Red Moon, Red Sea

 

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Although God could supernaturally create any event, having the sea or moon turn red could also be a natural event, or a man made event.

Joe 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Rev 8:8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

Rev 16:3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead [man]: and every living soul died in the sea.

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Thought #1

If God does this, as author and king of creation, He may use nature to accomplish “special effects.”

Or worse, if man converts the moon or sea to red, from his foolishness, destructive acts, and indiscretions, how would this occur with the materials at hand on the earth?

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Thought #2

Symbolically, we could interpret the sea becoming red like blood, by death of life in the sea. That is a viable possibility.

But the scriptures also predict the moon becoming red like blood. The moon has no known life forms that could bleed.

It seems like that both the sea and the moon might have the same event happen to each of them, and so turn red by the same cause, or similar causes.

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Sources of red color in nature

There are different chemical elements or products that occur naturally that could produce a red color.

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1. Red from iron. – either from a surface change, or interaction with another earthy body, iron dust could cover the moon, and cause it to change color.

Why is Mars red?

The red color comes from various oxides of iron (hematite mostly) in very, very fine particles, and trace amounts of other elements including titanium, chlorine and sulfur.

All of that iron had to come from somewhere: volcanoes.

The best information that we have is that the surface of mars below the red layer is made up of hardened, low viscose lava: basalt.

The concentration of iron in Mars’ basalt is higher than that of Earth, which is why Earth is much less red.

And that is why Mars is red.

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2. red algae blooms in the sea – Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs)

Many algal species form blooms, commonly referred to as “red tides,” each with different impacts. Most of these blooms are harmless, but a few species of phytoplankton cause red tides that are poisonous to marine animals and to humans.

Red tides are not new.  The first of the 10 plagues of Egypt, described in Exodus, may be one of the earliest recorded instances of a red tide (“… and all the waters that were in the river turned to blood. 

And the fish that were in the river died, and the water stank …”). 

Red tides occur on both sides of the Atlantic, off Florida, and along the Pacific coast into Alaska.

The organism that causes toxic red tide, or HAB, in New England is a microscopic one-celled alga called Alexandrium tamarense. 

Alexandrium propels itself through the water using two tiny whip-like extensions called flagella. 

Its life cycle includes a dormant cyst stage that can survive cold winters in bottom sediments. 

The cysts, which also contain toxin, are the seeds for future blooms. 

These cysts facilitate the spread of toxic red tides into new areas since they are easily transported by tidal currents, dredge material disposal, and transplanted shellfish.

People who eat shellfish containing Alexandrium toxin may be afflicted with paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP).

PSP can result from eating just a few clams. 

Saxitoxin attacks the human nervous system within 30 minutes with symptoms that may include numbness of the lips, tingling of the extremities, uncoordinated movements, incoherent speech, and nausea. 

PSP symptoms may be mistaken for drunkenness.  In severe cases, paralysis of the breathing mechanism can cause death within a few hours.

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Cause of HABs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_bloom#Causes_of_HABs

The frequency and severity of HABs in some parts of the world have been linked to increased nutrient loading from human activities.

In other areas, HABs are a predictable seasonal occurrence resulting from coastal upwelling, a natural result of the movement of certain ocean currents.

A variety of other nutrient sources can also play an important role in affecting algal bloom formation, including iron, silica or carbon.

Coastal water pollution produced by humans and systematic increase in sea water temperature have also been suggested as possible contributing factors in HABs.

Other factors such as iron-rich dust influx from large desert areas such as the Saharan desert are thought to play a role in causing HABs.

Some algal blooms on the Pacific coast have also been linked to natural occurrences of large-scale climatic oscillations such as El Niño events.

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3. The absorbed light changes due to change in wavelength- this is either due to a change in the incoming light, or something in the atmosphere that would change the absorption, and thus, the perception of color, in the incoming light.

What would change the wavelength of incoming light, or the atmosphere?

The light from the sun would either be different, or reach the earth as different, because of some novel change in the environment.

Something can appear red if that is the wavelength it absorbs.

Visible light between 400-700 nm.

The longer the wavelength of visible light, the more red the color.

Likewise the shorter wavelengths are towards the violet side of the spectrum.

The electromagnetic spectrum. Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates (www.sinauer.com) and WH Freeman (www.whfreeman.com), used with permission.

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A object that is green absorbs all wavelengths of visible light except green, which it reflects to be detected by our eyes.

