If the full moonlooks unusually large and reddish this Wednesday (May 26), don't be weirded out; count yourself lucky for catching the only total lunar eclipse of 2021.
May's full moon has a lot going on. In addition to the total lunar eclipse, which earns it the name "blood moon," because it will have a reddish tint, this moon is a supermoon and the closest full moon of the year, beating out April's full moon by 98 miles (157 kilometers), meaning it will appear infinitesimally larger to skywatchers on Earth. What's more, May's full moon is known as the Flower Moon, named for the wildflowers blooming in the Northern Hemisphere.
As with any lunar eclipse, questions abound: What's the best time and place to see the supermoon and the total lunar eclipse? Why will the moon appear red? Is it worth it to get special binoculars or a telescope? Read on to find out.
Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh praised the actions of the Gaza-ruling terror group hours after Israeli civilian targets were bombarded with over 600 rocket attacks in one evening. In a live speech late on May 11, Haniyeh lauded the Gaza militants who have “defended Jerusalem.”
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic extremist organization in control of the governance of the Gaza Strip, is regarded as terrorist organization by the United States and Israel. Hamas explicitly calls for theeradication of Israel and has carried out terror attacks targeting densely populated Israeli cities since the 1990s.
Iran, a longtime financial supporter of anti-Israel terror groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, immediately blamed Israel for the escalation of violence. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used inflammatory language in a series of tweets published on May 11, encouraging Palestinian militants on the ground to continue to escalate their violence against the Jewish people.
The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.( Zechariah 12:1-3)
Once again events in the city of Jerusalem have erupted into world consciousness like a fire alarm in the midst of a deep sleep. Terrifying scenes of crowds of confused and frightened people running for their very lives as flash grenades explode around them. Muslims barricaded in the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple mountain, rushing to and fro as Israeli defense forces besiege them, and eventually enter the sanctuary in full riot gear.
There are also the instantaneous, angry, defiant international protests at Israeli treatment of Palestinians across the globe.
In what seemed to be a perfect storm of events, such as a National celebration of the Annexation of Jerusalem by the Jews in 1967 called “Jerusalem day,, the final Friday service of Ramadan, an Israeli court case, in which Jewish plaintiffs sued for the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem, and the onset of a New American political administration hostile to Israel, the tensions exploded into a firestorm of violence.
The prophet Zechariah predicted that God would make Jerusalem to be a “cup of Trembling” to those who are round about her, making them to go crazy and unleashing among them self destructive impulses as a Divine judgment upon them.
Jerusalem is the most important city on Earth. God chose to “put his name there,” according to the promise God gave to King David.
And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. 1 Kings 11:36
Furthermore, it was in Jerusalem that God had his people erect a Holy House, and there God descended to inhabit that house in a cloud of Glory.
Posts
