Sun turned to darkness, moon into blood?

[KrazyKay]

I was reading in a book I recently bought at an LDS owned bookstore near the Houston Temple called 64 Signs of the Times. In this book, it mentioned that the sign of the sun refusing to shine and the moon turning to blood as having been fulfilled. They quote this part of President Hinckley's speech in the October 2001 general conference:

The era in which we live is the fulness of times spoken of in the scriptures, when God has brought together all of the elements of previous dispensations. From the day that He and His Beloved Son manifested themselves to the boy Joseph, there has been a tremendous cascade of enlightenment poured out upon the world. The hearts of men have turned to their fathers in fulfillment of the words of Malachi. The vision of Joel has been fulfilled wherein he declared:

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

“And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

“And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call” (Joel 2:28–32).

I looked up the speech on lds.org (here for those who want a quick link: Living in the Fulness of Times - Ensign Nov. 2001 )

This has me a bit confused. I always took that sign as being literal... most likely to be caused by man during WWIII, or from volcanic smoke, or something else. But seeing as President Hinckley said this has been fulfilled, I'm just wondering how. Does the sign mean a spiritual event that has now been fulfilled?

[Just_A_Guy]

Peter quoted that same passage of scripture in his sermon at the day of Pentecost, and described it as being fulfilled at that time. See Acts 2:14-20.

[KrazyKay]

When I read Acts, it looks to me that Peter was saying that this will happen in the Last Days... I didn't see where he said that it was fulfilled at that time.

[HiJolly]

Recommendation: Don't take it literally.

HJ

[Just_A_Guy]

Kay, I think Acts shows Peter as defining the Day of Pentecost as a (perhaps not the only) fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. Contextually, the Church is receiving all kinds of manifestations of the Spirit. Passerby are dismissing them as drunk. Peter, in defense of the Church, explicitly cites Joel to remind the scoffers that this kind of spiritual outpouring has been foretold. In verse 16 he comes right out and says it: "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel".

[skippy740]

My own interpretation only (this just came to me). As we know, the Gospel has a LOT of symbolism in it.

Think about the sifting of the saints and compare it to the 3 degrees of glory.

The Sun turning to darkness. Those who once knew the truth have turned away from it.

The Moon turning to blood. Those who were not of the church, now turn violent.

Again, just my own thoughts that just came to me. I have no knowledge of any writings to back it up.

But we DO know that this is happening... even and especially in today's day and age.

[jdf135]

My reading of it was more general. Many of the things have been fulfilled but I don't know if president Hinckley meant that EVERYTHING this prophecy had already been fulfilled, only that we have seen fulfillment of some of this prophecy (maybe he should have ended the citation at verse 30?) .

[Javajot]

Yeah, I thought it was literal too. Maybe not? If not, what is it symbolic of?

[rameumptom]

I believe it is literal. I think Pres Hinckley was stating that we live in the time when many of these things are now being fulfilled (such as the prophesying, etc). We are beginning to see wonders in the heavens, natural disasters and etc.

[pam]

I've always taken it to be literal as well.

[KrazyKay]

I was thinking some about this this morning as I reread some of the responses. We know that everything was made in the spiritual before it was made in the physical. I got to wondering if these signs will happen in the spiritual before they happen in the physical? Which then will make sense, President Hinckley was referring to the spiritual and that the physical will still happen at some point in the future - when I have no idea, lol.

[Seminarysnoozer]

My own interpretation only (this just came to me). As we know, the Gospel has a LOT of symbolism in it.

Think about the sifting of the saints and compare it to the 3 degrees of glory.

The Sun turning to darkness. Those who once knew the truth have turned away from it.

The Moon turning to blood. Those who were not of the church, now turn violent.

Again, just my own thoughts that just came to me. I have no knowledge of any writings to back it up.

But we DO know that this is happening... even and especially in today's day and age.

Haha, I was about to say the same thing. This is the symbolism I think of too. The opposite of the glory of the Celestial Kingdom is darkness. And part of the reason that people end up in the Terrestrial kingdom is that they are swayed by things of this world, 'blood', by their own logic, intelligence, scholars of this world etc, even though they are good people.

[mrmarklin]

Read literally, the prophecy is in the process of being fulfilled. I'm not sure that Hinckley's statement as quoted goes any farther than that.

He is speaking of the era in which we live.................."We have seen only the foreshadowing of the mighty force for good that this Church will become. And yet I marvel at what has been accomplished......."

[mordorbund]

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

I don't know that the spirit has been poured out upon all flesh. Our old men dream dreams (I like the dream Elder Hales shared back in the 80's). I'll leave the fulfillment of youth prophesying and having visions for others to show (none are coming to mind immediately).

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

I think it is manifest every 6 months that our General Authorities, and General Auxiliary Presidencies have the spirit poured out upon them. I hope we can feel that same spirit poured out on the local level as well - not just upon the priesthood, but on the "handmaids" as well.

And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

What are "wonders in the heavens"? Does a comet constitute a wonder? because we have that. What about Jupiter getting pounded? We've had that too. Or maybe a flag on the moon? You see where I'm going with this.

On the earth, we have killing fields and wars, covering the earth in blood. Forest fires are problematic enough that a bear has come out to give PSAs to stop them. Pillars of smoke accompany the fires, not to mention Mt St Helens delivered a pillar strong enough to get the nation's attention.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

These are fulfilled with eclipses. A full solar eclipse blocks the sun, turning it to darkness. A full lunar eclipse casts the earth's shadow over the moon, giving it a rusted, "blood" color.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call” (Joel 2:28–32).

I certainly hope we find deliverance in our prayers. I don't know how deliverance in Jerusalem has been fulfilled.

What I find especially interesting in looking at the "Signs of the Times" is that the natural ones aren't necessarily unique to our day. But the Lord has taken these natural events and turned them into visual prompts of "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

For me...I was surprised when Pres. Hinckley said this, I had always thought it would be something much more obvious when it occured. So I said, "Wow!" and check that off the list of things that are yet to happen before the Second Coming.

Even more significant, for me, is realizing that the other prophesy's will likely not be fulfilled in the way I anticipate as well...or in other words more surprises may be in store! This means we could be a lot closer (or a lot farther) to the Second Coming than I think. In other words, I'm confused, LOL! But the whole issue underscores the importance of listening both to the Spirit and to the living Prophet.

Fascinating times we live in!