A object that is red absorbs all wavelengths of visible light except red, which it reflects to be detected by our eyes.

Black pigments absorb all of the wavelengths that strike them.

White pigments/lighter colors reflect all or almost all of the energy striking them.

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4. Particles in the atmosphere- give red tints to the moon

http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/the-moon/red-moon/

There are few situations that can cause a red moon.

(1)

The most common way to see the Moon turn red is when the Moon is low in the sky, just after moonrise or before it’s about to set below the horizon.

Just like the Sun, light from the Moon has to pass through a larger amount of atmosphere when it’s down near the horizon, compared to when it’s overhead.

The Earth’s atmosphere can scatter sunlight, and since moonlight is just scattered sunlight, it can scatter that too.

Red light can pass through the atmosphere and not get scattered much, while light at the blue end of the spectrum is more easily scattered.

When you see a red moon, you’re seeing the red light that wasn’t scattered, but the blue and green light have been scattered away.

That’s why the Moon looks red.

(2)

The second reason for a red moon is if there’s some kind of particle in the air.

A forest fire or volcanic eruption can fill the air with tiny particles that partially obscure light from the Sun and Moon.

Example:

Recently, Australia was covered with a red-orange dust from its desert areas.

Once again, these particles tend to scatter blue and green light away, while permitting red light to pass through more easily.

When you see a red moon, high up in the sky, it’s probably because there’s a large amount of dust in the air.

(3)

A third – and dramatic – way to get a red moon is during a lunar eclipse.

During a lunar eclipse, the Moon passes behind the Earth’s shadow, which darkens it.

If you could take a look at the Earth from inside its shadow, you would see that the atmosphere around the edge of the entire planet glows red.

Once again, this is because large amounts of atmosphere will scatter away the blue/green light and let the red light go straight through.

During a lunar eclipse, the Moon passes fully into the shadow of the Earth and it’s no longer being illuminated by the Sun.

However, this red light passing through the Earth’s atmosphere does reach the Moon, and shines on it.

And that’s how we can get a red moon.

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5. Red chemical elements in the water

Phosphorus – Phosphorus compounds are also widely used in explosives, nerve agents, friction matches, fireworks, pesticides, toothpaste, and detergents, fertilizers.

Strontium – found in fireworks

Bromine- It is the only liquid nonmetallic element and is a member of the halogen group.

It is a heavy, volatile, mobile, dangerous reddish-brown liquid.

The red vapor has a strong unpleasant odor and the vapor irritates the eyes and throat.

It is used for photographic films, gasoline antiknock, fumigants, dyes, water purification compounds, sanitizers, medicinals, in brominates vegetable oils and flameproofing agents to name a few.

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6. Chemical reaction in the water/air:

Nitrogen monoxide gas +   oxygen gas → nitrogen dioxide gas

        2 NO (g)            O2 (g)             2 NO₂ (g)

        Colorless           colorless            red-brown

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NO is a major industrial air pollutant produced by cigarette smoke, automobile engines and power plants.

The most important sources of NO₂ are internal combustion engines, thermal power stations and, to a lesser extent, pulp mills. Butane gas heaters and stoves are also sources.

Nitrogen dioxide typically arises via the oxidation of nitric oxide by oxygen in air:

2 NO + O₂ → 2 NO₂

The thermal decomposition of some metal nitrates also affords NO₂:

2 Pb(NO3) ₂ → 2 PbO + 4 NO2 + O₂

 

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7. Red tholins – from an outer space object entering the earth’s atmosphere

Tholin (after the Ancient Greek word θολός tholós for ”mud”), is a heteropolymer molecule formed by solar ultraviolet irradiation of simple organic compounds such as methane or ethane.

Tholins do not form naturally on modern-day Earth, but are found in great abundance on the surface of icy bodies in the outer solar system.

They usually have a reddish-brown appearance.

“Triton tholin” and “Titan tholin” are nitrogen-rich organic substances produced by the irradiation of gaseous mixtures of nitrogen and methane such as that found in those moons’ atmospheres;

Triton’s atmosphere is 99.9% nitrogen and 0.1% methane and Titan’s atmosphere is 98.4% nitrogen and the remaining 1.6% composed of methane and trace amounts of other gases.

These atmospherically derived substances are distinct from “ice tholin”, which is formed by irradiation of clathrates of water and organic compounds such as methane or ethane.

