4 Blood Red Moons: Coincidence? or Divine Revelation?

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days

“‘the sun will be darkened,

    and the moon will not give its light;

the stars will fall from the sky,

    and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]

30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Matthew 24

From the Daily Express UK:

Mars, Earth, and the Sun all aligned last night, a rare 'opposition of the planets' that only happens once every 778 days. 

But what made this event so remarkable is that it occured precisely a week before everyone on earth will see the first of FOUR dark red 'blood moons', an extraordinary event some Christians believe represents the End of Days and the second coming of Christ.

The King James Bible predicts: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD comes," [Joel 2:31]. 

And, according to NASA, a highly unusual 'Tetrad' - four successive total 'blood-red' lunar eclipses each followed by six full moons - will, indeed, start next Tuesday and finish on September 28 2015. 

The incredible alignment has only happened a handful of times in the last two thousand years but, remarkably, on each of the last three occasions it has coincided with a globally significant religious event.

Pastor and author John Hagee, from San Antonio, Texas, has written a book on the phenomenon. He believes tonight marks the dawn of a 'hugely significant event' for the world.

He says: "This is not something that some religious think tank has put together. 

"NASA has confirmed that the Tetrad has only happened three times in more than 500 years - and that it's going to happen now."

The King James Bible warns the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the 'moon into blood' [DEA]

The first Tetrad since the Middle Ages, in 1493, saw the expulsion of Jews by the Catholic Spanish Inquisition, which rocked western Europe. 

The second coincided with the establishment of the State of Israel - after thousands of years of struggle - in 1949. 

Strangely, the last one occurred in 1967 - far earlier than expected - precisely at the time of the Six-Day Arab–Israeli War.

A spokesman for NASA said: "This is the first eclipse of the year and is well placed for observers throughout the Western Hemisphere. 

"It will occur at the lunar orbit's ascending node in Virgo. 

"This is the first of four consecutive total lunar eclipses in 2014 and 2015 - a series known as a Tetrad."

NASA has confirmed four consecutive total lunar eclipses will occur in 2014 and 2015 [NASA]

He added: "The frequency of Tetrads is variable over time. 

"Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli first pointed out that Tetrads were relatively plentiful during one 300-year interval, while none occurred at all during the next 300 years. 

"The 565-year period of the Tetrad 'seasons' is tied to the slowly decreasing eccentricity of Earth's orbit. 

"Consequently, the Tetrad period is gradually decreasing. 

"In the distant future Tetrads will no longer be possible."

The last Tedrad occurred in 1967 during the Six-Day Arab–Israeli War [AFP]

Mr Hagee explains: "According to the Biblical prophecy, world history is about to change dramatically. 

"To get four blood moons you need something absolutely extraordinary in astrological terms.

"Every time this has happened in the last 500 years, it has coincided with tragedy for the Jewish people followed by triumph. And once again, for Israel, the timing of this Tetrad is  remarkable. 

"The first of the four blood moons will come on April 15 this year, during Passover. The second will be on October 8, at the time of the Feast of the Tabernacles. 

"On April 4 2015, during Passover, we will have another blood moon. Then finally, on September 28, during next year's Feast of the Tabernacles, the fourth blood and final moon will dawn." 

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He adds: "To have four and have them fall on these exact dates is something that has to be beyond coincidental. 

"What is so remarkable about these blood moons is that they specifically fulfill prophecies set out in the Bible. 

"Joel Chapter Two also says the 'Day of the Lord will be as when the sun refuses to shine'.

"The really significant fact is that between these four blood moons there will be a total solar eclipse. 

"Even Jesus himself, in the Book of Luke, states there 'will be signs in the sun, moon and stars' and to 'lift up your heads for redemption draws nigh'. 

"There's a sequence of prophetic events that the Bible says will happen. It does not, ever, give a timeline.

"It just says 'when you see these signs' - and four blood moons is a very significant one - 'the end of this age is coming."

While NASA has confirmed the astrological validity behind some of the claims, not everyone is convinced the Tetrad means anything at all, let alone the End of Days. 

