The Sun Shall Be Darkened, and the Moon Turned to Blood
For centuries, people have puzzled over the ancient words of the prophet Joel:
“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.” (Joel 2:31)
It’s an ominous image—one that echoes across the Bible, resurfaces in Revelation, and even appears in Christ’s own teachings about the last days. But what do these words actually mean? Are they symbolic? Metaphorical? Or, as some like Anthony Larson have proposed, literal astronomical phenomena?
In my forthcoming novel Red Sky, my character Manny Volynsky takes these prophecies quite literally. His controversial scientific model proposes physical mechanisms by which these signs could occur—mechanisms rejected by the mainstream scientific community, yet hauntingly plausible when viewed through an alternative lens. Let’s explore.
The Blood Moon: More Than Poetry?
Most readers today associate the phrase “moon turned to blood” with what astronomers call a total lunar eclipse. During such an eclipse, Earth’s shadow covers the moon, while sunlight refracts through Earth’s atmosphere, scattering blue light and allowing reddish light to bathe the lunar surface, creating the familiar crimson hue we see during a so-called blood moon.
This is a well-understood and natural event, and while beautiful, it is neither rare nor catastrophic.
But could the biblical prophecy be pointing to something more?
Some have speculated that massive volcanic eruptions or nuclear conflict might pump enormous quantities of dust and particulates into Earth’s atmosphere, darkening the sun and reddening the moon far more dramatically. A limited nuclear exchange, for instance, could create enough atmospheric haze to simulate such an effect without triggering a full nuclear winter.
Others, like Anthony Larson, suggest we consider a much more exotic scenario—one involving rogue planetary bodies and severe disturbances in the solar system itself.
The Darkening of the Sun: Solar Flares, CMEs, and Historical Warnings
The sun’s darkening may not require exotic planetary bodies to be terrifying. History already gives us hints of how vulnerable our modern world is to the sun’s activity.
In 1859, a massive solar flare known as The Carrington Event struck Earth. Brilliant auroras were seen as far south as Cuba. Telegraph systems—the height of global communication at the time—overloaded, sparked fires, and transmitted messages even when unplugged.
Had the same event struck today, the results would be far more catastrophic. Our world is now deeply dependent on fragile electronics, GPS satellites, power grids, and digital communications. A similar flare now could potentially knock out wide swaths of global infrastructure for months or years.
The Carrington Event was not an isolated case. There have been several other major solar storms, such as:
-
The 1967 Solar Storm, which nearly triggered Cold War military responses due to radio blackouts mistaken for enemy jamming.
-
The 1972 Solar Storm, which detonated sea mines off Vietnam and caused widespread communications failures.
-
The 2003 Halloween Storms, which forced astronauts into shelter aboard the ISS and disabled satellites.
-
The 2024 Gannon Storm, which resulted in one of the largest mass orbital corrections of satellites ever recorded.
Such storms remind us that even without rogue planets, the sun has plenty of power to fulfill portions of Joel’s prophecy through natural processes.
The Rogue Planet Hypothesis: Enter Manny Volynsky
Where does Red Sky fit in?
In my fictional narrative, my character Manny suggests that both the sun’s darkening and the moon’s blood-like appearance could be triggered not by ordinary solar activity alone, but by the arrival of a massive rogue planet intruding into the inner solar system.
Manny’s theory borrows heavily from catastrophist models such as Anthony Larson’s Prophecy Trilogy, as well as elements of plasma cosmology and electric universe theory. According to Manny:
-
The rogue planet’s gravitational pull would radically disrupt the Moon’s orbit, possibly inducing severe tidal heating.
-
While some wondered whether tidal heating could turn the moon incandescent, scientific analysis suggests this is unlikely; the Moon might experience volcanic activity or localized hotspots but would not globally glow red from heat alone.
-
The rogue planet might also disturb vast clouds of dust and plasma, creating an eerie atmospheric veil that dims the sun and bathes both the sun and moon in red light.
In other words, Manny blends legitimate known science—such as gravitational interactions, tidal flexing, and plasma ejections—with speculative extensions beyond current scientific consensus.
A Mystery for Our Generation
Are the prophecies of Joel symbolic, literal, or a complex mixture of both? The answer remains elusive.
Mainstream astronomers continue to study the sun’s volatile behavior, using satellites like NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, NOAA’s GOES system, and increasingly, AI-powered predictive models. Yet even with our modern tools, solar flares remain extraordinarily difficult to predict. A truly massive event—whether from solar activity or rogue celestial intrusion—could arrive with little warning.
Whether readers of Red Sky agree with Manny’s theories or side with David Mitchell, the skeptical astrophysicist who challenges him, the tension between science, prophecy, and imagination is at the heart of the story. I hope my readers will find themselves both informed and intrigued by these ancient warnings and the very real modern vulnerabilities they reflect.
Closing Thought
We live in a universe where a single solar eruption can darken cities, where the moon has indeed turned blood-red many times, and where mankind’s technological fragility hangs on invisible threads of magnetism and plasma. Whether Joel’s words are read as poetry, prophecy, or scientific prediction, they remain deeply relevant.
The sun shall be darkened. The moon shall turn to blood. And the great and terrible day of the Lord will come.
Discover more from Red Sky Story
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
