Of Blood Moons and Smokey Skies

(Source)

        The area in which I live--the Treasure Valley in Idaho--has been the recipient of a great deal of smoke from some wild fires in the area, and, they tell us on the news, forest fires in Montana. Combined with a full moon, we truly are seeing a moon red as blood, and a sun that is greatly dimmed; so much so, that by early yesterday evening it was possible to look directly at the sun without any problems.

       There are many scriptures that recount that the moon shall appear as blood, and the sun be darkened, before the Day of the Lord. (See, e.g., Acts 2:20; Joel 2:31; and D&C 34:9). It is possible that this could be a purely Celestial phenomena (for some reason, the Sun's output of light dimming and shifting to the red) or an Earthly phenomena such as fine particulates in the atmosphere from smoke, volcanic ash, etc., presenting a situation such as I now see out my window. The latter seems likely given that there will be many natural disasters prior to the Second Coming.

       The point is, however, that unlike Christ's First Coming (whether you consider it His birth in Bethlehem or His triumphant entry into Jerusalem) , where the signs were subtle and covert, the signs of the Second Coming will be obvious and unmistakable. That is, it is unlikely to be a subtle conjunction of stars and planets, or an eclipse (or smokey skies) over some limited area, but something unmistakable to even those who are not familiar with the scriptures and and of widespread affect. Whereas the First Coming tested the faithful (i.e., the Jewish nation), the Second Coming will be more of a test of the faithless--a filter to separate the hopelessly wicked from the hopefully righteous.