Professor Gary Shogren, a former pastor who studied the New Testament at Aberdeen University, said: "You’ll never go broke predicting the apocalypse.

"An eclipse on Passover night seems wildly improbable, but we should remember that lunar eclipses only happen on full moons and that Passover by definition always takes place on a full moon. Sukkoth (The Feast of Tabernacles) also by definition coincides with a full moon.

"I thought in 2011 we all said we weren’t going to fall for this again, when Harold Camping twice missed the date of the Second Coming?

"It really is no different this time."

God and Weather: Weather Caused by God?

 DC Storms 6-29-12

  CO Fires 6-26-12

While not all natural disasters are the result of Divine Providence, there is a clear scriptural backing for Acts of God used by God to bring about punishment via the weather. 

NO:   Not all storms are God's doing:  In Luke 13: 2-5  God and Weather

² Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

 We all live in a fallen world and bad things do happen to good people.  No one deserves God's grace based on our works, we've all sinned.  This is the basis for this passage in Luke and the punishment sin demands can fall on anyone anytime, whether by a falling building or by a lightening strike

YES:  Storms though can though be the cause of God's doing:  In Genesis 6: 7.

So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them. ”

Most obviously, God destroyed humanity with a flood because of their wickedness.  Another famous passage in the Old Testament is found in Numbers 16

²⁸ Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: ²⁹ If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt. ”
³¹ As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions.

God can use weather to get our attention preciously because he made it.  That's not to say he won't use other subtle means such as a word from a Pastor or that he won't get our attention in less dramatic ways, but he DOES use the weather at times to send a message.  The key is discerning when that event is from God.

Other commentary is available from ChristianAnswers.

Some have concluded that suffering occurs because it is beyond God's control. This is incorrect. God has indeed established certain laws and principles that govern nature, but he remains sovereign over these laws. Psalm 148:8 declares that storms “do his bidding.” Concerning Jonah, it was the Lord who "sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea" (Jonah 1:4 KJV). Old Testament writers did not hesitate to attribute the forces of nature to God: "thy waterspouts … thy waves … thy billows" (Psalm 42:7 KJV). Today, God's creation is too often depersonalized. He is in control, and has His reasons for all kinds of weather, both fair and stormy.

Solar Flare Eruption Coming to a Theater Near You

 A powerful M9-class solar storm that unleashed a coronal mass ejection toward Earth in the early hours of Jan. 23, 2012 (GMT).CREDIT: NASA/SDO/SOHO

January 23, 2012: Solar Flare the size of the moon erupted on the Sun. Size of M9. 

Solar Flare Sizes:
X:  The strongest type of solar eruption is class X
M: These flares are medium-strength events.
C:  These represent the weakest and class

Didn't we just have a massive solar flare?  Actually we did.  Here's a list of recent big ones:

Dec 2006:  X-9

Feb 2011:   X-2.2

June 7th, 2011:   M Size

August 8th, 2011:   M-2 Size

 Why so Many Flares?  Answer:  An 11 Year Cycle:

This flare is the one of the largest ones yet in the sun's current cycle, which began in 2008 and is expected to last until around 2020. Solar activity waxes and wanes over an 11-year sun weather cycle, with the star currently heading toward a solar maximum in 2013.

One observation on the level of activity we are seeing:

This intense level was last seen in the late 1800's with Northern Lights being observed as far south as Cuba. But the US and Canada was not electrified then. If we see similar levels again, there could be massive power outages and fried communication satellites that would cause many months of outage and disruption. Blame it on the Maxwell equations, or on the aligning of events before the return of the Lord.

For previous posts on Solar Flares:

August 2009:  Solar Flares Heating Up

January 2009:  Scientists Warm of Coming Catastrophe

Space.com:   Huge Solar Flare Eruption


The signs in the stars and the heavens are one the of the most concrete specific prophecies made by Jesus Christ as he foretold that these signs would increase before his return to earth.

