Red moon rising: Fears are growing among evangelical Christians, Mormons and other minority groups that the September 28 ‘blood moon’ lunar eclipse marks the end of the world.

On September 28, God and science will collide in spectacular fashion with the fourth lunar eclipse in just two years — a series known as a “tetrad” — each coinciding with a Jewish holy day.

The current tetrad of blood moons has fallen on April 14, 2014 (Passover), October 8, 2014 (Feast of the Tabernacle), April 4, 2015 (Passover) and September 28 marks the first day of this year’s Feast of the Tabernacle.

According to the mongers of doom, this tetrad — the ninth to coincide with Jewish holy days since Jesus Christ — bears the signs of Old Testament prophesy heralding the end of times.

And the fourth and final of the lunar eclipses will also be a Super Moon, making it appear larger than usual and probably even more frightening to those convinced they’re about to meet their maker.

One YouTuber’s vision of what the Blood Moon Apocalypse might look likeSource:

THE BLOOD MOON PROPHESY

The Blood Moon Prophesy has been largely propagated by two enormously influential Christian ministers, Mark Blitz and John Hagee, both of whom have written books on the subject.

Mr Blitz, who leads the El Shaddai Ministries in Washington wrote a bestseller called Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs, is regarded as a modern prophet his thousands of followers.

According to his book, Jewish tetrads have always coincided with events of great historic significance, the most recent examples being the establishment of the nation of Israeli in 1948 and the six-day battle for Jerusalem in 1967.

Mr Hagee, founder and senior pastor of the Cornerstone megachurch in San Antonio, Texas, claims credit for the Jewish tetrad doomsday theory in his own bestseller, Four Blood Moons,

which has been made into a documentary-style movie of the same name.

“The heavens are God’s billboard,” Mr Hagee says in the book.

“He’s been sending signals to Earth, and we haven’t been picking them up. Two blood moons, in 2014 and 2015, point to dramatic events in the Middle East and, as a result, changes in the whole world.”

According to Wikipedia, the “idea of a blood moon serving as an omen of the coming of the end times comes from the Book of Joel, where it is written ‘the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes’.

“This phrase is again mentioned by Saint Peter during Pentecost, as recorded in Acts, although Peter says that date, not some future date, was the fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy.”

Last month NASA shot down reports that appeared on alternative news sites claiming an asteroid would hit Earth on September 28, “wiping out most of the Americas”.

Mr Blitz agrees the asteroid story was rubbish; he says the end will instead be heralded by the mother of all earthquakes.

“The number has more than doubled over the last 10 years,” he told his devotees recently.

“It was prophesied that there would be earthquakes at increased levels before the return of the Messiah and they were to be likened to birth pangs.

“With the increase in activity and the increase in magnitude I definitely see it as being but another sign along with the signs in the heavens that we are at the door.”

Mr Blitz uses another blood moon reference that appears in Verse 12 of the Book of Revelation, to support his theory: “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood …”

Both ministers warn that it will be on this day that the dreaded Four Horsemen of the Acocalypse reveal their individual missions.

Just to scare you, here is a map of seismic activity around the world so far this month

MORMONS ARE FREAKING OUT TOO

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have been stewing over the end of the world for months thanks to popular Mormon author Julie Rowe.

Last year, Rowe published back-to-back books in which she described a series of visions she claims she had during a near-death experience in 2004.

The books, which urge people to “unify in righteousness and continue to build a righteous army” in preparation for the end of the world, have flown off the shelves in the Mormon heartland of Utah.

But church elders have distanced themselves from the mother-of-three, declaring her work was not in line with traditional teachings.

While neither of Rowe’s books contain a specific date for the end of the world, she appears to endorse the Blood Moon Prophesy and the significance of the Jewish tetrad during public appearances.

Rowe tells devotees that significant events happen in seven year blocks. For example, in 2008, seven years after 9/11, the stock market crashed, leading to a devastating recession. Fast forward seven years to the present day and Wall Street has been fluctuating wildly in the wake of China’s currency devaluation.

She believes that September 13, the start of the Jewish High Holy Days, marked the beginning of a terrible cycle that brings on an even larger financial crisis, based on the United States’ “wickedness.”

That event would launch the “days of tribulation” described in the Bible.

Many Mormons have expressed fears that a major earthquake will strike Utah on the night of the blood moon. Others reportedly anticipate a military invasion, technological disruptions and general chaos and hysteria.