Why do people think today’s blood moon heralds the end of the world?

Whenever there’s a blood moon, various doomsday fans jump aboard predicting the end of the world – and this year’s extra-long eclipse is no exception.

Pastor Paul Begley – known for frequent YouTube rants where he predicts the end of the world – has claimed that it’s a ‘sign’ of the end, and that a ‘Blood Moon war’ might be beginning.

It’s all rubbish, of course: online conspiracy theory fans became fascinated by ‘blood moons’
after Pastor John Hagee seized on a series of ‘blood moons’ to predict that time was nearly up for the human race in 2013

Devotees of the Blood Moon Prophecy predicted that the world would end on September 28, 2015 (obviously, it didn’t happen).

Ever since that point, Christian conspiracy fans and online click-chasers have jumped on every single blood moon, as a sign of the end.

In a video this week, Pastor Paul Begley said, ‘July 27, 2018, is not the end of the world but it is a sign of the apocalypse and we are in the era of the apocalypse.

‘We are in the final days or the final chapter. We are getting ready to close the end of the age and it is important to understand that.

Various Bible passages are cited to back this up, including one in the Book of Joel saying, ‘The sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.’

It’s expected to be the longest lunar eclipse in the 21st century.

It’s all hogwash, of course, dreamed up purely to scare people on the internet.

Here’s a prophecy from 2016, linked to a blood moon, for example: ‘‘After the signs of the Blood moons for Israel, Catholic prophecies will unfold in 2016.

‘The City of Jerusalem will be destroyed extensively by a nuclear event. Major Globalists are behind this plot.

‘Then, Israel will bomb Iran with nuclear weapons. At this point in time, God will intervene in human history.’

Obviously, none of this happened – and nothing will happen this year, either.

The total lunar eclipse will be the longest one so far this century, with the next eclipse of a similar length only due in 2123.

A total lunar eclipse happens when the moon, Sun and Earth line up, with the moon in Earth’s shadow.

The ‘blood moon’ effect is created due to light passing through Earth’s atmosphere, which scatters blue light, meaning the moon turns a reddish colour.

Andrew Fabian, professor of astronomy at the University of Cambridge says, ‘It’s called a blood moon because the light from the sun goes through the earth’s atmosphere on its way to the moon and the earth’s atmosphere turns it red in the same way that when the sun goes down it goes red.’

Fabian says, ‘If you were standing on the moon in this eclipse, you would see the sun and then the earth would come in the way and blot out the sun.

‘The rim of the earth would be glowing because light is being scattered by the earth’s atmosphere.’

Sky-watchers will also be able to see Mars burning brightly in the sky, looking like an orange-red star.