Luke 21:

 ²⁵ “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. ²⁶ People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

Planes expected to reroute following massive solar eruption

An immense blast of plasma spewed late Sunday night from the sun led to the strongest radiation storm bombarding our planet since 2005, and a rare warning from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency -- and even a plan to redirect certain high-flying airplanes.

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center -- the nation’s official source of warnings about space weather and its impact on Earth -- issued a watch for a geomagnetic storm expected to hit our planet Tuesday morning after a satellite witnessed an ultraviolet flash from the massive solar eruption, according to Spaceweather.com.

There is no risk to people on Earth, Doug Biesecker of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center told FoxNews.com. 

But as a rare precaution, polar flights on Earth are expected to be re-routed, Kathy Sullivan, deputy administrator of NOAA, said today at a Meteorological Society meeting in New Orleans, La., according to Space.com.

Eruptions on the sun shoot tremendous streams of charged particles away from the star -- in this case directly towards us.

"There is little doubt that the cloud is heading in the general direction of Earth," Spaceweather.com announced in an alert. The blast from the immense solar radiation storm let loose with a so called coronal mass ejection (CME) that will hit the atmosphere Tuesday morning, something NASA and NOAA monitor for as it could cause problems for astronauts, communications satellites, and even rocket launches.

“A preliminary inspection of SOHO/STEREO imagery suggests that the CME will deliver a strong glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on Jan. 24-25 as it sails mostly north of our planet," SpaceWeather’s bulletin read.

It could also affect navigation and the power grid.

The solar flare spat out late Sunday, Jan. 22, at 10:59 p.m. EST was rated an M9-class eruption -- nearly an X-class flare, the most powerful type of solar storm.

NASA spokeswoman Kelly Humphries told Space.com the six spaceflyers currently living and working on the orbiting outpost are not in any danger.

"The flight surgeons have reviewed the space weather forecasts for the flare and determined that there are no expected adverse effects or actions required to protect the on-orbit crew," Humphries told SPACE.com in an email.

The flare led to the largest radiation storm of its kind since 2005 -- one still only described as a three on the scale of one to five, Biesecker told AFP.

NOAA measures geomagnetic storms on a five-point scale from 1 to 5. G1 storms are minor, leading to weak power grid fluctuations and having only minor impact on satellites. G5 storms are extreme, leading to widespread voltage control problems, damage to transformers, radio outages and satellite problems.

NOAA warned that of geomagnetic storms on Tuesday as well -- another result of the flare. They may be as strong as G3, causing intermittent navigation issues and problems with low-Earth satellites.

The sun's activity waxes and wanes on an 11-year cycle, Space.com reported. Currently, activity in Solar Cycle 24 is expected to ramp up toward a "solar maximum" in 2013.

This still from a NASA space observatory video shows one view of a powerful, M9-class solar storm that unleashed a coronal mass ejection toward Earth in the early hours of Jan. 23, 2012 (GMT).

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/23/planes-rerouted-fearing-strongest-radiation-storm-in-7-years/#ixzz1kKZBAUMG

2011: The Year of the Tornado

2011: The year in extreme weather

546 Tornado fatalities, the most in almost a decade. A good video on the amount of tornadic activity in the US in 2011, unable to watch outside weather.com, can be found at the following link: 

http://wxch.nl/v1kmQV   

12 disasters in 2011 each caused more than $1 billion in damage

Extreme weather came in fast and furious in 2011, with unwavering intensity for all twelve months of the year.

From snowstorms to drought, hurricanes to wildfires, epic floods to heat waves -- 2011 shattered records with “a total of twelve weather and climate disasters,” according to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with "each causing $1 billion or more in damages -- and most regrettably, loss of human lives and property.”

The New Year started off with a bang as an unusually intense -- and poorly timed -- January 2011 snowstorm in the Washington DC area left some motorists stranded in their cars for more than 10 hours during an evening commute.

The following month, an even larger, monster winter storm brought Chicago to an utter standstill. The Groundhog Day Blizzard brought two feet of snow to the area, while wind gusts as high as 60 mph piled snow drifts in some spots 10 feet high! Cars were left abandoned on major thoroughfares like Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue. This wallop of a storm didn’t just impact Illinois, but many central, eastern, and northeastern states. According to the National Climatic Data Center, it brought insured losses greater than $1 billion and total losses greater than $1.8 billion and unfortunately 36 deaths.