The surfaces of comets, centaurs, and many icy moons in the outer solar system are rich in deposits of Triton, Titan and ice tholins.

The haze and orange-red color of Titan’s atmosphere and centaur-class planetoids are thought to be caused by the presence of tholins.

Tholins may also have been detected in the protoplanetary disks of young stars; see HR 4796A.

Some researchers have speculated that Earth may have been seeded by organic compounds early in its development by tholin-rich comets, providing the raw material necessary for life to develop

Tholins do not exist naturally on current-day Earth due to the oxidizing character of its atmosphere.

Since methane is a natural element found under the earth’s crust, and under the sea, it is also possible that UV radiation acting directly on methane, if exposed, could produce tholin.

But it would be short lived because of oxidation. 

On the moon, it might remain.

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8. Crude oil

Images of the recent BP oil spill showed red oil floating in the water. It has now turned black.

Apparently, there are different types of crude oil, as evidenced by the color difference.

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9. Manufactured “Red Oil” in the water- Any intermediate-grade petroleum lubricating oil that is red in color

Red oil is defined as a substance of varying composition formed when an organic solution, typically tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP, an agent used for extracting heavy metals in nuclear reprocessing plants) and its diluents, comes in contact with concentrated nitric acid at a temperature above 120 °C.

Red oil is relatively stable below 130 °C, but it can decompose explosively when its temperature is raised above 130 °C.

Three red oil events have occurred in the United States: at the Hanford Site in 1953, and at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in 1953 and 1975.

A red oil explosion also occurred in 1993 at the Tomsk-7 site at Seversk, Russia.

Generic types of equipment capable of producing red oil in the complex are categorized as evaporators, acid concentrators, and denitrators.

The chemicals necessary to produce red oil are, at a minimum, TBP and nitric acid; other, contributory chemicals can include diluent (kerosene-like liquid used to dilute TBP) and/or aqueous phase metal nitrates.

Anatahan Volcano, located in the northern Marianas Islands along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” as it appeared in February 2003 from the R/V Thompson, three months before the volcano erupted.

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10. A “mountain falls into the sea.” – (Rev 8:8) this could either be a meteor from space, or a volcano on the earth that erupts (during an earthquake?) and slides into the sea, dumping its toxic contents.

Scripture does not say where this “mountain” comes from – ie, from the sky or earth.

Sixty percent of all active volcanoes occur at the boundaries between tectonic plates.

Most volcanoes are found along a belt, called the “Ring of Fire” that encircles the Pacific Ocean.

Some volcanoes, like those that form the Hawaiian Islands, occur in the interior of plates at areas called “hot spots.”

Although most of the active volcanoes we see on land occur where plates collide, the greatest number of the Earth’s volcanoes are hidden from view, occurring on the ocean floor along spreading ridges.

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Final Thoughts

1. Wrath of God

In Rev 8, it sounds like a giant volcano or meteor destroys 1/3 of the oceans. This sounds like an act of nature, with God’s judgment.

In Rev 16, all sea is destroyed and there is total death. This just sounds like an act of God.

As for the moon turning red, there are several possibilities: light wavelength changes from the sun, dust in the air (from what?), eclipses.

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2. Tribulation of and by Man

But would any other sources mentioned above also contribute?

I think so. Man has a way of destroying his environment with pollutants of different kinds.

Outside of the sea turning into real blood, caused by death of sea life, and also people affected by the sea events, there is the famine and death predicted by the black and pale horses of the apocalypse.

Because of man’s rebellion and sin, I think the tribulation is a man made event, which results in his own suffering.

Hopefully, many will be converted in this time, realizing only God can help them.

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3. Tribulation vs Wrath

Man will cause his own downfall and suffering during the tribulation.

This is where we will see lies of peace, war, famine, and death all due to acts of man.

Man destroying the environment, and mankind itself, with chemical pollutants and weapons will bring this on.

Since man is limited in his evil abilities, there is a chance of survival, with God’s help.

The wrath of God commences and then we see the phenomenal events where the sun darkens, and the moon and sea turn to blood.

God uses natural and supernatural forces to completely punish and destroy the wicked who will not repent.

There is no chance of survival here.

The sun turning dark and the moon turning into blood is the transition point between the Tribulation and the wrath of God.

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Am I right or wrong?

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See also:

 

Sea, Sun, and Moon will go  Click here for more

 

Signs of the Sun and Moon before the Day of the Lord  Click here for more