunar eclipses.<\/p>\n

Time for a short astronomical intermezzo.<\/span><\/p>\n

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the shadow of Earth. If the moon’s orbit would be in the same plane as Earth’s orbit around the Sun (called the ecliptic<\/a>) , this would happen every month, during full moon. But the orbital plane of the moon is tilted ~5 degrees respective to\u00a0the ecliptic. Without going into details, as a result a lunar eclipse doesn’t occur monthly, but on average every six months. And it is not always a full eclipse, sometimes it can be partial, with part of the moon still lit by the Sun.<\/p>\n

When the eclipse is complete, you would expect the moon to be completely invisible.\u00a0But that is not the case! Here is a beautiful composite picture taken during the lunar eclipse of 15-4-2014, taken\u00a0in\u00a0Las Vegas, USA. During full eclipse the moon is still visible but reddish!<\/p>\n

\"o-BLOOD-MOON-PHOTOS-900\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The explanation is “basic” physics. It is because the sunlight \u00a0is blocked by Earth, but not fully by the Earth atmosphere. The blue part of the sunlight is absorbed (causing our \u00a0blue skies!), but the red part is let through, still reaching the moon, even during eclipse. Sometimes people call it\u00a0a “blood moon<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

Back to the End of the World prophesy. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Bible contains several prophesies about the apocalypse, the \u201cDay of the Lord\u201d . For example in the Old Testament, Joel 2:31:<\/em><\/p>\n

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.<\/p>\n

Apparently we have to look for solar eclipses and lunar eclipses! But both eclipses occur 2-3 times each year! Here is the list for 2014 and 2015. Notice that solar eclipses are only visible in a very limited region of Earth, compared with lunar eclipses. Also notice that a solar eclipse always falls two weeks before or after a lunar eclipse.<\/p>\n

\"eclipses\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One feature is a bit special: all four lunar eclipses are total and will result in a blood moon. Such a tetrad of lunar eclipses<\/a> is not common, but also not rare, you can check it\u00a0yourself on this very informative eclipse page<\/a><\/p>\n

Time to introduce John C. Hagee<\/a>,\u00a0<\/b>founder and Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas,<\/b> a non-denominational evangelical church with more than 20000 active members.<\/p>\n

He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Texas, which may explain his interest in astronomy. Prolific writer. In 2013 he published “Four Blood Moons”, a NYT bestseller<\/p>\n

\"PastorJohnHagee_resized\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"81-N5LZB1GL\"<\/a><\/p>\n

John Hagee does not like Catholics and considers Obama to be the Anti-Christ. He is\u00a0founder and\u00a0National Chairman of Christians United For Israel. Very significant for him is that the eclipses in 2014 and 2015 coincide with Jewish holidays.<\/p>\n

\"blood-moons\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Is that really so remarkable? The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, with festivals generally on New Moon or Full Moon!<\/p>\n

So, according to John C. Hagee, on 28-9-2015 the Great Tribulation<\/a> will start! Repent! I am wondering how he and his family will spend that day..:-)<\/p>\n

If nothing happens, you will have to wait for the next End of the World. Here is a list of predictions<\/a>. The scientific prediction\u00a0may be the most reliable: in about 5 billion years, our Sun will develop into a Red Giant<\/a> star and absorb Earth.<\/p>\n

Interested in this topic? Do a Google search for Blood Moon Apocalypse<\/a>\u00a0and you will get numerous hits. But be prepared for a lot of “rubbish”. Like for instance this\u00a0youtube clip<\/p>\n