The U.S. Naval Observatory is tired of the term “supermoon,” and USA Today treats it as a minor novelty.
But is there something significant about the occurrence for the third consecutive month of a full moon near perigree, the closet point to Earth in its orbit?
Pastor Mark Biltz, whose “Blood Moons” book, the inspiration for a documentary movie of the same name, sees a connection between what is happening in the physical world and the promises found in the Bible regarding “signs in the sun, moon and stars.”
“As calamities around the globe mount and things seem to be unsettled on every front, I hope we will remember that it is a God of grace who warns and signals and is calling people to His nail pierced hand that is stretched out still,” he said.
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Biltz and his team at El Shaddai Ministries want believers to take these signs in the heavens to heart.
“The Lord is surely speaking. Are we rejoicing that God warns us in these amazing signs in the heavens? Are we listening and watching and praying and warning and teaching others the things we have been taught? It is time.”
As long as clouds do not get in the way, the supermoon in September will be visible Tuesday night.
It will not be as close to Earth as July’s, which was the brightest of the year, but experts expect it to obscure the Perseid meteor shower happening at the same time.
Full moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the moon's orbit. When in perigee, the moon is about 31,000 miles closer than when it is furthest away, or in apogee.
The average distance from Earth to the Moon is 238,900 miles.
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In 2015, there will be six supermoons – Jan. 20, Feb. 18, March 20, Aug. 29, Sept. 28 and Oct. 27. The largest of the supermoons next year will occur Sept. 28.
Biltz calls the current series of events “something historic,” especially in light of the "Blood Moons," or lunar eclipses, happening at the same time.
It started back on April 15, which happened to fall on Passover in 2014. That’s when a “blood moon tetrad,” a rare astronomical series of lunar eclipses started, according to NASA.
And the current events are even more rare, as the eclipses happen on the biblical holidays of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot, during 2014 and 2015.
Biltz discovered the “blood moons” phenomenon in 2007 while researching the correlation between their occurrence on feast days and key historical world events.
Prior tetrads have occurred in 1967, coinciding with the Six-Day War; in the late 1940s, when Israel was reborn as a nation; and several centuries earlier, when Jews were expelled from Spain.
”Blood Moons” was released nationwide March 18 and has consistently been one of the top books sold on Amazon.com. A full-length documentary produced by WND Films and featuring Biltz was also released the same day. It has been one of the top sellers in faith and spirituality on Amazon since its release.
Biltz said that to understand the meanings of signs, it’s important to know the seasons, feasts and calendar of the Lord.
Biltz, founder of El Shaddai Ministries, is a well-known commentator on the feasts of the Lord who has spoken in Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and throughout the United States.
"The Jim Bakker Show" host Jim Bakker called Biltz' work “the most important book of the times.”
Biltz spent two days recording interviews with Lori and Jim Bakker at their Christian retreat in Branson, Missouri. Bakker said the broadcasts tell “the definitive story of the impending blood moons by the man who discovered the astronomical relationship behind the prophecy, heavenly signs and when they intersect.”
Bakker told Biltz that he read “Blood Moons” in exactly one setting, spending an entire night consuming every page and detail.
The concept is getting tiresome for Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory, who said he’d be just has happy if the terms “supermoon” and “Blood Moon” would go away.
"There's a part of me that wishes that this 'Supermoon' moniker would just dry up and blow away, like the 'Blood Moon' that accompanied the most recent lunar eclipse, because it tends to promulgate a lot of misinformation," Chester said in a Science NASA report. "However, if it gets people out and looking at the night sky and maybe hooks them into astronomy, then it's a good thing."
USA Today said: “If you don’t have supermoon fatigue yet, our ‘summer of supermoons’ comes to a close … with the ‘harvest’ full moon. … This month’s full moon is called the Harvest moon since it’s the full moon that falls the closest to autumnal equinox, which is on Sept. 23 this year."
Biltz said all of the signs coming together at once" are potentially the culminating signals that God is closing this chapter of human history."
"This could be the final curtain call before the Great Tribulation mentioned in the Bible," he said. "God has always wanted to warn His people, and the rest of the world, before He intervenes. What better way to communicate to us than through the universal language of heavenly signs that speak to every tribe, tongue, and nation?"
In the Old Testament, the prophet Joel states: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come" (Joel 2:31).
In the New Testament, Jesus says: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. … And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (Matthew 24:29-30).
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