Record-shattering tornadoes
The spring thaw that followed did not evoke calmer conditions to the U.S. In both April and May, devastating record-shattering tornado outbreaks slammed the South, Midwest and other regions. In late April, an outbreak of 343 tornadoes in central and southern states caused 321 deaths. Of those fatalities, 240 occurred in Alabama alone. The deadliest tornado of the outbreak, an EF-5, hit northern Alabama on April 27, killing 78 people.
On May 22, an EF-5 (winds over 200 mph+) tornado struck Joplin, Missouri. It was one mile wide and traveled for 22 miles on the ground. According to NOAA, the Joplin tornado was the deadliest single tornado to strike the U.S. since modern tornado record-keeping began in 1950. 158 people lost their lives in this weather event.

Scorching summer
Hot and dry would be two good words to describe the summer of 2011: It was a season plagued by drought and extreme heat. Temperatures not only soared, but stayed unbearably scorching for weeks! Dallas, Texas saw 71 total days of 100+ plus temperatures. That’s the highest total number of 100 degree + days the city has ever seen. The Northeast wasn't spared from triple digit temps either. Newark, New Jersey set a new all-time record high of 108 on July 22, shattering the old record of 105 degrees, set on August 9, 2001.
The combination of hot temperatures and lack of rainfall caused Texas to see “its most severe one-year drought on record,” according to John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas State Climatologist and professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University. “Twelve month rainfall was the driest on record across much of Western, Central and Southern Texas,” he concluded. Many areas saw less than 25% of their annual precipitation.

Raging wildfires and rainfalls
The heat and drought led to a record wildfire season in many states. This occurred in the summer of 2011 and into the fall. Fires that ignited in states like Arizona and Texas were not only enormous in size, but also incredibly destructive. For example, the Bastrop Fire in Texas destroyed more than 1,500 homes and in Arizona. The Wallow Fire consumed more than 500,000 acres, making it the largest on record in the state.

While some areas didn’t receive enough water, others were inundated. In the Ohio Valley, rainfall totals increased by around 300%. This, combined with melting snowpack, caused catastrophic flooding along the Mississippi River. Further north, according to the National Climatic Data Center, “an estimated 11,000 people were forced to evacuate Minot, North Dakota due to the record high water level of the Souris River, where 4,000 homes were flooded.”

Mandatory evacuation for New Yorkers
Fast forward to the start of the Atlantic hurricane season on June 1. An “above average” season was predicted by forecasters at Colorado State University, and it lived up to that prediction. There were 19 tropical storms in the Atlantic this year, making 2011 the 3rd busiest season since record keeping began in 1851. One hurricane that developed in August grabbed the headlines with ferocity. That’s because this hurricane’s forecast track was headed directly towards a major metropolitan city that hadn’t seen a hurricane make landfall since 1985: New York City. For several days in late August, Hurricane Irene had the entire east coast on alert.

On August 26, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made this memorable announcement from City Hall:

“The sun is shining, but don't be misled. There is a very dangerous storm headed in our direction, and it could go slightly to the east or slightly to the west. It could speed up, it could close down, it could grow or diminish in intensity, but there is no question that we are going to get hit with some wind and high water that is very dangerous ... We are today issuing a mandatory -- I repeat the word mandatory -- evacuation order for all New Yorkers who live in the low-lying Zone A coastal areas in all five boroughs that are at greatest risk of damage relating to Irene.”

It was the first mandatory evacuation the city had ever seen. It was also the first time the New York City transit system was ever shut down in advance of a storm.

Hurricane Irene initially struck the U.S. as a Category 1 hurricane in eastern North Carolina on Saturday, August 26, and then moved northward along the Mid-Atlantic Coast. According to NOAA, “wind damage in coastal North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland was moderate, with considerable damage resulting from falling trees and power lines.” Luckily, the worst case scenario did not occur when Irene made its final landfall as a tropical storm in the New York City area. However, Irene did dump excessive rainfall in the Northeast that caused widespread flooding.

More than 7 million homes and businesses lost power during the storm, and Irene caused at least 45 deaths and more than $7.3 billion in damages.

And winter begins...
Finally, the last month of the 2011 brought a life-threatening early start to winter for residents of the Plains states. In the week before Christmas, a paralyzing blizzard struck the region. White-out conditions caused road closures of highways in Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado on December 19th and 20th. That’s two days before the official start of winter on December 22.
How did this year’s extreme weather impact you?

From HLN Reports

 

Comic Relief

Happy All Hallows Eve

Mysterious Volcano Erupts

I believe it was also said about Mt. Saint Helens, "Oh, this is a dormant volcano, no worries", shortly before its eventual eruption.  2011 brought massive earthquakes all over the globe, most recently the massive quake in Japan, and other natural disasters such Tsunami's in New Zealand and other disasters such as recent Turkey quake. No Volcano yet though.

Rapidly Inflating Volcano Creates Growing Mystery

Should anyone ever decide to make a show called "CSI: Geology," a group of scientists studying a mysterious and rapidly inflating South American volcano have got the perfect storyline.
Researchers from several universities are essentially working as geological detectives, using a suite of tools to piece together the restive peak's past in order to understand what it is doing now, and better diagnose what may lie ahead.
It's a mystery they've yet to solve.

Uturuncu is a nearly 20,000-foot-high (6,000 meters) volcano in southwest Bolivia. Scientists recently discovered the volcano is inflating with astonishing speed.
"I call this 'volcano forensics,' because we're using so many different techniques to understand this phenomenon," said Oregon State University professor Shan de Silva, a volcanologist on the research team. [See images of the inflating volcano here.]

Researchers realized about five years ago that the area below and around Uturuncu is steadily rising — blowing up like a giant balloon under a wide disc of land some 43 miles (70 kilometers) across. Satellite data revealed the region was inflating by 1 to 2 centimeters (less than an inch) per year and had been doing so for at least 20 years, when satellite observations began.

"It's one of the fastest uplifting volcanic areas on Earth," de Silva told OurAmazingPlanet."What we're trying to do is understand why there is this rapid inflation, and from there we'll try to understand what it's going to lead to."

The  peak is perched like a party hat at the center of the inflating area. "It's very circular. It's like a big bull's-eye," said Jonathan Perkins, a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who recently presented work on the mountain at this year's Geological Society of America meeting  in Minneapolis.

Scientists figured out from the inflation rate that the pocket of magma beneath the volcano was growing by about 27 cubic feet (1 cubic meter) per second.
"That's about 10 times faster than the standard rate of magma chamber growth you see for large volcanic systems," Perkins told OurAmazingPlanet.
However, no need to flee just yet, the scientists said.
"It's not a volcano that we think is going to erupt at any moment, but it certainly is interesting, because the area was thought to be essentially dead," de Silva said.

Sunset at Uturuncu.
CREDIT: Jonathan Perkins

View full size image

 

Solar Flares Heating Up

The second massive solar flare in just two months has just occurred. On June 7th, 2011 a massive solar flare erupted. Now, on Tuesday August 8th, two months later another has occurred--this one even bigger than the one before and the largest in two years.

This intense level was last seen in the late 1800's with Northern Lights being observed as far south as Cuba. But the US and Canada was not electrified then. If we see similar levels again, there could be massive power outages and fried communication satellites that would cause many months of outage and disruption. Blame it on the Maxwell equations, or on the aligning of events before the return of the Lord.

June Solar Flare:

Earth to be Hit by Massive Solar Flare

The sun emitted an unusual solar flare, a small radiation storm and a spectacular coronal mass ejection (CME) from a sunspot complex on the solar surface, on Tuesday. The flare peaked at 1:41 a.m. ET, according to NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

The US National Weather Service (NWS) said in a statement that the solar flare released radiation not witnessed since 2006, with the present one measured by NASA as M-2 or medium sized solar flare that carries "a substantial coronal mass ejection (CME) ... and is visually spectacular."

At most, the NWS said that the eruption will likely bring minor (G1) to moderate (G2) levels of geomagnetic storm activities, which could disturb Earth's power grids and global positioning systems that heavily rely on satellite communications.

The Sun released a moderate-classed solar flare (M2) and an S1-class (minor) radiation storm that will likely lead to moderate geomagnetic storm activity by Wednesday, which could disrupt communications and grids in some locations. This flare was a different kind because it started out slow, then the sun blasted it off like a volcanic eruption.

August Solar Flare:

An extremely powerful solar flare, the largest in over four years, rocked the sun early Tuesday (Aug. 9), but is unlikely to wreak any serious havoc here on Earth, scientists say.

"It was a big flare," said Joe Kunches, a space scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Space Weather Prediction Center. "We lucked out because the site of the eruption at the sun was not facing the Earth, so we will probably feel no ill effects."

Today's solar flare began at 3:48 a.m. EDT (0748 GMT), and was rated a class X6.9 on the three-class scale scientists use to measure the strength of solar flares. The strongest type of solar eruption is class X, while class C represents the weakest and class M flares are medium-strength events. [Video: Aug. 9 Solar Flare Briefly Knocks Out HF Radio]

The flare is the largest one yet in the sun's current cycle, which began in 2008 and is expected to last until around 2020. Solar activity waxes and wanes over an 11-year sun weather cycle, with the star currently heading toward a solar maximum in 2013.

"This flare had a GOES X-ray magnitude of X6.9, meaning it was more than 3 times larger than the previous largest flare of this solar cycle - the X2.2 that occurred on Feb 15, 2011," scientists with NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, a space observatory that monitors the sun, wrote in an update.

Before the Feb. 15 storm, the largest recent solar flare occurred in December 2006, when an X9-class solar storm erupted from the sun.

Solar flares occur when magnetic field lines on the sun get tangled up into knots, building potential energy until they reach a tipping point. Then, that energy is converted into heat, light and the motion of charged particles.

While all X-class solar eruptions are major events, they pose the greatest threat to Earth when they are aimed directly at the planet. During those events the sun often releases a cloud of plasma called a coronal mass ejection into space, and sometimes toward Earth. This ejection hurls charged particles that can damage satellites, endanger astronauts in orbit, and interfere with power systems, communications and other infrastructure on the planet.

Today's solar flare, and resulting coronal mass ejection (CME) was not aimed at us, however. [Anatomy of Sun Storms & Solar Flares (Infographic)]

"Because of its position the CME is going to shoot out into space and not be Earth-directed, and we don’t expect any big geomagnetic storm with this," Kunches told SPACE.com. "We did luck out. If this would have happened a week ago, who knows?"

However, some VLF and HF radio communications blackouts have been reported, according to Spaceweather.com, a website that monitors space weather events.

Whatever particles do head our way should reach us in a few days.

"The cloud will probably miss Earth," SpaceWeather.com wrote. "At this time, however, we cannot rule out a glancing blow from the flank of the CME on or about August 11th."

The plus side of such a collision is often unusually spectacular auroras, or Northern and Southern Lights, which occur when charged particles interact with Earth's magnetic field.

Cosmic Wonders

Time Lapse Video, time to relax

Ocean Sky from Alex Cherney on Vimeo.

Earthquake Shakes up ChristChurch

Is it simply a coincidence that a city called 'ChristChurch' continues to be ravaged by earthquakes? Maybe there is a simple message from God to his church: Wake up! Very fitting that a city called ChristChurch is crumbling while the post-modern non evangelistic, good news grace only, sin free gospel only is being preached throughout the western world.

80 per cent of Christchurch without water

About 80 per cent of earthquake-ravaged Christchurch remains without water.

But Christchurch Civil Defence and Emergency Management (CDEM) has urged people to stay at home unless it's absolutely essential to leave.

All schools and many workplaces will remain closed until the weekend, CDEM said.

With 80 per cent of the city without a water supply on Wednesday night, authorities advised everyone to conserve it by not washing or flushing their toilets.

They were advised to collect water in buckets when it rained and boil all drinking water.

On Wednesday there were 14 locations across the city where people could get fresh water.

Boiled water will be available at another nine sites from 6am on Thursday.

Another 34 water tankers are due to arrive in the city on Thursday.

Power has been restored to a little over 60 per cent of the Christchurch area.

Meanwhile, welfare centres are providing people with blankets, food and sanitation.

By midday on Thursday, 220 search and rescue personnel will be deployed in the city and as many as 700 personnel could be deployed within the next 48 hours.

Business and building owners have been advised to stay away from the badly damaged CBD.

Weather events should cause us to remember that the God who created the world also controls the weather conditions and often uses weather as a method of judgment against sin. Plenty of examples are seen in the Scriptures: Worldwide Flood (Gen 6-9), Volcanoes burning down Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), and Earthquakes and Plagues (Numbers 16). If the God of the Bible can control the wind and the waves (Mark 4:35-40), and will someday judge the world with Catastrophic world weather events including earthquakes and and comet showers (Revelation 6:12-17), earthquakes like these should cause us to take notice.

Some other examples in scripture include the use of drought, darkness, hail, and violent storms.

Last, but not least, don't forget the coming day in which God will judge the world in righteousness as "the heavens and earth now being preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men" (2 Peter 3:7).

Great Picture of God at Work: God parting the clouds. A picture that reportedly has been seen in multiple sites across the south over the past few months.



Revelation 21:4

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

Apocalypse Sun?

Strange Signs in the Sun. From IBD

It's the sort of news that makes one's eyes glaze over. "If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78," said Doug Biesecker of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center.

Yes, space has weather, in the form of solar radiation that varies with solar activity in the form of sunspots and solar flares. Biesecker heads an NOAA panel that keeps an eye on such things and released this latest report.

But this dry statistic has more significance for the earth and its climate than all of Al Gore's gloom and doom about tailpipe emissions and rising sea levels. Whether the warm-mongers like it or not, the sun rules earth's climate — always has and always will.

First noticed in the 1800s, solar activity runs in roughly 11-year cycles. Some are as short as nine years or as long as 14. The valleys are usually brief, a couple of years, but sometimes, for reasons not fully understood, they stretch out for decades.

In the 17th century, a 70-year period of little or no sunspot activity known as the Maunder Minimum spawned what has become known as the Little Ice Age, which extended from roughly the 16th century to the 19th.

Washington's famous winter at Valley Forge was part of that natural phenomenon. So was Napoleon's bitter retreat from Moscow. During the winter of 1779-1780, the Hudson River was solid ice for five weeks. Early settlers going West crossed a frozen Mississippi near present-day St. Louis in 1799.

Global warming, you may have noticed, seemingly stopped dead in its tracks in 1998. Solar activity is in a valley right now, the deepest of the past century. NOAA reports that in 2008 and 2009, the sun set Space Age records for low sunspot counts, weak solar wind and low solar radiance. The sun has gone more than two years without a significant solar flare.

"The sun is behaving in an unexpected and very interesting way," says Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA's lead representative on the panel. "In our professional careers, we've never seen anything like it. Solar minimum has lasted far beyond the date we predicted in 2007."

If the sun stays this quiet, is another Little Ice Age possible? NASA says it has detected a tiny uptick in solar radio emissions. This may be a sign of a return to normalcy, something similar to a dormant volcano returning to life.

"Even a below-average cycle is capable of producing severe space weather," says Biesecker. "The great geomagnetic storm of 1859, for instance, occurred during a solar cycle of about the same size we're predicting for 2013."

That 1859 event electrified transmission cables, started fires in telegraph offices and produced Northern Lights bright enough to read a newspaper by. A recent report by by the National Academy of Sciences found that if such a storm occurred today, it could cause up to $2 trillion in damages to society's high-tech infrastructure.

The National Research Council has estimated that such a storm would play havoc with our power grid, resulting in "large-scale blackouts affecting more than 130 million people (in the U.S.) and (exposing) more than 350 major transformers to the risk of permanent damage."

NASA says this solar cycle will peak in 2013. The Mayan calendar identifies Dec. 12, 2012, as the end of the world as we know it. Seems to us we might better spend our money protecting our power grid and high-tech infrastructure against such a possibility rather than worrying about the emission standards for our cars.

That, and stock up on sunscreen.

Mayan Calender II

The Mayan astronomers were incredible and one becomes more impressed the more one reads about them. All of their observations led to a uniquely accurate calender system. Their calender predicted more than just dates in which the world would end but solar and lunar eclipses, the summer rains, transits of venus(speaking of the this, Venus will be crossing the sun in...you guessed it 2012!), surpassing even what modern calenders can predict.

For a complete summary on the Mayan culture see the previous post: Mayans 2012 Prediction

Mayans 2012 Prediction

You may have heard a little about the Mayans 2012 prediction. BUT who really were the Mayans? AND why is this such a big deal?

The Mayan Indians were advanced in mathematics, writing, and astronomy. They lived in Mexico and built a famous pyramid in the Yucatan peninsula during the year 1050 BC. This pyramid had 365 steps leading to the top of the pyramid which marked the solar year. However, their most famous invention was their calender.

No one knows for sure how they did it but they were very accurate in their methods. As in VERY accurate, they estimated that a year was longer than 365 days rather 365.242036 days, which is slightly more accurate than the 365.2425 days of the Gregorian calendar we use today. Bear in mind they calculated this around 1000 BC, well before anyone else. The Mayans had different types of calenders: long count, divine, civil, and short among others. They had a 13 day week. The calender that arouses the curiosity is the long calender.

The long calender on the Mayan calender begins August 11, 3114 BC and will be completed on December 21, 2012. This will mark the end of a major 5126 year cycle on the long count calender.

The reason many are interested in this is the fact that during the year 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the milky way galaxy during the winter solstice for the first time in 26,000 years! THIS MEANS: Whatever energy typically stems to the earth from the center of the milky way will be disrupted on 12/21/2012 at 11:11 PM. Coincidence? Some believe that the sun spots could wreck havoc on the earth during this time causing power outages, earthquakes, etc.

A big point to understand. According to the Mayans 12/21/2012 marks the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one. So: The Mayans are NOT predicting the end of the world per se. The Mayans believed that time was cyclical, that is, it goes in circles. They believed that there would be 5 cycles in the earth's history---and that the last cycle would end on 12/21/2012. Whether this means the earth is going to disappear or just start a new cycle, that remains to be seen.

A lot of cosmic activity is going to occur between the years of 2012-2015. The Bible tells us that there will be 'signs in the sun, moon, and stars' before the coming return of the Messiah. The earth is shaking, Israel is in turmoil, the Church is in travail; all these signs are the beginning of 'birth pains' (Matthew 24:8).

For a visual on this check out Perry Stone's "Strange Cosmic Signs from 2012-2015"

Science Advisors warn of 2012 World Catastrophe

It's not just the Mayans anymore. After more than two years of very low sunspot activity and hardly any flares, the sun is ramping up activity according to the National Academy of Science. The expected culmination of solar activity is expected to reach its peach at...you guessed it, the year 2012.

Damage to power grids and other communications systems could be catastrophic, the scientists conclude, with effects leading to a potential loss of governmental control of the situation.

2008: Signs in the Heavens

"There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Luke 21:25-26

The earth shook in 2008 with hurricanes such as Hurricane Ike hitting Texas and floods spattering Iowa. Although this year saw fewer natural disasters than 2007, the devastation of individual events pushed 2008 to No. 3 in the rankings of most expensive disaster years on record, according to a report by Munich Re Group.

The heavens continue to display wonder and fulfill the role given to them in Genesis 1:1, "God created the heavens and the earth. .... and let them be for signs and seasons.



For More Incredible 2008 Pictures see:

Pictures Part 1
Pictures Part 2
Pictures Part 3